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#10213 - The Great Exodus - Exodus 12:14-51 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through a
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Bounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Take your Bibles, open them,
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would you to Exodus chapter 12 as we pick up where we left off
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last time, Exodus chapter 12 and I've entitled our Bible study
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the great Exodus, the great Exodus because it happens in
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this chapter as we finish up today.
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We left off last time with God preparing His kids, preparing
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his children that we know as the nation of Israel, and He's
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preparing them to be delivered from the slavery that they've
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endured for many years. He's literally saving them.
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This is God intervening in human history to bring about
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salvation. It's a time of great exodus or
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great exit. Finally, listen, after
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generations of pain, after generations of difficulty, after
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generations of hopelessness, I mean just over and over and over
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again, God breaks through at just the right time and it ends.
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It doesn't just end. It ends very quickly with this
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last or 10th plague. It happens very quickly.
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Why? Because again, we're reminded
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that God can do a quick work. And I wonder, as I'm sharing
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today, like the generations and the difficulties and the layers
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of things and the years of waiting, and you just get to the
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place where, you know, I don't think this is ever going to
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change. And the enemy gets in with his
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lies, Then he begins to take away your hope.
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I want you to be reminded that even in your hopelessness, God
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remains faithful. He loves you.
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He cares for you. And when the work happens, it's
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going to happen quickly. It's going to feel that way.
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You, you might even be so discouraged that you're like,
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well, what do you mean quickly? I've been waiting years for
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this. I've been waiting my lifetime.
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I, I remember my grandfather talking to me about this and
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just this thing that this fan we've struggled with and, and
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you have to give God the credit and the glory for the quick work
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that he does. He is faithful waiting.
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You know, when you wait for something, it can be so
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discouraging and so hard, like, like you're waiting right now.
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I think of, I mean, I can think of a few things in my own life.
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I can think of one thing in particular, 11 years.
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And I have to say 11 years is a long time to wait when you're
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used to getting things 11 seconds or 30 seconds or 11
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days. But eleven years, and I mean,
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the way it all looks in the human realm, it doesn't look
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like 11 years is going to be any shorter than 22 years or
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whatever that might be. But in the discouragement, you
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have to be careful because there's a lie that takes root
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from the enemy of our souls, that God's timing isn't perfect,
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or that God has forgotten, or that God doesn't care, or that
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he's not interested. And the Bible actually teaches
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the exact opposite. Hold your place as an Exodus.
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Turn over with me to Isaiah so you can mark this and know the
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address. We talk about it, we reference
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it, we quote it, but I want you to mark it and memorize it.
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I want you to take this word and memorize it.
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Whether you're in the midst of something that you're waiting on
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the Lord for or there's something coming up, I want you
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to remember the promise that God gives for those of us that are
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waiting. It says in Isaiah chapter 40 and
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verse 31, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their
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strength. They shall mount up with wings
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like Eagles. They shall run and not be weary,
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and they shall walk and not faint.
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Think about that. Weakness is replaced with
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strength, weariness replaced with running, and fainting
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replaced with walking. God is renewing your strength.
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Why? What's the strength in waiting?
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Well, because you're drawing near to the Lord and depending
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upon him, you're desperate, perhaps, or your prayer life has
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come alive. And these places, when you leave
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the presence of God, when you're in or into the presence of God,
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you're strengthened, you're reminded of his faithfulness.
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Now here we are in Exodus. This deliverance has finally
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come. Exodus, you know, is actually a
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Greek word. The we get it from the
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Septuagint. The Septuagint is a Greek
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translation of the Old Testament.
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And it's an interesting thing to look at when you see the
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different words that were used to describe the Hebrew words,
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Exodus being a Greek word. What's interesting is in the New
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Testament we find this very same word.
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It's in Luke's Gospel Chapter 9 and verse 30.
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In Luke Chapter 9, verse 30, you have that glorious time of the
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Mount of Transfiguration. And in the verse 30, it says,
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behold, two men talked with him who were Moses and Elijah, who
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appeared in glory and spoke of his decease, which he was about
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to accomplish at Jerusalem. They were talking about the
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crucifixion up on the Mount of Transfiguration.
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They had a discussion, a dialogue about the coming of the
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cross and the resurrection of Christ.
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That word deceased there translated in the new King James
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is the Greek word Exodon, which we get our word exodus from
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Jesus refers to the cross as a great exodus, which reminds me,
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it's very interesting you want to jot it down.
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There are three great exoduses in the Bible.
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There's three of them. We think of one automatically
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because the whole book of the Bible is named that.
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But number one is the exodus of the children of Israel out of
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Egypt, where they were able to exit out of 400 years of slavery
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and oppression. The next exodus is here.
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In Luke's Gospel, Jesus talks about this great exodus, the
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cross, the deliverance of Jesus. Listen, the first exodus, the
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deliverance of the children of Israel out of slavery.
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The 2nd Exodus, more important was the deliverance of anyone
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who turned to Jesus by faith, the deliverance of sin and death
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by the cross and resurrection. And there's still yet 1/3 Exodus
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that's still coming at the end of the age, the rapture of the
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church, the culmination of all human history, in the second
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coming of Messiah, in the final and great Exodus, we will be
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delivered from this present world and ushered into the
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Kingdom age. So when you think of Exodus, I
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want you to think more of the deliverance.
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I was just a picture and a type of the coming cross and
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resurrection. Just a reminder of the promise
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of God that Jesus said, you know what, you believe in God, you
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believe also in, you believe in me, you believe in God, believe
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also in me. Because in my Father's house
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there are many mansions. And if it were not so, I would
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have told you, I go to prepare a place for you.
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And if I go to prepare a place for you, you know what Jesus
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promises the great Exodus. I'll come and come for you
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myself and take you in and be in the presence of eternity for all
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of eternity. It's so good.
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So the children of Israel, like us today, had to prepare for
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their exodus. You got to be prepared.
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God, He wants us to be a prepared people for his prepared
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place. And there's preparation in our
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lives. So we were talking today in our
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staff meeting, going through our discipleship time.
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We were talking about counting the cost.
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We were learning about and being reminded about our character and
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our integrity and the importance of the inner man.
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Not the outer man. Not not what people, not not
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what people see. Not, not something you put up
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for someone to see, but the cultivation of who you are on
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the inside, the depth of your relationship with Jesus, the
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importance of the weight of who you are open and naked before
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the Lord. It's not just what people think.
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The preparation for the children of Israel, what we learned, it's
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a significant feast known as the Passover.
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The Passover would point to the coming of Christ.
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It's the number one picture in all the Bible, the best type of
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Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the
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world. And for the Jewish nation,
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listen, God is doing a new thing.
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You always want to be looking for the new thing that God is
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doing in your life, taking you from glory to glory and strength
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to strength. God is doing a new thing.
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If you're not open to the new thing that God's doing, you'll
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miss it. I, I think of the testimony that
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we share today where Dan is in a place, Pastor Dan is in a place
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where he's very fruitful, used in tremendous ways from all the
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outward measurements, all that you could see, all that you
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could even measure is he's sitting across the table with
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his wife and kids. Look at what God is doing.
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Look at the faithfulness of God. Look at how we're being used
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fulfilling the call of God that took us from California to here.
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And if he wasn't ready and to respond to the stirring that the
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Lord was doing, if he wasn't ready to go, OK, God says, all
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right, Dan, I brought you here. Now I want to do a new thing and
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I want to do a new thing. And you're like, well, I don't
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want to do a new thing. I like this thing.
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I like the thing you're doing right now, Lord, I like it a
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lot. But God says, no, I have
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something more for you. It's going to be like nothing
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you've ever experienced. Because even if we were stepping
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into new things, we want to hold on to familiarity.
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We want to hold on to something that looks familiar.
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And the Lord goes, no, I don't want you to looking for
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something that's familiar. I want you looking to me.
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I'm taking you into places you'd never go on your own.
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I'm taking you into situations you would never choose for
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yourself. I'm taking you into places where
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you will utterly depend upon me. And I think today, the greatest
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picture of God doing a new thing sounds a lot like salvation,
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doesn't it? Where God wants to bring about a
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new thing. Behold, all things are new.
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You're a new creation in Christ. The Bible says all things, Those
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things in the past pass away. Behold, you're doing a new
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thing. All things have become new.
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I think of Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10 where the Bible
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says that we are his workmanship.
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You know, we have that picture in Jeremiah of God being the
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Potter and we're being the clay. And as he's fashioning every
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single little thing, I want you to think about this.
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I'm, I'm not really an expert in pottery or anything, but I can,
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I can get the picture. I think we all can.
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God uses simple enough illustrations that even if you
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don't do it, you can get it. So I want you to think of that
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lump of clay. Oh, by the way, in the
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illustration, you're the lump. OK, so you're the lump of clay.
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With every spin and every touch of that clay, it's something
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new. It may not be exactly what the
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end's going to be, but on the way to the end, everything is
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new. Every little thumbprint, every
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little bend, every little, you know, splashing with water as
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this, the wheel speeds up, then that's something new.
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Everything on the wheel in the Potter's hand.
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It doesn't have to just be some dramatic life changing thing.
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Everything is new, but you can see how the enemy will lie to us
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there as well who go oh, you know what, it's nothing new.
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Same old, same old. No, it's not.
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God's always doing something in the eternal now in our lives,
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growing us into the image of Christ.
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So here they are. They're prepared.
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Pick up with me in verse 14 is where we left off last time.
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It says so this day shall be to you a memorial, and you shall
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keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations.
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You shall keep it as a feast by everlasting ordinance.
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Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
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On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses.
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Forever eats leavened bread. From this first day until the
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7th day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
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On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the
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7th day there should be a holy convocation for you.
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No manner of work shall be done on them but that which everyone
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must eat, that only may be prepared by you.
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So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this
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same day I will have brought your armies.
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Mark that phrase. We'll get it to it later.
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I will. I would have brought your armies
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out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this
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day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.
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In the first month, on the 14th day of the month and evening,
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you shall eat unleavened Bread. Until the 21st day of the month,
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at evening for seven days, no leaven shall be in your houses,
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since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person will
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be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he's a
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stranger or a native in the land.
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Verse 20, you shall eat nothing unleavened.
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In all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread.
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Now if you go through the text here and Mark, you'll notice 8
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times God repeats the same word, leaven.
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It's very important to understand the significance of
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leaven in this feast. The bread, the matzah was to be
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baked and made without leaven. And there's a few reasons.
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One is practical. Remember they we saw earlier
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that when they ate this feast for the first time, they needed
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to be ready because God was going to act very quickly and
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they needed to be ready. So without leaven that would not
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require, they don't have the time to let the dough rise and
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let it ferment. And so there's a urgency.
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The leaven speaks of get rid of it.
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You've got to be ready. Gird up the loins in your mind.
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Peter Wood said be ready. But secondly, and more
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importantly, is not the practical reason, it's the
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spiritual reason. In the Bible, leaven is often
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used as a type and a picture of sin.
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Leaven so important. When you put leaven in a bread,
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it puffs it up, it permeates it, it, it destroys it, if you will,
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from the inside. Leaven, you could say, is a lot
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like pride. The root of every sin is pride
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and it destroys everything about us.
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I was talking again, this seems to be a topic today.
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I was talking to a few people, but you know, often times, you
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know, we're learning. We learn not too long ago that
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when you have an offense with someone, you're to go with them,
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share your offense. If they hear you, you want your
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brother, right? We we learn that that's
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important. Jesus taught us in Matthew 18.
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But when that doesn't happen, when that doesn't take place, we
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give room for the enemy. We give room to the enemy to
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make something small so much bigger, so much bigger.
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And the difficulty and the hard part about that is not only are
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we disobedient and not settling our things very, very quickly,
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letting the sun go down on our wrath, letting our imaginations
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run wild, but by the time you pick it up again, you know what?
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By the time it comes back again, you've allowed the enemy to puff
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up your life with pride because you've rehearsed it.
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You've rehearsed it. And I don't know if you noticed
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this, but when you have something at odds with a brother
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and you keep rehearsing and rehearsing and rehearsing it,
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they're always the enemy and you're always the hero.
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They're always the ones that have done it wrong, but you're
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always the hero in the story. And because of that, a layer of
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pride comes up so that now if you try to reconcile, you're not
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just dealing with the little offense.
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It was little before. It was actually something that
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could have been solved really quickly.
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It could have been something like, oh, I'm sorry, brother, I
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didn't know you said that. Please forgive me.
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I didn't mean that. That wasn't my, that wasn't my
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intention. I didn't mean to make that joke
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or whatever it might be. It's just like, hey, just take
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care of it. We can move on.
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We're brothers, sisters and the Lord.
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But the longer you let things something go and the more you
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build it up in your mind and the more you deal with it, now
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you've got a bigger problem. And that's the problem of pride.
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Pride becomes this wall that's built brick by brick so that now
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when a brother maybe comes to you and wants to solve it and
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wants to get in there, they're unable to get to the real issue
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because pride is there and it's like a brick wall that you can't
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get through. And now it's even worse.
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This happens all the time in marriage.
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I mean, for the closer the relationships, this happens all
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the time. This is something that we have
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to remember to resolve things quickly, to pray, to get things
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done, to take care of these things so that the enemy doesn't
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let us. Like by the time you get to it,
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you're like, you know, it's, it's, it's just pride is like
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leaven. It just takes something and
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completely destroys it from the inside.
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Leaven, or what we've common be known as yeast today is also
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hidden. And sometimes sins are hidden
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from others. They're not hidden from God, of
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course, but it works. They work silently.
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The the, the, the wrecking work of sin is hidden and silent
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because you think you're getting away with it.
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It also leavens, spreads quickly and putrefies just like sin
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does. So for the bread, the bread
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needed to be without leaven, because your life is best
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without leaven. My life is better without sin.
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I'm sure you know that by now. Your life is better without sin,
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without choosing to rebel against God.
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You see a little sin in your life, just like the Bible says,
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a little leaven leavens the whole lump, which is true.
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And a little sin will affect your whole life.
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You can't compartmentalize it and say, well, that's just a
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little part of my life here. A little part.
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What's tolerated in the mind corrupts the mouth, and what's
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tolerated in the mind corrupts relationships and reputations
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and ultimately destroys entire lives.
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That little deception, that little white, you know, we, we
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make categories, right? That little white lie and we
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emphasize the white, but not the lie.
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And that, that, you know, I'm not going to handle that.
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I'm not going to listen. There are three things that you
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need to know about unleavened bread besides the picture of
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sin. It's what we refer to as matzah
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bread today. And prior to the COVID days, we
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used to have them passed out. You know, we would break the
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bread and pass them out all throughout, throughout the
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sanctuary. But if you look at the bread
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itself, you'll see a couple characteristics of matzah bread
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even today, that flattened cracker like bread.
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First of all, number one, it's striped.
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You'll see they bake stripes in it.
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Secondly, you'll notice little holes in it.
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It's pierced tiny holes throughout.
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And then thirdly, of course, it's flat, and the flatness of
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the bread tells you that there's no leaven in it.
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It's cooked flat. And why is that such a big deal?
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Why would the bread? Not only because it's a type of
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sin, not only because they needed to be ready.
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Why is it in the Passover, in this feast of unlimited, so
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vital, so important? Well, Jesus said that He alone
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is the bread of life. This matzah is pointing again as
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every component and ingredient in the Passover meal.
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Is pointing to Jesus Christ. Which reminds us when you're
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reading through the Bible, you're reading your Bible every
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day. No matter where you are, you
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want to pray and ask God to show you Jesus.
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He's on every page. He's there in type and in
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picture. Sometimes he shows up as the
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Angel of the Lord. Sometimes in the New Testament
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he shows up God and human flesh. You want to be looking for
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Jesus. The bread that's striped and
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pierced without sin represents Jesus who bore our stripes,
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Jesus who was pierced, Jesus who was without sin.
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God wants and builds in memories for us, which is why Jesus would
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tell us to continually remember him.
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When you do this, do this in remembrance of me.
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Don't forget me. Don't forget what I've done for
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you. Why?
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Because you have a tendency to forget, to move on, to break
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good habits. Jot it down in First
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Corinthians, in chapter 5 and verse seven, it says, therefore
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purge out the old leaven. He tells the church, get rid of
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the leaven. Can't you hear them tell us
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today, Hey, Aurora, purge out the leaven.
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Get rid of it. It's not helping you.
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So that you might be a new lump. That makes sense with the
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illustration of the Potter, right?
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Because when you're a fresh new lump, you feel every little move
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of the Potter. And I wonder today, someone
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listening right now, maybe online, maybe on the radio,
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you're listening right now. Maybe this is the word.
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You're like Ed, I don't pastor. I don't hear from God.
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I don't hear from God. I feel so distant from God.
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And here's the answer. Deal with your sin.
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God is calling you to a place where you know exactly, you know
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exactly what to do. Humble yourself and repent with
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godly sorrow, not worldly sorrow.
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Don't confuse the two. Worldly sorrow leads to death,
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but godly sorrow leads to repentance.
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Purge out that leaven, Get rid of it.
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Paul saying get it out. Not even a crumb of sin, not
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even a crumb of anger, unforgiveness, no compromise.
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Be ready for every good work. He says at the end, He wants you
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to live. This is first Corinthians 5-7
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and eight. He wants us to live with
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unleavened bread of sincerity and truth that that's what we
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might be known So as the body of Christ.
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This is the hour, the moment where God is saying I want my
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bride to get ready for the great marriage supper of the Lamb, and
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we've got to deal with our own house, not my you.
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You don't look at my house. I'm responsible for my house.
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I'm not going to look to your house.
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You're responsible. Judgment begins in the House of
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the Lord. Your house, your mirror, your
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life searched through your house.
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They were told, but what does God say?
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Search through your soul. Ask God in Psalm 138.
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Lord, show me, reveal my heart to me, reveal any unclean thing
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and then show me the way of righteousness.
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Leaven is a big deal, just like sin is a big deal.
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Every little bit of it. He says here like 8 times, like
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he, he mentions leaven 8 times here, but it's like, hey look,
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anybody who leads eats leaven is going to pay the price for it.
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Anyone that does that, you have to prepare it yourself.
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He says keep this generationally.
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He says in verse 19, listen, whoever eats what is leavened,
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this same person will be cut off from the congregation.
24:06
That's not what sin does. It cuts us off from fellowship.
24:09
It cuts us off from enjoying the presence of the Lord.
24:12
It cuts us off from hearing from the Lord.
24:14
It cuts us off in friendships. And all you need to do is just
24:18
deal with it, admit it, get through the pride and the
24:22
arrogance and just hand it over to the Lord.
24:25
Come back to the text. Now verse 21 says Moses called
24:28
for all the elders of Israel and said to them, pick out and take
24:31
lambs for yourselves according to your families.
24:33
Kill the Passover lamb, take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in
24:36
the blood that's in the basin, and strike the lentil in the two
24:40
doorposts on the blood that's in the basin.
24:44
None of you shall go out of the door of His house until morning,
24:48
for the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians.
24:51
And when He sees the blood on the lentil on the doorposts, the
24:54
Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come
24:57
into your houses to strike you. And you shall observe this thing
25:01
as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.
25:03
Verse 24. It shall come to pass that when
25:06
you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as He
25:09
promised, that you shall keep this service.
25:12
And it shall be when your children say to you, What do you
25:14
mean by this service? That you shall say?
25:16
It's the Passover sacrifice of the Lord who passed over the
25:20
houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the
25:23
Egyptians and delivered our households.
25:26
So the people bowed their heads and worship, and the children of
25:29
Israel went away and did so. Just as the Lord had commanded
25:33
Moses and Aaron, so they did after the instruction to Moses.
25:39
Moses then delivers the instruction, and the only thing
25:43
that was left for the people was to obey by faith, not to get an
25:50
explanation. What do you mean?
25:51
Just how much blood should we put up and where should it
25:53
belong? And I don't know, and I'm not
25:55
sure, Hey, you know, what do you think?
25:57
And it's just obey the Lord. Just do what you're told to do
26:07
by the Lord. Just do it.
26:11
We don't walk. We learn in the New Testament.
26:13
We don't walk by explanations, but by faith.
26:16
And sometimes God's going to be allowing things into your life,
26:19
leading you in things that even if you got the explanation, it
26:24
still wouldn't satisfy you because the Lord wants to be
26:28
your satisfaction. And sometimes you're sitting in
26:31
a Bible study, you're listening on the radio, you got your app
26:34
going, you're on a walk on the treadmill and the Lord speaks to
26:37
you and you're not quick to obey or you're not thorough in your
26:42
obedience or you have like a dull hearing because you have
26:46
leaven in your life. You have some compromise in your
26:49
life. And what the Lord is looking for
26:51
is simple faith. You can see behind the scenes of
26:55
simple faith, there's some complications.
26:58
You can see that there's all these plagues and, and that God
27:01
is, is, is going to do great damage to the first born of this
27:05
rebellious nation that's marked and typified by a rebellious
27:10
leader. The judgment is going to come
27:13
and it's the judgment of God that follows. 9 Listen 9 times.
27:19
God is gracious to Egypt 9 times.
27:22
God is merciful to Pharaoh 9 times and still the resistance,
27:31
the Lord is going to Passover you, I want you to do this.
27:34
Do it on your doors. close the door.
27:35
Don't come out until morning. And wherever the blood is
27:39
applied, there'll be safety, not just for the parents but also
27:44
for the kids. So a family affair.
27:47
And unless the blood was applied, it wasn't effective.
27:51
It was not effective in the basin.
27:54
It wasn't effective in the backyard.
27:56
It wasn't effective in the lamb. It needed to be on the door
28:00
posts exactly as God instructed. It's to be a memorial, to be a
28:08
reminder after they arrive in the promised land, which is yet
28:12
so far ahead. I mean, it's so far ahead.
28:15
God's going. Do this.
28:16
Do this. And when you get to my promise,
28:20
when you experience the fullness of what I'm promising you, I
28:25
don't want you to settle down and forget me.
28:28
Don't forget my grace in sparing your life.
28:33
The annual observance of Passover would serve as a
28:35
constant reminder of the faithfulness of God.
28:38
And the annual celebration of the Passover would also point to
28:42
the coming of Messiah, to look for Him, to expect him, and to
28:48
receive Him, which is exactly what the Jews did not do when
28:52
Jesus came. All of this is pointing to the
28:56
cross. This is a memorial not just for
29:00
what God has done in the past with a loud Amen.
29:03
Has God done anything in your past?
29:06
Not too many people, just this side, this side, you guys all
29:09
right over here, All right. Has God done anything in your
29:12
past? But that's not all God wants you
29:16
to bank on. It's not only in the past, but
29:19
what's to come. It's not just what.
29:22
And, and here's the thing, if God has been faithful in the
29:24
past and he has, how much more faithful will he be in the
29:27
future? He's going to keep his word
29:29
every single time. It's not going to be one word of
29:32
God that has ever been spoken that will fail.
29:35
I see some of these, I don't even know what to call them
29:40
except for people that are claiming to speak in the name of
29:43
God that are completely false, completely wrong in their
29:48
predictions, and they just keep people keep following them.
29:52
Like the Bible says that if there's a person that claims to
29:56
be a prophet and is wrong in just one thing, then in the Old
29:59
Testament they were to stone them.
30:02
But here in the new covenant, everybody thinks they should
30:04
keep following them. I mean, it's just some wild,
30:07
wild things. And I don't want you to follow
30:11
false teaching. I want you to train, tune your
30:14
ears to hear the voice of the Lord.
30:17
And don't follow someone that says, oh, you know, I'm from
30:20
God. I'm from God.
30:21
Yeah, but you're not right. That's not God.
30:25
You're not only. Are you not right?
30:27
But you're dishonest because what you said did not come to
30:31
pass. You were really trying to be
30:34
precise and you're going to come and here I am.
30:36
And this is thus say at the Lord.
30:38
And then after the day passes, you're like, thus the Lord
30:41
didn't say, you said. And because you're wrong, I
30:46
reject you as a messenger of God.
30:49
I don't receive that. That isn't God.
30:51
When he gives a word, it always come to pass.
30:54
Not one word will fail and all of this pointing what God's
30:59
really saying to the children of Israel looking forward is I will
31:03
always provide a place of safety.
31:06
As long as you apply the blood. That's the place of safety.
31:10
There is no safety today, physically or spiritually
31:14
outside of the blood of Jesus Christ.
31:18
Outside of the blood of Jesus Christ, men and women will die
31:23
in their sins and live a Christless eternity.
31:28
Which is why the church is actively seeking to share the
31:33
gospel and step into your life. As uncomfortable as it might be
31:40
to share with you the significance of the condition of
31:44
your life apart from Jesus, we're not following myths or
31:49
fancy made-up stories. Jesus Christ, God and human
31:53
flesh, He came in the form of a human being and lived a
31:58
righteous life. I mean the only righteous life,
32:02
the only perfection that ever existed.
32:06
And the reward for his life of love and care.
32:10
The the reward for his life of teaching and healing and helping
32:15
and bringing encouragement and joy and love to a loveless world
32:19
was that they lied about him and they set him up and they
32:24
manipulated the government and manipulated everyone and hung
32:28
him on a cross. But not before they savagely
32:33
beat him like a common criminal, beating him almost to death.
32:39
By his stripes we are healed. It is the strength of the blood
32:46
of Jesus Christ, so that today, if you will confess with your
32:51
mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised
32:54
him from the dead, you shall be saved.
32:57
The cross gives perspective of all the petty little things that
33:02
we carry in life. The larger the cross and the
33:06
view of the cross in your life, the more petty these little
33:09
leavens and lumps of leaven in your life, they're not as
33:13
important as you think they are. They're not as significant and
33:19
as valuable as you think they are, as they hinder you from
33:22
walking in the newness of life. This is a serious time for the
33:26
nation of Israel and they were to obey.
33:29
Notice verse 29. It came to pass at midnight that
33:34
the Lord struck all the first born in the land of Egypt, from
33:38
the first born of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, to the first
33:42
born of the captive who was in the dungeon for all, the first
33:45
born of livestock. So and all the first born of
33:49
livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night, he
33:52
and all his servants and all the Egyptians.
33:54
And there was a great cry in Egypt.
33:56
There was not a house that was there that was not one dead.
34:00
Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night and said, Rise
34:05
and go out from among my people, both you and the children of
34:08
Israel, and go serve the Lord as you have said, take your flocks
34:15
and herds as you have said, and be gone and bless me also.
34:20
And isn't that interesting? Just a side note because we're
34:22
running out of time. But isn't it interesting then?
34:24
Even the most hard hearted Pagan man or woman appreciates prayer
34:31
when they're in a bind. It's one of the greatest things
34:35
you can do for the hardest people around you.
34:38
It's just to ask if you can pray for them.
34:42
So is there anything I can pray for you?
34:44
Or as you're walking away, say I'm going to pray for you.
34:47
Not like in a nasty way or you know, I'm going to pray for you,
34:49
but in a real caring, sincere way.
34:52
I love you enough that I'm going to carry you on my heart when I
34:55
leave. I love you enough that when I
34:58
get home, I'm going to tell my kids at the dinner table about
35:00
you. And we're going to pray for you.
35:02
Not because I think you're less than me, and not because I think
35:05
you know you deserve the fires of hell, but because I love you
35:10
and I don't want you to experience a crisis, eternity
35:14
because somebody was praying for me.
35:16
You know that you may not be able to use those words, but
35:18
your face and your mannerisms and your attitude will convey
35:23
all of that or not. I'll pray for you, Pharaoh, you
35:29
know, you know how close he's been, but then he hardens.
35:32
You know, he's just looking at the economy.
35:34
You'll see that later. That's all he cares about, cares
35:37
about his name. He thinks he's a God.
35:38
Little G, he thinks he's the number one.
35:41
God, he doesn't care. But man, when chips are down, he
35:44
asks for prayer because pain hit his house.
35:51
Pain hit his house. That's the great equalizer,
35:55
isn't it? Pain, believers, we suffer.
36:02
Unbelievers suffer. You know, we had another
36:06
hailstone right here while I was away.
36:09
Do you know the cars out there, believers, cars got hit,
36:12
unbelievers cars got hit. We're all going to be in line at
36:15
all be in line at the hail repair place.
36:18
You know, where the dentless removal, whatever like like
36:21
we're, we're all going to go. We're all going to be there
36:23
together. Except the difference is unseen,
36:27
isn't it? It's unseen most of the time.
36:30
The difference between the unbeliever and the believer at
36:32
the hail damage place is the believer has hope.
36:38
There's a purpose unveiled in their lives.
36:42
We we're there and we know, you know, it's just a car.
36:44
It's just a car. Just a dented hood.
36:49
We get it fixed, great. We don't get it fixed, great.
36:53
It's all going to burn. I'm getting ready for the
36:55
marriage feast of the lamb. I mean, it's all going to go
36:58
away. It's not.
36:59
That's the difference. And for those believers that are
37:04
abiding in Christ, those believers that are walking with
37:07
the Spirit, there's another difference that's unseen.
37:09
And it's this. You just think you're both in
37:11
line together or one in the front, one cares about the
37:15
other, while the other may not. The Lord put that in your heart
37:23
because you know, that might be their hope, that car, it might
37:27
be an insurance thing that might bring them to the brink of, of
37:31
disaster financially. It might bring about this.
37:36
I don't know. We can't take one more thing in
37:38
their lives. And when you walk in, you're
37:41
thinking that if you're open to the Holy Spirit, you're
37:45
watching, you're caring because you are the eyes of Christ in
37:50
that you are the representation of Jesus.
37:53
The world is just always going to be the world.
37:56
They're always going to act like the world, sound like the world.
37:58
They're they're going to be Antichrist as John said in first
38:02
John, but only the church can be the church.
38:06
You're the church. And so you think, man, I was
38:09
just in line at the hail damaged place and man, I didn't get any
38:12
of that. Try again.
38:15
Go back for another estimate somewhere else and just say I'm
38:18
going to go in for a second estimate, not just for the
38:20
money, but to be open to the Holy Spirit, to be open to the
38:26
person that's taken all that information that's been
38:28
overworked, underpaid. You care, and that's a bridge
38:32
for the gospel. So here, Pharaoh, hey, bless me.
38:37
Pray for me, you know? Yeah, I know.
38:39
Because pain will draw people's attention to God for a brief
38:42
moment. It's the great equalizer.
38:46
You know, a lot of people we don't have time to go into this
38:48
week. I can't believe this.
38:49
Why would God strike the first born?
38:51
What kind of God would do such such a thing?
38:54
And there's a lot to be thought on that.
38:56
I've done this in other studies, but I just want you to consider
38:59
Egypt for right now #1 the rebellious against God #2
39:02
they're idolatrous #3 they've rejected God #4 they're live in
39:07
gross immorality #5 they are caught up with greed and
39:11
covetousness as they've used slave labor for their wealth for
39:14
400 years. And they've been enslaving and
39:17
brutalizing human beings all these years and enjoying the
39:21
benefits of it. But the real question isn't
39:24
about the Egyptians. The real question lies with a
39:27
question like that is, after all that we have done with God, why
39:31
has he spared our lives? Because we are all equally lost
39:36
apart from Christ is not what the Bible says.
39:39
We have all sinned and fallen short.
39:41
Because you look at this and, well, I'm not like an Egyptian.
39:44
And well, I bet you if we got to look a little closer, we might
39:48
see some similarities of a life that's lived apart from Christ.
39:54
And it's to me, it's just amazing that God would be so
39:56
gracious to save any of us, any one of us, of what he delivered
40:01
us from this final plague is hard, but it comes after nine
40:05
chances. Nine chances.
40:09
And certainly there's interaction between the
40:12
Egyptians and the Israelis, the children of Israel, seeing what
40:16
they're doing, maybe talking about it.
40:19
And wherever the wherever the Lord saw the blood, wherever the
40:24
Lord saw the blood, he'd Passover.
40:28
Well, verse 37, the children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to
40:32
Sukkoth, about 600,000 men on foot.
40:36
Besides children, a mixed multitude went up with them.
40:40
Also flocks and herds, a great deal of livestock.
40:44
I, I don't think they see it right now, but like the mixed
40:47
multitude is like bringing 11 the mixed multitudes, you know,
40:51
the, the complainers, the grumblers, the those outside of
40:54
the covenant, the ones that don't care about God.
40:56
They brought the mixed multitude idolatrous, rejecting God.
40:59
They they left with them, but they're going to cause great
41:03
they're going to be a big problem to the children of
41:05
Israel isn't what the Bible says.
41:07
The Bible says be careful. Evil company corrupts good
41:12
habits. Be careful.
41:15
Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers.
41:18
Be careful and this mixed multitude we'll see in future
41:21
studies stand as a warning to us.
41:24
Just like people in the church today.
41:27
You know you, you people in the church today that that they like
41:30
the blessings of God. They want all the benefits of
41:32
being a Christian that they desire, but they're not really
41:34
true believers. Mixed multitude.
41:37
Any gathering has a mixed multitude with it, whether it's
41:40
in the building or out online or, you know that there's always
41:43
mixed multitude, those that are serious about the Lord, those
41:46
that are not. And so we don't know the
41:48
difference. We don't know.
41:50
We just know that we're going to preach the gospel and encourage
41:53
and hope the best. And we find out the mixed
41:56
multitude when, you know, we find out the wolves in sheep's
41:59
clothing, when we see their teeth and their fangs, and we
42:03
see the bloody mess that they leave behind in destroying
42:07
people and drawing people after themselves.
42:10
There are those among us even now, worldly, carnal,
42:13
destructive, and the Lord's just using this whole section to call
42:16
you to himself. It's impossible to be carnal as
42:20
you abide in Christ. It's impossible to walk in the
42:22
flesh when you're walking in the spirit.
42:24
It's impossible to be selfish when you've died to yourself in
42:28
that moment. So good.
42:29
So at any rate, the mixed multitude, verse 39, they baked
42:33
on leavened cakes with of the dough which they had brought out
42:36
of Egypt. It was not leavened because they
42:38
were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they
42:41
prepared provisions for themselves.
42:43
Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was
42:46
430 years. We'll get into that in future
42:49
studies too. And it came to pass at the end
42:51
of the 430 years, on the very same day it came to pass that
42:55
all the armies, there's that word again, All the armies of
42:59
the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.
43:01
It was a night of solemn observance of the Lord for
43:03
bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
43:05
This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the
43:08
children of Israel throughout their generations.
43:11
And verse 43, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, This is the
43:15
ordinance of Passover. No outsiders shall eat it.
43:18
Every man's servant who's bought for money, when you have
43:20
circumcised him, he may eat it. The sojourner and a hired
43:24
servant shall not eat it in one house.
43:26
It shall be eaten. You shall not carry any of the
43:28
flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its
43:31
bones. Again, a foretaste, a picture of
43:35
of Jesus who had no bones broken all the congregation.
43:39
Verse 47 Of Israel shall keep it.
43:41
Then a stranger sojourns with you and wants to keep the
43:44
Passover. Let all the males be
43:45
circumcised, and let him come near and keep it.
43:48
He shall be as a native of the land.
43:50
No uncircumcised person shall eat it.
43:52
One law shall be for the native born and for the stranger who
43:56
sojourns among you. Verse 50 That's all the children
43:59
of Israel did. As the Lord commanded Moses and
44:01
Aaron, so they did came to pass on the very same day that the
44:05
Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt
44:09
according to their there's the word again, armies, very, very
44:15
interesting word. As you see some more details
44:17
given on the Passover and what it how it's to be observed.
44:23
I want you to see and note these words armies.
44:26
There's a couple of ways of looking at this.
44:28
One of the definitions of this word in the Hebrew speaks of
44:32
hosts, like heavenly hosts, that perhaps there's some angelic
44:36
visitation, abiding with the children of Israel and coming
44:40
out with them. That's one possibility, but I
44:43
see a greater possibility. OK, and this is something we've
44:46
developed before, but I want you to understand this.
44:49
Armies of the Lord, He refers I the the references directly to
44:53
the children of Israel. He calls them armies now.
44:56
Just say yes or no. Are they armies right now?
45:00
No, they're what? Slaves.
45:02
They've been slaves for generations before they
45:06
plundered the Egyptians. They had nothing less and less
45:10
and less. The whole reason that this
45:13
movement happens now is God heard their cries as they were
45:16
making it worse and harder for them to work.
45:18
They're not armies, but 3 * 3 times the word of the Lord to
45:23
this nation was you armies, you armies, you armies.
45:27
Jot this down. I want you to meditate on this.
45:30
I want you to consider the whole picture of the book of Exodus,
45:33
the whole picture of what God's doing, pointing to Christ,
45:36
deliverance, salvation. But I want to give you 2 more
45:40
words to consider. Are you ready for Exodus?
45:42
You ready? Exodus is all about identity and
45:46
authority. Identity and authority.
45:48
You go pastor. What do you mean?
45:50
He is speaking to slaves that have yet to be delivered except
45:54
for the for verse 51 as armies. He's Speaking of them, of what
45:59
they become, not who they are. And isn't that what the Lord
46:03
does in our lives? He, he doesn't remember.
46:05
So you know how we like, Well, you know, Rahab, Rahab.
46:07
Oh, I know Rahab. Rahab the harlot.
46:10
No, no, no. Huh.
46:11
She's not the harlot anymore. She's saved and redeemed.
46:15
You get to heaven, don't go around.
46:16
Where's Ray? Where's Rahab the harlot?
46:18
And some Angel comes back with their wing.
46:20
Wow. What's that for, bro?
46:23
Like, there's no harlots in heaven.
46:26
There are no harlots in heaven. And listen, listen, when God
46:29
saves you from not lifestyle, that sex trait wherever you
46:33
you're not a harlot anymore. You're a sister in the Lord.
46:38
You're a brother in the Lord. You have a new identity.
46:42
Listen, the devil attacks this so much.
46:44
The devil attacks this so much because he knows.
46:48
Once you know who you are, there's no stopping you.
46:52
Once you understand who Christ is in your life, there's no
46:55
stopping you. You will go anywhere.
46:57
You will do anything. You will take these leaps of
47:00
faith, trusting God, putting your whole life on the line
47:03
because you believe who you are in Christ.
47:06
That's why Jesus always calls us back.
47:08
Would you guys just go back to your new believer days please?
47:11
Because that's when you were on fire.
47:14
I don't want you to be hot or cold.
47:15
I don't want you to be lukewarm. I want you to be hot believer.
47:19
But even if you were cold, at least I could speak to you.
47:22
But when you're lukewarm, you don't listen to anything.
47:26
I spit you out of my mouth because you don't care about me.
47:29
You have enough of me to make yourself feel good, but you have
47:32
more of you to drown me out. Listen, the children of Israel,
47:37
I mean, at this point, if you looked at them and you said,
47:40
hey, come on, Armies are like, you know, we're nothing, bro.
47:43
Like we're nothing. We're slaves.
47:44
What do you mean armies? We're nothing.
47:49
We're nobodies. Sometimes they, you know, even
47:52
people will refer to themselves as losers.
47:54
We're losers, man, 400 years of nothing.
47:56
They forgot Joe. We remember Joseph, but I never
47:59
met him. That was my great, great, great,
48:01
great grandfather. Might have met him, but I don't
48:02
know who he is. I don't know what the favor of
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God is. You call this the favor of God.
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Working and looking at my life, you call this the favor of God.
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And of course, you could say that right now what you're going
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through, you call this the favor of God.
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Let me give you the answer. Oh, yeah, yeah.
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You live under the favor of God. No matter what this world throws
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at you, no matter what your bank account looks like, no matter
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what your boss is saying, no matter what's happening in the
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government, no matter what's happening or no, you, you want
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you. You doubt the favor of God,
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Remember from where you have fallen and repent and go back
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and repeat the 1st works. That's where you'll find the
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favor of God when none of the other things mattered except His
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rescuing power in your life. Where you were standing at the
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altar or sitting in the chair or standing up or crying in your
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car. Yes, I'm a Sinner.
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I need you Lord, I give you my life.
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Take it all. And you meant it.
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And the question to some, listen to me is what happened that you
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don't mean it anymore? What happened where you let
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pride get in the way? What happened where you don't
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care about the leaven anymore? What happened when you start
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listening to people that agree with you instead of people that
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challenge your own biblical thoughts and you start looking
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for people testing the waters that happens in churches and
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little gossip groups. They all just kind of agree.
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What do they say today? You, you live in a, the, the,
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not the sound tunnel, but the echo chamber.
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Thank you very much. Sounds like the cone of silence,
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like Maxwell Smart, but the echo chamber.
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So you're just like, and, and you know, the, the, the tech
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companies, they all understand that they just keep feeding you
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the same thing. So you keep seeing the same
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things. You keep angry and upset and
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angry and upset and angry and upset.
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And before you know it, anger, the wrath of man does not
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produce the righteousness of God.
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And so the church just sits around telling everybody how
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dark it is, telling everybody how bad it is, telling everybody
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how ugly it is. And they won't just turn on the
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light and show the hope of Jesus and the goodness of God.
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And no matter how dark it gets, on the darkest day when there
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was darkness at the cross, three days later Jesus rose again from
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the dead. He is faithful.
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He is good and when you look at this, you just like God says you
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are somebody, I'm going to deliver you.
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I have a purpose for you. You are going to be somebody.
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This little group of obedient children of Israel, the nation
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of Israel right here is the prelude.
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This little group is the prelude.
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Now they, they end up wandering around you because you might
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have seen the, the reality of they end up wandering around
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because of unbelief and all of that.
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That's unfortunate. But you know what?
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They still obeyed and left Egypt.
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They still put the blood on the doors.
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And because they put the blood on the doors that they stayed
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alive so that the perpetuation of generations can come until
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Jesus Christ arrives. Hey, look, God declares you're
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not those things you say about yourself.
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You're my children, I'm your father, I'm the Lord.
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I'll deliver you now with a mighty powerful hand.
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I will bless you, I will pay your wages.
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I will restore to you what the enemy is stolen away.
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And just like when anyone's born again, generational change
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starts in that moment with that life.
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It's changes. You are not slaves anymore to to
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sin and compromise and pride. You are slaves now as an army of
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the living God and man. There's no looking back.
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Lord, thank you for the simple truths in the Scripture tonight.
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Lord, we know that times are tough.
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We know that days are evil. We understand.
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We see the Scripture fulfilled. Perilous times will come.
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Perilous times have come. But Lord, we need your strength
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and help and vitality and desire to turn on the light.
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Even the smallest light lights up a dark room, Even the
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smallest of lights shows the way and the pathway.
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Your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.
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So let the Church arise, armies of the Lord, surrounded perhaps
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by heavenly hosts, that we might fight the good fight and find
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ourselves in a place of redemptive history in Jesus
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name. Amen.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
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delivered live from the Sanctuary of Calvary Church.
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For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
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To listen to this message in its entirety or to join us for our
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or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.