Discerning the Lord's Body

Well, good afternoon, everyone. It sure is an honor to be here. My wife and I are so pleased to be able to come to Dayton. And it's not a holy day for a change. Imagine that. We get to be together. Well, it won't be long. And it'll be the last day of Unleavened Bread, and we'll be together with the North and the Cincinnati congregations as well. So we look forward to that. Certainly, as time seems to be going so fast. You can ask any of our ABC students about, wow, eight months ago now, we said, it seems like there's so much time ahead of us. And now we are down to just a little over a month. Isn't that amazing? Only a month of ABC? It's a nine-month program. And so if any of you have been thinking about getting into the Bible, ABC is certainly your opportunity to do that. And you don't just have to be a young person. Even old guys like me could come to ABC and really benefit from digging into the Bible every day. Imagine this. They sit in class nine months, seven hours a day into the Bible. And so they have this opportunity, really once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really get into God's Word. And what a blessing it is. Now normally our class times are 50 minutes, so I might have to wait for the bell to ring before I finish the sermon this afternoon. That's usually the signal. It's time to try to wrap things up. Hopefully we'll be a little bit more on a schedule. But anyway, if you would love to come to ABC, you know someone who could benefit from that. Especially young people, I think, have this wonderful opportunity because they're just getting their life started. And what a great blessing it is to really set a foundation for the future. And so whether you're getting ready for college, maybe you've had a two-year degree, maybe you've finished college, getting ready to launch into a career, that's the exact time you should come to ABC to get that spiritual foundation set. And so now's the time to begin application process. We've already got quite a few applications that have come in for this next year. So if you know someone that would be interested, encourage them. Encourage them. They could come and be a part of not only the classes, but there's so many extracurricular activities as well.

Now, the chorale is not really an extracurricular, but they're able to participate. And I think this year almost every student participated in the chorale, which is really a wonderful blessing to be able to do that. In fact, you can say things with music that just don't come out the same when you say them just with your speaking voice. And so what a blessing it is to hear the inspiration of the chorale, putting words, music, emotion all together, which is certainly a wonderful opportunity. So you too can participate in that. Of course, there's many opportunities to serve at ABC as well. We've got a couple of service opportunities coming up in the very near future. They're sponsoring a 5K run where they're raising some funds for that. They just got finished with the charity auction that raised funds for the building that's going to be going up in Haiti. So lots of opportunities to do that. I think some of you may have already received an Unleavened Bread cookbook. Anyone received one of those yet? I think they're just about ready to be distributed. And so that was another one of their big projects of fundraisers as well. So all kinds of opportunities to really have a well-rounded experience at ABC. So we certainly want to encourage any and all who would be interested in taking that time of their life to spend in the Word of God. What a wonderful blessing it is. So certainly encourage any of you who might want to be a part of that and encouraging others to do the same as well. Now, of course, I know it's exciting to have a guest speaker. I'm not sure it's exciting for the students that they get to hear me just about every day. So we'll see about that. But here we are, poised just before the Passover. And I know many of you have been digging into your Bible. It certainly tells us it's a special time as we prepare for the Passover. And maybe you've even concentrated on this particular passage that's over in 1 Corinthians 11. If you want to turn there with me, 1 Corinthians 11, verse 28 is certainly a powerful reminder as we approach the New Testament Passover. So if you'll take a look at what the Apostle Paul wrote to God's church in Corinth, it certainly is a good reminder for all of us today. And one I'd like to begin this sermon with in 1 Corinthians 11 and in verse 28. We are very familiar with this passage, I think, where it says, "...let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup." So we look at our lives, we recognize where we're at, and it says we don't get so down and discouraged we don't take the Passover. No, it says we look at our lives. We test ourselves. We really dig into what is our life like, and then we recognize the need for the body and blood of Jesus Christ to cover our sins, and we take the Passover. It also says, verse 29, "...he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself." Now, we certainly don't want to be in that category. And so to avoid that, we examine, and then as it says at the end of verse 29, we discern the Lord's body. We want to discern the Lord's body. And that's kind of an interesting statement, one that can be taken, I think, in quite a few different ways when you really consider what discernment is like. It's a little bit different than the word used for examine that we test and try ourselves. This one points specifically, as it says, to not discerning the Lord's body. Of course, when we think of the body of Christ, what often comes to mind? Well, maybe we think of the church. God's church is the body of Christ. Certainly, we discern the Lord's body. We examine it. We distinguish. We recognize the body.

But I think also in another way, we also have to really look at the body of Christ specifically. Think about what Jesus Christ did on our behalf. Do we really recognize it? I think that's part of this process that we should take part in as we come to the Passover. Do we really comprehend the significance and really the detail that God gives us when it comes to the Lamb of God? What I'd like to do for just a few minutes is get into the Lord's body to take a look at Jesus' life and the significance of what Scripture says about determining and recognizing and really comprehending the depth of meaning that God gives us through the Lamb of God. What I'd like to do in order to accomplish that is go back all the way to Exodus 12. If you'll turn with me over to Exodus 12, here we find that Passover that took place in Egypt.

There's a lot going on here that points to Jesus Christ as Messiah, but at the same time, we can begin to discern the Lord's body and recognize tremendous spiritual applications to what's given to us here in Exodus 12. I know if you're like me, sometimes you might just read through this section of Scripture and just go through the facts. What happened as Israel was getting ready to come out of Egypt? And when we look at Exodus 12, we just see some of those facts of what happened. But there's so much more here than just that. So let's take a look and see if we can recognize the Lord's body, recognize the messianic fulfillment of these passages, and even significantly for us, the spiritual application today for you and I. So let's take a look. Beginning of Exodus 12, here we have God speaking to Moses and Aaron. Verse 2, Exodus 12, it says, "'This month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.'" And so to begin with, God reveals this is when a year actually starts. It doesn't start on January 1st. This is when the sacred year begins. It was the beginning of months. Now we might read right over that, but is there something spiritual here that I should glean from this? "'This month of Nisan, this month of Abib sometimes it's called, is the first sacred month of the calendar.'" Well, when we begin the sacred time, well, God's year begins with this month. What about us? When we begin, when we begin our sacred journey, that begins at baptism, doesn't it? Our sacred time begins, and we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. It's the beginning. It's the beginning of a spiritual relationship with God. We enter into the New Covenant as we accept His body and His blood that was sacrificed on our behalf. We know that Romans 6, you might just write it down. We won't turn there. Romans 6 talks about this great significance of the beginning.

If you don't get started, how can you get where you need to go? And so the beginning of months, as it points to the Passover, the beginning, of course, is the first, the first. Our first recognition that we need a Savior, and we accept that sacrifice at baptism. And of course, Passover itself is the first of the feasts. And so when we recognize that, repenting of our sins, believing in Jesus Christ, obeying, accepting that sacrifice and repenting starts us on this path, in a sense, the first. We begin to take those first steps, those baby steps, in order to continue to walk with God. So even as Exodus 12 begins, the first of months has its significance for us as well. And of course, when you recognize the Messianic fulfillment of this, we see what's supposed to take place in that first month. Skip down to verse 3 now. It says, speak to all the congregations. On the tenth of this month, every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And then if we skip down just a little bit, we recognize this lamb in verse 6 says, keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly shall kill it at twilight.

This lamb, on the tenth, you had to go out and select a lamb. That was something that had to take a little bit of time. That you had to find a lamb that was without blemish, a lamb that was just right. And then what did you do? You set it aside. You set it aside until the fourteenth. So there's probably about three and a half days worth of setting aside, because you had to make sure that this lamb was just right. You had to watch it over these three and a half or so days during this time to make sure that lamb was without blemish. So this lamb, in a sense, was hidden, like it says, for three and a half days. Now if you hold your place here in Exodus 12, go over to Matthew 21. We turn to the Gospels and we fast forward to the time of Jesus Christ and His ministry. Jesus comes into Jerusalem just before the crucifixion, just before the Passover that year. When did this happen? Well, it's in the first month, but very specifically we begin to see when exactly this takes place. Now we know God doesn't do things haphazardly. He does things precisely. And here in Matthew 21, when we look at the very beginning of that chapter, it says, they drew near Jerusalem, it says to the Mount of Olives, and then Jesus, it says, sent two disciples. Well, what were they supposed to do? They were supposed to get a donkey, and Christ is going to enter into Jerusalem. When was this taking place? Well, all indications point to the fact that this would have been the tenth day of the first month, that the Lamb was going to be presented to Jerusalem. So we skip down to verse 9, it says, Multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. And so we see the people recognizing the Lamb of God. He's coming into Jerusalem from the 10th to the 14th of Nisan. And the people will have an opportunity to examine the Lamb. Just like ancient Israel examining this physical Lamb, now the spiritual Lamb of God is coming into Jerusalem. And ultimately, He will be examined. In fact, we see a little glimpse of this all the way down in verse 23.

When He came to the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching. And they said, by what authority are you doing these things? So we begin to see this pretty clearly here, that this Lamb was to be found without blemish. That's what Exodus talked about. And so in a sense, we see Christ being examined. Is He without spot? Is He spiritually without blemish? The chief priests, the elders, Pilate, Herod, Annas, the high priest, Caiaphas, Judas, the centurion. All of these individuals examine Christ during that timeframe. Just like ancient Israel and that physical Lamb, here's Christ in its messianic fulfillment being examined by all of these individuals during that time leading up to the crucifixion. And they examine Christ. We examine Christ during this time as well, as we should always. Do we find Christ without blemish, without spot? We have to be just like these individuals and come to that very same conclusion that He is Messiah. He is the Anointed One. And so as we recognize this, we too realize we need that perfect Lamb because we stand imperfect before God. And Christ alone is without blemish. In fact, when you think of this concept over all of time, when we take that point of view, we think of the time of mankind. When did Christ come? You think of this time period of mankind's existence. How long was Christ, in a sense, hidden from all of mankind? When we think of the beginning with Adam and Eve, Christ came along somewhere about halfway through the prophetic timeline. They knew the Messiah would come. You think of the 7,000-year timeframe of man. When did Christ come? About halfway in between, about three and a half. If we divided it up, we'd find about that same timeframe. And so God's timeframe is absolutely phenomenal when you think about how beautifully it all fits together. In fact, if we head back to Exodus 12, it gives us a little more detail about this particular lamb that does have, I think, more messianic fulfillment and some application for you and I as well. Take a look at Exodus 12. And when we go back to verse 5, we see pretty clearly here, it says, "'Your lamb should be without blemish a male of the first year.'" So we have a boy lamb, one year old, of the first year. Of the first year. And so when we look at this, we recognize some interesting things. First, the first year, he's to be the first...Christ was the first. He was of the first. He was the firstborn of Mary. He was the firstborn of God, spiritually, first in the resurrection. We recognize that very fact as well. And when we recognize this lamb being of the firstborn, the firstborn is one of those things that carries on throughout Scripture over and over and over again. And how oftentimes we see God distinguishing between one and the others. I mean, in a way, we recognize God distinguishing between the Egyptians here in Exodus and His people, the Israelites. He puts away the Egyptians and God works with the Hebrews, works with the Israelites.

The firstborn of man is set aside. Adam is set aside. The firstborn of creation, the firstborn, Christ, is who God works with. How often do we find that throughout Scripture? Esau is set aside for Jacob. We see that theme run throughout. And the most important one is that the firstborn after the flesh, Adam, is set aside for Jesus Christ. And when we recognize that, it is a powerful application for all of us. We set aside our old person, that old self of ours. We set aside our sinful self that first for the best, for looking to the spiritual side of things. So we recognize we're told to do that very thing, to look to the spiritual. So we set aside that physical approach to life so that we can become a spiritual creation. 1 Corinthians 15 talks so much about that very fact that we are to be spiritual. Now if you're still here in Exodus 12, there's another little application here of this lamb. What was this lamb to be for in Exodus? Well, when we read what it says in verse 3, it says, A lamb for the father of the house and for a household. So this lamb for the household. Who was to experience this whole scenario of what the purpose of this lamb was all about? The entire household. The household. All. All were to experience this. And in fact, it's kind of interesting, there's a progressive revelation of what this lamb is all about. In fact, we see here the lamb for a household. It says, Take a lamb. That's what it says in verse 3. Take a lamb. But we also see it's the lamb. Verse 4, You shall make your count for the lamb. The lamb. Now if you hold your place here, go over to John 11.

This is the Gospel of John. John 11. Notice the significance that's brought out here at the end of chapter 11 in the book of John. We see the lamb for an individual, a lamb for the household. And here in verse 49 of John 11, we see Christ being examined by the high priest. And in John 11, verse 49, it says, Caiaphas being high priest said to them, You know nothing at all, nor do you consider. It's expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.

Connection there? Now this he didn't say on his own authority, but being high priest, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation. So this lamb was not just for one person. This lamb was not just for a household. This lamb was for the entire nation. But it wasn't to stop there. What about the sacrifice of this lamb, the Messianic fulfillment of Exodus 12? It wasn't just for a household, not just for the people, not just for the nation. We know this lamb died for the entire world, for everyone, for everyone, the fulfillment of this lamb. If we went back, we don't have to take the time. We just go back to chapter 1 of John.

John 1.29, this is the lamb that takes away the sin of the world. And so that's the Messianic fulfillment of this. Now of course, when we think about the household that we've been called into, we've been called to salvation. We've been called to change our lives. And this lamb is for our household, the household of God. We become household members, members of the household of faith. Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So it applies to us as well. And of course, when you recognize what it talks about in Exodus 12, who was to kill this lamb? Well, it said the whole assembly was to kill this lamb in Exodus 12. Well, that sure points to the fact we all need that sacrifice. Everyone on planet earth is guilty of sin and in need of a sacrifice, in need of the death of this lamb. If you're still here in the book of John, go over to chapter 10, verse 17. Exodus, sorry, not Exodus, but John chapter 10, verse 17. Here Christ is speaking, and He says, Therefore my Father loves me because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down. I have the power to take it up again. This command I've received from my Father. So this certainly points to, I think, a tremendous spiritual application here. No one had the power to take Jesus' life. Now the Romans didn't. The Jews didn't. Christ chose to lay down His life by His own free will. He did it for us. Certainly it's a total misplaced application to think that the Jews crucified Christ, and they killed Jesus. Now, He laid down His life. He laid down. And when we really get down to it, what's the significance for me? I killed Christ. It was my sin that brought about the death of Christ. If no other human being ever lived, and it was just me, Christ would still have to die on my behalf. And He willingly and freely gave up His life for me. And when we consider that fact, we can even take it beyond ourselves and recognize the whole congregation. All of us had a part in the death of Christ. And it's so powerful, the implications of that.

Of course, once ancient Israel killed that lamb, what happened next? Well, if you go back to Exodus 12, we're pretty familiar with this story. We know what happened next. In Exodus 12, they were given instructions on what to do after that little lamb was sacrificed. And in Exodus 12, if we look at verse 7, they were told what to do with the blood of that sacrifice. Exodus 12, verse 7, it says, "...they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it." The blood was applied around the door. It was around the entranceway to their house. That's what this lintel is all about. Around the door. Around the house. Of course, you think about who we are, those who are true believers. We are the house of God. We are the household of God. And so when we think about this, how do you get into the house?

You've got to go through the door, don't you? You've got to go through the door. The only way into the household of God is by the means of the door. If we would have held our place there in John chapter 10, it tells us very specifically, who is the door? Christ says, I am the door. No one comes to God but by Him. It's also interesting. We've got to walk through that door. But we also have to have our part in that blood. That blood had to be applied to the door. We have to take that blood. And we have to recognize that blood and realize its significance. That it's not just a lamb for us, it's God. Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us died for us. And by His blood, it's the only means I can have hope. And I turned to Him and I looked to Him. And I thank God Almighty for giving His Son to die on my behalf. Otherwise, I couldn't even walk in the door and be a part of the family of God. And so what an amazing blessing it is to recognize that blood was sacrificed for me. And my faith and confidence that it is applied to me makes it possible to live a life that I recognize the hope that we have. And it changes everything. Because now I can be a part of the household and be in the house. And God feeds us and helps us and guides us. In fact, part of the Passover ceremony there in Exodus 12 talked about eating that sacrifice. They were to eat the sacrifice. So when you look at Exodus 12, verses 8, all the way on, it says, you have to roast it.

Verse 8 says, roasted in fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They were to eat that sacrifice. And both the body now and the blood are a part of what's happening here in Exodus 12. And we know the body and the blood of Christ, it wasn't just His shed blood that was the sacrifice. We know He was beaten and bruised and scourged on our behalf. His beaten body was a part of that overall sacrifice that He gave for us. And so we've got the body of the Lamb, a part of that sacrifice, all the way back here in Exodus 12. And so what do we do? You think of the spiritual implications here. We eat. Now physically we don't have to eat of a Lamb's sacrifice. But spiritually we certainly do. And that harkens to the New Testament Passover where Christ gave that spiritual significance of the bread and the wine that we partake of the bread and the wine, His body and His blood. Spiritually we ingest Christ. So Christ is in us, living His life in us and through us. And we don't live just by bread alone, right? But by every word of God. And so when we recognize these things, we know it says here, you eat it the same night, you sacrifice it. That's what it says here. That harkens to what happened in the New Testament when Christ instituted the New Testament Passover. He says, eat it with unleavened bread. We remember the significance of unleavened bread when it's connected to sin. And being unleavened through the sacrifice of Christ, we can be sin free. And so we see that. It says, eat with bitter herbs here. I think that connects in a couple of different ways when we consider it. The bitterness for Israel was that they were in bondage. They were slaves.

Are we slaves?

Thank you. All right.

Let's make it an interactive discussion here. I agree. We don't have to be. We used to be enslaved to sin, like the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. But they were freed. They were freed through the power of God. We can be, too. We don't have to be enslaved to sin. Through the sacrifice of Christ, we can have the power of God's Holy Spirit to overcome.

But yeah, there's going to be bitterness anyway in life, isn't there? There's challenges and trials and difficulties and struggles just because we're alive. We're going to face those things. Life oftentimes will bring struggles and bitterness. But it doesn't have to be an overall bitter experience. When we recognize God's presence in our life, we can overcome. And ultimately, when we see these things, you look at the sacrifice here given in Exodus 12, roasted in fire. Roasted in fire, that talks about refining.

Oftentimes the Bible speaks of a refiner's fire, that we are being refined. So we're becoming more Christ-like throughout our life. We're being purified in fire. And we recognize this, and sometimes we're tested in fire. It also says here, you don't sodden it with water, I think is what the old King James said. You don't water down this sacrifice. We don't water down the Word. We don't water down the significance of the sacrifice of Christ. We want a full meal. You can't water down the truth. And so we've got the whole thing here.

It says the head, the legs, and the other parts. We're also roasted. All of that. And so certainly we see significance in this entire sacrifice on our behalf. And so when we see these things, we make sure we recognize how this fits, spiritually speaking. They even had to dress up to eat this sacrifice. If you look at Exodus 12, they just didn't sit down like it was just some normal, everyday kind of a meal.

They had to eat it in haste. And they had to... well, what does it say here? They had to put on a belt. Old King James said they had to gird their loins. They had to have shoes on their feet. Any of you who don't know what girding your loins are, you can ask our ABC class. We talked about girding up your loins. That sounds kind of strange and kind of weird.

But they've got a belt on, so they are ready to move. And we are ready to move, spiritually speaking. We've received this sacrifice on our behalf. We've got the Word of God that we can be ready for action. We can take every opportunity to put God's way into practice with our shoes on our feet ready to walk.

We've got a spiritual walk that we've been called to. Israel had to walk ahead of them going all the way to the Promised Land. No different than our spiritual walk. We're heading toward the Kingdom and there's no diversion. We don't want to wander around for 40 years. We want to be on that straight path to God's Kingdom. And I think this Lamb being eaten and paced points to that very fact. And what does it call this sacrifice?

Exodus 12, verse 11, it says, it is the Lord's Passover. It is a memorial. It is a memorial. And of course, Christ established what that memorial really means, spiritually speaking, in the New Testament, when He instituted the Passover.

Because we see a couple of things going on. God never forgets us. He didn't forget the Israelites all the way back then. He passed over them and remembered them. And He does the same for us. Revelation talks about a book of remembrance being written. God remembers us. And of course, Passover, we remember the significant calling that we have as well. So as we look at these wonderful implications of Exodus, this is just the beginning.

I hope what you'll do is take time and read through Exodus 12. Try to dissect it and really discern what's happening here, as it relates to how it was fulfilled by the Messiah, our Savior, Jesus Christ. And then what does it mean to me spiritually? There's many other things that you can go through as we approach the Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, to really dissect and distinguish and recognize the Lord's body. In fact, I think a good way to summarize it can be found over in Psalm 119.

Here we find the longest song in the Bible in Psalm 119. And toward the end of that song, I think it mirrors what they did in ancient Israel and then what Christ did as He instituted the New Testament Passover. Psalm 119 is a song. And we know at the end of the New Testament Passover that Christ instituted. They sang a song before they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Here in this song, this Psalm 119, we find lyrics to this song that I think are so powerful and so meaningful for us as we consider the spiritual application of what happened in Exodus 12. Look all the way down to verse 169. This is right at the very end of Psalm 119. Verse 169, it says, And boy, does God pour out His blessings when we deeply search His word and we distinguish it and we recognize it and we don't take it for granted, but we really strive to comprehend the depth of the spiritual meaning of His word.

Verse 170, God hasn't forgotten us and we certainly will not forget Him. So as we approach the Passover, let's truly discern the Lord's body and recognize not only the Messianic fulfillment, but most importantly, its application for us today as we look to Passover and ultimately the Lamb of God.