The Lord's Passover

Exodus  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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The final judgment before Israel marches out of Egypt is also a vivid picture and foreshadowing of Christ's work on the cross. This sermon connects the two events, demonstrating God's deliverance of His people through His provision.

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Exodus 11 (NASB95)
1 Now the Lord said to Moses, “One more plague I will bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out from here completely.
2 “Speak now in the hearing of the people that each man ask from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor for articles of silver and articles of gold.”
3 The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Furthermore, the man Moses himself was greatly esteemed in the land of Egypt, both in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.
4 Moses said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt,
5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well.
6 ‘Moreover, there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again.
7 ‘But against any of the sons of Israel a dog will not even bark, whether against man or beast, that you may understand how the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’
8 “All these your servants will come down to me and bow themselves before me, saying, ‘Go out, you and all the people who follow you,’ and after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.
9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that My wonders will be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”
10 Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh; yet the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go out of his land.
INTRO: Isn’t God good!?!? I am in awe of God. Time and again in my life, He takes what is an otherwise disastrous situation, and transforms it. The times of grief and suffering give way to something new.. something good. The apostle Paul captures this well in his letter to the Romans.
Romans 8:28 NASB95
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
So, if we understand this, we can know that if God has not redeemed a situation in the life of a believer, then there is more to the story- IOW, if He has not brought good out of tragedy, if He has not brought hope out of loss, then He is not done yet!
That is what God does. It’s His nature and His promise. The Israelites spent 430 years in Egypt. The last several generations of Israelites were slaves. That doesn’t sound so wonderful, huh? But God was working out something good for His people; something that transcends our timelines and our comprehension.
As we’ve worked through the first ten chapters of Exodus, we have noted how God demonstrated His power in Egypt through several judgments to Pharaoh and to all the people there. Let’s review:
He turned water into blood (Ex. 7:14-25)
He brought frogs upon the land (Ex. 8:1-5)
Gnats (Ex. 8:16-19)
Flies (Ex. 8:20-32)
Dead livestock (Ex. 9:1-7)
Boils one people and cattle (Ex. 9:8-12)
Deadly hailstorms (Ex. 9:13-35)
Locusts (Ex. 10:1-20)
Darkness upon the land for 3 days (Ex. 10:21-29)
And through all of this, Pharaoh had hardened his heart. He was too proud, too stubborn to perceive the power and authority of the one true God. But God was still working. God was revealing Himself. Not just to Pharaoh. Not just to Moses & Aaron, but to all the people in the land- both Israelites and Egyptians.
And as we get ready to look at the last plague or judgment of God against Egypt, we can already see a shift in the people. Look with me at Ex. 11:1-3
Exodus 11:1–3 NASB95
1 Now the Lord said to Moses, “One more plague I will bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out from here completely. 2 “Speak now in the hearing of the people that each man ask from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor for articles of silver and articles of gold.” 3 The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Furthermore, the man Moses himself was greatly esteemed in the land of Egypt, both in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.
Here’s God’s promise. Pharaoh will not only let you go, but he will demand that you leave! Not only that, but you will not go empty-handed. You see, the Egyptians recognized the power of God and gladly gave the Israelites silver and gold to take with them. IOW, they were begging them to go- take my money and go!
And the Israelites found hope. Their despair was lifted and they looked at Moses with anticipation and excitement. God was not done!
But the hardened heart of Pharaoh would lead to a final plague upon the land- one in which great misery would be multiplied. (READ 11:4-10)
In this judgment God promised deliverance of His people from the bondage of slavery. He promised to make a distinction between those who obey Him and those who do not. And He promised to reveal Himself in even more magnificent ways through the miracles and wonders He would perform.
There are a lot of details in this selection of Scripture, and we will try to cover it all this morning. I want you to notice that a good deal of attention and space is given to describe an appropriate response to God. Last week we looked at Pharaoh’s response to God, this week it’s the Israelites’ turn. When God reveals Himself, you have to respond. As Adrian Rogers used to say, “He is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.”
God gave specific instructions and warnings. The Israelites’ response and devotion would determine their fate. We’ll discuss all of this today in a message titled “The Lord’s Passover”. I’ve broken it down into three sections that work through much of the 12th chapter.
If you picked up a bulletin, you can use the sermon guide to follow along as we learn together. Let us begin. First, we must explore the:

Passover as Provision (1-13)

(READ)
The provision of the passover lamb has several points:
First, this was a fresh start for Israel. v. 2 records God telling Moses and Aaron that this was a new beginning. Their new calendar starts here. This is big. All their life, they had been on someone else’s timeline, someone else’s schedule. Now, God says through His provision, they would begin a new life.
And what was his provision? A lamb. This lamb was to be unblemished and set aside. Then, on the day God ordained, this lamb would become both a feast and a sacrifice for the people.
Now I want you to notice first that these instructions were to be carried out in each household. This was not just a church-thing. Why? Because God requires faith. You cannot rely on someone else’s response to God for you. Hebrews 11:6 gives us a bit more understanding.
Hebrews 11:6 NASB95
6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
So each family would be instructed to take the blood of this lamb at apply it to the doorposts and lintel of their front door. Outside. It was a declaration of identity. It was a proclamation of trust and obedience. Why not the closet door? Because God requires that our faith be evident or visible- as we learned in our study of the book of James, faith without works is dead.
And after applying the blood to their front door, the family would then prepare the meat according to God’s instructions- roast it… fire was to touch the meat- no boiling meat, not eating it raw… Perhaps this was another way of saying that this provision was necessarily a public event. Everyone in Egypt would smell the aroma! And don’t try to save any leftovers- this particular provision was a one-time thing.
They were to eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The bitter herbs were likely symbolic of the suffering and depravity they experienced as slaves. The unleavened bread would be an ordinance in the future, but also a practical and immediate sign of obedience.
You see, it takes time to cook bread with yeast- you have to let the yeast rise and set… but all of this meal was to be eaten in anticipation of the Lord’s deliverance. Look here- they were to eat with their loins girded, sandals ready… God was saying, “My provision is more than an escape from the destroyer.”
Yes, the blood applied to their door brought rescue from this calamity, but there was more to the story than rescue from something, it was also about deliverance to something greater!
Without provision, the Israelites would have suffered the same fate as so many in Egypt. But in God’s great love and mercy, He saw fit to make a way for them; to set them apart and turn their lives around. The Lord’s Passover is first a provision.
But next, as we look back to our text, we see that this event was so significant that God instructed them to make in a regular holiday. Here, we look at the:

Passover as Ordinance (14-22, 42-50)

This event was unique. God was not only doing something magnificent, but in the midst of it, He was calling Israel to obedience in response to His provision. And so there were instructions given- Each year they would prepare a lamb and eat it in a similar way to how God directed in Egypt. I want to point you to v.46-47 (READ)
This ordinance was attached to another ordinance which we call the feast or ordinance of unleavened bread.
(READ 14-20)
Leaven is better known to you and me as yeast- I alluded to this earlier. Yeast is what makes bread rise. Now, if you didn’t know this, yeast is alive. When you put active yeast in dough, you allow it to proof or set for a period that allows the yeast time to multiply and thus causes the bread to be nice a fluffy… like those yeast rolls you like.
God instructed the Israelites to remove the leaven from their homes and eat bread without leaven in it. If you’ve ever eaten pita bread, you probably notice that this is different than a yeast roll. Now, you might be thinking: Why take all of the yeast from the home? Why not just cook unleavened bread and be done with it?
The point was to make a noticeable change reflective of their redemption. IOW, they were called to be set apart; to look different; to consecrate themselves.
This ordinance was a reminder to them of what God had done (His provision) and thus their appropriate response to Him. But this is not just about bread. In the New Testament, Jesus uses leaven to talk about sin. “A little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough” Mountain slang uses fruit and says, “One bad apple spoils the bunch”
For Israel, these instructions would be carried out every year so that they would be reminded that they were set apart and rescued by God- from bondage to the promised land. It’s a lot like how we celebrate our wedding anniversary. Each year, we remember our vows- I am not a single man. I have given that life up and am one with my bride.
I remind Samantha (not just on our anniversary) that she is stuck with me! Israel would obey this ordinance every year to be reminded that God heard their cry and He delivered them from their suffering. This faithfulness would be the basis of their hope for the future.
The Lord’s Passover must be understood in light of God’s Provision and as an ordinance. The final aspect I want to point out is:

Passover as Testimony (23-28)

(READ)
I want to again point out that one reason this instruction was given so that parents could train their children in the ways of the Lord. (26a) When we live a consecrated life- when we observe God’s ordinances and commands, it’s going to stand out from the rest of the world.
Can you picture this? “Why paint the door posts with blood? Why lamb? Why unleavened bread?”
Why does your life look different? What does it mean to you?!?
And you say, come let me tell you of God’s faithfulness! This means that God heard our cries! That He cares deeply for us. It means that we are His and that He has something better in store for us. This rite was a reminder that the great I AM is a compassionate and holy God - That to deny Him is to deny life but to acknowledge and obey Him is receive life.
This event was an awesome display of God’s power, and with every passing year the Israelites could tell He saved them. They would explain that money and privilege could not save them… even Pharaoh’s house was not spared. They could tell how they waited in anticipation for the release from Egypt and how God delivered just as He said. But even greater is that they too could trust God with their life, their future… everything.
Now, hang with me because I want to show you how this Old Testament ordinance points us to Jesus:
Maybe you already made a few connections. But think with me:
It was on Passover, that Jesus took his disciples into the upper room to observe the ordinance set forth in our text. Jesus would take of the bread and the wine and say “This is my body, this is my blood” But where is the lamb?
When John the Baptist, the prophet set to announce the coming Messiah, saw Jesus, He declared: in John 1:29
John 1:29 NASB95
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Indeed, Jesus came to give His life as a ransom and rescue for sinners just like you and me! He is the perfect, unblemished lamb that was hoisted upon that old Roman cross- His sinless blood applied for all to see and behold. As the writer of Hebrews tells us about Jesus’ crucifixion: Heb 10:10-14
Hebrews 10:10–14 NASB95
10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. 14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
And as Peter told the crowd in Acts 2, having such a redemption offered, we are called to respond!
How do we respond to God’s provision? I believe it’s as Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 5:7
1 Corinthians 5:7 NASB95
7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.
IOW, Repent and believe! Trust in Christ and He will apply His blood to cover our lives and give us deliverance from the judgment of hell that we deserve! And even more than that deliverance, to be transformed NOW and to embrace the hope of an eternal future in heaven!
And when your kids or your neighbors ask you, “Why do you go to church? Why study the Bible? Why do you take the Lord’s Supper? Why did you give up your old ways? Why did you change your life?
You can proclaim the testimony that I once was desperately lost! I was doomed to death and hell, but God, who is rich in mercy sent His perfect son to take upon Himself the penalty I deserved.
It was on a cross that Jesus bled and died so that through faith His righteousness would be applied to the doorposts of my life! That’s why I have changed! And in obedience and gratitude I long for the day we no longer have to wrestle with the sins of this world.
But until then, we are to be set apart; to take of the ordinances of God in His church and testify of the power of God through Christ’s death and resurrection. And thus we die to ourselves and live to Christ.
This morning, if you have not yet received forgiveness for your sins. If you are trying to find some other way around the holiness and judgment of God- look here- Jesus is the only way. He’s the answer. Won’t you trust Him today?
[PRAY]
lord’s supper-
Discuss: The element of family faith and responsibility is evident in this text. What steps can you take to enhance the faith of your family?
Discuss: What does it look like for you to remove leaven in your life? (See 1 Cor. 5:7-8)
Discuss: How does the Lord’s Supper relate to the Passover celebration?
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