Place: Lurgan Baptist 6:3:2005. Readings: Exodus 11:1. 12:7, ARE YOU UNDER THE BLOOD?

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1 Place: Lurgan Baptist 6:3:2005 Readings: Exodus 11:1. 12:7, ARE YOU UNDER THE BLOOD? On the corner of the square in Rotterdam, Holland there once stood a house known as the House of Terrors. The name comes from the 16 th century when King Philip 2 nd of Spain, an arch Roman Catholic, came against the Protestants of Holland sending the Duke of Alva to slaughter them. Spanish troops went from house to house throughout Rotterdam, searching out Protestants and killing them. In this particular house, a handful of men and women heard the soldiers approaching. They heard the pounding of doors, the screams of victims, and the marching of feet coming toward them. Terror gripped their hearts. Then suddenly a young man got an idea. Taking a goat that was on the premises he killed it, and swept the blood under the doorway onto the street. When the soldiers reached the house they saw the blood flowing from under the door, and, assuming the work had been done in that house they went their way. A short time later from the House of a Thousand Terrors there came a band of people unharmed and untouched, they lived because a goat had died. My. does God see you sheltering beneath the blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus? Are you safe this. because you are under the blood? Can you picture this never to be forgotten night in Egypt? ( 12:42 ) When the sun set that evening on Egyptian temple and palace and river and field, Israel was a race of slaves, hugging its chains. When the sun rose the next morning, Israel was a nation, a nation on the march, and ever since that nation has been on the march. But over all Egypt it is night. The April moon sheds its golden light over all the land. Against the clear sky rises the mighty Pyramid of Cheops, and in front of that pyramid the Sphinx stares out over the white moonlit desert with stony, mysterious, gaze. By the banks of the winding Nile and the numerous canals, tall palm trees wave their branches in the soft evening air. Along the river a thousand villages are asleep. In his marble palace, flanked by columns wound with sculptured serpents and crowned with fierce eagles whose eyes flash with precious stones, Egypt's Pharaoh sleeps. In the temples of Isis and Osiris the fire has sunk on the altars and the priests and their attendants are asleep. In the huts and cottages of the peasants the people are asleep. Indeed all Egypt is asleep. The terrible plagues that have vexed the land are past. Pharaoh has hardened his heart. He has said, I will not let the children of Israel go. So a tenth and final plague is going to come upon the land and it is through this plague that God teaches the great lesson of how every person who has ever lived can be saved. My.there is only one plan of salvation. There aren't two plans. There aren't three plans. It is not a multiple choice matter. There is only one plan of salvation. It is the same plan that was found in the Old Testament. There are not two gospels there is one gospel and there is only one way for a person to be saved and we learn that way of

2 salvation in this dramatic story. For the first thing that we see here is, (1) THE LAND IN CONDEMNATION The land of Egypt is now a land in condemnation. It is a land under the judgment of God. Condemnation for sin has fallen heavy upon the land of Egypt. In the condemnation and the death which Egypt experiences there is a spiritual illustration of what it means for to be under the condemnation of sin. Do you know what the edict of God was? All the firstborn in ( not of ) the land of Egypt shall die. ( 11:5 ) All were under the sentence of condemnation. In the midnight hour judgment was about to fall. So the firstborn in the land of Egypt were condemned to die. (a) IT WAS THE FINAL PLAGUE: The Bible also tells us that sin is the final plague. Do you recall what James says, sin, when it is finished bringeth forth death. ( 1:15 ) Paul says, the wages of sin is death. ( Rom 6:23 ) When God spoke to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and told them to obey him, God said in the day that you eat thereof, if you disobey me, thou shalt surely die. ( Gen 2:17 ) My. it is an eternal truth, it is an unchangeable principle that the wages of sin is death and the result of sin is always the condemnation of death. Every sin you and I have ever committed, somewhere, somehow the penalty of death has to be meted out against that sin. You either pay the price for your sin or someone else, a substitute, has to pay that price for you. It is the final plague. Notice not only the condemnation of death is the final plague, (b) IT WAS THE UNIVERSAL PLAGUE: The Bible says, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on the throne even to the firstborn of the maid-servant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. ( 11:5 ) It is the universal plague. No one was to be excluded in Egypt. There would come in that midnight hour, in that night of condemnation and death, the death angel passing through the land of Egypt and no family would be excluded from the smallest hut from the humblest home there would come the shrieks and cries of loved ones who saw their firstborn boys taken. It would go all the way into the houses of the cabinet members of the government of Egypt. It would go all the way, even into the palace itself into Pharaoh's family. That night in Egypt was a night black in dismays, terrible in judgements, wild in affrights and keen in anguish. There would come the universal plague of death. The Bible teaches us in the Book of Romans For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. ( 3:23 ) That means that you and I as we are born into this world are born under condemnation. The Bible says, He that believeth not is condemned already because he has not believed on the name of the only begotten son of God. ( Jn 3:18 ) Did you ever see on T.V. the man sitting in death row waiting for execution? Do you know something? My. that s you. Do you believe

3 the Bible? Then how can you sleep at night and be indifferent as you are? My. you rise, eat, sleep, talk, laugh as if there was nothing wrong, yet God says you are condemned already. How long will it be before the sentence will be executed? How long before you re summoned to stand before God s judgement bar? Condemned already. (a) (b) (c) IT WAS THE LETHAL PLAGUE: And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it nor shall be like it anymore. ( 11:6 ) It is that fatal plague. It is death. The basic meaning of the word death is separation. That word death is used in a variety of ways in the Bible. Sometimes death means the separation of the soul from the body. When a person dies physically that means the soul separates from the body. The Bible also uses the word death in terms of spiritual death. A person without Jesus Christ tonight is spiritually dead. Oh, it is possible for a person to be very much alive physically - to be walking in and out of the places of business in Lurgan and so far as God is concerned be absolutely and totally spiritually dead. The Bible goes a step further. It talks not only about separation of the soul from the body - physical death and the separation of the soul from God - spiritual death, but the Bible talks about the second death or eternal death which is the separation of the soul from God forever. That is hell. My. this is what makes hell as horrible and awful as it is. The thought that you could be separated from God in an eternal hell forever and forever. (1) Is this where you are this.? Its fascinating to notice that God made a difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites on that night. ( 11:7 ) Why was there a difference? What was the difference between the Israelites and the Egyptians? Were they just better folks than the Egyptians were? Were they better morally? Someone might say, It was because those Israelites had all those special ceremonies that they observed. They were faithful to keep their feast days. They were faithful to observe their celebrations and their festivals. My.there is no observance of any special day, no ceremony that you can go through that will separate you in the eyes of God from anybody else in the world. Baptism is a beautiful ceremony, but if nothing happened in your heart before you went through the waters then nothing happened when you came out of the waters. Baptism is to be an outward symbol of an inward experience. But if the inward experience has not happened, then there is no difference between anybody who has and has not been saved and somebody that has not been baptized. The only difference is one s a dry sinner and the other is a wet sinner and that's not what gets you to heaven. The question is, why did God put a difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites in the land of condemnation. (1) (2) THE LAMB OF SUBSTITUTION Do you what s God s remedy for the world s malady? Christ! Do you what God s provision is for man s problem? Christ! Do you what is God s

4 solution for your sin? Christ! Now we know that this lamb speaks of Christ for Paul says, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. ( 1 Cor 5:7 ) You see, in this substitute lamb we have a lovely picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you notice for e.g., how (a) PERFECT THIS LAMB WAS: It was to be without blemish a male of the first year. ( 12:5 ) Peter speaking of the sinless perfection of the Lord Jesus said that Christ was a lamb without blemish and without spot. ( 1 Pet 1:19 ) The Lord Jesus had a ministry of three and one half years in public. For three and a half years Jesus Christ was subject to the scrutinizing eyes of his critics and his friends. The conclusion of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, even Judas who betrayed him said, I have betrayed innocent blood, even Pontius Pilate before whom He stood said, I find no fault in him. My. even the thief dying on the cross with Him said this man has done nothing amiss. The congregated opinion of the universe about Jesus Christ is that there is no fault in the lamb. He is God's perfect Lamb. And my. its because He is sinless that He can save, its because He is innocent that He can redeem, its because the Lord Jesus is faultless that He can forgive. The lamb had to be perfect. Tell me, What fault can you find in Christ? Oh you say, Preacher I can see many inconsistencies in Christians. Oh, you misunderstood the question. What fault can you find in Christ that you won t trust Him? (a (b) PERSONAL THIS LAMB WAS: Look at the progression of thought here in ( 12:3-5 ) In ( 12:3 ) it talks about A lamb. In ( 12:4 ) it says The lamb. In ( 12:5 ) it says Your lamb. Don't you like that? A lamb, The Lamb, Your Lamb. That's the way it is with Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus is not just Saviour one of many. Jesus Christ is the Saviour. That's not enough, you don't stop there. You don't just call him The Saviour, but by faith you need to receive Him into your heart so now you can call Him My Saviour. A number of years ago while visiting Westminster Abbey, a Christian stopped for a moment to look at the nativity scene as presented in a large glass encased crèche. Quite a number of people were pausing to view the scene, the manger, the Christ child, Mary, the mother and Joseph. Standing at the corner somewhat out of proportion to the other figures was a large white toy lamb. A mother with her little boy stopped nearby. The little fellow became excited as he looked at the various models in the glass case. Back at home he must had a similar toy for breaking the silence of the Abbey he questioned his mother and said, Mummy is that My lamb? Uncertain in his mind he wanted to make sure that the lamb in the glass case was his. Is that my lamb? My. is Christ your lamb? Do you see Him as the one who bare your sins in His own body on the tree? ( 1 Pet 2:24 ) Have you made Christ your Saviour? Can you say with the hymn-writer, Upon a life I did not live Upon a death I did not die Another s life, another s death I stake my whole eternity.

5 (c) HOW PRECIOUS THIS LAMB WAS: Can you imagine that sacred scene that night? Death was all over the land. It was a land in condemnation. God had given instructions to the Israelites. So, they gather the little family together that night. For God says you are to take this lamb and kill it in the evening. So a knife must be plunged into that fleecy little lamb. Then they were they were to take the blood and strike it on the two doorposts. Then on the upper posts of the house. You see, a living lamb could not save, it had to die. My. do you realise this. that the perfect life of Jesus Christ doesn't save us, it actually condemns us. When I see the perfect life of the Lord Jesus I realize how imperfect I am. I realize that I cannot be saved by trying to emulate the life of Christ. It's not the life of Jesus Christ that makes salvation possible. It is the death of Jesus Christ. You see, the unvarying teaching of the Bible is, without shedding of blood there is no remission. ( Heb 9:22 ) The Bible says, the life of the flesh is in the blood. it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. ( Lev 17:11) That night when that precious little Lamb, that innocent victim was slain, the death of that lamb became the substitute for everybody that was in that house. Is that not what we need? We have to have a substitute. We all know what a substitute is. Someone who takes the place of another. That's what we need. I have one of two choices. I can either pay the penalty for sin with my own death or I can accept the payment of a substitute. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. It also says Christ died. So, when by faith I receive what Christ did for my sins, what Christ did for my soul s salvation, then He becomes my substitute Lamb. He has died in my place. He has died in my stead. Do you recognise that Christ s death on the cross was a substitution instead of me sacrifice? My. I should have been there, but the Lord Jesus died my death, paid my debt, sealed my pardon with His blood. When Abraham s Lincoln s body was brought from Washington to Illinois, it passed through Albany and it was carried down the street. A coloured lady stood upon the curb and lifted her little son as far as she could above the heads of the crowd and was heard to say to him, Take a long, look honey, he died for you. My. if I could, I would lift up your eyes to see Calvary and I would say to you, Take a long look He died for you. Have you appropriated the work of the Cross? Have you applied the precious blood to your sin stained life? Is this not what the Israelites were to do? They were to take that hyssop and apply the blood of the lamb to the doorposts. You see, they had to be under the blood. And God says, And when I see the blood. you, ( 12:13 ) Are you under the blood? You say, I'll live a good life. When I see the blood I'll pass over you. You say, I'll just try to make amends for all the wrong I've done. When I see the blood I'll pass over you. You say, I think I'll join the church. When I see the blood I'll pass over you. You say, I think I'll be baptized. When I see the blood I'll pass over you. My.the difference is in the blood. That's why there was a difference between Israel and the Egyptians. Israel was under the protection of the blood. Are you? (1) (2)

6 (3) THE LIFE OF TRANSFORMATION Do you see Israel on this unforgettable night? That night the children of Israel were in slavery. When the sun broke on the new day they were a transformed people. They were a new people, they weren't in slavery anymore. (a) GOD WROUGHT LIBERATION: The Lord gave them liberation. Pharaoh said get out of here. They had already been told by God to ask the Egyptians for their back pay. They got their back pay, and God says you are free from the land of Egypt. Do you know something? That's what it means to be saved. You are transformed. You are liberated. You are set free. You are on your way out. It takes a while to get the old grave clothes off. Transformation because of salvation means liberation. (a) (b) GOD SOUGHT CONSECRATION: For all of the first born were to be consecrated to God. ( 13:1 ) All of the first born owed their life to the death of a precious lamb so the first born was very, very special. My.that's why you are special to God this evening. You have been redeemed by the death of the lamb. You are precious to God because God gave His own son that you might have life. And all that we are, and all that we have belongs to Him because we have been redeemed. Do you recall what Paul says? ye are bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God s. ( 1 Cor 6:20 ) Condemnation. Substitution. Transformation. My you are in one of two places this. under condemnation, still in your sins. Or you are under the blood, saved by the blood of the crucified one. Just now will you do a personal check? Will you check that you are under the blood of Christ? Now are you? If not will you take that vital step this. and say, O Lamb of God I come.