The Sin Remover
Exodus 12:7-46, 1 Peter 1:17-25
(Second and final in the series That’s My King!)
Show video: "That’s My King!" (S. M. Lockeridge)
When we decide to follow Jesus, a whole new life begins.
The day of our salvation becomes the day we recognize Jesus as “The Sin Remover.”
Israel experienced the same situation when they left Egypt. The Exodus affected them so profoundly that they changed their calendar.
The day of our New Birth is the day we really begin to live!
1. Passover: an act of salvation, Exodus 12:7-46
Israel was saved by blood (verses 7, 12, 22)
The perfect lamb, once chosen, was separated from the others. After 4 days its throat was slit & the blood caught in a basin.
They dipped hyssop in the blood & sprinkled the doorposts of the house with it.
This obedience saved everyone gathered inside form the last plague of Egypt, death of the firstborn. The blood was their insurance mark. They were covered by the blood of the lamb.
They were nourished by the lamb (verse 14)
Having been saved by its blood, believing households next ate its body. The body & blood cannot be separated in thought or significance!
They never ate as they ate that night! Listening to the shrieks arising from the Egyptian houses, the meal was solemn event, a meal mingled with hope and mystery.
If you are a Christian, do you remember when you first fed upon Jesus; when you couldn’t get enough of Him?
God commanded Israel not to break any bones of the sacrificed lamb (verse 46).
To speed up Jesus’ death, the Roman soldiers were going to break his legs. However, Jesus was already dead, so his bones remained unbroken (John 19:32-33).
Israel could not eat the lamb undercooked (v. 9). Neither are we to have a half-baked faith. The Scriptures are clear. We cannot change the recipe! God expects complete obedience from His children. Jesus said that we must deny ourselves, take up the cross daily, and follow Him.
They threw out their leaven
This was a time of purification. Yeast and salt were added to dough to artificially inflate the bread.
God wants us to sweep out the house & get rid of anything man might add to what God offers. We cannot come up with any additive or substitute that can enhance what God has already done.
They were freed
They left the brick kilns forever; they marched out of Egypt with unleavened bread on their backs. They were delivered, they were emancipated; they were freed!
Would you be free from your burden of sin?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you o’er evil a victory win?
There’s wonderful power in the blood!
2. Christ is our Passover, 1 Peter 1:17-21
Jesus offers personal salvation
There is a difference between reading the Bible and having it in your heart. There is a difference between celebrating Easter and having a relationship with the one who saved you!
Everything that happened at Passover also happens to those who come to Jesus Christ.
• We’ve eaten the bitter herbs of sin;
• We’ve relished the sweet aroma and flavor of Christ’s love.
• Passover is not a celebration of an ancient event; it is the record of our lives.
Jesus can save our families
As the blood of the Passover lamb protected the entire family, the blood of Jesus can protect ours.
There is one goal each Christian should have in life: to see their loved ones covered by the blood of Jesus. This was what happened with the Philippian Jailer. He was not satisfied to saved by himself; he brought Paul & Silas to his home so his whole family could hear about the Lamb of God (ref. Acts 16:29-34).
Jesus can save the world: John 1:21
The Lamb of God will take away the sin of the world. Revelation 11:15 tells us that some day soon Jesus will reign over the world. When that happens, it would be better to be shouting “Hallelujah!” rather than trying to run away and hide.
When He comes, time ends. That is truly the day we really begin to live!
3. Let’s celebrate our New Birth! 1 Peter 1:22-25
The day we come to Christ is our “New Birth” Day!
Spurgeon: “It was the beginning of life to me when I saw Jesus dying in my place.”
The day of our salvation eclipses our birthdays, our graduations, our wedding days, or any other special event in our lives. Nothing measures up to it!
We need to value the work of grace above all the treasures & events of the world!
It is the beginning of life
We cannot fondly look back upon or go back to our old ways before Christ. That lifestyle will rot in the gutter, but Christ’s sacrifice makes all things new.
Realize that if it weren’t for the Israelites looking back to Egypt, they could have been in the Promised Land within 40 days. But because of their second-guessing God, it took them 40 years.
It is when we set things right
There once was a brier growing in a ditch when a gardener came along with his spade and dug it up. He dug around it and gently lifted it out of the ground, bringing the brier to ask itself, “What is he doing? Doesn’t he know I’m a worthless brier?” But the gardener took it and placed it in his garden anyway. He planted it among his most prized and beautiful roses, prompting the brier to think once more, “What is this guy doing? What a mistake he’s made.” But then the gardener did an even more unusual thing in the brier’s mind. He came once more and made a slit in the brier with his knife. He grafted it with a rose and when the summer came to close there were lovely flowers blooming from the brier that previously had none. Then the gardener said, “Your beauty is not due to what came out of you, but to what I put in.”
Our beauty in Christ is not the result of what we do or who we are. We’re nothing but a bunch of weeds. Our beauty comes because He transforms us!
A new year brings about new attitudes, new goals. The day you became a Christian became the first day of your new life.
Take a moment & write down the year, the month, and the day you gave your life to Jesus Christ. That was the day you began to live.
If you cannot write down a date, then why not make today the first day of your new year?
Conclusion:
“Only drowning men see Jesus.”
This comes from the song “Suzanne’, written by Leonard Cohen.
And Jesus was a sailor
When he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said "All men will be sailors then
Until the sea shall free them"
But he himself was broken
Long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone
And you want to travel with him
And you want to travel blind
And you think maybe you’ll trust him
For he’s touched your perfect body
with his mind
Life really begins when we surrender our sin and pride to the Sin Remover.
Our day of salvation needs to be remembered with praise!
Is a lifetime long enough to praise Him?
Is eternity long enough?
It’s time for each of us proclaim, “That’s MY King!”
