Title: Christ our Passover
Text: Exodus 12: 1-14
Date: September 11, 2016
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
We became slaves to sin, death and hell by Adam’s fall. We had no way to free ourselves just as the children of Israel had no way to free themselves from Egyptian slavery. We were under the power of the devil just as they were under the power of that evil pharaoh. (Eph 2:2)
Proposition: The one way God’s elect are freed from the bondage of sin, death and hell is by God visiting us, providing himself a Lamb in his Son.
In part 1, we saw Christ our Passover who made all things new. We saw Christ is the Lamb God has provided for each of his elect children. In the passover lamb provided in Egypt we saw Christ typified. Last, we saw that the crucifixion of Christ came to pass at God’s predestinated time for God’s predestinated people. But how is a dead sinner made to believe on Christ?
THE APPLICATION OF CHRIST’S BLOOD
Exodus 12: 7: And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
Moses’s faith is spoken of in this.
Hebrews 11: 28: Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
Indeed, Moses believed God and did as God said and declared God’s word to the people because he believed God. That is what faith does. Faith believes God and obeys God. Indeed, God used men to sprinkle that blood on the doorpost. But God did it to show us a type of something that God alone can do in the hearts of his people.
Notice, it was the head of each house who put the blood on the doorpost, not the children in the house.
Exodus 12: 21: Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. 22: And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason;
The Head of the house of God is Christ. Christ is God who chose the Lamb, who slew the Lamb and he alone sprinkles the blood on the doorpost of our hearts. That is the only way we have faith to believe on Christ.
Hebrews 9:14: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15: And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament,…
At another time, when the first testament was dedicated, we see Moses as a type of Christ sprinkling the blood of a lamb.
Hebrews 9: 19: For when Moses had spoken every precept of the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, 20: Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
But that pictured Christ our Head who takes his own blood and sprinkles our hearts and says “This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.” He gives it in our heart like as he gives us this cup of wine saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” From Hebrews 9: 21 through Hebrews 10: 14, he speaks of Christ dying, rising again and entering into God’s presence with his own blood. Then he speaks of Christ dedicating the new covenant (the new testament of grace) in our hearts which the Holy Ghost declares to us earlier in the word of God. Notice, as you read this that it is the Lord who makes the covenant in the heart; it is the Lord who writes the law of the new covenant on our heart, not the sinner:
Hebrews 10: 15: Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 16: This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17: And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more….22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Christ the Mediator made us righteous by his work on the cross and Christ is the Mediator who sprinkles his blood on the doorpost of our heart. He is the Mediator of the New Testament between his people and God our Father. He is the one to whom we give the glory to the praise of God’s grace!
FAITH IN CHRIST
Exodus 12: 8: And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9: Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. 10: 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. 11: And thus shall ye eat it; 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.
After Christ has applied the blood to our heart through the Spirit of God, we see our faith in Christ which Christ gives us. By the Holy Spirit sprinkling our hearts with the blood of Christ, now we are given faith to eat Christ’s body and drink his blood, that is, to believe on Christ, to live upon Christ, by Christ.
John 6: 53: Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54: Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
How is it we are made to have life and believe on him?
John 6: 56: He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57: As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
Our faith lays hold of the Lamb “roasted with fire.” We rejoice that Christ endured the fire of God's holy wrath in our place to satisfy divine justice for us! Everything we see here has to do with justice being satisfied in the righteousness of God. That is the gospel. It is how God can be a just God and a Savior; how God can pour out justice on the guilty and yet reserve mercy for the very same sinners. Faith rests in Christ for Righteousness and Holiness. The two are inseparable. Both are Christ to those with true faith.
Furthermore, faith eats the Lamb of God with the “unleavened bread” of sincerity and truth. A purified heart does not partake of Christ with the leaven of guile and hypocrisy. The word “hypocrite” is actor. The thing that gives Christianity a bad name are the actors: insincere, hypocritical, actors. True faith adds nothing of “self” to Christ’s sacrifice: not our wisdom, will or works. True faith believes and confesses we are nothing. We have nothing to add to Christ! Faith partakes from a spirit in which is no guile by the Faithful One dwelling in us.
1 Corinthians 5: 8: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Also, faith partakes of Christ with the “bitter herbs” of true repentance over our sins. By the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us, the believer, “looks upon [Christ] whom [we] have pierced, and [we] mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, [we are] in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” (Zech 12: 10) True repentance is seen in Paul in what he said in Philippians 3. He gave up all his former religion and counted it dung when Christ saved him. He did not say he was saved in his former religion. He repented of all of it as malice and wickedness and dung and confessed Christ alone saved him.
In addition, faith “eats not of it raw.” We eat not rashly, not indifferently, not lukewarmly. We count the cost of discipleship. We make sure our election. We do this by making certain that all our trust is in Christ alone and not in anything of us.
Nor does faith partake of Christ “sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. 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.” True faith will not receive a watered down gospel with the offense taken out of the cross. Faith believes all the gospel of God with the whole heart resting in Christ for All. He is all our Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redempton. God is Love. That means Christ is Love. And the Love of our hearts is Christ in you. Christ is the Faithful One. He is the Faith of our faith. When Christ is your All you cannot glory in Christ enough for All. He is all fullness and fills all in all!
Now, as we partake of the Lord’s Table, not only do we remember his broken body and shed blood but we show forth his death till he comes again.
Thus, faith partakes of Christ with the sure hope that one day Christ shall visit us again and deliver us entirely out of this Egypt into that glorious liberty of the sons of God—“And thus shall ye eat it; 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.” We partake of Christ with our loins “girt about with truth” (Ephesians 6:14). By the Spirit of truth, trusting in Christ the Truth—God saves us in Truth! Our feet “shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15).—the gospel controls where we go and where we walk. The staff of faith is in our hands. We are hastening for that day our Lord shall deliver us to be with our Lord forever.
The assurance of our hope is Christ--“It is the Lord’s Passover!” Salvation is of the LORD! Beginning to end we are saved entirely by our triune Jehovah in Jehovah-Jesus. He chose the Lamb. He sent the Lamb. He is the Lamb. He accepted the Lamb! He makes us accepted in the Lamb! He reveals the Lamb in us! He preserves us by the Lamb! He shall raise us up to praise the Lamb forever! He is Alpha and Omega! So we have a sure hope he shall visit us again! ‘You do show forth the Lord’s death, till he come!”
NO CONDEMNATION
Exodus 12: 12: 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. 13: 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.
Before God, all the firstborn in the land of Egypt were smitten that night. All died. The difference was the token. The blood was that which distinguished the children of Israel from all the rest. It was the blood of the lamb which God provided for the children of Israel! Those under the blood died in the lamb because the lamb died in their place. Therefore, when God saw the blood he passed over them.
Egypt is a type of this sinful world. There is no difference between God’s elect and the rest of this world we are all sinners. “There is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Rom 3: 22-23)
But God puts a difference between his people and the rest of the world. The difference between God’s elect and the rest of this sinful world is the blood of Christ the Lamb which God provided for his elect.
All God’s elect died under the judgment of God when Christ died in our place. God applies the blood of Christ to the doorpost of our hearts. And God says to every believer “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.”
Romans 8: 1: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Isaiah 54:17: No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
John 5:24: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
OUR FEAST
Exodus 12: 14: And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
God has provided us a feast to constantly remind us of this glorious good news of our Redeemer like as God gave them the passover feast to remind them of their deliverance.
We do not keep the feast of their Passover. But we do keep the feast God has provided in Christ. As we live by faith upon Christ our Passover, who is sacrificed for us, we keep the feast.
God has given us the feast of the gospel we preach, to constantly keep us in remembrance of Christ. Christ has given us believer’s baptism. Each time we see a believer confess Christ in baptism we are reminded that we are complete in Christ by his death, burial and resurrection. And Christ has given us the feast of his table: the unleavened bread and the wine of his table to remember him.
As we remember him we also remember he shall come again. God shall pass through once more on the great day of judgment. Only those under the blood of Christ will be saved. Will you be found under the blood of Christ Jesus? Oh, God give you grace to believe on Christ today. The LORD God says, "when I see the blood, I will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you.” Believer, as you eat this bread and drink this wine, remember he shall come again. “Wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” (1 Thess 1: 10)
Amen!