First Baptist Church, Southside
Do you want to be set free? That is the good news about Jesus. He came to set us free from guilt, fear of death, slavery to sin, worry, bad habits, the need to impress others and the list goes on.
This freedom is best illustrated by the Passover event in the Old Testament. God’s chosen people, the Israelites, were enslaved and oppressed by a cruel pharaoh. God sent 10 plagues against Egypt to convince pharaoh to set His people free. The 10th plague foreshadowed what Jesus would do eventually on the cross. All the firstborn sons in Egypt would die that evening. However, the Angel of Death “passed over” the homes of those who painted the blood of the Passover lamb over their doorway.
The Passover event demonstrates why we must know God today to be set free:
1. The pharaoh oppressed the Israelites just as sin oppresses us today.
2. The plague of death was not only against the Egyptians who resisted God in the past but is also against all of us who have sinned against God today as well. Romans 6:23 says it clearly, “For the wages of sin is death.”
3. The lamb had to die in the place of the firstborn son; Jesus died in our place to give us life.
4. There was and is only one way to be saved from God’s judgment — the blood of the lamb. Residents in Egypt could not dead bolt their doors, cover their door with red paint or even use ketchup to escape God’s judgment. The only way to be saved was with the “blood of the lamb.” The only way to be saved from God’s future judgment against sin is the blood of Jesus. Jesus asserted this in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
It is not enough to only know about Jesus; you must personally ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and trust in Him to save you. It was not enough for the Israelites to know about the blood of the Passover lamb. They needed to personally apply the blood to their doorways. You very likely have heard about Jesus. But you, too, must personally apply the blood Jesus shed on the cross to the door of your heart by trusting in Jesus.
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