Okay, so we've been kind of, we're still in the series of living in a supernatural world.
We are, I don't know how far in, but we still have a long ways to go.
And we've been building up week after week, learning about where this, the idea of where
the supernatural comes from, where the supernatural basis kind of starts as we start to learn
how the supernatural world affects us day to day.
And so last week we left off with Yahweh God, the God of Israel, calling Abraham to be
a nation set aside for himself.
And that calling that was on Abraham's life, that transferred to his son Isaac, from Isaac
and then transferred to his son Jacob, that would be Abraham's son and grandson.
Now, Jacob's son would then betray one of their own, Joseph, who had this vision, this
dream about how he was, he was going to be a leader, how he was, because he was one of
the youngest and his brothers didn't like that.
So they betrayed him and he kind of ended up kind of providentially in Egypt, away from
his homeland.
And so once he ended up in Egypt, he ended up rising to the top.
He ended up being one of Pharaoh's assistants.
Now, if you've not read this story before, please read Exodus.
Exodus is so much fun.
It is action-packed.
It is, it's a great story.
So if this story is new to you, please read it.
And if the story is not new to you, still read it.
It's awesome.
I love this story.
I love Exodus.
It's just, it's like the best action-packed story ever.
And so once he rose to the top, the Pharaoh of Egypt said, I'm going to protect your clan.
I'm going to protect your people, of your family.
And so during this famine, the Joseph's clan began to grow.
Israel, the nation of Israel began to grow.
But then there was a problem.
There's always a twist and turn in stories.
After Joseph's death, his offsprings weren't treated as kindly.
And that just kind of shows you humans draw towards evil.
Kind of seems to explain why Egypt feared Israel to the point of enslaving them.
They enslaved them.
They became so fearful of Israel that they began to kill newborns to control the population.
So then you're probably wondering, why, why were the Egyptians so scared of the Israelites?
Exodus 1 tells us this.
It says, now there arose a new king over Egypt.
They did not know Joseph.
And he said to his people, look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we.
Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply.
And it happened in the event of war that they also join our enemies and fight against us.
And so go up out of the land.
You see, in the physical realm, the Israelites were scared, or sorry, the Egyptians were scared of the Israelites because there were so many of them.
You know, they kind of took that command to be fruitful and multiply a little bit too seriously.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, they had grown to a very large population.
They, the Israelites, outnumbered the Egyptians very quickly.
But in the spiritual realm, there was something else going on.
See, we had finally reached the point where these other nations, these other gods, remember we talked about the disinherited nations,
that they started following these other lesser gods, these other spiritual beings.
Well, now these nations were being pitted against Yahweh.
And this is the first time.
And in this part of the Bible, in this part of Exodus, now we're seeing the gods of Egypt against the almighty God of Yahweh.
And you'll continue to see this trend as you continue to read the Old Testament.
All these nations are always against Yahweh.
And that is the battle in the Old Testament.
So, in other words, what was happening wasn't just a political thing.
It was a spiritual thing.
Egypt and its gods are now against Yahweh.
And that's what happens here and even today.
We look at what's going on in the world.
We see the wars that are going on.
Yes, there is a political aspect of it, but there's something in the spiritual realm too.
There's always a battle.
There's always one god against another god.
There's always some sort of power struggle in the spiritual.
Because what happens in the natural happens in the spiritual and vice versa.
So, let's talk about Israel's perspective.
Their spiritual eyes.
What are they seeing?
What are they thinking right now?
You've got to remember, at this point, the Israelites didn't have anything written down.
They didn't have a Bible.
They didn't even have their Torah yet.
That was going to come.
At this point, all what they knew about Yahweh was given orally.
It was told from generation to generation.
But here's what they knew.
They knew that their existence was from the grace of God calling Abraham out of the land of southern Mesopotamia,
the same land that Babel was located in the same general region, right?
They knew that Abraham had worshipped other gods, but then decided to worship Yahweh.
They also knew that Abraham's son, Isaac, was a miracle.
Because Abraham's wife, Sarah, was barren.
She was too old to have children.
And so, their existence was miraculous because Isaac's birth was miraculous.
And the Israelites also knew that the promise to go back to their promised land was coming.
Genesis 15 says,
That was the promise that was handed down generation after generation after generation.
And here they are in that oppression.
They're wondering, okay, when is this going to happen?
When is this promise going to happen?
So, there was two questions.
There's two questions that we have to ask each other.
Or that the Israelites were asking.
The first question the Israelites were asking says,
They're asking,
God, Yahweh, where are you?
Where are you in this?
Where are you in this oppression?
But then turn it around, there was another question being asked by the Egyptians.
And the Egyptians were asking,
Who is Yahweh?
And why should we care?
And what was funny about the Egyptians is they're about to find out the hard way,
who Yahweh really was.
Exodus 3, the Lord said to Moses,
He's talking to Moses,
I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt.
I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters.
For I know their sorrows.
I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians
and to bring them up from the land that is both good and spacious
to a land flowing with milk and honey
to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perzites, Hivites, Jebusites,
Mosquitoites, all of them.
And now, the Mosquitoites are the worst.
And now, indeed, the cry of the Israelites has come to me,
and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppressed them.
So now, go, and I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.
So now, the people of Israel, the Israelites are in Egypt.
They are slaves under this oppressive system.
And God sends Moses, the least likely, the least in speech,
to go to the Israelites so Yahweh is revealed to them personally.
And there's going to be this miraculous exit.
Now, at the same time, Egypt is about to get a rude awakening
about who Yahweh really was by this demonstration of power.
So I'm not going to get into this.
I wish I had time to sit there and preach through this whole thing about the plagues and Exodus.
Maybe in the future, I'll get a chance to do a series on this because it's absolutely fascinating.
But God says 10 plagues.
The first one is turning water into blood.
Not good, especially if you depend on water in the desert.
The next one is frogs.
I don't understand the frog thing, but I guess a lot of frogs are bad.
And then if frogs aren't bad, then you have the gnats.
We kind of need the frogs to get rid of the gnats, but the frogs are gone.
Now you've got the gnats.
And then if gnats aren't bad, then you get the flies.
Remember we talked about the mosquitoes?
I don't like mosquitoes, but they do like me.
Not a good combination.
And then you have disease.
That's not fun.
And if disease isn't bad, then you've got the boils.
Well, now that you're sitting there with boils on you,
then now your crops are getting destroyed by the next one.
It's the hail.
And what's left of the crops that the hail didn't get, the locusts come eat.
And then darkness.
Now that's freaky when you know it's supposed to be broad daily and there's darkness.
But even after those first nine, you think that the Egyptians would get the point?
Oh no, they don't get the point.
Pharaoh continues to harden his heart.
And so the angel of death comes and kills all the firstborn sons.
Death comes.
And then the grand finale comes when the Egyptians finally get to leave Egypt.
But then they're faced with one more obstacle.
And that is the Red Sea.
They were faced with the Red Sea.
Now at this point, Yahweh finally just hardened Pharaoh's heart.
He was going to harden his heart anyway.
Harden his heart.
And Pharaoh changed his mind and sends out these armies to pursue Israelites while they were escaping.
And so while, just imagine while the Israelites are about ready to, are at the shore of the Red Sea,
here come the Egyptians hot on their tail and the Red Sea parts.
It parts and now the people are able to pass.
We're talking millions of people here.
Millions.
And right on cue, as the Egyptians start to make their journey across the Red Sea to go after the Israelites,
the waters come crashing down and they all perish.
So all the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the escape of the Israelites,
these things answered those two questions.
Where are you, Yahweh, and who is Yahweh?
You see, Yahweh,
Yahweh was with the Israelites the whole time.
He never left them.
See, Yahweh was the great I Am.
He was the great I Am.
He was the able to control everything.
He had the power to save.
He had the power to change the heart of Pharaoh.
And he even had the power to destroy the Egyptians.
But that incredible display of power did not go unnoticed.
It didn't go unnoticed.
Jethro, he was a Midian priest.
I believe, I should have looked this up.
I believe Midian is somewhere in Central Africa.
Don't hold me to it, though.
He was Moses' father-in-law.
And he was from a foreign land who worshipped other gods.
And so when word of Yahweh came to Jethro,
the word of God made it back to him,
he couldn't ignore it.
He had to go and find out what really happened.
In Exodus 18, Jethro states,
Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods.
Indeed, it was proven that they acted instantly against the people.
Now, we don't know if Jethro became a worshipper of Yahweh exclusively.
The Bible doesn't really tell us that.
My personal opinion is he probably did.
There's a good chance that he abandoned his other gods.
Because after he acknowledged who God was,
who Yahweh was,
he went and made burnt sacrifices.
And we don't really see him after that.
But what we do know for a fact
is it's a glimpse that Yahweh,
that God was starting to bring back
the disinherited nations together
and draw them towards him.
So, God revealed himself.
He delivered his people.
He showed his power to the nations.
But the question is,
what did Israel do with that?
What did they do with that?
So, here's what Israel did.
God brought Israel out of Egypt.
But here's the problem.
Bringing them out of Egypt
did not mean that Egypt was out of them.
And so, Israel goes into the wilderness
for 40 years to be tested.
And instead of worshiping Yahweh,
they rebel.
Hosea 11 says,
When Israel was a young man,
I loved him like a son.
I summoned my son out of Egypt.
But the more I summoned them,
the further away they departed from me.
They sacrificed to the ball idols
and burnt incense to images.
Yet it was I who led them,
Ephraim,
which is also another name for Israel.
I took them by the arm,
but they did not acknowledge
that I had healed them.
I drew them with leather cords,
with straps of hide.
I lifted the yoke from their neck
and gently fed them.
They will return to Egypt.
Assyria will rule over them
because they refuse to repent.
You see that power of the gods struggling.
A sword will flash in their cities.
It will destroy the bars of their city gates
and devour them in their fortress.
My people are obsessed
with turning away from me.
They call to Baal,
but they never exalt them.
See, you see a pattern here.
You're seeing this pattern.
Israel, Yahweh's son,
is now the wayward son.
And you can see the history of Israel
continues to rebel
and they eventually become captive
and end up in other lands.
And this continues to happen.
And they continue to wish
to go back to captivity
because of their disobedience.
And in the wilderness,
going back to these Israelites,
you know,
they're sitting there
just escaped from Egypt.
And all they know
is they wish they had foods.
They wish they had their comforts of Egypt.
And in the time of judges,
they were unruly
and they were chaotic
and needed constant correction
from the judges.
And then they requested a king
and then that brought them
on all sorts of trouble.
And then when they followed
other gods,
they ended up in other nations.
This pattern of captivity
continued time and time and again.
And they continued to fail.
But we see this pattern in humanity.
We see this pattern continue today.
And the reason it continues
is because there's a deeper
spiritual brokenness
that keeps us in bondage.
John 10.10 says,
The thief comes to steal,
kill, and destroy.
I have come
so that they may have life
and have it more abundantly.
See, the devil wants to steal your joy.
The devil wants to steal your freedom.
But God wants to bring you freedom.
He wants to bring you joy.
And that just isn't Israel's story.
I mean, I've seen this in real life.
I mean, I could tell you,
I've counseled many, many people
over the years,
even before I was a pastor.
My husband and I did a lot of counseling.
One thing that we did
while we were in seminaries,
we counseled other ministers
and other pastors.
Because oftentimes,
they couldn't go to their own church leader
to deal with some of the stuff
that was on their heart.
I remember,
this was some years ago,
and you guys don't know
who this guy is.
I counseled this man.
He was in Florida.
And he had overcome a lot in his life.
I've got to give him a lot of credit.
But he had this absolute wild testimony.
He had multiple divorces.
He got brought back to life
after being declared dead.
He was involved with drugs and alcohol.
Just this guy just had
just this wild, wild testimony.
And he overcame all these things
and went into ministry.
And it was amazing.
He had a change in life,
and it really appeared
that God was really working
through this guy.
Except there was a problem.
There was still a very deep
spiritual brokenness
that really never healed.
Now, he acknowledged
that deliverance happened
and it's probably something
that's out there,
but he can never accept,
A, that he needed deliverance
or that even Christians
needed deliverance.
He didn't think that
that was a thing.
And so, he just kind of
carried this spiritual brokenness
around him.
And so, finally,
he ended up marrying this woman.
And this wasn't really
the woman's fault, per se.
But what it ended up doing
is it ended up triggering
all that brokenness
that was in his spirit.
And what ended up happening
is after he got married
and things just kind of broke apart,
he kind of went right back
to where he was.
He went right back
to that time
when he was just
in complete utter brokenness.
And so,
while the behavior correction
worked for a time,
when things got tough,
he fell apart.
He could no longer behave.
So, he'd be in drinking heavily again.
He divorced his wife.
He ended up losing
his entire ministry.
It was quite sad.
And the worst part about it
is he lost all his friendships.
He completely isolated himself.
And it's sad
because he was such a great guy.
See, he came out of Egypt.
But Egypt was still in him.
You see that?
And Israel didn't fail
because they lacked miracles.
This,
they didn't lack miracles.
They failed because
they were still drawn to Egypt.
And in that same way
that minister didn't fail
because he didn't know Jesus.
He knew who Jesus was.
He failed
because he was still drawn
to that past sin.
Sinful patterns
just continue to come
from these deeper things
that don't get fixed.
You know,
because we aren't designed to sin.
If you look at Adam
and Eve in the garden,
we were designed
to be in fellowship
with God.
And so these patterns
come from our own
selfish desires.
They are generational patterns.
They are sometimes
patterns from our desires.
Sometimes they can be demonic.
We don't know.
But the reason sin is painful
is because it's unnatural.
It's not comfortable.
It's ugly.
And we don't like looking at it.
And this is why you see
people continually engaging
in unhealthy relationships,
for example.
Or unhealthy marriages.
They continue to go
to person to person
thinking the next one's better
but they never really
fix what's broken.
Or maybe you can see
why people just can't seem
to kick drug habits.
Or alcohol habits.
Or other destructive habits.
I mean,
let's be honest,
pornography is strong
because it makes you feel
a certain way
without the accountability
of another partner.
But in the end
leaves you empty.
So we gotta ask ourselves,
if Israel failed,
then what hope
do we have?
Well, that answer
is Jesus.
It's Jesus.
Because in Scripture,
oftentimes in Scripture,
we have this thing
called the type
and the anti-type.
The biblical scholars
use this all the time.
And so when we talk
about a type,
we're talking about
a pattern in the Old Testament
that points towards
something greater.
And that anti-type
is the fulfillment
of that pattern.
It's kind of like a shadow
in the real thing.
Like, I know we don't really
have a real stage,
but you see,
I have a shadow.
That is the type.
It's kind of an outline
of who I am,
but I am the substance.
Right?
And in this case,
Israel is the shadow
and Jesus is the real thing.
He's the reality.
And so,
here's how God steps in.
God comes in to fulfill.
And so after repeated attempts,
Israel just could not
stay faithful to Yahweh,
no matter what they did.
And so God sent Jesus
to retrace that same journey
as the Israelites.
Matthew 2.
See,
Jesus' journey
started in the same place
the Israelites began,
and that is Egypt.
See,
he was away from his homeland.
He was away from his family.
He was away from his culture.
And you notice
in that last sentence
in Hosea,
it says,
I called my son out of Egypt.
That alludes to that passage
in Matthew 2.
That was a prophecy.
It was a prophecy
for the anti-type
that was coming.
And like the Israelites,
Jesus left Egypt
and came back.
Verse 19,
After Herod died,
the angel of the Lord
appeared in a dream
to Joseph in Egypt,
saying,
Get up,
take the child
and his mother,
and go to the land of Israel.
For those who are seeking
the child's life
are dead.
So he got up
and took the child
and his mother
and returned
to the land of Israel.
And now,
Jesus' return home
began.
So let's take a look
at the two groups.
We have the Israelites.
Jesus now is going
through the waters.
See,
in Exodus 14,
right,
God brings Israel
out of Egypt,
passes through the Red Sea,
and at that moment,
it marks the deliverance
and identity
that Israel is God's people.
Then they enter
the wilderness.
Now let's compare that
to Jesus in Matthew 2.
He comes out of Egypt.
He is baptized
in the Jordan River
by John the Baptist,
and that starts
his public ministry.
And then he enters
the wilderness.
You guys see those parallels?
You see the type
and the anti-type.
These things two run together.
So let me pause here a moment.
Let me give you
a little bit of explanation.
Let's talk about the water.
Because the water
is very, very similar.
significant here, okay?
See, Israel,
here's their water.
They had the sea
that represented
deliverance from slavery.
Egypt is behind them,
and a new life has begun.
See, Jesus,
the waters meant
the identification
with humanity.
It started,
it initiated.
It marks the beginning
of his mission,
and it declares
that he is the son
of the father.
Both of these moments
are turning points.
Both of these,
the Israelites and Jesus
go through the water,
and both are
immediately led
into testing.
Now,
baptize
literally means
to be submerged
in water.
That's what the word,
the Greek word baptizo,
it means to be submerged
in water.
That's why we do
water baptism,
full submersion.
I mean,
sorry mom,
sprinkling water
doesn't work.
Full submersion,
baptizo.
Let me give you
another illustration.
I'm from Michigan.
We love ketchup.
We like to baptize
our fries in ketchup.
We burn through
a lot of Heinz ketchup
in our house,
and it's got to be Heinz.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He knows.
And Paul talks
about this.
He talks about
this baptism
of how
of the Israelites
and how it relates
in 1 Corinthians.
It says,
For I do not want you
to be unaware,
brothers and sisters,
that our fathers
were all under the cloud
and all passed
through the sea.
And all were baptized,
this is key,
into Moses
in the cloud
and in the sea.
See,
the Israelites
weren't baptized
in the sense
that they were
submerged so much,
but they were baptized
in spirit.
And what the apostle
Paul was alluding to
in 1 Corinthians
was it was kind of
like a baptism
because it was a renewal.
It was an outward expression
of their faithfulness
to Yahweh,
their faithfulness
to God.
And that's why
if you have never
been baptized,
I highly encourage
you to do it.
I know there's a few
people here
that have never
been baptized
and we're planning
on doing that
in the near future.
So this is why
baptism is so cool.
And so Israel
passed through
the Red Sea
and was identified
with Moses.
Jesus passed
through the water
and was revealed
as the sun.
And now we get
to pass through
the water
and we are now
identified with
Christ Jesus.
See, the old life,
the old sin,
the Egypt,
all of that is gone
and we have Christ
ahead when we come
out of that water.
Does that make sense?
Do you guys follow that?
Why that's so important?
Okay.
So let's move on
to the next section.
Now we have
the wilderness.
Now we have
the testing.
Now for those
of you who don't
know about
the geographical
area there,
when they see wilderness,
they're not talking
like frolicking
through a forest.
We're talking
like desert.
Like we're Sonorans
here.
We live in the
Sonora Desert.
Y'all been to Tonto.
That's our forest.
The cactus
are our trees.
Okay.
That's the kind
of stuff that Jesus
and the Israelites
were going through.
It was triple digits
like it is now
even though it's March
for crying out loud.
It was arid.
It was hot.
I don't need
to explain this to you.
We live in Arizona.
So it was
a miserable experience.
It was a miserable
experience.
And both Israel
and Jesus
entered that wilderness
to be tested.
But only one of them
comes out victorious.
Now you've got
to remember,
Israel,
they failed.
Here's where
they failed.
They failed
God's provision
by complaining
about food.
They failed
to trust God
was present
by being impatient.
They failed
to worship God
by making a golden calf.
Now Jesus,
on the other hand,
trusted God's provision
when he refused
to turn stones
into bread
when he was hungry.
Jesus refused
to test God
when the devil
tempted to throw
himself on the ground.
And Jesus refused
to bow down
to Satan
and remain faithful.
You see,
Jesus faced
the same test
as Israel.
But where Israel
failed,
Jesus obeyed.
And so let's talk
about that significance.
You see,
despite a rebellious nation,
despite a rebellious Israel,
God still loved them anyway.
And through those
imperfect,
hard-headed,
rebellious people,
they were the ones
that God chose
to be his nation
to save all humanity.
Humanity,
you can remember,
is God's most prized
possession.
He wants humanity
to be a part
of his family.
Let me give you
a quick example.
Imagine being
in a church environment
and it's just
not real great.
It's maybe kind of toxic,
but you love the church
so much
because you see
what it does
for the kingdom.
And so you stick it out
and you do everything
you can to make
this church work.
but then you realize
that the only thing
you can do
to save that church
is to sacrifice
something very sacred
to you.
Would you do it?
Well,
that's kind of how
Yahweh felt
about his people,
about his kingdom
and his church.
See,
we are hopeless,
messed up,
and rebellious.
Instead of giving up
on us,
even though history
clearly shows
that we can't handle it,
humanity doesn't want
anything with God,
but God still wants
something to do with us.
And he gave his son
to be a sacrifice.
Now, folks,
I don't have kids.
I don't have children,
but if I were to have
a child,
and it was my only child,
that child would be
incredibly precious
because it was my only child.
And I'll be honest,
I don't know if I could
give up something
that was so precious,
but God did.
You see where Israel
grumbled?
Jesus trusted.
Where Israel doubted,
Jesus delivered.
Where Israel worshipped idols,
God,
Jesus worshipped
his Father in heaven.
So I'm going to close
with this.
Have you ever told,
everyone ever,
have you ever told someone
about Jesus?
And you said,
hey, you need Jesus,
and they ask you,
why?
Why do I need Jesus?
And you didn't really know
what to say after that
because it kind of
took you off guard.
This is a real thing.
Yeah.
Well, here's the answer.
You can be free of Egypt
and still have Egypt
in your heart.
You can leave sin
and still carry it
inside of you.
And that's why behavior change
isn't enough.
We don't just need
to come out of Egypt.
We need a new heart.
Because that moment
when you get squeezed,
when things get tight,
the things in your heart
come out.
for as he thinks
in his heart,
so is he.
So our only,
our only solution
is to the only person
who left Egypt
and never went back.
See, Jesus left Egypt
and became that perfect sacrifice.
He was that perfect covenant.
He knows what it's like
to be tempted.
He knows what it's like
to be tempted.
He knows what it's like
to be human.
He knows what it's like
to feel pain.
He knows what it's like
to feel suffering.
And because of this,
Jesus became the only way
we can have a relationship
with God
and be a part of
Yahweh's family again
and bring back
in relationship.
And that's why Jesus came.
Not just to bring us
out of Egypt,
but to make us new.
Amen?
Well, dear Heavenly Father,
God, we just thank you
for your sacrifice.
We thank you
for your almighty plan
that you had a plan
to take us out
of that place of sin
and to renew our hearts
and to make us new
and that we are as far
as the east is from the west.
And Lord,
for all those
who are sitting here
and thinking,
man, man,
I've been really screwing up
things.
I have not been,
I've been just trying
to control my behavior,
but I cannot seem
to control my sin.
Lord, for all of us
who are just struggling
with that,
we just ask
for a mighty anointing.
We ask for a deliverance.
We ask for a healing
in that deep spiritual
brokenness in our heart.
That there is nothing
Lord that you can't repair.
There is absolutely nothing
that you can't fix.
Because you have fixed
everything,
you have laid yourself
down for everything.
And we,
and we get to receive
a gift that we don't deserve,
that,
that we don't,
we should never have.
But God,
you love us
despite our rebellion.
You love us
despite our sin.
And you love us
despite our imperfection.
Because you see us
through your eyes.
And Lord,
we are so thankful
for that.
And Lord,
I just pray
for everyone here.
May they leave today
blessed,
may they leave today
anointed,
and may they leave today
having one of the best
weeks of their lives.
Shouting your name
and praising your name
out every day,
every moment.
And God,
for those who are hurting,
for those who feel like
there is no way out,
be with them,
comfort them,
show them how far away
from Egypt they are,
and let them know,
Lord,
that you
are the almighty God.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
