Preparing for the Passover

Well, spring is sprung, hasn't it? It's spring and green stuff everywhere. It's complete with the warm winds, the thunderstorms, the beautiful azaleas. The pretty tulips must have been taken after the rain washed the pollen off. And, of course, as I've alluded to, the pollen from the nearly 7.8 billion trees that exist in East Texas. I looked that up, and I think most of them are producing pollen right now. So keep your handkerchiefs close. I asked my wife for a Kleenex for it just before I came up here. Of course, when spring comes, we also know that that marks the beginning of God's calendar and the first of God's holy days or festivals. Passover is the first festival of the year, and it is just now a few days over, one month away. This year we will be observing Passover after the sun sets on Thursday evening, April 21st. Now, Passover teaches us that Jesus Christ was sinless, and as the true Lamb of God, He gave His life so that the sins of humanity could be forgiven and the death penalty that is over us can be removed. It should be understandable then that Passover should be observed in remembrance of His love and sacrifice for our sins, and as a reminder of our commitment to Him for what He has done in our lives. And so today we're going to talk about Passover. And the title of my sermon is Preparing for the Passover. No guess what this sermon is about. My purpose today is to encourage us, though, to not wait any longer, but to begin now to prepare our hearts and minds for observing Passover. And in this message I aim to grab those hearts and minds, turn our heads away from the the busyness of life, the yard work, the spring cleaning, although we do need to be thinking about D. Leavening.

Don't want to forget about that. But I want to grab our attention and turn our hearts and minds to the matters that matter most in life, and that is our eternal relationship with our Heavenly Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. So beginning today we need to prepare to keep the Passover with humble reverence and sincere gratitude to God. Now we should know this. We should know that we must not treat the Passover in any irreverent way. It's just not some old church tradition, just something we do once a year, and it's not a mystical ritual of some sort. Some churches do things like that. Talk about something that's really mysterious. What about those Easter bunnies and eggs? That is a real mystery to me. Of course, it's falsehood. But Passover is not some mystery for us. It's not mystical. Passover is not another chore to place an our to-do list, and neither is it to be a church social or potluck meal. This observance is not something to rush into either or to take lightly. Treating Passover improperly, from what we learn from Scripture, is a mistake followers of Christ have made in the past. It's happened before. And it is a topic Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 11. So I'd like for all of us to turn to 1 Corinthians 11. We'll begin our discussion with Passover there. As we consider how we should keep the Passover and prepare ourselves to do, let's look at the example of how not to do it. I think how not to do things can be a very useful thing for us to help us understand how we should do it. So in 1 Corinthians 11, and we'll begin down in verse 17, in the midst of various other instructions, Paul's writing to the Corinthians, Paul in 1 Corinthians 11, 17 through 22, needs to, felt a need to, and does write a rather stern instruction about the way they have been observing Passover. So let's read verses 17 through 20 together here. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 17, Now in giving these instructions, I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you.

And in part, I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you. Verse 20, Therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper. Now, we need to stop here for a moment and think about this word. Most translations, it seems they use the phrase Lord's Supper. We need to look at this because I don't want to be confusing to anybody. I certainly don't want to confuse you.

We mustn't be confused about what Paul is talking about here with regards to Lord's Supper. What he is talking about here in verse 20 is not the Passover itself. He's not talking about the Passover symbols and the partaking of Passover. He talks about that in a little bit. What he is talking about is a communal supper that the Corinthians had included or incorporated into the Passover. And it was not good. It was not a good thing. In fact, if you want a little more information about what I'm talking about here in 1 Corinthians 11, if you happen to have received your United News paper this week on the front page, they're talking about that very thing.

Thankfully, they didn't steal everything I was going to talk about. Steal is a wrong word, wasn't it? Thankfully, they didn't cover exactly what I'm doing here, but there is more information about that and the keeping of Unleavened Bread, too.

So here Paul is talking about what they're doing wrong with their communal supper. Apparently, what they did was, prior to taking the Passover, the Brethren and Corinth, were gathering early to eat this communal meal. Paul uses the word curicon deptnon, and I probably mispronounced that, but what that word means is literally a Lordly meal. It's a meal with an adverb that is Lordly.

It's really, in other words, a large extravagant meal of some sort. But it's what translators often just consider, oh, it's Lord's Supper. That's not Lord. It's not Christ's Supper. Christ would have been, and as Paul shows, was not happy with this. This Lordly meal is not the Passover.

That's the point I want to make. If it were, Paul would have used the same word Jesus used in Luke 22.15, when Jesus said, with fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover. What the word is that Jesus used is Pascha. Pascha with you before I suffer, he says. So this is two different things. Lord's Supper is not Passover. So this Lordly meal seems to have been quite a large feast, a banquet laden with expensive food and wine. Now Paul makes clear that their behavior did not reflect the way of Christ and the way of love towards neighbor, as God commands.

So let's notice then in verse 21 here, for in eating each one takes his own supper ahead of others, and one is hungry and another is drunk. So the brethren weren't being considered here, were they? Not being very considered one another at all. It's not the way of God's love. They were not sharing with those among them who are hungry. They weren't even being very considerate of those that might have been too poor to have brought something along with the meal.

They are ignoring them. And others, we see, couldn't control themselves very well. They are getting drunk. Continuing in verse 22, Paul writes, what? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in, to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the Church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you.

This was not the tradition Paul had taught them. Paul instructs the Corinthians to follow the example of Jesus Christ, of taking the bread and the wine on the same night he was betrayed in remembrance of him. That's the tradition Paul taught. Let's continue verses 23-26 here. Paul writes, for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. Verse 25, in the same manner he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is a new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

In these verses, then, Paul describes the Passover as Paul had taught them and just as he had learned it from Christ. All this should take us back to Paul's words at the very start of this chapter, chapter 11. Let's look at chapter 11, verse 1-2. This is how Paul starts this chapter in this whole discussion. 1 Corinthians 11, 1-2, Paul wrote, Imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. Many other ways than just besides keeping the Passover.

2 Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. So this is pretty strong correction for the Corinthians. Incorporating this communal meal was really affecting the way the Passover was being treated and the way they were keeping it the manner they kept it. The Corinthians were making serious mistakes in their approach and attitude not only towards one another but especially as I say in how they took the Passover.

So Paul corrected them. That's his responsibility to correct when need be. Verse 11-28, Therefore whoever eats his bread or drinks his cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.

For this reason many are weak and sick among you and many sleep. 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. This correction he's giving, the correction God gives us, is for our benefit to get us on the right path. And so Paul here urged the Corinthians and he urges us now to examine ourselves, to judge ourselves and where we find faults in our way we live, the way we behave and treat others, we need to repent. We do that so that God will not have to judge us and correct us.

It's better if we correct ourselves, correct our own way. In that way we will find ourselves, we will not find ourselves as he writes here, condemned with the world, meaning unqualified to receive eternal life. So in Paul's instructions he urges them and us to avoid keeping the Passover in an unworthy manner.

I'd like to pay attention a little bit to that word. That word, in the King James Version, they actually use one word, it's unworthily. In the New King's translation, New King James translation, it reads, in an unworthy manner, which is probably a little easier for us to understand.

Paul's meaning here could be misunderstood, this word choice, and that can and has caused unnecessary distress among some people. Historically, it's caused concern for people, misunderstanding, and even in the church in our time. It causes unnecessary distress and spiritual harm. They misunderstand what Paul's talking about here. Unworthy manner or unworthily does not refer to our personal qualifications or our worthiness of taking the Passover.

Some people have been known to misinterpret his words here, Paul's words here, and incorrectly choose not to keep the Passover. They don't feel they're deserving. They've been a terrible person of late, and they don't feel in good conscience they can keep the Passover. That's wrong. We shouldn't do that. That's not what Paul's talking about. They think they are not worthy or deserving of Christ's sacrifice. Now, you probably heard like me, the only thing we deserve is death.

That's what we deserve because of our sins. But Jesus Christ lived and died, took our sins upon us. We need to keep the Passover in recognition of that. We only deserved his death because of sin. It's God who offers us the gift of eternal life and salvation through His Son Jesus Christ. That's a great good news. So the praise in an unworthy manner and the word unworthily, those are adverbs. Adverbs modify verbs or how something is done.

Adverbs don't modify people. These are adverbs, not adjectives. These adverbs, an adverbial phrase in an unworthy manner and unworthily, they describe how one is to eat and drink the Passover. The word used here in the Greek is anachisos, and that is an adverb which means irreverently or disrespectfully. Paul then is telling us not to partake of the Passover in such a way that shows lack of reverence or respect to God and not to disrespect Christ's sacrifice.

So when we understand these words in larger context of what he's talking about, this communal Lordly supper they're having and getting drunk and not watching out for each other and sharing their food, all this really awful unchristian behavior, I think the meaning of what Paul's talking about here becomes very clear. Paul is urging us all to be reverent and humble and very grateful for God for his mercy and love towards us.

And so Paul concludes this section then, verses 30 through 34. He writes, therefore my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another, but if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. We start doing the wrong sort of things. And then Paul writes, and the rest I will sit in order when I come.

Sounds like he had a little bit more to talk to them about this, but he has said a lot to set them on the correct path. So today, when we meet for Passover in this day and age, we do follow Paul's instructions. We follow the traditions that he learned from Christ and that was passed on to him, and we've learned from Paul as well. And if you have noticed, if you've attended Passover service, if you're baptized, you'll notice that we wait a while to begin the service.

We may say we're going to begin at 8, and we may wait to 8.05. Well, we do that because we don't want to start without everybody here. We wait, as Paul says. We try very careful to follow his directions. And we also encourage everybody to eat before they arrive. We don't want a big feast going on right at the start of Passover. That doesn't put us in the right mindset, again, following what Paul had to say. And I'll talk a little bit more about that later. And so we need to keep the Passover then with reverence towards God.

And much that attitude of reverence needs to be developed before we arrive to partake of service. That's why it'd be wise for us to begin studying God's Word now. Start reviewing the many church publications. There is oodles. I know that's probably not a good word. There are oodles of articles and Beyond Today videos, just tons of stuff that we can be studying to help us. A lot of it goes back 20 some years. It's there for us. And so we should be studying God's Word, reviewing the many church publications, even going back over our notes.

Some of you have notes that go way back. Look at those and think about them. Do what we can to prepare our hearts and minds for the commemoration of Christ's sacrifice and the renewal of the covenant we made with God upon baptism. And so again, during the weeks ahead, we need to study and reflect, contemplate upon God's Word so we can have a more deep and truly appreciative Passover and truly understand the love and sacrifice of our Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.

And I also want us, though, to consider the little more, what we might call the details of the Passover service. So we understand now, we should understand we're supposed to approach a Passover with reverence, with respect towards God. That's how we were supposed to take it. I believe we can be more reverent and respectful when we also take time. And I'm just going to touch the surface of these things now.

We'll be hearing lots of messages before Passover, but I want to touch upon some of the basics to begin thinking about these. Again, turning our minds toward the important things of life as the Passover service. And so I'd like to talk to us briefly about the significance, then, of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It's a huge topic. I know that. But I want to touch some of the huge points regarding the meaning, the significance, of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the Son of God.

He was the Word who coexisted eternally with God. The Scriptures reveal this relationship to us in John 1. Let's go to the beginning. In the New Testament, that's John 1-1. And, of course, it takes us back to a time before Genesis' account of creation.

Part of the reverence for God is reminding ourselves who Jesus Christ is, who He was. Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Let's look at John 1-4. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. The Word was also the Creator. I'm just going to interject here. The Word was also the Creator of all the universe, as we're told, continuing on here in verse 3. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. Verse 4, in Him is life, and the life was the light of men. And then, in John 1.14, we read, and the Word became flesh and dwelled among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So the Word, who is also the Creator, became flesh and dwelled among us. Emmanuel, God with us. And that's noted in Matthew 1.23. And it's interesting when you think about it, was God, the Creator, who threw Moses, instructed the Israelites on keeping that very first Passover while they were yet in Egypt. He instructed them that on the tenth day of the first month, and that first Passover, every man was to select a lamb large enough to feed his household. You can find this in Exodus 12.3. The lamb they chose had to be a male lamb without defect. And then, on the fourteenth day at evening, the Israelites killed the lambs and placed the blood on the doorpost of the entrance to their homes and on the lintel over the top of the door. And that's especially in the house where they ate the lamb. I need to add that. And then that night, God killed all the firstborn of Egypt. But God passed over the homes of Israelites who had the marking around the door and did not kill their firstborn. But again, the blood had to be on the doorpost and the lintel. Without the blood, God would not have passed over them. And that's when we read in Exodus 12.14, God established that day as a memorial, and that you shall keep it as a feast to the Eternal throughout your generations, and you shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. The way Passover is kept has changed through time, but it is still being observed. It is still being kept. Now, as it is interesting, consider that the same God who passed over the Israelites and established the Festival of Passover was also the one who dwelled among us as Jesus Christ, isn't it? In 1 Corinthians 5.7, you can just jot this down, in 1 Corinthians 5.7, Paul called Christ our Passover who has sacrificed for us. And in John 1.29, John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And then let's turn to Hebrews 9, verse 11 through 12. Hebrews 9, verse 11 through 12.

Hebrews 9, verse 11 through 12 tells us that Christ came as high priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is not of this creation. And not with the blood of goats and calves with his own blood he entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption, referring to Christ's sacrifice, the perfect Passover.

The male lamb without defect, of course, represented Jesus Christ, the perfect sinless sacrifice who would give up his life so that all might live. Jesus Christ, the creator and God of the Old Testament, bought us then with his shed blood. His life as a perfect Passover allows us to be forgiven for all our innumerable sins and not just yours, not just mine, but all of humanity's as well.

His perfect sinless life paid the death penalty for all human sin. And I can imagine that was quite a deep, huge debt. All the debt of all human sin and all human disobedience. Romans 6.23, it's a debt that had to be paid. Romans 6.23, Paul tells us that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And you can also jot down here John 3.16, a scripture known, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 3.16. Now because Christ paid the debt for our sin, that debt is death, it's the penalty upon us, he paid for us. That means we can no longer live our lives according to our own desires or own way. He has purchased us, purchased us, redeemed us from death. And we understand this if we read 1 Corinthians 6.19-20. These are foundational scriptures, foundational because these are things we need to build our appreciation of God and our reverence towards him on.

1 Corinthians 6.19-20, do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own? Once you've been baptized and received God's Holy Spirit, God's Spirit dwells in us, we are not our own.

We live our lives for God. Verse 20, for you are bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's. We are totally God's. Of course, as I said, there's a whole lot more to be studied and learned from God's Word regarding the sacrifice of Christ and not just the aspect of what Christ sacrificed, but the Father also sacrificed.

And that's an interesting thing to consider and study as well. So as we consider the significance of Christ's sacrifice, I'd also believe we shouldn't remember and study the different aspects of the Passover. I don't know about you, but sometimes I don't always do a great job of preparing for Passover. Things happen. And I think it's not has been a good Passover service for me. And when I arrive and I really haven't done my studying like I should, maybe I've gotten fuzzy remembering the significance of the bread or of the wine or why we do the foot washing.

And so it's also important that we study and remember the significance of these very important things we do when we take Passover. So let's consider the foot washing, the significance of the foot washing. We need to think about it before we do the Passover. In ancient times, you may have heard that washing of the feet of a guest was a lowly task.

The host, usually assigned to the most mean Yola of his servants, probably the most talented of his slaves, would get to wash people's feet. It wasn't a very fun job. They got to wash the feet that had walked through the dirty streets of Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside.

And you can imagine those feet were rough and thickly calloused, pretty dirty, coated with dirt and grime, and something we don't often think about, but those feet would also have on them the pulverized filth of animal dung, manure. It was everywhere. That's the way it was.

And so those feet got all that dry dust on them. Well, as long as it was dry outside, if it wasn't, it was even messier sort of feet to dry off. So, to wash off. So, no servant really enjoyed, probably, this menial chore of removing dirty sandals and washing these filthy feet. And I mentioned that in detail because, in essence, that's what Jesus did, isn't it? Let's read a little bit of that in John 13, verse 1 through 5.

We consider the importance of the foot washing ceremony, all in preparation to get our mindset, to begin thinking about these things now, instead of waiting to the very moment when we're sitting there, slipping our shoes off. John 13, verse 1 through 5. John 13, 1 through 5. Now, before the feast of Passover, of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come and that he should depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own her in the world, he loved them to the end.

And supper being ended, the devil, having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God. See, he knew exactly who he was. He knew. He really could have said, I'm too important to wash people's feet. That's not what he did. He was going back to God. But he knew this.

He rose from supper and laid aside his garments, took a towel, and girded himself. After that, he poured water into a basin, began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he has girded. Now, why did Jesus, their Lord and teacher, the one whom Peter recognized as the Messiah, why did he do this menial chore of a slave? We get a clue if we turn to Luke 22. We've heard messages about this, but we need to remember this. Let's look at Luke 22. Why was this action especially useful for the disciples at this time?

Luke 22 verse 24 gives us an insight into what was going on in the minds and hearts of the disciples, even at this Passover meal. Luke 22.24. Now, there was also a dispute among them as to which of them should be considered the greatest. Here they are sitting at Passover. They don't know it yet, but Jesus is going to be dead within 24 hours, and they're squabbling about which of them would be considered the greatest.

And Jesus said to them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors, but not so among you. On the contrary, he who is greatest among you let him be as the younger and he who governs as he who serves.

As you do more study, and I hope you do over the weeks ahead, as you do more study about the disciples, you will find that they have squabbled often about this topic at least three times that in my study I've seen. They talked about this, and Jesus each time had to do a little corrective instruction. They'll have a little learning moment with them, constantly talking about who is good and be boss. Jesus is telling them those who follow me, he says, must have the attitude of a servant.

And so to impress that message to his disciples and to us today, because we have the same attitude sometimes, he took upon himself the role of a lowly slave and servant. That was his nature anyway, to love and to serve. He just accentuated it by this act, this very vivid act, that a person of his rank and authority in the disciples' minds should never have to do. Now, I should have told you to hold your place. Let's go back to John 13. Sorry, I didn't ask you to keep your finger there. John 13.13.

So after he had washed their feet, Jesus took the opportunity to teach them a lesson, a very good lesson. He says, you call me teacher and Lord, and you say, well, John 13.13, for so I am. That is what I am, your Lord and teacher. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. I've given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. Not you're supposed to sit there and look at it. You're supposed to practice what I did. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed. Blessed are you if you do them.

And so Jesus, in essence, is telling his disciples that if he is willing to humble himself and do the duties of a slave and servant, who are they, or who are we, to think that they, or we, are too good to humbly serve others? Who do we think we are that we can't serve other people? Jesus did, and that's what he wants us to do. We should never think we're too good to humbly serve others. Jesus is giving rather straight talk here, speaking straight, as a slang would have us say. So as we prepare for Passover, we ought to spend some time reflecting on how we humble ourselves to serve others, I believe. We are Christ's servants. That's what we claim. That's what we believe, and I know that's what we do. I've seen it. I've seen you. We are to be devoted to serving others, but do we feel, perhaps, sometimes there are some ways of serving and giving of our time that are beneath us? I hate to say it, but we probably all struggle with that from time to time. We need to think back, examine ourselves a little bit. Have we been practicing humble acts of service since the last Passover? Are we just doing the same things we've always done? Are we reaching out, branching out in new areas, expanding our humility and service in different ways? That's always a good thing to do. It could be a lot of fun and helping others that way. But if we haven't done that many more humble acts of service, or maybe none, we need to ask ourselves, why not? Why haven't we done that? That may be a problem for us. So we ought to think on these questions and others while we study God's Word and examine ourselves in the light of it. Chances are we are going to find some things we're going to dislike about ourselves. And that's good, especially if we dislike ourselves because what God tells us we should be doing. That's a good thing. We should dislike our old carnal selves. But we can also go to God and ask him to please help us because we can't do it alone. We can't do it alone. We have to ask God's help to repent and change, to serve more from the heart, sincerity, as Jesus did.

Let's also consider the significance of the bread. And on the days ahead, again, don't wait till the night we sit there. Don't wait till the evening. And we just now have picked up a piece of unleavened bread, and we're about ready to put in our mouths and chew it and swallow it. And we haven't really considered, well, what am I doing this for? We need to think about that early. We need to start thinking about that now. So let's read Christ's words in Matthew 26, 26. We need to prepare to be reverent for the Passover by thinking even now about partaking of the bread at the Passover service. Matthew 26, 26.

This is what Jesus said to the disciples as they were eating. Matthew 26, 26. Jesus took bread, blessed, and broke it. We're similar to what Paul repeated to the Corinthians. Jesus took bread, blessed, and broken, and gave it to the disciples and said, take it. This is my body. The body of Jesus Christ became an offering for sin. It's what scripture tells us. Let's read, going back to Hebrews 10, 10, 14. Hebrews 10, 10, 14.

In Hebrews 10, 10, 14, and I'm going to break into the thought just by a few words here. Hebrews 10, 10, excuse me, Hebrews 10, 10 through 14. We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. In every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins, talking about the the old practices of the old covenant. But this man, Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God from that time waiting till his enemies were made his footstool.

For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified, those who are being set apart. So part of what we should understand about the bread we eat at Passover is that when we choose to eat the Passover bread, we show that we understand that Jesus Christ has removed our sin by the sacrifice of himself. That's Hebrews 9.26. He sacrificed himself, Hebrews 9.26. He willingly suffered. We need to think on this. He willingly suffered excruciating pain and agony for many hours. This was not a quick and painless death by any means that he suffered for us.

It was an agonizing excruciatingly painful death. He suffered and he suffered for many hours and then he died on the stake. He suffered so terribly because of my sin and because of your sin. And again, because of all the sin, the mountain's high was worth of sin of humankind. He had to endure such suffering for all our sick. And if we flip back to Isaiah 53, we'll see this suffering, his suffering prophesied in the book of Isaiah. Sometimes the subtitle might say something like the suffering servant. Isaiah 53 verse 4. Isaiah 53 verse 4, Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

People thought he was cursed by God. No, he willingly took this upon himself. But he was wounded for our transgressions, our sins. He was bruised for our iniquities. Isaiah 53. The chastisant for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. All we, verse 6, like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Eternal has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Christ is the suffering servant. As we prepare ourselves to eat that bread that symbolizes the broken body of Christ, we ought to remember and greatly appreciate why he suffered, why he sacrificed himself for us. It's because, as we're told in Romans 3, 23, because all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God. We can't live like God without his help, without his spirit in us. We earned the penalty of death because of our sins, just like we're told in Romans 6, 23.

Romans 6, 23 tells us that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But Jesus Christ, who lived a sinless life, he died for us, he paid our death penalty, so that we can share eternal life with him and with our Heavenly Father.

It's very encouraging and sobering news, how it had to happen, but it's very great, wonderful news for us, and we should be grateful. So because of his sacrifice that makes true life available to us, we also eat that Passover bread to demonstrate our commitment to live the way Christ teaches us, to allow him also to live in us. We eat the bread again to demonstrate our commitment to live in Christ and to allow Christ to live in us. These are several things that bread, when we eat, symbolizes. Paul describes his commitment to a new life in Galatians 2.20 when he wrote, I have been crucified with Christ, Galatians 2.20, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

That's a whole sermon just in that one scripture. But I reference it so that's something we can study in the days ahead. And so we have vowed at baptism to give up living our lives for ourselves. We have surrendered our lives to God. Surrender is unconditional surrender, by the way. Not a half-hearted surrender, but all the way. That's what we said at baptism.

And because we've surrendered our lives to God, and with God's Holy Spirit in us, we strive to follow God and live that new way of life of obedience and faith.

So as we prepare for Passover, we need to reflect and examine ourselves with regard to the bread. How well are we yielding to Christ in us? Could we do more to follow Christ and to obey God's law? The answer is yes, of course. Always, of course. Always we can do more. Are we loving our neighbor as we should? Do we have any temptations that we really haven't been resisting? Do we have sins to overcome? Strained and broken relationships maybe exist in our lives that we need to fix up. We need to mend them up. Well, now is the time to reflect, to store ourselves up, to do finally what Christ in us has been prodding us to do, perhaps for quite a while over this past year. Maybe it's time to really get with it and do something. Always, and especially now as Passover is approaching, it is time to yield to God and repent, but especially so with Passover coming here. We want to examine ourselves carefully and make sure we're being reverent.

Let's now talk about the significance of the blood.

There are very aspects of the blood and its meaning, and I'm just going to hit the main points of it. Again, these are very deep and meaningful aspects of what the blood means. And the blood, of course, when we drink wine at the Passover, that represents the blood of Christ shed for us. Let's look at Matthew 26. We were there earlier. Matthew 26-27.

Matthew 26-27.

Then He took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, and gave it to them, saying, drink from it all of you.

For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. What do these words mean? What do these words mean? We drink a dark red wine, don't we, at Passover.

It's just a thimbleful, just a little thimbleful. It's almost hard to say. A thimbleful of red wine. But that small swallow of wine represents that most precious blood of our Savior. That's pretty incredible. Christ, remember, willingly gave His life's blood for some very important and profound and wonderful reasons. We need to be mindful of. What does Christ want us to understand about that shed blood, that little bit of red wine we drink at Passover? Typically, we point out four main things that this blood represents that we need to be mindful of. First is, the blood of Christ washes away our sin. The blood of Christ washes away our sin. Because Jesus Christ shed His blood for us, He fulfilled the requirement mentioned in Hebrews 9.22. And let's look at that. Hebrews 9.22.

Hebrews 9.22 reads, And according to the law, almost all things are purified with blood. And without shedding of blood, there is no remission. So almost all things are purified, meaning or cleansed with blood. And without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. Or what we could also say is no forgiveness of sin. We also see this reference in Revelation 1.5. Revelation 1.5.

Breaking into the thought a little bit. We read, Revelation 1.5, that Jesus Christ is a faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth to Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. Pretty clear what that blood means. And let's also read 1 John 1.7. 1 John 1.7.

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. Very important meaning. So when we drink the wine at the Passover service, we need to remember that the wine represents the blood that Christ shed so that our sins would be forgiven and we would be free of eternal death. He washes that away. We're clean, and that's a pretty good feeling. Secondly, our drinking of the wine expresses our faith and trust in God that we are truly forgiven and truly free from sin and guilt. I'll repeat that again. Second, our drinking of the wine expresses our faith and our trust in God that we are truly forgiven, truly free from sin and guilt.

Let's notice Hebrews 9 verse 12.

Hebrews 9, 12, referring to the blood of Christ here, Hebrews 9, 12 through 14. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood, He entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For at the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, how much more shall that blood cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Christ's blood is very precious, and if you've ever thought about all the the bulls and the sheep and the goats and the doves that were sacrificed, the blood spilled. I can't imagine it'd been like an ocean full of blood that was offered? I don't know. Maybe what size of an ocean? I don't know. But Christ's blood is worth far more than all the blood of those animal sacrifices, and it so cleanses us from all that sin. So when we drink the... so when we take the wine that night, we need to understand that it's that blood that is washed so completely from sin. We can be so confident knowing that we truly are forgiven. God's not doing any halfway clean-up work here. We're clean, totally. And we don't need to be burdened with the guilt, and we don't need to keep going back and dredging up, kind of like a zombie. We don't need to keep bringing back up the old dead man. Let it be and move forward, trusting God. So we no longer need to doubt or feel guilt from past sin. Christ's blood has made us free from sin and guilt. Third, the blood of Christ makes it possible for us to come before the throne of God. The blood of Christ makes it possible for us to come before the throne of God.

Under the old covenant, only the priest can enter the tabernacle into the holiest of all, which represented standing before the throne of God. Only the priest could do that. But because the blood of Christ has cleansed us, purified us, removed all sin away from us, each one of us can now have direct access to the Father.

Think about that. Let's notice Hebrews 9.24. Hebrews 9.24. We should be right there still. Hebrews 9.24. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. And then let's also read Hebrews 10.19. Hebrews 10.19. So again, because of the blood of Christ who's washed us, purified us, we can approach God with true boldness. That means confidence. We don't have to be shy. We need to be humble, but we don't need to be shy. Hebrews 10.19. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Christ, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us through the veil that is His flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith without any doubt. With full assurance of faith, having our heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, we're pure clean. That's what Christ's blood does for us. And finally, a fourth aspect of what the blood of Christ means. We need to understand that by accepting the blood of Christ for forgiveness of our sins, the blood represents that we have made a covenant or agreement with God. The blood of Christ, when we partake of that, when we drink of the wine and Passover, represents that we have made a covenant or agreement with God. And it's actually in a Passover when we take that wine, we are renewing that covenant, the covenant we make at baptism, we're renewing that covenant or agreement.

Now, the terms of this covenant are absolute, we learn from Scripture. We know they're absolute because they're sealed with blood, the shed blood of Jesus Christ. When we repent and are baptized and accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and we do believe that He does forgive our sin, we have to have belief and obedience, when we do believe that He forgives our sin, we then enter in a covenant with God. And we drink the wine each Passover. As we drink it, we are partaking of this symbol of Christ's shed blood, in part to remember the terms of that covenant. We find the terms of that covenant in Hebrews 10, verse 16 through 17.

When we often call the terms of the covenant, we find in Hebrews 10, 16.

Here we read Hebrews 10, 16, This is a covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord the Eternal. I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them. Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. That's what God is doing. With His Holy Spirit in us, upon baptism, He is changing us from within, writing His law in our hearts and minds. Our part is that we must continue to yield to God's Spirit in us. We must continue to strive against the tugs and poles of the old man who wants us to go backwards. We don't want to go backwards, we want to go forwards. We must continue to yield to God's Spirit in us, believe and obey God, and allow God to work in our hearts and minds. That means we will keep God's laws out of sincere gratitude. We don't keep the laws because we have to. We should come to a point where we really, truly want to keep God's laws. We grow in that desire to do better and better as we stay close to God through the years and years, as long as we shall live. We will keep God's laws out of sincere gratitude for the sacrifice of His Son, and really have a willing desire to please our Father, to please our Heavenly Father.

As we can see, four different aspects. The meaning of that symbol the wine and represents the blood of Christ. These meanings are very important, and I've just scratched the surface. You can think about any one of those, and you realize there's a lot of depth in each of those. I encourage us all to take time in the weeks ahead to delve more deeply into some of those, all of those if you can, as much as you can do. If we do that, that'll allow us to have a truly more meaningful Passover. But again, we need to examine ourselves in the light of the blood of Christ. We need to ask ourselves these sort of questions. Do we keep our part of the covenant? God is made with us as well as we could? Could we do a little bit better than doing our part of the agreement? Yielding to His Spirit, doing what we know we ought to do? Or have we been neglectful? Here God has allowed us the opportunity to go and stand before His throne. Do we? Do we do it often? Or do we let it slide, saying, well, I'd rather watch TV? I don't think God would like that very much. That's something we can all be thinking about. Do we approach the Father's throne as regularly and reverently as we could and should? Do our lives and the way we treat others reflect our profound appreciation for Christ's sacrifice? It's not just about us and the Father, it's also about us relating to our brethren, and it's also about us relating to every human being on this planet. How well are we doing with that? And so, you see, we do have a lot to think about, don't we? And you're quiet, and I suspect that means you are thinking already, and that's a good thing. That's a good thing. We need to consider these things, and where we need to humbly repent and seek God's help, we need to do it, instead about improving our relationship with God and relationship with one another.

Now, as we're doing all these things and preparing ahead of time now to be reverent and respectful of God while we attend His service, I also realize there's a part of what each of us does, I guess I'm looking at my own life experience, there's something we can do that very night, even as that evening draws near, there's some things we can probably try to plan for even now, so we find ourselves in a better place, in a better attitude and mood, as that time for the Passover service approaches. Like I said, I've considered my own approach to preparing for the Passover, especially of how well am I doing in keeping it in a reverent manner, and I can very quickly recognize some of my own shortcomings in regard to how I don't always plan ahead. Maybe I'll let the routines of my life get in the way, especially in that evening when I know I need to be reverent in a right state of mind for the Passover service. So, I would encourage all of us, I'm going to be trying to do it too, to really consider how our time is going to be spent just prior that afternoon, evening, that day, prior to the Passover that evening. Now, I do understand how hectic life can be for us. I do understand sometimes we have to take care of our children and run them back and forth to school. We got bosses sometimes out of the blue. We'll demand something where maybe we want you to get out of work a little early on that day of Passover or that night of Passover. And you can make the best plans, the best-made plans, if my some men gone off the glee, often go awry, Robert Burns says. So, I know we can only plan, but perhaps a few of those plans will work, and that can help us be in an even better mindset, a frame of mind, as the Passover comes upon us that evening. So, again, even now, try to plan ahead. For April 21st, try to plan ahead. What can you do even now? Maybe you can switch work with somebody or with another employee. Give yourself a little more time that day to be prepared to keep the Passover more reverent manner. So, here's some things I thought of. Perhaps to be in a better place as Passover comes upon us, maybe we could try to do something like this. Try to avoid those last-minute errands.

Try to avoid late appointments that day.

We have an appointment in our house that day, but I made sure it was really early in the morning, so this should be okay. May we should be sure to eat supper earlier than normal? Maybe that'll give us a little more time to contemplate. Sunset's going to be about 7.55 that night on April 21st here in Big Sandy, if I can trust what the computer tells me.

We need to make arrangements for our children's care. If we typically offer a service here at the church building, or you can do it at home, but try to take care of those sort of things ahead of time and not forget to do that. Whatever we can, I really encourage us to try to strive to have a time for calm reflection before that service begins that night. Try to avoid the hurly-burly that rush craziness that can happen, because that sort of anxiety does not really help us be reverent and respectful. We can't turn our minds off that quick from the day's affairs. Let's do the best we can. I would also encourage us to try to help our children understand the importance of that night's service. Try to help our children understand why that evening service is so important.

Try to explain to them in an age-appropriate way. I know some of you have kids that are three and four teenagers. Try to explain why Passover is so important to you personally, but also why it's important to them. They can handle it. Try to put it in a way they can get it. Teach them about Jesus Christ's humility, what that means. Why do you, dad, why are you going to wash some other guy's feet? That's kind of gross, dad.

Yeah, maybe it's a little gross, but you know what? Jesus did it, and it's about humility, son, and it's about putting myself in service to others. We may have to have our kids help them put aside the games, the TV, the worldly distractions. You may not be watching that. You're getting ready, but you do. We really need that going on in our atmosphere of the home while we're trying to get our minds right. But at the same time, try to make the evening pleasant for our children. Let's make sure we don't turn it into a punishment time. And do all we can, I'd recommend, to make Passover not seem like some sort of secret right that no one is allowed to understand. That's the way it seemed to me when I first came to the church 30 some years ago. Not going to embarrass them, but I asked the teen today, teen Bible study, what does Passover mean to you? You know what? They told me all about the Old Testament symbols. They told me about the lamb was roasted and they had to burn it up. You couldn't leave it, right? They knew all of that. And they knew the New Testament symbols and what we do. But then I asked them, well, what else about it? And they said, well, it seems kind of like a secret.

And I said, yep, I knew you were going to say that. Perhaps we need to do a little bit more in helping our children understand this is not a secret. This is definitely a family thing. We need to help them understand that this is not secret. It is for baptized members. And we usually, as I explained it, we usually don't want little children at our feet because we want the parents not to have to get up in the middle of a very important somber service to go change a diaper or to have somebody's lego go flying over your shoulder. That's a little distracting on Passover. But perhaps, you know, if your children are older and they can sit still, talk to Dr. Ward, talk to your pastor, whoever you're at, and see if it'd be appropriate to let your older children sit and watch. It's not a secret. We need to encourage our children to give it careful thought that we want them to be able to do what we're doing one day. Encourage them to be thinking about that choice. We need to help them understand the loving sacrifice of the Father and his Son that sacrifice made for all people, including children. Let's not lock them out. They'll have their chance when they're baptized, but let's not keep it a secret. And third thing I'd recommend that we all do that evening at Passover. Carve out time, push away the distractions best you can. Be sure to pray to God with a humble attitude, great gratitude, before coming to the Passover service.

Don't rush and think, well, I'll get here early, and I'll sit and read my Bible and pray then. That's the best you can do. That's the best you can do. That's great. But if you can, make time before you get here. Carve out time to pray a profound prayer of repentance, a profound prayer of gratitude. This is so important to have a right reverent and respectful attitude. So again, as you remember then to bring your Bible in, to bring your towel, perhaps you can remember to wear a pair of shoes that are easy to slide on and off. I've done this a few times, right? You can tell. When you double check to make sure you don't have holes in your socks, men did that once. It was humbly. Don't neglect to make time for prayer. Don't neglect to make time for prayer. Ask God to direct and to inspire all that occurs that evening. Ask God to make that service especially inspiring and motivating for all of His people wherever they are observing His Passover. Ask God to help you be an irreverent and respectful state of mind.

So, brethren, it is now time to begin preparing for Passover. I hope I've done an effective job of pulling your attention to what now is becoming most important for us this time of making sure we're in a right relationship, rightly settled with God. So let's make time to turn our hearts and minds to God in prayer and careful reflection. Let's study His word, carefully examine our lives. Let's be seeking out all those little areas in our lives where we know we have some work to do, some work of repentance to work on, and even look carefully at those places you think you're okay. There are things of, you know, sins we don't realize are there we may have overlooked. Look your whole life over. Think about it. Let's be doing that. And if you have any fences or bridges that you need to fix in your relationships with others, with your brethren, with your family, do what you can. Do all you can with God's help to mend those, to be reconciled. Let's be doing that. And the sin for all doing that, and then let's all plan to keep the Passover with due reverence and gratitude to our most loving Father and His Holy Son, our Savior Jesus Christ.