Exodus (Quality:Average)

[0:00] If the Lord will help me, I'll continue the meditation upon the word in the book of Exodus, the 12th chapter, the 13th verse.

[0:24] The book of Exodus, the 12th chapter, the 13th verse. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are.

[0:43] 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.

[0:58] I think it will be suitable, as I commence again this afternoon, before I take up the subject where I laid it down this morning, to explain, if I may be able, exactly what answers, spiritually, to the sprinkling of the blood upon the houses of the Israelites.

[1:27] There is no question at all that that blood was a symbol of the blood of Jesus, a type then, of the blood of Jesus Christ.

[1:45] But how are we to apply the sprinkling of that blood upon the lintel and store posts of the houses of the Egyptians?

[1:58] Now, of course, the Israelites could take that land and lauter it, sacrificially, take the blood in the basin, sprinkle the blood upon the doorposts of their houses.

[2:17] But now, we cannot take the precious blood quite like that, and sprinkle it upon our hearts and consciences, can we?

[2:31] I know that usually, this sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ is regarded as the application of it to our hearts and consciences by the Holy Spirit, and the communication of the virtue of it to us.

[2:59] Now, there is no doubt at all that it is of the Holy Spirit to thus apply the virtue, the saving and redeeming virtue of the precious blood of Jesus Christ upon our hearts and consciences.

[3:19] But some may be held up on this point. I mean, in the exercise of their hearts, they may say, well, is that precious blood sprinkled upon me by the Holy Ghost?

[3:38] Well, now, of course, that is a very vital point. Is it so? And so I feel, if I may be able to give a word of instruction about a point so very vital, it might be very acceptable.

[3:57] Now, first of all, it must be understood that this sprinkling of the blood was an act of faith.

[4:10] I remind you of that word in the 11th chapter of Hebrews. Concerning it, concerning it, and the faith of Moses. By faith, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood.

[4:23] Lest he that destroyed the firstborn shouldn't touch them. Now, there are two things with regard to that faith that is very applicable to us in a spiritual way.

[4:40] The first part of that faith.

[5:10] Christ kept the Passover. The second part of that faith was to do as God instructed them to do. That is, to sprinkle the blood upon the doorposts of their houses.

[5:21] The second part of that faith was to do as God. The second part of that faith was to shelter themselves behind that sprinkled blood and trust it, that it would shield them from the stroke of the destroying angel.

[5:40] Now, of course, no type exactly fits the anti-type. We must, as far as we can, take the principle.

[5:51] Now, with regard to the spiritual sprinkling of blood, it is a matter of faith.

[6:02] And it is a matter of faith in this way. If you have any confidence in my instruction and guidance, you will follow me in this.

[6:14] The first exercise of faith in this matter is to believe in the precious blood of Christ itself. And when I say to believe in the precious blood of Christ, I don't mean merely to believe that Jesus Christ did shed his blood at Calvary.

[6:40] Not merely that. And I don't feel it means merely to believe the doctrine of the gospel concerning that precious blood.

[6:58] It means this, I feel, to believe, to believe in the sacred nature, precious nature of the blood of Jesus Christ as such.

[7:16] The first exercise of faith, answering to the sprinkling of the blood that night, is to have a faith in our hearts that does believe in the precious nature, vital, sacred, of the very blood of Christ itself.

[7:40] The first question anyone would consider in this matter is to, once it's been given to them, to believe in the blood of Jesus Christ.

[7:50] And the real proof that that is the faith that sprinkles the blood, is that it does really look to and feed its virtue.

[8:06] It is to believe that there is a divine virtue in the blood of Jesus Christ. There must be that.

[8:20] For the blood of Christ is sprinkled on no one who has not that faith in it. Absolutely no one. And the more one considers this, my brethren, the more does it bring upon one's mind what a precious thing faith is.

[8:42] It's a gift of God. It's something wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit. It is something that has an exercise in it.

[8:54] A real spiritual exercise. And the spiritual exercise of faith, with regard to the blood of Christ, is to be looking to it.

[9:05] Coming to it. Really coming to it. You know that scripture. You have come unto the blood of sprinkling, to speaketh better things than that of Abel.

[9:18] Certainly the blood of sprinkling would apply to the blood of sprinkling in this text. Where there is true faith, there is a coming to that precious blood.

[9:32] It's a sinner coming to it to be cleansed. It's one guilty coming to it to be pardoned. It's one longing for peace with God and peace in the soul to come to it for peace and reconciliation.

[9:49] The very first question for anyone to ask, if that blood is sprinkled upon them, is have they come to it?

[10:01] In that believing, prayerful, looking, depending faith, well then, the first thing has been done.

[10:16] For the power and grace of the Holy Spirit, through faith. Keep that in mind. It's an example of faith.

[10:27] The sprinkling of the blood was the example of faith. Faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, the Israelites, when they had sprinkled that blood upon the doorpost of their houses, sheltered behind it.

[10:51] It was very expressly said, you mustn't go out of the house until the morning. There's no part of the night that it's safe for you to say, we can go out of the house now.

[11:05] The danger's over. None of you shall go out of the house until the morning. Of course, it was necessary. They should go out in the morning.

[11:17] So you cannot carry the type too far. Brethren, it is not only vital as that is, a coming to the blood of Christ, that there we must remain sheltered by it all our lives, always there.

[11:36] There's no safety at any time at all, except behind the blood of Jesus Christ. No, that's the other exercise of faith.

[11:50] To come to it believingly, and then to trust to its protection implicitly. Now, if that has been in your heart, the Holy Spirit will do the rest.

[12:08] The Holy Spirit will do the rest. As far as the sprinkling of that blood upon one's heart and soul, the Holy Spirit will do that.

[12:21] For you must remember, the exercise of faith in the heart, and the work of the Holy Spirit always go together. The Holy Spirit never works without faith in the heart.

[12:36] It's his way to impart faith first. And then with regard to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, to act according to the faith that he himself has imparted to the heart.

[12:54] Now, I make this statement with a sense of responsibility. I speak as unto wise men, judge ye what I say, when I say this, that precious blood is sprinkled on every heart to have that faith and that trust in the sight of God.

[13:19] Everyone. That answers exactly to the time. First they sprinkled the blood, that implied faith and obedience to the blood of Jesus, as you read in the scripture just now.

[13:37] For all day, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. I'm glad that's come into my mind. I think the obedience there does not mean the obedience of Jesus Christ, but exactly the same obedience as the obedience with which the Israelites obeyed the word of God by Moses and sprinkled that blood.

[14:00] Now, ye are called unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Where there's the obedience of faith, there's the sprinkling of the blood.

[14:16] Now, I'm not in these remarks saying that there is no experience in the matter of the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

[14:29] And that experience is expressed very simply in a line of one of our hymns, O sprinkle on me thy precious blood and let me taste thy dying love.

[14:46] Now, things are often more known by their effect in our hearts than anywhere else.

[14:58] The effect of the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ is to give a conscience a sense of being forgiven and cleansed. But now, that is a confirmation of what I've been saying.

[15:14] It is a confirmation that every exercised heart prays and desires to be blessed with.

[15:24] To this day, I desire to be confirmed in my experience by the experience of the effects of the blood of Jesus Christ in my soul.

[15:41] Pray, there, for us that we, through faith, may feel the effects of Jesus' death through faith, Mark, through faith which works thy love.

[16:00] Now, my brethren, all this is open to the eyes of the Lord. He knows whether there's that faith in the blood of Jesus in our hearts.

[16:13] He knows whether there's that sheltering behind its protecting virtue. He sees the blood in that sense of it, wherever there's that faith and that trust and that obedience.

[16:30] Remember this, when the children of Israel had obeyed that command of Moses, they didn't stay outside looking at the blood for their protection.

[16:41] They went inside where they couldn't see it, but still trusting to it. You know, all this is instructive. They were, they couldn't see it, but they were conscious that it had been sprinkled, then they trusted.

[17:01] Perhaps some of you are saying, oh, if only I could see that sprinkled blood on my conscience and my soul. Well, may the Holy Spirit make it clear to you, but be thankful if he's given you faith to trust it.

[17:17] That's a great thing. it is the sense of danger that makes us feel that we need a shelter.

[17:32] The consciousness of the Holy Spirit gives everyone convinced of sin a dangerous condition. Unless the heart is awakened to a sense of that danger, we may preach the blood of Jesus Christ all our lives to them, and still there will be no springs.

[17:53] No, my friends, the Holy Spirit makes us conscious of our danger. The same Holy Spirit directs our hearts through the blood of Jesus.

[18:07] The same Holy Spirit inspires faith to shelter behind it as it is proclaimed in the gospel.

[18:18] That's the matter. There's just another point I wanted to mention. I feel I should not get much farther with the subject.

[18:30] Never mind if I can speak a word that may meet anyone's case, help anyone's faith, confirm anyone's understanding.

[18:42] That's enough. does so much matter how the sermon goes, if I can say something that meets your case and is suitable to your need.

[18:57] Now, let us do a little, not vain imagining, but practical imagining. it may well be that those Israelites varied in their sense of safety and security.

[19:16] It's not an imagination to feel that some of them were so alarmed about this matter of the destroying angel going through the land of Egypt, they sprinkled the blood, but they might be our friendly.

[19:33] Oh, suppose, suppose that sword strikes their firstborn. Oh, I do hope it won't, but suppose it does. Well, that would be very weak faith, wouldn't it?

[19:47] Faith enough to sprinkle the blood, faith enough to shelter behind it, but not faith enough to keep the sword from feeling it, lest by some means our draw the fatal stroke nightfall, that they were perfectly safe.

[20:05] They were perfectly safe. Others might have that faith in the word of the Lord and what Moses had assured them.

[20:19] They might say, what are we to fear that the sprinkled blood is on our doorpost? that is what we were directed by the Lord to do.

[20:34] We sprinkle the blood, we are safe. Why should we sit trembling all night, lest the stroke should fall? Well, they had stronger faith.

[20:46] But now look, it wasn't the strength of their faith, however weak it was, nor however strong it was, that secured their safety that solemn night, it was the blood, the blood, and only the blood.

[21:08] So, my friends, we must understand these deep mysteries of the gospel and their salvation. In one sense, it is perfectly true, of course, that we are saved by faith.

[21:23] Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. We are saved by believing in Jesus. But in another sense, we are not saved by faith, but by what faith believes?

[21:40] Even the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, a child of God is saved both ways. He is saved by the precious blood, and he is saved by faith, brought in his heart by the Holy Spirit.

[22:02] Now, I hope I've made this a little clear, and for the last minute or two this afternoon, we will turn again to the subject. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are.

[22:19] Now, I hope I've made it plain, how that precious blood is upon every true Israelite. Then it is a token.

[22:32] I said this morning, it is a token of the spiritual nationality of the Israel of God. In that epistle of Peter, a little later on, I think, in the chapter that we read, we read, that ye are an holy nation, so on, a sanctified, redeemed nation.

[22:58] Now, the blood shall be to you for a token that you belong to that nation. It's never sprinkled upon the ungodly, never.

[23:12] blood. Then again, I mentioned that the blood shall be to you for a token of substitution. That is, the lamb was a substitute for the firstborn.

[23:29] It was a token of substitution. Just one point I will bring before you now, and then leave your attention.

[23:39] the blood shall be to you for a token of your redemption. It was by that blood the children of Israel were redeemed from their bondage in the land of Egypt.

[24:00] That is abundantly clear by many references in the scriptures to it. They were redeemed from the power and terror of Egypt in two ways.

[24:16] Redeemed by blood and redeemed by power. Now, how exactly that meets their necessity? Resemption means a buying back, a repossessing by purchase or power of what has been lost and alienated from its original owner.

[24:44] The gospel of redemption is exactly that. Now, all redeemed of the Lord were the gift of the Father to him in the covenant of grace before the foundation of the world.

[25:04] Jesus said, thine they were, that is, they were thine by their creation, and thou gavest them me, that is, thou madest them mine, thy covenant gift.

[25:23] But now, they became alienated by sin, separated, lost. But they were still Jesus Christ, only they were lost in their ruined condition.

[25:40] Then, the Lord Jesus brought them by his blood back again to himself. And so that scripture, you're not your own, you're bought with a price.

[25:55] We know that price, that priceless price of the Saviour's precious blood brought back to be his.

[26:11] And, if the question still exercises the heart and mind, well, am I really redeemed by that blood? Did that blood pay my great debt of sin?

[26:25] did that blood make me Jesus Christ, so that I am not my own, but his?

[26:37] Here is the answer. The blood shall be to you for a token. The blood shall be to you for a token of redemption, complete, eternal redemption, redemption, or Jesus Christ has obtained eternal redemption for us.

[26:58] That's more in the text than I must be. here. I feel I must just make this observation. I'll be here next on it to resume this meditation.

[27:14] There are three solemn points I'm closing with, and I'm anticipating now that solemn day, that day of judgment, of roar, for the ungodly.

[27:34] That day, as I said this morning, it will bring a far greater stroke, and that stroke brought to the Egyptians that night in Egypt. Every unsprinkled sinner will be smitten with it.

[27:53] But there are three things. First, that God will look for the blood. He will look for the blood.

[28:05] When I see the blood like that, I will pass over you. Nothing else will supply the lack of that precious blood.

[28:19] Let a man do what he will in religion. Let him be as full of good works as he may, and it is all to the honor of the religion of Jesus Christ when he is, and so on.

[28:35] Be in profession this way or that way or the other way, nothing will supply the lack of that precious blood.

[28:47] It is the blood he will look for. When I see the blood, nothing else. And then secondly, where that precious blood is upon the heart, he will not fail to see it.

[29:06] He will not fail to see it. His eyes will always discern where the precious blood of his dear son has been sprinkled, as I've explained.

[29:21] If we cannot see it, he can, he will. His eyes will never overlook the sprinkled blood in anyone.

[29:36] And then thirdly, take his word for it. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. When he sees the blood, he will pass over.

[29:49] nothing shall strike that rancid, blood-sprinkled soul. He's safe.

[30:01] He's eternally safe. For when he does see the blood in that last great day, he will pass over that soul.

[30:14] God, he will be safe. Now, I leave these considerations. If we have weight of truth, if our words are told in it, if they're confirmed by the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, then may he help you to receive them into your hearts.

[30:39] May he make the word a blessing to you and to me. Amen. Amen.