Thank you, Clarence. Let's just
read verse 1 of Exodus chapter 11. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go
hence. When he shall let you go, he
shall surely thrust you out hence altogether. Last week, you and I finished
our lessons on the life of Joseph, where his brethren had come down
from the land of promise, the land of Canaan. He was brought
down to Egypt. His brethren were revealed. Joseph
was revealed to them. Joseph sent wagons, and he sent
his brethren. back up to the land of promise,
brought Jacob and all his family down here to Egypt. And Jacob
was somewhat hesitant to go down here to this strange place. He had never been there. His dad had been there and his
grandpa had been there, but he had never been down to Egypt
and he was somewhat afraid. to go down to that place who
had a strange language. But the Lord appeared to him
and told him, said, Jacob, fear not to go down to Egypt, for
I will make of you a great nation. And he went down there. He met
Joseph. He was 17 years of his life. He lived there in the land of
Egypt. He was 137 years old, I think,
when he died. They took him back up to the land of Canaan and
buried him there in the cave where his grandfather Abraham
and Sarah was buried. His dad and mom, Isaac and Rebecca,
was buried there. And Leah, his wife, was buried
in this cave. That's where they buried Jacob.
Joseph and all of his family went back down to Egypt. And Joseph, just before he died,
told the children of Israel, God is going to visit you. And He's going to bring you out
of this land and take you up to the land of Canaan and give
you that land. And when He does, I want you
to promise me that you'll take my bones with you. And if you'll
read the first chapter of Joshua and on through those passages,
you'll find out that when the children of Israel left Egypt,
they took his bones with them. And they buried him there in
the land of Canaan. And in Egypt, some 400 years
after Jacob had died, the Jewish nation, the nation
of Israel, began to increase exceedingly. They became more
and mightier than the Egyptians themselves. And this alarmed
Pharaoh. How many pharaohs there was that
lived in Joseph and between Joseph and to 400 years later, I don't
know. But the Scripture says there arose a pharaoh that knew
not Joseph. He didn't know the history of
Joseph, and he didn't care to find it out. And he saw the Israelites
that they had multiplied. Somewhere, they tell us, probably
between 1.5 million and 2.5 million Israelites. But they filled the
land. And the Egyptians became alarmed. And they became envious. And
they made slaves out of the children of Jacob. Made them build Pharaoh
houses, treasure houses. And the scripture says that when
they put them in bondage, after a while Israel's side and cried
to the Lord because of their bondage, and God heard their
groanings, and remembered His covenant with Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob." Now, I want you to hold Exodus, and I want you to
look back over in Genesis chapter 14. It was probably somewhere around 500 years or so after
God had made a covenant with Abraham. And it was said that
he remembered that covenant. Now, what was that covenant that
God remembered? Look here in Genesis chapter
14. Well, I think it's chapter 15. Look in
Genesis chapter 15. This is where the Lord appeared
to Abraham. And Abraham didn't even have a son at this time.
And He appeared to Abraham in chapter 15 of Genesis in verse
7. And He said unto Abraham, I am
the Lord that brought you out of the air of the Chaldees to
give you this land to inherit it. And Abraham said, Lord, whereby
shall I know that I shall inherit it? And He said unto him, take
me an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years
old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove and two
young pigeons. And he took unto him all these,
and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against
another, but the birds he divided not. And when the fowls, the
vultures, came down upon the carcasses, Abraham drove them
away. And when the sun was going down,
a deep sleep fell upon Abraham, and lo, then horror of great
darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abraham, Know
of a charity, that thy seed shall be a stranger in the land that
is not thirst, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict
them four hundred years. And also that nation whom they
shall serve will I judge, And afterwards they shall come out
with great substance, and thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace,
and thou shalt be buried in a good old age. And in the fourth generation
they shall come hither again, for the iniquity of the Amorites
is not yet full. And it came to pass that when
the sun was going down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace
and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. The Lord made a covenant with
Abram. And here's that covenant that
God remembered. Some 500 years or so later, God
remembered this covenant. Unto thy seed have I given this
land from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river
Euphrates. Unto thy seed, your descendants,
have I given this land. all those hundreds of years,
and the Lord never had forgotten. Ain't that amazing? He doesn't
forget His covenant, brothers and sisters. Everybody else was
dead and gone, probably, that even knew anything about this
covenant or remembered it. But the One who made it remembered
it. And now here it is. They'd been
there 400 years. The Lord was ready to deliver these Israelites,
and what do they begin to do? Well, they begin to groan. They begin to groan in their
heart. That's what happens, eh? When the Lord's ready to deliver
you, you begin to groan. So what does He do? Well, He
raises up this man called Moses and his brother Aaron. And He
sends him to this great king, Pharaoh, and he says, Let my
people go." And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord that I should
obey Him? And the Lord plagues him with
flies and fleas, plagues him with hell mingled with fire. He plagues him with darkness
that you can feel. He turns his rivers into blood. He plagues him. He plagues him. Look here what he says in chapter
5 of Exodus. Look in chapter 5. Exodus chapter 5. Exodus chapter 5 and look in
verse 1 and 2. And afterwards, Moses and Aaron went in and told
Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people
go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And
Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice
and let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither
will I let Israel go." We have a conflict brewing
here, don't we? I read the text over here in
verse 1 of chapter 11. The Lord said unto Moses, Yet
will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh. And then what's
going to happen? He will let you go. He shall thrust you out. Who's going to win this battle,
do you think? I mean, here we talk so much about the covenant
of grace and we rejoice in God's shalls and our will. I shall, I will sprinkle clean
water upon them and they shall be clean. I'll put my spirit
in them. I shall put my spirit in them
and they will walk in my statutes. That's the way the covenant of
grace runs. But you know, when the Lord begins to work and fulfill
his covenant promise, when he begins to work effectually, not
only does he fulfill those promises in the hearts of his people,
his elect people, but if anything or anybody rises to hinder that
covenant, they've got to deal with the
will of God. So here you have this great king
And he says, I will not let them go. And here you have God says,
He will let you go. You reckon either one of these
wills are sovereign? I mean, here's a great king and
probably the greatest king alive at this day. And His will is set against the
King of heaven, Lord of heaven and earth, whose will is going
to be done. Now, you and I don't have to
speculate about this, do we? We don't have to go to a seminar
to get into these things to find out about them. They're written
here. When two wills clashes, when the will of God clashes
with a mighty king of this earth, whose will prevails? But it has
to, don't it? God's will has to prevail. I will not let them go. He will thrust you out. He shall thrust you out. Did you ever wonder why this
was even written? I mean, it's very plain. And we know from
the twelfth chapter and on down in verse 30 and 33 that he did
thrust them out. He not only let them go, he said,
get out of here. And gave them the spoils of Egypt. Why is this recorded in the Bible? Does it have anything to do with
teaching you and me a good lesson today? Well, let's look here
in the ninth chapter of Exodus. Look in the 9th chapter of Exodus and look in verse 13. 9th chapter of Exodus and verse 13.
On page 75 in your pew Bible. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and
say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let
my people go, that they may serve me. For I will at this time send
all my plagues upon your heart, and upon your servants, and upon
your people, that you may know that there is none like me in
all the earth. For now I will stretch out my
hand, that I may smite you and your people with pestilence,
and you shall be cut off from the earth. And in very deed for
this cause have I raised you up, for to show in you my power,
and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth." Why
are these two wheels clashing? Why is it reported in the Word
of God? Why is it recorded? To teach
you and I that nobody can effectually resist the will of God. Oh, this Pharaoh, he thought
he was something. He thought he was something. He hardened himself against God's
redeeming purpose, boasted of the power of his will, I will
not let Israel go. He's like people today, is he
not? Don't we see that old attitude in the will of men today? But
what was this man but a pawn? He was a tool given over to the
devil to prove the greatness of God's power and the greatness
of God's covenant mercies in the salvation of His people.
Not only will his people not resist his will, he'll so work
in their heart to subdue them graciously and willingly, but
if anybody gets in his way in doing that, he'll subdue them. I will not let you go. Who is
the Lord? Well, I'm the same one that put
you in your mother's womb. I'm the same one that gives you
your breath. I'm the same one that sets you on this throne,
and I've set you there on purpose to show my power in you. We come here to Exodus chapter
11 again. Look in verse 2. I will bring one plague more
upon Pharaoh. And after that, He shall let
you go. He shall let you go. Speak now in the ears of the
people and let every man borrow of his neighbor and every woman
of her neighbor's jewels and silver and jewels of gold. And
the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. It's amazing to me how accurate
these covenant promises are. You remember the passage I read
to you in Genesis chapter 15, where the Lord told Abraham,
your people will serve that nation for 400 years, and afterwards
I'll bring them out. Remember the promise he gave
him? With great substance. With great substance. Now that
may have sounded like just nothing. And the children of Israel, I'm
sure, would have been happy just to have left with what they had
in their houses. But the covenant ran like this.
I will bring them out with great substance. So what does He do? He gives the Egyptians hearts
to give everything they had to the children of Israel. And glad
to give it with great substance. It's amazing how accurate these
covenant promises are. And brothers and sisters, there
are times that you and I forget the promises of God. We don't
know them, very many anyway. But then once we know them, how
often we forget them. But you know, He never does.
He never does. When He makes a covenant promise,
He fulfills that promise. Look in verse 4 of Exodus chapter
11. And Moses said, Thus saith the
Lord, About midnight will 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 sat upon the throne, even to
the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill, and
all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry
through all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it,
nor shall be like it any more. But against any of the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast,
that you may know that the Lord does put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel." The Lord makes you to differ. He puts a difference between
you and the Egyptians. You and I can't make ourselves
to differ. If we made ourselves to differ, we'd just be like
a Pharisee, wouldn't we? I'm holier than you are. I'm
more separated than you are. Don't come near me. I'm so holy. That's what happens when men
make themselves to differ, isn't it? But here, God says, I will
put a difference. When the Lord makes someone to
differ, you know that difference is vast. And here's how different
it is. Here's the difference. between
a saved man and a lost man. Life and death. Life and death. All the firstborn of Egypt shall
die. What about the Israelites? Not
a dog will lift his tongue against them. That's the difference.
And this difference will be accomplished, will be manifested, In two ways,
look in chapter 12. Look in chapter 12. I will put a difference. And
boy, this difference is life and death. And here we are told
about it in chapter 12, verses 12 and 13. Look at this. When
He manifested this difference, I will pass through the lands
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. That's the way
He's going to deal with Egypt. In judgment. In verse 13, here's
the way He's going to deal with Israel. And the blood shall be
to you for a token upon the houses where you are. And when I see
the blood, I will pass over you and the plague will not be upon
you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt." Now, you just know, if you looked
at the firstborn of Egypt and looked at the firstborn of the
children of Israel, you probably had just as handsome, just as
strong and beautiful firstborn of the Egyptians as you did among
the and maybe more so, what was it that made the distinction
then between these two people? The firstborn of the Egyptians
and the firstborn of Israel, what was it that made the distinction?
The firstborn of the Egyptians was going to feel the stroke
of God's judgment. The firstborn of the Israelites
was going to be redeemed. through the blood of a lamb."
Now, that's the difference between God when God puts a distinction
between two people. One is His judgment falls upon
Him. The other is He redeems Him with
the precious blood of a lamb. I'll put a difference. I'll put
a difference. And you know what that difference
is? Life and death. That's it, ain't it? Life and
death. Look here now in chapter 12.
Let's look at this, just some of it. I won't keep you too long,
but just look here quickly in chapter 12. This is the way he's
going to do it. He says here in chapter 12, 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. I love to think about
this. You know what he's telling them?
All your life of bondage up to this time, forget about it. Look upon it as being a blank. Your history begins this month. Your history begins at the time
of my redeeming love. Ain't that a wonderful thought,
brothers and sisters? Isn't it so with us? Before the Lord gave you life,
what was your existence? It was death, wasn't it? You
have to be quickened who were dead. What is it about a dead
person? They're not considered to be
in existence. They don't participate in anything. They're dead. When did you and
I begin to participate in life? When He quickened us. When He
washed us in His precious blood. When we begin this communion
with the living God. That's when we begin to live.
You have passed from death unto life. I'm just really about 1973.
How many years is that? You girls are smart. Seventy-three. How about counting on their pregnancy? 39 years. I'm 39 years old. I'm
39 years old. I may look older than that, but
you know there's a new man in me that's not aged. And he never will age. And he
seems to grow more hopeful every day, waiting for the redemption
of this old man. But I'm 39 years old. And some of you are older than
that. Some of you are younger than that. But when did you begin? When did your life really begin?
When you found that life and when you were given that life.
That's in God's Son. This is the promise that He has
promised us. Eternal life and this life is
in His Son. That's the beginning. Somebody
said you don't get on page. You get a new book. You get a new life. A new life. This is the beginning. And look
what he says in verse 3 about this lamb. Speaking to all the
congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month
they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the
house of their fathers, a lamb for an house. And if the household
be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto
his house take it, according to the number of the souls, every
man according to his eating shall make you count for the lamb."
Now, they had to finish the lamb. They could not leave any lamb
until the morning for it to rot or be eaten with worms. So if
you just had three or four people in your household, you and your
neighbor took one lamb and you divided it between yourselves. Your lamb shall be without blemish,
a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the
sheep and from the goats, and you shall keep it up until the
fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole congregation of
Israel shall kill it in the evening. And you shall take of the blood
and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts
of the houses, wherein you shall eat it." And look in verse 13.
And the blood shall be to you for a sign, for a token, upon
the houses where you are, And when I see the blood, I will
pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy
you when I smite the Egyptians." Now, what's the first thing he
said about our lamb? And we hear it so often, don't
we? There in verse 5, without blemish. Your lamb, he didn't
say it should be. He didn't say it would be better
if you could find a lamb. But he said, it shall be without
blemish. When you and I talk about redemption,
it's more than just the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. When
we think about redemption, we often think of the cross, don't
we? The blood of Christ there at the cross. But you know, redemption
includes the entire person of Jesus Christ, as well as His
work. who He is, what He is, and what
He has done. Redemption includes all of that. Now listen, He was the only person,
He was the only child that was ever born holy. He is the only child that was
ever conceived without sin. He's the only baby that ever
come forth from his mother's womb that he wasn't speaking
lies. In a negative sense, Christ had
no sin. He never committed a sin. In
a positive sense, he went about doing good. He was holy in his
thoughts. He was holy in his mind. He was holy in his soul, his
spirit, and in his body. He was holy from his birth. He
was holy to His death. He was without blemish. Now,
why is this necessary? We talk about this, but why is
this absolutely necessary? If you offered a sacrifice to
God and it had a blemish on it any place, it was rejected. It had to be perfect. It had
to be holy to be accepted. Have you ever read that in the
Bible? If you haven't, turn over there with me in Leviticus chapter
22 and mark this in your Bible. Hold Exodus 12 and look over
to your right in Leviticus chapter 22 and look in verse 21. Look in verse 19. Young people,
it's on page 147. Chapter 22. Leviticus chapter 22. It's on
page 148. Look in verse 19. Leviticus chapter
22. Look in verse 19. You shall offer
at your own will a male without blemish of the beefs, that's
a bull or a cow, of the sheep or of the goats. But whatsoever
hath a blemish, that you shall not offer, for it shall not be
acceptable for you. And whosoever offereth a sacrifice
of peace offerings unto the Lord to accomplish his vow, or a freewill
offering in beef or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted,
there shall be no blemish there. in no blemish, no fault. And what did Peter say about
the Lamb of God? That we are redeemed by the precious
blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish. Without blemish. He had no positive blemish. He
had no negative blemish. He was a lamb without blemish. Why is that necessary? If you
ain't perfect, you can't redeem us. If you're a sinner yourself,
you can't redeem sinners, can you? You have to be holy to offer
to God a sacrifice that will atone for sin. Look back over here at something
else in our text. Look back in chapter 12 and look
in the last portion of verse 5. We talk often about the virgin
birth of Christ and how vital it is. Some of you were telling
me one time that you had a discussion with somebody in Sunday school
class, and they just couldn't understand why the virgin birth
was vital. What does it matter if Christ
was virgin born or not? Well, if he's born as you and
I are, he's a sinner, ain't he? I was talking with a man today,
and we was talking about people now coming out of the seminars
and people professing Christianity. And one of the first things they
deny now is the virgin birth of Christ. They go from there
to His miracles. You can't talk to them about
grace. You can't even talk to them about the virgin birth.
They don't even believe that. They don't even believe the miracle.
But how essential is it that Christ be born sinless? It has
to be perfect to be accepted. He had to be perfect to be accepted.
And this is an amazing thing when we look in verse 5. When
we remember it had to be without blemish. A male over the first
year, he had to be in his prime. And you shall take it out from
the sheep or from the goats. Take it from the sheep. If you
got a goat, you had to be a young male goat. They usually used
the sheep. But it came out from among the
rest of the herd. Now here's the amazing thing,
brothers and sisters. When the Lord Jesus Christ came to this
world, Though he was virgin-born, he was born to a woman, was raised
up among his brethren, raised up among the children of Israel,
and to look at him without a discerning eye, he looked just like everybody
else. Maybe not as handsome as most
people, because there was no beauty in him. There was no halo
about his head. If you looked at him, he looked
just like his brethren. He was just a Jew. And the Lord
told Moses one day, He said, Moses, He said, I'm going to
raise up a prophet, like unto you, from the midst of his brethren. But he's going to be my son.
He's going to be my son. But I'm going to take him right
out. He was among everybody else. But here's the difference. He
had no blemish. He was a human being with a human
soul living in perfection in this world among everybody else,
coming and going out among everybody else, eating, living, sleeping,
growing tired, growing hungry. But here was the difference.
Though he associated with sinners, he was not one himself. He fellowshiped with sinners,
but he wasn't one himself. He was taken out from among the
children of Israel. Amazing thing. What a beautiful
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here in verse 6, look at
this. And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the
same month. You shall keep it up until the
fourteenth day of the same month. The Lamb was kept up for four
days before it was brought forth and killed. From the tenth of
the month to the fourteenth month. Can you imagine, can you just
picture this in your mind? When Moses told the fathers to
go pick your lamb and you look him over and make sure he's got
no blemish on him. Can you just see him, that dad taking that
lamb and man, his life depends on this now. The life of his
firstborn depends on this. And if he's the firstborn, his
life depends on it too. So he searches that lamb over
and he puts him away. He puts him up. He's got a little
pen. He's got a stall in his farm.
And he puts him in the crib and he feeds him for four days. And then on the fourth day, he
brings him out. Everybody sees him. They cut
his throat and they skin him and roast him upon the fire and
eat him. What is the significance of that?
Don't that tell us something about the Son of God? You know what Peter says about
him in that first chapter of Peter, verse 18, when he said
that he was a lamb, for ordained before the foundation of the
world. You see, God's redemption did
not begin. The thoughts of redemption towards
us did not begin after He made the world or after we fell. Jesus Christ was a Lamb that
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, before time. That
tells us what was in the heart of the triune God back in eternity. What was He thinking about? What
was the thoughts of His mind? What did He purpose? Before sin
ever entered this world, before there was a world, Jesus Christ
The triune God, the Son of God, was a Lamb already chosen out,
already predestinated to be the Redeemer of His people. When
you and I talk about the love of God, we talk about redeeming
love, don't we? And when we talk about redeeming
love, how old is that redeeming love? Everlasting, ain't it? Back before time. Brothers and
sisters, before you and I ever thought on God, He thought on
us. And before we ever knew we needed
a remedy, He had one. Jesus Christ was kept up. Kept
up. Shut up in the bosom of the Father.
Even throughout the Old Testament, He was hid behind these shadows. See, He's hid. If you don't have
a discerning eye, we can go down through these verses. You won't
see Christ here. He's hid. He's shut up in these
tops and pitchers and shadows. But 4,000 years after God said,
Let there be light, 4,000 years, God unbosoms His Son. He brings
Him out in our humanity. He manifests Him in our humanity
to take away our sins. Kept Him up. Kept Him up. 4,000 years. And look what he says here in
the last portion of verse 6. This is an amazing thing. And the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. Kill it in the evening. Isn't
this an amazing thing? It's just amazing to me. These
prophecies. how technical they are, and how
God never forgets to fulfill them. To every jot and tittle,
the whole congregation shall kill this lamb in the evening. And you start here at this point,
and you go 100 years, you go 200 years, 300 years, 1,000 years,
1,200 years, 1,500 years, after this time. And before the
governor named Pilate stands a whole congregation of the children
of Israel. And beside of him stands a man
that's been whipped. He's been beaten. He's been humiliated. He's been shamed. And what is
that congregation saying? Kill him. Crucify him. Crucify him. They take him out,
and they crucify him at the place called the Place of a Skull. They hang him between heaven
and earth, and he cries, It is finished, and it's three o'clock
in the evening. Isn't that amazing? And it's
the very day of the Passover. Now, there's no men, there's
no group of men, there's no body that can plot and bring all of
this to pass. And while he's hanging there
and says it's finished, down there in the court of the temple,
a Levitical priest has just killed the Passover lamb, has skinned
him and laid him on the altar and is burning him, is cooking
him. And he hears a rip, and he opens up the tabernacle, he
opens up the door, and between the holy place and the most holy
place, there is that thick veil that has been rent from the top
to the bottom. The way into the holiest of all
is manifested. And when did that happen? When
was it said it would happen? At the Passover. When the Son
of God, the Lamb of God says, They kill this lamb in the evening. And Jesus Christ, our Passover,
as we'll see next week, was crucified in the evening. Two more verses,
quickly. In verse 7 and verse 13. And
they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side
posts, and the upper doorpost of the house, when they shall
eat it. And he says in verse 13, when
I see the blood, I will pass over you. This is the ground,
brothers and sisters, of our safety. Are we safe in Christ? Well, here is the grounds of
our safety. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. I will not smite you. The plague
shall not be upon you when I see the blood. All God's claims And
all Israel's needs were met in the same thing, the blood of
this Lamb. Christ has offered His blood
to God and has satisfied every just charge against God's firstborn
sons and daughters. And there is nothing else to
pay. The life of the flesh is in the
blood. And I have given you the blood
upon the altar to make an atonement for your soul." And where's our
safety? It's when God sees the blood.
God knows how to estimate and value His blood. Here's what
He requires. Perfect blood. And this is what
the Son of God gave to Him as a sacrifice. Perfect blood. And that's your safety. That's
your safety. when I see the blood. Remember when I sang that old
song, when he sees me, he sees the blood of the Lamb? Well,
let me ask you this question. That being so, will he ever smite
again? If payment has been demanded
and payment has been made, will justice require it to be paid
again? I tell you, I want to be safe,
don't you? I want to know that I'm safe. When you and I come
some day and we get the news, Mary Bell Scott, I tell you,
we begin to face death, I want to know I'm safe. Well, here's
the grounds of safety when I see the blood. I'll pass over you. I'll never smite you. And secondly,
here's the ground of their peace when I see the blood. That's
the ground of true and lasting peace. Why does our peace waver
so? Why do one day we'll have this
deep-seated peace and the next day we're so disturbed in our
conscience, in our mind? Why is that? Brothers and sisters,
it has something to do with this. We look within ourselves. We've
got our mind on ourselves. What was the ground of their
peace? It wasn't anything that was taking
place inside the house. What was the ground of their
peace? Something that was taking place outside the house. What
was it? When I see the blood. It's not so much, and don't misunderstand
me when I say this, it's not so much our faith in the blood,
though that's necessary. We know that's necessary. But
how often our faith, it's sometimes strong and it's sometimes weak.
how often our faith may waver, especially during times of severe
trials. If the strength of our faith
and the amount of our faith is the ground for our peace, no
wonder our peace is up and down. No wonder sometimes we lose it.
But the ground of our peace with God, brothers and sisters, is
the same ground theirs was when I see the blood. It wasn't them seeing the blood.
Let's be honest. Could they see it? They were
forbidden to see it. When it was put on the limbs
of the door, they said, the Lord said, don't you even open that
door. Ain't that what He said? Don't you go out there to see
if the blood's still there. If it's there, then I'll see
it. And that's the grounds for our
peace. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. What would a doubt concerning
this statement imply? When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. A doubt of that statement, wouldn't
that imply that God had lied? If I had been in this house and
you had been in this house and my peace was disturbed because
of my doubts concerning the truth of this statement, wouldn't it
be a doubt of God's faithfulness? Wouldn't it basically be calling
God a liar? Let's be honest about it, would
it not? You say, Bruce, it's not that I doubt God, it's I
doubt myself. I'm so unworthy. Well, we all
know that, don't we? Is this about worthiness? Is
our peace and our assurance based upon our worthiness? It's based
upon the merits of His blood, is it not? And it's based upon
what God sees in the blood. And if God says, when I see the
blood, isn't that enough for continual and deep, settled peace
in our hearts? Oh, I don't doubt God, I doubt
myself. Ah, we all say that, but that's just really not so.
That's really not so. We doubt Him. If you're going
to have a deep, settled peace, and I'm telling you probably
what's coming on the church. I look for some great trials
to come on the church in our day. It's probably going to be
a time of testing. And if you want to keep a deep,
settled peace, the only way, brothers and sisters, we're going
to get it is to believe God's testimony concerning His Son.
God's got His eye on His Son. He's got His eye on His Son.
And God's satisfied with Him. God knows Him. God estimates
the true value of the blood of Jesus Christ. And if he's got
his eye on his blood and he says, when I see the blood of my son,
I'll pass over you, then rest in that. Let that be your peace. Not what you see, not how much
you believe, not your feelings, but what God sees. When I see
the blood, I'll pass over you. The strength of our faith has
nothing to do with our safety nor our peace. It doesn't have
anything to do with the Spirit's work in us, as we'll see next
week. But the grounds of our safety
and the grounds of our peace is this, the view and estimation
that God has of the blood of His Son. God bless you.