Exodus chapter 13 tonight in your Bibles. Exodus chapter number 13. The Bible says in verse number 1, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto me all the firstborn. Whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast, it is mine. And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place. There shall no unleavened bread be eaten. This day came ye out in the month of Abib. Let's pray. Father, we love you tonight. We thank you for the words of God. We thank you, Lord, for being a good God. Lord, our church family, it's a blessing to be here. It's a blessing to see folks make the effort to get out here on a cold, rainy evening. They've been working all week. God, I just pray you'd make this evening a real blessing and a help to them. Lord, we think of the prayer requests. We pray for Brother Briggs. We ask you to take care of him, God, give him peace, comfort, strength, quick and a full recovery. Lord, to be with the doctors tomorrow, guide their hands, direct them. We pray, Father, that your Holy Spirit would just be right there. and that, Lord, you'd take care of him. I pray for Wyatt. I ask you to keep him safe getting back in, Lord. I pray you'd give him a good time, help him to feel comfort, Lord. I pray that you'd get that plane in through the storms and that all be well, Lord. We ask in Jesus' name. And pray also for Brother Dan's mother, Lord. We ask you to take care of her, heal her up, use this time to get a hold of her heart, help her and strengthen her, Lord. and speak to where we pray, and then those that we've been witnessing to, my requests and Brian's requests, God, we ask you by your Holy Spirit to work on them, even now, right now, while we're praying, while we're here. We pray that you'd be working and moving in their life, in their hearts, and give us opportunities to continue to plant the seed of the Word of God and see some fruit come, and that eventually they'd be saved, Lord. We ask you to bless now as we get into this chapter. I pray that the subject that we've got to look at tonight would sink home, that this passage would come alive, and that you'd minister it to hearts. We pray in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Alright, now verses 1-3, you see that Moses gets some instruction. Verses 1 and 2, Moses gets some instruction from the Lord. So God's telling Moses, here's what I want you to tell Israel. Whatever comes out first is to be sanctified, that's set apart to meet. This is the first time the word sanctified shows up in your Bible, which is significant because you and I are to be sanctified. Meet for the Master's use, prepared unto every good work. So, God tells Moses to tell them something. Now, you'll notice in verse number 3, here's something that caught my attention. When Moses begins to speak to Israel in verse number 3, this is the first thing Moses says to them. Moses said unto the people, Remember this day in which ye came out from Egypt. Remember this day in which ye came out from Egypt. That's the subject I want to preach on from this chapter tonight is I want to preach to you Wednesday night crowd. You serious students of the Scriptures. The ones who are willing to do what you've done to get out here tonight no matter what's been going on all week and you got to get up for work tomorrow and you came out here anyways. I want to preach to you on don't forget. Don't forget. You know what I see in that verse, number three, the Holy Ghost of God inspiring Moses to say something because he knows and Moses knows. Moses, don't forget, is an 80-year-old man at this point. He's been around a little while. He's learned a little bit of something. And in human nature, there's always a tendency to forget. It's a weird thing. It's uncanny how bizarre we are. I mean, we'll forget the things we shouldn't forget and remember the things we shouldn't remember. You ever notice that? I mean, if somebody is good to you and treats you well, man, you'll forget about that in no time. But somebody does you wrong and you'll have a hard time ever forgetting what they did to you. Isn't that funny? It's funny how we forget all the good stuff and we remember all the bad. I think it's just ingrained in a sinful human nature. And God the Holy Ghost wants you and I to know tonight the same thing He wanted Israel to know back here in Exodus 13, that there's something you should not forget. What should you not forget? Remember this day in which she came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage. For by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place, There shall no leavened bread be eaten." He wants you and I to remember the day that God brought you out of bondage. That's what He's saying. I'm telling you, it's a good thing to be redeemed from the bondage of sin. It's a blessing that God saved me. I mean, Proverbs 5, verse 22, His own iniquity shall take the wicked himself, as he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. You realize that your sin had you bound up and wrapped up and it was there to hold you captive. It was not going to let you go until Jesus Christ came into your life. There was no escape from your sin. There was no controlling your sin. There was no victory over your sin. But when Jesus Christ showed up, the day that he came in with a strong hand, the hand of Almighty God came into your life. Your sin was forgiven. The bonds and the power of that sin was broken, not only now, but in eternity. Before that, you had your sin, you were stuck with it, and you were taking it to hell with you forever and ever and ever. Amen. That's a powerful thing. I don't know why it is that we get to a point where we forget how good it is to be saved. We get to a point after a little while where we forget what we felt like when we didn't have the Lord. We forget how miserable our sin made us. We forget how unhappy and ungodly we were. We forget how miserable we were. We forget how sorrowful we were. We forget how regretful we were. We forget! How horrible sin is because we get so far down the road of serving God and so wrapped up in the blessings of God, we can't remember what a miserable wretch we were before we had Jesus Christ. And God says, remember the day that I delivered you. It's one of the problems with people raised in church. The excuse is, well, he that's forgiven much will love me much, you know, and I don't have this crazy testimony of being a drug addict and an alcoholic, and I didn't spend my whole life, you know, fornicating and doping and running around, so, you know, I mean, I've just, all I've ever known, you're an unthankful little wretch. You realize how good you got it? I'm glad I've missed out on some things. There's a song I've missed out on living my life in sin. I've missed out on the heartaches. That thing goes on and on, we gotta get that song and sing it. Man, thank God I missed out on some stuff. It's a blessing to be saved. It's a wonderful thing that God redeemed me from my sin. I mean, I think even the children in here that are saved need to remember the day you got saved and get excited about it and be excited about it. It's a blessing to know you're going to heaven when you die. It's a blessing to know you're not gonna spend eternity in like a fire. It's a blessing not to have to be afraid if you get bad news from the doctor or get into a car accident tonight on your way home. It's a blessing to know you're saved. Remember the day that God delivered you and don't ever get over that day. It's funny how we first get married, you know, it's a great illustration. Excuse me if you're single, I'm sorry. It's a great illustration. Man, you're so in love. You know all about each other's faults. Her dad or his dad or her mom or his mom, they'll pull you aside and be like, nah, I just want you to know what you're getting into. And you're like, wow, that's so cute. And after 10 years, you forget. Now you know each other too well. But you every once in a while got to just remember. You got to think back on that day. You got to make up your mind you're going to dwell there. Remember the day God brought you out of the bondage of sin, but there's something else I thought about. I thought about the bondage of religion. You know why so many people stay bound up in false religion? My wife and I were talking about this recently. It's just people that are sincere in their false religion. Very sincere. And you sit back for a minute and you think about them and you feel sorry for them. Like, they're sincere, but they're sincerely wrong. Why is it some people stay in their religion no matter how much of the gospel you give them? No matter how clearly you show them from the Scriptures that, look, your religion can't save you. I mean, you can convince them, and like the book of Acts says, convince them mightily. You can get them to the point, listen, if they'll give you the time, you can get them to the point where they say, yes, I see what you're saying. Yes, I agree with what you're saying. Yes, I realize what the Bible says. Yes, that makes all the sense in the world, but no, I'm not going to do it. And you go, what is the matter with you? Why? Why won't you make that step? So many times we've had people, I know I need to get in at Bible Believers. I need to come to that church, that's the church I need to be at. Why? Why won't you just come? You know what it is that holds people back? Fear. Fear. Hebrews chapter 2 verses 14 and 15 says this, For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Did you follow that? He says through fear of death, all their lifetime they're subject to bondage, the bondage of religion. They got bound up by the law. And when Christ came and worked miracles in their face, they said, man, wow, this is something. Wow, that's amazing. Wow, did you see what he did? Wow, let's go get some of that miracle food. Five loaves and two fishes, he fed all the, wow. And when all he said is, come on to me, they said, no, thank you, we're gonna stay with our law. What? I mean, Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. I'll hear thee again in this matter. What? You're convinced. You see it. You know it. Why? It is fear. It is fear. It is fear of death that keeps people from coming to Jesus Christ, and that makes no sense in the world. It just makes absolutely no sense at all. Something about taking my hands off of it, and stepping out in faith, not on my own foundation, but stepping out in faith on what Jesus Christ did, panics them. And at the last second, they say, no, you know what? I'll stay with what I feel like is a more sure thing, because I can control me. And if my good works outweigh my bad works, and if I try to be a good person, they feel like they're just in a little bit more control of their eternal destiny. And it is fear that causes them to never get out of that boat and step out on that water with their eyes on Jesus Christ and walk right across those waves, stride off into eternity in the good hands of Almighty God, because they're afraid. They're in the bondage of fear. They're saying, Pharaoh's gonna get me if I try. So God came in and God smoked Pharaoh. Pharaoh thrust them out. And God said, don't forget the day that I delivered you. Now, if you're here tonight and you're saved, it is because of the power of God. It is not because you're so much better than anybody else. I get so tired of that attitude I see among Bible-believing Christians. That, you know, you feel like your pits don't stink. But everybody else's does. You know, a lost guy at work says a swear word around you and you act like he just defiled your holiness and instead of being a witness and being bold and not, I'm not talking about being one of the boys and hanging out and laughing at the dirty jokes. You understand the balance, right? Just, I'm a Christian. No, you're not, you're a stuck up snot. You remember where you came from. You remember who it was that got a hold of you. You remember who it was that gave you the guts to step out. Who in here, when they got saved, didn't feel some fear? Who in here didn't feel like they were fighting over that thing? Do you know what I mean when I say that? It was like, why is it like pulling teeth to get somebody? But boy, when you get saved, you want to do it. I sat in my office one time with somebody. I think it was two or three hours. It was minimally two. Might have been as much as three. And I said, OK, we're done. And he wouldn't leave. He just sat there. I said, why aren't you leaving? I said, you want me to push you, don't you? You want me to push you. Yeah, I kind of do. What's your problem, man? Fear. Fear. But boy, when you take that step, you remember when you took that step? You remember when you got out there and trusted the Lord? You remember how wonderful that thing was? Don't ever forget it. Because not every day is going to be that day. Not every day of your Christian life is going to be a mountaintop. Not every day of your Christian life are you going to feel like continuing. So remember what God's done for you. Remember how good God's been to you. Some things I want to think about with you tonight that I don't want you to forget. I don't want you to forget how it could have turned out for you. Look at verses 14 through 16. And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? That thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage. And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the matrix being males. So whether you were that one who was just in the bondage of sin, or maybe you were in the bondage of sin and the bondage of religion, God brought you out. I don't ever want you to forget how it could have been. You see, what we saw there is that God actually had a price already paid for Israel. For those who had obeyed Him, for those who had put the blood on the doorpost, we talked about that last week. For those who trusted the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, that cleanseth us from all sin. A price has already been paid for your sin. A price has already been laid out. I mean, the thing is paid absolutely in full. Your eternity is settled. All your sins are forgiven. And the judgment on those sins has already been passed. Jesus Christ took care of 100% of it. It's done. Don't forget how things could have turned out. Remember what could have happened in your life. Remember that you could have lived and died a lost person, dead in trespasses and sins, a devout Roman Catholic, a devout Muslim, a devout Mormon, a devout JW. The only reason you pulled in here tonight and not two miles up the road is because Jesus Christ showed up and you got a hold of that thing and he's been good to you and by a strong hand he took care of you. Don't forget where you could have been tonight. Some of you could be home right now drunk on the couch. Some of you could be paying out alimony, child support. Some of you may be, God bless you, it's alright. Thank God you're here tonight. Amen. Some of you could be strung out on crack right now. Some of you would be. Some of the children that are here would not be here. They wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for Jesus Christ. You love your family? You love your spouse? You love your church, you love your salvation, you enjoy your life. Don't forget how it could have turned out. Don't ever forget how it could have been. Why weren't you born somewhere in communist China? Why weren't you born with a rag on your head? You ladies all wrapped up. It cracks me up the way some Christian women complain. Like, Christianity is so rough and the Bible is so brutal because God says they can't be pastors. You know, and that's just equality, equality, equality. But then they're going to go defend all that crazy stuff. Why were you born in America? With your face all wrapped up. What vote did you have on it? Eh, something worth thinking about. I had no vote on it. God gave me to Michael Richard Reagan Sr. and Vivian Marie Reagan. I didn't vote for that. I was born in Annapolis Hospital. I think it is in Wayne, Cherry Hill, and something or other. I knew there was something good about you. I knew a lot of good about you, but something I really liked about you. Wow, that could have come across wrong. I knew there was something good about you. Not that way. Why? Why wasn't I born over there in Syria? Why aren't my children in the hospital right now with a gas mask on, with an oxygen mask on, taking their last breaths? Don't forget how things could have turned out. Boy, doesn't that put life into a whole new perspective? Why weren't you born in Haiti? Why didn't you lose your family a little bit ago to that, a few years ago to that earthquake? Why hasn't a tsunami hit your town? Don't forget how things could have turned out. You know what God's telling them to do here in verses 14 through 16? He says, when your son shows up and asks you why we do what we do, what is this? God said, your kids are going to ask you why you're doing it. Why don't we go back to church? Why do we got to go back tonight? Why don't we go on Wednesday night? Why don't we believe the Bible? Why, dad? Tell them. Tell them why. You know, every time you tell them, remember. Remember why. You know, the kids know whether you're real or not. They know whether you're sincere or not. He's saying, I want you to do something. I want you to have something that you're going to pass down through the generations that's going to remind you that your kid didn't die because a price was paid for you. A substitute took your place. So what I want you to do is I want you to sanctify the kid to me. Your children you're going to redeem. God didn't ask you to sacrifice your children like Moloch does. Boy, I don't know why we can't do this. We can't do that. Oh, it's so hard being a Christian. Are you kidding me? God says, sanctify those kids. Set those kids apart from me so I can bless them and I can take care of them and I can help them. Kids, it's always easier being a Christian. It's not harder. So hard doing right. It's easier doing right. Don't give me that junk. It's easier. What's hard is telling your wicked flesh, no, I'm not going to sin. That might be difficult. But it is always easier in the long road to serve Jesus Christ and do right. Always easier. God says, set those kids apart for Me. All right, Lord. They're Mine. I want them to open the matrix, and by the way, slaughter the animals, sacrifice them. But the kids set them apart for me. You know what Molech says? Burn those kids alive. They'd put those little babies, they'd start a fire in that statue and they'd put those little babies on burning hot, I mean just red hot iron arms. Lay that baby on there and those arms would be folded like that and those babies would roll off into a pit, they'd burn. Burn their children alive to their gods. That's what the devil does. That's what false religions do. They take the parents and have them slaughter the children and sacrifice them to their false gods. All God said is, set them apart to me. So much better serving the Lord. It's always better. A price had to be paid and that price was paid for you. Don't forget it. Don't forget how it turned out. You know what? It's a privilege to present the first fruits to the Lord. He said, all that openeth the matrix, the first fruits. It's a privilege. Oh, you know what we could have if we just didn't give to the church? Whatever, man. Whatever. You know, that kind of a spirit, that kind of an attitude, keep it. Keep it. I mean, we cash grumpy checks, but you're getting nothing for it, so you might as well keep it. God loveth a cheerful giver. I'm just being your pastor right now, not a businessman. Sorry. If you're not giving cheerfully, you might as well keep it. Well, you know, what's the church going to do if I don't tithe? Try it and see. God will take care of it. Or He's not in it. So why do I want to keep the doors open if God ain't here? I say that boldly. Amen. And I mean it. Thank God. Psalm 127.3 says, Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward. Ain't it a blessing? It's a blessing. It's a blessing to have a church packed full of kids in here. See them all filing out on Sunday morning. Sunday school teachers, don't rip your hair out. Keep it in. This too shall pass. They're getting more than you think they're getting. And they're a blessing. Why do we do that? Why do we have Sunday school? Why do we bring them to church? Why do we try to train them right? Because they're the lords. Because we know what price would have been paid It's nothing hurrying up, getting them dressed, and all the frustration that it is, especially when they're littler. Now it's just aggravating trying to get through the house because I turn to the fridge and one's in there, and I turn to the sink and one's in there, and I try to go in the bathroom and there's two in there, and I'm just like, oh my word, I can't do anything. But it's easier. Why go through all that hassle? Because it's a whole lot less hassle than bailing them out of jail. I'm not saying that'll never happen to a Christian, I'm just saying your chances are greatly reduced. It's a blessing, man. It's a privilege to present the first fruits to Him. You know, the Spartans knew something about children. Unless you guys heard of the Spartans. Everybody's heard of the Spartans. They were a crazy society. Absolutely crazy. Do you know from the day that they were born, they started training those kids to fight? Infants. You know, what they did is that they'd refuse to get them when they'd cry. They'd put them in the dark and leave them alone. And when they're afraid, they wouldn't go in there and get them. They taught their children from the beginning not to be afraid of darkness and not to be afraid of isolation. Don't be afraid of being alone and don't be afraid of the dark. You know what fear will do to you? Fear will keep you in a false religion all the way to hell. Fear will keep you from stepping out on faith, faith, faith. It's fear that holds somebody back from stepping out on faith. You know what they taught their kids from the beginning? Don't be afraid. Just by their training, just by the way they raised them, just by their culture. From the time that they were zero to the time that they were seven, they stayed with their mother. At seven years old, they went into, I believe it's pronounced the agogi. It was a school where they'd go. And at seven years old, they were property of the state. And from seven to 20, they were trained to fight. Seven years old. They would have matches between each other that were brought on by the instructors in the school that could literally result in death between them, fights. They were training them from the beginning to be warriors. They would do a thing where they'd tie them up to a post, and they'd beat them with a whip. And the families would stand there and cheer the kids on. And if you could take it without feigning, And not run. If you wanted to get out of it, you could run. You had to stand there of your own free will. You could stop them any time you wanted. Then you lost. It was considered a great dishonor. So mothers would stand there and scream at their sons, don't you faint, don't you faint. Well, they'd beat those kids. They were crazy. At 20 years old, they could enter the active military. And at 30 years old, they were allowed to leave the barracks if they were married and start living with their family. But from 20 to 30, if they married, they could only go see their wife occasionally. They lived in the barracks with the other men. From the beginning, from birth, they began training those kids to be soldiers. And at 7 years old, they brought them into school to actively teach them to fight. And it goes on and on, all the Spartans, the Spartans, you know what they would do? They would purposefully deprive them of good food. They would always give them less than they needed. And then they would teach them from seven, when they went into the school, from seven years old, less food that they needed. And they would teach them, if you want to survive or get enough food to fight, you've got to go steal it. But here's the problem. If the person you're stealing from catches you, they beat you. you're going to get beat for stealing because stealing is wrong. And then you're going to get beat by your instructor when you get back to the school, like a flogging, like a real beating for getting caught. They were teaching them to survive on their own and preparing them for battle. Regularly fighting, regularly training with malnutrition. Now here's my point. not ever to abuse a kid because God brought that culture down and He brought it down hard. He brought it down hard. If they could have instituted some similar principles with less abuse and put God in the picture, there's more to tell you. I mean, the way they treated their slaves, it was just terrible. Terrible. And they came down because of sin and debauchery and wickedness and abuse. Foolishness, filthy living. God brought them down. But you knew their name, and that's like 400 BC, and you knew their name when I mentioned it. Because their life from the beginning, from the first one that opened the matrix, all the way through, their life was all about one thing, being prepared to fight. And that's why 300 of them stood up at the Battle of Thermopylae against an army 100 times their size. And I think it was like a three-day battle, if my memory serves me correctly. You know what we're doing wrong? We're not teaching our children from day one what this thing is all about. From day one, I mean, God's been gracious, hasn't he? But if you and I can get a hold of this thing right now and with your children and with your grandchildren from day one, start teaching them what this thing is all about, instituting character. You understand what I'm saying. From day one, instituting character, reminding them of where we were. I tell my kids what their daddy would be without Jesus Christ. I can give them illustrations of my father got saved when he was 20 years old and my grandfather and my great-grandfather and my great-great-grandfather going all the way back for years. There were some very similar problems running down through the Reagan men all the way back. I mean, it was the exact same behavior pattern, but for the grace of God, there go I and my children and my family. It is God that made the difference. Without God, I know right where I'll be. Remember where you'd be without the Lord. That's what they were to do in verses 14 through 16. Remember to whom we owe the glory, verse 5, and it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which He sware unto thy fathers to give thee a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month. 7 days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days, and there shall be no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. And thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, This is done, because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. It shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth, for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt. And thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year. And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of Canaanites, as he sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee. You know what he said repeatedly? Look at verse 11. Remember who gets the glory for the good things that have come in your life. Remember, don't forget. Now that you're out of Egypt, God's going to take you through that wilderness and He's going to put you in that promised land. Remember who got us out of bondage. It wasn't me that saved myself. It wasn't me that broke the bonds of sin. It wasn't me that's gotten any level of victory that I have in my life. It wasn't me. It was God that got me out by a strong hand. It was Almighty God that deserves the glory for everything in my life. It's all about Him. Well, Lord's really blessed. We're doing a great thing. We're fixing to do a bunch of updates to the building and people are already getting excited about that. We haven't even voted it in yet. But everybody's excited about it. I kind of think I know how the vote's going to go. Let's not forget when things are looking sharp. Let's not forget who did it for us. I think you're a generous church. Actually, I know you're a generous church. Rob brings me a report offering every week, and I see the attendance, and I know you give larger than your attendance. That's a blessing. Praise the Lord. I mean that from my heart. Praise the Lord. But can I tell you something? If it weren't for God, you wouldn't be able to give. He gets the glory. Even if you were able, you wouldn't have the grace to give. I've known a whole lot of really cheap rich people. Amen. It means they don't have the grace to give. It's God that gives a Christian the grace to give. It's God that gets the Christian out of bondage. It's God who gives us our blessing. Keep your finger here in Exodus. We'll be right back in a minute. Go with me to Isaiah chapter number 10. Isaiah in chapter number 10, please. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah. That should help you a little bit. Isaiah chapter 10. Find Psalms and keep going to your right. Isaiah chapter 10, look at verse 10. Isaiah 10.10, As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria, shall not I, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols. Wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent, And I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. See how great I am, how smart I am. Oh, we've kept ourselves out of debt, and we've been real smart with our money. Oh yeah? Okay, you think it's you? You think it's because you're smart? You think it's because you're wise? That's what God, that's God. Okay, you think it's you? Verse 14. And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people. And as one gathereth the eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth, and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped? Shall the axe boast against him that heweth therewith? Or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it, as if the rod should shake itself against him that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood? Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness, and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his holy one for a flame, and he shall burn and devour his thorns and his briars in one day, and shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, both soul and body, and they shall be as they were a standard bearer, as when a standard bearer fainteth. And as the rest of the trees of the forest shall be few that a child may write them." God said, you think you're wise, you think you're mighty, you think you're strong, you think you're valiant, you think you did something great, you think you're better than everybody else. I'm gonna bring you down. Have I mentioned to you before that God doesn't share his glory? When a man takes the glory and doesn't give the glory to God, God takes that man out. And that's a scary thought. You know what happens to us after a while, folks, when God delivers us out of bondage and when God begins to bless us and some good things begin to happen in our families, praise the Lord. And you know, this hasn't been much of a problem yet, but as the kids get older, it'll become a problem. I've seen it so much in churches, the family pride. We begin to say, well, you know, we did such a great job parenting. And see, brother, so-and-so's kid's there for all that dabble. Because they didn't do it right like we did. God despises that stuff. Any good thing that comes out of my life, out of your life, out of our church, we better not forget who it was that did it for us. We better make sure and remember to give Him all the glory. The last one is this. We can't forget who it is that guides us. Look at verse 17. It came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, Peradventure the people repent when they see war and return to Egypt. And they returned to Egypt. But God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. For he had straightly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones away, hence with you. And they took their journey from Sukkoth and encamped beneath them in the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud. lead them the way, and by night the pillar of fire to give them light, to go by day and night. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people." Never forget who it was that guided you when in verse 17 you were too weak to make it. It came to pass when Pharaoh had let them go that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although it was near. For God said, lest peradventure the people repent when they see war and they return to Egypt." You realize God sees you and he sees how strong you're not. He sees me and he sees how strong I'm not. And I've come to realize that sometimes I haven't gotten what I wanted to get. Because later, I began to realize I wasn't as strong as I thought I was, and I couldn't handle what I thought I wanted. And so God said, no. Well, that'll be a clear-cut, easy, quick way to go. No. I'm not going to let you go the clear-cut, quick, and easy way. I'm going to actually take you the long way around. Why, Lord? Because there's a Philistine right ahead of you. And those Philistines, they're like those Spartans. They know how to fight. And they were born and bred and raised to be crazy. When a baby is first born in Spartacus, they bring it in to the elders and they look at it and if it was deemed too weak, they would throw it out. Brand new infant baby, if they said this baby doesn't have the constitution or the strength. They go, and some said they'd throw it into a valley, but then others said that that was a totally inaccurate thing passed down in history, but they put it out on the side of a field so strangers coming by would grab it and hopefully take them. Either way, the babies were discarded. They were raised from birth like that. God said, you Israelites, you don't have what it takes to fight them. You're not ready. You're not strong enough. but I take you the long way around, make you completely go around that whole mess. Why? Because God's looking at you like an abandoned infant, Ezekiel chapter 16. That's how he saw Israel. 1 Thessalonians 2, he looks at you like a nurse, cherished the child. Deuteronomy chapter 32, he looks at you like an eagle looks at her little eaglets. Hovering over you and taking care of you. Aren't you glad you got a God that's watching out for you and leading you? Well, I've stayed faithful when others dropped out. Well, the only reason you stayed faithful when others dropped out is because God probably made it easier on you than them. You ever stop and think about that? I'm still in the ministry ten years. You know how many preachers I know wash out after two? Eighteen months is the going rate now. Yeah, it's probably because God gave me such a good church. I had to deal with what they had to deal with, I'd have probably quit too. Don't forget who guides you. Don't forget who's taking you through. Don't forget who's taking care of you, who's leading you. Know God's there for you and guiding you when you're afraid. Now those Spartans might have left those kids in the dark, but God didn't leave his in the dark. This world left you in the dark. The devil will lead you in the dark. Just leave you there. Marriages fall apart, drug addictions, alcohol addictions, lives fall apart, wind up doing jail time, this, that, and the other thing, whatever it might be, you're blinded by the God of this world, blinded, completely blind, can't see the light of the glorious gospel, can't see it. The devil will leave you in the dark, but God didn't. God gave them a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. You know why? Because at night they needed to see something. Thy words are a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. And you know why I think he gave them that pillar of cloud by day? I found that real interesting starting to look that thing up. Most clouds offer anywhere from 32% to 89% of coverage. You can still get sunburn with the clouds out, yeah, but not as bad. Depending on the cloud type, somewhere from 32% to 89% of coverage. Blocking UV rays and stuff that burns you up. God's just taking care of them, just leading them, just loving on them, just watching out for them. He didn't pick them up and drop them in Canaan. They needed to go through the wilderness. They needed to get stronger. But man, they were led all the way by Jesus. Jesus led me all the way, led me step by step each day. I'll tell the saints and angels as I lay my burdens down, Jesus led me all the way. He's doing stuff we don't know He's even doing. Notice in closing, Verse 19, And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had straightly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones away, hence with you. You know, your Joseph's bones aren't still in Egypt. Remember, remember, his bones are gone. So what he's going to do is, he's going to take us, we're his body, out of here. And you're going to wind up from where you're at in this wilderness, you're going to wind up on the mountaintop of the millennial kingdom, man. That's going to be a good one. Because isn't your Christian life full of mountaintops and valleys? Isn't that the truth? In the millennium, you're never going to have another valley. It's going to be always on the mountaintop, man. Always fire it up. Don't forget. Don't forget. Don't forget. When you're bummed out and discouraged, don't forget there's 1,000 years coming. And then I believe what's going to happen after that, I think for the millennium, we're just going to jump off and just sail on out into eternity. Mountaintops are going to be a thing of the past, man. We're going to be into something we've never been in before. It's better than mountaintops. And it lasts forever and ever and ever. So between here, between tonight, April 5, 2017, and your death, the rapture, don't forget who delivered you, who paid the price, who you owe the glory to, and who's guiding you. And if you remember those things, the day will be coming soon. We'll carry our bones out of here with them. And we'll be glad we finished strong. Don't get so discouraged that you quit. Don't forget how good you got it. Let's pray. Father, we love you tonight. We thank you, Lord, for the storyline here. Thank you for what you've done. Thank you for the way you wrote it. I pray that you'd help us, Lord, not to forget. How great it is to be delivered. How much we owe you, how much glory we owe you. And help us, Lord, not to forget how you've led us. We ask you, Father, to continue to lead us all the way to death or to the rapture or whatever comes first, Lord. Help us to stay faithful, to stay with you, to trust you, to lean on you. Get a hold of our hearts. Get a hold of the hearts of our children. Strengthen and build your church, we pray. Bless the rest of everybody's week. Our Lord, give them encouragement, help them to think back on the day they were saved. and we ask you to give us a great day on Sunday, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.