This exposition of Exodus 12:14-28 by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, September 16, 2018.
Intro:
I’m sure it seems strange to those who’ve never been a part of it. You decide to go to church, you’re friend has been after you for so long and you finally agree to go. Church has never interested you, you’re not sure what they do in there and honestly you think they’re all a little nuts to begin with. They talk to God.
[sections collapse="always"][section title="Read More"]
They sing songs to Him and about Him, supposedly someone died and then came back to life, it’s all very confusing. You’re wondering if snakes will be involved - you’ve heard something about some of them pick up snakes. The service is not all that unusual. You actually enjoyed some of the music and the preacher wasn’t horrible but then a group of men gather around a table. The preacher says something about a body, take and eat and then those men come up the aisle with trays? Then they do it again, this time talking about blood and drinking it! They are crazy. What may seem crazy is actually a very important ritual within the church. It is a memorial, a remembrance. It is a visual preaching of the gospel. It is a reminder that the Lord Jesus suffered and died for our sin. It is a powerful picture of the heart of our faith. The Bible is clear all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death. What we’ve earned, what we deserve because we have sinned is death. From the beginning our first parents were told, “The soul that sins will die.” Sin brings death. We are sinners at the core of our being. That means we cannot do anything to save ourselves. We need a Savior. The Lord’s Table is a vivid reminder of that fact that God has provided us a Savior. So, that memorial meal goes back 2000 years to the night our Lord was betrayed. It was given to us as a reminder. But the reminder actually goes back long before that night. Because that reminder was given during the performance of an earlier reminder. Our Lord instituted the new reminder at the end of the other reminder, the Passover meal. The Passover was itself, a vivid picture of the gospel. On the night of that momentous event God instituted a reminder. A way of keeping this truth before his people for generations. Our text this morning is found in Exodus chapter 12 beginning with verse 14.
Text: Exodus 12:14-28
9 plagues. 9 consecutive blows declaring, “I, the LORD, am God.” Through these judgements on Pharaoh and the land of Egypt the LORD was declaring his sovereignty over all the earth. He was demonstrating his superiority over the gods of Egypt and his claim on the people of Israel. Pharaoh had been commanded to let God’s people go but he stubbornly refused. The message was pounded home by one devastating judgment after another. Yet, the obstinate king refused to yield. Now comes the 10th and final judgment. That night God himself would move through the land of Egypt and death would come to every house. The firstborn in every house will die, man and beast, from Pharaoh who sits on the throne to the lowest slave in the land. The only homes spared will be those marked by blood.
God has told the people of his provision for them.
They were to take a male yearling, without spot or blemish a sacrifice it to him.
They were to take the blood of that lamb and mark the doorposts and lintel of their home.
They were to roast the lamb along with bitter herbs.
They were to eat unleaven bread.
They were to eat the meal in haste, dressed and ready to leave Egypt.
When God passed through the land, when he saw the blood he would passover.
He would say, “It is enough. I am satisfied” because of the blood, that home would be spared.
And that night he instituted a reminder. A means of keeping the truth of God’s provision through blood before his people throughout their days.
As we consider the gospel through the Passover this text reminds us that…
Thesis: In response to an ever-increasingly secular world and due to our own tendency to drift believers must regularly remember and reaffirm our commitment to biblical faith.
There are three things I want to point out in our text.
- Due to “spiritual amnesia” we need to regularly recall and rehearse God’s gracious work on our behalf. (12:14)
- Because of our strong emphasis on salvation by grace alone through faith alone we need to be reminded that we are saved for/unto holiness. (12:15-20)
- We must faithfully and intentionally instruct our children in the ways and works of God. (12:21-28)
[/section][/sections]