Series: Route 66“Exodus”

Ex 2:23-25; 14:14-16; 19:3-6; 40:34-38BL: God brought them out, that He might bring them in

Intro…Frame It:Most people a century ago would’ve laughed at the possibility of traveling from Englandto France via a tunnel underneath the English Channel.Fill It:One engineer, Albert Mathieu, proposed boring a tunnel in 1802…For centuries, peoplesailed across the channel but Albert envisioned a better way…an unexpected path thatfor 180 years seemed impossible. But in 1988 working from both the English side andthe French side of the Channel, eleven tunnel boring machines began to cut through thechalk marl to construct two rail tunnels and a service tunnel. At the peak of theconstruction, 15,000 people were employed with daily expenditures of about $3 million aday. The construction of the channel tunnel also claimed the lives of 10 people. Butafter six years, in 1994, the tunnel was completed.Focus It:Today, thousands of people travel 31 miles through a tunnel that most believed washumanly impossible. Undoubtedly, the Channel Tunnel is one of humanity’s greatestaccomplishments!!!Transition…Human ingenuity is undeniable…think about the past 200 years.

The human race has journeyed to the unknown, we have explored the depths of theuniverse, we’ve built structures that have defied comprehension. And over the past100 years, we have built roads that no one knew was there! But no matter howmuch we accomplish or how far we think we can go, it will never compare to whatGod has done in the past, continues to do in the present and what He will do in thefuture.Amplify…God has a way of doing the impossible and making a way where there seems to be noway. An OT personality named, Asaph, writes of God’s ability to carve out unexpectedroads…Psalm 77:19-20 (ON SCREEN)“Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters- apathway no one knew was there! You led your people along that road like a flock ofsheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.”TURN to BODY:Asaph is referring to the divinely led migration recorded in the Book of Exodus.(ON SCREEN)Our Route 66 series leads us into the second book of God’s Word…Exodus meaningdeliverance or the way out is one of the most exciting and inspiring narratives in theScriptures. This book reveals a divinely orchestrated event that became the focal pointfor the Jewish Nation. There are so many spiritual lessons to learn fromEXODUS…each movement through the narrative provides valuable insight to our ownrelationship with God.

The children of Israel LIVED the Exodus but we can LEARN from the Exodus…4 Lessons to be LEARNED from this EPIC EVENT:(ON SCREEN)1. Wherever God LEADS you, He will never LEAVE you.(Ex 2:23-25)Intro…

The book of Exodus begins where Genesis ends…God promised Abraham that hisdescendants would become a great nation but He also told him in advance that his peoplewould suffer great affliction in a strange land. Between Genesis and Exodus, thepatriarchal family became a nation numbering between two and three million. They hadsettled in Egypt because of Joseph’s journey and his rise to power. But through the years,Joseph was a distant memory to other Egyptian rulers so God’s people were enslaved bya tyrannical pharaoh.Amplify…During this time, we can assume that God’s people believed that God had forgottenabout His promise. I’m sure there was much skeptical talk on the street…without adoubt as they were whipped, beaten and treated inhumanly by the Egyptians, thepeople of Israel didn’t have much faith in a promise given to Father Abraham…

“God doesn’t love us…he has turned his back on us…where is God now…we’vebeen slaves for years…God doesn’t care...He has abandoned us.”For 400 years, God’s people suffered in slavery, desperate for DELIVERANCE,wondering if God would ever intervene.Covenant, please hear me today…God will never break a PROMISE. Verse 24 reveals that God heard the prayers of His people and He never abandoned

His promise…I love the last statement in verse 25, “and God acknowledged them.”Are you glad today that God is willing to acknowledge you? This section of scripture is more applicable today than it was for the people in

Egypt…God is the same yesterday, today and forever…He hears us, he sees usand his love acknowledges us…

Apply…Both the people of God in Exodus and God’s people today must never forget thatwherever God LEADS us, He will never LEAVE us!One of the greatest statements in all of scripture is…“God will never leave us nor forsake us.” Joshua rested upon this promise in Deut 31:8 and the author of Hebrews reiterated it

in Hebrews 13:5. As a child of God, you are not where you are by accident…wherever you live, it

is probably in some form or fashion EGYPT …God has either directed you towhere you are or He has allowed you because of your own choices, to be where youare.

And regardless of where you may find yourself this morning, whether it is in a timeof prosperity, a time of persecution, a season of pain or uncertainty, God not onlyknows where you are, but wants to use your circumstances to move His plan forwardand bring glory to Himself. This is true in the life of individuals, it is true for families, it is true of churches and it

was true of the nation of Israel.One of the main truths of Exodus is that God never breaks a promise and whereverHe LEADS us, He will never LEAVE us.Transition…Let me share with you another important LESSON from Exodus…(ON SCREEN)2. Because God is POWERFUL, change is POSSIBLE.(Ex 14:13-16)Intro…

Let this sink in Covenant family, “You’re life and my life is going to consist of aseries of battles but remember God always has a man with a plan that leads tovictory.”

It might not be a plan that we envision…who could’ve imagined that God would’veused a man named Moses who had fled Egypt and who also had spent 40 years inthe desert as a shepherd. But that is exactly what God did…not only did GodINTERVENE on behalf of the many, His INTERVENTION included one man. Godinvaded the life of Moses…he occupies a very prominent place on the pages ofscripture. He is one of the most important of all Bible personalities, his nameoccurring about 720 times.Amplify…And God would use this hermit from the desert to become one the greatest leader’shistory has ever known. Moses had learned from his encounter with God that anything ispossible because of God’s power…For the circumstances to change for God’s people,God was willing and able to unleash His power on the most dominant nation of this timeperiod…the mighty hand of God was going to fall upon Egypt! Moses confronted Pharaoh to let the people go free but he resisted and God

unleashed 10 plagues upon Egypt…frogs, locusts, sickness, darkness, but the lastwas the most dramatic. God struck down the first born of all the Egyptians and Pharaoh finally released

God’s people…over 2 million people, led by Moses, fled Egypt to the banks ofthe Red Sea…

(ON SCREEN)I stood in the Red Sea…Can you imagine a multitude of people leaving enslavementand arriving at the edge of a massive body of water? Can you hear the peoplesaying, now what?

But Moses had an answer from the Lord…don’t be afraid, stand still, holdyour peace…God is going to fight for you!God is about to show up in a mighty way…he was going to provide a way wherethere seemed to be no way…God divided the water and His people crossed over to the other side and Pharaohand his army made every attempt to catch God’s people but the hammer fell uponthe Egyptians ending the 400 year enslavement…BECAUSE GOD IS POWERFUL, CHANGE IS POSSIBLE! All God wanted Israelto do was move FORWARD in FAITH!Apply…Covenant, God can create roads where we see only obstacles…when the way aheadof us seems uncertain, it’s good to remember what God has done in the past. Hespecializes in any circumstances, pathways that point us to His love and mercy.When those people reached the Rea Sea, they were in danger of putting life intoreverse, despite the many miracles God had performed, they longed for Egypt andfailed to trust that God could move them FORWARD!Covenant, we need to keep moving FORWARD in FAITH…don’t back up…presson…let’s trust God that He can make our paths straight… God’s way is always better than our way…the focal point of the OT is the Exodus

from Egypt and I don’t think any of those people would’ve ever imagined Godshowing up the way He did.

But even more astounding, Covenant, who would’ve thought that God wouldbecome one of us…Moses was a man with a plan for redemption in the OT butfriends Jesus was the man with the plan in the NT…the CROSS of CHRIST isour focal point…AMEN!

Because of God’s POWER at Calvary, change is POSSIBLE!Transition…The narrative of Exodus shows us that God will never leave us where he leads us. Italso illuminates how change is possible because of the power of God. But notice athird movement in the Book of Exodus…(ON SCREEN)3. Our first INTENTION should be to obey God’sINSTRUCTION. (Ex 19:3-6)Intro…

God saved them from slavery but now he desired to sanctify them at Sinai.Remember, Covenant, God not only wants to save us, he also desires to shape us. Therewas no turning back to the old way of life in Egypt…it was to be left behind

forever…Not all the experiences which awaited Israel after their redemption werepleasant, but all were necessary. God intended to mature His people before bringingthem to the Promised Land…God desires to mold and mature His own.Amplify…God led his people to Mount Sinai where He would instruct his people. Israel wouldbe given the Law! Not only did God want to lead his people out, He wanted to leadhis people in…He wanted to lead his people to victory…but victory would only comethrough obedience…GOD MOVES HIS PLAN FORWARD THROUGH OUROBEDIENCE! Often times, we want to make our own way…but the Word of God teaches us that

steadfast obedience to God’s agenda is the only way to success. The chief purpose of the law given at Sinai (ten commandments), was to expose sin

and paint in most vivid colors the fearful, blazing, dazzling holiness of God. Salvation was given to the people but God was also concerned for their

sanctification…remember, salvation is free but sanctification is costly!Hear me Covenant…It PAYS to OBEY!Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”The Exodus was not just a get out jail free card…God wanted the nation of Israel tobecome what He wanted them to be…you can’t have one foot in Egypt and anotherin Canaan. God made it clear, “you can’t follow me and expect to also follow thegods of Egypt.”Apply…

The same is true for us…we can’t expect God to be pleased if we love the culturemore than Christ. How can we expect God to use us when we refuse to denyourselves? During the Exodus, the people were to conform to the law but for us, wemust allow the Holy Spirit to conform us to Christ!Our priority should be to OBEY GOD!Transition…There is one final lesson to learn from Exodus…(ON SCREEN)4. If you really desire to WALK with God, you must first learnto WAIT on God. (Ex 40:34-38)Intro…

A large part of Exodus is devoted to a description of the tabernacle. Actually some50 chapters in the Bible relate to this important structure.(ON SCREEN)

Here is a replica of the tabernacle I visited in Israel…the tabernacle was the focus ofthe national life of Israel in the wilderness…every tribe encamped around it in anorderly fashion. The tabernacle was where God dwelt with man in those days…God has always been interested in having a relationship with us…He has alwayswanted to be intimate and present with humanity…We do not serve an absent God;we serve a present God… The tabernacle was a mobile structure used by Israel for 500 years as a meeting

place…later on, it would be replaced by the Temple. The tabernacle was moved 30x…the glory cloud of God’s presence would hover

over the Tabernacle…a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. But then the cloud would raise and would begin to move…God’s people (8,500)

would tear down the tabernacle and follow God’s presence until it stopped… Then they would re-erect the tabernacle again and the glory of God would descend

upon the tent of meeting!Amplify…There is a lesson in this for us as a church and as individuals. Many times we moveand get ahead of God! We should never blaze a trail for ourselves…Our plans andprograms should never include, “Come on God, follow us and get on board!” Weneed to find out which way God is moving, and all we have to do is FOLLOW! We make it far too complicated as we try to “think tank” our way to success. God has already made the plans…He knows the way thru the wilderness…we just

need to fall in line.

I’m all for making plans and seeking the best in life…but the fact remains that Godknows best and if we only put half the energy we put into trying to make a way forourselves into finding and following God’s way…just imagine what God coulddo?

(ON SCREEN)Conclusion:Today, Route 66 led us through the Book of Exodus…don’t make the mistakeCovenant by looking at Exodus as just another Bible story…the narrative of Exodusreveals much about our own journey…We might not be enslaved physically but we all are born slaves to sinspiritually…the good news is because of God’s great love, God provided a means ofredemption…he desires each of us to experience the victory of Canaan! We need tothank God for the miraculous ways He worked in the past and remember His powerand faithfulness when we can only see trouble and difficulty…God is not slack on His promises!!!!