Well, a warm welcome to the evening service of worship here.
! I'm going to begin our time of worship by singing to God's praise in Psalm 49.
!
I will speak with understanding, wisdom from the heart I'll preach.
I will listen to a proverb, secrets with a harp I'll teach.
Why should I fear days of evil?
When the wicked hymn me in, those who boast of their possessions, by their trust in wealth they sin.
There is no one who is able to redeem a soul from death.
None can pay to God the ransom to prolong another's breath.
To redeem a life is costly.
None sufficient price can pay so that one should live immortal, free forever from decay.
To redeem a life is indeed costly and that is precisely what the sacrifice of our Lord and our Savior achieves for us.
So we'll sing those verses there, Psalm 49, verse 1-9.
And we'll stand to sing to God's praise.
Psalm 49, verse 1-9.
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to seek your face in prayer and to gather together like this in a time of worship on your day, a day
that is in itself a gift to us as fallen people. We are in need of that day, that day of rest, that
day in which we can find rest not only for the body and for the mind but also for the soul as we engage
in the very act of worship and as we gather around your word both as we gather publicly and also in
the privacy of our own homes and our own quiet time as well and we do pray that this day itself
would indeed be just that, a day of rest and may it nourish us, may it encourage us as we seek to
press on in that race that we spoke of earlier in the service today, that we might continue to press
forward and to push forward even into the coming days. We give thanks O Lord that the days that
lie ahead are days that we don't know what lies before us but we're encouraged to know that we
come before a God who does, a God who knows exactly what lies ahead of each one of us and we pray O Lord
that you would give us the strength, that you would give us that guidance, that wisdom, that help
from above no matter what it is that might lie in wait for us. We do pray that you would help us to
see the wonder of the atonement and even as we were singing of there as we thought of at least one of
the themes connected to the atonement and redemption itself and we do give thanks that we are a people
who are redeemed and that the death of our Lord and Saviour has achieved that for us, that we are a people
who have been bought and bought at a very high price, the highest price we can possibly imagine,
the price of the blood of the God-man and help us to meditate on that as we think about the cross
and as we think about who we are as sinners and as we think about who you are as the sinless God and
then to follow through the narrative of Scripture and to see that the Son of God himself
giving his life in that way, handing his life over for people such as we are. And that is a marvel to us
that you would redeem a people like us, that you would save a people like us, that our Lord and Saviour
would come down into this world for a people like us and that he came not just to live and not just to
endure hardship and hatred and rejection but specifically to endure the very pain, the very punishment of
of that hell on the cross, that judgment that was endured. There we see the one who is the sin-bearer
himself, bearing the sins of his people. Help us to reflect daily on the cross. We know that
such is the way our minds are, we can sometimes forget the magnitude of what was done for us there at
Calvary. Sometimes we can be slow to remember, slow to think on the sacrifice of our Lord, but help us to
do that daily, not just to wait for specific times and seasons like communions and other seasons such as
that. But help us daily to reflect on what our Lord has done. And may that then affect our own
hearts and spirit in this life as well. Because very often we can complain, very often we can fall into a
spiritual slumber as well and we can fall into all sorts of bad habits. And we see that even in
Scripture itself for the people of God, how often we see them falling into these sins and falling into
these traits, traits which we absolutely replicate ourselves as well. And help us to spot that, to see
that, and to seek your help for us to be lifted up out of that. And surely the answer in all these
errors that we fall into is to look to Christ, to look to our Lord. So help us to do that. Even in this
act of worship itself, help us to look to our Lord. Help us to look to the triune God himself,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And help us to marvel at who you are, at who you reveal yourself
to be in the pages of Scripture. And as we come before you in prayer, we pray for our nation.
We pray for the governments in our land. We think especially over these recent days where we've
seen votes and discussions and debates taking place, which seek to pursue a path that will lead to
people being able to prematurely and in their control to end life. We ask, O Lord, that you would
fill us with a sense of burden for that bill as it continues through the various chambers of power. And
we ask, O Lord, that ultimately that bill would be defeated. It grieves us that it has even got us far.
We come before you and lament when we see and hear of some of the things that have been
said and the way in which so many have voted as well. But we pray that you would intervene.
You're the God who is able to do that, to intervene and to show those who will be taking these
votes, to show them the error of their way and the reality of what it is that they are opening the
door to. We give thanks that we come before a God who can answer in powerful ways like that. Sometimes
we feel unable to have any kind of influence, but we come before a God who is well able and well
powerful to put an end and a stop to these things. And we pray, O Lord, for those who are fighting
the corner from the perspective of your word and your law, we pray that you would encourage them.
We know that very often they come under attack themselves, but strengthen them and may they be
aware of the prayers of your people. Help us in every situation to do what we can, to speak up for
those who have no voice. And it is sad to see that we live in a society that seems to turn on the
vulnerable, from the very young to the sick and the elderly as well. But let us not fall into that
mindset ourselves as your people. Help us to do what we can to speak up and to ensure that these
things do not pass. And as we come praying for our civil courts and governments, we also come praying
for our spiritual court as well as the General Assembly of our own church and other churches as
well gather in the coming days. We pray, O Lord, that you would go before our own General Assembly and all
the discussions and all that will travel there as well. We pray that you would grant them traveling
mercies and that ultimately all the decisions, all the debates and perhaps any votes that are taken,
ultimately that all these things would be to the glory of your most holy name. And we pray for the
congregation here as well. Continue to strengthen them. During this time of vacancy, we ask, O Lord,
that you would encourage them because we know that very often when we look back, even in congregations
throughout our presbytery here, very often times of vacancies have been times of great blessing and
fruitfulness. And we ask that that would be the case here as well and that you would continue to
strengthen Calum Mordo and the additional duties and burden that he's under and his family too. Be with
him even now as he leads worship elsewhere. Go before us, cleanse us from sin, we ask. And we ask it all for
Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen. We're just going to do a reading at this point. We're going to read just a short
passage in Exodus chapter 12. In Exodus
and chapter 12. This is, of course, the account of the Passover itself, just before the actual
Exodus event of the people of God leaving Egypt. We're going to read from the beginning there. So,
Exodus 12 and from the beginning. So, let's hear the word of the Lord.
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, this month shall be for you the beginning
of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that
on the 10th day of this month, every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers, a lamb,
according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for
a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons. According
to what each can eat, you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish,
a male, a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the
14th day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at
twilight. Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the
houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night roasted on the fire with unleavened bread
and bitter herbs. And they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted
its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning.
Anything that remains until the morning, you shall burn in this manner. You shall eat it with your belt
fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste.
It is the Lord's Passover. Amen. And we pray for God's blessing on that portion of his holy and
inspired word. We're going to sing again now. We're going to sing this time in the Scottish Psalter
chapter. And in Psalm 91. So Psalm 91. And we'll sing, that's page 351. And we'll sing
a verse 1 to the verse marked 5 there. He that doth in the secret place of the Most High reside
under the shade of him that is the Almighty shall abide. I of the Lord my God will say,
He is my refuge still. He is my fortress and my God, and in him trust I will. Assuredly he shall
thee save and give deliverance from subtle fowler snare and from the noise and pestilence. His feathers
shall thee hide. Thy trust under his wings shall be. His faithfulness shall be a shield,
and buckler unto thee. Thou shalt not need to be afraid for terrors of the night, nor for
the arrow that doth fly by day while it is light. So we'll sing those verses there, Psalm 91,
verse 1 to 5.
Psalm 91, verse 1 to 5.
He act of in the secret place of the Most High reside, and never shake of him that is,
and never shake of him that is, your mighty shall abide. I of the Lord my God will say, He is my
Recluse still. He is my fortress and thy God, and in him trust I will. Assuredly he shall be saved,
and give thee live heavens from the Lord my God, and in him trust I will. Assuredly he shall be saved, and give thee live heavens from the Lord my God.
Son of the Lord my God, and in him trust I will. Assuredly he shall be saved, and give thee live heavens from the Son of the Lord my God.
B
The shoulders spin and fall, the noise of pestilence.
His feathers shall delight thy trust, under his wings shall be.
His faithfulness shall be a shield, and that the ground to thee.
Thou shalt not give to thee a play, for terrors of the night.
Nor for thee I know the love that fly, by thee I lift his light.
Amen.
Again, if you can turn your Bibles to the Old Testament, this time a different section of
the Old Testament in Joshua in chapter 2.
These two passages form a couple of the images that we're going to look at this evening.
Joshua in chapter 2.
And we'll read from the beginning of this narrative here.
So Joshua chapter 2 and from the beginning.
So again, let's hear the word of the Lord.
And Joshua, the son of Nun, sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying,
Go, view the land, especially Jericho.
And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there.
And it was told to the king of Jericho,
Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.
And then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying,
Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house,
for they have come to search out all the land.
But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them.
And she said, True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.
And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out.
I do not know where the men went.
Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.
But she had brought them up to the roof and hood them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof.
So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords,
and the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out.
Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men,
I know that the Lord has given you the land,
and that the fear of you has fallen upon us,
and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.
For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt,
and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan,
to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction.
And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted,
and there was no spirit left in any man because of you.
For the Lord your God, he is God in heavens above and on the earth beneath.
Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that as I have dealt kindly with you,
that you also will deal kindly with my father's house,
and give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother,
my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them,
and deliver our lives from death.
And the men said to her,
Our life for yours, even to death.
If you do not tell this business of ours,
then when the Lord gives us the land,
we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.
Then she let them down by a rope through the window,
for her house was built into the city wall,
so that she lived in the wall.
And she said to them,
Go into the hills, or the pursuers will encounter you,
and hide there three days until the pursuers have returned.
Then afterwards you may go your way.
The men said to her,
We will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours that you have made us swear.
Behold, when we come into the land,
you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window,
through which you let us down,
and you shall gather into your house
your father and mother,
your brothers,
and all your father's household.
Then,
if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street,
his blood shall be on his own head,
and we shall be guiltless.
But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house,
his blood shall be on our head.
Amen.
And we pray for God's blessing on that second reading from his holy word.
We're going to sing again now in the Scottish Psalter and in Psalm 51.
So the Scottish Psalter and Psalm 51.
And we'll sing verse 1 down to the verse marked 6 there.
After thy loving kindness, Lord,
have mercy upon me for thy compassions.
Great blot out all mine iniquity,
me cleanse from sin,
and throughly wash from mine iniquity.
For my transgressions I confess,
my sin I ever see.
Against thee, the only, have I sinned,
and thy sight done this ill.
That when thou speakest,
thou mayst be just and clear in judging still.
Behold,
I in iniquity was formed the womb within.
My mother also me conceived in guiltiness and sin.
Behold,
thou in the inward parts,
with truth delighted art and wisdom,
thou shalt make me know within the hidden parts.
So we'll sing those verses,
Psalm 51,
verse 1 to 6.
I'll stand to sing to God's praise.
Amen.
After thy loving kindness,
Lord,
come,
mercy upon me,
for thy compassion,
take water,
of my iniquity.
May cleanse from sin,
and throughly wash from my iniquity.
for my iniquity.
For my iniquity.
I confess,
my sin I ever see.
And my sin I ever see.
unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto unto
O quede, my mother also be conceded in guiltiness and sin.
Behold, thou in the inward hearts, with truth delighted are,
and wisdom thou shalt lay below, within the middle heart.
With God's help, if you can maybe first of all turn to Exodus chapter 12.
We are going to be going between the two passages,
but if you can open up first of all at Exodus chapter 12,
and we'll take us out reading verse 7, where we read there,
then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts
and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
Now, one of the beautiful aspects of Scripture is the way in which the whole thing,
the whole of the Word of God, the whole canon of Scripture,
all ties together.
It all ties together.
It all links together so incredibly beautifully.
It isn't just some collection of random books.
It's not just some collection of ancient writings that are written by different authors
that are sometimes maybe separated by hundreds of years apart.
That's not what this is.
It's not just a collection of unlinked, separate books together as one library or one book.
This is one story, one wonderful story, one book, one wonderful narrative.
Yes, by multiple authors, ultimately one divine author, but multiple human authors.
But it is that one narrative, one wonderful redemptive narrative,
one wonderful redemptive story and timelines as well.
And one of the ways in which you see Scripture coming together
is when you pick up certain threads and themes that link the whole thing together.
And there's lots of those kinds of threads and themes that you could look at,
you know, covenant and lots of other themes as well.
But probably one of the biggest threads or themes that holds the whole thing together
is the blood of Christ.
The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
That blood that brings all the way from Genesis all the way through to Revelation,
brings this whole book, this whole story, this whole narrative wonderfully together.
Sometimes people can wrongly think that, you know, Jesus and the blood of Christ,
that that just comes into focus on the New Testament,
and maybe specifically in the Gospels themselves,
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
But of course, as we know, that's absolutely not the case at all.
There is this wonderful thread of the blood of Christ all the way through.
Even in the Old Testament itself, you go to the Old Testament,
and you can learn much about the blood of Christ,
and much about what the blood of Christ does.
The way in which the blood of Christ delivers from judgment,
the way in which the blood of Christ frees,
the way in which the blood of Christ redeems.
We were singing about that earlier on.
The way in which the blood of Christ brings us into a new family,
into the family of the Lord's people.
So there's so much of the blood of Christ,
and the Gospel message itself very much present in the pages of the Old Testament as well.
And what I want to do tonight is I want to pick out three specific images
connected to three narratives,
but specifically three images that I think in many ways are connected together.
Visually, I think they're connected together,
but certainly theologically and by illustration that they're connected together.
And the three things I want to look at is,
first of all, the blood-stained doorposts.
That's the first one, blood-stained doorposts.
Secondly, the scarlet cord.
And thirdly, the blood-stained cross of Christ himself.
So three very different images,
and images that come from three very different parts of the Bible.
Obviously, the blood-stained doorposts coming from that Exodus narrative.
Then the scarlet cord, of course, coming from the Joshua narrative.
And then the blood-stained cross of our Lord and Savior himself coming from the Gospel narrative.
We didn't specifically read that, but a section, of course, that we know very well.
And when you think of these three images,
these three images, there's a similarity between them.
You know, if you imagine yourself standing there looking at the blood-soaked doorposts in Exodus,
or if you stand there looking at this red cord hanging out of the house of Rahab,
or the cross of Christ after his body's taken away, the cross, that blood-soaked cross of Christ,
visually, there's a similarity between these three images that are presented to us in Scripture.
And I don't mean just visually, as I mentioned earlier,
also in terms of what these things communicate,
and theologically how these things speak to us,
and how we see something of the Gospel in these things.
So what I want to do is really stop at each three of these images,
to stand and to take in just the sight itself,
and really to ask, what is it that these things convey to us,
of the blood of Christ, of the Gospel,
of the wonder of what our Lord and Savior has done for us.
So let's do that, and we'll begin,
the first one here, the blood-stained doorposts.
So you're standing there, and we're just, as it were,
looking at these houses, or one of these houses in Egypt,
and there you see this blood-stained,
not just the doorposts, of course, but the lintel as well.
And as I mentioned just a few moments ago,
this obviously comes from the Exodus narrative that we just read there,
of God rescuing his people from Egypt.
And you remember how that all unfolded.
The Lord sends Moses in.
So Moses comes in to Egypt,
and then you have the ten plagues, of course.
The ten plagues are unleashed on the Egyptians.
And then you come to the last one,
the tenth plague,
which is really what this is all connected to here.
And this was the plague that was going to result
in a very solemn outcome,
the death of the firstborn of every home in Egypt,
except, of course, those who had the blood,
the blood of the Passover lamb,
actually applied to the doorposts,
actually applied to the lintel of the households as well.
And if the Lord came and saw the blood on the doorframe,
if he saw the blood on the lintel,
then, of course, he was going to Passover.
There was not going to be a death taking place in that home.
And when you read the section that we read there,
and you look at some of the way in which it's described for us,
the Lord is very deliberate in the description
of how all this was meant to happen.
He's very specific.
He gives us specifics, you know,
to do with how the blood was to be applied
and various specifics about the actual Passover lamb as well.
Now, why is that?
Why are there...
That's not just through here, of course.
That's through for lots of parts of Scripture.
But why is it through here?
Why does he give us such specifics here?
And the answer is very simply because all of these things,
all of these details are communicating.
The Lord is, in a visual way,
speaking to us and communicating various things to us.
And I think there's a lot of things that this scene before us here communicates.
And when we look to this door frame
and we see the blood on the lintel and the doorposts here,
there's lots of things that we could lift out of it.
I just want to lift a few things out of it at this point.
And the first thing I want to notice there is in verse 5 of this passage that we read there,
and this is to do with the lamb from whom the blood was to come.
And we read there that your lamb shall be without blemish.
So that's very specific.
It's to be not just any old lamb.
It's to be a lamb without blemish.
So in other words, they weren't to pick the worst of their flock,
as might be our tendency if we were giving something.
Let's just give the worst of what we might have.
They were very specifically called to bring the very best,
to sacrifice a lamb without any blemish at all.
And there was a reason for that.
I think we know what the reason for that is.
The reason for that is because the Passover lamb was intended to point forward to Christ.
It was very clearly, very specifically pointing forward to Christ.
And as we know, Christ is one who is himself sinless.
He is the spotless lamb of God.
No sin, no blame, no guilt at all to be found in our Lord and Savior.
We know he was one who would be perfectly righteous.
And therefore, when you read these laws here,
and when you read here about the unblemished lamb in the Exodus narrative,
that's clearly there specifically to teach us about that,
to teach us, to make us look forward to one who was going to come who was sinless,
to point forward to this great Savior, the spotless lamb of God,
who one day was going to come into the world.
So there you have, looking at that scene, looking at that blood,
it communicates that to us.
It communicates the way in which this lamb was to be a lamb that was unblemished.
And then after the actual killing of the lamb,
that's when they were to apply the blood to the doorpost.
You see that in verse 7 and the lintels as well.
Now, there's a very important lesson being communicated there
in that visual scene that's described for us.
Blood, in the biblical context,
blood was very much connected and associated to the life of the victim.
So blood and the life of the victim were very much seen as being linked together.
So for example, there's a verse in Leviticus, Leviticus chapter 17,
and we read it saying the following, we read it says,
for the life of the flesh is in the blood,
and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls,
for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.
So specifically, for the life of the flesh is in the blood.
So there's a very clear, very close tie between blood and life.
And here, when you're looking at this scene,
this blood on the doorpost here,
that blood is a symbol,
a symbol of a life that has been sacrificed,
a life that has been sacrificed in order to make atonement.
And that blood is applied to the very entrance,
in a very visual way,
the very entrance of the house itself.
And the idea is that the Lord will pass over,
and that the Lord will see the blood.
And he'll see the blood of the Passover lamb,
and because a life has already been taken,
because there's already been a death,
the sign of the blood is a sign of that life,
has already been taken,
again, a death has already occurred in this household,
so therefore, there'll be no further death in this household.
And there you have the Lord passing over.
So the lamb has died,
and therefore, no one else is going to die.
And very clearly,
that speaks to us of the whole idea of substitution.
So again, when you're looking at that scene,
and you're seeing that blood,
it speaks to us of that.
It doesn't just speak of sacrifice.
It specifically, it speaks of this idea of substitution.
The Passover lamb is the substitutionary sacrifice.
And when we think of that in the Old Testament,
and then seek to apply that to ourselves today,
exactly the same thing happens to us,
in a theological way.
The same thing happens to us
when we come and put our faith in Jesus.
See, when you take Jesus as your Lord and Savior,
it is, in some sense anyway,
it is as though we are covered ourselves
with the blood of Christ.
As though the blood of Christ covers us.
So that, as we approach the judgment seat of the Lord,
the Lord looks to us,
and he will see the blood of Christ,
and he will see, well,
judgment has already been experienced here.
A life has already been sacrificed.
And because of that blood,
the blood of Christ,
because the Lord Jesus has given his life
as that penalty that's paid for us,
therefore, we are saved.
Therefore, as it were,
the Lord passes over.
So the blood on the doorposts
is pointing towards very much
the death of the true,
the true Passover lamb to come,
Jesus himself.
That blood that ultimately would be shed to save
all who are his,
all who come,
all who come and put their trust
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And in this scene here,
actually putting the blood on the doorpost,
that was in itself the sign of your faith.
That was the sign of your faith and trust.
You were showing your faith and trust
by actually applying these things
to the doorpost and lintel.
And that's ultimately what delivered the people
from the judgment here.
That's what ultimately,
in the rest of the Exodus narrative,
that's what ultimately leads to their freedom as well.
Yes, there's trust.
They trust the Lord.
That's clearly there.
But they also had to be obedient.
They had to be obedient
to actually perform what it is
that the Lord had asked them to do.
So they trusted in him.
They believed in him.
But then they had to do something.
They had to actually apply.
They had to take that blood
and put it on the doorpost.
So they had to respond.
There was some kind of response
to God's command required here.
So there was a trust, a faith,
that led to obedience.
And yet that obedience part
was very, very important.
And again, that is like us as well.
I mean, we are saved through faith.
Faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But that is a faith and a trust
that leads to something.
It's a faith and a trust
that leads to us responding in some way
and being obedient,
showing our faith and trust in the Lord.
And here as well,
the people were specifically
to do this in a public way.
You know, it wasn't applying the blood
in the doorpost and lintel
in a hidden way.
It was very much something
that was very visible.
You know, you'd see it.
Standing outside the home,
you would see it.
You would see these are people
who trust the Lord.
These are people who have put
their faith in the Lord,
that the blood, the sign of the blood
is a sign of just that.
And I think for ourselves as well,
I think that's important.
If your faith is in Christ,
if your faith is in the Lord,
the Lord does not want you to hide that.
The Lord does not want you
to keep that to yourself.
He wants you to make that known.
It ought to be on display.
And I don't mean that in the sense of,
you know, pride
and this kind of holier than thou
sort of wearing our Christianity
like some kind of badge of pride
of look at me.
I don't mean it in that sense at all.
But it ought to be visible
in that sign of love
and that we're not hiding
our faith in the Lord,
but that we're revealing it,
showing out of love,
out of love for our Lord and Savior,
displaying these things.
Shouldn't be hidden.
And it shouldn't be something
that we hide away.
It should be evident to all
that our trust is in the Lord.
If you walk past those houses,
you would have seen
their trust is in the Lord.
The blood,
the sign of the blood
is very clearly there.
And it ought to be the same
in our own lives as well.
Not by putting badges on our homes
or our cars,
but through our lives.
Through our lives,
we ought to show,
ought to show something
of the trust and faith
that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So when you look at the blood,
they're standing at this,
looking at the doorpost,
seeing that the blood on it
communicates all of these things,
sacrifice, substitution, atonement,
speaks of the sinlessness of Christ,
even trust and obedience.
All of these things,
just looking at that,
seeing with the blood on the doorpost,
that speaks to us
of all of these different things.
That speaks to us
of much, much more than that as well.
But these things certainly are there.
And what I want to do now
is I want to jump forward.
So we're going to jump to Joshua
and the second passage
that we read
in Joshua chapter 2.
And here,
it's a slightly different image.
So a slightly different image here,
but similar.
So we've just looked at the red blood
on the outside of people's homes.
And now we come to this scene here
and what you see is a red rope,
a red cord,
again outside a home.
So there are similarities
in the actual image
that's been displayed there.
And you see there in verse 17.
So in Joshua chapter 2, verse 17,
the men said to her,
we will be guiltless
with respect to this oath of yours
that you have made us swear.
Behold, when we come into the land,
you shall tie the scarlet cord
in the window
through which you let us down.
So again,
we're into a different narrative here,
but the themes are the same,
which is why I'm connecting them together.
So the backstory here,
this is a long way
into the Exodus journey now.
They've gone through the wilderness.
They've spent their 40 years
going through the wilderness.
They've come to the shores of Canaan.
They're about to come and take Canaan.
And of course,
before they go into enemy territory,
they send the spies in.
And so these spies go in.
And when the spies,
when they're in enemy territory
there in Jericho,
they come to the house of Rahab,
the prostitute.
And Rahab, of course,
hides these spies.
The Jericho police find out
that they're possibly here.
And the Jericho police come.
And of course, Rahab sends them off
in another direction.
She hides these men.
And that was a huge risk,
massive risk, her doing that.
This was not just something small
that she did a wee favor.
This is huge.
Her life would have very much
been on the line
by actually covering
for these men like this.
And she does it.
We find out there.
She does it because ultimately
her faith is in God.
Surprisingly so.
When you're reading it,
you're not expecting that
in many ways.
But her faith is in the God of Israel.
She's heard about him.
She's heard the stories.
Again, we read that in the passage.
She's heard about the God
of heaven and earth.
And she somehow has come
to this place of actually
putting her trust in him.
And as a result of that,
and as a result of her
protecting the spies
of the Lord here,
when destruction is going
to come the way of Jericho,
and we know it does,
and we know it did,
when that comes,
she was going to be protected.
And she was,
very specifically,
she was going to be protected
on the condition
that she was going to
hang this rope,
hang this red rope
down from her window.
So again,
just the similarity there
to the blood on the doorpost,
the setting,
and the colours,
and everything being similar.
And now you've got this red
blood-coloured rope
hanging from her window here.
Now,
clearly the red blood
on the doorpost
in Exodus
is very,
very explicitly linked
to Christ
and the blood of Christ.
Now,
here,
the text doesn't directly tie
this idea of the red rope
to the blood of Christ,
but the visual illustration,
when you look at it,
you cannot but make
that connection.
You cannot but see
something of the blood
of Christ here,
something of the shadow
of the gospel
present here
in this image.
And what I want us
to do here is,
again,
we'll do the same thing.
We'll stand in front
of this house,
see this red rope
coming down,
and ask,
what's it communicating
to us?
What's it speaking to us
about the blood of Christ,
about the gospel,
about some of the wonders
of what our Lord
has done for us?
And again,
I've noted a few things
here of what
the particular image
communicates to us.
And one thing
that it communicates
to us
is the idea
of salvation
from destruction.
When you're looking
at Rahab's house
and seeing the red
rope coming down,
it speaks to us
of salvation
from destruction,
salvation
from judgment.
We know that
because that red rope
was going down,
that her home
was going to be safe,
that she and her
household as well,
that they were going
to be saved,
saved from judgment.
And that concept
of saved from judgment
through the red rope,
if we apply that
to the blood of Christ,
that's exactly what
the blood of our Lord
and Savior does
for sinners like us.
We are deserving
of judgment,
but when we put our trust,
as it were,
lay hold of the blood
of Christ,
then we too,
we find that
we are saved,
delivered from that judgment
because of what
our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ
has done for us.
So that's one of the things
that communicates
the deliverance
from destruction,
deliverance from judgment.
But it also
speaks to us
of trust as well.
So we saw that
in the last image
and we see that here
as well
because,
again,
when you're looking
at this house
with the red rope
coming down here,
she's not told
to run away
from Jericho.
She's not told,
you know,
destruction's coming,
you need to get out of here.
You know,
you need to run away,
try and hide
and get to safety.
She's told,
no,
stay here,
stay in this place
that's going to be destroyed.
Stay here
and put a red cord
out your window
and if you do that,
you will be saved.
And that's a tremendous
test of trust.
Is it not?
I mean,
imagine,
for example,
if someone told you today
a bomb is going to
hit Stornoway tomorrow,
a bomb is going to
hit this town,
but it's okay
as long as you put
a red rope
outside your window
that you'll be fine,
that you don't need to worry.
I mean,
the strong temptation,
I think,
for us in that kind of situation
would be to run
or to escape,
just to get away
from Stornoway.
If we know
that there's some kind
of danger coming,
just to get away
would take an awful lot
of trust,
an awful lot of trust
to remain in place
and just to merely
put out a piece
of rope outside
our window.
And that's exactly
what Rahab is doing.
She doesn't run away.
She doesn't hear
about the destruction
and get out of here
before the bad stuff happens.
She stays there.
She stays in this place
and she shows
incredible trust
by just putting
that cord out.
And again,
if you looked at that home
and you saw that rope out,
that's what you would see.
That's an incredible display,
an incredible sign
of trust in the Lord.
And again,
that's,
you know,
applying this to ourselves,
that's the same for us as well.
You know,
we are sinners
and to be saved,
God doesn't tell us
go away,
flee for rescue
and flee from the danger.
He doesn't tell us
to kind of work out
our way to get
to safety ourselves
and do things
in our own strength.
He doesn't say to us
be better,
do better.
That's not
what the message
of the gospel
is about at all.
He simply says
put your trust
in the Lord.
Just put your trust
in the Lord.
Put your trust
in that blood,
that blood that was shed
for sinners like you.
There's a tremendous simplicity
in that.
There's a simplicity
in just the red rope,
Rahab putting that red rope
out her window.
And there's a simplicity
as well
when it comes to the gospel
for us.
Just believe.
Put your faith
and trust in Christ.
Lean on Christ
and you will be delivered.
Lean on Christ
and you will be saved.
And here,
Rahab,
as we see in the image,
she does that.
She puts that rope down
and miraculously
when that destruction comes,
she's delivered.
She's delivered.
She is saved.
So again,
when you're looking
at this picture here
of this red rope
coming out of her house,
it speaks to us
of salvation
from destruction,
salvation from judgment,
speaks to us
of trust as well.
But also,
that red rope
or cord
also speaks to us
of God's grace
to the outsider.
So if you're standing there
looking at that rope,
you're thinking to yourself,
wow,
what amazing grace
God has shown
that outsider.
And I say outsider
because famously,
of course,
Rahab is not,
she's not part of Israel.
She's not part
of the Lord's people.
In fact,
very opposite,
clearly.
She's a pagan Gentile.
She's from another people group,
from another nation,
from a false religion,
a pagan religion.
And amazingly,
she finds salvation.
And it's,
you know,
if you focus on her
conversion story,
it's an amazing story,
really,
seeing this woman
coming to faith
and the one
true living God.
And not only
does the red cord
speak to us
of God's grace
to the outsider,
but even more specifically,
it speaks to us
of God's grace
to the most unlikely
of outsiders.
Because,
you know,
again,
when you look
at the Rahab story,
what's perhaps
most remarkable
about the story
is that it's not just
that she was Gentile.
It's not just
that she was a pagan.
But,
of course,
as we know,
she's a prostitute.
This is Rahab,
the harlot.
Someone whose life,
in lots of ways,
is contrary
to the law of God.
You might imagine
she might be one
of the least likely people
in Jericho
to actually come
and put her faith
and trust in the Lord.
And yet,
amazingly,
someone like her,
in all that she's gone through,
can find salvation.
And again,
it's through the blood
of Christ,
ultimately.
That blood that was
yet to come,
but it's through
the blood of Christ.
She would find
that salvation.
And that's a wonderful image
and a wonderful message
that that red cord
outside the building
actually conveys to us.
And we can apply that,
of course,
to ourselves as well.
It matters not
what people's backgrounds are.
We thought about something
of this in our service
earlier on today.
It matters not
whether people have
a church background.
It matters not
how much people know
in terms of knowledge.
It doesn't matter
how little people know.
It doesn't matter
how checkered
people's pasts are.
It doesn't matter
how stained
their record of sin is.
These things,
these things matter not.
That atoning blood,
that atoning blood
of the Passover lamb,
that blood is able
to wash
the blackest of records,
able to save
the most unlikely
of people.
And we know that.
We know that,
perhaps,
in our own experience.
Our own experience
of coming to the Lord,
that the Lord
is able to save
the most unlikely.
And you see that
in Scripture as well.
I mean,
how many people
in the Bible,
you would say,
not likely to come
to faith,
and yet they're saved.
You know,
incredible, really.
Rahab,
Ruth,
Saul himself,
the Ethiopian eunuch,
the jailer.
So many people,
you think,
not likely to be saved,
and yet you see
the power of the gospel
and the way in which
the grace of God
is able to reach
not just the outsider,
but the most unlikely,
even the most unlikely
of outsiders.
So,
there you have
these two images,
these two pictures.
You've got
the blood-stained
doorposts in Egypt
communicating to us
something of
the blood of the Lord
and how he saves.
And then you've got
another house
with a red line,
the red scarlet cord
out the window,
Rahab's house,
and again we see
there in that scene
as well,
something,
it communicates
something to us
of the blood of Christ
and something to us
of the wonder
of the grace of the Lord,
even to the most
unlikely of people.
And then we come
to the third image,
just for the last
few minutes,
and the third scene
that I want us
to picture tonight,
and that is
just the blood-stained
cross itself.
The blood-stained
cross itself.
See,
the blood on the doorposts
in the Exodus account
and then the scarlet cord
in the Joshua account there,
both those scenes,
which are scenes
of deliverance,
really,
scenes of salvation,
they're both
pointing forward,
both pointing forward
to this great
climax moment,
this great climax moment
in the redemptive story,
the redemptive narrative
of Scripture,
as we see Jesus himself,
the true Passover Lamb,
and we see him there
crucified on that cross
at Calvary.
And again,
just put yourself
in that situation.
Christ's been taken away,
he's been buried,
the body of Christ
has been removed,
and you're left there
with a cross,
that blood-stained cross
of our Lord.
And make no mistake,
that would have been
a blood-stained cross.
I mean,
we know his back
was lacerated,
we know he was beaten,
we know crown of thorns
was wedged into his head,
and that's not thorns
like we know.
These are serious spikes
that's going to cause
a lot of blood loss.
Obviously,
the hands and the feet
are nailed as well.
So,
that cross,
that wooden cross,
it's going to be stained.
It is going to be full
of the blood
of our Lord and Savior.
And again,
just like we did
with Exodus passage
and with Rahab's house,
let's stand before,
as it were,
that cross,
the blood-soaked cross
of Christ.
And ask the question again,
what does that
communicate to us?
We looked at what
the blood-stained doorposts
and the red cord
communicated.
What does the cross,
that blood-stained cross
of Christ,
communicate to us?
And,
well,
again,
it communicates a lot
to us,
and you could spend
a whole sermon
just looking at
what that communicates
to us.
But just a couple
of things that I've
noted down here.
The first one is
that it communicates
judgment.
It communicates
judgment.
And that's where
you see a difference
between the other two
images that we saw
there.
Because the examples
in Exodus
and in Joshua,
the blood on the
wooden doorposts
and the red-colored
rope,
that resulted
in salvation.
It resulted
in deliverance,
delivered from
judgment.
They didn't
experience judgment.
But here,
when you look at
the blood-soaked
cross of Christ,
there is no
deliverance here.
There is no
avoiding judgment
here.
Our Lord
and Savior,
his blood is
scattered there
on that cross
because he
actually endures it.
In the other two
examples,
they were delivered
from judgment.
Here,
in the blood-stained
cross,
he is the one
experiencing judgment
because he is the
substitute.
He is himself
the substitute.
There was no
shelter
from judgment
for him.
There was shelter
for the other two
in the other two
examples.
There is no
shelter from
that judgment
here.
It was the very
epicenter of it.
The very epicenter
of that judgment
that we deserve.
Our Lord
and Savior
experience is there
on that cross
and the blood-stained
cross.
It speaks to us
of that.
He is our
substitute.
He is there
enduring the
very pains
of hell
there on the
cross.
So,
it speaks to us
of judgment.
But,
it also
communicates
something to us
of what I
touched on
earlier on,
the fact that
he is the
sinless
lamb of God.
Because,
we saw that
in the
Exodus
narrative.
It was a
spotless lamb
that was required.
And,
ever since then,
you're looking
in the narrative
of Scripture
for this
sinless Savior.
You're looking
at all the
characters.
Is it David?
No.
Is it Moses?
No.
Is it Daniel?
No.
You're continually
looking.
Is it John the
Baptist?
No.
You're continually
looking for this
sinless Savior
to come and hear
in the Lord Jesus
Christ.
You see it.
The one who is
himself the
God-man.
He knew no sin.
The blood that's
on that blood-soaked
cross is the
blood of the
sinless,
spotless
lamb of God.
One who is
perfectly righteous.
Unlike Rahab,
unlike the rest
of the Lord's
people,
unlike anyone
else,
he was
absolutely
righteous.
The blood
speaks to us
of that.
It's the
blood of one
who is
himself sinless.
But the
third thing
that it speaks
to us of
is that he
is a Savior
who died
for sinners.
What I'm
specifically
getting that
there is that
this is the
blood of a
man.
It's the
blood of
the God-man.
It's the
blood of
one who
was 100%
God,
100%
man.
But it
is the
blood of
a
because of
course,
Rahab
herself,
amazingly,
she becomes
part of
the direct
bloodline
of our
Lord and
Savior,
the direct
bloodline
of Jesus
himself.
And you
see that
when you
read the
genealogy of
Jesus at
the beginning
of Matthew
in chapter
one.
You see
she appears
there.
Amazingly,
really,
when you're
reading through
the Old
Testament,
to see
Rahab
appearing
in that
passage.
So the
blood of
the
harlot
woman
herself
is
connected
to
the
very
blood
that's
actually
flowing
through
the
veins
of
the
Lord
Jesus
Christ.
And as
the
blood of
Christ
is shed
there on
the cross,
not only
do we
see the
precious,
sinless
blood of
the Lamb
of God,
but we
also see
that blood
that's
connected
to man,
that blood
that is
connected
to his
fallen
people.
He himself
is not
a sinner,
he himself
is not
sinful,
but he
is from
that blood
line.
He is
dying there
for sinful
people,
his sinful
people,
not just
the likes
of Rahab,
but all
of his
people,
all of
his people,
he's dying
there for
us.
It is the
blood of
a man,
the blood
of the
God,
the blood
of our
Lord and
Savior,
Jesus
Christ.
And ultimately,
when you look at
all that,
and when you look
at that
blood-stained
cross,
I think that
the overriding
communication
perhaps that
it speaks to
us of is
the love
of God.
I think that's
the overriding
thing.
When you
stand there
and you
look and
you think
about that
blood-stained
cross and
all that
took place
there on
that cross,
it communicates
strongly something
of the love
of our
Lord,
that he
would go
through
this,
that he
would
experience
all of
this for
people like
us,
people who
don't
deserve
it,
people who
deserve
nothing,
and yet for
him to have
come,
and for
him to have
endured all
these things
for sinners
like us,
it speaks to
us very
strongly of
the love,
the love of
the Lord
himself.
So that's
three different
but similar
images that we
have in
scripture.
The blood-stained
doorpost,
the red cord
down the
window,
and the
blood-stained
wooden cross
as well.
Three similar
images,
but all three
really connecting
scripture together
together,
bringing some
of the
wonders of
what Christ
has done
for us,
bringing it
all together.
And when
you see it
like that,
and you see
it all
interacting
like that,
you can't
but respond
in worship,
you can't
but respond
in awe,
really,
thinking about
all that has
been done,
and the
plan of
God,
the triune
God,
working all
these things
together,
bringing about
this amazing
plan of
redemption with
a climax
there on
the cross
at Calvary.
And my
prayer is that
we would be
able to look
at these
things and
respond in
that way,
that our
eyes would
be open,
that our
hearts would
be open
to see
something of
the love
of Christ,
the love
of the
triune
God in
all of
this,
and that
we might
respond
ourselves
in having
our own
love
stimulated.
Because
sometimes,
let's be
honest,
we can
grow cold,
can't we?
Sadly,
we can
grow cold,
and we can
forget exactly
what it is
the Lord
has done.
And it
is important,
so important,
to continue
to go back
to what is
the very
basics,
of what
takes place
there when
you think
about the
blood of
Christ on
that cross,
and what
it is that
he has
done for
us.
So let's
take what
all three
of these
images
communicate to
us,
and let
us respond
in worship
and adoration,
and seeking
therefore,
because of
what he's
done for
us,
seeking
therefore to
serve him,
and to
follow him,
and to be
obedient to
him,
and whatever
it is that
he seeks
to call
us to.
Amen.
May the
Lord bless
these few
thoughts to
us will
bow our
heads now
in a
word of
prayer.
Heavenly
Father,
we give
thanks that
you are a
God who is
all-wise,
and a God
who is
ultimately the
author of all
that we see
in Scripture,
and we do
marvel at the
way in which
the whole of
Scripture ties
and knits
together,
and help us
to see these
connections,
and the
images and
illustrations that
we find in
Scripture as
well.
Help us to
see the
wonder of
Christ and
the wonder
of the
gospel itself
in every
page and
in every
scene,
and help
us especially
to give
thanks for
all that was
achieved for
us there at
that cross.
We do pray,
even as we
spoke of
there,
that you would
forgive us for
the coldness of
our hearts,
the way in
which we can
switch off,
really,
to the
reality of
these things,
how cold
we can become,
but when we
come around
your word and
we seek to
meditate on
some of
these themes,
it warms our
hearts,
and may that
be the case,
even as we
experience something
of the warmth
of the sun
over these
days,
may your
word and
may the
very gospel
itself warm
our hearts
and souls as
we seek to,
God willing,
enter into
these days to
come.
So cleanse
us,
wash us,
in the blood
of Christ,
we ask it
all,
his name,
Amen.
We're going
to conclude
now by
singing to
God's
praise,
again in
Psalm 51,
this time in
the Sing
Psalms.
Psalm 51
in the Sing
Psalms,
page 68,
Psalm 51,
and verse
7 to
verse 15,
cleanse,
that's
page 68,
cleanse with
hyssop,
purify me,
I'll be
whiter than
the snow,
let the
bones you
crushed be
joyful,
may I joy
and gladness
know,
from my
failure,
hide your
face,
blot out
all my
wickedness,
Lord,
create a
pure heart
in me,
and a
steadfast
mind
renew,
do not
take your
spirit from
me,
cast me
not away
from you,
give me
back the
joy I
had,
keep my
willing
spirit
glad,
then I'll
teach your
ways to
sinners,
rebels,
will turn
back to
you,
free me
from blood
guilt my
saviour,
God most
merciful and
through,
then I'll
praise your
righteousness,
teach my
lips your
name to
bless,
so we'll
sing a
psalm 51,
the sing
psalms,
verse 7 to
15 and
we'll stand
to sing to
the praise
of the
Lord.
cleanse with
this
of
purify
me,
I'll be
whiter than
the
snow,
let the
boat you
crush be
joyful,
may I
joy and
gladness
know,
from my
failure,
my
pure
face,
brought
out all
my
wickedness,
Lord,
create a
pure
heart in me,
and a
steadfast
time
renewed,
do not
take your
spirit
from me,
cast me
not
away
from you,
give me
back
the
joy
I
have,
keep
my
willing,
spirit
fly,
then I'll
teach your
ways to
sinners,
rebels
will turn
back to
you,
free me
from blood
guilt,
my
Savior,
God was
merciful,
and
true,
then I'll
wish
your
righteousness,
teach my
victory
to
rest.
And now,
may the
grace of
our Lord
and Savior,
Jesus Christ,
the love of
God the
Father,
and the
fellowship,
and communion
of the
Holy Spirit
continue with
you all,
now and
forevermore.
Amen.
Thank you.