May I please Almighty God to
bless us together this morning as we meditate in his holy word.
Let us turn to the book of Exodus chapter 13 and we'll read verses
14 and 15. The book of Exodus chapter 13
and reading verses 14 and 15. And it shall be When thy son asketh thee in time
to come, saying, What is this? That thou shalt say unto him,
By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from
the house of bondage. And it came to pass, when Pharaoh
would hardly let us go, The Lord slew all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the
Lord all that openeth the matrix, being males, but all the firstborn
of my children I redeem. Well, Moses here is writing about
momentous occasion in the history of Israel. And truly it was. As we think upon these great
truths to realize that here were the Israelites, which had been
in Egypt for some 400 odd years. And the Lord had come in a most
remarkable way and delivered them. And in that most remarkable
way, there had been the institution of the Passover. And what a great
and glorious scene that was. And how wonderful to realise.
And that pointed so wonderfully to the death and the great sacrifice
of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we can see, can we
not, therefore, the wonderful relevance of such statements
that we have here. And Moses is directing the people
to realise what they should respond and how they should act. And
we're told, and it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to
come, saying, what is this? Well, it was an occasion, of
course, where the Passover was to be. enacted every year and
as Israel were to enact that, which they did of course with
very few intermittencies until the time of the Saviour's death
as we perhaps well know the last Passover was on the day when
the Lord Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper and there was no
need of a Passover after that because that which had been foretold
really on this glorious time when the Passover was instituted
had now been fulfilled, that type had been fulfilled now in
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. who was of course that perfect
lamb that was sacrificed to take away the sins of his church. Well here was the question that
when thy sons asked thee in time to come. What is this? You see
we don't have quite the same benefit today as they did in
those days because it was a whole week when they had to prepare
for this occasion. They had to have no leaven at
all in their house. It all had to be taken away.
And then of course the lamb had to be selected very carefully
as a lamb that was perfect without any blemish. And then of course
it had to be slain. And as it was slain we're told
no bone was to be broken. And again that's a wonderful
picture because as we Remember the Lord Jesus Christ when he
was crucified, none of his bones were broken. You see how the
type was fulfilled very gloriously in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
that lamb was taken and killed and the blood was then put upon
the doorpost and the lintel. So when that avenging angel came
to slay all the firstborn, it passed over those houses where
the blood was on the doorpost and the lintels. And that, of
course, was a wonderful picture that occurred for many years
until that was gloriously fulfilled in the life of the Saviour when
He shed His most precious blood upon that cross at Calvary. And
as in the days when they came out of Egypt, there was only
safety for those who were in the dwellings, under the blood. So it is today, there's only
safety for you and me today, if we are under the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that we have the evidence
of it in our own hearts. that our great and glorious Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ, did die upon Calvary's cross to redeem
us from all our sins. And so here we have them. All
those years ago, Moses commanded by God to write these things.
And if we think of it, Moses wrote the first five books of
the Bible under the blessed influence of the Holy Spirit of God. And
what grand and glorious truths those books contained. How barren
it would be if we did not have Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and
Numbers, Deuteronomy. It would be a very barren place
without all that glorious history and all the wonderful significance
that it sets before us. And so here was this statement
that Moses was instructed to write. The book is called the
Exodus because it was really the exodus of the Israelites
out of Egypt. That's why it's called Exodus,
and it's a wonderful picture, and it's a wonderful account.
It didn't occur easily. There were many testing times,
but they were brought out of the house of bondage. You may
say, well, what does that really refer to, to us today? Well,
it really refers to us in this way. The whole Church of God
are in bondage. Spiritual bondage. Satan has
us in bondage. He has us holed up in a jail,
as it were, and we can't get out until the gracious God comes
and opens the door and brings us out of bondage, that bondage
brought about because of our sin, our sinful nature. What a wonderful deliverance
it was for ancient Israel. My friends, it's no less a glorious
deliverance for us today when, as it were, the Holy Spirit opens
the door, that door which has kept us in bondage under the
influence of Satan, willing servants to serve him. But if the time
has come, what a glorious release, freed from that time of bondage
and brought into the glorious liberty of the gospel. And the glorious liberty of the
gospel, without any doubt, takes us to Calvary and takes us to
the wonderful sin atoning death of the Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And there is deliverance from
the bondage of sin. And what a wonderful view it
is, what a wonderful picture it is. You see, we have this
before us in the Word of God, set before us in the Old Testament,
in these symbols which we can understand and then fulfilled
in the wonderful life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
what a wonderful truth it is. What a wonderful blessing we
have such an account in the Word of God. And here we're told,
And it shall be, when thy son asketh thee in time to come,
saying, What is this? Thou shalt say unto him. And
this is what we need to remember. And it's good if our sons and
daughters ask us questions. And it's good if we perhaps look
forward to receiving questions like this, because it gives us
a wonderful opening to describe the way of salvation and to go
back to this Old Testament account and be able to say, as Moses
directs us here, by strength of hand, the Lord brought us
out from Egypt. It was the strength of hand,
the strength of Almighty God, and that occurs three times in
this chapter. In the third verse in this 13th
chapter we read, And Moses said unto the people, Remember this
day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage,
for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place. Again, it's so important for
us to realise it's God's work. It was God's work in those days. It's God's work in our spiritual
life. And as you realise the account
in Exodus of how the Israelites were there in that time of bondage
and that freedom didn't occur just like that. There were all
those other plagues which came upon Pharaoh which did not move
his heart. No, and he would not let Israel
go, but the time came when he did. Israel were freed from that
time of bondage. And it's the same in a spiritual
life. There may be many things which come into our life, but
it doesn't actually free us from bondage. There may be many difficulties,
which come into our life. We may think surely this will
work for my good. Well, it may not. But the time,
the set time comes when the Lord does deliver, when the Lord does
bring out a bondage. And so he did to Israel. So we
have that in the third verse. We have it also in the ninth
verse. We read, and it shall be for
a sign unto thee upon thy hand, and for a memorial between thine
eyes, that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth. For with a strong
hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt. No one was able
to resist a strong hand of almighty God in these days of the history
of Israel. The appointed time had come after
all those many years when Israel would be freed from that time
of bondage under their Egyptian masters. But we can be thankful
to know and it came to pass. And it's exactly the same today
in the life of God's children. Deliverance from the bondage
of sin comes to pass. It comes to pass in God's appointed
time and in God's appointed way. Now, the Lord ordained this way,
a way which the Israelites no doubt would have found it impossible
to consider how they would be freed. They were there in that
land. with the Egyptians and they were
prisoners and they weren't able to free themselves but God came
and God freed them and that's why it's good as Moses was concerned
that the Israelites might be able to tell their children how
they obtained that wonderful freedom So it would be good today,
in the day and age in which we live, if we're able to tell our
children and young people, perhaps older people, how we've been
freed. And of course that freedom is
only through the sacrificial death of our Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ. There was no other way. It was
neither good enough to pay the price of sin. What a blessing
it is to direct our children, direct people to that great and
wonderful sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you see, how
was it done? By strength of hand, the Lord
brought us out from Egypt into the house of bondage. And exactly
the same today. It's the power and strength of
Almighty God that delivers us. They could not deliver themselves.
We cannot deliver ourselves. Whatever they perhaps thought
they might be able to do, they weren't able to do it. Whatever
we might be able to think we can do, we won't be able to do
it. Power belongeth unto God. And what a blessing it is. And
it's a wonderful mercy if you and I can look back in our spiritual
lives and see when that came upon us. The mighty hand of God
came upon us. and brought us out, out from
Egypt, spiritual Egypt, from the house of bondage. I wonder
whether we can testify, I hope we can, of that wonderful freedom
because the Lord Jesus Christ tells us so gloriously in the
15th of John, if the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall
be free indeed. And if Christ has died to take
away our sins, indeed to redeem our soul, no one can again say
that because it's the work of God himself and it's strength
of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt. Now all of us need
to know the wonderful freedom the wonderful blessing there
is to be found in Christ, and to know that Christ, the glorious
Saviour of sinners, gave His life freely, willingly, as that
one acceptable sacrifice to His Father in order to redeem our
souls. It's a wonderful, wonderful consideration. It was good for the Israelites. It was good for the people of
God all through the ages before the Lord Jesus died upon the
cross at Calvary. And every year they were reminded
on that Passover day of the cost of their salvation, the cost
of freedom that had to be carried out. specific way. Perhaps many wondered of the
detail that was dictated to them. They had to carry out year by
year in a perfect way. But we see how it was wonderfully
fulfilled in the perfect life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Would it be good today if we
think upon the Passover, but we think more about the great
and glorious death of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and what
it means to you and to me. When He completed that work upon
the cross at Calvary, He shed His most precious blood in order
that you and I might be freed from condemnation indeed. Do
you know those wonderful words that Paul wrote into the Romans? There is therefore now no condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after
the Spirit. Oh my friends, the glorious work
of God It's a wonderful work. It's a work that you and I can't
produce ourselves. No, it emanates from Almighty
God. And it emanates from Almighty
God so that He gets all the honour and glory. As the Apostle said
when he wrote to the Ephesians, not of works, lest any man should
boast. You know, we can't boast, can
we? We can't say, well, of course, I was a good Christian and the
Lord looked upon me and thought, well, there's a worthy person.
We are all unworthy. We all come, I believe, in our
own estimation, like the apostle Paul did when he spoke about
himself, described himself as less than the least. he was a
very able a great scholar blessed wonderfully and yet you see in
the light of a holy God he saw himself as less than the least
of all saints well you see why was that? you know why it was? the grace of God the free unmerited favour to the Apostle
Paul, and it's no different to you and me today. Unworthy as
we are, it's the free grace of God that cleanseth us from all
sin. All sin. Not some sin, that wouldn't
be satisfactory. All sin. Well then, it's not
surprising, is it, that the Israelites were commanded by God in this
way to respond to a question of why this was carried out. They were told to say, by strength
of hand, the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house
of bondage. What did that do? It gave honour and glory to God.
They weren't able to say, well, we had this great battle and
we fought and we beat down the enemy and we escaped. No, there
wasn't anything like that at all. And you know, there's several
occurrences in the Word of God where the Lord God graciously
appeared on occasion when he said, no need to fight in this
battle. And in one sense, we don't have
to fight in the battle because Jesus has fought the battle for
us. He's paid the price for our redemption. You see, the price of freedom
was signified to the Israelites of old when that blood was taken,
that lamb was killed. The lamb had to be killed. The
lamb had to be offered up. Yes. Burnt. Off and up. Not a bone broken and the blood
taken from that death was placed upon the doorposts and the lintels.
They couldn't be touched by the avenging angel when they were
in that dwelling having gone under that blood. And my friends,
what a mercy for you and me today to realise that we cannot be
touched either. The devil cannot get hold of
us because we're safe. Safety in Christ. We're only safety in Christ because
of what he's done, what he's completed. He did what the Father
required of him. My friends, never underestimate. Never think anything less than
the great mercy of God. that you and I are saved with
that great salvation. Again, it's good for us to meditate
and to realize that the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person
in the Trinity, Almighty God Him very self, became very man
in order to walk on this earth just as you and I do with all
the temptations as you and I endure but one great difference the
Lord endured those temptations yet without sin he lived that
perfect life he didn't die to atone for his sins There were
no sins. He died to pay the price required,
the ransom price required to free us from that condemnation,
which clearly said the soul that sinneth, you and me, the soul
that sinneth, it shall die. Well, it's a wonderful, it's
a wonderful salvation. It's a wonderful plan. It's a
glorious plan because it brings only glory to God and it should
bring adoration from us, praise from our hearts to realise that
by God's grace we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ
as we have here This wonderful statement. But all the firstborn
of the children I redeem. Christ redeems all his church. Yes. To think that almighty God himself,
the one who created the universe, condescended to die such a painful
death in order that you and I might be blessed with that wonderful,
wonderful gift of eternal life. Oh, it's a wonderful truth. It's
a wonderful favour to realise that we have such a great and
kind and gracious God and to think, therefore, that by His
grace, He does come today and call sinners to repentance. It is surely a wonderful, wonderful
blessing. What a mercy it is, then, to
realize that. And you know, in the Book of
Psalms and the 107th Psalm, we read towards the end, verse 30,
and the next two verses, then, are they glad because they be
quiet so he bringeth them unto their desired haven the desired
haven of course is glory at last well it says then are they glad
Because they be quiet, so he bringeth them unto their desired
haven. The Lord brings his people there,
like he did with Israel. He brought them out. The Lord
brings his people safely into Canaan. The Lord brought Israel
safely into Canaan. It was a long testing journey,
wasn't it? They'd been brought out of that
place of bondage, And you might think, well, it's all going to
be wonderfully plain sailing. But it wasn't, was it? No. Their old nature welled up. And they disobeyed God. Many
times they rebelled against God. They wanted an easier life. They wanted to enjoy the poor
things of the world. as well as heaven at last, as
Canaan at last. Well, my friends, today you and
I, we've been blessed with this glorious deliverance from bondage. We should not think that we're
going to sail to heaven on a calm sea. It'll be not that way. It'll be through much tribulation. But the promise doesn't change.
what God has said comes to pass and therefore this word is true
so he bringeth them unto their design haven. Surely that should
be an encouragement to you and me today to believe that although
we may be traveling through a stormy time, the passage may be very
difficult, there may be much opposition, we may fear perhaps
for going to make shipwreck. Yet the promise of God remains
sure. Yes, so he bringeth them unto
their desired haven. And the psalmist goes on. With such a grand and glorious
truth, which is as true today as it was when it was written,
O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his
wonderful works to the children of men. Surely, if we are amongst
those who are redeemed, have been brought out of bondage through
the great and glorious death of the Saviour, We are a tremendous
debt. We can never repay. And yet what
a favour it is to be able to realise this. And this desire
says, the psalmist, oh that men would praise the Lord for His
goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men.
Well it is goodness indeed. And it is a great goodness that
the Lord has indeed caused us to hear His gracious and glorious
voice and delivered us from that bondage. And it is a wonderful
blessing for his wonderful works, the children of men. So he goes
on, let them exhort him also in the congregation of the people. Again, that's a very salutary
statement, isn't it? Let them exhort him also, not
by themselves, not in some little little huddle but let them exhort
him also in the congregation of the people and praise him
in the assembly of the elders well may we be given grace receive
grace to true desire to exhort the lord and to praise him for
this wonderful and glorious deliverance from that time of captivity as
it was in Israel's time in Egypt they could not free themselves
but God freed them you and I cannot free ourselves but God can free
us and when God does indeed bring us as he does to his people to
Calvary and by faith to view there the wonderful deliverance
the wonderful freedom that brings and it's a very very humbling
experience because when the Holy Spirit shows us what we are by
nature We have to concur with what the Apostle Paul said, in
me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. I can't claim
any virtue myself. I had to come and give all the
honour and all the glory to this great God who has redeemed my
soul. What a privilege, what a favor,
what a blessing to unworthy sinners to receive this great and glorious
grace of God. Well, Israel, we know, fought
those 40 years, but they did at last come to Jordan, And there
was Canaan on the other side of Jordan. And did the Lord fail
them? No. They were brought safely
over. And of course, it was so interesting,
wasn't it? It was a calm time. They were
able to come across there. Yes, the Lord stopped the water
and made the place dry land. and Israel went across into Canaan. Well, my friends, we should remember
the blessed picture that we have. You see, we have these historical
accounts in the Old Testament as a wonderful picture for you
and me today. I realise it is an historical
account, but it has a very deep and wonderful significance for
us. and to realise therefore that
the Lord has planned for every true believer every child of
God, everyone who has been loved and everlasting love from eternity
past will arrive safe home in spiritual
Canaan which of course is glory at last. The journey won't be
easy, but the end will be good. The end is secure. The end is
safe. Because Christ has died, yea
rather is risen again. This is the wonderful truth that
we have today. Wonderful blessing for us to
meditate upon. the wonderful finished work of
salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
fail. And as I sometimes say and quote
that wonderful statement, we are more than conquerors not
because of what we've done, not because we're good. We are more
than conquerors through Him. our great and glorious Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, it's a wonderful privilege
as we think of this account here and how Moses was able to encourage
Israel especially was able to direct them to the Passover and
the significance of it and to encourage them so today we are
able to look back to look forward and to realise the Lord has now
graciously instituted on that Passover night, yes, that last
night of the Saviour's life, he instituted the Lord's Supper. And we today are privileged to
partake of that time of memorial. Yes, by those symbols to remember
his broken body, not broken bones, broken body and his precious
blood shed for the whole Church of God. This morning, it would
be a wonderful favour if you and I can, by his grace, not
because of what we've done, but because of his grace, be
able to confirm that we are free. We've been freed from the condemnation
of the law. that condemnation of the law
which was pointed out to Israel which the Spirit of God points
out to us and we're condemned under it but to realize that
the Lord Jesus Christ has died to satisfy the holy and righteous
demand of the law of God he's paid that enormous price of his
life on this morning, I hope we can go on and we're rejoicing
and realize the significance and seek that there may be many
opportunities given to us that we may be asked by our children,
by the people, what do these things mean? They're from our
own very personal experience. We can say by strength of hand,
The Lord brought us, the Lord brought me out of Egypt from
the house of bondage and set me free and I can look forward
by his grace with a long eternity to spend in singing God is love. Amen.