VISITATION #14: JESUS IS THE PASSOVER LAMB
INTRO TO TOPIC:
• For the past four months, we have been studying the life of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke.
• We saw Him as Saviour, Healer, Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, and Soon Coming King.
• We have also seen Him as the Dayspring who brings hope, the Friend of Sinners, the Good Teacher, the Prince of Peace, the Mighty Deliverer, the Lord our Provider, and the God Who Answers Prayer.
• Now we turn from the life and teachings of Jesus, to His death and resurrection…
OPENING TEXT:
“The Festival of Unleavened Bread, which begins with the Passover celebration, was drawing near.” (Luke 22:1).
“Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us.” (1 Corinthians 5:7b).
THE BIG IDEA: Jesus is our Passover Lamb, and as we study the original Passover, we learn how we can experience Jesus more deeply and personally in our lives today.
THE PASSOVER: Background to the story from Exodus 1-11:
• The children of Israel were slaves in Egypt and they cried out to the Lord for deliverance. God raised up Moses to be their deliverer, and went to Pharaoah and performed ten mighty signs (plagues) – the tenth being the death of the firstborn.
• The Old Testament is full of shadows and types that point to the Person of Jesus Christ.
1. THE PASSOVER REPRESENTS THE BEGINNING OF NEW LIFE:
“Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, "This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you..” (Exodus 12:1-2).
• When you become a Christian, you begin a new life in Christ.
• PERSONAL STORY: My new life began on August 14, 1989 when I met Jesus!
2. THE DEATH OF THE LAMB SECURES SALVATION:
“Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ’On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 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. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.” (Exodus 12:3-7).
• Why did God tell them to sacrifice a lamb?
“For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” (v.12-13).
• The Lord was coming through the land to execute judgment, but those who killed a lamb and put the blood on their doorposts would be saved.
• “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
• “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” (Hebrews 9:22).
• This Bible truth is so important for us to understand! Because of our sins, we deserve to die, but Jesus died in our place as our substitute so our sins could be forgiven!
• Charles Spurgeon said in one of his sermons: “We must preach Christ crucified whatever else we do not preach… Substitution seems to me to be the soul of the gospel, the life of the gospel, the essence of the gospel, therefore must it ever be in the front. Jesus, as the Lamb of God, is the Alpha, and we must keep him first and before all others. I charge you, Christian people, do not make this a secondary doctrine… The centre of Christianity is the cross, and the meaning of the Cross is substitution.” (The Blood of Sprinkling and the Children).
• I love the songs we used to sing about the blood:
o There is power, power, wonder working power in the blood, of the lamb!
o Are you washed, in the blood, in the soul cleansing blood of the lamb?
• The death of the lamb didn’t only save them from God’s judgment; it also provided a mighty deliverance from them: In the morning, they would begin their exodus out of slavery in Egypt, and into the Promised Land!
3. THERE IS A REFRESHING THAT COMES FROM EATING THE LAMB:
“Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire--its head with its legs and its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.” (Exodus 12:8-11).
• “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Psalm 34:8).
• Our whole visitation series in the life of Christ has been about how we can personally experience Jesus in our lives!
• The fact that the lamb was roasted in fire speaks of the suffering that Jesus endured.
• “as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” (1 Peter 2:2-3).
• Do you need refreshing in your life? Drink the milk of the Word! Feast on Jesus!
4. THE PASSOVER IS A MEMORIAL OF WHAT GOD DID:
“So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses.” (Exodus 12:14-15).
• God wants us to get the leaven out – the leaven of the Pharisees, Sadducees & Herod.
“It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. And it shall be, when your children say to you, ’What do you mean by this service?’ that you shall say, ’It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ " So the people bowed their heads and worshiped.” (Exodus 12:25-27).
• Parents: we need to disciple our children – to teach them God’s Word and His ways!
• Daily devotions, praying for your children, teaching them God’s Word and ways.
5. JESUS IS THE PASSOVER LAMB:
“7 Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. 8 And He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat." 9 So they said to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare?" 10 And He said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. 11 Then you shall say to the master of the house, ’The Teacher says to you, "Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?" ’ 12 Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready." 13 So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover. 14 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. 15 Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." 17 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." 19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” (Luke 22:7-20).
• When we come to the Lord’s Table for communion on the first Sunday of the month, it is a memorial of the substitutionary sacrifice that Jesus made for us.
APPLICATION:
Just as the Israelites had to personally apply the blood to their doors, so to must we apply the blood of Jesus to our lives. How do we do that? By trusting Jesus as our Lord and Saviour.
• All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, and the penalty for our sin is death.
• However, Jesus shed His blood and took our punishment so we could be forgiven!
Beausejour Community Church Website: www.beausejourchurch.ca
Pastor Chris Jordan’s Blog: http://thelandofpromise.blogspot.com/
