We turn for our text tonight
to the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians in chapter
5 and the end of verse 7. That simple statement at the
end of the seventh verse in 1 Corinthians 5, for even Christ at Passover
is sacrificed for us. For even Christ. our Passover
be sacrificed for us. We were considering this morning
another part of this epistle, the opening four verses there
in the 10th chapter, and we sought to say something with regards
to gospel types, those things that came upon the children of
Israel as they were brought out of Egypt and a way was made for
them through the Red Sea. And there in those opening verses
of that 10th chapter, the apostle applies that experience to these
Gentile believers who were the principal part of the church
there. at Corinth. Moreover, brethren,
I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers
were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were
all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did
all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual
drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them, and that rock was Christ." We read then of their spiritual
meat, and of course In many ways, that spiritual meat was the manna
that we were just singing of in that lovely hymn of John Newton's. But also, the spiritual meat
that they partook of was surely the paschal lamb that they were
all to feast upon on the very night that they were delivered
from the bondage that had been theirs in Egypt. But what we
concentrated on this morning was that idea of how the Gospel
is there in type in all the experiences of the children of Israel. And that's made quite clear in
what follows in that 10th chapter there at verse 6. Now, these things were our examples, he says. These
were our examples. And then again, there in verse
11, all these things happened unto them for ensamples, and
are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world
are come. And so I want us to continue,
in a sense, in that same theme, thinking of the experiences of
the children of Israel in relation to the church of Christ in this
gospel day and tonight to consider these words preparation in many
ways for what we will as a church attend to very soon presently
we'll be sitting together again we trust at the table of the
Lord's but to think of Christ our Passover And three points
I want to deal with. First of all to say something
with regards to the significance of the Passover and the Lord's
Supper. Remember how it was at the last
occasion that Christ observed the Passover that he instituted
what we call the Holy Supper. He was born a Jew. He was circumcised
on the eighth day and he had respect to that that God had
commanded in the Old Testament and as we saw in our reading
there in Exodus 12 they were to keep the Feast of the Passover
perpetually throughout all their generations. It's made clear
that it was not just something to be observed the once but even
as they came into the land that God had promised to them they
must continue to observe it and they must explain the reason
for it to their children and the Lord Jesus Christ therefore
as a Jew was one who would diligently observe the Passover and he says
as he comes to that final one in Luke 22 15 with desire Have I desired to eat this Passover
with you before I suffer?" And it was something that his soul
delighted in. Because on that occasion he knew
what he was going to do. It was the last Passover before
he suffered the time had now come when he was to make that
great sin-atoning sacrifice. We desire, have I desired to
eat this Passover with you before I suffer. And then he goes on
and he actually institutes what we call the Lord's Supper. You can read it there in Luke
22 at verse 19 and verse 20. He takes the cup And he takes the bread, or he
takes the bread first, of course, and then the cup. And he speaks
of the way in which they are to observe the breaking of the
bread and the drinking of the cup in remembrance of Moses. We have the record in Luke. We
also have that record in the two other synoptic gospels, both
Matthew and Mark speak of the institution. As we said this
morning, we don't have that recorded in John's Gospel, but we do have
those remarkable words of John 6, where the Lord speaks of himself
as the fulfillment, really, of the manna, when he declares himself
to be the bread of life. I am the bread of life, that
as the manna came from heaven, so the Lord has come from He
is the bread of life. But he also goes on in John 6
to speak of the necessity of his people eating his flesh,
drinking his blood. In that spiritual sense, there's
a real union with him, a true communion with him. So whilst
John doesn't actually record the act of institution, he draws
out some very precious truths there in that sixth chapter. and then when we come to the
epistles we learn something more of course you know that in this
epistle to the Corinthians Paul has certain things to say with
regards to the observance of the supper there was a great
deal of disorder in that church and so Paul finds it necessary
to address them and to remind them how things are to be done
decently and in order. And here in chapter 11, we read at verse 17, Now in this
that I declare unto you, I praise you not, that ye come together
not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when
ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions
among you, and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies,
or the margin says, schisms among you, that they which are approved
may be made manifest among you. When ye come together, therefore,
into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. Now it's
clear from the way in which Paul introduces this subject he's
going to go on to speak in some detail about the observance of
the supper. But it's apparent that the way
in which Paul deals with it, he treats it very much as a church
ordinance. He speaks of them coming together.
In verse 17, I praise you not, that ye come together not for
the better. And then it goes on again in
verse 20, when ye come together therefore into one place. It's the doctrine of the church. It's the gathered church. It's
the people of God called out of the church and gathered together
in a local congregation. And what Paul is saying is that
there must be proper order. Discipline is very much a mark
of the true church. There are marks of the church
and amongst them one of the marks is that there will be discipline
and so there will be discipline in relation to the observance
of the ordinances. There will be control. would
contend that what we should practice is a restricted communion. We
should have regard not just to that ordinance but also the ordinance
of baptism. Baptism clearly comes before
the Lord's Supper and so our practice, as you're well aware,
is that those who are baptized and those who are in the church
then sit together at the Lord's table. that is the order that
we seek to maintain but there's also the place for the individual
to be careful in looking to themselves and examining themselves and
remember how Paul makes that quite clear as he goes on there
in in verse 8 of chapter 11 let a man examine himself he says
and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup for he
that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh judgment
that's the reading in the margin which is the better reading really
judgment to himself not discerning the Lord's body there should
be a discerning of the body of the Lord and it is Christ himself
who has instituted this holy supper and As he deals with it
here, in the fifth chapter where our text is found, he speaks
of Christ, our Passover, being sacrificed for us. And the context
is one in which he is dealing with a very real problem in the
church. He's dealing with a matter of
immorality. It is reported commonly that
there is fornication among you, he says. and such fornication,
as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should
have his father's wife." A man entering into an affair with
the wife of his mother, this would be his stepmother of course,
and ye are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that
had done this deed might be taken away from among you. Paul wants to deal with this
matter. He goes on in verse 6, Your glorying
is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven
leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven,
that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened. For even Christ
our Passover is sacrificed for us. the offense needs to be dealt
with. There should be a matter of discipline. This person has
got to be disciplined by the church. There's got to be a separation. But the intent, the hope is that
there will be a restoration that this person who has committed
such a sin against the body of the church will be brought to
a genuine repentance. Now, it does seem that they did
heed what Paul says, but they were too severe and there was
repentance and he has to write in the second epistle to encourage
them to receive this person again that is the point and purpose
of all church discipline to see the offending party restored
but we see something of the context you see in which Paul utters
these words concerning our Lord Jesus Christ our Passover, sacrificed
for us. And so, as you were carrying
on from what we were saying this morning when we sought to speak
of gospel types there in what pertained to the children of
Israel, certainly in their deliverance out of Egypt. I want us, in the
second place then, to turn to the sacrifice of the Passover.
and all that we see so remarkably there in the figure. What was that sacrifice that
they were to make? They were to offer a lamb, and
we refer to it as the Paschal Lamb. And a number of facts we
can bring out. First of all, That sacrifice
that they made, it was predestinated. It was predestinated. In Exodus
12 and verse 3 we are told how they were to separate that particular
lamb on the 10th day. They were to set it apart on
the 10th day. And then in verse 6 of that chapter,
Exodus 12, they didn't sacrifice that lamb until the 14th day. So they choose it and they set
it apart on the 10th day, but they don't make the sacrifice
until the 14th day. And that reminds us, does it
not, of Christ, our Passover he is the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world from all eternity he was set apart
to be that great sin atoning sacrifice and remember how Peter
speaks of that there in the first chapter of his first epistle
in 1st Peter chapter 1 And there at verse 18 following, For as
much, he says, as you know, that you were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world but
was manifested in these last times for you." Here is the Paschal
Lamb foreordained from eternity before the foundation of the
world, but manifested in these last times. Just as that Lamb
there in Exodus 12 was to be set apart, set apart on the 10th
day but then sacrificed on the 14th, so the Lord Jesus Christ
from all eternity, appointed to die in the purpose of God,
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, but manifest in
these last times for you," says Peter. It was a sacrifice then
predestinated. What we also see there in the
Old Testament type is a sacrifice that was prophesied. Now, of course Christ is there
time and again in prophecy throughout the Old Testament. The thinking in particular of
that Lamb. It says, we didn't read the part,
but it goes on to say later in that 12th chapter, neither shall
you break a bone thereof. Concerning the Paschal Lamb,
they were not to break any of the bones. And remember, with the Lord Jesus
and His crucifixion, the soldiers, it says, break not His legs. They would do that to hasten
the death of that criminal who was hanging upon the cross, but
when they came to the Lord Jesus, they see that He's dead already,
so they break not His legs. But it says these things were
done that the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall
not be broken. And again the psalmist says,
he keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken. How the paschal lamb you see
is a prophetic lamb in the sense that it directs us to what Christ
experienced even in his crucifixion. There's that in the sacrifice
that is prophetic. Furthermore, it's a sacrifice
that's perfect. Of course, that was to be the
case with all the sacrifices. They were told quite clearly
in the book of Leviticus. There in chapter 22 and verse
22, they were only to offer us sacrifices, the best, of their flocks and the best
of their herds and so Exodus 12 verse 5 your lamb shall be
without blemish a lamb without blemish and we
read those words just now in first Peter 1 concerning Christ
a lamb without spot or blemish or how he was altogether holy
Such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens, and he was
preserved even in his conception. We know that sinful parents give
birth to sinful children who can bring a clean thing out of
an unclean one. Our sin has come down through
the generations. all but the miracle of Christ
and His incarnation, the miracle of His birth, the virgin birth. Mary, this sinful woman who rejoices
in God her Saviour, she knows not a man, she's a virgin, but she's with child of the Holy
Ghost. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, the power of the Highest
shall overshadow thee, therefore also that holy thing that shall
be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. He is preserved
from all taint of sin, no original sin and no actual sin, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And you know, the Paschal Lamb
would be examined in order to establish its wholeness, that
it was fit to serve as such a Lamb. And the Lord Jesus Christ, He was called to appear before
three tribunals. We see it quite clearly in Luke's
account, In Luke 22 at verse 66 he is arraigned before the
Jewish council. But then when we move over to
the next chapter 23 there at verse 1 he is called before the
Roman governor Pontius Pilate. But then in verse
7 of that chapter He is taken to Herod because Galilee where
he performed most of his ministry was in the jurisdiction of Herod.
He is moved as it were from pillar to post being examined. But it
was Pilate who must make the final judgment. And what does
Pilate say? Behold, I bring him forth to
you that ye may know that I find no fault in him. That was the judgment of Pilate
who had the authority because he was the Roman governor and
Palestine of course was a province of that great empire of Rome. He had the authority. But Christ
reminds Pilate, Thou couldst have no power against me except
it were given thee from above. All the powers agree, they are
ordained of God. God is in all these things. The
Lord Jesus then must endure all that mockery of trial, before
the Jews, before Pilate, before Herod, he must endure all these
things to establish the blessed truth of his innocence. He does
die. And he dies, why? Because that
is the purpose of God. It's the authority of God. It's
the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose. Or when the fullness
of the time has come, God sent forth his Son. made of a woman
made under the law to redeem them that were under the law.
How the Lord is satisfied, in order to die as a substitute,
the Lord Jesus must be perfect. He hath made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin. that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Here is a lamb then. And what
do we see when we look at some of the detail back in that twelfth
chapter of Exodus? We see it's a lamb that's set
apart, in a sense predestinated, chosen to be sacrificed. It's a lamb that is prophesied. Not one bone
is to be broken. It's a lamb that's perfect. There's no disfigurement in this
animal that's to be sacrificed. It all points us to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And what of this sacrifice, this
paschal lamb? Isn't this a sacrifice that is
to be preached? This is what the Gospel is all
about. The proclamation of the person
of the Lord Jesus and the proclamation of that great work that he came
to accomplish. And we see how he's forerunner. John the Baptist is one who preaches
him. He says to his own disciples
on two occasions, Behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb
of God who taketh away the sin of the world. What did John the
Baptist preach? He preached the baptism of repentance,
yes, but he was the forerunner of Christ. He preached Christ
as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world and
so too with the apostles. Paul tells these Corinthians
here in chapter 1 and verse 23, we preach Christ crucified. That was the great message of
the apostles, the preaching of Christ crucified. Again, what
does Paul say here in chapter 1, verse 18, the preaching of
the cross is to them that perish foolishness. For unto us which
are saved it is the power of God. Well here then we have the
the sacrifice of the Passover lamb, all of it fulfilled in
Christ. We have the shadow there in the
Old Testament, but we have the substance in Christ. We have
the type there in the Old Testament, we find the anti-type in the
Lord Jesus. Even Christ at Passover is sacrificed
for us. But it's not just the sacrifice.
It's also spoken of as the feast. The feast of the Passover. Or the feast of unleavened bread. We've referred to Luke 22, that
chapter where we do have the record of Christ's last Passover
where he institutes his holy supper. And there in the opening
words of that chapter, the feast of unleavened bread drew near,
which is called Passover. That's how the scene is set at
the beginning of that chapter. The feast of unleavened bread
drew near, which is called Passover. Now what were they to do? In
what sense was the animal that they sacrificed more than a sacrifice? In what sense was it a feast? Well, the lamb was to be eaten.
They had to feed upon the lamb. And they had to eat the lamb
in its entirety. There in Exodus 12, 9, His head
with His legs and with the pertinence thereof and ye shall let nothing
of it remain until the morning. It was a whole feast for them. They were to eat it. Let nothing
of it remain. And what does it remind us of? Well, we When we come to consider
the Lord Jesus Christ, we have to consider Christ in all his offices, in all his
completeness. He is a prophet, he is a priest,
and he is a king. And we have to know him in all
those different offices, a complete Christ. You see, some have strange
ideas. They say, well, you can know
Christ as your priest, and Christ as your prophet, but you've not
yet come to know him as your king, because you've not come
to that point of complete submission to his authority. In many ways,
that was the teaching of the Kessick movement. You know, you
get the idea of complete dedication. You know him initially as your
priest because he has made a great sin atoning sacrifice, but you've
got to have a second blessing. You've got to come to that point
of complete and utter surrender. There are all various forms,
you see, of second blessing teaching. Well, we have to take Christ
in his entirety. if we know him at all we must
know him in that threefold office. Surely he is our King because
he is that one, the only one who can come and subdue all our
iniquity. He is the only one who can deliver
us from all our unbelief. He must exercise absolute authority
in our lives to bring us to true faith, to saving faith. Oh, we
want to embrace Him then as our great priest. He has made the
sin-atoning sacrifice. And that's where we look for
the forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood. There's
no remission of sin, but Christ has shed that precious blood.
He has poured out His soul unto death. He has died. What a doctrine
that of substitutionary atonement. Jesus in the sinner's place. And then Jesus is that One who
is our Prophet. Why? We need One to teach us,
to instruct us. We want to look to One who is
the greatest of all preachers. That's the Lord Jesus, the Prince
of preachers. Or we want to hear His voice.
We want to know that He is our Teacher, as He is our Priest. And we want to know Him, as we've
said, as as our king, the one who comes to rule and reign in
our poor hearts, who subdues all our sins. The lamb was to
be eaten then entirely. And Christ, our Passover, sacrificed
for us, we're to feed upon him, we're to feast upon him. The lamb there in that twelfth
chapter of Exodus, was also eaten with relish. Verse 8 we read, with unleavened
bread and with bitter herbs shall they eat it. Here's the relish
you see, the bitter herbs. And what's the effect of the
bitter herbs? Well it's sweet and sour isn't it? Doesn't the
bitter herb make the lamb so much sweeter? And that's how it is with the
Lord Jesus. The bitterness of our sin, more
that we might feel it, more that I might feel it, the bitter thing
that sin is, and to know more and more the sweetness of that
salvation which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh dear old Matthew
Henry says we must feed upon Christ with sorrow and brokenness
of heart in remembrance of sin. Oh this is the relish to the
paschal lamb says the great Bible commentator. Oh God show us more
and more what we are. They that are whole have no need
of the physician but they that are sick says Christ. I came
not to call the righteous but sinners. to repentance. You know we examine ourselves
and maybe sometimes we wonder are we the right people to be
sitting at the Lord's table? We think of our past days, the
manner of our living, the multitude of transgressions and sins. Are
we fit people to sit at that table of the Lord where our sin qualifies us? this
man receive us sinners and eat us with them. That's how the
scribes and pharisees mocked the Lord Jesus. He received sinners.
He would go and eat with the publicans and the sinners. All sin should make us relish
more and more the sweetness of that salvation. And then thirdly
this lamb How were they to eat it? They were to eat it with
some haste. Again there, Exodus 12, 8, they
shall eat the flesh in that night. Nothing was to be allowed to
remain. 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. Oh friends, how we need to look
to ourselves. No procrastination. No procrastination
today. If ye will hear his voice, harden
not your heart. How solemn it is how we harden
our hearts. We don't want to be obedient
really. And yet he says, I have heard thee in a time accepted,
and in a day of salvation have I suckered thee. Behold now. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. All they had to eat that lamb,
you see, with some... no procrastination, no putting
things off and putting things off. And then, also, that lamb, how
was it to be eaten? It was to be eaten spiritually. Those who were the true Israel
of God would see through the type those
who were spiritual Israelites. How the Lord Jesus in that sixth
chapter of John we referred to, verily, verily, except ye eat
the flesh of the Son of God and drink His blood, ye have no life
in you, He says. All there is to be a spiritual
feeding And it's meat and it's drink
for certain characters. It's for sinners. It's for sinners. Let a man examine himself. And
so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Self-examination
is good but it's not there, you see, to turn us away from the
Lord's table. If we've sinned, It's for a particular people,
evidently. It's for those who would examine
themselves and know themselves and prove themselves. Know that
Jesus Christ is in them, except they be reprobate. All we have to examine ourselves.
Who are these particular people that it's for? It's for those
who are sheltering under his blood. when they killed the lamb
they were to take of the blood and they were to use the issup
and they were to put the blood upon the doorposts, upon the
lintels and they were to abide there under the shelter of the
blood when they were partaking of that blessed feast. That blessed
feast. Oh this is Christ you see. And
how we need to understand the significance of the figure that
is being used, the type that is set before us. Even Christ,
our Passover, He sacrificed for us. We want more than the sign. We
want more than the type. We want to know something of
the reality of it, the spiritual significance of it, that it is
Christ, that it is Christ that we are to feast upon. This morning
we concluded with the hymn 447, and the reason I went to that
particular hymn was because of what we have there
in verse 3 and I leave you with that verse 447
verse 3 I eat the bread and drink the wine but all my soul wants
more than sign I faint unless I feed on thee and drink the
blood as shed for me or to be those who do indeed faint to
feed on Christ and so yearn after the drinking of that precious
blood that cleanseth us from all our sins. May the Lord be
pleased to bless his word.