Deliverance Delayed

A master storyteller.

Am I on?

Can you hear me?

Yes?

No?

A master storyteller always delights us and surprises us.

It is no surprise if you've been coming here for a while that I'm a J.R.R. Tolkien fan.

And one of the things that I love about the Lord of the Rings is the richness of the story that he tells.

And how a path of victory and deliverance takes unexpected twists and turns that are unforeseen by those taking the journey in the story.

And so the fellowship breaks and is scattered and you wonder what will happen.

Or Faramir shows up in the middle of the wasteland looking at first like an enemy but instead becoming an essential help and aid along the way of Frodo's journey.

And so on and so forth.

Unexpected twists and turns fill the best of stories.

But when it comes to our lives we aren't so thrilled about the twists and turns that come to us do we?

We don't necessarily like them.

They're hard.

They're inconvenient.

They challenge us.

And they leave us confused and uncertain.

Particularly if we come to it from a perspective as we gather here this morning that we live under a God who is the master storyteller of our lives.

He is in fact not just the storyteller but the story maker of our lives who leads us in a story of his own making.

And he is overseeing those twists and turns.

And so when we struggle with the challenges of our lives we struggle in fact with God himself.

We struggle with who he is.

You see maybe you're like me.

You think if God is good and God is sovereign God's plan should be pretty straightforward.

How can my life go from good to better to best.

The straightest line possible without any trials.

Doesn't that sound like a great thing?

We want our lives easy.

We want the challenges to be predictable and the outcomes certain.

But it doesn't look like that often does it?

Not in our lives and certainly not in the Bible storyline.

We're continuing our series in the book of Exodus.

If you want to turn with me there we'll be looking at Exodus 2.

It's page 45 in the Pew Bible.

And as you turn there let me remind you of where we've been.

Exodus is the second book of the Bible and it picks up the narrative of the descendants of Abraham 400 years after Abraham had moved down to Egypt.

Which at that point was an amazing act of provision by God to save and deliver his people.

But 400 years later that provision has become a yoke of slavery.

After 400 years that great provision now looks like a prison.

And a terrible place to be.

Some of the promises of God have been fulfilled.

Surely this one man and him as good as dead now has children and grandchildren.

In fact he has descendants that now number hundreds of thousands.

In 400 years he's multiplied into a nation such that it creates a threat to the nation of Egypt.

The leaders are afraid of the political instability that they would bring.

And so they are enslaved and oppressed.

They are the victims of a genocidal plot.

If you didn't listen to Pastor Greg's sermon last week go back and listen to it.

Think about what it has to say to us today.

But then as we saw in the story of oppression and as the people cried out to God.

Beginning of chapter 2 there's this story of a baby.

A baby who is delivered from that genocidal act.

A baby who is delivered miraculously and unexpectedly.

And so we have a little hope.

A hope that even though we haven't seen God act obviously.

God has only been barely mentioned in the story so far.

We have a hope as a reader reading this story that suddenly.

Okay now there's this baby.

Now this is going to go somewhere.

It sets us up for a great deliverance that's at hand.

Before we go on let me just ask.

When you are facing times when you are longing for deliverance.

What goes through your mind?

When you have been enduring some trial that's been going on longer than you think it should.

How easy it is for us to imagine how God could snap his fingers and make it all go away.

How easily he could say I can fix this.

Because we know that he can.

And we have a hope and an expectation and a longing that God will show up in the middle of this trial.

But God is the master storyteller and story maker.

Often takes us on paths that we don't always expect.

And that leads us to our passage today.

Exodus chapter 2.

Exodus 2 · chapter mention

We're starting in verse 11.

Let's read it together and then we'll pray.

Exodus chapter 2 verse 11.

Exodus 2:11

One day when Moses had grown up he went out to his people and looked on their burdens.

And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.

He looked this way and that and seeing no one he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

And when he went out the next day behold two Hebrews were struggling together.

And he said to the man in the wrong, why do you strike your companion?

And he answered, who made you a prince and judge over us?

Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?

And Moses was afraid and thought surely the thing is known.

And when Moses heard of it he sought to kill Moses.

But Moses fled to Pharaoh.

Fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian.

And he sat down by a well.

Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters.

And they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

The shepherds came and drove them away.

But Moses stood up and saved them and watered their flock.

When they came home to their father Ruel, he said,

How is it that you have come home so soon today?

And they said, an Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds.

And even drew water for us and watered the flock.

And he said to his daughters, then where is he?

Why have you left the man?

Call him that he may eat bread.

And Moses was content to dwell with the man.

And he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah.

She gave birth to a son.

And he called his name Gershom.

For he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.

During these many days the king of Egypt died.

And the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery.

And cried out for help.

Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.

And God heard their groaning.

And God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

God saw the people of Israel.

And God knew.

Let's pray.

Father, we acknowledge this morning that your ways are not our ways.

And your thoughts are not our thoughts.

Lord, that you are high and exalted.

And Lord, we are creatures.

And though, Lord, you have made us to know you.

Lord, you are much greater than us.

Lord, I pray this morning.

That Lord, as we explore this passage.

What we will see is you more clearly.

We will understand you more deeply.

Lord, we will trust you.

Lord, I pray for your help this morning as I speak.

Lord, that my words, Lord, would be useful in your hands.

Lord, that you would prepare all of our hearts to receive your word this morning.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

So as we look at this passage this morning, we're simply going to look at two things.

First, we see that on the path to deliverance, there is an...

On the way to deliverance, there is an unexpected path taken.

And secondly, there is an unexpected God revealed.

So first, let's look at the unexpected path of deliverance.

The unexpected path of deliverance is one in which we see deliverance delayed.

Now, one of the things you want to think about as you're reading the book of Exodus is that

the people who are receiving the book of Exodus know the story.

It was written after the fact, right?

And therefore, everyone who is reading the book of Exodus probably has heard of Moses.

And they know that he is the deliverer.

They know that God is going to use him in all the ways that any of us who know any...

If you're familiar at all with the story of Exodus, you'll know this is the man that God

is going to use to lead his people out of Egypt.

But his story does not go as expected.

As we said, the birth narrative sets us up to think, okay, now something big is going to happen.

And in fact, what we see in verse 11 is Moses goes out and he's grown up and then he goes out.

The words specifically say he looked on their people.

He went out to his people and he looked on their burden.

And you have to read this carefully because it wasn't just that Moses was in the palace

and he thought today, oh, maybe I'll stroll among the slaves today and see what it looks like.

The verb actually to go out to them is the word that's used later for the Exodus as they leave people.

Moses was actually going out of the palace in a much more profound way.

And looking upon his people was not simply detached observation, but it was an engaged examination.

He was saying, what is the status of my people?

I have had this privilege of being raised up in the Egyptian household as a prince of Egypt.

But now I am going to go out and see how it is that my people live.

And there's a strong sense of identification.

There's a strong sense of Moses saying, I am now moving away from my Egyptian position to identify with my people.

And in fact, we see this and know this more clearly because in the New Testament, the book of Hebrews reminds us of this.

Hebrews 11, chapter 24, the writer says this,

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,

choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt,

for he was looking to the reward.

As Moses went out and looked on his people, he was making a strong move,

a strong move to identify with the Hebrews who were despised slaves.

He was leaving behind a position of privilege and of treasures, as the writer of Hebrews reminds us of.

And as he did that, he saw and he intervened.

What we see from this story is that as we hoped this baby might be an instrument in God's hands,

we now see Moses living it out.

He is a deliverer.

He intercedes and steps in to rescue a Hebrew who is being beaten and most likely going to be killed by the Egyptian.

He steps in and he saves him.

His instinct to be a deliverer is on display.

And he knew it would be costly.

Look with me in verse 12.

Isn't it interesting?

Moses knew that when he was doing this, he was drawing a line in the sand.

He was doing something that would put in jeopardy his position in Egypt.

Because he looked this way and that way.

Not to see, oh, is someone else going to help?

I think it was to say, if no one sees me, I can get away with this and still be able to keep my position.

And he buried him in the sand because that's the quickest way to get rid of a body in Egypt.

Because there's lots of sand.

It's not very hard to dig in.

So Moses knew what he was doing as he was taking the step of being a deliverer.

He made a costly choice to identify with God's people.

And as we look through the story, I'm just going to throw out a couple of questions for us to ask.

How many of us make costly choices to identify with God's people?

How often are we willing to forsake the riches of position in this world in order to say, yes, I'm one of God's people?

The story continues.

Moses then, the next day, having done this great act and seemingly having gotten away with it, is thinking,

Okay, I'm stepping into this role as a deliverer.

I'm going to do this.

So he walks among his people again.

He sees two Hebrews now who are having a conflict.

And there's clearly a right and a wrong.

Because the passage tells us he speaks to the one who was in the wrong.

And he says, why are you doing this?

He comes to deliver his people from internal conflict and strife and to rescue them.

And we think, oh man, this is it.

If you're reading the story and you don't know what's going to happen,

you read the story and you think, okay, this is it.

This is where they're going to say, oh, Moses, you're here.

Our deliverer, our savior.

We praise God that you have sent us.

And we are so glad that you are here to help us solve this little dispute

and to rescue us from slavery and overthrow Egypt in the process.

But that's not what he gets at all, is it?

His instincts to be a deliverer, his instinct to intercede for the good of his people backfires terribly.

The Hebrew in the wrong looks at him and says, well, who made you?

You know, who died and made you king, right?

That's what we would say today.

Who died and made you king of my life?

And then he goes on and he says, are you going to kill me?

Are you going to murder me the way you killed that Egyptian?

It's a strong accusation.

And Moses realizes, I haven't gotten away with it.

People know what happened.

Maybe the Hebrew that he saved went back and rejoiced and told all his friends.

Maybe they went back and said, the weirdest thing happened today.

That Moses guy, you know, he lives in the palace.

He came and delivered, like he killed the Egyptian.

And I think it's going to go bad for us.

Because that was not a good thing.

I don't know what he was thinking.

And interestingly, I'll just say this.

The Bible never says clearly, one way or the other,

whether there is an affirmation that Moses was doing right

or doing wrong in the killing of the Egyptian.

We don't need to answer that question to know

that God was using it as a display.

It was a display of his delivering instinct

and his self-understanding.

Interestingly, in Acts,

if you haven't read Acts 7

and the speech that Stephen,

the early follower of Jesus, gives

about the history of Israel,

you should read it sometime in the next couple of weeks

because it's a great story

and it will help you understand Exodus a lot more.

Acts 27 describes Moses' thought

at this point in the story in this way.

He says,

he supposed that his brothers would understand

that God was giving them salvation by his hand,

but they did not understand.

So Stephen affirms what we guess about Moses,

that he knew he was there to be their deliverer

and that God had raised him up

uniquely to have this position and this role.

But they didn't see God's hand in it either

and they rejected him.

And the story of what Moses had been done

became known

and it came to the ears of Pharaoh

and Pharaoh,

in whose household Moses had been raised

and who, as we see further on in the story,

Moses looks like an Egyptian to everyone else.

Pharaoh went after him.

He knew that this was a betrayal of his loyalty to Egypt

and he went after him

and Moses was afraid

and he fled.

One of the interesting patterns we see

is that this is one of the first places

where we see God's people rejecting God's deliverer.

Moses had a contentious relationship

ongoing with the people of Israel.

You'll see it in chapter five

when Moses comes back to Egypt

and tries to deliver them

and their work is increased

and they grumble and complain

about Moses

and his interceding and delivering

and how much trouble it's causing for them.

And then after God takes them out of Egypt

with a mighty hand

through the plagues

and through the Red Sea,

then in the desert,

they don't have food one day

and they grumble and complain.

And the next time,

they don't have water

and they grumble and complain

and then they don't have food again

and they grumble and complain

and then they grumble and complain

about the food they do have

and then they grumble and complain again

because there isn't water in another place.

And they grumble and complain

over and over and over again

against the very thing that God is doing,

the very helper that God has given them.

Friends, I want us to ask ourselves

as we think about our lives,

do we grumble and complain

and resist God's saving work in our lives?

Are we too proud to accept his help?

Are we too committed to our sense of being in control

to allow him to work in a way that we don't expect?

Do we have faith and eyes

to see God sustaining and delivering us

when it doesn't feel like it?

How often are we like the grumbling Israelites?

So the deliverer is rejected.

His deed becomes known and he flees Egypt.

And he flees to a place called Midian.

Now Midian is best described as the backside of nowhere.

Technically, it's probably on the eastern side

of the Sinai Peninsula above where the water is.

But it's not,

the Midianites were actually nomadic people.

They were also long lost relatives.

Midian was a son of Abraham

by Abraham's second wife in Genesis 25 too.

You can look it up.

So they were Semitic people,

but they were not part of the covenant community.

But at this point,

the distance must have been very great.

So he's going out to a different people.

And what we see in this next story

is Moses continues in his character

of wanting to be a deliverer.

He comes upon a well

and at this well,

there are women,

these girls are watering.

And if you've ever seen the description,

this helped me see this

because it's described really well

in verses 16 and 17.

They drew water.

So in order to water their flock,

they had to go to the well

and pull the water up out of the well.

And then they had to put it

in some kind of feeding trough

so that the sheep could then come and take it.

And what happened is

these shepherds would come,

let the women do all the work

to get the water ready.

And then they would come

and drive off the sons of Jethro,

who's also Ruel,

and drive them off

and then take the water for themselves.

So these girls would have to draw water twice,

once for the evil shepherds,

and then they'd have to do it again

for their own thing.

That's why Jethro said,

how is it that you're back so early?

Because usually they had to do it twice.

Moses steps in and intervenes,

and he delivers them.

And you see again,

this same instinct,

this same,

and the storyteller is wanting us to remember,

this is the deliverer

that God saved from the water.

This is the deliverer

that God protected in the palace of Egypt.

This is the deliverer

that God is going to use.

But right now,

he's on the backside of nowhere.

And not only is he on the backside of nowhere,

but God is providing in ways

it looks like he's going to settle in there.

He isn't just there,

and they say,

hey, that's great, thanks.

Why don't you have a cup of water

and be on your way?

They say, come, eat with us.

Come, take my daughter as your wife.

Come, bear children.

I'm going to give you a livelihood.

I'm going to give you a home.

I'm going to give you everything you need

to settle in.

The story seems to have hit a dead end.

How is God's deliverance

and God's deliverer

going to do anything for God's people

while he's watching a bunch of smelly sheep

on the backside of nowhere

settling in to raise his family?

And the literary form of this is beautiful

because it leads you to this

dead end of the plot line,

except, look with me at verse 22.

The son that was born

to Moses and Zipporah,

the one who probably would have,

in human terms,

nailed the,

put the last nail in the coffin of,

okay, I am now a Midianite.

I'm going to stay here forever.

God has taken me out of whatever happened before

and he's got me here

and this is where I'm going to be.

But Moses names him Gershom,

which sounds like,

I've been,

sounds like the Hebrew word sojourner.

Moses indicates that even then,

even though the whole flow of the plot line

is Moses the deliverer being sidelined,

led into a dead end where there's no way out,

Moses himself still has this sense.

This is not my home

and these are not my people.

I'm just here a while.

That's what it means to be a sojourner.

I'm just here for a while

because my people are back in Egypt

and my true home,

well,

Moses has yet to find where his true home will be.

He's living in exile,

both from the home he grew up in

and from the people that he identified with.

So he too is living in this place of uncertainty

with unexpected twists.

No, it never says it.

It's possible Moses himself

was asking the question,

God, what are you going to do here?

I know I belong somewhere else,

but what are you going to do here?

And the narrator,

in a brilliant narrative form,

then leaves us there.

Leaves Moses on the backside of nowhere,

raising his family and raising his sheep

in the household of Jethro

and makes a turn.

Moses will be there for 40 years,

according to Acts.

Again, I want to ask,

stop,

just ask a question for a minute.

How hard is it to wait

for God's deliverance in our lives?

When we're facing a hard situation,

when we're looking at something

and we think,

God, I don't know how to get out of this.

I don't know what it's going to look like.

I don't see how you could ever

redeem this situation.

I've reached a dead end.

What areas of your life

are you longing for deliverance?

How long has it been?

Will you submit your storyline

to the story that God has written for you?

Will you trust him?

Of course, you might ask,

why?

Why would I trust him?

If you were Moses,

you'd think,

okay, God, I don't get it.

I don't see you,

and I'm here for a long time

wondering what the heck you're doing.

We feel that way too.

But the narrator knows this,

and he set us up

for verses 23 through 25,

because having walked

this unexpected path

where deliverance has been delayed

and seemingly derailed,

we then come to the end of the story,

and the narrator helps us turn the corner

to see why we should trust God

even in the middle of it.

Because what we see in verse 23 through 25

is the unexpected God of deliverance revealed.

If it were a movie,

the lens changes from Midian back to Egypt.

But the story there doesn't look good either, does it?

It's actually gotten worse.

In two verses,

the writer uses terms

for groaning and crying out twice.

It's not the same term.

There are actually four different words

that are used here

to describe the plight

of God's people in Israel,

or God's people,

the Israelites in Egypt.

They are enslaved.

They are oppressed.

They are groaning

under the weight of their oppression.

And they are crying out,

please help us.

Please save us.

The narrator says,

a new Pharaoh has risen up.

Maybe that leaves the door open

for Moses to come back.

But the people, meanwhile,

just as Moses had gone off to a dead end,

the one thing they knew

that God had delivered this one baby boy

who maybe could be their deliverer,

he's now gone.

For a generation,

40 years,

he's gone.

But God is not gone.

And you see,

for the first time in Exodus,

oh, there are a few mentions of God

in chapter one

as he relates to the Israelite midwives

and how they rescued

some of the Hebrew boys.

but really for the first time,

for the first time,

God becomes a major actor in the story.

And it's such a striking thing.

If you read this with literary eyes,

it's such a striking thing

because 23 talks about the slavery

and the groaning and the crying.

At the very end,

it says that the cry of rescue for slavery

came up to God.

And it's not as if God had never heard it before.

It's not as if God was deaf

and suddenly decided that he would listen

or that he was somehow unable to hear

and now he was.

But what it means is that God

in his perfect timing

was now willing to pay attention.

God was now willing to hear

and respond in a particular way.

He was now,

in his timing,

going to engage with their cries

and with their situation.

And there are four action verbs

in verses 24 and 25

that are beautiful

because of what they tell us about God.

Verse 24,

and God heard their groaning.

It wasn't just that he heard the thing

for the first time,

but that he was,

his ears were open to them

and he engaged with them

on the basis of what he heard.

And not only did he hear their cries,

but he remembered.

He remembered his covenant.

Now this does not mean

that God has forgotten.

It doesn't mean that God thought,

oh gosh, that's right,

that thing with Abraham.

What did I say?

Oh right,

about a people and a land

and a, yeah.

Oh, I gotta go back

and look that up in Genesis

so I remember what that's about.

God didn't forget.

But what it means

is that God remembers

in a way that is now

moving him to action.

God is remembering the promises

that the descendants of Abraham

would be blessed by God

and be a blessing to the world.

That he would make them

into a great nation.

That he would deliver them

into a promised land

where they would enjoy

all the bounty and the fruit

and the blessing

of being his people.

And he would be their God

and through them

he would display

his glory to all the world

that the nations would come

and know what a great God,

the God of the Hebrews is.

This is the covenant

that he promised them.

That he would do these things.

And they are as far from it

as you can imagine.

They're an enslaved people

in a foreign land.

But God remembered that covenant

and is ready now to act.

25 keeps going about who God is.

Because he doesn't just hear

and he doesn't just remember.

But he sees.

Maybe you know what it's like

when someone sees you

in your situation

with understanding.

Where someone gets

the depth of your trial.

The hardness and the pain

that you've endured and suffered.

the confusion

and the questions

that have run through your brain.

What it's like

when someone really sees you.

This is what this means here.

Just like Hagar

as she fled from Abraham

and Sarah

after their failed attempt

to fulfill God's promises

in their own way.

As she fled into the wilderness

thinking she was going to die there.

She met with God.

El Roy.

The God who sees.

The God who will look after her.

God who sees and acts

on their behalf.

And then finally

God doesn't just see them

but he knows them.

Maybe you all know this already

but if you don't

you should know this.

The Hebrew word to know

is not simply

capacity for intellectual

understanding.

understanding.

It is not simply

gathering more information.

Knowing in Hebrew

is almost always

a relational term.

It is used

for a deep intimacy

of knowledge.

Usually with people

that has this

sense of connection.

It's used

for what happens

when a husband and wife

come together

physically

and in all other ways

in union

in marriage.

that they know

one another.

And after we've seen

God take his people

and his deliverer

on a very unexpected

journey

to seemingly

a dead end

the writer of the story

comes back

and he says

God knows.

God knows

what he is doing

and he is intimately

connected

with his people

through it all

and he is now

ready to act.

Deliverance

is on

the way

because God

is now

ready to act.

He has not

forgotten his people

or his deliverer

and Nick

will have the privilege

of telling us

how God is going

to show up

and turn the corner

in this grand story.

Friends

as we walk

through our paths

of life

and when we go

through the periods

where we wonder

whether God

has led us

to a dead end

and we wonder

and cry out

and groan

to him

about our situation

it is God's character

that he has not

forgotten

or abandoned us

that is

the basis

of our hope.

When it seems

like God is absent

when we can't

see his plan

when we can't

see his hand

at work

when it feels

like our current

place of suffering

is not only that

but it is in obscurity

we wonder

why God's plans

are so strange.

Friends

the reason

why God's plans

are so strange

is simply

this

God doesn't

work

in this story

so that we would

think

Moses is going

to be the great

deliverer

of Israel

this story

God takes

Moses

on this

unexpected

journey

because he wants

to remind

Moses

and his people

that Moses

is not the

deliverer

of his people

God

is the

deliverer

of his people

God

is the main

character

in this story

God

is the

savior

of his people

and he

is doing

all of

these things

so that

we would

see and

know

this God

as our

deliverer

and that we

would not

fall into

the oh so

human desire

that someone

else would be

our savior

and someone

else would be

our deliverer

and that some

human agent

can step in

and actually

fix our

story

and change

our trajectory

and rescue

us from

dead ends

and from

obscurity

Moses

has

characteristics

of how

God's

deliverance

is going

to look

like

he has

instincts

to deliver

he has

a courage

to identify

with his

people

but even

then

even in

this story

part of

what we

see

is a

storyteller

telling the

story

so we

say

oh it's

God

who's

going to

deliver

not

Moses

and we

know

more broadly

from the

storyline

of the

Bible

that Moses

though he

delivered his

people from

Egypt

did not

deliver his

people

from sin

Moses

delivered his

people to

the brink

of the

promised

land

and yet

his

failures

and his

weaknesses

and his

sin

and the

sin of the

people

continued

and they

grumbled

and complained

and did

not trust

God

even after

he had

done

great

things

for them

because

in the

grand

plan

of God's

deliverance

even

this

was a

signpost

pointing ahead

to something

greater

even

these

acts

of

deliverance

are

pointing

ahead

to

one

greater

than

Moses

friends

it points

us to

Jesus

Jesus

who

was

saved

miraculously

at birth

Jesus

who

lived

30

years

in

obscurity

as a

carpenter

Jesus

who

at the

very

beginning

of his

ministry

when it

looked like

he was

going to

blast

out

in his

baptism

and start

his big

public

ministry

instead

was sent

into the

wilderness

but more

than that

Jesus

who came

to identify

with us

with humanity

who took

on flesh

and blood

to identify

with us

to take

on flesh

and blood

he who

bore

our sin

he who

did not

sin

but who

bore

our sin

in

identification

with us

forsaking

as Philippians

says

the privilege

and the

honor

that was

his

in heaven

to be

the equal

of God

he

forsook

those

privileges

to take

on human

flesh

and blood

to identify

with us

so that

he might

be our

deliverer

and he

delivered us

from slavery

to sin

and the

oppression

and the

wreckage

and the

pain

and the

suffering

that sin

causes

in our

lives

and he

delivered us

from the

penalty

of sin

and the

wrath

of God

that is

rightly

upon it

because of

our rebellion

against him

Jesus is a

greater

deliverer

Jesus is the

certain

deliverance

that by his

life

of perfect

obedience

so that he

could stand

in our

stead

by his

death

in our

place

a substitute

and a

sacrifice

for us

so that

the penalty

and power

of sin

are taken

away

in our

lives

and he

who rose

from the

dead

so that he

might be

the ultimate

victor

over sin

and death

in this

world

and in

our

lives

this is

the great

deliverance

that we

have

and friends

we also

still now

because we

still groan

because we

still live

in this

fallen

world

because we

still suffer

because our

lives still

have many

unexpected

twists

and turns

and detours

when we

wonder God

why can't

you just

make the

path straight

and the

end

easy

we know

that he

has promised

that he

will come

back

and he

who has

worked

all that

is necessary

for our

salvation

he will

come back

and save

us one

day

and we

not just

save us

individually

but he

will save

this world

and he

will make

it new

and all

evil will

be punished

and all

suffering

will end

there will

be no

more tears

no more

crying

no more

sickness

and no

more death

he will

make all

things new

and so

we have

confidence

to wait

for that

just as

the Egyptians

could look

at the

character

of God

and wait

for a

deliverer

back

in their

time

friends

God is

trustworthy

he is

worth

us

giving

him

control

of the

storyline

of our

lives

we can

look back

on the

work of

deliverance

on Jesus

Christ

living

dying

and rising

again

and know

for certain

that this

is the

character

of the

God

that we

have been

called

to know

and to

trust

if you're

here this

morning

and you

haven't

put your

trust in

this God

or if you're

here this

morning

and you

are

struggling

I call

you

to think

that the

God who

leads you

on unexpected

paths

and what

seem like

dead end

roads

he has

not

forgotten

you

and he's

calling

you to

him

to trust

him

to put

your faith

in him

to know

that what

he's done

in Jesus

is for

you

let's

pray

Lord we

thank you

this morning

for this

passage

and we

thank you

for your

word

Lord and

how it

points us

to you

Lord I

do pray

that by

your spirit

you would

help us

to see

you as

you really

are

and Lord

you would

give us

hope this

morning

Lord I

do pray

that you

would strengthen

our faith

today as we

look at this

passage

Lord that we

would know

you to be a

God who

hears and a

God who

remembers

a God who

sees and a

God who

knows us

and a God

who being

all of those

things

has done

what is

necessary

in Jesus

for us

to be

delivered

to be

delivered

unto you

Lord

Lord we

pray that you

would help us

this morning

to have that

confidence

we pray this

in Jesus

name

amen