MPC, 20th January 2002.The Bible in Four Easy Lessons
Part 2: Exodus-Deuteronomy - "The Road to
Freedom".
Phil Campbell MPC, 20th January 2002.
I don't know if you ever read the MODERN MANNERS column in the paper. You probably don't need to. I do, because I need all the help I can get. Readers write in with issues; questions they don't know how to resolve politely. And the Columnist gives the answers.
Last week, one of the questions was this. What do you do about a friend who NEVER TURNS UP to social events he's been invited to? He'll say YES when he's invited. But then he just doesn't turn up. Parties. Weddings. Movies.
What do you DO with a friend like that? Without being RUDE ABOUT IT. And the columnist offered some common sense advice. DON'T INVITE HIM anymore. Strike him off the guest list. Make him an EX-FRIEND. To show him the error of his ways.
It's actually a bit of a social trend. People who HEADGE THEIR BETS. Don't say yes or no to an invitation til they're sure a BETTER OFFER isn't going to come along. So they say, "I'll see if I can make it." Or "I MIGHT SEE YOU THERE." When you know perfectly well THEY MIGHT NOT.
We're picking up this morning THE STORY OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL. A people we're going to see who have got the most INCREDIBLE INVITATION OF ALL. Invited to be THE PEOPLE OF GOD. Invited to be God's PERSONAL TREASURE. The question is, what are they going to do with the invitation?
Last week we started at the beginning. With the GOOD CREATION. And Adam and Eve's REBELLION. Deciding RIGHT AND WRONG for themselves. Which took the world down a terrible spiral.
And yet with ABRAHAM, God's going to start all over again. God is going to BLESS THE MESS the world's in, through Abraham and his descendents. It's a three part promise, and last week we saw it in Genesis chapter 12. And I want you to keep the three parts of the promise in mind as the story of the bible unfolds.
Descendants. A land. And blessing for all the nations of the world. That's how God's going to reverse the curse. A huge privilege for Abraham and his descendents - an invitation to be right at the heart of God's plans. And we're going to look how the story unfolds.
We finished last week at the end of Genesis. So today we're picking up at the very next page. Exodus chapter 1. Four generations have come and gone, and Abraham's great-great grandchildren are in a tight spot in Egypt. A quick look at Exodus 1 verse 6 and 7, and you can see there's GOOD NEWS. And there's BAD NEWS.
It says, "Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, BUT THE ISRAELITES WERE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLIED GREATLY AND BECAME EXCEEDINGLY NUMEROUS, so that the land was filled with them." Now that's the good news. You can see GOD'S PROMISE, is starting to happen. Abram, I'm going to give you so many descendants you can't count them. And here's his offspring in Egypt, EXCEEDINGLY NUMEROUS.
But here's the BAD NEWS. The EGYPTIANS don't like it. The Israelites are breeding like rabbits, and the Pharoah of Egypt says IT'S GOT TO STOP. Verse 8 and 9, he says, "Look, we've got to do something about it - or there'll be more and more of 'em, they'll buy all the best real estate, and start putting up signs in Hebrew that we can't even read. And there won't be any room on the beaches, and they'll take over the place."
And so they put slave masters over the Israelites, and they oppress them. And verse 11, they force them to build the store cities of Pithom and Rameses. And life for the Israelites is a misery.
Good news and bad news. Lots of descendants of Abraham. But they're OPPRESSED. In a place a long way from the land God said he was going to give them as their own. And they're crying out to God. Because GOD PROMISED MORE THAN THIS. God said they were going to be BLESSED. And that anyone who cursed them would have HIM to deal with. Which isn't what life in Egypt looks like at all.
The even better good news is, God's listening. Turn over to Exodus chapter 2 verse 24. He hasn't forgotten about them. Because it says there, God heard their groaning and remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob."
Remember, that's our theme. GOD'S PROMISES TO ABRAHAM. And here it is in Exodus chapter 2. God remembers His promise. He brings it to mind. It's time to do something about PROMISE PART 2. Because God's promised them a LAND OF THEIR OWN. So He grabs Moses, and He says, it's time to move.
Exodus tells one of the GREAT STORIES of the bible. And you can read how God REDEEMS HIS PEOPLE FROM BONDAGE in the next ten chapters or so. How Moses goes to the Pharoah, and he says "I've got a message from our God. And he says you've gotta LET MY PEOPLE GO." And Pharoah says NO WAY. Over and over again. God sends plagues, and droughts and hail. And finally, in the middle of chapter 13, you get to the great event. The Exodus. The DEPARTURE. Exodus means GOING OUT. And that's exactly what they do. The great GOING OUT from Egypt.
Because God's keeping His promises to Abraham. And so He opens up the waters in front of them, He leads them through the Red Sea and into the desert. And the Egyptian soldiers who are chasing them in chariots to kill them are washed away as the waters close behind them. It's the sort of stuff they make Hollywood movies about. Just pick it up quickly at the end of Exodus 14. Verse 29. And you get a good summary.
EX 14:29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the LORD SAVED ISRAEL from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
Can you see they're learning GOD IS A SAVING GOD? They're HUGELY PRIVILEGED - that the God of the universe has chosen to save THEM. And because of He's done that, they fear Him. And put their FAITH IN HIM. Which is EXACLTY WHAT THEY SHOULD BE DOING.
But in the next breath, things change. Moses leads them out through the Desert of Shur. A dry place. And they're travelling, and there's no water. Things are tough. And they finally COME TO SOME WATER… and what do you know, it's BITTER.
This is the school of HARD KNOCKS. This is SURVIVOR OUTBACK EDITION. This is parched lips and cracked tongues, and a muddy water hole that's there in front of you and you can't even DRINK IT.
So are these Israelites only going to FEAR THE LORD and TRUST HIM when things go RIGHT? Or are they going to do it when THINGS ARE TOUGH as well? That's the big question. So pick it up in Exodus 15 verse 24. What happens?
Verse 24. So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?"
Let me tell you, this is the first GRUMBLE of many. Over and over again.
But Moses prays. And God says, throw that bit of wood in the water. And he throws it in the water and the water's sweet again. Problem solved. But keep reading. Because it's the start of a trend. It's a SIGN of what the Israelites are going to be like. So from here on, God's going to TEST THEM.
Do they want to be his people? Or not? These are the people GOD CHOSE and GOD SAVED. Are they going to trust Him and listen? Or not? They're invited to a great party. But in the end, they're not quite committed as to whether they're coming or not.
Exodus 19, they arrive at Mount Sinai. And God's going to spell out a very clear choice. He's going to tell them what being His saved people is going to look like. Here's what they call "The Sinai Covenant." Here's the contact between God and Israel spelt out in detail. Including the fine print.
And I want you to follow from verse 4. Chapter 19 verse 4. God says this. He says, I chose you and I saved you. So MAKE UP YOUR MINDS whether or not you're coming to the party. He says "You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on Eagles' wings and brought you to myself. NOW IF YOU OBEY ME FULLY AND KEEP MY COVENANT, then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."
There it is. They're invited to be God's personal treasure. They're invited to be a Kingdom of PRIESTS. To be a HOLY NATION. Different from everyone else in the world. Which is a huge privilege. If they want it.
So Exodus 20 onwards, God spells out exactly how His people Israel are called to live. Page after page of laws and rules and regulations and rituals. Starting with the Ten Commandments in verses 3 to 17. The way GOD WANTS HIS SAVED PEOPLE ISRAEL TO BEHAVE. The sort of righteous people He wants them to be.
And RULE NUMBER 1, the first commandment, the most important of all, you can see in verse 3. NO OTHER GODS. I saved you, He says in verse 2, I brought you out of Egypt - so don't wander off and worship anything else. I saved you to be MINE. So BE MINE! "You shall have no other gods before Me."
That's the big one. And the others follow from it. RULE NUMBER 2. Don't go making an IDOLS. Not of ME. Or anything else.
Number 3. Don't misuse my name. Honour it.
Take Saturday off and rest. Honour your mum and dad.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal. Don't lie. Don't be jealous of your neighbours house or his wife or his servants or his donkey or anything else.
Followed by a whole lot of other laws as well. A constitution for a whole new nation - because that's what they're going to be. Property rights, Justice system. From here, right through LEVITICUS. And Numbers. God's law for Israel. That's going to mark them out as being different from every other nation in the world.
So how do you reckon they'll go sticking with God, doing things His way, not going off and worshipping bits of wood and tree gods and fertility gods like everyone else? How do you reckon they'll go at being DIFFERENT?
We're going to skip over Leviticus and Numbers. And go right to the borders of the promised land. We're going to go to Deuteronomy. Which is a record of a series of SPEECHES by Moses. As the people of Israel are about to cross the river Jordan into the promised land.
And Moses takes the Israelites back over the story of what God's done for them already. And then spells out all over again the CONSEQUENCES. Of the huge decision in front of them.
Deuteronomy. Turn over to chapter 29. And notice how Moses takes them all the way back to the promises God made to Abraham. He says, GOD'S CHOSEN YOU TO BE HIS PEOPLE. The big question is, ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE HIM as YOUR GOD?
Because this is no casual thing. He says, here's where you MAKE UP YOUR MINDS. And don't think if you go chasing after the idols you've seen in the other lands around you that EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT. Because it WON'T BE. This is like a marriage. God and Israel. And in a marriage, BOTH PARTNERS have to promise to be faithful.
Because one thing's for sure. These Israelites shouldn't think they can FOOL AROUND with God. See, here's the way they can turn down their invitation. If they think they can HAVE THE PROMISED LAND and yet still chase after other God's they're kidding themselves. If they think they can hedge their bets and hold out for another offer, they've got another think coming.
So here's the warning. End of chapter 29. God says CAST YOUR MIND FORWARD a bit. He says, there are two ways this story can unfold. He says imagine one day it's all DESOLATE. Imagine there are people walking past the ruins of your cities and shaking their heads and saying WHAT'S HAPPENED HERE? He says if it ever comes to that, this will be why. Pick it up in Deuteronomy 29 verse 25. If it's all in ruins and people are saying, WHY HAS THIS HAPPENED, here's the answer. Verse 25…
DT 29:25 And the answer will be:
It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. 26 They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. 27 Therefore the LORD's anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book. 28 In furious anger and in great wrath the LORD uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.
So that's the choice in front of them. Life or death. Blessing or curse. Which will it be? How's the story going to pan out?
We won't spoil the ending by going there today, but can I just point out if you're looking at the way the Bible's put together in a literary way, what you've got in this little slice of Deuteronomy is a perfect summary of the way the Old Testament story unfolds. End of chapter 29, first few verses in chapter 30.
They're going to be GIVEN THE PROMISED LAND. And God says, if you REBEL, you'll be thrown out. And as you read, you've got to wait and see what happens. That's the way the plotline keeps the reader in suspense. That's the question hanging out to be answered. But even that's not the end of the story. Pick up in chapter 30 verse 1. Because even if everything in the promised land is CRUSHED, there's still room for an Israel to COME BACK TO GOD and start again. The only thing is, it's got to come RIGHT FROM THE HEART. Follow along. Verse 1…
30:1 When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you TAKE THEM TO HEART wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, 2 and when you and your children RETURN TO THE LORD your God and OBEY HIM WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL according to everything I command you today, 3 then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. 4 Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back.
And it goes further than that. Turn back to him like that and he'll even change your hearts. Which is exactly what Israel needs.
5 He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. 6 The LORD your God will CIRCUMCISE YOUR HEARTS and the hearts of your descendants, so that you MAY LOVE HIM with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.
Which leaves even more unanswered questions - more suspense. If Israel's thrown out of the land, will they ever turn back HEART AND SOUL to God? Or NOT? Will there EVER BE… an Israelite who'll do that?
We're going to leave it there for today. With the people of Israel faced with a life and death choice. Which is spelt out again in verse 15.
DT 30:15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
They're invited. But are they going to come? They'll either serve God from the heart and live in the promised land and be BLESSED. Or they'll be thrown out. Which is it going to be?
I don't want to draw too many conclusions today. Because we're only part way through the story. And so far, it's a story about ISRAEL. And not us.
But will you notice the story's got some parallels, hasn't it? With a parable Jesus told. Which we read at the start. From Matthew chapter 22. Listen again.
He's talking to some Pharisees. Some experts in God's law. And he says this.
2 "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. "Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'
"But they paid no attention and went off--one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
I wonder who he's talking about? An Israel INVITED TO THE BANQUET. And yet always hedging. Looking for the better offer.
So then the King says to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
Which is where we come into the story. No matter who you are, YOU'RE INVITED. Israelite or not. To be part of God's great party. The choices are the same. Because he's still looking for a people who want to be RIGHTEOUS. Not that you've got to START righteous. But that you're hungering to be that way. God wants to fill the wedding hall. The invitation's out there. But I guess the excuses are the same. So what's it going to be … for you?