Salvation through the Lamb

Introduction

God sent Moses to deliver a message of salvation to God’s people in bondage in Egypt.

God: The Covenant Redeemer

Moses: The Messenger

Egypt: The World

Israel: God’s covenant people

As we read the story of redemption, we can see ourselves as God’s people being redeemed from the bondage of this world. But now we add one more character to the story.

The Lamb: Jesus Christ

Exodus 12 stands as one of the most important passages in the Bible as it establishes the blood of the sacrificed lamb for salvation and redemption.

When Jesus begins his earthly ministry John turns to his disciples and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Relational Evangelism has everything to do with what people believe about the Lamb of God. God’s covenant is with the seed of Abraham and that seed is Christ.

The gospel message has never been about how good you can be, but in whom you place your trust.

A Christian is not redeemed because of his heritage or his church attendance. Tim Keller was asked, Does homosexual acts send you to hell? His responded, “No, no. First of all, heterosexuality does not get you to heaven. I happen to know this. So, how in the world could homosexuality send you to Hell?"

https://youtu.be/IZFCB9sduxQ

If entrance into heaven were based upon the good works of men no one would make it.

Romans 3:23 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Redemption and Salvation only comes through the finished work of Christ as the sacrificial lamb of God to those who believe and receive Jesus.

John 1:12–13 ESV

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Galatians 2:20–21 ESV

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Now that we understand the significance of the passage lets dive into Exodus 12 together.

Exodus 12:1–6 (ESV)

1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell 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. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

Notice the progression

Take a lamb

Take your lamb

Kill their lamb

Exposition

The Passover Lamb

The consumption of the Lamb

Exodus 12:7–11 ESV

7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.

The Protection of the Lamb

Exodus 12:12–13 ESV

12 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 on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 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.

The Blood of the Lamb

Exodus 12:21–22 ESV

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. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.

Jesus is our Passover Lamb

1 Corinthians 5:7–8 ESV

7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Jesus is the Resurrected Lamb

Revelation 5:6 ESV

6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

Revelation 5:11–14 ESV

11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” 13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” 14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

The Pass-Through Destroyer

Exodus 12:23 ESV

23 For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.

The assurance of the blood is salvation.

A Sacrifice of blood is required for Salvation.

Hebrews 9:22 ESV

22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Our redemption was bought with the highest price

Hebrews 9:12–14 ESV

12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice.

Hebrews 9:26–28 ESV

26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

The absence of the blood is death.

Exodus 12:29–30 ESV

29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 30 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 someone was not dead.

The Exodus

Exodus 12:33 ESV

33 The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.”

Exodus 12:40–42 ESV

40 The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. 42 It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.

Exodus 12:50–51 ESV

50 All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.

Next Steps

Our evangelism today is the same as it was for Moses:

To avoid the passing through, we need the Passover Lamb.

When the blood of Jesus is applied to the door of your heart, you are secure in Him.

Call to Action

Communion