Exiting Egypt, Part 3

If you have your Bible, turn with me to Exodus chapter 12 and Exodus chapter 13 again. We have been exiting Egypt. Moses was able to get two million Jews out of Egypt quicker than we are to get through. They're exiting out of Egypt. But that's okay. There are a lot of things that took place that we need to understand. And once we're able to get a hold of them, then we can live in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. Today, we're going to talk about the memorials that were set up as they departed.

And there are three of them. One deals with the observance of the Passover. The second deals with the significance of the firstborn.

And the third one deals with the remembrance of Joseph's bones. Three memorials. Three memorials that reminded the nation of Israel of three very important truths, and we'll talk about those three truths. This morning. Now, I'm going to reread what I read last week because we never covered basically what I read last week, but I'm sure that Throughout this past week, you didn't read Exodus 12 and Exodus 13. And so we're going to reread it for you this morning, and then we're going to cover those three points on the memorials.

Here they are. Verse number 43, chapter 12. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner is to eat of it, but every man's slave purchase with money. After you have circumcised him, then he may eat of it. A sojourner or a hired servant shall not eat of it. It is to be eaten in a single house. You are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it. All the congregation of Israel are to celebrate this. But if a stranger sojourns with you and celebrates the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near to celebrate it.

And he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it. The same law shall apply to the native as to the stranger who sojourns among you. Then all the sons of Israel did so. They did just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron. And it came about on that same day that the LORD brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Sanctify to me every first, the first offspring of every womb among the sons of Israel, both of man and of beast.

It belongs to me. And Moses said to the people, Remember this day, in which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery. For by a powerful hand the LORD brought you out from this place, and nothing leavened shall be eaten. On this day, in the month of Abe, you are about to go forth, and it shall be when the LORD brings you to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite the Am, the Hiv, and the Jebus, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall observe this rite in this month.

For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD. Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days, and nothing leavened shall be seen among you. Nor shall any leaven be seen among you in all your borders. And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt. And it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth.

For with a powerful hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt. Therefore you shall keep this ordinance. At its appointed time from year to year. Now it shall come about when the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanite, as he swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you. that you shall devote to the Lord the first offspring of every womb, and the first offspring of every beast that you own.

The males belong to the Lord. But every first offspring of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb but if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck, and every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.

And it shall be when your sons ask you in time to come, saying, What is this? Then you shall say to him, With a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt in the house of slavery. And it came about when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. There I sacrifice to the LORD the males. the first offspring of every womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.

So it shall serve as a sign on your hand, and as phylacteries on your forehead, for with a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt. Then look down with me at verse number 19 of chapter 13. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, God sh surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones from here with you. Three memorials. The first one is the observance Of the Passover.

Now, because we covered this in great detail during the last plague, the death of the firstborn, we won't go into great detail this morning. But just a couple of things I want you to note and I want you to understand as we look at the observance of the Passover.

This was to remind them of their deliverance. It was by a mighty hand that God would bring them out of slavery. It would remind them of their deliverance. It would remind them through that deliverance of the purpose and power and plan of Almighty God. And they could never forget that. And so Moses would say, remember this day. Don't forget it. It's a memorial day. And there are certain things that we are to do to remind us of what God has done. Now, Israel would remember to celebrate the Passover.

On the first year anniversary of their emancipation, they would celebrate the Passover. When they crossed over the Jordan River in the book of Joshua, they would remember.

The Passover. They would remember it during the times of Hezekiah, during the times of Josiah. We know of the recorded times in the Bible when they remembered the Passover. But unfortunately for Israel, Passover became a ritual. And they forgot that the Passover, although it was a permanent ordinance, and Moses said, you should celebrate this every year with every generation. It was a permanent ordinance. It was something they were always to celebrate. It became something of a habit for them. They lost the meaning of the shadow, of what the Passover would represent.

And so when Jesus Christ came, and when Paul would say in 1 Corinthians 5 that Christ our Passover was sacrificed For us, we realize that the observance of Passover still continues today with the body of Christ. Why? Because the substance has come. Remember what Paul said over in the book of Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 5. He said this, verse 7, clean out the old leaven that you may be a new love, just as you are in fact unleavened for Christ. Our Passover also has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the feast not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Let me tell you something about the Passover. We as Christians celebrate the Passover in this sense: it is a daily celebration for us, not a once-a-year celebration. Why? Because Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. We partake of the Lord's table once a month. We gather together to partake of the Lord's table because it is symbolic of what Jesus Christ our Lord did. And he said, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So, as often as you partake of the Lord's Supper, Then, what do you do?

You're proclaiming the Lord's death until He comes, and that's what God wants you to do because He was the lamb that was sacrificed. He was our Passover lamb that was sacrificed for us, and that celebration is a continual celebration. Throughout every day of the year, it's a feast that's to never, never end. And believe me, it will be a feast that will continue throughout all eternity. Of the celebration of the Lamb of God. Read Revelation 4. Read Revelation chapter 5. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.

Revelation's new song. But we forget the significance of the Lord's table and what the Lord did on the eve of the crucifixion when he transformed the Passover into that significant event for the body of Christ. That's important, isn't it? It's important. Why? Because we too need to remember our deliverance, don't we? You know, we can become very critical of people. We can become very critical of others. Because of what they do, what they don't do, how they act. And we can be very condemning of people.

That's because we don't remember our deliverance. We forget. What God did in our lives to redeem us from our sin, that we might be presented holy before Him, that we might be partakers of His righteousness. And that's why we partake of the Lord's table, isn't it? To constantly remind us of our deliverance and the observance of Passover. Would tell the people of Israel, you have been delivered from your old life. Don't go back there. Don't go back and do those things anymore. They're irrelevant. They mean nothing.

They're sinful. And that's the way it is with us as believers. We've been redeemed from our old way of life, right? Don't go back there. Walk in newness of life with Jesus Christ our Lord. But more on that in a moment. First of all, you had the observance of Passover.

That's a reminder of our deliverance. Then you had the significance of the firstborn. That is a reminder. Of our dedication to God. It's a reminder of our deliverance by God, that's the observance of Passover, and the significance of the firstborn is a reminder of our. Dedication to God. Listen to what it says in chapter 13, verse number 1. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Sanctify to me. Set apart unto me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the sons of Israel, both a man and a beast, it belongs to who?

To me, it's mine. Now, when the death angel passed over Israel because they would put the blood of a lamb on the lintel and doorpost of their home, the firstborn was spared. In Egypt, because they didn't believe, the firstborn died. Christ now says, listen, I want That firstborn for me. It's mine. You want to know why it's mine? Because I redeemed it. That's why. I own it. It's mine. So you sanctify for me the firstborn of the womb. Now, why the firstborn? Because the firstborn is representative of all borns.

Please remember that. First things are important to God. That's why the Bible says we give of the Lord of the first fruits of our increase Not the last fruits of our increase.

We worship the Lord on the first day of the week, not the last day of the week. Why is that? Because God is in the firsts. Because when you give God that which is first, it is symbolic of giving Him all that you have.

You see that? That's important. God knows that if you say you sanctify that which is the priority, that which is the most important to you, He has everything else. It's kind of a domino effect. And that's the way it works. Now, listen, the Bible tells us that we all, because we have been delivered, are firstborn children. Every one of us. Why? Because Romans 8 tells us that all of us, you and me, if we're born again, are joint heirs with Christ. We are children of Abraham. We are the firstborn. That's us.

And what does the Bible say over in 1 Corinthians chapter 6? It says, Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? Who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own, for you have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. You are His. So when we are reminded of our deliverance, we now are reminded of our dedication to God, that we are His. And his alone. We give our lives to God, that he might do with them as he pleases. See that? That is so important.

So you have the observance of the Passover, which is a reminder of our deliverance. You have the significance of the first, which is a reminder of our dedication to God because of our deliverance.

You see that? And now you have the remembrance of Joseph's bones. Exodus 13, verse number 19. Why is that so important? What is it about Joseph's bones? Listen to this. It is a reminder. It is a reminder to Israel of their dependence upon God. Now, turn back with me to Genesis chapter 50. Oh, I had lots of fun this week. You know, I love Genesis anyway, but to go back to Genesis again, to go back to the beginning, and to be able to read Genesis chapter 50, and to be able to look at this portion of Scripture, it tells us about Joseph's faith.

And it tells us about his dependence upon God. Look what it says: Genesis 50, verse number 22. Now, Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and his father's household, and Joseph lived 110 years. And Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim's sons, also the sons of Mak, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph's knees.

And Joseph said to his brothers, I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which he promised an oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up. From here. So Joseph died at the age of 110 years, and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt. Let me talk to you about the essence of faith for a second.

The essence of faith is this. Faith is believing in what God has already said. Joseph says to his brothers. Listen, this is what you ought to do based on what God has already said. Where did he say it? Genesis 15. Who did he say it to? Abraham. Joseph believed that. Joseph was able to be strong in the faith because he believed in what God said to Abraham back in Genesis chapter 15. He knew they'd be enslaved in Egypt. He knew they'd be there 400 years. And Israel needed to have a reminder that they needed to be dependent upon their God daily as Joseph was dependent upon his God.

And the only way you can do that is to believe in what God has already said. And Joseph believed that. So Joseph made him swear: when I die. You carry my bones, not my body, because my body will be decomposed. It will be gone. But you carry my bones back to Canaan. The promised land. That was his faith. Remember Hebrews 11, verse number 22? Let me read it to you.

By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, Made mention of the Exodus of the sons of Israel and gave orders concerning his bones. You see, your faith is a gift from God. But the exercise is that faith comes as that faith is equipped through the study and application of the Word of God. I have more. I'm not going to give it to you. But I am going to give you this. I'll just tell you, there's the example of faith. And Joseph was that example of faith. There was the encouragement of faith. There was the encouragement of faith.

Faith Encourages it. Do you know that when you believe what God says, it's great encouragement to other people?

And that's the encouragement of faith because Israel would walk through that by that coffin for 4 years and there would be a memorial. To depend on God alone. A memorial that says, Believe in what God said to Abraham. You will be out of here. God will surely visit you. He will. But also speaks of the endurance of faith, right? Because sometimes we think that God should act a little bit quicker than we think He does act. But God would act in His own timetable, and that's what He did. All I have to say is that the observance of the Passover is a reminder of the deliverance of God.

The significance of the firstborn is a reminder of our dedication to God and the remembrance of Joseph's bones. Is a reminder of our dependence on God. But that's not it. When I was going through this and studying this, I realized something of great significance. Maybe you never got it, but Moses gathers up the bones. And off they go. They exit Egypt. It would be 40 years before they ever entered Canaan. Moses would go home to be with the Lord. There'd be a follower of Moses. His name, of course, was Joshua.

Joshua was 90 years old when he led Israel into Canaan. When he was 110 years old, he died. So some sixty years later, after Moses gathers the bones, you read these words end of Joshua. It says, 1 number 32. Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt. At Shechem, in the piece of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamar, the father of Shechem. For 100 pieces of money, and they became the inheritance of Joseph's sons. Some sixty years later, they would bury Joseph's bones in Shechem.

And I thought to myself, out of all the land of Israel, why Shechem? Why? Why Shechem? Why not Bethel, the house of God? Why Shechem? So I began to do some reading. Turn back with me, if you would, to the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 33. I know time is gone, but I have to share this with you, and you will be so glad I shared it with you before you leave. Genesis 33. Verse 18. Now Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is the land of Canaan. When he came from Pad and camped before the city, and he bought the piece of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamar, Shechem's father.

For 100 pieces of money. Same thing that Joshua says. Now listen. Then he erected there an altar and called it El Elohe Is. God, the God of Israel. Now listen, this is important. God, the God of Israel. He brought his family back. To Canaan. He bought a piece of land and he built an altar on that land so all would know that God was the God of Israel. Do you know that the Bible says 108 times that our Lord is the Lord God of Israel?

203 times it says that He is the God of Israel. At no other time does it say that God is the God of America? That God is the God of Russia, that God is the God of China, that God is the God of anybody else but the God of Israel. The only way you can be saved is to believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He's called the God of Israel for one reason and one reason only. And that is because it would be through Israel that he would demonstrate his character, his attributes, and his love for a people that were completely unworthy.

And therefore, as the God of Israel, He becomes our God when we become children of Abraham. And we become children of Abraham when we give our lives to God. For he is the God of Israel. When Jesus Christ met the woman at the well, he said to her, Salvation is of the Jews. It comes through the nation of Israel. You must understand that. That is so important. And that's why the Bible says over and over again that we are Jews.

Not because we are outwardly born Jews, but because there's been a circumcision of the heart, which is the new covenant. Thought about that. That's great, man. That's why they buried the bones of Shechem. That's not the reason they buried the bones of Shechem. That's not it. Why is it they buried Joseph's bones in Shechem? Why there? Go back to Genesis chapter 12. Isn't this good? Oh, this is so fabulous, man. This is amazing. Genesis chapter 12. Abraham has been called from Ur of the Chald. He's crossed over the Euphrates River.

He's on his journey to a land that God promised him. Are you ready? Genesis 12, verse number 6. And Abram passed through the land as far as a side of what? What? Shechem, are you guys in Genesis chapter 12? Where are you guys? What are you guys reading the lunch menu this morning or what? Genesis chapter 12. Shechem to the oak of Moray. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. Very important phrase. And the Lord app to Abram and said, To your descendants I will give this land. So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared.

To him. Listen, Shechem is important because it is the first visible manifestation of God to Abraham.

It is the first altar erected in the land of Israel. And Abraham erected that altar. Listen carefully. He erected that altar in Israel, in that place, at Shechem, with the Canaanite in the land, because in the midst of his vulnerability. Abraham would demonstrate his dependability on the God of Israel. That's why there is the remembrance of Joseph's bones. And that's why they were buried in Shechem. It's all about dependency amidst all my vulnerability. When the Canaanite is in the land, when the army is in the land, when everybody's against me, I will depend upon my God.

I will build an altar to my God. I will show everybody that I'm going to depend upon my God and God alone. Because my God is the God of Israel, and there is no other God but that God, and therefore I depend upon him. And that's why the bones were buried in Shechem, and that's why they had to remember Joseph's bones. Why? Because there was a promise given to Abraham. That his land would last forever, and that he had descendants that would go way beyond anything you could ever imagine. And let me tell you, you better hope that's the way it always is because Jeremiah 31 tells us.

With the new covenant, that the only way you and I stay saved is because God made a promise to Abraham. Did you know that? If Israel loses that land, You lose your salvation. Jeremiah 31:3 to 37. It 's all based on God's uncond covenant that He made with Abraham. Way back in Genesis chapter 12. And Abraham, because of that promise, he would depend upon his God. And that's why you and I today, because of the promise of God, we depend upon him. And we depend on nobody else but God alone. And that's what causes us to rejoice over the remembrance of Joseph's bones.

One verse, many implications. Let's pray.