What’s the worst thing you’ve ever forgotten?
I think the worst for me was forgetting a preaching engagement. I turned up in my own church at 9.30 am and my elders looked at me strangely. “Weren’t you supposed to be preaching somewhere else today?” one of them asked.
As soon as he said it, I remembered. I had arranged to preach for a congregation about an hour away. It was 9.30 am and their service started at 10am. I won’t go into the details of how I got there. Let’s just say that although I was late and the service had already started, I wasn’t as late as I should have been.
That was my worst forgetting. But Exodus 12 reminds us that there’s a worse forgetting than that. We can forget God’s sovereign salvation:
- We forget we didn’t deserve saving
- We forget we were saved by God
- We forget the suffering required for our salvation
- We forget to worship God for our salvation
That’s a serious spiritual amnesia isn’t it? But thankfully there’s a cure that reverses the effects and etches God’s sovereign salvation in our minds.
Read Exodus 12:1-7 and 24-28 to see how God cures the Israelites amnesia, so that we can improve our spiritual memories too. As we do so, remember this Old Testament Passover is a picture prophecy of the New Testament Passover. As Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 5:7, Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us.
SALVATION IS BY GRACE ALONE (1-6)
- God initiates salvation (1-2)
- God designs salvation (3-5)
- God provides salvation (6)
Salvation is by grace alone means salvation is by God alone.
But what’s my part in this? What do I do?
SALVATION IS BY FAITH ALONE (7-11A)
- Sprinkle blood by faith
- Eat the lamb by faith
- Burn the lamb by faith
- Prepare to leave by faith
We’re not saved by doing but by depending. We’re not saved by trying but by trusting.
So I’m to receive this salvation. Do I then do add my part?
SALVATION IS BY CHRIST ALONE (11B-13)
- The Lord judges the bloodless
- The Lord passes over the blood-covered
We’re not saved by our giving but by Christ’s forgiving.
So, we don’t have a part? What does that mean for us?
SALVATION IS FOR THE GLORY OF GOD ALONE (14, 24-28)
- Remember God’s salvation
- Celebrate God’s salvation
Is that not worth celebrating?
We don’t produce our salvation for God, we praise God’s salvation of us.
LIVING THE BIBLE
Remember that we tend to forget. We suffer from spiritual amnesia. We even forget God’s sovereign salvation. We forget (1) We didn’t deserve saving; (2) We were saved by God; (3) The suffering required for our salvation; (4) To worship God for our salvation
So, remember, salvation is (1) By grace alone; (2) By faith alone; (3) By Christ alone; (4) For the glory of God alone.
Remember to celebrate God’s sovereign salvation forever.
Remember the Lord’s death until he come, or we’ll forget the Lord’s salvation has already come.
This episode of Living the Bible lines up with Expedition 6: Day 4 in Exploring the Bible Together: A 52 Week Family Worship Plan and Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids. You can catch up with previous episodes of the Living the Bible podcast here or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcast.