This Easter I invite you all to come on a journey. We are in the Christian calendar period of Lent which is the 40 days leading up to Easter. It is a reminder of the 40 days Jesus spent in the Wilderness after his baptism.At Lent, we are called to draw near to God and he draws near to us as we rely on him rather than our own resources. At Camp we focussed a little on suffering. Suffering is a part of Lent, just as it was for Jesus in the desert for those 40 days. Yes, we will be tempted to give up and it won’t be easy but we will hear God’s voice clearly !
It is also likened to the journey that the Israelites took in leaving Egypt to go to the Promised Land with various stages, some amazing, miraculous, some testing and difficult to go through. Lent is a time of self-denial and I would encourage you strongly to make a commitment for the 40 days in some way just as Jesus did when he went into the desert for 40 days. Some people fast, some people refrain from drinking alcohol, some stop their screen time or TV watching so that they can make time for God instead. That’s the important thing - make time for God instead. If you do, I can testify that you will be in tune with what God wants in a way that you may rarely experience otherwise.
There are many other lessons in the Exodus story than the ones I have chosen but I chose them because they relate most to PCC as a whole as we journey together and to help us prepare for Easter. If there is a particular subject that I miss and you would like to hear about please let me know.
Timeline of the Journey
- 17/3 - Slavery - Exodus 1-7:7
- 24/3 - Deliverance - Exodus 7:8 - 13
- 31/3 - Baptism - Exodus 14 - 15:21
- 7/4 - Holiness - Exodus 19-32
- 14/4 - Trials and Perseverance - Exodus 15:21 - 18, 33-40
- 21/4 - Promised Land / Resurrection Sunday
Week 1 - Slavery
The Exodus story begins with an explanation of why the people of Israel were in slavery in Egypt.
You will remember from Bob’s series on Joseph, that Jacob and his 11 other sons and their families had joined Joseph in Egypt because of a famine. They had settled in Egypt in the good times and they never went back to Canaan which was the land promised to Jacob’s grandfather Abraham. They were in the wrong place. They were in the Devil’s Domain.
Taking into account that Moses was 80 when he lead them out of Egypt, the story of Exodus begins approximately 350 years after the arrival of Jacobs family.
This is the list of the sons of Jacob who accompanied him to Egypt, with their families: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher. So the total number who went with him was seventy (for Joseph was already there). In due season Joseph and each of his brothers died, ending that generation. Meanwhile, their descendants were very fertile, increasing rapidly in numbers; there was a veritable population explosion so that they soon became a large nation, and they filled the land of Goshen.
Exodus 1:1-7
The sons of Jacob and their descendants had lived in Egypt 430 years, and it was on the last day of the 430th year that all of Jehovah’s people left the land.
Exodus 12:40
350 years is a long time but loyalty is a cheap word when you are dealing with men. Only the Lord is faithful to his promises, better to place your trust in Him !
Then, eventually, a new king came to the throne of Egypt who felt no obligation to the descendants of Joseph. He told his people, “These Israelis are becoming dangerous to us because there are so many of them. Let’s figure out a way to put an end to this. If we don’t, and war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us and escape out of the country.” So the Egyptians made slaves of them and put brutal taskmasters over them to wear them down under heavy burdens while building the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king.
Exodus 1:8-11
The Slavery began because of an evil thought the Pharaoh had. There was a spiritual reason behind it. Satan hates God’s Chosen people and he uses every opportunity to persecute them. Pharaoh became afraid of the Israelites growing population and the potential for them to join their enemies in war. Be discerning of negative thoughts !
What once seemed a way out was now a dead end, a trap. Through no fault of their own, the Israelites became slaves.
Slavery is a picture of Sin and also of entrapment into the World system. In both cases, Jesus comes to set us free. Like the Israelite Slaves in Egypt, you need a Deliverer because you can’t escape by your own power.
Sin is powerful because it breaks relationships. To be set free you need forgiveness from God, yourself and others. Sin is cunning because it is attractive, it tempts a person at their weakness point.
Addiction is complicated. When you see someone trapped in addiction, you do not know their journey. The addiction is the end product. There is a root cause, it may be sin but it may be a result of choices their ancestors made. Sometimes it’s the root that has to be dealt with first to cure the addiction. It may be logical whether biological, psychological, sociological, or it may be seemingly illogical because it is hidden by guilt or spiritual separation from God.
When dealing with an addiction there are many factors at work;
- The biological disruption of the brain which incidentally is capable of being happy by manufacturing its own opiates - endorphins. We can eat, sleep well, exercise and go to the doctors but sometimes that’s not enough.
- The psychological which is basically faulty thinking. It’s often helpful to choose the positive view - the glass half full. Or as in the film Inside Out, recognise that sad emotions can be good if they make us choose something good not bad. But sometimes that’s not enough.
- The sociological - If the best choice is to leave the environment so be it. Cut off the right hand if it causes you to sin so to speak. But sometimes that’s not enough - try telling a Belarusian not to smoke or a Frenchman not to drink so much alcohol.
- Moral or spiritual reasons for for escaping and hiding from God.
Several years later the king of Egypt died. The Israelis were groaning beneath their burdens, in deep trouble because of their slavery, and weeping bitterly before the Lord. He heard their cries from heaven, and remembered his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to bring their descendants back into the land of Canaan. Looking down upon them, he knew that the time had come for their rescue. Exodus 2:23-25
The Israelites suffered for a long time before they got serious in turning to God. The first thing should be to turn to God. Often this is our last resort because we don’t really want to give it up. A major crisis such as health exhausts all hope and finally makes us want to escape. They had hit rock bottom.
The word I have to speak on from these first passages in Exodus is “Identity”.
First of all comes the loss of identity. A Slave belongs to his Master, he does not have his own identity. Sin is a harsh taskmaster. Are you a slave and want to be free, then call out to the Lord ! Then the Lord told him, “I have seen the deep sorrows of my people in Egypt and have heard their pleas for freedom from their harsh taskmasters. I have come to deliver them from the Egyptians and to take them out of Egypt into a good land, a large land, a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites live.
Exodus 3:7-8
The Bible calls 3 things deceitful and these things ultimately lead us into slavery apart from God and make us lose our identity;
1. The Heart
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jeremiah 17:9
This is why it takes so long for the addict to seek help, they often need to reach rock bottom. The alcoholic says they can handle their drink, the smoker says they would rather die happily smoking, the gambler thinks they can walk away any time, the adulterer says that love was too strong. It will turn us into slaves no matter how attractively it is packaged by Satan. Don’t be fooled by your own deceitful heart, listen to God’s Word instead. When Satan tempted Jesus to satisfy his hunger by turning stones to bread; But Jesus told him, “No! For the Scriptures tell us that bread won’t feed men’s souls: obedience to every word of God is what we need.” Matthew 4:4
2. Sin
Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Hebrews 3:12-13
We have a total blind spot in the West towards sin and we do not understand its effect. We won’t defeat sin by legalising it. Democracy is great if you choose right, but it leads to slavery if you choose wrong. Sin will be your Master.
The Devil packages sin to make it look and feel the most attractive option. He tempted Jesus to jump off the temple because the angels would catch him. He would experience supernatural help. Many people today are attracted to Eastern mysticism and the occult. Many also see nothing wrong with getting high on drugs as it opens the mind. Hollywood makes it look exciting but God calls it sin and the Devil walks in the front door. Before long you become a slave and lose your identity.
3. Riches
Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
Matthew 13:22
Before every man there lies a wide and pleasant road that seems right but ends in death.
Proverbs 14:12
In his final temptation, Satan offered Jesus all the Kingdoms of the World if he would bow down and worship him. Riches and worldly comfort are attractive. This is why Lot chose Sodom and why Moses but for the Grace of God would have remained an Egyptian Prince.
But Jesus said;
“You cannot serve two masters: God and money. For you will hate one and love the other, or else the other way around.
Matthew 6:24
The rich and successful are more easily deceived. They feel bullet proof, above the law. Moses had been deceived that he was good when his heart wasn’t right. He murdered a man.
Moses was an Israelite but he was raised an Egyptian Prince he had lost his identity and was captive to the World.
Then 40 years after running away and becoming an outlaw, God called Moses when he least expected it. He calls Moses by name unlike Satan who accuses and labels us;
One day as Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, out at the edge of the desert near Horeb, the mountain of God, suddenly the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him as a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw that the bush was on fire and that it didn’t burn up, he went over to investigate. Then God called out to him, “Moses! Moses!” “Who is it?” Moses asked. “Don’t come any closer,” God told him. “Take off your shoes, for you are standing on holy ground. I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (Moses covered his face with his hands, for he was afraid to look at God.)
Exodus 3:1-6
Jesus is calling some of you by name today. For some of you it’s to come out of Egypt, come out of slavery. For others, he has a special task for you just like he had for Moses. Moses protested, he gave every excuse why he shouldn’t be the one. But with the calling comes the equipping. You will find your identity in Christ alone, accept the call.
By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
Hebrews 11:24-26
You have a choice to make just like Moses had a choice to make. It’s no good to say you got a call from God if you don’t do what he’s asking you to do ! You need to seize your chance.
Today we may be a slave to something or someone but that is not the person we want to be. We have been trapped but Jesus comes to set us free. To become a Christian is to receive a new life, a new identity or if we have backslidden, to receive back our identity.
I won’t pretend the way out is easy. Choosing God’s way is not easy. It is the narrow path. There is so much wrong in our thinking in our actions that it is hard to come out of the World, easy to fall back into the comfort of what is known and sinful habits.
Remember it’s a miserable life being a slave.
You are never too old to be set free !
Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three at this time of their confrontation with Pharaoh.
Exodus 7:7
Our first step in this journey is to recognise if we have become a slave. What are the things you turn to for comfort and in what order ? Be honest with yourself. If you have something or anyone other than the Father Son And Holy Spirit at the top of your list, you may want to reconsider your priorities.
Next week we will move on to how God delivered the Israelites from their Slavery and what are the lessons for us today.
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