Exodus 12 - Passover & The Lord's Supper (Part 2)

Okay, last time we covered the first half where the

Passover was instituted and what is the Passover? Who wants to give a 30 second or less summary of what the

Passover is? Why is it called the Passover? A raise of hand, or I'll call on the people who have their fingers on their nose.

Alright, no volunteers. So the Passover was called that because when the

Lord went through the land of Egypt, the Lord was going to execute this judgment of the death of the firstborn.

So all the homes that had the blood on the doorposts, the

Lord passed over, his judgment passed over the homes that were, as we would put it, under the blood.

And obviously that blood represents what? Christ. Yeah, it represents the blood of Christ, it represents the gospel.

So we talked about that last week and look at Exodus 12 verse 13, it says, now the blood shall be a sign for you on 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 we're going to pick up in verse 25, look at it says it will come to pass when you come into the land, which the

Lord will give you just as he promised that you shall keep this service.

Now what's the land that the Lord promised them? Promised land, also known as Canaan, good.

And it shall be when your children say to you, what do you mean by this service that you shall say it is the

Passover sacrifice of the Lord who passed over the houses of Israel in Egypt when he struck the

Egyptians and delivered our households and the people in response to that, they bowed their heads and they worshiped.

So last week we spent some time speaking of how we look back and the

Israelites were to do this. They were to look back, but they were not to go back.

And we'll see that in the following chapters, at some point they start to grumble and complain and remember the good old days back in Egypt and they want to go back into bondage.

You think about the insanity of that, and of course that's a perfect picture for the people that get baptized and join a church and they're living for the

Lord, but at some point they want to go back into their old, their old life.

So we talked a little bit about worship, a big part of worship is remembering.

And we see that with the Lord's supper. So we talked about the connection between the Passover and the

Lord's supper. You'll remember that. So basically this old Testament ordinance was turned into a new

Testament ordinance to where now we look back at what? The cross, which delivers us from bondage to sin and its penalty.

So they had Moses as the mediator of the old covenant. We have Jesus, they have the old, we have the new bondage and slavery, bondage, slavery to sin.

So there's a continuity between the old Testament and the new in that regard. Now, by the time

Jesus and his apostles come along, it's how long, I mean, roughly how long from Exodus 12 to Jesus in his ministry, 1 ,500 years, 1 ,400, 1 ,500, right?

Yeah. I'm sure we could probably get a little more exact, but I'm going to say 1 ,500 years.

And 1 ,500 years later, we see that Jesus is doing what they're still, the

Jews are still celebrating the Passover. So they've been doing it.

There was a time we came up that they stopped doing it, but really for most of this time, they were year after year celebrating the

Passover and that's a good thing. They were obeying God, at least in that regard. However, when people do something again and again and again, what's the danger that you, you run the risk of what?

Okay. Well, it could be corrupted. You could add and, but I'm thinking of you run the risk of just kind of going through the motions.

Of course, that can happen with serving God or going to church where you just, well, it's just something you do and you drag yourself there and sit, sit there.

Okay. And kind of barely saying, oh, you know, and mumble the words and you're half listening to the survey, you know, you're kind of going through the motions and you're doing what you're supposed to do and you figure that's better than staying home.

But uh, you know, that's the, the risk. And of course with the Lord's supper, you just going, you just eat the bread and drink the cup and you don't really think much, much about it.

So we want to try to avoid that, amen. And I bring all this up because yes, that is a danger with the

Lord's supper. Uh, I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on that. Um, but there with the

Lord's supper, there's guidelines. If we were to look more closely, we can see with the Passover, there are certain things that they were supposed to do.

I mean, God is fairly, uh, precise and what to do and what not to do.

And that's really the same with the Lord's supper. There are certain things that we are to observe and certain things we're not to do.

And we were going to look at that in first Corinthians, uh, 11, a little later on. But there's guidelines that need to be followed and that'll come out later in the chapter as well.

So just summarize that we're to look back, remember these important events and instead of just going through the motions were to remember and really try to appreciate the significance of what

God did. All right. Are there any comments so far? No.

All right. So we must give glory to God.

That's what the Israelites were to do with the Passover. Give glory to God and honor the memory of what

God did in Egypt with the Lord's supper. We give glory to God. Remember the memory of, of Jesus do this in remembrance of me eating the bread, drinking the cup.

And if I can just use a Memorial Day as a, an illustration of this. So Memorial Day is coming up next week, right?

It's Monday. And what is Memorial Day? It's a time to remember, right?

Memorial. That's what a Memorial is. You, you remember those men and women who died in service to our country.

And we do that. We celebrate Memorial Day because we believe that what they did was significant.

If it wasn't significant, there'd be no point of making a big thing about it. So they made a difference.

What they did was important. If it wasn't for their service, we wouldn't have the freedoms that we have, right?

Isn't that one of the big things that we appreciate about those who have fought in wars and defended this country, despite, you know, whatever problems we've had throughout our history, you know, we appreciate that because without their service and sacrifice, we wouldn't have what we have.

So, but what can happen is over time and you live in a generation that never really had to experience anything difficult.

The Israelites were never in bondage. They kind of, all of a sudden they can't really appreciate the

Passover like the generation that was actually in bondage or maybe the millennial generation today that everything given to them on a silver platter or my generation too,

I guess, you know, it's different from a generation that the men had to go off and fight

World War II, for example. So you can start to take things for granted and for Memorial Day, people can have the attitude.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I guess it's important, but basically I, I like it because I get a day off and that becomes the, the main point.

It's been said that those who forget history are what they're destined to repeat it.

So it certainly seems to me that more and more people simply don't have that respect.

Some don't really seem to appreciate and love this country as maybe generations did in the past.

And once you have that attitude and more and more people have that attitude, then all of a sudden now you're at risk.

And should you be surprised when you start losing those freedoms because the people don't really understand or appreciate it?

Is that a fair thing to say that that's kind of what is going on? So here's the point when

Israel began to forget about what the Lord had done for them. What happened?

Yeah. When they started to drift from the Lord and they didn't appreciate being delivered from bondage, what did the

Lord do to make, make them appreciate it? You send them back into bondage and that's exactly what

God did. He took away their freedom. They went back into bondage.

Of course, the main event there was the Babylonian captivity, which lasted for how long?

Seventy years. So as long as they would remember and as long as they would obey

God and stay close to God, God would bless them when they didn't.

But when they forgot, when they drifted away, God brought judgment. And of course this country or other countries are not

Israel. They don't have, we don't have a covenant with God, but you know,

I tend to think these same principles still apply. And of course the ultimate apostasy is when they forsook the

Lord and actually killed crucified Jesus. And then he destroyed the nation 70 AD and the

Jews were scattered all over the world. But with all of that said, this Passover went well for them, didn't it?

We read about the judgment this morning throughout the land of Egypt, or did it say there wasn't a single house in Egypt where there wasn't one dead, but with the

Israelites totally different, right? Why? Because they obeyed the word of God.

Look at verse 28 says, then the children of Israel went away and did so just as the

Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. So they did.

And we need to see what the Lord has said, what he expects of us. And we need to do that.

And when you see, well, the nation is, you know, the majority of people in this country are not doing it.

Right? So what can we do about what can we do about it? That's for us.

We can do what he asked, but as far as everybody else, what can we do about them?

Okay. You might be inclined to say nothing, but that's the wrong answer. Yes, yes.

Be an example. That way your witness has some credibility, but we tell them and we warn them, of course, pray for them.

Okay. So now we get to the actual 10th plague, the death of the firstborn look at verse 29.

And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of the livestock.

So Pharaoh rose in the night. He and all his servants and all the

Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

And I think a couple of weeks ago, and that's a pretty, uh, well,

I don't know. Think about how they must have felt. This is devastating. I mean, all of the plagues have been devastating.

It's devastated the land, but this one is a little more personal, isn't it? So I think we touched on briefly the, it's more of the skeptic that raises these objections, but I'm sure

Christians have thought about this and maybe, you know, this ran across your mind, uh, the, the justice of this.

Now maybe you can understand Pharaoh on his throne, but the one in the dungeon, the, the, the, the animals, uh, some people will ask questions about the, the morality or the justice of this.

And for the skeptic, what's the first inclination that they have? I mean,

Christians know better, at least we're supposed to know better. We can still ask questions.

That's fine. But what's the first inclination an unbeliever would have? Yeah. Yeah. What kind of God would do something like this?

Right. And you've heard objections like this. What kind of God would do this?

I thought God was supposed to be a God of love. And how many times have you heard that applied to so many different things?

Well, I mean, I would respond and say, well, what about the responsibility of Pharaoh?

What responsibility does Pharaoh have here? Pharaoh knew the Lord's power. Pharaoh should have known that, yeah, this, this was going to take place.

Um, Pharaoh theoretically could have issued a decree and all of his subjects would have listened to put blood on their doorposts, but they didn't.

So instead, once again, the people of Egypt suffered because of their representative or they suffered because of the poor decisions of their leader.

And as we said, that's the way it is for every nation, that all of the people will suffer because of the sin or the decisions of the leader.

So I just find it strange that people are, well, maybe I don't find it strange. I guess

I'm used to it, but people are quick to point the finger at God. They're quick to blame

God, but what about Pharaoh? And I think this really goes to the depravity of the human heart, that that's almost mankind's first, first response to blame

God, blame God for, for anything and everything. Well, he's, he's sovereign, he's in control.

Anything bad that happens, God's fault. And we need to guard against that as well, because even believers can be tempted when you face something tragic.

I mean, let's face it, those kind of thoughts can creep in.

Larry. Even in the insurance industry. Oh, that was an act of God, so we don't have to cover you.

Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Jim. You've probably seen this, but there's a church in Greensboro that has a big sign out in front of the driveway.

I went by it yesterday, I believe, and it said, God is love.

Period. Yeah. How can he possibly allow all these things to happen in this world?

You know, I mean, it just sends the wrong message. Yeah, well, let's answer that question.

What message does it send? Of course, that's a Bible verse. God is love. That's true.

The big capital letter period. That's not in the Bible, right?

So when you add that you're trying to make a statement that God is love and correct me if I'm wrong, but what they're trying to say is

God is love and God is only love. So God is not. God has no anger.

God has no wrath. You know, hell is cold. If not non -existent.

I mean, that's the clear message, I think. All right.

So that's obviously not true because according to the word of God, Pharaoh loses his first born son.

Look at verse 31 that he, that is Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron by night and said,

Go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel, and go and serve the

Lord as you have said. Also, take your flocks and your herds as you have said and be gone.

And Pharaoh sometimes has these things that he throws in there and kind of catches it. Whoa, I didn't expect that.

What does he say? And bless me also. Thinking is like, yeah, right.

I'm not going to bless you. Did he bless him? Yeah, well, it's not recorded.

So after the 10 plagues, Pharaoh finally gives in. Of course, we said this was the whole plan all along.

The first nine plagues were never meant to cause Pharaoh to, to act.

This was the plan from the beginning. So Pharaoh kind of admits defeat here, and he, he gives up.

All right, go. I'm not going to try to bargain with you or try to compromise with God anymore. And the fact that he asks for a blessing shows that he recognizes that Moses really is the one in power because God is on his side.

So he recognizes that. And of course, this moment of humility, will it last?

No, he changes his mind again. So he doesn't learn. Look at verse 33 and the

Egyptians urged the people. It is the Israelites that they might send them out of the land in haste, where they said, we shall all be dead.

And it goes on to tell of how the Egyptians gave them. What, what did we talk about? That was the last week of the week before they gave them.

Yeah, silver, gold and changes of clothes, basically.

And we remember how some people today are now trying to take that and make it into an argument for reparations.

And well, you know, there's always going to be people trying to do things like that. It appears to me that the

Egyptians, this had nothing really to do with reparations. They just wanted them to go. So if you're asking me for my, for my money,

Hey, whatever, just take whatever you want and get out of here because the longer you stay, I'm going to die.

So that was the rat. I don't think I had anything to do with reparations from the Egyptians point of view is just,

Hey, take what you, I don't care. Just get out. Larry, I have a cross reference to that urged the people.

Yeah. Psalm one Oh five 38, Egypt was glad when he departed for the fear of them had fallen upon them.

Yep. So they were afraid for their lives. Yeah. You would be too.

If you had any, if you were one of them, of course they were look at everything that's happened. So remember

Egypt had never seen devastation like this and they knew that whatever they knew, they knew is all the result of Moses and Aaron and their

God. And God was on the side of the Israelites. That was, that was clear. But that, uh, yes,

Mark. One interesting point when he said the firstborn doesn't distinguish between male and female is right.

Right. Cause there are things about the firstborn male in God's law.

Any thoughts on that? Anyone, Jim? Traditionally, it was the first born male.

Now that first born male didn't have to necessarily be the first born could have been a second or third born, but it was always the first born male that would inherit, um, whatever the, uh, whatever the, uh,

Aaron or yeah, they got the double portion of it could have been, you know,

I said it's first born male cause that's what, I mean, it says first born. So I think that's probably, you think it's implied.

Yeah, I think so. Okay. Kathy chapter 11 verse five says first born male.

Oh, there we go. Settled. All right. We better check this then. What is it?

Chapter 11 verse five. Does everyone have that?

No. Yeah. That's interesting.

I never thought of that before. Okay. Okay. So the Holman says, uh, firstborn male.

Does anyone else have a version that says firstborn male?

Okay. So the NIV, Tonya, all right.

So, I mean, this tells us something that at least, okay.

Right. So some have it, some don't. So I guess there's some scholars and translators who, uh, who see it differently.

Yes. Yes. Okay. All right.

Well, that's, that's interesting. All right.

Well, yes. Exodus four 23 says firstborn firstborn son.

Yeah. Yeah. Exodus four 23.

I will kill your son. Your first born. Well, that's the new King James that has.

So yeah. Well, it's more than implied then. Right. Just took a little, took

Yeah. I forgot what you said now. Yeah. Yeah. Jim's correct.

Okay. That's the, that's the main thing. All right.

All right. Let's, let's move on. So this recognition of the greatness of God, because Moses is in the position to bless

Pharaoh now. So he recognizes the greatness of the God of Moses and Aaron. And that recognition of the greatness of God apparently led to some of the

Egyptians to maybe attach themselves to the Hebrew people, because we see in verse 37, it says the children of Israel, they began their

March out of the land, 600 ,000. That's men not counting the children. That's where you get the estimate of maybe 2 million or more total, but look at verse 38.

So when Israel goes out, it says a mixed multitude went up with them also and flocks and herds, a great deal of livestock.

So now we read about the mixed multitude. Who's the mixed multitude? Well, it doesn't exactly describe what that means, except that it's a mixture, right?

A mixture of different people. So you figure this might be some Egyptians who intermarried with the

Hebrews. That's possible might just have been Egyptians who became a converts.

And Hey, I saw what the God of the Hebrews can do and his power. So now I'm going to follow and worship him.

Could have been other slave groups or other ethnicities that were living in Egypt and whoever could have just followed them out and think the land is just devastated.

So why would you want to stick around here? Let's go, let's go with them. God's on their side. And you can understand why others would follow the

Hebrews out. So we don't know exactly who they are, but we do read about them again in numbers chapter 11, verse four.

And one thing we would glean here from the mixed multitude, they had a negative impact on the children of Israel because they apparently led them.

However, that started the mixed multitude had a negative influence that caused the Israelites to grumble and complain and think about, you know, the good old days in Egypt, right?

Where they start to romanticize their time in slavery. Oh, you remember the onions we used to have in the leaves?

I mean, yeah, we were slaves and we were beaten and mistreated and have nothing and worked like animals all day long and whipped and, but we had onions and garlic.

That's what people do. They, they think back, you know, back then they didn't think it was great, but they romanticize things in their mind and they have a different view of it.

And that's what the Hebrews did. Jim. I think also that there was gyptians and whatever other nationalities were in Egypt at the time and came out with the

Israelites. They also brought little trinkets and statues and stuff of their gods.

Yeah. And that had an influence because the Egyptian, I mean, the Israelites were under that for a hundred years.

So I can see evidence of that. When we look at other parts of the old Testament, um, was it

Jacob? And, uh, uh, I can't remember the wife that brought out her father's, right.

And she wasn't, she wasn't, I don't think she, she wasn't an Israelite. Was she? Yeah, she was.

Yeah. Okay. Well, I think the point still is though that those other guys came out, so they would have that much of an influence.

Right. The children of Israel always were affected by and kind of adopted the, the negative customs of the people rather.

Obviously they're commanded not to do that, but over time they did it. Hey, just like Christians are affected by,

Hey, the world around us, right? That's the way it goes. I want to read what Matthew Henry says about the mixed multitude.

Uh, he says the children of Israel set forward without delay, a mixed multitude went with them.

So I'm perhaps willing to leave their country laid waste by plagues, others out of curiosity, perhaps a few out of love to them and their religion.

But there were always those among the Israelites who are not

Israelites. Thus there are always, or there are still hypocrites in the church.

So Matthew Henry takes this and he makes application to the new

Testament church, which really, if you're preaching out of the old Testament, I mean you do that kind of the thing.

So Henry makes this application to the Christian church that there's a mixed multitude among us, so to speak,

Marcus, the disciples, Jesus chose Judas Iscariot, right?

It's always the way it has been part of the plan, I would say.

Yeah. And this is the whole concept of the wheat and the tears, right? And you can't always tell the difference.

Lord, should we go, you know, start the inquisition and just pluck them all up? No, let them grow together and the

Lord will sort it out. Romans nine, six, Paul says, for they are not all

Israel who are of Israel. So that's true. Just because you were an

Israelite in the covenant didn't actually mean that you were a true Israelite, that your heart was right with God.

And that's the application with the Christian church. So if I can put it this way, not all

Christians are really Christians. So for whatever reasons, uh, there will be people who attach themselves to the church.

Why do they do that? Well, it's like the mixed multitude who knows who they are and why they did what they did.

There will be people who attach themselves to the new Testament church. Same thing.

They, in the end will have a negative influence on the church and her testimony.

We've talked about this before. That's the devil's strategy. You attack the church from the outside.

You only get so far, but if you can infiltrate and get in, then you can dismantle from the inside.

I mean, if you can get an unbeliever or two or three on the deacon board,

Hey, Satan's got a foothold in the church. Does he, if you can get the pastor or a

Presbyterian church, the whole board of elders are unbelievers. I mean, kiss the thing goodbye.

Right. But that's what he does. So the Lord knows there is a mixed multitude with them.

And that's the same today. Now we get to this whole issue of the

Passover and in verse 43, it says in the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, this is the ordinance of the

Passover. What does he say? No foreigner shall eat it.

Now this doesn't mean they were mistreating the foreigner. Hey, you know, treat the foreigners poorly.

That's not what he's saying. Um, he's saying they shall not eat of the Passover.

Okay. Uh, he doesn't say mistreat them because he's going to remind them that you were once sojourners.

So don't mistreat the sojourner. And one more thing, just to add in here, um, 430 years, they were in Egypt, right?

Verse 40, look at verse 40. It says now the sojourner of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was 430 years.

What's significant. He calls that what the sojourner, what does that mean?

Sojourner. So that was not their home. That is not, they were strangers, right?

They were pilgrims. They, they were just there temporarily verse 42.

Uh, it is a night of solemn observance to the

Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the

Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generation.

So about this whole idea of the Passover, there were specific regulations to it.

Certain things that they were to do, certain things they're not to do. One of the things that they were not to do is let the, the stranger eat.

So what's the application for the Lord's supper? All right.

Well, get in your, uh, go ahead. No, I was just going to say, um, we had believers, truth believers, uh, just sojourners here.

Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yeah. We're strangers and pilgrims on the earth because our citizenship is in heaven.

But if the Passover was to be a solemn feast, what does that word solemn mean?

Serious, serious, right. Uh, formal, serious, um, reverent, you know,

I think of the word reverent. You know, when you come to church, there should be a certain, um, amount of reverence.

I think sacred, that's good too. So there are things that they were to do.

They were not to do. And when it comes to the Lord's supper, it's the same thing. So if Passover was to be solemn, is it, is it a stretch to say that the

Lord's supper should be a solemn, solemn event? I mean, essentially they're, they're connected, right?

So of course it should we are to examine ourselves. That's exactly right.

So go ahead and turn to first Corinthians 11 for a moment. We're almost done, but it's important when going through the old

Testament to make new Testament application. We learn about the original meaning and context.

We don't want to spiritualize the old Testament. We want to know what it meant and why for them.

That's important because that's the primary meaning, but the old Testament has implications for us.

So we try to make application first Corinthians 11 verse 27 and 28

Paul says, therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the

Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the

Lord. Does this sound like a serious or a solemn occasion? Yes, it does. But as Larry said, let a man examine himself.

And so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

Now to eat or drink in an unworthy manner with the Israelites. This is someone who is uncircumcised and they were outside of the covenant, right?

The stranger shall not eat. If they wanted to partake, they needed to be circumcised. And, and basically what's the new

Testament application. And, uh, what would you say it is to make application?

If, if somebody is on the outside and they want to partake of the Lord's supper, what do they have to do?

Yeah, they need to get saved and to partake of the

Lord's supper. I mean, you kind of need to be part of the church, but this is what, and I, and I don't want to make the mistake of comparing circumcision to baptism.

Okay. But you would believe you get saved. You know, you get baptized, you join a church, you're part now of the community.

And then you now have the right to eat from the Lord's table. Marcus. I'm definitely not trying to be sure at all, but it might seem so when

I continue, that's okay. When I continue my thought, that's all right. Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the

Lord. Aren't we all guilty of the body and blood or am

I missing something here? No, I take it very, very serious. Uh, when

I, when I take communion and I do always examine myself and I always find myself in need of forgiveness and thankful for it, but what does that mean to be guilty?

We're guilty. We're, our sentence has been, you know, dismissed and he's taken the charge and aren't we guilty?

Well, if you're saved and you're forgiven, then you're not guilty. Yeah. Right. Um, if I'm going to interpret this in light of the

Passover, cause we've talked about this before in the past, what does it mean in an unworthy manner?

Well, he doesn't really spell it out for us. Um, you know, we always make a point that if you come into church and we're having communion, uh, you should, if you have unconfessed sin, you should confess that before you partake.

Um, we've talked about, you know, going through the motions. You don't want to do that. Um, you want to focus and remember, and it should be meaningful to you.

But as far as an unworthy manner, the one thing I'm sure of, if you're not saved and you partake, you're partaking in an unworthy manner because you're not worthy to partake of it, right?

The stranger, the person outside of the covenant was not to partake of the Passover. So a person who's not a

Christian is not to partake of the Lord's supper. You take all of the churches and the denominations, you know, of all the differences in the denominational distinctions, there's all sorts of different things that Christians debate and disagree on.

One thing that is almost universal is that every church that I know of would say, yeah, non -Christians are not to be partaking of the

Lord's supper. I think every Christian agrees with that. So I don't know if that answers your question, but, um, that's how

I would see being guilty of, and they are, an unbeliever is guilty of the body and the blood.

I mean, God's wrath is upon them until they become a believer.

Jim, I guess if I can, I'd like to, this is how John, uh, uh,

John characterizes it, uh, in an unworthy manner that is ritualistically indifferently with an unrepentant heart, a spirit of bitterness or any other ungodly attitude.

Guilty to come to the Lord's table, clinging to one's sin, not only dishonor the ceremony, but it also dishonors his body and blood, treating lightly the gracious sacrifice of Christ for us.

It is necessary to set all sin before the Lord. It's in verse 28, even then partake.

So as not to mock the sacrifice for sin by holding onto it.

Okay. I saw some more hands, Dennis. Yeah. And verse 29, it says he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner, judgment to himself, not discerning the

Lord's body is another way of saying in an unworthy manner. It's a part of the, like what you're saying and then, yeah.

Okay. And Emil. So when we do the Lord's supper, do we, do we really need to include a more firm cautionary than what we do?

Yeah. It's a, it's a, uh, reverse question. Yeah. Go ahead.

I was, my question was on our guilt. Okay. So I guess we're not guilty because we're forgiven.

That must mean that we are no longer guilty. But you still could approach the

Lord's table and say, I have plans to go sin this afternoon and I'm going to do it.

And then you partake of the Lord's supper. You know, some people were sick among them and some slept, some died.

Now, whether that was something that was happening in the early church that God still does,

I don't know if he does or not, but, um, you would be guilty of that. That's true.

Um, or just if you approach it, like it's no big deal and just, yeah, whatever.

Yep. And there's going through the motions and you don't really care. I mean, you would be guilty of that, but it's not, it's not an ultimate form of condemnation for the unbeliever.

But to Emil's point, should we make a bigger, um, give a more sterner, sterner warning?

Yeah. I, I go through this and I read it and you can read the text of what

Paul says in first Corinthians, uh, 11. But what else do you do?

One thing churches do. And I wonder, we could do this here.

And if people didn't like it, we could send them the email to complain. He just gave me an idea instead of handing the elements out, make you come and get make the people come and get them.

Now people are, well, that's a Catholic thing. I don't want to do that, but really if people came forward, you know, what's the whole purpose?

Well, they, they might be less likely to do it, but also the churches that do that, there's going to be some people that come forward and say, no, you're not getting it.

And the whole purpose churches that really do this, they meet with the people sometime that week.

You can't take communion on Sunday, unless you meet with the, the elders or the pastors that week, and they make sure you're living right.

And if you try to take communion, then in front of everybody, they are not going to give it to you.

And that's what led Jonathan Edwards to get run out of town in North Hampton.

Cause he took communion so seriously. He did that kind of thing in the whole congregation turned against them.

And what does that tell you about the congregation? But, uh, so yeah, I mean, it's a point well, well taken.

Yeah. Well, North Hampton was a little different back in those days, but Larry, well,

I mean, it wouldn't be good to give more of a warning by saying verse 30, for this reason, many are weak and sick among you.

And some are dead because they partook in an unworthy man.

And so if you are sure you don't have any sin in your life, come on up and get it.

But if you do, I'm warning you, if I get a call this week, that you're in the hospital or dead.

Yeah. Yeah. And I've said this before that if, if we're doing communion and you let the plate, of course, we're not currently passing the plate, but if don't worry about if somebody sees that you're not partaking, if you don't feel right, then don't do it.

And don't worry about someone notices, you know, don't look around. Cause that's a good thing.

And the fact that there's something wrong and you know, you shouldn't partake and you don't, that's good. Um, uh,

Jim, I think, you know, when we do have communion, uh, the body of Christ is given an opportunity to pray before they make the elements.

And I think what it all comes down to is confessed sin or unconfessed.

That would be the unworthy manner. If you have sin in your life and you give it an opportunity to confess it before you take the elements, then you're doing it unworthily.

Okay. All right. Uh, Janet, it seems to me that there might be people that want to take communion and they do it just because the person next to them is taking it and they feel guilty because they're not in.

Um, I think that they think that that's perfectly all right because it's, maybe it's not stressed enough.

Right. Consequences. Right. Yeah. Suggestion.

I think it should be well taken. Yeah. Yeah. Something needs something should be said before every time.

Yes. Mark. What consequences would there be for an unbeliever who takes communion? Somebody that professes to be a

Christian, but does not possess. Yeah. I don't know. And I'm not even sure some are sick and some died.

Is God still doing that? I don't know. I can't tell you he's not well.

I, yeah, I don't. I'm not sure. Not sure.

Exodus 12 ends with verses 50 and 51. It says thus all the children of Israel did as the

Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. So they did. And it came to pass on that very same day that the

Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, according to their armies.