WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:14.320 So years ago, I think I was a sophomore in college, uh, somewhere around there, and it was wintertime, it was January, it was cold out, and a handful of friends, I think about 10 of us, uh, we all went up to a friend's cabin up north of Delonega. 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:21.120 It was cold, it was really, really cold, bitter, bitter cold, and but it was sunny out, it was crisp out. 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:37.840 And uh my friend's uh family's cabin was along this river uh north of Delonaga, and we went up and we went hiking along the river, and part of the river's frozen, so we spent the day throwing rocks in the river and um just just fun, outdoorsy, cold, wintry activity. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:45.119 And then evening came and finally we went into the cabin, and it had never dawned on us that perhaps we should think about heating the cabin. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:54.719 Like we just spent all day outside, and finally evening came, and the cabin was colder than uh outside, and we get in there and there's no heat in the cabin. 00:00:54.960 --> 00:01:01.759 And uh we were thinking that we were gonna, you know, just start that fire, and the fireplace would just heat up this cabin all of a sudden we would all be warm. 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:02.799 It's gonna be wonderful. 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:09.439 So we start the fire, and it's this vaulted ceiling, big room, and it's just not doing anything, right? 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:21.840 And and and it's time to go to sleep, and it is so freezing cold, and none of us brought the right sleeping bags for this because we thought we were sleeping inside of a heated, nice, comfy cabin, and now we are all cold. 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:27.599 We are like every layer of clothing is on, blankets on, and we're all cold. 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:30.480 And so finally we get the idea, we say, okay, well now this fire's gone. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:38.319 I so let's get we got all the sheets in the place, and we tied them together and we tied them to the mantle, and this is probably against fire code, I'm not sure. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:42.079 We tired them, tied them to the to the mantle and then out to the couches. 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:46.959 So we kind of built this tent structure for all the heat to get trapped in, right? 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:54.159 Brilliant! And so all ten of us get huddled under this, and we're just lined up sleeping next to each other, and this is so much fun. 00:01:54.239 --> 00:01:56.480 I mean, this is so much fun for that first hour. 00:01:56.560 --> 00:01:57.599 This is a lot of fun. 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:18.639 And then the second hour, you're just sleeping next to your smelly buddy and the other guy who's snoring, you know, four guys down, and you're rolling over and you're on the floor, and your hips digging into the floor, and it's just you know, every you sleep about 30 minutes, and then you roll over and you look out the window, and it's this feeling like when will when will I see a little bit of light, right? 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:22.080 Like, when can I see a little bit of light outside and this will be over? 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:24.000 This experience will be over. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:26.479 I'm warm, but I'm still miserable. 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:32.639 And it's this idea, this thought, this feeling, like when will this ever end? 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:34.960 Like maybe you've had a night like that. 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:41.759 Maybe you were sick and you had a night like that, which is it just wouldn't your your kid gets sick, right? 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:54.319 Your kid gets sick, and you're doing and then like the kid number two gets sick, and you're like, you're cleaning and you're bathing a kid, and then you're cleaning and you're bathing a kid, and you're cleaning, you're bathing a kid, and you're like, when will this ever end? 00:02:54.639 --> 00:03:06.560 Or maybe uh more like a season of life where just nights are long and days are short, and it's just it's it's winter, and it just feels like when will this ever end? 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:09.759 When will this ever be over? 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:15.520 And this is where we catch up with Moses and Aaron, is in this type of feeling. 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:24.719 Because these ragamuffin leaders, the people of Israel, uh, people of Israel are in slavery in Egypt, and these are their leaders, Moses and Aaron, and and they're freaking out. 00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:30.719 They had Moses had gone to Pharaoh and said, Hey, you know, let us go, let all of us go, and it got worse. 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:32.639 And that's what Brian talked about last week. 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:34.080 It got worse. 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:36.639 Like this was supposed to be the breaking point. 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:39.520 It'd been centuries of slavery, of making bricks. 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:46.800 I mean, these people's their whole lives had been to make bricks day after day after day, and finally Moses shows back up from the desert. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:49.599 He comes back, he says, Hey, I got a word from the Lord, we're gonna be free. 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:51.520 I'm gonna go to Pharaoh, I'm gonna tell him to free us. 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:56.560 And he goes to Pharaoh, and he gets to Pharaoh, and he says, Hey, let us go, and it gets worse. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:01.120 When will this ever be over? 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:19.040 And so I'm reading this Monday morning, I'm reading through chapter five, just feeling the weight of chapter five of this failed attempt where they thought they were finally getting relief and it's still not over. 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:20.480 Right? 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:28.879 And then imagine the amount of pressure Moses would have felt, of responsibility, and then the devastation. 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:32.800 And then we hit chapter six. 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:33.439 Right? 00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:37.920 Like you have chapter five, but then you get chapter six. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:42.959 Like you have the nighttime, but then you eventually get the morning. 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:48.480 And what we see here is we learn that the difficult, right? 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:53.600 Difficulty in the now, it will all it won't always be like that. 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:55.680 It won't always be like that. 00:04:55.920 --> 00:05:00.480 The difficult in the now will not always be here in the way that it is now. 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:04.319 Chapter five does lead to chapter six. 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:07.600 And so two points this morning, pretty organized this morning. 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:11.439 Uh number one, he was there and he is here. 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:13.120 That'll make more sense later. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:15.519 He was there and he is here. 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:22.959 And then number two is we cannot talk about God without talking about the saving God. 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:29.920 So he was there and he is here, and we cannot talk about God without talking about the saving God. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:31.519 So let's look at this text. 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:33.759 So Exodus 6, verse 1. 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:38.000 But the Lord said to Moses, but the Lord, I just love that because that's the break point, right? 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:46.560 Like it it was it was all darkness, it was all lamenting, it was all done, it was exhaustion, and Moses, he's just finished the story. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:49.040 He thinks the story is over, but it's not. 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:54.879 But the Lord said to Moses, Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. 00:05:55.120 --> 00:06:01.199 For with a strong hand I will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land. 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:05.120 God spoke to Moses and said to him, I am the Lord. 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:13.360 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord, I did not make myself known to them. 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:17.680 So point number one, uh He was there and He is here. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:21.360 So once again He reveals Himself to Moses. 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:24.160 And Moses, he thinks it's over, but it's not over. 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:26.879 Now, I can't I can't explain all the suffering in the world. 00:06:26.959 --> 00:06:28.000 I won't even attempt. 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:35.680 I mean, somebody who's gonna attempt to try to explain all the suffering in the world, I I I don't I don't know how they're even gonna I don't even know how they can do that. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:38.800 I can't explain all the suffering in the world. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:42.959 I definitely can't explain all the suffering in your life. 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:50.399 But I do know that God is with you in it, and God is doing something amidst the suffering. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:53.680 Uh this week I had lunch with a friend of mine. 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:59.519 When he was in high school as a teenager, he lost his dad to a sudden heart attack out of nowhere. 00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:06.160 His dad dies, and then his little sister gets strangled in a rope swing and dies. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:11.839 And this is one of the kindest, most patient people I know. 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:22.000 See, this the story's never like, and I was hanging out with my friend in his mansion on Sea Island, and all of a sudden I became kinder, right? 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:23.279 I mean, it's never the story. 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:27.519 It's never like I got my third Porsche, and then I became patient. 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:29.120 Like that's what made me patient. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:31.199 It was the third Porsche that made me patient. 00:07:31.279 --> 00:07:31.759 That was it. 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:33.120 That was what did it. 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:34.720 That's never the story. 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:38.639 The story is always like I was hurting. 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:44.879 And then I was waiting. 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:46.000 And then. 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:51.199 Now there's something interesting going on here in these verses two and three. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:53.439 Even when I read it, you're probably like, well, no, what was that? 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:58.160 Like he revealed himself to them in this way, and then to Moses in some different way. 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:00.160 And so Moses is getting something here. 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:06.800 Like he's God is saying that he's revealing himself to Moses in some deeper, different way than his forefathers. 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:13.839 And Moses is getting to understand God as both Lord Jehovah and also as God Almighty El Shaddai. 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:15.360 So these two different names of God. 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:21.839 Jehovah is this rich name for God, meaning self-existent, the one true God. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:24.079 And we think about that, we think, no big deal. 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:25.360 But back then that's a big claim. 00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:31.600 Everybody had their own different God, different tribes had different gods, everybody had a different God, and everybody's like, okay, well, that's your God, and I got my God. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:33.279 And this guy's saying, no, no, no, no. 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:34.399 Like, I'm it. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:38.240 One true, self-existent God. 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:57.279 And then El Shaddai, in the context of Genesis, where in the scriptural story, we're coming out of Genesis into Exodus, and all throughout Genesis, El Shaddai is this name that God reveals himself to be the one who is sufficiently powerful for our personal inadequacies. 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:00.480 So, in a commentary I was reading this week by J. 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:00.720 A. 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:11.759 Mortier, he says this El Shaddai is predominantly the God who is sufficient for his people's needs, for keeping his promises. 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:18.000 When they are at their weakest, he is at his most potent. 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:22.159 So Christie's granddaddy passed this week. 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:30.720 He was 89 years old and he was sick, and last few months has been getting worse and worse and worse, and his real answer to prayer finally for the Lord to take him home. 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:39.039 And I sat down Thursday morning to write his obituary, first time I've written obituary, and I just kind of sat there just to think about him for a little bit. 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:42.240 Quite different than my grandparents. 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:43.600 I come from city folks. 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:48.559 Like my grandparents lived in a townhouse in Atlanta and they traveled. 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:55.279 Like granddaddy lived out rural and he didn't leave the house and he tended the garden. 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:57.360 Like, I mean, very different grandparents. 00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:05.120 And so my experience of getting to know granddaddy was so good and rich to meet just a southern granddaddy. 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:11.279 And you'd go over there, and as soon as I'd walk in, he knew I loved Coke, and so as soon as I walk in, he's like, Can I get you a Coke? 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:12.159 Can I get you a Coke? 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:17.919 And now he didn't, he's a Southern man, so you didn't leave your Coke, wasn't in your fridge in the kitchen. 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:26.399 You kept your Coke in the fridge in the shed out back, a separate refrigerator, and so you'd have to go out to the to the shed and get your Coke. 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:31.039 And he had been cooking all day, all day he would have been cooking for you. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:34.799 I mean, southern stuff, stuff I didn't even know about until I got married to Christy. 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:36.240 I didn't know about this food. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:38.320 And then he just roamed. 00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:42.559 Like you'd sit at the table and you'd get your food, and then he wouldn't sit down. 00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:49.519 He'd he just he'd pick up the serving dishes and he would just sort of circulate and he'd keep putting it on your plate. 00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:53.360 Like as soon as he saw you were done with your cream corn, you know, on it would go. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:54.799 I mean, he would just walk around. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:58.240 Whatever you had finished, he put more down. 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:00.000 This is this is how he loved. 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:03.440 This is how he he would just give and give and give and give. 00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:07.919 And no matter who came over, he was gonna have enough for them. 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:12.639 And not only that, but you're gonna pack some Tupperware on the way out that door. 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:17.440 He simply always had enough. 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:21.519 This is just like this little picture of El Shaddai. 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:24.639 See, this is the message of El Shaddai. 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:27.759 Hungry, fragile, lovely people. 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:30.960 Sit down, rest. 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:33.440 I will feed you. 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:35.279 I have enough for you. 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:41.679 I have enough for your personal faults, I have enough for your personal inadequacies, for your brokenness, and for your sin. 00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:46.399 See, he was there and he is here. 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:54.720 Another way to say this point, maybe better, is just say, God is absolutely always with us. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:59.759 Maybe you're here, you say, no, no, no, no, no, I don't believe that. 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:01.759 Because this thing happened. 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:04.159 Like this abuse happened. 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:09.840 Uh this wrong happened to me or to somebody I love. 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:10.879 No, no way. 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:12.080 I don't I don't believe that. 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:13.840 Or I was forgotten. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:15.519 I was forgotten. 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:16.320 No way. 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:20.799 And I'll just say I'm sorry that happened. 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:34.879 But everything that we know about God through his word tells us he is always with us, and yet what we also know about God through his word is that we at times have to face what feels like his absence. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:41.120 So he's always with us, and yet at times we have to face what feels like his absence. 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:44.879 And somehow, this is a part of our transformation. 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:54.080 And if he wasn't there in that tragedy, how would you ever have any hope that he might be there in the next tragedy? 00:12:54.559 --> 00:13:02.480 Or if we're going to think about this more holistically, if he wasn't there in that tragedy, how would you ever have any assurance that he's ever there? 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:08.000 Jumping into verse 4 and 5. 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:14.399 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:24.559 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:28.080 We talked about this a few weeks ago, but again, God's bringing it back up. 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:31.600 This is incredibly important, so entertain me as I review a little bit. 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:34.159 See, here's what a covenantal relationship said. 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:47.200 Well, a personal relationship, um, it could say something like this: like, like, I will be for you whatever I want to be, or I will be for you, um, I'll be this as long as you are for me what you say you're gonna be for me. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:56.080 And a covenantal relationship says, no, no, no, I will be for you what I should be for you, no matter what you do. 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:08.240 And this is the kind of relationship we have with God, that God toward us, He says to us, I will be what I should be, whether you are what you should be or not. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:12.799 And we desperately need this because we are not always what we should be. 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:15.360 I will be committed to you. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:21.279 I will be committed to the relationship, even if it is not meeting my needs at the moment. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:28.559 This is what God's screaming at us throughout the scriptures, that it's deeper than a personal relationship. 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:31.759 See, most of my life that's all I knew. 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:35.039 I knew about a personal relationship with God. 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:36.240 We need that. 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:42.480 But don't you have those days where it just doesn't feel feel personal? 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:44.399 Like you just feel distant? 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:46.399 Are you screwed up and you're just not sure? 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:48.480 Like, did I mess the whole thing up? 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:52.159 Are you numb and you know it just doesn't feel personal? 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:57.360 So this personal relationship with God has to be rooted in a covenantal relationship with God. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:14:59.840 This is what God is remembering. 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:14.080 It should be personal, but it should be rooted in something much deeper, more profound, and that's the covenant relationship God to us, saying, I will be for you, even if you are not what you should be for me. 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:19.679 You can read all about that in Genesis 15, and this is what he's remembering that he covenants with us. 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:22.960 Now listen to verse 6, because God keeps bringing it back to him. 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:24.080 Listen to all this. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:24.799 This is incredible. 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:38.879 Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out of the under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from the slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:41.840 I mean, it's just over and over and over. 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:44.799 I will do this, I will do this, I will do this. 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:48.159 Okay, can I get a volunteer? 00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:49.519 Can I get a volunteer? 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:51.120 Seth, thanks. 00:15:51.759 --> 00:15:53.120 Just don't sit in the aisle. 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:55.039 I mean, that's just a lesson. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:15:57.200 Okay, come over here. 00:15:57.279 --> 00:16:02.159 And I won't hurt you, trust me, because you're a lot bigger than I am, and I'm pretty sure you can inflict pain. 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:03.440 I won't make you wear this either. 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:04.240 That scared you. 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:06.240 Alright, so I'm gonna blindfold you. 00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:15.039 Just try not to, yeah, be honest here. 00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:18.159 Is it holding up up there? 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:18.799 Okay. 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:24.000 I'm I'm gonna give you a couple objects to hold, and then you're just gonna tell us. 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:29.919 Don't tell us what the object is, tell us what the object is like, what it feels like. 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:32.320 So does that make sense? 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:39.279 And hold your hands out in front of you because I know the trick, a lot of people they look down out of the bandana, that's what we all did, you know. 00:16:39.440 --> 00:16:44.720 So just tell us what this feel don't tell us what it is, because you're a smart guy, you'll probably be able to figure out. 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:45.759 But what does it feel like? 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:47.279 What are some adjectives? 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:49.600 Round. 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:50.799 Okay, round. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:51.840 Porous. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:52.720 Porous. 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:53.360 Plastic. 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:54.399 Plastic. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:55.120 Okay. 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:56.159 Great. 00:16:56.399 --> 00:16:57.360 That was object number one. 00:16:57.519 --> 00:16:58.639 Stay right there, don't do anything. 00:16:59.120 --> 00:16:59.519 All right. 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:00.879 Object number two. 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:02.240 I'm just kidding. 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:03.039 Don't calm. 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:04.960 Just calm down. 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:06.400 I just a joke. 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:08.240 It was a joke. 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:11.359 I'll explain it later. 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:12.000 Okay. 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:16.559 Alright, so that's all. 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:24.640 It's got appendages. 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:25.440 Yes. 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:26.880 Okay, that's great. 00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:27.440 Thank you. 00:17:27.519 --> 00:17:28.880 Alright, you can take your blindfold off. 00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:29.680 Thank you. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:32.480 Thank you, Seth. 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:34.559 I I I handed you a big knife. 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:35.920 That was the joke. 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:39.519 Alright, here's my point. 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:46.079 We can't talk about a ball without talking about it being round. 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:52.880 We can't talk about a stuffed animal without it talking about it being soft. 00:17:54.400 --> 00:18:00.960 We can't talk about God without talking about him being the saving God. 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:13.839 Let's backtrack the end of verse 6, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:24.960 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God who has brought you out of from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:30.559 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:33.519 I will give it to you for a possession. 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:35.200 I am the Lord. 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:41.039 So that phrase, I will redeem you, that word, Gaal, is this lovely word. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:48.799 Like in secular use, uh it's like back then historically, it was this word that would be used having to do with land. 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:59.599 So it's some land that's been in the family and it's about to go into alien use, and the only way to bring it back in is to redeem it by purchase back into the family. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:06.480 And so this word is put on Moses, it's put on uh the Israelites, and it's put on us. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:13.039 And it's God saying, I will pay any price to make this relationship happen. 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:17.759 I will pay any price to secure this relationship with you. 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:24.720 Now I was told by very nice people for a very long time in my life that Jesus forgives you. 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:32.079 And he brings you into the promised land of Canaan, but now your life is all about you getting better. 00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:34.000 I heard it worded this way this week. 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:35.839 Maybe it'd make a little bit better sense. 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:42.079 Like I heard it like Jesus gets you in the dance, but you better learn to dance or you might not get to stay. 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:49.839 And it's an easy way to motivate people, this kind of threat, this insecurity. 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:56.960 But it pretty much makes Christian faith into like a Jesus-colored self-help methodology. 00:19:57.359 --> 00:20:05.759 And then you just you need the next thing, you need the next list of things to do, or the next retreat, or another one, or a better service, or another book, or whatever. 00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:13.519 Rather than He is our El Shaddai, He is our strength and weakness, He is potent for all of our weakness. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:25.440 In this text, God's talking about promised land moving his people, literal land, Canaan, Israel. 00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:28.240 But the Exodus is about something more profound. 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:39.279 It's a foreshadowing of what God is going to do in history for all people, all tribes, not just for the Israelites, but also for the Egyptians and for us discontent, crazy Americans. 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:40.640 It's for us also. 00:20:41.759 --> 00:21:03.839 That a liberator greater than Moses will come, Jesus the true liberator, to bring any person who opens the hands of faith to Jesus to receive life, and that all of our sin could be cast upon him and his work on the cross, and all of his righteousness cast upon us, and it gets us into the dance, and we can never be kicked out. 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:14.960 That he carries us out of our slavery, out of our mistakes, out of sin defining us and separating us from a loving, holy God. 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:21.599 So in this complete work of the cross, we are forever right with God. 00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:33.200 See, our main problem is refusing this gift or forgetting it, and just trying to in vain wash our own hearts clean. 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:38.400 And the gospel says Jesus' work, not yours, is enough. 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:45.839 Brothers and sisters, you are lovely, but you are fragile. 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:51.119 And you can stop those silly attempts to try to wash clean your own heart. 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:56.480 The great work of El Shaddai to deliver you and to free you, that work of Jesus. 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:58.000 It really is enough. 00:21:58.240 --> 00:21:59.680 Let's pray together. 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:14.000 God, thank you that you were there in their difficulty, and you are here in our difficulty, and it is not in vain, but you are doing something. 00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:20.880 Thank you that we cannot talk about you without talking about you saving, because you are a saving God. 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:26.079 And that our redemption is by your work. 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:34.000 Would you help us to be more enamored by your great, full, sufficient word for us? 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:35.599 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:36.480 Amen.