Matthew chapter 26. This is going
to be the last Passover. Sometimes, I was thinking of
this last night, sometimes there comes along an
event that changes a person's life forever. Sometimes it happens to a person.
Sometimes it happens to a family. Sometimes it happens to a nation. I thought of 9-11 last night
when I was thinking of this, how this nation has changed since
that time. in this chapter is an event that's
about to take place in two days that will change this world forever. The world will never be the same.
You remember over in Ephesians how that the Gentiles were left
in darkness all those thousands of years. They were left in darkness. But after this event, after our
Lord goes to the cross, after He dies buried and rises again
and sends back to the Father, the gospel is sent to the Gentiles. And the world has never been
the same since. Those who, the scripture says
over in Isaiah, those who sat in darkness, I've seen a great
light. You can take every nation and
at one time in history, the gospel has been there. Right now, if
you look at Africa or China, you say, well, you know, those
people, the gospel is not there, not in many places, but I tell
you what, it was there before it was here. It was there long
before it was here. This world has never been the
same since that day. Now, our Lord has finished His
message to His disciples, and He was preaching to them, giving
to them on the Mount of Olives back in chapter 25. They asked Him, when would these
things be? When would the end of the world
come? When would the destruction of the temple happen? And he
told them, he told them of the destruction of the temple, the
destruction of Jerusalem. He revealed to them his second
coming and judgment and what would happen at judgment. And now here in this chapter,
he brings them back to the one thing needful. The one thing needful. People
get caught up talking about Armageddon, the end, and all these things,
and it really excites people. But our Lord, after revealing
these things to his disciples, not for their curiosity, not
for curiosity. We never read the word of God
for curiosity. Nothing is revealed in the Word
of God for curiosity. It's for His glory and our good.
Everything we have here. But He brings them back to that
one thing needful. His sufferings and His death. We never get past that. We never
leave that. Never. Without this, nothing
else happens. Without this, all else fails. All else fails without this.
In all of our spiritual learning, let us never forget that the
message is still Christ and Him crucified. It does not matter
if a person has been in the faith for 50 years. It is still Christ
and Him crucified. Everything revolves around the
Lord Jesus Christ and His death. Everything we learn in our spiritual
growth, it all revolves around Christ and Him crucified. We heard of Paul this morning
going to the third heaven and seeing and hearing things that
was not possible to put into human language. But you know
what he says over in Ephesians 6, verse 14? God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. God
forbid that I should glory in anything but Him. In this substitutionary word,
when John went to the third heaven, when John was called up to the
third heaven, he said when he saw Christ, Do you know what
he saw him as? He said, I saw a lamb as it had
been slain stood in the midst of the throne. As it stood there
in the midst of the throne, I saw a lamb. He saw him in his sacrificial
character. He saw Christ in him crucified. We never get past that. We never
leave that. We never leave it. Now Christ
brings His disciples back to this present time, and He reveals
to them what's going to happen. After He finished His message,
He says to them in verses 1 and 2, He says, in two days, He's accurate. This is going
to happen in two days. In two days, is the feast of
the Passover. In two days is the Passover.
And the Son of Man, the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified. Before over here in chapter 25,
look in verse 31. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory, And all the holy angels with Him, the whole heavenly
host is coming with Him. Then shall He sit upon the throne
of His glory, the throne of judgment, and all nations, all people will
be brought before Him, and He will separate the sheep from
the goats. But before He comes in His glory, He must first be humiliated.
He must first be put to shame. He must first suffer at the hands
of men and at the hands of God's justice before He ever comes
in His glory. This has to happen. This has
to happen. And while He's telling His disciples
what must happen in two days, the rulers decide to get together. The religious rulers. The fulfillment
of Psalm 2. Why do the heathen rage and the
rulers gather together against the Lord and against His Christ?
They're fulfilling that Scripture. They've read that Scripture how
many times? And here they are fulfilling it. And they gather
together in the palace of the high priest to plot his murder
at this time. I don't believe they are plotting
how they might have him crucified. They are plotting how they may
kill Him, how they may put this man to death. This is not a coincidence. The
Lord is saying to His disciples, in two days the Son of Man is
going to be betrayed and He tells them exactly what is going to
happen, to be crucified. This is providential. This is
providence at work. This is God controlling all things. You see, the Passover, it's the
time of the Passover. And we'll look at that in a minute
in Exodus 12. But the Passover is about to
take place. The Lord's Passover. You see,
in Exodus 12, it's called the Lord's Passover. It degenerated
into the Jewish Passover. But it's the Lord's Passover.
And here is the Lord's Passover about to happen. The true Passover.
And the last Passover. This is the last one. For nearly
2,000 years, lamb after lamb after lamb had been slain. Blood
flowed from those animals. But now the true Passover lands.
John said, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin
of the world. The true Passover is about to
take place. My soul. It's about to take place. And
I want you to notice something here before we go on. God's overruling
power in this. I want you to notice this. They said, Then assembled together the chief
priests and the scribes and the elders of the people unto the
palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted
that they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him. But they said, not on the feast
day, not on the Passover. You see, during this time there
was estimated about three million people in Jerusalem for this
feast, this Passover. And they said, not on the feast
day, lest there be an uproar among the people. They said,
they started to plot and plan how they may subtly take him
and put this man to death, put him out of their misery. That's
what they plotted and planned to do. But they said not on the
feast day, not on the Passover. But the Lord says in verse 2,
you know that after two days is the Passover and the Son of
Man is betrayed to be crucified. They said we're not going to
do it on the Passover. The Lord said it's going to happen
on the Passover because this is the Passover. I am the Passover
lamb. It's going to happen at this
day. Oh, how our God overrules. I've
never caught that before. Looking at that this week, our
Lord said it's going to happen on the Passover. And they're
over in their little palace plotting and planning. We're going to
do it sometime after the Passover. No, you're not. No, you're not.
God's in control of this. This is not a mob out of control. That crowd starts crying, crucify
him, crucify him. Are they out of control? They
are doing exactly what God has purposed to be done. God, it
says, delivered him up. Now, you've taken by wicked hands,
crucified him, but God delivered him up. You are accomplishing
what God purposed to be done. God's in control of this. This
is in His hands, not men's hands. This is the Lord's Passover.
This is His Passover. And Christ is the true Passover
Lamb. That's what it says over in 1
Corinthians 5. Let me show you this. He is the true Passover
Lamb. Look in 5, look in verse 7. 7 Heard ye out there for the old
leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover
is sacrificed for us. And that is what's about to happen.
That's what's about to happen. He is the true Passover Lamb. He is the perfect, spotless,
Lamb of God who was sacrificed for us. He is about to be sacrificed
for a multitude of sinners given to Him by the Father before the
world was. He's about to be sacrificed for
them. And He has to be sacrificed. He has to be slain. For God said,
when I see the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Scripture says, without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission of sins. Without the shedding
of blood, it cannot be applied. It has to be shed to be applied.
It has to be shed to be sprinkled. It has to be. And he must suffer. The Passover lamb must suffer.
As it says over in Exodus 12, and you might want to go ahead
and find Exodus 12. We're going to go over there
in a minute. The lamb had to be roasted with fire. You see,
Christ is the anti-type of the type. And that Passover lamb
that was first given in Exodus 12 is a picture of Jesus Christ
right here. And he's got to be roasted with
fire, the fire of God's wrath. Oh, the sufferings of Christ.
He must endure the wrath of God's justice against sin. And that Passover lamb had to
be eaten. It is Christ crucified. It's not Christ the miracle worker. It's Christ crucified that we
receive by faith. Christ crucified. Now over here
in Exodus chapter 12, let's read this. Let's look at
some of these verses. And you will see what is about
to happen to our Lord. In verse 1, 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 to you. Speak ye unto all the
congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month
they shall take to them every man a lamb according to the house
of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And if the household
be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto
his house take it according to the number of the soul." You
know, it never says if the lamb is too little for the house,
does it? If the house is too little for
the lamb, he said, then you call your neighbors. Oh, he's sufficient. He's all we need. All we need. And then every man according
to his eating shall make your account for the lamb. Your lamb
shall be without blemish. Has to be without blemish. This
is the type. Outwardly, it could not have
a blemish. Because Christ, the Lamb of God,
of whom this is the type, knew no sin. Perfect. He knew no sin of thought, word,
deed, or birth. No sin entered into that man.
Perfect. The Lamb of God. He's a male
of the first year. He's got to be a young one. It
cannot be old and ready to die. Young, youth, vigorous. Our Lord
was a young man, 33 years of age when this happened. He was
going to die. The male of the first year, you
shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall
keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month, and observe
it, watch it, see if there's any blemish in it. For thirty-three
years he was observed. Pilate brought him out and said,
I find no fault in this man. Now, when did a human man never
find fault in another man? I mean, we find fault in anything.
We can come up with something. But he came out and said, I find
no fault in this man. No fault. God the Father observed him and
he said, this is my beloved son whom I am well pleased. He found
no fault in him. And the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. It's
going to happen on the Passover. They said, let us not do it on
the Passover. Christ said, you're going to do it on the Passover.
Yes, you are. And they shall take of the blood,
you see, it has to die in order to take the blood and
strike it on the two side posts of the upper door post of the
house wherein they shall eat it. It has to die in order to
be applied. It has to die. They shall eat
the flesh in that night. And Christ said, he that eats
my flesh and drinks my blood. And he's speaking by faith. By
faith, we do eat His flesh and drink His blood. And it's going
to be roasted with fire. Our Lord was roasted under the
fire of God's wrath, His justice for our sins. And unleavened
bread and with bitter herbs, which represents repentance. They shall eat it. Now, He don't
eat any of it raw, nor soften it all with water, but roast
it with fire. Burn it. Burn the whole body. His head
with His legs and with the pertinence thereof. And you shall let nothing
of it remain until the morning. We consume the whole Christ.
We don't pick and choose what we like about Him. We receive
Him, the whole Christ. He said you don't leave any of
it until the morning. And that which remains of it until the
morning you shall burn with fire. And thus shall you eat it, with
your loins girded Your shoes on your feet and your staff in
your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It's the Lord's
Passover. This is not a Jewish Passover. It's not just a ceremony. This
is the Lord's Passover. For 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 you know what? All the firstborn
of Israel died that night too. They died in the land. If that
blood had not been on that house of the Israelites, the firstborn
in that house would have died. When God passed through, He smote
all the firstborn of the land of Egypt and all the firstborn
of Israel died in that substitute. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel substitution. I died in Christ. When he died
on Calvary, the whole host of God's elect died in him. They
were put to death in him, and we were raised in him. That's
substitution. He said, I'll 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. And
the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where
you are." And when I see the blood, someone said one time, I heard
an evangelist on TV said one time, if I was there, I would
have stopped it. I'm sure glad you wasn't there, you idiot.
When I see the blood, I'm glad he died. It was a horrible
death. But I'm sure glad he died. Because
when God sees my blood, I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble. But he says, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. Christ said in two days is the
Passover. Two days. His blood's going to be shed.
Scripture says it was shed for many for the remission of sins.
And God says, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. And the plague shall not be upon
you. Truly, we have nothing to fear
in judgment. The judgment of every believer
is past. It's over. It's over. It was taken care of 2,000 years
ago on Calvary. Actually, it was taken care of
before the world began. He's the Lamb slain before the
foundation of the world. I love this one statement. Before
there was a sinner, there was a Savior. Christ stood as the Lamb slain
before God created the heavens and the earth. And he said, and the plague will
not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt.
Because the Lamb took it. The Lamb took it. God's Lamb
has taken our judgment. He's taken our judgment. And
we don't have to worry. Now notice something else here
about this. Notice his knowledge of the future. They are planning on some day
down the road after the Passover, how they might take him and kill
him. But he says in two days this
is going to happen. This is what's going to happen.
This is his deity. This is his deity shining forth.
In two days, in two days they're going to crucify me. The Lamb
of God, the Passover Lamb, is also the prophet. He's also the prophet. He knew
exactly how it would be, how it would happen, and when it
would happen. And we should take comfort in
this. We ought to take much comfort in this. As He knew all that
would happen to Him, even so He knows all that will happen
to me. As He controlled all that happened to Him, He's in control
of this. You remember when He said, It is I? They came looking
for Him in Gethsemane. He said, Here I am. It is I? And what happened? They fell
backwards. They fell down. He was like, Get up! Help them
up to finish the job. He controls everything that happens. And you notice here also His
calmness. His calmness. You know, if you're getting ready
to go into a great battle, if you were a general, captain,
you're getting ready to go into a great battle. Your nerves are
going to be on edge. You're going to be nervous,
anxious, and you're ready to do a great battle. But he so
calmly says, in two days, let me tell you what's going to happen.
So calm. So calm. and so resolved to do
it. And then I want you to notice
what happens, and I'll wind this up. He is so sure of his burial
that his body is anointed before he dies. His death is so sure, so sure,
that this woman with its alabaster box full of precious ointment
comes in. and anoint his body for the burial. You know, you usually do that
when you die. Actually, the person dies. Here, it's before he dies. It's before he dies. He's in
the house of Simon the leper. And while he's there, a woman
with an alabaster box full of precious ointment comes in. And
she goes up to him while he's seated there eating. And he breaks
that expensive box and she pours the oil over his head while he's
sitting there And all of them are eating. This woman walks
in. She does something totally out
of the ordinary. She breaks form. She doesn't
wait to see if this is something that's what we usually do. No, she doesn't do that. Listen, she did something from
her heart. She did something from her heart
and something that was out of the ordinary. She came into that place. She knew he was there. She heard
he was there. Some say it was Mary Magdalene, out of whom he
cast seven devils. Some say it was Mary, the mother
or sister of Martha. I don't know. I'll tell you who
she was. A certain woman saved by grace.
A certain woman who had tasted of the grace of God. A certain
woman who had experienced salvation, forgiveness, pardon. A certain
woman. We don't need her name, do we? We've got her character. A certain
woman. And she came in to express her
love and gratitude for Christ for what He had done for her
soul. It was an act of love. It was not an act of duty. It
was an act of love. And listen, she did what she
did for Christ's sake. I hope we're here this morning
for that. I truly hope I'm doing this this morning, first of all,
for Christ's sake, for His glory, for His honor. His business is
saving. Mine is to preach and honor Him. And the smell of her love for
Christ It filled that room. It filled that room. She counted
nothing too costly for the one she loved. She acted. She acted out of a
spirit of love. Not waiting to see what others
do. You know, we do really kind of try to follow suit. But she
did what she did out of a spirit of love to her Lord. Saving her soul. She did what
God laid on her heart. She did what the others wouldn't
do. Express her love to Him before everybody. Before everyone. And she did it purely for Christ's
sake. For Christ's sake. I would like
one time in my life before I die to do something purely for Christ's
sake. Just one time. Her attention was on Him as if
there was no one else in the room. She was riveted on Him. She felt that she owed All to
Him for saving her soul. I thought of that song, How Much
I Owe. How Much I Owe. He was all her
hope. Listen, He was the love of her
life. Who's the love of your life? Christ. It has to be Christ the believer.
Christ. Doing for Christ's sake, doing
something for Christ's sake puts the joy in serving. That's where
joy really comes from, when we really have a heart to do it
for Christ's sake. And those disciples, when they
saw it, It shows how much flesh is still in us by nature, even
though a man is saved. It shows how much flesh is still
in him and how much sin. When they saw this with indignation,
they said, what purpose? Oh, listen to this. What purpose
is this waste? Now, I think it's over in John.
If you go over in John, you'll find out who started that. Listen, nothing done for Christ's
sake is a waste. No matter, no matter what it
costs, no matter what it costs. We cannot overgive. We cannot
overdo anything for Christ's sake. Look what he's about to
do for us. Look what he's about to go through. We can't even put that into words. Can't put that into words. But
Judas started this indignation, and the rest joined in. We need to be careful. I need to
be careful. We need to be careful who we
follow, lest we step in the same pile. Be careful. Judas started this. You see, Judas, it says, was
the treasurer. He held the bag of money. He
was a thief. And he was the one upset because
this money, he said, could have been sold and given to the poor.
And of course, he could have got his skim off the top. And
then the others just followed suit. But the Lord defends her. He
says, why trouble you, the woman? Leave her alone. Oh, remarkably,
it says this, she hath done what she could. That's all. She's done what she could. And
the Lord recognized it. And not only did he recognize
it, it is written in the word of God as a memorial to this
woman. This one little act. This one act. Poured oil on his
head. This expression of her love anointing
his body, he says, for his burial. He says, she's brought a good
work on me. Listen, and it'll never be forgotten. You know,
we just saw this back over in chapter 25. He said, I was hungry
and you fed me. I was naked and you clothed me. And they said, Lord, when did
we ever see this? He said, when you've done it to the least of
one of these, you've done it to me. Never goes unnoticed by
our Lord. Never. He says she did it for my burial.
I don't know what all she knew about what she was doing. But
I do know this. She did it from the heart unto
the Lord, and it will never be forgotten. Till the end of time. Never. Never. His death, His
death, like this ointment, this sweet
fragrance that filled the room has a sweet smell about it. It
is a sweet savor unto the Father. The smell of that perfume filled
that room. And I tell you what, to every
one of you who has been enabled to believe
and to love and to follow Him by faith, preaching of Christ
crucified is a sweet smell. It's our only hope. Christ is
our only hope. His blood, his righteousness
is our only hope. Can you smell it? Can you smell
it? The Father can. The Father does. All right, Mike.