This morning we're going to be thinking about a victory.
We love victories, don't we? Whether they're sports,
! Particularly some of us, whether they're in the family home,
there's always one of us who can get a little bit overcompetitive.
You know who you are. We love to win.
And victories also make for great films, don't they?
Whether battle films, superhero films,
we love to see the enemy defeated, the hero succeed.
A favourite film of mine is Gladiator.
I don't know if you've seen it. Fantastic film.
It's about this retired Roman general called Maximus.
And will he succeed? He's been enslaved.
He's become a gladiator.
And will he succeed against the twisted and useless Roman emperor Commodus?
And the ending is a moving and great victory.
I won't give it away, but some of the final lines of this,
he was a soldier of Rome.
Honor him.
It's great, isn't it? We love a victory.
And today we see a great victory.
We see one of the greatest ever in history.
And from a human perspective,
it is a political victory on,
not far off equaling the Goths sacking Rome,
but this time it's the Israelites sacking the mighty Egyptians.
And as we said last week,
the Israelites have been enslaved by the Egyptians.
Pharaoh was king.
He was utterly supreme,
ruling over this great empire.
And he was a man who defied God.
But God will bring his people out.
He will rescue them.
He employed sanctions, as we saw last week,
and he employed the ultimate one.
We see that in verse 29,
at the beginning of what was read,
that the Lord struck down the firstborn.
And if you were here last week,
I spoke about that Passover lamb
that rescued the people of Israel
from being struck down.
How God provided a rescue.
But today we're going to think about
what happens next.
And the first thing I want us to see is this.
God's victory is a decisive defeat.
Pharaoh, the great king,
the king who's hardened himself against God,
who's treated God's people so badly,
who is so majestic,
well, we see here his utter defeat.
It's a rout.
It's a whitewashing.
It's a complete annihilation of him.
And you'll just see it just stacked up.
Firstly, we see him in an utter state of panic.
If you notice that in verse 31,
he summons Moses and Pharaoh by night.
He's in such a hurry to get them out of here.
And we see it all the more in what he says.
He goes, up, go, all of you, go.
Take everything, be gone.
It's get out.
Make sure it's all of you.
The victory is stark.
God takes all his people.
And Pharaoh completely loses his slaves.
But notice what he says next.
He says, verse 32,
take your flocks and your herds.
Now, previous to this,
Pharaoh had been making all the stipulations.
He had said, you can go,
but leave your flocks and herds.
But now he's saying,
take everything.
You win.
God's victory is a decisive defeat.
God takes all his possessions.
And Pharaoh loses it.
And I don't know if you noticed it,
but there's a huge comment in what he says at the end.
What Pharaoh says at the end.
He says,
and bless me also.
That the king of Egypt is asking for a blessing.
This is an extraordinary comment.
This is like Stephen Hawking's
asking for some help with some physics.
This is a moment of utter humiliation for Pharaoh.
Pharaoh knows he's in the presence of a far greater power.
He knows he's been surely beaten
by a God far greater than he.
God's victory is a decisive defeat.
God is the one who blesses.
And Pharaoh is humiliated.
And then it keeps going.
Then as the people leave,
not only do they take their own livestock,
if you haven't noticed at verse 35 and 36,
they take all the silver and gold and clothing.
They take the wealth of Egypt too.
They utterly plunder the Egyptians.
God takes all the riches.
And Pharaoh is plundered.
And not only riches,
do you notice in verse 38,
it says it's a mixed multitude.
Not only Israelites,
but Egyptians have left as well.
People are flocking out of Egypt,
like refugees seeking a better home.
God takes people,
and Pharaoh's nation is plundered.
God's victory is a decisive defeat.
Now before this moment,
Pharaoh probably thought he had a bit of a chance.
Probably thought actually the result's going to be close.
A bit like a famous football match.
Not sure if you're a football fan,
but back in 2014,
there was a World Cup semi-final
that set itself up similarly.
It was Brazil versus Germany.
I don't know if you remember it.
And Brazil probably thought,
this is going to be a tight one.
We've got a chance here.
I think we're going to win it.
Do you remember the score?
It was 7-1 to Germany.
7-1.
It was an utter destruction,
a total victory.
Brazil had no chance.
Pharaoh thought he had a chance.
But God's victory was decisive.
Not even a contest.
And because it was a decisive defeat,
we also see that God's victory
is a rich rescue.
It is a rich rescue.
Firstly,
it is a rescue of a huge number of people.
Do you notice the size?
It's a vast group of people.
Over 600,000.
That's just the men.
It could be up to about 2 million.
We're not sure.
But even at this lowest estimate,
that's the population bigger
than the whole of Luxembourg moving out.
And just think of their experience.
A few hundred years before,
66 people turned up.
And now look where we are.
It is a great nation.
It's even got Egyptians joining them.
And it's not only a change of size,
but it's a change of fortune.
A few chapters later,
these guys were facing extreme slavery
and persecution.
Their children were being murdered.
They were being beaten.
They're being worked harder than ever.
And here they are,
leaving into freedom.
Rich beyond their wildest dreams.
Laden with silver, gold,
fired clothing,
huge flocks of sheeps and goats.
This is the ultimate rags to riches.
It's a bit like that film,
I don't know if you know,
Slumdog Millionaire.
It's one of the great rags to riches films.
The main guy, Jamal,
he grows up in horrendous poverty,
living in the slums of Bombay.
He's an orphan,
has to beg to live.
And he makes his way slowly.
He becomes a chaiwala,
a tea boy in a call centre.
And it's,
will he be rich beyond his wildest dreams
with a girl he has loved forever?
Will it be a Slumdog to Millionaire moment?
And that is a picture,
Slumdog to Millionaire is a picture
of what happens to these Israelites.
God takes his people from slaves to superstars,
from victim to VIP.
God's victory is a rich rescue.
And it's so clear, isn't it,
that this victory is God's victory.
He's the one doing it.
Did you notice,
he's the one who brought the judgment in verse 29.
He's the one who gives the people favour in verse 36.
And for him,
all this was just a night of watching.
Do you notice that in verse 42?
It was a night of watching by the Lord
to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
In a sense,
this is not like Germany versus Brazil.
This is more like Germany playing
your local Saturday league team.
He didn't even break a sweat.
It was a decisive defeat
and a rich rescue.
Now the victory of God over Egypt,
the rescue of his people,
is taken by the Bible as a great picture
of God's victory and rescue
through Jesus Christ.
Jesus himself talks about
how he's tied up the strong man
so he can plunder his belongings.
Just like the defeat of Pharaoh,
Jesus said he's tied up the devil.
He's tied up the powers of evil in this world
and is plundering him,
particularly of people.
And Jesus Christ's death and resurrection
is that great moment of victory.
Paul in Colossians says this,
he says,
he disarmed the rulers and authorities
and put them to open shame
by triumphing over them in him.
How did he disarm all these powers,
all the powers of the world?
Well, in many ways,
but one was by defeating death itself.
Death, we know,
is a great weapon against people,
isn't it?
We fear it.
It ultimately,
it rips apart our relationships.
It's threatened by tyrants and rulers.
And by defeating death,
but by taking on sin,
as Jesus Christ died,
by rising again,
showing that death had no power on him,
Jesus completely took away death's power.
As Paul says in 1 Corinthians,
quoting Isaiah,
he says,
death is swallowed up in victory.
The world has no power anymore.
Death is no longer a threat.
Although we know death breaks relationships awfully,
a Christian can face it confidently.
We know there is a resurrection,
that there is eternal life.
Christ's victory is a decisive defeat.
Through a seemingly small act,
2,000 years ago,
on a hillside of a backwater of the Roman Empire,
God had utter victory.
And this means his victory is also a rich rescue.
He rescues a huge group of people.
The Church of Jesus Christ spans thousands of years.
It spans every tribe, nation and tongue,
from China to Brazil,
from India to Iran.
God is rescuing many,
thousands,
millions.
And the secular world and other religions
just shake their fist
that they will not win.
Just need to look at a country like Iran.
Right under the Ayatollah's nose,
the Church of Jesus Christ
grows faster than any other place in the world.
And it is a nation given great riches.
God lavishes blessings on his people.
In Ephesians 1,
Paul outlines many of these riches
that Christ has won.
I'm not going to read it now,
but I will pick out snapshots.
Do go and read it later.
Ephesians 1.
But in it,
Paul says that we have every spiritual blessing.
We have been adopted as sons.
We have been blessed in Christ.
We have redemption.
We have forgiveness of sins.
We've been lavished with grace.
We have God's spirit in us.
And we wait for an inheritance to come.
Right now,
the Church of Jesus Christ
has incredible spiritual blessings.
Now you may notice
many of these blessings are unseen.
But even unseen to the Christian,
they are very real.
To know forgiveness
is something many in our world yearn for.
Without it,
we know people have regrets,
have sorrow,
and yet Christians are given it
by Jesus Christ.
To know we have a loving,
heavenly Father
being adopted into his family
reaches deep into our lives,
especially those who don't know
parental love,
who lack security,
company,
and yet Christians are given it.
To know the hope of eternal life
when so many face despair,
suicide,
and yet Christians are given it.
Unseen,
but very real.
And the unseen
will be clearly seen
in the future
when Christ returns.
There is an inheritance
to come,
Paul says.
When Christ returns,
we will inherit
all that he has won for us.
Eternal joy,
sorry,
eternal life,
unspeakable joy.
God's victory in Christ
is a rich rescue.
What a generous God we have.
We are utterly undeserving,
and yet God has decided
to lavish his blessings
on his people.
So how do we respond
to this God?
This God who's victorious
and gracious?
Well, this passage
presents to us
two options,
two responses,
in a sense,
two types of fear.
It shows us one type
and leaves us feeling another.
Firstly,
it shows us
the fear of Pharaoh
and the Egyptians.
It's a fear
that results in
running away
from blessing.
Pharaoh says,
up, go,
be gone.
The people of Egypt
are urgent.
Get them out of here.
They want the riches,
the victory of God
to be as far away
from them as possible.
They want God
at a distance.
They want Christians
to be at a distance.
And perhaps
you identify with that.
Perhaps you hear about God
and actually
you just don't want
anything to do with it.
You perhaps come here
a few times
and you just want to
keep it at arm's length.
A bit like a friend's
Rottweiler.
A mean looking dog.
Nice for you,
but keep it at a distance.
Okay?
But please,
I urge you,
notice that
Christ's victory
is total.
This is true
as implications
for all of us
whether we believe it
or not.
And in this victory,
which side
will you be on?
The victors
or those defeated?
Worshipping
Jesus Christ
on his throne
or his enemy
under his judgment?
please don't be
like Pharaoh
who knew his defeat
but ran away
from blessing.
Because there's a second
type of fear.
It's not shown
explicitly in this passage
but it's the one
the passage
leaves us with.
Instead of a fear
that leads us
to running away,
it's a fear
that leads us
to going and serving
the Lord.
Lord,
this passage
should leave us
in a wonder
and fear
of this powerful
Lord.
It is a colossal
victory.
No one can mess
with him.
In our world
no one will beat him.
Political rulers,
spiritual rulers,
they've lost their power.
Not even death
can defeat God
and his purposes.
He is truly
almighty.
Pharaoh,
empires,
philosophies,
religions
will all fade
but God is.
He is always the same.
Mighty,
victorious,
lavishing grace
on his people.
What we see
of God here
is very helpfully
put in a famous quote
from The Lion,
the Witch and the Wardrobe
a book by C.S. Lewis.
It's for children
but it is very profound.
A character
called Mr. Beaver
is talking to a girl
called Susan
about Aslan
who is in a sense
the God's character
and Mr. Beaver
says this,
he says,
Aslan is a lion.
The lion,
the great lion.
Ooh,
said Susan.
I thought he was a man.
Is he quite safe?
I shall feel rather nervous
about meeting a lion.
Safe,
said Mr. Beaver.
Who said anything
about safe?
Of course he isn't safe
but he's good.
He's the king
I tell you.
Our Lord isn't safe
but he's victorious
and he is good
and knowing that
leads us towards him.
The Lord is the great
and good king
who lavishes blessing.
The people of Israel
were not leaving Egypt
to run away.
They were heading
to Mount Sinai
to worship him.
We fear the Lord
in a way that means
we come to worship him
like bees to a honeypot,
like flies to a light.
As we see God like this,
this victorious,
this good saviour,
then our hearts
are drawn to him
and we come in reverence
and we come in fear.
That is the right response.
You know,
we never waltz up
to the Queen Elizabeth
would we and go,
alright Lizzie,
how's tricks
and slap her on the back.
And nor would we,
and should we treat God similarly.
Like a,
we shouldn't treat him
like a lucky charm
that we pray to
when we just need help.
Or like a mate
down the pub.
No,
he is the great
and victorious God.
But we do come to him.
We do come to him.
His greatness
is worthy of our worship.
As we see the world's efforts
fade.
Fads,
they come and go,
don't they?
Political heroes
disappear.
Celebrities
fade.
Technologies
get superseded.
Jobs
finish.
Wealth
will rot.
Even our family
eventually dies
and leaves us.
But our God
does not fade.
The only person
worthy of our
heart's desires,
worships and longings
is God himself,
the Lord.
And if God's word
has brought that
response in you,
perhaps this week
spend time
in praise.
Get to church
on Sunday.
Pray on your own
and recognise
all his worth.
Speak out of his
victory,
of his grace.
If you've never
done that before
but you're drawn
to this God,
then try,
do it,
just speak
knowing he hears you.
When we meet
someone really talented,
we can't help but
tell them how great
they are,
can we?
Oh, I loved how well
you played that music.
Oh, you're a great
rugby player.
It's a natural response.
And how much more
with our great God.
come to him,
our victorious,
our gracious God.
God's victory
in Jesus Christ
is a decisive defeat.
It is a rich rescue.
Let's pray to him now.
Thank you.