[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you'll be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Well, let me ask you a question. How many of y'all like to eat bread? Raise your hand if you like. How many of you are bread eaters?
[0:12] You know, you should travel the world. You'd be shocked, man. There's black breads and there's brown breads and there's every kind of bread you can imagine. And you can tell, but look, I am a bread eater.
[0:22] I love the bread. You give me some bread and butter, I can make it. And especially if you heat the bread. You've got to heat that bread up really good. I'll be a happy camper. In this chapter, God's going to give them.
[0:33] And gentlemen, can I get three of you men to hand out some unleavened bread tonight? My wife has made you unleavened bread. Now, if you are allergic to honey, she's going to tell you that, you might not want your peace.
[0:44] But there's some unleavened bread made after a Jewish recipe. Not your first time at Vision to have that. You can eat it anytime you want. Just dig in. Well, we're going to talk about the feast of unleavened bread tonight.
[0:56] We're going to talk about this. Never forget what he's done. Never forget what he's done. And they're going to have a memorial. Trent has taken you through explaining the Passover, explaining what's going to happen.
[1:10] And we're going to talk about them remembering it. We're going to go as far through Exodus chapter 12 as we can. Read with me, Exodus chapter 12 and verse 14. Read Exodus 12, 14.
[1:21] The Bible said, And this day shall be unto you for a memorial. And you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it a feast by an ordinance.
[1:34] I'm giving you orders to do this forever. Father, I pray tonight that you would deal with our hearts. I pray you would draw us close to you. I pray your name would be glorified. And I pray you'd help us to have some memorials in our life.
[1:47] To realize the importance of the Lord's Supper. To realize the importance of remembering all the great things that you have done. To be a thankful and a grateful people. Always thanking you for the good stuff that you've done in our lives.
[1:58] We'll give you praise for it all. In Jesus' name. Amen. I wish you'd write this down somewhere. In the margin of your Bible, maybe. Never forget what he's done. Next to verse 14. Never forget.
[2:09] Never forget what he's done. Verse 14. Put a circle around the word memorial. Look at verse 14. The word memorial. He said, And this day shall be unto you for a memorial.
[2:21] So we're about to have the Passover. It's about to take place. It's been explained. In a few minutes it will take place as we go through it. But he says, Hey, before I ever do this, I want you to remember.
[2:33] I want you to remember. God always wants his people to remember what he has done. We're to set aside specific times to just think about him and what he's done.
[2:45] I would say this to you. You know, we're real good about this. I mean, I watch you. Facebook, man, makes you the nosiest person in the world. You find out about everything. Steve and Maria had their first date 25 years ago.
[2:58] I don't remember where you went, but I do remember seeing that. Flash by there. And then Maria wanted to know where all the rest of y'all had your first date. And I would have said where we had ours, but I'm not sure if I remember. But anyway, Cartersville.
[3:11] What's up, Doc? Was the movie. Pizza Hut. Well, I'm a tightwad. I took her to Pizza Hut. You probably took her to the most expensive store in Atlanta, didn't you, Steve?
[3:21] Tell the truth. The what? The sweet onion? Yeah, I thought it was expensive, wasn't it? She just wanted you to think she wouldn't be expensive.
[3:36] All right. So we remember. So you had Valentine's Day, and you remembered. And you have Thanksgiving Day, and you probably don't remember much except watch your football games.
[3:46] And you have anniversaries, and you better remember. And you have birthdays, and you better remember. I just think that it is very funny that Trent forgot Valentine's Day.
[3:58] And then somebody's mentioning it, and so Trent's like, okay, I've got to get with it and get together. He said, I like this because her birthday's right after Thanksgiving. That way I don't forget. I get a double warning. We need to remember some things.
[4:11] And God wants to be remembered. God wants to be remembered. He wants you to remember what He's done in your life and what He's done in saving you. And so He sets up this memorial.
[4:22] It's the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Look at verse 15. If you would, seven days you're going to eat this unleavened bread. And if you don't eat it, verse 15, you'll be cut off. We won't have fellowship with you because you know what we're going to do?
[4:34] We're going to set aside seven days every year. We're going to eat unleavened bread so everybody's thinking and talking about what He did.
[4:44] He wanted time. He wanted them to set aside time and say, you don't forget what I did. You don't forget the ten miracles I worked, the plagues I brought on Egypt. You don't forget how the Lamb died in your place.
[4:56] Don't you forget it. They were to make a change to their routine so that they'd be forced, pushed to think about what He had done. They were not to work so they'd be able to think. Verse 16, they were not to do any kind of work so they would take time to think.
[5:10] He gave them a set day. He gave them a set day to remember Him and His work. One week out of a year, they were to set it aside. Verse 18, underline it, they were to eat unleavened bread.
[5:22] They were to eat unleavened bread. He said, I want it to be called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That's what you're going to call it. They were to break fellowship with anybody who didn't want to do it. He said, I want you to remember.
[5:33] And if somebody doesn't want to do it, if somebody has leaven even in their house, you ought to break fellowship. Look at verse 19, no leaven in your houses. It doesn't matter if you're a stranger or born in the land.
[5:45] You'll be cut off from the congregation of Israel. Now, here's some great lessons for us. We take the Lord's Supper here. We take, you might call it communion. It doesn't matter what you call it.
[5:56] It's our time to remember. And this is the Old Testament. It's not about the Lord's Supper. But there's some interesting things. You've got to remember that all the guys who formed the early church and those apostles were all Jewish.
[6:09] And they were used to the Passover. They're used to the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. That everything is going to, it's culturally going to touch them. They were Jewish people. It affected what they would feel about the Lord's Supper.
[6:21] God wants us to remember what Jesus did for us on Calvary. God wants us to set aside time to remember, even if it's inconvenient. God wants us to remember that.
[6:33] We should take time to focus on and remember. Think about it. Talk about it with others. As the Lord's Supper, we don't have a set day or even a set schedule about when we're supposed to take it.
[6:43] He never told us that. We don't set aside the week to do that. But we ought to learn in this passage of Scripture, God wants us to remember. It's a part of who we are.
[6:54] We ought to make it really important. And we ought to use it to train our children, which I'll talk to you about that in just a minute. First thing I wish you would, the first thing I wish you would write down or notice there in that passage of Scripture is they were to never forget what God was doing.
[7:09] They were to never forget what God was doing. Can I get you to stop just a second and look this way? Does it ever dawn on you how great your God has been? Do you ever think, do you ever think what God did when he sent Jesus to die on a cross in your place?
[7:22] Do you ever think that that was the climax of the entire Scripture when he dies and is buried and rises again? That's the climax of the Scripture. From the Old Testament, from Genesis 3.15, they were promised that the seed of the woman would come.
[7:35] God's going to do something. There's a lamb dying. All the time there were lambs dying. Every one of those a lamb died. When Jesus shows up, John points him out and says, Behold, the Lamb of God and now Jesus will die.
[7:47] We ought to remember. I ought to never ever forget. I am saved tonight because Jesus died. I am saved because God sent His Son to die in my place.
[7:58] I am saved because the Lamb of God bore my sins on Him. And God does not want me to forget that. I am not saved because of what I did.
[8:09] I am not saved because of the church. I am not saved because I got baptized. I am saved by what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary. Now go with me to verse 21 and we'll watch the sacrifice. It's the time for the actual sacrifice.
[8:22] The sacrifice of the Lamb. Look at verse 21. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb. Underline that. Take you a lamb according to your families and kill the Passover.
[8:36] What a dirty, hard word. Lord, kill the Passover. He'd already told them about the sacrifice and what it would mean. He now told them to go ahead and prepare to have a celebration every year.
[8:48] He said, guys, we're fixing to kill the Lamb. But before we ever kill the Lamb, let me tell you, don't forget me. I want you to keep doing this every year. On that actual night, they were to kill the Lamb. Underline that in verse 21.
[8:59] They were to kill the Passover. Now you know, you city folks probably don't know much about it. You deer hunters know about it a little bit because you kill deer, but they're not usually standing right next to you.
[9:11] They're not really where you get blood on your hand. And I watched my dad kill rabbits all the time when I was a kid. I watched my dad kill goats all the time when I was a kid. I'm just telling you, this is not a pleasant night.
[9:23] If you ever heard one of those little goats or lambs crying out, can you imagine? He said, kill it. Every household was to have one Lamb. Verse 3. Every household was to have one Lamb.
[9:34] On the 10th of the month, they were to take them a Lamb. Everyone was to take them a Lamb. They were to keep the Lamb from the 10th to the 14th. They were to keep the Lamb from the 10th to the 14th. That's found in verse 6.
[9:45] I don't know anything about your household. By the way, my parents, when they left here, left coming and moved up to Tennessee, they moved to this little trailer. And we went up there to visit them. Some of us said we were taking some stuff up there from here.
[9:57] Some of the guys from the church were helping me take some stuff up there. And we got there, and they had a Lamb in their house. Does anybody remember that? Well, you guys remember that? The Lamb was running around the house.
[10:07] I'm like, what in the world? And that was their pet. Well, I want you to imagine, how many of you have ever had your children fall in love with an animal in a day or two and want to keep it?
[10:20] That ever happened? Four days, this animal's in the house. Four days, it's sweet. Four days, it's soft. Four days, it's gentle. Four days, it's beautiful. Four days, it's following around.
[10:31] Four days, it's pretty. And he said, you bring that Lamb in, and you get used to that Lamb being in your house. It's to be a Lamb that's a year old or under. Look, your Lamb, verse 5, shall be without blemish a male of the first year.
[10:43] You take it from the sheep or from the goats. And then they were to kill it. Then they were to kill it. I was a country boy, so it was nothing uncommon for us to kill something and eat it.
[10:55] I was often told, go kill a chicken. Go kill a chicken, bring it in here. I'd have to go out, kill a chicken, take the feathers off of it. I'd have to gut the thing, burn the little small feathers off, bring it into my mother, and then my mother would cook up the chicken.
[11:10] We would often kill rabbits. You know, we'd have visitors, and they'd say, that's the same rabbit we just saw at the rabbit cage. They couldn't eat it. They took a bite of it. They said it grew in their mouth.
[11:21] They said they could feel it growing in their mouth. It made them want to throw it because they know this little lamb. They know this little lamb. Kids are following up with this little lamb. Because he wants you to know he gave his son.
[11:36] It hurt. It cost. So they kill the lamb, verse 22. And they would take a bunch of hyssop. They dipped it in the blood, and they struck the little in the two side posts.
[11:48] And they were told, stay in the house. Stay in the house. So they took that blood, that lamb, that lamb that they'd come to know, they went out and killed that lamb.
[11:58] I can see that lamb crying. I can see little Luther saying, why are you doing this, daddy? I can see your little kids crying and saying, why are you doing this, daddy?
[12:10] They killed that lamb. They put the lamb's blood on the doorpost, and they stayed inside. And that night, the Lord would pass over. Look at verse 23. Look at verse 23.
[12:22] Chapter 12, verse 23. Therefore, when the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood upon the lentil, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door.
[12:33] And he will not suffer the destroyer to come in into your houses to smite you. The destroyer would go from house to house, killing every firstborn. He killed the animals. He killed firstborn animals.
[12:44] He killed firstborn animals. This death angel kills firstborn animals, kills firstborn children. If there was blood, then the Lord would not let the destroyer in the house. Now, look at the middle of all this actual thing going on.
[12:57] He gives them instructions again. Verse 24. Look at verse 24. I want you to realize he's saying, don't forget what I've done. Don't forget what I've done. Verse 24. He said, and you shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever.
[13:12] And it shall come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord gives you, according to his promise, you shall keep this service. Would you underline verse 24? Observe this thing as an ordinance.
[13:23] I'm giving you a commandment. I want you to do something. I want you to have this whole ceremony so you remember what happened. You're going to eat this unleavened bread. You're going to have this ceremony. And when you come to the land, and that's going to be a long time.
[13:35] They're going to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. Then they're going to fight and conquer. But 100 years from now and 200 years from now and 1,000 years from now, they're supposed to remember he did this for us.
[13:47] Never, ever forget what Jesus did. Never, ever forget the sweet lamb of God who died in our place. I will get you out of here, he said.
[13:57] I will prove my power. Now don't you forget it. I will prove my power. Now don't you forget it. I would like you to ask you to go to verse 26 if you would.
[14:09] I wish you'd write this down somewhere. And I could and thought about taking a whole service to go over this. But you're supposed to, as parents, use every opportunity to teach your children.
[14:20] There was a baptism this morning. Your children should have received a lesson. You should go home with your children and they should say, when they say something like about baptizing, they ought to get a lesson.
[14:32] No, you can't get baptized. Baptized is for a special kind of person. You can play about baptizing. You can play baptizing in the swimming pool. But baptized is for a special person. It's for a person who's saying, I love Jesus and I have decided to follow him.
[14:45] The testimony given this morning was a great testimony. Brian's testimony was a great testimony of exactly what it's about. I have decided publicly to say, I love Jesus, I'm following Jesus. That's a great testimony. And so, you teach your children.
[14:59] And he says to them right here, I want you to read the verses. I just want you to know that everything, mom and dad, church is not about me teaching your children. It's about you teaching your children. And look what he said to them in chapter 12, verse 26.
[15:11] And it shall come to pass that your kids are going to say, why do they do that at church? Why do they baptize people like that?
[15:21] Why do they give out the Lord's Supper like they do? Why do they have preaching at church like they do? Why do we sing like we do? Why do we? Why, why, why? Anybody ever notice what a little kid learns how to say? How many of you have gotten tired of why at your house?
[15:35] Say amen. My goodness, I can remember. They would look at you, you'd say something to them, and as soon as you did, they'd go, why? You explain, they'd go, why? You explain, they'd go, why? I'm like, I'm saying, why? I'm going to punch you.
[15:46] Can't take another why tonight. But he said, hey, when they ask why, I want you to tell them. I want you to realize that's a chance I'm giving you to teach them, verse 27. You say to them, it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover.
[16:00] Child, listen to me. We're doing this feast. We're having this whole celebration. We're taking this whole week. This whole week, we're not working. You're not going to school. Homeschool's off. Everything's off.
[16:11] This whole week is like going to church every day of the week. And we're doing this. And the kids say, man, I like this, mama. Don't have to go to school. I'm all in favor of that. Why are we doing this? Well, it's the Lord's Passover. And mama, why aren't you working?
[16:22] And why didn't daddy go out to take care of the cows and the sheep? Because it's the Lord's Passover. And why are we, it's the Lord's Passover. And we're to tell him. And he would explain the story. Look at verse 27.
[16:32] Who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt. When he smote the Egyptians, delivered their houses. And the people bowed their head and worshipped. And they left and they did what they were told.
[16:44] You know, they were going to tell their kids. And you've got to tell the whole story. Listen, you've got to tell the whole story. Don't turn it into something flippant. Don't turn it into something you can rush through and get through.
[16:56] Don't say, when they ask about baptism, I already told you that. They need to hear it a hundred times until they understand. So the children said, why are we doing this feast of the Passover? We said, son, this is, this is the feast of my liver.
[17:08] This is the Lord's Passover. Let me tell you a story. Let me tell you a story. Here's where we were. We were sinners. We were slaves. We were owned by Egypt. We couldn't get out of Egypt.
[17:18] They were beating us and mistreating us. They were abusing us. They started killing our babies. Our whole life was falling apart. The man of God said, God's going to get us out of here. And he explained to us that God was going to work a miracle.
[17:31] And God did. There were nine horrendous plagues that came across the nation of Israel. Many of those plagues didn't even, across the nation of Egypt, many of those plagues didn't even touch us. It's amazing.
[17:41] Son, you should have seen it. God let it just go through there and do all this bad stuff to all these people. And it would stop right at our border. Son, I could stand there in good times and look over at the bad times and know God, there was dark over there and light over here.
[17:55] They couldn't see their hand in front of their face, but I could. Let me tell you something, boy, God's good. And then on number 10, son, the 10th plague was the most horrendous plague you can imagine. I don't think you could ever understand this, son.
[18:06] You need to listen to me. You weren't there, but you listened to me. On that night, the death angel started moving across the city. You could hear the screaming everywhere. Animals were dying. Children were dying.
[18:16] From the richest guy in town, the Pharaoh, all the way down to the poorest guy in town. Son, every place, everybody died. And by the way, he came across our houses too. He came across Israel's house. But when he got to our house, son, here's what happened.
[18:30] You see, God had this plan to save us. And his plan was that this lamb would die for us. And you won't know this, but buddy, I remember when I was a little boy and daddy brought the lamb in.
[18:41] And that lamb lived with us and played with us and jumped around in the house and licked my face. It sucked on my finger and I gave him a bottle of milk and the whole nine yards, that was our lamb. And then daddy took that lamb outside.
[18:53] I'll never forget, son, as I heard this lamb screaming his guts out. And then daddy slit his throat and the blood gushed out. Daddy caught the blood in a pot. Then he killed that lamb.
[19:04] We couldn't break any of the lamb's legs. Couldn't break his bones. You had to be gentle the way you killed. That's a terrible thing. We had to be gentle. We killed him. We had to be gentle. Couldn't break anything. Because none of the bones in Jesus' body were broken. They put that blood there and they grabbed this hyssop, just a plant, like the same thing you use to clean, a Q-tip type thing that you use to clean your ear, but just bigger.
[19:22] And they stuck it in and they put it on the doorpost. And so they put that on there. And the Lord told us this. He said, if you believe me enough to kill that lamb and put the blood on your door and the blood on the top of your door and on the side of your door, when the death angel gets to your house, he'll just pass right on over and go to the next house.
[19:37] Son, we heard him coming. It's a scary thing. You could hear the dying people over there. You could hear as the angel came passing over and people are screaming. Moms and dads are yelling their lungs out and you're scared to death because you can hear it.
[19:50] Everybody's screaming. And as it came, all of a sudden, he got to our house. And I know we trusted God, but we were just like, and all of a sudden we heard him screaming on the other side. Son, God took care of us. God took care of us.
[20:02] I'll never forget that, son. And God doesn't want you to forget it. So this week we're having the week of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread because God doesn't want you to forget what he did.
[20:14] Your kids are going to ask you why we do things the way we do them at church. And, you know, sometimes you may go home and say, I don't know, Austin's got his ways. And that may be true, but you should come jack my jaws about that.
[20:26] But you ought never to do that with your kids. You should go home to your children and say, well, we have a lot of preaching because the Bible says it's through the foolishness of preaching that people get saved. That's why we do so much preaching in our church.
[20:38] Every time we go, it's preaching. We always take a Bible because it's preaching. The Bible's about preaching and knowing Jesus and knowing all about him and studying the Bible from verse to verse and knowing all about what he said.
[20:48] And we baptize because it's a sign like putting on a ring. We baptize because they believed and they're publicly making a statement. I need to tell you about it, son. It's the night of the Lord's Supper.
[20:59] You should not let them take the Lord's Supper. You should not let them take the Lord's Supper. So when the Lord's Supper gets to them, you should say, no, that's not for you yet, son. You say, well, that hurt their little feelings.
[21:10] Good. They need to understand not for them because they're not born again yet. They're not remembering what Jesus did for them because he ain't done it for them. And so what happens is you go home and they say, well, why couldn't I take the Supper?
[21:22] You say, well, the reason you can't take the Supper is you haven't been born again yet, buddy. But one day God's going to save you. And he's going to come and he's going to touch your heart and convict you of your sin. You're going to realize you're sinning. You're going to accept Jesus as your Savior.
[21:33] And then when you take that little piece of bread, it'll mean something. Everything we do is cheesy to a guy on the outside. Come in here.
[21:47] We've got this little bitty cup of juice. We've got this little piece of bread and we claim we're remembering. But if they're saved and they understand what that little piece of bread is, it ain't just a little piece of bread.
[21:59] Now it's I'm thinking about Jesus. And you're supposed to take a minute and say, I'm going to think about Jesus. And before I take this bread into my mouth and eat this just a plain old piece of bread, there's no power in it.
[22:10] I'm getting no merit for salvation. But before I put it in my mouth, I'm thinking, man, I'd be on my way to hell if it wasn't for Jesus. There'd be no salvation for anybody if his body hadn't been broken. And this is to remember his body was broken.
[22:22] Let me tell you, Mel Gibson has no clue about what the crucifixion looked like. You say, well, he painted it pretty good. Maybe so. If we'd have been there, it'd have been even more horrendous. Jesus paid the price for us.
[22:36] Jesus paid the price for us. His body was broken. And you tell your children that. Don't tell them. Don't tell them, well, son, after church, I'll get you one of them little cookies and you can eat one so you can have one. Now, son, I'll go.
[22:47] No, no, no, no. Explain to them. It's your time to teach. That's what he said in the passage. He said, teach them. Tell them who he is. Tell them what he did. Tell them what he can do for them. Help them understand that God has made provision to protect them.
[23:00] That they can be saved if they choose to believe. They must act on what they know. God has made a provision for us today in what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary. Just like we see here, God takes time to tell them to remember.
[23:12] We see Jesus did that. Y'all do remember when the Lord's Supper was instituted, don't you? He got them all together and said to him, just a little bit, guys, I'll be dying. But sit down. We're going to have a supper together. And I won't eat this supper again to lay it with you when I get to the kingdom.
[23:26] You can mark it down. They were in love with Jesus. They hadn't spent three days with the little lamb. They spent three years with the lamb of God. And they're sitting there. And he said, what are you going to betray me?
[23:38] And they're like, who? Lord, who would do such a thing? We all love you. John's got his head laying on his chest. And they say, John, ask him who? Ask him who, John? John whispers and said, Jesus, who are you talking about?
[23:48] You know, it's never made clear. They don't even know when Judas gets up to leave. They have no idea why he's leaving. If you go read the scripture, they don't even know why he's leaving. They weren't looking at him and saying, that's a big, ugly thief guy. They thought he's a good guy.
[23:59] And he leaves. In just a few hours, he'll be caught, taken. He doesn't have to be caught because he doesn't ever run. He's right where he was going to be. He died on purpose. Peter tries to defend him, and Jesus won't let him defend him.
[24:13] And in just a few hours, he'll be beaten to a bloody pulp. So he's unrecognizable as a human being. You would not have known him. His face looked like hamburger meat.
[24:24] He was beaten worse than any man you've ever seen. You could not have recognized who he was. And then they took him, and they nailed him on a cross. It was the scariest, horriblest night before the crucifixion.
[24:35] It was the scariest, horriblest day you can imagine on that day as he died. It was so scary that big, burly fishermen are scared and hiding. Only one of them shows up. Old John shows up.
[24:46] The rest of them are hiding. Big old Peter. Big mouth Peter. Hiding and running. And I'll just say this before I go on. Would you listen to this, please? Are you teaching your children?
[24:58] You see, if you're not careful, do you realize you have in your house, you have these precious little lives. And men are either going to go to heaven or they're going to go to hell. And you are the pastor of your home.
[25:10] That is the most important job in this room. Not my job. Not the song. You're the pastor of your home. And men, when they say to you, when they say to you, Hey, Daddy, I was wondering, why are they baptized like that?
[25:23] Why did Trent put that man under water today? What's that about? You ought to say, Whoa, that's a good question. Sit down here, buddy. Let's talk. Let me explain to you why.
[25:35] When we get ready to run that kid through foundations, you ought to be like, I heard that all my life. I know exactly what's going on. My daddy told me. My mama told me. I understand exactly what was happening. We give out the Lord's Supper.
[25:46] So they get home today, they're going to say, What was that bread he was giving out? You should say, I'm glad you asked. I'd like to talk about that a minute. Because I've got a chance to teach you. That leaven was like sin. And Jesus, it was a symbol of sin.
[25:57] Not sin, but it was a symbol of sin. And you wanted that sin removed. You wanted to realize this is the time to think about, the spotless, unblemished, unstained one, Jesus, who died on the cross.
[26:07] Take the chance. Take the opportunity to explain to your family what God's doing. Don't you dare take lightly what's happening. And I'll just say this to you. Your kids are leaving. You don't realize that.
[26:19] One year old. One year old. He was just born like a day or two ago. I mean, one year old already. That's ridiculous. How's he one year old?
[26:31] I'm telling you, it's flying by and you don't realize it. What will they hear from you? Will they grow up to be little atheists? Will they grow up to be little pagans? Will they grow up to be little moralists that know all the rights and wrongs and what you shouldn't do and what you should do?
[26:45] Or will they grow up knowing this? I've sinned against the holy God. And I want to trust the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior. Don't do that, son. Good little boys and girls, don't do that. Don't do that. You're a little gardener.
[26:55] And gardeners are better than other people. Don't do that. Don't do that. Tell them this. We've sinned. That's what that Lord's Supper was about. That's what the preaching was about. That's what the baptizing was about. Why don't we do Sunday school?
[27:06] Same thing, man. It's to teach everyone. Know everything about it. If you don't know, come ask. I'll be glad to help you. Let me give you one more point and I'll save the rest for later because I'm on page 14 and 19 pages of notes.
[27:16] So we'll probably just stop right now. Look at verse 29. God makes his move on the unbelievers. It came to pass at midnight that the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt.
[27:28] From the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne and to the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon, all the firstborn of the cattle. At midnight, God started. From the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the animals.
[27:42] Children were dying everywhere. And I think we all understand this. I remember the first time Chris, our oldest, got hurt.
[27:54] I came home. He was gone. He and his mother were gone. He'd been sitting on the counter. Little chubby, little one or two year old, however old he was.
[28:04] I always mess these things up. I bet he tells me later I was wrong. If I was a single guy, I could preach so much better. Say amen. But anyway, he had fallen off this counter and hit the floor on the cement floor.
[28:15] It had some kind of stuff on it. But it was cement under there. It was an apartment building we lived in. His eye was all puffed up. Looked to me like it was falling out of his head. I got to the hospital. And I cannot explain. But you understand because you're moms and dads.
[28:26] All I can think is, God, please don't let it happen to him. God, let me lose my eye. Let me lose my eye, God. Don't do that, God. Please take care of my kid. And I want you to imagine all of a sudden every house, every house, the oldest child dies.
[28:41] Who's your oldest? Your oldest dies. You're a dad. You're at home. And your oldest dies. The Bible says in verse 30, And Pharaoh rose up in the night. He and all his servants and all the Egyptians.
[28:52] And there was a great cry in Egypt. There was not a house where there was not one dead. They were dying. Pharaoh wants Moses and Aaron to get the people out of his land.
[29:05] This time they can all go. He's been bargaining with them all along. Trying to keep them from going. But now he says, get out of here. Take your children. Take your wives. Take your livestock. Take everything you have. There's several million people.
[29:16] There were 600,000 men, not counting wives and children. If you've got 600,000 men and you've got only men, that's 20 years old and up. That's what they considered a man. And they've got two wives apiece.
[29:28] That's 1.8 million. That's not counting any kids they've got. And Moses was in a family with Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
[29:40] So there's three in that family. People are dying everywhere. The Egyptians realize it. We're all dead. Boy, this God they serve is a great God. He's a big God. In chapter 12 and verse 33, they said, we're all dead.
[29:53] We're dead men. We're all dead men. So they gave them everything they needed if they just get out of town. You've got to remember these are slaves. And they're strapping stuff on, slinging it up on horses and camels and whatever it was they had to carry it with.
[30:07] You can imagine how what a wild time. I mean, it was like get up and get out of here and do it quick. And everybody's handing them stuff. Death is still moving today.
[30:18] And men and women are still dying and going to hell. It was an old country song we sang. It was in the hymn book when I was a kid. Hell is moving.
[30:30] Death is moving. I can't remember how it went. Brethren, we had met to worship. That was the name of the song. But you know, I live in a world just like Egypt was that day. Go to the graveyard.
[30:42] Go to the funeral home. The most pagan, godless sinner wants a preacher. There's crying.
[30:53] They've died. And they have no hope. And they've gone to hell. You and I live in a world very similar to Egypt. They don't die right here where we hear it.
[31:04] We don't hear the death angel move or we kill the firstborn in every home. But if you ever notice these funeral homes, they stay in business. All you've got to do is drive by and you find out people are dying.
[31:15] And many of them have never heard the gospel. And there is still a way to be saved. That night, any family who believed God kept their firstborn.
[31:26] Anybody who believed God kept their firstborn. I can only imagine as that death angel came and the son still crying, tears running down his face as he thinks about the little lamb that daddy just killed.
[31:41] And daddy picks him up and starts hugging him as tight as he can and kissing him and said, son, that's why the lamb died. That's why the lamb died. So you didn't have to die. And that's the story you and I preach today.
[31:52] That's why the lamb died. And we don't have to die. That's why the lamb died. Let me give you this other thing right here. I'll save the last one.
[32:04] Go to verse 38. There's a mixed multitude. There's a mixed multitude. In verse 38, the Bible said a mixed multitude went up also with them. Flocks and herds and even very much cattle.
[32:16] So there were Egyptians and other nationalities that joined with Israel as they left Egypt and on their way out. A mixed crowd, a big crowd of people that weren't Israelite left with them.
[32:29] They were different ethnic backgrounds and they go along. Their problem isn't their ethnicity or their racial background. Their problem is their lack of faith. See, God doesn't care what color you are, but he does care whether or not you believe.
[32:42] He doesn't care what original language you speak, but he does care that you know what happened. And they left. There was death in Israel and death in Egypt and life with Israelites.
[32:54] It looks like it's a better deal to go along. But there were these people that joined up that didn't seem to really believe. And they joined up. And in Numbers chapter 11 and verse 4, the mixed multitude that was among them fell to lusting.
[33:08] And the children of Israel also wept again and said, who shall give us flesh to eat? So this mixed multitude, they get in amongst us and they affect the way you think.
[33:18] And they're in our church now. They're in the religious crowd today. Many people who serve God out of what they feel like is responsibility. Many people who serve God because you're supposed to.
[33:31] Many people who serve God because they want the blessings of God on their family. But their heart's not committed. Their heart's not committed. They're not in. They're in enough.
[33:42] They're in enough to try some things, but they're not in. They would become one with Israel, but it meant leaving.
[33:53] And they were and were becoming one with God's people. There are still people who come to church and get involved in religion, but have never truly believed from the heart. They damage the church and its work.
[34:05] They're here for what they can get, not because they love Jesus and they want to serve Him. And that mixed multitude is going to later cause trouble. So let me just give you some things before we go home. Don't forget.
[34:17] Can I just say that's the power of God on me, brother. Scared me to death. I don't know about the rest of you. Don't forget.
[34:30] Don't forget. You know, it's a big deal to my wife that I remember certain things. I don't know if it's that way in your house, but I mean it's a pretty big deal. Your wife, like, expects you to remember their anniversary.
[34:42] Is that right or not? You know about that again? You're shaking your head. I guess you saw your mama jump on your daddy, huh? She expects.
[34:53] God expects. Don't forget what He did. Don't forget what He did. If you go home tonight, here's what I want you to remember. Don't forget what He did. I've been saved so long.
[35:06] I have read the Bible through so many times. I have preached so many messages in my life that it's easy to kind of get used to it. We sing the songs. Don't meet the songs. We preach the messages. We come to church.
[35:17] We go through the routine. But we need to stop and say, it's Valentine's Day. I remember. It's the feast. It's the feast of unleavened bread.
[35:27] I remember. It's the Passover. I remember. It's the Lord's Supper. I remember. We sing a song. I remember. We read the Bible. I remember.
[35:38] God, I'm not going to forget. I'm going to remember what you've done. Don't forget. Go home and teach your children. Man, take it serious. The greatest ministry. I'll give you this one.
[35:48] I am a type A bull in the china shop kind of guy. And you all have all figured that out. And I've been in the ministry all of my adult life.
[36:00] I've really never had another job. If I apply for a job, they would say, you don't look qualified to do anything but go be a pastor. So go be a pastor. It happened to me one time when I applied. And I said, I was trying to get a job.
[36:11] It's a carpet meal. Man, they'll hire a drug addict or a drunk. And they told me I was overqualified. I said, what am I qualified to do? He said, it looks to me like you ought to be a pastor. What are you doing here? I said, excuse me, I'm out of here.
[36:23] Never done anything else. But my daughter Joy messed up. You know, I'll tell you something. I took and wrote in front of her Bible and I said, you are worth more to me than all the ministry, all the churches, all the preaching, everything I got going.
[36:44] You are worth more. And she still got that Bible. And I left the mission field. And I came home to America. Not knowing. In fact, we lost thousands of dollars that we had saved up.
[36:56] Because let me just tell you something. You need to understand something. Your business ain't that important. Your ministry is not that important. But your kids are that important. You're a mama. You're a daddy.
[37:07] Well, you got a chance. You should go home and say, man, I have got a lot of weight on my shoulders. I feel a ton of weight on mine for you and for your children. But you should feel that. Go teach your kids.
[37:19] Don't you mess around with it. And make sure you're not one of the people that's a mixed multitude. You're just here because it looks good. You're just here because it might fit in. You're not sure that you're in.
[37:30] You're in. Kind of in, in. But you're not in with everything. You don't really believe. It's not all real to you. Make your mind up that you'll put Jesus first. Father in heaven, I love you and I thank you for the chance to serve you.
[37:44] I thank you for your word. I pray that you'd bless this service. God, I pray you'd help our people to never forget what you've done. I love you and I pray and I thank you for the chance to serve you. God, I pray that you'd help us to teach our children.
[37:55] And I pray you'd help us to look ourselves over and make sure that we are indeed born again, children of yours, on our way to heaven through what Jesus did on the cross at Calvary.
[38:06] I love you and I thank you. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.