Exodus 11:1-13:16

This is Exodus 11 through to 13. Now the Lord had said to Moses, I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt.! After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely.

Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbours for articles of silver and gold. The Lord made the Egyptians favourably disposed towards the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh's officials and by the people.

So Moses said, This is what the Lord says. About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at a hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.

All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, Go, you and all the people who follow you. After that I will leave. Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.

Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.

Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.

Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs.

This is how you are to eat it, with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt.

I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. This is a day you are to commemorate.

For the generations to come, you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord, a lasting ordinance. For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day, remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it, from the first day through to the seventh, must be cut off from Israel.

Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin, and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe.

None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

Then tell them, It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians. Then the people bowed down and worshipped.

The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. At midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.

Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead. During the night, Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, Up, leave my people, you and the Israelites.

Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go, and also bless me. The Israelites did as Moses instructed, and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing.

The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed towards the people, and they gave them what they asked for, so they plundered the Egyptians. The Israelites journeyed from Ramesses to Sukkoth. There were about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children.

With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast, because they had been driven out of Egypt, and did not have time to prepare food for themselves.

At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord's divisions left Egypt. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, These are the regulations for the Passover meal. No foreigner may eat it.

It must be eaten inside the house. Take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. A foreigner residing among you, who wants to celebrate the Lord's Passover, must have all the males in his household circumcised.

Then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat it. The Lord said to Moses, Consecrate to me every firstborn male, the first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.

Then Moses said to the people, Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. On that day, tell your son, I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.

This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand, and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand. In days to come, when your son asks you, What does this mean?

Say to him, With a mighty hand, the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt.

This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons. If you want to open your Bibles back to those chapters that we looked at, we'll start at chapter 11.

If you're just joining us, then we're working our way through the book of Exodus. We've moved from seeing Moses at the start as this reluctant messenger, and then the focus rightly shifts away from Moses and his ability to God and his super abundant ability where we saw the Lord revealing his mighty hand.

And then shifting round last week to the resolute hard heart of Pharaoh, which the Lord would be able to use in his purpose and providence actually to declare to the nations that he is the great I am, the one God, the one faith, one way of salvation, one better story for life and for eternity.

And as we're dipping into the book of Exodus, I hope that what we're seeing there is a microcosm of what is writ large across every page of the whole of the Bible.

Because the Bible is, as we know, a unified story. The same message proclaimed in different ages amongst different people. The eternal gospel is proclaimed as we heard it described when we looked at the book of Revelation.

And nowhere, nowhere is that seen more clearly than in the three chapters that we're looking at today. as the book of the writers of the book of Hebrews says about the Old Testament and the things that we see there.

He says it's a shadow of what is to come. They fall, these events fall, in the shadow of the great event in human history.

I wonder what comes to mind when you're thinking of that. It's certainly not Scotland's appearance in the World Cup finals in 1978 under the leadership of the infectiously optimistic Ali MacLeod.

No, that is not the greatest event in human history. And for those of you who were born after 1978, you're thinking, never heard of it. That's because it's not the greatest event in human history.

The greatest event of human history is of course the cross of Calvary where God died. before I get hung up for heresy here, that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, died for us, for you and for me.

That is the greatest event in human history. And we might ask, why, if you're new to these things, why did the Son, or how did, why did the Son of God have to die?

Actually, we will explore that later, but one of the big things that I think I want us to take away is not just why, but, you know, why did he have to die? But, you know, what was the wider meaning to it?

The why is because the same God who moves in mighty power here in the Exodus to redeem and to save his people, to set them free from the slavery in which they have been enslaved, has moved through mighty power through the cross of Calvary for you and me.

In the same ways, you know, that the Father plans and purposes these things, so the Father planned the cross. The Son secured our salvation there for us and the Holy Spirit baptizes us, if you like, immerses us in that salvation.

This story and every page in the Bible and the cross tells us that God loves us with all the love that God, with which he is capable. The intensity of such we cannot imagine burning greater than a thousand suns.

And we need to think in those kinds of terms when we talk about God because everything about God is cosmic in its dimensions. And so he's more than able to meet our needs at whatever point of need that we have because of who he is.

He's more than able to meet your need this morning. He's more than able to meet every need in this room, every need of every believer around the world who's ever existed because he is of cosmic proportions.

He loves us like that, saves us from the wrath like that, all the just and righteous wrath that God is also able to muster against sin.

God is also able to save us from because of his great love. So this morning, out of the shadows of this story, we begin to see something of the glory of the thing in whose shadow it is cast.

Christ, the Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world will be displayed in shadow here and we'll see it in full as we unpack it.

Reminding us that we also are saved as we've been singing already this morning, we are saved by nothing else than the blood of the Lamb. And we'll hear just how that works if you're new to these things.

But these passages as we look at it, they kind of merge two streams, don't they? There's the sort of the original narrative, the story of the Exodus but mixed into it is also the teaching about the three festivals that would come and be a sort of everlasting memorial and celebrated because of them.

And so the teaching is there in the mix of the narrative. And so we'll kind of be dipping in to both of these. But I want us to see it two things and the second thing is several sub points but really first of all I want us to see this promise keeping God and then I want us to look at the events of the Passover and sort of the surrounding things that were where the festivals that were linked to it, the festival unleavened bread and then the consecration of the firstborn which is all year round that surrounds these events.

So first of all the promise keeping God chapter 11 verse 1 God had said these things would happen hadn't he?

He had promised that he would rescue them as far back as Genesis chapter 15 you remember when we looked at the story of Abraham we became familiar with this idea if you want to look up Genesis chapter 15 and verse 13 you'll see it there that the Lord said to him know for certain that for 400 years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there but I will punish the nation they serve as slaves and afterwards they will come out with great possessions that was promised way back in the time of Abraham way back in the book of Genesis chapter 15 he also repeated the promise Exodus chapter 3 verse 17 I have promised to bring you out of your misery in Egypt into the land flowing with milk and honey immediately you're thinking of ice cream there aren't you?

of spiced pumpkin and eat mess that's not the milk and honey I'm talking about although other ice cream brands are available the one who knows the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end knows what is going to happen and knows how it will happen that others intend these things for harm but he is able to turn these things for good to work sovereignly in the complex tapestry of our humanity working out his good pleasing and perfect will in the midst of our imperfect and fallen wills he is a sovereign God and he is a promise keeping God Exodus chapter 4 verse 22 he anticipates the solemn judgment that he's about to bring on Israel and of course the word judgment in the modern years sort of raises hackles and somewhat understandably when we've seen judgments that were mistaken or biased or just plain wrong and people have suffered as a result the post office scandal being one example that's in the sort of the memory at the moment but when it comes to judgment and when it comes to God's every aspect of God's being is perfect he is the one who sees all he is the one who knows all he is the one who understands all perfectly and he is the one who is able to weigh up and discern everything perfectly and so the judgments that he makes should he make them will be utterly just and right and proper and true and what we see in the early part of the scriptures are those judgments coming in a sense more immediately something happens and there's an immediate judgment in the latter part of the

Old Testament it appears that the judgment is delayed judgment is coming we looked at that in Revelation but it's not fully delayed because again if you look at the scriptures we see you know in the book of Acts Ananasius and Sapphira there was a instantaneous thing there and also he speaks about in Romans 1 about giving us over to our sin as part as a judgment on us saying basically if that's the way you want to go just go that way our day or the day of judgment is and will be hard to bear as hard to bear as it is to hear when the judgment comes scriptures Jesus talks about us wanting to flee to the mountains and say to the mountains cover us none of us of our own accord will be able to stand on that day when all the books are opened and all the judgments are to be made when all the wrongs are righted all the injustices exposed all the guilty charged the only ones who will stand on that day are the ones that this passage that we're looking at in Exodus are pointing us to ultimately those who are putting their trust in Jesus Christ in God's saving power and as you know

Abraham for example sort of wrestles with God's judgment as he's thinking and interceding for Sodom he probably speaks more than he knows in Exodus 18 verse 5 will not the judge of all do right and so there's a judgment coming in these in these passages this final plague verse 1 but interestingly what do we make of verse 2 about the collecting of silver and gold what's going on there well there's a sense in which it's reparation isn't it reparation for the 400 years of slavery and oppression there the Egyptian wealth made on the backs of the slavery of the God's people the wealth was accrued and now is being repatriated to those who are to God's people and then verse 4 here so Moses said this is what the Lord says about midnight I will go throughout Egypt every firstborn son in

Egypt will die from the firstborn son of Pharaoh who sits on the throne to the firstborn son of the female slave who is at her hand mill and all the firstborn of all the cattle as well there will be loud wailing throughout Egypt worse than there has ever been or ever will be again but among the Israelites not a dog will bark or any person or animal then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel all these officials of yours will come to me bowing down before me and saying go you and all your people who follow you after that I will leave then Moses hot with anger left Pharaoh so in Exodus 4 verse 22 God says this is what the Lord says Israel is my firstborn son and I told you let my son go so that he may worship me but you refuse to let him go and solemnly he says so I will kill your firstborn son that's hard for us to hear isn't it it's hard stuff to talk about but it's interesting if you look at it if you step back and see what's going on here Pharaoh killed every male child in that earlier infanticide

God is not responding in kind God is only affecting the firstborn of every household even here wrath and mercy meet and we might be thinking oh come on Lord you know you're going to do good here somewhere please do some where's the good where can we find it but what he is doing in these moments is something so significant that it doesn't just mark a new chapter in the life of the people of God and in human history but literally a new calendar has begun as we see here in chapter 12 verse 2 this month is to be for you the first month the first month of your year here's the thing that is going to mark this out and if you're new to Christian faith it's important to know that God invites us to be what is called elsewhere to come and hold him to his promises this promise keeping

God who from Genesis kept his promise right to that that point is saying I am the promise keeping God and you can hold me to your promises and if you're new to the Christian faith you may not be familiar with that that idea but that's what he invites us to when we're when we're sort of concerned about something and we're wondering just how to pray about it or what we should think about it then think about God's the truths of God's word and the promises that he has made to you for example Matthew 28 verse 20 I will be with you always we're thinking God is not here well he said no he promises to be with us always even to the end of the age if we're lacking a sense of assurance what does he promise he promised that he who has begun a good work and you will see it through to completion until the day of Christ Jesus that's a promise that we can hold him to he began the work of salvation in us and he will see it through to completion we have given been given these precious promises by the Lord to be able to hold him to to speak before him and say Lord you've promised this you know I often find myself for example leaning on the words in in James the promise in James chapter 1 verse 5 it's a it's about wisdom and I need to lean on it because I'm a fool often chapter 1 verse 5 if any of you likes wisdom you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to you and he goes on to say you have not because you ask not and as we begin to kind of hold God to his promises as we begin to hold

God to the truths that is that are so rich in scripture then our prayers begin to be informed and filled with scripture with God's will and God's way and God's words whether that's in the Psalms or elsewhere you know it's a as I'm working with you the Bible at the moment and doing the chronological one and this week this week today's reading was a whole list of names and they decided to pull all the same list of names from all the other passages in the Old Testament that concurred with that so we wouldn't have to do it again I was thinking I've just I've just spent you know 15 minutes reading a whole list of of names what am I supposed to get out of that Lord but actually wonderfully it was a reminder actually your name's not written there Callum but it is written in the Lamb's book of life it is written in the Lamb's book of life I know your name as we read the scriptures as we come familiar with it even the most obscure things become precious to us the Puritan Samuel Clark wrote these words a thorough acquaintance with the promises would be of the greatest advantage in prayer with what comfort may the Christian address himself to

God when he considers the repeated assurances that his prayers shall be heard and with what fervor of spirit and strength of faith may he enforce his prayers by pleading the several gracious promises which are expressly to his case and there may be times where actually we can bring the promises and we're trusting the promise there may be times where even though we know the promises we're struggling with them and that's where we need to to lean on the Lord but also on other brothers and sisters you can bring and speak these truths into our lives so we have this wonderful reminder of our promise keeping God who invites us into relationship with him and says hold me to my promises let them speak truth into your situation but the other aspect here and that's you know the big aspect is that of the

Passover so of the three festivals that are mentioned the first is that of course of remembering the Passover which is still celebrated by the Jewish community today and if you look at it in these in these chapters or if you've ever heard or seen the Seder the Passover text then those with eyes to see cannot but see Jesus cannot but see Jesus foreshadowed in it all hopefully as actually no we didn't look at it at community groups this week so you wouldn't have seen some of the things but maybe you've looked at the passage yourself this week and hopefully you've seen at least four things in the Passover that are fulfilled in Christ so first thing and I hope that as we look at them they bring a measure of joy to your heart as we're reminded again about our precious Savior so firstly that the the lamb that they were to take was to be perfect and spotless wasn't it chapter there verse five the animals you choose must be year old males without defect and you may take them from the sheep or the goats it's to be without defect this is to be a holy offering and substitute before a holy God

John the Baptist as he sees Jesus coming declares that Jesus is well he says behold doesn't he behold as he sees Jesus coming the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world in John's mind there is no doubt that the lamb the spotless lamb of God that was to be provided for the sins of the world was Jesus Christ who was morally without blemish tempted but without sin perfectly obedient the perfect spotless lamb of God that would be offered up for our sin and so as he goes to the cross Jesus knows that he is going for one reason alone to die that you and I might live his blood shed that you and my sins might be passed over that the great exchange might happen on the cross his life for yours your punishment and our punishment as sinners for his privileges of sonship of daughterhood of firstborn so first of all we see the spotless lamb of God it is a shadow of what is to come and fully realized in Jesus also we see that the lamb that was provided was a perfect fit for the requirements of the people verse 3 tell the whole community of Israel that on the 10th day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family one for each household if any household is too small for a whole lamb they must share one with their nearest neighbor having taken into account the number of people there are and you are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat there is no one size fits all the lamb would perfectly meet the requirements of the people

Christ on the cross the lamb of God would perfectly meet the requirements of our sin before God that is why he is able to announce at the cross with all confidence the Greek word that is used there is tetelestai which means paid in full I fully met the requirements for sin for all who would believe if you are not familiar with that term in the old days a person would go you know and there would be a chip with the amount that was owed and it would be stamped on it or written on it tetelestai paid in full Jesus declares tetelestai the price for your sin and for mine is paid in full at the cross the requirements for our sin perfectly met in Jesus you know sometimes we can struggle to believe because of our sins they have been many they have been great they have been very great we struggle to kind of believe that God has forgiven them but just one drop one drop of the precious blood of Christ would be sufficient for the whole world and it is therefore more than sufficient to atone for for all your or my sin and of course the spirits may come and convict us at that point where we're feeling burdened by our sin but the spirit when the spirit comes he will lead us to the cross and remind us of the one who died that we might be forgiven to be able to come in true and humbly confess with a humble and contrite heart that the Lord promised he will not despise and receive the pardon

Satan on the other hand will come and he will condemn you and he will want to keep you in the guilt oh he'll tell us how could you have done that he'll keep us in the wrong he'll keep us with a sense of shame not only feeling that we have done wrong but that we are wrong somehow in ourselves how can we and keeping us from God keeping us from the cross but the cross stands at the epicenter of human history declaring to all and declaring to you and I to come come and receive and be reminded of the power of the cross to come to give us new life if we're coming to receive Christ for the first time so maybe this morning you need to come to the cross you've been thinking about Jesus you've been wanting to commit your life to him you've been wanting to enter into the new life that he offers you then come to the cross this morning kneel before it and say Lord I have sinned against heaven and against you come please forgive me forgive me for the past that I might walk anew in trust in repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus but come believer come believer maybe you've stumbled maybe you've fallen come know and be reminded again of the cleansing power power of the cross and let him lift you up and lead you on in the new life that he is giving to you know the power of the cross of which we were singing earlier on it is a perfect fit for you and for me and for our sin to keep us right with God and in the life that he's called us to but thirdly also

I think that it demonstrates that what God has established is perfectly secure the lamb was not chosen on the night on which these things the Passover was to happen why is that it was not chosen on the night before but several days before so there was no panic and no rush verse 3 tell the whole community of Israel that on the 10th day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family one for each household take care of them until the 14th day of the month the lamb was in the home no one would be rushing out last minute and be found wanting when the angel was to come and it was kept secure and it was kept safe it was kept there to ensure that it was perfect that it would be acceptable and so that on the night that the Passover came they could have absolutely no doubt in it in the blood's ability to save them God has made a way that we might be saved he planned it from before time began

Jesus Christ the lamb of God able to take away the sins of the world it was perfect in his perfect timing there was no rush Jesus knew his purpose Jesus knew when the hour was coming the hour has not yet come the hour has not yet come the hour has come when the perfect spotless lamb of God would go to make the all sufficient sacrifice giving us complete assurance that what he achieved for us was more than sufficient for us and will save us on that day but also here fourthly there is the precious blood of the lamb that is that is spilled and maybe you're new to Christianity and thinking what is all this about?

let's have a look at it verse 6 here take care of them until the 14th day of the month when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs on the same night I will pass throughout Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt I am the Lord the blood will be a sign for you and on the houses where you are and when I see the blood I will pass over you no destructive plague will touch you when I strike Israel see under the shelter of the blood of the lamb placed by faith in response to God's word to them trusting in that word that it is trustworthy and true as they put their faith in God's saving purpose the blood of the lamb spread across the lintel the wrath of God passes over it is turned away by the blood of the lamb

Paul is in no doubt who it's pointing towards 1 Corinthians 5 verse 7 he says Christ is our Passover lamb he reminds us in Romans 6 verse 23 that the wages of sin are death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord established for us by the blood of the lamb Peter weighs in Peter 1 verse 18 for we know that it is not with perishable things such as silver or gold that we are redeemed from this empty way of life handed down to you from our ancestors but with the precious blood of Christ a lamb without blemish or defect a lamb whose blood Hebrews 12 24 tells us speaks a better word and who Isaiah excitedly jumps in seeing these events happening 700 years before the cross even happened the great evangelist that he is the great fifth gospel writer as Isaiah's book is often called he jumps in Isaiah 53 verse 5 but he was pierced looking at the cross but he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed he goes on to say we all like sheep have gone astray each one of us has turned to each his own way but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all for some of us here myself included these verses are very precious because these are the very verses that brought us to Christ showed us the power of the cross through which we were able to kneel and surrender our lives to him as saviour and Lord so come seeker if you're seeking this morning put your faith in the grace of

God provided in Jesus Christ for you to save you from the crumbling wrath and to bring you into the new life that is available in him come believer rejoice marvel afresh in the perfect provision that God in his great love planned purposed established for you his spotless lamb more than sufficient to meet your sin debt securing for you and for me new life in him and eternal life as we trust in the blood that was shed that is able that enables his judgment to pass over but also sparked in here in the midst of all of this is the other festival not just of the Passover but of the unleavened breads in the midst on the table that was spread that night there was all sort of things that reminded them of what was happening there was the lamb that was shed there would be in the

Passover there would be bitter herbs to remind them of the bitterness of slavery and then there would be the breads and on that first Passover because there wasn't time to leaven the bread with yeast in it and for it to rise there was no yeast and so it was unleavened bread there was a sense in which they were to be ready with their staff and so on ready with their loins girded in the old words ready for when the Lord would say it's time to go ready to follow his word ready on his command ready to trust him on their journey to the promised land but the future festival of the unleavened bread would follow on in the next week from the Passover and it involved this removal of all yeast from the home for a week eating unleavened bread for the week after the Passover it's interesting interesting that this meal it was a meal for the nations all who were prepared to call on the name of the Lord foreign and native born were able to participate in it

God's gospel has always been for the nations but Paul when talking about Christ our Passover lamb says this in thinking about the bread and the yeast chapter 1 Corinthians 5-7 get rid of the old yeast so that you may be a new unleavened batch as you already are by old yeast he meant old life and sin because the same saviour whose blood saves also sanctifies it changes our lives that we're getting rid of the old and we're taking on the new get rid of the old yeast he says so that you may be a new unleavened batch as you really are be who you are called to be in Christ because the gospel that we preach is not just come to Christ and be forgiven as kind of cheap grace but the gospel that we preach and we believe and that is in the scriptures is come to Christ and be forgiven and be changed and keep being changed on your way to the promised lands you have been purchased at great cost for great things

Paul speaks of that to the Corinthian church again 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 19 do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have received from God you are not your own now you are bought with a price gloriously wonderfully therefore honor God with your bodies be who you are called to be leave the old behind take on the new keep shedding off the old the yeast of sin and old life and taking on board the new that he has prepared for you but also here he mentions the consecration of the firstborn for all the days that surround the Passover and the week of the festival of the unleavened bread the Lord said to Moses consecrate to me every firstborn male the first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me whether human or animal so the firstborn of those days of course would become the head and the inheritor usually and consecrating them reminded the people that they and their household and their future ultimately well they were bought at a cost they were redeemed from the wrath of

God for life and service in his name as a household the writer to the Hebrews in that same passage about the blood of speaking a better words also calls the church interesting the church of the firstborn really interesting phrase isn't it that all believers are adopted into that top position if you like of the firstborn redeemed and consecrated to God what does that mean well in the old testament the priests were consecrated they were set apart for a lifetime of service to God so it's no wonder Peter says to the church of the firstborn to the consecrated but you well you are a chosen people receive these words this morning into your heart you are a chosen people as Israel was chosen you have chosen I have chosen you from before time began scriptures tell us you are a royal priesthood you're a child of the king of kings you're of royalty and you are consecrated for service for him you are able the priests were the only ones who were able to gain access into the most holy place into such close proximity to

God that is our privilege to be able to go in before the throne run to it if you like and know that the one who sits on it is not only God who is not only king of kings and lord of all but he is also our father you are a holy nation set apart to bear the family likeness joyfully godly christ-like and you're God's special possession precious to him you're receiving that this morning deep into your hearts these are the truths of scripture you are a chosen people a royal priesthood a holy nation God's special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light once you were not a people but now you are the people of God once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy why so that we may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into light hallelujah saved by the blood of the lamb are you trusting in that blood this morning if you're not a

Christian come trust in it if you're a believer come and rejoice and marvel in it and be encouraged in it and it's appropriate isn't it that we come to ultimately to the table because as Jesus celebrated his last Passover in the upper room he sat at the table with his friends knowing that everything that was at the table was pointing to him and so he was able to kind of take the bread on that night that was on the table already and changed the meaning of it the unleavened bread when he broke it and said this represents my body which will be broken for you changing the meaning for us and he took what was the third cup of the at the table the third cup was called the cup of salvation salvation and that was the one he took and he said this cup represents the new covenant that I'm going to establish in my blood that you might be forgiven that your sins might be passed over and this cup represents the new covenant

I'm establishing in my blood drink from it all of you in remembrance of me in remembrance of what I've done and the apostle Paul says so as often as you eat this bread and you drink this wine we proclaim the Lord's death the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world the Lamb of God who's taken away wonder of wonders our sins and so come eat drink remember do business with God this morning maybe you've felt a lack of assurance because you're thinking my sin is just holding me back come and know the power of the cross this morning maybe you've been backsliding maybe you've since been bluffing and you know it in your hearts in terms of your walk with God or maybe come to a new place of consecration to the Lord saying I I want to be yours holy yours help me lead me change me so come eat drink and remember and you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip lip