Unless you've been hiding in
a cocoon, you know that all over the world, Jews are now celebrating
the Passover. It's all over the news media.
The news media has got to be politically correct so they give
equal time to every kind of religious thing that comes around. The
Jews everywhere are celebrating the Passover with great ceremony
and solemnity. great emotional feelings, I'm
certain. They're celebrating the night
that God, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, brought
Israel out of Egypt after 400 years of bondage and captivity. God led Israel out, defeating
Egypt, overthrowing the enemy, brought them across the Red Sea,
and at last, into the land of Canaan. All this done on a night
when the Lord God required that every house in Israel take a
lamb of the first year, a male, without spot or blemish, and
each family slaughter the lamb, and they put the blood on the
doorpost and the lentil, the father doing the work on behalf
of the family, and every member of the household eating the lamb
with their coats on their back, their shoes on their feet, their
staves in their hands, ready to go out of each And then every
year after that, every year after that, God required the children
of Israel keep this as a feast, a memorial to the Lord. And the
Jews today continue to keep the feast. But as they do, the very
feast they keep with all their religious salinity, emotion,
expense, difficulty is a mockery to them. and a mockery to God. Because
they can't keep the Passover. It's impossible. They just pretend. And they've been doing it for
so long, they don't know, they just pretend it. It's impossible for
them to keep the Passover. Because they don't have a priest.
And you can't keep it without a priest. And they don't have
a sacrifice. And you can't keep it without
a sacrifice. And they don't have a temple. And you can't keep
the Passover without a temple. They don't have an altar on which
the sacrifice to be made. And you can't keep it without
the altar. And they don't have a mercy seat
where the blood is sprinkled. But if you'll turn to first Corinthians
chapter five, I want you to see that every sinner who trusts
the Lord Jesus Christ. Every sinner, Jew or Gentile. who trusts the Lord Jesus Christ,
celebrates the Passover, not once a year, not on a certain
day, but with every breath of new life God's given him, because
he believes on the Son of God. The title of my message tonight
is Christ, Our Passover. Our text, verses 7 and 8, 1 Corinthians
5. The Holy Spirit tells us by the
Apostle Paul purge out therefore the old leaven that you may be
a new lump as you 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." Now, if
you will, you hold your place or mark your place here and turn
back to Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12. You'll find the outline of a
message in the text we just read. You'll find the picture of which
this is an exposition in Exodus chapter 12. Our Lord Jesus said,
Moses wrote of me. And indeed to him give all the
prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth
in him shall receive the remission of sins. And if you read the
12th chapter of Exodus, being taught of God the Holy Spirit,
you can't help but to see that this is a picture of redemption
and grace by Christ Jesus, a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, our
Passover, who has sacrificed for us. In fact, if you want
to see the excellent commentary that's given, read again our
text. We write commentaries, my own
included, and our commentaries are considerably more lengthy
than the books about which we write them. But the scriptures
write commentaries and the commentary the scripture gives are much
shorter than the books about which they write. Exodus chapter
12 is given the best commentary in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verses
7 and 8. This is what the Holy Spirit
tells us is going on. We have found him of whom Moses
and the law and the prophets did speak. Jesus of Nazareth,
the son of Joseph. If God the Holy Spirit will enable
me, I want to just point you to some highlights here in Exodus
chapter 12 and show you how that this is a picture, a beautiful
crystal clear picture of Jesus Christ our Redeemer and how that
the picture given here could be fulfilled in no one else at
no other time except through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus
Christ. As Israel was preserved from
death, and delivered from Egypt by the blood of the Paschal Lamb,
so all God's true Israel, all God's elect, have been delivered
from death than the penalty of the law from the wages of sin,
and shall be delivered effectually from all bondage and all the
result of sin by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord and
our Redeemer. Now, following the Holy Spirit's
commentary here in 1 Corinthians 5, I want to show you that Christ,
our Passover, is sacrificed for us. And I remind you again, we
observe no Old Testament laws. I'm not looking for something
to say I want it to soak in. We observe no Old Testament laws. I didn't say we break the law. I said we observe no Old Testament
laws. We are not under the commandments. We are not under the ordinances. We are not under the covenant
of the law in any way, to any degree, in any sense of the word. Now, let me see if I can make
that clear. We're not under the law. We're not under the law. That means we observe nothing
of the pictures and types and shadows of the law. We don't
keep Sabbath days. We don't keep holy days. We don't
keep those Old Testament ordinances to do so, to do so. And I realize that there are
many who say, well, we we observe the Sunday Sabbath and we live
by the Ten Commandments also who do not understand the consequences
of what they say. But to observe any Old Testament
law, to observe a Sabbath day, to keep the commandments as they
say, to live by the law is to declare Christ is not the Christ. It is to declare that Jesus did
not fulfill the law. It is to declare that he did
not satisfy justice and something is still owed to God. To revert to carnal worship of
the Old Testament, the legal carnal ordinances of the Old
Testament, is to deny in totality the gospel of God's grace. We
worship God in the Spirit. In the Spirit. Now, if that's
true with regard to the law, and the carnal ordinances of
the law, and the carnal ceremonies of the law, how much more is
it true with regard to all the nonsense and religious relics
and religious pictures and religious symbols and statutes and all the nonsense that goes on
in our day that men call helpers to faith and helpers to worship. It's just idolatry. Faith needs
no help except what God gives on the inside. Faith needs no
help except the help of God's free grace. And anything that
can help your faith by being seen with these eyes is not a
helper to faith, but rather a helper to unbelief. We observe no such
things. Having said that, let's look
at our text. First, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God,
is our Passover. Now, we'll spend the bulk of
our time here. The purpose of the Old Testament Scriptures,
I've said this countless times, but it needs repeating countless
times again. The purpose of Old Testament
Scripture is to show us clearly the person and work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, making him indisputably identifiable when he came to
fulfill the things in the law. And if you read the Old Testament,
compare Scripture with Scripture, you'll see very clearly that
it's impossible that anyone else could be spoken of in the types
and prophecies given in the law. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
subject of the Old Testament Scriptures. Now, without question,
one of the clearest, most instructive, most delightful of these pictures
is that of the Passover sacrifice. The Lord Jesus is the Lamb of
God by whose death all God's elect are delivered from bondage
and death forever. Isaac Watts put it this way,
Paschal lamb by God appointed all our sins on thee were laid
by almighty love anointed Thou hast full atonement made. All thy people are forgiven through
the virtue of thy blood. Opened is the gate of heaven.
Peace is made to its man in God. All right, back here in Exodus
12. First thing is found in verse three. The Passover victim, by
divine law, by divine decree, by God's order, must be a lamb. Speak thou, speak ye unto all
the congregation of Israel, saying, in the tenth day of the month
they shall take to them every man a lamb according to the house
of their fathers, a lamb for a house. Now this is the picture
given of our Lord Jesus in his humiliation. He's referred to
by many things in the scriptures, but none more commonly than the
Lamb of God. Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain
for our sins. Back, oh, this has been 35 years
ago, maybe more. There was a young man over in
Ohio, in southern Ohio, been reading his Bible. And he got
interested in reading the Bible, got concerned. He kept telling
his wife, he said, this Bible, this Bible is talking about a
lamb. It's talking about a lamb. He said, we've got to have a
lamb. We've got to have a lamb. He didn't know what he was saying.
He said, we've got to have a lamb. We can't worship God without
a lamb. And one day he's sitting down after reading and turned
on television, Brother Mahan came on and said, I want to talk
to you about the lamb of God. He called his wife. He said,
come here. This man's going to tell us about
the lamb. and he heard about the lamb.
That's who the book's talking about. Christ is that lamb slain
for us from the foundation of the world. That lamb portrayed
when God, before he drove Adam and Eve out of the garden, remember,
he killed an innocent victim right there in front of him.
The Lord Jesus took one of his innocent preachers He had made
for Adam's benefit and Adam's pleasure. And he slaughtered
that lamb. And he took the skins and clothed
Adam and Eve, gave them a picture of how that Redeemer who comes
in the seat of woman would redeem and save their souls. How do
you know that's what he did? It's not clearly identified because
Adam and Eve had a son whose name was Abel. And Abel came
to worship God and he paid attention to his daddy. He brought a lamb
of the flock. This is the lamb that Abraham
spoke of when Abraham said to his son, my son, God will provide
himself a ram for a burnt offering. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter. We are brought with the blood
of a lamb who barely was foreordained before the foundation of the
world. John the Baptist, when he saw the Lord Jesus coming
to him, he said, that's him. That's the one I've been telling
you about. Behold, the lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. The lamb in verse five, Exodus
12, had to be a male of the first year, a lamb without spot and
without blemish. You see it? They could take it
from the sheep or from the goats, but it had to be a ram, not a
ewe. A ram. Why? Why? What happened when Eve transgressed? What happened? Nothing. Nothing. She took the forbidden
fruit, whatever it was, ate of it. Nothing happened. But as
soon as Adam took the fruit, their eyes were opened, they
saw that they were naked, and the whole human race was plunged
into sin and death and condemnation. Because Eve did not represent
the race. Eve was not the surety. Eve was
not the one in whose loins the race stood, but rather Adam. And when Adam transgressed, we
fell by the work of a man. A man violated God. A man violated God's law. A man violated God's rule. A
man said God has no right to be God and destroyed us all. And a man must repair that which
a man destroyed. So the lamb must be a ram, a
ram of the first year in the full strength of life and a lamb
without spots or blemish. The lamb of sacrifice, we're
told in Exodus 12, 6, had to be separated from the flock.
You shall 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. The Lord Jesus is that lamb who
was set apart before the world began. He is the lamb chosen
out of the flock. David said, Thou hast exalted
one chosen out of the people, chosen a lamb out of the flock. you and me. Out of this race
of humanity, Jesus Christ made himself one, and he's chosen
out of the flock, and he's kept up for four days. Four days before
he was crucified, our Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the place
of sacrifice, and was set apart from men upon examination after
four days of his mock trial Pilate examining him, Herod examining him, no faults
found in him. He stands as a lamb, quiet, meek,
saying nothing in defense of himself, but no faults found
in him. He stands there as a sheep before
her shearers is dumb and opens not his mouth, because he stands
there on purpose as our Redeemer, as Paschal Lamb again in verse
6, had to be slain in the evening of the fourth day after its separation. Don't you find it amazing how
precise God is, both in prophecy and in type, in the Old Testament
Scriptures? I mean, when it comes to divine
prophecy, divine revelation, and divine pictures, there's
none of this guesswork. I happened to have the television
on this afternoon. Shelby and I were sitting drinking
coffee before I got dressed to come over to church this evening. And the
History Channel, I think it was, they were going through some
of these prophecies about the end of the world. And it's amazing. Brilliant people. I mean, smart
people. Smart people. They'll get Nostradamus
and the Mayan Indians and they'll put it all together and say,
you know, they suggested that maybe sometime along about the
year 2000, cataclysmic things are going to happen in the world.
Really? Isn't that amazing? There are
going to be earthquakes and there are going to be tsunamis and
there are going to be floods. Is that right? That's astounding
to me. especially since I can't remember
any year that I've ever read about anywhere in history where
they didn't have those things. But now this is, oh, this is
mysterious. Well, it is a mystery because
you live in a fog. But when God speaks prophecy,
he says in the type here, which becomes a prophecy, he says the
lamb must die on the fourth day after its separation in the evening. And it must die a violent, violent
death on the 14th day of the month. At the appointed time,
in due time, Christ died. And I'll tell you when it was.
It was in the fourth day of time, in the 4,000th year since creation. The lamb had to be killed at
Jerusalem, no other place. In Deuteronomy 16, the Lord said,
I'm going to set a place. And that's the place where the
Paschal lamb must be slain. And so the Lord Jesus at the
appointed time, when the Passover came, he set his face like a
flint to go up to Jerusalem, there to lay down his life in
our room instead. And the lamb had to be slaughtered
with violence. The priest takes the lamb and
slits its throat. And the lamb slaughtered. Not
only that, but it had to be roasted with fire. And our Lord Jesus,
who died under the violent wrath of God, dies upon the cursed
tree, burning with fire the fury of God's holy wrath upon him. And yet, if you look at verse
46, Exodus 12, 46, In one house shall it be eaten.
Thou shalt not carry forth aught of the flesh abroad out of the
house, neither shall ye break a bone thereof. The lamb's got
to die, got to die in the fourth day after its separation, got
to die in the evening on the 14th day of the month. It's got
to die a violent death. It's got to be roasted with fire.
but not a bone broken. Not a bone broken. If you hang
a man by the neck till he's dead, you're likely to break a bone.
If you stone him to death, you're likely to break a bone. If you
throw him off a cliff, as the Jews tried on occasion, you're
likely to break a bone. And if you crucify him, you're
likely to. because the Roman soldiers would
come by and break their legs and put an end to their sufferings
after a while, and thus break a bone. But when the soldiers
came, as the Jews urged this thing on because their Passover
is coming on, their Sabbath is coming, they went out to break
the bones of those who hung on the tree. But when they came
to the master, they saw that he was dead already, and they
didn't take that club and break his legs. but just to show the
venom of man and that there was no compassion and that this thing
was not done because somehow he had managed to get a little
pity, they took a spear and shoved it in his heart exactly as the
book said it must be. The only way all these pictures
could be fulfilled is by crucifixion. Now turn over to the book of
Acts. Put your mark here next to the chapter 12. Turn to the
book of Acts. Acts chapter 3. Acts chapter 3. This is so very,
very important. Our Lord Jesus was delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Look at Acts chapter 3, verse
18. Those things which God before
had showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should
suffer." All those things, all those things.
He hath so fulfilled. He fulfilled every one of them
exactly like the prophets said. Look at chapter 4 of Acts. Acts
chapter 4, verse 27. for of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. The death of Christ was not a
matter of accident, or chance, or luck, or it didn't happen
because somehow God lost control of the thing, somehow the will
of God wasn't being done. Oh, no, no, no, no. No, no. The
Jews, the chief priests, the scribes, the elders, the Pharisees,
the Roman soldiers, Pilate, Herod, everybody did to him exactly
what God ordained before the world began. Let's look at it
again. Acts chapter 13. Acts 13. Now, this is stated so often
in scripture, there can be no mistake about it. Christ Jesus
died for us according to the will of God and the purpose of
God, because this is the only way God in his holy character,
justice and truth could save us from our sins and glorify
himself. As our brother read back in the
office, Which one was it? Yeah, but the burrow rate right
here. So I'm 106 he saved them for his namesake The only way
he could do this and honor his name is through the sacrifice
of our Redeemer. Look at Acts 13 verse 28 Back up verse 27 For they that
dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers Because they knew him
not no yet the voices of the prophets which are read every
Sabbath day. I Oh, God keep that from happening
to me. They read the prophets every
Saturday and didn't know a thing was written in the prophets.
They didn't know a thing written in the prophets. They heard not
the voice of the prophets, but they fulfilled them in condemning
him. Verse 28, and though they found
no cause of death in him, They found no reason to put him to
death, none whatsoever. Yet desired they Pilate that
he should be slain. Verse 29. And when they had fulfilled
all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree
and laid him in a sepulcher. But God raised him from the dead. Back in Exodus chapter 12. The blood of this Passover lamb had to be sprinkled on the doorpost
in the little. As the father of every house
sacrificed the lamb, so the father of every house must sprinkle
the door upon the door of his house or sprinkle the blood on
the door of his house for the salvation of his family. And
so our heavenly father, by the power of his spirit and efficacious
grace, calling out his elect, giving us life and faith in Christ,
sprinkles the blood on the door of the heart, sprinkles the blood
on the door of the conscience and sets his people free. What
a striking picture this is of our Lord's work in regenerating
grace, teaching us that his precious blood must be applied as well
as shared. personally applied to each of
God's elect, just as the blood of the lamb must be put on every
house. Robert Hawker made this observation,
and it is worth remembering. The blood of the sacrifice must
be applied as well as spilled. Now, get that the blood must
be applied as well as spilled and unapplied ransom. no ransom. An unapplied Savior
is no Savior. The blood must be applied as
well as spilt. An unapplied ransom is no ransom. An unapplied Savior is no Savior. There are lots of fellows who
like to I think fellows, they're scared to death maybe some of
the non-elect are going to get saved. So they put up fences
all around, make sure you can't possibly get in unless you get
all your I's dotted and your T's crossed just exactly right.
And so they'll argue about. When? The time when this must
be done. And they'll say this order, that
order, this sequence, that sequence. And if you talk about a man being
saved in time, you deny eternity. You talk about eternity, you
deny time. What stupidity. The blood of Christ is not all
there is to ransom, redemption, and salvation. Now that does
not make anything little of the blood of Christ. And you who
hear me know that. You know that. But the death
of Christ at Calvary is not all there is to salvation. Those
who are redeemed by blood must be called by grace and born of
God's Spirit. Else they shall not enter into
glory. Well now, that's a contradiction.
How could it be? Well, let's try it another way.
If a fellow is elect, does he have to be redeemed? Well, of
course he does. Well, now that just denies election.
No, it doesn't. Election declares the certainty
of redemption, and redemption declares the certainty of calling. But election, redemption, and
calling all are necessary for the saving of our souls. Only
God the Holy Spirit can do this work of applying the blood. I can't do it. I can't sprinkle your conscience
with the blood. No matter what I get you to agree
to, no matter what prayer I get you to say, no matter how many
altars I get you to walk or walk to and kneel at, no matter how
many prayers I get you to utter, I can't sprinkle the blood on
your conscience. I can't do it. Only the father
of the house can do that. And he does it by his spirit,
sprinkling the blood so that when he gives you faith in Christ,
your conscience quits screaming. Your guilt is gone. It's gone. Well, it was gone when Christ
died. Yes, it was, but I didn't know anything about it. I was
still guilty. But you you're forgiven when
Christ died. Yes, I know I was, but I was
still in the condemnation in my conscience. But when the Lord
God sprinkles the blood, gives faith in Christ, the guilt is
gone. Yet every person in the house
was required to eat the lamb that had been roasted and eat
it for himself. One of you asked me just recently
about that woman in Luke chapter 7, I think it is. The Lord said
to her, thy faith hath saved thee. Man, that scares folks
to death. I don't know why. Well, you can't
say that and not say anything else. That just confuses people.
Brother Scott Richards put it well, he said, no, man was born
confused, that'll help me for here's it. Thy faith hath saved
thee. You must yourself take the sacrifice
and eat the sacrifice. You must yourself take the water
of life and drink the water. You must yourself personally
Believe on the Son of God. You must do so. Are you going to hell? Election,
redemption, and calling notwithstanding. It's exactly right. It's exactly
right. Now, what happened here? Every member of the family had
to eat the lamb. But only those who ate the lamb
were delivered from death. Nobody else. All who ate the
lamb were delivered. And isn't this amazing? All of
those for whom blood was shed, every one of them, every one
of them ate the lamb and walked out of Egypt. Every one of them. None left behind. And do you
know how they walked out? Do you remember who was at the
lead of the parade that day, that night? They walked out being
led out by Moses. The law. The law. You mean they were delivered
by justice and by law in righteousness? That's exactly what I mean. Truth
and justice cry as loud as God's love with Jesus' blood. Every
sinner brought by blood must escape the wrath of God. Every soul under the blood was
saved by the blood that night in Egypt. Someone died in every
house. Someone died in every house.
the firstborn in every house, the one in whom all the family's
hope, the one to whom all the family's authority, the one in
whom all the family's inheritance resided, died that night in Egypt. But there wasn't a single one
of the Israelites who died. Oh, I beg your pardon. The book
tells us that every house in Egypt had one that died. We're told in verse 30, there
was not a house where there was not found one dead. Not a house. Every house. You mean in Moses' house? Yeah.
You mean in Aaron's house? Oh yeah. You mean in the house
of Joshua and Caleb? Oh yeah. Every house. In Pharaoh's
house, in the houses of all the Egyptians, in the houses of all
the Israelites. One died either personally or
in a paschal lamb substitute. One of the two. One died in every
house, either personally or in a substitute sacrifice. And so
it is with our souls. When Christ died, we died in
him. I'm crucified with Christ. What
sweet words. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. Something else. Every man, woman and child in
Israel walked out of Egypt that night. Not one left behind. Not one. And when they walked out, Rex,
they carried all the wealth of Egypt with them. So it is with
the redeeming work of our Lord Jesus Christ. All God's elect
are redeemed by him. Not one left behind. And all
for whom his blood was shed are his elect, and they go out of
bondage out of darkness, out of death, into life, into glory. And when it's all done, we're
going to carry all that's worth anything with us. All the riches of this world,
all the riches of the nations, we will bring to the feet of
the crucified lamb for his everlasting praise. Now back in our text,
1 Corinthians 5. Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed. Is sacrificed. Not was sacrificed. Is sacrificed. Is. Now wait a minute. This happened
2,000 years ago. Oh yeah. Happened 6,000 years
ago. Happened before the world began.
But it happened 2,000 years ago. But the Spirit of God didn't
make a mistake. He said, Christ, our Passover
rod is sacrificed. So as to emphasize for us the
present and perpetual efficacy of the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's son. If we confess our sin, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sin. And the blood of
Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all unrighteousness. Perpetually efficacious. So that Christ, our Passover,
is sacrificed. Now watch this. For us. For us. The people of his choice. The
people of his love. Those who were actually redeemed
by him. those actually bought with his blood, those to whom
the blood is applied, upon whom the blood is sprinkled, those
who eat the sacrifice. There's not a hint anywhere in
this book, not a hint anywhere in this book that Christ shed
his blood for somebody who's not actually redeemed. This nonsense
that folks teach that Christ somehow died for folks who go
to hell anyway is blasphemy. It's contrary to scripture. There's
not a hint anywhere in the book that that's the case. Everywhere
this book speaks of Christ's death, it specifies he died for
his people, he put away their sins, and he saved them from
their sins. There's no hint anywhere otherwise. People say, well, that's a matter
of limited atonement. Y'all stress that too much, it's
just not clear in scripture. It's clearer than anything in
scripture, clearer than anything in scripture. Well, why do you
act so dogmatic? Because God's glory is at stake.
To suggest that Christ died for folks who wind up in hell after
all is to deny the wisdom of God, the justice of God, the
truth of God, the love of God, the immutability of God. Oh,
no. Christ Our Passover is sacrificed
for us, the Israel of God. There wasn't one lamb who bled
for the Egyptians that night in Egypt. And not one drop of
blood was shed for their salvation. So it is with Christ our Passover. He died for his people as a substitute. And those Jews, that night in
Egypt. They ate the lamb that had been roasted with
fire with bitter herbs. And they did it in a remarkable
way. Did it in a remarkable way. They
had their staves in their hands. They had their walking sticks
in their hands. They had their coats on their backs. They had
their shoes tied to their feet. And they're eating the lamb like
this, looking at that door. Why? They expected something. Frank, they expected to leave
Egypt that night. They expected it. How come? Because God said we would. How
come? Because we're eating this lamb.
How come? Because the lamb died in our
stead. How come you have hope and expectation?
Well, I can't see it, but there's blood out yonder sprinkled on
the door. And my father in here tells me
it's so. And he said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. Let us therefore keep the feast. The feast of faith. Believing on the son of God with
expectation and hope. With her staff in her hand, her
shoes on her feet, her coat on her back, believing God, looking
for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. God give you grace so to believe
on his son. Amen.