Christ - Our Passover

Will you turn in your Bibles
to the book of 1 Corinthians, the 7th chapter of 1 Corinthians,
the 5th chapter of 1 Corinthians, the 7th verse. 1 Corinthians
5, just one verse of scripture for our text. 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." Christ,
our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Now, the observance of the
Lord's table is a positive commandment. Our Lord said when he gave the
disciples the broken bread, and the wine, symbolizing his broken
body and his shed blood. He said, this do, this do in
remembrance of me, as we're commanded to repent, as we're commanded
to believe, as we're commanded to follow the Lord in baptism,
as we're commanded to pray, we're commanded to observe the Lord's
table. Turn over to chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians, verse 24. And
listen to what Paul said to the early church. He said in verse
23, I have received of the Lord that which 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 broke it and said,
Take these. This is my body which is broken
for you. This do you in remembrance of
me. Paul repeated the commandment.
So the observance of the Lord's table is to the believer and
to the Church a commandment of the Master. And then the observance
of the Lord's Table is a perpetual ordinance, not like baptism,
which a person participates in once, but the Lord's Supper is
a perpetual ordinance to be repeated often in remembrance of Christ
until he comes again. Look, if you will, at verse 26.
Paul speaking to the early church, he says, as often as you eat
this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death
until he comes. This ordinance is to be continued.
It's a perpetual ordinance until Jesus Christ comes again. And
then thirdly, the early church faithfully observed the Lord's
table. It was an important part of their Let's go back to the
book of Acts, chapter 2. Acts, the second chapter. I'm
saying that the early church, the church in the days of the
apostles, made much of the Lord's table. This is something that,
for which I take the blame, is something that troubles me that
we do not, in this generation, make much of the Lord's table
as we should. Acts, chapter 2, verse 41. It says, Then they
that gladly received the word were baptized, and the same day
there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they
continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship,
breaking of bread and prayer. This breaking of bread here is
the Lord's table. And these people continued in
the doctrine of the apostles, in the fellowship and in breaking
of bread and in prayer. Look down, if you will, at verse
46. And they continued daily with
one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to
house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
praising God and having favor with all the people. Now turn
to Acts 20. Acts chapter 20, verse 7. Acts
20, verse 7. Listen to this. Acts 20, verse 7, And upon the
first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break
bread, Paul preached to them, ready
to depart on the morrow, and continued his speech until midnight.
1 Corinthians 10, will you turn over there? The point I'm making
is this, that the early church made much of the Lord's table.
He talked about continuing in the doctrine of fellowship in
prayer, but in breaking of bread. And then on the first day of
the week, they came together for this purpose, to break bread. And while Paul was there for
the Lord's table, he preached. In 1 Corinthians 10, verse 16,
the cup of blessings which we bless, is it not the communion
of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is
it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, being many,
are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that
one bread." That's the Lord's Table he's talking about. Now
then, here's a scripture that I never have read to you before
at the Lord's Table, but I was doing a little research and study
today, and I want you to turn to Numbers chapter 9. Begin reading with verse 1. I'll
read several verses, but now here's the point I'm making here.
Now, the observance of the Lord's Table is a commandment of Christ
to his people, and it's a perpetual ordinance. It's to be observed
by his people until Christ comes again. The early church faithfully
observed the Lord's Table on a regular basis. Now then, if
you'll go back to the Old Testament, you'll find severe consequences
for those who refuse to observe the Passover, severe consequences. And I wonder if the consequences
are not severe upon those who have the opportunity, but who
do not avail themselves of it, to observe the Lord's table.
Now, you listen to it in chapter 9 of the book of Numbers. This
is talking about the Passover. And of course, our Lord observed
the Passover on the night He was betrayed, and that night
He instituted the Lord's table. And he gave them the bread and
the wine, and he commanded them, he said, take this bread, this
is my body, and this cup, which is my blood, or symbolic, and
you drink it, and you eat it in remembrance of me. And as
often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you feel the
Lord's death till he comes. And Paul delivered that same
commandment to the early church, which is to us too. Now watch
this. And the Lord spake unto Moses, chapter 9 of the book
of Numbers, in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month
of the second year, after they were come out of the land of
Egypt, saying, Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover
at his appointed season. In the fourteenth day of this
month, at even, ye shall keep it in his appointed season, according
to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thou shalt
keep it. And Moses spake unto the children of Israel that they
should keep the Passover. And they kept the Passover on
the fourteenth day of the first month, and even in the wilderness
of Sinai. According to all that the Lord
commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel. And there were certain
men who were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could
not keep the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses
and before Aaron on that day, and those men said to him, we
are defiled by the dead body of a man, wherefore are we kept
back? that we may not offer an offering
of the Lord in his appointed season among the children of
Israel. And Moses said to them, Stand still, and I will hear
what the Lord will command concerning you. And the Lord spake to Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man
of you, or of your posterity, shall be unclean by reason of
a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the
Passover unto the Lord. The fourteenth day of the second
month at evening they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened
bread and bitter herbs. And they shall eat none of it
to the morning, nor break any bone of it, according to all
the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it. But the man
that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to
keep the Passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among
his people, because he brought not the offering of the Lord
in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin. And if
a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the Passover
unto the Lord according to the ordinance of the Passover, and
according to the manner thereof, so shall he do. Ye shall have
one ordinance, both for the stranger and for him that is born in the
land." Now then, fifthly, the observance of the Lord's table
is not only a time of communion with Christ for the believer.
But the table of the Lord preaches the gospel. He preaches the gospel
to our eyes and to our ears as the Passover preached the gospel,
the whole gospel, to the children of Israel. The preaching of the
gospel in the Passover appears in four things, and this will
be a blessing to you if you'll give me your attention. Now there
are four things in which the Passover, the observance of the
Passover, preached the gospel to Israel. and the way that it's
fulfilled in the Lord's table. First of all was in the choice
of a sacrifice. When they were to observe the
Passover, our Lord appointed a lamb. He appointed that Israel
shall pick out a lamb to be slain. This is what John the Baptist
called the master. Down by the River Jordan, when
Christ came to be baptized of him, he said, Behold the Lamb
of God, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
When Israel came to that particular day on which the Passover was
to be sacrificed, they chose a lamb. Our God chose a lamb,
his son, to be offered as our Passover. That lamb was to be
without blemish. He said, pick a lamb of the first
year, a male, pick one from among the flock without blemish, which
shows the absolute perfection of Christ. He knew no sin. He had no sin. He committed no
sin. He was perfect. And that lamb
was to be taken out of the foal from among the other sheep, the
other lambs, signifying that Christ, our Lamb, should be taken
from among men of the seed of Abraham, born of woman. And then
the lamb was to be shut up for a period of time to prove its
worthiness. Israelites went out to the fold
there, and they chose a lamb of the first year, a male, without
blemish, without spot, and they shut that lamb up for several
days. Even so, our Master, the Lamb
of God, came to this earth, born of woman, of the seed of David,
of the seed of Abraham, and he was on this earth thirty-three
and a half years. And in all that time, tried by
every law of man and God, and yet without sin. The second way
that the Passover Lamb preaches the gospel, and that is in the
sacrifice of the Lamb. God commanded that the Lamb was
to be put to death. A year-old Lamb was to be put
to death, put to death in the full vigor and strength of youth. And even so, our Lord Jesus Christ
was put to death. He was slain. when he was 33
years of age, in the full vigor and strength of his life. He
was not old, he was not ready to die, he was in the full strength
and vigor of life, even as this lamb. The lamb was to be roasted
with fire. After they slew the lamb, they
were to roast it with fire, which signifies the manner of Christ's
death. Our Lord was crucified and pierced,
enduring the fire of God's wrath. Enduring the fire of our sins,
this was due our sins, on that cross he cried, I thirst. In the burning fever of God's
wrath, in the fire of God's anger, our Lord cried as the rich man
in hell, I thirst, I thirst. Not a bone was to be broken.
Did you remember me reading that a moment ago in Numbers 9? Look
at it again. In Numbers 9, verse 12, it says,
Thou shalt leave none of it to the morning, not one bone, nor
break any bone. In John 19, verse 36, that scripture
is fulfilled in Christ, where it says, And when they came to
the cross, where Christ was crucified, they pierced his side, But they
did not break his legs, verse 36, for it says, for these things
were done that the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of
him shall not be broken. All right, in the next place,
first of all, a lamb. Secondly, the lamb was to be
slain. And then thirdly, the lamb's blood. The blood was to
be caught in a basin. It was not to be shed upon the
ground. It was not to be trodden underfoot in any manner. And
that reveals the preciousness of the blood of Christ. That's
what Peter said. We're redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. Precious to the Father and precious
to the believer. This Old Testament priest would
catch every drop of that Lamb's blood in a basin. Not any of
it was to fall to the ground. Not any of it was to be trodden
underfoot because it represented precious blood. Precious blood. And then the blood of that lamb
was to be applied. It was to be sprinkled on the
lintel and on the side of the doors, which reveals this, that
Christ's blood was not only to be shed, but it was to be received. It was not only to be shed, but
it was to be received by faith. The high priest shed the blood,
but the people deliberately and willingly, on purpose, Because
they believed God, applied that blood to the lintel and the side
posts of their home and went inside and shut the door. Which
brings us to this third thing, the blood was outside. They didn't
sit inside and look at the basin of blood for their own satisfaction
or protection. God saw the blood. He said, when
I see the blood, when I see the blood, not when you see it, when
I see the blood, I will pass over you. That's the reason we
don't bow before statues. That's the reason we don't have
a crucifix with Christ hanging up here with the thorns and the
blood dripping down as we gaze upon the pierced body and gaze
upon the marred body and gaze upon the actual blood. The blood
was outside. It wasn't in the house, it was
outside. The people were inside. There was no evidence inside
at all except their faith. There was no evidence inside
at all except God's presence. There was no evidence inside
at all except God's promise. The blood was on the outside.
And the blood of Christ was not offered to you, it was not given
to you to hold and look at, it was put outside in the presence
of the Father, it was offered to the Father, and the Father
said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. The blood must
be caught in a basin, precious. It must be applied by faith.
They didn't run out and check it every once in a while. They
put it on the door by faith. And they went in and sat down.
And they waited. And God passed over. And He smoked
dead the firstborn in every home where there was no blood. For
He said, when I see the blood, when I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. In the fourth place, the Passover
preaches the gospel, first of all, in the choice of the Lamb,
in the death of the Lamb, in the application of the blood,
and fourthly, in the way that the lamb was eaten. Now the Lord
said to them, you are to eat this lamb. First they slew it
and roasted it with fire. They put the blood on the door
and then they sat down and ate that lamb. John chapter 6, will
you turn over there? In the 6th chapter of John, listen
to the Master here, verse 53. John 6, 53, Then Jesus said to
them, Verily, verily, I say to you, Except you 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, I will raise him up at the last
day." These people sat down, they believed the blood, and
they received the Lamb into themselves, signifying that we receive Christ
into our hearts. We receive Him into our souls.
We receive him into our mind, we receive him into our cells,
you see. We eat of Christ, we feed on
Christ. That which we feed upon becomes
nourishment to us, it becomes strength to us, it becomes our
very life. And so the lamb was to be eaten. Even as Christ is to be eaten
in his blood and in his body, to be received within by his
people. It's not just receiving his word.
It's not just receiving his church or receiving his ordinances or
receiving the rituals of religion. It's to receive a person. Christ
comes in to live. He comes in to reign. He comes
in to nourish. He comes in to provide. He is
our life. He is the water of life. He is
the bread of life. He is that upon which we feed
upon the person of our Redeemer. Now watch this. All of it was
to be eaten. All of it was to be eaten. They
were to take a lamb, and if the house was too small, the household,
the number of people in the house too small to eat a whole lamb,
two houses were to go together, or three houses were to go together.
But they were to take all of the lamb, eat all of it. We receive
all of Christ. You can't have Christ as your
priest if he's not your king. You can't have Christ as your
priest if he's not your prophet. You can't have Christ in part.
We cannot receive part of Christ and leave the rest of Christ,
we receive all of Christ. All of Christ. In all of his
offices, in all of his character, in all of his attributes, in
all of his person, in all of his work, it's all Christ. It's
not part of Christ, it's all of Christ as he's revealed in
the Word. And as he's revealed to us, we receive that part of
him. The more we find out about him,
the more we receive it. And then it was to be eaten,
listen, I know you remember me reading this. That lamb was to
be eaten, all of it, and it was to be eaten with bitter herbs.
You remember that? You're to eat it with bitter
herbs. Why? It signifies two things. Number
one, it signifies the bitterness of his sorrow over sin. Our Lord went into that garden
of Gethsemane, and when he prayed, he said, My soul, is exceeding
sorrowful even under death. He was bearing our sins. He was
bearing our guilt. He was bearing our filth. He
was being separated from the presence of his Father, and his
soul was bitter, bitter with sorrow over there. It was a bitter
taste. It was a bitter pill he had to
swallow. And even so, as we come to the
Lord's table, As they ate that lamb with bitter herbs, it signifies
our sorrow over our sins. Anybody here tonight who feels
comfortable over his sins doesn't know Christ. Anybody here who
cannot feel in your heart and in your soul and in your mind
a bitterness, a sorrow, a distaste for your sins, for your thoughts,
for your wretchedness, for your disobedience, for your failure
to measure up to the glory of God.
That's bitter. Sin is a bitter thing. And that's
the reason they ate it with bitter herbs. And then in the next place
it was to be eaten, you remember, with unleavened bread. What is
leaven? Well, leaven is that which causes
a thing to ferment. It's that which causes the fermenting
processes. And this table was to be eaten
with unleavened bread, which signifies this, that those who
come to the true Passover, those who come to Christ, come with
sincerity, without hypocrisy. That's the main thing. It's not
that you understand everything about it. It's that what you
do understand, you receive with sincerity. It's not that you
know all the answers. It's just that that which God
has given and has commanded and has revealed, you receive without
hypocrisy. Don't come with leavened bread,
with insincerity and hypocrisy. But as we approach God, let us
approach Him with an open mind, an open heart, an open hand. No hand behind our back. We're
genuinely sincere. We come, as Israel ate that lamb
with unleavened bread, without any fermentation or hypocrisy,
but ate it in sincerity, we come the same way to the table of
the Lord. And then in the next place, it was to be eaten in
remembrance. They observed it every year.
In remembrance of what? Of their deliverance from Egypt.
Of their deliverance from slavery. of their deliverance from the
hand of Pharaoh. Every year they celebrated. They
were down there 400 years in bondage, 400 years in slavery.
And one day God led them out by the hand of Moses and by his
hand of power. And every year they ate the Passover
supper or feast in remembrance of their deliverance. That's
what we're doing tonight. We're eating in remembrance of
our deliverance from the bondage of sin, from the grave of sin,
from the slavery of sin by the hand of our Lord. And then watch
this, they were to eat it with their shoes on their feet, with
their staff in their hand, and with their lorns girt about.
What does that mean? It means this, that they were
leaving that place, that that was not their home, that they
were strangers in that land. And because of this sacrifice,
because of what it represented, they were soon going to a land
God had selected for them, a land God had prepared for them. So
what we do, we eat the Lord's table as strangers, as pilgrims,
as sojourners, ready to leave. Ready to leave. Ready to go to
Canaan. Ready to go to the land of rest.
Ready to go to the place of which Christ spoke when he said, I
go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am there you may be also. Now one other command. Moses
said when you eat, this Passover lamb. You ought to go through
your house and find all the leaven and throw it out. Don't have
any leaven in the house. Put it out of your houses. What
is leaven? Insincerity. It's that which causes fermentation.
And you and I, when we come to the Lord's table, we are to take
care to purge out of our hearts unbelief, that which causes apostasy. We are to purge out malice. We're
to purge out this insincerity when we come to the table of
the Lord. We can't purge out all sin. Who ever heard of such
a thing? There's no heart here tonight free from sin. But we're
to look through the house for that which causes strife and
division and decay in the family of God and purge it out. For
our Lord said, if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither
will he forgive your trespasses. And how can we as sinners come
to the table of mercy if we're not willing to set a table of
mercy? How can we sinners hope to come to a throne of grace
if we're not willing to display that grace? So he says, look
through your house. And if you've got an 11 in there,
get rid of it. And approach the table of the Lord with sincerity
of heart, with openness of heart, with faith of heart. A church years and years ago
used to come to the Lord's table, and each week when they came,
they'd sing this song. I don't have the tune to it,
so we can't sing it, but I can quote it. Lord, at thy table
I behold the wonders of thy grace, but most of all admire that I
should find there a welcome place. I that am all defiled with sin,
a rebel to my God, I that crucified his son and trampled on his blood,
what strange surprising grace is this that such a soul has
room My Savior takes me by the hand, my Jesus bid me come. Had I ten thousand hearts, dear
Lord, I'd give them all to Thee. Had I ten thousand tongues, dear
Lord, they all would join the harmony. By faith I take the
bread of life with which my soul is fed, and the cup is token
of His blood that was for my sin shed. According to Thy gracious
word in meek humility, This will I do, my risen Lord, I will remember
thee. you Ooooooo the the the the the you you

Christ - Our Passover

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