Exodus: The Passover

Housekeeping:

Open your bibles to Exodus Chapter 11 this morning If you dont have a bible…

Introduce myself… Church Plant Resident, plant in 2023.

Before we Jump in: Pastor Brock is @ Doxa this morning to celebrate their 2 year

- today is 7 year anniversary at Redeemer!

Introduce the name.... Ascend Bible Church

Pray

Sermon Introduction:

Pull up chart from Last week I want us to remind ourselves where we have been… Last week we discussed how God is the one true God, and there is no other…

- God through the first 9 plaques is showing his power and authority over egypt that he is in control of all things ....

And today we are going to look at the final plaque but before we do that I want to take stock of where you are at…

Do you believe God is in control of all things?

I imagine this is a belief most of us hold Formally but do we hold it functionally

Ask yourself Functionally is there a time that if you were honest you stop believing God is in control?

Graham & The Playground… (mostly blind faith in me.. but there are limits)

It is easy to say God is in control, when we functionally could be in control of said thing.. but once it is out of our control it is a a lot harder release control over to God.

Transition: I would argue there is nothing harder to release over to God than the power of life and death....

- My hope is through Today’s passage we can see that God is the only one who is truly in control of life and death.... There is no doctor, no man, no leader, our yourself that can control life and death.

This mornings Big Idea:

The Gospel of The Passover:

Big Idea: God is in the position of authority over life & death.

We will see God establish his authority in two scenes…

A. Scene 1: God vs Egypt (Gods Power over death)

B. Scene 2: Gods protection for the people of Israel… The Passover (Gods power over life)

Scene 1: Gods authority over death.

Exodus 11 ESV

The Lord said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry.” And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people. So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get 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. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.

Exodus 11:5 ESV

and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle.

How does this hit you?

Do you question Gods actions? Is God just…

I want us to try to get our mind clear on this… and I think its important we think through a few things because this is heavy…

In your theology … Does God have the authority to do this.

Two things I think we should note…

Killing of the firstborn .... In Gods omnipotence you think he doesn’t know the weight of this loss?

Also, This isn’t the first time someone has assumed authority over life and death…

In fact this is how the book of Exodus begins… …

Egypt’s attempt to control Life and Death.

Exodus begins with a pharoah attempting to kill all the baby boys of Israel… and they failed

Exodus 1:16–20 ESV

“When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong.

This is the story of Moses… He is a failed attempt for a Pharoah to take control over life & death.

But When God shows his authority over death...

Exodus 11:7 ESV

But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’

When the Pharoah of Egypt enacts his authority he not only fails… but When God inacts his authority not even a dog will growl....

THE Lord makes a distinction.... There are those who follow God and those who do not.

Make no mistake there is a distinction between the way God see his people, and those who are outside of his household.

Transition: What we are about to look at as we turn to chapter twelve is how God marks and redeems the people of Isreal… because I don't want us to get the false Idea that the people of Israel have done anything to earn Gods favor.....

This is where we begin to see the Good news of Exodus.

Scene 2: God authority over life. (The Passover)

The Passover that we are about to Read about:

- Is a defining moment for Israel .

- will send redemptive reverberations all the way to the cross of Jesus Christ.

Dont miss it this morning God will offer a way for his people to conquer his wrath, and rather than receive death have life this leads us to scene 2.

Jesus Christ himself will celebrate the Passover and make a bridge that connects the passover to the New Covenant.

If It was just you and I.. I would read it and just go “the what ”....

Elements of the Passover:

The Lamb

The Blood

The Bread

The Lamb

Exodus 12:1–6 (ESV)

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

Exodus 12:5 ESV

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats,

What is the sacrifice to be like:

A lamb without blemish

1 year old.

The Blood

Exodus 12:7–13 ESV

“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. 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.

The Blood of the blemish-less lamb is the sign to passover death.

And in doing this....

When God’s Judgement comes, you will be passed over.

The Bread

Exodus 12:14–20 ESV

“This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”

God is instituting that his people keep the passover.

So lets recap:

God is showing his authority over life and death with one final plaque.. A terrible death, and he is making a way for his people to be passed over from his wrath… using these elements, and is going to instruct a celebratory meal that they do in remembrance of this forever.

Transition: and they do it… We are going to skip 21-28 because we have just read where God instructs Moses and then the latter verses repeat Moses giving that instruction. So lets listen to these events unfold. Back to Part Scene 1....

Back to Scene 1:

Exodus 12:29–42 ESV

At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!” The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.

Can you imagine:

430 years Isreal was in captivity in Egypt.

God never forgot about them.

God was always at work in holding true to his covenant with his people.

The Lord keeps by his people.

Transition: as we close out the message this morning there is one more part to chapter 12 that I really think we cant skip over.

What we have done:

Established Gods authority over life and Death and Egpytians lack of authority

Understood the Elements of the Passover…

Listened to the events of the passover unfold

but there is one more part of Chapter 12 I think we would be sad to skip over, and first glance it may not seem significant.. oh but it is.

Lastly in closing: The Institution of the Passover

Exodus 12:43–47 ESV

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.

The Household of faith: God makes a clear distinction between his people and everyone else.

This story should grow our view of God.

We should respond it faith.

When we look at the elements of the passover on this side of the Cross we shouldnt be able to do anything but fall on our knees in worship.

Worship should lead us to >> Walk, Work, Witness. Not because we are faithful because we understand that God is the author of life, and he has made a way for us to receive life… shout it from the rooftops. May we be a people who never walk the same after we meet Jesus.

Through Each Plague we learn that there is no other God than one we showed up to worship.

Now… Lets talk to the Outsider: God in his love and Grace even in the Old testament makes a way for those outside his covenant to come into the household of faith.

Exodus 12:47–50 ESV

All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.” All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.

1) In Gods sovereignty.... He makes a way for those outside to join the household of faith.

2) Both in the OT & the NT.

3) The simple requirement is to receive the sacrifice of the blood of the lamb.

- If you have yet to profess Christ… there is room for you in the family of God.

- I will be up front!

Pray