Good morning and welcome to our
services here. I'm glad for each one that's
here, and we're also thankful for those who've joined us by
Zoom, and we greet those who will visit with us on Sermon
Audio. We're going to be in the ninth
chapter of the Gospel according to Numbers this morning, Numbers
chapter 9, and I want to begin reading with verse 9 and read
down through verse 14. I want to look at a subject here
that has to do with the Passover. Now, just to catch us up a little
bit, they've finished the tabernacle, they've finished the curtains,
the hangings, all of the pieces of furniture that are inside
of the tabernacle, and they have reached the first month of the
second year of their time out in the wilderness. And it's time
for the Passover. And so the word of the Lord comes
to Moses that they should do this. And yet we find that there
were some men that had touched a dead body and they realized
that they were defiled, which is a gift of God to know that.
They didn't come in an argumentative manner. They didn't come with
their fists up. They didn't come to belittle or To be grudged,
they just would like to know the will of the Lord with regards
to this situation. And they brought it to a mediator.
They brought it to Moses. And Moses, being a wise man,
and not knowing everything, he took it to the Lord. So we're
going to start there in the book of Numbers, chapter 9. and verse
nine, and the Lord spake unto Moses saying, this is in verse
eight, the Lord, or Moses said unto them, stand still and I
will hear what the Lord will command concerning you. And so
Moses took it to the Lord and then the Lord answered. And we
don't know if it was a bit of time in between or whether it
was instantly. And I just want to remind ourselves
of this point, that at this time when they did not have the completed
Word of God. They didn't have it in print.
It was in the making. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
and Deuteronomy are a tribute to Moses and he's here. We just don't know how long it
took, but we know that the writing was from him. Anyway, the Lord
spoke to Moses and he said, tell the children of Israel this.
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you, or
of your posterity, shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or
be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the Passover unto
the Lord the fourteenth day of the second month, at even. They shall keep it, and eat it
with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. now if you join me just
a moment back up in your bible there to the ninth chapter of
the book of numbers to verses two and three and these are the
words of instruction with regard to the first uh... passover of
the year that was going to be in the first month in the fourteenth
day it said there in verse two and three let the children of
israel also keep the passover at his appointed season in the
fourteenth day of the this month that even you shall keep it in
his appointed season according to all the rights of it according
to all the ceremonies thereof shall you keep it now we have
the instructions given to us in the book of exodus chapter
twelve with regard to this passover and so it was understood how
it was to be carried out when we get down here into the reading
we're going to At the moment, we're going to find out that
the Lord spoke more specifically during this conversation with
regard to the Passover than He did in the first time that He
spoke with regard to the Passover. He says, Speak unto the children
of Israel, saying, verse 10 of Numbers chapter 9, If any man
of you or your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead
body, or in a journey afar off, He shall keep the Passover unto
the Lord the fourteenth day of the second month, at even. They
shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any bone
of it. According to all the ordinances of the Passover, they shall keep
it." Now we notice here that there's more instructions with
regard to this Passover taking place in the second month on
the 14th day because of these people that were not clean for,
in fact they said themselves that they had been defiled. There
was more instructions for these folks than there were for the
first group. Now, the reason for this that I see is that the
second instructions, the second Passover, was not to be an abbreviated
service. It was not to be a different
kind of service. It was not to be a shorter service. Don't cut any corners as Moses
was instructing the children of Israel as the Lord had given
it to him. Do exactly the same thing that
you did in the first Passover of the year in the first month
and the 14th day of the month. It is not to shorten or lighten
the truth but to be done as it was originally observed. It is
telling us the absolute need of a lamb does not change. They were to have a lamb. They
were to slay the lamb. They were to put the blood out.
They were to eat the lamb. They were to have bitter herbs.
They were to have unleavened bread. They were to have it exactly
like it was originally ordained. It was not to be shortened. It
was not, even though there may not have been near the people
that participated in it, it was not to be any different than
the Passover that took place on the first month at the 14th
day of the month. The blood does not change. We
still need the blood. And the death does not change.
There is going to be death in the camp. There's going to be
death there of that lamb. The need does not change. The
people do not change. The perfect picture of the Messiah
does not change. Does not change his perfect body,
don't change his perfect body, don't change his perfect blood,
and don't change his perfect sacrifice as is pictured and
typified in this Passover ordinance that was given unto them. And
so keep it exactly the same. Don't alter it. The gospel does
not change with age. And the why of that is because
the need does not change. Man has not changed. He's still dead in trespasses
and sins, so we still need exactly the same lamb. Not this lamb,
but the lamb that this pictured. And God has not changed. He's
still demanding perfect, perfect righteousness. he has a righteousness
that he accepts and he accepts that righteousness alone so we
have good reason here for keeping this just as it originally was
now we find that modern thinking has almost arrived that the death
of christ was not really necessary we progress to the point that
we really don't need that it's a shame that he did that and
on and on the conversation goes, but we find that when we say
stuff like that, we're simply saying that we are better than
those folks, that we have risen above the problem, and we know
that that's not true. Just give us 15 minutes by ourselves
when we know that's not true. One might laugh, but we do We don't need your bloody religion. That's what's said. We don't
need that. Well, they do need it. We need it. We need to have
the same go on as it happened in the first time of the Passover. The picture did not change, for
the gospel never changes. Now God never saved anybody by
a picture, but the pictures show the real. The picture shows the
declaration of the gospel. Every generation, the gospel
of the perfect righteousness in Christ and the election of
grace, purpose of God, deadness of man has been declared in every
generation. That's exactly what Abel declared
when he had the first son of the flock. and he offered, by
faith, he offered a more perfect sacrifice that his brother did.
Now, we find that this is always required. This is exactly what
God requires. We find that nowhere in the Old
Testament or in the New Testament has anybody ever been saved by
the keeping of the law or even by keeping the Passover. Now,
the Lord's commentary on this, we find in the book of Isaiah,
was bring no more vain oblations. It's a terrible thing that they
had got to the point just like religion will always do they
will take a picture and they will create a religion out of
it and so they were taking these sacrifices and trusting them
instead of trusting the one that they pictured now this is only
by grace and grace alone we realize that the lord jesus christ asked
peter one day about who do you say that i am And Peter made
an astonishing answer. This answer could not be given
by himself. It had to be given by revelation.
In fact, when he gave the response, the Lord Jesus gave him the reason
that he could give that response. Who am I? Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the Living God. And the Lord Himself declared
to Peter that flesh and blood did not reveal the Son to you.
There's not going to be any of this ever going to reach beyond
the eyes and the natural ears and natural eyes, natural taste,
natural feel, if it isn't for the grace of God. So the pictures
that we're going to have here 14th day of the first month 14th
day of the second month They're gonna be identical because they
picture the same Savior the same shed blood the same great Passion
that he went through that's justice was served upon his back God
poured out his wrath upon him when he became sin for us so
we have this wonderful picture of the Passover and this wonderful
picture of the Passover and declares what Habakkuk declared in that
book, chapter two of the book of Habakkuk, where he said, but
the just shall live by faith. That's the declaration. And Jonah
summed it up in shorter words than that. And the author of
these books is not the men. It's not Jonah. It's not Habakkuk. It is the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit gave the message to the Old Testament prophets and writers
as he gave it to the new testament prophets and writers that we
have and there is no conflict between them the only conflict
that there is is in men's minds god never said you're going to
be saved by taking the passover we are saved by faith because
of grace by grace through faith as it tells us in the book of
ephesians but that is supplied to us it is not ours to bring
to the table. We bring nothing to the table. The Bible is clear and we find
in three or four places in the New Testament that the just shall
live by faith. It's found in the book of Habakkuk
chapter two. It's just a simple statement
about how people are saved in every generation. Now there's
in every generation as there was in the days of Moses, as
there was in the days of able, we're going to have those who
are absolutely opposed to the gospel. They are opposed to it,
and they're opposed to it because the gospel began before the foundation
of the world in the covenant of grace between the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and it was a covenant together
that they would choose a people, elect a people, before they were
ever created, out of all the humanity that would ever be born,
and that the Holy Spirit, the Son, and the Father would be
integrally involved in the salvation of each one of these, the Father
choosing a people before the foundation of the world, the
father giving those people to the son to die for on the cross
and the Holy Spirit taking that same group of people and bringing
the gospel and giving them the new birth. This is all in the
hands of God and one of the reasons that is so despicable in the
hearts and minds of natural man is it leaves them out of the
equation. We come to the table with nothing.
We have no righteousness of our own. In fact, the righteousness
that we are said to have is nothing more than filthy rags. So we
need the imputed righteousness of Christ. They did not provide
anything except they brought a lamb and the rest was the lamb's
business. They didn't use their blood.
They didn't eat their flesh. They didn't break their bones.
They spare their bones. they didn't do anything it was
all provided in the land and so it is with our savior the
lord jesus everything is provided by the land The message of the
Passover declares the righteousness, our righteousness, as filthy
rags and we need something else. It's very difficult for us to
ever come to the admittance that we are in need of God. Now we'll very seldom ever say
that we're in need of help, but we will and we are in desperate
need of salvation, righteousness from God Almighty. Let's read a couple of verses.
One of them is found in the book of Romans. Romans chapter 1 verse
17. Notice with me here in the book
of Romans, this verse of scripture that is couched in the book of
Habakkuk chapter 2 is shared with us as the Apostle Paul is
preaching here to the Romans, sending them a letter, and in
it is the very message of the Passover. We're in desperate
need of a lamb. We're in desperate need of His
shed blood. We're in desperate need of Him
being roasted, as it were, to have God's justice poured out
upon Him. In Romans 1, verse 17, For therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is
written, The just shall live by faith. It is not our faith
either, for by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast." Now if we're boasting at anything
we did, then we don't have what God has. If we are committed
completely to Him, and we realize as the publican there at the
temple, remember those two as it's compared as a parable, in
fact, that the rich man came, and he went on Pharisee, he went
on and on about all the good things that he had done, and
nothing, there wasn't a thing wrong with him. And he tithed,
he prayed, he went through the whole thing, and then we find
that there was a publican there, and he would not even raise his
eyes to heaven, but said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
So here we find in the Book of Romans, that therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the
just shall live by faith. How do we get this righteousness? God imputes it to us. How do
we know that we have it? We have faith in what He's done.
He's given us that great joy of the faith of God's elect. The Passover is equivalent of
preaching the gospel. It's a type, a shadow and a picture,
but it is preaching the gospel. This ceremony plainly teaches
there is none good but God. We need a substitute. That's
what we're told in that Passover. And when it came to the Passover
on the 14th day of the first month, It plainly teaches that there
is none good but God. We are all as sheep going astray,
we have no goodness in ourselves, but we do need a Lamb that is
in all things perfect, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. we're
sinners in need of a substitute we need a mediator with the shedding
of blood and not our blood but his blood now it's so uh... interesting as we look into the
scriptures we find that there's another incident recorded in
the bible where all of israel and judah in fact they came together
those who were interested came together and partook of the passover
but it was again on the second month on the fourteenth day of
the month so if you join me over in the book of second chronicles
chapter thirty second chronicles chapter thirty the second chronicles
chapter thirty we are introduced to a king by the name of hezekiah
hezekiah is brought to his attention As it tells us here in this reading,
it's brought to his attention that they have not taken care
of the Passover like they were supposed to. Now, for how long?
I don't know. Maybe it tells somewhere, but
I haven't read it. It tells us here in the book of Second Chronicles,
chapter 30, and Hezekiah, Hezekiah's gonna do something. He's gonna
send out this Hezekiah, his very name means Jehovah has made strong. So we have Hezekiah sent to all
Israel and Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh
that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem
to keep the Passover under the Lord God of Israel. So Hezekiah,
he's sending out letters of invitation to all of these tribes and encouraging
them, come to Jerusalem and keep the Passover unto the Lord God
of Israel. Now we're not keeping it to ourself,
we're keeping it unto the Lord God of Israel. For the king had
taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem,
to keep the Passover in the second month. For they could not keep
it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves
sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together
to Jerusalem." So we have a couple problems here. The priests are
not prepared, nor are the people. and the thing pleased the king
and all the congregations. So they established a decree
to make proclamations throughout all Israel from Beersheba even
to Dan. Now these are the northern and
southern borders of the original twelve tribes as they were in
the land. that they should come together
to keep the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem,
for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written."
So someone had failed here. Someone had failed. Someone had
failed to teach. Someone had failed to preach.
And they had just disintegrated. And now we have someone who God
has revealed, and the Word is brought up, and he is interested
in following the Lord. He's interested in preaching
the gospel. He's interested in preaching
the gospel of truth. He's interested in preaching
the gospel. This is not going to be for a free will. This is
God's will that is going to take place. It is because God has
purposed it. So they established a decree and a proclamation throughout
all the area. So now in verse six, so the posts
went with the letters from the king now i think it's important
for us to notice this that king hezekiah had sent these letters
out that you would think before we get down to hear you think
that a letter from the king would mean something you know the same
is true today you think a letter from the king would mean something
who was it that spoke over there in the book of numbers in chapter
nine that spoke to Moses about the situation. Moses went to
him in prayer and the Lord spoke back to him. We should pay particular
attention when the Lord speaks to us, but you know it's not
a normal thing to do that. By nature we have ears that cannot
hear, and we have eyes that cannot see, and we have feet that cannot
walk, and we have hands that will not serve, because we're
dead in trespasses and sin. So we're going to send out posts. We're going to send out those
who are announcing the good news. Best news a man ever heard was
to hear the gospel of God's free grace in Christ Jesus, that that
grace God purposed before the foundation of the world and by
nature we don't have a bit of it. So they sent out posts, announcers. Now the king indirectly was being
mocked as we follow this out. The letters were being mocked
as we follow this out. They're indirectly. The brunt
of it is that the posts are going to be mocked. But did you know
they're just upset with the postman? The letter is what's important.
The word of God is important. Gospel is what's important. And
when we shake our finger at it, have none of this, we're not
shaking our finger at the postman, and we're not shaking our finger
at the letter. We're shaking our finger at God. We'll not
have it your way. So the postman went out with
the letter from the king and his princes throughout all Israel
and Judah according to the commandment of the king. What are they going
to do? They're planning on having the Passover the 14th day of
the second month of the year. Why? Because they haven't done
it for a long time and nobody's prepared to do it on the 14th
day of the first month. Hezekiah had been given permission
by Almighty God to call for this great assembly of the Passover.
We find that the time of the Lord, great crowds came to Jerusalem
at the time of the Passover. People travel great distances
to come to Jerusalem for the Passover. Well, here in the days
of Hezekiah, it hadn't been like that. People are invited day
after day, month after month, year after year to come to Christ. That's the post responsibility
is to cry, cry unto the people, come to Christ, come to him for
your salvation. And yet we know that there's
not going to be an answer. What did it tell us in the book
of Isaiah chapter 53? Who hath believed our report,
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? But the posts were sent out.
They went with the letter from the king, and his princes throughout
all Israel and Judah, according to the commandment of the king,
go into the uttermost parts of the earth, start in Jerusalem
and Judea and Samaria and then into the outermost parts of the
earth. Here these posts are sent out whether they're riding donkeys
or mules or horses or whether they're afoot. They are sent
out and they are sent out in the amount of time that those
who are interested could make it back to Jerusalem and participate
in this Passover with everyone else. Some of the travel is going
to take some time but they are in time to come to the Passover. Ye children of Israel, turn again
unto the Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. What does
he say in there? Turn to the covenant God, not
these gods that you've been worshiping, not these stone gods, gold gods,
these things, these idols that have been created. But there's
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whom you say you believe
and whom you say you came from. And turn again unto the Lord
of God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. And he will return to
the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hand of the kings
of Assyria. Isn't it interesting that there's
a remnant that has escaped all of the punishment that the Assyrians
came to impose on them? And be not like your fathers.
Isn't it interesting that part of the message of these great
posts that were sent out had letters from the king was to
declare unto the people that they came in contact with that
we have a problem. That there is an issue that separates
us from Almighty God. And this issue, what does it
say here? Be not like your fathers, verse
7, and like your brethren which trespassed against the Lord.
Don't be like them. Well, there are so many of us.
We're not like them. We're better than them. and we
don't have a need. Oh thank God that there's a day
that he shows us our desperate need. Which he has sanctified
forever to serve the Lord your God that the fierceness of his
wrath may turn away from you. Now there's going to be fierceness
of God's wrath upon every sinner without Christ. For if you turn
again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find
compassion before them that led them captive, so that they shall
come again into this land. For the Lord your God is gracious
and merciful." Look at those two key elements about the Lord
our God. He is full of grace, he's gracious
and is merciful. Now both of those have to do
with us being in a position that we're unable to come on our own.
Grace means it's not of works, it's not of us, and merciful
means that there's a a problem about sin here. There's no need
to cry for mercy if you've done nothing wrong. But God is merciful. Why? Because we've done much
wrong. We're sinners against God and against ourselves. And
then it says, so the post-pastor, verse 10, from city to city,
the announcement's going out. The declaration is being made
through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even into Zebulun.
And here is the results. By and large, here is the results.
Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? When Isaiah was called, the Lord
said, nobody's going to listen to you. And Isaiah said, in chapter
six there of Isaiah, how long am I supposed to do this? And
he said, till the cities be dust. So here it is. This is the normal
result, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. what insult it was to the post
but the greatest insult was against the king the king had sent out
these posts to send the news come to jerusalem come down for
the passover come down and see a lamb selected set aside slain
blood applied come down and watch this look at what takes place
and then Remember what it takes place for God to save one individual. He must be set aside He's the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He must be set
aside He must be without spot or blemish not one thought of
sin was in our Savior the Lord Jesus You know, it's so evidenced
that there he had no sin in him because we follow the events
with regard to his crucifixion and You know what you and I would
do if we were in the same situation. We would be calling those Roman
soldiers and those pilots, and we'd be calling the people who
turned us over to the Roman soldiers, we'd be calling them bad names. But the Lord didn't say a word. He was as a lamb before his shears,
was silent, quiet. He was railed against, but he
did not rail back. How gracious, he's sharing with
us what it is to have that perfect nature, the God nature, God Almighty. He is going on a task, he's doing
exactly what he's supposed to be doing. This is the approved
work. No man takes my life from me,
but I lay it down of myself that I might take it again. So he
didn't rail out, he didn't cry out at him, he didn't curse him,
he didn't kill him. he didn't put him out he just
let them do as it was appointed for them to do unto him and uh... then it tells us in verse eleven
now this is this is the gracious passage of scripture everybody
is laughing the post laughing at the message and laughing at
the king and nevertheless some of Asher and Manasseh divers
of Asher and Manasseh and Zebulon humbled themselves and came to
Jerusalem also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart
to do the commandment of the king and of the princesses by
the word of the Lord we see what God's doing here natural man
laughed him to laughed them to scorn and mocked them. And the
act of God is gracious. He is the one that is working
this gracious act among the people. And there assembled at Jerusalem
much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread and the second
month a very great congregation. A number that no man can number
shall be called out of every kindred, tribe, people, and tongue. And they arose and took away
the altars. first thing that had to be done,
and this is what we find in the book of 1 Thessalonians, chapter
1, that those folks that Paul was preaching to, or had preached
to, and is writing back to them, just the same way it is today,
that they put away their idols. They turned from their dumb idols
to serve the living God. These folks found out that all
this stuff is just dumb. You know, the Apostle Paul said
all the things that he had in his own righteous life as a Pharisee,
as studying at the feet of Gamaliel, and going through all of those
forms and formalities. He was caused to look back upon
all of that and say it was nothing but dung. Here we are. They're
going to throw these things where? In the brook Kidron. What went
there? All the refuse went there. This
is where it needs to go. They arose and took away the
altars that were in Jerusalem and all the altars for incense
and took them away and cast them in the brook Kidron. Then they
killed the Passover. There's going to have to be death.
That's what's in the Passover. Something has to die. It's either
going to be the firstborn or it's going to be a substitute
lamb. on the 14th day of the second month. And the priests
and the Levites were ashamed and sanctified themselves and
brought in the burnt offerings unto the house of the Lord. And
they stood in their place after their manner according to the
law of Moses, the man of God, the priests sprinkled the blood
which they received of the hand of the Levites." Oh my, as we
look at our great high priest, He sprinkled his blood. He applied
it. He purchased his people. He ransomed
his people by his own blood. He must die. He must shed his
blood. His blood must be presented to
the Most High. It must be brought before the
Lord for a multitude of the people. Verse 18, And even of Ephraim
and Manasseh and Issachar and Zebulon had not cleansed themselves,
yet did they eat the Passover, otherwise than it was written.
Hezekiah prayed for them saying the good Lord pardon everyone
That prepared his heart to seek God in the Lord God of his father's
though He be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary,
you know in reality We find out that there is no purification
of the sanctuary There's no purification by washing in some water even
if it ash ashes of a heifer in it There's no purification by
any words. There's no purification by any
symbols. There's no purification by any
act on our part. Being made pure is God's business
for us. He gives us a new heart. He gives
us purity in his presence. He gives us holiness without
which we will not see God. He is the one who grants all
of these things. Everything that we are in desperate
need of, he provides. The Lord hearkened to Hereticiah
and healed the people. What acts of God's grace are
presented here? And we find it over there in
the book of Exodus, chapter 12, when those people went through
the Passover. They were told to have their
feet girded and have their shield and get ready to move because
they're leaving. They're going to leave Egypt.
This Passover, Lamb, the Lord Jesus, is our way out of Egypt. It is he that brings us out.
He led us out. We didn't do it ourselves. And
here it is that the Lord hearken to Hezekiah and heal the people.
This is God's business of healing his people. We can't heal ourselves.
Take care of a cold, friends. Take care of a pimple. Take care. We just can't do anything. Got
a toothache, we have to go to the dentist. We have a broken
bone, we have to go to the doctor. We can't take care of it. We
have no mind over matter, do we? And yet people will tell
us that we're saved by our own free will. We can't even get
over a cold. Hezekiah, speak comfortably unto
the Levites. Oh, how glorious it is to have
a message of comfort. Speak comfortably because the
payment for sin is over. The Lord Jesus Christ has taken
care of it. The blood's been applied. Now,
we don't apply the blood. We're not in that process. Here
we have some men went out into a field and gathered in a lamb
firstborn a male of the first year without spot or without
blemish brought in and set aside on the 10th day of the month
and Everything looks good. You know, we see no Imperfections
in this lamb just as the Lord Jesus Christ came down to this
earth and he began his inspection process everybody looked at him
and says You know, we just can't find any fault in him. Now, we're
going to make fault. We're going to cause create and
hate and discontent. But there's nothing amiss about
this man. He's never told a lie. He's never
stretched a tooth. He's never been immoral. He's
never had a cold. He's not affected by physical
sin. He's not affected by mental sin.
He's not affected by spiritual sin. He doesn't have any of that.
He's the perfect Son of God, the God-Man. So here, Hezekiah
speaks comfortably. What a comfort it is to tell
people about a Savior who can save. A Savior that does save. That's the thing about our Savior,
the Lord Jesus. He is a Savior that does save
His people from their sins. and all the Levites that taught
the good knowledge of the Lord. And they did eat throughout the
feast the seven days offering, peace offerings, and made confession
to the Lord God of our fathers. And the whole assembly took counsel
to keep other seven days, and they kept other seven days with
gladness. For Hezekiah the king of Judah
did give to the congregation a thousand bullocks and seven
thousand sheep." Where did these sacrifices come from? From the
king. The king provided them and it
says in verse 25 and all the congregation of Judah with the
priests and the Levites all the congregation that came out of
Israel and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel
and that dwelt in Judah rejoiced and there was great joy. So there
was great joy in Jerusalem. There's great joy in the church
because of the lamb of God the Passover. He Christ is our Passover
There's great joy in the church because of his shed blood who
purchased ransomed us from going down into the pit Remember what
what Job was told I found a ransom That's what he said 33rd chapter
of the book of Job. I found a ransom keep you from
going down into the pit So I found a ransom what joy is that to
have a ransom paid and then to have it made known unto us it
says there for all the congregation verse twenty five with the priest
the levi's all the congregation that came out of israel and the
strangers that came out of the land of israel that dwelt in
judah rejoiced every believer rejoices in the one that has
saved them from their sins what a joy it is to look at know the
great love that god wherewith he loved us in that He sent his
son to die for us. What joy is that? So we have
a passover there in the book of numbers We have a group of
people that couldn't participate And then the lord said we're
going to have the second passover in this year It's going to be
in the second month on the 14th day of the month But don't you
alter it one iota you have it exactly like the original Don't
cut the corners. Don't make it shorter. Don't
make it more palatable. You just take that lamb and set
it aside, and on the 14th day of the month, you kill that lamb.
And you shed that blood, and that blood is going to be put
on the doorpost. Now, when it comes to the Lord
Jesus, we're not participating in there. That lamb wouldn't
do. That lamb couldn't do. That lamb
was an animal. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
God-man. He can take care of it all on
his own. He doesn't need assistance. So
we have the blood applied, blood shed, blood applied, blood bought,
that's what he calls his people, blood bought, children of God.
That blood has paid for the sin, all the sin of all his people,
and that causes us to rejoice greatly. Now let's go back, if
you would, to the book of Zechariah for just a moment. The book,
excuse me, not the book of Zechariah, the book of Numbers. Book of
Numbers, chapter nine. Book of Numbers, chapter nine.
And so it tells us here in verse 13, we're going to have the ordinance of
the Passover and they'll keep it. Verse 12, you're going to
have it set aside just like the first one of the year. It's going
to be exactly the same. We're going to hear the same
bleating as that lamb is killed. We're going to have the same
blood. We're going to have the same roasted flesh. And that just
simply tells us how precious it is for God's people to feast
upon the broken body and shed blood of our Savior, the Lord
Jesus. And it's not in the elements of the Lord's Supper. It's spiritually. Our soul feasts upon that. Now
notice here in verse 12. they shall leave none of it until
the morning nor break any bone of it according to all the ordinances
of the pastor they shall keep it okay we've got that group
taken care of now we have a second third group excuse me we have
the group that participated in the first passover the year we
have the group that participated in the second passover and it's
probably going to be quite a few less than the first passover
and now we have a third group here but the man that is clean
and not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the Passover, even the
soul shall be cut off from among his people, because he brought
not the offering of the Lord in his appointed season. That
man shall bear his sin." What's he saying? Well, I didn't participate
in the first one, and I didn't participate in the second one,
because I don't think it's required. I'm okay. What's going to happen
to that? We're going to find out as we
look at this next week. Such a reminder of that person
who came into the marriage supper of the lamb without the proper
clothing Why did he do that? Because he knew he was okay in
himself and he wasn't and so that man shall bear his own sin
So we'll wait for that next Sunday. We asked the Lord bless you and
that if you can join us next Sunday and we'll look at the
remainder of this verses 13 and 14 and and then if you notice
in verse fifteen the cloud moves and we will look at that may
god bless you