Glynlea Grace United Methodist Chruch

Scripture

Exodus 12:1-14

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ² "This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. ³ Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household; ⁴ and if the household is too small for a lamb, then a man and his neighbor next to his house shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵ Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old; you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats; ⁶ and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening. ⁷ Then they shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat them. ⁸ They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or boiled with water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. ¹⁰ And you shall let none of it remain until the morning, anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. ¹¹ In this manner you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's passover. ¹² For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. ¹³ The blood shall be a sign for you, upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall fall upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. ¹⁴ "This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as an ordinance for ever.

Summary and Function

Summary: The Passover story found in Exodus 11-12 is a typology or foreshadowing of what Jesus does to free us from our sinful nature. In the Passover story, a 1 year old lamb had to be sacrificed in order for the Israelites to be freed from Egyptian bondage. Likewise, in order for us to be freed from our sinful nature, Jesus had to become the ultimate sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins. This is why John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the ‘Lamb of God’. Our freedom from the guilt and power of sin came at the cost of Jesus coming to this earth as a human to be brutally humiliated, tortured and murdered on a cross. It is a costly freedom that is freely given to us as a gift. So, what are we going to do with this costly gift? How will we use it? Will we squander it away or use it to spread God’s love throughout the earth?

Function: To encourage the congregation to take their call to follow Jesus seriously. We should all take our call to follow Jesus seriously when we consider the cost of God’s free gift of freedom.

The Sermon

I. Introduction: The people who know freedom isn’t free

A. Police officers keep us free from fear of criminals. They must be able to defend themselves to do this. They know that freedom isn’t free.

B. Public defenders keep us free from over zealous prosecutors who want to violate our rights. In order to do this they must defend some really bad people. For this reason they often receive ridicule. They know that freedom isn’t free.

C. Non-violent civil rights activists struggled for all to have freedom. They faced ferocious dogs, fire hoses, lynchings and club wielding angry mobs. They knew that freedom isn’t free.

D. There are over 4,800 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. They know that freedom isn’t free.

E. There is one person who knows, more than anyone, that freedom isn’t free. This one person who knows, more than anyone, that freedom isn’t free is our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. God knows that freedom isn’t free.

F. God demonstrated that freedom isn’t free when He delivered the ancient Israelites from Egyptian bondage.

II. The cost of freedom for the ancient Israelites

A. In order for the ancient Israelites to be freed from Egyptian bondage….

· God had to send 9 plagues on Egypt: 1) Water turned to blood, 2) frogs, 3) gnats, 3) flies, 4) plague on livestock, 5) boils, 6) hail, 7) locusts, 8) darkness and 9) plague on the firstborn (Exodus 7-11)

· The last plague on the firstborn: Each Israelite family had to pay a price. Each family had to slaughter a year old lamb. Then they had to sprinkle the lamb’s blood around the door frames of their houses. The angel of death would pass over the Israelite houses with the lambs blood and go into every Egyptian house to smite the first born males. (Hence the name ‘Passover celebration’)

· Freedom is not free. Both the Egyptians and Israelites had to pay a price.

B. This ‘Passover event’ is a typology or foreshadowing of what Christ did for us to secure our freedom from the guilt and power of sin.

III. The cost of our freedom from sin

A. Like the ancient Israelites, we all are in need of deliverance. The ancient Israelites needed to be freed from Egyptian bondage. We all need to be freed from the guilt and power of sin.

· Our need to be freed from the guilt of sin: We all have sinned and we all deserve death. We all deserve hell. God, however, loves us and doesn’t want us to get what we deserve. God wants a love relationship with us. So, God has provided a way for us to be forgiven.

· Our need to be freed from the power of sin: We all have a sinful nature. We do not have the power to break from our sinful nature and become the people God created us to be. In this way sin has power over us. God has provided a way for us to be free from this power.

B. The costly way God frees us from sin

· God is righteous, which means He must judge sin. God is also love, which means He is merciful.

- We all have sinned. We all deserve death. We all deserve hell. However….

- God doesn’t want to see us get what we deserve. Instead, He wants a love relationship with us. So……

· Jesus becomes our ‘Passover lamb’ to pay the penalty for our sins

- As God in the flesh, Jesus lived the perfect, sinless life. God willingly became human to live a life of service.

- Because He lived a perfect, sinless life, Jesus was able to die on the cross and pay the penalty for our sins. He became the sacrificial lamb, the ultimate sacrifice to take away our sins. God willingly allowed the puny Roman soldiers (To God, the Roman soldiers were puny.) to beat Him, spit on Him, mock Him and whip Him. God then allowed them to nail Him on a cross where experienced an agonizing death.

- On the third day Jesus rose from the dead proving that he is God in the flesh. In this way, Jesus conquered sin, death and evil on our behalf.

· In order for us to be freed from our sins, God had to become human, live a life of service, suffer an excruciating death and rise on the third day. This freedom is a costly free gift.

IV. What are we to do with this costly free gift?

A. This costly free gift of freedom from sin can be compared to a 16 year old receiving a new Rolls Royce.

· Imagine a 16 year old boy living out in the country, in the middle of no where. His freedom is severely restricted because he doesn’t have the means to go anywhere.

· The boy’s father has pity on him. So he gives the boy a brand new Rolls Royce and pays for the insurance. Now the boy has freedom. He can go anywhere he wants, any time he wants.

· This Rolls Royce is a free gift but a costly one

- The boy didn’t have to earn this freedom. All he had to do was accept the Rolls Royce as a free gift. Like any young teen-ager, he snatched up the keys and off he went.

- The father, however, had to pay a huge price to give this gift to his son. A Rolls Royce costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and I can’t imagine how much the insurance would be.

· So, how will the boy use this free yet costly gift?

- Will he squander it? Will he use the Rolls Royce just to fulfill his own desires? Will he use it just to show off and attract girls? Will he drive it in an unsafe manner to impress his friends? Or will he…

- Use the Rolls Royce to help others? Will he offer to give rides to elderly folks who can’t drive anymore? Will he use it to transport youth for his local church? Will he run errands for those who can’t get around?

B. We must ask the same question about the free yet costly gift of freedom that God has given us. Now that we are freed from sin, how will we use our freedom?

· Will we adopt the attitude that now we can do anything we want? Do we think, “If Jesus already paid the penalty for sin and God promises to forgive me, then I can do whatever I want and simply ask God to forgive me.” Or….

· Will we use our freedom from sin to…

- Cultivate our relationship with God through Bible study, prayer, worship and fellowship.

- Tell people the good news that God frees us from our sins

- Demonstrate God’s love through action.

V. Conclusion: How have you been using the free yet costly gift of freedom God has given you?

A. If you have not been using this freedom to demonstrate love for God and others, you can start doing so right now! Go to God in prayer and ask Him to help you use this freedom to demonstrate love.

B. If you do not yet have this freedom, you can receive it right now. Go to God and tell Him you want to be free from sin and live a Godly life characterized by love. Then place your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.