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Dear friends gathered at Amazing Love, why don't you pray with me. Let's ask God to bless the
preaching of His word.
Heavenly Father,
we ask for joy and we ask for peace today.
And we know You can give these to us through the preaching of the word.
And so work in us your good work today to increase our faith.
Give us eyes to see the beauty of Jesus so that beholding Jesus we're
never the same.
We are changed and we are crafted in Your likeness. Work powerfully through this
preaching. In Jesus' name we pray it.
Amen. Morning once again.
I don't know about you but I love summertime.
I like that we had a couple sunny days. I love grilling out. I love everything
that comes with summer.
And one of the things that I really appreciate about summer is watching a movie.
Going to a summer blockbuster. And can I have a raise of hands? Who has gone to the
movies this summer yet?
Alright. So we're in good company.
And they are awesome movies. They've got Man of Steel, got Star Trek.
You have Despicable Me 2 and you got Monsters University. Just a great time.
Well this past week I actually took my family to the movies.
We went to see The Croods. And The Croods is actually about some cave dwellers.
You're like well how can we see that? We went to the
dollar movies. We saved a buck. It was great. It was great.
And so [chuckle] that's how we went. And if it's okay, I wanted to show you a clip of
the movie I saw.
I think it's going to really help us out today so here is a clip
from The Croods.
Alright. [Movie dialog begins] Guy: I'm Guy. Eep: Guy.
Guy: And this is Belt, cook, conversationalist, navigator.
Also keeps my pants up.
Eep: Pants up? Guy: Who are you? Eep: Eep. Guy: Let me clarify, Eep.
The world is ending. Eep: What? Guy: I'm calling it
The End! Belt: [as a musical flourish] dun, dun, dah!
Guy: We got to get to high ground. Come with me.
Eep: Can't.
Guy: Okay, okay, here.
[Horn sound] If you survive,
call me. [End of movie clip] I had to laugh because this whole last week Nadia was doing
[as a musical flourish] dun, dun, dah! It's clever.
Well the premise of the movie if you could have heard from Guy is that the world is
ending.
And so you saw, you know, eruptions of fire through the earth and big
earthquakes and everything's being destroyed.
And the question is will they survive? Will they make it through this impending
doom The End?
We saw Guy give Eep a shell in one scene where she blows in it and she
gets rescued. And I guess you'll have to see the movie to see whether they
do or do not escape impending doom [as a musical flourish] dun, dun, dah!
Well I couldn't help but think of the word of God for today as I saw this movie and
I reflected.
We're again in the third week er fourth week of our series on Moses.
And we've been learning a lot about him. Last week if you were with us, we learned
about excuse making.
And we learned that when we're prone to make excuse we should draw attention
away from ourselves
and to the Lord because He can equip us for whatever He's calling us to do.
Well today Moses goes into Egypt and
he does what Pharaoh what God wants him to do. He speaks to Pharaoh and says, "You
better let the people of Israel go and worship."
Pharaoh does not listen. And because of this
[as a musical flourish] dun, dun, dah!
And that's what we get to see. Today we are going to see what God
brings as far as impending doom as far as The End for them.
And it makes that cartoon seem well
cartoonish. Because what God will do through the 10 plagues
is big, its massive. It is a display of might
and power. And the question is will the Israelites be saved?
Because they too could be under the threat of this impending doom. And
most severely the death of a first-born son or animal.
But God gave them directions how to be spared.
Wasn't a shell, it was something else. Let's read from it what God's directions were to be
spared from The End. Exodus chapter 12: Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt,
"This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.
Tell the whole community of Israel that on the 10th day of this month
each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.
If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their
nearest neighbor,
having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine
the amount of lamb needed
in accordance with what each person will eat. -very specific-
-well- The animals you choose must be year-old males
without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.
Take care that until the 14th day of the month,
when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them
at twilight. Then they are take some of the blood
and put it on the sides and the tops of the door frames
of their houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat meat
roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs,
and bread made without yeast. Do not eat meat raw or boiled in water,
but roast it over the fire with head, legs, and internal organs.
Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it.
-This made me laugh this past week but
we hear that God is saying basically it's it's good to grill out.
And it's not good to have leftovers and I just really related to that.
Anyway, that's a tangent.- This is how you are to eat it:
with your cloak tucked into your belt, and your sandals on your feet and your
staff in your hand.
Eat it in haste; it's the Lord's Passover. On that same night I will pass through
Egypt and strike down
every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring
judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am
the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are,
and when I see the blood I will pass over you. No destructive plague
will touch you when I strike Egypt." This is
the word. And this was God's plan for them to be spared of
impending doom, The End. They were to take a lamb, they were to slaughter it, and they were to
paint their door frames with the blood of that lamb so that the destroyer who was
coming would see that blood
and not destroy them. We get to learn today from that, the 10 plagues today
and God's great deliverance.
Let's consider these words. I have an exercise for you. I wanted you to fill in
the blank of this statement.
Hell hath no fury like _____ ?
Very good. A woman scorned. And this was penned in the 1700s by William Congreve,
English poet. And for me, I couldn't find this on Wikipedia, but I think he
has experiential knowledge of this.
I think somewhere along the way he probably double-crossed or cheated on a girl
and I'm not sure what she did but
it was something enough to make him write this, right?
And I consider the fury of a woman scorned through the lens of Carrie Underwood.
She had a song that said, "If I was scorned, I would dig my heels into the
side of a pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive. And
carve my name into leather seats and take a Louisville Slugger to both headlights.
And, man, I guess I don't want to do that any woman. Woman scorned, watch out!
Watch out. Well, I tell you that
even though that seems bad and maybe you've had experiential knowledge, I'm not sure.
What is even worse is what we get to consider today.
That the wrath of a scorned woman is nothing compared to the wrath
and the judgment of God.
Now as we get into our lesson, let's consider what Moses was doing. Moses was a
reluctant leader who finally listens to what God tells him to do.
So he goes in the right time says the right words
and it does not go the right way. [chuckle] This is a tangent. This could be a whole
other sermon but
I want you to know in your faith life if you've ever done something in the right
time in the right way,
it could still not go the way you think it should go.
I think that at those times God is still testing our faith to see just how far
we'll go out of love for Him and refining our faith that way. So
that's Moses. But Moses goes as though
the people should leave. They should be able to go out and worship God.
And hear Pharaoh's response. Watch out. This is a bad response.
Here's what he says: "Who is the Lord,
that I should obey Him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord
and I will not let Israel go." Now
this is worse than telling a fellow coworker, "You're fired."
This is worse than telling your boyfriend or girlfriend, "Let's just be friends."
This is bad, dear friends. For what he incurs is now the wrath
of God. And God has a response to this.
God when He hears and He knows this response from Pharaoh look what He records
in Scripture.
A chapter later it says, "Because of My mighty hand he will let them go;
because of My mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.
Twice it says God's hand is ____
mighty. And you're right.
And we're gonna see that. So if it's okay, we are going to consider
a little of God's might. We are gonna go through now the 10 plagues, if that's alright.
Even if it's not alright, I'm gonna keep preaching so
we're going to consider 10 plagues. Well, the first of them Moses goes to the Nile River
which is huge for their economy, waters all the shrubs, is their clean drinking
water source,
and that first plague is to turn all that whole water system
into blood. Now what this means is that they were
economically crippled. There was no clean drinking water, no Fiji bottles filled
with clean drinking water,
at the Egyptian grocery store. And to put things in perspective,
I see the forecast here in Chicago is going to be pretty hot this next week.
It's gonna be good summer for pop.
Can you imagine going this whole week
without having any faucet that has clean water, without going to the
grocery store and buying
drinking water. No water available. That'd be
pretty bad, wouldn't it? That's what they're facing
in a similar climate. Well, not only this, but all the fish in the river would die so
there's another food source just gone. Wiped out.
The fish is gone in the grocery stores. Not only this, but it's gonna smell. If you've
ever been around one dead fish, that's enough,
but the whole place is gonna stink of these dead fish.
Now for me, after this first plague, I'd be done. Alright,
you go, that's it, I just want some water.
Not Pharaoh. So the plagues go on.
Next there is a plague of frogs. Now
this year I've been watching a lot of Duck Dynasty and they love frogs and they'll skin
those things and eat the frog legs. I'm sure that's good.
And yet, I don't even think these guys would like this many frogs.
They couldn't keep up because these were not just frogs in the forest. These were frogs
in your bed, in your house, in your shower.
I was in Florida this last year coming out of
a room in outside and had a frog jump on my hand. I didn't know what it was.
It didn't feel so good. I wouldn't want to sleep next to frogs. They're kinda slimy and weird.
Nothing should feel that way. That's frogs.
And they're everywhere. Can't make enough frog legs.
We're not done yet. God sends gnats.
Gnats remind me of my time in South Carolina. I was
a vicar in South Carolina, the Charleston area.
I'll never forget standing by the ocean and at night and the lights were on
and I couldn't see a thing around me, these things around me, but I
felt my skin just being gnawed at.
But I couldn't see what was gnawing me. In South Carolina we call gnats no see ums.
And no see ums sure could eat ya. They sure were gnaw ums. They got me.
And so that's what they had. As fine as the dust everywhere just
eating and gnawing at their skin. Well, if that's not gross enough, then there's flies.
I have like four flies in my house and I'm annoyed as all get out.
They are everywhere. Everywhere
in Egypt. Flies! Well, next He's gonna affect their economy.
Next is the death of all the livestock. So now when you go to the Egyptian
grocery store there is no water.
And now there's no hamburgers or sausage for the grill. No meat,
my friends, it's gone.
After this affecting all the economy, He now brings it more personal.
And there are boils. Now I was trying to research what boils were
and I guess if you've ever had a blood blister that went to the bone and was like
felt like a bruise and only felt better unless it was popped or was lanced off.
That's kinda boils. All over your body.
Completely painful you'll burst open.
In fact a guy in the Bible named Job had boils all over his body
and for to help him out in his bad situation he would scratch himself
with shards of pottery. Now it has to be pretty bad if your gonna
for help scratch yourself with shards of pottery, right?
And then I consider what it's like when I am in pain. When I'm in pain I want
nothing else bad to happen.
Especially when I have a migraine. You ever have a migraine? I want all the lights off.
Everything has to be quiet. Please just don't disrupt me because the pain is bad enough,
right? Not for the Egyptians though. After their
painful boils what comes next is hail.
Destructive hail. Ruining all their crops now, all the veggies, all the fruit,
that's all being destroyed. And pounding on their houses. They can't get any sleep in the
midst of their pain. Well, after the
hail for the livestock, in comes locusts. And here economically crippling again. So
now your Egyptian food
you don't have water, you don't have meat, and you have no veggies and fruit.
And I guess swarms of locusts are unfortunately common still.
I was researching this and in Madagascar this past May there was a huge swarm of locusts.
I thought I'd show you a video of just how devastating locusts could be.
Just a minute video on what locusts can do.
[Video narration] For three-quarters of an hour a giant swarm of locusts about 15 kilometers long
crosses Madagascar's national route 7. This road is normally popular with tourists
who come for the breathtaking views.
But today they're observing a natural disaster, a plague of locusts which has
already destroyed half of the island's crops.
[unclear]
They can create a lot of damage. They eat the pastures and then also the rice and the corn
which is about to be harvested. [unclear]
According to experts, there are currently
a hundred swarms across Madagascar
made up of about five hundred billion locusts.
And they get through around 100,000 tons of vegetation
every single day. [video stops]
And so there just a little on the devastation of locusts.
And so now Egypt is just desolate.
They're hurting. They have no food and water.
It's just dark and that's the next plague.
In the midst of their emptiness, in the midst of the desolation, comes just a
period of pitch black
darkness to match their mood.
And finally, which we all remember, and probably the most significant,
none of these equals that last plague which is the death of a first-born.
In Egypt, there'd be the death of every firstborn son
and every firstborn animal that was left.
And I can't imagine what it was like in Egypt. As usually when we're in despair,
we try to have help from our neighbors or friends,
and yet everyone's in the same situation experiencing
this death. Now
what can we learn from the plagues?
I don't know about you, but I couldn't help but think of what the wisest of the wise wrote.
King Solomon wrote a book called Proverbs and he started this wise book
with this simple phrase, this nugget of gold. And he said this, he said,
"That the fear of the Lord that's the beginning of the wisdom."
Because the fear of the Lord is exactly what Pharaoh did not have.
And this is why he was experiencing such devastation. To disobey and to reject
God's will
has consequences.
And dear friends I want to be real with you. We talked about the wrath of a
scorned woman and to be serious it is nothing compared to the wrath of God.
And still today for all who reject God
there is judgment because we are sinful people.
And the book of Colossians, it says "Because of these our sins
the wrath of God is coming."
And to be honest what hell is described as, and hell is a real place,
is scarier than any of the plagues we've discussed. And I'm not trying to scare you.
I'm trying to tell you the truth. This is God
who has true wrath over disobedience
over rejection of Him.
Now, if you are new to Amazing Love,
I know this probably coming at you a mile a minute.
I also recognize this view of a God who punishes for sin isn't popular,
but as a pastor, I would be doing you a disservice telling you what you want to hear.
I have to be true to what I know about God and true to scripture today.
And what you need to know is His wrath over sin and rejection
is real and it is scary
and it is thorough. But
if we're gonna go there, then I also believe to be
fair to you and to be true to you, we better dwell deep and long also
on the love of God. Because though His judgment is real and long,
His love and His grace goes further and it goes deeper
and it's what truly defines Him.
And so I believe if you're willing to see the length of His judgment, you will
appreciate
the full length of His love today. And that's what we get to focus on now, the
great deliverance He has in store. So
to talk about this, I wanted to ask you, what is something
that really gives you pleasure and high delight? What is something that really
makes you tick, that really defines and gives you joy?
Some of you might say, "Well, I just love going fishing, love being on the boat,
love catching fish."
Some of you might say, "Well, I just love the pool, love being in the water, especially
when it's warm." Some of you might say, "Well, I love the movies."
For me lately, it's Fleckenstein's Bakery. They have apple fritters that are just
awesome. They give me high delight and joy.
And just make me tick and it's a good day when I got an apple fritter,
alright. Kinda silly. I want you to see what makes our God tick
and what is at His heart, what gives Him pleasure and high delight today. Is that
is that okay?
Here's His heart, dear friends. From Ezekiel it says, "Do I take any pleasure
in the death of the wicked?
-And that is a rhetorical no, not at all,
I hate that, I don't want that, I don't desire-that- declares the Lord.
Rather am I not pleased -or I am pleased
or I take high delight, I rejoice in-
when people turn from their ways and they live?"
When they are delivered, when they know of forgiveness.
What pleases God is not the condemnation of anyone, though that is real,
but it is the salvation of everyone, the deliverance
of everyone. That is what makes our God tick,
dear friends. And what I love about God is he's not the type of God who says, "Well,
you know, kinda like we do, we say oh I love golfing but I haven't been
golfing in like
a year, right? That's not really being active in what I love.
What God says He loves He is active in.
And He makes sure it is possible that what He delights in
could happen for each and every person.
In fact to how many could it happen? First Timothy tells us this that
He wants all people to be saved.
That's His desire, that no one would be missed.
He wants to delight in everyone who turns to Him for deliverance. And that means me
He wants delivered. That means you, who He knows your name, He knows how many hairs
are on your head, He wants delivered.
That means your family members He wants delivered, He wants your coworkers,
He wants those in Saudi Arabia and Finland and Antartica and everywhere in between
delivered, my friends. Because He takes pleasure in that.
And He makes it possible
just as He made it possible back then.
And so let's get into the deliverance of the Passover. Let's consider it.
I believe that what we have recorded in scripture and all of scripture is important,
but there are certain portions that are more important and should be
emphasized more, I believe.
This is one of those portions. Because in the whole of the Old Testament,
I think it makes my top 3 of how we are delivered.
It makes my top 3. If you're wondering my others, I think Abraham who had
to sacrifice Isaac was another great picture of deliverance, what Jesus would do.
And also Moses would have a bronze snake. And they'd look at that bronze snake and be delivered.
This is my number 2 of the picture of deliverance we have and even though His
name isn't mentioned,
I believe the section is all about Jesus,
the Savior, the deliverer. Let's consider some of those details.
When they had to sacrifice an animal, what were they sacrificing? Did
you find it?
They were sacrificing lambs. Lambs.
Yeah and this is a common picture for Jesus Christ. In fact fast forward to John the Baptist.
John the Baptist was baptizing and teaching. and he saw Jesus walking by.
Do you know what he says? He says look the _____ of God.
The Lamb of God. And what does that Lamb do?
He takes away the sin of the world.
And what is taking away the sin of the world? That means that the wrath is no longer
yours, because if your sins are forgiven,
there is no punishment due. It has been paid.
That is Jesus the Lamb of God.
They chose this lamb. He also was very specific on what type of lamb.
It couldn't be sickly. It couldn't be the one they wanted to get rid of, the broken leg.
Rather they were to take an unblemished lamb.
And so basically the best of your flock. That's what they're supposed to choose.
The finest of the fine. A couple corollaries I see here with Jesus.
That you need to know when the Heavenly Father gave His Son, He gave
His finest. He gave extravagantly.
He gave big. And what we also see is we see the character of who Jesus would be.
That He was a lamb without blemish or defect. He was
without sin it says. In Hebrews it says He was tempted in every way
but had no sin. In first Peter it says He committed no sin and no deceit
was found in his mouth. This is Jesus
who was completely holy. And that is a comfort to you and I
because we are unholy, we have sin in our life.
And yet through the grace of God, He says that whoever believes
in Him that holiness of Jesus is given to you
through faith. That holiness that Jesus won is yours so that when God looks down
from heaven
He doesn't have to punish. He has no wrath because He only sees holy people
through faith in Him. That is yours through the Lamb.
We're not done yet. Still with me?
They were to slaughter this lamb at twilight. Twilight when the sun went down.
When Jesus died and gave His life on a Good Friday,
the sun too was covered. And then they were to shed the blood and they were to
paint their door frames with it.
And when that happened, the destroyer who was coming in
would pass over them. Blood is still significant.
In the New Testament it says that without the shedding of blood there's no
forgiveness. Which means that when Jesus shed his blood there is forgiveness
for you and me.
And as the children of God were delivered that day from the impending doom,
I want you to know you have been delivered.
Because the blood of the Lamb covers you. It's over your door frame.
It's over your house. You are forgiven and His child.
And what I love, dear friends, is what we get to do today.
You see we've set up the Lord's Supper today. And I think this is the new and nobler
passover. Where Jesus who was the Lamb of God
says, "Here take my body." And at that first passover, there was no other lamb
because He was the lamb.
"So take my body. I'm sacrificed for you."
And then He took the cup which was red just like blood
and they probably imagined, they were remembering the Passover the red over
the door frames.
And Jesus said, "As you consider that, I want you to know this is my blood.
And this blood is shed for you for the forgiveness of all your sins."
So you are assured. You're delivered of the wrath of God.
You are covered, that you are holy. I hope that you receive the Lord's Supper today
with such joy and peace
to know that you too have been delivered.
This is awesome, dear friends.
So what should we say in response to this? What should we do in response to this?
You know I thought a lot about
a story that made headline news this past week. And I hadn't referred to it before
because its kind of a
just a down story about the three who were kidnapped in Cleveland.
Well, the reason I want to speak about the three who were kidnapped in Cleveland is
because they
spoke out this past week. It was their first public statement and it made YouTube.
You can log in and watch what they say.
And most incredibly was this lady, Michelle Knight
and her confession of faith. And what she said about her 11 years as she was
basically under captivity as she was kidnapped. And she said many remarkable
things and one thing she said is that,
"I was walking hand in hand with my best friend"
which I believe was a reference to God and doing so she could get through.
But then she also had this to say about her experience and just as reflected she said,
"God has a plan for all of us. The plan that He gave me
was to help others that have been in the same situations as I have been in. To know
that there is someone out there
to lean on and to talk to." And I just am astounded by this faith
that bore the unimaginable but bore it with faith that said you know what God was
with me walking hand in hand.
And because I am delivered and I'm looking forward to my brand new life, I am
now in a position
to help others through my testimony.
You and I have been delivered.
And now the question is: are you gonna to help others
who are in the same situation?
Are we gonna commit to reaching the lost with the love of Christ?
I believe that's what we're here for, dear friends. To come with the full measure of
God's grace and to let them know how much they need that because of the coming wrath.
And yet to let them know how full that measure of love is
in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And I invite you to join with me
to help others in this task. To keep it up
because we've been delivered and set free.
Let's see who else can be delivered and set free through the blood
of that Lamb, our Savior Jesus. Amen.
Please stand.
And the peace of God which transcends our understanding may it guard your hearts
and your minds through faith in Christ Jesus.
Amen.