SPEAKER_00: The Bible is one big story.
SPEAKER_00: It's the story of redemption from God.
SPEAKER_00: And it's from the very first page to the very last page.
SPEAKER_00: It's telling one story.
SPEAKER_00: When I went to seminary, which is grad school for pastors, probably the best thing I took away from it was to begin to understand this, how the Bible all uh fits together.
SPEAKER_00: I hadn't been a Christian a very long time when I went, and we had different Bible classes that taught on different books of the Bible or chunks of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And in every one, they would work to help us see how each of those books, each of the stories in those books was working to tell the bigger story of redemption, to tell the bigger story of who God is and uh and how he's working in the world and what that means for us.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's not just 66 uh smaller books that are all disjointed, uh, but but one story uh of uh of redemption.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and and that was probably the best thing for me uh as I uh as I left seminary because it it just gave me this understanding, this bigger picture of who God is, uh the way that he works, the plan that he has, and how uh how I fit into it and how uh and how each of us does uh as well.
SPEAKER_00: And so the the story is uh is the story of redemption, and uh, and it's a it's a good one.
SPEAKER_00: You should uh you should read it.
SPEAKER_00: Um it tells us uh it tells us about God's love for his people.
SPEAKER_00: So this morning we are gonna look at a foundational event from the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna look at the Passover.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna take a break from Daniel for uh for a week and then we'll jump back into there next uh next week.
SPEAKER_00: But we're gonna look at this this Passover event that uh that for the for the Jewish faith for the Old Testament is sort of the foundation of um of understanding who God is and and how He He works.
SPEAKER_00: Uh but I think what we're also gonna see is that the uh the salvation that God brings through Passover is really no different than the salvation uh that he brings to us in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That it really is part of the uh the same story.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and the Passover is just uh just a picture that's pointing us uh to uh to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And it's why you know the Passover and the Lord's Supper are so closely uh connected because uh because they are working to tell that uh that same story.
SPEAKER_00: And the hero of the story is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I read this and and thought it was interesting uh from this guy, Alec Mortier.
SPEAKER_00: He's uh he's an Old Testament uh professor, and uh and he said, uh, this is the story that if you asked any Jewish person in the Old Testament, any Israelite, uh, you know, who they are and sort of how they would define their faith, he said, This is what uh this is what they might say.
SPEAKER_00: We were in a foreign land in bondage under the sentence of death, but our mediator, the one who stands between us and God, came to us with the promise of deliverance.
SPEAKER_00: We trusted in the promise of God, took shelter under the blood of the Lamb, and he led us out.
SPEAKER_00: Now we are on the way to the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: We're not there yet, of course, but we have the law to guide us.
SPEAKER_00: And through blood sacrifice, we also have his presence in our midst.
SPEAKER_00: So he will stay with us until we get to our true country, our everlasting home.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, you know, you could ask any Old Testament uh Israelite, uh, and they and this is a story that they could connect to.
SPEAKER_00: But the reality is it's the same story that we tell as Christians.
SPEAKER_00: It's that it describes us in uh the same way.
SPEAKER_00: We uh we're in a foreign land, we're under the bondage of sin and death, and uh, and our only hope is in uh the blood of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: This is how God connects these stories and points to Jesus even from uh from the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: And so, like I said, we're gonna we're gonna look at the story of Passover this morning to understand what it meant for uh for the Israelites uh in uh in their time and understand what it means uh for uh for us.
SPEAKER_00: Because I think when we understand their problem and our problem, when we understand their hope and our hope, we realize that it's a lot more relevant and a lot more connected to us than we might realize.
SPEAKER_00: So we are reading from uh the book of Exodus, chapter 12, and we're kind of jumping into the climax of this story, where God has heard the cries of his people, they've been in slavery for 400 years in Egypt, and he sends uh Moses to go and rescue uh his uh his people.
SPEAKER_00: And so you're probably familiar with the story.
SPEAKER_00: If you've seen the Prince of Egypt, uh he um he goes and Moses goes nine times uh to Pharaoh and says, Um, uh, you know, let my people go.
SPEAKER_00: And Pharaoh's heart is hard uh towards God, and he says, uh and he says no, and Moses goes again and again, and then he comes uh the tenth time, uh, same thing, let my people go, and uh, and Pharaoh says no.
SPEAKER_00: And so God says, uh, all right, now um now you will uh will listen.
SPEAKER_00: And he prepares for this final uh final plague that he shows.
SPEAKER_00: Now there's tons of things in the broader story of Moses and uh Pharaoh and what's happening here in Exodus.
SPEAKER_00: There's there's a lot of things that we could look at and uh and learn from that we don't have time for.
SPEAKER_00: But but maybe as a summary, I'll just say whenever we choose to go against uh against God, right?
SPEAKER_00: God who is the maker of all things, against uh God who uh uh who has designed us and designed the world that we live in, whenever we go against him, uh chaos and breakdown result.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's the that's the picture that we see from these plagues.
SPEAKER_00: It's because if God is the maker of all things, uh, including us, then he's made us with a purpose.
SPEAKER_00: He's made us with a purpose to glorify him and to enjoy him forever.
SPEAKER_00: So when we glorify ourselves and when we enjoy our stuff more than we enjoy him, then things begin to fall apart.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what we see happening in Egypt with these plagues.
SPEAKER_00: And we know that it's true, right?
SPEAKER_00: When we when we lie, uh trust and relationships break down.
SPEAKER_00: When we overwork, right?
SPEAKER_00: Our our bodies, they they break down from stress and exhaustion.
SPEAKER_00: Our families might fall apart from our from our absence.
SPEAKER_00: Our own sense of identity gets so wrapped up in our work that we uh we even lose sight of who we are and who we were made uh to be.
SPEAKER_00: These plagues are are no different.
SPEAKER_00: So this is the story that we're stepping into as we read from Exodus 12.
SPEAKER_00: Pharaoh has told God no for the last time.
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to stand for the reading of God's word, we're gonna read Exodus chapter 12, verses 1 through 14.
SPEAKER_00: It says the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, This month shall be for you the beginning of months.
SPEAKER_00: It shall be the first month of the year for you.
SPEAKER_00: Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb, according to their father's houses, a lamb for a household.
SPEAKER_00: And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons, according to what each can eat.
SPEAKER_00: You shall make your count for the lamb.
SPEAKER_00: Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male, a year old, you may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
SPEAKER_00: Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the house, of the houses in which they eat it.
SPEAKER_00: They shall eat the flesh that night, roasting on the fire with unleavened blood, bread, and bitter herbs, they shall eat it.
SPEAKER_00: Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts.
SPEAKER_00: Anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.
SPEAKER_00: In this manner you shall eat it with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand.
SPEAKER_00: You shall eat it in haste.
SPEAKER_00: It is the Lord's Passover.
SPEAKER_00: For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and on all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgments.
SPEAKER_00: I am the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.
SPEAKER_00: Let me pray for us.
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you for uh your word.
SPEAKER_00: These uh can be uh heavy words when we understand uh uh uh the uh the depth of our sin and the wrath that our sins deserve.
SPEAKER_00: And yet it can be such good news to know that there is hope, to know that we can be rescued by the blood of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: And so we pray that you would use this passage this morning uh to stir our hearts towards you, that we could understand more deeply what you've done for us, uh, that we could understand more fully uh your great love for us, uh, and that we might be changed as a result.
SPEAKER_00: Speak through your word, speak by your spirit, uh speak through uh me.
SPEAKER_00: I know there is uh nothing uh good I have to say apart from the words that you have for us this morning, and so we pray that you would give them to us and that you would encourage us with them.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You can be seated.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna look at three things when it comes to God's salvation this morning and this story of salvation and redemption in uh in Exodus.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna look at the recipients of God's salvation, the redemption of God's salvation, and the remembrance of God's salvation.
SPEAKER_00: So, first, the recipients of God's salvation.
SPEAKER_00: To understand who can receive God's salvation, it's probably helpful to start with who needs his salvation.
SPEAKER_00: One of the takeaways from this event is that there's actual judgment for our hardening of hearts towards God.
SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes we can look around and feel like, man, people are just getting away with all sorts of things.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, and um, it doesn't seem like these people are following God, uh, listening to him, honoring him, worshiping him, and yet it seems like their life is going great.
SPEAKER_00: Uh it seemed like that for uh for Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: They were the most powerful nation in uh in the in that part of the of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Pharaoh was the most powerful king uh around.
SPEAKER_00: But there is uh judgment for a hardening of our hearts towards God.
SPEAKER_00: If you look a little bit after where we read in chapter 12, you know, it continues to go down to tell the story.
SPEAKER_00: Uh in uh in verse 29, he um he says, At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.
SPEAKER_00: And so he tells them that it's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: He he informs them, and then it actually does happen.
SPEAKER_00: And this terrible, terrible judgment comes on the people of Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: Now you may be thinking, uh, this punishment seems pretty extreme.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll talk about that in a minute, what uh what salvation requires.
SPEAKER_00: But for now, we're just looking at who requires salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And really, it's anyone who hardens their heart towards God.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're told time after time in uh in Exodus that, you know, God hardens Pharaoh's heart, that Pharaoh hardens his own heart uh towards uh toward towards him.
SPEAKER_00: This is what deserves judgment.
SPEAKER_00: Our hardness of heart towards God.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's anyone who falls short of a standard needs saving.
SPEAKER_00: Now the Bible tells us that we all fall short of this standard, because God's standard is perfection.
SPEAKER_00: But, you know, even if you feel like, um, well, perfect is a pretty high standard, right?
SPEAKER_00: Um we also fall short of even just the standards we set for ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: You know, maybe you've said about someone else, you know, why can't they be a better friend to me?
SPEAKER_00: Why can't they just be there for me when I need them?
SPEAKER_00: And then maybe at some point you realize, man, why haven't I been a good enough friend to these uh to the people, to the people around me?
SPEAKER_00: And why haven't I been there for them when they needed me?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you think, why is it so hard to just tell the truth?
SPEAKER_00: And then you find yourself stretching the truth because of how uh how much damage the truth might do to you or how it might make you look.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've said, Why can't my spouse think about me more?
SPEAKER_00: And then you realize how often you think about yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone falls short of standards all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Especially God's perfect standard of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: So the answer is, who needs salvation?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, everyone needs salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And we see this here in Egypt, too.
SPEAKER_00: The Egyptians deserved the judgment that they that they received.
SPEAKER_00: But the reality is the Israelites deserved judgment too.
SPEAKER_00: The whole first half of this chapter is God telling the Israelites, this is what you need to do if you're going to avoid judgment.
SPEAKER_00: Because he knows that when that destroyer comes, when that angel of death comes, um, they are uh they are just as uh deserving of his judgment as anyone uh as anyone else.
SPEAKER_00: The Israelites, they've been in uh in Egypt for hundreds of years, and those years have caused them to forget God.
SPEAKER_00: They've um uh they've complained, they've uh disobeyed, they've had unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: And so they are in the same boat.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what uh and this is what God is telling Moses and Aaron in uh in verses 12 and 13, where he says, the blood shall be assigned for you on the homes where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: Later on, when he's talking to them, he he tells them, make sure no one leaves their house that night.
SPEAKER_00: God's very specific about this.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he knows that if they're not in the house, if they're not protected by the blood of the lamb on the door, then they are just as deserving of uh of that judgment and uh and they'll receive it as uh as well.
SPEAKER_00: The Israelites aren't protected because uh they're without sin.
SPEAKER_00: They're protected because of the blood of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: Uh one commentator put it this way: the blood is on the doors, not because God can't tell who is inside the house, but because he can.
SPEAKER_00: He knows there are sinners inside.
SPEAKER_00: In every home throughout Egypt and Goshen, the death count is the same.
SPEAKER_00: The following morning, there's a corpse.
SPEAKER_00: The only question is, is it a lamb or a child?
SPEAKER_00: So who needs God's salvation?
SPEAKER_00: Everyone.
SPEAKER_00: And who's his salvation available to?
SPEAKER_00: Everyone as well.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's not based on anything about us, what we what we do, uh, how good we've been.
SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about that more in a minute.
SPEAKER_00: But before we get to understanding how this redemption works and how it's possible, uh there's sort of a practical thing to understand here.
SPEAKER_00: That if salvation is a gift, if it's a gift through uh through the blood of the Lamb, then practically it would give a lot of confidence in that salvation to the people who had it.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's not dependent on them.
SPEAKER_00: It's not dependent on uh on their background or how good they've been or their politics or how much money they have or who they know.
SPEAKER_00: The confidence that they had in their salvation wouldn't go up and down like we do so often.
SPEAKER_00: Israel's salvation was in the fact that the Lamb died for them.
SPEAKER_00: And because of that, they had hope as they waited in their houses.
SPEAKER_00: Think about two Israelite houses for a minute, side by side.
SPEAKER_00: In one house, the family is uh, you know, they've they've painted the blood on the on the doorpost, they've gone inside, and they're just waiting.
SPEAKER_00: And in this one house, all night long, they're terrified.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: They're they're they're anxious, they're they're nervous, they're saying, what's gonna happen?
SPEAKER_00: Are we gonna be okay?
SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't I don't, you know, I I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: And and they feel that anxiousness, they're they're up all night long, um uh not uh not sure uh what's uh what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: And then you have this house right next door, right?
SPEAKER_00: And inside, they are completely at rest.
SPEAKER_00: They're completely at peace.
SPEAKER_00: They say, you know, we have we have nothing uh to worry about.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they're playing a board game that night, you know, they're uh they're just they're just hanging out completely uh completely fine and at and at peace and at rest.
SPEAKER_00: Which family on that night, when the destroyer comes by, is saved?
SPEAKER_00: Which one?
SPEAKER_00: They both are, right?
SPEAKER_00: Um, because their salvation is not dependent on how they feel in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: Their salvation is not dependent uh on uh on how good they're handling their situation.
SPEAKER_00: Uh their salvation is dependent on the blood of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: And so they have hope.
SPEAKER_00: And we can have that kind of hope too.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus describes our salvation the same way.
SPEAKER_00: He says, He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him.
SPEAKER_00: He says, He is the door, and it's only by going through him that we can become a part of God's family.
SPEAKER_00: And so it means for us, if if our faith is in is in Jesus, then we can have this kind of confidence that we're gonna be okay.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's not dependent on us, but it's dependent on him and what he's done for us.
SPEAKER_00: So who needs to be saved?
SPEAKER_00: Everyone.
SPEAKER_00: Who can receive salvation?
SPEAKER_00: Uh anyone who's covered by the blood of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: But how does this salvation work?
SPEAKER_00: Why is this why is this true?
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we're gonna talk about next.
SPEAKER_00: The redemption of God's salvation.
SPEAKER_00: The Lamb died instead of us.
SPEAKER_00: This is a story of Passover, but like we said, this is a story of the whole Bible.
SPEAKER_00: The Lamb died instead of us.
SPEAKER_00: Someone being substituted in our place to take the punishment that we deserve.
SPEAKER_00: This is the heart of redemption from Genesis to Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: But why?
SPEAKER_00: Why does redemption require sacrifice?
SPEAKER_00: Why does it say in Hebrews, without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sins?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the simple answer is that forgiveness requires punishment.
SPEAKER_00: It costs us something to forgive.
SPEAKER_00: I was talking to someone about this the other day.
SPEAKER_00: We were talking about how hard forgiveness is when someone has wronged you.
SPEAKER_00: And it is, right?
SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness is hard.
SPEAKER_00: Because to move past something, some kind of punishment or suffering is usually required.
SPEAKER_00: And it goes one of two ways.
SPEAKER_00: Either when someone has wronged us, we pay them back, right?
SPEAKER_00: And they and we get them back with what they deserve because of what they've done to us.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and they're the ones that uh that that suffer the punishment.
SPEAKER_00: Or to forgive somebody, right, we are willing to set aside what uh what has happened.
SPEAKER_00: We're willing to take that suffering on ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We're willing to take that hardship on ourselves to feel it, and to and to swallow in a sense, and say, I'm going, I'm going to let this go for the sake of our relationship.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to, I'm going to forgive you.
SPEAKER_00: There's a cost, either way, to not take revenge or to take revenge.
SPEAKER_00: Uh either way, um, forgiveness is costly.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what uh we see in the redemption of God's salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness is absorbing the mistreatment that we deserve or that the other person deserves.
SPEAKER_00: And we know this instinctively, right?
SPEAKER_00: God can't just uh forgive and still be a just God.
SPEAKER_00: In the same way that a judge can't just forgive someone who has done something deeply wrong to you and um and you not be rightly upset at the injustice.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: We know that when someone has done something to us, uh, for the judge to be just, that person has to be punished.
SPEAKER_00: They have to be found guilty.
SPEAKER_00: And God is a just God.
SPEAKER_00: And so it requires punishment.
SPEAKER_00: We've said it before, the Israelites aren't saved because they're better than the Egyptians, or smarter than the Egyptians, or holier than the Egyptians.
SPEAKER_00: They're saved by the mercy of God through the blood of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: With the blood on their doorposts, they have salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Without it, they get judgment just like everybody else.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting in verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: Notice the kind of lamb that it calls for.
SPEAKER_00: It says, a lamb without blemish, a spotless lamb without fault.
SPEAKER_00: It's the blood of this spotless lamb that represents the kind of substitute we need.
SPEAKER_00: But we need a better and more permanent substitute.
SPEAKER_00: Because our spiritual need is even deeper than our situational need.
SPEAKER_00: This is why Jesus came for our redemption.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember John the Baptist?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus comes to see him, and as soon as John the Baptist sees him, what does he say?
SPEAKER_00: He says, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
SPEAKER_00: This is what he was talking about.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the spotless Lamb that came to do for us what we could never do for ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: He came to do what that sacrifice of that four-legged lamb never could, was never sufficient for.
SPEAKER_00: This is why Jesus sat with his disciples at the last supper.
SPEAKER_00: That last meal he had with them, that Passover meal.
SPEAKER_00: And he tells them the bread represents his body broken for them and for us.
SPEAKER_00: His blood represents, the wine represents his blood shed for them and for us.
SPEAKER_00: And then instead of sacrificing a lamb to eat, they have the Lamb of God with them, in their midst, who would be substituted for their sins and for everyone's who belong to him.
SPEAKER_00: This is the heart of the gospel, and it's the story of redemption from beginning to end.
SPEAKER_00: Cullen Bowie is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT.
SPEAKER_00: But he's a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: I heard an interview with him, and uh, and this is what he said.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about his faith.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Jesus is compelling to me because I find the need to rehearse the gospel message every single day.
SPEAKER_00: Each morning, I'm reminded that I'm not perfect and fall short of my own expectations, much less God's.
SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, I'm loved more than I could ever imagine.
SPEAKER_00: I need to hear those words every single day to keep me from becoming either overconfident or falling into despair.
SPEAKER_00: I've felt that every morning to wake up and to be desperate to hear that good news over and over again because I've already forgotten it.
SPEAKER_00: That like we uh like we'll sing later on, my sins, they are many, but God's mercy is more.
SPEAKER_00: I need that message every day to keep me from being overconfident and getting full of myself, and to keep me from falling into despair because I know the truth about my heart and who I really am.
SPEAKER_00: And so to understand the gospel, to preach the gospel to ourselves uh every day is to see the evidence of our sin and rebellion against God in just the daily things that we live out.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: We said before, that's why we do confessions of sin.
SPEAKER_00: But it's also to remember Jesus who died in our place, the Lamb of God, the Lamb without blemish, who died instead of us.
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I think this is one of the ways that we know God loves us.
SPEAKER_00: This this sacrifice, this substitute.
SPEAKER_00: It's necessary for God to remain just and to be justified in the face of our sin.
SPEAKER_00: Uh for us to be justified.
SPEAKER_00: The sacrifice reveals something of the depths of God's uh God's love for us.
SPEAKER_00: I say something along these lines at every every wedding that I do uh when I do wedding ceremonies for people.
SPEAKER_00: The more you sacrifice uh yourself for the other person, uh the more uh love and depth of commitment you'll experience uh with uh with that person.
SPEAKER_00: That's what creates intimacy, that's what creates uh uh uh love for each other, is is sacrifice and uh and and commitment to uh to each other.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Robertson McWilkin was the president of Columbia Bible College, and his um he'd been there a long time, he loved uh his job, um, but as he uh as he got older, his wife got uh Alzheimer's, and so uh she started to decline, and at one point she got to the point where he had to make a decision uh between his job and uh leaving his job and and uh going full-time to take care of her.
SPEAKER_00: And he gave uh he gave kind of a uh a speech um explaining uh uh to the students and to the people why he why he decided that he needed to uh to leave his job to take care of his wife.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what uh this is what he said.
SPEAKER_00: Recently it's become apparent that Muriel is contented most of the time she is with me, and almost none of the time I'm away from her.
SPEAKER_00: It is not just discontent, she is filled with fear, even terror, that she's lost me and always goes in search of me when I leave home.
SPEAKER_00: So it's clear to me that she needs me now, full time.
SPEAKER_00: The decision was made in a way 42 years ago, when I promised to care for Muriel, in sickness and in health, till death do us part.
SPEAKER_00: So, as I told the students and faculty, as a as a man of my word, integrity has something to do with it, but so does fairness.
SPEAKER_00: She's cared for me fully and sacrificially all these years.
SPEAKER_00: If I cared for her for the next 40 years, I would not be out of her debt.
SPEAKER_00: Duty, however, can be grim and stoic, but there is more.
SPEAKER_00: I love Muriel.
SPEAKER_00: She's a delight to me.
SPEAKER_00: Her childlike dependence and confidence in me, her warm love, occasional flashes of that wit I used to relish so, her happy spirit and tough resilience in the face of her continual distressing frustration.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to care for her.
SPEAKER_00: I get to.
SPEAKER_00: It's a high honor to care for so wonderful a person.
SPEAKER_00: Only love can compel a sacrifice like that.
SPEAKER_00: And God loves you this much.
SPEAKER_00: This is why he was willing to sacrifice his son for you.
SPEAKER_00: His depth of love for you is beyond what you can imagine.
SPEAKER_00: And it's and it's driven him to do everything he can to make you his and to bring about your redemption.
SPEAKER_00: So we've talked about the recipients of God's salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And we've talked about the redemption of God's salvation, and so finally the remembrance of God's salvation.
SPEAKER_00: The redemption of the Passover points to the better and fuller redemption of Jesus on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: But why does he give a ceremony?
SPEAKER_00: Why is there Passover?
SPEAKER_00: Why is there the Lord's Supper?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the answer is he knows us, and he knows how easily we forget.
SPEAKER_00: What does he say in verse 14?
SPEAKER_00: He says, This will be a memorial for you.
SPEAKER_00: From the very beginning, he sets up this practice.
SPEAKER_00: He says, uh, I know you're gonna forget what I've done here.
SPEAKER_00: I know you are gonna be tempted to wander and to trust other uh other things, uh, to look to other gods.
SPEAKER_00: And so you're gonna do this practice over and over again as a reminder of who I am and what I've done for you.
SPEAKER_00: Later on in chapter 12, he'll say, when you're doing this, your kids are gonna ask you.
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna say, Why are we doing this?
SPEAKER_00: Why are we doing this?
SPEAKER_00: Why are we going through all of this work uh to uh to have this meal?
SPEAKER_00: And you'll tell them about me, God says.
SPEAKER_00: You'll tell them about who I am and what I did on this day.
SPEAKER_00: We need reminders too, because as powerful as God's redemption is, as deep as his love is for us, as faithful as he is to keep all of his promises towards us, we still forget.
SPEAKER_00: We still doubt, we still wander from him, we look for hope in a thousand different things.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus has that Last Supper with His disciples, the Passover meal, and he explains how the whole thing is about Him, and then He says, Do this in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_00: The smells, the taste, the touching, all of those things are tangible reminders for us of who God is and of the redemption that He's offered to us.
SPEAKER_00: And so we come to the table, like He tells us, to strengthen our faith, to be remembered, to be reminded.
SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, there's two there's two uh main ways in which he strengthens us through this table.
SPEAKER_00: Communion with him and community with each other.
SPEAKER_00: Communion with him.
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, the the taste and the smells and the symbols, all of these things bring us uh into it into his presence in this in this tangible way.
SPEAKER_00: And there's this there's this mysterious way that the Bible talks about that he actually meets with us through this table and through this uh and through this meal.
SPEAKER_00: There's this real spiritual presence that he has.
SPEAKER_00: It's a mystery.
SPEAKER_00: I can't sit here and explain to you exactly how it works.
SPEAKER_00: But he says there's something that happens that's so important when we take this uh meal that draws us into his presence and that gives us a closeness to him that we don't experience uh through other things and in other ways.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're strengthened by the table through our communion with him.
SPEAKER_00: But also we're strengthened through our community with each other.
SPEAKER_00: Passover was not something they did alone.
SPEAKER_00: This table isn't something we do by ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: God knows that part of what will strengthen us to remember him and to trust him is each other.
SPEAKER_00: We need each other.
SPEAKER_00: And this table connects us as his people.
SPEAKER_00: There's an interesting uh section in uh in verse 12 here where God's giving the instructions for the for the Passover meal.
SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the instructions, he says, Now this meal is not for foreigners.
SPEAKER_00: He says it's just for his people.
SPEAKER_00: It's just for people who are part of our community, part of our family.
SPEAKER_00: But he makes a provision.
SPEAKER_00: He says, if there is a foreigner, if there's someone from outside that comes in and says, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to be a part of the community, I'm willing to be circumcised, I'm willing to uh to live in community with you.
SPEAKER_00: He says, if they're willing to do that, uh, then they can take of the Passover meal also.
SPEAKER_00: Then the meal is for them because they're no longer outsiders.
SPEAKER_00: They've been brought in to God's family.
SPEAKER_00: They've been made his people.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the good news for us is that we have been brought in and made his people so that this meal is uh for us through our faith in him.
SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, because we're trusting in the blood of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: And so God's people come to the table confidently because of the blood of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: We come to encounter Jesus and to be strengthened by him.
SPEAKER_00: Like John the Baptist said, we we behold him, we look to him, and we're assured of hope.
SPEAKER_00: Of his hope in the past, of the hope that we have for our present and for our future.
SPEAKER_00: We look at the past and what has God done?
SPEAKER_00: We remember he's always on time and he always keeps his promises.
SPEAKER_00: The Israelites had been sitting in silence for 400 years, slaving away, uh, wondering, doubting, does God even care?
SPEAKER_00: Does God even remember that we're here?
SPEAKER_00: And then he shows up.
SPEAKER_00: At just the right time, he comes to rescue them and to bring them to himself.
SPEAKER_00: To himself.
SPEAKER_00: He he heard their cries, he knew their suffering, and he showed up right on time.
SPEAKER_00: And so you may feel like God has forgotten you, that God doesn't really care what you're going through.
SPEAKER_00: And yet we come to this table and we're reminded, no, God knows, He understands, he sympathizes with what we're going through, and he always shows up on time for the good of his children.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you come to the table and you think about what you're going through right now.
SPEAKER_00: Sin you're struggling with, relationships that are breaking, anxiety that's overwhelming, suffering and loss that you're not sure how you're gonna make it through.
SPEAKER_00: The table reminds us that Jesus suffered too.
SPEAKER_00: He suffered for us.
SPEAKER_00: He died on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: He descended into hell.
SPEAKER_00: Three days later, he rose again from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: He conquered sin and death and the devil.
SPEAKER_00: He conquered Pharaoh all those years ago.
SPEAKER_00: If he can do that, he can conquer whatever is broken in our lives right now.
SPEAKER_00: He can redeem the brokenness of what we're going through.
SPEAKER_00: He can heal us.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe in the short term, and definitely for eternity.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what our hope for the future is.
SPEAKER_00: That one day he will make all things new.
SPEAKER_00: That'll take even our worst sufferings and he'll turn them inside out and bring about good and glory that we can't even imagine.
SPEAKER_00: He gives us strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: I've been listening to a podcast called Not Dead Yet.
SPEAKER_00: And it's um it's two guys that uh that host it and may interview people.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, one of the hosts is a guy named Ben Sass.
SPEAKER_00: He was the president of the University of Florida for a couple years, and before that, he was a senator, and uh he's done a lot of other things along the way.
SPEAKER_00: But he got diagnosed last year with stage four pancreatic cancer.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and so you know he's they basically told him he's got months to live, and he's lived you know, more months than uh than he has all already.
SPEAKER_00: But uh but he's got this incredible uh faith in uh in Jesus uh that he can even have uh humor in uh in the midst of what he's suffering with.
SPEAKER_00: I mean he's you know you listen to the podcast and you can watch it uh too, but like he uh he's going through these experimental treatments where like the skin on his face dies and doesn't grow back, so it um you know he looks terrible.
SPEAKER_00: He'll he'll stop in the middle of the interview to like throw up in a trash can and then uh and then keep going with the with the interview.
SPEAKER_00: And yet he's got he's got a sense of humor.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he called the podcast not dead yet, right?
SPEAKER_00: Um and uh and he's and he's able to make the most of the time that he has left because of the hope that he has in uh in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And he talks about it often.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and and for me, I when I hear him, it's been such an encouragement to me because I hope and I pray that I can face uh the end uh the way that he has, with uh with strength and with hope and uh and clinging uh to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I I think we all hope for that.
SPEAKER_00: And I think one of the things that strengthens us uh for that moment is these, is worship and these practices that God gives us to be reminded over and over of his love for us and what he's done for us.
SPEAKER_00: So that it sinks in so deeply into our souls uh that it can't help but be reflected in who we are and in everything we do.