The Bible's open there to Exodus
chapter 12. That'll be our text this morning. On Wednesday nights,
we've been going through the book of Exodus, and the last
message we have from the book of Exodus were on the plagues
that the Lord sent to Egypt. Now, those plagues show us God's
electing, distinguishing love for His people. Scripture says
that five of those plagues did not even go in to the land of
Goshen at all, where the children of Israel lived. The Lord chose
to save his people from suffering those plagues, just exactly like
the Lord chose to save a particular people that he elected unto salvation.
And this morning, I want to look at this last plague in Egypt,
the Passover, in the same light. The Lord delivered his elect
people from suffering the death of the firstborn in the Passover
by a particular redemption, a redemption that was for his people in the
blood of a lamb slain as a substitute for that firstborn. You know,
the Passover is one of the clearest examples that we have in scripture
of particular redemption for God's elect people through the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb of God. Now, if we're
going to understand why is this redemption? Why is God's redemption
of his particular elect people? Why is it so gracious? Why is
it so wonderful? Why does it thrill the hearts
of God's people so much? Well, it's because of the inflexible
justice of God. Look back in Exodus 11, verse
four. And Moses said, thus saith the
Lord, about midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt,
and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die. from
the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even
unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill, and
all the firstborn of beasts. And there shall be a great cry
throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it,
nor shall be like it any more. This is God himself going through
here, killing all the firstborn in all the land of Egypt. God
is coming through in justice even through Goshen. But look
what he says in verse seven. But against any of the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast,
that you may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel. Justice, God's justice is gonna
sweep through the whole land of Egypt, including Ocean, including
the houses of the Israelites. But God's elect people, they're
gonna be saved. they're gonna be spared from
their firstborn suffering and dying because God's gonna satisfy
justice for them through the sacrifice of a lamb, through
a blood sacrifice. Now this is a picture. The only
way you and I can be delivered from God's wrath against our
sin is through the blood of the lamb. The blood of the lamb,
the Lord Jesus Christ. I have a few points I want us
to see How this pictures Christ, I want us to see this so that
we trust him. Number one, there's the preeminence
of Christ the Lamb. Look at verse one, chapter 12.
And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
saying, this month shall be unto you the beginning of months.
It shall be the first month of the year unto you. The time of
the Passover changed the whole Jewish calendar. I mean, you
think how complicated it is to change the calendar. It changed
the whole calendar. The Jewish year used to begin
in the middle of September. Now, it begins in the middle
of March. You know, when the Jews were in Egypt, they had
to adopt the Egyptian calendar, because there's slaves there.
But now, they're going to be set free, aren't they? And everything's
going to be new. Even the calendar's going to
be new. It's just almost flipped upside down, isn't it? Well,
the same thing is true for a believer. Our spiritual life and our spiritual
times begin when Christ is pleased to reveal himself to us. When
Christ appears and God the Holy Spirit is pleased to give us
faith in Christ, everything changes, doesn't it? Behold, all things
are made new. And the word beginning that Moses
used here, here's why everything is made new. This word beginning
means the head. It means the chief, the captain. the head of our life. The head,
the chief of our life is Christ. He doesn't just give us life,
Christ is our life. And when God the Holy Spirit
is pleased to give us faith in Christ the lamb, he has all preeminence,
doesn't he? All preeminence in our lives
because he has all preeminence everywhere. Now, scripture is
plain, I need a lamb, to be sacrificed if God's gonna save me. I need
a lamb. The one I want as my lamb is the one who has all preeminence,
because I know he can't fail to save me. All right, number
two, there's Christ the lamb who is purposed by God. Verse
three, speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying
in the 10th day of this month, they shall take to them every
man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb
for a house. Now it was the Lord who told
the people to select a lamb. No one would have even known
they needed a lamb unless God told them. They were completely
clueless about this until God told them. See, this lamb, this
sacrifice on this night of the Passover has been purposed of
God from eternity. It was purposed before anybody
knew anything about it. All those years, the children
of Israel were crying to God, begging God to deliver them from
this bondage. They had no idea that they would
need a lamb for a sacrifice. When that moraine of cattle came
through, through Egypt and killed all the cattle in Egypt, but
didn't come into Goshen, all their, the Israelites are shepherds.
All their lambs were spared. None of their lambs died. They
didn't know why until now. when God told them what his purpose
was, God didn't kill their lambs, so there'd be a lamb to offer
as a sacrifice. And this lamb that was selected
for each family is a picture of Christ. Christ our Passover
who sacrificed for us. See, if we would be saved, just
any old lamb won't do. Just any old sacrifice won't
do. Some sacrifice we think of, that won't do. If we would be
saved from our sin, our sin would be put away so that God's justice
passes over us and does not come to us. Our lamb, our sacrifice
must be the lamb appointed by the father, the Lord Jesus Christ. In the book of Isaiah, the father
called the son mine elect. The father chose him to be the
sacrifice for his people before time began. If we would be saved
from our sin, our lamb must be the one purposed of God, the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The one purpose,
not the one we think of, the one God purposed. That every
one of us here, we need Christ. We need Him. The Lord has blessed
us so much materially, and physically, he's just, he's blessed us so
much in every way. There's probably not anything
that anybody here desperately needs, physically or, you know,
if there is, let one of us know, we'll take care of it for you,
but there's probably not. Maybe we don't understand what
it's like to be truly needy. We need Christ. We need him to
be our lamb because this lamb, The one that the host in heaven
sing about is sitting on the throne, the lamb as it had been
slain. He's the only one who can take away our sin. And the
gospel that we believe is filled with this good news. Charlie
Christ got the job done. This lamb was successful. He
put away all the sin of all of his people. He removed it by
his blood so it does not exist. I can't think of a better reason
to come to Christ, begging him to save me. We can have complete
confidence in this lamb. If the father purposed it, he
can't fail, can he? Lord, be my lamb, wash me in
your blood, apply your blood to me. This is the lamb that
can save us from our sin. Then third, Christ the lamb came
to redeem a specific people. Verse four. And if the household
be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to
his house take it according to the number of souls. Every man
according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
Now each lamb was selected for a specific people, for the people
of a particular household. And if the household next door
was too small, they'd say, come over to our house. And that lamb
was selected for a particular people who would be in that house
on this night. Now that's election, that's election. The lamb that the father selected
wasn't for the neighbors across the street who had lots of kids
and they would have a lamb for their house. The lamb selected
wasn't for the Egyptians. The father selected a lamb for
his household, for his firstborn, one who was
so dear to him. That's who the lamb was for.
The firstborn in that house would not live unless there was a lamb
whose blood was shed and whose blood was applied. That lamb
was sacrificed and that blood was applied for a specific exact
person, the firstborn in that family. And again, he got the
job done. He got the job done. Not one
house where the blood was, not one did firstborn die, not one. They all lived 100% because the
lamb was slain and the blood was applied. And that lamb was
enough, not just for the firstborn, but for everyone in that house.
None of it went to waste. Look over at verse 10. And you
shall let nothing of it remain until the morning Just eat it
all, and that which remaineth of it until the morning, you
shall burn with fire. None of that land that was selected
for that particular people went to waste. It saved the firstborn,
spared the firstborn's life, and it fed every single person
in that house as much as they wanted. Maybe there was somebody
there that didn't have a very big appetite, it satisfied them. Maybe there's somebody there
like me has a big appetite, it satisfied him. It satisfied the
hunger of everyone in that house, and not one bit of it went to
waste. Now again, that's Christ, the
Lamb of God. Christ, our Lamb. Christ the
Savior came as the Lamb for a particular people. He came to save all the
people that the Father gave Him to save. The Father put them
in His hand to save, and Christ came to save them. He talked
all about them. Just this afternoon, read John
chapter 17. This is who the Savior's talking about, praying about
to the Father. It's all those that the Father gave him to save.
That's who he was gonna go to the cross for. Christ didn't
come to suffer and to die for every son of Adam. He came just
to save the elect and only the elect. And every single one of
them came or will be saved. because Christ did what he came
to do. There is not one drop of Christ's blood that will ever
go to waste. Not a single solitary drop. And
this is what I mean by that. There's no one that Christ died
for who's gonna end up going to hell. No one. Christ didn't
die for somebody and oh, but they end up being sent to hell
because they refuse to believe Christ. No, sir. No, he's gonna
make them believe on you. Nobody that Christ died for is
gonna end up being sent to hell because they just decided they
would not invite Jesus into their heart. The preacher gave them
10,000 altar calls and we sang 10,000 verses just as I am, but
they just would not invite Jesus into their heart. That's not
gonna happen. Christ's gonna kick the door
down in your heart and he's gonna come in and reign. No, no one
for whom Christ died will ever perish. All of God's elect shall
be saved. Shall be saved. The Lamb of God
is God. The Lamb of God is God. He's God in the flesh. Now, since
he's God, this ought to be obvious to us. He cannot fail to save
anyone that he came to save. He can't fail because he's God.
Christ redeemed all of his people from all of their sin. And that
does not stop anyone who wants to be saved from being saved.
No. If you need Christ and you come
to him begging him for mercy, you know why you're going to
come? Because you're a sinner that needs a savior. You're not
going to know you're one of the elect. All you're going to know
is I'm in trouble. I deserve God's wrath, I deserve
for God to kill me. I'm gonna beg for mercy. Right
quick, you'll find out, oh, I came because the Father was drawing
me with an everlasting love. I came because Christ died for
me, he's gonna come reveal himself to me. But you don't know that
when you first come to Christ. All you know is you're a sinner
that needs a savior. You're gonna find out right quick,
I came because God called me. I came because Christ died for
me. God saved all of his people from all of their sin through
the sacrifice of his son. Now this matter of election,
in particular redemption, is not something to be argued with,
with regenerated men, unregenerate men. We're not to argue with
them about that. The gospel of Christ is simply to be believed. It's simply to be believed. With
thanksgiving. Wonder of wonders, God chose
to save me. Wonder of wonders, the Son of
God died, suffered and died to put my, of all people, my sin
away. Thank God. This gospel causes
rejoicing for God's people. Christ the Lamb came to save
a specific people and he saved them. And here's the fourth thing,
here's why we know for sure Christ put away the sin of his people,
he's the perfect lamb. Verse five, your lamb should
be without blemish. A male of the first year, you
should take it out from the sheep or from the goats and you should
keep it up until the 14th day of the same month. Now God's
not gonna accept a lamb to be sacrificed, a lamb who's lame. or blind, or who's diseased,
or who's old, is gonna die soon anyway. Now this lamb that's
selected on this night, whose blood's gonna be applied to the
door, who's gonna suffer and die in the place of the firstborn,
can't have any spot or blemish, he can't have sickness, because
this lamb is a picture of Christ, who's the sinless lamb of God. There's not a spot or stain of
sin on him. He didn't have any original sin
in Adam because he's born of a virgin. He was not born with
the aid of man. He was not born with the aid
of sinful human seed. He was conceived in the womb
of the virgin by the Holy Ghost. He's sinless. He did not partake
in Adam's sin. And as he grew up and spent his
whole life under the law, he had no sin. He did no sin. He never one time violated God's
law. He never even thought about sin.
He never even desired sin. This is the perfect man and he
must be perfect if he would be the sacrifice for our sin. If
the Lord Jesus had any sin of his own, he wouldn't be able
to take the sin of his people away from them. This lamb was
watched. The lamb chosen to be the Passover
lamb was watched. So everybody would know, there's
no doubt, this lamb is perfect. The father, you just think about
a father and a family. I'm gonna go out and select a
lamb. It must be a healthy, strong lamb. The life of my firstborn
depends upon it. And he chose that lamb, and he
pinned it up in a pin all by itself, and he watched it. He watched it for two weeks.
Every time that father go past that pin, he looked at lamb. He'd watch it close to make sure
there's no spot. If this lamb is diseased, or
he's got a spot, or he's got a broken leg or something, and
I sacrifice him, my firstborn's gonna die. He watched that lamb
closely. It couldn't have any bruises
on it, couldn't have any signs of disease, because he's a picture
of Christ. Boy, our Lord Jesus, the lamb
of God, he was observed, wasn't he? I mean, he was under the
microscope all through His earthly ministry. He was watched closely
by man. I mean, the Pharisees watched
Him so closely. The thing they wanted the most
in this life was to find fault with the Lord Jesus. And they
couldn't do it. They couldn't find any fault
in Him. They tried to set traps for Him. You know, maybe this
will cause Him a misstep or something. They couldn't do it. When it
came time to condemn Him, They had to find witnesses who would
lie, who would perjure themselves so that they could put this man
to death. They knew he was innocent. They took him to Pilate, Pilate
examined him, and Pilate finally had to say, boys, I find no fault
in him. The centurion who presided over the death, the crucifixion
of our Lord, I'm sure he'd seen many, many people suffer and
die from being crucified. And he watched this man, The
Lord Jesus, he watched him suffer. He watched him die. He watched
him give up the ghost. He couldn't die until he gave
up the ghost. And after watching all that,
this was the conclusion that that centurion came to. Truly,
this was a righteous man. Truly, this man is the son of
God. There couldn't be any fault in
it. The centurion knew it. I mean, I don't know what else
he knew, but he knew this much. That man was perfect. The devils
knew it. When the Lord came and the demons
were possessing that poor man, what did they call him? The Holy
One of God. The demons knew it. And do you
know who else closely watched the Lord Jesus? The Father. Now this is what
really matters. The Father watched him closely. who sees everything, who sees
to the very heart of the matter, not just our outward actions,
but our hearts, our desires, our motives, the father examined
him. And this is what the father had
to say about him. This is my beloved son and whom I'm well
pleased. See this lamb selected, he was
watched closely because he's a picture of Christ. And you
couldn't just take any old lamb. It couldn't be an old lamb. It
couldn't be a lamb who's probably gonna die soon anyways, not producing
much wool or milk or whatever it is that makes a lamb valuable.
This lamb had to be a lamb in its first year. This is the prime
of its life. This lamb had to be a valuable
lamb. You're not gonna sacrifice something
to God that's of no value. It's a valuable lamb. Because
this lamb is a picture of Christ whose value cannot be calculated. What is the value of Christ to
your soul? He's the only Redeemer. What
is the value to you of knowing Christ, of trusting Him? What is the value of being given
faith in him? Him who loved you from all of
eternity and would suffer and die to put your sin away. What's
that value to you? Well, I know what his value is
to the father. His value to the father is that when he died in
the prime of his life, in the prime of human life, roughly
33 and a half years old, He died at that time to show us He didn't
die of natural causes. He died because the Father put
Him to death. The Father put Him to death as
a sacrifice for the sin of His people. And His Son, the Lamb
of God, was so valuable to the Father, the Father said, His
suffering, His death, His blood is enough. It's enough to satisfy
my judgment. It's enough to put away all of
the sin of all of my people. So I welcome them into my presence.
That's how valuable the son was to the father. The Lord Jesus
Christ did not lose his life. He didn't lose his life because
he's too old. He didn't lose his, and just,
you know, his body gave out and he died. He didn't lose his life
because men took it from him when he was trying to keep it.
They did try to take his life from him and they couldn't take
it. He gave up the ghost. And he did not give up the ghost
until the price was paid. Before he gave up the ghost,
he cried, it is finished. The great transaction's done.
The price has been paid. And he willingly gave up the
ghost. He satisfied the law's last demand. He died for sin so that his people
would never die. Now what's he worth to you? And
I stress this point about the perfection of Christ so that
we'll see this. He's perfect. He's the perfect
lamb. That's who I want to trust my
soul to. How about you? Now here's the fifth thing. Christ
the lamb slain. Verse six says you should keep
it up until the 14th day of the same month and the whole assembly
of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
Now, the lamb was to be put to death at the time of the evening
sacrifice. Now, this lamb was watched. It
was perfect. But if that firstborn's gonna
live, the lamb has to die. Lamb has to die. You see, on
the night of this Passover, there was death in every home in Egypt. Either the firstborn died or
the lamb died. one or the other, but there was
death in every home in Egypt. And the only way the firstborn
lived was if the lamb died as his substitute in his place.
And that's what the Lord Jesus Christ did for his people. He
lived a life of perfection. And then he died. He took the
sin of all of his people and he suffered death for that sin.
He died as a substitute, dying the death that his people deserved.
Now you think about this, this is the only perfect man that
ever lives. This is what makes him so valuable.
He's so rare, he's the only one. The only man who ever earned
his own righteousness by his own obedience under the law.
He was perfect and everybody knew it. He did no sin. Then how could he die? The only
reason for death is sin, isn't it? If he had no sin, how could
he die? is because the father made him
sin for his people. And then the father killed him
in justice. Now I say this very carefully, but this is true.
The perfect life of Christ alone is not enough to save anybody.
If Christ would save his people from their sin, he had to die. Without shedding of blood is
no remission. And Christ shed his perfect blood
to pay for the sin of his people. Christ died to fulfill this picture
of the Passover lamb. You know, at the very moment
that Christ cried, it is finished and gave up the ghost, the time
of the evening sacrifice, the time that all this began, the
time of the evening sacrifice as they were killing their Passover
lamb to go through their ritual, that's when Christ died. and
there's never been another Passover. Now, people might, you know,
over there in the Middle East somewhere might put some blood
on the door and all, but there's never been another true Passover
because Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. There's
no need for another sacrifice. Christ died because he deserved
to die because the Father made him guilty of all of the sin
of his people. That means All of God's elect
will have spiritual life because Christ already died the death
they deserve. They cannot die. They must be given life. Now that is so comforting. That
is so assuring. I think it's absurd for somebody
to try to think, well, how did the father make him sin for his
people? What did that mean? I don't know. I don't know. All
you're gonna do is get yourself so confused in thinking about
this, you're gonna miss the blessing. Here's the blessing. Christ died
so his people will never die. His death put away the sin of
his people so the father will never condemn me. That makes
me so thankful to be able to trust him. That makes me run
to him every single day. To whom coming? Because this
lamb, the perfect lamb, died in my place. Now here's the sixth
thing, and this is vital. The blood of Christ, the lamb,
must be applied. Verse seven. And 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
the lamb must die. But if that firstborn's gonna
live, I'm telling you this, the blood has to be applied. Verse
13 says, and the blood shall be to you for a token upon the
houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will
pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy
you when I smite the land of Egypt. Now, if the father has
selected that land, washed it for 14 days, it was perfect.
At the time of the evening sacrifice, he killed it. roasted his body
with fire, took that lamb in and they ate it with the bitter
herbs and unleavened bread. They ate it with their shoes
on their feet, their loins girt and their staff in their hand,
but he didn't put the blood on the door. His firstborn's gonna
die. The blood must be applied. Now I say this again very carefully
because this lamb was a picture of Christ. I say this carefully
and reverently, but it's true. The Lord Jesus must be perfect. He must live a life without any
sin. And He did. It's amazing. I love it. I love to think about
that. I love to read about that. Because
His obedience is my obedience. His righteousness is my righteousness. The only way I could be made
righteous is by being in Christ when He did no sin. But the perfect
life of Christ alone, not enough to say. And Christ must be crucified. He must die. But even the death
of Christ alone is not enough to save me. If I would be saved,
the blood of Christ must be applied to my heart in the new birth. When the scripture talks about
the new birth, it means that's when the Holy Spirit applies
the blood to our hearts and there's new life. There's new birth.
That's what David meant in Psalm 51, verse seven, He says, purge
me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Now what's David talking
about there? He's talking about the Passover.
The hyssop, the way they applied the blood to the doorpost and
to the upper above the door was with hyssop. They dipped this
little plant, hyssop, little bushy plant into the blood and
applied it to the door. What David's saying there is
take that hyssop, apply the blood of Christ to my heart. and I'll
be clean. I'll be born again with a new
nature that's holy and righteous. The blood must be applied. And then Christ the Lamb must
be believed, must be believed in faith. He must be eaten. Verse
eight says, and they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast
with fire and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs shall they
eat it. Now, when scripture talks about
eating, eating Christ, what it's talking about is believing. If
you and I would be saved, we must eat Christ. We must eat
his flesh in faith. And what that's talking about
is having union with Christ through faith. He must be believed. It's not good enough to just
admire Christ the Lamb, to admire his perfection, to admire his
wisdom and how he dealt with people. That's not good enough.
It's not good enough to know why and how Christ was crucified. That's not good enough. Christ
must be believed. He must be eaten. We must have
union with Christ. You know, we eat something, we
have union with it. That food becomes parts of all
the cells of our bodies, goes to where it's needed in our bodies,
and we have union with it. So you can't tell the difference,
I mean, eventually you can't tell the difference, between
the nutrients in that food and your flesh and your cells and
your bones and your hair and all those things because you
have union with it. If we would be saved, we must
have union with Christ. We must have union with Him so
that we are everything that He is. So that when the father looks
at Christ, he can't tell the difference between you and Christ.
He doesn't see Christ and you. All he sees is Christ. That's
the union that we must have if we would be accepted. And Christ
is received through repentance and faith. That's what the bitter
herbs represent. They represent the bitterness
of repentance. Repentance, to turn from everything
that I used to trust in, which was mostly me, and to turn from
that and turn to trust Christ alone, That's bitter to the flesh.
The flesh is gonna fight it always, isn't it? But it sure is sweet
to the soul. It's life-giving to the soul.
And the unleavened bread, that represents the sinlessness of
Christ. It's believing Him. His holiness
is my holiness. His righteousness is my righteousness. I eat Him. I eat this meal. I
eat this lamb because I believe Him. Look at verse 11. He says, and thus shall ye eat
it. with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your
staff in your hand. You shall eat it in haste, it's the Lord's
Passover. Now I don't know about you, but when I eat, I like to
get comfortable. I like to get comfortable at
home. My shoes are off, I wear sweatpants, or I'll loosen my
belt, and I get my comfortable shirt on, a comfortable chair.
I like to eat. Doesn't sound to me like girding
up your loins. You know, that's what they did
to go to work. They girded up their loins, had shoes on, got
your staff in your hands, you know, you can only eat with one
hand, you know. That doesn't sound all that comfortable. Why
would I eat to Passover like this? Because I believe God. This is eating in haste. God
said, I'm leaving this place tonight. I eat to Passover like
this in faith. I come to Christ. begging him
to save me, because I believe. I believe he is all it takes
to save me. Come unto me, he said, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Well, I'm
burdened down by the law. I'm weary, I'm heavy laden. Tell
you what, I'm coming to Christ because I believe him. He'll
give me rest. He'll give me rest. I come trusting
Christ alone. Verse nine. Eat not of it raw,
nor sodden it all with water, but roast with fire, his head
with his legs, and the pertinence thereof." Don't eat it raw. Christ must die. He must be roasted
with the fire of God's wrath. I'm telling you, don't trust
a Savior that didn't die for you on purpose. Don't trust a
Savior who didn't take your sin and suffer the fire of God's
wrath for it. Don't trust him, he can't save.
You eat this lamb, not salt at all, but it's roast with fire
and not salt at all with water. Don't water it down. Don't water
the gospel down. Don't water the gospel down so
it tastes better to the flesh. Don't avoid subjects that will
be offensive to the flesh. Salvation is not watered down. It's not a mixture of grace and
works. It's not a mixture of mean Jesus. Salvation is 100%
It's all Him. And take the whole lamb. The
whole lamb is to be roasted with fire and eaten. I eat Christ. I believe the whole Christ. Brother, don't pick and choose
what you want to believe from this book. Don't pick and choose
what you want to believe about Christ. Well, I believe Christ
died, but now I can't say Christ died only for His elect. No,
Christ died for everybody. That's picking and choosing.
Don't do that. Don't pick and choose and say,
oh, now wait, we can't say Christ was made sin. No, we'll say Christ
died like he was guilty or like he was, you know, we can't say
he was made sin. Well, now wait a minute, that's what the word
says. Don't pick and choose. Take this book and believe it,
whether you understand it or not. That's taking the whole
Christ. Taking the whole Christ is he's
my all. He's all of my wisdom. He's all
of my righteousness. It's not Christ's righteousness
plus my morality. Christ's righteousness plus my
orthodoxy. Christ is all of my righteousness.
He's all of my sanctification. He's all of my redemption. He
paid the whole price. I don't do something to make
the price last. I don't do something to make myself more savable.
Christ paid it all. That's taking the whole Christ. Believe him as he is in his word. And then lastly, here's Christ
the Lamb who's preached and remembered. Verse 14. And this day shall
be unto you for a memorial and you should keep it a feast to
the Lord throughout your generations. You should keep it a feast by
inordinance forever. Now that's what the Jews did
until the time that the Lord came. They kept this as a feast,
as a memorial to remember how the Lord passed through the land
of Egypt and that's how they were delivered. That's what we're
doing this morning. We're telling the same old, old
story of salvation by God's grace through the sacrifice of Christ
our Passover, who has sacrificed for us. I promise you this, you
haven't heard something that you hadn't already heard from
this pulpit this morning. You've heard it. Now you might
think, wow, I never heard that before. It's not because it wasn't
said. Sometimes it's just, you know,
the Lord finally makes it dawn on me and I hear it. This is
the old, old story of Christ and Him crucified. Christ died. Now what did He accomplish in
His death? Everything He intended to accomplish.
All of the salvation of all of His people. In a few moments
when we take this table, that's what we're gonna remember. The
Lord said, this do in remembrance of me. This table is a reminder
to us of Christ's body broken for my sin. It's a reminder of
His blood shed to pay for my sin. And you know, when we take
this bread and this wine in a moment, you know what we're doing? We're
preaching the message again, Christ and Him crucified. We're
confessing this is the only way I could be saved. I take this
because I believe Christ. This is the only way I could
be saved is by His sacrifice. What this table represents is
the only thing I want is my plea before God. His body broken for
me and his blood shed for my sin. That's what we're remembering.
And that's what we're preaching again, aren't we? Just by taking
this table, we preach the message of Christ and him crucified.
When he suffered and died, he paid for my sin. He redeemed
my sorry soul. That's what we're remembering.
So all right, Wayne, if you men will, you distribute the bread. you Peace. In Luke chapter 22, after our
Lord observed the last Passover with his disciples, he gave us
the instructions for the Lord's table. And when the hour was
come, he sat down with the 12 apostles with him. And he said
unto them with desire, I have desired to eat this Passover
with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not
eat or I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled
in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup and gave
thanks and said, take this and divide it among yourselves. For
I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until
the kingdom of God shall come. And he 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. Dan, would you give thanks for
the bread, please? Heavenly Father, we thank you
for the promise of the fulfillment of your passion. We desire that
you give it to us. We take our sin into God's hands. Lord, we pray that not only now, but
that we do it throughout the world. Amen. Thanks. Praise. Glory. Okay. Likewise, also the cup after
supper, saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood, which
is shed for you. Wayne, would you give thanks
for the blood? Thank you for the sacrifice and
opportunity to be here to remember 49%. Thank you for healing us. Call us each day. We're here to help. Thank you. You wouldn't think that anyone who knows Christ,
trusts him, heard of him, believed him, heard his gospel over and
over and over again could ever forget him, would you? Aren't
you thankful that our Lord knows our frame? He remembers that
we're dust and gave us this way to remember it. It's always a
special time when we can remember the Lord this way, and I trust
the Lord will make it a blessing to each of us. All right, Sean,
come lead us in a closing hymn, if you would.