Jesus in John 8:31-36 (NASB)
31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
Israel in Egypt. Christians Today
Anyone can become a slave, even if present circumstances are good. [Exodus 1:8-14]
Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land.” So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel. The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously; and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed on them.
You can accept your condition of slavery or humbly cry out to God who sees and knows everything [Exodus 3:7]
The LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.
Moses – Servant Leader of God
Condemned to die [Exodus 1:22]
Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.”
Cared for by God [Exodus 2:1-10]
Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.
The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, with her maidens walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid, and she brought it to her. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you?” Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go ahead.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
Called by God [Exodus 3:10-12]
Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.”
Confronted by God [Exodus 4:10-14, Exodus 4:24-26]
Exodus 4:10-14
Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.” But he said, “Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will.” Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.
Exodus 4:24-26
Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and threw it at Moses’ feet, and she said, “You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me.” So He let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood”—because of the circumcision.
Pharaoh in Egypt. Unbelievers Today.
Stubborn despite God showing His power through signs and wonders.
- Nile water turns to blood [Exodus 7:14-24]
- Swarms of frogs overrun the land [Exodus 8:1-7]
- Lice infest all men and beasts [Exodus 8:16-19]
- Swarm of flies [Exodus 8:20-24]
- Pestilence kills the domestic animals [Exodus 9:1-7]
- Painful boils afflict the Egyptians [Exodus 9:8-12]
- Fire and ice combine to descend from the skies as a devastating hail [Exodus 9:18-27]
- Swarm of locusts devours all the crops and greenery [Exodus 10:12-20]
- Darkness envelops the land [Exodus 10:21-27]
- Firstborn of Egypt are killed [Exodus 11, 12:1-32]
God
Delivers [Exodus 12:33-51]
- God can deliver you from slavery if you trust Him and wait on Him.
- Egyptians didn’t send them away empty handed – God brings about favour even in bad situations [Exodus 12:36]
Leads [Exodus 13:17-22]
- God will lead you the right way if you let Him.
Defends [Exodus 14:1-30]
- Don’t think that the enemy will sit back and let you live a life of peace and joy
Provides [Exodus 16, 17]
- God will look after our needs (food, water, clothes, health)
Disciplines [Exodus 32]
- God will deal with us as He sees fit when we’re disobedient or ungodly.
What about you?
Are you longing for your past life? [Exodus 14:12, 16:3]
Exodus 14:12
Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
Exodus 16:3
The sons of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
When life gets hard, don’t wish for what you had when you were a slave!
Are you worshipping idols? [Exodus 32,33,34]
- Israelites built a golden calf because they were impatient!
- Aaron (a leader) wasn’t strong enough to stop them!
- What idols are you building as you become impatient with God?
Are you faithful, trusting and obedient?
- Numbers 13:31-33 (Most of the spies are afraid, lacking in faith and trust in God to believe His promises)
- Numbers 14:1-2 (Wishing for death as opposed to willing to trust in God to help them overcome challenges)
- Numbers 14:6-9 (Joshua and Caleb steadfastly believed God would come through)
- Numbers 14:11-20 (God wanted to destroy those who grumbled against Him but Moses interceded for them. When God should deal with you harshly because of your lack of faith, servant leaders stand in the gap and pray for you)
- Numbers 14:22-24 (God said those who didn’t trust Him and continued to doubt Him will miss out on the good things He had in store for them)
Numbers 14:28-37 (Caution for all Christians who grumble/complain against those appointed by God)
28 Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; 29 your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. 30 Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey—I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. 33 Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness. 34 According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition. 35 I, the Lord, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die.’” 36 As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land, 37 even those men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a plague before the Lord.
Numbers 20:8-12 (Caution for leaders – Moses disobeys out of frustration)
8 “Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.” 9 So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, just as He had commanded him; 10 and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. 12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
Jesus
Died for you so that you can be free from sin (John 3:16-17)
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
Challenges you to not worry but trust the Father to meet all your needs (Matthew 6:25-34)
Matthew 6:32-33
32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Calls you to spread the Gospel and promises to be with you till the end (Matthew 28:19-20)
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Declares that you/we/I NEED Him (John 15:5)
5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Warns us what happens to those who reject Him (John 3:18)
18 He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Closing
Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Do you want to stay a slave to sin or become a slave to righteousness by placing your trust and faith in Jesus Christ?
If you would like to know more about Jesus and what you need to say yes to Him, please get in touch with me.
God bless you!
Thank Sri 🙂