In verse three, the Lord had
instructed Israel on the 10th day of the month to take every
man a lamb. And then verse five tells us
that this lamb must be without blemish, a male of the first
year and that they were to take it out from the sheep or from
the goats. And as we discussed last time,
the Paschal lamb, the Passover lamb is a beautiful picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ our Passover lamb, our
substitute, was without blemish, without spot, and he must be
perfect to be accepted. It's very, very important to
know that God will accept nothing less than perfection. People who insist on trying to
provide themselves a righteousness, that God will accept. have yet
to be taught who and what they are. It's just that simple. Because
when you see who and what you are, you know that God will not
accept anything from you. Nothing. Christ told that rich
young ruler that there's none good but God. He came, he was
all about good. He said, good master, what good
thing must I do to be saved? But it's not about being good.
The Lord Jesus said to him, you must be perfect. If you desire
to be perfect, if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that
you have and come and follow me. Since we can't be perfect,
our substitute must be. It's just that simple. Our lamb,
our sacrifice, our substitute must be without blemish. Peter
said, for we know that we were not redeemed with corruptible
things, such as silver and gold, but we were redeemed with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot, who was ordained before the foundation of the
world. First Peter 1, 18 to 20. And
secondly, we see in verse five that this Passover lamb must
be a male. We talked about that. By man's
disobedience, Adam's disobedience, we all became sinners. So by
the obedience of one man, Christ Jesus, shall all God's elect
be made alive. You see, only a perfect man can
redeem a fallen man. Only a perfect sacrifice can
be accepted in the place of an imperfect sinner. Thirdly, we
see that this lamb must be a male of the first year, a lamb in
the prime of its life. Since you and I are without strength,
our lamb must have great strength and great vitality to do for
us what we can't do for ourselves. And according to verse 6, the
Passover lamb Picturing the Lord Jesus was to be killed by the
whole congregation. Do you see that? The whole nation
of spiritual Israel's hands, you and I, those who believe,
dripped with the blood of Christ. We must understand that we too,
by wicked hands, have crucified and slain the Lamb of God. But the difference is, And though
our hands drip with the blood of our Savior, we at the same
time, by God's grace, are the beneficiaries of Christ's sacrifice,
just as the nation of Israel was in the Passover. God put
a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. And as the blood
was put on the doors and the lentils, the Lord God in wrath
and judgment passed over. those covered by the blood, all
whom the blood covered were saved. What a beautiful picture of redemption. Look at verse seven. 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. And it's only by the covering
of Christ, the lamb and the lamb's blood, only because it's applied
does God pass over us in mercy Grace and love. Now look at verse
eight. It says, and they shall eat the
flesh. The lamb was to be eaten. Those who had the blood mark
on their homes ate that lamb. Eating this lamb pictures faith
in Christ. Our Lord said in John chapter
six, verse 57, he that eateth me, even shall he live by me. You see, partaking of Christ,
there's life in the blood. True faith partakes, it eats,
it feeds upon and is nourished by Christ, the Lamb of God. And that's what the Lord's table
represents. He that eateth my flesh, Christ
said, and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. And faith
is oftentimes in the scriptures described by eating. Our Lord
said, I am the bread of life that came down from heaven, not
as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eateth
of this bread, my body, he that partakes of me shall live forever. And I think all of us would agree
that it's a pleasure to eat. What a pleasure it is. There's
nothing like good food. We find great pleasure in eating.
My dad used to tell me, and I suppose he's right, he said, David Lee,
you'd lose weight if you would eat to live and not live to eat.
I live to eat, that's been my problem my whole life. We find
great pleasure in eating, no. The believer also finds great
pleasure in believing. A child of faith finds pleasure
in believing God. One who has faith in Christ loves
to partake of Him. That's why you're here this evening.
You love to hear the message of Christ and Him crucified. And we eat to alleviate our hunger. Faith in Christ is the only thing
that will alleviate our spiritual hunger. The natural man must
eat to live, but the child of God lives by the faith of the
son of God who loved him and gave himself for him. By eating,
we grow, we are strengthened. And by faith in Christ, we grow
in the grace and in the knowledge of him who is our strength. And what we eat actually becomes
what we are. And eating is such a fit emblem
of faith in Christ. Thy faith hath saved thee, the
scripture says. But it's faith in an object,
it's faith in a person. And that faith must be in Christ
alone. Thy faith hath made thee whole.
But it's faith in Christ alone. It's partaking and eating of
Christ the bread, the lamb of God that gives us life eternal. Now notice again in verse 8,
and they shall eat the flesh that night. What is the significance
here of eating at night? Well, night is a time that we
can't see. Not clearly, not good, not like
we can in the day. Remember faith is believe in
what you can't see. Isn't that what faith is? In
the night of my sin, there are just a lot of things that I do
not see. I can't, here's one, I can't
see it. I can't see that I stand perfect
before God. I can't see that like I wished
I could. But by faith I do. By faith I
see that I, in Christ, stand as perfect and righteous as Christ
Himself. I can't see how that God can
find me altogether lovely. Can you? I mean honestly. We live with ourselves. We know
what we are. We know what we think. The fact
that Christ would find me altogether lovely, I just don't see it.
But by faith I see it. By faith I see it. We're saved
by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth.
Why doth he yet hope for? We hope for things in this life
that we cannot see, and we can only see them by faith. Acceptance
with God. Acceptance with God. My, I can't
see that. Only by faith. Perfect righteousness
and holiness. I can only see that by faith.
Everlasting life. Only by faith do I see that.
And faith is proven in the night. That doesn't mean that faith
is blind. It simply means that we walk
by faith and not by sight. The writer of Hebrews said, now
faith is the substance. It's the grounds. It's the confidence
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is
the evidence, and it gives substance. to the things that we don't see
by nature. And again, verse eight, and they
shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire. These things
mean something, friends. The method of cooking the lamb
here was roasting with fire. And that symbolizes Christ being
roasted with the fire and judgment of God in our place. On the cross,
Christ was roasting under the wrath of God. Christ crucified
is the means that God puts away our sin. Can you imagine all
the sin of all the elect throughout all time being put on Him? And we find it easy to see and
understand something of the physical suffering that our Lord went
through. The scripture is plain when it says that his visage
was marred so much that he didn't even look like a man when they
got through with it. Can you imagine they hit him,
they scourged him with the cat of nine tails, his flesh was
ripped from his body, his face was so swollen, didn't even look
like a man, crown of thorns. It's not like just a little rose
thorn put on his head. They pushed that thing down deep
into his brow. His face was covered with blood.
Oh, we see a little and understand a little about that kind of suffering.
But you think about the wrath of God being poured upon the
Lord Jesus. All the sin, all your sin, all
my sin, all the sin of every chosen sinner put upon Him from
all time. My, my, you talk about suffering.
That was suffering only by the wrath, judgment, and fiery indignation
of God that we deserved. Let me be sure to put that in.
We deserve that. That's what you and I deserve.
By it being executed on Christ, our sin debt is paid for. Paid
for. And that's how I'm able to, by
faith, see that I'm altogether lovely to God. because of what
he did for me, not by anything that I've done or can ever do. And that is what this roast of
fire is picturing, God's judgment against sin. Our sin made his. Now two things we're told here
were to be eaten with this roasted flesh. First, unleavened bread,
and secondly, bitter herbs. Unleavened bread. What is leaven? Well, leaven is yeast. If you
look it up in a dictionary, it'll tell you that it's a microscopic
fungus that reproduces by budding. The actual Hebrew word means
a rising or a swelling due to fermentation. You know, bread
is flat until you put yeast in it, and then it puffs up. It becomes puffed up and filled
with hot air. Well, who does that sound like?
That's what leaven is, and that's what we are by nature. Throughout
the scriptures, leaven always represents evil. Christ warned
on many occasions. He said, take heed, beware of
the leaven of the Pharisees. The Sadducees. He said, beware
of the leaven of Herod. In Luke chapter 12, verse one,
the Lord said, be ye aware of the leaven of the Pharisees.
And then he went on to tell us what it is. He said, which is
hypocrisy. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees,
which is hypocrisy. What hypocrisy it is to be puffed
up, especially before God. Who do we think we are before
God Almighty? What does hypocrisy in the scriptures
mean? Did you know that the Greek word
for hypocrisy is actor? Actor. What is an actor? It's someone who pretends to
be what they're not. Hold your place here and turn
with me to 1 Corinthians 6. This is the only place I'll turn
you tonight except for here in Exodus, but I do want you to
see this. 1 Corinthians 6. Actually, it's chapter five,
verse six, excuse me. First Corinthians chapter five,
look at verse six. Paul says, you're glorying, you're
glorying, you're pride, you're vanity, you're boasting, you're
being puffed up. He says, it's not good, not good. Know ye not that a little leaven
leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven,
that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. Now look at this, for Christ
our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the
feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and
wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of what? Sincerity and
truth. You know, the opposite of hypocrisy
is sincerity. And the opposite of pretending
is true. Believers are not actors. They're not just pretending.
We're not just pretending. We're not just putting on a good
face here tonight. A true believer is not. A believer
is truthful about who and what they are. A believer readily
professes that they're sinners. Paul did. He said, oh, wretched
man that I am, not that I was, but that I am. They know, a believer
knows that they have no inward nor outward righteousness. Full of leaven, full of leaven. They know that they are dead
in trespasses and sin. They know that they have no ability
to save themselves. Have you figured that out yet?
I grew up in a church that was always wanting you to do more
and do better. And I just failed miserably.
And finally, I just gave up. I just said, I can't do it. I
had no hope. They never told me that my salvation
didn't depend on what I did, but what one did for me, what
Christ did for me. And that's why we preach the
message of substitution. We can't get away from that. We can't get away from it. We
have no ability to save ourselves, have no ability to do anything.
We have no will, we have no ability, we have no good works, we have
no righteousness, not unless God freely gives it to us. The
child of God doesn't pretend or act as though they have something
that they don't. I don't have anything, nothing
that would commend or recommend me to God, and neither do you.
So just give up on that idea. Unless Christ's blood covers
my house, this earthly tabernacle in which I dwell, I'm gonna perish. There are many that are acting
their salvation out, but not the true child of God. God has
made the true child of God truthful concerning themselves. The unleavened
bread is of sincerity and truth. The believer wants the sincere
truth. The Passover lamb was to be eaten with unleavened bread. The unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth. That's the only way that we can
partake of Christ. That's the only way that we can
worship him. How? In spirit and in truth. Back in Exodus chapter 12 verse
8. Here we also see that Israel
was to eat the Passover lamb with bitter herbs. Most of the
commentators agree that this refers to wild lettuce that grow,
and it's said to be very bitter. But these bitter herbs rightly
picture the bitter afflictions and the persecutions that Israel
experienced under the bondage of their slavery. They picture
the afflictions and the persecutions that the child of God, the people
of God today, face and experience in this world in which we presently
live. What is this bitter bondage that
Israel experienced in Egypt? Well, it was their work and their
hard labor. And there's no greater bondage
for the people of God than the bondage of works. It's a bondage
that they cannot bear. It's like making bricks without
straw. We can't do what the perfect
law of God demands. And it's bitter to strive to
do so. Yet, it's impossible to trust
Christ without eating these bitter herbs. Now what do I mean by
that? Until we see the bitterness of
our works that will never be good enough to be accepted. I
feel so sorry for folks today that are still bound by this
works religion of today. They're trying to do everything
they can. in order to be righteous before God. It's impossible,
impossible, until we see the bitterness of our works. We'll
never see the necessity of trusting Christ alone, who does for us
what we can never do for ourselves. A sinner will never know Christ
apart from the tasting of the bitterness of their own sin.
It doesn't taste good, it's bitter. But as bitter as it is, you can
only trust Christ as a sinner. When you're a sinner, it's easy
to trust the Savior of sinners. And again, I remind you of the
words that our Lord who said, those that are well have no need
of a physician. Who has need of a physician?
Well, we know that, one who's sick. And most people today don't
see that they're sick. They don't see that they have
a horrible disease. We're diseased with sin from
the top of our head to the soles of our feet, nothing but wounds,
bruises, and putrefying sores. And all of us have heart trouble.
Jeremiah told us that our hearts are deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked. And it's here that the Lord connects
spiritually what it is to really be sick. As the great physician,
Christ said, I am not come to call the righteous, or those
who think themselves to be well. That's what he meant there. He
wasn't talking about those who were truly righteous. He was
talking about those who thought that they were well, thought
that they were righteous. He said they have no need. That's
the problem today with folks. They don't see that they have
a need. But he said, I came to call sinners,
those who know that they're sick. I came to call them to repentance,
Mark chapter 2. Those who think themselves well
are truly the sick ones. And those that are truly sick
are those that Christ came to make well. Now look at verse
nine. I want us to see these verses,
see what this lamb pictures and represents. He says in verse
nine, eat not of it raw. Don't eat of it. Don't bypass
the roasting with fire. Don't eat it raw. Don't find
any confidence in anything but the death of Christ. That's what
he's saying here. God forbid that I should glory,
take credit in, have confidence in, save or accept in the cross
the horrific death of our Lord Jesus by whom the world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world. There is absolutely, absolutely
no acceptance apart from the satisfying death and the shed
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. A lamb that is not killed never
saved anybody. Unless the lamb is killed and
eaten and the blood is applied to the heart's door, death is
all that awaits when God comes in judgment. We must be covered
by the blood. He must see the blood in order
for him to pass over us. This is not an option, it's a
necessity. It's a must. Jesus Christ and
Him crucified is the message. You know, I think every day I
begin to understand that just a little bit more. Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. That's what it's about. Christ
doing for me what I can't do for myself. Christ fulfilling
the law of God. Christ satisfying the justice
of God in my place. taking the wrath and judgment
of God upon himself that I deserved. Isn't that the most incredible
thing you've ever heard? No acceptance apart from that.
That's the message. Listen, never minimize the death
of the Lord. Verse 9, eat not of it raw, nor
sodden at all with water. Don't boil the lamb. No. It's got to be roasted with fire.
Don't water down, friends, the atonement of Christ. What's the
motive for doing so? Why do men and women in their
religion endeavor to water down the gospel or the atonement of
Christ? I'll never understand that. I
suppose that they think that they can make it more acceptable. Well, more people will accept
it if we water it down. But salvation in Christ is not
nor has it ever been by our acceptance of Christ the Lamb. Once you
accept Jesus as your personal Savior, you can accept Him all
you want to. But if He don't accept you, you're
lost and you're going to hell. It's just that simple. It is
God's acceptance of us. We must be accepted in the Beloved. We must be accepted in Christ
who is the beloved. Who died? Christ died. Who did
he die for? He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. So why are men and women bound
and determined to water that down and claim that Christ died
for the whole world? Why would Christ not pray for
those that he died for? You ever thought about that?
He said, I pray not for the world, but for them that Thou hast given
Me, for they are Thine. Christ died for those that the
Father gave Him. Did He give Him everyone in the
world? Well, if He did, then you can do away with hell. There's
no need for it. Because there would be no one
in hell for whom Christ died. Christ died for those that the
Father gave Him. Christ died for those that belong
to God. If Christ died for everyone,
everyone's gonna be saved. And my only hope is that Christ
died for me. And if you tell me that He can
die for me, and I can still wind up in hell, then I'm telling
you, you're stripping me of all the hope that I've got. I have
no hope that that can be so. That's the very foundation of
salvation. Christ died for the ungodly. God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Now that's my hope. But if you
water down the atonement of Christ by saying that he died for those
that can still perish, then you whitewash and water down the
blood of Christ. We dare not sodden the gospel
at all with water. Christ said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. How many of them? All of them.
Every single one of them. And he said, I will in no wise
cast them out. Well now brother, you can lose
your salvation. Not if God saves you. Not if Christ saves you,
you can't. He said, I will in no wise cast
them out. All that the Father gave to Christ, when did he give
them to him? Before the foundation of the world. All of them will
be saved. None of them will be cast out.
None of them will be lost. And I'm telling you, that's my
comfort. That's my peace. That's the only
assurance that I have. Why would we water that down?
The only reason some would want to water it down would be to
make it more palatable to the flesh. It's not the flesh that
will be saved. We have to die to the flesh.
We have to take sides with God against ourselves. And in our
flesh dwelleth no good thing. Now look at verse 9 again. Eat
not of it raw, nor sodden, nor soaked at all with water, but
roast with fire his head with his legs. And with the pertinence,
and that means all the insides, the liver, the kidneys, the heart,
thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it
remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of it until
the morning ye shall burn with fire. You were to roast that
lamb with fire, the head, the legs, the insides, and you were
to take of all of it. Let nothing remain. You see,
half of Christ will not save. No, some say He's their Savior,
but He's not their Lord. That's half of Christ. A whole
Christ is to be received and fed upon by faith. Christ in
both of His natures, both divine and human. Christ in all His
offices, prophet, priest, and king. And the emphasis here in
verse 9 is on the head and the legs. The head pictures the doctrine
of Christ. We can't leave none of it out.
It's all important. We must eat everything that our
Lord said. Have faith in everything. Didn't
He say, going to all nations, teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I've commanded you? The doctrine of Christ is
who He is. It all tastes good. It's all
good for you. Not only do we eat the head,
we eat the legs, which represents the walk. If my belief doesn't
affect my walk in this world, now listen, I'm not preaching
works to you, but hear what I'm saying here. If my belief doesn't
affect my walk in this world, then my faith is no good. See,
has your faith in Christ made a change in your life? Now, what
change in your life has your faith made? Now, I'm not talking
about becoming holier than thou. I'm not talking about walking
around and speaking in King James language. No, I'm not talking
about walking around with a halo or bright aura about your head. I'm talking about an inward change. I'm talking about a change of
heart. I'm talking about a new creation. I'm talking about being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. I'm
talking about being a disciple of Christ. I'm talking about
loving His Word. I'm talking about being faithful
to His Word. I'm talking about walking with
Him. Ephesians 2.1, you all know the verses. And you hath He quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sin. But you're not dead anymore.
We're in and time passed. Time passed, not anymore. You
walk according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. But it don't work in you anymore.
Why? Because you've been made a new
creation in Christ. Among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past, but not anymore. We don't have our
conversation in the lust of our flesh, not anymore, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, not anymore. And
were by nature to the children of wrath, even as others, but
not anymore. But God who is rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us, made us alive, quickened
us together with Christ by grace, are you saying? That's what this
is talking about. 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. First thing that we see here
in verse 11 is that they should eat this lamb in a ready-to-go
posture. We're just passing through, just
passing through, time's short. They would have their loins girded,
have their shoes on, their staff in their hand, and be ready to
go. Are you ready to go? Something
we better think about. It's coming for all of us. They
ate this lamb knowing that God was gonna bring them out and
deliver them. Boy, what faith we see in that. For over 400
years, they'd been in bondage, making bricks, making bricks,
making bricks. But after this night, they're
out of here. We're out of here. And they believed
it, and they proved it by their posture in eating this Passover
lamb. Notice the particulars. They
were to do it with their loins girded. You know, they had these
long robes. And in order to do anything physical,
they had to gird up their robes so that they could move and not
be hindered by it. He said, gird up your loins.
Pull your robe up. Get ready. We're moving on. We're
getting out of here. These loins girded represent
their desire to be free from the bondage in Egypt and to be
delivered into the land that flowed with milk and honey that
God had promised. That's not all. They had their
shoes on their feet. When the time came, they wouldn't
have to say, well, let me get my shoes. They had them on. They were ready to go. You and
I have a walk in this life. And with our Lord, it's a peaceful
walk. We walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, but we fear no evil. We have great peace. Why? Because our feet are shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace. We got comfortable
shoes on, don't we? Boy, there's nothing worse than
uncomfortable shoes. But we got on shoes that are
comfortable. The shoes the gospel has prepared
for me are comfortable shoes. Christ put away my sins. I'm
reconciled to God. Christ fulfilled the law and
I've got peace. God's wrath is no longer against
me. Christ satisfied the justice of God and it can't extract anything
from me. Boy, I can just walk right along,
just happy as can be. I'm safe and secure. That puts
me at peace. And as we walk with our loins
girded and with our comfortable shoes on, what do we have next? The staff in our hand. What do
you do with the staff? You lean on it. You lean on it. You put your weight upon it.
We're leaning upon something outside of ourselves. We can't
gird our loins, we can't walk, we can't stand without leaning
on Christ. And we lean on Him hard, don't
we? Well, we're leaning on Him hard.
We're learning to lean, but we're leaning on Him hard. And then
the last thing in verse 11 is that they should eat this lamb
in haste. We are to believe in and on Christ
right now. Today is the day of salvation.
We're not to wait for anything. Do we wait till we get better?
Well, no, in Christ we're perfect. Let's go. You ready to go? Do we wait for more knowledge?
No, Christ is our wisdom. All we need to know is Him. Let's
go. You ready? Do we wait for a deeper
experience? Salvation is not an experience.
It's never been. That's why religion's in the
mess it's in today. People looking for an experience.
It's not an experience. Salvation is a person. Christ
is with you. Are you ready to go? Look to the Lamb of God. For
He alone is able to save you. Look to the Lamb of God. And
He is the Lord's Passover. You see that? He's the Lord's
Passover. If I've got Him, the Lord's going
to pass over me in judgment, but not in mercy and in grace.
Notice. Verse 12, this is just close
with these verses. No comment needs to be made.
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, against all the gods of this
world, all the idols and gods of this world. He said, I will
execute judgment. I am the Lord, capital L-O-R-D. And the blood shall be to you,
child of God, that's talking to you. The blood shall be to
you for a token, an evidence. What is this evidence? What is
this flag, this beacon, this monument, the sign, the proof
of the elect salvation? It's the blood. Right back to
that, the blood. The blood shall be to you for
a token. And when I see the blood, I will
pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you. Child
of God, the plague of sin is gone from you. It shall not be
upon you. You are perfect before God. Perfect
and righteous is Christ himself. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you
when I smite the land of Egypt. Now that, my friends, is the
gospel. That's the gospel. May the Lord
enable us to feast upon Christ, the lamb slain before the foundation
of the world.