Good morning. Thankful for the opportunity
to be with you here this morning. I'd ask you to open your Bibles
to Exodus chapter 12. Exodus 12. Before we begin, let's go to
our Lord in prayer. Our God and Father in heaven,
we thank you for this day. We thank you for this opportunity
to gather together. Lord, we thank you for your many
mercies towards us in Christ. Lord, bless us here as we've
gathered together. Lord, set aside the thoughts
and cares of this world. And Lord, let us see more of
our Savior. Let us see more of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord,
we pray your blessings, your continued care upon your people.
Lord, we think especially of Todd and Lynn. Lord, we pray
that you'd continue to bless and be with them. Now, again,
we pray you'd bless our Bible study here this morning. Grant
us your presence. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen. Here in Exodus 12, let's begin
reading in verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto
you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of
the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation
of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall
take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their
fathers, a lamb for a 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. And the
lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You
shall take it from the sheep, 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. And they shall take of the blood
and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts
of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the
flesh in that night, roast with fire and unleavened bread and
with bitter herbs, they shall eat it. 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. And you shall let nothing
of it remain until the morning. And that which remaineth of it
until the morning you shall burn with fire. And thus shall you
eat it, with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, your
staff in your hand. You shall eat it in haste. It
is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land
of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt
I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. And the blood
shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are. And
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. And the plague shall
not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt."
Now, the Lord had sent plague after plague upon the Egyptians. He turned the water into blood.
He sent those frogs, the frogs were in the houses, they were
in their beds, they were in their ovens. He sent lice and swarms
of flies, that moraine, that plague upon the cattle and all
those different beasts. He sent boils on the Egyptian
and hail throughout the land of Egypt. Locusts to the point
the land was dark. But in all this, God's hand was
upon his people. In the land of Goshen, there
were no flies where the children of Israel were. When the cattle
in Egypt died, we read of the cattle of the children of Israel,
not one, not one died. In Goshen, there was no hail. There was light in the houses. God put a difference between
the Egyptians and the children of Israel, his chosen people. Now look at Exodus 11 verse 1. Here the Lord speaks to Moses.
He says, yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh and
upon Egypt, and afterwards he will let you go hence. When he
shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether. One more plague's coming. God's
gonna bring one more plague, and he said, he said, they're
gonna drive you out. You won't get out of there quick
enough. And this brings us, this brings
us to the Passover lamb. And I tell you, this is, of the
Old Testament pictures, I believe this is probably one of my favorites,
the Passover lamb. Years ago, I had a cassette player
in my truck, And I had a cassette in there, it had two sides on
it. One was the Serpent Lifted Up.
Henry, he preached the Serpent Lifted Up. And the other was
the Passover Lamb. And I believe I played that until
the tape broke. It takes scotch tape from time
to time. Now, for you kids born after 2005, you ask somebody
older in the room what a cassette tape is, okay, after the service. But the Passover Lamb. And if the Lord will enable us
to see it, it's a clear picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
in it we see, if he's pleased to reveal it, the whole doctrine
of the gospel. We see it in the choice of the
sacrifice. In John chapter 119, it said,
the next day, John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and he saith,
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. We see the characteristics of
the Lamb. That lamb had to be perfect. That's what the scriptures
declare. It has to be perfect to be accepted. That points to our Lord and Savior,
Christ, who did no sin. Neither was any guile found in
his mouth. We see the death of the lamb
and the shedding of blood. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
9. Hebrews 9, begin, look at verse
11, begin with verse 11. But Christ, being come a 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. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats and the ashes and the heifer, sprinkling the unclean,
sanctified through the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge our conscience from dead works to
serve the living God? We see the eating of the lamb
and resting by faith. Our Lord said in John 6, verily,
verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the son
of man and drink his blood, you shall have no life in you. There's
no life. We have no life apart from Christ. He said this, whoso eateth my
flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. and I'll raise
him up at the last day. And then last, we see the grand
result of it. What was the grand result? The
people were delivered, and Almighty God was glorified. So quickly,
here this morning, for just a few minutes, let's look at a few
of these parallels found here in the Old Testament between
the Passover Lamb and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Passover. Christ, our Passover, who was
sacrificed for us. If you have Exodus 12, look at
verse 5. Here we read, your lamb shall
be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take
it from the sheep or from the goats. Now this lamb was to be
a lamb without blemish, and specific instruction was given to that.
You know, I can't help but think if we were told, I'll speak of
myself here, but if we were told to take a sacrifice, And we had
a bunch of sheep out in the backyard. My guess is, I know speaking
for myself, I'd probably find the oldest, weakest sheep, right? That's what we would offer. But
listen, that can't picture our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a
lamb without blemish. This shows his absolute perfection. And listen, the sinlessness of
our Lord and Savior. In Hebrews 4.15, we have not
a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of
our infirmities. He was in all points tempted
as we. But listen, here's the difference.
He was without sin. He's perfect. He's the spotless
lamb of God. To be our righteousness, the
Lord must be perfect. And in order to atone for our
sin, he must be sinless. That's what pictures our Lord.
We're redeemed by the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot. And again, we read that earlier.
It must be over in Leviticus. It must be perfect. It must be
perfect to be accepted. And that lamb was to be taken
from the fold. He said there, you shall take
it out from the sheep or from the goats. The Lord Jesus Christ,
He was, He came and dwelt among us. He was born of a woman. He
was, listen, He was the seed of woman, the seed of Abraham.
He was made the seed of David according to the flesh. In Romans
1, 3, Jesus Christ, our Lord, which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh. and as such he can identify with
his people. Consider this, Almighty God robed
himself in human flesh and listen, he hungered. He knew what it
was like to be hungry. He knew what it was like to be
thirsty, to be tired, to weep, all these things. He was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor, that by the grace of God, he should taste
death for every man. Look again at Exodus 12, 5. This
lamb was to be a year old and was to be killed. And our Lord
was in his full strength of life when he was put to death. That
lamb was to be roasted with fire. This is the manner of Christ's
death. He was crucified. He endured
the fire of God's wrath for his people. That lamb was to be roasted
whole, complete, not a bone broken, the scriptures declare. In John
19.36 we read, these things were done that the scriptures might
be fulfilled. Not a bone of him was broken. It was the whole lamb. Think
about the importance of that. It was the whole lamb, the entire
lamb, the complete lamb, not a partial one, not a partial
one. And though man offers, we drove by I don't know how
many buildings this morning, and I guarantee you what they're
talking about is a partial savior. A partial savior will not do. One that does what he can and
then leaves the rest up to man cannot save. We need a complete
savior. And that's what this typifies. We must have a complete savior. What do the scriptures say? He
by himself purged our sin. He did it. And we rest, we rest
in Him. And then listen, that blood was
to be sprinkled upon the lintel and the side post. Two things
here. First, that blood was shed. What do the scriptures declare?
Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. And second,
that blood was applied by faith. No salvation, no deliverance
apart from God-given faith. We read this, without faith,
it is impossible, it's impossible to please him. He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the
Son shall not have life. But the wrath of God abideth
on him. And that blood on the door was
an outward confession of faith. God told him, he gave instruction.
He said, you put that blood on the door, on the side post, on
the lint on the side post. And after that was done, they
applied that blood and they went in the house. They went in the
house and shut the door, resting. Not in how they had applied the
blood, not in what kind of brush they had used or Resting under
the blood. Resting in God's promise that
when he said, when I see the blood, I'll pass, I'll pass over
you. I'll leap over your houses. Under
the blood. Can you imagine? Can you imagine
that? Can you imagine that time? And
again, they put that blood on the door. And they're resting. Resting in God's promise. Peace,
safety, rest. Secure from the wrath and justice
to come. And then the Israelites were
told to eat the flesh of the lamb. By faith, by faith we feed, we
feed on Christ. Believing Christ, receiving Christ.
It's called eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Turn with me to John chapter
six. Look beginning with verse 55
of John 6. Our Lord said, for my flesh is
meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent
me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he
shall live by me. This is that bread which came
down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat man
and are dead. He that eateth this bread shall live forever. Just as we need food to live.
Here in probably about an hour and a half, you guys will be
scrambling to find a place to eat. We've got to have food,
don't we? We must have food to have life.
If you don't have food, you can survive for a little bit, but
eventually, eventually going to die. Listen, we have no life
apart from Christ. We must, we must have him. We
must have him. Well, they were to eat the lamb
with unleavened bread. We've been taught leaven's a
type of evil. So they'd have unleavened bread.
And those that come to Christ, listen, we come in truth and
sincerity, hating evil and hypocrisy. And that lamb was to be eaten
raw, not sodden at all with water. There was to be nothing added
to it. I think Henry used to say you don't, they wouldn't
make gravy, you weren't to make gravy with it, huh? We don't
add anything, we don't add anything to it, right? Nothing added to
this lamb, nothing added to Christ. It's not Christ plus your morality,
it's not Christ plus your works, it's not Christ plus anything.
It's Christ and Christ alone. And we rest in Him, in Him alone.
And they were to eat it. It said, eat the Passover dressed
and ready to leave Egypt, ready to depart. This place, this place
is a temporary, this world, it's a temporary dwelling, huh? They
weren't to, not looking back to Egypt, not thinking about
what they might have had, they were to eat and to be moving
forward, ready to leave. And then last, look at the scripture. Listen to Exodus 12 verse 13. He says, in the blood shall be
to you for a token upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I'll
pass over you. And the plague shall not be upon
you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. This is why it's called the Passover.
The Lord at the sight of that blood, the blood of the lamb,
that spotless lamb. He said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. And the Israelites, the children
of Israel, were delivered. You see that? Not only did he
pass over them, but he also delivered them. His judgment and wrath
passes over because of the blood of Christ, and listen, and we're
delivered. In Romans 8, 1, we read this,
there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. No condemnation
to those in Christ. God put a difference. between
the Egyptians and the children of Israel. You know, for the
Egyptians, judgment and death. There was a cry that went out
Like never heard before, I'm sure, but for the children of
Israel, there was mercy. Can you imagine running into
the bedroom, or the living room, or wherever your children were
sleeping, you just wanted to just grab a hold of them and
see them, and there was life. But in Egypt, all nothing but
tears. Not just in the houses, but in
the barn, and the servants, the firstborn. Wrath and judgment. And listen, listen to this again. When I see the blood, when I
see the blood, I'll pass over you. Now, one more thing here. I want you to see verse, look
over at verse 26. I was looking at this. It shall come to pass. God gave
instruction, and listen here. He said, it shall come to pass.
when your children shall say unto you, what mean ye by this
service, that ye shall say, it is the sacrifice of the Lord's
Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel
in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses, and
the people bowed their heads and they worshiped. As parents, as parents, I pray the Lord would enable
us to encourage our children to ask. I've got a Sunday school
class at home. And I tell you, I do miss them. I do miss them right now. But
that's one thing that we encourage them. Ask. Ask. These things that are written
in God's word, Ask. And I say that for our young
ones and for all of us. How many times do we sometimes
just kind of scratch our head? Ask. Turn to one more passage
with me. Turn over to Deuteronomy 6. I don't want to get too far off
on a rabbit trail here, but look at Deuteronomy 6. Look at verse 3. Deuteronomy
6, verse 3. Here therefore, O Israel, and
observe to do it that it may be well with thee, that ye may
increase mightily as the Lord God of thy fathers has promised
thee in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O
Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might.
And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thy
heart. And listen to what he says here. Thou shalt teach them
diligently unto thy children. Every time we have an opportunity
to be in the service, every time we have an opportunity to worship,
we need to be present. Obviously, there's things that
happen that prevent that from time to time. But it's so important,
it's so important that our children hear, it's important we hear
this word, it's important that our children hear this word.
But listen, not just on Sundays and Wednesdays, listen to what
he says here. Teach them diligently unto thy children. Talk about
it. When you sit in your house, just
when you're sitting in the house, you see that? When you walk by,
maybe sit down for dinner or breakfast, supper, whatever it
might be, and we give thanks unto God for that meal that he's
provided and that roof over our head. All that he's blessed us,
his people, with. He said when you sit in the house
and when you walk by the way, that might be a short journey.
That might just be a walk out in the yard. It might be a long
journey. Oh, the beauty of God's creation,
to draw attention to those things, to our children. He said, when
you lie down and when you rise up, when we lie down at night,
who brought us through that day? And if he's pleased to bring
us through the night, who delivered us through the night? He did,
right? He did. May he cause us, may he be pleased
to teach us and may he be pleased to teach our children to seek
to know more of these things, these great things written in
his word. Listen, when we observe him,
we don't observe the Passover, but when we observe the Lord's
table, his table, his suffering, his death, his bloodshed, the
scriptures say by his stripes, we're healed. his special mercy. Consider that. We're just as
deserving of death and condemnation as
all of Egypt, but yet God's been pleased to be merciful to a people,
to save a people, to call them unto himself and deliver them
through the death of his son. Robert Hawker wrote this, how
many times Have we asked this question? Can you tell your children
in the numberless instances, both in providence and grace,
that the Lord has passed over you and your house? Well, that
man of the gatherings, y'all remember that man of the gatherings?
He was naked and he was running through the cemetery. He couldn't
be bound with strong chains. And the Lord was pleased to heal
him. Everybody else in that town wanted
him out of there, but he was pleased to heal him. And he said,
he said, Lord, let me go with you. Remember that? What did the Lord tell him? He
said, you go home and you go tell what great things the Lord
had done for you. You know, if there's nothing
else we can tell our children, we can tell them that, can't we?
What great things the Lord has done for His people. Well, He
smoked the Egyptians. He delivered our houses. What
was the difference? The blood, the blood of the Lamb. All right, may God be pleased
to bless His Word.