Sabbath of rest, and there's
no rest for the soul except under the blood of Jesus Christ our
Redeemer. And if God has called you to
know your place under the blood of Christ, oh, what sweet rest. And you have every reason to
be completely comfortable resting in Him. Many, many years ago,
my friend, Brother Ed Hale, who pastored down in Homer, Louisiana,
he wrote a lot of songs, very good songs. He wrote one that
caused a lot of yak among folks who didn't like it, who don't
like the simplicity of the gospel. The song was, A Pardon in My
Pocket. What a way to put it. I've got
a pardon in my pocket from the Lord. That's just exactly how
greatly at peace you ought to be who rest in Christ. Turn with me again to Leviticus
chapter 23, and I want this morning to pick up where I left off in
the previous hour. My subject is the Lord's Passover,
Leviticus 23 and verse 4. These are the feasts of the Lord,
even holy convocations which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the 14th day of the first
month at even is the Lord's Passover. The Lord's Passover. The first
feast, the first holy convocation, God required the children of
Israel to keep throughout their generations, the feast with which
they began every new year is the Lord's Passover. What a great
New Year's celebration. We celebrate New Year's. I suppose
all over the world, people celebrate New Year's. The children of Israel
celebrated the New Year with the observance of the Lord's
Passover. It concided with the last of
the Egyptian plagues described for us in the book of Exodus.
The Lord God determined to kill the firstborn son of every family
in Egypt. But the Israelites were spared
the judgment of God. We must never imagine that they
were spared because of their bloodline. That's not the case
at all. They were spared because of the
blood, spared because of the blood that was shed and the blood
that was sprinkled upon the doorpost and the lintel of every house
of the Israelites in Egypt. God gave explicit instructions
in the 12th chapter of Exodus that we read earlier for the
slaughtering of a one-year-old male sheep or goat lamb. The blood of the slaughtered
lamb was to be sprinkled upon the doorpost and lintel of each
house of the children of Israel. And then the destroying angel
passed over any house covered with blood, for the Lord God
declared, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. The firstborn
sons of all the believing Israelites were saved because of the blood. The firstborn sons of every house
in Israel were saved because of the blood. Now Paul the Apostle,
writing by inspiration of God the Holy Ghost in 1 Corinthians
5, tells us plainly that this whole thing was a picture of
our redemption by Christ, for Christ our Passover is sacrificed
for us. This annual commemoration of
Israel was a commemoration of God's deliverance of them out
of the Egyptian bondage. It was a time of reflection,
a time of remembrance, a time of thanksgiving, a time of celebration. God found Israel in Egypt. where they've been in bondage
for 400 years according to God's own decree because of their own
sin. But at the end of 400 years,
at the appointed time, God brought them out with a stretched out
arm and a mighty hand by the blood of the lamb that was slain
and sprinkled upon the doorpost of the house. The lamb, the lamb,
the lamb has always been in the forefront in the book of God.
The lamb slain was the first object held up for Israel to
view when they were about to be delivered. The same is true
today. Behold the Lamb of God is the
opening message of the New Testament. This is what John the Baptist
was sent to proclaim. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. The Lamb of God, our Lord Jesus
Christ, was prophesied and portrayed throughout the Old Testament
scriptures, especially in all the sacrifices offered upon God's
altar. The very first feast which Israel
observed then was a feast of Passover, the Lord's Passover. It was a feast of redemption,
feasting upon a lamb. How gracious God is. He delighteth
in mercy. What grace meets the sinner.
God meets sinners with the lamb. And that lamb is his own beloved
son. In the lamb, God shows us life
out of death. Life for sinners arising out
of the death of his own darling son. This is something set forth
again and again and again in the Old Testament. The very first
death recorded in the book of God was the death of a sacrificial
lamb dying in the place of Adam and Eve whose skins were made
to be coats for Adam and Eve to be clothed with. The very
first altar erected upon the earth was an altar covered with
the blood of a lamb erected by God's servant Abel. The first
act of God for Israel was the slaying of the lamb. The first
deed of the new dispensation was presenting the Lamb, the
true Lamb of God, to view, the offering up of the Lamb of God
in the stead of sinners. The opening of the door of heaven,
you see a Lamb. A Lamb as it had been slain,
ascending out of the throne of God, opening the book and fulfilling
the will and purpose of God in the book. And there he stands
upon his throne to the astonishment and gratitude of his people.
I want you to see in connection with this lamb, there was a people
delivered. We rejoice to see Christ as the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The lamb slain
in the types and shadows of the law. The lamb slain for the satisfaction
of divine justice. But the slaying of the lamb is
meaningless. The pouring out of his life's
blood is meaningless, utterly without comfort to our souls
until his blood is sprinkled on the heart. His blood is meaningless,
meaningless to anyone. If anyone in Egypt who's among
the Israelites for whom the blood was shed is left to perish, but
that is not the case. As you read the scriptures, Moses
said to Pharaoh, there shall not so much as an hoof be left
behind. Moses declared to Pharaoh, all
of Israel is going out of Egypt. And everyone for whom blood was
shed went out of Egypt. My point is this, the Lord Jesus
Christ, contrary to popular opinion, contrary to idolatrous will worshipers
all over the world, the Lord Jesus Christ did not die for
nothing. He did not die in vain. He did not shed his blood for
the multitudes who perish in hell anyway. To suggest such
a thing is to deny the efficacy of his blood, to deny his atonement,
deny the satisfaction of justice, deny the wisdom of God, the love
of God, the grace of God. It is to deny that he who died
is himself God. God who shall not fail. No possibility
that any sinner for whom Christ died should perish in hell because
he who died is the Lamb of God. The picture of the Passover feast
could never be complete without all of God's elect being saved,
without every blood-bought sinner saved, without every ransomed
soul with Christ in heaven. Our Lord Jesus Christ told us
plainly that the Passover would be fulfilled. when all his ransomed
are with him in glory. Luke 22, 16. He said, I will
not anymore eat thereof, that is of this bread and wine of
the Passover, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Only when
Christ comes again and gathers all his people up to glory, when
all Israel shall be saved, when every blood-bought sinner takes
possession of heavenly glory, only then will the Passover feast
be fulfilled. Then, when our salvation is complete,
we will keep the Lord's Passover forever in the heavenly glory. Without question, the children
of Israel kept the Passover feast in the land of Canaan, just as
we shall keep the feast forever in heaven. But the feast had
to be kept in Egypt before it could be kept in Canaan. The
children of Israel were required to keep the feast while they
were still living in Egypt. Look back at Exodus chapter 12.
Exodus 12, just go ahead and stay there. I want you to look
at several things in this 12th chapter. Verse 11. The Lord God said in
verse 11 of Exodus 12, 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, gobble it up quickly. It is the Lord's
Passover. Everything that took place on
that memorable night when God brought Israel out of Egypt by
his mighty hand and by the blood of the lamb Everything involved
in the Jews annual feast of the Passover in the Old Testament
Was intended by God to be typical of our Savior the Lord Jesus
and our redemption and salvation in him As Israel was preserved
and delivered out of Egypt by the blood of the Paschal Lamb
and the mighty arm of God, so God's true Israel, that is, every
one of God's elect, every sinner for whom Christ died, shall be
delivered from the bondage and guilt and curse and death and
punishment of sin by the blood of Christ. and by the mighty
irresistible power and grace of God the Holy Ghost in the
new birth. The Passover feast was a feast
of faith. There were no indications of
any kind that Israel was about to be delivered. There wasn't
sign one. Pharaoh repeatedly, repeatedly,
repeatedly, he would first say, all right, you can do this, and
he would then turn around and rise up against Israel. He repeatedly
insisted on keeping Israel in bondage. He would not let them
go. He would not let them go. The Israelites, when Moses first
came to deliver them and announced their deliverance, they said,
get out of here. All you're doing is causing us
more trouble. There was no indication of any kind that God was about
to deliver Israel out of Egypt. Their keeping the Passover feast
on that night of nights was purely an act of faith. Do you know
why they slaughtered the lamb? Do you know why the father of
every house sprinkled the blood on the doorpost and the lintel?
Do you know why they ate that lamb that night in haste with
their coats on their back, their staffs in their hand, and their
shoes on their feet? Because God said, I'm about to
bring you out. All they had to go on was the
bare, naked word of God. Oh, that's faith. That's faith. Believing God with no signs,
no evidences, no tokens, God said it, it shall be. And so
Israel kept the feasts. This day, our Lord said to them,
shall be for you the beginning of life. Now, let's look at some
things about this Passover portraying our Redeemer. First, Look at
verse three of Exodus 12. The Passover feast required the
slaughter of the lamb. Speak ye, verse three, 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 an 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 account 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 14th day of the same month, and the whole
assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the
evening." Israel could never come out of Egypt except by the
sacrifice made on their behalf. They deserved the wrath of God
just as much as the Egyptians did. Moses' sons deserved to
be slaughtered that night just as fully as Pharaoh's sons did.
The children of Israel could not escape the judgment of God
without blood being shed, without the life of an innocent victim
being sacrificed. The same is true of us. No sinner
can ever escape the wrath of God. No sinner can ever be saved
from divine judgment except by the death of Jesus Christ, God's
son, as the sinner's substitute. Listen to the scriptures. Christ
hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God. There was no way for God himself
to bring us to God except by the sacrifice of his son, the
just for the unjust. God in justice, in righteousness,
in truth, could never pardon sin. He could never forgive the
sinner. He could never overlook iniquity,
transgression, and sin. Justice must be satisfied. Righteousness must be maintained. Sinners cannot be saved except
by the blood of Christ. I know folks think that's strange
to hear. But the fact is, if man could
be saved some other way, the Apostle Paul says Christ died
in vain. God did not slaughter his son
for no reason. He slaughtered his son that he
might be a just God and the Savior. That he might carry me to glory
in full harmony Indeed, with all the demands of all his law
and justice. Justice demands that we go free.
Righteousness demands that we go free. Our sins have been paid
for to the utmost extremity of God's holiness, justice, and
truth. Justice demands that the prisoner
then go free. That's what Christ has done for
us. Second, look at verse seven,
Exodus 12. The blood of the lamb not only
had to be shed, it had to be sprinkled. and they shall take
of the blood and strike it on the two side post and on the
upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat it. Before
any sinner can eat the feast, before any sinner can trust the
Lord Jesus Christ, the blood must be sprinkled upon our hearts,
effectually applied to our consciences by God the Holy Ghost. John Murray, many, many years
ago, I first read the book when I was in college, wrote a book
called Redemption Accomplished and Applied, a very good book. When the Lord Jesus died at Calvary,
redemption was accomplished. But redemption accomplished is
meaningless until redemption is applied, meaningless to man.
Redemption applied is the blood of Christ sprinkled on the conscience,
sprinkled on our hearts, causing us to have faith in Christ, the
gift of God, the Holy Ghost. Robert Hawker put it this way.
The blood of the sacrifice must be applied as well as spilt. It must be sprinkled as well
as shed. An unapplied ransom is no ransom. An unapplied savior
is no savior. Now, only God the Holy Ghost
can do this for us. It was the father of the house
who sprinkled the blood on the two side posts, the upper post.
It is God the Father by His Spirit who sprinkles the blood on each
of His redeemed. When God the Holy Ghost comes,
He sprinkles the guilty conscience with the blood of Christ and
guilt is removed because He makes us to see and to know that the
blood of Christ is enough. That's how and when faith is
born in the heart. Faith is not something conjured
up by man's will. Faith is not something that depends
on the sinner. Faith is not something that the
preacher can talk you into. Oh, now, men and women can give
themselves a fake substitute for faith. Preachers can talk
you into a fake substitute for faith. We can work the program
just right and play on the heart strings just right and the emotions
just right and get people to trick you into making a profession
of faith and saying a prayer and getting baptized, joining
the church, but it won't purge your conscience. It won't remove
your guilt. But when God, the Holy Ghost,
sprinkles the conscience, when he effectually applies the blood
of Christ, immediately the sinner's conscience is purged. His guilt
is gone. And he looks to God in heaven
and says, Abba, Father, believing the revelation of God. Hold your
place here in Exodus 12 and turn over to Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9. The blood sprinkled speaks peace
to our souls. Not a religious experience. Not
kneeling at an altar. Not saying a prayer. The blood
sprinkled speaks peace to the soul Hebrews 9 verse 11 Christ
being an 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 entered in once into the holy place having obtained
eternal redemption for us that's redemption accomplished verse
14 and 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 That's redemption apply look at chapter 10 verse
22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. How on this earth can you, a
sinful man, a corrupt woman, in the teeth of all your sin,
knowing the depravity of your heart, knowing the corruption
of your ways, knowing the thoughts of your mind, how can you, how
can I come to God in full assurance of faith? Only one way, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water. God the Holy Ghost sprinkles
the blood on the conscience, sprinkles the blood on the heart. And when he does, our hearts
are sprinkled from an evil conscience. We're washed by the washing of
regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. And let me
tell you two or three things about the blood. The blood of
this Paschal Lamb. The blood of Christ, our sin-atoning
sacrifice. First, it is distinguishing blood. The blood sprinkled on the doorpost
was the only distinction there was in Egypt, between Israel
and Egypt. There was no other distinction.
The blood sprinkled is the only distinction there was between
the sons of Pharaoh and the sons of Moses. The blood sprinkled
was the only distinction there was between any of the women
in Egypt and any of the men or the women in Israel. Only the
blood separated the two. The same has been true throughout
history. It is the blood that separated
Cain and Abel, and distinguished Abel from Cain. It is the blood,
only the blood of Christ, that makes you any different before
God than any other man. The blood is that by which God
accepts you. And without the blood, God will
accept none. Second, it's protecting blood. The Lord God said, when I see
the blood, I will pass over you. The blood was Israel's shield.
The sword of justice can never pierce that shield. The blood
is ever before the holy Lord God. The blood is seen by Him. He saw the blood long before
I ever saw the blood. He saw the blood from eternity.
He saw the blood when it was shed at Calvary. He saw the blood
when our Savior ascended back into heaven and he accepted the
sacrifice. He saw the blood shed for me
all the days of my rebellion when I had no interest in it.
And when first he revealed the blood to me, he saw the blood.
And when I can't see the blood, he still sees the blood. He said,
when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Brother Scott
Richardson and I were preaching together down in Rocky Mount,
Virginia, oh, many, many years ago. And Scott had just come
from visiting his brother who was in a nursing home whose mind
was gone. And Scott was preaching on this
text of scripture in Exodus 12. And he said, the time may come
when you'll come visit Brother Scott in a rest home somewhere
and my mind's gone. And I'll be sitting there tied
in my chair, slobbering all over myself and dirty, and no mind
there. And I won't know you, and I won't
know anything going on around me. And I can't tell you anything
about the blood, because I won't be able to see the blood. But
God still sees the blood. Hear me, my friend. when God
shuts the heavens against you, you who believe. And when you
can't see anything, when there is no token, nothing but the
word of God to be believed, God says to you, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. It is the blood that protects.
The blood was on the outside of the house. Those inside the
house could not see the blood. But the angel of judgment came
through. The destroying angel came through. Can you imagine
how those houses in Goshen must have been astonished as they
heard the screeches and the screams of mothers whose firstborn sons,
one after the other, were slaughtered by God that night. And they're
there with a staff in hand. shoes on their feet, with their
coats on their backs, eating the sacrifice, waiting to go
out of the land, confident they're about to be delivered because
God sees the blood. That's the third thing. The blood
of Christ, the blood of this Passover lamb is delivering blood. It didn't merely protect Israel
while they were in Egypt. It delivered Israel out of Egypt.
It was the blood that saved them. The Lord God later says to his
people, I gave Egypt for thy ransom. There's death in Egypt,
but life for Israel. Pardoned and set free, Israel
turns its back on Egypt. Pardoned and set free, Israel
marched out of Egypt. It's still the blood that sets
us free. Freedom by the blood, that's
what we preach. I love the story, I've often
told you, A.J. Gordon left his office one day,
and he's walking down the streets, headed toward home, and he walked
by an alleyway, and saw some boys playing in the alley, being
curious, and not being afraid to go speak to the boys as they
would be in this day, and the preacher walked up the alley
and saw those boys, had a blackbird caught, and he said to them,
he said, boys, what you got there? They said, a snowbird, preacher.
He said, what you gonna do with it? Oh, we'll play with it a
little while and then probably kill it. Pastor looked at him
and said, I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll give you $2 that
bird. Preacher, what do you want with this old snow bird? Oh,
I'll give you $2 for it. And he looked at himself, that's
50 cents a piece. All right, we'll take your $2.
And they gave him the bird. And he watched them as they went
out the alley. And he picked up the black bird and the crude
cage they had for it. He opened the door and he said
to that bird, he said, you're mine. I bought you. And I set you free. And he shoot
it out of the cage. And he's I could hear that black
bird is a sung up flip flew up toward the sky singing redeemed
how I love to proclaim it Redeemed by the blood of the lamb redeemed
through his infinite mercy his child and forever I am that's
Redemption by the blood and then the lamb had to be eaten verses
8 through 11 They shall eat the flesh in the night, roast with
fire and unleavened bread and with bitter herbs. There was
no deliverance for our souls, no deliverance experienced, no
deliverance known until Christ is believed, until the sacrifice
is eaten by faith. Our Lord Jesus says, except you
eat my flesh and drink my blood, there's no life in you. Believers
are men and women who take the sacrifice and eat it. And it becomes ours. I am Christ and Christ is mine. This morning I had a little different
breakfast than I normally do. Shelby usually fixes me some
eggs and bacon or sausage and ham and some rice and the fixings. Not too much fixings anymore,
but enough. This morning I was in a hurry and she was too, so
I had two deviled eggs with a piece of white bread wrapped around
them. And I like them. But the eggs and the bread, anything
that's worthless about it, it doesn't stay there. but everything
of value in those eggs, everything of value in that bread, everything
of value in that glass of milk becomes a part of me permanently. You can't separate the two. Part
of me, the believer, eating the sacrifice, trusting Christ's
blood and his righteousness. Christ is made a part of you. You and your Savior can't be
separated. The sacrifice is eaten with bitter
herbs. I shall look on me whom they
pierce that shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only
son. The believer, the child of God, is bitter with himself because
of sin. Bitter with himself because of
sin. But the sacrifice is eaten whole,
in its entirety, not even sodden with water. The whole sacrifice
is eaten. Believers are men and women who
trust the whole Christ. Not bits and pieces of Christ.
Not Christ the way they won't want him. The whole Christ. We
trust his blood and his righteousness. We trust him entirely. And the
sacrifice is eaten all at once. Not by degrees, not a little
here, a little there. The whole thing eaten today, all at one
time. Here's the fourth thing. All
the host of Egypt, of Israel, all the host of the Lord went
out of the land of Egypt that night. Look at verse 40. Now
the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt
was 430 years. And it came to pass at the end
of 430 years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all
the host of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. 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. Who went out that night? Every
Israelite. Every covenant child. Every one
of God's elect. Who went out that night? Everyone
for whom blood was shed. All for whom a lamb was sacrificed.
All for whom a sacrifice was slain. Who went out of Egypt
that night? All upon whose doorpost the blood
was sprinkled. All who ate the sacrifice. All
went out on the same ground for the same reason. because of the
blood. And when they went out, they
spoiled the Egyptians. I love that. They spoiled the
Egyptians. They took all the riches of Egypt
with them. Isn't that amazing? They took
all the riches of Egypt with them. Now, there are a lot of
folks who make a great deal about the women in Israel borrowing
the jewels and the silver and the gold of the Egyptians. God
told them to do it. I wouldn't make too much about
it if I were you. But they were told to borrow it. But the Egyptian
ladies, you know what they did? They said, you're leaving here,
here. You want this necklace? You want this bracelet? You want
this chain? Here, take the gold. What do you need for your way?
Well, we need some pans to cook in. Here's our pans. We need
some silver to go along the way. Here's all the silver we got.
They took everything of value out of Egypt. And when the Egyptians
were slain in the Red Sea and their carcasses washed up on
the shore of the sea, the children of Israel went back and gathered
their swords and their armor and their spears and with those
things marched for 40 years through the wilderness. God provided
for Israel all that they needed by the spoils of Egypt. Seems
to me there's something relating to that in the 12th chapter of
Revelation. when the dragon's persecuting the woman, the church,
and he breathes out fire against her, and the earth opens up and
swallows up the woman. Oh, how marvelously God provides
for his own in this world. All the spoils of Egypt are ours. several years ago. Some of you
benefited from it almost as much as we did several years ago,
been a long time ago. Shelby and I were getting ready
to go out and try to find some plants to put in the garden and
some flowers to put in the flower beds. And frankly, things were
a little tough, a little tight. And so we were planning what
we were gonna do. And as I started to leave, as we're pulling out
the driveway, there's a truck that turned over right there.
It turned over. I mean, this just turned over.
Full of flowers and plants and stuff to plant in the garden
and flower beds. We had flowers and seed and plants, or not plants
and seed, but plants for anybody who wanted them. Anybody who
wanted them. I called Larry Brown. I said, Larry, can you get down
here with your trailer? He said, yeah, Larry and his mother, his
mother was visiting with him, they drove up. She said, what
on earth is that? And we got done cleaning the
place up. The fellow gave us all the flowers, had a full load,
headed out to one of the stores out here to unload the things.
And the police officer said, if you clean it up, you can have
it. So we cleaned it up. And Larry's response to the whole
thing was, whatever they need, God just opens up the heavens
and drops it down. That's how God takes care of
his own in everything. They went out of Egypt with all
the wealth of Egypt. Every person in the house was
required to eat the roasted lamb for himself. Only those who ate
the lamb were delivered. All who ate the lamb were delivered.
And all for whom the blood was shed ate the lamb and walked
out of Egypt. So it is today and so it will
be tomorrow until all of Israel shall be saved by the grace of
God. The children of Israel marched
out of Egypt as soldiers in a dress parade. They were ranked together. And they marched out in an orderly
procession. They didn't run like they're
scared to death, they just marched out. Like soldiers marching out, lined
up, side by side, row by row, they marched out of Egypt. And
as they did, they marched out of Egypt being led out of bondage
and captivity by Moses. God's law representative. God's elect walk out of their prisons, they
walk out of bondage, and they walk into glory led by God's
law and justice. Truth and justice cry as loud
as God's love with Jesus' blood. Every sinner bought with blood
must escape the wrath of God. justice, mercy, truth, and love,
shining bright in Jesus' blood, make secure our place above,
one with Christ, approved of God. Let his praise forever swell. Jesus has done all things well. By his sin-atoning blood, he
both saves and honors God. Now, one more thing. God commands
you to eat the lamb. This is his commandment that
you believe on his son. That means, that means you won't believe
this unless God lets you. No, you won't believe this unless
God makes you. God commands you to eat the sacrifice. God commands
you to believe on his son. That means it's perfectly all
right for you to believe. It's perfectly alright for you
to come to Christ. It's perfectly alright for you
to eat God's sacrifice. This is the Lord's Passover.
The celebration of redemption accomplished by Christ. Redemption
experienced by grace. Redemption sure for all God's
Israel. Sure to all God's elect. Deliverance
free. Deliverance free. to every sinner
who believes on the Son of God. Oh, may God give you grace to
keep the feast, believe on the Son of God, and walk this day
out of bondage into liberty forever in Christ Jesus the Lord. Amen.