The Passover

Well, good morning. It is good to see all of you here today. My name’s Tim.

If we haven’t met, maybe you’re new, maybe you’ve been coming the last couple of weeks. I get the privilege of being the lead pastor here. And if I haven’t had a chance to meet you, I would love to do so right after the service.

I’ll be in the middle of our West Lobby. If you don’t mind coming up and introducing yourself, it just gives me an opportunity to thank you for joining us today. I want to say hi to all of our friends that are streaming in online, those that are joining later on demand, and, of course, our friends at First Lutheran and Algonac.

Which, if you didn’t know this about First Lutheran and Algonac, they have a weekly Bible study on Wednesday where they re-watch the sermon. Impressive, isn’t it? So they get the sermon twice, and then they go over. They, like, pause the sermon and break it down as part of that.

So if any of you are looking to do something on Wednesday, you want to join them. It’s pretty cool what they’re doing out there and the way that God is working in their lives. We are in the midst of our series on the first part of Exodus, the first 12 chapters, and today, as you just heard, Chris, who’s one of our deacons here, fabulously read 40 verses.

So can we give him just a round of applause? And you might be wondering, why do we do that? Two reasons, actually. One is because we’ve committed to reading every word as we go through a book of the Bible. And two, selfishly, it just lets me just bounce around wherever I want today, because I know he’s already taken care of it.

So that’s what we’re going to do as we dive into these two chapters. And then next week, you don’t want to miss next week, because the children of Israel are actually going to leave Egypt. So yay for that, right? Yay for that.

So make sure you’re here for that. Last week, Ben left us off with the first nine plagues. And so here you have Pharaoh, who’s the leader of Egypt.

You have the children of Israel, who have been enslaved for over 400 years. Moses and Aaron are the mouthpieces. They keep going back to Pharaoh.

They keep throwing these different plagues at them. When I read this list, I’m always fascinated by some of the things that actually associate even into our lives today. Some of you, I think, actually enjoy frogs.

Anybody like frogs? Any of you are like, oh man, if I was plagued with frogs, those cute little things, I would pick them up, and I would just have fish tanks all over my house, and I would feed them, and I would pat them, and I would love them. Here’s the problem. I won’t even tell you what the guy in the front row said.

Okay, here’s the problem. These are Egyptian African frogs. They’re massive frogs.

These aren’t cute little cuddly frogs. And the scriptures tell us that they were in their bedsheets. I mean, they were in their cupboards.

They were all over the house. Last week, I had the privilege of going on a little trip to Florida. And there’s something in Florida that I’m deathly afraid of.

Now, listen to me. It’s going to surprise you. Because whenever these things that don’t really have a name, they’re called no-see-ums, all of you Florida people, I have, like, literally my whole body reacts, and it looks like I have boils all over.

Like, people think I have leprosy from these bugs that you can’t even see them, and they fly through screens. Aren’t you glad we live in Michigan with the deal with no-see-ums? But the problem that there’s actually one of the plagues is boils. Like, these people literally had something physically happen to their bodies, and yet Pharaoh wouldn’t relent.

Or I always love looking at the last one, darkness. Where’s all my introvert friends? Where are you at? Raise your hand, nice and proud. Come on, some of you are, like, three days where it’s pitch black, and you can’t even see another human being.

Sign me up for that plague. Because not only can you not see them, you don’t have to talk to them, and you don’t have to listen to them. And all the introverts said, here’s what’s so fascinating about the plagues, though, and we didn’t get a chance to do this last week, if you actually dig into these, each and every one of them is God poking his finger at the gods that they worship.

He is dismantling the religion and the false religion of the time. In fact, he systematically goes through order. If you want to do research outside of this, it’s honestly super fascinating.

Getting all the way down to this ninth plague, where they actually believed that Pharaoh had a special connection to the sun. And because Pharaoh had a special connection to the sun, that Pharaoh was the one that had the power to cause the sun to rise, and the sun to set. And do you see how strategic our God is, and how cool God is? The fact that he would put his finger in the eye of Pharaoh and say, see, you don’t even have the power, or your God doesn’t have the power to raise the sun, I will shut it down for three days to show your people that I am the one true God.

How many think that’s pretty cool? Now, today is going to be tough, because we’re going to get into a pretty difficult text. But we really believe that God has a way of speaking to us, even in some of the most difficult portions of Scripture. But before we get into that, can I just ask you this question? How miserable does life have to get for you, before you’re willing to surrender to God? See, this is what’s really important when you read Scripture.

Because the natural tendency is that we want to put ourselves in the position of being the hero, or solving the problem. When really, every time we read the Bible, we should put ourselves in the position of the worst person. Like, we’re the Pharaoh.

We’re Moses and Aaron when they keep screwing up. We’re the children of Israel when they don’t trust God and they lack faith. We’re the Egyptians that let other gods come into our lives, instead of believing and trusting and following the one true God.

And even though this has happened such a long time ago, it’s amazing how the fallen sinful nature doesn’t change from generation to generation. And we have to be willing to be open and honest about our shortcomings, and the sins that so often creep into our hearts and into our lives. But this is what it says in the beginning of chapter 11.

There’s one more plague, so we know this is coming. Like, this is going to be awful, this is going to be painful. This is going to be the final straw, where Pharaoh realizes that he needs to finally let these people that have been enslaved for over 400 years go.

What I also find fascinating is because of all of these previous nine plagues, and of course now moving into the tenth one, that the Lord is actually giving favor to the children of Israel. That the Egyptians are starting to catch on as God is dismantling one by one all of the gods that they have worshipped all of their lives. So much so that Pharaoh, it’s interesting that Pharaoh’s popularity is actually decreasing, and Moses, and remember we’ve beat up on Moses a lot in here, Moses’ popularity amongst the people is actually increasing, including the Egyptians.

And so this one final time he goes in and has this interaction with Pharaoh, and he’s heated, he’s angry. I mean, this is a very intense confrontation that Moses is having with Pharaoh, and he’s telling him, at midnight, you don’t understand, you need to repent, you need to turn to the one true God, this is going to be catastrophic, and it’s going to affect you, it’s going to personally affect your family, and it’s going to affect all of your kingdom. It’s going to affect the girl that’s a slave, and it’s going to affect you and your household.

And so I know up to this point we’ve really looked at Moses, and we have, we have highlighted how many times he’s argued with God. How many times he’s told God that he’s wrong. Hey, you got this wrong, you picked the wrong person, you don’t realize my shortcomings, you don’t realize the sinful, the nature that follows me around, you should go find somebody else, or God, I don’t really need to go over and over again to Pharaoh.

I mean, why don’t we just do this once and then be done with it? And yet now, here we see the opposite happening. We see that Moses finally gets it, that Moses is finally just giving Pharaoh what he should be doing, and stepping into that confidence that God created him and destined him to do. Which I want you to think about this.

That means that God is not done with any of us either. Some of you, you’re just miserable people, did you know that? Some of you, you’re a little cranky and ornery. Honestly, some of you have lost the joy of the Lord in your life.

And it kind of stinks, I actually feel bad for you. And yet, maybe today God would wake you up. Maybe today God would say, you are wallowing in your misery, but guess whose fault it is? Your own fault.

Because you’re letting somebody else dictate how you feel, and how you can live out the fulfilled life that God actually has for you. So let me ask you this, do you feel that Pharaoh has received enough of a warning? No one’s feeling sorry for Pharaoh this morning. Just want to check.

Here’s the next one. Who is about to do the killing? Now sit in that for a moment. He’s not having Moses and Aaron draw up swords.

He’s not telling Moses and Aaron to form an army, and then these select men are going to go out and do this work. I mean, God’s going to do this all by Himself. And you might be here, and you might be new to church, you might be new to the Bible, and you say, this is why I don’t believe in God.

This is why there’s people that struggle with Old Testament texts, and sometimes they’ll say that they want to unhinge the Old Testament from the New Testament. They want to go toward Jesus. They want to go toward grace and mercy and love.

And they forget about the judgmental but yet justice side of our God. And sometimes people will even look at these plagues in this portion of Scripture, and they’ll say, look how ruthless He is. Look how He tormented them over and over and over again with all of these plagues.

I would submit to you today to flip this script, to actually look at these ten plagues in this regard, and say, look at the mercy and grace of our God. Look at how He gave Pharaoh and his kingdom chance after chance after chance after chance to put their faith in Him, to humble themselves, to realize that they actually can’t control the things on this earth that they think they can control. And if you remember, His magicians and sorcerers got to a place where they couldn’t even mimic some of the things that were happening with the plagues.

And aren’t you glad that God is gracious with us? Anybody glad that God is patient with us? And gives us chance after chance after chance after chance? Even when we’re an ogre and an ogre and an ogre and an ogre? Even when we’re mean-spirited, mean-spirited, mean-spirited, mean-spirited? Even when we gossip and we gossip and we gossip and we gossip? Somehow God in His grace and His mercy still calls us His own. Still calls us His children. Still is constantly drawing us to the foot of the cross to remind us what it is that Jesus has done for us and now that we live our lives in view of that reality.

Sometimes it’s just so humbling to think about the mercy and the grace and the patience of our God. How about this? Why does it sometimes seem like innocent people have to die? We get Pharaoh. I mean, I think everyone’s good if Pharaoh dies.

I think everyone’s probably like, okay, you have to take out his firstborn son. Guilty by association. Why the slave girl’s son? Why the other people that were just born into an Egyptian lifestyle? What did they do wrong? And the reality is, is that we’re all born into sin.

We’re all sinful fallen human people that are constantly drawn to do the wrong thing. None of us have a chance without the mercy and grace of our God. None of us can do this on our own.

We have to be rescued. We have to lean on the person and work of Jesus in order for us to reconcile our relationship with God our Father. Amen? So now we’re going to flip to the next chapter.

Chapter 12, where it is referred to as the first Passover. And this is what’s so intriguing to me. As you know, those of you that have been with us, how it just seems like God is stalling and He’s stalling and He’s stalling.

It’s like, God, man, get your act together. And why is it taking so long? And why don’t you have things in order? Now we are going to see a precision God that uses real times and dates and does it on purpose. Because He’s going to tell them.

He’s going to reset their calendar. And He’s going to tell them, from now on, this is the first month of the year. And do you know why He can reset the calendar? Because He’s God.

Good, you’re still with me. And then, on the 10th day, you’re going to go and you’re going to get a… And what’s a lamb? It’s a what? Some of you are like, I don’t want to say it. So we’re going to bring a baby sheep out.

No, just kidding. A little, cute, fluffy, white baby sheep. And those of you that are animal lovers, this is where you’re going to struggle.

It’s one thing to kill human beings. But man, stay after animals. They’re innocent.

What do they do? This is just part of the narrative. This is part of the story that God has. And He tells them, you are going to go get that little, tiny animal.

And this is going to be part of how I’m going to deliver you. Now I like this as well, because it says, if your household is too small for a lamb, then you go to your nearest neighbor and you share according to the number of people that you have in that group. And I think it’s hilarious that they actually have to count and figure out how much each person eats.

This is like when you go to Costco and you get that sleeve of frozen burgers. Anyone do this? And you go around like you’re having a party and you say, how many hamburgers are you going to eat? And how many hamburgers are you going to eat? And how many hamburgers? And there’s always one person that’s like, I don’t want a hamburger. I want a hot dog.

Well, guess what? I didn’t buy hot dogs. Equally as frustrating is that after you do the count, there’s always some knucklehead that says they want one hamburger and then they end up taking two and you don’t have enough. Anybody experience that? And what’s the natural human response to do the person that took two hamburgers even though they said one? Say kill them.

Because that’s what we want to do. Like you told me you only wanted one. Why are you eating two? Get out of my house.

Just imagine this going on a large scale. Everyone trying to figure out how much of the little tiny lamb they’re going to eat. And I love the fact that there’s this communal part of this.

That they’re to share with each other. And so many of us, we live in subdivisions and we’re still held up inside of our houses. But we still have a hard time going across the street and talking to our neighbors or engaging the people that God has even just placed right in our lives.

I’ll give you an example. Not too long ago, I was volunteering at one of my kids’ schools. And I can say this because they go to two different schools so you won’t know which one it is.

And I went to do the concession stands for the basketball game. So you’re in there giving people crap food, right? It’s popcorn, pizza, soda pop, and candy. There’s no carrots, there’s no celery.

It’s all garbage food. And so I get there, I’m brand new, and no one comes up and introduces themselves. Now, I’m an extrovert, I’m not an introvert.

I don’t have a problem introducing myself or getting to know people. And so I was like, hey, just so you guys all know, this is my first time doing this. Does anyone want me to make popcorn? No? Got that.

Do you want me to pass out pizza? No. What do you want me to do, just stand in the corner? Yeah, that sounds good, just go stand in the corner. And there were people there that had, like, name tags on.

Like, they’re part of a group or something. Like, they’re in the leadership team. And again, it just reminded me of the society that we live in and how isolated we’ve become, especially this last five years.

And frankly, can I just be honest with you? Some people are just rude. And I can’t help being in the position that I’m in. I always immediately go back to our church.

And I think to myself, if I knew that our greeters and our ushers and the people that are doing all of the First Impression ministry around here treated other people like that, I would kill them. I would hope that when people come to Shepherd’s Gate, that they know the warmth is great here, that they know this is a place where we want you to be here, we want you to be included, because that’s how our God is. You see this over and over and over again in Scripture.

You’re going to see it again in a few moments of how He institutes this whole idea of a Passover meal. So again, go find that little, tiny, cute, blemished-less male that’s only a year old lamb. And then you’re going to do this on the 14th day, and you’re going to stay up late.

Nobody’s going to bed early because this whole thing is going down at midnight. Of course, you guys know this. If you grew up in church, you’re going to take the blood, you’re going to put it on the doorpost, you’re going to put it on the top part of the house.

And so this is often the image that we think of as we see these families doing exactly what they’re told to do. They haven’t always listened to Moses and Aaron, but you better believe every single one is getting in line and doing exactly what Moses and Aaron said to do. And the reason is because they got nine plagues beforehand to prove, man, you better believe these guys are speaking for God.

Not only do they have to do this, they have to eat the flesh. And there’s specific instructions. There’s so many instructions on this whole thing.

And all of these things ultimately tie to Jesus in the New Testament. All of these things foreshadow things that Jesus will encounter in the New Testament. And then this is the one that just gets me every time because he tells them, you shall eat it in haste.

What does haste mean? Now, any of you slow eaters in here? Any of you grew up in a house like I did? I was always the last one to have my meal finished. And my family did not like taking me to restaurants. Can I just tell you that? Because when you’re at home, they just get up and leave you, and you just sit there and continue to eat.

When you’re at a restaurant, people got places to go. Come on, why does it take you so long to eat? I just want to enjoy my meal. My mouth is small, is what I used to say.

My mouth is small. I can’t get all the food in there like the rest of you. This moment isn’t some cute meal where they’re all sitting around singing songs, holding hands, and lighting candles.

You’ve got to put yourself in the scene. They are in this moment, and things are moving very rapidly and very quickly. Because it’s on that same night, here it comes.

The angel of death is going to come, and God Almighty is going to bring down His judgment. And what does it say He’s going to bring His judgment down on? The gods of Egypt. He’s going to point His finger one last time into their false gods.

And that blood is going to be a sign for them, because He is about to pass over and do a difficult, difficult thing for us sometimes to even comprehend. That God, because He’s the creator of the universe, also has the ability to take human life. And again, I would submit to you, as you read Scripture, as you go back and you look at Noah’s ark, and you think about the patience of our God, how over and over and over again He sent Noah to proclaim the good news, to proclaim who God is.

And over and over again they refused until God gave them to their ways, and He shut that ark door one last time, and God caused the rain. God flooded the earth. God killed people.

Same way when you go to Sodom and Gomorrah, and you look at the text, and you read through the Scriptures, and you see how God over and over again sent people to that area, that they would know who God is, and turn from their wicked ways, and when they refused, He is the one that rained down fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed them. The significance of this day, make no mistake, it is huge. He told them that this day will be a memorial.

You are going to keep this feast from generation to generation to generation. And again, for us, especially in the culture and the society we live in, so often it’s hard for us to comprehend the timeline of God. We always think everything should happen in our lifetime.

So we’re like, okay, whether you live 80, 90, 100 years, however many years that God gives you, that He should do everything for you within that time frame. And that’s not how it works. Again, they’ve been enslaved for over 400 years, and to give you a perspective on that, we’ve only been a country, the United States has only been a country for 250 years.

And after 400 years, God, in His timeline, in His wisdom, in His knowledge, is now allowing this final thing to unfold, to deliver them. He knows that this is going to be passed down from generation to generation, because He says, when your children who get removed from this and have no personal experience with this, when you’re celebrating this Passover, it’s the Lord’s Passover, let them know exactly what took place. Don’t water it down.

Don’t try to soften what God did. Tell them the truth. Tell them that it was God who struck down the Egyptians.

God’s the one that killed them. But likewise, He spared our houses, because we did what He told us to do. Sometimes it’s sobering to even wrap our minds around the reality of what took place in this moment of history.

But we know that’s exactly what happened. In one evening, in one moment of time, that destruction came. Lives were lost.

People of all ages, because the Bible doesn’t say it had to be kids, so whoever the firstborn, wives losing husbands, people losing family members, those of you that know the pains of losing a child or losing someone before the age that we think they should pass away, and this isn’t just one person or one family that’s crying out, this is all of Egypt. Try to imagine hearing the groans and the cries of an entire kingdom. How devastating and awful that must have been for all of these people.

There would be no questioning, no mistake, that this was the one true God at work. Now, this is what’s so fascinating about this, is that they celebrated the festival that they were supposed to celebrate and told to celebrate for 1,400 years. I’m going to say it again.

They celebrated the Passover for 1,400 years. Are you starting to pick up on God’s timeline of things? And I want to fast forward 1,400 years later, where Jesus is now on the scene. Jesus is walking the earth.

Jesus has spent the last three years performing miracles and claiming to be the Son of God and letting people know who He is and why He has come to this earth. And now it all comes down to this one final week. We call it Passion Week.

We’re about to celebrate this in a couple of weeks. And this is what it says. We’re going to go to Matthew 26, because it says on the first day of the what? It goes back to Egypt.

And the disciples come to Jesus and they say, where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat? What does it say? The Passover. This is what they knew to do. These disciples were on autopilot.

I mean, this is what they learned from their parents or grandparents or great-grandparents or great-great-grandparents. Of course, this is like for us. Who doesn’t get together with their family on Christmas or Easter or for birthdays? I mean, this is just what you do.

It’s because it’s what we’ve always done. I always find this fascinating that they came to Jesus and asked, what do you want us to do to help prepare you for the Passover? Because if you read the text, they never end up doing anything. Jesus is the one that makes all the preparations.

Jesus is the one that’s working so far in advance of all of these guys. I do think it’s nice that they at least offered. Don’t you think it’s nice that they at least offered? But now here we find them in the upper room.

And they’re celebrating. They’re doing all of the things that God had commanded them to do. At this point, they’re not eating in haste.

They slowed this down. And those of you that have been part of a meal like this, you know how symbolic and significant this meal is. And it is even now as there’s Jews that celebrate this to this day.

But here it is for the life of the believer, those that have put their trust in Jesus Christ, because it was while they were eating this Passover meal, Jesus is the one that takes bread. And when he had given thanks, he breaks it, and he gives it to the disciples, and he says, take, eat, this is my body. Which the moment he said that, all of the disciples had to have been looking at each other going, wait a second, he’s off script.

Wait a second, this isn’t how it normally goes down. Wait a second, Jesus, did you forget what the words are? That’s not the song we sing, that’s not the candle we light, that’s not the thing we eat. Wait, what are you doing, Jesus? And what he’s doing is so absolutely beautiful.

Because he starts by pointing back 1,400 years to the Passover and Exodus. The same way he takes the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gives it to them, and he says, drink from it, all of you, this is my blood of the covenant. This is going to be a new covenant, a new promise that I’m going to give you, and this is going to be like no other, because what is about to happen has the ability to forgive the sins of all mankind.

And so not only does he point backwards, he points forward to Friday and what he is about to do on the cross that next day. I want to pause here for a moment, because I believe this is a good teaching opportunity for us as a church. If you were here during this series, I did something similar when it came to baptism and what we believe about baptism.

And so communion, if you’re new to this whole idea, there’s basically three main views that churches believe when it comes to Holy Communion, which we’re going to participate in today. The first one is called transubstantiation. And these are our Catholic friends.

Our Catholic friends believe in transubstantiation. And so when the priest consecrates the elements, when he says the words of institution, that the bread and the wine actually turn into the body and blood of Jesus. And so they have a high regard, they have a high respect for communion.

Now, there’s other church bodies that believe it’s symbolic. They believe that nothing happens when you say the words of institution, that it’s merely a symbol. And so we set aside this bread and wine, or most cases bread and grape juice, and we believe that we do it to remember what Christ has done for us.

Here at Shepherds Gate, our church and the churches that we’re connected with believe in something called real presence. And because of the way that we view scripture, because we believe that God speaks to us through his word and that we take every word that he says at face value, when Jesus says, this is my body and this is my blood, that Jesus is present in Holy Communion. Now, here’s the difference.

We don’t go to the extent of believing that it turns into Jesus’ body or blood. We believe the sacrifice that he made on the cross is for once and for all when he said, this is finished. We believe that Christ is actually present in Holy Communion.

Not only is he present, but as you receive Holy Communion in faith, that it has the power and the ability to forgive your sins. And the reason we believe that is because Jesus said, as you receive this, you receive the forgiveness of your sins. And so again, we take Jesus at face value.

We take Jesus at his words. And I know sometimes people, they get this confused or they have further questions, and if that’s you, please see us after the service or come and talk to us during the week. We would love to explain this to you.

I happened to grow up in a church body that believed that communion was a symbol. And so I actually wasn’t here until I came to Shepherd’s Gate and started studying what this church body believes, that I feel that communion kind of came to a whole other level and a whole different appreciation for the regard that we have, because we do hold communion here in high regard. And so sometimes people will ask me, well, how in the world did you end up there and why did you change your view? And really it’s this, if Jesus says he’s present, I just think we should listen to Jesus if he says he’s present in Holy Communion.

Likewise, people sometimes in other camps will say, well, God can be anywhere. And everyone kind of agrees that God is omnipresent, which is just a fancy way of saying he’s everywhere, he’s eternal. And if God can be anywhere he wants, why can’t he be in communion? Why can’t he be everywhere else, but then we’re going to tell God he can’t be in communion? And I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to tell God where he can be and can’t be.

So God, you want to be in communion? Then I’m going to believe by faith that you are present in Holy Communion, and it may be a mystery. I might not fully comprehend and understand that, but I believe you are present in and with the bread and the wine. Does that make sense? Because this is what’s so important, that there was a guy named John the Baptist who was Jesus’ cousin.

And when he first started out his ministry, before Jesus really started going around doing his ministry, as he saw Jesus coming toward him, he told the crowd to turn around, and he said, look, and what did he say to do? The Lamb of God is coming. He was connecting Jesus back to the Old Testament and back to the book of Exodus. And by the way, this Lamb has the ability to take away your sins.

Paul, who came after the original apostles, he was an apostle himself, God radically saved him and gave him a ministry of writing most of the books of the New Testament. He, too, completely believed that Jesus was the Lamb of God. In fact, when he was writing his letter to the church in Corinth, he said this, Christ is our Passover Lamb.

He has died on the cross. He has risen from the dead, and you can put your faith and your hope in Him. You don’t have to do the sacrifices anymore.

You don’t have to try to earn your salvation or try to get your life together and then come to God. God has already done everything for you through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Amen?