(Exodus) Exodus 12:9-13 — J. Vernon McGee

The Passover Lamb and the Judgment of Sin

And he says in verse 9, "...eaten out of it raw.". Raw, you see, there must be the judgment of sin in our lives. When we come to Christ, friends, we come as a sinner. He died for our sins, and that's where we begin with Him.

Trusting Christ Alone

"...nor sodden at all with water.". In other words, it must be just trusting Him and Him alone. And I'm afraid there's some people who trust water today. But roast with fire. There must be judgment. His head with His legs and with the pertinence thereof, all of it is to be roasted.

The Passover Meal and Readiness to Leave Egypt

"...and ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye shall eat it in haste.".

It's the Lord's Passover. And friends, when you come to Christ, this speaks of Christ, our Passover offered to us. When we come to Him, we should have our loins girded, ready to get out of the world and no longer involved with the world.

I don't believe that you're converted and live a sinful life. We had a remarkable instance here of a woman who ran a liquor store in South Los Angeles, got converted. She called me up and she said, I'm getting out of the liquor business, and if you tell me to, I'll take a hammer and iron and break every bottle.

I told her, I said, you go sell it. And she got out of the liquor business. She was a wonderful Christian, by the way. May I say, you'll get out of Egypt if the blood's been put on the doorpost, because you're to eat it with your loins girded, ready to go, if you please.

God's Judgment on Egypt's Idols

How tremendous this is. Verse 12,. "'For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night. I'll smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I'll execute judgment.

I'm the Lord.'". Now, all of these plagues have been directed at each idol individually. Now, all of them demanded the firstborn. God says, I'm now turning the guns against all the idols. Now will you notice.

Salvation Through the Blood

"'And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I'll pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt.'".

And God says that the people were not saved because they were seed of Abraham. Why, the Egyptians could have obeyed and they would have been saved, God says, when I see the blood. They were not saved because they were doing the best they could.

And paid their honest debts and because they were good people. God says, when I see the blood, I'll pass over. And they were not to run out during the night and look at the blood. They were to have confidence and faith in it.

God says, when I see the blood. He didn't say when they saw it. And they were not saved because of their thoughts or their feelings, their experiences, not because they regarded the blood. God says, when I see the blood, I'll pass over.

To them it was just faith. Not saved because they went through the ceremony and were circumcised. God says, when I see the blood, I'll pass over. They were not saved because they belonged to the church.

The death angel wasn't making a survey of the neighborhood. When I see the blood, God says, I'll pass over. They were not to open the window and tell the death angel how good they were and how much charity work they did.

If a man had put his neck out of the window that night, he'd have died. God says, when I see the blood, nothing is to be added to it. Who was saved that night? Those who believed God? Those where the blood was sprinkled?

Those that entrusted the blood? I say to you candidly, I do not understand it completely, but I set my seal that God is true. And today, it's the shed blood of Christ that'll save you and nothing else, my friend.

The Inexorable Law and Remission of Sins

Now, these are the instructions that God gave, and He said that when He saw the blood, He would pass over. Now, that was not some mystic or superstitious sign at all. There's a great principle that runs all the way through the Word of God, and it is, without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.

In other words, God cannot arbitrarily or big-heartedly shut His eyes to sin and do nothing about it, any more than a judge. When there is brought before Him one guilty, the judge should apply the law and the penalty should be paid.

And I think, frankly, our problem in America today has been the laxity that has come in the enforcement of law. The important thing is that in God's universe, while law is inexorable, and the soul that sinneth, it must die.

Faith Appropriates the Substitute Blood

Therefore, life must be given up for me, a sinner. You see the death sentences on all of us. Now, if you will accept Christ by faith, you'll be saved. Now, that night in Egypt, on every home, there would be the death of the firstborn.

The death angel went through, and the blood was an indication, the application of it on the doorposts and the lintels was an indication of faith, you see. That answers the appropriation of a personal faith.

And that was all that was necessary. They didn't put the blood out there in something else. They're good works. They didn't bring an offering like Cain. All that was necessary was just simply this. And the death angel, when he came, when he saw that, he passed over.