When God's Presence Goes Public (Pt. 4: Guidance and Consecration) | Exodus 12:43–13:22

Exodus tells the story of a God who isn't distant, but moves toward his people in power and mercy. God reveals himself as I Am, leading Israel out of slavery and into the life-changing reality of his presence. Let's locate the book of Exodus, second book in the Old Testament.

So near the front of your Bible, Exodus chapter 12, put a finger there, as I welcome all of you here, not only all of our campuses, different locations, but I want to welcome all our first-time guests especially. If this is your first time here, I'm really glad you've joined us today at First Family Church. Let me be very vulnerable with you for a moment regarding this text and what's ahead for us today.

By the way, I feel, I sense, I'm very well aware that a lot of this seems somewhat remote to me. I think you would agree. The Old Testament, the Exodus passages, while we know they are inspired and they are important for us and speak to us, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians that all these things happen for our example.

So this is not to minimize, I'm just saying I'm not a Jew, I've only been to the Holy Land and Israel area once, I've been to Egypt once, and even with my very small travels, when I read some of these passages, I feel like entering a land that I just know and practices and rituals that I know very little about. So if you sense some hesitation in my voice today, you're sensing probably what's happening. These are difficult passages to understand from a customs point of view.

Would you just kind of nod if you agree? Just not sure how all this took place and maybe how that worked. You believe it, but like, man, it just seems a little remote. So I'm just kind of entering into that, I'll be pretty vulnerable with you and tell you, I love God's word, but some of it, I'm like, how did that work? So if you want to bear with me as we work through this passage today, it's been very meaningful, but I think for you as well, it could seem a little bit distant.

Like what culture did that take place in? And as it does, you've sensed that with me, let's walk through this in faith that God's spirit will meet us in that moment of vulnerability and his inspired word will do its work and weigh in on us. Amen. Yes, this passage we're at this morning, it's the last part of the chapter 12, all of 13, and it actually completes what we've been referring to as the plague narrative.

The 10 plagues, it began in chapter seven, the early parts about verse eight, it goes all the way through chapter 13. Many people want to stop the plague narrative after the 10th plague, but I think it actually goes to the next chapter as he leads them out of the land of Egypt because that's their deliverance. It's not just the plagues.

It's his presence throughout their entire time there. His presence confronts, that's chapter seven through about 10, and then his presence delivers or saves, that's 11 and 12. And then end of 12 to 13, his presence, watch this now, forms them.

And I'm so grateful today that we don't have a drop-off God, like, hey, I got you out of Egypt, see you in eternity. Or Travis, I saved you, I'll see you in heaven. Like this text shows us we have a God who stays with us, who's close to us, and he not only delivers us, he forms us.

And that'll be a key word you'll hear today, a concept you'll sense multiple times, formation. Will you say that with me? Formation. Just kind of log that mentally.

And know this, even as you log it, as you kind of pocket it, it's not a new concept to you. This idea of deliverance and formation, you guys are well aware of that because either you've been raised in a home or you're a parent. You know all about deliverance and formation, don't you? It's what every parent does.

You bring that baby home from the hospital and there's about a five-minute window when you say, we did it, we're parents. And then you realize, oh my goodness, I've got to raise this child. In other words, they know nothing.

They don't know how to sleep or eat. They don't know how to clean themselves. They don't know how to talk.

They know absolutely nothing. Actually bringing a child home from the hospital is terrifying because its entire survival depends upon you. And so you start what? You start forming them.

You create rhythms. You engage in repetition. There are consequences and there are conversations.

This is what you do over a long period of time, like, okay, use your words. We don't pee in the backyard. We keep our clothes on.

All these kinds of phrases that start when they're young, you're teaching them how to live in your house. Then puberty approaches and then you say again, talk to me, use your words. I'm your friend.

Post-puberty and how to manage relationships, yes, you have to get a job, save your money. All of these things you do through rhythms and repetition, you have rituals, you have consequences, conversations, all these things happen so that later on you have formed someone, a human being who can rightfully live in society, be part of a flourishing civilization. In all rightness of the phrase, they need to do their part to make sure that the civilization keeps going.

You don't want to drain on this thing and then suck it dry. And so you're, as a parent, you're forming this next contributing, participating member of a culture. So, can we just admit, every one of you know about deliverance and formation.

Those are two words, especially formation, that we want to see today. We saw deliverance the last few weeks, we're going to see formation today because this is what God is doing to, with, and in His people Israel. He is now committed to forming them to live as His people now that He has delivered them and redeemed them.

And here's what you're going to see as this text unfolds, we're going to read all of these verses today. I think all of them will help us kind of see these two truths. We're going to see it all in this simple sentence.

Here's our presence principle up front. I want you to kind of get it in advance so you can watch it kind of bubble up in the text. But it's simply this, that God's presence is never neutral.

And for that, we are thankful. We've used this opening line for the last three to four weeks. We're so thankful that God does move towards us.

And again, His presence is never neutral. He forms His redeemed people through, say these next three words with me, remembrance and dependence. See if you can spot those words, this concept in the text with me as I begin reading Exodus 12, verse 43.

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, this is the statute of the Passover. You recall, that's just what happened. Now He's going to set in motion an annual ceremony.

I want to use this word. It's not a bad word. You may hear it weird because our culture takes this word and twist it to mean negative.

It's not a negative word. It's the word ritual. This is what He's now instituting is this Passover, an annual celebration, a ritual of remembrance.

He's going to institute this. This is what you're going to see. What you're going to find is He's going to have increasing specificity as He gives these instructions.

Watch. The end of 43, no foreigner may eat it, but any slave a man has purchased may eat it after you have circumcised him. A temporary resident or hired worker may not eat the Passover.

It is to be eaten in one house. You may not take any of the meat outside the house and you may not break any of its bones. The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.

The foreigner resides among you and wants to observe the Lord's Passover. Every male in his household must be circumcised and then he may participate. He will become like a native of the land, but no uncircumcised person may eat it.

The same law will apply to both the native and the foreigner who resides among you. And then all the Israelites did this. They did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

On that same day, the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt according to their military divisions. So they began this ritual of remembrance, this ceremony, this annual, you'll see in a minute, week-long celebration. They began this right away.

Verse 1 of chapter 13, the Lord spoke to Moses, consecrate every firstborn male to me. The firstborn from every womb among the Israelites, both man and domestic animal, it is mine. So we're going to get increasingly specific instructions about the Passover and how it's to work within their culture.

And Moses said to the people, remember, you got to circle that word. Remember this day when you came out of Egypt out of the place of slavery for the Lord brought you out of here by the strength of his hand. Nothing leavened may be eaten.

Today in the month of Abib, you're going out when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which he swore to your ancestors that he would give you a land flowing with milk and honey. You must carry out this ceremony in this month. For seven days, you must eat unleavened bread.

On the seventh day, there is to be a festival to the Lord. Unleavened bread is to be eaten for those seven days. Nothing leavened may be found among you and no yeast may be found among you and all your territory.

On that day, explain to your son, this is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt. Let it serve as a sign for you, you ought to circle that word, on your head and as a reminder on your forehead. Circle reminder, very similar to remembrance.

Do these things so that the Lord's instruction may be in your mouth. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with a strong hand. Keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

I've often taught you to look for repeated words as ways to bookend sections of scripture. You'll find that with the word statute in 1310 and in 1243, do you see that? That section really deals with the statute of the Passover. How to observe it, how to prepare for it, who can do it, how you get folks in, so to speak, who need to be able to do it.

All those things are contained in there. Verse 11, more about the remembrance aspect. He says, when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your ancestors and gives it to you, you are to present to the Lord every firstborn male of the womb.

Pause here and look at me for a second. Listen very carefully to this interesting aside. The word present there in verse 11, excuse me, verse 12, the word present there, it's from the same root as the word Passover.

I think Moses, the author is, I don't want to say play on words, but I think he's doing a very beautiful literary thing here when he says, because God passed over you in judgment because of the blood, you're to pass over everything that's his now. In other words, God's work for us should cause a response of dedication to him. He says again now in verse 12, all your firstborn offspring of the livestock, firstborn male of the womb, these are the Lords.

And then verse 13, which may be the oddest verse in this entire section, the reason I feel like, how did that work then? Like you feel like you're visiting a land far away. You must redeem every firstborn of a donkey with a flock animal, but if you do not redeem it and break its neck, however, you must redeem every firstborn among your sons. That's a odd verse.

I'll talk more about it on the podcast Tuesday. It is a beautiful verse and it's not out of place. It just seems to us to be like, how do we make sense of that? I'll tell you Tuesday.

On the Extra Point Podcast, listen in. Verse 14, in the future when your son asks you, what does this mean? I'm thinking I'm asking that in the 21st century, right? You say to him, by the strength of his hand, the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of humans and the firstborn of livestock.

That is why I sacrifice to the Lord all the firstborn of the womb that are males, but I redeem all the firstborn of my sons. So let it be a sign, circle that word on your hand, and a symbol on your forehead, circle that. For the Lord brought us out of Egypt by the strength of his hand.

A lot of things about remembrance in that first section, and you'll notice that it does now seem to naturally break because he's now going to talk about formation on the journey. So far from verse 43 of chapter 12, we've seen formation through remembrance, ceremonies. I can use the word rightly, rituals, festivals.

He's now going to talk about how he forms them in their journeying. What he says, when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road to the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearby. So in other words, God took them the long way out.

Here's why, because God said, the people will change their minds and return to Egypt if they face war. Now, notice he's acknowledging that they would have given in to a trap. I don't mean physical trap, a temptation mental trap.

Why? Because if they would have met the Philistines and said, oh, let's turn back. We're looking at war if we keep moving forward. Guess what they would have found when they turned around? War.

Egypt's behind them. I mean, it's a no win for them in one sense. So I think God is aware of their vulnerabilities and their weaknesses.

He's like, you're going to think that you can turn back and go to Egypt, but the truth is there's war back there as well. So I'm going to take you a completely different route so that you don't face war right off the bat with either one. To them, it seemed like a long way home, right? But God was gracious.

This is a mercy moment. It seemed out of the way, but God was protecting them. Ever been in that place where you're like, I don't know what you're up to, God.

This seems like it's taking forever. He's probably being merciful and you just don't realize it. He continues by saying this.

He led them around towards the Red Sea along the road of the wilderness and the Israelites left the land of Egypt in battle formation. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear solemn oath saying, God will certainly come to your aid. You must take my bones with you from this place.

Don't underestimate the staggering moment here. This occurred when there were 70 Israelites in Egypt, 70, Joseph, his sons, and the few that were left. You talk about a remnant, I mean, that's just double digits.

The people of Israel now are numbering well over a million. In fact, just the battle formation that left the land, the Bible records for us, it was 600,000 plus men. This is staggering what God has done in this time.

They take Joseph's bones and they set out, verse 20, from Succoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness. Probably about a 30 to 50 mile journey over two to three days. We don't know that for sure.

Some of these places are hard to pinpoint, so I want to be very humble here and just say it's a guess based on some mapping, but it's not out of the realm of the possible for a large group to travel that far in several days. Verse 21 says that as they made this initial short journey, the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to lead them on their way during the day and in a pillar of fire to give them light at night so that they could travel day or night. I like that, don't you? They weren't limited to just the daytime because God was present and he lit up the night so they could travel day or night.

Then what may be the most beautiful verse in the entire third section of the narrative on all the plagues, listen to this, the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night never left its place in front of the people. Do you see how God's forming them here in this second section? It's really by his presence and just leading them and having them trust him for every single step. I mean, when you read verse 22, you think immediately of Hebrews, I will never leave you or forsake you.

This was true from the minute they left Egypt, a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire with them every moment showing them just what to do, where to go. It's directional and it's relational. In this way, God forms them by his presence.

He knows they have to depend on him and there's formation occurring by their remembrance of these festivals that they're to hold annually. Let me put this into two major truth of thoughts. I won't spend long on these.

It's not hard to understand. I've kind of explained most of them. I'll just elaborate a little bit, but I just want you to put your hands around two main truths that will, again, lead us to this simple presence principle.

In the first section, which is 12, 43 through about 13, 16, it all is about the Passover. Here's what we're seeing. This real simple truth, first of all, that God forms his people through commanded practices which remember his provision.

Just kind of jot that down mentally, make a note in your series guide. He's forming them through commanded practices and this practice, namely in this text, the Passover is to remember their deliverance. In fact, at least three times in this first section, the scriptures say this, you're to do this or you're to tell your sons, you're to rehearse this because you need to remember that it was by the strong hand of the Lord that I brought you out of Egypt.

Everything's pointing back. And so there's a pretty elaborate festival over seven days. This is where my vulnerability really, you know, it shows because I just don't know a ton about the Passover.

We have a member of our church who grew up in Israel, he's a Palestinian and he probably, I'm sure he knows way more than I do about this situation. He's probably been near it and around it. We may have some other Jewish people that we're connected to that have done some of these.

I've only kind of done those, I use this word properly, like a mock Passover, a Seder dinner to try to get a sense of what it's like, you know, I don't know if that's really how it went. I suspect it may have been. And so you can feel a little bit removed and distant.

Some people wonder this, listen very carefully. They wonder, do we still need to do this, Todd? Like if it's in the Bible, maybe they're a new Christian, they're not sure if it, you got to obey this. This doesn't seem like anything I've been doing lately.

If we got some, a big announcement next week, like, Hey church, I mean, there's a lot in here, right? Who can partake, you can't break its bones, you can't eat it outside the house and there's certain requirements for those who aren't actually Jewish and blah, blah, blah, all those things. So Todd, we got to do this. Let me give you the short answer.

No. But the problem with that answer is if you never, if you're never told why you could actually then render the, the old Testament impotent, like why does it not apply? Does nothing apply then? I mean, so we need to make sure we have good reasoning for saying to you, Hey, this section is rich and inspired and from God, but we're not required to do this. Why do I say that to you? Because this Passover was fulfilled and completed and culminates in Christ.

Notice words. I did not use, I did not say, uh, it carries over. I don't know if that'd be wrong, but I'm hesitant to say that the Passover carries over because the Bible sense of the Passover is that it was done annually to remember their deliverance from Egypt.

And when Christ came, Paul said explicitly, Christ is our Passover. And so he is the lamb who once and for all settles, uh, what's what God requires. There's no annual sacrifice of Jesus.

He is once and for all, that's the book of Hebrews. And so to say a Passover carries over almost gives us a sense that, well, there's, there's, there's things we've got to kind of do still to make sure it's kind of like Passover esque. And I want to say to you, it served its purposes completely.

They were all fulfilled in Christ. And yet there is one thing that we do that's a commanded practice that helps us remember it's not a Passover 2.0. It's the Lord's supper 1.0. Are there similarities? Is there symmetry? Yes. In fact, on the night he was betrayed, Jesus took Passover elements and had a meal with them and celebrated that Passover meal.

But he said when he had the bread and the juice, this is my body. This is my blood. So Jesus was the lamb of God, which would take away the sin of the world.

And so Passover is different than this Passover looks back at Egypt. The Lord's supper looks back to the cross. Passover celebrates a lamb who has a substitute every single year.

The Lord's supper looks back to a once and for all it is finished and accomplished the moment when Christ paid the price. So I'm, I want you to hear my heart in that again, I'm being vulnerable. I'm not sure I got every single word in this technically accurate, but my hesitation is I don't want to apply Passover things to Lord's supper things when they don't fit.

So I'm most comfortable, and maybe I'm wrong here. Maybe you can give me some more insight, but my most comfortable saying this to you, the Passover right for God's people to look back to Egypt and their deliverance. It is symmetrical in that a substitute and a sacrifice and satisfaction occurred.

But now we don't look back to Egypt. We look back to the cross. And we are given very few requirements for the Lord's supper.

Did you know that we don't have a list like this at all? There are some first Corinthians 11 gives us a really good understanding of how a church is to do the Lord's supper, but it doesn't give us a timetable. It doesn't require leaven or unleavened. It doesn't say there are certain elements you have to use.

There's some debate about what you have to use, what you can use. There's debate about how often you should do it. There's debate about how you do it.

And I think those are all areas of freedom in a lot of ways. What it does do is this, it says that if you come to the Lord's table, you must come in a way that isn't, you're coming in a way that's worthy. Not that you're worthy, but you're honoring the name of Christ.

You're understanding that, hey, this is in remembrance of Christ. I am a believer. So there's some things that carry over.

The Lord's supper, which we do every week here, is not for unbelievers. You are to examine yourself. Am I coming in a manner that's worthy of Paul's words? So those are some requirements, but we don't have a ton of specifics.

We do it every week here. Some churches do it every month. Some do it every quarter.

There's no arrogance in my heart. I think all those are legitimate options. It just depends on perhaps how often you want to partake in this commanded practice that helps us remember Christ's provision.

It is a commanded practice. I don't think any church is allowed to say, we don't do communion. We don't observe the Lord's table.

It is commanded. The question is, we have a good bit of freedom. So I just want to say to you, the commanded practice that most carries over from Passover or maybe has symmetry with it is the Lord's supper.

Because we're remembering Christ who was the Passover, filled it, culminates it, completes it. But now we don't look back to Egypt. We look back to the cross.

And we don't repeat this annually in the sense that Christ is having to re-crucify himself. We do repeat as often as we want what he accomplished and did once and for all. This is why I think if you believe that in this moment, the bread and the juice become the body and blood of Jesus, you are in essence, re-sacrificing Jesus.

I don't hold to that doctrine at all. I know our church does it. So what I'm trying to say to you is the Lord's supper is the result of the completed, culminated Passover in Christ.

So it's our commanded practice. And I highlight this because I think we could, if we're not careful, pastors, when I say we, we pastors could take this and twist it and we can lay a bunch of burdens on you, a bunch of commanded practices. Because this principle, commanded practices that remember provision, this is what God, this is one of the ways God formed us.

I mean, we can lay that on you like you got to read your Bible. And that's a commanded practice. Pray, fast, meet with God's people, generosity, like we could just go through a list and man, you could just be walking here like, bam, I'm loaded down today.

I intentionally on this one just said, what is the one commanded practice that most correlates and is in symmetry with the Passover? And I believe it's the Lord's supper. This is why if you were to press on my chest in a corner and say, Todd, what's the best change first family ever made in this 22 plus year history? I would say to you, it was when we decided after experimenting with the Lord's supper every week, one summer, the elders met back together and said, well, should we go back to the way we used to do it, which was about once a month or once a quarter to a person, to a man, the elder said, let's just keep doing what we're doing. We'll see how it goes.

And we've never stopped. Now that may not fit with everyone. Again, there's freedom here, but I just want to say to you, if you were to press me in a corner and say, what's the best change the church ever made? It was that one because it has caused so many indirect ripples that have been good for our church.

It's kept the gospel central to our preaching. It's helped us land every single week in a moment when you're remembering what matters most Christ's death and resurrection. And there's so many things about weekly community that I have just learned to value.

And I love this aspect of our worship service. I can't promise you it'll stay forever. It seems to be what the Holy Spirit is leading us to do in this current moment.

And I'm really grateful about that. I don't want to hold it like it's better than other churches. I don't want to hold that way either.

Are you with me? But for now, I would say to you in all transparency, I think it's the best change we've ever made. It has kept the most important things front and center every single week when we gather. I need that.

Do you? I think you probably do too. And so this is the commanded practice. I want us to highlight this morning, make sure you understand there's great precedence for doing this.

This is the culmination of Passover, the Lord's Supper. So thankful for it. Let me just mention briefly this second truth.

It revolves around dependence that comes out of the second section. It's simply this, that God forms his people through constant dependence, which trusts his presence. So he forms us through remembrance, ceremonies, rituals, practices that he commands that cause our mind to go back to Calvary.

But then he also is with us. And so he forms us by leading us because we know we have to be dependent upon him. So dependence is a way he forms us.

It happens every time he takes you out the long way. Are you with me? When you're like, hey, I think this would have been a better idea. I think that way would have been shorter.

Why didn't we go that direction? And he says, well, you're not God. I'm in charge and I'm going to do it this way. And he may not tell you all the reasons why.

He simply asks you to trust him. Now I do think God is gracious and in time he often reveals to us what he was doing earlier. He doesn't want to play hide and seek with us.

He doesn't get some kind of odd kind of joy out of playing with us, cat and mouse. That's not God. But I will say that in the moment, sometimes we don't have the ability to piece everything together and if we could, we'd probably disagree with it.

So often God does say, trust me, you'll be glad later. It's much like you do as a parent. I don't think any child here would willingly take some of the antibiotics or medicine or pills or supplements, whatever you give.

You have to kind of force that down their throat sometimes, don't you? You got to bribe them and incentivize them like crazy. But you're the parent. So to whatever degree you're involved in those things, you do what you have to do to help your child.

So just understand, there is an element of trust here in this final section that's beautiful. God is with them every moment. He's leading them the right way.

He knows of their vulnerabilities, their weaknesses, and He cares for them, He's close, and His presence is right there, a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud. I want to make sure you understand something. These are not two things.

They look like two things because of the atmosphere. But in the daytime, it was a pillar, and at nighttime, it was a pillar. Are you with me? But the nighttime pillar was fire, the daytime pillar was a cloud.

So it's referenced in two ways, but it's one pillar. It's this manifestation of God's presence that was there all the time, day or night. The reason it changes is because it needed to be visible.

So God's presence was always visible, always leading them, always there. It's a beautiful consolation, and this is one of the ways He formed them. Now I hope your mind is asking this question.

We'll start landing the plane here and kind of get to the end of this. If there was one symmetrical or correlated New Testament aspect to the Passover in regards to remembrance, is there one New Testament corollary or symmetrical aspect to the dependence aspect? I'll just ask it to you this way. What's our pillar? Is there a New Testament pillar of cloud or a pillar of fire like there was for the Passover? And while I don't have an explicit verse that says it, not near as clearly perhaps as the one in 1 Corinthians about the Passover, I don't have a mandate on this.

I want to share with you what I think serves as a helpful answer with some room here. I think it's the Holy Spirit and the Holy Word. If you were to ask me, Todd, what do we depend on for guidance, for constant presence? What do we trust? We trust God, but what has He given us that we can put our feet on and wrap our arms around? It's His Holy Spirit and His Holy Word.

Watch this. The Israelites had what was visible and external. You have now what is personal and internal.

In fact, hear this theologically accurate statement, though it might strike you as odd. In the Old Testament, God was in a pillar of fire, close and near, but still external. In the New Testament, when Christ came, He was closer, God in flesh, very near, human.

He was like us. When Jesus ascended and the Holy Spirit was sent, He is now in us. You can't get any closer than that.

So if you want to go back to the old or the new, I'm saying to you, I'm kind of liking the now. When the Holy Spirit of God dwells in the people of God and among the people of God, He does that so that He can lead us by the Word of God. Remind us of the words that Jesus said, illuminate our minds to the words that God left us.

It's always a tandem work, the Word of God and the Spirit of God. They never compete. They're never in conflict.

When you feel like they're out of sync, the issue is with you. Stop until you get complete synchronicity, until there's unity, and then move forward. Because the Word of God and the Spirit of God are not in competition.

They're not going to argue. In fact, as I was debating this in my mind, thinking how can I best bring this to our people? Because it's not, I don't have a clear explicit verse. It works for me.

I think it's a pretty good understanding. But it's not a doctrine. I want you to hear these verses from John 14.

How Jesus answered a question that may be similar to me asking, is there a New Testament expression to the pillar? Much like the Lord's table is to the Passover. Listen to what Jesus said to His disciples, John 14. These are very moving verses, let them wash over you.

Verse 22, John 14, Judas, not the traitor, not Iscariot, but another Judas, said to Jesus, Lord, how is it you're going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world? Do you hear that? This is after he has been told, the group has been told that Christ is going away. Their hearts were troubled. And so Judas then pipes up and says, hey, how are you going to reveal yourself to us? If you're going away, how are we going to stay close to you? How are you going to disclose your purposes and your presence to us? Not the world.

What's going to be the difference? Jesus answered, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word. So the sense is, okay, you'll have my word in you. You'll know my word.

My father will love him, we'll come to him and make our home with him. Now, how would that happen? How would God and Jesus come to us and make their home with us after Jesus is gone? It's the Holy Spirit. Right there in one verse, you have the spirit and the word together.

Verse 24, the one who doesn't love me will not keep my words. The implication being, because he doesn't have the Holy Spirit, she doesn't have the Holy Spirit. The world that you hear, excuse me, the word that you hear is not mine, it's from the father who sent me.

I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you, but the counselor, the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and remind you of everything I've told you. That's the word. It's the counselor, the Holy Spirit that illuminates our minds and hearts to the word.

So in this answer, do you know what two things Jesus put together to answer the question, how will you disclose yourself to us after you're gone? That's different than just the world. How are we going to be differentiated? What's going to be the difference? He says, my spirit and my word. That's the pillar and the cloud that goes before us.

Every single day, it's always with us. He is in us. So church, that's the one on whom you should depend.

And so when we say depend on God, we are not saying, watch this, listen very carefully. We're not saying just trust some concept. We're not saying just have a lot of good feelings in some magnetic force, or just hold on real tightly.

If you can muster up enough positive thinking, then you'll feel better about yourself. None of that's in play. We are actually saying, if you belong to God, every day depend on him by trusting his Holy Spirit and trusting his word.

You will get agreement between those two. And when you do, walk that way, follow that. That's how we are led.

In fact, hear this, Romans 8, 14, all those led by God's spirit are God's sons. Psalm 119, 105, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. So consistently in the Bible, God's spirit and God's word are the illuminating factors in the walk of the believer.

It's the pillar of cloud. It's the pillar of fire. And I'm going to say a lot more about this next week as I bring a one-off message on the Holy Spirit, prepping us for fresh encounter next Sunday evening.

I want to talk to you about the Trinitarian presence of God, because often we say, what does it mean when God is present? I will submit to you a week early. It means at least this, that the father, son, and spirit are all active. In every moment that we say God is present, I'll lay it out for you next week, my point is this, this is one of the ways that we can learn dependence, is knowing that we have the word and the spirit always with us, in us.

This was the plan of Jesus and the father. I want to warn you of two ditches and I've got to really hurry here, but I want to warn you of two ditches. The tendency is for churches to typically drive in one of the ditches as opposed to the road between them.

I don't know why this is. I'm not saying we've got it down perfect. My heart right now and every bit of my posture is to try to stay on the road and utilize both to their fullest extent.

Typically, churches become either a word-centered church only and they try to avoid it, ignore the spirit to some degree. That's what a lecture hall looks like. That's a sales pitch.

Or they fall into the category of spirit only and we'll only get the word if we need it. That's called a pep rally. I really don't want to be part of a spiritual pep rally without authority.

I don't want to be a part of a lecture hall with no power. Can somebody say, come on preacher? You with me? We don't have this down perfect. We're still trying to find kind of our legs on us at times, but what I'm asking for is a body of believers fully submitting to the authority of the word of God and fully embracing the power of God.

That the Holy Spirit gifts his children as he sovereignly sees fit. It's his job to give his spiritual gifts. He will as he decides and as we need them.

So let's just be available and say, Holy Spirit, gift me. It's my constant weekly prayer. God gift us however you see fit to edify the body and see that your name means way more than ours.

But that gifting, those environments, that moment, first Corinthians 11 through 14 needs to be grounded in authority. Otherwise you get feelings without foundation. Again, you get experience without authority or you get, you know, information without illumination.

Like we don't need that. We need all, church hear this. We need all of the Holy Spirit and all of the word of God.

This is what our culture needs. Our culture is trying to dismiss parts of the Bible. It doesn't apply.

I don't like that section. It can't fit. We don't want to join that crowd.

We don't want to join the crowd that says, well, the Holy Spirit is limited now. These have ceased and they have certain frameworks to make sure everything fits into a nice orderly Westerner concept. I'm just saying to you the best I can see in the Bible, the Holy Spirit is the power of God that illuminates our minds to his truth.

But it is his truth. So we need to illuminate it to his word. So I'm just saying to you, I am praying God will give us greater posture to these two things, a surrender to the complete authority of God's word and a surrender to the complete power of God, the Holy Spirit.

Will you join me in that deep longing with this admission? I don't always know how to figure that out. I don't always know how to walk in that. I'm not an expert, but man, I'll lead the pack in desire on that and passion to see the Holy Spirit of God give us illumination to the word of God so that we are a distinct people of God.

So those are the two truths. I'll just remind you of them as I land the plane. Commanded practices are one of the ways he forms us, and that's designed to affect our remembrance.

We don't want to forget. And then constant dependence is designed to help us in the constant journey because we have to learn to trust his presence. And so we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit and his word, and we are committed to obeying both because we know they always will agree.

When they don't, that's on us, not God. So constant dependence, commanded practices. If you want to be formed as a follower of Christ, as a devoted disciple, these are two truths you got to get your hands around, that there are commanded practices.

I've only highlighted one today that is, I think, the most symmetrical to Passover. And then there are moments of constant dependence that you cannot lean to your own understanding. No wonder Solomon warned us against that.

You cannot trust your feelings, but you can trust God's word and God's spirit. And you can know that's how he will guide us and keep our path straight, Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. So will you join me in asking God to give us that kind of posture as a body, one of remembrance and dependence?