Passover Lamb

I want to thank our ensemble. I always add so much to the hymns. Also, I want to greet Mel and Dolly. Hopefully we're coming through okay with our technology. We're thinking of you. Wish you were here. I know you were wishing as well. It's a blessing that you can stay connected with us here through the phone hookup.

Brother, we'll start off today trying to take us back in time a little bit. Let's go back to Exodus 4 and verse 22. Exodus 4 and verse 22, Brother, maybe you were like me when you were small, perhaps as a young child. You were taught the story about the children of Israel and coming out of slavery, coming out of a country where they had been slaves for a very long time, hundreds of years, in a sense, where some generations had never known anything different than being under the hand of a taskmaster. Perhaps we heard that story. Maybe we were taught that either by our parents. Maybe we were taught that by a Bible teacher that were teaching us as children. And we were told about the story and about the plagues and about everything. I don't know what happened.

The killing of the firstborn, the slaying of a lamb. Well, let's take a look as we see the story beginning here in Exodus 4. We'll pick it up here in verse 22. We know that God came to the point where He said, I'm going to free my people. I'm going to free my people from slavery. And so we'll pick it up here. Let's pick it up in verse 19 to pick up some of the context here.

Because Moses is going to Egypt, God has chosen him to be able to be used to bring his people out of this situation. Verse 19, Now the Lord said to Moses and Midian, Go return to Egypt for all the men who sought your life are dead. And then Moses took his wife, his sons, and set them on a donkey. And he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod in his hand. And let's pick it up in verse number 22.

It says, Then you shall say to Pharaoh, Blessed is the Lord God, Israel is my son, even my firstborn. So we know that God began to deal with his people. They were to be a chosen people, a special people. They were to be a... He thought of them as a son.

Israel is my son, even my firstborn. So I say to you, let my son go, that he may serve me. But if you refuse to let my son go, indeed I will kill your son and your firstborn. And so we were taught the story when we were young. And maybe you've seen the movie, oh, this goes back quite a few years, maybe back to the 50s. Some of us old-timers remember Charlton Heston in the movie, The Ten Commandments.

It's played annually on television, usually about close to this time of the year, what we would call Passover and what others would probably call Easter. And it's something that maybe most of you have seen over the years. There's some other modern versions about the story of how God brought his people out. You know, as the Prince of Egypt, that's something also that's out there, more of a modern version.

And so we talked about the stories. We've seen and read about the stories, about the ten plagues, about the lamb's blood, being put on the doorposts and on the lentil, which is the top of the door, and how God passed over the households that had the blood at the entrance of those houses, and those people were spared. And the story goes on, of course. And when we were young, we probably understood these stories up to a certain point.

Brethren, you probably thought it was an amazing story. I mean, it is an amazing story. Like me, you probably thought, that's an amazing story. But I wonder if we really got the full impact and meaning of that story. Brethren, today, the title of the message is the Passover Lamb. The Passover Lamb. And what I'd like to do specifically today, brethren, I want to spend some time looking at this event, specifically the Passover, and of the killing of the lambs, and of the blood that was on the doorpost and that was on the lentil, and see how important it is, not only for them, but how important it is for us today.

Let's go over to Exodus 12. How important it is for us today, how important it is for us to prepare physically, but most importantly, really, spiritually. For indeed, brethren, it really does affect our spiritual, eternal life. So let's look at Exodus 12. We're going to begin here with a set of scriptures that I'm going to spend some time with, maybe a little bit more time than I normally would. I want to make sure that we understand something here. When people ask us why we do what we do, or when we do what we do, we really want to be grounded. We really do want to be grounded in the scripture because there are a lot of thoughts and ideas out there about how often the Passover should be kept and what way the Passover should be kept.

It's important for us to have a solid, Biblical foundation and background. Why we do specific things at specific times. Let me ask a few questions. Why do we partake of the Passover on the 14th day of the first month? Why do we do that? Why do we partake of the Passover with the symbols that we do, of the wine and the bread and the foot washing? There are other churches, and maybe you come from different backgrounds, religious backgrounds before you came here, but there are other churches that observe it at different frequencies.

There are some that observe it, that we call Passover, they call communion, possibly, once a week. You know, the Catholics partake of the bread every single week. You know, there are other churches, different church environments, where they partake of it once a month.

There are some that take part in this four times a year, quarterly. And there are others that do it annually. Some do it annually, like we do, on the fourteenth day of the first month. Some do it annually, not like we do, on the fifteenth day of the first month of God's calendar. So, brother, we in God's church do it on the fourteenth day of the first month, which is called the beeb, God's calendar.

Why do we do it? Why do we do it that way? And, you know, in what manner do we do it? So, let's just review a few things. We make sure that we have an answer for the hope that's within us. Let's begin here in Exodus 12 and verse 1.

Exodus 12 and verse 1, Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be to you the beginning of months. So, God made it clear that this was going to be the first month of my calendar. The month that we're in right now, when He's saying this, is this month shall be the first of the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Verse 3, speak to the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth day of this month, every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.

So, every household was going to have a lamb, and it was to be taken of the tenth day of this month. They were to choose a lamb for their household. And let's notice verse number 5. It shall be without blemish. So, it wasn't going to have any noticeable defects at all. Verse number 6, Now you shall keep it. In other words, this lamb that you have selected on the tenth day of the first month, you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month.

In other words, you are to set it aside to keep it carefully until the fourteenth day arrives. So, the lamb is there. You don't do anything with it until the fourteenth day comes.

So, you're waiting. Well, it goes on to say, Until the fourteenth day of the same month. So, again, we're talking about the first month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation shall kill it at twilight. Now, let's ask a question, brethren. When is twilight? You know, there's actually a couple of times of twilight. Twilight is like, one of the times is once the sun sets, you know, it goes down below the horizon, there's still a little bit of a soft light that's in the sky.

You know, it's not totally dark yet, but it's working its way towards darkness. So, the sun is below the horizon, and you know, you may have seen a beautiful sunset after the sun goes down, there's still a little bit of a glow in the sky, and then it slowly begins to disappear until total darkness eventually arrives. But twilight is that period of time, an hour, maybe an hour and a half, from the time that the sun has set until its total darkness.

There's another time of twilight, also, is in the morning, just before the sun rises, before you see it, come, begin to see it on the horizon, there is some light that's there. So, it's a period of time when it's been totally dark, and it begins to get a little bit lighter until the sun actually starts to rise. So, there are two types of twilight. The dictionary definition of twilight is that soft, diffused light from the sky, when the sun is below the horizon, from sunset to nightfall, is one of the definitions.

And that's usually the one that people think of of twilight, although not everyone, because I talked to a member last Sabbath that mentioned they thought of twilight as in the morning. Rather than as the evening is coming on.

And so, there's two definitions, twilight is two different times, but usually it's from sunset to nightfall. So, they're supposed to do something at twilight. It says, the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. So, it's not totally dark at twilight, it's still not night, but it is the next day. The next day has come. I think most of us know and have understood that we've been taught that God reckons days differently than we do. You know, it says that the evening and the morning were the first day in the book of Genesis.

It's that when the sun sets, one day ends and the next day begins. And so, once the sun has set, then there's this period of twilight for a period of time, and that's the time on the 14th that the children of Israel were to kill this lamb. So, they were to keep the lamb until the 14th day at twilight.

The sun had set, the 13th day has ended, the 14th day has arrived, and they were to kill the lamb. The instruction goes on in verse number 7. It says, and they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts, and on the lintel of the houses, we are there to eat that lamb. And so, brethren, we see that now, too, that we know that there are scriptures that say, you shall not eat the blood.

So, they would have drained the blood after, you know, they cut usually the throat and drained the animal, and then they were to take some of that blood, they were to put it on the two doorposts and the lintel. And that was going to be a symbol. That was going to be a sign of something that God wanted to communicate to them and to you and to me.

It was so almost like a covering of the entrance of their houses to protect them. A covering or protection of the entrance into that house. So, the blood was important. It was very important. Verse number 18. Oh, excuse me, verse number 8. It says, then they shall eat the flesh on that night. So, we're still talking about the fourteenth part of the day. Twilight has come, it killed the lamb, and then, as we'll see, they're going to have to prepare it, and they're going to eat it on that night, on that same day, which is still part of the fourteenth.

So, it tells us, we kill the lamb, we drain the blood, and then, roasted in fire, with unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs, they shall eat it. So, all of this is happening in a very short period of time. Verse number 8, then, they shall eat the flesh on that night. Roasted in fire. So, it's not fried. It's not boiled. God gives pretty clear instructions on how it's supposed to be prepared.

You know, it's supposed to be roasted in fire. And notice it's supposed to be eaten with unleavened bread. Now, one thing that's helpful to understand is, it's not yet the days of unleavened bread, but they were to eat that lamb with unleavened bread. Why? Because that lamb and Jesus Christ pictured no sin at all.

And so, as part of that ceremony, as part of what God is asking them to do, is that they were to eat that lamb with unleavened bread. Not because it was the days of unleavened bread, because we'll understand that that starts on the 15th day of the first month. We'll see that in a moment. But this was before that, but we eat the unleavened bread because it represents Christ.

And with bitter herbs also they shall eat it. Verse 9, don't eat it raw, nor boiled with water, but roasted in fire. And so it's very specific. Roasted in fire with its head, with its legs. In other words, don't dismember the animal. You know, a lot of times if you were to eat an animal, you would dismember the head. You'd take off some of these things, and you'd get it prepared. You'd butcher, get ready to roast it. That's not what was supposed to happen with this. It's roasted in fire with its head, and with its legs, and with its entrails. We don't use that word entrails a lot in our English language today. But the definition of entrails is the internal parts of the trunk of the animal. The internal parts really of anything. So we're talking about the insides, you know, that was all supposed to be there. It was a full sacrifice, in a sense. Only the blood was spilled. And so God's instruction is clear. It goes on in verse number 10, And you shall let none of it remain until the morning, And what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. He says in verse 11, Thus you shall eat it with your belt on your waist, With your sandals on your feet, And your staff in your hand, You shall eat it in haste. So it's like you're going to be going somewhere fairly soon. And we want you to do this in haste. And think about all of this is going on. And, you know, it has to be eaten in haste. The sun has set. Twilight is here. We have to kill the lamb. All of that's quite a job. The blood has to be drained. We have to roast it. We have to eat it. You know, it was a lot of work, in a sense. However, this would probably have been a family affair, because someone would have had to build the fire. Someone would have had to get the blood and put it on the lentils and on the doorposts, and all of those things. Prepared the unleavened bread. You know, there would have been a lot of things that would have been going on. And God says, eat it in haste. And there are some things that had to be done in haste. Now, the Scripture tells us elsewhere in verse number 22, it says that they were not to leave their homes until the morning. And so they were supposed to stay in their homes, where the protection was, where the sign of the blood was on the outside of the entrance to their houses.

So some very specific Scriptures from God. And then any meat left in the morning to be burned. Verse 10. Then verse number 11, at the end of the verse, 11, it says this, You shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. And brethren, that Hebrew word is Jehovah. And we feel our understanding is as we're talking about the Word, the One who became flesh, when we talk about Jehovah here. And it is the Lord's Passover. And we know the Lord is Christ. Christ is our Lord. It's the Lord's Passover. It's the day that the Lord came to that area and He passed over certain houses that had the blood over the entrance.

So the blood is important because it saved their lives. When would be the Lord's Passover? Let's look at verse number 29. Verse number 29. It says it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. So there's a lot that's happening here on this day of the 14th. At the beginning of the day of twilight, they were to kill the lamb. They were to eat it that night. And then later on at midnight is when the Passover, the Lord, came through at midnight and struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt.

So again, all of these things are happening on the same day. It's the 14th. It's not the 15th. It's not the 13th. All of these things happening here on the same day. Let's go back to verse number 12. Verse number 12. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night. Again, the 14th. And then verse number 13. Now the blood shall be a sign to you. And that's an important sign, brethren. The blood shall be a sign that for you on the houses where you are, and the Lord said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you.

And that's such a symbolic and very powerful meaning for us. And maybe you're getting ahead of me a little bit and starting to think about the blood of Jesus Christ, who is our Passover. The blood that washes us, and therefore God and Christ, will pass over our sins because we have the blood of Christ applied to us. It's really a very powerful meaning. It's a very wonderful meaning. Probably not grasped by them at that time, as far as what this was really picturing along the way, or what it's going to picture in the future. So a couple of points here in review. The Passover takes place on the 14th of the first month in God's calendar.

They were to kill the lamb at twilight, eat it that night, midnight, the Passover the Lord came through, firstborns were killed. Notice verse number 14 of Exodus 12. So this day shall be to you a memorial. This day shall be to you a memorial. Not every week, not once a month, not once every three months, but the first day of the 14th month, or the first month of God's calendar, this day shall be to you a memorial. You know, we were talking when we were overseas this last time, we met up with a pastor in Delhi, India, and he was someone that wanted to visit with us.

And Mr. Ken Murray and I had a chance to talk with him. We met after the feast. We had spent the feast in Sri Lanka. He had spent the feast in India. We caught up with each other in Delhi, and we had this meeting with this minister, and somehow we got to start talking about Passover and the days of 11 bread. And we talked about the frequency of how often you should be keeping the Passover.

And he said, well, he said, we keep it right now four times a year. And I said, why do you do that? He said, well, we used to keep it weekly. But I'm in transition. I understand now we should keep it once a year. But the brethren aren't ready for this transition. So I'm moving them along slowly. So that was his answer, and he was trying to gradually move that congregation to eventually a once a year observance of the Passover, because that's how he began to understand how often it was supposed to be observed.

So in verse 14 here, we see two things here that are very important. In Exodus 12 verse 14, number one, this day is a memorial. Not any day, not every week, but this day is a memorial.

And notice also, and you shall keep it as a feast day. Brethren, we often sometimes don't think of Passover as a feast day, but that's what God calls it. In fact, it's the first festival of the seven festivals of God. He mentions all seven in Leviticus chapter 23. This is a feast day. It is the first of the seven festivals, which God reveals in His plan of salvation for you and for me. But notice, it's not a holy day. It's important to understand there's a difference between a feast day and a holy day. Now, God's holy days are feast days, but not all feast days are holy days. For example, Passover is a feast day, but it's not necessarily, it's not a holy day. The third and the fifth day of the Feast of Tabernacles are feast days. You shall keep your feast, right? Seven days. But the third and the fifth days are not, they're feast days, but they're not holy days. Now, there are holy days that are part of that festival, but there is a difference. Likewise with the festival of Unleavened Bread. You know, that's a seven-day festival, but the third and the fifth day, or the fourth day, they're not holy days. But the first and the last days are holy days. So there is a difference there.

There's a difference, and it's important for us to understand that. Now, let's go to another reference, Leviticus 23, verse 5. We will see that it says exactly the same thing here about the Passover. So we've already read in Exodus 12 that this was the first, in a sense, record of the first Passover observance, or festival. But now we come to a very important set of scriptures here in Leviticus 23, and this one that many of you will recognize. It's really a beautiful section of scripture because all of the seven festivals of God here are all in one place. It summarizes them here in one section of scripture, highlighting which of these are festivals only, and highlighting those that are festivals and holy days. Well, let's pick it up here in Leviticus 23, verse 5. It says, on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord's Passover. So that says exactly the same thing of what we read in Exodus 12. Fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord's Passover. And so, from the beginning, right from the beginning of the fourteenth day when it's twilight, it is here, and it's clear. It's the fourteenth, not the fifteenth.

Verse number six, And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to the Lord. And seven days you must eat unleavened bread. So, brethren, we've got two different festivals here, don't we? We've got the feast at Passover on the fourteenth, and we have another festival, a separate one, of the feast of unleavened bread, which begins on the fifteenth. So it's pretty clear. Verse number seven, on the first day, again, this is referring to the feast of unleavened bread, On the first day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall do no customary work on it. So the first day of unleavened bread is an annual Sabbath. It goes on in verse number eight, But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day also shall be a holy convocation, and you shall do no customary work on it. So we have two annual Sabbaths during the seven-day festival. One on the fifteenth, day of the first month, and one on the twenty-first day of the first month. So God is clear with His instructions. So we see that we have two different festivals here, one on the fourteenth, and one that begins a separate feast on the fifteenth. So Exodus 12, and I think Leviticus 23 are pretty clear. So hopefully what we've gotten out of it so far is that the Passover is on the fourteenth day of the first month, and the days of eleven bread begin on the fifteenth day of the first month in God's calendar. What about the New Testament? What about the New Testament? Let's ask some questions here. Did Christ abolish the Passover in the New Testament? Did He do away with that in the New Testament, no longer needs to be observed? Did Christ really observe the Passover at the right time, and on the right day, that it talks about here in Exodus 12 and Leviticus 23. Did He really do it at the right time? Did He? Because it's Him that we need to follow. It's His example that we need to look to. What did He do? After all, if it's the Lord's, if it's Jehovah's Passover, if it's the Lord's Passover, and Christ is our Lord, and He's the same yesterday, today, and forever as it says in Hebrews 13, verse 8, what did He do? Well, let's turn over to 1 Corinthians, chapter 11. 1 Corinthians, chapter 11. Paul is writing here, and he shares some things with us that actually Jesus Christ shared with him. 1 Corinthians, chapter 11. We'll pick it up in verse number 1. Paul says, imitate Me just as I also imitate Christ. Paul is saying, follow Me just as I follow Christ. And Paul said that. So what did Paul do? Well, let's jump to verse number 23 of chapter 11. We're in the same chapter, verse number 23 of chapter 11. Paul says, for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you. Paul is saying that this is directly coming from Jesus Christ. And I'm simply sharing with you what Jesus Christ has shared with me. As it says, for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you.

We could go back and see in Galatians chapter 1 how Jesus Christ actually taught Paul individually. We're going to talk about that in the Bible study here this afternoon. Well, there was a special relationship that Jesus Christ had with Paul in the sense of the way that he taught him. Paul said in one place, when I started to understand these things, I didn't confer with flesh and blood. He's talking about Jesus Christ Himself was teaching me these things. And it wasn't until many years later that I went to Jerusalem and I saw some of the other apostles, Peter. So that's maybe something to discuss maybe a little bit more thoroughly in the Bible study.

But the point is, and that's not the point I'm trying to make here necessarily, but the point is that I'd like to talk about here is that we'll see that Jesus Christ told Paul about what we're about to read. And Paul is simply delivering it to the Corinthians and to you and I. So Paul received this instruction from Jesus Christ, which is the following, that the Lord Jesus on the same night on which He was betrayed, He took bread.

On the same night that Jesus Christ was betrayed, He observed the Passover. It says He took bread. And we're going to see here in a moment as we go through and look at some additional Scriptures that the same night that He was betrayed was the 14th day of the first month of God's calendar. And so we go on to explain. And when He had given thanks, verse 24, He broke it.

And He said, Take eat this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me. He's clearly talking about symbolism of the Passover here on the night that He was betrayed. Same night. It wasn't a different night. It wasn't one night earlier, one night later. The same night He was betrayed. So the question is, did Christ really keep the Passover when He did this? Because there are some thoughts that He's not keeping the Passover.

So the question is, did Christ keep the Passover when He did this, when He broke the bread, when He poured the wine into the cup and said, Take a drink of this or take eat of this, was this the Passover night? Some people say it was just a meal. It was just a meal that He was having with His disciples.

And that's how they understand it. They argue that the Passover was the next day on the 15th day of the first month, when at that time the majority of the Jews were partaking in eating the Passover meal. It was on the 15th. Now, not all of the Jews at that time were partaking the Passover on the 15th, but the majority of them were. There were some, including Christ and His disciples, which were keeping the Passover on the 14th day of the first month.

And some argue that, well, Jesus Christ couldn't observe it on the 15th day, which was really the right day because He would have been dead by then. So He couldn't. So He just decided to have it one day sooner.

Well, we'll have to take a look at Scripture when we look at that. Let's go over to Luke 22, verse 8. The question is, was Jesus really keeping the Passover, or was He doing it one night before because He couldn't do it the next night, because He would have been dead by that time. Well, let's turn over to Luke 22, verse 8. I think that will help make it clear. Luke 22, verse 8. It says, And He, referring to Jesus, sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat. Now, is He telling them to go and prepare any meal?

I don't think so. You know, He says, Go and prepare the Passover. I think Christ was very specific here, no two? The Passover. I think He knew what He meant. Let's drop down to verse number 13. So they went and found it just as He said to them, and they prepared the Passover. That's what they were preparing for. That's what they were about to partake of.

Remember the story? He said, if you go into the city and you'll see this man and follow him and tuck you to a house, and on the upper room, they'll have everything prepared. And so that's the context here. And in verse 13, So they went and found it just as He said to them, and they prepared the Passover. They knew what they were doing was the Passover. And it was actually one day before the bulk of the Jewish nation was going to be observing it, because they were going to be killing a lamb on the 14th at about three o'clock in the afternoon, but they were going to eat that lamb on the 15th day of the first month.

Because that's when most of the Jews at that time were partaking of the Passover meal was at the beginning of the 15th day. So the disciples were observing it with Jesus one day prior to that, on the 14th day. Why? Because at that time, there were people that were keeping it on the 14th. Still, in Jesus Christ and His disciples were. Let's notice verse number 14. When the hour had come, brethren, Jesus Christ not only kept the Passover on the right day, but even at the right time.

When the hour had come, He kept it at the right hour.

God does everything on time. We know that He has these appointed times that He talks about in Leviticus 23. These festivals, these appointed times. And so He has an idea of when things should start and when they should end. He has these appointed times. It was just not the right day.

In a sense, it was even the right hour here in verse number 14. And that right hour that they were keeping that was at twilight. In a sense, it wasn't at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Later that day, it was at twilight. So, it was the right hour, in a sense. Which means that they killed the Lamb at twilight at the beginning of the 14th.

Which means they prepared the Lamb, they ate the Passover, it was done. At the hour, at the right time. Look at verse number 15. Then He said to them, with fervent desire, so this is Christ speaking here. With fervent desire, I have desired to eat this Passover.

That's what He was eating. He was eating the Passover. So we see He told them to prepare it. Then they prepared it. And then Christ said, I have a desire to eat this Passover. Not just a meal. Not any meal.

And God, in a sense, because the rest of them were going to be eating it later on. They were going to kill the Lamb later on that day, in the afternoon, around 3 o'clock. And then they were going to eat it at twilight, on the 15th, in a sense. But you know, God allowed it, I suppose, maybe for a purpose. This may be somewhat speculative, because Christ, in a sense, actually died at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, on the 14th. It's amazing how God can do that, even with God's, even with people's stubbornness, that God can work things out beautifully, in a sense.

God allows this for His purposes. But Jesus said, with fervent desire, I have desire to eat this Passover with you, before I suffer. So that's what He's talking about, is eating the Passover prior to Him suffering. And so that evening, rather than which the beginning of the 15th, the evening night He was betrayed. He observed the Passover with His disciples. Later on that night, He was taken. He eventually went to the high priest. You know, early the next day, He eventually went to Pilate. You remember the story? And then, that afternoon, He was put on a stake.

And He died later on that day, before the sun set. All of this happened on the 14th. Rather than the timing, it is important, in a way, I suppose, if we think about it, if the children of Israel had decided to kill the lamb on the 14th day, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, it would have been too late.

Because the prior midnight is when the Lord went through and took the lives of the firstborn, of those that didn't have the sign, over the entrance to their house. It would have been too late. And then if they would have killed the lamb at 3 o'clock in the afternoon and partaken of eating it on the 15th day, it would have been too late for them. One night too late. In fact, the firstborn would have been dead already. So it's important. God does things on time, and the blood was a sign to them. Brother, let's go over to 1 Corinthians 5.

1 Corinthians 5. The blood is a sign, and it's an important one. God said, when I see the blood, I will pass over your houses. And this whole time, it was really pointing to the true blood of Jesus Christ. It was a sign of the blood of the true Passover lamb. And I think God wants us to understand how important it is. 1 Corinthians 5. We'll pick it up in verse 7. It says, therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened, for indeed Christ our Passover.

So there it is. Paul makes it very, very clear that really that Passover lamb was picturing Jesus Christ all along. He is our Passover. Yours and mine. Let's notice John 1, verse 29. John 1, verse 29. The book of John is one of my favorites, and chapter 1 is really an astounding chapter, really. I think John had an incredible understanding of the Godhead, and Jesus Christ is the Word. And John says this, or writes this in John chapter 1, verse 29.

The context here is that John the Baptist is observing Christ from a distance, and he's got a couple of his own disciples that are close by. And he sees Christ Jesus in the distance, and he makes a comment. He says, John chapter 1, verse 29, the next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

That probably, in a way, made John the Baptist's disciples jaw drop, because they knew that a lamb was killed, that a lamb was sacrificed. They were well aware of the various sacrifices that were made for sin, that an animal had to die. And here John the Baptist is pointing to a human being and saying, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of everyone.

The whole world. And I imagine that probably got their attention. Who is this guy that John the Baptist is talking about? Because we know what happens to lambs that are killed for sin. And here's just a human being. Brother, there's a lesson in the sense of the blood. What's that lesson? Well, it's a sign that if that blood is over the entrance of your house, that you'll be spared from death. And if it's not there, then you will die. It's a big lesson for the children of Israel back at the time. The blood was a sign they were required to kill a lamb.

And they placed the blood on the doorpost and the lentil. And they were required to believe in that instruction. They were required to believe in that sign. You know, it's probably human to say, well, you know, that seems foolish. You know, kill a lamb, roast it whole, take some of the blood and put it on the door. You know, I'm not going to do that. That seems foolish to me.

I don't understand the sense of that. It's messy. No, I'm not going to do it. Well, brethren, it appears that no one among all of the children of Israel made that choice. Nobody said, I'm not going to do it. They all did it. There isn't a record at all in Scripture that any of the firstborn of the Israelites died. Now, they had already gone through nine of the other plagues.

They had seen what had taken place. And they believed that this is what they needed to do. And they acted on that belief. They took action. Brethren, just like you and I, we are to believe in the blood of the Passover, of Jesus Christ. We know that He is the ultimate sacrifice. That's why we don't have sacrifices any longer under the New Covenant. They were all pointing all along, of course, to the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. The Lamb that was to be slain before the foundation of the world, as we read about in Revelation 13, verse 8.

So this was a plan of God right from the beginning. And so, when He began to institute this among the children of Israel, this was actually to have us look forward, and have them look forward as well, to the fact that there was a human being that was going to be a Lamb.

That would take away the sins of everyone. Brethren, this is love in a sense. This is the love that God has for you and I. God the Father gave His only begotten Son for you and I, who are much less than perfect. You know, in a sense, we're all failures. We're wretched in many respects. The blood of our Passover Lamb is very important to us. And we must act on it as well. Just as they acted on that belief, so must we. And brethren, in believing then, what must we do?

Acts 2, verse 38. Acts 2, verse 38. The linear section of Scripture may be to many of us, maybe not all. But what must we do? On the day of Pentecost, when God inspired Peter to speak, and people asked that very same question, they realized that they were guilty, that they were responsible for taking the life of the Savior, of the Messiah. And they asked, what must we do at the end of verse number 37? What shall we do? And Peter said right away, he didn't have to think about it because God was inspiring him. He said, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Wow, there's a lot in that verse. In verse number 38. Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and you shall receive a gift from God of the Holy Spirit. Repent is the first thing that is said here, and that's what we have to do. You know, this is the time of year when we examine ourselves, we look at ourselves, and we often did that before we were baptized. We really took a good, long look at ourselves before our baptism. And we repented, we were told and taught that that's what we needed to do. That's what God teaches through Peter here. But repentance isn't just a one-time event that happens just prior to baptism. That's something that's an ongoing thing. In fact, this is the time of the year when we begin to examine ourselves and begin to look, not at others, but at ourselves, to see whether or not there are areas that need to be cleaned up in our life that we need to repent of and try to change. It's an annual, in a sense, reminder, a renewal, in a sense, of our commitment, of the covenant that we entered into God at baptism, a baptismal covenant. Repent. We've heard messages over the years about repentance. It means just more than being sorry.

But it means that we actually change our way of life. We begin to live in a different way. It has to be a sincere and a real repentance. And so the Scriptures talk about that as well. It's a godly repentance. You know, when Jesus Christ came and He brought that message of the kingdom of God from His Father, and He began to preach it all over the place, everywhere He went, towns, villages, it says that the word repentance would often be in tandem with talking about the kingdom of God.

It says that over and over again. Let's take a look at one example of that. Just one example for the sake of time. Mark 1, verse 15. Mark 1, verse 15. Pick it up in verse 14. After John was put in prison referring to John the Baptist, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe.

Believe, of course, means acting upon the message that you're hearing. Of course, repent is in tandem with the kingdom of God over and over again. When Jesus Christ preached about the kingdom of God, He used the word repentance over and over again. The good news is that there is a different kingdom that's coming. And God wants you to be a part of it. But He expects you and I to repent of our sins and to change.

Let's notice Luke 13, verse 1, where Christ speaks of repentance and His expectation of us doing so. Luke 13, verse 1. It says there were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said, Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, and they suffered such things? I tell you no. Wow! Christ says they weren't.

They weren't worse sinners. I tell you no. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. I think He's talking about perishing eternally in this context. And then He goes on in verse number 4, Those eighteen people on whom the Tower of Siloam fell and killed them, do you think they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you no. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. You know, when He says it twice, I think He's trying to get our attention. And so, brethren, God would have you and I to believe on the blood of the Passover Lamb. But there is something we must do.

We must repent. Look at ourselves. Look at God's Word. See what it shows us by looking at it. And look, you know, at the last year, I'm not saying go back to what we were prior to baptism. You know, looking back at the last year and saying, how have I done? Where do I still need to be molded and fashioned and changed in my behavior? And repent of that.

Some things we must do is repentance. Of course, we have to be baptized to have the old man, the old way, buried in a watery grave symbolically, in a new man that rises up out of the watery grave. Let's go to Romans 6. I think Paul talks quite a bit about that part of it in a way that's symbolic, that still helps us to understand what we need to do. Romans 6, talking about baptism and, in a sense, being buried in a watery grave and having the old person die and a new person comes up out of the watery grave to live a new way of life.

Romans 6 and verse 4. Therefore, brethren, we were buried with Him, referring to Christ, through baptism, into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we should also walk in newness of life. And, brethren, that's enabled us because of the fact that we're dead in baptism, and then He gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit, so we can begin to live a new way of life with the gift that He's given to us. Let me tell you a story here. I don't know how many of you have heard about a movie that came out not too long ago, about someone by the name of Corey Weisman, or Corey Wiseman.

I'm not sure exactly how to pronounce his name. Has anyone seen or heard of the movie 1000 to 1? Anyone? 1000 to 1. Okay.

Well, this is about a young man. When this takes place, he's probably about 18, 19 years old, where basketball had been his life. He scored, as a high schooler, he scored a thousand points during his high school career, even thousands. In fact, all time in his state, at the high school level, he is ninth on the all-time high school list in his particular state, where he played high school.

But something happened to Corey, and I'm going to read an article here that tells a little bit about what happened to him. This is from when there's more to winning than winning. This is from National Public Radio. It says, when we last left the NCAA, it was February madness, and colleges were jumping conferences and suing each other, and coaches were claiming that rivals were cheating when it came to recruiting.

The article says, the usual nobility of college sports. And then in the midst of all this, a man's basketball team from Washington College at Chestertown, Maryland, journeyed to Pennsylvania to play Gettysburg College in a Division III centennial conference game. It was senior night, and the loudest cheers were for someone by the name of Corey Wiseman, who was 5'3". Number three, he was a team captain. And there were tears, especially when he walked out on the court at the beginning of the game, because he was one of Gettysburg's starting five.

Yes, he was a captain, but you see, this was the first start of his college career. He's a senior now. This is his first start of his college career. Corey had played only a few minutes on the varsity as a freshman, never even scoring. But then after that season, although he was only 18, he suffered a major stroke. And he was unable to walk for two weeks. His whole left side was paralyzed. He lost his memory. He had seizures. And I guess he was born with a birth defect in his brain, and there were certain things that, you know, normally there would be some type of symptom that they could have had surgery to correct it before what happened happened to him.

But he had absolutely no symptoms at all before he had this major stroke. He lost his memory. He had seizures. His left side paralyzed, unable to walk. But by strenuously devoting himself to rehabilitation, Corey slowly began to improve. He was able to return to college, and by his senior year, he could walk without a limp.

He even participated in the pregame layup drills. So for senior night against Washington, his coach, George Petrie, made the decision to start Corey. Yet he'd played only a few token seconds. As he went in, he played just a few token seconds, and then it was taken out. But it meant a great deal to Corey, and it meant a great deal to his fellow teammates at Gettysburg.

But all the more touching, the Washington team cheered him. They stood and cheered him when he came out on the court as they announced the starting five. The short little time playing at the beginning of the game was supposed to be the end of it, but with Gettysburg ahead by a large margin, with less than a minute left to go, Coach Petrie put Corey back in with about 17 seconds left in the game.

Nobody could understand, though, what happened next, because the Washington coach, Rob Nugent, called a timeout. And the fans did not know why he was doing that. But there they were in the huddle, and what he told them was, his players, as quickly as they could, that they could gently foul number three, Corey Wiseman.

And one of them did. And with 17 seconds left in the game, Corey Wiseman strode up to the free-throw line. He had two shots. I guess there were so many fouls, he wasn't in the active shooting when he got fouled, but because the other team had so many fouls, they were in a bonus situation, he got two shots. Suddenly, the crowd had understood what the Washington coach had done. There was not a sound in the gym when Corey strode up to the free-throw line. He took the ball from the referee, and he shot.

It drifted a little bit to the left, hit the front rim, and bounced away. The crowd stirred. The referee gave Corey the ball back. He eyed the rim carefully, bent his knees, and then he released, snapping his wrist. The ball left his hand, truly, and fell through swish. All net. The crowd cried as much as it cheered. The assistant vice president for athletics at Gettysburg, David Wright, wrote to the Washington College, and this is what he said, Your coach, Rob Nugent, along with his staff and the student athletes, displayed a measure of compassion that I have never witnessed in 30 years of intercollegiate athletics.

And Corey Wiseman had made a point. The only point in his college career. He made a point. And so had the Washington team. Thousand to one. Further, this was not an easy thing, though, that he went through. This was a very difficult thing. In the midst of his rehabilitation, it was very difficult. It was very trying of what he went through. You know, he had physical highs and lows. He had emotional highs and lows. One time during one of his emotional lows, he had a counseling session with a counselor.

And he was telling him during the midst of this session, Corey said this, he said, I have tried to do everything that I can. I have given it everything, all my energy, to try to rehabilitate myself. And he said, I'm not even close to where I was before.

He said, the old Corey's gone. The old Corey's dead. And the counselor, I think it was a pretty good one, I think he knew how to handle the situation. He said, I'm sorry, could you tell me that again? What is he trying to tell me? And Corey was frustrated. He said, the old Corey is dead. And the counselor said, you're right. But a new Corey lives. And I can tell you that the new Corey is ten times better than what the old Corey was.

You know, Corey had already started, in a sense, as part of his rehabilitation, he'd already started visiting younger children than him that had similar things that had happened to them. It was changing him. Brother, when we enter our baptism covenant, the old man died. The old man was buried through baptism, a watery grave, and just like Corey, a new person emerged. And a different person lives so much better than the old man. But we have to work like Corey, too, don't we? We have to work hard to grow and to overcome.

And God places us in these types of situations because He wants to see what we will do. He loves us so much that He knows what He has to put us through for us to be able to get to where we need to be. We have to use God's Holy Spirit to stay close to Him, to put the sin out, the leaven in a sense, to fortify sin, so we'll grow into a complete spiritual creation.

Complete meaning finished. The new man. And so, we look at ourselves at this time of year. We look at ourselves. We examine ourselves. And we renew our baptismal covenant. There are so many parallels between the children of Israel under the Old Covenant and the Israel of God in the New Covenant. For the sake of time, I'll refer to Galatians 6, verse 16, which says, The body of Christ, the church, is the Israel of God. So many parallels between the children of Israel in the Old Covenant and the Israel of God in the New Covenant.

There was a Passover Lamb. There was baptism. You know, we read about it in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 2. I'll just refer to that 1 Corinthians 10, verse 2. They were all baptized into Moses, in the cloud, and in the sea. So there's some parallels. And they also entered into a covenant. The Old Covenant for them, a new covenant for us. Let's go to Exodus 19, verse 4, for a moment.

Exodus 19, verse 4. This is just before they entered an Old Covenant, God's people, under the Old Covenant. Exodus 19, verse 4. God says, You have seen what I've done to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagle's wings, and I brought you to Me. I brought you to Myself. Got you out of there, out of slavery, and brought you to Me. Verse 5. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice, and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me, above all people.

For all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words, Moses, that you shall speak to the children of Israel. And Moses did. Verse 7, Moses came, and he called for the elders of the people, and he laid before them all the words which the Lord had commanded him.

And in verse 8, and then the people answered, together they were all on the same page. And they said, all that the Lord has spoken we will do. And so Moses brought those words of the people back to God.

And you know, in a sense, that's what we did when we partook of the baptismal covenant. He said that all that God has said or wants us to do, we will do. Very similar. We have some parallels there. Let's talk about covenants for a moment, because a covenant can maybe seem like a difficult thing to understand, a complex thing. The word covenant isn't used a lot today in our language.

But when you come right down to it, a covenant is really a very simple thing. Simply speaking, a covenant is an agreement. It's an agreement between two parties. An agreement where both parties agree to do something. They commit themselves to the agreement. They commit themselves to each other. It's a legally binding contract. When we talk about covenant, that's still a word that attorneys will use today. It's a legal term. The word covenant is used in a legal profession to describe agreements or contracts. Two parties will covenant with each other. In this agreement, each party has obligations. They make promises. So in a covenant with God, God obligates Himself to His people. He commits Himself to the faithful obligations that He has promised to perform, to be faithful to His people, to do what He has promised to do.

He promises blessings. He promises protection. He promises and provides help. He blesses. He prospers. He heals. And He promises eternal life. And in turn, His people obligate themselves to Him. They have duties. They have promises that they have made to be faithful and to do what God asks them to do, to be faithful to their duties, to be faithful to their obligations. Let's notice 1 Corinthians 11, verse 25. 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 25. We were here earlier, but we did not read this verse. You talk about the shedding of blood, this meteor of a new covenant that our Savior brought, that Christ brought. And it's different than the old covenant. It's not the same. It's different.

It's a new covenant. And Christ instructed Paul to write this to the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 25. 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 25. It says in the same manner. So again, Christ instructed this. 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. We have an annual reminder, don't we, of this new covenant that we voluntarily entered into.

Because, you know, God didn't force us. He didn't twist our arms to do this. Because that's just not the way that He works. Verse 26. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. So we know He's coming. We know He's coming. And as often as we do this, we proclaim God's death, or the Lord's death, rather, till He comes.

So this is the blood of the new covenant, which in a sense frees us from sin that produces death. It's symbolized, you know, when we drink the wine at Passover, it symbolizes the blood of the Passover lamb. It symbolizes the blood on the doorpost back when the children of Israel came out of the slavery of Egypt, when it saved the lives of the firstborn.

And now, it saves the eternal lives of the Israel of God, the firstfruits. Now think about this for a moment. God was willing to pay the greatest price that could be possibly paid for you and for me in this covenant. This is how much God thinks of us. This is how much He loves us. You know, sometimes I think when we go to Passover, prior to Passover, when we start to examine ourselves, which we should, but sometimes we start examining ourselves and we get filled with a little bit of discouragement, maybe a lot of discouragement, maybe even some foreboding, in a sense, some dread, some discouragement.

But it should be also, in one sense, at the same time, thankfulness and an encouragement, because God loves us this much that He would give us an annual reminder of His commitment to us. But then He asked us to have an annual reminder of our commitment to Him. What does He expect from us? Well, we've touched on that already. We've touched on several things today. We know we have to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, His sacrifice, and all that that means.

But let's turn over to Deuteronomy 10 and verse 12. Deuteronomy 10 and verse 12, I think it spells out pretty clearly and simply to His people. Not just the children of Israel, because we all live by every word of God, so the Israel of God should also live by these words as well. The Old Testament speaks to us as well as to them, the children of Israel in the Old Covenant. In fact, they, the children of Israel, speak to us through their example. Let's take a look at our duties and obligations. Deuteronomy 10 and verse 12.

God says, this is the way that I live. This is the way that I exist. And I command these things today for your good. So you choose, you decide, you make a choice. Now this is what I'm going to ask you to do. And He tells us here, He says in verse 12, to fear Him. This is what He requires to fear the Lord your God, which means to respect Him. There's a better, maybe, translation in today's modern English, is to respect God. And it says to walk the way that He walks. As it says to walk in His ways. This is the way that He walks. And I think Christ helped us to understand that in the way that He walked, when He was on the earth. He goes on to say, and to love Him. We know already He's committed to loving us. John 3, verse 16, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. And also, He talks about keeping His commandments. Verse 13, to live the way that He lives. Let's go over to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1.

It's pretty simple. There's four points there in Deuteronomy 10, verses 12 and 13. Some of the things that God requires of you and me. And there's more here in 1 Peter 1 and verse 15. We'll pick it up there in verse 15 of 1 Peter 1.

But as He who called you was holy, you also be holy. Be like me, in other words. Be like your heavenly Father, your elder brother, your Savior. But as He who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all of your conduct.

I wish He wouldn't have used the word all there. You know? Because God sets high standards for us, doesn't He? He doesn't expect us to arrive in one day or in one year.

But I think He wants us to begin to work towards that. To become eventually a complete spiritual creation. So that's part of what we do at this time of the year. We look at ourselves prior to Passover and see maybe the part of our conduct that still needs work. Verse 16. Because it's written, be holy for I am holy. And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.

I think that's interesting how He puts that. You know, like we're not going to be here very long on the earth, in the flesh. Conduct your time here, your stay here, I think is how He puts it, in fear. Be sober, be careful. Verse 18. Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold.

We think of those as precious metals, don't we? Something that's very valuable. He says you were not redeemed with corruptible things. Corruptible things. So even that isn't eternal. You were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received from your forefathers. In a sense, we learn things from the past, from our families, from our grandparents, our parents. From your aimless conduct that was received by tradition from your fathers.

But you have been redeemed, verse 19, with the precious blood of a Lamb, Jesus Christ, who was without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world. Same thing that the book of Revelation talks about. Foreordained before the foundation of the world, but He was manifest in these last times for you and me. Verse 21, who through Him, believe in God, through Christ, believe in God, and to act on that belief.

We know belief is much more than just knowing who God is, but acting upon what He tells us to do. Through Him, believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and your hope are in God. Since you have purified your souls and obeyed the truth through the Spirit, and notice in having sincere love of the brethren, not faint, necessarily, but sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart.

Having been born again, we talked about being raised from the watery grave, not of corruptible seed, but now incorruptible, God's Holy Spirit within us, an incorruptible seed. He has become our Father, His begotten children. But of incorruptible, through the Word of God, which lives and abides forever. Because when it comes to flesh, it says, grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of the grass, the grass withers and the flower falls away. But the Word of God, the Word of the Lord, endures forever.

Now this is the Word which by the Gospel was preached to you. From this whole process, in a sense, begins with a Passover lamb, the first of seven festivals of God's plan of salvation. When we were young, most of us were taught this story of when the children of Israel came out of a slavery of a foreign country, of an empire, in the sense of the land of Egypt, the nation of Egypt.

We heard of the plagues, we heard of the last one, the slaying of the lamb and the spreading of the blood on the doorposts, covering and protecting the entrance to their homes where they dwelt. And they were to act on that belief. And they did. And, brethren, that's an amazing story, maybe one that we haven't grasped and hopefully we've grasped to a greater degree. The meaning of that blood which covers the entrance to our house, spiritually speaking, so that the Lord will pass over us. In other words, forgive our sins and will save us from eternal death. And so we act on that belief. And it all began with the slaying and the shedding of the blood of the Passover lamb.