I invite you to take your Bibles if you brought them or there's also should be one in the seat rack nearby you and turn to Exodus chapter 12. The second book of the Bible. Part of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible which were written by Moses. If you're visiting with us today, we've been working through the life of Moses and through the 10 plagues. We saw with the last or final plague, the death of the firstborn of all in Egypt, including Pharaoh's own firstborn son. Remember the plagues were blows or strikes. That's what the Hebrew word means. convince Pharaoh to let God's people go. The last plague has come. God gave this promise to his people that if they took a lamb, a perfect lamb without blemish, if they were to take that lamb and slay the lamb and spread its blood over the doorposts of the house, that the spirit of death would pass over that house. They were to roast that lamb and eat the lamb with their family or combined families depending on how many people were in the household. They were to stay inside that they might be protected. Protected from death by the blood of the lamb. That's where we find ourselves here in Exodus chapter 12 beginning in verse 29. Hear the word of the Lord. At midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 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 someone was not dead. Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel and go, serve the Lord as you have said, take your flocks and your herds as you've said and be gone and bless me also. The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, we shall all be dead. So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus, they plundered the Egyptians. And the people of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Succoth, about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children. A mixed multitude also went up with them and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of 430 years on that very day all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It was a night of watching by the Lord to bring them out of the land of Egypt. So this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout all their generations. Thus ends the reading of the Word of God. Grass, the field fades away. The Word of God, however, stands forever. Praise the Lord. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we bow before you and call on the name of the Lord today. We cry out to you because you're the only God there is, the one true living God who made us and all things. You're the one who's given us life and breath and health and strength and every stitch of clothing we've ever worn. You're the one who sustains us and provides for us. You're the one who has led us every step of the way, even to this very day. You're the one who's called us out of darkness and into your marvelous light. And you are the one who will keep us and protect us until we reach heaven's shore. Lord, come and visit us today. May the presence and power of the risen Christ be here among his people. We pray that Christ would shepherd his flock today. through this humble means which you have ordained called the preaching of the word of God. Oh Lord, you have said that you cause all things to work together for good and you are the one who's working out all things according to the purpose of your will. So it is not by accident that any one of us is here today. It is all by your providence. by the strength of your hand, you have foreordained that each one of us would be here to worship you and to hear this portion of your word, the living and abiding word of God. We are well aware that the things of this earth, the grass withers and the flowers of the field fade away, but this, the word of God, stands forever. So feed our souls today with this, the living word of God. Strengthen us, Lord. Strengthen our souls. build us up and remind us again that you are always with us. You never leave us or forsake us. We pray that you would have mercy on all of us and our families and our loved ones. Lord, we pray for the prodigals of the families represented here. We pray you would bring them back, bring them to yourself. And Lord, we pray that you would prepare us to be more faithful today. Prepare us to share the grace of the gospel of Christ with others. They would teach us and refine us and mold us and shape us to be more after the image of Christ. and help me, your servant, to rightly divide your word, to proclaim it faithfully today, that the spirit of Christ would be here proclaiming this good news to his people. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So here we are in the book of Exodus. The Exodus, seeing the first stage of the Exodus of God's people. The mass departure of the Israelites, the Hebrew people, from Egypt on their way to the promised land. The word Exodus in English is adopted from the Greek word Exodus, from Greek to Latin to English, meaning the road out, the way out. The Hebrew title is the Book of the Outgoing from Egypt. And it's from that ancient name that the Greek Bible in the time of Jesus, the Septuagint translation, gave it the name Exodus. We use the word Exodus actually sometimes in common speech. especially here in Southwest Florida, right? We talk about the exodus of the snowbirds every year heading north, going back for the summer, the annual departure, the mass exodus of Northerners. Now I want to give you a little heads up of where we're going today with this message. before we get there. The point will be for you that we are all part of a mass exodus. All of us are. The exodus here in Exodus chapter 12 and 13 and onward, that is all a picture, a shadow of our exodus. We all are part of a mass exodus. We are fleeing slavery. We are fleeing bondage. our slavery to sin in a spiritual Egypt, and we're heading to the promised land. We're on our way. Eventually going over the River Jordan, the river between this life and the next into the promised land. Those who look in faith to Christ, we are all on our way. And there will be a day of our final departure. into the promised land, our final stage will be upon us. Actually, the apostle Paul wrote about that to young pastor Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter four, 2 Timothy chapter four, excuse me. He says, the time for my departure is near, meaning his final exodus, his final departure out of this world. I have fought the good fight, I finished the race, I've kept the faith, and now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. We're departing this world, eventually will be our final departure out of this world. We have before us how the Lord has delivered his people in a mighty way. Their exodus from the land of Egypt. Now the living and true God made a distinction on that fateful night. A distinction that actually he always makes. All of humanity right now is divided the very same way. Everybody on the face of the earth. is divided into two groups. Everyone in the world, everyone in the United States, everyone in Collier County, and everyone in this very room is divided the same way. The same distinction is made as was made on that first night, that fateful night of the Passover. The same distinction is made. There are those who look by faith to the blood sacrifice, which God provides through the blood of the Lamb, and those who do not. In Moses's day, the distinction was made between those who took an actual lamb and took its life and spread its blood over the sides and tops of the doorframes of their houses where they ate and then took refuge inside and those who did not. That was the distinction made that night so long ago in Egypt. That was the cause of the wailing or that great cry that went up that we read about in our text today. The Israelites, the Hebrew people, believed the promise. They believed the gospel, you might say. They believed the good news, that they would be safe if they believed the word of God and placed their confidence in the blood of the lamb that they spread on the doorpost of their house. But you know, the Lord didn't need to use the blood of the lamb for the basis of the distinction. That wasn't for him. The six preceding plagues, or before this, showed that Yahweh was able to make a distinction for himself. He knew the boundaries of the land. He knew which cattle belonged to the Egyptians and which belonged to the Hebrews. He knew where the hail would fall, where it would not fall on Goshen. He's the one who separated the light from the darkness. So the Hebrew people putting the Lamb's blood on the doorposts of the house must have served as a function for them, not for the Lord. It must be representing something for them, something for them to see, something greater. That was actually the subject of last Sunday morning's message. And of course it was representing something greater. The Lamb's blood pointed ahead to the great Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. our Passover lamb. Those Passover lambs that were slain at twilight were representing a greater thing. They were a shadow. They weren't the real thing. They were a shadow or a type of the great lamb of God. Those who look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, who takes away the sin of the world, whose blood was shed on the cross, are those who are rescued. And then there are those who not, those who do not. The apostle Paul wrote under the inspiration of the spirit, Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. And so just as there was only one way for the Israelites to be spared, only one way through the blood of the lamb, people weren't free to say, well, you know what? I don't want to, I'll just use a cow. I'll just use a calf. I'll just use a frog. We'll have frog legs tonight for supper. Well, there's only one way. It's through the blood of the lamb. So too, there's only one way for us to be spared from the coming judgment at the end of time. Only one way. We need the Lamb of God who was spotless and without sin. In fact, Peter actually uses that description of Jesus in 1 Peter 1. You have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. All those lambs slain that night were but a shadow, a picture of the great Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. We need the lamb of God who was slain and roasted. They roasted their lamb. That's a picture too of Christ who was roasted by the wrath of God. The flames of hell poured out upon him as he suffered on the cross. We need to look back ourselves at our former way of life in sin and see how bitter it was. They ate bitter herbs to remind them of the bitter life in Egypt. We need to remember how sin is a bitter taskmaster, so we don't go back. And we need the application of that blood on the doorpost of our lives, so to speak, as a sacrifice for our sins. We need to look by faith and believe that Christ's shed blood will protect us from death. Not because we deserve it, but because we've looked to the one who is worthy, to the substitute. We need to not just look at the lamb, We need to feast upon him by faith, to feed our souls upon Christ, to taste of his mercy, to appropriate for ourselves all the promises of God. What a frightful night that must have been. The wailing was everywhere in Egypt. They didn't have closed up houses like we do with air conditioning. You know, everybody's windows were open. You could hear it wailing all over Egypt. Imagine being in your home with your family, with your children and grandchildren, and clinging to you in fear as they hear the Egyptians wailing. Right? Oh, children, don't be afraid. The Lord is with us. We don't have to be afraid. The Bible says there will be a greater day of wailing one day, the day of wrath, the wrath of the Lamb. The Revelation, the book of Revelation says, Revelation 1.7, the Apostle John says, behold, he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth will wail or cry out on account of him. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who delivers us from death. We are only safe in Him. We are only protected in Him. Now back to that night of the first Passover because it is a shadow of the real thing and points to the real thing. It describes the real thing. It's vitally important for us to pay attention to the details that are going on here as we study God's Word. Because what is happening here, what happened in Exodus is a shadow of our salvation. It's a picture of what God is doing for us even now in Christ. There's an outline on page three if you'd like to follow along to see where I'm going. First of all, you'll see Pharaoh's response to the final plague. Then the Egyptians response to the final plague and the Israelites response to the final plague. So what was Pharaoh's response? Well, first of all, he summons Moses. And he doesn't kill him. He had threatened to. He had threatened to. He said, if I see your face again, you'll be dead. He completely forgot his earlier threat to eliminate Moses. His pride has been demolished. His attitude is different. His own son had died. He's leveled to the ground. He summoned Moses and said that he's had enough. Finally, he submits to the Lord's demands. Now his stubbornness is gone. There's no more qualifications. There's no more conditions, as he said before. There's no more limitations. You can go, but you got to leave this behind. No, his heart yields to the living and true God. He acknowledges Yahweh's supremacy, the Lord's supremacy. He submits. That alone, just as a little side note, that ought to give you hope. As you think about the most stubborn, hard-hearted person or people that you know, you might say there's no way they will ever change. Well, it is possible. It is possible. You think about it, how sad this is. If Pharaoh had only given in the first time, What a lesson he's learned over these 10 plagues. What a cost. Think about how many lives could have been spared, how much misery could have been averted. And you know that too from your own life, don't you? Sometimes it seems like you're learning the same lesson over and over again. If you look back over your life and the sins that have caused you grief, Such grief, or those sins that are causing you grief today that are still trailing behind you. Those that have caused misery for others too. If only, if only we had listened to the Lord the first time. How much better for us, we had listened. How much better for us to learn early on what King David said, my heart trembles in fear of you, I stand in awe of your laws. How much better it is to stand in awe of the Lord now than to find out his, the judgments. The truth of the matter is, sin always costs something, right? Pharaoh learned the hard way. Those of you who've walked with the Lord for years, you know that too, that sin always costs something. In the end, Pharaoh ends up doing exactly what God told him to do through Moses. So many people strive with God rather than doing it his way from the beginning and they end up with so many regrets saying, if only I had done this from the beginning, Praise God for his grace, right? Praise God for his grace today. Now, Pharaoh doesn't just permit them to leave, he urges them to leave, go. This man who had one time vowed they would never leave now is throwing them out. In fact, there's three imperatives here, three commands in the Hebrew text. Get up, get out and go. That's exactly what God said would happen, even before the plagues began, Exodus chapter six, because in my mighty hand, he will drive them, the people of God, out of this land. And thirdly, you notice there in verse 32, he said, take your flocks and herds, have you said and go, be gone. Oh, and bless me, bless me. He asks Moses to bless him. One commentator I read suggests this is just pathetic. Once before, Pharaoh asked Moses to pray for him. Now he goes a little bit farther and asks for a blessing. Why? Well, Pharaoh doesn't want any more plagues, right? He wants the curse removed from his land. He wants the Lord's favor instead of his wrath. You know, in this, Pharaoh is like so many people today. They want their troubles to end. They want life to get better. They recognize God's power and authority. They want the Lord's blessing. Pray that God will bless me, but they're unwilling to serve Him and love Him and turn in faith to Him. Pharaoh wanted God's blessing. that he refused to repent. He would not turn and admit that he was wrong. He only gave in because he was at the end of his rope. And we'll soon find out he changes his mind. In chapter 14, he starts running after the Israelites on their way, right? Now, interesting little note. If you have your Bibles open, look there after verse 32. When Pharaoh asks for God's blessing, what does Moses say in response? How did Moses respond? What does the Word of God say? There's no response. Moses doesn't respond. It's just silence. That's not the way God answers. Answering a prayer for blessing to those who refuse to repent God doesn't say a thing. Secondly, this morning, look at the Egyptian people's response. They too urged the Israelites to go. It wasn't begrudgingly given. They weren't waffling in doubts. They didn't say, well, you know, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, before you guys go, we gotta think about the economic impact here. Well, the judgments of the Lord were clear. They received the Lord's message without any doubts. If your God, Yahweh, wants you to leave, and that means these plagues will end, then by all means, go. They realized the power of the Lord. Go, or else we shall all be dead. We'll all die. You see, the lesser judgments had shown them all along that Yahweh was capable of greater things. And Yahweh proved it one after another until the death of their firstborn. What could be worse than the firstborn dying? Well, they say, we'll all be dead. We'll all die. So go, get out of town. We know what could be next. So they sent them on their way and it says they gave the Israelites everything. They gladly gave the Israelites what they wanted because of their desire to see the Israelites go, they helped them on their way. They knew they couldn't travel without provisions. They knew worse things could befall them. They knew that the Israelites had been mistreated and they owed the Israelites their very lives. If they got out of here, they would gladly give them anything, just go. By the way, this is an amazing fulfillment of prophecy. Once again, you see, God wrote this book. The Lord had told Abraham 400 years earlier that his descendants would be enslaved, but he says, I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward, they will come out with great possessions. 400 years before, God said that. The response of the Egyptians was just what God said it would be. And the response of the Egyptians at the root of it was a response to the awesome deeds of the living God for them. For the children of Israel, for his people. The rescue of the Israelite people spoke loudly to the Egyptians. Just take our stuff and go, just go. You think about your life as we pause here for just a moment, you think about this and your life, God's word says that your life is a letter from Christ, known and read by everyone. The Egyptians saw the grace of God in the lives of the Israelites, how God fought for them, how God was on their side, how God was the one who rescued them. Your life is a testimony to a watching world. Your life is to be, as Paul writes, a living epistle, a living letter, written by the Spirit of Christ. So what are people reading? What do people see in you? This past Thursday, just this Thursday, three days ago, was the Justin's Place graduation. You know, on Sunday nights, we have these testimonies from the guys in Justin's Place. It's a faith-based addiction recovery program under the ministry of St. Matthew's House. This past Thursday, there were 31 graduates. Many of them have been up here and given their testimony on Sunday night. They do a thing every time there's a graduation called then and now photos. And they show a picture of each graduate at their worst and then now. Some of them are unbelievable. Many of them are mug shots where they're at the bottom of the bucket, the end of the rope, a mess. And then you see this totally transformed person. It's a beautiful thing. And you hear these gasps from the crowd as they see the difference. Steve Bruder, the CEO, President of St. Matthew's House, commented on Psalm 40 during the graduation of the transformation by God in the lives of his people. And speaks in Psalm 40 about how God has dealt with us. Many will see and be amazed, it says. Many will see and be amazed at God's salvation. That's true, as you saw the transformation in these people from beginning to end. As people see the rescue by God, and He challenged these graduates to let their light shine, that people would be amazed at the transformation God has done. They would see the wonderful deeds of God's grace. Same is true for you. You're to be a living testimony, read by the world. What are people reading? Are you telling people about the grace of God to you and how you've been rescued? Well, lastly this morning, the Israelites responds. Well, first of all, they did as Moses instructed. They did as Moses instructed. They obeyed God. They obeyed God by asking the Egyptians, first of all, for goods. In verse 36, it's described as a plunder. They plundered the Egyptians. Now who does the plundering normally in a battle? The victors. The winning side, right? This is alluding to the fact that theirs was the victory. They left as conquerors following their victorious king. And the Israelites response secondly was that they were dressed and ready in their traveling clothes. Bring the dough with them without yeast, wrapped up in damp clothing to keep it fresh. That was Israeli fast food, you might say. And God told him to hurry. Get on your way. Flee the bondage. Why were they told to hurry? Well, there's a practical reason. Think about how many times Pharaoh had changed his mind. And he will change his mind here. And they needed to get to the shores of the Red Sea in time. They obeyed God. And they included others with them. Verse 38, a mixed multitude went with them. We don't know who that is. There may have been others who were enslaved in Egypt. It may have been some of the Egyptians themselves. Maybe they were attracted by the grace of God to them. They obviously saw that Egypt was under a curse. They all left. How many Israelite people were there? Well, there is a question here which causes many skeptics to scoff at the Bible. The ESV text here, our English standard version, reads 600,000 men. If we're to include women and children, that would be two to three hundred million people. Now some scholars, particularly liberal ones, but even a few conservative ones, have argued that the Hebrew word that's used here, translated thousand, eleph, could also be translated clan. So 600 clans, men from 600 clans or about 5,000 men in each which would be a total of 20,000 people. Maybe that makes it easier to picture when they camp in an oasis here and there or near a spring. But that argument springs out of disbelief that so many people could have been sustained in the desert and traveled together. Remember this, first of all, this is a miraculous deliverance. Nothing is too difficult for God. To take care of 20,000 people or 3 million people is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord. He can do anything. And remember too why it was that Pharaoh started his extermination plan in the first place when Moses was a baby. The land was teeming with Israelites. Exodus chapter 1 verse 7, the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous so that the land was filled with them. And then thirdly, an argument for the higher number, 2 to 3 million people. In Numbers chapter 22 verse 3, the Moabites were terrified at their number. It says Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Now if there were only 20,000 of them and 5,000 were fighting men, that's not a terrifying number. The bottom line is the Exodus was a miracle. All the Israelites left, all of them were evacuated. Without the help of FEMA or evacuation buses, they all left. from the cities mentioned here, from Ramses to Succoth. Interesting, take a little time to look at the names there. Ramses, city of the sun or son of, son of, the son of the sun, to Succoth, place of rest. As we live our lives, Ecclesiastes says, those under the sun, to our final rest, to heaven. They travel about 15 miles on that first day. And God's word says they left by divisions. It's a military term here. It's translated in our version by hosts. All the hosts, all the divisions, it was orderly. And in full view of the Egyptians, so it's later described in Numbers 33, it was quite public. They went out triumphantly in the sight of all the Egyptians. They all watched them leaving in these mass crowds of people. And they left by faith, right? They didn't know where they were going. They just believed. And they knew God would provide. Now as we close, I want you to think again. Imagine if you were there. You who are here today. Families gathered at Christ the King Church. The people there were just like us. The same kinds of personalities, the variety of people as we have here this morning. The same kind of people, same variety of ages. People with their children, grown children, young children, grandchildren. Imagine if you were there loading up an ox cart, loading up a wagon, all your belongings heading out from the only home you've ever known. They'd been there 400 years. For all those leaving, that's the only home they'd ever known. In full view of the Egyptians, even some of the taskmasters, of course, who had threatened and beaten them and mistreated you and your loved ones, they're all marching out. How could they do it? How could they make it? How would they make it? Well, here's how. Here's how. Chapter 12, verse 42, it says, it was a night of watching by the Lord. You see, the Lord kept vigil over his people to bring them out. That's why they were able to leave safely. The Lord kept vigil that night, kept watching over them to bring them out of Egypt. You may wonder, how am I ever gonna reach heaven's shore? Every day is a battle for me. Every day I struggle. Every day sin is nipping at my heels. The same God is watching over you and your exodus. There is an exodus, an evacuation going on right now. We are all leaving bondage. We are all fleeing bondage, fleeing spiritual Egypt, on our way to the promised land, on our way to heaven. See, Christians are part of an exodus too. We have a deliverer, like Moses. Only greater, the book of Hebrews says, the Lord Jesus is our deliverer. We have a deliverance like the Israelites, only greater. Our deliverance is from bondage to sin and death, from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. And we have a promised land like the Israelites, only better. We have a city made without hands in the heavens. And right now, God is keeping vigil over the divisions of God's people. God is watching over his people all over the face of the earth, from one nation to another, from one language group to another, from every tribe and tongue and nation all over the world. We're all on our way to the land in full view of the devil and his minions who's just lost you. We're all on our way. Some will get there before others, but all who look in faith to the Lord Jesus will get there one day. And only those who look in faith to the cross and the blood of the lamb. So do you believe, Christian, that the Lord is watching over you, keeping vigil over you? Do you believe that? It's true every single day. It's Satan who doesn't want you to remember that. Are you going by faith? We're in the wilderness. We're in the wilderness right now. We've got Egypt behind us, spiritual Egypt behind us. We're on our way. We're not there yet. But our faithful Redeemer has said, no one can snatch you out of my hand. I will be with you always, even to the very end of the age. Praise be to God. We're not alone. You're not alone. Praise the Lord. There is, as we sang, a higher throne. That's what the Israelites were banking on. There is a higher throne. They'd seen his marvelous hand at work. Same is true for all of us. There's a higher throne. higher throne. Praise the Lord. He rules over all things. I call you today to cry out to him. If you've never trusted in Christ and said, I need that sacrifice for myself, the sacrifice for my own sins. I want to go on this road to the promised place, the promised land to heaven. Oh Lord, have mercy on me. Forgive my sins and cleanse me and wash me and protect me and keep me all the way. He will do it. Praise the Lord. Let us pray. Heavenly Father we bow before you and thank you for such great promises. Thank you that you've rescued us and you have your hand upon us even now. Keep us Lord close to you and use our tithes and offerings we bring before you today to build your church to bring others to know the promises of God and. to bring others to know there is forgiveness, there is safety, there is protection from the judgment day by the blood of the Lamb. Oh Lord, bless your people. We might rejoice and give homage to you, the King of the heavens and the earth. In Jesus' name, amen.