The New Exodus

The Encounter With Distress and the Need for Change

Scott Uselman opened with personal memories from childhood, remembering how salvation was not immediately accompanied by dramatic change. He described trying to "clean up" parts of his life after coming to faith, only to encounter recurring failure and doubt:

"Within two and a half weeks, believe it or not, it was like, I'm not changed. I'm not different. There's something wrong. The Lord must not have helped me. I'm not sure what's happened here, but maybe I'm unredeemable."

These early struggles led him to realize that human nature, with its contrariness, cannot simply be controlled or managed. Even when we teach or are taught to behave a certain way, the urge to do otherwise persists. He reinforced this with stories about his childhood class, the "class with the five Scots," and how even the best lessons could not change a stubborn will. Our default condition is to do what we are not supposed to.

Turning to Israel, he laid out the situation Jeremiah addressed: God's people had received the law and the promise but repeatedly turned aside. The failure was not just in keeping rules but in the state of their hearts. God, through Jeremiah, pronounced judgment but also pointed ahead to something new, a change that human effort alone could not achieve.

Tracing the Old Exodus to a New Hope

Scott Uselman described the exodus from Egypt as a birthing of a nation, a literal rescue from bondage. Yet, the promise of living in the land was conditional: obedience was necessary to remain. This expectation stretched generations beyond the original deliverance, yet generation after generation faltered, just as we do. The parallel with our own struggles was at the forefront.

“Whenever I’m in school, if somebody’s doing something they shouldn’t be doing, I’ll talk to them about what they’re doing, and then I’ll try to give them some help and some ideas. ... Then the next thing you know, you can tell within 20 minutes they’ve forgotten all about what I’ve said.”

God's journey with Israel echoes our constant wrestling with sin's hold. As Scott pointed out, obedience cannot be managed like school rules, we need more than advice or even willpower.

Jeremiah 30: The Book of Consolation

Scott Uselman read Jeremiah 30 in its entirety, naming it the "book of consolation." Up to this point, Jeremiah had offered little comfort, God’s people were reaping consequences for longstanding rebellion, idolatry, and hardness of heart. Now, however, the tone changed. God promised not only an end to exile but also restoration, healing, and a new future.

1. God Brings His People Out of Their Distress

Scott lingered on the cries of distress heard in Jeremiah 30, connecting them to the groans of Israel in Egypt. God responded to both, first through Moses, now through a future hope.

"The new Exodus does not work unless you understand that your life is a shambles. Because what we heard in this passage is that there is a wound that they have and it can't be healed. In other words, there's nobody that can help you. ... You have need of someone that is greater than all these things to help you."

Deliverance begins not with improvement but with desperate need. Scott emphasized that until we recognize our distress, we will resist the very rescue God offers.

2. God Breaks the Yoke of Bondage

He next turned to the promise that God Himself would break the yoke off his people’s necks:

"If you want to know what the good news is, let me tell you something. It is that God in his grace has come to help his people. He didn't just give us rules and regulations so that he could watch us hang. ... He has come to break the yoke of bondage."

The sermon pressed on the point that sin’s hold is not conquered by technique, therapy, or personal determination but by God’s intervention. Worldly alliances, clever pacts, and even the most sincere efforts to "manage" sin will never achieve what God alone intends to do: set his people free from captivity to themselves, the powers around them, and their own hearts.

Jesus Makes Us God’s People

Turning the passage through a "Jesus lens," Scott Uselman pointed out how Jeremiah anticipated a ruler from among the people, someone greater, a single faithful leader who would fulfill the promises:

"There’s only one high priest who can come near to God. And it's going to be the first advent of Jesus. ... This is the fulfillment of the prophecy that Jeremiah gave to the people. It is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is that ruler."

He explained that through Jesus, we become God’s people not only in name but in practice. God changes what we want and what we are able to do. This is not works-righteousness or mere self-restraint, but the fruit of loving God deeply. Love is what changes a heart, and genuine love for God and neighbor uncovers a real desire to live faithfully, not just avoid wrongdoing out of fear or compulsion.

He addressed the contemporary church’s hesitancy to believe people can truly change, pushing back on the often-heard refrain that we “can’t help” ourselves. Scott underlined that while our nature is contrary, Jesus can reshape desire itself, leading to real transformation and not just outward compliance.

3. God’s Separation of His Children from the Wicked

Coming to Jeremiah 30:23-24, Scott Uselman finished with God’s promise to separate his children from those opposed to Him:

"See the storm of the Lord will burst out in wrath. ... In the days to come, you will understand this."

He urged us to see this separation not as a threat but as consolation to God’s people, the hope that God holds the ultimate authority and promises a true and just reckoning. He likened this to the message of Revelation, which, far from being a book of fear for the church, is a reassurance that God will set things right. The separation is not about superiority but about belonging and being changed, about living as those who love God and neighbor, standing distinct from a world that rejects that belonging and love.

Scott challenged the congregation: if we are not distressed by our sin, if we are not longing to be changed, then we are missing the heart of the gospel. The first step is wanting to turn, followed by honest repentance and an openness to the transformation only Jesus brings. Being God’s people is a matter of desire, effort, and above all, dependence on the grace that God provides.

He closed with an invitation to let Jesus change us from the inside out, to enact this “new Exodus” among us, a community marked by lives turned outward, reconciled, and free.

Living it Out

God desires to bring us out of distress, break every yoke of bondage, and give us all we need in Jesus. In Christ, we are invited to trust the rescue and begin again, asking God not only to change our behavior, but our desires. This week, reflect honestly on what still holds you, acknowledge your need, and invite Jesus, by his Spirit, to break old chains and teach you to love God and neighbor more than any old habit. Let the new Exodus shape us as a church that welcomes others into that same journey.

Discussion Questions

1. What practical steps can we take when we recognize distress in our lives caused by sin or by the world around us?
2. Where have we tried to "manage" struggles ourselves, and how do we experience the difference when we surrender those struggles to Christ?
3. What does it look like for us to be a people set apart, not just in belief, but in how we treat both our church family and neighbors outside our faith?