come to look at Exodus chapter
12 in particular, I want us to look at the context of it in
in the story of the Bible, and I want us to be mindful of the
context of it with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ coming
to Jerusalem at that particular time. He is, according to 1 Corinthians
5, verse 7, He is our Passover. So our Passover, the Passover
of all the elect children of God, the Passover of all those
who will be at the marriage feast of the Lamb, that Passover has
come to His temple as He's promised. And you, as we go through these
verses, I trust you'll see why the Lord Jesus Christ was so
enraged at what he found in that temple. The very Jews that had
been to examine John the Baptist and him up along the Jordan River
were there supervising these events in Jerusalem. So the Lamb
of God comes to his Passover and he comes four times in the
Gospel accounts, which is why we say that the Lord Jesus' ministry
was three years plus possibly six months. But he comes again
in John Chapter 5 and John Chapter 6 and then he comes at the end. And so the bookends of the Lord
Jesus' ministry are these coming in public ministry in Jerusalem
is all associated with the Passover, and he cleanses the temple at
the first time he comes to Jerusalem, and according to Matthew's account,
he cleanses the temple at the last time, which shows us several
things that he has absolute right and authority to do as he does
in his temple. It is his temple. And it shows
us, of course, the blindness and the darkness of the Jews. And the last coming, of course,
is just after the Lord Jesus Christ had raised Lazarus from
the dead. In the darkness of that tomb
and in the rottenness of a corrupting body, the Lord Jesus Christ comes
and he speaks life into that body and brings him out into
the light. And John's Gospel is full of
these remarkable accounts of light and darkness. And in these
accounts where we see again and again and again the darkness
of man and particularly the darkness of man in religion. But this
Passover in Exodus chapter 11 is the marks a new beginning. It marks a new beginning. What
a picture of salvation. It marks a new beginning. It's
an end of slavery. This is the last night before
freedom. This is the end of groaning in
bondage and under the hard labor of taskmasters, which is exactly
what the religion of the Jews is all about. And it comes at
an appointed and a promised time. All of God's acts in this world
are according to promise and purpose. There is nothing random
in this universe. Abraham was told at the covenant
ceremony in Genesis 15, and he said unto Abram, know of a surety,
that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs,
and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred
years. And Genesis finishes, there was
something left in Egypt for those 400 years. It was the bones of
Joseph. And the very end of Genesis is
that Joseph said unto his brethren, I die and God will surely visit
you. and bring you out of this land
into the land which he sware up to Abraham, to Isaac, and
to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the
children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and you
shall carry up my bones from hence." What a great picture
of salvation. What a great picture of resurrection.
So Joseph died being 110 years old, and they embalmed him, and
he was put in a coffin in Egypt. We don't for want of time have
time to go to those early chapters of Exodus, but you know the story
of Moses, that special child that was preserved by the remarkable
providential hand of God and raised from someone who was due
to be put to death to be someone who was the heir of the kingdom
of Egypt. But Moses comes, he spends those
40 years in Pharaoh's courts, and he spends 40 years in the
wilderness. He's an 80 year old man. And
the Lord comes and meets with him at the burning bush, which
is a glorious picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice
and salvation. But to get back to Exodus chapter
12, you know the story, Moses goes back and he has a purpose. He has a purpose, doesn't he?
I love what God says in Exodus 4, verse 23. And he's speaking
of the children of Israel here. And he says, he says in verse
22, And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is
my son, even my firstborn. And I say unto thee, Let my son
go, that he may serve me. And if thou refuse to let him
go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. chapter 5 verse 2 says this remarkable
words of the proud flesh of man the proud flesh of all of Adam's
children who think they are kings in this world he says who is
the Lord who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let
Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go
Who is the Lord? You can almost imagine Moses,
who has met the Lord, thinking to himself, you're about to find
out. You're about to find out in the
most remarkable way who is the Lord. Who is the Lord? He wants, our God desires that
his children be set free. His will is that his people come
and worship him that his own be with him in glory but I wonder
so you can go and look at your leisure at the plagues that came
upon Egypt and they were plagues upon every god of the Egyptians. They were plagues upon all of
that nation and this great superpower was reduced to rubble by the
hand of God. Moses went there with a promise
from God and a staff in his hand and nothing more. To take on
a superpower But the last plague, the last
plague, so typifies the plague that was upon nation Israel at
the time of the coming of the true Passover. The last plague
is a plague of darkness. Let's read from Exodus chapter
10 verse 21. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward
heaven, that there may be darkness over
the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses
stretched forth his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick
darkness in all of the land of Egypt three days. They saw not
one another, neither rose any from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel
had light in their dwellings. What a glorious picture of God
separating his people to himself. And the remarkable thing is that
none of the light that was in the houses of the Israelites
reached to the Egyptians. Such was the nature of that extraordinary
supernatural darkness. that none of that light reached
them. What an extraordinary picture of man in rebellion against God
and under the judgment of God. When the Lord Jesus came, he
came because a messenger spoke, didn't he? A voice came crying
in the wilderness and John the Baptist like Moses was a voice
that was crying and he has one cry doesn't he? Behold the Lamb
of God let my son go that he may serve me. So the Passover
that we will look at in Exodus chapter 12 is just a remarkable picture
of what the Lord Jesus Christ was doing and it's a remarkable
picture of not just those events that happened 2000 years ago,
it's a remarkable picture of our salvation in Him. And I love the fact that the
Passover marks the end of an old age of slavery. and brings
in a new age of freedom. It's for freedom that Christ
will set you free. You'll know the truth and the
truth will set you free. Freedom! And Paul spoke so wonderfully
of that in Galatians chapter 5, didn't he? The freedom that
the children of God have in the perfect and finished work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Stand fast therefore, brothers
and sisters in Christ, stand fast therefore in the liberty,
in the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free. And be not entangled, be not
ensnared, be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Paul
knew what this yoke of bondage. He was there in Jerusalem at
these festivals. He was part of all of this machinery
of man-made religion. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you,
that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For
I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he
is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect
unto you. The Passover is no effect unto
you. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, you are fallen from grace. For we, through the Spirit, righteousness with faith it's
a deliverance from bondage into a new freedom it's a deliverance
into a promised land it marked the beginning of a journey to
a promised land and the Passover according to Deuteronomy chapter
16 in that promised land was not to be had in everyone's individual
houses it was to be had in a place where God chose to place his
name That's not for nothing. It's not for nothing that this
time, this beginning of months for the Jewish nation is springtime. Springtime, when life comes from
the dead. So in the Northern Hemisphere,
that's in March and April, which is the time when people still
celebrate these things, but they celebrate them with no knowledge
of the Passover. They celebrate them today with
as much knowledge of the Passover as those the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
a deliverance from bondage into a new creation. We're going to
sing again. It's not in your hymn books.
Thank you Celeste. We do feel for you people that
we can't meet with for Daisy and others locked down and we
trust that this will come to an end very very soon indeed. We're going to sing Jesus paid
it all. All to him I hear the Savior say, strength
indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and
pray. Find in me thine all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
he washed it white I find thy power and thine alone
can change the laughter spots and melt the heart of stone. Jesus paid it all, all to him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
he washed it white For nothing good have I, whereby
thy grace to claim I have washed my garments white in the blood
of Calvary's Lamb. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne, I
stand in Him complete, Jesus died my soul to save. shall still repeat. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. and with those thoughts of the
judgment of Egypt and the darkness that fell upon that land and
the darkness that continued. No wonder John says that light,
the light, the light shineth There was a man sent from God,
his name was John, the same came for a witness, to bear witness
of that light, that all men through him might believe. He was not
that light, but he was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the
world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him
not. He came to his own people, he came to the Jews, and his
own received him not. But as many as received him,
to them he gave power to become the sons of God. even to them
that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of God, but of God. And the word was made flesh and
dwelt amongst us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So let's
ask the Lord's blessing upon our words. Heavenly Father, we
do pray that you do speak and speak the words of truth and
faithfulness about your Son, that we might find ourselves,
Heavenly Father, and continue to find ourselves
believing by your grace, our Father. We pray in Jesus' name
and for his glory. The darkness, the darkness of
Egypt was going to be, they were going to be left in that darkness.
We need to be reminded that the message that the Lord brought
From Moses to the people was a message that the Egyptians
didn't get. This was a message particularly
for the children of Israel. The Passover is particularly
for the children of Israel. And it's interesting in Paul's
reference to the Christ being our Passover in 1st Corinthians
chapter 7 he says purge out there for the old leaven that you may
build new life. What's the old leaven? The old
leaven is works Works, works, religion, isn't it? As ye are
unleavened for, because even Christ our Passover is sacrificed
for us. Therefore let us keep the feast,
not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and
wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. So let's turn in our Bibles to
Exodus chapter 12, and I trust the Lord might cause us to see
the Lord Jesus Christ in all of this, but also see the relevance
of all this to what we find ourselves looking at in John chapter 2. Verse 1, And the Lord spake unto
Moses an Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall
be unto you the beginning of months, and it shall be the first
month of the year for you, to you. The year is going to begin
with the Passover. The very beginning of things
is the Passover. It's the land that's slain from
the foundation of the world. And I love what he says, speaking
unto all the congregation of Israel, verse 3, saying, In the
tenth day of this month, shall they shall take to them every
man a lamb. The very first thing that's mentioned
is a lamb. The very first instruction is
behold the lamb. That's Isaac's wonderful question,
isn't it? Where is the lamb? Where is the
lamb? Where is the lamb? See this lamb is the lamb that
was slain in the garden to cover the shame and the nakedness and
to for God to bring Adam and Eve to him and strip away their
fig leaves of their own works and their own worth and their
own will and their own righteousness and leave them there naked before
him and they were covered from their shame by this lamb and
it's the lamb that Abel brought it's the lamb that Noah had on
the ark it's the lamb that Abraham bought and this lamb is the lamb
of the Passover now it's the lamb of the Passover and I love
what Abraham said to Isaac God will provide himself a lamb he'll
provide a lamb eternally he'll provide a lamb that's predestined
he'll provide a lamb that's promised he'll provide a lamb that's prophesied
he'll provide a lamb that's now provided as it was for abraham
and pictured in all of this is the lord jesus christ you see
the lamb if you see the lamb you'll worship god You'll see the Lamb. You will find yourself in love
with Him. In love with who He is and what
He's done. See the Passover Lamb, as we
said earlier, comes after the separation of darkness and light.
That physical darkness of that ninth plague leads to the darkness
of a judgment that's not seen. The people of this world go on
Believing themselves to be right, the people in religion go on
believing themselves to be safe and secure. I pray that the Lord
disturbs the comforts of people. Someone said that preaching is
about disturbing the comfortable and comforting the disturbed.
In judgment, as we'll see in this
passage, and as Pharaoh got to see, judgment comes swiftly,
and judgment comes totally. Now what an extraordinary judgment
it is to be left by God in the midst of him blessing people
all around you. Now unto this he says to us,
you cry. you cry, you seek the Lord, you
cry, you call on him." And that's the judgment of this darkness
that the Lord Jesus spoke to at the healing of the man born
blind. He says to those Jews that wouldn't
believe on the Son of God, and he says, for judgment, for judgment
I am come into this world that they which see might not see,
those that think that they can stand in judgment of God, those
who can still think and see through the lens of the poison that Satan
poured into the veins of all of Adam's race in that garden,
that they which see might not see, and they which see might
be made. God as Israel as Pharaoh and
Egypt we're going to find out our God is not to be trifled
with you provide you bring a lamb you take a lamb take to them
every man a lamb according to the house a lamb for a house
this first Passover was a family meal in all those individuals houses
But the family scattered in those houses is a picture of the family
of God. The whole family, the whole family
in heaven and earth is named according to Ephesians 3, 5.
And we, we are many, but as one family, we eat, we eat one sacrifice
and we're worshiping one savior. And in verse 5, we have the description
of the lamb, the qualities of the lamb. there is a particularity
about the lamb you can't just get any old lamb and bring it
to this sacrifice there is just one lamb that suits doesn't it
it is a lamb without blemish perfect as the law says it must
be perfect to be perfect to be accepted and God
will accept the lamb and nothing else it must be perfect must
be without blemish it must be a male of the first year a male
in the prime of its life as it were male of the first year and
you shall take it out from the sheep or the goats the Lord Jesus
Christ that goat pictures that scapegoat in the wilderness that
we can read about later on in Exodus, but the Lord Jesus Christ
is numbered with the transgressors. The Lamb of God is numbered with
the transgressors. He has made sin for us. He who knew no sin has made sin
for us. So there's families to take a
lamb. And in verse six, it's fascinating,
isn't it? And you shall keep it until the
14th day. So on the 10th day, back in verse
3, you take this lamb into your house, and four days later you
then sacrifice the lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ triumphantly
came into Jerusalem four days before his crucifixion. The day
he came in is what they call Lamb Selection Day, where you
chose the lamb for the Passover. Everything about this Passover
speaks of the of the Lord Jesus Christ. You take it into your
family. You keep it until the 14th day
of the same month. You take it in. It's identified
with you. It's in your family. It becomes,
as it were, part of your family. It's a private family affair.
But then look what he goes on to say in these instructions. keep it until the 14th day of
the same month and the whole verse 6 and the whole assembly
of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening
the whole congregation shall kill it in the evening of course
this speaks of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ in his
dying and death we were participants brother Israel participated in his death
but all of the saved children participated in his death in
the most remarkable way. All nation Israel together participated
in his death and all spiritual Israel are the beneficiaries
of his death. You kill it in the evening You
kill it in the evening. You kill it at the time of the
evening sacrifice. The darkness of those three hours
had finished and the Lord Jesus Christ cried, it is finished. And into your hands I commit
my spirit. And he gave up the ghost. He
gave up the ghost. His life wasn't taken from him. and for many. Verse seven, and
they shall take of the blood and strike it on the side, on
the two side posts and on the upper door posts of the house
wherein you shall eat it. You're not to tread on the blood
of the lamb as you walk in and out of your house. You are to
walk underneath the blood. and you have to have the blood
surround you on either side. You are to, that word stripe
means to put it, to give it mostly, to show, it's to be there on
the outside of the door. And of course it speaks to the
fact that this blood shed of the Passover lamb must be sprinkled. The blood shed must be applied. Shed blood doesn't save anyone. Shed blood applied to the hearts
of God's people. I love what Hebrews 12, 24 speaks
of. And it says, enter Jesus. Let's read from just 22, because
it's a glorious passage of scripture. But you will come to Mount Zion,
unto the city of the living God. the heavenly Jerusalem, and to
an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church
of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God, the judge
of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect." Righteous
men. in anything we are or anything
we do, all of our perfections into him. And verse 24, and to
Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. It's sprinkled blood. Moses sprinkled
blood on everything to do with the temple and the sacrifice
and the book itself, didn't he? We now, as Romans 5 says, we
now receive the atonement. It is shared and it is applied. There's not a single hint in
the scriptures that the Egyptians looking on these thousands and
thousands of houses took any note whatsoever of this blood. The blood is shared, particularly
the blood is shared He's a mediator, isn't he, fool?
And Roman says... verse 9 of Romans 5 much more
than now being justified by his blood shall we be saved from
wrath through him for if when we were enemies we were reconciled
to God by the death of his son how much more being reconciled
shall we we shall be saved by his life and not only so but
all we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom
we have now received the atonement the blood shed is blood sprinkled
the blood shed is blood applied by faith the blood is applied
to our doors isn't it to our coming and going in this world
to everything in this world about the children of god it's under
the blood and verse 8 of exodus chapter 12 and they shall eat
They shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire and unleavened
bread, and with bitter herbs shall they eat it. We have no doubt about what it
means for there to be a roasting with fire of this lamb. It is
and particularly speaks of the wrath of God poured out on the
Lord Jesus Christ. But then that's eaten, isn't
it? You shall eat of the flesh in that night. In that night,
you might recall that in John's Gospel, to those people who followed
the Lord Jesus Christ because of what could fill their bellies,
he spoke to them in words that only the eyes of his people will
see, isn't it? But the Lord Jesus Christ said,
He said, I am the living bread which came down from heaven,
John 6, 51. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The
Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, how can this man give
us his flesh to eat? A Passover lamb he was speaking
of, wasn't he? Then Jesus said unto them, verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the Living Father
has sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me
Even he shall live by me. This is the bread that came down
from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna,
and I did. He that eateth this bread shall
live forever. It's a true living faith. is
by eating the sacrifice. True living faith is in that
union with the sacrifice. It becomes one with you. Your
life, your new life in Christ is sustained by eating the sacrifice. It fills and generates every
cell of our bodies. Roasted with fire. Roasted with
fire. Isaiah 53 they're familiar words
but i love looking at them again and again and again and it says
it pleased verse 10 of isaiah it pleased the lord to bruise
him literally to crush him he hath put him to grief When thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul, and be satisfied, he shall be satisfied. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall roasted with fire. made that altar and put the lamb
on the altar and the wood on the altar. It was the fire from
heaven that lit that flame and lit that sacrifice. It was the
fire from heaven that did exactly the same thing when Solomon set
up the temple. It is the fire from heaven that
fell on the sacrifice at Mount Carmel in the days of Elijah. There is a just wrath wrath that the Lord Jesus Christ
drank dry, didn't he? None of us, and me in particular,
think with sufficient reverence to what happened in the garden
or on the cross, and I pray that the Lord would continue to take
us back to broken heart in the garden. As
it were, he bore and bared himself as the weight of all those sins
came upon him. And he had that cup in his hand,
a cup that the Father had given him, a cup that he must drink. And this cup is, there's no question
in my mind what's in that cup. People say it's the wrath of
God and there's a rightness and a correctness about that. But
what was in that cup was all the sins of God's people. This
speaks, this Passover speaks of what we love to proclaim and
that is the particular redemption and the purposeful redemption
and the real redemption and the satisfactory redemption of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That in that cup were all those
sins and the righteous and just wrath of God. There's remarkable verses in
Revelation. I can just read them to you in
Revelation 14. He says, And there followed another
angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is the great city, because she
made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication. And the third angel followed
them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast
in his image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his
hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God,
which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. And he shall be tormented with
fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the
presence of the Lamb. We are to eat, but when we eat,
I trust the Lord will cause us to remember, to remember the
lamb roasted with fire. We are to eat it, this lamb roasted
with fire, with unleavened bread. Of course, leaven speaks of sin. It is. We are to eat it without
the yeast of man's work. And after this Passover there
was a seven day feast of the unleavened bread where there
was to be no yeast in any of the houses, no yeast of man's
works, no yeast of man's mixing. There's no mixing of anything
with the sacrifice. No wonder the Lord Jesus Christ
was so offended by the pollution of that temple. eats. The new man feasts upon
the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified and with bitter herbs
that obviously speaks of contrition and repentance and godly sorrow
for sin and as we I try and keep reminding people we only ever
see anything of our sins when we see them laid upon the Lord
Jesus Christ when God took the sword of his justice we get some glimpse of God's
horror and hatred of sin. I read that verse to you last
week but I love it in Zechariah chapter 12 verse 10. He says, I will pour out upon
the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the
spirit of grace and supplications and they shall look upon me.
whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth
for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one
that is in bitterness for his firstborn. verse 9 and you're not to you
only ever to have it roasted it's only the lamb sacrificed
with fire roasted that is sufficient for the Passover you eat it not
raw nor sodden that's boiled or broiled at all with water
but roast it with fire his head his head his legs and with the
pertinence thereof And verse 10, and you shall let nothing
of it remain until the morning. It's to be consumed completely
in that night, with no mixture, with no diminution of any sort
whatsoever. at all. And here in verse 11
we have in a sense the posture of the sinner saved, the posture
of the one who is to be redeemed by the Passover lamb. I can't help but think that Paul
was speaking of this when he spoke in Ephesians chapter 6
of your loins gird about with the truth you shall eat it with
your loins girded your loins girded with shoes on your feet
Paul goes on to say in Ephesians 6 shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace and with the staff in your hand with faith
in our hands and you shall eat it in haste you are to be fully
dressed you are to be fully ready to leave ready to leave now ready
to leave with God ready to leave having eaten you shall eat it
in haste I love the description of it and I want us to think
about what the Holy Spirit declared when he said in John chapter
2 it says it's the Jews Passover. You see what it says here? You
eat it with your loins girded, your shoes in your feet, your
staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's
Passover. It's not man's Passover. It's
not man to dictate how it is to be prepared, how it is to
be sacrificed. It is all in the Lord's hand.
It's the Lord's Passover. It's the Lord's Passover. In
verse 12, we see that in salvation there is judgment
and justice. God will be honored. Verse 12, For I will pass through
the land of Egypt this night, and I will smite all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the
gods of Egypt will I execute judgment. I The wrath of God fell on every
house in Egypt that night. The wrath of God either falls
on you as an Egyptian, The wrath of God fell on the
ark and fell on all, but the people in the ark were hidden
in the Lord Jesus Christ and God shut them in. In a sense,
the doors of these houses were shut in with blood, weren't they?
They were there, protected and preserved by the blood. As I
said earlier, it's blood applied. I love what this verse says.
I trust the Lord writes it on your heart. And the blood shall
be to you for a token in the houses where you are. And when
I see the blood, I will pass over you. As I said earlier,
this is one of the most glorious promises in all of the scripture.
I'm so glad that God wrote it. I'm so glad that God signed and
sealed this remarkable promise with his son. See, it's blood
applied. Applied to the door of places
that saves. It's not just blood shed. It's
where the blood is applied. And where the blood is applied,
there's an understanding of justice executed. I love what Mr. Hawker said. An unapplied ransom
is no ransom. An unapplied saviour is no saviour. of this in Hebrews chapter 9,
the Bible to the Hebrews in verse 19 says, For when Moses had spoken
every precept to all the people according to the law, he took
the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and
hyssop and sprinkled both the book and all the people. saying,
this is the blood of the Testament which God has enjoined unto you. Moreover, he sprinkled with blood
both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the tabernacle. This
blood shed in Egypt is going to be shed again and again and
again throughout the Old Testament and all of it speaks of the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. What extraordinary promise from
our God when I see the blood of Passover. John in his letter
1st John says in verse 7 chapter 1 but if we walk in the light
as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another this
was a fellowship in a communion meal wasn't it we have fellowship
one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses
us from all sin this blood shall be a This blood is seen by God. This blood is not seen by those
inside the house. I'm sure on that night there
were people in those houses who were very, very fearful of what
might happen that night. There were people in those houses
who had sinned extraordinary sins in that same day. for which they felt enormous
remorse. The point is, the glorious gospel
point is, it's what God sees that saves, brothers and sisters,
and not what we see. Not what we see. We want to make
a memorial. I love what verse 14 says. And
this day shall be unto you, this beginning of your years. This
is where you mark the beginning of your time. You mark the beginning
of your days. This day shall be unto you for
a memorial and you shall keep it for a feast to the Lord. To those who are redeemed by
the Lord. Those who have eaten the Passover
lamb, those who have become one with him, those for whom he died,
we feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You'll keep
it a feast by an ordinance forever. It's a glorious picture. of what
our Lord Jesus Christ was going to come and do on Calvary's tree. And that extraordinary transaction
was done for those three hours in the dark. That we would know
that it's an extraordinary transaction, the salvation of our souls is
a transaction between God the Father and God the Son. And that
the light that we have on that transaction is a light that God
gives to us. spirit as he reveals the Lord
Jesus Christ to us. It begins, it marks the beginning,
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ marks the beginning of
a new creation for all of his people when that blood shed,
that roasted lamb is eaten and it's applied to us. Joseph Joseph's bones were there as a reminder of the promises
of God that those bones of Joseph's which were there in Egypt and
had been there for 400 years were going to be taken out and
brought into the land of promise and resurrected from the land
of promise. As I said at the beginning of our time together
these glorious pictures show us the promised activities of
our God in this world in the salvation of his people and they
are promised and then they are pictured and then they are fulfilled
in the Lord Jesus Christ but in their fulfillment again and
again there is this promise of more to come brothers and sisters He's coming back to take every
single one of his people out of this land, out of this creation,
into the new creation. And it's all going to be because
of the finished work of him and his blood, shed for us, and our
participation in that. The Loveless Psalm 85 verse 10
says, Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace
have kissed each other. Our God will be a just God and
a saviour. He'll save his people by the
exhibition of his justice in punishing their sins perfectly
and completely, completely. the Lord is a Passover. Let's
pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that
the shed blood of your Son might be applied again and again to
our hearts and we might find ourselves, Heavenly Father, being
set free from sin, set free from the entanglements of this world,
that we might We might rejoice in Christ our Passover, Heavenly
Father, we might be thankful for your extraordinary promises
that when you see the blood of your Son, you'll Passover, you'll
be well. Your wrath will be expended upon
him and it cannot be expended again because you are a just
and holy and righteous God. We praise you, Heavenly Father,
for sending your Son and we praise you work, that promised work and
that applied work, our Father. Cause us, our Father, just simply
to trust, simply to rest all of the hope of our eternal salvation
in and upon your dear and precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We
pray in his name and for his glory, our Father. Amen. Well
I thank you for joining with us today and as we always do
I was going to finish by reading those verses from Jude verse
24 and verse 25 and I pray that the Lord will bless you where
you are this week and that if he is our portion and if he is
our Passover then deliverance now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only wise
God our Savior be glory and majesty dominion and power