7-29-19 Grace-Tucson Sermon

Pastor Tim Patoka

Joy For Our Journeys #4 July 28, 2019 The Journey Out Of Egypt Exodus 12:31-42 1) God Keeps His Promises 2) Christians Say “Amen”

Have many times has someone promised you something only to fall through on it? How many times have you promised to do something and failed to deliver on it? I remember back in college that I would start each semester off promising myself that I would stick to a regular bedtime on school nights. Yet by the end of the first month, I soon broke that promise. Whether it was fun times with friends or home work that I underestimated or just not able to fall asleep because I slept in late that same morning, I had a hard time keeping that promise.

Maybe you’ve had the same problem with keeping promises. Not being with that loved one because something came up. Not meeting a deadline at work or school because someone didn’t do their part. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Many times we do follow through on what we promise. It’s just that we often focus on the times we don’t.

While you and I live with the reality that we can’t do all that we promise, that isn’t the case with God. God will always come through on his promises no matter how difficult, how small, or how long ago he made those promises. And we get to see one such time when God did this with our verses for this morning. In Exodus chapter 12, we get to see how God fulfills the promise he gave to Jacob by leading his people on a journey out of Egypt. As we consider how they began this journey, we’ll learn how God will always keep his promises. And as a result, we can proceed in confidence.

1) God Keeps His Promises We’ve fast forwarded jumped 430 years since last week’s service when Jacob and his family journeyed from Canaan to Egypt. The Israelites have been living as shepherds in the land of Goshen, one of the outer lying provinces of Egypt. The Lord greatly blessed them so that in 430 years they multiplied from 70 people to around 2 million people.

But things wouldn’t remain this way for the Israelites. A new Pharaoh was in charge who didn’t respect the Israelites. He saw this foreign-born nation as a threat and mistreated them to build up his kingdom. It’s at this time that God calls up Moses to eventually lead his people back to the Promised Land. Moses starts off by asking Pharaoh to let these Israelite people go and worship God out in the desert. But Pharaoh said no. He wasn’t going to risk having this workforce of 2 million leave his country for even a short time.

This is when God brings in the 10 Plagues to showcase how strong he is and to break Pharaoh’s will. God starts off with the plague of blood where all the water in Egypt was changed into blood and therefore undrinkable. Then it was the plague of frogs, then gnats, then 1

Pastor Tim Patoka

Joy For Our Journeys #4 July 28, 2019 flies, then death of Egyptian livestock, then boils, then hail, then locusts, and then darkness.

Pharaoh dug in his heels with each plague and refused to let the Israelites go and worship the Lord. So God sent one more plague, the plague of the death of the firstborn. If a family had followed Moses’ instructions and painted the blood of a spotless lamb on it doorframe, they would be fine. The angel of death would pass over their house and leave them in safety. But if a family did not do as Moses instructed, then the angel of death would come and take the life of the family’s firstborn child. And that included Pharaoh’s house.

Once Pharaoh lost his firstborn child, he finally threw in the towel and agreed to let God’s people go. Wasting no time, in that very night, he said our opening verses to Moses and Aaron, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go.” (Exodus 12:31-32) At long last the roughly 2 million Israelites, their flocks and herds, and whoever else wanted to go along set out on their journey from Egypt.

The Bible doesn’t tell us what all those people were thinking when they first set foot on this journey. But I would imagine that a number of them were struggling with disbelief. Was it finally happening? Were they actually leaving Egypt and going back to Canaan as God had promised to Jacob 430 years ago? That’s a long time to wait for God to fulfill his promise, longer than America has been its own country!

Perhaps some of them were in disbelief because of how hard it was going to be for God to come through on this promise. Who was to say that Pharaoh wasn’t going to change his mind after letting the people go and chase after them? Although the Israelites weren’t grumbling yet, perhaps some were already wondering, how was God going to take care of 2 million people in the wilderness? I mean, that’s twice the population of the Tucson metro area! Could you imagine how difficult it would be to provide for 2 Tucsons if we were to start walking on up to Phoenix?

Now we don’t know how many of the Israelites were wondering these things. But God’s children do wonder such things, including ourselves. How many times have we wondered if God will come true on his promises because it seems too difficult? How many times have we wondered if God forgot his promises because they were given so long ago? Even though we learned last week that God will always provide for us, do we not need another reminder today?

And again, we are aware of how often we do not keep the promises we make. Why wouldn’t God do the same once in a while?

But God is not like us. Instead, he will keep all his promises no matter how difficult or long ago he made them. The Israelite’s journey out of Egypt is proof of that. And so are the details from our Gospel reading of Matthew chapter 2. As we trace our Savior’s early life, we see how God fulfills 3 more promises. The first one from Hosea chapter 11(:1), “Out of Egypt I 2

Pastor Tim Patoka

Joy For Our Journeys #4 July 28, 2019 called my son.” The second one from Jeremiah chapter 31(:15), “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” A third one saying, “He will be called a Nazarene.”

(Matthew 2:23) These are relatively unfamiliar promises. Yet God kept them because will keep all his promises, no matter how little, how difficult, or how long ago he made them. It’s because of that we can take even more comfort in God’s well-known promises and know for certain that he will come through on them. About how he has given us a Savior. How we have forgiveness even though we fail to keep our promises. That heaven is our home because we are God’s children.

2) Christians Say “Amen” If God has promised it, we can depend on it. As such, we live in a continual state of confidence. No word better summarizes this attitude towards life than the word “amen.” We say it at the end of all prayers. Yet this word is more than Christian code for “my prayer is done.”

Listen to how our Catechism defines it. “Amen: ‘Yes, it shall be so!’ A word used at the end of a prayer to express confidence that the prayer will be heard and answered.” (Luther’s Catechism, copyright 2017, page 374) We saw how this definition played out in our 2nd Lesson. In 2 Corinthians chapter 1, the Apostle Paul reminds us that God’s response to his promises is always a “yes.” He will always do what he has promised. That’s why Paul can say in our 2nd Lesson, “but in [God] the ‘Yes’ stands firm. In fact, as many promises as God has made, they have always been ‘Yes’ in him.

For that reason we also say ‘Amen’ through him to the glory of God.” (2 Corinthians 1:19-20) When the Israelites journeyed out of Egypt, they learned to say “amen, yes, it shall be so” that God will keep all his promises. As God promised to Jacob when he entered Egypt 430 years before, he was now bringing all 2 million of them and their flocks and herds back to the Promised Land. Even though they left in a haste, God provided for them with their unleavened bread and the Egyptians’ gold, silver, and clothing. They journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth under God’s protection who kept vigil over them all night long.

Even though we may not journey out of Egypt, we too can say “amen, yes it shall be so” that God will keep all his promises. He has given us as Savior as we heard him promise 3 weeks ago in the Garden of Eden. He has given us faith to trust in his Word as learned about with Abram’s journey to the Promised Land 2 weeks ago. He has promised to provide for all we need as we heard last week when Jacob journeyed from Canaan to Egypt. So we confidently say “amen, yes it shall be so.” God will keep his promises no matter how difficult, small, or long ago he gave them. May the Lord help us to always have this confidence. Amen.

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