The Defining Story of God Who Saves

Nov 09, 2025

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“The Exodus is the story of a people who have been rescued by God. The Exodus is a story of how God has rescued these people. And if you write down nothing else, I'll just write down these three things. It says that he rescued them out of captivity, that he rescued them through the wilderness and into the promised land. Out of, through, and into is the way in which God saves his people. It's the way in which he saves you and me.”
“They weren't a people who were known because of their power or their spiritual fervor. That's for sure, as you read the Old Testament. That they weren't people who were defined by their reliability of their amazing kings. But they were a people who were defined by the fact that they had been saved. That they had been delivered. That they had been rescued. It's what defines God's people. It's what defines us as God's people.”
“The name Israel, the name of God's people through the Old Testament is wrestles with God. That gives me comfort, right?”
“The thread that we want to pull through today is that we worship a God who saves. And for some of you, you grew up in church and you're like, I got saved back in 64, whatever. And the fact that God saves can kind of become a little bit mundane. It can be kind of come something that we get used to. And what we want to do is kind of reignite the story in our hearts.”
“It reminds us that our saving is not just for us. In our individualistic culture, like we get saved, so we have our personal salvation and it's our thing. But the original promise to Abraham was that you will be blessed in order to be a blessing. That Moses was saved in order to deliver. That he was drawn out so that he might lead his people out. That God's story of saving is perpetual and it doesn't just end with us.”
“God is not unaware of your suffering. But it does beg this question. As you read this story, like why 400 years in slavery? Why? Why did, why was this part of the people of God? Like, even when God made a promise with Abraham, he said, your people will be in captivity for 400 years. Why? Write your pens down. You got your pens? Don't write your pens down. Write this down with your pens. This is why. I don't know. I don't know. You read through the Old Testament, there's so many question marks. Write a question mark. But here's what I do know. Is that God told us this would happen. That God is being extremely patient with Israel's enemies. And we know that through the entirety of Scripture, that nothing is wasted with the Lord. He hears his people crying out.”
“The worship of God is a formative event for his people. That God is going to deliver his people, not just so they can do whatever they want, but he's going to deliver them so that they might taste and see that the Lord is good. That they might be full of the Lord as they worship the Lord. That they might be a tree planted by the river of God's goodness. That they might be let out and that they might come to worship the Lord.”
“We see God, even in these plagues, offering an opportunity to his enemies to turn. Reveal something about the heart of God until we get to the 10th plague. Where every firstborn son in Egypt will die. From the king's household to the slave's household. That the firstborn son will die. That's a heavy plague, ladies and gentlemen. That's a heavy plague. But what we see is what? That God saves. He provides a way out.”
“This Passover. This meal that they ate this night. Would become the holiday that the Hebrews would celebrate. Like sometimes we hear about holidays of other people. Of ancient civilizations. You're like, I don't know if that's a big deal. This was Easter and Christmas and 4th of July. Like wrapped into one. Like this was their holiday.”
“Jesus would sit down with his closest friends. And he would fulfill. And he would redefine. That he himself was the perfect spotless lamb. And his blood was going to be spilt. That they might not be delivered from a physical oppressor. But that they might be delivered from their sin. That Jesus would become the Passover lamb. Who was sacrificed for us. That he would absorb our punishment. This is why when Jesus shows up on the scene. John says behold the lamb of God. Who takes away the sin of the world.”
“They are up against the river. That the Lord has delivered them. That they have. They're like we did it. We got out. 400 years. We've seen our children be thrown to the river. We have been oppressed and oppressed. And now the Lord has let us out. Look at this. We even got a bunch of necklaces. You'll read that in there. And they got all their stuff. And they follow. They follow. And they get to the face of the river. And here comes Egypt. Like they've seen the Lord deliver. And here comes Egypt. And then what do they do? They do the same thing we do. We're like you know what? Was that really the Lord? Like we see. We taste and see that the Lord is good. We see the Lord answer a prayer. We've been praying for years. We got tears in our eyes at the goodness of Jesus. We walk away from Easter, Christmas, whatever. And we're with gratitude in our hearts. And then some situation that we didn't ask for. We get a text message. We get a phone call. We see a bank statement. We say, Lord, where are you at? Don't we do the same thing?”
“You are not saved by the quality of your faith. You are saved by the object of your faith, the God who saves.”
“For many of you, you've come up against the sea. And you feel like you got a little wet. Because it feels like God didn't provide the way that you were looking for. But what we're reminded of is the people rejoice. Is they don't see God has given us salvation. They say he has become our salvation. And God would become Jesus. The man incarnate. And that he wouldn't just show us the way. But he would become the way. That our life is hidden in Christ. And through every situation, every wall that we come up against, God doesn't just from somewhere else give us an answer. But he gives us himself to lead us and to guide us. Because God saves. God is our salvation.”
“God's original intent for the Hebrew people. The Israelite people. The people of God. Is that he would bless them in order to be a blessing to all people. That their whole nation. That they would be priests. That they would be a conduit for God's presence on the earth.”
“He did not give them the law and say, if you get a 98% on this, then I'll come down and get you out of Egypt. Right? He saved them. And then he said, now that you're saved, now that you're mine, this is what life looks like. This is the same for us as followers of Jesus. That Jesus has died for us. He has showed us how to live. He has given his life as the Passover lamb. And he's invited us into new life. And he saves us through our active following of him. He's like, this is what life with me looks like. This is life and life abundant. He doesn't say, let's see if you can keep your act together. And then if you do, then I'll save you. Because that's just Jesus doing out paychecks for good behavior. And that's not the heart of God. The heart of God is a God who saves. Right? That's what the Exodus story tells us.”
“How often, again, do we see the hand of God, the conviction of the Spirit, the goodness of Jesus, and then again, he's taking too long. And so we turn to our old, familiar, false stories, our golden calves to get what we want. God is silent, so I'll just manufacture my own happiness by buying more. I'll just manufacture my own ideal situation where I don't really need God and I can comfort myself. Jesus saved my soul, but I need a politician to save my comfort. I'll just do what's practical, what makes me feel good, what gives me control, just what works. I'll just go back to my old stories, I'll go back to Egypt, I'll just worship my golden calf, because that just felt better. Because waiting on the Lord feels like it takes too long, and it feels unclear. Like how often do we slip right back into the same patterns?”
“If we're going to understand Jesus, we must understand the Exodus. Now, the Exodus story defined God's people. And as God's people now, this is so important, the Exodus was the story that all throughout the Bible they would reference. Our God saves. Our God delivers. He's the God who rescued us from the hand of the Egyptians. He's the God who led us through the wilderness. He's the God who brought us into the promised land. That the Exodus was their generation defining story. And for us, as followers of Jesus, the cross is our exodus. The cross is our formational story. If you're a Christian, the story that defines you is the empty grave. And the cross where Jesus died.”
“It's too easy for us to slip into other stories. To define ourselves by the subculture that we create. Or the politics that we adhere to. Or my record of what I've done right. Or my spiritual aptitude. And we can, we know the cross. We assume the cross. We know God saved us. But the stories that define us become all kinds of other things. What we've done right. What we believe about this. Conservatism. My opinions on this. Which are all, we have dialogues about all those. But they are not our defining stories. Our defining stories is that Jesus, the Passover lamb, died in our place. And that God is a God who rescues. Because we, like the Israelite people, are so quick to forget.”
“He saves us from our sin. We were dead in our transgressions. We were slaves to sin. He saved us from the penalty of our sin. Out of ultimate separation, God has saved us. And he saves us through our suffering. Day over day, he is saving us from the power of sin. Leading us into truth as we follow Jesus. And he does this through the mundane, the memorable, and the manageable, and the miraculous. The reality of our everyday lives, he is saving us through pain, through hardship, through loss, longing, and joy. Every moment in between is not wasted. Because he is forming something in us. Becoming like Jesus. A glory beyond what we can understand. He saves us from our sin. Saves us through our suffering. And he saves us into his kingdom forever.”
“The thing that is constant as we read the story of Exodus is the heart of God is the heart of a God who saves us.”
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