Whom do you fear?

Proverbs 9:10 NASB95

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

My hope is that we would leave here this morning with a renewed reverence toward God. That regardless of how many times I fumble with my words, or crack some joke, that through my weakness, His power would be made known.

We are entering the passion week and it is a great and terrible day of the Lord is approaching.

Rather than depart from our Study in Hebrews, God has arranged that in the exact place we are in our study of God’s faithful, we looking at the passover.

I started preaching through the book of Hebrews with a sermon called “Jesus Loves Coffee” on September 20, 2024 and that has led us to today in Hebrews 11 talking about Moses and the first Passover on the Sunday before Easter where we celebrate the risen Lord who died on the Cross as our Passover Lamb.

So I ask again, Whom do you fear?

Hebrews 11:27–29 NASB95

27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them. 29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.

Passover

God’s purpose was to free the people of Israel from Egypt. He could have accomplished this by an innumerable numbers of ways.

Temporarily blind all the Egyptians and let His people walk right out, but as the Father looks on all things through all times, because of how he accomplished this He provided us a map that if we follow it, leads directly to Him through Christ.

Moses goes to Pharoah, as he was instructed and ask for all the Hebrews to go three days journey into the desert to sacrifice to the Lord.

Pharoah said no.

Plagues:

Water to blood

Frogs

Lice

flies

livestock pestilence

boils

hail

locust

darkness

Exodus 12:3–13 NASB95

3 “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. 4 ‘Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. 5 ‘Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 ‘You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. 7 ‘Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 ‘They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 ‘Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. 10 ‘And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. 11 ‘Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Lord’s Passover. 12 ‘For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against 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 live; 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.

God tells Moses this will be a celebrated feast for all times before the Passover occurs.

Exodus 12:14–15 NASB95

14 ‘Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. 15 ‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

To not obey God is to declare in your heart he does not exist.

“You can only find out what you actually believe (rather than what you think you believe) by watching how you act. You simply don’t know what you believe, before that. You are too complex to understand yourself.” Jordan Peterson

2 Corinthians 13:5 NASB95

5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?

This past Wednesday night we found ourselves in Chapter 5 of 1st Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 5:7–8 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. 8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Jesus said:

John 10:27 NASB95

27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;

At the Lord’s supper (celebrating the passover)

Jesus said:

John 14:21 NASB95

21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”

John 14:23 NASB95

23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.

Judas was there: He looked like one of them, he sounded like one of them, but he was not one of them.

Whom do you fear?

Jesus:

John 15:1–2 NASB95

1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.

God said the Israelites that didn’t obey the rules of the passover would be cut off:

Jesus said those that don’t obey Him by bearing fruit will be cut off:

Obedience is the evidence of your faith!

Hebrews 11 is telling us:

By faith he kept the Passover.

I don’t care what you say you believe: It is time to get the leaven out of your house, out of mouth, out of your social media, out of your bank account.

The Passover Lamb has been sacrificed, and the time to apply the blood is almost over because what comes next is judgement.

The Red Sea

Hebrews 11:29 NASB95

29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.

After the Passover, Pharoah told the Hebrews to go….but then changed his mind and pursued them with his armies.

Exodus 14:21–22 NASB95

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. 22 The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

Universal Studios.

Exodus 14:23–31 NASB95

23 Then the Egyptians took up the pursuit, and all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots and his horsemen went in after them into the midst of the sea. 24 At the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion. 25 He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.” 26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained. 29 But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses.

The world is never going to fear the Lord until its too late.

Pharoah had 10 plagues to teach him the fear of the Lord and he ignored everyone.

But Whom do you fear?

It is quite possible, you realized your actions have shown you that you don’t believe what you say or think you believe.

Confess that now. I want you to come up here an confess that the mirror you’ve been looking at this morning has convinced you that you haven’t been a follower of Jesus, but today you repent and believe.