Well, as we get to Exodus chapter
12, especially toward the end, of course, the children of Israel
are ready to make their exodus out of the land of Egypt. Now,
the Lord had warned Pharaoh, he had warned the Egyptians over
and over again of the judgments that he would send, and the Lord
has now, as we arrive at chapter 12, he has now sent nine different
plagues. God has warned. Pharaoh could
not say that he had not been warned of more severe judgment. And really, the people in the
world today, they have been warned if they pay any attention to
the Word of God, There are warnings in the Scriptures concerning
the need of perfection in Christ, of salvation by the blood of
the Lamb of God. There are warnings that say,
if he that doesn't repent shall perish, Those who don't believe
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will come to a sad ending. The Bible is full of warnings
from God from the beginning to the end. And yet, the natural
man, just like Pharaoh, and just like the Egyptians, the natural
man pays no heed to the warnings of God. And the natural man never
will unless God is pleased to give spiritual ears that we may
hear the warnings and hear the good news of redemption, and
unless God gives eyes for us to behold the Lamb of God who
indeed takes away the sin of the world. And may the Lord enable
each of us to hear His Word, Not only the promises of the
Word of God, but for those who are unconverted, hear His warnings. You must be righteous to be accepted
by God. You must have your sins washed
away, so you must know the Lord Jesus Christ. You must be found
in Him, not having your own righteousness, but the righteousness which is
of God found in Christ Jesus. May the Lord be pleased to speak
in mercy to all of us and to those of you who are watching
by way of the internet. Now my subject this evening is
four portraits of the Lord. Four portraits or pictures of
the Lord. And I'm gonna start with this
one, number one. Let me show you the portrait
of our Lord's power. Go back into chapter 11 and verse
1. Chapter 11 and verse 1, and the
Lord said, actually literally it's and the Lord had said. unto Moses, yet will I bring
one plague more upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterwards he
will let you go hence. When he shall let you go, he
shall surely thrust you out hence altogether." One more heavy blow
is going to come against Pharaoh and against the Egyptians." This
is a hard-hearted monarch. He has no fear of God. He's like
every man in his natural condition. There is no fear of God in his
eyes. There's no respect for the Lord.
When Moses and Aaron first approached him, he said, who is the Lord? Who is the Lord? I don't know
your Lord. I don't know your God that I
should fear Him. But one more, one more plague,
and he will be compelled to release the objects of God's sovereign
mercy from their bondage. I'll tell you this, for all of
these first nine plagues, Pharaoh remain hard-hearted against the
Lord. Sometimes it says the Lord hardened
his heart, sometimes it says he hardened his own heart, but
he remained hard-hearted. But know this, God is able to
grind to powder the very hardest of hearts if he's pleased to
do it. In fact, Ezekiel says the Lord
will take away the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh. And
by the word flesh there, it means like the quick that's under your
fingernail. It's alive and you feel it. And that's what the Lord said,
I'll take away that unfeeling heart. You have no feeling about
your sins. You have no feeling about God. You have no feeling about the
Redeemer, about salvation in Christ. He's just dead. You're
hard-hearted is what you are by nature. All of us are. And the Lord said, I'm going
to take that away from you. I'm going to give you a heart
that feels, a heart that knows. a heart that experiences, a heart
that is made to stand in awe of God in His holiness and in
His righteous character, and a heart that weeps over your
own sins. That's a heart of feeling, a
heart that's been quickened, and a heart that then falls in
love with the only Redeemer, the Savior of sinners. the Lord
Jesus Christ. Remember what Nebuchadnezzar
said, those that walk in pride, God is able to abase. Man may fancy himself to be something. He may kick up his heels, lift
up his head and pomp, and in vain glory and in arrogance. as though he were his own master. But vain man knows nothing, really,
of his own spiritual condition. And he doesn't even know. Pharaoh
didn't even know this, and no man does by nature. He did not
know. He was a pawn in the hand of
Satan. Because II Timothy chapter 2
says it, we're held by the will of Satan. He holds every man
in his own will. So Pharaoh and the Egyptians
are under the authority of Satan, but Satan is under the authority
of God. So in all things, whether it
be the works of Satan or the works of an ungodly monarch,
in all things, our God rules over all. This is a portrait
of God's power. Indeed, Pharaoh was among the
mightiest man on the earth, but he's nobody before God. And the Lord could just as easily
have wiped him out in any of these plagues, but he didn't. The Lord kept him living to fulfill
the divine purpose for this man. And then he's going to perish
in the waters of the Red Sea. I'll tell you this, it doesn't
matter how intelligent you are, how much of a genius a person
may be, how high the IQ is. A person can receive nothing
except it be given him from above. That's what John said. And our prayer therefore ought
to be, O God of grace, Make me a mercy beggar. May I fall at
your footstool. And O God, show mercy to me through
the blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I looked at those
words this morning. I will bring one, one plague
more. One more plague. One more plague. What a solemn message from God
to Moses. It's as though the death warrant
of the firstborn of Egypt was signed right then. They're as
good as dead. Psalm 105, you don't have to
turn to it, but you can jot it down if you want to. Psalm 105
verse 36, says, he smote also all the firstborn
in their land, the chief of all their strength. The firstborn
to the Egyptians, they considered those to be the strength, the
chief of the strength of Egypt. That's the future of Egypt, the
firstborn. They're the ones that the parents
looked to and they said, our family name will continue through
our firstborn. That was the glory and the pride
of the parents and of all of the Egyptians. The chief of all
their strength. But they will soon discover they
had no strength. against the God of the Israelites. You see, we believe according
to the word of God that the Lord our God is the sovereign of his
universe. And his will is accomplished
at all times and in all places. This is a portrait of God's power. God can bring down the very proudest
of men as He's going to bring down Pharaoh. And He can eliminate
those who are the objects of our glory, the firstborn, if
it's His will. May we bow before Him in worship. Here's a portrait of God's power.
Is there anything too hard for the Lord? I think about that man whose
words I read to you right from the beginning, the words of the
apostle. Boy, he was an arrogant fellow, full of self-righteousness,
hated Jesus of Nazareth. despised the people of God. Anybody
who believed in the way, the way of grace, the way of righteousness,
the way of blood redemption through Jesus of Nazareth, anybody who
believed in that way, Saul of Tarsus took it upon himself to
stamp them out, kill them if necessary, at least arrest them
with authority from the high priest and take them back to
Jerusalem. and see them just tossed into prison. What a hard-hearted
rebel! And the saints of God were fearful
of him. In fact, when the Lord said to
Ananias, Saul of Tarsus is coming. I want you to preach to him."
Wait a minute. I'd rather have a more pleasant,
easier-going audience than that murderer. I mean, he was right
there when they stoned Stephen, and he said, let me hold your
coat so you can get a better throw of rocks at that preacher. And later on, he acknowledged
that. He was there. He heard the preaching
of Stephen and he was filled with wrath. My, what a hard-hearted
fool! And I'm sure the saints of God
said, boy, that guy's as good for hell as if he's there already.
Not so fast. Not so fast. Behold a portrait
of God's power. God broke him. put him in the dust. The glory
of Christ, the brightness of His glory, blinded Saul. And he had to be led into the
city by some men. Oh, here's a portrait of God's
power. And I warn you, if there's anybody here, you're trying to
buck God, rebel against God, oppose the purpose of God, believe
me, he'll make a portrait of his power out of you. No doubt about it. Here's the
second thing, a portrait of the Lord's choice. The Lord brought
Israel out of Egyptian bondage by means of the bloody death
of a Passover lamb. a great mercy, a great mercy
to a nation that was just as vile as Egypt was. Israel wasn't
any better than Egypt. There was really no essential
difference in them whatsoever. The people of both nations were
all rebellious. They were all worshipers of idols. The only difference between Israel
and Egypt was the difference God made. And that's a portrait
of the Lord's choice. The Lord chose Israel. I don't
know if there's anybody who would argue against that. If they did,
they'd be a fool. The Lord chose Israel. He didn't
choose Egypt. He didn't choose Moab. Just go right on down the line
with all the other nations that existed, didn't choose those.
And when it came time for the Passover lamb, for the killing
of the lamb, for the shedding of the blood, catching it in
a basin, taking some hyssop and putting the blood outside on
the doorpost. And over the doorpost, when it
came to that, the Lord only gave that gospel instruction to the
Israelites. Didn't get, not to the Egyptians. Wasn't for them. Had nothing
to do with them. When God purposed all of this
to happen, He purposed that the firstborn of Israel would be
spared and the firstborn of the Egyptians would die. That's the
God of the Bible. It was a choice of life on the
one hand and death on the other hand. It's the Lord who put a difference
between the two. It's God who chose the one and
He did not choose the other. God draws a line as it were in
the sand. And on this side is life. And on this side is death. And
you can't do anything about it. It may have been that some of
the Israelites had become friends with some Egyptians, and they
got this instruction. It may have upset them. It may
have been some Israelite parents Their eldest son, let's say,
is friends with the oldest son, the firstborn son of an Egyptian
family. There may be some people who
might have foolishly said, you know, that's not fair. And if anybody did say that,
if Moses heard it, he'd said, shut your mouth. And what we would say is you
need to read Romans chapter nine. You see, God chooses those to
whom he's going to show mercy. He chose them before the foundation
of the world. You see, Israel is God's chosen
people. He chose them above all other
nations. And they stand as a picture or
a portrait of another nation, a spiritual nation. That is spiritual
Israel. Hold your place here and turn
over Galatians, if you would. Galatians chapter 6. Yes, indeed. What we're studying
there next is a portrait, a picture of the choice God made before
He created the world. It's a portrait of the choice
of true Israel, the true Israel of God, and the remainder of
the world. Just as God chose Israel to deal
with them in temporal mercies, so God chose a people unto salvation
before the world began. All right, Galatians 6, are you
there? Let me begin reading at verse 14. But God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, save in redemption
by the blood of the Savior. by whom the world is crucified
unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." In other
words, what he's saying is, in Christ doesn't matter whether
you're by natural heritage a Jew or by natural heritage a Gentile. That doesn't matter. What matters
is you're a new creature in Christ Jesus by the creative, sovereign,
power of God. Now look at verse 16, and as
many as walk according to this rule, what does that mean? Those who walk a very straight
line of believing the gospel of the grace of God and that
salvation that was accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ, as
many as walk according to that rule, peace be on them and mercy. And upon, watch this, the Israel
of God. Now let me remind you of the
people to whom Paul is writing. He's writing to a Gentile church. But he says to a Gentile church,
those who walk by this rule, the peace of God is upon them
and the mercy of God is upon them, they are the Israel of
God. Who today in this world, who
is the Israel of God? Israel of God is that people
chosen under salvation before the world began in Christ Jesus. We're the true Israel of God. And I'll tell you this, not only,
you know, there was the division between Israel and But you know,
within the nation of Israel, there were two groups of people.
Isn't that right? Within the nation of Israel,
there are two groups of people. I want you to look back in the
book of Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11 and verse 7. Romans
chapter 11 and verse 7. Within the nation of Israel,
there were two groups of people. Here it is, Romans 11, 7. He
says, what then? Israel hath not obtained then
which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it and
the rest. The rest were blinded. He's not talking about the Egyptians
now. He's talking about the rest of
Israel. You see, the majority of the people of Israel sought
acceptance with God, sought righteousness upon the basis of works. And because they sought righteousness
and acceptance with God upon the basis of their works, they
did not obtain that which they wanted. They didn't have acceptance
with God. They didn't have righteousness. But the election hath obtained
it. There's an elect people who do
obtain righteousness and acceptance with God, and then there's the
rest. There's the two groups within
Israel. The rest. And you look it up and you'll
find Strong's Concordance says, those who are not of that specific
number. There was within the nation of
Israel two groups of people. Those who were the elect of God,
chosen unto salvation, as we were before the world began. And then there were the rest. And I thought about it today.
God could have left me among the rest. And I would never have known
the gospel of his grace. I would have lived my life in
false religion, preaching a false gospel, carrying a Bible around,
thinking I was doing God a service, die and meet my creator, and
he'll say, depart from me, I never knew you. That's what happens
to the rest. I'm thankful I'm not among the
rest. What really was it that obtained
righteousness for me and acceptance with me? Well, you want to trace
it back to the beginning? The election hath obtained it.
You've got to trace this back to God. I know our Lord Jesus
Christ, He established righteousness for us and we're accepted in
the Beloved, but you've got to go back before the foundation
of the world to find out the very purpose of God. Here's a
portrait of God's free and sovereign grace. We're chosen unto salvation. Thirdly, here's a portrait back
in our text in Exodus chapter 12. Here's a portrait of the
Lord's Lamb. You know, when it came to the
Passover Lamb, our Lord was very specific. No detail was left out. A male
of the first year, without spot or blemish, to be quarantined
for four days for inspection, the blood shed, caught in the
basin, which I've already said, a bunch of histamine. The father would go out and apply
the blood to the doorposts on the outside and over the doorposts. And then the Lord says, when
you come back, when that father comes back in and shuts the door,
roast that lamb with fire. See, our God's a consuming fire. And his wrath was poured out
upon the Son of God. The fiery wrath of the Lord burned
in his soul. When our Savior bore our sins
in his own body on the tree, or as Isaiah says, when our iniquities
were made to meet upon his head, All of God's indignation and
anger and wrath against sins were unleashed upon the Lamb,
the Lamb of God. You see, the Lord is the one
who bruised him. Read again Isaiah 53. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It satisfied God. Nothing else
would satisfy God. The blood of bulls and goats
wouldn't satisfy God, but the blood of His Son did. The Lord delighted in that. And upon the basis of the blood
poured out, we're saved. And as I said, the lamb was to
be roasted. He says, verse 9, don't eat of
it raw and not boiled with water. Don't eat of it that way, because
then you will have left out the substitutionary sacrifice, the
pain, the agony, the sufferings and the death of the Son of God,
the painful death. And that's what people, many
religions today are leaving that out. It's like they're watering
down the offering. Let's talk about the justice
of God in dealing with His Son. God's not going to pass over
our sins. Our sins, some had been done
about them. There's got to be wrath involved.
There's got to be justice satisfied. And God found the way to pour
out His wrath upon His Son and satisfy His own justice in the
death of Christ Jesus. And then it says, "...and eat
it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs." No evil, no sin. Then he said, with your shoes,
with your loins girded and your shoes on your feet, your staff
in your hand, ready to go. Where are they going? Well, they're
going to start out for the land of promise. And you see, we feast,
we feast on Christ, Christ crucified, the roasted lamb. And we do so
with our loins girded with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And our feet shod with the gospel
of peace. Keeps us stable. And we eat in
haste as it were with our bags packed. Ready to go. Ready to go. We're ready to go. I tell you what, the Lord may
not give you warning, He'll just take you immediately just like
that. That's all right. Old Donny Bell used to say, the
Lord may take you, you won't have time to pack a suitcase. But that's okay. That's okay. We'll go home to meet Him in
the Lord. And one more thing real quick. A portrait of the
Lord's church. Look at verse 46 of chapter 12.
Go toward the end now. And here's actually a two-fold
portrait, one of our Savior and one of His church. Chapter 12, verse 46, in one
house shall it be eaten. Interesting language, isn't it?
In one house shall it be eaten. And I think of the one household
of faith. one body of saints. In one house shall it be eaten,
thou shall not carry forth out of the flesh abroad out of the
house, neither shall you break a bone thereof." Now we know that this was fulfilled
pertaining to the Lamb of God. in John chapter 19, and I would
invite you to read that when you get home. When the Jews insisted
that they take the three men who were crucified down from
their crosses, but they had to be dead, they got to the thief,
first thief, and he's still alive, and they broke his legs, broke
his bones. He just slumped down and died. Couldn't support himself up anymore.
He'd suffocate to death. And the same with the other thief. Same thing. He's still alive.
Broke his legs. He couldn't support himself,
pushing up from the nails. And he slumped down, and he would
have suffocated to death. But they came to our Lord. Our
Lord had already given up the ghost because He died not at
the will of men, but at the will of God and according to His own
purpose. He said, I have the power to lay it down, I've got
the power to lay my life down, I've got the power to receive
it again, take it up again. This commandment have I received
from my Father. So they didn't break His bones.
Don't you see the providence of God there? Not a bone of Him
shall be broken. But the dead one soldier thrust
his spear into the Savior's side and out came blood and water.
Blood to redeem, water to sanctify. But notice this in another light. And go with me to, oh, Psalm,
what is the passage I want here? I jotted it down somewhere. Psalm. I thought I wrote it down. 34, I did. Psalm 34. Let me show you this and I'll
let you go. Kevin will come up and lead us
in the last song. After I finish this. Psalm 34 and verse 20. He, Christ, keepeth all his bones." Who's he talking about? He's
talking about his body, that is, the church. You don't preserve yourself,
you don't keep yourself, He keeps us. Not one of them is broken. Not one of them is destroyed.
See, here's the whole body of our Lord Jesus Christ, one church,
redeemed, having been chosen in grace, preserved by power,
one body, and Christ redeemed all of them. It is not possible
that one bone of His body would be broken. Not a one of His chosen
people will ever be destroyed. He keepeth all His bones. And I may not be a big bone,
but I'm a bone. I'm a bone in the Savior's body.
And He keeps me. He keeps me. Not one is broken. And the word means destroyed.
Not one can be torn away. Just as our Lord's physical body
could not have a broken bone, His spiritual body, the church.
And we're one. We're one all over the world
for all time. Just one body. Just one church. And there may be some differences
in some of the things that we believe, but we all believe,
all the true members of Christ's church believe the gospel of
grace. They believe redeeming blood,
imputed righteousness. We may have some other differences
in church polity and church rule and order and things of that
nature, maybe even on baptism, as long as we don't attach any
kind of supernatural power. to baptism, maybe the mode of
baptism. I told you about that brother
in Lexington, North Carolina, who's a Presbyterian. We talked
about baptism a lot of times. It was ingrained in him, sprinkling. And I said, you don't believe
that has any spiritual value, do you? He said, no, not at all.
I said, why are you doing it? He said, well, we've always done
it that way. But he believed the gospel of grace, one body, one family, four portraits
of our Lord. Well, I hope that'll help you.