And that comes from Zechariah
13, verse 1. And that day there shall be a
fountain open to the house of David, to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all unrighteousness and all sin. Luke chapter 22. Patrick Redd. Thank you for reading
for us, Patrick, and praying. Thank you, John, for leading
the singing. Jeanette, for playing. Luke 22. This really caught my
attention, the first verse. We could and we have used this
in conjunction with the Lord's table. This is their partaking
of the table at this time. But we always feast on Christ,
don't we? His body and His blood. That's
what we want to do every time we meet together. Verse 1 says,
The feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the
Passover. It was drawing near. The time
was drawing near, the day. The Passover, the unleavened
bread was drawing near. Now, this whole book, Luke, is
leading up to Christ's crucifixion, right? From the beginning, that's
why he was born. He was born to come to Calvary
where he would shed his precious blood for the remission of God's
people's sin. This whole book is leading up
to this. We're getting, we're approaching
Calvary right now. We probably ought to take our
shoes off. It says the time was drawing near. The whole Bible
was leading up to Christ's Christmas. Right? The day was drawing near. You know, Scripture speaks a
great deal of the day of the Lord, doesn't it? The day of
the Lord. The day of the Lord, particularly in Isaiah and other
places, all the old prophets. The whole Old Testament, from
the beginning, from Genesis 3, when the Lord Himself said, the
woman's seed is coming, The whole Old Testament is saying the day
of the Lord. The Lord is going to stand on
this earth in the latter day. The day of the Lord is coming.
Somebody's coming. That's what the whole Old Testament
says. Someone is coming. Who? The day
spring. The Son of God. The Messiah.
The Lamb. Christ. The Savior of centuries
is coming. The Passover Lamb is coming. The day of the Lord. And He came.
The Gospels say He's here. The day of the Lord is here. Just like He said He would come,
He came. Our Passover came. He was here. And the epistles
and the revelations say the day of the Lord's coming again. He's
coming again. Very soon. There's time when
you think not. And He told us in the previous
chapter, when you see these things come to pass, look up as those
that are waiting on their Lord, looking forward. Look up. Things couldn't look any darker,
could they, today? Oh, no. Couldn't look any brighter,
for God's sake. Look up. Lift up your heads. Your redemption draweth now. It's near. The day of the Lord. Coming back. He's going to redeem
us unto Himself. Bring us home.
The day of the Lord. You know, there's a day also
when the Lord comes for you in the Gospel. The day when you
first hear His voice. I saw this video on YouTube.
It caught my eye. The woman said, this is the first
day my child has ever heard my voice. And she had a little baby,
a little infant in her arms holding that, and they had done some
kind of cochlear implant or something, and the child and the mother
would That child was between laughing
and crying. She'd do this. She heard her
mother's voice. And then she'd do this. And then she'd do this. And then
she'd do this. She's so happy and so moved. She heard her mother's voice.
And it's a day when you first hear your Savior's voice. The day of the Lord. Nancy's
granddaughter. Kelly Grace, the Lord revealed
Himself to her. She confessed Him and believed,
rebaptized. A high schooler. Sammy's so thankful that he said
to me, he said, before she leaves and goes out into this world,
she now knows the Lord. That's a great day. She heard
His voice. Heard His voice. The Passover
journey. Christ our Passover. The coming
feast. Feast. I hope you were looking
forward to this this morning. I get texts and people call me
and tell me, I'm looking forward to Sunday's message. I'm looking
forward to it. Can't wait. Some people even
say, I can't wait to see what the Lord has for us. Mindy said
this morning, I can't wait. I'm looking forward to this.
Jeanette hugged me and said, I'm looking forward to this feast. Is that why you came? If it is, you will feast. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness, which is Christ Himself. You
will. You'll go away filled. I was going to have you read.
I've got a hundred more scriptures. We're going to go to Revelation
1. It said, Blessed are they that are called to the married
supper of the Lamb. It said they're going to sit
down. These disciples sat down with
our Lord and had this feast. He Himself witnessed it. One
of my favorite verses in all the Bible. Look at verse 15. He said unto them, With desire
have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I set forth.
I've heartily, heartily desired to sit down with you and eat
this supper with you. Feast together. What a blessing to have that
hunger, to have that thirst. Do you? But the chief priests, verse
2, and scribes sought how they might kill him. They feared the
people. There's always false brethren. Heresies among us means those
that don't belong to the Lord. Always. It must be, the Lord
said, that they which are approved may benefit. Sheep, priests,
and scribes, they were there in God's name. They claimed to
be believers. They didn't fear God. They feared
man. Didn't they? They didn't love God. They loved
money. They love themselves. The Lord's true disciples, they
fear God, not man. They love the Lord. They love
His words. Verse 3, this is fearful, isn't
it? Then entered Satan into Judas,
surnamed Iscariot, and the Lord is very careful to tell us he's
one of the twelve. He was always there, wasn't He?
He was there all along. He was of the Twelve. And our
Lord said, and I quoted it, there must be heresies among you that
they which are approved might be made manifest. I remember
one time some people left the Lord. Those many disciples walked
no more with Him. And the Lord, I believe He probably
pointed at the door to His disciples and said, Will you also go up? There's a door. Oh no. Simon
Peter said what all of God's people say. To whom? To what? Where? Who? What? Where would
we trade for you? What will a man give in exchange
for his soul? What did Judas? It's always the
same. It's always the case. It's the
world. Love of money. It's the root
of all evil. He was a betrayer. Look at verse
4. He went his way. You see that?
He was among the twelve, but he went his way. The Lord let
him have his way. He went his way. You don't want
to go your way. You don't want the Lord to let
you have your way. Every man, all we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned every man to his own way. We don't want that. There is a way that seemeth right
to men and women, but it always ends in destruction. We want
John to put us in Him, don't we? In Christ, the way. And never
leave that way. Don't we? He said He went His way. His way. And verse 4 says He
communed He communed, he communicated in secret with chief priests
and captains how you might betray him, the Lord unto them. What
light hath fellowship with darkness? What communion hath Christ with
Baal? What's he doing talking to these
fellows? What communion? How could he have any communion
with these fellows? But he did. You know what the
Scripture says? Evil communications corrupt good
manners. Betrayal begins this way. Evil
communications. How did sin enter this world?
Eve was talking to Satan. That's how it all started. She
said, stay with her husband, with the Lord. She, alone, was
off to the side and here this wily, crafty, good speaking,
fair speaking, good looking serpent started enticing her and said,
you can have your way. It all started. All hell. broke loose on planet Earth then,
right there. Evil communication. It all starts
that way. little innuendos, little subtle
lies and little things. A whisperer separateth very friends. A whisperer will separate you
from the friend that Lord Jesus Christ. Evil communication. What
are good communication? Who do you want to communicate
with? Him. His people. Communion. Fellowship. What fellowship do
we have with anybody that doesn't have fellowship with Christ?
None. They'll take you away from the
gospel. And that's what happened. And
he betrayed. Seesaw, look at verse, how he
might betray him unto them. And they were glad and they covenanted
to give him money. The love of money is the root
of all evil. All evil. Have you ever thought
about the weight of that verse? All evil has behind it, the love
of money. All evil. You can trace it to
some covetousness on somebody's part. All evil, the love of money. Demas, Paul said, have forsaken
me, having loved this present world. Verse 6 says, He promised and
sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence
of the multitude. He promised. He sought opportunity. Opportunity sought. Oh my. You know, an untrue believer,
one who is not a true believer, is going to leave eventually.
And sadly to say, they're seeking opportunity to do it and save
face. For what's not really in their
heart, they're seeking opportunity. The Pharisees and the scribes
tried to find something against the Lord to justify their unbelief
and their covetousness. And Judas did not love the Lord. He did not love his brethren.
He did not love God. He didn't know God. But he was
putting on a front all this time. Money was in his heart. The world
was in his heart. And he was seeking opportunity,
a way to save faith, a way out. A way out. You know what God's
people are seeking? The unbeliever is seeking an
opportunity to leave. God's people are seeking an opportunity
to gather. of seeking Him. David said, when
you said, seek my face, I said, thy face will I seek. He said,
this one thing will I seek after. This one desire I had. Our Lord
said, hardly desire did. And so do all God's true people.
Yes, they did. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, and that will I seek after. That I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life. Don't let me leave the
house. I sent you those verses, didn't
you? Don't leave the house. Exodus
12, we're going to look at that in a minute. Don't leave the
house where the blood is. Don't do it or your blood is
on your own head. Don't leave where God's people
are partaking of Christ, who is their life. Don't do it. If
you do, you don't have life. Either half the Son, half the
life. I mean, half the love for the Son, a need for the Son,
a desire for the Son. Judas betrayed Him. What's that mean? Sold Him. You
know there's a difference between denial and betrayal. Peter denied
the Lord. We all deny Him. We deny Him
all the time. Don't we? Our actions, our attitude,
everything. Deny the sovereignty of God.
We deny the Lord and we don't speak up when we should. Don't
we? Yes, we do. We all deny Him. And Peter went
out and wept bitterly when he denied the Lord. But he didn't
sell Him. Judas sold Him and said, what
do you give me? I don't need Him. What do you
got? What will a man give in exchange for his soul? What?
Anything. But not a person who knows the
Lord. Not a person who loves the Lord.
He won't take anything from Him. That's all I need. Betrayal. In the absence of the multitude,
in private, in secret, this went on where nobody was watching
or worried them. Didn't our Lord just say over
in Luke's Gospel, didn't He say, there's nothing covered that
shall not be revealed. And this is known now by everybody. Judas's false facade is removed. It's naked now. Oh, Lord. Make Christ my one desire. Let
me not betray Him. Forgive me for denying Him. But
let me never sell Him anything. All right, here it is. Then came
the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed. I'm smiling. They're going to
kill our Lord, but this is my salvation. This is the story
of the Scripture. The Passover. Christ, the Passover
Lamb. Turn there with me. Exodus 12.
We can't talk about the Passover without going back to Exodus
12. Exodus 12. Then came the day
when the Passover must be killed. And when the Gospel comes to
you people, it's the first day of the rest of your life. That's
a good statement. The first day of the rest of
your life. Christ killed on the Lord's Day,
the first day of the week, we rest. But when the gospel comes,
it's made known unto us that Christ is our Passover, the unleavened
bread. was killed, a lamb of God. Look at chapter 12, verse 3.
Speak unto all the congregation of Israel that the tenth day
of this month take every man a lamb. Every single Israelite,
every single Jew had a lamb, didn't they? And they all knew
it. And down in verse 5, your lamb without blemish and without
spot, a male of the first year. That is Jesus Christ in it. Take
it out of the sheep, out of the goats. chosen from among the
people, kept, watched, verse 6, observed to be without spot
and blemish by everyone, God, man, devil, and killed. He was killed, the whole congregation.
We, yes we, with wicked hands took and crucified the Lord of
Lords. But we did what God determined before Him. We killed the Passover
lamb. Thank God. He must be killed. This whole book is about the
Passover lamb. He must be. He must be. Christ
must suffer. When all this is over, chapter
24, he's preaching to two disciples, and he said, Ought not Christ
to have suffered these things? And enter into his glory. Yes,
the whole book is about a suffering Savior. The whole book is about
a lamb. From the first sinners, the woman's
seed, the lamb, the covering, the bloodshed, skin of the robe
of Christ, bloodshed for the rich and their sin. From there
to Malachi, lambs, bulls, turtledoves, goats, shit, blood, rivers of
blood. And then in Matthew, the Lamb
came and put away all that by one sacrifice for sin forever. Look it down at verse 12. The
Lord said in verse 11, eat it with your loins girded, shoes
on your feet, staff in your hand, eat it. Come on, hurry now. It's
the Lord's Passover. Today is the day of salvation.
I will pass through the land of Egypt and smite it. He said this, I think, four times
here, I will smite Egypt. I'm coming again and I'm going
to smite this place. That's what God said. And I talked
about our Lord coming again and His next coming is for His people
to remove them out of this place and He's going to smite it. But verse 13 says that blood
shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are. Wherever Christ crucifies and
preaches, that's God's house, isn't it? And He says, when I
see the blood, I will pass over you. Let me holler it louder. When I see the blood, God said,
when I see the blood of my Son, Those who really trust, look
to, believe Jesus Christ crucified. When I see that, I will pass
over. I'm going to pass through and
smite. But when I see the blood, I will
pass over all transgression. Remit all sins. Forgive all sins. All matter of sins. It doesn't
matter what you've done. I will pass it over. the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, covereth. I will pass over who? You! Me? You need Christ? You believe
Christ? Yes, I do. You! Well, surely not me. Yes, you! I will. You know what? He did. But then
he did. There was not one house in Egypt
of the children of Israel where there was one dead. There was
not one house in Egypt of the Egyptians, there was not one
dead. Why? Their blood wasn't on their houses.
But every single house, Brother John, where their blood was,
nobody died. Nobody died. Hold on. Somebody
did die. Every single house of every single
Jew, there was a death. Whose was it? Lamb. Let me start over again. This
is it. This is the sum. The day is approaching,
he said. This is it. The feasts. This
is what we feast on. This is what I preach. This is
what you hear. This is what it's all about. Why are we in this
little house? What's this little house about?
Family fun? No, family worship. The family
of God to worship the Lamb. We're hoping and praying our
children will know the Lamb and fall down at the feet of the
Lamb, aren't we? That's what this house is all about. Where
the blood is preached. Passover. He's coming. He has come. He's come for us. He's coming again. Feast, and
we're going to sit down. Is this a feast to you? This
tastes good to you? You know, I like lamb. Everybody
doesn't. In fact, there are a few people
that do. You know that? I think it has to be given to
you to taste for. Well, that's a good illustration of it. It's a unique flavor, and it's
all its own, unlike any other animal. Well, the Lord must give
you a taste of this gospel, to love it. And once He does, you
don't want to eat anything else. Anything else. What are you serving
this Sunday, preacher? Lamb? I'll be there. Front row! Pass over. Tastes good. And he
said, now, man, oh, man. He said to John and Peter, verse
8, Go prepare us, the passionate. Go prepare. I had so many scriptures
about preparing. Blessed is he that prepareth
his heart. Prepareth, prepareth, prepareth. The Lord, O the Lord,
is not entered into the heart of man the things that God hath
prepared for them that love him. But he tells us to prepare. Prepare
your heart. Prepare yourself. Prepare to
meet thy God. Prepare. Prepare. There's preparation
involved. The Lord told Peter and John,
Go prepare. This is serious, yet it's joyful. It's wonderful, yet it's fearful,
isn't it? Go prepare. Prepare. And they
said, Where? He said, Behold, verse 10, When
you enter into a city, there'll be a man that meets you bearing
a picture of water. Follow him into that house where
he is. There's a house. There's one house in that city. And one man with a picture of
water. And you're going to follow him
into that house. And that's where I'm going to
be. And that's where we're going to sit down and sup together
on the Passover Lent. One place. One house in that
one city, and one man that I've called to lead you, and he's
got a pitcher of water. What's all that about? Well,
you know what that's about. That preacher of the gospel.
What's the water? Water of life. Water to wash
with. You dirty? Need to hear about
this cleansing fountain filled with blood? Huh? You thirsty?
You need the water of life? I got a pitcher full right here.
It's full to the brim. This high cup runneth over, doesn't
it? Reckon that man's pitcher was
full? In one house, in one place. From Deuteronomy 12 to chapter
17, it says 12 or 13 times that God has a place He's chosen to
put His name there. Look it up over and over again.
He says I have a place that I have chosen to put my name there He
said you go there you take your children you take you if it's
too far sell out and go there That's where I will be Can you follow a man if he's
buried in the water of life you can And you say to the good man
of the house, see how, where did they know to go and what
to do? This man told them. And the Ethiopian eunuch said
to Philip, how can I except some man show me? So this man said,
come on in. He was where the Lord provided
this man for these disciples, didn't he? What's his name? He didn't have one. He's not
important, boy, what he's got in that picture is. What's in
that house or who's going to be in that house is. And the master saith unto thee,
where is the guest chamber where I shall eat the Passover with
my disciples? It's called a guest chamber.
Do you know that you're in the guest chamber right now? The
Lord is not our guest. We are His. It's his house. You're not a guest in your own
house. It's his house. Guest. Oh, I had so many scriptures
to go by. Zephaniah 1. I was going to have
you read the whole first chapter of Zephaniah. Read it for yourself. Talk about the guest. He prepared
his sacrifice for his guest. Isaiah 26-20, the guest chamber,
chamber. He says in Isaiah 26, enter my
people into that chamber and shut the doors about thee and
hide thee with the fear of the Lord. That's why we come in here. I'll be there. He said, I'm coming. And they went. They show you
an upper room. You remember that message? A large upper room,
furnished. Don't bring anything. He didn't
tell those disciples to bring a thing, did he? It's all ready. All been furnished. Salvation's
complete. Who did this? Who did all this?
Who arranged all this? Who predestinated this meeting?
Who provided the food? Who provided the place? Who did
this? Jesus Christ. All ready. Furnished. Don't bring
a chair. There's one with your name written
on it. And they went, and they found,
as he said unto them, and boy, they made ready. In verse 14,
when the hour was come, he sat down, and twelve apostles with
them. Brothers and sisters, wouldn't
you have liked to have been there? Wouldn't you have liked to have
been there and just suffered? God manifested in the flesh. The
Lord Jesus Christ sat down at the table. Don't you enjoy being
around the table with those you love, huh? Don't you love that? We are. He said, we're two or
three are gathered. I'm right in the middle of them.
You know the Lord had the middle seat. And He said this. He said, with desire I have desired
to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. Oh, the Lord for the joy that
was set before him endured the cross despite the shame. And
because he did that, he's right now sat, he's seated, he's sat
down on the right hand of the majesty on high. And he's just
waiting, expecting his enemies to be made his footstool. And
John, he's coming for his people to bring them to that marriage
supper of the Lamb because of what he did on Calvary. He's
coming back for them. And we're going to sit down with
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and David and Solomon, but they won't
be any different than us. We'll all be taken up with the
Lamb. There He is. As the disciples
were. Can you imagine? Wouldn't you
like to have been sitting there? Think you could have eaten anything? Well, you know, Judas was there. Think of all he heard. Think
of all he saw. Think of all he experienced.
Think of it. And our Lord said with
desire, and it said, I will not eat any more thereof. I will
not any more eat thereof until it all be fulfilled in the kingdom
of God. And he took the cup, the cup
of wine, and gave thanks and said, take this, divide it among
yourselves. Didn't He say one time, the cup
which my Heavenly Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?
Shall I not? The cup, the cup of suffering,
the cup of sorrow, the cup of God's wrath, yes, Christ drank
it all dry. And the cup that we take, the
communion cup, and we come here in remembrance of Him, we don't
drink of the wrath of God. He did. But we drink in remembrance
of Him. That's why we come, to always
remember Him. Every single service is a memorial
service to the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, lived for us,
died for us. And we give thanks, don't we?
More than anything, we give thanks for the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I say unto you, verse 18,
He said, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the
kingdom of God shall come. What does that tell you? What
did He just tell you? That we're going to sit down,
and we're going to eat, and we're going to drink. It's going to
be a good time. A good time. And He took bread and gave thanks.
Is He not the bread of life? Has He not broken the bread of
life to us? The Word. Gave thanks. Do you
not give thanks? And break it. Gave it unto them.
Said, it's all about Me. This is a body of divinity. Somebody asked Spurgeon one time,
what is your body of divinity that you turn to? He said, Christ. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. This is the body of divinity.
This is the bread of life. Oh, break the bread of life.
This is my body. And He'd break it. Oh, He's opened
up the Scriptures down to us, hadn't He? This is my body, given
for you. This do in remembrance of me.
And likewise, verse 20, He took the cup after supper and said,
This cup is a new testament, a new covenant in my blood. God's promise. God's testament. This is a testimony. in blood, written in blood, sealed
in blood, like the mercy seal, is shed for you. Who? Whoever
needs Him. But behold, and it ends with
a word of a couple trembling, the hand of Him that betrayeth
me is with me on the table. It's here. And truly the Son
of Man goeth, as it was determined, and cometh. But woe unto that
man by whom he is betrayed. And they began to inquire among
themselves which of them it was that should do this thing. And it'd be a good inquiry among
ourselves, but we don't always need to ask ourselves, examine
ourselves, whether we be of the faith. I knew a woman one time
that attended a church for a long time, claimed to be a believer. She was talking to another lady,
a man had just preached. He'd just preached on these verses. Each one of them said, Is it
I? Is it I? Is it I? And every single true child of
God examines themselves and asks the Lord, Lord, don't let it
be me. Don't let me betray you, Lord. Is it I? And this woman
looked and said to this sister, she said, I know it's not me. And you know what? She lived. That's beautiful. That's beautiful. Oh, what a privilege. What a
blessing. What an honor. What an opportunity. Another blessed opportunity the
Lord has given us to come here and partake of his precious body
and his precious blood. Don't take it for granted. Don't
assume anything. Call on the Lord for mercy. Okay. John, you come, please.