The Plague of Flies

If you have your bibles with you, open them, please to Exodus chapter eight. Exodus Chapter eight will begin in verse twenty. Exodus chapter eight beginning in verse twenty. In this section, we've come to the fourth plague. And as we've learned, the plagues are divided into really four parts. There are three sets of three plagues, and we know the difference between the sets of plagues because of the pattern that is repeated three times. We know that first Moses is told to go to Pharaoh in the morning when he is in the water, probably some act of worship, when he wakes in the morning and he worship denial. And in the second of the plagues, he is told to go before Pharaoh, probably in his capacity as Pharaoh, probably there in his chambers. And then in the third plague, in each of these three rounds of three plagues, the plague just comes. He doesn't even go before Pharaoh, the plague just comes. So we've seen the first set of plagues. Now we see the second set of plagues. So plague number four starts series number two. Now you know that the number is not twelve plagues. So you have three sets of three plagues, and then you have the tenth plague, which stands apart all its own. It is the culmination of these plagues. This second set of plagues is unique in that in this set of plagues God makes a clear distinction between Egypt and Israel. It's amazing the kind of things you see when you slow down and begin to pay attention to these sections of scripture. How many times have we read through this section Exodus and not recognized that three sets of three plagues, And how many times have we read through and not recognized that It is not until this second section, this middle section, that God makes this clear distinction between Egypt and Israel in the plagues that he brings. So look with me. Beginning in verse twenty, then the Lord said to Moses, rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh as he goes out to the water, and say to him, thus says the Lord. Now again, we know that this is the first plague in the series, because we started again early in the morning at the water. Thus says the Lord. Let my people go that they may or else. If you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people, and into your houses, and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. Thus I will put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen, And the Lord did so. There came great swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh and into his servants houses throughout all the land of Egypt. The land was ruined by the swarm of flies. Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, go sacrifice to your God within the land. But Moses said it would not be right to do so, for the offerings we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God are an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us. We must go three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he tells us. So Pharaoh said, I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your god. In the wilderness. Only you must not go very far away plead for me. Then Moses said, behold, I'm going out from you, and I will plead with the Lord that the swarm of flies may depart from Pharaoh for his servants and from his people tomorrow. Only let not Pharaoh cheat again by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. And the Lord did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. Not one remained. But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go. I have to admit, having read this time and time and time again, if I'm honest, every time I read that last phrase in each of these plagues, my heart is saddened every time I read that last phrase that says, but Pharaoh hardened his hard it says, though I'm surprised every time I read this that Pharaoh again hardness. I know the story, I know what happens. But when you read it, and when you recognize what happens and who it is that's doing these things, I guess there's something on the inside of you that knows how a story is supposed to go. And so when you read it, that part of you that knows how a story is supposed to go is still a bit surprised and saddened when you read. And yet again Pharaoh hardened his heart. But this is only plague number four. This will happen five more times the exact same way, and nothing will change in terms of Pharaoh until the tenth plague, and even then he eventually hardens his heart for the final time. And so the question is why are these plagues? We've had an answer to that question, We've had several answers to that question. But today we get another piece of the puzzle. Today we see the connection between redemption and worship. That God is redeeming his people for worship. We see this because of at least two things. One because of this separation that he makes, and we'll look at that more carefully. But secondly, we see this also because of the words that he uses. First of all, let's remind ourselves of what this is not. This is not a personal vendetta. This is not Moses coming back and challenging Pharaoh as a personal Vendetta because of the life that they shared together when they were younger. This is also not class warfare. This is not God on the side of the poor and disenfranchised. This is not the deliverance of the oppressed. This is not God on the side of the oppressed. As liberation theologians would have us believe this idea that what we see in Israel is a picture of God as he is always on the side of the oppressed and against the oppressor. We know this is not true, first and foremost, because Israel is not the only oppressed people in the world at the time. Amen, if this was merely God acting as God always does on behalf of the oppressed and against the oppressor, then this would have been true all over the world at the time. But it wasn't. It wasn't. We also know that there are times when God sends the oppressor to oppress Israel. So when they go into captivity in Assyria and when they go into captivity in Babylon, it is God who orchestrates this. So we know that it is not in the character of God to always be on the side of the oppressed and against the oppressor. We also know this because the world is not reduced to the mere sin of oppression and all other sins being relegated to secondary status. This is not the way God views the world, nor should we view the world this way. This is also not ethnic favoritism. God is not acting on behalf of Israel because because they are his favorite ethnicity. In fact, the ethnicity of the Israelites and the Egyptians is not very different. Remember, Abraham is the first Jew. He is from er in the Kaldis. He is not of some special magical ethnicity that's never existed before. God takes him out of the ethnicity that is his and creates a people group. So this is not some pure race. If you will, what is this? Then this is the redemption of God's people for the purpose of worship. This is the redemption of God's people for the purpose of worship. That is what this is all about. We see that there as every time Moses comes, we have to remember, and we have to remind ourselves, have to say this again and again and again. Don't tell part of the story. Moses came to Egypt, and what did he say? Let my people go? There's songs about it. Moses came to egypt Land. Let my people go, right, You know the problem with that song, It only tell us part of the story. He says, let my people go so that they may worship, not just let them go. There's a difference between let them go, because let them go means what's wrong here is that they're in captivity. What's wrong here is that they're not free. And all God is about is people not being in captivity and people being free. If that's the case, just let them go so that they can be free. But the issue here is not captivity. The issues here is not freedom. The issue here is redemption for the purpose of worship. That's the issue here. God is redeeming a people to worship him. This is also a picture of the redemption of God's elect, of all of God's elect Here we see Israel as God's elect. But we understand even from the establishment of Israel as a people, that the election of Israel was about all of God's elect in all the world. That is why in the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis chapter twelve, Jesus says and you, or God says to Abraham, and you, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in other words, the calling of Abraham and the establishment of the people of Israel was only a part or peace of the puzzle of God calling and establishing his elect throughout all of the earth and every tribe and tongue and kindred and nation. And so as a result of this, when we look at God's people being redeemed so that they might worship, we have to understand this as part and parcel of what God is doing as a whole, because Israel is being redeemed because they're part of God's plan of redemption. Amen. The redemption of Israel was never and end in itself. The redemption of Israel was always and must always be seen as part of the broader picture of God redeeming all of his elect Why is Israel important? Israel is important because the promise sid is going to come through the nation of Israel. That's why Israel is significant. So when we view Israel being brought out of Egypt, we must view it in light of our redemption in Christ. And so we look at the text. First, we see that God is setting Israel apart for himself. We see that in that this is the first of the selective plagues Verses twenty two and twenty three. But on that day, I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarming flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. Thus I will put a division between my people and your people. The word that he uses here for setting them apart is a word for redeeming. I am redeeming the land of Goshen. I am redeeming my people in Goshen. This is what God is doing. God is redeeming Israel. He is not just making them a free people. Here's a newsflash. You don't have to be free to worship God. Amen, somebody. You don't have to be free to worship God. You can worship God as a slave. You can worship God as an incarcerated prisoner. You can worship God as a captive somewhere. You can worship God anywhere. However, you must be redeemed. What this is about is the redemption of God's elect people. And he makes it clear that I am setting a boundary between Egypt and Ghoshen. I'm setting a boundary between the Egyptians and the Israelite I'm setting a boundary between you and my elect redeemed people. I am redeeming them, I am setting them apart. And he's setting them apart for at least two purposes. One so that he can demonstrate who he is as God, and secondly, so that these people can worship him as his redeemed people. This is part of a pattern for the second series of plagues. Go to chapter nine, verse four. The first time, they always go down to him when he's worshiping. By the way, this is significant as well. He is there worshiping, and as he is there worshiping a false God, Moses comes to him and says, let my people go, so that they can worship the true God. The second one comes to him in his capacity as he's ruling. And verse nine. But the Lord will make a distinction between the live stock of Israel and the live stock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die. Why so that Israel can have livestock after it's over, and Egypt won't. What is that going to do. They're slaves. The Egyptians will just take their livestock. Amen, It's not like you're gonna say, oh, our livestock is dead, but yours is still alive. Too bad for us, Give me that cow. That's what they're gonna say. But what's the point. The point is he's redeeming Israel in the Third Plague in this section, in Plague six, the hail look at verses twenty five and twenty six. The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast, And the hail struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail. God is redeeming his people. What are the implications. There are several implication implications for this. Number one, that this is not a natural phenomenon. This is not a natural phenomenon. You've already heard as we've gone through this. There are those individuals who have argued and continue to argue that what we have here is no more than a series of natural phenomenon. And these natural phenomena proceed one after another, and this happened, and therefore that happened, and that happened, and therefore that happened. It's all a set of natural phenomenon. Well, here's where that argument doesn't hold water, because it's not natural for flies to go everywhere but Goshen, Amen, somebody, that's just not natural. It's not natural that the livestock would die everywhere, but in Goshen they don't die. It's not natural that hail and fire would fall down everywhere, but not in Gosha. And that's not natural. These are not natural phenomena. This is miraculous. Secondly, this is not an indiscriminate series of circumstances. This is not an indiscriminate series of circumstances. There is order to this, there is timing to this. Moses says it's gonna happen this morning. It happens this morning. He says it's going to happen tomorrow. It happens tomorrow. Thirdly, this is not a mere curse on the land. This is not a mere curse on the land because it doesn't touch all the land, It doesn't touch Ghoshin four. This is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob demonstrating his might and his intentions. His intentions are to redeem Israel. You have to understand how the ancient near East worked. You have to understand, for example, that before people went to war against one another, they would consult their oracles in order to see whether or not their God was with them. And when they went into battle, they would fight against one another. And when they fought against one another, the victor was seen to have vanquished these people and their god. This is why, for example, when Israel is carried off into Babylon, Nebekazar takes the objects of their worship and brings them to Babylon. You see, for the most part, these gods were seen as regional gods who were gods of the particular peoples. So the most devastating thing I could do to you was not just to defeat you, but to defeat you and then take your gods with me back to my place so that they could be subjugated to my gods. So the most powerful nation in the world world was seen as the nation who served the most powerful god in the world. So Israel here is slaves in Egypt, which to the Egyptians meant their god is not as powerful as our god. If their god was as powerful, they wouldn't be slaves to us. So now Moses comes and speaks on behalf of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. By the way, he's a god who doesn't even have an idol. What kind of god is this? Ask the Egyptians to see their gods. They can take you to them and show them to you. Ask Moses to show you as God. Moses can't show you as God. What is that? That's ridiculous. You have a God that you can't show me or I could show you. So when the plagues come and the God of Israel attacks at every point the gods of Egypt and the things that they provide, beginning with the Nile, he is saying I am God, and there is no other God. And when he attacks Egypt and says I am going to redeem and make a distinction between you and my people, he is saying I am not just God, I am not just the God, but I am their God. This doesn't make sense. By the way, they're slaves. How can they have a god who stands up to our gods. They're slaves who don't even have their gods with them. You can't even see their gods, you can't hold their gods, you can't bow down before their gods. How can these slaves who don't even have quote. Real gods stand before Pharaoh, who is God of gods. You got to remember that too. Pharaoh doesn't just worship the gods. He is one. He is God of gods. So God is redeeming his people, he's setting them apart for himself. This is important in another way as well. Remember the whole idea is God is redeeming his people so that they might worship him. But know this, we've just finished Genesis. We have no worship cult. And by the word the word, by the way the word cult. When we talk about the worship cult, we're not talking about like a cultic religion. When we say worship cult, what we mean is we don't have worship practices. We don't know who's supposed to do what. We don't have a priesthood, we don't have any of that. Coming out of Genesis and coming into Exodus, we have none of that. So there are no established worship practices beyond the primitive versions of these worship practices that were practiced by the patriarchs. We don't have a temple, we don't have a tabernacle, we don't have any of that, and so there is no worship cult in the sense that there is no prescribed worship practice for Israel. Why is this important? Well, if there's no prescribed worship practice for Israel other than a few things that have been handed down to them, and they've been in Egypt for four hundred years, guess what. The only thing they knew about worship is the pagan Egyptian format. That's what they know about worship. They haven't been able to exercise the worship of Yahweh for hundreds of years, so this is all they know. Well, if it's all they know, and God just opens the gates and they walk out to worship, guess how they're going to worship. In fact, we don't have to guess. Moses goes up on the mountain and he's gone too long, and what happens. They revert to the only thing they know, the worship of Egypt. So understand this. In these ten plagues, these ten plagues are not to convince Pharaoh. God doesn't need to convince Pharaoh. He can kill him. Amen. God doesn't need to convince anyone. God is not running for God. These plagues are not designed to convince Pharaoh. Secondly, these plagues are not designed to break Pharaoh's will. The last plague all by itself, could have done that. All by itself, it could have done that. These plagues are as much for Israel as they are for Egypt. God is showing Israel that the only gods that they have known for the last several hundred years, these gods that they have seen, this worship that they have watched and witnessed and probably even participated in. More than likely they participated in it. That's how they knew what to do with the Golden calf. God is saying to Israel, you are coming out to worship me by the way. You do not worship me the way Egypt worshiped. You do not worship Egypt's God. I will not accept that. And so in these ten plagues he crushes every vestige of Egyptian worship. Through Here is one on one, face to face confrontation and demolishing of every Egyptian superstition. God is redeeming his people, and he is redeeming his people in part by crushing their idols. Hear me, saints, this is exactly what God does with you and me. You and I lived in the world before we got saved. Amen. Praise God for children who grow up in Christian families, children who are catechised and who are taught, and who have all these sorts of things. I praise the Lord. Praise the Lord for kids. When you ask him when they got saved, they look at you and kind of go I'm not really sure. I was raised, catechised, taught, and one day I just realized that I had been believing. Amen, Hollelyah, Praise the Lord. Most of us, however, did not come to faith that way. Most of us lived in the world, and some of us lived in the world for a long time. And there are things that we became comfortable with. There are things we became convinced of. There are things that we began to delight in. There are things that we knew, there are things that we yearn for, And all of a sudden we come to faith in Christ, and we are redeemed, and we are delivered from our sin, and we are delivered and saved. How many of you know that that doesn't take away the idolatry in your heart. How many of you know that you need to learn how to worship God properly. How many of you know that you need to learn how to mortify the idolatry that was in you. How many of you know that you bring those things with you and in some instances struggle with them for years, because there are churches around, and you may have found one of them early on that major in providing for the idolatry those things with which He is familiar and those things which he craves and so worship that looks and smells and feels and taste exactly like the spirit of the age. We'll give it to you because it's what you crave. And we see no distinction whatsoever between what we are doing in the worship of God and what we did when we were in the world. No distinction whatsoever between what you used to do on Saturday night when you got your party on, and what you begin to do on Sunday morning. Same light, same smoke, machines, same everything. There are vestiges of idolatry in every last one of us. And part of what God does when he redeems us is that he crushes that and he kills it. And this is what He is doing for his people. He is crushing the idolatry of Egypt, as he is calling them away. He is making a distinction between them and the Egyptians. He is showing them who he is as he redeems them. This is significant. God is also identifying Israel as his own. He is identifying Israel as his own. He is saying they are mine, they belong to me. By setting them apart, God is setting Israel apart for the purpose of worship. Worship is a main purpose for which man was created. A main purpose. One of the main purposes for which man is created is to worship God. The Fall was a denial and misdirection of this worship, and as a result of the fall, man who was created to worship, continues to worship. It's not that man stops worshiping. We just redirect our worship. Romans one makes this very clear. Instead of worshiping God, who is to be praised forevermore, we worship the image of created things and even man. Therefore, God must redeem people to worship him. John chapter four, beginning of verse twenty one, the woman at the whale, Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know. For salvation is from the Jews. For the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And so here we see this picture even in the New Covenant of God seeking people who will worship him. God redeems people for the purpose of worship. He is redeeming a worshiping people. This is what He was doing in Exodus, and this is what he is doing today. He is redeeming a worshiping people. Worship is an intimate act between God and his people. It is not an indiscriminate act. Not everyone can worship. This is why Peter says that we are a peculiar people, that we're a royal priesthood. We've been set apart for this purpose, this purpose of worshiping God. Worship is the ultimate beginning and end of all creation. It was John Piper who said missions exist because worship does not Psalm forty six' ten Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. This is the Old Testament. He doesn't say I will be exalted in Jerusalem. In the Old Testament, he says I will be exalted among the nations Psalms seventy two, eight and nine, and then seventeen through nineteen. May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. May desert tribes bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust. May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun. May people be blessed in him. All nations call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name. Forever. May the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen. Even Israel new that worship lay at the beginning and the end of the purpose for which the world was created Isaiah twenty four to sixteen. From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise of glory to the Righteous One. The prophet is foretelling the worship of God throughout the world Jeremiah three seventeen. At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil hearts Revelation five nine. And they sang a new song, saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals? For you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language, and people and nation. This is what God is about in redemption, and we see the culmination of it before the throne, when people not just from Israel, but people from every tribe and nation and kindred and tongue worship God before the throne. God is ransoming. God is redeeming a people for the purpose of worship. Setting apart as his own. Pharaoh attempts to exercise his authority and control Israel's worship, and ultimately this is a butting of heads between the two. Whose people are they? Pharaoh says, they're his people. First Pharaoh said no, this is why the play came. Remember what happened. Go back to the text look at verse twenty. Then the Lord said to Moses. Rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh as he goes out to the water, and say to him. Thus says the Lord, let my people go, that they may serve me, or else. If you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies. The swarms of flies were conditional condition upon what if you don't let them go? So if they had been let go, they wouldn't miss swarms of flies in the first place. There were swarms of flies in the first place. Why because Pharaoh said no. Pharaoh said, no, they're not God's people. Well, they're my people. I own these people. That's what this is about. I own these people. Secondly, Pharaoh said, worship here. He says no. When the flies come, Pharaoh doesn't like the flies. He needs to do something. Okay, fine, Pharaoh says, you can worship, but just do it here in the land. John Courrd says Pharaoh does not call for his magicians. He realizes they have been defeated and they are no use to him in the battle against Yahweh. So the king of Egypt resorts to his own cunning. At first glance, it appears that Pharaoh has acceded, acceeded to the Hebrew's request. But consider how the Seed of the Serpent replies as he adds the words in the land, you can do it, just do it here. Problem with that, that's not what God said. God said, let him go so that they can worship. Pharaoh says, okay, fine, I'll let them worship. But his whole thing is they are mine. God says, their mind. Let them go so that they can worship me as mine. Pharaoh says, no, they're not yours. Their mind, but I don't like the flies, so I'll let them worship. But God does not negotiate. Moses' response in the Hebrew was an apidictiic no. This is the most emphatic form of negative in the entire Hebrew language. It's the most emphatic way that you can say the word no, absolutely not. That won't work. Why won't it work? Well, just set aside the fact that that's not what God said. If we worship here, the worship that we offer will be an abomination before the Egyptians, and they'll put us to death. Because some of the things that the Israelites were called to sacrifice were sacred to the Egyptians, there could be no admixture. It is obvious now that full separation is both necessary and imminent. Israel cannot worship God in Egypt the way that God demands to be worshiped. Therefore, the only way Israel is ever going to be able to worship God rightly is if they are no longer under Egyptian control nor in the land of Egypt at all. This is the first time we see that clearly God is also redeeming Israel and rejecting Pharaoh. Not only is he redeeming Israel, he's rejecting Pharaoh. He's not saying, hey man, you guys, go ahead and you worship any kind of way you want to worship it. Just let them go over here and you worship this other way, and you're doing the best you can with what you've got, and so on and so No, this is not the way God views worship. Israel is a people set apart from God, and worship is a central expression of this reality. It is a central expression of the reality that we are a people set apart for God. This is what it means to be God's people. We serve him, we worship him and him alone. True worship must be practiced in accordance with God's command. God is not satisfied with sincerity. Just because we really mean it doesn't mean that it's acceptable worship. And that's the way we view worshiped today. If anyone anywhere is blessed by it, then it's an acceptable form of worship. And how dare you say it's not an acceptible form of worship because that person cried, no, God will be worshiped the way he commands. Need to aben abaye. Who could testify to this had they not been killed by God for bringing strange fire? Amen. Worship is a direct threat to human power and authority. It has always been and it will always be because human power and authority says, these people are mine. Human power authority says I control these people. Human power and authority says I dictate. But true worship says we belong to God and to God only, and we will worship God the way God commands that we will worship him. And so we see clearly here that God is redeeming his people. But we also see clearly hear why God is redeeming his people. He is redeeming his people so that they might worship so that they might worship in spirit and in truth. By the way, it's interesting, let my people go so that they might worship me. Then he gives them the law, and any gives them the tabernacle. God redeems us so that we might worship Him. When we gather together and worship, we are doing the most authentic thing that we can do together as the people of God. Because this is why we are redeemed. Our worship is crucial. Our worship is essential. Our worship is not only what connects us to one another as the people of God, but it also connects us to God as the people of God. It is not something that we can just set aside. It is not something that we can just pick up every now and then when we feel like we need it. Folks, we need it. We need it like a hog needs slop. We need it. We need it, we need it, we need it. We more than needed. It is who we are. We need it like the air we breathe. We need it because as God's people, it defines us. Let me be clear, we have come to a time in our culture and in our age where we say crazy things like everything is worship. Folks, If everything is worshiped, then nothing is worshiped. If everything is worshiped, then worship is nothing. Life is worship. No worship is worship. Amen. Worship has implications for our lives. Our lives must reflect our worship. But when we worship, we gather together and we worship God in the ways that God has commanded that we worship him. We gather together on a day that God has set apart, the Lord's Day. We gather together and we do things that God has set apart. We read the scriptures, we pray, we sing songs, we confess things together, we preach the Word, we respond with the corporate Amen. These are biblical acts of worship. We have the Lord's Supper, we baptize. These are the things that we do when we gather together and worship. And it's important that we make a distinction between this and the other things that we do. You see the everything is worship crowd. Some of them today are off on the golf course, or they're off at the soccer field, or they're off on the motorcycle ride, or they're off with the scouts, or they're off wherever else. And what they'll do is they'll take a few minutes and they'll say a prayer and read a passage of scripture, and they'll say, well, we had our worship. No you didn't. You assuaged your guilt and appeased your conscience, but you did not gather with the people of God in direct violation of Hebrews ten twenty five. Sure we worshiped. We were out in nature today on a hike, beholding the glory of God and worshiping God because of the great No, you did not. That was not worship. That is not this. It's different than this, and it is no substitute for this. It can never be a substitute for this. We gather and worship God because He redeemed us for this purpose, and He taught us very specifically what worship is. Well, does this mean that we can't have family worship or private worship? Of course you can, but it's no substitute. Saying that family worship or private worship is a substitute for this is like saying that, you know, I can go sit down with a couple of instruments and say it's as substitute for the Philharmonic. I mean it's not. Can you play basketball three on three? Sort of, but the game as it's defined is five on five. Can you play basketball half court? Yeah, sort of, but the game as it's defined is full court. So you're doing a version of it. But it's not the thing. It's a mission shadow of the thing. When we gather together for family worship at home, that's wonderful, it's necessary, Amen, But it's not this, and it's not a substitute for this. It must never be a substitute for this. This is what we do as the people of God. And if we're somewhere where we can't do it here, then we do the people of God's where we are. Amen. Again. I say this because it's become increasingly common, and it's common because we're squishy on what worship is. And if it's anything and everything, then I can join the soccer league that plays on the Lord's Day, because you know, soccer can be an expression of worship for me, God help us. That's not worship. That's not worship. Nor is everything that happens in a church building on a Sunday morning worship just because we do it in a church building on Sunday morning, Amen, Because there's a whole lot of that that's not worship either. God defines worship. We don't define worship. God defines it. And we continue in this practice as the people of God, because that's why He redeemed us. Phesians two one tone. You're dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walk, following the course of the world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come, He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us. In Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of your own doing it is a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no man can boast. This is a picture of our redemption. And I want you to notice something. We were in ban when God saved us, and in that bondage, we were not offering God the worship that he was due. Israel's redemption is merely a symbol, a sign, a picture, and a necessary step in the progression towards our redemption as the people of God. Being saved from Egypt was not God's ultimate plan. God's ultimate plan is salvation from sin. Israel's redemption was temporal, but ours is eternal. How sad that there are people who were in Egypt, experienced the ten plagues, saw the powerful hand of God, walked out singing, went through the Red Sea, came on the other side where fed manna from heaven and drank water from rocks, and died and went to Hell because they did not believe. How sad is that? What good does it do you to be delivered from Egypt only to die and go to Hell. This is why our redemption as the people of God is superior to Israel's redemption from Egypt, because all those who are redeemed by Christ are redeemed for eternity. This is true redemption because Israel's redemption was partial, but ours is complete. As we sang earlier, Jesus paid it all all to him. I owe sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it. Why the snow it is in Christ that we find redemption that is full and complete, And make no mistake about it. It is because of this redemption that we can offer worship that is superior to anything that Israel could have offered. Why because their worship was a mere foreshadowing. Every time they sacrifice something, it was a mere picture of the ultimate sacrifice that God would bring to the altar, the spotless, sinless Lamb of God, Jesus, the god Man who would die for our sin, who would be a once for all sacrifice superior to anything that had ever been offered. So that now, because we are in Christ, everything that we offer to God is a fragrant aroma, far superior to anything that ever came before. Praise God for our redemption and the true worship that is manifested as a direct result. Praise God for the people of God who have been called out of darkness and into his marvelous light, and who gather together an acknowledgment of this miraculous truth. Praise God for the reality that our worship is sufficient, because our redemption is sufficient. And it is only because we have been redeemed by a sufficient Savior that we are able to offer sufficient worship, and it is a privilege to do so. Center. If you're here and you've been trying to offer God something that he will find acceptable merely because you're trying hard enough, let it go. Oh. If you're here and you are somehow hoping that maybe maybe God will God will see you, and count the number of times that you show up here and be satisfied simply because you've done that, Oh, let that go. If you are here and you are trusting in anything other than the finished work of Christ, if you are trusting in anything other than the wrath of God ten times the ten plagues that have been laid on Christ as your only hope, then let it go. Whatever it is and in its place, cling to the Cross in its place, flee to Christ in its place, Run to the only one who can make your worship acceptable because His sacrifice was acceptable. Christ is your only hope. Be found in Him. Let's pray, Oh, Righteous and Holy God, We bow before you, pleading that through Christ's blood you might receive us as a righteous and holy people, Thanking you for the grace that makes that not just a possibility but a reality. Thanking you for the grace that allows us to worship you in spirit and in truth, Confessing that there is idolatry that needs to be mortified in us, confessing that there are things that our flesh desires more than we desire you, and pleading with you that by christ Own sacrifice we might be made whole and that our worship might be acceptable. Thank you for reminding us today that you are the God who redeems his people, not just so that they might be free, but so that they might be yours, and so that they might worship You and worship no other. Grant by your grace, that we would flee all voluntary bondage that would keep us from offering you this worship. Grant by your grace that we might be found in Christ. Father, We thank you, and we rejoice in these ordinary means of grace. The opportunity to hear your word, and sing your word, and read your word, the opportunity to hear the word preached, the opportunity to make confession, the opportunity to see your word and the elements of the Lord's Supper. And as we prepare our hearts to partake of the Lord's Supper, Grant by your grace that we might see therein the completed work of Christ. And it's great benefit to us as we place our faith in Him and in Him alone. These things we pray because we believe them to be in accordance with the will and the nature, and the authority of our Lord, Master, Savior, Redeemer, King and Friend Jesus, who is the Christ. Amen. In a moment, we'll gather and we'll particular the Lord's Supper together. As we prepare ourselves to do this, a couple of things will happen. One, we'll gather together for a time of prayer and response. And then secondly, after that time, you'll have an opportunity. Those who have come prepared to give