The Passover Exodus 12:1 28

Good morning, and welcome to Faith Bible Church. I consider it a

Family and as you can tell from the conversation going on, we're just getting reacquainted again this morning

And so it's a real blessing from the Lord. We are considered brothers and sisters in Christ and a close family

And I thank the Lord for that. We welcome you here today have just a couple of announcements we want to give to you and If you have the bulletin notice at the bottom left that we have the adult

Sunday school at 930 and We'll be back into Psalms this coming week what chapter of Psalms we're going to be in 22 and so next week will be in Psalms 22 glad to have you there join us for that and as usual of the 11 o 'clock service is each

Sunday and tonight at Six o 'clock. We have a prayer time.

It's a real sweet time of fellowship We do in the praying we pray a lot

Concerning what the Lord is to us and it's a real time of fellowship

If you want a time of fellowship, you'd come out and join us at that time also and note also that there's a men's

Bible study on Saturday at 330 and We have a

Elders meeting this week at Wednesday night at 630 and Next Sunday morning following the church service.

We're going to have our annual business meeting We were usually have before I had but on the last

Thursday of January, but we feel that Sunday morning is a little more convenient so we'll have it just following the service next

Sunday morning, so remember that and Also the 18th the

Saturday the 18th the women's Bible study again And so remember that and put it on your calendar and come out

To that you ladies and I know that they've enjoyed that time of fellowship together

What chapter they in? Exodus 9

First Kings wrong book first Kings 9 And I think that's it for the announcements and you know, we usually like to prepare our hearts for the message at this time and Sometimes I do things that are

I think Harold and pastor are going to say get that guy off of here So we're going to You're going to join with me and sing a song that you may have not heard in preparation

Go down Moses We had a Bible study and when we went through this a couple years ago, we learned this song

I'm going to sing the first verse. There's three verses you can remain seated and After I sing the first verse, you know it and so then we'll sing the first verse again and we'll do the three verses and that's preparing your heart for the message and Hopefully you'll remember what pastors been saying to us when you remember this song so you can remain seated

I'll say also those of you know, you join me with me the first verse to Each As you might know

I just stop and say as you might know This is an African spiritual and probably the people singing it.

We're in slavery and had some idea what we were talking about So now we'll sing you'll sing the first verse again now that you know it.

Okay, then we'll do the other two Oh My Oh That's your preparation for the message and let's pray

Heavenly Father we come before your throne today We thank you for the power and the glory that you show us even the

Old Testament of what you're capable of doing we pray Heavenly Father that this day together might be a day of rejoicing and a day of Praising you praising you and if there are those here

Lord that are hurting We would pray Heavenly Father that you might comfort and touch them and we would thank you

We thank you for the state and the country where we have freedom to worship

We pray Heavenly Father that that might continue and we would thank you for that be with pastor as he brings your word today

May be a blessing to each one of us and we will thank you and pray in Jesus name.

Amen Created me a clean heart Oh God and renew a right spirit within me and let's stand for Songs that we're gonna sing to the

Lord I should read for this morning is first Peter chapter 1 verses 17 through 21 first Peter chapter 1 verses 17 through 21

And if I if he called the father who with respect of persons

Judges according to every man's work past the topic of your sojourning here in fear

For as much as he know That he will not redeem with credible things like a silver and gold from your great conversation received by tradition from your father's

Over the precious blood of Christ as a Lamb without blemish and without spot

Who rarely was forwarding before the foundation of the world, but was manifested

Manifest in these last times for you Who by him do believe in God That raised him up from the dead and gave him glory their faith and hope might be in God May the

Lord I expect you to read of his word May our faith and hope be in God and let's stand and sing

Please turn with me to Exodus chapter 12 Exodus chapter 12 verses 1 through 28

Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying This month shall be your beginning of months.

It shall be the first month of the year to you Speak to all the congregation of Israel saying on the 10th of this month

Every man shall take for himself a lamb According to the house of his father a lamb for a household and if the household is too small for the lamb

Let him and his neighbor next to his house. Take it according to the number of the persons

According to each men's need you shall make your make your count for the lamb Your lamb shall be without blemish a male of the first year you may take it from the sheep or from the goats

Now you shall keep it until the 14th day on of the same month then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight and They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it

Then they shall eat the flesh of on that night Roasted in fire with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs.

They shall eat it Do not eat it raw nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire its head with its legs and its entrails you shall let none of it remain until the morning and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire and Thus you shall eat it with a belt on your waist your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand

So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt Both man and beast and against all the gods of Egypt.

I will execute judgment. I am the Lord Now the blood shall be assigned for you on the house where you are

And when I see the blood I will pass over you and the plague shall not be on You to destroy you when

I strike the land of Egypt So this day shall be to you a memorial and you shall keep it as a feast to the

Lord throughout your generations You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance

Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread on the first day You shall remove leaven from your houses for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day

The person shall be cut off from Israel on the first day There shall be a holy convocation and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you

No manner of work shall be done on them But that which everyone must eat that only may be prepared by you

So you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread for on this same day

I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting

Ordinance in the first month on the 14th day of the month at evening You shall eat unleavened bread until the 21st day of the month at evening

For seven days. No leaven shall be found in your houses since whoever eats

What is leavened that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel whether he is a stranger or a native of the land

You shall eat nothing leavened in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread then

Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them pick out and take lambs for yourselves and according to your families and kill the

Passover lamb and you shall take a bunch of hyssop dip it in the blood that is in the basin and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin and None of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning for the

Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts the

Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you and You shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever

It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you

Just as he promised that you shall keep the service and it shall be when your children say to you

What do you mean by this service that you shall say? It's the Passover sacrifice of the

Lord Who passed over the house of the children of Israel in Egypt when he struck the

Egyptians and delivered our households? So the people bowed their heads and worshipped Then the children of Israel went away and did so just as the

Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron so they did Let us pray

Father we're thankful for who you are We're thankful that you are God You're a

God who is so merciful and gracious that you would provide a way to save your children

Father thank you that none of your children will be lost and thank you that you take care of us no matter what happens

Father we pray that you would help us trust you as these children of Israel did on the night of the

Passover father we pray that we would trust in the blood of the Lamb that covered their households and The judgment did not strike them in Jesus name

The Passover It's a huge event in the redemptive history in the

Bible and This is one of the reasons why we are going through the

Old Testament right now the Old Testament concepts and events and feasts are the foundation in which

Jesus fulfills The promises of the past Without knowing the purpose of the

Passover lamb We lose the rich depth of knowing what it means to call

Jesus the Lamb of God Jesus is called the Lamb of God all throughout the

New Testament Even on the throne the heavenly throne.

He is called the Lamb of God the Lion of Judah and This text tells us the huge implication of knowing

What it means to call Jesus the Lamb of God the

Passover lamb is The subject is the focus of this text the

Passover lamb is how God Will deliver his people from the judgment the

Passover lamb is what differentiates God's people from the condemned and that's what we see today and What we see today is how

God's people need to respond to this Passover lamb So the main point of this text is

The appropriate response to the Lord's deliverance is continual commemoration

The appropriate response to the Lord's deliverance is continual commemoration first point

The Lord protects his people from the judgment through the slaughtering of the lamb

The Lord protects his people from the judgment through the slaughtering of the lamb them. Prior to the final judgment against Egypt, the

Lord prepares his people to leave Egypt for once and for all.

Unlike the prior plagues, this final plague will not automatically separate

God's people from the Egyptians. For example, Israel did not have to do anything during the hailstorm.

Their fields were fine and Goshen. Yet, Egypt was devastated.

Israel did not have to do anything for their livestock. The diseases only affected the livestock of Egypt.

And of course, when Egypt was totally dark, there was light among the

Israelites. They did not have to do anything. But here, for the final judgment,

God's people are called to act in faith to be protected from the coming judgment.

God's people are called to act in faith to be protected from the coming judgment.

Even before the Lord instructing what Israel must do,

He actually establishes a new order of life for His people in verse 2.

This month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.

This is significant because the surrounding Canaanite cultures, when they do get to the

Promised Land, regarded the fall, the season of autumn, to be the beginning of the year as they celebrated their harvest.

However, for God's people, their year begins by commemorating the

Lord's historical redemptive act. What's important to them, for God's people, is not harvest, but God's historical deliverance of them.

And this would set Israel apart from the surrounding pagan nations.

What they're celebrating would be completely different from those of the pagan nations.

For God's people, God's act of deliverance is the center of their lives.

That's what establishes their time frame. That's what marks their calendar.

Now, after establishing the new order for His people, the Lord instructs what

His people must do in order to avoid the last plague.

Verse 3 to 4 tell us who will be involved. On the 10th of this month, every man shall take for himself a lamb according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.

And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it.

And according to the number of the persons, according to each man's need, you shall make your count for the lamb.

When God saves, when God delivers His people, He does not leave anyone out.

There is no asterisk of God saved every Israelite, asterisk, except for the houses with too few to celebrate the

Passover. Or God saved every Israelite, asterisk, except for the houses that could not afford to eat of the lamb.

First, this instruction shows us that God intends and does save every one of His people because that's what

He's capable of. And that's according to His gracious character. He doesn't leave anyone out.

He will provide for the exceptions. There are no outliers for God.

Then verses 5 to 11 share how God's people must prepare the lamb.

Again, this text is focused on the lamb. Here the lamb is the means by which the

Lord will protect His people from the coming judgment. Recall that this judgment is different from the other judgments.

This judgment, the Lord is directly involved. The Lord will pass through the land of Egypt.

And when the Lord directly passes through the land of Egypt, His presence,

His holy presence is not safe for Israelites because even the

Israelites were sinners like Egyptians. Even the

Israelites were actually pagans. They had idols.

They were not safe. But God here graciously gives them a way out, gives them a provision in which they could be delivered.

They could be safe despite the judgment that's coming on the land. Verse 5 describes what kind of lamb is acceptable to the

Lord. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year.

You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Why does the lamb have to be without blemish?

The Passover at its core is not about having a nice meal. After all, any lamb of one year, whether with blemish or not, would taste the same.

The Passover is about how God's people can properly relate to the perfect and holy

God. To the perfect and holy God, blemish was not acceptable.

The perfect and holy God required a blemish -free lamb, a lamb of the highest quality, no defects, no spots, pure and white, unblemished.

Verse 6 tells us when this lamb has to be slaughtered. It has to be done on the 14th day of the first month and at twilight.

This is extremely specific, but when God delivers His people, His people must follow

His way, not theirs. When God saves His people, His people must receive

God's way, not what they think is best. I don't want to be up in twilight.

Well, you don't have a choice. Verse 7 shows us how each family will be protected.

And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two door posts and on the lentil of the houses where they eat it.

They were to paint the front of the house with the lamb's blood. And that is the core of the

Passover. In fact, the blood smeared on the front of the house comes before the

Passover meal itself. It shows what's actually more important.

And this would not have made a lot of sense to Israel at first because they have never done this before.

But it's served as an act of faith. It's not actually that the lamb has the magical power to protect you if you eat it, but rather the blood that you're not supposed to eat is going to protect you.

And God plants that concept in His people as early as Exodus.

A blood of the lamb, the blood of the lamb that protects His people.

The blood of the lamb that protects His people from the coming judgment. The blood of the lamb that protects

His people from death. And with this act, if they follow the

Lord's instruction regarding the lamb's blood, their firstborn babies would be spared.

That was the promise of the Lord. It was a public demonstration of their trust in the

Lord. And this was the most important step of the Passover.

Their outward faith shown by the blood of the lamb set

God's people apart from the condemned of Egypt. Even in the

Old Testament, we see God relating to His people of faith. Verses 8 to 11 tell us the quick manner of eating the

Passover lamb. Verse 8 through 10 tell us that the lamb must be cooked in the quickest manner possible and eaten with the least amount of preparation.

Roasting would have been quicker than boiling the lamb, right? When you boil the lamb, you have to boil the water so it's hot enough and then you put the lamb and then it cooks that way.

And after it, you have to wash the cookware. Boiling would have taken too long.

No, no. God says, roast it over the fire. There's no cleanup. It's quick.

You don't have to wait for the water to boil. After all, you're going to be leaving this land soon. Now, bitter herbs, kind of confusing.

Why would you want to eat bitter herbs? Well, bitter herbs were the simplest vegetable side dish to be prepared, right?

They didn't have time to make a ratatouille. They didn't have time to steam the broccoli.

No, bitter herbs, you would just pick from the backyard and then eat it and it's bitter because it's raw, uncooked, unseasoned.

But that's the quickest meal you can have before you leave the land of Egypt. And verse 10 shows us that there was to be no leftover, right?

Packing the leftover would have taken a long time. This meal had to be quick.

After all, God's people had to leave Egypt at a moment's notice. Verse 11 shows us the table manner for Israel, right?

Before, it's how to cook and how to eat it. Now, how are you going to celebrate this meal?

And thus you shall eat it with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and the staff in your hand, so you shall eat it in haste.

It is the Lord's Passover. The belt on their waist would keep their flowing robes fastened tightly so that it does not hinder any moment, any movement, right?

Uh, some translation might have, uh, tie your loincloths, right?

Uh, fasten your loincloths because they wore their clothing. The type of clothing they were wearing was more flowing than the pants we wear today or the shorts we wear today.

The belt would allow them to flee at any moment. Now, what about the shoes?

Sandals on their feet signified the preparedness of departure, right?

In the ancient Israel culture, similar to many Asian cultures today, even my house, we take our shoes off when we enter the house.

We, we do not eat with our shoes on because the dining room is after entering the house.

And, and in that regard, Israelites did not normally wear shoes inside the house to eat.

However, that night it would be different. They were, they had to be ready to go. Make sure your shoes are on because you got to leave tonight.

And why was this all necessary? Verses 12 through 13 tell us the reason for the whole meticulous preparation.

For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment.

I am the Lord. Now the blood shall be assigned for you on the houses where you are.

And when I see the blood, I will pass over you and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when

I strike the land of Egypt. The Lord passing through Egypt that night to strike all the firstborn was not just a judgment against Egypt, but their deities as well.

The past nine plagues showed over and over again the Lord's full control over every part of Egypt, whether it's the

Nile, whether it's the livestock, whether it's the ground, whether it's the air, the

Lord had full control over Egypt, not their gods. This plague will show that the

Lord had full authority to take even the lives of the firstborn of Egypt and their pagan gods are incapable of saving.

And yet this is a gracious judgment because the Lord could have easily taken out every other life, not just the firstborn.

The goal here wasn't a total annihilation, but a total defeat for the fake gods of Egypt and total deliverance of his own people.

Nothing but the firstborn, the lives of the firstborn of Egypt would have freed his people from enslavement.

This final judgment would be a decisive victory for the Lord and reveal to the world that the

Egyptians' gods are not divine at all. They were in fact non -gods, fake gods, idols.

The first Passover was an act of faith. God's people were prepared to leave because they believed the

Lord would deliver them that night. All of these steps were followed because they trusted in their

God. How will Israel avoid the final plague? By the blood of the

Lamb. The blood of the Lamb had no magical property in itself, but God used the blood of the

Lamb to protect his people from the wrath to come. And why was this an act of faith?

Recall how Moses told Pharaoh of Egypt that Egyptians would stone them to death if they were to sacrifice their animals in the land of Egypt.

Well, here the Lord actually commands his people to slaughter their lambs, not outside of Egypt, but inside, in Egypt itself.

And that will precisely be how the Lord will deliver his people out of Egypt.

The blood of the Lamb was the outward sign of faith in the

Lord instead of Pharaoh. It's to believe that it is not Pharaoh letting us go, but God himself when he judges for the last time the land of Egypt.

And Egyptians will have nothing to do with us. And the Egyptians will not stone us to death despite the abominable blood of the

Lamb that's covering every household of Israel.

And as the Lord passes by and sees the blood of the Lamb, his judgment will pass over and his faithful people would remain protected.

The blood of the Lamb was an outward expression of faith in the Lord rather than anyone else.

It didn't make sense, but that's why it was an act of faith. It was the faith in God's promise of deliverance.

The Lord establishes the Passover Lamb to Israel more than a thousand years before Jesus' incarnation, even 1500.

At the first Passover, God introduces the concept of an innocent, unblemished male lamb dying to protect

God's people who trust in him through their judgment. This is significant because God will build upon this.

Now he's not giving you a new instruction. Now you got to kill two lambs or a different type of lamb.

No, he's providing the lamb himself. His purpose for the first Passover was that he might set the groundwork for the greater

Passover Lamb to avert a greater judgment. More than a thousand years later,

God's Passover Lamb is not just unblemished and without defect, but he is sinless and perfect.

The blood of God's Passover Lamb does not cover just one believing family, but covers all faithful families of the earth.

When God's Passover Lamb shed his blood for us on the cross, all the wrath that we deserved was poured onto him so that those who are covered by the blood of the lamb may live, so that the judgment would pass over.

The first Passover ultimately pointed to the greatest

Passover by which God provided protection from judgment and deliverance for his people from a master greater than Egypt, but sin itself and a judgment greater than just losing the firstborn, but death of all.

The ultimate Passover Lamb is, of course, Jesus Christ, the

Lamb of God who came to save the world, saved precisely by being slaughtered on the behalf of the people he came to save so that his people would remain untouched by sin and death once and for all.

We have to look back to the first Passover to understand and appreciate the greatest

Passover Lamb. This is why we cannot skip over the

Old Testament. For the early church that started in Jerusalem, this would have been a shocking moment, but it would have made sense to them that Jesus fulfilled the

Passover. Now, how will

God's people continue following him after the first Passover? The Lord's people must commemorate

God's act of deliverance continually. The Lord's people must commemorate

God's act of deliverance continually. The Passover is not meant to be just remembered, but an event to be experienced and commemorated.

And this is the sad reality of humanity's sinful state. Despite God's merciful deliverance, unless we intentionally set aside time to remember what

God has done for us, we will soon forget. If you don't believe me, remember the last time you're worried about something.

Did you remember when God provided for you last? I often catch myself worrying and then realize, well,

God has been providing for me thus far. How could I have forgotten that? And this section is to prevent exactly that.

According to verse 14, Israel had to keep the Passover as a feast to the

Lord throughout the generations, as an everlasting ordinance. Verse 15 begins with what they must be eating during the week of celebration.

They're supposed to eat unleavened bread. In fact, starting on the first day, they're commanded to remove leaven from their houses.

Now, leaven is used in baking to make the bread rise.

Think sourdough bread. That's what it would have been like. The sourdough culture that's used to make the bread fluffy and tasty.

Although the risen bread is tasty, it takes a long time to make.

And during the first Passover, time was not on Israel's side. They had to be ready to leave quick, right?

One commentator estimates that an unleavened bread from kneading to cooking would take about 18 minutes to make.

That's pretty fast for someone who knows how to bake bread with the leaven.

Hence, after the first Passover, the Israelites will reenact the original event to always remember

God's great deliverance. It's more than to just have a moment of silence, but to actually live it for the whole week, knowing that that's how

God delivered us. We had to leave quickly. Our ancestors had to leave quickly.

And in fact, many Jewish people still celebrate the whole week today.

They get rid of all the bread or any leavening agents and give it to their

Gentile friends. I've received some myself, but too bad my wife can't have gluten so we couldn't eat too much.

Now, verse 15, in fact, lays out the consequence of not following the feast.

This is not just a recommendation for the Jews. This is a command.

For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

This religious commemoration was so serious that any person who does not participate would be cut off from God's people.

They will no longer be a part of God's covenant community if they did not take the feast of unleavened bread seriously.

Caught off means they will no longer be the recipients of God's blessings,

God's covenantal relationship, and they will no longer have anything to do with the

Lord or His people. Now, this may sound harsh, but we have to consider that for Israel, the

Passover was the greatest act of deliverance in their redemptive history thus far and even would remain that way throughout the whole

Old Testament. To fail to commemorate, to remember, to appreciate that cataclysmic redemptive event would be to totally disregard

God's awesome act of deliverance. For Christians, it would be to spit on the cross or stomp on the cross, to not view

God's redemptive act as we ought in remembrance.

Now, how is it possible to have a relationship with God if they disregarded

His merciful and gracious deliverance? And the fact is you can't.

That's they're caught off. Verse 16 tells us that the two days that flank the week are to be treated extra carefully.

On the first day, there shall be a holy convocation and the seventh day, there shall be a holy convocation for you.

Now, how is it going to be holy? No manner of work shall be done on them, but that which everyone must eat, that only may be prepared by you.

Now, you're not going to starve on that day. You can make your own food, but don't work on that day.

On those two days, they cannot work. The command to rest from work is to differentiate those two special days, the beginning and the end, from any other day of that celebratory week.

And this is really important because they did not get weekends.

They did not get their maternity leave, right? They did not get their New Year's off.

They did not get Christmas. They didn't get federal holidays.

Why? They were slaves. Work was their way of life.

But what does God do? You got to make those two days special by not working.

You can rest. He commanded them to rest in order that they may devote it to the

Lord. That's special. And that's what

God intended. He wanted the week to remember His deliverance to be more special than any other week by providing rest for His people who were once enslaved.

They got to taste something that they haven't tasted before, and that's rest from work. And verse 17 is a repetition of the command to observe the

Feast of Unleavened Bread. They are to commemorate God's powerful deliverance of His people out of Egypt, and they were to remember it forever.

Verse 18 reminds them again of the days that they need to celebrate, and the repetition is to emphasize how important it is for Israel to observe this feast to the

T. And verse 19 tells us that there's no geographical limits or racial distinctions for those who are celebrating

God's deliverance. Anyone who is part of God's people, whether you're a

Jew or not, as long as you are in relationship with the Lord, you can join the feast.

You're part of God's covenant people. Now, the question in our minds is, when was the last time we took a week like that, and are we cut off because we failed to get rid of bread in our houses during the

Passover week? After all, when was the last time we threw away or gave away perfectly good loaves of bread to our neighbors?

For Christians, we celebrate the ultimate Passover, the fulfillment of the first Passover by the

Lamb of God. This happened during the first Lord's Supper, the last supper for Jesus, and it was done in remembrance of Christ.

Paul repeats that multiple times in 1 Corinthians. It's the same way that the

Jews commemorated their Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover in remembrance of the

Lord's deliverance. And the Lord's Supper's setting is, in fact, the

Passover Supper. Mark 14 .12 tells us that the last supper occurred on the first day of the festival of unleavened bread when it was customary to sacrifice the

Passover lamb. It happened on the first day. Yet, when you read the gospel accounts of the last supper, there is no emphasis on a dead lamb on the table.

Rather, the emphasis is on the ultimate

Passover lamb inaugurating the Lord's Supper. The body that is given is not the lamb that was slaughtered, but the

Lord Jesus who will be slaughtered, who will be crucified, who will shed

His blood. That's the focus of the ultimate

Passover. This is why Paul passes the

Lord's Supper onto us in 1 Corinthians 11 and tells us we partake in communion in remembrance of Jesus, in remembrance of Jesus until He comes.

We proclaim His death. The focus is on the death of the lamb that provided a way out for us from the judgment to come.

In fact, the Lord's Supper is celebrated among believers only, just as the

Passover and the whole week was celebrated among the Old Testament believers only.

They had to be the covenant people. And during the

Lord's Supper, we remember Jesus' blood shed for our sin on our behalf.

We remember Jesus' body pierced for us on our behalf.

And that is how we celebrate the Passover.

And we do celebrate it more often than just once a year.

And I think that's a blessing because if we didn't, we're bound to forget what

Jesus had done for us. Lastly, the

Lord's people must celebrate God's deliverance intergenerationally. The Lord's people must celebrate

God's deliverance intergenerationally. Verses 21 through 28 take us to Moses' interaction with the people of Israel.

Here, Moses tells Israel about the Passover, which he heard from the

Lord just a few verses back. From verses 21 through 23, his focus is again on the

Passover lamb and his blood. Verse 22 tells us more in detail how the lamb's blood ought to be collected and used.

And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin. It was collected that way.

And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. A hyssop is a type of plant that's woody, yet very thin.

So, wooden branches, but very thin. It's kind of flexible. And it was often used in purification.

And during the Passover, it will be used to brush the blood of the lamb onto the lintel and the two -door posts of the front door.

And this imagery gets picked up by none other than the apostle John at the crucifixion.

In John 19, 29, the apostles tells us that the soldiers filled a sponge with sour wine and put it on hyssop and raised it up to Christ.

Of course, Jesus did not drink it. But John gives us the detail that what kind of plant was used.

And it just happened to be hyssop, just like the ones they used for the

Passover. And the crucifixion happened during the Passover week. The thread of the

Passover blood connects the crucifixion of the ultimate

Passover lamb. And we can't miss that. And in this section, the first half is devoted to the

Passover lamb. And the latter half is to ensure that Israel passes on this tradition to remember the

Lord to the next generation. It must go on.

To Moses, the Passover lamb is of the primary importance.

It is precisely through the blood of the Passover lamb that God's people will avoid the

Lord's final judgment in Egypt. It is precisely through the blood of the Passover lamb that the

Lord will protect His own from death. And Moses emphasizes the importance of passing down this historical event to the future generations of God's people.

They will be identified by it. That's going to be who they are. That's going to be what they do.

It's going to be what they know. And verse 24 reminds them again that this must be observed continually.

And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.

Verse 25 tells us there is no geographical limitations as to where it must be observed.

It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you just as He promised that you shall keep this service.

Even when you're nowhere near Egypt, even when you haven't seen an Egyptian in centuries, you gotta keep that.

And next, they must observe the Passover even when they're in the promised land and safe from the incitement.

And the next verses, 26 to 27, tell us there is no generational limitation.

The importance of the Passover lamb does not expire. And it shall be when your children say to you, what do you mean by this service?

That you shall say, it is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when

He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households. So the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

It does not matter whether the children of God's people were alive during the first Passover.

It is the duty of God's people to teach God's great deliverance to the future generations.

That's what we ought to do. And Christians, this is relevant to us because oftentimes the gospel, the great act of God's deliverance, the ultimate

Passover, is often just assumed. Christians often treat the gospels as the old news.

Oh yeah, we've heard that before. I know what you're talking about. People want something they have not heard of.

And unfortunately, many pastors want to give that. Their eyes glaze over them when they hear about Jesus for the umpteenth time.

In seminaries, professors want to find new information to add to the gospel. You would be surprised how many heretics are actually teaching under the name of professor.

They have that passionate desire to publish something new under their name, to find new information to add to the gospel.

I've talked to New Testament professors who didn't quite believe in the justification by faith, who didn't believe that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us, that it's put on us, that God's the gospel.

But not only that, if you ask people who grew up in the churches, and you ask them, what is the gospel?

They often just say, isn't it to just obey God? Isn't it to follow his rules?

Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength? Missing is to crucify

Christ, who died for our sin and is risen on the third day. We cannot love our neighbor with all our heart, mind, strength, and soul without Christ, who made us new.

In the end, all of these perverted desires to stray from the gospel, to not remember the gospel, threaten our stewardship of the gospel that we have been given to us, we have received since the early church, since the

New Testament. And our duty is to disciple our children in the way of Christ.

And it is our obligation to share with our children does not mean blood -related children, but just the next generation of the church.

We got to share with them Christ's sacrifice on the cross for our sin. And we have to show how lovely and wonderful he is.

It is our duty to hold Christ up in the way that represents Christ as the most remarkable and Christ's work on the cross as most captivating.

It is not something that we often lose our interest in. We have to whet their appetite, get them to say, please tell me the old, old story.

That's our duty to remember the cross. And so that the gospel of Christ does not seem rote or repetitive, but fresh and breathtaking each time it's shared, causing all the hearers to worship as the children of Israel did even before their first Passover.

They heard it and they worshiped. They didn't even see it happen. They weren't even delivered.

But it caused them to worship because the news of God's deliverance for them was too great.

And for Christians, we are delivered in Christ already.

The ultimate Passover has happened. And we have more the reason to delight in and stand in awe under the cross.

Let us pray. Father, we are thankful that you are the ultimate provider of the greatest

Passover lamb. Father, I confess that I often forget about the greatest

Passover lamb when life gets hard or when life gets easy. Father, help us remember to treasure the lamb of God who was slaughtered for our sake.