Introduction:
A. How good are you at following directions?
1. Are you a rule follower or a rule bender?
B. I heard about a guy who was puzzled with the odd messages left on his answering machine.
1. Day after day friends and family would leave a message and then say, “Beep.”
2. Finally, he decided to listen to his greeting and he discovered the explanation for what was going on - People were just following his directions.
3. His answering machine message said, “Hi, I'm not in right now, so please leave a beep after the message.”
C. Maybe you heard about the simple minded guy who decided to paint the inside of his house.
1. A friend stopped by to see how it was going and found the man lying on the floor in a pool of sweat, wearing two jackets.
2. The man asked his friend why he was wearing two jackets while trying to paint his house..
3. The painter said, “The directions on the can said: “For best results, put on two coats.”
4. Following directions isn’t always as easy as you think.
D. Today, we are going to learn about one of the greatest events in the history of the Jewish faith.
1. For 430 years the Israelites have lived as foreigners and slaves in Egypt.
2. They have been mistreated and oppressed by forced and obsessive labor.
3. Their leader, Moses, came to Pharaoh time and time again to ask for their freedom to go and worship God, but time and time again, the king refused to set them free.
4. Each time that Pharaoh refused, God sent a plague.
5. Nine different times God poured out consequences upon the Egyptians for their failure to release the Israelites.
E. Now, the tenth and final plague is about to take place.
1. This plague will be the worst plague of all.
2. The firstborn son of every Egyptian home will die, from the firstborn of the prisoners in the dungeon to the first born the royal palace, even livestock would be effected.
3. The Bible tells us that there was not one home in all of Egypt without someone dead.
4. Finally, after this tremendously costly event, Pharaoh would set the Israelites free.
F. The main point that I want us to learn from Exodus 11 and 12, is obedience.
1. God spoke, everyone heard, and some people obeyed.
2. Ultimately, we must learn to hear what God says, respect God’s commands, respond in obedience, and leave the results with God.
3. Let’s see how obedience – that all-essential ingredient – takes shape in Exodus 11 and 12.
I. The Story
A. The Bible says: 1 Now the LORD had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. 2 Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” (Ex. 11:1-2)
1. Doesn’t this strike you as strange?
2. The Hebrew slaves were to ask for silver and gold from their Egyptian neighbors. Why?
3. Well, the Israelites didn’t realize it yet, but God was getting them ready for a long trip.
4. The silver and gold were like a withdrawal from an ATM on the way out of town.
5. And when you think about it, those “wages” were only a meager pay-off for over 400 years of slave labor.
6. God knew in advance what use that silver and gold would be put to.
7. At this point, God didn’t tell them why they would need those precious metals.
8. He just said, “Ask for them, “ and they did – it’s called obedience.
B. The Bible says, 3 The LORD made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people. (Ex. 11:3)
1. Isn’t that encouraging?
2. Just a couple of sermons back, we learned about Moses’ bad day turned worse.
3. The ex-shepherd was under the gun, snarled at by the king and hated by the Hebrew leadership.
4. But now we read that he was “greatly esteemed in Egypt.
5. Moses had trusted and obeyed the Lord, and the Lord gave him favor in their eyes.
6. When we trust and obey God, the favor we receive doesn’t always come immediately, but we must continue to trust and obey and the blessings will eventually come.
C. Let’s continue our reading, the Bible says: 4 So Moses said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. 5 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. 6 There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. 7 But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal.’ Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. 8 All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh. (Ex. 11:4-8)
1. Let’s notice the five hard facts that Moses told Pharaoh about what was going to happen.
2. Moses told him that something was going to happen at midnight. What was going to happen?
3. All of Egypt’s firstborn sons were going to die – including Pharaoh’s own son.
4. How would the Egyptians respond? There would be national distress – loud wailing throughout the land.
5. What about the Israelites? Moses told Pharaoh that the Israelites would be protected.
6. Then what would happen? Moses told Pharaoh after that he would let the Israelites go.
7. This was God’s message, and Moses delivered it with passion and left Pharaoh hot with anger.
D. After leaving the presence of Pharaoh, Moses stood before the Israelites.
1. Now it was time to help them understand God’s instructions for them in these awesome and critical moments in history.
2. Moses delivered God’s commands and the people cooperated – it’s called obedience.
E. To begin with, the Lord wanted the people to understand that they were making a new beginning, and that this event was to be memorialized.
1. The Bible says: 1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.” (Ex. 12:1-2)
2. From that day forward, the Hebrew calendar would be arranged to reflect the importance of the momentous event that was about to take place.
F. Then Moses gave them the critical instructions – Notice how specific the instructions were.
1. The Bible says: 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire—head, legs and inner parts. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover. (Ex. 12:3-11)
2. We need to try to put ourselves in the sandals of those who were hearing these instructions for the first time – when their very lives were being held in the balance.
3. Keep in mind that they had never done anything like this before.
4. They had never had these specific instructions to follow.
5. They had never smeared blood on the doorframes of their homes before.
6. Can you imagine them trying to take all this in – maybe they took notes! What day? What time? What animals? What actions?
7. I’m sure the firstborn sons of Israel wanted to be sure they got it right.
8. Did you notice how they were to eat the meal?
a. They were to eat it in a way that they were ready for travel.
b. They weren’t to eat this meal lounging around in their pajamas.
c. Have you ever had to eat and run? Seems like I have to do that a lot!
G. Now stop and think about those instructions for a moment.
1. What logical reason was there for doing those things with the lamb’s blood?
2. “Well, God told’em to do it.” That’s right and that’s all that is necessary.
3. There was no power in the dried blood of a slain lamb, yet God in his unfathomable wisdom had a future reason for the use of the blood of the lamb.
4. They only thing God required of them was simple trust and obedience.
5. God never asked them to think it through. He never asked them to dialogue about it.
6. God simply told them what to do and when to do it.
7. Then He told them what would happen as a result of their strict obedience to His commands.
8. The Bible says, God said: “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” (Ex. 12:12-13)
H. God was about to make history, and this significant event was something that the Israelites were to commemorate forever.
1. The Bible says: 24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” (Ex. 12:24-27a)
2. I love this part of the story. I can picture the children asking questions years later about the meaning of the Passover meal.
3. We, parents, grandparents and other adults, have the important responsibility to pass on the meaning of why we do what we do.
a. When our kids ask why we pray before our meals, when their friends don’t at their houses, then we need to be ready with an answer.
b. When our kids ask why we go to church on Sundays and Wednesdays, when so few at their school do, then we need to be ready with an answer.
c. When our kids ask why we do the cracker and juice thing at church every Sunday, then we need to be ready with an answer.
d. When they ask why we help at the clothing closet or homeless shelter, then we need to be ready to answer.
4. Those are special moments and critical opportunities.
5. We need to be ready for them and make them count.
6. We must help our children understand the “why” behind our Christian beliefs and behavior, so that they can embrace them and pass them on to their children.
7. The instructions Moses gave were to be passed on from generation to generation.
I. After Moses finished with these specific instructions, the Bible says: Then the people bowed down and worshiped. 28 The Israelites did just what the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron. (Ex. 12:27b-28)
1. Notice the Israelites did just what the Lord commanded – that’s what we call obedience.
J. So what happened? What is the rest of the story?
1. The Bible says: 29 At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.
31 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. 32 Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”
35 The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36 The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians. (Ex. 12:29-32, 35-36)
II. Application
A. There is so much to gather from this story and its’ parallel to the sacrifice of Jesus and the pouring out of His blood for our salvation.
1. Through the Passover lamb, and through all of the animal sacrifices of the Old Covenant, God will establish the principle that there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood.
2. The new covenant is established in the blood of Christ that was poured out for the forgiveness of our sins.
3. We give thanks to God for forgiveness that we enjoy because of the body and blood of Jesus that was given for us.
4. Jesus established the Lord’s Supper to be an ongoing remembrance of His sacrifice.
5. Week after week, we are reminded of the love of our Savior, and our need to take up our own cross and follow Him.
6. We could certainly spend more time on the parallels between this OT event and the NT events surrounding Jesus and the salvation that comes through Him, but we will save that for another time.
B. I want to return to the subject of obedience that we have been addressing today.
1. It is obvious that Pharaoh refused to obey the Lord, and this caused untold suffering on himself and the nation of Egypt.
2. The Israelites, however, heard the Lord’s Word through Moses and obeyed it, right down to the smallest detail.
3. As a result, they experienced a great deliverance.
4. But consider what would have happened to them if they had not obeyed the Lord’s instructions.
5. What if they had said, “We don’t want to follow these instructions, and so we won’t?” Would God have delivered them? I don’t think so!
6. What if they had said, “We like eating beef or pig better than lamb, so that’s what we will slaughter and put on our doorframes?” Would God have passed over them? I don’t think so!
C. I’m afraid that our greatest struggle is not in the realm of understanding the Word and Will of God; it’s in the realm of obeying the God whose Word and Will it is.
1. Our problem is that we want to be in charge, and we think we know better, and we want to do it our way.
2. Often times God’s Word and Will doesn’t feel right to us – We don’t feel like doing it that way.
3. What we have to realize is that obedience isn’t a feeling thing at all.
4. Those Israelites may not have felt like smearing lamb’s blood on the doorframes of their homes – you talk about making a mess!
5. Surely they didn’t understand the Lord’s reasoning.
a. They had no idea that it would point toward a future Messiah who would pay the debt of sin with His own blood and die for the sins of the world.
6. Rather, the Israelites just did it; they obeyed because they believed the Word of the Lord.
7. They followed the instructions without understanding all the whys and wherefores.
8. A few hours later, they were very glad that they did – obedience always pays off.
D. Allow me to end with this true story:
1. In July of 1976, Israeli commandos made a daring raid at an airport in Uganda, in which 103 Jewish hostages were freed.
2. In less than 15 minutes, the soldiers had killed all 7 of the kidnapers and set the captives free.
3. As successful as the rescue was, however, three of the hostages were killed during the raid.
4. As the Israeli commandos entered the terminal, they shouted in Hebrew, “Get Down! Crawl!”
5. The Jewish hostages understood, and laid down on the floor, while the terrorist kidnapers, who did not speak Hebrew, were left standing.
6. Quickly, the rescuers shot and killed those who remained standing.
7. Unfortunately, two of the hostages hesitated and were also cut down.
8. The third hostage who died was lying down when the commandos entered the airport, but stood up when commanded to lay down. He, too, was shot with bullets meant for the enemy.
9. Had these three heeded the soldiers’ command, they would have lived and been freed with the rest of the captives.
E. Salvation is available to all people, but we must heed the commands of the Lord.
1. The salvation process begins and ends with faith and obedience.
2. Have you initially placed your trust in the Lord by obeying the gospel?
3. And now, are you continuing to put your trust in the Lord and are you continuing to walk in obedience to His commands.
4. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will do what I command.” So, let’s make sure we are learning and obeying the commands and teachings of the Lord found in His Word.
5. Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Resources:
Moses: A Man of Selfless Dedication, by Charles Swindoll, Word Publishing, 1999
