And I talked and I told you that
1 Corinthians 5, 7 where it says, Christ our Passover is sacrificed
for us. And purge out therefore the leaven
and keep the feast with the leaven of purity and sincerity. Now, if we want to know what
the Passover is, Christ our Passover, You know, and the Passover is
mentioned three times in the New Testament. And our Lord Jesus
Christ was offered, if I understand it right and I understood it
right and have read things right, that he was offered at the time
when they take the sacrifice and cut his throat and prepare
it for the evening sacrifice. And so he died at the time that
the Passover was to be taken. And so when it says he was sacrificed,
sacrificed. Sacrificed for us. Now beloved,
when he was sacrificed, there was bloodshed. Bloodshed. And our Lord's blood, as Abel's blood spoke from the
ground, our Lord's blood speaks better things than that of Abel.
You know, we come unto Mount Zion, unto the city of the living
God, to innumerable company of angels and just men made perfect,
to the blood that speaketh better things than that of Abel, even
to the blood of Christ. And what the blood of Christ
does, and we'll get to that here when we talk about the Passover,
it speaks several places. First of all, it speaks before
God. We need blood to answer to us before God. Christ entered
once into the holy place with His own blood and obtained eternal
redemption for us. This speaks to that. That's why
there is therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ. And
it speaks to our conscience. That blood's been applied to
our conscience. The blood's been sprinkled on
our conscience to purge us from dead works to serve the living
God. And I thank God that it's been applied to my conscience.
The guilt is gone. I don't feel no condemnation
when I come into the presence of God. And not only that, but it speaks
to our heart and it gives quietness and peace and assurance to our
heart. Our hearts are at rest. We're
not in an uproar. We're not scared. We're not afraid
to face God in judgment. Our hearts condemns us not. And
here in this Passover, the first Passover, We see here our Lord
Jesus Christ, His redeeming love, His grace, His power, and everything
in this thing tells us about our Lord Jesus Christ. And I
want us to look at this Passover, look at the gospel of blood redemption,
the gospel of blood that cleanses us from all Condemnation. And the first thing about the
Gospel, the first thing we understand, and even if you read it in 1
Corinthians, those people were condemned. And the first thing
about the Gospel in the Passover is we have condemnation. Look
down there in Exodus 12. The first thing is condemnation. The first thing is judgment.
God said, I'll pass through the land of Egypt this night. I'll
do it. They can talk about the love
of God all they want to. They can make it generic all
they want to. But He said, I'll pass through
the land of Egypt this night, and I will smite all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, against all the gods
of Egypt. Now listen to this. I will execute
judgment. I am the Lord. Now here the first
thing that's going to happen is this condemnation, this judgment
of God. And you know, I'm going to smite.
I'm going to do it. Sin is going to be inflicted
upon this people. And the punishment of that sin
is going to be inflicted upon this people. It's the execution
of judgment. And this sentence of death was
passed upon all the firstborn. And beloved, where was our firstborn?
Where were we firstborn from? We were born from our father
Adam. And we were all born condemned already. These people were Condemned
long before God ever said, I'm going to, tonight's just the
night of execution. Tonight's just the night of judgment.
Tonight's just the night that I'm going to pass through here.
Tonight's just the night that I'm going to execute this judgment
upon their gods. And I'll tell you something,
beloved, all of them were condemned already. People think they're
going to be condemned at the judgment. You're condemned already
if you're outside of Christ. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath life, he that believeth not the wrath of God abides on
him. And Christ came into this world
not to condemn the world, but to save it. Why didn't he come
to condemn it? Because he's already under condemnation. He come to save us from the condemnation,
the judgment of God. And there was no difference here
between Jew or Egyptian. He said, I'm going to smite all
the firstborn. I'm going to smite them all. And, beloved, that's
the thing about it. And here's the thing. Most people
have never experienced the judgment of God upon their conscience.
They've never experienced Holy Ghost conviction. They've never
experienced the guilt. They've never experienced the
wrath of God against them. And if you miss Holy Ghost conviction,
and that's what it is, the Holy Ghost comes to convict us of
our sin. And He convinces us that we're
in unbelief. He convinces us that we have
no righteousness. And when that wrath of God gets
on you, and that judgment of God starts moving upon your heart
and upon your soul, you start worrying. You start getting afraid. You feel that guilt. You feel
that condemnation. And you know it's just against
you. And if you miss Holy Ghost conviction, and you've never
been made to be a sinner by God Himself, then you'll miss repentance. And if you miss repentance, you'll
miss faith. And if you miss faith, you'll
miss Christ. And I ask you, have you ever felt the execution of
the judgment of God against you for your sin? Because if you've
never felt the guilt of it, never felt the weight of it, never
felt the condemnation of it, never felt God against you for
it, I tell you, you're in trouble. Because He's going to do it one
of these days. If He don't do it in this world,
by the Holy Ghost, He'll do it in that world by His justice. Huh? And oh beloved, this is
all man's condition. Every man's condition. There's
no man going to be justified by the law in the sight of God.
Man cannot justify himself, cannot clear himself, cannot get rid
of his guilt, cannot get rid of his sin. God said, tonight
I'm passing through here and I'm going to execute judgment.
I'm going to do it. And here's the thing, men are
under condemnation. It's not going to just be at
the judgment. And men are not going to be lost at the judgment.
Men are lost right now. Men are not going to be unrighteous
at the judgment. You're unrighteous right now.
And that's what people don't understand. They keep saying
you're going to be lost. You're born lost. You're born
under condemnation. You're born unrighteous. You're
born with the sword of God's justice hanging over your head. And I'll tell you, these preachers,
God have mercy on them. They go around telling people
that God loves them and that God cannot possibly send it by
that. The judgment of God cannot possibly
be executed upon you. He's too merciful. He's too loving.
He's too kind. And our Lord Jesus by His very
presence was the condemnation of men. By His very presence
made them know that God came here because men is in such a
sorry state. Men is in such a sinful state.
Men is in such a miserable state that it took God in Christ to
come to this earth to save men from their sin. And oh my, I
hope God comes through here today. And I hope he draws back that
sword and smites you so hard in your conscience that you'll
get no rest when you go to bed tonight. And you won't get none
tomorrow night. I do. And let me tell you something
else. So that's the first thing. And then look at verse 3 here
in Exodus 12. He says this, Speak 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 us. And down in verse 6 it
says, You shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same
month. So they take it on the tenth day, they take this lamb,
and they keep it up for four days. And it has to be without
spot, it has to be without blemish, And he says in verse 5, your
lamb should be without spot, without blemish, a male of the
first year, in the prime of its life, in the strength of its
life, and this shall keep it up for four days. So from the
10th to the 14th, four days, they got to keep that lamb up.
Four days they examine that lamb. Every day they go out there and
they look at that lamb. They look in the morning, they
look in the noon, they look at night. Is there any blemish in
that lamb? Is there any spot in that lamb? Is there anything
wrong with this lamb? Because if there's a spot or
a blemish in it that we can't offer it, it cannot be our sacrifice.
It cannot be our substitute. And our Lord Jesus Christ, four
days, four days before his crucifixion, he rode into Jerusalem on a colt,
a foal that don't give an ass. And beloved, it was there that
our Lord Jesus Christ came riding as the king, meek and lowly.
It was that fore day before our Lord Jesus Christ went to his
cross that he purged the temple. It was there, beloved, that our
Lord Jesus Christ said, which of you convinced me of sin? It
was there when Pilate took him, and 44 times he said, I find
no fault in this man. So he was examined closely. And then God himself examined
him. And God Himself proved that he
had no spot, proved that he had no blemish, because God Himself,
when He was crucified, raised Him from the dead and set Him
at His own right hand and accepted His sacrifice. Oh my, I'd dare
anybody to examine the Lord Jesus Christ. Examine Him. Examine him, O my soul, find
if anybody in this book can wear the garments that he wore, that
did the works that he did, that had the God with him, and he
was God-manifested, examine his heart, examine his thought, examine
his walk, examine his motive, examine his words, examine his
works, examine his miracles, examine him, and can you find
any fault in him? Can you say, this is the one
that God said, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased?
Hear him? Oh my, look at him from top to
bottom and notice nothing. You'll say, this man's without
sin. This man here is the only one
that God sent into this world to save me. This is that Lamb
of God that John said, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world. This is the Lamb, and the Lamb
has to be appointed of God. And I'll tell you, beloved, this
sinner, oh my! And the only way people are going
to know about Christ is for somebody to tell them and tell the truth
about Him. He was appointed by God. Take you a Lamb and set
Him apart for four days. God set Christ apart for almost
four years. And there was nothing, nothing
that you could find wrong with him. And I tell you, if there
is anything wrong with him, any spot, any place, you and I are
as lost as we was the day we was born if Christ is not perfect,
if Christ is not holy, harmless, undefiled from sinners, separate
from sinners before God Himself. Oh my, I've examined, I mean
my own conscience. examining when I was under conviction,
and I said, oh, this is exactly who I need. This is exactly who
God provided for me. And I need a lamb. I need a lamb. I need a lamb. And then not only
that, but it says here that every man take a lamb according to
his house. This tells us about substitution. This tells us that
every condemned man here Every man condemned must be redeemed
by a lamb or die. This lamb was to be slaughtered. This lamb was to die. Take it
and crucify it. Take it and slay it. Take it
and... And this lamb, let me tell you
something. Look over here in Exodus 11 and verse 7. This lamb
was only for Israel. God only provided a lamb for
Israel. Look what it says. He says there in verse 6, 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 doeth
put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. I'm going through tonight. Dog? I don't want to hear a peep out
of you. I don't even want you to bark at any of those cattle.
I don't want you to bark at any of the goats. I don't want you
to bark at any of the sheep. You're going to keep your mouth shut.
God's got such control over anything that's against His children.
He said a dog won't even bark against a man or a beast. And
every condemned man here, all these people must have a lamb
or die, either the firstborn must die or an innocent substitute
in their place must die. This is God's way, no getting
around it. And every firstborn in Egypt
died that night, including all of God's people. All of the firstborn
of God's people died this night in Egypt. Where did they die
at? They died in that lamb. They
died in that sacrifice. They died in that substitute.
And ain't you thankful, bless his holy name, that when Christ
died, we died. Paul said, Christ gave himself
for me. Loved me and gave himself for
me. Christ gave himself to redeem
us from all iniquity. His blood cleanses us from all
sin. And bless His holy name, beloved.
When He lived, I lived. When He died, I died. When He
was buried, I was buried. When He rose, I rose. When He
ascended to heaven and sat down, I sat down in Him. That's why nothing can move against
us. That's why nobody can hurt us.
That's why nobody can harm us. We died. I died too. I was condemned,
born condemned, but I died. I was punished. God executed
judgment on me. But He executed judgment on me
and on you, if you're a believer, in Christ, in the substitute. And that goes to the next thing,
showing you that it's our Lord Jesus Christ, our Christ, our
Passover sacrifice, without spot, without blemish. And watch it
now. And that's why I love what old
Scott Richardson said one time, where in the world's the lamb?
Where's the lamb in most people's preaching? I was utterly and
absolutely shocked. I went through 50, 60 messages, and only found one other than
Henry that used Christ our Passover sacrifice. And oh, beloved, And
that's why, you know, when Abraham and Isaac was going up that mountain, God told them, He said, take
your son, your only son, and you offer him. And God only did
that to show us His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, His purpose
and His will in saving His people. They started up that mountain,
and the first thing He told them fellas, He says, you men wait
right here, I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and we'll
return again. Christ went to that cross, and
He went to that cross knowing that I'm going up there to worship
God. I'm going up there to bear His judgment. But I'll come again. I'll come down off His cross,
and I'll go into the tomb, but I'll rise again, and I'll go
to my Father. And beloved, here they started
up that mountain. And here's Isaac. He had wood. He had fire. And he had a knife. Because they're
going to go worship. The knife stood. shed the blood,
the firewood for the fire to put on the sacrifice to burn
it, and everything he needed. Got up on that mountain, took
his son, put him down. That boy never said a word. You're
talking about a man 20, 21 years old. Not a lamb, not a boy. And
he put him down that altar, built an altar, put his son on it, Just like God put His Son. But
when they started up there, Isaac said to his father, he said,
Father, where is the Lamb? We're going up here to worship
God. We're going up here to call on God. We're going up here to
come before God. He says, we're going up here
to worship. We're going up here to offer sacrifice. We've got
everything we need for sacrifice. But we've got everything but
a Lamb. We've got everything but a Lamb.
You've got to have a lamb. You've got to have the shedding
of blood. And he put his son on that altar,
draw back the knife, and after he had slain him, he'd put that
fire under it. Oh, you're talking about a man
that loved his God and a man submissive. And all this told
us about Christ. God stayed in his hand. And he
said, take up your side. And he looked behind him and
there was a ram. Caught him a thicket. He says,
you put that in the stand of your son. Abraham knew he was
going to come off that mountain. And he said, son, God will provide
himself a lamb, and God provided him a lamb on that mountain.
And that's what God did. The first thing He did, He provided
Himself a lamb. God must first be satisfied before
He can do anything. Because after the lamb was put
in His stand, that's when Isaac got to go down off that mountain. That's when the knife was put
up. And, Beloved, it's only when
God's satisfied and the Lamb's been offered that we can come
off the mountain. Oh, Beloved, listen now over
here again. In verse 7. Exodus 12, verse 7. He says this, And they shall
take of the blood. You shall take of the blood.
You know, when they killed that lamb, they slit his throat and
they had a clay pot there. And they caught that blood in
the clay pot. And they took that blood and then they, he said,
you shall take the blood, and watch this, and strike it on
the two side posts and on the upper door posts of the house
wherein they shall eat it. Now, beloved, it's on the sides
and over the top. And they took that hyssop and
they done that, and they did not put any blood over the threshold.
And because Hebrew says this, you shall not trot underfoot.
Don't trample underfoot the blood of the covenant. Don't count
it an unholy thing. Don't count it unholy. This is
a holy blood. This is a blood that's going
to save you. This is a blood that's going to cause God to
pass over. And it's got to be where you can walk and be behind
you, but you'll not walk over it. And there's people that count
the blood of Christ an unholy thing and temple it underfoot.
Whenever you tell that the blood of Christ shed it for every man
on earth, you count it unholy right then and there. And the blood shall be to you
for a token upon the houses where you are. You shall take the blood and
put it over the lintel, put it on the side post, and this token,
this word token, it shall be a token upon your houses. Now
this word token means a pledge. Here, take this token of my love,
take this token of my appreciation, take this token of my pride. You know, men give engagement
rings as a token, as a pledge, as a promise, as a covenant.
They give rings, and that's what God says, I'm making a pledge
to you, I'm making a promise to you, I've entered into covenant
with you, and that blood is going to be the token of it. I'm making a pledge to you. I'm
making a promise to you. I'm entering the covenant with
you. When I see that blood on that door, that's the token.
That's the token. And oh, beloved God, give us
a token. And let me tell you something,
it wasn't the death of the Lamb that saved, but it was the blood
of the Lamb on the doorpost as it was applied that availed the
firstborn. And whenever you find death in
the scriptures, it's always the blood shedding. It's always the
death. It's not for the death of itself,
but for the blood that was shed. That's why it talks about the
blood of Christ. That's why it talks about the
crucifixion of Christ. It always talks about His blood.
We're purged from our conscience with the blood. He entered wars
and obtained eternal redemption with His blood. He entered into
the holy place and offered His own blood to God without spot
and blemish. And beloved, the blood is in
the life laid down, a life poured out. And beloved, that blood
applied is what saved them. And that's what you've got to
have. You've got to have blood. You keep Exodus. Look over here
with me in Leviticus. Chapter 17. Leviticus 17. In verse 11. You shall take the blood. And
our beloved Bruce Crabtree, I was talking
to him this week, and he said one of his neighbors, they go to a wrestling hole in
his church, and he said, you know, say something every once
in a while. It's very encouraging. I came
to talk to him the other day and said, do you ever get in
such a state that all you can do is just plead the blood? You
just plead the blood. Every day, 24 hours a day. Oh, yes, I plead the blood. You
say, boy, I can't get the victory. You plead the blood. When Satan came to old Martin
Luther, you know, and said, rolled out all of his sins, and says,
there, Mr. Luther, look at all of them. He said, oh, yes, every one of
them is true. I don't want one of them I'm
guilty of. But he says, the blood of Christ
cleanses us from all sin. The devil answers like that. You know, it's the blood. Plead
that blood when you can't get victory. Plead that blood when
you sit down and you don't know what to do. Plead that blood.
It's the blood that answers before God. And here in Leviticus 17
and 11 it says this, For the life of the flesh is in the blood."
Oh my! You take the blood out of a man,
and he's gone. You cut his carotid artery, cut
a femoral artery, and he's going to bleed to death in less than
two minutes. He's going to go. Because the life of the flesh
is in the blood. And watch this, and I have given
it to you. Up on the altar to make atonement
for your souls. It's the blood that's making
the atonement for your souls. And why isn't God going to destroy
the firstborn in this house and that house and that? Oh, why
isn't He going to do that? I'll tell you why, He already
did. With that blood supply. See, the blood is my justification.
You know, when them children start Whenever they start hearing
those shrieks and those cries, can you imagine what it was like? Here is a firstborn, a baby,
an 80-year-old man, a grandmother, a father, a little girl, a little
boy, firstborn of a cow, firstborn of a sheep. They all started
dying. And everybody started screaming,
started howling, started crying, started groaning. And you could
hear it all over Egypt. Such a cry went up. And, oh,
my, all those people in those houses heard those shrieks and
those cries and those chills and said, Father, what is it?
What is it? What is it? God's passing through the land
tonight. Is He going to get us? No, no, no. Why ain't He going
to get us? See that blood? That blood I just put out there?
That's our justification that God's not going to get us. Don't be afraid. Don't fret. Oh, Father, I find
it so hard to believe. That's our justification that
God's going to let us go. That's my only justification
for God as Christ and what He did. It's the blood on the doorpost
that was between the firstborn and the avenger. And beloved,
it's the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, slain, that's between
us and our guilty souls in the sin of aging God. And we take the blood by faith. And let me tell you what I mean
by that. It's not our faith that justifies
us, it's the blood of Christ that justifies us. And what we
do is we say, we believe that Christ was offered for our sins.
We believe that Christ's blood cleanses us from sin. We believe
that Christ's blood is our justification before God. We believe that what
Christ did is our only hope and plea before God. It's what Christ
justified us. Christ is the one that shed the
blood. Christ is the object of our faith and what He accomplished.
My faith never justified me. Christ justified me. But God
says, this is the one to look. This is the one to believe. And
I believe God concerning His Son that He gave Himself as offering
a sweet-smelling savor to purge us from our sins, and that's
my justification before my conscience, before you, before God, before
this world, that Christ sits at the right hand of God, having
shed His blood, and had been accepted of God. So I'm not looking
to my faith. You know what I'm looking to?
I'm looking to Christ. He's the object of my faith.
Does that make sense? And that's why he says it's a
token upon our houses. I've got this pledge, this promise
from God. Now watch what happens now. Down
here in verse 13 again. Exodus 12. And the blood shall
be to you a token upon the houses where ye are. Now listen. And
when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Now watch
this. And the plague shall not be upon
you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. When God comes
through this world to smite, He ain't going to lay a hand
on them. Oh, here's the confirmation of that promise. Here's the confirmation
of that token. He says, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. When the Lord, that's why it's
called the Passover, when the Lord passed through Egypt that
night, and oh, he says there was a darkness on Egypt that
never had been this dark. It's a darkness that you could
feel. A darkness you could feel. Have you ever been on such a
dark night that you could feel the darkness? No light nowhere. And when the Lord passed through
Egypt on that dark, felt dark night, Beloved, he wasn't looking
for Israelites or Egyptians. You know what he was looking
for? The blood of that Lamb. He's going through there. You
know that vision angel going through there? There's blood
there. I'll go over there. Blood there. I'll go over there. Oh, the blood's always before
his eyes, whether we see it or not. And there's plenty of times
that I feel like I can't see it, I can't feel it, I can't
experience it. I sometimes wonder, is there
anybody as lifeless and as cold and as less spiritual than I
am? Where there seems like no breath
of life in my soul at all. But you know, beloved, God can
say, when I look in your soul to see if there's life there,
When I look in your soul to see if there's faith there, if I
look in your soul to see if there's obedience there, if I look in
your life to see if you're on fire for me, He don't say any
of those things. He says, when I see the blood,
I pass over it. Bless His holy name. Oh, that
don't excuse me for the shape I get in. But it sure keeps me
from throwing up my hands and saying, oh God, what am I going
to do? Because I can't do anything. God's already done it in Christ. Oh, the blood made them safe.
The blood made them secure. But the promise that God says,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. That's what made them
sure. He says, when I see the blood, that made it all sure.
And I know that there were people in those houses that they get
like we do. There was some in there very
strong in faith. Moses, no doubt, was strong in
faith. He, by faith, kept the Passover.
Aaron, no doubt, was strong in faith. But there were people
there that saw children mothers, grandmothers, and then said,
Oh, we've never heard such cries, such streaks, such agony, such
pain going on in this world. What in the world is going to
happen to us? God said that when He sees that blood, He said,
He's going to pass over us. And you know what that word Passover
means? Step. Have you ever stepped over anybody?
Step over them? Leap overs! It means to spare them and protect
them. And that's what he's going to
do. He's going to step overs, leap overs, and when he does
that, he spares us and protects us. Why? Because we're worthy? No. Why? Because we're not any different
than anybody else? No. Because the blood is on the
doorpost that gave evidence that death had already been inflicted
in that house. And I'm going to go on by. I
see blood where death's already been inflicted in that. In that
lamb. And let me show you this here
quickly. Now look here with me in verse 15, Exodus 12. Talking about this is also of
a purification. That's why Paul said over in
1 Corinthians 5, he says, Purge out therefore the old leaven.
Purge it out. You know, don't keep sin and
keep the feast. And this feast, of course, is
the Passover, the blood and body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Seven
days shall ye eat unleavened bread from the first day. Even
the first day you shall put away leaven out of your house. A little
leaven leavens the whole lot. A little leaven, that means a
little false doctrine. It's the small, it's the little
foxes that spoil the vine. It's when we want to keep somebody
else's house and not keep our own. And he shall, you shall
put away the leaven out of your house. Whosoever eateth the leaven
bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall
be cut off from Israel. And oh, beloved, even the first
day, 11, we know is typical of sin, typical of hypocrisy. And he says, put it away the
first day. And beloved, that's what happens when Christ came
and we saw the blood and we trusted Christ in that. From that day,
we did not want anything else to do with sin. Oh my, we don't
want to, you know, people say, you know, if I believed grace
the way you did and I believed in election, predestination,
I'd go out and sin all that I wanted to do because I was guaranteed
heaven anyway. Listen, I sin more in my imagination than them
fellas do. I don't have to do a thing in
the world of sin, but just me. Just breathe. I have to repent
of my repentance. And, oh, beloved, put it away,
put it away. That's what we want. Oh, my soul,
we don't want to go out here and dishonor our master. And
I'll tell you this much, where the blood is applied and justifies
us, it also sanctifies us and cleanses us. Now, you keep back.
Just look over here with me in 1 Corinthians 6. You know, if
any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. He's a new creation. 1 Corinthians 6. And the blood of Christ cleanses
us from all sins, and has redeemed us from all iniquity, and purified
unto himself a peculiar people. So where the blood justifies
it, justification and sanctification go together. If the blood cleanses
you and the blood justifies you before God, justifies your conscience
just to cleanse you, it also sets you apart and sanctifies
you and makes you holy. Look what it says here in verse
11. No you not, that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God. They're not going to
do it. Be not deceived, neither fornicators. People living in
sin and fornication and adultery. Idolaters, people that have idols.
Whether they got them in their home, whether they got them on
their wall, whether they got them around their neck, wherever they got
them, they got an idol. And watch this, neither adulterers,
nor feminine, that means wishy-washy people, people that won't take
a stand, no principle, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, that
means man with man, woman with woman, nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit
the kingdom of God." And listen now, and such were some of you. But you're washed in what? The blood. But you're justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who we plead,
ain't it? And by the Spirit of our God. Was justified, sanctified. And you find folks out here,
and I'll tell you something, beloved, we don't put out the
leaven. And people say, you've got to quit your sinning. If
you don't quit that sin, if Christ comes back and finds you one
sin, you're going to be left behind. Let me tell you something,
beloved. That's as damning a thing as
anybody could ever preach. But I'll tell you, we don't put
out leaven. in order to be saved or make ourselves more acceptable
to God. We put out the leaven and we purge ourselves from leaven
because we have been saved, because the blood's been applied, and
we want to bless His holy name. These two feasts went together.
Passover and unleavened bread. Justification and sanctification
go together. Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? God forbid. How can we that are
dead to sin continue any longer therein? Let's go back over here
to Exodus. Oh my, look at what a refuge.
And that's why we keep this feast. That's why we keep this feast
of the blood and the bread of our Lord. And look what a hiding
place these people had in verse 22. Exodus 12, 22. And you shall
take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that's in the
basin, strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood
that is in the basin, and none of you shall go out of the door
of his house until the morning." Oh my, what a place of hiding
and refuge on this night of God's. None of you shall go out of the
door of his house. You stay right there behind that blood. And
beloved, do you know whose house we are? We're Christ's. You know, as long as those folks
was in that house, safe. They said, don't you come out
until in the morning. And you know what coming out in the morning
means? Sun's coming up, blood's been applied, judgment's been
executed. We got a brand new day to start
living. Starting life anew. Oh, bless
His holy name. While the Lord's passing by in
judgment, the only safe place is in the bond of blood. The
place that God said, stay there now, don't come out. Stay right
there. And I ain't coming out. Come on out of there. I ain't
doing it. Get out of that house. I ain't coming out of this house.
I'm staying here until this sun rises. I'm going to stay right
where God told me to stay. I'm going to stay right behind
that blood. Ain't you? There they calmly, quietly, confidently
rest behind that That blessed shedding blood, that sheltering
blood. And when I see the blood, I'll
pass over you. That's where I'm going to stay, ain't you? I'm
not coming out from behind it. And then not only this, let me
show you this quickly. It also, where the blood was
applied. God saw the blood. Not only was it a hiding place,
a refuge place. And this is what Christ does.
Where are we going to hide at? Where are we going to rest? In
Christ. To you who to Jesus were refugees, And oh my, here down in verse
29, it's also separating, the blood separates between Egypt
and the Lord's people. And it came to pass that at midnight
the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the
firstborn of Pharaoh, I mean he went to the top all the way
to the bottom, to sit on his throne under the firstborn of
the captive that is even in the dungeon. If you was in jail,
if you was a firstborn, you going to die. And all the firstborn
of the cattle and Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all of
his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in
Egypt, for there was not a house, there was not a house where there
was not one dead. There's not a house here today
that hasn't buried somebody. Death passed upon all of our
houses at one time or another. And look, and he called for Moses
and Aaron by night and said, Rise up! Get you forth from among
my people. Get up and get out of here. Both
he and the children of Israel, go and serve the Lord. And watch
what he says there in verse 32. Also take your flocks and your
herds, as you have said, and be gone. Be gone! Oh, take your flocks and be gone.
Now listen, that's what I'm looking for. I'm looking forward to being
gone. The Egyptians weren't doing anything to do with blood-bought
ones, with the blood of shedding. The God of blood-shedding. Oh
my, we don't want nothing else to do with this God and this
people who has this God. And how many times have we heard
that? I don't want nothing to do with your God. I don't want nothing
to do with your Christ. I don't want nothing to do with your blood. I don't
want nothing to do with your gospel. And then back up in verse
2. We've got a couple of other things
and I'll be done. We also, you know, by the Spirit,
we see regeneration in our Lord Jesus Christ. We see regeneration
here. It says here in verse 2, This shall be unto you the beginning
of months. It shall be the first month of
the year to you. When did we count our beginning? When Christ came in. When Christ set up His throne.
This is going to be the first day of the year for you. First
month of the year for you. And ain't that the way it was?
When Christ came and regenerated us and saved us, that was the
beginning of our life. Started right then. Ain't that
right? And, O beloved, when that blood
shedding was sprinkled upon our hearts, that was when we began
living. That's when we never started
living until then. And then down in verse 8, look at this feast
here. Verse 8, And they shall eat the flesh,
and that night roast with fire and unleavened bread, and with
bitter herbs shall they eat it. And down in verse 14, And this
shall be unto you for a memorial. And you shall keep it a feast
to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it a feast. And,
oh, beloved, that's what we do after the blood sprinkling. That's
when we eat. We don't partake of the body
and blood of Christ until after the blood's been applied, till
after we've had that beginning of months, till after we've been
regenerated. The blood sprinkled, then comes the eating. And eat
it. It has to be roast with fire. Christ our Lord was roast with
fire. And that's why we feast. That's why it's called the Lord's
Supper. That's why it's called... And you know, feasting speaks
of joy and gladness. And that's why we don't come
to the Lord's table with, you know, this morning and so it's
deep examination and counting. Oh, am I worthy to take in this
Word of the Lord my God? We come with joy and thanksgiving
because we remember what Christ did for us. And that's the next
point, and then I'm through. Down in verse 14, it says that
again. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial. Oh, I remember our Lord says,
do this in remembrance of me. And He says every time now you
take the Passover, it will be a memorial of what? I saw the
blood, and I passed over you." And every time we take the Lord's
table, and we take that wine, and we take that bread, it's
a memorial. We remember, we rejoice, and
we feast in what Christ did for us, huh? Oh, who can forget the
day of the Lord's Passover? Who can forget the day that Christ
sprinkled our hearts? We may someday, we very well
may someday forget. He didn't say it, but he won't
forget. I see the blood of Passover,
you. Amen.