The Blood of the Lamb
March 28, 2021 Morning Service
Palm Sunday/Lord’s Supper
Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK
Rick Boyne
Message Point: Jesus covers, protects, and saves us with His blood.
Focus Passage: Mark 14:12-25
Supplemental Passage: Exodus 12:1-14
Introduction: Traditions can be good, as long as there is meaning behind observing or doing them. If it is worth doing, the meaning of the tradition will be passed along with the tradition itself. If not, then it is an empty gesture. Why do we do this? I don’t know; it is just what we do each Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Independence Day, etc. All young people love the tradition of the mistletoe. But WHY do you need to kiss someone standing under it? The tradition has been passed on in my family, but not the meaning. This week, I invited someone to our Easter Service. They asked what it was about. I wished someone a “Happy Palm Sunday.” They asked, “What is Palm Sunday?” And those cases were right here in Wagoner. Our observations must be made with meaning behind it otherwise there is no need to pass them on to the next generation. Somewhere along the way, the parents, grandparents, or great grandparents dropped the ball on the meaning behind Easter and Palm Sunday!
I. Celebrating Passover with the Disciples
a. Possibly the most important holiday for Jews
b. Jesus said He was excited to share the Passover meal with the 12 even though He knew that He would reveal that He was going to be betrayed by one of them.
II. Experiencing Passover in Egypt (Exodus 12:1-14)
a. The Jews had been slaves to the Egyptians for centuries
b. The Egyptians no longer remembered Joseph
c. Moses had entreated Pharaoh 9 times already to let the Hebrews go.
d. The Passover was instituted by God before it happened for the Jews to always remember
e. God did not check in each house to see if those inside were worthy of being spared; He only checked for the blood of the lamb on the doorposts.
III. Celebrating the Lord’s Supper today
a. Remembering His death and resurrection
i. the bread represents His body that was broken
ii. the juice represents His blood that was spilled and created a new covenant, that is, “grace”
b. Looking forward to His return
c. For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again. So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world. So, my dear brothers and sisters, when you gather for the Lord’s Supper, wait for each other. (1 Corinthians 11:23-33 NLT)
Application/Call to Obedience: Are there things in your life that if remain, God would consider you eating the bread or drinking the cup in an unworthy manner? Use this time to confess and repent of sin. In order to take the Lord’s supper, at least in our congregation, one must be saved and have been Scripturally baptized. If you have never been saved, the Bible says, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10 NASB)
