Abounding Grace

Pastor Ed Taylor: Tell your kids your story. When your kids are asking questions, it can't be the social media that gives them their answer; that has to be secondary. When your kids are asking questions, it can't be their friends on their baseball team or their football team that gives them the answer; that has to be secondary. When your kids start asking questions, you have to tell them.

You're the one that has to share. This is the mighty hand of God. He took us out of Egypt. You have to understand He gave us freedom, and you have to understand He gave us deliverance, and you have to understand that He gave us—and you share with your kids the work that God has done in your life.

Guest (Male): We're delighted to share the next half hour together with you. Welcome to Abounding Grace. Pastor Ed Taylor is leading a study of Exodus right now, and today we come back to chapter 13. In the minutes ahead, you'll see why we need to learn how to follow God and our great responsibility to teach the younger generation. We'll start off with a few noteworthy words flowing from the Passover.

Pastor Ed Taylor: If you're taking notes, I want to give you a couple things here to consider about this Passover meal. Why is he repeating it? Because it is the number one important picture of Messiah, but there's three words I want you to associate with the Passover. Three words: freedom, deliverance, and redemption. Freedom, deliverance, and redemption. These are important concepts to the Jewish people, even today.

Number one: freedom. They've been set free. This was the birth of a nation delivered from 400 years of bondage and slavery: freedom. Number two: deliverance. They were literally owned by Pharaoh, by the nation of Egypt, and they now were delivered powerfully and mightily from the hand—and we'll see this in coming chapters. And then thirdly: redemption. God spared them that Passover night because they were purchased. How? By the blood of the lamb. Freedom, deliverance, redemption.

We learned last time that there are three great Exoduses in the Bible. So I want you to take these three words and point them to the great Exodus of the Cross. Think of these three words and the greater Exodus. This is a phenomenal time in the history of God's people, but there's a greater Exodus: the Cross.

Think about it. Number one: freedom. When Jesus died on the Cross, He set you free. He set you free. You're a new creation in Christ. Old things passed away; behold, all things have become new. Listen to this. Jesus said this in John 8:36: "Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you'll be free indeed."

This is a big deal for me. I've shared it before, but I'm really not ever going to teach you to identify yourself by a past sin. Rahab, right? Rahab the harlot. She's not Rahab the harlot anymore. She's Rahab the delivered. She's Rahab the sister. She's Rahab the family savior, if you will. She's not the harlot anymore. She doesn't have to ever identify herself. Whenever she mentions sex trade or prostitution or harlotry, she can always forever—and I hope she did, and we'll find out in Heaven—but she can always forever say, "That's who I was, but that's not who I am."

That's the work today. That's who I was. You would not believe who I was. If I told you the full story of my life, you would not believe it. But you never met him. Just the Ed that died in Christ. You get the benefit, if you want to call it that, of the new Ed, of the redeemed Ed. But you never met the old Ed. With the exception of Marie, not even my kids met him. They might have seen glimpses of the flesh episodes here and there, but then had to live with them.

My boy Eddie had to live with me for a few years as a little guy having to deal with that, but even God blessed him and saved his dad. Can you imagine that? You're praying for people right now. God wants to bless the kids and save their dad, save their mom, save their grandpa. God is still working that way.

So, freedom. Jesus, when He died on the Cross, set us free. Number two: deliverance. When Jesus died, He broke the power of sin in your life. He literally broke the power of sin. We are delivered now from the pain, the penalty, and the bondage of sin. We are no longer slaves to sin. We are absolutely, totally, thoroughly, and completely delivered for all time and eternity. That's a Hallelujah moment right there. You are a new creation in Christ.

And then finally: redemption. When Jesus died, He purchased our lives by His own blood. That's the seal. It wasn't corruptible things, Peter said. Remember, He didn't buy us with money or gold; He sacrificed Himself. He bought us with His own blood. We're His own. We're blood-bought, owned by God.

So we have in verse 11, notice it shall be when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites as He swore to you and your fathers, and He gives it to you, that you shall set apart to the Lord all that open the womb. He's repeating it. Sometimes we need things repeated. Sometimes you're in a Bible study and you think you keep hearing the same thing. You know why? Because God loves you. He's going to keep repeating it.

Some of you, things are being repeated because you're not acting on it. So I might be talking about the firstborn and I might be going on about the couch, but there's something in your life that God keeps hitting over and over and over again. I'm talking about a couch, but the Holy Spirit is talking about that. You go, "Why do I keep hearing that?" Because God wants you to move forward. He wants you to deal with it. He wants you to act on it. He wants you to handle it.

Maybe some of you just need to believe today. Maybe that's all. Just faith. By faith you go, "Yes, I have been delivered. I am not who I was." Perhaps you have to step out and tell somebody. You've been holding it over them, manipulating, holding it against them. You just have to say, "No, I believe you're a changed man, you're a changed woman. I believe that. I believe it for you. I believe it with you. And with forgiveness, I release you from the debt that you owe me." Let's move forward together by faith.

Here you have it repeated. Set apart every first thing of the donkey. You Bible students know a donkey is going to be declared an unclean animal. But even that which is unclean, you shall redeem with a lamb. Does that remind you of anything in the New Covenant? Remember the animals coming down in the sheet for Peter? And he's like, "No, no, no, I will never do anything. No way. Those are unclean." And what does God say? "Hey, what I have called clean, don't you dare call unclean."

So even a donkey can be redeemed. Even a donkey. Isn't that great? That tells me that even in my life, the guttermost, God can save anybody. He can redeem anybody. If you will not redeem it, you'll break its neck. Okay, redeem it, please. And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.

So it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, "What is this?" that you shall say to him, "By the strength of the hand of the Lord, He brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And it came to pass when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animal. Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I'll redeem. It shall be a sign on your hand, as frontlets between your eyes, and the strength of the hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt."

The firstborn takes on such great significance. All the firstborn from now on belong to me. There's a couple things I want to share before we head out. First of all, I want you to know we learned this back in Exodus 4, verses 22 and 23, that God refers to Israel as a nation as His firstborn. He says Israel is my firstborn, which is quite significant because in that statement, he's saying they have a place of preeminence, but they're not the only nation I care about.

They have a place of significance and importance, but they're not the only nation I care about, which we may describe today that God loves the Jew and the Gentile. He always has, which got corrupted along the way. God has a love for all the nations, all peoples, all nationalities. This goes back prior to this. It goes back to the Abrahamic Covenant. Remember what He said? You may miss this as you read through and have different emphasis in the text.

In the Abrahamic Covenant, God said something very powerful about all the nations of the earth. He said this: "I will bless those who bless you, Abraham, and those who curse you I'll curse." Who's He talking about? Every single nation on the planet earth. Jew and Gentile alike. You're blessed, Abraham, even before the nation is formed. Abraham was told by God, "I love the nations."

The Abrahamic Covenant was about a personal relationship. This is how the God of all creation treats His friends. You're a friend to Abraham, God will be a friend to you. Anybody that blesses you, Abraham, I'm going to bless. Anybody that wants to bless you, and anybody that tries to hurt you, they'll be hurt. Why? Because it's personal and it's open to anyone.

You who are a part of the New Covenant are grafted into the Abrahamic Covenant by faith. So today, we bless the nation of Israel, God will bless you. Blessing the nation of Israel doesn't mean that you agree with every governmental thing, just like you love your own country, you don't agree with every governmental thing that happens, but you love your country. God says, "You love and bless the people of Israel, I'll bless you."

Israel has a big place in our hearts because we've been grafted in. We went through this in our first time we studied through the book of Romans: the specific important place that the Jews have in the life of the New Covenant and what God has done through them. And it's true, God is now our friend, and those who bless you He will bless, and those that try to curse you He will curse. And the firstborn takes on tremendous importance throughout the Scriptures.

Remember, Jesus Himself was called the firstborn from the dead. Now, firstborn can confuse us a little bit because when we think of in English, firstborn, we think of order of birth. But that's not the phrase. It's one word, not two words. And the Greek word for firstborn in the New Testament means first in preeminence. First of many more. Many more will follow Christ by faith. You are one of them.

Just like when the kids sing songs and they're learning songs, they'll sing a song about Father Abraham having many sons. Many sons has Father Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you. So let's... I don't know the rest of the song, but you get it. I know the sounds but not all the hand movements. I guess you start beating each other up in a circle or something, but Father Abraham, many sons and daughters, you're one of them and mine. Why? Because we've been grafted in.

From the very beginning, God is saying, "This is not a religious experiment that you're going through or an experience; I'm calling you into relationship." And until you get that, you'll always feel disconnected with Him and with each other because the Church is relational. It's all about connecting people. It's all about putting us in proximity. It's all about using us in each other's lives.

Not only that, I want you to see—parents, grandparents—do you hear the emphasis of telling your kids your story? He tells them twice. When your kids start asking questions—and almost can't you hear it in the 21st century?—when your kids start asking questions, it can't be their teacher at school that gives them the answer; that has to be secondary. When your kids are asking questions, it can't be the social media that gives them their answer; that has to be secondary. When your kids are asking questions, it can't be their friends on their baseball team or their football team that gives them the answer; that has to be secondary. When your kids start asking questions, you have to tell them.

You're the one that has to share. This is the mighty hand of God. He took us out of Egypt. You have to understand He gave us freedom, and you have to understand He gave us deliverance, and you have to understand that He gave us—and you share with your kids the work that God has done in your life.

If you were born into a Christian home, then your kids need to hear that story. You need to find out the origin story of how Christianity entered into your family and make sure it gets passed down generation and generation. For us, it was me. It's easy for me. That's how it entered into our family in a very dramatic way. And this is why this passage of Scripture and other passages are why I was convinced, Marie and I both, to tell our kids our story at an age-appropriate level as early as possible.

So that they knew. I mean, you got to understand, when we're starting to show our wedding pictures and my son says, "Why am I in your wedding?" he needs to know. He needs to know why he was in our wedding. You know why he was in our wedding? Because God delivered his dad from sin. Not because we were living sinful lives and magnify all the sin. That will come later. That picture exists, and I'm proud of it.

That picture exists because God is a redeeming God, and God is a saving God, and God is a changing God, and God is a delivering God. And you know what, son? You know what, Eddie? You're in that picture because if it wasn't for the Lord, we would have never gotten married. You would have only seen me half the time or less, or man, you wouldn't have a dad at all because I probably wouldn't be alive.

You need to tell your kids the story. I know it's embarrassing, I know it's shameful, but God's not asking you to tell the embarrassing parts or the shameful parts unless your kids can understand them. And when they can, then you can share. "Yeah, you know what, son? I was not a good man when I wasn't following." My kids know the story by now; they're all adults now, but they know the story. You know the story.

But you don't know the whole story because our pieces of our story are reserved for special places. And really, my story isn't really that big a deal, actually. The story is not the focus. And sometimes that's what testimonies become. It's like, "Oh, look at you, you're the hero of your testimony." If you're the hero of your testimony, you haven't shared a God-given testimony. Because the hero of our testimonies is the faithfulness of God.

And that's what He's saying. Because if you don't tell your kids about the power of God, if you don't demonstrate to your kids the power of God, if you don't give them something concrete about why they're alive today and why they're in a Christian home and why you love God and why we go to church and why we study the Bible, why VBS is important, why all of the "whys" of your home, then they're going to fall for a lie. You want to substitute the lies of the enemy for the whys of God because you have a story.

And I know it's not—I mean, just thinking about it, I have to share a little bit, I have to rehearse it a little bit. It's not good until God enters in. And then He's so faithful. It's inescapable, parents. It's your responsibility to initiate the conversations, to answer the questions, to help your kids engage them, draw them near, help them, give them the perspective of the power of God. This is why Mom and Dad go to church. We love Jesus. What does that mean? Well, let me tell you a story, son. Let me tell you a little story. Let me tell you what God has done. Let me put around the house memories and things to help us remember. Let me tell you when we're praying together. God is powerful, and He's done great things.

And even someone listening to me right now, you're still pre... God is in your life. If you're still pre-testimony, then go ahead and seal the deal and repent of your sins and come to know Jesus tonight and let the real work start. God has brought you this far, but this far is not far enough. This far has to lead to repentance.

I think about it all the time. Somebody is in jail. "If you get me out, I'll serve you all my days." You get out, you stop serving. Well, that's not a testimony of God. That's just using God like this cosmic genie. And He was faithful to you, but you responded with unfaithfulness. Well, let this be the time. No, God has got you out; now give yourself. Keep your end of the bargain because God did. And I can already hear someone in a jail cell: "No, God hasn't got me out." Well, your bargain is still there; you're alive, so be used greatly in the place you are. God loves you.

The final parts of this section, notice: then it came to pass, verse 17, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, "Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt." So the Lord led the people around by the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in an orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.

This is interesting. I wish we had more time, but enough to be said here that if you take out your Bible maps, you'll notice that the way that God led them was not the most convenient way, but it was the important way. If you look, this weary, worn-out group of Hebrews are about to embark on one of the most exciting journeys in their lives: becoming a nation, heading into the promises of God, the milk and honey of life. But the route that He leads them is unusual. It's not the obvious or the shortest or the nearest that maybe we would choose. Instead, it's an area that's uncomfortable and not safe and a little fearful. God led them by the way of the wilderness.

He didn't take them through the Philistines because He didn't want them freaked out. He didn't want them scared. The Philistines were warriors, and these guys are nothing. They just got a bunch of gold earrings and stuff they took from the Egyptians. They've got no weapons of war. They're just a few days out of slavery. Because God knows what's best. The shortest route would have been by the coast. You can take your Bibles out and see; I bet you some of your Bibles has this already marked out for you in color so you can see it. It would have taken 10 or 11 days. But you'll see in our future studies, because of unbelief, it took them 40 years, and a whole generation died because of their unbelief. That's a different story altogether.

But God knew the weakness of the children of Israel, so took them the way that He wanted, which for us today gives us a lesson to hold on to and it's just this: you can trust the Lord on the path that you're on. Even if sometimes we go, "But if I was in control, I would do this." Well, thank God we're not in control. You can jot it down in Deuteronomy chapter 8. There's just these new lessons that they need to learn. And you got to know detours, delays, disturbances, timing—some things may seem unnecessary or even unwanted. Maybe other times they look like a waste of time or resources. But remember, God is faithful. He knows what He's doing, and you need to learn how to follow God.

When are you going to learn that lesson? It's always your thing, your name, your, your, your. And God is saying, "When will you follow me? I'm ready." Yeah, but you don't understand, there's a shortcut. It's not good for you. No, you don't understand, I can get there faster. It's not good for you. No, you don't understand—I mean, how many times you may not say it out loud, but in your heart, you're telling God, "God, you don't understand." And God's going, "What? Me not understand? I know exactly what I'm doing with your life." It's almost like God's saying, "You don't understand where you came from and where you were when I met you and just how lost you were. You think I'm going to get you lost? I delivered you from lostness forever." It's a hard lesson to learn, though.

Guest (Male): This is Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed Taylor. And if you missed any portion of today's Bible study, you can simply go online to aboundinggraceradio.com. Abounding Grace is available by podcast on most platforms, including oneplace.com. Listen and learn when it's most convenient—at the gym, in the car, or as you're getting ready in the morning. You can also get our app. It's available on all platforms. This is another way to hear Pastor Ed's teachings. Search for Ed Taylor in your favorite app store.

Well, each month we like to suggest a book that will encourage you in the Lord. And this month, it's Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung. Maybe you've been on a search to find God's will and you're stuck or frustrated, waiting for clear and unmistakable direction. In this helpful book, you'll learn that God doesn't need to tell us what to do at each fork in the road. He's already revealed His plan for our lives: to love Him, obey His word, and after that, to do what we like. He says no need for hocus pocus, no reason to be directionally challenged. Just do something.

We'll send you a copy with our thanks for a gift of $25 or more to Abounding Grace. Please remember, it is through your support that we're able to present this radio program on stations all across the nation. Thank you for standing with us. Call 877-30-GRACE and we can help you with the ordering details, or go to our online store at calvaryco.store. We'll return to Exodus next time on Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed Taylor. We'll see you then.

Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church, Colorado, here in Aurora.