Amen. We turn then to Exodus chapter 12. Our text, we'll begin our reading at verse 37, Exodus chapter 12, we'll begin our reading at 12, verse 37, and we just sang, He that lands in hostile peoples soon shall come the Lord to know. Nations born again in Zion shall the Lord's salvation show. And here is a text which deals very much with the practical question of, well, how is this going to work? How do the nations come into the nation, the special chosen nation of God? How do they become part of God's people? That is very much a concern and a question answered within our text as the Israelites begin their journey, their exodus out of Egypt. We'll begin our reading at verse 37. We'll go to verse 51. If you're looking at your outline, we'll make it to the third point at the end of verse 49 for our focus. But we'll read verses 37 to 51 of Exodus, chapter 12. Let us hear the very word of God. And the people of Israel journeyed from Ramesses to Sukkoth, about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children. A mixed multitude also went up with them and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It was a night of watching by the Lord to bring them out of the land of Egypt. So this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, this is the statute of the Passover. No foreigner shall eat of it, but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house. You shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it. He shall be as a native of the land, but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you. All the people of Israel did, just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. And on that very day, the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts. So far the reading, the grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. Well, dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 430 years is a long time. that is much longer than our nation has existed as the United States of America. It is even longer than there has ever been even a permanent English-speaking settlement in the Americas. There was one Spanish-speaking settlement in St. Augustine, Florida. That's more than 430 years old. But the oldest permanent English-speaking settlement That's Jamestown. That's less than 430 years ago. And the Puritans coming 13 years after that. But 430 years is how long the people of Israel have been living in Egypt, a place where they can now stay no longer. by divine power and by divine command. This is the day of Exodus. This is the day where they leave Egypt and they begin their journey. That's the language at verse 37, the people of Israel journey. They begin their journey, they begin their travel to the promised land. Even as they don't yet know how long that will take and how much wandering that will be, they must travel by God's word to God's promised land. That is their calling. And brothers and sisters, this is the calling of every believer in the symbolic sense. This is one of the reasons why God literally worked this out in history, was to give all of God's people this symbolic image. And it's one that we see in a number of different ways in the New Testament. We are those going through the wilderness to the eternal promised land. And there are many ways that that symbolism comes through and speaks to us helpfully. And it gives us direct lines of application for the Christian life today. How were the people of Israel to make this journey? What was it to look like? What were they to be doing as they went? It all speaks to us of how we are to live by God's word, to travel by God's word in the journey through the wilderness of this life. to the eternal promised land. And so our theme is this. We must travel, by God's word, to God's promised land. And here are some of these important instructions and important points at the very beginning of the journey. It's a journey of change. It's a journey with distinctions. It's a journey with discipleship. Well, first that change. Again, verse 40. The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. Now, they have had some brutal slavery over the last 80 plus years. But even in the brutal slavery, the Egyptians, they thought that sheep herding and that it was kind of a lesser thing. They were the cultivated peoples. They were the builders. They were the farmers of the land. Even in their brutal enslavement they were still allowed to live in the land of Goshen and to some measure they were still allowed to have their flocks and their herds even as we can be sure that there was probably some mistreatment of slavery influenced that to some degree as well but they are in Goshen. They have their flocks in a sense. And so think again about 430 years. And now, in our introduction, we thought about how long that is in the United States for our nation. Now think about this in reference to your family and the land that you live on. Have you ever heard the expression 100-year farm? Wow. Sometimes there's a farm that lives in the same family on the same land for 100 years or more. This is 430-year farm. Even in their brutal enslavement, they're still in Goshen. They still have their flocks and some measure of freedom within that. And then say, well, who were your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandparents? And that takes us back 10 generations. It's kind of a round number. It's also 1 Chronicles chapter 7. There's 10 generations from Ephraim to Joshua the son of Nun listed there. Who is your eight great-grandparent? Can you even name one of them? Much less say, I can name them all, which the Israelites could do, they kept genealogies. I can name them all and I can point to this land and say, we have lived here in Goshen for all that time. Now what does this take us to? Even though it was deliverance from slavery, it was such a massive change in the life of the people of Israel that there was some hesitation. We know as we read on in the account, there were some in the older generation who they still looked back to Egypt. They still longed for Egypt. Brothers and sisters, now we move from there to, well, how is this a part of the picture of the Christian life? The Christian life is a call to change. It's a call to change. What is a key element of the Christian life? It's repentance. And what is a key element of repentance? It's change. The main word for repentance in the Hebrew is issue it's the word it's means her do the 180 return go the other direction turn away from Egypt turn away from the ways of the world turn away from the ways of the simple flash and turn to God what's the main word for really the only word for repentance in the Greek is metanoia it's it's relates especially to a change of mind What are we called to as the people of God? We're called to change our mind, to go away from the mindset of the world, from the idolatrous thinking of Egypt, the idolatrous thinking of America, and we're going to go to the thinking of God according to His will, for His glory. Change is not always easy. Sometimes Egypt was just so comfortable. And slavery to sin doesn't always feel like slavery. Sometimes there's the pleasure of sin for a season in that sense, to use the language of Hebrews. But we are called to be people of change. People of repentance. People of coming out of Egypt coming out of the world, coming out of worldly thinking, and going to God's land by God's word, by God's way. It's something happening literally here. It's something which is a picture for the Christian life for each and every one of us. Now, since this is a biblical illustration and a biblical picture, something in history that's been a frequent picture in the New Testament, We can even press this further. Well, now what about the children? Because the older generation, they remembered Egypt. They longed for it. But there were those who were part of this journey who, years later, they wouldn't remember Egypt at all or hardly at all. Now, what should the Christian life be for a covenant child of God? Now the Christian life for every one of God's people is to be a life of change, repentance. And we all have the sinful flesh that we're to be constantly turning away from, the sinful mindset that we're constantly to be changing from. But there is a sense in which by God's grace, the change will not be as dramatic hopefully will not be as dramatic in that sense for a child of God. That is a hope and a prayer. Brothers and sisters, one of the most frequent prayers I make for my children, and I've used this language in congregational prayer, praying for all of the covenant children of this church, is this. Lord, I pray that my children would never know a day when they do not call you Savior. I could pray it this way. I could take the symbols of the traveling of God's people and I could pray it this way. Lord, I pray that my children would see their whole life as a journey out of Egypt to your promised land. by faith. Preserve them from even a season of rebellion from which we might use the word dramatic conversion must be experienced. But of course every conversion is dramatic because every covenant child who from the beginning of their life to the end of their life never knows a day that they do not say, God is my God, Christ is my Savior, and they grow to understand that, and they make profession of faith as they come to an age of maturity. Brothers and sisters, it's always a dramatic conversion, because every one of God's people is brought out of the slavery of sin and to God's promised land. We are to be people of change, living by faith. Well, now, people of God, we move in some ways from thinking, as we did at the end of this first point, about all of God's covenant people, including those born into the covenant nation, the nation of Israel. Now, we come to our second or third point, and we ask the question, well, what if you're not born? in the covenant people of God and that's very much what this text is about. Why do we have more instructions about the Passover in verses 43 and following? Didn't we just have like all of those verses about the Passover at the start of this chapter? What's going on? Well part of it is because the Passover is of massive significance and because it points so directly to the cross of Jesus Christ and so the text slows down and emphasizes the Passover. But more specifically, notice there is a particular issue being addressed. What about the foreigners? Can they eat of the Passover? And if they can, how? And why is that an important question? Because, back in verse 38, they left as a mixed multitude. If God had given these instructions to the people of Israel before the Exodus, it would have sounded strange. What foreigners? Who's joining us? We're just the enslaved Israelites. What do you mean? But God's signs and wonders have done their work. Egypt has, yes, been judged, but Egypt has also seen the signs of God's mercy and grace as we worked through the 10 plagues. We talked about how ultimately the plagues are an invitation. They are pointing everyone to the wonders of God and his power of deliverance. And that has happened. God's signs have done their work. Many have now joined this nation and are going on the exodus with them. They are a mixed multitude. And so now, it's not just that the Passover is so significant and the text is slowing down and we're talking about it more. No, it's addressing a specific question. What about all these foreigners? What are we going to do? What are we going to do? And the question of if the foreigners can become part of the people of God, Is that possible? The answer is emphatically, yes. Yes, they can. By faith, by faith, they can become full members of the nation of Israel, which is not just a nation, it's the people of God. You say, well, wait, Pastor, I don't see the word faith in our text. Look at the middle of verse 40, And to the end of verse 42, so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord. What is a night of watching kept to the Lord? It's language of faith, it's language of dependence, it's language of trust. The Passover is not just a meal, it's a sacramental meal, which one can only receive if one is taking it by faith, if one is taking it to the Lord, as a night of watching to the Lord. If they will join by faith, they can become part of the people of God. And we'll look more at the yes of how they join the people of God when we get to our third point. For the rest of this second point, there is also a no if a person is not willing to join the people of God by faith. And then we have not only the Passover, will they keep it to the Lord, But we have also now the language of circumcision because circumcision for a new member of God's covenant nation comes before Passover. Circumcision is the sign of incorporation into God's people. There should never be anyone who takes the Passover, no man, until after there has been circumcision. If he's not willing to join God's people by faith, if he's not willing to have a night of watching kept to the Lord, if he's not willing to be circumcised and to receive that sign of incorporation into God's covenant community, then he is still to be seen as a foreigner and he may not partake of the Passover. People of God, we are called to make proper distinctions. Douglas Stewart used this language. He's the reformed commentator. He used this language, quote, proper religious discrimination, end of quote. And then Stewart gives a helpful illustration of how we all know that discrimination, there's such a thing as bad discrimination and there's such a thing as good discrimination. Bad discrimination is, well, racism is an all too common example of bad discrimination, where someone is inherently this or that because of the color of their skin or their ethnicity or whatever. But we all know examples of good discrimination as well. And just to give one example, all we have to do is look at the road. And I'll ask you, do you want anybody to be given a car and to be given the right to drive no matter what when you go onto the road? Or do you want there to be some legal discrimination about who can drive? You know, having to pass a driving test and a seeing test and all kinds of other things like that. Every time you look at a road, you're seeing an example of good discrimination. Well, people of God, we as the people of God are called to good, to proper religious discrimination. Just as the road is not just for anybody in any situation, so God's signs and full incorporation into God's people is not for anybody. Anybody can be a hired servant, a sojourner, a worker, anybody can come through, anybody is welcome into this house to hear the gospel, yes and amen. But full incorporation and the full benefits of membership in God's people are not for everybody. This is one of the reasons why there's similarities. There's also differences between the Passover and the Lord's Supper. But this is one of the reasons why we guard the table for Lord's Supper. It's proper religious discrimination. We ask questions before a person can join. If a person has been baptized, that's where we start. Why? Because baptism is now the sign of incorporation into God's people. You can never take any of the signs and sacraments of the Old Testament until you were circumcised. You can never take part in the, well there's only two sacraments in the New Testament, you can never partake in the Lord's Supper until after you've at least been baptized. And we ask three other questions. If you continually repent of your sins, Are you going to take this supper to the Lord, watching to the Lord, in faith to the Lord, watching and remembering what Christ has done? If they confess that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior, and if they are a member of a Christian church, These are proper questions of religious discrimination. Not just anybody can take the Lord's Supper, not just anybody could take the Passover meal. And notice also the pattern. So at the end of our first point we thought a little bit, well what about those circumcised children in the Exodus? What about them? Well now, we see a reminder that the pattern for circumcision in the Old Testament was if you were born into the covenant people of God, then all males were circumcised on the eighth day. If you were an adult, then the pattern was this. Will you give a profession of faith? Yes, I can keep the Passover as a night of watching to the Lord. Okay, then you need to be circumcised and you can partake. The pattern is For someone who is a foreigner, for someone who is not born in Israel, the pattern is this. Repent, change, believe, keep Passover as a night of watching, trusting to the Lord, and be circumcised. Repent, believe, and be circumcised is the Old Testament pattern for foreigners, just as that's the New Testament pattern now with baptism for those who would come into God's covenant community as adults. Repent, believe, and be baptized. we see in the book of Acts. And so, people of God, we have a journey with distinctions. We are to see that not everybody is part of God's covenant community. It's also to be a journey of discipleship. This is our third point. And now we're focused more, again, on the yes. We're focused more on the yes of, well, how do they come in? We talked about this a little bit, but now we're going to focus more on that yes. If someone is circumcised, verse 48, then he may come near and keep it. He shall be as a native in the land. Brothers and sisters, do you hear that language? That is full incorporation. At the Passover meal, there is no difference between someone who comes in as a foreigner and someone who was born in God's covenant nation. He shall be as a native in the land. Any adult convert from any place, any Egyptian who believes, any Canaanite who believes, any Moabite who believes, is to be incorporated into and fully included with God's people with all of the benefits of full citizenship in that special nation of Israel. And again, that's parallel in New Testament terms to all of the benefits of full membership in Christ's church. Now we'll talk just a little bit about circumcision is so important but that was a bloody sign and it was only for males and yes it certainly was. It's one of the plain ways scripture gives us a definition of the difference between male and female. You want a definition of male and female? Just read Genesis chapter 12 and who can be circumcised or not circumcised. So then we ask, well, wait, what about the women who wanted to join by faith? Well, if they were willing to make a profession of faith, something like, say, using the words, your people will be my people and your God will be my God. It is true that a woman could not receive the bloody sign of circumcision, but she was still to be very much visibly part of and to have all the benefits and protections of being part of God's people. And this was visibly seen when she was given a seat at the Passover meal. No Passover was ever to be eaten alone. She is given a seat at the Passover meal. She is part of God's people. So then all of God's people, men or women who joined from the nations as foreigners, who are willing to live by faith in God's promises, they are fully part of God's people. And with this, brothers and sisters, we go back to verse 46. And this is where we're going to end. It shall be eaten, verse 46, in one house. You shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. Why do they have to be so careful not to break the bones? As you're preparing, as you're getting the The lamb ready for the meal. That's one of the differences between Passover and the Lord's Supper. The Passover was a full meal. The meat's not going to taste any different if you accidentally break one of the bones. Why do they have to be so careful to do this? Why? Well, in the Old Testament we're not explicitly told why. Many times we have things and their symbols and we're told exactly why and what they're doing. This is one of those places we're not told exactly why. This question would have maybe been a little bit difficult. Remember part of the Passover is this thing of instruction. Father, why are we doing this? If his specific question was why are we not breaking the bones, it might have been a little bit difficult to answer. Probably an Israelite would have answered something about unity. That's The text doesn't tell us that exactly, but the Passover definitely was a symbol of unity. All the people together eating on the same night from one household to another, which was not just a family, but it was... nobody ate this meal alone. So whether you were a foreigner who just came in, the people of God had a responsibility. There was going to be one household that you were part of for eating this meal and etc. etc. It worked all the way on down the line. If you were a single Israelite, if you were an older widow or widower, however it worked, you were going to be eating this with somebody. And so unity of parts making the whole is probably part of what's going on with the you cannot break any bones. But there's one thing that we know was going on, even though we're not told until many centuries later. Please turn to John chapter 19. There was a symbolic prophecy taking us, as the Passover lamb does in so many ways, straight to the cross. of Jesus Christ. John 19, verses 31-36. John 19, verse 31. Since it was the day of preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day. The Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness. His testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled not one of his bones was broken. People of God, this is why the people of God could never break the bones of the Passover Lamb. It was one more way that the Passover Lamb symbolically, prophetically anticipated the sacrificial lamb, Jesus Christ, whose blood covers and protects and saves us as we keep the night of watching, the watching to the Lord, the trusting in the Lord, the faith that we are called to have. And so, brothers and sisters, may the Word of God indeed change us And may the Word of God drive our distinctions and our discipleship as we travel together as the disciples of Jesus Christ. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, our Lord, we Thank You for the signs and the seals that You have given to us. And we pray that You, changing our hearts, would make us to receive in faith the good signs that You give.