Prodigal (Part 1)

You know, it's such a beautiful sight to see our little ones serving in this way and praising God in song, commemorating these incredible miracles that God performed for the nation of Israel as they entered into the Promised Land. So we very much appreciate that and very much appreciate Mrs. Hanson, the beautiful, offeratory music. So thank you so much. It really adds a lot to the day to have the musical performances that go with it. I wanted to take a moment and welcome all of our brethren who are gathered with us here on the webcast today, as well as on the telephone hookup.

We are very thankful to have you with us. We are thankful to have you gathered here together today as we worship God on this high holy day, this first day of unleavened bread. I also wanted to take a moment and begin by formally apologizing for making you get up at 11 a.m. to come to services the day after the night to be much observed.

It's likely that many of you were up late fellowshipping. Some of you may have been up way past your bedtime. But 11 o'clock came a little bit early, so we apologize for that, but it is nice to be gathered here together. We had the Emery's over at our place last night and really enjoyed the chance to sit down and enjoy one another's company. So I trust and I hope that you all had a wonderful night to be much observed as well.

I know after last year doing Night to be Much Observed via Zoom, it was certainly a very special night to be able to sit down and to break bread together and reflect on the incredible meaning that's wrapped up in this day. We're going to begin today by turning over to the Book of Exodus. So if you'd like to head in that direction. We're going to be in the Book of Exodus for the first little bit today as we kind of take a look at and build the direction in which we're headed.

The Book of Exodus records the events that were relating to the growth and the expansion of the Israelites in Egypt after Joseph and the generation along with Joseph died. The first few chapters of Exodus describe the abundant growth of Israel, describes how the people just multiplied and multiplied and multiplied and grew.

Talks about how Pharaoh and the other Egyptians, as time went on, grew to dread the children of Israel, grew to dread them, fearing, in some ways, we might say, a passive invasion. That these people had gone and they had multiplied in such a way that if they so chose, they could turn around and they could overthrow the Egyptians. Exodus records that the Israelites were in the land of Egypt for four centuries.

During this time, they were living in a strange land with strange customs. And as time passed, there was a pharaoh that arose that did not know Joseph and the Egyptians began to treat the Israelites harshly. They began to impose great burdens upon them. They began to set taskmasters over them, bringing them under bondage, bringing them under slavery, conscripting them in some ways to serve them in indentured servitude and slavery, under bondage. But the Bible also records the more that they were afflicted by the Egyptians, the more abundant their population grew.

Eventually, we see that Pharaoh takes the opportunity to provide instructions to the midwives of Hebrews to kill the sons that were born, and to keep the women alive, likely planning to remove an entire generation or more of Hebrew men and intermarry with the women of the Israelites to remove the Israelite threat. We know much of the rest of the story. We know that Israel remained slaves for a time. They were forced into hard labor until Moses was born and raised and called by God to be the vessel through which he would begin to provide the deliverance to his people.

Let's go ahead and we'll turn to Exodus 2 to pick it up. Exodus 2, and again, as time passed, we see Pharaoh died and a new Pharaoh took his place, and the Egyptians cried out. The Israelites cried out to God for their deliverance. The Egyptians would cry out later, but the Israelites at that time cried out to God for their deliverance. Exodus 2, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 23.

It says, Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out. Notice what it says. Their cry came up to God because of their bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them. His eye was turned to them at that point. Israel reached a point in the passage of time that the circumstances they were experiencing had become too much. They had reached what we might consider to be a breaking point, and they cried out to their God to save them. Again, they were strangers in a strange land, but they were also in a land which had become home to them in intervening years.

They were slaves. They were in bondage to the Egyptians. They were afflicted with these incredible burdens that the taskmasters had set upon them. And in their desperation and in their agony, they called out to God for their deliverance. A couple passages over if you go to Exodus 3. Exodus 3, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 7. Exodus 3, in verse 7, as God talks to Moses, he says, And then he says to Moses, Come now, therefore, I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.

You know, God heard the cries of his people, and he set his plan into motion. And that plan, as we know, as we look at the story of the Exodus, as we look at the story of what was going on at that time, we know that plan included a great deal of miracles. It included a number of direct challenges to the gods of Egypt. It included a number of miracles that executed the judgment of God against all of the gods of Egypt. And at every turn, as these plagues were poured out upon Egypt and Pharaoh's heart was continually hardened, God stepped up the pressure on Pharaoh.

He stepped up the pressure on Pharaoh until the final plague, when the firstborn of Egypt were killed and the great cry of mourning rose from the land. You know, I think sometimes we read over that. I think sometimes we don't always necessarily consider what that means. Imagine waking up to the sounds of an entire nation crying out over the death of their firstborn, and the sheer just wail and shriek of emotion when that occurs.

The Egyptians believed if the Israelites didn't leave the land of Egypt immediately, that they would all be dead, that they would be next. The Egyptian people urged the Israelites to leave. The Israelites, in a sense, at that point, were cast out of Egypt. They left Egypt after plundering the wealth of the Egyptians, who were more than happy at that stage, to hand over whatever, as long as you leave.

We'll give you whatever you want. Just get out was basically the attitude of the Egyptians at that time. After everything that had just occurred over the period of time that God was wreaking these plagues upon Egypt. You know, it's the events of this night where the Israelites left Egypt victoriously into this day, with God as their Redeemer, that we commemorated last night. It is that night that we commemorated last night. The days of unleavened bread, which we keep this week, is symbolic of the lack of leaven in their kneading bowls as they left in a hurry.

They were baking unleavened bread. It's also commemorating the victory of God. Exodus 13 and verse 3. Turn over to Exodus 13 and verse 3. We see the instructions to Moses as to the memorialization of this each and every year. Exodus 13 and verse 3. God instructs Moses. Ultimately, and Moses instructs the people. Moses said to the people in verse 3 of Exodus 13, Remember this day in which you were out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. For by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of his place.

No leavened bread shall be eaten. Verse 4. On this day you are going out in the month of Bib. And it shall be when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and with honey, that you shall keep this service in this month. We're here to do that today. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on that seventh day, or on the seventh day, I should say, there shall be a feast to the Lord. Verse 7. On leavened bread shall be eaten seven days, and no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in your quarters.

So we see that we're given instruction to gather together to commemorate these days, to remove the leaven from our lives. We know that that has a great deal of spiritual implication as well. And it's in this season in which God brought his people out of their bondage in the land of Egypt. So why are we here today? Verse 8 says right here, 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. Verse 9. It shall be as a sign to you on your hand, and as a memorial between your eyes, that the Lord's law may be in your mouth.

For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year. So we are gathered here today commemorating that which God did for Israel so many years ago, but we're also here commemorating that which he is doing right now in all of our lives today. God is bringing us out of spiritual Egypt, the spiritual Egypt, the bondage to sin in which we find ourselves through the blood of his son Jesus Christ. And as God brings us out of this world and out of our bondage to sin, these days remain a sign, they remain a memorial to us, of the strong hand with which God delivered his people and is delivering his people.

And that's a people whom he loves as a son. It's a people whom he loves as a son. Let's go to Exodus 4. Again, just a few pages back here. I told you we'd be in Exodus for the first little bit. We'll start moving around here in just a second. Exodus 4 in verse 21. You know, God instructed Moses to go and tell Pharaoh to let his people go. We know one of the things that God is incredible about is he often declares the end from the beginning. You know, he says what is going to happen before it happens. That's one of the incredible proofs of God, is that he's able to provide these things for us to see, and then when they do happen, we recognize the truth of God. And when he sold or when he sent Moses to go and demand Pharaoh to let his people go, notice how God references his people Israel. Again, this is Exodus 4 and verse 21. Notice how God references his people. And the Lord said to Moses, when you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in your hand. He says, but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. Verse 22, he says, then you shall say to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, Israel is my son. Israel is my son. He is my firstborn. So I say to you, let my son go, that he may serve me. And he says, but if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.

You know, it's a message that Moses was sent with. Israel was God's firstborn. They were like a child to him. Hosea 11 in verse 1. You don't have to turn there. You can just jot it down in your notes. It says, when Israel was a child, God says, I loved him. And out of Egypt, I called my son. Out of Egypt, I called my son. You know, God's children found themselves in a place where they were not able to save themselves. Under no circumstances. This is not a place where they could pull themselves up by their bootstraps. This was not something where they could determine, well, we're just going to walk right out of here. This was four centuries worth of time that they had been here.

This was institutionalized in many ways. His children found themselves in a place where they were not able to save themselves. Even if they had wanted to leave and worship their God in the manner that he had commanded, they could not. They were stuck. They were strangers in a foreign land. They were indentured in servitude. They were burdened and afflicted in their bondage and in their chains. And you know, as any child does, many of you who are parents, you've experienced this, as many any child does, when they are hurt, when they're stuck, when they're scared, they cry out for their parents. And for those of you who are parents, you know exactly what that cry sounds like.

You know what it sounds like.

Something is wrong, and you know something is wrong. They just want to be comforted, and they just want to feel safe. You know, some of you know this story already. Actually, it was kind of funny. John and Shelley Pollack learned this story from a friend of theirs who lived up in the Spokane area, who heard my name as the person who was serving as pastor down in this area and said, Ben Light, the kid in the red flyer. I'll tell you this story. Some of you know it. When I was three and a half, our family had a large English bulldog. This English bulldog was named Jake. He was about 65 pounds, and he was dumber than a sack of hammers. And I don't say that lightly. There was seriously something wrong with this dog. I don't know what it is, truly. Jake ate the cabinet faces off of our cabinets in our kitchen. Literally. He ate the cabinet faces off. He chewed them to pieces. He constantly scraped up his face, trying to climb underneath the neighbor's chain-link fence to go play with the neighbor's dogs. And we had to take him in and get his face stitched up constantly at the veterinarian. He would just keep doing it. He would eat and swallow just about anything that, you know, he wasn't supposed to. He was not a smart dog. And he was very rambunctious. He was very, very excitable, very rambunctious dog. One day my mom and I, when I was younger, we were out bringing a firewood into the house for the wood stove. And I wanted to help her, and so I was a ways away from her at the time, and so I started running to go and to assist her with what she was doing. And Jake thought we were playing. And Jake hit me absolute full-force square in the back. 65 pounds worth of bulldog. I probably didn't even weigh that at that point. I was three and a half. And as I fell, my leg twisted underneath me. My left femur twisted, and it shattered. It just snapped. And so my left femur—they call it a green stick fracture, for those that are familiar. It's basically where it just kind of twists and breaks, and it looks like a branch that's been twisted. So there's still pieces connected. Anyway, I let out an inhuman shriek. You know, it's interesting when you think about your childhood. There are certain things that you just simply can't remember, but often those things that were painful are just seared in your memory. I can remember just about every detail of that day. I can remember where I was laying. I can remember screaming for my mom. I can remember Jake...

...dancing around, getting in the way of my mom getting to me, not quite sure what had happened. I remember the ride to the hospital. I remember the time that I was laying on the gurney at the hospital while they were talking about what to do, those memories. They're vivid. They're in there. After the break, they wanted to do surgery, but instead my mom opted for a body cast. And that body cast was from here down. Both legs, everything. You know, they provided me a hatch, thankfully. But both legs were immobilized while the bones healed. Or while the bone, I should say, healed. Now, my mom at that time carried me around and laid me down in the back of our Jeep to transport me to and from various places, because they didn't put the cast together in a seated position. They put the legs straight out. And so, my mom, thankfully, I was narrower than the entrance to the Jeep, but she was able to just lay me in the back of the Jeep with the seat folded down. We didn't do seat belts back then, folks. This was the 80s. And ultimately, drove me around in that way and then would put me in the back of a red flyer wagon and take me into church. And my legs stuck out the back of this red flyer wagon about two and a half feet or so as I laid in this thing. And we did that for the better part of about seven months. Seven weeks. I'm sorry. Did I say seven months? Yeah, seven months is—no, sorry. Seven weeks. Until things had started to heal. Did that for seven years? No. Uphill both ways. You know what's interesting? You know what I remember most about that day? That when I cried out, my mom came running. That is what I remember most about that day. That when I cried out, when I was hurt, when I was in need, my mom was there. She was right there. She was right beside me. She took care of it. And it's in this parental relationship, ideally, that comfort is provided. That's the ideal. Is it in a parental relationship, comfort is provided in that place. That home is a place that is safe. And home is a place in which when children are hurt or when they're in pain or when they are scared, they run home. They run to their parents. They seek the comfort that that parental relationship can ultimately provide. You know, Israel was no different. In their pain, in their trauma, they cried out to God. And ultimately, God scooped them up in His arms. And He carried them out of Egypt. He sought them out. He expressed His love for His children by releasing them from their bondage and restoring their relationship with Him, which is a relationship that at least largely appears from Scripture to have been mostly neglected during that time that they were in Egypt. Let's turn over to Luke 15. Luke 15.

You know, in the book of Luke, there's a number of events that are recorded in order to put the events of Christ's ministry in a semblance of historical order so that those who would read it later would be able to understand what had happened and how it had happened. And many of these things that the book of Luke records, they were established through interviews with eyewitnesses, they were established after the fact. Luke was not present for many of these things.

But a great number of the apostles were still living at the time of Luke's writing. And so many of these events, Luke was getting firsthand from the people who were there and the people who had lived it.

In Luke 15, there's three parables that are recorded that Christ provides to the scribes and to the Pharisees regarding the tax collectors and the sinners, which he was frequently accused of receiving and dining with. These parables served a dual purpose. They were certainly designed to show the scribes and the Pharisees the depths of the love of God, but also they were designed to admonish the scribes and the Pharisees for their lack of love for the people of the region and for their lack of understanding of these things.

Let's go ahead and pick it up in Luke 15. We'll begin in verse 1. Luke 15 and verse 1, And then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him and to hear him. Verse 2, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained, saying, And so Christ spoke this parable to them, verse 3, saying, And when he is found, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing, calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.

Verse 7, he says, You know this first parable? Christ is making the point to the Pharisees and the scribes that were gathered. He says, look, if any of you are shepherds of a flock, if you had a hundred sheep and one were lost, wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in order to get the one which was lost?

Searching for it until you found it, and you were able to return triumphantly with it slung over your shoulder. You know, William Barkley talks of the flocks of sheep in Judea at this time. The flocks in many areas were communal flocks.

They were owned by an entirety of a village. And these folks would take turns in some ways shepherding these flocks out in the fields. And if one sheep went missing, the village was informed. And the village would keep watch until that shepherd returned in hopes of being able to find and bring that sheep back. The shepherds were responsible if one died to bring the fleece back to show how it had died. So they would bring the fleece of the sheep back to be able to show the village how it had died. And these were men who were trained in tracking.

They were individuals who could follow a sheep's footsteps across the Judean terrain. You know, they could track these animals incredibly well. You know, sheep are herd animals. They prefer to be near other sheep.

And so for a sheep to separate itself from the flock means something's wrong. A sheep on its own is a sheep that is stressed. They'll separate from the sheep when they're in pain. It makes them more susceptible to predators. And a shepherd would find it odd for the sheep not to show up when they are called and when they are gathered. You know, when the shepherd located the sheep and returned the sheep to the village carrying it on his shoulders, the village would rejoice, giving out this shout of joy and of thanksgiving for the restoration of that sheep to the fold.

Christ goes on in verse 8. He tells the next parable. Christ goes on in verse 8. He says, Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it. And when she has found it, she calls her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I lost.

Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner who repents. The coin that was lost in this particular parable is a silver drachma. It's the standard silver coin at that point in time. And it was worth, at that point in time, a little more than a day's wages. So it's a valuable coin. It's not something you'd want to lose on the floor.

It's a day's worth of wages. But not much more than a day's wages. And it's possible in this particular parable that this coin is one of necessity, that this woman is impoverished, this is good grocery money, so to speak. But there's also an interesting concept with Judean culture at the time in which the women would collect ten silver coins to make a headdress for a wedding. And it's possible that that coin was one of those coins that she had been saving to be able to have that wedding headdress.

So in some ways, it might be, you know, for us, you know, modern-wise, to try to consider what it might mean to lose this silver coin. It'd be like one of us losing our wedding ring. You know, it's serious. This is serious for her. You know, and it may be that it's got more sentimentality than monetary value. But in both of these circumstances, both of these parables, Christ concludes the meaning of the parable in the presence of the Pharisees. He says, And then he says, The great amount of joy is present among the angels of God when a person comes to that point of repentance.

Now, Christ is making the point to the scribes and the Pharisees that God is one who seeks that which is lost.

God seeks that which is lost.

He looks for and he finds and he restores that which is lost. The final of these parables that relates to loss is the one that I'd like to spend the time on today, with the time we have remaining. This is part one of a part two that I will finish on the last day of Unleavened Bread. But looking at this concept of prodigal, looking at this concept of what this means, it's the title of the message today, is prodigal part one. The parable itself is found in verse 11 of Luke 15. Verse 11 in Luke 15 says, And it says, And that citizen sent him into the fields to feed swine. Verse 16, Verse 17, And on those days, a hired servant was someone who could be let go at the end of the day. You know, slaves, at least, in the household, had some degree of familial connection, but a hired servant could be, you know, hired and let go each and every day. He's saying, I'm not even asking to be a household slave. Just a hired servant would be fine, you know, in my father's household. But he says, And I perish, he says, with hunger. I will arise, and I will go to my father, and I will say to them, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.

So he has got this worked out. He's got the phraseology worked out. He's got exactly what he's going to say to his dad. He's got exactly what he's going to work out. And so he begins to go back home.

Verse 20, he says, And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, Bring out the best robe. Put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, and bring the fatted calf here, and kill it, and let us eat and be merry.

You know, this young man went to his father, and he asked for his inheritance early. Basically, instead of waiting for his dad to die, he said, I want my inheritance. I want what you're going to leave me. I want it now. And he says, and it's not just that I want it now to be able to, you know, settle down and to do these things. He goes, I want it now so that I can go and I can journey far away and I can enjoy life. I want to go enjoy life. I want to see the world, maybe, as they say.

But he wasted those possessions that his father had provided him on prodigal living. Word prodigal is the Greek word asotos, which is a word that's used to basically describe wasteful living or extravagant living, we might say today, living above our means. You know, wastefully extravagant. It's basically burning money, for lack of a better description. Basically burning money. And so this young man goes to this far country. Some commentators actually believe it really wasn't all that far. It was just the other side of the Sea of Galilee, they think, because there's an area there known as the Decapolis. And that area was an area that Christ visited a couple of times when he went to the Gatorines and the Gergesenes, who were the people that kind of lived in a manner that was quite unlike that of those on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. That's where we see Christ's miracle of the heard of the demons being cast into the herd of swine is where we see that take place. But the observant Jews at that time, they viewed that area of Judea known as the Decapolis, they viewed it so differently from their lifestyle, it might as well have been a foreign country. They didn't go there, they didn't visit there. You know, this is flocks of pigs. Is it a flock of pig? Heard of pigs? A gaggle of pigs? Whatever it is, there's pigs everywhere, right? No, not literally. But they weren't as concerned in that area about being observant to the law of God. And so it's telling that this young man took his inheritance and he went there because he went someplace where he knew that they didn't keep the law of God. It was purposeful. He was desirous of sowing his wild oats, so to speak.

But he went to this area, he spent it wastefully, lived above his means, and to spend it on his pleasure. So this young man spent everything, everything that his father had provided him. He wasted his inheritance. He sold himself into servitude in the middle of a famine and began to feed the pigs, which at that time was a job that would have absolutely made an observant Jew unclean.

So here's this young man. He's in the muck, he's in the mud, laying among the pigs, so to speak. And he comes to his senses and he realizes that, you know, even my father's, even the least of the men in my father's house, the hired servants that we hire and fire on the day, he's going to eat. And he is so hungry that he's reaching down and he's eating the pods. They think are like locust pods, the locust bean pods. Eating the pods that he was feeding to the pigs. Today's vernacular we would say he had reached rock bottom and he had come to himself. He had realized what I am doing right now and where I am right now in my life is unacceptable. And so he plans to return home. He plans to go to where comfort is, to where his father will welcome him home. He comes up with the words that he's going to say. He knows he has to apologize to his father. He has to declare his unworthiness as his son and offer to be a hired servant. And culturally, at this time, in this area, it would have been expected for the father to refuse to meet the young man face to face. Because of the level of dishonor that that young man had done to his father by leaving in the manner that he did, culturally, the father would have to ignore his son when he returned.

In fact, the entire village would have to ignore his son because the other option was his son would be stoned for dishonoring his father. You know what's possible? As he walked towards home, it was a little bit of a walk that he was considering these things. That these were the things going through his head. He's trying to think about exactly what it is that he's going to say to his father. He's got it worked out. And, you know, the Pharisees that were gathered at this time listening to this parable, they would have known the cultural expectation of the father in this story. They may have been silently rooting for the kid to be dishonored by his father because that's what's right. But yet Christ painted a very different picture. Christ painted a picture of a father who was waiting, who was watching for his son to begin coming down that road. A father who, instead of waiting for his son to come to him, took off running down that road to his son, who collapsed on his neck in tears. And before the kid could even get out all the words that he rehearsed, he didn't even let him get to the point where he said, I'm not, you know, I just want to be your hired servant. He didn't let him say that. He said, bring out the robes, bring out the rings, kill the fatted calf, my son is home. He cut him off. He wouldn't even let him say it. Because the father, I'm sure, knew exactly what was coming. You know, it was a very unexpected response, indeed, to those Pharisees and those scribes that were listening to this.

You know, his son, representative of the Pharisees in this parable, took exception to this response. Verse 25. Verse 25 of Luke 15. Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and he drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. He says, wait a minute. Dad doesn't dance. What's going on here? This isn't right. Something's different. His older son was in the field, and as he came and he drew, I already read that. Sorry. He heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and he asked what these things meant. What is going on around here? There's music and there's dancing. Verse 27. He said to him, your brother has come. And because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.

What was the son's response? Verse 28. But he was angry, and he would not go in. He refused to go into that room and to forgive his brother.

Therefore his father came out and he pleaded with him. So he answered and he said to his father, so his father comes out, he says, please, son, I've accepted your brother back. Just please, come in. Come in and join us. He answered and he said to his father, lo, these many years I have been serving you. I have never transgressed your commandment at any time. And you never gave me a young goat that I might make merry with my friends. Notice verse 30. But as soon as this son of yours, he wouldn't even call him his brother.

As soon as this son of yours, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, by the way, that's the first time this is mentioned in the story at all, whether that is the case or not, we don't know for certain. That's the first time it's mentioned. Says who has devoured your inheritance with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him. Verse 31. He said to him, son, you are always with me and all that I have is yours. Verse 32. It was right that we should make Meriam be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found.

There are three things described in Luke 15 which were lost. And interestingly, in each of these parables, the value increases. Of the first, I mean, you know, not to say that sheep aren't worth something, but in the first it's one hundredth. One out of a hundred. In the second parable, it's one out of ten. In the third parable, it's one out of two. The value of it increases as the parable continues. And so Christ is making the point to the Pharisees that there was a lost sheep that became lost through its wandering. There was a silver coin that became lost through no fault of its own. And there was a prodigal son who became deliberately lost based on his own desires and his choices. And the point that is being made is that in all three of these parables in Luke 15, all three of them describe a God who seeks out those which are lost. Who pursues that which is lost and rejoices when that lost thing returns to him. Even if it's the smallest of things. You know, these parables describe an incredible aspect of God's grace, but they also underscore the importance of repentance in coming to the recognition of the challenges that we face. And the importance of repenting of these things in order to return to him. And that's largely what much of these days represent. And that's why we're identifying the leaven that is in our lives. Not just physical. Not just the box of crackers hiding in the back of the cupboard, but the leaven that is in our hearts and in our minds. The leaven that doesn't allow us to interact with our brothers and our sisters with love. The leaven that has us going back to other things for comfort instead of to our God. It is identifying that leaven and removing that leaven in our lives that these days represent. For 400-some years, Israel resided in Egypt. And interestingly enough, the Scripture is largely silent on that time that they spent in Egypt. And we get the latter portion of that. But the early portions of Exodus that we read at the very beginning today suggest that it took some time before Egypt cried out to their God over their treatment.

That it seems like it was only once it got bad enough that they cried out to him for their deliverance. When that bondage became harsh, where were their cries in the interim? They were living in a pagan culture. They had a culture in which there were gods and goddesses for everything. They were living in a society in which Pharaoh himself was a god. His son was a god. By birth, born a god. They were living in a culture that within Scripture has become largely synonymous with sin, largely synonymous with Satan. When Egypt is referenced in Scripture, it is referencing the concepts of sin many times. In fact, that sin was so prevalent, those idols and gods and goddesses were so prevalent that God had to illustrate His power over each of these gods and each of these goddesses with the plagues that He brought to show His strength and His power to His people. The ancient Jewish commentaries actually suggest and acknowledge that while Israel was in Egypt, they worshipped as their neighbors did. That they largely forgot God. That as time went on, they became more and more and more like the culture around them, as it permeated their lives in every facet of their life. Which, you know, you look at the pattern that you see of Israel as they come out of Egypt and as they go on through the rest of things. It's not hard to see that pattern as they fell back into that false worship so frequently. But think about it. When God redeemed them, what did He have to reestablish? He had to reestablish their calendar. He had to reestablish their holy days. He had to restore to them what worship of Him looked like. They didn't know. They didn't remember. But maybe they had this idea of this God that had been with their ancestors. Brethren, for a time, Israel dwelt in a foreign land. For a time, you might say, by way of analogy, they wasted their lives, so to speak, and dissipated living. Right there in the mud with the pigs. Apart from God, they were without hope for reconciliation on their own under Pharaoh's rule. It took God coming to them. It took God restoring them and reconciling them to Him through the sacrifice of His Son. When they came to their senses, so to speak, and they cried out over the treatment that they had received in God's incredible love and His incredible grace, He remembered His covenant with Abram, and He acknowledged them, bringing His attention upon them. And it kind of seems that, at least as you look at things, Israel became somewhat lost in those intervening years. They dwelt in the land of Egypt. They assimilated to the culture around them, as that culture just permeated them. And, for a time, they didn't look much different than your average Egyptian. In fact, when you read about Joseph and his family, after when they go to bury his father, what did the people say when they saw him going and thought it was a large procession of Egyptians? That was Joseph and his family. They looked, and in some ways they appeared as the Egyptians around them.

But when Israel reached their breaking point and they could take no more, they cried out to God for deliverance, and He heard and He redeemed them from their bondage. That's what these days commemorate, is the redemption that God had of His people through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. These days commemorate a God who seeks out that which is lost, who buys back His people from death. Who paid this incredible price for their salvation, who has called them to come out of Egypt, and ultimately us to come out of the sin that it represents, to live a life in accordance with their calling. Now, sadly, we know much of the rest of the story of Israel, because it's recorded for us in Scripture. And we know that the events that we see here in God redeeming His people and bringing them out of Egypt with this mighty hand, and ultimately parting the Red Sea here and corresponding here with the last day of Unleavened Bread, and exiting them from Egypt, we know that's only the beginning of the story. We know that as time went on, they continually struggled to obey the voice of their God. We know they saw these incredible miracles, but despite that, these things they saw with their own eyes, they longed instead for what was comfortable. They longed to return home. And part of the problem was, their home was in the wrong location. They viewed Egypt as home. Israel may have been away from Egypt, but Egypt was still home. It was where my children were raised. It was where my father was raised. It was home. And as a result of that, despite this trust and faith that they showed in God to be delivered, at least initially, Israel increasingly returned to things which were unprofitable, which were wasteful. They kept looking up at Egypt in the rearview mirror as they were driving away longingly. I kept watching it in the rearview. Let's turn over to the book of Jeremiah to bring this first part to a close. The book of Jeremiah is an incredible read and so pertinent and so just paralleling some of the issues that we're seeing in the world around us. But Jeremiah, too—I have to apologize to those in Eugene. This is the second time you've gotten this passage. I'll be talking about it in a little while. But there's a reason for that because it's important. Jeremiah 2 will go ahead and pick up the account in the beginning of these verses. God is reiterating the story, so to speak, to Jeremiah. Now keep in mind, when this was being written, this is several hundred years have passed since the events of what we're here to commemorate. And we're talking on the order of 600 to 700 years have passed at this point, from roughly the 1400s to about the 700s, 600s BC. So a long time has passed. But you'll notice the challenges that Israel continues—actually, it's longer than that because I keep forgetting about BC and the way that it operates on time, so it's longer than that. Anyway, point being, long time.

But the challenges that Israel faced caused God to bring his people back into captivity.

At first, for the Israelites in the northern kingdom, it was the Assyrians, and then ultimately more relevant to Jeremiah and his message of the southern kingdom of the Babylonians.

But as we read this first part of Jeremiah 2, I want you to look at the words that God chooses. Look at how he writes about his son, about his bride, so to speak, in this, depending on which analogy we'd like to use. But the loving nature of his message to them. Jeremiah 2 in verse 1 says, God says, I remember you. I remember the kindness of your youth. When you went after me in the wilderness. When you pursued me in the wilderness. In a land not sown. He goes on to say, Israel, verse 3, was holiness to the Lord. The first fruits of his increase. All that devour him will offend. Disaster will come upon them, says the Lord. God says to Israel, I remember you. I remember you. I remember what it was like in the kindness of your youth when our relationship was still young. When you pursued me in the wilderness, remember that. I remember the love of your engagement. Remember the love that you had for me, God says. He says, you were holiness to the Lord. You were set apart. You were special. You were chosen. You were the first fruits of the increase. And God says, I fiercely protected you.

But in verse 4, we see God begin to wonder rhetorically why things changed. God knew why things changed. But God wonders rhetorically in verse 4. He says, hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. Verse 5, thus says the Lord, What injustice have your fathers found in me, that they've gone far from me?

He says, what injustice have they found in me, that they have gone far from me, have followed idols, and have become idolaters? God says, what injustice? What have I done to cause them to flee from me? What have I done to cause distance to come between us and or to come between myself and them?

He says, what happened that they ran from me to unprofitable things? To things that have no value? To things which are worthless? Why have they run from me to these things?

God says, what happened? What changed? What happened? Verse 6, neither did they say, where is the Lord, who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought and the shadow of death, through a land that no one crossed. And notice, where no one dwelt. Even people in their right mind didn't live out here. God brought us through it safely, God says. I brought you into a bountiful country to eat its fruit and its goodness. But He says, but when you entered, you defiled my land, you made my heritage abomination. The priests did not say, where is the Lord, and those who handled the law did not know me. The rulers also transgassed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal. Notice what He says next. And they walked after things that do not profit. They walked after things that do not profit. People of Israel defiled the land that God gave them. He took the heritage that they provided, or that He provided to them, and made it into an abomination. You know, Israel was given an incredible inheritance by God as part of His redemption. They were given a land that was flowing with milk and with honey. They were given homes that they didn't build. They were given fields that they didn't plant. They were given vineyards that were already producing. They were given land that they had not worked and yet it produced abundantly. What did they do with that inheritance? What did they do with that incredible gift that their God had provided them as a result of His redemptive act on this, you know, Days of Unleavened Bread? Brethren, they squandered it. They squandered it. Sadly, they squandered it. The priesthood didn't turn Israel to their God. Those who were supposed to rightly handle the law, those who were to instruct and to teach and to turn the people to God, they failed in their duties. Instead, they went right along with their neighbors, ultimately teaching Israel, or teaching the people of Israel to prop up idols. And to worship things that were lifeless, stone and wood.

Says the prophets prophesied, but they prophesied by the power of Baal. And he says Israel walked after things that do not profit. They walked after things that had no lasting value. That were wasteful of the potential that God had given them through His deliverance. Things that put distance between them and their God didn't bring them closer to Him.

These days, the days of Unleavened Bread, they commemorate and memorialize these incredible miracles that God performed to deliver His Son, Israel, from their slavery in the land of Egypt. It also commemorates the incredible miracle that He's working to deliver us, working in us to deliver us from the bondage that we experience to sin in this world around us. And these miracles, these things that God has done, they are representative of an incredible grace and an incredible forgiveness of the sins of His people. And they are also a calling for people everywhere to repent and to come into the arms of their Father, to come to their senses and recognize, Father, I want to come home. I want to come home.

You know, as this week goes on and we focus on keeping the leaven out of our lives, we put it out already. Now the goal is to keep it out for the week. You know, to take in the unleavened of sincerity and truth and be able to keep this leaven out of our lives, out of our hearts and our minds. Brethren, please let us continue to examine the things that we partake in and ask the very hard questions. Are these profitable or are they prodigal? Are these things profitable or are they prodigal? Are they wastefully extravagant things? Are they wasteful things? Are we returning to our God? Are we becoming closer to Him or are we floating with this flow of society in which we live? In the eddies and in the currents. The second part of this message it will have on the last day of Unleavened Bread will further explore the personal and the spiritual implications of these days for those of us that have been called at this time. I hope all of you have a very meaningful and spiritually rewarding days of Unleavened Bread.