If you're visiting this morning, you're stepping into our series here in the book of Exodus, and I invite you to turn to those Bibles that are in front of you in your pew, to the second book of the Bible, Exodus chapter 12. You will find that on page 70 in your pew Bible, Exodus chapter 12, and we will be looking at verses 43 of chapter 12 all the way to verse 16. It may seem like a strange section of institutions and laws, a little bit more difficult of a section to preach, but very important to understand what the Lord's intentions are in bringing them out and what his goal is for them. So this is a wonderful section of Scripture to understand lest Israel should forget in the future everything the Lord did. Beginning at verse 43 of chapter 12. This is the word of the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, this is the statute of the Passover, no foreigner shall eat of it. But every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. No foreigner or hired servant may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house. You shall not take any of the flesh outside the house and you shall not break any of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it. He shall be as a native of the land, but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you. All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. And on that very day, the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts. The Lord said to Moses, Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and a beast, is mine. Then Moses said to the people, Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery. For by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. Today in the month of Abib you are going out. And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. And on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days. No unleavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in your territory. You shall tell your son on that day it's because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt. And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year. When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites as he swore to you and your fathers and shall give it to you, you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are male shall be the Lord's. Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. Or if you will not redeem it, you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. And when in time to come your son asks you, what does this mean? You shall say to him, by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt from the house of slavery. For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals therefore i sacrifice to the lord all the males that first opened the womb but all the first one of my sons i redeem it shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes for by a strong hand the lord brought us out of egypt May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. How joyful they must have been finally after 400 years to leave Egypt, to leave that place. We can only imagine the excitement on that day from that trip from Ramesses to Sukkoth. Probably two million strong plus are heading out of Egypt. The emotions must have run really high that day. can you imagine you're all on foot you're walking out for the last time you're passing by all the monuments you built for that tyrant all your ancestors had built for the past 400 years in thick slavery it's over the mightiest nation on earth the lord had just pummeled rameses the city of great pharaoh and all of its splendor and glory all of this has been laid waste by the god of the hebrews imagine the experience you're the generation to see it you're the generation i think at moments like that the energy and the excitement and the joy the enthusiasm must have been at an all-time high you're totally renewed you're set free brand new beginning the lord said for you it's a brand new beginning this is how i want you to regard it you're set free from slavery it's over we can imagine what only imagine what it must have felt like for that generation to leave the high of that we have the vantage point of looking and knowing what's about to happen don't we we we know the history of israel we know what is about to unfold and two awful things were about to happen that would span the history of israel two things that were tragic in israel's history and and the bible would continually use this phrase over and over to describe it and it goes like this and they forgot the lord their god who brought them out of the land of egypt they forgot his wonderful works and ways to them the psalms capture this everywhere future generations would forget isn't that a tragedy and then they would forget about his power to help them they were always running to other nations for help they're always running to other leaders for help how could they have forgotten this they're going to go out into the wilderness and they're going to face hunger and thirst they're going to have struggle this is the wilderness life it's not easy they're being taught dependence upon the lord do you know in the very next chapter what happens the very next chapter first scene what have you done moses to bring us up out of Egypt. Is this not what we said to you when we were in Egypt? Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? You have got to be kidding me. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians. And you say, what in the world? How could you? God just did all this for you. You just saw, put on display his power and the first sign of conflict, you fall apart and say that? Had they forgotten all that the Lord had done for them? Already. Scene one. They had already forgotten. All of His deliverance, all of His power, all of His plagues, all the mighty acts of love, all of it was forgotten. I hope that helped you understand a bit of what is going on today. That'll really help you with today because what God is doing in the passage that I just read is putting certain things in place to help them so that future generations would never forget all the wonderful acts of the Lord for them. They would never forget His deliverance, His love. That they would continually teach the next generation these things. That goodness and mercy follows us all the days of our life. We're going home. You'll see how important this section is for wilderness life as they are about to begin. I struggled to break this down. This was a challenging section to really break down to be helpful for you. But as I looked at this and stepped back from it, looking at it a little bit higher from the clouds, I thought there are two major things that the Lord is saying to Israel through this as they begin their journey. He was putting certain things in place so that they would remember what God did for them in making them his separate people and that they would pass this faith on to their children. Those are the two things. Be separate, pass your faith. That's what I come up with from this. Be separate, pass your faith. That should encourage us because the responsibilities are no different for us. As we enter wilderness life, as we've been saved by the blood of Christ, as we have a new beginning in Him, the Lord is telling you how to go forward right here. And this is beautifully laid out for us. Let's start with the first major section here. It's going to be a little more challenging than you thought when I say be separate because it's the thing we rail against to this day. Look at verses 43 out of 52. You begin here, the Passover instructions, but they're a little bit different now. Something is added now. something is different about these passover instructions and the emphasis now is all driven by their new identity notice the emphasis i want everyone to look actually verse 47 there in verse 47 as he's instructing on the passover he says something new all the congregation of israel shall keep it all the congregation you're no longer thinking separately i'm not letting you That's over. You did that in Egyptian life, not anymore. He's referring them, and we haven't seen this word very much in the scriptures yet. He is using the word congregation now. He referred to them distinctively as his congregation. Notice that the Lord is so openly using that the moment they're delivered. The moment they've been brought out. They're his flaws. that they have just been bought by the blood of the lamb. And they were now always in future generations to have this Passover feast and they were to celebrate it, all of them. Nobody had the prerogative to say, I'm not going to that today. They were all to celebrate this together. All of them. What do you have here? The church. Our Belgic is so beautiful on this as it's reminded us over and over, we believe this holy congregation is an assembly of those who are saved, outside of which there's no salvation. It's an assembly. It's a bought people. It's a purchased people. God saved the community. God pulled them out collectively. And this feast now, this feast was always to be a reminder of who they were. This feast was always to be a reminder of their identity. This feast was always to help them to remember they are a purchased flock. Now they didn't realize how much they needed that. He didn't want them to forget who they are. What a privilege. But there was something in celebrating the Passover in verse 43 that mattered a lot to the Lord. Did you catch it? Moses and Aaron, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, this is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner shall eat of it. In fact, if you were to go through this, you see a whole bunch of different types of people that had come out with them. He mentions that a mixed multitude went up with them. In 400 years, we have that some of the Israelites had married Egyptians. They had come out too. he mentions slaves he mentions sojourners he mentions hired workers there were a there were a bunch of egyptians who saw what happened to their country and they said we are out of here we're going on for the ride this is going to be one exciting ride if this god's in front of them they got on the bandwagon and they wanted out of that pummeled nation so there were a bunch of foreigners as the bible designates them in the camp who would travel along with israel we would later see some problems with this but but but they were heading out and we didn't know their ultimate intention some would probably intended on separating out into the land of canaan but the question arose well what do we do about the passover with all of these people there must have been a significant number that were there can they partake and the answer from the lord is no they can't the lord said no and the question is is why why did the lord say no you can appreciate this can't you what just happened something terrible and something wonderful. A terrible judgment had just happened as the angel of death went out into all of Egypt and he inspected door frames and he looked for blood on the door frames. And if there was no blood on the door frames, he entered the house and he struck down the firstborn. But if there was blood put up, which was the blood of the Passover lamb as they ate that lamb and celebrated the passover if it was put up on the doors of the houses intending faith the angel passed over israel deserved death too but god loved them god passed over their houses so the blood of the lamb was the substitute that was quite a thing god did and you see what we have in exodus is god telling his gospel story that he's already been telling from Genesis 3 when he had shed blood for Adam and covered him. And he was telling this story as it was beginning to unfold that Israel was a part of this story, that Israel was in this story, that the Lamb of God in the future, anticipating the future, the Lamb of God would come and he would suffer and die on the cross for us so that we would never have to face judgment i mean there's your gospel the passover celebrated god's sacrificial love in the cross of christ looking forward the feast was a special gift to commune that's emphasized here i'll come back to that to be fed to be helped to always consider the wonderful things that the Lord had done for them. This feast is the most special gift, right? That God gave. No one else received that kind of treatment. No other nation in the earth. No other peoples. The Lord had been wonderful to them. Oh, the Lord had been so good to them. The Lord had been just overwhelming. He did all of this for them and what was he after? He wanted a commitment from them to be a part of his family. To become part of his people. And so he's telling them, I've done this for you. You are my congregation. You are my people. God had always taught them to be separate. How did one enter this family? This wasn't the first entrance sign, was it? This was a renewal kind of sign. The entrance sign was circumcision. God had told Abraham years ago in the covenant of grace, I want you to put this sign, this blood sign on you and your children because I'm doing a marvelous act of redemption and it signifies the cutting away of your sin. And I am including you and your children and you watch. They're going to go down to Egypt and I'm going to put on display my salvation plan and Abraham, they will come out and receive it. That was the sign of entrance into this covenant family. That was the sign of entrance into this. So what does the Lord say about all these travelers with Israel? If they want to partake, God says they need to enter the family. They need to believe the gospel. They need to be circumcised. You see that there, that the Lord says it so explicitly. if a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, then he may come near and keep it and he shall be as a native of the land. There's no more distinction. He's not the latecomer. He is to be treated like everyone else. What a wonderful thing. You see what the Lord was after? Commitment to the family. To become members of the body. he wanted them to join the body. Now, I think if you had walked up to all those foreigners and said, do you believe in the God of Israel? Do you think any of them would have said no? They had just watched him pummel Egypt. They had just watched Yahweh display his power. They had just seen the God of Israel do wonders no other God could do. Everyone would have said, well, of course we believe in Yahweh. Pharaoh believed in Yahweh. do you know what this would sound like today? Don't question my faith. I believe. I want to partake, but don't you dare stand back as the church and judge me. I don't have to be a member of any church. I am the church. Oh man, I hear that all the time. I've heard that more times than I ever cared to in the course of my 12 years of pastoring. I am the church. Don't tell me that. And no commitment was ever made. I have no idea where that person stood. So the Lord said, Israel, I want you to tell them no. No. That is so crucial for us today. We need to understand this. On the night in which Jesus was betrayed, think about that. On the night in which Jesus was betrayed and was celebrating the Passover, you remember that week as they were all preparing and celebrating. Remember the Lord in the midst of that instituted the supper and he gave the supper to the fulfillment in the new covenant community. This is the new covenant in my blood, blood of the lamb. You know, he said the same thing. Take, eat, all of you. Together. This is what we went through in Corinth. They were doing it all hodgepodge together. Because if anyone tramples this underfoot, They can eat and drink judgment on themselves. Entrance into the family is not circumcision. Entrance into the family is what? Baptism. We don't need a bloody sign. We need a water sign. You know, the church today has all these same people. We have mixed marriages. We have travelers who come by all the time. We have temporary resident aliens, if you will. We have passers-by. We have a bunch of people in and out of church. In and out, in and out. I mean, we are like In-N-Out Burger here. In and out. Almost all that come in here say they believe in God. I've rarely had anyone come in here or in my previous charge and say I don't believe. Here's the problem. It's epidemic. We live in a day where the people of our day are absolutely unwilling to make any commitment to Jesus at all. None. Besides whatever they want to do. Jesus had all sorts of attendees following him. Do you remember that? All these people constantly following him all the time and never making the commitment. And there were constant conflicts with Jesus getting in their face about this and saying, listen, you really want to follow me? Foxes have holes, birds have nests. the son of man has no place to lay his head are you sure you sure you want to really count that cost do you know what it might require he called people to make the decision get on the horse or get off don't sit in the middle he gave his community the supper remember he gave his community the supper to celebrate the special work of redemption on the cross for you this is what he did. And the question is no different for us. Well, what then do we do with all of these residents, in-residents? What do we do with all these temporary passers-by? It feels so unloving, doesn't it? You say, no. You say, no. You say, that's got to be, pastor, the way to kill a church. That's got to be the most unloving thing you could possibly do to people really the alternative is to do what most churches have done in our day and just open all this up to everyone this table to anyone who so feels moved does that give meaning anymore to what you're doing we seem embarrassed today about our identity we seem embarrassed today about our distinctiveness we seem so embarrassed we're just we're all backwards on this by the way do you know what we've lost today in the church any fear or consideration of what it means to be members of the body of christ why is that why is there no fear to join this anymore our problem is we don't want to say no to anyone notice what the lord created by all these people standing there and saying no. They might come up, verse 48, and say, why not? There's a witness tool here, isn't there? They might come up, verse 48, and say, why can't we partake? We want to partake. Or they might get mad enough and make a choice about their relationship to God and they may either leave or they might join. And when they ask, you can then call them to a new life. What a great evangelistic opportunity. When all that's lost, your distinction's lost. Why does membership matter nothing to people today in the church? All it is is asking you to make a commitment to Jesus. Why does it matter nothing? Because you've lowered the bar so low today, nobody understands its importance anymore. You can come and go, and whatever's convenient for you. It's kind of like living in the day where every kid gets a participation trophy. Did you know that? Biggest business right now is participation trophies. It is booming. I didn't have that when I was a kid. I was a loser in many things. I needed that. You've got to have losers to have winners, don't you? There's no standard anymore in the church. So there's no importance to join it. Why do I need to? So people can partake of the church without any regard anymore to sin or discipline in their lives. We treated the church just like any other human organization, like the gym. We've got to recover a fear of being a part of this. A right fear. Do you know in the early church, two people sinned right out of the gates. Their names were Ananias and Sapphira. Do you know what the Holy Spirit did to set it off? He exercised discipline. He knocked them down. Now, that doesn't seem to make any sense. Do you know what it said right after that? It said, as soon as the Holy Spirit exercised the key of the kingdom himself to set the pattern for the church, it said this, great fear came upon everyone and no one dared to join them. How's that for an evangelistic tool? That was the Holy Spirit's evangelistic tool. Daniel Baker, I remember reading an independent, at the Independent Presbyterian Church of Savannah years ago, When he took that call, his preaching was so plain and so pointed that he started, when he first got there, getting a lot of complaints. People were nervous about him. And the elder came up to him and said, Mr. Baker, you continue to preach this way. None of our young people are going to join the church. It's the biggest fear for everyone. None of our young people are going to join the church. I'm going to make a profession. To which I said, said Baker, I don't wish them to join unless they're converted. you ever told your young people that how special it is to be a part of this god purchased you with the blood of his son when we're embarrassed about our identity and make no stance about it and our separateness is lost you've dumped your witness and everything's common and people have no idea why they even need to come to the church and that's why it's emptying out today. Why did this matter so much to the Lord? Well, he says, if you look there, it shall be eaten, the Passover, in one house. This is all together. You shall not take any flesh outside the house and you shall not break any of its bones. Every scholar in the world is puzzled. They have no idea what that would have meant in that context. Here's what I'll tell you it meant. It was pointing to Christ. Because when he was crucified on the cross, you remember how much care was taken that they would not break his bones to fulfill this they were called to discern the body if you understand the purpose in this you know it's the greatest privilege and blessing that you belong to the household of god that you're communing with christ that you're fed with his body and blood and that's the greatest privilege he could ever give you if someone doesn't like a standard today or thinks it's too strict i suppose they could run down wherever they want and they could get everything less and light and no accountability. It's to the detriment and hurt of their own soul. Treasure your separateness. Have, if I can say this appropriately, holy pride in your God. Treasure what you're a member of. Come out and be separate to me, says the Lord. Do you know what that cost him? That's my first point. I only have one more. Pass it to your children. woven into the Passover feast is the feast of unleavened bread, verse 3. And Moses said to the people, look there at verse 3 of chapter 13. Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. Today in the month of Abib, you're going out. This is great. And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore. Swore to Abraham, remember? A land flowing with milk and honey. You shall keep this service in this month. I want you always to remember your brand new beginning. You take out all your leaven out of your house. And you remember your whole lives are unleavened since I have freed you from bondage ultimately to your sin. This is your new beginning. Keep the feast. Of unleavened bread and sincerity and truth, says the New Testament. Understand, you're brand new. And that God swore an oath to Abraham years ago when he passed through those pieces and he did not renege on that. He kept that. He fulfilled that. And he's bringing you guys home. So consider yourselves. Here's what you can do. Consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to me now. Leave the past behind, you guys. What are you doing tampering with that stuff? You're done. And then in verse 8, he adds something so beautiful. And it shall be when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites as he swore to you and your fathers and gives it to you, then you shall set apart to the Lord all that open the womb. That is, every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have, the male shall be the Lord's. See what he just did? He had just struck down before their eyes the firstborn of the Egyptians and their animals. God just said, When you enter, you give me your firstborn and the animals. Why? You're firstborn. You're firstborn. You say, uh-oh. What are you going to do to them? You're going to offer them up. Oh, but hold on. You can redeem the unclean donkeys in your sons. You say, what in the world? Every firstborn donkey, verse 13, you can redeem with a lamb. And if you will not redeem it, you shall break its neck. And the firstborn of man among your sons, you shall redeem. Unclean, your sons can be redeemed. What did he want them to do? He wanted them to understand, your sons are redeemed. I want you to understand my gospel. I bought you back. Here's a way you can always teach it. Buy them back in front of them. buy him back in front of him. Why was God putting all this in place? Verse 8, And you shall tell your son on that day, it's because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt. Verse 14, And when in time to come your son asks you, what does this mean? You shall say to him, by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt from the house of slavery. For Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go. The Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both firstborn of man and firstborn of animals. Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that open the firstborn, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem. There it is. It shall be as a mark on your hand and frontless between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us up out of Egypt. Circle verse 8 and verse 14. Why is the Lord putting all this in place? Fathers and mothers, look next to you. Look right next to you. There are a little generation sitting here who never saw it. How are they going to know? They didn't get to walk out the future generations. How are they going to know? They say the church is one generation from extinction. You see what the Lord's saying? Every year I want you to celebrate the Passover and on the last day of the Feast of the Leavened Bread, when the firstborn was redeemed, the fathers were to sit down and they were to explain to their children what all of this meant. Look at the Lord here. I want you fathers to talk to your kids. It's not a cold thing. Notice the Lord here. Tell your sons what the Lord did for you. Son, we're celebrating this because it's what the Lord did for me. Here's the personal aspect of it. What the Lord did for me when I came out, it's warm, it's affectionate, it's sincere, it's personal. It's not just that. It radiates from a deep expression of a believing heart that knows and understands what Christ did for him. It assumes the Father knows the Lord, loves the Lord, talks about the Lord in the home. There's so much to learn here about parenting. The Lord is so concerned about parenting. I think we would be, we think today we're just good parents if we get to all the ball games and all the school events. That may be part of it, but that is not it. Fathers, express to your children your own salvation. Parents, we're always to be talking about it. I've been delivered. You know, son, I believe these, daughter, I believe these promises. The Lord has been so good to us, children. You know, I can tell you what I was like in Egypt. I can tell you what I did in my idolatrous ways and my whole life now is unleavened because of him. He pulled me out of there. He pulled me out of that dungeon. He pulled me out of that pit that I chose and he gave me life and let me tell you about it. This was for me, son, intending it to be for you. So the next generation was to speak of the whole Exodus event as if they were the ones that came out themselves. You see that? In other words, they were to speak as if they were the ones that came out so that every generation met a generation that had come out. You've come out, you've come out, you've come out. So tell your children that. Do you know when you take the supper, fathers, God wants you to sit down and explain to your children what it means? God wants you to tell your children the gospel. God wired your children to ask you questions. Dad, why are you paying for me? Well, in the law of the firstborn son, all the Egyptians face God's judgment because of their hardness of heart and we deserve that. But you know, in His grace, we get to buy you back and you don't have to face that because of His incredible love. You belong to Him, children. They need the gospel too. I always give them a lot of law. Don't do this, don't do this, don't do this. Parents, you first have to believe this to tell your children. You have to fully identify with it. You have a little window of time and they're gone. I would suggest that the reason the generation before us has struggled to identify with their faith, has no concept of church, has no understanding of the supper, is because their parents didn't talk about it. You went home from the Lord's Supper and you never opened your lips about your faith. Maybe even complaining about the church and whatever. You're never too old. to stop talking about the gospel. It starts in the home. The Christian school is not the savior of our kids. It has to come from the heart of the parents. And we should be sitting down and explaining to our children these things to soften their hearts so that they would believe that Jesus loves them, believe that Jesus loves them, and has done this for them. I want you to tell them about Good Friday. I want you to tell them about the resurrection when we celebrate it. I want you to tell them what Jesus did when he died to set them free that they are now bought with a price, 1 Corinthians 6, so that they should honor God in their bodies. Whenever Israel apostatized, guess what went out the door? I don't have time to quote all these verses. The Passover, they stopped celebrating it. In Josiah's day, they had to recover it because it wasn't even being celebrated. Whenever the apostasy happened, they opened it up and did whatever they wanted to do. it'll be a sign to you on your hand as a memorial between your eyes that the Lord's law may be in your mouth for with a strong hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt. God is your greatest evangelist. He loves your children. God wants them never to forget. All of this is in place for you today. You see how the stories connect? All of this is in place for you today. If you're a visitor this morning, maybe you're somebody who's passing through and you've never made the commitment to be a part of the church, or even if you're a member who scorns it, I hope you're pressed one way or the other. I don't want anyone sitting in the gray area. Ultimately, I hope you're pressed to come and say, I want to be a part of that. Look at what the Lord has done. I hope you're determined enough after hearing this to make a decision to follow hard after Christ, to believe his gospel, to repent of your sin, to have accountability in your life, to unite yourself to his body and receive from his gracious hand next week the wonderful benefits. With a repentant and broken and contrite heart, he wants you to come with that kind of heart. It will show in your commitment to join his body. He gave his sacraments to help strengthen believers in their very hard wilderness life to know that they've entered into his family and will be kept by his grace. You're separate. Today, the Lord wants you always to remember he bought you with a price to be his own special treasure. May we never forget how wonderful he has been to deliver us and our children from bondage and death. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, you are so good to us and we are so grateful that you have put things in place so that we would never forget. But we confess we've not used them with the kind of believing, respectful hearts that we should or in godly fear at times, not appreciating what you made us a part of, wanting to be islands to ourselves, neglecting the assembly, having a terrible attitude to the very body of Christ. Forgive us. And we know that a high view of these things is the first step in recovering our children and teaching our children and training our children. And so may it first get into our hearts. May we all believe this, treasure this, love your truth, love what you've done. May we speak to our children the wonderful things that the Lord has done for us in the gospel. We're great sinners, we're great failures. Be merciful to us because there are fathers and mothers here who greatly struggle with guilt and greatly struggle with feelings of failure and greatly struggle like they've messed things up. And we're so thankful that you have the power always to work in those kind of situations, to intervene and work in hearts of hard children's hearts to change them. But we're never too old to talk about you. We're never too old to show what your grace does to change our own lives. May that be evidence, Lord. Thank you for hearing us this morning and thank you for this special time to receive your word. In Jesus' name, amen.