Alright, let's go back to 1 Corinthians
chapter 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verse
7. 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 the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice
and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth." Now, if you will, turn back to Exodus chapter 12.
Let me show you some parallels. between the Lord Jesus Christ,
the true Paschal Lamb, and that first Passover sacrifice described
here in Exodus 12. Throughout the scriptures, our
Lord Jesus is referred to as the Lamb. He's pictured as the
Lamb of God. He is the Lamb of God slain from
the foundation of the world, the Lamb of God who came in the
fullness of time to put away our sins by the sacrifice of
himself, a Lamb of sacrifice. And clearly, one of the best,
clearest, most instructive pictures of Christ as the Lamb of God
is the Passover. And the Passover had no meaning
at all. The Passover sacrifice had absolutely
no spiritual meaning, no spiritual significance except as it pointed
to him who is the true Passover, the true sacrifice for our sins. I don't know how to say that
plainly enough, forcefully enough, to let it sink in. May God, the
Holy Spirit, cause it to sink in. The laws and the sacrifices,
the ceremonies and the rituals of the Old Testament, all of
them have meaning and significance only as we understand them to
be pointing to and be types and pictures of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the great work of redemption by him. That means that once
he has come and fulfilled the types, all those ceremonies and
ordinances of carnal worship, as they are continued and maintained,
are but an idolatrous denial of His accomplishments as our
Redeemer. The Passover was a picture of
Christ, and He fulfilled it. Now back here in Exodus 12 and
verse 5, the first thing that's obvious is that the Passover
victim had to be a lamb. Now I'm pointing these out because
I want you to see that even in the types, the Lord God gives
the Scriptures with such meticulous detail that when Christ came
and fulfilled the types, The only way anybody could miss the
fact that he is indeed the Christ, the one of whom the prophet spoke,
is to read the scriptures with their hands over their eyes and
pay no attention to what God says. The types could not be
fulfilled. by anyone or by any circumstances
except those that are revealed and accomplished in Christ our
Lord. The Passover sacrifice had to be a lamb. We are told
in verse 3, speak unto 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 a picture of our Lord Jesus in His humiliation as He comes
here in human form, taking on Himself human nature to suffer
the wrath of God for us. In verse 5, we're told, your
lamb shall be without blemish, A male of the first year, you
shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats. So for the
Passover land to be a picture of Christ, it had to be without
blemish. He's holy, harmless, undefiled,
and separate from sinners. It had to be a ram. It could
be taken from either the sheep or the goats, but it had to be
a ram, not a ewe, because by man came sin. By man, righteousness
must be brought in and sin must be punished. By man came death. By man, life must be given. And it had to be a ram of the
first year. In the prime of its life, our
Lord Jesus died in the full vigor of His manhood and His strength.
Yes, He did endure sorrow and suffering and weakness, all those
things that we endure as men in this world. He hungered and
thirsted. He got weary. He slept. But when
our Lord Jesus died at Calvary, he did not die in weakness, he
did not die because he was worn out with life, he did not die
because he could not do otherwise, but rather in the full vigor
of royal, kingly manhood, the Lord Jesus breathed out his life
and voluntarily laid down his life for us. And this lamb of
sacrifice had to be separated from the rest of the flock. Look
at verse 6. and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of
the same month. And the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening." The
whole congregation, got to have a hand in this. The Lord Jesus
was set apart in the counsel of God and the decree of God
as the Lamb of God before the world began. He was the Lamb
chosen out of the flock. Psalm 89, 19, Thou hast laid
help upon one that is mighty. Thou hast exalted one chosen
out of the people. And four days before he was crucified,
our Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the place of sacrifice, and was
set apart from men. And upon examination for four
days, those crucial four days, he was examined and tried. Pilate
looked at him. He said, I find no fault in him.
He sent him to Herod. Herod said, there's nothing wrong
with this man. I find no fault in him, nothing worthy of death
in him. Upon examination, all his foes, in the mockery of the
trial that was supposed to be a representation of justice,
declared that there was no fault in him. And then there's another
parallel. The Paschal Lamb had to be slain
in the evening and the fourth day after its separation. Choose
the Lamb on the tenth day. On the fourteenth day, you sacrifice
the Lamb. In between those times, the tenth
day and the fourteenth day, watch Him. Watch Him. Examine Him.
See what He is. See what His character is. The
Lord Jesus Christ, being the fulfillment of this Paschal Lamb,
in the evening of the fourth day after His separation, was
put to death, slain by the hand of God at the appointed time. in the fullness of time, in the
fourth day of time, the 4,000th year since the creation. It means
you read back in the office, Psalm 90, one day with the Lord
is as 1,000 years, and 1,000 years is one day. Now, what that
psalm means is just this. Time is irrelevant to God. He's
the infinite, eternal one. But it also declares something
to us that is of significance in this regard. One day with
the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day.
So in the fourth day of time, From that time in eternity when
Christ was set apart as the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world, He came here on this earth and suffered the wrath
of God. The sacrifice, we're told, had
to be killed at Jerusalem. You remember we read in Deuteronomy
16 this morning? You don't kill the sacrifice
in any of your houses. You kill it at Jerusalem, in
the place where I shall put my name. It had to be killed at
Jerusalem because that was the place where God Almighty had
from eternity determined that He would reveal His name. He would reveal His character.
Now let us sink in. The Lord God Almighty reveals
and makes Himself known to men in the fullness of His glorious,
infinite being only one time. and only in one place. He doesn't reveal himself in
the fullness of his being in creation. Somebody says, well,
I see God here and I see God there and I experience God here
and there. No, you don't. You're just hallucinating. That's exactly right. God reveals
himself in the fullness of his character, in the totality of
his being, in all his glory. only one place, only one time,
and that's in Christ crucified as our substitute. The only way
a man can ever know who God is. is to see the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. There we see mercy and truth
meet together. Righteousness and peace kiss
each other. There we see how that God can
be both just and the justifier of the ungodly, how that God
can maintain the integrity of his character while at the same
time forgiving sinners through the sacrifice of a substitute.
The sacrifice had to be slaughtered, violently slaughtered, according
to Exodus 12, 7. It had to be roasted with fire.
The fire of God's holy wrath is what's pictured in verse 8.
And then we're told in verse 46, not a bone of the lamb could
be broken. Look here, Exodus 12, 46. In one house shall it be eaten.
Thou shalt not carry it forth. or carry forth aught of the flesh
abroad out of the house, neither shalt thou break a bone thereof."
Isn't that interesting? Isn't that interesting? You remember
in John 19, the soldier came, the Jews who had with one voice
said, crucify Him. Crucify Him. All is real. Crucify Him. Put Him to death!
Let His blood be on us and on our children. Now they said,
the Passover's coming, we can't have Him hanging on the tree
defiling us. We've got to get rid of the body.
And so the soldier was sent out to break the bones of those who
were hanging on the tree, to take a mallet and crush their
legs so that they would finally endure the last gasp of life
and their bodies would suffocate from the crushing of their lungs.
And he came to the Savior, broke this fellow's legs, broke that
fellow's legs, looked at him, said, he's dead already. And
with malice. Can you imagine this? He's dead
already. He's dead already. He's watched him go through all
the agony of the suffering. As though I've been robbed of
the pleasure of killing him. He takes a spear and shoves it
in his eye because the scripture said, They shall look on me whom
they have pierced." And because the scripture said, listen to
this, these things were done that the scripture might be fulfilled.
A bone of him shall not be broken. You see, all the types, all the
prophecies relating to our Lord's death could be fulfilled only
one time in history and only one way. The sacrifice had to
be lifted up. The sacrifice had to be hung
on a tree, because it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. Many prophecies. But you put them all together,
and everything that was written concerning the coming of Christ,
the slaying of the sacrifice, the death of the sacrifice, God's
acceptance of the sacrifice, all of them together, in all
the details, could be fulfilled only one way. Only at one time
in history. when the Jews were under Roman
bondage, and the Jews with one voice said, put him to death!
But they had no power to do it. He had to be crucified. So it
had to be at a time when the Jews were under bondage of a
people who used crucifixion as a means of execution. Turn to
the book of Acts, if you will. The book of Acts. Let me show
you three or four passages here. This is so very important. You
see, the Lord Jesus did not in any way die as the helpless victim
of circumstances. He did not die because God had
planned for him to be a king in Israel and the Jews wouldn't
pretty please let him have their throne. And so God went to plan
B and decided he'd put him to death. The Lord Jesus died exactly
according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, by exactly the means God had ordained, in the place God
had ordained, exactly at the time God had ordained, and by
the very means God had ordained, to the detail. To the detail. If you read the gospel narratives
of our Lord's crucifixion, and go back and read the Old Testament,
you'd think, Let's see, what did the prophet say we were supposed
to do to him next? Oh, we're supposed to mock him. So they
started mocking him. Oh, he's got to be betrayed for
30 pieces of silver. So Judah said, I'll betray him
for 30 pieces of silver. We've got to cast lots for his vesture.
Let's cast lots for his vesture because his vesture can't be
torn. We don't dare tear it. I mean, you would think they
had gone back to the Old Testament and read the prophets. But no,
they did exactly what they wanted to do because of their vehement
hatred of the Son of God. But they did nothing that God
Almighty had not ordained and brought to pass for the saving
of our souls. Look here at Acts 2.23. This
is what Peter says. being delivered into your hands
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. As Peter
is not saying the Lord delivered him into your hands because he
foresaw that he couldn't do anything about it. Determinate counsel
refers to God's determination. Foreknowledge means foreordination. In other words, he came into
your hands because this is what God said I'm going to do with
him before the world began. and you didn't have a frazzling
thing to do controlling it. Oh, you did what you wanted to.
Did what your hatred of it, did what your will would have you
do. Remember Pilate delivered Jesus
to their will. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. Look at chapter three, verse
18. Those things which God before
showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer,
he hath so fulfilled. Now look at chapter 4, verse
23. Peter and John are speaking here
after being set free from the Sanhedrin. Being let go, they
went in their own company and reported all that the chief priest
had said and done to them. Down in verse 28 now. Well, let's
back up to verse 27. Now, Ron, that looks like that
means everybody walking on the earth. Just everybody. Everybody turned thumbs down
on him. The Jews, the Gentiles, the Romans, Herod, Pontius Pilate,
those fellows had been at one another's throats all their lives,
and now they become friends. They were gathered together with
the Jews, particularly with the scribes, the Pharisees, and the
Sadducees. With the Sanhedrin, with the
high priest, those folks who were their most Vile enemies. I mean, the Jews
and the Romans, they would seize the opportunity to slit one another's
throats. They hated each other. They all got together. All of
them. Now watch this, verse 28. How come they all got together?
For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. Look at chapter 13. Paul takes
up the same subject when he's preaching at Antioch to the Gentiles. He speaks to this crowd of folks,
Jews and Gentiles mingled together. He says in verse 26, Men and
brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, whosoever among you
feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. For they
that dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers, Because they knew him
not, nor yet the voices of the prophets, which are read every
Sabbath day, they have fulfilled in condemning him. And though
they found no cause of death in him, though it was contrary
to Roman law and Jewish law, though they found no cause of
death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain.
Now watch this. 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 he ain't there anymore. God
raised him from the dead. All right, here's the third thing.
It's parallel between the Paschal Lamb and the Lord Jesus Christ,
the true Passover. The blood of the slain lamb had
to be sprinkled upon the doorpost and the lintel of every house
in Israel. In verse 7 of Exodus 12. The
father was responsible. Every man would go take a lamb
out of his flocks, and if he was too poor, his house was too
small, they didn't have a herd of their own, him and his neighbor
next to him would take a lamb together, and they would slay
the lamb, and they would put the blood on the two side posts
and over top of the door, stained the door of the house with blood,
go in the house and shut the door. But everything hinged on
the blood and God's dealing with the firstborn. Everything. Everything. The father of the
house, the mother, the children, the grandchildren, everybody
in the house, God dealt with the whole house, on the basis
of the way he dealt with the firstborn. God's law regarding
the firstborn throughout the Old Testament, the firstborn
represents the whole family. And the Lord God sent judgment
through the land of Egypt. And everyone in the land of Egypt,
every house in the land of Egypt, No exceptions. Every man, every
woman, every child in the land of Egypt passed under the judgment
of God Almighty and death came on the house. Death came on the
house. Now, wait a minute. The Jews didn't experience that.
Oh, yes, they did. Oh, the scripture tells us in
Exodus, there's not a house in the land of Egypt where the firstborn
was not slain. Not one. Not one. Not among children
of Israel. Not among the Egyptians. But
the firstborn in the house of Egypt was slain representative
of them. And the whole house was saved.
because of the blood on that house preserving the firstborn. And the Lord Jesus Christ, our
firstborn one, being slain as our substitute, is raised from
the dead, and now we stand before God in Him in the firstborn son
who has all preeminence. And yet every person in the house
was required to eat the roasted lamb for himself. Now only those
who ate the lamb were delivered from death. All who ate the lamb
were delivered. And everyone for whom the blood
was shed ate the lamb and walked out of Egypt. Now watch this. When they walked out of Egypt,
do you remember who led the way? A fellow by the name of Moses.
God's holy law. They went out of Egypt, walking
out with Moses, leading them out of the land of destruction.
You see, truth and justice cry as loud as God's love with Jesus'
blood. Every sinner bought by blood
must escape the wrath of God. Justice, mercy, truth, and love
shining bright in Jesus' blood make secure our place above,
one with Christ, approved of God. Let His praise forever swell. Jesus has done all things well. By His sin-atoning blood, He
both saves and honors God. Now, God commands us to eat the
lamb. This is His commandment. This
is His commandment, that we should believe on His Son, 1 John 3,
23. God commands us to believe Him. He commands us to believe
Him. He commands us to believe Him.
Now that means two things. That means we're responsible
to believe Him. And bless God, it means it's all right for us
to believe Him. Can I trust Him? God commands
me to. Yes, I can. Yes, I can. You get someone who's come to
court tomorrow, that means you better come. It means you better
come, or you're going to suffer the consequences. But it also
means it's alright for you to come. You're welcome, you've
got a summons to come. God's commanded us to believe
on His Son, to eat the sacrifice. And He declares that if you eat
the lamb, His blood was shed for you. But this is something only you
can do. You've got to eat the lamb for yourself. Now, here's
the fourth parallel. Look at verse 13 in Exodus 12. Every soul. Every soul. Let's see if I can spell that
so that you can understand what I'm saying. Every soul. Every soul. Every soul under
the blood was saved by the blood. Verse 13, the blood shall be
to you for a token, a token of the covenant, a token of my love,
a token of my purpose, a token of my grace, 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. As I said, someone in every house
died in Egypt that night, for there was not a house where there
was not one dead. But the destroying angel didn't
enter a single house where the blood stained the door. You see, judgment passes by none. Judgment passes by none. The
soul that sinneth, it shall die. That means every member of the
human race must die, must suffer the wrath of God, no exceptions. Justice demands satisfaction. Justice demands punishment. And
your conscience fully agrees. I've got to suffer God's wrath.
I must suffer the terror of God's holy wrath. I must suffer the
fire of God's justice. That's what terrorizes a man's
soul within. Your conscience agrees to what
God Almighty has revealed. But blessed be God, there is
a way for sinners to both suffer all the horrid wrath of God Almighty
to the full satisfaction of justice and never taste it. And that way is called substitution.
The Lord Jesus Christ bore all God's wrath for somebody. All of it. All of it. Should the whole world be sent
to hell, that could not be done. For finite creatures altogether
cannot satisfy the infinite justice of the infinite holy God. But
Jesus Christ, that one man who is the infinitely holy God, with
one tremendous draft of love, drank damnation dry. Swallowed
up the sword of justice and put away our sins by the sacrifice
of himself. And everyone for whom he died
went out from under the curse of God's holy law. Pastor, how
can I know that he died for me? Eat the sacrifice. Believe it. Believe it. Believe it. Now then,
back in our text. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Christ is our Passover. And Christ
our Passover is sacrificed. Christ our Passover is sacrificed. The wording of Scripture is not
accidental, as you know. It does not say Christ our Passover
was sacrificed. Looks to me like that would have
been grammatically correct. It would have been grammatically
correct, but it would have been theologically wrong. It does not say Christ
our Passover is being sacrificed. That too would be wrong. That's
what the Church of Rome teaches. It does not say Christ our Passover
shall be sacrificed, but rather Christ our Passover is sacrificed. Well, what does that mean? That
means that there is but one sacrifice. That one sacrifice is enough. that the effects are lasting
and perpetually meritorious and effectual, and that no other
sacrifice will ever be made. Christ our Passover, the one
sacrifice that is enough, is a sacrifice of perpetual, effectual
merit and worth. Therefore, there's no other sacrifice
ever to be made. The type being fulfilled. is
abolished forever. It's abolished. The law being
fulfilled is abolished. Christ is the end of the law. That means the law is no more. That means the law of God, the
curse, the wrath, the judgment, the condemnation, all is ended
because Christ has fulfilled it. That means the sins of God's
elect being nailed to the tree are abolished in Him who was
made to be sin for us. That means that justice being
satisfied demands the deliverance of all for whom the paschal lamb
was sacrificed. That means all God's elect are
now redeemed, forever redeemed. Being redeemed means that we
are delivered from the curse of the law. It means that we
are forgiven of all sin. It means that we are made righteous
before God. It means that we are reconciled
to God and nothing will ever change any of that to any degree
for any reason. Christ our Passover is sacrificed. Now this is not a fanciful dream,
but the blessed reality of grace. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Now, look at the next line in
our text. It's as important as any of the
others. For us. Christ, our Passover,
is sacrificed for us. Go back and read the history
one more time, given in the Old Testament. No lamb was provided. No sacrifice was made. No blood
was shed for any of the Egyptians. In fact, they weren't even told
what was going on. God made no effort to deliver
them. In fact, He made them to be a
sacrifice for the delivering of His people. Isaiah 43. Well, boy, it looks to me like
that means this was all done just for Israel. That's not too
profound, is it? You got that, didn't you, Josh?
It's just done for Israel. It's just done for Israel. The
Egyptians didn't have a sacrifice. They didn't have any blood! They
didn't have any grace! They didn't have any mercy! It
was all for Israel! Just for Israel. The fact is,
only Israel, and all of Israel, had the sacrifice. God's chosen
people, whom He had purposed to redeem, whom He had promised
to redeem, whom now He had come to redeem, they and they only
had the sacrifice. The blood was shed only for those
who came out of Egypt that night. Even so, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God, is not the Passover lamb slain for the whole world,
but the Passover lamb who is sacrificed for us, who are delivered
by his blood. The Son of God did not in any
way to any degree, died to redeem and save those who suffer the
wrath of God in hell. His sacrifice was made for and
effectually secured the eternal salvation of all for whom he
died. Now, there's not a hint, there is just not a hint in all
the scriptures of the doctrine of universal useless redemption.
Every text referring to the redemptive work of Christ, every text none
accepted, every type of redemption in the Old Testament, every statement
about the consequences of our Lord's death at Calvary declare
plainly that He died for a specific people and that all for whom
He died were effectually redeemed by His blood. Christ our Passover
is sacrificed for us. Well, who is that? For us, whom
He came to save. He shall save His people from
their sins. For us, chosen and loved of God from eternity. For
us, who believe on Him. For us, who come out from under
the curse of God by Him. For us, His church, whom He loved
and gave Himself to redeem. For us, His body, His brethren,
whom He delights to have as His own and call His own. For us,
His sheep. He said, I'd lay down my life
for the sheep. For the sheep. And the religious folks in his
day, like religious folks nowadays, said, that's not fair. I don't
like that. He said, I wasn't talking to
you. You're ghosts. I live my life for the sheep,
for the sheep. I came to seek and to save my
sheep. For us who believe on him, he was sacrificed. Well,
Pastor, why are they so dogmatic about this? I know there are
lots of people. Lots of preachers. I'm thankful
none of you, but lots of preachers, lots of people. I hear from them
pretty regular. Well, I don't hear from them,
but I hear about them because they talk to other folks about me.
He's gone to seed on this thing. He's too strict. He preaches
everywhere trying some way to emasculate the gospel. and make
it palatable to the hearts of rebels who despise God being
sovereign as he is. They say, well, now there's a
sense in which Jesus died for everybody and wants to save everybody
and came to redeem everybody. Why are we so insistent? Why
are we so dogmatic? Why is it that you just keep
insisting? That universal useless redemption
is a lie, damning to the souls of men and dishonoring to God.
And the scriptures teach everywhere particular effectual redemption,
limited atonement, atonement intended for God's elect, atonement
intended for and performed for and accomplishing the salvation
of a specific people. Let me tell you why. Let me tell
you why. The doctrine of universal useless redemption. And the notion
that Christ died for everybody is as useless as a bucket without
a bottom. It's useless redemption. But
that doctrine that Christ died for, those who perish at last
under the wrath of God, as well as for those who are saved ultimately,
makes man his own savior and robs Christ of the glory of redemption.
For it declares that Christ gave an opportunity. He provided an
opportunity. And now it's up to you. I had
a preacher sit in my office years ago in this town. Asked me, he
said, what's the difference between what you believe and what I do?
What you preach, what I do? He was trying to sell me some
insurance, and I guess he gave up on that notion, so he started
talking a little religion. And I said, if you got a little while,
I'll tell you. And I'll give it to you in about
four seconds. I'll give it to him in four hours. I said if I understand correctly
what you teach, this is what you teach, that Jesus Christ
by his death did not actually accomplish anyone's redemption,
did not actually accomplish anyone's justification, did not actually
put away anyone's sin. did not actually secure the salvation
of anyone, but rather he merely provided for all men the opportunity
to be redeemed, saved, justified, and accepted with God. And man,
by his faith, gives merit and efficacy to Christ's blood for
the saving of his soul. He said, well, yes, that's what
I preach. I said, that's a damning lie. It makes man his own savior
and means what Christ did at Calvary doesn't count for spit.
It's meaningless. It's meaningless. This doctrine
denies the deity of Christ. I would come just as near, embracing
as my brother some liberal who said that Christ was the illegitimate
son of a German soldier stationed in Palestine at the time that
Mary conceived him. As I would embracing as my brother
a man who said Christ tried to do what he failed to do. For
it denies his deity, says he's not God, he's a failure. And
he who is a failure, Bobby Esther, says no God at all. No God at
all. The doctrine of universal useless
redemption would destroy the wisdom and justice of God. For
all men acknowledge God knows everything. Or at least sort
of does. And God's all wise. And then
they tell us that He, in His infinite wisdom, in His infinite
knowledge, knew that many would believe on Christ and let Him
save them, many would not. But He, in spite of that, has
a plan of salvation that includes all men. Now if you can figure out some way
to make that wise, let me know. God Almighty is not a fool. He
doesn't plan what he knows he can't do. Men do. Men do, not God. And the doctrine
sets aside the immutability of God and perverts the goodness
of God. Tell us God loves everybody.
I read this from a preacher some years ago. I'll give you a quote. I won't get into details with
it. I'll be happy to later if you want me to. He said, I believe that God loves
everybody until the end. And then for those who will not
believe, God turns to them in anger and wrath and sends them
to hell in holy hatred. That kind of sounds like me. That kind of sounds like you.
Not God Almighty. He says, I am God. I am the Lord. I change not. Those whom He loves with everlasting
love, He loves unto everlasting in everlasting love and goodness
and mercy. And this doctrine nullifies God's
love. and frustrates His grace, the
notion that Christ died for everybody. Oh, we believe God's love is
big enough to include everybody. I've heard these idiots. I'm being as nice as
I can be. I've heard these idiots who call
themselves preachers. I've heard them say, oh, God
even loves the devil. Flip it over and watch something
else. Idiots! Idiots! To declare that
God loves folks who go to hell anyway is to declare that God's
love doesn't mean a frazzling thing. To tell me God loves me doesn't
mean anything if you tell me God loves Satan. To tell me God
loves me doesn't mean anything if you tell me God loves the
sons of Korah. Tell me that God loves me doesn't mean a thing
if you tell me God loves the multitudes who are in hell. No,
no, no, no, no. The love of God does make a difference. He says, I loved you. Therefore,
I'll gather you. I will say to the north, give
up. To the south, keep not back. Bring my people from the east
and from the west, and I will gather you unto myself. God's love does make a difference. It does make a difference. God's
grace is never frustrated. His purpose is never defeated.
Now, look at the last thing in our text. I'll wrap this up. Therefore, let us keep the feast. Now, we're going to have the Lord's
table here in just a minute. But this is not talking about
the Lord's table. I know that it's not. Our Lord seized the
picture of the last Passover as he ate it with his disciples
to institute this blessed ordinance that we now have. But on 1 Corinthians
11, Paul says plainly, this is not a feast. If you're going
to have a feast, go home and have it. You got houses to eat
in. This is just a little piece of
bread, a little glass of wine. It's not a feast. So what's he
talking about? Let us keep the feast. He's talking
about the same thing that was pictured back in Exodus 12. He's
talking about faith. The Lord gave this Passover feast
and He said to the children of Israel, you keep it in all your
generations. Now wait a minute. Wait a minute. We've already seen that it's
wrong for the Jews to still keep a Passover feast over in Jerusalem.
It's wrong. It's idolatrous. It's wrong for
Baptists to keep a Passover feast in Danville. It's idolatrous.
And yet God says you keep this feast throughout your generations. Oh, there must be something beyond
the physical Jew and the physical feast that he's talking about.
He's talking about faith. That's what was pictured in it.
That's what was pictured in it. The feast had a beginning. There was a time when the Jews actually picked
up a leg of lamb and ate it. And it continued all through
the wilderness. right up to the brink of Jordan. When they crossed over Jordan,
when they had taken possession of the land of Canaan, when they
had driven out the inhabitants of the land, when Joshua said
to them, this day God has fulfilled all that He said to your father
Abraham. God gave you all the land. They
were still keeping the feast. They were still keeping it. Me
too. We feed on Christ, believing
Him, taking His blood and His righteousness for our own. We
feed on Him. And it ain't never going to end. When He comes again, He said
this will be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. And Christ will
gird Himself and serve us. Or how do you keep this feast?
Not with the leaven of wickedness and malice. What do you mean? We are wicked,
God-hating people. That's our nature. Come then
and take the bitter herbs of repentance and put away the malice,
the enmity, the heart against God. Bow down and kiss the sod. Fall down before his throne.
Quit fighting God. and the wickedness, the leaven
of hypocrisy and self-righteousness. Cast it aside. Sweep it out of
the house. Sweep it away. And keep this
feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.