Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, good morning. You can open your Bible and we're gonna be in Exodus, chapter 12. We're gonna cover verses 29 to 42, so you can turn there. But I did just wanna share. I got invited to a conference this last week. It was an invite only conference. I don't know if you've ever been invited to those, but I got to show up to this. And the reason that I was invited to this conference is because of y'. All. And so as a pastor of a church that contributes to this thing called the Cooperative Program, is it's a group of churches that contribute to this kind of big bucket of funds. And then out of this bucket of funds, we get to send missionaries to the ends of the earth. We get to plant churches throughout North America, we get to fund theological education for people. We get to do all of these different things, disaster relief, whenever a disaster happens somewhere, that we get to send people and resource people to be on the front lines on people's worst days.
[00:01:00] And so as a church that contributes to this, they did an invite to the top 200 churches that contribute to this. And so I was one of the youngest guys in the room, and I was a pastor of one of the smallest churches in the room.
[00:01:24] And yet I could not have been more proud to be in that room.
[00:01:29] Because as we talk about that, we want to see the glory of God go to the ends of the earth. That's our mission. We want to see the glory of God spread across the ends of the earth like the waters cover the seas. And that in order to do that, we've got to be a church that's known for multiplication, that we want to multiply this. And so how do we do that? Well, we've got to raise up people to go. And so a church that disciples our members to say, if we're going to take the glory of God to the ends of the earth, we also have to take the glory of God to our homes, to our neighborhoods, to our workplaces, that we're a church about discipleship, intentionally discipling people.
[00:02:09] But then the second aspect of that is that we're a church that's radically generous because of the radical generosity that God has shown us in salvation and forgiveness. We then get to be radically generous people. And so I got invited to this because of your incredible generosity. Now, that generosity, I don't want you to miss out on it, that when they're sharing the fact that we've got missionaries in Israel, missionaries in Palestine, missionaries in the Middle east, missionaries literally throughout the world reaching people who have never heard the name of Jesus.
[00:02:45] That you are part of that.
[00:02:48] That's incredible.
[00:02:50] That you get to be a part that when revelation tells us that the nations are gathered together from every tribe and tongue and people group, you get to be a part of saying, I got to be a part of this.
[00:03:06] And so we are radically generous as a little bitty church, small church, compared to the. I asked one guy, I was like, how many members do y' all have? He's like, 10,000 mm.
[00:03:20] He goes, how many of y' all have 478 mm?
[00:03:27] Yeah.
[00:03:29] But as the Lord has blessed us to be a blessing to others, that he's using this church that started with eight people in a living room and over 20 years, that he's just been faithful to grow us as we've been stewards of what the Lord has entrusted to us to say as people come, we want to disciple them and raise them up. We want to teach them to be generous. We want to teach them to be holy.
[00:03:54] And God's continued to be faithful to that as we've been good stewards of that. The third aspect is holiness. That if we want God to continue to use us. And that's one of the things I'm so encouraged by, that not only in Shreveport is Norris Ferry leading in many of these areas of saying, how do we continue to push the gospel forward, not only in Shreveport, but in the state of Louisiana, that God has put Norris Ferry on the map of saying, they're pushing forward in this, and I'm blessing them that nationally, this little church that started in Shreveport, Louisiana, that God's using that as you guys are faithful to do those things that he's called us to, that he's entrusted you with your influence, your resources, you're continuing to do that. And I could not be more proud to be your pastor, to be in that room because of y' all and to be able to brag and be like, that's my church.
[00:04:50] That's my church. And God's been so good to us, and if we want him to continue to use us, we've got to continue to fight for holiness. We just know that through the scripture that he won't bless a people group that's not holy. And so we gotta continue to fight for holiness. We gotta continue to obey him in the things that he's called us to as he continues to elevate us as a church. To say, look at my people who are glorifying me. And it's an incredible thing so thank you. I just wanted to encourage y' all with that. I got the privilege of sitting in the room, but it's because of you, and I couldn't be more proud of you.
[00:05:28] Read our text here in Exodus, Exodus 29 through 42. I want to read this. And then we'll pray, and then we'll jump into unpacking this a little bit. One of the things maybe in your Bible reading that I hope to do in preaching is to help you be a better Bible reader. That on your own as you're reading. I hope that in the preaching that you're learning how to read the Bible. And so sometimes you come to a text that's a narrative, and you're like, cool story. I don't know how that applies to me.
[00:06:00] When there's a command that's given, then it's easier for us. Maybe in the New Testament, then God says, do this. And we go, okay, I know how to apply that. But when we come to a narrative, sometimes it's hard. And so my hope is that as we see this, one of the things the book of Exodus is doing is it's holding up the character of God. It's introducing us to God himself. That Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, these first five books are really teeing up who God is, what he's doing, and how we can be a part of it. And so we get to see who is God in his character, and then we'll begin to make some applications out of that. Because God doesn't change.
[00:06:39] He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so as we learn who God is and how he interacts with his people, we can begin to make applications off of that, because he's the same.
[00:06:50] So let's read this, and then we'll jump into it. Verse 29.
[00:06:55] At midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn of the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, and he and all of his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.
[00:07:22] Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night, and he said, up. Go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel, and go serve the Lord as you have said. Take your flocks and your herds as you have said, and be gone.
[00:07:40] And bless me also.
[00:07:43] The Egyptians were urgent with the people to Send them out of the land in haste, for they said, we shall all be dead.
[00:07:50] So the people took their dough before it was leavened, and their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. The people of Israel had also done as Moses had told them. For they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing, and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked.
[00:08:12] Thus they plundered the Egyptians, and the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to succoth. About 600,000 men on foot. Besides women and children, a mixed multitude also went up with them.
[00:08:27] And very much livestock, both flocks and herds.
[00:08:31] And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
[00:08:44] The time that the people of Israel lived In Egypt was 430 years.
[00:08:49] At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It was a night of watching by the Lord to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
[00:09:03] So this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
[00:09:12] Would you pray with me, God? We're just desperately dependent on you to move in our heart and in our minds, to give us eyes to see and ears to hear, to comprehend you clearly, that we might then obey. So, Lord, would you soften our hearts, Lord, that we might obey you, that we might see you clearly, or that we might live out our lives in such a way that we accomplish the plans and the purposes that you have set for us, which are good and right and perfect and true, and that expand your glory in all the places where we go.
[00:09:51] Lord, would you stir it this morning? We ask it in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:09:59] Well, here's the main point. I want you to get out of this. If I could just summarize it into this. What is this section of the text doing for us? It's pointing us to this fact that God redeems his people through judgment and grace. That God redeems his people through judgment and grace.
[00:10:22] So let's look at this first part, that. That we see that God redeems through judgment. This is an area that oftentimes makes us a little bit squeamish as we think about God's justice. Maybe you're squeamish because you grew up in a church where someone stomped and spit and just talked about God's wrath and God's judgment. And so you've repulsed from that and said, well, what about God's love?
[00:10:43] It's true, it's his judgment and his grace. But maybe you're squeamish to that because we live in a culture that loves to emphasize love, that loves to talk about love in a way that it covers everything. And the Scripture is clear that love does cover a multitude of sins. And yet the scriptures show us in this text specifically that God redeems his people through judgment.
[00:11:13] And so let's look at what this means, and let's look at the character of God in this.
[00:11:18] It comes from verse 29 and 30.
[00:11:21] We see that this judgment of God, when God moves at midnight, it's the culmination of these plagues where God has been moving in the land of Egypt.
[00:11:34] That God has been showing his power and his authority over Pharaoh, who was viewed as a God over all of these false gods within Egypt. That God is moving in a powerful way to against sin.
[00:11:49] And so we see that God's judgment is decisive.
[00:11:55] It's decisive. This is not a scatter approach where God just lumps everybody in together.
[00:12:00] This is a decisive movement against sin.
[00:12:05] God has warned, he has told them what is coming.
[00:12:11] He has offered a way out.
[00:12:15] And yet now he has shown up after being patient, after being gracious, after being kind. He has shown up to judge.
[00:12:26] This is measured, this is just. That God is a just and holy God, that he is not just savior, he is judge.
[00:12:37] That God is the judge of the whole world.
[00:12:42] And he judges it with perfect justice, and he judges it with perfect holiness. And he judges it with decisive measure.
[00:12:52] That he judges.
[00:12:55] Look from the first of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the first of the captive in the dungeon, that God is not a respecter of persons and saying, well, you're pretty popular, so you can get away with it.
[00:13:10] Maybe we're used to judgment in a culture where it's not about what you did, but it's about who, you know, God judges based off of what you have put your faith in.
[00:13:26] He judges Pharaoh, who was a God, and he judges the captive in the dungeon.
[00:13:33] That this is a measured approach against sin. And I want us to see that God's judgment is devastating.
[00:13:41] It's devastating.
[00:13:45] I remember sharing the gospel with somebody one time in college, and as I shared the reality of hell, as we were in this long conversation, and this guy, he just said, well, I hear it's gonna be hot there, so I'm gonna bring my marshmallows.
[00:14:04] And I just thought, he doesn't know the devastating judgment of God, that there is none who can stand in the judgment of God. The scripture actually tells us that. That every knee will bow, whether by choice or by force.
[00:14:25] Every knee will bow. That none will stand in the judgment.
[00:14:31] That God's judgment is decisive. And it's devastating.
[00:14:37] And yet it recoils us to think about God like this.
[00:14:44] But here's the thing. I think sometimes we confuse the patience of God as indifference.
[00:14:54] That God is not indifferent to sin.
[00:14:57] He's patient. You just think about the story that we've just read of over and over. God shows his power and his authority, and we go, how long?
[00:15:06] Like, how many times does God have to show you that he's powerful and that he means what he says before you'll believe it? And yet then I think of myself and I go, how long God has been patient, slow to anger that he's been patient, not wishing that any would perish.
[00:15:27] And yet we confuse that patience with indifference, as if God doesn't care about sin.
[00:15:34] Listen, here's the thing that this reminds us. The application. What do we make out of this? There's three things that I want us to just make an application of.
[00:15:43] The first is that judgment is real.
[00:15:46] We need to know that God is Savior, but God is judge, that his judgment is real and it's coming, and we don't get to decide when that is, that he has decided the time and the place, and no one knows.
[00:16:04] The second thing that I want us to see is that sin is serious. There is no such thing as a small sin.
[00:16:12] See, we like to rank sins, and we like to go, well, these don't cause that much damage, and these don't harm that many people. And these don't affect anybody but maybe me. And so I can manage these sins, but at least I'm not doing these.
[00:16:28] Listen, sin is serious.
[00:16:33] There is a holy and just God who stands as judge.
[00:16:40] I mean, you can just imagine walking into that, to face God as the judge and be like, well, it wasn't really that big a deal, was it?
[00:16:51] He says, it cost me my son.
[00:16:55] There is no such thing as a small sin.
[00:16:59] But there's also no such thing as neutrality.
[00:17:05] That neutrality is impossible.
[00:17:07] You can't stay neutral. Just think of the night that happens here, that's recorded.
[00:17:14] See, God had given a command, and he said, you can take this lamb, this spotless, unblemished lamb, and you can Bring it into your house, you can keep it with you for four days, and then you can sacrifice that lamb.
[00:17:28] You can take the blood of that lamb and you can put it on the doorposts.
[00:17:33] See, that's how they were saved, was by faith in the blood, in the provision that God had provided. That's how people have always been saved, is by faith that these people trusted God and believed him, and so they put the blood on the door.
[00:17:51] There were other people that didn't trust God. They didn't believe God. By faith, they didn't obey him.
[00:18:00] And on that night, there was no neutrality.
[00:18:06] You were either under judgment or you were under the blood.
[00:18:11] There were only two options.
[00:18:14] Y' all know I grew up out in the country. I've used it before.
[00:18:18] Crossing a barbed wire fence, you reach a place where you're right in the middle, and that's a terrible way to live your life.
[00:18:28] There's no neutrality.
[00:18:30] You're either under the judgment where you will stand before a holy and just God for your sin, or you're under the blood of the lamb that was provided.
[00:18:45] God, in his grace, provided the lamb so that no one would have to face the judgment.
[00:18:52] No one has to face it.
[00:18:54] They just had to trust in the blood of the lamb.
[00:18:58] That was it.
[00:19:00] No one has to face the judgment that's to come. God has provided his own Son who shed his blood, that all who would believe in him would not perish but have eternal life.
[00:19:15] There's no neutrality.
[00:19:18] The second thing that I want us to see in this text after God's judgment is I want us to see God's power to deliver God's power to deliver his people, that through this judgment, God accomplishes what Israel could not accomplish for 430 years. Israel could not free themselves. And yet God, in his power, through this judgment, accomplishes in one night their freedom.
[00:19:45] Look at what he says in verse 31.
[00:19:48] Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron in the night. He had said that I'll never see you again. And yet now, because of God's judgment, he calls them back in. He calls them in the middle of the night. He gives them three commands. He says, up, go. Go.
[00:20:04] Up. Get out.
[00:20:07] Leave.
[00:20:08] He commands them to leave where they were asking before, can we leave? And he would not give them permission to leave now. He's expelling them.
[00:20:17] This is a great reversal.
[00:20:19] There's so much irony that's built into this that as the writer writes this, then he wants us to see that this is an absolute reversal that we see that God not Only makes Israel's life better.
[00:20:38] See what he does when he delivers people, it's not like he just cleans you up a little bit.
[00:20:45] Can you imagine if God was like, okay, I'm just gonna make it easier for you guys in Egypt. Like you're still gonna be under bondage, but he's gonna be a nice pharaoh rather than a mean one.
[00:20:56] That's not what he does.
[00:20:58] He breaks the chains of slavery and, and he makes em new.
[00:21:04] Listen, here's what the writer says. He goes up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel. Look, he calls them the people of Israel. They're not just Hebrews anymore, They're not just slaves of Egypt anymore. No, they have a new identity. They are the people of Israel, the people of God.
[00:21:23] Listen, when God delivers His people, he makes them new. He doesn't just manage and clean up their current situation.
[00:21:31] He gives them a new identity.
[00:21:34] What else does he do as he shows his power, that he utterly crushes the chains of slavery in the way that this is written, actually you get down to verse 36 and what you see here is this word that says, and thus they plundered the Egyptians, that they plundered them.
[00:21:58] Now this is a military term and it's actually connected to the promise that God has made in Genesis chapter 15. He makes it to Abraham at the very beginning when God says, I'm gonna make you into a people.
[00:22:12] I'm gonna make you a blessing to the nations and I'm gonna give you a land.
[00:22:17] When he makes that promise to them, he foretells that he will bring them out of a land and that they will come with the wealth of that land.
[00:22:26] He then makes the same promise to Jacob.
[00:22:30] And then it's recorded for us actually in Numbers, chapter 33, that God plundered Egypt. That God is the one. This is a war term where a king who had come in and won a war plundered that nation.
[00:22:46] That utter victory.
[00:22:48] And God has fought for the people of Israel and He has accomplished their deliverance in utter victory.
[00:23:00] Also in this I want us to see that he now resources them to accomplish the things which he's called them to.
[00:23:08] That when God rescues you from chains and death and gives you a new identity, then he resources you with the ability to do everything he's called you to do.
[00:23:19] You don't have to sin anymore. He's given you a new heart.
[00:23:23] He's given you the power of God to dwell within you through his spirit, that you don't have to Live like the old ways. That's one of the things that we're gonna see throughout the rest of the book of Exodus is God goes, why do you keep going back? You're not that person anymore. You're new.
[00:23:38] That he delivered them with power in order that they might be.
[00:23:46] The other irony I want to just pick up on is actually if we jump back up into where Pharaoh sends them out, where he expels them, then he says he sends them out to serve the Lord. That word Lord right there that we see in verse 31 is that L O R D. This is Yahweh. This is God revealing himself as he revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush when he said, I am that I will begin to show myself as Yahweh.
[00:24:16] That now this Pharaoh who Moses had gone to and said, God says, let my people go. Yahweh says, let my people go. And Pharaoh's first response was, who's Yahweh? I don't know him, and why should I listen to him?
[00:24:32] Now he goes, go serve Yahweh because I've seen his power.
[00:24:39] Leave and serve him and do what you were created to do.
[00:24:44] We see God's power to deliver his people.
[00:24:48] God doesn't make their conditions better.
[00:24:51] He delivers them. The applications of this as we see that the salvation is deliverance from bondage, not self improvement, you're made new.
[00:25:03] The application of this is that deliverance gives us a new identity.
[00:25:09] Walk in it.
[00:25:11] The application of this is that God resources His people to do everything that he has called them to do.
[00:25:21] That God is the one who fought the battle. God is the One who made the way. God is the One who provides the resources. God is the hero.
[00:25:31] We just walk in what he's done.
[00:25:35] The third thing that I want us to see in this text is that God keeps His promises.
[00:25:40] God always keeps his promises. We've seen multiple of these.
[00:25:45] We actually pick up one of these promises in verse 38. I just want to make note of it. It's a small little reference, but it says a mixed multitude.
[00:25:54] That there's a mixed multitude that goes with Israel. That God's salvation is not exclusively to Israel, it's to all those who would by faith put their trust God. This is a mixed multitude that goes up.
[00:26:07] These are people outside of the people of Israel who have said, I see God and I trust in Him. And so they join in the people as they go out.
[00:26:19] God keeps his promise that Israel would be a blessing to the nations. And these nations have said, I Want to be a part of that blessing.
[00:26:27] The other promises that we see kept here, if you look at verse 40, it says that the time of the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years.
[00:26:36] And there's something really important for us to catch this.
[00:26:39] God foretold that his people would be in Egypt for 400 years.
[00:26:45] He told them what was to come.
[00:26:47] And now the author is reminding us it's just like he said that they would be here 400 years. And then it's just like he said that he told Jacob when he. When Jacob went into Egypt to find shelter, God said, I'll bring you out of Egypt.
[00:27:07] And now God is bringing them out.
[00:27:10] And at the end of 430 years, on the very day all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt, that God is keeping his promise just as he said he would, that there is never a promise that God makes that he doesn't keep.
[00:27:27] Now there were generations that waited for God to keep his promise.
[00:27:34] There were generations that passed as they passed on the promise to the next generation.
[00:27:44] God said, he's going to rescue us.
[00:27:47] God said, he's going to rescue us. God said, he's coming back for us.
[00:27:52] Jesus left and he said, I'm coming back.
[00:27:58] And he's going to keep that promise, just as he has always kept every promise.
[00:28:04] He said that you can pass through judgment because of the blood of the Lamb.
[00:28:11] And for all those who put their faith in it. He kept that promise and he'll continue to keep that promise.
[00:28:18] But there's something interesting as we look at verse 42, there's a little shift in wording. It says it was a night of watching by the Lord, that the Lord was the one watching.
[00:28:32] It was the Lord who earlier in Exodus, it was said that the Lord saw their suffering, that he heard their cries, and that he was moved to action, that he watched them, that he saw them.
[00:28:43] But then there's a shift that happens as God has accomplished their salvation in one night.
[00:28:50] What they were longing for.
[00:28:53] Then it shifts and it says, so this night is a night of watching to be kept to the Lord that the Lord watches over us. And then in response to that, then the people of Israel now responded in looking to the Lord.
[00:29:12] They looked to him for their instruction and their guidance.
[00:29:18] They set up a way of reminding themselves from generation after generation after generation to look to the Lord because He's looking at us.
[00:29:30] We see this throughout all the rest of the scripture that God judges as a holy and just judge that he provides rescue and salvation for his people through his grace, through the provision of the blood of the Lamb, and that he always keeps his promise.
[00:29:54] So in response to that salvation he has provided, when he looks after us, we in response look to him.
[00:30:03] That's how we're supposed to live our life.
[00:30:06] That God is the same yesterday, today and forever.
[00:30:10] He has provided a way that no one would have to face judgment.
[00:30:15] If you would, by faith, put your faith in him, would you pray with me?
[00:30:23] God, we thank you for your word that reveals your character, that reveals you as Savior, but reveals you as judge.
[00:30:37] Lord, we thank you for your word that shows us this picture of your power to rescue your people in a single night, in a single instant, to give them a new identity, to break all the chains of bondage, to resource them with everything they would need to follow after you and to accomplish the purposes you had for him, Lord, and that you always keep your promises.
[00:31:11] That's who you are.
[00:31:13] We thank you for the picture we got today of that that we might live our lives in light of that truth.
[00:31:19] That it would transform us, that it would encourage us, that it would embolden us, that it would humble us, that it would help us glorify you in every place that we go and in everything that we do. In Jesus name, amen.
