The Passover Lamb

Turn with me now to Exodus chapter 12. Exodus 12. We ended our Bible study this morning right here at the Passover. And we said the whole reason for the deliverance of God's people was this Passover. The whole reason for their deliverance was this Passover, this substitute Passover lamb. This was the picture that God gave to show who Christ would be. and what he would be for the deliverance of his people.

Moses, representing the law, the Lord said, Moses, you tell the people that every single one of them needs a lamb. You tell them that every one of them needs a lamb. Every soul here needs a lamb. every single soul, a lamb for every house, a lamb to be the sacrifice of appeasement to God. And Christ is that lamb. Christ is our Lamb.

He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Is it not amazing that our Lord made full and total preparation for His people before anything ever came to be? Before there was anything, there was a Lamb slain. That's amazing, isn't it? Before there was anything, there was a Lamb slain. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, before the foundation of the world.

He is the one who at his appearing on this earth, John the Baptist cried, behold the lamb. God's provided substitute lamb. And he is the one who John the Apostle said in Revelation 5, I looked in the midst of the throne And I saw a lamb. You know, when we get to glory, we're gonna get to see the throne. And when we look at that throne, you know what we're gonna see? A lamb. A man, yes. A man is a lamb. I looked and I saw a lamb. Christ is the eternal lamb, and he was pictured by God right here in Exodus 12.

And I just want us to see this picture. That's all we're going to do. We're going to see Christ in these words, and then we're going to observe his table together in remembrance of him. In chapter 11, this is where we ended this morning, in chapter 11, verse 1, It says, the Lord said unto Moses, yet will I bring one more plague 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.

Verse four, 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 anymore. But against 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. He said all the firstborn in the land, all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die. Every firstborn, it doesn't matter if it's an Egyptian or the servant of an Egyptian. If a firstborn is in Egypt, he's going to die.

But the Lord said, I've done something to make a difference for my people. And that difference is this. Look at chapter 12. It 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. And I'll tell you that when Christ crucified truly becomes revealed to a sinner, when Christ crucified truly does become revealed to a sinner, it is the beginning of months for that sinner.

All of the sudden, everything is brand new. Everything's brand new. Everything starts brand new. Everything I thought is over. That's wrong and past and done, and this is brand new. Alive in Christ, truly for the first time. Sincerely for the first time. Hearing him in his word, truly for the first time. Verse 1, it 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 in 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.

Every man, every woman. That house represents this body that our souls live in, this tabernacle, this tent. Every house needs a lamb. Every house needs a lamb. Every soul here needs a lamb. Without a lamb, we have nothing. Without a lamb, we have nothing. And I understand that that sounds like a simple statement, but it's not. We may have everything else under the sun, but if we don't have a lamb, we don't have anything. We may have every good deed and every good intention and every good motive and every good, but if we don't have a lamb, we don't have anything.

Every soul needs a lamb. Verse five says, your lamb shall be without blemish. Our substitute representative before God must be without blemish. In Leviticus 22 verse 21, God said, it shall be perfect to be accepted. It has to be perfect. It has to be perfect. There shall no blemish be therein. And that can only be said concerning Christ. Only concerning Christ.

Second Corinthians 521 says, he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. He made him to be sinned. We don't have a good grasp of our sin. We don't have a full grasp of our sin. And we don't have a grasp at all of this thought, but how awesome is the thought that the one who never knew sin, never knew sin, never knew what we know, never thought what we thought, never lived like we live, never did what we did, all of a sudden he was made sin for us. He was made sin for us who knew no sin.

Hebrews 4.15 says, He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Everything that confronted Him, no sin in it. Yet without sin.

Hebrews 7.26 says, for such and high priest became us. That's one of my favorite verses. Such and high priest became us. You talk about substitution, a total trading of places with. Such and high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.

That is Christ, our perfect lamb. That's Christ, our lamb. Verse five right here says, your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. Isaiah nine, verse six says, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Given to be this lamb, given to the cross, A son. Isaiah 53 verse 2 says, He shall grow up before him. He shall. Told you about that man I heard that time finishing a wedding with a prayer and he closed his prayer to God, whoever he or she may be. God is a he. That's not male chauvinism. That's our lamb. He.

He shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry gram. He hath no form nor comeliness. That's what he did for us. Why did he do that? We have no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. There's beauty in him, but he came to be us. He was made to be us, and there's no beauty in us.

That's Christ the man. Verse 5 says, Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats. This lamb had to be taken out from the fold. And that's where Christ was taken from. He was taken from among men.

Deuteronomy 18 verse 15 says the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee. Of thy brethren. That's just you think about him growing up and they said, isn't this the carpenter's son? We know his brothers and his sisters. We know his parents. A man among men. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, but like unto me, unto him shall you hearken.

Galatians 3 verse 16 says he was the seed of Abraham. Romans 1 verse 3 says he was the seed of David. Genesis 3 says he was the seed of woman. But Luke chapter 1 says he was the incorruptible seed of God Almighty. That's just amazing. It is amazing grace, amazing salvation. God manifests in flesh, human flesh. He did not take upon him the nature of angels. All of those angels, when our adversary was cast out of heaven as a bolt of lightning and a third of the angels were brought down with him, he did not take on him the nature of angels. But he took on him the seed of Abraham, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law. Verse five says, 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 14th day of the same month. and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening." The whole congregation of the children of Israel killed Christ on the cross. The whole congregation, the whole congregation of God's spiritual Israel killed Christ on the cross.

Sovereignly offered himself. No man took his life from him. He sovereignly, willingly laid it down. But it was the collective sins of every one of his people that brought him to that grave. Isaiah 53 says, he bore our griefs. I hope I don't ever get over, I will never get over, but I hope I do not ever get over the fact that everything that I grieve over, he literally bore it. You know, he's acquainted with all of our ways to the point that he touched all of the feelings of our infirmities. Our infirmities are our sins, and those sins are attached to feelings that come with them, and they don't feel good.

And he touched mine. Not just his people, not just Moses and David, me. On that cross, he was groaning in that garden while he was saying, I'm sorrowing even unto death. It's because he was literally feeling the guilt and the shame. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I have done and am about to do. He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we're healed.

First Peter 2.24 is where it says, who his own self bear our sins in his body on the tree. That's glorious news. That is glorious news. That's something that we should be thankful for every morning when we wake up. We're not, because we're sin. But thank God.

Verse six, Exodus 12, verse six, it says, you shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take up the blood and strike it on the two side post. and on the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat it." You take that blood and you rub it all over this side and you rub it all over this side and you rub it all up here.

That blood on the door was a sign given. It was a sign given by God. It was a sign of atonement. It was a sign of covering. That's what it was, a sign of covering. We sing these songs like Jesus, Savior, hide me. Oh, my Savior, hide. That's what I want to be hid, cover me.

Romans 5 verse 8 says, God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. It goes on to say, by whom we have now received the atonement. That's what we've received in this, the atonement, the covering, the sign of appeasement. Verse 7, they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts of the houses wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire.

That is the judgment of God that Christ had to endure as our lamb. Isaiah 53 10 says, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He put him to grief. The Lord put him to grief. He, through that fire, purged our sins. And he endured that judgment wine press alone.

Verse 8 says, They shall eat the flesh in that night. roast with fire and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs shall they eat it." With the sacrifice having endured the fire, the people could eat it. They could live on it. They could literally live on it. In John 6, verses 55 and 56, our Lord said, my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. One with him.

Verse nine says, eat not of it raw, This sacrifice could not be eaten raw. You could not be joined to it raw. Meaning without being roast with fire. Without the judgment of fire. It had to endure the judgment of fire. Or we could never partake of it. Verse 9 says, Nor sodden at all with water. This sacrifice could not be watered down. as to remove the offense of the flesh.

It had to be partaken of exactly as God provided it. Exactly as God provided it. And that's Christ. Isaiah 8, 14 says, Christ is the stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. But every soul here must fall on that stone for mercy. Every soul here needs that stone exactly as it is. Otherwise, as Paul said, the offense of the cross would cease. Verse 8 says, They shall eat of the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleaven bread. And what that means is we must partake of God's sacrifice with nothing added to it.

Nothing added to it. Leaven is man. Leaven is man's works. Leaven is man's sin. Nothing of man can be added to it. Nothing. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul said, and I read it for our scripture reading, your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? The whole lump. No leaven at all, no man at all, no man's works at all.

Verse eight, they shall eat the flesh in that night roast with fire and unleavened bread. And with bitter herbs shall they eat it bitter herbs, that's the loathing of self. the loathing of our own sin that brought this sacrifice in the first place. How sad is it that our Lord Jesus Christ had to endure this because of us? Verse 9, 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. That means eat the whole thing. That's what it means, eat the whole thing. You cannot pick and choose the parts that you like and throw out the parts that you don't. That's what it means. It's all of Christ or nothing. because Christ is all, all Christ. We partake of his sacrifice wholly, we partake of it completely, nothing more, nothing less. Verse 10 says, and you shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of it until the morning you shall burn with fire.

And thus shall you eat it, With your loins girded, your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand, you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. I like that. Eat it dressed and ready to go. Not only did you have to have your shoes on, you had to be holding your staff. You have one hand to eat with and eat it fast. Because we could be leaving here at any moment. Any moment.

Eat it with expected anticipation. This is the Passover of deliverance. This is the Passover of deliverance. You eat this with expectant faith. You eat this with full assurance. Verse 11 says, Thus shall you eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste. It 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. I will never forget the first time I understood what that meant.

He said, I am coming through with death, with judgment, with destruction. I'm going to every house here. There's not going to be one house exempt. But he said, if I come to your house and I see that blood is already here. If I come to your house and I see death has already come here. I'll move on. I will pass over that house. A lamb has already been slain. A firstborn male has already died.

The moment I see justice is settled, judgment is satisfied, the law is upheld, this is what was commanded, that's what was done, I'll pass over you and I'll go to the next. When I see the blood, I'll be satisfied. I'll pass over you. Romans eight verse one says there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

Why? It's because he already bore the condemnation for us. He already bore it. It is passed. It's already passed. I'll never forget the first time I got a hold of that. For God's people, judgment's over. You think about the judgment and standing before the judgment. I've thought so many times about, you know, my name being called, you know, and I, my name has already been called. I'm in Christ.

My name was called and I didn't do so well. I died. I was condemned. I was punished. I was sentenced. I was killed. I was cast out. I was cut off from the land of the living. I made my grave with the wicked and with the rich. in Christ. And it's over. It's past. It's over. In His blood, under that blood, it's over. It's all over.

Ephesians 1 verse 7 says, In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. We have it. In Him we have it. That Lamb is what delivered them. and they were delivered. The Lamb delivered them and they were delivered. Look with me right here at verse 41, Exodus 12 verse 41.

It says, and it came to pass at the end of the 430 years, even the self same day, it came to pass that all the host of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. And Numbers 33 verse 3 is talking about this same moment, and it says over there, they went out with a high hand. They went out with a high hand. And when that moment comes, and it could be any minute, it could be, you know, we're about to pass out some bread and wine, and it could be in the middle of this ordinance. It could be any minute. When the Lord comes back and gathers his saints, We're going out with a high hand. We're going to go out with a high hand.

Verse 42 right here says, it is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations, generation after generation. It is a night to be much observed. It's a night to be much observed by us.

And it's because this is the very reason that we're going to leave this place with a high hand. This is the reason right here, what this represents right here. To Christ be the glory for this right here. Now, if you are a believer, if you are a believer, not religious, but if you are a believer, A believer on Christ, one whose only hope before God is this lamb. Only this lamb. The death of Christ alone, the work of Christ alone. If you cast your all on him. Then let's observe this table together. That's who this is for. Every soul who says he is all I have. He's all I need. He's all I want.

Let's take this table together and let's do this with our spiritual shoes on our feet and our spiritual staff in our hand ready to go. We're gonna say, this is my hope, this is my life, this is my salvation, this is my joy, this is my glory, this is my eternity, this is my king seated on the throne, and I cannot wait to see him. That's what we're gonna say. All right, Brother Jared, you come up and read for us.

The Passover Lamb

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