Good morning let's all stand together we'll sing hymn number 452. 452. I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love me A sinner condemned and clean. How marvelous! How wonderful! And my song shall ever be. How marvelous! How wonderful! ? Is my Savior's love for me ? For me it was in the garden ? He prayed not my will but thine ? He had no tears for his own griefs But sweat drops of blood for mine. How marvelous, how wonderful can my song shall ever be? How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me?

In wonder angels beheld him and came from the world of light to comfort him in the sorrows He poured for my soul that night. How marvelous! How wonderful! And my song shall ever be. How marvelous! wonderful is my Savior's love for me. He took my sins and my sorrows. He made them his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary. and suffered and died alone. How marvelous, how wonderful, in thy song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful, is my Savior's love for me.

When with the ransomed in glory His face I at last shall see, t'will be my joy through the ages, to sing of his love for me. How marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me.

Be seated. We'll sing hymn number 61. Hymn number 61. Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free, rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness, ? Over me ? ? Underneath me ? ? All around me ? ? Is the current of thy love ? ? Leading onward ? ? Leading homeward ? ? To my glorious ? rest above. Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus spread his praise from shore to shore. How he loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, never more. How he watches o'er his loved ones, die to call him of his own. how for them he intercedeth, watcheth for them from the throne. O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every ? Love the best ? ? Tis an ocean ? ? Vast of blessing ? ? Tis a haven ? ? Sweet of breast ? ? O the deep, deep love of Jesus ? ? Tis a haven ?

If you have your Bibles with you this morning, if you would, please open them with me. We'll read Exodus chapter 11. Exodus chapter 11.

Exodus 11, and the Lord 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. Speak now in the ears of the people and let every man borrow of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor jewels of silver and jewels of gold.

And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people.

And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.

But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast, that you may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee. And after that I will go out.

And he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger, And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

Our Heavenly Father, Lord God Almighty, we bow before you once more coming through your precious son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you for being our intercessor. We thank you for your word preserved through time. We thank you for the man you have raised to read, to study, and to preach your blessed word. Lord, we thank you that you make the difference. We thank you that you have all control and all power, all might, all wisdom, all glory, and all love. Father, we thank you that all these things are of you, your many wonderful attributes.

Lord, as we are gathered here today, we ask that you would meet with us, cause us to honor and glorify thy holy name, or let us magnify thy name. Let us bow down and worship you in spirit and in truth. We ask that you would be with our brother as he stands to proclaim your word, that you would cause him to speak to us, Lord. Speak through him. Bless his heart as he stands.

Lord, we have many weak and weary, Those who are going through great trials and tribulations, we ask that you would continue to be their strength and their stay. Guide them, Lord. We all need you, but especially be with those who are dealing with great sorrows, great pains. Lord, you know our needs better than we do. We ask for mercy for our lost loved ones. We ask that you would give them a glimpse of what they are by nature and show them your mercy. Show them your might and your power.

Lord, we ask that your word go out all over this world. Conquer sinful hearts wherever they be. Save your sheep wherever they be, Lord, according to thy holy will. Lord, we ask that all things be done according to thy will, for Christ's sake. Amen.

Let's all stand together and sing the hymn of the day in the Bulletin.

My heart is resting, oh my God. I will give thanks and sing. My heart is at the secret source of every precious thing. I thirst for springs of heavenly life, and here all day they rise. I seek the treasure of thy love, and close at hand it lies. I have a heritage of joy, that it I must not see. But the hand that let you make it mine is keeping it for me. And a new song is in my mouth, too long the music said. Glory to Thee for all the grace I have not tasted yet. My heart is resting, O my God, my heart is in Thy care. I hear the voice of joy and health ? Resounding everywhere ? ? Thou art my portion, saith my soul ? ? Ten thousand voices say ? ? And the music of their glad aiming ? ? Will never die away ?

Be seated. We have a special this morning.

Oh, floor of love, prepare to sing to God my singing. You're and my king with all the saints I'll join to tell My Jesus had done all things well. How sovereign, wonderful and free Is all His love to send for me He looked me as a friend from hell. My Jesus has done all things well. And since my soul has known His love, what mercies He has made me prove. ? Mercies we show ? ? By praise excel ? ? By Jesus' will ? ? Do all things well ? How sovereign, wonderful, and free Is all His love to sin for me He plucked me as a breath from air. My Jesus has done all things well. And win to that bright world I've won And join the anthems in the sky ? Among the brave ? ? This note shall swell ? ? My Jesus said ? ? Done all things well ? ? How sovereign, wonderful ? And free is all His love to sing for me. He plucked me as a breath from hell. My Jesus man done all things well.

We're so glad to have Brother Luke Coffey with us this morning. He makes his way to us from Kingsport these days. Have you preached here before? I didn't think so. His dad's preached here. It's been several years. He used to preach here every once in a while. Now he's gonna preach for us today. Looking forward to it. We're glad to have you. You come and preach whatever the Lord's put on your heart. I talk pretty loud, so.

Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you this morning. I bring greetings from many people in Northeast Tennessee. To our fellow brothers and sisters here in central ish Tennessee. Coming in this morning, it never gets old. Walking into a gospel church and seeing so many friends. Some that I have known for many years, some that I have not known that have known me for many years, some new faces. And I was sitting there thinking about how how much I enjoy that. And the thought came to me as someone said, you know, how's your father? I knew your father. I knew your mother. And, you know, I loved your grandfather and all these comments. And it hit me. If the Lord tarries by his grace, may our children be saying the same things to each other. And I don't mean that because they knew me or they knew you. But because the Lord would knit their hearts together and that they would know each other from what he's done for them, what a blessing that would be.

If you would open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 11. Exodus chapter 11. I have a very simple message this morning. And I take it as a compliment that I've been called a simple preacher sometimes. So many things in life these days is created and founded on trying to trick someone or trying to surprise them in the end. But that's not what the gospel is. It's very straightforward. It is simple, but yet it is so important.

Look at verse seven of Exodus 11. The last half of that verse says that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. The title of this message is The Difference is Christ. The Difference is Christ. The Passover, as we're going to look at in Chapter 12 in just a moment. is a great picture of Christ. And as we look at this story, I want us to look at it through this simple lens, that the difference between these two people, the Egyptians and the Israelites, the difference is Christ. That's the only difference, the only ones. The Egyptians represent those who God has not saved. And the Israelites are those that he chose and he saves. And the difference is Christ.

In verse one of chapter 11, it says, And the Lord said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one more plague upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterwards, he will let you go hence. This is the tenth plague. It is the last plague. And the Lord says to Moses here, This is the last one. This is going to do it. And the Lord's Providence and purpose, he had ten plagues. He did not need ten plagues to get his people out of Israel, but he had ten plagues. And all of those nine plagues led to this single plague, the one of the blood on the door, because everything came down to there must be blood spilt. That's our lives. That's the situation we are in. No matter how many days the Lord gives us, it all comes down in the end to there must be blood spilt.

We are sinners. The wages of sin is death. We will die in our sin unless blood is spilt for them. Either our blood is spilt for our sins and we will die eternally. or the Lord Jesus Christ blood was spilt for us and we will live eternally. The difference is Christ. That's it. That's the only thing.

Look at chapter 12, verse one, the Lord is going to speak to Moses and Aaron here, and he is going to start this ceremony of the Passover for the people. This Passover is one of the most complete pictures of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ in the entire Bible. It's such an amazing picture. Why do we need this? Because we aren't smart enough to figure this stuff out on our own. We need the Lord to give us a picture to show us. And he's given us a lot of pictures because some of them we can't see. And you know, the only way we see pictures is because someone tells us the picture and explains it. I'm explaining it to you because someone explained it to me. Because we have to know the difference is Christ.

In this picture, the Lord preaches to the Jews the whole doctrine of the gospel, all of it. He shows them the choice of the sacrifice, the characteristics of the lamb, the death of the lamb and the sprinkling of the blood. He shows him the eating of the lamb and the faith that has to be rested in it. The grand result of this sacrifice, how the people were delivered and God was glorified. He shows all of that in there.

You can hold your place here and turn over to Hebrews chapter 9. Chapter 9. And remember, because this is a picture, we need to use it to focus on what it is a picture of. So Hebrews 9 verse 11 says, But Christ being come and high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us, for the people of Israel, his chosen people. Verse 13, for if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

This tells us In the story we're gonna read, all of you've heard it before, the blood being of a lamb being spread on a door saved their lives. If our God can make the blood of a lamb save our lives, how much more is the blood of the Son of God able to save his people? This is a picture, but what it's picturing is so important, and it's real. Hold your place here, safe here. You don't have to turn, but we're going to come back to this.

At the Passover, there's so many different ways we could look at it. In our limited time, what I want to do is I want to look at the parallels between this Passover and Christ, our Passover, who is sacrificed for us. There are many different things in these 12 verses we're going to read that are pictures of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So let's, I just said that, don't turn, but go back. Exodus 12, we got to read that real quick. Exodus 12, listen to this. Verse 1 says, And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls. Every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

Verse seven, And they shall take it of the blood, strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire, his head with his legs, and with the pertinence thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it, with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover.

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 I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are, And when I see the blood, I will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt.

Through these verses, the Lord says death is coming. I'm going to kill the firstborn of every person and every beast. This is a really serious thing to have happen, right? Do you think that the people believe this? Maybe why this is the 10th plague is because nine times he had told them something was going to happen. And did it happen? Yes. Now, I'm pretty foolish, and I'm not necessarily going to take someone's word for something. But if they give me nine examples of their word coming true, I'm much more likely to believe the 10th, right?

He gives a very particular list of the way to do this. He is saying, I am going to provide you a way to not die. So let's look at these different things, these different characteristics, the particular aspects of this sacrifice, and how they compare to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our sacrifice.

This is a tragic thing that they were scared of. If someone told you your firstborn was going to die, that would be, I can't imagine what that would be like. But this is a earthly, physical thing. What we're talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice is an eternal thing. It is for all of time what he's gonna do.

And I was told as a young preacher, if you're gonna have more than about three or four points, don't tell everybody how many you have. Because I remember listening to messages and when someone said, I'm gonna have so many points, I'd say I have six points, you're like, okay. Well, all of a sudden, when someone said, now, number two, and we were 34 minutes into the message, I was thinking to myself, man, how many hours are we going to be here? Well, there are 11 different traits that I'm going to look through, but they will be quick. We do not have an hour message, OK? But there are 11 things.

And these are comparisons because the Lord. He did not have to. put in this book all of these little things if they didn't matter. Every word in this book is so important. I wish we could see it. I wish I could understand. I wish I could read a verse of scripture and every single word just stuck out to me and I was like, I see it. But I don't. But I've read these things. I've been told these things. I've seen them in books. And I just want us to, I just want us to to glorify Him, to look in Him, to dwell in Him together, to realize that this sacrifice that we're reading about here, this sacrifice has already been done for those who the Lord saved. And it's glorious. It's glorious to do that.

Okay, the first one. The Lamb was to be without blemish. The lamb had to be perfect and sinless like our Lord. Now, of course, a lamb out in the field is not going to be perfect, but that lamb had to have no outward blemish. It was representing that this had to be a great lamb. This had to be something of value that was going to be sacrificed.

If it were me, what would I have done? I would have looked at my flock and thought, well, there's one over here that's about to kick the bucket, so let's take that one because that's the least amount of value to me. No, that's not how this works. Our sin has to be paid for by someone who was perfect. You know, someone can't take the blame of something or bear the punishment for someone if they are also guilty. You can't do that.

In 2 Corinthians it says, For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. This transaction where the Lord Jesus Christ took our sin and made it his and took his righteousness and gave it to us can only be done because he was perfect. He had a perfect righteousness and gave it to us in the shedding of his blood. He died for our sins. That's why he died. And we live because of his righteousness, that transaction.

In order to atone for a sin, he must have no sin of his own. In Hebrews, it says, For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. He has endured or has been tempted in every way that all of us have. I look at myself and I think, man, I don't know if anybody else could put up with what I put up with. Well, there are all of us in here have the exact same thoughts, and he has been through every single temptation and every single trial that every single one of us have had, all of them. And he went through them perfectly without sin. He had to do what we couldn't do.

Secondly, the lamb was to be taken out of the fold. The Lord Jesus Christ, our lamb, was taken from among men. He had to be a man. He had to be like us. He was the seed of woman, the seed of Abraham and made of the seed of David, according to the flesh. Galatians says this now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He sayeth not into seeds as of many, but as of one and to thy seed, which is Christ. Only one could do this. There's only one who could do this. The substitute had to be a man. He had to be like us.

Thirdly, The lamb was to be a year old and was to be killed. This shows that the Lord in his full strength of life should be put to death. Put to death. Now, if you've held your place good, but we're going to go back to Hebrews 9 real quick. Hebrews 9. Verse 24. says, For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world. But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Because of what he did on the cross, because he bore our sin, died, shed his blood for us, was victorious over death and sin, and arose. We, in our day of judgment, will stand before a holy God, knowing that sin must be punished. There's no way around that. Sin must be punished. But because he died, he stands in glory for us. We don't stay in there in our sin. We stand there in his righteousness, what he gave us, what he provided for us.

It is such a glorious thought to think that now in my sin, I can do nothing other than think to myself in that moment how scared I am going to be. But to think that the God of glory made a covenant with his people, not me making a covenant, not me doing anything. You can't count on my word. If it favors me or if the time comes to it or when it comes down to it, don't count on me. The covenant is the one he made with his people. And because of that, he will be there for his people. Not a hand will come upon. We just read that. We'll get to it in a minute. I'm getting ahead of myself.

The fourth one, the lamb was to be roasted with fire. The Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, enduring the fire of God's wrath for our sins. I'm sure you've heard this before, but I've heard messages where a man would stand up here and he would say, no one endured a death like the Lord Jesus Christ. And honestly, I've sat thinking to myself, well, I mean, I've seen things in movies or I've heard about things that were really bad. The truth is, The Lord Jesus Christ bore the sin and the wrath of God for every single one of his sheep. You know the punishment that you or I deserve? I mean, just take three seconds and think to yourself, what's some bad stuff I've done? I thought I've wanted to do. The Lord Jesus Christ paid the full debt of every single sin of every single one of his sheep. There's a that's a number that cannot be numbered. We see that the numbers of heaven, it's the sand of the seashore can't be numbered. Think about how many sins every single one of us have. He bore the wrath, the judgment, the fire of God's wrath for every single one. And why did he do that? Because if he didn't pay for even one of my sins, I have to die. I have to. He bore the wrath of every single sin, every single one of his chosen sheep sin. So the lamb was to be roasted with fire.

Next, the lamb was to be roasted whole. Why does that matter? In John, it says, for these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken. What do we do almost every single time that we make a meal? We trim parts, we cut parts, we separate things. You think about, I love grilling food. What's the first thing I do when I take a piece of meat out of the package? Trim the parts I don't want. I do all these things to it. The Lord Jesus Christ sacrifice is perfect. All of it. We take all of it. Every single bit of it. Nothing can be messed with. Nothing can be taken away. Nothing can be changed. It is one sacrifice that is perfect. That signifies that and it also signifies that we don't have any part in this. They take the whole lamb. We don't take parts. We don't accept little certain things and don't the whole thing. The Lord Jesus Christ sacrifice. The blood of the lamb must be sprinkled. It says it must be sprinkled upon the lintel on the sides of the door of the Israelites as the blood of Christ is applied by faith. There is no salvation nor deliverance apart from faith. In John 3, it says, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth in him. These verses tell us when the Lord comes, he has to see the blood.

And who did he tell to put the blood on? The people. Now, this is admittedly a topic or a point that I struggle to preach. I do that for two reasons. The first is this, I have a really hard time telling people, preaching to people, lecturing people, saying, you have to believe or you can't be saved. You have to do this or you can't be saved because I'm not worthy of that. For me to tell you, you have to have faith. And I look at myself and I say, I don't have faith. I struggle with that. But secondly, and much more importantly than that, I'm scared that if I stand up here and say, if you don't believe, you will not have everlasting life. I'm scared someone's going to think, well, then I'm going to believe and I will have a part of my salvation. And that couldn't be further from the truth.

But let me try to explain this, OK? Because it has to be said. It says in here, the Bible says so many things. If you don't believe, you won't be saved. If you don't have faith, you won't be saved. And those verses are scary. I'm telling you that when the Lord started doing a work in me and he was saying those things, I don't know how many times I was driving in my car just thinking to myself, why don't I believe? I know it's right. I grew up with the most, the person I trusted the most, my grandfather, telling me what was the truth. If anyone, I had no reason not to believe. I believed everything he told me. It made sense to me. And my dad told me that, and everybody I love told me that. Yet at the same time, I'm thinking inside my heart, I'm like, but I don't believe. I don't have faith. I don't trust. I doubt so often. Why is that the case? I can't be saved.

But let me explain this. OK, let's get into this. God did not put the blood on the door. The people put it there because they believe God in Hebrews 11, it says. But without faith, it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. OK, go back to Exodus 11 and let me read you three separate sections of this story. And I want to see if we can understand this. OK, Exodus 11. Look at verse six. It says, And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it anymore. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog wave his tongue against man or beast, that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.

Now verse or chapter 12, verse 12. And I know we've read this before, but pay attention to these three portions and then I'll make the point. Verse 12 says, 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, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. And finally, look at verse 26. And it shall come to pass when your children shall say unto you what mean ye by this service, by this Passover, that ye shall say it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses and the people bowed the head and worshiped. And the children of Israel went away and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.

These three portions all tell us the exact same thing. Every house of Egypt, the firstborn is going to die. Every house of Israel, the firstborn is not going to die. That's what it says. Three separate times it says that. In Exodus 11 it says it, before the people of Israel even know what's coming. The second portion, he's telling them what's coming. And the third one is at the end of when he's told them and he's saying, this is why we're doing this and it's going forward. How in the world Could God Almighty say, I'm coming through and if there's blood on the door, you're safe. If it's not, you will die. How could he say that if no one knew it and he already knew what everyone was going to do? The reason is because the Israelites, his people, he gave them the faith to put the blood on the door. If before I tell you to do something, I'm confident you're going to do it. How can I have that unless I know or can make you do it? The Lord said before the Israelites knew not a dog will wag their tongue at them. A dog is not going to bark at the people of Israel on this night. You think the people who are going to put the blood had any effect on that?

We must realize the only way we have faith is because the Lord Jesus Christ gives it to us. The only way we have belief is if he makes us to believe. Now, in our experience, in my personal experience, faith has grown some because the Lord has made it happen. I didn't believe until he made me believe. I didn't have none of that. And when I say growth, I mean that he has made me to grow in faith. And that's a great comfort for anybody who knows themselves and knows they're a sinner.

If we genuinely looked at verses of Scripture that says he that believeth on the sun has everlasting life and he that believeth not on the sun has not everlasting life. Does anybody want to risk their life based on their belief, their personal belief, what they can do? We are completely dependent upon the Lord for his sacrifice and for our faith that he gives us in that sacrifice. It's all of him. That's why we have to say this, because we have to realize salvation is 100% of the Lord Jesus Christ in every way.

We use that word sovereign. Am I the only person here who loves to take glory when it's not mine? I don't care. I can give my wife a recipe. And when the whole meal comes out great and somebody says something, I'll take some of the credit. I mean, don't we do stuff like that constantly? There have been times in my life where someone came up to me and said, you did great, something, something. And I didn't know what they were talking about. And I sure didn't say that wouldn't me. I let him give me the credit. Thank you very much. I mean, that's us, and that's what we do in salvation.

All of false religion can be boiled down to the simple fact that we want to get the credit for saving ourselves. That's what it comes down to. And our nature will make us do that. Apart from the Lord Jesus Christ making us to see, making us to believe, make us understand that he is everything in salvation, we will try to take the credit for it. And we'll try to take all the credit for it. He is 100% in salvation. He made the difference. The Lord Jesus Christ is the difference.

The blood on the door denotes an outward confession, an evidence of heart faith. That blood being there didn't give them any credit for putting it there. It gave the Lord Jesus Christ glory in that they put it there. And all are going out are going in the blood of the lamb is ever before us because he put it there.

All right, number seven. The Israelites were to eat the flesh of the lamb. This signifies that we must, by faith, feed on Christ. John six is truly believing on Christ and receiving Christ. It's called eating the flesh and drinking his blood. Our sustenance, our life is based off him. Everybody knows that if we don't drink or eat something, we'll die, right? We're dependent upon it. Our spirit, our life is completely dependent upon feeding on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Again, what did I just say? He has to make the meal. He has to provide it. He has to make us open our mouth. He choose for us. He swallows it. He does all of it. But all of our sustenance, our comfort, we dwell in him. And I didn't understand that at one time in my life. But there's no better comfort. There's no better feeling. There's no better peace than when the Lord Jesus Christ puts it on our heart and gives us rest. When life goes great. It doesn't matter compared to when the Lord does that for us. His presence, his peace, it's everything for us.

We must feed on him. And we must have that attitude. I don't want to skim over that. Our lives are so much better when we have it through the lens of the Lord Jesus Christ is my peace. Times are hard when we're dependent upon how well work's going, how well our kids are behaving, how the bank account's doing. It's hard because it's not all ever good. It's never that way. And we just go through this roller coaster. But I tell you what, the moment the Lord just gives you peace and just puts it just just rest, everything goes away and we understand what he's done for us. And then everything else is great.

The eighth, they were to eat the lamb with unleavened bread. Leaven in the scriptures is a picture of evil. Leaven changes everything about bread. I'm sure we have some cooks in here. Leaven changes everything. It changes the shape. It changes the size. It changes the texture, the taste. It changes everything about it. It's not the same thing. And as a picture of evil and sin, we must understand that we don't add anything to the sacrifice. Purge out there for the old leaven that ye may be a new lump as you are unleavened for even Christ our Passover is sacrifice for us. We don't add anything to the sacrifice. Because it's going to change it, it'll spoil it, it'll mess it, it won't work. Christ endured the full wrath and judgment for our full justification, and nothing is to be mixed. Nothing is to be added. Nothing is to be joined to him. We have a perfect sacrifice, a perfect savior that we cannot add anything to.

All right. Ninthly. Nothing of the lamb was to remain. This says that the whole Christ is to be received and fed upon by faith. Christ in both his natures, divine and human. Christ in all his offices, prophet, priest and king. Christ in all his person, in all his work. All of it. We believe everything, every part of the lamb. We have it all.

These two things, these last two I've said, the leaven and that nothing was to remain. He is a complete sacrifice. The Lord is our only hope.

I can't tell you how many times I have heard someone say a phrase or a sentence that I was totally ready to be like, yes, I agree, only for them to continue talking. Someone to say something like the Lord is my only hope and I'm going to do everything I can and I'm not going to. Then he's not your only hope, right? If something's your only hope, you don't look at anything else. You don't think about anything else. You just focus on your hope and you're praying and you're begging that that hope will save you.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who can save us, the only one. The moment we take our eyes off him, we feel lost, we act lost, all of it. He is our focus. He's our only thing. We need to praise what he's done and to shut our mouths.

I mean it, I tell you how many times and I don't know if you go through this, too, when somehow religion comes up in a conversation. I wish I could just quote a scripture for everything they said and quote another one and quote another one, because at the end of that conversation, I think to myself, what am I doing? Like what was I say things sometimes that I think I don't believe that. I am crazy.

We need to look to the Lord, say what he's told us and shut our mouths, depend upon that sacrifice in this story here. What would have happened if those people had done something different than what he told him? Then it wouldn't have been the sacrifice that he told them, it wouldn't have been the same sacrifice, the blood of the Lamb of God, that is our Covering. If that is not the pure blood of Christ in him, it's not an effectual covering.

People want to take the coat of righteousness and they want to stitch something on it. It's no longer the coat of righteousness because we've tainted it.

Tenthly, they were to eat the Passover dressed and ready to move out of Egypt. This is the Lord's Passover, and it effectually saves. We're almost done here. The world as Egypt was to Israel is no longer our home. We're pilgrims here, temporarily here, but awaiting his call to move out and go home to Canaan. This is not our home.

We should look at this earth as those Israelites looked at Egypt. Quick thought on this. They were slaves. Their livelihood was waking up in the, I was going to say in the morning, waking up well before the sun comes up, going to work where they were told to go, doing what they were told to do, in horrible conditions, until someone said, you can stop working and go home, and then they woke up the next morning and did it again.

I am sure they were beaten, they were yelled at, they were made fun of, they had no rights, they had no privileges. As kids, I remember, even now, we look towards weekends, Man, Friday comes around, if you've got a nine to five and you're like, I can't, I mean, I can't wait for this weekend. As kids, what do we think? Christmas break, Thanksgiving break, spring break, get all these, summer off, all these things. They never had a day off. They never had an hour off. They never got any benefits. They didn't have anything. They hated Egypt.

They had been promised, they knew of the promise. God had told them, you are my people, I will get you out of Egypt. The only thing they had was to look to that promise, look to that hope that they would one day get out. That's how we should look at this world. We should, and I know that we have to go about it. The Lord's put us in this in this world and we have jobs and we have to do things and we work hard and all those things.

But we don't do those things for any reason other than we are pointing to the land that he's promised us to glory. That's what we want. That's where we focus. There will be a day because of what he did on the cross, where we will stand before a holy God and we are dependent upon his sacrifice.

The difference in that day is Christ. That's the difference. Some of us are more ready than others to see that day, but we just don't know what that day will be. I know people who are ready. I mean, they're ready there. The Lord could come this moment and they couldn't be happier. And I know others. We have children, we have things going on, and that's OK. But we don't know when the day will come. We still have to be looking to him. We have to. And you know, this Passover wouldn't have been the same had it not been the 10th plague. So what this 10th one says there, they have to be dressed and ready to go. Their staff in the hand signifying that they believed that this would do it. That's a lot harder than what we look at. We read this story. These plagues took us a few chapters. We could read them in 30 minutes. And to us, it is what it is. These people live this for how many ever weeks or months this was that the Lord said, I will bring this plague upon you, Egypt, and you're going to let my people go or I'm going to keep it here. And Pharaoh said, imagine the first plague came. Pharaoh said, I got it. Get him out of here. Get rid of this plague. I'm done with it. You imagine the celebration. When that news trickled back to the people of Israel, he's letting us go. We're being delivered only for him to change his mind. And that happened a second time. It happened a third time. It happened a fourth time. It happened a fifth time. It happened a sixth time. It happened a seventh time. It happened an eighth time. in ninth time.

Now, that first time it happened, you imagine how celebrating, how happy they were. If it were me, I would have been so frustrated with these things happening this way. Why is the Lord doing this? The Lord has the power to bring to turn the river to blood, to bring insects or disease. He can do, you know, he can make one man change his mind. Why did he do all this? Why did he do all this stuff? Again, all of it was to point that blood must be shed. No matter what we go through in life, the ups, the downs, the swings, all of it, every single thing all leads to this one place where there must be a sacrifice of blood for our sins.

You know, this 10th plague had to be much different because they'd had nine times before. You know, for them to see that it was happening again. All right, lastly, and we'll continue on that point. The last thing is it says, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. This is what happened when God came through the land of Egypt and the firstborn died of anyone that didn't have the blood on the door. In Salvation in eternity, in Judgment Day, God comes through. And if he doesn't see the blood of the lamb, you will die. But if he sees the blood of the lamb. Get eternal life, death is gone, there's no more fear of it. All because the blood of the lamb, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I usually don't enter into what happens in these things. But in closing, we just have a couple minutes here. I want us to think about what actually happened. All of these events, all of these people had been told their firstborn was going to die. Now, I don't know all of your situations, but. I was thinking of a family that I know really well in Kingsport that they have multiple children. Their firstborn was going to die. The father was a firstborn. He was going to die. The mother in the family was a firstborn. She was going to die. Her mother was a firstborn and was going to die. His mother was a firstborn and was going to die. His father was a firstborn and was going to die.

Do you think when the Lord said what was going to happen, do you think they were scared? If this had been the first plague, it would have scared many people. But what had they been told nine times? This is going to happen. And it happened exactly like he said it was going to happen. When he told them the firstborn is going to die. There's a lot of reason to believe. A lot of reason to believe. I'm sure this time would have been. And you know what? Even if you didn't believe it, It still would have been, you know, if he had one percent belief in this, wouldn't it have still been a pretty big deal? All of it would have been in Romans, it says there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit and Ephesians, it says, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.

No matter how much faith we personally had that moment through that trial would have been brutal. they would have been completely dependent in every way, shape and form upon the Lord Jesus Christ delivering them. Every way, all of it. And to finish, look at Exodus 11 verse 5. I'm going to do the same thing that I did a few minutes ago, and I'm going to read us three different passages of scripture. And this is in closing to drive home the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is the difference in everything, but particularly in our eternal life. The only difference between life and death is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only thing. That's it.

Exodus 11 verse 5 says this, And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill and all the firstborn of the beasts. Chapter 12, verse 12. Remember, we looked at three things earlier, all about what happened to the people of Israel. This is about the Egyptians. Chapter 12, verse 12. 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, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. And finally, verse 29. And it came to pass, this is the night, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle."

Okay, remember our focus on the difference is Christ. We spent a few minutes looking at the people of Israel, and every single child of Israel survived this because of the blood. And the people put the blood and everything. This is the exact same scenario that they went through, that the Egyptians did, the Israelites did, the Egyptians here. They were told what was going to happen. And the Lord said there at the very beginning, all of them are going to die. And then the second time it says, all of those in Egypt, from Pharaoh's son to the son of the maid behind the mill or the one in the dungeon, all of them are going to die. And then it says they all died.

Now, this is a Jacob and Esau situation where people so often say, how in the world could God have hated Esau, that hard worker, all that stuff about him? The question is, how could God have loved Jacob? That's the question. So let's put ourselves in the situation of the Egyptians. They were there for the tent for the first nine plagues, too, right? They were told I'm sending locusts. They were told I'm going to disease them. I'm going to give boils. I'm going to turn. They were told all nine things and they happened, right? If the Egyptians or the Israelites a minute ago, we all agreed here. They believe that the 10th was going to happen because the first nine did put yourself in the in the perspective of the Egyptians. that you're being told there's a 10th plague and it's going to kill the firstborn of everyone. The first nine things that were said, all of them, all of them came to pass exactly how they happened. The Lord said here, every single Egyptian died.

Now, humanly speaking, and I promise this is what many people in the world think. Was there not one single mother in the Egyptian land that thought to herself, I love my child. I love my husband. I love my family. I love my sister. Whoever is the firstborn and thought to themselves, I'm going to put the blood up. Not one of them did. And do you know why that is? Not one of the Israelites would have done it apart from the Lord doing it. I mean, if we want to get real personal with this, I know myself. Someone tells me my firstborn is going to die if I don't do something. I know myself. I might not believe them. I might try to figure a way out of it. I might procrastinate long enough to do it. With my child's life on the line, I know if the Lord leads me to myself, I would do that. The question isn't, Why in the world did the Egyptians not put the blood on the door? The question is, why did the Lord Jesus Christ make the Israelites put the blood on the door? They're sinners just the same. I'm a sinner just the same as everybody else in this world. Why would he do that for me? Why did he die on the cross bearing my sin to give me his righteousness? Because we have a wonderful and great God who is merciful.

Our lives are just like these people in this story. We are 100% dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ saving us. That's it. The gospel is simple. This whole book all focuses in on the one thing. Blood must be spilt by a holy son of God to save his people. The Lord Jesus Christ is the difference. May he just sear that on our hearts. May he just put that in our minds and we can't make it a minute without thinking to ourselves, he's the difference. I'm dependent upon him.

All right, I appreciate your time. Marlene, will you come? Thank you for that wonderful message. Let's turn thanks to our father. Almighty God. Once more we bow our hearts before you through your precious son. Lord, we thank you for. The message we just heard. We thank you for your power and your might, for your perfect will and your perfect faithfulness. Lord, thank you for living a perfect life, dying an unimaginable death, and raising again so that a multitude that no man could number could be shown mercy. Lord, we thank you for the difference. We thank you that you are the difference. Lord, as we go our ways, let us not forget. Keep your word on our hearts. Keep us looking and clinging to thee for all things. Lord, we pray for traveling mercies for our pastor and his wife as they make their way back to us and for Brother Luke as he makes his way back home. Lord, we ask that will be done in all things for Christ's sake. Amen.

Let's all stand together and sing hymn number 232. 232. Christ our Redeemer died on the cross, died for the sinner, paid all his due. Cover your soul with the blood of the Lamb, and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood, when I see the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you.

Chiefest of sinners, Jesus will save. All he has promised, that he will do. Wash in the fountain, open for sin. And I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood, when I see the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you.

Judgment is coming, all will be there, each one receiving justly his due. Hide in the saving, sin-cleansing blood, And I will pass, will pass over you When I see the blood When I see the blood When I see the blood ? I will pass, I will pass over you ? ? O great compassion, O boundless love ? ? O loving kindness, faithful and true ? ? Find peace and shelter under the blood ? And I will pass, will pass over you when I see the blood, when I see the blood. When I see the flood, I will pass, I will pass over you.

You're dismissed. We'll meet again Wednesday evening, Lord Willen.