Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleDeliverance To Be Much Observed
Bible TextExodus 12:29-51
Synopsis In our text, the Holy Spirit uses Moses and Israel to typify several specific things that God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished as he delivered his elect. Listen
Date27-May-2018
Series Exodus 2016
Article Type Sermon Notes
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: Deliverance To Be Much Observed (32 kbps)
Audio CD Quality Listen: Deliverance To Be Much Observed (128 kbps)
Length 45 min.
 

Series: Exodus

Title: Deliverance to be Much Observed

Text: Exodus 12: 29-51

Date: May 27, 2018

Place: SGBC, NJ

 

Our text begins in Exodus 12: 29: And it came to pass…

 

Everything God promised Moses he would do—God brought to pass!  Everything God promised Abraham he would do, God brought to pass!  What did God promise and bring to pass? God promised to deliver the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage and it came to pass, even to the very day God said.

 

God always brings his promises to pass because God is absolutely sovereign. He “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” (Eph 1: 11) God being absolutely sovereign means God is in control of all men. No man can promise to bring anything to pass because only that which God commands comes to pass—“Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?” (Lam 3: 37)

 

Isaiah 46: 9I am God, and there is none like me, 10: Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:…yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.

 

The comforting thing for God’s people is that God redeeming Israel out of Egyptian bondage pictures God redeeming his elect out of the bondage of sin and death.

 

Romans 15:4: For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

 

1 Corinthians 10:11: Now all these things happened unto [Moses and Israel] for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

 

Just as God entered covenant with Abraham to redeem the children of Abraham 430 years before God brought it to pass, before the foundation of the world, God the Father and God the Son entered covenant to redeem his elect—and “it came to pass” because God cannot lie, he always fulfills his covenant promise!

 

Proposition: In our text, the Holy Spirit uses Moses and Israel to typify several specific things that God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished as he delivered his elect.

 

GOD DELIVERED HIS ELECT JUSTLY

 

Exodus 12:29: And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. 30: 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.

 

Catch that last phrase “there was not a house where there was not one dead.”—that means God slew the firstborn in every house in Egyptthere was not a house where there was not one dead.”  God slew all the first born in the houses of the Egyptians and God slew all the firstborn in the houses of the children of Israel.

 

God slew all the firstborn because they were all guilty and God is just.  God is just therefore all who are guilty must die. They were all guilty therefore God poured out justice on all the firstborn.

 

The difference was that God provided a lamb for the firstborn in Israel which died in their place. Therefore, when God saw the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of their houses, God passed over them.  God had mercy on the firstborn in the Israelite houses and God’s justice was satisfied toward them because they all died in the lamb that died in their place.

 

The lesson we are taught in this is that God is a Savior and God is Just

 

Exodus 34: 7: Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty

 

As Savior—God Keeps mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.  As Just—[he] will by no means clear the guilty.  Since every person in this world is guilty because we all sinned in our first father, Adam, for those for whom God “Keeps mercy, forgiving [their] iniquity and transgression and sin”, God also must slay in justice because God “will by no means clear the guilty.

 

How can God kill me in justice and save me in mercy? That is the picture in our text. The only way God can be a just God who slays his guilty people and a Savior who keeps mercy and forgives his people is by God providing the Lamb, his own Son, Christ Jesus.  Christ laid down his life under the justice of God, dying the death God’s elect owed to God’s justice. Thereby, God is Just and God Saves his people.

 

Isaiah 45:21: Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.

 

Romans 3: 26: To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

 

Romans 8: 33: Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 34: Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died,…

 

In the end, every sinner will have died under the justice of God because God is just—he will by no means clear the guilty.  The difference will be the difference God made by sovereignly choosing whom he would and sending Christ our Passover Lamb to die in our place.  Those he justified he calls to faith in Christ.  Sinner, get in the house under the blood by believing on Christ and abide there until the end.

 

CHRIST SPOILED OUR ENEMIES

 

Exodus 12:31: And [Pharaoh] called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said. 32: Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. 33: And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. 34: And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. 35: And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: 36: And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.

 

When a king conquers his foe, he takes his most valuable possessions—he spoils his enemy, he takes the spoils from him.

 

The Lord took the spoils from the Egyptians—their valuable silver and gold—and the Lord gave the spoils to Israel by making the Egyptians willing to give it to them. It pictures Christ taking the spoils from his enemy who he conquered on the cross.

 

It came to pass that the Egyptians gave the children of Israel the spoils because God promised it beforehand back in chapter 11. God promised beforehand through the prophets that Christ would spoil our enemies.

 

Jeremiah 30:16: all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.

 

Isaiah 53: 11: He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12: Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

 

That which God promised beforehand, “It came to pass” by Christ fulfilling the law on behalf of his people.

 

Colossians 2: 15: And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

 

In regeneration, Christ binds the devil and spoils his house—Christ takes the devils’ most valuable possession—Christ takes us as the spoils that he takes from the devil’s house.

 

Matthew 12: 28: But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. 29: Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

 

As Isaiah prophesied, Christ divides the spoils with the strong. Christ gives the child he takes from the devil’s house to us, his church, who he has made strong. One day, Christ shall spoil the last redeemed child from the devil’s house and we are all going home to be with Christ. That brings us to the third point.

 

CHRIST DELIVERS ALL HIS PEOPLE

 

Exodus 12:37: And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. 38: And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.  

 

We do not know exactly how many Israelites were delivered that night—there were 600,000 men, not counting women and children. The picture is that Christ shall save a multitude that no man can number. Speaking of his spiritual sons and daughters, we read:

Genesis 15:5: And [God] brought [Abraham] forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

 

In addition to the multitude of Jews, that night God also delivered a mixed multitude, Gentiles. God promised Abraham his people would be out of every nation—God’s elect are Jew and Gentiles. So it shall be in that great day!

 

Revelation 7:9: After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10: And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. 

 

CHRIST FULFILLED god’s everlasting covenant

 

Exodus 12: 40: Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egyptwas four hundred and thirty years. 41: And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. 

 

The children of Israel went to Egypt, became slaves, were multiplied, gained wealth and were delivered exactly according to God’s covenant which he made with Abraham in the slaying of a sacrifice.

 

Genesis 15: 5: And [the LORD] brought [Abraham] forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6: And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. 7: And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it…9: And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.  10: And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. 

 

God made his covenant with Abraham through the blood of a sacrifice.

 

Genesis 15: 13: And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them;

 

Their fall into Egyptian bondage was part of God’s covenant to Abraham.

 

Genesis 15: 13…and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

 

Add those 30 years before when God delivered Abraham out of Ur, you get 430 years as it says in our text. The exact time they would be in bondage and be delivered was part of the covenant.

 

Genesis 15: 14: And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance…18: In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.

 

From the beginning, before they were even born, God already gave them their inheritance by his covenant.

 

So Exodus 12: 41 says, “And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass,[as soon as the blood of the lamb was shed] that all the hosts of the LORD [including the mixed multitude] went out from the land of Egypt.” And they went out with great substance as the Lord said they would.

 

This pictures God’s covenant of grace to deliver his people in and by Christ.  Our fall into bondage was part of God’s covenant in Christ—just as the Lord protected Israel when they fell into bondage because of his covenant with Abraham, God’s elect were safe in Christ even when we fell into sin.  Like as the Lord’s covenant with Abraham’s was made sure in the blood of a sacrifice, God’s everlasting covenant was made sure toward his people in the blood of Christ our Surety, the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.  The same as God’s covenant guaranteed Israel would come out of Egypt with great riches, God’s covenant of grace in Christ made us come out of bondage with the unsearchable riches of Christ.  Like as God’s covenant gave Israel their promised land before Israel even existed, God’s covenant in Christ gave us heaven before as yet earth and time or any of his people were ever created.  As it was with God’s covenant to Abraham, God’s covenant with Christ settled the exact time we would be in bondage in sin and the exact time we would be delivered. Concerning God’s covenant with Abraham we read “and it came to pass”—even to the day—and concerning God’s covenant in Christ, we can be sure  all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” (2 Cor 1: 20)

 

CHRIST SHALL MAKE THIS COVENANT IN THE HEARTS OF EACH OF HIS SAINTS IN REGENERATION

 

Exodus 12:47: All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. 48: And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, [a Gentile] and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep [the feast]; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. 49: One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you. 50: Thus did all the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.

 

Circumcision was a sign under the old covenant.  An operation was performed on each newborn boy at 8 days old by which unclean flesh was removed. It pictured regeneration—circumcision of the heart—performed by the Holy Spirit upon a sinner as helpless as an infant by which the filthy, sinful flesh is put off.

 

Romans 2: 28: For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

 

Colossians 2:11: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.

 

By circumcision, the children of Israel were separated and distinguished from other people. By giving us a new heart, we are separated or sanctified and distinguished from other people. Unlike every other religion in the world:

 

Philippians 3:3: we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

 

By circumcision all the promises and blessings of the old covenant were sealed to an Israelite for life. By giving us faith in the new heart, all the promises and blessings of God’s everlasting covenant of grace are sealed to us forever.

 

Ephesians 1:13: In [Christ] ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14: Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

 

Like Israel and the mixed multitude, when we are circumcised in the heart there is one law for Jew and Gentile—it is not the law of Moses, it is the gospel of Christ—“the just shall live by faith.”—“faith which worketh by love.”

 

New testament circumcision is NOT infant baptism. It is the operation of God the Holy Spirit within a helpless sinner in regeneration through the blood of Christ who justified us.

 

CHRIST DELIVERS US TO WORSHIP GOD OUR FATHER

 

Exodus 12:51: And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the LORD did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies…[back up to verse]…42: It is a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.

 

After the LORD delivered Israel through the blood of the Passover lamb, they kept the feast of the Passover in remembrance of that great deliverance.  Likewise, after the LORD delivers his elect through the blood of Christ and circumcision of the heart, we worship the LORD by keeping the feast of the gospel every time we gather together, as well as at his table. We are always remembering that day on the cross, when Christ cried out, “It is finished!”It is a sacrifice to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing his elect out from the curse of the law and giving us life and faith to rest in him.

 

1 Corinthians 5: 7: Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye ARE unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8: Therefore let us keep the feast,

 

We keep the feast by assembling to hear his gospel preached and by each time we remember him at his table.  We keep this feast with no mixture of works or sinful flesh.

 

1 Corinthians 5: 8… not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

 

Psalms 103:1: Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2: Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 4: Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.

 

Amen.