The God Who Saves from Peril

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0:00 The rest of us were in the third Sunday of Lent now already. Partway through March, if you can believe it, keeps happening. We've been looking at the electionary for the season of Lent. Remember that Lent is this extended period of time, usually around six weeks. We're preparing for the celebration of the resurrection, where we take specific time to look at our need for Easter.

0:33 In order that we could celebrate the resurrection and Easter well. It's a historic time the church has done it for generations. The church has this series of readings that they have signed for those weeks, and we've been using those readings the last couple Sundays and just looking at maybe what the church or what God may have to say to us as we prepare for Easter. The first one that we use for the call to worship, each week they pick an Old Testament reading, a Psalm, a Gospel, and a New Testament reading.

1:09 The call to worship that we used was the assigned Psalm. I'd love for you to look there with me just to get the context for what we're going to talk about this morning. In Psalm 136, there was kind of a lot that she read. It's like this refrain. We talked before about how we're pretty sure the Psalms were maybe used liturgically in worship services.

1:39 You could see how Psalm 136 might be as something that people would say responsibly. Like one leader might say that line and then the group would respond for his steadfast love and duress forever. It's reinforcing the movement of God throughout time. What really caught me was the last couple verses in what was assigned. We had verse 1 through 16 of Psalm 136. In the last several, let's see, says in verse 10,

2:16 to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt to steadfast love and duress forever, and brought Israel out from among them for steadfast love and duress forever. It's a refrain to defining characteristic or act of God that's carried forward through the whole story of Scripture, where God interceded for Israel into Egypt, their oppressor, arguably the strongest military power of the day who had enslaved them for generations.

2:49 When God comes in the person of Moses, Israel doesn't remember who their God is, his name, or why they would follow him, and God pursues them anyway. When Egypt digs their heels in and tries to defeat the God of the Israelites, life gets harder for the Israelites for a little bit, and they ask God to go away. Leave us here with our oppressors. At least we know what we're getting and we don't know that we can trust you, and God pursues them past their doubt, past their unfasalness,

3:21 past their intransingness, the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, the God of Israel, pursues Israel in spite even of Israel. So it becomes this defining characteristic of God throughout the story of Scripture, and then going forward. It's why Israel is celebrated path over so religiously and carefully, because they're keeping alive the memory of a God who breaks in and through peril and saves them. So I love that this comes into the Psalm where it says,

3:53 Him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt for his steadfast love and duress forever. This is of course the last of the plague striking down the firstborn of Egypt, and if we were to take the time to go through all of the ten plagues and put them in their historical context, you would see that what God is doing, the God of Israel is doing, and each of those plagues is systematically demonstrating his power over the gods of Egypt. Each of those plagues represents one of the gods, though Prague is an embodiment of the gods,

4:25 Niles an embodiment of the gods. The firstborn is the last of the plagues because Pharaoh himself was a god, the supreme god. And so as the god of Israel says, Pharaoh continues to dig in his heels in his hardened heart. God demonstrates his supreme, his divinity, his power over the strongest god of Egypt by taking out the firstborn, and that's why it's mentioned here. In the face of severe peril, generational oppression, life and death situations,

4:58 the god of Israel breaks in and rescues. Right? Okay. With the strong hand and the out, wait, okay, among them, yeah, sorry, I'm getting caught up. With the strong hand and out, switch on verse 12 for a steadfast love and dew is forever. Verse 13, to him who divided the Red Sea in two for a steadfast love and dew is forever, and made Israel pass through the midst of it for a steadfast love and dew is forever. But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea for a steadfast love and dew is forever.

5:34 To him who led his people through the wilderness is steadfast love and dew is forever. I love the image of, he spreads the Red Sea and lets them walk across on dry ground, closes it on their enemies and then leads them in the wilderness. It's hard for us to imagine a little bit sometimes, life or death peril, generational oppression and poverty and slavery, and then peril in the wilderness.

6:06 One of the defining acts of our God, perhaps the most defining act of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel, the God of Christ in the Church, is that he rescues his people from peril. This is going to be a theme for the week. The God of Israel rescues people from peril. Let's look at Exodus 8, the Old Testament reading that they gave us.

6:40 If you go to the left, if you're in Psalms, you're in a paper copy, you go to the left, Exodus, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Exodus 8, you go through another one of the plagues in this section they gave us, verse 16 to 25. The first one there in 16 through 19 is the play of the gnats.

7:10 But what I want to look at is verse 20, the plague of the flies, then the Lord said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning and present yourselves to Pharaoh as he goes out to the water and say to him, Thus does the Lord let my people go, that they may serve me. Or else if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people and into your houses and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies and also the ground on which they stand,

7:43 but on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen where my people dwell so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. Thus I will put a division between my people and your people, tomorrow this sign shall be, and the Lord did so. There came a great swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants' houses throughout all the land of Egypt, the land was ruined by the swarms of the flies. I like this because God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob says he is going to do something to rescue his people

8:18 and then does it. Says he is stronger than the gods of Egypt and then demonstrates that he is stronger than the gods of Egypt. And his motivation for doing this isn't anger or hatred, he set apart the land of Goshen, it is deep love for his people. The plagues are this amazing story of the God of creation and life, rescuing the ones he loves from severe and serious danger, life threatening peril.

8:58 It is kind of fascinating to me that the God who creates the world and imagines life becomes known primarily as a God who saves. The God of Israel, the God of Christ in the Church is the God who saves, who redeems, who rescues.

9:29 Let's look at the Gospel reading and then we'll start to come together here. The Gospel reading that they gave us is in Luke's account of the Gospel. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, all the way in the New Testament towards the back. Luke chapter 11, verse 14.

10:04 It's kind of a crazy story. Verse 14, Luke chapter 11, now he was casting out a demon that he is Jesus that was mute when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the people marveled. What someone said, he cast out demons by gales above the prince of demons, while others to test him kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. But knowing their thoughts, he said to them, every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste and divided house falls, verse 18.

10:36 And the state and also is divided against himself. How will this kingdom stand for you say that I cast out demons by gales above? If I cast out demons by gales above by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. But if it is the finger of God, if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. You see, when a strong man fully armed, guards his own place, his goods are safe, but when one's stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him,

11:09 he takes away his armor in which he entrusted and divides his spoil. Whoever is not with me is against me and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Jesus is telling the church folk that the presence, the action and actor of God has come into the world in the person of Jesus in order to get rid of some peril. This is the first thing that messes up Paul on the road to Damascus.

11:40 This is a formative thing as the church begins to understand its theology, and how we understand who God is and how he relates to people, is that whatever peril humanity was in was so dangerous that it required actually God coming down into the world to change the thing. In his analogy, the strong man holding captive humanity was so strong

12:11 that in order to get somebody stronger, it needed the finger of God to come down. It needed God himself to come down and break the danger, the peril, the captivity of humanity. How is your lens going?

12:44 I've realized we're a couple weeks in and I haven't given Lent the attention I would like. I don't know why. It feels like we're a year into whatever you call this, like, masked up change of life and people are starting. All of a sudden my days are way busier than they were three months ago. It feels like people are doing a lot more things.

13:14 They're tired. We're turning the corner on this vaccine. Life is starting to pick up. I haven't been able to develop the practices I would like to develop in a season of Lent. Part of it is because it doesn't really feel like we have Lent every year. I turned 40 this year. That's 40 lengths.

13:45 Maybe not every year. I was a little for a little while. It's a lot of Lent though. It keeps speeding up. I can remember Lent last year. We hit the pandemic in the middle of it. It doesn't feel that urgent, really, actually. The things of my day feel more urgent, actually, than Lent than like considering my need for a

14:22 Savior. The Savior that came for me was none other than the God of the universe. In order to save me, God had to find a way to squeeze unbounded, infinite God into the

15:00 flesh of a person, into the womb of a woman, and come out into the world. Endure through life, go up to the cross, down to the grave, defeat death, and come out. In order to save me, it required a whole new creation. It required the end of one line of humanity and the launching of another. It required a whole move of God, the incarnation of God, something only God could do and even

15:35 God couldn't undo. It required the finger of God to come and rescue me from what must be serious peril. I know the show stacked up that I ought to be watching on Netflix is pressing. I know that bills are looming, that decisions must be made about what sort of work I do in the world,

16:09 what sort of parents I am for my children, what sort of spouse I am for my spouse, what sort of servants I am in the city. I know that decisions must be made in all of those places, and yes, those are pressing. But there is some peril that I find myself in that was significant enough that the God of the universe came down to break me out of it. There is some tendency towards very real evil. There is some very real worldly danger haunting me.

16:52 And you. And you. Whatever danger you are in, require the God of the universe to come and break you out. Oh. We can't do anything.

17:24 We can't do anything. We can't do anything. We can't do anything. We can't do anything. We can't do anything. We can't do anything. We can't do anything. There is very real danger.

17:57 It's interesting. There's a way to look at history that says the church of God thrives under persecution. And I'm thinking about this. You know, grew exponentially in the first several centuries under direct persecution. And then of course it lifts and becomes a dominant religion and systems have to change and structures have to change and rules have to change.

18:35 But part of that, that thriving under persecution or fitting best as a counter cultural movement. Part of that might be this like illusion that there is no danger for us. That our life is not at stake when we consider the things of God. Make no mistake.

19:06 It is. Of course, it's safe for us to consider the danger that we find ourselves in. Because in every circumstance, God is stronger.

19:36 In every peril, God is stronger. In every danger and every addiction, God is stronger. In every fear and every isolation, God is stronger. It's worth considering the peril not so that you can find your way out. But so that you are willing to be saved.

20:12 It's a crazy story. When you look at God rescuing the Israelites from Egypt, he demonstrates his superiority over all of them, over all the gods of Egypt. And then they go out. Of course, the Israelites don't know exactly if they are going to come back. The premise was we are going to go worship God at Mount Sinai. But some of the Egyptians are so excited that they are leaving that they give them stuff to take to the God who has demonstrated his security. And actually some of the Egyptians go with the Israelites because they are convinced now that the God of Israel is stronger than all their gods.

20:44 They are going to go worship with them. The tragedy of course is that some of the Israelites stay. Because the place you are done and things will be fine. We will just stay here. Famously, when the Israelites are coming back from Babylonian exile, when God opens up a way for them to come back and rebuild the temple and move back into Jerusalem and be Israel, the city on the hill again.

21:14 Words of God in the temple, when they get to no longer be exiles in a form of land and they are sent back, many of them stay. They send some money but can't be bothered to go worship the God. Can't uproot their lives. It's worth acquainting ourselves with the reality of the position that we are in. Where we are headed, what real danger we are in.

21:44 Where we find evil inside of ourselves and lurking around us is worth analyzing the real danger you are in. Not because you have to work yourself out of it but because once you see the danger, you are willing to go with God on his salvation. The God of Israel saves over and over again saves. The only thing that keeps him from saving is when people aren't interested in the saving he has to offer. And the danger for us today is that we are so comfortable that his saving sounds like work and we rest back in our slavery or our exile or our excess.

22:31 So this Lent, be someone who takes the time to look honestly at yourself and the life that you are living. And ask honest questions about what peril you are in.

23:05 What evil awaits you inside and out. Because whatever it is, whatever evil awaits you inside and out, whatever peril you find yourself in, brought the God of the universe to break you out. Make a mistake, you are in peril. Of course, in our gospel reading Jesus frees the oppressed.

23:54 And he will forgive. This is the reason that we pursue faith even when it is hard. When we work out what it means to be Christian in a world that has so confused the term. This is why we do it. Because the way to be freed is with the God.

24:30 He frees from all oppression and evil. And the freedom that he brings launches us into the life we were made for. Be gone now and continued forever. As we act honestly of ourselves as we look realistically at the evil inside of ourselves and the world around us. As we ask what peril do I find myself in that requires the God of the universe to set me free.

25:02 And then we let him set us free. Then we begin to glimpse what freedom really is. What life really is. With the God of Israel both of these all of this is in our purview and possibility now and forever. Real peril, absolute freedom and life forever.

25:40 It's a busy time. I hope you are people. We are people who encourage each other not to forget where we find ourselves and the God who comes for us. Let me pray. Hey Lord, come for us today. How in rescue us from peril scene and unseen?

26:13 Or break us out of evil inside of us and lurking all around us? We don't know why you save us over and over and over again but we ask you to save us today and tomorrow and weeks to come. Jesus, let me pray.