I can't help but think of Kim
sitting there waiting on her son. I thought, I don't know how many
years ago, 20-some years ago, she was a house filler somewhere,
waiting on that boy, wasn't she? Where are you, Kim? Was he worth
the wait? And then, she's waiting on the Lord. Then
the Lord gave birth to him. Boy, it's worth the wait. You know how many people love
to stand beside their son or daughter and sing the songs of
Isaiah? Lord, bless you. Reveal yourself
to you and your boy. Brother Larry, let me first thank
everybody for everything I'm looking for. I know the food's
going to be good. I've eaten it before. I've eaten
here before. And I thank you for everything. Thank you for your hospitality,
all the hard work. Your appreciation for me, Brother
Larry, I don't deserve your esteem. I do not deserve that. I don't
deserve your friendship. But I appreciate it. That's the
way God's people are, aren't they? They truly do esteem others
better than themselves. They really do. You know, God,
the Lord Jesus Christ chose twelve apostles. And they were so different,
weren't they? They were all different. Different
personalities, different everything. And the Lord used them all. They
all had the same message and their sufficiency was not in
themselves, their ability, but the Lord. And the Lord blessed
each one of them according to his will and purpose. It's still
that way. It's still that way. He preached
the first night from Titus 2 on the grace that brings salvation.
That was a blessing. That was a great blessing. Then
the next night from 1 Peter on the hope we have in Christ. Good
hope through grace. An anchor for the soul. A lively
hope. And then he saved the best for
last. Talk about following something. Am I going to follow that? They
shall see his faith. That was wonderful. I remember
Another story has it, and you've heard this before, but Charles
Spurgeon, his grandfather was a preacher, pastor of a church. And I think his name was James.
But anyway, he was a pastor of a church. You know, Spurgeon
was highly thought of as a prince of preachers in that day. Well,
his grandfather was a preacher. And one time, Charles was supposed
to come preach for his grandfather at the old man's church. And he didn't show up. He was
late coming. The grandfather stood up and
started preaching from a text. Well, Charles walked in late. And his grandfather said, well,
there's my grandson. He said, he may be a better preacher
than me, but he doesn't have a better gospel than I do. Spurgeon got up and started and
continued the exact same test. I'm going to say the same thing.
We don't have anything new to say. Nothing new. Exodus chapter 12, go over there
with me. You know, when you, and you know
you've been blessed, Brother Donnie can appreciate that. Brother
Larry can appreciate that. You're scheduled to preach second,
and it's human to, you know, You hope you can listen to the
first message and not be thinking about your message. Right? That's
just the way it is. But you know you've been blessed
when you were blessed by that first message. You forgot about
yourself. And I was, Brother Larry. That
was a great blessing. And we could have gone home.
We sure could have. But necessity has been laid upon
me. Exodus chapter 12, read with me, look at verse 3. Speak 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
father, the lamb for a house. Verse 4. If the household be
too little for the lamb, Let him and his neighbor next unto
his house take it according to the number of the soul. Every
man according to his eating shall make your account for the land.
Look down at verse 7. Verse 7, they shall take of the
blood of that lamb and strike it on the two side posts and
on the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat
it. Verse 13, 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. Verse 22. You shall take a bunch
of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike
the little and the two side posts with the blood that is in the
basin. on the house that is, and none of you shall go out
of the door of his house until the morning." And what I want
us to look at is the houses of the children of Israel or the
true church house. How do you know? True church
house, alright? The church, first of all, is
not a building. It's the people of God. It's
the congregation of God. I've trained myself, now it took
a long time, but I've trained myself not to call these buildings
you see everywhere a church, the Methodist church. No, it's
a religious, the Methodist organization or the Southern Baptist organization. The church is a blessed term
reserved for the people of God. It's the congregation of God.
And the church is not this building. It's the people. It's the people,
okay? The church house. Now that's
how I've tried to start talking about the building. The church
house. We're gonna meet at the church
house. The church house is the place where the people meet.
That's where the people meet. Alright? In Egypt, The Egyptians
had houses, right? Many houses. Well, the children
of Israel did too. They had their houses. You with
me? There were houses of the people
of Egypt and there were houses of the children of Israel. But
it could be clearly known whose house was whose. It could be
clearly known which house was which. If you're looking for
a house where Israel was, If you're looking for a place where
the people of God were, it was clearly known. Or wait, I'm going
to tell you in a minute, okay? You know, Brother Donnie has
people say this to him all the time. They come here and maybe
they say it to you. We're looking for a church. Don't
you hear that all the time? We're looking for a church. Well,
it depends on what you're looking for. But there's organizations
everywhere. They're on every corner, aren't
you? What are you looking for? Brother Larry quoted it. Those
men came to Christ and they said, Master, where dwellest thou?
They were looking for Him. And so He told them, well come
and see. And they went where His people
were, where the rest of His chosen disciples were. They found Him.
They were looking for Him and so they went where He was. People
say, I'm looking for a church. Well, what are you looking for?
All right, there are four ways. If you're looking for the Lord,
if you're looking for the truth, if you're looking for the true
house of God, the people of God, where they meet, there are four
ways you can know them, all right? K-I-S-S. I'm going to keep it
simple. Because I'm stupid. All right, four ways. Number one,
who was in the house? Number two, what was on the house?
Number three, what were they doing in the house? And number
four, what was not in the house? It's very simple. Who was in
the house? What was on the house? What were
they doing while they were in the house? And what was not found
in their house? That's just as important. Who was in the house? They called
the houses of Israel. Right? The sons of Jacob. Look
at Isaiah 43 with me. Isaiah 43. They're called the
sons of Jacob. They were God's elect, weren't
they? Who was in those houses, Brother
Larry? It was God's chosen people. The elect of God. The chosen
people of God. Those whom God loved. He said,
Jacob have I loved. Isaiah 43, verse 1. But now thus
saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee,
O Israel. Talk to His chosen people. Fear not, I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name.
Thou art mine. Verse 3. I am the Lord thy God,
the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Sheba for thee. You're precious in my sight.
I've loved you, chosen you. Look at verse 10. He says, you're
my witnesses. You know this. And you tell others,
saith the Lord, my servant whom I have chosen that you may know
and believe me and understand that I am he. I've chosen you
to know me. Look at chapter 44. Isaiah 44. This is the language of Scripture
in it. God's elect. That's what the Lord called them.
His elect. Isaiah 44 verse 1. Hear now,
O Jacob, my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen. Thus saith
the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which
will help thee. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant,
and thou just Shuron, whom I have chosen. Who was in the house? God's chosen. God's elect. Now, this is more than just a
doctrine. This is where salvation began,
didn't it? This is the mind, the will, the purpose of God,
the glorious purpose of God in choosing a people, none of whom
deserve to be in His kingdom, but God in rich in mercy, for
His great love were with He loved them, chose them in Christ, the
elect, before the foundation of the world. And that election
Barnard used to say, it's not a doctrine, it's a person choosing
persons. My, my, in all of God's people,
I used to argue, I could argue the doctrine of election. I believed
the doctrine as a child. I believed it, you know, in my
head. But it wasn't until I found out
one day, after I'd played the prodigal and all that, and came
back undeserving, unworthy, Till I found he chose you. Then
it became the wondrous and glorious act of God Almighty choosing
you. Plucking you as a bramble by
choosing you. Do you see your calling brethren?
All of God's people, far from arguing against election or having
a problem with it, they glorify God for it. They glory in God's
electors. And I'm not talking about a doctrine,
I'm talking about the people of the world say, I can't believe
that election. You know what God's people say? I can't believe He
chose me. I can't believe it. For lack of
a better term, that's what we say. Can you believe it? You
see your calling brethren, how not many wise men at this place,
not many mighty, not many noble, but God hath called the base
things, things that are not, things that are nothing, nobody's
from nowhere. Is that you? That's who He chooses. And when they find out about
that, they're shivering. I'll never forget it. It haunts me
to this day. Back when I was in 5th or 6th
grade, We'd choose upsides to play games,
baseball, softball, whatever, on the school playground. And they would choose the most
popular person, a fellow that played sports, basketball, football,
whatever, he'd be the captain of one of the teams. Well, I
got chosen. I had two older brothers and they'd gone to that same
school. My older sister, we all grew up. They knew me. My name
was well known. I played basketball and all of
that. Yeah, I did. I played basketball.
I wasn't much taller than him now. About the same size as him. Ball with me is short, is what
I'm saying. But I was chosen as captain, okay? Alright, we'd
choose a team. And of course, You know who I
was looking for. I was looking for the tallest
fella. The biggest, the best, the strongest. You know, this
guy chewed and I chewed. I said, it came down. There was
one person left. Leanne Radcliffe was her name.
I'll never forget her. And she was pretty, pretty chubby
and not real popular. And she couldn't play any sports
and she couldn't And I remember this day. Okay Leanne, come on. She died the next year from a
brain tumor. I can't believe she's one of
the Lord's chosen. To this day that haunts me Brother
Gary. And now I'm just hoping. Well, you see your colleague,
that's who God chooses. That's who God chooses. Not the
beautiful, not the wise, not the strong. That which is highly
esteemed among men is a monumentation to God. A meek and a quiet spirit,
a lowly, worthless. The ones that nobody chooses,
that's who God chooses. You see, you're calling, brother.
Who was in there? God's chosen. And they all knew
it. They all knew it. To a man, to
a woman, they all knew it. We're here because God chose
us. God revealed Himself to us. God, we all know that. I tell
you what, if you go to one of these other places, and if they're
not preaching this, If a so-called church is not preaching God's
sovereign election of a people for the foundation of the world,
it's not God's house. It's not the church of God. You
can't preach the gospel without that, can you? That's where you
start. That's where it all started. The election of a people. So
who was in the house? God's elect. God's elect. Alright, what was
on the house? Look at verse 3 in our text. The text is 12. What was on the hat? Verse 3,
Speak unto 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 father. A lamb for a half, household
be too little for the lamb. Let him and his neighbor next
unto his house take it the number of souls, every man according
to his eating, take the lamb. Okay? And they would take that
blood of that lamb, verse 7, take the blood of the lamb and
strike it on the two side posts, on the upper door posts of the
houses wherein they shall eat it. Now how do you know the houses
of the children of Israel from the houses of the children of
Egypt? Blood was on the house. Blood
was on the door and on the living. They all knew it. See, the Lord's
bringing them out. He's redeemed them for Himself. A peculiar people, a chosen people. That means a purchased people.
And they all know they were redeemed by the precious blood of the
Lamb. All of God's people know that. Brother Larry's already
said that. The elect, chosen of God, and redeemed by Jesus
Christ. That's how you know them. We
preach a particular redemption, don't we? An effectual redemption
for God's people. That Christ came to this world
to save a particular people. He didn't offer His blood to
everybody. He laid down His life for His
sheep. He died for a particular people. And He applied that blood
to their hearts and their souls. And it's the blood of Jesus Christ
that maketh remission for their sin. They all know that. That
blood is upon those houses. Every one of them. And they know
that. They know that. They all knew it. Even the little
children knew that. The blood upon the house. Verse
13. He said, The blood shall be on the houses where you are.
There'll be 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, destroy you. I'm going to smite the land,
but when I see the blood, I will pass over you." They all knew
that. What was sparing them was the
blood of that man. They all knew that to. Listen to God's description of
His people. Romans 8, you know these passages. For whom He did foreknow, He
did predestinate. and to be conformed to the image
of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestine, them he also called, whom he
called, them he also justified, whom he justified, them he also
glorified. What shall we say then to these
things? If God be for it, who can be
against it? Who shall lay anything in the
charge of God's will? Elect. It is God that justifies. He's the one that chose. He's
the one that purposed. He's the one that justifies.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Those
two things. God's sovereign election of them
and Christ's particular, effectual, eternal redemption of them. That's
their salvation. And they know it. They know it. Blood. Blood on the door. Blood
on the house. Charles Spurgeon, somebody asked
him one time, you believe that only the elect will be saved?
He said, well, I sure do. That's what the scripture says.
He said, then why preach? Why do you preach? Why don't
you just preach to the elect? He said, well, if I knew who
they were, I would. He said, if they had a big E
on their head, I would. Well, I'm here to tell you they
do. But we just can't see it. God does. Oh, the foundation
of God standeth sure. The Lord knoweth them that are
here. He chose them. He knows who they are. And He
sent the Spirit of God to take the blood of Christ and apply
it to them. They have blood on them. They're
chosen of God. God knows it. And in time, through
the preaching of the gospel, this is what they hear. Isn't
it? This is the gospel they hear.
Of a sovereign God who chose a people. They may have rebelled
against it before, but if they're one of God's chosen, they're
not only going to bow, they're going to glory in God's sovereign
election. They're going to glory. And then
they hear about, it's not your work, it's not your righteousness,
it's not anything you've ever done. That's all filthy rag.
That doesn't make you acceptable to God. There's nothing but blood. that redeems your soul. You cannot
redeem your soul. You have no redeeming quality. You
can't make up for anything you've ever done. You can't pay for
one sin you've ever done. But Jesus Christ paid it off. Everybody, when you hear that,
you're real glad to get rid of all that stuff. You're telling
me it's the blood? It's just the blood when God
sees the blood? That's right. Oh, that's good
news. Isn't it? Who put that blood
on the house? Did they put a basin of blood
out there and say, anybody wants that? That's what men are saying about
the gospel. That's desecrating the blood of Christ. That's making
it a common thing. That's making your faith more
effectual than the blood. In fact, they say that, don't
you? Your faith makes the blood effectual. Christ's blood is
able to save, but not unless you let it. That's blasphemy
of the highest sort. Isn't it? Whoever Christ died
for, they're going to believe. It's the blood that was shed
for them that made their faith, gave them faith. Whoever Christ
died for, they're going to believe. And they're going to know this,
it's not their faith, it's Christ's blood. Well, who put the blood
on the door? Here in this text, it says the
elders did it, didn't it? The elders. Not everybody. Not
anyone. It wasn't an offer. It was a
particular thing. Down in verse 21, Moses called
for the elders of Israel and said, draw out, take you a lamb,
according to your family, kill the Passover. And they were the
ones that took the blood and applied it to the doorpost. The elders. The elders. Well, who do they represent?
Who do they represent? Well, we know this, that the
Holy Spirit is the one who applies the blood. We know that. Father,
Son, Holy Spirit. God the Father chose a people,
Christ the Son redeemed those people, and the Holy Spirit applies
it, doesn't it? The Holy Spirit's the one. He's
the one that takes this blood, the gospel of the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the redemption of the sin of Christ, and He's
the one that effectually applies it to the doorposts, the lintel,
the hands, the heart, the feet, everything. They have the blood
through and through and on them and in them, and they know it's
the blood. Over in Hebrew, said Moses would
tell the high priest to Aaron to take the blood and he's the
one that would apply that blood to the book and to all the people. He's the one that's covering
all the people. He didn't cover themselves. Well, that's who
applies the blood. And there's a sense in which
this preacher here, this preacher here, what are we doing? What
are we doing when we stand up? We're preaching the blood over
here. That's all we're doing. We're preaching the blood. We're
telling men about the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that taketh
away our sin. We're preaching the blood. It's
totally up to the Lord to apply that blood. But we're preaching
that blood that's able. It's able. We can't apply it,
can we? But we're hoping and praying
that the Lord will apply it. And He does. He uses these earthen
vessels. But they must be doing one thing.
The blood. The blood. They must be preaching
the blood. Because it's the blood that makes the tumult. I've often
thought if a preacher wasn't having any liberty, and there's
a lot of times where not, Brother Larry, I've often thought that
if you're not having any liberty, Brother Don, if you're not having
any liberty, if you feel like you're stumbling and fumbling,
just holler out every now and then, Blood! It's the blood! God will bless
the message. Guaranteed. One thing, the Levites who were
given the responsibility to carry the ark on their shoulders one
day, and they were crossing over to Jordan. Jordan represents
death, represents sin, represents this world we're passing through,
this old muddy, filthy, rotten Jordan. Everybody's got to go
through it. And they went through on dry land, rock. Well, the
charge of the Levites was to lift that ark high so everybody
could see it. People all the way in the back.
They lifted it up high. We all got to pass over. They
got to see that ark. That ark went before them. Let
them see it. And they walked through that
muddy Jordan. And none of them were sinking.
And the ark was still. And they all saw it. That's our
job, isn't it? That's our job. Alright, who
was in the house? The elect were in the house.
God's chosen people. What was on the house? The blood
was on the house. The blood was on the house. Alright? What were
they doing in the house? This is how you know the house
of God. This is how you know the church of God. You're looking
for a church? God's church? God's people? It'll
be where God's elect are, it'll be where the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified is preached.
Nothing more, nothing less. And what they're doing in that
house, look at chapter 12, look at verse 7. Take the blood and
strike it on the doorpost little, verse 8, and they shall eat the
flesh of that lamb in that night. Roast with fire. Unleavened bread,
bitter herb, eat it. Verse 9, eat it not raw or sodden
with water, but roast with fire. All that represents Christ, our
burnt offering, suffered the wrath of God. What is this eating
the flesh of the lamb? Didn't Christ say that? Except
you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part in me.
Well, first of all, it implies hunger. You eat when you're hungry,
don't you? Didn't our Lord say, blessed
are they that hunger and thirst after what? Lots of people are
looking for this and that and the other. When people say they're
looking for a church, most of the time they're looking for
a place for their family. They're looking for programs
for their children. They're looking for a maid, you
know, a singles ministry. And they're looking for this
and that and the other. But you know what you find in
God's church, what God's people are doing? They're worshiping
the Lamb. They're eating, they're feasting upon the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's all they do. That's all
they were doing in these houses. They weren't doing anything else.
They weren't organizing a ball team. They weren't organizing
the next gospel singing. They're going out. And there's
one reason they're going out, and they all know it, and they're
worshiping the Lamb that was slain for them. Right. Three
ways you may know the true Israel of God. Number one, they worship
God. They come together. They don't
draw near. That was my next poem. They don't
draw near where they live. But they worship God. They're
there to worship God, to thank God, to praise God. They're there
to rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ. They've been shown His
face. They've seen His redemption.
They've felt their need of the Lamb. They have a need for Christ. And they come to rejoice in the
Lamb. And they don't put any confidence in the flesh. There's
no flesh in it. It's all true worship centered
around the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the house of God. That's
what they're doing in the house. They were eating lamb. If you
didn't like lamb, they were eating lamb. Our Lord said, except you eat
my flesh and drink my blood, you know, it implies hunger,
taste. Taste. Taste and see that the
Lord is gracious. If you've ever tasted, truly
tasted, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, you don't want
anything else. Is that right? Yeah. You've gone
to these places. I just recently came back from
one. Came back from a place I wish I hadn't been. One of these big
Southern Baptist places. Ten million dollar budget every
year to hire lean up in the pool pit. And I wanted to throw up
what I was hearing from there. There was no Christ there. It
was all social programs. It was all about what you can
be and do and what they're doing for the community and all these
programs and this and that and the other. I was miserable. God's not there because there's
no Christ there. God's people are not there. Wherever
God's people are, wherever God's church is, wherever the house
of God is, that's where you'll find the people feeding on the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's all they do. You know
it's so. That's all your preacher preaches
it. Because that's all that he is of. I love what they said
about Scott, don't you? A woman said in derision of Brother
Scott, she said one time, she said, all you preach is Christ,
Christ, Christ. That's all you preach. I've listened
to you for years. And she was getting ready to
leave because she couldn't take it anymore. She said, all you
preach is Christ, Christ, Christ. You've got it written right down
here. Christ. He said, would you write that
on my tombstone? She had no taste for Christ then.
She had no need for Christ, did she? Apparently God didn't choose
her and Christ didn't die for her. Because if He had, she would
have loved every message. She couldn't get enough of it. I still love the same food I
did when I was born. Milk. Milk. Born again of this Gospel, the
Word of God. I still love it. The same thing. I want too much of the same thing. That's what they were doing in
heaven. Alright, what was not in the house? It's equally important
what's not in the house. You know that? You could tell
the houses of the children of Israel by what was on the house.
What they were doing in the house. But you could also tell them
what was not in the house. Alright, look at verse 15. The Lord played
this very plainly and kept telling this over and over again. Verse
15. Seven days. Verse 57, seven days shall ye eat unleavened
bread, even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of
your houses. Whosoever eateth unleavened bread
from the first day until the seventh, that soul shall be cut
off. Verse 15, seven days there shall be no leaven found in your
housing. Whosoever eateth that which is
leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation
of Israel, whether he's a stranger or born in the land. No leaven. Verse 20, you shall eat nothing
leavened in all your habitation, shall you eat unleavened bread.
No leaven in the housing. God was adamant about that one.
No leaven in the housing. Now you can turn with me one
more place. 1 Corinthians 5. 1 Corinthians
chapter 5. Leaven. Leaven represents a few
things here. And you know, leaven, my wife
was teaching her granddaughters how to make bread the other day. And it's yeast is what it is. That's what leaven is. It's bacteria.
It's a living organism and just a little bit of it. Scripture
says a little leaven will leaven a whole lump. It's a living organism
and you put just a little bit in it and boy it'll just fill
that whole lump up. Makes it rise and puff up. Well
leaven represents first of all sin. There's no little sin. No such
thing as a little sin. It's a deadly organism. And in
the garden, there was no little sin that filled this world full
of all the corruption. No little sin. It wasn't eating
an apple. It was far worse than that. Far more than that. It
started way back before then when Satan did the very same
thing. You know what that leaven was?
That leaven of sin, the sin that started this whole thing? Free
will. Wasn't it, brother Doc? That's
it. When Satan said, long before the world was created, I will
exalt my throne to the stars. And he took a third of the heavenly
host with him, corrupted them, filled them all full of this
will be God. Well the same one, Satan, allowed
by God in the purpose and the will and mind of God, allowed
him to come down here and tempt that woman with this very thing. You have free will. Who does
God think he is? limiting what you can choose. You have the choice. You choose.
You'll be like God to know good and evil. She didn't need to
know evil much. She didn't need to know evil. I'll choose. So what did she
choose? Evil. Sin. Free will. I will. My will. That's the sin. There's
no little sin. And it permeated the human race
until every single son of Adam was born with this, I will, my
will. It's ingrained in them, isn't
it? No God for me. I'm my own God. No little sin. So it represents that first step.
And when God saves a people, when God reveals Himself to a
people, you know what He changes? Changes their will. He breaks
that proud will and He gives them this love, this worship
of His will, not my will, but Thy will be done. It represents
sin, the leaven of sin. It represents self-righteousness.
It represents self-righteousness, which is a form of that free-willing.
Our Lord said, Beware the leaven of the Pharisees. The scribes
and the Pharisees did. Beware the leaven of the scribes
and Pharisees. What was it? I'm somebody. I can do something. God's proud
of me. And religion and people are eating
up with it. I'm somebody. I can do something. The Lord's got to get rid of
that, doesn't He? That self-righteousness. Religious
hypocrite. It also represents hypocrisy. Look here at 1 Corinthians chapter
5. I had you turn to. I didn't turn. 1 Corinthians 5. It says here,
1 Corinthians 5 verse 7. Purge out therefore. Verse 6. Your glory is not good. Know
ye not little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? purge out therefore
the old leaven, that you may be a new lump." You're unleavened. Even Christ, our Passover, is
sacrificed for us. God's people know. It's not what
they do, not what they are. It's the Lamb. It's Christ the
Lamb. He's our Passover. It's His blood. It's His righteousness.
It's everything. Christ is their only hope. And
they've got a good hope. And it's in Christ. Verse 8,
Therefore let us keep the feast not with the old leaven, neither
with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth. This leaven he's talking about
is insincerity. It's hypocrisy. He said the Pharisees
say and they do not. Our Lord said of the whole generation,
Well did Isaiah the prophet say of this generation. They draw
near to me with their lips. Playing church, playing games.
When their hearts are far from me. God is believed from the
heart. God is worshipped from the heart. With the heart man
believeth unto righteousness. God's people are not hypocrites. Are they? I'm not playing games
this morning. And God's people are not either,
are they? People accuse them of that. They're just a bunch
of hypocrites down there. Well, they may be down at this place
and that place, but not in God's church. No, they're real sinners
with a real need and have heard a wonderful and glorious message. And they're really worshipping
God from the heart. They're really worshipping Jesus
Christ. That's what they're really doing. They love Him. Not wanting to be seen. Not wanting
to be heard. Not here to have a good time.
They're here because they love the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that
not so? Is that your heart's desire? When somebody said, I'm
not going down there with those bunch of hypocrites. And the
fellow said, well come on, one more and it won't hurt anything.
But the fact of the matter is, God's people are not hypocrites.
If that man is playing games up there. If he's just putting
on a show, if he's not a real man sent from God with a real
need, a message that you really need, with a real redemption,
and he's a phony, he's a fake, he's a hireling, you better go
somewhere and find somebody that's not like that. Right? And they're everywhere. But brethren,
you know it's so. You know it's so. That's a real
man. You're a real sinner. And he's preaching a real Christ
on a real throne who's really coming back. What do you think
about that? That's all you need. That's why
I'm here. Is that what you say? This is
why I'm here. No other reason. And religion,
you know how phony it is. It's only apparently phony to
those who have real eyes. Well, now look at this. Who's in the house? What's on
the house? What are they doing in the house? And what's not
in that house? Hypocrisy. Sin. And I should have said this,
but you know, in Him there is no sin. And those that are in
Christ, they have no sin. No sin. They had no sin, but there's
no leaven in their house, in their temple, because Christ
put it away, purged it. But look at this, this is important,
in our text, Exodus 12, it says in verse 29, Exodus 12, 29, it
says now, it says, It came to pass that at midnight
the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the
firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, to the firstborn
of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn
of the cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night,
he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians. There was
a great cry in Egypt, but there's not a house where there's not
one den in Egypt. The house of Egypt. But I'm here to tell you, that
in the houses of Israel, there was not a house where there was
one dead. That's what you said, that they're
all going to see his face. Not one house where any of the
people of God were, where the blood of that lamb was on their
doorpost and they were eating that lamb and loving it and rejoicing
in it. That didn't come out. And he
warned them too in this same passage, he said, don't leave
the house. Didn't he? Don't anybody go out of that
house until the sun comes up. Now if this is where the gospel
is, why would you go anywhere else? What would you go for? To whom
shall you go? If you're seeking Christ, you
found Him. If you're seeking the people
that are seeking Him, you've found them. If you're seeking
forgiveness of sin, you've found it in the message of Christ's
name crucified. Is that what you're looking for? Oh, may the Lord apply that blood
to our hearts and minds and souls. Amen. I preached from that two Sunday
nights in a row, and got another one to preach, and I didn't even
come close to that. I missed that all together. As all the girls here, I want
you all to come up, and it's been requested that you all sing
What a Day That Will Be. Would you do that for us? And
all you ladies that need to go back there to the kitchen, you
can go ahead on. But oh, my. So... I'll be there. The one who saved me by His grace
When He takes me by the hand And leads me through the promised
land What a day, what a glorious day And forever I will live without
one die for me. One day, a glorious day, I will be one of a kind. Peace speaks, wonderful peace Thank you. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Some folks done had that day. Some done had that day. The girl's
daddy said, see you in the morning. You know why he says see you
in the morning? Because it'll be a new day, the start of a
brand new day. It'll be the first morning of
your life. First morning of your life. Let's
offer thanks. Our Father, thank you. Oh, thank
you for the day. Thank you for these preachers.
It's all the messages you sent our way. So blessed. So moved us. So taught us. So instructed us. So comforted
us. So lifted us up. So made Christ
real to us. Made the Lord Jesus Christ. real to our hearts and minds
and souls. We thank you for that. Thank you for these men, their
wives. God bless them in their travels,
give them mercies. Bless them in their congregations.
And our Father, I thank you for our folks, all they do. how they love the gospel, come
sit and listen to the gospel. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for this day. Thank
you for this food we're going to partake of. Please unite our hearts together
in love and bring glory to all yourself through all of us. You
work it out where you work it, you do it. Cause all of us, all
of us, to bring glory to your blessed Son in our lives, in
our words, in our actions, in our walk, in every aspect of
our lives. Help us please, for Christ's
sake. Amen.