The Exodus of the Son

The Exodus of the SonExodus 11:1-10 | Sermon Recap & Discussion Questions   Through God’s Son, we become God’s sons. If you commit your life to Christ, he will not merely raise your body to life, he will openly acknowledge you as a son of God as genuinely as Jesus is.       I. From Slaves to Son When God originally commissioned Moses to liberate his people from Egypt, he put it in familial terms: “Then say this to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, ‘Let my son go, so he may worship me” (Ex. 4:22-23). The Exodus then is the story of God’s liberating his “son” Israel from their slavery to live freely and happily in his love.   II. From Sin to Son As Christ the Son of Man hung on the cross, he carried out the plan he, the Father and the Spirit made before creation. On the cross God “made him to be sin for us.” God imputed the guilt of our sin to Jesus. God leveled all his judgment on him. This judgment was rightfully due to us, but Jesus took it so that we could be pardoned from our sin.    III. Sons in the Son The climax of the Father and Son’s excruciating emotional pain is marked by Jesus’ cry, “My God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?” The pain of the cross for both the Father and the Son was not the legal transformation of an innocent citizen into a condemned criminal. The pain of the cross was the estrangement of the Son from the Father. Jesus was being forsaken by God so that we could be adopted into God’s family. God preserved his son in the Exodus so we could be saved; God punished our sin in his son so we could be forgiven; and God temporarily abandoned his son so that we could be adopted.    Discussion Questions The fact that God preserved Jesus in the Exodus proves that God has been working to redeem you for all of history. What assurance does this give you about God’s love and provision for you? How does this help put the things you are currently facing in perspective?  Pastor George said that anger points us to what someone loves. Think about a time you got angry recently. What made you angry? What does that say about what you were loving at the moment? Now think about God’s anger toward Pharaoh. What does this show about God’s love? What does that say about God’s love for you?  Do you ever struggle to believe God really loves you? Read Romans 8:14-16. What do these verses say about God’s desire to convince you that you are his child? How does this demonstrate God’s love?  How do these three different examples of God’s love (preserving you throughout history, his anger, and your adoption) help you to believe in his love for you? What is a verse or passage you could memorize this week that the Spirit can use to remind and assure you of God’s love?