Set Free - The Book of Exodus
Set Free – The Book of Exodus
Living out our purpose
The people of Israel finally get their act together, getting to work on building the tabernacle. They show us what it looks like when a community of God’s people are living out their special purpose in the world. Exodus 35-39
Mercy for Sinners
After the golden calf incident, Israel’s only hope is that God would show them mercy. In the chapters that follow, Moses pleads with God and God shows his mercy to Israel in three ways. We are reminded that we have a mediator who pleads for mercy on our behalf and that we ourselves are sinners who have received the incredible mercy of God. Exodus 33-34
Life without God is not life at all
As we look into Israel’s sin with the golden calf, we notice that we are not so different to them, because the problem of sin is universal. Like Israel, people today still fail to trust God. But though we are like Israel and fail, God can treat us differently. He does this because where we fail, Jesus succeeds. Exodus 32:1-33:6
The Priest we need
God has promised to dwell among his people. But there’s a problem. God is holy and his people aren’t. Israel needs a priest to enable them to come close to God. Let us consider how Israel’s priests point us to Jesus, our great High Priest who enables us to draw near to God. Exodus 28-30
I Will Dwell Among Them
Most of Exodus so far has given us massive pictures of God – burning bush, plagues in Egypt, parting the Red Sea, manna from heaven, and law giving at Mt Sinai. In Exodus 25-27 the Israelites are instructed to build a tabernacle as a sanctuary for God so that he might dwell among them. This is a stunning indication of his desire for relationship with his people. The whole Biblical narrative traces God’s relentless pursuit of relationship with his people,…
The purpose of the Law
The law was given to God’s people to teach them about God, to teach them how to live as God’s people and, ultimately, to show them that they need a Saviour. Exodus 20-24
Set free and set apart
God’s words to Israel in Exodus 19 remind us that in Christ, we have a been granted a great salvation, a special identity and a special purpose in the world.
Grumbling and grace
What’s the point of the tough times in life? Tonight we see Israel encounter three tough times on their journey. Each time, they grumble about their circumstances and each time their grumbling is met with God’s grace. In these stories we see that God uses the tough times we face to strengthen our faith in him.
Our story, our song
Israel’s song tells the story of what God has done, who God is, and what God will do. Everyone who has a story of salvation has a song to sing, including us.
Deliver us from evil
Israel’s great deliverance through the Red Sea reminds us that we desperately need deliverance, that we experience deliverance by trusting God and that when we are delivered, God is the one who gets the glory.
Greg Beaumont: The Passover
The Exodus story is one of many big “movie moments”. But perhaps there is no moment bigger in the Exodus story than that of the final plague and Passover. There are many things that we can learn about God from this massive moment: His power, his judgment, the freedom he secures for his people from suffering. But there is a bigger lesson to be learned in this passage. As we look at the plague and the Passover meal we discover that Israel has a much larger problem than Pharaoh and that this problem isn’t isolated to them alone – it is the fundamental problem that all humanity faces, including us today. Thankfully the Passover Lamb offers the solution.
The danger of resisting God
Is God relevant in the 21st century? Does He have any power? Should we fear Him? Should we take any notice of what He says in the Bible? These questions are extremely relevant today because if the answer is “NO” then Christianity is a waste of time. On the other hand, if the answer is “YES”, that has huge implications. Pharaoh tried to brush God off …. over and over again as God sent one plague after another. Every encounter ended badly for Pharaoh and his people. Yet his pride and stubbornness refused to admit defeat, and his heart became increasingly hardened. This was not so much a battle with Moses but a battle with the one true God, Yahweh. Still today this God is real and very powerful, and he will one day judge us all. Beware the sinful, unbelieving heart.
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