Easter Sunday - Passover

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically from the audio and may contain small errors.

Well, happy Easter to everybody. We are going to be in Exodus, sorry, chapters 11 and 12 this morning. So if you want to follow along, if you don't have a Bible with you, we also have the verses up on the screen as we read them. We're going to be jumping around a little bit through Exodus 11 and 12. But if we're going to start somewhere, let's start with the Last Supper. Last Supper, everybody, remember this painting? Have you seen this painting before? Da Vinci's Last Supper. And although Da Vinci, he actually painted many stories in the middle of this painting. He actually, each person kind of doing a thing and Jesus doing his thing. And Da Vinci kind of had a lot of meaning in that painting. One piece of irony though, there's one piece of irony from the Last Supper itself. So it's not anything Da Vinci painted, but there is a bit of irony in the Last Supper itself

because this is the meal that Jesus is sharing with them. He's sharing the Passover meal. Sometimes it is called the Seder meal, okay? And that is the meal that Jesus is sharing with his disciples right there. And to really grasp the irony, to grasp, to kind of understand what's, to really get the significance, we have to look at why they're eating this meal in the first place. We have to look at the original Passover. So we're gonna be doing that as we go through our series. We've been going through a series a couple of weeks already called Meet God. And we've been working through Exodus. We're actually gonna be working through Exodus the entire year. And so we are gonna be working through Exodus again this morning. Last week, we began to look at the 10 plagues of Egypt. We didn't get to number 10. We only got through the first nine, okay? We looked at the first nine plagues of Egypt,

which is the Nile turning to blood, frogs, gnats, flies, livestock, death, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, but we stopped there. And this week, this week, we're gonna be looking at the 10th and final plague. And the 10th and final plague is Passover. The 10th and final plague that the Lord God put upon Egypt is the reason that Jesus is sharing a meal at his Last Supper. It's the actual contents of the last meal. It's a Passover meal. And when we look at this original Passover, we're gonna see, we're gonna actually kind of dissect, get in there and see what God actually saves people from.

Okay? Let's jump into the Exodus. Let's kind of look at it a little bit. Let's understand it. And we're gonna start with Exodus 11, verse one, okay? The Lord said to Moses, "'Yet one more plague I will bring upon Pharaoh "'and upon Egypt. "'Afterward, he will let you go from here.'" This has been the whole point of putting plays upon Egypt is that so the Pharaoh would let God's people go.

And when he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. This is where we've been the last few weeks. God is orchestrating this whole thing and now we're here at the 10th and the final plague. Look at verses four and five of Exodus 11. So Moses said, "'Thus says the Lord, "'About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, "'and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die "'from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, "'even to the firstborn of the slave girl "'who is behind the handmill "'and all the firstborn of the cattle.'" Last week we looked at this pretty intently, but what we need to understand is from plagues one to 10, it's been getting more severe as you go. Like you started with kind of interruptions to daily life and then here we are at the 10th plague. And so sometimes whenever we see this 10th plague, like it's kind of shocking like God's going to kill people.

It's kind of freaky a little bit. But if you've kind of read one through nine first, you kind of, you're almost anticipating this. But this plague is actually different for a few reasons. In the previous plague, plagues, God said it and the plague was done, right? In all the previous plagues, God said, "'Hey, there's going to be frogs "'that are going to come and infest everything.'" And he said it and like the next day it happened, okay? It was just a simple warning. Sometimes some plagues didn't even have a warning. Sometimes the plagues would just show up. But here, here, it's different. Look at chapter 12, verse three, Xs 12, three. It says, "'Tell all the congregation of Israel "'that on the 10th day of this month, "'every man shall take a lamb "'according to their father's houses, "'a lamb for a household.'" So God here, and if you're reading the narrative,

you can kind of see it, see what I'm talking about. God here begins to give instruction to his people without explanation. He's not telling them what this is for. He's not telling them like how it's supposed to, he's not connecting all the dots for them. He's just saying, okay, hey, on the 10th day of this month, you need to take a lamb, a lamb for your household. So he's essentially saying, "'Hey, the plague is coming, there's a plague coming, "'go get a lamb.'" Okay, all right, we're getting a lamb.

I thought it'd be helpful for us to have a picture of what this lamb might look like, and so we're gonna kind of know, isn't that cute? We're gonna name him Cuddles, okay? What a name. Oh, Cuddles. He's really cute, isn't he? Okay, so here's what he tells them to do. He says, "'Go get a lamb and bring him "'into your house on the 10th day, spotless lamb.'" So really cute lamb, I don't know if that lamb has spots. I don't know how to determine if a lamb has spots, but that looks like a pretty clean lamb to me, okay? So on the 10th day,

you're supposed to bring him inside your house, and this is gonna happen for a couple of days. Have you guys ever, like, puppy sat? You ever puppy sat? You ever had a puppy in your house that you normally wouldn't have, okay? You ever puppy sat with, like, little kids in your house? Oh my gosh. There is a, man, when my kids were very little, I knew, I mean, I knew if I ever, if a puppy even, like, came in the orbit of my house or their life or anything like that, they would want to have that puppy as their very own. They would name that puppy very, very quickly, okay? And so we didn't get a dog until the kids were a little bit older. That was much more helpful for, I think, everybody involved. But little kids and puppies, man, they're just like connected, man. They just draw, they just find each other, okay?

A puppy in your house is cute, it's innocent, makes a huge mess, but it's very, very endearing, very cute. And especially little kids, but even adults, we just don't admit it as much, you get attached, right? You start naming the thing, okay? Little puppy, some of you guys, who got a puppy this year? Who got a puppy recently? Okay, couple of you, okay. All right, couple of you, you just, this might be a little harder for you, okay? You're gonna take a baby lamb into your house for four days, okay? And so everybody in your house, so the baby lamb's inside the house. Normally, baby lamb's outside in the field, just chilling, now baby lamb's inside the house, four days, kids getting attached, they're interacting with cuddles, cuddles. I think, I don't know if lambs smile, but I think that lamb is smiling, okay? I think that's what's happening.

Okay, so what's next? Let's read verses five and six of XS12. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male, a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the 14th day of the month, so it's been in the house five days. When the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. Okay, so on the 14th day, everyone kills their lamb at the exact same time. That's so creepy, okay. Sorry, I was just imagining really crazy stuff as we're talking about killing a lamb. On the 14th day, that lamb that you brought in, cuddles. Let's show them again, show the picture of cuddles again. Let's see, we're gonna take a knife to cuddles throat. Okay, it's very sad, okay. And who's the saddest? Everybody who's attached. All the little kids, everybody's just, it's a very sad, very sad thing. And not only that, not only is everybody

going to kill cuddles, but you and your neighbor, and their neighbor, and their neighbor, and everybody on your block, and the walls aren't that thick, they're all gonna kill the lambs at the same time. So you're gonna hear the sounds of lambs dying, kids crying, maybe some adults crying, all, maybe not adults, they kill lambs all the time. Okay, you're gonna hear the cries. It's going to make a sound. This is not a small thing. This is visceral, okay. Seven through eight of Exodus 12. Here's what they do with dead cuddles. Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on two of the doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, they shall eat it. Okay, so not only are you killing cuddles, you're taking cuddles blood, and you are smearing it all over your doorpost,

and then you are eating cuddles. Okay, this is a lesson, right? This is something here, this is not a small thing. And then we finally get some explanation as to why, look at verse 13, X is 12-13, says the blood that is on your doorpost and lintel, the blood shall be assigned for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over, hence the name, I will pass over and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. In all the other plagues, God says it, and then God does it, all of them. Here, oh, and one more thing, in all the other plagues, God spared his people. Like, so whenever darkness fell and the ninth plague fell on Egypt, it didn't fall on Goshen, which is where his people were. So God had been sparing his people the whole time. That does not happen here. God is going over every house. In this plague, he's going to visit everybody,

but he also makes a way of escape. That's what the lamb is for. That's why God goes into it. That's why all this is happening, is because he's helping his people understand that if you don't do this, I'm not gonna pass over your house. It doesn't matter if you're Egyptian or not. And so the big question is why? Why do we have to bring cuddles in and kill it and eat it? Why is this one filled with all these instructions on how to be passed over, how to not die? Because Moses, upon receiving the instructions, he tells him to his people, look at Exodus 12:23. It says, the Lord will pass through and 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 will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. Your firstborn will not die. God is illustrating something important about salvation.

Because why go through this? Why do all of this? Why involve cuddles? Why go through this whole five day thing if it's not about illustrating something? Because you know what? It could have just been day of. It could have just been on the 14th day, right before I come and pass with that, go outside, kill a lamb, drain its blood, take it, put it on your doorpost, go to bed. It could have been that simple. We could have skipped the four or five days of getting attached. We could have skipped the pain, the confusion.

And we know that God is illustrating something important because he takes this and he makes it a memorial on purpose. Look at Exodus 12, 14, and then verse 24. It says, this day shall be a memorial day and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations as a statute forever. You shall keep it as a feast. Look at verse 24. You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and your sons forever. Excuse me. You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and your sons forever. This is an annual feast. In fact, this actually marks the beginning of the Hebrew calendar. And so if you want some kind of comp, some kind of modern day equivalent, this is kind of like for us, this is like July 4th and New Year's rolled into one. We're celebrating our independence and we're celebrating our new year and we're excited about it. I don't know if fireworks are involved

in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but here we go. So he wants to memorialize this. Look at verse 17. This is kind of dry to the point home. It says, and you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, which is the feast that he's just prescribed to them. For on this very day, I brought your host out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a statute forever. God is really, really intent on them, not just kind of doing what he's telling them to do, but remember how this was done for generations. Teach this to your children. This is going to be something that you will do every year. And when you do it, you will remember this moment. God is memorializing salvation for them and for us.

This is what Passover kind of teaches us. The reason that we need Passover is because we lose sight of what salvation is. The reason that we need Easter is because we forget about what salvation is. We talk about getting saved, okay? Getting saved, that is a common phrase that is thrown around a lot in Burleson. People talk about getting saved, getting religion. And we tend to equate getting saved with religious reform, or moral reform, living a better life. So if we're talking about getting saved, we're talking about straightening up. We're talking about going to church. We're talking about not cussing as much, not drinking as much, not smoking as much. Being nice to people, especially people you don't like. Bonus points for that. It might change how you vote. Don't gossip, right? You quit all these things because you got saved, right? Because you got religion.

Because you had cryonatic camp, okay? You want a reform, okay? And when we consider, in this kind of mindset, when we consider what we are saved from, okay? Because often we talk about getting saved or salvation, but we're not talking about what we're saved from. We're all kind of assuming that we know what we're talking about when we talk about getting saved. What are we saved from? Well, in this kind of mindset, in the religious reform mindset, right? If it just means not doing the bad things as much and doing the good things more, being nicer to people, spending more time with my family, things like that. We tend to think that what we're saved from is just the worst version of ourselves.

That's what we think. We think that we're just saved from practically, so practically, we are saved from bad relationships or bad grades or bad kids or bad marriages or from being homeless or from being addicted to drugs or just whatever kind of really terrible thing that we can imagine happening to us that whenever we think we're saved, we're saved from that. Well, why are we saved from that? Well, because I got saved, I got religion. I'm doing better now. So if I do better, if I don't cost as much, then my chances of being diagnosed with something really horrible go down. And I know that might sound super crazy to you with me saying it this way, but I guarantee you, many, many, many, many people, maybe even you functionally have that going on. It makes total sense. Here's, you know why? You know how we know that? Because when bad things happen to you, you're looking at God like, I thought we had a deal.

I thought we had a deal. Why is my life not what I thought it would be? Because I went through this whole moral reform. I went through this whole thing. I started going to church. I started going, I started reading my Bible. I did all these things, but now my life is derailed, God, thanks. The reason that we think we're justified in saying anything like that or thinking anything like that is because in our minds, we think we are saved from those things. We are saved from what we would consider to be bad outcomes.

Whenever you're talking about salvation, the Bible tends to look at it mainly in terms of justice. Let me explain. Isaiah 2, 12 and 17, it'll be up here. It says, for the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up, and that shall be brought low, 17. And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of man shall be brought low, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

Often times, whenever we're thinking about salvation, maybe we also go toward heaven, right? Revelation 21, four, it says, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Okay, what it's talking about, what you read in the entire Old Testament, and what you read in the entire New Testament, is that one day, God is going to make things right again. God is going to bring justice to bear upon all people.

He's going to come and take everything wrong, and he's going to just make it right. You say, Drew, how can they do that? I say, I don't know, he's the Lord. Like, let him figure it out. I'm sure he's got a great plan that does not need my seal of approval, nor my understanding for it to happen. And there are many things, and we're talking about salvation, we're talking about that day. Look, there are a lot of things to be excited about that day. Let's be excited for just a minute. Any time that you bore the brunt of somebody else's mistake, that's going to be recognized and rectified.

Any time that somebody lied about you, they're going to be found out, and you will be vindicated. Sounds good, right? Does that sound good? Yeah, it sounds good. Okay, yeah, I was like, yeah. It sure sounds bad whenever you get lied about and you're not vindicated, right? That sounds bad. Any time somebody took advantage of anyone else, it's going to be discovered and they're going to pay. Any time, any time somebody lifted a hand to get somebody that they were like oppressing, any time it's going to be every bully is going to finally get what is coming to them, and it's going to be great. When God's justice comes to bear on all people, these things will happen. All the wrongs will be made right, and justice, like it says in Amos, will roll down like a river. Justice will come through like a tidal wave and wash over everybody, and it sounds good until you realize

maybe there's something to not be excited about because you might ask the question, and it's probably true, has anybody ever bore the brunt of my mistake? Have I ever lied or withheld the truth when it could have helped somebody else? Have I ever been a bully? Have I ever taken advantage of someone else when I could have easily done it myself or I could have easily gone a different way? I was lazy, I did. I did what was easy for me, and it was at the expense of somebody else. It sounds great until you realize this is what God is illustrating in the Passover.

This is why God memorializes it. This is why he makes his people celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread every year because this is easily forgotten because it points to a day that is coming for all of us where justice will roll, every wrong will be made right, but in that moment, neither you nor I nor anyone else will be able to stand, none. Whenever God comes and he is gonna be bringing some justice on the earth and he says, okay, whoever's right, just stand up. Nobody's standing.

Nobody except Jesus. Nobody. Nobody's standing. One, there's only one way to get through this tide of justice. There's only one way that whenever this great day comes, only one way that it will not be carried out on you. Just like the angel of death passing over every house in Egypt, the only way out is with a substitute. The only way out is with a substitute, with a lamb that is killed in our place. And this is the message of the New Testament. And they're not up here, I'll just read them. First Corinthians 5-7 says, particularly it says, for Christ our Passover lamb has been crucified. Why call Jesus Christ the Passover lamb? Because judgment is coming for all of us. God's justice will roll like a river. There's nothing that you and I can do to stop it, stave it off, bend it, make it not touch us. We need a substitute. John the baptizer in John chapter one verse 29,

when he sees Jesus, what does he say? He says, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is why God needs to illustrate salvation for us because we think that salvation is something that improves our already okay lives. Salvation is something that brings us from three stars to four stars. It's something that just improves us just a little bit. Salvation means that someone has taken your place.

Salvation means that the lamb has been sacrificed for you. That the lamb sacrificed has faced God's justice and will face God's justice and will stand completely righteous on that day. You can't stand, I can't stand. That justice is coming. Jesus did not die and rise again to make bad people good. Let me say it again, because it's really hard. I understand a lot of people believe this. I really do. You asked the man on the street, did Jesus come and die and rise again to make bad people good? I would gather that you would have like a 75% affirmation rate.

I think a ton of people would say yeah to that, a ton. Jesus did not do that. Jesus died and rose again to make dead people alive. And it's not even close. It's not in the same ballpark. It's not your name, you're talking about the same thing. You're talking about crickets and catalacts, right? Things that don't share anything at all. Not even similar, nothing. Doesn't make bad people good, makes dead people alive. Jesus died and rose again to show us what he can do in us. The reason that we celebrate Easter is because not because Jesus bumped us from three stars to four stars. The reason we celebrate Easter is because whenever Jesus rose again and defeated death, that is something that all of us can pin our hope onto. That's the only thing that we can pin our hope onto. We can't pin our hope to maybe being like Jesus. That won't happen in our lifetime. Like we won't somehow ascend to second person

of the Trinity, Godhood. Like that's not gonna help us. We're not gonna, that's not gonna help us get there. Okay, there's no, there's nothing inside of us that's gonna help us get there. What's our hope then as Christians? Why do we gather? Why do we sing songs? Why do we worship the Lord? Why is all this happening? Because we have been given a hope that will last forever, that will roll through God's justice because we have a substitute, because we are covered by the blood of the lamb. Our hope is that Jesus beat death.

And that because he rose from the dead, he can raise us from the dead. Spiritually, now, and physically later. That he can raise us from the dead. This is why we celebrate Easter. This is why we celebrate the resurrection. We're not gaining star points with God. God is not like super impressed that we are here this morning. I'm not saying he's not happy about it. I'm just saying it's not like he's like, wow, man, they made it to the early service. Okay, so they made it to the other service. They're definitely getting to heaven now. That's just not happening in heaven, okay? It's just not happening in the mind of God. It doesn't work out that way. That is how a lot of people conceive of it, though. It is how man on the street in Burleson is going to think about it. Like, hey, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna get my covering. I'm gonna go to church today.

Salvation that is given to us brings life to us. And we participate in that life together here as a church body every week. We are reminded of that life together here as a church body every week. We are encouraged in that life together here as we meet. Right? This is what we do. I want you to think back to DaVinci's picture of the Last Supper. In fact, I think, let's pull it up. Last Supper. I said there was some irony here and I wanted to just kind of point that out. And as the worship team comes up, I want to just kind of help you see it. Jesus is eating a Passover meal. Jesus is about to become the Passover lamb, right?

He is formatting his own death, his own substitution. Jesus is showing us, illustrating here, ironically, eating Passover and about to become Passover himself. About to become the Passover lamb. And he knows it's coming. And he does it anyway. Look, as we celebrate Easter this morning, I want it to ring in your mind. And so today, as you're eating Easter lunch, or late lunch, or Easter supper, however you are gonna do it today, no judgment, it's fine. If you eat at two o'clock, nobody's mad at you, okay? But as you're sharing that meal, as you're eating that meal, I want you to think about what Jesus was thinking about as he's eating his last meal. Because I know he ate lamb.

He's eating lamb at the Passover meal and he's about to become the Passover lamb himself. I want you to consider, as you're eating, I want you to consider that Jesus knew he was going to be our substitute. Maybe the lamb tasted sweeter, I don't know. But that is giving salvation to you and to me. This Resurrection Sunday, let's remember what the Resurrection means and that our substitute didn't just die for us. Our substitute defeated death rose again and the same thing can happen for you. Look, today, in our church, we typically don't do like an altar call or anything like that. Here's what we encourage people to do.

Consider Scripture, consider what we've been talking about. If you've got some questions in your mind, you can ask a pastor, we got Pastor Daniel here, you can ask me after the service. But if you don't feel comfortable doing that, ask somebody, tell somebody about what's going on. Because you're not meant to do it on your own.