No One Can Snatch Us Out of Our Father's Hand

We are approaching Passover in the days of 11 bread, just barely a week and a half, a couple days more than that, right around the corner. And for us, it's a very encouraging time, I hope. Very inspiring time. We're reminded of the great price that was paid on account of our sins. God the Father sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to pay the ultimate price. Right? He gave of His life for us, so that our sins could be fulfilled. And we could be forgiven, so we could be presented blameless without spot before God. And so the breach that existed, that separates us from God, that sin and that stain and that penalty could be removed.

We could be reconciled in relationship to Him. And it's an encouragement. It's an incredible blessing. And it's like, oh, we're here this time of the year again. Didn't we just do that last year? And it seems like it goes quickly. And here we are again. But that's God's blessing. And for us, it's always the reminder of the gift that we're allowed to live day by day.

For those who have gone under the waters of baptism and received the laying on of hands and received God's Holy Spirit, the Passover is for you. And the Passover symbols that we will take of is for you as well. And it is a very solemn and yet joyous event. And it's solemn because we're reminded of the penalty of sin. That the wages of sin is death. And that our sins did cause the death of again God's only begotten Son. But it is joyous as well because we're reminded that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And again, that victory that takes place, that God is provided for, that breach that will be closed, and now reconciliation that takes place. Passover isn't just solemn in the sense of sadness. You know, we should be sad to see up close and personal the consequence of sin. But we should rejoice in the fact that God has loved us so much that he's opened the way and provided the opportunity to be again joined with him and his Son in unity.

As we approach that service, we need to be taking requisite time to do what the Apostle Paul has instructed us in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 28, where he says, But let a man examine himself. And so let him eat of the bread and take of the cup. And so these days leading up to the Passover needs to be a time of self-reflection and self-education.

And so this is a time of self-examination, a time when we examine ourselves and as I've said so many times, not our spouse, not our neighbor. We don't look at somebody else and say, Well, boy, this year they really need to work on this coming up to the Passover. This is about me and the crumbs in my life that need to be cleaned out.

And it's the same for you. So this is a time we take an honest look inside. And the comparison that we make is not between myself and neighbor. It's between myself and the staff and the neighbor. And so we're going to look at the nature of the fullness of Jesus Christ. And when we make that true comparison, we do see in reality that we can all improve and we can all grow.

And the blessing is God is there to help us along the way. The purpose of examining ourselves, brethren, is to give us a proper desire and a proper motivation to take the Passover. It gives us the recognition that, yes, I do need the Passover. And I need to live under the sacrifice of Jesus Christ continually. And what we do at that service represents not just a sliver in time, it represents our life. It represents day by day by day that we continually live under that sacrifice and continually rededicate ourselves to the commitment we've made at baptism.

We all need the forgiveness and the grace that God has extended to us through the Son, His Son, Jesus Christ.

And so immediately following the Passover, we know the routine, right? Again, every year. Days of 11 bread come, and God puts that before us every year so that we never forget. So that we're always reminded.

And we have that time that we approach now as well, in which we turn around and maybe we examine our refrigerator. We examine our cupboards, right? And we're taking the leaven. We put the leaven out of our homes before those days begin, because during the seven days of 11 bread, that leaven is symbolic of sin. But this is symbolism. This is typology, but it's a reminder that this is the type of sin that exists in my life, and I have to live unleavened before God.

And by the grace of God through His Son, we certainly do and can.

But God brings these things year by year by year as a blessing.

And the spiritual and leavening process is something that shouldn't be lost on us, simply because, oh, didn't we just do it? It seems like a few months ago.

God says, this is to be ever before you as my people.

This is all review.

Primary focus of today's message is to offer us some encouragement, brethren, as we approach the Passover, as we walk through that examination process, because ultimately, the end result should be encouraging and not discouraging.

And I know sometimes the challenge can be, okay, I'm beating myself up because this is the same thing I saw in myself last year, right? And the same thing the year before. And we can almost be discouraged to the point that we say, what's the point? You know, year after year. And yet God says, don't be discouraged.

I mean, we should take seriously our sin to make the change, but don't let it discourage you to the point that you just say, what's the point? Because that's what our adversary wants.

God says, I've extended a blessing to you, and I want you to take advantage of it. And he stands ready to insist us.

So for me today is hopefully an encouraging message to us. It reminds us of the sure nature of our calling from God and the guarantee that our salvation is indeed secure in his hands.

And today I want to remind us that no one and nothing can pry us out of God's grip.

If you come into covenant relationship with him through baptism, your salvation is secure in his hands as much as it depends on him.

And of course, we understand we need to do our part as much as it depends on us, but never, never doubt the integrity of God and his faithfulness to see through what he's begun in each of us to the end.

So we do have our part to play, but let's understand that through this relationship, our salvation is secure with God and it will never falter.

The title today is taken from the words of Jesus Christ in John 10, verse 27, No one can snatch us out of our Father's hand.

No one can snatch us out of our Father's hand, and I do hope, brethren, that concept is encouraging to you.

Let's turn to John chapter 10 and see Jesus' expression of these words.

John chapter 10 and verse 27, the context here is Christ's response to those who questioned whether he was the promised Messiah or not.

You know, why should we follow you? You make these claims of who you say you are, but where's the proof?

John chapter 10 and verse 27, Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them.

And he says, And they follow me.

So we have a relationship, right? It's back and forth with Jesus Christ. Do you hear his voice? If you do, you must respond, and you must follow in his footsteps.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. And so this is a promise of protection and security from the shepherd and overseer of our souls himself, Jesus Christ, who says, No one shall snatch them out of my hand.

And I hope that is encouraging, but he didn't stop there. He carried on in verse 29, and he said, My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. He says, I, my Father, are one.

And so there's this full unity, there's this full agreement between God the Father and Jesus Christ of who they hold to. We understand God extends the calling, and Christ said, No one can come to the Father except through me. So they're both involved in this process. And so there's no distinction or separation in terms of who they both would hold to with a firm grip. It's not like Christ says, I choose them, and the Father says, I choose them. This is something they are doing together unto salvation. And the blessing is that we are secure in their hands. This verse tells us that there is no external power, there's no secular leader, there's no religious leader, there's no person on earth, there's no power in heaven or on earth, there's no created being, there's no adversary like Satan the Devil. No one or nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ and the power of them to hold us in their hand. And indeed, again, brethren, our salvation is secure in them. We must depend on that. And as we do, we must do our part in response.

It should be very encouraging for us to consider. It should be encouraging to know that God will always faithfully do His part, and to know that no enemy has the power to overcome Him, because He is all-powerful, He is the Almighty God, He is supreme over all. And this is His plan, and it's His purpose. And indeed, it will be accomplished. Philippians chapter 1 and verse 3, the Apostle Paul reiterates what our confidence should be in the faithfulness of God's work.

Philippians chapter 1 and verse 3, if we want maybe kind of an overarching thing to remember and take from this, that is, the only one that has the power to take us out of God's grasp is us.

That should be sobering, but that should be, I hope, encouraging as well. The only one that has the power to take us out of God's grasp is us.

And the Bible is full of many beautiful scriptures that reinforce the fact that God is not the weak link in our relationship. He is strong, and He is steadfast. Philippians chapter 1 and verse 3, Paul says, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, making requests for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day unto now, being confident of this very thing, verse 6, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Those are incredible words.

He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. No doubt, no hesitation. It's an absolute truth that God the Father finishes what He begins, and He will finish it in you if you allow Him and if you respond according to His call.

Our Father never grows tired. He never grows bored. He'll never withdraw His personal commitment towards our success, as long as we stay engaged in the process as well, and as long as we continue to put into effort to uphold our end of this covenant agreement. Our Passover examination should serve to remind us each year of our need to be continually growing, continually repenting and overcoming with the help that God stands ready to provide.

We must never doubt He stands ready to provide, because just as we heard in the sermonette, go back to the first pages of the Bible, go back to creation. It is all for a purpose by God's design, and He has invested so much that certainly it would not come to nothing by His inattention. It is His desire to see our calling and our success through to the end.

But, you know, brethren, again, as we come up to examination of ourselves each year, I think sometimes our challenge is we want to maybe run away. We want to hide from that. Maybe sometimes we feel like Israel, you know. They wandered around in the desert for 40 years, came, camped, the cloud moved up, they went again, they came around, and maybe two or three years later they said, Haven't we been here before?

Oh, look, there's the graves of our grandparents, you know. Here's, you know, that bush. It's a foot taller than it was before. Maybe it died out in the desert. But haven't we been here before? And it seems like perhaps we can have that same mindset and come around to the Passover and we examine ourselves, and it's the same issue.

We think, haven't I been here before? And we can almost get to the point where we just want to run away. We want to hide. We want to hide the issue from God. You know, let's just kind of put it in a box, close the flap, seal it up, stick it in the back of the closet. I just can't deal with that. But God doesn't want us to run. He doesn't want us to hide. He wants us to bring those things before Him on our knees in prayer, because He stands ready to provide the solution and to give us the strength by His Spirit through the blessing of the sacrifice of His Son.

So never withdraw. 1 John chapter 1 verse 9 is another encouraging passage, which states, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's the God we serve, not the one that stands ready to beat us up for our faults and beat us down. He says, I want to help you over those things. And He stands ready to offer us forgiveness when we come to Him in repentance. He's a merciful God. He's a faithful and a just God, when that has such a tight grip on us that no one will ever be able to snatch us out of His hand.

Why? Because He has invested so much in your success, in my success. What has God invested? John chapter 3 and verse 16. John 3 and verse 16, you can quote it without even turning there, but don't ever let this scripture, this verse, become common in your thinking. John chapter 3 and verse 16, this is what God has invested in your success.

This is the price He paid. John chapter 3 verse 16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world. You know, let's just wipe all these sinners out and be done with it. That wasn't the point. He sent Him into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. And so it was God's love that was the motivation behind sending Jesus Christ in the first place.

And it's His sincere desire to see us succeed, to be in His kingdom, to overcome, to take on the righteousness He has offered unto us. This is reflected through the sacrifice of His Son, as well as the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it's the price that God was willing to pay for us. He gave His only begotten Son that being that had been there with Him intimately from eternity.

And that was the price that was given and the price was paid. Don't you think it's no wonder that God is so desirous for us to overcome and to be in His kingdom. Consider not the price that we pay. For us it's a gift, it's a blessing. Consider the price that God has paid for us. You know, we were in prison on death row, and He came and unlocked the door, and we walked free, and Jesus Christ took our place.

And the blessing is, you know, we're His children, but how are we going to use that? It should give us motivation each and every year as we examine ourselves sincerely, brethren. As we come up to the Passover once again, we should be so in tune with the price that God paid that it motivates us to overcome. It's like His part He did was so huge we could never match it, but let's give it our all to give what we can give in response to Him.

He wants our love, our obedience, and our relationship as our Father and we His children. Mankind will so often disappoint us, won't they? Have you ever been disappointed by a fellow human being? You know, so often we maybe say, okay, I'll make an agreement with you. You do your part, but they didn't uphold their end. And now there's disagreement or disappointment because now the expectation of what would be isn't there. We've all been disappointed in that way. Going back, you have to do the math.

I guess about four years ago now after our mudslide and we're having to get reset back up with the residents on our place. Most of you remember the story that we bought this triple-wide manufactured home in Portland because my wife just fell in love. So I was like, all right, we'll move this thing from Portland to Spokane. And we hired a contractor to do that. And the agreement was, here's the price, here's the amount down, and okay, once it's ready to go, here's the process. It'll be disassembled, moved here, reassembled, and thought, okay, that's great, we're on our way.

So you sign the contract, you write the check, you put the money down, and then nothing happens. And then nothing happens. And then when you're done, when you're tired of nothing happening, still nothing happens. So, you know, eventually we had to move on and walk away from what we had invested there. But the fact is, disappointment, right? When you're in a covenant, when you're in a contractual agreement with human beings, that can often be the case.

Not so with our God. That's not the creator of the universe whom we serve. God has entered into a covenant relationship with us at baptism. God signed on the dotted line, I've given my son. You signed on the dotted line, I give my life over to you, and I come under that sacrifice. It's a covenant, and we each have terms to fulfill. God is sure in His promise, and we don't ever need to doubt that He won't uphold His end of the agreement.

In Luke 12, verse 32, Jesus offers us assurance by stating, do not fear, little flock. And again, when you come into contractual agreements, there can be a little apprehension, can't there? Maybe a little fear. How's the other party going to hold up their end? Again, Luke 12, 32, Jesus said, do not fear, little flock. It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It's not a carrot. He dangles out there and says, just jump a little higher and try to catch it if you can. And I really don't want you to have it anyway. No, it is His good pleasure and His deep and intimate desire for you to be there. And He and His Son gave the ultimate price for your success. And so in light of that, and when we consider our trials and struggles, and when we have doubts and fears in this life, it should be a great comfort to know that Christ and the Father offer us their guarantee. That none is able to snatch us out of their hand. No force in heaven or on earth can dislodge us from the commitment that God has towards us unless we ourselves remove ourselves from that by our own design. And it should give us comfort and encouragement. Again, to know that God is on our side and He will see us through whatever we're going on in our life, through to eternity.

Salvation. Sonship in His kingdom. Our concern needs to be with upholding our end of the covenant agreement, because we are the weak link, right, in this relationship. We uphold our end by putting God first and foremost above all else. Before all people, before all considerations, God is first. And we view life now through that lens, make our decisions through that lens. By putting to death the old man and walking in newness of life, by becoming conformed to the stature of the fullness of Christ. That's our end of the covenant agreement. God says, I have terms as well, and I will fulfill them. What are God's terms? Okay. You come under the sacrifice of my Son. I will give you my Holy Spirit. You live faithfully and endure unto the end. I will give you eternal life in the kingdom of God as my son or my daughter in my family. There are conditions that both sides must uphold in this covenant. Be confident in what God will fulfill. Let us as well be diligent in what He's given us to fulfill as well. If we ever walk away, brethren, from this agreement, from turning our back on our covenant commitment to God, we will lose out on the reward. Not because somebody else wrestled us away from God and He just couldn't hold on to us, but because, again, we removed ourselves from His hand in that way. That's why this examination is so important. We say, where do I stand with my God? Where do I stand in this covenant agreement that I've said, I will uphold my end and fulfill? That's what we're examining, and what we're working towards is constantly perfecting what it is that God has given us to do. We know He is perfect. He asks us to be perfect as well. So on the flip side of this relationship, there are some things we have to understand as well, because our salvation is secure in God's hands, but you see some would take that and convert it into once saved, always saved.

There's nothing you can do to remove yourself from salvation once you've come under grace. I was listening to the Christian radio station, Moody Radio. No relation, by the way, although I get that asked quite often. Oh, you're a pastor? Moody? Moody radio? Moody Bible Institute? I say, no, there's no relation, except maybe somewhere. I know that Austin did the 23andMe DNA test. I guess there's 12% of Levitical priesthood somewhere back in there they say. Who knows? But again, listening to Christian talk radio, because once in a while I think, you know, what are they talking about? And I flipped it on, and there was a Q&A session with a pastor, and I thought, well, this is good. I'd like to catch those because I play the game. How would I answer? You know, people call in with Bible questions, and they had a pastor on there who would give answers. So one caller called in and asked the question about the possibility of someone becoming condemned, even though they accepted Jesus Christ and come under the grace of God. Is there anything this person could do to ever be condemned now that they're under grace? You know, isn't it once saved, always saved? That was the question. And the pastor responded by stating, I know of no scripture in the Bible that states you can fall from the grace of Christ once you've been saved. He says, it's impossible. It's impossible. And I thought, what Bible does he read? That wasn't the answer I would have given myself. But he says, it is impossible. It is true, brethren, that we are saved by grace and that there's no way we can earn our salvation through works. Okay, grace is a gift. But like most any parent, I would say we give good gifts to our children who are obedient. Not that they earned that gift, but again, their response is important. But salvation is a gift. And the Bible never says that we can't forsake God or that we can't lose out on the gift of God's salvation. If we turn aside from obedience to God in the terms of our covenant agreement and we refuse to restore, we absolutely can miss out. We can fall from the grace that God has extended. And it's an important point because it reminds us of the continual need we have to examine ourselves and to consider not just one point year after year after year coming up to the Passover. This is all we walk through in this Holy Day process is to be a reminder of what we are to be doing continually day by day, 365 days a year. But I do want to remind us because maybe I read a different Bible. There are scriptures that show that we can, in fact, remove ourselves from the grace of God. And we need to be reminded of the serious nature of that as well.

Hebrews 6 and verse 4.

Hebrews 6 and verse 4 says, For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come.

So we're talking about a converted person. So it says, And so it is certainly possible to have been among the converted, among those with God's Holy Spirit, and come under the grace of God, and yet still fall away from that. Not because he wasn't strong enough, but because we turned aside, and we did not restore. We did not return in repentance, which is what God... He stands there with His hand extended to us. And He desires us to always be reconciled to Him, but we can turn our back on that, and it is a sobering reality. Hebrews 10, verse 26, says, Sinning willingly means that we know it's sin, but we just don't care. And frankly, we deliberately charge forward with disregard to the laws of God and the sacrifice of His Son. I'm going to do what I'm going to do, and I really don't care about that. That is willing and deliberate sin. That's different than accidental sin, or sin that frankly comes by the weakness of the flesh. And now I am guilt-ridden of what I did. And we come before God on our knees. I hope we are guilty when we sin, and we see that. It should drive us back to our knees before God, and once He forgives us that guilt, let's let that go. But again, willing sin. Verse 26. Again, Hebrews 10, verse 26, God is merciful, brethren. He's also just. And He has paid the ultimate price for you and for I. And to turn our back on that and to simply walk away and disregard the covenant and never restore is something that, again, that's not like somebody's pried us out of God's hands. We ourselves then have removed ourselves from that relationship. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1. See what the apostle Paul has to say here. Again, these scriptures aren't meant to terrify us. It should give us a healthy fear and respect on reverence for God. Okay, but ultimately what God does is out of love, and He desires us to always return to Him as our loving Father. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1, Paul says, It's kind of an inconvenient word, just like right in the middle of that verse.

If. If. That's actually a conditional word, all right?

And so there is a condition of holding fast to those things which we have received and agreed to live by.

Jesus Christ's own words in Matthew 24, verse 13, He stated, And so God's gift of grace is a free gift. Again, we cannot earn it by works, but it is conditional upon our obedience that we would respond to God and fulfill the terms of the covenant that He's lined out to us. And that we would be faithful in those things, and to the degree we fall short, we fall on our knees, and we come before Him in repentance. And we seek to always live under the sacrifice of His Son. There are conditions to receiving the grace of God, even though you cannot earn it. And baptism is a perfect example, right? Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Well, nothing.

Now let's repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. You come under the grace of God. And so it's not fair to say there are no conditions to this grace and no conditions to fulfilling, because there are conditions to this covenant. But let's just always remember God will not fail on His end.

1 Corinthians 9, verse 24.

1 Corinthians 9, verse 24. Again, the Apostle Paul, he says, Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. You know, who is the Apostle Paul? Well, he was the guy who was Saul who persecuted the church until Christ knocked him down on the road to Damascus and opened his eyes. And God gave him his Holy Spirit, and now he's the champion for the church. And he goes out and he gets beat up, he gets stoned, he gets shipwrecked the night and the day and the deep. You know, 40 lashes, minus one, how many times? You know, what did Paul endure for God? Incredible things in the flesh. Could a guy like that miss out?

What did he say about it? Again, we all run in this race. Verse 24, run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run, thus, not with uncertainty. Thus I fight, not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection. Lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. The doctrine of once saved, always saved, is not a doctrine of the Bible. It's not a doctrine of the Church of God. It wasn't a doctrine of the Apostle Paul. He said, after I did all these things in God's service, I could still, if I pulled up short, become disqualified. And so it's the reminder for all of us to follow through. He who endures to the end will be saved. So again, there's two sides to this coin, but I hope they all lead to an encouraging end. If we flip it back over again, we remember there's many verses that show as long as we do not, through neglect or bitterness, come to reject God, we are indeed assured salvation. God will be faithful to what He has agreed to do. Our salvation is secure, and as much as it depends on God, and as much as it depends on us, we must be continually putting in the effort and growing, becoming like our elder brother, Jesus Christ. So we say, as such, we don't need to live our lives in worry. We don't need to live it in distress or fear. Am I going to miss out? Am I going to miss out? We should have a healthy regard for the relationship God has called us to. And there is a right parameter to the fear of God. But God doesn't want us to fear. Fear not, little flock. It's your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Let us rejoice in that and do our part in response to His calling.

Each year, as we approach the Passover, we examine ourselves to see if we're continuing in faithful diligence. We examine ourselves to see what more we can do to overcome as we're being conformed to the likeness of God's Son. And ultimately, we examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith or not. And Paul admonishes us to do that in 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 4. Let's start back there quickly. 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 4. 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 4. Paul says, For though he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God towards you.

Ultimately, that's how all of this is done by the power of God, working with us, by His Spirit dwelling in us. This doesn't happen on and by our own selves. Verse 5. Examine yourself as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless, indeed, you are disqualified, but I trust you will know that we are not disqualified.

Our Passover examination should lead us to the assurance that we are not disqualified. At least I hope it does. If we're honestly looking and we say, All right, I'm convicted by what I see, and I respond to God, I turn to Him. That's a sign that we are not disqualified, that we are in the faith. It's a sign we're trying to, the best of our ability, uphold our covenant. God knows we have weaknesses in the flesh. It's not an excuse, but that's why He sent His Son so that we can recover. He failed on Wednesday last week, and apart from Christ, there's nothing you can do to recover from that. Live a perfect life from there forward. Death is still your judgment. But what God has sent is His Son. And that is the grace and the blessing that we live under as we uphold this covenant agreement. Our Passover examination should lead us to an assurance of these things, and that God is there, and that Christ is in us, and that we are not disqualified, because we come to this point each and every year seeking to be right with God. Passover should be a time of rededication for us all as we continue to strive for the upper call of God in Christ Jesus. As we partake of the bread, and we partake of the wine at that service, we reaffirm the commitment we made at baptism, and we put our trust in God, and we reaffirm that we accept the sacrifice He offered on our behalf. That I will eat of the flesh of the Son of God and drink of His blood in that symbolic manner, and that this covenant is real. My heart is dedicated to that, to the end. It's a blessing every year to come into the Passover and to keep it together. As I wrap up today, brethren, I do want to just take a couple of moments to remind us that what we do at the Passover service is indeed what Jesus Christ Himself instituted at the Passover He kept with His disciples on the final night in that upper room. Because some have called in the question the ceremony which we keep for our Passover service, saying, well, what Christ did, that was not the Passover at all. And some have called in the question the bread and the wine, that that's not even the symbols of the New Covenant Passover, so why would you do them? And for us, we need to be absolutely clear as to why we do these things. The answer, honestly, in some ways, can be a technical argument, or the answer can be a simple argument.

And last year I gave you the technical argument to the answer in a two-part sermon series as we came up to the Passover of why we do what we do and why we do it in the way that we do it. So if you have questions, you can go back and review that in the archives. But today I want to give you the simple answer. And the simple answer is this.

Jesus Christ Himself declared that last night's observance to be the Passover with His disciples.

It is just that simple and that clear.

Jesus Christ Himself declared that last night's observance to be the Passover with His disciples. And I trust the words of Jesus Christ over the words of any man. That's where I stand.

And I hope we all do as well. And that's the reality, plain and clear, brethren. Luke 22 and verse 7, let's just see a few of His words as they approached that service.

Luke chapter 22 and verse 7.

Luke 22 verse 7, Then came the day of eleven bread, when the Passover must be killed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.

There's inclusive words in here. Christ is including Himself in these words. Go and prepare it for us, not yourselves, that we, myself included, may eat. That's what these inclusive words that He used identify. Verse 9, So they said to Him, Where do You want us to prepare? And He said to them, Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a picture of water. Follow him into the house which he enters. And you shall say to the master of the house, The teacher says to you, Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?

The synoptic gospels are all consistent in their declaration that this was the Passover that Jesus would keep and eat with His disciples on that night. Let's give you a couple references. Mark 14 and verse 14. Mark 14, 14, Jesus says, Wherever He goes in, say to the master of the house, The teacher says, Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples? Matthew 26 and verse 18. And He said, Go into the city, into a certain man, and say to him, The teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.

Question for us, was Jesus Christ tricking His disciples? You know, was He not going to keep it, but He made Him think He was going to keep it and just sort of pull the wool over their eyes? Did He have them go lie to the man whose room they reserved to keep that observance? Would Jesus Christ support a misdirection or a false truth? Would He have them lie about what He would be doing with His disciples in that upper room? I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples. He would not lie. Not if He was the perfect Son of God, not if He was the sacrifice for our sins. Carrying on in Luke 22, verse 11. Then you shall say to the master of the house, The teacher says to you, Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? Plain and clear. And He will show you a large furnace upper room in their make ready. So they went and they found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared what? The Passover. Prepared the Passover. Verse 14. And when the hour had come, He sat down with the twelve apostles with Him, and He said to them, With fervent desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. So, again, what we're seeing here is the house was secured for the purpose of keeping the Passover. Jesus sent Peter and John ahead to prepare the Passover. Jesus said He was going to eat the Passover with His disciples. The Passover was made ready, and Jesus sat down with them when the hour had come, and He expressed His fervent desire to eat it with them before He suffered. Brethren, let God be true, and every man a liar. What does the Word of God say? And what did Immanuel, God with us, the Son of God, say? This was clearly the Passover that Jesus kept with His disciples by His own testimony, and there can be no question to consider it, in my opinion, in any other way by the words of Jesus Himself. Verse 17, carrying on, Luke 22 verse 17, He says, Then He took the cup and gave thanks, and said, Take this and divide it among yourselves, for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And He took bread, and He gave thanks, and He broke it. And He gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Well, what else would we do in remembrance of Him? Well, this is what we're to do at the Passover in remembrance of Him. And I would say, indeed, we're to uphold our covenant each and every day in remembrance of Him, but this was Christ's direct directive. And likewise, He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you.

So again, there can be no question that what Jesus kept that night with His disciples was indeed the Passover, and it was at that gathering that He instituted the new covenant symbols of the bread and of the wine, which we partake of at the Passover service ourselves. The Apostle Paul confirms the importance of these symbols in his testimony as well. And we'll conclude here, 1 Corinthians 11, verse 23.

1 Corinthians 11, verse 23. When we understand, indeed, what it was that Jesus Christ said He was doing with His disciples, there should be no question what the Apostle Paul is affirming here. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 23, 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 what night was that? By Christ's own words, it was the Passover. And we had given thanks, he broke it, and said, Take, eat, this is my body, which is given 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, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. For whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. And for this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. Brethren, we are reminded this time of the year of God's great love. That God's love was so great that He gave His only begotten Son on our behalf. The most significant sacrifice that could possibly be given for us in the life of His only begotten Son. We're also reminded that the love of Jesus Christ is so great that He paid the ultimate price Himself. You know, Jesus wasn't just kind of a puppet on the string. He says, I have the power to lay my life down, and I have the power to take it up again. It was under His own free will that He allowed Himself to be put to death as a sacrifice. In light of so great of a commitment on our behalf, let us keep the Passover with a thankful heart. Let us keep it with confidence in the God whom we serve and the promises of our God. And as we take the bread and the wine this year, let's be encouraged with the knowledge that those symbols represent the proof.

Those symbols represent the absolute proof that God is faithful to His Word. He's faithful to His promises, that He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And as we take the bread and the wine this year, let us consider it the absolute proof that no one and nothing in heaven above or on earth beneath can snatch us out of the hand of our Father in heaven.

Thank you.