“The Exodus”
Series: A Journey through the Old Testament [on screen]
Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD
First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida
June 20, 2021
Introductory Comments:
The Exodus is one of the most intriguing stories in the Old Testament. We see good versus evil; we see a dramatic deliverance; we see miracles; and, we see God fulfilling His promises.
We are continuing our series called, “A Journey Through the Old Testament.” Today, we’ll be talking about the Exodus. The Exodus is God’s story of calling a man to lead the people of God out of bondage and slavery.
Let’s pray together as we learn from God’s Word.
(prayer)
By the way, exodus refers to a mass departure, or exit, of people; it’s when a lot of people leave at one time. Well, that’s what we’re learning about today, a mass departure of people. So, let’s check it out.
First, let’s look at . . .
I. Major elements[on screen]
First, the descendants of Jacob became extremely numerous in the land of Egypt. (Exodus 1:5-7) [on screen]
Remember, it was just Jacob and his family who originally moved to Egypt. Now, they have gone from 70 to so many that they filled the land.
Read Exodus 1:5-7 in Bible
Some of you may wonder how many people were involved in the Exodus. Well, we see here that the group started with 70. Exodus 12:37 tells us that there were 600,000 able-bodied men, as well as their families. So, it’s safe to say there were probably over 1,000,000 Israelites in Egypt during this time.
Remember, God told Abraham that his descendants would multiply greatly. It looks like God is keeping His promise.
We learn that the new king of Egypt treated the Israelites harshly. (Exodus 1:8-14) [on screen]
Read Exodus 1:8-14 in Bible
The new Pharaoh was concerned about the growing number of the Israelites, but the more he oppressed them, the more they multiplied. What he didn’t know was that God was blessing them!
Church, let me remind you that when God is doing something, no one is going to stop it.
Pharaoh would try something else. He would attempt to stop as many babies from being born. In the midst of Pharaoh’s evil attempt to destroy Israelite babies, God brought Moses into the world. (Exodus 1:15-2:10) [on screen]
Pharaoh attempted to destroy all the Israelite babies, but we learn that God spared many of them.
During this evil time, Moses is born and hidden away by his mother. Eventually, his mother places him in a basket and he is found by Pharoah’s daughter who has compassion on him and takes him as her own son.
Next, as a grown man, Moses flees to Midian. (Exodus 2:11-23) [on screen]
Moses realizes that he is an Israelite and he eventually kills an Egyptian man whom he witnesses beating an Israelite.
Pharaoh seeks to kill Moses for what he did, so Moses flees to Midian.
During the middle of all of this, the book of Exodus points out that God remembered his covenant with the people of Israel. (Exodus 2:23-25) [on screen]
Read Exodus 2:23-25 in Bible
While Moses is away, God appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush and called him to deliver the Israelites. (Exodus 3:1-22) [on screen]
Moses was shepherding flocks when he saw a bush that was burning but was not burning up.
God spoke to Moses out of the bush.
Read Exodus 3:4-6 in Bible
God told Moses that He knew of His people’s suffering and wanted to use Moses to deliver them from Egypt.
So, God equips Moses with miraculous powers in order to convince others that he has been sent by God. (Exodus 4:1-9) [on screen]
People say crazy stuff all the time, right? So, how could Moses prove that he really was sent by God? Well, God gave Moses the ability to perform miracles so others would know that he really was sent by God.
Next, God also tells Moses to use his brother Aaron as a spokesman. (Exodus 4:10-17) [on screen]
Moses is hesitant because he cannot speak well, so God says for him to use Aaron.
Moses is looking for a way not to do this, but God is not giving Moses an opportunity to say no.
So, Moses returns to Egypt and convinces the people that God has called him to lead the people to deliverance. (Exodus 4:18-31) [on screen]
Then, Moses tells Pharaoh that God wants His people to be free to go and worship. Pharaoh does not respond well. (Exodus 5) [on screen]
Initially, Moses simply said that the Israelites needed to go worship in the wilderness.
Pharaoh didn’t like that. In fact, Pharaoh increases the workload of the Israelites.
As a result, the people are not happy with Moses and Aaron. Things are not going well.
So, God tells Moses to go back to Pharaoh and tell him to let His people go. (Exodus 6:10-11) [on screen]
This time they’re not asking to go worship, they’re asking to GO go.
God knows how all of this will go, and He has a plan. The Lord begins to demonstrate His power and authority through a series of plagues and miracles. (Exodus 7-12) [on screen]
Listen, church: God is in charge the entire time. God is in charge throughout all of history. God is in charge right now! He has a plan! So, in the exodus, we start to see God’s plan play out through these plagues and miracles.
Aaron’s staff turns into a snake (Exodus 7:1-13)
#1 – Nile River turns to blood (Exodus 7:14-25)
#2 – Frogs come from the Nile and into the land (Exodus 8:1-15)
#3 – Gnats swarm the land (Exodus 8:16-19)
#4 – Flies swarm the land (Exodus 8:20-32)
#5 – Livestock die (Exodus 9:1-7)
#6 – Boils come on people and animals (Exodus 9:8-12)
#7 – The land was struck with lightning and hail (Exodus 9:13-35)
#8 – Locusts covered the land (Exodus 10:1-20)
#9 – Darkness covered the land for three days (Exodus 10:21-29)
#10 – Death of the firstborn (Exodus 11-12) (This is what Pastor Dirck preached about last week).
Throughout the plagues, Pharaoh said he would let God’s people worship, but he continually hardened his heart and changed his mind.
As God brought this terrible final plague, He wanted to protect His people. So, the Lord provided a Passover to spare the lives of the Hebrew firstborn. (Exodus 12:1-28) [on screen]
After the last plague, the Israelites were allowed to leave Egypt. (Exodus 12:29-42) [on screen]
Again, we are told here that there were 600,000 able-bodied men, plus their families. That’s a lot of Israelites!
After the exodus, the Lord instituted the Passover Meal to remember God’s deliverance of His people. (Exodus 12:43-51) [on screen]
This Passover Meal is still celebrated today as a remembrance of God’s deliverance of His people.
Well, Pharaoh changed his mind and decided to pursue the Israelites with his army. (Exodus 14:5-14) [on screen]
Pharaoh pursued them with over 600 chariots.
When they saw Pharaoh’s army coming, the Israelites were afraid and angry at Moses. They asked, “Why did you bring us out here to die?”
Moses encouraged them to trust in the Lord.
The Lord provided an escape for the people through the Red Sea. (Exodus 14:15-31) [on screen]
Remember, if God wants something done, He’ll get it done!
God caused the sea to divide so the Israelites could cross but when the Egyptians pursued them, the waters fell back down and destroyed the Egyptian army.
By the way, in case there weren’t already enough miracles going on, God led the people with a big pillar-like cloud so that they knew where to go.
After the Exodus, the people of Israel would wander in the desert until God would finally settle them in their land. More to come on that later. [on screen]
Ok, that’s a broad view of what’s going on in the Exodus. There’s obviously a lot more detail, which you can explore more on your own.
Now, let’s discover the . . .
II. Major truths[on screen]
1. God knows the suffering of His people. [on screen]
God knew that His people were suffering in Israel and He knows the suffering of His people now.
God knows when you and I suffer. Some of you are suffering right now, and God sees it!
Psalm 56:8 says, “You yourself have recorded my wanderings. Put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” [on screen]
God sees every tear that you shed. He has not forgotten a single one. So, trust God. He sees you.
2. God knows the end from the beginning. [on screen]
Let me put it another way: God knows the end of the story. For those of us who trust Jesus, we already know the end of the story: Jesus wins, which means we win.
We may be suffering now, things may look terrible now, but God knows the end. He has a plan in mind.
Can you imagine that you were one of those Israelites at that time? Imagine that you are already a slave and then the king makes your work tougher simply because you want to worship God. Then, imagine that you finally are able to leave only to be chased by the Egyptian army. That would be terrible, wouldn’t it? However, God knows the beginning from the end.
In Revelation 22:13, God tells us, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” [on screen]
God is timeless, and He sees you; trust Him!
Finally, . . .
3. God works mysteriously and powerfully. [on screen]
We don’t know all of God’s ways, but we know that we can trust Him.
Last night we got a new couch (we had a warranty on one that broke). These guys came and delivered the couch. There were just a bunch of parts on my living room floor. I didn’t know how to assemble those parts, but I had trust that the two delivery guys did, and they nailed it! They assembled it easily!
Listen, church: we don’t always know what God is doing, why He is doing it, and how He is doing it, but we can know that He knows what He is doing! He’s got this!
In Romans 11:34, Paul says, “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” [on screen]
We don’t need to know all the details, but we need to know this: we can trust God. He worked mysteriously and powerfully to deliver the Israelites, and He will work mysteriously and powerfully in your life!
Let us know see how . . .
III. The Gospelspeaks[on screen]
1. Suffering precedes freedom. [on screen]
The suffering caused by sin comes before the freedom that we experience in Jesus.
The suffering of Jesus comes before the freedom that we have in His forgiveness.
1 Peter 3:18a, “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God.” [on screen]
The sufferings of this world come before the glory that we will experience in Heaven.
We see this is the story of the Exodus and we see it at work in our own lives as the Gospel is at work: suffering precedes (or comes before) freedom.
2. Sacrifice provides freedom. [on screen]
As we learned last week, the sacrifice of the lamb for each household provided freedom from the angel of death for each Israelite family.
The sacrifice of the ultimate Passover Lamb, Jesus, provides freedom to all who are covered in His blood.
In Jesus, we are free! The sacrifice of Jesus provided freedom for us!
Galatians 5:1, “For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.” [on screen]
Concluding Thoughts:
In the exodus, we see God’s awesome deliverance for His people, and it’s something that we see time and again throughout the pages of the Bible and throughout the history of the Church.
That takes us to our bottom line for today’s sermon:
Bottom Line: God will always providedeliverance for His people, in His timing. [on screen]
(repeat)
Sometimes God doesn’t work on our timetable. In fact, I would say most of the time God doesn’t work on our timetable. However, He will always provide deliverance.
One day we will experienced ultimate deliverance when we are united with Him in paradise forever. What a wonderful day that will be.
Challenge yourself to live out the truths of this passage this week in the following ways:
Weekly Challenge: [on screen]
1. Find deliverance. [on screen]
Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you walking daily by the Savior’s side?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Do you rest each moment in the Crucified?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
When the Bridegroom cometh will your robes be white?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Will your soul be ready for the mansions bright,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb;
There’s a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,
Oh, be washed in the blood of the Lamb!
Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
If you’ve not found deliverance in the blood of Jesus Christ the Lamb, come to Him. Ask him to forgive you of your sin. Find deliverance.
Take some time this week and challenge yourself to be sure that you’ve found deliverance.
2. Share deliverance. [on screen]
Imagine if Moses had taken the warning of God about the coming angel of death; imagine that he had taken the instructions about the Passover lamb and applied that only to his own household. Imagine if did not share the message of deliverance with others. How selfish that would have been!
So, also, we have the message of deliverance for the world. Our neighbors and people all over the world face the reality of death and there is only one way of escape, Jesus Christ, the Lamb!
Share the message of deliverance with them.
3. Livein deliverance. [on screen]
Have you been set free? Live as someone who has been set free!
As Paul said in Galatians 3, don’t submit to a yoke of slavery again!
In Christ, you are free from the curse of sin! You are free from darkness! You are free from worry! You are free from addiction! You are free from bitterness! You are free from hatred! You are free from a negative spirit! You are free from fear! Live in that freedom!
Live in deliverance!
Closing:
The people of Israel experienced freedom and deliverance by the power of God and the sacrifice of a lamb.
The power of God was most vividly demonstrated in the sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, and His resurrection from the dead.
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
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