In this sermon, the preacher discusses the significance of the Passover table and its connection to the redemption story of the Jewish people. The preacher emphasizes that the Passover table is not just a religious ritual, but a representation of life itself. The sermon focuses on the biblical background of the Passover, highlighting the importance of the bread and the cup in the Last Supper. The preacher also explains the symbolism behind the different cups used in the Passover service, including the cup of judgment and the cup of praise.

In the Christian Church, I think that the Church has suffered greatly for the absence of Jewish believers in its midst. I'm even pained by the name Judaism in Christianity, because I know there's one God, one faith, one Messiah, one salvation, one way. And the word Christianity has become so odious to Jewish people for historical reasons that I have on my own card printed, Messianic Judaism according to the Scriptures. John Grace said that we're all believers in Messianic Judaism according to the Scriptures. And if you knew what the Jewish Passover represented, and the Jews knew what the Christian Easter represented, and it all comes out of this one table, how reconciled we would be in that one faith. So I'm grateful for this opportunity tonight, although I'm an inadequate instrument to show this, and my own Jewish background was spotty and incomplete, and you know from my testimony that I was an atheist until six years ago, and went only to the most mechanical forms of Jewish life. But I became a Jew the day that God saved me. And so I want to ask God's blessing on this table, and that He'll really break this. I'm going to ask that Jesus Himself will preside over this Passover table, because it's the Father of the house that presides over the Passover table. What could be more precious than the same Jesus who presided over this table, that last Passover will preside for us by His Spirit tonight, and break to us the deep spiritual meanings of the things that we have laid out here. I want you to join your heart with me now, and let's look to God for this blessing. Precious Holy God, You're wonderful. We don't have words for You, but our hearts cry out to You, Lord God. We praise You. That You're a living God, Lord, that we can't find words to express our gratitude. And that You kind of descended, Lord, through ourselves and out of our sins, out of all the sins that would be greeting and bringing us into a life that's holy. We don't have words for that. It's so much better than religion, it's life. You're the author of life, the author of redemption, who made it possible by Your own body to come tonight by Thy Spirit, Lord, and open the meaning of this Passover table. We invite You, Lord, to take charge by Thy Spirit. Please be blessed by people, and imprint upon their hearts and their consciousness the meaning of this Supper, Lord God, this Lord's Supper, this Passover table, that every time they take the communion from this night forward, that they'll take it in a deeper way, with a richer understanding than ever before they've known. Touch their hearts, O Thine Jewish people, and do all tonight that pleases Thee. So is all, so know Thee not. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. Some people have been asking me about this book that I've mentioned. I'm so happy to talk about it, because I think it's the most explosive book that could ever be offered to Jewish people, and not Jews only, but secular people and modern people and intellectuals who cannot believe. This book is the extended journal that I carried for 14 months in the year that God saved me 60 years ago. It's a fantastic account that God has taken them in. There won't be a skeptical Jew who will be able to pick that book up and put it down, and finish reading it and say that this is a contrived story, or this is just a piece of awesomeness written by men. It's full of the power and the Spirit of God. We have some literature, some cards right by the table here, addressed to the publisher. You can take one or several of these and send them in. You'll be informed when the book is available, there's a little print slip that describes the book. I gave a testimony the other night, and I have several copies of a transcribed version of this testimony, which I gave in Jerusalem, a night in which 25 Jews were saved across the street from the place where I was saved, at the King Hotel. That was printed up in this edition. I don't have too many copies, and I'm just going to ask those people to take them, who have a Jewish friend that they want to give this to. And then some have asked about what organization I work for, the American Board of Commissions to the Jews, founded by an Orthodox rabbi 75 years ago. And it was God who opened up the meaning of this Passover supper, and through that spiritual insight that I'll relate to you tonight. We have some brochures about that work on the table also, and then a few copies of the magazine which we publish monthly. Let's open up our Bibles to the 12th chapter of the book of Exodus. You read the biblical background of this great saga, the great story of redemption, which God worked out in the history of the Jewish people. Fantastic type, a forecast of a spiritual redemption to come for all mankind. You know how the Jews were groaning in bondage in Egypt, and even as our brethren reminded us this afternoon, the whole of nature is groaning and yearning for that redemption, that final redemption of God when we'll come into that utter and complete freedom in Him, of which the Passover is a very deep symbolic suggestion. Let's look at the 12th chapter of Exodus then. And God had raised up an instrument through Moses to deliver his people, and the Lord spoke unto Moses in Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speaking unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for house. And the fifth birth your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the fourth year you shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the holy symbol of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper doorposts of the houses wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh, and that night roast with fire and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor boil it over with water, but roast with fire its head with its legs, and with the inward parts thereof. And you shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, and that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire. And thus shall you eat it, with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your stamp in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn of the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are, and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. Let's for a quick moment look at some of these scriptures. God sought this occasion so utterly significant that he made this the first of months, the beginning of the calendar for the Jewish people. This comes in the April of our year, Nissan, in the Hebrew calendar. It's the springtime. It's the time of birth and the time of new things. It's the time of life coming out of death. And notice that they should take a lamb in its first year and the prime of its life, in other words, a lamb without blemish, a male, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. It shall be chastened on the tenth day and cut to the fourteenth day. Then shall it be slain. For four days it should be kept on public observation that if there be any fault in that lamb, if there be any defect, any stock or any blemish, it cannot be used. It is on the tenth day that Jesus made a triumphant entry into Jerusalem and on the fourteenth day that he suffered his crucifixion. For four days he was on public view and he said to his accusers, which of you convicts me of sin? And also by Jewish reckoning any portion of a day is considered a whole day and any portion of a year is considered a whole year. We know that the public ministry of Jesus was three and a half years or by Jewish reckoning four years. For four years the lamb of God was on public view that if there be any defect or spot or blemish found in him he could not be this perfect lamb of atonement. And God said that we should take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts of their homes and the lentils. The Jewish people actually made the first sign of the cross and the meaning of this is lost even to this day because the doorstep of the homes in which they lived were hollowed by the passing of feet. And the blood, we're told, was poured into this recess and the hyssop, this common green plant, was dipped in, down and lifted up in the middle cuts and in the two side posts. So the Jew actually made the sign of the cross with the blood of this blemishless lamb. And then they were told to eat it, waste totally with all of its ingot parts thereof. Not like some of us today who pick at the lamb that shows us parts that please us but shrink from consuming it entire. And that lamb was to be consumed as pilgrims with our feet swabbed and our staffs and our hands girded for a great journey. You see the tremendous significance that God has written into this historical event not just with Jewish people but for believers throughout every generation unto our own. When I see the blood, God said, I will pass over you. And this feast should be kept as an ordinance and memorial throughout all the generations forever. And to this day, so is it kept throughout Jewish communities in the entire world. From the ultra-orthodox to Jews who have even acknowledged that they're atheists, some form of celebration in the home is maintained even if it's nothing more than a simple dinner. But tonight we're going to go through essentially an orthodox Passover that's going to be greatly telescoped, that you might catch some glimpse of the service which ordinarily lasts something like till 12, 1 or even 2 in the morning. Let's continue reading here in the 15th verse. Seven days shall you eat of leavened bread. Even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses. For whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. In the 19th verse, this injunction is repeated. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses. For whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel. You shall eat nothing leavened in all your habitations shall you eat unleavened bread. I'm a young child of God, but I've learned at least this much. When God repeats himself twice, I take very special notice. There was an abomination to eat leavened bread in the course of this Passover celebration. And we know that leaven is a type of thin. And in those days, in the making of bread, a portion of the batter would be left behind in some dank and damp, dark place in the home to fester or to ferment. And then that would be included in the new batch of dough that the bread would be leavened and would rise. When God called them out of Egypt to begin the pilgrimage into the promised land, they would take no leaven out of Egypt. They would eat no leavened bread. And the soul that would eat it should be cut off from the house of Israel. Then Moses called for the elders of Israel and said unto them, draw out and take you a lamb according to your families and kill the Passover. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, strike the lintel of the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin, and then you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood upon the lintel on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not permit such a scourge to come into your houses to smite you, and you shall observe this thing for an audience to see, one of the beautiful things that are part of our heritage. Traditionally, a few specks of leaven have been left behind in some conspicuous place that the father might have an inspection ceremony. And sure enough, he finds on some rolling or window sill a few conspicuous crumbs, and he collects his tongue and shakes his head or so with tongue and cheek, and he takes a feather and a wooden spoon and he very carefully sweeps each of these crumbs into a wooden spoon, and then he has a predicament. What do you do now with this leaven that's in the spoon and the feather which is contaminated? You can't simply throw it in the wastebasket or the garbage. It would be in the house, and there cannot be leaven in the house. You can't open the door and give it a toss or feel it, a gust of wind will blow back and you have a single speck. So traditionally, in Europe, where there were ghettos of Jewish people, isolated communities, a fire was lit, and the youngest son would be sent with the wooden spoon and the feather and the few crumbs in that napkin to take it out and to deposit that last vestige of leaven in that fire. Then was the house set for the celebration of the great Passover. The last function that the wife had after which the husband would take over and conduct the entire Passover was the lighting of the Sabbath candle. You took your Jewish mother lighting these candles as I've seen my mother do Friday evening after Friday evening through year after year. I don't know what these gestures mean and I don't think my mother knows, but she's seen her mother do it and her mother has seen her mother do it. They sort of go like this and then hold their heads in their hands and pray a benediction over the candles inviting the Queen of the Sabbath into the home. Then the wife sits and then the father takes over. In Orthodox homes, the Jewish father puts on a kittel. I've got one here tonight. It's a white robe and it's a symbol of the father's priestly role in the home. You know, it's interesting that the Passover is the one occasion in the Jewish calendar where the deepest aspect of Jewish religion is brought into the home aside from the weekly Sabbath. And signal on our quote, Christian life how much of that which is deeply spiritual is actually brought into our homes and made a family celebration. There are reasons why I believe that this Passover ought to be observed by not just Jews, but Gentiles who have become Jews through the Spirit once a year. The father has done his kittel, his priestly robe, and then there's a hat that he puts on called a mitre. I don't have one with me tonight, but if you've seen Jewish cantors in synagogues, they wear a white satiny hat with a tassel. But I'm going to wear what we call a yarmulke, a simple head covering. You'll notice that Orthodox Jews wear this in the synagogue and in their homes, and the deeper Orthodox will wear this all the day, even in the streets. Because Jewish people believe that you shouldn't keep your head uncovered before God. Isn't that a precious thing? Now everything is prepared, and the Passover celebration will begin by the drinking of the first cup of wine. Ordinarily, I have a complete Passover dish here that I don't tonight because it was lost in the shuffle of moving. We're making do with some items that we've gathered. But you picture the four significant cups of wine that are going to be had tonight, and the first is called the kiddush, the cup of sanctification. The father lifts his cup, and says to all the members of the family, including the children, and it's a Jewish tradition, no matter how poor a Jewish family, that on the Passover, that every person, the youngest to the oldest, must have four cups of wine. And he prays a prayer in Hebrew. Blessed art thou, O king of the universe, who has given us the fruit of the vine. And the sip is taken, and the Passover has officially begun. The father then washes his feet in the bowl, ceremonial cleansing. And then an interesting thing is done. A sprig of parsley, or greens, which is on this Passover seder plate is taken and dipped into a bowl of salt water. And every person at that table is given a sprig of parsley dipped into salt water. And in Jewish tradition, the green parsley represents life, and it's life immersed in tears. Salt water represents tears, as a symbolic remembrance of what Jewish life has been throughout the ages and its ages. On this table tonight, we have three pieces of unleavened bread. I've got them in three napkins, each piece separated by another white napkin. In a wealthy Jewish home, there's a matzah bag, which is handed down from generation to generation, very ornamental. But tonight we're using the simple napkins. And at this time of the service, the father eats his end, and he takes not the topmost piece, nor the bottom piece, but he withdraws the middle slice. If you've never seen matzah, or unleavened bread, this is it. Notice that it's broken and pierced. It's lined. It's the bread of life. It's made of pure ingredients, simple flour and water. And the matzah that's used for Passover is observed by the rabbis from the time it's wheat in the field to its milling process, right through to the baking, that it does not touch at any process of the way any kind of leaven. It's utterly pure. And at this time, the father breaks this bread, and one half is pushed back in, and the other half is concealed or buried, but first it's wrapped in a napkin, the bread of life, broken for us, wrapped in a shroud, and buried. And that's to come out at the conclusion of the meal, at a time when that is the dessert, and it's called the efekomen. If you ask Jewish people, why is this observed, they can't explain. This is just something that's been handed down from generation to generation. You ask, why are there only, why are there three pieces of unleavened bread? The traditional explanation is that one piece represents the Kohan, the priestly family, another the Levites, the priestly tribe, and the other all Israel, but no one's exactly sure. They just know that this, too, is part of Jewish tradition. And there was at a Passover table like this some 75 years ago, that Leopold Cohen, the Orthodox rabbi whom God had led to the discovery of the Messiah, was presiding over the Passover table at his own home. His Jewish wife was grief-stricken, as is my own mother to this day, that he had received Jesus, and she was a beautiful and faithful Jewish wife who would not turn from her husband, but inside she was a broken woman who could not understand how a man who was the son of rabbis for many generations could do this awful thing of taking to himself that Jesus, that was the name and the property of the Gentiles who had brought so much persecution and oppression upon the Jewish people through the centuries. And that poor man, I know his frustration because I have the same with my own mother and my own family to explain. But it was while he took the middle piece and broke it that the Holy Spirit revealed to him that these three pieces represent the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and the middle piece is the Son whose body was broken for us and whose body was wrapped in a burial shroud and concealed in heaven to come out on the third day. Hallelujah. There's also an onion on the table The Jews call this the root of life and for a good reason because the onion brings tears. You know, if you've heard Jewish music, you know the tremendous plaintive quality of that music. There's always a heartbroken element to Jewish culture and Jewish music and Jewish writing and even Jewish humor. It's because we've suffered so greatly as a people without understanding even why that had we been obedient to the author of this Passover, we would have been spared much. There's also a roast egg on the table. It's not eaten, it's really there as a reminder of the time when the Temple stood and sacrifices were performed. And that's all. This is the one, what can I say, melancholy reminder of the Temple and the glory of Israel. It's also interesting that the egg is a symbol in Easter and it's a symbol in many cultures as a time of beginning and new life. And then I don't have it with me tonight, but the last element on the table is a shank bone of a lamb. It's interesting that on the modern Passover table, when the meal comes, it does not contain lamb. Because since the Temple has been destroyed and since the priesthood has been dispersed, the lamb cannot be properly sacrificed and made fit for the Passover table. So chicken will be eaten or turkey will be eaten or some other meat dish. And the only reminder of that blemished lamb is the shank bone which is kept on this plate. Now it's time for the second cup of wine. And this cup is called the cup of wrath or the cup of judgment. And every person at the table takes his cup by his plate and takes out by his finger ten drops of wine and drops it on his plate. Can you see what each drop represents? Each of the plagues that God brought against Egypt in judgment. Sometimes this is called the cup of praise because they're praising God for the wonder and the might of his salvation. At the conclusion of the second cup, the son, the youngest son, asks the fear of Christ Earth. That means the four questions. And this is done and has been done throughout the ages. It's prescribed in the scriptures that when the sons ask why is this Passover being observed, that an explanation should be given that a reminder should go out to every generation of the wonder that God performed to bring us out of bondage. And I want to read the question which the son plants in Hebrew at the Passover table. And I'm going to read this in English. Wherefore is this night distinguished from all other nights? Any other night ye may eat either leavened or unleavened bread, but on this night only unleavened bread. All other nights ye may eat any species of herbs, but this night only bitter herbs. All other nights ye do not even dip even once, but on this night twice. All other nights ye eat and drink either sitting or reclined, but on this night we all reclined. Now you may have noticed the pillows on these chairs. The pillows are a symbol of freedom that one can lounge in the eating of the meal, and it's another reminder of having come out of slavery and of bondage. The references to the dipping, to the making of a sop, refer to the compound paste made of ground apples and nuts and raisins mixed with wine, which is called harotos, and it has the consistency of mortar. That's the second piece of unleavened bread that was broken. At the time of the meal, a piece is broken and given to every settlement, and they dip into the sop, and each person eats this paste as a reminder of when the Jews labored to build the city of Silesia. There's also bitter herbs on the table, and the rabbis say by tradition that the three basic elements for the Passover table, the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, and the shank bone of the lamb. And the sop is taken of the bitter herbs. That's the second sop that they might be reminded of the bitterness of bondage. Now it's interesting how the son is answered. Because we were slaves unto Pharaoh in Egypt and the eternal hour of God, brought us forth then to the mighty hand and an outstretched arm. And if the more praise left that he had not brought us forth, our ancestors from Egypt, winning our children and our children's children, would still be in bondage to the Pharaohs in Egypt. Therefore, even if we were all of us wise, all of us men of knowledge and of understanding, all of us learned in the law, it nevertheless would be incumbent upon us to speak of the departure from Egypt, and all of us who speak of the departure from Egypt are accounted praiseworthy. Now, by tradition, four sons are spoken of in the Passover. There's a wise son, a wicked son, a sinful son, and a son who has not yet come to the age of understanding. I think it's time to find more information for what these four sons represent. But I want to mention the wicked son. What says the wicked son? By the way, I'm reading from the Haggadah. That means the narrative or the story. Every Passover table will have copies of the Haggadah. This is a very inexpensive version. Some of them will be very elaborate. They'll be bound in silver, and they'll be handed down also, extremely early, generation to generation. What says the wicked son? The whole of the Haggadah has gone through. That's what takes till 12, 1 o'clock, or 2 o'clock in the morning. What mean you by this service? Why is he wicked? Because he doesn't say, what do we mean by this service? What mean you by this service? As if he has nothing to do with it. Therefore, as he considered by tradition, wicked. By the word you, it is clear he does not include himself, and thus has withdrawn himself from the community. It is therefore proper to report upon him by saying, this is done because of what the Eternal did for me when I went forth from Egypt for me, and not for him, for had he been there, he would not have thought himself worthy to be redeemed. This is not a celebration to remind us of what our forefathers experienced, but that we should see ourselves being brought forth by the hand of God, out of bondage, into the promised land. The Haggadah has gone through the whole accounting of God's marvelous deliverance, and then the elements are pushed aside and the meal is brought forth. And it's a festive occasion, and the hours that are taken in the eating of it, and as I mentioned in the service the other night, that eating has become a gastronomic experience for modern people. It's selling something in our face and getting away from the table as quickly as we can. But in biblical times, it was the breaking of bread. It was a time of fellowship. It was something to be done at leisure. The eating part was only incidental. The sharing part was tremendously significant. Time of real fellowship, of a real cordiality, and you do it at great leisure. And so, two hours might be taken for the eating of this meal, and the juice never comes in, but it's the dishes which he's prepared, and it really is a very joyous occasion. And now the meal has been eaten, and we can resume the service. It's time for the third cup of wine, and I want now to turn to the New Testament Scriptures that we might see in the accounts given in the Gospel of Luke, in the 22nd chapter, how Jesus himself traditionally responded as a Jew in the Passover which he was observing with his disciples. Notice the 19th and 20th verses of the 22nd chapter, the Gospel of Luke, And he took bread and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me. Which bread is it that Jesus now chose to break and to share? This is the time for the attic homeman to come out of hiding, out of burial, and usually some kind of a game is made of it. The youngest son is sent to find that he receives a reward, comes out of hiding and out of his shroud, and now this is the bread that Jesus took and broke and gave to his disciples, and said, This is my body, which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you. And this is the time in the traditional Passover service for the drinking of the third cup. The first was the cup of benediction, the second was the cup of judgment, and the third is the cup of redemption. And Jesus says, This cup is my blood given for you. This is the New Testament, sealed in my blood, given for you, the cup of redemption. Jewish people are drinking of that third cup and eating of this bread year after year without any cognizance that it's what represents the Messiah who has already come. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians, the 11th chapter, and our Jewish brother Paul beautifully commenting, For I have received of the Lord, after many of these words are off all the times that we have taken communion, that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, 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. This be in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, after the completion of the meal, the third cup of redemption, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood. This be, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. Then we come to a fourth cup, and it's probably the most melancholy cup taken in the order of the service. It's called the cup of Elijah. And if we had a properly equipped table, you would have seen a whole setting set aside and unused with a cup standing by it, and that seat is left for the prophet Elijah, the forerunner of the Messiah. And in this moment in the Seder, the son is sent to open the front door, and everybody rises, taking the fourth cup in their hand, which is called Elijah's cup, and they look to the open door for the prophet Elijah to come in. And they've done this year after year after year, generation after generation, century after century, and no one comes. And then the father will say something like, Perhaps next year. There's always a moment of extreme disappointment. It's a poignant moment. The Jewish hope of the Messiah that perhaps this Pesach, this Passover, when the door is opened, in will come the prophet Elijah, or perhaps even the Messiah himself, and take the seat that's been left for him throughout all these years, and complete the redemption that was begun thousands of years before in that first Pesach. But alas and alack, again as before, no one comes, the door is closed, the cup is drunk, and then there's a cup of praise, some psalms are sung, and the ceremony is concluded. The precious symbols that we celebrate want to remind us tonight there's no bread of life that isn't first subjected to the crushing experience that grain of wheat has to die that it might bear fruit. The two great symbols, the crushed grape and the broken wheat, ground to give life and redemption unto the multitude. And where to take these as symbols and as continual reminders that this is our Lord's Supper. And I think if he would have of us that we should make of our bodies something broken, that we should be willing also to be crushed and burst, that life which has been invested in us might go forth unto the world. What a fitting way to ask the question how is it that my Jewish people who have sought so long for the Messiah and have gone through the little ceremony that I've described tonight could not see in these beautiful symbols which God has written into their deepest experience in their own homes the Messiah Jesus Christ. I think that the Church of God will have to give answer for the failure of the Jewish people to recognize in the name of Jesus the Messiah of whom all these things speak. As that wife of that rabbi was astounded at the act of her husband in my own little birthday so are countless millions of Jews completely alienated from the name of Jesus never occurring to them that 1900 years ago one came who is the perfect fulfillment of all that he suggests. God has given us the joyous responsibility and obligation to bring understanding and light into Jewish lives that we might explain to them what these very things mean which they really observe that they might feel the joy of the discovery that that Jewish wife experienced 75 years ago and which I am confident my mother is going to experience before she passes from this life. I think it would be a wonderful thing for us once a year we who are believers Jew and Gentile alike to conduct an annual spring cleaning. You know that Paul said that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. God twice warned us that if we so much as touch the slightest leaven we should be cut off from the family of Israel. We ought to start that cleansing and start from the attic of our minds and go through the nook and cranny of this of yours the doors, the dark and secret places of our lives and go into the basements even and cleanse a yearly stocktaking of the drops and the leaven that's accumulated in our lives and cleanse it. We ought to remind ourselves every year by the taking of this bread and the making of a sop dipped into the bitter herb of the bondage from which God has delivered us. And I tell you people and as you know there's no bondage more cruel than that lash which is silent and there's no tyrant more despicable than that tyrant Satan and there are countless millions of Jews and Gentiles alike throughout the world who are groaning and building cities for him who do not know the redemption that's available to them in Jesus Christ. And we will be able to experience it and then brought out of Egypt once yearly to celebrate this glorious Passover to remind ourselves of the joy and the treasure the prize of our lived salvation. There are a lot of us who are being brought out but as the scripture says he brought us out but he might bring us in and many are still stumbling in the wilderness and have not come into the fullness of the promised land. Some of us instead of a vibrant living Christ in our lives have like the Jewish people on their Passover table a parched prophetic shempoem of a lamb. I think God would have us to take spiritual inventory tonight and use the things that he's described to us by his Spirit to examine the condition of our own lives that we might see the Lamb of God anew and understand the meaning of his sacrifice for our redemption. He brought us out that he might bring us in. My own heart and understanding tells me that the plagues are coming again. Can you comment on how the sermon that we've seen has evolved from that? We've been turning out song books to 98 at the cross of the plagues that are coming upon our world. Campuses set afire. Civilizations broken. The oppressions are coming one after another. Mankind is going to be offered a choice of one of two cups. The cup of God's wrath that's a bitter cup or the cup of God's redemption. Such messengers of his salvation that this cup of redemption will be readily received by a dying mankind. I'm going to ask you to pray this at the cross. Let's sing this lovingly tonight mindful of the salvation that God has wrought in our lives. And I'm going to ask anybody who's in this audience tonight view of Lent how they like who wants to partake of their first Lord's Supper to come to this table. To someone who wants to experience the redemption of God to come to this table. What could be a more glorious entry into the kingdom of God than to receive from the master himself from his own body and his own blood the symbol of salvation and return to his feet purged, cleansed, made new child of God saved out of the aegis of your life out of the bondage of a cruel task master to be freed sexually. Shall we sing at the cross salvation of God