We've already read a good portion
of this chapter together. It's a very familiar passage
from God's word to you, I'm sure. Our text will be verse 13. I pray that it will be used by
God, the Holy Spirit, as a means to prepare our hearts with thankfulness
and gratitude and encouragement and hope. when we come to observe
the Lord's table this morning. We remember Him, the Lord God,
who says, when I see the blood, the blood of that lamb slain
from the foundation of the world in the purpose of God Almighty. He says, when I see the blood,
that's the title of my message. You remember Moses wrote the
first five books of the Word of God. And our Lord said, Moses
wrote of me. Moses wrote of me. And when we
come to read the Old Testament, especially the writings of Moses,
we can very properly say what Philip said. when he found Nathanael
and said, we have found him of whom Moses and the prophets did
write. And I declare you would have
to put on blinders indeed not to read this chapter. You must
be in darkness not to read this chapter and see. It can only
be talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. He's that Lamb, the Lamb
of God. The best commentary On this chapter,
especially our text, is what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 5,
verse 7. He said, for even Christ our
Passover, there it is. Any more explanation necessary?
What does this mean? Even Christ our Passover is sacrificed
for us. Notice the first phrase here
in verse 13. God still instructing Moses and
Aaron, as to what to tell the people. And he tells them the
blood, the blood of this land, this spotless land without blemish
or defect, the blood shall be to you for a token. A token of
what? A token representing something,
meaning something, symbolic of something. A token of what? The blood of this land was a
token, a picture of redemption. this blood being shed and applied
was a picture of that the price of redemption was paid, was paid,
paid in full. Now I've used this analogy before
but you know when you have that booklet from the bank and it's
about that payment books about that thick where you borrowed
money on your home or your car or whatever And each time you
make a payment, they rip one out, or they used to. They probably
don't do that anymore. Everything's by computer. But
man, that thing, finally, is it ever gonna, and finally it
gets to that very last one. And you go in and pay it, and
they stamp on there, paid in full. Listen, brothers and sisters
in Christ. When Jesus Christ obtained eternal
redemption for us, God put the stamp of eternal eternity on
there saying, it's paid in full. It's paid in full. God accepted
the payment. It also is a token of this. Righteousness
is established. Established by the Lord Jesus
Christ. Also it means a token of this.
Justice is satisfied. Justice is satisfied. You know,
when I was a boy at home and my dad would give me chores,
he was old-fashioned. My brothers and I had chores.
We had things to do. And he expected it to be done.
Isn't that old-fashioned? But anyway, if I didn't do it
right, he would let me know about it. And I would think to myself,
man, alive he's hard to please. I wouldn't say it to his face.
I wasn't stupid, Billy. But I would think, man, he is
hard to please. I'll tell you what. God Almighty
is hard to please. I know our religious world, this
society, the day in which we live, they think God will accept
anything. Anything will do. Anything will
appease God. Anything will satisfy God. It
doesn't matter. And God Almighty says, oh, it
matters. It matters. As a matter of fact, if it's
not perfect, God says, I won't accept it. If it's not perfect,
away with it. And the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied
divine justice because he offered himself as a perfect sacrifice
to God. God can expect or demand no more
than what the Lord Jesus Christ established. It also is a token,
the blood of the Lamb, that the covenant of God's grace, that
wondrous, everlasting covenant of grace is fulfilled. And a certain result The certain
outcome of all that is this. God says, I, I, when I see the
blood. These Israelites were in the
house that night when death was passing by. and striking down
all the firstborn in every other home that didn't have the blood
applied. They couldn't see the blood,
but God said, that doesn't matter. It's when I see the blood, when
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. I know I've told you this
story before, but Billy, I think you'll hear it for the first
time. Brother Maurice Montgomery, I'm sorry, his father, Hubert
Montgomery, Man, he was in his 90s when God took him home, but
he went to the church there in Danville, the father of Judy
Estes and Brother Maurice, a large family, but when he began to decline and up in
years, he called his pastor, our dear friend, my pastor, Brother
Don Fortner, and he said, oh, Don, his mind began to fade in
memory. He said, Don, I'm having a tough time seeing
the blood. I can't see the blood. And Don said, it doesn't matter whether you
see it or not. God says, when I see the blood,
it's when God sees the blood, he declares, I will pass over
you. I won't destroy you. I've made
a difference between my people and those who aren't my people.
Look across the page here in chapter 11. That's exactly what
he tells Moses and Aaron. Exodus 11 verse 7. And all the
firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die from the firstborn
of Pharaoh that sat 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, don't you like that? But, against any of the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue. against man or beast
that ye may know that ye may know now the world doesn't like
it but God's people rejoice in it that you may know how that
the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel
Christ said you're not my sheep he told the Pharisee You're not
my sheep. That's why you don't hear my
voice. You don't believe because you're not my sheep. But I've
made a difference between you and my sheep. They'll hear my
voice. And when they hear, they'll follow
me. Yes, God makes his people to
differ. And the reason is not anything
in them. anything done by them or anything
from them. It's all doing and because of
God's free and sovereign grace. The only difference in John Copeland
and the vilest offender this morning in the world is this,
the difference that God Almighty's made. He had mercy on you John
Copeland and he didn't have to do it. He didn't have to do it. It's free and unmerited. There's
nothing you could do or any other sinner that can merit or earn
God's favor. If that's true, then it's not
grace anymore. It's not mercy anymore. There's
only two things that our text speaks of or rather that I want
to deal with, and I hope they'll be a blessing to you. The first
one is that one who sees the blood. It's God doing the speaking
when he says, when I see the blood. And the result is I will
pass over you. The blood of the Lamb, that Lamb
that we read, that must be without blemish or defect of any kind. It must be perfect. That's why
there was that lapse, that four days from the time it was chosen
and set aside until it was actually sacrificed so that it could be
examined again and again and over and over. The Lord Jesus
Christ entered Jerusalem for the last time four days before
the Passover. And he was examined by the religious
leaders. He was examined by Pilate. And
though they all would not confess that it was so, what Pilate said
was exactly right. I don't find any fault at all
in him. He's perfect. He's perfect. He's
without defect. But more importantly than what
Pilate said or the religious leaders refused to acknowledge,
more importantly than That was this. God Almighty said, I find
no fault in him. He's perfect. He's perfect. There's no defect. He lived a
perfect life before the Holy Lord God. He didn't come to destroy
the law. He come to fulfill it. And he
fulfilled it. He's the only one who ever did.
I've known people. Religious people, it's always
religious people, who claim to be living under the law, keeping
God's law. And I would pause, say, have
you not heard the law? Do you not hear the law? Do you
not understand the law? And obviously you don't. It's
obvious that you don't because if you did, you would not be
trying to establish a righteousness before God Almighty by observing
the law. The law is like that mirror,
brothers and sisters, that we all looked in this morning. Anybody
here that didn't do that, raise your hand. Well, sure we did,
more than once. I did and I thought, man, looking
good, looking good. The mirror revealed to me that
I needed to shave. But John the Mary couldn't shave
me. I needed a razor and shaving cream to do that. The law exposes
sin, but it can't take it away. Only grace can do that. Jesus
Christ is the only one who ever lived that fulfilled God's law. He was the lamb God promised,
the lamb God provided, the lamb that was prophesied of, and the
lamb that was slain. The lamb. Notice that, the lamb. Never does it say a lamb, not
referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the lamb. Not any lamb will
do, but this lamb. This lamb. Which? Who? Where is he? Where is he? John
pointed him out that day. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
of years after this. As Abraham told his son, God
will provide himself a lamb. And he walked by one day, and
John said, there he is. There's God's lamb. Behold, the
lamb of God. What's he going to do, John?
He's going to take away the sins of the world, Jew and Gentile.
He'll take away the sins of his true Israel, all the chosen people
of God he shall redeem. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
and that alone cleanses us from all sin. Nothing else can do
it. Because without the shedding
of blood, his blood, there is no remission. Christ came into
this world on purpose. Well, imagine that. He came at the appointed time,
appointed by the Father. to the appointed place for an
appointed people to do an appointed thing to save his people from
their sins and in order to accomplish that he must live as their representative
and then die as their substitute and glory to his name he did
both perfectly because he's the lamb of God Christ came to save
his people And in order to do so, he must bear their sins in
his own body on the grave, or rather, on the cross, on the
tree. He told his disciples, except the corn of wheat fall
into the ground and die, it abideth alone. That's him. That corn of wheat is himself. And he says, if I don't die,
I'm alone. If I don't die, there won't be
many brethren in heaven. If I don't die, I won't be the
firstborn among many. If I don't fall into the ground
and die, I abide alone. And after that, he prays in the
garden as great drops of blood fall from
his brow. He says, Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. If it may not pass from me except,
except I drink it, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground
and die, except I drink it, thy will be done. And glory to his
name, he did drink it. He did drink it. He trod the
winepress alone by himself and he purged our sins. He drank
damnation dry. You remember when Elijah, I think
it's in 1 Kings 18, was on Mount Carmel with the false prophets
of Baal, hundreds of them and Elijah alone, and he said, let's
do this. Let's just settle this thing.
Let's see who God is. You make you an altar, you're
God. You offer a sacrifice, and I'll do the same thing, and the
God who answers by fire, he's God. Elijah said, y'all go first. So they built their altar, and
they prayed, and they prayed, and they cut themselves. And
Elijah said, maybe your God's asleep. Maybe he can't hear you. Maybe you need to talk louder.
They have ears, but they hear not. And then Elijah prepared
the bullock to sacrifice. And he said, soak it. Soak it.
They soaked it. He said, do it again. Do it again. Do it again. Do it again. And
he prayed. and the fire fell from heaven
and not only consumed the bullock, the sacrifice, it consumed the
water in the trenches around the altar, it consumed the stone,
it consumed everything, everything. It consumed the sacrifice. Oh,
but on Mount Calvary, our sacrifice consumed the wrath of God. Christ wasn't consumed, but he
consumed the sacrifice. We read in scripture that our
God is a consuming fire. but Jesus Christ put the fire
out on the behalf of his people with this blessed righteous result
that it shall bring forth much fruit. He'll not abide alone. One hymn writer put it this way,
not all the blood of beast on Jewish altar slain could give
the guilty conscious peace or wash away the stain. But Christ,
the heavenly Lamb, takes all our sins away. This is my blood
which is shed for many for the remission of sins, he said. A
sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they. He's the Lamb. And God says,
when I see the blood of the Lamb, I will pass over you." Brothers
and sisters in Christ, isn't it not a comfort to know that
not only is the mercy and love of God precious to your souls,
oh, but the justice of God is now an argument for us and not
against us. The justice of God being satisfied
demands forgiveness. Redemption Christ, once our Lord
obtained eternal redemption for us, now justice demands that
my people must go free. Look in verse 30 again here in
Exodus chapter 12. Pharaoh rose up in the night,
he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was
a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house, there was not
one house where there was not one dead. One commentator that
I was reading said, now we can't take that literally because there
were some houses where there weren't some dead. And I thought,
oh no, buddy, you're wrong there. There was death in every house.
Death took place at every house. Those of the Israelites too.
Because the death angel passed them by For this sole reason,
death had already been there. Death had already visited that
household in the sacrifice of that paschal lamb. And God passes
by his redeemed for the very same reason. He passes by his
redeemed in judgment because he didn't pass by his son upon
the cross. A Waco sword, God says, against
a man who is my fellow. Smite the shepherd. Smite the
shepherd. God says, smite the shepherd. And payment God cannot twice
demand. First at my bleeding surety's
hand, and then again at mine. That wouldn't be right. That
would be unjust. When he smoked the lamb, all
those for whom it was done must go free. When Jesus Christ said
to the avenging justice of God, avenging justice of God, here
I am, take me. This glorious truth must follow. Let these, let these go their way. That's called substitution. You
remember a few months ago when Alabama was playing for the national
title? Things weren't going too well.
And then in the second half, Saban put in that other quarterback,
substituted the other quarterback, and he pulled it out for him.
Well, when he came in, the first quarterback had to go out. He
had to sit down. He had to substitute. They both
couldn't be in there at the same time. Jesus Christ, Billy, is
my glorious substitute. And he bore all my sins. And he bore them all away. I
don't have any glory to his name. My substitute answers for me. God doesn't look to me to satisfy
him. He looks to Jesus Christ. He
answers for me. He appears in the presence of
God for me. Man, I like that. God had made
him who knew no sin to be sin for us. Is that so? Is that true? Did that really
happen? If so, and it is, then this is true as well, that we
might be made the very righteousness of God in Him. Both are either
true or both are a lie, one or the other. But bless God, it's
so. Truth and justice cry as loud
as God's love with Jesus' blood. Every sinner bought with blood
must escape the wrath of God. Let his praise forever swell. Our Jesus has done all things
well. By his sin-atoning blood, he
boasts, saves, and honors God. For Christ, our Passover, is
sacrifice for us. And that happened over 2,000
years ago. It had already taken place when
Paul wrote those words under inspiration of God's Holy Spirit. Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed
for us. Why does he not say he was sacrificed
for us? Why does he use the present tense? He is. I'll tell you why. Because the effects of that one
sacrifice are perpetual. They're everlastingly effectual
and meritorious. The very fact that Christ, our
high priest, now intercedes before the throne of God on our behalf
proves that His sacrifice is effectual and the sufficiency
of His precious blood speaks everlasting satisfaction to God. It's as fresh the blood of Jesus
Christ, His atonement, It is as fresh, as meritorious, as
effectual as the day he offered it upon the cross. It still rings
to his glory and honor in heaven. That's what the hymn writer said.
This is what he meant, I'm sure. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood, it's never gonna lose its power, never, never, never,
till all the ransomed church of God be saved of sin no more. Most people, most people, In
churches today, they think that their faith makes Christ Atonement
effectual, that it won't be effectual without their faith being added
to it, that it won't work. In other words, unless they believe,
then what Christ did upon the cross was for nothing. He died
in vain unless I add my faith to it and make it effectual,
make it work. My soul, no, no, no. Christ said, I laid down my life
for the sheep, and it'll be effectual. All those that the Father gave
me shall come to me. And my sheep will hear my voice.
And everyone that was chosen by God in election, and everyone
that I redeemed by my death upon the cross, they'll hear my voice. And I won't go to them and say,
will you pretty please take the first stand? Will you make a
decision for Jesus? How degrading that is to the
Son of God. No, Jesus said, I have power.
I have power. God's given me power. And the
day is coming, the hour is coming when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God. What's He going to say to them?
He's going to say, live. And what's going to happen? Bless
God, they're going to live. When He goes to the tomb of a
dead sinner and says, come forth, they're going to get up and they're
going to come forth because He's the mighty God. able to save
to the uttermost all that come unto God by him. And that is
why God says, when I see the blood. Don't you find that comforting? In a few moments when we take
the breath, representing the body of our Lord, sacrificed
for us, and the blood shed for us to put away our sins. Oh,
may God make these words echo in our heart. God says, when
I see Not your faith, not your works,
not your prayers. Aren't you glad? That's not true.
Aren't you glad that the reason God passes over you in judgment
is not because of your faith or prayers, oh no, or anything
else you've ever done? I mean after you were saved.
Oh no, the reason is this. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. If Christ hadn't stood for his
people, When Adam fell, they would have perished. But thank
God, we're not saved by our works, but we're saved according to
God's purpose and grace that was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world ever began. And folks said, oh, that's election.
Yeah, I believe it is. I believe it is. Oh, I can't
stand that. I can't stand that. What about
your free will? You better pray to God Almighty
he don't leave you to your so-called free will. Because if he does,
if he lets you have your way, you're going to go to hell. There's
no way around it. Thank God that it's not of him
that will it. Thank God that it's not of him
that run it. Thank God that he saves people
as a matter of pure mercy and his mighty sovereign grace. The other morning, Robin called
me to breakfast. And we sat down at the table
and she glanced over and saw that one of the eggs might not
have been quite to my liking. She said, are your eggs all right?
Man, I was hungry. I was hungry, Lester. I said,
man, they're perfect. There's nothing wrong with them
eggs. They're just great. Let me tell you something. When
God Almighty gets a sinner lost, and he creates within their heart,
in their innermost souls, a hunger and thirst to know the living
God, to know his salvation, and they hear it's not of him that
willeth, that'll be all right with them. That'll be all right
with them. Lord, it's your mercy. It's your
mercy. It's your right to bestow it
upon who you will. Will you have mercy on me? I
don't have an issue with you bestowing mercy on whoever you
want to, but would you please have mercy on me? Like Barnabas,
Lord, don't pass me by. Don't pass me by. Our Lord is on His way at that
time that Bartimaeus interrupted Him, so to speak, in His journey. He's on His way to accomplish
the redemption of His people. He's on His way to lay down His
life for us, just a matter of days from that time. And he hears
the cry of one poor, blind, filthy beggar, and Jesus Christ stops
dead in his tracks. You know why? Because he delights
to show mercy. He delights to show mercy. In
chapter 15 of Exodus, after those that are redeemed are brought
out of Egypt, they cross the Red Sea. In verse 1 we read,
Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the
Lord. And spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath
triumphed gloriously. Well, of course he did. The horse
and his rider had he thrown into the sea. Verse 11, Who is like
unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like unto thee,
glorious in holiness? fearful in praises, doing wonders. Thou stretchest out thy right
hand and the earth swallowed them. Thou in thy mercy has led
forth everybody, no, led forth the people which you redeemed,
no one else. Thou has guided them in thy strength
to thy holy habitation. In Revelation 15 we read that
they shall sing, that is the redeemed, the song of Moses. and of the Lamb, crying, Hallelujah,
the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. I read a story the other evening
by Mr. Spurgeon. He said years ago,
many more years ago from our day, but even in his day, that
there was an American citizen arrested in Spain and charged
with a crime some trumped up charge and sentenced to death.
The ambassador of the United States interceded with the Spanish
government on his behalf, but to no avail. As a last resort,
on the very day of this man's execution by firing squad, that
US ambassador got a large American flag and wrapped that man up
in it. And he told them, he said, now,
now, You go ahead and fire a shot.
Fire a shot if you dare. But you know this, if you do,
you're going to incur the wrath of the nation represented by
that flag, the greatest nation on earth. And you know what?
There wasn't a shot fired. Brothers and sisters, I stand here this morning wrapped
in the blood red flag of Christ atoning sacrifice and before
God Almighty before God Almighty can destroy me he would first
have to dishonor his son who loved me and gave himself for
me and blessed be his name that he will never ever do. Let me close by reading a few
verses of one of Top Lady's hymns. It's not Rock of Ages. But a
debtor to mercy alone, of covenant mercy I sing, nor fear with Christ's
righteousness on my person and offerings to bring. The terrors
of law and of God with me can have nothing to do. My Savior's
obedience and blood hide all my transgressions from view. My Savior's obedience and blood
hide all my transgressions from view. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead the Lord Jesus, our Lord Jesus, that great
shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting
covenant to make you perfect in every good work to do His
will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight,
through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and forever. Amen. Amen. God bless you.