Freedom in the Gospel
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Dismiss kids
Looking forward to tonight. We will be observing the Lord’s Supper and playing a game that will allow for those at home and in house to enjoy. Be sure to sign up by, scanning that QR code, going to announcements and signing up for the event that way.
We are moving out of the book of Genesis this morning and into Exodus chapter 2.
While you turning there, let me talk to you for a minute.
Have you ever tried to do a job and not had the right tool?
Guys? ever worked on the car and not had the tool you need? Now, I don’t know about you but there was a time when I would do all I could to avoid having to go buy that tool. I wanted to save the money and I could “make it work” with something else.
Ladies? Ever had a job or something you were trying to accomplish and not had what would have gotten it done? Maybe you were creating something, or trying to clean the fan without one of those extended arm fan cleaning things?
When I’m trying to get something done and I don’t have the right tool, especially if its on a car because I have no clue what I’m doing when it comes to cars anyway, I get very frustrated.
Why do I get frustrated? because I’m trying to fix something without what makes it possible to get it fixed. I’m trying to accomplish something without what is really needed to make it work.
After I have finally struggled, got frustrated, held back the desire to use choice words, and maybe prayed about my spirit in the moment, I go to the store and I buy the tool.
Then I go back and it becomes much easier to get the job done. What I just spent hours maybe trying to do without the proper tool and failing, I’ve not accomplished with great success in a matter of minutes. Why?
Because I had the right tool for the job.
In these first few chapters of Exodus we are going to see the Israelites have a problem. One that they can’t fix on their own. One that would be very frustrating, one that would ultimately lead to them to cry out to God to provide them what they need to find freedom.
The problem they had was slavery, the frustrations were unwanted bondage, undesired lifestyle, oppression from the world they existed in, and great sadness and despair.
It was upon realization that they could not exist like this anymore or overcome it on their own they had to call out for help.
Any of you feel like your life is like the Israelites at times? You are existing in this world, maybe a comfortable lifestyle, theres food on the table, a job to pay the bills, heat in the winter and air in the summer, and yet your still struggling on the inside.
Your still in bondage to the world and the systmes of the world. Your still shackled by your unforgiveness. Your life is still affected by the prison of pride that keeps you from allowing yourself to be vulnerable to others.
On the outside you seem as though everything is fine. You exist day to day and no one would know something is the matter, yet on the inside you know your heart is greatly troubled by the afflictions of this life.
That’s the place the Israelites got to. Today I want you to see the answer to their bondage, as well as yours.
Follow along as I read
Exodus 2:23-25
23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.
PRAY
It’s important for us to first realize that you do not live in a good place
I. You do not live in a good place
I. You do not live in a good place
Last week we saw that Jesus said there is none good except for the father. Each individual human is not good. This would mean that collectively we are not good.
This means that whether or not you live in Connecticut, Tennessee, Florida, Arizona, Russia, California, Africa, or Canada, it’s still not good.
Sure, taxes could be less, freedoms could be more and so on. However, that does not change the hearts of the people you surround yourself with.
This truth isn’t a bad one. It isn’t one that should discourage us.
Paul wrote
Phil 3:20
20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
Peter said we are strangers and pilgrims, a people that reside temporarily in a place
1 Peter 2:11
11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
And while acknowledging the temporary nature of this life, appeals to the Christian to abstain, to keep away from, the lusts of the flesh that come from existing in a world that is constantly seeking to draw us away from the Lord and into the bondage to which He has brought freedom from in the power of the Gospel.
The Israelites were not living in a good place. Yet in the midst of all of the troubles that they faced, there were at aleast a few, and I would be willing to say there were many but only a few we hear about, that believed in God and followed Him.
Exodus 1:15-19
15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah:
16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.
17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.
18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?
19 And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.
Here are these two Hebrew women, midwives, that are commanded kill any Hebrew boy that is born by the Pharoah, the king of Egypt. The one who with a word could end your life. The one who with the swipe of his hand could have thrown into prison. The one who was worshipped as a deity in that culture.
They disobeyed his instruction and obeyed the Lord. It was their obedience to God in a difficult time that would lead to the deliverance of their nation.
At a time when it would have been easy to just go along with what the world was telling them to do, they instead chose freedom in God to do what was right.
While it may seem as though this is a no brainer to us on the outside looking in. Let me read something to you to highlight the flaws of the human psyche.
Have you ever heard the term “Stockholm Syndrome”?
“The term Stockholm Syndrome first occurred in 1973 at an attempted bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden. A man tried to rob a bank, and the police caught him inside. He took three female hostages and one male hostage and held them for 131 hours, during which time he terrorized them. He fired his Russian automatic assault weapon at them. He threatened to kill them on numerous occasions. He put nooses around their necks and threatened to hang them. But he didn’t harm any of them.
“When he finally surrendered, something very unusual happened. We expected the hostages to be antagonistic toward the hostage taker. But instead they said they feared the police more than the hostage taker. They also said they didn’t hate the hostage taker. They refused to testify against him. One of the ladies became engaged to this hostage taker, and as far as I know, she’s still engaged to him.
“The FBI analyzed thousands of hostage situations since that time. We found this happens very frequently. So we asked psychologists, ‘What happened? What causes this?’ They said in hostage situations, with a high level of life-threatening stress and positive human interaction, the people’s ego-defensive mechanisms come into play. There is denial of what is happening and regression to a different emotional state. The hostage will eventually begin to transfer his hatred; This guy doesn’t really want to hurt me; and begins to hate the policemen. And something else very important begins to happen; a love relationship begins to take place. And this love relationship is like what happens between a young child and a mother. The mother is protecting the child from the terrifying world and providing all its needs. This love relationship occurs both ways.
“One of the most outstanding examples occurred in Holland in the seventies. A group of terrorists captured a whole trainload of people. They made demands on the Dutch government. The Dutch government did not come through, so they began to murder people. They murdered two on the first day, and the second day, they selected a man by the name of Garrard Votters. They brought him out and said, ‘Say your prayers. You’re going to die.’ And he said, ‘Okay, but before I die, there’s a man here that knows my family. I’d like to give him a message.’ Of course the South Moluccans wanted to listen in. He said, ‘I feel my life has been a failure.’ He wanted to tell his wife he was sorry. He went on and on about his problems. He became a real human being instead of just a symbol to be executed. The Moluccans were unable to execute him. I’ve seen it happen many times.”
Satan holds people in bondage to their sin so long that they often hate anyone who tries to help them.
We can get so comfortable with our sin and the way we live that we begin to defend it irrationally and get angry with those who point it out.
This is a question I’ve asked here before “Why would someone who doesn’t know Jesus want to come to church?” Maybe your here this morning and you don’t know Jesus. You came because someone invited you…your spouse drug you out…your going through a difficulty and looking for answers…either way I bet you didn’t get up this morning and think, man…I can’t wait to go have the pastor tell me how big of a sinner I am.
Maybe you did, and if that’s you…I’m glad to be of service.
Some Christians are still battling this though. You got saved later in life and your comfortable in your sin. You’re comfortable in a life that doesn’t exist for the glory of God as a father, as a mother, or in any role you play. You justify your attitudes and actions because of how you feel rather than seeing your lifestyle as spitting upon the tomb which Christ was buried in.
American Christians are notorious for claiming salvation in Jesus yet living as though He doesn’t exist.
The problem with that is this:
Matthew 7:16-20
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
It is by your fruit in life your salvation is evidenced. Your salvation IS NOT dependent upon your works
Your Salvation shall be EVIDENCED by your works.
Do you have to work to be saved? NO
Because you are saved, you perform good works.
And not just good works like donating to charity or volunteering at church.
I believe a good work that is wrought in us because of our salvation in Christ is the yielding to the Holy Spirit.
Yielding so that we may exhibit the fruits of the Spirit in our lives.
The key to your life showing evidence of your salvation is to understand that the environment you are in cannot determine your actions or lifestyle. Jus as Shiphrah and Puah chose God over the world around them, so must you.
Because you do not live in a good place, but you do have a good God.
And no matter what’s going on around you
II. You are not alone in your situation
II. You are not alone in your situation
Shiphrah and Puah were not alone in Egypt. They were not the only ones willing to follow after God and not the World.
Obviously, Moses’ mother and father, Jochebed and Amram, were willing to deny the king of his sadistic requests and kept their son alive.
And there were more. For it to come to Pharaohs attention that the Hebrew boys were not being slain, I do not believe it was an incident that was taking place on a small scale.
When you are dealing with individuals in your life that are not acting Christlike, whether that’s in your home, at your workplace, or right here in the church house you can begin to have thoughts that will isolate yourself from others as you make blanket statements in your mind
-They never treat others this way
-They always act like that
-Those Christians are all fake
Using words like never, always, all, will lead you to make an innacurate statement and can develop a false truth in your mind.
What’s a false truth? It’s a truth you believe but that is false.
Like some believer Star Trek is better than Star Wars…that is a false truth.
A false truth is an opinion at best and at worst, is reason you give yourself to act in contradiction to the Bible.
Maybe you’ve went as far as saying:
-No matter what I’ll do I’ll never be able to...
-God won’t work in my heart like that....
-They are better than I am because....
The problem with those statements is that you have elevated people in your heart to a position they should not be and you’ve limited God’s power in your own life.
In thinking that you are alone in your failure or your journey with God, can lead to quitting, giving up, or a popular term in church culture is “backsliding.”
It’s what happens when we begin to allow our relationship with God to be effected by outside circumstances and we believe a change of scenery will change our problems.
The problem with why we aren’t close to God or living for Him isn’t found in the environment we exist in, it’s in our own hearts.
Something that will keep us from living for the Lord, is thinking we are in this alone. That no other father is failing, no other wife is failing, no one else is going through what you are going through…We are all going through troubles and difficulty. And while the actions you need to take may not be as easily seen as these midwives and other parents who kept their boys alive, they are just as important.
You are not alone in your situation. God is going through it with you and others are goin through it as well.
The question is will you choose the answer you need or the answer you want?
III. Your Answer is Simple Should you Choose to Accept it
III. Your Answer is Simple Should you Choose to Accept it
Exodus 2:23-25
23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.
The Hebrews have been living under this bondage for many years now. and I can’t say definitively that they have or have not been praying for deliverance this entire time but I can say that at this time they have cried out and God heard them.
This is the point when your working on the car and are done trying. This is the point when you’ve done all you can. This is the point your ready to give up.
Ultimately, this is the point you realize....you can’t do this on your own. On your own you are a slave to sin. On your own your in bondage to bad. On your own you are shackled by pride. On your own…you can do nothing.
Phil 4:13
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
The sooner you realize you can do nothing without Him, is the moment He begins to do things through you.
Want your marriage restored? Lean on Jesus. Want your relationship with your kids to improve? Lean on Jesus. Want your relationships with coworkers to improve? Lean on Jesus.
He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, by him were all thinngs created annd for him were all things created.
When you try on your own you will fail or succeed miserably. When you walk with God, you will find find victory.
God heard the Isrealites and He answered there prayers.
Ex 2:1-2
1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
Moses was born.
The Isrealites turned to God and He responded.
there could be some of you here today that are like the Israelites.
You check the box of Christian on your forms. You check the box of church attendance each week. You look the part you bear the name but you don’t live the life.
Your walk and your talk don’t match.
One preacher has said it this way “Your talk talks and your walk talks but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.”
It’s in this passage we see the Israelites have gotten to the place they are broken under the bondage of their sin and call out to God.
This is where we must be. We must see the situation we are living in as not one we should relish, but as one we should run from.
Don’t get Stockholm Syndrome with the taskmaster of sin and hypocrisy. Don’t believe that your life is better because you can live it however you want. Don’t believe the lie that so many have fallen prey too, that you must be perfect before you can become a Christian.
The opposite is true, you must accept your not perfect to be a believer.
And as a believer, you must accept that you need Jesus for more than just salvation. You need him for daily living. You need Him for the good times and the bad times. You need him for everything.
If you are here today and you don’t know Jesus as your savior, then you are a slave to sin. In a crowd this size, there is most likely someone here who hasn’t trusted in Jesus as their savior.
If you are a Christian here today, yet you find yourselves living apart from God. Your life doesn’t reflect the gospel of Jesus Christ, then you are choosing a life worst than the Israelites.
They were MADE to be slaves. You are choosing to be a slave.
How do you choose not to be a slave? First, start with spending time with God each day. Second, decide to have an impact (big or small) in someones life each day that will help point them to Christ. Third, in whatever ways you are a slave to the old man that you were before Christ, confess them as sins and repent…to repent means to turn from them..and seek God.
Until you are uncomfortable in your sin, you can never be comfortable with Christ.
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Time of Response