Christ's Passover Sacrifice

Brethren, as you're aware, I have been preparing this congregation in Chicago for the Passover tomorrow evening. I've given two sermons in this regard to this point. I gave one regarding John chapter 13, the foot-washing aspect of the Passover. In that sermon, the title, the theme for that sermon was, The Passover Reminds Us That We've Been Called to a Life of Humble Service. And then the last time I was with you, we talked about the bread. In that sermon, the theme for that was, Passover is a Time to Reflect on the Dedication of Jesus Christ. In that sermon, I went through the life of Jesus Christ, hitting high points along the way, showing His tremendous focus on doing the work of God, being the bread, setting us an example, showing us His dedication. Nothing got in His way from His task. He had laser-like focus in doing the will of God. Now, today we want to focus on the theme of the blood of Jesus Christ. We're looking at the foot-washing, we're looking at the bread, we're looking at the wine, the three major elements of the Passover service. So, like us to begin our journey today by turning over to Leviticus 17. Leviticus 17 and verse 11. Leviticus 17, 11. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement at one-ment for your souls. For it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. Now, this is a scripture we can use on the Day of Atonement, but certainly this is a scripture we can use on Passover, relating to the Passover. It is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ that we have at one-ment, not only with God, but with our fellow man. And as we're going to talk about later today in the sermon, we can be at one with ourselves, and not at odds with ourselves. So Passover reminds us of our need for personal reconciliation with God, with our fellow man, through the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ. And so if you're taking notes and you want to get the theme statement for today's message, it would be this.

Christ's Passover sacrifice makes atonement possible toward God, man, and self. Christ's Passover sacrifice makes atonement, or at one-ment, possible towards God, man, and self.

Now, I want to hit this idea about becoming at one with God in a little different way than we typically think. Now, I don't know if this particular part of the sermon is going to apply to everybody in this room or not. Chances are it will not. Maybe it will not to this point in your life. Maybe it will later on in your life.

But in the course of my ministry, in the places I've been to, the people I've counseled, I've noticed in the lives of some people, a real anger toward God.

A questioning of God and what he does and why he does it. Now, as we are all well aware, God loves us. Jesus Christ loves us so much, he came to die for us. There's nothing that God and Jesus Christ don't do that isn't in our best interest. And yet, sometimes, may it be because of our life's circumstances, maybe because of the length of a grinding trial, or other things happening in our life, maybe things we see in the world seen. People say, I'm upset with God.

Well, Jesus Christ passed over blood. His sacrifice makes it possible for us to understand why God does what he does.

And not get our nose out of joint because our trial is much too long.

Or we feel we've learned what we need to learn in that trial. And why does God continue to have us go through that trial?

Now, again, this may not apply to you, but over the course of time in my ministry, I've had any number of people come to me. Not a large number, so I shouldn't say any number, but a few that have come to me in every area and say, you know, I'm upset with God. I've been going through this trial for 25 years. I've learned my lessons. And why can't it go away?

So, anyhow, I want to take a look at that today. And again, maybe this applies to you, maybe it doesn't. Let's look at Romans 5 and verse 1.

Romans 5 and verse 1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Having been justified, in other words, our past sins have been forgiven by faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The life is in the blood. When he shed his blood, he gave his life. So, having been justified by faith in that sacrifice of his blood, we have peace with God. We have at-one-ment with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. But again, there are those people, and we can find some examples in the Scriptures, who aren't at peace with God. Let's take a look at one example. Let's look over to the book of Jonah.

Jonah chapter 3. Let's set up the situation here by going through chapter 3 and understanding what's happening here. Jonah chapter 3, verse 1.

Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk. He cried out and said, Yet forty days, and the end of us shall be overthrown. Now, in some ways, this was music to Jonah's ears, because he realized that prophecy was going to show that this group of people would take his nation into captivity. And he wanted them wiped out, because he didn't want his nation to go into captivity at the hands of these people. So he was eager to preach this. Verse 5. So the people of Nineveh believed God. Wow, here's a different wrinkle. These are Gentiles. These are people who didn't have the kind of background with the God that Israel had. So the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast. They put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. I'm sure Jonah's probably scratching his head at this point. Then the word came to the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused them to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the king and his noble, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Do not let them eat or drink water.

I mean, this man is this king is zealous. He's getting the point. We're seeing real repentance here. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, cry mightily to God, yes. Let everyone turn from his evil way, from the violence that is in his hands. And who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away from his fierce anger so he may not perish?

And so here we see that these people were actually repenting. Verse 10, Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God relented from the disaster he had set. He would bring upon them, and he did not do it. The bottom line here, brethren, you don't fool God. He knows the difference between real repentance, real gold, and fool's gold. These people were truly repentant. Because they were repentant, he said, I'm not going to do what I was thinking of doing to them. Now, what is Jonah's response to this? Chapter 4, verse 1. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.

He became angry. He was not as much with one with God as he should have been. He was angry with God because he wanted these people punished. He wanted these people driven into the sea, and like lemmings, and what have you. Notice what he did. Verse 2. So Jonah prayed to the Lord. Now, he wasn't making a big fuss with other people. He went to God in prayer. So he prayed to the Lord and said, ah, Lord, was it not this that I said when I was still in my country? You know, when God first gave him the initial decree to go out, he said, I know who you are, God. I know you're a merciful God. I know that if these people repent, you're going to do what you're going to do. I told you that. Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish, for I knew that you are gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, and one who relents from doing harm. So here's a man talking to God. He says, I know your character. Therefore now, verse 3, oh Lord, please take my life from me, for it's better for me to die than to live. Totally a wrong attitude, totally in a wrong place. He's upset with God, but he's going to God and he's talking to God. And notice God's response in verse 4. Then the Lord said, and it's not like as though God is thundering down lightning and lightning bolts and so forth. God begins to reason with Jonah. Then the Lord said, is it right for you to be angry? Is it right for you to be angry? Jonah's anger was not justified. His anger was not directed against the wickedness of the Ninevites, but because they were repenting, which is what he should have wanted to take place. He was angry because God was showing mercy. And so the bottom line, brethren, is that sometimes members of God's church can be upset with God, angry with God, and this Passover season, let's take a good, long look at ourselves, and if that applies to us, if that applies to us, if it applies to us, let us allow that shed blood of Jesus Christ. Let us think about the greatness of our God, the love of our God, the mercy of our God. We certainly want that when we come to Passover services, don't we? As you and I sit in our chairs, I'm sure that all of us in our minds, as we're looking at that table, there'll be one in front of you tomorrow, and you see the wine that's covered up, you see the bread that's covered up, and you look at those emblems, and you realize that you're going to wash feet, which is a humbling thing. I think all of us should take that frame of reference of humbleness, and think about our relationship with our great God, and realize that everything He does is in our best interest. Everything, even if we've got trials that we wonder why so hard, why so long? Let's take a look at Mark 6. There's an interesting story here that I think helps illustrate the point I'm trying to get at here. Mark 6. Brethren, God uses the challenges and the circumstances of our life to serve our best interest, to help us grow, to help us to be the people He desires for us to be. So, this Passover season, let's be at one with the circumstances that we find ourselves in. Because those circumstances, although they may not be what we want, for whatever the reason, God is using those circumstances to teach us something. Now, sometimes we're in negative circumstances because of unwise things we have done. Other times it's because God has brought these circumstances to the place where He wants to teach us lessons.

In any case, it's a teaching opportunity for us. Let's take a look here at Mark 6, starting in verse 45.

You just had the feeding of the 5,000 tremendous miracles and so forth. That has taken place. Now we move on in the storyline here. Mark 6, verse 45.

Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bisaite, while He sent the multitude away.

Let's read verse 46. And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray.

In verse 45 and 46, what do we see?

In those two verses, we see that Jesus Christ is leading His disciples to do something.

He's asking them to do something. They're following His will. They're doing His will.

Okay? Verse 47. Now, when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land.

Now, these men are about to go through a trial. It's not a long trial. It's a trial that's only going to last a few hours, but it's going to be a very desperate time for them.

They think they may lose their lives. They think they may all drown in the middle of the sea.

Now, these are men who were you. Many of them were fishermen. They were used to being in a boat. They were used to being in a boat at night. But this night was not like a lot of other nights. This night, their lives might be forfeit, and they're realizing this. But I want us to also understand that it was Jesus Christ who's dictating the time and the placement of this trial.

He told them to go into the boat, to go to the other side. They were obeying His will. And now, something's happening here. Verse 48. When He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them, now about the fourth wash of the night He came to them walking on the sea and would have passed them by.

Now, verse 48, a lot of things happening here.

They started rowing this boat prior to sunset. There was still some daylight left when they started rowing this boat. It says, the wind was against them. I mean, these guys are really putting their back into the oars. They're really trying to move that boat of theirs. But it's almost impossible to move the boat. It says, it's now the fourth watch of the night. Now, what does that mean?

There's a number of ways the Bible reckons time. One of the ways is the way the Romans would reckon time. Mark used that way of reckoning time. And according to the way time was reckoned in this book, the night was divided into four watches. The first watch was between 6 and 9 p.m. The second, between 9 and 12 midnight. The third, between 12 midnight and 3 a.m. And the fourth watch, what we're looking at here, between 3 and 6 in the morning. Between 3 and 6 in the morning. So these men started rowing. They probably only got a couple of miles into the sea. And they may have been rowing here from just about sundown to almost 6 o'clock in the morning.

Many hours they're tired, they're exhausted. And then they see Jesus Christ and it says, and He would have passed them by. Now, many commentators would say this is probably the way that the disciples looked at it. Was Jesus going to pass them by? Well, that was their perspective. Look at verse 49. And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost. So, brethren, what I'm getting at here, verses 48 and 49, is sometimes our perspective is not accurate.

As we're in the midst of a tremendous trial that we may even think will take our life, sometimes we wonder, well, where is God? He's not in a boat with us. Jesus was not in a boat with them. Where is God? He's going to pass us by. He doesn't care. Well, that's not the truth. The truth is, Christ loves us so much, He died for us. The truth is that God the Father and Jesus Christ developed a plan of salvation before there ever was a physical universe.

They have tremendous love for us. Jesus Christ was watching this trial unfold from the very moment the men first got into the boat and pushed off from shore. Just like from the time you began whatever trial may be in your life that you think is grinding you into powder, God's aware of that. He's watching that. He loves you very much. But again, sometimes our perception could be faulty. Verse 50, For they all saw Him were troubled, but immediately He talked with them, and said to them, Be of good cheer, it is I, don't be afraid.

What do we learn there? That Jesus Christ reveals Himself at the time of His choosing. In a way of His choosing. To encourage us. To be there with us. To help us. And of course, throughout the course of our trials in life, Jesus Christ and God the Father, they do just that. They come to us. They try to encourage us and cheer us in our trials.

Let's not forget that. We can be so upset that the trial is going on, but let's remember and think clearly how much the Father and Jesus Christ love us. How much they have been encouraging us. Through many different ways. Through messages we might hear in services. Through conversations with the brethren. Through things we read in the Scriptures. Through different parts of prayers that have been answered as time goes along through the course of the trial.

Verse 51. Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. There does come a time when the storm subsides. I remember many years ago listening to a sermon by Carin Catharwood. I used to always enjoy Mr. Catharwood. I don't know. Certain ministers you enjoy speaking, listening to, certain ministers I enjoy listening to, I always enjoy listening to Carin Catharwood because he was kind of an emotional guy, and I kind of enjoyed that about him. Not that he was illogical, but there was a certain zest he put into his speaking. He was giving this one sermon talking about trials.

He had gone through his share of trials in life, and he said, There have been times in my life I've had to ask God for a wide spot in the road. I've never forgot that phrase. I don't remember a whole lot about the rest of the sermon, but the idea of a wide spot in the road. When we're going through one of those big trials in life, it seems to want to grind us down into powder. So, brethren, if we are having issues with God regarding life circumstance, let's remember that God is in charge, that he loves us, that whatever is taking place is for our benefit, and let's use that shed blood of Jesus Christ to keep us in mind to that, to bring us at one with our great loving God.

Let's take a look at Hebrews 12.

So, my first area there is, as we go through, when we think about our life circumstances, again, let's draw close to God and remember how much he loves us. This next part is an outgrowth of that, about being at one with God regarding the specific trial we may be in right now.

Again, remembering how much the love God has for us. Hebrews 12 points this out. Hebrews 12, verse 5.

And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as the sons. Notice how Paul writes this. And you have forgotten. It's easy when we are in pain or duress or suffering for us to forget some really basic things. Satan wants us to forget. Satan wants to whisper all sorts of negative things in our ear, spiritually speaking. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as the sons. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord. Don't despise it. Don't be angry about it. Nor be discouraged. Feel down or blue when you are rebuked by him. Now, I would think Paul, in where there are scriptures that show that there are times when Paul spared even of life itself. He knew what it was like to be discouraged. He knew what it was like to be blue. But what he's talking about here in verse 5 is as a way of life, day after day after day, month in month out, to be in a state of discouragement. We're human beings. There will be times when we will be blue or discouraged. But we don't want to be in that frame of reference for months on end. We need to allow God to help us out of that. Verse 6, For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. Most of us in this room have got kids. Many of us in this room have got grandkids. Probably all of us in this room, whether we've got children or not, or grandkids or not, we've seen young people who have not been properly disciplined in life. And we see that in a shopping mall or something. Or maybe you're a mate and you go to a restaurant, you've saved some money, and you're sitting down in a real nice atmosphere, a real nice place, and then there's little Johnny over here at this other table where it's screaming bloody murder. And the parents are oblivious! And he's screaming and howling, maybe he's throwing food here and there. And your evening is wrecked. Because some parents didn't discipline little Johnny. Well, we know that when God disciplines, it's not because he loves pain. He disciplines us because it says here, He loves us.

Verse 7, if you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father doesn't chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have been become partakers, then you are illegitimate, not sons. Excuse me. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the father of spirits and live? For they are physical fathers, and indeed for a few days, chasten us to seem best to them, but God, for our prophet, that we may be partakers of His holiness. God is something much better in mind. Now, no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful nevertheless. Afterwards, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Trained by it. So, yes, again, as you and I go through life's difficulties and trials, let's go through those with the mindset of our great, loving God. He has shed His blood, so we will be at one with Him. Let's understand what He's trying to accomplish in our lives. Our trials help us to trust in His purpose for us.

And each of us, there's a master plan that we all come under the umbrella of. The plan of salvation. But within that plan, God has specifics for every one of us in this room. I won't have to go through some of the trials you go through, and you won't have to go through some of the trials I go through, because you are your own individual masterpiece in God's hands. I come from a family of artists. My grandfather, my mother's father, during the Great Depression, if he wanted to take my mother to the doctor or to the dentist, he would take my mother by the hand, go into the doctor's or dentist's office, and say, here's my daughter, Rosalind. She needs some dental work. I don't have money for dental work. I will draw you a beautiful oil painting, as large as you want, if you take care of all of Rosalind's dental work. That's the way my grandfather did things. He was a beautiful artist, able to draw all sorts of things and to do really fine things with oils. My mother the same way. I would watch my mom do her oil painting, and there would be something she wouldn't like, and she would scrape that oil off there. She would redo and scrape and redo over and over again, much like what happens in our life. There may be things on our canvas that God needs to say, well, you know, this is not really quite right. Let's start over again here. And we feel that...oh, we're being scraped. Oh, that didn't feel too good. We're being scraped. But it's for our good. Now, those of you who have visited my home, when you had an open house on December 25th, we were not celebrating Christmas, but it was a day off. Those of you who came to my house, you saw that in my office, I've got a very nice, large picture. It's waves breaking on rocks. I told my mom when I left Michigan, I wanted something to remind me of Michigan, and so she did this really beautiful oil painting. It's larger than this area here. And then off to the side, there's a... what my mother specialized in was ladies' faces. She saw an American Indian, Native American face in National Geographic. I said, boy, that's beautiful. So she took that photo, and she did this beautiful photo... painting of a woman's face. Kind of a bronze-brown look. Just gorgeous detail. She was very gifted. So God, in the same way, is working with you as a painting. Every brush stroke, every detail, everything that goes into it, every piece of color is by design. The trials we go through have purpose. The trials we go through help us better serve our fellow man. After you've gone through some trials that have really humbled you, have you been a better person in terms of being able to walk in somebody else's shoes? I dare say you have been. I dare say that if your heart has been tenderized by being pounded, that you are not such an uppity person, not so we can all be self-righteous. What's that person going through that for? Well, haven't we gone through some things? Haven't we been kind of dragged through knotholes backwards from time to time? Sure we have. And that tenderizes us. So these trials help mature us. And certainly, brethren, as we see what's happening in the world, people can be angry with God for what they see happening in the world.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy being assassinated, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, some of these things, you know, the Twin Towers going down, the beheadings that we hear of. And recently, in Syria, a chemical warfare on innocent women, men, women, and children. I think it was something like 20 or 30 little children died a few days ago as a result of chemical warfare. We see these things and people want to say, well, where's God? Well, it's not God. What we're seeing is the handiwork of Satan. We're seeing the handiwork of Satan. God wanted Adam and Eve to go the right way. It was Adam and Eve that hid. It was mankind who committed the first murder. So let's remember those things. Let's look at Luke 13. Because Christ deals with this. You know, things that are happening on the world scene or the regional scene. Luke 13. Luke 13, verse 1.

So things are going to happen. Things are going to happen. And God allows those things to happen as a teaching tool. He wants us to repent. He wants us to not live according to this world's way. It wasn't that these people were particularly horrible sinners above others.

They were just people. Like you and I. Yes, all of us are sinners. And if the question goes out, you know, we need to repent. And of course, the whole concept of repentance also deals with the fact of accepting the shed blood of Jesus Christ. So we can be at one with God our Father. So this Passover season, if there is anger or some negative feelings in your mind toward God, and certainly, brethren, let me say this.

If we are the generation that lives when Jesus Christ returns, and we see those of our own number being persecuted, hounded, murdered, tortured, and all the things that happened to the Christians back in the first century, it can be really easy to get upset with God. So we've got to keep our minds straight with this. We've got to allow that shed blood of Jesus Christ to have its atoning work. That work that allows us to be at one and realize God has a plan, and ultimately, it's for our own good. Of course, we see Hebrews 11, and the people who went through such horrible times, but they are part of the Hall of Fame of Faith.

They went through some really hard times, and yet they remained at one with God. Let's move on with the sermon in terms of this idea that Christ's Passover sacrifice makes us at one. Not only with God, but it makes us at one with our fellow man. Let's take a look at Colossians 3, verse 13. Colossians 3, verse 13. I'm going to read this from a number of translations. Actually, this started in verse 12.

Colossians 3, verse 12. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies. Do we want tender mercy from God toward us this Passover season? Yes, we do. Do we want kindness from God? What is the biblical definition of kindness? Kindness is doing good to those who have not done so well, necessarily by us. We've not done so well, necessarily, by God. We are sinners. We've come short of His glory. Yet, we want God's kindness, don't we? Humility, meekness, long-suffering. The word means just what it shows.

We suffer along. Notice verse 13 now. Bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you must also do. Now, Paul here is not saying that our complaint is an irrational complaint. We may have a very rational complaint against somebody. Somebody has really hurt us. It's not just in our mind. It's an actual fact. We have been hurt. We have got a complaint. We have got feelings. Now, let me take that same section of Scripture, Colossians 3.13, where it's talking about complaint. Let me read it from other translations.

In the NIV, the New International Version, it says, bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances, whatever grievances you may have. The New Living says, make allowance for each other's faults and forgive anyone who offends you. The Bible and Basic English, be gentle to one another, having forgiveness for one another if anyone has done wrong. So, notice the words that these various translations use.

New King James says, complaint. New International says, grievance. New Living says, offense. Bible and Basic English done wrong. So, people have hurt us. Now, we are told to forgive. And I think I may have mentioned this on a number of occasions, but let's be clear. When somebody has hurt us and we're forgiving them, that doesn't mean that we are saying that it didn't make a difference. We're not condoning what they did. We're not lessening what they did.

We're not saying what they did was okay or anything like that. We are forgiving them. We are saying that I'm not going to allow that anger that's welling up in me to continue to be in my mind and heart. I want to drain that because it hurts me. Our forgiving the other guy may do nothing for them whatsoever. Probably won't do anything for them.

They may not even care. But we need to drain the anger, otherwise it's going to really hurt us. Really hurt us. Let's take a look at Matthew 18. The idea again, Christ's blood brings atonement. As we're sitting there on Passover evening, tomorrow evening, that plate of unleavened bread comes your way. That represents us living just like Jesus Christ. When He was being crucified, what did He say? Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. They don't know. Even if they did know, Christ would have said, let's be forgiving toward them.

They're caught up in something, Satan's way of living. Matthew 18, verse 21. Then Peter came to Him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times. Peter is probably thinking he was being very generous with that. Christ was thinking, no, not so generous. Verse 22. Jesus said to him, I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven.

Tremendous amount of forgiveness. 70 times seven. Verse 23. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with the servants. And when he began to settle accounts, one was brought to him and owed him 10,000 talents. Now, by analogy, the person who had this tremendous debt is us. More than we could ever repay. And the king looked at this person. Verse 25. But as he was not able to repay, and we can't repay, his master commanded he be sold with his wife, his children, all that he had, and the pain that he made.

In other words, that debt would cost him everything. In our life, it would cost us our eternal life. But the servant fell down before his master, saying, Master, you have patience with me and I'll pay you all. And the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

Much like Jesus Christ said, you know, they've got a tremendous debt, but I'm going to forgive that. Because of my shed blood for them. I gave my life for them. But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. A much lesser amount. And he laid hands on him and shook him by the throat, saying, Pay me what you owe.

So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, Have patience with me, I'll pay you all. Prayed his same prayer, said the same words to another human being. And his other human being, he says, verse 30, would not, but went and threw him into the prison until he should pay the debt. Interesting, verse 30. How can you pay the debt when you're in prison?

The one human being put the other human being behind the eight ball where the debt could never approach being paid. And brethren, sometimes we do that to one another. We put somebody else in a position where they can't dig themselves out of the hole we put them in. So when his fellow servant saw what he had done, they were very grieved and came and told their master all that had been done.

Then his master, after he called him, said, You wicked servant, I forgave you all the debt because you begged me. Much like God saying to us, I forgave you of your debts, verse 33, should you not have also had compassion on your fellow servant? Basically Jesus Christ saying, just as I forgave you, shouldn't you forgive others? Verse 34. And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers till he should pay all that was due him. So my heavenly Father will also do to each of you, will do to you if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespass.

So my heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother's trespasses. From his heart. So this Passover season, let's reflect on the atonement that's possible through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the fact that we have God's Spirit in us that allows us to do things that humanly people wouldn't do, that we can do, because we have God's Holy Spirit. Thomas Adams was a man who lived in the 1600s.

He said this, I thought it was a very interesting statement he made. He said, He that demands mercy and shows none ruins the bridge over which he himself is to pass. William Arthur Ward, who lived in the 1800s, said this, Life lived without forgiveness becomes a prison. Life lived without forgiveness becomes a prison. And, brethren, that statement is why I keep on saying, when we forgive somebody, it's for our benefit.

We want to get out of jail. We don't want to have these things where they just continually wear away on us. We also want to forgive our fellow man for not just what they've done to hurt us. We may have legitimate grievances. But we need to forgive our fellow man for the omissions, things that they should have done and didn't do. I was sick, and you could have called, but you didn't call.

I was sick, you could have brought me a bowl of soup, but you didn't bring me a bowl of soup. I was hurting, and you never even asked about my condition. Haven't we all been guilty of that? Haven't we all been guilty of that? James 4, verse 17. Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin, the sin of omission. And the danger, brethren, of the sins of omission is they're not as easily noted as sins of commission.

Sins of omission are much more murky. They involve denial. They involve all sorts of mental rationalizations and gymnastics and so forth. It's easy for us to get off a hook, to take ourselves off the hook. So let's allow Christ's Passover sacrifice to bring us at one with our fellow man. That's one of the great reasons why we do the foot washing.

Lastly, Christ's atoning Passover sacrifice makes forgiving ourselves possible. Forgiving ourselves. I don't know that maybe you can think of one. I was scratching my head trying to think of an explicit scripture that talks about forgiving ourselves. There's one that comes close. I'll read in just a few moments.

But there's principle. The Bible is a book of principles. We see a number of principles about how God forgives. And God is our ultimate example in all things. And if God forgives in certain ways, then we should take a look at that and think to ourselves that we should be able to forgive ourselves. Let's take a look at Jeremiah chapter 31.

Jeremiah chapter 31.

Jeremiah 31 verse 34.

No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, say, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more. Their sin I will remember no more. When God forgives us our sins, he doesn't remember them.

I've heard many people talk about how as Christians we need to forgive and forget. I don't agree with that statement. I agree with part of that statement. I agree that we need to forgive. I don't know that all of us can forget. I doubt that I can go, you know, when I was living in Michigan there was a man who was going through, so I was visiting this older gentleman, and he was going through these photographs. These photographs were really tiny little things. They were from the 1940s. Beautiful, well-preserved, mint condition, but they were only about two inches by two inches. And I said, hey, what you doing? He had a whole big stack there on his desk when I walked in the door. He said, I was asked to go through these because they want to use them in a TV special. I said, well, can I see them? He said, sure. So he handed me a stack, and I started looking at these, and I said, were you at this place when these pictures were taken? He said, yeah. I said, what is this place? He said, Dachau. He had original, mint-conditioned pictures of that camp being liberated. It was his army group that helped liberate that camp. And as I was looking at those pictures, and I was taking a look and seeing piles of what were once human beings that were hardly recognizable as human beings. Boxcars full, on the ground, things in ovens. It was horrendous to look at that. Now, I ask you, if God called a survivor of that, do you think they're going to forget that? No. They're not going to forget that. Some of the things you've gone through in life, are you going to forget? No. But there are principles here. God says, I'll remember them no more. So we want to, as much as we can, take these things, and when they come to the forefront of our mind, we want to push them out of our mind. Isaiah chapter 38 gives us some instruction how we can do that. Isaiah chapter 38.

Isaiah chapter 38 and verse 17. Indeed, it was for my own peace that I had great bitterness. Yeah, we can go through horrible trials. We've got great bitterness as we go through trials, but it leads to peace with God, if we handle it properly. It was for my own peace that I had great bitterness. But you have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption. Again, here's an individual who understands about atonement, understands that God did this in his love. End of verse 17. For you have cast all my sins behind your back. Now, to me, that's a very poetic way of explaining what you and I need to do. When it comes into the forefront of our mind to not forgive ourselves, or somebody else for that matter, we need to push it out of our mind. It's not that we're forgetting, but we're not going to allow it to take center stage in our mind. We're not going to think about it, fret over it, mull it over, act on it, or anything of the nature. We're going to pull it back out of our mind. We're going to put it out of our mind. Forgiving ourselves is not about forgetting. It's about not bringing the offense up to yourself in negative ways. It's not about hounding ourselves. It's not about beating ourselves up continually for a mistake we've made. Forgiving yourself is simply letting go of what you're holding against yourself. Now here's a scripture I talked about earlier. Let's go over to Hebrews 9. Something you'll be hearing tomorrow night.

Hebrews 9. Verse 14.

The concept here, brethren, is Satan wants very much for us to be shackled to past misdeeds. He wants us to have a ball and chain for every wrong thing. Because if we've got that ball and chain around us, we don't move forward. It's hard to move when you're dragging all this baggage with you or with me.

God says, I've forgiven you. Why don't you forgive yourself? I've forgiven you. Why don't you forgive yourself? Acts 10. And verse 34. Acts 10.34. Then Peter opened his mouth and said, In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. God shows no partiality. You know that God forgives other people their sins. So let's not apply a different standard to ourselves. Let's not hold ourselves more accountable than God holds us accountable. But once we've been forgiven, we're released. Let's understand that. Let's move on. Philippians 4.

Verse 9. Philippians 4.9. The things which you have learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do. And the God of peace will be with you. God has called us to peace. Not continually fretting in our mind over past misdeeds that God has forgiven. If we have repented, if we have repented, God has forgiven. And then we do what it says in verse 8. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true and noble and just, whatever things are pure and lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there's any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy, think and meditate on those things. Not every sin that's been forgiven by God. God doesn't want to bring those up. Why should we want to bring those up? But Satan loves to bring those things up. Let's listen to God's voice. Let's listen to the Word of God. Let's not listen to Satan who would want to continue to pester us and rob us of the joy that this time of the year portrays. Passover is a joyous time. Our sins have been forgiven. We are at one with God. He's working marvelous things in our life. Sometimes they're painful things. Sometimes, like I said about those paintings, we feel that scraping motion. But a beautiful painting is being produced, a masterpiece, and that's what's happening in our lives. If we want to continue, brethren, to drag our ball and chain with us, that's going to exhaust us.

I've known too many brethren over the course of my ministry that I knew one individual, the very first place I helped serve. I won't name the state, but not this state. Many years ago, we had one member that had such a sensitive conscience, we had to tell this member to stop reading our literature. That was a very unusual thing for us to say. Why do we tell this member to stop reading the literature? Because this member continually saw, well, I read this article, and I'm not doing this, this, and this. Then I read this article, and I'm not doing this, this, and this. They got to be such a burden for this person, they were taking extra medication for their depression. It just got to be such an exhausting thing. Because almost every Sabbath, you'd have to have a session with this member and talk about, God's forgiven you. The same thing we saw there in Hebrews 9.4. Move forward away from the dead works. But it was so exhausting. Perhaps that is an extreme case. But if we're not careful, lack of personal forgiveness exhausts us. Frankly, it's a form of pride. God will forgive everybody else, but He won't forgive me. Yes, He will forgive us. I don't care what you've done, the shed blood of Jesus Christ will forgive anything. Everything! There's coming a day 8 off Hitler, will have a chance for total forgiveness. And Joseph Stalin, you name the horrible person, when their mind is open, they're going to have a chance to have all of their sins forgiven. So, brethren, this Passover season, we've now taken a look at the foot washing. We realize that we have been called to a life of humble service. We've looked at the bread. We realize we've been called to be totally dedicated, of one mind like Jesus Christ. And today we've taken a look at the blood, which pictures at onement. We want to continue to grow in our atonement with God. We are at onement in terms of forgiving other people, and are at onement in terms of being able to forgive ourselves. Let's make this Passover a beautiful opportunity, where it's like God is giving us a blank... You go out to stores, I've gone to a number of stores, you see these books you can buy, it's really nice covers and in between a lot of pages, and they're for journaling. Blank pages. This Passover, tomorrow night, God's handing you a new book for next year. Blank pages. We can write in those pages all the beautiful things that God will help us do. Because we've been forgiven. All of our sins have been expunged. The spirit of man that had all those negative black things, God's erased all those. The people who've already died in the faith, and God resurrects them, that spirit of man won't have any of those black marks. Nothing but the holiness of God. God will take that spirit, spirit of man, combine with his holy spirit, produce a whole new being. Let's remember that. Let's go forward this Passover season, remembering what Christ has done for us with his sacrifice.