The Exodus Salvation Message

Here Us From Heaven https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-GTJ3i2xtw

Psalm 118:1–14 NIV

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. 2 Let Israel say: “His love endures forever.” 3 Let the house of Aaron say: “His love endures forever.” 4 Let those who fear the Lord say: “His love endures forever.” 5 When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord; he brought me into a spacious place. 6 The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? 7 The Lord is with me; he is my helper. I look in triumph on my enemies. 8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans. 9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. 10 All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord I cut them down. 11 They surrounded me on every side, but in the name of the Lord I cut them down. 12 They swarmed around me like bees, but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them down. 13 I was pushed back and about to fall, but the Lord helped me. 14 The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.

Prayer

Opening Hymn

Announcements:

David Trubek of Chosen People Ministries will be with us August 21. There will be a love offering taken and a potluck following.

August 28 there will be no Sunday school or church due to the Church in the Park service. The service will begin at 11 a.m. followed by potluck. You need to bring your own chair and a potluck item to share.

Genesis 17:10–14 NIV

10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

3 Worship songs

Ephesians 2:1–13 NIV

1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)—12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Prayer chorus

Prayer

The Exodus Salvation Message

Sermon Intro:

I have an object lesson for you today. This object lesson is called, “The Stain Solution.”

In 1 John, the Apostle John wrote…

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 John 1:7

Materials Needed:

Tap water

Iodine

Bleach

3 glass jars

Directions:

Label the 1st jar “You” and fill with tap water

Label the 2nd jar “Sin” and add the iodine

Label the 3rd jar “Christ” and fill with bleach

To do the experiment: pour the “sin” into the “you”. Watch it turn red! Stir some of the red-colored water back into “sin”. Now take “Christ” and pour it into “You” and watch the liquid turn clear. Try to add more of the iodine liquid in the jar (“sin”) into you and it will become clear.

I doubt you see me wear white shirts very often. I usually prefer prints because the hide stains. I am forever dripping coffee, ketchup, yes salsa, and even food on my blouses. You see, I’m a magnet for stains. And if I wear a white shirt, you’d better stay far away from me because I’m bound to spill something all over my shirt. The last time I bought a white sweatshirt, the first time I wore it I spilled a full cup of coffee on it and I never got the stain out of it.

But what is the worst type of stain? Sin!

We can’t escape sin because each of us are stained with the temptation to do bad things. Watch as I pour “sin” into “you.” What color do you become? It turns it red. And if I pour a little bit of “you” back into “sin,” it turns red too!

But, what happens when I add Christ into “you?” It finally becomes clear, and the stain is gone! Then if I add “Christ” back into “sin,” “sin” becomes clear again! Wow, this is incredible. It’s just like God who provided a solution for our sins!

1 John 1:7 says, “…the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

The solution was for Christ to die on the cross. And if you want to be free from the stain of sin, it’s as easy as the ABC’s! First, admit that you’re a sinner and ask for forgiveness. Second, believe that Jesus died on the cross. And third, choose to follow Christ. The blood of Christ washes away our sins.

Now, did you enjoy that object lesson? Object lessons have always been an important part of teaching others. They can come in the physical form of using objects, or in literary stories.

Object lessons are good because they make things more interesting and help us make other connections regarding what we are learning. Lessons learned through object lessons are far more likely to be remembered.

God has always used object lessons though we may not realize it. God’s Word is an amazing piece of work. For every passage you read, there are many various lessons that can be drawn from it.

We often call it the living word, as it takes on new meaning throughout our life. I am not saying the message changes, but I am saying that there are more than one lesson that we can learn from any given passage. Often, our current circumstances help us to see things in a passage that we never noticed before. There is also the work of the Holy Spirit within us to help us to see what we need for that moment.

However, underneath it all is the continual message of salvation.

Today’s account from Moses’ life, is a very mysterious one. It is a situation that comes out of nowhere and there are obviously details that are not communicated, yet once again, the salvation message is communicated through this very strange account.

Please stand as I read from our text found in Exodus 4:18-31.

Exodus 4:18–31NIV

18 Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.” Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.” 19 Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.” 20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand. 21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”

24 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. 26So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)

27 The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28 Then Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform. 29 Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, 30 and Aaron told them everything the Lordhad said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, 31and they believed. And when they heard that the Lordwas concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

The Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

Prayer

I. The Exodus Salvation Message

Now that I have talked about the object lessons or symbolism that is in God’s Word, let us look at some of this symbolism in the past sermons from Exodus. Some I have mentioned directly, others have been alluded to. But I want us to see the greater connection in this sermon. You see, the Bible has one main theme.

A. The Main Theme of the Bible is Salvation

Therefore, the object lessons and symbolism within the Bible all point to salvation. Salvation is God driven, God ordained, it is only achieved through God and His Son. The Son of God would be born as a man, would live a perfect life while teaching us about God, then the Son would allow others to scorn Him, beat Him, and put Him to death, that He may pay the death price required for sins expiation. Jesus then became the door through which we could enter salvation.

So, look with me at some of this symbolism found in the Exodus account that speak of our need for salvation and the means by which it is received.

1. Pharaoh represents Satan

God and His people have an enemy. For Israel in this account, it is Pharaoh. However, Pharaoh is a representative of a greater enemy. Pharaoh was actually a pawn in the hands of the true enemy. This true enemy we know by the name Satan, or The Devil. At least, these are the most common names he is known by.

Next, we see that…

2. Pharaoh enslaves the Israelites, the way sin enslaves all people

All people are in bondage to sin just as the Israelites were in bondage to Pharaoh.

John 8:34NIV

34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.

Romans 6:6NIV

6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—

My mind works in strange ways and for some reason as I was writing this, my mind pictured it as an old soundless melodrama. If I would be presenting this as a melodrama, we would have a mustached man with an evil grin, lording over a defenseless woman.

But now comes the bow-tied hero that sees our plight and cares enough to get involved. God is our hero. What can I say? My mind works in strange ways.

This third one I want you to see is maybe not so much a symbol, but it is an encouragement. It relates to us every bit as much as it did for Israel.

3. God hears the cry of Israel and sees their need, just like He sees and hears our cries today

Often the way we read it, we get the idea that suddenly one day God noticed, but that is not the case. God was always watching. The scripture is trying to communicate to us that God watches over His people. He is aware of our needs, and He is working on our behalf even though we do not see Him.

The next thing we see is that...

4. God sends a deliverer to Israel just as He will later send Jesus to be our deliverer

So, the symbolism is between Moses and Christ. Moses is what we refer to as an archetype of Christ. Archetypes are like prototype or model if you will. Moses becomes a model of what Christ will later do for everyone.

If you have been in the church a long time, this all probably feels like Bible Class 101 to you. However, we live in a world of people that may or may not have watched the wonderful classic by Cecil B DeMille of the Ten Commandments movie, but they have no context for the greater meaning of those events. In fact, they may not even know they are historical. To them, they are just a fantasy story made up to promote societies rules for better living. They have no idea that there is a greater truth there that can free them from the bondage of sin in this world and the later torment of hell.

However, God does not just demonstrate this salvation message through a nation of people, but He makes it personal for the individual as well, which we will see in a moment.

Before we go there, I wish to zero in on a couple final conclusions to last week’s sermon. When we left off, Moses had a lot of excuses why God should choose someone else. Today we see that…

B. Moses Accepts the Call

Last week, we saw Moses receive the actual call from God. He was reluctant to accept, not because He didn’t have a heart for God, but because he was thinking all the way, “How will I ever pull this off? I failed the last time I tried.” Moses was missing the point that God was patiently reiterating with each answer and miraculous sign provided. “I will do the work. You will just be my representative.”

When an ambassador goes to another nation to make a peace treaty, they do not go in their own name or power. They just represent the nation/president of the nation. The ambassador has no authority to agree to anything without the president’s say/authority.

Moses was just an ambassador for God. However, the authority and power to act, were God.

There are some very important things we can learn from these final passages of that discussion between Moses and God. Things that need to be remembered and applied to our own lives.

1. God’s patience is not limitless

Exodus 4:14NIV

14 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you.

God’s patience does eventually run out and He does get angry. This does not mean He doesn’t love His people. He could have smote Moses right then and there, but He does not. He makes it clear that Moses is to do this, but God does provide encouragement to Moses. Moses’ brother in on the way even as they speak. Perhaps Aaron is coming to give Moses word that those who wanted to kill him are dead. Who knows for sure? But God offers to Moses the concession that Aaron can be the spokesperson, however, Moses is the one to do the signs. Moses is God’s representative and the authority over Aaron.

There is much debate whether this had always been God’s plan. We have no way of knowing. Aaron was a great help at times and a problem at other times. It really is immaterial to me as the important thing here is Moses’ obedience.

We all need to be careful about having a healthy respect for God. He encourages us to share open and honestly with Him. He is not against us asking questions. But we need to be cautious not to push God’s good nature too far. He is still after all, the Almighty God and not someone to be trifled with.

The next thing that I believe Moses helps us to see is how often…

2. We waste time on unfounded fears (Exodus 4:18, 29-31)

We all do it at times. We anticipate problems where no problems ever arise. When God calls us to something, He opens the doors for us to do them.

When Moses goes to Jethro to ask permission to leave, he is not fully truthful with Jethro. Now, Moses was not being disrespectful of God by asking Jethro’s permission to go. This was appropriate since he worked for Jethro. However, He seems to have been concerned that Jethro may not allow him to leave as he is not fully truthful of why he is leaving, yet Jethro does permit him to go.

When we answer God’s call, this is not justification for not being fair to employers. When I felt called to go to the Bible college, I was a corporate supervisor. I knew this was a position that would take longer to fill. I was not sure when I would be leaving, but I felt impressed by God to share with the company that I would be leaving at some time in the near future.

Now, I had been told a long time ago that if you planned to leave an employment situation, do not let them know until you are ready to leave (2 weeks or so notice only). Otherwise, they may find other reasons to let you go and move on, or other problems could arise. When I shared with friends I was going to talk to my employer, they cautioned me saying, “Is that wise?” But I knew God was saying I should do so. I had no idea what to expect.

It worked out beautifully. My employer granted me their blessing (after offering a generous raise to stay). They even did many other wonderful things to help me when I left. They told me they greatly appreciated my being honest with them and giving them time to begin a search for a replacement. They also assured me they would keep me as long as I needed until I was ready to move on. God expects us to be respectful of those we work for.

Moses had also been concerned about the Israelites reaction to his return and proclamation, yet in 4:29-31, we find they believed and even worshiped God for His deliverance. So, Moses was worried for nothing!

Another important lesson is that...

3. Things given to God belong to God (Exodus 4:19, 20)

Remember Moses’ shepherd’s staff? It is no longer Moses’ but it has become God’s.

Exodus 4:20NIV

20So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

I am not going to spend time here, but things consecrated to God belong to God. That is true of items, but also of people. They are no longer ordinary, but become special in God’s hands.

The next thing we note is...

4. God’s passion for His people(Exodus 4:21-23)

God gives Moses further instruction here of what will transpire, including another sign.

Exodus 4:21–23NIV

21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”

The people of Israel are not just a people group to God. God considers them His firstborn son. They are firstborn as they will be the first people group that God will reveal His salvation plan to. They will also be the people from which that salvation will come from, and they will be the first to proclaim the Good News to all men.

However, they are not only messengers, but they are sons in God’s mind. They are His children every bit as much as Pharaoh’s son is to him and God will use Pharaoh’s son to win the release of Israel, but their true salvation from Egypt will come through God’s power and the hand of His deliverer, Moses. (Egypt is also a symbol for “the world.” It is used as such throughout scripture).

Now that we are back to Moses, we are about to find a very strange event in his life where...

C. Moses experiences salvation personally(Exodus 4:24-26)

Sometimes the Bible is confusing and doesn’t make sense. That is because we sometimes must wrestle with the message God is delivering and try to understand why this event is being shared.

In this case, we find an awkward event along Moses’s journey back to Egypt. God becomes angry with Moses to the point of killing him, so the passage says. Some say this is more like a test such as Abraham being called upon to sacrifice his son Isaac. I am not sure if this is so or not, but because it is shared, we know it has something important to relate.

We have no real context to know for sure what has transpired. There is no explanation of what brought things to this climax. However, we get the impression that Moses is sick and near death and it is because God is angry with him.

The only thing we know is that it somehow had to do with Moses’ son’s lack of being circumcised because the situation is resolved when that occurs.

Moses for some reason, was not complying with God’s law of circumcision for Hebrew males. It is difficult to know if the reluctance was on the part of Moses or perhaps, he was reluctant because his wife had reservations. However, as God’s leader, Moses must comply with the law of God. Up to this point, they do not have many laws, but circumcision was well-known and expected.

Moses is only saved through the swift action of his wife circumcising their son and smearing the blood on Moses’s feet.

Just a quick reminder. Circumcision was important as it was a physical reminder of the covenant, and it was a symbol of the relationship the Israelite had to God

Now we are back to symbolism and object lessons. Moses is condemned to die due to his disobedience by neglecting his son’s circumcision, but the blood of another (his son) is shed on his behalf and he lives. Blood has covered the offense saving Moses from death.

From this point forward, we see a very different Moses. We see him boldly standing before the Israelites and Pharaoh. Aaron is there, but more often, we hear Moses speaking.

This passage may be mysterious and confusing. But I believe it was a significant salvation experience for Moses that changed his life and I believe we are to understand that and know that God changes us in our salvation experience moment.

Conclusion:

The Bible is replete with the message of salvation and salvation by blood. Blood particularly, is symbolic all through the scriptures as it is only through the shedding of blood that we are saved. However, not just any blood would suffice. The blood had to be pure, free from any sin stain as we saw demonstrated in our opening object lesson. The only blood that met the requirement, was the blood of God’s only “Begotten Son.” Israel was God’s firstborn, but Jesus was the only son begotten of God.

Monogenes is the Greek work for “only begotten." It is a compound word. Monos means “only” and kenos means “kind of race.” When the two are put together the word means, ‘only kind’ or ‘unique.’

Jesus is one of a kind. He has always existed. He is God, yet He was made incarnate (took on the flesh of man and literally became man) when he was born through Mary. This means He was 100% mankind in that moment. He divested Himself of all that would prevent Him from experiencing what we experience each and every day.

We are God’s sons and daughters through adoption, but Jesus is God’s Son by birth.

Jesus was the only flesh and blood person to walk the earth and not sin, therefore, His blood is pure enough to cleanse us of our sin.

Today, we will celebrate this victory from sin through the partaking of communion, but before we do so, it is always appropriate to ask. Have you understood this salvation being offered to you? Have you taken the steps to receive this salvation for yourself? It is not hard. All you need to do is to recognize your need. Accept the truth that you have sinned.

We all have. The Bible says.

Romans 3:23NIV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

That is the hard part. Our pride wants to tell us that we are basically good people and that is good enough, but it isn’t good enough. We can do nothing to earn or buy our salvation. It can only be received through the cleansing power of Jesus righteousness and sacrifice on our account. He died on the cross, spilling His blood to cover our sins. Why?

Romans 6:23NIV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So, how do we receive this gift of salvation? Romans 10:9 tells us how.

Romans 10:9NIV

9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Once we accept and confess our sin, we just need to profess Jesus as Lord and our Savior. We understand that His death was on our behalf.

Then we must choose to follow the path that God has for us. That means we stop doing the things we did previously that would be offensive to our holy God and seek to do things that would please Him. In other words, we begin to spend time with God, getting to know Him and what pleases Him. We study His Word and learn from it and apply its truths to our life.

But we do not do so alone. When we profess our sin and ask to receive this gift of salvation from Jesus, His Spirit comes and joins us within. He becomes a guide for us as we learn to live a different way. We are also not alone as we now are part of a family, the family of God. The church becomes our family.

Finally, we celebrate and gift thanks and praise to God for the work He has done on our behalf. One way we do that is remembering Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. We do this by receiving communion. The bread represents Jesus body that was beaten, and His flesh torn on our behalf. We eat this bread symbolically taking Jesus torn flesh into ourselves

We drink juice colored red to symbolize the blood of Jesus that was shed and ran through the streets to cleanse our sin.

This morning, we will take time to do this. Let us pray.

Prayer to consecrate the elements.

Receive communion

Pray

In Remembrance of Me Cheryl Keaggy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WReXhV7MpI0