Exodus chapter 12, and if you would stand with me for the reading of God's Word. We begin at verse number one. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months, shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, in the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls. Every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish. male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. The whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire, his head with his legs, and with the pertinence thereof. And you shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of it until the morning you shall burn with fire. And thus shall you eat it, with your loins girded, your shoes in your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. The blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses wherein you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. The plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread. Even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses. For whosoever eats unleavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation. And the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you. No manner of work shall be done in them. Say that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for in this selfsame day have I brought your enemies out. I'm sorry, have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt? Therefore shall you observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever. In the first month on the 14th day of the month at even, you shall eat unleavened bread until the one and 20th day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul should be cut off from the congregation of Israel. whether he be a stranger or born in the land. You shall eat nothing leavened and all your habitations shall you eat unleavened bread. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said unto them, draw out and take your lamb according to your families and kill the Passover. You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin and strike the lintel on the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians, and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever. And it shall come to pass when ye come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he has promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass when your children shall say unto you, what mean ye by this service? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are grateful for this day that you bless us with. We are thankful for the the encouragement we get from each other as we're able to fellowship with each other and encourage one another. Fathers, we look forward to another week. out in the world for many of our members, going out and working with those that are lost, being in close association with those that maybe don't care at all about you or who you are. And I pray that you give them strength, Father, today to live a life that brings honor and glory to you throughout the week. Father, I pray that you give them the words to say as they deal with those about them, that they may have words of encouragement. Father, words of testimony and witness to the salvation that they enjoy. Father, I pray you bless your word to our hearts tonight. I pray that you would encourage us, Father, from it. And Lord, we'll thank you for what you do. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Here in our text, we have the institution of the Passover. which is an important holiday in relation to Christ and his death for us. In fact, 1 Corinthians 5 and verse number seven says, purge out therefore the old leaven that you may be a new love as you are unleavened for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. We consider that the different cycles of the festivals and feasts that the Israelites observed, Passover was the first one. It was, though it was the seventh month in their civil year, as we saw in our text, it's the first month in their religious year. It was a very important feast that they held, and especially this first one was a very important thing to observe. It was the first of three feasts that every male in Israel was bound to appear before the Lord throughout the year in the following generations. The other two are the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. And when you consider the Passover, there was a lot of typical significance with that. And last night, Kim and I went over to Herman to drop off Nate and pick up Eben. On our way home, we saw the moon rise, the full moon. I love seeing a full moon rise just above the trees. It just looks like it's 10 times bigger than normal. Last night began on the Jewish calendar, Passover is right now, we're at the end of Passover, about another Well, maybe a little over an hour before sunset. It's only the last hour of Passover. For the Egyptians, I'm sorry, for the Israelites in Egypt, in this time, they had experienced years of servitude. If you go back to chapter number three, Exodus chapter number three, we see the Lord Speaking to Moses out of the burning bush, Moses had already fled out of Egypt. He had married. He's keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro. We see that in verse number one. Verse number one, also we see that he led the flock to the back side of the desert. That's where the Lord appeared to him in The burning bush, what we call the burning bush. In verse number three, when Moses saw the bush that was burning, what wasn't consumed, he decided he's going to turn aside to see what that was. And when the Lord saw that, verse number four, when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. Verse number seven is very important. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people, which are in Egypt, and I've heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large unto a land flowing with milk and honey. God had called Moses to send him back into Egypt to bring God's people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. And we know the story of him going into Egypt and the nine plagues prior to our text here in Exodus 12. And through that, Pharaoh's heart getting hardened, even the Israelites' hearts getting hardened towards Moses and probably towards God as well because their servitude got harder and harder through that because Pharaoh was getting angrier and angrier. But God had a purpose in bringing them out and they're in great servitude and God was going to bring them out here with the Passover after this last plague, but not just the plague. For the children of Israel, it wasn't the plague, it was the Passover that was the blessing. And what differentiated God's people and those that would not experience the plague and those that would experience the plague, the difference between them was the blood. the blood on the doorpost of their house, how important the blood is. We consider the servitude that the Israelites were in a great picture of the slavery of sin that we all were in, that mankind is in. John 8 verse 34, Jesus is speaking and said that whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And as Lost people, when we grew up, born in this world of sinners, lost in sin, we were bound in sin. We may not have considered ourselves in bondage, but we were bound in sin. We were in bondage to that sin. We were a slave to sin. Most men, again, they'll deny that they're a slave to sin. The Jews denied it. In John 8, verses 32 and 33, Jesus said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, we be Abraham's seed and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou ye shall be made free? Interesting that they would say, we were never in bondage to any man. Did they not read their Bible? Even in their own case, they're under the yoke of Rome. And they were in bondage, though they were not like they were in Egypt, in chains or in that kind of bondage, they were still under the yoke of Rome. They were in bondage, but more important than just the bondage of man, they were in bondage to sin. The Bible says in Proverbs 5, verse 22, says his own iniquities shall take the wicked himself and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. He shall be holden with the cords of his sins. The iniquities, his own iniquities. That word iniquities there speaks of your depravity, the perversity of a man. It says they shall take, that word take there means to capture, to seize. The lost, because of their sin, their sins, their perversity, their depravity has seized them, has captured them. And their own sins, they're held there. They're not with chains of metal. They're held with the chains of their own sins. The cords of their own sins. When in Exodus 8, when the when the revival was going on in Samaria, and Peter went up there to check on the work and see what was going on, and Simon the sorcerer was there, and he saw what was going on. He had believed, supposedly. He'd gotten baptized, but when he saw that the Holy Ghost was given when they laid hands on those that were saved, and he wanted that power. And he asked, what's it gonna cost? I want that power. Peter's answer to him in Acts 8 verse 23, he says, for I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. He was still lost. He hadn't made a perfection of faith, but he was still a lost person bound by his own sin. Titus 3 verse 3, Paul says, for we ourselves also were sometimes foolish. Disobedient, deceived, serving divers' lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. Notice what it says there, serving divers' lusts and pleasures. We are in bondage to sin. And the world goes to its counselors, goes to psychologists and psychiatrists and doctors and all their addictions that they have, the bondage that they're in, they just call it a sickness. If they enjoy it, then there's nothing wrong with it, but if they don't enjoy it, then they call it a sickness, and they try to cast off the blame to other things. They can't help it. It's just how they are. It's just how their father was, or their grandfather, and they've just inherited that gene to be a drunkard, that gene to be a fornicator, that gene for this, or that gene for that, and it's not their fault, so just give me some medication. when they're in bondage. The Bible is clear that God made us and he knows how we work. And he's the one that can set us free. He's the one that can redeem us from that. The lost, 2 Peter 2 verse 19, Peter says that while they promised them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption. For of whom a man is overcome are the same as he brought in bondage." The lost are the servants of corruption, and that's who the world goes to. They go to others that are just as much in bondage as they are, and they seek help. The only help that there is is the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation that we have in Him. So there's a servitude to sin and there's a salary of sin, there's a cost for that. With the Israelites in Exodus 3 verse 7, 3 verse number 9, the Lord says, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters for I know their sorrows. In verse number nine, he says, I have also seen the oppression, wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. We are oppressed. We deal with the wages of sin. Ultimately, the wages of sin is death, eternal separation from God. But even in this life, we suffer the consequences of sin. We suffer death, not eternal death, but we suffer the consequences of of sin on a day-by-day basis as it is indulgent. The word wages there in Romans 6 verse 23 speaks of a soldier's pay, the part of a soldier's support given in place of pay, such as rations, or the money, if he's actually given money, the money that he pays. It's what a man deserves. It's what he's earned. What is his proper, what's properly his. And when men sin, there is a proper salary that they've earned. And that wage is death. That is what they deserve. Ezekiel 18 verse four, the Lord said this, that the soul that sinneth, it shall die. And God doesn't inflict any more than what's threatened. He doesn't, again, doesn't exaggerate. God just gives what is just. He doesn't, I mean, for us as God's children, those that we give, He gives back, and it's pressed down, shaken together, overflowing. He overly does the blessings in our life, but He does not overly judge the lost. They don't deserve this much punishment, but God's gonna pour on this much. He gives them exactly what they deserve, no more than they deserve. because he's just, but the soul that sinneth, it shall die. It's appointed unto man once to die, but after the judgment. And the second death, Revelation 21, verse number eight, those that are cast into the lake of fire because their names are not written in the book of life, that is the second death. And what a horrible condition for men to find themselves in. The Israelites were in that bondage to sin, they were in servitude to sin, but the Lord saw their need and he was going to come down to deliver them. And the Lord saw a man's need from the very beginning. Genesis 3 verse 15, because of the sin that came into the world, because of Adam and because of Eve, God says, I'm going to send a deliverer. I'm going to send the Messiah. The seed of the woman will come and crush the serpent's head, bruise the serpent's head. From the very beginning, God set in motion his great plan of redemption. In Exodus 12, God is going to bring them out of this slavery. Nine plagues come to pass and now he's preparing his people for that 10th plague, but for them, the blessing. So we see the sacrifice that he requires in verses 3 through 6 of Exodus 12. He's speaking into all the congregation of Israel saying in the 10th day of this month they shall take To them, every man, a lamb, according to the house of their father, a lamb for a house. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto him, or next unto his house, take it according to the number of the souls. Every man, according to his eating, shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish. And male of the first years, you shall take it out from the sheep or from The goats. A lamb without blemish was required. There were no blemishes to be had in this lamb. It was without blemish. It wasn't to have a broken hoof. It wasn't to be blind in one eye. It wasn't to have a broken leg. It had to be a perfect lamb. They were to give, look through their flock, and the very best that they had, that's what was to be given, is to be without blemish. Why? Because that's what God required. God required a perfect lamb. And that was a picture. Why did he require a perfect Lamb without blemish? Because that was a picture of the coming Lamb of God. Twice our Passover, 1 Corinthians 5, verse number 7. Twice our Passover, a sacrifice for us. When John saw Christ, he said, Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. He had to be perfect because it was a temple of Christ. Our Lamb of God. The Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, in Hebrews 7, verse 26. We're told that he was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. He was perfect. He was without blemish. Look over, if you would, to Exodus, I'm sorry, Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews 9, beginning in... We'll start with verse number 11. But Christ, being come in high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctify to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. He offered himself without spot to God. He was the spotless Lamb of God. His blood was perfect. Peter described our redemption in 1 Peter 1, verses 18 and 19, that it wasn't with cultural things. It wasn't with silver and gold. It wasn't with those things that in the world's eyes might be priceless. In God's eyes, they're not worth anything. He says, for as much as you know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. The lamb at the Passover was killed in the stead of the firstborn of that household. When Christ died on the cross, he did not die because of any blemish that he had. He was perfect. He didn't deserve to die. He died in our place. He died in your place. He died. He took upon our sin upon himself and died for us. He suffered a wrath of his father in order to supply for the need that was there. The children of Israel sacrificed this lamb. It had nothing to do with who they were. was about the blood. They could have sacrificed the lamb and made sure the whole door was covered in blood. But if they stepped outside and they were outside of that house where the blood was sprinkled, they would have been killed. The firstborn would have been killed. The only place of safety was under the blood. The only place of safety was in that house. Didn't matter that how religious they were. Didn't matter those things if they weren't in the house where the blood was at. When the death angel came, the firstborn were killed. It was the blood that was required, verse number seven, and they shall take of the blood. The lamb's blood was spilt. It wasn't strangled, it wasn't starved to death, it wasn't drowned, it wasn't clubbed to death. They had to take that lamb, slit its throat, catch the blood, and put that blood upon the door. I don't know if you've ever had to do that with an animal. It's not a pleasant thing. I don't know of anyone that, takes care of animals, any rancher, any shepherd that raises, a hog farmer. I don't know of anyone that raises animals and cares for animals that enjoys doing that. I don't know of any. I've never met one. It's necessary. Maybe it's their job, it's their money. And so they, oftentimes, maybe they'll just send them off somewhere. They don't actually deal with it, so they don't think about that. But those that actually have to take the life of their steer or their pig or their rabbit or their chicken or anything else, it's not a pleasant job to do, to take that life. This lamb's blood was spilt. Hebrews 9 verse 22 says, Almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission. We have redemption through His blood. Ephesians 1 verse 7, Colossians 1 verse number 14 say that very clearly. In Revelation 5 verse 9 that we read this morning, In Revelation 1 and verse number 5, it says that he has unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. A lot of churches have taken out hymns in their hymnal, if they even have a hymnal anymore. If they have a hymnal, many of them have taken out songs such as Are You Washed in the Blood. That's a scriptural song, Revelation 1 verse number five. Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? The lambs that were slain day after day on the Old Testament, they never washed away, never took away sin. When Christ's blood was shed, he could take away our sin. He washed our sin away. So that blood was shed, Exodus 12 verse number seven. He says, they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and in the upper door posts of the houses wherein they shall eat it. In verse number 13, and the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. He didn't say, and when I see you eating the lamb. When I see the fleece of the lamb, when I see the carcass that you guys, you've picked it clean, and I know you've eaten it. When I see that, I'll pass over you." No, it was the blood. The blood was what was necessary. When he saw the blood, he would pass over. There had to be application of the blood. Again in that song, have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? There had to be the application of the blood to the doorposts. And if you're not saved, you have not trusted in Christ, you may believe about Him, you may believe what He did for you, but until the blood's applied, Moses, when he heard that from God, he believed every word of it. If Moses had not taken the blood and put it on the doorpost, everyone, the firstborn in his household, didn't matter that it was Moses. Let's say him and Aaron and Miriam were there, say, well, certainly we'll be exempt because we're God's chosen. If they would not have applied the blood, the firstborn would have died. Romans 3 verse 25, it says, whom God, speaking about Christ, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. We are justified by his blood. We have redemption through his blood. We're made nigh by the blood of Christ. If you reject the blood, you're rejecting salvation. Salvation is not bloodless. It took the blood of the perfect Lamb of God. The Bible says in Hebrews 10, verse 29, of how much sore punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite under the spirit of grace. Can you imagine those that claim to be saved, yet they consider the blood an unholy thing, and so they take those out of the hymnals? Can you imagine them saying before the Lord? You can't reject the blood. It had to be the application of the blood, and when the blood was there, when it was applied to the doorpost, It showed that the occupants of that home were trusting God promised, if this blood is applied, the angel would pass over us. And they were trusting in God's promises. The blood applied to the doorpost showed that they were relying upon that blood. Those in the house were saved from the wrath of God because of the blood. It was not because they applied the blood. It wasn't because they were doing good works. It wasn't because maybe they were praying in the house. I'm sure many of them were praying. Maybe many of them were singing. Maybe they were enjoying the feast. Maybe they had all fallen asleep early and were resting and knowing the angels are going to pass over. The issue was the blood. They were trusting because we've applied the blood. God's promises are sure. In the acceptance of that blood, God says, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And when God sees the blood applied in your life, it's not because he sees your repentance. He doesn't see your riches or your baptism or your name on the church rolls or how much money you've given. Those things don't matter. When I see the blood. One of the songs that we sing, I can't remember the title of this hymn, but could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal, no, respite, no. All for sin could not atone, Christ must save, and Christ alone. It's nothing but the blood. They didn't take the blood and add anything to it. It was the blood that they applied to their outposts. And there's nothing that we can add to the blood of Christ. We can't add our good works, we can't add our righteousness. It's Christ alone that we trust. For those that did not trust the blood, for those that did not apply the blood, in verses 29 and 30 of Exodus 12, we see the slaughter that took place. It came to pass that at midnight, the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. Notice that it didn't say just all the firstborn of the Egyptians, any firstborn of the Israelites as well. if they weren't under the blood, would have been smitten. But any Egyptian household that said, you know what? We've been seeing these plagues. There were many Egyptians that went out of Egypt with the Israelites. They cast in their lot with them. Any Egyptian that put blood on their post, the angel passed over those houses. But the angel at midnight, the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne under the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of cattle. And 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 there was not one dead. There was a preacher that, I can't remember who preached this message, but I always love the title, When God Takes the Midnight Shift. When God Takes the Midnight Shift. This wrath, the Bible says that our God is a consuming fire. God said, I'm going to go through the land of Egypt, and the result was it was not a house, whether it was not one dead. We see the expectation of God's wrath, the first phrase there in verse number 29, and it came to pass. Just like God said, when God promises judgment, you can be sure that judgment will come. There's no hope outside of the promises of God. God does promise deliverance from wrath, but there's only one way. That's through his son, Jesus Christ, because the blood that was shed. There's no other way outside to escape God's wrath. When God promises wrath, you can expect God's wrath to come. The Bible says in Acts 17, verse 30, Paul is preaching on Mars Hill. He says, Here in our text, God appointed a day at midnight. I'm going to come through those that don't have the blood. They'll be killed, the firstborn of those houses. And not a house was spared. There were no exceptions to God's wrath. The Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the prisoner. Rank didn't matter. Rank didn't help Pharaoh's child. And even those that say, well, I don't have any rank. There's a lot of people that say, well, I'm poor. I'm the downtrodden of society. Surely God will show mercy on me, not without the blood of Christ. Even those in prison. And those in prison, what chance do they have? How could they get a lamb? They had no opportunity to get a lamb and put on the doorpost of their prison cell. But those first born in those prison cells died without the blood. Rank doesn't exempt anyone from God's wrath. Riches, the riches of Pharaoh did not exempt him. Your riches won't exempt you. People think, well, because I'm poor, I don't need the blood. Everyone needs the blood. In Psalm 49, verses 6 through 13, We don't read this now, but if you want to write that down for your notes, it's an interesting passage of scripture where it talks about the riches, trusting in their wealth, trusting in all that they have. But when Jesus said that, what shall a profit of man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? How much money are you able to save up to try to redeem your soul? If all the riches of the world is a loss. If you could have all the riches but lose your soul, that means your soul is worth more than all the riches. There's not anyone on earth that has gained all the riches of this world, but let's say all the riches were in the hand of one person, that person could not redeem their soul, because it's worth more than that. After the death of the firstborn, verse number 31, We see the service that God's people were able to perform, were able to partake of because of the blood. It says, You know, God saves you by his blood. He expects you to serve him. This was Pharaoh saying, get out of here. Go serve your God. But when God saves you, he expects you to serve him. And he gives us opportunities to serve him. Even back in Exodus 3, when God said, and come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians. What was the purpose? Just to set them free? Just to take off their shackles there in Egypt? In Exodus 3, verse 8, he says, God intended them to bring them into the land that he had promised them. Why? So that they would serve him there. That was his purpose. God's purpose was to bring them into the promised land, give them plenty of land, give them plenty of resources so they could live for him and serve him. When God saves you, he gives you everything you need to serve him acceptably. We've been given all things that pertain unto life and godliness, but there can be obstacles. There are obstacles with the Israelites. We see after they left, Satan does not lose his servants willingly and easily. In Exodus 14, verses five through 10, we see when Pharaoh was told that the Israelites had left, In Exodus 14 verse number 5, it says that the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people and they said, why have we done this that we have let Israel go from serving us? And he made ready his charity and took his people with him. And he took 600 chosen chariots and all the chariots of Egypt and captains over every one of them. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel. The children of Israel went out with an high hand, but the Egyptians pursued after them and the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army and overtook them in camping by the sea beside Pihath-Hiroth before Bel-Ziphon. And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them, and they were sore afraid. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. When God saves you, your enemy is not gonna stop pursuing you. We are pursued by the devil, we have the world and the flesh that we are to contend with. And that's why Jesus tells us to watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. But God gives us the power to overcome our enemies. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Egypt saw that. They may have thought, well, God may have killed our firstborn, but we'll kill his people. They pursued the Israelites into the Red Sea and they all ended up drowned. God is victorious with his people. Paul tells us to run the race. In such a way that we win the crown. That we keep our bodies under subjection. Lest when we preach to others, when we say things about others, that we ourselves would be castaways. God gives us all that we need for the victorious Christian life. God was leading them to the promised land. They don't get there for 40 years because, not because of God, but because of their own lack of faith. They don't get there. This whole generation dies off. God raises up another generation to take them to the promised land. But what a beautiful, what a beautiful picture when we consider Passover. and what God has provided for us. What a great picture that is of the blood that Christ has shed for us, and that he willingly shed for us. He willingly shed for you. We have nothing to boast of in our salvation. We have nothing to glory in what we've done. It's all because of the blood. It's all because of what's been done. It's gotta be applied. You need the blood applied to your life, but once that's applied, you can trust God. You may fail, you may fumble. The Israelites, some of them may have messed up the meal. Some of them may have realized, oh, we weren't supposed to boil this. We're supposed to get it out of the, honey, get that out of the pot and throw it in the fire. They may have done some things wrong. Maybe in the fixing of the meal, the issue was the blood. And in our life, we mess up, we do things wrong. But it's not based on our works, it's based on the blood. And that doesn't give us a right to live how we want to live. God wants us to love him and serve him and serve him acceptably with reverence and godly fear. But if the blood's applied, trust that, trust in God's promises and rejoice that his promises are sure. Amen. Let's all stand together this evening. As we consider this week, Earlier this week, I wasn't really paying attention to the moon. Passover is always on full moon. I wasn't really paying attention to the moon. So I asked, when is Passover 2025? And I was already planning on preaching this, but I didn't realize it was going to actually be on today. But as you look at that, it'll say it's from today's date through the next seven days. It includes the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In the Bible, those are two distinct feasts, Passover and then the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They're back to back, one day and the next day, the seven day start. They are different. They are distinct. And as we go through this week, as we prepare for the celebration of our Lord's resurrection, understand before the resurrection was what is his death and he died for us. That's a What a wonderful truth, and He died for us that we might live for Him. 2 Corinthians 5 is very clear about that. He died for you so that you would live for Him. Live for Him this week. As you see the full moon starting to wane throughout the week, consider what Christ did for you. When He died, He died on Passover. When the Passover sacrifices were being killed there in the temple, Christ was on the cross, dying. He is our Passover. And what a glorious thing that we serve now a risen Savior, and we can trust Him for our lives.