Alright, let's turn to the book
of John. John chapter 2. And I want to begin to be reading
here in verse 12. John chapter 2, verse 12. After this, talking about the
wedding in Canaan and after that wedding, going up for some fellowship. And he says, after this, he went
down to Capernaum, he and his mother and his brethren and his
disciples, and they continued there not many days. And the
Jews' Passover was at hand. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem
and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and
doves and the changers of money sitting And when he'd made a
scourge of small cords, he drove them out of the temple, and the
sheep, and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money, and
overthrew the tables, and said unto them that sold doves, take
these things hence. Make not my father's house an
house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered
that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me
up." I've got two separate lessons
that I want to try to cover in these verses. And the first is
his coming to the feast. This was his purpose to go up
to Jerusalem was to go to this feast. And this feast was the
feast of the Passover. It says here in In John 2, verse
13, that the Jews' Passover was at hand and Jesus went up to
Jerusalem. Now, the Holy Ghost, when we
read Scripture, and I'm as guilty of it as the next person, and
I want you to know who's saying these things, and I'll say the
Apostle Paul said, or the Apostle John said, or Luke said, or Isaiah
said, But the truth of it is, as the Holy Ghost said, because
these old men wrote, these holy men of God, these men of old
time wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit of God. These
things that they wrote were inspired of God to be written and preserved
of God as Holy Scripture. And so the Holy Ghost himself
calls this feast, by the mouth of his prophet, Passover. And I looked at that
for the longest time, because I don't remember the feast ever
being called the Jews' Passover. So I went back to Exodus, and
in Exodus chapter 11, if you want to turn over there and put
your marker there, we'll be going there in just a minute. But over
there in Exodus chapter 11 and chapter 12, especially chapter
12 down in verse 27, it says, when their children after giving
the commandment of the ordinance and giving Moses all the particulars,
all the things involved in that Passover. You can read about
it there in Exodus chapter 11. And then he goes on with those
things in chapter 12. And then down in verse 27 of
chapter 12, it says, when their children would ask what this
feast meant, They were to tell them that it was the sacrifice
of the Lord's Passover, who passed over the houses of Israel in
Egypt when He smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses, and
the people bowed their heads in worship. Now sometime between
Exodus chapter 12 and John chapter 2, The Passover ceased to be
called the Lord's and began to be called the Jews. That's what
I want you to see. It's called in John chapter 2
by this inspired writer of scripture, the Jews Passover because the
lamb whose blood and sacrifice was typical of in this ordinance
was at hand to fulfill it. And from this day forward It's
not going to be the Lord's Passover anymore. Christ is the Lord's
Passover. This Passover feast that he was
about to attend was going to be called from that time forward.
And remember, too, to whom John was writing, he was writing to
Gentiles here, Gentile believers. And he wants them to know that
this feast of the Passover, that these Judaizers were going to
be coming into the among them and trying to get them to incorporate
back into their religious worship. He wanted them to know that this
Passover from here on out, it was the Jews, had nothing whatsoever
to do with the worship of God. Christ is the Passover. He is
the Passover. And it could have been called
the Jews Passover for the sake of all the Gentiles who were
going to be brought in. Maybe it was called the Jews
Passover because this is what it had become. It was nothing
more than just ceremonial form at this time and place. There
was nothing in these. It was not the same as that day
it was given down in the land of Egypt, down there in that
night when a darkness fell on the place that could even be
felt. This feast had no longer become something that when they
heard just the hearing of it, I just read it to you in Exodus
chapter 12, down in verse 27 there where he said, just the
hearing of it, he said the people bowed their head and worshipped. So it was nothing now except
just a form of godliness, just another ceremony that they incorporated
into their religious practices. You see, they had gone from bowing
their heads in worship, just hearing of the ordinance, to
the filling of the outer court with merchants and merchandise.
That's what it was all about. It was just going through the
motions of religion. Now, if you've got your place
there in Exodus chapter 11, this feast of the Passover was a feast
commanded of God to be kept forever to celebrate their exodus. That's
what that book Exodus is all about. It was their exodus out
of Egypt. God come in and in a strong hand
out of that iron furnace delivered the nation of Israel. And that's
what this feast was all about. Now, let's just go through here
and read. I don't know, maybe most of you
in here probably are aware of all the details of this feast,
but let me just read through here and refresh our minds. Over
here in Exodus 11, beginning with verse 4. And Moses said, Thus saith the
Lord, About midnight will I go 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 unto it any more. But against any of the
children of Israel, now listen to this, shall not a dog move
his tongue against man or beast. Not even a dog is going to bark
out his protest against the children of Israel, not even against one of their
beasts that they own. Do you see that? Not man or beast. That you may know that the Lord
doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. Look
here in chapter 12 now 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 unto you, the beginning of a new time 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 him take it
according to the number of the souls. Every man according to
his eating shall make you account for the lamb. Your lamb shall
be without blemish, a 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 the whole
assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the
evening. And they shall take of the blood,
and strike it on the two side post, and on the upper door post,
or what we would call the lintel of the house wherein they shall
eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with
fire, and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall
eat it, eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but
roast with fire his head, with his legs, and with the pertinence
thereof. And you shall let nothing of
it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth 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, your
staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's
Passover. For I will pass through the land
of Egypt this night, and will smite 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 a token upon the houses where you are. And
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you, and the plague shall
not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt.
And this day shall be unto you a memorial, and you shall keep
it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep
it a feast by an ordinance forever.' Then Moses," look down here in
verse 21, "'Then Moses called for the elders of Israel and
said unto them, Draw out and take your lamb according to your
families and kill the Passover. And you shall take a bunch of
hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin and strike
it on the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that's
in the basin, that none of you shall go out at the door of his
house until morning. For the Lord will pass through
to smite the Egyptians, and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel
and upon the two side posts, The Lord will pass over the door
and will not suffer the destroyer to come in under your houses
to smite you. And you shall observe this thing
for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever." Now, as
clearly as I know how to say it, let me say this up front.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of every old Jewish
feast and ceremony and law and ordinance and everything completely
that was set down, which typified Him, prophesied of Him, spoke
of Him, described Him, anything you want to read in that Old
Testament pertained to Christ. You take it any other direction
and you went off the deep end. And when our Lord talked about
He had to go up to Jerusalem because the feast of the Jews
was at hand, He was going up to Jerusalem on our behalf to
fulfill all righteousness. To fulfill all righteousness.
And not only that, but to fulfill all these Old Testament types
which were stipulations upon the covenant. They were parts
of that covenant that must be kept. And he went up and fulfilled
all those things. He came to John the Baptist,
and John the Baptist knew who he was. This was one of the greatest
preachers born of woman, and he knew who he was. He knew that
this was the Lamb of God. He knew that this was the very
promise of God, ordained of God before the foundations of the
world. And this man came to him to submit himself to him in baptism,
and John said, I'm not even worthy to bend over and untie your shoes. And he said, suffer it to be
so for now, for it's our place. We must fulfill all righteousness. It has to be fulfilled. Righteousness
has to be fulfilled. Righteousness has to be wrought
out. There's not even the slimmest
possibility that any person in this building or any person from
the day of Adam until the end of the world is going to ever
come into favor or ever even have a glimpse of a hope with
God apart from a perfect righteousness. And to have that righteousness
means all these things must be fulfilled. All of them. All of
them. And I'll get into that a little
bit more a little later on into the lesson. But as clearly as
I know how to say it, I want to say that the Lord Jesus Christ
is the fulfillment of every Old Testament sacrifice, ceremony,
statute, and ordinance. Our Lord said in Hebrews chapter
10, talking about that one sacrifice for which He came into the world
to fulfill, He said in the volume of the book, it's written of
me. It's written of me. And he's the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believeth. He's not the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone, but to everyone who
believeth. When a man comes to believe in
Christ, it's impossible for that man to still lay hold of some
kind of a hope by something he does, or by some ceremony he
keeps, or some day he keeps, or some... Paul said to the Galatian church,
all they wanted them to do was just submit themselves to circumcision. That was it. That was it. Nothing
else. And that's always the way it
happens. It's just one little thing. We're just going to have
this one thing, and then that's all there's going to be. Paul said, if you so much as
be circumcised, he said, Christ will profit you nothing. He'll
profit you nothing. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. And he's the end of the law as
its object and goal. These things were never designed
nor given, even to the nation of Israel, to bring men into
favor with God by their obedience to these things. But they were
a schoolmaster, Paul said. They were a teacher to bring
us to Christ to be justified by faith. And it's the Old Testament
pictures and ceremonies and types that help us to understand and
lay the foundation for the sufferings and death of Christ. I'd venture
to say it would be nearly impossible to even conceive of what that
sacrifice was all about apart from the Old Testament. The Old
Testament, we wouldn't even know what a sacrifice was apart from
the Old Testament. We wouldn't know what an altar
was. We wouldn't know any of these things. God gave these
things to us in picture to lay that foundation of faith. And
as a schoolmaster, Paul said, it brings us to Christ. It brings
us to Christ. So he's the end of the law as
its object and goal, and he's the end of the law as a covenant
of blessing. Blessings and favor are not in
proportion to our keeping the law. And this is something I
was just reminded of here recently. Most people think that if we
obey God a little bit, then the Lord will bless you a little
bit. Huh? And then if you obey Him a little
bit more, you know, you go along and you grow a little bit, and
you obey Him a little bit more, and then He'll bless you a little
bit more. And then one day you get to this place where you really
obey and God just opens up the windows and just pours out. Brethren,
blessings that were based on the law, on the keeping of the
law, were never about proportion. There is nothing in there about
proportion. I want you to listen to this.
Turn with me to Galatians chapter 3. The law of God cannot be partially
kept. It cannot be attempted in some
proportion to be honored, expecting something in proportion in return. Listen to this here in Galatians
chapter 10, and as I'm reading this, you see if you can pick
them out. I've got four things that this verse says. Galatians
chapter 3, verse 10, as are of the works of the law
are under the curse, for it is written, and if you take a note,
that's over in Deuteronomy chapter 27 verse 26 where it's written,
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. Now here's the four things. The first thing is it's talking
to all those who put their hope in gaining some kind of a favor
with God in a proportion to how they keep His laws. That's who
it's talking to. I don't care if you're a Jew
or a Gentile. I don't care if you're a trained monkey. It doesn't
make any difference. If you attempt to find favor
with God by something you do, then everything in this verse
applies to you. You see it there? As many as
are of the works of the law. I don't care. I don't care what
part of the law. You want to nail up ten commandments
out in the parking lot? This verse pertains to you. You
just want to carry over some kind of an Old Testament priesthood? Like the Catholic Church does,
you want to have priests and instruments and smokers and incense
burners and all this kind of stuff, this verse applies to
you. If you just want to carry it
over, and you're a pastor, and you say, well, I just, you know,
I see there in the Old Testament that these priests and so on,
they wore a special dress, so I'm kind of a New Testament priest.
It says he made us kings and priests unto God, so I think
I need to wear a big robe. And you put it on. This verse
pertains to you. I don't care how big, how much
of it you try to incorporate, or how little of it you try to
incorporate. If you try to incorporate any
kind of obedience to that law of God, even in a proportion
to gain favor from God, then this whole verse is talking to
you. All right, here's the second thing. This hope of a self-producing
righteousness is called here a curse. And guess what it says? Listen to this, for as many as
are of the works of the law are under the curse. This is not
a blessing. This is not a way of blessing.
This is a curse. We're running around trying to
hope to find some kind of a blessing with God in proportion to how
we keep His law, according to how we feel sometimes. We just
feel like we've done the right thing, you know, and so on. Look at me like the Lord blessed
me. I've been down to hospital three times and done this, done
that. It's a curse. It's not the way
to the blessing, it's the way to the curse. You see that? All right, here's the third thing.
Those who would attempt to keep it must continue in it without
any deviation. You see that? I'm talking about
from the cradle to the grave. The law began in ceremony at
eight days old. Is that right? Our Lord was taken
down to be circumcised on the eighth day. The Apostle Paul,
who hoped in the righteousness of the law, he said, you think
you've got some things to be proud of and some hope that in
a righteousness? He said, I had more. He said,
I circumcised the eighth day. That's when my righteous hope
through the law began. Now, we carry them down there
a little less than that now. folks do, have them sprinkled,
take them down there and have them sprinkled down the front.
Go through all that kind of baby baptisms and all that kind of
nonsense. Those who would attempt to have
this thing as a righteousness must continue in it from the
cradle to the grave. You can't break it in any form,
shape, or fashion, not in motive, not in thought, not in deed,
not in affection. That's why it's called a curse.
I mean one little deviation, just one foolish thought. Just one foolish moment, y'all.
That's it. It's over. There's no going back. You can't say, oops. I used to build things, you know,
and I'd be pounding a nail and all of a sudden I'd hit that
thing just a little bit wrong, that nail would bend and make
a big thing there in the wood and I'd say, oops, and get the
sandpaper and sand it back out and start over. Can't do that
with the law. If your hope's in the law, any
deviation, any breaking of it, any discontinuation of it, any
deviation in it whatsoever, then the curse of the whole law now
falls on you. and there's no going back to
repair it. Alright? Listen to this. Here's the fourth
thing. It must be in perfect accord with all things. You see
that? All things written in the book
of the law to do. You see, we just want to carry
over what things are convenient to us. We just want to carry
over just enough to make us comfortable. That's
what we want. But if your hope is going to
be under the law, then you need to have a priesthood. You need
to have common priests and high priests. You have to have a tabernacle
or a temple. You've got to have an ark. Over
that ark, you have to have a mercy seat. You have to keep every
feast, every holy day, every statute of the law, all of it. You see what he's saying here?
Cursed is he that continueth not in all things written in
the book of the law to do. That's why it's called curse.
And man's born in sin. He can't do the first thing. Every part of this thing is contrary
to him. Contrary to him. These things
were figures for the time then present and shadows of good things
to come. And Christ is the end of the
law. And he's the end of the law as a means of what men call
holiness or Christian walk. Turn with me over here to Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. And look down here at verse 6. As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. rooted and built up
in him, established in the faith, as you've been taught, abounding
therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and bane deceit after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments, that is rudimentary principles, basic principles,
that's what he's talking about, of the world and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him, who is the
head of all principality and power. In whom also ye are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands, and the putting off of
the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ,
buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through
the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from
the dead. And you being dead in your sins, in the uncircumcision
of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven
you all trespasses, blotting out all the handwriting," now
listen to this, just listen to it, blotting out all the handwriting
of the ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way. How did he do that? Nailed it
to his cross. You see that? Nailed it to his
cross. And having spoiled principalities
and powers. That's where the strength of
principalities and powers are. It's in our ignorance of the
sacrifice of Christ and in our ignorance to the righteousness
of Christ. And so it baits us with these religious ceremonies
and all these false notions of a righteousness that we can do
in our own power and in our own strength. You see what Paul is
saying here? He spoiled principalities and
powers. He made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you
in meat or drink or in respect of a holy day or of a new moon
or of a Sabbath day, which are a shadow of things to come. But
the body is Christ. I have no hope, no hope whatsoever
in my ability to keep the law or any ordinance or any ceremony,
yet I believe myself to have a perfect standing before God,
a perfect righteousness. And I walk in that righteousness. That's what it means to walk
by faith. I walk in that righteousness,
in the confidence of that righteousness. And brother, I'm telling you,
if you read the Word of God, now you might go down here to
one of these religious conventions and they might get you all hyped
up and all motivated, talking about your good deeds and talking
about these things, but if you read the Word of God and find
out to whom this law is speaking and what this law demands and
who this God is that gave that law, You can't have any confidence
in yourself then. None. None. Paul said, we're the circumcision.
We worship God in the Spirit and have no confidence in the
flesh. None. I don't have any confidence
in the flesh. My righteousness is in Christ. All together in Christ. Listen
to this in Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20. Paul said, I'm
crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in
the flesh I live by the faith. by the faith of, or faithfulness
of, the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I
do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come
by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." Dead in vain. We don't start out in the Spirit,
Paul said, and finish up by the law. We don't begin with Christ
and end up with Moses. We don't find salvation in Christ
and sanctification in the law. He said, of God are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. All we need. And that's what
he was saying. I read it to you over there in Colossians chapter
2. We're complete in Him. We don't need to go, as you have
received Christ Jesus, so walk ye in Him. walk in that righteousness. He went up to Jerusalem to fulfill
the Lord's Passover, and fulfill it he did. I want to show you
something over here in Luke chapter 9. This will give you something
to do here after a while. This is something Brother Fortner
showed me, I believe it was about two years ago when we were going
through that particular book, but over in Luke chapter 9. But Peter and James and John,
you remember the story of the Mount of Transfiguration. I've
done one over my time, but I want to get this point across before
I quit. They went up on the Mount of
Transfiguration, and there they stood, and two men appeared.
You remember, the Lord's countenance was transformed and His appearance
was white and glistering, and these two men spoke to Him in
His glory up there on that mount. Do you remember what it was they
talked about? Moses and Elijah appeared to
Him. And it says over here in Luke 9, verse 29, 30. And behold, he talked with two
men, which were Moses and Elijah, one representing the prophets,
one representing the law, representing these two men the
entire Old Testament. And then down here in verse 31,
they appeared in glory and spake of his decease." I'd like for
you to look that word up. Get you a strong concordance
and just look up the word decease And you'll see a little number
after it. And then go back to the back of that book and it
will give you the Greek word for it and the translation of
it, what it means. You know what the word actually
is in the Greek without any translation? I mean just what the word is
in the Greek? Exodus. It's only used two times in the
Bible. But the word deceased, this deceased that he would accomplish
was his exodus. That's where you remember where
the Passover was given, at the beginning of their exodus from
Egypt. And now going down to Jerusalem,
our Lord came there to accomplish His exodus, and accomplish it
He did as that great sacrifice.