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Sermon #2327 — Miscellaneous Sermons

Title: The Token of the Blood

Text: Exodus 12:13

Subject: The Blood of Christ

Date: Sunday Morning — April 16, 2017

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Nixa, MO

Reading: Exodus 12:1-14

Introduction:

(Exodus 12:1-14) “And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ⁽²⁾This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. ⁽³⁾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 an house: ⁽⁴⁾And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour 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. ⁽⁵⁾Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: ⁽⁶⁾And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. ⁽⁷⁾And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. ⁽⁸⁾And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁽⁹⁾Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. ⁽¹⁰⁾And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. ⁽¹¹⁾And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover. ⁽¹²⁾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. ⁽¹³⁾And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye 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. ⁽¹⁴⁾And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.”

The Word of God has a scarlet thread running through it, like the cord Rahab hung out of her window. That scarlet thread, by which these 66 books is bound together, which unifies everything written upon the pages of Inspiration, is the blood, the precious blood of Christ. As God the Holy Ghost will enable me, I want to talk to you about blood, the precious blood of Christ. Our text will be Exodus 12:13. The title of my message is — The Token of the Blood (Exodus 12:13).

(Exodus 12:13) “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye 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.”

The Scriptures speak constantly about the blood. It is written in the books of the law, “The life of the flesh is in the blood.” God told Moses, “The blood shall be to you for a token.” He said, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” When the high priest went into the holy of holies on the Day of Atonement, he went in with blood. No man can come to God without blood atonement.

When our Lord instituted the Lord’s Supper, he took the cup of wine, held it before his disciples and said, “This is the blood of the New Testament, shed for many for the remission of sins.” In Hebrews 9:22, we read, “Without shedding of blood is no remission.” That makes the blood a matter of infinitely immense importance.

These days, it is common for preachers, churches, theologians, and hymn writers to say as little as possible about the blood. We have become so educated, refined, and sophisticated that talking about blood is considered improper, unsophisticated, and rude. But it is still true that “without shedding of blood is no remission.” The whole of God’s revelation of himself, the whole of the gospel, the whole of salvation is wrapped up the blood, the precious, sin-atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:12; 1 Peter 18-21).

(Hebrews 9:12) “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.”

(1 Peter 1:18-21) “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; ⁽¹⁹⁾ But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: ⁽²⁰⁾ Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, ⁽²¹⁾ Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.”

What can wash away my sins?

Nothing, but the blood of Jesus!

What can make me whole again?

Nothing, but the blood of Jesus!

Oh! Precious is the flow

That makes me white as snow!

No other fount I know –

Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

———————————————————

E’er since by faith I saw the stream

Thy flowing wounds supply,

Redeeming love has been my theme,

And shall be till I die!

Proposition: The shedding of Christ’s precious blood was and is absolutely essential to the saving of our souls. — Let us ever cherish the blood of Christ as that which is precious above all things.

This is the greatest promise that a man can have from God on this earth. This is the greatest promise that a man can realize.

What is God saying? He is saying “When I deal in judgment with Egypt, I will deal in mercy with you.” That is what he is saying to us in this passage: “When I deal in judgment with the world’s sin, when I come in wrath, judgment, and condemnation upon this world; I will cover you with my grace.”

That is what He is saying; “when I execute wrath for sin, I am going to extend to you my mercy.” — “When I see the blood I will pass over you.”

When this promise was given, an angry God was walking through the streets of Egypt. Someone said, “God, with sword drawn and sharpened for the conflict, was walking through the streets of Egypt that midnight and slaying on either hand the first-born in every home.”

God came in judgment, God in wrath, God in condemnation, falling upon this land of Egypt and destroying the pride of every home, the joy of every house, and the firstborn of every family from Pharaoh’s Palace to the cattle in the barn and the cattle on the field.

Will God smite all? Will he condemn all? Will he destroy all? No. In wrath, he remembers mercy! With the voice of mercy he speaks. — “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” God in judgment walking through the streets of Egypt, God in wrath, God dealing with sin, and God dealing with men’s rebellion; God speaks to a few among many, a nation within a nation, and says, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”

Saved and Safe

God’s people are safe. God’s people are now chosen, redeemed, called, and saved. And they are safe. They are secure. There is no judgment that can come upon them. Why are God’s people safe? Paul said…

(Romans 8:1) “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

(Romans 8:33-34) “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. ⁽³⁴⁾Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”

Why are God’s elect safe? Let me give you four reasons.

1^st — God’s people are safe because they are in his heart. He said, “I have loved you with an everlasting love. In loving kindness I have drawn you.” God’s people are safe because they are in his heart. It is in his heart to save them. It is in his heart to keep them. It is in his heart to sustain them. It is in his heart to protect them.

2^nd — Not only are they in his heart but they are also in his hand. Our Lord Jesus Christ said; “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. My Father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them to me is greater than all and no man can pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” They are in his hand. No one can get to them. They are secure and they are safe. God’s people are safe.

When the angry God stalked through the land of Egypt at midnight and that horrible, bitter, wail, a cry such had never been heard before and such as has never been heard since, God’s people were safe because they were in his heart and in his hand. — Not only that!

3^rd — They were in his covenant. He said; “I will make a covenant with you and I will write my law in your hearts and on your minds and your sins and iniquities I will remember no more.” Not only are they in his heart, in his hand, and in his covenant.

4^th — God’s people are safe because they are in his Son. — “There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.”

This is what I want you to see. God’s people are safe. When God in judgment…

Watch this, now. Here’s is the key. — God’s people are safe because, only because they are “under the blood.” Our salvation, our safety, our security is in the blood, only in the blood.

The Lord God told Israel, “Take a lamb without spot or blemish of the firstling of the flock. Put it up for four days. At the end of those four days slay that lamb and put the blood on the doorpost and on the lintel.”

· On the Doorposts — The Entrance

· The Lintel — Overhead

· Not on the Threshold (Hebrews 10:29)

“You go inside and you eat the lamb, all of it; don’t leave any until the morning. If your family is too small for a lamb then go in with the people next door but put the blood on the door, put the blood on the door. And when I see the blood I will pass over you.”

God’s people are safe only through the blood. — “It is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul.” That is what the Scripture says. “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.”

Illustration: Harold Martin’s Last Words

I know this is not the day when you hear a lot of preaching about the blood. I know that people have spoken in a derogatory fashion. They say, “Well; we don’t want to talk about slaughter-house religion and old first century doctrine and talk about the blood, “Under the blood of Jesus,” and “Are you washed in the blood.” “Nothing but the blood, and there is power in the blood.”

Listen. Let me tell you something. — God’s Word plainly says, “It’s the blood that maketh atonement for the soul.” It says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.” I will tell you where God’s people are safe.

“Under the blood of Jesus

Safe in the shepherd’s fold

Under the blood of Jesus

Safe while the ages roll.

Safe, though the world may crumble

Safe, though the stars grow dim

Under the blood of Jesus

We are secure in Him.”

God spared Israel that fearful night in Egypt. God spared the firstborn in the home of every Israelite. Why? He said; “When I see the blood I will pass over you.” Because the blood was on the door the firstborn of every Israelite household was spared.

Where there was no blood on the door, God visited in wrath. There may have been flowers out there. There may have been anything out there, but if there was no blood on the door, then death struck. God visited in wrath.

So it is, my friend, with us. In the day when God shall judge the world, when God shall come forth in wrath against sin, we will be secure, we will be kept, and we will be safe if we are covered with the Savior’s righteousness and sprinkled with his precious blood. That is what Augustus Toplady was talking about:

“Rock of ages, cleft for me

Let me hide myself in thee.

Let the water and the blood

From thy wounded side which flowed

Be of sin the double cure,

Save me from its wrath and power.”

It’s the blood of Christ that makes atonement for the soul. That is what Peter said. — “We are not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, from the vain conversation received by tradition from our fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without spot or blemish.”

Adoniram Judson

I recently read a story about the great missionary to Burma — Adoniram Judson. Some of you are familiar with him. Judson went to Burma as a missionary. He stayed there for 30 years.

This was many years ago, back before the days of modern provisions and modern transportation and modern highways, telephones, television, and all of these things. This was back in the days of hardship and trial.

Judson stayed in Burma for 30 years preaching the gospel of Christ. He suffered untold hardships. When he came back to America, he was scheduled to preach before a huge throng of people in one of our cities and the people came from everywhere. Judson’s name was famous.

The auditorium was packed with people that night. This old man, after 30 years of preaching the gospel in Burma, sat there on the platform where they had their usual service, the preliminaries, the song service, and the special music, then the Master of Ceremonies introduced Mr. Judson.

According to the writer, he got up and spoke for about 20 minutes. He told the congregation with tears streaming down his cheeks how that God loved him from all eternity and how that God in mercy and grace sent his Son into the world to die for sinners.

He told how that Christ was born of a virgin, and walked this earth as a man, in perfect obedience to the holy law of God. He went to the cross of Calvary and there he bore our sin, our shame, our guilt, and our filth, in his body on the tree.

He told how he suffered all the soul agony ,and bodily agony, and all the shame and humiliation and heart agony of being made sin for us. He told how the Son of God died for our sins, was buried and rose again and ascended back to heaven where he reigns as our Mediator-King and interceding Great High Priest.

He praised God during all that time for the love and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The old man sat down and the service closed. On the way back to the hotel that night there was a young man accompanying Mr. Judson, and he said this about the young man, “He was strangely quiet.”

In a moment he looked at me and said, “Mr. Judson, the people were disappointed tonight, they wondered that you did not talk of something else.” Mr. Judson said, “Well, what did they want to hear?” The young man said, “Well, a story, a story, perhaps.”

He said, “I told them the most thrilling story in the universe, the story of God’s love, grace, and the death of God’s Son.” “Yes,” the young man said, “but they wanted to hear something of your adventures in Burma.”

With that comment the old man stopped the young man and laid his hand on his arm and said, “Son, then I am glad, I am glad to know and glad to report that a man after 30 years in Burma has nothing more thrilling, more exciting, more wonderful to tell, than the love of God which gave the Lord Jesus Christ to die on the cross, the grace which took him to Calvary’s mountain, and the mercy which caused him to die for our sins. I know of no more thrilling story or a more wonderful message.”

“I will tell you this son; I remembered tonight as stood before those people, where I may meet them the next time — at the judgment bar of God. How could I appeal to their curiosity, how could I tickle their ears with my adventures? This is not what Christ sent me to do. Christ sent me to preach the gospel.”

So, my friends, listen to me: If there is a preacher listening to me today, hear me and hear me clear; if that great missionary like Judson, after 30 years in the jungles of Burma could find nothing more exciting or more thrilling or more wonderful or more appropriate to preach to his congregation than the blood of Jesus Christ, who are we to try to tickle men’s ears with our fresh ideas?

This is what Paul said, “Back to the cross.” — “I am determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Jesus Christ.” “It is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul.”

“What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

What can make me whole again?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

————————————————

“There’s a fountain filled with blood

Drawn from Emanuel’s veins

And sinners plunged beneath that flood

Lose all their guilty stains.”

This is what the Bible teaches; “when I see the blood I will pass over you.” That is what God said to Israel and that is what he is saying to you and me. — “When I see the blood,” not your church membership, not your morality, not your self-righteousness, not your religious deeds, not even your decision, it’s “when I see the blood I will pass over you.”

“It is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul. I have given it to you, (God says), upon the altar. It is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul.”

In Old Testament days under the types, and shadows, and symbols and pictures, almost all things were sanctified by blood. The priest was sprinkled with the blood, the Book was sprinkled with the blood, and the altar was sprinkled with the blood. The tabernacle was sprinkled with the blood, everything.

Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. This is what Isaac said to Abraham after they started up that mountain, Mount Mariah, “Father; here is the wood and here is the fire; I want to know, where is the lamb?”

There can be no worship of God without blood. There can be no acceptance by God without blood. There can be no redemption without blood. There can be no sin-offering without blood. A bloodless religion is just religion. It has no salvation. It has none. It has no hope. And it has no promise. Without the blood religion is blasphemy.

Let me point out four things that we need to see here. Here is God passing through the land of Egypt in wrath, judgment, and condemnation. Men are dying on every hand. The scream is going up from the land of Egypt at midnight. God has fallen upon the people in wrath.

1. The Blood

God said, “When I see the blood I will pass over you.” What kind of blood is it? The blood on that door was the blood of a divinely-appointed victim. It wasn’t just any blood. God said to Israel; “Take a lamb.” God designated what it was to be, a lamb; “you take a lamb.” God has designated our sin-offering, our sacrifice, that’s right! John the Baptist came preaching, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” Salvation is coming.

He pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ and said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” There he is. There is the ordained, appointed, designated, victim, the sacrifice and the Lamb of God. He was led as, “a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”

In the fulness of the time God sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. He was ordained and appointed of God.

It was the blood of a divinely appointed victim and it must be a spotless victim. They couldn’t take a lamb that was diseased or had broken bones or was sickly. They had to take a lamb, the firstling of the flock, in the first year, full strength, without spot or blemish, and they put it up in a pen for fourteen days and observed it to make sure there was no spot.

Our Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, is without sin. He knew no sin. He had no sin. He did no sin. And no guile was in his mouth. Our Lord Jesus Christ was tempted as we are, yet without sin. He was holy, harmless, and undefiled. He had no sin.

Their lamb was an animal. The blood of animals cannot put away sin. Hebrews tells us “all the blood of bulls and goats (on Jewish altars slain could not wash away sin or put away one stain) cannot take away sin.” Those were types and pictures.

This blood is the blood of God himself. Let it be understood what I am saying; I want you to understand exactly what I am saying. Back in Old Testament days when Aaron and the sons of Levi, and these priests brought the lamb and slew the lamb and put its blood on the mercy seat, that was a picture.

That blood didn’t put away anybody’s sin. If it did, if it could have, “those sacrifices would have ceased to be offered.” They repeated them again, and again, and again. Christ came; “this man offered one sacrifice and with one sacrifice, perfected forever those that are sanctified,” those that believe, because it is the blood of God.

Preacher, what are you saying? I am saying this: — Jesus Christ of Nazareth who died on the cross is God Almighty in human flesh on this earth. That is exactly right. That is what the Scripture teaches.

He is not just a Representative. He is not just a Messenger. He is not just an Ambassador. He is not even a son of God. He is God the Son! The Son of God! Listen to these Scriptures:

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”

The angels said to Joseph; “Call his name Jesus; he will save his people from their sins: That it might be fulfilled, written by the prophets, “behold; a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a Son and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel, God with us.”

Jesus Christ said, “I and my Father are one. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” Paul said, “Feed the church of God which God purchased with God’s own blood.” Our heavenly Father said of Christ, “Thy throne O God is forever.” That is exactly what I am saying; and that is what the Bible teaches.

If Jesus Christ is a mere man, he is the biggest liar, the greatest imposter and phony that ever walked on this earth. His soul is in hell at this moment, and his bones are rotting in a grave in Jerusalem, and he didn’t rise from the tomb, if he is a mere man.

But, He is not a mere man. He is the God-man. When Jesus Christ came to this earth, God walked among men. When he went to the cross in human flesh, God Almighty reconciled the world to himself by providing himself a sacrifice. He provided the sacrifice to himself and of himself. That is exactly what I am saying.

“Would you be free from your burden of sin

There’s power in the blood.

Would you o’er evil your victory win?

There’s power in the blood.”

It’s the blood of a divinely appointed victim. It is the blood of a sinless victim. It’s the blood of God himself. Can you imagine the value of it? Can you imagine the power of it? Can you imagine the glory of it? It’s not how much blood was shed on that cross, it is whose blood.

That night in Egypt, each family had its own lamb, but now all believers have the same Lamb.

2. The Efficacy

I have to remind you of the efficacy of the blood! God said, “When I see the blood I will pass over you.” What do we mean by efficacy? This is what we mean: I mean that the blood of Christ, the blood of the Son of God, is effectual blood. “He is able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him.”

Jesus Christ came down here and died and He was buried. How do I know that God Almighty accepted his sacrifice for his people? That’s a good question.

They all stood there and watched him die, suffer, bleed, agonize. They took him down from the cross and put him in the tomb. Everything is quiet, heaven is quiet, and earth is quiet. Everything is still. How do we know?

I hear people say, “I’m satisfied with Jesus.” I’m not concerned with what you think of Jesus Christ. I’m not concerned whether or not you are satisfied with him. I’m concerned with one thing. — Is God satisfied with him?

Is God satisfied with him? How do I know that God is satisfied with Him? There are two things:

First, his Word! — It says in Ephesians, “In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin.” That is as clear as it can be made. “In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin.”

Second, I know that God’s offering and sacrifice of Christ is accepted because “he raised him from the dead.”

It was still that Sunday morning. After three days in the tomb the angel came down from heaven and touched that stone and it rolled away. Our Lord Jesus Christ came out of the tomb and ascended back to the Father and sat down at the right hand of God. That’s how I know that God accepted his sacrifice for me.

“He is declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead.” Paul said, “If Christ be not risen we are false witnesses. If Christ be not risen your faith is vain. If Christ be not risen you are yet in your sins.” If Christ be not risen, folks who have died and been buried, will never rise, they will perish.

3. The Condition

One condition was fixed to the promise. God said, “When I see the blood.” The one condition of grace and salvation is God, the Triune Jehovah, seeing the blood.

· He saw the blood long before I saw it, from eternity!

· He saw the blood on Calvary’s hill!

· He saw the blood when I saw it, sprinkled upon my heart by the Spirit of God.

· He sees the blood even if the time comes when I can’t see it!

4. The Token

Our text says that the blood sprinkled is to us for a token.

A token is a sign of something. Of what is the blood, the precious blood of Christ a sign, or token?

Infinite Love!
Covenant Blessedness!
Perfect Satisfaction!
Complete Forgiveness!
Free Access!
Blessed Safety!

Illustration: Burnt Ground

Amen.

Don Fortner

Pastor Fortner’s