The Passover Cross, Part 2
Notes
Transcript
The Passover and the Cross (Part 2)
Cross
Show Video – He is Risen
Start Reading John immediately after the video…
John 11
55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.
56 They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, "What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?"
57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.
12:1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
Joh 12:12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
Joh 12:13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!"
Joh 12:14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
Joh 12:15 "Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!"
Joh 12:16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.
We began here last week and we come back full circle this week.
We began here because we needed to understand that the events of our Savior’s crucifixion took place at the time of the Jewish Passover Feast. In order to understand the significance of this, it was important to go back to the very first Passover and understand what was going on.
The Jews Passover Feast was at hand, the Passover feast the celebrated their exodus from Egypt; God’s act of deliverance and salvation from the oppression they were suffering.
This morning, I am going to parallel the Passover events of Exodus with the crucifixion of our Lord. They did not understand it then, but we understand now looking back that the Passover pointed toward Christ and serves as powerful picture of what He has done for us.
So, throughout this morning, I am going to flash back to last week’s outline and then show the NT parallel.
Let’s begin with the context.
Context
· (Last week, Last of 10 plagues – Passover)
o This was the last and final plague that would ultimately lead to their deliverance from oppression and slavery.
o It was the institution of a Passover Feast, a annual remembrance and teaching tool to be kept for all generations – its purpose to remind and teach.
o This final plague would take the life of every first born, man or animal, unless the blood of an innocent lamb was spread on the doorpost and lintel of the homes. In addition to this, they were to eat the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, dressed and ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
o It was commanded to be remembered during the first month of a new religious year that God established for their feasts and religious ordinances to be remembered by.
· Christ at Jerusalem & crucified at Passover (John 11:55-12:11)
o As we come to the NT, we find that our Lord and Savior’s entry into Jerusalem, where He was hailed as King, and where a week later would subsequentially die on the cross for our sins, took place during the time of the Passover feast.
o 6 days before the Passover feast, Jesus goes to visit Lazarus (who he raised from the dead), Mary and Martha in Bethany.
o The following day He enters Jerusalem. He has a busy week purging the temple, preaching, teaching, and preparing for the moment of His death.
o Then, chapter 13 reveals, during the Passover feast, Jesus was with his disciples in the upper room. They ate the Passover feast together, Christ taught and instructed them one final time.
o From there, Christ would leave, go the garden where He would be arrested, placed on trial, and led to His death.
o This timeline, this progression is to show evidence that all of these events we celebrate at Easter time, took place during the time of the annual Passover Feast that the Jews were to celebrate.
o In fact, last supper is in fact, Passover meal. Matthew, Mark, Luke clearly reveal this, John’s account is little more confusion and has caused some speculation but evidence STRONGLY supports this as being the Passover Dinner.
o It is no mere coincidence that this was the time chosen for His sacrifice.
o Take the following statements from the book of John…
o Joh_2:4 — “Mine hour is not yet come.”
o Joh_7:30 — “His hour was not yet come.”
o Joh_8:20 — “His hour was not yet come.”
o Joh_12:23 — “The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified.”
o Joh_13:1 — “Jesus knew that His hour was come.”
o Joh_17:1 — “Father, the hour is come.”
o Christ knew. The time for this was set. It had been deliberately determined and ordained that He would die at the Passover Feast demonstrated HE IS THE PASSOVER LAMB, THE TRUE LAMB WHOSE BLOOD BRINGS ETERNAL AND COMPLETE SALVATION.
o The lambs that were slaughtered in the OT were simply meant to be a picture of THE PERFECT lamb that would come, JESUS, to die for our sins. It is HIS BLOOD that the lambs blood represented as an adequate covering for our sins.
o But, I get ahead of myself. All of this will be made continually clear as we continue to draw the comparison.
· (Last Week) – Nation of Israel are slaves in Egypt (a foreign land)
o As we look to the NT, we find that we were also slaves in a foreign land.
o Turn with me to Romans 6.
· We are slaves to sin (Romans 6) in a foreign land (1 Peter 2:11)
o Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
o Rom 6:2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
o Rom 6:3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
o Rom 6:4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
o Rom 6:5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
o Rom 6:6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
o Rom 6:7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.
o Rom 6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
o When we make ourselves obedience to a certain way of thinking, a certain lifestyle, behavior, or passions, we effectively make ourselves slaves to it.
o Therefore, before God changed us and saved us and made us new, giving us a new nature through repentance and faith, we were slaves to sin. We were enslaved and in bondage to sin. It held us in its control and power and we were dead to God, dead to righteousness, and dead in our sin.
o Like Israel we were enslaved. We held captive.
o Unlike Israel, we were not enslaved a political entity, but a spiritual one.
o Like Israel though, the land in which we walk is not our own, is not our home.
o 1Pe 2:11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
o Now, apart from God, we have no claim to heaven and this earth is the only home we have or will ever know. So, apart from our salvation, we cannot claim to be aliens and strangers to this planet.
o But we must also remember that it was not always this way. In the beginning, Adam and Eve were created for fellowship with God and we were meant or a grander home than this lowly planet. God created man for Himself, not because He lacked anything or had a need He could not fulfill, but simply because it pleased Him to do so.
o It was sin that ruined the natural right and citizenship of heaven and a grander home. It was sin that caused us to fall from that place.
o Once we turn to God in repentance and faith, we now become citizens of heaven, no longer enslaved to sin but now strangers and aliens in a land that is not our own.
o Sin enslaves and ensnares. It kills and oppresses and apart from Christ, that is our condition, without hope.
· (Last week) – Israel had no power or ability to free themselves
· We have no power to free ourselves (Romans 3)
o Romans 3, if you flip back a few chapters, reveals our helplessness to do anything about our condition or state.
o Rom 3:10 as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;
o Rom 3:11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.
o Rom 3:12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."
o Rom 3:13 "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips."
o Rom 3:14 "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."
o Rom 3:15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood;
o Rom 3:16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
o Rom 3:17 and the way of peace they have not known."
o Rom 3:18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
o Rom 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
o Rom 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
o Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
o Rom 3:22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
o Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
o Rom 3:24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
o Rom 3:25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
o The simple fact that his passage points out is that NONE ARE GOOD, NONE SEEK GOD, NONE UNDERSTAND GOD, NONE DESIRE GOD, but are full through and through with sin and evil.
o Now, don’t get to worried and worked up. If this I our state, one has to question how ANY get saved. John 6:44 gives us that answer.
o Joh 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
o God has to do the work. We are powerless and helpless. NO HUMAN will be justified by the works of the law. I don’t care how good a person you are, how obedient you are to authority or the law, it will never impress God or cause Him to turn away his wrath and anger because of your sin. It is not enough.
o Salvation, deliverance is an act of GOD’s GRACE received through faith in order to spotlight and highlight GOD’s RIGHTEOUESNESS, not our own.
o Like Israel, we are powerless to do anything about our sinful and fallen condition. Like Israel, we are enslaved and oppressed in a foreign land, a land we were not created for, and are powerless to change it.
o That is where the Passover lamb enters.
Passover Lamb - Christ
· ( Last Week) – Innocent, spotless, without blemish
o Last week we saw that the lamb was to be an actual animal, taken from either the goats or sheep.
o It had to be spotless, without blemish or defeat, pure white. The best of the flock, the best of what they had.
o This was to represent the demand God placed on them for righteousness and sinlessness. It was to represent His hatred of sin and His absolute demand for holiness in order for salvation to occur.
o As we look to the NT parallel in Christ, we need turn to 2 Corinthians
· Innocent, spotless, without blemish (2 Corinthians 5:21)
o 2Co 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
o Christ, WHO KNEW NO SIN. He was spotless, blameless, sinless, the perfect lamb to be slaughtered for salvation and deliverance.
o Christ never sinned! Christ never committed any wrong. He never had any blemish or fault within Him.
o This, scripture teaches, was to be the final sacrifice for sins. After this, no more sacrifices were required because He was the perfect one, the ultimate sacrifice. He was the true sacrifice that all those OT lambs pointed to. He was the once and for all satisfactory sacrifice for sins.
· Heb 10:12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
· Heb 10:13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
· Heb 10:14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
o FOR ALL TIME A SINGLE SACRIFICE….BY A SINGLE OFFERING
o Christ did not need to do it again because it was sufficient.
o No other lambs or animals need to be sacrificed because CHRIST’s ONE SACRIFICE was sufficient for all time.
o His death for our sins was all that we needed.
o You know, I believe this to be the worst and most terrible part of the crucifixion for Christ. He who knew NO SIN became sin for us.
o On that cross, and innocent, blameless, perfect Savior, fully God, fully man, felt the weight of the guilt and pain and filthiness of sin. He felt the burden of not just my sin, but the sin of all who He died to save. Imagine all the people from the beginning of time to the end of time who would ever repent and believe, finding grace and salvation at the hand of God and imagine the mountain of guilt, of sin, of depravity that would now be sitting on our savior’s body as it hung on that tree.
o We tend to focus on the physical pain He endured but we miss the spiritual, emotional, and psychological pain and grief our Savior bore.
o An innocent and sinless man having to bear the weight of sin and God’s wrath for that sin, sin which HE NEVER ONCE COMMITTED AND HAD NEVER EXPERIENCED the pain, guilt, and brokenness of.
o This is a kind of pain and grief you and I cannot understand. But it is the kind of pain and grief a perfect and spotless lamb had to bear in our place in order for salvation to occur.
o Last week we also saw that this sacrifice was made personal.
· (Last Week) – Personal
o The lamb was to be taken into the home on the 10th day and kept until twilight on the 14th day. Four days, this lamb was to be kept with the family before being slaughtered, blood spread on the doorpost, cook and consumed.
o We said that making the sacrifice personal bright to light the true and real consequences of sin and the cost it takes to forgive and redeem it. It made the cost seem real and should have encouraged an attitude that cherished the salvation obtain from the cost.
o As we look to the NOT, a familiar passage for most of us is John 3:16
· Personal, God’s own son (John 3:16)
· Joh 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
o God sent His only son, fully God to earth because it was the only way. God demanded a perfect sacrifice but none could be found on earth. The only option was a perfect God taking on the form of perfect man, to die an innocent death in order to bear the sins of the world.
o This was God’s only Son. Do you think it was personal enough for God?
o Taking a lamb into your home for four days cannot even begin to touch this but if it accomplished even a minute amount of helping the family to understand the cost, to feel the cost, and to cherish the subsequent salvation, than it was worth it.
o And it stood as a picture of the personal cost God would spend to forgive and redeem us. And if that does not get us to love God, to desire God, to honor God, to worship God, the we truly are cold hearted, hard hearted sinners who have not had the grace of God and the light of God shone into our lives.
o God killed His only Son for you. God killed His only Son for me.
o That is personal.
o That matters.
o That makes the gift of salvation, priceless, beyond worth and value.
o That makes the gift worth cherishing and refusing to allow it to be taken for granted and neglected.
o That makes a relationship to God WORTH pursing, fighting for, defending, living and dying for.
o All made possible because of the blood of a Passover lamb.
o Let’s look at the blood
Blood of the Lamb – Christ
· (Last Week) – Put on doorposts
o Last week we saw that the blood was to be drained from the lamb and (using a hyssop) branch, smeared on the doorposts and lintel of the house.
o The picture being they were covered by the blood of an innocent sacrifice having by faith obeyed and trusted God, salvation would come to their home and they would be spared the final plague of the death of the firstborn.
o The picture is that they were covered in the blood of the lamb. An innocent, spotless, without blemish, perfect lamb died in order to secure their salvation. It was a substitute which died in their place.
· Christ’s blood covers and cleanses us
o As we look to the NT, we see Christ compared to the Passover lamb, spotless and blameless
o 1Pe 1:14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
o 1Pe 1:15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
o 1Pe 1:16 since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
o 1Pe 1:17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
o 1Pe 1:18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,
o 1Pe 1:19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
o We were redeemed, ransomed, delivered, saved BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST.
o See also Hebrews 9:11-14
o Heb 9:11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)
o Heb 9:12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
o Heb 9:13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,
o Heb 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
o In the OT, after God established the law and sacrificial system, they would sprinkle the blood the sacrifice on the altar, on the priest, and on the person offering the sacrifice. This sprinkling of the blood is the same idea of smearing it on the doorframes of the houses. It is the idea and the picture that the blood COVERS them and it is that blood, shed by an innocent, spotless sacrifice as a substitute for you, being done in faith and repentance results in the salvation and forgiveness.
o Christ’s blood is shown to be covering and cleansing those who come in faith to God. As we repent and believe, Christ’s blood is applied to us and when God looks at us from Heaven, He sees His Son’s blood.
o We are covered and cleansed by Christ’s blood.
o We are delivered and saved BECAUSE of Christ’s blood. In the same way the Israelites were saved by the perfect lamb’s blood, so we are saved by the PERFECT LAMB’S blood.
o The OT lambs were a picture of the NT Lamb of God, Christ who shed His blood for the remission of sins.
· (Last Week) - Eaten entirely with unleavened bread and bitter herbs
o We saw that these bitter herbs were to be a reminder to them of the bitterness of experience as they were in slavery to Egypt. By remembering the bitterness of their experience, the joy of their deliverance becomes even more paramount.
o As we look at the NT parallel, we see Paul admonishing the believers in Ephesus to likewise.
· Remember Our Past (Ephesians 2)
o Eph 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
o Eph 2:2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
o Eph 2:3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
o Eph 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
o Eph 2:5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
o Eph 2:6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
o Eph 2:7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
o Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
o Eph 2:9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
o Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
o Eph 2:11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—
o Eph 2:12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
o Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
o Eph 2:14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
o Eph 2:15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
o Eph 2:16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
o Eph 2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.
o Eph 2:18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
o Eph 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
o Eph 2:20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
o Eph 2:21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
o Eph 2:22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
o We are to REMEMBER where we came from, remember our past, not so that guilt and pain may linger and remain but so that the joy of our salvation, the joy of reconciled relationship to God IS NOT taken for granted, does not wear off, and is far more valued, cherished, and protected because we remember what we were and what we are now because of the blood of Christ.
o When we forget where we came from, we forget God.
o When we forget where we came from, we become cynical, critical, discontent, idolatrous, judgmental, and we forget God and the richness of His love and grace to bring us back to enjoyment and love of Him.
o We are to remember. That is point of the bitter herbs. To remind them of where they came from so that never forget the joy of their deliverance and where they are now.
o We should do the same. Never forget where we have come from so that we never lose the joy of what we have become.
· Last Week) - Eat with Sandals on and staff in hand
o We also saw last week that they were to each, dressed, packed, and ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
o This action was a step of faith and expectancy for God to do what He said he would. To obey this is to act in faith believing that what He promised to come to pass is about to come to pass.
o As we look at the NT, we see God desires that we also be ready.
· Be Ready (Luke 12:35-40
o Luk 12:35 "Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning,
o Luk 12:36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.
o Luk 12:37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.
o Luk 12:38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants!
o Luk 12:39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into.
o Luk 12:40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."
o In this passage, Jesus is warning those to whom he is speaking to be ready because God could come at any moment!
o Like Israel, dressed and waiting for the moment of deliverance, so we are to be dressed and waiting because our savior and master could return at any moment to take us home to heaven and how would we want him to find us waiting?
o Would we want to be found being lazy, slothful, and self indulgent?
o Or would we want to be found carrying out the work of ministry, learning to love God, learn to love others, faithfully serving with joy, and preaching the gospel in an effort to bring as many to glory with us when we go as possible?
o We are told to be ready. We are told to be waiting. Do we live in a faithful expectancy that our Lord and Savior could return at any time?
o Do we live, love, serve, and preach like a people who are expecting deliverance from this world at any moment and we want to be as faithful and obedience as possible until that moment arrives?
o Like Israel, while we are covered in the blood, mindful of the past, we are to expectant of the future and that expectancy should change how we live now.
o Last week, we looked at the significance of the unleavened bread and declared it was a picture of purification. Let’s look at that now.
Purification – Repentance
· (Last week) – Removal of Leaven
o In scripture, leaven is often used to picture sin. Yeast which ferments the sugars and causes the dough to rise, is a picture of the permeating power and expanding influence of sin.
o Cleaning their homes and diets of leaven the week of and during the Passover feasts was intended to serve as a physical picture of that spiritual cleansing that should be happening. It was a picture of the need to cleanse their hearts and minds of all that is contrary to God and opposed to Him, repenting of them and putting them aside.
· Repentance of Sin (Rm 6:12-14; 1 Pt 1:13-16; 2:11-12; Eph 4:20-32)
o This mantra is repeated loud and clear in the NT. Let me point out a few examples.
o
o Rom 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.
o Rom 6:13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
o Rom 6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
o
o 1Pe 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
o 1Pe 1:14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
o 1Pe 1:15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
o 1Pe 1:16 since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
o
o 1Pe 2:11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
o 1Pe 2:12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
o
o Eph 4:20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!—
o Eph 4:21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,
o Eph 4:22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
o Eph 4:23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
o Eph 4:24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
o Eph 4:25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
o Eph 4:26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
o Eph 4:27 and give no opportunity to the devil.
o Eph 4:28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
o Eph 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
o Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
o Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
o Eph 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
o
o Along with these, over and over again, the NT screams, REPENT.
o
o Mat_3:2 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
o Mat_4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
o Mat_11:20 Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.
o Mar_1:15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."
o Mar_6:12 So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent.
o Luk_13:3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
o Luk_13:5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."
o Act_2:38 And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
o Act_3:19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,
o Act_8:22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.
o Act_26:20 but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.
o Rev_2:5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
o Rev_2:16 Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.
o Rev_2:21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.
o Rev_2:22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works,
o Rev_3:3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.
o Rev_3:19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
o Rev_9:20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,
o Rev_9:21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
o Rev_16:9 They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.
o Rev_16:11 and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.
o Salvation is about repentance from sin so that we can enjoy a restored relationship to God. If you are not enjoying an intimate, passionate love affair with the god of the universe this morning, it may be because sin still exists in your life that is not repented of and you cannot enjoy God while this sin remains.
o Salvation, deliverance, freedom, forgiveness, delight in God can ONLY happen when there is true brokenness and remorse over our sin against almighty God and with that sorrow comes repentance and a heart and life that rejects sin and evil and seeks obedience and righteousness and holiness.
o Repentance is a complete 180 degree turn around. You were living one way, was shown it was wrong, agreed it was wrong, experienced sorrow and brokenness it was wrong, and seek forgiveness from the hand of God, trusting Him to pay the debt for your sin through Jesus shed blood on the cross, and commit to yielding control of your life to God in full obedience and devotion.
o And it is not begrudging or laborious. It is joyful, delightful, and freeing!
o God demands repentance, true repentance from our sins. When we in faith believe, and repent, He delivers; he saves.
o God expects us to repent of our sin and purify our hearts before Him.
o Furthermore, He expects obedience.
· (Last week) – Obedience
o We saw last week that they were expected to purify their homes by cleaning out the leaven and eating nothing with leaven in it for a 7 days prior to the feast.
o Then we saw their act of obedience. They obeyed. They did all that God commanded and expected
o God demands our obedience. He is God. He both deserves it and has the right to ask it.
o Let’s look at the NT
· Obedience (John 3:36; 1 John 5:1-3)
o Joh 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
o This is not saying that obedience saves us. We are saved by grace through faith as Eph 2 makes clear. However, obedience is the evidence of faith.
o When we obey God, we give evidence to our genuine faith and repentance and God is pleased. It is the evidence that we have been forgiven and God’s wrath against our sin has been removed because of Jesus bearing it on the cross in our place.
o Look at 1 John 5:1
o 1Jn 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
o 1Jn 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
o 1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
o Obedience is the evidence of love for God. Love for God means we hate sin, have repented of it, and are committed to loving the things He loves.
o It pleases God when we obey Him.
o A refusal to obey God shows the absence of true repentance and faith and the presence of a controlling sin nature that does not seek God.
o God expects obedience and when we love God, have repented of our sins, we give it freely, willingly, and joyfully.
o Paul and Silas in Acts 5 are being told they can no longer preach the gospel and must cease immediately. Their response? We must obey God rather than men.
o Obedience to ALL God’s commands is what is expected from us who believe. And it is not burdensome.
o We also saw last week that this was not a one time feast but was commanded for all generations.
Command for Future Generations
· (Last Week) – Passover Feast
o They were commanded to annually remember this feast as way to remember their slavery and deliverance and as a means to teach their children.
o We are given in the NT an ordinance that is passed down for the very same reason; to remember where we were, what Christ accomplished for us, and as a means to teach our children.
· Lord’s supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)
o 1Co 11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,
o 1Co 11:24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
o 1Co 11:25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."
o 1Co 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
o The night of Jesus arrest, as they celebrated the Passover feast, Christ, by example, instituted what we now call the Lords Supper or Communion. It consisted of bread, which represents the Lord body which was beaten and broken as the soldiers whipped and beat Christ into an unrecognizable condition, and the cup of juice which represents the blood He shed and spilled for our sins.
o Paul here, in his address to the Corinthian church, is clearly handing it down as an ordinance given by God to be upheld by the church in remembrance for what Christ has done.
o It is for this reason that we as a church regularly participate in communion. We do it once a month. This is not a command. We are not told to do it once a month, but as regularly and as often as we do it, to do it such manner.
o God knows we are forgetful people and are prone to forget, so He established an ordinance for the church to uphold and administer to keeps before us the reminder of all that God has done. This is key and vitally important and it is important that we remember this Lords Supper in the same way that Israel remembered the Passover feast.
o Unlike Israel, who kept the practice but forgot the heart, we must engage all of ourselves into this remembrance and be committed to searching our heart and mind, purifying it, so that when we partake, we are doing so in a manner worthy of God
o That was Paul’s command to the Corinthian church. Make sure your heart is repentant and engaged by faith in the act, or else God is not pleased.
o And finally, last week we saw the deliverance.
Deliverance (Luke 5:30-32; 19:8-10; Romans 10:9-10)
· (Last Week) Physical and National Deliverance; Oppression
o God came and delivered Israel, His chosen people, out of political and physical slavery and oppression.
o Passover associated with a savior who delivers them from foreign and physical oppression (The Jews in the NT were looking for a leader to deliver them from Roman foreign and physical oppression – Thus the palm branches. They were hailing him as king)
o Joh 12:12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
o Joh 12:13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!"
o Joh 12:14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
o Joh 12:15 "Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!"
o Joh 12:16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.
o Problem was, God was not bringing that kind of salvation and deliverance again. He was bringing a spiritual deliverance.
· Spiritual from slavery to sin and death (Luke 5:30-32; 19:8-10)
o Christ came to provide spiritual deliverance, not foreign
o Luk 5:30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"
o Luk 5:31 And Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
o Luk 5:32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."
o
o Luk 19:8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold."
o Luk 19:9 And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.
o Luk 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."
o
o Christ came bringing a spiritual deliverance but the Jews were looking for a political and physical one. Thus, they missed Him.
o But, here is the promise and truth for today, Christ, the Passover Lamb came as a sinless, perfect sacrifice to die our death on the cross, to shed His blood that when we respond in faith and repentance, his blood and righteousness is applied to us and we are forgiven, restored to right relationship to God and given a joy and peace so rich and full we will be satisfied forever more.
o Rom 10:9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
o Rom 10:10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
o God will has delivered us who have repented and responded in faith and will repent any who respond in repentance and faith.
o He sent His OWN son to be the Passover Lamb whose blood covers those of us who repent and believe.
o That is Easter.
o That is the Passover Cross; the Passover lamb.
What about you this morning? Are you trusting in the Passover lamb, Jesus Christ, to save you from Your sin. Not the penalty and consequences of sin, but from sin.
There is a huge difference. One is wanting to be saved from all the heartache and pain and punishment our sin brings while not being sorrow for the act of sin and the other is true sorrow over the act of sin and what it has done to God and seeks God’s grace for forgiveness and seeks to restore fellowship to God.
We were created for relationship to God. Sin destroyed that. The cross restores it for those who repent and trust.
Don’t miss the powerful picture of redemption and forgiveness in the Passover. And even more so, don’t miss the perfect Passover lamb in Christ.
It is because of his humble sacrifice, that you and I can have peace and intimacy with God.
That is something to celebrate this Easter.
But if you don’t have that, if you are still slave in sin, don’t let another day pass before seeking God’s grace and forgiveness from your sins and let Him set you free and transform you into a new creation that finds joy in God.
Invitation to unsaved
Invitation to reaffirm commitment to God.