Sermon in Minneapolis 12.04.1981

Let us read an Old Testament portion of God's Word found in the book of Exodus, the twelfth chapter beginning with the first verse, with that prayer that God would grant utterance according to His measure of grace. The words are in Jesus' name.

And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next on to his house take it according to the number of the souls. Every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. Ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats.

And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper doorposts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs shall they eat it. And eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire, his head with his legs, and with the pertinence thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until morning. And that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

And thus ye shall 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. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord.

And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where 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. 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 forever. Amen. Amen.

Before this text I would certainly tremble and feel very lacking in understanding. But this particular text came to my mind. And it seemed appropriate or fitting onto this season in which we are now, the Easter season. We have in our home Bible class the past two times, I believe, attempted to study texts which were related to the Easter season. And there we had discussion concerning the origin of the Passover, which Jesus and His disciples celebrated or remembered as according to God's command.

Truly there is very deep and very much spiritual meaning to these events. And if God so will, we would attempt to study or review even the significance of this event and what it signified or what it meant unto those early Old Testament believers.

We all, I am sure, remember how the children of Israel were in bondage in the land of Egypt. They were under the rulership of Pharaoh. And they were slaves or servants of Pharaoh. And we know that they were treated very brutally or severely and were demanded to work very hard and very long. And also we can remember how God blessed His people, how they increased, how they feared God, and they also lived in that promise that God would deliver them.

Spiritually we understand that Egypt was a very dark and sinful nation. This is a picture of this sinful world, which truly is a world of sin and unbelief. And it is that it surrounds the children of God, the kingdom of God.

The children of Israel were directed by God. They were given a leader who was Moses. And this was all for the purpose of learning of the power of God and of His grace and forgiveness, which He had so abundantly bestowed even upon them.

The Old Testament laws were very lengthy and very complicated. But yet, when by faith they were accepted, there was a very precious, simple message involved. And we would, even this evening, understand that those former believers were not saved through their keeping of these very lengthy and very exacting ordinances or of these ceremonies, but they represented the promises which God had given in His own Son.

Here we see how the children of God were once again given a direction through God's servant, Moses. They were given instructions as to what they should do. And there was a purpose. For, as we know, there were many miracles which God performed to show His power there to the unbelieving rulers and the people of Egypt.

And in these many miracles or incidents which happened, the magicians and the wise of that land were also able to perform. But the greatest or the most precious lesson which we see from these many miracles and things which happened just prior to the deliverance of the children of Israel was they were not able to give life.

As my memory is very poor and lacking concerning these events, nevertheless, the portion which comes to mind is that though the powers of evil were able to demonstrate even many miracles, the one thing that was lacking or that they could not do was give life. God is the giver of life. And only He is able to create life. God is the only true creator. For the true creator only can create out of nothing.

Even in this world there are many who are given such credit for their creations. But there is not one in this world, nor is there any power in this world that is able to create something out of nothing. All need something to begin with. And God is the true creator.

Despite all these signs and miracles which were given, which can be even somewhat compared to the many miracles and signs which Jesus performed, yet because of the hardness of their hearts, they did not believe. But those who in simplicity of faith, with childlike heart and mind, accepted and believed, they were delivered and they were saved.

But now as we heard here, God said that He would bring this one more plague. And He directed or taught His own and told them what they must do to be saved. And these instructions which we heard here were that they should take a lamb without spot or blemish from the flock. And that they, with these instructions, would then, on the certain day, would kill it. And they would take the blood. And they would sprinkle it on the lintel and on the doorposts of their houses. And that they would eat this, roast this lamb and eat it.

The spiritual picture which is here given is that this lamb was a sacrifice. And it is the picture of the sacrifice that God would make for them. And that sacrifice is the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God who is without spot or without blemish. The blood of that lamb is the blood of our Lord and Savior, which was shed to the last drop in His suffering and death on the cross.

The purpose for this blood to be sprinkled on the doorposts of their houses was to keep the angel of death from coming in and smiting the firstborn. Any house that had this blood sprinkled on their doorposts would be passed by or passed over, from which the word Passover is given. And the angel of death would not enter or would not be able to enter that house.

This is that spiritual picture of the power of the blood of Jesus. When it is sprinkled on the doorposts of our heart, the power of death has no power over us. Truly it is the core or the very marrow of the gospel. For we are often reminded, and even in our precious Christian songs, we sing concerning that precious blood of Jesus, which has the power to cleanse us and to purge all sin, when we by faith accept and believe that this is how God has prepared the way for the sinner to have his sins removed and forgiven.

When we heard here then the admonition or the direction by God's servant Moses, he said, And thus shall ye eat it, with your loins girded, your shoes upon your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover.

We are given here a picture which would join with the words of the Apostle Paul when he speaks unto the children of God concerning being prepared for the battle or the warfare, which is the loss of a believer, while traveling here with the kingdom of God in this sinful and corrupt world.

He first said to eat it with your loins girded. The eating is the eating of that manna or that bread from heaven, which is the gospel word. And it is with the loins girded. And as I recall, the Apostle speaks of having the loins girded with the truth. That is, accepting and receiving the true word of God. Not being distorted or being defiled by the wisdom of man, but that true living word, which is spoken from the kingdom of God through the power of the Holy Spirit.

As we have remembered today that it is by the Spirit, which, it is through the Spirit that the words have life and have power. If the Spirit is not present, even though the words are spoken, they will be of no value, for they do not have life. So it is important that the loins be girded with the truth, accepting and receiving that true living word of God.

And with the shoes on your feet. This is that gospel by which we are given power to travel. As the Apostle explains this, having the feet shod with the gospel of salvation. Without this gospel, brothers and sisters, we cannot travel. We of ourselves have not any power. Nor do we even have any ability, or would it even enter our thoughts or minds that we would attempt to seek for ourselves and for our undying souls salvation.

But it is entirely by and through the grace of God in His grace gospel, the grace gospel of our Lord and Savior, which He has made possible for us through His redemption work, through His suffering and death.

So the loins are girded with the truth, and the feet are shod with the gospel. And we heard then, with your staff in your hand. The staff is signified, or a picture of that faith, which has been given. The staff of faith. And without this staff, one would not be able to accept or believe. And it is upon this staff that we are able to lean.

When weariness, when the torments and the trials of this life, even as our brother has explained, the colds which we often must be confronted with, which are of this world, and which are so pleasing to our own flesh and blood, our own carnal minds and understanding. But with this staff of faith in our hand, we can lean on that and believe through this precious faith, that gospel word, and believe that there is by and through the power of that gospel that we are able to make step by step our journey toward our eternal homeland, toward that promised land.

We heard here then, For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord.

And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where 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.

How good it is, brothers and sisters, this evening. And as we have experienced today, the goodness of our gracious Heavenly Father that He has from His love and grace called us to be members of this kingdom, and where our hearts have been cleansed with the atoning and precious blood of our Lord and Savior, which has cleansed us from all sin and all unrighteousness, and which has made us heaven acceptable, we have been given a robe of righteousness which has been prepared by our Lord and Savior.

And how good and how precious it is when we can be assured and comforted through this word that when we are so clothed in that robe that which has been washed and cleansed in the blood of Jesus, the power of death will have no dominion or power over us.

But we have that hope in that resurrection victory of our Lord and Savior that as He rose victorious on Easter morning, over the power of sin and death and hell, so we, by faith also, have that same hope that when that moment of our departure comes, we can also be joined unto Him who has gained this victory for us.

And as He said that if He will be lifted up from the earth, He will draw all men unto Him. Those who accept and believe that through this redemption work only can the hope of life be had and be reached are those who are lifted by Him from the way of sin and death and hell already in this life where we have been lifted from the powers of death, spiritual death, and been given the hope of life.

As we understand concerning death, there are those three deaths, natural, spiritual, and eternal. When we have been lifted from the spiritual death of this, which is in this life, unto life, the power of second death, the second death has no power over us. And when second death has no power over us, we are translated from this life unto eternal life.

Hope we have this evening, brothers and sisters, through the preaching of the bloody gospel of our Lord and Savior, here in the midst of His kingdom, where He lives, and where He is the King of His kingdom, where He teaches us, where He guides us, He comforts us, and assures us, with all our needs, and in all our needs, in our journey of faith, so that we can one day, even as those who trusted and believed in the promises of God, in the deliverance out of the land of Egypt, into the promised land of Canaan, so we also have that same hope that we will one day reach that eternal homeland, the promised land, and believe those words, even as the writer to the epistle of Hebrews explains, concerning the rest for the children of God.

Truly it was a battle, and a struggle, and a warfare, for those children of Israel, but the promised land was there, awaiting them, and so we also, brothers and sisters, have that hope, as we struggle and are in warfare here in this life, yet there is a rest for the people of God. There is that eternal Sabbath rest, of which we have hope, and it is, as the apostle says, a living hope, when we have been made alive through the living gospel, the living, bloody gospel of our Lord and Savior.

Even this evening again, as we close this day of grace, and have experienced the goodness and graciousness of our Lord and Savior, we can depart with happy and free hearts, believing our most recent doubts and sins and faults forgiven, in Jesus' name and precious blood, unto peace and joy and freedom.

And I, even again, wish to ask, can I have all my doubts and sins forgiven? In Jesus' name, Amen.

Let us close in benediction. The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make His face shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up His countenance upon us and give us peace. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.