Message Notes

YOUTH WORSHIP 8 June 2024
Text: Exodus 23:20-33
Title: “I send an Angel before you”

INTRODUCTION

1. Various laws were highlighted

a) A corruption-free country Exodus 23:1-9

b) The law of Sabbaths Exodus 23:10-13

c) Three Annual Feasts Exodus 23:14-19

2. The purpose of highlighting these laws

a) To exhort and encourage

b) To strengthen and renew the spiritual core

c) The challenge is to prepare and to respond well

AN UPLIFTING ADMONITION

20 “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.

21 Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.

23 For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.”

Exodus 23:20-21, 23

1. The Angel of the LORD

a) He is not unknown

i) He appeared to Hagar Genesis 16:7-16

ii) He spoke to Abraham Genesis 18:1-33

iii) He wrestled with Jacob Genesis 32:22-32

b) He would be sent to be with Israel

i) To keep them in the way

ii) To bring Israel to the land which God had prepared

c) Enemies in Canaan named

i) The Amorites

ii) The Hittites

iii) The Perizzites

iv) The Canaanites

v) The Hivites

vi) The Jebusites

2. Important word of admonition

a) Beware of Him

b) Obey His voice

c) Do not provoke Him

d) He will not pardon your transgressions

e) My name is in Him

OBEDIENCE OF ISRAEL ENJOINED

22 “But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

24 You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.”

Exodus 23:22, 24

1. Israel must obey

2. The nation must never worship idols

3. The sacred pillars of the Canaanites are to be destroyed

4. The LORD would be the One who would fight for the children of Israel

THE PROMISE OF BLESSINGS

25 “So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.

26 No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.

27 “I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you.

29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.

30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land.

31 And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.

32 You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

Exodus 23:25-33

1. Promise of special Protection and Provision

a) Provision
Bread and water

b) Protection
No miscarriage or barrenness

2. Special Presence of God

a) My Fear

b) Confusion among the enemies

c) Hornets

3. A Wise Plan

a) The conquest plan would take more than a year

b) It would be “little by little”

c) Israel is to increase year by year

4. Boundaries set

a) It would not become an Empire

b) The land borders are determined

5. No covenant with the people in the land of Canaan

a) All covenants involve the invoking of idols

b) This will become a snare to the children of Israel

CONCLUSION

1. To stand in awe of God’s revealed plan of blessing

2. To determine to respond well to God’s promise of blessing

3. To be faithful to the LORD always