The Beginning of a New Year

Q: What does the Bible say about the Passover?

The Passover is God's ordained event symbolizing deliverance from sin through the sacrificial Lamb. The Passover, as described in Exodus 12, marks the divine appointment God made for Israel's deliverance from bondage in Egypt. It signifies the beginning of a new calendar for God's people, symbolizing a fresh start through His promised deliverance. Each household was instructed to select a lamb without blemish, which represented the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God. The event illustrates God's redemptive plan through sacrifice, where the blood of the lamb provided protection from judgment, foreshadowing the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ for His elect.

Q: How do we know Jesus is our Passover Lamb?

Jesus is our Passover Lamb because He was without blemish, perfectly sinless, and sacrificed for our sins. The Bible clearly presents Jesus as the Passover Lamb through numerous prophetic and typological connections. In Exodus, the requirement for the lamb was that it had to be without blemish, which perfectly aligns with Christ's sinless nature as articulated in 1 Peter 1:19. John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus as the 'Lamb of God' who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), pointing to His sacrificial role. Furthermore, just as the blood of the Passover lamb marked the doorposts and protected the Israelites from death, the blood of Jesus cleanses believers from sin, exempting them from God's judgment when applied by faith.

Q: Why is the blood of Christ important for salvation?

The blood of Christ is crucial for salvation as it is the means by which sin is cleansed and judgment is averted. The blood of Christ is essential for salvation because, as per biblical teaching, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22). In the Passover narrative, the blood of the lamb was applied to protect the Israelites from judgment. Similarly, Christ's blood fulfills this type, providing atonement and redemption. When a believer places their faith in Christ, the blood of Jesus is applied, justifying the individual and granting them exemption from divine judgment. This is a miraculous work of grace, grounded not in human effort but in God's sovereign action to redeem and save His people.

Q: How do we properly partake of the Lord's Supper?

The Lord's Supper is meant to be received in faith, recognizing the significance of Christ's sacrifice. Properly partaking of the Lord's Supper involves approaching the table with faith and a repentant heart, understanding the symbols of bread and wine as representing Christ's body and blood. Participants should acknowledge the seriousness of this ordinance and reflect on the significance of Christ crucified. The instructions given in the sermon emphasize the need for sincerity and truth, and that one must believe in the full scope of who Christ is—Prophet, Priest, and King. Importantly, as believers eat and drink, they are to do so with a clear recognition of their unity with Christ and with each other in the body of believers.

Q: Why is it significant that Christ had to die as our substitute?

Christ had to die as our substitute to fulfill the legal requirement of atonement for sin. The significance of Christ dying as our substitute lies in the legal implications of sin and its penalties. The Scriptures declare that the soul that sins must die (Ezekiel 18:20). Thus, sin necessitates a sacrifice that can bear the penalty on behalf of sinners. Jesus, being the sinless Lamb of God, qualified to fulfill this role by taking on human flesh and living a perfect life. His death was not merely an event but the fulfillment of God's redemptive plan where He bore the wrath of God against sin on behalf of His people, providing the necessary atonement that satisfies divine justice and offers peace with God.

We're back to Exodus chapter
12. Going through the book of Exodus,
it is no accident that we've come upon this chapter at this
time. There are no accidents with God. Nothing happens by
chance in any way, shape, or form. I was thinking last week
and this week about the message And then I went back to looking
at this and I thought, this is the message here. And I thought
of the beginning of a new year. What a way to start a year. The
greatest part of this world will end this year in drunkenness. They'll end it and they'll start
the next year in drunkenness. The greatest part of this world
will. drunkenness with sin, self, material gain, and just flat-out
drunk. Just flat-out drunk. But we get
to begin this year gathered around the Lord's table, gathered around
that which represents Him, who is our hope, who is our life,
who is the anchor of our soul. I can't think of a better way
to end one and begin another than this right here. It says
in verse 1, 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 for you. God is going to deliver Israel
out of bondage. Been in bondage 400 years. Slaves, 400 years. I thought to myself, this has
been a tough year. Not any tougher than what they
had. Not any tougher than their year. Enslaved in bondage. Cruel bondage. Rigor. Rigor. But this event, listen,
this event changed their calendar year. What event do you know
that has ever happened in history that changed the whole calendar?
The Jewish calendar was totally changed by this event, the Passover. And the Lord said, this is the
beginning of the year, a new year for you. This will mark
every year, right here, the Passover. And I thought the greatest event
in anyone's life is when by faith they are able to look to the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the beginning. That really
is the beginning of your birth year. I was born October 11,
1955. But there will come a day, a
time, when that will be wiped out. that time and date will
be gone. But my birth year, the time I
was born of God, will never be wiped out. It will never be wiped
out. Now, the Lord speaks. He tells
them. He says, Speak ye unto all the
congregation of Israel. This involves the whole elect
of God. And say to them, In the tenth
day of this month they shall take to them every man a Here
is a divine appointment by God for the congregation of Israel
to take a lamb. This lamb is divinely appointed. John the Baptist said, Behold
the Lamb of God. He is God's Lamb, divinely appointed
of God to take away the sin of the world. But here is the title. This is the time. And they are
to take it according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for
a house. A lamb for a house. No one is
going to be saved apart from this lamb. No one. It's a lamb for a house. Every
man a lamb. Every man must have a lamb. Every
man must have the blood of this lamb. Every man must eat this
lamb if he's going to be saved. If God saves a sinner, they're
going to have this lamb, they're going to have the blood of this
lamb applied, and they're going to eat this lamb by faith. Every
house has to have this lamb. 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 the souls, every man according
to his eating shall make your count for the lamb." Now listen,
if the household be too little for the lamb, it does not say, if the lamb
is too little for the household, get another lamb. If the lamb
is too small, if the house is too big, but you know, lambs
are not big, But there may be 20 people in that house, and
we've got a little lamb. I promise you this, that lamb
will be enough. Don't go kill another one. Don't go get two or three lambs.
There's only one. There's only one. There's only
one lamb of God, and he's not too little for the house. He
says, if the household be too little for the lamb, you go to
your neighbor and you call them over. You call them over, because
the Lamb, I assure you this, the Lamb of God is never too
little for the house. He's never too little for the
house of God. And then he gives a description
of this Lamb. He told him to go get a Lamb,
a Lamb for the house. But now it's not just any Lamb.
It cannot be just any Lamb. It has to be a lamb. Your lamb
shall be without blemish. Is your lamb without blemish?
If your lamb is God's lamb, it's without blemish. The scripture
says it must be perfect to be accepted. Your lamb shall be
without blemish. This is a description now of
this lamb. And it has to be a male. We didn't
fall in Eve, we fell in Adam. We fell in Adam. Adam was the
representative. And Adam all died. And so it must be a male
of the first year. Not something old and ready to
die. It must be young and vigorous. That's what he's saying here. A male of the first year. You
shall take it out from the sheep. It must be one of us." He became one of us, bone of
our bone and flesh of our flesh. He's one of us except for sin. He knew no sin. But in every
other way, in every other way, He's one of us. He's a real man. He's not playing like He's a
man. He's a real man. Such a high priest, it says over
in Hebrews, such a high priest, listen, became us. One of us. One of us. Taken from the sheep or from
the goats. This is a special lamb now. This lamb has to be
without blemish. The scripture teaches us that
Christ knew no sin. For thirty-three years he walked
on this earth, and not one charge could be laid against him, and
not make it stick. They brought some false charges
upon him, but none that were true. None that were true. But this Lamb, it has to be perfect,
it can have no blemish, because this Lamb represents God's Lamb,
who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. And you shall keep it up until
the fourteenth day of the same month. And the whole assembly
of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. You've got to put it up first.
And you've got to observe it. You've got to watch it. Every
morning when they would get up, the head of the household, he
took this lamb, this special lamb, this lamb that was supposed
to be or had to be without blemish. And you know when they went out
to the sheep cot and they went out there and they looked among
their sheep, you know that they inspected each one of those sheep
to make sure there was not a blemish, a spot, a speck, in any way,
shape or form that they could detect on that lamb. And then
they would take that lamb and they would put it up by itself
for four days. And they would observe that lamb. The head of the house would get
up and he would come out and he would watch it move around
the pen. He would observe it for probably
off and on throughout the whole day until he went to bed. Looking
at this lamb, making sure it didn't limp or have some kind
of a cough or something that could blemish it. Because if
it was blemished, it did not work. For lack of a better way
to put it, it didn't work. This is not the lamb. You've
got to get another one. It's got to be a lamb that's
without blemish. Because that lamb represented
God's lamb who was holy. God didn't accept nothing short
of holiness. It has to be holy. It has to
be holy. And so they would keep it up
and they would watch and they would observe. They would observe
this lamb. Make sure it didn't have any
blemish or anything about it. And then after they did that,
They would take this unblemished lamb and they would kill it. They would kill it. That's what
they were to do. Our Lord was observed, as I said. He was observed by God. He was
observed by men. Pilate said, I find no fault
in Him. It says over here in Isaiah 53.
We're in Isaiah 53. For he shall grow up, in verse
2, for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant. The Lord Jesus Christ grew up
before the Lord. He was observed by God for 33
years. And God, Almighty God said, believe
me, if there's a spot, he's going to see it. And he said, this
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And if he had seen
or noticed a spot, he would have never been pleased with this
lamb. But he said, this is my beloved son in whom I wealth
with ease. There's no spot or blemish in him. This is the lamb of God's providing.
You see, he said, you go get yourself your lamb. He said,
you get your lamb. But now the Lord Jesus Christ
is God's lamb. Isaac said to his father Abraham,
I heard the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb? He said,
God will provide himself a lamb. Here he is. John the Baptist
said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
the world. Now listen, the perfect life,
the sinless life of the Lord Jesus Christ could not save anyone
apart from his death. Couldn't do it. Couldn't do it. Because he is a substitute. See, this lamb is a substitute. He's a substitute. And he's substituting
for a bunch of people that the law says must die. The soul that
sinneth shall surely die. It shall surely die. So his perfect life alone won't
save us. He's got to die. The death that's
due me. But it doesn't stop there. We'll
see. It's still got to go on. And they shall take the blood,
you see. The lamb, you take a lamb, it's got to be a lamb without
blemish, it's got to be a perfect lamb, then you've got to kill
it, it's got to die, and then you've got to take the blood
of that lamb and strike it on the two side posts and on the
upper door posts of the houses wherein they shall eat it. We have the lamb chosen. We have the Lamb without blemish. We have the Lamb killed, Christ
crucified. But now we must have the blood
and it must be applied. It must be applied. Bloodshed
alone will not save. It's the bloodshed and applied
that washes away our sins. It must be applied. The Holy
Spirit must apply the blood to our hearts. He must sprinkle
our hearts with the blood and purge our conscience from dead
work to serve the living God. And listen, by faith, by faith,
we apply the blood. When you believe on Christ, when
you truly trust the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation and
His blood to wash you, to cleanse you from all your sins. You just apply the blood by faith. The Holy Spirit applies it and
by faith we apply it. When we look to Him, we trust
Him. We trust His blood to cleanse
us, His righteousness to cover us. We trust Him. We trust Him. We drink it. We believe on Him. We rest in Him. We receive him. And then listen. You had the
lamb chosen. You had the lamb that's without
blemish. You had the lamb killed. You
have its blood applied. But now you've got to eat the
lamb. Now you've got to eat the lamb. They shall eat the flesh, and
that night roast with fire, and unleavened bread, and with bitter
herbs they shall eat it." Not only must the lamb be killed,
it must be eaten. It must be eaten. Christ must be received by faith. Must believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Scripture says, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved. Christ said, He that eats my flesh and drinks
my blood. That is, by faith. By faith we
receive Him. We eat Him. We feast on Him. By faith. And it says here, at night. I
think this has something to do here with faith. Faith believes
God concerning things it has never seen and cannot see with
these fleshly eyes. I've never seen Him, not with
these eyes, but I believe. I believe, and
you believe. You believe the gospel. But also,
listen, when we receive Christ, When
we receive him, when we're born of God and we receive him, it's
in this life. And this world that we live in
is a world of darkness. You are light in the Lord, but
not this world. Not this world. They were in
the land of Egypt. They were in the land of darkness. And he says here, they shall
eat the flesh in that night, in that night. But it's got to
be roast with fire. That's Christ crucified. Paul said we preach Christ and
Him crucified. Paul says to the Corinthians,
I'm determined to the Corinthians, I'm determined not to know anything
among you, say Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We feast on a crucified Christ. John, when he went to the third
heaven, said he saw the lamb standing in the midst of the
throne as it had been slain. It's going to be roast with fire. Christ crucified speaks of the
fire of God's wrath that fell on him because of us, because
of his elect, his people. has to be eaten with unleavened
bread. Look over in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Look in verse 7. Purge out therefore
the old leaven that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover
is sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast,
not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and
wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
Let us do this with sincerity and truth. That's what he's talking
about. This is a very serious service
tonight. All of them are, but I think
especially this one. Especially this one. Sincerity. And then they're to
do with bitter herbs. You know, it's not a party. It's
not a party. They're not having a party. It's
not like they're going to die and we get to live and they're
having a party in there. No, this is with bitter herbs
and shall they eat it. This has to do with a broken
heart. This has to do with a broken heart. It has to do with repentance.
It has to do with humility. It says over here in verse 7
and chapter 11. He said, But against any of the
children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue against
man or beast, that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a
difference between the Egyptian and Israel. Who put that difference? Grace. What's the difference
between us sitting here tonight Going to partake of the Lord's
Supper and a drunk out there on the street bringing in a New
Year. What's the difference? Grace. The Lord put a difference. He makes the difference. He maketh
us to differ. That's all. He maketh us to differ. Then he says here, eat not of
it raw. And I just believe that has to
do with unprepared. unprepared. It's just kind of like you just
fix it any old way and it's raw. And that's the way the Egyptians
would eat a lot of their food in worship of their gods. They'd
eat it raw. He said, you don't eat it raw. Nor sodden with water. Don't mix it or water it down.
You do it just as I say. Just as I say. It is Christ crucified
or no Christ at all. We receive Christ and him crucified. We receive Christ as he is revealed
in the word of God or no Christ at all. It's either the whole
Christ or no Christ. But he says here, eat not of
it raw or sodden with water, but roast with fire his head
with his legs and with the intestines. None of it's wasted. There is
no part of Christ that we do not want. We are to
receive, and this is what it's teaching, we are to receive the
whole Christ as he's revealed in the Word of God. Some will receive Christ the
miracle worker. Christ who wants to save everybody
if they'll let Him, but not Christ the Sovereign sitting on the
throne who saves whom He will, passes by whom He will. No, you
eat the head, the Lordship of Christ, and everything else that
goes with Him. You eat it. And everyone whom
God saves does. They receive the whole Christ.
Prophet, priest, and king. That's how we receive him. And you shall let nothing
of it remain until the morning. And that which remains of it
until the morning, you shall burn it with fire. Don't let
it lay around and rot because it represents him who is holy. Don't just toss it. Don't toss
it in a trash can. No, he said, you just, the rest
of it, you burn it with fire. You're leaving this place. You're
going into the promised land. Don't leave anything behind.
But what he's telling us here, we are to consume, once again,
the whole lamb. The whole lamb is to be consumed.
And thus shall ye eat it. Here's how you shall eat it.
He gives instructions on the lamb. The perfection of the lamb
is to have no blemish. They're out to kill it. The blood
is applied. They're to eat it. And then he tells them how they
are to eat it. You notice here the Lord left
nothing up to them. He left nothing to them to figure
out or say, well, here, we'll do it. You all add this part.
You can take this part of it and do it how you think best.
No. It was instruction after instruction after instruction.
This is how you do it. This is who the Lamb is. This
is how you receive Him. And this is how you eat Him.
And you eat it with your loins girded. You see, they wore robes. They didn't wear britches and
pants like we do. They wore robes. And when they
were going to go, move, go on a journey, especially at a fast
pace, They would pull the robe up and tie it, and then it would
be able to move quicker. And he said, you go with your
lines girded, your shoes on your feet. They used to come in and
they would take their shoes off and a servant would wash their
feet and they would eat and they would eat. He said, you don't take
your shoes off. You don't take your shoes off
because you're not hanging around. This is just going to last tonight
and tomorrow. We're going. We are going to leave. We ought
to be, honestly, we ought to be that ready to leave this world.
We ought to be that ready to go. Shoes on your feet, your
bags packed, and you're going out of town. This is just a journey. It's just a journey, and it's
a short journey for some. Some are shorter than others,
but it's just a journey. But you eat it in haste. Vicki's always telling me I eat
too fast. She said, that's why you have
indigestion so much. And heartburns. And she said,
you just eat too fast. I said, well, you grow up with
a family of seven, you learn to eat fast. A family of nine. I said, you learn to eat fast.
But here, he says, you eat it in haste. Because you're gone. You're leaving. Listen. Take what you heard tonight. Eat it in haste. You may go home
tomorrow. The Lord may call you home before
this night's over with. Eat it in haste. Don't ponder
and think about it and say, well, is it a gripper? So, Paul, I'll
hear you another time. Almost thou persuades me to be
a Christian. I'll hear you at another time." Well, another
time never came. But don't read where he heard him another time.
He's in haste. When the Lord gives you the gospel,
don't think, well, I'll come another day. He said, today's
the day of salvation. Now's the accepted time. We don't
have tomorrow. We don't have the next minute.
We have right now. That's all we have. The next
minute doesn't even exist yet, but this minute does. Eat it
in haste, he said. Eat it in haste. And with a staff
in your hand, your shoes on your feet, you eat it in haste. Listen, it's the Lord's Passover. This is not, listen, this table
right here. This is the Lord's table. It's
not the Baptist's table. It's not any other denominational
table. It's the Lord's table. The Passover degenerated into
being called the Jewish Passover. It went from being the Lord's
Passover to the Jewish Passover. No, this is the Lord's table.
It's not our table. It's not my table. This is the
Lord's table. And the only fence around this
table is this. Do you believe? Do you believe
on the Son of God? That eunuch said to Philip, he
said, what hinders me from being baptized? And he said, do you believe?
And that eunuch said, I believe. And they stopped that horse.
Whoa, boy. And it just happens they were
there by a body of water. It just so happens that the time
of that eunuch says, what does hinder me from being baptized?
That they're going right by a body of water. And he said, if you
believe. And that eunuch said, I believe.
And he stopped that horse and baptized him. The only fence
around baptism and this table, do you believe? Do you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ? You discern that his broken body
and his shed blood is my salvation. Nothing added, nothing taken
away. That's it. And then he says here in verse
12, and I'll wind this up, God says, for I, not a death angel,
he did not send a death angel through Egypt. He went through
Egypt. I will pass through the land
of Egypt this night. and will smite all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the
gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord." Not
one firstborn in the land of Egypt or in the land of Israel
and Goshen, not one firstborn escaped death. Not one. In the land of Egypt, they had
a substitute. The firstborn in Israel died
in the substitute. The Egyptians had no substitute.
If the lamb had not been slain, if the blood had not been over
the door, side to side post and over the top of the door, if
the blood had not been on that house, they would have died. They would have died. And sin touched everything and
everyone. And when the judgment of God
falls, only those in Christ will escape the judgment of God. Only those where God sees the
blood. He says in verse 13, And the
blood shall be to you for a token. I looked that up. It means an
evidence, a mark. A miracle. A miracle. And the blood shall
be to you for a token upon the houses where you are. There's blood on this house.
If where he is, there he is. God put it there. I don't mean
this building. I don't mean this building. I
mean his house. His church. His church. I will pass over you, 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. When I
see the evidence, when I see the mark, when I see the miracle, I will pass over you. When I see it. When I see it. Not when you see
it. When I see it. Those people inside that house,
they shut that door. They couldn't see the blood.
I can't see it. I believe. I believe it. Based
on the Word of God, I believe it. I've never seen it. But God
sees it. God sees it. When I see the blood,
I will pass over. You know that word pass over?
One of the meanings of it is exemption. Exemption. You have an exemption from this
judgment. You have an exemption from it.
You are exempt from it because Christ died in your stead. And the plague shall not be upon
you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt." When I see the blood, who's the
blood of Christ really for? Who's it really, really for?
Well, first and foremost, the blood is for God. When I see
it. When I see it. His blood cleanses
us from all sin. His blood justifies us. God said, when I see it, the
blood's for Him first and foremost. When I see it. When the final judgment comes,
when it falls, and it will fall, it will not fall on you who believe. You are exempt from it. You have a Passover. A Passover. Think about that. Here's all
these houses, all this wailing, all this crying that's going
on. And here's this house that's
quiet. It's like this. And God just
passes right over it. Gets the house next to it. You're exempt for one reason. God sees the blood. And he saw
that blood back in the covenant before the world began. And not just when you believe,
it's back before the world began. That blood was applied. God applied it. When I see the
blood, I will pass over you. All right, let's observe the
Lord's Table.

The Beginning of a New Year

What does the Bible say about the Passover?

How do we know Jesus is our Passover Lamb?

Why is the blood of Christ important for salvation?

How do we properly partake of the Lord's Supper?

Why is it significant that Christ had to die as our substitute?

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The Beginning of a New Year

What does the Bible say about the Passover?

How do we know Jesus is our Passover Lamb?

Why is the blood of Christ important for salvation?

How do we properly partake of the Lord's Supper?

Why is it significant that Christ had to die as our substitute?

Sermon Transcript

About John Chapman

Comments

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