He makes me triumph over death
and saves me from the grave. He saves me from the grave. Thank you, Linda. Well, I can't say how good it
is to see you this morning. It's a real blessing to my heart.
It's good to be on vacation from our vacation. I don't know whoever
called it R&R. I'm not sure they knew what they
were talking about, rest and relaxation. But I'll tell you
what it is, though. Mentally, it's a beautiful holiday
to get away for a while. Mentally the greatest challenge
I faced all last week was to whether to order the oysters
or the soft-shell crab And that's like that was good, and I got
the oysters But y'all know what I mean, it's good to get away.
It's good to get back especially like this I We've had some time to think
about what this is, haven't we? And I'll tell you what it is.
It's vital. You know that, don't you? It's vital. It is the single most important
thing we do in this life, is gather together as a family and
worship our Savior. And it's a blessing to do it
with you this morning. I just want to read our text
and pray. We may still have a reading list.
I don't know who's on it or where we're at exactly with that.
Does anybody know they're supposed to be reading this morning? It's
been a while. But I'll just read our text. It's just two verses in Luke
22. Turn with me there and think
about each word. This is just two short verses of scripture,
but so full. of gospel significance. Luke 22 one. Now the feast of
unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. And the
chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him. for they feared the people. The religious leaders of that
day sought how they might kill the Lord Jesus Christ. Religion
presumes to worship God, but they sought to kill the one alone
who is to be worshiped. Let's pray together. Our gracious Father, thank you
for your many, many blessings upon this family and upon each
one of us. Thank you for bringing us together
this morning. What a privilege and what an
honor. And how you've impressed upon
us here recently. How blessed we are that you've
brought this family together here in this place and that you've
brought your gospel to us and that you meet with us. How gracious you are to meet with us. Bless your gospel this morning,
Lord, to our hearts. Feed us. Comfort your people. and cause us to glory in you
alone. In Christ's precious name we ask. Amen. Think how beautifully God arranged
this scene here. Two things converged together at one time. The Passover drew nigh. And that corresponded in time
with this fact The religious Jews sought to kill the Lord
Jesus Christ What is the Passover what happened to the Passover
verse 7 look at verse 7 Then came the day of unleavened
bread when the Passover must be killed. That's what the Passover
was. It was something to be killed. And they plotted to kill the
Passover at the time of the Passover by God's beautiful arrangement. I've heard it said that to thoroughly address a
subject, and I think this is good, Somebody said this to thoroughly
address any subject you should tell your listeners what you're
gonna say Then say it and then tell them what you said That's
a good way to preach well, here's what I'm gonna say Here's what
I'm gonna say Christ is the Passover We don't observe a Passover day
or feast because Christ is our Passover. Colossians 2.8 if you'd
like to turn there. Colossians 2.8. Beware lest any man spoil you. Through philosophy and vain deceit. Think about what he's talking
about here. He's saying beware all of this for a reason. Philosophy, that's the wisdom
that man can come up with. Philosophy is man trying to figure
out what is and why. What's true and why. Beware of
that. Man can't answer that. In vain deceit. Some might use
the scriptures, but how are they using them? Are they saying what
God said? Or are they deceiving people?
After the tradition of men, that's normal in the religion. That's
just traditional to deceive people. Isn't that right? After the rudiments
of the world, and here's the problem with all of that. It's
not Christ. There's just one problem with
all of that. There's one problem with everything that man comes
up with and believes and trusts. It's not him. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. And you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality
and power. So we don't observe a Passover
because Christ is our Passover, keeping God's Passover. Before we begin reading in Exodus
12, which you know we're going to do, because if we're talking
about the Passover, we need to know what the Passover is. But
before, and that's in Exodus 12, if you want to kind of turn
over there, we'll look at verses one through 13. But remember,
how that God sent the plagues upon Egypt. And you remember
why. God came down to this earth and
presented himself in the form of a flaming bush that was not
consumed. And he spoke to Moses from that
flame. But you remember what he said
to Moses essentially is, I've come down here, I've heard the
cry of my children, and I've come down to save them. That's
the gospel. That's the gospel. Throughout
all the ages of this world, there are some sinners that cry out
to God for mercy. And God has mercy on sinners.
He delights to show mercy. And they cry out to him because
of his mercy. Not the other way around. But
remember how that God sent the plagues upon the land. He sent
Moses to tell Pharaoh, the first time that God spoke to Moses
through Pharaoh, what was the message? Do you remember? Let
my people go. And Egypt and Pharaoh represent
this world and the bondage that men are in by nature. There were
generations now. The children of Israel had been
born into bondage for years, for hundreds of years. And that's
a picture of us. We're born into bondage. We're
slaves of the day we're born, slaves to sin and self and Satan
and everything, every enemy. But God said, My people are coming
out one way or the other. He didn't say it and that's me
paraphrasing, but that's what he said. And he said to Pharaoh,
you let him go. You let him go. So the purpose
of God in all of this is what? Simple. The salvation of his
people. When you see that word Passover, that's what it's about.
You remember where the Lord said, when your children ask you what
all this is, you're going to observe this from now on. We
don't observe the Passover exactly the way they did because they
killed a lamb and our lamb has already been slain for us, the
lamb of God that takes away sin. But we look to him and we worship
him the same and we observe the table which pictures him and
his precious body and his shed blood. And he said, when your
children ask you, what's all this about? Tell them it's the
Lord's Passover. And he's not saying just say
that because their next question is going to be what's the Passover,
right? He's saying explain to them what this is. This is how
God saves sinners. That's what it is. Well, how
does he do that? Let's look at it. Let my people
go. It's about the deliverance of
God's elect from bondage. It clearly pictures the salvation
of all of his elect in every kindred, tribe, nation, and tongue
under heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ said to
the religious Jews in John 8, 28, listen, he said, when you
have lifted up the son of man, then shall you know that I am
he and that I do nothing of myself, but as my father hath taught
me, I speak these things, and he that sent me is with me, and
the father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things
that please him. And as he spake these words,
many believed on him. Many believed on him and then
said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue
in my word, then are you my disciples indeed? I've said this to you
before, are you saved? I think old D down here might
just be a believer. But I don't know for sure. But
ask me again 10 years from now and I'll tell you. And then,
you know what I'm gonna tell you then? Ask them in another
10 years. If you continue, if you follow,
look like Judas was one too, didn't it? Looked like it, he
was a gospel preacher. Sure looked like it, but he didn't
continue. But look at what he said, listen
to what he said now. If you continue in my word, then
you're truly my disciples. A disciple, it's today that counts,
doesn't it? Do you believe on him today?
you believe on the Son of God? Not have you believed on Him,
or are you going to believe on Him? Do you believe on Him?"
He said this, and you'll know the truth, and the truth will
make you free. That's what we're talking about
freedom. Freedom from bondage. From generational born into bondage. The truth. And they said, we
be Abraham's seed we were never in bondage to any man. How sayest
thou you shall be made free? answered them, "'Verily, verily,
I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.'"
You're a slave and you don't even know it. You're born into
bondage. And you remember we talked about
Egypt before. Pharaoh forced the people of
God to make bricks without anything to make them out of. They complained,
you know, and he said, well, I'm not even gonna give you any
straw to make bricks, and you make bricks. That's the bondage
of the law. You've got to please God, but
you can't please God. You can't measure up to God's
law. God's law says make bricks. Where
you gonna get the straw from? You don't have any. You can't
make that. What a picture of our situation. It's hopeless, isn't it? It's
hopeless, helpless bondage. But he said, you're a slave to
yourself, and you don't even know it. And the servant abideth
not in the house forever, but the son does. The son abideth
forever, and if the son therefore shall make you free, you shall
be free indeed. That's what we need. We need
the son of God to make us free. You're not gonna earn your freedom.
Pharaoh's never gonna be satisfied with you. He's never gonna be
done with you. God's gonna have to bring you
out of there. And how does he do it? By the blood of a lamb. What a strange way to win a victory. What a glorious way. So the Passover
has to do with God saving his people from bondage, from slavery
to sin. How's he going to do that? You
remember that God told Moses early on now, And think about
this, it's not God trying his best. Some people might look
at that, and I've seen it portrayed, that God's trying to, he's sending
a plague, he's sending this plague, that didn't work, but God's gonna
keep on trying. He told Moses from the start,
he's not gonna let you go. Not gonna happen. Until, when
that blood is shed, and the blood is put on the door, and the lamb
is eaten, and I see that blood, Get your walking shoes on and
your walking stick ready. You're going home. The water was turned into blood
and the frogs covered everything and flies. Boy, that one really,
I can't stand a nasty fly. And they were covered everything.
They couldn't sleep. And all of that, the hail, the
giant hail, it just crushed everything. I'll tell you this, if God wants
to do you in, you're fixing to be done in, aren't you? But then
God said, he said, he said, I'm going to harden his heart. He's
not going to let you go. But I'm going to send one final
plague and he's going to let you go there. And that's what
happened. Salvation is according to God's will and it cannot be
thwarted. The Passover. final plague. It's freedom. It's the Son making
you free. That's what our text is about
this morning. So, look at Exodus 11. Yeah, look at Exodus 11 if
you're at chapter 12 it's nothing just to turn back to chapter
11 and let's look a little bit at that verse 4, Moses said,
thus saith the Lord about midnight, will I go into the midst of Egypt
and And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die,
from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the
maid's servant that is behind the mill. And all the firstborn
of beasts, and there shall be a great cry throughout all the
land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be
like it any more, but against any of the children of Israel
shall not a dog move his tongue." Not only are you not going to
die from that plague of the firstborn, it's not going to touch your
house, but nothing else is either. You're not even going to have
an accident or get in some kind of trouble. Not a dog shall move
his tongue against man or beast. And here's why. Because the truth of the matter
is, when religion says God is trying to save everybody, and
he's done all he can do, and now that it's up to you, the
truth of the matter is, it's just the opposite of that. That God
has made a difference between you and everybody else. Isn't
that a glorious truth? That's why God does things the
way he does, so that you'll know that. Do you know that? Maybe you're wondering, am I
one of his then? You know how you find that out? You come to
him and say, Lord, if you will, you can have mercy on me. You're
a savior that can save whoever he wants to. And if you want
to, I'll be saved. That's how you come. Save the sinner's prayer. You
don't need that. It's got to come from right here, doesn't
it? Throw that thing away and cry out to God from your heart,
God, have mercy, I'm a wretch. I'm hopeless, I'm helpless without
you. I'm sinful and evil and vile. But if you wanna have mercy
on me, you can. And I sure do need your mercy.
Well, so look at chapter 12, verse one. Chapter 12, verse 1, this is
what our Lord, this is what it's talking about. The feast of the
Passover was nigh, and they sought to kill him. Who? The Passover. And the Lord spake
unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month
shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first
month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation
of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month, They shall
take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their
fathers, a lamb for a house. Now we know that every single
sinner, it's between them and God now, and you've got to have
a lamb. But during this time, the father
was priest over the household, and so he was representative
of all of the house. And also, only the firstborn
was killed, but that's a picture of everybody in that house now.
Everybody in that house. God wasn't done with the world
yet, so he didn't kill everybody. That's what we all deserve, but
you see the representation here. For every house, a lamb. There wasn't a lamb killed by
every single person, but for every family and for every one,
by representation. In other words, if your father
killed a lamb for your family, then there was a lamb killed
for you. You see that here? It was killed for you, the father
acting as priest for that family, just as the high priest later
would kill a lamb for all on the Day of Atonement for all
of the land of Israel, picturing God's spiritual elect. But here it was the father and
it was for each family. The point is this, everybody,
needs a lamb and he must be slain for them. Everybody, everyone. In the matter of the salvation
of a sinner now, this is personal, it's between the sinner and God.
Every individual person must have a lamb slain for them. Christ
Jesus was not just slain for mankind in general, he was slain
for you if you're his. This is my blood which is shed
for mankind? No. He said, this is my blood
which is shed for you. He was slain for you. If you're
not one of his, then he was not slain for you. Think about that
for a second. Egypt is the world. And the Jews,
picture the elect of God from every nation. When those lambs
were slain, were any of those lambs slain for an Egyptian?
Was there a single lamb slain that night for an Egyptian? Not
according to God's word, there wasn't. And so what was the difference?
Do you suppose God could have told everybody? Let's talk hypothetically
for a second. Our Lord did that sometimes,
didn't he? He spoke hypothetically. He said, if this would have happened,
then this would have happened. So, think about this for a second.
Do you suppose that God could have told everybody in Egypt
that night, if you kill a lamb you'll be saved? Egyptian or
Jew, doesn't matter. Anybody that kills a lamb will
be saved. Now, you think He could have done that? Could God have
arranged it where one lamb was slain for everybody in the place?
And whoever prayed maybe for salvation by that lamb, or whoever
walked an aisle somewhere or something, and said, I want to
be saved, would have been saved. He could have arranged it that
way. If that's the way it was, if that's how sinners were saved,
but it's not that way. It's not, it doesn't happen like
that. God makes a difference between people. And the difference
is the lamb. And this is very simple, isn't
it? Very simple. There was death in every house
that night on Passover night, there was death in every house.
In the houses of the Egyptians, a sinner died. Picturing all
sinners and what we deserve by nature from God. In the houses of the Israelites,
a lamb died instead, in the stead of a sinner. Picturing clearly
our Lord Jesus Christ and how God saves sinners by his precious
blood. Now either you will die forever
because you richly deserve it, or you will not die forever in
spite of the fact that you richly deserve it. And the difference
is the lamb. If Christ died for you, then
you will live forever. He that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. And that's true for every sinner
that believes on Christ. Now look at verse four. And if
the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor
next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls. Every
man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb."
So how many members of your family was taken into account? And how
much they could eat was taken into account? Were they not?
Did you see both of those in there? You know why? No leftovers. No leftovers now, and this goes
with verse 10, where he said later there, you're not to have
any of it left to the next day now. Eat all of it, eat all of
it. Why'd he say that? Now think
about this, the lamb should be shared if necessary with another
household, by smaller households, so that none of it would go uneaten. And there's a couple of beautiful
truths in that. It's all, it's only Christ, all
Christ, always Christ, in all of his glory, in all of his attributes,
in all of his truth that saves sinners. But also listen to this,
there was no lamb, there was no lamb for anybody that wasn't
gonna eat it that night. There was no available lamb.
There was only eaten lamb. Think about that now. There was
no, and there wasn't any, I don't like lamb, you know. Your kids
start saying, I don't like that, you know, and you end up having,
have any of you ever cooked three different suppers? There was none of that. All the
lamb was eaten. Think of the simple truth here.
All of the lamb was eaten and everybody who was one of God's
own ate lamb. Listen to what the Lord said
about that. In John 6, 53, then Jesus saith unto them, except
ye, verily, verily, I say unto you, verily, verily, except you
eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have
no life in you. Who so 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 hath ears to hear, let
him hear." This is a spiritual book. Don't try to make something
strange or weird or disgusting out of that and call it religion. You've got to partake of God's
Passover by faith, by faith in the Son of God. And His flesh
and His blood are mentioned separately because that's Christ and Him
crucified. It's His person and what He did. People talk about Jesus, Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus, this, believe on Jesus, what Jesus? And they talk
about somebody dying on a cross, but who was it that died on the
cross? You see why it's got to be His body and His blood. It's got to be who he is and
what he did. Who he is made what he did what
it was. And what he did, being who he
is, will save his people, which is what all of this is about,
as we've already seen. He redeemed them with his precious
blood. I never did turn back to Exodus 12 because I had that
part in my notes, but this next part I don't. So let me get over
there. I want you to look at verses 43-46 in Exodus 12. Exodus 12.43, And the Lord said unto Moses and
Aaron, this is the ordinance of the Passover. There shall
no stranger eat thereof. There ain't no leftover left.
The Egyptians couldn't come over and say, We've been hearing about
this. No, his people ate all of it. There's no available lamb. There's
none available. No stranger can eat of it. They're
not invited. Well, Chris, aren't we supposed to
preach the gospel to everybody? Of course we are. I'm not God.
I don't know who's going to eat and who's not going to eat, but
he does. He does now. And the Lord said in the moment,
this is the ordinance of the Passover. There shall no stranger
eat thereof, but every man's servant that is bought for money,
when thou has circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. A foreigner and an hired servant
shall not eat thereof. Now, if you're just a hired servant,
if you're just kind of on rent, you don't get any lamb. If you're
bought, you can eat. You see the gospel in all this,
you're balked. In one house shall it be eaten,
thou shalt not carry forth all of the flesh it brought out of
the house, except in the case where he said before, you're
sharing the lamb. Neither shall you break a bone
thereof. That's a clear one and two. Not a bone shall be broken. That was normal for them to break
the legs of those hanging on the cross. because they would
have hung there for days and days and days and suffered. And
they let that go on for a while. Now they wanted them to suffer,
but at some point, and of course, you know, because they had their
religious holiday coming up, they were breaking, they were
going ahead and ending it because you supported yourself with your
legs on the cross. And that's how you were able
to breathe. Our Lord Jesus had already given up his spirit,
committed his spirit to the father long before they came around.
To break legs. And all the congregation of Israel
shall keep it. All the congregation of Israel.
So you see it was specific. It was distinguishing. Christ
the Lamb of God slain for God's spiritual elect is not available
to everybody. He didn't die to make salvation
available. He died to save somebody and
he did. Is that simple enough? That's
the difference between the truth and false gospel now. It's a
vital difference. No leftovers. He was slain for
a specific people. He's partaken of by faith, by
all of those people, every one of them. That's what it pictures
there. All that the father giveth me shall come to me. Every one
of his elect are going to partake of the lamb. And him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out." And as I've said before
to you, anybody that has a problem with that boy, you know, election
excludes people. No, election includes people.
Your sin is what excludes you. If you have a problem with God
choosing some, why don't you just come to him for mercy? He
said, I won't cast you out, didn't he? You know why you won't? Because
you can't stand him. Well, verse five, your lamb shall
be without blemish. A male of the first year in its
prime. You shall take it out from the
sheep or from the goats. I've recently, my daughters have
some goats of the first year in their yard right now. There
ain't nothing cuter than that. Boy, I'd hate to kill something
like that, wouldn't you? You should take it out. The most beautiful one. The most
precious one. With no blemish or spot. Healthy
and vital and strong. You can't just come to a Jesus
now, you've got to come to the Holy Lamb of God. That holy thing
that shall be born of Mary is the Son of God, and there ain't
but one. There's just one Lamb that has no blemish, in whose
mouth was found no gout, and there's only one Lamb that takes
away sin. John said, behold, the Lamb. The Lamb. The spotless Lamb of
God went to Calvary and made His own precious, sinless soul
an offering for the sins of His people. The spotless Lamb died
on Calvary. It had to be the Lamb without
blemish. A sinner can't pay for the sins of a sinner. Only the spotless Lamb can redeem
His people. Only His blood is precious enough
to pay for our sins. He says this in 1 Peter 3.18,
that Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just. There's a reason it says the
Lamb must be without blemish, because that identifies who He
is. He's God Almighty in human flesh. They kept saying about Him, only
God can do that. That's right. He's God Almighty
walking around in a body. The fullness of the Godhead in
a body, and that's the one that's got to offer his soul for our
sins on Calvary. He suffered for sins, the just
for the unjust. Don't be confused about that. That he might bring us to God. Being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit. And you remember what I just
read a minute ago? All that the Father giveth me shall come to
me. You know why? Because He died
that just for the unjust that He might bring us to God. That's
why we're coming. Because He brings us. The spotless
Lamb of God rose from the dead, death having no claim upon Him.
Why? Because He's the spotless Lamb.
What about our sin? He put them away. Having put my sin away forever
and having none of his own, the sin of all those for whom he
died is put away. And I love those words in the
text that we just read, verse five, your lamb, your lamb. It doesn't say the lamb. I like
that, don't you? Fade, fade each earthly joy. Jesus is mine. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. Bless God, his holy, spotless,
precious lamb is my lamb. Verse six, and you shall keep
it up until the 14th day of the same month and the whole assembly
of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
Can you imagine that? Everybody that was going to partake
of that lamb on Passover night, they killed it all at the same
time in the evening of that 14th day. Remember verse 7 now, the
next verse of our text, not of this passage, but in our text,
verse 7 of our text in Luke 22. The Passover, what's got to happen
to it? It's got to be killed, doesn't
it? It's got to be killed. It must be killed. Jesus in the
manger doesn't save, does he? No as precious as he was then
God's precious lamb then wasn't he Simeon said I've seen your
salvation looking at the little baby Jesus just on the Mount of Transfiguration
in his holiness shining forth in the glory of his person As glorious as he must have been
to behold there as he shined so bright and He didn't save us there. What he spoke of there on that
mountain of transfiguration was what? With Moses and Eli, the
death that he should accomplish. That's how he saved us. The Passover
must be killed. We preach Christ crucified. That's vital. That's vital now,
the Passover must be killed. Listen to Paul, Acts 17 to Paul,
as his manner was, went in unto them in three Sabbath days, reasoned
with them out of the scriptures. If you're gonna open the word
of God and reason with sinners from this book, what are you
gonna say? That Christ must needs have suffered. The Passover must
be killed. and risen again from the dead,
and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ, is Christ. If God's gonna be glorified in
all of his attributes, think of all of the attributes of God
and how Calvary, how God shines forth in all of his glory from
that. No wonder the Lord Jesus said there in John 17, Father,
glorify now, this is the hour. Glorify thy son that thy son
may also glorify thee. His justice. If God would kill
his own son as he bore our sin there, then God must punish sin. He's just and holy. His mercy,
his grace, his love, herein is love. Not that we loved God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our
sins. If sinners are going to be saved,
redeemed, accepted of God, then Christ must needs have suffered.
That's what we say when we open this book. That's what Paul said.
In verse 7, And they shall take of the blood and strike it on
the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses
wherein they shall eat it. The blood of the lamb signifies
the death of the lamb. When you see that blood, you
know somebody died. An innocent victim was slain.
It must be killed. And that blood is the symbol
of that. By putting it on the door, as
God instructed, they were saying by faith. If there's gonna be mercy for
me, if there's gonna be freedom for me, it's gonna be by this
blood. By grace are you saved. And that's
what we see, God made a difference, didn't he? That's grace. But
by grace are you saved through? Put it on the door. Through faith,
through faith. God gives you grace, he'll give
you faith, won't he? They were saying, by faith, the
only way that God is not gonna kill me is if his holy lamb has
died in my place. That's again what the publican
cry. God be propitious to me, the sinner. In other words, don't
kill the sinner. Propitiation has to do with bloodshed,
the offering, the sacrifice. And we're partaking of the lamb.
Notice it said, in the house that you eat of, you put the
blood on the door. You're eating it. You're partaking
of the lamb. You're presenting the lamb. And
we're trusting the lamb. The lamb is for us. The lamb
is in us. The lamb, the lamb. It was all
about the lamb. It still is. It still is in verse
eight. And they shall eat the flesh
in that night, roast with fire. When I said roast with fire,
I think it made me realize, made me think about how hot it was. I don't mean to joke about this
though. Think about what we're talking about. I'm sorry about
that. They shall eat of it, eat of
it not raw, nor sodden at all with water. It's just roasted
lamb, isn't it? Roast with fire, his head with
his legs and with the pertinence thereof. And you shall let nothing
of it remain until the morning. And that which remaineth of it
until the morning, you shall burn with fire." There's so much
teaching in this. The pertinence thereof was the
innards. You know, in many countries,
they eat everything, don't they? We wouldn't do that here. You
know, we wouldn't eat that stuff here. But that's kind of how
it is in religion, isn't it? There's parts of Christ that,
boy, yeah, He's going to take care of me and, you know, make
me prosper. You gonna take me to heaven when
I die? You know, there's parts that
people rejoice in. You start talking about who he
is now. And as we refer to verse 10 before,
let nothing of it remain until the morning, and that which of
it which remaineth of it until the morning, you shall burn with
fire." There is no available lamb. There's just the lamb slain
and eaten. That's key to this now. Roast
with fire because Christ bore the wrath of God for sin. Fire from heaven in the place
of his elect. He said, listen, in Lamentations
112, you'll recognize this part, is it nothing to you? All ye
that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto
my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted
me in the day of his fierce anger. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
bearing our sins in his body. I don't even know what that means
to you, but here's a little something about it. From above hath he
sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them. That's
what this Passover represents. Unleavened bread, because all
through scripture unleavened bread pictures sinlessness. It's undefiled, a little bit
of leaven leaveneth the whole lump. That's talking about sin.
1 Corinthians 5.6, listen to what Paul said about that. He
said, your glorying is not good. Remember that word glorying,
you boasting in yourself is not good. Know ye not that a little
leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Your glorying is the leaven,
it's sin. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory, save in the lamb, slain, roasted. That's why it was eaten with
unleavened bread. And listen to what he said next. Purge out
therefore the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you
are unleavened for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for
us. And you've got to eat the lamb
with unleavened bread. No glorying in the flesh. No
glorying in works. Anything that I've done or am
or haven't done or ever will do or not do. Therefore, let us keep the feast,
not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and
wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Love for him according to his
word. Bitter herbs, it's eaten with
bitter herbs because though we rejoice in his atonement and
salvation by his redeeming blood, what could be greater cause for
rejoicing? And yet we mourn. Because it's
my sin. It's my sin He paid for me. Don't eat it raw. It's got to
be Christ roasted with the fierce wrath of God Almighty. Nor boiled. A reminder that it is to be roasted
with fire. There's no substitute for the
substitute. There's nothing that replaces
Him. And it's Christ crucified. It's Christ bearing God's holy
wrath. The whole point of all of this
is the deliverance of God's people from bondage. And the only way
God can be just and justify a sinner is by Christ suffering all of
the wrath of God against their sin. Verse 11, and thus shall
you eat it, with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and
your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste. It's
the Lord's Passover. I love that verse, don't you?
We're fixing to walk free from 400 years of bondage because
of this lamb that we're having for supper today. There's only one way to eat that,
to partake of him. The reason for our freedom deliverance
from every enemy, mostly ourselves, our own sinful wretchedness.
The only reason for our freedom is the lamb that we're partaking
of right now. I'm eating, partaking of Christ
himself through the preaching of his gospel this morning. And
you know how I'm doing it? I've got my traveling shoes on.
How about you? How else are you gonna eat? That's why we eat. And that's
faith too, isn't it? That's faith. Got your walking
stick in your hand this morning, don't you? God-given, saving
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We partake of Him and we're girded
up. We're ready to go. Are you ready?
Bless God, I'm ready. We're fixing to go home. And he said, eat it in a hurry.
Eat it in a hurry. Now is the accepted time. Now is the day. I can't get over the fact you
don't even say today is the day. It says now is the day. There's
nothing more urgent now. I know we've got our lives to
live and all that. Do you? Got your life to live. I hope that God has taught us
a little bit better these last several weeks. What's needful. What's necessary. Verse 12, for I will pass through
the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the
gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. Boy, there's a lot in that too.
We could just, we could preach a message on every verse of this
and not even come close. All the gods of Egypt. The gods of Egypt were just wood
and stone. I don't believe that's what he's
talking about. Do you? By nature, sinners consider themselves
gods. Isn't that what Satan said? You
should be his gods. God's wrath is on all the gods
of this world. Every sinner without Christ,
every false god, everybody and everything apart from Christ. You remember what we read a while
ago? Beware of everything that's not Christ. Beware of philosophy
and deceit and vanity. It's not Christ. That's what
he said. Everything apart from Christ and those in him is and
are under the wrath and judgment of God Almighty. Hebrews 1028,
he that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three
witnesses. Of how much more sorer punishment,
of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought
worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God and hath counted
the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing,
and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace. For we know him that hath said,
Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense, saith the Lord.
And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God. Verse 13, the blood shall be
to you for a token upon the houses where you are. And when I see
the blood, I will pass over you. Salvation involves us, obviously. He said, this is my blood. I
shed it for you. And it's by grace through faith
that we partake of Christ faith that he gives us but faith that
it's it's my faith my faith have found a resting place But listen
salvation is something that happened between God the Father and God
the Son and God the Holy Spirit It was done for me by God When
I see the blood I will pass over you and the plague shall not
be upon you to destroy you but when I smite the land of Egypt."
It's interesting. It doesn't say, I will bless
you. When I see the blood, I will
bless you. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. It says
it in the negative sense. I won't kill you. Believers are
the exception, aren't they? Except ye repent. We all gonna
perish, all of us, except. were the remnant, the leftovers. Just a couple of things about
this and we'll close. It shall be a token. Token means
sign. But here's the next part of the
definition. If you look up that word token in the original Greek,
in the original Hebrew, it'll say a sign, comma, a distinguishing
mark. We read a while ago where God
said that he was going to do things the way he did that you
may know that God put a difference. The point of all of this is God
saving his people. That's what we've seen. But here's
what God wants you to know about that. The reason you're saved
is because he made a difference. And that word difference there,
where he said, I put a difference between Egypt and my people now.
That word difference means marked out, separated, distinguished. The Lord did that. I made a difference,
he said. I made a difference. I marked
you out. I separated you. I distinguished you from everybody
else. They didn't distinguish themselves
by anything they were or did, and that's what this verse, the
reason I'm bringing that up now, that's what this verse is saying,
when I see the blood, not anything you are or did or will do or
anything about you. They did not distinguish themselves
by anything that they were or did. The Lord made a distinction. He did not say, I see what you
did there, and I'm gonna pass over you. He didn't say, when
I see your heart, Well, the Lord knows my heart.
Yeah, He sure does. That's the problem. He sure does. People usually don't say it that
way, though, do they? What they usually mean by that
is the Lord knows I have good intentions, you know. No, He
knows better than that. He didn't say, when I see that
you've decided to do what I told you to do. This is religion. He didn't say, when I see you
putting the blood on the door. He didn't say, when I see you
eating the lamb. And that's important. It's important
to distinguish that, isn't it? Because that's what is being
preached. When I see the blood, the difference
is God's lamb slain in my place. It doesn't even say when you
see the blood. I'm glad I see it, aren't you?
I'm glad I see it. That's how I sleep at night.
That's our comfort, isn't it? But it's not our security. Our
security is he sees them. Christ crucified is not an offer
to sinners. He is and was an offering unto
God for sinners. Big difference. The difference
between the thief. You think about what that Passover
represented and you see God's lamb hanging on that cross on
Calvary and there was a thief crucified on either side of him. And one of them died cursing
his name. I'm pretty sure it was the one
on his left hand. And the one on his right hand
died with a promise from the Savior that that very day he
would be with him in paradise. And the difference between those
two thieves and what happened next was the one who hung between
them and that precious blood, the blood of God that stained
that cross. No wonder Paul said, God forbid.
God, don't let me glory. Your glorying is not good, Paul
said. That's the leaven. That's the
leaven. Eat the Passover with the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth. The truth is the gospel. That's
how we partake of the Passover. Just now. By the preaching of
the gospel. And God forbid that we glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. What a blessing.