Chapter 15 and verse 8. Throughout
the Word of God, we are admonished over and over and over again
to remember. To remember what we are by nature. To remember what we were and
where we were when God saved us by His grace. To remember
what the Lord has done for us. And therefore, our God commands
us here in Deuteronomy 15, 15, And thou shalt remember that
thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God
redeemed thee. The Lord thy God redeemed thee. In the word of God, in the worship
of God, in the service of God. That which motivates and governs
the lives of God's saints in this world is the remembrance
of grace and redemption as we have experienced it at the hands
of our God. Now, I want this morning to stir
up our memories and I want to stir up our souls to unparalleled
consecration and devotion to God our Savior with gratitude. And so in doing so, I'll show
you four things clearly set before us in this text. First, we have
here the picture of grace set before us in the redemption of
Israel out of Egyptian bondage. As you read the history of the
children of Israel in the Old Testament, you can't help noticing
the great care that was taken by God that the Jews never forget. his great work in bringing them
up out of Egypt, the house of bondage. He intended for them
to be reminded everywhere they turn, everywhere they look, to
be reminded of what he had done for them. And therefore he commanded
them to remember it forever. Remember thou wast a bondman
in the land of Egypt and the Lord thy God redeemed thee. Now the whole 12th chapter of
Exodus As Israel is preparing to leave the land of Egypt, the
whole 12th chapter of Exodus is given over to instruction
about what was to be done and how the Lord God would establish
the memory of this thing in the minds of Israel. Turn back there
for a moment. Exodus chapter 12. In verse 2,
we see that the month of their deliverance was made to be the
first month of the year to them. This month shall be unto you
the beginning of months. And then in verses 3 through
14, a special ordinance was established by God to be kept perpetually
by the children of Israel throughout their generations until the coming
of Christ the Redeemer. The Lord established that which
was the Passover, which in many ways was the prelude to that
which we observe now as the Lord's table. The Passover was ordained
by God to be an annual New Year celebration in Egypt, so that
the children of Israel every year, as they watch the high
priest go in and make sacrifice to God upon the mercy seat over
the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy of Holies, there to make
atonement for Israel once every year, they would remember how
that God brought them out of Egypt by the blood of a lamb,
and how that blood in that lamb and that deliverance typified
and represented a far greater deliverance yet to be accomplished
by Christ the Messiah. In verse 3, a lamb was to be
taken for every house. And the lamb was to be required,
in verse 5, to be a lamb without blemish, a male of the first
year. In other words, it was to be
an innocent victim in the prime of its life. What a picture of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. He who is holy, harmless,
undefiled, and separate from sinners. The innocent, holy Lamb
of God, taken as a sacrifice in the prime of His life, in
the full vigor of His manhood. And it was to be killed. The
Lamb wasn't just to be looked at. It wasn't just to be held
up as an example of modesty and humility. That Holy Lamb was
to be slain. Christ, the Lamb of God, is our
Redeemer and our Savior only by virtue of His death as our
sacrifice under the violent hand of divine justice. The Lamb slain,
His blood was to be sprinkled upon the doorpost and the lentil.
And thus, picturing the blood of Christ applied to our hearts
by God the Holy Spirit. As the Lord Jesus ascended into
heaven by the merit of His blood, He obtained eternal redemption
for us. And then in the time of His love
and grace, God the Holy Spirit comes and takes the precious
blood of Christ and effectually applies it to the hearts of chosen
sinners so that we now eat the Lamb just like Israel did back
here in Exodus chapter 12. Eat the Lamb? Eat His flesh and
drink His blood? Not literally, no. Not symbolically
in the Lord's table. That's not what the text is talking
about when our Lord commands us to eat his flesh and drink
his blood. What he's talking about is this.
We, by faith, take him in all that he is, in all his accomplishments. And now taking him as our redeemer
and our savior, taking his merit, his blood, his atonement, his
righteousness. He is ours forever. And we're
his in the blessed experience of redemption. Look in Exodus
12 verse 13. And the blood, the blood, the
blood. Oh, don't ever, don't ever let
this modern squeamishness about blood turn you against the word
of God. It is the life that is in the
blood. And so the blood in the scriptures
is prominent. The blood in the scriptures,
particularly representing the blood of Jesus Christ, our savior.
The blood shall be to you for a token. upon the houses where
you are. And the Lord God says, when I
see the blood, I will pass over you. Oh, blessed word of grace. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. He saw the blood back yonder
in eternity. He saw the blood when it was
shed at Calvary. He saw the blood long before
we saw the blood. And the time may come when we
can't see it anymore. And he'll still see the blood.
He'll still see it. I recall hearing Brother Scott
Richardson preach on this text one time years ago down in Virginia. We were in a conference and he
was talking about one of his relatives who had spent years
and years and years in an insane asylum, didn't even know his
name. And he said, time may come when I may get that Alzheimer's
disease and I'll be sitting around in a wheelchair and I can't remember
who I am or who you are. much less remember the blood,
but the text doesn't say, when I see the, when you see the blood,
it says, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. And hear
me now, it is not our seeing the blood that causes God's wrath
to pass over us. It's his seeing the blood that
causes us to see it and causes his wrath to pass over us. In
addition to the Passover ceremony, the Jews were required to instruct
their children in the matter of redemption. In chapter 6 of
Deuteronomy, verse 20, When thy son asketh thee in time to come,
saying, What mean these testimonies? What does all this mean, this
Passover, these ordinances, these commandments, this word? What
mean these testimonies and the statutes and the judgments which
the Lord our God hath commanded you? Verse 21, Then thou shalt
say unto thy son, Son, now listen to me, listen to me. I've got
to tell you something that I hope God will make you understand.
Oh, I pray God will seal it to your heart. We were Pharaoh's
bondmen in Egypt and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with
a mighty, mighty hand. That's the story. If this were
the responsibility of parents in those days to instruct their
children in detail, word by word, rising in the morning, when lying
down at night, when sitting at the table, when going out in
the field, to instruct their children, word for word, in detail,
constantly throughout their lives, about typical redemption. Oh,
my soul, Ron, how much more responsible we are to instruct ours of real
redemption. The redemption of our souls by
the blood of Jesus Christ. So that when your sons and daughters
sit around your table, while you have opportunity, Oh, while
you have opportunity, while you have opportunity, seize the opportunity
to tell them what God's done for his people in Christ. Why
do we, why do we go to the house of God? How come we spend so
much time at church? We were Bodmin in the house of
Egypt and the Lord God redeemed us. Why do we build our lives
around the things of God? Why can't we live like other
people do? Because we were bondmen in the house of Egypt and the
Lord God redeemed us. Why is it that we give and take
our money and our time and our substance and our energies and
give them in the cause of Christ? We remember that we were bondmen
in the land of Egypt and the Lord our God redeemed us. Let
other men and women Live as though these were secondary matters,
if they can. Let other men and women live
as though these things were just issues of the head, if they can. For me and my house, we remember
we were bondmen in a dark, dark land. And the Lord God brought
us out. Even in giving their law, The
children of Israel were commanded to remember their redemption
from Egypt by the hand of God. You remember when the Lord gave
his law in Exodus 20? He said, I'm the Lord that brought
you out of the land of Egypt. He said, now this is why I'm
giving it to you. Repeatedly, throughout their
history, the Jews were commanded by God, thou shalt remember that
thou was a bondman in the land of Egypt and the Lord thy God
redeemed thee. They were carefully instructed
exactly how to do so. How much more shall we remember?
Our redemption by Christ, our experience of God's grace in
Christ must always be held to the forefront, never cast to
the rear, never placed in the background. In all our worship,
in all our preaching, In all our teaching, in all our singing,
in all our praying, in all our witnessing, in all our living,
in all our thoughts, remember, thou wast a bondman in the land
of Egypt, and the Lord thy God hath redeemed thee. You remember
that? Redemption must always be the
primary matter of constant contemplation, the primary matter of constant
consideration, the primary matter of constant devotion, redemption. redemption. That's the motive
for everything. That's the motive for everything.
The difference between gospel truth, the difference between
genuine Christianity, the difference between worshipping God in spirit
and worshipping God in bondage, the difference between worshipping
God with the liberty of God's sons and worshipping God in the
bondage of drudgery and slavery is that those who truly worship
God but in order to do so cause they're motivated by gratitude.
We're not here because we have to be. We're not here because
we're scared God's gonna take it out of our head. We're not
here because we're afraid God's going to turn against us if we
didn't show up. Oh, no, no, no, no. We're here
because God redeemed us. He redeemed us. This is how Paul
constantly motivates us. In Ephesians chapter 2, when
he would promote unity between Jew and Gentile. Now, try to
put yourself in the position of the Jews and Gentiles in that
day. Jews didn't have a whole lot of use for us. They thought
we were dumb and dirty. They did. They thought we were
cursed and cursed. They didn't have anything to
do with us. That was just the nature of Jews. It was kind of
like going down to North Carolina and finding a good southern boy
and telling him, now you and the black folks are going to
have to get along. Y'all had to learn to love each
other. After all, you're one in Christ. Well, how on earth
do you do that? Paul says Christ broke down the
middle wall of petition. That's how you do that. Oh, he
sure did. Now we're one in him. We're one
in him. Believers, walk together in peace
because you've been redeemed. And the apostle challenges us
to godliness and devotion. He does so by reminding us of
redemption. He said, God be thanked, you
were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart
that doctrine which was delivered to you. Being then made free
from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. He says, what? Don't you know that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost whose temple you are? And you're
not your own. Bobby Estes, you don't belong
to Bobby Estes. You're not your own, you've been
bought with a price. So glorify God in everything. When the apostle seeks to promote
mercy, brotherly love, kindness and forgiveness among believers,
he simply reminds us of the mercy, kindness and love we've experienced
and redemption by Christ Jesus in Ephesians 4. You see, redemption
and grace by Christ is not just the primary thing. in our doctrine
and in our religion. It's not the primary thing. Redemption
and grace by Christ is everything. Everything. What's our doctrine? Christ redeem me. What's our
glory? Christ redeem me. What's our
hope? Christ redeemed me. What's our motive? Christ redeemed
me. What's our rule? Christ redeemed
me. How do you govern the house of
God? Christ redeemed us. That's sufficient
if you know anything about it by experience. And James, if
it's not sufficient to motivate, govern, and inspire you, you
don't know anything about it by experience. Oh, but what can
be wrong with Teaching the law what can be wrong with bringing
folks under the law? What can be wrong with saying
now now now fellowship? We realize we ought to do this cause we
love the Lord, but but just in case that's not enough you get
this whip out Because you don't know anything about it by experience
if you need the whip You just don't you just don't all right
now secondly I Want us to consider the bondage of sin from which
we've been redeemed by God's mighty hand. Man's natural bondage
in sin is very well pictured by the bondage the Egyptians
held against the Jews and upon them. The apostle tells us we
were all children of wrath by nature. That is to say, we all
were the servants, the slaves of sin, the servants, the slaves
of our lust and of Satan. Paul says you were the servants
of sin in Romans chapter 6. Before God saved us by His grace,
we were enslaved by a power against which we had no strength. That
at that time, Paul says, you were without strength. Without
strength. Now this is what I'm telling
you. You who are yet without Christ, you who are yet slaves
to your lust, you who are yet slaves to the custom of this
world, you who are yet slaves to Satan. Listen to me. I'm not
suggesting that you behave in the most vile, ignominious way
you could. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Satan
would just as soon have you sitting in church three times a week
as have you in a bar. That doesn't make any difference. That doesn't
make any difference. He'd just as soon you be moral as be immoral.
That's nothing. That's nothing. Satan pretends
to be a minister of righteousness. Well, preacher, what are you
talking about? I'm telling you that you're without strength.
And this is where we were when God saved us. Without strength
to keep God's law at all. I mean, Lindsey, you and I, by
nature, have no ability to do anything good. Nothing, nothing. Now, we do things that make men
smile at us and prove of us and say, boy, what a fine fellow
he is. But not before God. No human being has any ability
to keep God's law at all. We have no ability by nature
to resist temptation. We're all shocked in our self-righteousness
by what transpired in Colorado. And I said that deliberately.
Shocked in our self-righteousness. We ought to be shocked it doesn't
happen every day. Every day. Every day. A preacher, what do
you mean? If God would turn loose our sons
and daughters, just turn them loose. If God would turn loose
their mothers and fathers, if he just turned us loose, if he
just turned us loose to ourselves, that'd look like a Sunday school
picnic. That'd just back. Oh, I couldn't do that. You don't
have any idea what you're capable of doing. Neither do I. I have
a first cousin, I think I've told you some years ago. I was
just a boy raised in church all her life. Family raised in church.
Good family as far as community is concerned. Large family. Her husband walked in one day. Man, father of her children.
As far as I know, now something may be hid, I don't know, but
as far as I know, she's a good wife, good mother. Without any reason. He just walked in one day, loaded
his gun, killed her right in front of the kids. How do you
explain that? Unless God holds the unregenerate,
unless God holds you by his providence, by his restraining hand, there's
nothing you won't do. Taken captive by Satan, what
does the scripture say? his will. That's all. Oh, we got to trust our kids. If you trust them, you trust
a fool. Don't you dare trust them to themselves. No, no, no,
no. Understand, mamas and daddies,
there is a demon locked up inside your children. And that demon
is your own nature. They're just exactly like you.
Therefore, you govern them, and you guide them, and you direct
them, and you supervise them, and you lead them, and you watch
them, and you care for them. We were bonded, and our bondage
was such that we had no ability to resist it. And if we'd had
the ability, we didn't have the will. We had no inclination to
escape the bondage. Oh, we loved it. I'm a Southerner
by birth. and by choice. I'm so much a
Southerner that if I weren't a Southerner, I'd be ashamed.
But the greatest blight on our Southern heritage, that horrible
inhumanity which many try still to defend, is slavery. It's one of those things I wish
somehow had never happened or we could just erase it from memory,
but that can't be. Slavery is one huge, ugly, oozing
sore on the side of the South that will forever bar the beauty
of the South. Now that's just fact. That's
just fact. But you know one of the worst
aspects of slavery? It so degraded man that men frequently became
content to be slain. happy to be slaves. Such contentment
is a moral castration of manhood. He is not truly a man who is
content to be the slave to any man. And yet such was our spiritual
condition and such is our spiritual condition by nature that we are
content to be in bondage to our lust to the course of this world
and to Satan. We hugged our chains and kissed
our manacles as if they were marks of duty. Oh, Satan is a
hard taskmaster. As Pharaoh made Israel to serve
with rigor, to make bricks without straw, compelling them by brutality
to build his pyramids. So Satan is a hard taskmaster
of all tyrants. There are no tyrants like sin,
Satan. You young people, please listen
to this preacher. Oh, God help you to listen. I
speak with the memory of bitter experience. Sin, Satan, and the
world will debase you, bring you to nothing but contempt.
I know what it is. to wake up every morning, look
myself in the mirror, and pray for strength to commit suicide.
I know exactly what it is. It'll bring you to nothing but
contempt. It'll bankrupt you. Bankrupt you. You follow the
path of this world. I know in this, mamas and daddies,
none of us have exercised enough good sense in this regard Take
five minutes. Just take five minutes. Just
five minutes. Sometime when your kids aren't
paying any attention to you, listen to what they're listening to
on the radio. Just five minutes. You think it was kind of things
just kind of teased around when you were kids? Man, there's no
teasing around these days. If you had good sense, you'd
watch it. Just slip in the door and watch what they're watching
on television. And watch it. It'll destroy you. What preacher? The lust of your flesh, the course
of this world, the direction of sin. Now, let me tell you
something else I've experienced. One of the most joyful things
I've ever known in my life was the bitterness of that body. Oh, there came a day when God
caused us to feel the whip of the taskmaster. He caused us
to know the bitterness of the bondage, the bankruptcy of our
souls, the degradation of our being. And we cried to God for
mercy. And when we cried like he heard
Israel in Egypt, he heard his people cry out and he sent deliverance. Remember, you were a bondman
in Egypt. Like Pharaoh, Satan's aim was
our destruction. The strong man armed would not
let us go. Though our hearts were pricked
by the preaching of the word, though we were deeply moved by
the gospel, we simply could not escape. Oh, how often I made
resolutions and resolved and made resolutions and resolved,
but I couldn't break the chains. I couldn't free myself of the
manacles. I couldn't escape my lust. Then,
oh, blessed day, King Jesus stepped in. and entered into the straw
man's house and bound the straw man, cast him out and set up
his residency on his throne and made me like it. I try to picture
the children of Israel that crossed over now and take possession
of the land. I try to picture them. And as I do, I can see Joshua
and Caleb trying to explain things to them. You remember the Lord
commanding him, he said, you set up stones now as a memorial.
You set up these ordinances as a memorial. You set up this service
as a memorial. I can picture old Joshua and
Caleb, the only two grown men who came out of Egypt to enter
the land of promise. Son, that old man says, you see
these scars? They're scars of hard bondage.
Let me tell you. You see these stones? These stones
are stones of memorial to the God of covenant promise who's
faithful in all things. Now then, you see this lamb,
this lamb slain, this lamb about to be offered a sacrifice to
God, this lamb whose blood is about to be sprinkled on the
mercy seat. On the night God redeemed us, he sacrificed a
lamb for us. And that lamb portrays and pictures
the lamb of God. One of these days, come and take
away the sins of the world. Believe God, son. Believe God. Oh, God help you now. Believe
God. God sets you free. And when he
sets you free,