This sermon focuses on the story of Israel's deliverance from Egypt in Exodus chapter six, highlighting God's promises to rescue, redeem, and establish a personal relationship with His people. The speaker emphasizes the burden and bondage of sin, the need for deliverance, and the abundant life God offers through faith in Jesus Christ. The invitation is extended for those still under the weight of sin to come forward and receive God's deliverance and blessings.

Good morning. Joe, open up your Bible to Exodus chapter six, that'll be where we will draw our text from this morning. Just a quick note on the mission and outreach to Haiti. We are putting together some teams and it really isn't yet, we can't really get in there yet and so we're just getting ready, being prepared so when the opportunity arises to get in, we will be able to get in. If you'd like to make a contribution toward relief to Haiti, if you go on the website, the church website or calvarychapel.com, there's a button there that you can hit and you can make a donation through that and of course all of that will go to assist in the relief work that'll be taking place there. You know, when things like this happen, I mean, to some extent, unless you have family members or friends or whatever in a place like that, it can be a little bit removed from us and where we're at but we do have Calvary Chapel fellowships there, we do have missionaries that minister there and a couple that are missionaries out of the Calvary Chapel in Sarasota, Florida, their house collapsed on them and they're buried under the rubble. The woman was rescued first and she lost her foot in the process, her foot had to be amputated. 18 hours later, her husband Patrick was rescued and his arm had to be amputated and as the last report I got, he was still unconscious but he is in the hospital so keep them in your prayers and we realize that it's a lot closer to home than we might think when these kinds of things happen so keep that in prayer and then one other quick note for the men here, wanna invite you guys to come out and join us this Thursday evening, we have our regular men's fellowship. This month we've had some guest speakers, we had one of the missionaries week before last, we had one of the pastors from the East Coast last Thursday night but this coming Thursday, the 21st, we've got the president of Liberty Seminary coming out, Ergun Kaner, he is a great apologist, a great evangelist but the interesting thing about him is he grew up in a Muslim home, he's a Turkish Muslim and was converted at the age of 18 by a classmate in high school and so he has a tremendous testimony and a great ministry to men and a real challenging kind of a word coming for us so guys, I would just invite you to come and join us even if you don't come out regularly on Thursday, come out seven o'clock, also a great opportunity to bring a friend, neighbor, coworker, somebody that maybe you've been talking to the Lord about, this would be, I think, a really good time to invite them to come out so hopefully we will see you then. All right, so Exodus chapter six. As we pick up the story, Moses and Aaron have gone before Pharaoh and demanded the release of the children of Israel. Pharaoh not only rejected their demand, he also increased the burden of labor that was on the people, causing them to turn against Moses and Aaron and so here in the sixth chapter now, the Lord declares what it is that he is going to do so let me read to you verse one then we'll skip down and read verses six through eight. Then the Lord said to Moses, now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh for with a strong hand he will let them go and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land. Verse six, therefore say to the children of Israel, I am the Lord, I will bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments, I will take you as my people and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, your God who brings you out from under the burden of the Egyptians and I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and I will give it to you as a heritage, I am the Lord. So here God declares to Israel what he will do, I will, I will, I will, seven times over here he states to them the things that he will do for them. Now, the Old Testament is both actual and typical history, actual in that it really happened exactly as it's recorded. These are not myths or legends, but these are actual historical events. Typical in that this history typifies the experience of God's people from generation to generation and it contains pictures or types that point beyond the actual people, places or events. And so as we look at this story of Israel's bondage and ultimate deliverance from Egypt, we see that Pharaoh, although an actual historical figure, is also a type of Satan who keeps people in bondage. Egypt is a type of this godless world system. The promised land is a picture of the abundant spiritual life the Lord has called us to. And so we find here in these accounts, these historical accounts, we find types and pictures that would speak to us today as well. So with that in mind, let's look at what God has promised that he will do for those who trust him. He said, first of all, in verse six, I will bring you out from under the burden and the bondage of the Egyptians. Now, of course, Israel was in bondage there in Egypt. They were slaves. And as we read the account there, we see that they were severely afflicted and they were forced to serve under very harsh conditions. Now, what the Egyptians did to the Israelites is a picture of what sin ultimately does to us. Sin ultimately oppresses us, making life harsh and bringing us into cruel bondage. Now, I say it ultimately oppresses us because initially it is not the case. That's why many people get sucked into sin, because initially it seems harmless. Initially, it seems that it's rather pleasurable. It's rather enjoyable. And so we go into some type of sinful behavior or lifestyle thinking, oh, this is great. This is fun. This is wonderful. This is exciting. But ultimately things change, don't they? And suddenly we realize that we are oppressed and life is hard and harsh. And we find that the bondage that we end up in is a cruel bondage. That is the reality. Now, God says to them, I'm going to deliver you from all of this. And of course, that's what he's done for us as well. He's delivered us from the burden and the bondage of sin. He's delivered us from the burden of sin. Perhaps, hopefully, you can still remember what that burden of sin was like. Do you remember the misery that you lived in? Do you remember the depression perhaps? Or maybe that heavy sense of guilt upon your life? Or maybe you remember just living in a constant state of worry and fear. Or maybe it was a life filled with bitterness. Maybe the whole picture, generally speaking, was just hopeless. But that burden has been lifted off of you as the Lord promised that he would do. Or perhaps you can remember what it was like to be in bondage to sin, engaged in destructive behavioral patterns that you couldn't break. Addicted to things that you wanted to be freed from, but you just couldn't get yourself freed from those things. Do you remember how it was back then? You know, it's important to some degree that we remember these things, that we reflect back on them for the way they really were. Because, you know, there can come a time in our lives where we've been so far and so long removed from those things, we forget how bad it was. And we can even sometimes start thinking, well, you know, maybe it wasn't that bad back then. And then we can be tempted to go back and maybe start dabbling in some of those things. This happened to the Israelites. They come out of Egypt, where they were severely oppressed. And then out in the wilderness, when things weren't going exactly the way they thought they should be going, you know what they began to say? Hey, maybe life in Egypt wasn't so bad after all. Maybe we ought to go back to Egypt. After all, the food in Egypt was so much better than this miserable food we're having to eat out here. And the conditions in Egypt, oh yeah, they were less than desirable, but you know, they weren't that bad. You see, they had forgotten about how bad things really were. It's a good thing for us to sometimes just reflect back and realistically look at where the Lord brought us from. So we're never tempted to go back in that direction again. But the point is this, what the Lord did for Israel in delivering them from the burden and the bondage of the Egyptians, he has done that for us as well in delivering us from the burden and the bondage of sin. Just as he said to them, I will deliver you, that is of course what he has spoken to us. And for many of us, most of us, we know that that is indeed the case. That's what's happened. Oh, I can think back to my life before I was a Christian. And although externally, everything seemed to be fine, outwardly, I looked as happy-go-lucky as the next guy, I guess. But you know, inside there was turmoil. Inside there was an unrest. And I was filled with anxiety and concern and burdened down by the things of the world and by the sin that I was involved in. And I remember being engaged in different behaviors that I knew were wrong and I knew they were destructive. And I wanted to some degree to stop, but I just didn't have the power. But thank God that he came in his mercy and he did just what he promised to do. He has delivered. But then he goes on and he says here now, he says, I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great judgments. And so of course, with Israel, this is what's going to happen as we follow along in the story, that God is going to come and he's going to bear his arm. The arm is a picture of strength. And so the Lord is gonna bear his arm before Egypt. He's going to, in other words, show his strength in the midst of Egypt. And he's going to do so by pouring out these mighty judgments. And he's going to redeem the people. The word redeem has the idea of purchasing or of buying something back. And so we know the Israelites, of course, went to Egypt as free men, but they became slaves. Now they were the possession of Pharaoh, so to speak. But God is going to redeem them. He's going to buy them out of that situation. And again, for us, we had sold ourselves to Satan through sin. That's why we were in the state that we were in. We had sold ourselves to Satan through sin, but the Lord paid the ransom. Remember how Paul put it in writing to the Corinthians. He said, you are not your own for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit, which belong to him. But we're not our own, why? Because we were bought with a price. The price of redemption was paid. And what was the price of redemption? Well, the New Testament makes it clear to us that we were redeemed, not with corruptible things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. And you remember there in Egypt, as we go further into the story, it was the Passover lamb that bought the redemption of the people. It was the blood of that Passover lamb. And that of course was a picture itself of the lamb of God who would come ultimately and take away the sin of the world, the lamb being Jesus Christ. But this description here of an outstretched arm, I think of the arms of Jesus being stretched out upon the cross, being stretched out and then fastened to that cross through those stakes that were driven into his wrist. And here, I think, although the initial reference is obviously to God showing his strength against the Egyptians, but when we look at the bigger picture or the typical aspect of it here, we're talking about when the Lord would stretch out his arms and when he would shed his blood to redeem us and when he would bear the judgment. God said, I will save them with an outstretched arm and great judgments. And of course, Jesus was bearing the judgment of God against sin upon himself. As we're told, in his own body on the tree, he was bearing the sin of the world. And so through what Christ has done on the cross, we, like Israel of old, we have been redeemed. We have been ransomed. We have been purchased and bought back so that we are no longer under the dominion of Satan. We're no longer under the control of Satan, but now we belong to the Lord. He bought us with a price. But then he goes on and he says, he says in verse seven, I will take you as my people and I will be your God. And now again, for Israel, they were now becoming, although there was that covenant that was made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, remember, 400 years have passed. And although they are the descendants of these patriarchs, they have yet to really enter into that special relationship but now is the time that God is going to bring them in and make them his own special people. And that's what they became. Out of all the people of the earth, the Israelites became God's own special people where they would say to him that he is our God. And he would say to them that they are my people. So he says, I will take you as my people and I will be your God. So he's talking about this personal relationship that he's going to enter into with this nation. Now, again, this speaks to us of the personal relationship that we've entered into through what Christ has done. This is the chief feature, one of the chief features of the new covenant, that we would have a personal relationship with God. It's not that God is just there and he's some great and powerful being at some distant point in the universe or outside the universe in eternity. God is personal, he's intimate. We have close, intimate relations with him, relations so close that they're likened to the relationship of a parent to a child. In some senses, likened to the relationship of a husband and a wife. So we're talking about close relationship and that's what we've entered into. God hasn't only delivered us from the burdens and the bondage of our sin, he hasn't only redeemed us, delivered us from the power of Satan, but he's brought us into this personal relationship with himself. And so we have this experience where we actually know the Lord, where the Lord speaks to us, he guides us through our daily lives, he communicates with us, he blesses us, he watches over us, all of these pictures that we have in the scripture. So many people think of God, if they even believe in a God, they believe in sort of the deistic view of God as somebody who just set everything in motion and then removed himself entirely from the whole situation. Or some see him more in a theistic sense where he might be a little more involved in the affairs of the world, but certainly he's not talking to people today, certainly he's not blessing them in tangible ways that you could point to and say, hey, God did this for me. That's wrong. That's a false view of God. The biblical view of God is that God has become our father and that he knows the things we need before we ever ask him and that he's working in our lives to bring about his plan and his purpose and it's an intimate relationship and we can cry out to him, Abba, Father, and he responds back to us. Paul said it this way in Romans. He said, I will call them my people. God speaking, I will call them my people who were not my people and her beloved who was not beloved and they shall be called the sons of the living God. And then to the Ephesians, Paul said, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. I love that picture. You're no longer strangers and foreigners. That's where we were before. We were cut off from the covenants. We were outside this relationship. We were not participating in these promises, but we have now been brought in, no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and we've become members of the household of God. We're part of God's family. That's what God has done. That's what he said. I will make you my people. I will be your God. He would bring us into his family and John put it this way. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God. Amazing, that we should be called the children of God. We who were at one time alienated from God and enemies in our mind because of those wicked works, we at one time who were the children of wrath, destined for judgment, that we are now called the children of God. Why? Because of God. Because he said, this is what I will do for you. He looked upon Israel and their plight and he had mercy on them and he said, this is what I am going to do for you. And he's looked upon you and he's looked upon me and he's looked upon all of humanity and he says, this is what I will do for you. What do we have to do? We just need to receive it. We just need to receive what God wills to do for us. But the moment we say, okay, Lord, do it. Guess what? He does. He does those things that he promised. He delivers us from the burden and the bondage of sin. He redeems us. He makes us his people. He becomes our God and that's where it all starts. It all starts by coming into this relationship with him. But that's not where it ends. That's where it starts. But it goes on from there and notice what he said. He said, I will bring you into and I will give you the land I promised to you. So you see, it's not just that God saves us from our sins. He does do that, of course. It's not just that he makes us his people, but he then gives us a new life, a different life, a life with an entirely different purpose, a different quality of life. He gives us a spiritually abundant life. And that's what Jesus said. You remember, he said, I have come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. So that's what he gives us. He gives us abundant life. He gives us a life that's freed from those burdens that we experienced when we were living under the tyranny of Satan and sin. He gives us a life that's radically different from that life of bondage. He gives us a life of liberty, a life of freedom in the spirit. And he takes us out of that miserable state and he puts us in to a joyous situation. As Paul said to the Romans, the kingdom of God, of which we have become a part, the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. So you see, God has a whole new life that he wants to bring us into, and he wants to continue to develop that life to its fullest potential. When the Israelites crossed over the Jordan into the Promised Land, it was a process of taking the land. They didn't just simply walk in and it was all handed to them, they had to take the land, but it was promised to them. So as they would move forward in appropriating what God had promised, then they would inherit, they would receive all that God had promised. So for us, we put our faith in Jesus and we've entered the land, so to speak, but now God wants us to take the land. He wants us to grow. And after we've been a Christian for a period of time, we ought to be able to look back and see, you know, we've taken some ground. I've made some advances. I'm not the person I used to be. I don't have the same hangups and issues that I used to have. It doesn't mean that you're gonna be perfect, but you can see that as you keep growing in the Lord, that more and more land, so to speak, is gonna be taken. In other words, you're gonna be growing spiritually, so that you come to that place where you're walking in the Spirit more consistently than you are not walking in the Spirit. You come to the point where your life is marked by the Spirit. You're more or less living in the Spirit, and we know what the fruit of the Spirit is. Remember, Paul told us in Galatians that it's love, joy, peace, long-suffering, or patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. You see, these are all the things that are, in a sense, a description of the abundant life that Jesus promised to us. And so, again, these are the things that God has given to us. These are the things that he's done for us, and what's our part? Again, our part is receiving. I'm receiving. Of course, the Israelites had to, they had to know that they were in distress, didn't they? And God allows us to know the distress that we're in. He allows us to know the misery of sin. Why? So we'll cry out to him. And as we cry out, remember, the children of Israel were crying out to God, and the Lord said he heard their prayer. And so, as we cry out to him, as we acknowledge, God, I'm a sinner, and I'm under the burden of this sin, and God, I'm in bondage to this, and I pray that you would redeem me, that's what he does. He does all these things simply for the asking, as we would ask. Now, I am aware that most of us here today, I would think, probably know this by experience. We've gone through this same sort of a deliverance that Israel went through, but I would also venture to guess that there might be some that have joined us today that have yet to be delivered from their captivity or their slavery or the burden of sin. And I would ask you these questions in closing. Are you under the burden of sin today? Are you living under the burden of sin? Is life miserable to you today? Are you angry and depressed? Are you perhaps being crushed under the guilt of something you've done or are doing? Are you living in fear that someday you'll be exposed for what you really are? If any of those things are your experience, you're under the burden of sin. Perhaps you're in bondage to sin. Are you doing things that are destroying your life and the lives of those you love, but you're not able to stop it? Are you addicted perhaps to drugs, to alcohol, sex, lying, cheating, stealing, hating? You see, these are sins. And although initially those drugs seemed like they were beneficial, they made you feel better. They took away that edge, but now they're destroying your life. Maybe initially it was exciting to go out and have a few drinks, but that's not the case anymore. You're in bondage to the alcohol. Sex is a wonderful thing in its proper place, but when it's driving and controlling your life and everything you do revolves around sex in some way or another, you're in bondage to that. Or maybe everything about your life is just a big lie and you can't even tell the truth anymore. You just lie, you can't do anything other than lie. Or you're cheating, you're ripping people off, you're filled with hatred. This is sin. And these are the things that crush and these are the things that bind us up and make life miserable. And of course, ultimately, these are the things that will bring the judgment of God upon our lives. But the good news is that the one who said to Israel, I will deliver you, I will rescue you, I will redeem you, I will make you my people, I will be your God, I will bring you into the land, I will cause you to inherit the land, that same God says this to you today. Let me quote to you from the lips of Jesus. Jesus said, come to me, all who are weary and burdened. And I think truly the context is the idea of being burdened by sin. All that are weary and weighed down and burdened by sin. Sin has taken its toll on your life and you're being crushed under the weight of it. Jesus said, come to me and listen, I will give you rest. I will give you rest. Just as God delivered Israel from Egypt, God will deliver you from your sin and he'll bring you into a whole new life. And I can stand here today and tell you that that happened to me. And I know that many of you could stand up and say, hey, that happened to me too. That's exactly where I was at. But some of you, that hasn't happened to you yet, but it can, if you will simply cry out and say, Lord, I want you to do for me the things that you want to do. You said that you would deliver me and Lord, I am turning to you in faith and I'm asking you to do that today. If you'll do that today, God will meet you right where you're at and you'll leave here a freed man or woman, no longer under the burden or the bondage of sin, but now redeemed and brought into a personal relationship with God, where he's going to take you from blessing to blessing on into the future. Let's pray. And Lord, how we thank you that these promises that you made to Israel were just a shadow of the promises that you've given to anyone and everyone who would call upon the name of the Lord. And Lord, how we thank you that you have delivered us from the burden of sin. You've rescued us from the bondage of sin. You've redeemed us. Lord, how we thank you today that we are your people, that you are our God and that you're leading us step-by-step into the promised land. And Lord, I would just pray this morning, if there's a single individual in this room or outside or anywhere on these grounds, hearing these words that has not been set free by your power, Lord, would you cause them to turn to you today, help them to cry out to you, that you might do for them all that you're longing to do. And this we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand together. So for the majority of you, I pray that this week you would take more land, that you would experience a greater sense of the spirit and that you would just be growing in that abundant spiritual life that Jesus has supplied to us. And for any of you that might've joined us this morning that are outside of these promises and these blessings, because you've yet to respond and open your heart to Christ, we pray this morning that you would do that. And the pastors are up front here in front of the church this morning. They are available to pray with you. They'd love to pray with you. And did you know that by a simple prayer, just a simple request, asking Christ to forgive your sin and to come into your life, that all of these promises and blessings can be yours today? That's a reality. That's what's happened to many of us here. There was a point in time where we accepted the offer that God was making, and He's done for us exactly what He promised to do, and He's gonna do it for you as well. So as the service closes today, make your way up front, let these guys pray for you, and leave here a person who has been redeemed and is now a recipient of all the goodness and the blessing that God has for you. God bless you. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Sing, I will praise you. ♪ I will praise you, oh, my Redeemer ♪ ♪ I will praise you, oh, my Redeemer ♪ ♪ For you are worthy ♪