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What’s Your Story?

Scripture: Exodus 2:23-25 | John 8:34-36

I. Your Christian story is one of freedom from sin to serve God.

A. How does God respond to Israel’s groaning (Exodus 2:23)? God cares. “God heard… God remembered… God saw… God knew” (Exodus 2:24-25). Jesus’ response to those who say they are free is, “Actually, you are not free. You are really a slave. You are a slave to sin (John 8:34).” You are a slave to sinful patterns of behavior and to endless cycles in your life of guilt and regret. And you are enslaved in a world where other people constantly sin against you. Until you see yourself as a slave to sin, you will never see your need for a Savior.

B. Jesus has come to set you free from sin and death (John 8:36). You are no longer controlled by sin. It no longer enslaves you. Jesus has set you free. You are not free to do whatever you want. Jesus says you are now free to serve God. You are now free to do what you ought to do. You are free to please God with your life. True freedom is freedom to be the slave of God. Exodus 4:22-23: “Then you (Moses) shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.”

II. Your Christian story is one of freedom to go home.

A. God remembered His promise to the people of Israel (Exodus 2:24). That promise is found in Genesis 12:1-2: “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” God would give Abraham’s descendants a land of their own, a home. This home would be the Promised Land. God is the hero of all our stories. So, God gets the glory in all our stories. God remembered His promises to Israel. And that was all that mattered.

B. God takes action to save His people in Exodus 3:7-8. Our salvation is never about who we are and what we can accomplish. Our salvation is about God and what He has accomplished. Jesus’ death freed us from sin (John 8:36). And one great day, Jesus is going to bring us home. John 14:2-3: “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” The Bible is the story of God leading us out of slavery to sin to the place where we are back home with God.

Application:
Jesus has freed you from sin so you can go home to heaven. Rejoice!

Sources:
The Bible
Commentaries by D.A. Carson, T. Desmond Alexander, Alec Motyer, Tim Chester.
“The Lamb of God” by Nancy Guthrie, “Echoes of Exodus” by Alastair Roberts & Andrew Wilson   

Sermon Discussion Questions

1) In what ways are we slaves to sin? How did Jesus set us free from our slavery to sin?

2) How are the stories of Moses and Jesus similar? How is Moses’ salvation story a preview of Jesus’ salvation story?

3) When God remembers you, what does that necessarily lead to next for God? Who is always the hero of your salvation story?