Law & Grace - 10 Strikes & you're out - Part I (Release from Bondage)

Good morning. We're introducing something a little different, and so you'll have to make some adjustments. One of the things we're going to start off by telling you is you need to know about Jewish baseball. The big book of Jewish baseball is the rule book of Jewish baseball from the big inning. And in this Jewish baseball game, While you may think, oh, it's just Jews playing baseball, there are some things you need to understand. There are some different rules for Jewish baseball, different from what you may be accustomed to, especially if you're playing against the Egyptians.

OK? And so there are some things you need to keep in mind. These different rules are certainly something that need to be observed. First of all, it's 10 strikes and you're out. It's a different set of rules there. That's a part of it. The other thing is, of course, you've heard about fly balls. Well, one of the things you have to understand is that in Jewish baseball, flies mean something completely different.

Okay? Anyway, so a very different sort of game than what you might initially think is the case. And also, of course, there's continual looking to Moses for guidance, even getting in a particular situation where the Jewish baseball players are a little you know, puzzled as to what to do next. There's the question that enters their mind, what would Moses do? Right?

So, at any rate, now I have to tell you that in the midst of all this I'm getting quite ahead of myself. So, I need to backtrack a little bit and get back on course and we'll get back to this. Okay. We had the initial passage that was portrayed for you by Moses, and you'll see Moses again up here as we continue to study these things in the months to come. Right now, I'd like you to take a look at your handout. This is the first slide we'll be taking a look at here. And this is just to get sort of a time frame.

We have a timeline, and in round numbers, Abraham lived around the time 2000 BC. So that's to kind of give you a frame of reference there in time. Moses lived around the time 1500, although this event that we're looking at this morning took place after that time, probably around 1446 BC. Next comes David, who lived around 1000 BC. So these are nice round numbers that might be a little easier to stick in your head. And around the year 400 BC is about the time the Old Testament was completed. Finally, in the first century is the time of Christ, particularly the first half of the first century. And so that gives you some kind of frame of reference historically for some key biblical events. Moses, of course, is our focus here this morning. And so we'll move on to there.

Now, in order that we not just jump completely out of context, you're aware, of course, that The Jews, after the time of Joseph, spent about four centuries as slaves, during which time the Israelites, as a people, grew in number, even though they were making bricks for Pharaoh. By the way, the Jews did not build the pyramids. Those were already there when the Jews were making bricks. They made bricks out of straw and mud and put Pharaoh's stamp in it, like you see in this picture.

Moses, as the account and early part of Exodus goes, was taken from the river by one of the daughters, essentially, of Pharaoh and her maidens. And Moses, at about age 40, struck and killed an Egyptian, which caused him to have to go into exile. So Moses, you can think of his life this way.

40, 40, 40. First 40, he is an Egyptian prince, basically. The next 40, he is out in the desert as a shepherd. And then the last 40. The last 40 years of his life were spent carrying out what the Lord began as an assignment, as portrayed in the passage we just looked at and will be looking at this morning. So that brings us up to speed here with what's going on.

So here is Moses in the account of the burning bush. So how would you like a career change? That comes forth here in Exodus 3, 1-10. Moses doesn't know it, but the end of his shepherding sheep career That's the middle 40 of the 40 years, is about to end. And he's about to get a new assignment from the Lord, shepherding the Israelites out of the land of Egypt. And by the way, he's about to find that that's a much tougher assignment.

Right? So the angel of the Lord appears to Moses as a burning bush that never burns up. Very interesting. Here's a slide. It's not in your handout, but it is on the screen. We also, however, have a note at the top of your second slide. This is from the 25th lesson in our Genesis series, chapter 16, 1 through 16. You can look it up either online, this slide is available, or you can get handouts from the file from Nancy or Sue or Sue Ellen. So anyway.

You can get the details there if you'd like. Nonetheless, the angel of the Lord speaks as God, doing things that God does, and we're going to see that this morning as after this mention of the angel of the Lord, the rest of the time the passage speaks as if it's directly from God himself. Furthermore, As in this account with Moses, many who see the angel of the Lord say that God has spoken, and I would add to that, say in some cases that they've actually seen God. And thirdly, since the appearances of the angel of the Lord end at Christ's birth, we take the angel of the Lord to be the pre-incarnate, that is, before Christ was born, Son of God. There are other evidences for it as well, and we'll make reference to that shortly here.

So, this burning bush that doesn't burn up gets Moses' attention, draws him toward the burning bush for a closer look, but only so close. God calls, that tells Moses, keep your distance. So, God calls Moses by calling him twice. Now, interestingly enough, he says, Moses! Moses! You know, Abraham heard the same thing. Abraham! Abraham! And Jacob heard the same thing. Jacob! Jacob! And interestingly, Saul in chapter 9 of Acts, same thing. Saul, Saul.

Kids learn that if their full name is announced, that they'd better pay attention. They're probably in trouble. The Israelites learned that if God calls your name twice, same thing. Something is about to change really big. So that's the lesson that they learned. And so when he heard, not just Moses, but Moses, Moses, that got his attention. So he says, here I am.

And by the way, that's the same way that the others responded in the Old Testament as well, whenever the Lord called their name twice. God tells Moses, do not come near here. Moses, the lawgiver, or soon to be the lawgiver, was not allowed to come nearer to God. Or at least there was a warning, don't do it. He didn't try to see what would happen if he did. Moses is then told to remove his sandals as he is on holy ground.

God said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Very interesting that in this passage the Lord is very explicit about being the God of each individual one. I think that's something for us to take note of. Sometimes it's possible for us Christians to think, well the Lord just kind of pays attention to everybody but not to me. No. The Lord pays individual attention to us as well as all of us. And the Lord doesn't pay attention to some and not to others.

In Exodus 3.5, the warning here, do not come near here. That's far enough, Moses. Don't get closer.

Interesting, we can compare that to Hebrews. Hebrews, of course, was written to Jews who had come to believe in Christ as their Savior. And repeatedly in the book of Hebrews, we only have space enough to quote to a few of them, but repeatedly in the book of Hebrews, The repeated statement of draw near. Draw near. The invitation.

It goes this way in Hebrews 4.16. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. Isn't that interesting? Compare that to do not come near here. So that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 7.19, for the law made nothing perfect. Interesting context on the law. And on the other hand, there is a bringing in of a better hope through which we draw, what? Near to God.

And Hebrews 7.25, therefore he is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Hebrews 10.1 and 10.22 have a similar draw near, draw near. Isn't that interesting? The repeated message to these who were descendants of these same Israelites to whom Moses spoke.

In Exodus 3.6, he said also, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. I am in the Greek version of the Old Testament and in the New Testament is literally I, I am. It's a special form of I am. It's not the usual form. And that's what's used here in the Greek translation of this passage. It shows up again after the passage we were reading this morning. In Exodus 3, 14 through 16, God said to Moses, after Moses says, who will I say has sent me? God says to Moses, I am who I am. Or some translations, I am that I am. And he said, thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am has sent me to you.

And he goes on there through the rest of that passage. The I Am in the Greek Old and New Testaments is that special form, I I Am. So what do we find when we get into the New Testament? Very interestingly, the Gospel of John has a pattern of statements that have the exact same form of I Am, a very special form. I am in these passages and in the Greek Old Testament and what we've seen in Exodus chapter 3, 16 and 6 and 14 rather, is a claim to deity.

Jesus says in John 6.35, you have this also in your handout, I am the bread of life.

He doesn't just say I am the bread of life, he starts it off with a statement of I am, I being in fact God, am the bread of life. I, being in fact God, am the light of the world. That's what he means by this. It's not simply an I am statement. It is a claim to deity. I am the gate. I, being in fact God, am the gate. I, being in fact God, am the good shepherd. Look up Psalm 23. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the true vine Jesus repeatedly Made a statement that he was deity.

Let's take a look at one more John 8 58 Jesus claimed a deity and John 8 58 says this Jesus said to them truly I say to you before Abraham was born Now he could have said before Abraham was born. I existed. He didn't do that. What did he do? He said before Abraham was born. I I am. I make a claim to deity. I am. I dwell in the eternal present. I am, in fact, God. You could put it this way. Before Abraham was born, Jesus said, I, being, in fact, God, dwell in the eternal present. See that? This is not in your handout, but you might make note of it in John 18, 4 through 8. Jesus three times in that passage makes the exact same claim using the exact same Greek words. Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane with 11 of his disciples.

Judas is actually there too, but only to betray Christ. It reads like this, So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon him, went forth and said to them, Whom do you seek? That is the ones who are there to arrest Jesus. And they answered him, Jesus the Nazarene. He said to them, he simply said the exact same Greek words that God said to Moses here in the Greek version of the Old Testament, I am he. Not just I am he, but I, I am, to claim the deity. You're looking for Jesus of Nazareth?

I, being in fact God, am he. And Judas also, who was betraying him, was standing with them. So when he said to them, I, being in fact God, am he, they drew back and fell to the ground. I would submit to you that they didn't fall to the ground because he had garlic for dinner. They fell back because he, being in fact God, made a claim to deity that blew them away. They drew back and fell to the ground. Therefore he again asked them, Whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus, the Nazarene." Well, it's almost like they memorized it, right? Jesus answered, I told you that I, being in fact God, am He. Same words, three times.

So there we have in Exodus 3.6, Moses, soon to be the lawgiver, did this it says then Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God in 2nd Corinthians we have this perspective on grace in 3.18 and 4.6 but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord beholding ongoing not just glancing and going oh and hiding face, continuing to behold, continuing to look on Him, the glory of the Lord, like you would see in a burning bush. For God, who said, light shall shine out of darkness, is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of knowledge of the glory of God, where? In the face of Christ, where you're looking, where you're beholding.

In Hebrews 12.2 again, here's this Hebrews passage.

Interesting. Fixing our eyes on Jesus. Not just glancing and going, oh no! Fixing our eyes on Him. Amazing contrast under grace. Moses, the lawgiver, is afraid to look. God says, don't come near. But under grace, we continue to behold Him. Under grace, come near. under grace, fixing our eyes on the very person that made Moses turn away. That's the difference between law and grace.

In the last four verses, a very interesting thing happens. In Exodus 3, 7-10, An interesting pattern. In verses 7 and 9, the Lord speaks of His awareness of what the Israelites are going through. In verses 8 and 10, the Lord speaks of what He is going to do about it. So an interesting alternating pattern there. Seven and nine, what the problem is, I'm aware of it. I know what's happening. Eight and ten, here's what I'm going to do about it.

What had been going on with the Israelites went on for four centuries. Have you ever had an experience in your life where you were thinking, when is the Lord going to do something about this? Ever had that? When's God going to do something about this? I've been asking about it. The Lord is certainly aware of this. When is God going to do something? Well, the Lord waited four centuries. So be patient. Okay.

The Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite, and the Hivite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, and the Mosquitobites. And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me. Furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.

Therefore, come now, and..." Uh-oh, look at this. Catch this. "...I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt." Hey, all the rest of this is cool, but what did you just say? Yeah, yeah, you. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You don't understand. I'm shy. I don't speak all that well. No. Guess what?

One of the things that comes out under the law is the inadequacy. Moses says, I'm inadequate. We came in and we saw in second Corinthians, the Lord says, guess what? It's God's doing that makes you adequate under grace. It's God's doing that makes you adequate under grace.

So the story goes on and we won't drop it. We will in fact continue on next week. Moses and his brother Aaron would appear before their own people and before Pharaoh's court. And in fact, Moses continues to come before the people. And Moses even carries out miracles, as we'll soon see when we look at it next week. The Lord comes about with 10 plagues.

We have first the waters turned to blood. We have an invasion of frogs. We have an invasion of lice. That's not even the local junior high. We have an invasion of flies. And that's the Jewish baseball rules, right? Disease cattle, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and death of the firstborn, except for those households that have the mark of the blood over the doorposts, as we'll see next week. You have this slide on your handout on page two. It's a listing of each of the plagues, the 10 plagues. This is the 10 strikes and you're out. We have each of the 10 plagues.

What's interesting is we have a listing here, the Egyptian god that is primarily addressed. In fact, there are several, but this is the primary one that is addressed by each of the plagues. Each of the plagues insults directly an Egyptian god. The Egyptians had about 700 gods. And this is not something that we're making up.

Exodus 12.12 and Numbers 33.4 listed at the top of that slide are the passages that say specifically and directly that each of the ten plagues was against the Egyptian gods. So this isn't just guessing, it is deliberately and explicitly so.

What we finally see is the death of the firstborn is against all the gods. You see, the Egyptians placed all their hope on their firstborn. That firstborn was given special privilege and special authority. And what the Lord did is He took them all away. This was the hope. This was the future of Egypt in the firstborn. These were the ones who had honor and privilege and status. And even were given family, and in the case of Pharaoh, national wealth, empire wealth.

And the Lord would take them all away. As we'll see when we get to it next week, there was then the marking of the blood over the doorways. There was the celebration of the institution of the Passover, the first of the many Passovers to follow that observant Jewish families will carry on even today. And then there is the Exodus, and we'll go through that in a little bit more detail next week.

But one of the things I'd like to have us observe, Moses, later to be the lawgiver, was told not to come near. Keep your distance, Moses, the lawgiver. Keep away. Don't come close. Do not draw near. don't come close. But the book of Hebrews repeatedly urged the Jewish believers to draw near to God. About five times. Draw near. Draw near. Draw near. Oh, and by the way, draw near and draw near. Draw near to God.

So did Moses just have it all wrong? Did he hear God wrongly? I would say not. Or is God just not as uptight as he used to be? In the past, God was uptight. Now that Jesus died, he's just not as uptight, right? God's kind of mellowed over the ages, right? Is that what it's all about? No. We live in a time of grace as the reigning principle.

The difference is grace, not just God getting old and mellow, not just God kind of being a kind old grandpa that said boys will be boys and girls will be girls. Be afraid of God or confidently approach. Moses was clearly afraid of God, even though Moses kept his distance. He still was, I'm not sure I want to look at this, I'm afraid, I'm not sure what this is going to mean. The message of the New Testament is to approach God boldly and confidently. to boldly go before him. Isn't that amazing? Come right on in.

During, oh boy, this was a few years back, about the time Nancy and I, before we were married and right thereafter, both of us worked at an electronics plant assembling electronic instruments. And so, I mean, it gets a little tiring because you're sitting there bending resistors and poking them in circuit boards and soldering all day.

But that place happened to be a place where my dad was the general manager and president of the company. And there were several different divisions of it. And during that time, I can recall one instance when My dad walked into the assembly room where Nancy and I were at, and I said, Hi, Dad! And one of my supervisors came running up to me and said, Don't do that, that's the president. I said, Yeah, I know, but he's my dad. We have that kind of privilege.

Go ahead. Come with confidence into the Lord's presence. You don't need to cower. You don't need to wonder, Lord, do you accept me? I don't know. No. Come with confidence, boldly, into his presence. Is it possible we just don't understand how infinitely holy and omnipotent God is? Well, I suppose it's possible, but that's not the invitation. We approach with confidence. Why? We are in Christ.

When God looks upon us, He sees us in Christ. Not who we were, but who we are in Christ, who we are in Him. Do we hide our face, or do we openly and continually behold Him? Do we hide our face, or do we constantly look at His? Exodus 3, 6, that's where Moses hid his face from God. The Bible says it pretty clearly, he was just afraid. Just afraid. But in the New Testament, we find an appeal to always be beholding constantly.

And by beholding, what do we mean? I'm going to use a little bit of modern vernacular. To behold means to stop and take a mental picture. Ever had things happen in your life where maybe time has gone by and you still remember it as if it was the very day today? Ever have that? And it might be a picture. It might even be like a movie in your mind. Things that you remember quite well. And the Lord says, make it like that. Behold Him.

Continue. to look upon Him, not as an incidental, but as central, something to be remembered, in fact, for all eternity. Before grace, looking to the Lord was something fearful, possibly even dangerous. As we'll see later on in this account, the Israelites are warned, do not come to the base of the mountain, don't even get close, because anyone who gets close to the mountain and actually touches it, will die. The invitation in here, danger is not even hinted at.

Under grace, beholding Him has present and eternal benefits. I say it is His will that is exactly what God has in mind, that you behold the Lord. That's what God intends, that we behold Him, that we look to Him. Hide your faith? No. Look upon His face and keep doing so.

Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this, we have looked at comparison. We've looked at contrast. We've looked here at the passage here with Moses in the burning bush. And we've seen Moses afraid. We've seen warnings to keep away. We've seen Moses keeping his distance and hiding his face, and yet in great contrast we see under grace the invitation to look upon him, to behold him, to come to him, to draw near confidently and boldly into his presence. We thank you for that marvelous privilege we have to come running up to you, Abba, Papa, as our Heavenly Father. We thank you for that marvelous privilege that you've accomplished for us through Christ, carried out by means of the Holy Spirit. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.