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The sermon text this morning is Exodus chapter 12 verses 43
through 51. Exodus 12 verses 43 through 51. You’ll find that beginning on page 64
in your pew Bibles. So let us hear God’s holy word beginning at verse 43. And the
Lord said to Moses and Aaron this is the statute of the Passover no foreigner
shall eat of it but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you
have circumcised him no foreigner or hired worker may eat of it it shall be
eaten in one house you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house and
you shall not break any of its bones all the congregation of Israel shall keep
it if a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord
let all his males be circumcised then he may come near and keep it he shall be as
a native of the land but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it there
shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you all
the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron and on
that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of
Egypt by their hosts the grass withers the flower fades but the word of our God
endures forever let us pray our Lord and Father in heaven we thank you and praise
you for your word it is a lamp unto our feet and light unto our path we would
pray that by the light of your spirit you would illuminate our minds and our
hearts to behold wondrous things this day from your word we ask that you would
help us to see the relevance and significance and importance of this
portion of Holy Scripture may we take these truths to heart may your spirit
cause us to cause these truths to take deep root in our lives and we would pray
that you would bring forth spiritual fruit in our lives from the word this
day that we consider the Lord set a guard over my lips enable me to speak
only that which is faithful to your word we pray these things in Jesus name and
all of God’s people said you may be seated
title of my sermon this morning is fencing the covenant meal fencing the
covenant meal and there’s a number of words you can be listening for in my
sermon today the words covenant ordinance conversion and church well if
you’ve been attending grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church for any significant
period of time one of the things that you’ve probably noticed is that grace OPC
practices what has sometimes been called fencing the table and what is fencing the
table well this has to do with explaining by by means of instruction and
warnings who may and who may not partake of the Lord’s Supper now there are
different practices with respect to this in different professedly Christian
churches many churches today both liberal churches as well as many
evangelical churches practice what has typically been called open communion
which is basically the practice of inviting anyone and everyone who desires
to partake of communion to come forward and take communion and in such churches
oftentimes there is very little if any instruction given with regards to who
may and who may not partake of the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion but on
the other extreme sort of an extreme version of fencing the table is the
practice of closed communion there are some churches and denominations where in
order for you to partake of the Lord’s Supper in their church you have to
actually be at least a member of their church or at least a member of the
denomination the church’s denomination in the OPC typically we practice what is
called the verbal fencing of the table the pastor the one who administers the
Lord’s Supper gives verbal instructions and a verbal warning indicating who may
and who may not partake of the Lord’s Supper and of course typically that
instruction includes the fact that you need to be a baptized professing member
of a Bible believing church in order to partake of the Lord’s Supper what does
all of this have to do with our passage for today well believe it or not our
passage for this Lord’s Day morning from the book of Exodus can actually help to
shed light on why reformed churches like grace OPC engage in the practice of
verbally fencing the covenant meal in Old Testament times the covenant meal
was of course the Passover but in this new covenant age after the coming of
Christ Christ has appointed to replace the Passover the sacrament of the Lord’s
Supper so that is where we find some relevance to the practice of celebrating
the Lord’s Supper from this Old Testament passage now in terms of the
context of our passage for today the setting is that in in this section of
Exodus chapter 12 we have instructions on how the people of Israel were to
observe the Passover and chapter 12 this section of chapter 12 at the end here of
chapter 12 supplements the regulations that were revealed earlier in this
chapter in verses 3 through 11 and there was a reason for this supplemental
instruction you see the regulations revealed by God in this particular
section were given to Israel in light of the mixed multitude of non-Israelites
who accompanied the Israelites in their exodus from Egypt if you go back to
verse 38 we read about this mixed multitude it says a mixed multitude also
went up with them and very much livestock both flocks and herds and so
forth this mixed multitude this is speaking of Egyptians and other
foreigners who who accompanied Israel out of Egypt when the Lord brought
Israel out of out of Egypt from under the bondage of Pharaoh and the Egyptians
this multitude this mixed multitude would have included perhaps some hired
workers and so forth but it also would have included Egyptians and non-Israelites
who perhaps were very impressed with the power of the God of Israel as they had
witnessed the the plagues the supernatural plagues that God had poured
out upon the Egyptians and they and so among this mixed multitude would have
been converts converts to to the faith of Israel and to allegiance to the true
and living God the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Yahweh the Lord so with all of
this in mind let’s first of all consider what we learn here in this
passage about the qualifications for partaking of the Passover the
qualifications for partaking of this old covenant covenant meal known as the
Passover so let’s draw our attention let’s focus on verses 43 through 49 and
let me take you through these verses it says in verse 30 43 and the Lord said to
Moses and Aaron remember Moses was the prophet of the old covenant he was the
mediator of the old covenant and Aaron of course was his brother and was a
priest called to be a priest and so forth Yahweh the Lord says to Moses and
Aaron this is the statute of the Passover in other words he’s laying down
instructions for the celebration of the Passover meal and the first thing he
says is that no foreigner shall eat of it now what is he talking about what does
he mean when he says a no foreigner shall eat of the Passover well as one
commentator puts it a foreigner here refers to a dweller or settler who
lived permanently among the Israelites without being received into their
religious fellowship so these foreigners would include non Israelites who did not
adopt the faith of Israel they remained unbelievers though they lived among and
dwelled among the people of God and then it goes on to say in verse 44 but every
slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him
what about slaves that had been bought from amongst the Israelites well they
may eat of the Passover too as long as they’ve been circumcised now this is
often troubling you know it’s troubling for us living as Christians here in the
21st century when we read in the Bible about slavery and we’re troubled by that
and many skeptics and unbelievers would point to passages like this to to show
the alleged moral inferiority of the Bible and the ethics of the Bible to
contemporary secular ethics and they would say well you know your God
endorses and approves of slavery so how can the Bible be his word well we need
to understand beloved when we read of these kinds of requirements we need to
understand that slavery had been a universal practice in the ancient world
as it still is in numerous parts of the world even today that doesn’t make it
right and that’s not this does not mean that God endorses or approves of the
practice but God brings his word he speaks his word into a fallen situation
and into the realities of that fallen situation the reference here to slavery
in this passage is not to be understood as if God somehow is commending or
endorsing the practice of slavery but rather it just goes to show that God
revealed his word in the context of the realities of life in our fallen sin
cursed world but you know what really should amaze us about this mention of
slaves here in verse 44 what should really amaze us here in this passage is
that in Israel even a slave could be admitted to full equal covenantal status
to full religious and spiritual fellowship within God’s covenant
community in other words on a spiritual level the slave and the master were
spiritual equals they were both equal equal full members of God’s covenant
community and that was signified by by their circumcision and so again when we
read some of these laws in the Old Testament we need to try to put
ourselves back into the situation of the ancient world and we need to realize
that some laws like this were absolutely radical it would have been considered a
radical concept in the ancient Near Eastern world that a slave was a
spiritual equal to his master that was just and in the Torah in the books of
Moses slaves are actually given legal rights they have legal rights so again
this was a great move forward this was a great move forward in terms of of
justice and truth as as God speaks his word and puts these requirements upon
his people in the context of their fallen situation and yet in these laws
in laws such as these God sows the seed of of actually eventually abolishing the
slave trade in and of itself so again we have to understand and read the
passages like this from the standpoint of we need to keep in view the ancient
setting well then he goes on to say this in verse 45 it says no foreigner or
hired worker may eat of it no foreigner or hired worker who were these hired
workers well again as one commentator puts it visitors working for wages were
not to eat of the Passover because they stood in an external and impermanent
relationship to Israel and then it goes on to give this requirement in verse 46
it says it shall be eaten in one house you shall not take any of the flesh
outside of the house and you shall not break any of its bones what are the
reasons for these particular requirements if you were celebrating the
Passover in Israel you were to eat the Passover meal within your house and you
were not to take the meal outside the house and you were also to make sure
that no bones were broken what is what is all of this signify again none of the
food from the Passover meal was to be taken outside of the house now perhaps
this was so as to prevent any foreigners or strangers outside of the covenant
community from partaking of a portion of this holy covenant meal what we have
here is God doing is he’s sort of fencing the table if you will when it
comes to the the Passover he’s giving restrictions about who may and who may
not partake but what about the prohibition against breaking any of its
bones well perhaps this was meant to symbolize the unity and the fellowship
of God’s covenant people and furthermore this was also a picture pointing forward
to the Lord Jesus Christ because we’re told in the New Testament that Christ’s
bones were not broken when he was crucified turn with me if you would to
John chapter 19 and let me read verses 31 through 37 John chapter 19 verses 31
through 37 we read the following since it was the day of preparation and so
that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath for that Sabbath
was a high day the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that
they might be taken away so the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
and of the other who had been crucified with him but when they came to Jesus and
saw that he was already dead they did not break his legs but one of the
soldiers pierced his side with a spear and at once there came out blood and
water he who saw it has borne witness his testimony is true and he knows that
he is telling the truth that you also may believe for these things took place
listen these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled not one of
his bones will be broken and again another scripture says they will look on
him whom they have pierced and so again all of this underscores the truth that
our Lord Jesus Christ that Christ our Savior he is our Passover lamb he is the
one who takes away our sins Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us let
us therefore keep the feast and then as we move on in our text to verses 47 and
48 we read this all the congregation of Israel shall keep it celebrating the
Passover was not an option for God’s people it was required of God’s people
just as the Lord requires us to do this in remembrance of me it’s not an option
if you’re a follower of Christ and a member of his church you ought to
partake of the Lord’s Supper in fact I would commend to you and encourage all
of you whenever the Lord’s Supper is celebrated at Grace Church make an
effort to be present at such a service I know we switch off between morning
service and evening service depending on the month but take a note of when the
Lord’s Supper is is to be celebrated and make an effort to be there when it is
celebrated and then verse 48 it says if a stranger shall sojourn with you and
would keep the Passover to the Lord let all his males be circumcised then he may
come near and keep it he shall be as a native of the land but no uncircumcised
person shall eat of it again as we noted the Passover meal was a divine
obligation imposed upon all of the congregation of Israel it was an
obligation but it was also a blessing that reminded the people of what the
Lord had done in rescuing and redeeming them to be his own people however it was
also a celebration that even Gentile foreigners were welcome to participate
in as long as they adopted the faith of Israel and let all of their males in
their household receive the covenant sign of circumcision as we notice in
verse 48 and this is so significant brothers and sisters because even in
Old Testament times God’s covenant community was not limited exclusively to
ethnic Jews to the physical descendants of Abraham even in Old Testament times
Gentiles could become Jews by conversion and circumcision by conversion
and covenant initiation and then not only that but foreigners Gentiles who
adopted the faith of Israel who came to believe in the God of Abraham Isaac and
Jacob and and committed themselves to the true and living God and became part
of his covenant community through circumcision these foreigners who
adopted the faith of Israel were regarded as completely equal to ethnic
Jews look at verse 49 it says in verse 49 there shall be one law for the native
and for the stranger who sojourns among you and in the previous verse verse 48
it says of this foreigner who converts he may come near and keep it he shall be
as a native of the land he shall be as a native of the land there’s no there are
not two types of members of God’s covenant community there’s not the Jews
who are first-class citizens of God’s covenant community and then converted
Gentiles who are second-class citizens in the community of faith that’s not
how it worked even in Old Testament times beloved and so again the one law
is that only those who have been incorporated into the visible people of
God through the covenant sign of circumcision had the right to
participate in the covenant meal of the Passover this applied equally to ethnic
Jews and ethnic Gentiles by implication this also underscores the truth that
salvation and covenant standing have never ever been a matter of race or
pedigree there are some today even some Christians who say things like well the
Jews are God’s chosen people I’m gonna say something shocking this is not
intended to be anti-semitic it’s not anti-semitic but the Jews as Jews are
not God’s covenant people they are not God’s chosen people it is those who
have the faith of Abraham whether they are Jewish in their background or
Gentile it is those who have the faith of Abraham who are the true sons and
daughters of Abraham and that was true even in Old Testament times now most of
God’s covenant people in the Old Testament economy were from among the
ethnic Jews that is true but now with the coming of Christ the gospel goes
into all the world and all who believe in Christ for salvation whether you be
Jew or Gentile we are all one in Christ Jesus we all have equal standing in God’s
covenant community so Jewishness in and of itself does not make one a chosen
member of God’s people it is rather the true Jews the spiritual Jews those who
are sons and daughters of Abraham by faith whatever their ethnic background
may be and so the implication here my friends is that this underscores the
truth that salvation and covenant standing have never ever been a matter
of race or pedigree but even under the Old Covenant it was a matter of divine
grace and calling and election dr. Walter Kaiser in commenting on these
verses says the following he says no one was allowed to participate in that meal
unless he was circumcised and thus a member of the community of faith this
excluded temporary residents hired workers aliens and all foreigners
furthermore each lamb was to remain in one house its parts were not to be
divided and eaten in separate homes it was to be the basis of a fellowship meal
stressing the unity and joy of the participants now what are some of the
lessons that we as believers living as we do today in this new covenant age what
can we learn from these old covenant Passover regulations and how do these
regulations apply to our celebrations of the Lord’s Supper today well one of the
things that we learn and this is the second point on your sermon outline we
learn here that the covenant ordinances belong exclusively to members of the
covenant community the visible church the covenant ordinances belong
exclusively to members of the covenant community the visible church I think
I’ve shared this story before but you know so forgive me if I’m repeating
myself but when I was in college I developed my senior year I developed a
friendship with a fellow student is actually no my I think my junior year
but I developed a friendship with a fellow student who was from Pakistan he
was a Muslim gentleman and we would use we would dialogue about Christianity
versus Islam and I sought to share the good news with him and witness to him
and I remember one day he shared with me that over the weekend he had decided to
go with some friends to attend a Christian worship service I believe he
went to a an Episcopal church but in any case my friend from Pakistan my Muslim
friend told me that that he went forward and he took communion and I
remember and again I wasn’t reformed at this particular time in my walk with the
Lord but I remember kind of you know being fearful for him and saying well
weren’t you wasn’t it explained to you that what this means and and that you
know you shouldn’t take of the Lord’s Supper if you’re not a Christian you
know and apparently again apparently this was a y’all come kind of thing you
know they there was no fencing of the table there was no warning given to him
that that he would eat and drink judgment to himself if he ate and drank
unworthily without faith in Christ he clearly was not a Christian perhaps he
thought this would be a neat cultural experience to have but the point is there
was no instruction no warning given to him in that particular church friends
the Covenant ordinances belong to the Covenant people of God and no one else
Matthew Henry in his commentary writes none might sit at the table but those
that came in by the door nor may any now approach the improving ordinance of the
Lord’s Supper who have not first submitted to the initiating ordinance of
baptism in other words you can’t take the Lord’s Supper which is a an
improving ordinance that means that the Lord’s Supper we receive it frequently
and it is meant for our spiritual improvement our sanctification our
growth in union and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ but you cannot partake
of the ordinance indicating ongoing Covenant fellowship with the Lord if you
have not received the initiative ordinance the initiating ordinance of
holy baptism dear ones scripture teaches very clearly that the sign of Covenant
initiation which under the new Covenant is baptism the sign of Covenant
initiation is required before one can receive the sign of ongoing Covenant
fellowship I like to illustrate it this way baptism if you will is the doorway
into the visible Covenant community the household of faith the church and the
Lord’s Supper is like the dinner table in the dining room of the household of
faith you can’t sit down at the dinner table unless you first come through the
front door in other words my friends use using that illustration you cannot sit
down at the dinner table in the Lord’s house if you’ve not first entered the
house legitimately through the front door biblically speaking you may not
come to the Lord’s table unless you’ve received the sign and seal of the Lord’s
Covenant of grace namely back baptism you cannot partake of the Lord’s table
unless you are a baptized believing confessing Christian follower of the
Lord Jesus Christ just as under the old Covenant you could not partake of the
Passover unless you were circumcised and a member a full member of God’s Covenant
community now what are some of the applications we can glean from this a
number of things we can learn first of all this passage underscores the vital
importance of the Covenant ordinances or sacraments in biblical history there is
a tendency in there’s always been a tendency in the church to either over
value the sacraments to the detriment of the word or to undervalue the sacraments
and I think in our evangelical and reformed context the tendency is to
undervalue the sacraments such as the Lord’s Supper and I think some of that
is due to the fact that well we don’t want to turn the Lord’s Supper into an
idol like our Rome like we believe our Roman Catholic friends do they they
elevate the so-called hosts they bow down before a piece of bread and so
forth and we want to avoid that kind of superstitious idolatrous reverence for
the Lord’s Supper but the other extreme is to devalue the Lord’s Supper this is
a means of grace Jesus commanded his church to do this in remembrance of me
and Jesus appointed this Holy Covenant meal on the night before his crucifixion
the night when he was betrayed which again highlights its absolute importance
and centrality in the life of the church so again passages like this underscore
the importance and significance of Covenant ordinances or sacraments in
biblical history this passage also underscores the centrality of God’s
covenant community the church in the working out of God’s plan in history
there are many today who call themselves Christians but who stand aloof from the
visible church and if you stand aloof from the visible church if you refuse to
be under the authority of Christ as that authority is expressed in his church
well then you should not take of the Lord’s Supper that’s one of the reasons
why we require that you be a member of a biblical church in order to partake of
the Lord’s Supper so again this passage also points to the truth that we cannot
claim to trust and love God if we despise his covenant people and the
covenant ordinances bringing this into our new covenant situation we cannot
consistently claim to love the divine husband namely Christ if we despise his
bride the church if you come to me and you say pastor Jeff I really like you
but I can’t stand your wife sorry I don’t want to be your friend because my
wife and I are one and it’s the same thing Christ died for his church the
church is messed up I get that the church has problems the church has issues and
some and some of God’s people have sadly had bad experiences and even abusive
experiences in the church and I think I believe our Lord is very patient and
kind and towards those among his children who have experienced bad church
situations but the point is if you’re just standing aloof from the church
because you don’t want to be under authority you don’t want to be you know
you don’t you don’t want to be subject and accountable to brothers and sisters
in Christ then you stand aloof from the church you’re standing aloof from the
Savior you can’t claim to love the Savior if you despise his church but in
closing and this is our this is the final point we learn here in this passage
that covenant outsiders are welcome to become part of the church through
conversion and covenant initiation covenant outsiders are welcome to become
part of the church through conversion and covenant initiation that is that is
assumed in this passage so again look at verse 44 it says every slave that is
bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him this is a slave who
is a covenant outsider but he can be brought into the household of faith
through the covenant sign of circumcision or again verses 48 and 49 if
a stranger this would be a non-israelite if a stranger shall sojourn with you and
would keep the Passover to the Lord if he desires to celebrate the Passover
and thus to identify with the God of Israel and with God’s covenant people
what is he to do it says if he would keep the Passover let all his males be
circumcised then he may come near and keep it he shall be as a native of the
land but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it no one who is outside of the
covenant community and who has not received the mark of the covenant
communities is to partake of it but those who are covenant outsiders can
become covenant insiders by the grace of God in closing friends a good
confessional summary of some of the truths that we’ve considered this
morning from this passage of God’s Word can be found summarized in our beloved
Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 25 section 2 let me just read that
section it says this the visible church which is also Catholic or universal
under the gospel not confined to one nation as before under the law consists
of all of those throughout the world that profess the true religion and of
their children and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ the house and family
of God out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation your
listener have you come to trust in Christ as your Savior from sin and if so
have you united in responsible membership to a faithful local
expression of the universal visible church if you are in Christ and in his
church then you are welcome to the covenant ordinances but if you are not
in Christ or in his church you need to put that on hold until by the grace of
God you come to repent and turn to Christ and confess your faith before the
church may God add his blessing to what we’ve considered from this passage today
and may he give us the grace to see its relevance and importance as we prepare
to partake of the Lord’s Supper together amen let us pray our gracious Lord and
Father in heaven we thank you Lord that you have made the way clear to us and
that you have blessed us with the blessings of the covenant ordinances of
baptism and the Lord’s Supper we thank you for especially for this day the
improving ordinance of the Lord’s Supper we pray that as we partake of this holy
supper today that your spirit would be at work in our hearts and in our
fellowship together that indeed we would grow in our union and communion with
Christ our Savior for it is in his name that we pray and all of God’s people
said let’s respond to what we’ve heard proclaimed by rising and we’ll sing
together 196 at the Lamb’s high feast we sing