Never Forget Who God Is & What He Has Done

[0:00] Good morning. It's great to be here again. It's so encouraging. I think the last time I was here, we were in Exodus chapter 4, I think, 3 or 4. So it's so encouraging to know that we're progressing in our studies. And we find ourselves in the last bit of chapter 12. So we're in Exodus chapter 12, starting at verses 43, and then we're going down to chapter 13, ending at verse 16. So this is what the scripture says. Exodus 12, starting at 43. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, this is the statute of the Passover. No foreign shall eat of it, but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house. You shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. If a stranger shall shodron with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all the males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it. He shall be as a native of the land, but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the native and one for the stranger who sojourns among you. All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. And on that very day, the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.

[1:47] The Lord said to Moses, Consecrate to me all the firstborn, whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine. Then Moses said to the people, Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. Today in the month of Ayab, you are going out. And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hithites, and the Jezebites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days. No unleavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory.

[2:50] You shall tell your son on that day, It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt. And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep the statute at its appointed time from year to year. When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord's.

[3:31] Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. If you will not redeem it, you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of a man among your sons you shall redeem. And when in time to come your sons ask you, what does this mean? You shall say to him, by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt from the house of slavery. For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first opened the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem. It shall be a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.

[4:23] Let's pray. Father God, Lord, we thank you so much for your goodness, Lord. We thank you for the love that you show to us. Father, we thank you that we're gathered here today together as a church family. Father, thank you that we get to read from your word. Father, would you help us to understand it this morning? Lord, would you plant it in our hearts so we can see more of you through your word and by your Holy Spirit. Father, we thank you for this opportunity. In Jesus' name. Amen.

[5:03] So yes, so I am flying solo this morning. Carly has Anna and Sam up at Calderwood. They've got their prize giving, so we didn't want our kids to miss out on the opportunity for them to receive their gift.

[5:15] But Anna is coming to the end of primary one. She has two days left. She's back in school on Monday and on Tuesday. And then that's her. She's finished primary one. And when I look back in the year, it has gone so, so quickly. It's quite unbelievable. But one of Anna's highlights from this school year is on a Friday. She gets very excited on a Thursday night, looking forward to Friday. And I said to her, I was like, Anna, why are you so excited? Like, you're not more excited about the weekend that's very close. And she's like, no, Dad, no, no. Friday is show and tell day. And I'm like, oh, tell me more about what show and tell is. So if you're not familiar with the concept of show and tell, so Anna's primary one teacher has said to her class, on Fridays, you get to bring in an item of your choosing from home. And then every pupil gets an opportunity to stand at the front and show their classmates what they have brought on that Friday. And then they get to tell the classmates why it's a significant object or toy or whatever it may be. And so I think on Friday, Anna took in her

[6:25] Spider-Man figure. So Joshua would be in good company with Anna. But what I really found really interesting was, so I got Anna to explain what is it she does. So she does, I come to the front and I tell them when I got it and how much it was. And I said, then what happens? And she goes, well, then Mrs. Jackson gets some pupils to ask questions. And that's what I really liked. I really liked the idea that fellow classmates get to ask opportunities about why the object is significant.

[7:00] So that's what we have here in the scripture this morning. It's something similar to Anna's classroom activity of show and tell. And I hope by the end of this morning, we can see how the Israelites were expected to show how their faithfulness and living a distinctive lifestyle by following the Lord's commands were as well in opportunities to tell their children about God's redeeming nature.

[7:28] So the showing and their faithfulness and their distinctive lifestyle and the opportunities to tell their children about God's redeeming nature. And we'll do that in three sections. We'll focus in on verses 43 down to 49. And then we'll look at verse 15 and 51. And then we'll finish with the first 16 chapters of chapter 13. So let's look at verse 43 to 49.

[8:02] And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, this is the statute of the Passover. No foreigner shall eat of it. But every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. No foreigner or hire a worker may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house. You shall not take any of the flesh outside the house and you shall not break any of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.

[8:32] So basically what Moses is teaching to God's people is that circumcision allows access all areas to Passover. Without circumcision, you do not get access to Passover. And if you can remember from two weeks ago, Cal preached that Israelites were not the only ones to leave Egypt. So this is why it's very important that Moses was telling people without circumcision, Passover isn't for you. And we see that in verse 12. Just jump back into chapter 12, verse 38.

[9:15] Exodus 12, 38. A mixed multitude also went up with them and very much livestock, both lots and herds. So a mixed multitude of people were exiting Egypt. So because there's a mix of people groups, the question arises naturally, can everyone take part in Passover? And the answer is, God says no.

[9:45] And as I say, Cal two weeks ago delved into the whole Passover section that we see in chapter 12. The Passover is for every one of God's people, men, women and children. Okay?

[9:59] All who put their trust in following God's command to take a lamb and to kill it. It was circumcision, the visible sign of putting trust in God's faithful promise that first started with Abraham. And then by the Israelites following Moses' instructions to save them from the 10th plague.

[10:20] So by following both the commands, both the one that was given to Abraham and then command from Moses to do and follow the instructions of Passover, it would grant access for them to celebrate Passover year after year.

[10:38] So if we were one of the first hearers of Moses' audience, if we were part of the congregation of that first group of Israelites, we would have understood the barriers or the fencing surrounding this Passover meal.

[10:54] Our ancestors would have followed Abraham's covenant with God. And now we would be following Moses' commands regarding how to keep safe from the destroyer who killed the firstborn sons throughout Egypt.

[11:09] Passover was exclusive.

[11:39] To leave Egypt at the drop of the hat. Their belts were fastened. Their bread wasn't risen. They were ready to go. It was those people that Passover was exclusively for.

[11:51] But what about the mixed multitude? But for those who had joined the nation in the Exodus, those who were among God's people, but they hadn't necessarily put their trust in the sacrificial lamb.

[12:02] Therefore, they could not take part in Passover unless, look at verse 48. If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised.

[12:19] Then he may come near and keep it. He shall be as a native of the land, but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. So what does this remind us today?

[12:33] A gathered group of people, most of whom have put their trust in the blood of Jesus our lamb. And we are welcomed to take part in the remembrance of Jesus' sacrificial death and our rescue from our bonds of slavery, which is our sin.

[12:51] Our belief in Jesus' death on the cross allows us full access to communion. And I'm so encouraged that we're taking communion as part of our service this morning.

[13:03] When God moves in our hearts, when he opens our blind eyes, and when we see Jesus as our saviour from our sins, the death that he took in our place on the cross, and then when we grasp that, when we fully understand that, and then when we are moved to baptism, in other words, to live for him, then we are invited to take part in communion.

[13:35] The breaking of bread, the taking of wine, to remember our saviour Jesus Christ. Our communion is ring-fenced and protected.

[13:47] It is access for those who have put their trust in Jesus, the sacrificial lamb. It's exactly the same pattern as Passover. Renkin, in his commentary, sums up the connection between Passover for foreigners, strangers, and neighbours of the Israelites back then, and for non-believers today, when communion is being shared.

[14:10] And he says this, salvation required something more than just living next door to an Israelite. It demanded a total personal commitment to God, signified by circumcision.

[14:22] End quote. So the mixed group of people, their salvation required something more than just living next door to an Israelite. It demanded total personal commitment to God, signified by circumcision.

[14:38] So, in our churches today, communion is for all of God's people who have put their trust in Jesus and have been baptised. Jesus himself said, whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

[14:58] March 16, verse 16. Communion is exclusive to those who believe and have been baptised. And when a church leader reminds the whole congregation that the Lord's Supper is for believers, it's an opportunity for non-believers to look in their situation, to think on what does a believer know or understood that they haven't yet themselves.

[15:24] As Jesus says in the verse, Mark 16, 16, whoever does not believe will be condemned. Such a powerful statement, but such a reality.

[15:36] Something we should never forget. So, Passover and communion are very much connected. As we move on to our passage this morning, let's look at 1551.

[15:49] All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. And on that very day, the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.

[16:02] If you're a believer here this morning, cast your mind back to the day that you believed or that you put your trust on another way of putting that, that God opened your heart.

[16:14] He opened your blind eyes. On that very day, the Lord brought the people out of the land of Egypt. The biblical pattern of God coming down to save his people from slavery, from sin, is copied from Old Testament to New Testament.

[16:32] And I don't know if many of you were here when the last time that I was preaching, I mentioned the two-sided jigsaw. You remember that there was a picture if you had the same jigsaw pieces all connected.

[16:43] But imagine a jigsaw having two pictures. That's what I was kind of demonstrating that the Old Testament and the New Testament salvation picture, it's the same pieces that are in place.

[16:55] We return to that image here in verses 50 and 51. God's people back in Moses' time have been rescued by the blood of the Lamb. And we too are rescued from our sin by the blood of Jesus.

[17:11] For the Israelites, that occurred after 10 plagues. And then the morning after, the first sons of Egypt were killed. Their salvation day was that day.

[17:22] That was the day that they eventually left Egypt. What was your salvation day? Have a think.

[17:33] Was it many, many years ago? Was it last year? Was it even last week? Whenever it was, I guarantee that you can remember it.

[17:47] Just like the Israelites would have remembered this day in verse 50 and 51 that it's been described. Verse 51 is the crescendo of all the first 12 chapters.

[17:58] It's been building up to this moment. It was all of God and it was all of his doing. Our salvation day, whenever it was, was all of God and all of God's doing.

[18:12] Look at the language in these verses 50 and 51. They did as the Lord commanded. The Lord brought the people out. This rescue was God's doing.

[18:25] Not the people's doing and not even Moses' doing. Again, think back to your salvation day. It was God's doing that you became a believer.

[18:38] It is he, the Lord, who allows us to see his son, Jesus Christ, and we get to see him as he describes. That Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

[18:52] Romans 10 says, faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. How do we hear the word of Christ?

[19:04] Well, it's through someone preaching or, to put it another way, someone showing and telling us the good news of Jesus. And as we move into the last section, let's just zoom in on verse 1, 8, and 14.

[19:23] 13, verse 1, The Lord said to Moses, Consecrate to me all the firstborn, whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.

[19:37] Verse 8, You shall tell your son on that day it is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt. Verse 14, And when in time to come, your son asks you, What does this mean?

[19:55] You shall say to him, By a strong hand, the Lord brought us out of Egypt from the house of slavery. That's exactly what Cal was saying during the prize giving. We will have opportunities to teach our children the good news.

[20:12] So to sum up that consecrate word from verse 1 of chapter 13, another way of putting that would be to make holy by giving to God. If an Israelite had livestock, the firstborn sheep and cattle were sacrificed to God.

[20:29] If an Israelite had a firstborn donkey or son, they were redeemed and a lamb was sacrificed in its place. So as the community of God's people were journeying and they were to settle into the land that God was providing them as he had promised for them, they would start to live in a distinctively different manner.

[20:53] And whenever anyone starts to stand out, whatever the circumstance, whatever the situation, then questions will surely follow. For God's people, these questions would come first out of the mouth of babes.

[21:08] And it's exactly the same today. If you've ever raised children or been around children for any length of time, you'll know how often they ask questions.

[21:21] Passover and the consecration acts of service that we have in today's passage of scripture would have provided many, many opportunities for the Israelite children to ask their parents lots and lots of questions.

[21:35] But the beauty of this passage is that God commands his people to use these occasions and to teach the next generation the goodness of God and his act of rescue.

[21:48] You shall tell your sons. You shall tell your daughters. If I were to ask you to give me some of the reasons that people would enjoy summer, what would you expect the answers to be?

[22:00] So let's press pause. If I was to ask you, what are some of the things you enjoy about summer? There's a question. What would your answers be? If we were to ask the Joe Public walking down Bells Hill High Street, what would they say?

[22:17] What opportunities would they enjoy about summer? What does summer bring? Let's flip that. If you were to ask a believer what would they enjoy about summer?

[22:27] How might they differ in the answers that they give? What's different to a believer's summer compared to a non-believer's summer vacation or holiday? Well, as God's people, we're called to teach children the good news of the Bible.

[22:41] In summer, the summer holidays provide a brilliant opportunity to give our children some answers. We, as God's people, are called to teach children the good news of the Bible.

[22:57] Summer missions, summer camps, summer holidays are all great tools which we have the opportunity to tell children and young people to see, hear, and question what the Bible says.

[23:11] Even my own testimony is set during the context of our summer holiday. I don't know if many of you have been to Port Van Caravan Park in Argyll out in Kilbury. I was eight years old and I was attending what is effectively a summer mission or a summer holiday club.

[23:29] And my mum and dad had faithfully took us to church every Sunday and as eight years old as I attended the summer camp, the evangelist, the child evangelist presented the good news.

[23:42] and the heavenly penny dropped for me. It was that summer as an eight-year-old that I got it that Jesus had died for my sins.

[23:54] It was the faithfulness of my parents and the faithfulness of the evangelist that helped me to grasp the good news. And then fast forward ten years, I'm now eighteen, and it was when I was eighteen that I took my faith for myself and started to live for Jesus in a distinctive manner.

[24:12] And I was baptised and again, it was back at Port Bain in the Sound of Dura and the sea. Are we preparing ourselves this summer as grandparents, as parents, as the community in Bells Hill?

[24:30] Are we preparing ourselves to be ready to answer the questions that we have in, say, verse fourteen, when a child were to ask, what does this mean?

[24:42] Summer provides loads of opportunities. When we show our children, our grandchildren, the children in our community, what it is to be distinctive, to stand out from the world because of our faithfulness to God's words, then they will undoubtedly ask questions which result in the opportunities to share the gospel.

[25:05] And what a privilege that is. But that all sounds great, doesn't it? That all sounds like it's good in theory, but what does it actually look like in practice?

[25:17] When we think of our children, when we think of our young people today and the tidal wave of the secular fiery arrows that are coming at them, this generation of children and young people face secular threats that we have never seen.

[25:37] So we need to be ready and it might seem hopeless. And as we conclude, I'm not going to finish on a downer, thinking about our society and the children and young people that face it.

[25:50] When children as young as five and primary one are being taught the correct parts of the anatomy according to the Scottish National Curriculum, when children and primary sevens are being taught that boys can be girls and girls can be boys, it just feels like it's desperate.

[26:13] It feels like such a stronghold has been, is gripping our children and our young people. So what do we do? Well, remember that the Lord is stronger.

[26:27] It is by his strong arm, verse three, verse nine, verse 14 and verse 16. The Lord rescued his people from Pharaoh who had his grip on them.

[26:40] As God's people were so often told to look, sorry, as God's people were so often told to look at the people occupying the Lord, sorry, occupying the land.

[26:52] So time and time again, Moses reminds the people that they're going into the promised land and that is the land of the Canaanites. And what did God's people do? They naturally looked at the people who were giants and they naturally feared them.

[27:07] But what were they forgetting? That the Lord is stronger. It was the Lord that would give them the land and they were commanded time and time again to do not fear and to put their trust in the Lord's.

[27:23] If we can demonstrate and show our children, our grandchildren, that the Bible points to Jesus, then we have the greatest hope. It is he that will save them from the giants of this world, looking to pull them away from the truth of his words.

[27:44] Our faithfulness and our distinctiveness, when we show our children and young people and when we tell them, it will provide opportunities for them to ask us about Jesus.

[27:59] Jesus being our Passover lamb. So as we finish, let's be praying that they will be moved, the children and young people and our families and our community, let's be praying that they will be moved to ask the godly questions which leads them to discover the amazing power of Jesus dying in our place.

[28:27] And before we move into communion, let's pray. Father God, Lord, we thank you so much that you are our heavenly Father, that we are your adopted sons and daughters.

[28:49] Father, you call us out of darkness into light. And that is all because of you and because of Jesus and by the power of your Holy Spirit. Father, we thank you that your word teaches us these truths, that your people back then were saved because of the sacrificial lamb.

[29:14] Father, I thank you that Jesus is our same sacrificial lamb. Father, would you help us to take opportunities this summer to teach our grandchildren, our children, our neighbours and our friends, Father, would you help us to take opportunities that point then to you.

[29:38] And Father, we do pray that summer 2023 would be a life-changing summer for those in our community, for those in our friends, for those in our families.

[29:50] Father, we thank you for your good news. We thank you that we do not do this alone, that your Holy Spirit is our helper and Jesus is our rescuer. Lord God, we thank you in Jesus' name.

[30:03] Amen. Amen.