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Voddie Baucham - The Night of Redemption · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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Speaker 1: If you have your Bibles with you, please open to
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Speaker 1: Exodus chapter twelve. Exodus chapter twelve. Today we're looking at
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Speaker 1: verses twenty one to thirty two as we continue on
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Speaker 1: this journey to understanding the Passover, not just understanding the
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Speaker 1: Passover in its historical context, but also understanding the Passover
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Speaker 1: in its theological context, understanding the ways in which the
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Speaker 1: Passover is connected to the Lord's Supper, and understanding the
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Speaker 1: ways in which we can grow and deepen in our
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Speaker 1: appreciation even for this meal that we partake of weekly.
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Speaker 1: And doing so on last week, we saw the importance
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Speaker 1: of worship as a commemorative act, the importance of seeing
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Speaker 1: what we do when we gather here as commemorative, seeing
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Speaker 1: what we do as being about more than just entertaining
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Speaker 1: or inspiring us, but about reminding us of those things
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Speaker 1: that are true and why those things are true, About
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Speaker 1: reminding us of those things that we need, those things
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Speaker 1: that God has done, reminding us of who God is
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Speaker 1: and of who God has done. You remember, I've shared
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Speaker 1: on a number of occasion bruce Leafblad's definition of worship.
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Speaker 1: True worship happens when we set our mind's attention and
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Speaker 1: heart's affection on the Lord, praising him for who he
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Speaker 1: is and for what he has done. This encompasses this
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Speaker 1: idea of commemoration, and last week I sort of made
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Speaker 1: the point that were not for Israel's faithfulness and commemorating
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Speaker 1: the Passover, among other things, then when Christ came, we
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Speaker 1: would not have had the necessary theological prerequisites to understand
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Speaker 1: his death, burial, and resurrection. We could not understand these
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Speaker 1: ideas of substitutionary atonement and expiation and propitiation were it
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Speaker 1: not for things like the Passover and the Day of Atonement.
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Speaker 1: It is only when we have these rituals that have
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Speaker 1: been carried out for thousands of years by Israel that
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Speaker 1: we are able to then look at Jesus and his
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Speaker 1: ministry and understand its significance, understand what Jesus accomplished and
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Speaker 1: why it is that he accomplished it in the way
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Speaker 1: that he did. In fact, there are those who look
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Speaker 1: at the Gospel and this message of Jesus Christ and
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Speaker 1: what he has accomplished through his death, and they ask
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Speaker 1: questions like, well, why would the death of this one
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Speaker 1: man have anything to do with other people who've sinned
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Speaker 1: against God? Well, you only ask that question if you
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Speaker 1: are not acquainted with the idea of the past over
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Speaker 1: Lamb and the Pascal Lamb. Now these are two different ideas.
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Speaker 1: Jesus brings them together in their fullness in the Lord's Supper,
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Speaker 1: where actually I would argue celebrating both of these things,
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Speaker 1: because you have the passover Lamb, and this passover Lamb,
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Speaker 1: as we'll see, is about that deliverance in Exodus, the
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Speaker 1: Pascal Lamb later on, and the Day of Atonement is
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Speaker 1: about the sins of the people being atoned for, and
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Speaker 1: so it brings a fuller understanding of what Jesus comes
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Speaker 1: to do. If you're not careful, all you have is
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Speaker 1: the passover Lamb. You think that all Jesus, that all
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Speaker 1: Jesus came to do, was deliver God's people from bad
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Speaker 1: people who did bad things to them. You don't have
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Speaker 1: an understanding that God's people are sinners too who need
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Speaker 1: to be delivered from the wrath of God because of
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Speaker 1: their own sin. Amen. But when you have the picture
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Speaker 1: of the Pascal Lamb, when you have the picture of
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Speaker 1: the day of atonement of yam kipor when you have
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Speaker 1: the picture of the Lamb being slain for the sins
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Speaker 1: of the people. Well, now you have the idea, more fully,
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Speaker 1: the idea that the lamb has to be slain so
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Speaker 1: that we can escape the wrath of God. So as
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Speaker 1: we do this, it's important for us to understand that
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Speaker 1: this even speaks to our own worship and why our
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Speaker 1: own worship needs to be shaped in certain ways, because
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Speaker 1: we are commemorating certain truths that need to be understood.
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Speaker 1: We don't just come here so that we can be
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Speaker 1: caused or made to feel a certain way. We don't
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Speaker 1: just come here so that we can be rejuvenated. We
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Speaker 1: don't just come here so that we can be entertained.
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Speaker 1: We don't just come here just so that we can
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Speaker 1: be informed or have this sort of therapeutic cathartic experience.
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Speaker 1: We come here because there are truths about God and
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Speaker 1: truths about us, and we need to be reminded of
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Speaker 1: those truths again and again and again. And so what
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Speaker 1: we do when we gather, it's all about commory reading
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Speaker 1: these things. But now we come to that place in
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Speaker 1: Exodus chapter twelve where we see the night of redemption,
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Speaker 1: the night of redemption, not the day of redemption, the
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Speaker 1: night of redemption. And I tried to think about ways
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Speaker 1: to illustrate this. And it's really interesting that for most
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Speaker 1: of us, we've never experienced anything that compares. But perhaps
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Speaker 1: if you had ever been incarcerated and you knew that
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Speaker 1: your sentence was almost up, if you had ever been
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Speaker 1: a prisoner of war, and you knew that the war
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Speaker 1: was over, that treaties had been signed, and that there
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Speaker 1: was a day on which your ordeal was finally going
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Speaker 1: to be over. I think about slavery in this country
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Speaker 1: and some of my own ancestors. I've said it before,
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Speaker 1: you know, I'm reminded regularly whenever someone calls me by
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Speaker 1: my you know, my nice wholesome German name, I'm reminded
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Speaker 1: that that's because our people were owned by another family.
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Speaker 1: I have no idea what my name ought to be.
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Speaker 1: And yet I also can't fully comprehend what it would
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Speaker 1: have been like to wait for emancipation and then to
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Speaker 1: finally have it come, to have the Thirteenth Amendment signed
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Speaker 1: and ratified, and to have freedom from slavery actually declared,
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Speaker 1: and then one day to just be able to go free.
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Speaker 1: I can't comprehend that because I've never experienced anything that
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Speaker 1: compares to that. And so here are the people of Israel.
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Speaker 1: No one here is old enough to remember when this began.
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Speaker 1: And yet tonight it's going to end tonight. And it's
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Speaker 1: not going to end tonight because there was a date
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Speaker 1: on a calendar, and we've been waiting for this date
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Speaker 1: on a calendar. It's going to end tonight because there
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Speaker 1: have been nine plagues that pounded Egypt again and again
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Speaker 1: and again, and Pharaoh continued to harden his heart. And
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Speaker 1: then God said, this tenth plague is the plague to
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Speaker 1: end all plagues, and tonight he's going to not only
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Speaker 1: let you go, he's going to run you out of here.
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Speaker 1: Three series of plagues, three series of three plagues, each
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Speaker 1: the same pattern of one, two, three in the morning
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Speaker 1: in chambers. And then without warning these plagues came three
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Speaker 1: series of plagues. And then this one that's not part
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Speaker 1: of a series of three, this one that stands alone
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Speaker 1: all by itself. Three series of plagues that only led
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Speaker 1: to a hardened heart and to Israel not being allowed
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Speaker 1: to go. And this one plague where God says, get
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Speaker 1: your things ready, because tonight you leave. What must that
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Speaker 1: have been like? What must it have been like for
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Speaker 1: old men and old women whose backs were bent over
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Speaker 1: not only with age, but with the hardship of toil,
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Speaker 1: whose only escape from the toil that they used to
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Speaker 1: do was their arthritic hands that can now no longer
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Speaker 1: do the same work anymore. And after spending their entire
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Speaker 1: life and watching all of their friends and ancestors lay
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Speaker 1: down and die in the dust and mud of slavery,
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Speaker 1: God says, tonight you leave. What must it have been
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Speaker 1: like for strong young men and women in their prime
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Speaker 1: who thought that all they had to look forward to
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Speaker 1: was wasting their strength in advancing Pharaoh and Egypt, who
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Speaker 1: now have the opportunity to give their strength and their
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Speaker 1: prime and their pride to this nation that God is
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Speaker 1: going to establish as he lets him go. What must
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Speaker 1: that have been like? And what must it have been
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Speaker 1: like for young ones who weren't even yet able to
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Speaker 1: comprehend what it meant, and for them to be part
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Speaker 1: of this oppressed community of people who don't have the
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Speaker 1: years and the years and the years of waiting, but
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Speaker 1: still experience the excitement of this night. What must it
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Speaker 1: have been like? Interestingly enough, the Bible doesn't tell us
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Speaker 1: we don't get glimpses into the experiences of various homes
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Speaker 1: and families. We don't get that story. We just get
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Speaker 1: the collective story, because this is about the redemption and
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Speaker 1: creation of a people. So we begin this night of
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Speaker 1: redemption begins with detailed instructions so that the people knew
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Speaker 1: what to do. Beginning of verse twenty one, Verses twenty
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Speaker 1: one to twenty three called all the elders of Israel
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Speaker 1: and said to them, go and select lambs for yourselves
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Speaker 1: according to your clans, and kill the passover lamb. Take
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Speaker 1: a bunch of hissip and dip it in the blood
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Speaker 1: that is in the basin, and touch the lentil and
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Speaker 1: the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin.
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Speaker 1: None of you shall go out of the door of
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Speaker 1: his house until the morning, for the Lord will pass
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Speaker 1: through to strike the Egyptians. And when he sees the
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Speaker 1: blood on the lentil and on the two doorposts, the
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Speaker 1: Lord will pass over the door and will not allow
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Speaker 1: the destroyer to enter your house to strike you. Please
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Speaker 1: don't let that pass you by. How ominous that is.
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Speaker 1: Death is coming tonight, and here's what you do, so
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Speaker 1: that the death that is all around you doesn't touch you. Also,
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Speaker 1: don't miss God's providence and the means, in the means
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Speaker 1: of delivering these instructions, How do you tell hundreds of
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Speaker 1: thousands of people what to do and how to do
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Speaker 1: it in a single night, How do you do it?
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Speaker 1: You do that because God in his providence has actually
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Speaker 1: preserved Israel as a people during this four hundred and
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Speaker 1: thirty years. He still preserved them as a people, and
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Speaker 1: they still have structure and order, and they still have elders,
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Speaker 1: and they still have plans, and they still have families.
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Speaker 1: So that Moses doesn't have to get to everyone. He
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Speaker 1: gets to the leaders, who then gets to their clans,
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Speaker 1: who then get to their families, so that these things
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Speaker 1: can be communicated, because these structures are essential for the
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Speaker 1: maintenance and advancement of a people. Listen to Calvin. Although
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Speaker 1: the disorganization of the people had been terrible under the
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Speaker 1: severe tyranny, still God willed that certain relics of order
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Speaker 1: should be preserved and did not suffer those whom he
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Speaker 1: had adopted to be deprived of all government. This also
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Speaker 1: had been an availing means of preserving their unity so
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Speaker 1: that the chosen seed of Abraham should not be lost. Folks,
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Speaker 1: don't miss that it is the providence of God that
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Speaker 1: kept them together as a people even in the midst
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Speaker 1: of their oppression. It was the providence of God that
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Speaker 1: kept order and structure among the Jewish people. They wouldn't
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Speaker 1: be able to leave without order and structure. It's too
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Speaker 1: many people. There would be chaos, it wouldn't work. But
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Speaker 1: it's only because they maintained this order and this structure
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Speaker 1: in the providence of God, that they were able to
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Speaker 1: get the instructions to everyone, and that they were able
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Speaker 1: to continue on and do what they were called to do. Also,
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Speaker 1: don't miss the gospel centered nature of these instructions. Three
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Speaker 1: basic things. Number one, kill the lamb, Number two apply
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Speaker 1: the blood, and number three stay inside. Sounds like a
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Speaker 1: sermon in itself, does it not. The first one, kill
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Speaker 1: the lamb. God didn't just say, get some blood from
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Speaker 1: some lambs. He didn't just say, kill a lamb and
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Speaker 1: share as much of his blood as you possibly can.
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Speaker 1: It's a lamb per household, he says, kill the lamb.
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Speaker 1: It's not just that there's some blood from the lamb.
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Speaker 1: It's that there is the death of the lamb. Not
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Speaker 1: just the blood, but the death. The lamb must die.
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Speaker 1: It's not the blood of a living lamb. It's the
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Speaker 1: blood of a lamb who has been slain. This is
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Speaker 1: the message of the gospel, is it not. Christ didn't
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Speaker 1: just give us a transfusion. He died. The Lamb was slain,
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Speaker 1: and it's the blood of a slain lamb that is required.
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Speaker 1: One Corinthians five, seven and eight. Cleanse out the old leaven,
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Speaker 1: that you may be a new lump, as you really
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Speaker 1: are unleavened. For Christ, our passover Lamb has been sacrificed.
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Speaker 1: Let us therefore celebrate the festival not with the old leaven,
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Speaker 1: the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleaven
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Speaker 1: bread of sincerity and truth. Christ is our passover lamb,
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Speaker 1: and he's been sacrificed. He died. He died. Why does
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Speaker 1: it make sense because of the passover? It makes sense
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Speaker 1: because of the passover. Not only do we kill the lamb,
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Speaker 1: we apply the blood. The blood has to be applied.
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Speaker 1: If you kill the lamb and don't apply the blood
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Speaker 1: to the house, the death angel still comes. You must
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Speaker 1: kill the lamb, and you must apply the blood one
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Speaker 1: Peter one, thirteen to twenty one. We've looked at this before,
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Speaker 1: but it's worth looking at it again. Therefore, preparing your
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Speaker 1: minds for action, and being sober minded, set your hope
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Speaker 1: fully on the grace that will be brought to you
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Speaker 1: at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do
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Speaker 1: not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.
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Speaker 1: But as he who called us is holy, you also
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Speaker 1: be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written
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Speaker 1: you shall be holy, for I am holy. And if
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Speaker 1: you call on Him as Father, who judges impartially according
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Speaker 1: to each one's deeds, conduct yourself with fear throughout the
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Speaker 1: time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from
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Speaker 1: the feudal ways, inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable
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Speaker 1: things such as silver or gold, but with the precious
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Speaker 1: blood of Christ, like that of a lamb, without blemish
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Speaker 1: or spot. He was manifested in the last times for
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Speaker 1: the sake of you, who threw him, our believers in God,
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Speaker 1: who raised him from the dead and gave him glory.
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Speaker 1: So that your faith and hope are in God through
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Speaker 1: the blood of Christ applied. It's not just that Jesus died,
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Speaker 1: but that the blood is applied again. Christ died right,
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Speaker 1: so it's done. We believe in universal atonement. Everybody's saved.
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Speaker 1: Could Jesus died, No, Only those who have applied the blood.
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Speaker 1: Only those who have come and repentance and faith. Only
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Speaker 1: those who have turned from their sin and turned to Christ.
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Speaker 1: Only those who have acknowledged their sin and their need
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Speaker 1: of Jesus. This is the way the blood is applied
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Speaker 1: to us. It has to be applied. The lamb is
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Speaker 1: not just slain. The blood must be applied. And then
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Speaker 1: stay inside, don't go out there. Jamison, Fascet and Brown
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Speaker 1: say this regulation was peculiar to the first celebration. This
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Speaker 1: is not the case afterward. But on this particular night
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Speaker 1: they're told don't go out. Why we're not told why
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Speaker 1: healing Dyala's right. The reason for the command not to
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Speaker 1: go out of the door of the house was that
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Speaker 1: in this night of judgment, there would be no safety
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Speaker 1: anywhere except behind the blood stained door. There is no
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Speaker 1: other safe place. There is no hope in any other
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Speaker 1: There is no other name under heaven given among men
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Speaker 1: whereby we must be saved. It is only the name
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Speaker 1: of Jesus. It is only the blood of Christ. There
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Speaker 1: is nowhere to go, There is nowhere to run. He
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Speaker 1: is the only answer, and he is the only hope.
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Speaker 1: These instructions were crucial and essential, not only for Israel,
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Speaker 1: but also for you and for me. This is the gospel, people,
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Speaker 1: This is the gospel. This is the good news. That
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Speaker 1: there is hope because the land was slain. There is hope,
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Speaker 1: because the blood was applied. There is hope because we
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Speaker 1: are found in him. That's why there's hope. And we
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Speaker 1: will not, We must not. We cannot stand before God
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Speaker 1: with anything other than this, Oh sinner, do not trust
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Speaker 1: in anything other than the Lamb and his blood and
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Speaker 1: being found in him. Do not trust in your own goodness.
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Speaker 1: Do not trust in your own righteousness. Do not trust
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Speaker 1: in your own list of dos and don'ts. Do not
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Speaker 1: trust in your empty acts of religion. But trust only
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Speaker 1: in that true religion that we have from God himself.
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Speaker 1: Trust only in Christ and his finished work. Cast yourself
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Speaker 1: upon him, because he is your only hope. Young man,
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Speaker 1: young woman, don't you dare trust in the faith of
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Speaker 1: your mother and your father. You must apply the blood.
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Speaker 1: You must be found on the inside. You must do this.
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Speaker 1: God has no grandchildren. On this night of redemption, there
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Speaker 1: was also a perpetual reminder, so that this people would
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Speaker 1: never forget Verses twenty four to twenty seven. You shall
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Speaker 1: observe this right as a statute for you and for
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Speaker 1: your sons forever. And when you come to the land
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Speaker 1: that the Lord will give you, as he has promised,
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Speaker 1: you shall keep this service. And when your children say
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Speaker 1: to you, what do you mean by this service, you
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Speaker 1: shall say, it is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover,
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Speaker 1: for the He passed over the houses of the people
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Speaker 1: of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians, but
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Speaker 1: spared our houses. Several things are amazing about this number
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Speaker 1: one that there's a promise of a future. Can you
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Speaker 1: imagine Here's tonight is the night of our deliverance. But God,
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Speaker 1: this is Pharaoh. He's hardened his heart again and again
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Speaker 1: and again. And then even if he does let us go,
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Speaker 1: what are we going to do after that? Are we
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Speaker 1: going to get out of here and go die in
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Speaker 1: the desert? Are we going to get out of here
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Speaker 1: and go get killed by some other nation or captured
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Speaker 1: by some other What do you mean? What are we
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Speaker 1: gonna do? What happens after this? We get out? But
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Speaker 1: what happens after this? God says, what happens after this.
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Speaker 1: There's a promise. There is a land of promise. It's
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Speaker 1: a promise that I made to Abraham. I'm going to
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Speaker 1: keep that promise. It's going to happen. You are not
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Speaker 1: just going out of somewhere, You're going into somewhere. I'm
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Speaker 1: going to make you a people. I have already made
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Speaker 1: you a people. I'm going to make you, make you
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Speaker 1: a nation and give you a land. So there tremendous
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Speaker 1: promise in this night. Also the importance of the ritual.
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Speaker 1: Why is the ritual important? The ritual is important for
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Speaker 1: future generations. That's why. So that there is the national observance,
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Speaker 1: so that the people as a whole can hold hold
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Speaker 1: on to this idea. But there's also the individual observance
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Speaker 1: and individual families. Don't miss this. God is doing something corporately,
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Speaker 1: but he's also doing something in individual families. And it's
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Speaker 1: because he preserved these families the way he preserved these
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Speaker 1: families that they are able to experience this truth. And
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Speaker 1: he still intends that his truths be preserved in families.
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Speaker 1: God is the one who created, who ordained the institution
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Speaker 1: of the family, and it is as the as the
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Speaker 1: the not the Pilgrims. Who am I talking about the Puritans?
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Speaker 1: Thank you out of Pilgrims, thanksgivings all over me. Man,
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Speaker 1: I just wanted to say, pilgrims so bad it is.
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Speaker 1: The family is, as the Puritans said over and over again,
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Speaker 1: the seminary of both the church and the eight. The
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Speaker 1: family is the seminary of the church. In the state,
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Speaker 1: the state is dependent upon the family. The state can't
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Speaker 1: raise children. It tries, but the state can't raise children.
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Speaker 1: That's a familiar responsibility. The church can't raise children. That's
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Speaker 1: a familiar responsibility. Discipling your children is a familiar responsibility.
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Speaker 1: So there is a sense in this day to day reality,
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Speaker 1: so that our children are both part of this corporate reality.
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Speaker 1: And they come here and they see these symbols again
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Speaker 1: and again and again, but then day after day after
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Speaker 1: day in their homes they see them reiterated. This is
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Speaker 1: what Israel was to experience. This is what Psalm seventy
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Speaker 1: eight is hauled about, the passing on of these truths
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Speaker 1: from one generation to the next. This is why a
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Speaker 1: breakdown in the family leads to a breakdown in the
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Speaker 1: church and a break down in the culture. Always you
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Speaker 1: you will not have healthy churches. You will not have
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Speaker 1: healthy communities. If you don't have healthy families. It just
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Speaker 1: doesn't work. It won't work. This is essential. Thirdly, this
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Speaker 1: night of Redemption was a night of solemn obedience. Notice
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Speaker 1: not only that they obeyed, but notice how they obeyed.
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Speaker 1: The last part of twenty seven and twenty eight, there's
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Speaker 1: a couple of things that happen. I mean, there could
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Speaker 1: be celebration in the streets, right, but this is not
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Speaker 1: an event that calls for celebration. The way that God
25:40
Speaker 1: is going to deliver them the nine plagues that have
25:42
Speaker 1: gone before them, and even this plague, people bowed their
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Speaker 1: heads and worshiped. Then the people of Israel went and
25:53
Speaker 1: did so as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.
25:56
Speaker 1: So they did there. It is you notice how solemn
26:00
Speaker 1: this is. This is not something that they're celebrating. Folks,
26:05
Speaker 1: When we realize that we have been redeemed by the
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Speaker 1: blood of Jesus, when we realize that God is a
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Speaker 1: holy and righteous God and that he judges his enemies,
26:15
Speaker 1: when we realize that he will rain down terror on
26:20
Speaker 1: those who oppose him, we don't stand up and beat
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Speaker 1: our chests and point our fingers, we bow our heads
26:27
Speaker 1: and humble worship and adoration, recognizing that but for the
26:33
Speaker 1: grace of God there go I. It is only by
26:38
Speaker 1: God's grace. And they understand that that it is only
26:43
Speaker 1: by God's grace. And because they understand that it is
26:46
Speaker 1: only by God's grace, they are solemn in the way
26:50
Speaker 1: that they observed this night. Ecclesiastes tells us, does it
26:57
Speaker 1: not that there is a time and to season for
27:01
Speaker 1: every purpose under heaven. There is a time to rejoice,
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Speaker 1: and there is also a time to mourn. And when
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Speaker 1: people are experiencing the consequences of their sin, we mourn,
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Speaker 1: we grieve. And we don't just mourn and grieve because people,
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Speaker 1: maybe in the image of God, are experiencing consequences of
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Speaker 1: their sin. But we mourn and we grieve because we
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Speaker 1: recognize that we too are guilty. We're guilty. Fourthly, we
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Speaker 1: see the severe judgment so that God's righteousness is upheld.
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Speaker 1: Twenty nine and thirty at midnight, the Lord struck down
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Speaker 1: all the first born in the land of Egypt, from
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Speaker 1: the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, to
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Speaker 1: the firstborn of the captive, who was in the dungeon
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Speaker 1: and all the first born of the livestock. And Pharaoh
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Speaker 1: rose up in the night, he and all his servants
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Speaker 1: and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry
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Speaker 1: in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone
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Speaker 1: was not dead. Lord, have mercy. How do we read that?
28:38
Speaker 1: You read that and you understand the previous paragraph. You
28:40
Speaker 1: read that and you understand why people are solemn in
28:42
Speaker 1: their observance. You read that and you realize that when
28:46
Speaker 1: God takes vengeance, we don't celebrate at midnight. At midnight.
29:03
Speaker 1: Remember when I was a boy growing up. You know,
29:05
Speaker 1: you grow up and you come of age, and you
29:08
Speaker 1: know you're a little older and you can go out.
29:10
Speaker 1: And I remember being told as a boy, you be
29:15
Speaker 1: home whatever time it was, whatever my curfew was living
29:18
Speaker 1: or whatever. But I also remember that saying, boy, don't
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Speaker 1: nothing good happen after midnight. Don't nothing good happen after midnight.
29:26
Speaker 1: You don't need to just get home, don't worry about
29:29
Speaker 1: staying out late. Nothing good happened after midnight. There is
29:36
Speaker 1: still this ominous ring to that concept of midnight, that
29:42
Speaker 1: time when you're supposed to be asleep, and if you're not,
29:44
Speaker 1: it's because something's wrong. If you're not, it's because you've
29:48
Speaker 1: been awakened by something, and in this case, they were
29:51
Speaker 1: awakened by death itself. Notice, from the greatest to the least,
29:56
Speaker 1: from Pharaoh who sat on the throne to the captive
30:01
Speaker 1: in the jail in the dungeon, noticed this. And again
30:06
Speaker 1: this explodes the myth of liberation, theology that Israel is
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Speaker 1: being liberated by God because God is always on the
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Speaker 1: side of the little man. He's always on the side
30:18
Speaker 1: of the oppressed. That's not true. From the greatest to
30:24
Speaker 1: the least in Egypt, not just the powerful in Egypt,
30:28
Speaker 1: but even the weak in Egypt were judged by God.
30:32
Speaker 1: Not only the rich in Egypt, but also the poor
30:35
Speaker 1: in Egypt were judged by God. Because God doesn't pick
30:40
Speaker 1: favorites based on socioeconomic status. It's not a wealth issue,
30:46
Speaker 1: it's a sin issue. This was a sin issue, and
30:50
Speaker 1: He judged all of Egypt. And get this, even if
30:55
Speaker 1: the Israelites had not obeyed, they would have experienced the
30:58
Speaker 1: same judgment that each experienced. I don't think it's going
31:06
Speaker 1: out on a limb to say that there was probably
31:08
Speaker 1: a house or two where people didn't necessarily believe this.
31:14
Speaker 1: Know this. If there was an Israelite household where a
31:19
Speaker 1: lamb wasn't killed, or the blood wasn't applied, or they
31:24
Speaker 1: didn't stay in the house, then they got what Egypt got.
31:29
Speaker 1: Because God is no respector of persons. He never has
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Speaker 1: been and he never will be. Death rained down on
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Speaker 1: Egypt because of the sinfulness of Egypt, and all of
31:44
Speaker 1: Egypt was held accountable because of the sinfulness of Pharaoh,
31:50
Speaker 1: because he was their federal head. And that last phrase,
31:56
Speaker 1: there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was
31:59
Speaker 1: not a house where someone was not dead. Most of
32:09
Speaker 1: us have never seen death because it's not part of
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Speaker 1: our culture anymore. Most people go away to a hospital
32:20
Speaker 1: and they die in a hospital. Most of us are
32:23
Speaker 1: not around even when that happens. They're cleaned up and
32:28
Speaker 1: they're tucked away at the morgue. Somebody then comes and
32:33
Speaker 1: prepares them. Maybe we see them, maybe we don't. Often
32:39
Speaker 1: at funerals, we don't even open caskets anymore. Death comes
32:44
Speaker 1: to people in our culture and we don't see it.
32:48
Speaker 1: There are adults in this room who have gone their
32:52
Speaker 1: entire life and never seen a lifeless body, and so
32:58
Speaker 1: it's not a real thing, and we wouldn't even know
33:03
Speaker 1: how to respond to it. But in this culture, they
33:10
Speaker 1: were accustomed to and acquainted with it. But even so
33:17
Speaker 1: on a night like this where it touched every home,
33:25
Speaker 1: nobody's ready for that. This was wrath on a scale
33:36
Speaker 1: that was unimaginable and unparalleled, and no one was ready
33:43
Speaker 1: for it. And here are people crying out in anguish
33:48
Speaker 1: because of the death of the firstborn. And in many
33:51
Speaker 1: houses there may have been multiple first borns, because now
33:54
Speaker 1: you have grandparents and parents and children all living together.
33:59
Speaker 1: That was the kind of alter that this was. And
34:01
Speaker 1: so if you have a grandparent who was a first born,
34:04
Speaker 1: they're gone, and then a parent who was a first born,
34:07
Speaker 1: they're gone, and then a child who was a first born,
34:09
Speaker 1: they're gone. So there were multiple deaths in certain houses
34:13
Speaker 1: in Egypt that night. And not only do we have
34:16
Speaker 1: these multiple deaths in these houses, but now you go
34:19
Speaker 1: out and you don't even what to do, know what
34:20
Speaker 1: to do, and in your grief, you go out seeking
34:23
Speaker 1: someone to comfort you, and there's no one to comfort you.
34:26
Speaker 1: Why because every other family has experienced the same thing
34:31
Speaker 1: and they've got no comfort left. We can't comprehend this.
34:47
Speaker 1: We can't comprehend. And yet before you go thinking that
34:56
Speaker 1: God is so wicked and so evil. For eighty years,
35:02
Speaker 1: this is what the Egyptians did to the Israelites. That's
35:10
Speaker 1: why Moses was put in a basket. Folks, because this
35:17
Speaker 1: is what the Egyptians did to the Israelites, decade after
35:23
Speaker 1: decade after decade. Don't think for a moment that the
35:32
Speaker 1: Egyptians aren't aware of what this means and where it
35:37
Speaker 1: comes from. This is God bringing on Pharaoh and all
35:43
Speaker 1: of his people. What Pharaoh and his people brought upon
35:48
Speaker 1: God's people, They chose this for themselves. Again, Jamison and Brown,
36:02
Speaker 1: it is more easy to imagine than describe the confusion
36:06
Speaker 1: and terror that people of that people suddenly roused from
36:11
Speaker 1: sleep and enveloped in darkness. None could assist their neighbor.
36:16
Speaker 1: When the groans of the dying and the wild shrieks
36:19
Speaker 1: of mourners were heard everywhere aloud, the hope of every
36:24
Speaker 1: family was destroyed at a stroke. This judgment terrible, though
36:28
Speaker 1: it was evinced the equity of divine retribution. For eighty years,
36:34
Speaker 1: the Egyptians had caused the male children of the Israelites
36:38
Speaker 1: to be cast into the river and now all their
36:42
Speaker 1: own first born fell under the stroke of the destroying Angel.
36:47
Speaker 1: They were made in the justice of God to feel
36:50
Speaker 1: something of what they had made his people feel. This
36:58
Speaker 1: is retribution, This is an eye for an eye. But
37:06
Speaker 1: it is God's retribution, not Israel's retribution. It is God's retribution.
37:13
Speaker 1: And still it's not something to rejoice over. It's an
37:18
Speaker 1: amazing thing. But we often believe that retribution will make
37:21
Speaker 1: us feel better. We often feel that if someone does
37:24
Speaker 1: something to us, all we need to do is just
37:26
Speaker 1: do it back to them, and that will make us
37:29
Speaker 1: feel better. All we need is for them to pay,
37:32
Speaker 1: and then that will make us feel better. It doesn't
37:36
Speaker 1: work like that, though. Someone does something to you, and
37:40
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, you get up and you
37:41
Speaker 1: do something back to them, and all you feel is
37:44
Speaker 1: guilt over what you've done, and you feel a pang
37:47
Speaker 1: of sorrow for them. I guarantee you Israelites weren't sitting
37:57
Speaker 1: in their home that night listening to the rise of
38:00
Speaker 1: the Egyptians, listening to the unconsolable cries of parents who
38:05
Speaker 1: are losing their children and say, that's what you get,
38:08
Speaker 1: That's not what was happening. They probably wept almost as
38:12
Speaker 1: bitterly because of what was going on all around them.
38:16
Speaker 1: It wasn't a time to celebrate. And those of us
38:21
Speaker 1: who have come to faith in Christ, we don't celebrate
38:25
Speaker 1: in the death of the wicked. We don't celebrate when
38:29
Speaker 1: people get what's coming to them, because the fact of
38:32
Speaker 1: the matter is, it's only because of the grace of
38:36
Speaker 1: God that we haven't gotten what's coming to us. So
38:42
Speaker 1: we're humbled by it, by the judgment of God and
38:48
Speaker 1: the justice of God. And for us, we're humbled by
38:51
Speaker 1: it because we recognize that the only reason it didn't
38:54
Speaker 1: come to us is because it landed on Christ. As
39:01
Speaker 1: Isaiah says, all we like sheep, had gone astray, each
39:04
Speaker 1: of us had turned to his own way. But God
39:06
Speaker 1: hath laid upon him the iniquity of us. All Peter says.
39:11
Speaker 1: Christ died for sin, once for all, the just, for
39:14
Speaker 1: the unjust, in order that he might bring us back
39:17
Speaker 1: to God. God made him who knew no sin, to
39:20
Speaker 1: become sin for us in order that we might become
39:23
Speaker 1: the righteousness of God in him. So God has poured
39:27
Speaker 1: out his wrath on Christ. So it's not that I
39:30
Speaker 1: got away with it. It's that Christ paid what I owed.
39:35
Speaker 1: So not only do I not rejoice because of my
39:40
Speaker 1: compassion for my fellow man, but I don't rejoice because
39:43
Speaker 1: I recognize that whatever it is that I deserved was
39:47
Speaker 1: paid at the cross. Jesus paid it all all to him.
39:55
Speaker 1: I owe sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it.
39:59
Speaker 1: Why this snow. Christ died for my sin. Christ paid
40:09
Speaker 1: for my guilt. Christ suffered my judgment. Christ. Finally, that
40:26
Speaker 1: night of redemption brought absolute deliverance Verses thirty one and
40:32
Speaker 1: thirty two. Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night
40:36
Speaker 1: and said, up, go out from among my people, both
40:40
Speaker 1: you and the people of Israel, and go serve the
40:43
Speaker 1: Lord as you have said, Take your flocks and your
40:46
Speaker 1: herds as you have said, and be gone. And then
40:50
Speaker 1: this last line and blessed me also. Their deliverance was immediate,
41:01
Speaker 1: four hundred and thirty years. And then in one single night,
41:06
Speaker 1: get out of here, Get out of here. Their deliverance
41:14
Speaker 1: was comprehensive. Remember that he tried to negotiate or go,
41:18
Speaker 1: but just don't take the children. No, get out of here,
41:22
Speaker 1: all of you, both you and the people of Israel.
41:27
Speaker 1: Go go take everybody and take everything. Just go. The
41:33
Speaker 1: deliverance was also unconditional. He says, go serve the Lord
41:38
Speaker 1: as you have said. Just go. Go now, go all
41:43
Speaker 1: of you, and go do what it is that you
41:46
Speaker 1: said you wanted to do. Just go. There are no conditions,
41:49
Speaker 1: just go. It was immediate, it was comprehensive, it was unconditional.
41:53
Speaker 1: This is absolute deliverance, and it's the only kind that
41:57
Speaker 1: God offers. Amen. God doesn't partially save his people. He
42:04
Speaker 1: saves us. He saves us. Christ brings to us absolute deliverance.
42:11
Speaker 1: He saves us. I'm not partially saved. You're not partially saved.
42:16
Speaker 1: When you come to Christ, you're saved. You're not conditionally saved.
42:20
Speaker 1: When you come to Christ, you're saved. If you can't know,
42:23
Speaker 1: you are saved, period, end of discussion. You are saved.
42:27
Speaker 1: It is absolute. Your deliverance is absolute, and it's not
42:31
Speaker 1: something you're going to lead to lose. I've often quoted
42:35
Speaker 1: John MacArthur at this point because it rings so true.
42:39
Speaker 1: If you could lose your salvation, you would. Amen. It
42:46
Speaker 1: is the height of arrogance to believe, on the one
42:48
Speaker 1: hand that I could lose my salvation and on the
42:50
Speaker 1: other that I haven't. That is the height of arrogance. Yeah,
42:56
Speaker 1: you know, it's possible for me to have lost my salvation.
42:58
Speaker 1: But hey, I got this help you if you believe
43:03
Speaker 1: that if you could lose your salvation, you would, you would,
43:10
Speaker 1: and if it was dependent upon you, you would never
43:14
Speaker 1: make it to heaven. But praise God, he gives us
43:18
Speaker 1: eternal life, which by definition has no end. He doesn't
43:24
Speaker 1: give us potentially eternal life. He gives us eternal life.
43:28
Speaker 1: Jesus gives us that two fisted promise that we are
43:31
Speaker 1: in his hands, and that that is inside the Father's hands,
43:35
Speaker 1: and that no one can remove us. And then Paul
43:39
Speaker 1: asks that rhetorical question, what can separate us from the
43:42
Speaker 1: love of God? Nothing? Nothing, heights debts, nothing, nothing can
43:48
Speaker 1: separate us from the love of God. We are saved.
43:51
Speaker 1: Our salvation is absolute. The moment we come to Him
44:00
Speaker 1: repentance and faith, the moment we turn from our sin
44:04
Speaker 1: and turn to Christ, the lamb has already been slain,
44:09
Speaker 1: And that moment the blood is applied and you are
44:12
Speaker 1: taken in, and you are found in Christ, and you
44:18
Speaker 1: will remain in Christ. Your salvation is absolute. It's done.
44:30
Speaker 1: Oh hear me, Saints, when you're worried about whether or
44:33
Speaker 1: not you're still saved, Ask yourself what saved you? You see,
44:39
Speaker 1: when you worry about whether or not you're still saved,
44:41
Speaker 1: you're trusting in something other than Christ to keep you saved.
44:46
Speaker 1: You see, if I'm trusting in Christ to keep me saved,
44:50
Speaker 1: Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. Amen. So
44:54
Speaker 1: as long as Christ is who he was, I'm still saved.
44:58
Speaker 1: And I don't worry about myself. The moment I start
45:02
Speaker 1: looking at myself and whether or not I am maintaining
45:07
Speaker 1: my salvation, that's the moment I have no security whatsoever.
45:13
Speaker 1: Look to the cross. Look to the cross, because that's
45:19
Speaker 1: where you find your hope. The Lamb was slain, the
45:25
Speaker 1: blood has been applied, and you were inside. Your deliverance
45:34
Speaker 1: is absolute, absolute, That's the only way. Jesus says again.
45:47
Speaker 1: If you're here trusting in anything other than this, flee
45:52
Speaker 1: from it, cling to the cross, for in it and
45:59
Speaker 1: in it alone, you find your hope. There is hope
46:04
Speaker 1: nowhere else, and there is hope in no one else,
46:09
Speaker 1: said Christ and Christ alone. Let's pray, Oh Lord, how
46:27
Speaker 1: we rejoice in your mercy, How we rejoice in your salvation. Oh,
46:37
Speaker 1: how we rejoice in your goodness. How we rejoice in
46:42
Speaker 1: your faithfulness. How we rejoice in this picture of salvation.
46:54
Speaker 1: How we rejoice in Christ our passover LAMB. How we
47:02
Speaker 1: rejoice in the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from
47:06
Speaker 1: all sin and unrighteousness. How we rejoice in the hope
47:12
Speaker 1: that is ours for being found in Christ. How we
47:16
Speaker 1: rejoice in the security that is ours because Christ saves absolutely.
47:25
Speaker 1: How we rejoice in the righteousness that is ours because
47:28
Speaker 1: it is the imputed righteousness of Christ that he earned
47:32
Speaker 1: in his perfect life. How we rejoice in the completeness
47:38
Speaker 1: of our forgiveness because Christ nailed all of our sins, past,
47:43
Speaker 1: present and future to the cross. How we rejoice in
47:53
Speaker 1: the kindness of God. How we rejoice and the fact
48:02
Speaker 1: that you are not done, and the fact that there
48:06
Speaker 1: is still hope for friends and loved ones, and even
48:09
Speaker 1: those whom we do not know, because the Gospel is
48:12
Speaker 1: yet being proclaimed throughout the earth. How we rejoice in
48:19
Speaker 1: knowing that by your power and through your providence, Christ
48:26
Speaker 1: will indeed have the fullness of the reward for which
48:29
Speaker 1: he died. And how we rejoice and the hope that
48:38
Speaker 1: that brings, grant by your grace, that our rejoicing will
48:47
Speaker 1: know no end. This we pray in Christ's name and
48:53
Speaker 1: for his sake. Amen.