Under the Blood

Introduction:

Exodus 12:1–13 KJV

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3 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 an house: 4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: 6 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. 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. 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. 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.

Why preach from the Old Testament? Because I like to preach about Jesus and the Old Testament, like the New Testament is all about Jesus.

John 5:46 KJV

46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.

Isn’t that great. Moses wrote of Jesus. And I’ve said it before, but I will say it again, the entire Bible has Jesus at it’s center, it is all about Him. And as we study any scripture in the Word of God somewhere in that word is a type, a shadow, a figure, a form or a prophecy Jesus is there. And if at first we don’t find Him then we need to look again.

Many people open the scriptures with the idea of finding something that will back up their argument, or support some idea they have. Many want to put their own ideas in the Bible and they read it to support their ideas.

When we open the Word of God we need to pray, “Lord speak to my heart. Holy Spirit reveal the truths of the Word to me, teach me and help me to learn.” And when we do that what blessings will come our way through the understanding of God’s Holy Word.

Our text today the 12th chapter of Exodus speaks about the Passover. And we see the “lamb” in the Passover and the Passover lamb is the Old Testament picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look what Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 5:7 KJV

7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

The Old Testament they sacrificed a lamb, a picture of Jesus and in the New Testament Jesus is the Perfect Lamb of God and He became our sacrifice, died in our place, shed His blood for us.

And we have been talking over the past few weeks about the Exodus from Egypt in a series I called the Rod of God. The Israelites were in bondage in Egypt, and Egypt represents the world full of sin and evil. Pharaoh the ruler of Egypt was a dictator of sorts, and he sat upon the throne of Egypt and Pharaoh is a representation of Satan, a cruel taskmaster. And the Israelites as slaves in Egypt paint a picture of a lost person, someone who does not know Jesus as their Savior, someone who is in bondage under the cruel dictatorship of Satan.

God decided to deliver His people out of bondage. In order to get Pharaoh to release the Israelites God worked mighty miracles through Moses and the rod that Moses had cast on the ground before God. But Pharaoh hardened his heart, he refused to let the children of Israel go. So God sent the death angel to take the life of all the first born males in the land. And there was only one way to escape the death angel and that was through the blood of the lamb. God told the people:

Exodus 12:6–7 KJV

6 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. 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.

God told Moses to tell the Israelites “take a lamb without blemish, a perfect lamb and sacrifice that lamb, catch the blood of the lamb and take the blood and put it on the doorposts, the side posts, and the lintel of your house.”

That seems like a strange thing doesn’t it. But God’s instructions always have a reason, a purpose behind them. God didn’t just want them to slay all those perfect lambs for no reason. God said, “if you do this, if I see the blood, I will pass over”.

And that is the reason we call it the Passover Lamb, the Death Angel visited every house in Egypt that did not have the blood upon the doorposts, the side posts and the lintel. But for those who obeyed, who did as God instructed, the Angel Passed over that house and their first born was saved.

We will look at 2 main points in this sermon:

The Blood will make you safe

The Word will make you sure.

The Blood Will Make You Safe

Exodus 12:12–13 KJV

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.

“I will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt...When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”

Now look over in Hebrews:

Hebrews 9:22 KJV

22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

1 John 1:7 KJV

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Many today don’t want to talk about the blood, they don’t want to hear about the blood, they don’t want it preached or taught, it’s not a subject people like it want. It’s too gory.

I was reading an article talking about how many churches are taking the blood out of their songs and music and even found an article talking about the Today’s English Version of the Bible written by Pastor E. L. Bynum.

He gives reasons that he rejects the TEV Bible and one of them is that it has removed the blood of Jeses.

KJV Ephesians 1:7 says “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins...

TEV says “For by the death of Christ we are set free, and our sins are forgiven”...

It removes blood and redemption in Colossians 1:14, it removes blood of Jesus in Hebrews 10:19 and replaces it with death of Jesus.

Many don’t like the word blood and they would like to just do away with the blood and any teaching about the blood. The fact is without the shedding of blood there is no remission, no salvation.

I read that when Billy Graham first started preaching a Cornell University professor came to him and said. “Young man, you could have a good future, because God has given you certain gifts and abilities; but if you want to be accepted in this day and in this age you’re going to have to leave out that blood stuff.” And Bill Graham responded, “I’m sorry sir, but I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation, Romans 1:16

Romans 1:16 KJV

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

and The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18

1 Corinthians 1:18 KJV

18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Dwight L Moody had a lady write him a letter and ask him to stop preaching on the blood. He said “When I read that letter, I began to preach on the blood of Jesus Christ more than ever.”

Satan would love nothing more than to remove the blood because the blood of Jesus is the power of God unto salvation. Salvation comes only through the blood and without it we will all perish and suffer an eternity in hell.

We see the history of the blood all the way through scripture. It started with Adam and Eve. When they sinned they sewed clothes from fig leaves to hide themselves because they saw they were naked and they were ashamed. God came walking in the midst of the garden and they hid.

Genesis 3:7–10 KJV

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. 9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

But that wasn’t good enough, the leaves would not do.

Genesis 3:21 KJV

21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

Where did God get coats of skins? He had to slay animals, He had to shed blood. Think about that for a moment. Adam and Eve sinned, and the animals there in the garden knew no taint of sin, the animals had not rebelled against God. Yet an innocent animal had to be slain, my guess it was probably a Lamb. And this innocent animal was a picture of the Lamb of God.

A Blood Sacrifice

Last week we left off talking about how the blood. We saw how the blood is essential. We are speaking on the subject of The Blood Will Make You Safe. We saw Adam and Eve made clothes from fig leaves and that wasn’t good enough, so God slayed an animal, and made clothes of skins for them. Blood had to be shed for the covering of sin.

Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. They came to make a sacrifice to the Lord. Cain brought vegetables, the fruit of the ground, the work of his own hands and he offered a beautiful array of vegetables to the Lord as an offering. And in the sight of men this offering was way more acceptable than Abel’s offering. The Bible tells us that Abel took a lamb, the firstling of a flock, beautiful little creature without spot or blemish and he sacrificed a blood sacrifice to the Lord.

Genesis 4:3–4 KJV

3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. 4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and He rejected Cain’ s sacrifice. Why?

Hebrews 9:22 KJV

22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

Cain’s sacrifice is not the sacrifice prescribed by God. And in the Levitical Law God commanded a blood sacrifice. Throughout the ages the Jews have made sacrifices, of lambs, goats, oxen, bullocks. They were following the law God had given them. A blood sacrifice. And all those sacrifices in the days of the Old Testament were type’s of Jesus Christ, God’s perfect Lamb who gave Himself a sacrifice for the world. In the Old Testament God was preparing His people to receive the Lord Jesus Christ, helping them understand why God had to become man, why He had to be sacrificed.