just a little later in our service, we will come to this table by faith. So it was for Moses, for the children of Israel, as they came for the very first time to the Passover table. They came to the earlier version, and if you will, of this table, and they came to that table by faith. Our text this morning is found in Exodus chapter 12. I'll be reading verses 21 through 30, and then Hebrews chapter 11, verse 28. We stand with me now for the reading of God's holy word. Exodus chapter 12 at verse 21. Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans and kill the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hiss up, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lentil and the two door posts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning, where the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lentil and on the two door posts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. You shall observe this right as a statute for you and for your sons forever, and when you come to the land that the Lord will give you as he has promised, you shall keep this servant, and when your children say to you, what do you mean by this servant? You shall say it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses, and the people bowed their heads and worshiped. Then the people of Israel went and did so as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron so they did. At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of the livestock. Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt for there was not a house where someone was not dead. And then the commentary that we find in Hebrews chapter 11 at verse 28, by faith he, that is Moses, kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. We pray with me. Our Father as we come again to your word this morning, we pray that you would come by your Holy Spirit. Give us understanding, help us to be those who don't just hear your word, but those who do your word. We ask for that for Jesus' sake, amen. You may be seated. Well, we want to begin this morning by looking at the situation in two different groups of homes. On that night it was about 1300 years before the birth of Christ, but on the night when the Lord visited Egypt with judgment. First place we look at the lack of faith in the homes of the Egyptians. At this point there had already been nine different plagues. God had visited them upon the Egyptians. There were the frogs and the flies, and then the locust, and they had all come and gone, and the last plague had been three days of total and complete darkness. But still we read that Pharaoh hardened his heart, and he would not let the people go. And so God sends this final plague, the plague of death. You would imagine that the people of Egypt had probably gone to bed at the normal hour, whatever that was in those days of no television. But about midnight the screams began to be heard. First from one house and then from another as one parent after another was awakened out of their sleep. The screams even came we understand from the palace of Pharaoh, because the crown prince was dead. In fear and disbelief that wicked Pharaoh looked down at his own dead son. Scream after scream from the terrified Egyptians the scene was repeated from house to house. Parents awakened only to find their oldest child, their first born was dead. The death of a child it is always so tragic and heartbreaking. Partly because our children represent to us hope. Our children represent to many of us the potential to be what we have never quite been ourselves. Our children in a way are hope personified. We like to be a part of special events like graduations and marriages along the way. They are very very special and happy times. And I think this is especially true for that first born our oldest child. These first born were literally the pride of Egypt. And now they were all dead. Screams of surprise and shocked but soon giving way to wailing and mourning. And a universal sadness that came over that entire land. And bend that way in a different way maybe but in the same way. Down through the ages as men and women over and over again have faced the problem of death. Terrible scene is repeated with variations of course over and over again. Death continues to relentlessly stalk the sons and daughters of man. The fourth horseman in the book of Revelation in the Apocalypse. Revelation 6 the fourth one is named death. He rides that pale horse and Hades is following him it says. And they were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword and famine and plague and by the wild beasts of the earth. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. Physical death or the first death and then comes the second death. Eternal separation from God in hell. And so most people rightly have some kind of a fear of death but nobody knows what to do about it. And so most people just try to ignore it. They don't talk about it very much. In fact we just kind of hope this problem of death will keep its distance from me and my family. Every home of the Egyptians had experienced this plague of death. And every person who has ever lived on this earth has had to deal with the problem of death. But there was a far different situation in another group of homes on that night because we see the presence of faith in the homes of Israel. Faith in these homes was based in the first place on the provision of God. Families in Israel had gathered together on that night. There was to be a very special family meal. There was a Passover lamb that they were feasting on which the Lord had provided. And so God has provided this table before us this morning. There's nothing that you and I can do to make further preparation. We just need to answer his invitation to come. It's the invitation that I used in our call to worship this morning. Come from Isaiah 55 all you who are thirsty. Come to the water. You who have no money come by and eat. In addition to the provision of God, the Israelites also had faith in the protection of God. Now realizing God's protection on that night way back then would require an act of faith on the part of every household of Israel. They had to take that hiss up and physically paint that blood on the door frame. This act of faith, this painting your door frame with blood. I mean to some of them it probably appeared to be very irrational. Others, perhaps inconsequential, even unnecessary. But those Israelites believed and so they obey God and by that faith God protected the homes and the families of his people. And so by faith he still protects his people doesn't he? So that whosoever believe it has faith in him in Jesus should not perish but have everlasting life. The provision of God, the protection of God and then by faith in the promise of God. Those children of Israel anticipated receiving God's promise and that promise included a land, the promise land. And he says when you enter that land which the Lord will give you, observe this ceremony. And then in contrast to that devastating judgment that God visited upon the Egyptians, his promise to his own people included who? Their children, verse 26, when your children ask you what does this ceremony mean to you? Tell them it is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord. We come to this table this morning. We are looking forward to God's promise. In this supper he says you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again. Two household scenes, one death and despair, the other satisfaction, security. What made the difference? And the outside of those homes if you weren't looking very closely would have looked very much the same. The Israelite homes and the Egyptian homes except for the difference that faith had made. The results of that act of faith were obvious on that night when the Lord himself passed through those streets of Egypt. The object of their faith was the blood on the door and that blood had come by way of a sacrifice, hadn't it? At Twilight, perhaps 250,000 little lamps had been slaughtered. As each household obediently followed the Lord's directions. The blood of each lamb collected, hiss a branch, painting the door frame. Believe it that when the Lord went through the land to strike down the Egyptians he would see the blood and pass over that doorway. Now the blood on the doorway was not merely a means of identification. Several of those other plagues were selective in that they fell on the Egyptians but not on the Israelites. Know that blood was there for a specific purpose. It was there to demonstrate that in that house a life had already been taken. You see, God demands death. That is His penalty for sin. And He was walking the streets that night demanding a death in every home, not just the homes of the Egyptians but in every home. Why? Because all have sinned. All. Doesn't matter what your language is, what your race is where you grew up on this earth, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There is no one God says righteous, no, not one. But you see when that destroyer came to the homes of Israel he found the blood. He found that a death had already taken place. An innocent, blameless, silent victim had paid the price and the death penalty for sin didn't have to be paid all over again. The blood of the sacrifice proved to be very effective on that night causing the destroyer to pass over the homes of the Israelites. But this blood of the sacrifice pointed to something far greater, far more effective. It pointed to the blood of the substitute because the death of an animal, even a spotless, blameless little lamb, the death of an animal could not finally pay the price for the sin of a man, the sin of a woman. The sin of man required the death of a man. Hebrews 10.4 says it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. And so God himself sent a human sacrifice. He sent a perfect substitute so that Paul can write in 1 Corinthians 5.7 that Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed for us. And now this blood of the substitute speaks loudly of his perfection, the holy, blameless son of God. He knew no sin but he was crucified as a perfect substitute and sacrifice. And the blood speaks loudly of his payment, doesn't it? God sees his blood except his payment, his death for your sins, for my sins. And then that blood speaks a word of proclamation as well. Even as we eat this New Testament Passover, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again. Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed is his blood on the door of your heart. The only thing that caused that destroyer to Passover was the blood on the door and only his blood will protect you from the second death. No longer any need to kill a lamb, is there? Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. You don't have to find a hiss of branch, his blood is applied to our hearts by faith. Christ has come, he has died, he has risen again, he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Our text this morning began by faith, he Moses kept the Passover. Now keeping the Passover for Moses meant painting the lamb's blood on the door of his house. I didn't live back then but I don't imagine that made a lot of sense unless she had faith. And then that faith in that blood on that door was a matter of life or death. By faith Moses kept the Passover and by faith you and I come to this Lord's table this morning. Many of you have been here over and over again and it might seem so common and so very ordinary. Little pieces of bread, little glasses of juice really doesn't make a lot of sense unless you have faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, faith that his broken body and his shed blood were given for you. This do Jesus said in remembrance as we prepare now to approach this Lord's table. I would invite all of you to this table who do truly and earnestly repent of your sins who intend from this point forward to lead a new life in Jesus Christ.
We always say this is not a Presbyterian table, this is the Lord's table. The body of Christ is a good deal larger than this local church than First Presbyterian Chattanooga. So if you're a part of another church where Christ is preached or the Bible is believed, we invite you as a brother or sister in Christ to join us around this his table. Invite those of you who have put your whole trust in the Lord Jesus. Savior from sin as the Lord of your life to come to the table. If you've not yet come to Christ, it's not yet time for you to come to his table. But let me invite you, right in the middle of this service, come to Christ. Put your trust in him, confess your sins. He has paid the price for those sins, come to Christ, then come to his table. Table is not for someone who is here this morning just kind of curious about these things, not quite for you yet, not for one who hasn't been instructed yet in the faith. Maybe you're here this morning and you're living in open and unconfessed sin. I don't know your heart but God does. Let me talk to you for just a minute, God is so gracious. God says if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins in Jesus Christ and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Confess your sin, come to this table. This table is quite simply for those who have been forgiven. The Bible says that each one of us should examine ourselves. Read the words of institution, found in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you. The Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took breath. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way after supper he took the cup saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. But whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. You pray with me? Our Father and our God we come to this table this morning thanking you so much for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for His sacrificial death for our sins. And Lord as we come we want to remember His death and His resurrection and proclaim these things until He comes again. And Father we pray that you would come now by your Holy Spirit that you would bless these elements by His presence and His power so that by faith we might truly feed in our hearts upon the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. And that as we do we might receive great spiritual strength and an even greater assurance of our salvation in Him. For we pray in Jesus name amen. Our Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took breath. And when he had broken it he gave it to his disciples and he said take and eat. Do this in remembrance of me.