The Way of Exodus Part 8 - Redemption is just the Beginning

The Way of Exodus Part 8 - Redemption is just the Beginning

In this, the eighth podcast in this series, Exodus chapters 14–17 show us something that is easy to miss: the Red Sea was the miracle… but it wasn't the destination. It was just the beginning. God rescues His people in a dramatic moment, but now begins the process of formation, now begins the long journey and the patient ministering that will teach His people how to live as free people who trust Him day by day.

Very quickly the questions within the narrative change from "Will God get us out?" to "Will God keep us?" And the answer, again and again, is yes. In the wilderness God gives daily bread — manna that trains them in dependence rather than panic. He shows daily protection — not by removing every threat, but by going before them and standing between them and what would destroy them. Rescue is real, but it's not the end; God sustains what He saves.

But the deepest point of all was this: the goal was never just to be drawn "out of slavery." The goal was that the Hebrews would be drawn into relationship. God wants to have a relationship with humanity and, in this instance, with His people. journey isn't simply from bondage to survival — it's from bondage to communion, from fear to worship, from Pharaoh's rule that leads to slavery and death, to God’s which leads to life. This is amplified in chapter 25: "Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them" (Exodus 25:8).

And this is where we need to make the connection to the Gospel narrative. This is where the Exodus story is utterly relevant to our own lives. When we follow Jesus are released from the bondage of sin and death. He leads us out of Egypt and through the Red Sea. But just as that was just the beginning of a lifetime journey with God for the Hebrews, so it is for us: we are invited to journey through our lives with God before us and behind us. We are forgiven, filled with the spirit and we are invited to abide. We are brought into a relationship with God: as Moses brought the Hebrews, Jesus brings us.

And underneath all of it is a truth that can take a lifetime to sink in: God loves you because He loves you. Not because you're impressive, useful, consistent, strong, or sorted. There isn't a deeper "why" to earn or uncover. His love comes from His own heart and that's what makes worship the fitting response from rescued people.

If you find what Dean has said interesting and have a question, please use the 'Ask Dean' link to get it to us as we will try to put together a Q and R podcast in due course. Thank you for your support and for listening in!

You can see past sermons on the Leominster Baptist Church website at  Leominster Baptist Church - YouTube and can contact us directly with your feedback or queries through the Contact Us link at the top of the episode description text.

Leominster Baptist Church can be found on Etnam Street in Leominster, Herefordshire. To find out more about us, visit our website leobc.co.uk. If you would like to speak to someone about anything that you have heard on our podcasts please give us a call and ask for a chat.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

In this The Eighth podcast in this series, Exodus chapters 14-17 show us something that's easy to miss. The Red Sea was the miracle, but it wasn't the destination, it was just the beginning. God rescued his people in a dramatic moment, but now began the process of formation. Now began the long journey and the patient ministry that would teach his people how to live as free people who trust him day by day. And this is where we need to make the connection to the gospel narrative. This is where the Exodus story is utterly relevant to our own lives. When we follow Jesus, we're released from the bondage of sin and death. He leads us out of Egypt and through the Red Sea. But just as that was the beginning of a lifetime journey with God for the Hebrews, so it is for us. We are invited to journey through our lives with God before us and behind us. We are forgiven, filled with the Spirit, and we are invited to abide. We are brought into a relationship with God. As Moses brought the Hebrews, Jesus brings us. Let's listen to Dean.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

So we've come through the Red Sea. We did that last week here in our story of Exodus. And as I say, we're going to try and round it off. We've got an awful lot to try and condense into a short amount of time, but we are going to attempt it nonetheless. We've seen the miracles in this story. We've seen what God has done, and we've mapped it onto our salvation and what it means, God, what it shows us about what God does for us as Christians as we believe Him. That when God saves, it's not a simple thing. There are many things that God is doing. God is confronting Pharaoh, the powers that stand over us, the things that dominate our lives and control us, that make us live in fear, make us live as slaves. He shows them for what they are. There are false gods. There are lies that we believe that we live in, things that we've picked up from our childhood that have been taught us and reinforced in us that we have to have stripped away. That we need protection. We need someone who's going to stand in our place and take us out. That we are slaves and we are brought into freedom. We've seen God's power on display. We've seen him confront evil. We've seen him protect his people and guide them and lead them. We've seen him part the waters and lead them through and guide them. And what I want us to focus on today is just the bit that comes next, which is really the rest of the Bible. But as I say, we're going to try and condense it. The part that comes over. And the big idea of today is that the Red Sea, the Red Sea, and by extension, our salvation, is not the finish line. It is not the end of the journey. In fact, it is the beginning of the journey. Israel has crossed the sea. If you know the story, you've crossed, but they've now got a lifetime to learn trust and worship and what it means to live as God's people. And this is such an important point, and it's really the only point I want to try and drive home today. Some people assume that the miracle moment in our life is everything. The moment of choice, the moment of freedom, the moment where we're brought out of something into something new. But in scripture, the miracles often mark the start of something and not the end. Jesus, in his ministry, he heals many people, but that is not the end. He's not saying, thank you, you're healed now, off you go, you're done. They are the start. They are the first step to them knowing Jesus and walking with him and loving him and being changed by him. It is the start line and not the finish line. And this simple truth applies to the Bible, it applies to much of life. Your wedding day, and I often say this at weddings, may your wedding day be the worst day of your married life. And people think, well, why would you say that? And the reason is because if it's the best, it's downhill from then on. But if it's the worst, then every day gets better and better and better. The birth of a child is dramatic and life-changing, but you are not done the moment that the child comes out. Then you have the lifetime of raising that child, of growing them, of nurturing. Rescue from a burning house is a dramatic moment, but it is not the same thing as rebuilding a life after it has been put out. These things that these moments, these dramatic moments, are the start of what's to follow. And Exodus, the Exodus story, the Exodus event itself coming through the Red Sea is the start of something else. And we're going to look today at what that something else is. We've called this series Exodus, freedom from and freedom for. And today we're very much going to focus on the freedom for. Because there is something that we have. Like I said, the Exodus is a picture of what God does with us. He brings us out of slavery into freedom. He brings us out of the powers that suppress us into the life that He has for us. He brings us out of death into resurrection life. He brings us out of separation into connection. This is what the Christian gospel is all about. It's why we are here. If you're brand new to church or faith, this is what we were claiming. We didn't do it. We are not good people who worked our ways out and pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps. We didn't figure it out, we didn't find the answer. God did something. Just as God brought them out of Egypt and parted the sea and what led them through, God leads us. God died for us and he rose for us and he calls us and he works on us and brings us to himself. The Israelites didn't part the sea, they didn't outfight Pharaoh, they didn't engineer their own deliverance. God had done it. And we too are not saved by self-improvement, by spiritual effort, by being good people. We are lost. We are a mess. But God takes us and brings us out. God takes us out of death and into life. God has done it. And that's that, by the way, that's why we sing. If it was about us, we'd be going, I am amazing, and all my life I have been faithful. All my life I have been so, so good. But if you notice we don't, we sing God is faithful. God has been so, so good because He is the one who has done it. He breaks the powers, He breaks our He removes the judgment and He brings us into life. And the New Testament is about this, but that moment is only the start. What comes next is learning to live in light of that. There's a verse that I struggle to take seriously because it just sounds too good to be true. And to Peter, so Peter, one of the followers of Jesus, writes this letter and he says, His divine power, God, his divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us the very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. Peter says, You've been brought out of the evil world into a new kingdom, but in that kingdom you have been given everything you need. One translation says, everything you need for life and godliness. But my experience is, and this is just my experience and speaking with people, that we we can say, I think I've been saved. Jesus died for me, he loved me, he paid for my sin, he's set me free. But my life after that doesn't feel free. My life following that doesn't feel it doesn't, I know he did it, but it doesn't feel like he did it. I know sin's been defeated, but it doesn't feel like it's been defeated. I know that the enemy doesn't have any hold on me anymore, but it seems like he's having a good go. I don't feel like I don't feel like I have everything I need for life and godliness. And so our option when we come across verses like this is either we've got something wrong or the Bible's got something wrong. And a few thousand years of testimony and experience tells me that perhaps it's us. Perhaps we we haven't quite realized all that we have, and that's what Israel experience. They come through the Red Sea and then they have to learn to live with God. Then they have to learn what it means to live as free people, and that is the journey of Christian life. It's the journey of any who encounter God. There may be a moment, or maybe it's a bit longer than a moment, but there's a place of deliverance, a testimony of what God does, but then there is a life of learning, of growing into that. One verse says that we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We have salvation, but now we need to let it work out in our lives, work itself through us. I like the idea of percolate, you've got to almost marinate in it. You know, when you're cooking something, maybe a chicken breast, you don't dip it in the sauce and take it out, you sip it in it and you let it sit so that the flavors soak into it and get right into the center. And that's what we as believers are meant to do. We're meant to live in light of this thing that God has done so that it penetrates deep into our heart, it gets into every part of us and shapes us and forms us and leads us on. And so we're gonna see a few ways that Israel experienced this and then just ask the question Am I feeling this? Am I tasting this freedom? Am I experiencing this? Because Galatians tells us it is for freedom Christ has set us free. So if you aren't knowing freedom, then we aren't knowing the very thing that Jesus wants to set us free from. Or free to, if that's more accurate. So we're gonna start, like I said, there's a few passages, but we're gonna start in Exodus 16. It says, the whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the desert of sin, which is between Elim and Sinai. On the 15th day of the second month, they and they had come out of Egypt. So they've come out, they've had their deliverance. In the desert, the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt. There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted. But you've brought us out of this into this desert to starve this entire set assembly to death. A bit of selective memory, I think, perhaps going on there. That in Egypt they sat around, they lounged around eating all the food they wanted. There was some sort of slavery, I think, but mainly it was the food, wasn't it? And and all the lovely time we had in Egypt. But they're there, they're grumbling. And then a bit later it says in chapter 17 that the the food comes. We're going to come on to that in a moment, but then it says the whole Israelite, they set out again from the desert of sin, travelling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephedim, and there there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, Give us water to drink. And Moses replied, Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test? But the people were thirsty for water then. They grumbled against Moses. They said, Why did you bring us out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst? And Moses cried out to the Lord, as all pastors know this. What am I to do with these people? They're almost ready to stone me. This you see the pattern that God has brought us out here. And then their first thing is, we don't have enough. We don't have enough food, we don't have enough water. And so God provides for them. He provides the bread from heaven, the manna. I love the manna because the name means what is it. So this stuff fell from heaven and they went, what is it? And they went, Well, let's just call it that. What is it? So what is it is what it what it is. And then they come to the rock and they go, What are we going to call this place? Well, we're going to call it grumbling, that we're calling Meriba, we're going to call it quarreling. So for creativity, Moses isn't that good, but it does what it says on the tin, uh, that he's explaining, look, this is what God has done, that there are things in your life God has provided. The manner teaches that God will provide for them, and this is the first thing. God brings us out to bring us into his provision. The first thing Israel needs to learn is God is going to provide for them. At the start they can't see it, and they're living like there isn't enough. God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. But they're living as if God has not given them enough and he won't give them enough. And so they complain and they quarrel and they they they fight and then they want to go back to Egypt and they get pulled back. But there is a provision that God wants to bring you into. God provides, God sustains, and we pray, God give us our daily bread, which echoes their daily experience of God who gives them what they need when they need it. And this isn't dramatic, although it is quite dramatic, bread falling from heaven, but it's not that miracle moment, it's that daily faithfulness that God will provide each day what we need. So if they go out and gather too much bread, it simply rots and they can't carry it into the next day. Each day they take what they need and they learn. God is teaching them moment by moment. I will provide. I will provide. You've lived as slaves for years where maybe you scurried away a few extra crumbs that were given to you. Maybe you stored up or tried to take some or you went without food to feed your children because you weren't provided enough. And you've that you've that's been ingrained in you. There isn't enough. There isn't enough. Store and hoard and keep for yourself because there isn't enough. And now I need to undo that way of thinking. And you need to relearn God who provides daily bread, daily grace, daily mercy, daily kindness, his dailyness that God is faithful day after day after day. No panic hoarding, no anxious stockpiling, but this rhythm of every day, He provides. Without that, what we do is we we we miss the very thing that God provides. So if I said what is good in your life, if I said what's bad in your life, you could probably all tell me quite easily, this went wrong and this person's annoying, and I dang my car, and all these things that aren't working. But if you just go, what is good, for some reason it takes a bit more thought. It's kind of like them looking at bread, going, Well, what is it? Is it a good thing or is it not? We look at our life and things in our life we're like, this is a good thing, but I can't see it as a good thing. God does provide, but I can't see his provision. And what God wants to bring us into is a place where each day we can wake up saying, I know what God has given me. I see his goodness, I see it in the people around me, I see it in the shelter that I have, I see it in the role that I have, I see it in the food that is provided, I see it in the money that I have, I see every good thing comes from the hand of my God. And that is a way of living that you have to learn. And as you walk with Jesus, that's one of the things he wants to teach you, to see every good thing as a gift from God. Everything in your life that you celebrate and enjoy, everything that you savor, everything, every taste, every experience, every encounter that warms you and stirs you, every light and encouragement that you have, if you trace it back, the breadcrumbs lead back to the hand of your father who provides everything. One verse says provides it for your enjoyment, provides it because he loves you. And he wants you to know his goodness and his grace. We've sung about his goodness, but you get to taste it every day. Taste and see that the Lord is good. That's a way of life that we need to learn, and it's what the Israelites need to learn. I will provide. If you don't have water, I'll provide. If you don't have bread, I will provide. I will provide, and I will provide, and I'll provide. Perhaps you find your life is more characterized by bitterness, by the quarreling, by the lack that you have, and you need to ask God to open my eyes that I may see your provision. Because often it's not that God hasn't provided, it's that he has, and we simply bypass it. Provision is not always comfort, provision is not always the things that we want, but it is all that we need, the right person at the right time, the right thing at the right moment. Many of us will have that testimony of the season where God didn't give everything at once, but he kept providing step by step daily bread, daily bread. Many of you have stories of when you're budgeting and God's faithfulness showed up, where you thought you lacked, and yet something came along. God provided. And you can use the Lord's prayer. Pray, God, give us our daily bread. Each morning, remind me, today I need your provision, and I want to live as someone who has provided for. Because when I do, I have everything I need for life and godliness. I know my Father provides. Give me my daily bread, give me my daily joy, give me my daily peace, my daily strength. Lord, you provide, and I want to live as someone who's learnt to know that God provides for me. The story goes on, and it's not just provision that the people need, but as they go on, they encounter some enemies. The Amelechites come and they attack the Israelites at Rephedim. And Moses said to Joshua, Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands. So there's a wonderful picture. They go out to fight as Moses had orders. And Moses, Aaron, and her went to the top of the hill, and as long as Moses held his hands up in the air, the Israelites were winning. But whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. So when his hands grew tired, they took a stone, put it under him as he sat on it. And Aaron and her held his hands up, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset, and they overcome the Amalekites with the power of their sword because of this. Their first encounter, the first moment. Remember last week we saw that God led them away from the Philistines because they weren't ready for a battle. But now they're going to learn how to fight. They're going to learn that God is a God who will not just provide, but who will protect. A God who is our refuge and our strength, our ever-present help in times of trouble. A God that I can look to, I can look to the hills and see his faithfulness. A God who is a shield and a protector. A God who is a mighty warrior who defends his people. A God who will fight for us. A God who will protect us. Because after they cross the sea, dangers don't disappear. When you become a Christian, the day if you choose or you have chosen it, your dangers did not disappear. But everything changed because God is now with you. God was now with them. God has already shown his power to deliver them, but now they need to learn it as a daily experience. Protection doesn't mean there's no wilderness, it doesn't mean no enemies, it doesn't mean no hardship, and it doesn't mean no testing. Protection means God goes before you. It means God stands between what would destroy you, you and what would destroy you. God keeps what belongs to Him, and you now belong to Him. This is so important because it's so easy to assume, just quietly, if God is with me, shouldn't life be easier? And Exodus and even Jesus Himself says, no, life may still be hard, but you are no longer alone. You are no longer unprotected. You will face hardship and accusation and suffering and spiritual opposition and temptation, but you are kept by God. You are not abandoned. You do not fight alone. And perhaps as you hear that, maybe you've you realize I think of myself as an orphan. I thought I got adopted, but but I got brought through that, and now it just feels like I'm alone. There's the I don't know the protection. And so again, I'm forced to strive for myself and work things out. But the Christian life is not the absence of battles, it's the presence of God in the battle. For some, this will be a wilderness season. Maybe you're going through grief or hardship or pressure or family strain or exhaustion, spiritual dryness, the attack of the enemy. Just hardship in life, life itself doesn't even need the enemy to be hard in itself. The world is dark and difficult, and there are fears about the future. But as we name those things, and as we remind ourselves that the wilderness is not abandonment, the same God who brought me through the sea is the God who keeps me now. And as I fix my eyes on him, as I lift myself to him as Moses does in prayer, I find strength in the battle. As I stay close, as I refuse to let panic be my master, as I obey what he has said and I walk in faithfulness to that, as I stay among his people and those who support me, like Moses, with men on either side holding his hands up, as I resist the urge to go back to Egypt. There is a story of God's protection that gets woven into your life. He is a strong fortress, he is a refuge. That language isn't just a poetry, that's that's experience. It's like he's a wall around me, like he's hemmed me in, he has kept me. Not an imprisonment, but but a protection. He is a shield, he is my God, the God of gods, who has defeated the powers that would uh that would enslave me. This is our God. And while it's not always the removal of trouble, God's nearness in trouble makes all the difference in the world. Psalm 73 says it like this my heart and my flesh may fail. The battles are too strong for me. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Protection and provision. Strength and portion. He says, if I have these things and if I'm failing, then I still have what I need. And these are wonderful things. These are part of what we need to learn as we grow. But the third one, you you won't be surprised by it because you've heard me speak before. But the third one is what really matters. The third one brings it all together, and if we don't get to this point, we haven't realized what God has done for us. Because God gives us provision and he gives us protection. But the next thing God does is he brings us into his presence. And this is the key thing. This is what the rest of the Torah is all about, the Leviticus and all the things. How do we live with God in our midst? That we have not just been brought out of Egypt, we have been brought into the presence of God Himself. He is with us. And I I was trying to think, I need a better way to say that, but there isn't a better way. It's just I I can't quite believe that I can say that to you today. I can give you wisdom, I can give you witty stories, I can give you encouragement, I can give you good teaching, I can give you morality, I can give you all the proverbs in the world, I can give you advice, I can give You plans and all these things, but all of that is nothing. I can give you his presence. Not me myself, but in the gospel, in the proclamation of the gospel, I'm telling you, God will bring you out of slavery to himself. To him. What are we saved for? We're forgiven, yep. But we're not saved for forgiveness. We're set free, but we're not saved just to come out of Egypt. We're brought through our troubles and difficulties. We're provided for, but not just so we're provided, we're protected, but not just so that we're protected. All this is done that we might know God's presence with us. Our Christian life isn't just escaping judgment or getting help in a crisis or surviving hard things. Exodus is bigger than just rescue. It's God who saves the people to be his people, that he might dwell among them. That's where I find Christianity is different. There's all these religions where you get great morality, great guidance, great fellowship and community and all these structures, but only the gospel announced God has brought you now into himself. That he might be all in all, as Ephesians puts it, that we might stand with him, that we might sit with him, sit at his right hand, we're told. His presence in your life. And that's where Exodus heads. From slavery through Pharaoh, through the sea, through the wilderness, to Sinai, to the covenant, to a tabernacle where God's presence is with them. And so there's a part we're going to get to. The Ten Commandments. I've already cheated. Do you know what the first commandment is? The first line? You should have no gods before me? Wrong. The first line of the Ten Commandments is not you shouldn't have no gods before me. The first line is this I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. We do the Lord your God out of reverence for the name of God, but let me just put it in the way that it is in the Hebrew. I am Yahweh. Problem is Lord of God, that's like Sir. We've talked about this before, that it's like calling God Sir. It's a bit of distance. But God doesn't say that. He says, I am Yahweh. The personal name of God. Your God. Not only the God of Moses. Moses met me. But I'm not only Moses' God now, I am your God. I'm giving myself to you. I'm revealing my name to you. You name the you know the name of God. That's insane. The God who's beyond all things, the God that I cannot even begin to describe, who's greater and bigger, who isn't in time but outside of time, who doesn't just inhabit space, he is outside of space that doesn't have a beginning. He was there when there was nothing. He's before nothing. Nothing makes him, nothing creates him, nothing started him. He is the starter, he is the beginning. He is the God who thinks it all and creates it all, who speaks it all. And then he comes and says, This is who I am. Let me introduce myself. I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. And everything else that follows, the laws and the instructions, they all stem from this. You know me. I am yours and you are mine. And if you if you're as a Christian, if you found Christianity hard, you read the Sermon on the Mount, you thought, no chance. You've seen the instructions in the New Testament, the things we're meant to be doing, even the ones that we think are simple. Love others. Easy, right? Love others as you would want to be love, simple. All of that, it is wonderful and as good advice as it is, it means nothing until we come first to know him. I am Yahweh, your God. I brought you out of slavery. Grace precedes instruction every single time. God's goodness. The goal was never just out of slavery, the goal was into relationship. The goal was into worship. The goal was into his presence. The journey is not just from slavery to survival. And I think that if we were some of us, I don't know, uh, my experience would be I would sometimes describe Christian life as that, that I was in slavery and then I'm just sort of surviving. It doesn't feel like I'm thriving, it doesn't feel like Jesus said life in all its abundance. Some of us feel like it's life scraping by just about. But we have everything we need, and we are brought not from slavery to survival, but slavery to God Himself. We're brought from fear to worship, from Pharaoh's rule to God's good presence. And this is what the gospel says in Christ, we are forgiven. Yes. We are brought, we are, we are forgiven, we are delivered, we are set free, we are ransomed and bought at a price, but we are brought near to God. We're brought near to him, we are adopted into his family, filled with his spirit, he makes our heart his home. We are invited to abide in him. And I know some of you will, your story will be that you became a Christian out of fear, that you were wanting to avoid something, and so you came and God will meet you there. I'm not saying that doesn't count, God will meet you in that grace, but but he wants to lead you beyond that. Christian life is not simply avoiding certain consequences, it's not something done out of fear. At some point, it's got to be that I'm being brought near to the goodness of God. I'm being brought near to his presence, to know him and to walk with him. So there's a poster we've put up recently in the foyer that sums up our whole goal as a church to help everyone everywhere, as much as we can, to have an everyday relationship with Jesus. It's not even to populate heaven. Heaven's the place, but the presence is what matters. The kingdom to come, that's God's rule, but it's if he's not the king of that kingdom, it doesn't matter. And the miracle of salvation is not complete when you survive or escape something. The miracle is complete when you can climb into the lap of your father. The miracle of salvation is complete when you can sit at his feet, when you are embraced in the love of Abba Father, and the spirit within you can cry out, He is my God, my Abba Father. And so when God speaks to Israel, he says this just to remind them, you know, I didn't choose you because you were more numerous than the other nations. I didn't choose you because you were greater than the other nations. Why did God choose you? Because I love you. Why does God love us? Because he loves us. Hang on, it sounds like we're going around in a circle. Yep, that's the bottom. That's the foundation. You can't go any deeper. Why does God love us? Because he loves us. Well, why does he love us? Because he loves us. And there is no deeper than that. That is the simplest thing you will ever hear. God is love, and yet it is the one thing. If you grasp it heart, mind, soul, and strength, it will change your whole walk. It will change the way you walk, the way you carry yourself, the way you live, the way you respond to hardship and trial, the way you respond to God is what worship is. That's why worship is the right thing. I respond, He loves me because He loves me. And I can't help but just sing and enjoy that to celebrate it. I think that's why sometimes we get stuck going back to the things that we enjoyed at first, songs that we had in the past and things like that, because that was the moment when we first discovered God's love. But there should be a song in us continually as we every day experience this, as we grow in the depth and knowledge of God's love and all that He has done. God's presence is the heart, it's the it's the thing we are saved for. And so today, as I say, the simple question is do you know this? And many of you will say yes. Some of you will say, Yeah, I did, but I I did forget it. I forgot. I mean I made it about something else. We sang that song, it's all about you, Jesus. I forgot, I strayed from that. I started to think it was about me. I started to think I had to provide for myself. I started to think I had to protect myself. I started to think it was about something other than the presence of God. And so I and now I understand that's why I've been feeling dry. That's why life has been feeling hard or harder. That's why I haven't felt that strength or that encouragement, because I haven't lived that everydayness. The miracle is wonderful, the miracle of your salvation is wonderful. But for me, what I really love is the everydayness of faith. The walk with him, where I just everyday. See, I've done many funerals, and then it's wonderful at funerals. Very rarely do people talk about the highlights, the big events, the wedding days and the big birthday celebrations. What they talk about is the everydayness of their walk for that person. I think it's the same with God. We'll talk about some of the highlights of our life. The day he delivered me from this and he healed that, and we restored that and fixed that. They're great, and there are things that we remember. But that everyday walk, there is something about that that just goes deeper and deeper. It's even that that prepares us for the miracle, prepares us for the wonderful and the provision and all those things. That everyday trust, daily trust, daily dependence, daily worship, daily presence, daily, my identity is in him. I am his child, and that is enough. And that's what we're gonna that's what you see. If you carry on reading, God teaches the Israelites this again and again, all through the wilderness. The wilderness isn't a detour, it's their school to learn. They are now God's, and he will provide, and he will protect, and he will be with them. Exodus is not just about what God brings us out of, as wonderful as that is, it's about what God brings us into. Slavery to freedom, but fear to trust, out of sin into a new life with him, out of condemnation, into sonship, daughtership of God, out of death, into the life of Jesus in me, out of self-rule. I am my own king to discipleship, I follow my savior, my shepherd. I know him and he knows me. So where are you? Today, maybe you're someone who needs rescue still. Maybe all of this it sounds wonderful, but you are very aware you are still in Egypt. You still feel bound or burdened, still feel trapped or exhausted. The good news is the Lord still saves. The miracle of salvation, the gospel, come to me. Call on my name, and I will set you free. I will lift the burdens, I'll remove the sin. I will destroy the powers. His blood still covers us, still washes us and makes us new. We're going to remember that as we gather around the table. Some of us have crossed the sea but feel discouraged in the wilderness. Your failure isn't the end. You are being formed. And today you you may know already what God needs to show you, what he has shown you. But today, perhaps, it's just a reminder to keep going. If you're in the wilderness, keep going. Keep leaning into him, keep pressing him. He is making himself known. He is teaching you his provision, teaching you his protection, teaching you that he is with you always to the very end. God didn't bring Israel out to leave them in the wilderness. He brought them to himself, and that is the Christian life. That is why Christianity is so good. If you've crossed the sea, keep walking. If you're in the wilderness, don't panic. What he has done, he will continue to do. And that's that's really what I find that we often come through, we we on a Sunday, we sing these songs and we praise God and we trust him for all eternity, that he is faithful and true. And then we are manic on Monday and we're terrified on Tuesday, and we feel weak on Wednesday, we're thirsty on Thursday, we're fearful on Friday, we're stuck on Saturday, and then we all come together and say, God is wonderful and he'll save us forever. And we go through this, and that isn't meant to be the Christian life, the cycle where we we talk about how faithful and good God is, but our daily lived experience is something else. The dainess. That's what Israel learned. The daily nut that God protects, the daily night provides, the dailyness that he is with you as much, if not more, tomorrow as you go into your life, into the world as he is here when we gather. And to learn that and to live in that is, oh, in Jesus' word, it's life in all its abundance. It's life that overflows, it's life that cannot be stopped, and it's life that he offers to you today. So we're going to pray in a moment, then we're going to gather around the table where we're going to remember all that he has done to bring us out, but also all that he wants to do for us now. Father, we we come to you, we thank you. We thank you that you have saved us not just from something, but for something. And while we so often look back and remember that deliverance, because it's astounding, it's the day that history itself changed, the world was different after Good Friday and Easter Sunday in a way that it'd never be the same again. That you delivered your people, you set them free, you brought them through, you paid the price, you removed the powers, you did it all, God. You did it all, and it is miraculous and wonderful. But having done it all, God, you then sat yourself on that throne to lead and guide and walk your people, to bring them home to you. And we're in that place now. We're waiting for your return and we're looking back at what you've done, but we're walking in what our own wilderness. Some of us have grown tired, some of us have grown anxious, some of us have forgotten that you provide, some of us have forgotten that you protect. Some of us have forgotten that you are with us always. These simple truths are simple to say, but they take a lifetime to embrace deep in our hearts. So we just pray, God, today we may they go a bit deeper. May we dare to believe. May you increase our faith that we might believe we have everything we need. That we need to learn to live into it. Many of us will say we have our salvation, but would you help us to work out our salvation? May it filter down into every area of our life, into our daily walk. And so we pray, Lord, your kingdom come, your will be done. Give us today our daily bread. Give us today our daily grace. Give us today our daily provision. Give us today our daily protection. Give us today your daily presence with us now. We thank you, Lord, that you not only rescue us, but you lead us. Teach us to trust you. For those who feel real stuck in the wilderness, would you strengthen them? For those in fear, would you steady them? For those who need rescue, would you save them in Jesus' name? Would you encourage them and call on that to call on your name? Holy Spirit, would you draw them to yourself and fix their eyes on you? May they see you, Jesus, the one who calls them to himself. And would you lead us on? Make us a people who worship, for you are with us. You have done it. You are our God. You have made yourself known. We thank you that the God who saved Israel, the God who saves us is the same God. The God who rescued Israel, who rescues us is the same God, the God who led Israel, who leads us is the same God. Lead us, Lord, all the way home. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 38:07

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