We'll read about the first half
of chapter 13 of Exodus. 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 you 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. This day came you out in the
month of Bibb. 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. Thou shalt keep this service in this month. Seven days thou
shalt eat unleavened bread, and the seventh day shall be a feast
to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten
seven days, and there shall 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. And 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 that the Lord brought thee out of Egypt. 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 the Canaanites
as he swear unto thee and to thy fathers and shall give it
thee And thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all that openeth
the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which
thou hast. The males shall be the Lord's,
and every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb. And if thou wilt not redeem it,
then thou shalt break his neck, and all the firstborn of man
among thy children shalt thou redeem. 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, but all the firstborn
of my children I redeem. And it shall be for a token upon
thine hand and for frontlets between thine eyes, for by strength
of hand the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt. The Lord has brought the Hebrews
out from 430 years of bondage in Egypt. And we can only imagine
what that must feel like. That's one of those things that
it would be hard to make someone understand unless you had experienced
it yourself. True bondage and true deliverance
from bondage. And God's people can sort of
understand that because It's kind of like trying to make someone
understand what it's like to be delivered from the bondage
of sin if they haven't experienced it. To be able to say, who shall
lay anything to my charge? God has justified me. We don't
even understand that ourselves, much less how are you going to
explain that to somebody? How are you going to make somebody
understand what freedom feels like? free and true freedom. If the Son shall make you free,
you'll be free indeed. It makes the bondage of Egypt
look like a picnic. If the Lord ever shows you what
you are and then delivers you from the bondage of your sin. The Lord Jesus Christ has died
for me. We're to tell others, aren't
we? We're to tell them what great things the Lord has done for
us. But how can you make someone understand? We can't. The Lord's got to do that. They've
got to experience it for themselves. How do you describe the joy of
the forgiveness of sin to someone who's playing religion and trusting
in themselves and laboring and heavy laden under the bondage
of legalistic work salvation? They just don't understand it. And now these children of Israel,
they've left Pharaoh behind them and all the cruel labor and mistreatment. It wasn't just, you know, they
weren't in a cell somewhere eating three meals a day and watching
TV. They were under cruel mistreatment,
slavery. And then God says to them, now
you're delivered. Now every firstborn of man and
beast is mine. I want you to give it to me.
It's mine. And now we know that this doesn't
literally apply to us tonight. What does this have to do with
us? Most of God's people now don't even own any livestock
of any kind or anything like that. And we're not to count
the firstborn of our children as as any different from any
other with regard to God. That doesn't apply to us either.
So if we're to apply this principle to ourselves today, tonight,
we have to understand the principle behind the practice. What they
did was they offered the firstborn of every animal unto the Lord,
and they redeemed the firstborn of their children with money.
But what's the principle behind the practice? Does it have any
application to us? The practice of it doesn't apply,
but the principle does. And the principle as it is present
in us right now results in practice. It results in behavior, but not
the same thing they did. But faith still works, doesn't
it? Love still is active. Love does and doesn't do certain
things. So let's look at the principle
first and then we'll see from the word of God how this applies
to us now. God said the firstborn is mine.
And how gracious the Lord is now. This has to do with honoring
the Lord who has redeemed us, who has delivered us by the precious
blood of his son from cruel bondage. And this has to do with honoring
him. He doesn't need your firstborn. They offered that those every
animal every firstborn male was offered to the Lord. God doesn't
need that that you need to honor him. That's grace from God that
he insists upon it. I need to honor him. And so we
see here in the answer given to the son here when he is Presumed
to ask we see kind of what's being taught here there. I think
best look at verse 14 It shall be when thy son asketh thee in
time to come saying what is this? Why are you offering all the
firstborn unto the Lord? And why are you redeeming the
firstborn of you know of your family and what is all this about?
That thou shalt say unto him by strength of hand the Lord
brought us out from Egypt from the house of bondage and 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, because
God saved me, because God had mercy on me, because God heard
my cry, the cry of our bondage and our misery came into his
ears, even into his ears. And he had compassion upon us.
And he said, I've come down to deliver you. And he did deliver
us. And he said, therefore, I sacrifice
unto you. Not so that he will be favorable
to me, but because he has been favorable to me. We don't honor
the Lord Jesus Christ in order, or we don't honor God in order
to be saved. We honor him because he saved
us. The Lord Jesus Christ honored him in order for us to be saved.
He said, therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth
the mail. He said, they're mine, and so I give them to him. It's
mine. The best is mine. The first is
mine. What the Lord taught him to do
is sanctify unto him. He said there in the early part
of the chapter, unto him all the firstborn That word is consecrate,
dedicate, sacrifice, sanctify, consecrate unto the Lord. And
this teaches us in two different senses. Now think about this. They're offering these firstborn
of every animal to the Lord. It's his. He said it's mine.
First of all, to offer up to God the firstborn was an acknowledgement
that everything we have we owe to God. He doesn't make us give
him all of it. Because He knows we need to live.
And He blesses us in this life with so much that He gives us.
He just says, the first is mine. And when we give Him that, we
acknowledge to Him that all of it's His. He can take all of
it if He wants to. The Lord gives and the Lord takes
away as He's pleased to do. And we bow to that when we honor
this principle here, when we obey this principle. to offer
him up the firstborn. And when they were settled, you
know, and they had crops, they didn't have any crops now, they're
on foot, they're traveling. But when they settled and they
had fruits, crops, the first of the fruits were the Lord's
too. The first fruits. Everything was given to the Lord.
The first, the best, before anything else. Proverbs 3.9, listen to
this. This is so simple and teaches
exactly what I'm trying to say. in so simple and few words. Proverbs
3, 9, honor the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits
of all thine increase. Not just the animals, but the
crops and when they had some, everything, the Lord's worthy
of it. And he don't need it, but he
knows that you need to honor him. He's blessing you by commanding
this and blessing me. by commanding that. He said,
I own the cattle on a thousand hills. He don't need your cattle,
but you're going to give it to him if you're his. And he's going
to demand it, because it's right. Because he's worthy of it. Because
you sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and so you sanctify
everything that you have unto him. And give him what he requires,
the firstfruits, in gratitude for what he's done. to honor
him in what he's giving you. Also, now it was the firstborn
that was spared on Passover night. And so the firstborn represents
every sinner redeemed by the blood. The firstborn there that
was killed in the houses of all the children of Egypt. That represents
every sinner in and of themselves by nature. The rebel against
God. Pharaoh represented them as being
on the throne and rebelling against God's authority and God's command.
But that firstborn in those houses of the Egyptians, that represents
every sinner under the wrath of God with no substitute, with
no blood, no sacrifice, no offering. And so the firstborn of every
child of Israel represented every sinner that's under the blood,
that's protected by the blood, that's redeemed by the blood,
that's washed in the blood. So this is not only this thing
of the firstfruits. It's not just a man consecrating
a cow to the Lord because he's worthy to honor him for his redeeming
love and grace. It also shows that how our very
selves are to be sanctified unto the Lord. We are the firstborn.
And God said it's mine. The firstborn's mine. You see
that? This is connected. Now, all of
this is to be understood in light of the Passover that just took
place. We are God's firstborn that were
delivered because we're in the firstborn. We are his sons because
we're in his son. And we're the ones that were
delivered, and we're to be sanctified. Sanctify yourselves unto the
Lord. Listen to Romans 12.1. You can all probably quote this,
but this is what this is teaching. Old Testament, New Testament.
All through the Word of God, this is taught. I beseech you,
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your
bodies a living sacrifice. You see what I'm saying? Yes,
we consecrate everything that we have unto the Lord. But we
are pictured in the firstborn here that was redeemed by the
blood, that was not killed. The destroyer didn't go in and
kill the firstborn because there was blood on the door. That's
us. And we're to give ourselves, we're to sanctify ourselves unto
God. A holy, acceptable, living sacrifice
unto God, which Paul said is your reasonable service. And
I guarantee every one of God's people say amen to that. And
again, well, the Lord needs some good men. No, He don't. He don't
need you. He don't need anything you have.
This is Him blessing you, not you doing something for Him.
It's just the truth, isn't it? He don't need you. He don't need
me. He doesn't need anything we have.
But we need to give it to Him. Because He's worthy of it. It's
a blessing, isn't it? It's a privilege. God said, it
is mine. And when we give it to them,
we're saying, truth Lord, it's yours. We're yours. Everything we have is yours.
Everything we are, we owe to you. Religion says, and this
is the difference now between religion and God's people. Religion
says, you need to give some of your money and some of your time
and some of your talent to God. God said, it's not yours to begin
with. And God's people say, that's right. I'm not giving him some
of my money. I'm giving him some of his money.
First Chronicles 29 14. David said as all the people
gathered everything that they had valuable that they were able
to give in order to to build the temple for the dedication
of the temple. David said who am I Lord and
what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly
after this sort for all things come of thee and of thine own
have we given God said, it's mine, isn't it? It is, sure enough
is. And when we give it to him, we're
saying, Lord, it's yours. Thank you for blessing us with
it and for giving us the heart, as David prayed there, to give
it to you. But now, this is more than just
a lesson on how we ought to honor God. You might have suspected
that. This is a perpetual reminder of why not just that he's worthy
of all honor but why look what he's done for us how many times
did did did did did did we read the words there in that just
that 16 verse passage of scripture with a mighty hand the lord redeemed
us with a mighty hand this is a
perpetual reminder of why he's worthy of our honor why he's
worthy to be honored with our substance as solomon said they're
improper So we're the first fruits of all of our increase. Honor
him with it, he said. It's a reminder. And I need to
be reminded, don't you? Did you notice there the word
reminder in the text? This is so that you'll remember. Do you need to be reminded? Are
you like me? If somebody asked you tomorrow, what did Brother
Chris preach on last night? How long would it take you to
think of it? Or how much of it could you? could you remember? I preached it, and I probably
wouldn't be able to remember what I preached. It'd take me
a while. I know kind of where we're at in Exodus, so I'd come
up with it eventually. But we're just pathetic, aren't
we? We're sad. We've got to be constantly reminded. Was it Peter that said, I think
it's good, as long as I'm in this body, to just keep putting
you in remembrance of what Christ did for us. I'll just keep reminding
you. that the Lord heard our cry and
he sent his lamb. And by the precious blood of
God's lamb, God's only begotten son, he delivered us with a mighty
hand. He laid help upon one who is
mighty and he saved us. He redeemed us from all of the
bondage of our sin. Remember that though we are pictured
here by the firstborn who was saved by the blood, that Christ
himself is the firstborn. We are pictured by the firstborn
because we're in him. We're in the firstborn. And so
we're, as he is, so are we, in that sense. But he's the firstborn,
Colossians 1.14, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature. The firstborn. What does that
have to do with? What's the firstborn? We've seen
this before, so I won't take the time to talk about it long.
But you remember the main thing is it has to do with preeminence.
It has to do with preeminence. Listen to Romans 8, 29. For whom
he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he Christ might be the firstborn
among many brethren. That's for the glory of Christ.
That's why he did it. And for our eternal good, because
we're his brethren, because of what he did. Listen to Colossians
1 18. Just a little further down from
where we read a while ago, and he is the head of the body, the
church Christ is, who is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead, that In all things, he might have the preeminence. That's what being the firstborn
has to do with, with regard to Christ. He is the firstborn of
all of the brethren. He's the firstborn from the dead.
He is the one with all preeminence. So the consecration of the firstborn
pictures Christ also, and preeminently so, who consecrated himself Perfectly
and completely under God he was utterly separated under God the
Father And thus he's my righteousness And it also shows how he is to
be set apart and honored in our estimation Sanctify the Lord
God in your hearts That means to set apart to consider. Holy
we can't make anything. Holy And he don't need to be
made holy, he is holy, but we regard him as holy. That's what
sanctify means when we're doing it. When he does it, when he
sanctified us, he made us holy. When it says we sanctify him,
that's talking about regarding him as he is, holy and spotless
and pure and glorious and preeminent as the firstborn of every creature.
And this passage contains the second time now that we're taught,
as we were in regard to the Passover, we're taught to answer our children
regarding what we do, what we do here, what we do in the worship
of God. We're told to answer our children. They're going to ask. When they
ask, we're told to tell them something specific. with regard
to the worship of the Lord. When they ask about the Passover
feast, you tell them how God delivered you from the bondage
of Egypt. And when they ask why you're offering that firstborn,
you tell them like he did here in our text, because look what
God did for me. Therefore, in this teaching of
our children, that impressed me, especially this time. How we ought to be diligent to
teach our children what this is about. It's not just what
religion talks about. Well, we need to go to church.
We're supposed to go to church. Why? Why? It's not just doing some religious
duty. No, that's not what it is. You're to tell them what this
is for, what it's about. Why do we do what we do here?
Because of what God did for us. Because of the blood of the Lamb,
because of the freedom that we enjoy from the law, from the
bondage of sin and self and Satan, because of all that God has done
for us, therefore, he said, I sacrifice to the Lord. Because of who he
is and what he does for us and what he's done for us is pictured
also here in a way that we haven't seen yet. And I'm not sure that
I've ever seen. Look at verse 13 again. And every
firstling of an ass shall, shalt thou, thou shalt redeem with
a lamb. And if thou will not redeem it,
then thou shalt break his neck. And all the firstborn of man
among thy children shalt thou redeem. The unclean animal. That's what an ass is here. It's an unclean animal. And it's redeemed by the blood
of another. The blood of a lamb. The lamb's worth a lot more than
an ass. An ass was worthless. That's
why he said, if you're not gonna redeem it, just break its neck.
It's not worth anything. What a picture of you and I.
This might be offensive. It would be offensive, no doubt,
to religious folks. I know that. To be called, to
be referred to, typified in the Word of God as an ass. A worthless
mule. And this is every son of Adam.
In Job 11, 12. This would be a good verse to
remember. For vain man would be wise, though
man be born like a wild ass's He would be wise. In other words,
he wants everybody to think he's wise, and he wants to be wise.
But he's an ass's cult. He's a dumb, worthless, stubborn,
rebellious, stupid animal. I know that's offensive. I know
it is. And according to God, an unclean animal, and therefore
unfit for the very presence of God. They couldn't even bury
a donkey in the camp of Israel. It had to be buried outside the
camp. It was unclean. And here's what we're taught
here. God will have to redeem you or put you in hell. Your neck's got to be broke,
you've got to be destroyed, die in every sense of the word, which
means hell in spiritual terms, or redeemed. One of the two,
they're just two things that can happen to an ass. And I'll
tell you that there are other unclean animals. The ass wasn't
the only animal that the Lord declared to be unclean. But do
you know why the ass is used here to picture us instead of
a pig or a rabbit? Because an ass is stubborn and
rebellious and stupid. That's why that's what he calls
me. Stubborn, rebellious and stupid. We've all known somebody like
that. That that they just. It's as
plain as the nose on your face, but you can't get him to see
it. You can't get him to do it. You know what they're that they're
that they're killing themselves and you can't turn them. You
can't. But here's the question. Have you ever seen yourself like
that? We all know people like that. But have we ever seen ourselves
like that? Unclean, rebellious, and stubborn, and ignorant, willfully ignorant. It ain't like the ass doesn't
know what you want him to do. He knows exactly what you want
him to do. He just does not want to do it. He's not going to do
it. Acts 9, 5. Let's turn there, I haven't had
you turn anywhere tonight, have I? Let's look at this together.
When the Lord saved the apostle Paul, do you remember what he
said to Acts 9, 5? The Lord had been dealing with
Paul, Saul of Tarsus then. When Stephen was stoned, Paul
was mentioned that the ones who stoned him laid their coats at
the feet of Saul. of Tarsus and Saul witnessed
the stoning of Stephen and he saw Stephen and the way that
his face lit up and the way that he looked to heaven with that
mad mob rushing on him to kill him. There was something that
captured Stephen's attention more than that, more than those
people running at him, wanting to kill him. And it was, he was
looking into heaven and he said, I see the glory of God. I see the son of man standing
on the right hand of God. And Saul was standing there witnessing
that. And I have a feeling that's part of what the Lord's talking
about here and other instances like that, because he was going
around killing people like Stephen all over the place, wherever
they could find them, and throwing some of them in prison, women
and children even, it mentions in scripture. And as he was doing
that, I'm sure it made him happy for a while, but the Lord had
begun to deal with him in that somehow or another. And here's
how it's expressed in Acts 9, 5, Saul was put in the dust. He's knocked off his horse and
put in the dust that that bright light brighter than the noonday
sun It shined and blinded him and he said who are you Lord?
And the Lord said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. I'm the
one that you're heading right now You're going to kill my preachers
Right now or you were going to till you met me And then he asked
him a question. Is it hard for thee to kick against
the pricks? That word, I looked it up a long
time ago. It was a blessing to my heart.
The word is an iron goad. A goad. Do you know what a goad is used
for? For asses. For stubborn, ignorant, worthless
animals that won't do what you tell them to do. Like Pharaoh. Like Pharaoh. And like you. and like me. In John 5.39, listen to this
scripture. You search the scriptures, the
Lord said to the Pharisees, for in them you think you have eternal
life. You're going around like the
Baptists and everybody else said, well, if I know my Bible, You
know, I can lead you down the Roman road. I've been down it
myself. You search the scriptures because you think you have a
lot, but the scriptures testify of me, not religion, not a Roman
road, not what you need to do for God, Christ, and what he
did for sinners. The scriptures testify of me,
and you will not come to me that you might have life. Do you know
why not? Because you're an ass, that's why. You're stubborn and
rebellious and stupid. You will not come to me that
you might have life and neither would Saul have if the Lord hadn't
broken him. The Lord just flat broke him
and humiliated him and said, I've been goading you like a
wild animal. How's that working for you? Is
it hard for you to kick? That's what he did. He put him
in the dust, not just physically, but he put his heart in the dust,
and that's where we got to get it. I tell you this right now. The Lord put us there when he
saved us, and sometimes we get too far from the dust. I think
that's that's a lot of what's wrong these days in the church,
and there's things wrong in the read revelation. We're too far from the dust.
An ass is an unwilling creature, like Pharaoh was. And Pharaoh
was an ass whose neck the Lord broke. He broke him, broke his
neck, not his will. There's a difference. The Lord
broke Saul's will. How gracious he is to do that. He didn't break his neck. He
broke Pharaoh's neck. And that's all you can do with
an ass that's not redeemed. But thank God he doesn't deal
with all asses that way. Sometimes he breaks the will
instead of the neck. You know that verse of scripture,
he that hardeneth his neck, being often reproved, shall be suddenly
destroyed. That was Pharaoh. You harden
your neck, God will break your neck. or he'll break your will. He has mercy, you see, on whom
he will. And when he is pleased to have
mercy, he'll break your will and not your neck. Like he did
with Saul. Saul went from not anybody telling
him what to do to saying, Lord, what would you have me do? Religion
now, I thought about this, and I'm thankful that I'm not in
this place. Religion is trying to make a
bunch of jackasses act like sheep. That's exactly why religion is
such a joke. It's such a joke. They come down
an aisle crying and then go out in the world laughing. And then
a week later they'll come down the aisle crying again and then
go back out in the world shaking their fist at God. and doing
what they want to do, and refusing, and hardening their neck against
the truth of God. And then they'll come down to
the outcrop. It's a circus is all it is. It's a joke. Because
you are not going to get a jackass to act like a sheep. You're not
going to do it. They try to do it by promising
them reward. But dang it, a carrot on a stick
or something, you know, maybe that mule will do what you want
him to do. He'll do what he wants to do. He might, you know. And religious people, they like
the sound of that. Oh, you know, let's sing Beulah
Land. Let's talk about that for tonight. Instead of us being
asses, let's talk about Beulah Land, you know. And they'll go
after the carrot for a while. But then when they've had the
carrot, when they're done with that, they'll go right back to
being an ass again. You see, they never quit being
an ass in their heart. How do you know so much about
them, Craig? Because that's what I am. That's exactly what I am by nature.
Or threatening them with punishment. You might get a mule, you know,
to go a little bit in the right direction if you beat on him
enough. But then, what's the punishment? What about Pharaoh?
As soon as the punishment was lifted, what did he do? Oh, did
I say I was going to let you go? No, I didn't say that. And it still doesn't work. It
still doesn't work. God will have to break your neck
or He'll have to redeem you. One of the two. If He redeems
you, He'll break your will. You know when God's people will
be willing? You've heard me quoted enough. I imagine you know the answer
to that. Willing to bow. Willing to come to God on His
terms. Not with our own imagined merit,
but through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. pleading the
blood, come thanking him for his mercy and not bragging about
what we've done. Like those who said, have we
not done many wonderful works? No, we don't come like that.
You know, when God's people will be willing to come as beggars,
willing to honor the son and thereby honor the father. Psalm 1103, thy people shall
be willing. in the day of thy power. Not when you decide something.
You can't decide to do anything but be an ass. But when he decides,
in the day of his power, turn us Lord and we'll be turned.
You can't beat an ass and make it turn. Not long, not for long. The promise of reward won't do
it, but if the Lord turns you, you'll be turned. Our people
shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the day of his
irresistible grace, his almighty, powerful grace, because of his
redeeming power. We saw that in the text, didn't
we? In Exodus 13, 9, and in several other places, he said, 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, with a strong hand, the Lord made
us willing. With a strong hand, he brought
us out of Egypt. With a strong hand, he brought
us to the Lord Jesus Christ. What did the Lord say to that
crowd of folks that day? You cannot come to me unless
the Father which hath sent me exert his power, and then you'll
come. with a strong hand. The Lord
delivered us. His blood is almighty to redeem. His grace is almighty to draw,
to bring us. He died the just for the unjust
that he might bring us to God. What is the strong hand with
which the Lord delivered them from Egypt? the blood of the
Lamb. It's the redeeming power of Christ
that we're talking about. There's power in the blood. Would
you be free from the burden of sin? There's power in the blood. The flesh profiteth nothing. But by a strong hand, by a sufficient,
satisfactory sacrifice, And by his almighty irresistible grace
and mercy, he saved us, delivered us from bondage. Can we remember
him? It said there it was a it was
a night of of great observance when the Lord delivered him.
And it is when he when he saved us. We've been observing it ever
since, remembering him and thanking him and praising him for his
mercy on us. And may he give us grace to do
so until we die. And to honor him with all that
we have, all that we are.