From Slavery to Freedom: The 4 Tricks of the Devil | Exodus 1 & 5-10 | Pastor Daniel Banna (7/5/26)

Good morning. This morning, we begin, a short series through the book of Exodus entitled From Slavery to freedom as we follow, the great work of God in delivering his people from bondage, into the freedom he has promised. If you turn with me to the book of Exodus chapter one beginning in verse seven. But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly. They multiplied and grew exceedingly strong so that the land was filled with them.

Now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph, and he said to his people, behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply. And if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land. Therefore, they set task master... Mask...

Masters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built to Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Ramses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad, and the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and all kinds of work in the field. In all their work, they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

This is the story of Israel in Egypt, a people under a cruel master, a people unable to free themselves, a people whose bondage grew more severe. Now remember, these people had not yet been redeemed. They're not saved yet. The Passover lamb had not yet been sacrificed. The blood had not been shed or applied, yet God already purposed to save them.

And no king, no nation, and no power on earth could overturn God's plan. But this is more than just Israel's story. This is our story. It's my story and your story before we came to Christ. We were slaves to sin, to pride, to lust.

We were slaves to Satan, unable to deliver ourselves. And the harder we tried, the more hopeless our condition became. Now why did God begin this long process of of saving Israel? Was it because just they are oppressed? Was it because they were suffering?

Was this the main reason? In fact, Exodus chapter two verse 24 gives us the first answer, and say that God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He remembered his covenant. He saw the groaning and the suffering and the oppression, but was... That was not enough.

He remembered his covenant. Now the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 28 chapter 20 verses eight to 10, he tells us that though they were slaves in Egypt, these people of Israel, they had become idolaters. They refused to forsake the idols of Egypt, and they stood under God's judgment as sure as the Egyptians did. Free or slave, oppressor or oppressed, all stand guilty before God. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Yet God did not pour his wrath upon them. Why? He remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But there's another reason Ezekiel tells us, not because they deserved mercy, not because their oppression satisfies God's justice. It did not.

He tells us because of God's own name. Ezekiel says in verse nine in chapter 20, I acted for the sake of my name, and I brought them out of the land of Egypt. God's deliverance was rooted not in Israel's worthiness, but in his own glory. That's why the Exodus story, such a glorious picture of our own salvation, of our own deliverance. As Paul writes, these things took place as example for us.

The God who delivered Israel from Egypt is the same God who delivers sinners through Jesus Christ. The Israelites under slavery in Egypt speak of every unsaved human being who is under the dominion of darkness. Egypt speaks of this evil world, Revelation eleven eight, and pharaoh is a picture of Satan, its ruler and its king. The unsaved may not admit that they are bound by chains and cannot set themselves free, and they are under the heavy yoke of sin. In fact, they are willing slaves, and they love it.

Because the god of this world has blinded them, and they can no longer tell truth from falsehood, right from wrong. Now picture with me the Israelites in the wilderness going slightly further in the book of Numbers chapter 11. Now, once again there, they began to complain. They wanted meat. The manna was no longer enough for them.

What God has provided, God's food, was no longer enough for them. They wanted meat. And in verse five of that chapter 11 of the book of Numbers, they start recalling something. They start recalling the good things of Egypt. They said, we remember the fish we ate that cost nothing.

The cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic, Quite interesting. Fish, they said, that cost nothing. Really? Really? What exactly were you paid for your hard labor?

Cost you nothing? They remember the cucumbers, the melons, the leek, the garlic, and the onion. You see, Pharaoh did not take these things away from them. It would not have suited his purpose if he had. He kept them willing slaves.

Feed them leeks, onions, and garlics, and, yes, give them some fish and some cucumber and some melon. Keep them content with the lot. You see, the world offer its own people a lot of leek, onion, and garlic, and, yes, he offers them some fish, melon, and cucumber. To keep them content where they are and keep their eyes on their labor so they will not see the milk and honey and wine that God provides without limit. What about you?

My friend, how is the condition of your soul? Have you departed Egypt, or are you still content with leeks, onions, and garlic? When God offers much better things, greater things, God says, come, everyone who thirst, everyone who thirst, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat. This is for the slave of Egypt. This is the the slaves of sin.

Come, God says. He calls come and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why? Because Christ has paid the full price on the cross, the price of my salvation, the price of my deliverance, the price of my redemption.

He said, come. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food. God has better things for you, not just to be content. No.

He says, but delight yourself in rich foods that he gladly supplies. He desires to be your delight, his word to be your light. Is it? I pray that you will heed to the voice of God today if you have not yet, and you come to Christ, the fountain of living water, the fountain of joy. He will satisfy your heart.

He has satisfied the hearts of millions of people. So in this first scene, we see the Israelites in Egypt under bondage and cannot do anything about it. Now in chapter three of the book of Exodus, things start to change. Now look with me at verse seven and verse eight of chapter three. Then the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because the...

Because of their task mass... Masters, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians. Now, what an amazing statement from God himself. I have come down. Did you notice that?

Now we have seen their hopeless condition. None, again, can help them free themselves from the hands of their cruel master and ruler. God must come down to deliver. You see, there is no random word in scripture, is there? There's no random word in scripture.

God meant it when he said, I have come down, because he had in view what would what would happen fifteen hundred years later when Christ Jesus, God in the flesh, will come down to save his people, to save us all. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, first Timothy one fifteen. God became a man to save a man who is lost, who is slave to sin. He went to the cross to deliver us out of the hand of Satan, to set the captives free, Jews and Gentiles alike, for all have sinned. And if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Now what the enslaved Israelites needed is deliverance from the hands of their captors. Nothing else will do. Nothing else would do other than freedom from slavery. You see, listening their labor or improving their working condition would never be enough. Often we think, what man needs simply, better circumstances, maybe better programs to improve him.

You see, man's greatest problem is not his circumstances. Man greatest problem is his heart. Programs can change behavior and improve outward actions, but they cannot transform the heart or give life to a dead soul. Man is lost. Man is dead.

You cannot improve a dead man, a dead corpse. What a dead corpse needs is the spirit of God to revive him and bring him back to life. That is what Christ alone can do. Did people need the spirit of Christ? Slave must be set free first before they can depart Egypt.

God himself come down to deliver them. And just as God came down in the days of the exodus to deliver his people from slavery, In the fullness of time, Jesus, God in the flesh, came to deliver the captives of sin and save the lost. I have come that they might have life and have it, abundantly. John ten ten. And then we begin to see God's plan unfold in the book of Exodus.

God commissions a deliverer, Moses, and his brother, Aaron. Now you look with me at Exodus chapter five verse one. And here we see the first, appearance of Moses before Pharaoh. Afterward, Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let my people go, that they may hold the feast to me in the wilderness. Now from this point on, the story becomes very excites...

Exciting for us. Why? Because we know the end result. Now the story did not become exciting to the to the Israelites. In fact, it became a story of horror as you read the following chapters.

And here, I would like to look at four tricks, wiles, the devil uses to hinder the deliverance of sinners. Now let me tell you, it worked then and still works today. Satan is very experienced. Thousands of years of experience with humanity. That's why he easily deceives so many.

Now what is Pharaoh's initial respond or response to God's command? Look at verse two. But Pharaoh said, who is the Lord? That I should obey his voice and let Israel go. Who is Yahweh?

I do not know Yahweh. And moreover, I will not let Israel go. Defiance. Defiance. You see, Satan never gives his captives easily.

He never does. He will not let them go without a struggle. Have you experienced that before you came to Christ? Was it easy? Satan's roars, no.

I will not let him go. But not only no. There's something else. Look at verse six. The same day, Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, you shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks as in the past.

Let them go and gather straw for themselves. Did the situation improve? No. Exactly the opposite. The situation did not improve.

It became even worse. Their workload was doubled. Their slavery became more severe. And this what happened when God began to move. When Moses stood before Pharaoh and declared, let my people go.

When God began to move... Started to move, things became worse. Are you surprised? Are you shocked at that? Did you expect this to happen?

Have you experienced something similar in your life? You shared the gospel with someone whom you truly love. You pray for them For weeks, for months, you share the gospel with them, praying and hoping for their salvation. And instead of softening, their resistance increases. They were ungodly, but they're quiet, but right now, they are openly resisting the gospel.

They are aggressive, and they show such hostility toward God, toward the church, and towards you. Their condition seems to be worse than in the beginning. You see, Satan knows very well how to tighten his grip when the light of the gospel begins to shine on someone. And often before we see any softening of heart, you see increased resistance. I've seen it.

Then God begins sending his judgment upon Pharaoh and about the... Over the Egyptians. See, but Pharaoh is a stubborn king. He's not going to change his position quickly. Even under the heavy hand of God, he's not going to do that.

And we read this this statement four times in chapter seven and eight. Look at at at seven thirteen. It says, still, Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Look at seven twenty two. So Pharaoh's heart remained hardened.

Look at verse eight fifteen. He hardened his heart. Look at eight nineteen. But Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Now Pharaoh must change his tactics.

Now he's not foolish, and he he will keep trying to derail God's plan if he can. And he does not show any change of heart until after the fourth plague. And then we read this in Exodus chapter eight verse 25, if you go there. Eight twenty five. Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, go sacrifice to your god within the land.

This is the first of Satan's tricks. Sounds good. Right? But the condition is attached within the land. Within the land.

Go sacrifice to your god, but hear my condition within the land. Moses must reject Pharaoh's offer because God's command was very clear, and he must insist on it. No compromise can be made with God's command. No negotiations can be made with Satan. And this how Moses answered in verse 27.

Look at it. We must go three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the lord our god as he tells us. This is the principle. True worship requires separation, separation from Egypt. Or how this...

How sad is is is the condition of of the church today where sacrifice within the land is is what's preached? Worship in Egypt. God says, no. You must go three days journey into the wilderness and worship me there. You must leave Egypt before you can offer a true worship.

You see, Satan has no problem with worship in the land within his territory, within his reach because he easily can control can control your worship. You see, sacrifice within the land is serving God on Pharaoh's terms, not God's. God has already said, let my people go that they may serve me, Exodus eight one. They have to leave Egypt. Pharaoh does not say do not serve God.

He says serve him, but do it here. This is the deception. Satan might not say or may not say reject reject God, but he says, see, follow Christ, but do not surrender everything. That's not the voice of God. He might say, go to church, but keep a company of old friends close to you.

Oh, because he knows what this old friends close to you would do to you. Who are your friends? Who are those who are mostly close to you? Satan may say, read the Bible, but bend it to fit your culture. Confess Christ, but remain under Egypt's influence.

That's why Moses refuses. The issue is lordship. Who has the right to command God's people, Pharaoh or God? Moses will not allow Pharaoh to rewrite what God has spoken, and that description has not changed. Satan is content with the Christianity that bears Christ's name while remaining under Egypt's influence.

Not everyone called a Christian truly belong to Christ, and the question is, have you left Egypt? Do you belong to Christ, or you are still under the influence of that old master? You have the reputation, Christ says to the church of Cyrus in Revelation chapter three verse one. You have the reputation of being alive, that you are a Christian, but you are dead. And I fear Christ has this message today to many who call themselves Christians.

Now did you notice Moses' response? We must go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the lord our god as he tells us. This three days journey is a complete break from the old master. Three days. Israel was not simply changing locations.

They were leaving slavery. Egypt was not just a place. It represented the old life, the old ruler, the old bondage. The wilderness was the place where God would meet them, teach them, nourish them, make them his people. That's why Moses insisted on this on this three days journey.

So when God... When Moses says we must go three days journey, he is saying we cannot worship God while remaining slaves in Egypt. But I believe there is something even deeper in this three days journey. Three days, anything comes to your memory when you hear about three days. You see, throughout scripture, God often used the third day as a day of deliverance.

And here, it points to the greatest deliverance in history, What represented today in the Lord's Supper, the death and resurrection of our lord Jesus Christ. The three the three days journey is not merely about leaving Egypt. It's about passing from one realm to another. Israel goes from slavery to freedom, from Pharaoh's rules to God's rules, from Egypt to the worship of Yahweh. The Exodus story points us to a greater deliverer deliverer and a great...

Greater deliverance through his death and resurrection. God brings his people out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of his beloved son. And as Israel had to leave Egypt, those who belong to Christ must leave the world. We must follow him on the same path, the path of death to sin and life on him. Then we see the sequence of Satan tricks in verse 28.

Pharaoh said, I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the lord, your God in the wilderness, but you must go... But you must not go far. Now pray for me. I will let you go. Why?

He's softening his heart, but not too far. That was a quick change of heart. Right? Okay. Fine.

Go with the wellness. Don't go too far. In other words, stay within my reach. Stay within my reach. Why?

I mean, we don't have to guess. Right? It's simple. So I can pull you back at my pleasure. And this is the second lie of the devil.

His second trick, remain at the border. When the first trick does not work, even though it has worked on so many, he tries the second trick. Stay at the border. Now many people think this is good enough. They call this Christianity.

No. Borderline Christianity is not Christianity at all. It's not the Christianity of the Bible. Now Lot, Abraham's nephew, might be that he was one of this class. He was of no real testimony in the world.

The people mocked him, even even his his own children married into Sodom. How different was Abraham whom God called his friend, the friend of God, who left his country for a distant land, living as a pilgrim because he was looking for the city whose architect and builder is God. This is true Christianity, not the borderline Christianity. And, again, Moses must reject Pharaoh's second offer. Still, stubborn Pharaoh will not let the Israelites go until he experiences further plagues.

Go to Exodus Exodus chapter 10 and verse 10. But he said to them, the Lord be with you. If I ever let you and your little ones go, look, you have some evil purpose in mind. No. Go, the men among you, and serve the Lord.

Now Pharaoh is allowing the three days journey, But what is the condition? Only the men can go. Can you see that? What about the children? No.

Only the men, no children can go with you. They must remain in Egypt. Would Moses agree to that? Of course not. Moses will not agree to that.

You see, Pharaoh knew exactly what he was doing. If the little children remain in Egypt, their parents would almost certainly return back to them. And if Egypt keep the children, Egypt would shave their hearts. That's why Moses refused to compromise. What god commanded Moses remain true today.

Satan is still content if he can keep the next generation. And it is the Christian's parents' responsibility to make sure no little one is left in Egypt. All must leave. Teach them God's word. Pray with them and for them.

Bring them with you among God's people. Show them by example that Christ is worthy of their whole lives. Never leave a single little one in Egypt because if the world captures their heart, it may one day draw you also yourself back to it. And young men, young women, children, do not believe the lies of the devil. The world has always been at enmity with God, at enmity with your faith, with Christ, even at enmity with you.

It's go to deceive you, to draw you away from Christ, and to persuade you to embrace its values, its beliefs, its ways, and it will use every means possible to capture your heart and destroy your soul. Do not believe its lies. Depart Egypt. Depart Egypt. And, again, I say to parents, don't leave your little ones in Egypt.

Don't listen to their desires of the little ones. Bring them with you to church among God's people. Take time to pray with them and for them. Read the Bible. Teach them God's word.

Instill in them the love of Christ, their savior. Don't leave them in Egypt. There's still one more trick. Exodus ten twenty four. Pharaoh says, go serve the Lord.

Your little ones also may go with you. Only let your flocks and your herds remain behind. It sounds generous. I mean, the children may go. The three days journey is allowed.

What could possibly be wrong with Pharaoh's offer? I mean, come on, Moses. Don't be stubborn. Don't insist on on every single word. Accept Pharaoh's offer.

How does Moses respond? In verse 26, not a hoof shall be left behind. Yes. Moses had no authority to bargain with God's command. That's why Moses says our livestock also must go with us, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God, and we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.

God alone determines what he requires of us. God alone determines how he is to be served. How could they serve the Lord if they left behind what God required? The livestock was the very sacrifice they would offer to God. Not a hoof could be left behind.

See, Christ does not call us to partial obedience. He calls us to follow him with all of our lives. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Offer him your whole life, not part of it, but all of it. Hold nothing back.

Let not a single hoof remain in Egypt. Can you say this today? I have left Egypt, and not a single half is left there. And if not, lord, I make this decision even today that there is no single half will be left in Egypt. All will go out.

All will live to the freedom God has promised. May God grant us grace to hold nothing back from the one who held nothing back for us. Just pray. Glorious god, we worship you. We thank you for the richness of your word.

We thank you for your great love towards us that, yes, you came down in the person of Jesus Christ to deliver us from the hand of our oppressor, Satan, to set us free, to break the chains, to deliver us from this world, from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of your son, Jesus. As we stand this morning here, we glorify you, and we thank you for the work you have begun in our lives, Lord. It's just the beginning, and we praise you, Lord God, for that. And we do ask you, our god and savior, to continue to deliver your people from every sin, from every bondage. Break, lord, every chain, every addiction.

Lord, you can, and we believe in your power to do that. Lord, your church needs you. We need you today and always. Our hope in you, not in man. Only you can provide salvation.

Only you can sustain our lives. And, Lord, together, we thank you and we praise your holy name now and forever. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.