难道埃及没有坟地? Is It Because There Are No Graves in Egypt?
Remember these points
I put these points at the top of my sermon-prep template to remind myself every week:
- Show that main point of passage relates to Jesus and his saving work
- (1 Cor 1:18) A truly gospel-centred message will not be acceptable in a synagogue or mosque
- Did I proclaim the gospel as the headline news of the sermon, rather than as a “by the way…”?
- Unbelievers are called to repent, believe, and be saved
- Believers are encouraged to abandon their old self, renew their minds, put on the new self in Christ
- Preach simple sermons, so that God’s people can see Christ more clearly and love him more dearly
News
Hook
What’s the story behind these pictures?
Évacuation de Dunkerque
At the beach of Dunkirk (Dunkerque), France, from 26 May – 4 June 1940. Wikipedia article here.
400,000 Allied soldiers (mainly British and French) were stranded at the beach at Dunkirk.
They can’t move forward because of the sea, and the Nazis were closing in from behind.
It’s very close to England, only 30km or so, but not possible to swim.
The plan is to evacuate as many soldiers as possible before the Nazis arrive.
Original estimate was maybe 30,000 can be saved.
During the 10 days, 330,000 were rescued by British navy ships and civilian boats. 10x more than they expected.
70,000 died from German aircraft bombings and strafing.
30–40,000 became prisoners of war.
The rescue at the Red Sea
3,500 years ago, ~2,000,000 Israelites also faced death.
In one day, God rescued all of them.
Today, we start the story of crossing the Red Sea.
Passage
<25–29>
English slides after the Chinese ones
Outline
Section 1 在法老身上得荣耀 Get Glory Over Pharaoh 13:1–4
Passage
Is it good to turn back?
Bad strategy!
But God has a plan.
We don’t know where these places are…
Why would God make them turn back? What’s the reason?
Why would God turn them back?
God will gain honour over Pharaoh and his army.
To let the Egyptians know who is YHWH.
To let us know who is YHWH.
Lessons
- God will be glorified, because he is God!
- Pharaoh still hasn’t learned his lesson yet. After all the plagues, after his own firstborn killed, he still has to learn.
Section 2 这做的是什么事 What is This We Have Done 13:5–9
Passage
Pharaoh’s ministers informed him that they’ve escaped.
It seems strange that they should do this; doesn’t everyone, including Pharaoh, know that they left?
One simple explanation is that they thought the Israelites will return after 3 days (as Moses had requested a few plagues earlier).
So now 3 days have passed, and they’re still not back!
Where have we seen a similar story?
- Taking everything and escaping,
- After 3 days, someone gave chase,
- We saw the protection of YHWH
Story is when Jacob escaped from his uncle Laban: Gen 31.
God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, because Pharaoh had no intention of repenting.
Pharaoh never repented, despite all the changes God gave him.
God gives us ample chances to repent. We know who he is, and he’s waiting for us to repent.
If we continue to refuse, soon God will say, “enough.!
Our hearts will be hardened, and we won’t ever repent.
Lessons
- Pharaoh changed his mind again. He never actually repented.
- God doesn’t want us to make promises that we won’t keep. He wants our total commitment.
- Example of the 4 fishermen rescued from the coast of Delaware. 1 died, 3 rescued. One of them said, “From now on, I’ll go to church every Sunday!”
Section 3 埃及没有坟地? No Graves in Egypt? 13:10–12
Passage
They see the world’s strongest army bearing down on them. Of course they’re afraid!
Is this “crying out” to YHWH a cry in faith? No! As we’ll see when we read on.
This sentence is so ironic! Why? Because Egypt is the one country that epitomises death. Their most famous legacies are all about death and the worship of the afterlife: pyramids, mummies, etc.
What’s the reason for bringing them out of Egypt? To serve YHWH!
We don’t know when they actually told Moses not to bring them out of Egypt, probably at the beginning when Moses first spoke to them (and got them into even more hardship).
Yet another very ironic statement! The whole point of the Exodus is so that they no longer serve Pharaoh!
Now they want to go back!
Lessons
- When we commit to following Jesus, we often face doubts and disappointments.
- Satan will take advantage of this in order to take us away from Christ, back to the old way of life, the bondage of sins and evil, and death. Just like the Parable of the Sower, Matt 13:19.
- We might also be crying: “Is it because we don’t have hardship in our lives?”
Section 4 看神施行的救恩 See God’s Salvation 13:13–14
Passage
Is Moses encouraging them?
Actually, no! He’s scolding them for not having faith in YHWH.
Notice all the verbs: to stand, to see, keep still, keep quiet. These are all verbs of inaction: Salvation comes from God, not from our actions.
Jesus already accomplished everything.
We just have to keep quiet and still, and watch God in action.
Lessons
Section 5 下海中走干地 On Dry Ground in the Sea 13:15 –16
Passage
YHWH is also rebuking Moses!
Where have we seen water and land being separated? During Creation!
This is why we often say Salvation is like Creation, we’re given new life.
Lessons
So What?
- God wants to get glory over Pharaoh.
- He wants Pharaoh, Egypt to know who is YHWH.
- This is the same purpose for all the peoples of the world.
- This is also the purpose of the Bible: to tell us who is God.
- God is our salvation, no matter how vicious or evil the enemy, we don’t have to be afraid.
- The way God saved the Israelites in the Exodus is the paradigm of salvation throughout the Bible. We’ll see this again next few sermons.
- God allowed Jesus to die. But just like Pharaoh, Satan was deceived.
- The cross wasn’t Jesus’ defeat, but a great victory.
- We don’t have to do anything for our salvation. We only need to put our faith in Jesus, keep still, and keep quiet. God will do everything.