For Abel. Would you please stand for the
reading of God's word? This morning, I'll be reading
from Exodus chapter 12 beginning in verse 1.
This is the story of the Passover.
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, this month
shall be for you the beginning of months, it shall be the first
month of the year for you to all the congregation of Israel that
on the tenth day of this month, every man shall take a lamb
according to their fathers houses, a lamb for a household
and if the household is too small for a lamb than he and his
nearest neighbors. So take, according to the number
of persons, According to which each of you Shall make your
count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without
blemish. A male a year old.
You may take it from the sheep or from the goats and you shall
keep it until the 14th day of this month.
When the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall
kill their lambs at Twilight. Then they shall take some of the
blood and put it on the to doorposts and the lintel of the
houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that
night roasted on the fire with unleavened bread and bitter
herbs. They shall eat it.
Do not eat any of it raw or boiled and water.
But roasted its head with its legs and its inner parts and you
shall let none of it. Remain until the morning,
anything that shall remain until the morning you shall let burn
and this man, are you shall eat it with your belt, fastened your
sandals on your feet, and your staff and your hand and you
shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover for.
I will pass through the land of Egypt that night.
And I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt.
Both man and Beast, and all the gods of Egypt, I will execute
judgments. I am the Lord, the blood shall
be a sign for you on the houses where you are.
And when I see the blood, I will pass over you and no plague will
befall you to destroy you. When I strike the land of Egypt,
this day shall be for you a Memorial Day.
And you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your
Generations as a statute forever.
You shall keep it as a feast verse 21, then Moses called all
the Elders of Israel and said to them go and select Lambs for
yourselves according to your Clans and kill the Passover
Lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip
it in the blood that is in the Basin and touched a lentil in a
two-door post with the blood that is in the Basin.
None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the
morning for the The Lord will pass through to strike the
Egyptians. And when he sees Blood on the
lintel and on the two-door post, the Lord will pass over the door
and will not allow the Destroyer to enter your house has to
strike you. You shall observe this, right?
As a statute for you, and for your son's forever, and when you
come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has
promised, he should, you shall keep this service.
And when your children say to you, what do you mean by the
service? You shall say?
It is the sacrifice of the Lord's.
Passover for passed over the houses of the people of Israel
in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians, but spared our houses
and the people bowed their heads.
And worshiped, this is the word of the Lord.
You may be seated. Two of the most fundamental
questions of person. Can ask and life are this, is
there a God? And what is he like?
And of course, the questions underneath those questions are,
how do you know And so this morning, if you do not believe
in God will the question of course is well, how do you know
what face do you have to be certain that God does not exist
and if you do believe in God and the question is well then what
is he like? And how do you know what he is?
Like where do you get your vision?
Your understanding of God? Do you know, God but according
to what he has described himself to be in his word.
Or have you made God in your own image?
Theologians when they talk about God and what he's like, they
describe his attributes, these qualities, these characteristics
of who he is, and what he is, like things like his
omnipotence. His omniscience, his goodness
and his Mercy. But of all of his Divine
attributes, perhaps the most foundational and often the most
controversial Is his sovereignty.
And for many people, they consider the sovereignty of God.
They assumed that his sovereignty makes him out to be
cold to be calloused. To be harsh to be lacking in
love. But when we open up the
scriptures, And we read about God and what he is like when we
get to know him, for who he really is and who he's revealed
himself to be. We see that the sovereignty of
God does not make him to be cold and harsh and lacking in love,
but it's the sovereignty of God that is not only the foundation
of his judgment. But it's the sovereignty of God.
That's the foundation of his grace.
And then the story of the Passover.
We see judgment and Grace collide.
See, as we think of God as attributes.
It's easy for us to think of each of these qualities, as
these separate parts of who he is.
But you see God is personal. And each of these
characteristics are intermingled together.
And it's at the Passover that we see judgement and Grace woven
together by the sovereignty of God. and so this morning, I want
you to see God for who he is and I want you to get to know his
Sovereign Grace for you. I want you to see Jesus as our
Passover Lamb, and I want you to see why both his judgment and
his grace, why? That is good news for us this
morning. Want to look at this in just two
ways. First thing I want you to see I
want you to see The Sovereign Grace of God in his judgment.
The story of the Passover begins, right?
Where we left off last week so before we get to our passage in
Exodus 12, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 4.
If you don't have a Bible, you can use the blue Pew Bible in
front of you. If you don't have a Bible at
all, that's our gift to you. We'd love for you to take it
home with you. So you can get to know the
character of God for yourself. This is Exodus 4 verse 22.
This is what we've been looking at the last couple weeks.
God comes to Moses as he calls him to go to pharaoh to redeem
his people with a mighty hand and outstretched arm.
And this is what he says to Moses first 22.
He says, you shall say to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord,
Israel is my firstborn son and I will say to you, let my son go
that he may serve me. If you refuse to let him go
behold, I will kill your first Barnes.
Son. As God calls, Moses to go to
pharaoh and order to redeem his people.
We see his judgment and we see his grace We see his grace and
identifying the people of Israel as his firstborn son.
This is his chosen people. His prized possession and God
will stop at nothing to get his first born, son back for
himself. But we don't just see his grace.
We see his judgment. And a declaration that God makes
to Pharaoh through Moses. If you refuse to let my people
go behold, I will kill your firstborn son.
The grace of God requires judgment.
But I also want you to know that the Judgment of God can never be
separated from his grace. Let me show you what I mean.
Did you turn a few chapters ahead to Exodus 7?
Exodus 7 verse 2. Again, God says to Moses, you
shall speak all that. I command you and your brother,
Aaron shall tell pharaoh to let the people of Israel, go out of
this land. So again, God is commanding,
Moses to go to pharaoh. And to say to Pharaoh, let my
people go release them, so they would be free from slavery and
oppression, but I want you to notice What God Says.
Next verse 3, Exodus 7 verse 3 but I will harden Pharaoh's
heart and though I multiply my son my signs and wonders in the
land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you, then I will lay
my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts.
My people, the children. Turn of Israel.
Out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.
Did you see it? I will by grace and mercy.
Bring my people out of the slavery of Egypt.
How Through great acts of judgment.
God is going to save his people. Through judgement.
And there's two ways that I want you to see his judgment In this
passage. The first is we see God's
Sovereign judgement poured out on pharaoh.
Look again, at verse 3, but I will harden, Pharaoh's heart.
I will harden Pharaoh's heart. And no, I'll multiply my signs
and wonders and land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you.
In other words Moses I'm sending you on a Fool's errand.
I'm asking you to go into Pharaoh's court and go before
pharaoh and I'm asking you to tell him to let my people go and
he's not going to listen. I'm going to send great acts of
judgment and even still Pharaoh will not listen because I am
going to harden his heart and these words should serve as a
warning for us. I will harden Pharaoh's heart,
you see? Because there are two sides to
Pharaoh's hard hard in the story of Exodus.
Here, we see an exodus 73 that God says that he will be the one
to harden, Pharaoh's heart. Later in Exodus chapter 7 verse
14. It says that Pharaoh's heart was
already hard. And then one chapter over in
Exodus, 8 verse 15, it says that Pharaoh hardened, his own heart.
So in one verse God says, he's going to harden.
Pharaoh's Heart. Another verse it says, Pharaoh's
heart was already hard. And another verse it says that
Pharaoh, was the one who hardened his own heart and so,
which is it? Did God hardened Pharaoh's
heart? And Pharaoh hardened, Pharaoh's
heart. The answer that question should
sober us. Because the answer is both.
The greatest act of judgment that God could give us as his
created people. Is to leave us alone and the
hardness of our own hearts and allow our hearts to become
harder and harder and more calloused, day by day.
Apostle, Paul. Put it this way in Romans,
chapter 1, Romans 1 verse 24. Therefore, God gave them up in
the lusts of their hearts to impurity to the dishonoring of
their bodies among themselves because they exchanged the truth
about God, for a lie. What is Paul saying?
That people were already idolatrous, they had already
exchanged, the truth of God, for a lie and in judgment, he gave
them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity.
In judgment. God gave Pharaoh up to the lusts
of his own heart. A lust for power, a lust, for
control. A lust for sovereignty over his
own Nation. And God allowed him.
To be consumed with himself. And in this way.
Pharaoh's hard heart was hardened by our Sovereign God.
He refused to acknowledge God's sovereignty and with each plague
that God sent his heart became harder.
So God sent great acts of judgment plagues one by one that
served as judgment first over Pharaoh, why?
To declare that he alone is The Sovereign one that God Alone is
Lord of the world that he is Sovereign over every government,
in every nation. He was displaying his power over
the most powerful King of the most powerful Earthly Kingdom.
All to remind, not only pharaoh. But his people. and all of us
Generations, later of who's in charge, Because it is so easy to
forget. And in this way, we're beginning
to see that. As God poured out his judgment,
it was also a Grace, a Grace for his people, in a Grace for you.
And me, the second thing we see here in his judgment is in the
plagues themselves as God, sends ten plagues of judgment.
These great acts of judgment to redeem.
His whole people to display his sovereignty to the whole world.
Once you turn to Exodus 9 verse 14, Notice what it says.
For this time, I will send all my plagues on you yourself and
on your servants and your people.
So that you may know that there is none like me in all the
Earth. Why did God send 10 plagues?
Why do it this way? Why display his power and his
judgment in this specific way because God sent ten plagues to
show his softy. Not only over the nation and
government of Egypt, but to display his power and
sovereignty over their false gods as well.
You see each plague corresponds with one of the Egyptian gods
And so as God turned the Nile River into blood, he was
displaying his Sovereign power over the Egyptian god of the
Nile. As God sent frogs, he was
displaying his power over the Egyptian god of fertility, who
had the head of a frog as he sent Nats and turned dust into
knots. He was displaying his power of
the Egyptian god of the Earth. As he sent flies, it was to
display his Sovereign. Power of the Egyptian.
Fly God as he killed all of the livestock in, Egypt is
displaying his power over the Egyptian bull God, as he sent
boils display his Sovereign. Power of the Egyptian goddess of
epidemics, as he sent hail to display a sovereign power of the
Egyptian, god, of storms, as he sent locusts to display a
sovereign power of the Egyptian, god of Cops.
And as he sent Darkness, to cover the land to display, his
Sovereign power of the Egyptian, god of the sun.
To save his people, he sent great acts of judgment and this
is the question I want you to ask.
As he sent each plague. What was the purpose of these
great acts of judgment? As one commentator, put it.
False gods aren't real. So who is he actually judging
what's the point who is all of this for You see there is Grace
woven into God's judgement. Why send 10 plagues?
Because he was showing his own people that he alone is the one
true. God.
That he alone can be trusted that he alone is powerful.
And mighty, you see, because during their captivity, all of
this false worship have begin to seep into their own Hearts as
well. And while they had been enslaved
to Pharaoh, that also become enslaved to false worship.
So God by his grace is pouring out judgment on false gods that
don't exist to show his own people that I am the one true
God and I'm pouring out my judgement to bring you back to
bring you back for myself. He is showing the world that he
is the one true God who will stop at nothing to redeem, his
people for himself. And so now, I want you to turn
to our passage Exodus chapter 12, again, you can turn their
Bible, you can use the bulletin, Exodus 12, and I want you to
turn to verse 12. All of these plagues led up to
the tenth and final plague, the death of the firstborn son.
It's described many ways and many times, Exodus for and
exodus 11 and exodus 12. But I want you to see the way
it's summarized in Exodus 12 verse 12, God says, for I will
pass through the land of Egypt that night and I will strike all
the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both, man and Beast.
Notice what it says next, and on the gods of Egypt, I will
execute judgments. I and the Lord.
With this final plague, God executed judgment over false
worship once and for all. To declare that he alone is the
Holy One. And he alone is worthy of
praise. You see, in the midst of
judgment is Grace so even Generations.
Later we would hear this story once again and we too would see
that he alone is the Holy One. They would not be tempted to bow
down to Earthly Kings and Earthly kingdoms like Pharaoh,
nor to worship false gods. Like all of the Egyptian gods,
but we would be reminded through judgment and by grace that God
Alone can be trusted so the second thing, the last thing I
want you to see this morning not only want you see The Sovereign
Grace of God through judgment, but I want you to see The
Sovereign Grace of God, through our salvation, What is so
startling about this last plague?
That God would kill all of the firstborn sons in the land of
Egypt, is that death was sent to every house in Egypt every
house. Did you see it?
Look again at verse 12 for, I will pass through the land of
Egypt that night. I will strike all of the
firstborn and the land of Egypt. If you're not paying attention,
you might miss it. He is sending death to every
house. That is every Egyptian house And
every Israeli house. Every house and the land will be
struck with death everyone. And it's only and those houses
where they have sacrificed a lamb and sprinkled the blood
over the door. Only in those houses, will the
people inside be spared. Look with me.
Verse 13, Exodus 12 verse 13. The blood shall be a sign for
you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you and no play will befall you to destroy you. when
I strike the land of Egypt, Again, I want this to sink into
you, particularly, if you are somewhat familiar with the
story. Because it could be a part of
the story that you've never really paid much attention to.
Death came to every house. And it was only by the blood of
the sacrifice lamb that the people of Israel were saved.
I want you to ask. Why would God do it that way?
Why do it that way? I mean, couldn't the angel of
death been more precise. Couldn't God no and what house
or people who are Egyptian and people are who are his own, the
Hebrews. Why do it this way?
What are we to make of this? well, I think we are to make of
this that judgment comes for us all For all of us.
We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Judgment was coming to every family and Egypt weather Hebrew
origin. Because judgment comes to us
all. Every one of us, regardless of
your background, your nationality, where you come
from? Everyone of us, have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God. Every one of us have committed
treason against the high King. Every one of us, goes our own
way of every one of us says no, my way is better.
Every one of us, has rejected the authority and sovereignty
and Majesty of God and judgment comes to us all Judgment came to
every house in Egypt that night and yet in this great Act of
judgment. God is also a god of Grace.
And to his own people. The people of Israel.
Though, in so many ways they were idolatrous too.
He provided a way of salvation. A way of Grace, he provided a
substitute to take on the Judgment that was coming to
their land. Look at verse 21.
Then Moses called all the Elders of Israel and said to them go
and select lamb through yourselves according to your
Clans and kill the Passover Lamb.
Each Hebrew household chose its own lamb.
It had to be perfect spotless and without blemish because the
only acceptable sacrifice for sin must be perfect.
And once they selected a lamb, they kept it until a time that
there was to be killed as a sacrifice.
Look at verse 22. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip
it in the blood that is in the Basin and touched a lentil and
two-door post with the blood that is in the Basin.
None of you will go out of the door of his house until the
morning for the Lord will pass through to a strike the
Egyptians, but when he sees the blood on the lentil and on the
two-door post, the Lord will pass over the door, will not
allow the Destroyer to enter your houses and strike you.
They were instructed to take the blood of the lamb and put it
over the door post, so that when judgment came judgment would
pass over them. This is the story of the first
Passover. God, sending judgment for sin.
And God passing over his own people, not because of them.
But because of a substitutionary sacrifice made for them so that
judgment would pass over them. You hear that?
And you think seems so strange if we take it at face value, And
in some ways it even seems barbaric to kill an innocent
lamb. And to shed its blood and to
Painted over a door. And yet, for Generations, this
story was told over and over and over again.
Every year they kept the Feast of Passover because they were so
prone to forget that, God is who he says, he is that he is The
Sovereign one full of both judgment and of Grace that it is
by his grace and Sovereign judgment alone that we are
saved. And so, every year, they would
keep the feast. Look at verse 24.
You shall observe this, right? As a statute for you, and for
your son's forever. And when you come to the land
that the Lord will give you his promise, you shall keep the
service and your children will say, what do you mean by this?
And verse 27, you shall say? It is the sacrifice of the
Lord's Passover free passed over the houses and the people of
Israel and Egypt when he struck the Egyptians, but Spirit our
houses, Every year they would kill.
An innocent Passover Lamb. And every year they would keep
the feast. So much so that it became part
of who they were. Pirate part of their own faith
and even their Consciousness about who God is and what he had
done for them. Part of their understanding of
what it really meant to be part of the Hebrew people.
One of God's chosen ones that they were, they had been
declared Israel, they had been declared God's firstborn son
because of his grace And because of his judgment.
So much, so that many years later, when John, the Baptist
saw Jesus coming towards him, the Jordan River.
He only saw one thing. And he said, behold.
The Lamb of God has come to take away the sin of the world.
What did John see? He saw God's judgment and Grace
once again and he saw a substitute walking towards him.
you see, there were generations of passover's that were
celebrated Until one day Jesus gathered with his disciples in
the upper room to celebrate the Passover again.
The gospels tell us that as they made preparations to celebrate
the Passover, Jesus sent his disciples out to go and gather
everything. And as they gathered everything,
they were needed, they met a man who led them through the city
and prepared a place for them in the upper room.
So they could celebrate the Passover meal together.
The gospel of Mark tells us that as they were eating together
that Jesus Took bread, and after he blessed it, he broke it.
And he said, take this is my body and then he took a cup.
And when he had given, thanks, he gave it to them a drink.
And he said, this is the blood of my Covenant, which is poured
out for many and all of the gospels give us every detail of
that Passover meal. What they ate and what they
drank and what Jesus said Ed every element of the Passover is
there, except for one crucial piece, what is it?
Where's the lamb? They don't have a lamb.
Where's the lamb? But when Jesus said, this is my
body given for you. This is my blood poured out for
you. Jesus was saying I am the
Passover Lamb. I have given my own body for you
and I have shed my own blood. So as judgment comes, it will
pass over you once and for all Jesus is the true and greater
Passover Lamb. The one God has given to us as
our substitute. Because friends judgment is
coming. Judgments coming to us all and
every one of us has fallen short of the glory of God because
every one of us has sinned. But thanks be to God to the
midst of his judgment. He has given us Grace in his
son. He has given us the true
Passover Lamb Jesus Christ, who shed his blood for you.
And for me so that death would pass over us.
This is why the Apostle Paul said Christ, Our Passover has
been sacrificed for us. And so, I wonder.
If you were there at that first Passover, what would you have
done? You heard Moses giving you these
instructions. We thought that sounds strange
Moses. Are, would you have listened and
obeyed and seen death pass over your household?
And the same way. Also, I wonder, how will you
respond to John? The Baptist's declaration,
Behold, the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sin of the
world. Will you behold Jesus as your
Passover Lamb? And this morning, will you claim
his blood alone? It's that judgment would pass
over you. How will you respond?
because this morning, we once again have been invited to keep
the feast, And just, as Jesus is the true and greater Passover
Lamb the Lord's Supper. This communion is the true and
greater Passover. The feast where we come together
once again to remember and Proclaim that Christ has died.
Christ is risen and Christ will come again.
He is our Passover and we come now into his presence, according
to his judgment falling on his own son because of his grace.
Let's pray Our Father in heaven. Would you now prepare our
hearts? To keep the feast.
And that in keeping the feast that we would remember once
again. The great hope that we have and
you Jesus Christ as our Passover Lamb.
As we come to this table, we bring the so many ways that we
are. Just like the people of Israel
prone to forget who you are and what you have done for us and
prone to wander and worship other gods.
And so n coming forward this morning to your table.
Help us to come by grace. Help us to calm knowing that
your blood has covered us and help us to come and Proclamation
that you are The Sovereign one, the Holy One, the mighty one,
And that by your Sovereign, Grace, you have come and
judgment for our salvation. Be with us.
Now as we come together, as your people at the table of the king
in Jesus name, amen. Be with us.
Now as we come together, as your people at the table of the king
in Jesus name, amen.