Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Man, shall we pray, Father, we thank you for the
old old story of Jesus and his love. We thank
you for the greatest story ever told, the most important,
(00:29):
the most significant story that the world has ever heard,
and the story that unfortunately too many have not heard.
Grant by your grace that we might not only hear,
but heed this story, and then we might love it.
(00:51):
Before we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, as
I mentioned this morning, I will have the privilege this
year of preaching on over ten Sundays, and in the
mornings we're looking at a series entitled The Way We
(01:16):
Think the Whole idea of Biblical worldview and looking at
key passages in Genesis one through eleven and how they
contribute to the building of Biblical worldview. In the evenings,
we'll be looking at One Big Story. And the idea
of one Big Story is, although we don't have any recording,
(01:39):
oh good, okay, the idea of the one Big story
is connecting everything to redemptive history, connecting everything to the
old story.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
And there are two.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Things that come to mind that really brought this whole
to me. One was a moment when my wife passed
by my office years ago, and saw me in my office,
and I was obviously distraught, and she came in and
asked me what was wrong, and I told her that
(02:15):
I had just gotten a letter from a Jewish woman
who had somehow come across one of my sermons and
just felt the need to write me and tell me
how much the message had blessed her. And she said, well,
that sounds like a good letter, a nice letter. I said, actually,
(02:39):
it is a good letter, and it is a nice letter,
but it shouldn't be. If a Jewish woman was able
to listen to a sermon that I preached on an
Old Testament text and not be convicted and scandalized by it,
that means I didn't preach the gospel. And so often
(03:00):
that's what we do when we get to the Old Testament.
What we do is we just we preach the story.
We preach it like Aesop's fables. And it's not just
when we're preaching, it's when we're teaching it to our children.
And so you hear the story and the Old Testament
and it's David and Goliath, and all of a sudden,
you know, we're telling our children that they just need
(03:21):
to be brave and face the giants in their lives,
and suddenly the Old Testament becomes moralism. In other words,
the Old Testament is just there to tell you, whether
you are Christian or not, if you just behave more
like these people, you too can be a good person. Okay.
If that's true, then the Gospel is meaningless. After this incident,
(03:49):
I began to look more and more closely at the
type of material that's being produced, for example, for Bible studies,
for Sunday School, and the overwhelming majority of it when
it comes to the Old Testament, is pure moralism. Here's
the Old Testament's story. The character did this, and it
(04:10):
was bad, so don't do that. The character did this
and it was good, so do that again. All you
have to do is try harder. That's why the Old
Testament is there to tell you that all you need
to do is try harder. Nothing could be further from
the truth. And as the father of nine children, this
(04:33):
was something that I just had to do something about.
And so in our times of family worship, we began
to concentrate on the Old Testament, Concentrate on connecting it
to redemptive history, concentrate on doing anything other than tell
(04:53):
these children, all you have to do is try harder.
Because that's not true. There has to be good news.
It doesn't matter how hard you try. Christ came to
die for the ungodly because trying hard enough won't ever
satisfy God. So the message cannot be just try harder.
(05:22):
It must be something more. So, over the course of
the ten Sundays that I will have, we'll look at
some of the key stories in the Old Testament and
how they connect to redemptive history. Some of the stories
that we most commonly and by the way, some of
these passages are passages that I preached before, and wish
(05:46):
that I had a chance to go and unpreach in
many of the places that I preached them. So what
I want to do today is a couple of things. First,
we were gonna start with Adam, where we're gonna look
at Adam and then Know and then Abraham and so
on and so forth, and eventually we would have gotten
to Moses. But because it's the Lord's Supper tonight, we're
(06:07):
going to look at Moses in Exodus twelve, and we're
going to look at the Passover. It's one of the
easier texts to do this with so that'll be helpful
as well. But what I want to do before that
is sort of give you the backdrop for the entire series.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Look with me if you.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Will in Luke chapter twenty four, Look twenty four, Look
(06:50):
twenty four. This is one of my favorite stories in
the Bible. I like those stories that make me laugh,
and this is.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
One of them.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Beginning in verse thirteen, This is after the resurrection Jesus
on the road to Amaas. That very day, two of
them were going to a village named Amaeas, about seven
miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other
about all these things that had happened. While they were
(07:25):
talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went
with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him,
and he said to them, what is this conversation that
you were holding with each other as you walk? And
they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopus,
(07:47):
answered him, are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who
does not know the things that have happened there in
these days?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Now?
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Just paused for a moment here, realize he's the only
one in Jerusalem who actually does know what really happened
over these last few days. There's no one else who
knows what he knows about what happened over these few days.
(08:22):
He said to them, what things. And he said to
him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a
prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all
the people, And how our chief priests and rulers delivered
him up to be condemned to death and crucified him.
But we had hoped that he was the one to
(08:43):
redeem Israel. Yes, And besides all this, it is now
the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women
of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb
early in the morning, and when they did not find
his body, they came back saying that they had even
(09:03):
seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.
Some of those who were with us went to the
tomb and found it just as the women had said,
but him they did not see. Now, I want you
to note something here. Note that earlier in the discussion
(09:26):
they were sad. Do you remember that they were sad?
Why are you sad? We were sad because Jesus we thought,
we thought he was the one. And then and then
and then they killed him. And now it's been three days,
and the ladies went to the tomb, and he not
even in the tomb, and they said they saw an angel.
And some other people went back, and they they let's read.
(09:56):
And he said to them, Oh, foolish one and slow
of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these
things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses
and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all
(10:19):
the scriptures the things concerning himself. In other words, Christ
preached Christ from the Old Testament and not moralism. He
went back to the Old Testament and showed them, through
(10:40):
Moses and the Prophets, all the things concerning himself. Folks,
Jesus is the interpretive key that unlocks all of the Bible.
Now here's what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that
we need to allegorize every text in the Old Testament
(11:00):
to where you know everything you know this becomes a
picture of Christ, and this becomes a type of Christ.
And that's not my point. We don't torture the text.
I'm also not saying that the stories themselves don't matter.
They matter, and all of the historical elements of them matter.
But what I am saying is they are only significant
(11:22):
to the degree that they are a part of the
one big story of God redeeming his people through the
person and work of Jesus Christ. With that in mind,
let's turn to Exodus chapter twelve. Exodus chapter twelve, beginning
(11:45):
in verse twenty one, and let's look at this night
of redemption, this night that lay at the foundation of
what it is that we are about to do in
just a few moments, beginning verse between one. Then Moses
(12:10):
called all the elders of Israel and said to them,
by the way, let's back up at this point. There
have been nine plagues Moses has been sent before Pharaoh.
And by the way, if we had time, we could
talk about those nine plagues, because they weren't just nine plagues.
(12:30):
There were three sets of three plagues. Each set of
plagues attacked a different area of the Egyptian worldview, and
each set of three plagues went like this. They would
come before Pharaoh at the water, they would come before
him in his official capacity, probably you know, there before
(12:53):
his throne.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
And then on the third plague, there would be no announcement.
This happens in place one, two, and three.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
It happens again in Plague four, five and six, and
it happens again in Plague seven.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Eight and nine.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
There are three sets of three plagues. In the middle
set of plagues, for example, they are all about setting
apart Goshen from the rest of Egypt. In these plagues, specifically,
God does things to the Egyptians that he spares his
people from over in Goshen. So all of these plagues
(13:31):
were designed to attack the theology and worldview of Egypt. Why
because God was not just trying to get Israel out
of Egypt. He was trying to get Egypt out of Israel.
In other words, they had been there long enough for
their worldview to have been corrupted. They believed that the
(13:53):
gods of the Egyptians were superior. They believed that the
God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob had forsaken them
and was obviously not able to deliver them. God did
not have to give ten plagues. They could have just
woken up one morning and every Egyptian could have been
(14:14):
dead and they walk out. But God did not do
it that way. He did it in a specific and
methodical way so that he delivered his people not just physically,
but also theologically. They needed to be delivered from the
oppression of the Egyptian theological system. They needed to be
(14:38):
delivered from their belief that these gods in Egypt were
anything other than idols. And so one by one by one,
all of the idolatry of Egypt.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Is destroyed.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
By the way, they still had problems with it later on,
if you remember when they built the Golden Calf. But
this last plague is not part of the pattern. This
last plague is the plague of plagues, and this is
the one where God says, get ready, because tonight you leave.
(15:22):
Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said
to them, go and select lambs for yourselves according to
your clans, and kill the passover lamb. Take a bunch
of hissip and dip it in the blood that is
in the basin, and touch the lentil and the two
door posts with the blood that is in the basin.
(15:43):
None of you shall go out of the door of
his house until the morning, for the Lord will.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Pass through to strike the Egyptians.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
And when he sees the blood on the lentil and
on the two door posts. The Lord will pass over
the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter
your house to strike you. And so we see here
first detailed instructions on this night of redemption. This night
(16:13):
is marked by detailed instructions, so God's people know exactly
what to do. He leaves nothing to chance. Specifically, this
is what you are to do. And as we look
at what Israel was to do, it does not take
(16:34):
a rocket scientist to connect it to the message of
the Gospel and the redemption that we have in Christ,
because ultimately this passover is a foreshadowing of what Christ
is going to do. Three very specific instructions that we
need to remember tonight as we take the Lord's Supper.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
What are they? Number One, kill the lamb. Kill the lamb.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
There is no salvation if we don't kill the lamb.
He doesn't say go into your house and pray hard enough.
He doesn't say go into your house and hope you've
done enough good. He says, kill the lamb. There is
a substitute that must be offered. There is a death
(17:24):
that will take place everywhere in their house. It will
be the first born in your house. It will be
the lamb who is the substitute. Kill the lamb, because
without the death of the lamb, there is no deliverance
of the people. Listen to this one Corinthians five seven
(17:45):
and eight. Clear out the old leaven, that you may
be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ,
our passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate
the festival not with the old leaven, the leaven of
malice and evil, but with the unloven bread of sincerity
(18:08):
and truth. Christ is our passover Lamb. So as we
gather before the Lord's table, we gather recognizing the fact
that the lamb has been killed as a substitute, and
that we are saved, we are rescued, we are redeemed,
and we are delivered because God killed the lamb. Secondly,
(18:34):
apply the blood. Don't just kill the lamb, but apply
the blood. Notice that Moses says, you kill the lamb,
and you use the hissip to apply the blood to
the doorposts and to the lentils, because it is the
blood of the lamb that will keep the death angel away.
(19:00):
Peter chapter one, beginning in verse thirteen. Therefore, preparing your
minds for action, and being sober minded, set your hope
fully on the grace that will be brought to you
at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do
(19:22):
not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.
But as he who called you as holy, you also
be holy in all your conduct. Since it was written
you shall be holy, for I am holy. And if
you call on Him as Father, who judges impartially according
to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the
(19:44):
time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from
the futile ways, inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable
things such as silver or gold, but with the precious
blood of Christ, like that of a lamb, without blemish
or spot. We have redemption in his blood. How many
(20:12):
times do we read that in the New Testament that
we are.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Saved through His blood.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
The lamb is sacrificed, and it is his blood that
washes us clean. Over and over again we are reminded
of the blood. There is a fountain filled with blood
drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood,
(20:43):
lose all their guilty stains, the blood of Christ, the
sacrificial atoning death, the vicarious death of the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world. Kill the
lamb and apply the blood. If there is a final instruction,
Moses says, stay inside, kill the lamb, apply the blood
(21:14):
to the door, and stay inside.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Don't go out killing.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Daish in their commentary on this passage, writes, the reason
for the command not to go out of the door
of the house was that in this night of judgment
there would be no safety anywhere except behind the blood
stained door.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
You see.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
To leave your house on that night would be to say,
as the death angel is passing by, I am afraid,
and I believe I can find salvation somewhere out there.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
That's the only reason you'd leave the door.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I'm afraid right now, and because I'm afraid, I want
to be in the place that brings me security. But
the moment you open the door and leave the house,
you acknowledge the fact that you are not trusting by faith,
and you leave and you die. Kill the lamb, apply
(22:27):
the blood, and stay in side. Because the blood of
the lamb is your only hope. There is salvation in
no other It is Christ and Christ alone. There is
no salvation anywhere else Where are you going to go?
(22:51):
If you leave the blood stained door? Where will you run?
Where will you hide? Where will you find safety and
secure curity? Oh saints, stay inside. We are often tempted
to look elsewhere. Stay inside. Things get difficult and you
(23:13):
get scared, and all of a sudden you want to
run back to what's familiar. That means you are not
trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ. All of
a sudden, things are not going according to plan, and
you want to add what you used to believe to
what you now believe. That means you're not trusting in
Jesus Christ. He says, run away from Sodomon Gomorrah, And
(23:37):
you look back and there's a pillar of salt to
commemorate your lack of faith. You never believed that Christ
was enough. The lamb has been slain, his blood has
been applied, and all those who trust in him stay inside.
(24:08):
Moses and the Israelites had no idea, none at all,
of what it was they were foreshadowing. All they were
thinking about is temporal salvation from Egypt all what they
(24:33):
would have given saints to have the fuller picture that
you and I have of being saved to the uttermost
by the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Amen. Secondly, in addition to this.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Detailed instruction, so that we know what to do, there
is also this perpetual reminder, so that we never forget.
Look beginning of verse twenty four, you shall observe this
right as a statute for you and for your sons forever.
And when you come to the land that the Lord
will give you as he has promised, you shall keep
(25:18):
this service. And when your children say to you, what
do you mean by this service, you shall say, it
is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover. For he passed
over the houses of the people of Israel, and for
excuse me, in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but
(25:41):
spared our houses a perpetual reminder. Interestingly enough, there is
encouragement here. Remember there have been nine plagues. Nine time
(26:01):
the Israelites experienced something that, in their minds ought to
have gotten them out of Egypt.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Blood in the Nile. We're going home, y'all. Ah.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
No, No, we're not flies, gnats, boils, certainly, no, no,
we're not.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Ah, wait a minute, he said, we could go.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Ah changed his mind over and over and over again.
But on this night God tells them to make plans
and preparations for a life outside of Egypt. You are
(26:44):
not going to be here forever. You are going to
be delivered, and this ritual was to be performed over
and over and over again. Why every culture has its rituals,
In fact, that's one of the things that distinguishes various cultures.
(27:07):
And these rituals usually mark things that a culture cannot
afford to forget. And for Israel, this was the ritual
of rituals, the reminder of reminders. But why was this significant?
Imagine something with me, if you will, imagine that Israel
(27:30):
comes out of Egypt and there is no passover, and
there is no ritual, and there is no sacrificial system.
And suddenly, way off in the future, there is the
(27:51):
god man Jesus who comes and he is crucified by
the Romans. What does that mean? How is it significant?
Why is it to stick in the forefront of our minds?
(28:12):
I mean, there are thousands of men who were crucified
by the Romans. Two more crucified with him on that day.
Why would it have been significant. The reason it was
significant is because year after year they celebrated the Passover,
and year after year there was a lamb who was slain,
(28:32):
and year after year there was a reminder of the
blood that was applied and the people who were delivered.
And on top of this was the sacrificial system. And
year after year there's the High Holy Day and there's
the scapegoat, and there are the hands that are placed
on his head and he is sent into outer darkness,
taking the sins of the people away. And another goat
(28:55):
who is slain, who dies for the sins of the people,
And year after year after year they're reminded of one thing.
God is going to deal with your sin through the
death of the lamb. And all of a sudden, Jesus
shows up and John says, behold the lamb of God,
(29:16):
who takes away the sins.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Of the world.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
And during this very same celebration where they are killing
a lamb to remind themselves of their need of a savior,
Christ dies for sin, once for all, the just, for
the unjust.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
In order that he might bring us back to God.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
And in the consciousness of everyone who has experienced this.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
They know what this means.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
This is what God has been saying year after year.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
And day after day. I know what this means.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
A perpetual reminder, so that when God does what he
was pointing to, you know exactly what it means. There
is no doubt. It's not left up to interpretation. We're
(30:25):
not left to wonder. We know what the death of
Christ meant. Then there is the solemn obedience to suit
the occasion. Twenty seven and twenty eight, and the people
(30:45):
bowed their heads and worshiped. Then the people of Israel
went and did so as the Lord had commanded Moses
and Aaron. So they did Why so solemn? Because it
fit the occasion. It fit the occasion. You see what
(31:13):
was about to happen. We read the Bible, and the
way we tend to read the Bible, we read it,
like I said, in black and white, as though they're
good guys and bad guys, and these guys and those guys.
And so when we read Exodus, what we tend to
do is we tend to read Exodus like the Egyptians
(31:37):
aren't human, Like every Egyptian walked around with a snarl
on his face, like every Egyptian carried a whip, like
every Egyptian was hateful, like every Egyptian had nothing but
the worst intentions towards the Israelites. The reality wasn't like that.
(32:03):
More likely, every Israelite had an Egyptian friend or two
or three. The Israelite children probably ran around and played
with little Egyptian children. He saw each other in the markets.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
And then.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Verse twenty nine, at midnight, the Lord struck down all
the first born in the land of Egypt, from the
firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, to the
first born of the captive who was in the dungeon,
and all the first born of the live stock. Pharaoh
(33:01):
rose up in the night, he and all his servants,
and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry
in Egypt, for there was not a house where some
one was not dead. The Israelites weren't celebrating that night.
(33:31):
Can you imagine the lamb has been slain, the blood
has been applied to the door. You go into your house,
(33:52):
and as you sit there, midnight comes, and you hear
the wailing and the groaning of mothers whose children are
dying in their arms, mothers who you know, children who
you know, and it's everywhere. You can't escape it, you
(34:25):
can't get away from it. Yes, you want to be free,
but nobody wants to experience this. Listen to this comment
from James and Fosset and Brown. It is more easy
(34:45):
to imagine than describe the confusion and terror of that
people suddenly roused from sleep and enveloped in darkness. None
could assist their neighbor. When the groans of the dying
and the wild shrieks of mourners were heard everywhere around
the hope of every family was destroyed at a stroke.
(35:08):
This judgment terrible, though it was vice the equity of
divine retribution. For eighty years, the Egyptians had caused the
male children of the Israelites to be cast into the river,
and now all their own first born fell under the
(35:28):
stroke of the destroying Angel. They were made in the
justice of God to feel something of what they had
made his people feel. It was justice, but it was horrible,
(36:02):
And finally that night brought absolute deliverence, so that God's
people were saved thirty one and thirty two. Then he
summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, this is Pharaoh. Up,
(36:26):
go up from among my people, both you and the
people of Israel, and go serve the Lord as you
have said. Take your flocks and your herds as you
have said, and be gone.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
And bless me. Also.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Their salvation was immediate. Up, go leave, leave now. It's
why God told his people to be girded up. Salvation
was comprehensive. He said, go all of you, all of you.
(37:09):
It was unconditional. Go serve the Lord as you have said.
And yet it was incomplete because we know that they
had to leave, and there was a long journey ahead.
They'd be in the desert, in the wilderness for forty years.
(37:30):
We know that the path was treacherous. We know that
the promise was still far off, and these people who
are leaving were never really going to understand or realize
the promise that God had made. Many of them would
never make it. Moses wouldn't make it into the land
(37:51):
of Promise. That's why it was so important that year
after year after year, God's people remembered. And that's why
it's so important for us. You say you become a Christian,
(38:17):
and oftentimes we think, yes, we're following the Lord Jesus.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
And all will be well. And yet we still.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Get sick, our friends and our family and our loved
ones still die. We still have financial hardships, emotional hardships,
marriage difficulties, pain with our children. And if we're not careful,
(38:55):
what ends up happening is we forget. We forget, get
the promise that has been made just because there's difficulty
between the time it's made and the time it's realized.
We forget. We forget that this is not our home.
We forget that we are pilgrims in this land. We
(39:16):
forget that we don't get it all here and now.
Although the prosperity preachers will want to make us think
that we forget that. And what happens, What happens when
we forget. God calls us together as his people, and
he reminds us as we break the bread, and as
(39:38):
we drink the cup, he reminds us the lamb has
been slain, the blood has been applied, And no matter
what you're going through.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Stay in side.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
She will be saved, You will get home, you will
be delivered. Christ will have the fullness of the reward
for which he died.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
This is my body, What is for you take eat.
This is the blood of the new Covenant ship. For
you you drink this.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
And as often as you eat the bread, and as
often as you drink the cup, you remember. You remember,
you remember, you remember. No matter what it is that
you're going through, you remember, you remember. Whatever it is,
(40:58):
it's not bigger than a dead Jesus. And the God
who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will complete the
work that he has begun in you. Just remember, stay inside.
(41:27):
Let's pray, Oh God, how we need to be reminded.
(42:00):
Oh how we thank you for reminding us again and
again and again that you did not deliver us, You
did not rescue us. You did not save us, to
leave us and abandon us in the desert. And you,
(42:28):
who've begun a good work in us, you are able
and you will indeed see it through to its completion.
Grant by your grace that we might stay inside, that
we might hold on. Thank you for reminding us again
(42:55):
and again that Christ is sufficient, that his atoning sacrifice
is enough, and that there is nothing or no one
else in whom we can trust or in whom we
(43:21):
should father. I pray for those under the sound of
my voice or languishing under the weight of hardship and difficulty,
pain and suffering, and ask that, by your grace you
(43:47):
would draw near and remind them of who you are
and whose they are, and of your promise that will
come to past. God, we thank you that you are
(44:08):
the God who saves his people always.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
Amen. H What if
Man, shall we pray, Father, we thank you for the
old old story of Jesus and his love. We thank
you for the greatest story ever told, the most important,
(00:29):
the most significant story that the world has ever heard,
and the story that unfortunately too many have not heard.
Grant by your grace that we might not only hear,
but heed this story, and then we might love it.
(00:51):
Before we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, as
I mentioned this morning, I will have the privilege this
year of preaching on over ten Sundays, and in the
mornings we're looking at a series entitled The Way We
(01:16):
Think the Whole idea of Biblical worldview and looking at
key passages in Genesis one through eleven and how they
contribute to the building of Biblical worldview. In the evenings,
we'll be looking at One Big Story. And the idea
of one Big Story is, although we don't have any recording,
(01:39):
oh good, okay, the idea of the one Big story
is connecting everything to redemptive history, connecting everything to the
old story.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
And there are two.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Things that come to mind that really brought this whole
to me. One was a moment when my wife passed
by my office years ago, and saw me in my office,
and I was obviously distraught, and she came in and
asked me what was wrong, and I told her that
(02:15):
I had just gotten a letter from a Jewish woman
who had somehow come across one of my sermons and
just felt the need to write me and tell me
how much the message had blessed her. And she said, well,
that sounds like a good letter, a nice letter. I said, actually,
(02:39):
it is a good letter, and it is a nice letter,
but it shouldn't be. If a Jewish woman was able
to listen to a sermon that I preached on an
Old Testament text and not be convicted and scandalized by it,
that means I didn't preach the gospel. And so often
(03:00):
that's what we do when we get to the Old Testament.
What we do is we just we preach the story.
We preach it like Aesop's fables. And it's not just
when we're preaching, it's when we're teaching it to our children.
And so you hear the story and the Old Testament
and it's David and Goliath, and all of a sudden,
you know, we're telling our children that they just need
(03:21):
to be brave and face the giants in their lives,
and suddenly the Old Testament becomes moralism. In other words,
the Old Testament is just there to tell you, whether
you are Christian or not, if you just behave more
like these people, you too can be a good person. Okay.
If that's true, then the Gospel is meaningless. After this incident,
(03:49):
I began to look more and more closely at the
type of material that's being produced, for example, for Bible studies,
for Sunday School, and the overwhelming majority of it when
it comes to the Old Testament, is pure moralism. Here's
the Old Testament's story. The character did this, and it
(04:10):
was bad, so don't do that. The character did this
and it was good, so do that again. All you
have to do is try harder. That's why the Old
Testament is there to tell you that all you need
to do is try harder. Nothing could be further from
the truth. And as the father of nine children, this
(04:33):
was something that I just had to do something about.
And so in our times of family worship, we began
to concentrate on the Old Testament, Concentrate on connecting it
to redemptive history, concentrate on doing anything other than tell
(04:53):
these children, all you have to do is try harder.
Because that's not true. There has to be good news.
It doesn't matter how hard you try. Christ came to
die for the ungodly because trying hard enough won't ever
satisfy God. So the message cannot be just try harder.
(05:22):
It must be something more. So, over the course of
the ten Sundays that I will have, we'll look at
some of the key stories in the Old Testament and
how they connect to redemptive history. Some of the stories
that we most commonly and by the way, some of
these passages are passages that I preached before, and wish
(05:46):
that I had a chance to go and unpreach in
many of the places that I preached them. So what
I want to do today is a couple of things. First,
we were gonna start with Adam, where we're gonna look
at Adam and then Know and then Abraham and so
on and so forth, and eventually we would have gotten
to Moses. But because it's the Lord's Supper tonight, we're
(06:07):
going to look at Moses in Exodus twelve, and we're
going to look at the Passover. It's one of the
easier texts to do this with so that'll be helpful
as well. But what I want to do before that
is sort of give you the backdrop for the entire series.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Look with me if you.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Will in Luke chapter twenty four, Look twenty four, Look
(06:50):
twenty four. This is one of my favorite stories in
the Bible. I like those stories that make me laugh,
and this is.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
One of them.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Beginning in verse thirteen, This is after the resurrection Jesus
on the road to Amaas. That very day, two of
them were going to a village named Amaeas, about seven
miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other
about all these things that had happened. While they were
(07:25):
talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went
with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him,
and he said to them, what is this conversation that
you were holding with each other as you walk? And
they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopus,
(07:47):
answered him, are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who
does not know the things that have happened there in
these days?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Now?
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Just paused for a moment here, realize he's the only
one in Jerusalem who actually does know what really happened
over these last few days. There's no one else who
knows what he knows about what happened over these few days.
(08:22):
He said to them, what things. And he said to
him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a
prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all
the people, And how our chief priests and rulers delivered
him up to be condemned to death and crucified him.
But we had hoped that he was the one to
(08:43):
redeem Israel. Yes, And besides all this, it is now
the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women
of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb
early in the morning, and when they did not find
his body, they came back saying that they had even
(09:03):
seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.
Some of those who were with us went to the
tomb and found it just as the women had said,
but him they did not see. Now, I want you
to note something here. Note that earlier in the discussion
(09:26):
they were sad. Do you remember that they were sad?
Why are you sad? We were sad because Jesus we thought,
we thought he was the one. And then and then
and then they killed him. And now it's been three days,
and the ladies went to the tomb, and he not
even in the tomb, and they said they saw an angel.
And some other people went back, and they they let's read.
(09:56):
And he said to them, Oh, foolish one and slow
of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these
things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses
and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all
(10:19):
the scriptures the things concerning himself. In other words, Christ
preached Christ from the Old Testament and not moralism. He
went back to the Old Testament and showed them, through
(10:40):
Moses and the Prophets, all the things concerning himself. Folks,
Jesus is the interpretive key that unlocks all of the Bible.
Now here's what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that
we need to allegorize every text in the Old Testament
(11:00):
to where you know everything you know this becomes a
picture of Christ, and this becomes a type of Christ.
And that's not my point. We don't torture the text.
I'm also not saying that the stories themselves don't matter.
They matter, and all of the historical elements of them matter.
But what I am saying is they are only significant
(11:22):
to the degree that they are a part of the
one big story of God redeeming his people through the
person and work of Jesus Christ. With that in mind,
let's turn to Exodus chapter twelve. Exodus chapter twelve, beginning
(11:45):
in verse twenty one, and let's look at this night
of redemption, this night that lay at the foundation of
what it is that we are about to do in
just a few moments, beginning verse between one. Then Moses
(12:10):
called all the elders of Israel and said to them,
by the way, let's back up at this point. There
have been nine plagues Moses has been sent before Pharaoh.
And by the way, if we had time, we could
talk about those nine plagues, because they weren't just nine plagues.
(12:30):
There were three sets of three plagues. Each set of
plagues attacked a different area of the Egyptian worldview, and
each set of three plagues went like this. They would
come before Pharaoh at the water, they would come before
him in his official capacity, probably you know, there before
(12:53):
his throne.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
And then on the third plague, there would be no announcement.
This happens in place one, two, and three.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
It happens again in Plague four, five and six, and
it happens again in Plague seven.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Eight and nine.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
There are three sets of three plagues. In the middle
set of plagues, for example, they are all about setting
apart Goshen from the rest of Egypt. In these plagues, specifically,
God does things to the Egyptians that he spares his
people from over in Goshen. So all of these plagues
(13:31):
were designed to attack the theology and worldview of Egypt. Why
because God was not just trying to get Israel out
of Egypt. He was trying to get Egypt out of Israel.
In other words, they had been there long enough for
their worldview to have been corrupted. They believed that the
(13:53):
gods of the Egyptians were superior. They believed that the
God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob had forsaken them
and was obviously not able to deliver them. God did
not have to give ten plagues. They could have just
woken up one morning and every Egyptian could have been
(14:14):
dead and they walk out. But God did not do
it that way. He did it in a specific and
methodical way so that he delivered his people not just physically,
but also theologically. They needed to be delivered from the
oppression of the Egyptian theological system. They needed to be
(14:38):
delivered from their belief that these gods in Egypt were
anything other than idols. And so one by one by one,
all of the idolatry of Egypt.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Is destroyed.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
By the way, they still had problems with it later on,
if you remember when they built the Golden Calf. But
this last plague is not part of the pattern. This
last plague is the plague of plagues, and this is
the one where God says, get ready, because tonight you leave.
(15:22):
Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said
to them, go and select lambs for yourselves according to
your clans, and kill the passover lamb. Take a bunch
of hissip and dip it in the blood that is
in the basin, and touch the lentil and the two
door posts with the blood that is in the basin.
(15:43):
None of you shall go out of the door of
his house until the morning, for the Lord will.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Pass through to strike the Egyptians.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
And when he sees the blood on the lentil and
on the two door posts. The Lord will pass over
the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter
your house to strike you. And so we see here
first detailed instructions on this night of redemption. This night
(16:13):
is marked by detailed instructions, so God's people know exactly
what to do. He leaves nothing to chance. Specifically, this
is what you are to do. And as we look
at what Israel was to do, it does not take
(16:34):
a rocket scientist to connect it to the message of
the Gospel and the redemption that we have in Christ,
because ultimately this passover is a foreshadowing of what Christ
is going to do. Three very specific instructions that we
need to remember tonight as we take the Lord's Supper.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
What are they? Number One, kill the lamb. Kill the lamb.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
There is no salvation if we don't kill the lamb.
He doesn't say go into your house and pray hard enough.
He doesn't say go into your house and hope you've
done enough good. He says, kill the lamb. There is
a substitute that must be offered. There is a death
(17:24):
that will take place everywhere in their house. It will
be the first born in your house. It will be
the lamb who is the substitute. Kill the lamb, because
without the death of the lamb, there is no deliverance
of the people. Listen to this one Corinthians five seven
(17:45):
and eight. Clear out the old leaven, that you may
be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ,
our passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate
the festival not with the old leaven, the leaven of
malice and evil, but with the unloven bread of sincerity
(18:08):
and truth. Christ is our passover Lamb. So as we
gather before the Lord's table, we gather recognizing the fact
that the lamb has been killed as a substitute, and
that we are saved, we are rescued, we are redeemed,
and we are delivered because God killed the lamb. Secondly,
(18:34):
apply the blood. Don't just kill the lamb, but apply
the blood. Notice that Moses says, you kill the lamb,
and you use the hissip to apply the blood to
the doorposts and to the lentils, because it is the
blood of the lamb that will keep the death angel away.
(19:00):
Peter chapter one, beginning in verse thirteen. Therefore, preparing your
minds for action, and being sober minded, set your hope
fully on the grace that will be brought to you
at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do
(19:22):
not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.
But as he who called you as holy, you also
be holy in all your conduct. Since it was written
you shall be holy, for I am holy. And if
you call on Him as Father, who judges impartially according
to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the
(19:44):
time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from
the futile ways, inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable
things such as silver or gold, but with the precious
blood of Christ, like that of a lamb, without blemish
or spot. We have redemption in his blood. How many
(20:12):
times do we read that in the New Testament that
we are.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Saved through His blood.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
The lamb is sacrificed, and it is his blood that
washes us clean. Over and over again we are reminded
of the blood. There is a fountain filled with blood
drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood,
(20:43):
lose all their guilty stains, the blood of Christ, the
sacrificial atoning death, the vicarious death of the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world. Kill the
lamb and apply the blood. If there is a final instruction,
Moses says, stay inside, kill the lamb, apply the blood
(21:14):
to the door, and stay inside.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Don't go out killing.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Daish in their commentary on this passage, writes, the reason
for the command not to go out of the door
of the house was that in this night of judgment
there would be no safety anywhere except behind the blood
stained door.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
You see.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
To leave your house on that night would be to say,
as the death angel is passing by, I am afraid,
and I believe I can find salvation somewhere out there.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
That's the only reason you'd leave the door.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I'm afraid right now, and because I'm afraid, I want
to be in the place that brings me security. But
the moment you open the door and leave the house,
you acknowledge the fact that you are not trusting by faith,
and you leave and you die. Kill the lamb, apply
(22:27):
the blood, and stay in side. Because the blood of
the lamb is your only hope. There is salvation in
no other It is Christ and Christ alone. There is
no salvation anywhere else Where are you going to go?
(22:51):
If you leave the blood stained door? Where will you run?
Where will you hide? Where will you find safety and
secure curity? Oh saints, stay inside. We are often tempted
to look elsewhere. Stay inside. Things get difficult and you
(23:13):
get scared, and all of a sudden you want to
run back to what's familiar. That means you are not
trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ. All of
a sudden, things are not going according to plan, and
you want to add what you used to believe to
what you now believe. That means you're not trusting in
Jesus Christ. He says, run away from Sodomon Gomorrah, And
(23:37):
you look back and there's a pillar of salt to
commemorate your lack of faith. You never believed that Christ
was enough. The lamb has been slain, his blood has
been applied, and all those who trust in him stay inside.
(24:08):
Moses and the Israelites had no idea, none at all,
of what it was they were foreshadowing. All they were
thinking about is temporal salvation from Egypt all what they
(24:33):
would have given saints to have the fuller picture that
you and I have of being saved to the uttermost
by the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Amen. Secondly, in addition to this.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Detailed instruction, so that we know what to do, there
is also this perpetual reminder, so that we never forget.
Look beginning of verse twenty four, you shall observe this
right as a statute for you and for your sons forever.
And when you come to the land that the Lord
will give you as he has promised, you shall keep
(25:18):
this service. And when your children say to you, what
do you mean by this service, you shall say, it
is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover. For he passed
over the houses of the people of Israel, and for
excuse me, in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but
(25:41):
spared our houses a perpetual reminder. Interestingly enough, there is
encouragement here. Remember there have been nine plagues. Nine time
(26:01):
the Israelites experienced something that, in their minds ought to
have gotten them out of Egypt.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Blood in the Nile. We're going home, y'all. Ah.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
No, No, we're not flies, gnats, boils, certainly, no, no,
we're not.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Ah, wait a minute, he said, we could go.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Ah changed his mind over and over and over again.
But on this night God tells them to make plans
and preparations for a life outside of Egypt. You are
(26:44):
not going to be here forever. You are going to
be delivered, and this ritual was to be performed over
and over and over again. Why every culture has its rituals,
In fact, that's one of the things that distinguishes various cultures.
(27:07):
And these rituals usually mark things that a culture cannot
afford to forget. And for Israel, this was the ritual
of rituals, the reminder of reminders. But why was this significant?
Imagine something with me, if you will, imagine that Israel
(27:30):
comes out of Egypt and there is no passover, and
there is no ritual, and there is no sacrificial system.
And suddenly, way off in the future, there is the
(27:51):
god man Jesus who comes and he is crucified by
the Romans. What does that mean? How is it significant?
Why is it to stick in the forefront of our minds?
(28:12):
I mean, there are thousands of men who were crucified
by the Romans. Two more crucified with him on that day.
Why would it have been significant. The reason it was
significant is because year after year they celebrated the Passover,
and year after year there was a lamb who was slain,
(28:32):
and year after year there was a reminder of the
blood that was applied and the people who were delivered.
And on top of this was the sacrificial system. And
year after year there's the High Holy Day and there's
the scapegoat, and there are the hands that are placed
on his head and he is sent into outer darkness,
taking the sins of the people away. And another goat
(28:55):
who is slain, who dies for the sins of the people,
And year after year after year they're reminded of one thing.
God is going to deal with your sin through the
death of the lamb. And all of a sudden, Jesus
shows up and John says, behold the lamb of God,
(29:16):
who takes away the sins.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Of the world.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
And during this very same celebration where they are killing
a lamb to remind themselves of their need of a savior,
Christ dies for sin, once for all, the just, for
the unjust.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
In order that he might bring us back to God.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
And in the consciousness of everyone who has experienced this.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
They know what this means.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
This is what God has been saying year after year.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
And day after day. I know what this means.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
A perpetual reminder, so that when God does what he
was pointing to, you know exactly what it means. There
is no doubt. It's not left up to interpretation. We're
(30:25):
not left to wonder. We know what the death of
Christ meant. Then there is the solemn obedience to suit
the occasion. Twenty seven and twenty eight, and the people
(30:45):
bowed their heads and worshiped. Then the people of Israel
went and did so as the Lord had commanded Moses
and Aaron. So they did Why so solemn? Because it
fit the occasion. It fit the occasion. You see what
(31:13):
was about to happen. We read the Bible, and the
way we tend to read the Bible, we read it,
like I said, in black and white, as though they're
good guys and bad guys, and these guys and those guys.
And so when we read Exodus, what we tend to
do is we tend to read Exodus like the Egyptians
(31:37):
aren't human, Like every Egyptian walked around with a snarl
on his face, like every Egyptian carried a whip, like
every Egyptian was hateful, like every Egyptian had nothing but
the worst intentions towards the Israelites. The reality wasn't like that.
(32:03):
More likely, every Israelite had an Egyptian friend or two
or three. The Israelite children probably ran around and played
with little Egyptian children. He saw each other in the markets.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
And then.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Verse twenty nine, at midnight, the Lord struck down all
the first born in the land of Egypt, from the
firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, to the
first born of the captive who was in the dungeon,
and all the first born of the live stock. Pharaoh
(33:01):
rose up in the night, he and all his servants,
and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry
in Egypt, for there was not a house where some
one was not dead. The Israelites weren't celebrating that night.
(33:31):
Can you imagine the lamb has been slain, the blood
has been applied to the door. You go into your house,
(33:52):
and as you sit there, midnight comes, and you hear
the wailing and the groaning of mothers whose children are
dying in their arms, mothers who you know, children who
you know, and it's everywhere. You can't escape it, you
(34:25):
can't get away from it. Yes, you want to be free,
but nobody wants to experience this. Listen to this comment
from James and Fosset and Brown. It is more easy
(34:45):
to imagine than describe the confusion and terror of that
people suddenly roused from sleep and enveloped in darkness. None
could assist their neighbor. When the groans of the dying
and the wild shrieks of mourners were heard everywhere around
the hope of every family was destroyed at a stroke.
(35:08):
This judgment terrible, though it was vice the equity of
divine retribution. For eighty years, the Egyptians had caused the
male children of the Israelites to be cast into the river,
and now all their own first born fell under the
(35:28):
stroke of the destroying Angel. They were made in the
justice of God to feel something of what they had
made his people feel. It was justice, but it was horrible,
(36:02):
And finally that night brought absolute deliverence, so that God's
people were saved thirty one and thirty two. Then he
summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, this is Pharaoh. Up,
(36:26):
go up from among my people, both you and the
people of Israel, and go serve the Lord as you
have said. Take your flocks and your herds as you
have said, and be gone.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
And bless me. Also.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Their salvation was immediate. Up, go leave, leave now. It's
why God told his people to be girded up. Salvation
was comprehensive. He said, go all of you, all of you.
(37:09):
It was unconditional. Go serve the Lord as you have said.
And yet it was incomplete because we know that they
had to leave, and there was a long journey ahead.
They'd be in the desert, in the wilderness for forty years.
(37:30):
We know that the path was treacherous. We know that
the promise was still far off, and these people who
are leaving were never really going to understand or realize
the promise that God had made. Many of them would
never make it. Moses wouldn't make it into the land
(37:51):
of Promise. That's why it was so important that year
after year after year, God's people remembered. And that's why
it's so important for us. You say you become a Christian,
(38:17):
and oftentimes we think, yes, we're following the Lord Jesus.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
And all will be well. And yet we still.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
Get sick, our friends and our family and our loved
ones still die. We still have financial hardships, emotional hardships,
marriage difficulties, pain with our children. And if we're not careful,
(38:55):
what ends up happening is we forget. We forget, get
the promise that has been made just because there's difficulty
between the time it's made and the time it's realized.
We forget. We forget that this is not our home.
We forget that we are pilgrims in this land. We
(39:16):
forget that we don't get it all here and now.
Although the prosperity preachers will want to make us think
that we forget that. And what happens, What happens when
we forget. God calls us together as his people, and
he reminds us as we break the bread, and as
(39:38):
we drink the cup, he reminds us the lamb has
been slain, the blood has been applied, And no matter
what you're going through.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Stay in side.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
She will be saved, You will get home, you will
be delivered. Christ will have the fullness of the reward
for which he died.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
This is my body, What is for you take eat.
This is the blood of the new Covenant ship. For
you you drink this.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
And as often as you eat the bread, and as
often as you drink the cup, you remember. You remember,
you remember, you remember. No matter what it is that
you're going through, you remember, you remember. Whatever it is,
(40:58):
it's not bigger than a dead Jesus. And the God
who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will complete the
work that he has begun in you. Just remember, stay inside.
(41:27):
Let's pray, Oh God, how we need to be reminded.
(42:00):
Oh how we thank you for reminding us again and
again and again that you did not deliver us, You
did not rescue us. You did not save us, to
leave us and abandon us in the desert. And you,
(42:28):
who've begun a good work in us, you are able
and you will indeed see it through to its completion.
Grant by your grace that we might stay inside, that
we might hold on. Thank you for reminding us again
(42:55):
and again that Christ is sufficient, that his atoning sacrifice
is enough, and that there is nothing or no one
else in whom we can trust or in whom we
(43:21):
should father. I pray for those under the sound of
my voice or languishing under the weight of hardship and difficulty,
pain and suffering, and ask that, by your grace you
(43:47):
would draw near and remind them of who you are
and whose they are, and of your promise that will
come to past. God, we thank you that you are
(44:08):
the God who saves his people always.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
Amen. H What if
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!