[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the preaching ministry of the Agopic Baptist Church in George, South Africa.
[SPEAKER_01]: Good morning church.
[SPEAKER_01]: I see this morning they put the mic at my level.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm very thankful whoever set that up.
[SPEAKER_01]: I appreciate that.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's always appreciated.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you would, please turn with me to Exodus, chapter 11, Exodus 11.
[SPEAKER_01]: We begin this morning again with a question, because I find that questions help us jog our minds a little bit more.
[SPEAKER_01]: It turns on a different part of our brain, our reasoning part of our brain rather than just receiving.
[SPEAKER_01]: the question is this, do you deserve to die?
[SPEAKER_01]: Think about that with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you deserve to die?
[SPEAKER_01]: So let me clarify.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not asking do you want to die or do you feel guilty?
[SPEAKER_01]: So this
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm asking, do you, according to the law of God, which is righteous and good?
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you, according to the law of God, deserve to die?
[SPEAKER_01]: Is your way of life so distorted by law breaking that the King of the universe could justly put you to death right now right here on the spot?
[SPEAKER_01]: So the Christian answer, I'm going to go ahead and give you the answer.
[SPEAKER_01]: We could leave it hanging in the air and see what happens at the end.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm going to go ahead and give you the answer, and then attempt to show you in the word of God that it's God's answer, it's not Daniel Crane's answer, it's God's answer.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the answer, the Christian answer, to this question, has always been yes, yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: My former way of life is completely deserving of death, and not just physical death when I grow old, and my body dies, not just physical death, but eternal death in the lake of fire.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because my every sin has been against the holiest God, the holy, holy, holy God in heaven,
[SPEAKER_01]: A God who cannot have sin in his presence, sinful man cannot look on God and live.
[SPEAKER_01]: We cannot exist in his presence and live because we are sinners.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the Christian answer has always been, yes, I deserve to die.
[SPEAKER_01]: But God.
[SPEAKER_01]: In His inexplicable mercy and grace, chose me, predestined me, called me, justified me, and has promised to glorify me.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the gospel in Romans.
[SPEAKER_01]: My judge and executioner became my savior.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the good news.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the Christian gospel.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is the focus of the next few chapters in Exodus.
[SPEAKER_01]: The focus is, at people, humanity, deserving of death that being granted away of escape.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's going to be the focus of the next several weeks.
[SPEAKER_01]: Deserving of death, but being granted away of escape.
[SPEAKER_01]: The feast that looks back at this historical event is called the Passover, the Passover, because death passed over the houses of Israel.
[SPEAKER_01]: At this morning, we're just gonna look at Exodus 11, verses 1 through 10.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a very short chapter, and it's just the warning of the coming death.
[SPEAKER_01]: And specifically this morning, we're gonna consider why the first born of Egypt
[SPEAKER_01]: While the firstborn of Israel will walk out of the tunes of Egypt alive, so we're going to focus on the firstborn in why some die and others live.
[SPEAKER_01]: So look with me, if you will, at Exodus 11, we'll begin reading in verse 1, we'll read the whole chapter.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yet one plague, more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt.
[SPEAKER_01]: Afterwards, he will let you go from here.
[SPEAKER_01]: When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely.
[SPEAKER_01]: Speak now in the hearing of the people that they ask every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor for silver and gold jewelry.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the Lord gave the people favor in the side of the Egyptians, moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the side of Pharaoh's servants, and the side of the people.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Moses said, Thus says the Lord, and he's speaking to Pharaoh.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thus says the Lord, about midnight, I will go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits in his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmole, in all the firstborn of the cattle.
[SPEAKER_01]: There shall be a great cry throughout the land of Egypt, such as there as never been nor ever will be again.
[SPEAKER_01]: But not a dog shall grow all against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast.
[SPEAKER_01]: That you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.
[SPEAKER_01]: And all these are servants shall come down to me and bow down to me saying, get out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even all the people who follow you, and after that, I will go out.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he Moses went out from Pharaoh and hot anger.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh will not listen to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: That my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.
[SPEAKER_01]: Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land until there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's pray.
[SPEAKER_01]: Heavenly Father, you are holy, holy, holy.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are above the earth, you are above the heavens, you are outside of time itself.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Lord, we cannot contemplate the vastness of your holiness and how far removed we are as human beings who are sinful and fallen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lord, I pray that you're word this morning will make clear to us a little bit more.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll give us a little bit more clarity on the divide between men and God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Please, Lord, give us a little bit of a taste for the chasm between humanity and the God of the universe, the righteous judge of all the earth.
[SPEAKER_01]: What I ask you to do this by your word and your spirit working in us, because I truly believe that when we see the chasm between us and God, between us and you, when we see how wide, even a glimpse of how wide that chasm is Lord, I truly believe it will fill us with either a desire to know you if we don't know already.
[SPEAKER_01]: Or Lord, it will fill us as Christians with such great joy because of how far you came to save us and to make us your people.
[SPEAKER_01]: Please, Lord, show us for your glory and our joy.
[SPEAKER_01]: In Jesus' name, I ask all of these things.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So in our passage of this morning, let's focus on why does God single out the firstborn for death?
[SPEAKER_01]: Why this emphasis on the firstborn?
[SPEAKER_01]: What is going on here?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, first, let's remember back to Exodus 4, verse 22 through 23, where God instructs Moses to say to Pharaoh.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he's on his way to Egypt, God tells him, this is the message to give to Pharaoh.
[SPEAKER_01]: Say this, thus says Yahweh, or thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I say to you, let my son go, that he may serve me.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your first born son.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all the way back in Exodus 4.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's as we're walking into Egypt, the warning God puts on Moses' lips to give to Pharaoh.
[SPEAKER_01]: Israel is my first born son.
[SPEAKER_01]: So even there we see that there's more going on with this imagery of the first born, because
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not just the first son to leave the womb.
[SPEAKER_01]: It certainly does mean that in some places in scripture, it is often true that the first born son was the first to leave the womb, but there's more going on here because God is saying that Israel is his first born son.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bibliically, first born means continuity.
[SPEAKER_01]: So think about that continuity.
[SPEAKER_01]: The family line will not die out in this generation, and as far as Israel goes, the line of faith is continuing through Israel.
[SPEAKER_01]: Firstborn means inheritance.
[SPEAKER_01]: The firstborn receives the birthright of being the father's heir, and among the nations, Israel would inherit the promises of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Firstborn means strength.
[SPEAKER_01]: This son will be the first in line to put his shoulder to hard work next to his father.
[SPEAKER_01]: You while the other children are still little, they're still at home with mom.
[SPEAKER_01]: But this firstborn son puts his shoulder into hard work with his dad first.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's his strength, the father strength, the first son to rise up and work with his father.
[SPEAKER_01]: And as far as Israel goes, they are the first among the nations to work with God
[SPEAKER_01]: which is to call back to draw back the nations to himself and true worship.
[SPEAKER_01]: They will be the first to work with God in this way.
[SPEAKER_01]: The firstborn has to do with honor.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Father bestows some of his honor on the firstborn's son for the sake of order and the family, especially in these ancient culture.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was honor placed on the firstborn's son for the sake of order and the family.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Israel is being elevated to a place of honor above the other nations for the good of the whole earth.
[SPEAKER_01]: Finally, firstborn symbolizes representation.
[SPEAKER_01]: Many of the lessons learned by the firstborn directly from his father.
[SPEAKER_01]: He then is expected to turn around and help the other children learn.
[SPEAKER_01]: Many of the things he learns he turns around and teaches to younger siblings.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then something else that I've noticed as a parent is that when the children have an appeal they want to send up to a dad especially if it's a big house if they have something they want to send up they usually pick the first born to represent them they think they're going to have the best cloud with dad.
[SPEAKER_01]: So they all convince the first born this needs to be brought to dad and then they go represent in a much more sophisticated clear way giving their arguments.
[SPEAKER_01]: And as far as Israel goes, on earth, Israel was going to represent God to the nations.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then they were supposed to intercede on behalf of the nations to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Therefore with all this in mind, we could summarize firstborn as headship.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Israel was being called and commissioned by God to lead the other nations back to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Remember that in Genesis 22 verse 18, God promises to Abraham, the Father, Isaac, and Jacob, and of the entire nation of Israel, God says to Abraham, in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: God chose and appointed the nation of Israel as his firstborn son on earth.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is what we're seeing here happening in Exodus.
[SPEAKER_01]: But when did the symbolism of the firstborn begin?
[SPEAKER_01]: Who was the first, firstborn?
[SPEAKER_01]: What we read in Genesis, that it's Adam and the Garden of Eden.
[SPEAKER_01]: The first man, the head of the human race.
[SPEAKER_01]: but we also find out that Adam failed in carrying the mantle of being God's appointed firstborn, he failed.
[SPEAKER_01]: He failed to lead the human race into the true worship of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: In fact, his rebellion led the entire human race into a cursed existence under the condemnation of death.
[SPEAKER_01]: Paul tells us this in 1 Corinthians 15,
[SPEAKER_01]: 21 that by Adam's failure came death and in Adam all die, in Adam all die, Adam was the original firstborn but he became the firstborn unto death.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, everyone bored of Adam is born under the shadow of death as a cursed race.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're born of Adam, you're human, you die.
[SPEAKER_01]: Those in Adam die for all have sent and the wages of sin is death.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what the New Testament tells us, all have sent and the wages of sin is death.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're born into Adam, and then we all willingly follow Adam into sin.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Romans 5, 12, sin and death are compared to a disease spreading throughout humanity.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this disease picture is not supposed to give us a free pass.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because usually if someone gets cancer, we're kind of, we're sympathetic.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're under attack from something of nothing of their own making.
[SPEAKER_01]: The vast majority of the time.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not to give us a free pass as if we're not guilty.
[SPEAKER_01]: Listen to this, Romans 5, 12, or sin and death are compared to a disease spreading throughout all of us, Romans 5, 12, sin came into the world through one man, it's Adam.
[SPEAKER_01]: And death through sin, sin consequence, death began with Adam, came into the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, death spread to all men because all sinned.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are all contaminated by the disease of sin.
[SPEAKER_01]: And through conception, we pass on this disease to of sin to our children.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every child is infected with the disease with this desire to rebel against God.
[SPEAKER_01]: David tells us in Psalm 51 verse 5 that humanity is brought forth in iniquity and in sin did our mothers conceive us.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're born of this line of Adam.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are born into Adam.
[SPEAKER_01]: and all those born into Adam are born contaminated by this desire to sin, and to rebel against our creator.
[SPEAKER_01]: In Ephesians 2 verse 3, all the descendants of Adam are called children of wrath.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, parents with young children might think that means the children are angry.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not what he's talking about.
[SPEAKER_01]: The children aren't the ones who are angry.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're children of wrath because God looks down at the children of Adam, and God is filled with wrath.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because we have all willingly followed in the footsteps of Adam.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have all broken God's laws.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was a big part of Jesus' ministry here on Earth, this teaching ministry, was to convince the religious Israelites, the Jews.
[SPEAKER_01]: especially the religious leaders and the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
[SPEAKER_01]: A big part of his ministry was to convince them the religious that they had all broken God's laws.
[SPEAKER_01]: They had all fallen short of the glory of God that they were all deserving of God's wrath, judgment, and death.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have all willingly followed in the footsteps of Adam.
[SPEAKER_01]: Therefore, we are all contaminated by sin.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is through our birth.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are contaminated by this disease because we belong to the race of Adam and we are condemned to death.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because we have all willingly followed Adam into sin.
[SPEAKER_01]: Adam is the original firstborn, the firstborn unto death, and we are all in Adam through birth.
[SPEAKER_01]: In the tale of the firstborn doesn't end with Adam, so we're looking at what's the symbolism of the firstborn in scripture?
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't end with Adam.
[SPEAKER_01]: Think of King.
[SPEAKER_01]: He became the first murderer killing his younger brother, Abel.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then Ishmael, he's the first born of Abraham just by birth line or order of birth, but he was considered a man-made first born.
[SPEAKER_01]: God had, that was not God's plan for Ishmael to be the first born.
[SPEAKER_01]: God had said, wait, be patient and Sarah, that is how you will have a first born son.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ishmael was rejected by God.
[SPEAKER_01]: You see that he saw despise the blessings and the promises of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then Ruben, who shamed his father and was passed over.
[SPEAKER_01]: repeatedly in Scripture, we see that the first born of men could not shoulder the burden of leading the nations back to the worship of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: In fact, the vast majority of the first born of men did nothing but lead their families into even greater levels of depravity and condemnation before God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is where we find Egypt here in Exodus 11.
[SPEAKER_01]: Egypt at the time of the Exodus considered itself as a nation the first born among the nations.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were the jewel of the ancient world and the chosen people of the gods.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you had been in Egypt then that was their mentality.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are the first born among the nations and of the gods.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even their Pharaoh was said to be the firstborn of the gods, and Pharaoh's son was next in line.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was seemed to be of the gods.
[SPEAKER_01]: When the Pharaoh had a son, he was of the gods as the way they believed.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the God, Yahweh, says to Pharaoh,
[SPEAKER_01]: And I say to you, let my son go that he may serve me, if you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.
[SPEAKER_01]: Egypt was attempting to stop the chosen firstborn of God from leading the nations back to the worship of the one true God.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what Sinai and the wilderness wanderings and the cleansing of the Promised Land and the Mount of Zion and the temple were all leading to a place where there was a people who knew God, fear God, and finding forgiveness, they now loved God.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what this is all leading to.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then this people in this place, in Zion, this people,
[SPEAKER_01]: They were supposed to then turn around and welcome the nations, the families of the earth to come to Zion, come to our God, come and meet the one true God and find peace with God.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what they were called to do to welcome the nations to peace with God.
[SPEAKER_01]: that Pharaoh and Egypt were attempting to stop by not letting Israel go by killing the sons all the little boys of the Israelites whether the human leaders knew about the
[SPEAKER_01]: In putting all the sons of Israel to dead, this is what they're attempting to stop.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Exodus, which would lead to a place in a people who would call the nations back to the one true God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And therefore God is going to judge Egypt by killing every firstborn son of Egypt.
[SPEAKER_01]: He must be willing to confess this as believers, that the judgment of God is always just, for all humanity is deserving of the death penalty.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone, every soul in Egypt, both Egyptian and Israelite, as deserving of death.
[SPEAKER_01]: Therefore, his judgment on only the first form is actually mercy.
[SPEAKER_01]: He said earlier, I could have already indedue as a nation.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's already said that to Pharaoh.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he shows mercy.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he only brings judgment on the representative heads of each family, by killing the firstborns.
[SPEAKER_01]: And his judgment, his judgment is just, it's merciful and it's also meant to teach something to the nations
[SPEAKER_01]: to teach that the earth is the Lord's.
[SPEAKER_01]: The earth is the Lord's.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you desire to live on the earth, you must believe the Word of the Lord and obey Him.
[SPEAKER_01]: In the Passover, this is going to be the difference between Egypt and Israel.
[SPEAKER_01]: The difference is that when God made a way of escape from death, Israel believed and obeyed the Word of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: The difference is not that Israel was born of a more noble race, or because they were born with better hearts.
[SPEAKER_01]: Friends we must seriously consider this and let it see deep into our reasoning in our world view.
[SPEAKER_01]: The reason that God has mercy on people is not because they were born of a better race, or
[SPEAKER_01]: That is not why God shows mercy.
[SPEAKER_01]: When the destroyer comes for the firstborn, that's what the New Testament calls it, believe in Hebrews, it points back to the Passover, says when the destroyer of the firstborn comes at midnight,
[SPEAKER_01]: He is not going to look into the hearts of the Israelites and the Egyptians and see which ones have good hearts.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is not what is happening.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is not what will happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, God knows what's in the heart of men and women already.
[SPEAKER_01]: He knows that we are all being eaten alive from within by the cancer of sin.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are all infected.
[SPEAKER_01]: daily tempted to rebel against God.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are all doomed to die because of the depravity of our own hearts.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when the destroyer comes at midnight, he is going to come to each Israelite home.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is something I failed to grasp in the past.
[SPEAKER_01]: When the death angel or destroyer are when God
[SPEAKER_01]: comes by.
[SPEAKER_01]: He comes by each Israelite home as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: He comes to the door of each Israelite home and each Egyptian home.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when he comes by, they're going to be Israelite firstborn sons hiding inside those houses.
[SPEAKER_01]: sons who are who are condemned to death and deserve to die just like the Egyptians.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's no difference between the hearts of the Israelite Firstborn sons and the hearts of the Egyptian sons.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not because they were good in the sight of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when he comes by, through the destroyer comes by, he comes by the Israelites' homes as well, and fully knowing that they're sinners inside, deserving of death.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if the destroyer sees the blood of a lamb on the door posts, he will consider the first born sins
[SPEAKER_01]: and he will pass over that house.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the difference.
[SPEAKER_01]: The difference is whether the blood is smeared on the door post and on the lintal.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is why the firstborn sons of Egypt are buried the next mornings, because they did not sacrifice the lamb and cover the door post of their houses with the blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why the Egyptian firstborns will be buried the next day and why the Israelite firstborns will walk out of the tombs of Egypt into the wilderness following God.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's because God made a way of escape through the blood and Israel believed in a bay.
[SPEAKER_01]: than the Egyptians or the Israelites.
[SPEAKER_01]: On our own, we stood before God, we would all be guilty, just like the Egyptians, and the Israelites of breaking God's laws.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are all born, contaminated by sin, and have all willingly heaped up even more wrath through our own law-breaking
[SPEAKER_01]: If you do not believe you've broken any of the laws of God and I encourage you to go read the teaching of Jesus, it should not take very long for you to realize that you've probably broken every single one of his laws in one way or another.
[SPEAKER_01]: condemned and destined to die.
[SPEAKER_01]: My friends, we all deserve to die.
[SPEAKER_01]: But God, but God has made a way of escape.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not by becoming an Israelite or worshiping God in Jerusalem.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some people believe that that is simply not the case because Israel as a nation, they also in the end will
[SPEAKER_01]: They fail as a nation to bring the nations back to God, to know God, fear Him, and to love Him, and then to turn around and bring the nations back, they fail in this calling of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Old Testament vividly puts on display that the disease of Adam is beyond the ability of
[SPEAKER_01]: for our joy and is essential for the unbeliever before they can begin to turn and look at God in genuine repentance.
[SPEAKER_01]: The disease of Adam is beyond the ability of the human will to overcome.
[SPEAKER_01]: You cannot make yourself right with God on your own.
[SPEAKER_01]: Therefore, God sent His Son from heaven to be born of a woman,
[SPEAKER_01]: by a miracle of the Holy Spirit and they called His name Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: Of this God-man, of this God-man, God the Father says, this is my son.
[SPEAKER_01]: My chosen one, listen to him, look nine, thirty-five.
[SPEAKER_01]: He resists the temptation of the devil, where Adam failed, and then he leads the people of God back to the true worship of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: But ultimately, the condemnation of death still hung over the human race.
[SPEAKER_01]: How can we be washed clean of our sins?
[SPEAKER_01]: The blood of bulls and goats were told could only cover temporarily.
[SPEAKER_01]: The blood of animals cannot take away or wash you clean of your sins.
[SPEAKER_01]: It just simply cannot.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a temporary covering.
[SPEAKER_01]: Therefore Jesus, the spotless lamb of God from heaven, willingly died so that his righteous
[SPEAKER_01]: and the believer sins are now not temporarily covered for one night so that the dead angel can pass by.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is not what's happened for Christians.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our sins are washed clean forever.
[SPEAKER_01]: Animals can provide a tip could provide a temporary covering, but now for Christians for those who believe we have an eternal cleansing as if it never
[SPEAKER_01]: As far as the East is from the West, so far have our sins been removed from us.
[SPEAKER_01]: That as a distance you cannot measure, it goes on and on.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has been cast into a bottomless sea.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our sins are gone in the side of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are washed clean forever by the blood of the Son of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the best news of all, and that's pretty amazing news.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't say this simply.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not meaningless that I'm saying that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't see it say it lightly.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is amazing news.
[SPEAKER_01]: It fills the Christian who has believed this with such great joy and confidence in the faith, but the best news.
[SPEAKER_01]: The best news of all is that the spotless lamb of God did not stay dead.
[SPEAKER_01]: He did not stay dead.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus did not stay in the grave.
[SPEAKER_01]: On the third day Jesus rose from the dead, and this wasn't a temporary new lease on life, like many others had experienced.
[SPEAKER_01]: We read up in the scriptures about people rising from the grave, but every single one of them rose had a season of life got granted them as a gift, and then they died again, or taken to heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's not what happened with Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: This was no temporary new lease on life.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, Jesus rose from the dead never to die again, never.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus rose from the dead unto eternal physical life.
[SPEAKER_01]: eternal physical life.
[SPEAKER_01]: In several passages in the New Testament, Jesus is given the title of the first born from the dead, and this title is in contrast to Adam.
[SPEAKER_01]: Adam was the first born unto death.
[SPEAKER_01]: He brought us into death.
[SPEAKER_01]: He died and so to his descendants.
[SPEAKER_01]: He was the first
[SPEAKER_01]: The first head of the human race, who led humanity into death, the first born unto death.
[SPEAKER_01]: But Jesus is the first born from the dead, out of the dead, because He is the head of a new race of people who are raised from the dead.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why Jesus is the first born from the dead.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are two senses in which Jesus raises people from the dead, two senses, two ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is the first born who is leading a spiritual resurrection first, so a spiritual resurrection.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's what we call the new birth, or being born again.
[SPEAKER_01]: This happens when Christians tell others about how they too can have peace with God through the blood of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's you and I, Christians.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're a Christian here today, the new birth begins with you being willing to take the risk to speak with another human being audible words.
[SPEAKER_01]: or writing something about your Lord, someone looks at words and hears and words.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ideas are passing through the mind of a human being.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is how people get saved.
[SPEAKER_01]: How can they believe if no one goes and no one speaks?
[SPEAKER_01]: If no one tells them,
[SPEAKER_01]: about the Savior, about how to have peace, with God, the Scriptures ask that question, how will they believe?
[SPEAKER_01]: The implied answer is they cannot believe unless another human being goes and tells them, or write something and gives it to them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Somebody takes the courage to speak the name of Jesus who is peace with God, if you have him, he is our peace.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a friend's you, our gods and bacitors.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are the medicine man in woman who brings the gospel to dying people.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can do it from this pulpit to I'm blue in the face.
[SPEAKER_01]: But really, the gospel spreads when every believer goes out.
[SPEAKER_01]: during the normal course of every day and speaks the name of peace to those who are dying and condemned.
[SPEAKER_01]: But as you might know, if you've tried, simply speaking human words is not enough.
[SPEAKER_01]: If it was enough that I'm confident that everyone sitting here this morning would not be
[SPEAKER_01]: we must speak the word and when we speak the word we pray and leave it to God and he says when my Holy Spirit blows into the hearts of unbelievers they will believe.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it is us, human, frail creatures.
[SPEAKER_01]: Still struggling with this infection of sin who must speak the word and God says, as you do it, my spirit will blow as I will too.
[SPEAKER_01]: As I send it, and people will be saved.
[SPEAKER_01]: Human communication, human sharing, speaking,
[SPEAKER_01]: word of truth and of peace.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the Spirit of God as He chooses opens the blind eyes and deaf ears of unbelievers that they might believe and obey.
[SPEAKER_01]: What are my favorite biblical illustrations of a spiritual resurrection is from 2 Corinthians 2 verse 14.
[SPEAKER_01]: It takes a little bit of
[SPEAKER_01]: consideration before you grasp the picture in this passage.
[SPEAKER_01]: But once you grasp it, it will give you such great joy, Christian.
[SPEAKER_01]: Second Corinthians, two, verse 14, Paul's writing to the church.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, but thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession.
[SPEAKER_01]: idea of a victory parade with Christ as our head, the first born.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're in line behind them on the highway in a victory procession and we're headed somewhere, in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere.
[SPEAKER_01]: the spiritual picture of a reality that as we live as Christians in this world with Christ as our head, he is in the lead.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is leading us to the kingdom of God and we are joyfully following him on the highway to heaven and as we do this with great joy and celebration and hope.
[SPEAKER_01]: People notice, people see that.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, we are in a Roma, we say, they smell us.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like a sweet smelling aroma unto God that others notice.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are the aroma of Christ to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our lives are that sweet smelling sacrifice of the incense that as it burns, it lets off this beautiful smell that goes up to God but other human beings notice it as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: picture.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's where following Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved, other Christians, or those who are being saved and among those who are
[SPEAKER_01]: and those who are perishing who are still in their sins who are not turning to God, they smell us also.
[SPEAKER_01]: With two different reactions.
[SPEAKER_01]: For 16 to the one, a fragrance from death, the death.
[SPEAKER_01]: Unbelievers smell us.
[SPEAKER_01]: They see the way we live and speak and act and they are repulsed by our way of life and they want us to go away.
[SPEAKER_01]: Go away.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't want anything to do with you, but Paul says to the other a fragrance from life to life.
[SPEAKER_01]: When the Spirit of God blows into the soul, and you are speaking and living the Christian life, as a sacrifice to God, that person.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see, and hear, they will smell.
[SPEAKER_01]: This aroma, this offering unto God, that is your life, and they will say that is life.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is peace, that is joy.
[SPEAKER_01]: I delight in this, tell me more, tell me more.
[SPEAKER_01]: Therefore, according to the Holy Spirit's moving, some will smell the aroma of how we live and speak,
[SPEAKER_01]: and they will stand up out of the gutter of their sins and will follow the first born.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus Christ, in triumphant procession toward the kingdom of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the picture of this passage.
[SPEAKER_01]: Walking past people in the gutter and saying, come follow the first born.
[SPEAKER_01]: Get out of your sins, leave it all behind.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come with him with nothing and he,
[SPEAKER_01]: will make you clean.
[SPEAKER_01]: He will wash you, he will give you everything you need to fulfill this journey.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come, get on the highway with us to the kingdom of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some as the Spirit of God blows into them, they will stand up.
[SPEAKER_01]: They will be raised spiritually out of the gutter.
[SPEAKER_01]: But others will, who are left to themselves.
[SPEAKER_01]: they will say, get away from me, get away from me, take that and go, and they will remain in their sins.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is leading a spiritual resurrection for all those who will believe in Obey.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's the first sense, the Christ is the first born, there's raising people from the dead.
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's another sense or another way in which Jesus is the first born from the dead.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is also leading a physical resurrection unto eternal life, physical resurrection.
[SPEAKER_01]: Keep that.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we have a spiritual and a physical resurrection.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is the first to arise physically from the dead, never to die again.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he is promised that as a second coming, all who were spiritually resurrected, so all those who in this life,
[SPEAKER_01]: followed him on the path who are spiritually resurrected, all those will also experience one day a physical resurrection of their bodies, bodies which will then never die.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the eternal state for believers.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were never intended to exist as a soul without a physical body.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are intended by God to live on the earth, in the image of God, robed in a human body, worshiping God as physical creatures by the way we live our physical lives.
[SPEAKER_01]: Worship is not simply getting down on my hands and knees and burning incense.
[SPEAKER_01]: Worshiping God is building something in the name of our God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Worshiping God is doing kindness to another person.
[SPEAKER_01]: Worshiping God can be planting seeds in the ground for food.
[SPEAKER_01]: Worshiping God can be building a house.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our lives, moment by moment, are meant to be holy and set apart as worship unto the Lord a living sacrifice.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a sermon on its own.
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's what our lives, as Christians are meant to be living worship, meaning moment by moment worship in every part of our lives, moment by moment, every minute, every second.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are for the glory of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: We exist for the glory of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope you are here this morning as worship unto God and for the glory of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: God has promised to all those who believe in a bay Jesus that their human bodies will be glorified like Jesus' body when he rose from the dead.
[SPEAKER_01]: His body is the first to be raised and at His second coming as when this happens.
[SPEAKER_01]: At His second coming, He will lead all believers into a physical resurrection.
[SPEAKER_01]: These two promises are the hope of the Christian faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't think a physical resurrection is all that important, go study the teachings of Paul.
[SPEAKER_01]: He makes this a massive point.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he says, if there is no resurrection from the dead, your faith is vain, which means empty, pointless, and we really of all people are the worst off in all creation.
[SPEAKER_01]: If there is, no physical resurrection from the grave.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is a massive hope for the Christian.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is essential.
[SPEAKER_01]: These two promises are the hope of the Christian faith that all who believe in obeys Jesus will walk out of the tombs of spiritual and physical death.
[SPEAKER_01]: Spiritual Resurrection is offered to all right now, whoever believes physical resurrection is a future hope all Christians have that he will do as he's promised.
[SPEAKER_01]: We will not, as Christians, be like the Egyptians who died for their own sins.
[SPEAKER_01]: and our joy will be even greater than the Israelites who walked out of the tombs of Egypt covered in gold and jewels with all of the livestock of the Egyptians.
[SPEAKER_01]: They plundered the Egyptians.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a story of victory.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a victory parade leading out of the tombs of Egypt.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our joy will be even greater and can be greater even now.
[SPEAKER_01]: The natural question that then is to everyone here, will you hear and believe these promises of God about his chosen and appointed firstborn?
[SPEAKER_01]: Will you hear or you believe and will you obey the word of the Lord?
[SPEAKER_01]: Will you follow Jesus through the wilderness of this life?
[SPEAKER_01]: It is a wilderness with many hardships and sorrows, but will you follow Him?
[SPEAKER_01]: Follow Jesus wherever He leads, because you believe He is leading to the kingdom of God to peace with God and eternal life.
[SPEAKER_01]: The only other option, because there are only two options for eternity.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are either believing in following Jesus,
[SPEAKER_01]: or you have chosen to stay in the gutter of your sins.
[SPEAKER_01]: Telling Christians to get out of my face, leave me alone.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to hear about this repentance in of being every word of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are only two options.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the other option is to stay in your sin, and to live under the shadow of the wrath of God, which will one day fall on everyone who is still left in their sins in Adam, that is the only other option.
[SPEAKER_01]: So going back to the first question, the answer, I believe clearly in Scripture as yes, friends, we all deserve to die, we all do.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the first truth in the gospel.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't believe that truth, then the gospel is not for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: It won't make any sense to you if you do not believe that you deserve to die or under the wrath of God at this very moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus says, He didn't come for those who are healthy and good.
[SPEAKER_01]: He came for sinners, the sick and the lame.
[SPEAKER_01]: The one who says, oh dear God, help me.
[SPEAKER_01]: My will is not enough to get me into eternal life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus says, I came for those people.
[SPEAKER_01]: I died for them.
[SPEAKER_01]: I died for sinners.
[SPEAKER_01]: We all deserve to die.
[SPEAKER_01]: But God has made a way of escape for all those who will believe in obey Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the gospel.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's pray.
[SPEAKER_01]: Emily Father, thank you for your word.
[SPEAKER_01]: How clear it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lord, sometimes human communication, just muddies the waters, makes things more difficult to understand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, Lord, I pray this morning that your Holy Spirit would clear out the fog in our hearts and minds so that unbelievers can be saved.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can come to the point where they are ready and willing to admit, I am a sinner and need of a Savior.
[SPEAKER_01]: Those will be the first steps.
[SPEAKER_01]: on their journey to salvation, being saved by the blood of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Lord also, I believe it will give great joy to Christians to frequently reminded about the chasm between us and God.
[SPEAKER_01]: The chasm is so wide that we cannot measure it
[SPEAKER_01]: But it brings us such great joy to contemplate and think about to the best of our ability, how far God sent His Son.
[SPEAKER_01]: To come for us, Jesus didn't just build a bridge to heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus built the bridge and then He came all the way across and came and grabbed us and said, repent and believe and follow me, I will lead you across the chasm to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: praise be to the Father, to the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.