We're going to hear from a passage in the Old Testament from the book of Exodus. Exodus chapter 12. So if you turn in your Bibles to there, we can look at it. I'm really referring to the whole passage or the first 28 verses of this passage, but I'm going to read, I think, just to shorten it a little bit. so I have more time to talk. No, I'm just kidding. But if you look at it, let's start at verse 7. Let's start at verse 7 and we'll hear the Word of God as we begin in verse 7 and then I'll read down and then we'll skip over a couple of verses again. Hear the Word of God as we find it in Exodus chapter 12 beginning in verse 7. Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintels of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roast it on the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water but roast it its head with its legs and its inner parts and you shall let none of it remain until the morning anything that remains until the morning you shall burn in this manner you shall eat it with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. 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. I am the Lord. 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." And then let's go on down to verse 21 and starting there again. Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans and kill the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel of the two doorposts, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning, for the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door. and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. You shall observe this right as a statute for you and for your sons forever. And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. And when your children say to you, What do you mean by this service? You shall see it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians but spared our homes, our houses. And the people bowed their heads and worshipped when the people of Israel, then the people of Israel went and did so as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. This is God's word, and may he add his blessing to it today in our hearing. You know, Pastor Jack, earlier in the service today, quoted Psalm 111, verse 1. And whenever he said that, I knew something was different about this service. And that is that God is in this place. And here's the reason why. About 35 years ago, a couple that we know dearly and have loved dearly came into our lives and they lived down in Florida. And they reminded me, they said, John, every time we see on a clock, it has to be a numerical clock, not one of the older clocks, but the new digital clocks. Every time we see 1, 1, 1, 11 minutes past 1, whether at night or in the morning. We are always reminded that God is present. The Trinity is here. And so when he quoted that today, I couldn't help but think that there was just a little reminder. You don't see it very often. In fact, they always reminded me, they said, now you can't sit at nine minutes past one and just wait for it to turn to 11 minutes past and then go, oh yeah, hey, look, I've been reminded of this. No, it's one of those glances you look at and when you see it, you go, wait a minute. There's God. God's reminding me of his presence. And you'll be amazed at how many times you remember Pastor Jack's 111 from now on. But you'll also link it to the fact that, hey, listen, God is with you. God is present. His trinity is right there. And he is reminded. Of course, he followed it up with verse 1, which is, praise the Lord, I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart in the company of the upright in the congregation. And so when you not only remember yourself that God is present, follow up with that verse as well and remember that as well. I just wanted to say that because that was, it kind of encouraged me as I was coming to the pulpit here this morning to be reminded of that and know that hey listen, this is a unique time. This is not, it is not just unique, that this is what it's all about. It's being in His presence, and it's obeying Him and following His will, following His law, following what He commands, because we need that. And if we didn't have that, we'd be just out doing our own thing. And of course, you know what the world is like when they do that. You know what you're like when you do that. And you know how you need this time to be reminded again that God is here and God is speaking His Word to us. I joined Mission to North America two years ago on January 1st and serving under disaster response with Sheds of Hope. And that ministry has continued to grow. And in this year, we have set some new goals. My wife and I have prayed through this each year, looking at what God would have us do. And, you know, you sometimes start or you're called into a ministry and you, you know, you just do it because you go, well, let's try it. Let's do what we need. Well, what is it you want me to do? And so we started that. and we started working with Sheds of Hope. But now as we begin to see more of what has happened, especially with Rowlett last year in Van, the year before that in Texas, and then now three, three tornadoes, just four tornadoes this year alone. Number of people killed. The flooding last year in Baton Rouge. The hurricane off the coast of South Carolina. I cannot be in all of the places where disasters are happening. It's impossible. It's impossible. And so I have to depend on one organization that is there, and that's the church. And so this year and next year, I thought I could do this in a year, but then I realized how big America was. I thought it was kind of like the size of Ireland. And that got blown out of the water quickly. And so I realized, hey, it's maybe going to take me more than a year to do this. But that is this, is that I want to have a church in every state be trained and equipped so that they will in turn not only train others but minister to those people who've been affected by storms. Now Texas needs more, I grant it. Texas needs more than one of those churches. It's a bit bigger than just, you know, the normal state. But to have one of those in every state. And so in December last year, we trained a church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I was down there. It was my fifth trip down there. I just finished my sixth last week. But in Baton Rouge, I trained a church in December. tornado hit Hattiesburg in January, went through Hattiesburg. They built two sheds for Hattiesburg and took them over and delivered them over to Hattiesburg. I trained a church in January in Georgia And a tornado hit Albany, Georgia in January, that same weekend that it hit Hattiesburg. And that church, after the training, on my way back to Dallas, they called me and they said, hey, listen, we're going to go ahead and build two sheds for Albany and bring them there. One of them was set up last week. I'll be there next week. I'll be there next week. I'll be in Georgia this incoming week and I'll be down in Albany looking at that site, seeing what we can continue to do. But as churches get trained, they are doing work that I can't, that I'm not even there. And it's being done. And that's what Sheds a Hope is doing. It's ministering to people who are hurting, who are displaced from their normal life. In Baton Rouge, 145,000 homes and businesses were flooded last year. Over approximately half a million people were displaced. It's a lot of people to have to find new places. This is seven months after the disaster and last week there's still people not in their homes. Seven months later. Still putting up sheetrock. We were sheetrocking last week. We're putting down floors. We were painting sheds that we had built prior to that. It takes time for people to get over the kind of devastations, the kind of disasters that that brings upon them. And the reason why it's worse is because everybody's experienced it. It's not just that your neighbor and now your church can come around and help and care for and get them in there quickly, but everybody's in the same boat. Everybody's hurt. And so that was, that's Baton Rouge, and it's enough about the thing, but here is the thing, and here's the link to our passage this morning. And that is that the Israelites in this story at this particular time in their life, they also had been displaced from the land that God had promised them. And they had been displaced for 400 years. They had been out of their land. Through famine, through the things that had happened to them, no It wasn't their fault. These things happened. And so they had to go to Egypt and through Joseph and through his protection, brought them into Egypt, provided for them, sustained them. And they were 70 when they went down there. And now they are a multitude. And even though they're there, they're still a displaced people. They don't feel at home. And they know that. But what has happened to them? They've become enslaved. They've become enslaved. And this is what often happens to people who are going through hardships. More hardships happen. Other things begin to happen. And they are enslaved in a way that they never were before the disaster happened. Here are people that over now the course of time, instead of being protected by that brother that they tried to kill, are now enslaved by the people that they are among. They are forgotten. They feel like, ultimately, they're even forgotten by God. But they're forgotten. They feel forgotten. They feel like as if nobody knows who we are anymore. Where's this special people that we were? And that's what happens to people who are displaced through tragedies, through disasters. I can assure you this, they said that the media had one day of coverage on Baton Rouge, and after that it was gone. Seven months later, people are still displaced. and they feel forgotten. It's real. It's real with every disaster that I go to. Whenever we go there and we see the caravans of people in there with blankets and in there with all sorts of things, and when we go back a month later, they're all gone. You go, where are the people that are helping these people? Where's the ministry that continues on? It takes the church to be involved into people's lives. Government agencies ultimately can't do it. They cannot. They fail miserably. But the church can minister in these situations. And then of course, not only are they displaced and forgotten, these Israelites, but they are also suffering under now the burden of their current administration. And so, it's unbelievable the things in Baton Rouge. Insurances that didn't pay up, people that took advantage, took money from people, and then didn't do the work. They're now in bondage in a way that they never were in before. I worked in a house last week putting up shelves in a closet to get the lady's groceries and stuff off the floor so she'd have somewhere, a shelf to put them on. Because whenever the house was stripped, they just tore everything out. She's got cabinets in there now and no countertops. She's just got stuff sitting on top of the counter. I said, could you not at least get a piece of plywood? And then I thought, what am I saying? This woman can't get a piece of plywood and put it on top of that counter. She doesn't even have the money for a piece of plywood. She's trying to pay a house note that's still due seven months later, even though she really doesn't have a house to live in. The people of Israel. Give us a little bit of a picture of what it's like to be in a place like this. We live in a broken, fallen world. So we do. And Pastor Jack prayed for our president. We need to be praying for our country and for our president. We need to be praying for our nation. Because we are not the nation that we used to be. We have forgotten the law of God. And as a result, suffering is coming and it is growing because we've forgotten what it means to obey the law of God. So what hope do we have? What hope do we have? Well, Acts chapter 4 reminds us that there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And so, why the need for deliverance? Why do these people need deliverance from this hardship that they're in? Why the need for the blood and this whole story about the blood and pouring blood and sprinkling blood upon the doorposts and upon the lintel? and the sacrifice. Why the need for this blood in this story? Why the need for a call for observance once they get into the land that when your children ask you of what has happened, why do we need these things? There's so much to do with disaster in this. There's so much that I can say. A year from now, see, we forget New Orleans 10 years ago when Hurricane Katrina hit, 2005. People forget what it was like. We need the remembrance, we need to be reminded of the things that have taken place. As a country we need to be reminded when our war veterans stand up and are recognized on November the 11th, we need to be reminded of the sacrifice that they paid for the country that we have. We need to be reminded of that. We need remembrance, we need observances, we need things. And God says, hey, here are three things that you as a people who have been in bondage, who have been forgotten, in a sense, and have been put out of your land. There are three things that you need to remember as you move forward. The need for deliverance, the need for bondage, the need for the blood, and the need for observance. And so the first thing is this. Why the need for deliverance? because of the corruption, because of the corruption of all flesh. Why does God have to come to these people and remind them of the need for deliverance out of Egypt? It's because of the corruption of all flesh, of what happens when you let man go without the law of God. When you let man go into his own way, live his own way, Do his own thing. The corruption of our flesh will not get better because of that. It will not grow more spiritual. We heard it in our Sunday school class this morning. It'll not get better. It is only gonna get worse. And because of the corruption of our flesh, we need deliverance. Verse 12 says, 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. I am the Lord. Time is our enemy in this world, and we forget the past. And when we forget the past, we think that we are different from others around us, and we are not like them, and that we will be judged differently. We procrastinate by putting off what we should have been thinking and doing and obeying. The Jews are free from sin, one moment, at one time in his life. And that is when he goes in with his sacrifice and he places his hand on the sacrifice and he confesses his sin and the priest slits the throat of that sacrifice. And at that moment, his sin is covered. And as soon as he turns around and walks back out of the tent, or away from the meeting, away from the tent, what comes back into his heart and his mind? Sin again. Sin again. Only at that moment is he free. Only at that confession and only while he breathes that breath, and as soon as it's over, No sooner has he done it than sin enters in to his thoughts and minds indeed again. You know, this morning when we confessed our sin as a congregation, do not take that lightly, that you do that. As corporately, when we come together and we confess our sin, we're saying, listen, this is what we are. Go back and read those words again. This is what we are like. This is who we are. But what does God say to people who confess their sin? He says, if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. How can He do that? It's because there has been blood shed for us. A blood that is better, says the book of Hebrews, than the sacrifice of a lamb or a goat or a sheep or a bull or whatever it might be. better sacrifice has been given for us. And so, because of the corruption of our flesh, we need deliverance. Because that corruption has got into every fiber of our being, and there is no hope other than deliverance by an almighty God through a sacrifice that you and I cannot provide. but through which he can and does provide through his Son. And so hope is discovered when God reaches out with a message to people in the land of Egypt, that there is a sacrifice for them. There is hope. If you put yourself under this blood, if you take this blood and you kill the Passover lamb, and you put it upon your doorpost, and you put it on your lentils, and you get inside that house, and you stay inside that house, and you stay under its protection, you will be spared. And those who are not under it that night, the death angel will enter and kill every firstborn living. There is no protection for them because they are not under the sacrifice of the Passover lamb. Oh, it was a foreshadowing of something that would come later, but something that they lived under its blessing and under its protection. Just as we are today, 2,000 years later, we're still living under the protection and the benefit of the one who came and saved us. So why do we need deliverance? Because of the corruption of all flesh. Secondly is this, why the need for the blood on the doors? Because the way back to the Lord is through obedience. Not our obedience, but another's. Ultimately. You and I know this. It's not through your obedience, it's through Christ's obedience. But it is through obedience that you and I are brought back into the Lord again. Remember what the garden had in its center? It had a tree. What was that tree called? The tree of life. And what did God say about that tree of life? Obey my word. Obey my word. Do not eat of that tree, or you will die. All you gotta do is obey my word, and you will live. What do they do? They disobeyed. They disobeyed. A disobedience always separates you from God. But obedience always brings you closer. Obedience always draws you in. Not that we are saved by our works, but it is a result of what God has done in us. It is a desire, it is a growing thing in our lives. It's an interesting thing that in Genesis, God puts a tree in the middle of the garden and he says, obey my word. Revelation chapter 22 in the new heavens, no need for the tree of good and evil, because the testing of our obedience is over. There's no tree of good and evil there. The new heavens and the new earth won't have any more testing. because we will be in the presence of the one who fulfilled fully the obedience of God. And we will be living without ever need, you and I will never need to be tested again. We'll never need to be tested again. We'll be free of that. You know, first things are always important to God. First things are always important. And in this event, all of Israel, think about this, on one night, on one night, every Israelite, every Israelite obeyed God in one night. That's probably the only time in history that the church of God has obeyed God at any one time. Oh, you might be doing it, but I sure am not. Or you might be doing it, and she's not. But on that night, if you were an Israelite, and you didn't obey God, you were not an Israelite, you were not protected, you were not under the blood. But if you obeyed God that night and obeyed his word, Look at the results. You were spared. It's an amazing thing that that took place in one night and probably the only time since then has God seen his people obey like that. be obedient to His Word. But it is a reflection of what heaven is going to be like. We will be there and we will be obeying Him and we'll be rejoicing in Him and we will be living under the blood. And that is why we'll be rejoicing, because of what He has done. And so, hope is discovered when God reaches out with a messenger to people in the land of Egypt. But hope is discovered also when God reaches down in weakness to deliver those who have no strength, no power, or obedience of their own. That's when hope is discovered in a person's life. When God reaches down and does something for them that they cannot do for themselves. That's why disaster response ministry is such a blessing to be a part of. When the church reaches down and ministers to people that they are past helping themselves. And here a church comes in, reaches down and delivers them or brings them comfort, brings them a little bit of ease in the midst of their toil. when they cannot do that for themselves. So there is a need for deliverance because of the corruption of all flesh. There is a need for the blood on the doors because the way back to the Lord is always through obedience. And then thirdly and lastly, we need—why the need for observance? Why does God bring in this story that when you get back into the land and your children say, why do we do this thing? Why do we sacrifice this animal? Why do we do this? Why the need for observance? because our lives and future generations depend on the faithful retelling of the story. If you and I didn't have the Word of God today, and we didn't have this story, we wouldn't know what it means. We wouldn't know. We wouldn't know what it means to have a Passover lamb, a Paschal lamb. We wouldn't know what it means. to be saved through obedience, not of our own, but of another. That's why we need the stories. That's why we need the Word of God. And that's why we need this observance to be reminded of, and you need to tell your children and your children's children, guess who this story doesn't help? This story doesn't help those who've already died. It's no good to them. It's only good to those who are living and those who will live as a result of us being here. It's only for the future. This story doesn't help one bit. We're not Mormons. We don't baptize those, you know, the men who've already died. It doesn't help them, I can assure you. God's Word. It doesn't help them. It only helps those who are saying, why do we observe this thing? Why do we do this as a church? Why do we do this as a family? Why do we have family devotion? Why do we have family prayers? Why do we go to church on a Sunday? Is there not something better to do? I'm sure you've had to answer some of those questions. Why do we need those things? Because if we didn't have it, If we didn't have those stories, we wouldn't have the truth of God's Word worked down into our lives. Each generation needs hope. Each generation needs deliverance. And each generation needs the truth of God's Word brought home to them afresh and anew. And the story is not backwards compatible. It only affects the future. It only affects the living now. And so this is the start of your beginning. It's the start of my beginning. It's today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. Isn't that what the Scripture tells us? And so, here is Moses reciting to these people what they are to do. on that night, how they're to live, but it is a picture not just for that night, but for the rest of their lives. You know that they are no longer into the wilderness, and they are forgetting the very thing that they are saved from. They are wanting to go back. Isn't that right? That's how quick we forget. Why do you think God instituted worship once a month? Oh no, he did it once a week. That's right. That's right. He did it once a week. Because we forget in six days what we should be doing and how we should be living. I don't want to be getting on the people who only worship once a month. So if you weren't here last week, you're in trouble. No. How can we be delivered from such tendencies? We are delivered from our tendency to return to our old habits by trusting again in the one who was given by God to deliver us. Before his law came down from the mountain, they were returning to their old ways. That's how quick we remove ourselves. And that's why our confession on a Sunday is so important. That's why it is important to hear the words of assurance. That's why it's there. It's so that you can hear and be reminded and be refreshed and be washed again through His blood and through His work. So the hope is discovered when God rescues us with a messenger. Hope is discovered when God reaches down in weakness to deliver those who have no strength or power, obedience of their own. And hope is discovered when God reaches out to all peoples with the truth that Abraham would be the father of a great nation who lived by faith. That's what your inheritance is, that's what your children is, and that's what your great and great great grandchildren are. They are fruit of Abraham's lineage. They are the fruit of Abraham. Pray, you elders, you older people, I don't mean elders, elders, like my church, but you all pray for, you maybe don't have grandchildren, pray for the people who do have grandchildren. Pray that God's truth would work its way down into their hearts and they would believe in the truth of God's word. And so, conclusion, what do we need with each passing day? First, we need to be reminded that hope is discovered when we realize it is by grace we are saved. Romans 7, 24 says, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's how we're delivered. Second, to be reminded that hope is discovered when we realize that obedience is still called for as we live out our lives in this world. Romans, or Hebrews chapter 2 verse 1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Look unto Jesus, the founder and the perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God." And then, Thirdly, to be reminded that hope is discovered when we realize that we have a responsibility to tell the message of hope and that deliverance from the brokenness, suffering, and feeling of abandonment in our lives. If we trust the message, that we are saved by the blood of another, and that by grace alone. In Revelation 19, it says, Then the angel said to me, write this, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true words of God. Matthew chapter 28, which you know well. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.