Exodus & Redemption

Recap:

We looked at creation, how God made it all. This is his world and we’re just living in it

God made a covenant with Abraham that He was going to make a great people out of him

And tonight, we’re going to look at the next big event in God’s Word....the Exodus and Redemption

Israel’s Captivity

As we come to the end of Genesis, what you find happening is pretty good news. God had made good on His promise to this point, and Israel had greatly increased in size.

Yeah Joseph was sold to slavery at one point, but what his brothers had intended for evil, God had intended for good.

And so we roll into the book of Exodus in this overview of the themes of the Bible, and all is good, until you get to verse 8 of Exodus chapter 1.

Israel got too big for the new Pharaoh’s liking, and Joseph had died

There were 600,000 men + plus women and children

They took the command “Be fruitful and multiply to a different level!”

So Israel becomes the slaves of the Egyptians

And we get introduced to the person of Moses.

And remember, the first 2 chapters of Exodus cover about 400 years.

So the Israelites have been slaves for a long time

But Moses come onto the scene, and you all know his story right?

Tell me

Yeah, so Moses is out in Midian, hiding, started a new life, forgot everything from Egypt

Married with kids, taking care of sheep, meanwhile the Israelites are still suffering daily under the hand of slavery

Now, if you were an Israelite, and the promise that was made to Abraham was known by you, how would you be feeling?

Forgotten?

Angry?

Upset?

Cry for help?

God saw

God knew

Truth #1

God always sees you and God always knows what is going on in your life.

There are times in your life, there may be times now where you are really struggling. Sure, you’re not stuck making bricks for a slave driver, but things aren’t going well.

God sees you and God knows.

And so you probably then are asking, well, “Why does God let this happen.” And there isn’t always a known answer to that question.

But if you want proof that God is always in control and works everything together for good, we have it here in this story.

Way back in when God made the covenant with Abram, he told him that this was going to happen. (Remember the weird sacrifice?)

It was part of His plan of redemption

And we always have to remember, that sin broke everything. But God, in his grace and mercy, works through our sin to help us.

Nothing will be perfect, our lives won’t be immediately blessed because we’ve entered into the covenant of salvation with God…but the promise is still there for us.

Even though the Israelites situation felt hopeless, God saw them and God knew.

And even if your situation feels hopeless, God sees and knows.

It’s part of His plan

The Burning Bush

Recap the burning bush story

Not burning up

Moses was perplexed

God speaks to Him, “Moses! Moses!”

Holy ground

“I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

Moses hid his face and was afraid

God tasks him with going to Pharaoh to ask for their release

Two Questions that we all ask

Read verses 3:10-14

God has a plan to use all of us, and what we see here in response from Moses is two questions that we all always ask

1. Who am I?

2. Who is God?

Everything in our lives is based on the right answer to these two questions.

Who Am I?

It’s a great question, and one that you all will undoubtedly ask yourselves many times over the course of your life.

It’s also a question we see asked by every single person, we see it being asked in the media constantly anymore

But I want you to notice the response that God gives to Moses.

He doesn’t go on to list some accomplishments that Moses had achieved in order to boost his morale

Sheep herder of the year

Most improved water drawer

Because isn’t that what we want to hear about ourselves?

Youth Pastor calling

But remember back a few lessons ago…what is the point of God’s Word?

To learn about Him

Verse 12 gives us God’s response to Moses question of Who am I?

And the response is this - “I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

God’s response was, “I will be with you.”

God’s response to Moses’ fear was to remind Him that He was in control, He was in charge, and He was with Him.

Meaning, it doesn’t matter who we are. All that matters is if we are His.

And if we are His....then when He calls us, we act

And he’s called all of us

But I can’t because...... examples

And it reminds us that we are not our own, that we belong to Him, and when we try to separate ourselves from Him we get messed up.

Who is God?

But Moses asks another question: basically, Who Are You?

Read verse 13 & 14

God responds with what should hopefully be a familiar statement to us: “I am who I am”

This is more than a “Because I said so” type response that you sometimes get from your parents!

This response carries huge significance

Contrary to the fact that we can’t define ourselves, that we only exist because of God....God is making it clear to Moses that He exists because of Himself.

God isn’t defined by anyone or anything else

Where we are defined by I was created, God is defined as I am

Remember when we talked about the creation account, and we referenced how God was referred to with 2 different names?

Elohim

Yahweh

If you look at 3:2, you’ll see the LORD is written in all capital letters in your Bible.

That’s Yahweh. That’s the personal God. And he is referring to Himself as I am who I am.

And Yahweh is used over 6,000 times in the Bible, 3x more than Elohim

And so what we see here in response to Moses’ question is this:

God, our personal God, is not just a generic god, an elohim. He is Yahweh. He is the great I am.

And so when we realize who we are, and who God is, and in response to God wanting to use us, our limitations don’t define us. Because we are completely limited apart from God, who promises to be with us.

The Rest of the Story

Well, Moses decides to leave everything and head back to Egypt, and you guys know how the story goes.

Pharaoh rejects Moses’ request

Ten plagues:

Tell me

Water turned to blood

Frogs

Gnats

Flies

Livestock Die

Boils

Hail

Locusts

Darkness

First nine were attacking the egyptian gods

First Born son

Passover:

Picture of Christ

Red Sea

A Forgetful People

They continually forgot who they were and who God was

And we are guilty of the same

When we forget, we invite a load of trouble upon ourselves

But, when we rightfully remember who we are, sinners in need of saving, and who God is, I AM, who made a way to redeem us, then our response should be

Worship

In lifestyle

In action

In thought