← ArchiveExodusSunday, April 23, 2017DateApril 23, 2017Speaker—TextExodus 1Passages in this sermonExodus 14:18John 1518:52Genesis 327:10Revelation 1129:02TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Moses, Moses, your fathers called me God, and I knew. I have made you an orphan of grace. I have sustained you in the house of the King. Now see your purpose, for I have heard the cries of my people. I have seen the weight of their oppression, and I have come down to deliver them.0:30And I will stretch out my hand against Egypt, and guide my people to a land I have prepared. I will make you my mouthpiece. I will make you a shadow of one greater to come. I will lead you as I have led you. Now go! And you will see what I will do to Pharaoh.0:57And you will see what I will do to Pharaoh.1:05Welcome to the week after Easter and to a new sermon series. We're going to jump right into Exodus, which is a Greek word that means coming out. So the going out of God's people. The Hebrew name is actually different. The Hebrew is, these are the names. It's not as dramatic. Usually the Hebrew titles are the first word of the sentence of that next book. So Exodus, and we need to understand this about Exodus as we look for the next several weeks together at God's word.1:32That God's people are in a place they don't belong among a people that don't like them and are given heavy burdens that they can't bear alone. Sound familiar? God's people are in a place they don't belong among a people who don't like them. And then they are carrying burdens that by themselves would be too heavy to bear alone.2:00This is the story of God's people. And this is not only the story of God's people, but it is now a story for those who have faith in the one true God. But here's what we see. This is the truth of the gospel. This is the truth of the scripture. Often we wrestle with and we cry out, God, deliver us. God, deliver us. God, bring us out. The people don't like us.2:30Deliver us. God, I don't like this place. It's hot. It's dry. We want to go back to the promised land. Deliver us. God, we are carrying burdens. God, I just have had a really rough week. Deliver me. But here's the gospel truth. God always brings us out of something to bring us into his presence. So we should not be so concerned about God delivering us from something and forget that God is drawing us near his throne.2:53That's God's desire for you and me, that we come to the throne of grace with boldness. And in our moment of weakness, we find mercy. So God's not going to call you out of Exodus or out of Egypt so you can continue to look back at Egypt. God is going to bring you and deliver you, that way we would behold Jesus Christ. That's his desire for us. So if you're here this morning and you have come in with a heavy weight,3:24if you are living among the people who don't like you, if you have kids in your house, that could have been this week, if you are at a place where you just don't fit in, or if you're carrying a weight around your shoulders that you say, I cannot bear this alone, you have come to the right place. Because Jesus Christ is the deliverer. Jesus Christ is the chain breaker. And as we look at his word, I pray that God would wash over you.3:52This is not only something we find in the Old Testament. The book of James begins this way. It said, I write to the 12 tribes that are scattered. The diaspora, the 12 tribes of God's people who are scattered throughout the world. That's us. God's people scattered throughout. God's word is saying, I'm writing to you, those who don't belong. Hear God's word this morning. Exodus chapter 1. If you want to go home and read of the sons of Jacob,4:20you can read about Reuben through Asher. But we will pick up in verse 8. Exodus chapter 1. It's the second book in the Bible. You can go ahead and mark that. We'll be there for several months. Now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. So quickly, what is the king's name? Awesome job. He's not given. That's important. We'll look at that. Verse 9.4:51Verse 9. And so he, the king Pharaoh, said to his people, Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. So come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply. And it happened in the event of war that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land. Therefore, they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Ramses.5:19But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. You might want to circle that verse in your Bible. This is a truth that Jesus Christ gives us over and over again. The more they afflicted God's people, what? The more they grew. What a wonderful Savior we have. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. Verse 13. So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor.5:46And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. And their service in which they made them serve was with rigor. And for our youth today, you just thought the chores that you had to do at home is bad. Nothing like the people of Egypt. So parents, good job. Task them more. Let's pray. Father, we are scattered as your people in a world that is not our home.6:15Among a people who don't understand the light. And Lord, we, many of us right now, carry burdens that we cannot carry alone. So Lord, we would be foolish to try to carry them. So today, may we lay those at the cross of Calvary, knowing that the chains that we carry, the only key, is found in the hand of Jesus Christ.6:38So Lord, deliver us. Bring us out to bring us into your presence. Lord, open our eyes, focus our minds, and sharpen our heart that we may hear your spirit this morning. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. And amen. I want to give you two simple truths this morning. And one is this, the reality, the gospel reality of oppression.7:06And the second would be another R, because I'm a preacher. The gospel answers. So the reality to God's oppression and then the response or the answers to that. So the realities of oppression and the responses to oppression. So what is the reality? What do we see in Scripture here? Beginning in verse 8, we see this. And I just want to encourage you this morning. Verse 8. There arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph.7:34He did not know Joseph. So this is piggybacking off of Genesis. And all of God's word is connected. So Exodus doesn't make much sense unless you read what's going on with Joseph. And so I challenge you, go back to Genesis and see what God is doing in Joseph's life. But I just want to encourage you right now and say this. Never underestimate what Jesus Christ can do through one person.7:59Never underestimate the power of Christ in one person. There arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. How awesome would it be to be known by Pharaoh? To my knowledge, none of you have Donald Trump's numbers. It still sounds strange that I'm calling him the President Trump.8:26I'm still struggling with that. It would be awesome if one of you could just call him up right now and say, hey, this is Josh. You know me. Let's just, I want to talk. To my knowledge, no one has that authority among us. Joseph had that. That was Joseph. He was known by the Pharaoh. He was known by all the people. Now we have people in our midst that were known by, I guess close as you get to Pharaoh in Alabama would be Bear Bryant.8:55We have people in our church that not only knew Bear Bryant, but that he knew them. And I am not, I will never be confused with a Roll Tide fan. No one's ever mistaken me, that identity with me. But it would be awesome to have Bear Bryant call me by name. To have that stature in society.9:23To have the hand of God upon you in a way that people who are well known, admired in the community, look at you and say, hey, I know you. But the reason this is important for Joseph's life is not because he's a celebrity. The reason it's important, the reason the power of God was upon Joseph is because to know Joseph is to know God. So here's the question we have to ask ourselves. Can the same be said of Josh?9:52That to know Josh is to know his God. That to know Seth or Bill or Bob, to know them, to know Casey, is to know her Christ. Does Jesus live in me in such a way that people know Christ in me? There's no way around it. Never underestimate the power of Christ through one person. And you might sit here and say, well, Pharaoh doesn't know me.10:19Nick Saban doesn't know me. Or President Trump or President Obama, they don't know me like that. But don't underestimate what Christ can do through you. There is power in Jesus Christ in our life. The gospel footprint of Joseph was enormous. Listen to this. At the age of 30, he was placed in charge of the land of Egypt to the extent that without your consent, Pharaoh said, no man may lift his head or foot in all of the land of Egypt.10:41So Joseph was a man that other nations came to. If you were hungry, you had to go through Joseph. That is the power of one man. That is the platform that God gave him. The Bible also says about Joseph that all countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain because the famine was severe in the lands.11:07Never underestimate what God can do through you to reach the nations. Never underestimate. You say, well, we're in St. Clair County. How am I going to reach Antarctica? How am I going to reach unreached people groups? If you are willing, if you have a heart for Christ, he will use you in a mighty way. One man that I'm thinking of is a man named Adoniram Judson.11:37He was one of the first missionaries to Burma. And he set as his goal, he said, by the time I die in Burma, I want to translate half the Bible and I want to found a church that has 100 members. That was his prayer. God, I want to start a church here that there would be 100 people that know Christ. And I want to translate half the Bible. By the time he died, listen to this. He accomplished these goals and more.12:07He translated the Bible as well as half a completed Burmese English dictionary. And we know that over 8,000 believers had come to Christ because of what God was doing in his life. One man on fire for God can touch the nations. So are you ready to be used for the Lord? The name Joseph literally means yo-asaf. It means to add. Joseph means the one who added. And so who are you adding in others' life?12:36Who are you pouring into? Who is your pharaoh? Because you are called to live a life. I am called to live a life that others would see. To know Josh is to know his God. I might not worship his God, but to know Josh is to know his God. Can the same be said of us? That is the mandate of the gospel. The good news of Jesus Christ. Are you a Joseph? Verse 9. We see about oppression.13:07Not only did the pharaoh not know Joseph, but he said to his people, verse 9, Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. They are more and mightier than we. I just want to remind you through God's word, as I was reminded today, the world, the eyes of the world are always on the people of God. You might say, well, no one's looking at me. You don't know. Because followers of Christ are peculiar sorts.13:36Here's the reality. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ and you have followed him in obedience to baptism, obedience says that I have done what? I have died to myself and I have raised in new life. That is the life of the believer. That is an odd phenomenon. If a mummy comes walking in here today, most of us, I would see it first because he would come from the back, I would imagine. But most of you are going to turn around and say, look, something that was dead is living.14:06That's not normal. But this is the same with the gospel. The eyes of the dead are always looking to those that are alive. And so the eyes of the world are upon you if you profess Christ as Savior because you are odd. I mean, if you were odd before Christ, you're more odd after Christ because we are now, we're called to, just think about what Jesus has called us to do.14:32When people curse you, then we bless. When people take advantage of you, when they say, I want you to carry my armor and walk a mile, you say what? We say, how about, let's double or nothing. Let's go two. We are called not to think out of our own interests first, but we are to consider others better than ourselves. That is peculiar.15:01That is strange. And so the world is looking at the people of God and saying, why are you guys strange? They're curious. The eyes of the world, if you are a professing follower of Christ, are upon you. Never forget that. Look at verse 9. He said to his people, look at the people of God. Sometimes those looks are not a curiosity, though. Often God's people have looks of conviction. If you live for Jesus Christ, there are people looking at you and saying this, I want what you have.15:30I want what you have. That is the power of our testimony. You say, well, pastor, you don't understand. I don't have a powerful testimony. You do. It's yours. Some of us struggle because we say, well, I didn't kill six million people and God rescued me from that. I wasn't a Saul. I wasn't stricken blind on the road to Damascus after persecuting and killing God's people. I don't have a powerful testimony. Yes, you do.16:01The power is not in the sin. The power is in the victory over the sin. The power is that God made me, the chief of sinners, now a follower of Christ through his grace. That is a powerful truth. So may the world look it upon us with conviction. But sometimes the world looks, and this is where we're going to get into our oppression. The world looks not out of curiosity sometimes, not out of conviction, but out of contempt. Because we know this in Scripture. If you are living like you should for Christ, then the life of the believer, the life of those who have faith is a threat to those who have no faith.16:30The life of the faithful is a threat to the faithless. You say, well, I don't like that. Think about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. How did his life end? It ended with people shouting, crucify him, crucify him. Barabbas, the rebel rouser, the one who actually was causing difficulty in society, was released for the one who knew no sin.16:59Why? Because the life of a man of faith is a threat to those who have no faith. And so because of that, we will face opposition. Look at verse 10. Pharaoh says, the king says, let us deal shrewdly. Let me just blow, let me burst some of the bubbles here in this room.17:26The gospel never says that God's sole purpose in my life is to make me happy, healthy, and wealthy. That's not God's purpose. God doesn't sit around and say, you know what? How am I going to make Josh happy today? Now, we laugh at that, don't we? But isn't that what we think sometimes? Isn't that the way we pray? We pray, God, I just want you to organize and reorient the world that everything aligns up for me today, that I will have a really good day.17:54That is not what the gospel says. Actually, the idea of the prosperity gospel that God's only desire is to make me healthy, wealthy, and prosperous is the spirit of the antichrist. It's not of Christ. Because if that were true, if God's sole desire was to make me happy, healthy, and wealthy, how do you explain Jesus dying on the cross?18:20Who died without a penny to his name, more than likely. Who died a gruesome death that we may have eternal life. So may we live radically different. So you say, well, pastor, that's not a good truth. How do we live then? Jesus reminds us that opposition is expected.18:49Jesus tells us in John 15 that if the world has hated him, they will hate us. And we struggle with that because naturally we want people to like us. I'm not naturally a people person, but even for people like me, I still want people to like me. I don't want to cause fights just to have people hate me. That's not my goal in life. But Jesus says, if you follow him, the world will hate you.19:15So if you don't like that, we need to wrestle with this truth spiritually. That the world is going to look at us with contempt. And we see this in scripture. Why is Israel in Egypt? You know, what have they done? What has Israel done? What have God's people done to let King deal with them shrewdly? It's fascinating.19:46It's fascinating. The Bible says this. Here's their sin. The people were fruitful. They were abundant. And they multiplied. The Bible never says anywhere in scripture that they were there because of their sin. And that should warn us because we think, Lord, if we're living and having a fruitful life, that the world will love us. See, here's the truth I believe in scripture. That there's oftentimes God allows difficulty and oppression in our life that the world may see that he is God.20:13There are times that God allows oppression in my life that the world may see that he is God. Think about this. Are you and I, are we okay with suffering? That the world might know that God is true. Are you okay? The lyric that we sing, when my child dies, that he remains faithful in the storm. As someone with two little ones, that's a hard song to sing.20:43Because I don't know if I'm okay with that. I mean, we sing it and we say, well, of course we would be okay with that. But deep down spiritually, I don't know if I'm okay suffering for the sake of Jesus Christ. That's the American in me. How do I know that's true? We're going to see later. That we're quick to pray, God, don't persecute us. God, don't persecute us. God, don't persecute us. But what if our suffering has nothing to do with you and I?21:11I believe there are times in our life that our suffering, we're not suffering because of our sin. We're suffering because we live in a broken world and we're suffering and we're facing opposition that the way the world might see that God is glorified. And so if you're here and you're struggling because you're facing difficulty in your life and you think it's because of your sin, it might have nothing to do with your sin. It might have everything to do that you are following Christ and God wants your neighbor to see Jesus Christ in you.21:41So are we okay with suffering? Are we okay saying, Lord, I will suffer for your sake, but I want the world to see Jesus Christ in us. There are other times that God does send opposition our way. He sends opposition that we may not rely on our strength and that we rely on the glory of God. I had a pastor once tell me this. He said, it's always easier to look up when you're lying flat on your back.22:11And for some of us, we need that, don't we? It's not until God sweeps us off of our feet that we can look up and say, God, now I get it. You're in control. If you are walking through a difficult time today, I want you just to search your heart. Is it because of your sin? If it is because of your sin, seek Jesus Christ. Lean into him. But you might be suffering today and you might be struggling not because of your sin, but because of your Savior.22:38And he says, I have given you the strength to persevere. People of God, Israel, I will deliver you, but I will call you out to bring you into my presence. Oh, that we would be willing to suffer for the sake of Jesus Christ. And you say, well, pastor, why oppression? If this is what God's people are called to, why oppression? The word oppressed means to bring low or to beat down.23:06So what does that look like? We see in God's people, here's what happened to them. Follow me really quick as we look at God's word. We see in verse 10 that Pharaoh says, let's deal shrewdly with them. Verse 13, so the Egyptians made the children of God serve with rigor. They made their lives bitter with hard bondage, with mortar, with brick, and all manner of service. But that wasn't enough.23:36Look at verse 17. The midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Israel commanded. He commanded them to dispose of the sons in this way. And so verse 22, then Pharaoh commanded all of his people saying, every son who is born, you shall cast him into the river. Every daughter, you shall save a life. Pharaoh wanted to ramp up the persecution on God's people.24:03So the closer God's people got to the throne of the Lord, the stronger the persecution of Israel was. And this is something that we struggle with and we're going to see the gospel response shortly. But I want you to know the closer you get to Jesus, often is the stronger the opposition in your life. Are you seeing that in God's word? The closer we get to Jesus, the stronger the difficulty, often.24:32We're going to see how Jesus waters us with the watering of his word. This is the truth we see in scripture. That for Pharaoh, God's people were a threat. So I have to ask myself as I look at God's word. If I'm not facing opposition in my life, what does that say about my threat to the kingdom of darkness?24:55If I walk in here today and say, well, there's no opposition in my life. My life is good. There's no spiritual warfare. Man, Satan is leaving me alone. He's scared of me. Maybe it's because I'm not a threat. Maybe because I'm not a child of the light. Maybe it's because I'm a child of darkness. And so this week I've been praying this truth.25:26God, how big of a threat am I to the kingdom of darkness? I was reminded of this this week. We're scheduling our live nativity set for December. And one of our staff members said, well, we can't schedule it on this week because this is the week of the SEC championship game. And my response was very simple. I said, look, it's only going to affect me. We can go ahead and schedule it.25:55Now, for some of you who know the team I root for, you're laughing because you know my team is no threat to make it to that game. But I began to think of that. And when it happens, you just, you know, you just wait. But I began to think about that. Lord, when the kingdom of darkness hears my name, do they laugh because I'm no threat? Because if we're bearing fruit, if we're proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ, there is going to be opposition.26:24And maybe there's not opposition in your life because Satan looks at me and looks at us and says, you know what? There's no fruit. Hey, let them go to church because they leave it there on Sunday morning. Let them read the Bible because it's getting in the eyes, but it's not getting to the heart. Let them think that they know Christ. Here's the truth that we see over and over and over again in Scripture.26:53Since the beginning of time, the kingdom of darkness, the world has tried to stamp out the light of Jesus Christ. I want you to track with me through history. Genesis chapter 3. God creates a man and woman, Adam and Eve, and they are living with God in the garden, right? So they are face to face with God. And so a snake, a serpent comes, and we know that's Satan, and he tries to interrupt the kingdom of light.27:22He tries to interrupt the light of Jesus Christ, and he goes to Eve and says, are you sure? And that's often the question posed to us. And so even in Genesis 3, the sin entered into the man and the woman, and they were kicked out of the presence of God. Sin in our life breaks relationship with God. But before they were kicked out, God looks at Satan and says this, from the seed of Adam, I want you to know this promise, kingdom of darkness.27:49You will bruise his heel, but there will be one to come that will crush your head. The world has been trying to stamp out the light of Christ from the beginning. Exodus chapter 1. Pharaoh says, let us deal shrewdly with God's people. Let us stamp out the light. And the more the oppression, the greater the kingdom of God multiplied.28:18We see at the cross of Jesus Christ, the cross of Calvary. The world says, crucify him, crucify him, stamp out the light of Christ. Jesus screams out on the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? From the sixth hour to the night, the world turns dark, rocks break, graves jump, veils of the temple tear. It's a dark moment.28:48The light of Christ for three days has been stamped out. And three days later, he rises again because the world cannot stamp out the light of Christ. It doesn't end there. Revelation 11. We see these two witnesses coming at the end. And they will prophesy for a short time and then the world will kill them. I believe those witnesses also represent or are symbolic of the people of faith throughout time. To remind us, do not be fooled.29:16Have a wartime mentality. The kingdom of darkness is trying to stamp out the light of Christ. And if there is no opposition in your life, maybe you're not living in the light. And so I just say this. Shine brightly. Shine brightly for the sake of Jesus Christ. But know that when we seek Jesus, the world will deal shrewdly with us. And you say, well, Pastor, that's not a great sermon at all.29:44I say, it's a horrible truth. But the promise is that when we walk through dark days, God is working on our behalf for those that love him and are called according to his purposes. This is the light of Christ. So if this is the gospel reality, what is the gospel response? You say, well, my home is dark. My work is dark. I just live. I'm coming here in darkness and dark days.30:12How do we respond with the light of Christ? Very simply. First gospel response. The more God's people are afflicted. I want you to listen to this. You can't make this up. The more God's people are afflicted, the stronger they become. We see this in Exodus. The more God's people, the more shrewdly Pharaoh works. The more mortar he takes away. The more straw he takes away.30:42The more he tells the midwives, look, just dispose of the children. The midwives say, look, these ladies are giving birth before we can even get there. These are some baby making Hebrew wives. You can't make this up. This is gospel power. The more God's people are persecuted, what? The stronger the community of faith becomes. So this is now how we should pray. If that's true, Americans, we need to be careful how we pray.31:10Because how do we pray for the persecuted church? God, make them comfortable. God, take away their persecution. Brad and I had lunch with a pastor from Egypt several weeks ago. And he looked us in the face and he said this. He said, when you pray for us, do not pray that God would take the persecution away. He said, the stronger the opposition, the greater our faith becomes. He said, just pray that we would remain faithful.31:39And the American in us did not understand. Because when we pray for comfort, we're almost praying, God, we don't want to grow. The fastest growing churches in the world today, as of right now, are located in, are you ready for this? Iran, Afghanistan, Cambodia, and Somalia. To pray for the persecution to end is to pray against evangelistic growth in the church.32:06And you wonder why we don't share our faith. Because if I knew my life depended on it, I would live like my life depended on it. The more God's people are persecuted, the stronger they become. And so if you are under attack right now, know that God is making you strong as you sit. In his weakness, we become strong.32:36Second reality. I want you to just know this, that God is always working, even when you can't see it, if you are his child. That God is always working in the background, even if you can't see it. Pharaoh takes everything away and says, work harder, and they grow. Pharaoh tells the midwives, look, throw the babies away, kill the babies, and the population grows. Nothing Pharaoh could do could thwart the plan of God. And it's the same way in our lives.33:05So if you're struggling and you say, well, I don't see God working, maybe it's not meant for you and I to see physically. But we know that God works out all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes. So even if you do not feel God working in your life right now, if you are his child, he is working in your life. He is working in the background. And God knows our true enemies more than we can ever know.33:33And so I just say, trust him. Lean into Christ. Know that he is working on your behalf. And know that he does not have any orphan children. Third gospel response to opposition in our life. God always uses the weak. Some of you are going to hear that say, yes! God always uses, you say, well, Pastor, I can't speak. There's no way I could share my faith.34:04Stay with me. Moses couldn't speak. Well, I can't walk very far. There's no way I can walk across the street. God uses the weak. Well, you don't know what I can't do. But the power of Christ is greater than any of us. God uses the weak. This is what scripture says. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.34:32And so here's our struggle as men and women. We want to do things in our strength. And yet God's promise is, Josh, I don't need your strength. I think sometimes God laughs at my strength. God is saying, Josh, I'm waiting for you for the day that you wake up and realize you're a fool. And then I'm going to use the foolish things to shame the wise. I'm waiting for you to wake up and realize you're weak.35:00And then my power will work through your life. May we be weak and humble of hearts. God uses the weak. And so how can the world attack us? How can the kingdom of darkness attack us? Because the weaker we become physically, the stronger he is building us spiritually. Gospel reality. The fourth response I see in scripture is this. That God calls us through bondage into his presence.35:29God calls us through oppression into his presence. This is another struggle that we have as Americans in the American church. If there's a cloud that we see coming up, we're going to ask God, God, just walk me around the shadow of death. Right? So there's oppression. God, I see it. So let me go around the detour to see you. And God says, but what if I'm calling you through the valley of the shadow of death?35:59What if God this morning is calling you through Egypt to the promised land? What if God this morning is calling us through suffering, through persecution? And as he calls us through, he's in calling us into his presence. God uses difficulty in our life to show us his glory. And the gospel response to oppression is he is calling us through that to see the light of Christ.36:28Another response I see in scripture is this. God does not give us easy, pat answers to oppression. God does not give us an easy answer to what's going on here. Think about this. Pharaoh tells the midwives, the policy, the national foreign policy now is, if you see a Hebrew child, kill the child as soon as it's born.36:55Let that sink in. So any child born at UAB, any child born at St. Vincent's East, if you see nurses, if you see it's a boy, take it immediately away and dispose of the child. I just want you to know there are no easy, pat answers to that. And so how dare us, if someone is walking through difficulty, that we tap them on the shoulder and say, you know what?37:25All you need to do is pray. It'll be okay. Maybe there's not an easy answer. And maybe through suffering, God is calling us to see the framework of the gospel. That when I am struggling, that God reminds me that I will hide you in the cliff of the rock, that you might be struggling, but I will not leave you. Maybe God is trying to put within me a biblical worldview and not give me easy answers. Because we want easy answers.37:54We want, let me find a verse. Let me claim a verse that I can jump out of Egypt. It often says, I have given you something. His name is Jesus Christ, who for your sake endured the cross and despised its shame. That if you believe and trust in him, he will give you the strength to walk through the dark days. So I encourage you, if you know, if you are walking through a difficult time, I'm not going to give you,38:21if you just do these three steps, boom, it's done. But I will say, God will not leave you. He will not forsake you. And you are not alone. Last gospel reality is this, and it's a beautiful truth. The gospel is setting the captives free. In Jesus Christ, we see that the spirit of the Lord is upon him. God has anointed the Messiah to bring good news to the poor.38:51He has sent him to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners. This is the gospel. What is the response to Egypt? What is the response to opposition? The response is the gospel. We took the team, our staff, to break out Birmingham this week. We figured, what better to celebrate Easter than to lock ourselves in a dark room handcuffed. And so it was great for team building.39:22We had three clues. We only needed two of them. We finished 47 minutes. We were out of there. But here's what we were thinking as we were locked at first. I don't know if it was a great experience or terrifying being locked in a dark room with your pastor, handcuffed and blindfolded. But they handcuffed you and they blindfolded you. I'm not going to give you the clues in case you want to go. It's awesome. But we groped around for several minutes. We had to find the key in a dark room to unlock your handcuffs.39:51And I'll just say this. If you go, I'm not going to tell you where the key was. But it took us two minutes to realize the key was right under our nose the whole time. And I begin to think about this, that we live in a world that is groping in darkness and the key that they need in their life is the gospel. And those who have the key are those who have seen Christ.40:19This is the gospel message. This is evangelism. Evangelism is one person that has gotten out of jail, that's going to their cellmate saying, look, I have the key. You can come out too. That's the gospel. The gospel is saying, I was in chains and Christ freed me. Let me show you how. And so the answer to bondage in the world for Christians is not that we run away, is that we run to bondage.40:42So if we see someone in political bondage that are struggling, our answer to the refugee crisis is not to turn off our TV and say, good luck. Our answer is to say, look, you're a refugee, but you need Christ. Our answer to those that are in economic slavery or sexual slavery is not to run away, but to run towards that and to say, Jesus Christ sets the captives free.41:04This is the gospel. The gospel is the good news to those that are in that. So, Pastor, can you give me a real world example of how we can do that? Right outside our foyer today, we are sponsoring the Lily House in the Dominican Republic.41:28And this is what the Lily House does. It's a place of refuge and reform for those that are in prostitution. We have a biblical mandate not to close our eyes and simply pray for those that are stuck in slavery. We have a biblical mandate to go to them and say, let me hold your hand as God delivers you out of bondage.41:53And so an easy way we can help with that. And I pray that many of you can go to the Dominican and help firsthand. If you want to purchase jewelry in the foyer, all of that goes to help the Lily House, that they are taking women off the street and they're bringing them in a safe place and they're giving them jobs. And they're and they're also sharing in that Christ. They're saying that Jesus is the one who delivers us from bondage.42:22Jesus is the one who breaks our change. If you look to Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith, he will deliver you. And may we be people who run to oppression. And so you say, Pastor, how does that happen? How does Jesus deliver us? Ninety-seven times in the book of Exodus is this word, serve. And so Exodus is a biblical book that offers this question, who will you serve?42:53Who will you serve? Who will you serve? Ninety-seven times that question is offered. And so our question is, who will we serve? Will we serve the living God or will we serve ourselves? And so, Pastor, I want to serve Christ. How can I be delivered from my chains? First, you have to understand your sin, that you are a sinner, that I am a sinner. Paul says that he is the chief of sinners.43:23And I echo that, that I am a sinner saved by grace. That while I was a sinner, Christ, who is rich in mercy, abounding in love for me, offered me grace in my time of need. That you should know that God so loved you, that he gave his only son, that if you believe in that, you will not perish but have everlasting life. That's what you need to know. You need to know that that is a gospel truth.43:53So how do we respond to that truth? The Bible says this, whoever calls upon the Lord may be saved. Christianity is so exclusive, it's inclusive. Jesus says this, if you're worshiping your own God, you will not know eternal life. The Bible says that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He said, well, if Jesus is the only way, then how can anyone be saved? Because the Bible says, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.44:22That Jesus says he is the only way, but that he offers you that door. If you have never put your faith in Jesus Christ today, I want you to know that he loves you. He died for you, that you might know that he is the chain breaker, that he sets the captives free. Maybe you've come here this morning and you feel like you are in Egypt. You feel like you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death.44:49Maybe you're there because of your sin and you need to spend some time repenting of that. And just realizing, God, I'm walking through these difficult days and it's my fault. And Lord, will you forgive me? The Bible says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just. There is no better time to repent of your sins and find forgiveness than right now. But maybe you're walking through difficult days, not because of your sin. Remember, remember that the young man that's blind and the disciples say, Jesus, tell us who sinned, this guy or his parents?45:19And Jesus looks at them and said, neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the glory of God might be revealed. And what if you and I are walking through Egypt right now, not for your sake, but for your neighbors? What if God wants your neighbor and your kids and your family to see Christ in you? And our prayer is, God, take the thorn away.45:50But God says, but your neighbors need to see the grace that is sufficient for you in the midst of that. Maybe you're struggling this morning and God just wants to water you. I want you to know that Jesus Christ breaks chains. That if you've come in here addicted, you can leave free. That if you've come in here a slave to your sin, you can leave free. If you've come in here a religious zealot and a slave to, I need to check the box that way, God would love me.46:15You can leave free if you go to the cross of Calvary. That is the power of the gospel. And that is the message that Jesus Christ proclaims to us. Let's pray. Father, oh.Next in Exodus →Sunday, May 7, 2017More sermons on Exodus →
