Scripture says that Pharaoh's
heart was hardened, that he would not let the people of God go. And while Pharaoh, and of course
this is humanly speaking, this is the way that man thinks. He's the king. He was the one that was in charge,
he thought. But the Scripture sets forth,
as it says that Pharaoh hardened his heart, the Scripture says
in Exodus 4.21, I, the Lord speaking, will harden his heart, that he
shall not let the people go. And why? Why did Almighty God
Move upon Pharaoh in hardening his heart. Exodus 9.16 says,
And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to
show in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout
all the earth. Now, chapter 10. We're in chapter
11. But in Exodus, we're in Hebrews
chapter 11, hold your finger there. But I want you to turn
with me to Exodus. The last verse of Exodus chapter
10. Last verse of Exodus chapter
10. It ends with this statement. Moses had been speaking to Pharaoh. Moses had told Pharaoh concerning
the plagues that were going to come and just exactly the way
the Lord told Moses to tell Pharaoh is what happened. The last verse of Exodus 10 says
this, And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more. Now, that last verse, and after
Moses did meet with Moses that last time, he didn't see the
face of Moses anymore. But, chapter 11, and I want us
to read this chapter. Chapter 11 is included in that
last meeting that Moses had with Pharaoh. He told him, he said,
Moses, after Scripture says in verse 27 of chapter 10 of Exodus,
but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, he would not let him go.
Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself,
see my face no more, for in the day that thou seest my face,
thou shalt die. Moses said, Thou hast spoken
well, I will see Thy face again. No more. And the conversation
continues in chapter 11. And I want us to read chapter
11 of Exodus. And in the reading of that chapter,
we are going to find out just exactly what God Almighty said
He was going to do in the last plague. Exodus 11, verse 1, And the Lord
said unto Moses, Now remember, Moses just talked to Pharaoh,
and Pharaoh told him, he said, I'm not going to see you, you
don't see me anymore. And Moses said, fine, am I going
to see you? Moses said, you see me one more time, you're going
to die. Moses said, I'm not going to see you. But Moses has not
left the presence of Pharaoh yet. And the Lord said unto Moses,
while Moses was standing in the presence of Pharaoh, right after
Moses told Pharaoh, I'm not going to see you again, and the Lord
said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more unto Pharaoh
and upon Egypt, and afterwards he will let you go hence. When
he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether. Speak now in the ears of the
people. That is, the Hebrews. Let every
man borrow of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor,
jewels of silver and jewels of gold. And the Lord gave the people
favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very
great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants,
in the sight of the people. And Moses said, Thus saith the
Lord, About midnight will I go out in the midst of Egypt. Not that night in particular,
but on a night. It's going to be a midnight.
And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die. From
the firstborn of Pharaoh that sit upon his throne, even as
the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill, and
all the firstborn of the beast. And there shall be a great cry
throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it,
nor shall it be like it any more. But against any of the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast,
that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel, and all these thy servants. He's
talking about all the Pharaoh servants standing there listening
to what Moses is saying. While he was standing there,
God spoke to him. And God gave him instruction.
This is what I want you to do. This is what I want you to go
back and tell the Hebrews. This is what I want you to do concerning
the jewels and everything. This is what I want you to tell
Pharaoh. What I'm going to do in this
last plague. And it says, "...and all these I servants." And here
is Pharaoh listening to this. All these I service shall bow
down unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that
follow thee, and after that I will go out. And he went out from
Pharaoh in a great anger. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that my wonders may be multiplied
in the land of Egypt. And Moses and Aaron did all these
wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart
so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of
his land. Pharaoh told him, this is the
last time I'm going to see you. Moses said, fine. You're not
going to see me anymore. But before he walked out of Pharaoh's
presence, God spoke to him. And God told him. He said, this
is what I want you to tell Pharaoh. I'm going to send one more plague.
And I want you to tell the children of Israel what I said about taking
the wealth of Egypt. And I want you to tell Pharaoh,
that after this last plague comes, he's going to let the people
go. Now Moses did just exactly what
God told him. Firstborn on the midnight that
the Lord comes through. And the Lord said, I will come
through. The Lord is going to come through and He's going to
kill the firstborn of every family. every animal, where the blood
was not applied. God is going to give him instruction
in just a minute. And in that night there is going
to be a great cry, great anguish, such as was never heard in all
of Egypt before that and since then. And all of Pharaoh's servants,
Moses told them, he said, you are going to come You are going
to plead with me to leave the children of Israel out. We are
going to go out into God's direction. And the scripture says, after
he told them that, Moses left angry at the presence of Pharaoh. He left and God told him. He
said, Pharaoh is not going to listen to you. He is not going
to hearken to you. And the reason that he is not
going to hearken to you because the Lord hardened his heart that
his wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. Almighty
God left Pharaoh in his obstinate attitude, arrogance, against
Moses, yes, but no, more so against God. It was God Almighty that
was telling him. After Moses left, And for the
sake of time, you can read this in chapter 12 of Exodus at your
convenience. But let me just tell you what
Almighty God told Moses after that conversation with Pharaoh,
after he left, after the Lord gave him instruction on what
to say. Then God spoke to him in verse 12. I'll just say this,
that on verse 3 of chapter 12, it says, unto all the congregation
of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month I shall take
to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers,
a lamb for a house." Verse 6, they were to keep it until the
fourteenth day. And that lamb that they took
was going to have to be without blemish. Verse 7, that lamb was
to be killed. The blood was to be taken, struck
upon the upper side post of the door of the house. In verse 8
of chapter 12, the lamb was to be roasted, eaten with unleavened
bread and bitter herbs. Verse 10 says that the remainder
of that lamb was to be burned the next morning. Now, back in
Hebrews chapter 11. The scripture says in Hebrews
11 verse 28, Through faith, he kept the Passover
and the sprinkling of the blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn
should touch them." Now, first, we know that it was by faith
that Moses kept the Passover. He had God's Word. that Almighty
God was going to come through the land of Egypt. And He was
going to kill. He was going to destroy the firstborn
of every family, of every animal, where the blood was not found. And the Lord sent Moses to tell
the people, God is going to deliver you. by the means of Moses' hand. And this had not happened yet.
God had sent plague after plague after plague, and the Scripture
says that Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Now Moses has God's
Word. This plague is the last plague
that's going to come. And Pharaoh is going to let you
go. By faith. Moses had God's Word
on this. The Lord had instituted the Passover. And he said on this certain night,
this very night, that the Lord was going to come through And
when he came through and killed the firstborn of every household
where the blood was not found, Pharaoh was going to let you
go. Now, everything was opposed to
human understanding and reasoning. You mean to tell me that God
turned water into blood. Pharaoh wouldn't let them go.
And all of those other plagues, that darkness, and the lice,
and the frost, and the locusts, and the hail, and all of those
things that you know were sent by Almighty God. And Pharaoh's
heart was hardened, and he wouldn't let the people go. And Moses
says, God said, He's going to let you go this time. Nothing
but faith in God's Word would cause Moses to go to the people
and give them those minute details that had to be adhered to exactly
for deliverance. Up until this point, all that
had happened is that Pharaoh just increased the burdens of
the people because of the plagues. And now God is going to kill
the firstborn. And Pharaoh has a son. He's firstborn. And all of these plagues that
come up, and Pharaoh has piled more burdens on us. God is going to come through
and He's going to kill the firstborn through faith. Every difficulty
was overcome. And every fear was shown to be
groundless by faith. This is what God said. This is
what God promised. By faith. Totally upon God's
Word. The Scripture says, Moses kept
the Passover. He had God's Word. And he believed
that Almighty God was going to deliver the people out of Egypt. But he saw in that Passover,
he saw more than just a physical deliverance out of Egypt. Moses saw the glory of Christ
and the deliverance of God's people out of the bondage of
sin. Moses saw that God's people were
born in sin, in bondage, just like any other man, and needed
deliverance. And he saw that a lamb was going
to have to be provided. God was going to have to provide
Himself a lamb. A sacrifice for an atonement
was absolutely necessary. How do I know? that Moses saw
these things. Because the Lord said to those
Pharisees that said, we believe Moses, we trust Moses, we're
of Moses. He said, if you believed Moses,
you would have believed Me. Because Moses wrote of Me. Moses saw the glory of God in
the deliverance of God's people out of Egypt. He saw that a lamb
had to be taken from the flock. Moses saw that the Son of God
must be made flesh. He had to be one with his people
that he might be a fit sacrifice. You see, it was the nature of
man that sinned against God. And it was man that was going
to have to pay the penalty for offending Almighty God. A man
was going to have to obey God. A man was going to have to die.
Ah, but more than just a man. It was going to have to be a
perfect man. Sinless. That lamb that was to
be sacrificed for that Passover had to be without blemish. Perfect. And he saw in that Lamb being
without blemish that the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Lamb, was
perfect in His nature. Separate from sinners. He knew
no sin conceived by the Holy Spirit. God's sacrifice to be
accepted by Almighty God would have to be the one that would
suffer for the sins of the people. to pay their debt totally that
was owed to the broken law, but also would be their holy life. One had to die as the substitute. He had to die being made sin. And he had to be holy and without
blame himself. Only in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ did we find that. had to be one that could suffer
the penalty for sin and die for it. And then after the penalty
was paid, there was no guilt there. After the debt was paid,
he had nothing of himself that he owed to Almighty God because
of the sin. When death was there for you
and I, We have sinned against the eternal, infinite God. So our debt is eternal and infinite. Not His. He could suffer the
penalty that was owed to Almighty God being made sin for us. And
when death was found, when He died, it's over! He died! His debt was not eternal. Our
debt was. And He took an eternal debt That
debt that, as I said before, for 1,500 years, the blood of
bulls and goats, that blood was shed and never put away. One
sin. Why? Because the debt was not
incurred by a bull or a goat. By one man's sin. By one man's sin. One sin. By one sin, an entire world was plunged into
death. One sin. Oh, the exceeding sinfulness. One sin. You think about that. One sin. That one sin killed
an entire race. One sin. God's holy. He is holy. But by one man's obedience, one
man's obedience, Almighty God took the entire debt of His people. And His Son was made that. Holy. Without blame. That perfect sacrifice. was pictured by that Lamb that
was without blemish. An almighty God that saw His
Son, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He justified
all of His people eternally. But He was going to have to come
into this world and die as a man slain for us Moses told the people,
he said, you take every household that has a lamb. He did tell
them, he said, now if it's a small, if a household is small, a lamb
could stand for two households. But you take that lamb and you
slay it. And this is how I want it done.
You slay that lamb. You take the blood of that lamb
and you put that blood on the top and on the sides, the door
post of your door. That blood has to be my covering. I must be hidden behind that
blood. That lamb had to be slain. The blood had to be applied.
That lamb had to be roasted. Just exactly setting forth the
suffering of the fiery wrath of Almighty God's justice. God is just. He is just. And as I've said before, no sin
is ever just swept under the rug. The soul that sinneth is
going to die. And God's people, pictured in
that lamb that night, that Passover, that was a picture type of the
sacrifice of the precious Lord Jesus Christ. And don't you think
for one second, when He was made sin, that that being made sin
for us, that we didn't die in Him, because we did. Paul said,
I was crucified with Christ. We suffered in our substitute. What mercy! What compassion! What grace! No bone could be
broken in that Lamb. Signifying that not one of God's
people would perish. The bone of His bone. But you
know, I'll tell you something else that I thought about when
no bone would be broken. You remember when the Lord was
crucified and it said that the soldiers came through and they
were going to break the bones of those that were being sacrificed,
the Lord and those two thieves right there. When they came to
the Lord, He was already dead. If they had broken His bones,
or He couldn't hold Himself up, that's what would happen. They'd
try to give themselves a little strength and get some air. They
were suffocating from what they were doing. When that came to
him, he had already died. He gave himself. He gave up the
ghost. He said, no man touched my life,
man. I give it freely. I laid down my life. That lamb
had to be eaten. You know, we eat by faith. of the flesh and drink of the
blood. That's what he said, John 6.53,
except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood,
you have no life in you, except we by faith eat of His life and
of His death. By faith, believe it. When He
lived, He lived for me. When He died, He died for me.
Except you eat of His flesh and drink of His blood, you have
no life through faith. Moses kept the Passover and the
sprinkling of the blood. Now listen, last. He that destroyed the firstborn
should touch them. Humanly speaking, there was no
difference. Humanly speaking, there was no
difference between the Egyptians and the Hebrews. all of sin and come short of
the glory of God. The only difference between the
Hebrews and the Egyptians was the grace of God. The electing,
predestinating grace of Almighty God. Because God Almighty chose
to show mercy to whomsoever he would. I will have mercy on whom
I'll have mercy." You say, are you telling me that he chose,
and they were both the same, dug out of the same lump. That's
right. And that God said, I'm going to show mercy to the Hebrews,
and I'm not going to show mercy to the Egyptians. Is that what
you're saying? That's exactly what I'm saying. The potter has the right, out
of the same lump, same lump, to make one vessel into honor
and another into dishonor. Almighty God told Moses, you
tell the people, you kill the lamb, apply the blood, you eat
of the flesh, You roast it, eat it. Whatever is left in the morning,
you burn it. You put that blood on that door
post. And when I come through, when
I see the blood, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Now they could have stayed up
all night and they could have appealed to their heritage being
sons of Abraham and perished. They could have fasted. They
could have prayed and confessed their sins all night long and
died. But if that lamb had not been
slain, if they had not done exactly what God Almighty ordained, if
that blood had not been applied to the door, They would have
died. The firstborn of that household
would have died. Let me ask you this. Were they
spared because of their works? By faith. They were spared by
God's grace. They believed God. An Almighty
God. who told them exactly what he
wanted done, caused those people to be willing. They believed
God. Moses believed God. Moses, by
faith, told them, this is what you do, or God's going to kill
the firstborn. Whenever Almighty God sets forth
that we must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to be saved. Does our faith save us? No. For by grace are you saved through
faith. You believe what God says. God's people must believe God. They must believe God. But it
is God that gives them faith to believe. It is God Almighty
that gives His people faith to do what God said they must do. We must come to Him by faith. And we are willing in the day
of His power to call upon His name. And He keeps us by His
power. and keeps us, giving us faith
to believe. But no believer has any confidence
whatsoever in his flesh, in his abilities, in his works. He believes
God keeps him by faith. These people applied that blood,
and it was nothing but that blood that God Almighty set forth that
was honoring His Son God told them to put. That blood must
be sprinkled. It must be applied to me. And
God alone does that by grace. What God demands, God gives. What God ordains, God supplies. And God's people do not, do not
look to themselves and say, it was by my marvelous deeds that
I myself accomplished. You'd say, well, that was just
blood. That was just blood of a lamb. All that was was blood out of
an animal. But it was the one that Almighty
God was setting forth as being the salvation. The only reason
that Almighty God would pass over is because of the one that
that blood pictured. That deliverance that night was
a marvelous picture of the deliverance of Almighty God to His elect
by the application of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to our
souls. By faith, Moses kept the Passover,
lest the one who killed the firstborn should come through and touch
them. Do you have to believe? Yes,
you do. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. He that believeth not is going
to perish. Who gives you the faith? It is
God Almighty. It is God that worketh in you,
both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Who gets all the
glory for it? He does. Not unto us. Not unto us, Lord. Unto You.
Honor. Glory. Thanks be unto God that
it is God Almighty that gives His people faith to believe that
what God has done, He has done it for the honor of His Son,
for the good of His people, in their salvation, to His eternal
glory. Amen.