Title: Sanctification by Christ the Lamb
Text: Exodus 13: 11-16
Date: June 17, 2018
Place: SGBC, NJ
Sanctification, according to
scripture, is to be made holy by God the Father setting us apart in Christ in
electing grace before the world was made (Jude 1), by God the Son perfecting us
at the cross (Heb 10: 9-14) and by God the Holy Spirit washing us in regeneration,
creating in us a holy heart (2 Thess 2: 13-14; 1 Pet 1:2). God personally leads us by the Spirit in the
new spirit he has given us throughout the life of faith. (Gal 5: 12) Sanctification is not by us making ourselves holy
by our works under the law in any regard. (Rom 11: 6; Eph 2: 9)
Last time, we saw that
sanctification is of God through Christ. This is typified in the LORD sending
Moses to do the sanctifying.
Exodus 13: 1: And
the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2:
Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the
children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.
The Passover lamb had already
been offered. Now, Moses is sent forth to sanctify the firstborn. This typified how that Christ our Passover
Lamb sanctified his people on the cross and rose again so that now Christ comes
forth of the LORD to sanctify in heart, all those he sanctified by his blood. (Eph 1: 20-23; 1 Pet 5: 10; Php 1: 11)
Then we saw in verses 3-10 that
sanctification is through the hearing of faith, the hearing of the gospel of
Christ and not the hearing of works. Moses sanctified the firstborn by first
preaching to the children of Israel, giving them the Passover feast and the
feast of unleavened bread. By this they were constantly reminded that they were
redeemed and sanctified by the hand of the LORD, apart from their works. This
is a picture of the hearing of the gospel of Christ’s works by which we are
sanctified.
Galatians 3: 1: O foolish Galatians, who hath
bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus
Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2: This only would I learn of you,
Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3: Are ye so foolish? having begun in
the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? 4: Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in
vain. 5: He therefore that
ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it
by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 6: Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness. 7: Know ye
therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8: And the scripture, foreseeing that
God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto
Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
But the Lord also gave another picture of
the hearing of faith by making them sanctify all the firstborn. This will be our text.
Exodus 13: 11: And
it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as
he sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, 12: That thou shalt set apart unto the
LORD all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast
which thou hast; the males shall be the LORD’S. 13: And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb;
and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the
firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem. 14: And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come,
saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand
the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: 15: And it came to pass, when Pharaoh
would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of
Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I
sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the
firstborn of my children I redeem. 16:
And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine
eyes: for by strength of hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt.
This is another picture of the hearing of
faith by which we are sanctified. This,
too, constantly reminded the children of Israel that they were sanctified through
the redemption of the Passover lamb.
Proposition: Like as the law
of the firstborn constantly reminded them that they were sanctified through the
redemption of the Passover lamb, we are constantly reminded by hearing the
gospel that we are sanctified by the redemption of Christ our Passover Lamb.
ALL WHO ARE SANCTIFICATIED BELONG TO GOD
Exodus
13: 11: And it shall be when the
LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as he sware unto thee
and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, 12: That thou shalt set apart unto the LORD all that openeth the
matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall
be the LORD’S.
By this law of the firstborn they were
constantly reminded that they and all they possess belonged to the LORD. God said that he sanctified all the firstborn
to himself on the day he smote the firstborn in Egypt. Even the children of Israel’s firstborn were
smitten that day but they were smitten in a substitute, the Passover lamb.
Numbers 8:17: For
all the firstborn of the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast: on
the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for
myself.
Therefore, all the animals that God said
were clean animals were to be set apart and offered to God because they
belonged to God. The unclean animals were his too but we will see something next
about that. But for the clean firstborn
animals they were to be set apart for the Lord. The margin says the word “set
apart” means “cause to pass over.” They
were to be set apart and caused to pass through the fire then over to God as a
burnt offering to thank the LORD.
The sacrifice passing through the fire to
God is a picture of Christ passing through the fiery justice of God with all
his people in him. Those true believers,
born of the Holy Spirit, offered their firstborn clean animals as a burnt
offering to thank the Lord, to acknowledge to the LORD, that in the day he
smote the Passover lamb all their firstborn died in the substitute lamb and
were sanctified and became his.
The true believer knew the picture in the ceremony.
Those born of the Spirit and taught of God knew that, in ceremony and type, they
died under the justice of God in that substitute lamb. True believers knew that
the Passover lamb was a type of the coming Messiah, Christ our Passover. Christ
said, “Abraham saw my day!” So by
sacrificing their firstborn clean animals to God they acknowledged just what
God declared “on the day that I smote
every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself; they are
mine.”
Remember, the firstborn are like the firstfruits.
What the firstborn is all the rest are. The firstborn represents all God’s
elect. Christ is the Firstborn and all his people are firstborn sons in him.
Now, you and I who are firstborn sons in
Christ the Firstborn do not have to offer up our firstborn because we are the
firstborn typified here. We are the church of the firstborn of whom Christ is
the Firstborn among many brethren. (Heb 12: 23; Rom 8: 29)
Christ himself is truly the first and only to open the womb
because he was born of a virgin. The womb is opened at conception, not at
birth. But Christ opened the womb of a
virgin at his birth. When he was offered
as the firstborn son of Mary, Christ fulfilled this law and was the first and
only one to do it.
Luke 2:22: And
when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were
accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; 23: (As
it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be
called holy to the Lord;)
Christ is the only one to fulfill this law
in perfection. It shows he alone fulfills all the law for his people. All God’s elect fulfilled this very law, and all
the law, perfectly in Christ when he established it.
Therefore, we are God’s firstborn, the
church of the firstborn, in Christ the Firstborn. God says, “On the day that I smote every firstborn
[elect child, in Christ my FIRSTBORN] I sanctified [every firstborn elect
child] for myself.” And as they were
reminded of this through offering up their firstborn clean animals, we are
reminded as we hear the gospel of Christ preached.
Brethren, since we are holy by the blood
of Christ, by sanctification of the Spirit, God will now receive us. Therefore,
constrained by his love, we do not present our firstborn clean animals but what
do we present? How do we thank God and acknowledge that all we are and all we
have belongs to God?
Romans 12: 1: I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Brethren, by the blood of Christ, we belong
to God. All that we are and all that we possess belongs to God.
1 Corinthians 6: 19: What? know ye not that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God,
and ye are not your own? 20: For
ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your
spirit, which are God’s.
See, we are not under the law but under
grace. Christ has given us this light and easy yoke: to live unto him to glorify
him in our body and our spirit.
SANCTIFICATION BY THE LAMB’S REDEMPTION
Exodus 13: 13: And
every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not
redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy
children shalt thou redeem.
They were reminded that the
reason they were sanctified and clean is by the clean lamb redeeming them who
were unclean. This was pictured in the
clean, firstborn lamb redeeming the unclean, firstborn ass.
An ass is a wild, stubborn,
unclean animal that will not obey. That
is you and I by nature
Job 11:12: For
vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s
colt.
The wild ass will not bear the yoke. So
none of God’s elect will ever bow to the yoke of Christ, except the Son of God
break him. Man by nature is like “a wild ass used to the wilderness, that
snuffeth up wind at her pleasure” (Jer 2:24; Job 39:5).
Be sure to understand, God
would not receive the unclean ass unless it be sanctified and made clean. They could set it apart themselves, put it in
the field with the lambs, put an outward covering of lamb’s wool on it to make
it look like a lamb and call it sanctified. But that would not make it clean
and sanctified. Neither can a sinner make himself clean and holy to God for
God’s use by anything he or other men do.
Religion tries to separate men, put a fake covering of rules and
regulations on them and call that sanctification. Not so!
Job 9:30: If I
wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; 31: Yet shalt
thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.”
Sanctification is entirely of
the Lord apart from our works. In order to be cleaned and sanctified the
unclean ass had to be redeemed by a clean lamb dying in its place or else God
said break its neck. God’s holiness
demands that all us unclean asses must die ourselves under God’s justice OR by
God’s grace, be made holy and perfect unto God, by Christ, the Holy Lamb of
God, redeeming us by laying down his life in our place.
Be sure to get what God
declares by this type: his people are perfected
in sanctification—made perfectly holy, sanctified unto God—by the blood of Christ by which we are also
redeemed and justified.
Hebrews 10: 9: Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10: By the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all…14: For by one offering he hath
perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
Men are always accusing us of confounding
sanctification and justification. God
declares in this type and in Hebrews 10: 9-14 that the sanctification of his
people is by Christ’s one offering by which he justified us of our sins and
made us righteous in him. By his one
offering Christ sanctified us. By his
one offering Christ perfected forever them that are sanctified.
Then God showed the result of
this in their firstborn sons. They had
to pay the redemption price to redeem their firstborn sons. Like as they paid
the redemption price to buy their firstborn sons, now, by the blood of Christ,
he has bought his people to himself. He has redeemed his people from the curse
of the law to himself. So all God’s elect are God’s purchased possession, his holy,
firstborn sons. The apostle Peter understood
that our holiness was by the precious blood of Christ by which we are redeemed
from the curse of the law unto God as his purchased possession.
1 Peter 1: 15: But as he which hath called you is
holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16: Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy…18: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were
not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain
conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19: But with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Amazing grace! By Christ’s blood, all those
born of God are sanctified, perfected forever.
So that we are God’s own purchased possession, his firstborn sons. By
this gospel, he keeps us living in holiness unto Christ and loving our
brethren.
1 Peter 1: 22: Seeing ye have purified your
souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the
brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23: Being born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and
abideth for ever…25:...And this
is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Since our flesh is grass and
we are born-again and made holy by the gospel of Christ, Peter says,
1
Peter 2: 1: Wherefore laying aside
all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
2: As newborn babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
SANCTIFIED THROUGH THE HEARING OF FAITH
Exodus
13: 14: And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What
is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us
out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: 15: And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that
the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man,
and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth
the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem. 16: And
it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes,
for by strength of hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt.
The same as they were reminded and kept
looking to their Sanctifier each time they observed this law of the firstborn,
so we are reminded and kept looking to Christ alone through the preaching of
the gospel.
It is by the gospel of Christ, by the Spirit
applying it to our holy hearts, that we are constrained to do all to Christ’s
glory—“And it shall be for a token upon
thine hand.”
1 Corinthians 10:
31: Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the
glory of God.
Colossians 3:17: And
whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God and the Father by him…23: And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily,
as to the Lord, and not unto men;
Through hearing the works of Christ by
which we are made righteous and holy, by the Spirit of Christ teaching us
effectually in our new holy spirit, we are kept looking only to Christ—“and
for frontlets between thine eyes”
Hebrews 12: 1…let us lay aside every weight, and
the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the
race that is set before us, 2:
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down
at the right hand of the throne of God.
Through hearing of Christ’s faithfulness,
by Christ abiding within our sanctified tabernacle, we are kept giving him all
the praise and glory—“for by strength of
hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt.”
1
Corinthians 1: 31: As it is written, he that glorieth let him glory in the
LORD.
Amen!