Exodus chapter 11. Exodus 12
is our subject, but I want you to look at this short chapter
that's preparing the way for chapter 12. Verse 1, Exodus 11,
the Lord said, I'll bring one more plague upon Pharaoh and
Egypt. One more. As you know, the Lord sent darkness
throughout the land, and this is the very last one. He told
them, I'm going to send all my plagues, and you're going to
know that I'm the Lord. Everybody's going to know I'm
the Lord. And then He said, I'm going to send one more, one more.
And He said in verse 2, speak in the ears of the people, God's
people. Chapter 12, verse 3, it said,
Speak to all the congregation of Israel. Everybody needs to
hear this. We have our young people, the
classes are up early this morning because everybody needs to hear
this. These are the last days. They
really are. It's obvious to God's people. Darkness is over all the land.
And the message is urgent. Speak now. And he said in verse
5, the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die. Verse 6, there shall be a great
cry throughout the land of Egypt such as such as there was none
like it nor be like it any more. And I thought of the revelation
where it said that there'd be a great cry. Brother Barnard
called it the greatest prayer meeting ever held is when everybody
cries for the rocks and hills to fall on them and hide them
from the face of Him who sits on the throne. It's a reality. Our Lord is the one who said
that. A great cry. But he said, in
verse 7, my people, I'm bringing them out, and it's not a dog,
but a bar cow. I love that. When God brings
his people out of this pit, out of this dung heap, off this
dung heap, and sets them among princes, and they sit down with
Abraham, Isaac, You know, God, He giveth His
beloved sleep. In a moment, the twinkling of
an eye, we're going to be changed. It's not going to be one moment's
fear or worry or doubt or trepidation or horror. No. Sudden death, sudden glory. The absence from the body be
present with the Lord. No cries, no regrets, no fears,
no worries, just instant. Brother Cody died, we were talking
with Winna about, he died, she found him in the bathroom, laying
on the floor, he had a massive heart attack, boom, he's gone. What a way to go. Brother Henry
Soar went in to get a cup of coffee, fell on the floor, fell
on the floor and ended up in glory. Just like Enoch walked into the
presence of God one day. So, we're God's people. No more
pain, no more sorrow, no more tears, no more death, no more
barking dogs. And he said in verse 8, chapter
11, all these speaking to Pharaoh, your servants, all those who
served you, you know a man can only serve one master. You can't
serve God and man. You can't be in love with this
world and love with Christ. You can't save this life, want
this life, and do everything to maintain this life and have
eternal life. You can't have both. You save
one, lose the other. Lose one, save the other. That's
what our Lord said. And He said everyone is going
to bow down. Verse 8. They're all going to
bow down. To be. Every knee shall bow and every
tongue shall confess. If you bow now, if you believe
now, if you fear now, you're so blessed. You're going to glory. It's just, it's all over but
the shout. And he said in verse 9 and 10,
the sad fact is that Pharaoh is not going to hearken to the
rulers, the leaders, the kings of the earth, the rulers, the
leaders, the mighty, the noble, the rich, the famous, the who's
who of this world. They're not going to hear this.
They don't need God. They don't need Christ. They
don't need mercy. The religious, they don't need
mercy. Most people in this town, is it nothing to you that passed
by? Men and I were coming here, and there was people, I said,
this day means nothing to most people. This is the Lord's day.
This is the day the Lord has set aside for God's people to
come and gather. And I was so glad when they said
it to me, it's the Lord's day. I'm just so glad to be here.
But for so many, it's nothing. It's just another day. In the
Lord's mercy and grace, He's given this day for people to
not work and rest. What a blessing, what a mercy
from the Lord to give the people this day. It looks like everybody
has come in just for about an hour and thanked the Lord for
it. All this rain we've been having,
the Lord is so good at it. Where's our food come from? Rain. Where's rain come from?
God. Just be thankful. Just come in
here and be thankful. There was a time I didn't. It
was nothing to me. I passed on by. Nothing to me. But God. Israel. This is to Israel. Egypt's not going to hear it.
They're not going to hear it. Chapter 12, verse 1, the Lord
spake to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, and the Lord has
spoken to his men. Moses and Aaron are two angels
of God's mercy. Angel means messenger. Two angels are going to appear
to Mary in the garden with great news that's going to dry every
tear. They're just men, Moses and Aaron,
but the Lord calls them angels. They're no different than other
men. They're sinners, but they have a message that sinners need
to hear. They're in the land of Egypt.
Here we are. We're in the world right today. I hope we're not
of it. I hope we're going out of it.
Verse 2, This month shall be unto you the beginning of the
months, the first month of the year to you. This is the beginning.
You know, the end of the world is just the beginning for God's
people. It's all about to end for the world. It's all about
to begin for us. It's all about to begin and never
end. Do you not sometimes wish that
this worship service would never end? If you're ever blessed at
times and the Lord speaks to you, You know, John said, I was
in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. How are you in the Spirit on
the Lord's Day? Well, the wind bloweth where
it listeth. But if you ask, our Lord said, ask, and He'll give
the Holy Spirit to them to ask for. And the Holy Spirit takes
the things of Christ and shows them unto you. He keeps your
eyes from the things of the world and turns them on Christ. So
you can see clearly. Not be blinded by these things.
Not be sidetracked by these things. I need that. John said, I was
in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. Ask, you will see. Pray. Call. A little preparation. A little
preparation. It will go a long way. The Lord speaks to me. The
Lord speaks to my children. Lord, speak through the radio,
speak through the sermon. Speak to someone, Lord, please,
for your glory and honor, for our salvation. Would you please?
He does, quite often. Why not today? Why not to someone
he's never spoke to? Why not? Speak, Lord. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's
Day, and he said, I heard a voice, John. I heard a voice. He spoke
to me. He said, I turned, From the world,
whatever it was, he turned, he had his eyes on it, he turned
and he looked and he said, I saw someone sitting on a throne.
I saw a lamb sitting on a throne. And he spoke to me. It's all
glory. So, this first day of the week,
oh, may it be the first. The Lord can give new birth today. He could. I hope he gives it
to me. I hope it's like the first day
I've ever heard the gospel. Wouldn't that be wonderful? I've
heard these things so many times. I don't want to be like Israel
that after a while they'd heard it so many times and said, this
is like bread. We want something else. We want,
you know, leeks and onions. Not this heavenly manner. God
said, okay, I'll give it to you running out your nostrils. That's
what He said. He said, but you're going to
be lean of soul. Verse 3, speak to all the congregation
of Israel. Say, in the tenth day of this
month, take to them every man a lamb according to the house
of their father. A lamb for a house. You've got to have a lamb. If you're in God's house, if
you belong to the Lord, if you're in God's kingdom, you've got
to have a lamb. And not just any lamb will do. Worship God at the church of
your choice. Oh no, not just any church will
do. The church of God's choice, the
people of God's choice, God's elect. That's who is coming to
gather from the four corners of the earth. He's elect. He
has a chosen people. He has a place that he's chosen
to put his name there. How do you know he's there? There's
a lamb in that house. Look down at chapter 12, verse
13. The blood shall be to you for
a token upon the house. Look at verse 22, right across. He said, none of you, the last
line, none of you go out at the door of that house till the morning,
till the sun comes up. Don't leave that house. How do you know it's God's house?
How do you know in Egypt it was where God was, where the people
of God were? How do you know? They had blood
on the door. There was a lamb in that house. A substitute. That's how you know. How do you
know a church of God? You go into Jericho. Jericho
was a big city. There was one house in Jericho.
One house in Jericho of hundreds of thousands of people where
God's mercy and grace and love was. How do you know which one
it was? Well, look on that wall. You'll
see an apartment, a little old bitty apartment, just not too
many people inside. If you look, you'll see a scarlet
line hanging out that window. But I heard that girl, that woman's
a harlot. Yep. That's what he came to say. And she'll never let that scarlet
light out of her sight. She knows the only reason God's
going to bring her out, the only difference in her and the other
sinners in that city, is the blood. That's how you know. Oh, they've got fire. They've
got wood, they've got fire. Isaac said to his father, where's
the lamb? Got to have a burnt offering, Father. My son, God will provide Himself the
lamb. How many times have you heard that? How many times have
you heard that? You know how few people have
heard that. We're so blessed. The blood's
been on this house, God's house, and this little place for a long
time now. Oh, Lord. Don't ever let us quit preaching
Christ and Him crucified. Let us never be sidetracked from
anything but Christ and Him crucified. Let us be determined not to know
anything, not to do anything, not to ever meet together, ever,
without Christ being our object of worship and the reason for
us coming. Let us never come here because
it's Sunday or because it's supposed to. Let us come here in glad
adoration of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Verse 4 says, If a household
be too little for the Lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto
his house take it according to the number of the soul. We've
got a little house here, don't we? We've got a lamb here. We're
all huddled together here. We've got a lamb here. You know,
what this is saying is, some people are too poor to have a
lamb. And throughout the scriptures,
for really poor people, you tell them to bring a turtledove, or
something, or a goat. You couldn't afford a lamb. Goats
are cheap. But blood, that blood was sacrificed,
burned off from it. We're all a bunch of poor people,
and God has provided for us a lamb. Here we are huddled together
in this little house. Every man, everyone in here knows, even
our young people know, this is the blood. Every single one in
here has heard this over and over again, you've got to have
a lamb. And you know that Jesus Christ is a lamb. Now let me
ask you this, young, old, and young lamb, do you need a lamb? Do you need a substitute? Do
you need your sins forgiven? You have them. And we're not going to go to
heaven. We're not going to be saved by
mom and dad or husband or wife. We don't go into heaven by the
buddy system. God speaks to everyone individually.
He says, you've got to have a lamb. You. You've got to have a lamb. We've got a lamb here, don't
we? Look at verse 5. Your lamb. Is He your lamb? Is He your lamb? Your Christ. You know, many speak
about Jesus, don't they? Paul in Galatians talked about
another Jesus. A Jesus who's not the Jesus Christ
of Scripture. Okay, here he describes the Lord
Jesus Christ. See, that's his name. Begins
with who he is, Lord. Who he was before he came here,
Lord. Who he was when he came is Jesus, the man. And who he
is now is the Christ. They go together. These three
are one. And that's how you refer to him.
I'd love to have Brother Cody. Always heard him referred to.
Our Master is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's like one word just
flowed together, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. Your Lamb. Now let me describe
God's Lamb that He provides for His people. And the Lamb they
need, and the Lamb they know, and the Lamb they love, and the
Lamb they believe in, that Lamb that is their hope. Your Lamb
was without blemish. He's without blemish. That is,
he's without sin. He's born of a virgin. He's not
just a man. His life didn't begin on this
earth. John wrote, any man believes
that Christ has come in the flesh, he's born of God. Meaning that
he was somewhere before he got here. He was someone before he
came here, became a man. Who was he? God. God was manifested. Your Lamb is the spotless, holy
Son of the Most High God. God manifested. Is that your
Lamb? You know, most people don't think
it matters whether you believe Christ was born of a virgin or
not. I don't have it with me, but
there was a survey they did of preachers, so-called. So-called preacher. And the vast
majority of Baptist, Catholic, you name it, Episcopal, Methodist,
all that, did not believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
Just a point of doctrine, who cares, you know. He's just sweet
Jesus and, you know, we live like him and kind of believe
on him. It's okay, we're going to glory. Uh-uh. No, no, no,
no. It's not you. It's not anything
about you that's going to get you to go. It's everything about
Him. If He's just a man, if He's got sin, then somebody's got
to pay for His sins. Uh-uh, no, this is God come to
put away sin by the what? Sacrifice of Himself. Our Lord
said, Your Lamb must be born of a virgin. Your Lamb must be
not just a man. Man can't satisfy. God can't
die. So God became a man. God to satisfy
and man to die. Your Lamb must be... See, who
can forgive sins but God? Your Lamb, your Christ must be
God manifesting in the flesh. This is our God, Isaiah said.
We've waited on Him. He will save us. Not try. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Came to save. By the sacrifice of Himself.
Perfect. It must be perfect to be accepted. It shall be perfect to be accepted.
Leviticus 22, 21. It shall be perfect. Your Lamb
must be without spot, without blemish, without sin, or God
won't accept it on your behalf. And He is. He is. A male. A man. A man. A man. Not a woman. A woman plunged
us into sin. And a man is going to get us
out of it. A man. A man, one man, came to put away
sin. A male of the first year, that
is, in his prime. In his prime. And you'll take
him from the sheep and from the goats. That is, he's right in
the middle of the flock. And you can't really tell him
apart. He looks like a common man. But observe him. Hang on now. Verse 6, keep him up until the
fourteenth day. That is, he's wholly harmless,
separate from sinners. You observe him. If you watch
him, if you listen to him, if you look at him and look to him,
you'll see he's not just a man. He's not like anyone else. He's
like none other. This is the fairest of ten thousand,
the bright and morning star. This is the lily of the valley,
the rose of Sharon. This is one that's altogether
lovely. This is not just man. No man. This is a sinless, spotless,
clean hand, pure heart. Our Lord stood before God and
men and devils and said, someone convince me of sin. Find one
fault in me. His enemies wanted to and they
couldn't. The devil tried to find something to tempt, he couldn't. And God said, I'm well pleased.
This is the one. This is the one I'll accept and
accept everyone that comes to me by Him. By Him, I say. No one else. Is Jesus Christ your only way? The truth, He's the whole truth,
nothing but the truth to you. Your life, and you're going to
glory. By Him, I say. By Him. The whole congregation shall
kill it. Everybody. Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Jews,
the Gentiles, the people, everybody crucified Jesus Christ. They
were all crying out. The only reason Mary Magdalene
didn't, Mary and his mother, and James and John didn't do
that is because God had mercy on them. God had already saved
them. All right? But there was a time. There was
a time you and I didn't care about the gospel, didn't care
about God, didn't care about whether Christ came, lived, or
died or not. Right? Guilty. I'm the biggest miracle
on earth. Here I am preaching what I once
didn't care a thing about. You know, all God's people are
just, it's amazing grace. It's not just grace, this is
amazing grace. They all killed it. And our indifference
to Christ is killing Him. Same thing. Verse 7, Now take
the blood and strike it on the side post and upper door post
of the house wherein they shall eat it. That's the blood of Christ
applied to our hearts, minds, souls, our feet. Everything is
purged by blood. Everything. God can't accept
anything about us. Everything about us is polluted
by nature and God has to cleanse it by the blood. Verse 8, they'll
eat the flesh in that night. That night. This was the first
day. They're going out of here at
night. And we're in darkness, but not
as others. We have light in our dwelling.
Alright? He's telling them, this is urgent,
eat it now. Look at verse, eat the flesh
in that night, eat it in haste, he said. Verse 11, eat it in
haste. Our Lord said, except you eat
my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part in it. What's
that mean? Do you like food? I'm looking at you. It looks
like you do. Do you love food? Do you need food? Do you love
the taste of food? Do you? I'm talking to you. Do you love to sit with people
you love and eat food? The older you get, that's one
of the most enjoyable things of all. It's more enjoyable with
someone in it. A whole lot more enjoyable. You
ever eaten something? It's like reading the scripture.
You read it and say, oh, it's so good. You got to call somebody. Or two or three are gathered
together in my name at the table. Do you need Christ? Do you need
this gospel? Does this taste good to you?
Only sinners have a taste for the gospel. Only sinners have
a taste for grace. Only sinners need this. Only
sinners need the blood. I don't drink blood. You better. You can't give someone this taste
that the Lord can't. He does. Eat it. That night you're in the darkness,
but eat. Roast with fire. That's Christ going through hell
on the cross. Unleavened bread. That's his
sinlessness, but that's also sincerity. Paul talked about
the sincerity of unleavened bread. And that's why you should never
take of the Lord's table until you know exactly what you're
doing. Until you really believe, this Christ is my Christ. This
is my lamb. Why am I doing this? Because
I believe Jesus Christ and I need Him. Don't ever take that table
unless you know it. That's the unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth. Bitter herbs. He had them eat
that lamb every time. Don't leave off these bitter
herbs. That lamb was so savory, so wonderful,
so cooked to perfection. Roast, not in a pot. Sod with water. Not sodding down. Roast with fire. You know, the
God who answers by fire comes down and sends a fire and baptizes
us by fire. That's the Holy Spirit. You know,
the lamb, the blood of Jesus Christ, the gospel of Christ
will never taste so good. This is the best thing I've ever
tasted in my life. Roast with fire. Roast with fire. Bitter herbs. Bitter herbs is
sin. The gospel doesn't mean a thing
to you unless you taste something of the bitterness of sin. It
really doesn't. So that's why the Lord, you know,
allows us to go out in the world and fall and have these temptations
and all that. And you think, if the Lord would
just shield me from all that, I'd be better off. I wish I could
never have an evil thought or evil words or, you know, stumble
and fall. Well, then you wouldn't need
this gospel. But then you come crawling in here. You come crawling
in here. And you think, is there... I
hear there's lamb being served there. Is there enough for me? Oh, is there enough. Come on
up to the table, the rest of us crawling beggars. There's
plenty over here. Eat it. The legs, look at that,
the head, the legs, the pertinence thereof. Not a bone will be broken. A complete sacrifice. The whole
counsel of God is in Jesus Christ. Everything He is and did is our
salvation. Nothing shall remain, verse 10,
let nothing remain till the morning. There is no tomorrow. You know,
as far as we're concerned, today is the day of salvation. Boast
not thyself of tomorrow. Has anybody today thought about
what you're going to do tomorrow? Is there anybody in here that
hasn't? I have. They're going camping. Maybe. Might be going to glory. Wouldn't that be better? Seriously. We keep saying that. But one
of these days is going to be the last day. I mean, the very
last day. It's true. Boast not thyself
of tomorrow. Eat this in haste. Today is the
day of salvation. Right now. There's nothing we don't know
if it remaineth tomorrow, you know. Oh, I'll put this off when
I get older, when I get through school, when I get through that,
this and that and the other. When I find this, I'll find that.
It might be too late. Verse 11, Thus shall ye eat it
with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet. What's
he saying? Put your shoes on, put your clothes,
wrap your clothes around you. What's your clothes, John? It's
this gospel. Girdle to wrap it up tight. Staff in your hand? The thing
you lean on. The thing you fight off enemies
with. The thing that parted the Red
Sea. Staff. What is that? Got your
staff in your hand? Got your shoes on? Why? What's happening? We're going
out of here. I tell you what, the children
of Israel were excited. Really? Yeah, tonight. And you'll never forget it. Tonight,
he said, it's the Lord's Passover. See that, verse 11? It's the
Lord's Passover. This is the Lord's Word. You
know that? This is not my sermon this morning.
This is the Lord's Word. This is not just what John Calvin
came up with. This is the Lord's Word. The
Lord's truth. Salvations of the Lord. I can't
save anybody. I can't convince anybody of anything.
I can't make anybody interested. I can't get anyone's ear. Salvations
of the Lord. What does it mean, Passover?
First time the word's used. Look at it, verse 12. I will
pass through the land of Egypt. Pass through. I'm coming through. I will smite all the firstborn
of the land of Egypt. Man and beast, they're all going
to die. Against all the gods of the Egypt, all false religion,
all false gods, all the rulers, whoever it is. I will execute
judgment. I will. I will pass through.
I will smite. Like Jericho, the Lord passed
through Jericho, didn't He? He didn't stop. Saved someone
coming and someone going. And in Joshua's day, He saved
one harlot on the wall in her family by the blood. I will pass
through. It's the last time. Egypt's over. It's over. And I will execute
judgment because He said, I am the Lord. What I will, I do. What I purpose, I will bring
it to pass. What I speak comes to pass because
I am. I will, I am. Not if you will,
I can't. No, no, no. I will, I am. That's what He said. And verse
13, the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where
you are. How do I know that the Lord has
mercy on me? You know, here I am this morning,
but I'm the chief of sinners. Surely nobody is as bad as me.
How I care? Ain't nobody as bad as us. Everybody
in here is as bad as us. They think they're worse than
us. You know who this gospel is for? People who think they're
the worst. The worst is going to be first. That's the way it is. Blood should
be for you a token. On the houses where you are,
that's it. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. Who applied the blood? Did the
people apply the blood? Someone did it for them. You
know, there's times we can't see the blood. There's times
we can't see any faith in ourselves. There's never a time we can see
any goodness in ourselves. There's times when we just can't,
I don't know if I'm a believer or not, Rahab, that scarlet lion
was on the outside of her hat. I'm just certain every now and
then she'd go to the window and look to see if it was there.
tight. But no, God said, when I see
the blood, He knows. Simon Peter, do you love me more
than He? You know what his hope was? You know. And thou knowest. Now notice what I see today.
Our Passover year. Little faith, the saving faith.
And the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you. The plague
of sin. The curse of the law. Everyone
that knows the plague of their heart. This is only for those
who know the plague of their heart. This is only for those
who know all these plagues that God sent to Egypt. I deserve
them. They ought to smite me. That's
who this is for. And the plague, he said, is not
going to destroy you. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. Why? Blood. Blood. And this day, verse 14,
shall be unto you for a memorial. You're going to remember this
the rest of your life. You're never going to get over
this. In fact, Every time you meet, I want you to remember
this. That's what he said, keep it
a feast by an ordinance forever. Okay. We'll do it. We'll do it by your grace, because
we know it's by your grace, by your blood, by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ, by your mercy. Oh, not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to His mercy, He has saved us
and redeemed us, washed us from our sins, in the precious blood
of the Lamb. Is that your hope? Amen.