Leftovers - Exodus 12

Happy Monday. We are back in with the ERC

Leftovers podcast. I'm Pastor Matt.

I also have theology man here with me.

You said that and you said that in the sermon yesterday and

we're. Just leading with that.

Well, you're theology man now. So you said that in the sermon

yesterday in. Case I didn't.

I didn't. I didn't mean for it to come off

like a superhero. I I shared that with you before

we started recording, but in the moment, and this is how so many

of you have brought up, we talked about my salty filter.

Oh, sure. Over the past couple weeks.

And I don't know if that's necessarily salty.

It's just it's just the way my mind works.

Like you said that and you and you were not not even like

gently correcting Kristen, you, you were expounding upon, I

thought what Kristen said about the pies being free and giving

away like, but you, you added your you're added your two

cents, biblical 2 cents, theology 2 cents to it.

But you're just like theology, man.

Did I say that? That's what you said you, you

were trying to be kind and gracious, gracious.

And then you just said theology, man.

And in the moment I had, I did have one of those.

You always call me out for like those holding my head.

Moments. Oh, no, Chris, what are you

doing? It wasn't even that I was.

I was fine with it, but in the moment, I was just like, worst

superhero name ever, theology man.

And that's just on my mind. Like I had that thought in that

moment. And yeah.

Well, and you know, like, The thing is like where, where I,

where I know, sometimes, you know, I, I don't say what I'm

thinking perfectly, as none of us do, but like in particular,

I, I notice it with me, especially hanging out next to

you. I, I would never mean that to

say that somebody else doesn't have good theology.

I just, I, I don't know, I felt bad when you brought that up.

I was like, Oh no, I'm, I'm, I'm an idiot, like.

I thought it was great and I felt like the room received it

well too. But that was my that was just my

immediate thought. Oh my gosh, gets you a Cape up

there. As long as I don't have to wear

my underwear on the outside of my outfit like Superman does,

which I always thought was really weird.

That's a bad look. As long as I don't have to do

that, that's fine. I don't.

Think we're going to have anyone asking for that?

OK, good barking up that tree so.

I hope not. Oh yeah, anyway, what?

What else yesterday was a funny day you in in case you weren't

there didn't didn't watch the live stream.

I've had this idea for a lot of the ERC logo clothing that so

many that a lot of you have adopted and enjoyed wearing

church swag around town. I like that's great, but I

wanted to lean into I, I made the Hawkeye kind of style on a,

on a golden sweatshirt with black logo and homecoming week

this week for DeWitt. I had the idea of, of Saber

swag, basically a a purple sweatshirt with the, with the

gold and white. And I know it's, it's a lot of

things. It's I mean, Erica Anderson came

up to me yesterday and said it's also LSU, like she LSU tigers.

Sure, you and I, we know that. And the Minnesota Vikings of

course, too, like of course, all all those things, but the idea

was birthed for the sabers. Yeah, some of you asked me as a

Packer fan for wearing I got I got a lot of go Vikes comments

like people were walking walking out, walking past me leaving

church yesterday and when I learned, as we don't have the

video yet video is coming soon 'cause I think it would be funny

for you for you to see I am despite the Packers horrific

loss yesterday. I'm sorry, we're I taking us off

the deep end of the sports, which we don't usually touch and

I don't usually make a big deal of it.

But because so many of you thought it was funny that I was

wearing Viking attire yesterday in in your mind, despite the

Packers lost yesterday, I'm still wearing my Packers

sweatshirt right now. I have I have a green and gold

worship hat that that matches my my Packers Ness right now

because I wore Viking colors to church on Sunday on a day that

the Packers were playing. The Vikings absolutely stomped

the Bengals yesterday. The Packers lost in

heartbreaking fashion, and the Bears also whooped up on the

Cowboys. The Lions are probably going to

beat the Ravens tonight. So we're on on in just in my

mind on the Sunday that I betrayed my fandom and wore

Viking colors. Everybody else in the division

is going to win. The Packers lost.

So I'm I'm now like I need to make it up.

I'm I'm. Is this like, is this like

sports repentance? A little bit, yeah.

So we can flesh out the theology of that later, But that's in my

mind. That's how I'm dusted.

I'm I'm, I'm sorry, I'm I'm making up for it by now.

Not on game day. Also still wearing my Packers

fandom. So anyway, I don't think that's

going to happen anytime soon. It is Saber colors, not Viking

colors. Well, and you, you pronounced

from stage yesterday, you know, perhaps the subtleties of the

gold. It's clearly Saber's gold.

Not clearly, not Vikings. I just didn't want to admit it

in front of it's it's fine. It's the same.

I just, I just didn't want to say it.

So anyway, that was funny. Thank you for all of you who

hung out at Autumn Fest. We kind of told the the story of

the pies, but the, the ladies and even just you as a church

participating in, in, in funding and assisting with the, with the

cost of those pies. There were a lot of ladies who

gave a lot of time to prep those pies and even be there and, and

hand them out. But that was that was kind of a

surreal thing. 500 Just again, we talked about it yesterday in

the message free pies. Somebody paid the price for

them. But for us as a church, to be

able to, to love on the community in that way and just

offer something like that. That isn't nothing's free

usually, right? Nothing's free, but to be able

to show love to our community in that way.

Do the mini golf out at Autumn Fest or even just for those of

you that were out in our community this weekend.

It was great. It was it was a wonderful time

to be out there showing the love of Jesus or even just

interacting with those around us looking for opportunities to to

invite one more here. Always I I love the fact that

it's just a part of the culture of ERC that we we find ourselves

or we intentionally embed ourselves into our larger

community wherever it's helpful and possible.

And so I just think that that's a really neat thing.

And we're not the only church in town that of course tries to do

that. But I just, I just think it's so

important to be a part of your larger community because some

days, of course, yeah, that's often times we think of that as

the gathering of worshippers. But, you know, getting out into

our community and just not making ourselves known for our

own sake, but trying to be out there so that they can see the

hands and the feet of Jesus active in their community,

whether it's through pies or whether whatever that looks

like, it's fine. But I just, I, I love that we're

able to get out there and do that.

Yeah. And not only that we've had so

far in September, we had worship in the park the first week.

Each of the past two Sundays, there's been more than 200

people in the building on Sundays.

We we see that, we feel that. If there's any of you out there

wondering what's happening, we, we have plans for more parking

and that's gonna get addressed really soon.

There were, there were at least 20 cars on the street yesterday,

like all the way down in front of the Veterans Memorial.

And so that's, that's coming soon.

Even even space on Sunday mornings.

We're considering our as, as we're growing, as you all are

inviting more to come. We acknowledge that we need more

space or, or maybe even more times to, to gather and we'll be

communicating those plans very quickly.

Just know that we see it. We acknowledge it.

We're, we're, we're planning changes and, and how we are stay

fluid with how we're growing. So just so you know, all that.

Thanks for being here with us and being a part of our

community. Taking in some more conversation

on Exodus this morning before we get there.

We're still going through the Ask me Anything pile of

questions here 'cause we have a lot leftover.

Thanks for contributing to those couple of episodes, and we'll

continue to answer your questions week to week here.

We've got a theological one this morning.

Why can't we renew our baptism? I was baptized as an infant.

I wish I could renew my declaration of faith now that it

is my decision. All right.

That's a Yep, and here we go. That there's lots of layers here

and I will, I'll, I'll start. I, I want to hear your answer

the question first. I'll just preface it with I'm

right there with you. I was baptized as an infant at a

Catholic Church. I don't remember any of it.

I don't I have no experience of my baptism, but I also I've I've

never really been at a point where I felt like I needed I

needed to experience it. I'm not saying that that feeling

is is wrong. I think it's valid wanting to

wanting to feel the the intensity of that, But where do

you land? What's what's your initial

reaction to why we we're not a church that will re baptize?

We don't, we don't really encourage that.

Well, again, leading into word first theology, one thing that

we don't see in the Bible is we don't see re baptism.

It's just it's just not there. And you know, of course you can

draw into the verses of, you know, we have one God, We have

one baptism is what is clearly spoken.

Now, some theologians might say, well, one baptism is pointing

specifically to like we are baptized into Christ.

That is the one baptism that matters.

So if you want to make the argument the other way, you want

to play devil's advocate here a little bit, you could say, well,

what if I have a baptism of repentance and then I have a

baptism in Jesus Christ name and I have a baptism this and this

and this. And it's like, OK, like I, I

don't think you can drag those verses out that far.

I don't think you can stretch them that far.

It's, it's putting, it's putting a lot of silent assumptions into

the text and I don't think you can do that.

So we don't see it in the New or the Old Testament multiple

baptisms. And The thing is like we have to

also acknowledge, and this is really big, who is doing the

work and the deciding in baptism, who's doing that?

So if we say, I decided, sure, maybe you came into a point of

adulthood and now your faith has lit up inside your heart and

inside your soul, and that's now feels much more real than it did

previously in your life. But The thing is, you can also

clearly make the argument that as God baptizes you, even if

you're a child or an infant, you don't remember that he's the one

who's doing the work. He's the one who's establishing

the Holy Spirit within your soul, within your heart.

He's doing that work, not us. So even if you say, well, I've

now decided, I didn't decide before.

Yeah, but God has already decided for you.

The Bible's pretty clear on nobody seeks after God.

That is a real thing. Nobody in our selfish, sinful

hearts seeks after God. It's always him doing the verbs,

it's always him doing the chase, and it's always all those

things. Now when we come to the

realization that yes, I believe it and I want Jesus Christ in my

life, that's a fantastic, beautiful, earth shaking moment

for a lot of us. However, God was laying all the

groundwork long before that. And we see baptism in the Bible

as God adopting us into his family, Him marking us with

that. So whether I remember that or

not, whether I was in the right place to receive that or not,

when it was done to me, because that's the thing, God is doing

that to you, right? It's not about us.

It's not about the pastor who did it.

It's not about any of those things.

It's God doing the work. Yeah, and that's, that's a large

part of it. And the, and the part of this

question that I think it addresses is I, I wish I could

renew my declaration of faith now that it is my decision.

Well, there's also, there's also a bit of faithfulness.

And I don't, I don't fully know the background.

And sometimes, yes, baptism, especially infant baptism in its

purest intended form. And this is these are the this

is where we get infant baptism is the, the Greek word oikos,

right? Is, is household.

When we see when we see a man come to faith in the New

Testament, in the early church, it's it's, it's followed most

often by the phrase, and he was baptized, he and his household.

Right. And his oikos was.

Baptized his oikos and we and we take that in Greek linguistics

to to mean I mean that that culturally it was many

households were compounds many households were man wife

children, even adult children and their children so.

And servants. And then servants and their

families too was it was was all of that and that would be

inclusive of all those all of those peoples family extended

family servants and children like the and that's what that

boycott the entirety of those who lived under that house.

He and his household were baptized.

So, so that's where we get infant baptism and then that in

its purest form and how it relates to how we do infant

baptism today. I know it doesn't always work

this way. And, and there are some of you

out there, even at the time that I was baptized, I, I think my

parents to this day would say they didn't have a saving faith

even at the time they got me baptized.

We should enter into infant baptism.

That's why we ask questions of of the parents.

If you if you've ever been here for for a baptism to do.

Do you want to baptize this child into the Christian faith

we profess. Will you raise them up?

Will you teach them the Bible, the ways of Jesus?

Will you give them opportunity to learn about him here at

church? There is this not entering into

it lightly. I know not all of you were Maybe

it was maybe more ceremonial. It was just the thing you did

you, you had a baby, you brought him to church, you got him

baptized. There wasn't all this extra.

But in its purest form, in its intention, there's actually as

as much as we want to feel. And I get the kind of

theatricality, I guess of it, of it being my decision of, of, of

feeling, of feeling that thing. There's also a great testament

of faithfulness. If your parents had a saving

faith and are then declaring, Nope, our child is gonna be

raised in this household is is is gonna be covered in this is

is gonna live out this declaration of baptism from from

day one. We're bringing them up in this

faith. That's also a beautiful

testimony of of faithfulness of the fullness of God throughout

your life. I know you don't necessarily get

to experience all of that in in that moment.

We were just having this conversation at Life Group

yesterday too, that the the contrast between testimonies of

some some people have a radical coming coming to Jesus turned my

life around in my in my 20s, thirties, 40s midlife sort of

thing. That's a powerful testimony.

Sure. I have one that I've always

quote UN quote always known Jesus.

That seems boring and and less powerful, but I've also had

those that have gone through half a life of hardship, half a

life of fighting against God, straying from God, whatever who,

who also see that and say I wish I never I I wish I had that I I

wish I never didn't know. I I wish Jesus was always in my

life, because I know now and the and the years before when I was

walking in darkness. It seems like I it would have

been better if I had known him then too.

So don't see your infant baptism maybe that you didn't get to

experience. Obviously you didn't get to

experience. It's not less than it's it's,

it's a declaration of of faithfulness and longevity of

Christ in your life from that point on.

Yeah. And let's, you know, I'm gonna

pick up on a couple ideas here. Let's use an example, and this

is a sad example, but let's use an example of somebody who maybe

later in life they start to have significant memory issues.

Now those memory issues, they can no longer remember the

particulars even of their life or even of their close family

people. That doesn't mean those things

didn't happen. That doesn't mean those things

didn't have their necessary impact on who you are.

Just because you cannot remember it precisely doesn't mean it

didn't matter. Does you know And and that so

that's that's part of it. Elevate that to the specific

scenario. If you were an adult who who was

baptized at a point that you remembered it, but maybe to your

point no longer remember it, that doesn't undo you.

There's not now necessity for you to be re baptized because

you don't remember it. Correct.

And in the case of somebody who's like, you know what, like

I have a deeper, far deeper understanding of my faith and

far deeper appreciation of it than I do now than when I was

baptized. I'll give you just my life

quickly. When I was baptized in my mid

20s with the rest of my family, my my level of love and deep

appreciation for who the Lord is and what he's continued to do in

my life since that day has only exponentially increased year

after year. So I could even look at my

baptism and say, yeah, I had this very basic, simple sense of

belief to the extent that I wanted to be baptized, but do I

need to be re baptized now that like the Lord has lit my life on

fire? No, I don't need to be re

baptized because the work has already been done and it was

done by him. Now, if I want to come out and

through a testimony to a larger community or through a testimony

to a a life group, like a smaller group of people, yeah, I

think that's a powerful thing to acknowledge.

You know what, God has been doing some amazing things in my

life and I'm seeing him clearer than I ever have.

Do that do that I and you can even use the words I I am

rededicating my heart and my life to this to to Christ.

Do that and talk about that and and share your testimony with

people. And I think that is a far more

powerful tool than, you know, being once again washed with

water and word when God washes us with his grace.

It it is washed us clean like I talked about yesterday, He has

taken away our sins. We aren't just covered with

water in our baptism. He is adopting us.

He is he is earmarking us. And so if I come to better grips

with that later in life, I don't need to be re baptized.

I can, you know, verbally and otherwise rededicate my life to

the Lord, who I now understand at a much deeper level.

But I don't need that to be redone because He's already done

the work. Yep, and and to that, what's

what would then be holding us back?

If, if you feel like being re baptized is holding you back

from living a full life for God, like I, I don't, I'd fail to

connect those dots a little bit. If if you want to, if you want

to have that experience of that declaration of baptism, Well, I,

I think you can live that life today, like up, up the ante, be

be in your Bible, be living out the faith that you're covered in

that that you're excited about. You're excited enough to be

questioning renewing your baptism.

You're there. Live that out.

You're, you're already covered from from this day forward that

that shouldn't be holding you back that you don't remember,

didn't get the experience of like declaring your baptism.

Cause again, it's, it's, it's about who's doing the verbs even

even as you were talking about the Holy Spirit.

I mean, the Holy Spirit is the one who's, who's even working in

our longings for the thing of God, the things of God and, and,

and even brings us into that faith.

Our, our bodies are naturally sinful.

We don't, we don't want the divine things.

So it's a fair, it's a fair question to think about it, but

that's why we, that's why we don't do it.

You're already, you're already covered.

And in some ways, renewal of baptism shifts the focus too

much to what, to what we have done or, or what our role in

salvation is. And, and, and this is hard to

wrap your, your head around sometimes too, because yes, we,

we do say I'm living my life as a follower of Jesus.

I, I chose to follow Christ, like, or, or I gave my life to

Christ. We have these, we have these

phrases that loosely make sense, but we need to be careful that

we don't overemphasize our doings in them.

It's still not a Jesus did 99% of it and I did 1 like and and

and that's and that's what I think renewal of baptism in

invites in like, like Jesus brought me this far.

He just needed me to step into the water and and go.

That's not that's not how salvation works.

So salvation is 100%. Jesus did all of it.

The gift is here. All we can really do is reject

it. Actually that that's that's the

only doing that we have power over.

God gave us the free will to reject it, to not believe.

If we do believe it's all already done right?

Yep. And I don't and I don't say this

to make to make the question that was asked to sound light or

silly. It's not a light or a silly

question. Denominations have been split

and divided over. This very question, Oh, it's,

it's a, it's a really important question.

But here's the thing that I bring forward.

I if, if I took this kind of basic questioner I idea and I

applied it directly to me like, you know what?

I feel more intense. I feel more dedicated to my

faith than I ever have. I feel more, I feel Christ's

grace more in my life than I have in the last five years.

Man, I'm telling you, and again, not to make light of it, but I

would want to be re baptized like every single week because

every single week I'm failing. And then, you know, Jesus is

drawing me back to his grace. And every single week I would

want to and again, not to make light of it, but I would want to

come back into that space and say, Lord, I have sinned, I've

fallen short. Please wash me once again.

And we don't need that the same similar actually, just thinking

about this now, like the the sacrificial system that we

talked about where in perpetuity they had to sacrifice these

lambs and over and over and over again.

OK, well, if we stayed in that system, then yes, it makes sense

to be baptized over and over again because I need to be

washed over and over again. But Jesus is the Lamb of God who

did it once and for all. And that is a key point of our

baptisms too. He has done it once and for all.

He has washed us clean. Whether we remember that,

whether we felt a certain way during that moment, He has

washed us clean. That is just an objective fact

of the person who believes in Jesus Christ.

It's one and done. Yeah.

So we just, I think that's more of our, the cautionary side of

it, of, of emphasizing who's, who's playing the part and, and

baptism's good. Baptism's something that we want

to participate in and we want each and every one of you.

We've, we've said it, emphasized it, we've said it before, but

we've really emphasized it the past two weeks.

What are the next steps? You should be baptized even if

you've been in a church or church adjacent for your whole

life and you're in and you're in adulthood, but I've never been

baptized. You should be.

And, and absolutely we want, we want to do that and have you

experience that and be and be washed in that, But also, as the

thief on the cross would teach us, you can be saved without it.

And, and this is a weird thing. Like it is significant and we

want to celebrate it, but also Jesus promised that guy, you

will be with me today in paradise.

So and and that's not to minimize it.

That's not to say we we shouldn't do it, but but the

again, where's where's the renewal of baptism also invites?

Where's that line? How many times if, if you feel

like you didn't experience it, or even if you like strayed and

came back and want to and want to renew and rededicate how, how

many times where's the line? Do we do we stop at one renewal?

Do we stop at 3 or 4? If I like?

How many to your question, how many times do we stray away?

How many? How many times are we repenting

and confessing and asking forgiveness?

It seems like if if that's the logic that we need to be re

baptized every step along the way and that's not what we see

in the Bible. We see Jesus crucified once and

for all. For all.

Absolutely. And I think you can land the

plane right there because that's.

Yeah, just the fact that it is a once and for all thing that

comes. You know, His grace comes once

and for all, period. Our baptism comes once and for

all. Period.

And that first passage that you were talking about Ephesians 4/4

through 6, that's the one Lord 1 faith, one baptism.

We do derive that only only once is nothing.

And we also, just like you said, we don't see re baptisms in the

Bible. We see we see once washed clean,

new life born again. And that's and that's how it is

that that's that's how it works. So Ephesians 4/4 through six are

a couple of the other baptism passages you can look up first.

First Corinthians 12 is where a lot of the the helper, the Holy

Spirit, how it, how it brings us into, into faith, into

relationship with God, how that relationship works There you

can, you can look at those too, because the Holy Spirit also has

workings in this. And that's really what we want

to emphasize and make sure it's God doing the things in baptism.

It's Jesus's blood washing us clean, being made new, being

refreshed and renewed. And Jesus does it once and for

all. Done.

That's it. So all right, that's baptism.

We're of course open to having more conversations in person,

but that's why that's why we do what we do here and don't

practice renewal baptisms. And we will.

It doesn't all have to be infant baptisms.

We'll, we can, we'll baptize kids, adults, whatever it is.

But first time if if you haven't been baptized, let's do it.

Yep, Yep. We do not withhold the grace of

God in baptism or communion. Those are important sacraments

that we practice. But again, as you know, the Old

Testament that you know, Exodus 12, God said do this for the

rest of your days. Jesus comes along in the new

agreement, the new covenant and says, OK, now you will practice

this communion over and over again.

Do this whenever you you know and remembrance of me.

So that's a continuously moving forward thing, whereas baptism

is a one thing that God did and doesn't need to be redone.

And and this also gets a little muddy because there are some

denominations and churches even who would say, oh, well, you

didn't get baptized here. So that baptism is no good.

And that's just that's just not what we see in the Bible, what

we see, what we see in baptizing and and it's in the Great

Commission go Matthew 28. Therefore, go make disciples of

all nations baptizing and teaching.

And that's where where I started the like perfect ideally infant

baptism parents declaring we're baptizing you into this faith

and we're going to bring you up in a life that's teaching you

this faith like those those things go together.

But like the Ethiopian eunuch and and Philip, all you need is

water in the word. I baptize you in the name of the

Father Son, the Holy Spirit, water done.

That's it. If you if you had a baptism that

included those things, you you've been baptized, walk in

freedom, walk in the righteousness of Christ.

Live, live that experience, that decision that you want to

experience. Live it out each day.

That's what I would say. Absolutely.

So we are, you've preached on Exodus 12 yesterday, 1st 14

verses of chapter 12. You're right, we did.

We skipped over all the kind of repetitiveness of the plagues

and you, you touched on it that there were a variety of plagues.

There were a lot. They all kind of played the same

way though, right? They did.

Curse, curse came on. Put the screws to Pharaoh, let

my people go, he agrees. Then he pulls back.

Then he pulls back his word and OK, bring in the next plague.

Not great. Not great for the Egyptians, not

great for Pharaoh, and not great for Moses and God's people.

So eventually we come to the Passover, the Angel of death,

the this is the thing that Pharaoh can't come back from,

right? So we're in Exodus chapter 12,

Exodus 12 · chapter mention

verses one through 14, first verse, yeah.

And you touched on it a little bit.

Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt.

And I think it's important you touched on it the the

camaraderie of community even in the sharing of the lamb later in

in verse verse four and five and how that kind of plays out.

Moses wasn't doing it alone. Aaron was an advocate for him to

to the people he'd been living in and amongst the people all

those years that Moses was in the Midianite wilderness, right?

He needed that ally. He needed that person to relate

to them. So that I think that's a really

important jumping off point too, But something else.

Verse 2, you didn't jump into the detail of this, but it's

really profound. Actually.

This month shall be for you, the beginning of months.

It shall be the first month of the year for you.

What God's God's telling them. This is now how you tell time.

Oh yeah, absolutely. And and it's interesting.

So let's quickly Fast forward to our modern day Western idea of a

new year. So new year hits on, you know,

January 1st. And how do we see that?

How do we typically take that as a larger culture in a society?

OK, cool. This is a great point for me to

reset, to maybe look back at some things that I didn't love

and to look forward at some things that I really want to do

well. And of course, you can go on and

on about, OK, I'm going to go to the gym this year, I'm going to

eat better this year, I'm going to do whatever this year.

And you're kind of dedicating yourself to that new life.

But as God commands that this is your first month, why there?

Why then? Well, I think the obvious, you

know, application to that is God is saying I'm starting you.

I'm starting your year every year when it resets, I'm

starting you thinking about what I have done for you, what I am

sacrificing for your freedom, what I'm sacrificing for your

forgiveness. That's where you start your

year. Yeah, sure you can.

You can do some personal growth things, but our year starts at

the fact that I have saved you. I have walked you out of

slavery. That's where you start.

That's where you get your strength from.

Moving forward from the rest of the year is remembering what I

have done to set you free. Yeah.

So he establishes this new foundation this new year, even

if we even think about it. And as I said, this language in

the past couple weeks, because it was brought into our site,

it's, it's, it's that starting line versus finish line

mentality, what's coming and what's new.

But also we're standing on the foundation of God's

faithfulness. It's it's a, it's kind of a

reset reminder of each year. Yeah, we can face what's ahead

because of what I've already done, right.

And he's just inviting them to come back into that each and

every year. Remember this.

Remember do this in remembrance of me at the the words, the

words we say it communion because we forget and that was

if you're not following along with the with with the study.

Well, one of your questions this week.

Oh man, in what ways can we be No, why was it why was it

commanded? Sorry.

Now I'm like, oh the repetition. That's what the password was

instituted as something to be remembered and re enacted every

year. Why does God call for the

repetition of such such events and days?

Because we forget, because we, we, we are sinful and, and we

take our eyes off of Jesus, we take our eyes off of faith.

Even even Peter, he, he writes, he opens one of his, one of his

letters. I can't remember off the top of

my head, it's first or second Peter.

But he he even says, I write you these things by way of

remembrance. Like it's, it's a phrase that's

you are, you've heard all this and you know all this, but you

need to remember it. Yeah, Yeah.

Well, and I think it's, it's not a, it's, it's not a hard, you

know, jump to make you look forward into the New Testament.

And when does Jesus die? Oh, that's right.

He dies at the exact same time as the first Passover.

So, I mean, again, if you're a Christian, and I know we've got

all these cultural things built into us and baked into us, but

if you're a Christian man, you know, when your new year starts,

your new year starts at Easter, your new year starts at the

Passover. Why?

Because we move forward into the new year and with this renewed

strength and this renewed remembering of what has in fact

been done for us. So it's kind of interesting, you

know, like, and you know, people get into this argument like, do

I work out of my rest or do I rest from my work?

Well, the Bible would seem to indicate I move forward from my

rest. I move forward from my

understanding of my forgiveness and my freedom.

That's been done to me. And so as God's establishes,

this is the start of your year. Therefore I think you would make

the argument on that other case like, Oh no, we want to work out

of our rest. We want to work out of our

worship, not just be like, oh, I'm so burdened and now I need

to rest from. No, I'm resting towards.

Yes, Yep, absolutely. And that that applies there even

as we consider what we're entering towards.

So you're right, all things new God, God saying that this is the

fresh starts, the brand new start releasing you from walking

you out of slavery into this, into the promised land.

And again, we've talked about it the past couple weeks, not only

removing the the fear, the sin, but instituting a promise,

instituting a blessing you, you're, I'm making all things

new. I'm bringing you into the

promised Land. The the life of fear and sin

that I'm calling you to leave behind is also replaced with one

of blessing and abundance and eternal life.

Right yeah, in our in in our very highly individualized

culture and thought processes. I think there is something kind

of cool and kind of beautiful about, Hey, January 1st, like

I'm going to, I'm going to start some new good habits in my life.

Those are great things to do. And I would never downplay the

importance of those things. And I think people should

commit, you know, what, whatever, or recommit themselves

to certain things at certain points when there seems to be a,

a fresh start. Those are great things.

But I would say for, for, for the Christian man, everything

comes out of even the things that I think I want to do

personally, for self help, for lack of a better term, like all

those things ought to come out of what God has done and

continues to do for us. And that's where that

motivation, that's where that drive comes from.

One more thing from kind of the first half of this passage, you

may take it from either the sheep or the goats, right?

That's that's interesting because we often, I mean the

Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

They use the word lamb to refer to either a young sheep or a

young goat. Does it matter?

Well, and actually, so a fun thing that I do, I try, I try to

do is that like, so I will go through and I talked to my life

group about this. I will go through in preparation

for a sermon or a study and I'll just do like a verse by verse

commentary. And during that verse by verse

commentary that I'm writing out and I'm not reading anybody else

at this point. I'm just making observations and

and I'm asking questions. And so actually, it's really

funny. I was, I asked that question, my

verse by verse commentary leading into this Sunday.

I was like, wait a minute, what? I actually don't understand the,

you know, the nuances of this. Are they are we talking about

two different animals? Is that all right?

Whatever. So David Guzik, who he that guy

continues to teach me so much through his commentary, but he

says this quote, the Hebrew word say is quite a neutral word and

should be translated head of of small stock, applying equally to

sheep and goats of any age. The Hebrews, like the Chinese,

seem to have regarded any distinction between sheep and

goats as a minor division, and this is really good, probably

because of this. To separate the sheep from the

goats is a proverbial is a proverbial of God's discernment

in the New Testament times. That is something I'd never

thought of connected to. That is really cool.

Yeah, that's so Matthew 2532 separating the the sheep from

the goats, right, those on his left and those on his on his

right. Interesting connection there as

well. But for the, the ceremonial

aspect of this, the important parts were lamb could be either

sheep without or goat, but without blemish, right?

As as perfect as a lamb as that, as that sacrifice could be.

I also thought it was interesting.

So they have this 14 day like waiting period, right?

And then they, they kill it at twilight, right?

There's also this, this connection to 1st John 211 that

Christ came in the evening of the world in the last hour when

all they buried in darkness, right?

So we have we have this not only renewal at at the peak of

darkness, at a time where if first the firstborns were being

killed at the first Passover, like the the pinnacle of

darkness in, in many of these families, households, whatever,

whatever it was, the darkness was overwhelming in in that

moment. In the same way Christ entered

the world right in, in, in that moment of overwhelming darkness

as the light. So awesome.

Yeah. Interesting connections the the

whole of the Bible as as we've tried to explain and try to

teach each and every week points to Jesus.

We we have we have all of this, the history and the Old

Testament really foreshadowing how Christ interacts with the

world. Yep, Jesus is the fulfillment of

all of the law and all of the prophets and as much as we have

time to or can, or even in your own individual reading and

stuff. When you see those little like

notes, 'cause sometimes if you're reading a, a, you know, a

physical paper Bible and it's got like this little like number

next to it and then it pushes you back towards an Old

Testament text. Go and do that as often as you

possibly can. When you're reading your Bible

and see the overall narrative, the overall kind of Arc of God's

story from beginning all the way through Christ, go see those

things because it's, it's incredible and it's impossible.

Honestly, it is impossible. How you know these acts of these

people thousands of years before Christ directly ties into what

he does directly ties into what he teaches like that is not

possible with human ingenuity across thousands of years across

dozens and dozens of authors like, and people have made that

point like the, the, the ability for Jesus to fulfill all of

these different things, both in his words and his actions and

just what kind of seemed to happen to him.

All of those things like the the odds of that are not even

calculable. They're like 10 to the, I can't

remember, 20 something power, like you can't calculate it how

all those things happen. So yeah, go back and forth

between your Old and New Testament and see how God has

had a plan the entire time, how he has fulfilled that plan

through his Son, and catch that bigger narrative because it's

really important. Yeah, it's it's all in there.

The couple other things from kind of the second-half of this

passage consuming all of it verse 10 you shall let none of

it remain until morning anything that remains until the morning

you shall burn and in this manner you shall eat it with

your belt fasten your sandals on your feet and your staff in your

hand and you shall eat it in haste.

Couple things that I at least glean from this it it's you, you

have to tell me what, what you, what you feel about this.

But I, I hear shades of the Jesus's repulsion to, to

lukewarm followers in this, this in, in, in the lamb being

completely consumed or the, or the family being sustained by

this lamb. It's not a halfway sort of

thing. You're all in this, this whole

thing is, is gone and done and is your sustenance is, is the

thing that that fuels in its entirety, right.

You can't just, you're not just doing part of it.

And so we, I think we could relate that to the Bible, to

Scripture as a whole, can't just take bits and pieces and leave

some of it sitting there. It's it's the whole thing.

Well, and speaking about Jesus himself specifically, did part

of Jesus die? No, no, he was fully consumed by

death. He was fully consumed by God's

wrath. It wasn't like we you said

earlier, it wasn't like, oh, you know what, Jesus, you're still

alive, but you've suffered an awful lot.

And actually that as much as you've already suffered, that's

definitely enough to cover the sins of the world.

No, He was fully consumed just like this lamb is fully consumed

either by the people themselves or by fire.

Yeah. And so either way, he is fully,

fully consumed. And and in that way, I also

think it's interesting the the belt on your waist, the sandals

on your feet and your staff in your hand.

I, I, I hear in this passage, you're eat.

So you're eating this lamb and faith, the sacrificial lamb,

trusting in the deliverance that's happening.

That had to be a wicked to like like because they were we we

live a little bit of ambiguity because we don't know the day or

the hour that judgement day is coming like Christ is coming

back right. God gave them a date said two

weeks, then this is happening. I have to believe there was a

little bit of a sense of dread each nightfall before that is

tonight. The night is tonight, but no

trusting that following this promise, the deliverance would

happen if they if they follow this Passover procedure that the

deliverance would be present, but the readiness.

So if so, if you're accepting this, if you're taking this

sacrifice and you're all in on it, but you got to be ready to

walk in that deliverance that you're, you're changed

immediately and you got to be ready to go, right?

Oh, that's so important. And so I mean, you again taking

Old and New Testament as one combined narrative.

You look forward into the New Testament and you see Jesus

tell, you know, the stories are parables basically of like, hey,

you've got the virgins and you know, some of them, you know,

made sure they had enough oil to be ready for when the bridegroom

shows up. And some of them like they

weren't, they weren't ready. They fell asleep.

They didn't plan well, they they were not ready to for action.

And so even thinking about this way, this too.

OK, so like when we take communion together on Sundays,

receiving the body and blood of Jesus, what does that mean?

I ought to be ready as I have received the sacrificial lamb.

I ought to be ready to move out into my world because I know

what he's done for me. I, I, I fully take that in.

I'm ready to move out into my mission field, which currently

in Lord willing will always be to wit, right And so like as I

receive his body and blood, my, my shoes are tied.

I'm ready to go like and, and bigger picture, of course, as

you mentioned, is like I'm ready for Jesus to come back.

I'm don't want to die today, but I'm ready for it.

And in that way, I think it, I think it relates maybe even back

to the baptism question that we were saying like this, this

deliverance, this baptism, it's, it's already happened.

Like are are Are you ready to walk forward in the gift in the

gift that's already been given? We don't we don't need to dwell

on that. There wasn't any.

OK, you're going to take in this Passover and just sit Pat till

it comes around next year. Like there there wasn't a

looking forward to the next time that it happened.

Yes, it was sustaining. It was remembering, but there's

in between things to do, there's, there's walking in that

deliverance between the remembering, right.

Absolutely, 100%. Another thing, just kind of

switching gears here a little bit is, you know, it is for

anybody who, like, you know, has a farm and you butcher animals

and stuff like this. You know what you don't do?

You don't just cook the whole thing as the whole thing.

That seems really weird if you stop and think about that.

But again, pointing forward to Jesus in the New Testament.

But one of the things that we know that was prescribed for

Jesus long before he walked the earth as a man was that none of

his bones would be broken. Nothing about him would be,

would be. Yeah, broken before his death.

So he was whipped, he was tortured, he was hit, he was

spit on, He was all these things.

But the New Testament clearly reports not one of his bones was

broken. He was a whole person being

wholly sacrificed. So as we look at this Passover

lamb in Exodus, that is a whole lamb being wholly sacrificed.

There is not a part missing. Again, like it's not 99% of them

is being sacrificed. No, 100% is.

And that's a. That's a cool little detail that

we might miss too. Yeah, and that's an interesting

distinction because traditionally crucifixion, you

most readily die by asphyxiation, right.

Like like suffocating basically. And there came a point if, if

the guy was a fighter, he'd, he'd be hanging up there and he

could kind of push with his feet on on the on the bottom to, to

support himself. A lot of the time they would

break the legs so that he could no longer support.

That didn't happen to Jesus. No, that he, he.

It is finished and gave up his spirit.

Before that happened, He was a whole lamb of.

God, perfect. That's exactly what that points

to, yeah. What else do we have?

We're towards the end of where you were at.

We have the protection of the blood here.

The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are.

When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague

shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of

Egypt. Yeah, so interesting.

God says when I do this thing, you know, you can, you can carry

that forward pretty quickly to nobody likes.

I mean, I can't think of anybody who's like, hey, when I die,

blah, blah, blah. Like that's not a conversation

we typically like to have. But the day is coming.

And that is, again, it should be a sobering thought, when I die.

Not if I die, but when I die, am I, has my sin been carried away?

Has it been taken away? Have I, has God's judgment

passed over me because I've received Jesus Christ as my Lord

and Savior? Well, yeah, absolutely Hope so.

So I mean, I it's not an if, it's a when you know the

potential for judgement, it's real, it's coming.

Are you ready for that? Because of the Lamb will the

Angel of death Passover me because I am now I've received

the blood of an innocent one and I've painted that all over my

life. I've painted that all over my

household. And again, fun fact, you know it

forms a cross when you're painted that way, so.

Yeah. And that's so that's how it's

real time related for us today, even when we take communion

together. Jesus at that, that Passover

before he was killed, that this is my body in the new covenant

covenant, the the blood of the new covenant, right?

So that we as the household was covered in the blood and God

passed over. We remember Christ in that way

and that's how God sees us covered by the blood of Jesus

and, and and passes over. So that's why even when we take

communion, that's that's a renewing and remembrance of

those things. Yeah.

You want to talk about renewal of faith, That is every single

time we take communion, that's a renewal.

That's all. Because what do we do when we

take communion? We are called to examine

ourselves. We are called to confess sin, to

begin that process of repentance in that moment, and then carried

forward as we go. But every single time we receive

the body and blood of Jesus, that is a special kind of

renewal of accepting, receiving Him as our Passover lamb.

And that's why again, that the same words in remembrance, God,

God used it with the with the Israelites in in Egypt, there in

captivity and and Jesus the same thing.

This is the new covenant, but you're going to do it, you're

going to repeat it in remembrance of me.

So you never forget. Absolutely.

There it is. That's the Passover, and a few

extra thoughts on that next week.

This Sunday we're in Chapter 14 and Exodus Another another.

I got the burning Bush and the Red Sea.

Somehow I don't. These you get, you get these

kind of big watershed moments, which is great.

And that's it will be good for all of us to dive into that with

you. Yeah.

So that's, I'm, I'm excited for that a large chunk in Chapter 14

next week, but very excited about where we're going with

that. And honestly very excited for

what God has laid out for us as a, as a people and a church here

too. We're excited to share more

about that in the coming weeks. We have our, our annual meeting

on October 26th after church. That's going to be great.

And we, and we want to, we want you all to be there to take in

some more of these ideas and the vision going forward of what we

have working here at Emmaus Rd. church in our community.

And just so grateful that you're a part of it.

Absolutely. I love doing life with you guys,

love walking with Jesus with you guys, and it's so much fun, as

we stated earlier, to watch our church be the hands and feet of

Jesus, even through pies or whatever means necessary.

All those are wonderful things. Yep, we're shouting Jesus in the

streets and we're we're always doing it for the one more.

So thank you for being a part of it.

Stay faithful, stay in the word. Have a blessed week.