# The First Passover

Key Passage: Exodus 12
Date: June 28, 2026

And today’s a special day every way. It’s probably been years. We used to do about every year, but every once in a great while, we’ll have a day we just call All Out for Souls Sunday. And we’re going to meet back here on this hot day around 4 p.m. or at 4 p.m. We’re going to load up on a bus.

And the parking lot will be full because we’re sharing, but there’s a lot of grass out there. We can park our vehicles on. We’ll load up on a bus and just go canvas the neighborhood. And if you’ve never been a part of that, I encourage you to go to it. It would just—it’s unique. You’d love it. We’ll pair you up with someone that has been if you’ve never done that. And God just blesses that in a great, great way.

But before we’re getting all that, we’ve got something special.

And our ladies do a wonderful job of making quilts. I’ve learned they’re not blankets, even though it is blankets of love. They make quilts, you know. And it is for some of our precious people. By the way, it takes them on an average about eight months to a year to make one of these. And now sometimes Ms. Brenda will crack the whip and they stay up 24/7, you know, but typically, I’m teasing, of course, it’s eight months to a year to make one of these, and they just do amazing job at it.

And well, that’s beautiful. Come on, we got to be—we got unity here now, you know? Y’all ready? Here we go. One, two, three. Ah, yeah. We want to see the back of it. It’s got their heart, their logo on it there, and a Bible verse, and that’s just beautiful. They have a card.

And they make these cards up. They don’t make the Bible verses up, all right? They get them from the Bible. But this one says, “The Lord is my strength and my shield,” Psalm 28:7.

“Our Father, we trust your way as we seek to serve you. Jesus, just to speak your name invites peace and joy into our hearts.”

And this quilt is for Patrick and Marlene Campanelli.

Brother Patrick, Miss Marlene, have been a blessing for years and years around here. And I have done a little bit of everything. They have taught Sunday school. They’ve taught primary church. They, over the PA ministry, a nursery, faithful VBS—you just name it, they’re involved around here. And praise the Lord for folks like that. And congratulations, Brother Patrick, Miss Marlene.

And that’s awesome. That’s awesome. Thank you, ladies, for doing a great, great job on that. And usher, if you come for offering, we appreciate that. And looking forward to 4 o’clock if you can. Of course, we will have a regular evening service at 6, so come be a part of that for sure tonight.

And we’re in for a special treat. Instead of the piano for offertory, we have our primary church. They’re going to sing for us today. We’re missing some. One of our buses would not crank, but we’ve got a good amount of them looking forward to them singing for us here in just a minute. And I love to hear them sing. It’s awesome. And praise the Lord for it.

Brother Bill, Johanna, what a blessing. Would you lead us in our prayer for offertory this time, please?

Thank you so much, Ms. Angela. That’s a great message in song. Goes along perfectly with the message. I like to see the Lord work like that.

Exodus, chapter number 12, if you would please. Exodus, chapter number 12. Genesis, Exodus, chapter number 12, in God’s Word this morning. And once you find that, let me talk to you for just a minute here, and we’ll dive right into this thing here.

Aren’t you glad for air conditioning? Amen. Praise the Lord for that. And I’m glad ours works well in the church house. And our very first building was a little bit of daycare, and God would fill that just a little daycare up. And we would have it very cold at the beginning. About halfway through service, the air conditioning just would not keep up. It would be hot.

And I had one man, actually Tim Dempsey—a lot of you remember him, they’ve moved away—but Tim Dempsey told me one time, he said, “Pastor, if you’d have preached any longer, I would have passed out.” And so praise the Lord, our air conditioning keeps up around here. That’s a good thing.

How many ever heard the word Passover? You heard the word Passover? How many heard—you heard? I think the majority, maybe all of us, have heard that word Passover.

We’re going to study for just a bit this morning, the very first Passover. And that’s when the children of Israel, God’s special people that he chose, were in captivity in Egypt. And God had led Moses to go to the king, or Pharaoh, and say, “Hey, let him go.” And Pharaoh said, “Huh, that’s my workforce. That’s my economy,” and not letting them go. And so God sent these 12—12—these 10 plagues. And the 10th plague was the death of the firstborn male child. It’s amazing of everyone. Imagine the nationality of animals also, very interesting. But God gave them a way to be protected from this judgment, this plague. And we’re going to read about it a little bit.

All right, that’s kind of the story where we’re at, the background about what we’re about to read here in Exodus chapter number 12. If you’re there, would you say amen? We’re going to start in verse number five. Would you stand, please, as we read God’s Word together, if you’re able to? We’d just like to show the Word of God as much respect as we can.

Exodus 12, in verse number five. He says, “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month.” By the way, the month will be pretty equivalent to April in our calendar, all right?

“And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.” I think it was 3 p.m., though we don’t know the specific hour. “And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat it.”

Now let’s jump down for the sake of time. Let’s jump down to verse number 12. We’re in Exodus 12, and we’re jumping down to verse number 12. He says, “For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt will I execute judgment: I am the Lord.”

“And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are.” And when I see the blood—we just, for Miss Angela, just saying, “Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.”

“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.”

Would you pray with me that God would make this more real to our personal—your personal life? Would you do that? God, would you make this story real to me in my day and time? Just how it applies to you. Let’s pray.

Father, you’ve been so good to give us so many illustrations in your Word about Jesus and his shed blood and our salvation. Father, I do pray, would you make this true life story just make it real to us about our salvation and our growth in you? And Lord, help us to leave more and more appreciative of Jesus. And we’ll thank you for what you do. Lord, I yield to you. Would you guide every word I say? And we’ll thank you for it. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

Would you jump back down to verse number five there, Exodus 12, verse number five? And I want you to notice the very first two words. It’s very interesting, words that he says: “Your lamb.” Now, he’s talking about these households; they got them a lamb and separated. He says, “Your lamb.”

Notice what he says: “Shall be without blemish.” Now, this is a wonderful picture of Jesus Christ. All right? You remember the forerunner of Jesus Christ? It’s kind of like you think of a king, or in our time, the president, and as the beast, you know, the limousine he’s riding, and there’s cars in front of it, kind of preparing the way for the president to come. Well, John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus Christ, and John the Baptist said this about Jesus twice: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

Now, we’re using this Old Testament story; it’s picturing the coming Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. Now notice what he says about this lamb: He says it’s without blemish. You know, in the New Testament, actually Hebrews 4:15, it says about Jesus, “For he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Now, this lamb, they would take it and separate it for about four days, and they would watch it. And Jesus, he lived on this earth for 33 years, but then the last three and a half years of Jesus’ life—and say four days, probably about three and a half days, because in the afternoon they would slay it—but during that public ministry, boy, Jesus was examined by everyone, and he passed the test of her time. He was without blemish.

Now, there’s the interesting thing. I learned this couple years ago. It’s very interesting to me. But around Christmas time, I learned this. But remember Jesus born in Bethlehem? And remember the shepherds? The shepherds were the first ones. The angels appeared out there to the shepherds, and they said, “Hey, the Messiah, the Savior, is born in Bethlehem.” Talk to the shepherds.

And we’re not exactly sure, but we think that it was unusual that the shepherds were out in the field that time of year. Most really studied out, they think the reason why they were because that was the lambing time. That was the time the sheep were having babies, okay? And so here, the angels told the shepherds, he said, “Hey, you’ll find this babe lying in a manger and wrapped in what?” Swaddling clothes.

Now, here’s the thing that it’s very interesting to me. They say that those shepherds, if they were the special Levitical shepherds, then they were trying to raise sacrificial lambs. You know when that lamb, that baby lamb, is born, and then the first time it tries to get up and walk, he’s clumsy. I mean, you remember, you know, your little child, every time you were going to have pictures and it was learning to walk, it would fall and get a bump right there, you know? Then you go to Walmart, everybody’s looking at you, “What’d you do with that baby?” you know? And, you know, it’s just what it is.

But Jesus, He’s our Levitical lamb. He’s our sacrificial lamb. So, so these shepherds, they don’t want that lamb, baby lamb that’s kind of stumbling all over, to get cut or bruised. And so they would wrap the—because remember the lamb had to be without blemish. And if it fell one way and got a gash or something, it couldn’t be a sacrificial lamb. And so they would wrap that baby lamb in swaddling clothes.

And that’s why when the angel told the shepherds, by the way, they knew what it was all about. They were shepherds. And they said, “Oh, the babe, our Savior that’s born in Bethlehem, he’s lying in a manger. He’s a Lamb of God, and he’s wrapped with swaddling clothes.” Oh, man, that wrecks the mind. That’s the sacrificial lamb. Where did it all start at? It started way back at the first Passover.

And the Lord said, “Hey, now, you’ve got to get a lamb without blemish, first year.” By the way, Jesus was 33 years old on earth, and it wasn’t older. He was in that first prime of his life, if you will.

Now let’s go back over here to Exodus. And let’s look at the next verse. We just briefly dealt with verse number five. Let’s look at verse number six. And in verse number six, “And ye shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.”

And this is amazing. It would be somewhat equivalent to April 14th. But you know, you fast-forward time about 1,500 years, and you fast-forward to another Passover, and you’ll see Jesus Christ on a cross right outside the city walls of Jerusalem, and he’s there. And it’s interesting, he had seven sayings on the cross, and the last one he said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,” and he gave up the ghost. And you know, it was 3 p.m., about 1,500 years later, the true Lamb of God.

Now, all those years in the Old Testament, that’s why you hear so many times about them offering up sacrificial lambs—those pointed to the coming Lamb, Jesus, when he’s giving his life and his body and his blood on the cross. They’re pointing ahead towards it.

By the way, now in the New Testament, the New Testament church, we don’t offer up lambs nowadays. We have the Lord’s Supper, communion, and we look back at his blood that he shed. It is body that he gave. By the way, we kind of skipped over, but over there in the first Passover, they would eat that. That picture is Jesus. He’s the Bread of Life. And it’s all a picture of the coming Messiah, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. That’s why 1 Peter 1:19 says, “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

Now I notice something else. Look at verse number seven, verse number seven of Exodus 12. Verse number seven, you all with me on there? Amen? Verse number seven, he says, “And they shall take of the blood and what? And what?” Strike it.

And I thought that’s interesting. He could have just said, “Well, just put it.” They would use that bush, hyssop, which is often called the Bible. It was kind of like back in the day they could use it a little bit like a paintbrush or a broom. You know, back in the day they’d put all these names in to make a broom, something like that. They would use this bush, hyssop, and they would dip it in the blood from that lamb and they would put it on. They could just apply it. But the Bible says, “Strike it.” Isn’t that interesting?

When Jesus Christ, he—by the way, there was no Roman soldier that could hold the hands of Jesus down. Nobody held him. The Bible says he laid down his life. And he put his hands out there. And that Roman soldier put that nail, that spike, there. And somewhere along here we think, because it didn’t break any bones, it’d be right along here. And they put it in there. And that Roman soldier, he struck that nail. And it went through. And he says, “Hey, I want you to strike it on these doorposts.” Jesus was struck, if you will, smitten, the Bible says. Just so many things. This first Passover is a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ.

We didn’t finish the verse. Let’s finish the verse. Verse number seven: “They shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the house wherein they shall eat it.”

Now notice a couple of things about that. He did not say, “I want you to put it on the threshold.” You know, that’s the bottom part, you know, the transition as you’re walking through the door. Because that would be you trampling on it. No, I don’t want it wearing it. I don’t want anyone—God Almighty is allowing his Son to shed his blood to pay for my sin, your sin. And he said, “I don’t want anyone trampling on the blood of Jesus.” Don’t put it on there. By the way, can I just say this: sometimes when people will not accept Jesus’ shed blood as their sacrifice or salvation, they’re kind of trampling on the blood of Jesus.

Something else about it, interesting. He said, “Put it on the two side posts of the door.” If this would be the door right here, he said, “Put it on the two side posts and on the—in our day and time, as you would call it—the header, you know, the door.” You notice there’s—he didn’t just say put it one time, three times. What we get the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. By the way, God the Father, He’s in heaven. Jesus came down to earth—you know, Christmas is all about that, the incarnation of God. And then the Holy Spirit, when Jesus ascended, the Holy Spirit descended, and he’s living among the believers inside their heart. He’s down here on earth, but God the Father’s in heaven. And you got the three there, the Trinity.

Now I want you to put the blood—I want you to strike it on the doorpost. Now, let me just—let me draw a conclusion here, make it a little bit more personal for just a minute here. It wasn’t enough that the blood was shed. I mean, these families, by the way, if it wasn’t enough for one family, then they would—if a family maybe they only had a husband and wife, they’re empty nesters—and so typically about 10, 12 people, they would share and they would come over to one of their houses, a house, because they wanted all of it eaten that night. But anyway, it wasn’t enough that just they would shed the blood. They could take that—typically that lamb, they would slit the throat and they would catch that blood in a basin. And that wasn’t enough, see.

By the way, some believe this saying of universal salvation: “My Jesus died, everybody’s going to heaven.” No, that’s not biblical for him. Somebody had to take that blood that was in that basin. By the way, that was a statement to the Egyptians, and they didn’t know if the Egyptians were going to come after them for doing it or not. By the way, that lamb was a little bit of a goddess or a god to the Egyptians. And boy, you don’t slay their goddesses or their gods. They had all kind of gods, Egyptians.

And so it was a step of faith for the children of Israel, whoever, that take that blood, and they would take it, and they would take some hyssop in there, and then they would strike it on the sidepost, and then strike it on the letter or the header there of the door. And see, Jesus now, for everybody in the world—“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son”—but not everybody in the world is going to heaven. Someone—in fact, every individual has to take that blood and apply that blood. It’s a step of faith. Just because he died doesn’t mean you’re going to heaven. Just because you believe that he died doesn’t—you have to believe on. You have to apply the blood by faith. I want that on the door of my heart.

By the way, nobody can make that decision for you. “So, well, I was baptized as a baby.” Well, listen, friends, mom and dad can’t make that decision for you. “Well, you know, I’ve been a member of such and such church.” The church is a good place and a good thing; we’ll talk about in a minute here. But nobody in the church shed their blood for you. Jesus shed his blood for you. And you have to take the blood of Jesus. And it’s a figure, it’s an example, but you must apply by faith that blood to your heart.

Oh, it’s a wonderful thing to watch someone. I had the privilege of watching someone this week by their head and they, by faith, were applying that blood to their heart. It takes a step of faith. It’s not just knowing about it, but it’s applying. Romans says it this way: It says, “Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth.” Oh, they’re applying the blood. And these folks had to apply the blood of Jesus Christ.

Now, what do you say? What do you say when you make that decision? Look in verse number 13. Look in verse number 13, Exodus 12. And look in verse number 13: “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are. 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.”

Now this is interesting. I’m going to divert for just a second here, but it’s very interesting. A lot of these verses seem like God, he’s the one that passes over. He’s the one that’s there. But it almost seems like he’s the one that kills that person. But that’s not typical of God. Not typical.

Look, if you will, in verse number 23. I think he adds a little extra light on the subject. Look in verse number 23 of Exodus 12. And I want you to see words it here: Exodus 12:23, “For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.”

Now, some would say that destroyer, they would call it the death angel. And they’ll go over to when David had sinned and the angel was destroying those people in Jerusalem and the thousands of them, and David offered up the sacrifices and stopped. And maybe that’s true. I don’t know. But to destroy you—I tend to think myself, over in Revelation, the devil is called Apollyon, and that word means destroyer. I tend to think it’s the devil. In the Bible, it’s very interesting. In fact, we use that term “death angel.” You won’t find that term in the Bible anywhere. But it’s not a right or wrong; we’ll go out back and fight about that later on, amen. The important part is that God Almighty says, “When I see that blood, destroyer, you’re not getting in. That’s mine. I take care of my own.”

Now, it’s important that the blood has been applied in your heart. I want you to think about it. You might not remember the date. I don’t remember the date when I got saved. Now, I’m not even if I was maybe eight or nine years old. I was right in there. I don’t even know if it was a Sunday night or a Wednesday night, but I remember a time in my mind. I can go back. I was sitting in the back seat of the car. Now, here’s the bad part: don’t tell anybody this part here, all right? Y’all promise me you won’t tell this part here. You promised me here. All right, now you promise. All right. Now, you know, the mile marker we were passing by, Jacksonville, Florida. We were passing by the Anheuser-Busch plant, of all places. What a shame. We’re passing right by there. Just went underneath the interstate, and right there it is, and that’s when God was working in my heart, and I knew the Bible said this: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” I knew that. And that’s now, “Lord, you said if I call, you’ll save me.” That’s what you said. And my little boy heart said, “God, I’m calling right now.” You guys say amen? I called.

My little boy heart—that was the way by faith I took the blood of Jesus and I applied it to my heart. Now, there must be a time like that. There must be a time like that. You might not remember the date. You might not remember everything about it, but there must be a time that you say, “Hey, that is when I took the blood of the Lamb and I applied it to my heart, to my life. I applied it.”

The blood of Jesus is applied here by faith. I accepted Jesus’ shed blood as a payment for my sin.

Now let me just stop. You say, “I don’t have that.” You need that for your salvation, and then you need that for your assurance. Revelation talking about the devil, it says this: “They overcame him [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” You need a word of your testimony, a time when you went and you applied the blood of the Lamb in your heart. You need that.

My old preacher told a story when he was a young preacher back in Texas. There was someone that called before cell phones, called the house phones, you know, and it called, and I answered it, and it was so-and-so, Mr. So-and-so, and it’s a preacher, “You’ve got to come over here. My wife’s going crazy.” “And what’s wrong with her?” “She just cried and she’s throwing a fit. She don’t think she’s saved.”

And so my preacher, he said, he said, “Well, I got up and I got dressed and got, you know, all that.” And he said, “I went over there to their house in the middle of the night. And I went inside, and the lady was just bawling and crying. And she said, ‘I don’t think I’m saved. I don’t think I’m going to die and go down—going to go to heaven.’”

And he said, “Well, tell me when you think you got saved.” And she said, “Well, I was at that revival a couple of years ago when so-and-so was preaching, and he was preaching on such and such, and in the invitation, the more she told, the less she cried, and I went forward and I asked Jesus to be my Savior. Oh, preacher, I’m saved! We don’t need you around here.”

“They overcame him.” The devil’s author of confusion. “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” That goes on: “They loved not their lives unto the death.”

But friend, you need—you need. I remember a man. He had been in one of our classes, and we had taught, “Hey, you need a day at a time. You might never remember the day, but you need a day in a day in a day in a day when you applied the blood.” We were in my office, me, him, and his wife. And back there is a big man. And he said, “I don’t have a day in a time and whatnot.” And we went through the salvation manual. We got on our knees in my office, and he prayed. He applied the blood. He put his faith in Jesus.

I didn’t expect this, but as soon as he finished praying, he looked up, he got up, and he got up and up, you know, one of those things, and he said, “I got a day in a time.” Friend, you need that. “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”

Now, if you’re here this morning and you’ve never, or maybe you’re not sure that you’ve applied the blood, I think of another man. I wasn’t planning on telling the stories, but I think another man down here, right along here—this man, he wasn’t sure of his salvation, and we went through the plan of salvation, and he prayed, he applied the blood.

And I said, “Now, John, did you get saved today, or did you get saved years before?” And he said, “I’m not really sure.” And I said, “Take a month or two, pray about the Holy Spirit.” And he came back a little while later, a month or two later, and he said, “Pastor, I needed that to get assurance, but I think I was already saved.” Maybe that’s you. But he said, “I needed it.” By the way, that young man is in the ministry today, the assistant pastor of a church. But I don’t have from here—

But I’m saying if that’s you, you say, “I don’t really know if I’ve applied the blood. I know Jesus died. I believe that He died. I understand all that. I believe all that. But if you say, ‘I’m not sure that I’ve applied the blood,’ right now is a great time to do it. You know, the Bible says today is a day of salvation.” In fact, I’m going to do a little different. We’re just going to stop right now. And if you say, “I don’t know that I have a time when I applied the blood,” I’m going to ask you right now in your heart, in your seat right there, to apply the blood.

Would you do this? Would you all—all of us—let’s just all bow our heads for just a moment here. And if you’re there and you say, “You know, I believe Jesus died for my sins. I believe He rose again, but I’ve never applied the blood.” I’m going to ask you right now in your heart right now. Right now. That’s very important.

It may be words like this. It doesn’t have to be these exact words, but right there where you say, would you go to him and say, “Dear Jesus, I believe you shed your blood. I know you rose again three days later. But right now, Jesus, by faith, would you apply that blood? I want to apply that blood to my heart. Would you pay for my sins? Would you be my personal Savior? Thank you, Jesus.”

You can lift your head, open your eyes. If you just done that, then you have a day and a time. You applied the blood.

Now, let’s get a couple more things in here. You see this first Passover? It was only a one-time deal. Now, they did many things later on to kind of go back and remember. That’s what it’s all about: remembering. But there’s only one time. You only get saved one time.

Here’s the amazing thing about it. When you apply the blood, it’s the miracle of the moment. Boom, you’re saved. All right? Now, but here’s the thing: miracle of the moment, you apply the blood, you’re saved. You can’t be unsaved. You’re born again; can’t be unborn. But growing is a process of a lifetime. Anybody here, you’ve grown as much as you ought to grow? Anybody like that? I’m glad you didn’t raise your hand because we’d say, “Liar,” you know.

Let me just throw out some things here very quickly about this process. You get to say that’s a one-time deal. It’s done. You applied the blood. He’ll pass over the devil. The devil’s going to hell. He wants to take all he can to hell. Pass over. The Lord—direction—He’s over. The Lord passes over the death angel, whatever you believe. No, but that’s a miracle of the moment. The growing.

Now, so when that night passed, the Egyptians and Pharaoh said, “Man, get out of here,” and they had to leave. Egypt in the Bible is a picture of the world. All right? And once that blood was applied and they were saved from that destroyer, then they needed to leave.

Look over, if you will, just real quickly here in 2 Corinthians. This is part of the Bible that in our day and time you will not hear preached a lot about in our day and time in America. But it’s still in the Bible. The old-time preachers would often call it separation. Nowadays it could be kind of linked up with sanctification. But this is part of growing. They had to leave Egypt to grow.

By the way, it’s interesting, and I know you’re looking over there in Second Corinthians, it’s in chapter number six. But let me just talk while you’re looking there, all right? But, you know, the Bible talks about a mixed multitude went out of Egypt, and those that have studied that think that some of the Egyptians went with the children of Israel. So I call it the Bible because of a mixed multitude.

Now, the Bible doesn’t tell us this, but think about it: as some of the children of Israel said, “You know what? I got a pretty good house in Egypt. I’ve gotten in pretty good with the taskmasters. I’m their teacher’s pet. I think I’ll just stay.” Now, if they applied the blood, the death angel or the destroyer passed over, but they’re not going to grow.

And someone that gets saved, what does the Bible say over here in Second Corinthians, chapter number six? Look at verse number 17. Second Corinthians 6, verse number 17. He says, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the preacher”—no, saith the Lord—“and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”

You see, when you say there’s part of growing in the Lord that I must separate from the world, from the wrong crowd. I cannot touch the unclean thing. In our day and time, modern-day Christianity in America—y’all out there with me? Y’all with me a little bit this morning? You know, it’s kind of getting where we got so much of the world in the church and church in the world, it’s hard to tell the difference between the two.

And the Bible said, “No, I want you to come out and be separate.” You know, there’s a church, and I use that term lightly, but there’s a church in Smyrna, Tennessee, when they have their fall festival, they have to go to the town of Smyrna and get a beer permit. Did you know that? I’m just saying, friend, it’s to the point where we’re not really practicing. If I’m going to grow and I’m going to be close to the Lord, I’m going to have to pull out, I’m going to have to be separate from the world. There ought to be a difference between the world and a Christian. They ought to talk a little different. They ought to walk a little different. They ought to look a little different. They ought to just—and we ought not be ashamed saying, “Hey, He saved me. He shed His blood. I’m not just a secret service Christian. I want everyone to know I’m a child of God.”

That’s part of growing. Now, you don’t have to do all that to be saved. The shed blood of Jesus saves you. But part of growing is that.

Let’s keep going here just a little bit. Look in verse number 38. Chapter 12, verse number 38. We’ve already mentioned this. Well, man, I jumped ahead of myself. We’re going to look at it. Look at verse number 38. And he says, “And a mixed multitude went up also with them, and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.”

All right, so we already mentioned it. Probably some Egyptians went with them. What about the Israelites? Maybe—I’m sure, by the way, you get about a million or plus people, you’re going to have different opinions. I promise you, you get 10 people in a room, we’ve got 100 opinions. I mean, that’s just the way it is. And so I almost guarantee you some of the Israelites didn’t go. Now they applied the blood. They delivered from the destroyer.

Let me say this. It’s interesting. I’m just going to read this one for you. Acts chapter number 7, verse number 38: “This is he that was in the church in the wilderness.” So in the New Testament, it talks about these people that went out of Egypt and they’re in the wilderness, and it calls them church.

Here’s what I’m saying: Applying the blood of Jesus, that’s what saves someone. Well, how to separate from the world? But part of that separating is you get involved in a church. That’s God’s plan. And the children of Israel left as a group of people. And boy, those people—everybody needs a home church.

I’ll never forget when I knocked on the door years ago of a lady, and she was going through a very tough time, and I mean she was crying and everything, and she was in the Christian world as a Christian artist and whatnot, and everybody kind of knew her somewhat, but—but she was going through a tough time. And I said, “Do you have a home church?” And she did not. And she just kind of needed some Christian friends, and it just resonated in my mind and heart: Boy, everybody, I don’t care who they are, how popular they are, whatever they do in the Christian world, they need a home church.

The pastor visited the man. He had been missing church back years ago. It was wintertime. It was cold. And the person—pastor—come on in. And they went over. They sat down by a fireplace. Boy, that fireplace—we don’t need a fireplace today for sure, you know—but at that time they did. And boy, it was just flaming up. And boy, you want to get warm that day, you know? And the pastor said, “Sir, would you mind—would you mind if I mess with your fireplace a little bit?” And he said, “All right.”

And the pastor went over there, and he had those tongs, you know, and he went over and he picked up one of the logs. And it was a big enough fireplace and kind of had all the bricks around and all that, and he set that log apart from the rest of the fireplace. And they just sat and talked. The other guy’s like, “Well, I’d pastor do that,” you know?

And they talked for a while, and a little while later on, the pastor said, “Now, brother, you know, I love you, and I’m not trying to hurt you, but did you see that one log that has set aside? The fire’s man, it’s doing good, but that log over there died, and it’s just got some smoldering, but the fire’s not going.” And that’s what happens when you get a Christian out of church. The fire just got to die, his friend. That’s God’s plan.

And the children of Israel, yes, they’re saved by the applied blood, but they need to be in this church, if you will, of the children of Israel.

Here’s something that’s very, very interesting. Remember, they left, and they went this direction—there’s the Red Sea. Remember that? And Pharaoh changed his mind. The world always, always goes after you eventually. And Pharaoh said, “I’m going to get those Israelites,” you know, and boil the—right—the Red Sea.

And remember what the Lord told Moses? “Moses, see that rod in your hand? Put that rod out there.” Remember that? And what happened? When he put the rod out, what happened? Man, the Red Sea split. And the children were—so they went down to—now they went down, see it came out. Let me read a verse about that. It’s 1 Corinthians 10:2. Let me just read it for you: “And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”

I think it’s a beautiful picture of baptism. Baptism doesn’t save you, friend. But if you’re going to walk with God’s people, and you’re going to grow in the Lord, one of the steps of growth is getting baptized. Baptism is a beautiful picture. They can’t see Jesus in your heart. They can’t see that. So it’s an outward picture of Jesus. He’s in your heart, and His death, burial, and His resurrection.

Help me out. Help me out. Who or what is this right here? Can you see that? Can you see that? Who or what is that? Help me out. Tell me what is that. Who or what is that? I’ve heard a couple of different things. Some are accurate. Someone says, “That’s your family.” That’s true. Well, actually, it’s not my family. Someone over here said it: “It’s a picture of my family.” And baptism doesn’t save you; it pictures your salvation.

Now here’s the thing: If someone, they’ve applied the blood, they’re saved, they’re going to heaven. But if they don’t get baptized—by the way, by a merchant—picture in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. See? And a church that preaches salvation through the grace and blood of Jesus alone—if they don’t get baptized properly, biblically, friend, you know what? They’re going to be stunted in their growth.

I mean, the children of Israel, they had to cross over the Red Sea and with God’s people over here. And you’re never going to grow. There’s always going to be something between you and your heavenly Father because God said, “Hey, once you believe, you trust, you put your faith, you apply the blood by faith, they need to get baptized.” You know, some Christians, they try to grow, but they won’t get baptized. And then grow some, but they’re so limited. It’s kind of like, you know, it’s like—and I’m not trying to be mean—but someone that’s got one leg longer than the other, and they wear those high heels on one side and high heels on that, and it’s just kind of, you know, they can—and I’m not trying to be mean—but that’s someone they’re trying to grow, but they won’t get baptized. Friends, you’ve got to follow God’s plan as part of growing. Get baptized.

Let’s keep going a couple more things here. We’re going to be done very, very quickly here. Look now in verse number 25, Exodus 12, and verse number 25, Exodus 12:25. He says right there, he says, “And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.”

You see, they applied the blood. They separated from the world from Egypt. They crossed over the Red Sea, and then they went over to this land that God had promised them. Now here’s the thing: That promised land—sometimes we sing about it and talk about that represents heaven. Actually, that’s not correct. Because when you get to heaven, you don’t have any more battles. That Canaan or promised land represents the victorious Christian life. It’s a land where you have answers to prayer. It’s a land we sing about it, and “He walks with me and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own,” and the joy we share. It’s that joy. You’re walking with the Lord.

Now here’s saying God had promised that to them, but they had to possess it. They had to march over there. They had to be willing to fight. And as you grow in the Lord—hey, salvation, boom, miracle of the moment—but growing, there’s going to be battles. And that’s part. Listen, in this world, you’re walking upstream. There’s going to be some battles. God’s promised you those things, but you’ve got to be willing to go in there and possess it.

Actually, the children of Israel, remember they got over to Kadesh-Barnea in about a year and a half, two years into it, and they were going to march into the promised land. But by doing the sin of the spies—ten were bad, two were good. Why do you think they saw in Canaan? Remember that old Sunday school song? And you know what? By lack of faith, they said, “No, we’re not entering in.”

You know, the sad thing is—we’re almost—you know what the sad thing is? For all together for 40 years, 38 more years, they just wandered. Have you ever seen a map of where they went to? And we’re not exactly, but the best we can tell, Thomas Nelson, their Thompson Chain—he’s got the best map on that, in my opinion—you’ll just see, they just went in circles in the wilderness, just wandering. Have you ever seen a Christian that’s not willing to sell out for the Lord? Just kind of wandering. And it’s kind of a sad thing. They’re still saved. They’re still a child of God. God still loves them, but they just won’t by faith enter into the battles and say, “I’m going to claim the land God’s promised to me.” And they just wander. By the way, I think the children of Israel in those 38 more years, I think they could have stepped out on faith, but they’re just hard—hardly weren’t willing to. But oh, it’s wonderful as you’re growing in the Lord.

Wednesday, I think it was, I’m going to be done. Ladders, you can put your shoes on. We’re about done here, all right? Wednesday, I went and visited Miss Billy, Brother Phil’s mom. And Miss Billy, Ms. Ramsey, is 90 years old. She was in ICU at Stonecrest. And there was moments, Brother Phil could tell you, of course, much better than I, but I think there was a couple moments it was a little touchy. She’s a very sick lady. She’s better now. The other field was just telling me she’s in a regular room now and so much better.

But I went and visited her, 90 years old and very sick, pneumonia in both lungs. And, you know, here’s the amazing thing about it: I went in there, and one of the first things she started talking to me about is about her nurses. “Well, so-and-so, he goes to church here. And so-and-so, I’m not sure about her.” And she started just talking about—and boy, I thought, “Miss Billy and Miss Ramsey, you’ve been such a light shining in that ER. I see you.” It really—she mentioned, and I asked about her health and now taking care of me, and she said, “Oh, they’re taking great care of me,” and all that stuff. But she was just like—and I said, “Miss Billy, God’s using you.” And she said, “He is.” She got to smile.

And somewhere in the conversation, I said, “Miss Billy, you know how it is.” She kept—she’s along this line. Brother Phil can tell you better than me—but she’s ready to go home. I asked Ms. Billy, “You may live longer. You may live to 100 years old.” She said, “Uh-uh, I ain’t living no 100. Don’t talk to me about that.” She didn’t want to hear that. And she was pretty—she let me know.

A little while later on, her son, Steve, came in. And, you know, Steve, I kept remembering the conversation. I tried it again. I said, “And Ms. Billy, you don’t know how much longer you may live, to 100.” She said, “I done told you. I don’t want to hear this 100.”

And I’m saying that’s a Christian lady that’s applied the blood. She’s been baptized. She’s been in church forever, cooked for that church for 40-something, 50 years, I don’t know. Wish she was in good health, she’d cooked for us, amen. And she would if she could. We’ve talked about it. But, hey, listen, she’s entered into that promised land, and she’s about to go home, and she’s happy. And the Lord used her there. In fact, Molly, I hope you don’t mind it, but Molly was one of her nurses. And between Ms. Ramsey and Brother Phil, Molly asked Jesus to be her Savior. She’s applied the blood. She’s in church Wednesday night and in church today. And, you know, that’s brought so much joy to Ms. Ramsey. She’s just happy. That’s as you grow and you enter into that land that God’s promised.

Would you bow your heads? Close your eyes. Our heads are bowed, eyes are closed. We talked about so much. Maybe you here this morning you say, “I need to get baptized. I’ve been saved. I’ve applied the blood. I need to get baptized.” Maybe you here this morning you say, “I need to separate. I’m just too close to the world. I need to get some things out of my life.” Maybe you here you say, “I need to join a church. I need to get involved in—I need to make a church my home church.” Maybe you’re saying, “I’m not entered into some land that God wants me to possess, and I need to be willing to go and fight for it.”

And God spoke to my heart about one. Maybe you, earlier in the service, you asked Jesus to be—you applied the blood. If any of those things, you preacher, God spoke to my heart about any of those things. If that’s you this morning, just lift your hand. And preacher, God spoke to my heart about any of those things. If that’s you this morning, just lift your hand. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you so very, very much. Thank you so very much. It’s wonderful. I see some hands. I see many hands, many hands, one of those things. God spoke to my heart. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you so very, very much. It’s wonderful. You can put your hands down.

Maybe you here this morning you say, “Preacher, I was one of those this morning that I applied the blood just a little bit ago and I got a day at a time.” And earlier when you let us in a prayer, I did. I called on Jesus. I applied the blood. I’m not going to call your name. I’m not going to embarrass you. I want to rejoice with you and I want to pray for you in your new journey for the Lord.

But you said, “Preacher, I just asked Jesus to be my Savior. I applied the blood earlier in the service.” If that’s you, would you just lift your hand up? I’m not going to call your name. I’m not going to embarrass you. I want to pray for you. Would you just lift your hand up? “Preacher, I applied the blood earlier. I asked Jesus.” When we prayed that prayer, I meant that. I prayed that prayer. Anybody like that? Just slip it up. Just slip it up. I see one, I think, just a little one. But oh, hey, Christians, let’s grow. Let’s grow. Let’s make salvation clear for others. Would you do that? Would you do that?

Would you please stand? We’ll have a word of prayer. Would you spend some time with the Lord? Wherever you are at—church members, separation, baptism—need to get baptized? Hey, the baptistery water’s warm. We can baptize right now if you want to get baptized. Let’s get it settled. Whatever may be, a few minutes, the invitation, let’s get this thing settled. Let’s pray, and you do business with the Lord.

Father, thank you for just a wonderful picture. Lord, I pray to make salvation crystal clear. Lord, I pray those need to get baptized, get baptized. Those need to get involved in the church, get involved. Those need to separate from the world, they separate. For those that need to enter into the promised land, let them do so. Lord, if someone needs to just get a day at a time when they apply the blood, let them get it settled today. Well, thank you for what you do. Give us courage to stand out and stand up for you, Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Would you be obedient as the Lord guides you as our instruments play? Would you just be obedient? Wherever you may be, what stage are you at? Just take the next step. What’s the next step for you? What’s the next step for you? Apply the blood. It’s not good enough. He did shed His blood, but you’ve got to apply it by faith, by faith to your heart.

Let me mention two things. Let me mention two things. Baptism is so important. With our heads bowed and asking, if you need to get baptized, you come let Brother Bill know. Maybe if you want to do it today, we’ll do it today. If you want to do it later, let him know. We’ll get this thing planned out. Or maybe separation. You’re never going to grow as your heart—you’re not going to be close. You’re not going to have that joy, that peace that comes from walking with Him. Do you separate? Boy, maybe there’s something that’s pulling. Maybe it’s the wrong kind of books, wrong kind of music, maybe it’s friends. I don’t know, but they had to separate from the world. Would you do business with God as we have another chorus play? Would you do business with God about those things?

Original File: 2026-06-29 - Pastor Paul Chisgar - The First Passover - Sunday AM - 06⧸28⧸2026