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Sunnyside Baptist Church Dwight Smoot
Remember when Moses went in to Pharaoh at the beginning and said, the God of Israel, the Lord, says, let my people go. And Pharaoh says, I never heard of this person, never heard of this God, I don't know him.
And not only that, I'm not going to let him go. Now, he keeps saying that over and over and over and over the next few weeks. I want to tell you, this is interesting now, I'm going to go back to chapter 7.
Verse 4, Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.
Then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. Now at least eight times throughout the next few weeks, the scriptures say basically this same thing, that as I begin to work in the deliverance of my people, Pharaoh and the Egyptians will begin to find out just who I am.
And basically, what they find out is this. The gods, plural, okay, they worshipped many gods. The gods, plural, that they worshipped, they come to find out they might as well be cartoon characters, okay?
I mean, they didn't do much to save the Egyptians. Cartoon characters. These gods apparently don't exist. And then, like this list, okay, and these are make-believe, this person is real, okay? And just like that, okay, the Egyptians, including Pharaoh and his army, realize this god is.
God.
He's the only god. He's real. These others are worthless. As a matter of fact, they don't even exist. So truth number three is God reveals himself. And when the people of God are delivered and leave Egypt, and God destroys the enemy throughout that whole process, he also shows Egypt and Pharaoh and all his army who God is.
Those are the three great truths that I wanted you to see, and now I would like to move to the New Testament. We'll change the title, Three Great Truths Regarding the Cross. God delivers his people, he destroys the enemy, and he reveals himself.
Now, if you'll remember, let's start at the, you know, let's see, God delivers his people,.
Okay?
This is justification, reconciliation, propitiation, and redemption, okay? The four great images of our salvation in the scriptures, the ones that describe what God has done for us in Christ, through his Son, the Lord Jesus.
Just as he prepared and sent Moses, he prepared and sent his Son to rescue his people. Isaiah put it like this in one of the servant songs, chapter 49, I think it's verse 8. It's too light a thing that my servant should deliver my people Israel.
I will make you a light to the nations that my salvation may go throughout the whole earth. Wow, now this is, you know, salvation for the whole earth. The message goes out to the whole earth. This salvation message, okay?
And, in addition to that, okay, God reveals himself as he sends his Son. The Son speaks these words. For example, in Matthew chapter 11, you know, there's a passage there you probably memorized. Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest.
But, just before that, in Matthew 11, verse 27. All things have been handed over to me, that is Jesus Christ, by my Father. And no one knows the Son except the Father. And no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
You see, the Son reveals the Father. The Son reveals the Father. And, in John chapter 1, verse 14. This is speaking of the Savior, Jesus Christ. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory.
Glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. So, as we see the Son through the scriptures, okay, he reveals the glory of the Father. And then in verse 18, speaking again of Christ Jesus.
No one has ever seen God. The only God who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. Jesus has made the Father known. Now, he repeats this in a number of places. In John chapter 17, verse 6. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.
Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. And then in chapter 17, verse 26. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.
Again, he makes known to his people who God is. Makes known to his people the name of God, that is, who he is. And then in John 15 is an interesting passage. Starting at verse 12, John 15, verse 12. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants. Let me stop right there. You see, up until this point, his disciples, his followers, are his servants.
But now he tells them, okay, in John 15, this is on the night that he was betrayed. No longer do I call you servants. For the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends.
For all that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you. For all that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you. Now think about going back to the Old Testament, back to the Exodus story, okay.
Moses comes to God one day and says, show me your ways. And God says, this very thing I will do. This very thing I will do. And another verse in the Old Testament, Psalm 103, I don't remember the verse, but this is what it says.
It's about verse 4 or 5, Psalm 103. It says this, God made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the children of Israel. Now think about the Exodus, okay. God calls Moses and explains to Moses every step of the way of this deliverance that's going to take place.
He calls Moses and Aaron, calls them both in. He says, now this is what we're going to do tomorrow. Early in the morning, you're going to go tell Pharaoh, blah, blah, blah, okay. And you know, a few days later, he says, Moses and Aaron come again.
Tomorrow morning, this is what you're going to say to Pharaoh and this is what's going to happen, okay. And so all the way, God tells Moses what he's going to do. Shows him his way of delivering his people, okay.
Now the people, they didn't hear any of this. But they definitely saw the acts that God brought about, right. God made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the children of Israel. Now, think about this as in this passage in John chapter 15.
You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends. Now, you know, one of the descriptions of Moses in the Old Testament is he was a friend of God.
He spoke to God face to face as a man would speak to his friend, okay. And that way, God described God's ways to Moses and Moses carried out God's ways and the people of Israel, they saw the acts, okay.
Now here, Jesus tells his disciples, he says, Listen, no longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends. For all that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
Think about this. Think about a rich, wealthy home and the mother in the home is going to plan a birthday party for her daughter. And so, she calls her best friend up and says, Come on over and help me plan this birthday party for my daughter.
And so, her best friend comes over. They sit down at maybe a kitchen table or a dining room table and a servant brings in some tea and crumpets or whatever. And they sit down and they talk about this birthday party.
Let's do this. No, let's don't do that. Let's do this. Let's have this kind of a cake. Let's play these kind of games. Blah, blah, blah. You know, they go into this, okay. And they're good friends. And they're making plans together.
You see this? Now, once the plans are put together, okay, and a list is made of some things we're going to need for the party, you know, some party favors, you know, maybe some special eats, okay, and so on.
The lady of the house calls the servant back in and says, here's the list. Go get this stuff, okay. And so, what does she do? She goes and gets the stuff, okay. She doesn't know about all the plans for the party, but she goes and gets the stuff.
She's the servant, okay. Now, you see the difference here, okay. The same woman makes the plans with her friend, but just gives the servant the list. She doesn't know what's going on. That's what's going on right here.
Listen. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends. For all that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
You see, Jesus, when he comes, God reveals himself through his Son. God reveals himself through his Son. I have told you all that the Father gave me to tell you.
All of it.
Now, what about this one? Let's see. Remember Genesis 3 .15? It's a little further back in the scriptures. Let's see. Part of it, it starts out, God is speaking to the serpent, and he says, you shall bruise his heel, but he will crush your head.
Now, 1 John. 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. And Colossians chapter 2, starting at verse 13. And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
He disarmed the rulers and authorities, and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. You see, every sin that the devil could accuse us of before the Father, the Son has put away. It's sort of like, you know, you've seen on TV where they, you know, they bring somebody, you know, it's one of those crime shows, and they bring somebody in to interrogate.
You know what I'm talking about? And, you know, the authorities sit on one side of the table, and the person, what do they call him, the perp, okay, is on the other side of the table. And they pull out this document, this, let's see, what do you call it, a rap sheet.
You know, it's got all, you know, this is the stuff you've done against the state, okay, and we're here to address this problem, okay, take care of you. The rap sheet for each of us, okay, was nailed to the cross.
This is what you're guilty of. This is what you've done.
You know,.
In the legal sense,.
When we,.
When we commit a minor crime, a misdemeanor, okay, it's basically a crime against the city. You know, you get a parking ticket, or you run a stoplight, maybe, okay, and it's a minor offense against the city.
But then, you know, it could get a lot worse, you know. You could commit a felony, okay. Now, all of a sudden, you know, things are ramped up, you know, and you start dealing with a different group of people, okay.
You know, they're not your neighbors, you know, that live in the city, you know. These are federal people, the FBI,.
Okay.
That's a felony. It's against the state.
A sin.
Is when you break the law of God. A sin is when you break the law of God. And you're guilty. And all of those are listed and put on the cross, okay. These are the charges against you, okay. And Christ Jesus dies in your place and makes payment for every one of those sins, okay.
And disarms all of the principalities, the powers, the authorities, Satan himself, you know. You no longer have any charges to bring against my people. They're covered by the blood. Hallelujah. Okay. The defeat of the enemy.
The defeat of the enemy. Hebrews chapter 2, another passage dealing with this. Hebrews chapter 2, starting at verse 14. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, the children, that's us. Flesh and blood, that's what we're made out of.
He himself likewise partook of the same things, okay. That is, he took on flesh and blood. The word became flesh and dwelt among us, okay. He himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, okay.
And deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. I'll stop there. But you see, at the cross, God delivers his people, God destroys the enemy, and God reveals himself. Just like he did in the old testament.
It's almost as if hey, let's do it again. It's a, you know, you might call it.
Typical.
Of God. This is the way he operates. He does it in an amazing way and when he's finished he gets all the glory. When he's finished he gets all the glory. Well, it's about time to dismiss. I hope you enjoyed this lesson tonight.
I had a lot of fun putting it together. There are a lot of other similarities between God's deliverance of his people in the old testament from Egypt and God's deliverance of us, okay, the rest of the world, if you will, on the cross.
I encourage you to find out what some of them are. Just to maybe give an example. Before God began to deliver his people, Pharaoh got the idea.
That.
There was going to be somebody that was going to cause big trouble.
And.
So, he put out the word, listen, all of those Jews, okay, whenever they have a child, if it's a male child, what are we going to do? Brown them. Throw them in the river. And by the way, what happened to Pharaoh?
His own words, right?
And then.
When, let's see, what was his name? A few hundred years later, Herod heard about somebody that might cause big trouble. And he said, here's what we're going to do. You know, we're going to kill all these children that are two years older or under.
But that's just another example of the similarities between God's working in the Old Testament, God's working in the New Testament as he carries out his great plan to rescue his people and to bring us to glory.
So, with that I'll close. Father, we thank you for this time together tonight. Help us to continue to grow in grace and knowledge of your Son, the Lord Jesus. Help us to continue to be witnesses for him and to build your kingdom for your glory and your honor.
And in the name of your Son, our Savior, I pray. Amen.
