Deliverance at Last

Introduction

Read // Exodus 12:21-42

As I said last week, the Passover in Exodus 12 could be its own sermon series. However, we only have two weeks. I wanted to hit the whole picture story; we did that last week and talked about Passover, Last Supper, and Marriage Supper). This week, I want to look at the Passover for what it meant to the people of Israel AND Egypt.

We LOVE what happened to Israel, but we ignore what happened to Egypt.

Israel went free, because Egypt was judged. Which brings us to this point, that is a difficult point I will explain later and hope to lay a groundwork in coming years:

God’s gets the glory both in grace and in judgement. Today, we are going to place the grace of God into the context of his wrath. We cannot remove the two.

You might call me an Old-Fashioned Preacher: I need you to know that is the best compliment that you could give me.

MAIN POINT: When we neglect to understand the judgement of God, we lose our ability to fall upon God’s grace.

Explanation

Moses tells the people to participate in the Passover, and God will deliver them, and they obey God.

Notice: A hyssop bunch is used to spread the blood of the lamb over the doorpost. Do you know where hyssop is also used? 12 times in the Bible.

Hyssop is used to spread blood throughout the levitical laws, and it symbol of God’s cleansing power. The blood, spread by hyssop, cleanses.

English Standard Version Psalm 51

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

English Standard Version Chapter 19

A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.

God strikes down the firstborn in the entire land of Egypt, and Pharaoh finally lets God’s people go.

Textual Clues: God, not the angel of death, struck down the firstborn in the land of Egypt. It broke the people of Egypt.

Observe: God executes judgement, and He has the right to execute judgement when he sees fit and how he sees fit.

The Israelites left Egypt after 430 years, and the people of Egypt gave them many things as they left.

Textual Clues: Egypt had lived in Egypt 430 years (most of which they were enslaved), which is 186 years longer than the USA has been a nation.

Observe: Only God delivers, and God works on his own timetable.

Application

When we look at this text, we have to discuss the wrath and judgement of God.

Andrew Hamilton: God is glorified in salvation through judgement.

God is glorified as he calls sinners our of the darkness.

God is also glorified as those who have sinner against God are righteously judged.

God is the rescuers of sinners and the punisher of rebels.

C. S. Lewis // When we say that we are bad, the wrath of God seems a barbarous doctrine; as soon as we perceive our badness, it appears inevitable, a mere corollary of his goodness.

Jesus speaks about judgement more than anyone else, so if you have a problem with God, his wrath, you have a problem with Jesus.

God’s love is so great, in part, because His wrath is so fierce.

We have lost grasp of the fact that we have been saved from God’s judgment. We think that Satan reigns over the eternal fire that will forever be faced. It is God’s wrath that sinners who do not know Jesus will face.

God’s love is so great, because he saved us out of his judgment.

If God’s wrath is terrible, his grace is even better.

We like to tell God how he can judge instead of realizing that he is the judge. He is the standard. He is the only one.

We don’t get to say a punishment is distasteful or overly excessive, because we aren’t God.

We don’t get to say that God’s punishment is too much, because it has been committed against Him.

Conclusion

Run to Jesus, and be saved from your sins.

You are either under grace, or you are under judgement.

You are a sinner.

Sinners will be punished by God.

The only way to escape this punishment is to run to God.