And Both Did This For Me?

Alright, so with that, we're going to begin the sermon for today because we had the camp video, a lot of things going on, so we're trying to abbreviate as much other hymns. We'll be singing a final hymn.

Brethren, it's only eight days for the Passover to take place, and so it's time to set the tone, attitude, and the mood for the Passover. Just as it tells us in Matthew 24, 45, I'll read it to you. It says, Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? And so we need to receive food in due season, and this is the time to prepare for the Passover. So why is the Passover so important for all of us?

Satan hates this feast more than any other because it reminds him of being defeated and disqualified by Jesus Christ. He couldn't make Christ sin. He couldn't make Christ avoid being the sacrifice for our sins, as it already has been brought out in the first message. So what could Satan do? Well, the next or the other thing he could make up is came up with Easter Sunday, which is not the biblical time to carry out the New Testament Passover. And so Easter Sunday is a cheap substitute.

It's not on the right time. It's not even on any type of Passover day. It's dealing with the resurrection, which Christ never said to celebrate that. He said to celebrate the Passover every year. And Satan also has done his best to provide false saviors in other religions. By the way, if you've never read the article by Dr. C. Paul Meredith, it's called Satan's Great Deception. It's online if you'd like to read it. It gives you a background about how Satan sowed in history all of these false saviors to distract people from the true Savior.

Remember, he is the liar that started at the very beginning, and he is the father of lies. So we have to be careful with that. So we're eight days away from that Sunday evening, and participating is so vital for all baptized members. That's why it's important to set the mood and the attitude now. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 11 verse 23. 1 Corinthians 11. And of course, for us, it's a sobering time. It's a very encouraging time.

Oh, we have been so blessed to know these truths. In 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 23, Paul is giving the instructions about keeping the New Testament Passover. He didn't know anything about Easter Sunday. Neither did the Apostles. And basically, for the first three centuries, the Passover of the New Testament was kept with just a couple of exceptions in Rome and Alexandria.

They were the minority. It says in 1 Corinthians 11, 23, it says, for I received from the Lord. Paul is talking here. This is an important point first. See, Paul didn't hear this from some other Apostle or somebody in the church. No, he received this as a revelation from Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ was training him and he was constantly in contact. And he went away after eventually being converted for over three years. Went to an area, he said Arabia. And he talks about being trained. So he says, for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you.

That the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given things, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And in the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, which is every year on the 14th of Nisan, that's the date God set forever. He says, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. That's what you're reminded of it. Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, in other words, just taking it as a routine, not preparing spiritually, going before God as also the first message talked about that.

We need to come before him with that luggage as then and as lowest weight possible. Remove all the paraphernalia we don't need. He says, we'll be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. This isn't some mechanical type of ritual. This is something that we have to prepare our hearts for before God. He says, for he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body, not appreciating fully what God has done.

And so the message today is simply titled, and both did this for me. God the Father and Jesus Christ were willing to do all of this for me and for you. That's exactly what they did, just as it was brought out in a camp video that they're all kinds of books and they talk about, well, so much suffering has gone on the world and what about a good God? Well, we know God has given us free will because he doesn't want us to be automatons or robots that are programmed on our own never to sin.

So he's given us a choice and people make wrong choices and kill other people and make wars and torture and do all of that because they have free will. But God paid the most expensive and precious sacrifice and price you could imagine. And the Passover is all about what God the Father and Jesus Christ did for us instead of people saying, well, what has God done for us?

And so it's important to realize we are so privileged. We are not worthy of taking that Passover. But through God's mercy, as it was mentioned there in 1 John chapter 1, 8 through 10, it talks about, he who says he hasn't sinned is making God a liar because God says we are sinners. We are not going to change that human nature until Christ comes back. And so let's go back and study the history briefly and the preparation for this Passover.

And there are a lot of new details that I'm privileged to give to you about this subject. And this is just the first part. And both did this for me. And so we're gonna just study first of all the background of the Passover. So when does the Passover actually begin in the Bible? The idea of God having to sacrifice his Son. It goes way back, way beyond the time of Egypt or going back to the time of Eden.

It goes back to the time when there was no creation. It was God the Father and Jesus Christ who God who became the Father and the Word who became Jesus Christ just to make it more clear. And to me it all begins with God's attitude. Even before the events that were planned, it's God's attitude what makes the Passover possible. In 1 John chapter 4, 1 John chapter 4, and verse 8, it describes God's very nature, the way he is.

And it says, verse 8, he who does not love does not know God, for God is love. The word there agape in the Greek means sacrificial love. Sacrificial love that is expressed toward others. And that's what God the Father and Jesus Christ are. It's not about them in an egocentric way, it's about others. God is an outgoing love toward others. That's his attitude. And notice in verse 9, it's even more emphasized in this, the love of God was manifested toward us.

That God has sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. And this is love, not that we love God, not that we started the relationship, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation or sacrifice for our sins. God paid far more price than any human being has ever had to do. So God didn't just talk the talk, he walked the walk.

And if we turn now to John chapter 1 verse 1, we actually go back in time before things were created, including angels, the universe. This goes back to the time where God the Father and the Word, their presence is where that beginning starts. It says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. So everything, angels, the universe, everything that was created was after God and the Word existed. In verse 14, it goes on to say, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John got to see God in the flesh. And so Christ came down, and he was ready to make the ultimate sacrifice. He who had immortality, eternal life forever, he was willing to give up that eternity that he had. The most precious thing for us. And then it goes on, verse 18, it says, No one has seen God, talked about God the Father at any time, the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, talking about this loving relationship with the Father.

He has declared him. And so again, you see God is love. They have love for each other, that concern one for the other. And so they were willing to conceive of the Passover as something that would happen in the future. And it shows us in 1 Peter, chapter 1. Again, when was all of this prepared? 1 John chapter 1 verse 17.

I meant, sorry, 1 Peter 1 verse 17. It says, And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay. Other translations have pilgrimage, because we are in a pilgrimage. This is a holy trip that we are on here in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers. Doesn't matter what kind of religion you receive, or whether you had a religion. That's all gone in the past. It's the now that's important. What are we gonna do with our lives now?

Are we gonna continue to live that aimless conduct? He says, We were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. That word foreordained we don't use very often, but it just means this was determined ahead of time. That's what the the Greek term progenosco, from where we get prognosis, means something that is projected in the future that has been determined.

The word study dictionary says, He is said to be foreknown because God had planned and determined in His eternal counsel to provide His Son as a sacrifice for His people. So this was all planned ahead.

That's what the Passover is all about. It's about this first step in God's plan of salvation.

The people ignore. Satan wants to distract. And thankfully, God opened our eyes to the truth.

Continuing in Revelation 13, here's the second place where it tells us that all of this was planned before the beginning of time.

Revelation 13, verse 7 and 8, it says, And it was granted to Him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. This is talking about that beast and false prophet in the future. He says, An authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. That's going to happen one day.

He says, And all who dwell on the earth will worship him. So there's going to be a deceitful spirit, he says, whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb.

So if your name is written in the book of life of the Lamb, if you're baptized, received the laying on of hands by a minister who teaches to keep the commandments of God and has the faith of Jesus Christ, not somebody that's out there pretending or counterfeiting God's truths because God doesn't work with those men.

I did have once one lady back about 40 years ago as a young minister visiting in Mexico doing a baptizing tour. I'll just mention it because she's one lady that she was about 65 at that time and she wanted to visit. And we sat down with her and we started talking about what are you doing with your life? And she says, Well, I was baptized in this other church and I was baptized by immersion and hands were laid on me. And then I started realizing I was in the wrong church and I started keeping the Sabbath. And then I started keeping the feast days.

And then I quit eating unclean foods. And I knew that I had to find the church. And this is the church that God has led me. So he can work in different ways. But the thing is, if God is calling, you will eventually come across the Church of God. Not just us, because there are other groups, the Churches of God, that teach basically the same things, but you have to be in contact with them. So I just wanted to mention that. It says here, continuing in verse chapter 13, in verse 8, all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. So Christ was already predetermined to come and die for our sins. That's the love that God the Father and Jesus Christ has for us. That's why I ask. And both did this for me? I'm not worth it. None of us are.

And yes, he did. And do we appreciate it? And so, as we get now to the time of creation, we go to Genesis chapter 1.

So from the Word being with God the Father, planning all of this ahead of time, now we have the creation event. And in verse 14 of Genesis 1, it says, Then God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens, to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years.

And unfortunately, the term here that it talks about for seasons is the term mo'adim.

I want to read here what the Hebrew dictionaries talk about.

It says here that mo'adim is dealing with the feast days.

In God's Word version, it says, Then God said, Let there be lights in the sky, to separate the day from the night. They will be signs, Hebrew, oft, which means beacons. If you've seen a beacon, it's kind of like a lighthouse. This is something that will illuminate.

It'll show where it should be kept. They're lights that just like signal lights.

These feasts are that way. There will be signs and, it says, will mark religious festivals, mo'adim, and days and years. So the first of God's feasts is the Passover, and it starts the process, the seven steps of God's plan of salvation. Without these, you can't understand fully the Bible, because these are key elements. They're kind of the same way you can decipher if you have a key, a code to decipher things. If you don't understand the feast days, I don't care how much you study the Bible, how many places you've gone to, you don't have the keys that God has put in the Bible. In Genesis 3.15, we go further. Adam and Eve have been created.

They're here on the earth, and sin triggers certain consequences. In Genesis 3, is where Adam and Eve sin, making that sacrifice necessary. And it says in Genesis 3.15, and I will put enmity between you, talk about the serpent that Satan was disguised as, and the woman, and between your seed, those that are going to follow Satan, and her seed, the woman who would be the church, God's chosen ones. And it says, he shall bruise your head, talking about Christ, and you shall bruise his heel.

Romans 16.20, you can jot it down. It says there that Christ will come and put down Satan when he comes back. But it's interesting, here's something I hadn't quite seen, and that was when Jesus Christ was crucified, that the typical artists, they put the pictures with him being hammered with nails on his hands and on his feet. But actually, if you're put, hammered a nail into you, and you're hanging, it would tear. It cannot hold your weight.

But if it's in your wrists, that's where it can hold a man's weight. And instead of the feet, if it is the heel that is the one that is hammered, then it will hold the weight.

So, as Dr. Bergeron, in his book, The Crucifixion of Jesus writes, archaeological evidence suggests it may actually been common practice to hammer a nail through the heel. In 1968, bones showing clear evidence of crucifixion were found. The right heel bone had a large iron nail still in place.

And the author refers to Genesis 3.15, that Satan would actually damage the Messiah, and he was crucified, and the heel had to do with where that nail could go.

Now we continue to the time of Abraham. Abraham 22. Talk about the Passover still.

Genesis 22, the meaning of the Passover. Starting in verse 10, God tells Abraham to go sacrifice his son Isaac. And Abraham dutifully goes, and so it says, verse 10, and Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. So he said, Here I am. And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad. God saw that Abraham was going to do it.

There was no doubt. Or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

And just as Abraham is the father of the faith, so God the father had to do that with his son.

But in this case, no one intervened. He actually allowed his son to go through a terrible death.

Not that quick death that would have been Isaac's lot, but six hours of torture.

After being beaten, he was there, crucified for six long hours, the worst type of torture invented by human beings. So I ask again, and both did this for me?

What do I have to complain about? What do I have to question God about?

Yes, they did. They were willing to do it for me and for you.

So then we continue in the Old Testament. Let's go to Psalm 22 real quickly.

We're finishing up here. Quick review. But in Psalm 22, this is one of the Psalms that described what Jesus went through in that crucifixion about a thousand years before it actually happened to Christ. In Psalm 22, in verse 1, this is what Christ cried out. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me?

And from the words of my groaning? So the price that Christ had to pay, carrying mankind's sins on him and feeling for that time this moment where God could not intervene.

Who was suffering more? God the Father or Jesus Christ? That's a difficult one because if anybody's lost a child, you know how terrible that is. And God could have just intervened. This is too much. Mankind's not worth it. Let's blot them all out and start again.

He could have done that, but he didn't. He watched his son dying this way for six long hours. Christ goes on to say, Oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not hear, and in the night season, and I'm not silent, but you are holy. Verse 6, But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men, and despised by the people. All those who see me ridicule me.

So this is already a thousand years before the time because we're talking about David lived around a thousand BC. And then of course Psalm 53, which will cover God willing during the Passover itself, which describes everything that Christ went through.

And I want to finish going to Ezekiel 24. Before we finish the Old Testament review, Ezekiel 44 verse 24, it actually describes not a thousand years later, but it's talking about the time when Christ returns to the earth, and then Christ establishes the Passover for all of mankind. He hasn't forgotten it. It's not going to be Easter Sunday. It's not going to be any of these crazy pagan mixture of festivals. Ezekiel 44 verse 24.

It says, talking about the priests in controversy, they shall stand as judges, talking about those that are going to be part of that first resurrection, and judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed meetings, talking about Moedim, all my feasts, and they shall hallow my Sabbaths.

That's what's going to be established by Jesus Christ. And then going on to chapter 45 verse 21, it says, in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, that's why we keep the biblical calendar. We didn't go along with Rome and started with Caesar's calendar for these things.

We continue keeping God's time as he reveals it in the Bible. He says, in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the Passover. So that's when Christ comes back, establishes that New Jerusalem with a temple. This is what he's telling people to do. And he says, a feast of seven days, unleavened bread shall be eaten.

Actually, in the Hebrew, it's divided into two sections by the accent that they use.

And the Revised Standard Version has it where it says, in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall celebrate the feast of the Passover. Then it says, and for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten, which are the seven days of unleavened bread. So here we see, again, God establishing his feasts, his days. And the next time, even more important details are going to be covered now in the New Testament about the Passover. And that'll be the day before we celebrate the Passover. And so again, I ask, and both did this for me. Yes, they certainly did.