The Power of Faith: Trusting in the Blood of the Lamb - Saved for the Glory of God | Studies in the book of Exodus

Said a few moments ago there was something to consider about this

day, mothering Sunday, and whether we do a baptism on mothering

Sunday or not.

But we have, and I think that's good.

But the second thing was I was asked the question, are you really

going to preach this passage on mothering Sunday and on a Sunday

when we do baptism?

And the answer came as my answer always is yes.

Because if you're visiting with us, we simply start at the beginning

of one book of the Bible and we make our way through.

We don't dodge anything, we don't skip over anything, but we

declare what God says to us in his word.

And so if you are visiting with us, since before Christmas,

we have been looking at the book of Exodus.

And particularly in that first week or that week before Christmas,

we began looking at the 10 plagues that fell on Egypt.

And these plagues of which we have looked at nine of them, we come

to the 10th one today, came upon the people of Egypt because

of their rebellion and because of their disobedience against God.

At first these plagues came and they were a nuisance.

There was flies that needed to be swapped, there was frogs hopping

everywhere.

But as these plagues progressed, they hit hard against

a hard hearted people.

Because these plagues demonstrated that the false gods

of Egypt were just that they were fake and they were unable to

do anything for the people.

In fact, Pharaoh's wise men or magicians couldn't actually take

anything away.

They could only multiply what God had already sent.

And so the people of Egypt were being taught that they actually

had no power whatsoever, even though they thought they were the

most powerful in all the world, both militarily but also spiritually,

that their gods were greater than anybody else.

But as these plagues progressed in their severity, it

also impacted upon the daily life and it fell upon the backbone

of the Egyptian economy.

Because as they progressed, we saw that the Lord distinguished Egypt

from his own people who lived in the land of Goshen.

And where plagues would be happening all around, the land of

Goshen wouldn't have had them.

You see, the plagues fall only on the people of Egypt because of

their rebellion and not on the Lord's people.

And the reason for this is because the Lord was preparing to

rescue his people from all their troubles.

And you see, the request had been brought to Pharaoh.

This is the Pharaoh who had enslaved God's people.

And that request came from Moses and Aaron, on the instruction

of God, to go to the king of Egypt and ask him to let God's people

go and offer sacrifices of worship to him in the wilderness.

And each time Pharaoh refused, and each time he was warned of the

consequences.

Now, last week, in the passage that we looked at at the start of

chapter 12, the Lord told the children of Israel to get ready for

the tenth and final plague.

They were to be ready to leave Egypt finally, after over 400 years,

because the Lord would pass through the land of Egypt and pass

over houses that had the blood of the lamb that was killed for each

household sprinkled on the doorposts of and lintel.

And it wasn't simply the act of getting the blood and dipping

the hyssop leaves into it and just smearing this blood on the doorposts.

This blood was an act of faith.

It was an act of faith that as the Lord described as the destroyer

would pass by, so it would pass over the houses where by faith

that blood had been sprinkled, but would enter the homes where there

was no faith and so receive the punishment that they deserved.

So the scene was set for us.

That scene was to wait expectantly for the Lord to do what

he had said he would do to his people and what he had warned Pharaoh

of giving him one last chance to repent, so that indeed he would

let the people go.

But Pharaoh did not.

And so it was the dead of night.

Most people were in their homes, and they were asleep.

Families all over the land of Egypt had gone down for the night.

But then the visitor came with that deadly purpose.

He was a destroyer, as we're told in verse 23, the angel of death.

The visitor was on a mission from God, and he swept across Egypt,

calling on every house in favor of.

And it was obvious that he was looking for something, because as

he came to each house, he paused to inspect the doorway.

In the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, he found what

he was looking for.

There was a mark of blood on the top and on the sides of every

door.

And when the visitor saw the blood, he passed over the house,

holding back his deadly blow.

Because a sacrifice had been made for sin.

The family inside had heard that they could be saved by the blood

of the lamb.

And the sign on the door was a public testimony of their faith in

God's saving word.

But it was different, as we have seen in these plagues in the

rest of the land of Egypt.

Goshen was one place, but what about the rest?

Well, the rest of the houses in Egypt were not marked with the

sign of salvation.

And as the visitor traveled up and down the Nile, he came to entire

towns and cities where not a single household had offered a lamb

for their sins.

The visitor did not pass by these houses, but slipped inside

to claim the life of the firstborn son.

And so a night that began in silence ended in suffering.

As verse 29 tells us, at midnight, the Lord struck down all

the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat

on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner who was

in the dungeon.

And the firstborn of all the livestock as well.

You see, no one would escape the angel of death as it passed over.

And indeed, the eldest in the house of Pharaoh to the eldest in

the dungeons would die that night, just as the Lord had said.

Now, we're not told why people wake up in the middle of the night.

Perhaps there was a sense of something being wrong, as the presence

of the angel of death moves through the land.

But we're told in scripture that Pharaoh and all his officials

and all the Egyptians awoke to see the unthinkable in their homes.

And as is the natural response, they began to wail, just

as if lights were being turned on from one house to the next.

So the cry of sorrow went up and rippled throughout the land.

And now Pharaoh will respond to the request of the Lord for his

people to go and worship him in the wilderness.

Now he will let them go, and they will go for good, never to return

as an enslaved people.

In verse 31, we're told that Moses and Aaron are summoned to Pharaoh's

palace.

And for the first time, he does indeed tell them to go without

condition.

Because here is a defeated man, his heir is dead before him,

and all fight is out of him.

For now, there won't be any double crossing as there had been

so many times before.

Pharaoh's last words to Moses were totally pathetic.

Where he says at the end of this section, and also, bless me,

he pleads, you see, Pharaoh has five finally realized his mistake.

But it was too little, too late.

Earlier, he had asked God's prophet to pray for him.

Now he was asking to receive a benediction, a blessing upon him.

But what blessing could Moses possibly give to a man like Pharaoh?

A man who had rejected the word of the Lord again and again

and again.

A word that would have brought salvation not only for the Israelites,

but it would have brought salvation for the Egyptians, as they

trusted in the God of Israel.

You see, the request that Pharaoh makes here is a request that's

reminiscent of a scene from the musical the Fiddler on the Roof,

in which a Young Russian Jew asks the town rabbi if there is a

blessing for the Tsar.

And it's a tough question because the Tsar is the oppressor

of the Russian Jews.

And yet surely God has some kind of blessing for everyone.

Well, the rabbi thinks about it for a moment, and then he says,

may the Lord bless the Tsar and keep him far away from us.

You see, there'd be no blessing for the Czar in what he

might want to expect.

Nor is there a blessing here for Pharaoh, not even a mixed blessing.

Here was the man who believed himself to be greater than God, wanting

God's favor without ever turning to him in faith and repentance.

There was no real repentance on the part of the King.

He gave no recognition of any personal responsibility.

He wanted the blessing without the liability, the shame, or the

consequences.

God will not bless a person who will not repent of their sin.

And I think if I was to go around and ask everyone here this

morning, if you want God's blessing, even people who do not

have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ would say, yes,

we want God's blessing because there's something each of us will

believe about God.

That's probably why we're here this morning.

We will believe something about him that is good, and we want

that goodness.

And so times come whenever people approach other Christians

and ask for their services, as it were, but no promise is given

because God tells us in his word that his blessing is for those

who trust in the blood.

Isn't that what happened in Egypt?

Those who trusted in the blood of the Lamb knew the blessing of

God?

You see, in other words, it is for people who admit that they are

sinners and who believe that God has paid for their sin with a

perfect sacrifice.

That's what it means to know the blessing of God.

And that ultimate blessing, it's not going to be in health and

wealth and riches.

That may be what we benefit from here and now, but the ultimate

blessing is that blessing of salvation that will take us from

this pitiful world that is destined to end, and we will be received

in the fullness of blessing in eternity.

See, in the time of Moses, God only blessed people who were covered

by the blood of the Passover lamb.

Today, God blesses those who trust in Jesus Christ, believing

in the sacrifice he offered for sin on the cross.

And if you do not come to God through faith in Jesus Christ, God

will not bless you.

As Jesus asks in Luke 6:46, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and

Luke 6:46

do not do what I say?

Jesus then goes on to explain in this passage what someone is like,

who does do what he says.

And they're described to us as someone who builds a house on good

foundations that when the storm comes, so their house will

stand.

The one who calls on the name of the Lord but refuses to seek forgiveness

for their sins, who thinks that God owes them a favor, or perhaps

is treating God like a good luck charm.

Well, they're described as those who build their houses on sand,

who don't have a foundation, whose lives without Christ will simply

crumble and fall.

And if you're treating God in this way, just as Pharaoh did, then

you need to do something about it.

You need to come to Jesus acknowledging your sin and seeking

forgiveness.

This is the only way that our lives, both in this world and in

eternity, can be saved.

Built on a solid foundation in Jesus Christ.

Because what's Jesus warning to us when we don't live under his

shed blood?

Well, the moment the torrent struck the house, it collapsed and

its destruction was complete.

Now, let me preempt a question that might be in someone's head.

It's just not fair.

We will say, surely God is a loving God.

Surely God would allow.

Why would he allow this to happen?

Surely he would want to save everyone.

Pharaoh was only doing what he believed was best, and surely his

good works was enough.

We'll set that argument aside for a moment.

Pharaoh had 10 opportunities that he rejected again and again

and again and did not demonstrate good, only evil.

And what is the wages of sin?

What is owed to the work of sin?

Well, it is eternal death.

And that's what we're seeing here in Jesus when he says, why do

you call me Lord, Lord?

Why did Pharaoh want a blessing as it were, calling on the

name Lord, Lord, but wasn't doing what he said because he thought

he knew better, because he thought he could get away with it

and that he would be okay.

But his foundation was not on the blood that was shed.

And what happens when our foundation is not solid on Christ

by his shed blood on Calvary?

Well, the moment that the torrent strikes the house, the moment

when we do face God, well, that house, that life of ours, will

collapse on our destruction will be complete.

I can only speak what is true from God's word.

I'm not trying to make you feel unhappy or sad on this day.

I am trying to open your eyes to see what the truth of your life

is.

Because at one point I was crying, lord, Lord, and didn't do

what God had said.

And I needed a moment of awakening of knowing Jesus as my

Savior, because I was never, am never, and can never be good enough.

And there's times I slip and cry, lord, Lord, but don't do what

he says.

That's not what he wants.

That's not his standard.

He wants us to cry, Lord, Lord, genuinely, so that we can know

him and know rescue and salvation.

Because that's actually what the good news of this passage is

about.

So the first half is the warning, as we see now in Egypt.

But the good news is that as we come, God does exactly what he

had said.

Because back in Egypt, just as the Lord said in chapter three, the

Egyptians would force the children of Israel out and give them

silver and gold and clothing.

Pharaoh had resisted, but now the people were being urged out of

the land.

Because this is what we read in verse 33 of chapter 3, the Egyptians

urged the people to hurry and leave the country, for otherwise,

they said, we all will die there.

Sorry.

In chapter 12, the Israelites leave Egypt in such a hurry that

the people took their dough before it was leavened, meaning either

before they had added the leaven to it or before the dough

had a chance to rise.

In either case, the detail is given to us here because it's telling

us how hastily the Israelites leave and also explains why eating

unleavened bread will commemorate their departure.

The additional note that's in the text about their carrying their

kneading bowls on their shoulders in their cloaks as though

it were a backpack shows the importance of the equipment for daily

bread making in that day and age in verse 34.

But they would need it, because what was God going to do?

He was going to rescue them, they were going to survive, and they

were going to need this for daily provision.

So even in how they packed, God was making them ready for the

future of rescue that he was giving to them.

And in verse 35, the people do claim the gold, the silver, and the

clothing that God commanded them to ask.

And so they're obedient.

They're actually commended for their obedience in following the

instructions of Moses.

And just as the Lord said, the Egyptians were favorable to the people.

As we read in verse 36, the Lord had made the Egyptians favorably

disposed towards the people, and they give them what they asked

for.

So they plundered the Egyptians.

There was more.

There was more to the gold, the silver, and the clothing.

Rather than the blessing coming on Pharaoh, that blessing

that he was looking for actually fell on the children of

Israel, and they would be blessed with riches as they left

the land.

Of there in slavery.

This is the appropriate compensation for those years where

they submitted to bitterly hard service.

And so they leave the city of Rameses the day after Passover.

It's the city that they built, which is northeast of modern day

Cairo, and traveled to Sukkoth, a city of a group now traveling

of over 600,000 men, as well as the women and children, and, as

verse 38 tells us, with many other people.

And these other people were most likely slaves of other nations

whom the Egyptians had captured and traded.

But how do they get to be rescued?

Well, they too, believed in the blood.

They too spread that blood on their doorposts.

That's the only reason how they could escape from the land.

And so this vast body of people move with their flocks and

their herds to their rescue, to their salvation.

And in verse 39, we return to the Israelites unleavened dew, explaining

that they now make it into unleavened cakes because they are

driven out in such haste, they simply cannot delay, nor have they

prepared the type of provisions that they might need ahead

of a journey.

So the Israelites have known their departure was coming, but are

apparently surprised at just how quickly and forcefully the Egyptians

demand that they leave.

And so this too makes clear how devastating the final strike

is on the Egyptian nation.

And so there's an urgency now, whenever we talk of rescue and salvation,

there is an urgency.

We need to know today, are we with God or are we not?

Are we crying like Pharaoh, bless me?

Yet we're not willing to acknowledge our sin.

We're not willing to acknowledge our wrongdoing before

him and before others.

And we think God will just be, oh, he'll just be nice, won't he?

God is far greater than being nice.

God is love, and he's fair, and he's just.

This is what we see here, his love, his fairness and his justice.

Chances were given, and they were rejected.

And so there's a fair judgment.

Chances were given, and the people responded, demonstrating justice

yet again, because they followed exactly what God had said.

And so how does this finish?

What do we see with this great rescue of the children of Israel

and this decimation of the land of Egypt?

Well, these closing verses recap for us the situation that the

children of Israel were in and.

And who it is that brought them out of the land.

Because in verses 40 and 41 now, the length of time the Israelite

people lived in Egypt was 430 years.

At the end of the 430 years, to the very day all the Lord's Divisions

left Egypt.

They went there as a people of 70.

They went there to find food.

They went to Egypt to find salvation, and Joseph provided that

for them.

But the sinful nature of the world took hold, where one nation

became suspicious of another and so enslaved them and belittled

them and made very little of them.

But yet the Lord delivers His people, because verse 42 then goes

on to credit all this work of salvation and protection to the Lord.

All because he kept.

Sorry, I'll be back.

And because he did what he said he would do to the people and

that they were to remember, to honor God as He had protected them

and kept vigil that night.

So every Passover night they were to keep vigil and celebrate

year after year what God had done through his great rescue.

And so understanding Exodus is important for us because.

Because it is part of salvation history.

None of this is to be overlooked because it points us to

the one who will come as our great rescuer, that God will send

his one and only Son, Jesus Christ.

And so we see the Lord's continued salvation and keeping of

his people.

And that's why earlier I stressed the need to understand that

you simply can't take advantage of Jesus and think that

you can get away with it, because you can't.

Only those who know him as Lord and Savior will be saved.

And to those who do, let me assure you that he will keep you.

It's not insignificant about the dew.

They brought it with them because they were assured a future.

They were ready to live in the wilderness and not die.

God assured them of his ongoing protection and care.

You see, Jesus Christ is the One who continues to assure us of

this because he died and rose again so that he could prove his

authority over everything, even death itself, so that our trust

and faith in him would be well founded.

That's why Jesus says what he does in John 10:28, 30.

John 10:28

I give them, speaking of his people, those who trust in his blood.

I give them eternal life and they shall never perish.

No one can snatch them out of my hand.

My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all.

No one can snatch them out of My Father's hand.

I and the Father are one.

This is Jesus promise to us that we need not fear judgment and

punishment, because Christ has done it all so that we can go free.

And he will keep us, just like he kept the children of Israel.

And so let me say to you, whatever you face, indeed whatever

you might be facing today, you have a Savior.

And you have a Savior who will keep you to the end.

He will lead you through the valley of the shadow.

That valley does not end in death, even though it's described

as the valley of the shadow.

Shadow of death.

We go through those valleys because indeed Jesus Christ is the

good shepherd who leads us through.

And at the end, he will welcome you home.

And he will do that because your foundation is built on Him.

The Psalms are rich.

They tell us that God is our refuge and our strength.

They tell us that he is the present help in times of trouble.

They tell us that he is the God of steadfast love who indeed

will keep us.

He is the God in whom today we need to trust.

Because if I didn't trust in him today, I could not take another

step.

Egypt's foundations.

Well, go to the British Museum, as I did last October, and

you will see those foundations of that nation crumbled.

Why?

Why are all its artifacts now in museums around the world?

Because Egypt trusted in itself.

Even the greatest statues of the pharaohs who subjected the Jews

or the Israelites to slavery are now lying on the floor in the

desert or in the British Museum.

Don't be the same.

Don't be like Egypt and think you can do it yourself.

You're not strong enough.

You need someone.

And that's why the invitation for us all today is to trust in the

Savior.

To trust in him for that salvation, so that that blood that

was shed is blood for you that will redeem you, but also to trust

that he will keep you.

Even if today is a hard day for you, he will keep you to the

end.

You see, Christ is the One that will keep us in the storms of

life, and he will bless us through them, just as he blessed

his people.

And so will you stand firm in Christ, in His solid foundation this

day, or indeed will you have that strong judgment upon you that

without Christ your life will crumble and the destruction will

be so ever great.

Trust in the Savior and on him alone, in his own words here in John

10.

We shall never perish when we are trusting in Christ, no matter

how fierce the storm.

So trust in him and know him truly forever.

Let's pray.

Our Father God, we thank you for your word, as hard as it may

be, and even the ability of trying to understand what it means,

means.

Father, we ask that this day that we'll look beyond what our eyes

focused on this world would teach us, a false definition of what

love is, and rather look to the Savior who loved us by providing

us a way so that we will not face the same fate as the Egyptians.

We have a blood that covers us.

We have a blood that forgives us for our sins.

We have a blood that will make us right and indeed will bring us

home.

So may we never say we are a Christian and yet don't live like

it.

May we never be found crying, lord, Lord.

And then do not do what the Lord says, for that's simply being

a hypocrite.

Father, help us to live well for Christ, trusting in him day by

day.

And Father, may we know your goodness and your grace with each

step that we take.

In Jesus name, amen.