WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:00.880 Morning. 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:03.839 Reading from the book of Exodus. 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:11.439 Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand towards heaven, that there might be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt. 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:17.600 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:24.960 They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from this place for three days, but all of the people of Israel had light where they lived. 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:28.239 Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, Go, serve the Lord. 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:32.719 Your little ones also may go with you, only let your flocks and your herds remain behind. 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:39.759 But Moses said, You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:42.079 Our livestock must also go with us. 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:46.560 Not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God. 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:50.159 And we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there. 00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:53.679 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. 00:00:53.840 --> 00:01:01.039 And then Pharaoh said to him, Get away from me, take care to never see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die. 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:04.319 Moses said, As you say, I will not see your face again. 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:05.680 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:06.879 Please be seated. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:13.359 Good morning. 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:16.079 Welcome to church this morning. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:17.680 My name's James Rathman. 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:20.239 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:23.040 Uh everybody have a good independence day? 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:26.159 Got those lobster backs out of here? 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:27.599 That's right. 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:34.480 So the uh not a lot of people, not a lot of anti-Brit, what do you bunch of anglophiles? 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:38.000 Room full of loyalists. 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:39.519 That's not what I expected this morning. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:49.920 So we uh uh are uh concluding our summer of plagues this morning, um, which uh concludes with the ninth plague. 00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:53.439 Now you'll notice that we're leaving out a tenth plague. 00:01:53.599 --> 00:02:03.200 We will be coming back to Exodus at the beginning of next year, where we'll pick back up and we will be going through uh the Passover and the Exodus. 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:15.919 And then we're gonna uh probably make it up to the Sinai and get a couple of case laws, and then uh we'll be out of Exodus again and back in uh another epistle and then back to Mark. 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:23.599 So that's kind of the pattern that we do in our church here, is in the spring, and then this one went long into the summer. 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:33.680 Uh we are in the Old Testament, and then in the fall, up until Christmas in the New Year, we are in the New Testament. 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:35.680 Uh for the life of our church. 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:38.240 It has been Genesis, which we've completed. 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:42.719 Now we're in Exodus, and we are still in Mark in the New Testament. 00:02:42.800 --> 00:02:54.560 So we'll be we'll be back in Mark starting in the fall, but next week we are for our sort of close of the summer series, we are going to do seven weeks in Paul's letter to Titus. 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:57.919 Um, this is a wonderful letter about church. 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:01.520 I gotta this is not a good way to pitch things. 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:04.400 This is a wonderful letter about church organization. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:05.919 That's what I was going to say. 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:06.639 Yeah. 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:18.960 So we've been talking a lot about that as a church, and uh this is really what are the practical things that go into place for a people to be able to hold together. 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:32.560 So this is I I I often say when I was a younger man, I was interested in stories about things being torn apart. 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:43.439 And I wanted to watch Fight Club and see societies torn down and stories of people leaving societies and uh things being deconstructed. 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:49.680 Now I find those stories it boring and useless. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:54.800 Stories about things falling apart, of course things fall apart. 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:56.560 That's not interesting. 00:03:56.800 --> 00:03:59.520 How does anything hold together? 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:01.439 That's interesting. 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:03.759 Those are the stories that I'm curious about. 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:09.759 How is it that any group of people can be held together in unity? 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:11.919 Well, Titus is about that. 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:14.719 That was a better pitch than it's about church organization. 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:18.399 So that's something that we desperately need to learn. 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:21.839 How is it that any group of people can possibly be held together? 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:24.000 Titus is Titus is about that. 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:26.160 So that will begin next week. 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:34.240 But this week, we are in the ninth and the final plague for our time in Exodus this year. 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:40.800 And this is the final plague of the third cycle of plagues. 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:45.519 As we've moved through these, we've seen that the plagues take place in cycles of three. 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:55.600 So plagues one through three are one cycle, plagues four through six are one cycle, and now plagues seven through nine complete the final cycle of plagues. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:05:10.079 And so the tenth plague, which we'll look at next year, is really its own unique universe that has has sort of the meaning of all of the plagues are captured in the Passover in the Exodus, that final movement. 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:16.959 But this one is the last movement of this third cycle, the ninth plague. 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:21.040 And it is darkness over the land of Egypt. 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:26.399 Now, in order to understand the plague of darkness, we should pray. 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:28.160 So let's pray. 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:33.759 Father, we praise you for your loving kindness towards us. 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:43.600 Lord, we we praise you that you have made the sacrifice that we might be freed from our slavery to sin. 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:51.279 Holy Father, we pray that we might see that more clearly and more plainly this morning. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:57.519 Lord, that we might have eyes that are able to perceive the light. 00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:04.480 That you would change our hearts to see the light of truth in you, Lord Jesus. 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:06.560 You are the light of the world. 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:08.399 Lord, let us see by you. 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:11.120 We lift this up in Jesus' name, Amen. 00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:16.480 In order to understand the plague of darkness, we have to go to the very beginning. 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:18.319 Genesis 1, 1 through 5. 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:22.879 It says, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:32.560 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:37.279 And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:43.600 And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:51.759 God called the light day, and the darkness he called night, and there was evening and there was morning, the first day. 00:06:53.120 --> 00:07:08.319 The first act of creation in the sixth days of creation, once existence came in, in verse one, the first creature of God is light. 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:10.079 Light. 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:13.360 God said, Let there be light. 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:19.439 And then for three days in Egypt, God does the opposite. 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:23.839 It is the antitype of creation. 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:32.959 God unwinds the first movement, the first distinction that he calls good, which he places into the world. 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:40.160 He unwinds over the Egyptians for three days, and they dwell in a complete darkness. 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:50.160 There's a sense in which this is the final plague, the final warning for the Egyptians of what is to come. 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:54.160 Because the Passover, in a sense, is different from a plague. 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:58.160 It is different from the warnings which these plagues have been. 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:00.240 It is a final judgment. 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:02.639 It is an absolute judgment. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:14.240 But for this final plague and this end of the cycle of plagues, it makes sense that God would provide an image that returns to the very beginning. 00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:18.240 And this image is one of decreation. 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:23.120 That the world is being unwound in judgment. 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:42.720 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:49.919 This is the same as plagues three and plague six, which also conclude their cycles of three. 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:52.720 In plague three, there is no warning. 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:58.639 Likewise, in plague six, there is no warning, no warning given to Pharaoh. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:04.080 It is simply a command from the Lord to execute his judgment by the hand of Moses. 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:06.799 And that is exactly what takes place in this plague as well. 00:09:06.960 --> 00:09:14.399 We should understand that the last of these cycles of plagues are no longer warnings, they are types of the judgment that is to come. 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:18.159 This is sort of a three strikes you're out sort of situation. 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:24.960 You didn't heed the warnings previously, and so now you will receive the judgment. 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:27.919 And that's what takes place in this plague. 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:38.240 And what's described is Moses stretches out his hand toward heaven, and then a darkness comes over the land of Egypt. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:44.159 And there's this strange description: a darkness to be felt. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:09.519 So it is literally tactile, like when you can't see, but you feel. 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:47.759 Excuse me, on the people of Egypt from the Lord. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:57.840 To describe this darkness as a mere absence of light would be like describing the absence of happiness as just neutrality. 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:00.639 You know, you I'm not really feeling anything. 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:03.519 I just have an absence of happiness in my life. 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:22.320 I think that if you have lived through a season where you find yourself unable to find joy in any aspect of life, then you know that to describe that as a mere absence of happiness is uh beyond a misnomer. 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:29.200 It is more like a neglect of extreme pain and suffering. 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:34.799 This is not an absence, this is a presence of judgment. 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:51.200 Now, there's sort of like a um pop theology kind of understanding of the wrath of God, and we often describe it as the wrath of God as the absence of God, the removal from uh the being removed from God. 00:11:51.440 --> 00:12:03.600 And there's a sense in which what that is getting at is true, because there is a truth of our alienation from the Lord, that we do not get to behold his face or the goodness of his face. 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:07.519 But it is not an absence of the Lord as though he's not there. 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:12.639 He is present in his judgment. 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:19.120 What's absent is the approval of the Lord. 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:24.240 What's present is the judgment of the Lord. 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:38.080 So it is like saying, you really, the wrath of God is really just uh being away from the Lord's presence, is like saying a life, it's really just a life without happiness. 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:44.000 You see that that isn't that deserves its own word. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:45.519 That is its own thing. 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:51.840 That is a darkness that is not a mere absence, it is a darkness that can be felt. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:58.720 It is like saying it is just the absence of a clean conscience. 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:12.720 When you know that a guilty conscience is its own thing, there is a real experience, a real terror and weight of a guilty conscience. 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:21.440 Do you know the embarrassment and the shame that cannot be described as a mere lack of self-confidence? 00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:25.360 It is its own terrible experience. 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:31.440 It is not merely an aloneness, it is a loneliness. 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:41.039 It is not merely traveling between places, it is a homelessness with no place to rest. 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:48.480 It is not merely not having something you're looking forward to. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:51.519 It is hopelessness. 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:55.840 Hopelessness means a present defeat. 00:13:56.559 --> 00:13:59.840 This is a darkness that can be felt. 00:13:59.919 --> 00:14:05.919 And this is the way we ought to understand the darkness that the Egyptians were experiencing. 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:11.279 We should not simply describe this as a lack of light. 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:15.679 That is not what the judgment of the Lord is. 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:27.200 We are not the types of creatures that if God is not, if it's not, oftentimes we can slip into this mode of thinking where it's like, if God is there, it's great. 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:34.480 But if God's not there, then it's just like, you know, however we are without God. 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:37.679 It's just like whatever that thing is. 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:43.120 It's probably fine, you know, but it would be great if God were here. 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:49.679 But if he doesn't show up, you know, we still got plenty of hot dogs and things. 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:57.679 You are the type of creature that is utterly dependent upon God. 00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:02.480 There is no neutrality of experience with him. 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:14.559 So when he turns his countenance from you and you experience his judgment, this is a darkness that can be felt. 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:29.279 A darkness from which there is no escape you are really in, you really experience, you cannot think your way out of. 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:38.159 There is no tactic or rescue that you can afford for yourself. 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:42.000 It is a darkness that can be felt. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:51.200 In order to understand this play of darkness and light, we look at how it affects them. 00:15:51.360 --> 00:16:03.519 It says in verse 23, they did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived. 00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:14.960 Look at the distinction that we've seen frequently drawn throughout each of the plagues, not each of them, but in many of them, that there is a distinction made between the people of Israel, God's people, and the people of Egypt. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:18.080 And in this case, there's a strange event. 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:27.200 There is darkness over the land of Egypt, and there is light in Goshen, where the Israelites dwell. 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:32.639 I don't know what that would look like. 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:36.720 Part of it wouldn't look like anything. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:41.279 I know that. 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:50.320 The Egyptians are unable to see one another, and they are unable to rise. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:55.600 This is where there is this truth to the alienation of darkness. 00:16:55.679 --> 00:17:03.919 But I just want you to recognize that alienation is not mere absence, it is the heartbreak of loss. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:18.720 Because the Egyptians, because of this darkness, are not just estranged from God, they're estranged from one another. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:22.799 They did not see one another. 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:31.599 They were, in a sense, unable to find comfort in each other's presence. 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:43.119 The darkness is an estrangement from God, and it is likewise an estrangement from one another. 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:49.119 And we can see this because the light is the perfect opposite of this. 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:52.880 Let us look at how the Bible describes the light of Christ. 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:54.799 In first John 1:5. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:05.839 John begins this letter and he says, This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light. 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:11.039 And in him is no darkness at all. 00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:38.799 That means that in God there is absolute fellowship, there is absolute connection, that the life which we require, the happiness which we need to be able to function, the hope which we need to not be trapped, in God there is no darkness at all. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:48.480 All of those things which are just aspects of the light of God, are complete and full in Him. 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:53.039 In Him, there is no darkness. 00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:58.559 Where have you looked for the places where there would be no darkness? 00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:09.920 Have you thought if you could organize your life disciplined and perfectly enough that you would find your soul to be a place of no darkness, and yet you constantly uncover new layers of self-deception? 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:14.960 That your marriage might be a place where there is no darkness and yet you discover it there. 00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:23.200 Your workplace, or at least the work that you churn out, might be a place of no darkness and yet you find it. 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:28.960 There is only one place in which there is no darkness, that is, in God Himself. 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:33.119 In him there is no darkness at all. 00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:34.319 He is light. 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:42.319 In verse 6, it says, if we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:45.759 Fellowship is light. 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:58.240 You know, if you if you pull up the the crest of your university right now, I bet there's a candle on it. 00:19:58.720 --> 00:20:02.640 There's probably someone holding a torch on it. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:07.119 Because we all know that knowledge is is light. 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:09.680 We've got to shed a little light on the situation. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:13.920 The light of the knowledge of the glory of God. 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:17.200 We have to be able to see. 00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:19.519 I don't see what you're saying. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:31.039 You see, this is the same as understanding, the same as being able to participate and know that something is out there is light. 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:40.319 So that means that in order for light is is a way that we relate to things that are outside of us. 00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:45.519 Right now, we are relating by the light, because by the light I see you and you see me. 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:52.160 And you know that I'm here and you're there, you get perspective by the light. 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:56.480 And so in the light, there is fellowship. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:02.160 There is a unity of relationship by the light. 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:04.720 We're both seeing the same thing. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:17.119 So if we say we have fellowship with him, and yet we walk in darkness, so we walk outside outside of his light. 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:25.119 His word is like a what to our feet. 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:28.079 And it's like a what to my path. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:34.960 And so when we walk in darkness, we're just stumbling outside of the path of the Lord. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:51.519 When we walk in sin, and it may not feel like that, you know, because when you're googling your sins, or when you're you're cultivating the resentment towards your spouse or towards your child, or towards what God hasn't provided for you at this time. 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:59.599 And you're and you're sitting there and you're meditating on those things, it feels like you're shedding light on situations and you're gaining a crisper, clearer. 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:05.440 Of them and look, you know exactly what you're doing, and you could stop doing it at any given moment. 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:10.240 It doesn't feel like there's ever a time when you step into just the darkness. 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:12.960 But we know that we are. 00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:27.839 That in those places, this is why darkness, fellowship with God, is not just, it's not about confusion. 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:35.359 When we step into darkness, don't think an experience of, I don't know where I am, or I don't know what's going on. 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:37.759 It's about self-deception. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:44.880 That's why when we walk in darkness, we lie. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:50.799 We lie and do not practice the truth. 00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:56.000 It is not just confusion, it is a lie. 00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:07.920 And unfortunately for George Costanza, even if you believe it, it's still a lie. 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:13.599 And so you find yourself in this place. 00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:16.400 Well, we'll get there more later. 00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:24.799 First John 1:7, if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:29.839 And the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin. 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:37.519 If we walk in the light, as Christ is in the light, what we have fellowship with one another. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:41.119 So in the land of Goshen, there is light. 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:44.160 And they understand, have you heard the news? 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:46.319 Egypt is covered in darkness. 00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:50.319 That's why they're falling apart, even to the level of the to the person. 00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:54.319 They cannot relate to one another. 00:23:55.680 --> 00:24:00.400 It is not just factions, it is that they are all isolated from each other. 00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:01.680 They cannot see. 00:24:02.400 --> 00:24:05.680 That is disintegration of a society. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:11.039 But here in Goshen, where the Israelites live, we have light. 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:13.599 And so we see one another. 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:16.799 I understand the countenance on your face. 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:23.119 I know what you mean when you say that, because I can see the smile and the glimmer or the smirk, and so I know you're joking. 00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:30.160 And so we have fellowship, and there's there's a relating to one another that we have here because we are in the light of the Lord. 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:35.920 Now, what is that walking in the light that gives us this fellowship with one another? 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:43.279 It is it is also this that the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin. 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:53.119 Their walking in the light is not because the people of Egypt were greater sinners than the people of Israel. 00:24:54.160 --> 00:24:56.160 That's not the distinction. 00:24:57.119 --> 00:25:02.799 The distinction is that the people of Israel would be covered by the blood. 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:06.480 And so the light shines on them. 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:10.559 Because look at how John continues in verses eight and nine. 00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:15.839 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. 00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:22.640 So one of the ways of walking in the darkness is to say that you have no sin. 00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:24.079 That is the lie. 00:25:24.319 --> 00:25:26.160 That's the self-deception. 00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:36.880 And our culture works in a way where we try and get rid of all of the language of sin and repentance for almost any of the issues that we're facing. 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:46.799 Like it do, whatever you do, don't approach this with the language of sin and repentance, because sin and repentance, that might conjure shame in you. 00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:50.160 And the whole point of this is to not feel shame. 00:25:50.480 --> 00:25:52.559 No, that is not the whole point of this. 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:56.240 The whole point of this is to be made right with the Lord. 00:25:57.519 --> 00:26:02.799 And if you are made right with the Lord by what he does, you'll be in the light. 00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:09.759 And then you'll have fellowship with one another, and you'll have hope and a reason to be happy. 00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:12.079 Why might I be happy? 00:26:12.400 --> 00:26:14.720 Because he's atoned for my sin. 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:21.920 Because it was his blood that covered me, not mine. 00:26:23.279 --> 00:26:24.720 I've been freed. 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:26.720 I've been forgiven. 00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:30.720 And so I can walk in the light. 00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:33.119 And so he continues on. 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:38.079 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:39.680 That means there's no light. 00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:46.319 My wife, I might have mentioned this already, but my wife was in a book club and like a neighborhood book club. 00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:49.039 You guys know about neighborhoods and book clubs? 00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:51.839 So she's in one of those. 00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:55.839 And that means that the books that get picked are just wild. 00:26:56.960 --> 00:26:58.240 Wild books. 00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:02.319 And one of them, I didn't read this book, okay? 00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:07.119 So I'm going to do that thing that you're not supposed to do where you blast a book without having read it. 00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:10.240 But the book is called No Bad Parts. 00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:15.759 And it's about how like we like none of you all have the we all we're all these different parts. 00:27:16.160 --> 00:27:20.559 You know, lots of parts in psychologically. 00:27:20.720 --> 00:27:22.160 And you know, yeah, yeah. 00:27:22.319 --> 00:27:23.920 I contain multitudes. 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:30.000 And we tend to shame certain parts of ourselves. 00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:43.200 Like we have, like there are these parts of ourselves, uh you know, like the lustful part or the the uh anyway, the point of the you understand. 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:44.720 Greedy part. 00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:51.279 And the point of the book is that there's no bad parts. 00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:56.319 That there's just things that are, you know, a little out of order. 00:27:59.119 --> 00:28:03.440 Uh but there's there's no there's no there's no bad parts. 00:28:06.160 --> 00:28:07.680 There's bad parts. 00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:12.160 There's bad parts. 00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:32.480 And so I I want to offer to you this opportunity to say when I acted like this, it was me. 00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:35.359 It was me doing it. 00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:45.119 And it was sinful against the Lord my creator, and against the people he's created. 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:50.480 I repent and I seek his face. 00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:53.359 And then know this. 00:28:54.000 --> 00:29:04.640 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:07.039 You're forgiven. 00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:13.039 Just you're cleansed from all unrighteousness. 00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:15.039 And look at how imbalanced it is. 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:21.759 It doesn't say if we confess all our sins, he'll be sure to forgive us of the ones that we have confessed. 00:29:23.359 --> 00:29:24.960 Look, good luck. 00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:29.279 There's not a there's not enough, you'd have to split your day in half. 00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:40.240 You would have one day live, you would have the first half of the day would be spent living, and the second half of the day would be spent confessing, and you'd probably self-righteously confess. 00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:45.200 And so you'd need another half of a day to confess your self-righteous confessing. 00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:57.920 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:29:59.759 --> 00:30:02.079 He's the one who does the atoning. 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:19.359 And because of that, you can just say, this was there are so many people I think are pinned down, trying to discern categories in themselves that we don't have access to. 00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:22.720 And I want to give you this freedom. 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:25.119 Use this category, sin. 00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:30.000 And then approach it like this repentance. 00:30:31.599 --> 00:30:36.960 And then embrace this thing, freedom of the gospel that's been given to me. 00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:43.440 Now, there is, you will not be able to do this for the last time. 00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:47.039 One time in your life, it will be the last time. 00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:58.480 There will come a time where you confess your sin to the Lord and you repent before him, and it will be the last time, and you will die and be brought into glory. 00:30:59.359 --> 00:31:04.000 This war that you are in against sin, Christian, is not forever. 00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:06.400 It is not forever. 00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:08.799 But it is your present war. 00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:19.440 And so I do not want you to think that this will, you, if you do this enough, this once, and I confess and repent, and then it's done. 00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:21.839 No, that is not. 00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:30.480 And if you didn't, if you if you sin again, then that confession meant nothing, obviously, or that repentance meant nothing. 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:31.839 No, you're in a war. 00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:41.839 You have parts, Christian, because the corruption of sin still wages war in you. 00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:48.240 But you have the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will win. 00:31:49.039 --> 00:31:51.519 So how do you live in the light? 00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:55.759 You do not live in the light by being sinless. 00:31:56.160 --> 00:31:58.319 That's not the distinction. 00:31:58.880 --> 00:32:06.240 The distinction, in fact, if you say that you live in the light because you are sinless, you're in the dark. 00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:10.240 You're self-deceived. 00:32:11.039 --> 00:32:13.359 Because sin still wars in you. 00:32:13.519 --> 00:32:16.559 What is the lay of the land of your Christian soul? 00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:17.599 Here it is. 00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:18.559 Know this. 00:32:19.200 --> 00:32:19.759 Know this. 00:32:19.920 --> 00:32:21.279 Otherwise, you're sailing. 00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:30.079 I'm gonna mix nautical and terrestrial metaphors, you'll sail into shallow water because you didn't have the lay of the land. 00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:39.680 Here's the lay of the land. 00:32:40.880 --> 00:32:42.799 You are utterly corrupted by sin. 00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:45.680 When you are redeemed, Christ gives you the spirit. 00:32:45.839 --> 00:32:47.839 You are no longer a slave to sin. 00:32:48.799 --> 00:32:50.880 It no longer owns you. 00:32:51.119 --> 00:32:53.759 You can will to the good now. 00:32:54.799 --> 00:32:58.640 But you are still living in a time of corruption. 00:32:58.720 --> 00:33:10.400 The corruption in your person still remains until you die and you are freed in Christ in glory. 00:33:11.279 --> 00:33:13.359 So for now you are at war. 00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:22.079 You fight that war by resisting sin and by confessing and repenting. 00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:25.279 That is to be in the light. 00:33:25.519 --> 00:33:26.640 And then what are you? 00:33:26.799 --> 00:33:28.960 You are under the blood of Christ. 00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:32.079 So we are not gathered together because we are a sinless people. 00:33:32.160 --> 00:33:34.319 That is not why the light shines on us. 00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:36.720 That is not why the light shines on his people. 00:33:36.880 --> 00:33:41.839 The light shines on his people because God did the work to atone for them. 00:33:45.839 --> 00:33:50.480 So that means we do not hide anymore from one another. 00:33:51.440 --> 00:33:53.759 We do not even hide our sin. 00:33:54.960 --> 00:34:01.039 Because when you keep the darkness in the dark, you are merely self-deceived. 00:34:03.519 --> 00:34:09.840 But when the darkness is brought into the light, it becomes light. 00:34:10.719 --> 00:34:12.320 That's the way it works. 00:34:14.400 --> 00:34:17.440 Have you ever tried to light a candle and then put a bunch of darkness on it? 00:34:18.400 --> 00:34:20.000 No, you haven't. 00:34:21.440 --> 00:34:24.880 Because that's a that doesn't really make any sense. 00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:31.519 Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, Go serve the Lord. 00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:33.440 Your little ones also may go with you. 00:34:33.599 --> 00:34:36.159 Only let your flocks and your herds remain behind. 00:34:36.320 --> 00:34:41.440 So Pharaoh once again he makes his final plea and he says, Okay, everybody can go. 00:34:41.679 --> 00:34:45.199 You, your little ones, but your flocks and your herds, they have to remain. 00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:48.639 See, he's just trying to do whatever he can to plunder the Israelites. 00:34:48.960 --> 00:34:59.920 It's interesting that he chooses the flocks and the herds because you may remember in Genesis that we learned that shepherders and herders are an anathema to the Egyptians. 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:02.320 They really look down on this class of people. 00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:10.239 And that's part of the reason they were given the land of Goshen, because it is a good land for herders, but the Egyptians don't like herders. 00:35:10.400 --> 00:35:12.480 So it's a good land for the Israelites. 00:35:12.639 --> 00:35:26.559 But he's saying, I'm just still going to keep your flocks and your herds these uniquely Israelite things, which are not particularly agreeable to the Egyptians, just so I can I can keep you here. 00:35:27.199 --> 00:35:35.599 Because when you go into the desert and you don't bring food with you, then uh you've got a timeline on your return. 00:35:37.519 --> 00:35:41.840 But Moses said, You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings. 00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:44.639 By the way, this conversation is happening in the dark. 00:35:45.119 --> 00:35:51.280 But Moses said, You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. 00:35:51.599 --> 00:35:56.480 Our livestock also must go with us, not a hoof shall be left behind. 00:35:57.199 --> 00:36:05.360 For we must take of them to serve the Lord our God, and we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there. 00:36:06.719 --> 00:36:09.039 Notice the way that Moses argues this. 00:36:09.119 --> 00:36:13.199 He does not say, We're the ones that brought the herds and flocks here in the first place. 00:36:13.360 --> 00:36:14.800 These belong to us. 00:36:15.039 --> 00:36:16.719 That's why we must take them. 00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:26.079 He argues nothing from desert, as though the Israelites deserve to bring that which is with them because it belongs to them. 00:36:26.159 --> 00:36:28.239 That's not the way that Moses argues. 00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:32.639 He says, This will be required of us by the Lord. 00:36:33.519 --> 00:36:40.239 We are going not because we so belong to ourselves that we are able to liberate ourselves. 00:36:40.559 --> 00:36:44.320 We are going because we so belong to the Lord. 00:36:44.719 --> 00:36:47.679 And he has claim over all of us. 00:36:48.320 --> 00:36:57.039 All of who we are, ourselves and our wives and our children, and all of what we have, our flocks and our herds. 00:36:57.280 --> 00:37:00.880 All of what we are belongs to the Lord. 00:37:01.039 --> 00:37:03.840 That's why, and he is the one setting us free. 00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:05.440 That's why we're going. 00:37:05.599 --> 00:37:07.920 And that's why we are bringing all of this with us. 00:37:08.079 --> 00:37:15.360 And in Hebrew, it's interesting because Moses doesn't say, you must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings. 00:37:15.519 --> 00:37:23.360 What it more literally says is, you will give sacrifices to God, is what he says to Pharaoh. 00:37:23.840 --> 00:37:34.639 You will give these sacrifices to God, which is more hardcore, and therefore I prefer the translation, is what I would write if I were a Bible translator. 00:37:34.719 --> 00:37:35.599 That would be the footnote. 00:37:35.760 --> 00:37:38.159 The more hardcore translation was preferred. 00:37:40.639 --> 00:37:44.159 You will give these sacrifices to the Lord. 00:37:46.480 --> 00:37:51.599 Moses will plunder Pharaoh, not the other way around. 00:37:53.360 --> 00:37:56.400 Because the Lord is the one doing the freeing. 00:37:56.880 --> 00:38:01.119 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. 00:38:01.760 --> 00:38:04.239 A note on sacrifice and worship. 00:38:04.559 --> 00:38:25.039 If you participate in worship, and there's no sacrifice of your possessions to the Lord, there's no giving of what the Lord has given to you, or there is a withholding of what you know you ought to give, even in proportion of what the Lord has given to you. 00:38:25.199 --> 00:38:27.599 We cannot call this right worship. 00:38:29.760 --> 00:38:33.519 Worship and sacrifice are always nested together. 00:38:33.679 --> 00:38:40.000 That's why Moses would not think to go and worship the Lord without bringing a sacrifice. 00:38:40.719 --> 00:38:44.960 They are the same to worship and sacrifice. 00:38:45.840 --> 00:38:49.519 The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. 00:38:51.920 --> 00:38:56.239 Make no mistake, this is inside the providence of the Lord. 00:38:57.679 --> 00:39:03.039 And in verse 28 through 29, it says, Then Pharaoh said to him, Get away from me. 00:39:03.599 --> 00:39:14.400 Take care never to see my face again, which is interesting to say, when there's a darkness that can be felt and they cannot even see one another. 00:39:14.639 --> 00:39:20.159 Take care never to see my face again, as though Pharaoh is the one who's controlling the seeing. 00:39:23.760 --> 00:39:27.360 For on the day you see my face, you shall die. 00:39:28.800 --> 00:39:34.559