Preached June 14, 1998 at Faith Baptist Church
By Pastor Steven Mays
OUR FIVE-FOLD DELIVERANCE
DEUT. 26:6-11
6 And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:
7 And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:
8 And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:
9 And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.
10 And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God:
11 And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you.
IN VERSE 6 WE SEE THE EFFECTS OF SIN. IT IS EVIL, IT AFFLICTS, AND IT PUT US INTO BONDAGE.
FRIEND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THE WORLD, THE FLESH, AND THE DEVIL HAVE TO OFFER YOU TODAY. AND WHEN THEY ARE DONE DOING EVIL TO YOU THEY WILL AFFLICT YOU, AND WHEN THEY'VE GOT YOU THEY DON'T WANT TO LET GO OF YOU, THE WORLD MAKES SLAVES OF FOLKS..
IN VERSES 9 - 11 WE SEE THE EFFECTS NOT OF SIN, BUT OF A SEPERATED SOLD OUT LIFE. CROSSING THE JORDAN AND INHERITING THE PROMISED LAND WAS A TYPE OF THE SPIRIT FILLED DEDICATED LIFE. MAY I SAY THESE BLESSINGS COULD HAVE BEEN INHERITED 40 DAYS OR SO AFTER THEY LEFT EGYPT, BUT INSTEAD THEY LOOKED OUT THROUGH THE EYES OF FLESH INSTEAD OF THE EYES OF FAITH AND AS A RESULT THEY WONDERED (FOR THE MOST PART) FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES. JUST AS SO MANY DO IN THEIR LIVES.
NOW LET'S NOTICE WHAT TAKES PLACE IN THE MIDDLE, IN VERSES 7 & 8. IN SCRIPTURE WE WILL FIND THAT LEAVING EGYPT WAS A TYPE OF SALVATION. THE WORD SAYS GOD BROUGHT THEM FORTH. THIS MORNING I SEE I A FIVE FOLD DELIVERANCE. ONE THAT EVERY MAN IN EGYPT NEEDED, BUT ONE THAT, WITHOUT THE HELP OF GOD, NONE COULD GET BY HIMSELF. EVERY MAN NOT ONLY NEEDED IT BUT HE GOT IT IF HE GOT OUT.
PRAISE GOD, THIS MORNING IF WE'LL ALLOW GOD TO SPEAK TO US WE CAN SEE OUR SALVATION BETTER THAN EVER. WE CAN SEE OUR GOD AT WORK LIKE NEVER BEFORE… WHAT A BLESSING.
LET'S NOTICE WHAT IT TOOK TO GET ISRAEL OUT OF EGYPT.. WE'LL FIND THAT IT'S THE SAME THING THAT IT TAKES TO GET US OUT OF THE CLUTCHES OF SIN AND SELF.
I.)IT TOOK THE MIGHTY HAND OF GOD
SALVATION IS SPIRITUAL
8 And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand
NO ONE GOT OUT OF EGYPT BY HIMSELF... EVERY MAN FROM MOSES TO THE SMALLEST FIRSTBORN MALE WHO WAS DELIVERED FROM THE DEATH ANGEL NEED DELIVERANCE EQUALLY. IT TOOK THE MIGHTY HAND OF GOD IN EVERY CASE. NO ONE BUT GOD ALMIGHTY COULD HAVE PERFORMED THE WORK THAT GOD PERFORMED GOING BACK AS FAR AS JOSEPH SETTING ISRAEL UP IN EGYPT, HAVING THEM TO GROW UP AS A NATION WHILE ON FOREIGN SOIL. GOD WAS MIGHTILY AT WORK THE WHOLE TIME. DELIVERY ISRAEL. THEN WHEN THE PEOPLE GREW TIRED OF THE BONDAGE AND AFFLICTION GOD REACHED DOWN AND WITH HIS mighty hand DELIVERED HIS PEOPLE!
WE GET IN A PLACE SOMETIMES WHERE WE FORGET WHERE GOD FOUND US AND WHAT IT TOOK TO PULL US OUT OF THE MESS WE WERE IN.
Ps 40:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
SOMEBODY MAY SAY, "BUT BROTHER MAYS I WAS SAVED AT AGE 4 OR 5 AND WASN'T IN SIN." DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT THE MIGHTY HAND OF GOD THAT TOOK A SPIRITUALLY DEAD SINNER AND RAISED HIM FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE. NO CPR PHYSICALLY CAN TOUGH THE HAND OF GOD IN RAISING YOU UP.
Eph 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
DEAD PEOPLE ARE HELPLESS PEOPLE, IT TAKES THE MIGHTY HAND OF GOD TO DELIVER A PERSON IN THAT CONDITION.
I'M NOT A FATALIST…. MAN HAD A PART IN THIS… IF YOU DOUBT THAT READ VERSE SEVEN. MAN HAD TO USE HIS WILL. HE CRIED OUT IN VERSE SEVEN…. BUT THE SALVATION THAT ISRAEL GOT AND THAT WE NEED IS OF THE LORD..
Jonah 2:9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
II.) IT TOOK THE OUTSTRETCHED ARM OF GOD
SALVATION IS CARRIED OUT IN THE LORD'S STRENGTH
8 And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm,
I KNOW THAT WE READ IN VERSE SEVEN THEY CRIED OUT TO GOD, BUT WHY DID THEY CRY OUT TO GOD? I WANT TO SUBMIT THIS MORNING IT WAS BECAUSE HE HAD HIS ARM STRETCHED OUT TO HELP. IN THEIR STRENTH THEY GOT IN MORE AND MORE TROUBLE, IN THEIR STRENGTH THEY SUNK DEEPER AND DEEPER.
A DROWNING MAN WILL FLAIL AWAY UNTIL HE SEES SOMETHING TO GRAB HOLD OF… SO IT WAS WITH ISRAEL, AND SO IT IS WITH MANKIND… WE'LL FLAIL AWAY AT ALL SORTS OF THINGS, THEN SOMEHOW BY THE GRACE OF GOD, WE'LL SEE THE OUTSTRETCHED ARM OF GOD…. REACHING OUT TO PULL US UP. THANK GOD THAT HE'S GOT STRENGTH ENOUGH TO PULL US UP OUT OF OUR MESS!
AREN'T YOU GLAD THAT GOD HAS STUCK HIS ARM TO YOU, EVEN BEFORE YOU WHILE YOU WERE FLAILING AWAY…
Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
1Jo 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.
JOHN IS THE EARTHLY AUTHOR OF THESE SCRIPTURES. AMAZINGLY THE ONE WHO LOVED THE LORD AND STUCK BY HIM CLOSEST, PROBABLY HAD THE GREATEST UNDERSTANDING OF HOW HE GOT TO GOD IN THE FIRST PLACE.
FRIEND THINK TODAY ABOUT HOW GOD STRETCHED OUT HIS ARM TO US? IT WAS FREELY STUCK OUT… IT COST'S US NOTHING.. IT COST HIM EVERYTHING… AS BELIEVERS ARE WE STICKING OUR ARM OUT WITH THE GOSPEL TO OTHERES AROUND US?
Mt 10:8....: freely ye have received, freely give. YET WE'VE FORGOTTEN THIS. WE'VE FORGOTTEN WHO REACHED OUT FOR WHO… WHO'SE ARM PULLED US UP OUT OF THE HORRIBLE PIT.
III.) IT TOOK GREAT TERRIBLENESS
SALVATION INVOLVED GREAT SUFFERING
8 And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness.........
IN ORDER TO GET ISRAEL OUT OF EGYPT GOD HAD TO DO SOME THINGS, IN ESSENCE GOD HAD TO MAKE WAR ON EGYPT, IN ORDER TO DELIVER ISRAEL. HE WAS NOT CRUEL ABOUT THIS, AT ANYTIME EGYPT COULD HAVE CONSENTED AND LET ISRAEL GO... BUT LIKE THE OLD DEVIL EGYPT HUNG ON....
De 4:34 Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
1. FIRST THERE WAS THE BLOOD
2. FROGS
3. LICE
4. FLIES
5. DISEASES ON BEASTS
6. BOILS ON MAN AND BEAST
7. HAIL
8. LOCUSTS
9. DARKNESS
10. DEATH ANGEL
BUT NOTICE ISRAEL OBEYED GOD AND MADE A BLOOD SACRIFICE CALLED THE PASSOVER AND WHEN THE DEATH ANGEL CAME THEIR WAS DELIVERANCE INSTEAD OF DEATH!
REDEEMING ISRAEL FROM EGYPT TOOK A GREAT DEAL OF TERRIBLENESS, A GREAT DEAL OF SUFFERING… SO IT WAS WITH OUR SAVIOR, WHO BECAME THE OBJECT OF THE WRATH OF GOD, AND THROUGH GREAT TERRIBLENESS HE SUFFERED AND DIED FOR OUR SIN DEBT.
Isaiah 52:14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
Isaiah 53:4 ¶ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
IV.) IT TOOK SIGNS
SIGNS INVOLVED WITH SALVATION
8 And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:
IN OUR TEXT I BELIEVE THIS NO DOUT REFERS BACKS TO 10 PLAGUES AGAIN. UNBELIEVABLY TO ME WE NEVER READ OF A MASSIVE TURNING TO GOD IN THE MIDST OF THIS.....
THE LORD'S MINISTRY WAS CONFIRMED BY SIGNS AND WONDERS.. NICODEMUS SAID, "YOU MUST BE SENT FROM GOD, HOW ELSE CAN YOU DO THESE MIRACLES... "
BUT THE TRUTH IS IF A MAN WON'T HEAR THE WORD OF GOD A SIGN WON'T SAVE HIM...
Lu 16:30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
Lu 16:31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
EVEN THOUGH WE'VE BEEN GIVEN SIGNS
Mt 12:39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
Mt 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.
Mt 12:41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
IF A MAN REJECTS THAT SIGN HE'LL GO TO HELL!
V.) IT TOOK WONDERS
SALVATION ENVOLVES THE SUPERNATURAL
8 And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:
THEY LEFT EGYPT THROUGH A PARTED SEA.... RANK THAT IN ALL THE WONDERS OF THE WORLD...
1. Mt 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
2. Mt 27:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
3. Mt 27:52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
THE RESURECTION FROM THE DEAD IS A WONDER NO OTHER RELIGION CLAIMS.. ALL THE SIGNS SURROUNDING THE DEATH OF CHRIST WERE SO REAL THE UNBEILIEVING ROMAN SAID, SURELY THIS WAS THE SON OF GOD! BUT…..
DID THEY REPENT AT THESE WONDERS?
HAVE YOU?
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