Preparation for Passover

Well, it's been several weeks since I've been here, but you may recall I started a sermon that I'd like to finish today. I asked the question, what does the Passover mean to you? The Passover season is truly the most meaningful time of the year in so many ways. Of course, all of God's Holy Days are tremendously meaningful, but I think all of us have a special place in our heart for these Spring Holy Days because they mean so much to us. One of the things that we talked about last time was observing the Passover means that you acknowledge God's deliverance out of slavery and sin.

We acknowledge that God is the one who is delivering us. God is the one that's bringing us out of slavery and bringing us out of sin. It's a wonderful, tremendous blessing. Secondly, we talked about how observing the Passover means that we all acknowledge and accept Christ as the Lamb of God. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Lamb of God, and He is our personal Savior. I'd like to launch right into a third principle today. Observing the Passover means that you realize that you are one of God's first fruits.

That's a very important realization that we should have as we observe the Passover again this year. We ought to be humbled by the fact that God has called us out of the world. Out of billions of people on the earth throughout the ages, a relatively very small number are called to be first fruits. We are called to be first fruits. You are called as one of God's first fruits. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, it talks about our calling as first fruits, and it shows, first of all, that Jesus Christ is the first of the first fruits, but we are following Christ.

We are first fruits as well. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 20. But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, those who have died. For since by man came death, by man that is, by Jesus Christ, also came the resurrection of the dead. For as an Adam, all die, even so in Christ, all shall be made alive.

Now that's a wonderful promise that all people shall be made alive in Christ. But each one in his own order. There is a particular order, and we happen to be of the first order because of God's willingness to call us at this time, not because of anything that we've done to warrant it, but for whatever reasons, and God has his reasons. He's called you and he's called me as first fruits. So each one in his own order, Christ the first fruit, afterwards those who are Christ at his coming.

Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. It's a tremendous blessing to have this understanding that we are called to be first fruits. It should certainly guide our conduct, the way that we live our lives, the things that we say, the things that we do. We should reflect that we are truly God's called out ones at this time.

We are to set an example. We are to be a light to the world. So we have to be careful how we live our lives. In Romans chapter 8, it also talks about our calling as first fruits. Here it says that we are first fruits of the Spirit, because God has chosen to give us, he's called us and given us his Spirit. The scripture says that many are called, but few are chosen. And only those who are chosen will receive the Spirit of God. Few are chosen. We are among the chosen at this time.

And it's because we have responded. That's the part that we have to do. We have to respond to God's calling. We have to yield to God. We have to surrender to Him. We have to allow Christ to live in us.

So in Romans chapter 8, verse 22, we read, for we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. And this world is continuing to groan from the time that this was written, certainly groaning now, tsunamis and earthquakes and all kinds of disruption upon the earth. It's groaning. Not only that, verse 23, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit. God has given us an earnest down payment of the Spirit of God.

Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies. We all eagerly await the return of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We look forward to Christ's return. In Revelation 14, it also talks about the first fruits in a prophetic sense. Very exciting words here in Revelation chapter 14, verse 1. And this is John in vision, and my wife and I were privileged to go to the island of Patmos. It's a beautiful, gorgeous island.

The water was just unbelievably blue, clear, it was just amazing. We went on the Mediterranean cruise some years ago. I think it was 1989. I think it was 1989, wasn't it? I think it was 1989. We had just been hired halfway through the year.

We had been hired to come into the ministry. I had a job, I had my own business, and so we thankfully had enough funds to go on the Mediterranean cruise that year. And it was just an amazing opportunity. It was just amazing.

We went to a number of Greek islands, and the island of Patmos was just very inspiring to be there. They took us into a cave where they said, no doubt John had knelt there and prayed. And they showed us the actual imprint. Now, you've got to wonder whether they had that exactly right or not. It's a pretty small island, so there is a very good chance that he was probably in that cave. I don't know. But interesting, I think, about it.

Verse 1, Chapter 14, Then I looked, and behold, a lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000, having his father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing the harps. They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders.

And no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth. That's talking about those who have come out of the graves, those who have been changed and been redeemed from the earth. These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins.

Now this is talking figuratively, spiritually, people who have had their sins forgiven because of repentance. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God. Now those are inspiring awesome words about the first fruits of God. It's only through the sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ that our sins are forgiven, that our sins are washed away, and that we're made clean, and that we can be resurrected and changed into spirit.

It's important that we think about that during the Passover season. When we go to the Passover, we should be filled with gratitude for our calling. In Revelation 19, verse 9, it basically refers to the first fruits, although I don't think it specifically uses the word here, but let's read Revelation 19.

Notice verse 7, Let us be glad and rejoice, and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come. Remember, we talked about the Lamb a lot last time. We went to a number of scriptures about the Lamb of God, the Passover Lamb, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then He said to me, Right, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

And He said to me, These are the true sayings of God. It's important that we realize that we are called to be the bride of Christ. That's an awesome calling. It's just, you know, we can't even begin to comprehend what all this means. So we should be humbled. We should be inspired. We should be enthused as we go into this Passover season and draw closer to the Passover.

So point number three, in regard to the Passover, is observing the Passover year by year. Every year we have an annual reminder that we are one of God's first fruits. That we have been called and chosen by God to reflect Him, to reflect His character, to be lights in the world, to be the salt of the earth.

Now that leads us to point number four. Observing the Passover means that you have examined yourself once again, and you see your desperate need for repentance and forgiveness. We must all see that we desperately need to keep the Passover, that we need to be there because we've all sinned.

We've all fallen short of God's glory, and our sins need to be forgiven.

The Passover is what this is all about. It's about forgiveness, God forgiving us, our sins.

In 1 Corinthians 11, it talks about the need to examine oneself at this time of year. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 28. Let's read verse 27 along with it.

Therefore, whoever eats this bread, speaking of the unleavened bread, at Passover service, or drinks this cup, this tiny cup of wine, 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 not keep the Passover. That's not what it says, does it? When we examine ourselves, we will all see that we fall short of God's glory. We will all see that we need our sins forgiven. And so, we need to be their Passover evening. I've known some people that felt so bad about themselves that they didn't go to Passover. They felt so ashamed that they didn't go keep the Passover.

Well, brethren, I believe that in many ways we do need to be ashamed of the conduct. When we sin against God, it's a shameful thing. But the Scripture says, examine yourself and then go keep the Passover. So, we need to be there. We need to keep the Passover, and we certainly need to repent of our sins. And repentance is a gift that God gives us when we turn to Him and look to Him for strength and in faith, know that He will forgive us. So, 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. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep or have died. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. It's showing that we do need to look at ourselves, we need to examine ourselves, we need to be honest with ourselves, we need to admit that we are sinners. Scripture says if you think you have no sin, you are a liar, and the truth is not in you. So we do need to go humbly before the throne of grace and ask God for forgiveness, admitting that we have sinned and bringing up things that we have done, that are wrong, that are sinful, and asking God to forgive us. And if there's anything that we haven't acknowledged or seen, that God bring it to our attention, that we might have repentance, that God would give us that repentance. So we do need to do more soul searching. I'm sure you've already begun that process, but we need to do more soul searching, especially as we're now just a week, just a little over a week away from Passover. Are you behaving like one of God's firstfruits? Is the character of God reflected in your behavior, in the words that you say, the actions that you have, the way you treat your wife, the way you treat your husband, the way you treat your children? And children, we too, need to examine ourselves, even though we're not baptized. We can take a little time to look at ourselves and realize that maybe we need to change a little bit, too. It's healthy for even our children to consider the lessons of the Passover and how we need to become more like Christ, more like God the Father.

So are you behaving like one of God's firstfruits? If there was a video camera that followed you around everywhere you went in the next week, would you be willing to show it to everyone? Would you want Christ to see it? Of course, he's already seen it, hasn't he? I mean, in a way, it's foolish. We kind of play games with ourselves, thinking God doesn't see everything. God sees it all. It's like having that video camera and showing it to everyone here. We would be embarrassed, no doubt, at one point in the week by something we did. But what if our thoughts were projected? Would we not be embarrassed and ashamed? The Bible says we're to bring every thought into captivity and to the obedience of Jesus Christ. Now, God's gracious and he doesn't broadcast all of our sins and all of our evil thoughts. It's something to think about as we examine ourselves. Just how transparent would you want to be? Or would you want everyone to see you in a transparent way? What are you hiding? We all have hidden sins. We have sins that only we and God know about. Maybe even our wife, our husband, doesn't really know the depth of some of the thoughts that we have, the depravity. Of course, Satan's behind a lot of this. I understand that. We know that. Satan broadcasts his thoughts as well. I'm sure there are times when we all think things that didn't come from ourselves. It came from outside. It came from an evil being. We have to reject those thoughts.

We have to be careful. Are you producing the fruit of God's Spirit in your life?

Remember the fruits of God's Spirit. We won't take the time to go to Galatians 5, but it would certainly be good to study Galatians 5 and think about it as you examine yourself for the Passover. The fruit of God's Spirit. Love, joy, peace. Are you a peacemaker? Are you patient? Are you kind? Are you gentle? Are you self-controlled? Are you faithful? Are you unique? How much love do you have for your brother?

What kind of a person are you? Examine yourself. Are you keeping the Ten Commandments?

Not just in the letter, but also in the Spirit? All of them. All Ten Commandments in the Spirit.

Christ said, if you harbor hatred and resentment towards someone, you have murdered them in your hearts.

If you look at a woman to lust for her, you've committed adultery with her in your heart.

You can take all of the commandments and amplify them and magnify them as Christ did in the Sermon on the Mount. He took a few of them and showed us what we need to do with all of the commandments. Are you honoring your parents?

Are you lying at all? Stealing in some way? Even a small, tiny way?

These are things that we need to consider.

In 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5, 2 Corinthians 13, chapter 5, 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5, examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.

Are you in the faith? Do you really have faith in what you believe? Do you have faith in your faith? And are you faithful to your faith? Okay.

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Are you keeping the commandments and laws of God faithfully? Test yourselves.

Do you not know yourselves that Christ is in you? Christ is in you. You know, when we are baptized, we bury the old man, right?

A new man is to come out of that watery grave. Have you ever thought that that new man is Jesus Christ Himself?

Jesus Christ is to live in you.

Jesus Christ is the hope of glory. We have no hope except Christ living in us and the Father living in us through the Spirit of God.

So we are to put on the mind of Christ. We are to bring every thought into captivity, unto the obedience of Christ. Christ is the new man.

Christ is to be seen in each and every one of us. That's very humbling, isn't it? To be like Christ who is perfect?

Do we not all fall far short of that kind of perfection? That's why we need Jesus Christ as our Savior. That's why He came and died for us.

So ask yourselves, in what areas are you falling short? Now, let's go to 1 Corinthians 13 for a moment and consider the love chapter.

Christ's disciples are known by the love that they have for each other.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing.

Paul is magnifying love. God is love.

There's nothing greater. God is love. Love is the fulfilling of the law of God. God is a loving lawgiver, and we follow His law and keep it. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 3, And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy.

Love does not parade itself. Love is not puffed up. It's not vain. It's not proud. It does not behave rudely. It does not seek its own. It is not provoked. It thinks no evil. This is describing God Himself to us.

It does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail. Whether there are tongues, they will cease. Whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. But love never fails. Love is not puffed up. So examine yourselves in this way. Are you ever envious?

Now, be honest with yourself. Are you ever envious? Ever jealous?

You know, just the other day I was playing softball, and I'm 55 years old. And you would think, by now, I wouldn't have to struggle with anything. Like, you know, why am I batting eighth or ninth?

You know, I'm batting 800, 750, and they got me batting eighth or ninth. And you start comparing yourselves and wondering, you know, have I been wronged? And maybe you're just a little jealous or envious. You know, some guy rockets one over the fence, and you wish you could do that?

You know, I've got an above knee, but God's been good to me. I'm still playing ball. It's not a very bad knee. In fact, it's been a pretty good knee overall. But I've got to nurse it a little bit during the week and make sure I can get back out there. We play a doubleheader every Thursday night. I play for a city league. And we were champions last year, and so far we're 4-0. So I'm bragging a little bit that indulged me. See, I'm proving my carnality right here in front of all of you. But it's funny. I have to marvel sometimes at myself. Have you ever done that and just shook your head at your heart? I can't believe I thought that or that that even went through my mind. I can't believe I went there.

You know, it's so important that we learn to love as God is love.

And he tells us what love is. Read it pretty often. Go to 1 Corinthians 13 and read it often and examine yourself throughout the year.

Do you have a plan for improvement? Do you have a plan for overcoming?

You know, it is good to plan. I'm not the world's greatest planner by a long shot.

And I go through spurts. At times I'll do some planning and try to really get serious and diligent. But I find myself letting down at other times. And I'm human. And you're human as well. You can probably identify with that. It would be nice if we were always, you know, diligent and zealous and on target and on track and always doing the right thing. But that's not the human condition.

We have our ups and we have our downs.

We need to try to stay up as much as we possibly can. And bringing every thought into captivity certainly helps us do that.

All right. Let's go to Romans 7 and let's consider this body of death, this flesh that we're all in today.

Let's consider this body of flesh. What do we have to fight?

It's not easy being human. Christ came to experience that Himself firsthand. And He knows it's not an easy task to be human.

In Romans 7, verse 21, and this comes after a well, you know, we read this often about the Apostle Paul. And Paul says, the things that I do, I don't, you know, I don't want to do those things. From a spiritual standpoint, I find myself doing things I don't want to do.

But I find myself doing them. And there are other things that I really want to do from a spiritual perspective. You know, I want to send cards to people. You know, I want to, you know, I want to reach out and help others. And I want to do things. I want to help the poor. I want to give. I want to be more generous. But I find I don't always do that.

And that's what Paul's talking about here. And he says in verse 20, Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

In this human flesh, I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. His desire was to do good. He willed. I mean, that's what he really wanted to do. Spiritually, he wanted to do good.

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. How love I thy law. You know, I love God's law. I want to be faithful and true to God's law in every way. I want to live by every word of God. But there are times when I see this law of sin that drags me down.

Verse 22, For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.

But I see another law in my members, worrying against the law of my mind, my spiritual mind motivated by God's Spirit, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members, which is in this flesh. O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?

Have you ever asked yourself that? Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Is your wife going to be able to deliver you? Are you going to be able to deliver you from your body of death? Can your minister deliver you? Don't count on me, brethren. I've got enough just dealing with myself. I mean, I will try to help you as much as I possibly can, but you can't certainly count on me. I'm not your Savior. You are to look way beyond me to Jesus Christ. Follow me as I follow Christ.

Notice the answer that Paul gives in verse 25. Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. I thank God the Father. It's through Jesus Christ. This plan of salvation will come to pass. I will be saved out of this fleshly body through Jesus Christ, who loved me and gave himself for me. And no greater love has no man than this than to lay down his life for his friends.

And there's even a greater love when a father will lay his son down for others. For God so loved the world. That he gave his only son. I have a son. I have an only son. It would be extremely difficult for me to lay my son down for anyone.

I marvel at the love that the Father has, that the Son has for us.

And I do thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God. But with the flesh, the law of sin.

This is a battle. There's a battle going on inside us each and every day of our lives, every moment of the day.

Paul said, he fought the good fight. He endured to the end. He hung in there. You are all survivors as well. You need to continue to survive spiritually. You need to hang in there. Follow the example of our Savior Jesus Christ. Follow the example of the Apostle Paul and others. Daniel and David and the men of faith, the women of faith. Hebrews 11. We need to yield ourselves and surrender ourselves and allow God to live in us. It's only through Christ, our Lord, and our acceptance of Christ as our Savior that we will be saved. Romans 8, just over the page. And by the way, Romans 6, 7, and 8, I go through these chapters verse by verse when I'm counseling someone for baptism.

I just feel like, you know, Romans 6, 7, and 8, you need to understand that before you're baptized.

And so I go through it in detail.

Romans 8, verse 31. Romans 8, verse 31.

What then shall we say to these things, these things that have come before this? Important words. This is good, too. Read this before Passover. Read Romans 6, 7, and 8 before Passover.

What then shall we say to these things, if God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

If someone is willing to deliver up his own son, just think what he has in store for us.

Think what God has in store for you. If he was willing to give up his own son for you, he's going to freely give us all things. We don't have any idea. Eye is not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him.

Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors, more than conquerors through him who loved us. We are to be overcomers. We are called to be overcomers. We are called to put sin out of our lives.

We keep the days of eleven bread, because we are called to be overcomers, to put sin out, to become unleavened, to put Christ in. Christ is the unleavened bread that comes down from heaven and lives in each and every one of us.

So, brethren, it's a high and a holy calling that we all have.

Never minimize your calling. Never think lightly of your calling.

And always thank God for your calling.

Verse 38, For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, nothing, nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is a promise that nothing can separate us. If we have a willingness to obey, a desire to obey, and if we will humble ourselves and yield and submit ourselves to God, we have nothing to fear.

God is there for us. He will never leave us. He will never forsake us.

God desires that you are in His kingdom. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That is the mind of God. He wants all of us to come to repentance. God is there to help you, to see you through, so never fear. Have faith.

Christ is at the right hand of the Father. Christ makes intercession for each and every one of us. He pleads your case before the Father. When you sin, remember, it is Satan who is the accuser of the brethren. He comes to accuse you before the throne of God. But Christ is there to plead your case. Christ was flesh. He knows how difficult it is. He also knows your heart.

Christ and the Father look at your heart.

That's what's going to see us through if we have a heart for God, if we have a pure heart, if we've written God's laws in our hearts and in our minds. Certainly, we're going to be overcomers. We're going to put sin out. We're going to be growing spiritually. But because we're flesh and the law of sin dwells in us, we will fall short.

That's when Christ makes intercession for us.

The Father hears the Son.

He hears the Son's voice and He grants us repentance. Repentance is a gift from the Father.

We need to understand that.

Christ is indeed our Passover Lamb sacrificed for us.

There is no magic number or limit to one's sins.

Don't take that wrongly. That doesn't mean you go out and sin.

Not at all. There's no license to sin. God tells us, Christ said, Go and sin no more. That's what He told the woman, taken in adultery at the well. He said, Go and sin no more. That is His desire for us. That must be our goal to put sin out of our lives, to completely put sin out.

But when you sin, don't become discouraged and don't continue in your sins.

Repent of your sins.

If you're here today, you show a desire to obey and follow God.

But you also must respond. Just swarming a seat here on the Sabbath is not enough.

It's not enough.

If you have the desire and the will to overcome sin, and if you're diligently seeking Christ to be formed in you, then you will be granted repentance.

Your sins are forgiven in Christ Jesus.

We must first be reconciled to God, and then and only then will we be able to be reconciled to our fellow man. That's an important point. You have to first be reconciled to God. You have to bring yourself into subjection and humble yourself and yield to God, and begin living as God would have you live. Only then will you be reconciled to man.

There's no way you can be reconciled to your fellow man without first being reconciled to God. Not fully, not completely, not in the fullest sense at all.

So we all have a struggle. We have a battle that we fight.

Thankfully, God doesn't take His Holy Spirit away from us when we sin.

Now, if we continue in sin, God could and will take His Spirit away if we're cavalier about our sins, if we take them lightly, and if we continue to abuse God's mercy and grace. Remember what David said? He cried out to God in Psalm 51, Don't take your Spirit from me, please. Don't take your Spirit from me. He knew that he was in danger of having God's Spirit jerked away from him unless God would grant him repentance for his sin with Bathsheba, with Uriah the Hittite.

So it's important that we don't take our sins lightly. It is important that we beseech God to forgive us our sins and to admit when we have sinned, be humbled by our sins.

But God doesn't take His Holy Spirit away from us when we sin and then give it back to us when we repent and then take it away and then give it back. And that's not the way God is. God is a faithful God. He has a plan for us. When you sin, go boldly before the throne of grace because you're in time of need. That's what the Scripture says in Hebrews, go boldly before the throne. But at the same time, go humbly before the throne of grace. Claim the promises that God gives you, but do it humbly. Know that He will act on your behalf, that He will forgive your sins.

We must have a genuine desire to obey God and to serve Him and to strive to do His will without making excuses and without making allowances for our sins. There is no excuse for sin. There's no excuse for it. There's no excuse for sin. If you've sinned, you've sinned. You need to repent of that sin. Don't make excuses for it. Admit that you've sinned. And that it's you who did it. No one made you do it. Satan may have influenced you somewhat, but he didn't make you do it. It's your sin and you have to own it and ask God to forgive you for it and change your life. When we sin, it does cause a rift, a separation from God. God hates sin. God hates to see you sin. Sin does cause a rift between a sinner and a holy God. But Christ is there, again, to make intercession as our high priest. He paid the penalty for our sin. He understands our frailties. He understands our weaknesses.

He looks on our heart. He looks on our genuine desire to be forgiven. And as I said, He pleads our case before the Father. And the Father is faithful as well to forgive us our sins when we repent of our sins. He's quick to forgive us our sins. He grants us that repentance. It's all about a repentant heart, the condition of our heart. What condition is your heart in? Are you about to have a heart attack spiritually? Or is your heart vibrant and pulsating and just full of blood and spiritually? That's the kind of heart we need to have.

Now that leads us to our final point. Observing the Passover means that you have examined yourself and you have forgiven others. Observing the Passover means that you have examined yourself and you have forgiven others. The fourth point was you've examined yourself and you've asked for forgiveness for yourself. This one is you have forgiven others.

In Matthew 6, in some ways it's a frightening couple of verses here, but we must not fear these verses. We just must submit to them. Matthew 6, verse 12. We're going to break into the model prayer that Christ prayed on the Sermon on the Mount.

Christ said in verse 12, and forgive us our debts, and as we forgive our debtors, or forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us, as sometimes translated, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive men their trespasses, if you forgive men their sins and their trespasses against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Brethren, you can't afford to hold grudges. You can't afford to be unforgiving, for you shall be forgiven in the same manner that you forgive others. Now, we've gone through some difficult times in the church lately.

You need to be careful that you don't hold grudges or resentment toward anyone. If you felt abandoned, you mustn't hold grudges or resentment. You know, you've got to get over that. You've got to get past it. We've got to move on. If you want to be spiritually healthy, you can't dwell in the past. You've got to move on. You've got to look to Jesus Christ as the light of the world. Follow that light. Follow the Scriptures. God forgives us as we forgive others.

A man who was telling his friend about an argument that he had had with his wife commented, he said, Oh, how I hate it! Every time we have an argument, my wife gets historical.

The friend replied, you mean hysterical, don't you? She gets hysterical? Oh, no. No, no, he insisted. I mean, she gets historical. Every time we argue, she drags up everything from the past. She holds it all against me. Now, the same thing I'm sure could be true on the flip side of things. Well, God doesn't want us to get too historical with each other. He wants us to be willing to forgive. God forgives us, and God forgets our sins. He says our sins are as far from him as east is from west. It's out of his mind. He doesn't dwell on those things.

So we mustn't be historical. Of course, we should make it easy on our wives and husbands, and not give them too many things to be historical about.

I'm afraid I've given my wife too many things to be historical about in the past. In Colossians chapter 3, Colossians chapter 3, the apostle Paul has so much insight and wisdom. Certainly, he was a man persecuted beyond almost anyone else. I don't know if anyone was persecuted any worse than Paul. Paul saw himself better than so many because he was struck down on the road to Damascus. He was blind, and God opened his eyes so he could see. In Colossians chapter 3 verse 8, But now you yourselves are to put off all these. These are things that we are to put off. Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, Jesus Christ, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. We are to become the express image of Jesus Christ. That's our goal. One day we will become like Christ. We will see Him as He is. We will be like Him. At the time of Christ's return, the first-roots, those who are alive, will be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, and they will become spirit as Christ is spirit. Those who are dead will be resurrected in Christ, and they will become like Christ as well.

That is our calling. That is our destiny as God's people. We are to put off the old man, not lying to one another, putting on the new man. Verse 11, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, nor free, but Christ is all in all.

And it goes on to say, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, or patience, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another.

If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts. That's what we need to do. We need to let the peace of God rule in our hearts. We need to let go of any resentment that we have toward anybody. Let go of it, and let the peace of God reign in your heart and in your mind.

Hatred and resentment will poison friendships. It will poison relationships. On the other hand, brotherly love is a gauge for the true Christian. Brotherly love.

Christ said His disciples would be known by their love for each other.

I know you have many friends that are no longer meeting with you.

Count them as your friends.

Reach out to them. If they don't receive you, then that's an issue that they have to have with God.

But do your part. Show them that you care for them, that you love them, that you want to be back together one day.

Obviously, we have things we need to learn. God's people have things that need to be learned, sins that need to be repented of.

We should all be keeping the Passover together. I know that. We should all be doing it. You should all be keeping the Passover with your friends.

But that's not the reality, and we have to live with the reality of things right now as they are.

How many of us have been immobilized to greater spiritual growth because we bear some hatred in the inner recesses of our hearts and minds?

How many of us are having marital problems because of some root of bitterness and hatred that has not yet been removed, that we haven't yet put off?

How many of us are holding a grudge against another person and have refused to forgive them? Have you refused to forgive anyone? If you are refusing to forgive someone, you need to really go before God before Passover and ask Him to give you that forgiveness, to give you a spirit of forgiveness. I know what a spirit of forgiveness is. I was called as a young man. I was 18 years old, when God really began to work with me. My parents, my family, they were not in the church. But my mother had gotten the plain truth since I was three years old.

She took us to church on Sunday, most Sundays, not every single Sunday, but a lot of Sundays. My dad never went, maybe once or twice, possibly on Christmas, maybe on Easter. In about 20 years that I lived at home, or 18 years that I lived at home, he didn't go to church. My father was an alcoholic. He was abusive to some degree, not as bad as a lot of alcoholics are, but certainly emotionally and mentally and so forth, abusive toward the family. Again, he wasn't nearly as bad as a lot of alcoholics, but as a teenager, I had to fight, not to hate my dad. In fact, I probably did hate my father at times for things that he didn't hate. But when God called me and God opened my mind to his truth, and again, I was 18, and I didn't grow up in the church, but my sister, four years older than I am, was the first one to start responding in a big way, and she went to Ambassador College. Then I had a brother that kept his first Sabbath at Ambassador College. Then I was next in line, and I thought, I'm going to go to the church. Then I was next in line, and I thought, boy, I don't want to get a thousand miles away from home with a bunch of religious fanatics. I mean, that's where my mind was at the time. In fact, I remember my brother coming home from Ambassador College one winter break, Christmas break, and my dad had asked him how many girls he had dated. And he gave a large number, and I thought, wow, I like that.

Then he said, how many girls have you kissed? He said, well, I haven't kissed any of them. And I'm an 18-year-old guy, and I'm thinking, wait a minute, now hold on.

I didn't like the sound of that.

I wasn't that interested in going a thousand miles away from home with a bunch of religious fanatics, and you couldn't even kiss a girl when you were 18.

So instead, I went to Bowling Green State University.

It has 15,000 people, and half of them were girls.

I like those odds. My mind really wasn't very spiritually oriented until God really started calling me.

Here's what happened to me, and I'll share this with you.

I decided to go to Bowling Green State University in Ohio. My sister came home after learning and being disappointed that I wasn't going to go to Ambassador. Growing up, I thought I probably would go to Ambassador.

In my older teens, my sister was there, my brother was there, and I thought I probably would go. But then that incident that I mentioned happened, and that kind of changed my attitude about things. And my sister came home, and she said, Mark, why aren't you going? Why aren't you coming to Ambassador? And I still cannot fathom why I said this, but I said, well, I guess I'm just not man enough.

And for an 18-year-old with a big ego, that was almost a challenge to me. What do you mean you're not man enough? I had to start thinking about it. What was I doing? I guess a part of me thought this was the thing I should do, go to Ambassador. But another part of me didn't want to go there. So I began to think about that, and my brother actually invited me to go to Ambassador College in Texas during a Christmas break that year when I was that freshman year. And I know I was starting to turn to God. I started listening to the telecast at that time. I was watching Garnert at Armstrong at the time. And my mind was being changed. And I went to Ambassador. I really fell in love with the place. It was wholesome. It was good. It was right. And God was clearly creating a miracle in my heart and mind. So when I left Ambassador, I had a whole briefcase full of booklets. And instead of partying on Friday nights and Saturday nights, I went to the library and studied those booklets.

And God was working with me, and I started attending church in January of that year. And I decided to leave Bowling Green after that semester ended, applied to Ambassador College, and the rest is history. But God gave me a spirit of forgiveness. That was one of the things that God did for me then. I was hating my father. And my dad, actually, I went to Ambassador College. And the year two, I was like a sophomore or junior there. And my dad was getting worse. And finally, my parents ended up in divorce. And it's a long, ugly story. But anyway, my dad was headed for Skid Row. I mean, he was headed for Skid Row. And I remember praying to God and just asking God to help him.

So God did, and God answered that prayer. And God lifted him out of the cesspool of life. He went to AA, and he was dry for like 30 years, not drinking, changed his life. He was never... God didn't call him, but God certainly answered that prayer. And God gave me a spirit of forgiveness. I've never held any grudges toward my dad.

And I've always tried to honor him and respect him all these years. And I know God gets the credit for that, because that was not something that came of my own. So I know people can forgive others. You can forgive others. If anyone's harboring any resentment or hatred, it's time to get rid of it.

Let's see. I wanted to mention this book. It's called Forgive to Live.

It's an outstanding book. It says it's by Dr. Dick Tibbetts.

And part of the title is, or part of the title, How Forgiveness Can Save Your Life. Forgive to Live. How Forgiveness Can Save Your Life. It really is an amazing book. God has given a lot of wisdom to people in the world to share with us, so we can learn and grow. Obviously, we have to take everything in light of the Bible. We have to consider what the Bible says, and whether or not it holds true or not. I wanted to share a couple things to you. I wanted to share a story with you. It's entitled, Drop the Rock.

Life is hard in Dura. Countless times each day, that lament was heard from the townspeople, the townspeople of Dura. And for good reason, through the years, Dura had become literally a very hard place to live. Rocks covered the landscape, making it impossible to grow flowers or jog in the park. Rocks lay everywhere in the land. How did this come to be? Well, as the tragic story goes, an evil sorcerer cast a powerful spell upon the town. Through your eyes, you will not see a life of joy or hope or glee. Through your mouths, where curses flock, every angry word shall turn into a rock. Whenever someone spoke an unkind or hurtful word, it instantly became a hot rock. Like everyone in Dura, Kas, K-A-A-S, had too often been the victim of unkind and hurtful words. Rocks of all sizes and shapes had pelted him. And also, like everyone else in Dura, Kas never felt content to merely watch those rocks fall to the ground. How could he? They had hurt too much when they struck him. That's why Kas developed the habit of keeping a rock or two in his hands. If the occasion presented itself, he could throw one back at the person who had caused him pain. However ugly that strategy might sound, no one ever confronted Kas about his behavior, because everyone in Dura did the very same thing. Oh, they all knew from experience that holding a hot rock would blister their hands, but they believed the pain would be worth it once they got the opportunity, someday, to even the score by throwing back a rock at the one who had hurt them. When a rock began to cool, as it always did, the people of Dura took it to the center of town where an enormous furnace named Grievance stood. There they could heat up their rock until it once more glowed fiery red, and as it was warming they told each other their sorrowful tells. It's not my fault that my hands are burned. Each would say it's their fault. They threw the rock first. I'm just holding it so that someday I can throw it back. One day, however, Kas and the other people of Dura got the shock of their lives. A robust, cheerful man with compassion in his eyes came striding into town, declaring that none of the townspeople had to live in misery any longer.

My name's Salah, he announced, and I want you to know that you can be free of those rocks you carry around wherever you go. What you need is forgiveness. You don't have to keep living like you have been.

Some of the townspeople sneered while others gasped or stared blankly ahead. Could there really be a better life? Impossible. Salah ignored the jeers and continued. Simply put, forgiveness is learning how to drop your rocks. You don't have to collect them, carry them, be burdened by them, heat them, or throw them. In fact, I guarantee that if you drop them, your whole life will improve. Your hands will start to heal, and you'll have the time and the energy to do the fun things that you've always wanted to do, but never believe that you could. It can't be that simple, Koss thought. How could it possibly work? He had to speak out. Now hold on, Mr. Koss began. You mean to tell me that if someone throws a rock at me, I can't throw it back? That's not fair. Why should I let the other guy off the hook? He needs to be punished. No, sir, your way won't work. And I'm not falling for it. With that, Koss spun on his heels and hustled away as fast as he could from Salah, and is too good to be true words. In his headlong retreat, however, Koss failed to notice that a few in the crowd had already decided to give Salah's counsel a try. They dropped their rocks and immediately noticed something truly remarkable. The scars on their hands caused by carrying the hot rocks for so many years immediately began to heal. These people had always worried that forgiving would be letting their offenders off the hook. But they learned dropping their rocks actually made their own lives better. Soon the people of Dura were throwing fewer rocks, so fewer rocks came hurling back at them. In fact, in some yards, the rocks were so scarce that flowers began to break through the newly exposed ground. Who would have believed that life's burdens could be so easily removed by simply dropping the rock? Well, I think we get the moral of the story.

What good does carrying around a root of bitterness do?

Actually, we know the scripture tells us that a root of bitterness can take us out of God's Church.

It can literally destroy us in time if we allow a root of bitterness. There's a chapter in here called From Bitter to Better. There's a lot of good chapters in this book. I definitely would recommend reading it if you have an opportunity or you take the time. There's so much that I could read out of it. I did want to share, maybe real briefly, a chapter that's called The Birth of a Grieven's Story. Now, I think what's happened in the Church, to a large degree, has a lot to do with grievance stories. People have felt hurt, slighted in certain ways, and they've developed stories. Now, I think all of us are very capable of developing grievance stories. So don't throw any rocks at anyone, because we're all very capable of doing that. You may be holding a grievance story yourself against certain ones that you think have wronged you. Just briefly, how does your grievance story take shape? First of all, you suffer some kind of wrong. Whatever it was, you think it was unfair. Some kind of wrong. Something happened. Number two, you attach a specific interpretation to the event. You feel the hurt and the resentment begins to well up inside you. You begin to blame the offender for how you feel.

This was no accident, you think. She did this deliberately.

She doesn't even care. The offense becomes almost secondary to the meaning that you assign to it, namely that the person intended to hurt you.

Number three, you take the offense personally. Whatever your loss, you feel it deeply. That person heard a vital aspect of your life. Grieving stories always involve things that you consider very important. They rarely concern trivial matters. Of course, they may seem trivial to some, but not to you. Naturally, then, you feel the pain deeply, but you take it one step further. In fact, you begin to exaggerate the personal nature of the offense. He targeted me, you think. Not only did he intend to do something, he even went out of his way and targeted me specifically, and he knew exactly what he was doing to me and how much it would hurt.

As you continue to ponder the hurtful incident, you increasingly emphasize his personal aspect.

It wasn't merely an impersonal offense that somehow managed to injure you, an innocent bystander. No, it was a deliberate attack, a planned assault, a vindictive mugging intentionally directed at you. Number four, you retell the story to yourself and to others.

Now, a lot of that has gone on on the internet, no doubt. You retell the story to yourself and to others. You repeat the story again and again in all kinds of settings and to all sorts of people. You also continually rehearse the story in your head. By repeatedly telling and retelling the story, you try to make some sense of the unjust event. You try to explain it, to dissect it, to bear the evil motivations and wicked forces behind the hurt you're suffering. Now, it isn't wrong to analyze things. In fact, it's important to analyze things, but do it in a godly way. And don't impute motives because we don't always know the motives. And we don't always have the facts. And we don't always know why people do what they do.

So we have to give them the benefit of the doubt. You know, if you don't have all the facts, then don't act like you do have all the facts. So there's lots of problems with grieving stories, and I could go on and on with this. Holding grudges takes tremendous energy. It takes up a lot of your energy, a lot of your time that could be used differently. So rather than I would admonish you to forgive, to forget. There are lots of other scriptures that I could have gone to to talk about. You know, the scriptures say, basically, if you have anything against anyone, forgive them. Anything against anyone! That's in Mark 11, 24 through 26. You don't have time to, I don't have time to belabor that, but if you have anything against anyone, Matthew 18 talks about the parable of the unforgiving servant. It talks about 70 times 7.

Peter thought seven times would be more than enough.

Christ said 70 times 7, which basically 490 times, but I don't think anyone's supposed to count. You know, it's supposed to, you know, the point is, if you have anything against anyone, forgive them.

We mustn't hold on to those rocks, brethren. Those rocks are going to kill us.

You know, really, forgiveness for us is no longer harboring hatred and resentment. That's what forgiveness is for us. It's no longer harboring hatred and resentment toward others.

In fact, the word forgive means primarily to send forth or to send away. To send away your resentment. Send away your anger. Send away those hurts. You know, get over it.

That's really what it's talking about. Now, does forgiveness of a person mean we should place complete trust in them?

Not hardly. No, we have to be wise. If someone's hurt us, they may do it again. So we have to be careful.

With many problems or sins, such as poor money management, gossip, sexual sins, lying, stealing, to name just a few, we need to see a track record of overcoming before even considering that a person is trustworthy.

Trustworthy and being trustworthy or trusting someone and forgiving someone is not the same thing by a long shot. But to a large degree, we can still be understanding, forgiving, and encouraging to someone who is even untrustworthy. Someone we can't really trust, we can still be understanding to some degree. We can be forgiving. We can be encouraging.

Forgiveness does not eliminate our memories. It doesn't wipe out all the brain cells. I mean, it'd be nice if we could do that to some degree, but that's not going to happen. But that's not going to happen. We're going to have to deal with those memories. Forgiveness doesn't mean that that we're saying what a person did is okay. You know, it doesn't mean that we condone it or we think it was okay. But we just aren't going to allow any hatred or resentment to develop there. And we're going to try to reconcile it.

It doesn't mean you excuse wrong behavior or make excuses for another person.

Forgiveness is a process. You know, it's not something that happens usually overnight, although in my case, it almost did. You know, God just miraculously took away a lot of that hatred when he called me, he'd thrown a miracle in my heart and mind. Usually it takes more time. I had to forgive someone who I think did me wrong out of about $60,000, which was a pretty large sum in my mind. This was before I became a minister. And, well, I was a minister, but it was, I wasn't a full-time minister yet. But anyway, that was a process. I had to go through a process on that one. And it took me a little while, but it's been years. I hardly think about it anymore. And I certainly don't have any resentment or hatred toward the person. Seven times in one day, a person in Luke 17 kept coming back, will you forgive me? Will you forgive me? He kept doing the same thing over and over. Now, you think, is that true repentance? Well, God knows the heart.

And, you know, real repentance obviously comes from God. God grants repentance.

Only God can truly forgive sins. We can't forgive sin. We can forgive a person by no longer harboring hatred or resentment, but we certainly can't forgive their sins. God only does that. But the example in Luke 17 was, if they come seven times in a day, you should forgive them. If they come saying, please forgive me, you know, you've got to find it in your heart to forgive them. So, brethren, the Passover season truly is the most meaningful time of the year. Let us all draw close to God the Father and Jesus Christ as we approach the Passover. We'll be keeping the Passover together in just a little over a week. Let us consider the principles we discussed today as we prepare for the Passover. Now, don't allow putting the leaven out to get you off track spiritually. If you spend so much time physically, you know, do your best to get the leaven out, to get the worst of the leaven out. You know, anything that you can see that's visible, but don't obsess on bits of leaven that may or may not be there. You know, don't obsess on that. I mean, if you can get it all out, great, but the facts are there's still yeast for us, even around. You can't perfectly get it all out, but, you know, give a valiant effort, but focus primarily on the spiritual aspects. Make sure you pray this week, every day, three times a day. If you can fast between now and then, so much the better. Spiritually get your mind right as you come into the Passover. So, brethren, let's truly be grateful to God. Let's remember what the Passover means. It means that God has delivered us out of slavery and out of sin. It means that we have accepted Christ as our personal Savior, as the Lamb of God. It means that we are one of God's firstfruits. We keep the Passover because we're baptized. We have God's Spirit. We're one of the firstfruits.

Observing the Passover means we've examined ourselves. We've seen our need for overcoming, for repentance, and for forgiveness. And observing the Passover means that you have examined yourself and you have forgiven others. So, brethren, what does the Passover mean to you?