This is Us

Why Exodus and why now?

Im guessing that you might be wondering that as we begin this book.

Most scholars believe that the events that took place in the book of Exodus happened around 3,000 years ago. So what in the world would a book written around the period where the latest and greatest invention was the horse drawn bugey have to do with us today?

Well, thats a good question.

Id like to answer it by offering a little illustration.

A couple of years ago a hit new TV show aired on the NBC network in the sacred Primetime thursday night spotlight. Now, let me be trasparent. I am not a network TV guy, I could take it or leave it. In fact, there is only one show that I have really enjoyed in my entire life that aired on the NBC network ever…that is…until this show started playing.

The show was titled “This is Us”

I got captivated by that show for about 2 years...

This is Us is a story about a family that is coming to terms with the early passing of their father…and is dealing with the declining health of a mother. Its a show about loss and grief and disappointment…and yet in the middle of all of that. It is a show about the beauty of an imperfect family. Its a show about love and perseverance.

What so resonates with people about that story has something to do with the title, I think. I think people look at that family in that story…and then they look at their family and their life…and they think “This is Us.”

Exodus…is the same as that story...

You see…as we read through the Story of the Exodus…we are going to realize… “This is Us”

We are going to see our story through this story...

Because, sure, while a lot has changed over the course of 3000 years, 2 things are exactly the same

Humans—sure we got cellphones that can make phone calls around the globe at any given moment…and we got toilets that flush… (Youre like how did you get from cell phones to toilets…I mean its the little things that really count, amen?) We havent really changed all that much…we come into this world just like these people did…and we leave this world just like these people did.

And most importantly…God hasnt changed.

You see this book…is about God. It is his story…he is the main actor in this show.

But what we find as we read this story, and what we are going to find over the course of the next few months as we study this great book together.

And so here in the main point I think we have to see as we begin this journey…Because this is ultimately a book about the character and nature of God...

The Journey of the Exodus, is a picture of our Journey through the Christian Life.

Again…this is us…this story is our story.

Exodus 15:13 is for us…just as much as it was for the People of Israel...

Exodus 15:13 (ESV)

13 “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.

There are two things that we are going to see over and over and over again throughout the course of this study.

1) The Story of Exodus is a picture of our story…because what we see throughout this book is that God Guides us out of sin.

To put it more specificially…Exodus is going to teach us that God is a Redeemer.

In this story, the people of Israel…God’s chosen, appointed, elected people…are in a terrible situation...

Exodus 1:8–13 (ESV)

8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.

10 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.”

11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.

12 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.

13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves

And so the people of God in the midst of this oppression and tyranny begin to call upon the name of the Lord. They begin to plead with God to do something...

So God raises up one who would stand in the gap for them…He raises up a redeemer…His name is Moses.

Now I want to be really clear, Moses is not a perfect man. In fact, the scripture tells us the exact opposite. The book of Exodus starts out showing us that Moses is an impulsive and immature man. He is driven by an overly emotional temperament (nothing wrong with emotion…but sometimes we gotta make our feelings listen to facts). He is ambitious…but his ambition is driven by selfishness and pride. All of this culminates in the fact that Moses murders someone and has to run away into a place called Midian…where Moses stays for 40 years…making a new life for himself.

And one day, while Moses is keeping watch over his sheep, God reveals himself to Moses and says these words in a burning bush that isn't consumed by the fire. And here is what he says to him, Exodus 3:7-10 “7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

God sees the affliction of His people… he hears their cries…and it when the people of God cry out…God responds by sending one who deliverer them from the hand of oppression and tyranny.

Lean in here…because this is our story.

Because though we arent in Egypt…we are people who are oppressed and afflicted…born in captivity to an evil tyrant much greater than an Egyptian Pharoah…we are slaves to Sin.

And God sees our hurts and he hears our groanings…and it moved him to raise up a Reedemer who was greater than Moses...

Jesus is our Better Moses…who guides us out of oppression and slavery.

Jesus is the better Passover Lamb who was slain on the cross for the remission of sin.

In Christ…our cries for mercy and grace have been heard.

Christ has accomplished all the work of redemption for us…He has ransomed us from the power of sin that enslaved us…and he has redeemed us from the effects of sin.

2) God Leads Us into His Presence:

Exodus 15:13 (ESV)

13 “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.

Our story is seen in the reality that God has guided us out of sin…in Christ...

And in Christ....God leads us into his presence...

God shows up in the Midst…he leads them by dwelling with them.

God commands them to build him a house…called the Tabernacle…because God was showing them that His presence was with them.

And this is our story...

We are people who, in Christ, have been led out of the bondage of sin…and we have been led into the Holy Abode of God…the holy presence of God.

Just as God dwelled among His people in the Ark of the Coveneant…God has made his home in us. He has saved us…and now he stays with us.

This is why Jesus says that he is the vine and we are the branches…because he has made his presence our home…if we abide in Him.

This is why Peter wrote in 1 Pet. 3:18:

“18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,”

God, the Holy Spirit, has made his home in us…He dwells with us...

I love what A.W. Pink has to say about these verses,

This is our place as his redeemed. That is, we are brought to God according to all that He is. His whole moral nature having been completely satisfied in the death of Christ, He can now rest in us in perfect complacency.”

What a beautiful reality the gospel of Jesus Christ is...

We have been brought near to God…we have been lead into his presence…God has made his home in our hearts by grace…through faith.

Let me ask you a question: Has that happened in your life?

Have you allowed God to break the chain of sin that has held you in bondage this morning?

Have you been born again through faith in Jesus? Or are you still enslaved to sin?

If you havent…can I plead with you this morning to turn your eyes upon Jesus…to trust in him…to fall at his feet...

He is the sacrificial lamb that was slain for your sin…and if you will trust in Him this morning…you can be set free from the bondage of sin and death.

Christian: Let me ask you a question now…What do you think would change if we really believed…like in our bones…that in Christ, we have been led out of slavery to sin…and we have the full presence of God made avaliable to us?

What sin might we walk away from?

What sacrifices might we make to love others the way that we have been loved?

How might that change the way we do this thing that we call church? If we really believe that God…the Triune, Father, Son, and Spirit is here among us?

How might the power and presence of God embolden us to live for the glory of God in a world that desperately needs the good news?

What would be different about our lives...if we really believed that the story of Exodus is our story?

What would it look like to really believe that Jesus is a better Moses, that He has saved us from a greater enemy than Pharoah?

What would it look like if we really believe that we have greater access into the presence of God than a tabernacle?

What would it look like if we really believed that we have a greater provision than Manna.

What would it look like if we really believed that we have a greater Priest than Aaron? And a greater sacrifice than an animal.

What would it look like if we really believed and better covenant than the one given on Mount Sanai?

The answer is…if we really believe those things…is that nothing would be the same...

This is what my prayer is as we continue this study of this book…that we would be the people who understand that God has lead us in His steadfast love…because we are the people whom He has redeemed…and that we are the people that God himself has guided us into His very holy presence...

This is our story…if you believe…and if you havent believed it…this is the morning for you to respond.

Come to Jesus…Let Him be your Redeemer…and then you can say that This is Us…this will be your story.