Let My People Go!

Exodus 8:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

Between the close of Genesis and the opening of Exodus, three and a half centuries intervene; thus it is that we find the nation of Israel enslaved by a new dynasty of Egyptian royalty. They need deliverance! The word Exodus means simply “a way out.” It is the book of redemption in the Old Testament, and its message is the redemption by blood of God’s chosen people.

Today, it’s still about deliverance! Christianity is about deliverance! The church is about deliverance! Ministry is about deliverance!

God’s message to the devil, and our message to those bound in sin is still, “LET MY PEOPLE GO!” God said to Jonah, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city” – He saw its potential, in spite of its wickedness. (Jonah 1:2) Canada’s cities and towns are full of Apostolics yet unborn!

In Genesis, God said “LET there be light” – and there was light! (Genesis 1:3) THE POWER WAS IN THE COMMAND! In Revelation, He says “LET him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, LET him take the water of life freely.” (Revelation 22:17) Again, THE POWER IS IN THE COMMAND.

Satan cannot stand against the power of the church’s message of redemption! Hell must get out of the way when the gospel is preached to any willing heart! If you WANT salvation, you can HAVE salvation! The preaching of the gospel is the only thing that can loose the shackles of sin!

Matthew 16:18-19  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

The story of Exodus is repeated thousands of times every day, in every soul that finds deliverance from a sinful world! But note two things about Exodus:

1.     A MAN:  Israel would have had no hope except for a God-called man named Moses! But it wasn’t Moses’ ability or personality that delivered Israel; it was the anointing of God that rested upon him. GOD DID THE WORK, BUT HE CHOSE TO DO IT THROUGH A MAN!

2.     A MESSAGE:  Exodus, the book of redemption, is one-half law! The giving of the Law in the last half of the book (chapters 19 to 40) teaches us that the redeemed must do the will of their Redeemer, consecrating themselves to His service, and submitting to His control. Otherwise, it’s not redemption! God is not content to just be our Savior; he wants to be our Lord!

Exodus begins by telling how God came down in grace to deliver an enslaved people, and ends by declaring how God came down in glory to dwell in the midst of a redeemed people. MOSES’ MESSAGE WAS A MESSAGE OF COMPLETE DELIVERANCE FROM EGYPT!  Our message is the same!

PLAGUE	REFERENCE	EGYPTIAN GODS
Blood	Exodus 7:14-25	Hapi, god of the Nile, father of the gods
Frogs	Exodus 8:1-15	Heqt, goddess of resurrection, frog goddess
Lice	Exodus 8:16-19	Geb, god of the earth
Flies	Exodus 8:20-32	Khepfi, god of insects
Livestock	Exodus 9:1-7	Apis, the bull god, & Hathor, the cow goddess
Boils	Exodus 9:8-12	Imhotep, god of medicine
Hail	Exodus 9:13-35	Nut, the sky goddess
Locusts	Exodus 10:1-20	Seth, protector of crops
Darkness	Exodus 10:21-29	Ra, the sun god
Firstborn	Exodus 11:1–12:30	Osiris, giver of life

Egypt is a type of the world in Scripture. The gospel is all about getting yourself out of Egypt, keeping yourself out of Egypt, and keeping Egypt out of you! But Pharaoh (a type of the devil) does not relinquish his hold without resistance!

The showdown between Pharaoh and Jehovah came during the Ten Plagues. The total number of Egyptian gods is uncertain, but most lists include at least eighty. Most living creatures and many inanimate objects were considered to be the embodiment of some deity; even Pharaoh was considered to be a god. So the plagues were more than just a demonstration of God’s power; each one was a judgment upon the idolatrous worship of a pagan Egyptian deity!

During this confrontation, Pharaoh acted like many people today. While he was feeling the effects of the plague, he would do anything or say anything just to get rid of the trouble. But as soon as God removed it, he would harden his heart. Pharaoh mistook God’s mercy for weakness! Moses’ message was that God would only be patient for a short length of time. The church must be KIND to everyone, but we still must preach the ABSOLUTE message of the gospel. Don’t mistake kindness for compromise, or mercy for weakness!

God wanted His people to travel three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to Him there. GOD NOT ONLY WANTED WORSHIP, HE WANTED WORSHIP IN AN EXACT MANNER!

Pharaoh instinctively knew that if the Israelites ever got out from under his control they would never willingly come back, so he offered FOUR COMPROMISES to the message of Moses. Any one of them would have been enough to “short circuit” God’s plan for Israel! And the devil offers the same four subtle suggestions to us today:

1.     COMPROMISE #1:  STAY IN EGYPT

Exodus 8:25  And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.

Pharaoh knew that he still had complete control of Israel as long as they tried to serve God inside Egypt. They would not be free of Egypt until they crossed through the waters of the Red Sea and were led to the promised land by the pillar of cloud and fire.

Matthew 12:40  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Matthew 27:40  And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.

Mark 8:31  And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

God wanted them to travel THREE DAYS JOURNEY – all the way to the RESURRECTION. We need to go all the way to a Holy Ghost experience!

Faith is wonderful. Prayer is powerful. Repentance is incredible. But the devil doesn’t care how much believing, praying and repenting you do, AS LONG AS YOU DON’T LEAVE EGYPT!

If Israel had chosen to worship IN THE LAND, they would have offered worship as an unseparated people, still in bondage. It would not have been acceptable to God.

Repentance turns your heart toward Christ, but it is water baptism in Jesus’ name that puts YOU IN CHRIST and the baptism of the Holy Ghost that puts CHRIST IN YOU!

When the waters of the Red Sea closed behind them and the pillar of cloud and fire led them away, Pharaoh could no longer touch Israel. WHEN YOU ARE BAPTIZED AND RECEIVE THE HOLY GHOST, THE DEVIL NO LONGER HAS ANY LEGAL RIGHT TO TOUCH YOU!

1 Corinthians 10:1-2  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all BAPTIZED unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

2.     COMPROMISE #2:  STAY CLOSE TO EGYPT

Exodus 8:28  And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: intreat for me.

When Pharaoh saw that Moses and Aaron were set on leaving Egypt, he suggested another compromise – leave, but just STAY CLOSE to Egypt. He knew that if the Israelites were not far away, he would still be able to recapture them easily.

The devil never gives up; he sees every salvation as a TEMPORARY victory, and he never stops trying to get us back. If he can keep us CLOSE TO THE WORLD in our interests and desires, he can have great influence on us. THIS IS THE MAIN PROBLEM OF THE MODERN APOSTOLIC!

1 John 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Israel’s earthly pilgrimage was a picture of a much greater spiritual journey!

Hebrews 11:13-16  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.  For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

3.     COMPROMISE #3:  DON’T TAKE YOUR FAMILY

Exodus 10:11  Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the LORD; for that ye did desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.

Pharaoh knew that if the men didn’t take their families, there would be a strong pull for them to come back to Egypt.

 

The devil says, “If you’re going to be an Apostolic, keep it to yourself!”  He doesn’t want us to take the NEXT GENERATION with us out of Egypt, because he knows that would stop the Pentecostal movement cold.

 

Our young ministers stand in a crucial place. We must keep one hand on the past and one hand on the future. Every time there was major progress made in the early church, it necessitated a change in their METHOD. But they never changed their MESSAGE. To change a method doesn’t necessarily mean eliminating the old ways, but rather incorporating the old within the new.

 

Notice that Israel did TWO CONTRASTING THINGS when they finally left Egypt for good:

 

o   Moses took with him the bones of Joseph (Exodus 13:19). Those bones were the symbol of Israel’s history.

 

o   But Israel also plundered the Egyptians (Exodus 3:21) when they left. They used the invention of the Egyptians to do the will of God!

We need to do what Ezekiel did (Ezekiel 37) – we need to make those old bones live! Let’s do the hard work of making our heritage come alive in our generation.

 

Maybe that’s why Jesus used the analogy of “living water” to describe the gospel to the Samaritan woman. Water fills any receptacle without retaining the form of any. The container doesn’t matter, because the content remains the same!

DON’T LEAVE THE NEXT GENERATION IN EGYPT!

4.     COMPROMISE #4:  DON’T TAKE YOUR PROPERTY

Exodus 10:24  And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you.

Pharaoh’s last-ditch attempt to hinder Israel was to suggest that they leave some of their property behind. Again, he knew this would create a strong pull for them to return to Egypt.

ONE THING THAT OUR GENERATION DOES NOT DO WELL IS SACRIFICE!  Our possessions and our positions mean too much to us!

We do not need more SERMONS, we need more CHRISTIANS!  We need people who will consecrate to the Lord everything He has given them!

Is it a Ministry – or just a Job?

If you are doing it just because no one else will, it’s a job.

If you are doing it to serve the Lord, it’s a ministry.

If you are doing it just well enough to get by, it’s a job.

If you are doing it to the best of your ability, it’s a ministry.

If you will do it only so long as it doesn’t interfere with other activities, it’s a job.

If you are committed to staying with it even when it means letting go of other things, it’s a ministry.

If you quit because no one praised you or thanked you, it was a job.

If you stay with it even when no one seems to notice, it’s a ministry.

If you do it just because someone else said it needed to be done, it’s a job.

If you do it because you are convinced it needs to be done, it’s a ministry.

It is hard to get excited about a job.

It is almost impossible not to get excited about a ministry.

People may say “well done” when you do your job.

The Lord will say “well done” when you complete your ministry.

An average church is filled with people doing jobs.

A great church is filled with people involved in ministry.

16 years ago today – April 23, 1985 – The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, GA, made a showy, glitzy announcement that it was changing its 99-year-old secret formula. New Coke was called “the most significant soft drink development” in the company’s history. So much for history! Fans of the original Coke were instrumental in bringing Classic Coke back. They just refused buy the new Coke and it fizzled after only ten weeks on the market, turning out to be one of the biggest corporate flops in history.

I’M NOT BUYING THE LIE!   (set your life by the COMPASS of Acts 2:38)