Or am I on? I'm on, okay, good. Let's once again, let's look to the Lord and pray. Thank you, Lord, for bringing us together.
Thank you for these songs of praise that we are able to sing together and lift our voices up to God. And Lord, we recognize that we do, we are feeble, and sometimes we fumble and get the words mixed up or the chords mixed up or the rhythm mixed up, whatever it is, but we sing unto you. And just like our prayers that sometimes don't make sense to us but make sense to you because the Holy Spirit delivers them for us. We ask Lord that as we sing these songs, that we do it from the heart, and that we do so in a way that is pleasing to you.
And as we sing honor to the Lord Jesus Christ, that is truly where our heart should be. Thank you Father for your word. Thank you that we can look into it this morning. And I just pray that you would guide my words that they may impart some of your words to us, that we may be encouraging our hearts, and that we may grow in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I pray for anybody who's here this morning, and you know all things, you know all people, and you know every single heart in this place. And you know every person online, and all who will watch afterwards and listen and tune in on SoundCloud, you know every single person and everything about us. And Father, there will be some. I'm sure there are.
I'm sure there's some in this room who don't know the Lord Jesus Christ. And I pray Lord that the message of the gospel will be clear enough that they will put their faith in you, the one who is worthy of our faith. Father we look to you in all these things in Jesus name, Amen. Well this morning, it's kind of interesting because as some of the men shared at the Lord's Supper, it was interesting in their prayers and what they said in some of the verses that were quoted, they've covered the message.
So anyway, nice to have you here so you can go home now. No, but I looked at it and thought, you know, it's funny how the Lord directs and you know what our thoughts have been. So this morning, I want to continue in the series that I've been looking at the master theme of the Bible and that of being the Lamb. And we see the Lamb as kind of a thread that runs right from Genesis through to the end of Revelation, right from the first of the scriptures right through to the very last chapter.
The Lamb is the theme. And so as we've been going, we've been progressing. So I take the overall title from this book by J. said, LaBaxter, and that's the book that I said that I was not allowed to lend to anybody.
Yesterday, I fell off my desk and all the glue let go. And I'm thinking, how do I put 260 something pages back together when they're scattered all over my floor? But I did. So they're all together in one book.
So I'm really not allowed to lend it anymore. So I'm glad it didn't happen to you. If I loaned it to you, Dan Patterson and it fell on your workshop and it all fell apart. Boy, I'll tell you at least it happened in my own hands.
So where we've been, we looked first at a rescue where we'd come promised in Genesis chapter three, verse 15, right after man had sinned for the first time and had brought sin upon this world. It was promised that one would come who would crush the head of Satan. And this would come at a later time. And that is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then we looked in Genesis, very briefly, Genesis chapter four at the offerings of Cain and Abel. And if you remember, Abel came and he offered a lamb to God, the first of his flock. Cain came along and said, well, I put a lot of work into these vegetables. I'm going to give those to God, a picture of religion, trying to make your own way to God with the work of your own hands.
Abel's offering was different. It was a creature that God had created had nothing to do with Abel, but it was a sacrifice because he could have taken that lamb and done so many other things. He had probably seen his parents walking around in animal skins and thinking, wow, that has a great skin for a nice coat or that would be great meat. But instead he sacrifices this to God for his sin.
So we see the difference here in what God requires. God requires a lamb. So let's set it right in Genesis, right in the beginning. That's why Genesis is such an important book.
If you take Genesis out of the Bible, you don't have a Bible anymore. Genesis is the foundation. Just like if you took a foundation out of my house, I don't have a house anymore. I got a pile of wood that's just going to rot and sit in a heap in my yard.
You need a foundation and you need a solid foundation. Genesis is that. And so I find it quite interesting that the lamb is established in Genesis. And then we looked at length at Abraham and his offering of Isaac and how a lamb was provided.
Just as Abraham was about to slay his son on the altar, as God had requested him to do, God said, stop, hold it right there. I know, I know. But here's what I've done. It wasn't just stop.
Go back, guys. On the way up the mountain, Isaac said to his father, he goes, okay, we have wood. We have fire. Where is the lamb?
He knew by then the importance of the lamb. And God had provided a ram that was stuck in the thickest, close by. So again, a lamb was needed. And then today we're going to look at a lamb is slain and another requirement of God.
So I also broke it down into three different, I didn't, Jason Lebakstrad. The first one is a lamb for sin in Genesis chapter four. A lamb is an offering for sin. And then in Genesis chapter 22, and the offering of Isaac, and then the lamb is a substitute.
We see a lamb for an individual, a lamb for a person, for one single person. Today we're going to read of a lamb for a family, a lamb that is given for a family. Now, this is the story of being passed over. Yeah, past being passed over can be not very nice sometimes.
I know that, you know, sometimes, and I've seen other people and myself, you're passed over for a raise. Yeah, I remember my boss one time saying, well, I only have so much to give. And I can't give you any money this year. I'm going to give it to somebody else.
Passed over. And then sometimes you're passed over for a promotion. You're thinking, what? Him?
Her? What? But, but, but, but, but, you know, so you don't like that. It's an awful feeling sometimes.
Or when you really, really like somebody and you think, oh, there's a person I would like to ask out for coffee. And then the other guy comes in and says, Hey, want to go for coffee? And she says, yes. And you go, passed over again.
You feel like Charlie Brown getting back into Charlie Brown now. I have grandkids. But then there's times when you, one night I got passed over after leaving prayer meeting. I left here.
I went up the street here. I couldn't wait to get home. I was kind of in a hurry and I knew I was going about 65 and a 50 zone. And the next thing lights go on behind me and I'm thinking, Oh, no.
I pulled over. He kept going and he pulled over a guy in head of me. I was passed over for a speeding ticket. That's the kind of Passover I want.
And you know, every believer rejoices in the fact that we are passed over from God's judgment. We will not be judged and go to hell. That's a wonderful, wonderful thing to be passed over for. Let's read in our Bibles.
If you would turn with me or you can look on the wall, I did put it up there. Exodus, I hope that's, I know it's probably small, but I tried to split it up to two slides and hopefully you can, you can see that. And I have to switch at verse seven. Okay, let's read this together.
Now the Lord said to Moses at Aaron in the land of Egypt, this month shall be the beginning, I'm sorry, I should have given the reference. It's Exodus 12 verses 1 to 14. This month shall be the beginning of months to you. It is the, it is to be the first month of the year to you speak to all the congregation of Israel saying on the 10th of this month.
They are each one to take a lamb for themselves according to their father's household, a lamb for each household. Now, if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them according to what each man should eat. You are to divide the lamb. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male, a year old, and you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
You shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they are to eat yet. They shall eat the flesh in the same night, roast it with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roast with fire, both its head and its legs with its entrails. And you shall not leave any of it over until morning. But whatever is left until morning, you shall burn with fire. Now, you shall eat it in this manner with your loins girded, your saddles on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste.
It is the Lord's Passover, where I will go through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike down the firstborn in the land, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt. I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. The blood shall be assigned for you on the houses where you live.
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. Now, this day will be a memorial to you for you shall celebrate and you shall celebrate it as a feast of the Lord throughout your generations. You are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. So to give you some background, and most of us here would know it, but just in case you don't, here's the background.
You go back to Genesis, or to Exodus chapter 1, or yeah, chapter 1 verses 6 to 12, and I'll read these verses. So first off, 70 people followed Jacob into the land of Egypt. So Jacob was Joseph's father. Joseph was already in the land.
Remember his brothers had sold him and he went down and he ended up in Pharaoh's households. First he was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter and then so on, he rose to prominence. And so there was a famine and after that famine, Joseph's brothers came, which is one of the longest accounts of anything in the scriptures. And they came and they met Joseph and then he said, Hey, you guys are starving back home.
Come down here. And so 70 people came down into the land of Egypt and they were there for 400 years. So 400 years later, the 70 had grown to about two to three million. So a lot.
And so we read this in Exodus chapter 1. It says Joseph died and all his brothers in that generation, but the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly and multiplied and became exceedingly mighty. So that the land was filled with them. Now a new king rose over Egypt who did not know Joseph and he said to the people, Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we come.
And so they come and let us deal wisely with them or else they will multiply and in the event of a war. They will join themselves to those who hate us and fight against us and depart from the land. So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor and they built for Pharaoh storage cities, pithm and Ramses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel.
So they grew in population. They grew in prosperity and the Egyptians respond by making them slaves and just working them very, very hard. So this goes on and on and I'm sure they're thinking those who might remember because it was passed on from the previous generations. Like, and if you ever find yourself like this, like where's God?
Like I'm suffering here. Where's God? My back hurts. Where's God?
They're whipping me. Where's God? I just got fired. Where is he?
And a pivotal verse and I look at this verse and I thought, oh boy, this is a really great verse for me right now. Great verse for you right now. And it's not bolded in the Bible. I did that.
In Exodus chapter 3 verses 7 and 8 says, and the Lord said, I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt. And I've heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians. What a wonderful verse that is for anybody today who's going through difficulty.
What a wonderful, wonderful verse. We have great hope because we have a God in heaven who's this verse says, he sees. He sees what's going on. I've seen the oppression.
He hears us. When we come to prayer meeting and we pray, we don't just do it out of ritual. I went into a church one time. I think Samuel were with me.
We were in Montreal all the time. We went into the church and they were all first of all, this is a language I didn't understand. I think it was French. It might have been Latin.
I don't know. But they were just mumbling prayers over and over and over. It was actually going over a loudspeaker. We went in and said, okay, I might be in need of architecture, but I don't want to see it.
This has spook me right up. So we left. When we come to prayer meeting, do you know why we come? It's right here in this verse.
I have heard their cry. We come because we talk to a God who hears us. We bring our concerns to him. Why?
Because when he hears us, he knows what our sorrows are. He knows what our troubles are. He knows what's on our heart. And then he comes down to deliver.
He answers those prayers. That's why we come and pray. That's why we pray as individuals. Because God sees us.
He knows us. He hears us. And he comes down to us and answers us. I think it's a wonderful verse, a wonderful promise.
And then God used Moses to deliver them from slavery. He gave them their own land. This is still in the background. And then he sent ten plagues.
And the plague's got increasingly worse. And I won't go through each one of them, but the water turns to blood, frogs, gnats, flies, all of these horrible things that came up on them. And Pharaoh's response, who is the Lord that I should obey him? Are you kidding me?
No. You know, I hear my response. I'll make your slavery even harder. Those bricks that you're making, those nice straw bricks, go make them a little straw now.
See how you like that. And then finally, God has enough. I was reading today in one of the Psalms, just kind of meditating on it, the Lord's supper, and thinking, well, the Lord does have a lot of mercy, but the Lord also has a day of accounting. And he finally comes to them and says, okay, you know what?
Had it? Pharaoh will let you go this time because you know what? I'm going to kill the firstborn in every household in the land, including Pharaoh's house, including all of the slaves, including all of the household of Pharaoh and his daughters, his sons, whoever it might be. I will slay them.
And that's the background to get us to where we are for our story for today, our account for today. He sends ten plagues, the final one, the death of the firstborn. More space is given in the Scriptures to talk about the tenth plague than the previous ones altogether. And you will see that God will tell us that the basis for a relationship with God is the blood of an innocent victim.
It's called the Passover. Four points this morning about the Passover. One, it tells us about our sin. As we look at the Passover, it will tell us about our sin.
Secondly, it tells us about our substitute. Thirdly, it tells us about our salvation. And if I was wise, I'd stop there because that's my three points, but the fourth thing is it tells us something about ourselves. So let's go right into how the Passover tells us about our sins.
Do you really know how expensive sin is? Do you ever think about how expensive your sin is? I know in the book, Finishing Strong, and I think probably the first or second chapter he says three things about sin. One, it will take you further than you want to go.
It will cost you more than you want to pay, and it will keep you longer than you want to stay. Those are three things. Never forgot that. Read that twenty-five years ago in that little book.
And I've read it a number of times since. If there's anything in that whole book that I've remembered, it's that little phrase. Sin is expensive. It's expensive for you, first of all.
For the wages of sin is death. Thankfully, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So if it just ended at that comma, for the wages of sin is death, how horrible for us. But that's how expensive sin is.
It costs. It costs life. It takes life. It ends life.
Adam and Eve were told for the day that you touch of that tree or taste of that tree, in the day that you take the fruit of that tree, you will surely die. The expensive sin was laid out right from the start. Death. Spiritual death, physical death.
People wonder why are people dying all around the world from this virus? It's because of sin. Death came through sin. And you can't disconnect.
It's like a train that goes together. You can't disconnect one from the other. Death and sin go together. They're hitched together.
So here we are. And God is looking down and the sin of the Egyptians, the children of Israel under oppression. And what does he do? He says, I'm going to send plagues.
And he sends these terrible plagues to them. And then he finally says, okay, enough, I'm going to send this last plague. You know, it says right in our passage we read, it's a judgment on the Egyptian gods. There's three judgments here.
One, it's on the Egyptian gods. It's almost like a showdown. Okay, you got 2000 gods? I'm the God of heaven.
You want to see who wins? Take your best one. Take them all and put them up against me. You're not going to win.
I'm the God of heaven. I spoke the universe into being. I am the God. Secondly, it's a judgment on Pharaoh.
As I said, Pharaoh, he kept hurting his heart. He hardened his heart against them. And he blurts out who is the Lord that I should obey him. Chapter five verse two, just scoffs at God.
Oh my goodness, how many people do you talk to on the streets, John? And Warren, who just scoff at God? Who is this? Who's Jesus?
I don't want to talk about him. Get out of my face. Get away from me. It's the same heart of Pharaoh.
Who is God that I should obey him? Well, the fact is that he is God and you should obey him. And then it's a judgment on the Israelites. Only blood can save them.
Only blood can save the Israelites. See, the Israelites had their own sins too. They weren't free from it. First of all, they were stubborn.
They rejected God's messenger, Moses. God sent Moses. Who's this guy? Murderer.
You've got to be kidding me. Not you. Get. And he ran away.
And they rejected him. And there were times as you read through that they just grumbled against him and they fought against him. They were stubborn people. They were judged because of their idolatry.
And why do we know that they went into idolatry in Joshua chapter 24 verse 14? He's telling them, okay, now put away those idols that you brought from Egypt. Put them away. You're going into the land.
The implication is they were involved in idolatry. And then they were judged because they rejected God and his words. There were times when they just turned their backs on God. The Israelites were not protected by their race.
They weren't protected by their nationality. They weren't protected by their lineage. They could say, hey, wait a second. I'm a direct line out of Joseph.
I'm a direct line out of Judah. I'm a direct line out of what it did not protect them. We will see what will protect them. The only thing that's going to protect them is the blood of a lamb.
That's the only thing that's going to provide protection for them. And these judgments that are upon them, they just show us the plight of all man. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It doesn't accept anybody.
It doesn't accept Pharaoh. It doesn't accept the Egyptians. It doesn't accept their so-called made-up gods. It doesn't accept Israelites.
And it doesn't accept you and I. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. In Jesus Christ our Lord. It says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
That's the plight of all of humanity. Everybody. If you don't believe you're a sinner, then I hate to tell you you're very misinformed. You are a sinner.
I am a sinner. You know what I'm thinking about this the other day. I'm walking the trail. I'm thinking about this message and so on.
I'm thinking not only am I a sinner and miserable am I sinned when I sinned, but I'm not a very good sinner. Because sin is something you want to hide. I'm a terrible sinner. I confess to my wife this morning that I sinned and ask her forgiveness.
I can't hide my sin from anybody. It comes with me right there, right across. You know, you have a t-shirt with a champion on it. If you're cheap looking, you've got a coscor or something.
Or you get it says Tommy Hilfiger if you're not cheap and get it somewhere else. But it's got, you know, I'm a sinner. Sinner. Sinner.
Did you know I'm a sinner? Yes, I know you're a sinner. Really why? I watch how you act.
Like we are all sinners. We are all wretched sinners. And you cannot say you're exempt. You are a sinner.
It's our sinful condition. And because of that, we can expect to die. So this is what this Passover tells us. It tells us because a sacrifice is needed.
Because it is needed for every single person. You must be a sinner. Secondly, it tells us something about our substitute. You see, God in His mercy provided a substitute here.
He provided a way for them to escape. He provided a way for them to be covered, to be protected, to not experience the wrath of God. The wrath of God to be a horrible thing. In fact, the wrath of God at this particular time was that the firstborn in every home would die.
That being a firstborn son in my family, I can't take this to heart. I remember when I read this as a kid, they can say, that would have been me. That would have been me. Sammy would be okay because it would have been a standard spirit.
Where's Sam? So what had to be provided was a substitute. They needed something to die in their place, someone to die in their place. So it was a lamb.
And it wasn't just any lamb. It had to be a perfect lamb. Not a single blemish on that lamb. Not a mark.
Not a scar. Not a broken bone. Nothing. Not a little black spot on a white lamb.
Not a gray spot. Not a broken hoof. Nothing. A perfect, perfect lamb.
You know, that is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is impeccable. He stood before Pharaoh. Not Pharaoh.
Pilot. He stood before Pilot in the judgment hall. With a crazy mob screaming, crucify him. Kill him.
He said he'd tear down that temple. He said he'd do this. He said he'd do that. He did this.
He did that. And here is Pilate, the judge at the time, who could, your life was in his hands. And he stands there and says, I find no fault in this man. What a statement.
He could have made something up. He could have tried to do something else. Well, you find a lot of fault in him. I agree with you.
He did not. He said, I find no fault in this man. The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect lamb. No fault.
No sin could never have sinned. He was not able to sin, not capable of sin, and never did. That is the perfect lamb. That's what this is a picture of.
You also read in Leviticus, chapter 22, 19 to 20. I won't, don't know how to go there, but we read of a lamb that's to come. The lamb was selected on the 10th day. It was in the home for four days.
Now you imagine coming home to your little kids. And you bring this Kali little lamb. Less than a year old. You bring it into the house.
Daddy. Beautiful little teddy bear. Oh yeah. Oh, so soft.
Oh, he's so cute. Oh, he just laps up the milk. Oh, daddy. What a wonderful little lamb.
Day two. Oh, I love that lamb even more, daddy. He slept in my bed. Got my bed warm last night.
Beautiful little lamb. Look at him sitting over there cuddling with Jonathan watching television. Look at this beautiful little lamb. Day three.
Daddy, I've given him a name. Okay. Okay. Beautiful.
What's the name? Yeah, whatever. Baba. And so, you know, they've got this little lamb and he's just a cute cuddly little lamb that they've got in the home.
And then day four, the little daughter comes out and says, Daddy, you know what? I was looking at that lamb last night because he's stuck to my bed. He's perfect. There's not a spot on him.
His horns. They're perfect. There's no break in any of them. His little hoofs.
They're beautiful. I look for a black spot or a gray spot or a red spot. There's nothing. And daddy has to go out.
That day. Cut the throat of that lamb, bleed it out in front of the family and put the blood on the door. Think of what the kids thought. Think of what the firstborn son thought when he looked at that.
Just think, what a shock. And here's the firstborn standing there going, that was going to be me. But a lamb took my place. There's blood.
And they all go inside and they're protected. You see, in Genesis, we saw Adam and Eve, a lamb killed before them to give them skins for clothing. One lamb for them. In Exodus, we see here one lamb killed for a family.
Later on, we'll read in Leviticus, chapter 16 of a lamb that has killed for the nations. And the blood has sprinkled on the mercy seat. A lamb offered for the whole nation. John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin said, there he is, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
A lamb for the sin of the whole world. You've gone from a lamb for an individual, a lamb for a family, a lamb for a nation, a lamb for the sin of the world. One lamb killed for a family. One lamb killed for the sin of the world in Jesus Christ.
The constant and consistent message of the Bible is this. If you want to meet God, you must meet him on the basis of a lamb. When you come, just like Isaac said, where is the lamb? If you come to Jesus, or you come to God and you stand before him.
And he says, why? What I let you into heaven, why? The conversation will not go anything like that. But we make that up in our minds that there will be a conversation between you and God.
You'll be on your face before him. But if you were to have an opportunity to speak and say, well, I went to Northrop Bible Chapel. They taught the Bible. Where's the lamb?
Where's the lamb? But I gave money to the church. Where's the lamb? But I'm known on the streets.
I gave a little tracks. I talked to people. Where's the lamb? But I did.
You did. You did. You did. You did.
But where's the lamb? Without the lamb, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. There is no remission of sin. You see, Jesus is often referred to as the lamb.
Isaiah, chapter 53 verse 7, a lamb before its shearers is silent. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7, John quoted this when he prayed this morning, Jesus Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed for us. In Revelation chapter 13 verse 8, Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Jesus Christ is the lamb of God who died for you, took your place.
Just like that little cuddly lamb took the place of that firstborn in that family so that they would not have to die. Jesus Christ died for you, that you may be forgiven of all your sins, and that you may have a relationship with God. It also tells us about our salvation. God required not just a lamb, but he required a dead lamb, a slain lamb.
He required that the lamb would die. The story of the Passover indicates the importance of blood being shed. In Copicos chapter 17 verse 11 says that the life of the flesh is in the blood. Blood represents life.
You take my blood out, not only would I be very pale, but I would have no life. My life is gone. It's over at that moment. The life of the flesh is in the blood, so it required a death.
It required the death through the letting of the blood. Deliverance would only be established through the blood of the lamb. The shed blood was a sign that the life had ended for the substitute. When we read of Jesus' crucifixion, it says that one of the soldiers came by with a spear, shoved it up into his side and said, OK, poured blood and water.
Whatever blood was left in the Lord Jesus came out at that point in time. All of his blood was shed for you. All of his blood was shed for me. He gave his life.
Now there's a couple of theological words here. We might as well learn them. So when you are an Israelite and you came and you looked at the blood on the door, that's when you say, ah, expiation. You probably didn't use that word then, but that's the word that they use now, theologians do.
Because from their point of view, it's a reminder that somebody died in their place. I'm OK because I should die, but somebody died in my place. It's a reminder when they looked upon that blood that not only was there a death for me, but my guilt is gone. My sin has been removed.
When I come, and when we come in the Sunday morning and we remember the Lord Jesus Christ, we come and remember his death, why does he want us to do that? Because he wants us to remember week after week after week because as you're walking through the world as Broken said one time, you can't help but get some on you. And your thinking gets altered between Monday and Sunday and Saturday. And you get here and you start thinking about him.
And when I come and I am pointed to Calvary, I look and I think, you know what, I remind it. Someone died in my place. I will not fall under the judgment of God. He has died for me.
And secondly, his blood has paid for my guilt. My guilt and my sin are gone. They are gone. Even the sins that I will commit later, they have all been taken care of in him.
Expiation. Now, when God looked at the blood, something different. Appreciation. God looked down on the blood of the land that was put on the doorposts and the lint of the home.
And he said, aha, I'm satisfied. The payment has been made. I don't have to worry about it anymore. I don't have to bring my judgment down upon them.
Because I look and I see from my point of view that I am satisfied that the payment has been made for their sin. So when I look at the cross, I look at it and say, my guilt is gone, my sin is gone. Someone died for me. When God looks at the cross, he says, his worries are gone.
I look at it and think, I'm satisfied. You know what, he doesn't have to pay anything. It's already been paid. I am free.
Propriation. Sometimes some versions of the scriptures use that. It's a good word. It just means satisfaction.
God is satisfied. So this is the doctrine of substitutionary atonement. A substitute allows God to pass over you and to pass death, and allow you to pass from death into life because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I put some verses down here, I'm getting towards the end here.
Romans chapter, the only way that we can go from death to the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 5 verse 9. We have been justified by his blood. We have been justified, cleared of all charges and declared righteous by his blood.
Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. You only, only way to have your sins forgiven through the Lord Jesus Christ through his blood. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 12.
I was surprised. Actually somebody quoted this morning in a prayer. Bobbed it. Says, Jesus also suffered to make his people holy through his own blood.
The only way you can be holy is through his own blood. Not through anything you can do, but through the blood of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter chapter 1, 8 and 19. You are redeemed not with corruptful things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, a lamb with a blemish and without spot.
And 1 John chapter 1 verse 7, one of my favorite verses, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanses us from all sin. We have in him redemption from our sins. So why is it Jesus' blood? Because he was sinless.
Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. It says in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 22. God just does not arbitrarily forgive people. It's not going to be that you can make a deal with God in the end.
It's not going to be that you can come and plead your case with God. That won't happen. There's only one way. And it's through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no other way except for that substitute. Now, I think I had this little booklet a few years ago. Remember, you know what, consumer reports are, maybe you do. If you buy stuff, you might subscribe to these guys.
I think somebody gave it to me as a gift one year. It was terrible because I ended up buying everything in it. Tires, trucks, everything. If you're going to buy something that says, okay, this is a good purchase, that's a terrible one.
Don't buy this because it makes a rumbly noise and blah, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, they came up with this. I think I actually had this in a different version. How to clean practically everything?
Anything. So it tells you all kinds of things. Glisser and will take up all point pen stains and vinegar will remove crayons stains and alcohol will remove brass stains and hydrogen peroxide. Gabriel, you must have gallons of it in your place.
It will do anything. Like, slice my hand open one day. Gabriel had the hydrogen peroxide sprayed on it before I could even notice I cut myself. Lemon juice will get out rust stains.
But you know what, there's one thing that's missing. Sins stains. It doesn't reference sins stains. It doesn't reference it at all.
There's only one way to remove the stains of sin. And God has provided that. You can't make it up yourself. It doesn't exist anywhere else.
It's the blood of Jesus Christ. It's an extreme measure, but it's the only way that you can get the stain of sin out of your life. Joseph Parker said this, an extreme condition demands an extreme remedy. Unless you see that you are doomed, apart from Jesus Christ, you will never truly count his blood as precious in your sight.
I look at it and think, my sins are great. My sins put him on the cross. I don't mean they're great as in good. I mean they're great as in abundance.
But Jesus Christ died for me. My sins are taken away because of the blood of Jesus Christ. As you wrap up, I want to think of how what this tells us about ourselves. For Israel, their future changed.
They're now God's redeemed people. He saw the blood. He passed over. Their children lived.
Secondly, it says this is going to be the first of months for you. This is going to be a new year. The new year is changed. It's going to be now.
And I started thinking about that. And I look at 2 Corinthians 5-17 and it says, If any man or anyone be in Christ, they're a new creature. The old is gone. The new has come.
And I think, you know what? That's pretty appropriate because I felt like it was a New Year's Day for me. And I think everybody here on the day that they were saved realized, yeah, this is the beginning of life. You know, my life began in 1959.
You can do the math backwards and figure out how old I am. But in 1959, on the middle day of the year, that's when my life, physical life began. But in December, 1981, that's when my real life began. We sing that song.
What is that song? When death was arrested and my life began. I almost want to sing it today, but we have another one. When death was arrested, when you realize that and death no longer had dominion over you, your life began.
I just felt like my life began on that night. And I'm sure for anybody. I saw my children come to know Christ. I saw the smiles.
One in particular, I remember, this boy of mine that was dead is now alive. Life. It's new. Our identity changes.
I go from being whatever. A child of Keith McDonald to being a child of God. I am now a child of God. No longer a slave to sin.
There's so many songs we can say. We just hear all afternoon and sing some of these songs. You see, everything changes because of Jesus Christ. You know, when you write down, and I'm having trouble writing this down, 2021 on the calendar.
It's 2021, anodominy, A-D. I know they try to change it to C-E, but it doesn't matter. They still have to write down 2021. I know, so if you look something up in Wikipedia, it always says, you know, 2021 or 1986, C-E, common era is what they try to do.
It doesn't matter. The number is still there. Why is the number there? Because the number traces back to the day when God on a rescue mission sent his son to this Earth.
The one who would die, the Lamb of God, to take away the sin of the world. Every time you write the year on the calendar, you are memorializing the fact that Jesus Christ came to this Earth 2000 years ago. You see, on the Jewish calendar, they go, it's different. Like if you, right now they are at, what is it?
5781. And they, we say, anodominy in the year of our Lord. They say, anomundi, which is in the year of the world. So they go back to the creation of the world.
And that's the way they look at it. So when they did this, this was their new year based on the creation of the world. For the Christian, everything has changed. Our whole world has changed.
Our calendar has changed. Our life has totally changed. Everything is tied back to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's when our life begins.
Their families were changed. They had a spiritual ordinance now as a family holiday. They were going to do this all the time as a memorial. It says at the last verse we read, Exodus chapter 12 verse 3.
It says, it says, announce to the whole community that on the tenth day of this month, each family must change. Or young out in sacrifice. And that was to continue on to this day, this remembrance of the Passover. But do they see the lamb in that?
I had friends that I used to go and eat the Passover meal with every year. And I sit there and I'm just kind of a fun thing. There's little games that they do. There's like great food.
It takes forever. And it's kind of cool because they talk about the slavery and coming out of the slavery and the eat-bitter-erbs and the mind of the slaves and all that being slaves and so on and so on. And then, 1981, I get saved. 1982, I'm invited to go to the Passover and I'm sitting there going, oh my goodness.
Don't they see it. Don't they see the real lamb? The real lamb who came to wash away their sins, not deliver them from slavery of Egypt, but slavery of sin. They're saved from sin through the lamb.
You see, this lamb was only a temporary covering. It only served them on that night. It only served them from having their firstborn killed on that night. But we have a lamb, the lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
He makes the difference. He has set home for every sin of every human being so that God can save every single person. Not a person can say that he didn't die from me. He died for the whole world.
It says in the whole world. It says in 1 John. So how bad is your sin? I know how bad my sin is.
I look at the cross of Jesus Christ. At what he had to go through this morning, I was sitting here meditating on Psalm 69 and thinking of what the Lord Jesus went through. He was told prophetically, the agony and the suffering that he would go through. Why?
Because of my sin. My sin is so hideous. And that's what I cost him. But in Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 2, it says, for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, the spies and the shame.
He did that for you. He did that for me. Because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's wrath has been turned away. You can come before him as brand new.
All things can be new because of a lamb. Have you trusted the lamb of God to take away your sin? I hope you have. If you haven't, you can do that today.
You can do that now. In the quietness of your heart, you can look to him. You can confess your sin to him that you're a filthy sinner. I'm not going to put words in your mouth, but you can say to God that your sin is great.
But your provision of a lamb, for me, a substitute is greater. And you can be saved forever. You can be freed from sin. Let's pray.
Father, thank you. This morning we come to you and thank you for the simple picture that is given of a Passover lamb that was slain. We think of how that blood was taken and applied to that doorpost and that lintel and the firstborn in that family was saved. Father, we jump ahead thousands of years and we look at a cross.