I want you to open your Bibles
again to the book of Exodus, chapter 12. I heard a preacher say a few
years ago that he was going to speak on John 3.16, and he entitled
his message, The Gospel in a Nutshell. But the more I thought about
that, the less I really appreciated it. The gospel in a nutshell,
the vastness of the gospel, the infinite, eternal gospel of the
living God. Talking about summing it up and
simplifying it and putting it in a nutshell. What I'm attempting
to do tonight is just as impossible to define this Supper of the
Lord to, I hope, simplify the Lord's table. Perhaps there are
many here who have a great understanding of what we're about to do. There
may be some here tonight who know little about it except in
its form, or perhaps as a ceremony, or a ritual, or some kind of
religious tradition. But this is a sweet, precious
time for the believer. I look forward to observing the
Lord's table. I got a great blessing just preparing
it this afternoon, thinking about the broken body of our Lord as
I broke the bread, and thought about His blood which was poured
out while I poured out the wine into the cups. And then as Jay
and I prepared these songs to sing tonight, I looked through
the book and found some that were especially meaningful and
glorifying to his name and that would prepare our hearts for
taking the bread and the wine. It's a special time. But there
may be those tonight who know little about it. So I want to
talk about Christ, our Passover. And this is what it's all about.
Summed up in the text I read a while ago, 1 Corinthians 5,
7, Christ, our Passover, is sacrifice for us. But where did the Passover
feast begin? What was the beginning of it?
What was the reason for it? What does it say? Well, let's
look at Exodus 12. Now, you know the circumstances. Israel, God's chosen nation and
people, were in Egypt. They'd been there 400 years.
And they were in bondage, extreme, extreme bondage. They were in
pitiful. back-breaking slavery, and they
were helpless, totally helpless, to deliver themselves. They were prisoners and slaves
of perhaps the most powerful nation. And no one could help
them, and they couldn't help themselves. They were in bondage
and slavery. But God determined to avenge
His elect. God determined to deliver His
people. and he spake to them his word. He came to them through his servant
Moses and gave them his word. And this is what he said. He
said, every one of you, every family, first of all, in verse
3, speaking to the congregation of Israel, saying, in the tenth
day of this month I shall take to them every man a lamb. That's
the first thing, take a lamb. All right, secondly, he says
that lamb down here in verse 5 must be without blemish. It
must be without disease, it must be without deformity, it must
be without a broken bone, it's got to be a perfect lamb. And then he said it's to be a
male of the first year, that is, it's to be in its youth.
It's not to be an old lamb, it's not to be one that already has
corruption set in, disease and decay and death on the way, but
the first year is to be in the prime of its life, the very prime
of its life. And he says in verse 6, "...ye
shall keep it up unto the fourteenth day." That's four days. They
were to take this lamb, carefully select it, without blemish or
spot in the prime of its life, in the strength of its youth,
and shut it up for four days. While it was to be observed during
that four days, it was to be observed, it was to be, they
were to keep their eye on it, they were to test it to be sure
it had no blemish or disease or spot. And then he says you're
to kill it. You're to kill the lamb in the
evening. And then in verse 7 he said you're to take the blood.
It's to be caught in a basin. And that blood is to be put on
the lintel and on the two side posts of the door of the house
in which it's eaten. In other words, it can't be by
proxy. It can't be on this door and
cover that house. It's got to be on the door of
the house in which it was eaten, in which it was observed, in
which it was—of the people for whom it was slain, in that particular
house, on the door. And then you're to eat the flesh
of it. You're to eat every bit of it. You're not to leave any
of the flesh. You're to eat it all. And you're
not to eat it raw. You're not to eat it mixed with
anything. It's not to be mixed, not with water. It's to be roasted
with fire, with the head and the legs and the pertinence thereof,
and let nothing of it remain until the morning. Of course,
the bones remain, but they're to be burned. All of it is to
be burned. It's to be done away with completely. It is the Lord's
Passover, verse 11. You can underscore that. The
Lord's Passover. He said, So often I hear people
talk, Brother Jerry, about the death angel passing through,
but I've looked in vain for the death angel. I can't find the
death angel anywhere. I find God saying, Brother Halpern,
I'm going to pass through. Let's make it like it is. God
says, I'm coming through. When God deals in judgment, He
deals personally in judgment. He deals with men personally.
I'm coming through. I'm going to pass through the
land of Egypt this night. And I'll smite all the firstborn
of the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the
gods, that's the princes of Egypt, I'll execute judgment. I am the
Lord. And the blood which you sprinkled
on your doorpost and lintel shall be to you for a token upon the
houses where you are. And when I see the blood, when
I see the blood, I will pass over. I'll pass over you. And then down in verse 14, he
said, And this day shall be unto you for 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. And that's what our Lord said
to his disciples in Luke 22, which I read a moment ago. He
said, go and prepare the Passover. They were still once a year observing
the Passover. And our Lord was going to observe
the Passover with his people. Well, God led Israel out of Egypt. Not a one of them was left behind.
Not a person, not any possession was left behind in the land of
Egypt, but he delivered them totally out of that land and
took them to Canaan, to the promised land. And though they, at times,
they desired the onions and garlics and the flesh pots of Egypt,
they never returned. They never returned back to Egypt.
They were finally and effectually and completely delivered. Now
you say, well, what's that? How does that apply to us? Well,
there was a day when we dwelt in Egypt. Our Egypt was the Egypt
of flesh, the Egypt of sin and self. We were toiling in the
brick tombs of sin, in slavery to ourselves, and we were building
the pyramids of materialism. We were in bondage. in slavery
and bondage to the broken law of God. Condemned to death, sentenced
to die, helpless, just as helpless to deliver ourselves from the
bondage of sin and the darkness of our evil and iniquity as Israel
was helpless to deliver themselves from Egypt. But God came through
his word. and sent us a message. He sent
us a message of deliverance. And that message is found in
John chapter 1, verse 29. In John 1, 29, God sent us the
message. Now, while Israel was in Egypt,
in the slavery of Egypt, God sent a message to them by Moses. The Word of God came to them.
And he said, take a lamb without blemish or spot, kill it in the
evening, put the blood on the doorpost, eat it, and get ready
to leave this place. And God sent us a message, John
1 29, the next day John seeing Jesus coming unto him and said,
Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. There's no type in all the Bible
more appropriate to the person of our beloved Lord than a lamb. The scripture says he's holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. The scripture says
he is led as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before her shearers,
he opened not his mouth. Look at the lamb. They clip the
wool from his back to keep us warm. His skin is dragged from
his back to protect us and clothe us. His blood is shed for us
to feed upon the meat. And in all of that, he opens
not his mouth. He is submissive. Our Lord Jesus
Christ is the silent, suffering, long-suffering, patient Lamb
of God. And then the Lamb, it says over
here in Exodus, not only is it a Lamb that they take and select,
but it's a Lamb without blemish. And the scripture says, Our Lamb,
the Lamb of God, though he was tested in all points as we are,
yet he was without blemish. He was without sin. He was conceived
by the Holy Ghost. He was born of the Virgin Mary.
He knew no sin in his thoughts. He knew no sin in his words. He knew no sin in his deed. Our
Lord Jesus Christ was God's lamb without spot, without blemish,
and without sin. And then the lamb that was selected
not only was to be a lamb without blemish, but it was to be a male
of the first year in the prime of life, in the prime of strength,
in the prime of wisdom. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he
suffered on that cross, was 34 years old. When he was first
revealed in his public ministry, he was thirty. And when he died,
he was thirty-four in the prime and strength of life. No decay
of nature, no decay of strength, no decay of wisdom in the perfect
prime of his life. And then the lamb, it was to
be one without blemish, it was to be a male of the first year
in the strength and prime of life, it was to be selected and
put up in a pen. to be observed, to be tested
and examined for four days before the sacrifice. During that time
it was to be proved, it was to be examined. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
I don't know whether this is taking the type too far, I don't
believe it is, but for four years, almost four years, our Lord was
in the public eye. Our Lord began to preach when
he was thirty. And for four years, right at
the beginning, he was tried by Satan. Satan took him up on a
high mountain to see if there was any blemish or any sin in
him, and tested and tried him during that time. And not only
was he tried by Satan in the beginning of his ministry, but
he was tried by the sharpest minds of his day. He was tried
by the Sadducees, He was tried by the Herodians, he was tried
by the Pharisees, he was tried by the soldiers, he was tried
by the people, he was tried by the government representatives,
and tried by Herod. And finally, at the last, Herod
Pilate spoke for the whole group. I find no fault in it. For these
four years, our Lord Jesus Christ separated observed, proved, tested,
tried by every force and power from heaven to hell. And they
found no fault in him. And then it said it was to be
killed. Now, if you turn to verse 46 of Exodus 12, let's look at
this verse here. There's some things about the
death of this lamb. It was to be killed. But there
were some things about it, three things in particular. First of
all, its blood was to be caught in a basin. And secondly, it
was to be roasted with fire. And thirdly, look at verse 46
of Exodus 12. In one house shall it be eaten.
Thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the
house, neither shall you break a bone thereof. Not one bone
is to be broken. It had to be killed in such a
way that its blood could be caught, that not one bone could be broken. Not one. Now turn to John 19,
if you will, John 19, verse 36. And this is what is said about
our Lord over in John 19, 36. You see, all of this done in
the Old Testament, in the Passover, is done as a picture, as a type
to teach us. We've been taught by this typology
over here in the book of Exodus, chapter 12, John 19, verse 36. And it says, let's read verse
34. One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and
forthwith came out blood and water. And he that saw it bare
record, and his record is true. And he knoweth that he saith
true, that you might believe. For these things were done, that
the Scripture should be fulfilled. a bone of him shall not be broken."
That's our lamb. That's our lamb. This whole thing
back here is a picture, is a type. Now the Jews, these Israelites
were not saved and forgiven and redeemed because an animal died
and its blood was taken and eaten, the body with the flesh was eaten
and the blood was put on doorposts. They were saved because Christ,
the Lamb of God, died. But till he came, this was the
picture of his death. And all of it was fulfilled by
Christ. Now, how was Christ to die without
breaking a bone? If he had been hanged, it would
have broken his neck. If he had been beheaded with
a sword, it would have severed the bone. The blood would have
fallen out upon the ground there and his head would have rolled
for it and the bone would be broken, or any other way. And here's another thing. This
lamb was to be roasted with fire. It was to be prepared over a
period of hours. Christ's body went through the
agonies, the fire of Calvary. He said, I thirst, the quenching
thirst, the burning fire, his tongue clad to the roof of his
mouth, the fever. The fire of suffering, if he
had been driven through with a sword, his life would have
ended like that. There wouldn't have been any six hours. The
only way that all of this could be fulfilled in death, and I've
thought about this a good deal today, is crucifixion. That is
the way they died back then. If he'd have been suddenly killed,
he wouldn't have suffered those six hours that were typified
by the roasting of fire. And there must not be a bone
broken. Could not be a bone broken. So that's the crucifixion. You
see, our Lord. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 15
a moment. 1 Corinthians 15. You see, the
death of Christ, and this is the key. You know, a lot of people,
a lot of people say, well, I believe Christ died, was buried,
and rose again. And they say that's enough. Well,
now wait a minute. Look at 1 Corinthians 15. Paul
said, brethren, moreover brethren, I declare unto you the gospel,
this is the gospel, which I preached unto you, and which also you
have received, and wherein you stand, and by which you are saved.
You see, this is the gospel. If you keep in memory what I
preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain, for I
delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received,
how that Christ died, But that's not all he says. He's died for
our sins according to the scriptures. And what Christ did, read on,
and he was buried and rose again the third day according to the
scriptures. So if he's our Messiah, if he's
our Passover, if he's our Passover, he's got to be the fulfillment
of this Passover over here. He's got to die, Jay, according
to the Scriptures. He's got to fulfill these types. It's got to be done like it was
done in the Old Testament. It's got to be done like it was
foretold, like it was prophesied, like it was promised. You see
that? You see how important that is?
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Now, anybody
might come along and say, I'm the Messiah, and die some way,
you know, and say, and everybody start believing in him. He died,
he was buried, he rose again. But it's got to be, see, so according
to the Scripture. And this is the reason I'm going
through this Passover, is because when we get to the New Testament,
it says Christ is our Passover. And when Christ gathered his
disciples around him at the Last Supper there to eat the Passover,
then he instituted, he did away with the killing of the lamb
because God's lamb died. He did away with the roasting
of the body and eating it, roasting by fire and eating the flesh
because we eat his flesh and drink his blood. He did away
with all those things and instituted what we're observing tonight.
We don't catch a lamb and put it up for four days between the
10th and 14th day of the certain month and observe it to make
sure it's without blemish or spot, and then sacrifice it and
put the blood on the doorpost and off. Christ did all that
according to the way it was written in the Scriptures. He is the
lamb, all right? In the sixth place, it says the
blood is to be applied. Now brethren, this Christ died,
but this blood has got to be applied. They slew the lamb. But that wasn't the end. They
had to, by faith, take that blood, believing that God will do what
he says, that God says, I'm coming through it and there's going
to be a judgment. The wrath of God's going to fall upon this
evil nation, upon this wicked people. I'm coming through this
land, God says. The overflowing scourge is coming
through here at midnight. Now, if you believe what I say,
And you believe my promise of deliverance, I'll pass over you.
If you believe the only way to be saved is not to leave Egypt,
it's not to hide in a storm shelter, it's not to run down and start
burning candles in the church, it's not to go through some other
ritual order, it's to put that blood up there and get in the
house and trust the blood and rest in the blood. And you see,
that's what we do now. God says, I'm going to judge
sin. I'm going to deal with men according to justice and righteousness
for sin. Now, what are we going to do?
Get on our knees and crawl from here to Rome? What are we going
to do? Buy some beads and say so many Hail Marys? What are
we going to do? Sprinkle our infants and go through candle
burnings and processionals and wear funny-looking clothes and
all these things? Or are we going to trust the blood? and go in
the house and close the door and rest in the blood and have
peace in the blood of Christ. Now that's applying it, that's
receiving it, that's purposely, by faith, applying the blood
to my heart. And then when they sat down and
took that lamb and ate it, they're saying, this is sufficient. This
is God's purpose, this is God's way, this is God's provision,
and I take it and rest in it. Now turn to John 6, if you will,
and this is what our Lord is saying here in John 6, verse
53. Look at it, John 6, 53. And then
Jesus said to them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat
the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, You have
no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life, and I'll raise him up at the last
day." Now, you know what that means. That's not actually eating
the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ. That's figurative
language. That's by faith receiving Christ
within. It's like when you drink this
wine and when you eat this bread, it goes within you. Resting in
Christ is not an external ritual, it's an internal experience.
With the heart, man believes. It's not conforming to outward
external rules and laws and ordinances and behaviors and ceremonies. It's receiving the person of
Christ into your heart, into your mind, into your soul, into
your being. Christ in you. That's the hope
of glory. And we receive him by faith.
Now that's the picture there. Israel was to take a lamb, not
just any lamb, but a certain lamb, and Christ is our lamb.
And that lamb is to be kept up for four days as Christ was separated
and observed and tested and tried and proved to be without sin.
And then it was to be slain. And the blood of that lamb was
to be applied. It was to be rested in and believed
in. to have confidence in it, an
assurance that when God passed over, you don't need to add anything
to the blood on the door, you don't need to have an extra candle
outside. We drove by a house in the Yucatan
and the Pueblo one time, and they had, I know there was a
hundred candles outside the door of that house, and I said, Walter,
what on earth's going on there? He said they bought those candles
from the priest to ward off the evil spirits, to ward off bad
luck, to ward off misfortune. Well, we don't need any of that
but the blood of Christ, that's all we need. And when they took
the flesh of that lamb and ate it, all of it, and we receive
all of Christ, not just Christ as a prophet, not just Christ
as a priest, not just Christ as the king. You receive all
of Christ or none of Christ, John. You see that? They didn't
just eat the leg and leave the head and the back and the breast,
they ate it all. None of it, all was to be eaten.
That's the reason they said if you've got only three people
in your house and you've got a big lamb, you better go in
with the people next door. Because it all has to be eaten,
can't any of it be left. We've got to receive Christ,
all of Christ, Christ in all, all in all. You can't just have
a part of him, you know. You can't just have just what
you want. You've got to receive all of
Christ. The blood was to be applied. Well, you know, Peter called
his blood precious blood, the precious blood of Christ. And
you know what makes anything precious? You know what makes
anything precious? When it meets a need. That's
when it becomes precious. Now, water in this town is not
too precious, because I don't know anybody that's thirsty.
But I tell you, you let that river run dry, and you let all
the taps run dry, and let the rain stop, and people will trade
their houses for a drink of water. Depends on how thirsty you get.
Bread. How precious is bread? Well,
we're all pretty full tonight. We had a good supper. We're not
hungry. And really, bread is not too
precious. I heard a story one time of a
man who was out in a desert, and he hadn't eaten for days
and days and days. And his body was growing weaker
and weaker, but the moment he was dying, he was so hungry,
he was so famished, he would have eaten anything. And crawling
along with his last bit of strength, he saw a bag there in the desert. And he crawled up and grabbed
the bag. You know one thing going through
his mind? Maybe it's some bread or meat. And he tore the bag
open. And you know what was in it?
It was full of gold. Full of gold. Now I'm sure there
was a time in his life when he had already clutched that gold
to his bosom and kept it and hoarded it and been so glad to
find it. But when he saw it was gold and
not bread, he took it in anger and threw it from him into the
wind. He needed bread. And I'll tell you what makes
Christ precious is when we need Him. Oh, how precious He is to
those who need Him. There's no competition. There's
no competition at all. Nothing in this world can afford
no competition. He meets my every need. My need
for deliverance from the curse of the law, my need... Well,
all the way. Christ's blood has redeeming power. In His blood
we have redemption. Christ's blood has atoning power
at one with God. The blood maketh atonement for
the soul. Christ's blood has cleansing
power. The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin. Christ's blood
has preserving power. God said, now see the blood,
I'll pass over. Just think. Judgment passes over. All the sins I've committed,
all the evil I've done, all of the iniquity in my heart, all
the transgression of my thoughts, And when God comes through, are
you afraid for God to come through? Well, if the blood's there, you
don't have to be. Because he said, when I see the blood, I'll
pass over you. I'm going to work a little harder. Oh, that would
scare me if I depended on that. Well, I'm going to give a little
more. It's all been given. He gave himself. Well, I'm going
to pray a little more. Men aren't saved by prayer. God
didn't say, when I see your prayers, I'll pass over you. When I see
your works, I'll pass over you. When I see your sincerity, I'll
pass over you. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. Whose blood? His blood. His blood. His blood has pleading power.
You know, He said to Cain, your brother's blood cries to me from
the ground. Well, our Lord's blood speaks
better things than Abel. Our Lord's blood has sanctifying
power. He sanctified them through His
blood. Our Lord's blood has power to
give us entrance into the presence of God. As Hap prayed tonight
in the study, we got no basis on which to come to God's throne
of grace except Christ died for us. He's opened for us a new
and living way. His blood has overcoming power.
They overcame by the power of the blood of the Lamb. His blood
has power to make us kings and priests under God. Oh, the precious
blood of Christ. You see that? Well, one other
thing. He said you're to keep this feast
forever. You're to keep it. Well, what
about us today? We're keeping it. Turn to 1 Corinthians
11. We're going to keep it right
now. 1 Corinthians 11. Israel kept it every year that
Israel kept this feast. They were pointing back. They
were pointing to two things. They were pointing back to that
day when God delivered them by the blood of the Lamb. And they
were pointing forward towards when God would deliver all His
people through the blood of Christ. But when we keep this supper,
look at 1 Corinthians 11, verse 23. Paul said, I have received
of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus,
the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and when
He had given thanks, He would break it and said, Take, eat,
this is my body, which is broken for you, this do in remembrance."
Now, brethren, let's pause there just a moment. This bread is
not the body of Christ. It represents the body of Christ. No man has any power to change
this bread into the actual body of Christ. And this wine is not
the actual blood of Christ. Of course, that's what a certain
denomination teaches. The Catholics teach that when
the priest says certain words, that this bread becomes the body
of Christ and this wine becomes his blood. It actually is his
body and blood. And when a person eats it and
drinks it, he eats and drinks Christ and is saved. That's what
they teach. That's a sacrament. Well, one of the Protestant ministers
of the Reformation came to the priest and said this. Why don't
you tell the people the truth? You can't change that wine into
the blood of Christ." Oh, the priest said, I do. He said, I
can prove that you don't. He said, how can you prove it?
He said, take all that wine after you turn it into the blood of
Christ and let that altar boy drink it. If it makes him drunk,
it's not the blood of Christ. Huh? And he said, I'll tell you
what. You turn that bread into the
body of Christ. I'll dip it in poison, and I
dare you to eat it. If it's the body of Christ, it
won't hurt you. His body can't hurt you, it can only give life.
The priest wouldn't do it. Of course he wouldn't do it.
Because these are types, these are symbols. These elements are
symbols. And Christ said that right here.
When you eat this bread, you do it in remembrance, in memory
of something that's already happened. You don't do it as a repeating
of something that's happened. You do it in memory. This is
a memorial feast. It's not a funeral. It's a feast.
Christ has risen, and you do it in remembrance of me after
the same manner he took the cup when he had supped first, saying,
This is the new covenant in my blood, as often as you drink
it. And he doesn't set any set time, just as often as you do
it. You want to do it every Lord's Day? Fine. Don't do it every
week, that's fine, every month, that's fine, but as often as
you do it. You do what? You do it in remembrance of me.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you
show the Lord's death, and you do it till he comes. All right,
who's to come? Well, whosoever, wherefore whosoever
shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord in an unworthy
manner. Now brethren, we're not dealing
here with our Worthiness. We're never worthy. You're never
without sin. And I'm not either. If we wait
till we're without sin, we'll never come. We'll never come
to Christ to begin with. And we'll certainly never come
to this table. But in an unworthy manner is just what he's saying
in verse 29. For he that eateth and drinketh
unworthily eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning
the Lord's body. In other words, not understanding
what it's about. The man who eats the bread, thinking
it's a way of salvation, does it in an unworthy manner. The
man who drinks the wine, thinking that thereby he's saved, does
it in an unworthy manner. The man who takes the bread and
the wine, who has not believed on Christ and who has not received
Christ, does it in an unworthy manner. The man who takes the
bread and the wine and adds to Christ's death some of his works
does it in an unworthy manner. But when a man comes empty-handed
as a sinner, knowing he's a sinner without help, without hope, without
any ability to please God, knowing that Christ is his only hope,
that Christ is his only Savior, that his blood has the efficacy
and sufficiency to put away his guilt, and he rests in Christ,
trusts in Christ, believes in Christ, he understands what happened
at Calvary. Christ died for sinners. Christ
didn't die for the righteous. A man who comes to the table
thinking he's worthy to come eats in an unworthy manner. The
man who comes to the table thinking that he ought to be there, that
he deserves to be there, does it in an unworthy manner, not
understanding the Lord's body. Keep that feast as often as you
eat or drink. Now, who's to do the examining?
Look at verse 28. Let a man examine himself. What should be the questions
on this examination? Am I a sinner? Oh, I know that. Am I guilty of transgression
before God? Oh, most assuredly. Do I have
any righteousness of my own? No, sir. What is my hope of redemption? Christ died for me. Do I believe
that Christ is God's Son? I certainly do. Do I believe
God sent Him into the world to save sinners? Most assuredly.
Do I believe He died according to the Scriptures, He was buried
and rose again, He ascended to the right hand of God where He's
the only mediator? I certainly do with all my heart.
Have I received Him, believed on Him, trusted Him, cast myself
upon Him, committed my soul to Him, Resting in his blood and
he only his blood in his righteousness only his righteousness. I certainly
am Well, let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup Let
him eat Because he's one for whom Christ suffered and for
whom Christ died May God bless you tonight as you observe this
table of our Lord. I