Message Notes

YOUTH WORSHIP SERVICE 14 October 2023

Message: “An everlasting ordinance” Exodus 12:14

Text: Exodus 12:14-28

INTRODUCTION

1. What is an “ordinance?”

a) It is essentially “an authoritative order”

b) God gave a Divine Ordinance for the children of Israel

2. The Passover would be celebrated as a Divine Ordinance

a) The Blood would be a sign

b) But this act need not be repeated ever again

THE ISSUE OF A DIVINE ORDINANCE

‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.

Exodus 12:14

1. A Memorial

2. A Feast

a) To be kept

b) Throughout all generations

3. An everlasting ordinance

a) This came from the LORD

b) This was a command given to Moses for the children of Israel

THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD

15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

16 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you.

17 So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.

18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.

19 For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.

20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”

Exodus 12:15-20

1. There is the Passover Feast

a) Slaying of the lamb

b) Partaking of the lamb

2. There is the Feast of Unleavened Bread
(The Focus here is the Feast of Unleavened Bread)

3. What is Unleavened Bread?

a) Leaven is Yeast

i) In normal circumstances yeast is used to make the bread rise

ii) It is not wrong to partake of yeast in normal times

iii) This was a historic moment for Israel

b) No yeast in the making of Unleavened Bread

i) Israel was to leave Egypt immediately

ii) There would be no time to wait for the yeast to ferment in the dough

iii) Thus, only Unleavened Bread is possible

iv) The Unleavened Bread is to commemorate the time of leaving Egypt

5. All leaven must be removed from the house

a) Leaven represents impurity

b) Purity is of great significance to the LORD

i) God has given an Ordinance

ii) His word must be obeyed

iii) A pure heart is one that would obey God fully

6. For one week, only Unleavened Bread may be eaten

a) The people will gather for a holy convocation

b) They will gather for worship and fellowship

c) There will be great awareness of God

i) His deeds

ii) His command (ordinance)

THE IMPENDING DEPARTURE FROM EGYPT

1. The children of Israel had been in Egypt for 400 years

2. They had become slaves of Egypt and had suffered much

3. Israel was not ready to depart from Egypt to go to the Promised Land

INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN BY MOSES

21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb.

22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.

23 For 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 not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.

24 And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.

25 It will come to pass when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service.

26 And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’

27 that you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ” So the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

28 Then the children of Israel went away and did so; just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

Exodus 12:21-28

1. Moses called for all the elders of Israel

2. Clear instructions were given

a) A lamb was to be chosen and slain

b) Its blood was to be splashed on the lintel and doorposts

c) The children of Israel responded in worship

d) They obeyed the instructions given by Moses

3. God would pass over all Egypt

a) All houses that would not have the sign of blood would suffer the consequences of death of the firstborn son

b) All houses that had blood sprinkled would see their occupants spared and protected

LESSONS FOR US TO LEARN

1. To appreciate the Lord’s grace and mercy

2. His protection is to be especially treasured

3. The last plague was the most significant of all

a) It is to be kept as an Ordinance

b) The next generation must be taught about how God passed over Egypt and spared the children of Israel

c) The Ordinance of the Passover and Unleavened Bread is to be kept faithfully