Remember the Lamb
Notes
Transcript
14 ‘Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. 15 ‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 ‘On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you. 17 ‘You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. 18 ‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 ‘Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land. 20 ‘You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ” 21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. 22 “You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.
23 “For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you. 24 “And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. 25 “When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. 26 “And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’ 27 you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’ ” And the people bowed low and worshiped. 28 Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. 29 Now it came about at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. 30 Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. 31 Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the Lord, as you have said. 32 “Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.”
33 The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, “We will all be dead.” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders. 35 Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; 36 and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. 37 Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. 38 A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock. 39 They baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had not become leavened, since they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. 40 Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. 41 And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, to the very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.
42 It is a night to be observed for the Lord for having brought them out from the land of Egypt; this night is for the Lord, to be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations. 43 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: no foreigner is to eat of it; 44 but every man’s slave purchased with money, after you have circumcised him, then he may eat of it. 45 “A sojourner or a hired servant shall not eat of it. 46 “It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it. 47 “All the congregation of Israel are to celebrate this. 48 “But if a stranger sojourns with you, and celebrates the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near to celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it. 49 “The same law shall apply to the native as to the stranger who sojourns among you.” 50 Then all the sons of Israel did so; they did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that same day the Lord brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.
Introduction
In our day and age, most holidays and celebrations have become nearly universal. Christmas has become a holiday that transcends every culture boundary. It doesn’t matter what you believe, where you’re from, or your heritage… everyone celebrates Christmas! Most holidays have become like this because they’ve been so commercialized. They’ve become holidays for the sake of consumption rather than holidays for the sake of remembering or celebrating a particular occasion. That’s what a holiday is after all isn’t it? We celebrate Christmas to remember the coming of Christ. We celebrate Easter to remember His resurrection. And yet somehow these holidays have been turned into days exclusively for gifts and eggs in the eyes of our culture. There’s nothing wrong with gifts and eggs, but what is a holiday if we’re not remembering the meaning of the day?
I think we can argue that there’s something fundamentally different about people who work to remember the meaning of a holiday. They might celebrate with the rest of the country the very same holiday, but in that celebration they remember that Christ came into the world as a man for the redemption of sinners! They set themselves apart by working to remember the meaning of the day. Those who celebrate Easter with the rest of the country yet do so remembering that Christ has conquered death, they set themselves apart from the rest of country in how they celebrate, in how they remember. There’s a different recognizable character to those who remember well when they celebrate.
God will make that very point to the nation of Israel as they are being brought out of the land of Egypt. One of the ways in which Israel will set themselves apart from the world will be 1) how they celebrate, but perhaps more importantly how they remember the Passover lamb. The Passover celebration is more than an opportunity to eat lamb together as a nation. It’s intended as a reminder to them of how God delivered them from death by the blood of the lamb. The feast of unleavened bread is more than an opportunity to feast together and take vacation for a week. It’s intended as a reminder to them of how God intends them to be set apart - a holy nation. God is beginning to shape his people into the character of godliness and one of the fundamental ways he shapes a people is by reminding them of their redemption through the lamb. Before God gives them laws or standards of conduct, He delivers them and ensures they don’t forget God’s deliverance in providing the lamb. How God’s people remember the lamb is the cornerstone to them being set apart and recognizable as the people of God.
Our main point
Those who remember the redemption of the lamb are recognized by their holiness, humility, and hospitality.
Those who remember the redemption of the lamb are recognized by their holiness, humility, and hospitality.
Remember, the leavening is to be cast out. (vs. 14 -20)
Remember, the lamb which delivered from death. (vs. 21-41)
Remember, the meal which welcomes the stranger. (vs. 42-50)
I want us to see from the very beginning where we’re going and what Moses is doing with this passage. He’s doing more than recalling events for the sake of Israel. He’s spending as much time on how the memorials and rites will be practiced so that they don’t forget, but even more-so Moses is identifying a people. Every time he addresses memorials, rites, or celebrations he identifies a distinction among peoples.
As they celebrate the feast of unleavened bread, they are to be a holy assembly and if anyone eats leavened bread, they will be cut off.
As they kill the lamb every passover and explain to their children what this ordinance means, they are reminded how God brought his people out of Egypt and set them apart from those idolatrous people.
As they eat of the lamb on that passover night and participate in that celebration they are to be reminded no foreigner is to eat of it, yet anyone may come if they are circumcised.
The Passover and the feast of unleavened bread are more than holidays, they’re more than a remembering of very important events, they’re intended to shape and distinguish the people of God from everyone else.
We’ll fill that out, but let’s start from the beginning.
Remember, the leavening is to be cast out. (vs. 14-20)
Remember, the leavening is to be cast out. (vs. 14-20)
Immediately following the celebration of the Passover begins a week of eating unleavened bread called the feast of unleavened bread. It’s a reminder of Israel’s hasty departure from Egypt. They were not given time for their bread to be leavened and rise because they left in haste. It would have been a flat bread baked over fires on a journey through the wilderness. Nothing fancy!
It seems like an odd holiday at first. If you can imagine for us: if we got one week off from work every year, and during that week all the bread was removed from the house and was replaced with flat bread. Great, we get a week off each week, and the diet changes a bit. Doesn’t seem like a big deal, but Moses’ language emphasizes just how important this is.
Twice, in verse 14 and verse 17 Moses makes clear, this is a permanent ordinance to be practiced throughout the generations. This isn’t optional. And just to make that point clear, He’s only a few sentences in to introducing this new holiday and he says,
15 ‘...for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
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You might think, “That escalated quickly. What’s so bad about eating leavening? Is it such an awful sin to eat the wrong kind of bread on the wrong day of the year?” Like a good teacher, God is communicating weighty truths in plain and ordinary ways. If we understand that this is more than just a holiday and it’s a means by which God is setting apart His people, we can better understand the seriousness with which this holiday is to be practiced.
What is the character of the people who are to gather for this holiday?
16 ‘On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you.
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God is making a very clear connection between a simple practice of removing leavening and the character of His people.
You can imagine what it would have been like after Passover night. You wake up in the morning to the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, all the leavening has been removed from the house, but before you begin to make use of your holiday spending time with friends or family you gather together as a people. In that moment is a very clear reminder of what the lamb was intended to accomplish. We’ve stated it before, but the deliverance of Israel was not for the sake of their freedom alone. Their freedom from slavery was intended to be used for their holy service to God. Year after year Israel would have celebrated the passover and immediately after gathered together as a holy people. This holy gathering marked the first day of their celebration and the last to communicate twice over, "You are to be holy”. Within a short 24 hour period is the remembrance of the lamb which was slain and this very clear picture of a holy people actively working to remove the leavening, the unholiness, which would have them cut off from God’s people. How the people of God celebrate the lamb, how they remember the spotless lamb, puts on display to the world, these are a holy people set apart for a holy purpose.
Moses reiterates the consequences again in verse 19, anyone who eats of the leavened bread is to be cut off whether he is Israelite or foreigner. Everyone within the kingdom of Israel is going to be recognized as holy and set apart for the glory of God.
As you may anticipate, this very principal extends even to the church today.
Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians addresses a matter of blatant unholiness to the degree that this person should be cut off from the assembly. Paul’s encouraging the church to exercise their authority in church discipline.
1 Corinthians 5:4–5 (ESV)
4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
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Paul has to remind the Corinthian church, the death of Christ, our Passover Lamb, is more than an event in the past, it’s more than an event to be celebrated by the people of God in the Lord’s Supper, it’s a very real historical event that sets apart from the world a holy people.
Paul says, “you really are unleavened.” You have been made holy by the blood of Christ when he atoned for your sins, why do you entertain the unholiness of the world within your assembly? Why do you boast with a pride as if you weren’t helpless in your slavery to sin and delivered completely by the power and grace of God.
The people of God are to celebrate in sincerity, truth, and holiness precisely because the lamb has made them holy. Simply participating in the celebrations and ordinances don’t set us apart from the world. We participate in the celebrations and ordinances precisely because we’ve been set apart from the world as a holy people washed clean by the blood of Christ.
For our edification here this morning, we are the only religion in the world in which the holy gathering follows the Passover. What do I mean by that? There are no shortage of religions marked by celebrations, rites, and holy days which attempt to gather holy assemblies and clean the house of its uncleanness before God comes in judgement. We gather holy assemblies after God has come in judgement. Israel’s holy gathering came after the Passover.
If you think about it, some might expect Israel to have their holy week before Passover. Ensure there is no leaven in the house, no unholiness among you as you gather because the day of the Lord’s judgement is near, yet because of the atoning blood of the lamb who has washed clean those whose faith are in Him, we gather together as a holy people. We have a greater reason to pursue holiness than any other false religion on this earth... we’ve been made holy by the blood of the lamb! When God looks at us He sees the record of Christ’s righteousness attributed to us because the price of our debt has been paid. Let’s not forget Christ the lamb which was slain and made us holy. Let’s walk in that holiness which Christ has accomplished for us that our celebration would be holy.
How might we begin to pursue that holiness? Two things: honesty with God and honesty with each other.
We begin by coming honestly before God with our sin. He is not surprised. He knows our weaknesses. He knows the temptations of our hearts, and He is merciful.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Jesus died so that we would come before him honestly and boldly with our sins. He didn’t die for our sins so that we would hide them. He died for our sins so that we would be brought to repentance and faith for the forgiveness of our sins. In our pursuit of holiness we first come before our merciful God honest with our sins. We step into the light knowing there’s forgiveness awaiting those who repent.
Secondly, we’re honest with each other. This battle we have with sin for our holiness as an assembly is a cooperative effort. We work together for each other’s holiness! What would it look like for each of us to intentionally pursue one maybe two relationships with someone else in the church such that if they stumble in their walk, they have someone to lean on. They have someone to confess their sins to. And should we stumble in our walk, we have someone to lean on - we have someone to confess to. The best way for the people of God to pursue a holy assembly is for the assembly, the church, to pursue holiness together! Christ, our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed that we may be a holy bride. Let’s pursue that holiness together!
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Thus far Moses has provided a lot of instructions to the people of Israel of what is about to come. Last week we covered all of Moses’ instruction regarding the lamb. We have here this morning instructions regarding the coming week when God will take them on their way out of Egypt. As much as we continue this pattern of remembering, we go back to the beginning because it’s now finally time for the lamb to be killed, yet even as the instructions to the elders are recalled by Moses the instructions to remember continue.
Remember, the lamb which delivered from death. (vs. 21-41)
Remember, the lamb which delivered from death. (vs. 21-41)
Verse 21 Moses calls for the elders go take the passover lamb and kill it. The blood is to be spread with a hyssop plant on the lintel and the two doorposts.
23 “For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you.
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The spotless lamb has been killed. The blood has been spilt and the people of Israel can rest knowing that God will passover them.
You might imagine Israel has enough to think about in the moment. God is going to come in judgement upon Israel, they’re about to leave Egypt finally and make their way to Mt. Horeb, but in that moment Moses gives time to the long journey ahead of them saying don’t forget this and what you’re doing here. Make sure you’re children know why this lamb is being killed.
24 “And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. 25 “When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. 26 “And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’ 27 you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’ ” And the people bowed low and worshiped.
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God knows the heart of a child doesn’t he? He knows the intrigue that’s always there as they try to figure out how the world works. They ask, “Why?” about a lot of things. You might imagine this holiday being pretty confusing to the young children of Israel in years to come. Imagine what’s going on through the eyes of a child for a moment. One day a lamb comes into the house. Why? After four days that lamb is killed! Why? Mom is getting all the leavening out of the house. Why? We’re all gathering together the day after. Why?
What are the words which Moses gives to the people. “It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.”
Even as a child there would have been an elementary understanding that this lamb makes us different than everyone else. Because of this lamb God smote the Egyptians and we were spared. Likely for quite some time the kids just thought it to be a special meal with a holiday to follow, but if Israel was faithful to remember why they celebrate, their children would know: because of this lamb, we are different from Egypt. It would have been a humbling celebration, a humbling ordinance to know that something had to die for us for us to be set free. Humbling to know they did not deliver themselves. Humbling to know that death would have come upon them if not for the lamb.
What does Israel do when they receive these instructions?
They bowed low and worshiped. The deliverance of God is a humbling reality that ensures all the glory goes to God, and the people of God are right to literally lower themselves to the ground in worship.
Moses will recall the events of the final plague:
The people do as they are instructed in vs. 28.
The blood is applied to the doorposts and the LORD comes and strikes all the firstborn in Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the cattle.
All of Egypt cries out in agony for their loss and Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron:
31 Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the Lord, as you have said. 32 “Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.” 33 The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, “We will all be dead.”
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The lamb will make the final distinction between the people of God and the world to the degree that even the Egyptians send them out.
These humble slaves will finally make their way out of Egypt as a truly blessed nation.
They leave in a hurry with their unleavened bread, they leave with the riches they’ve plundered from Egypt. They are numerous! 600,000 men. There are millions in number on their way as a free people, and let’s not forget the millions of sheep and cattle that follow.
A truly magnificent event in the history of Israel that would surely not be forgotten, and yet how are the children intended to remember this extraordinary occasion? The death of a spotless lamb.
If it were left to us as Americans you know there would be a massive parade! There would be sheep and cows walking down main street, but God makes sure that the death of a lamb is at the heart of story. Every year a lamb would be killed to remind them. It’s the provision of the lamb by which Israel is spared before God. It’s the provision of the lamb which humbles the people of God and prompts them to worship as God has been intending for them all along.
We might ask, what is it that we have been called to remember above all when we recall our deliverance? We don’t celebrate the Passover like Israel because we live under a new covenant in Christ our once for all spotless lamb slain for our sins. We don’t sacrifice time and again the bulls and goats, but we do remember! In a very real sense this remembering, this cherishing by faith the lamb of Christ is what sets us apart from the world. Christ has delivered us from the power of sin and death and we cling to that by faith as we remember what he accomplished.
Should the people of the world come into our worship service and observe us taking the Lord’s Supper, they would certainly recognize a foreign practice. They might conclude, these people are different. They would be right, but not for the reasons of merely different religious practice. We’re different, we’re set apart because we’ve been humbled by the gracious deliverance of God through his son Jesus Christ. We constantly remind ourselves of what Christ has accomplished for us and in that we feed our faith with Christ, we are humbled by His gracious work for us, and we worship Him as a redeemed people.
All in all those who remember the lamb rightly are recognizable by their humble worship. We’ve been delivered from slavery to sin and idolatry so that we may freely praise the name of our God and pursue His glory, not our own. Those who remember the lamb are those who seek His glory above all as a humble servant.
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Moses has one more set of instructions for Israel. We’ve seen thus far 2 distinctions amongst peoples for how they remember the lamb. Anyone who disregards the feast of unleavened bread, disregarding the lamb are to be cut off. Furthermore, we recognize how Israel was set apart from Egypt by the sacrificial lamb. Moses will address a third category. What about those who remember the lamb, but aren’t of the people of Israel?
Remember, the meal which welcomes the stranger. (vs. 42-50)
Remember, the meal which welcomes the stranger. (vs. 42-50)
At first this meal is established as very exclusive.
42 It is a night to be observed for the Lord for having brought them out from the land of Egypt; this night is for the Lord, to be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations. 43 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: no foreigner is to eat of it;
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The Passover is for Israel, and no foreigner is to eat of it. Does that settle it? Not quite.
One singular provision is provided to those who are not of the covenant people of God. They are to be circumcised.
44 but every man’s slave purchased with money, after you have circumcised him, then he may eat of it.
48 “But if a stranger sojourns with you, and celebrates the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near to celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it.
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We catch just a glimpse of God’s grand plan even as Israel is leaving Egypt, but it’s not the first time we’ve seen God speak of the nations and their relation to Israel. What was God’s intention when he spoke to Abraham? .. God intended that Israel would be a blessing to the nations! It’s a key facet of the covenant promises God gave to Abraham. Covenant promises that were to be kept through an outward sign, the sign of circumcision.
God has a unique and special relationship with Israel, there’s no doubt about that, but in the end God is looking for covenant keepers who will remember the lamb who was slain. If you fail to keep the covenant, even Israelites will be cut off. If Israelites forsake the Passover lamb then they too will be cut off. The opposite is also true however and it’s good news for the world. God is glad to welcome outsiders and strangers into His fold who will keep His covenant and remember the lamb.
Throughout the Old Testament there are those who are not sons and daughters of Abraham, they are foreigners and yet welcomed into the family of God because they believed in the words of the covenant.
All of this finds it culmination in Christ and the church.
When Christ comes into the world he addresses the leavening of the Pharisees. These consider themselves apart of the people of God, and yet they disregard the lamb that is before them.
When Christ dies, the lamb finally accomplishes the deliverance of God’s people from slavery. This deliverance will be remembered by the church for all eternity.
When Christ ascends he sends us His Holy Spirit that the nations would be welcomed in at Pentecost. When Peter proclaims the death and resurrection of the lamb, the nations are welcomed in as covenant keepers who will go on to proclaim the good news of Christ to the nations.
Even as Israel leaves Egypt a nation set apart from the world by the sovereignty of God, they will always welcome in those who regard God’s covenant and the lamb which He provided. The same is true today. We can say with certainty, we are not like the world! We’ve been made holy by the blood of Christ, we’ve been delivered from the slavery of sin, and yet we always walk with a posture of hospitality welcoming in all those who once were far off yet now look to Christ the lamb in faith. And if they don’t yet believe we faithfully declare the good news that they would believe and their hearts would be circumcised.
As Paul writes to the church in Rome.
28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.
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We come again to the character of the people of God, a people recognizable by the heart which was given them through the lamb which was slain. That is how we are set apart! That is how we are welcomed in as strangers and foreigners who once were far off.
Moses concludes:
51 And on that same day the Lord brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.
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The blood of the lamb has accomplished its intended task. God has delivered His people!
In conclusion,
By the lamb of Christ we are made holy. Declared righteous before God and sanctified by the Spirit such that we can walk in holiness. Let’s remember the lamb in reverent memorial, but let us do so as a holy people.
By the lamb of Christ we are saved and made humble. In the humility of Christ we serve God and one another. Let us remember the lamb who came in such humility that we may honor him in humble worship and service.
By the lamb of Christ we welcome in the sinner and the outcast because by the new covenant there is forgiveness of sins. Let us remember the Lamb who welcomed the tax collector and sinners, that we may be faithful witnesses of His sacrifice.
Let’s pray.
