The Hero Is Here

This past couple weeks, we have been in a series called God’s Big Story. God’s Big Story is a series that wants to take this Bible and better understand how do all the pieces fit. If you’re like me, you open up in a devotional to Micah chapter 3, and you’re like, what in the world is this? Where in the world is this? What’s being said? And who’s Micah anyways? So we’ve been looking this past couple weeks at what are the broad strokes of the painting of this book.

And the first or last week, we saw the terrible lie. This is where the serpent approached Adam and Eve in the garden, and he offered them a terrible lie. He said, you can become like God on your own. Prayed what God has given you and what He’s offering you for what I have to give you instead. And we saw that Satan’s lie corrupted us, but God gave a promise of His grace to save us. He had to do that because that’s not how the world began. See, the world began with what I called happy beginnings. God made everything good. He made fruit trees in abundance. He made marriage to work perfectly. And He gave a relationship between Himself and people to be fully connected. And He gave us a sacred purpose. But we threw that away in following that terrible lie.

And it wasn’t long for those first parents, Adam and Eve, to hear the echoes of Satan’s terrible lie in their own lives. If you’re in Genesis chapter 3 and you just go to the next page, Genesis chapter 4, we see Adam and Eve’s firstborn son, Cain, murder his brother, their son, Abel. And if that’s bad enough, Genesis chapter 6, we zoom out from one family to an entire world. And what we see is that it’s not just one person that’s evil, but it’s a world flooded with evil people. And God will respond to a flood of evil with a flood of purifying judgment. And we get this picture of God who won’t tarry long in disciplining and punishing sin.

Genesis 7 through 9, this world that’s flooded with evil people and God’s going to send a flood of judgment. Out of all those people, God selects one man named Noah. And He says, Noah, I am through you going to restart humanity and I am offering a way of salvation from this flood. So God chooses Noah as this savior figure. But even after the flood, Noah fails God too.

Now see, way back in Genesis 3, God promised Eve, I’m going to send an offspring that will conquer the serpent. So every new name in the Bible, we are wondering, is this the seed? Is this the offspring? Is this the savior? It’s not Noah. You fast forward to Genesis 12 and God calls Abram to start a new nation. Not just a new family, but a whole new nation. But even Abram himself fails to fully trust and obey God the way he’s supposed to. So Abram, his name gets changed to Abraham. He has sons. Those sons have sons. Each of those sons, they all fail. They’re not the savior. They’re not the promised one.

One son is named Israel. Maybe this will be the savior. Maybe. But he doesn’t live up to the hype either. No, he doesn’t. He does grow to be a nation. And this nation is promised a land of their own. This nation is promised a special relationship from amongst all the nations to be a blessing to the world. Whoever would bless Israel will be blessed. Whoever curses Israel will be cursed. And Israel, a nation, was supposed to be a light for God’s good news to the world. That was their calling. But as individuals and as a nation, we see them fail to live up to the standard as well.

Who’s the savior? Who’s the promised one? The truth is everybody needs a savior. You finish the book of Genesis and you get to the book of Exodus and a baby comes on the scene. This baby’s name is Moses. And Moses is born to a Jewish woman but adopted into the Egyptian king’s family. He’s born a Jew but raised as an Egyptian with Pharaoh. And instead of growing up in slavery, and we’ll get to that in a second, he grows up in prestige and freedom. And God calls Moses and says, represent Me to the Egyptians. Bear My image to the Egyptians. So God, through Moses and through his brother, starts to communicate these warnings to Pharaoh. You see, the Israel, the nation of Israel, supposed to occupy this land that God had promised.

them, find themselves enslaved in a different country. And they got to get out. And God says, “I am going to warn and warn and warn Pharaoh to let y’all go.” So He sends ten warnings. We call them the ten plagues. Frogs everywhere, gnats everywhere, the Nile River turns to blood, it’s total darkness. If you’ve been raised in the church or read much of your Old Testament, some of this sounds a little familiar.

Then we get to the tenth plague, the tenth warning. And this is where we’re going to start to read a little bit of Scripture together. I’ve got it on the screen. Just follow along with me. This is Exodus chapter 11. I’ll read verse 1. The Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here. And when he lets you go, he will drive you out of here.” Okay? Pharaoh has been hard-hearted. He’s been stubborn. He’s responded to some of these plagues with half-hearted okayness about letting them go. But every time, he changes his mind. So God says, one more chance, one more plague.

Verse 4. Moses said to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord says: About midnight, I will go throughout Egypt. And every firstborn male in the land of Egypt will die. From the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on the throne to the firstborn of a servant girl who’s at the grindstones. As well as every firstborn of the livestock.” All of a sudden, God gets personal with this one. God promises to strike down the firstborn of every family. Are you listening yet? Are you warned yet? Does this sound bad enough yet? There’s this promise of death on every home in Egypt. But not for Israel if they follow God’s plan to deliver them from slavery.

Exodus chapter 12. It’s going to be on your screen again. Exodus 12:3 says, I’m summarizing a lot here. God says, which sounds a little weird to us. Maybe it sounded weird to them too. To be saved, a lamb must die and blood must be poured. That’s how God was going to save Israel. That’s how they wouldn’t experience death. This was part of God’s deliverance and His exodus for them.

And we see that God’s plan of saving Israel and passing over them was not by family relations. It was not by good works nor was it by good intentions. Just because you were born a Jew doesn’t mean that God would pass over you automatically. You had to do something. It’s not because you had good works in the past. “God knows I’m a good guy. He won’t take my son.” And it’s not because of good intentions. “Oh Lord, like I love You. Do I really have to do that?” No. God said, “This is My plan. In faith, follow it or you will suffer.”

I think there’s a side note for us. And I’ll get to this. But God’s grace had to be personally acted on and received. Every family in Israel had to follow this plan.

Now see, God’s big story. He created things well. People fell in sin. And this week we are covering redemption. This story, the exodus story, is a story of God who’s been saved. Redeeming His people. If you’re a note taker, you can write these couple phrases down. Redemption is an act of God to deliver from God. An act of God to deliver from bondage. And redemption also is paying a price to buy back someone else. Paying the price to buy back someone else. Or if you want to summarize it all together, this is our main idea for the morning. And this will be on the screen for us as well. Redemption is God’s grace in action. God’s rich grace in action.

So what happened in the Exodus? If you look at Exodus chapter 12, we see God strikes. God comes and He takes that firstborn son and the firstborn livestock of every home in Egypt. Just like He said He would. But He passes over all of the families that slaughtered that perfect lamb and put the blood on their doorposts like He said He would. So God takes Israel and He frees them from Egypt. But in that process, once again, Pharaoh goes back on his determination. Pharaoh says, “Go, just go finally, just get out of here.” And as they’re escaping, Pharaoh says, “No. Vengeance is mine. I’m going to chase them down and we’re going to annihilate them.” So Israel finds themselves in between a rock and a hard place, or rather between a Red Sea and a hard place. They’re stuck between certain death and An immovable obstacle. Who knows what happens? Say it again. We know. He splits. Yeah, He splits the Red Sea. He makes a dry path for Israel to walk through. Pharaoh and all Egypt of the military try to follow Him, and God certain destruction. And through that, God redeems His people.

Now see, there’s some observations we make from this story. Sin was committed. Blood was spilt. God’s plan was the best. And Israel’s place in God was secure. So why am I talking about this? We sing songs about Jesus on the cross. We sing songs about, oh, redeemed, how I love to proclaim it. Why did I only turn one book? It’s because when Jesus comes on the scene, we ought to recognize something about Him.

In John chapter 1, John the Baptist, who is the forerunner and precursor for Jesus, is sitting with his disciples. And he says, hey, Jesus, behold, it’s the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That’s Him. That’s the Savior. That’s the one I’ve been talking about. That’s Him. Genesis chapter 3, that’s the guy.

So Jesus comes, and here’s the thing. You, me, everybody, we are enslaved to sin. Israel was enslaved to Egypt. We are enslaved to a bigger threat, one that we cannot emancipate ourselves from, one named sin. The one we are born into and cannot remove ourselves out of. We are enslaved to sin. And not only that, but we must be bought back. Because Romans says that the wages of sin is what? Death. We cannot pay off this debt that we owe because we have sinned our way into it. We cannot unsin our way out of it. We need to be redeemed. We need rescue.

Like Israel, we are between certain death and an immovable obstacle. Everybody in this room is going to have to face death. Everybody in this room cannot remove our sin. We must be saved. So that’s why in Ephesians chapter 1, Paul can write these words. If you have your Bibles, I want you to open up to Ephesians chapter 1 with me. In Christ, we have redemption. We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace that He richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. Praise be to God.

Ephesians 1:7-8, Paul is talking about the salvation that we have in Jesus. And I think that he’s thinking about the Exodus redemption. In the Exodus story, I said sin was committed, blood was spilt, God’s plan was the best, and Israel’s place was secure. So let’s look at this passage and see if Paul is thinking a little bit with his Old Testament cap on.

Paul says something about Jesus’ blood. He says redemption is through His blood. You see, Jesus’ blood was necessary for our redemption. The author of Hebrews says that the blood of bulls and goats, cows and calves, turtle doves can’t take away our sin. There was an Old Testament offering and sacrificial system that was a placeholder. That was a faith by sight sort of a thing. That was not a permanent solution to this eternal problem. So Jesus’ blood had to be spilt. And this happens on the cross.

Jesus, that Lamb of God, comes onto the scene and He lives the perfect life in our place that you and I are designed to live. But because like Adam and Eve, you and I, we have all sinned and failed God and we have incurred an eternal debt. For all of our CPAs in the room, how would you like to deal with a client that’s got a debt that can never be paid off, right? Can’t. You can’t pay it off because it’s against an eternal, holy God who has a standard far beyond whatever you and I could ever muster.

So God has to come. He has to send the perfect Lamb in our place. So Jesus lives that perfect life. He doesn’t just live a perfect life, but He goes on that cross as the Lamb of God, the truly spotless one. And He is crucified for us. And He says in His dying breath, it is finished. As the full cup of God’s wrath is poured on Him and not on you. Jesus spills His blood and He truly dies. God dies for you. For you. God dies for us. But He doesn’t stay dead. Amen. He rises from the grave on the third day. He rolls that stone away. He conquers the sin we can never remove. He conquers the death that is certain for all of us. And He says it is done. I am risen.

I am victorious. Is anybody listening? Because I am excited about this. Christ conquers what we can’t conquer. He totally redeems us. He takes our place. He changes our story. Jesus spills His blood to give us forgiveness for our trespasses.

Make no mistake, friend. God has a boundary for your life like guardrails on the blue, what is it, in the upstate, the mountain road that goes to the Blue Ridge Parkway. You go beyond those guardrails and what is going to happen for you? Not freedom. We want to break out of these boundaries all the time and we call that sin and trespass. You trespass on somebody’s property down here, I have learned you don’t do that. You meet the business end of something metal.

God has got a boundary for us. Like Adam and Eve, we have all crossed that boundary. We have trespassed. We have trespasses against Him. And through His blood, Jesus gives forgiveness for trespasses because He is the perfect sacrifice. So it’s His blood, our sin, but His wealth. Ephesians 1:7-8 said that this is according to the riches of His grace.

You and me, our neighbors, our friends, we are spiritually bankrupt. We can’t do anything to get ourselves out of this situation. And so salvation, redemption, grace has to be according to His riches on our behalf. Which also means that the capacity of God’s grace for you is not limited to your ability to earn your receiving it. Okay? Nor is it limited by your badness. God’s grace for you is according to His riches. The riches of the one that owns the entire universe. The riches of the one that started everything. The riches of the one who’s never gone in spiritual debt. That’s what is being offered to you. The capacity of God’s grace is according to His riches.

If you’re at Waffle House, that means that we are covered, smothered, topped, capped, diced, and peppered with God’s grace with all the eternal glorious calories you could ever imagine. That’s what we can have from God, His wealth for us, which means our position in Him is secure.

Jesus took our place on the cross. He took our place. It’s like we’re here and Jesus comes and He just fully envelops us. We are just totally hidden in Him. When God sees us, He does not see the evil of last year. He doesn’t see the evil of last night. He doesn’t see the mistakes, the failures. He sees Christ. If you are in Jesus, then when God sees you, He sees His son.

Israel. The nation of Israel was enslaved to sin. You and I, or they’re enslaved to Egypt. You and I are enslaved to sin. They had a certain death. We face death. There’s an immovable obstacle, the Red Sea, and we have an immovable obstacle, our sin. Blood of a perfect lamb had to be spilt for God to pass over those families, and a blood of a perfect lamb had to be spilt for you and I. The Redeemer had to come in and act on our behalf. Redemption, God’s rich grace in action. Redemption means the hero has come. The hero has come. Jesus, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, that is Him for you.

I came across this poem written about this passage. For us to redeem, our Savior did bleed. For His grace, you sinner, please do plead. On the cross, He died to justify His bride. Sin and trespass, He will forgive. That in true freedom we may live. Yes, grace sweet and amazing. Yes, and passionate grace, His love blazing. In Him we do live. In Him we are alive. All because Christ truly died. Though guilty sinners we may be, there’s grace and kindness. Don’t you see? Grace to embrace, grace to receive. The promise of He who longs to redeem. Echoes still from that mercy tree. It is finished, He cried at Calvary. This your very greatest need, He meets with words you must heed. Be forgiven, be washed clean, be set free, be redeemed.

This is God’s offer for you. This is God’s offer for us.

I think some of us in a room this size are like Pharaoh, hard-heartedly rejecting God’s warnings, not accepting His grace, not beholding the Lamb of God who came to take away your sin. Don’t let today pass. Please don’t let today pass. In a few minutes, we’re going to have an invitational. I would love to begin a conversation with you. Come down during that time and we will begin a discussion about what it means to receive God’s grace. Some of us for the very First time, some of us for the thousandth time, and we just need to be reminded. If you want prayer, I’m down here. God, trust that You’ve been with us this morning. Trust that You want to walk with us still. Lord, please get a hold of us. Convince us of the Redeemer’s love for us. Help us to accept that grace afresh today. Lord, if there’s somebody in the room that You’re tugging on, I pray that they would in faith follow You this morning. God, we love You.