You will open your Bibles with
me to the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter 3. As you're turning, several announcements.
Lord willing, Tuesday evening I'll be preaching in Danville,
Kentucky. Covet your prayers for that trip. Also, Brother
Eric Floyd is preaching in Collegeville, West Virginia this morning. It's
the first time he's preached there and I know he'll enjoy
that trip and they'll love him. Also, many of you may know this
already, but much of the city of Pikeville and the church at
Pikeville flooded again yesterday. Brother Tom has a big mudslide
in his backyard. The mud didn't get into the house,
but his backyard is covered with mud. They're not having a worship
service tomorrow. I think Tom called it a working
service today. They're having that and they're
having the work day beginning tomorrow at eight o'clock. If
any of you men could go, Tom would request if you can come
that you bring a shovel and a squeegee. I got some work to do. So pray
that the Lord enabled them to get back to their worship service
quickly. All right. Ecclesiastes chapter three. We'll
read the first 15 verses. To everything there is a season
and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time to be born
and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to
pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to
heal. A time to break down and a time to build up. A time to
weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to
dance. A time to cast away stones. and
a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time
to refrain from embracing, a time to get and a time to lose, a
time to keep and a time to cast away, a time to rend and a time
to sew, a time to keep silence and a time to speak, a time to
love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace. What
profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth? I've
seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be
exercised in it. He hath made everything beautiful
in his time. Also, he has set the world in
their heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh
from the beginning to the end. I know that there is no good
in them, but for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life. And
also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good
of all of his labor. It's the gift of God. I know
that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can
be put to it or anything taken from it. And God doeth it, that
men should fear before him. That which hath been is now,
and that which is to be hath already been. And God requireth
that which is past. All right, let's stand together
as Sean leads us in singing our call to worship. Approach, my soul, the mercy
seat, where God will hear our prayer. There humbly fall before
His feet, for none can perish there. Thy promise is my only
plea, With this I venture nigh. Thou callest burdened souls to
Thee, And such, O Lord, am I. O wondrous love to bleed and
die, To bear the cross and shame That guilty sinners such as I
Might plead thy gracious name The hearing ear, the seeing eye Okay, if you would turn to song
number 296, All the Way My Savior Leads Me. you All the way my Savior leads me,
what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
who through life has been my guide? Heav'nly peace, divinest
comfort, here by faith in Him to dwell. For I know what e'er
befall me, Jesus doeth all things well. For I know what e'er befall
me, Jesus doeth all things well. All the way my Savior leads me,
cheers each winding path I tread. Gives me grace for every trial,
Feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter,
And my soul a thirst may be, Gushing from the rock before
me, Lo, a spring of joy I see! Gushing from the rock before
me, Blow a spring of joy I see. All the way my Savior leads me,
O the fullness of His love. Perfect rest to me is promised
in my Father's house above. When my spirit, clothed immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day, This my song through endless
ages, Jesus led me all the way. ? This my song through endless
ages ? ? Jesus, lead me on the way ? Our pastor has asked that we
read from Exodus chapter 12 this morning. Exodus chapter 12, the first
14 verses. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto
you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of
the year to you. 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. And if the household be too little
for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take
it according to the number of souls. Every man according to
his eating shall make your account for the lamb. Your lamb shall
be without blemish, a male of the first year, and ye shall
take it from the sheep or from the goats. and ye shall keep
it up until the 14th day of the same month. And the whole assembly
of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side
posts and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall
eat it. And they shall eat the flesh
in that night, roast with fire and unleavened bread, and with
bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden
at all with water, but roast with fire, his head with his
legs, and with the pertinence thereof. And ye shall let nothing
of it remain until the morning. And that which remaineth of it
until the morning shall ye burn with fire. And thus shall ye
eat it, with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, your
staff in your hand, and ye shall eat it in haste. it is the Lord's
Passover. 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. And the blood
shall be to you for a token upon the houses wherein you 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. And this day shall be unto you
for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout
your generations, and ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance
forever. I'll stop my reading there. Let's pray. Our holy. Righteous. Most high. Heavenly Father. Come before you this morning.
Thankful. That through the blood of the
lamb, our Lord Jesus Christ. We may come before your. Throne
of righteousness boldly. that we may call you Abba Father. Lord, we pray that you would
bless this service here this morning. Don't leave us alone,
but send your spirit to be among us. Give strength to our pastor.
Give him a message from thee. And Lord, apply that message
to the hearts of your people. Apply that blood to the doorposts,
to the upper door, that we might be found in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we are so thankful for all that
you've given us. And may we see in this study
that Christ is our Passover. Don't let us Take that, flip
it, leave it. Cause us to enter in to the death that you punished our sins with
and the righteousness found in Christ. Cause us to look to him for our
salvation. Father, we pray that you would
help those who are going through difficult times, those experiencing
loss, those going through illness and sickness. We pray a special
mercy on Novi that, Lord, you would undertake on her behalf,
that you would help them with these insurance issues that might
provide that transplant that she needs, that you would use
the means. Father, you've given miraculous
knowledge and medicine. Pray that you would use those
means to heal her and that you would restore that family, bring
them back to us. Lord, what we pray for our people,
we pray for wherever men stand today, Preach the gospel. Pray that you would show mercy
on that church in Pikeville, that you would help them restore
their building, that they might meet again soon.
Pray for our children. Leave them not alone, but show
mercy to them. Most of all, Lord, we pray that
we might honor Christ in our lives. As we go out into this world
this year, hedge us about, cause people
to know the difference that thou hast made. Point people to Christ
through us. We ask all these things in the
name that is above every name. Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. If you would open your Bibles
to Psalm 65, that's the first scripture that we'll be going
to here in just a little bit. Psalm 65. Just hold that for
a few minutes. while I talk. I've titled the
message for this morning. This is the message I had prepared
for our New Year's Eve service, and we were prevented from having
it. So I thought, well, rather than bring it the last service
of 2021, be the first service of 2022. I've entitled the message
2022 for the believer. Now, none of us know what events will unfold
in this coming year. It always strikes me. I watch
the ball drop and see the people in Times Square. I saw several
again this year literally crying because it's a new year and everything's
going to be different. And I got news for you. No, it's
not. No, it's not. Nothing's really
going to change. But we don't know what specific
events are going to unfold in this coming year. But I do want
us to look at three things that will be true in this new year,
regardless of what happens in it. These three things will be
true. They're true for God's people, and these things are
meant to comfort our hearts, give us assurance, and encourage
us to continue to look to Christ, to live depending on and worshiping
our Savior. Number one is this. Everything
that happens in this year, 2022, will be the purpose of God being
carried out. Now, like I said, I have no idea
what's gonna happen in this new year, but I do know whatever
will happen will happen because God purposed for it to happen.
He purposed for it to happen exactly the way that it will
happen at exactly the time that it will happen. It may be something
that's small. It may be something that's earth
shattering. In 2018, whoever heard of the
coronavirus? Who ever heard of such a thing?
But whatever happens will happen at exactly the time that God
ordained for it to happen, in the way that God ordained for
it to happen. I looked up in the concordance the word year
or years in the scriptures. And as I read through all those
references, it stood out to me, everything that happened, happened
exactly on God's time. It happened at a specific time.
Let me just read you a few scriptures. We won't turn to these for time's
sake, but all the days that Adam lived were 930 years. Exactly.
And he died. All the days of Seth were 912 years and he died. All the days of Venus were 905
years. and he died. All the days of
Canaan were 910 years and he died. All the days of Mahiel
were 890 and five years and he died. All the days of Methuselah
were 960 and nine years and he died. I could go on and on and
on and on with those, those references, but you get the idea. A person
lives exactly the numbers of years that God gives them and
then they die. They died at exactly the moment
God ordained for them to leave this earth from before he created
anything. Now one thing, this is what I
know for this from experience, that we will have in this new
year some funerals. People are gonna keep dying because
we're sinners. That's the way of this flesh. And God, God's people, even the
unbeliever will die just the same as the believer, but God's
people will die at exactly the moment, not just that God ordained
for their fleshly body to die, but at the exact moment that
our Savior and our Father determined to bring his people out of this
world of sin, out of a body of sin, to be with him forever. That won't happen one second
late. And that comforts my heart. That
lets me just rest in Christ while I worship him and while I seek
him, knowing that he's doing all things well. according to
his eternal purpose. And that same thing, life and
death, the same thing is true about every other event that's
going to happen in this year, 2022. Like I said, whether we
think that they're big things or whether we think they're small
things, it'll all happen at God's set appointed time. In Exodus
nine, verse five, the Lord appointed a set time saying tomorrow the
Lord shall do this thing in the land. Whatever thing the Lord's
going to do in the land, in 2022, it's going to happen at a set
time. God's set time, because that's the way he does everything,
at his set time. In Genesis 17, verse 21, the
Lord said, my covenant will I establish with Isaac. Now this is before
Isaac is even conceived. My covenant will I establish
with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time. in the next year. Before Isaac
was born, the Lord made sure Abraham understood, that boy's
gonna be born at my set time. Then, in the next year, Genesis
21 verse two, shockingly, Sarah conceived. Sarah conceived. And she bare Abraham, a son in
his old age, and you know when it happened? At the set time
of which God had spoken to him. It happened at God's set time.
Now the birth of Isaac is not just the birth of any baby. The
birth of Isaac is almighty God carrying out his promise to send
the Messiah as the God man through Abraham and through Isaac. God's purpose of redemption will
be carried out. It'll be carried out without
any delay. It'll happen at God's set time. That same thing is
going to happen in 2022. in this year and every year,
as long as the Lord tarries. And knowing that, everything
God does is gonna happen at a set time. That encourages me. That encouraged me to keep preaching
Christ. That encourages me for us to continue worshiping Him. You might think that from week
to week, month to month, year to year, we think, well, maybe
a lot doesn't change. Things aren't happening the way
that we maybe would like to see them happening. But let me tell
you, we cannot waste our time if we're preaching Christ. We
cannot waste our time if we're worshiping him, because this
is always true. God's will of redemption is always
going to happen at God's set time. And we have a picture of
that in the appointed day that Isaac was born. And you know,
that birth was tied to God's covenant of grace, the Messiah's
coming through Isaac, not through Ishmael, through Isaac, through
the son of promise. And the birth of Isaac is a special
birth, a picture of Christ our Savior. But you know, at the
same time, that's true of every baby that's ever born. Our babies
are gonna be born at the exact moment God ordained for them
to be born, the exact moment. I've been through enough new
years to know this. In this coming year, God's going
to give new life. He's going to give new spiritual
life. And he's going to give physical life too. Like I said
a minute ago, in 2022, we're going to have some funerals.
We're going to have some funerals. And we're going to have some
baby showers too. We're going to welcome some new babies. God's
going to give life. And when we have a funeral, and
we have baby shower, You remember this. God did them both. God
did them both. He gave life and He took it.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. And like I keep saying, this
is true. Everything happens at God's set
time. Whether it's what we call big things or what we call little
things, so many things that just go without our notice. That's
God's will being carried out. God's will being carried out.
I pulled into the parking lot this morning, and you think,
eh, you know, I was glad to see there was no evidence of flooding.
I was thankful. I was. I was thankful. I did.
I went, thank you, Lord. We can have service, you know,
this morning. But you know what? If it was
a clear, sunny day and I arrived out there in the parking lot,
that's God's will. I mean, you think that just goes
without notice because you do it every day. That was God's
will. Everything happens at God's set time. God has ordained all
these things to happen at exactly the time and way and place that
they'll happen. We read that to open the service
of Ecclesiastes chapter three. Solomon said to everything there's
a season, but he didn't end there. To everything there is a season,
but you know what he said next? And a time to every purpose,
every purpose under heaven. Everything that's happening is
happening in its season and it's that time according to God's
purpose. And I'm telling you, that thrills
my heart to know everything that's happening. All it is, is God's
will being unfolded before our eyes. It's all happening at God's
set time, whatever it is. That is true in 2022, and it'll
be true of every year till the Lord returns. All right, here's
the second thing. Now we get to Psalm 65. You write
this down. You write it down in your mind
and try to remember it as the Lord enables you. Everything
God does in this new year is gonna be good for his people.
Psalm 65 verse 11. Thou crownest the year with thy
goodness and thy paths drop fatness. Now the word translated here
with should be of. The Lord has crowned this year
of his goodness. He's crowned it. And when we
talk about this word crown, it doesn't just mean that like the
top off or to put a circle of gold, you know, on your head,
like we think of the King's crown, the word crown there means to
encircle. It means to surround in an unbroken
circle. God surrounds the year, the life,
the appointed time of life of his people. He surrounds it with
his goodness. He surrounds him in an unbroken
circle of his goodness. That's true of every year. And this word year doesn't just
mean 365 days. The word means a lifetime of
years. It means any measure of time, a lifetime of our years.
In any measure of time, in all the lifetime of our years, if
you look at the lifetime of our years from its beginning to its
ending on this earth, if you take a snapshot of it, anywhere,
any measure of time in all those lifetimes of years, God has crowned
that time for his people with his goodness. With his goodness. That's just too rich and too
deep for our finite minds to take in. But let this sink into
your mind, your heart, your soul. Everything God does with his
people. is done with him surrounding his people in an unbroken circle
with his goodness. And I know what comes to your
mind when I say that, because it's what came to my mind when
I read it. What about all the painful things? Things that are so painful, we
cry just thinking about them. What about those things? Things
that when they happen to us, we do not think of them as good,
do we? And I don't know, maybe they're not exactly good, you
know, at that particular time. You know, at the moment you're
suffering such pain of body or mind or soul or whatever, you
know what I mean? I guess that's not good exactly,
but this is what I can promise you. The Lord brings good out
of those painful things 100% of the time. God is always good in everything
that he does. Everything. Even if we don't
think so and we can't see it. Listen to what the Lord said
in Isaiah 55 verse eight. This is what God says. My thoughts
are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways. So when we think that there's
something happening to me that's contrary to this book, We better
change our thinking. Because naturally speaking, our
thinking and our ways are always wrong. They've got to be changed. God says, my thoughts aren't
your thoughts, and I better change my thoughts, hadn't I? He says,
your ways aren't my ways, and I better change my ways, hadn't
I? God is always good to his people in every measure of time. And that's going to be true in
2022. It'll be no exception. The Apostle Paul knew this. This
is what the Spirit inspired him to write in Romans 8, verse 28. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. Now, you don't have to be right
bright to understand this. All things means what? Does it mean all the things that
I like? Does it mean all the things that I think bless me?
Does it mean all the things that make me happy, but it doesn't
really mean the things that make me feel sad? All things means all things. Nothing is excluded. All things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to his purpose. And I'll tell you what that means.
The Lord has sent us nothing but good in 2021. And the same thing will be true
of all things in 2022. God sent all things that are
good. Those things that are painful,
somehow they produce good. There's an example given in scripture,
there's an example that I think of. Things that are painful can
produce something very good. I think of when I was a boy,
And my father disciplined me. That hurt. Oh, it hurt. But it produced good. I hope. I hope he used that to teach
me how to be a man. I hope so. It's painful to be pruned, isn't
it? Painful. But it makes us more fruitful.
It produces, God brings good out of it. Only God can bring
good out of evil. I'll tell you another example. Was it good or was it evil that
the people surrounding our Lord in Jerusalem on that day of days
cried, crucify him. Give us, grab us. Crucify Jesus. Is that evil? Oh, the Lord brought good out
of it, didn't he? He brought good out of it. Yeah, we all
want sunny days. All want warm days. I've written
words to a song I sing to my family every year. I'm dreaming
of a green Christmas. That's why I sing it to them
every year. I'm dreaming of a green Christmas. One of my sons reminded
me this year. He said, well, I know you are,
but when we have that in Kentucky, that brings a lot of severe bad
weather to folks. I want sunny, warm days now all
the time. but there'd never be a harvest
if there wasn't dark and rainy days. There wouldn't be a harvest
if there wasn't a cold winter to let the land rest, would there? No, God works all things together
for good. To them that love him, to them
who are called according to his purpose. And every time, every
time, God visits his people. He visits them in his goodness.
At the end here of verse 11, he says, in thy paths, drop fatness. They drop upon the pastures of
the wilderness, and the little hills rejoice on every side.
The pastures are clothed with flocks. The valleys also are
covered over with corn. They shout for joy. They also
sing. You know why they're shouting
for joy, and they also sing, and the pastures are clothed
with flocks? I mean, the pastures are just
covered with sheep. That's what it means, just covered,
so many of them. The valleys are covered over with corn. They're
having such a good harvest. All that's happening because
when the Lord visits his people, his paths, everywhere he goes,
everywhere he steps, drop fatness, drop riches and blessing upon
the earth so that his people have everything that they need.
He does that in his goodness. When the Lord visits us, it's
in his goodness. And that's very different from
kings of the past. In the past, when kings, I mean
absolute kings, absolute sovereigns, ruled over lands, sometimes the
king would venture out into his country, into the land that he
ruled. He'd travel through the country. He might go visit some
common people. Maybe he'd visit some common
people in small towns somewhere, give them the thrill of letting
them see the king. Maybe the king felt like he ought to see
what's going on in his country. He'd go out and visit. And boy,
some little old town somewhere heard the king's coming. Oh my
goodness, they were so excited. They were so happy. The king
is coming to our town. Maybe they sent word to some
minor, you know, noble in that town or wherever. The king is
coming. He's going to stay at your house while he's visiting
your little teeny tiny town. Just a speck on the map. Nobody
hardly even knows about it. But the king's coming. Oh, they
were so excited. But you know, that wasn't that
visit. was not always good for the land. You think about the
king. Well, he travels with an entourage,
doesn't he? He's got his court, and the queen's got all her maids-in-waiting,
wherever they called them, you know, all those hanger-on-ers,
you know, just sucking on the king, you know, trying to get
something for nothing. King would travel with a big
entourage, an entourage that was used to eating good, weren't
they? used to sleeping good, used to having the best of everything
there at the palace, and now they come to this little old
town. Well, if the king stayed there too long, that big old
entourage would eat up everything. Oh, everybody's excited to see
the king coming, but when he leaves, they're all impoverished.
They got nothing left to eat for the rest of the year, and
they'd suffer famine because the king visited. Now, it don't work like that
when our king, when the king of kings comes to visit his people,
When our king visits his people, his paths drop fatness. He brings
the blessings of mercy to his people. He crowns them. He encircles
them with his goodness when he visits his people. And this I
know, even when I don't understand it, everything our God does this
year, 2022, will be good for his people. In all of it, he'll
be encircling his people with his goodness. Now number three,
look back at Exodus chapter 12 that Brother Dan read for us.
Here's the third thing. The most important thing that
you and I can do in this new year, 2022, is to worship God
through the blood sacrifice of Christ. Now you could make a
whole one hour message on this passage of Exodus 12. I'm gonna
make it just a few minutes, just give you some bullet points here.
Everything that we do, all things that we do, this 2022, the most
important thing is worshiping God through the blood sacrifice
of Christ. Exodus 12 verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, this month should be
unto you the beginning of months. It should be the first month
of the year to you. Now this is not just rearranging
the calendar. The Jewish calendar did get rearranged
right here, but this is not just rearranging the calendar historically. The beginning of months means
this is not just the first one, it means it's the most important
one. This is the most important day of the most important month
of the year. And what's happening in this
day? It's a picture, it's the Passover. A picture of Christ,
our Passover, of the sacrifice of Christ. And I want to give
you several good, important pictures of Christ from the Passover that
would cause us to worship him. That would make us want to worship
him. And remember that worshiping him, this is the most important
thing. Number one, there must be a lamb
sacrificed for every sinner. Verse three, speak ye unto all
the congregation of Israel, not just the important people, not
just the rich people, Not just the people that know what's going
on, speaking to all the congregation of Israel, saying in the 10th
day of this month, they shall take to them every man, a lamb,
according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. Now you know what's going to
happen. God's going to pass through Egypt this night and he's going
to kill every firstborn in a house in the land of Egypt, in the
whole country where there's not blood on the door. See, there's
gonna be death in every home in Egypt this night. It's either
gonna be the death of the firstborn or the death of this lamb. This
first Passover night, this is a picture of God's judgment against
sin. Sin must be punished. There's no death angel coming
to do this. God himself's coming to do it, to punish sin. And the only way the firstborn
in a house in Egypt that night can live, can wake up the next
morning, is if a lamb dies in his place as a substitute for
him. Every house must have a substitute,
must have a land, or the firstborn will die. And that shows us God
is just. God's justice must be satisfied. There must be death for sin.
God can't ignore sin. So if you're not, this is just
a picture. And that night was a horrible night for the land
of Egypt, for the Egyptians. Oh, but how much more important
it is that you and I have a land. If we're going to live spiritually,
eternally, we've got to have a land. We've got to have a substitute
die in our place. And the center substitute is
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the substitute for God's
elect. He's called in scripture, the lamb, the lamb of God. If you care to read over in the
book of revelations, you'll find that's how we're going to see
him in glory as the lamb, the lamb as it had been slain. Christ
died in the place of his people. so that they would live. They're
rotten. They don't deserve it. They're
sinful. They're rebels. They're dead. And Christ died
in their place so that they would live. He suffered everything
that their sin deserved so that they would never suffer it. Now,
that ought to show us the importance of worshiping him, shouldn't
it? It ought to make us want to worship
him. All right, here's the second thing. Christ is enough. He's
enough for every sinner. Verse four. 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.
Now the father was to be sure that the lamb selected was big
enough to feed the whole family. If that was happening in our
house, Jonathan, we were young, they'd had a big lamb. I mean,
boy, two boys can eat, I mean, Becky didn't eat that much, but
me and Jonathan could. You know, some houses, they had three or
four boys. You know, they had to have a
big lamb. Maybe they had to have more than one. I don't know.
They had to have a big lamb. If it was just a little house, just,
you know, me and Jan and I, we just had to have a little lamb.
Just a little. We wouldn't eat that much. But there'd be nobody
going hungry. The lamb would be enough to fill
up everybody. Nobody would go hungry. And there'd
be no leftovers. Look at verse 10. And ye shall
let nothing of it remain until the morning. And that which remaineth
of it, that which you don't eat until the morning, you shall
burn with fire. There's not going to be any leftovers.
This lamb's going to be exactly enough to feed everybody in the
house, give them all they want to eat. And that's a picture
that shows us Christ is enough. Christ is enough. He's all that
we need. He's all that we need to be saved.
Christ died for his people. And by his death, he saved every
last one of them. Every one of God's elect, a number
no man can number, has all they want, all they need in Christ. He fills every last one of them.
But listen, there are no leftovers. There are no leftovers. Christ
didn't die for somebody who's going to perish because they
refused to eat. None of the sacrifice of Christ is wasted on somebody
who will not be saved, who will not be forgiven, who will not
be cleansed. there'll be no leftovers. Like
Brother Henry used to say so much, in glory, there's gonna
be plenty of room for everybody who wants to be there. Plenty
of room and not one empty seat. Because Christ is enough. Now
that ought to make it obvious to us how important it is for
us to worship Christ and want to worship him. He's the successful
savior. He's all we need. Thirdly, the lamb must be perfect,
verse five. Your lamb should be without blemish,
a male of the first year. You should take it out from the
sheep or from the goats. And you should keep it up until
the 14th day of the same month. Now, the lamb has to be perfect.
You know, you can't say, well, I'm going to sacrifice this lamb.
I'm going to kill this lamb. You know, it's sick. It's going
to die pretty soon anyway. This lamb's really old. It's
produced a long time. It's old. It's going to die this
year. I'm going to choose this lamb,
sacrifice this lamb. The lamb couldn't be maimed.
You couldn't say, well, this lamb, I can't take it down to
the market and sell it for very much. It's maimed. It's not worth
very much. I'm going to eat it. I'm going
to sacrifice it. Can't do that. The lamb had to
be perfect so that it was valuable. It had to be in the prime of
its life so that it was valuable. That's the only offering God
will accept, a perfect offering, a valuable offering. It's hard
to put away sin. Only valuable blood can do it.
Only perfect blood can do it. That lamb had to be perfect because
this lamb is a picture. The lamb they took this night
was a picture. A picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's perfect
lamb. The perfect, sinless sacrifice.
And since he's perfect, he's got the blood that has the power
to take away the sin of his people and to make them righteous. And
the lamb must be watched. It's got to be observed to make
sure there's no hidden flaw in it. When it was time for our
Lord's earthly ministry to begin, who introduced Him? John the
Baptist. What did John say? Behold, the
Lamb of God has taken away the sin of the world. There He is.
Behold Him. Look at Him. His earthly ministry is going
to last about three and a half years. You watch Him. You watch
Him. He's in public. You watch Him.
You watch and see. Is there any sin in Him? Watch
him and see. Is this God's perfect lamb? Oh,
yes, he is. When it came time for him, our
Passover, to be sacrificed, even Pilate had to admit, I find no
fault in it. This is the perfect lamb. Oh,
that'll make us want to worship him, shouldn't it? But here's
the fourth thing. That perfect lamb must be killed.
Verse six, you should keep it up until the 14th day of the
same month and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel
shall kill it in the evening." Now, it was important that this
lamb be perfect, but that wasn't enough by itself. It was important
you watch the lamb to make sure the lamb is perfect, but that's
not enough in itself. If firstborn's gonna live, the
lamb's got to die. There's got to be death for sin. And that's a picture of Christ
our Savior. It's not good enough. that the
Lord Jesus just be perfect. It's not good enough for us to
see and acknowledge, yes, he's perfect. If that was all it is,
all Christ would be is an example. Christ didn't come to be an example.
He came to die. He came to be the sacrifice for
sin. If the Father's justice against
sin is gonna be satisfied, if the Father's gonna accept his
people in love and mercy and grace, If the father's not going
to pour out his justice upon his people, Christ must die. The father must pour out his
wrath and his justice on his son, and Christ must die so that
his people would live. And that's exactly what happened.
At Calvary, the father made his son sin for his people. And in
justice, he poured out his wrath on him and put him to death.
And you know why he did that? So the firstborn would live. But now listen, not only must
Christ die, you know, the fact that Christ died is an historical
fact that's just undeniable to anybody that just got any sense
whatsoever. But not only must Christ die,
I need him to die for me. I need him to die for me. He's
got to be sacrificed for my sin. If he's not sacrificed for my
sin, I'm yet in my sin. That's what the Passover lamb
is all about. The Passover lamb died for a specific person. The Passover lamb didn't die
for this firstborn in this house plus a bunch of Egyptian firstborns
in these houses over here to see if they might accept him,
did he? The Passover lamb died for a specific person, the firstborn
in that house that that firstborn might live. And that's why I
said, If I'm going to live, Christ must die for me. He must die
as the Passover lamb for me, in my substitute, in my place,
so that I can live. And that's just exactly what
Christ did. That's why Paul said, Christ,
our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Do you know when Christ gave
up the ghost? At the time that he cried, it's
finished. Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. You know when he cried that?
At the time of the offering of the Passover. Well, those Jews,
they didn't want to be around Christ, they didn't want to be
around his death because they would defile them for their observing
the Passover. They had the right form and ceremony
and they just couldn't be around him out there suffering outside
the gate. And you know what they were doing at the time he gave
up the ghost? Sacrificing the Passover lamb.
Oh, they had the right form and the right ceremony, didn't they?
They went to hell because they did it without Christ. Christ
our Passover sacrificed for us. If I'm going to live, he's got
to be sacrificed for me, for my sin. The fact that the Son of God
would die for the likes of you and me ought to overwhelm us
every single time we think about it. It's my constant prayer that
first of all, we talk about the blood. We talk about the sacrifice
of Christ all the time, specifically in every surface. But secondly,
it's my prayer that we don't hear about it so often. It becomes
like yesterday's news to us. It ought to overwhelm us that
the son of God would do what he did for the likes of you and
me. And not only does that make it the most important thing we
can do to worship him, it ought to make us want to worship him.
All right, here's the fifth thing. The blood must be applied, verse
seven. They shall take of the blood
and strike it on the two side posts and the upper door post
of the houses wherein they shall eat it. Now that's not good enough
that the lamb be perfect. It's important, but that by itself
won't save anybody. It's not good enough that the
lamb be killed. That's important, but that by itself won't save
anybody. It's not good enough that the lamb just be eaten.
That's important because God commanded it, but that alone
won't save somebody. All that has to happen, but if
the blood is not applied to the doorpost, the firstborn's gonna
die. The blood must be applied. Now the Lord Jesus, he must live
as a man. He must be made flesh and dwell
among us. He must be perfect. He must obey
God's law perfectly. And he must be crucified bearing
the sin of his people, bearing the curse of sin. That's why
he was crucified instead of hung or having his head cut off. He
must be crucified bearing the curse of sin. But you and I are
going to perish if his blood is not applied to our hearts.
Scripture talks about it as sprinkling. Our hearts must be sprinkled
with his blood. His blood must be applied to our hearts. Look
at verse 13. And the blood shall be to you
for a token upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. And the plague shall not be upon
you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. When I see
the blood, the blood on the door, why will the Lord pass over that
house and not kill the firstborn when he sees blood on the door?
The blood says there's already been death for sin in this house.
The substitute has died. So the firstborn live, the blood
must be applied. Here's the sixth thing, the lamb
must be eaten, verse eight. And they should eat the flesh
in that night, roast with fire and unleavened bread and bitter
herbs. They should eat it, eat not of
it raw or sodden at all with water, but roast with fire, the
whole lamb, the whole Christ, his head with his legs and with
the pertinence thereof. Now the lamb must be eaten and
eating in scripture is given to us as a picture of union,
union with Christ. You know, we eat food, that food
becomes part of our body, actually becomes our flesh and the cells
and blood and bones and stuff of our body. And scripture uses
eating as a picture of union with Christ because salvation
is union with Christ. It's being joined to him by faith,
believing that Christ alone is all it takes to save me. Now,
if I would be saved, I must believe on Christ. I must. If you would
be saved, you must believe on Christ. But I'm not giving you
a work to do. All I'm telling you is this. God, the Holy Spirit
has to give me faith in Christ. God has to, the Holy Spirit has
to give you faith in Christ. Salvation is union with Christ. And that's what eating the lamb
with the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs represents.
You know that unleavened bread is a picture of the sinlessness
of Christ. Leaven in sin is a picture of
sin. Christ had no sin. He is our
righteousness. And the bitter herbs, they're
pictures of repentance. Now listen, we don't just repent
of our sin. We repent of our good works.
See, our good works, those works that we used to trust in, that
we think would make God accept us, that's sin. That's trusting
something I do instead of trusting in Christ, that's sin. When we
repent of our good works, we've got to give those things up.
Like the Apostle Paul, count them but done so I can trust
Christ alone. Now that's bitter herbs. That's
bitter to the flesh, isn't it? But it's life to the soul. And
we must eat Christ alone. Salvation in the gospel is not
Christ seasoned with things that the flesh can do. To make the
gospel more palatable to the flesh, more tolerable to the
flesh. If you preach Christ plus works, you'll get people following
it like that all day long. But that ain't gonna save anybody.
Don't water the gospel down at all. Don't water it down. I haven't
sodden with water to make it more tasty to the flesh. Don't
add the water and spices of man's works to trying to make the gospel
taste better to the flesh. If you add the spices of man's
works to the gospel, you're covering up the flavor of Christ, the
taste of Christ. Salvation is believing Christ
alone. Preaching the gospel is preaching
Christ alone. Salvation is believing Christ
alone. Him and Him alone. And that's
why I say the most important thing that we can do all year
long is worship Christ. Preach Him and worship Him. And
every time we preach Christ, every time we preach the gospel,
every time we gather together, you know what we're to do? Remember
His sacrifice. Verse 14. And this day should
be unto you for a memorial, and you should keep it a feast to
the Lord throughout your generations. You should keep it a feast by
an ordinance forever. So that's what we'll do by God's
grace in 2022, and every year till Christ's return from generation
to generation. There's generations that have
done this, been faithful to preach to us, and their year came to
an end, didn't it? The time of their life came to
an end. And they passed the torch to you and me to preach the gospel
to our generation. We can't do anything more important
this year. This sacrifice is the only way
that our sin can be put away and God will accept us. I pray,
Lord, give us faith to believe you. All right, let's bow together. Father, how we thank you that
you've given us another year, another time, in which we can
worship Christ our Savior. Father, I beg of you that you
take your word as it's been preached and use it to your glory. Apply
it to the hearts of your people that we might believe in, rest
in, and trust Christ and Christ alone, that you'd encourage us
to continue following him and him alone. It's in his blessed
name and for his glory we pray. Now, I'm not going to go to the
door today. Whatever it was I had on New
Year's Eve that caused us to cancel the service, I still have
it. They've tested me for everything in this world you can think of,
and I don't have none of that. I got something, but none of
what they tested me for. And the doctor, I told her, I
said, look, I'm a pastor. I really need my voice as much
as possible tomorrow. Is there anything you could do?
And she said, there's just nothing I can do. She said, you just
ride it out. She said, but you're safe to
go. You don't have anything communicable. But I know it doesn't sound good,
and I don't feel good. So in order to make you not have
to run past me trying to keep from getting something, I'm just
going to stay out of the way. And I pray the Lord bless you,
all right? All right, Sean. OK, if you would turn to song
number 112 and stand as we sing Blessed Redeemer. Up Calvary's mountain, one dreadful
morn, walk Christ my Savior, weary and worn, facing for sinners
death on the cross, that He might save them from endless loss. Blessed Redeemer, Precious Redeemer,
Seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree. Wounded and bleeding, For
sinners pleading, Blind and unheeding, dying for
me. Father, forgive them, thus did
He pray. Meanwhile His lifeblood flowed
fast away. praying for sinners while in
such woe, no one but Jesus ever loves so. Blessed Redeemer, Precious
Redeemer, Seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree. Wounded and bleeding, More sinners
pleading, Blind and unheeding, Dying for me. O how I love Him,
Savior and Friend! How can my praises ever find
end? Through years unnumbered on heaven's
shore, My tongue shall praise Him forevermore. Blessed Redeemer, Precious Redeemer,
Seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree, Wounded and bleeding, For
sinners pleading, Blind and unheeding, Dying for me. It's delicious.