Rescued to Worship

At Southern Calvert Baptist Church, we are on our second round of walking through the entire Bible, cover to cover, over the next three years. During our last meeting, we took a look at the calling that God placed on Moses’ life. Moses answered God’s great calling. God was in the process of preparing a spiritual leader to guide the children of Israel out of bondage and into the Promised Land. God has heard the cries of the children of Israel over the years. He has not forgotten them. He is about to move in a way that would change the course of human history. That is what we are going to take a look at this week.

I. God remembers His promise

God has had a plan for human history since before the foundations of the world were laid. He created mankind with that view of history in mind. Mankind fell into sin yet God already had a plan of rescue and redemption in place. God revealed part of that plan to Adam and Eve immediately after they had fallen into sin. He was going to rescue mankind so that human beings could connect with Him and worship Him. God came to Abraham and made a covenant, promising a Savior who would be a blessing to Abraham and to the entire world. Over four-hundred years have passed since that promise was made to Abraham. The descendants of Abraham are living in the land of Egypt as slaves. God has already called Moses and now He shares His plan with Moses. We are introduced to three characteristics of God in Exodus chapter six. Let’s take a closer look at who this God is who remembers His promises.

2 God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD;

3 and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them. (Exodus 6)

There are three different Hebrew names used for God in this passage. The first one is “Elohim“. This describes God as the All-Powerful Creator God. He created Moses. He created Pharaoh. He spoke the universe into existence. The things that He has promised to do for the children of Israel are not difficult for Him. The second name used in this text for God is the Hebrew name “Jehovah“.  This describes God as the Self-Existing One. God exists in Himself. He does not depend on any outside sources. He does not need Moses in order to accomplish this task. He could do it all by Himself. He chooses to invite Moses to be a part of what He is about to do. Moses will benefit from this calling, not Jehovah. The third name used in this passage is “El Shaddai“. In English, it is translated as “God Almighty“. It means that God has life in Himself and He pours that life into His creation for the benefit of His creation. This is the God who makes and keeps His promises. This is the God whom Moses can trust. This is the God who wants to have a personal relationship with Moses and with the children of Israel. This is the God who deserves to be worshiped by the children of Israel.

4 “I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned.

5 “Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. (Exodus 6)

God tells Moses that He has not forgotten His promises to His people. He promised to deliver them from their spiritual bondage and take them to the Promised Land. The events that are about to unfold are physical events that help us understand spiritual truth.

6 “Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.

7 ‘Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

8 ‘I will bring you to the land which I swore  to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the LORD.’ ” (Exodus 6)

The children of Israel are in physical bondage. It is evident and obvious. Every human being ever born on this earth has also been born into spiritual bondage. Because of original sin, we are born enslaved to our sin nature. Just like Israel needed to be rescued from bondage, we do too. God is about to redeem His people and free them from bondage so that they can travel to the Promised Land. On this journey, they are going to learn to be His people and He will be their God. He wants to have a personal relationship with them. They need to be free in order for that to happen. God wants to have a personal relationship with each individual human being but, in order for that relationship to happen, we have to be set free from the bondage of our sin nature. We cannot live in bondage and have a personal relationship with God. What is going to have to happen so that the children of Israel can be set free from bondage in order to have a personal relationship with God? Let’s discover the answer.

II. Saved by the blood of the lamb

God has shown His power to Pharaoh over and over again. Pharaoh has failed to keep his promises over and over again. Pharaoh is not like God. He does not keep his word. God always keeps His word. Now, the final plague is about to strike Egypt and the children of Israel will finally be released from bondage.

2 “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.

3 “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.

4 ‘Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb.

5 ‘Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

6 ‘You shall keep  it until the fourteenth  day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.

7 ‘Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.

12 ‘For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments -I am the LORD.

13 ‘The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where  you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. (Exodus 6)

The blood of the lamb is going to protect the children of Israel from the death of the firstborn male. Once they are saved from death by the blood of the lamb, they will be free to leave bondage and connect with God. If you have been a student of the Bible for any amount of time, I am sure that you have made the connection between the blood of the lamb in this passage and Jesus Christ.

“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

In Exodus, God used the blood of the lamb to save His people. Jesus, whose name means “God’s salvation“, will save His people from their sins. He is the Savior promised by God to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The blood of the lamb in Exodus is a picture of the blood of Jesus Christ that will be shed on the cross. Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, they way that the children of Israel placed their faith in the blood of the lamb, we are able to break free from bondage and have a personal relationship with God. The children of Israel had to make a choice between trusting the promise of God or facing His judgment along with the Egyptians. We have to make a choice today, as well. Are we going to trust the promises of God and be saved from the judgment that God will bring on the world or, will we face that judgment too?

III. Rescued to Worship

Not only does God want to free the children of Israel from bondage so that they can have a personal relationship with Him, He also wants to free them from bondage so that they can learn to worship Him. The same is true in our spiritual lives today. God wants to free us from the power of our sin nature so that we can have a personal relationship with Him and learn to live a life of worship in His presence moment by moment, day by day.

29 Now it came about at midnight  that the LORD struck all the firstborn in 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 cattle.

30 Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where  there was not someone dead.

31 Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the LORD, as you have said.

32 “Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.” (Exodus 12)

The children of Israel were rescued to worship. They were redeemed to worship. They were freed to worship. What was the one thing that God told the children of Israel to stay away from during this time of Passover? The children of Israel were to stay away from leaven. Leaven is “a substance, typically yeast, that is used in dough to make it rise“. In order to get a better understanding of this, let’s turn our attention to the Apostle Paul.

6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?

7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.

8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (I Corinthians 5)

These two verses are in the context of unconfronted sin in the church. The Apostle Paul reminds us that the same way that a little leaven leavens the entire lump of dough, so just a little unconfronted and unconfessed sin will spread quickly in one’s personal life and throughout the entire church. Are there any unconfronted and unconfessed sins in your life that keep you from experiencing genuine worship?

So, my dear friend, do you believe that God always keeps His promises? Have you accepted the Perfect Sacrifice of Jesus Christ to pay the price for your sins? Are you walking/living in the freedom that God offers to you? Do you worship God daily? Finally, are there any hidden sins in your life that keep you from worshiping God the way that He desires?