Let My People Go!

A couple of weeks ago, we looked at the account of “Moses and the Burning Bush,” where he met with God the Father, the commanding voice in the bush. God the Son is the Jehovah Ma’Lak or the Angel of the Lord, and God, the Holy Spirit, is seen as the fire in the burning bush. We are not sure what the phonetic annunciation of the letters used to form what we now refer to as Jehovah or Yahweh. We saw God doing what only He can do as He revealed His promises run deep even though the letters that form His name, HawYaw Asher HawYaw; “I’ll Be who I will be, or I am that I am. Hey Vav Hed Yud, Behold the Nail, Behold the hand.

This Revelation brings us to our primary passage over in Exodus 6.

As you turn over there, I would like to share a little bit here this morning.

This message hits home for me as I consider the power of God and the many ways, He has displayed it in my life.

Like most of us have, I have had moments where I have felt utterly defeated in this flesh, regardless of the type of whether it was mental, physical, spiritual, financial, or any other sort of problem that God allows to test our resolve and faith.

Regardless of what false God seems to want to claim your joy and peace, God Almighty has a plan for your life.

God called Moses and his brother Aaron, who obeyed and confronted Pharoah. Things didn’t go as one in their situation might hope. Pharoah didn’t free Israel; in fact, Pharoah only increased his oppression of the Israelites.

God calls us to obey, and all too often, we get discouraged when things go differently than we planned. While it may seem foolish for us to first obey in a situation we know almost nothing about, only to turn around and give up when things don’t go how we intended. Moses almost gave into this sort of reaction once Pharoah doubled down on his abuse of Israel. - “Exodus 5:22-23.”

Exodus 5:22–23 ESV

22 Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

But God’s response was one that almost seems to laugh while, saying, Moses’ watch Pharoah as he learns who I am the hard way! And that is where our text picks up this morning.

So, please stand with me if you were able as we read God’s word this morning.

“Exodus 6:1-13”

Exodus 6:1–13 ESV

1 But the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” 2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’ ” 9 Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery. 10 So the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land.” 12 But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?” 13 But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

God’s omnipotence, also known as His infinite power, is not always obvious to us in the storm or when we face our giants, fiery furnaces, or lions’ den. We ignore His authority in the good times when it is easy to believe and fall to pieces when times get hard because of it.

God’s power deserves to be acknowledged with reverence all the time, in both the good times and the bad. And so, I hope that today this message will deepen the reverence you have for God.

God’s power commands the award of our worship and praise regardless of which enemy stands in front of us. So, I pray that today this message will help to remind you that God will justly recompense the enemies of God and His children. Take note of the “by God” part. “Vengeance is Mine says the Lord!” as it says in Romans 8:19.

I pray that this message helps to remind us of all that God is our refuge from life’s giants and storms. So that, we learn to instinctively take refuge in God’s protecting power in times of our distress.

The Context of the Text

The context of chapters 5 and 6 reveals a God still in power, His people doubt His power, and Pharoah denies the power of God. The result is God proved His power, His people were delivered, and Pharoah was forced to see the ugly truth that the I am that I am is God, and Pharoah is nothing more than a helpless man.

A Lesson in Passing

There is a lesson for us here that we should note in passing. Often when God is about to bring a joyful experience into your life, he lets a very discouraging setback precede it. The burden of bondage in Egypt became heaviest just before the great day of liberation. There are good reasons why God does things this way, but we’ll save that for another message. I just wanted you to see this in passing so that if you are discouraged this morning, you will hold on to God until he stretches out his “strong hand.”

Three Things God’s Omnipotence Implies About God

The name ALMIGHTY implies that God has all the might he needs to do anything he wants to do. This view of God is confirmed over and over again in Scripture. We call it the omnipotence of God. Omnipotent and almighty mean virtually the same thing. In particular, there are three things that God’s omnipotence implies about himself.

1. He Cannot Be Stopped from Fulfilling His Will

First, the omnipotence of God implies that he cannot be stopped from doing what he purposes to do. Daniel 4:35 says,

Daniel 4:35 ESV

35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

In other words, If God purposes with all his heart to do a thing, it cannot be stopped by any power in the universe.

2. He Does Whatever He Pleases

Second, the omnipotence of God implies that he does whatever he pleases. Psalm 115:3, says

Psalm 115:3 ESV

3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

In Isaiah 46:9–10, God says,

Isaiah 46:9–10 ESV

9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

GOD ALMIGHTY is not like us. He can do whatever he pleases. Ultimately the only thing that determines what God will accomplish and what he won’t is his own will. This is what it means to be almighty or omnipotent.

3. His Power Is Superior to All Other Powers

Third, the omnipotence of God implies that his power is superior to all other powers. When watching mega sporting events such as the Olympics or the Super Bowl, one of the camera maneuvers can teach us something about the greatness of God. The opening and closing ceremonies of the 1980 Summer Olympics for example were thrilling to most of the people who saw them. The sheer magnitude of the crowds and fireworks and music was a once-in-a-lifetime experience of magnitude and greatness.

Those of us who have watched it whether on television as some of you may have, or as I did online, you could feel some of the thrill as the camera was high enough to take in the whole view above the coliseum. But then something strange happened. The camera continued to ascend into the sky where it was perched in either a helicopter, blimp, or balloon, and the coliseum became smaller and smaller until it was just a blurry dot on the ground.

As I watch these inspiring camera angles, I cannot help but to be filled with Joy in the greatness of God. I mean, consider how thrilled we are with a coliseum full of color and sound. Think of how we stand in wonder. Look how we shout and clap and feel excited at the splendor of it all. But look again from God’s perspective. Compared to his power and splendor, it’s a blurry dot on the ground.”

God puts on a minor display of his strength and splendor every morning as he brings the sun up over the horizon—865,000 miles thick, 1.3 million times heavier than the earth, blazing on its cool edges at one million degrees Centigrade!

Every morning has its opening ceremonies to thrill us with the power and the glory of God and fill us with the hope that one day we will enter a land where all the wonders that have inspired us on this little earth will be like blurry dots in comparison with the magnificence of God’s eternal closing ceremonies.

And every night, God puts out a little puppet show of his majesty in the sky, with Perseus and Andromeda and Hercules and Orion and Leo the Lion and Draco the Dragon sporting about in the local galaxy 100,000 light-years across.

“Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.” And what they teach so forcefully is that God is infinite in power. Nothing that has ever awed you can compare to him. He is GOD ALMIGHTY! Nothing can stay his hand. He does whatever he pleases. He is the Potter, and the universe is his clay.

The Name God Almighty Means Three Things for Us

Now I want to focus on what the name GOD ALMIGHTY means for us. I summed it up at the beginning like this: The omnipotence of God means reverence, recompense, and refuge for his covenant people. That’s what God’s omnipotence implies about himself. So now, let’s take these promises one at a time.

1. Reverence

First, the omnipotence of God means reverence. In Job 40:2, the Lord said to Job, “Shall a faultfinder contend with the ALMIGHTY?” The fact that God is almighty means that we may not contend with him. He may perplex us and question him in lowliness for understanding but not for indictment. We may not accuse our Maker. When we try, we set ourselves or some court of appeals above God, which is a horrendous sin against the deity of God. As St. Paul says, “Shall what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me thus?’ Has the Potter no right over the clay to do with it as he pleases?” (Romans 9:20–21).

Most people do not have any experience of reverence. But reverence is a foreign emotion to fallen human beings. He cannot be revered wherever God is considered a pal or a sidekick or a grandfather or the religious drug of the uneducated. You can feel many affections for a little God, but reverence is not one of them.

Isaiah says, “The Lord of hosts . . . let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.” (8:13). Reverence is the combination of admiration and fear, awe and dread, wonder and terror. It’s an emotion that we were made to experience. And in its absence, we create motion pictures and take vacations that do their best to provide a substitute. We long to be awe-struck. We long for some friendly terror and some joyful dread. And the only way we will ever experience it is to know the Lord as GOD ALMIGHTY, the omnipotent.

2. Recompense

Second, the omnipotence of God means recompense—a recompense of wrath upon those who do not believe the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:8). John describes a scene in the book of Revelation of a white horse with a rider called Faithful and True. His eyes are like a flame of fire, he is clad in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. The armies of heaven are in his train. “From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the ALMIGHTY” (Revelation 19:15).

If God is almighty, one thing is for sure—no one who resists him can succeed. The arrogant and the unbelieving may seem for a while to prosper. But, as Psalm 73 discovers, there comes a speedy end: “Truly thou dost set them in slippery places; thou dost make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors.” It is utter folly and madness to disobey the Almighty. He cannot be tricked, thwarted, or defeated. And he has appointed a day when his Son will tread the winepress of the fury of his wrath because he is GOD ALMIGHTY.

3. Refuge

Third, the omnipotence of God means refuge. The opposite of recompense for those who have refused the terms of God’s treaty is a refuge for those who have accepted. Psalm 91:1–2, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, who abides in the shadow of the ALMIGHTY, will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.”

Has it ever hit home to you what it means to say, “My God, who loves me and gave himself for me, is almighty”? It means that if you take your place under the shadow of the ALMIGHTY, you are protected by omnipotence. There is infinite and unending security in the almightiness of God.

The Shadow of the Almighty

It was not a slip up in 1958 when Elizabeth Elliot gave “the life and testament” of her slain husband the title, SHADOW OF THE ALMIGHTY. Jim Elliot and four other missionaries to the Aucas were killed on January 8, 1956. In 1949 when Jim Elliot was a college student, he wrote the words that have become the motto of many of our young people at Bethlehem: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep gaining what he cannot lose.”

Around the world, the death of Jim Elliot and his four friends was called a nightmare of tragedy. But Elizabeth Elliot wrote, “The world did not recognize the truth of the second clause in Jim Elliot’s credo: ‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep gaining what he cannot lose.” She called her book SHADOW OF THE ALMIGHTY from Psalm 91:1 because she was utterly convinced that the refuge of the people of God is not a refuge from suffering and death but a refuge from final and ultimate defeat. He who saves his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for the sake of the gospel will save it—because the Lord is GOD ALMIGHTY.

God did not exercise his omnipotence to deliver Jesus from the cross. Nor will he exercise it to deliver you and me from tribulation. If we have the faith and single-mindedness and courage of Jim Elliott, we might find ourselves saying with the apostle Paul, “For thy sake, we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God—the almighty God!—in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Joy, Freedom, Power, and Obedience

The omnipotence of God means eternal, a cool refuge in the everlasting glory of God no matter what happens on this earth. Is there anything more freeing, more thrilling, or more strengthening than the truth that GOD ALMIGHTY is your refuge—all day, every day in all the ordinary and extraordinary experiences of life! Nothing but what he ordains for your good befalls you. And afterward, he will receive you to glory! And that confidence is the power of radical obedience to the call of God.

Suppose we believed this if we let this truth of God’s omnipotence get hold of us; what a difference it would make in our personal lives and our ministry as a church! How humble and powerful we would become for the saving purposes of God! Paul speaks of “the immeasurable greatness of God’s power in us who believe.” Arthur Mathews describes the secret of one of the revivals in northern India like this: It was owing to “three renewed human wills that by faith linked themselves as with hooks of steel to the omnipotent will of God . . . yearning, pleading, crying and agonizing over the church in India and the myriads of lost souls.”

The omnipotence of God means refuge for the people of God. And when you believe that your refuge is the omnipotence of GOD ALMIGHTY, there is a joy and freedom and a power that spills over in a life of radical obedience to Jesus Christ.

The omnipotence of God means reverence, recompense, and refuge for his covenant people. I invite you to accept the terms of his covenant of grace: turn from sin and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the omnipotence of GOD ALMIGHTY will be the reverence of your soul, the recompense of your enemies, and the refuge of your life—forever.

So, God sent Moses to confront Pharoah. God knew Pharoah would reject God’s command, and even with knowing the insidious heart of Pharoah, God gave him multiple chances to repent and obey.

Like with everything, God is long-suffering, but once He is done, it is all decided. God ultimately uses the pride and defiance of Pharoah to end in his destruction.

God is all-powerful and all-knowing, and when He is your Lord, you have nothing to fear regardless of how evil or powerful the enemy may be.

As Pharoah progressed in his rebellion, God taught him what the one true God could do. God does what He wills regardless of what power Pharoah thought would save or protect him.

The first plague discredited Hapi- the Egyptian god of the Nile, as God turned the water to blood.

The Second plague renders Heket -Egyptian goddess of Fertility, Water, and Renewal powerless as Frogs coming from the Nile River and invading homes of the Egyptians. Heket was believed to have a head like a frog.

The Third plague attacked and defeated Geb- the Egyptian god of the earth, as God cursed the dust of the earth out of which came the plague of lice.

Next, the Fourth Plague was a slap in the face of Khepri, the Egyptian god of creation, movement of the Sun, and rebirth, was humiliated in the face of all who beheld God’s display of power over these realms by sending a swarm of flies, the symbol and devourer of death, to swarm Egypt and block the sun.

The Fifth Plague attacked Hathor- the Egyptian goddess of Love and Protection- depicted with a cow’s head. She was rendered helpless in the eyes of Egypt as God put to death the cattle and livestock.

Moses again, day after day, confronted and warned Pharoah each time, declaring, “Let my people go!” Each time Pharoah refused, and his heart grew harder with each passing day.

And so, without warning, the Sixth Plague discredited Isis- Egyptian goddess of Medicine and Peace, as God struck the Egyptians with ashes that turned to Boils and Sores.

Egyptians were religiously obsessive over cleanliness, and Isis rituals reflected this. Ashes were used to purify them symbolically, but God used their symbol to make a point that Isis can’t make your soul clean.

The Seventh Plague was a slap in the face of Nut-Egyptian goddess of the sky, as Hail rained down in the form of fire. The Israelites were told to protect their families by staying in their homes. Much like today, when we should still be making our homes a place of reverence and refuge in God Almighty.

The Eighth Plague attacked and defeated the next god on the Egyptian all-star team, Seth. Seth was considered the Egyptian god of Storms and Disorder, and God attacked Egypt with a storm of disorder in the form of dangerous swarms of locusts destroying the crops and forcing Egypt into a plague overnight.

Still, Pharoah wouldn’t obey God’s command, so God attacked Ra- the Egyptian Sun god, humiliating the false god with three days of complete darkness, which was a devastating blow to the arid people of Egypt and their most worshiped god.

While Ra was the most worshiped, Egypt’s most influential god was Pharoah himself. He was believed to be the actual son of Ra in human flesh.

The Tenth and final plague attacked Pharoah and the people he was meant to protect, as the death of the First Born Son was the humbling blow that shattered the mighty Pharaoh's heart—resulting in the release of the Israeli people and the demand that they go and take riches as they go. Israel’s first war was won completely by God; the Israelites were just the benefactors of God’s victory over the world’s most powerful empire.

One by one, the powers that would enslave God’s people were stood up and humiliated as they were knocked down.

Listen, it doesn’t matter what false god seeks to steal the joy and freedom you are meant to experience in Christ; God can and will set them up and knock them down one by one, in His divine and excellent time.

While it is easy to paint you with goosebumps with a story as powerfully inspiring as this one, please don’t neglect to take note of the 400 years it took to get to that point, why because God’s plans for your life work on His time, not yours.

As this story advances through several chapters, we finally see why God commands “let my people go.” Chapter nine, verse one says;

Exodus 9:1 ESV

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.

Our purpose and reason is to serve God Almighty, being His image bearers in this world. God has not freed us from our former lives marked by death, for us to go on living as if nothing has changed within us.

As we behold God’s power, and consider our purpose. This message can be an encouraging one, or it can be a discouraging one.

If we are content in God’s authority regardless of what that means for us personally, then we will see His power as it plays out in His divine will, being content even if it means our own lives.

Should we not find ourselves being commited to His will we will find ourselves discontent in our relationship with Him, because we will be consistently upset that God is doing His way and not our own.

Beholding His power, causes us to consider His plan, power and will down through the ages. A will that leaves this Holy Book we call the Bible, pointing to Jesus from the very beginning.

Beholding the Power of God in the person of Jesus Christ, makes us consider the what and why of His incarnate life.

As we come before the Lord’s Table this morning, we have much to consider. Are we faithful in obeying the God that lines up, knocks down, and destroys the powers that seek to hold captive over our very souls? Or are we complacent often forgetting what Jesus did in our place on the cross.

From “In the beginning God,” to “it is finished,” was all God’s master plan of redemption and salvation.

The Lord’s Supper

So, as we prepare our elements this morning, let us consider together God’s purpose of the incarnate life of Jesus Christ.

As we consider this together let me start us in prayer.

“Lord, we pray that You would still our minds and quiet our hearts as we approach this communion table today. We ask that You would draw each one of us into ever closer fellowship with Yourself, as we partake together of the bread and wine, in grateful remembrance of what You did for each one of us, on Calvary’s cross.

Help me Lord, to approach this communion table with reverence and godly fear, as we share together in the bread and the cup. Lord, we remember how on the same night that You were betrayed You took a piece of bread, and blessed it and broke it, and gave it to Your disciples and said. “eat this in remembrance of Me.”

We also remember how You then took the cup and told them. “this is the new covenant in My blood, do this in remembrance of Me.” Lord, we partake of this bread and drink this cup in remembrance of what You did on our behalf, on Calvary’s cross, and praise and glorify Your holy name.

Amen.”

1 Corinthians 11 tells us starting in verse 28;

1 Corinthians 11:28–32 ESV

28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

With Every Head Bowed; Let us examine our hearts together, for a moment, being throughly honest with ourselves before the throne of God, praying as each has need.

1 Corinthians 11 starting in verse 23 reads;

1 Corinthians 11:23–24 ESV

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

"The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, eat you all of it"

Eat and Pause...

Pray

1 Corinthians 11:25–26 ESV

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

“The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, drink you all of it”

Closing Prayer:

“Lord Jesus, what a privilege to be able to come before Your throne of grace and partake of the precious sacraments of bread and wine, in remembrance of Your atoning sacrifice on the cross of Calvary.

Thank You for dying for me on the cross and paying the enormous price for my sins, so that I may be forgiven of all my faults and receive Your indwelling life.

May I never forget the enormous price that was paid on my behalf. May I never forget that I have been bought with a price, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. May I live for Him from this day on, knowing that Your body was broken and Your blood was spilt for me,

Thank You, Lord. In Jesus' name,

Amen.”

Let us worship together as Heather leads the singing...