Exodus 12:29–51Scripture
Everybody turn your Bibles to Exodus chapter 12. And this is a large portion of Scripture. I've debated quite extensively how I'm going to handle this. Do I want to read this whole thing? But if we fail to do anything, let us not fail to read the Scripture. So I'm going to read the whole thing, and then I'm going to break this down into a few points. I'm actually not going to get... So today, it's 12:29 through 51 was the section that we were assigned. Many of you have already discussed it in your small groups and things of that nature. I'm really not going to get past verse, let's see, 32. So in my exegetical homiletic work, right, we're going to work through those first four, but I'm going to read the whole thing. There's plenty to learn in here and not enough time to talk about it. "At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, 'Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said.
Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!' The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, 'We shall all be dead.' So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their
Introduction
Shoulders. The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the egyptians. And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both herds and flocks..." I'm a little dyslexic there; that's flocks and herds. "And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait..." Let me just pause here for a second. I was trying not to stop. There is an urgency to being obedient, and there's also an urgency to move when God moves. There's an urgency. There was an urgency in the land then; there's an urgency in the land now. Some of you have been wondering what you will do with this man they call Christ. There's an urgency in your response. There's an urgency. "...Nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. The time that the people of Israel lived in egypt was 430 years. At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of egypt." It's about time! God finally did something. We twisted his arm through prayer long enough, and we finally convinced him it was time for him to do a God thing. Oh, how we miss his moves. He's been making moves all along. For 430 years he's been moving. And it's interesting, because today we often hear in our culture, in greater evangelicalism, we hear a cry from young people and old people alike that we would see a move of God today. But he's been moving all along. He's been doing his God thing all along.
And sometimes, just track with me here, sometimes a move of God doesn't look like your prayer requests.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 4:42
Sometimes a move is people dying. Sometimes a move of God is captivity for 430 years. Sometimes a move of God is a famine on the land to promote an individual he needs promoted. Sometimes a move of God is heading to a Promised Land but never being able to cross over into it. Oh, a move of God. What indicates a move of God is not him answering the prayer the way you want it to be answered. But when God... Let me ask you a question.
Can you celebrate God when he moves in ways you did not plan?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 5:29
It's interesting. It's interesting. I need a tissue, please. "It was a night of watching by the LORD..." Thank you. Yeah, the whole box is probably a great idea. Give me just one second. "It was a night of watching by the LORD." Oh, guys, I need a year to unpack that. I'm not going to do anything today with it. That's on you. But that's good. That's good right there. That's a nugget of gold the size of my two fists. "It was a night of watching by the LORD, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the LORD..." Oh man, I so want to deal with that, but it's not in my notes. "...By all the people of Israel throughout their generations. And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 'This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it...'" Now it just gets intense right here. This just gets intense, man. I don't know if y'all talked about this in your small group, but I'm not sure I want to take Passover if I'm in the multitude and I have to meet the requirements. Just check this: "...but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him." Not okay. "No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land.
But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.' All the people of Israel did just as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron. And on that very day the LORD brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts." And there's some great connection between what is required for the Passover and then the communion we see happening in the life of the church today, and the importance of a circumcised heart, which is only accomplished through belief in Christ. Are you with me today? There's great spiritual significance about not taking the Lord's communion in vain, or flippantly, or without having had your heart circumcised by Christ. Okay? Or it says that you heap curses upon yourself. It's important. Oh man, there's so much in here, guys. I know we read Scripture sometimes and we're like, "Let's get on to the Red sea." I kind of like that too, because this kind of gets heavy, and it's like, what is this talking about? Guys, there's so much truth. Do you know that every Old testament text is unveiling the beauty of Christ? It's magnificent what is happening in this text. I have four points today. I'm going to get to them very quickly. The first
Point 1God's wrath is holy, just and urgent
One I want to talk about: I want to visit God's wrath, because it is very present and has been present for a little while here in Exodus. It is a word that we do not like to talk about, because it is a word that we do not know how to measure or interpret, because we tend to interpret wrath by what we've seen demonstrated in the lives of men rather than in the life of a holy God. And so we don't know how to wrestle with a wrathful God, because the only thing we have to compare wrath to is our father or our mother or our friend or our boss or somebody we know in our family, and we see it demonstrated in a way that is unholy, and it is ungodly, and it is full of sin. And so then, when we hear about God's wrath, we begin to get confused about who God is. But he is just, and he is holy, and at the same time he is a wrathful God. And it is important that we understand it not through the lens of mankind but through the lens of God and who he is. Listen to this. Exodus 12:29 says, "At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt." It doesn't say that God struck down the firstborn of people who didn't put blood over the doorpost and the lintel of the house, because death still came to the house of those who slew the lamb and put blood over the doorpost and the lintel of the house. How did death come to that house? It still came to the house. But how did death come to the house? By way of the lamb. And listen, that's important, because it came to every house. Okay? When we hear Passover, we tend to think that death didn't come to some of the
Point 2Death comes to every house by substitution
Houses.
Death came to the house, but it came by substitution.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 12:04
Every single person in this room today is guilty, and death is coming to your house. It is either coming to you directly from God's wrath, or it is coming by way of substitution to Jesus, and it is urgent that you make a choice today. It is urgent. It is ever more urgent today in our culture, because we learn in Matthew that many will stand before the Lord and profess him as Lord of their life, but he will say, "I never knew you." The reality is we have churches filled with people today who believe they are saved, and they are not saved, because we want to pick and choose the parts of God that we want. And the reality is, we learn just moments before in Exodus 12 that you will have the whole lamb, or you will have none of the lamb at all.
You do not merely get to claim the blood of the lamb and reject his body.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 13:07
It is not just the blood of the Lamb that saves. I mean, let us consider then, just for a moment, the hymn we just sang, right? And you're going to have to help remind me, Ebony, but it was "his blood and righteousness." What is that? That God's Son came to earth, lived amongst us, and walked according to the law in every way, and we could not do that. He was a man without sin. He was spotless. He was blameless. He was righteous in every way. His hands did what they should do. His tongue did what it should do, said what it should say. His eyes only looked at what they should look at. His heart was pure. His feet were pure. Every part of him was pure. It is fitting, then, that it is not just the blood of the Lamb that saves, but the command was that you were to eat the whole lamb. And I've said it before, and i'll say it again as a reminder: you eat the tongue of the Lamb that you can speak like him, and the heart of the Lamb that you would emote like him. You eat the feet of the Lamb that you would walk like him.
Ladies and gentlemen, you are not freed for freedom's sake. You are freed to be a slave of Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 14:36
Now your hands are his hands, and your tongue is his tongue. Now his righteousness becomes your righteousness, and he has good works he's planned ahead of time that you could walk in. But you can only walk in those things when you eat the whole lamb. You can't just claim the blood of the lamb, be saved and be freed, but not be changed. You will have all of him, or you will have none of him at all. And there are people in churches today across America who think they've had all of him, but they've only claimed the parts of him that they like. He's a buffet to them. "Give me the blood. Sling the blood. Cover me with blood. But I reject your feet, God. I reject the tongue of Christ. I reject the eyes of Christ. I will look at whatever I want to look at, whenever I want to look at it, whenever I have a bad day, because I just want your blood. I reject your body." And Jesus stands on the mountainside and says, "You will eat my blood and my flesh, or you will have none of me at all."
And the reality is we have created a pick-and-choose religion. We've created an idol out of Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 15:52
We worship his blood and reject his righteousness, because his righteousness makes us a slave to that very thing that we refuse to embrace. For he is righteous, and now we are righteous.
Oh, and his wrath is coming for those who are unholy and unrighteous. Oh, his wrath, ladies and gentlemen, is coming for those who just want his blood but reject his body. And his wrath is merited. Now let me just pause for a moment and talk about something that we wrestle with. We tend to view his wrath according to man's wrath. Man's wrath arises from human imperfection, and when we see wrath in man displayed, it's anger and pride and selfishness or a sense of injustice. It's often emotional impulse, and it's clouded by sin. James 1:20 says, "The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God." But God's wrath stems from his perfect holiness and his justice. It is a righteous response to sin and to evil. It is neither arbitrary nor irrational. Oh, it is the opposite of what we see in men. What motivates man's wrath? Man's wrath is frequently driven by personal offense, a desire for revenge, or wounded pride. It can often result in harm to others or self rather than resolution or justice. But God's wrath is different than that. It's motivated by an unwavering commitment to righteousness and his love for his creation. God's wrath seeks to uphold justice and bring about restoration in the context of his redemptive purposes. It is different than man's wrath. The purpose of man's wrath largely is self-serving and unredemptive unless subdued by God's grace. God's wrath aims to uphold his justice. It demonstrates his holiness and leads humanity to salvation. Even in judgment, it serves his greater purpose of glorifying himself and restoring creation to its original intent. Romans 1:18: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." God's wrath is motivated by his justice. Let me ask you a couple questions. I asked the students on Wednesday night. It was an interesting conversation. Do you believe it is good that God is just? Most of us would say yes to that, until we drilled down, because then the next question would be: then do you believe it is right for God to kill someone and take a life? Because he does it all over egypt, in every house. Now we start to... "Yes, because he's God. But did God really do it? Was it a death angel, or did God really do it? Or did sin cause it? Is God really to blame, or are we to blame?" Isn't it amazing how we try to unhitch God from justice? Do you believe it is just for God to demand a life as an act of justice? Let me break this down for you really simply. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He put man in the garden. He put two trees in there. He said, "Don't eat from that one." Don't eat from that one. What'd they do? They ate from it. You know why? Because we're punks like that. That's just what we do. We're sinful. That's just what we do. I mean, you know what's crazy? If God had never told them not to eat from it, they probably wouldn't ever even have eaten from it. It's because he told them not to, right? How many of you have kids, and the moment you tell them not to do something is when they start trying to do that? It is amazing how rebellious we are. You know what God said when they ate from that? You know what he said their punishment would be? Death. Do you believe it's just for a holy God to create a punishment? Matter of fact, let me just say this. Men in the house today... Men in the house today, and this could be applied to anybody, but I'm just going to talk to the men: somebody comes into your house, kills your children, and rapes your wife. You go to court, and that judge goes, "You know what? He was really having a bad day. He had just got fired from his job. We're going to let you off the hook." You're sitting in the audience, and he releases him with no punishment.
Totally caught, totally guilty. They proved his guilt, but the judge releases him. You good with that? It's quiet. You're scared to answer, because now you have to apply it to you.
Because a just judge would invoke a punishment for that. That's what makes him just. That's what makes him just. And I want you to know that the punishment for any sin is death. Oh, death's coming into your house, because the Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Oh, death's coming for you, and death will not escape your house. It'll come to you eternally, or it'll come to a substitute whose name is Jesus Christ. It's your choice, and the matter is urgent, ladies and gentlemen, because we do not know the hour or the time in which he cometh. I did a King James there. Did you catch that? Did you catch it? Okay. Justice: he is just. Oh man. Exodus 12:29 says, "...from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock." Track with me here. I don't have time to belabor this, but notice how it comes to every household, regardless of economic status, regardless of position, regardless of who they are.
There is equality at the cross. All people, regardless of background, are equally sinful and equally in need of Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 23:53
Everyone. There are people who sit in fellowship for many years... As I've pastored churches, there are people who sit in the fellowship that say, "I am not worthy to sit at the foot of Christ and be covered by the blood of Christ and feast on the body of Christ. I am not worthy of that. I have gone too far. I have done too much, and I am not worthy to be covered." And I would say yes, you are, because all people, regardless of background, regardless of what you've done, all are equally sinful and equally in need of Christ. God's coming for everyone. His justice demands it, and his wrath enacts it. He's
Point 3Sin despises God's worth and glory
Coming. Number two. We talked about God's wrath. Number two: God's worth. Exodus 12:29–51 says, "At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead." Let's jump to Romans. Listen to this. Just track with me here. We just came out of Romans. Just listen to this. This is beautiful. Romans 3:21–26. Listen to this. Listen to the connection of what's happening in the picture of Exodus, and then listen to this: "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short..." "Well, I fell further, man. If you only knew my story." All have sinned and fallen short, enough to deserve death and his wrath. Everyone. "...And are justified by his grace as a gift." How are we justified? By being good people? By being good philanthropists? By doing good things? No. "...By his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance..." Track with me here. Listen to this: "...because in his divine forbearance..." Oh, he's putting up with a brother and a sister, and he's been doing it for a long time. Oh, what about God's chosen people? Well, he's putting up with them too. And track with me here: as we move through Exodus, he continues to put up with them. He passed over them. "...Because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins." Praise God that he doesn't come at me now. But we don't know the hour when he will. We don't know the hour when he'll crack the sky and come back. We don't know that hour. And for now he passes over our former sins, but one day there will be an answer for those sins, when he'll crack open the skies, and he will stand before you, and you will stand before him, and you will have to answer. And he will either pass over you one more time because of Christ, or he will punish you, and death will come to you eternally, and he will unroll his wrath out on you day after day and hour after hour and moment after moment for all eternity in hell. Oh, don't think God will be absent from hell. It's him that's enacting the punishment.
You don't get to escape God.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 28:20
What part of him do you want to be a part of? I don't want his wrath for all eternity, because I've seen some pretty crazy stuff in the Old Testament, like destroying the whole earth with his wrath. "It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."
Listen to this. I'm going to help you understand what's going on here. King David is a good example. In 2 Samuel 12, he is confronted by the prophet nathan. Nathan comes to him and gives him a story. King David gets so mad about the story he told and the injustice that was done that he basically said, "This man needs to pay and be put to death," because that's the punishment for sin. Even David knows it.
It's amazing how we know how to apply death to others, but we can't even see our own sin and understand that it merits death as well.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 29:23
Are you with me today? Then Nathan looks at him and says these words: "Atah ha'ish," which means "You are the man." "The man I'm talking about in this story? Man, that's you." Atah ha'ish. "You're the man that this story is talking about." David's heart sinks.
Nathan literally says in 2 Samuel 12:9, "Why have you despised the word of the LORD?" Oh, come on now. How many of you are guilty of despising the word of the Lord? Oh, you know his Word. You know what it says. You know what kind of life it calls you to live. Some of you despise it. David feels the rebuke of Nathan, and in verse 13 he says, "I have sinned against the LORD." To this Nathan responds, "The LORD also has put away your sin." Track this. Just listen to this in Romans, and listen to the Passover in Exodus. Listen to this. To this Nathan responds, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die." Just like that, adultery and murder were passed over. It is almost incredible to think about. Our sense of justice screams out, "No! You can't just let it go like that! He should pay! He deserves to die! He deserves to be imprisoned for life! He's a murderer! Eye for eye!" But Nathan does not say that. He says, "The LORD has put away your sin; you shall not die." In verse 23 we learn, and we just read it, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. You cannot demand justice for one and not for yourself.
What's at stake in the sinning is the glory of God. What's at stake in the sin in your life is the glory of God.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 31:22
When Nathan confronts David, he quotes God as saying, "Why have you despised me?" We can imagine David saying, "What do you mean, I despise you? I didn't despise you.
I wasn't even thinking about you. I just got hot after this girl naked in the bathtub, and then I was scared to death that people were going to find out, so I put the husband on the front line to get him offed. Killed. God, you weren't even in the picture when I did all that. I was just in a hot frenzy. I wasn't even thinking about you." And God would have answered, "The Creator of the universe, the designer of marriage, the Fountain of Life, the one who holds you in being, the one who made you king, David, that one, I, the LORD, was not even in the picture. That's right, David. That's exactly what I mean. You despise me. You don't even consider me. I'm not even on your radar." Many of us live like that. Oh, we profess him with our mouth. Oh, we shout from the rooftops during our worship.
We give him praise and adoration out of our lips, and we are a big middle finger with our life.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 32:49
But he will have all of you, or he will have none of you at all, for he is a jealous God. Are you with me today? Narrow is the gate that leads to life, and wide is the gate to destruction. This is not a joke, ladies and gentlemen. This is serious business.
You're like, "Oh, narrow is the gate because not many people go to church." Wrong. Wrong. It's even narrow inside the life of the church. I don't have percentages, but guys, it's narrow even among church people. Are you with me today?
Because the evidence of our faith is our fruit, and if you live your whole life professing your faith with zero fruit, that's a problem.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 33:38
That's a problem. By the way, the Bible says that the wheat and the tares grow up together, and he'll deal with them in the end. The reality is in church today there are wheat and tares, and they both look exactly alike. Have you seen pictures of the wheat and the tares? Because the tares look like wheat, and the wheat looks like tares, and you can't tell the difference. Oh, but God can. Oh, he sees you. He sees you. Death is coming to your house, and we do not know the hour, but the hour draweth nigh. It's serious business. This is serious business. This is not to be tampered with. God is not to be tampered with. He is not your plaything. All sin is a preference for the fleeting pleasures of this world over the everlasting joy of God's fellowship. David demeaned God's glory. He belittled God's worth. He dishonored God's name. That is the meaning of sin: failing to love God's glory above everything else. And all have done this and exchanged the glory of God for fleeting
Point 4God won't be winnowed: all or nothing
Pleasures. Listen to this. Number three: God won't be winnowed. Now, I told my wife this word, and I actually had her help me, because I wanted to do all W's, and I really had a hard time with the thesaurus finding something that would fit this, right? And so we see in here a glimpse of Pharaoh wanting the good stuff from God, the good stuff that comes from God, but not God himself. But he won't be winnowed. You will have all of God, or you will have none of him. He will have all of you, or he will have none of you. It's an all-in or all-out kind of situation. Are you with me today?
In a world of gray, there is no gray with God. It's all or nothing.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 35:58
Track with me here. "Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, 'Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said.'"
Get out of Dodge, man. Y'all are killing me. "Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone." And then Pharaoh caps it off with this: "Oh, by the way, and bless me as you go." This is a lot of people in church on Sunday.
Oh, you come for God's blessing, but you don't want him.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 36:28
It is demonstrated in our prayer life. Oh, we want something from him, but we don't want him. It's demonstrated in how much time we spend in his love letter. "I want what comes from you, but I don't want you." Is this too much? Do you see the picture and the insanity of what we do and who we are? It's a problem. But God will not be winnowed. You get all of him or none of him. This is not a pick-and-choose religion.
Point 5God's Word is meant to be obeyed
God's word. Number four, and final point: God's word. "The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, 'We shall all be dead.' So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing.
And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the egyptians." Listen to this. I'm going to say it again, because I think it was lost on us. The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste, for they thought they were all going to get killed. So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. Here it is: the people of Israel had also done what Moses told them.
What good is the Word if you never do the Word?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 38:34
This is not some book of empty flattery. This baby is not your fortune cookie.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 38:55
What good is the Word if you do not listen to the Word? What good is the Word? By the way, you are a slave to the Word of God. Who is the Word? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The Word was Jesus, and the Word came and dwelt among us in human flesh, and walked among us, and lived righteously. Why did he live righteously? Because righteousness is imputed to us. There is now a propitiation for our sin. There is a payment for our sin, and now righteousness, the righteousness of Christ, is imputed to us. How do we see that we are his and we are hidden in Christ? By our righteous living. Are we saved by our righteous living? Absolutely not. But we see the righteousness of Christ in those who are hidden in Christ. You can't be hidden in Christ and be unrighteous. First John says... Does that mean that we won't have sin? Absolutely not. If you say you are without sin, you are a liar indeed, and you are not saved at all. But you will not be a slave to sin any longer. You will not habitually practice sin. If you find yourself habitually and uncaringly practicing sin, you got yourself a problem, ladies and gentlemen, and death is coming to your house, and the time draweth nigh. This is serious business. Romans 6:17–18 says you were slaves of sin, and "I got liberated! I got liberated! I'm liberated!" And people today love this. Young people love liberation. They base their whole perspective on the Bible on being liberated and being able to set their own course in life. No. Matter of fact, their path to the Red sea, and their liberation, was even determined by God. They took the long route. They went the long way. Just track with me here: in the next chapter, they went the long way. And even in God taking them the long way, he is providing. He's providing provision. He's trying to take them around a problem. But they're a slave to his direction. They're a slave to his Word. This is not God's convenient recommendation. It's his Word. And they did what he said. And they did what he said. And they did what he said. They did what he said. There's a shocking and novel idea: that we would do what God says. You were slaves to sin, but you've been set free. "Yes! Woo! I'm free! I'm free indeed!" And we make songs about that, but they don't read the next three words, four words, five words, I mean six words: "...have become slaves of righteousness."
Ladies and gentlemen, it's a transfer of bondage.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 42:38
Oh, we got it wrong. We've talked so much about freedom we failed to teach people you are a slave to Christ. You're a slave to his Word. You're a slave to what he calls you to. If you're his, you're his completely, or you're not his at all. Why don't we preach this? Why don't we preach this truth? Because we want his blood. We don't want his body. But can I close with this?
It was feasting on the body that made them ready for the journey.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 43:35
In the words of the great theologian Cameron, they got themselves some protein for their journey. All the vegetarians in the house are like, "But..." This ain't about your preference. This is about his word. What would happen to all the vegans and vegetarians up in there? I'm not fighting for meat-eaters in the house. I'm saying sometimes God's Word calls you to do something that's different than your preference. But the reason he does it is not just to insult your preference; his Word prepares you for the journey. And some of us don't journey so well because we just want his blood. We don't want his body. And it is the body that prepares us to follow him wherever his presence leads, because if you don't have his body, you don't have the strength to follow him where he leads you. Come on now. That's good news. That's good news. You have a choice today. Oh, all of us may declare that we want to be followers of Christ, but what happens when he gives a word that's different than his preference? Oh God, help us.
55:08
49:20
54:12
51:05
39:27
1:02:21
1:05:55
1:08:37
1:14:26
56:32
48:06
1:00:59
50:25
59:35
40:20
49:20
45:24Now playing
47:29
40:57
47:59
32:41
38:34
40:34
36:34