Meekness – A Full-length Sermon
Faith Committee, Character Council of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky
Contributed by Pastor Lee McDowell
Pastor, Anchor Baptist Church, Houston, Texas
Preached March 3, 2002
The Epitomy of Meekness
We have a new Character Quality this month . . . Meekness. The Greek word is "praus" which simply means humble. In our materials the definition is, "yielding our rights to God so He can demonstrate His peace and His power through us." We have to understand that it's not our meekness, but His. As the Lord Jesus Christ approached the cross, did He have any rights? Scripture tells us in John 5:30, "Jesus said, 'I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." No matter who Christ was for us on the cross, He always had that meekness of yielding His rights to God the Father. So that God the Father could demonstrate His peace and power through Him. Everything we embrace today will epitomize that Meekness as we celebrate the ordinance Jesus Christ instituted at His "Last Supper" that eventually became known as "The Lord's Supper."
Read Exodus 11:1 – 12:14
1 And the Lord said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether.
2 Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold.
3 And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people.
4 And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt:
5 And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon this throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the first born of beasts.
6 And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.
7 But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move this tongue, against man or best: that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.
8 And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger.
9 And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you; that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.
10 And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land.
1 And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of they year to you.
3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count fort the lamb.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in hast: it is the Lord's Passover.
12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.
13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
14 And this day shall be unto your for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feat to the Lord through your generations; ye shall keep it a feat by an ordinance for ever.
This is an incredible story in scripture that has an incredible significance all the way down to this very morning. This feast was instituted by God to commemorate the deliverance of the people of God from Egyptian bondage and the sparing of their firstborn when the death angel smote the first-born of the Egyptians. I want us to focus only on two aspects of this first Passover before we prepare to celebrate today's feast of Christians.
First of all, this was an history-making moment for God's people. Their deliverance from Egypt was accompanied by their adoption as the nation of Jehovah. This deliverance was regarded as the starting-point of the Hebrew nation. They were to celebrate this feast every year in remembrance of what their God had done. Here's the significance of this . . . God's people were raised from the condition of bondmen, under a foreign tyrant, to that of a free people owing no allegiance to anyone but Jehovah God. Isn't that awesome!?! Isn't that wonderful?!? The prophet Isaiah later spoke of the event as a creation and redemption of the nation. Listen to these words in Isaiah 43:10-15:
10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant who I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
11 I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no savior.
12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.
13 Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?
14 Thus saith the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.
15 I am the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.
Does all this sound familiar to anything you've experienced? The condition of bondman . . . being under a foreign tyrant . . . redemption . . . creation . . . being free? At the moment of our new birth – our salvation – is the starting point of new life in Christ, the starting point of being a "child of God," the starting point of our adoption into God's family, the starting point of being set free from captivity of sin and free to live in Christ!
What is our instruction as we take of the Lord's Supper? "Do this, in remembrance of Me."
The second thing I want us to think about today is the Lamb. There are hundreds of things that could be said, but let's look at just a few. The Lamb slain typified Christ, the "Lamb of God," slain for the sins of the world. I Corinthians 5:7 calls Him, "Christ our Passover . . . sacrificed for us."
Another thing was that the lamb or kid killed at the first Passover was to be one without blemish . . . without sin. Christ knew no sin. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." II Corinthians 5:21.
Do you ever stop to think how God orchestrates life??? There is no such thing as luck, things don't just happen, and nothing takes God by surprise . . . He's God! Jesus' crucifixion was at a specific moment in time. According to Divine purpose, the true Lamb of God was slain at the same time as the lambs were being slain for the Lord's Passover (the feast the thousands of Jews were in Jerusalem for). It was the same season of the year, the same time of day as the sacrifice at the temple. Listen . . . the crucifixion began at the hour of the morning sacrifice and ended at the hour of the evening sacrifice.
Do you recall what Exodus 12:4 said? Let's read it once more, "And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb." Note that the lamb was never too little for the household. The household might be "too little," but not the lamb. Each lamb was for 10 to 20 people. If a household were less than 10 people, they "paired up" with another household. Listen, Jesus Christ, our Passover lamb is never "too little" . . . never "not enough" for any of us! Hallelujah!
Final thought, the lamb suffered . . . not the partakers . . . at God's feast of the Passover. Think about it, the partakers had suffered long and much. Then God sends a substitute to suffer as a sacrifice to end their suffering. Do you get the picture? At God's ordained timing, a Lamb is born . . . lives a perfect, "blemishless" life . . . then is sacrificed as a substitute for those who have suffered "bondage" (the bondage of sin) . . . the writer of Hebrews says He "offered up Himself once for all."
Hebrews 7:22-28; 9:11-12
22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:
24 But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
28 For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.
11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not make with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Now listen carefully . . . at the first Passover, those who had not "applied the blood of the sacrificial lamb," lost their firstborn son. Today, those who do not "apply the blood of Jesus," lose their life. Not physically, as in Egypt, but spiritually . . . as in Heaven.
What about you? Has the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ been applied to your sins?
Let's pray.
Page 1 of 4