chapter 12 and we're in verse
7 now but in the first six verses of Exodus 12 we saw that the
children of Israel were instructed by God through Moses to choose
a lamb And they were to choose a lamb for every household. Some
smaller households were to eat one lamb together with another
household according to their ability to eat all of the lamb. The instruction was to plan ahead
and to calculate how much each person could eat. And if your
household couldn't eat an entire lamb, then you were to eat it
with another smaller, a small household nearby, perhaps that
could, could eat one lamb together with that household. But every
house had a lamb and every person in every house had a lamb. In
this sense, if you lived in any Hebrew household that night,
it didn't matter who you were, young or old, male or female,
it didn't matter. There was blood on the door of
the house that you lived in. And you had lamb for supper that
night. That's the important thing. Every
man a lamb. We saw those words. Every man
a lamb. Not each individual had their
own lamb because you can't eat all of it. But every man a lamb. There was a lamb that was assigned
to each person. Every person ate of it. And there
was blood on every house where every Hebrew lived. And there's
clear teaching here. Every person must eat the lamb. God doesn't save families. You say, well, wait a minute,
Chris, I can think of some families, you know, that God has saved.
No, he might have saved everybody in the family, but he saved them
individually. He doesn't save families, does
he? No, he saves people, individuals. And he may, like I say, I've
seen, I know some families who look like the Lord's done something
for everybody in the family, but it's every individual. Everybody
has to eat the lamb. Every person, each person is
responsible before God for his sin. We don't bear the sins of
anyone else. We got enough of our own to put
us in hell forever. And we're responsible before
God for our sin. And so every person must have
the Lamb. And your Lamb, as we saw, is
to be without blemish. Only Christ, only God's only
begotten Son is a worthy sacrifice for the sins of God's people.
And these lambs without blemish that were to be picked out by
the heads of these households pictured Christ the spotless
lamb of God. Only Christ is a worthy sacrifice
for sin. These lambs that these heads
of the Hebrew houses in Egypt picked out for that night, they
had to be spotless in the sight of that man. They had four days
to examine that lamb and to see if they could determine whether
there was any spot and it had to be without blemish. in the
eyes of that man. But spiritually speaking, your
sin offering before God in the soul matter that's pictured by
the Passover, your sacrifice has to be without spot in the
sight of God. And there's just one Lamb that
qualifies. And John pointed him out, behold,
the Lamb of God, the Lamb of God that takes sin away. There's
just one, 1 Peter 1.18, For as much as you know that you're
not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot." You see, even there, these thousands
of years later, Peter uses still Passover language in describing
the Lord Jesus Christ, our Passover lamb. He is God's spotless lamb. And it's when God sees his blood
that he'll have mercy on you and on me. Now in the evening
on Passover evening in these first six verses, Let's read
them together. Let's not assume that we're familiar
with them. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land
of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning
of months. And we saw how that's not just
the start, not just the first month of the year, but the chiefest,
the choicest of months. It shall be the first month of
the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation
of Israel saying in the 10th day of this month, they shall
take to them every man, a lamb, 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 count
for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish,
a male of the first year. The Lord Jesus Christ, the prophet
said, he has to do of his youth. He's the ancient of day. He's
the alpha and omega. But in the due of his youth,
always, though he's the ancient of days. It shall be, 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, until four
days later after you pick it out. And the whole assembly of
the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. The whole
assembly shall kill it in the evening. Passover evening, all
of the lambs were to be slain. There was a death for every house
in Egypt that night. If there was not the death of
a lamb, then there was the death of a human being, first born.
And that house died. And this was just a token of
the fact that every soul without a lamb representing them before
God, a suitable, acceptable to God lamb, will die for their
own sin and rebellion. The firstborn in that household
was a token of that. The lamb dying was a token for
that household of the Lord Jesus Christ dying in the stead of
every one of his people, pictured by the Israelites. And so the
death of that firstborn was a token of the fact that everyone who
does not have the lamb A suitable, acceptable, satisfactory sin
offering before God dies in every sense of the word before God.
Physical death, spiritual death, eternal death. One more thing
in verse six. Notice it says, the whole assembly
of the congregation of Israel shall kill it. Now, I don't think
every one of them had a knife and, you know, physically took
part in that, but they were all there. And there's two things,
I believe at least, that are taught here that the whole congregation
must kill it. In Acts 2.22, listen to what
Peter preached. You men of Israel hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst
of you as you yourselves also know. Him being delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken. Wait
a minute, I didn't drive the nails into him. You have taken
and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. I wasn't even there
when it happened. You killed God's son. The whole
congregation killed him. All of his people and everybody. in this world is guilty of the
blood of God's Son. You crucified and slain. Therefore
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus whom you have crucified both Lord and Christ
whom you crucified. And then the second thing taught
here is that he died in the stead of or on behalf of the whole
congregation of Israel. They were all present there when
the lambs were slain. Earthly Israel is typical of
God's elect and it was for each and every one of his elect that
he was slain. So the whole congregation had
a direct interest in the death of the lamb. You couldn't be
off in your room doing your homework or something when the lamb was
slain. You're right there. You're in on it. You have an
interest in it. Everybody. That was one of God's chosen
people. And then in verse 7, the Lord
gives more instruction regarding that night, that Passover night,
and regarding the salvation of our souls, because that's what
this pictures. His marvelous grace in electing
a chosen people and delivering them from bondage by the blood
of His Son, by the victorious life and death of His Son. Verse
seven, and they shall take of the blood and strike it on the
two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein
they shall eat it. The blood is applied to the doors
of the houses, wherein the lamb shall be eaten. So that everyone that is eating
the lamb is so to speak under the blood. Everyone that's eating
the lamb is in a house with blood on the door. They're counted
as under the blood of that lamb. Now this lamb, think about for
a moment the idea of eating the lamb. This lamb could well have
represented the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did for us. Had they
been instructed to kill it, put the blood on the door, and then
bury it. Our Lord was buried and rose again. But the eating
is significant and vital because it pictures what the Lord has
done in us. When our Lord saves us, we discover
by his grace and teaching that he has done a work for us and
a work in us. Christ on the cross is my propitiation. And Christ in me is the hope
of glory. You see why you have to eat the
lamb. I can admire a crucified Jesus. I can teach concerning him. I
can analyze and be a student of what he did. But unless I
partake of Christ, Christ shall profit me nothing, unless of
God are you in Christ. And he made unto you wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And Christ in
you is the hope of glory. Eating is a beautiful picture
of this. It's a necessity for life, isn't
it? And so it's a picture of that which gives life to our
souls. The Lord Jesus Christ said in
John 6, 54, whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal
life. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. He went on to say in that context,
if you eat not the flesh of the son of man and drink not his
blood, you have no life in you. We eat His flesh and drink His
blood, not literally, of course, but by faith. And so this eating,
it's a picture of faith in Christ. It's taking Christ unto yourself
by faith. It's laying hold of Him. It's
participating in Him. Just like you may know, as I
said, the truth concerning Christ, you may know some facts about
food that you eat. You might be very particular
about eating certain kinds of food and you may know their nutritional
value. You may be able to describe them,
not only the way they look, but what their, what their contents
are, what kind of nutrients they have and be an expert concerning
that. But if you don't eat it, you
won't be nourished by it. So you must not only know of
Christ, but you must partake of him by faith. That's what
faith is. Faith is described so many ways
in the scripture. Believing on Him. Believing God. It's described as running a race.
It's described as a principle that's in the believer that causes
them to choose certain things and reject others. To choose
Christ and reject this world. To choose His righteousness and
reject our own self-righteous works. To choose His precious
blood and refuse our own religious deeds. That's faith. It's described as eating and
drinking. It's described as laying hold
of eternal life. And this is such a beautiful
picture of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. We said that eating
is a necessity of life, but it's so much more than that, isn't
it? It's so much more than that. Eating is enjoyable. Don't you
enjoy eating? There's not that many things
in life that are more enjoyable than sitting down to a wonderful
meal. And you're just thinking about
food. If you're hungry, get you excited for it. What are we going
to have for dinner? Oh, we're going to have fried
pork chops and baked potato. Man, I'm looking forward to that.
I'm looking forward to that, aren't you? And like fellowship
in Christ, it's good to eat with somebody. I don't like eating
by myself, do you? It's a joy. It's something that
we rejoice in and do so together. Growth and strength come by eating. You go long enough without eating,
you can't get anything done. You can't even think right. I'm
gonna have to eat something. Stop and eat something. If we go very long without eating,
you'll feel the need. And all of these are typical
of our faith in Christ, aren't they? We see so much in this
idea of eating the lamb. It's fulfillment, it's satisfaction,
it's necessity, it's joy, it's so much. to the believer. And he said, they shall eat the
flesh in that night, roast with fire. This is a clear picture,
isn't it? The lamb got to be roasted. And with unleavened bread, verse
eight, and with bitter herbs, they shall eat it. And you notice
that he said, you eat the lamb in the nighttime. Eat it that
night. I started looking at the scriptures
and what they say about night and it was so instructive. The night reminds us of why we're
eating. Because we by nature love darkness
rather than light. We eat of him who is the line.
And in the scriptures, night is symbolic of our sin and our
sorrow. David said in Psalm 34, sing
unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance
of his holiness. For his anger endureth but a
moment. In his favor, his life, weeping
may endure for a night. And you can look at your whole
life that way, can't you? There was a night season in my
life. And we think about people now
who don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, and we say, how in the
world do they get through the heartaches and the troubles? If you had to bear something
like some of our family here are going through right now,
and you didn't have Christ, how could you bear it? How could
you bear it? But the whole first part of my
life was nighttime. But then the sun came up. And
in the morning, David said, weeping endures for a night, but joy
comes in the morning. And now that we know the Lord,
we have some night seasons, don't we? But the joy comes when he's
pleased to show his face. The glory of God shines in his
face. When He causes His face to shine
upon us, there's joy. But you see how there's weeping
for the night, and there should be a remembrance of that when
we're eating the lamb. Listen to the language of John
13. Turn there with me, please. John chapter 13. This is so interesting. John 13, 21. When Jesus had thus said, he
was troubled in spirit and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say
unto you that one of you shall betray me. And then the disciples
looked on one another, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was
leaning on Jesus bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned
to him that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. Ain't that interesting? That's
probably what I would have done. I would have said, John, ask
him who he's talking about. He then lying on Jesus' breast
saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is
to whom I shall give a sock when I have dipped it. And when he
had dipped the sock, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son
of Simon. And after the sock, Satan entered
into him. And then said Jesus unto him,
that thou doest do quickly. And now no man at the table knew
for what intent he spake this unto him. For some of them thought
because Judas had the bag that Jesus had said unto him, buy
those things that we have need of against the feast, or that
he should give something to the poor. He then, having received
the sop, went immediately out. And it was night. Have you ever
wondered why it says that there? And it was night. Remember what this Passover night
is. It's the judgment of God. And when the judgment of God
comes, we have refuge under the blood. And because we've eaten
the lamb by God's grace. But it's night. This is God's
judgment. This is sin and the power of
Satan. When our Savior bore our sins in his own body on the tree,
there was darkness upon the earth. In the middle of the day, it
turned night. Look at Luke 23, verse 43. Luke chapter 23 and verse 43,
Jesus said unto that thief, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt
thou be with me in paradise. And it was about the sixth hour,
and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth
hour. And the sun was darkened, and
the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus
had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, Into thy hands
I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave
up the ghost, and it was pitch dark. There was a darkness upon the land, upon the earth.
And we're reminded by that. They were eating it at night,
and they realize this is God's judgment. God's gonna come in
the night. And whoever is not under the
blood is a goner tonight. And they were to eat it roast
with fire. Surely this is God's judgment poured out upon his
own son. How is the punishment for our
sin in hell described in God's word? It's a lake of fire. We know that hell is not fire
like we know it on this earth, because it never consumes those
who are plunged within it. It never burns them completely
up. It's some other kind of fire. But of all the things in this
world to describe the agonies of hell, God uses fire. And this lamb was to be roast.
with fire because our Lord Jesus Christ bore the wrath of God
for our sins. And so I bear none. As they roasted
that lamb, you imagine they thought about that?
They know that the judgment of God consumes the enemy of God,
the one upon whom sin is found. so that they might eat and be saved. Because the Lord
Jesus Christ bore God's wrath in my stead, I don't bear any
wrath, none. None. When God chastises us in this
world, that's not God's wrath, that's his love. That's his love
for you. God cannot punish Christ and
me for my sin. He punished my substitute for
my sin. Our brother just read it. He
hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. And with his stripes
we're healed. He was punished in my stead.
He bore the wrath of God in my place. And he took the punishment
for my, the sin was his. It was put upon him and became
his. And so the punishment was his. And salvation is ours, freedom,
life. And you're to eat it with unleavened
bread and bitter herbs. Leaven, this is, as I said, this
is a clear picture. There's no room for speculation
here. Leaven in the word of God all through signifies sin. It
signifies self-righteousness. It signifies error, false doctrine,
and hypocrisy. And this teaches us not only
how to eat, to eat it in sincerity and in truth, as we'll read in
a moment, but also who it is we're eating. There's no leaven
in him, there's no hypocrisy, there's no falsehood, no deceit,
no guile found in his mouth, no fault. Look at Matthew 16,
verse 5. Matthew 16, 5, And when his disciples
were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.
And Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves,
saying, It is because we have taken no bread. We just tend
to think, we just don't think in spiritual terms, do we? Unless
the Lord teaches us. In which when Jesus perceived,
he said unto them, O ye of little faith. Why reason you among yourselves
because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand neither
remember the five loaves of the 5,000 and how many baskets you
took up? Neither the seven loaves of the
4,000 and how many baskets you took up? The fact that we don't
have any bread with us, does that really make any difference?
When you're with the one that fed 5,000 with a little boy's
lunchbox? That's not what he's warning
us about. He said, how is it that you do
not yet understand that I speak it not to you concerning bread
that you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of
the Sadducees? And then understood they how
that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of
the doctrine. Beware of their outward form
of religion. They draw anatomy with their
lips, but their heart is far. Their self-righteousness. Beware of the doctrine of the
Pharisees and the Sadducees. You see that? That's why you
eat it with unleavened bread. Look at 1 Corinthians 5, 1 through
8. Paul preached this very text. teaches us what we're looking at tonight
the very thing we're looking at first Corinthians 5 verse
1 it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you
and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles
that one should have his father's wife and you're puffed up There's
notorious sin among you and you're puffed up and have not rather
mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away
from among you. You're proud about it. And it's not by accident
that those words puffed up are there because what does leaven
do to bread? Bread is flat until you put leaven,
yeast, And then it puffs it up, it makes it rise. And look at
what he's saying. He said, you're puffed up about it, about your
sin. You're self-righteous before
God, but you're sinful. And look at, he said, I verily,
as absent in the body, but present in spirit, have judged already
as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered
together, and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ
to deliver such in one, unto Satan for the destruction of
the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord
Jesus. Your glorying is not good. You're being puffed up in your
sinfulness. It's not good. Know ye not that
a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out, therefore,
the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump. as ye are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover,
is sacrificed for us. And there's a certain way to
eat. There's a certain way to worship Christ. There's certain
things that accompany salvation in Christ and faith in Him. And here's one of them. Therefore, let us not keep the
feast with the unleavened, But look at the last phrase, but
with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, not in hypocrisy,
not saying all the right things and singing all the songs and
then living for yourself, living in selfishness and sin, but eating
the lamb with unleavened bread, sincerity and truth. We don't
eat of the Lord just to get to heaven when we die. That's what
religion talks about. They're eating the lamb with
leavened bread. And so they're not eating at
all. And talking about, well, you need to make a decision.
They're going door to door and handing out tickets to heaven.
And then everybody just goes and lives like they want to.
That's not how Christ is partaken of. You've not so learned Christ,
Paul said. It's not just a ticket to heaven
or just a show in the flesh. Just so people will think well
of us. You know, I'm a Christian, really. You won't have to talk about
it that much if you are. Will you? We in sincerity and truth partake
of him because we need him. And we partake of Him in such
a way that's glorifying to Him by His grace. We partake of Him
as our only righteousness before God. We partake of Him as our
only sin offering. What are you going to do? What
are you going to offer? The prophet said, shall I give my firstborn
child unto God? The fruit of my loins for the
sins of my soul? God won't take that. What are
you going to offer God? You better put the blood on the
door and sit down and get a fork and partake of Him if you're
going to have a sin offering before God. He's our sin offering.
He's our sustenance. And all the things that we said
that He is, our fulfillment, our joy, our life, our strength, And then with the bitter herbs,
like the eating at night, this reminds us of the bitterness
of sin. And this is important now. You
can't really partake of the lamb without bitter herbs. When they ate this Passover,
he said that you're to do this every year. And when they did
in later years, they were reminded of the bitterness of the bondage
of Egypt. And how that the Lord Jesus had
set them free. How that God by his servant Moses
had delivered them. And they remembered the blood.
And they remembered the lamb. They remembered the eating. They
remembered God's mercy. But they remembered the bondage
too. The bitterness. Why? Do we remember that when
we remember Christ? How can you remember what he
did for you unless you know what he did for you? Unless you're
familiar with the pit that he dug you out of. There's the bitterness
right there. I remember, don't you? I remember
where he found me. Oh, when the good Samaritan came
where I was, I remember where I was, don't you? Oh, you know
why this is required? Because it makes the lamb taste
that much sweeter. That's why the bitterness is
necessary, because the lamb tastes even sweeter. Not that there's
any lack of sweetness in the lamb. It's about your taste. The lamb is altogether lovely. You're just better able to see
his beauty when you remember your own wretchedness. And then don't eat of it raw.
We're not gonna get in a hurry in this study. It'll be unconventional. We'll stop in unconventional
places and pick up in unconventional places, but let's just see what
the Lord will show us. In verse nine, 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. Now we see in the third
phrase of this verse, but roast with fire, this is a reiteration,
it's a reminder of what has already been said. He already said, roast
it with fire, didn't he? But here he adds these negatives. This is the first negative in
the whole passage, isn't it? The first not. This is the first
place you'll see a not with regard to the passover. eat not of it
raw but roast with fire eat not of
it sodden at all with water but roast with fire this is a warning
now it's a warning don't eat it raw or boiled that's why this
is repeated and that's why it's done so in a negative way as
a warning to us now Christ crucified Bearing God's wrath for the sins
of his people is not to be bypassed or altered in any way. It's roasted
lamb for supper. You cannot eat the lamb any other
way. If anyone but the priest goes
into the holy place, he's a dead man. If anybody touches the ark,
he's a dead man. and your soul will have life,
sustenance, joy, and satisfaction no other way than by Christ crucified. No other way. And so we're warned
here. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross, save in the roasted lamb, the
lamb of God bearing The penalty of my sin in my place. Our glory
in that, in him. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. If it's raw, then that denies
that he actually bore the wrath of God for us. He wasn't roasted. And religion talks about how
that he died to make salvation possible. He potentially bore
God's wrath, but he didn't actually bear it. God's wrath for anybody
in particular, and so they eaten it raw. He was either roasted
or he wasn't. Hebrews 10, 14, for by one offering,
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. How did
he do it? By bearing God's punishment against my sin, he perfected
me forever and made me holy in God's sight. He either did or
he didn't. He's either roasted or he's not.
If he didn't, if he wasn't roasted in my place, then he's wrong.
Eat not of it raw. And notice the words at all with
regard to the water. Not sodden at all, not a drop,
not a spritz. Water dilutes the flavor. If
you boil something long enough, it won't have any flavor, will
it? If you boil it for a little while, it'll have a little less
flavor. Roast it. If you want all the flavor, roast
it. If you don't like the taste of lamb, and religion doesn't, you might try to dilute it or
boil it away with water. Many have, who suffer in hell
tonight. Eat not of it sodden with water. Don't compromise Christ crucified. Don't dilute the lamb. Don't water down the doctrine
of Christ. The last part of the verse goes
with the idea of boiling too. Don't boil it to dilute the flavor
or to compromise the flavor in any way. And here's something else you
do. Eat the head and the legs. Why does he particularly mention
that? Well, I don't know about you, but if I'm eating lamb,
I probably wouldn't eat the head, would you? Or the legs, now. Now, he's not talking here about
the thigh. There's meat there. That would
commonly be eaten, but the legs, spony old leg and the head. You
gonna find some meat on that? There's some. And why are they mentioned? Because
they might otherwise be neglected or passed over in preference
for other cuts of meat. And you cannot take what you
lack of Christ and leave the rest. And there's a reason why
that's said here because that's exactly what we do by nature. Religion likes this talk about
going to heaven when they die. They like the fact that Christ
can take you there. They like the idea of him dying
on the cross if I get to walk the golden streets and live in
a mansion on a hill. They like the idea of him blessing
us all through this life. They like many things that he
said, as long as you don't pay attention to the context, you
know. Eating part of the lamb will profit you nothing. In fact,
it will incite the judgment and wrath of God against you. They don't like the Lord Jesus
Christ. We will not have this man to
reign over us. He said, hereafter you're going
to see the Son of Man sitting on the throne of glory. And they
spit on him when he said that. As long as he was going around
healing people, there wasn't anybody spitting on him. They
liked that part of the lamb. They liked the tenderloin, but
not the legs, not the head. Oh, may God give us grace to partake of his lamb, roasted
with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. and with
the bitter herbs of the fact that it was my sin that roasted
him. It was because of everything
that I am and everything that I've ever done and everything
that I will do that the fire of God's wrath came down upon
his precious lamb. And we partake of Him that way. And we partake of all of Christ,
the whole Christ and only Christ, by His grace. And that equals
deliverance. And that equals salvation, freedom
from bondage. It's life. He's life. May God
give us grace to eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His
blood because His flesh is meat indeed. And His blood is drink
indeed. That's bad.