Exodus 5:1-6:2     How God Can Set You Free        October 9, 2005

     How many of you have ever stood at an airport looking at a jumbo jet and wondered how such a large heavy object can get off the ground and fly?   Yet, a massive 747 jet’s engine power can lift to 35,000 feet and travel at 600 miles per hour.  Gravity is still pulling at the plane, but by obeying the laws of aerodynamics, it can break free of the bonds of earth.  Saint Paul writes to us in Romans 8:2 that “Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of Life has set me free from the law of sin and death.”  I want to talk about how Christ can set us free.

     This morning we continue our series on Moses and we finally see him arriving back in Egypt to face Pharaoh and to set free the people of Israel.  However, before that freedom can happen, Moses will have to go through a process of freedom himself.  And from these scripture passages, we can learn much about how we also can be set free in Jesus Christ.

      Moses announces to Pharaoh that he is to set free the Hebrew slaves because the LORD has commanded it.  Now Pharaoh has an expected response.  Look at vs. 5:2—“Who is the LORD?...I do not know the LORD.  I will not let the people go.”  Instead, Pharaoh decides that these slaves need more work.  Yes.  They are complaining.  They want freedom.  Well, get them to work more.

      How many of us seek freedom, seek the answer, try to find happiness by working harder?  By running faster?  By performing better?  So many Americans today are caught in the performance trap.  The work never ends.  And so even in our spiritual life, we think that we can reach God by trying a little harder.  But like making bricks for Pharaoh, it never ends.  We just keep running.  Spiritual freedom is never found in what I do by myself.  The first lesson we learn today is that we can never work hard enough to find true freedom.

     What happens when Pharaoh raises the work load?  The Hebrew people are mad at Moses.  He has just arrived in town and the rejection he feared has already happened.  Moses must have been thinking, “I knew this would happen.  I told God back at that bush that this would happen.  I am so out of here.”  Moses must have been tempted again to run away.  I have seen this so often in the lives of church members.  A crisis, a death, a problem comes along and they leave.  They are angry with God, angry with other people, and so they run away.  But there is no freedom is running away.

     Did Moses run this time?  Yes.  But he runs to the right place.  He runs to God and prays.  And Moses is honest in his prayer. Do not lie to God in your prayers.  People come into my office for counsel and they often say, “I am angry with God.”  And I say, “That is okay.”  In fact, go ahead and tell God you are mad. Or that you are lost, that you have sinned.  God already knows.  Be honest because that is where we find freedom. The second lesson we learn is that the way to freedom is to confess honestly where we are in our lives.     

     How does God respond?  Look at verse 6:1-2.  God says that now you will see what I will do.   What a great line in the Bible!  Now you will see what I will do.  It’s like Dirty Harry’s line—Go ahead.  Make my day.  Now you will see what I will do.

     What does God do?  There are ten plagues sent on Egypt.  These plagues last from chapters 7 through 11.  I do not have time to read all those chapters.  But I would encourage you to check out a few sample verses on the big screen.  Because here we learn our third lesson of how God sets us free in Christ.  You remember Moses fear and how he wanted his brother Aaron to go with him.  Well that is what happens.

1. Verse 7:14  Aaron speaks to Pharaoh and does the action.

2. Verse 8:5    Aaron speaks to Pharaoh and does the action

3. Verse 8:17  Moses speaks but Aaron still does the action

6. Verses 9:9-10  Moses speaks and acts

     In the first two plagues, Aaron both speaks and acts for Moses.  Moses just lacks all self confidence.  But by plague three Moses speaks directly to Pharaoh and has Aaron do the miraculous action.  However, by plague six, Moses does everything from then on.  What do we learn here?  Lesson three is that God brings us freedom through the help of other people.  When we are in trouble, we need not only go to God, we need to go to the people of God.  Certainly, at times, God acts directly and miraculously in our lives.  But, listen to me, it is most often that God meets our need through the love of other people.  Not just any other people, but people who are also seeking to grow in the grace and freedom of Christ.  God worked on Moses with the help of his brother Aaron who was also a man who was seeking freedom.  Step by step, Moses grew until he was set free from the doubts and fears of his past failures. 

     When we face difficulties, it is always tempting to run away, maybe try to work hard and solve it all by ourselves.  But we can never work hard enough to find real spiritual freedom.  Instead, freedom comes from honest confession with God.  And freedom comes in loving relationships with other people who are growing in the grace of Christ.  Real spiritual life is a gift from God.  That is where Moses arrived.  It did not happen overnight.  It was step by step until Moses became the man of God. 

Amen.