If you will take your Bibles
now and turn back to Exodus chapter 13. My intention in these Bible studies,
both on Wednesday night and on Sunday morning, is that we as
a group in this church can open up God's book Look into the verses,
verse by verse, or sometimes as topics of a chapter. There's
no point in going verse by verse through every chapter. Sometimes
it's a story. Sometimes it's a story and you
find the content of the story and you preach on that. Other
times, like it is tonight, I'm going to go through verse by
verse or looking at a couple verses at a time. But I want
us to do this as a group. I'd like for us all to get on
the same page. And when we're studying during
the week, let's look at Matthew. So when I come up on Sunday morning,
that's not the first time you look at it. You'll have a working
knowledge of what it is we're studying. And if you've got some
commentaries or some other source of literature that you can study,
go ahead and look at them. and see what these men have to
say, and then I'll prepare the message and bring it to you on
Sunday morning. But I encourage you to do that because it's in
doing that that we grow in grace and knowledge of Christ. You're
not going to grow in grace apart from understanding his word.
You're just not going to do it. And another reason is that we
have problems that come along. And then when we have the problem,
we say, well, What's the Bible have to say about that? Well,
if you'd been here Wednesday night, you'd have known what
the Bible had to say about that. That's when we dealt with it.
Or on Sunday morning, if you'd been here Sunday for Sunday school,
then you'd have known what the Bible had to say about that. That's what these studies are
for. And I encourage you to do all that you can do. And if you
can't be here, we've been a little late getting things on. But we'll
try to do a little better and get these things up on the internet.
Those of you that have computers can download them and look at
these things. We've got people over in Mississippi
and all over the place who listen to these verse-by-verse studies.
And they go through. And if I don't get them up, I
usually get a little cue from one of them asking me if I quit
the ministry or something. So they're interested in these
things. And I'm interested in these things. And I hope that
you will be. As I said before, sometimes I take a subject from
a chapter, and sometimes I go verse by verse. But tonight,
I'm going to do something a little different. I'm going to take
some of this verse by verse, and I'm going to take some of
it in groups of verses. But we're going to try to deal
with these first 13 verses in Exodus chapter 13. So let's begin
here with verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Sanctify unto me, All the firstborn whatsoever openeth
the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast,
it is mine." Now, Exodus 1 and 2 needs to be read in the light
of the Passover. I'm assuming that you all know
that in the original there were no verses and chapters, that
it was just written. And a lot of times, we'll read
verse 1 of a chapter and be thinking in our heads, now this is the
beginning of a new subject, when in fact it's not. It's just a
chapter division, and it's still dealing with the subject from
the previous chapter. And that's what's going on here.
In Exodus 1 and 2, it has to be read in the light of the Passover
feast, which was to be kept even after they entered into their
promised rest. And we looked at that last week
as I showed you the fulfillment of the Passover in Christ and
showed you its connection to the Lord's Supper, which is the
ordinance that we now observe in the New Testament to remember
our Savior and deliver. It's His blood and it's His body
typified by all these Old Testament sacrifices, but especially that
of the Paschal Lent. And this sanctification or setting
apart of the firstborn that he speaks of here is to set our
minds and hearts upon Christ who is the firstborn among many
brethren. He is the firstborn in every
sense of the word. He is the firstborn. I showed you this here a few
weeks ago. He's the firstborn of every creature, which ties
all that he did in redemption to all things. All things. He is the firstborn. Our Redeemer,
this Lamb to which this sacrifice speaks, is the firstborn of all
creation. He's God's firstborn. And He's
the first begotten from the dead, showing Him to be the head of
the body or that federal head or representative. That's what
he's talking about there. He is the first begotten from
the dead. And he is the only begotten of
God and his firstborn and the only one ever to bear his express
image and his glory in his person. And therefore, he said, we're
predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. And then Paul
tells us in Hebrews chapter 12 that God's church is the church
of the firstborn. Did you know that? It's the church
of the firstborn. And way back yonder, when he's
pulling these people out, signifying his church, typifying his church,
the very first thing he tells them is about the firstborn.
He's the head of the body, Paul said, the church, who is the
beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
he might have the preeminence. Christ is that lamb chosen by
our Heavenly Father, examined by Him, slain by His hand, applied
by His hand to our consciences, and prepared in the fire for
those who are made hungry by Him to eat the sacrifice. He's all things. You see that?
He is the preeminent one. All that He redeemed and purchased
by this lamb belongs to Him. That's what He's saying. It's
mine. Now, you're going to sanctify it. You're going to set it apart
because it belongs to me. It belongs to me. All right?
Verse 3, Exodus 13, And Moses said unto the people, Remember
this day in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house
of bondage. For by strength of hand the Lord
brought you out from this place. There shall no leavened bread
be eaten. This day came ye out in the month
Abib, the first month of the year for the Jews. 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 ye swear unto thy fathers to give thee a land flowing with
milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month."
Now, here he gives instruction by his servant Moses concerning
this Feast of Unleavened Bread. That's what this is, the Feast
of Unleavened Bread. Now, the Old Testament Passover,
that was the first day of a seven-day celebration called the Feast
of the Unleavened Bread. That's what this was. That's
what the Passover was. And this feast commemorated the
passing over of God's judgments over Israel and of their exodus
out of Egypt. That's what he's talking about
here. And this feast was given and commanded by God to be kept
to jog their memories and ours, as we read these things, because
the sinful men were all too prone to forget the mercies of our
God in Christ. And we are. We are. It don't
take long, about 10 minutes after you walk out the door. You've
already forgotten. Somebody stopped you on the street
and said, what did he preach on tonight? You've been scratching
your eye. Well, let's see. I know it was in Exodus somewhere.
But hopefully, you're going to glean a little bit more than
that out of it. But we are. We're so prone to forget the
mercies and grace of our God. And this feast was given to remind
them. And not only to remind them of
the grace and mercies of their God, but to remind them of the
strength of his hand caused them to be delivered. He said, with
a strong hand, now, therefore, you keep this faith. God alone
who made the covenant with their fathers, and God alone who made
His covenant known to them, God alone who accomplished their
deliverance, and God alone who will bring all things to pass
to bring them into that promised place of rest that He promised
to their fathers. All right? Let's look now at
verses 6 and 7. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened
bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord.
Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days, and there shall no
leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall they be leavened
seen with thee in all thy quarters." Now these seven days, any time
you see that word seven, Write it down. That word means perfection. It means completeness. It means
wholeness. And it's typical of the whole
and complete work of grace involved in the deliverance of every sanctified
soul. Seven is the number. That's the
number of completeness. And every soul delivered by God
is delivered completely and wholly by the grace and mercy of God.
That's very simply what he's saying here. There's not only
a commandment forbidding unleavened bread to be eaten here, but even
to be found in the house. He said, I don't even want it
to be seen in your house. I don't want you to have it sitting
on the window cooling. I don't want it in your house
at all. Nowhere in your house. Now, why
would he say that? Because leaven pictures two things
as it's defined in the New Testament. Actually three things if you
want to get technical about it, but it first pictures insincerity. That's the first thing. A pretense
of religion, a pretense of worship, and a pretense of love. You know
there was men and women living in Corinth that Paul said was
engaged in such fornication that even the heathens around them
wasn't like that for a young man to have his father's wife. That's what he told her. You
talk about insincerity. This man living in adultery with
his father's wife, and then he comes into church, and he bows
his head, and he sings the Psalms, Pretense, that's pretense, that's
what that is. Pretense is when we come into
the house of God and we bow our heads and we listen to the gospel
being preached and we, amen, amen, and shake everybody's hands,
I'm glad to see you, brother, and smile, and then we go out
and go back to the world and live like today. That's a pretense
of religion. And you can't run with the world
and walk with God. You can't do it. You can't cling
to the world and serve God. And you can't live with the world
and worship God. It can't be done. And how they
lived exposed their insincerity with God. And Paul tells them
not to overlook these things. But in 1 Corinthians 5, 7, listen
to it. Purge out therefore the old living
that you may be a new lump. As you are unleavened, for even
Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. 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." Well, that's the first thing. When you talk about
this leaven, you're talking about insincerity. And then in the
New Testament, he also talks about the leaven of herring.
That's worldliness. That's greed. That's what that
is. But here in this second place
here, this living picture is a false representation of God
in the Gospel. As I said at the beginning of
the message tonight, this feast is to be considered in the light
of the Passover, the Passover lamb. Turn with me to Matthew
chapter 16. Let's not lose sight of what
we're looking at here. When I find something I think
needs a little time spent on it, I'm going to spend a little
time on it. What we're talking about is the
meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and why leaven was so
strictly forbidden. Watch this here in Matthew 16.5. When His disciples were come
to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. They didn't bring
any bread with them. And Jesus said unto them, Take
heed, and beware of the living of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they all looked at each other.
He just said it and passed. And they reasoned among themselves,
saying, It's because we've taken no bread. We didn't bring any
bread with us. And He's upbraiding us now because that's what this
is all about. Which when Jesus perceived, he
said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves,
because you have brought no bread? Do you not understand, neither
remember the five loaves that I fed the five thousand?" Have
you forgotten about that? That wasn't very long ago. And how many baskets you took
up? Neither the seven loaves, and the four thousand, and how
many baskets ye took up? How is it that ye do not understand
that I spoke it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware
of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the Sadducee? Then understood
thee how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread,
but of the doctrine of the Pharisees. A false representation of the
gospel. That's leaven. That's leaven. So, now, if you look at all these
things, and as I drawed that line for you last week, over
here to the New Testament, to the Lord's Supper, how important
are those elements now? You see how important they are?
Because these things are what's going to set forth this gospel
that we profess to believe. And you come over here and eat
cake or crackers and grape juice, how does that picture anything? That's a misrepresentation of
the gospel as much as this false gospel was. And that's leaven. Now that's why he said no leaven.
No leaven. Unleavened bread then, it has
to do with a sincere heart and a right understanding of the
Lamb. And this unleavened bread of the Pharisees and Sadducees
is works religion. That's exactly what it is. Works
religion. And it's also a religion that
denies the resurrection of Christ. The Sadducees, I say this to you as clearly
as I know how to say it, there's no place for works in the house
of grace. That's what he's telling them.
There's no place for works in the house of grace. If it be
of grace, then it's no more works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. Now, concerning the sacrifice
and deliverance accomplished by the Lamb, there's no room
for these ungodly works of men. There's no room for it. There's
no room for works in God's purpose to redeem. Think about that. Where's man's works in that?
Paul said, He saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. So there's no room
for works in the purpose of God, and there's no room for works
in the accomplishment of our redemption. Paul said we had
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according
to the riches of His grace. Isn't that what that says? There's
no room for works there. And there's no room for works
in our justification. We're not justified by works.
Well, no, he said, being freely justified. Isn't that what he
said? Being freely justified by His
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. And then
there's no room for works in the faith of God's elect, for
by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should bow."
There's no room for works in the house of grace. No room for
it. What about preservation? Peter
said we're kept by the power of God through faith. That's
how we're kept. Unto salvation. God will have us to know and
be reminded in this ordinance that as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so, grace is going to reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And I don't care what
comes down the pike. It don't matter. You notice here
that he speaks of that time when they're going to be in that land.
They hadn't even left Egypt yet. They're just preparing now to
leave Egypt. And he's talking about him already settled in
the land. Huh? Come what may. And you think
about this. The Lord told Paul. You remember
how Paul prayed over his whatever it was that he had, whether it
was his eyes or his eyesight or the way he looked or whatever
it was. He had this thorn in the flesh that he just prayed
and prayed. What did God tell him? He said, My grace is sufficient. It's sufficient. Oh, I tell you,
let that sink deep in your heart. When you're feeling all alone.
You ever feel that way? Huh? All alone. When the enemy surrounds you. You ever been there? The enemy
surrounds you. Oh, I mean, he's everywhere.
He's everywhere. When your burdens, they get so
heavy on your back, you can't hardly Can't hardly carry them.
And when you're misunderstood and wrongfully accused, and when
your health fails and your body no longer functions like you
want it to, and when you get old and your mind begins to wander, and when Satan snares, you see
him all around you. All around you. And when your
own family and friends reject you, and when you just can't
do what your heart yearns to do, Let me be reminded of this. His grace is sufficient. It's
sufficient. It's enough. It's enough. Oh, I tell you, if you can get
a hold of this, this is a bed to lay down on. It's a soft chair
to recline in. It's a strong refuge to hide
in. And it's an anchor the soul dug
deep into the eternal grace of God beyond the veil. Grace of
God in Christ. There is nothing more comforting
to a sinner or more necessary to remind him of than the full,
free, everlasting grace of God in Christ. Alright, let's go
back to Exodus 13. Verse 8. 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. I'm going to borrow this from
Brother Don. He said, Brethren, when you and I come into this
place to worship and to remember our Redeemer, in everything we
do, let us be wise and instruct our children concerning these
things, remembering what the Lord has done for us and around
us and in us. Let's remember. And let's teach
our children. Let's teach our children. Let's tell our children, our
neighbors, Let's tell them what the Lord has done for us. That's
what He said to do here. And we need to do this by our
faithfulness in attendance. We need to do this to our submission
to His ordinances. We need to do this in the hymns
that we sing, in the gifts we give, in the lives we live, in
the sacrifices we offer, in the service we render, in the affection
we show, and in our fellowship with the saints, and especially
in the Gospel we hear. Exodus 13, verse 9. Let's look
at 9 and 10 together. It should be for a sign unto
thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes,
that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth. For with a strong
hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt. Thou shalt therefore
keep this ordinance in his season from year to year." Now, in these
verses, God reminds us of who He is and how we were delivered
by His strong hand. Strong hand. I think sometimes
we forget who God is. You know how the Old Testament
saints, you know how they were identified in the Scriptures?
He that feareth God. All you needed to do at this
point here was turn around and look at Egypt and listen to them
wail. You ought to know something about
God's strong hand. They were wailing over the first
one. Egypt was totally annihilated. You think of it. You read Psalm,
I think it's Psalm 105 that talks about it. It said there wasn't
a green herb left on the top side of the ground. There's nothing
left. The trees were broken. The fruit trees were destroyed.
This once luscious green paradise was leveled by the hand of God. Now he said, don't you forget
that. And you keep this ordinance. The same God that did this gave
you this ordinance. Now you remember him. You remember. Don't mock Him. Remember Him. It's the sovereign God of grace
that commands us and demands our obedience. And His words
are always to be read and received in reverence to His person. And
we're to keep these things in our minds and hearts wherever
we go and whatever we do. In our hands, this seems to me
to relate to serving Him, to things that we do, our service,
our daily service. and between our eyes. This seems
to say to me that we can't take a single step. We're to get this
thing, Walter, focused right here so that we don't take a
step or look at a desired destination until we see this first. You
see this before you step. You see this before you start.
You see this before you see that. He said, keep it right here.
Keep it right here on your hand and right here between your eyes.
And you keep this wherever you go, whatever you do. Keep it
in your minds and keep it in your hearts. Alright, Exodus 13, 11. Let's
look at verses 11 and 12. And it shall be when the Lord
shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as He sware
unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, that
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 lords, and every firstling of an ass
thou shalt redeem with a lamb. And if thou wilt not redeem it,
then thou shalt break its neck, and all the firstborn of men
among thy children shalt thou redeem. Now, I find this to be more than
a coincidence that the redemption of an ass precludes the redemption
of his children and is joined together by the same sacrifice.
That's more than just a coincidence. The jackass of which this verse
speaks is typical of all men. You better listen to me. Actually, Brother Don gave his
apology to the ass when he said it. Now, that's right. Job said, vain man would be wise
though he be born like a wild ass's coat. That's what he said
about natural men. If you go back to Genesis, I
don't know if anybody in here carries a revised version of
the Bible, a revised standard version, but if you go back to
Genesis chapter 16, verse 12, where the Lord is talking about
Ishmael, it says that he shall be a wild man. Well, in that
revised standard version, it says he shall be a wild ass of
a man. That's what it says. That's what
natural man is. He's a wild ass. Now, why would
the Holy Ghost compare natural men to a jackass? Well, I guess
we could go on half the night talking about that, but let me
just give you three things. He says this, first of all, because
the ass is unclean. If you read through the Law of
Moses, you'll find out that the jackass is among the unclean
of the beasts. He's unclean. In Isaiah chapter
64 verse 6, if you want to draw the parallel, Isaiah said, for
we are all as an unclean thing. Ain't that what he said? And
all our righteousnesses, our coverings, are as filthy rags. Now let me give you three examples
of that. A minstress woman was considered unclean under the
law, and so her minstress cloth. A dead body was considered unclean,
and so its clothes, its covering, is unclean. And a leper was considered
unclean, and so that infected rag that covered his pus-covered
skin, it was unclean. Now, Isaiah said, we are all
as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as them
filthy rag, unclean. Nothing unclean can be of a service
to the Lord until it be cleansed. The jackass could serve the Lord,
and he said, it's mine. But he said, it has to be redeemed. I can't use it until it's redeemed. In the same sense, he can't use
us. What good are we if we're unclean? We can't do anything. What can
we do? We got to be redeemed. And if
you won't redeem it, he said, then break its neck, because
it's good for nothing. Good for nothing. Nothing unclean
can be of a service to the Lord until it's been cleansed. And
the firstborn of an ass must either be redeemed or its neck
broken. No value whatsoever. And then
the second reason natural men are likened to the jackass is
because of their stubborn nature. I'm telling you, I'll tell you
when you know when the Lord's done a work in a man. When he
shuts up, sits down, and listens. Now I'm telling you the truth.
Until that time, he's a stubborn ass. That's exactly what he is.
You can't pull him, guide him, whip him. You know what you have
to do, those of you who've used an old jackass know exactly what
I'm talking about. They're good for nothing until
they're broke. You know that the jackass, he
couldn't be buried in the holy city of God. He couldn't be left
there. God didn't want him in the city.
He said, take his carcass outside and throw it outside the city.
Do you know what the Lord wrote into that holy city? A jackass. That's right. And every jackass
that he redeems, he's going to write him into glory. That's
the only way he can get there. Only way he can get there. Scripture don't say the natural
man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. It says
he will not. The Lord didn't say you cannot
come unto me. He said you will not come unto
me. That's stubborn. That's stubborn. Natural man
receiving not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them because they're spiritually
discerned. If he won't receive the means God's ordained to receive
these things, he'll never have them. So then his cannot is in
his will not, isn't it? That's exactly right. And then
thirdly, the ass is typical of natural man because it's a senseless,
ignorant beast. You know that a jackass will
do everything in its power to have its own way regardless of
what you do. You pull it to the right, he'll
go to the left. I don't care how well they're
instructed, to be of any benefit, they must be broken. The redemption of an ass tied
to the Passover and the feast of the unleavened bread was to
remind them of Pharaoh who chose death for all the firstborn of
Egypt and of the Lord who chose the jackass to redeem him. That's right.