WHAT GOD SEES WHEN HE SEES THE BLOOD

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Thesis: The text is tailored to teach us that when God sees the blood, he sees Jesus' sacrificial, substitutional, and sanctifying death on the cross for us.

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Text: Exodus 12:13

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Exodus 12:13 NASB95

‘The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

Introduction:

Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman told of a distinguished minister, Dr. Howard, from Australia who preached very strongly on the subject of sin. After the service, one of the church officers came to counsel with him in the study. "Dr. Howard," he said, "we don't want you to talk as openly as you do about man's guilt and corruption, because if our boys and girls hear you discussing that subject they will more easily become sinners. Call it a mistake if you will, but do not speak so plainly about sin. "The minister took down a small bottle and showing it to the visitor said, "You see that label? It says strychnine -- and underneath in bold, red letters the word 'Poison!' Do you know, man, what you are asking me to do? You are suggesting that I change the label. Suppose I do, and paste over it the words, 'Essence of Peppermint'; don't you see what might happen? Someone would use it, not knowing the danger involved, and would certainly die. So it is, too, with the matter of sin. The milder you make your label, the more dangerous you make your poison!"

The truth of the matter is that if we dismiss the issue of sin, we eliminate the need for salvation. But is there anybody here today that knows that there is still very much a need for salvation. We live in a world that is diametrically opposed to the ways of God, in a word, we live in a sinful world. Y'all know its sinful! There is so much hatred and un-forgiveness, there are killings and murders on an unprecedented scale. People are devious and destructive; They are covetous, callous, and just plain cold. This world is full of scandalous serpents who thrive on being dirty and low down. People have dismissed God and everything that God has said. We are at the place where Jeremiah was when he cried out in the anguish of his soul: "The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved" ().

The very thing that most people refuse to acknowledge is the exact thing that is demanding their attention today. Regardless to what position an individual holds on the subject of sin and salvation, that record declares that "God's word is already and forever settled." Here it is: The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is Eternal Life. There is good news for the people of God in that midst of a world gone wild with sin; God is still in the business of saving those who would look to Him in faith.

Context of the Text

In the text before us today, we encounter the old and familiar story of the children of Israel, who are in bondage down in the land of Egypt. Moses and Aaron are sent by God to tell Pharaoh to "Let my people go". Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, has taken up the position that he will not release them to go and serve the Lord, but will keep them in Egypt. When we look at the story of the Exodus we are should be careful to observe a few things that stand out as significant to us as the New Testament Church. First, we should notice that geographically Egypt is down. To be down is to be oppressed and held back, it is to be subjugated to the rule of another who will not let you do any better than you are doing. Second, they were in bondage. They were slaves. They could not come and go as they pleased. They were not able to reap the fruit of their labor because they were the property of their Master, "Pharaoh". Third, Pharaoh, is a type of Satan, who was intent on keeping God's people shackled and down, which is his plan for all of humanity; he wants them bound by sin. God is saying to Satan now, what He said to Pharaoh back then..."Let my people go!"

The story tells us that the Lord sent nine devastating plagues upon the land of Egypt. He turned the Nile River into blood, he sent frogs, then came the gnats, then the flies, the livestock died, then came the boils, the hail, the locust, and the darkness. Pharoah's reluctancy caused God to plague the land one more time and that was with death (Can I put my homiletical kickstand down right here and say that we ought to respond to God before he has to threaten us with death). Brothers and Sisters, I am sorely afraid that God is getting the place where He is about the jugde this world. I say that because the darkness has come. Not in a literal sense, but in a figurative one. This world is in the darkest place then it has ever been and God has no other recourse but to stand by His word.

As we look at the narrative with these things in view, we come to realize that the devil is still trying to hold individuals back from serving God. But, God has made it possible for us, as he did for them to receive salvation from Satan's Bondage that leads down to death, and that is, through the blood of Jesus. God told Moses to instruct the Israelites to sprinkle the blood of a lamb above and on both sides of the doorposts and when he sees the blood he will pass over it. The New American Commentary says: The blood on the doorposts showed acceptance of God’s plan for rescue and trust in his word. After all, the sight of dried blood by itself had no power to deter death; it was only as the dried blood painted on the top and sides of the door was a testimony to the faith of the inhabitants in Yahweh that it had its efficacy. Thus the statement, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you"—in other words, I will spare all those who show that they have placed their faith in me.

Central Idea

Since that blood is the blood of His Son, He See:

They had the blood of lambs on their doors post, but I wonder, what does God see when He sees the blood on the doorpost of our hearts. Since that blood is the blood of His Son, He Sees:

Our Sacrifice

Explanation: An important aspect of the relationship between God and humanity but whereas the OT describes many sacrifices, the NT announces the fulfilment of sacrifice in Jesus Christ. says “For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. God presented Him, Christ, as a Sacrifice of atonement. The Greek word for "Sacrifice of atonement" is hilastērion, rendered "propitiation" in the KJV and the NASB. This noun is used elsewhere in the New Testament only in for the mercy seat (niv, "the place of atonement") of the tabernacle’s ark of the covenant. There a goat’s blood was sprinkled on the Day of Atonement to cover (atone) Israel’s sins (), and satisfy God for another year. Jesus’ death is the final sacrifice which completely satisfied God’s demands against sinful people, thus averting His wrath from those who believe.

Illustration: Back in the days of the Great Depression a Missouri man named John Griffith was the controller of a great railroad drawbridge across the Mississippi River. One day in the summer of 1937 he decided to take his eight-year-old son, Greg, with him to work. At noon, John Griffith put the bridge up to allow ships to pass and sat on the observation deck with his son to eat lunch. Time passed quickly. Suddenly he was startled by the shrieking of a train whistle in the distance. He quickly looked at his watch and noticed it was 1:07—the Memphis Express, with four hundred passengers on board, was roaring toward the raised bridge! He leaped from the observation deck and ran back to the control tower. Just before throwing the master lever he glanced down for any ships below. There a sight caught his eye that caused his heart to leap poundingly into his throat. Greg had slipped from the observation deck and had fallen into the massive gears that operate the bridge. His left leg was caught in the cogs of the two main gears! Desperately John’s mind whirled to devise a rescue plan. But as soon as he thought of a possibility he knew there was no way it could be done.

Again, with alarming closeness, the train whistle shrieked in the air. He could hear the clicking of the locomotive wheels over the tracks. That was his son down there—yet there were four hundred passengers on the train. John knew what he had to do, so he buried his head in his left arm and pushed the master switch forward. That great massive bridge lowered into place just as the Memphis Express began to roar across the river. When John Griffith lifted his head with his face smeared with tears, he looked into the passing windows of the train. There were businessmen casually reading their afternoon papers, finely dressed ladies in the dining car sipping coffee, and children pushing long spoons into their dishes of ice cream. No one looked at the control house, and no one looked at the great gear box. With wrenching agony, John Griffith cried out at the steel train: "I sacrificed my son for you people! Don’t you care?" The train rushed by, but nobody heard the father’s words, which recalled : "Is it nothing to you, all who pass by?"

(Condensed and adapted from "Is It Nothing to You?" by Dr. D. James Kennedy, March 19, 1978, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.)

Application: Be grateful for the Love of God

Our Substitution

Explanation: Substitution is a theological term for the belief that Christ’s death is "in our place"—derived from the interpretation of New Testament teaching on Christ’s death and human sin, and applied in a variety of atonement theories. The Old Testament passage also alludes to this idea:

Surely he hath borne our griefs, And carried our sorrows:

Yet we did esteem him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities:

The chastisement of our peace was upon him; And with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned every one to his own way;

And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Illustration: During the Civil War, a company of irregulars known as "bushwhackers" was arrested by the Union soldiers. Because they were guerrilla fighters and not in uniform, they were sentenced to be shot. A courageous young boy in the Union Army touched his commanding officer on the arm and pleaded, "Won’t you allow me to take the place of one of the men you have just condemned? I know him well—he has a large family who needs him badly. My parents are dead and I have few friends. No one will miss me. Please let me take his punishment!" The officer hesitated, but finally gave his consent. Pulling the husband and father to one side, the young man filled his position in the death line. On the stone that marks his grave in a little southern town are these words: "Sacred to the memory of Willy Lear. He took my place."

Application: Is there anybody here this afternoon that will praise that wonderful name of Jesus today and say I should have been me on that cross. I should have been nailed in my hands and in my feet. I should have suffered, bleed, and died, and gone to hell because of my sins. But Jesus, God's Son, He took my place!

Our Sanctification

Explanation: SANCTIFICATION is a term meaning "being made holy, or purified." It is used broadly of the whole Christian experience, though most theologians prefer to use it in a restricted sense to distinguish it from related terms, such as "regeneration," "justification," and "glorification." Definition A comprehensive definition of sanctification by the New Hampshire Baptist Confession (1833) states, We believe that Sanctification is the process by which, according to the will of God, we are made partakers of his holiness; that it is a progressive work; that it is begun in regeneration; and that it is carried on in the hearts of believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the Sealer and Comforter, in the continual use of the appointed means—especially the Word of God, self-examination, self-denial, watchfulness, and prayer. (Article X)

Illustration: A little boy had a toothache and knew that if he went to his mother, she would give him something to deaden the pain and let him get to sleep that night. But he did not go to his mother, at least not until the pain was very bad, because he knew she would also do something else—take him to the dentist the next morning. He could not get what he wanted, immediate relief from pain, without getting something more, having his tooth repaired. And, since he knew dentists, he knew that something else would probably happen to his mouth, because dentists tend to fiddle about with other teeth, those that have not yet begun to ache.

Our Lord is like a dentist. People go to him to be cured of some particular sin. Well, he will cure us of that sin, all right, but he will not stop there. That may be all you asked for, but if you call him in, he is likely to give you the full treatment.

Application: Let the Lord continue to work on you ()

Conclusion:

Paul calls it the purchasing blood in and the redeeming blood twice (Eph. l:7); , see also I Peter l:18-19, ), thus declaring the shedding of His blood to be the very price of our salvation. Therefore, it is also the justifying blood () and the peacemaking blood (). Its efficacy does not end with our salvation, however, for it is also the sanctifying blood (). There is infinite and eternal power in the blood of Christ, for it is "the blood of the everlasting covenant" (). The first reference in the New Testament to His blood stresses this aspect. Jesus said, at the last supper: "This is my blood of the new testament (same as 'covenant') which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (). Let no one, therefore, even count the "blood of the covenant...an unholy thing" (), for the blood of Christ is forever innocent, infinitely precious, perfectly justifying, always cleansing and fully sanctifying.

Some people try to punish themselves for their sins, as opposed to standing on the promises of forgiveness. The story is told of a time, many years ago, when a father and his daughter were walking through the grass on the Canadian prairie. In the distance they saw a prairie fire, which would soon engulf them. The father knew there was only one way of escape: they must quickly build a fire right where they were and burn a large patch of grass. When the huge prairie fire drew near, they could stand on the section that had already burned. When the flames did approach them, the girl was terrified, but her father assured her, "The flames can’t get to us. We are standing where the fire has already been." So it is with the forgiven when they see the judgment of God approaching.They are where the flames have already been and therefore are safe.

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