Unlimited Grace

Guest (Male): I believe that the one who saves you is the one who knows you, knows everything about you, and created the world and sent the angel of death to turn the hand of Pharaoh. You recognize that the greatest power that we observe is but a particle of what God himself has declared himself to be. And that should change us.

Guest (Male): So glad you joined us for today's Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. In today's episode, Pastor Bryan shares a lesson from Exodus chapter 12. Dr. Chapell highlights the origin of Passover and what it communicates to us about God's power and saving grace extended to us.

You can find this lesson and many others when you visit unlimitedgrace.com. And while you're there, look for this wonderful resource from Dr. Chapell, Holiness by Grace. In this book, Pastor Bryan will guide you through reassuring scripture passages to discover how works and obedience are not a means of establishing or maintaining salvation, but a grateful response to God's mercy. Let's hear now from Dr. Bryan Chapell as he shares the lesson, Saved by Sacrifice.

Bryan Chapell: It's with a very special purpose that we begin again this fall season as a church celebrating the Lord's Supper, but in the context of the Passover that was initiated in the book of Exodus, God providing for his people. He provided for his people, as verse 24 says, in a way that this rite would be a statute, he said, for you and for your sons forever. There is an observation that was to be observed for thousands of years and Jewish people still observe this, as they have every year for now approaching 4,000 years.

Why? What is being driven so deep into their hearts? We, as we celebrate the Lord's Supper, joining that ongoing celebration of Passover, to recognize what God has done for his people. We may not perceive the depth and the meaning until we remind ourselves, Jesus, when he began this Lord's Supper for us, was reminding us of the meaning of what he was doing in the midst of a Passover meal. When we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we lift one cup.

We may forget that in the Passover, there were actually four cups as God was communicating his message, each significant, and the one that Christ chose to be significant for the Lord's Supper itself communicating much to us. The first cup of the Lord's Supper is that which is indicated in verse 17 of Exodus chapter 12. Just in the middle of that verse, verse 17, God says to Moses, "You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread," that is the Passover, "for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt."

"I brought you out." It was the first cup of the Passover, the cup of sanctification. "I brought you out of slavery, I brought you out of a sinful past that was caused by your own betrayal of Joseph. I brought you out of the land in which you were held bondage in darkness. I have separated you. And now you are to be a separate people." And they began the Passover with the cup of sanctification, acknowledging they were a separated people for God's purpose.

Because God had separated them, the second cup was the cup of praise, verse 26. "When your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?' you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.'" And the people bowed their heads and they worshiped. He struck down his and our enemies, but he spared us, though we were undeserving and could not take care of ourselves. God saved us.

It was the cup of praise that they next celebrated. But what was the means of that praise and separation? It was through a redemption, and that was verse 23, the recognition of God's work on our behalf. "The Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter."

There was a third cup. It was the cup of redemption as God would rescue his people by the sign of blood. And it was this cup in the Passover meal that Jesus would say to his disciples, "This cup is the new testament in my blood," not the lamb's blood. "This cup is redemption in my blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." And what Jesus was saying to his disciples and to us is, "I am the lamb. I am the provider. The destroyer, the wrath of God shall not come to you because the redemption that God provides shall be in my blood."

Why did Jesus take the Lord's Supper that even by his time had already been celebrated for almost 1,500 years and plant the deepest message of the gospel within that meal? It was because for us even now, 2,000 years later, he is planting in consciousness and heart and regular practice in the church the very deep things of the gospel in ways that we cannot ignore them and must continually be renewed by them.

What are we to learn from the Passover meal as awkward and difficult as it may sound? What we are learning first is of the terror of our God. We can sanctify it, we can pretty up Exodus 12 and make movies about it and be struck by all the special effects and not remember what is happening. It is the angel of death. At the end of nine plagues where Pharaoh's hard heart will not let the people go, that finally God says, "I will force your hand and I will bring the power of the terrors of the wrath of God upon those who will not listen to my word."

And so he comes. And we who domesticate Jesus and do not remember who we are talking about may not recognize all that is being signified when the Passover is what Jesus explains. He says it so clearly when he says, "This cup is redemption in my blood." What is he speaking about? It is verse 27 of Exodus 12. "It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover. He passed over the houses of the people of Israel when he struck the Egyptians, but spared our houses." He has the power to spare, but what is also being said? He has the power to strike.

Who is this God? Who is the one who saves Israel? But the God of vast power that we have trouble even recognizing ourselves. Consider this. It is only three months since the death of Stephen Hawking, the great brilliant scientist who through his theory of everything, which was to be a unified theory of physics and cosmology that explained the universe without need of God, not only impressed the secular world but created challenges for many Christians who read his writings.

Only three months after the death of Stephen Hawking, the very science community that supported him is now saying he was wrong. Words from this month's Atlantic, "A new conjecture in physics challenges the leading theory of everything. The new formula posed in multiple papers by scientists at leading universities, identifying the problem simultaneously in America, Austria, and Japan, has cast doubt on the leading model of the universe's birth. The new observations undo the currently believed story of the universe's birth known as the Big Bang theory."

Going on to explain math that I don't understand, the article says that as people have simply done the math with the discoveries of dark matter and string theory, the math will not add up and it is impossible for the universe to be as it is according to current belief. Now, isn't that amazing? After thousands of years of human ingenuity and study and modern scientists, we have no better explanation for the universe than "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

But what are the implications of that? That not simply natural phenomena and materialistic evolution was the cause of the universe and the world as we know it, but God of infinite power and majesty came and made the world and our lives so that we can know and be known in this world. You think of the magnitude of that in terms of just this past week, the Parker Solar Probe being sent toward the sun so that we can study it, some of the observations just having been discerned why we would study it in the last 20 years.

But that solar probe will be the fastest human-made object ever created, going almost a half million miles an hour and it will take it seven years to get to our closest star, which is just the sun. And the scientist will tell us that our star sun is but one grain of sand of the stars of the universe that are more numerous than the sand grains on the seashores of all the world. That is how vast and magnificent and overwhelming is the power and the greatness of our God. And that God came to live and dwell among us and presents himself to us as a lamb in the Lord's Supper.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell.

God instructs us in his word to be holy as he is holy. How can God expect us to be as holy as he is? Such a standard seems either to ignore our frailty or to impose certain failure. That is, until we understand how God views us. In this challenging yet heartwarming book, Holiness by Grace, Dr. Bryan Chapell illustrates the principles of grace, the practices of faith, and the motives of love in living a life of holiness.

Pastor Bryan will guide you through reassuring scripture passages to discover how works and obedience are not a means of establishing or maintaining salvation, but a grateful response to God's mercy. Holiness by Grace draws straight from the heart of God as Pastor Bryan's encouraging words will help you understand that your holiness is not so much a matter of what you achieve as it is the grace that God provides, a grace so rich as to make the pursuit of his holiness your soul's deepest delight.

You can request your copy of Holiness by Grace when you go online to unlimitedgrace.com or by calling 844-4-GRACE. That's 844-414-7223. And now more from Bryan Chapell on today's Unlimited Grace.

Bryan Chapell: Dorothy Sayers wrote, "It is a terrifying assertion that the same God who made the world lived in the world, passed through the gates of hell, and conquered death in our behalf." For that God now says, "I am here." That same God says, "I am here." And if you perceive that, if you do not merely domesticate your Jesus into "Gentle Jesus, savior mild," but believe that the one who saves you is the one who knows you, knows everything about you, and created the world and sent the angel of death to turn the hand of Pharaoh.

You recognize that the greatest power that we observe is but a particle of what God himself has declared himself to be. And that should change us. James Emery White, the pastor and writer, says, "I know of a professor at a Christian college who had a student come to him and say, 'Look, I know I'm sleeping around and I know it's wrong. But after all, I really believe that all my sins were taken care of on the cross 2,000 years ago.'"

By whom? By the creator of the universe, by the God whose infinite power is such that were he to appear before us now in the way that he shall when he returns, we would fall down in terror and trembling. This is the God whose magnitude of power is beyond our assessing, whose creation is beyond our explaining. And he says to you and me, "I have separated you out. I have called you to be a separated people. I have saved you for a purpose to live for me."

And we say, "I will trample on that truth. It does not matter to me. I will use it to continue in my way that my God will provide grace for me." It is not just cheap grace, it is a grace the Bible does not recognize. It is the grace that God says, as Dixie already said, that causes to thanksgiving and gratitude to say, "If he has saved me, I must live for him." And if you don't recognize that, recognize what this passage is telling us.

What does this power of God mean? It means that people are at risk. Yes, the enemies of God, verse 27, he struck down the Egyptians. But even the people of God are at risk. Verse 22 must have taken the people of God back. "Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning."

Why? Why are we needing to stay in our house? "Because God is coming in glory and great power. And if you do not recognize that, if there is not an awareness of the God you worship, then you yourselves are at great risk." We tend to not recognize who were the players in this drama put before us. I mean, we tend to make Pharaoh the Wicked Witch of the West and the people of God, Dorothy. They are not nearly so innocent.

Recognize that when Moses is sent to the people and it doesn't go so great in the early plagues, the people reject Moses, they reject the word of God and say, "May God judge you because of this plight that you have brought upon us." And it's not like it's going to suddenly get cleaned up because they are let out of Egypt. You know, in just a few weeks we will recognize the account of the golden calf as these same people who have been released, who've been separated out, who've been called, return to other gods.

Though they have been a redeemed people, they turn away. And it's not the end of that. Striking, even startling to us, is after 40 years of wandering in the desert, suffering for their sin in the desert, they now go into the promised land. And when they go, Joshua says to them, "Our forefathers worshiped other gods." Not just Pharaoh's people. "Our forefathers worshiped other gods." And then Joshua says to the people of Israel before they go into the promised land, "So throw away the idols your forefathers worshiped in Egypt."

They're still carrying the idols. God has been before them in pillar of fire, in pillar of cloud to guide them through all the difficulties. He saved them over and over again and they're hedging their bets. "I still got my father's idols." And Joshua has to say to them, "You who trust anything other than God, do you not recognize the risk you yourselves are in?" The great reminder of the Lord's Supper, of the Passover, the message that Israel had to recognize is there is none righteous, no, not one.

These are not just nice, sweet people. God is saying even to his people, "Unless I provide a way of escape for you, you die." There are great consequences. Your ability, your means, your powers will not save you. It's a message to be remembered over and over again. I think of the conversion of Damian Easley, the second baseman when he played for the Angels. Child of a broken home and so baseball became his escape and his security.

He developed amazing skills, great power, amazing speed, perpetual all-star. And yet after one game on the plane going home, he listened to some teammates talking and one said to the other, "If this plane were to crash, would you go to heaven or hell?" And there is Damian Easley who recognized, "If that's the question, I recognize my power, my ability, all the accolades that I've received will not do a thing if this plane goes down."

And committed his life to Christ recognizing God alone could save. He is the redeemer. And it's that message that's working its way into the Passover communication of the terror of our God. It is the message at the same time of the triumph of our God. He is bringing by his great power victory over earth. What are all those plagues indicating? He's saying, "I am the God of land and skies, of frogs and flies, of everything you can think of, but ultimately I am Lord over life and death itself. I am the God of great power and I overcome."

It's not just overcoming the power of earth, it's overcoming the power of evil. When God is ultimately forcing Pharaoh's hand, God says, "I will get glory not just over you, Pharaoh, I will get glory over your gods." There is no one like our God, no greater power, nothing else to trust in. Ultimately God is showing that his is the triumph and his alone so that we will trust him, so that we will turn to him, so that we will partake of this meal again and recognize as the Israelites were being called to recognize over again, unless God frees you, you die. But he has provided the means. He has provided the way. Trust him, turn to him, go again with him.

Hi friend, this is Pastor Bryan. I'm glad you decided to tune in and listen and I would consider it a privilege to pray over you today. Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, what a privilege we have to come to you in prayer. Your word says that we can come to you about anything, not just the big things and not just the things that we think we have figured out. Instead, you love us so much that you say, "Do not be anxious for anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving for your certain care, we can offer our requests to you." And then because we know that the God who controls all the outcomes of things on earth and for eternity cares this much for us, the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and minds for whatever we face with Jesus.

We do not expect our prayers to end all our trials before Jesus comes, but we know that you will use our prayers, Father, to make all things work together for good until Jesus returns. Thank you for this promise and assurance. Give us the peace and the strength we need through these promises and assurances we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): That's Pastor Bryan Chapell and you've been listening to Unlimited Grace. If you would like to hear more from Dr. Chapell, you can find a collection of valuable resources at unlimitedgrace.com. Please be sure to join us next time as once again we endeavor to put Christ at the center of our efforts so that lives might be transformed by his unlimited grace.

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