Matt Chandler - Delivered Out of Darkness

Hey, good morning! If you have your Bibles, go ahead and grab those; we’re going to be in Exodus chapter 13. It’s good to be back with you! I thought Anthony Moore did a phenomenal job on the Passover last weekend, and what a gift of God’s grace it is for us as a church to have men like Anthony who can rightly divide the word of truth in a compelling and powerful way. I got to listen to that as soon as it was available, and it really set me up to win as we now move into chapters 13 and 14 in Exodus.

Today, the book of Exodus takes a significant turn that will shape the spring we have together as we look at the latter half of the book. Up until this moment, God has been revealing Himself in regards to who He is while delivering His people from bondage and slavery. It’s important to keep in mind that, as we walk through Exodus, we’ve said it is book two of five books, which means when we read Exodus we should be thinking— the best illustration I could come up with is that we need to think like a Star Wars movie. There are other movies surrounding it that make the whole thing make more sense.

So, what happened back in the book of Genesis, the first movie, is that God came to Abram and said that the brokenness that has entered the cosmos because of sin would be made right. He would fix all that is broken by sin being introduced into the cosmos through the line of Abraham, and through that line, all the families on Earth would be blessed. Very early in our scriptures, we see the missional heartbeat of God: to see not just one ethnic group love Him but that men and women from every tribe, tongue, and nation on Earth come to be reconciled to Him, reconciled to one another, and bring glory and fame to the name of God.

That’s God’s plan. But in book two, in the story we’re in, the people of God have no real sense of themselves. They have been in slavery for over 400 years, so everything they know culturally and about how to operate has been informed by the paganism they have been living in. Starting in chapters 13 and 14, God begins to shape His people; He gives them commands on how to live and operate so that they will become, for God, a kingdom of priests that herald the good news of God’s reconciling work in Christ to the nations.

What I want us to do in Exodus 13-14 is watch how God shapes and molds us into a distinct people. I’ve got four points, and they all start with ‘C’. I just mention that because I thought you would be proud of me! So, let’s dive in as we consider what it means to be the people of God.

The first point that is true about us is that we, as the people of God, are a consecrated people. Look there in Exodus 13:1-2: «The Lord said to Moses, ‘Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and beast, is mine.’» If I had more time, we could draw this line and flesh out the meaning of being the firstborn. If you remember from our study, when Moses first meets Pharaoh, he says that God, Yahweh—“I am who I am”—has commanded Pharaoh to let Israel go, for Israel is His firstborn son. If Pharaoh would not comply, God would take from Egypt his firstborn son.

The Lord considers His people to be His firstborn. The inheritance and authority of the family line went through the firstborn son. Thus, the idea of consecration for Israel was that the family, the wealth of the family, the name of the family, and the position of the family belonged to the Lord. Consecration is the idea of taking what is ordinary—whether that be a place, a utensil, or a person—and setting it aside for exclusively holy purposes. So, you and I are consecrated by God. To be the people of God means we have been consecrated.

If I could simplify that, here’s how: We belong to God. That’s the bottom line. The framework of my life, the understanding of my world through my eyes, is rooted in this truth: I am not my own; I have been bought with a price. I belong to God, and everything I have is a gift from Him and ultimately belongs to Him. Therefore, I am not my own; I am His. Paul would express this in multiple places in various ways—this theme appears throughout the scriptures. We are consecrated, set aside for the purposes of God in the world.

Probably the most overarching verse that illustrates this truth about us is Romans 14:8. Here’s what the Apostle Paul says: «For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord…»