I think most preachers would
tell you that it's a real delight to study the scriptures. The
biggest concern we have is to take what we study and be able
to convey it to those that hear us. It's my prayer tonight that
the Lord might do just that. So turn with me to Exodus chapter
12 again, if you would. And let's read a few verses beginning
in verse 21, Exodus chapter 12, verse 21. Then Moses called for all the
elders of Israel and said unto them, draw out and take you a
lamb according to your families and kill the Passover, kill the
Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of
hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike
the lentil in the two side posts with the blood that is in the
basin. And none of you shall go out
at the door of his house until the morning, for the Lord will
pass through to smite the Egyptians. And when he seeth the blood upon
the lintel and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over
the door and you will not suffer the destroyer. And that word
there simply means death. You will not suffer death to
come in until your houses to smite you. Now what a picture
we have here of not only the eternal condemnation of those
who refuse to obey and believe and trust in the substitution
of the Lord Jesus Christ, but also a beautiful picture of redemption. The only sin, we say this very
often and it's true, the sin of unbelief, the hardening of
the heart, against the gospel of God will forever condemn the
rebellious sinner. Pharaoh refused time and time
again to bow and to submit to God's command, and God brought
upon him what he had promised from the start, and that was
the death of the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon the
throne, and even the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind
the meal. who refuse to believe on Christ
as the only substitute for sin shall perish forever. This is
serious, serious business. It's evident that Bayroll pictures
and represents the unbelieving men and women of this world.
And we see that neither poverty or wealth provides any exemption
from this death, this eternal condemnation. Those without the
blood covering of Christ will perish forever. How simple is
the message? As we see in verse 29, and it
came to pass, I might add as God's word always does. And it
came to pass that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt and the firstborn of Pharaoh to sit on
his throne. unto the firstborn of the captive
that was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle.
And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants, and
all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in
Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead."
Can you imagine? And yet, as I mentioned a moment
ago, what a beautiful picture we have here of salvation by
the substitution of God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the
applying of his shed blood that not only covers our sin, but
puts away forever the sin of God's elect people. In verse
22, we see that the blood was applied to the lentil and to
the two side posts of the door with a bunch of hyssop. Now,
the hyssop plant was just that, it was a plant, and it was the
instrument used in applying the blood. And a little study upon
that word, you will find another beautiful picture there. In Psalm
chapter 51, verse 7, you're familiar with that passage. David said,
purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. and wash me and I shall
be whiter than snow. Now this hyssop plant was a small,
bushy, aromatic plant. It smelled good, of the mint
family, kind of minty smelling. And we see from the verse in
Psalm 51 that I just read that it refers to the humiliation
of the soul. It pictures contrition and repentance. That is a sweet-smelling fragrance
repentance and humility is under God. Hyssop speaks of the lowliness
found in an enlightened sinner who desires to be cleansed and
made whole by the precious blood of the spotless lamb being applied
to the heart's door of a chosen sinner. And the applied blood
of Christ by the hyssop plant pictures the humiliation and
the repentance of the child of God, which I might add is the
gift of God. Nobody repents and is humbled
but by God's gift. And it's the only means of redemption. God provides himself a sacrifice
and God provides himself as the sacrifice. It's all a gift from
God. And when God sees the blood of
the Passover lamb applied by his own hand, he'll pass over
the chosen sinner in wrath. judgment and condemnation. And
that's the gospel. I mean, that's our message. That's
what we preach. It's only by the substitution
of the spotless lamb, that Passover lamb, that saves us from a holy
God who will, by no means, clear the guilty. And we say this all
the time, but we can never say it enough. God is a holy and
just God. He cannot save a sinner apart
from his holy justice, cannot do it. So God provided a way
that he could be both just and justifier of those who believe. What is that way? Christ became
guilty of and for our sin, though he knew no sin. People want to
argue about was Christ made a sinner? You better hope he was. You better
hope he was made to be sin for you or you'll never ever have
his perfect righteousness. Though he personally committed
no sin, he was perfect in every way. He is the perfect sacrifice
for sin. And God sees his blood and God
passes over those for whom Christ died. And that's the only hope
that any of us have. We have no hope apart from that. That's the only way that God
can be just and still justify the ungodly. Salvation is not,
nor will it ever be, by the will, by the work, by the worth, by
the way of the sinner. It's only accomplished by the
substitution of the Lord Jesus Christ, Him dying in my place,
Him dying in your place. And the wrath and judgment and
holy justice of God falling upon Him when it should have fell
upon me, that's substitution. That's why we preach Christ and
Him crucified. God died for you, child of God.
He's the only one that could. He's the only one that could
satisfy His own holy justice. And it's with the hyssop of humiliation,
repentance, and lowliness of mind and heart that the blood
is applied by faith in Christ. But it's God that does the applying.
We just read where David prayed to the Lord and said, purge me
with hyssop. That's who he's praying to. to
the only one that can do that. He said, you purge me with hyssop
and I shall be clean. You wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. If you wash yourself, not so,
but if he washes you, yes. Salvation is of the Lord. Now we've also mentioned this,
but I want to remind you of it again. Israel deserved the same
wrath, the same judgment, and the same condemnation that the
Egyptians did. But God provided, and he applied
the only means of salvation, the shed blood of the Passover
lamb, and he will not, according to verse 23, come in unto your
houses to smite you. That's what he told. You see,
Christ is our dwelling place. Christ is our city of refuge. Christ is our ark that we're
in. And when the wrath and the judgment
of God falls upon that ark, we're safe, safe and secure. Oh, I'm telling you, Christ is
all in all. He's the one in whom we hide
and are safe from the wrath of God. And the instruction given
here to the child of God in verse 22 is, and none of you shall
go out at the door of his house. We must stay in Christ, our safe
dwelling place. It's the Lord that will not suffer,
will not allow His wrath to fall on His Son and you also. God's
too just to do that. Martin Luther wrote payment God
cannot twice demand, first at my bleeding surety's hand and
then again at mine. Why? Because His holy justice
won't permit it. Christ, by one offering, hath
perfected forever. Did you hear that? Christ, by
his one offering for sin, hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. Those who God chose, he set his
affection upon, and he gave them to Christ before the foundation
of the world. And the Lord Jesus said, Father,
I won't lose a one, not one. Now look at verse 24. And you
shall observe, and that word means attend to, this thing,
that being this decree, this word, this gospel, this Passover
feast. Don't we clearly see here that
this Passover feast is a beautiful picture of the gospel, how God
saved sinners? God said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. Oh, that's the gospel. He says,
and you shall observe this thing for an ordinance, and that word
means appointment, to thee and to thy sons forever. And this
is speaking of all the things observed in the feast of the
Passover and the feast of unleavened bread. And they were to be observed,
he says, forever, but until Christ came. When Christ came, he was
the Passover lamb. That's why we don't celebrate.
any longer, Christ is the Passover lamb. No need for another, no
need for pictures and types any longer, Christ has come. And
it's very obvious that the Feast of the Passover and the unleavened
bread picture the salvation found in Christ alone. And that is
why we must give preaching, the preaching of Christ and him crucified,
the preeminence when we gather together. Church is not about
activities for kids. It's not about programs for the
single, the married, the divorced, and the whittled adults. You'd
be amazed how many people attend a church because of those things.
When I first moved to Texas, we were right on the main highway
there, and I had folks stop several times. And the first thing out
of their mouth was, what do y'all have for the kids? Well, that's
not the issue. What do we have for sinners?
That's the issue. We have the truth. We have the
gospel. True spiritual worship is the
worship of Christ as he's revealed in the scriptures. It pleased
the Lord to make you his people for his own great name's sake.
So let us, let that be the reason for our worship. God could have
left us and watched us go right on into hell, but he didn't.
It pleased the Lord to make you his people. Isn't that an amazing
thought? That's why we meet together.
We meet together to glorify the God who saved us by his omnipotent,
amazing grace. To magnify and lift up the name
of Christ who loved us and gave himself for us. And we never,
the child of God, never grows tired of hearing that message.
Tell me again, tell me again, how God saved a wretch like me.
That's all I want to hear. And it's great comfort to those
whom God has saved, but it's the only means that lost sinners
can be brought to God. And that's why the Lamb of God
suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring
us to God. That's why some of you are here
tonight, to hear once again how God saves the ungodly without
any cooperation and without any collaboration from the sinner. What did Israel do in order to
be delivered out of Egypt? Huh? What did they do? The same
thing we do, nothing, nothing. Oh, they cried out of reason
of their bondage, but they didn't cry unto the Lord. They wanted
to be delivered from slavery, but they didn't cry unto Him.
The Lord had some 500 years before told Abraham that they would
fall into slavery and that He would one day deliver them. Salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Only by what the world calls
foolishness, that being the preaching of Christ and Him crucified,
that God saves those that believe. And that's why we keep preaching
the gospel. Look at verse 25. And it shall
come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will
give you, according as He hath promised. that you shall keep
this service, being the Passover feast. And it shall come to pass
when your children shall say unto you, what mean ye by this
service? Why are we doing this? What is
this Passover feast all about? What mean you by this service?
Well, it's an ordinance, it's an appointment that must be kept.
That word ordinance not only means appointment, but it means
apportion. It means a time set apart. Just
as we appoint and set apart time for worship twice a week, two
hours on Sunday and one hour on Wednesday. And folks have
a difficult time coming to do that. It's a shame, it really
is. It's a shame. God appoints and
sets a time. It's called a time of love to
call his people out of darkness into the kingdom of his marvelous
light. What's so important about preaching?
Well, it's what we must tell our children and all who ask,
and even those who don't, about how Christ came into the world
to save sinners. How he shed his precious blood
for an elect multitude that no man can number. What's so important
about preaching? It's the only means that God
uses to save wretches like you and I. What is our message? Well, we have it right here.
Look at verse 27. That ye shall say, now this is
the message. It is the sacrifice of the Lord's
Passover. who passed over the houses of
the children of Israel and Egypt when he smoked the Egyptians
and delivered our houses. And upon hearing this, you see
what happened? And the people bowed the head
in worship. The gospel is this, our salvation
is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover. Christ is the Lord's
Passover lamb, and because of him, and only because of him,
the Lord passes over the houses of the children of Israel and
Egypt and this world, that's what Egypt pictures. And he smites
the Egyptians, which picture this unbelieving world. And He
delivers us who have the blood of Christ upon us. That's the
only difference. The only difference. What do
we His people do? We simply bow our heads and we
worship Him. That's all we can do. That's
all we can do. Tonight I want to show you
who this Passover feast, this partaking of Christ, is not for. and who it's for, we're told
very plainly in these verses. Look down at verse 43, if you
would. And the Lord said unto Moses
and Aaron, this is the ordinance of the Passover. There shall
no stranger eat thereof. Now, no stranger was allowed
to eat of the Passover. And let me just say this, that
word stranger in verse 48 is a completely different word in
the Hebrew language from the word translated stranger in verse
43. You remember our study in Genesis
when Joseph's brothers came unto him to buy corn. And the scripture
said that he made himself strange unto them. Remember that? I mean,
he knew who they were, but they didn't know who he was. He made
himself strange unto them, same word. He pretended to be who
he was not. That's what the word stranger
in verse 43 means. It's someone who pretends to
be who and what they are not. The New Testament word for stranger,
we've mentioned this a lot lately, means an actor. The Greek actors
were called hypocrites. They were actors, someone who's
acting out a part and pretending to be what they're not. No stranger, no pretender, no
actor is allowed to eat of the Passover feast. Now, I don't
want to be one of those kind of strangers. I don't want to
be one of these pretenders. They're not allowed to partake
of Christ, the Passover lamb. Turn with me, hold your place,
turn with me to Romans chapter five. Romans chapter five, we'll
go back to Exodus. Just a brief detour here. Romans
chapter five, and I want you to look at verse six. Probably could quote these scriptures
without looking at them, but look at it with me. Romans five,
verse six. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for who? The elect? No, it doesn't say that. For
those who believe? Doesn't say that either, does
it? For those who are sincere? No, sir, doesn't say that. It says for when we were yet
without strength in due time, Christ died for who? The ungodly. Now look at verse
seven. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You remember what Paul told Timothy,
1 Timothy 1. He said, this is a faithful saying.
This is worthy of everyone's acceptation. Everyone ought to
bow and accept this. That Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. And Paul said, of whom I am chief.
Now in the verses that we just read, just looked at, we find
three descriptions of the people that Christ died for. First,
those who are without strength. not just weak, without strength,
no strength, without spiritual ability. Those will not be talking
about their free will. I can assure you that because
they are without strength and they have no ability to come
to Christ, none whatsoever. The second The second description
is they are ungodly, without God, ungodly. That's what that
means, without God. And third, they are sinners. That's who Christ died for. He
didn't die for good people. He didn't come to call the righteous,
did he? He came to call sinners to repentance. Those that are well have no need
of a physician. When you hear the description
of who Christ saves, being those who are without strength, being
those who are ungodly, being those who are the chief of sinners,
do you just kind of role play and act as if though you fit
that bill? Or does that really describe
you? Do you have to act the part?
Or are you the real thing? Do you really believe what Genesis
chapter 6 verse 5 says? That God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, nonstop. Every thought, evil and only
evil. Do you really believe Jeremiah? Do you believe that your heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked or are
you just pretending? Are you just acting it out? Do
you have to act that part or is that really you? It's one
thing to believe in the doctrine of total depravity and it's a
whole nother thing to believe that you yourself are totally
depraved. Who did Christ die for? Those
who are without strength. You fit that bill, or you just
died. Those who were ungodly, do you
fit that bill? Those who are sinners, do you
fit that? If you can fit yourself into that group, then I can assure
you that Christ died for you. Because if you see that that
describes you, then God's already done a work of grace in your
heart. And if you can't, put yourself in those three categories
and I can't give you any assurance at all of salvation. But if you
see yourself as having some spiritual strength, this message is not
for you. I can't give you any hope that
Christ died for you. He didn't die for actors. Pretenders. He died only for bonafide sinners. Christ died for the ungodly.
Now, back in Exodus chapter 12, I want you to look at verse 45. Here we have a list of some who
are not allowed to partake of the Passover feast. Now people
will tell you that Christ died for everybody, but there's no
one gonna be in hell for whom Christ died, and hell's gonna
be plumb full. Verse 45, a foreigner and a hard
servant, hired servant, shall not eat thereof. Now here we're
told of who else may not partake of the Passover feast, a foreigner
and a hired servant. Now a foreigner is a resident
alien. He's one who lives in a country,
he enjoys the privileges of being in that country, but he's not
a citizen. You may be in a group of people
and there's a resident alien among that group. At the wedding
this past weekend, there were people there from several countries.
Saudi Arabia, Dubai, there were some folks there from England,
from Australia, and all in a group. Now, if some of them spoke, you
knew that they weren't from here. But just standing in a group
of these people, you couldn't tell by looking who was an American
citizen. Sure couldn't. Can you tell by
looking who that resident alien is? No. They look like citizens. Many of them acted like citizens,
but they're not. And it's the same in God's kingdom. They seem, folks seem to have
the same interest. They go to church, they hear
the gospel, but they don't believe. They want to have the benefits
and the privileges of being a citizen of Israel, but they're not at
all interested in having the nature of an Israelite. They're
interested in going to heaven. Nobody wants to go ahead. Nobody
wants to go to hell, everybody wants to go to heaven. They want
God's blessings. They want the privileges that
come with being a child of God, but they have no interest in
having the nature of the true Israelite. They have no real
interest in being conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I'm telling you, to a believer, heaven is not mansions of glory. Heaven's not pearly gates and
streets of gold. Heaven is not sinning anymore.
Heaven is being conformed perfectly to the image of Christ. No foreigner
is allowed to eat of the Passover. And then we have a hard servant.
What's a hard servant? Well, he's someone that works
for wages. That's what a hard servant is.
It's just that simple. A hard servant is someone who
believes that salvation is given to him by something that he has
done. A hard servant believes that
to some degree, in some way, he has to cooperate with God
and he has to collaborate with God in order for God to save
him. We have a lot of hard servants
in churches today. They say God's made salvation
possible, but it's up to me to make it effectual. That even
sounds blasphemous to me, doesn't it? To say that God needs help
and assistance in saving a sinner, that's blasphemous. Salvation
is in no way dependent upon the sinner. Clayton was telling me
that he was talking with a relative, a religious relative, who believes
in man's free will. And Clayton made some statements
concerning the sovereignty of God and salvation. And the fellow
said, well, you know, we agree on almost everything. Do you
hear people tell you that? I have. But it was what they
didn't agree on that was a life and death difference. His relative
believed that God made salvation possible, but that man had to
give assent, that man had to give his heart and make a decision
and exercise his will in order for God to save him. I'm telling
you without reservation, That if that's so, then no sinner
will ever be saved. Dead and trespasses in sin. What
can a dead man do? The Lord Jesus said, you've not
chosen me, but I've chosen you. The Lord Jesus said, the word
of God says plainly that we love him because he first loved us. A saved sinner doesn't make a
decision and decide to follow Jesus. I don't care how many
verses of that song you sang, I have decided to follow Jesus.
No, no, no, you have not. God decided to give life and
give ability to some, and they follow him only as God gives
them the power to do so. Did Lazarus make a decision to
rise from the dead and come to Christ? Did he? Well, you say, well, that's foolish.
Why would you ask such a foolish question? You know why I ask. Did Lazarus make a decision to
rise from the dead and come to Christ? Not until he was first
given life and the power to come. Lazarus come forth was the command
and the word of God according to the power of God says, and
he that was dead came forth. With the command came the power.
And one who stands on what he or she has done in order to be
saved is nothing more or less than a hard servant. And I'm
telling you, no hard servant is allowed to eat the Passover.
Not allowed to. Also, there's another person
mentioned in verse 48. It says, and there shall no uncircumcised
person eat of the Passover feast. according to the last part of
that verse. And I'm telling you it's the same today. But this
circumcision is not an outward fleshly circumcision. The circumcision
that I'm talking about refers to the circumcision of the heart.
Romans 2.28 says this, for he is not a Jew which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh. Now listen, but he is a Jew,
which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the
spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but
of God. True circumcision is what God
does on the inside. what God does on the inside.
It speaks of one with a circumcised heart that is allowed to eat
the Passover. What is this circumcision of
the heart? Well, in Philippians chapter three, verse three, Paul
tells us, for we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
Now that tells me that one who is not circumcised in the heart
is one who does not worship God in the spirit, and does not rejoice
in Christ Jesus, and has confidence in the flesh. Which group are you in? There's
no worship of God apart from the Spirit of God, and rejoicing
in Christ is a true worship of God in the Spirit. And the only
thing that a believer has any confidence in, or should have
any confidence in, is what Christ has done for them. My assurance of salvation is
that blood put on the lentil in the doorpost. that covers
me. And God sees it and He says,
I'll pass over you. No circumcised person's allowed
to partake of Christ's Passover feast. So who can eat the Passover
feast? Who's allowed to partake of Christ?
Look at verse 47. All the congregation of Israel
shall heap it. Who can eat of the Passover?
All. all the congregation of Israel,
all the elect of God, everybody that Christ died for, all who
believe and trust in Christ, that's who can eat. Are you and
I included in that all? Now we talked about hired servants
in verse 45, and I'm almost finished, but notice there are also bought
servants. Look at verse 44 again with me.
But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou
has circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. Every man's servant
that is bought, there are hard servants and there are bald servants. Dear sinner, if you've been bought
by the precious blood of Christ, that's all you're gonna plead.
That's all you're gonna plead, and that's Christ's redeeming
blood. That's all my plea. Lord, have mercy on me for Christ's
sake. Lord, have mercy on me for His
blood's sake. We plead nothing but the blood
of Jesus Christ. And there are strangers who act
and pretend, who cannot partake of the Passover, but there are
also strangers who have been bought, who can. And again, verse
48, and when a stranger, someone who's not an Israelite, who cannot
claim to be a child of Israel, shall sojourn with thee and will
keep the Passover to the Lord. Now this stranger that I'm talking
about, this bought stranger, he desires to keep the Passover.
He wants to keep the Passover. He wants to be in one of those
houses covered with blood. He doesn't wanna be anywhere
else. Do you want to keep the Passover? Do you desire to be
in the house covered with blood? Is that what you want and desire
more than anything? If it is, so shall it be. So shall it be. This stranger
will keep the Passover. And it says, let all his males
be circumcised in the heart. That's how it spiritually applies
today. and let him come near and keep
it. And he shall, now look at this,
and he shall be as one that is born in the land. I don't care
where he's from. He gonna be just like them that
are born into the kingdom of God. There'll be no difference
between him and one that is born in the land. What a picture of
the salvation Gentiles, which we all are. Believer, you and
I were once strangers. We were strangers from the covenants
of promise. The scripture said we were having
no hope and without God in this world. And God in his mercy and
in his providence crossed our paths with the preaching of the
gospel. And you know, I bet every one
of us could go back and think on that a little bit and just
find it amazing how God did that, how God did every little thing
to bring us right to that moment in time when we heard the gospel
preached to us. Oh, we're strangers. We were strangers from the covenants
of promise. We heard the message of the Passover.
We heard the gospel of Christ and Him crucified. We heard how
that Christ came into the world to save sinners by redeeming
them with His precious blood. And God showed us that we were
without strength. And God showed us that we were
ungodly. And God revealed to us that we
were sinners. And all of us would debate that
we were the chief of sin. And we desired Christ to be our
substitute. God gave us a need, and we had
need of this great physician. And we desired Christ to be our
substitute, our sacrifice, and our savior, and our surety before
God. And that desire proved to us
that he was. Our hearts were circumcised.
We came near with fruits of repentance. We desired to be purged with
hyssop, having the blood of Christ applied to our hearts, and God
gave us our desire. We desired to be washed, and
now we are whiter than stone. Oh, if you wash yourself, you
may not mean, but you won't mean, but if he washes you, you will.
And the scripture says, let him that is a thirst come. Are you
thirsty? Whosoever will, let him take
of the water of life freely. You see, there's nothing we can
do to earn merit or deserve God's grace. That's why it's called
unmerited favor. That's why mercy is called undeserved
mercy. If we deserved it, it wouldn't
be mercy. It's only the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of
God, the Passover Lamb, that cleanses us from all our sin. If you have a desire to partake
of Christ, then do so. For if that is the case, then
God's already given you life.