This is the story of all stories for the Jews. When Stephen Spielberg was making Moses, Prince of Egypt he was creating a film of his equivalent to the Passion.

What is the key point of the story? God had deliberately brought the family of Israel to Egypt, using Joseph as the means of saving the family from a seven year drought. Now he demonstrates his character by rescuing his people from slavery. Salvation is the theme of the Bible. We need to understand that. It is not that God wants us to suffer but he doe most of all want to demonstrate his grace in rescuing us from situations in which we find ourselves. Jesus is our God, his cry is “ Let my people go” from the slavery of sin and death. To achieve that he laid down his own life that we might go free. Two things I want you to note before we look at the key characters in this drama.

First, The objective was not the promised Land. God says quite clearly that the objective was for them to worship him at Sinai or Horeb. Remember that was to be the proof that God was with them. The Promised Land was what God had promised Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. To enter it, the children of God must meet with God, just as Moses had to meet with God. Heaven is not the objective it is the destination. The objective of our salvation is for us to meet with God, to have a relationship with him, built on grace and trust in his promises.

Exodus 4-12 has two contests Moses v God and Pharoah v God. The first is vital preparation for the second. God has chosen Moses and revealed himself as the God who listens and cares and will answer. He is the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob – the God who promises to be with his people and bring them to a Promised Land. He is the I AM the eternal God, incomparable God and he has a mission for Moses. But Moses is not having it. And so often we fill Moses shoes. Listen to it the argument, Moses is all about me, he needs a lot of convincing that it is not Moses that is going to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt but God.

Read 4:1-17

Recognise the arguments:

· They wouldn’t listen to me

· I’m a useless speaker

· Send someone else

Don’t we all use the same arguments. We are surrounded by a community that is in slavery and God says Go and make disciples and we say “They wouldn’t listen to me”; They wouldn’t believe me”.

So what is God’s answer? God actually empowers Moses to perform miracles. One of the reasons we are not listened to or believed is that we do not authenticate our message with signs and miracles. Too often we refrain from telling how God has changed our lives because we have not allowed God to perform the miracle of new birth. As a result we have no story. If you have not turned from your sin and put your faith and trust in Jesus, then you have no miracle to share, no authentication of your message. In our evangelism we need to recognise that miracles of healing are not just to keep you healthy. They are there to demonstrate that God heals and that he saves. We need to tell what God has done and where people’s transformation is visibly obvious we need to tell the story.

Second, we complain we are no good at telling the Good News. I’m not a good speaker. God’s answer is to remind you your mouth is his creation. It was put there to speak his words not your own. So get up to speed in what to say. Coming soon in Hillingdon will be an opportunity to have a masterclass in telling the good News. Part of Crossing London is a 4 evening course in June called “Christian Life and witness” I can recommend it as I have done it twice before. The point you get from Moses is this. God will give you the words, and the ability to say them, if you are ready and willing to be used. Look on to 10:27-29. Moses is head to head with Pharaoh and no Aaron with him. He learnt and you can learn.

Finally,

Send someone else. Even pay someone else to do the evangelism. But God does not work that way. He chooses you to be in your family, in your workplace, in your street or road. He puts you in your world as the visible presence of Jesus. In October franklin Graham will be speaking in Excel in East London. Most of the people who will go will go because they are taken by friends. Your prayers and your living out the life and your spluttering about the gospel will encourage them to seek further. So start praying, and live out your destiny. Be like Isaiah “ Lord, here I am , send me!” and give up on “ Lord, send someone else!”

Central to this is God. He is the one who will speak and act. Moses is the servant who speaks on God’s behalf, who raises his staff and God works miracles. When you speak on God’s behalf, remember it is his power, his authority his words not yours. So be confident in him, even though you are not confident in yourself.

Now the scene changes to Pharaoh v God.

Pharaoh is a different character with different reasons for rejecting God. Much is made of the statement that Pharaoh is chosen to demonstrate God’s power over him, but he makes choices. The problem is that like Judas Iscariot he rejects the opportunities to turn around and give in to God. Moses has met God and God has changed him. Pharaoh meets God and does not let God in. It destroys him.

This is a challenge replicated in the world around us. There are a whole number of reasons why our friends and neighbours hold out against God. They are the God’s of this day. I wonder what 10 plagues God could line up for this community to learn from? Here are some suggestions to what we make our Gods.

Property values.

Supermarket – based food supply

Retail therapy

Preserving our good looks

Independence

Sexual freedom

Health

24/7 entertainment on demand

living long

Good Weather

Power failure

Death

God, through Moses, challenges them one by one.

The plagues come in threes. The first three the magicians are challenging God. 7:14-25

1. Water turned to blood 7:14-25

2. Plague of Frogs 7:26–8:11 [8:1–15]

3. Plague of Gnats (The magicians recognize ‘the finger of God’)

8:12–15 [16–19]

These are fundamental attacks on the economy. The Nile was the source of life and wealth to the Egyptians who were actually an agricultural nations, dependent on crops and in particular cotton. At the end of it Isis the Goddess queen of magic is defeated.

Pharoah is amazing, he stands his ground even when those around him are telling him, this is the finger of God. Then there is

4. Plague of flies 8:16–28 [20–32]

Pharoah tries to negotiate a compromise but backtracks.

5. Plague on livestock 9:1–7

6. Plague of boils 9:8–12

7. Plague of hail 9:13–35

Pharoah gives in and then changes his mind

8. Plague of locusts (The officials beg Pharaoh to let them go)

10:1–20

New compromise offered but rejected

9. Plague of darkness 10:21–29

Ra is the Sun God and he is defeated.

the 10^th plague drives at the heart of our security. The death of the firstborn challenges our dependence on family.

Pharaoh is left without his eldest son. But that is not the end of the story. He still wants his slaves back and sets out to re-capture the Hebrew slaves. But he thwarted by God and this time he and his army is destroyed. It is a sober fact that if you hold out for ling enough you will get your reward. God does not want you to go to hell but if you refuse him that is where you end up.

Lets finish our look at this great escape by considering the slaves, the children of Israel. How do they measure up in this challenge?

Well, they are bi-polar. They are not happy that the first step in their freedom is making matters worse.! Read 5:21

.They are amazingly trusting over the Passover. They do what God asks through Moses even though they have no previous experience to go on.

They were tough. Ever packed your entire belongings and moved? Leaving in a hurry meant leaving houses n furniture and the bric a brac of life, choosing the important things, like kneading troughs to carry, taking the gold and jewels of Egypt for wealth, driving their cattle, sheep and goats. There must have been a lot that got left as they moved from camp to camp and they discovered what little they needed to carry. They would have to learn to depend on God for drink and for food for clothing and footwear. And they had to walk to Canaan. No cruise ship or package –flights to the Holy Land. Not even a coach trip. Faith is expressed in as tough a work as slavery. Its just that faith leads to the Promised Land.

They are petulant. The trap of the Dead Sea turns them to conspiracy theorists. Moses is suddenly the enemy not Pharaoh!

They were rescued from slavery and free. On the road to meet with God, on their way to the promised land.

But God chose them and he chooses you and me, with all the tantrums and lack of faith and wilful disobedience but what he wants is faithful obedience and he will put up with a lot if you willing to follow him. Pharaoh is a warning that you can hold out on God but you will lose, Moses is an example of someone who is drawn into an intimate relationship with God, The children of Israel knew God’s great saving act of bringing them across the Red Sea and being rescued from slavery but they for ever struggled with the attraction of the very things that God triumphed over in the 10 plagues. This is a challenge to examine our hearts and minds to see where we are today. Are we living free or are we fighting with God. Let God win, be like Moses, know that he will keep his promises.

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