Sermon Tone Analysis

Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.

31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

Introduction

takes us through the Journey of Faith that the Jews experienced.

They saw God work in amazing ways!

The Bible describes us as “strangers and pilgrims”

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

Our Christian Life is a Journey of Faith and it is exciting when you live by faith.

On our Journey we have Spiritual Mile Markers that we can look back to and remember what God did in our life, and how we have grown in the Lord

What we are going to see is that EACH mile-marker of faith in the life of the Moses and the children of Israel provided a test that they needed to pass to move on to the next test.

The tests that we pass build our confidence in the Lord

Mile Marker 1: The Passover v.28

Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

Realize: Following God by faith can put you under some pressure…that pressure is normal...

The Institution of the Passover

Arthur Pink quotes an old commentator who said, “The institution of the Passover was an act of faith, similar to that of Noah’s preparation of the ark.”

It was similar in that it required Moses to do some things that would, to human reason, look utterly ridiculous.

To tell the people to do the heretofore unheard of action of slaying thousands of lambs and applying the blood of the lambs on the door posts, plus give them other orders about leaven and the care of the food from the slain lambs would try their faith to the limit.

Everything seemed contrary to human reason.

Furthermore, Moses had not yet been successful in freeing the Israelites from the Egyptians.

So, he could reason, why would the people pay any attention to these “strange” orders?

Not only would the Egyptians think the people were acting strangely, but the Israelites could think the same thing and totally reject Moses’ orders.

Moses’ faith was under great pressure here, but it prevailed and he gave the orders anyway.

Faith is often put under great pressure by requiring it to act when human reasoning opposes it and when circumstances are not favorable.

But if faith is to be faith, it must believe the Word of God regardless of other influences and situations.

Noah had to build a boat which would cause people to think he was insane.

Moses had to give orders for the Passover observance that would not make sense to human reasoning either.

But faith “kept the Passover.”

And only faith could do it.

The Impact of the Passover

The tests begin

By instituting the Passover and by sprinkling the blood, he emphatically separated himself from Egyptian idolatry forever.

He flung down the gauntlet in defiance of the religious establishment.

For him, salvation was through the blood of the lamb, not through the waters of the Nile.

As a result, the firstborn of Israel were spared while the firstborn of Egypt were slain by the destroyer.

Study: For further Study

Mile Marker 2: Red Sea v.29

By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.

Mile Marker 3: Jericho v.30

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.

Mile Marker 4: Rehab v.31

By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

Conclusion