Marching Defiant

Okay, let's pray and then we will get into it.

We're going to be in Exodus chapter 14 if you want to get there in your Bible.

Lord Jesus, again, as we open your word and we study the Exodus, we ask Lord that you would help us to

find Christ in these pages and see your mighty hand to save your people

and then understand that this story does not exclude us, but that we are intimately wrapped up

in it.

We ask of all this in Jesus name.

Amen.

When we last left off, the children of Israel were just

finishing up with the Passover.

Yeah, last time in the book of Exodus.

Previously, previously in the book of Exodus, the children of Israel had

celebrated the Passover.

The final plague has come and the final plague harkens to the death and

resurrection of Christ.

Christ, our Passover lamb, has been slain, Scripture says.

And now we're going to take a close look at Exodus chapter 14.

Since we do not have visual aids, we will not be cavorting with Google Earth.

I'll have to show you next week.

We'll engage in the hermeneutical spiral and we'll come back through.

But there's a very important motif in Scripture.

And in the Advent season during one of the midweek services, I teased out this motif just a little bit, but I

want to spend some time today unpacking the motif a little bit.

And when we look at the parting of the Red Sea, there is a governing passage in the New

Testament that helps us get that this is type and shadow pointing to a reality.

So Exodus 14 and the crossing of the Red Sea is a form of baptism.

We'll talk about that in more depth next week.

But the motif I really want to drill in hard on is this motif that we see in Scripture where

the high and exalted, and you have to almost say the self -exalted,

they are brought to nothing.

And it's the great flipping of the tables.

And so we'll see it in the actions of the parting of the Red Sea, but we're going to

hear the theology of the parting of the Red Sea in part because there's other passages of

Scripture that help us understand the different facets of the theology of the event.

But in Exodus 15, we see what is called the Song of Moses.

And the Song of Moses has a New Testament parallel, and it's in a place where a lot

of people would not expect it.

At least the theme is the same.

You find it in what's called the Magnificat.

When it is announced, when John the Baptist basically proclaims

that the baby in Mary's womb is the Messiah and Elizabeth

prophesies, and then you have Mary say the words of the Magnificat, my soul magnifies the Lord and my

spirit rejoices in God my Savior.

The themes in the Magnificat follow the same themes that we see in the Song of Moses.

And this is great motif of those who are oppressed, who are under the thumb of

evil, who are poor, exploited, and made to suffer.

All of a sudden they are shouting for joy.

They are released from bondage and their oppressors, the high and self -exalted,

are brought to absolute nothing.

And this is a picture of our salvation.

And it's important for us to get something here.

When we talk about salvation and who it is that truly is our enemy, scriptures over

and again make it clear that we battle not against flesh and blood.

So there isn't, and I mean this, there isn't a single person on this planet who is truly

our enemy.

They may not like us and have become our enemies, but we are not theirs.

And so when we talk about this motif, when we see the stand -in for the devil, which is

Pharaoh and the armies of Egypt, you have to see them for what they are.

This is not somehow teaching us how to oppose

somebody we don't like or somebody who is opposed to Christianity.

This is not what this is at all.

This is cosmic.

This is cataclysmic.

This is quantum stuff going on here.

Pharaoh is a type and shadow pointing to the devil.

His army pointing to the demon horde.

And this is a picture of God's victory over the devil, not our victory over

your least favorite political party here in the United States.

It's important that we not misapply these motifs so that

we kind of miss the point.

Now it is true that those who persist in opposing God are siding with the devil

and God literally describes of them that oftentimes their schemes and the things that they hope

for will come to ruin in a day.

And that's always true because everyone always dies.

It's always funny that somebody's big grand vision for the world always has a way of dying with them,

does it not?

Yeah.

So let's keep that in mind.

The reason for that is simple because there's how many seven billion little deities running around on planet Earth right now?

You know.

And so when one of those little deities rises up and has some grand vision for the

world, another one will always come up and they have a slightly different vision.

So, you know, right now our big, you know, kind of threat that is kind of

lurking on the horizon is North Korea.

And boy, that fellow is, yeah, yeah.

Kim Jong -il or ill repute or something.

Is it Kim Jong -un?

Yeah, my Korean.

I know none of it.

So I know, I know Kim Shi and that's about it.

But, you know, that guy, that guy is really quite an interesting piece of work.

He's got a little God complex.

And so he's, his, all of his plans will come to naught in a day and

that will be the day that he dies.

And so, you know, and don't worry, there'll be some other tin penny despot who will rise up who want to take on

the US.

It always seems to happen.

It's just the way the world works.

So, but this has nothing that we're going to study, has nothing to do with that.

So let's take a look at Exodus chapter 14.

The Lord said to Moses, tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of

Pi -hahiroth between Migdal and the sea in front of Baal

-zaphon.

You shall encamp facing it by the sea.

For Pharaoh will say to the people of Israel, they are wandering in the land.

The wilderness has shut them in and I will harden Pharaoh's heart.

He will pursue them and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all of his host.

And the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh and they did so.

Now a little bit of a note here.

If you were here last time, we opened up Google Earth and we showed where all this is taking place.

This is taking place at the Red Sea at the Gulf of Aqaba.

There's literally a little beachhead that comes out that's formed by a wadi.

And this is where they're camped and they're going to cross the Red Sea at this point.

And historically, this is how Israel has recognized this to be the actual place where it took place.

Now what I'll do next week is I'll bring a couple of links for you.

Well, a link to a YouTube, a documentary that has been published on YouTube

that explains the archaeological evidence for where the crossing took place and where Mount

Sinai is.

It's good to see this.

And back in either the late 90s or early 2000s, there was actually an archaeological

dive in the Gulf of Aqaba in this region.

And they have footage, and it's wonderful footage, footage of coral

formations that literally look like the coral has grown into the wreckage of Egyptian

chariots.

And the reason for it is simple.

This is actual history.

This is not some mythology.

This is not a legend.

This is not something that took place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

This is not in the foggy mists of mystical time.

This was at a time and a place.

It's important to also note this, and that is that there is a group, a pretty

prominent group of Egyptologists and modern -day archaeologists who

literally say there is not one shred of evidence for the Exodus, as told in

the Bible.

And the way they do their archaeology is like this.

They cover their eyes, and they go, Nope, I don't see any evidence for the Exodus at all.

And a couple years ago, a couple years ago, there was a documentary that was released in the theaters,

and it's now on Netflix.

Those of you who like binge -watching Netflix, there's nothing to binge on on this one.

It's a one -episode thing.

The name of the documentary is Patterns of Evidence Exodus.

Patterns of Evidence Exodus.

And it is amazing!

My kind of nerdy thing.

But anyway, this is a great documentary, and it goes through and explains

what is the reason why these particular Egyptologists and archaeologists in the Middle East

don't see any evidence.

And it has to do with the fact that they have a false timeline regarding how the

history of Egypt unfolds.

But if you lose their false timeline, and you look for the evidence as you would expect to see

it from what the Bible tells, oh my word,

we know where Goshen is?

They have, no joke, I'm not making this, they have found the original tomb of Joseph.

They have found the original tomb of Joseph.

I have to say that because, remember, Joseph's bones are moved.

They even found the original tombs of the 12 patriarchs, the sons of

the 11 remaining.

I am not making this up.

And they even have documents from the time period, an eyewitness account from

the Egyptian point of view, of the plagues themselves.

And on top of it, we even have, this might seem like it's not a big deal, but it really is.

We have an Egyptian document giving a list of names of slaves

at the time, and they're all Hebrew names.

They're all Hebrew names.

In fact, even one of the names I think is Shipra, which is one

of the Hebrew midwives given in the Bible.

And so when you look at the evidence that we actually do have, it's overwhelming.

Great documentary, worth the watch.

Does anyone here not have Netflix?

Okay, I'll pray for you.

Patterns of evidence.

Patterns of evidence, Exodus.

Yeah.

Yeah. It is.

It is in the Red Sea.

Well, here's the thing.

We're going to read in just a second.

And so up to this point, you know, the Egyptians, they've let them go.

Now the children of Israel are about to cross the Red Sea.

It's a miraculous crossing.

And literally, this is the hand of God that's involved in this.

And what ends up happening is that the armies of Pharaoh are going to pursue the children of Israel

into the Red Sea while the water is parted.

They make it to the other side and the water collapses in.

Yeah, so the wreckage of Egyptian chariots should be expected in the bottom of the Red Sea.

Yeah, remember the children of Israel, they got no chariots.

Yep.

So let's continue then.

Verse 5.

When the king of Egypt was told that the people have had fled the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed

toward the people and they said, what is this that we've done?

We've let Israel go from serving us.

It's like.

Who's going to who's going to do my laundry?

So he made ready his chariot took his army with him and he took 600 chosen

chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them and

Yahweh hardened the heart of Pharaoh the king of Egypt and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of

Israel were going out defiantly.

I love how it describes.

They're going out defiantly, you know, you know, it just makes you wonder whether hand gestures involved.

Were they singing songs?

How did this go exactly because I can think of ways that I do things defiantly, you know, so they're

going out defiantly.

Yes.

We're going to get to that in a little bit.

It's okay.

Not in this chapter, but in the coming chapters is going to be a little bit of a census taken which will give us

the rough estimate of how many people we're dealing with.

It's well over a million.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, the chariots at the time by the way, we're like the ancient world's equivalent of a tank.

And against unarmed.

Yeah against unarmed civilians that they're devastating.

Okay.

So the Egyptian pursued them all, pursued them all Pharaoh's horses chariots and horsemen and his army overtook

them and camped at the sea at Pi -Hahiroth in front of Baal -Zaphon.

I'll show you this next week when we've got our television back.

When Pharaoh drew near the people of Israel lifted up their eyes and behold the Egyptians were marching after them and they

feared greatly and the people of Israel cried out to Yahweh.

Now, this is the just amazing trash talk here.

This reminds me of the type of conversations I had with my children when they were small and we're traveling on long driving

trips.

Here's how this one goes.

Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you've taken us away to die in the wilderness?

Mother, do you not care that I'm going to die because I haven't had lunch yet?

Is this not what we said to you in Egypt?

Leave us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians.

No, that's not what you said.

For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.

Oh, man.

Now, if you are thinking in terms of like what's possible in terms of in the just

in the natural world, okay?

Unarmed people who've just been freed from slavery, who've never been trained for war, who don't have any

swords, chariots or anything at all as far as army -wise.

You think about it.

There's no way they can defeat the Egyptians.

None whatsoever.

But see, they seem to forget something here and that is God who has set them.

Free.

And God has not brought them out of Egypt with these 10 plagues that we just saw that literally

utterly destroy the whole economy of the Middle Kingdom of.

Egypt.

It took them centuries to recover from this, by the way.

Centuries.

And you know, God's not about to just leave them to die.

So these statements show lack of faith, lack of faith in God, lack of trust in his word,

lack of faith in God's goodness towards them.

They can, as far as this goes, there's no way to defeat the Egyptians.

It would take a miracle.

I seem to think God specializes in such things.

It would take a miracle.

And no, we will not be visiting Miracle Max.

So Moses said to the people, fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of Yahweh, which he

will work for you today.

For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.

The Lord will fight for you.

You have only to be silent.

Wow.

Who's going to do, who's going to win this one?

Yeah, those are some pretty strong words.

Now, keep in mind, what we're going to see happening here is a picture of salvation itself.

Egypt's armies and Pharaoh are a stand -in for the devil.

And against him who has us in slavery and oppression under his

dominion, the dominion of darkness, there is nothing we can do to free ourselves.

Nothing we can do to fight against his horde.

God is the one who has got to work this salvation for us.

So the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to me?

Tell the people of Israel to go forward.

Now, they're on a beach and in front of them is the Red Sea.

Behind them is the armies of Egypt.

What do you mean go forward?

Yeah. Yeah.

I didn't do so well in geography class, but I'm pretty sure this is not going.

To work.

Lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea and

divide it.

I want you to see this again, pay attention to the physical act here.

He's got a piece of wood in his hand.

He's going to go up to the sea and divide it.

What does he look like?

He looks like the cross.

Uh -huh.

Right.

He's not only going to do this once, there's another story coming where he's going to do that exact same thing again.

And you're sitting there going, whoa, wait a second.

Are you saying Pastor Rose, bro, that Moses is kind of a stand -in for Jesus in this story?

Uh -huh.

And there's the wood of the cross.

And if you're not, you can't see the connection, just see him doing this.

And the miracle takes place.

The sign of the cross shows up all over the wandering, the wanderings of Israel in the, in the wilderness.

It's amazing when you start to see how many times it shows up and here it is.

Now there's another story where they're fighting, you know, some tribe that's you know, come

to attack them.

And as long as Moses's arms are out, they're winning.

And as soon as they droop, they lose.

So what was the solution?

Hold your arms out, right?

Right.

So the whole time they're winning, there's Moses at the edge of a cliff with guys holding his arms

up.

So he looks like he's being crucified.

This is all on purpose.

The typology is amazing.

So there's Moses with a piece of wood symbolizing the cross, making the sign of the cross with his body and then the

sea parts.

Okay.

So why do you cry out?

Tell the people, go lift up your staff, stretch your hand out over the sea,.

Divide it.

The people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.

I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they go in after them.

I will get glory over Pharaoh and all of his hosts, his chariots and his horsemen and the Egyptians shall know that I am

Yahweh when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.

Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them and the

pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them coming between the host of Egypt and the

host of Israel and literally it's like a bottleneck right there.

There's no way for the Egyptians to get around the pillar of fire.

There was a cloud in the darkness and it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.

Now you got to think about this for a second.

The Egyptians have just lost and I mean every family has just lost all their firstborn.

They just experienced nine other plagues on top of that.

Blood, frog, gnats, darkness, hail that came down like fire, you know work this.

All out.

And there they are and they can't get to the children of Israel that are on the beach

just beyond that pillar of cloud and that pillar of cloud literally came and

moved and stood right between them.

I've seen weather before.

I've never seen weather like this.

What on earth has possessed them that they do not see this for what it is.

Literally I if as soon as it got dark if I were the in the Egyptian army, I'm thinking how do I get out of here?

We're all going to die.

We don't stand a chance but God has hardened their hearts so that they do

the most amazingly stupid thing ever.

So the Egyptians, okay, so then Moses stretched out his hand.

All right, verse 21, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea.

The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night made the sea

dry land and the waters were divided and the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on

dry ground the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea all the Pharaoh's horses

his chariots his horsemen and in the morning watch Yahweh and the pillar of fire

and a cloud look down on the Egyptian forces through the Egyptian forces into a panic clogging their chariot

wheels so that they drove heavily and the Egyptians that now it finally comes up and now they finally connect the

dots.

Let us flee from before Israel for Yahweh fights for them against the.

Egyptians.

They're already in the middle of this.

I've never seen water on as a wall on either side there they

are in the midst of this and they only now are figuring this out.

So then Yahweh said to Moses stretch out your hand over the sea that the water may come back upon the Egyptians

upon their chariots and upon their horsemen.

So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared and as the

Egyptians fled into it the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea the waters returned and covered the

chariots and the horsemen of all the hosts of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea

not one of them remained but the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea and the waters being a

wall to them on the right hand and on their left thus the Lord saved Israel that day

from the hand of the Egyptians and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians so that the people feared the

Lord and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Now, let me give you a governing text here that helps us to understand this in light of the New Testament and that's found in 1st

Corinthians chapter 10.

1st Corinthians chapter 10.

We'll come back to this one next week, but I want to get this in your mind so that you can see there's a direct connection

between what we just read and something that has happened for all of us.

It says before I don't want you to be unaware brothers that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed to

the sea and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea and all ate the

same spiritual food all drank the same spiritual drink for they drank from the spiritual rock that

followed them and that rock was Christ.

Now you notice the first four verses talk about the events of the Exodus and we're going to

see this literally in the in the chapters that come 14 15 16 and 17.

We're going to see this baptism that takes place in the Red Sea.

That's what that was.

That was a baptism.

It's a picture of our baptism.

We're going to see them being fed miraculous food from heaven bread from.

Heaven.

We're going to hear about them drinking from a rock and Paul just said that rock is Jesus.

So we can see then this passage helps us understand what's going on in the Exodus

has everything to do with what's going on in the New Testament because again, that's type and

shadow the reality then is found in the New Testament.

So if the parting of the Red Sea is a baptism, oh and it is it's a

picture of what God does for you in your baptism years ago.

I taught junior high and high school kids at an lcms Church in in Indiana

and when we work through this text and we got to the part where it says that

that they saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore.

I took all the kids and I said, let's go to the baptismal font.

And this is a church where when you walk into the sanctuary, you got these two huge doors going into the sanctuary.

First thing you see when you come in is a baptismal font.

It's right there.

You trip on it.

If you if you didn't know it was there and they always have water and then they got a little pump to keep it.

So the water stays clear, but I had them all gather around the baptismal font and I said to the

kids.

I said, I want you to look at look at the rim of the baptismal font.

What do you see?

And they were looking at me like I'd lost it.

I'm a look look.

What do you see?

Mr.

Roseboro?

We don't see anything.

Look closer.

You see it?

No.

That's it.

Look a little look a little closer.

You see the dead demons lying on the rim of the baptismal font.

When you were baptized, you were buried with Christ.

You were raised with Christ.

Your heart was circumcised by Christ.

Your sins are washed away.

You were United with him in his death and his resurrection and this crossing of the Red Sea

is the cosmic picture of God setting you free from the Dominion of darkness

by destroying the power of the devil and his demons.

You are brought through the waters of baptism and you are no longer a slave and the devil has no power

over you whatsoever.

And there are the demons lying dead.

At the baptismal font.

It's a picture of our baptism.

It's a powerful picture.

One that we are we ought to be embracing because you'll notice the theology is

very.

Clear.

Who did the saving that day?

God did.

How many Egyptians died at by sword?

That was wrought by one of the children of Israel.

Not one this total victory.

Utter annihilation and destruction was wrought not by a single human being but was

wrought completely by God.

Same is true about your salvation.

Which you cannot do could not do Christ has done for you.

So that's the picture going on here.

Now chapter 15 gives us.

Yes.

Oh, sure.

Absolutely.

This that's a great question and you're right.

You're absolutely right.

Your question asked that you asked is why do baptismal fonts historically have eight.

Sides?

Okay, and this is true.

If you do archaeology find old old old old old churches, you'll find baptismal fonts

and they had different types the way you can stand in them or whatever but rarely was baptism ever done by total immersion

instead.

They had baptismal fonts and they were always octagonal and the reason simple when was

circumcision on the eighth day.

Eight day is the first day of the new creation and the eighth day,

you know, you know, we're United with Christ.

Our sins are forgiven and baptism is the reality that circumcision always pointed to circumcision

is the type and shadow baptism is the reality.

So the reason why baptismal fonts always were eight -sided is literally because it's symbolic of that eighth day

new creation stuff and a recognition that circumcision is now given way to baptism and it's not

just boys that are baptized.

It's boys and girls now.

In fact, there was a little bit of a fight pretty early on in church history as to whether or not they should wait

until the eighth day to baptize children because of the circumcision thing and the you

know, it took a little bit of that for that fight to kind of work itself out, but it basically said no we don't have to wait till

the eighth day.

So and so you'll see it in very early in the early churches baptismal liturgy naming

oftentimes was concurrent with baptism some of the older hymnals within the

within Lutheran churches still have that old baptismal liturgy where at the time

of the baptism, the question is asked of the parents.

What is this child to be named?

Uh -huh.

Yeah now and that's and so naming goes along with baptism.

And so when people say what is your Christian name it assumed that you were named when you were baptized.

Now, we did this with faith and that was fun, you know, we were attending a church where they still had that older

baptismal liturgy.

And so Barb and I made the decision we weren't going to let anybody know what faith was named until her

baptism.

So she was born on a Friday.

Yeah, she was born on a Friday and Barbara believe it or not was ready to go to church on Sunday.

I mean everyone marveled at that miracle, but but we told my mother.

Oh my goodness.

What's this baby named.

Come to church if you want to find out.

Told her if she wanted to know what the baby's named.

If so she was just baby Roseboro for a couple of days,.

Right?

And so and this was the first baptism at this church where they had done that I heard that since then several people had did

the same thing.

But so the pastor doesn't even know the name of the names not in the bulletin.

And so we get to the part of the baptismal liturgy where it's like and what is this child to be named the

pastor asks and I got to speak faith name for the very first time her name is Faith

Marie Roseboro and I swear everyone was like straining to

hear, you like say it again in his mind so that he said, you

know when he said Faith Marie Roseboro the name I baptize you in the name of the Father Son and the Holy Spirit, you know that he

didn't drop the ball there because he had just heard it for the first time too.

And so, you know, it was really a cool thing but and by the way legally that's not a big deal

in some cultures Nigerian culture in Chinese culture and things like that

children will not be named immediately.

You have to get input from family members and stuff like that and it could take take a little bit of time.

So when we told the people at the hospital, you know, she's not going to name until her baptism.

They gave us some form to fill out.

They already had a procedure is pretty straightforward.

We just send it in afterwards.

So well not a social security card before you leave the hospital, but that came that they did do all that work for us after we gave her a

name.

So, all right.

Yes, sir.

Uh

-huh

first and foremost.

Okay.

This is a great question.

The question is do Lutherans believe that if a child isn't baptized that they're not.

Saved.

We do not believe that that baptism is absolutely necessary for Salvation.

And so the idea then is that as a pastor when you are speaking with and

consoling parents who've lost a child, maybe they've had a miscarriage or the child has died prior

to baptism.

What we do is we first and foremost look at the passage that says that it's not God's will that any

should perish but that all should be brought to repentance and faith in.

Christ.

This is God's expressed will but so then we look for the means of grace.

And so the idea is I've actually had the opportunity to comfort somebody who's lost a

child in you know, under these circumstances.

And where we go to is that is we go to.

This.

We know that God works through means and so baptism is one of the means by which God works

repentance and faith in a human being but what is baptism according to Ephesians 5

baptism is the is water in the word.

So that's what baptism is water in the word.

Well, it's the word that's doing the work not the water.

So now we're going to we're going to fall back and we all know from science and recent studies have shown that

children in utero.

They hear our voices.

They are become familiar with who their mother is.

They can recognize their dad's voice.

If dad is around a lot they can hear music and all these kinds of stuff.

You ever see pictures of mommies with like headphones on their on their on their pregnant bellies as are very cute.

But but the idea we know this about these human beings and so our fallback position is we're going to

tell those parents.

Listen, you've been coming to church.

Your unborn child has heard the gospel.

Your unborn child has heard of the death and resurrection of Christ and has heard the word of

God and because of that we're going to trust that word who have to have

done its work because God cares intimately about the children of

his believers now with a non -believer who doesn't you know, who doesn't come to church who despises God's.

Word.

The only thing we can do at this point is we can say listen, I'm not the judge we can trust the

maker of the universe.

I don't think you do anybody any good when you step into God's shoes and you say I know for certain your child just

went to hell and I would say I know for certain you're an awful pastor get out of the pulpit and get away

because you're not leading people to Christ.

All right, that's law.

And so the best way I can put it when we read scripture over and again one of the recurring

themes that we see is that God is ridiculously patient

and kind and long suffering even against those who oppose him

because it's not his will that they should perish so much.

So that that God's patience and loving kindness even towards his enemies oftentimes

exacerbates his Saints who feel that there's no justice in the world because of just how patient and long -suffering God is.

This is kind of the whole subtext of the story of Jonah when we think of the story of Jonah.

All we think about is the fact that there's a big fish involved.

Well, there's a bigger story than the bigger fish and the story is this is that the reason why Jonah doesn't want to go to

Nineveh is because those Ninevites they make the Nazis

look like schoolgirls.

These are war criminals cruel people who impaled their victims and let

them suffer and languish and die in the most horrible ways when they would conquer a city.

They would cut off all the heads of all of the soldiers and the officers and stack them up like cords of wood.

And so when Jonah gets the call to go and preach repentance to tell that God's going to judge Nineveh,

why does he head the opposite direction?

Well, it says later in the text later in the book.

The reason why is because Jonah says I knew you God to be, you know, slow

to anger and rebounding instead fast love and forgiving and he was upset.

The reason he was upset is because they repented and they were forgiven.

He wanted them all to burn in hell.

So over and again the scriptures reveal that God does not desire our destruction.

He desires to be merciful and kind to us.

And so today is the day of Salvation today being the day of Salvation.

I seriously doubt the God who has taken it upon himself to go so

far as to be incarnate born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was

crucified died buried and raised from the grave.

I have a hard time believing that that God who went so far to save us

is going to take an infant who never got baptized and send them to hell because of that.

That's not the God I believe in and that's not the God that's revealed in scripture.

Yes, of course.

Am I if I'm different than the Lutherans?

I have that.

I got a problem.

Somebody's going to come and defrock me.

Yeah.

No, no, it does not state that.

In fact, what I laid out for you is exactly what the Lutheran teaching is on this.

Yeah, that's a

good question.

This is a this is a question of practice now and this is where we're going to look at a passage in there.

There's going to be a divide here in practice and I and I note this and here's the reason why

Matthew 28 says make disciples baptizing teaching.

There's no and by the way, there's no conjunction.

It doesn't say baptizing and teaching.

It says baptizing teaching which the grammar there is important.

And so I know some Lutheran pastors where if a parent says

I want my infant baptized.

I know we haven't been to church for the last 20 years.

We probably won't be back until Christmas of 2035, but we want our baby

baptized.

I know pastors who will say listen, I can't do that and I know other pastors who will say

sure.

I'll be happy to screw your kid up for you because your kids going to have a hunger and thirst for the word of God and

as a result of that it's going to it might drive you back.

To church.

Okay, and so when it comes to practice on this I've seen both I've seen both I will say

this that I was baptized and my parents never

went to church.

And it really kind of made my childhood very challenging very challenging because I had a hunger and a

thirst and a desire to understand the things of God and didn't know why and so

I trust you.

Here's the thing God is faithful in situations like that.

And so I tend to lean towards the let's err on the side of the gospel and trust that God's going to work this out,

but I'm going to be in the faces of those kind of parents.

I'm there's it's probably going to be a tough conversation and I might even have a little bit of

passion in my voice.

You seriously going to have this child be given the gift of Salvation and the Holy Spirit and you're going to keep

them from the word of God.

What kind of people are you.

I might have that conversation.

All right.

Yeah.

Yep, right exactly.

That's true.

So yeah, I kind of work from the idea of let's get as many people as we can by

any means possible by hook or by crook.

An opportunity.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So I'll say this there's a divide in the practice and the dividing line is how

do we reconcile something like that with Matthew 28.

Because it's baptizing teaching.

The two need to go together.

They do.

All right fascinating interesting questions.

All right looking at my time here.

Let's get into Exodus 15.

Let's get into Exodus 15.

We'll go for maybe about I think we can almost go 15 minutes.

Do I think okay now this is now this is important this you got to understand something.

Lutherans believe that it is possible for somebody's faith to be lost.

We do not believe in the doctrine that is called once saved always saved.

Let me give you a text on it so that you can see it.

And so Hitler although he I think he may have been christened.

He there's no sign that he had faith none whatsoever.

Okay.

Yeah, and have any of you guys.

It's the same.

It's the that's this.

Yeah, this is the synonyms here.

But let me give you a text.

So you kind of get it.

Galatians chapter 5.

Paul writes in Galatians 5.

I'll start at verse 1 for our context.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

Stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Look I Paul say to you that if you accept circumcision Christ will be of no advantage.

To you.

So he's talking to people who are Christians who are baptized who are being tempted into

theological apostasy by the heresies of the Judaizers and the Judaizers are saying you

are not saved by grace through faith alone.

You must keep the Mosaic law or you're not saved.

That's what they're saying in your cross references acts 15 here.

Paul then says I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole

Torah.

You are severed from Christ you who would be justified by the law

you have fallen from.

Grace.

So this is one of a handful of passages that speak in this way.

And so the idea here is that faith is a gift given by God and the person who

persists in despising God's word hearing God's word believing God's word

and now the object of their faith is no longer Christ but their own good works or some false

doctrine in the theology they've shipwrecked their faith.

Does that make sense.

Yeah.

So and that that becomes you know see the reason why you know baptism is a

is a thorny subject for some is that every one of us can look at somebody that we all know was

baptized and that person is living like hell.

We all know that we all know that person and if some of us are honest some of us can say yeah that person was

me for a while.

And so we look at these things and we sit there and go how do we reconcile that with the with the evangelical

doctrine once saved always saved.

The scripture doesn't teach this.

Once saved always saved is a human doctrine and it's a very dangerous one.

It's a very dangerous doctrine.

It basically teaches you that you can become a Christian and then take

the grace of God and turn it into a license for all kinds of sin and vice.

No way.

Yep.

Yeah, it's it basically says all right.

So let me see if I got this straight.

God likes to forgive sins right man.

I like to I like to commit him.

Yeah, I like to sin.

So it's like me and God we should get together man.

Yeah, you know that Jesus man.

He makes it so I can just go out and for no caboodle ate all.

I want no big deal.

Just you know.

Yeah, if you know if you don't know what that word means just it.

Yeah.

Yeah for no caboodle ate man.

I don't think you can look.

Google it but yeah by no means that's what should it.

But and let me do this.

Are you ready?

Okay, should we sin so that grace may abound?

No, you want to know the Bible's answer to this watch what it's connected to Galatians.

It's Romans 6 Romans 6.

Should we sin so that grace may abound?

Paul verse 2 Romans 6 by no means

how can we who died to sin still live in it?

That was kind of begs the question.

When did you die to sin?

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ?

We were baptized into his death.

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death and or that just as Christ was raised from the dead

by the glory of the father.

We too might walk in newness of life.

You think baptism is a big deal.

Paul seems to think it is.

Is baptism a license to sin?

No, it's the reason why you don't turn the grace of God into a license to sin because you died with Christ

and that's his whole argument.

In fact, let's let's just end up on this top.

Let's read.

Let's finish Romans 6 in the beginning part of seven.

You'll see it.

For if we have been United with him in a death like his we shall

certainly be United with him in a resurrection like his.

Have you been United with Christ?

Yes or no?

Where?

Baptism right?

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we

would no longer be enslaved to sin.

See the slavery thing the motif here.

Israel is set free from slavery in Egypt through the waters of the Red Sea.

We are set free from slavery to sin death and the devil.

In the waters of the Red Sea.

That's what's going on.

We know that our old self was crucified with him for one who has died has been set free

from sin.

Have you died or not?

You have for if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again.

Death no longer has Dominion over him for the death.

He died.

He died to sin once for all the life he lives.

He lives for God.

So you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.

Why must you do that?

Is it because it's a farce?

Is it because it's a fantasy or a hope or is it because that's the reality

you are dead to sin and you are alive to God in Christ because you are baptized.

So let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions.

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness instead present yourselves to

God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as

instruments for righteousness for sin will not have Dominion over you since you are not under the law, but you are under

grace.

So what then are we to sin because we are not under the law, but under grace?

It's like no.

Oh, it's like sin equals slavery.

Okay, when we get later in the Exodus, you're going to see the children of Israel wandering.

Through the wilderness and going, oh man, I miss slavery.

Slavery was the best thing ever.

There was food everywhere.

There were pots full of meat and all we get out here is this manna.

I can't stand manna.

And and so they say let's go back to Egypt.

The person who says I want to sin is saying I want

to go back to slavery under the devil.

No, thank you.

That guy's crazy.

Totally not.

All right.

So do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey either

of sin which leads to death or of obedience which leads to righteousness.

But thanks be to God that you were once slaves of sin and have become

obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you're committed and having been set free

from sin have become slaves of righteousness.

When were we set free from slavery to sin?

In our baptism.

I'm speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations for just as you once presented your

members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness.

It's funny how that sin has a way of growing.

So now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification for when you were slaves of sin

you were free in regard to righteousness.

But what fruit were you getting at the time from those things of which you are now ashamed for the end of those things is death.

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God the fruit you get leads to

sanctification and its end is eternal life for the wages of sin is death.

But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus chapter 7 or do you not know

brothers for I'm speaking to those who know the law that the law is binding on a person only as long as he

lives for a married woman is bound by her husband while he lives.

But if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage accordingly she will be called an

adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive.

But if her husband dies she is free from the law and if she marries another man she is not an

adulteress.

We all understand this right.

How many of you have ever been scandalized by the fact that such and such a widow out there found another guy and they got married and are living

happily ever after.

None of you are scandalized by such a thing you sit there and go that's great.

That's a great story.

I'm so glad she's happy but if her husband was still alive and she was running around with a bunch of

guys and then decided to shack up with one of them and eventually became you know got married

to him.

We have words for that woman.

Because we all know she's an adulteress.

She's a hoe.

Maybe that's a little too earthy.

Huh?

Of course.

Yes, right.

You know and for the guy doing the same thing, you know, he's a man hoe.

Okay, we know this but the guy who's widowed the woman who's

widowed.

It's till death.

Do us part.

Once the death thing takes place.

There is no sin in remarrying and this then is the parallel that informs our

mind.

Verse four.

So likewise my brothers you also have died to the law through the body of Christ that you

so that you belong to another to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit for God for while

we were living in the flesh our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work and our members to bear fruit for death.

But now we are released from the law having died to that which held us captive so that we serve the new

way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

You'll notice here.

Paul is not talking symbolically.

He hasn't saying well, you've been symbolically set free.

This is all symbol.

He's talking as if for real you were in bondage in slavery in captivity.

And now you've been set free and the opening portion of six explains where this takes place in the

Red Sea in the waters of your baptism buried with Christ raised with

Christ sins washed away heart circumcised all of these things that God's Word says

about this and it's not a symbol.

It's a reality.

And if you don't see it as a reality, then you never use your baptism as a weapon against the devil.

So the devil comes to your door.

It says, hey, you want to come out and play?

Got some really cool sin for you today.

You say to the devil get lost.

I'm not your slave anymore.

I don't have to obey you.

I'm a slave of righteousness.

I'm baptized.

When you understand what Scripture says, then you sit there and go man that baptism thing isn't small.

It's huge.

It's as big as the destruction of the armies of Egypt in the Red Sea,

right?

You see those of us who've been baptized.

We know with certainty.

We are not slaves to the devil and to sin.

We have been set free and because of that when the devil comes along and tempts us,.

We go.

We go out defiantly.

So yeah, that's that's my anyway.

You get the point.

All right, we'll pick this up next week.