Good morning everyone. Shall we turn in our Bibles to Exodus chapter twelve. A lot of harmony been going on here last night and today. I hope that continues. Harmony. Exodus chapter twelve. And verse one. And the Lord's stake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speaking unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man and lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb-born husband. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls. Every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish a male of the first year. He shall take it out from the sheep or from the goat. and he 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. They shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts, and on the upper door posts of the houses wherein they shall eat it. They shall eat it, eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire. an unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire. His head with his legs and with the frittleness or the inwards thereof, and he shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, that which remaineth of it until the morning he 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 is the Lord's Passover, and verse twenty nine, and it came to pass that at midnight the Lord smote all the fruits born in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh's Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. The last week we were speaking on the subject of redemption, more or less an introduction to what we have to say this morning. The redemption that's in Christ Jesus, and the importance of redemption, shows the importance of redemption, when you find, and the Passover, in a hundred and fifteen times you'll find it in your Bible. Fifty times in the New Testament, you read about this great event, this great redemption that took place in the history of the nation of Israel. It was a remarkable time, and yet it was sad. It was a time of rejoicing, and it was a time of sadness. It would be difficult to fully take up the subject of redemption without including this amazing chapter. It was a new year to this nation. It was the first month of the year to them, and on the tenth day of that month, this remarkable the redemption took place. What a change took place in that nation. A great change takes place in every individual that is redeemed. But here's a whole nation, and they experience God's marvelous redemption. It was a spiritual change they experienced. They were slaves in Egypt. They were born in Asia, and they experienced nothing but slavery. They were something of the crack of a taskmaster whip, and they fell across their backs and bodies. Yes, they were in misery. They were unhappy. Do we not recall the time when we were unhappy? And we felt the lash on a guilty conscience. We knew. We were sinners, lost, undone, burdened, and cast down. That was true of Israel. But how wonderful a change took place in their life, and a change takes place in our life. I think the Romans six, seventeen, but God be thanked, that ye wear the servants or slaves of sin once, but ye have obeyed from the heart. that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you, which is the gospel, being then made free from slavery, you became the servants of God. How wonderful to have that definite, unspeakable experience in your life, that of redemption through God. When you think of Israel, they were living down in Egypt, Egypt's pleasures were their pleasures. And Paul, rather, if Paul does speak of Moses, and how Moses enjoyed those pleasures, he says, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Moses refers to that. Egypt had its pleasures, and the children of Israel... engaged in those pleasures. Yes, they were born in a state of slavery. So were you. So was I. Born in sin and shapen in iniquity, brought up in a wicked, ungodly Christ-rejecting world, they knew something of slavery. They knew something of their diet. And what was the diet of the Egyptians? Things that didn't last. If you read your Bible, you'll find out how they lived on onions, garlic, melons, cucumbers, perishable goods. And that's what the world's feeding on today. Things that will not last. Perishable things. Happy today and gone tomorrow. And that's what the poor sinner has today. Just like these Egyptians, all these Israelites, dwelling down in Egypt. Yes, that's what they're experiencing. Well, the strange thing about this situation is they didn't want to leave. They had been persecuted, downtrodden, not satisfied, and yet God wanted them out of Egypt. It was God's will that they come up out of Egypt. And there coming up was the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham that Israel was to come up out of Egypt and go to the promised land. And the religion of the Egyptians became the religion of Israel, too. Worshiping idols. How easy it is, and most of us know something of worshipping an idol before we were saved. My idol was sports. That's what I loved. That's all I wanted. I dreamed of that as a boy to be a hockey player. And these things perish. They don't last. They're very temporary. When I was nineteen, I had my fill. I loved it up till then. Hockey was my dream. And playing in the OHA Hockey Association at nineteen. And then it all turned sour. I was over one afternoon to be with one of my buddies, Sam Ellis, who was a well-to-weight champion. And he said, let's go out over to the service station. And I went over with him. And they were gambling. There they were, standing around. Somebody was watching outside for the police. I was about to put some money down and grab those dice, and something says, you do. And that'll be it. Four or five times I tried to do it. I spent that time drinking pop and eating chocolate bars. The afternoon we went out the tracks, and they spread a big blanket, and they started shooting crap. And again, I was tempted and I drew back. Finally, Sam lost all his money. He said, let's go home. We didn't go home and he started working on his old Ford because it was the spring of the year. He wanted to put the tires on, put the battery back in. And all he was talking about was the places where we were going to go and have a good time that summer, dances and so on. But it didn't register. I had a sickening, empty feeling in my heart. Only nineteen. Finally, I said, Sam, I'm going. I went home, and I walked in. I said, Mother, do you have supper? What time are you going to have supper tonight? She said, what? Why? Because I wanted to go to a church with you. that was music. She had begged me and begged me to go to church with her. I wouldn't. I broke my mother and father's heart, but I fed up. And so I went that night, and I'm not going to tell you the whole story, but I got saved that night. When I came home from the little chapel, my own father led me to Christ. What a joy that was. I had tried it. And here's Israel down in Egypt. And they were going for the things down in Egypt. But God says, I want you out of Egypt. I want you in Canaan. That was it. How strange that Egyptians didn't want to leave Egypt. You know, a lot of people today, they don't want to leave the world. And yet if you ask them questions, Are you happy? Do you have any joy in your heart? Do you have any peace? Do you have any assurance of everlasting life? Do you have contended? No. Why don't you get saved? I don't know. Here they are, they're not willing to leave the world, and yet the world doesn't satisfy them. Plenty of them. They're not contended. Why don't you get saved? You're not contented, are you? Are you perfectly satisfied? I do have a peace and a joy and a satisfaction in your heart and the absolute assurance you're going to heaven. You say, no. Why don't you get saved? You slug your shoulders. I don't know. That indifference today on the part of men and women, when they have the gospel preached, and they're shown the joys of salvation and what God will do, and yet they're low to do it. That's why God sent the Holy Spirit into this world. In John sixteen, he sent the Holy Spirit into the world to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, of judgment to come. Yes, the Spirit of God here is here to convict the world, convict you of sin. and you can't get away from that ugly world sin. You were born in sin, you were shapen in iniquity, and you've gone in for sin. Yes, and the Spirit is to convict you of that fact, especially convict you of the sin of unbelief, of righteousness. The Spirit is to convince you of this fact the only place you'll find righteousness is God's right hand in the person of his Son. will find righteousness nowhere else. And judgment to come. Judgment is coming. And the Spirit of God is sent to that very purpose to convict the world of these things. Try to show man the emptiness of this poor world. He warns sin and sin and sin to get their hangovers, and yet they're not willing to be delivered. How strange. that is. Now we come to our text, connection with our text, here you find this ordinance given to Moses by God. And they said to every man, every family, is to take a lamb, a lamb of the first year. And this is an ordinary lamb. There's something about it because of its link with Jesus Christ. They said, you're to take a lamb, and it's to be a male. Why did he say that? A male speaks of strength. And this lamb that we refer to this morning, you must have him to be strong enough to deal with Satan and be delivered from Satan. The next thing, it was to be without limits. Speaking of its purity, for four days, the Israelite examined that lamb, scrutinized it. Is it lame? No use. He scrutinized that lamb. It had to be without blemish, or God wouldn't accept it, speaking of the perfections and sinlessness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That man scrutinized that lamb for four years. This ungodly world, the religious group, scrutinized Jesus Christ for three full years. The leaders of that day, they looked at them, they listened, they watched. They were looking for something wrong, something they could criticize the Lord Jesus Christ for. But he says, which one of you convinced of me of sin? He was spotless. He was sinless. And as the male, he could deal with Satan. And as the sinless spotless one, he could deal with sin. So this little lamb was without spot. The sinlessness, the spotlessness, the purity of the Lord Jesus Christ. But only so, you'll notice the lamb was taken with the live lamb, but it had to die. So wasn't a man said, now that's not nice to kill that lovely little lamb. Why is that necessary? Look, lovely, cute little lamb. He takes the blue ribbon, ties it around its neck. The other end he ties to the door of the house. I don't see why God wouldn't accept this. No, says God, I won't. A good clean life won't take you to heaven. I don't care how clean your life is. A good clean life won't take you to heaven. There is that little lamb. What did God say to do? Take that lamb and chill it. That little lamb had to die, and Jesus Christ had to die. A lot of people today and preaching in places this morning, they're speaking about the life of Christ and setting them out as an example, a pattern. You follow Christ and you'll get to heaven. Do what he did and you'll get to heaven. You won't. Christ did not come to be a pattern. He came to be a savior. He had to die. He didn't die for a good cause. He didn't die a martyr. Some people say, yes, he died for a good cause, somewhere across around their neck. No, he was not a martyr for a good cause. He didn't die for his principles. He died for sin. He died for you. He died for me. And it's been preached in many a pulpit if you go to war. And you perish, best in the Arab world. If you die on the battlefield, you'll go to glory. That's not in your Bible. Yes, the lamb was killed. Something else. His blood had to be caught in a basin. And you see that Jewish father? He takes that lamb and he sleeps. He puts the knife in the jug of the vein. He catches it in the basin. And it thinks to himself, I don't see why I should put all this mud over the two side posts and the upper door of my house. That looks like kind of glory. I think I'll just put the basin on the doorstep. I think that will suffice. The destroying angel comes and he looks... at that house and he looks at the basin of blood. Will he pass over the firstborn in that house? No. Friend, you may go that far. You've taken these steps. You do believe in the death of Christ, but you don't believe he died for you. You leave the blood in the basin. There's one more step. You've got to take. That man had to take a bunch of hisses, the common weeds. And Solomon speaks of it as going out of the wall. Something that was very common everywhere. What's that? Faith. Faith the common thing. You experience it every morning when you get up. The wife, someone else, fits your breakfast. And you don't have doubts. They go, well, that may be poison. I don't think I'll eat it. No, you gobble it down without giving thanks. You exercise faith. Don't go out and look around your car to see if it's capable of taking you to work. You jump in and away you go. You get on the elevator, up it goes. Faith. You exercise faith. every day, a calm face. And this is like a Pali whose son was a firstborn. He takes that blood with that hyssop, and he splashes it on the two side posts on the upper lids of it. When the destroying angel came, and he looks at that door, does he go in? No, he puts his sword back in its sheets. God says, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. That firstborn was redeemed. That's what God looks at. When I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Not when I see you living a good life. Not when I see you doing the best you can. I'll pass over you. Not when he sees you. joining the church of your choice. He says, When I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Not when I see you living a clean life. Not when I see you going so far as to be sentimental and leave the Lamb alive. No. When I see the blood, that blood of the little Lamb had to be, on the two side posts and up the upper posts of that house. It had to be applied. You have to appropriate the death of Christ, the blood of Christ, for you. That's the whole thing. God gave instruction how to select the lamb. When they selected it, the blood had to be slain. The lamb had to be slain, and as blood caused in a basin. It had to be put in the basin. and it had to be put on either side of the doors and the upper level. God tells us why his son came into this world, a sinless, spotless man. He had a perfect birth. He was born without sin. The only man who was born without a human father, born of the Holy Spirit. And that miraculous birth enabled him to live a sinless life, and that sinless life qualified him to pay the sacrifice and die for your sin and mine. That happened nineteen hundred years ago. God saw the blood then. You can't see the blood of Christ now. Some did when they saw him on the cross. But here's the book telling us the story. When I see the blood, I'll pass over you. It's in the book. And I believe that story. I believe that God sent his son into the world to suffer, bleed, and die for me, a sinner. I believe that if I accept Christ, I trust him, All my sins will be forgiven, and I will have, now and forever, everlasting life. And the absolute assurance, I'll never be in hell. I'll eternally be in heaven. The man who left the blood in the basin stopped short of absolute obedience. That was pretty close for that. Some people go that close. I believe Jesus was born. I believe he lived a sinless life. I believe in his power to heal. I believe he went to the cross. I believe he suffered on the cross for men and women. Do you believe he suffered for you as if you were the only person in the world that had sinned against God? If I had been the only one in the world who had sinned against God and all the others were righteous, God sent His Son for Lester Wilson. Look at it that way. If you were the only sinner in the universe, Jesus Christ had to come and die for you. You. Do you believe that? Do you appropriate the work of Christ to your heart? God says, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. One night that was sheltered at midnight. I see a man and the hours drawing near. The family's a little excited. There's a first-born son in that house. And the father says, I don't know what The rest of the family is getting a little disturbed. They've heard the news. Well, the father said, I'm not taking it seriously. The daddy, says the firstborn. If that blood's not there, at midnight, I'm the firstborn, I'll have to die. Son, I don't believe in that bloody religion. At the first, at midnight, the destroying angel went in, and the firstborn died. Friend, people can go so close to the Christ of the cross and yet miss it. You've got to go all the way. Salvation is not in what you do. Salvation is in the blood of Christ and the blood of Christ only. And only the blood of Christ can reach back into the past and apprehend your first sin and reach into the future and apprehend your last sin and put every sin away. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleansed us from all sin. That's a wonderful thing to wake up in the morning with all my sins forgiven. I had more joy the five minutes after I was saved than I had all my previous life. I was saved by the sovereign grace of God. He saved me. Jesus paid the price. I wonder if you're ready this morning to accept this Christ as your personal Savior. You know there was a death in every home in Egypt. The worst. Every home that didn't have the blood, the firstborn was dead. In every home that had applied the blood, There was a death in that home, too. The death of the Lamb. There was a death in every house and home in Egypt. Either the death of the firstborn, because of unbelief, or the death of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you trusted him. He was the substitute. He took your place that you might be saved. You know, there's a solemn verse over in Hebrews, and I'm going to read it to you. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sore punishment, suppose ye shall he be thought worthy, who have pardoned under foot the Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant with which he sanctified an unholy thing. There was no blood. on the doorstep. You notice that? God is watching. If you're not saved, you're trampling on the precious blood of Christ. Instead of accepting him, you're rejecting him and inviting the penalty of eternal death. How wonderful. To know that I'm saved, I've saved forever. Oh, you say I've heard all about that. I've heard the gospel story. Yes. That's like a man, he says, I know all about electricity. I know how it was made, generated. I know the power that runs through those wires and gives us light. You know all about that. The technical part of electricity. Did you ever put your finger in the socket and get a hundred and ten volts and feel the power of electricity? Then that's it. A lot of people, they have all programmed. They know these points that I've been bringing out, but they've never felt the power of the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse from all sin. And that's the penalty in store for those who go so far and stop short. But this is your chance to accept the Lord Jesus as your own personal Savior and be able to go out to this chapel this morning, saved by the blood of the crucified one. That was a great night in Egypt. A great night when the whole nation of Israel were redeemed. And they went through the Red Sea and sang the song of redemption on the opposite shore. What a wonderful song. What a burst of praise filled the air when Israel was redeemed from Egypt. There will be a burst of joy and praise in heaven this morning. If you were poor, lost, guilty sinners, take Christ as your Savior for this joy and the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. Repenteth more than the nineteen nine that need no repentance. Over in the book of Revelation, it's a remarkable thing. They sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. Isn't it remarkable that amazing incident in Exodus twenty-one, is associated with Christ, the Lamb of God, who died upon all the goddesses here. Here you have the two, the redemption of a nation, many years ago, and the redemption of every sinner in this church age, who trusts absolutely completely unreservedly in the power of the blood of Christ to give you a ticket to heaven. They'll sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. All the Old Testament bright saints, joining in with the bride to sing the hallelujah chorus unto the Lamb, that was slayed and delivered again. He said, God's right hand, he sold the scars, the marks, the evidence of his death. And those marks will be there forever. Yes, Thomas didn't believe. Christ said, put out your hand, put your finger into my hand, thrust your hand into my side. Be now faithless by believing. Thomas would add Christ to purpose, additional pain, just to satisfy his unbelief. This morning, You can be saved. You can leave this chapel with all your sins, past sins, not enough. God is beseeching you. We precede you to come to Jesus Christ, lay aside all your ideas and concoctions of how to get to heaven. It's only one way. Only one. Not true. Not one and a half. There's one way to heaven. And that's true that precious, atoning, all sufficient, eternally efficient blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. One drop of the blood of Christ is more powerful than all the blood of the beasts and animals that flow throughout the history of that nation. One drop of his blood. I've got enough power in it to save every man, woman, boy and girl in the world. Will you trust that blood? Will you say, yes, he died for me. He shed his blood for me. And I'm going to believe it. That's your passport to heaven. No other tickets. The precious blood of Christ. Trust them. Trust them now. God's word for it. You shall, right now, be saved. Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask thy blessing upon thy holy word. We thank thee for it. We praise thee for its simplicity. We thank thee for its power, and how the Holy Spirit This morning is ready to take the efficacy of that precious blood and apply it to every heart that will bleed. That Jesus died for him or her on that old rugged cross. We do trust some precious soul will this moment open their hearts door and let the Savior in. Then they put out the carpet and let that triumphant one ride in. and take possessions. We ask it in his worthy and precious name. Amen. Shall we sing that hymn just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood? I think it's two hundred and thirty-seven or something. If you've got it, call out. Three seven-two. This lovely hymn, many have gone to glory through this hymn, just as I am. Billy Graham sings it after every meeting, and many, many have accepted Christ through the singing of this lovely, lovely hymn, just as I am, without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bid'st me come to thee. O Lamb of God!