Exodus 11. The Lord said unto Moses, yet
will I bring one plague more 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. Speak now
in the ears of the people and let every man borrow of his neighbor
and every woman of her neighbor jewels of silver and jewels of
gold. And the Lord gave the people
favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very
great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants
and in the sight of the people. And Moses said, thus saith the
Lord about midnight while 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 any of the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast. Now you may know how that the
Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. This is one of those passages
of scripture that I've been looking forward to preaching The Lord doth put a difference. What is the difference? Well, first of all, the difference
is between the Israelites in Egypt, God's chosen people, and
this wicked world. Why is there a difference? Have
you ever thought about that? Honestly. Why did God put a difference? Well, Pharaoh was rebellious
and proud. Yeah, but didn't the Lord say
in Exodus 32 9 unto Moses, I have seen this people, the Israelites
and behold, it is a stiff necked people. There's no difference between
the people of God and this world in themselves. What did Paul
write the first two chapters of the book of Romans and half
of chapter 3 in order to say? He summed it up in verse 22 of
chapter 3, there is no difference. And everything he said in chapter
1 and chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 3 makes that truth clear. There
is no difference. All have sinned and come up short. Come short of the glory of God. It doesn't say in our text in
Exodus chapter 11 that the Lord God hath seen the difference.
He put a difference. That is the difference between
true religion and the religion of this world. In the religion of this world,
God sees a difference. He sees a decision. He sees a
way of life. He sees a quality in men and
chooses some based upon that quality that he sees in them.
In the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His free sovereign
grace, the Lord puts a difference. It is the same lump, but God makes two kinds of vessels. The first thing that comes to
mind when you think about the difference that the Lord has
put When you see this in the Word
of God, the difference is ownership. And this is such a blessed truth. It's a difference based upon
ownership. In Exodus 3, 6, we read, Moreover,
God said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And Moses hit his face, for he
was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely
seen the affliction of my people. They're mine. There's a difference because
of ownership. And listen to the way that he
said it. My people, which are in Egypt, There's two different people.
There's my people and there's Egypt, this world. My people
are in Egypt. They're not of Egypt. And I've heard their cry by reason
of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. Paul said, we
have not in high preach which cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. He knows our sorrows. He knows sorrow better than we
know sorrow. And he said, I've come down to
save them. I've heard the cry of my people, and I've come down
to save them. In Deuteronomy 14, 2, it says
this, for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. And the
Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself. above all
the nations there upon the earth." That word peculiar in the Hebrew,
it means a possession. That's why I said ownership.
We're his precious prize possession. It means a valued property or
treasure. We're his treasure. In Song of
Solomon, Solomon sang these beautiful, timeless words. My beloved is
mine, and I'm his. That's the difference. That's
the difference right there between us and Egypt. We're his. He's
mine because I'm his. We're His by choice. Did you
notice that word in Deuteronomy 14 that I read? Chosen. He hath
chosen thee to be a peculiar treasure, a peculiar property,
possession, people unto Himself. We're His by choice. Election. The word election in the scripture
means chosen. Choice. Picked by God. And He elected us. because he loved us. So this
ownership, it's a, it's a love. And people talk about, well,
you know, love is not, you know, you don't own me. I love you
and you love me, but you don't own me and I don't own you. I
beg your pardon. That's my wife right there. And I'm her husband. Let's get that straight. You
see what I'm saying? It's not like owning a car or
something, obviously. There's ownership. God said,
you're mine. We're his by choice, by love. Jacob, have I chosen? That's
true, but that's not the truth. Jacob, have I loved? That's what
he said. And so he chose. We're his by
redemption. by purchase. That's what redemption
is. It's the purchase price of freedom
for somebody that's bound by the law because of a debt that's
owed. Redemption is that price paid
that causes them to go free. And we're His by redemption. Titus 2.11, for the grace of
God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. teaching
us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking
for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us. We were enslaved, condemned by
the law, and in prison, bound by the law. and condemned to
die and he gave himself for us. Why? That he might redeem us
from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people. Zealous of good works. He gave
himself that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify
unto himself a peculiar people. The word in the Greek means that
which is one's own. He did not redeem every man. Nothing could be clearer than
that verse right there. He redeemed unto himself a peculiar
people. He redeemed that which was his
own. That's what the text says. And
this is why he prayed the way he did in John 17, nine. I pray
for them. I pray not for Egypt. I'm not
praying for this world, he said. I'm praying for my people, but
them which thou hast given me. For they are thine, there's ownership
again. And thine are mine, mine, where
he is. And I'm glorified in them. That's
why where he is because he gets glory that way. If he didn't
get glory. He wouldn't do it. This is his intercession now
as high priest for his people. If he didn't pray for you here,
you're a goner. But if he did. If he did. If he prayed for you
in John 17. then you'll be with him forever.
And you'll be kept by his power until that time. What a difference the Lord hath
put. We're His by family relationship in Christ. First John 3, 1, Behold what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should
be called the sons of God. Not because we are the sons of
God. Now think about this. We have favor bestowed upon us,
love bestowed upon us because we are his sons, but that's not
what he said there. That we should be his sons. That's the love
he bestowed upon us, that we should be his sons. And he bestows
love on us because we're his sons. Therefore now listen to
this. I just read behold what manner
of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God Therefore the world knoweth us not There's
Israel and the world right there. There's God's people his love
bestowed upon them Because he made us his sons in Christ And
then there's the world That knoweth us not because it knew him not
where he is by adoption. Look at Galatians 4 with me. And we may go back and look at
some more things in Exodus chapter 11, but I wanted to just look
at this one verse tonight. The Lord has put a difference.
That's worth talking about. Galatians 4, 1. Now I say that
the heir As long as he is a child, now this is the son of the man
of the house, as long as he's a little baby, a little boy,
he differeth nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all. Now
think about this. There's always a difference between
a son and a servant. But what he's saying here is
there's no differences in as much as the inheritance hasn't
been bestowed upon him yet. He's in the household just like
the servants are. And there's future, there's a
future difference that hadn't been made yet. Listen to the
rest of it. But he's under tutors and governors
until the time appointed of the father. Until the father has
decided that he will bestow. You remember the prodigal said,
I want mine now, I want mine early. The father, That's at
his discretion, isn't it? When the inheritance is received.
But listen, we're under tutors and government until the time
appointed of the Father. Even so we, that's a natural
arrangement that we see in everyday life. Even so we spiritually,
God's sons, when we were children, we were in bondage under the
elements of this world. We were in Egypt. But when the
fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son made of
a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the
law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. He sent his son, S-O-N, that
we might receive the adoption of sons, S-O-N-S. You see, in
Christ, we receive the adoption. And because ye are sons, God
hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying,
Father, Father, we're his. Our brother just prayed, Gracious
and heavenly Father, How, well what right does he have to do
that? The Holy Spirit has made him a son because of what Christ
did. You see that here? Wherefore thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. Isn't that glorious? You see
the difference between us and this world? We were in the bondage
of this world at one time, but the Lord said, he sent his son
into this world to make us sons of his and sent his spirit into
our hearts that we might cry, father, father, we were sons
before we ever knew it. Now that the spirit has come,
we know it. And we say, father, you're my father. So there's
a difference because of ownership. There's a difference because
we're His. There's a difference because of His choice. We're
His by choice. There's a difference because
of the blood that redeemed us unto Himself. There's a difference
because we're family in two ways. And then there's a difference
put by God by revelation. Turn to Matthew 16. Matthew chapter 16, verse 13. When Jesus came into the coasts
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, whom do
men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, well, some
say that thou art John the Baptist, and some say that you're Elias,
and others, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets. That's
pretty flattering, isn't it? You're a great man. You're not
just a normal person that's born in this world. You're somebody
great, come back reincarnated, apparently. But he said unto
them, but who do you say I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, thou art the Christ. There's your answer. The son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, you're highly favored of God. You're blessed. You're not
like everybody else. Everybody else is saying this
and that, but you're blessed, Simon Barjona. For flesh and
blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is
in heaven. Everybody else is saying one
thing, but who do you say? You see the difference? And the
Lord clearly tells why there's a difference. Because of the
revealing grace of God, who shines his light from heaven into our
hearts. And we see his glory in the face of his son. When
we look at Christ, we say, there he is. There's the one that the
whole book is about. There's the one that God's been
promising since day one. There is my savior. There's my
redeemer. There's my substitute, my everything. Turn to Luke chapter 10. Let's
look at some scripture. We'll be trying to be brief.
Luke chapter 10, verse 21. There's a difference made by revelation. Luke 10, 21, in
that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank Thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these
things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in Thy sight, all things are delivered to me of my father.
And no man knoweth who the Son is but the Father, and who the
Father is but the Son. Everybody the same, there's not
any difference. Nobody knows. Everybody's in the dark. And he to whom the Son will reveal
him. And he turned him unto his disciples
and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things
that you see. You see the difference. And the
Lord Jesus thanked the Father for that difference, for that
revealing grace that caused a difference between everyone else, no man
but the Son and everybody he reveals it to. Has God made a difference by
revelation in our generation? Has God revealed some things
in our day that causes a difference between his people and the people
of this world? They got the same Bible. They
got a Bible just about like this one, right down the road here.
But what a difference between what we see when we look in here
and what they see. You know what the difference
is? Well, I do a lot of studying. That ain't it. Flesh and blood
has nothing to do with it. It's the Father that reveals
and the Son. He to whom the Son will reveal.
And the Holy Spirit who shines the light, who will show, take
the things of the Lord Jesus Christ and show them to us. What
grace that he's put a difference. They see that everything's up
to man. That God's done all he can do and everything's up to
you now. We're waiting on God. We're waiting on God. We're hanging
up on his mercy. Knowing that there's nothing
we can do. And if he don't bless us, we
won't be blessed. Lord, you turn us and we'll be
turned. By His grace, there's a great difference. They see
what we need to do as sinners, you know, to make things right.
We see what Christ has done. We see the finished work of the
sovereign Redeemer and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. They see that it is of man that
willeth. We see that it is of God that
showeth mercy. Who made the difference? Well,
we saw it in our text. God has put a difference. And
then there's a difference made by faith. John 7, we're right
here in Luke. If you're still there, just a
few pages over. Look at John 7, 37. There's a difference made
by faith. God gives faith and he puts a
difference that way. That's how he does it. That's
how he puts a difference. He does it by choice. by making
us His, by ownership of us. He does it by redemption. He
does it by the blood of His Son. He does it by revelation. And
He does it by putting faith in us, mixing faith with the word
that we hear. John 7, 37, in the last day,
that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,
if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth
on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit,
which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy
Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying,
said, of a truth, this is the prophet. Others said, this is
the Christ. But some said, shall Christ come
out of Galilee? They started reasoning within
themselves. They said, I don't know. That doesn't really jive
with the way I see things, the way I had it figured out, you
know. Hath not the scripture said that
Christ cometh out of the seed of David and out of the town
of Bethlehem where David was? They're using the word of God
to be ignorant. It's the word of God that they
refer to and pervert and are blind in spite of. You search
the scriptures. He said, but you won't come to
me that you might have life. So there was a division among
the people because of him. What was the division based on?
Some said, this is him. And others said, well, I just
don't know. Act 17.1, let me read it to you. I'm having you turn, if you want
to turn there, Act 17.1, but listen to this. Acts 17 1 now when they had passed
through Amphipolis and Apollonia they came to Thessalonica where
was a synagogue of the Jews and Paul as his manner was went in
unto them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the
scriptures opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered
didn't he say we preach Christ in him crucified and he sure
enough did He must needs have suffered. Why? Well, I'm sure
he answered that. Don't you imagine? And risen
again from the dead. And that this Jesus whom I preach
unto you is Christ. He identified who he was. He
talked about his crucifixion, his sin atoning death. He talked
about why he died. Because of sin. To redeem his
people from their sins. To satisfy the justice of God.
He preached Christ crucified. And some of them believed, bless
God. Oh, it's sad that only some believed,
and yet it's glorious that some believed. And consorted with Paul and Silas,
they rejoiced with the preachers. And of the devout Greeks, a great
multitude, and of the chief women, not a few, but the Jews. which believed not, moved with
envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort,
and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and
assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out
to the people. There's the difference. In all of these ways, the Lord
hath put a difference. And we see here that he hath
put a difference by giving faith to some. and not to others. Hebrews 4, 2, listen to this.
Let me read this to you. Hebrews 4, 2, for unto us was
the gospel preached as well as unto them. Same gospel. At the same time in some cases.
By the same man. But the word preached did not
profit them. It was preached to us. It was
preached to them. It didn't profit them, but look
at the profit that the Lord has bestowed upon us by giving us
faith in this gospel, faith in His Son. It's life. It's light. It's all of our joy
and all of our peace. Why? What's the difference? It did not profit them, not being
mixed with faith in them that heard it. Why did it profit us? Because God mixed faith with
it. When the word was preached, we
heard it and we didn't hear it with just our natural ear. He
said, blessed are your ears for they hear. Faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by that book right there. For we which have believed do
enter into rest. They not resting, because there was no faith. As
he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into
my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation
of the world, all of this was done before there was ever a
sinner. God puts a difference between
men by giving faith to whom he will. By grace are you saved
through faith, and that's not of yourself. You don't make a
difference between yourself and others. God puts a difference.
That's the gift of God, not of works. Lest any man should boast. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. The Lord hath put a difference
between his people and the people of this world. And then the difference,
and we have to look at this before we close, and really all of this
pertains to this last point. The difference, and back in our
text, think about what happened on that Passover night. The difference
was the blood. It was the blood, wasn't it?
It was the precious blood of Christ. We talked about the fact
that we're his by choice. Why did he choose us? We're elect
in Christ Jesus. We talked about the fact that
we're his by redemption. What were we redeemed with? Not
with corruptible things. such as silver and gold. Those
things are worth us. God's gonna pave his streets
with those things. We were redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
There's the difference. We talked about how that we're
his by family relationship. And we saw when we looked at
that, that we are sons in the son. He sent his son that we
might receive the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ. Having predestinated us, Ephesians
1.5, unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. according
to the good pleasure of his will. There was death in every house
in Egypt. In every house. Oh, wait a minute.
No, he just killed the firstborn in Egypt. There was death in
every house. Right? The difference is God's people
had a lamb. They had a lamb. And the difference
between God's people and the people of this wicked world,
represented by Egypt, is that by God's grace we have
a Lamb. We have a sin offering that's acceptable, fully satisfactory
in the sight of God for all of our sins. Behold the Lamb of
God which taketh away sin, unto Him that loved us and washed
us from our sin, in His own precious blood. In Revelation 5-9 it says
they sung a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain. and has redeemed us unto God
by thy blood. Two very important words next.
What are they? Out of. There's Egypt and there's God's
people. He's redeemed us unto God by
his precious blood out of every kindred and tongue and people
and nation. The difference Is his redeeming
blood he's redeemed us out of egypt That's the passover and
that's what we're going to see in chapter 12 That's the difference
between god's people when I see the blood of passover year The
precious blood of christ Oh And then the difference was life
and death wasn't it life and death the blood makes that difference
between life and death. Not even a dog will move its
tongue against God's people. Why? Does that mean that we'll
never be harmed physically as we walk through this world? No.
Not at all. Many of God's apostles and disciples
were brutally murdered in this world. What does it mean? It means he that hath the Son
hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not. life. The difference was life
and death, and the difference was having the Son, the Lamb.
By God's grace, we have a Lamb. And according to John, he's sitting
on the throne tonight. There was in the midst of the
throne a Lamb as it had been slain. Worthy, worthy is the
Lamb. Let's bow.