While I draw this bleeding breath, When my eyes shall close in death, When I soar to worlds unknown, See beyond thy judgment throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee. have God providing us with those that can sing. Praise God, I appreciate these men being up here wanting to participate in music this morning. All right, we'll dismiss the kids. They go to class with Mrs. Shore. And the rest of us, please take our Bibles and open up to Exodus chapter 12. Or if you have a church Bible, it's page 75. All right? Exodus chapter 12. Or if you have a church Bible, page 75. I mentioned last week, as we started the service, about being a counselor at the Wilds. And actually, what we did just now is reminiscent of that. Because at the Wilds, they've got good Christian music and opportunities to participate in music. And so as I went there, I thought, well, I'll try out for the choir. So I tried out for the choir. And my team leader, Matt Collier, he came up to me and he said, Ben, you made it in a cappella. And I was like, OK, what's a cappella? And there's, I mentioned 110 counselors or whatever at the Wilds, but only three get to get into the staff singing group that is a cappella, like we just did the last verse. And you sing without accompaniment or music and just the voices of the choir. are all that it is. But one of the songs that Summer was a song that said this, Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready for the coming of the Lord? It's actually, it's much quicker, but if I sing my part right now, I didn't sing the melody, it would benefit you to hear that. But it's, Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready for the coming of the Lord? And the words are, the time he will come now approaches. The task is by far not complete. So urgently work till our savior appears and we sit at his glorious feet. And then it goes into that chorus again. Are you ready? Are you ready for the coming of the Lord? The souls of the world know not Jesus. The church is so stooped in its pride. Oh, hear Jesus call for the holy and mighty. Obey him and follow his holy cry. If I told you that the Lord was coming soon, what would change in your life today? Because Jesus Christ himself tells in Revelation chapter 22 and verse 12, it says, And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth to make it the line." It's Jesus saying, I'm coming quickly, and you need to be ready. In this place is a holy place, heaven. Outside are those that are not allowed entry into that place. His reward is with them when he comes. And he says, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that cureth say, Come. And let him that is a thirst, Come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that cureth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He which testifieth these things saith, and if you've got a red-letter edition of the Bible, these words are in red, as Jesus says, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus, John echoes. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. All right. And so Christ is coming and he is coming soon. And we know that he's already come. We understand that Jesus came in his incarnation. Isaiah 7, 14 spoke prophetically about that coming. when it said, therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. That was prophetic in the day. I mean, that was ahead of time. We know from the beginning of the New Testament, the angels came and said, unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior as Christ the Lord. Just like the Word of God said, He would come, Jesus Christ, we know did come. But there's two more comings that are very important to us in our consideration, especially this morning. There's the rapture of the church. That's the moment where the Lord Jesus Christ comes back for those that are born again, for those that are saved. The Bible speaks about it in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 15. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, so shall we ever be with the Lord. And that could happen today, it could happen before this preacher finishes this message, because the coming of Christ is imminent. That means that at any moment that trumpet gets down and the dead in Christ would be there in the presence of Jesus and we that are saved would be taken from this place. And if it happened in our church this morning, it might be that some would not go. It might be that some would be left. But the Bible says that all that are born again would depart this place to be Then there's a coming that is called the Second Coming, not to be confused with the Rapture of the Church. It's a coming when Jesus Christ comes to defeat the Antichrist and reign for a thousand years at the Millennium. The Bible speaks about it in Matthew 14 beginning at verse 40. When it says, then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Truly I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But, and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken. The Lord of that servant shall come in a day, when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of. and appointed his portion with the hypocrites, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And so there's two aspects of the coming of the Lord. The coming of the Lord, the rapture, praise God. Those of us that are saved, he's coming for us. But by God's grace, we also want to be ready for his coming. Then it's coming in judgment, in the judgment set up in the discipline of those that ignore the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ was coming again, and we're not at all prepared for his coming. And so our text this morning, if you remember what we've read about the Passover, our text this morning, Exodus chapter 12, verses 21 through verse 30, speaks of the coming of Jehovah in the Old Testament, in a way that is similar to both of that of the coming of the Lord at the rapture and the coming of the Lord at judgment, the second coming. How so? Well, He came to judge Egypt and He came to set Israel free. Okay, so we see those two aspects and I've entitled my message this morning, A Night to be Ready. And if I was a preacher back then, and I knew this was going to be taking place, I would preach a message very similar to what I am going to preach today, because I didn't exist back then. I didn't live back then. I can't preach it to them, but I can, rightly, this morning, take this Old Testament story of the coming of the Lord back then and preach it to us now with the same emphasis as it was preached back then, because he's as surely coming in the future as he came in the past. And the thing is, this morning, we need to be ready. And so a very simple idea this morning, you need to be ready for the coming of the Lord. And the question would be obviously, are you ready? Now our text this morning, just two points. And the first is, some are ready. And the second point is, some are not. And may God help us to be those that are ready. And certainly as preacher this morning, my desire is to get you ready if you're not ready. Or us to get ready others that are not ready. And to make sure by God's grace we're ready ourselves for the coming of the Lord. Let's pray and ask God's blessing in this work. Father, I thank you for this Old Testament passage. And Father, I praise you for the Word of God. And Father, I pray that you put us into the soberness of the moment back those many thousands of years ago, as Israel was getting ready for the coming of Jehovah, and as Egypt was not ready at all for the coming of Jehovah. And Father, I pray as believers that there would be a recognition in our hearts of the imminency of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, for those that are saved, I pray that there will be a panic in their hearts, that they're not ready at all for the coming of the Lord. Father, I can't preach without the Holy Spirit. My voice is weak this morning. and strengthen my voice, I pray. Father, for your divine enablement, I ask that the Spirit of God would guide me in that which I say. Father, I pray that you help me to preach lovingly, help me to preach biblically. Father, help me to preach practically. And Father, by the grace and enablement of your Spirit and the authority of the Word of God, help me to preach powerfully. And Father, I pray that you give us ears to hear. And Father, help us to listen to the voice of God as you speak your Word to us this morning by the Spirit of God. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, again, just two points this morning, and with sub-points, all right? But the first point is, some are ready. Some are ready. Are you ready this morning? Those words, are you ready, I don't know about in your house, but those are common words in our house, all right? We've got eight of us, six kids, and some younger than others, and so you'll often hear us, probably daily, with those words, are you ready? It kind of means, are you prepared for your departure? You know, are your shoes on? Jacket on? If you're young, you can use the toilet. You know, a water bottle. You got your water bottle if you're going out on an outing or something. Are you prepared to walk out the door? Are you ready? The first group that we're looking at this morning in Exodus chapter 12 is a group that had everything prepared for the departure. There was nothing else to do because if Jehovah's coming, that's fine. They are absolutely ready for the coming of the Lord. And so as we consider that group this morning, those that are ready have chosen a lamb, okay? Those that are ready have chosen a lamb. Verse 21 says, then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, draw out and take you a lamb according to your families and kill the pastor. And so as the Jehovah's coming instruction is given, get a lamb, kill it, and get ready for the coming of the Lord. It's what God had already said to Moses earlier in the chapter, if you look back up to verse 1. The Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speaking unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next of the souls, every man, according to his eating, shall make your account for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and if you shall keep and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening." The animal that they were to kill was to be young and innocent and spotless. It says, your lamb shall be without blemish. The Bible tells us in Acts 8.32 about the Lord Jesus Christ, quoting from Isaiah 53. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb done before his shearers, so opened he not his mouth. And so they were told, take a lamb, we understand, we're looking at it in a New Testament perspective, that we also have a lamb this morning. That lamb is the Lord Jesus Christ. And that that lamb is innocent, is spotless, as the Bible says, He that knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. That Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, was perfect. The Lamb, in our story, again, was to be a male, a male of the first year, the Bible said. We understand that our Lord is a man. Matthew 20, verse 18, It says, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes. And they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him unto the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him. And the third day he shall rise again. The Lord Jesus Christ became a man. The Lord Jesus Christ is a man. Sometimes you get all sorts of things if you're dealing with people about God. And I've had people blasphemously say about God's gender, things and questions about that. Listen, God is masculine. The Word of God is very clear about that. Our Lord certainly is masculine. He was male. And then that lamb as well, was familiar to them as they have lived with it for four days. Look back in our text, the Bible tells us on what day of the month they were to begin this process. It says in verse 3, in the 10th day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, okay? And then verse 6, it says what? You shall keep it until the 14th day. So for four days this lamb would live with them. Some of you know this about me. I didn't grow up in Scotland, I grew up in the United States. And growing up in the United States we have something that we do a lot of in the Midwest where I'm from and that's we hunt. And we still provide food for our families through hunting wild animals. We go out and do that, and that's just part of our culture and things. You know, I don't have A problem killing an animal, that's a wild animal, to provide food. In fact, I could go to the Word of God this morning and go to Old Testament passages that share that God has given us animals for food. And I'll tell you this, we're a bit, what's the word? Out of it, we don't stop and think, where does our food come from, right? How many of you guys eat pork? Anybody? Anybody eat cow. Alright? You eat other animals. I know you do if you're not raising your hand. I don't think we have too many vegans or vegetarians in our church. We eat animals. We don't stop and think, you know, that animal came from somewhere and that animal is killed. Okay? We're cutting. Sanitize, I think was the word I was trying to think. Set apart from that idea. But the thing is this. I don't have a problem with that killing of an animal to eat. But what would be difficult for me is if I was a farmer and I raised the animals that we would slaughter and eat. That would be hard for me. Why? Because when you know an animal, it's different. Is that correct? This animal that they were to kill, was a lamb that had lived in her home. Listen, lambs are cuddly. Have you seen them? They're like a puppy dog. It really kind of surprised me. I didn't know we had a lot of sheep in the United States where I grew up, so I'm kind of learning things as I get over here. But to watch the lambs, you know, scampering about and playing. I mean, I even saw last night as I was out, I looked across the field and I saw these sheep even kind of running and playing and stuff. And so imagine a child, an Israelite child, in that home and that lamb comes in there. Well, they're not going to stay away from it, right? I mean, they're going to be touching a lamb and caring for the lamb. Well, Dad, this is a cute lamb. And they're going to get very familiar with that sacrifice. that's going to have to go out and die for them, right? And so I can just picture these Israelite children as, oh, daddy, daddy, no, no, daddy. You know, that's our little lamb that we've had. And dad's like, no, this is the one. This is the one that's been here for the 10th to the 14th. This is the lamb that must die. And we've got to take that lamb out, and we've got to slaughter that lamb so that the firstborn will be protected. And the next day, the Bible says in John 1.29, John sees Jesus coming unto him and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. John 1.36, looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold, the Lamb of God. walk with the disciples and the familiar lamb that for three years had instructed them, taught them, was innocent, guiltless, and wonderfully cuddling. You know, John, the Bible says about John, was relaxed on Jesus, leaning on Jesus. And we've talked about before that it seems from scripture that John is a young perhaps 10 years because he outruns Peter when they run to the grave. He's cared for in a special way by the Lord Jesus Christ and kind of looked out for by the Lord. And so those disciples had very close relationship with the Lamb of God. Within that, Lamb was taken from them. and put upon the cross. And I just want to consider this morning, have you gotten to know the Lamb of God? See, to put ourselves in the story and understand that the sacrifice is personal, it's going to take something that's very dear to you, very precious to you, that that Lamb is going to die. We need to remember that, that our Lord who is personable and loving and gracious, that our Lord, even so, He died for us. And then He was killed by them, verse 6, It says, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. Again, those kids would be great to see this take place, but again, the father would say to the son, son, if this lamb is not slaughtered, then you die. And that they had to take the knife, they had to take the implement with which they slaughtered that lamb and take that and kill that lamb. I want to remind us this morning that we hold in our hand the knife that killed the Son of God. That it was our sin that put Jesus Christ to death on the cross. Isaiah 53 verse 5 says, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace is upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. You know, we might as well have been the soldier that took his fist and punched the Lord. We might as well have been the soldier that took the crown of thorns and pressed it down and beat it down upon the head of the Lord. We might as well have been the man that grabbed the beard of the Lord Jesus Christ and plucked out the hair. We might as well have been the soldiers that took the hands of Christ and bound him and stripped his back and took the whip and laid strike after strike after strike across the back of the Lord. We might as well have been those that mocked him and said, who punched thee? And mocked him as he carried his cross, and mocked him as his hands were nailed to the cross by our sin, and his feet nailed to the cross by our sin. And his body hung up on the cross for our sin, and the Father turning his back upon the Lord Jesus Christ because of our sin, right? Because it was for our sin that Jesus cried. They had to kill the lamb. In reality, as we consider it this morning, this lamb that is our lamb that we need to take is a lamb that was put to death, as it were, by us. And so those that are prepared have taken the lamb. I asked you this morning if you'd taken the lamb. Have you taken the Lamb of God? Has Jesus been brought into your house? You know, Jesus says in Revelation, He said, stand at the door and knock. If any man open the door, I will come into him and sup with him and he with me. Do you have the Lamb? You're not ready this morning if you don't have the Lamb. Secondly, those that are ready have applied the blood. Verse point two says, and you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that's in the basin, and strike the lintel in the two side posts with the blood that's in the basin. And none of you shall go out at the door of the house until the morning, for the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians. And when he seeth the blood upon the lintel and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your house and smite you. As they slaughtered the lamb, they slaughtered the lamb in such a way that they collected the blood in a basin. They were to then take that basin and take hyssop. Hyssop was a plant that had leaves and such that would pick up a lot of blood, kind of like a brush. And they would take that and strike that to the top of the door in the sides of the door jamb of the house that they were inside of. And that blood would be their protection from the wrath of God as Jehovah came to kill the firstborn in each family. And so Exodus 12 verse 12 tells us, for I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord, and the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. And we have a hymn in our hymnal that we sing, don't we, about this, right? When I see the blood, when I see the blood, when I see the blood, what? I will pass, I will pass over you. And so that angel Yet, if they had the blood applied, they were to be spared. If you're the firstborn son in that Israelite family, how important is the blood to you? As you're sobbing, you're thinking about, this is the night. The judgment's coming. It's imminent. It's coming. God said, through Moses, get ready. Get a lamb, and get the blood, and get on the doorpost. I don't know about you, but if I was that boy, I'd say, come on. We've got to get this accomplished. It's got to happen. And you'd kind of be waiting that 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th day of the month, waiting for that 14th day, because you knew it was coming. And you're in earnest that that blood be applied. How important this morning. is the blood of the Lamb to you, for your heart to be right with God. See, that judgment is coming. But the Bible says about the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, Hebrews 10 verse 9, having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiness holiest by the blood of Jesus. Praise God that if you've gotten saved, you've got the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have access into the very presence of God. No fear, no anxiousness, no worry about God's judgment because of the blood. 1 Peter 1 verse 2. It says, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. If you're saved, you're blood bought by the grace of God. When you got saved, that blood was applied, sprinkled as it were, on your heart spiritually by God, and you have the blood, praise God. Because the Bible says without shedding blood, there's no forgiveness of sins, no remission of sin. 1 John 1.7 says, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. The blood. Do you have the blood today? One of the things about hunting, they've got different tools. If you shoot an animal, they actually have a torch that'll light up the blood. It has a special, I don't know, light of some sort that the blood just kind of almost glows in it. If I had a spiritual torch today that I could turn on over this congregation and it would illumine the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the hearts of those that are gathered here, would your heart have the blood? Have you been, have you had the blood of life to your account? If not, you'd be similar to that man at the wedding feast. In Matthew chapter 22, as the feast has been called, and God is staying calm, and they're trying to get, as it were, heaven populated by those that God desires to be there, and they're giving out the garments that are correct garments for those that are invited to come, and yet somebody comes that is not clothed properly. And Jesus says in the story Matthew 22 verse 12, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, find him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen. See, somehow he thought he was good. He thought he could get away with it, and he had a garment. But listen, it wasn't a garment of the blood of the lamb. It might have been a garment of religion. A christening. You know, I was christened when I was a baby. That's good enough, right? It could have been religion. It could have been good works. And yet, God does not accept anything but the blood of Jesus Christ applied to our hearts by grace through faith in Him. And so today, somebody could be in our church and somebody could be religious. Somebody could have even been, not just sprinkled, but baptized. Okay? But if they don't have the blood applied, they're not ready. And see, without that blood, when that death angel came, there was going to be judgment in that house. And the thing is this, no matter how confident you feel, how courageous you feel, how encouraged you feel to think, well, I don't really feel like I need the blood. It doesn't matter, does it? Because when God's judgment comes, only the blood is enough. And so those that are ready, they have a lamb, the Lamb of God. They have His blood, praise God, applied. And then third, they commemorate the mercy of God. They commemorate the mercy of God with a ceremony. Verse 24 says, and ye shall observe this thing, for it ordinates to be into thy sons forever. In other words, it's happening now, but you're gonna do this annually, okay? It's gonna be something that becomes a ceremony. Verse 25, it shall come to pass when you become to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass when your children shall say unto you what meaning by this service, this ceremony, that ye shall say It's a sacrifice of the Lord's Passover who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses and the people bowed their head in worship. Okay? And so get what it's saying. It's saying this is going to happen tonight. But it's going to be observed every year, okay? There's going to be a ceremony that takes place. Tonight's that night, that important night, where the death angel comes and God's judgment comes and he passes over. But we're going to commemorate this annual. It's a very important, as you know, ceremony to the Jews. I read this past Monday, at the library, I was reading a little bit, and I was reading a story about Dr. Ben David Lu, and he was a Jew that went through the Holocaust, and it's called, From Hitler's Hell to God's Peace. But after he got saved, he got worried about reaching the Jews, and so he actually moved to Detroit, where there's a lot of Jewish population, and started a ministry of reaching out to the Jews. But one thing that he did is he had a Passover service, alright? And so even... You know, these many thousand years later, that Passover ceremony is important. And Dr. David Ben-Hu did something similar to what we're doing today as we look at that Old Testament story and see the New Testament significance of it. Okay? But just to emphasize, Passover was a very important ceremony. In fact, Jesus observed the Passover just as Moses had instructed the Jews. And in Mark 14, verse 12, it says, in the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover, his disciples said unto him, where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the Passover? And again, this is thousands of years later, after the exodus and still be observed at the time of Christ and Christ himself participating. And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the good men of the house, The master saith, Where is the guest chamber? Why should ye eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared there made ready for us. And there's a ceremony to commemorate that day where the lamb saved the life of the child that was in that house. And Jesus kept that Passover. So you might be asking, well, pastor, if it's that important and they said to keep it forever, why don't we also keep the Passover? And that's a fair question. And it's because at this Passover, which was the last of the ordained of God Passover feasts, Jesus Christ instituted a new ceremony. Right? If you remember, this is where they're in the upper room right before Jesus is going to be taken in the garden and crucified and he's going to take the place of that lamb that, you know, it's amazing to look at. It's a lamb that's there. That lamb represented the death of Lord Jesus Christ as he's observing that. But even more specifically, as he says to them in verse point two of Mark 14, as they did eat, Jesus took bread and he blessed it and break it and gave to them and said, take eat, this is my body. He takes the bread and that becomes the symbol that we have at the Lord's table. As we observe the Lord's table, as we do the first Sunday of every month in the Sunday night service, those that are born again, those that are saved, commemorate the mercy of God through the breaking of bread, just like the broken body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until the day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. And when they had sung it to him, they went out into the Mount of Olives. And so, in the Old Testament, that lamb represented the Lord Jesus Christ. In the New Testament, Jesus starts a new ordinance at that same Passover meal. He says, this is my body, symbolically. This is my blood, symbolically. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, this doing remembers of me till I come. And as a church we have that privilege, those of us that are saved. And again, as we look at those that are ready, those that are ready commemorate What the Lord did as the Lord became our land as the Lord shed his blood for us And so praise God those already still observe a ceremony that Reminds them of what the Savior did and then fourth Those that are ready obey God's plan of mercy Those that are ready obey God's plan of mercy verse 28 So as the children of Israel went away and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. Okay, God said, this is what you're going to do. Take the lamb and the blood and put it on your doorpost and you're going to observe it this way. And the Bible says very clearly, they got the command from God to Moses and they went out and they did it. We're studying on Thursday nights. If you want to come, you're welcome to come. Thursday nights we're studying the story of Joseph, right? And in our study of Joseph, we've gotten to the point where his brothers had come down to Egypt and just in our last lesson, Joseph knows who they are. They don't know who he is. He puts them in prison, acting as if he thinks they're spies. And there's a conviction that's taking place. And they're in prison, thinking about their guilt. And though they're not guilty of spying, they're guilty of what they did to their brother Joseph. And their conscience is smiting them. And for those three days, they're talking. But then, he calls them out after three days. And he says, OK, here it is. One brother has to stay. The rest of you can go with your corn. And then when you come back, you've got to bring your youngest son, Benjamin, with you. And if he doesn't come, you're not going to see my face. And we emphasized on Thursday night that they had to come to terms with what the ruler said. They couldn't negotiate. It was non-negotiable. A lot of times, men want to come to God on their terms instead of God's terms. Like Cain, they think there's got to be something other than a blood sacrifice that God accepts. And some of you might thought, you know what? I kind of like that plant that God said to take that hyssop. I kind of like that hyssop. But I don't really like the idea of blood. But I like the hyssop. So I'll put a sprig of hyssop here. I'll put a sprig of hyssop here. And I'll put a sprig of hyssop here. And I really think God will accept that. But the thing is, as we've already considered this morning, those that are ready are those that have submitted to God's plan. And so today, you might think in your heart, you know what? I don't really like the idea of God shedding His blood. I don't really like the idea of the only way of salvation is Jesus Christ. But you know what? I can just honestly say this morning, it doesn't matter. What matters if you want to be ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is that you come to God's terms. And you say, God said about Jesus, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. And so those that are ready have obeyed God's plan of mercy. And then those that are ready are ready to walk out the door. They're ready to go. And verse 11 says, And thus shall ye eat it, with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And ye shall eat it in haste, It's the Lord's Passover. You know, why is it that God said to them, get your shoes on, get your cloak ready, get your staff in your hand, and the kids would be going, Dad, we going somewhere? And the answer is what? Yes. Because when the Lord came, it was going to be departure time for them. They were going to be set free. And so there is a readiness that they had to be ready to go on that journey and ready to walk out the door and to go on their way. to where God would take them when God came. When Katie and I were engaged, she had already been to New York City on a mission trip, and she had a love for New York City, and I knew God wanted us in youth ministry for maybe five years after we finished Bible college. And so we're praying about that together, and just thinking about where God wants to go. And she said, I think we should go to New York City. And I said, no way. I like hunting and fishing, all right? And the only time you carry a gun in New York City is you're not hunting, all right? And that's, you know, I'm not interested. I was just being frank. But God called us to New York City. And that was our first ministry. God opened up a door, unexpected. And that's where we went for a year and a half. We're in that ministry, we loved it, and they had told us, you know what, she's teaching, you've passed her, she's got half the salary, you've got half the salary, but if she has a baby and she can't teach, your salaries will be joined and you'll still have the same salary and we'll hire another teacher. And that was very gracious of them. But you know, when it came time, she did become pregnant with Kaylee. And so the baby's coming, and I knew the church couldn't afford to hire another teacher. And so in consideration of that, I went to the pastor. I said, Pastor, I said, we're going to resign. You're going to need to hire another teacher, and so we're resigning. The pastor said, you know, he didn't want us to. He didn't want us to. But he said, OK, if you're going to resign, you can stay as long as you need to until God opens another door. And that was very kind of them. And so that was the end of the school year, and Kaylee wasn't due till September, all right? Baby wasn't due till September, and so we got that summer. We're praying through that summer, and I told my teens, you know what, we're praying that God will allow us to find where he wants us to go before the baby comes. And it got closer and closer. And it got down to a month away. And we packed our boxes. And I said to the teens, we have packed our boxes because we really believe God's going to move us before the baby comes. We went to see a church plant in Pittsburgh that I spoke about recently. And we went to see it, and it seemed like this was it. It was a month before the baby was coming. It was exciting. Everything seemed to work. And then right at the last minute, we realized, no, it's not actually real. And I'm going to end up telling more of the story than I should. We called our pastor in New York City, and I said, pastor, I said, that one didn't work out. Can we just go spend some time with my wife's family on our way back, swing up to Michigan, and then come back and just have a few days off. He said, that's fine. So we went up there, we came to this area that's called the Blue Water area, Blue Water Bridge, it's Port Huron, it's between Michigan and Canada, and then on the other side is New York State, okay, it's this area way up north in the United States. Beautiful area, we came to there, you know, this one specific area, we're looking at the ponds by the side of the road, and they're just beautiful, blue water, and these ponds, and I said to Katie, wow, that'd be a nice place to live. and we had a phone call or a, it was probably, it was probably a letter, I think is what it was, and it was from a church right there at that area that we had looked at, that was a beautiful area, 15 minutes from the Blue Water Bridge, and saying, we're interested, how do you come? And I contacted the pastor, I said, Pastor, I said, if you're really interested in having us come, I'd like to come right now, because we're praying we could move before the baby comes. And so he said, all right, come on. And so I left, I flew out there, I was there Sunday through Thursday, and God gave me a verse, and it's in Chronicles, and it says this, the thing was done quickly, because it was of the Lord. And I knew it was what God wanted us to do. I got back. I said, that's the place that God's called us to. We had our last youth activity on a Friday. We had our last Sunday. We packed the truck all Monday. We left Tuesday morning. We got there on Wednesday. It was a two-day trip driving from New York City. The pastor of the church in Michigan actually flew out to New York City. I was the pastor there collecting at the airport. and helped arrange that. He drove the truck, I drove the car, and we got to Michigan on Wednesday. We moved into a mobile caravan behind the church because of the house that we were to rent. They're putting new carpets and things. My wife went into labor Sunday night, and Kayla was born, sadly, Tuesday morning, not Monday. She was in labor all Labor Day, and then Tuesday morning, it was Labor Day. She, Tuesday morning, Kayla was born. Five days. You know, a lot of people kind of gave us a hard time about moving five days before the baby came. By the way, we moved here to Scotland the last week my wife could fly. She was pregnant with Nelson. You know? But, when we're getting ready to do something, What do we need to do? Be ready to go, right? And if this morning in your heart, as a believer, you think, right, I am ready. Okay, listen, if you're ready for the coming of the Lord, what's it mean? That in your DVD case, in your CD case, in your radio, in your entertainment, in your activities, the things that you don't do, the things that you do, that you've got your shoes on, you're ready to go. And if not, even though I could say this this morning, you've got the lamb, you've got the blood, you've got the commemoration of that with the Lord's stable. If you don't have your shoes on, then you're not ready. Even though you have praised God, you're saved. The Bible speaks about very clearly that there's going to be some that the Lord's going to be ashamed of when He comes. Alright? May God help us to be ready. Some are ready. And if today, by the grace of God, you go, Pastor, as best I know, my heart's right with God. I've got boxes packed. I mean, I'm just, I am living as if Christ could come today. If that's you, praise God. You're ready. But if not, God help us get ready. And so some are, some are ready. And the Israelites were. But then secondly, some are not. Some are not. Did you enjoy playing hide-and-go-seek when you were younger? Some of us wouldn't mind playing it still, if we could find a grown-up place to play hide-and-go-seek. But I remember as a kid, getting behind my parents' chest of drawers. I've got vivid memories of hide-and-go-seek. Because you're sitting there and you're thinking, don't laugh, don't laugh, don't laugh, don't laugh. You're waiting for those words, and the words are, Ready or not, here I come. What's that mean? It means this, whether or not, you know, sometimes you're kind of undecided, right? You run to one place. No, that's not going to work. You run to another place. And when it comes time for the game to begin, the words are ready or not, because otherwise it would take all day to play the game, right? Ready or not, even if you're not ready. Even if you're not prepared, I'm coming. You know, God says to us today, as a church and as a people, that whether or not you're ready, Christ is coming. It doesn't matter today that people aren't ready. In God's mercy, the Lord is not slack concerning His promises. Some men can count slackness. The fact that He hasn't come, some people say, see, He's not coming, but the Bible says that's not so. But it says, for He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the thing is, when they come, some will perish. That's a fact. But He's waiting in His mercy. But the thing is, when He comes, it's going to be, ready or not, here I come. The Lord will come to slay Him. Verse 29 says, And it came to pass that midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. Wow, Pastor, that's harsh. Isn't it? What if I said, tonight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Syria? The Lord swallowed all the firstborn in the land of England. Would that trouble you? God is cruel or God is mean and yet as you look at that Story, you see warning shot after warning shot fired over Egypt as it were. We've got some nations that are in intense conflicts, North Korea, South Korea. I read this past week that South Korea actually fired warning shots over a North Korean vessel that turns out had mechanical problems. They actually helped fix the vessel and then sent them on the way. But they fired that warning shot. What's that warning shot mean? It means, hey, you better watch out. Hey, you better watch out because judgment's coming. If you continue down the path that you're on, judgment is coming. Let's think about this story in Egypt. God fired nine warning shots at Pharaoh. Right? The plagues. Pharaoh, I'm serious. Let my people go. Plague. Pharaoh, I'm serious. Let my people go. Plague. Nine times the Lord did that and the Bible tells us although it doesn't tell us right here in the story as we read it the Word of God tells us ahead of time in Exodus 4 verse 22 that Pharaoh was warned about this judgment It says, And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn. And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me. And if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. God had warned Pharaoh about this judgment. Let's think about today. Has God fired any warning shots at this world? What about this? But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, in that believing ye might have life through his name. Warning shot. Whosoever is not found written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire. Warning shot. Not only that, but giving the Word of God, but He gave them preachers. 1 Corinthians 1.21, For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Preachers have gone out, and we do this as a church. We hand out literature. We knock on doors. We talk to cashiers. We take that opportunity to speak to them. Why? Warning shot. Warning shot. Judgment's coming. Get ready. The Lord is coming again. Judgment is coming as well. I mean, God gave Him His Son. Romans 5a. But God commanded His love for us. In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The big difference between the firstborn situation with Egypt and Israel is that God took his first and only born son and he put him on a cross so that these people can live. And to go to hell they do so for the dead body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those that are not ready, the Lord is going to come and slay them. Secondly, they're from all walks of life. Verse 29, as they die, it doesn't matter if they're standing or lying. It says, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. Chapter 11, verse 5. It says, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of beasts. So you come into that day of mourning in Egypt, and if you were to walk about in the situation after the Passover, you would come to house after house after house. Some very elite in the kingdom, others unknown, and as the Bible says, even the prisoners in prison, their first born son died. The Bible says, God has no respect for a person that God is not going to take into consideration at the judgment? Well, you know, this person was an elite person and this person was an unknown. It doesn't matter. At the great white throne judgment, the Bible says in Revelation 20, verse 11, I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead. What's the next three words? Small and great. Stand before God and books were opened. And another book was opened which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of those things that were written in the books according to their works and whosoever was not found in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire. Does it matter? Somebody could be a very religious person. They could have been in the Church of Scotland, the state church of Scotland, all their life. But if they don't have the blood applied, they'll die and they'll be cast into a lake of fire. No matter how self-righteous they were, no matter what they did in the name of God, it doesn't matter. Because they're not ready. Nobody will escape. You could be, this morning, a great atheist who has a boat named after you. Or you could be an unknown native in a jungle forest. But it doesn't matter. All may be saved. Lastly, those that are not ready, they will weep and cry. Verse 30, it says, and Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house, there was not one dead. Exodus 11, verse six, there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it anymore. And this proud, hard-hearted king that despised God's people cried out with all of them. And if we were to hear that this morning, the closest I've ever come, my wife was in A&E and she had a knee problem, we were in the middle of the night in A&E and there were all sorts of things going on in Edinburgh at the Royal. And I remember hearing this person, and I don't know what their problem was, except that they were in pain. It's a horrible thing to sit and listen to somebody screaming. You just want to do something about it. You want to help them, but you can't. There's nothing you can do. There's just screaming. You know what the Bible says about hell? That one of the worst things about it are going to be the sounds that you hear in hell? The Bible speaks about it this way. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. If we're going to listen, if we could somehow imagine that scientists came up with a way is to hear the cries of the damned as they suffer in eternal torment and hear them weeping and hear them grinding their teeth in pain. That helps us understand what it's going to be like for anybody that's not ready. That ought to give us pause right there. There's a saying, if you have trouble seeing past self, put your ear to the door of hell and listen to him scream. As believers, and I don't know how Israel felt about this, I would have been burdened as an Israelite, if I knew somebody I cared about with Egypt, I'd be saying, look, this is what's gonna happen. You need a lamb, get a lamb. We gotta be so earnest today. If we got unsafe family and friends, let's not be pious and think, well, you know, they know that I'm a Christian. Let's go to them and tell them I'm a Christian. And that they need Jesus Christ as their Savior. Why? Because when they die, they're gonna go to hell. Yeah, I've heard been said by a preacher. You're not gonna send them to hell number two. You know, it's not gonna get worse You know some people say well, I don't want to talk to him. I don't want to put him off in Christ Well, listen, they are put off in Christ. You don't want them But they need them And so what they're not ready This morning Are you ready? The song that we sang at camp was fast-paced. Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready for the coming of the Lord? It was fast, why? Because it could be imminent. Christ could come today. Are you ready? Do you have the Lamb? Have you taken the Lamb of God as your Savior? Do you have the blood applied? That's what God does. When you get saved, He applies that blood. Are you able to observe the Lord's table and commemorate what the Lord did? And praise God we have this once a month to remember our Savior as He intended. Are you in obedience? Yeah, God, you said that's the only way, the way of salvation is by faith in Christ. I'm going to obey you. Are your shoes on your feet? Ready to go? If Christ came today, would you want to go, hope he doesn't see that? Or are you ready to go? And if you're not ready, be warned. Judgment will come. Nobody will escape. And all who perish will be sorry. Don't be one of those that are not ready to come to the Lord. This is a night for which to be ready. Let's pray. Father, I pray that with all soberness in our heart, we consider the import of what we just considered. Now, there's every likelihood that there might be somebody here today that they would say, if they're honest, Pastor, I'm not ready. I don't have the land. Others might think I do, but I don't. I don't have the blood applied. If the Lord came today, I would be one of those that would be judged. And Father, just pray for that heart. Give them courage to face that. And Father, to seek out help. They can talk to me. They can talk to other leaders in our church and ask how to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. God, give them courage to do that. Father, it might be that a Christian, if they're willing to be honest today, of God tells us to, tells us the return of the Lord is imminent. We don't want to be one of those that is beating somebody or doing something we ought not to do when Christ comes back. Father, may the Spirit of God mourn us. And Father, give us a passion to tell people about Jesus. Father, help us to realize this judgment is real and it's coming. And Lord, we say with John, because by the grace of God, those of us And thank you, Lord, for this time around your words. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Hymn 291, Christ is coming. Are you ready? Are you ready? 291, Christ is coming. Let's stand, please, and we sing. Ice is on me!