The Passover

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Transcript:

We’re going to be in Exodus chapter 11 this morning. Exodus chapters 11 and 12 actually, nine times already, nine times already, Pharaoh has been told, let my people go. And it started out with the most reasonable of requests.

Hey, it’s bad enough, or it’s a terrible thing that you think you own people, but not even asking you to just stop doing that, which I think that’s pretty reasonable. Stop owning people. But we’re not even going to ask you that much.

We’re just simply going to ask that you let them go for a little while so that they can go into the wilderness for some time of worship. And he was unwilling even to do that. Nine times he has been unwilling to be obedient to what God has asked of him.

And even when he was warned of the consequences ahead of time, he has been unwilling to comply with what God has said. This is even after he realized the consequences of his disobedience, that what God said would happen has happened, and he’s being warned of something else that’s going to happen, and yet he still will not comply. I’ve been telling these stories to my kids at bedtime.

I think I’ve told you that. I got tired of trying to make up variations on the three little pigs. And so we’ve been going through.

They don’t realize, though, that between some of these stories, there’s a 40-year gap, And so Benjamin’s very impressed that baby Moses is throwing down a stick and it’s turning into a snake. We’re in the living room doing story time yesterday, and we’re up to the flies and the lice. The rest of my family was sitting in there watching the weather.

And so I said, well, tell Nana what the flies did. He’s talking about them buzzing around, and his eyes get real big when he’s telling the story. I’m glad he’s remembering these.

I said, Madeline, go tell Chi Chi. That’s what they call my sister. Go tell her what the lice does.

So she doesn’t say a word. She just climbs up next to my sister on the couch and starts sticking her fingers in her hair like bugs crawling. And I said, what happened when Moses threw his stick down?

Benjamin’s eyes got real big. He said, it turned into a snake. So we’ve been enjoying these stories.

And later on, about the third time, I told him, go get in bed. Because he’ll get out of bed 15 times if you’ll let him. Go get in bed.

And he walks over to look at his toys. I said, are you being obedient? No.

What are some of the consequences for failing to obey? He said, what are consequences? I said, consequences?

But I think we’ve discussed this before, but that’s all right. Consequences are when you’re disobedient to those God has placed an authority over you. And something happens as a result that you don’t like.

Actually, a consequence can be a good thing or it can be a bad thing. But in the case of disobedience, it’s a bad consequence. I said, do you remember what we talked about earlier tonight with Pharaoh?

Or bad King Pharaoh, as we call him. Do you remember what happened with bad King Pharaoh? Yeah.

I said, did God tell him to do something? He said, let him go? Yeah.

God told him to do something. Was he obedient? No.

I said, what consequences happened to him? There were snakes and lice and blood. Okay, so we understand consequences.

Pharaoh, ladies and gentlemen, if a child can hear the story and understand what consequences are and that there are consequences for disobedience, surely, and we’re not even all the way through the story, surely Pharaoh, as the leader of his country, as a very capable man, I mean, he’s kept this empire running. Pharaoh was not stupid. Surely he was capable of understanding consequences.

And up to this point, every consequence that God has said there would be, there has been. We get to the ninth time with the darkness and Pharaoh is so angry with Moses, not realizing that the root of his problems is not Moses. The root of his problem is not even God.

The root of his problem is his own disobedience. Don’t you hate that? People do things that are wrong and they incur the consequences and suddenly it’s your fault.

I didn’t do this. I am not your problem here. Your problem is your own stinking disobedience.

But we get to the moment of darkness where there’s darkness in the land. Darkness so thick they could feel it, as the Bible says. It’s incredible darkness.

And Pharaoh is angry at Moses and says, you get out of my sight because if you come to me again. Up to this point, Moses has just sort of burst into Pharaoh’s court and said, I’m here representing God. He says, you do that again and I’m going to kill you.

And Moses said last week, as we talked about, fine, you won’t see me again. Now, the implication there is you won’t see me again unless you call me. I think Moses knew God had one more thing to do here.

But he tells Pharaoh, fine, you won’t see me again. But in this time, Moses told his people, we’re looking at chapter 11, verse 4. 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 sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of the beasts. So every person in Egypt who was a firstborn would die from the household of Pharaoh on down to even the cattle. 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.

He said, God has promised that because of the disobedience of Pharaoh and the disobedience of Egypt, guys, this was not just Pharaoh. The entire country of Egypt was profiting. I mean, until these plagues came along, they were profiting from the idea of being able to own other human beings as property.

So there really weren’t innocent people. I mean, the whole nation was guilty. Well, that doesn’t bode well for us, does it?

But the whole nation was guilty. And so he said, from the top down, all the firstborn will die. Now, if you’re familiar with the ending of the story, it’s kind of unusual that it wouldn’t take Pharaoh because royal thrones are passed down typically to the eldest son.

Pharaoh evidently was not the eldest son in his family. But it would strike Pharaoh’s house. It would strike the servants’ houses.

It would strike everybody, even down to their animals. And there would be a great cry, a great commotion and wailing throughout the land, such as had never been heard before and would never be heard again. Verse 7 says, But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue against man or beast, that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.

He said, But no harm whatsoever will come to the people of Israel, either to themselves or to their animals, so that you will know that God has made a difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites. Now this is unusual because we’ve seen that disasters typically strike in such a way that they make no difference between who you are. We’ve seen even last year, I want to say floods, but a lot of times you have warning to get away from the floods, but I think back to the Ebola outbreaks.

and for a long time we thought excuse me for a long time we thought okay that’s something that takes place in Africa has nothing to do with us we’re safe from it but then we started seeing American aid workers going over there and they were coming down with it and some of them were bringing it back here and other people were getting infected and it was a huge deal Ebola is a tragic disease and makes no differentiation between African or American no if you’re there close to it. If you’re infected, you’re infected. And it makes no distinction between the two.

In a tornado, as we’ve seen, it doesn’t matter if you live. I have relatives who say, you need to get out of more, and you need to come live up by us on the north side. I’d rather take my chances with the tornado than live in the north side of Oklahoma City again.

Too much traffic. I did that when we lived in Bethany. Too much traffic.

I’d rather deal with the occasional tornado. But you know what we’ve seen in the last few weeks? My relatives in Oklahoma City have had floods, and they’ve had strong winds.

I saw pictures from some of you I told this morning, my grandmother’s house flooded again. Some of them are there today, right as we speak, cleaning it up. I have an aunt on the far north side of Oklahoma City that sent pictures to us yesterday.

Her much water. And I thought, okay, these disasters can happen anywhere. More, Oklahoma City, it makes no difference.

They’re going to happen where they’re going to happen. The idea, the idea that something tragic could happen and only affect a certain segment of the population would be incredible. It would be the equivalent of, say, Ebola coming into America and wiping out all the Caucasians, or whatever you want to call them, and not the Hispanic population.

See, the majority, Egypt, the majority gets affected by this catastrophe, and the second largest group, the Israelites, are completely unscathed. We would look at that and say, that is incredible. How does that happen?

And for something to happen, excuse me, not even just to wipe out all the Egyptians, but every firstborn. There was nothing random about this. It’s the firstborn of every family in Egypt.

And he said, so that you, and no harm whatsoever will come to the Israelites, so that you will know, as we say in my family, so that you will know and your children someday will know that God sees the difference, that God has made a difference between Egypt and Israel. And all these thy servants shall come down unto me and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out and all the people that follow thee. And after that, I will go out.

And he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger. So evidently, God is speaking to Moses. God is speaking to Moses and telling him what to tell his people, even while he’s still there with Pharaoh before he leaves.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land. So before he is left, while he yet stands there, God speaks to him and says, you tell people, you tell Pharaoh, you tell my people that this will happen.

He says, and by the way, again, Pharaoh is not going to listen. Chapter 12, verse 1 says, And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.

So this falls around the springtime, March, April, somewhere in there. It’s the beginning of the Jewish calendar. 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.

Every household of Israel is supposed to take one of their lambs. 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 souls. Every man according to the eating shall make your count for the lamb.

So if you’ve just got a couple people in your house, can’t afford a lamb, you go be part of your neighbor’s house. You all join together. But every household needs to have a lamb.

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. Now, when we get into the issue of the blood of the lamb here, is God saying that it’s somehow less effective, that he can’t use it if it’s a lamb with blemish? That’s not what he’s saying.

But this lamb is here to paint a picture. This lamb is here as a symbol. And first of all, the picture doesn’t work as well if you use a lamb with blemish or spot.

But second of all, why would you want to give the second best you have in the worship of God? Why would God want to settle for our second best? I mean, he’s offering the Israelites something amazing here.

He’s offering them, he’s offering to spare them from the calamity that’s about to befall Egypt. He’s offering them freedom and a land of their own. Why is anything too good to use in the service of God?

But there’s also this idea of a lamb without blemish, a perfect, spotless lamb, without any flaw or imperfection. That’s going to be important here in a minute. He says, you take your lamb without blemish, a male of the first year, and she’ll take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it unto the 14th day of the same month.

So you’re going to set that lamb aside for four days. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. So the lamb is going to be slaughtered.

And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper doorpost of the houses wherein they shall eat it. So you’ll go back to the house that you’re part of. And on both sides of the door and on the top, you’re going to smear the blood of the lamb before you go into the house to consume the lamb.

And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Now God’s very specific at times about what he wants done. But other times we have to wonder, what does he want me to do here?

But other times God is very specific. He says in verse 9, eat not of it raw. First of all, ew, I can’t imagine that they would want to do that.

But don’t eat it raw or sodden at all with water. They were not to boil it, but roast with fire his head with his legs and with the pertinence thereof. So when it says the head with the legs and the pertinence thereof, the pertinence are what we call the innards.

And you’re supposed to roast the whole thing all together. Head, legs, innards, just keep it one big lamb and roast the thing with fire. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

So don’t just hold on to, you know, we would wrap up leftovers and say we’re going to keep some for later. He says don’t do that. Eat as much of it as you can, and what’s left you’re just going to burn it with fire.

And thus shall ye eat with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. Get your loins girded, your shoes on, get ready to go is what he’s saying.

Now people laugh, but my kids have picked up on this too. At my house we have tornado clothes. Charla laughs every time I mention my tornado pants.

If there’s a storm coming, and I think there’s a chance we’re going to need to go, I want to wear something that is comfortable enough to be able to maneuver in as I’m sprinting to get the cellar open and helping people down. You don’t want to be dressed in your finest, but it also needs to be something that we’re not going to look like total idiots if we end up on the news if the house gets taken. So I have my tornado pants.

And I have different shirts I wear. I have tornado shoes. I know that sounds weird.

They are boat shoes. And they’re reasonably, you know, until the water gets ankle deep, they’re reasonably water resistant. Which is good when you’re slogging your way through the yard.

I start getting those things on when there starts being storms around Chickasha. Because I want to be prepared. My kids now think it’s cool to have tornado shoes.

What are we going to wear? And they put them on. Start preparing yourself.

Last night we were eating in haste. Making sandwiches for the kids and trying to shove them down. while we’re trying to decide whether the thing in Newcastle was coming to us or not.

Be prepared, is what he’s saying. You may have to leave at a moment’s notice. Kind of like I had my tornado pants and my tornado shoes on.

I did have a shirt on too. Don’t be worried about that, but I don’t have a specific tornado shirt. And we were prepared.

We were ready to go at a moment’s notice. He says here, you’re going to go into your homes. You’re going to smear the blood on the door.

you’re going to go in there and have a supper composed of the lamb. He said, have your loins girt about. The loins girt about, they had their robes, they would take them and they would tie them up in between the legs and on the side and they’d be ready to be able to run.

He said, have your shoes on and be ready to go at a moment’s notice because things are going to start moving very quickly. It’s the Lord’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, he says in verse 12.

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. Their gods, God had already demonstrated that he was superior over their gods.

And he was going to demonstrate again that no matter how much they prayed to their false gods, no matter how much they sacrificed to their gods, they weren’t going to be able to save them from the wrath of the God of Israel. And when the God of Israel, ladies and gentlemen, today even, executes judgment, there’s no refuge other than the refuge that he has set up himself. There’s nowhere to run from his wrath, but to his mercy.

And throwing ourselves on the mercy of other gods, whether it be statues that we’ve made, which we don’t do so much of here, or whether it be our wealth, whether it be our homes, our possessions, our families, whatever we make idols out of, they are no refuge from the judgment of God. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye 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 land of Egypt. He says, I’m going to execute judgment on Egypt, but you, you will be protected under the blood. I will see the blood and I will pass over you.

It’s a wonderful song, by the way. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial. And you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. Ye shall keep it a feast by ordinance forever.

Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread. Even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses. For whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day unto the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.

Now again, the leaven or the yeast is also So just like the blemishes on the lamb is a symbol of sin. That’s why the Apostle Paul talked about how a little leaven leavens a whole lump. You can’t just put yeast in half of the loaf and expect that half the loaf will rise.

Now it spreads and it infects everything. Now depending on what you’re making, that’s a good thing. But in this case, he’s making the statement that a little bit of sin infects everything if we don’t purge it.

And in the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation to you. No manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread.

For in this selfsame day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore shall you observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever. He says you will remember.

From this day forward you will remember. throughout all the generations, throughout all the years of history, you will remember what is done here tonight. I don’t know how many of those moments that we get in life, but probably most of you can think of some time in your life where you were watching something unfold and you knew that you were watching history unfold.

I remember, I think of two instances in my life. One would be being downtown and seeing the Murrah building after the bombing. I realized this is a historic thing that has happened.

This has changed so much. And the other was being in 10th grade and no school went on because we were all glued to the TVs watching the Twin Towers. And I knew that was a day, to quote Franklin Roosevelt, that was a day that would live in infamy.

I knew that was a day when history would be changed. Very few of those things happen in our lifetimes, though. We may be able to count them on one hand, where we’re watching it, and even as we’re watching it happen, we know that history is in the making.

He says this is one of those times. You will remember, and the generations that come after you will remember what has been done here today. So gird your loins, get your shoes on, get ready, because God is working.

In the first month, on the 14th day of the month, at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses, for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born in the land, ye shall eat nothing leavened, and all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread. So he continues to give the instructions for how they’re supposed to celebrate the Passover as this memorial, this ongoing remembrance of what God has done here.

Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, draw out and take you a lamb according to your families and kill the Passover. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin and strike the lentil and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. He says, take this hyssop.

There are other places in the Bible where it talks about, where it’s written, purge me with hyssop. This is a picture and they would do this beginning now and they would do this later on. It’s this plant that they would use in the purification rituals.

And they would take the hyssop and dip it in the blood and they would sprinkle it on somebody as a cleansing thing. In this case, they would take the hyssop and it’s just this little flowery bush thing. And they would use it to paint the doors of their homes with the blood.

And he said, do that and then do not leave your house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians he seeth the blood upon the lentil. And on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever. And it shall come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you according as he hath promised that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass when your children say unto you, what mean ye by this service?

Sometimes kids will ask us, why are we doing this? And it gives us an open door about spiritual things. I tell you the number of stories I’ve heard about children sitting with their parents during the Lord’s Supper and not being able to take it themselves.

It’s saying, why are you doing this? And why can’t I end up giving an open door to being able to talk about Christ and the forgiveness of sins? So God says, when your children say to you, what mean you by this service?

Verse 27 says, that you shall say it is a 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 our head and worshipped. And the children of Israel went away as did the Lord had commanded, excuse me, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.

So they went out and prepared their lambs, and they drained the blood, and they marked the door frames with the blood. They went in to their homes. They shut themselves up for the night.

they ate the Passover lamb and they waited for what God was going to do and it came to pass that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon so even all the way from Pharaoh’s throne down to the dungeon of the palace those he was holding prisoner the firstborn of all Egypt was killed as were the firstborn of their cattle and Pharaoh rose up in the night he and all his servants and all the Egyptians and there was a great cry in Egypt for there was not a house where there was not one dead. This story used to scare me to death when I was a little kid because I’m a firstborn.

But if it could happen once it could happen again but the fact is God warned them and it wasn’t just Pharaoh the nation of Egypt persisted in his wickedness and the firstborn was taken from every household. Now, some have questioned the historical accuracy of the story, saying, well, Pharaoh would have been the eldest. That’s why he was Pharaoh. Why wasn’t he killed too?

I love the way the Bible is validated so many times by evidence. Not that we need it to be, but it is. I’m trying to remember the name of Pharaoh.

I should have looked it up before I came. I should have refreshed my memory before I came here today. There is an Egyptian pharaoh, and I want to say Amenhotep or Thutmose, one of them.

And there were several, like Amenhotep III, IV, you know, there were several by those names. But there is a pharaoh from roughly the 15th century in Egypt, which is where conservative Christian scholars date the Exodus, who ascended the throne because his elder brother passed away before him, and whose reign was cut short. Interestingly enough, that would fit very well with the timing and the story of the Exodus.

But Pharaoh, even if he wasn’t a firstborn, would have had a firstborn of his own. Imagine the grief that was suffered by so many in Egypt. It says not a house was left untouched.

And the realization that our entire country has fallen to this calamity, And yet the Israelites who we’ve oppressed, not one of them have suffered the same thing. What made the difference was the Passover lamb. What made the difference was that spotless lamb who God said needed to be slain to make a difference to mark off Israel from Egypt.

Now there’s some things in this story that we need to look at very quickly and that will be done about this Passover lamb because it is a direct parallel. I want to say God is so clever, but even that word doesn’t tell the whole story. It feels like I’m giving God insufficient praise to say that God is so clever.

But it is amazing to me once I realized the Bible is all about Jesus. Even before he was born, it was all about Jesus. It was all pointing either forward to him or backward to him.

And when you start looking at the Bible that way, amazing things, amazing things jump out at you. And it is so incredible how God worked so many of these stories to be direct parallels. I mean, you look at the things that happened in the Garden of Eden.

You look at the ark. You look at that with Noah. You look at the Passover lamb.

You look at Isaiah 53. Jesus, his fingerprints are all over the Old Testament. This Passover lamb, first of all, was subjected to divine judgment that others deserved.

That lamb wasn’t to be just skinned and eaten raw. That lamb wasn’t supposed to be boiled. That lamb was supposed to be burnt with fire.

Ladies and gentlemen, fire is so often through the Bible. A picture of the judgment of God. A picture of the wrath of God.

You don’t believe it, read Revelation. Read the book of Nahum. Started reading the book of Nahum.

I thought, I don’t know why more people don’t read this book. Well, it’s terrifying, first of all. Nahum chapter 1.

If you read it and it doesn’t scare you a little bit, you’re not reading it right. But Nahum chapter 1 gives us the other side of the coin that we won’t hear from Joel Osteen and the others like him. That God just wants you to be happy all the time.

In the book of Nahum, we see God melting the mountains and throwing. . .

Guys, the judgment of God is real. God takes sin seriously. The judgment of God is real. And fire is featured prominently in those stories of judgment. And the idea that the Passover lamb, that God was so specific that this lamb had to be burned with fire.

He’s saying, I don’t want you to miss this picture of judgment. When he said in verses 8 and 9 of chapter 12, And they shall eat the flesh that night, roast with fire and unleavened bread and with bitter herbs. They shall eat it.

Eat not of it raw, nor sodden it all with water, but roast with fire, his head with his legs and with the pertinence thereof. The whole thing roast with fire. Ladies and gentlemen, our Passover lamb, our Passover lamb, Jesus Christ, was subjected to the judgment of God that we deserved.

Now, I preached that before. I remember preaching it in Fayetteville and having a man from the church come to me later on. He said, you know, that just didn’t sound right that Jesus suffered the wrath and judgment of God.

He said, but when I started looking into what the Bible says, he said, you’re absolutely right. That’s a good principle to remember. absolutely right.

No, I’m just teasing. But it’s true. The Bible says that he was bruised for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities and by his wounds we are healed. The Bible says that he who knew no sin was made to become sin for us. Yes, the cross was there because without the shedding of blood, there’s no remission of sins and he had to pay for our sins.

Part of the payment for our sins was taking the punishment that we deserved. He was punished in our place.

that’s central to the gospel message that Jesus suffered that Jesus suffered the judgment and wrath of God poured out on sin that we deserved and he did it he suffered it in our place that Passover lamb being burnt with fire was a picture a forerunner if you will pointing us to one who would suffer divine judgment that we deserve second of all the Passover lamb shed his blood as a covering for others he shed his blood as a covering for others they were told if you drain the blood out of that lamb out of that spotless lamb that lamb without blemish if you drain the blood out of him and you mark the door post which was an incredibly odd thing to do cover the door post with it when the destroyer comes through God said when I send the destroyer through he’ll see that blood and he’ll move right on past you because again as we see from the earliest parts of the Bible even back to Genesis chapter 3 In God’s economy, the innocent shed their blood for the guilty.

That started all the way bac

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