We turn again to God's Word in
the New Testament in the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians
chapter 5 and verse 7. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse
7. Perjouce therefore the old leaven
that she may be a new lump as ye are unleavened, for even Christ
our Passover is sacrificed for us." These words then at the
end of the verse, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for
us. Here in the New Testament, the
Apostle makes reference to the experiences of the children of
Israel that we were reading of previously there in Exodus chapter
12. Here then he speaks of him who
is the antitype of the Paschal Lamb, even Christ our Passover
and he goes on to refer again to events those many centuries
before in chapter 10 he says moreover brethren I would not
that you should be ignorant that 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. The spiritual meat of course
that is being spoken of was that manna, that angel's food that
God rained upon them from heaven but also wasn't the Paschal Lamb
itself part and parcel of that same spiritual mate. And we're told quite explicitly
there in that 10th chapter the significance of all that is recorded
concerning the history of the children of Israel, whilst it
is historic, whilst these events actually occurred, yet we are
never to lose sight of their spiritual meaning. They are significant
to us who are living now in this 21st century. We don't just read
the Old Testament as historic, but it's a spiritual book. And
as the Apostle goes on to say there in that 10th chapter and
verse 6, now, these things were our examples, he says, or as
the Margin says, our figures, to the intent that we should
not lust after evil things even as they also lust it. And then he goes on in verse
11, all these things happened unto them for ensamples, or as
the margin reads, for types. And they are written for our
admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. There is a spiritual lesson to
be learnt then in that particular chapter that we read concerning
the Passover and we remember of course the Lord Jesus when
he comes to observe his last Passover with his disciples those
words that we have recorded in Luke 22 and verse 15 he says
with desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you."
Oh, what a hearty desire there was as Christ came to eat that
last Passover, and it was, of course, on that particular occasion
that He instituted what we call the Lord's Supper. That ordinance
that we are presently to observe how Christ changes the Passover
to what we have as a memorial feast. We're told how we took
bread and gave thanks and break it and gave unto them saying,
this is my body which is given for you, this do in remembrance
of me. Likewise also the cup after supper
saying this cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for
you. And we are to observe then the
Lord's Supper just as the children of Israel throughout their generations
were to observe the Feast of the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened
Bread. And how solemn it is! Remember
what Paul goes on to say, even here right into this church at
Corinth, it's a church ordinance of course, the Lord's Supper.
And what does he say in chapter 11, but let a man examine himself,
And so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup, for he
that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation,
or as the margin says, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself,
not discerning the Lord's body. We are to discern Christ in those
elements of the bread, the broken bread and that cup of the New
Testament in his blood. It is a church ordinance and
there is to be that right approach to it. There is to be that preparation,
that examination. There is to be a proper attendance
to order. These things are to be done in
a right manner. previously there in that chapter
chapter 11 verse 17 he says 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 you come together in the
church I hear that there be divisions among you and I partly believe
it or there was so much that was that was disorder in that
church at Corinth, though it was a church so greatly gifted
by God, so blessed by God. But now they had a duty to attend
to these things. All things must be done decently,
he says, and in order, even with regards to the Lord's Table. There is then that control. We
believe that it is right and proper in the teaching of Scripture
to observe a restricted communion. We are particular Baptists, but
we are also strict Baptists. And that's why we attend to these
things. And see how in the context here, in this particular chapter,
Paul is having to deal with a grave matter, even fornication, and
such fornication as was not even mentioned amongst the Gentiles. in the opening words of chapter
5 he says it is reported commonly that there is fornication among
you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the
Gentiles that one should have his father's wife it's not incest
that's being spoken of it's not a man with his own mother but
with a woman who was also the wife of his father and he says
and you are puffed up and have not rather mourned, that he that
hath done this deed might be taken away from among you." Well,
how they should have been dealing with this matter. And so he says
at 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. Here is the context you
see. They should be dealing with these things. There's a matter
for self-examination, but there's also, with regards to the ordinances
of God's house, the requirement among the church that things
are done properly. And it's interesting how he uses
his figure of the leaven. Purge out the old leaven. It's
a matter of church discipline. This business should be dealt
with. This moral failure, this sin,
it should be dealt with, he's saying. And he speaks of purging
out the old leaven. And he's going on, you see, to
speak of the Passover, but associated with the Passover, of course,
was the Feast of Unleavened Bread. How these two things clearly
come together, as we see there in the chapter, or the part of
the chapter that we were reading in Exodus chapter 12. and verse 14 he says this day
shall be unto you for a memorial ye shall keep it a feast to the
Lord throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an
ordinance forever seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread
even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses
for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until
the seventh day that soul shall be cut off from Israel and must
eat unleavened bread Of course we know that when they make their
flight from Egypt it is with some haste. The people took their
dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being
bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. The bread was
unleavened and they were to observe a feast of unleavened bread for
those seven days. We see it there. in verses 18
and 19 and 20, the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And so this is what he is dealing
with here when he comes to the New Testament and this church
at Corinth. There's a matter that should be dealt with, must
be dealt with, that to purge out the old leaven and that to
remember Christ as their Passover sacrificed for them. Well I want
us tonight to consider something of the Passover Christ as our
Passover and two things first of all to speak of the sacrifice
the sacrifice of the Passover and then secondly to speak of
the feast of the Passover. Now the Passover is so evidently
a type of the Lord Jesus. There can be no disputing that
fact. Christ is the anti-type, as I
said, of the typical Paschal Lamb. And here is our authority. The Word of God in the New Testament
for even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. In the Passover there in the
Old Testament there was, as it were, the setting of the gospel
before the children of Israel. It's a gospel type. And remember
how in another of his epistles, in Hebrews chapter 4, we see
there at the beginning of that chapter how Paul is still speaking
of the experiences of the children of Israel as they come out of
the land of Egypt, as they are about to go into the land of
of promise and he says unto us was the gospel preached as well
as unto them or the gospel was preached unto them in all their
experiences there in the deliverance out of Egypt, in their wanderings
through the wilderness, in their entrance into the promised land,
wonderful gospel types and to us was the gospel preached as
well as unto them." Now what great gospel truths then are
we to discern in the feast, or the sacrifice rather, of the
Passover? Thinking of the sacrifice first
of all, then we'll come secondly to say something with regards
to the feast. Well the first thing we observe
is this, it is a sacrifice that was purposed and a sacrifice
that was predestinated. And we see it in a little detail
that's written there in Exodus chapter 12. In the first place
they had to set the Lamb apart on the tenth day. verse 3 of
chapter 12, speaking 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
a house. It's the tenth day of that month
that they set the Paschal Lamb aside. And then we read at verse
6, And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same
month. And the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. They
set it apart, but they don't kill it immediately. They keep
it set apart for four days. That is the type, but how much
more glorious is the anti-type. The Lord Jesus is the Lamb. But
here is that lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Here is that lamb that is set
apart from all eternity to be sacrificed in the fullness of
the time. And Peter, look at the language
that we find in Peter in his first epistle there in in chapter
1 verse 18 following he says, for as much as you know 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, that's the paschal lamb, without blemish
and without spot who verily was foreordained says Peter before
the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times
for us. All this lamb that was to be
sacrificed was a lamb that was set apart and the Lord Jesus
is that one who is set apart in the eternal purpose of God
predestinated to die. before the foundation of the
world and so in a sense he is ever dead in God's eternal decree
and so when we see Abraham there in Genesis 22 taking his son
Isaac into the mount remember how God is proving the faith
of Abraham and commands him to take his son, his only son Genesis
22, a remarkable chapter, wonderful type of the Lord Jesus, because
it's not Isaac that is sacrificed. No, Abraham receives his son,
as it were, from the dead. There's a resurrection of Christ
there. The Lord provides himself with a lamb. When Isaac says
to his father, well, here is the wood for the burnt offering,
but where is the lamb? Abraham says, God will provide
Himself a lamb for a sacrifice. Oh, that is the lamb set apart.
It is a sacrifice of the Lord's Passover. It's the Lord's own
provision. It's what was purposed. And we
see it, I say, in that little detail how that Paschal lamb
is taken on the 10th day, set apart to be sacrificed on the
14th day. but Christ set apart from eternity
to be offered up in the fullness of the time. But then also in
the second place with regards to this sacrifice it is that
that is prophesied as it is purposed by God and predestinated by God
so it is spoken of in the way of prophecy. And that is the
prophetic word that we read there in Exodus chapter 12. It's a
prophecy of Christ. In verse 46, we didn't read on
to verse 46, had we read the whole of the chapter, we'd have
come to that statement in verse 46, neither shall ye break a
bone thereon. And John, in his account of the
crucifixion of Christ, makes reference to that very scripture
as a prophetic word. In John 19, verse 32, then came
the soldiers and break the legs of the first and of the other
which was crucified with him. These two thieves, one on his
right, one on his left, their legs are broken. but when they
came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already they break not
his legs but one of the soldiers with
a spear pierced his side and forthwith came there out blood
and water and he that saw it bare record and his record is
true and he knoweth that he saith truth that ye might believe for
these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled
A bone of him shall not be broken. What is that scripture? A bone
of him shall not be broken. It's those words of Exodus 12,
46. It's a prophetic word. It's a
prophetic word. It's a word that's speaking quite
specifically then of the Lord Jesus and his sacrifice. The psalmist says concerning
Christ, He that keepeth all his bones Not one of them was broken,
though his body was broken. And we remember, of course, his
broken body, as the bread is broken in that Holy Supper. But
not one of his bones was broken, because they were not to break
the bones of the Paschal Lamb. And then, furthermore, with regards
to the sacrifice of the Passover, we see that it is a perfect sacrifice
your lamb shall be without blemish when they brought any animal
to sacrifice they must always bring that that was the best
of the herd or of the flocks or any creature that they were
permitted to offer in sacrifice We have that law stated in the
book of Leviticus in chapter 22 and verse 22. Blind, or broken, or maimed,
or having a wane, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer
these unto the Lord, nor make an offering by fire of them upon
the altar unto the Lord. Either a bullock or a lamb that
hath any thing superfluous or lacking in his parts, thou mayest
offer for a freewill offering, but for a vow it shall not be
accepted." They must carefully examine these various creatures
that they're bringing. And when they come to offer the
sacrifice of the Passover lamb it must be that that is whole,
complete in all its parts. It must be a perfect creature
in that sense. And does it not prefigure Christ?
And the perfection of His human nature. Oh how Christ is that
One who is preserved from all sin, preserved from every taint
of original sin, This is why the miracle of the virgin birth
is so important, the great mystery of the incarnation. How that
sinful woman Mary, she's with child. But the power of the highest
shall overshadow them. The Holy Ghost shall come upon
them. That that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God. Oh, there she conceives in her
womb that human nature that is without any taint of Adam's sin. For Christ is that one who is
holy and harmless and undefiled and separate from sinners and
made higher than the heavens. He is that one who is without
any taint of either actual sin or original sin. because he comes
to bear the sins of others. And so, as I said, the Paschal
Lamb, like all the sacrifices that they were to offer in the
tabernacle and subsequently in the temple, all were to be carefully
examined to establish the wholeness of that creature and so the Lord
Jesus. The Lord Jesus must appear before
three tribunals He is to appear before the Jews, the Jewish council,
and then they refer to Pilate, the Roman governor, and then
Pilate hearing of Herod being in Jerusalem and knowing that
this man comes from Herod's region, so he is referred to Herod. Three
tribunals, all of them a mockery of a trial. And now even the
Roman governor is brought to acknowledge the innocence of
this man that they brought before him. Behold, says Pilate, I bring
him forth to you that ye may know that I find no fault in
him. Oh, he is not worthy of death.
That is the judgment that is made by the Roman authority. And it is, of course, the Roman
gardener who has the authority to sentence a man to death, but
he is innocent. He has this power because we
know that God is the one who has ordained the powers. Let
every soul be subject unto the higher power. There is no power
but that of God. The powers that be are ordained
of God. You're familiar I'm sure with the language there in Romans
chapter 13 concerning how we are to recognize the authority
of the state, the power of the state and so on. And so the Lord
says to Pilate, thou couldest have no power at all against
me except it were given thee from above. It is that one who
is really appointed of God And Christ is brought before his
human judge, as it were, and the human judge declares that
he is innocent. He is fit, surely this man, to
be that great sacrifice for the sins of his people. Or to die
as a substitute for others. Christ himself must be free from
every sin. He has made him to be sin for
us, says Paul. who knew no sin. The Lord Jesus
Christ knew no sin. He was made sin for others, made
sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. All the blessed exchange that
we see there in the Gospel, how He is that One who has taken
to Himself the sins of His people. all their sins imputed to Him,
all their sins reckoned to His account. And now He has taken
their sins and nailed them to the cross. And having received
their sins, what do they have in exchange from Him? His righteousness. Or that they might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. Here is a sacrifice then that
is a perfect sacrifice. Even the holy and righteous Lord
Jesus Christ, even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. And it is a sacrifice that is
to be proclaimed. It's a sacrifice that is to be
preached. Who was the greatest of all the
prophets of the Old Testament? Who was the greatest of all the
prophets? John the Baptist. That's what
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself says. And what is the message
that John the Baptist proclaims? What is the subject matter of
his preaching? We have it there in John chapter
1, Behold the Lamb of God. that taketh away the sin of the
world." That's the message of John. He preaches Christ. All the Old Testament prophets
leading up to this man who comes in the spirit of Elijah, who
is representative of the Old Testament prophetic office. And
oh, what does the Baptist preach? Behold the Lamb of God. that
taketh away the sin of the world." And it's the same message that
was proclaimed by the apostles of the Lord Jesus, as it was
preached by the harbinger, by the forerunner, so it is preached
by those who follow the Lord Jesus, the message of the apostolic
gospel. Paul says, we preach Christ crucified. We preach Christ crucified. or the preaching of the cross
to them that perish, it's foolishness. It's foolishness to them that
perish, but how different it is to them that believe. These are the very things that
we have, of course, recorded here in this very epistle. What does Paul say? Christ sent
me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. not with wisdom of
words, lest the cross of Christ should be made a noneffect. For
the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. We preach Christ crucified unto
the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness but
unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power
of God and the wisdom of God this is the great message then
that is to be preached this is what we seek to declare even
Christ crucified or the great sin atoning sacrifice the shedding
of that precious blood I determined, He says, not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The person and
the work of the Lord Jesus is the message of the Gospel, is
it not? But so much for the sacrifice. Let me say something in the second
place with regards to the feast. Is it not spoken of as a feast?
There again in Exodus, Exodus 34 and verse 25 we read of the
Feast of the Passover. And in that 22nd chapter of Luke
that we made some reference to where Christ observes his last
Passover and then institutes the Lord's Supper. How does the
chapter open? Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
Drunai, which is called Passover. the Feast of Unleavened Bread
which is called Passover. Now where was it that the children
of Israel partook of the Paschal Lamb? Well, we read of it there in verse 7 of our reading in
Exodus 12, they shall take of the blood and strike it on the
two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses wherein
they shall eat it. Now to eat the Passover lamb
as they are sheltering under that blood, that blood of sacrifice. Again, he goes on there in verse
22 Ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that
is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two sideposts
with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall
go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord
will pass through to smite the Egyptians, and when he seeth
the blood upon the lintel and on the two sideposts, the Lord
will pass over the door. It's the feast of the Passover,
you see. The destroying angel passes over there. The Lord will not suffer the
destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you, it says.
Or the place where they partake, you see. They're sheltering.
Where? They're sheltering under the blood. And surely those who
come to observe the Holy Supper of the Lord are those who would
be sheltering under that precious blood that was only typified
in the paschal now. Or that precious blood. redeemed
not with corruptible things, silver and gold received by vain
tradition from our fathers says Peter, but with the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, how we are to be those friends
who as we come to that table tonight would be sheltering under
that blood. That's all our hope, all our
confidence, that blood of the Lord Jesus, that great sacrifice
that He made for sinners. But observe something of the
manner in which they were to eat the Passover. And I want
to mention briefly just four things. First of all, this Passover
lamb was to be eaten really in its entirety. Verse 9 in Exodus
chapter 12. His head, with his legs, and
with the pertinence that saw the inward parts, and with the
pertinence thereof, and ye shall let nothing of it remain until
the morning." They were to feed upon the Lamb in its entirety. And so sinners are to feed upon
an entire Christ, a complete Christ. And we need the Lord
Jesus Christ in all His holy offices. or how we need him as
that one who is the great prophet that one who is the true teacher
come from God how we want to sit at his feet or never man
spake like this man when we come into the house of God I trust
we come not to hear some preacher you may well have your favorite
preacher but look beyond the man or come as those who would
seek to know only the voice of the Lord Jesus Beaking through
the ministry of the Word, to be sitting at His feet, to be
receiving instruction at His gracious lips. We want Christ
as our Great Prophet, our Teacher, our Instructor. We want the Lord
Jesus Christ as our King. We need Him to come to reign
in our hearts. Are we not to pray, Thy Kingdom
come? Or do we want that Kingdom to
be established in us? for him to come and subdue every
iniquity we're so full of sins and yet the Lord Jesus Christ
is that one who is a great king, a great conqueror why? he has
vanquished sin he has defeated satan he has triumphed over death
he is glorious in the resurrection is he not? oh death where is thy sting?
oh grave where is thy victory? the sting of death is sin the
strength of sin is the law but thanks says Paul thanks be
to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ
who are we those who want to know him as our King reigning
in our hearts and we are those who would bow before Him, submit
to all His authority, contend for those crown rights of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and we need Him as our priest. Oh, He has
made the great sacrifice, and we haven't come before God to
plead the shedding of that precious blood, that life that was given
when He died, the just for the unjust, but now to look to Him
also as our high priest in heaven when we come to pray or how we
have to invoke his name how we have to plead for Christ's sake,
we have nothing of ourselves we are complete and utterly dependent
only upon the Lord Jesus Christ all we must eat in his entirety
as it were, that spiritual feeding Christ in all his holy offices,
Christ in all of those those titles that he bears remarkable
isn't he you're familiar I'm sure with that concordance of
Alexander Cruden remarkable man Alexander Cruden in some ways
I still think his concordance is the best of all the concordances
to find out a way around the word of God but he has a a list
there in His concordance of all Christ's titles and all His names. What a list it is! What a list
it is! Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. There are
but a few of those names and we need to know Him in all that
is revealed to us concerning Him here in the Word of God.
This Passover lamb was eaten in its entirety. And then also
we see in the second place how it had to be eaten with a certain
relish. On leavened bread it says, and
with bitter herbs they shall eat it. With bitter herbs, that's
the relish. And it's those bitter herbs that
make the lamb so sweet. Lamb is sweet meat, is it not?
Matthew Henry says we must feed upon Christ with sorrow and brokenness
of heart in remembrance of sin. That's the relish to the paschal
lamb, you see. Or when we feel the bitter thing
that sin is. when we come sorrowing over our
sins, broken hearted because of our sins, doesn't this give
a certain relish to Christ? Isn't He a precious Saviour to
sinners? Or this man receiveth sinners,
and eateth with them? The whole have no need of the
physician. But they that are sick, said Christ, I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. How do you come?
how do I come? we can only come as sinners that's
how we have to come and that's what makes the Lord Jesus so
precious to us when we feel the awful burden of our sins they
were to eat then the paschal lamb with relish with bitter
herbs or the bitter thing that sin is but all of the sweetness
of the gospel of the grace of our God. And then thirdly, they
must eat it with haste, it says. Verse 8 there in Exodus 12, they
shall eat the flesh, it says, in that night. When they sacrificed
the lamb on that night of the 14th day of the first month,
They were to eat it that night, nothing was to remain till the
morning. He goes on to say, thus shall ye eat it with your loins
girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand,
and ye shall eat it in haste. Oh, there's a need, you see,
for some urgency. There's a need for some urgency,
friends, with regards to the things of God. Today, if you
will hear His voice, harden not your heart as in the day of temptation,
the day of provocation in the wilderness. We're not to be hard-hearted,
we're not to assume anything, we're not to make any presumptions. Here in the second epistle in
chapter 6, what does Paul say concerning the gospel God says,
I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have
I suffered thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. There is a need for some urgency
with regards to these things. Oh, the sinner needs to look
to himself. and look to his condition, and
desire that he might have that assurance that his sins are forgiven,
that he is one who is truly closed in with the Lord Jesus, that
he knows this Christ as his own Saviour. He is not standing afar
off. Isn't this the one who receives
the sinners? All that the Father giveth me, he says, shall come
to me, and he that cometh unto me I shall in no wise cast out. all that come to me. What a word
is that word come? Is it not one of the great words
of the Bible? Is it not a true gospel word? Why? It's almost one of the last
words that we find written in scripture. The Spirit and the
Bride say come and let him that heareth say come and let him
that is a thirst come and do so will let him take of the water
of life freely. Here we have it you see, come,
come, come. For there is to be a coming,
there is to be that urgent looking to Christ, that calling upon
Christ, that coming, that closing with the Lord Jesus Christ. There
is some need then for some some haste in these things. They were
to eat the lamb in its entirety, were to feed upon a whole Christ. They were to eat it with relish,
with bitter herbs, and we come to partake of Christ as those
who feel the bitter thing that sin is. Or there is to be that
urgency and we come with some urgency, how we desire to partake
of these things. We want to feed upon Him. And
then finally, what sort of a feeding is it at this feast? Why it's
a spiritual feeding? Because it's a spiritual feast. You know, we have in the Synoptic
Gospels a record of the Lord instituting the supper, but there's
no record in John's Gospel of the actual institution. John
doesn't give us that detail. But in John we do have those
remarkable words in chapter 6 where Christ speaks of himself as the
bread of life. I am the bread of life, part
of the great I AM statements that the Lord makes. And here
He says this, verily, verily, and observe the double verily,
you know the significance of it, truly, truly, the word in
the original is simply Amen, Amen, so be it, so be it, the
Lord as it were is underscoring what he is saying and he underscores
it twice, verily, verily, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of
Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth
my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. Now we're not there to understand
that as the poor deluded Roman Catholic might understand it.
How the Roman Church teaches the doctrine of the mass, the
doctrine of transubstantiation, and the poor papist when he goes
to the mass and he receives the wafer at the hand of the priest,
he imagines that he is receiving the body and blood, the soul
and divinity of Christ. in some carnal way. When we say
carnal, some fleshly way. He's actually eating it in the
wafer. That's not what the Lord is saying in John chapter 6.
It's a spiritual feeding. It's a spiritual feasting upon
the Lord Jesus Christ that we have there. We have the type in the Old Testament,
the anti-type. The anti-type is a spiritual
anti-type. It was a real, literal, physical
lamb that was sacrificed. But Christ is the God-man. And
yet He is spoken of as that Lamb of God, that taketh away the
sin of the world. Oh, it's a spiritual feeding.
And who are those that come to feed? Well, we're told at the
end of Exodus 12, there shall no stranger eat thereof. It's not for strangers. Who are
the strangers? Why? Those are strangers to Christ
who are full of self-righteousness, who have no sense of their need.
All this paschal lamb, you see, it's all for sinners. It's all
for sinners. It's for that particular people.
Let a man examine himself. And so let him eat of that bread,
and drink of that cup. and we have to come time and
again and we come as sinners and what a favour it is when
we're granted such a taste of the Lord Jesus Christ when by
the ministry of the Holy Spirit we're enabled to feed, to feed
upon Him. 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. May the Lord bless us with
His word. Amen.