What New Testament Spiritual Lessons Do We Learn from the Death of the Old Testament Passover Lamb?

Fred and I have used the preacher's outline and sermon Bible commentary as well as a life application commentary for the sermon today. On Thursday evening, April 2nd, here in Detroit, we're going to be meeting over in a social hall, room across the way there. And we are going to be observing the festival that pictures the very first step in God's Master Plan of Salvation. We're going to be looking and observing the Passover. The Passover is a festival that offers life to all of mankind. Not just to us, but eventually to all of mankind. It's a very solemn occasion. That's why when you walk into the building, you walk into the room where we're having services, it's very quiet. It's solemn because we're reflecting on the death and the suffering of our Savior, Jesus Christ. But the evening is also a very encouraging evening. It's encouraging because this service also shows Christ's victory over sin and death in our place. It's an annual reminder that God has given to each and every one of us of His unconditional love. Unconditional love. I've made mention in the past, you know, people talk about humans giving unconditional love. I've yet to have somebody prove that to me. But I know that God does give unconditional love. No strings attached whatsoever. And on Passover evening, you and I are preparing for the Passover by introspection, by reflection, by examination. And two of the things that we should be thinking about as we're preparing ourselves for the Passover is that Passover is, number one, an expression of our faith. An expression of our faith in the reconciling death of Jesus Christ. Passover is also a renewing of our commitment to allow Jesus Christ to relive His life through us. Those two things are a big deal, a very big deal. An expression of our faith and a renewing of our commitment. Now today, as I was thinking about the two messages, I'll be here today, I'll be over in Windsor next week, and then I'll be here the week after. I've got two sermons to help prepare us for the Passover. My midweek Bible studies have, I think, been doing a fairly good job of that. But I wanted to give two sermons, and I was thinking about this very first one, what I should give. I began to think about things I've given you in the past, and I don't think I've covered the material I want to cover with you today, any time in the many years I've been your pastor. Today we want to take a look at Exodus 12. You go ahead and turn over there if you'd like to. We're going to go other places. Exodus 12 is going to be our base of operations. So if you've got a marker, stick a marker in there.

In Exodus 12, we see the Old Testament Passover Lamb being sacrificed. Now, we can ask ourselves, and I think it's a valid thing to do, what does that have to do with us as New Testament, New Covenant Christians? Are there lessons to be learned? And this is if you want to put something on the top of your paper. This is what you would put. What New Testament spiritual lessons do we learn from the death of the Old Testament Passover Lamb?

What New Testament spiritual lessons do we learn from the death of the Old Testament Passover Lamb?

Now, there may be more lessons here than I see. I saw six that I want to cover with you today. Six different lessons. Let me turn over to that location.

Exodus 12. Lesson number one. The Passover Lamb was sacrificed at a very specific time set by God. The Passover Lamb was sacrificed at a very specific time set by God. Exodus 12. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. So you don't get much more specific than this. Here God is saying on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight, at the beginning of the day, you're going to take this lamb that you've selected, as we've heard in the sermon on the 10th. You're going to take this lamb and you're going to sacrifice. You're going to kill it. Now, there's something that we need to appreciate. The Old Testament account only shows the death of the Passover Lamb. God the Father would not take and show all that the New Testament Lamb had to go through. God would not do that to a little animal. First of all, it would be impossible. You couldn't kill the animal and then torture it all the next day. Jesus Christ, during the day-light portion of the fourteenth, went through severe trials. He went through three trials of the Roman courts. He went through three trials at the hands of the Jewish people. He went through six trials, and that's all the part of His sacrifice. But in the Old Testament, you see at the very beginning of the fourteenth, the Lamb was killed. Now, put your marker there because we're now going to go to some other place. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 11. Let's take a look at what we do on our New Testament Passover. There's a correlation here. 1 Corinthians 11, Passover evening. Mr. McGuire will be here with you. I'll be over at Ann Arbor for the service there. This is one of the passages we start our Passover service with. 1 Corinthians 11, verses 23-26. Verse 23, For I receive in the Lord that which I also deliver to you, to me one of the things that is the hallmark of God's church, we don't just make things up out of thin air. As the Apostle Paul was given things by Christ, he then turned those things over to the membership of the church. Repeat the commands, repeat the doctrine, the dictates from God to Father, from generation to generation. For I receive in the Lord that which I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. So Jesus Christ had his Passover service at the beginning of the 14th, just like that little lamb was sacrificed at the beginning of the 14th. And when he had given thanks, verse 24, and broke and said, I make eat, this is my body which is broken for you, do this in remembrance of me. So that Passover lamb in the Old Testament times was going to be devoured, was going to be totally consumed. We'll talk about that further on in the message today. But Jesus Christ is talking about taking and eating. Verse 25, in the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. So here we see in verse 24, in verse 25, it's done in remembrance. It's a memorial. Memorials are done once a year. They're not done once a week, once a month, once a quarter, as some do. We do it, as it says here, as a memorial, in remembrance, once a year. Verse 26, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you'll proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. We don't proclaim his resurrection, as some do. We proclaim his death. He is our Passover.

Now, the New Testament Passover shows the entire sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as I may have mentioned just a moment ago. But in all of this, brethren, God determined the timing of the death of that Old Testament Passover Lamb. He said it's going to be the first month, it's going to be on that fourteenth day, it's going to be at the beginning of that fourteenth day. Now, why is that relevant to you and I today, thousands of years later? Why is that relevant? It's relevant, brethren, because just as God said there is a specific way that I'm going to have this animal sacrificed, he says to us, at a specific time, I'm going to call you. At a specific time, I'm going to open up your heart and your mind. At a specific time, I'm going to start working with you so that you come to me, and you're going to be a, not a dead sacrifice, you're going to be a living sacrifice.

And God the Father and Jesus Christ, as they control the time when the Old Testament land was going to be killed, they also control the time when you would be a sacrifice, a living sacrifice before the great God. Let's take a look at 2 Timothy 2.

2 Timothy 2, starting here in verse 24. 2 Timothy 2.24, And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach and patient. That's what the ministry is to be. In humility, correcting those who are in opposition. In humility, working with people in the congregation who are doing things that are not in their best inter-spiritually. It's not our job to be a busybody, it's not our job to just poke our nose in anybody's business. But when we see people who might be heading toward ruin, spiritually speaking, then it is our responsibility to say, you know, you're my brother, you're my sister, let's have a sit down, let's talk. In humility, and of course that means that it's me doing this, I've got to remember, I'm made of clay, I've got my share of weaknesses and faults and failings, I can't be on some high horse or whatever. In humility, correcting those who are in opposition. If God perhaps will grant them repentance. Now God granting repentance, that's done at a time of God's choosing. So as New Testament, New Covenant Christians, we appreciate that as God had at certain timing for a sacrifice in the Old Testament, He's got a certain time in mind for you and I as we live our lives, as we give ourself over to the great God, as we become a human sacrifice. If God perhaps will grant them repentance so they may know the truth. Not just the truth of the Bible, but the truth about ourselves, the truth about who we are, what we are. This is one of the reasons why, brethren, we go through the reflection process of Passover time. We don't reflect on all of our faults and failings and say, well, I'm not worthy to keep the Passover. That's not the point. The point is because we have our faults and failures, that's why we need to be at the Passover. That's why Paul says, you know, let a man consider and then let him take the Passover. People say, well, I'm not worthy. Well, brethren, in one sense, none of us are worthy. But in a sense, all of us are worthy. Why are we worthy? Because Jesus Christ died for you and I. He made us worthy through His death. He said to the people who weren't even Christians yet, I have a longing, a desire, a fervent desire to keep this Passover with you. And just a few hours before that, they were talking about who was going to be the greatest. They had their issues. They weren't even converted yet. And Jesus Christ said, with fervent desire, I want to keep this Passover. And brethren, with fervent desire, Jesus Christ wants to keep this coming April 2nd with each one of us in this room. Don't let anything other than illness, don't let anything keep you from that date with our father and our elder brother. So lesson number one, the Passover Lamb was sacrificed at a specific time set by God. Lesson number two, the blood of the Passover Lamb was proclaimed by the entire household. Now, here we've got something a little different than we have in New Testament times, but maybe not so. Let's take a look at this.

Let's go back to Exodus 12. Exodus 12. And again, I don't know that I've actually looked at it this way in years gone by, but as I was preparing, asking God, you know, I've been here 17 years. How many different ways can I look at things? Help me out here. And you've been praying, yeah, he needs lots of help, Lord. Help that man out.

But as I was looking at it, there's got to be something in this very first Passover that maybe I've missed in years gone by. And certainly this would be part of it. Chapter 12 of Exodus, verse 7. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts, the posts on either side of the door, and on the lentil. The lentil was the part that was above the door of the houses where they shall eat it.

Now, in that household where they're putting the blood on these three sides of the door, they're not just mom and dad, it's little kids. And the Passover was going to help all of them who were first born to be saved, even the little kids.

Now, obviously, when we have a New Testament Passover, we say it's for baptized adults, and properly so.

But here, when these people were putting blood on that door, what were they saying? They said they believe they have faith. And we've talked about how we express our faith through the Passover. These people were doing the same thing. There may have been some Israelites that say, you know, I want no part of that. I'm not going to put blood on my door. What are the Egyptians going to think? The Egyptians are going to come in, and they're going to really persecute us. So I'm not doing that. I'm not going to stand out. And probably some of them, they died. Firstborn and those almost died.

But other people who said, you know, I'm going to put the blood on the sides over the top of the door, they were showing to everybody, they were making a public proclamation that this house is a house of God. You know, God is worshipped in this house. Adults were saved, children in the house were saved. Now, is that really different than what we see today in the church? Well, let's take a look a little bit past the Passover ceremony.

Let's take a look at 1 Corinthians 7 for a moment. 1 Corinthians 7. I'm certainly not saying that we should have little children take the Passover on Passover evening. But I am saying something that we need to take a good look at. Because as the Passover lamb protected the entire household back then, the blood of the lamb puts those in a household in a very special position today. 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 14. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband.

Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. So take a good look at that, brethren. If you've got one person in a household, whether it be man or wife, that person, let's say nobody else in the house is, the maid is not converted, the kids obviously aren't. But because one person said, I want that blood on a doorpost, then my wife or my husband, my kids, they're in a special category by God. They're looked upon as very special. They are holy before God. So in one sense, it's very much similar to what we see in the Old Testament, that a whole household is saved.

Maybe because one person says, I want that blood there. It could be mom, it could be dad, it could be both. And the kids are considered holy in a very special category. You know, I came into the church, I'm looking around the room here, we've got a few little ones in the room who were born into the church. They are especially blessed to be born into God's church, especially blessed. We have a ceremony, the blessing of little children. Those of us who were not born into the church, we kind of crawled in the back door.

You know, God left the back window open, we crawled through it. But the little ones, they came in the way God wanted us to come, through a mother, through a father, through both, maybe sometimes through grandparents. We've got a lot of very converted grandparents. Maybe their kids haven't been so hot, but they're teaching their grandkids. Because of that, the little ones are in a very special position before God. Why? Because either the husband, or the father, or both, or the grandparents, they have an effect upon the unbeliever, the adult, and more so even with the children.

With the children, they teach the children the things of God from their youth. How much better does it get than that? I wish I would have known about the truth of God from the time I came out of my mother's room. That's not the way God wanted to work with me. But in the millennium, that's the way it's going to be. In a perfect civilization, perfect in the sense that God's running, and not perfect in the sense that there'll be no sin.

There'll certainly be sin in the millennium. But here we see something that's just a beautiful thing, the way God is working with the people there. One of the greatest blessings anyone can receive is to be part of a household that believes in God, the true God. Let's turn to Joshua 24. In the book of Joshua, there's a phrase here. I used to see this a lot when I would go to people's homes.

There's a portion of a verse here that people would just kind of carve out the portion I'm about to emphasize, and it had that on a plaque in their home. I don't see it so much anymore. Joshua 24, verse 15. And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites and whose land you dwell.

Now, here's the next phrase I've seen on these plaques. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That's an Old Testament proverb, so to speak, and it's certainly true in New Testament times, New Covenant times as well. So, lesson number two, the blood of the Passover lambs proclaimed by the entire household and enjoyed by the entire household.

Lesson number three of the six that I have for you. Lesson number three, the Passover lamb was to be eaten. Let's go over to Exodus 12 and verse 8. The Passover lamb was to be eaten.

Exodus 12 and verse 8. And they shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire with unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Now, again, the specifics of the verse here are very interesting.

They are to eat this lamb, roasted in fire, it had to be roasted, we'll get to that a little bit later, and they used unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The eating of the Passover lamb symbolizes that we are definitely to partake, to assimilate all that is Jesus Christ. When you and I on Passover evening, when we're handed that plate of unleavened bread, we take a little bit of that, we put it in our mouth, we crunch it up, hopefully first we say a little individual prayer. I'll be saying a, or Mr. McGuire here will be saying a prayer over the bread. But then when he comes to you to take your little piece, you take your time. You know, we're no rush. Take your time. Say a little prayer over that little piece of bread you've got in your hand, because that represents the body of Jesus Christ, what he did for us. Last evening I called Bob Dunham. I wanted to see how he was doing.

Of all the pain he's had with the passing of the kidney stone, all the horrendous pain. He said, you know, Mr. Del Sandro, there have been times I just could not think I would be able to cope hours and hours at a time. He said, the one thing that pain taught me, and for those of you who have delivered children, you probably can relate. You know, I've not had a kidney stone, I've not delivered any children. So I don't relate to those things. But the one thing Bob said that I thought was interesting, he said, you know, when I think about the excruciating pain I was in, and then I think about the pain Jesus Christ went through for me. If everyone else, whoever lived in all 6,000 years of human existence, if I was the only sinner, Jesus Christ would have gone through that horrendous pain, worse than I went through, for my sake. So, brethren, think about that, about being able to live and to assimilate who Jesus Christ was, the kind of love that it takes to do that for somebody. You know, those of us who are parents, how many times have when our children have been sick, and sometimes really badly sick, have we said, boy, I wish I could take that on myself. As parents, we've probably said that any number of times. But that's exactly what God the Father and Jesus Christ did. They took it upon themselves. God the Father risking losing Jesus Christ due to sin. Jesus Christ risking the very same thing. He could have sinned, and had He done that, you and I would have had no hope, and He was certainly no more godship for Him. So, they would eat the lamb. They were also to eat the unleavened bread. Remember, that unleavened bread picture is an expression of our faith. It pictures a renewing of our commitment. And then they were to eat the bitter herbs. Let's turn to Exodus 1.

Exodus 1.

And verse 14.

And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, and mortar, and brick, and all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.

So, we have in... Here you have the Old Testament, a discussion about bitter herbs, a discussion about Israel's bitter servitude. But on Passover evening, we also do something as an element of service, don't we? We wash feet. It's an aspect of service. Hopefully in our mind, it is not something that's bitter, hopefully in our mind, but it is humbling. It is humbling. Maybe some people would use the word humiliating. I hope they wouldn't use that word. To me, that's a negative word. Humbling is a positive word. But we are taught the ordinance of humility on a Passover evening.

I think that's where this bitterness comes in. So lesson number three, the Passover lamb was to be eaten. Lesson number four of the six. The Passover lamb was offered a certain way. The Passover lamb was offered a certain way. Let's go back to Exodus 12. Look at verse 9. Exodus 12, 9. Do not eat it raw, nor boil at all with water. So here's specifics as to what not to do. But roasted in fire. Here's how specifically the Passover was to be prepared.

Roasted in fire with its head and its legs and its entrails. So the believer was to roast the whole animal over a fire. No other way, brethren, was acceptable. There's no other way to come to Jesus Christ other than the way Jesus Christ says. The lamb was offered in a certain way. We have to be offered in a certain way. We've got to do certain things. It's not just a matter of saying, yes, Lord. It's a matter of saying, yes, Lord, and I will do what you tell me to do, Lord.

It's not faith or works, it's faith and works. Acts 4, verse 12. Acts 4, verse 12. I use this every time I'm giving a sermon on the last great day or the eighth day of the feast. It's a Hallmark scripture, one that must be read on that day. Talking about Jesus Christ, Acts 4, verse 12.

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. In the book of John, Jesus Christ calls Himself the door.

I am the door. No one comes to the Father but through Me, through this door. He is the way. And we see in Exodus 12 where the Passover lamb had to be prepared in just the right way. Now let's take a look at that for a moment.

It was roasted in fire. Hebrews 5, verse 8. Hebrews 5, verse 8. Hebrews 5, verse 8 says, Though He was a son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. Jesus Christ went through the fires of life. From a time He was born, there was a bull's-end on His back, one that was stalking Jesus Christ by the name of Satan, looking for just one second of weakness, one second when He would have His guard down where Jesus Christ could sin.

Jesus Christ could not let His guard down, could not let up at all. Not a single moment of His life. He was, we talk about His love. He certainly was love. We heard that today in the sermon, but Jesus Christ was as tough as they came, spiritually speaking. Satan and Jesus Christ squared off, eyeball to eyeball, and it was Satan that had blinked, more than blinked. He was defeated. He continually was defeated by God the Father and Jesus Christ. But Jesus Christ had to go through a lot of things, didn't He? All those trials, after He had had to pass over service with His men, and then at the very end of the 14th, that horrendous torture and crucifixion.

Horrendous. And, brethren, God says, we have to go through the same things. You know, sometimes we think, well, why me, God? And God says, hey, look, if my son can go through it, who never sinned, if the apostles can go through it, or the people in chapter 11, if Hebrews can go through these things, then why not us? Why not you? Why not me? Are we not God's children? Doesn't it say in the book of Hebrews how God chastens those who He loves?

He loves you! He loves me! He loves us so much, He gives us these trials. Many times we wish, well, I'm enjoying your love here, God! Maybe we can pass this on to the next guy. Love him a little more. Romans 8 and 6. Romans 8 and 6, we've looked at the fire, roasting the Old Testament Passover land with fire.

But it said that its head had to be roasted, its head, its legs, its entrails. Romans 6 and 8, Romans 8 and 6. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. And brethren, there are so many scriptures I could have used here. Scriptures that talk about how our minds need to be renewed. Scriptures that talk about our daily sacrifice. The scripture that talks about bringing all things into subjection, every thought into subjection. They made mention to you in a sermon a few months ago.

You and I take a look at the world today, and we take a look at 6,000 years of human history, and all the agony that human beings have gone through. And you can trace that back to a being by the name of Lucifer, who at one point did not get his thoughts under control. At one point, Lucifer did not bring all of his thoughts into the captivity of Jesus Christ.

Because Lucifer didn't bring all those thoughts into the captivity of Jesus Christ, and God of course knew at that very instant what was going through his mind, God didn't shut him down. But because he did not keep his mind where it needed to be, he then sinned. He then became Satan, and we know the results. So it shows you just how grievous not keeping our heads in the game is. Romans 6, verse 17. Romans 6, verse 17.

But God, we thank that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. You obeyed from the heart. And the Old Testament passed over a lamb. They only roasted its head. They roasted its entrails. They roasted the inner organs of the animal, what you and I would call the heart of the animal. And certainly our heart has to be going through the fires. We have a message today in a sermonette, Ken's message today, that we can have a consuming fire that consumes all the draws, consumes all the things that shouldn't be there, and leaves nothing but the pure gold. And that's what we want God to do with our hearts. Get rid of the stuff, burn away the stuff that shouldn't be there, and leave something beautiful and pure. Lastly, it says that what was roasted in the fire of the lamb was roasted its head with its entrails, and also its legs. The legs stood for the way we walk. It stands for the way. Let's go to Acts 9. Several times in the book of Acts, Christianity is called the way, because it is a way of life. Acts 9, verse 1, Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the way, of the way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. He persecuted a way of life. Our way of life, brethren, has to be purged by fire. Our minds do, our hearts do, every way that we walk needs to be purged.

So the Passover Lamb was offered in a certain way. Certainly it was true of Christ, and as Christians, it needs to be true of us as well. Lesson number five. The Passover Lamb was completely consumed. Completely consumed. Let's go back to Exodus, chapter 12. Exodus, chapter 12, verse 10.

You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. The whole animal was to be consumed or destroyed. Now, many of you aren't a part of, let's say, our preparing for the Passover service. But let me kind of take you back into the pastor's corner, and tell you what we do when it comes to the bread and the wine. Any bread or wine that's in the room in the social hall there will be having Passover. Any bread or wine that's in that room when Mr. McGuire says the blessing, none of that can be used later on. You can't take a half bottle of wine back home and say, well, this is what we had left over from Passover. You take that back home, and you consume that. Or if you have unleavened bread left over from that service, I'm going to take that back home and use it during a day's in-the-loathing bread. If it's in the room where the prayer was asked, that wine and that bread has got to be destroyed. Now, you can have the wine and bread in this room. You pour the wine, you get the bread ready, put it on the trays, and then you leave your extra bread in this room, you leave your extra wine in this room. When the prayer is set in that room, well, the stuff that was in another room, you can use that. That was not prayed over, so it's fine for you to use. But as we see here in Exodus 12, verse 10, the actual sacrifice that's been blessed by God, that's got to be totally used or destroyed. So after a Passover service, there's always wine, well, sometimes there's wine left over, there's always bread left over. And whatever's left over that I or whoever is asked to blessing at, we've got to destroy that. It can't be used. It's a beautiful symbolism. Beautiful symbolism.

So it says here, None of it remain until morning, whatever remains of the morning, you shall burn the fire. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians chapter 5, verses 1 and 2.

Ephesians chapter 5, verses 1 and 2. Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also has loved us, and given himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Let's take these two verses apart bit by bit. It says, Be imitators. Let's concentrate on the word be. We're going to be something. The original here has the idea of commitment. Are we committed? It has the idea of attachment, of devotion, of allegiance, of attention. These are all aspects of the word that is intended as to be imitators. We're going to be committed as an imitator. We're going to be attached. We're going to be devoted. We're going to be allied. We're going to show attention to being an imitator. It says, We are to be imitators of our God as dear children. On my computer, I can go to, I think it's Bing, and they always have these picture collages. I go to the sports section, and a lot of times they'll have pictures of various athletes. One guy who was just looking at yesterday had a picture of various sports personalities and their little children. You see these big, hulking football players, guys who are 6'6", and they weigh 350 pounds. Big guys, and then they have their little girl with them. They're doing their exercises. They're huge. They're like Goliath. They've got this sweet little girl. She's got the little bow on her hair. In some cases, the little kids are just trying to do exercises like their old dad. In one case, there's one little girl. She's sitting down. She's touching the end of her toe. She's exercising right behind his dad. You and I would not want to try to tackle that, but the little girl was absolutely darling. You see how children, they like to imitate us. They like to ape us. How many times have we seen grandchildren be like Papa? They're going to be like their granddad, or they're going to be like their grandma. You watch your children, and you look at them and say, That's my smile that they're using on their face. They've got my smile. Poor thing! They've got my smile! But we want to imitate God in the same way, don't we? As children imitate their parents or grandparents, we want to imitate God.

And here in verse 2 it says how Christ was an offering and a sacrifice as a sweet-smelling aroma. There were five Old Testament sacrifices. I've gone through this a few years ago. But the ones that were the sweet saber were the ones that burned offering. The burned offering was one that was given to God, was a sign of total dedication and surrender. Jesus Christ was totally dedicated to God, totally surrendered to God. And of course, this is what we must do. We must be completely consumed as we follow our Lord Jesus Christ. So lesson number five, the Passover Lamb was completely consumed. Lastly, lesson number six.

The believer is to quickly respond to their new life. Let's go back to one last time to Exodus 12.

Exodus 12 and verse 11. And thus you shall eat it with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, your staff in your hand. So shall you eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. You know, I don't think too many of us do this when we're going to somebody's house just for a normal dinner engagement. We don't go to somebody's home, and we don't want to take off our shoes. We leave the car running in a drive way. Because if you don't know what's going to be served in this household, I remember Mary and I had some folks over here not too long ago. Well, maybe a couple years ago, I guess. After we ate, they said, well, you know, it was funny. We didn't know what kind of weird food ministers served. And the things we served, they now eat all the time. They'd never heard of one of the dishes that Mary had prepared. But now they use it all the time. But here you see the people here that they are ready to go. They're eating this Passover, and they're ready to go. Because they realize God has called them to leave very, very quickly. They couldn't even get, you know, a leavening for the bread. God didn't want them to have a leavening in their bread. And so the idea here, brethren, as you and I go through life, the New Covenant lesson for us is that as you and I accept the sacrifice of our Passover lamb, we need to be ready at a moment's notice. When we find sin in our life, we've got to be ready to leave it. We can't dally. We can't drag our feet. We can't argue with ourself. Well, it's really not a big sin. Other people are doing it. We don't want to do that. Matthew 24. Last scripture I'm going to read today, Matthew 24. Starting in verse 48. Read letter in my Bible. But if that evil servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming. We can be like that if we're not careful. And begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat in a drink with drunkards. In other words, not living a Christian lifestyle. The master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him. We can be caught spiritually unawares. Remember the story of the virgins that we see in the next chapter. We're not looking for him at an hour when he's not aware of. And we'll cut him in two and appoint him with his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and a gnashing of teeth. So, brethren, you and I have to have our high calling in the forefront of our minds. We live in a fast-paced world. We live in a world where everything is vying for your attention. We've got all these electronic gizmos that people are attached today to. We've got entertainment. We've got people having to work overtime. And this and that. Or maybe we've got a long commute to work. There are so many demands on our time. We have to make sure that we have a sense of spiritual urgency. The people in the Old Testament, in Exodus 12, verse 11, they had a sense of spiritual urgency. We're about to leave Egypt. We've got to be ready to go. We need that same mind. We're leaving this society. We've got to leave. We've got to go. We've got to leave things behind. We can't take things with us. We shouldn't want to take things with us.

Let me give you a few pointers here. I don't have time to go through Scriptures on these, although I've got them here in front of me. How do you and I have a sense of spiritual urgency? A sense of spiritual urgency. Number one, remember your first love. Remember what it was like when you first were being called to how much time you spent in prayer and study. How that you made it a point to fast on a regular basis. I know a lady in one of the congregations here in the region, she makes it a point once a month. She's going to fast. She doesn't try to be showy about it, but she's very dedicated in her walk with God. She'd be the first to tell you that there's all sorts of imperfections in her life, but she knows that she's got to make sure that she remembers that first love. Second thing we want to do if we want to have a sense of spiritual urgency is stir up God's spirit. Stir up God's spirit. How do we do that? Well, the Bible says faith in the book of Romans, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Let's make sure that we get our study of God's word. Allow God's word as we study it. Allow God's spirit to work within that written page and move our hearts and minds and convict us and stir us. Another way that we have a sense of spiritual urgency is be diligent. Remember when you first came into the church, especially during the days of Unleavened Bread? You go to the store, you're taking a look at all the everything you're putting in your shopping grocery cart there, and does this have loving in it or not? We were very diligent. Or does this have something we shouldn't eat in it? Does this have pork in it? What kind of bacon is that? Is that beef, turkey bacon? What is that? Diligence. We want to be that way spiritually. The fourth thing, in terms of having a sense of spiritual urgency, is to be and stay committed. We're not going anywhere. I don't care who in the congregation insults me. I don't care who tells me I look funny. I don't care. I've had this happen.

You're just not as fat as you used to be. You've got to love your brothers and sisters when they come to you and bring that ray of sunshine to you. You're not nearly as fat as you used to be. So you're going to stay committed through all the... people, they mean well. But through all the love that the brethren showed us at times, all of our misguided love. And lastly, if we wanted a sense of urgency, I say lastly, I'm sure there's many other points, but we want to be ready. The people are in Exodus 12. They were ready. They had their staff in their hands. They had their shoes on. All they needed was the word from Moses saying, Hey gang, we're leaving. We're going now. Of course, they had to spoil the Egyptians before they left. They did that in the daylight portion of the 14th. So brethren, today we ask the question, what New Testament spiritual lessons did we learn from the death of the Old Testament Passover Lamb? Six lessons. Let me give you a brief review. Lesson number one, the Passover Lamb was sacrificed at a very specific time set by God. Lesson number two, the blood of the Passover Lamb was proclaimed by the entire household. Lesson number three, the Passover Lamb was to be eaten. Lesson number four, the Passover Lamb was offered in a very special and a certain way. Lesson number five, the Passover Lamb was completely consumed. Lesson number six, the believers to quickly respond to their new life in Jesus Christ. Hopefully, brethren, this has been helpful, and we'll catch you in a couple of weeks.