The General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn

Well, happy Sabbath again, brethren. Good to see all of you on this wonderful Sabbath day. We had quite a bit of rain coming down in Litchfield this morning. I don't know about your neck of the woods, but it was pouring raining cats and dogs. So that helped them melt a little bit of the snow around us.

Well, today we're going to continue our preparation for the Passover this year by discussing the role of God's firstborn. Do you know that you're referred to in Scripture as God's firstborn?

Now, we often think of ourselves as firstfruits, and Jesus is the first of the firstfruits, and God has an early harvest of the firstfruits in His plan in the spring, and those are usually reflected as the ones whom God has called throughout history in their lifetimes, and then He's got a much greater harvest in the fall festival, symbolized by the Feast of Tabernacles and what occurs represented by the eighth day.

But I want us all to understand today that we are God's firstborn, and we'll take a look at the Scripture that helps us to understand that in a minute. There are a number of parallels between the physical firstborn Israelites in ancient Egypt and what they experienced, and a parallel between God's spiritual newborns today and what we experience. I want to begin by looking at a Scripture, if you'll turn to Hebrews 12 and verse 18, that oftentimes in our own Bible study can be easily missed because of the way it's translated in both the original King James Version and the new King James Version.

If you'll turn there with me, please. Again, this is Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 18. The author of Hebrews, perhaps Paul himself, is discussing ancient Israel experience at Mount Sinai, where of course they received 10 commandments. But he's contrasting what happened with physical Mount Sinai, with what is happening today in spiritual Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem that eventually will come down to earth with God's presence.

So that's the contrast he's making here, beginning in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 18. He says, for you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire like the one in Mount Sinai, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and at the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word would not be spoken to them anymore. And you can read about that in Exodus chapter 9. They were terrified with God's presence on Mount Sinai.

Verse 20. For they could not endure what was commanded, and if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow, and that was a direct command at that time in Exodus chapter 19. And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said. This is Moses speaking. Quote, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling. So that's the one contrast, Mount Sinai, anciently, and now he's going to draw a distinction. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels.

I want you to just tuck that away, that phrase, innumerable company of angels, because we're going to refer to that in just a few scriptures. Here's the key point in verse 23. To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men, made perfect.

That phrase is referring to the church when it says, the general assembly and church of the firstborn, who are registered in heaven. That doesn't mean just Jesus Christ. That means those who are called in their lifetimes have been converted and received the gift of God's Holy Spirit. I'm going to read these from a couple other translations. The New Century version.

This is verse 23. You have come to the meeting of God's firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God the judge of all people, and to the spirits of good people, who have been made perfect. New International version. To the church of the firstborn, whose names, plural, meaning more than just Jesus Christ, whose names are written in heaven. Of course, we know that Jesus is bringing his reward with him. So all being recorded in heaven, including the state of our salvation, and Jesus Christ brings that, and he brings our reward with him when he returns to earth.

You have come to God, I'm continuing to read from the New International version. You have come to God the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men, made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

All right, first of all, I hope we can clearly see here that when it says in the New King James Version, the general assembly of the church of the firstborn, that includes you. It includes all of those whom God has called the last 2,000 years. Continuing, it says, who are registered in heaven to the God and judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect.

That's plural, and I want you to notice that due to the Spirit of God, those who are part of his church, those who are part of that assembly, are just. They are justified. And because they have Jesus Christ dwelling in sight of them, symbolized by eating unleavened bread during the days of unleavened bread, I might add, because of that, they are the same. They are the same. To the spirits of just men made perfect.

Why is this possible? 24. Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant and of the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. Now, if you were to... we don't have time for that today, but if we went back to Genesis 4 and verse 4, we see that Abel nobly took the firstborn animals for his flock, from his flock, and he gave that as an offering. And that impressed God. His brother brought vegetable matter. We have a far greater advocate in Jesus Christ than just the shed blood of Abel's lambs that he brought to God. That upset his brother that resulted in Cain killing his brother.

That's the point that the scripture's saying here. So this metaphor of this scripture is that we are the children of God and that our names are written in the book of life and that we today are considered God's firstborn. We often apply this term to Jesus Christ, but I hope you've come to see now that this also includes you and everyone in the past 2,000 years who were converted and received God's Holy Spirit and part of his ecclesia, the general assembly of the Church of God.

This is what the author of Hebrews is saying. This is a similar analogy to Christ being the first of the first fruits. He was resurrected first and then following him are first fruits who followed the example that he set for them all.

Let's take just a couple of minutes to look at the important role that a firstborn plays in history. Genesis chapter 10 and verse 15. There's nothing really remarkable about this verse I'm going to read except for this fact. This is the first mention of a firstborn son in Scripture. Genesis chapter 10 and verse 15, and it begins a continuous thread of mentioning firstborn sons throughout Genesis, Exodus, the Pentateuch, the lineage of Abraham. This is the first time that the Old Testament gives emphasis to a firstborn. Genesis chapter 10 and verse 15, and then it talks about the other Canaanites who were descended from Canaan, but it says, Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn and Heth and the others are listed who also were the families of the Canaanites. So my point in that Scripture, again, is to highlight that that's the first mention of a firstborn in Scripture. But historically, firstborns have always been very important. You may have had firstborns in your family. In my case, my sister was the firstborn, and like many sisters who were firstborn, she played a large role in my raising up because she was so much older than I was. She became a de facto babysitter oftentimes. That's a role that a firstborn usually has more responsibility put on them. They usually have a higher degree of accountability because they are the firstborn. We still see that today in a lot of families on earth. Anciently, the firstborn received a birthright that was a double portion that everyone else got as far as the inheritance when the father died. The firstborn would get a double portion of the estate. The firstborn, anciently, would assume the leadership of the family, would become the head of the household, and would also customarily care for the mother until her death. So the firstborn assumed that responsibility to care for mom. That's one of the duties you had as a firstborn. He provided for his sisters until their marriage. He usually would negotiate the terms for the sisters in marriage. He had greater responsibilities, higher expectations upon him because of the role that he had as a firstborn. Now, sadly, not all firstborns lived up to these expectations. For example, the firstborn might sell the rights to his birthright like Esau did, and we could read about that in Genesis chapter 25. That's a firstborn who failed to fulfill his responsibility. Or some firstborns forfeited their right because of misconduct like Reuben did because of the incest he committed. And I won't go into more detail in that because we have children in our congregation here. But my point is that people sometimes in biblical history failed in the opportunities and privileges that they had as a firstborn. And that's also possible for us today. You see, God has given us a special responsibility as his firstborn, this initial generation. Our rewards are incredible. We are to be kings and priests in God's kingdom long before the billions and billions and billions will be resurrected after the millennium. We're already rewarded. We already received spiritually that double portion.

We are very precious to God because we are his spiritual firstborn. And we want to make very careful that unlike the examples of Esau and Reuben, that we don't destroy the opportunity we've been given as a firstborn. Let's go to Exodus chapter 1 if you will kindly turn there with me. Exodus chapter 1.

Beginning in verse 1.

Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt. Each man and his household came with Jacob, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Maptel, Ligad, and Asher. We are familiar with those names. Verse 5. All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy from Joseph, for Joseph was in Egypt already and Joseph died. All his brothers and all that generation. So everyone who remembered Joseph and his gift to the Egyptian nation of his leadership and all that he had done to save the nation during a very terrible famine, that whole generation dies out and everyone forgets about their past, forgets about their history. Continuing verse 7. But the children of Israel were fruitful, and they increased abundantly, they multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty, and the land was filled with them. They took God's commandment in Genesis to be fruitful and multiply very seriously. There also was not cable television back then. Verse 8. Now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph, and he said to his people, Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them. That Hebrew word can be translated, let us deal wisely, or let us out, some translations say, let us outsmart these Hebrews with them, lest they multiply. And it happened in the event of war that they also join our enemies and fight against us and go up out of the land. Now this isn't said just casually by this Pharaoh. If you look at Egyptian history, there were a group of people known as the Hyksos, and they were of Semitic heritage.

They came into Egypt. This is about 1650 BC. They moved into Egypt around the Nile. They conquered the Egyptians, and these Semitic peoples ruled over Egypt for two entire Egyptian dynasties, and they were Semitic. As a matter of fact, some scholars believe that it was a Hyksos Pharaoh who appointed Joseph to his role as prime minister. After all, he was related in kinship. He was a fellow Semite. He was someone from that part of the world, so he wasn't threatened by Joseph being a prime minister. That's what some scholars believe. But nonetheless, there was a fear that the Hebrews would grow in such large number that they could support someone else in a war and take over the Egyptians. Therefore, they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with burdens, and they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Ramses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew, and they were in dread of the children of Israel. So as a response to that, first we're going to work them to death. Verse 13, So the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor. Rigor is from the Hebrew word Pachrek, which means to break something apart, to fracture it. They were worked so hard, their bodies were fractured, torn apart. We'll just work them to death, which has been used by, was used by Nazi Germany in World War II. It's been used by other empires throughout human history to work your enemies to death. Verse 14, And it made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, in brick, and in all matter of service in the field. All their service which they made to them serve was with rigor, again was fracturing them, was breaking them to pieces as a people. Verse 15, Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shefrah, and the other was Pu'ah, and he said, When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stools, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, then she shall live. Now, it's interesting, this word birth stools from the Hebrews was actually a pair of bricks or stones on which women crouched during childbirth. Unlike our culture today, they worked with gravity when they were giving birth, not against gravity. A number of years ago, maybe 12 years ago, one of my grandchildren were born, so I went to YouTube to see a live birth, and they had a short video of this German woman. She looked like a hippie, some tattoos, hair braided, really, I mean, she's really pregnant, she's huge, and in this video she walks around a little bit, then she stands between what looked like a kind of stoga wagon and another thing, and she kneels down. You see the crown of the baby's head starting to come out.

The baby slowly, and then the last half, the baby is propulsion, flies out of her, hits the ground, bumps us off of the ground like a rag doll. She grabs the baby and kisses it and hunts it and smiles, and then a couple of other cute little toe-headed children who were probably previous, her own, come running up and give mommy a hug and kiss the new little baby. And I thought of this scripture, because she did, a hippie German woman, did something similar to the ancient Hebrews. She stood between two items, used them for valence, crouched down, and gave birth, El Naturale.

And that's exactly what the Hebrews would do, and that's what this scripture is talking about when it uses the phrase birth stools. So Pharaoh says, when they use the birth stools, they crouch down and tiled birth. If it's a son, you shall kill him, but if it's a daughter, you shall let it live. Verse 17, but the midwives feared God. You see, God is involved in the background of this situation, just like he's really involved in the background of every situation, including everything that's going on in your life. Oftentimes, we're not listening to what he's telling us. We're not yielding to what he's telling us, but he's always there in the background. And did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. The king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, why have you done this thing and saved the male children alive? And the midwives said to Pharaoh, because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are lively, and they give birth before the midwives come to them. So unlike the Egyptian women, who probably are giving birth in a bed, the Hebrew women are vigorous. For all their being worked to death, so they certainly understand being physical, physicality. And so they come up to the birth stool, and much like German hippie woman, they're obviously given birth really fast. I mean, she went through the birth process probably no more than a minute, from the crowning of the head to that little guy flying out, literally flying like jet propulsion, flying out of her body and bouncing off of the hard ground. So the Hebrew women are alive, they're vigorous, they're given birth, even before the midwife is able to show up. At least that's what they tell Pharaoh. Verse 20, therefore God dealt well with the midwives, so he blesses them. They're yielding to God, they fear God, they know that it's a sin to murder someone, whether it's a small child or a fetus.

And the people multiplied and grew very mighty. And so it was because the midwives feared God that he provided households for them. So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, every son who is born to you shall be cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.

Do you know that Satan would like to have you capital D-E-A-D?

He's a roaring lion. He's the prince of the power of the air. Your existence is a personal threat to him because you will replace him in ruling this world someday. Just like anciently the firstborn were under attack by Pharaoh, the people of God were under attack by Pharaoh. First, we'll try working them to death. If that doesn't work, we'll kill them as soon as they come out of the womb. If they're male firstborn, and if that doesn't work, we'll throw them into a river that, of course, leads to the story of Moses that we won't be getting to today. But Pharaoh was trying to destroy the firstborn of Israel, the firstborn males of Israel. All the Hebrews were his slaves, and in bondage to him. Yet God provided protectors for the firstborn through the midwives, and they ignored what Pharaoh wanted, and they had protection. Well, how about God's ecclesia? How about God's firstborn today in the Church of God? Let's go to Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10. We do have protectors. Let's find out who they are. Just like ancient Israel had God in the background, inspiring, encouraging the midwives to do what was right, and blessing them for doing what was right, he also has protectors for us today. The first is obvious, the captain of our salvation. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10. Again, the author of Hebrews, who very well may have been Paul, for it was fitting for him, for whom all things, and by whom all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Jesus was perfect, but his sufferings even gave him a greater degree of perfection, because suffering tests your mettle. Suffering sees how deep your character really is. Verse 11, for both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified, all are all of one. So we're one with God. God is one with us. We all share the same spirit. We're part of the same family. We are the children of God, and that's why our generation who have responded to God's calling are part of God's firstborn. Let's continue here. For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Wait a minute, Mr. Thomas. I've got problems. I've got weaknesses. You don't know what goes in my head, Mr. Thomas. You don't know how decrepit I can be. You don't know how negative and foul that I can be. Maybe I don't, but God does. And in spite of that, he still is not ashamed to call you his son, for Jesus Christ to call you his brother, his sister, no matter what we're dealing with, what cross in our own lives we're struggling with and we're bearing, as long as we're continuing to struggle against those things and not allowing Satan in that great wrestling match to pin us to the mat, God is not ashamed to call us brethren because we are his firstborn. Verse 12, saying, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly. I will sing praise to you, and again I will put my trust in him, and again here I am in the children whom God has given me.

So as the spiritual firstborn of God, we have an advocate in Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation, one who by his example leads us to the point of salvation and continuing to walk in God's way of life. Of course, we have Jesus Christ as the captain of our salvation. Just like God protected the ancient Israelites, Jesus Christ is also our protector. But is there anyone else?

Anciently they had midwives who disobeyed what Pharaoh wanted. Of course, Pharaoh is representative for Satan the devil. I think most of us realize that. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 13 of Scripture. Again, it's another one that can be so easily passed over because of the way it's usually translated. And if we're in a hurry and we're not focusing on the words, we may miss what the Scripture is saying. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 13, in context talking about angels and the superiority that God is giving us over angels because we are the ones designated to literally be part of the family of God. Begoing from mortal to immortal, from corruptible to incorruptible, to have the name of the family of God and to live forever with that honor and glory that God gives us. Angels, usually, except for Satan and his crew, are created perfect.

They're usually responsible and do God's will, but they don't have to develop character like we've had to develop character because we are God's firstborn. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 13, but to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool? The answer to that is none. That's a promise given to Jesus Christ, given to all of the firstborn. Then he talks about the role that angels have. Verse 14, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who will inherit salvation?

That is you. Now, we don't use the term in the church guardian angels, a very common phrase in the world today. We don't necessarily use that phrase, but we do have protective angels whose sole role is the minister to serve to us. We can't see them. We don't even know their presence, usually, but I can tell you that some of us have exhausted our ministering angels to the point where they may need oxygen. But the things that we go through in life, by the things that we do, ourselves, some of them may be exhausted. Who knows? I'm going to read this from the New American Standard Bible. Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? You are the one to inherit salvation. And God, anciently, this is the metaphor, had midwives protecting those first born from death.

And in a spiritual way, God has these ministering angels who don't care what Satan says. The god of this world, the Pharaoh of this world, who doesn't care what his opinion is, they're going and continue to ignore him because they want God to deal with them in a pleased way and God to bless them. Those are these ministering angels. So to wrap it up here, spiritually, God has given us protectors and servants for our needs. And just like the ancient firstborn had midwives to protect them from harm, God has provided for the general assembly and the church of the firstborn to have ministering spirits to help us and to serve us. And again, oftentimes, we may not even realize or appreciate the fact that they're there working behind the scenes. And I want to connect this to Hebrews, the first scripture I used, Hebrews 12 and verse 22. I'll just read it to you. We read it, this first scripture we read today. It says, But I have come, but you have come to Mount Zion into the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn. So again, I want to emphasize that God provides those angels that we don't even acknowledge usually and don't even perceive.

They are there usually, protecting us from ourselves and certainly also protecting us from harm by others. So now let's go back and remind ourselves of that original Passover and what a miracle it was, what we can learn from it. Exodus chapter 12 will begin in verse 1. If you'll turn there with me, Exodus chapter 12 in verse 1. Exodus states here, chapter 12, Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This shall be your beginning of a month, and it shall be the first month of the year to you. And that was very important because the first month of the Egyptian year was in summer, and that wouldn't fall in line with the metaphor that God has with harvesting seasons. So God said the springtime happened to be called the month of Abib. This is the beginning of your new year, unlike what the Egyptians do. Verse 3, Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying on the 10th day of this month, Every man shall take for himself a lamb according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of persons according to each one's need you shall count for the lamb. So you've got to be careful, God says. You want to make sure everyone has enough to eat. You don't want to have too little, but on the other hand, you don't want to have wasted. You don't want to have too much lamb because you have to burn anything that's left over. So you want to have a balance and have enough lamb, and that's according to each person's need. Verse 5, Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month. So reflecting the role Jesus Christ would fulfill, it was without blemish. Jesus Christ was perfect. It was a male of the first year. It was a young adult. A male of the first year. Jesus Christ was in his early 30s. He was a young, considered a young adult.

So that's what the lamb represented. Continuing here, you shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.

That is the time between when the sun sets and it gets dark. If you've ever observed the sunset, you know that even though it goes over the horizon, there are still rays of sun that shoot up in the sky and there's still light in the sky. And then after a period of time, it continues to set over the horizon and that light fades away. That difference between when the sun set over the horizon and it got dark was the twilight time when they were to kill the lamb. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two-door post and on the lentil of houses where they eat it.

Then they shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire with unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire with its legs and its entrails. So you don't boil it. You don't want this lamb to fall apart by overcooking it and boiling it. If you've ever done that to a chicken or a bird, you know that pretty soon it starts coming apart in pieces. You are not to cut the head off. You are just basically to do it the way God says to do it, roasted in fire whole. That's the proper way. Verse 10, you shall let none of it remain until morning, and remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. And thus you shall eat it with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste, for it is the Lord's Passover.

Though there's a principle for God's first board today. They're being told you need to dress for success. When you're done with this, you need to be ready for action. If God calls you out of Egypt at a moment's notice, you need to be ready. How about us, brethren? Are we ready?

After the Passover this year, are we ready to change? Are we ready to take our lives to another level? Are we ready to talk less and do more? Will we be ready emotionally, intellectually, mentally for action? To use the power of the Holy Spirit to transform our lives? We're not physically going to leave this land. Some of us may want to, with all the craziness going on in our society today, but in spite of that, that's not what God is calling us out of. He's calling us out of spiritual Egypt. Are we going to be ready to go dressed, prepared, ready to do action?

I think that's an important question. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. I want you to notice something here. Pick up on it. God's going to send a destroyer. We won't get that far. That's verse 23. Sometimes we incorrectly use the phrase of death angel. That's not actually in the Bible. It's called a destroyer. It's referred to as a plague. It actually could have been a fast-acting virus that God injected into the community. Some people, for example, who had the Spanish flu were healthy one minute and died very, very quickly. It is referred to as a plague. We don't know what process God used, but he does refer to this being, whoever it is, as a destroyer in verse 23. I want you to notice, though, it's going to strike all the firstborn of the land of Egypt that night. The Hebrews lived in Goshen. That was in the land of Egypt. So without intervention, not only will the firstborn of the Egyptians die, the firstborn of all the Hebrews will die unless God provides a way of escape. So he gives them clear instructions. We just read about those on how to protect the firstborn of the Israelites by killing that Passover lamb and putting its blood on the doorpost and on the lentil of their homes. God's grace saved the firstborn of ancient Israel. They weren't better than anyone else. They weren't special. They weren't necessarily privileged by God's loving grace, even though they were sinners because they were born to human beings.

By God's grace, he saved them from destruction. God's firstborn today. We're here, not because we were the elite of this world. I haven't gotten any phone calls from Bill Gates recently, asking me what time Sabbath services are. We're not the elite of the world. We're not the smartest people in the world. As I've said before, I was in the half of my high school graduating class that made the upper half possible. So we're not the smartest, sharpest knife in the drawer, the brightest crayon in the box. God called us because of his grace, and we are saved by the shed blood of Jesus Christ because of God's grace. Verse 13, Now the blood shall be assigned for you in the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So this shall be a day to you, a memorial, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. And we do that, and we'll be doing that again this year. Some of us will be doing it in the building of Grafton. Some of us will be doing it in our homes, celebrating, observing the Passover, followed by the course of the days of Unleavened Bread. The blood of the Lamb saved the firstborn from death. For God's firstborn today, the blood of the Lamb saves the firstborn from death. That's you. That's me. So a little bit of time goes by. God is instituting the Old Covenant. What's his attitude about the firstborn, his firstborn? Let's go to chapter 13. Begin in verse 1, Exodus 13, verse 1. Not too far of a journey for our little fingers to take today. Then the Lord said to Moses, saying, consecrate to me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast, is mine. God says, I own them. They're mine. They belong to me. Not to you. They belong to me. Verse 3. And Moses said to the people, Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt in the house of bondage, by the strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place. 11 bread shall be eaten. On this day you are going out in the month Abib, and it shall be when the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites and all the otherites, which he swore to your fathers to give you a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month. That's why we keep the Passover today, thousands and thousands of years later. That's why we keep the days of unleavened bread today, thousands and thousands of years later. And of course, there were many things in the Old Covenant that are not part of the New Covenant, but we have the example of Jesus and the disciples, including Paul, in continuing to observe the Holy Days as part of the New Covenant. So we have that example. Verse 6, seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days, and no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters, and you shall tell your son in that day, saying, this is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt.

So you're to tell your children this represents that God saved, He delivered His people from slavery and oppression in Egypt. And today we observe this because God is delivering His firstborn today from slavery to sin, from oppression, from the God of this world who controls all the levers of power and everything that you see going on in the media and governments and everything that you see happening. There's a puppet master behind all that, and that's Satan the Devil just dangling these people doing everything that they're doing. This is not God's world.

So again, I want to let's see if we finish this. Yes, this is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up out of Egypt. I want you to remember what God states about the ownership of the firstborn. So how are the firstborn important to God? Well, brethren, just as the firstborn in ancient Israel were set apart and owned by God, consecrated to Him. So too is the general assembly of the church of the firstborn today set apart, consecrated, and owned by God.

I think that's very important for us to appreciate. Here's what Holman's Bible dictionary says under the article firstborn. I'm going to quote this quote, In memory of the death of Egypt's firstborn and the preservation of the firstborn of Israel, all the firstborn of Israel, both man and beast, belonged to Yahweh, and they're referring to the scripture we read here, Exodus 13 too. This meant that the people of Israel attached unusual value to the eldest son and assigned special privileges and responsibilities to him.

He is presented to the Lord when he is a month old, according to the old covenant. Since he belonged to the Lord, it was necessary for the father to buy back the child from the priest at a redemption price not to exceed five shekels of silver. And that's referred to in Numbers 18, which we won't turn to today. So they belong to God, consecrated by God. God owned them, but you could buy them back if you wanted them as part of your family.

Now, going all the way back to Exodus chapter 1, which we looked at, the Hebrews we saw were slaves to Pharaoh to do him service. And if we're not careful, brethren, even those of us in the church of God can fall prey to the spiritual Pharaoh that exists in this world today. Jesus stated in John chapter 8 and verse 34, he said, most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. So in what area of our lives are we still slaves of sin? Something we think about all the time? Some obsessive compulsive thing that's going on in our lives? An addiction that's out of control? What are we a slave of sin to that we need to get rid of? That we need to root out of our lives? Just like ancient Pharaoh sought to destroy ancient Israel, Satan the devil is as a roaring lion. We read about that in 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8. He wants to destroy the church of God even more badly than Pharaoh wanted to destroy the Hebrews. Ancient Pharaoh was afraid of an insurrection to take over the throne of Egypt. Satan is afraid of the coming insurrection in which we are being trained now to replace him as kings and priests in the kingdom of God. Romans chapter 6 and verse 16. If you'll turn there with me, we'll take a look at a few more verses.

Romans chapter 6 and verse 16.

I'm going to talk about slavery, and as I've said before, I know this is a delicate subject today since this nation has an obsessive compulsive disorder regarding people's skin colors.

I know this is a sensitive topic in our culture today. You would think it would have been for Paul since the majority of people who lived in the Roman Empire were slaves, but that doesn't seem to matter to many people. Romans chapter 6 and verse 16. Do you not know that whom you present yourselves as slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? As Mr. Scapura mentioned in a sermon last week, again, we don't like to talk about slavery in our modern culture, but the truth is that Scripture tells us that we are slaves to God. After all, that's what a living sacrifice means. I'm helpless. Ever see an animal sacrifice as an altar? Talk back?

Ever see it squirm off the altar? No, it's defenseless. It is totally controlled. It's dominated. That's what it means to be a living sacrifice controlled by the Spirit of God leading and guiding our lives. No longer insisting we do everything my way, or it's all about me, or my opinions more important than everyone else's opinion.

Only when we get rid of that, those attitudes and those thoughts, will we understand what it's like to be a slave for Christ. Now, there are differences. The truth is that we're either a slave to Satan and our own passions, or we're a servant of Jesus Christ. And the Scripture makes no bones about using the word that we're a slave to Jesus Christ. The difference is that servitude to the Savior is liberating. Slavery to Satan is hard. Life is hard. We bring problems on ourselves. We live perpetually with shame and guilt and fear and a sense of worthlessness and purposeless. What's this all about, Elfie? Whereas when you're in servitude to God, when you're a slave to Christ, you are experiencing liberation, not bondage, as Jesus said in Matthew chapter 11 and verse 29, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. You know, yoke is something that constrains an animal. You put a yoke on an animal because you are telling the animal where that animal is going to go. It's controlling. Go to the left, go to the right, go forward, stop! Jesus uses this analogy of a yoke. He says, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you'll find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy. Compared to Satan's yoke, it's really easy. But there's still challenges. Changing who and what we are takes work. But it's easy compared to being dominated and controlled through the fears and anxieties and sin of the prince of the power of the air. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I'm gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. You may struggle, but you'll know it's all worthwhile. There's a purpose behind all of your struggles. He says, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light, especially in contrast to being in slavery to sin. Verse 17, But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, he's using that in past tense. Hopefully we've grown to the point where, yeah, we struggle with things that come into our minds and things that we say and things that we do. But if something is habitual, if there's a sin in if there's a sin that's controlling you, you can't do without it. You are a slave to that sin, whatever it may be. But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered, and having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. So instead of being a slave to sin, you become a slave of wanting willingly and voluntarily, but willingly and voluntarily, to obey God. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness. So now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. So be a slave for God's way of life. Be a slave to please God.

Be a slave because the liberation you received from that will make you holy and will set you apart.

And then you were consecrated just like God always intended for his firstborn. Verse 20, for when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. In other words, you didn't care about being righteous when you were a slave to sin. All you cared about was satisfying your own passions and compulsions. Verse 21, what fruit did you have then in the things which you were now ashamed? You look back in your life, back in my life, I said things that I shouldn't have said. I did things that I shouldn't have done. I'm ashamed of those things. Paul says, rather than dwelling and living on those kinds of things, which he says, by the way, for the end of those things is death. Verse 22, but now, in contrast to that, having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit, the holiness, and the end everlasting life.

So rather than producing fruits that create fear and negativity, passions, guilt, shame, in contrast to that, he says, how about the fruit of the Holy Spirit? You will never be ashamed. You'll never feel guilt from developing those fruits. Never ever.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul's emphasizing here we're not an immortal soul. We don't naturally have eternal life where the option is you either flitter off to heaven or if you're bad you go down to the great barbecue pit of hell. No, that's not it. We're mortal beings. The gift of God is eternal life. We don't naturally have eternal life. That's why there's so much emphasis in Scripture on the resurrection. So remember what God told Moses in Exodus chapter 13, Consecrate to me all the firstborn. It said, whoever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both man and beast, it is mine. That's what it said in the Old Covenant.

Brethren, we are the general assembly of the church of the firstborn in a greater way. We, too, are consecrated. We, too, have been set apart for a special calling. We, too, because we are God's spiritual firstborn, are being given greater opportunities than other people will have. And that includes serving as kings and priests for a thousand years, long before most people who were ever born and died or even come up in a resurrection. We'll have that privilege and that opportunity. Why? Because we are God's spiritual firstborn. So what are some of the parallels we've seen today? This is kind of a recap, just some of the major points we talked about today as we begin to conclude the sermon this afternoon. What are some of the parallels that we've seen in this message today?

Number one, anciently, the firstborn of a family held a special place in that family. They received special honors and benefits because of the responsibility and the duty that was placed on the firstborn. The same is true today of God's assembly in church of the firstborn. As the Apostle James stated in James chapter 1 and verse 18, of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. So we are his spiritual firstborn. Special honors are offered to us in the future. Special benefits are offered to us in the kingdom of God, like the privilege of being part of the first resurrection, coming to life when Jesus Christ literally returns to earth. So we too have honors and benefits, but we have to fulfill our responsibilities. Anciently, like the firstborn, we have duties and we need to fulfill those duties. That is part of our calling. All right, number two.

Anciently, after the Exodus, the firstborn, were always consecrated to God and they were redeemed. You know that we're not only consecrated to God, he owns us. We've been set apart, but we've also been redeemed. Let's take a look at Scripture, actually our last Scripture today, in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 17. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 17.

Peter writes, And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear. We have duties and responsibilities as part of God's firstborn. We have obligations because we're the firstborn.

Now, when he says, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear, he doesn't mean in terror. He means with a deep sense of sobriety and respect for the things that we're supposed to do. Not to take things casually, not to take God's law casually, not to coast through life, but to realize that God is opening up wonderful opportunities for us. And along with those opportunities come obligations like continuing to remove sin from our lives as pictured by these holy days that are coming up shortly. Verse 18, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold, you know, anciently the firstborn were redeemed by corruptible things. Did you know that? Five shekels of silver, according to the book of Numbers, is what it cost to redeem the original firstborn. Then they were redeemed. But Peter's saying, oh, we have something far greater. You were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition of your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as the Lamb without blemish and without spot. So we were redeemed with the most precious thing in the universe, the shed blood of Jesus Christ, that for us is a game changer.

For us, it should change everything about us. Number three, anciently the firstborn of the Hebrews were protected by God in his servants, and in that case the servants were the physical midwives who listened to God, who went contrary to the will of Pharaoh. Today we are blessed and protected by the captain of our salvation, Jesus Christ, and his ministering angels, who also, in spite of the will of the prince of the power of the air, are there to protect us, are there to serve us, want to please God, just like the midwives wanted to please God. And four, last point of the highlights of things we covered today, we who are the firstborn are called to be slaves to God.

Like, no, that's a term that we may be uncomfortable with, but that's what the scripture says, a living sacrifice. All in. A living sacrifice redeemed with the purchase price, not of some trinket, not of some silly stamped piece of silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Well, brethren, today we have talked about an incredible gift and privilege that we've all been given, and that is the privilege of being God's spiritual firstborn, the general assembly of the church of the firstborn. I want to encourage you to meditate on your calling. I want to encourage you to think about not just the glory that's involved in that, and the privilege of being consecrated by God and redeemed by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and being spared from the devil who would like to destroy those who are going to be replacing him, but to truly think about our obligations as well. God has given us a calling. That calling includes growing in grace and knowledge of the Lord. It includes overcoming our weaknesses and the things that we struggle with. It includes growing those strengths and those gifts, whether they be spiritual, physical gifts, that God has given us to grow and develop those gifts to the fullest, so that we can live life to the fullest as Jesus originally intended and encouraged us to do.

So I hope the next few weeks until the Passover this year, we'll think about the fact that we are God's spiritual firstborn, loved by God, owned by him, privileged to be those.

Who will serve first in his family and in the kingdom of God. I wish all of you a wonderful, Sabbath day.