Hebrews 11, verse 28, By faith Moses kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. The Passover was a graphic and a stunningly mirror image, a preview of what would happen many years later when Jesus Christ went to Calvary's hill. at the cross. The parallel of the Passover and the crucifixion is just simply too close to question. The accomplishments of both are almost exactly the same. The Passover lamb was to be without blemish. They could find no limp within it, no mar in its coating in any way, That it was what they might have considered the perfect specimen for a lamb, and therefore would have been very valuable. Because many years later, there would come a sinless man. who had no blemish, no spot on his moral record, who had no stain on his spiritual record, who, if we could peer into his heart, was pure. Oh, he was made a sin offering, but he was without sin. And so, Peter says of him, Jesus Christ was a lamb without spot or blemish. The Passover lamb was to be sacrificed. He was to be bloodily slaughtered, and the blood of that lamb spattered, smeared upon the doorpost. That it was just no good just to keep the lamb pinned up for a little while. They could not just merely stone it. They actually had to sacrifice it. And so, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 7, Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed for us. And on at least 25 different occasions, the New Testament calls Jesus Christ a lamb. That's kind of a strange name to call someone, except that Passover tells us clearly why He is called the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. When the death angel saw the blood of the Lamb smeared on the doorpost, he passed over that house. So when judgment comes, The penalty, the punishment for our sins will be passed over all of those who are really hiding behind the blood of Christ. There was not a single person that was hiding behind a blood-smeared door that dreadful night who perished, every single person of whatever age, however dark their record might have been previously up to that point. In fact, some of them might have sinned that very day, and when they hid behind those blood-smeared doors, they had sinful thoughts every now and then. Their hearts still were not pure, but there was one thing That was true about them. They were hiding behind the blood of the sacrificial lamb. And when the death angel passed through the land, they were saved from God's judgment. Every single one of them. And so it is with the cross of Jesus Christ. We are told in Romans 3.25 that God put Jesus Christ forward as a propitiation by His blood to pass over our former sins. Every single person who this very moment is hiding, in a way, behind the blood of Jesus Christ is still a sinner. And he's hiding behind that blood-smeared door with impure thoughts at times, and impure motives at times, and sometimes he actually engages in sin at times. His record up to that point might be long and dark, but come judgment time, he will be saved. behind the blood of Jesus Christ. The Passover lamb had to be eaten. So too, Jesus claimed that except sinners eat my flesh and drink my blood, they can have no part of me. They had to eat that Passover lamb because that was going to provide them with the nutrition and the energy they needed to make that escape from Egypt and to travel through that wilderness and cross through the Red Sea. And we must commune with Christ as our soul's food as we too make our escape from this wilderness of a world and go to the Promised Land. The Passover lamb signified a new era. This month shall be the first month of the year for you. I know that up to this point on your calendars it wasn't considered as such, and the way people judge time throughout the world will not have this month as the first month of the year, nor as the first day of the new year, but for you it is. You're going to be a new people going to a promised land on a completely different new calendar. And so we read in Revelation 5, verse 9, that there was a great crowd of people gathered around a lamb on his throne in heaven that John saw, and they were all singing. You were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." A new people with a new majesty in a new place. The Passover was also However, a moment of judgment and condemnation. Hundreds of thousands of people died that night. There wasn't a single home in Egypt, we read, that someone in that home did not die. For some, it was a means of redemption and deliverance, but for many thousands, hundreds of thousands of others, it was a moment of death and condemnation. And so too, we read in John 3, verse 18, that whoever believes in Him, whoever is really hiding behind that blood-smeared cross, whoever is relying only on what happened at that cross for their forgiveness of sins forever, Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever, no matter what they think of themselves, no matter what others might say of them, whatever their worldly accomplishments might be, no matter they might be considered to be a great humanitarian, a good neighbor who would give you the shirt off their back, whoever is not relying wholly upon the blood of Christ smeared on that cross to forgive them of their sins, whoever does not believe is condemned already. For you see, The Passover had to have been kept. I don't know if there were, but if there were people who heard what Moses had to say, but did not hide behind the blood-smeared doors, or condemned that night, I don't know if a person might have thought, well, I'm really a pretty good guy, and this bloody religion kind of thing that Moses is teaching just doesn't make a lot of civility to me, and did not do it. But if there was someone that thought that way, he wasn't saved that night. His household was not saved that night. I don't know if there's someone that got so distracted by worldly concerns and cares, or got so carried away and intended on smearing his door with the blood of the Lamb, but really did not do it, that would have publicly claimed, I believe exactly what Moses said, that's what we all must do, but didn't really do it, met with condemnation. and death that night. For you see, the Passover had to be kept. That's one of the points of Hebrews 11.28. Moses kept the Passover. But keeping it saved his family. And keeping it, in a way, saved his nation. And so too, the cross must be kept. Paul said to the Galatians in chapter 5 verse 2, I say to you, that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. But they claim to believe in Christ. They claim to have accepted what He did on the cross for them a few years earlier, but they also were mixing in with the redemption by the blood of Christ certain things that they also had to do. I don't know if they thought the transaction wasn't completed. I don't know if they thought that what Christ did at the cross only made possibilities for people to be saved if they would therefore walk the right steps. I don't know if they wrongly thought that the blood of Christ only cleansed us from past sins that had nothing to do with our present or with our future, but for some reason, they were beginning to accept the theological view that there's also something you must do. And they believed that there was biblical evidence to show that. Because after all, God demanded that the Jews be circumcised. And so, someone came to the Galatians saying that you also must be circumcised. And they were so very sincere. And so very urgent. And seemed so intelligent. You know, we love you. That's why we're teaching this to you. We don't want to see you perish. We want to see you accept the whole Gospel. And do everything necessary so that you can go to heaven. Paul said, you know, if you believe that, you're not going to be saved at all. You have compromised what took place there on the cross. At the Passover, they had to sacrifice that lamb and smear their door with the blood, and they had to hide behind it. But hiding behind it, they were safe. That lamb has already been sacrificed. The door has already been smeared with His blood. And by faith, we hide behind that door. And that's all that is necessary for redemption. Paul told the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 15, I want to remind you, brothers, of the Gospel that I preach to you, which you receive, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, If you hold fast to the Word that I preach to you, unless you have believed in vain." Don't let anybody move you away from the Gospel, he's telling the Corinthians. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ secured our eternal redemption. Hide behind that. Don't let anyone cause you to open up that door a little crack, to peek your head out the window, to go outside for any little moment. hide behind the blood-spattered door of Jesus Christ. We must keep the cross too, just as Moses and the people had to keep the Passover. And we keep the cross by making the crucifixion of Jesus Christ the central issue, the central focus of our theology and life. Paul wrote, These words in Galatians 6.14, at least 20 years after he was converted. He was converted in about the year 34, and the book of Galatians was written in about the year 54. So about 20 years after he had been saved, Paul wrote, God forbid, that I should glory, that I should boast, that I should brag about anything except Our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified. And because of that cross, the world's interest in me has also died. He really had a lot he could have bragged about. He was the world's greatest missionary. He was the founder of many churches. He wrote, as you know, many inspired letters. He lived a moral, virtuous life. He was a devout and pious man committed unto the death to Jesus Christ. But he said, in eternity, I really have nothing to brag about. I'm not going to heaven because of any of those things. There's only one thing I can really brag about, and it is okay to brag about this. And that's what happened at the cross. when Jesus Christ shed His blood. It is that blood that justifies us. Romans 3.25. But it is also that blood that sanctifies us because Paul said to the Galatians in Galatians 6.14, because of that cross, I've lost my interest in the world. I understand now everything that that cross is saying about me and about the world, and I find nothing attractive about the world therefore. Sanctification only begins and it only progresses when we keep the cross the central issue of our life and theology. Separation is founded upon what happened at the cross. He said, because of that cross, the world has lost its interest in me as well. There is a natural separation that is the world separating from us. When we really make the cross supreme and clear, Paul didn't change in many ways. He was the same personality. He still looked the same. He still had the same height, the same hair. He still had the same voice. But there were some things that were crucial that had changed about him that the world did not want at all. He was now relying only on Jesus Christ. He was now devoted only to Jesus Christ. And the world separated from him, and so too, we must keep the cross by keeping it The primary focus of our theology and life. Moses could have emphasized quite a few things to those Jews. They were being mistreated by Pharaoh. They had to find their straw to meet their daily quota of bricks, which had been increased. They had family issues. They had employment issues. They had social issues. They had political issues. They had all the issues that we do. And Paul and Moses could have addressed all of those. And they would have perished that night. For this was supreme. And it was the dynamo that moved everything. It was the hub out of which spoke everything else. The Passover. And so it is with the cross. We must keep the cross the central focus of our theology and issue of life. Paul told the Corinthians, When I came to you, I sought to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." When we read the first and the second epistle to the Corinthians, Paul really did address quite a few important issues. It's not that he never spoke about anything, but that he was saying, when I came to you, I made the crucifixion of Jesus Christ the central focus and issue of everything. All these other issues are colored by the fact that Christ died on the cross. And we cannot really address those issues except we first really believe and are hiding behind the blood-smeared cross. It's the dynamo that affects everything. We must keep the cross by keeping the clear meaning of it. No reasonable person can deny the fact that there was a man named Jesus that was from Nazareth and that he was crucified on a cross many years ago. That fact is undeniable. But there are many different theories, there are many different reasons given why that happened. There are those that would say that it is great tragedy. And it is the tragedy that occurs when people live in intolerance and fear and ignorance. For you see, they were intolerant, they say, of the new views that Jesus Christ was preaching. And because they were intolerant, they were greatly afraid of Jesus Christ, and they were ignorant, and so they put Him on a cross thinking that killing the man could kill the message. And so the lesson is to us, let us not be intolerant to new ideas and new religions. And let us not be afraid of new lifestyles. Let us not be ignorant. But let us be accepting as equally legitimate every view and every lifestyle. There are those, on the other hand, that say that the life of Jesus and His death was a moral example. This was the example of a man who was committed to doing the right thing no matter what would come against him. He would not let his society, he would not let his government, he would not let his family move him off of what he believed was the will of God. And they tell us we need people like that. We need people who will walk in the steps of Jesus and will be determined to do the will of God, come what may, even death. That might be a pretty good idea, but that's not the meaning of the cross. The meaning of the cross It's found in Hebrews 10. Verse 12, when the writer tells us, this man, Jesus Christ, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. That's the meaning of the cross. The Lamb of God suffered for the sins of His people. The Lamb of God met the wrath of God. The Lamb of God worked reconciliation between a sinful people and God. At that moment on the cross, when His blood smeared it from top to bottom, and it poured down on the ground, at that moment, God was looking down from heaven And He sees the blood and He passes over all of God's people. We're told in Colossians 2 that there was a long record, many volumes of books no doubt, written against us containing all of our sins. But that long record of our transgressions was nailed to the cross and taken out of the way. Christ has suffered once for sins. The just for the unjust that He might bring us to God. And we must always keep the cross by keeping the real meaning of the cross. Proclaiming it always and never letting a single detail of it go by the wayside. Never in any way allowing any populist sentiment or idea to be attached to it, but the cross and only the cross. We must keep the cross by dogmatically refusing to compromise or neglect anything about it. And we must keep the cross by being supremely conscientious that the generation that follows us is clear about it and committed completely to it. This was an ordinance for the Jews throughout all their generations. So that in the years to come, the generations would ask, why are we doing this? Why is it that at the tenth of the month of Abib, every year, we select a spotless, innocent lamb and we set it aside for four days. And then on the 14th day, we slay it and we pour its blood out everywhere. What does this mean? Don't you know that we're civilized now? Don't you know that we've risen above that? Don't you know we're no longer cavemen? What does this mean? And then the fathers are supposed to instruct the children, you see, this is what that means. We were rescued from Pharaoh's slavery, from bondage, from corruption, from the death angel, that one night when our fathers hid behind the blood-smeared doors in Egypt, and we were saved. It is to remind us still that we are saved by the blood of the Lamb and for no other reason. And so, Paul instructed the pastor Timothy in 2 Timothy 2. what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, in trust of faithful men who will in turn teach others also." We must hand down the gospel from one generation to the next forever. And by doing that, we keep the gospel. we must keep the cross by keeping it the primary issue and separating from those churches and denominations that compromise it. How do you suppose Moses would have reacted If people did not want to keep the Passover, if they argued with Him about the Passover, if they decided to change it and tweak it, that would be more palatable to their tastes and to their intellectual attainments. How do you think Moses would have reacted about that? He would have reacted the very same way, no doubt, Paul reacted to those Galatians whenever he heard that someone had come into them and was putting a little twist on the Gospel, adding something to the Gospel. Someone had said, it's not a major issue. He's not denying the Gospel. They're not overthrowing the Gospel. In fact, they're telling us Christ died on the cross for our sins, but also we must be circumcised. What's so bad about that? Paul said, I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. You know what that is, don't you? If you believe the gospel and baptism or the gospel and good works or the gospel and anything else at all, you have in fact deserted Christ. I'm astonished that you so quickly deserted Him and turned to a different gospel. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed." As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you have received, let him be accursed. May a pox be on his house. May God come down from heaven and strike him dead and take him to hell immediately. That is another way of saying, may he be anathema. We must keep the cross for separating from those churches and denominations that compromise it. The very fact that the scripture emphasizes that Moses kept the Passover tells us that there were many influences and pressures upon him to compromise it, to twist it somewhat, to make it a bit more easy to swallow in some people's view and eyes. He no doubt had political pressure, family pressure, social pressure, and perhaps even theological pressure from among the Jews themselves. This Pharaoh who was reigning was either Moses' brother by adoption, This pharaoh's mother had adopted Moses, or he was at the least Moses' cousin. Moses' adoptive mother, sister, or brother had given birth to this pharaoh. So that firstborn child that would die in that pharaoh's house that night was related to Moses by adoption. He was either his second cousin or his nephew, and Moses knew that. What would the Egyptians think? If you are saying, God's going to kill us tonight unless we hide behind the blood-spattered doors, you know, they're not going to take very kindly to that. They're going to be deeply offended by that. There no doubt were some within the Jews themselves that were arguing from a theological basis. that we are in a new dispensation now, and that this sacrificing has just simply been a part of our history to bring us where we are now. Oh no, no, no. You see, the very best thing to do is try to get the Egyptians to like us, and to be on their side, and to see that we're no threat to them. There were pressures, no doubt, from every angle coming upon Moses. That's the point for this passage telling us that He kept the Passover. It's placed in this great category of acts of faith by other people and by Moses. This is one of them. He didn't compromise. He didn't neglect it. He kept the Passover. There are many pressures and influences, and always have been and always will be, as long as there is a devil. And as long as there is a world that hates Christ, there will always be pressures and influences. Some that might sound reasonable. Some that might tug on our heart strings to compromise, to neglect the gospel. To move it out into the periphery, you know? Not to deny it at all, but... We don't have to keep hampering on it and harking on it and making it the central issue of everything. You know, it might be something good to take to foreign fields as sort of a missionary endeavor, but we've advanced far beyond that now. We need the deeper things of God. Well, you don't want to scare little children, you know, with this death and sacrifice and blood kind of a thing. There's always those kinds of pressures and influences. But Moses didn't listen. And we're told here why. By faith. Moses kept the Passover. You see, Moses really believed the Word of God. Whatever argument was presented, whatever was tugging at his heart string, he had to go back to this, that this is what God said. And whatever reason or history or theology is thrown up against the cross today, there's one thing that can't be denied. This is what the Bible teaches. It does teach that we are redeemed by the blood of Christ alone. Moses really believed the Word of God. Moses really believed in coming judgment. And Moses really believed in the value of the Lamb and the sprinkled blood. And those who have faith demonstrate that faith most clearly by a complete reliance upon the blood of Christ as taught in the Bible. There are Muslims that claim to believe in Christ. They believe the history, and they believe He did miracles, and they believe that He was a very good man, but they don't believe that we are saved by the blood of Christ. The Roman Catholic Church teaches many of the same doctrines that we do, and they firmly believe in the virgin birth, And the triune God, they believe Jesus Christ is God. They believe He died on the cross. They believe He rose again from the dead bodily. They believe He's reigning in heaven, that He's personally going to come again someday. But they do not believe. They do not believe that we are saved only by what happened at that cross. You see, there are a number of meritorious works that the church has come up with over the centuries that we must also follow, and even then you can't really know until you finally die and go to heaven, or hell, or purgatory, and perhaps get a different chance to be such a good person under extreme conditions that God will then release you and you still have a chance to go to heaven. but they're showing that they really have no faith at all. The greatest evidence of faith is a complete reliance upon the blood atonement of Christ as taught in the Bible. Everyone who really believes in Christ says with Fanny Crosby, that song that we sung in Sunday school this morning, near the cross I'll watch and wait, hoping, trusting forever till I reach that golden strand just beyond the river. And not before then. Near the cross. Near the cross. Be my glory ever until, not before now, until my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. That's what everybody sings. That really has faith in Christ There's nowhere else for them to turn. They really do believe the Word of God. They really do believe that there is a coming judgment. And they really understand the value, like Peter did, the precious blood of Christ. The blood atonement of Christ must be kept. And those who have faith will keep it. You can always know who doesn't have faith by their views of the blood atonement. As this passage tells us, it is kept only by faith. There is no other way to gain the value or the benefits of the blood atonement except by faith in Christ alone. The blood is not applied at any other time, through any other channel, by any other means except through the channel and at that instant of faith in Christ. We are told in Ephesians 2, verses 1-8 that we are dead in trespasses and sins. We can do nothing. We, as a matter of fact, only foul up the place with our odor like a dead person will do. We are dead in trespasses and sins. But we also walk according to the course of this world. We're like the living dead. We're like ghouls. walking about, fouling up everything according to the course of this world, or being led about by Satan according to the prince of the power of the air, who now works in the children of disobedience. And because of all of that, we too were by nature children of wrath. But God, who is rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were in that condition, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, has brought us to life. This was a sovereign act of God. And it was based wholly upon what Jesus Christ did for His people, has made us alive with Christ. But there is a channel through which this life-sovereign power of God flows from heaven to the dead center. For by grace you are saved through faith." But you are saved through faith. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. That Passover must be kept. And it must be kept only by faith in Christ alone. Let's pray. you