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The People of the Passover (Exodus 11, 12, 13) · Prodigal Hope

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  SPEAKER_00: This is a landmark text.
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  SPEAKER_00: If there is a pivotal text that you could find,
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  SPEAKER_00: one of the most pivotal,
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  SPEAKER_00: and we don't want to rank them,
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  but this is one of the most pivotal sequences in the entire Old
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  Testament,
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  SPEAKER_00: let alone the entire Bible.
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  I don't think we can exaggerate how critical this moment was
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  and still is.
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  In the history of Israel,
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  in the history of the church,
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  and indeed the history of the world.
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  SPEAKER_00: Because what God does here,
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  SPEAKER_00: what God says here,
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  and what he reveals to his servant Moses and the rest of the
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  people of Israel is
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  SPEAKER_00: still reverberating.
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  SPEAKER_00: Still resonating in us and for us even today.
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  SPEAKER_00: So what's important right from the outset,
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to try and be clear here that we let this section breathe.
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  SPEAKER_00: Not only from chapter 11,
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  where we see the last of the ten plagues going all the way
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  through chapter 13.
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  SPEAKER_00: And we have the Exodus itself,
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  SPEAKER_00: where the people of Israel find themselves at the Red Sea,
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  SPEAKER_00: not knowing what would come next.
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  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to rush through this.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's all here, right in front of us.
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  God is at once fulfilling his word of promise that was given
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  ages ago to Father Abraham.
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  SPEAKER_00: He's fulfilling that for and to his people.
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  SPEAKER_00: At the same time,
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  SPEAKER_00: though,
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  what he's doing throughout this whole narrative is he's
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  foreshadowing his plans for
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  SPEAKER_00: us.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yes, he's foreshadowing his plans for the church.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's been our focus.
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  Our theme for this series through the book of Exodus is the
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  church in the wilderness.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I think what we're going to find here is exactly that.
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  SPEAKER_00: Recall Stephen's words.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is Stephen's words.
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  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to go there, but Acts 7.
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  SPEAKER_00: If you remember the story in Acts chapter 7 in the New Testament,
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  Stephen is standing before a council of men who had his life in
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  their hands.
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  And he was charged,
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  you know,
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  with preaching the ways and the truths of Jesus Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: And even there, he gives them a history lesson, Stephen does.
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  SPEAKER_00: And in the midst of that,
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  SPEAKER_00: he refers to this notion of the church,
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  SPEAKER_00: the congregation in the wilderness.
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  SPEAKER_00: The ecclesia.
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  SPEAKER_00: And right here, that's what we're finding.
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  SPEAKER_00: The very DNA of.
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  SPEAKER_00: The ingredients of what it means to be the congregation of God.
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  SPEAKER_00: The assembly of God's people is found right here.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's what we're seeing here.
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  SPEAKER_00: The same congregation,
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  the same assembly that has survived countless eras of division
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  and hatred and war
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  SPEAKER_00: and persecution.
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  SPEAKER_00: It finds its basis here.
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  SPEAKER_00: And yes,
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  SPEAKER_00: of course,
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  we have to say the quote-unquote birthday of the church is
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  often referred to as
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  SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 2 and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yes, of course.
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  But the ingredients of what it would look like for God to have
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  a called out,
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  SPEAKER_00: separated,
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  SPEAKER_00: consecrated people in assembly.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's all right here.
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  It stretches all the way back to right at this moment in the
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  days of Egyptian bondage.
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  When God,
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  as we're going to read,
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  with a strong hand it says,
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  brought his people out.
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  SPEAKER_00: Brought them out of slavery and into freedom.
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  SPEAKER_00: So this morning what I want to do is I want to focus on that.
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  I want to focus on how these chapters right in front of us show
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  us what it means
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  SPEAKER_00: and what it looks like to be the church.
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  SPEAKER_00: A.K.A.
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  SPEAKER_00: to be the called out, distinct, and set apart people of God.
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  SPEAKER_00: You'll notice that.
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  SPEAKER_00: Look at chapter 11 and look at verse number 7.
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  SPEAKER_00: Where we find that first mention,
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  SPEAKER_00: or one of the first mentions where it says,
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  SPEAKER_00: that you may know,
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  SPEAKER_00: it says at the very end,
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  SPEAKER_00: that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between you,
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  SPEAKER_00: between Egypt and Israel.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's what we're going to see expanded upon so distinctly and clearly.
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  SPEAKER_00: This distinction, this distinguishing mark that God puts on his people.
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  SPEAKER_00: This called out assembly of God.
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  SPEAKER_00: What is it?
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  It's a community of people who listen and follow and remember
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  all that God has done for them.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's what they are known for.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's what they are known by.
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  All of this is what gives God's people their purpose and their
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  identity and their hope.
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  It's all downstream of the one of the Lord who brings us out
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  and brings us to himself.
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  SPEAKER_00: So that's our outline this morning.
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  SPEAKER_00: Three.
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  SPEAKER_00: Main points or movements that I want to go through.
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  SPEAKER_00: The first lesson this morning is, number one, people who listen.
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  SPEAKER_00: What does it mean to be the called out assembly of God?
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  SPEAKER_00: It means that we are a people who listen.
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  SPEAKER_00: Number one, a people who listen.
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  SPEAKER_00: To set the scene,
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  SPEAKER_00: I think what we have to do is to look at,
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  SPEAKER_00: we could say,
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  SPEAKER_00: the prologue,
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  SPEAKER_00: so to speak.
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  The prologue to the tenth and the final plague and some of the
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  several elements
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  SPEAKER_00: that make it so unique,
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  SPEAKER_00: so different from all the rest.
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  SPEAKER_00: Go with me to chapter 11 again, but look at verse number one.
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  Because chief among the differences between this last plague
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  that is separate from
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  all the others is this extended sort of introduction that God
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  gives to Moses.
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  SPEAKER_00: Especially it reminds him what he can expect.
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  SPEAKER_00: Notice what he says.
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  The Lord said to Moses,
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  yet one more plague I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt.
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  SPEAKER_00: And afterward, he will let you go from here.
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  SPEAKER_00: And when he lets you go, he will drive you away completely.
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  Speak now in the hearing of the people that they ask every man
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  of his neighbor and
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  SPEAKER_00: every woman of her neighbor for silver and gold jewelry.
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  SPEAKER_00: And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians.
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  SPEAKER_00: Moreover,
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  SPEAKER_00: the man Moses was very great in the land,
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  SPEAKER_00: in the sight of Pharaoh's servants,
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  SPEAKER_00: in the sight of the people.
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  Right from the very beginning we have reminded to us once again
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  what the Lord had
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  SPEAKER_00: already promised to Moses.
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  SPEAKER_00: That it would be none other than Pharaoh himself driving out the people.
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  SPEAKER_00: He said that back in chapter 6 verse 1.
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  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to go there but just note that.
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  SPEAKER_00: That God's been saying that this is in the cards.
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  SPEAKER_00: That yes Moses it might look difficult.
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  SPEAKER_00: It might look strained.
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  SPEAKER_00: It might look very confusing.
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  SPEAKER_00: But actually at the end of all of this it's going to be Pharaoh.
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  SPEAKER_00: He's going to be the one shoving you out of Egypt.
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  SPEAKER_00: And of course, it hadn't happened yet.
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  But this tenth plague,
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  it would be Pharaoh in this position of forcing them to exit.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then God again reiterates what he had also promised previously,
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  SPEAKER_00: is that when Israel leaves the borders of Egypt,
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  SPEAKER_00: they wouldn't be doing so empty-handed.
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  SPEAKER_00: That they would receive favor,
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  SPEAKER_00: that they would be able to ask for supplies,
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  SPEAKER_00: and yes,
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  SPEAKER_00: even jewelry,
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  SPEAKER_00: precious belongings from the Egyptians,
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  SPEAKER_00: and they would be given them to them.
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  This is what we might call,
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  this is what I refer to as,
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  the most peaceful plunder ever.
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  Because the word that you might find in some of your Bibles is
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  that they plundered
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  SPEAKER_00: Egypt,
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  SPEAKER_00: and they did,
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  SPEAKER_00: but they didn't do so by force.
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  SPEAKER_00: They just asked.
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  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to go there,
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  SPEAKER_00: but if you go to chapter 12,
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  SPEAKER_00: right now in verse 36,
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  SPEAKER_00: that's what you find.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what happens.
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  SPEAKER_00: They would make their exodus.
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  SPEAKER_00: The people of Israel would.
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  And they would have all of the necessary items so that they
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  could worship the Lord
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  SPEAKER_00: just as he intended.
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  Again,
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  why are they leaving Egypt with gold and silver and all those
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  things?
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  SPEAKER_00: Because of what is coming.
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  Because God knows that in the coming days he is going to give
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  them all kinds of
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  details and blueprints and intricate instructions on how to
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  build something called
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  SPEAKER_00: the tabernacle.
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  SPEAKER_00: So God is already knowing,
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  he already knows what his people needs in order to worship him
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  exactly how he
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  SPEAKER_00: desires.
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  And so he's bringing it all into accordance exactly with what
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  he promised.
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  SPEAKER_00: And of course, what would cause this change of heart?
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  What would cause this climactic and decisive change in Pharaoh
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  that he would
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  SPEAKER_00: finally let the people of God go after nine previous plagues?
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  SPEAKER_00: What would this tenth one involve?
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  SPEAKER_00: Well, look at verse 4 of chapter 11.
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  SPEAKER_00: So Moses said, Thus says the Lord,
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  SPEAKER_00: About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt,
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  SPEAKER_00: and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die.
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  SPEAKER_00: From the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne,
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  SPEAKER_00: even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the hand mill,
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  SPEAKER_00: and all the firstborn of the cattle.
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  SPEAKER_00: There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt,
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  SPEAKER_00: such as there has never been,
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  SPEAKER_00: nor ever will be again.
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  But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel,
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  either man or beast.
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  That you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between
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  Egypt and Israel.
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  And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down
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  to me saying get out.
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  SPEAKER_00: You and all the people who follow you and after that I will go out.
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  This last plague that God is here announcing and now he's
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  announcing it through the
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  SPEAKER_00: mouth of Moses.
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  SPEAKER_00: Is indeed the most personal and the most excruciating of them all.
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  SPEAKER_00: As God says,
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  SPEAKER_00: that part of this plague involves every firstborn,
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  SPEAKER_00: regardless of socioeconomic status,
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  SPEAKER_00: from the throne room to the one who is in the gutters of society.
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  SPEAKER_00: All of them would be struck down.
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  And withdraw,
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  as he says here,
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  a great cry from all of those who were afflicted by this.
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  It's the stuff of nightmares that would be weeping and wailing
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  throughout the streets of Egypt.
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  SPEAKER_00: Such as there has never been before or since.
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  SPEAKER_00: There would just be so much death, so much loss.
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  And now God says there would be a distinction between those who
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  suffered that fate
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  SPEAKER_00: and those who belong to the Lord.
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  Because while those who suffered,
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  their hallways would rattle,
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  would be in distress.
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  SPEAKER_00: What does he say in verse 7?
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  SPEAKER_00: That not even a dog would growl or murmur.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's noting, of course, this obvious allusion.
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  to the solace and the calm and the salvation that what God
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  would now instruct,
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  SPEAKER_00: what that would provide for them.
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  It's the solace and the peace of the Lord's Passover wherein
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  God's people would be
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  SPEAKER_00: safe and sound.
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  SPEAKER_00: And of course,
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  SPEAKER_00: at the end of all of this,
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  SPEAKER_00: at the end of all of this transpiring of grief and sadness and loss,
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  this is what would prompt the Egyptians to want to get rid of
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  Moses and the rest of
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  SPEAKER_00: the Hebrews for good.
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  SPEAKER_00: Get out of here.
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  And so after announcing this plague,
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  Moses leaves Pharaoh's throne room in a rage.
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  SPEAKER_00: What does it say at the end of verse 8?
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  SPEAKER_00: And it says, And he, Moses, went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's likely,
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  SPEAKER_00: just so you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: for Bible study reasons,
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  it's best to put verse 8 of chapter 11 right in the same
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  sequence as verses 28 and
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  SPEAKER_00: 29 of the previous chapter.
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  SPEAKER_00: Where Pharaoh says I never want to see you again.
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  SPEAKER_00: I never want to see your face.
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  SPEAKER_00: And with that decisive act of refusal and dismissal and rebellion.
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  SPEAKER_00: And now the stage was set.
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  SPEAKER_00: One last judgment to fall on the land of Egypt.
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  SPEAKER_00: And yet God includes a special way of escape.
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  SPEAKER_00: A special offering of relief.
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  SPEAKER_00: Go with me chapter 12 of course.
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  SPEAKER_00: Where God gives a special set of instructions to Moses and to Aaron.
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  Where he details the means by which his people could escape
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  this coming and looming
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  SPEAKER_00: night of judgment.
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  SPEAKER_00: Notice what happens.
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  SPEAKER_00: And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt.
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  SPEAKER_00: This month shall be for you the beginning of months.
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  SPEAKER_00: It shall be the first month of the year for you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Tell all the congregation of Israel,
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  SPEAKER_00: important phrase,
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  SPEAKER_00: that on the tenth day of this month,
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  SPEAKER_00: every man shall take a lamb according to their father's houses.
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  SPEAKER_00: A lamb for a household.
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  SPEAKER_00: And if the household is too small for a lamb,
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  then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the
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  number of persons.
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  SPEAKER_00: According to what each can eat, you shall make your count for the lamb.
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  SPEAKER_00: And your lamb shall be without blemish, a male, a year old.
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  SPEAKER_00: You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
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  SPEAKER_00: And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month,
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  when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall
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  kill their lambs at
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  SPEAKER_00: twilight.
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  SPEAKER_00: Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts.
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  SPEAKER_00: And the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
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  They shall eat the flesh that night,
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  roasted on the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
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  SPEAKER_00: They shall eat it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in the water,
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  SPEAKER_00: but roasted,
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  SPEAKER_00: its head and with its legs and its inner parts.
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  SPEAKER_00: And you shall let none of it remain until the morning.
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  SPEAKER_00: Anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.
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  SPEAKER_00: And in this manner you shall eat it with your belt fastened.
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  your sandals on your feet,
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  and your staff in your hand,
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  and you shall eat it in haste.
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  SPEAKER_00: It is the Lord's Passover.
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  SPEAKER_00: For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night,
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  SPEAKER_00: and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt,
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  SPEAKER_00: both man and beast,
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  SPEAKER_00: and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments.
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  SPEAKER_00: I am the Lord.
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  SPEAKER_00: The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are,
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  SPEAKER_00: and when I see the blood,
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  SPEAKER_00: I will pass over you,
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  SPEAKER_00: and no plague will befall you to destroy you.
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  SPEAKER_00: When I strike
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  SPEAKER_00: The land of Egypt.
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  This of course is the first announcement of what is called the
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  Lord's Passover.
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  SPEAKER_00: A feast that of course is still practiced even today.
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  SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot going on here.
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  SPEAKER_00: But chief among this,
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  you have to notice that God is essentially resetting the
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  identity of Israel.
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  SPEAKER_00: How?
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  SPEAKER_00: By resetting their calendar.
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  SPEAKER_00: Right from the very start,
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  SPEAKER_00: he says,
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  SPEAKER_00: no,
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  SPEAKER_00: this is going to be the beginning of your calendar days right here.
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  SPEAKER_00: Everything is going to revolve around this.
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  SPEAKER_00: This was not just some new ritual God was wanting his people to practice.
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  SPEAKER_00: Some new rhythm he wanted them to implement into their daily lives.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is deeper than just some new tradition.
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  SPEAKER_00: God is indeed reestablishing who his people are,
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  SPEAKER_00: who they are,
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  SPEAKER_00: by linking their identity to what he was about to do.
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  They were,
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  the people of Israel were going to be a congregation of the
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  Passover.
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  SPEAKER_00: And where just as their calendars revolved around this day,
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  SPEAKER_00: so too were they to be absorbed by it,
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  SPEAKER_00: consumed by its meaning.
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  SPEAKER_00: And what were they to do?
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  SPEAKER_00: How were they to commemorate this day?
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  SPEAKER_00: Of course,
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  SPEAKER_00: as we read,
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  SPEAKER_00: each family was to take a lamb,
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  SPEAKER_00: one without blemish,
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  SPEAKER_00: no defects,
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  SPEAKER_00: no faults,
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  SPEAKER_00: no abnormalities,
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  and they were to kill it and eat it and roast it according to
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  these very specific
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  SPEAKER_00: and very detailed sets of instructions.
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  SPEAKER_00: And when they killed this lamb,
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  they were to take some of his blood and put it on the door
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  frames and on the lintel
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  SPEAKER_00: of their homes.
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  SPEAKER_00: And in so doing...
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  SPEAKER_00: They were painting,
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  SPEAKER_00: we could say,
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  SPEAKER_00: a graphic emblem,
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  SPEAKER_00: a graphic sign of God's protection and mercy.
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  SPEAKER_00: Again, look at verse 12.
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  SPEAKER_00: Chapter 12.
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  SPEAKER_00: For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night.
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  And I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt with
• 15:59
  man and beast and all
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: the gods of Egypt.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: I will execute judgments.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: I am the Lord.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And when I see the blood I will pass over you.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Even as the rest of the land was crying great cries of grief.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Unfathomable sadness.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because there was no blood on the door frames.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: The blood stained doors of the people who belong to God.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's what distinguished them.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: That was the distinguishing mark that they belonged to the Lord.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: That they were under his gracious care and protection and preservation.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Which is to say this,
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: that God's people,
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: those who belong to God,
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: have always been identified and been set apart by the blood.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's always been true.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: From right here till right now.
• 16:56
  We are people who as we sing in our hymns,
• 16:59
  nothing but the blood of Jesus.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's always been this that has set us apart, that has distinguished us.
• 17:05
  And of course Moses shares this with the rest of the people as
• 17:09
  Pastor Eric read verse 21.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them,
• 17:13
  go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans and
• 17:16
  kill the Passover
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: lamb.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin.
• 17:20
  And touch the lentil and the two doorposts with the blood that
• 17:23
  is in the basin.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: All of this was given for that reason.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: They were to follow.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: They were to listen.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because the point is this.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Only those who listened to the words of the Lord would be safe.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: Again, notice what does Moses say.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: And when he sees the blood and the lintel on the two doorposts,
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: the Lord will pass over the door.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: And will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
• 18:00
  Their safety was tied to the fact that they listened to the
• 18:03
  words of the Lord.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's how they would be preserved.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: They couldn't go about this their own way.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: They couldn't go about doing this in their own manner.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: They couldn't get away with boiling the lamb or deep frying the lamb.
• 18:17
  They couldn't get away with applying the blood to the doors any
• 18:20
  old way they wanted.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: No, it was God's words given to them.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: Words of, yes, grace and deliverance and escape.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: As the judgment would pass over those who listened and believed.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: And the only proper response is exactly what the people do.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 27.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the people bowed their heads and worshipped.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 28.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: And the people of Israel went and did so.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: As the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: So they did.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: They listened.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because they worshipped.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: And they knew.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: They knew perhaps even faintly.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: Even a little bit feebly.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: What all of this meant.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Judgment passing over.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: That was the only proper response.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Falling to the crowd.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: Falling prostrate on their faces.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: And this is the same response for us.
• 19:15
  The same marks and qualities that are marking the people of
• 19:17
  Israel right here on
• 19:19
  the eve of this tenth and final plague is what marks us as a
• 19:24
  church every time we
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: gather.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: You see, we can say it this way.
• 19:27
  The church is a congregation of people who listen to the words
• 19:32
  of God that offer relief.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: They're not my words.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: They're not Pastor Eric's words.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: They're not words of scholars.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: They're not words of the best Bible thinkers and translators in the land.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: The words that offer release from judgment and grief and guilt.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, even relief from death.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Those words belong to God.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And they are the words that we listen to every time we assemble.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: We are guided.
• 20:02
  We are guided or set apart by the words of humans or the words
• 20:06
  of institutions or
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: the words of councils or symposiums as important as those are,
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: as needed as those are in some cases.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: These are not the commands of Moses.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: These are the commands of God.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: And by the same token,
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: when we gather here together,
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: we gather as people listening to the words of life.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: Not because they come from me.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because they come from God.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: He's the one who has them.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: He's the one who gives them.
• 20:30
  And this is what sets us apart as a church is that we listen to
• 20:34
  the words of God and his alone.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because despite how different they might seem sometimes,
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: but despite how unnerving they might feel,
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: God's words are the only words that matter.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: And this is why every time we gather,
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: every time we come together as a congregation in this place,
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: our priority is the word.
• 20:54
  singing and in teaching we stick to this no matter what we
• 20:57
  don't give lectures on
• 20:59
  and ted talks on on this that and the other topic why because
• 21:03
  there's no life there
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: we listen to god's words because this is what tells us who we are
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is what tells us and gives us exactly what we need.
• 21:15
  And indeed,
• 21:16
  we can say,
• 21:16
  if the word isn't central,
• 21:18
  we've already lost our way.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: We've already abandoned what God has called us to be.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: The church, just like Israel, we're a people who listen.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Number two this morning, though, I want you, this is right along with us.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: Number two,
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: along with the people who listen,
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: the church is known,
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: the people of God is known by and known for being a people who follow.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: A people who follow.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because again.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just the people of Israel.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Listened.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: To what Moses was telling them.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: As we read in verse 28.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: They followed.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: They went and did so.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: They were hearers of the word.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: But also doers of the word.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: Just as James might say.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: From James chapter 1.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: And this of course is vital.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: Especially considering what happens next.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 29 of chapter 12.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because everything unfolds exactly as God said.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: At midnight.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: At midnight.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt,
• 22:17
  from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the
• 22:19
  firstborn of the captive
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: who was in the dungeon,
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: and all the firstborn of the livestock.
• 22:24
  And Pharaoh rose up in the night,
• 22:26
  he and all his servants,
• 22:28
  and all the Egyptians.
• 22:29
  And there was a great cry in Egypt,
• 22:32
  for there was not a house where someone was not dead.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said,
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: Up,
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: go out from among my people,
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: both you and the people of Israel,
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: and go,
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: serve the Lord as you have said,
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: take your flocks and your herds as you have said,
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: and be gone,
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: and bless me also.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Things transpire exactly as God had warned.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: The night comes,
• 22:57
  and with this night as it falls comes also this angel of death
• 23:01
  who takes the life
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: of every firstborn where the blood wasn't applied.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: And this sends,
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: as you might imagine,
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: this sends all of the people who are in Egypt into a frenzy.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: It is chaos.
• 23:12
  It is mass commotion with even Pharaoh waking up in the middle
• 23:17
  of the night to
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: discover his own loss.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder what the sound of their cries sounded like.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because again,
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: as we were warned in chapter 11,
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: while there was weeping and wailing,
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: there was a little to no disturbance in Israel.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, Pharaoh had enough.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: He finally had enough.
• 23:42
  He finally reached his point where he was giving up in his
• 23:45
  devastation and in his sorrow.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: He forces Aaron and Moses out to be gone.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: Get out of here.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: I never want to see you again.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to have your people around.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: Get out.
• 23:55
  And of course the rest of the people of Egypt were just as
• 23:58
  delighted to see them go.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 33.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: And the Egyptians were urgent.
• 24:02
  They prevailed upon the people of Israel to send them out of
• 24:06
  the land in haste.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: For they said, we shall be dead.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: They saw in God's people nothing but curses.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: The curses that had come upon them.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: Soon it would put them in the grave too.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: Gone.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: We're all going to be gone.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: And they couldn't,
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: essentially,
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: how we can read verse 33,
• 24:26
  is essentially the people of Egypt just couldn't get rid of the
• 24:30
  Israelites fast
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: enough.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: And they wouldn't take no for an answer.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: They drove them out hurriedly, anxiously.
• 24:39
  And in fact,
• 24:40
  things were moving so fast that the Israelites had no time to
• 24:45
  let their bread rise.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 34.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: So the people took their dough before it was leavened.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: Their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: An interesting note.
• 24:58
  Remember before God was saying whenever you mark this meal
• 25:01
  you're going to mark it
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: by eating unleavened bread.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: What was that a picture of?
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's a picture of this.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: The urgency and the haste with which they were forced to leave.
• 25:11
  That's why God said in chapter 12 where he's talking about how
• 25:14
  you eat this.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: You eat it with your sandals on.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: With everything ready to go.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: They couldn't let their bread get all warm and fluffy.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Instead they had to bake unleavened bread.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: Due to how hastily they were forced to leave.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 39.
• 25:31
  And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had
• 25:33
  brought out of Egypt for us.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: Not leavened.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: Nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: All of this is alluding to what we would get to soon.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: And the way that they can remember this moment.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Believe they do.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: All of them.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Approximately,
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: roughly,
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: if you want to believe the scholars,
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: and there's probably pretty accolade,
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: roughly about two to two and a half million of them.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: They leave.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 35, the people of Israel had also done as Moses told them.
• 26:03
  For they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold and
• 26:05
  jewelry and for clothing.
• 26:07
  And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the
• 26:09
  Egyptians so that they
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: let them have what they asked.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: They plundered the Egyptians, the most peaceful plunder ever.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: And the people of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Succoth,
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: about 600,000 men on foot,
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: besides women and children.
• 26:22
  A mixed multitude also went up with them,
• 26:25
  and very much livestock,
• 26:26
  both flocks and herds.
• 26:28
  Verse 40,
• 26:29
  the time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430
• 26:33
  years.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of 430 years,
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: on that very day,
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: This is that moment.
• 26:44
  The moment that was 400 years in the making and even longer
• 26:48
  than that because he
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: had promised all of this to Abraham all the way back in Genesis 15.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Hundreds of years before this moment,
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: God had it in mind and in heart to bring this deliverance about.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so finally,
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: finally,
• 27:05
  after four centuries of suffering and slavery in a land that
• 27:09
  was not their own,
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: in a land that was foreign to them,
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: finally,
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: God's people were free.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: No longer slaves.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: No longer bound.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: No longer in chains.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: No longer in chains.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 27:22
  we hardly ever think about the fact that we exit through these
• 27:26
  doors here at the
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: back of the sanctuary.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: We don't even think twice about it.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: But leaving,
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: of course,
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: leaving would feel a lot more weighty,
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: a lot different if we were trapped inside with no way of escape.
• 27:40
  Sort of like in 2018 when a group of 12 boys and their coach
• 27:45
  were trapped in a cave in Thailand.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: Do you remember the story?
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: Awful, awful news.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: They had no lights.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: They had no exits.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: The air was thinning.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: And to make matters worse, this cave was flooding.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: They had no way to save themselves.
• 28:00
  Their only hope for these boys and their coach was for someone
• 28:05
  to come to their rescue.
• 28:08
  Which is exactly what happened when a team of very daring
• 28:12
  divers went in one by
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: one,
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: rescued each of those boys,
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: going through narrow tunnels and very dimly lit caves.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: Rescuing each of them and bringing them all out.
• 28:27
  That,
• 28:29
  in a small way,
• 28:31
  pictures for us what deliverance ought to look like.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's not escaping on their own.
• 28:36
  No Israelites in this particular moment would take credit for
• 28:40
  what has just happened.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, look at what Moses did.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: Look at how well he speaks.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: He must have said the right things to bring us out.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: No one would be saying that.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: The deliverance that is here,
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: pictured for us in this wonderful image of the Exodus,
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: was only because someone better and stronger than them made it happen.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, go with me, Exodus chapter 13, and look at verse number 3.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to read a couple verses.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to notice a phrase that stands out.
• 29:12
  This is explaining the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
• 29:15
  which we'll get to in a moment.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: But I want you to notice this phrase.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: It says,
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: Then Moses said to the people,
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt,
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: out of the house of slavery,
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: No leavened bread shall be eaten.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites,
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: the Hittites,
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: and the Amorites,
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: and the Hivites,
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: and the Jebusites,
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: which he swore to your fathers to give you,
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: a land flowing with milk and honey,
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: you shall keep the service in this month.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: And on the seventh day there shall be a feast to you.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Or to the Lord.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: No leavened bread shall be seen with you.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: And no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you shall tell your son on that day.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: It is because.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: Of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.
• 30:08
  And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial
• 30:11
  between your eyes.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: That the law of the Lord may be in your mouth.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt.
• 30:21
  You shall therefore keep the statute at its appointed time from
• 30:25
  year to year.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: And on we could go seven times from verse 13 through verse 16.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: We find that phrase or similar phrase that the people were brought out.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Literally the word is exit.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: From which we get the title of this book, Exodus.
• 30:43
  Each time the people of Israel are reminded that they didn't
• 30:47
  exit on their own.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't just casually walk through the doors.
• 30:51
  They were made to exit by what is the other phrase that's
• 30:55
  repeated four times in this passage.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: By a strong hand.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: The strong hand of the Lord.
• 31:01
  The whole point of all this is the exodus is not just something
• 31:04
  that happened.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: The exodus was made possible by nothing but divine intervention.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: And the point is this.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: That the people weren't just brought out and say, okay, figure it out.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: They weren't just emancipated.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: The point of the Exodus isn't just liberating people who were enslaved.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: No,
• 31:24
  they might have been thrust out of Egypt by the Egyptians
• 31:27
  because they couldn't
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: handle them anymore.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: But it was none other than Yahweh,
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: the Lord Jehovah,
• 31:32
  who was bringing them out specifically and on purpose so that
• 31:37
  they could follow and
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: worship him.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: Again, look at verse 1 of chapter 13.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord said to Moses, Consecrate to me all the firstborn.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel,
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: both of man and of beast,
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: is mine.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: Verse number 11 of the same chapter,
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: when the Lord brings you into the land of the Cadanites,
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: as he swore to you and your fathers,
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: and you shall give it to you.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: You shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: All the firstborn of your animals that are male shall be the Lord's.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: What is this all leading to?
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: That they weren't just saved from something.
• 32:18
  They weren't just saved from all the suffering and anguish and
• 32:22
  bondage and slavery
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: that they endured in the land of Egypt under the thumb of Pharaoh.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: They weren't just saved from that.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: No, what is God trying to tell them?
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: That they were saved from that and to something else.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: Namely, to consecrate themselves.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: To the Lord alone, the one who brought them out.
• 32:42
  That's the premise behind this whole thing known as the feast
• 32:45
  of unleavened bread.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: What is it a picture of?
• 32:48
  Of casting off the old things,
• 32:50
  all that old leaven of what Paul would say in 1 Corinthians.
• 32:53
  The leaven of sin and embracing and following and urgently
• 32:57
  following after this new
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: life that is now given to them.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: A life of sincerity and truth.
• 33:04
  And just as God had set them apart by making a distinction
• 33:08
  between them and Egypt,
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: what is God now saying to his people?
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: That they were to set themselves apart for him.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: They were to consecrate themselves for his service.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because they belonged to him.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: They were brought out so that they could follow the Lord alone,
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: wherever he leads,
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: wherever he wills.
• 33:30
  They were brought out not just from something,
• 33:32
  but to,
• 33:33
  we could even say,
• 33:34
  someone.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't belong to themselves.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: They belonged to the Lord.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: This, by the way, is still a definition that defines us as the church.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: Go with me to Romans chapter 6.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: You'll see this very distinctly as Paul is explaining the gospel.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: And of course we've used,
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: and indeed we could say,
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: that Romans chapter 6 is a theology,
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: if you will,
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: on the Exodus itself.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: And look at verse number 17 of Romans chapter 6.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: What does Paul say here?
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is awesome.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: But thanks be to God, he says, that you who were once slaves of sin...
• 34:17
  Have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching
• 34:20
  to which you were committed.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: And having been set free from sin have become slaves of righteousness.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: We're saved from something to something else.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: We're delivered from all of the nasty elements,
• 34:34
  the leaven of sin that defines us of bondage and grief and
• 34:38
  self-righteousness and
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: pride.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: We are delivered from all of that.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: And God says,
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: as I deliver you from that by my grace and by my son's sacrifice,
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: I am saving you to something else.
• 34:50
  To follow after me and live,
• 34:52
  as he says,
• 34:53
  as servants,
• 34:53
  slaves of righteousness.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's the same image that we find back in Exodus.
• 35:00
  That just like Israel we have been delivered by nothing but the
• 35:05
  strong nail scarred
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: hands of the Lord.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: And what that means is that yes now for the church just as Israel.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't belong to themselves.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: That we as the church too.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: We don't belong.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: We are not our own.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians 6 verse 19.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: What does it say?
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: Let me turn there.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to write it down, you can.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians 6, 19.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: What does Paul say here?
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: You are not your own, for you are bought with a price.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: So glorify God in your body.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: You don't belong to yourself.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: You belong to God.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: And this is what all of this Exodus pictures.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: That just for us.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: It pictures us as the church.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: We receive this new identity and purpose.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: As we listen to God's words.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: And as we follow him alone.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: The one who leads us.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: The one who guides us.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: The one who ushers us into his promise.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: And into his holiness.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it all comes from what his son does.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: And this is what makes our lives distinctly.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: As we listen, as we follow.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: But lastly, number three, our last lesson this morning.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: The last,
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: we could say,
• 36:17
  quality or characteristic of God's called out assembly is not
• 36:21
  just people who
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: listen and people who follow.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: But lastly, number three, people who remember.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: People who remember.
• 36:30
  Because chief among the characteristics of this newly formed
• 36:32
  congregation is just
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: that,
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: that they are a remembering people.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Go with me back again to Exodus chapter 12.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: And look at verse number 14.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think it's interesting what God does here.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: He details in verses 1 through 13 as we read.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: He details a lot of what would or how the people of God,
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: how his people would follow the Passover.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: He details all the instructions, all the intricacies of it.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then right on the heels of instituting this new feast,
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: this day that would be called the Lord's Passover.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: The first thing that God does.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: Is he makes sure that what he's about to do won't be forgotten.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 14.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: This day shall be for you a memorial day.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: A day of remembrance.
• 37:20
  And you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your
• 37:23
  generations as a statute forever.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you shall keep it as a feast.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: On the first day you shall remove the leaven out of your houses.
• 37:31
  For if anyone eats what is leaven from the first day until the
• 37:34
  seventh day,
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: that person shall be cut off from Israel.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: And on the first day you shall hold an assembly.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: And on the seventh day, a holy assembly.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: No work shall be done on those days,
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: but what everyone needs to eat that alone may be prepared by you.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread,
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt.
• 37:54
  Therefore,
• 37:54
  you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a
• 37:57
  statute forever.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: In the first day of the month,
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: from the fourteenth day of the month on the evening,
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: That evening, for seven days, no leaven is to be found in your houses.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: If anyone eats what is leavened,
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel,
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: You shall eat nothing leavened in all your dwelling places.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: You shall eat unleavened bread.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: And on he goes.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_00: What is he getting at?
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: He wants this remembered.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: The blood hadn't even dried on the door frames.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: And no one had even set a foot, one foot beyond the borders of Egypt.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: And yet what is God doing?
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: He's already preparing his people to remember,
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: to keep all of what was about to transpire in their minds.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: He knows.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: He knows how easily we move on.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: He knows how easily his people move on to the next thing.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: How quickly we drift.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: How easily we get distracted.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: How prone we are to take his mercy and grace for granted.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so therefore, what is God doing?
• 39:02
  He is instituting and he's giving them tangible ways,
• 39:06
  repeatable ways to remember.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: To keep it in mind.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that we're going to need to preserve the memory of this night.
• 39:18
  Because their belonging to God would be demonstrated by how
• 39:22
  they remembered it.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is what is shaping their identity as the people of the Lord.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: They are the congregation of the Passover.
• 39:32
  So you see these rituals,
• 39:33
  these instructions weren't just there for the sake of being
• 39:36
  there.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: They're not just arbitrary.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: They're not just busy work.
• 39:39
  Remember in school you get those papers and you know it's just
• 39:41
  busy work to give
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: the teachers a little bit of a break.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm talking about.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what this is.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is not just busy work.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's carefully,
• 39:53
  divinely crafted and instructed set of a series of acts so that
• 40:00
  they can rehearse,
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: if you will,
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: what makes them belong to the Lord.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: What makes them God's, God's own people belong.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: They're recalling that.
• 40:14
  All of these things are divine memory aids helping them to
• 40:17
  remember the feast of
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_00: Passover and the feast of unleavened bread.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: What does he call them?
• 40:21
  Statutes is where we get our word ordinances created by God to
• 40:26
  memorialize,
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: to remember the exodus.
• 40:30
  It's as if God is saying throughout this whole thing,
• 40:32
  don't forget how I brought you out.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget it.
• 40:37
  And indeed,
• 40:38
  every element that is here detailed for us tells us that story.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: It tells the story of their deliverance.
• 40:45
  The lamb,
• 40:46
  of course,
• 40:47
  the slain lamb,
• 40:48
  speaks of the cost of their deliverance.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: How freedom always comes at a price.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_00: How liberty always comes by someone laying their life down.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: The unleavened bread.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: It speaks of the urgency of their deliverance.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: They couldn't delay.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: They couldn't waste time.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: They couldn't think about it.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: They couldn't have a second guess.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: The blood speaks of their redemption and their cleansing.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: The cleansing and redemption that makes him, them, his.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: How judgment passes over them, marking them as the people of God.
• 41:22
  And the bitter herbs that are here spoken about speak of their
• 41:24
  pain and their bondage.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: And the place where they had suffered what God had delivered them from.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, every single bite they took preached something to them.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: This meal is a sermon.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the point is, it wasn't a one-time thing.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 14,
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: again,
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: this day shall be for you a memorial day,
• 41:49
  and you shall keep it as a feast of the Lord throughout your
• 41:53
  generations as a
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: statute forever.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 17, the same thing he says.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_00: And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: For on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt.
• 42:04
  Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your
• 42:07
  generations as a statute forever.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 24.
• 42:11
  You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your
• 42:14
  sons forever.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: Forever.
• 42:17
  He wants them continually rehearsing this,
• 42:20
  reminding themselves and others of what this means.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: Their entire identity as the people of God is formed.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_00: How?
• 42:28
  Both by what God did for them in the act of history of actually
• 42:32
  delivering them,
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: but also by their continual remembrance of that divine act.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's how they would remember.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I love, look at verse number 8 of chapter 13.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_00: I love what God says here.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because God anticipates.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: He anticipates a day.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: When in the future.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_00: Future generations have come and gone.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: Where future people of God.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: Would need to be told.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: What all of this means.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 8.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: You shall tell your son.
• 43:06
  On that day,
• 43:08
  it is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of
• 43:11
  Egypt.
• 43:12
  And I shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial
• 43:16
  between your eyes
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth.
• 43:20
  For with a strong hand,
• 43:22
  the Lord has brought us out,
• 43:23
  brought you out of Egypt.
• 43:26
  You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time
• 43:29
  from year to year.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine, picture in your mind that scene.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: Hundreds of years later.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_00: But dad and his boy, what are they doing?
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: They're celebrating leavened bread and Passover with their family.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: And the young boy, he's eight.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: Dad, why are we doing this?
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we killing this lamb?
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_00: I loved Billy Goat, whatever.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: We spent so much time with him.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: Why do we have to kill him?
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: Dad, what does all this mean?
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: What are we doing?
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we going to all this trouble?
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: And the dad says, well, son, let me tell you a story.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you what my God did for me.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: And you see the point of all of this?
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is just awesome.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: This is years later.
• 44:11
  And the dad here that is pictured in God's mind is using it in
• 44:15
  the present tense.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: So we could do the same.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: Let's transfer it to us right now.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: You can say the same thing.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: Why do we look at the cross?
• 44:28
  Why do we look at these elements,
• 44:30
  like last week,
• 44:31
  the elements of the Lord's Supper?
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: Why do we look at them?
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, son, let me tell you what this means.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thousands of years ago,
• 44:40
  There was a man who was named Jesus and he wasn't just a man,
• 44:43
  he was God.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: He was God and man at the same time.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: And he came and let me tell you what he did for me.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just what he did for people back then at that time long ago.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: No,
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: the presence of that deliverance reeks into it,
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: stretches into the present right now where we are.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: God, that's what our message is.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you what my God did for me.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you what he did for me.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is all of the elements of what make us the church.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's right here.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just a historical event that the people were remembering.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was God incorporating them into his story.
• 45:29
  And how they too,
• 45:31
  yes,
• 45:31
  even young Johnny,
• 45:32
  who's asking the questions,
• 45:34
  what is the answer to him?
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_00: For with a strong hand, the Lord has brought you too.
• 45:39
  And even though we weren't there,
• 45:41
  we belong to that same act of deliverance.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_00: See,
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_00: the Exodus wasn't just meant to be an event relegated to ancient history,
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_00: to a history textbook that you might have slept through in college.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_00: It was a moment that lived on.
• 46:00
  It was a moment that is the abiding and defining moment for
• 46:04
  every single person who
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_00: belongs to the Lord.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: No matter what era you live in,
• 46:10
  the rhythm of all of Israel's worship was built around
• 46:14
  rehearsing this reality.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_00: The reality of the exodus.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: The reality of their deliverance.
• 46:20
  Where every feast,
• 46:21
  every law,
• 46:22
  every Sabbath,
• 46:23
  every song was geared towards remembering.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: That God saves.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_00: That God is a God who delivers.
• 46:31
  That God,
• 46:32
  Jehovah,
• 46:33
  is a God who always keeps every single one of his promises.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_00: You might ask, why?
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: Why was this so important?
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_00: Why make such a big deal about remembering?
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, because forgetfulness is the first step to the road to rebellion.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have time to go there,
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: but if you go to Deuteronomy chapter 8,
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_00: that's exactly what Moses warns them about.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget forgetfulness.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 78, the psalmist Asaph, he repeats all of these events.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: And what does he perceive this by?
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, don't forget the Lord's doings.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: When the people of God start to forget what he has done, what happens?
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_00: They start living as though he never really did it.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: And they start taking credit for who they are and where they are.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when gratitude, it dissipates, it fades.
• 47:20
  And that's when worship becomes dull and it becomes
• 47:22
  performative because we don't
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_00: often remember enough.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_00: We don't remember tangibly enough.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: And this is why right from the very start,
• 47:32
  God is instituting and building into his people's hearts and
• 47:36
  lives a pattern of
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: remembrance,
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: rehearsing what he did.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, the same is true for us.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_00: We are called to be a people who remember.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's what defines us as the church.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_00: When we gather,
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_00: We remember the work of God in Christ for us.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's what defines us.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_00: That defines who we are as his people.
• 48:00
  And when we assemble,
• 48:02
  we are engaging in the same rhythm that God has outlined here.
• 48:05
  Where we are hearing the story that God has written of
• 48:09
  deliverance by blood.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_00: And we are telling that story to others.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_00: And we are letting that story shape and inform how we live.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we sing.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we pray.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's why we gather.
• 48:22
  That's why we have all of these different ministries and events
• 48:25
  as the church.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_00: To remember.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_00: Dad, why are we here?
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  Why do we come to church every week with these people that we
• 48:35
  don't really know and
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_00: maybe some of them we don't even really like?
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we here?
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_00: What are we doing?
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_00: We're gathering to remember.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_00: To remember what God has done and stay rooted in that accomplishment.
• 48:51
  We don't come together on a Sunday morning to hear some
• 48:54
  newfangled doctrine or new
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: fresh idea or innovative message about this,
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_00: that or the other thing.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_00: No, we come to remember.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_00: And this is why we keep telling the same old story over and over again.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because when we stop remembering, we forget who we are.
• 49:14
  When we stop remembering,
• 49:15
  we forget who we are as God's people who've been set free from
• 49:19
  sin.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_00: And they've been set free to live in the light of God's kingdom.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is why I think it's so vastly important.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_00: This comes from some early Jewish scholars.
• 49:32
  They would often say that the people of God are those who walk
• 49:36
  into the future backwards.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_00: I love that picture.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because they don't have their eyes on everything all in front of them.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_00: That would be distressing, wouldn't it?
• 49:46
  If your eyes are only on what the future may or may not hold or
• 49:50
  what the present is
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_00: or is holding for you,
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_00: that's distressing enough.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: No, we walk into the future with our eyes facing backwards.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 49:57
  Because it's focused on what God has done and remembering what
• 50:00
  he has done.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_00: It informs what he will do.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_00: And this is who we are as a people.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is who we are as the church.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_00: We are the church in the wilderness,
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_00: the people whom God has brought out to follow where he leads.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_00: And we do that by listening, by following and remembering.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_00: Remembering always,
• 50:26
  keeping at the very tips of our tongues and at the very front
• 50:30
  of our minds what God
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_00: has done.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_00: When we gather together here on Sunday mornings, that's what's happening.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_00: We are continuing to
• 50:39
  The same very tremors that were happening here at the very
• 50:43
  first Passover where
• 50:44
  God's people were seeing the deliverance of God right in front
• 50:48
  of their eyes.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_00: And here this morning we're doing the same thing.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_00: We're inviting you to be a part of that story.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: Where God brings sinners out of Egypt.
• 51:00
  He brings dead sinners out of sin and into life and into
• 51:06
  freedom and into hope.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: That story is still being told.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_00: And the question is, are you a part of it?
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_00: Are you a part of this story?
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: Have you found your place in it?
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_00: Are you still looking at it from the sidelines?
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_00: Are you still looking at it from afar?
• 51:29
  The point of all of this is to come and to come be a part of
• 51:34
  this story because
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_00: there is space for every single one.