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Sermon #57 Exodus Series

Title: Christ Our Passover

Text: Exodus 12:1-51

Subject: The Passover Typical of Christ

Date: Tuesday Evening — October 9, 2007

Tape # Exodus 57

Readings: Exodus 12:1-51

David Burge and Larry Criss

Introduction:

Our Lord Jesus said, “Moses wrote of me” (John 5:46). Indeed, “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43). As we read the 12^th chapter of Exodus, all who are taught of God are compelled to say, as Phillip did to Nathaniel, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (John 1:45). We find the best commentary ever written upon this passage in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8.

(1 Corinthians 5:7-8) “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: (8) Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

(1 Peter 1:18-21) “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; (19) But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (20) Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, (21) Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.”

If God the Holy Spirit will enable me to do so, I want to preach to you tonight about Christ our Passover. Hold your Bibles open at Exodus chapter 12, and follow along as I simply point out the highlights of this great, instructive chapter. Everything that took place on that memorable, night when God brought Israel out of Egypt with a high hand and stretched out arm, and everything involved in the Jews’ annual feast of the passover in the Old Testament, was designed and intended by God to be a typical representation and picture of our Lord Jesus Christ and the redemption of our souls by him.

Proposition: As Israel was preserved from death and delivered out of Egypt by the blood of the paschal lamb and the mighty arm of God, so God’s true Israel, all the host of his elect, has been delivered from death and hell by the sacrifice of Christ our Passover, and shall be delivered from all bondage by the arm of God’s omnipotent and irresistible grace.

Following the Holy Spirit’s commentary on this passage in 1 Corinthians 5, I want to show that “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” — We are not, in any way tied to those Old Testament laws, ceremonies, feasts, holy days and sabbath days. To observe those things today is to say that Christ has not yet come and redemption is not yet accomplished. The practice of those Old Testament, ceremonial, legal ordinances in this gospel age is nothing short of base idolatry. We worship God in the Spirit, trusting Christ alone as our Savior, the true Passover Lamb, who is sacrificed for us! By his one great sacrifice we are sanctified.

Christ our Passover

The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is our Passover. The purpose of the Old Testament Scriptures was and is to set forth the Lord Jesus Christ in his glorious person and work as our Substitute and Savior, in pictures and prophecies. Without question, one of the clearest and most instructive pictures of Christ in the Old Testament is the paschal lamb. — The Lord Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God by whose death all God’s elect are delivered from sin, and bondage, and death forever.

Paschal Lamb, by God appointed,

All our sins on Thee were laid.

By almighty love anointed,

Thou hast full atonement made!

All Thy people are forgiven

Through the virtue of Thy blood,

Opened is the gate of heaven,

Peace is made ‘twixt man and God!

The passover victim was a lamb (v. 3).

(Exodus 12:3) “Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house.”

This is a picture of our Lord Jesus in his humiliation. He who is the eternal, almighty God became a lamb, the Lamb of God, that he might redeem us with his blood. — “Behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world!” Throughout the Scriptures our Savior is presented to us under the figure of a lamb.

· Abel’s Sacrifice (Genesis 4:4)

· “God will provide himself a lamb” (Genesis 22:8).

· “Brought as a lamb to the slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7)

· Bought with the Blood of the Lamb (1 Peter 1:18-20)

· “Worthy is the Lamb” (Revelation 5:12).

The lamb slain had to be a male of the first year and a lamb without blemish (v. 5).

(Exodus 12:5) “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats.”

· The passover sacrifice had to be a lamb without blemish (v. 5).

· It had to be a male, a ram of the sheep or of the goats, but not a ewe — a ram (v. 5). — By man came sin. By man righteousness must be established. — A man brought death. A man must obtain life.

· It must be a ram of the first year (v. 5), in the prime of life.

This lamb of sacrifice had to be separated from the rest of the flock (v. 6).

(Exodus 12:6) “And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.”

· Christ was set apart in the counsel and decree of God as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).

· He is the Lamb chosen out of the flock (Psalm 89:19).

· Four days before he was crucified he rode into Jerusalem (The Place of Sacrifice), and was set apart from men. — Upon examination, he was found by all to be a Lamb with no fault in him!

The paschal lamb had to be slain in the evening of the fourth day after its separation (v. 6). It must die a violent death in the evening of the fourteenth day of the month.

· At the Appointed Time (Romans 5:8; Galatians 6:4)

· In the Fourth Day of Time—The 4000^th Year Since Creation

· It had to be killed at Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 16:5-6). — So Christ set his face like a flint to go up to Jerusalem as the time of passover drew nigh.

· It had to be slaughtered, violently slaughtered (Exodus 12:6).

· It had to be roasted with fire — the fire of God’s holy wrath (Ex. 12:8).

· Not a bone of the lamb could be broken (Exodus 12:46; John 19:33-36).

(Exodus 12:46) “In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof.”

(John 19:33-36) “But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: (34) But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. (35) And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. (36) For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.”

Note: Only by crucifixion could all these types be fulfilled.

(Acts 2:23) “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:”

(Acts 3:18) “But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.”

(Acts 4:23-28) “And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. (24) And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: (25) Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? (26) The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. (27) For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, (28) For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.”

(Acts 13:26-30) “Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. (27) For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. (28) And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. (29) And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. (30) But God raised him from the dead.”

The blood of the slain lamb had to be sprinkled upon the door posts and the lintel (v. 7). As the father of every household in Israel sprinkled the blood upon the door of his house for the salvation of his family, so our heavenly Father, by the power and grace of his Spirit, applies the blood of Christ to the hearts of his elect at the appointed time of deliverance (Hebrews9:14; 10:22).

What a striking picture this is of the sprinkling of the blood of the Lord Jesus (Hebrews 12:24), teaching us that his precious blood must be applied as well as shed, personally applied to each of God’s elect, just as the blood of the lamb was to every house of the children of Israel (Romans 5:11). Robert Hawker rightly observed…

“The blood of the sacrifice must be applied as well as spilt. An unapplied ransom is no ransom. An unapplied Savior is no Savior. Hebrews 9:19-20.”

Only God the Holy Spirit can do that for us. When he sprinkles the guilty conscience with the blood of Christ, guilt is removed, because he makes us to see and know the Savior’s blood is enough, that by his blood alone justice is satisfied and iniquity is purged. The blood sprinkled speaks peace to our souls!

Yet, every person in the house was required to eat the roasted lamb for himself (v. 8).

· Only those who ate the lamb were delivered from death.

· All who ate the lamb were delivered.

· All for whom blood was shed ate the lamb and walked out of Egypt, and walked out with Moses (the law) leading the way!

Truth and justice cries as loud

As God’s love with Jesus’ blood,

“Every sinner bought with blood

Must escape the wrath of God.”

Justice, mercy, truth and love,

Shining bright in Jesus’ blood,

Make secure our place above,

One with Christ! Approved of God!

Let His praise forever swell —

Jesus has done all things well!

By His sin-atoning blood

He both saves and honors God!

· God commands us to eat the Lamb. That means it is alright for us to do so. — God commands us to believe on Christ (1 John 3:23). That means it is alright for you to believe!

· If you eat the Lamb, his blood was shed for you.

· But this is something only you can do. You must eat the Lamb for yourself!

Every soul under the blood was saved by the blood (v. 13).

(Exodus 12:13) “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”

Someone died in every house in Egypt that night, “for there was not a house where there was not one dead” (v. 30). But the destroying angel did not enter a single house where the blood stained the door. None of those for whom blood was shed died in Egypt that night. Yet, “there was not a house where there was not one dead.” Either personally or representatively, the firstborn of every house died.

The firstborn represents the whole family. And this is God’s law concerning the firstborn. — “All the firstborn are mine!”

(Exodus 22:29) “Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.”

(Exodus 34:18-20) “The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt. (19) All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. (20) But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.”

As it was in Egypt, so it is now. Justice passes by none. All must suffer the wrath of God. All must die. Either personally or representatively, we must face the angry, hot wrath and justice of the holy Lord God. Someone must die, either me or a Substitute — Either you or a Substitute! The blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, stops the destroying angel, the executioner of divine justice at our door. The blood says, “Touch not this house!”

The blood atoned for our sin. The blood pacifies the wrath of God. The blood satisfies divine justice. The holy, infinite justice of God cannot require more than the life’s blood of the Lamb of God (Romans 8:1-4; 5:9-11).

(Romans 8:1-4) “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (3) For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: (4) That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

(Romans 5:9-11) “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (10) For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (11) And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”

The Lord God said, “When I see the blood I will pass over you!” When were we delivered from the wrath of God? When God saw the blood upon the Door (Christ) of our house! How long will this thing last? As long as God sees the blood on the Door! — “When I see the blood!” When did God see the blood on the Door?

· He saw the blood before I saw it.

· He sees the blood when I see it.

· He sees the blood when I can’t see it.

· God always sees the blood. His eye is always on the blood. — Always!

· God will see the blood in the Day of Judgment.

Christ is our Passover. Now, be sure you get this second thing…

Is Sacrificed

“Christ our Passover is sacrificed.” — “Is sacrificed!” — Not was sacrificed — “Is sacrificed!” That means his one sacrifice is enough, that its effects are lasting and perpetually meritorious and effectual, and that no other sacrifice will ever be made. The Jews of old had only the picture, the promise and the prophecy. We have the Passover.

· The type, being fulfilled, is abolished forever.

· The law, being fulfilled, is abolished forever (Romans 10:4).

· The sins of God’s elect, being nailed to the tree, are abolished forever!

· Justice, being satisfied, demands the deliverance of all for whom the Paschal Lamb is sacrificed. — “Fury is not in me!”

· All God’s elect are now redeemed forever (Hebrews 9:12; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 3:18). Being redeemed means that we are delivered from the curse of the law. — Forgiven of all sin. — Made righteous. — Reconciled to God.

This is not a fanciful dream, but the blessed reality of grace! Christ, the Paschal Lamb, died, and all for whom he died are redeemed and delivered from all possibility of curse or condemnation (Gal. 3:13; Rom. 8:1, 33-34).

“Not all the blood of beasts

On Jewish altars slain

Could give the guilty conscience peace,

Or wash away the stain.

But Christ, the heavenly Lamb,

Takes all our sin away,

A Sacrifice of nobler name

And richer blood than they!”

For Us

“Christ our Passover is sacrificed.” But for whom was this great sacrifice made? The Holy Spirit answers that question most emphatically in the last two words of 1 Corinthians 5:7.—”FOR US” — “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us!”

No lamb was provided, no sacrifice was made, no blood was shed for the Egyptians, only for Israel, for all Israel, but only for Israel, God’s chosen people whom he had purposed to redeem, promised to redeem and came to redeem!

Blood was shed only for those who came out of Egypt that night. Even so, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is not a Passover Lamb slain for all the world, but “for us” who are delivered by his blood. The Son of God did not, in any way, to any degree, die to redeem and save those who yet suffer the wrath of God in hell. His sacrifice was made for and effectually secured the eternal salvation of all for whom he died.

There is not a hint of universal redemption in the Book of God. Every text referring to the redemptive work of Christ, every type of redemption in the Old Testament, and every statement about the consequences of our Lord’s death at Calvary declare plainly that he died for a specific people and that all for whom he died were effectually redeemed by his blood. — “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us!”

· “For us” whom he came to save (Matthew 1:21).

· “For us” who are God’s elect (Romans 8:29).

· “For us” his church (Ephesians 5:25-27).

· “For us” his sheep (John 10:11, 15, 25).

· “For us” who believe on him.

· “For us” who shall be with him at last in heaven (Romans 5:9-10).

Why are we so dogmatic and insistent in declaring that the Lord Jesus Christ actually redeemed all for whom he died? Why do we so dogmatically assert the doctrine of particular, effectual redemption? Why do we insist, in the teeth of universal opposition from the religious world around us, upon the doctrine of limited atonement? Why must we constantly denounce as heresy the hellish doctrine of universal (useless) redemption? Let me give you five answers to those questions. The doctrine of universal (useless) redemption…

· Denies the justice of God.

· Makes man his own savior and robs Christ of his glory as our Redeemer. — The gospel declares redemption accomplished!

· Denies the deity of Christ, asserting that he is a failure in his most important work, asserting that he died in vain for many!

· Would destroy the wisdom and justice of God.

· Sets aside the immutability of God and perverts his goodness.

· Nullifies the love of God and frustrates his grace.

You will notice that blood was to be sprinkle upon the two door posts and the lentil, but not upon the threshold. Why? Because the blood must never be trampled under foot as a common, unholy thing!

Keep the Feast

“Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast.”

The Passover feast was in many ways similar to the Lord’s Supper. Indeed, our Lord Jesus, seized the symbolism of the last passover supper to establish the gospel ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. But this passage does not refer to eating the Lord’s Supper. 1 Corinthians 11 tells us plainly that the Lord’s Supper is not a feast and is not to be kept as a feast. The passover feast was a picture of the life of faith. The keeping of the feast referred to here is a spiritual thing. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, we feed upon him as our Passover Sacrifice. We eat his flesh and drink his blood, constantly, by faith (John 6:51-57).

A feast implies both plenty and joy. — In Christ there is plenteous redemption. — In him there is an infinite plenty of grace! — Let us therefore feast upon him with the joy of faith!

The feast of faith must be eaten with bitter herbs, as the passover was (v. 8).

· Godly Sorrow

· True Repentance

(Zechariah 12:10) “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

This feast of faith cannot be kept with the old leaven of malice and wickedness (enmity and hypocrisy), but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. — We must purge out the leaven, put off the old man and put on the new.

(Ephesians 4:21-24) “If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: (22) That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; (23) And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; (24) And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”

(John 4:24) “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

(Philippians 3:3) “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”

As leaven sours the loaf, so malice sours the life. As leaven ruins, so wickedness destroys. As leaven swells, so hypocrisy swells the hearts of men with pride. Let us put away the leaven, sweep it away and worship God with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

· I fear having a form of godliness without the power of it.

· I fear cleaning up the outside of the platter while neglecting that which is within.

· I fear having a name to live, and being altogether without life before God.

· I fear doing what I do to be seen of men and have the praise of men, rather than for the glory of God.

· I fear lip religion.

This feast of faith, is a feast of expectation and hope. — The Jews ate the passover with their coats on their backs, their shoes on their feet, and their staff in their hands. They ate it expecting to go out of Egypt that night. That is what it is to keep the feast. It is living upon Christ with the expectation of deliverance, having our loins girt about with the girdle of Truth, our feet shod with the gospel of peace, the coat of Christ’s righteousness upon our backs, and the staff of faith in our hands.

· We keep the feast by reckoning ourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God.

· We keep the feast with an eye upon eternity and the land of promise.

“Christ” is “our Passover.” — “Christ our Passover is sacrificed.” — “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” — “Therefore let us keep the feast.”

Amen.

Don Fortner

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