Let's Celebrate Passover

From the Love We're Finding studios in Memphis, Tennessee, I'm Byron Tyler, here with Kerry Vaughn, the CEO of Love We're Finding. Kerry, we're celebrating Easter this Sunday, and this is a special time for Christians all around the world to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Absolutely. Hosanna, hosanna, which means save us now, right? And what a great time of year. This is our time to celebrate the risen Savior. Christians really celebrate holidays, Christmas and Easter. And when we think about these two, they had their own meaning, we know.

Adrian Rogers talked about it, and he had this to say. To me, Christmas is more fun, but Easter is the greater blessing. The Bible never does make much about the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. It obviously announces the birth of Christ and tells us that he was virgin born. This is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, please don't any listener think that for a moment I'm deprecating or denigrating the virgin birth or the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I have noticed that the more carnal a person is, the more they make of Christmas and the less they make of Easter.

Why is this? Well, anybody can get excited about a baby, but the risen Christ has come to be Lord. I can't have the resurrection without the incarnation. But I think Easter moves me even more deeply in Christmas. Kerry, during this Easter season and celebration of Easter, we have some resources for our lover finding listeners to help them experience Easter, maybe even more fully.

Absolutely. There's three things I want to highlight. Number one, the experience Easter right challenges daily devotionals emails that remind us of the real reason behind this wonderful celebration. Number two, the voices of Easter available through the LWF app.

This is a theatrical series, the voices of Easter. We hear the story of Jesus, his final days on earth, his death, his resurrection through the eyes of those who witnessed it all. Lastly, the Passion of Christ and the Purpose of Life book. This book talks about the cross of Jesus, what it means for you, what it means for me in a very new impactful way. All of this is available.

LWF.org or my LWF app. Kerry, today Adrian Rogers looks in the Book of Exodus about the Passover, which was a tradition where the Israelites sacrificed a lamb and painted the door of their homes in its blood. The lamb had to be spotless in order to save them from the death angel.

As Christians, we celebrate Passover because it speaks of how God provided our redemption through Jesus Christ. Isn't that beautiful? It's beautiful. Right?

Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. We always love hearing from our listeners and we invite you to write us and let us know how LWF is encouraging you and your walk with Christ. Here's one that says, When you look at the ministry of love worth finding, you look at all the aspects that we have talked about and all the tools. Byron, we are handling holy things with today's message. Let's celebrate Passover.

Here's Adrian Rogers. Have you ever thought about a Christian celebrating Passover? Did you know that Easter and Passover are inextricably interwoven? Did you know that Christians are called on to keep Passover?

He's talking about a lump of dough here. Watch it. Passover. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. So, what is Passover all about? Well, it is about a lamb.

Now, take your body. Take your bibles and go backward to Exodus chapter 12. We're going to find out the story of Passover.

Then we're going to find out why, folks, we have reason to celebrate. Why we are going to keep and celebrate Passover. First of all, I want you to notice in Exodus chapter 12 what I'm going to call our redemption prophesied. Our redemption prophesied. Now, the Old Testament is the book of prophecy. The Old Testament says somebody is coming. It speaks of the Lord Jesus.

Jesus Christ. Look, if you will, in chapter 12 of the first six verses. This is a brand new start.

This can be the first day of your new life. Verse three. You shall take it out for the lamb. Now, notice in verse five how the lamb is delineated and described. Your lamb should be without blemish. Very important.

A male of the first year. Very important. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

That is in the afternoon. And then look, if you will, in chapter 12 and verse 11. Fast forward. And thus shall ye eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand. Ye shall eat it in haste. It is, it is the Lord's Passover. May I tell you four things about that lamb?

And I pray God will write them upon your heart. First of all, the Passover lamb was a spotless lamb. A spotless lamb. Verses five and six.

Look at it again. Your lamb shall be without blemish. Not a scab, not a scar, not a wound, not an extra part, no part diminished. Here is a perfect lamb, a little male lamb without blemish. Now any, any blemish, any spot, any blur would have disqualified that lamb. So the Passover lamb was a spotless lamb, and how the priest would examine that lamb later on in the temple sacrifices to make certain that it was without spot or blemish. Number two, not only was the lamb a spotless lamb, it was to be a sacrificial lamb. Notice verse six. And you shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. In the 14th of April, about 3 p.m. in the afternoon, the father in that home would take the neck, the chin of that little lamb and stretch the neck and take a sharp, razor sharp knife and draw it across the throat.

The red blood would spurt out and be caught in a basin. What is the lesson that God was teaching his people so long ago? It is one of the great fundamental truths in the word of God. Without shedding of blood, there is no remission. Without shedding of blood, there's no remission.

Why? Because in the blood is the life, and the wages of sin is death. And so there must be an atonement for sin, and that is the taking of innocent life. Here was a lamb, a spotless lamb. Here was a lamb, a slain lamb.

And thirdly, here was a lamb, the Passover lamb was a saving lamb. Look now in verse 7 of chapter 12, and they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat it. And then look, if you will, in verse 22, and you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin and strike the lentil and the two side posts with blood that is in the basin, and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. Now, God says to the father of the house, when you slay that little lamb, put the blood in a basin, then go get some hyssop.

Hyssop, I've seen it many times in the Holy Land, it's a weed that just grows out of the wall with little white flowers that come in a bunch. Get a handful of hyssop, it's like a paintbrush. Dip that hyssop in the blood. Then go to the door of your house and put some blood on the sides, on this side and this side, and then on the lentil. And then the people are to come in the house, through the blood, stay in the house in the morning, till the morning, while the death angel is passing through the land. And so everybody that came into that house had to walk in through the blood.

Now, it's very important you understand this. God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. This lamb is spotless lamb, this lamb is sacrificial lamb, this lamb was a saving lamb, and then this lamb, the Passover lamb, was a shared lamb.

And then verses eight and nine. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it, eat not of it raw, no sodden at all with water, that is, don't boil it, but roast with fire, his head with his legs and with the pertinence thereof. Now, think of what happened to this little lamb. It was an innocent lamb. First of all, it was roasted. The fire began to burn this little lamb. Our Lord Jesus, as we're going to see, felt the fire of God's wrath. The fires of God's wrath burned themselves out on the Lord Jesus Christ. By the way, can you imagine what it must have smelled like that night in Egypt? That afternoon, when a quarter of a million lambs are being roasted there. What must the Egyptians have thought?

Here they are. They are becoming now not a bunch of slaves. They are becoming one people. They are becoming one nation. A new people with a new day. And they're fellowshipping over a lamb. If it was to be roasted and they were to eat it, they would eat all of the lamb, not to leave anything.

Why? Because when we receive Jesus, we don't receive him in partiality, do we? As I said before, some people say, well, now I've taken him as my savior. I now may make him my Lord.

No, you take him as savior and Lord. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord means master. Jesus means mediator. Christ means Messiah. He is master, mediator, Messiah.

You eat all the lamb. You receive the Lord Jesus Christ. Is he your Lord? Have you received him as Lord? Friend, if you've not trusted him as Lord, it's my duty to inform you he is not your savior. It's not a little cafeteria line where you say, I'll have some savior today. No lordship, thank you.

Oh, no, no, no. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. They would eat the lamb. They would eat all of the lamb. They would eat the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The bitter herbs spoke of repentance and remorse. That is, they were broken over their sins. The unleavened bread stands for sin. Not only were they broken over their sin, but they were broken from their sin. Bitterness, unleavened bread, speaking of genuine repentance. Jesus said, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. And now, this roasted lamb, this lamb that is consumed, all of it, this lamb with bitter herbs and unleavened bread, this lamb, listen, is now inside of them, giving them strength, power, nourishment.

And when they walked out of Egypt, a lamb walked out inside of them. Christ in you, the hope of glory. And then God said, when you do this, now there's no work to be done this day when you keep the feast. You're to rest this day.

Why is this? Because it is the finished work of our Lord. I cannot work my soul to save that work my Lord has done. Have you stopped struggling to be saved? Have you now said, Lord, I can't do it? You never said I could. You will.

You always said you would, and I'm going to trust you now. No work in the very act of eating the Passover, but watch it. He said, when you eat it, you eat it with your loins girt. You eat it with your shoes on.

You eat it with your staff in your hand ready to move out. Now, we're not saved by works. We're saved to do good works. And salvation is not the end. It is the beginning.

Amen? I told you about a boy one time. I performed a wedding for him.

He was as nervous as a cat with a long tail in a room full of rocking chairs. And after the ceremony, he said to me, preacher, is it all over? I said, no, son, it's just beginning. Fred, when you come to the Lord Jesus and trust him as your personal Savior and Lord, then your staff in your hand, your shoes on your feet, your loins girt, ready to serve the Lord. This lamb, a spotless lamb, a sacrificial lamb, a saving lamb, a shared lamb, that's our redemption prophesied. Now, let's look at our redemption provided. Our redemption provided. I think by now you've already gotten the picture that that Old Testament ceremony, that Old Testament feast was a picture, a prophecy, a portrayal of Jesus who is going to come.

I hope you've gotten that connection. Now, take your Bibles and find Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah chapter 31, key verse, beginning verse 31. Jeremiah the prophet, now, he looks back toward Passover and he looks forward toward Calvary.

And here's what Jeremiah the prophet said, and I would to God every son and daughter of Abraham could understand this passage. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. Underscore the phrase new covenant.

Do you know what the word new covenant means? New Testament. I will make a New Testament. I ask you to turn this morning to a New Testament. There is the Old Testament. There is the New Testament. God says, I'm going to make a New Testament with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

Now, watch this. Not according to the testament, the covenant, that I made with their fathers in that day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. What day is he talking about? The Passover, which my covenant they break, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant, the new covenant, that I make with the house of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, now watch this, I will put my law in their inward parts and write it upon their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people and they shall teach no more every man to his neighbor and every man his brother saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. God now is prophesying that New Testament where God's law will be in their heart.

They'll have an intimate knowledge of God. Their sin is remembered no more. God has a lamb, a different Passover lamb. Put in your margin John 1 verse 29, Oh John the Baptist, who ate honey, but brother he didn't preach it. Oh John the Baptist saw Jesus coming. John 1 verse 29, and what did he say? Now you have to remember all of this in the light of Exodus chapter 12. Remember all of this in the light of the Passover lamb. When John saw Jesus coming he said, Behold the lamb of God. Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.

He was talking about you there. We're in this world. Our redemption is prophesied. Let me give you four things. Now watch it. Number one, Jesus is a spotless lamb. Do you agree with that?

I hope you do. Put in your margin 1 Peter 1 verses 18 and 19, For as much as ye know ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. As a lamb, as a lamb, as a lamb without spot or blemish, Jesus is the spotless lamb. Jesus a sacrificial lamb.

Now remember our text that we began with. Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7 it says Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Christ our Passover. Jesus is our Passover.

He is sacrificed for us. Now it's the Jewish day begins at sundown 6 p.m. the night before the crucifixion. Jesus said to his disciples, I want to have this Passover with you.

Go and prepare a place. We must eat the Passover tonight. That Passover that Jesus ate with his disciples was to be the last of the old ones and the first of the new ones. Then by 9 a.m. he's on his way after dark Gethsemane. He's on his way to Calvary. God's lamb, a spotless lamb, a sacrificial lamb. Up he goes, up Mount Moriah, up to the place to fulfill the prophecy. The Lord Jesus is a saving lamb.

And now let's come back to our text. Jesus a shared lamb. Remember what we said there in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 1 and 8. Purge out therefore the old leaven.

Remember leaven stands for sin. Purge out the sin that you may be a new lump, a new loaf of dough as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread.

What is it? Not anything you can hold in your hand, the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And when Jesus had that feast, that last Passover feast, it was not a mournful experience. It was a celebration. And, friend, that's the reason I've said we need to celebrate Passover. You see, when we come to the Lord's table, we don't come to mourn a corpse. We come to hail a conqueror. And how are you to keep the feast? Are you a child of God today?

Do you want to celebrate Jesus? Well, I'll tell you how to keep the feast. Keep it with unleavened bread. Unleavened bread, what is leaven a symbol of? Leaven is a symbol, an emblem of sin. Why don't you say, oh, God, search me, know my heart, and see if there'd be some wickedness in me. Lord Jesus, Lamb of God, if you so died for me. Paul says, let us keep the feast.

Purge out the leaven. I'll tell you, if Jesus so loved me, I want to live for Him. I want to love Him. And I don't want to keep any leaven in my heart that nailed Him to the tree. Do you?

I hope not. That's the reason God calls us to absolute, total holiness. That's how we keep passionate with today, holiness to the Lord. And if you have questions regarding your faith in Jesus Christ, how to live for Him, how to receive His forgiveness, we would love to offer you an insightful resource at the website. It's our Discover Jesus page. You'll find answers there you may need about your faith.

There is a response section. Please share how this message or others have impacted you. Simply go to lwf.org slash radio and click the tab that says Discover Jesus. Again, lwf.org slash radio. We can't wait to hear from you today. Well, as you think about the Passover celebration, remember the spotless, sacrificial, saving, shared Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. As Adrian Rogers said, in His blood we are safe. In His Word we are sure. We hope you'll join us next time for more timeless truth right here on Love Worth Finding.