The True Passover

It is a joy to be back at the Four Winds again. As you can tell, we love your pastor Steve and Tina, known them many, many years. Steve had black hair when I knew him first.

That's not a result of marriage, it's a sign of maturity. Now, normally when I travel, last week I was in a Baptist church. The pastor was a closet Pentecostal, I found out.

But normally I sort of call ahead of time and find out what the dress code is. And I thought, well, there's no need Four Winds because blue jeans are sort of the thing, so I thought I'd dress up a little bit. And then I come in this morning and here is Steve in a suit.

I didn't even know he possessed such a thing. So my apologies for, you know, not dressing up for this Passover season. Aren't you glad he's alive? Every other religion in the world worships a man that died and left behind a philosophy or some good statements and so on, but the life of that man cannot possess you and enable you and give you strength or anything else, but Jesus Christ again is alive.

I know we refer to this weekend as Easter. Technically that is not a biblical term unless you have a King James Bible and they put it in there for good old King Jimmy, not because they were good translators. But really, Esther is, or Easter is the goddess Esther or Esther and she was a fertility god and that's why, you know, we spend so much time with these crazy Easter eggs and Easter egg hunts and so on and so forth.

But anyway, this is Passover and I want to speak to you about the Passover and I want you to go with me on a little bit of a journey as we trace it from Exodus to the fulfillment not only in Christ himself but also in our own lives. We were taught in Bible school, and I'm sure Steve has said this to you many times, the old, meaning the old covenant or Old Testament, is in the new revealed. The new is in the old concealed or the old is in the new explained.

The new is in the old contained. And so we are going to look at the old and the new because the Bible says again in Colossians there that these things in the Old Testament were just a shadow and the substance belongs to Christ. And so we want to look at the shadow but we also want to look at the substance.

There is a tendency now in the body of Christ in many areas of people to go back and get so fixated on the shadows that the shadows become everything, you know, the whole messianic community. I'm sure Steve has married plenty of, or conducted plenty of marriages, and I've done the same thing over the years, but I've never married a shadow, you know, I've never seen a bride get excited about a shadow. She wants to marry the substance and yet the body of Christ gets more excited about the shadows than they do the substance, and they're going back into the old.

The old is just a revelation of what is the substance in the New Testament. So the Passover, if you have your Bible, turn with me to Exodus chapter 12, and what I've done, I've broken this down to about 18 different points, so you will be out of here before 12, that's p.m., no, you'll be out of here well before then. But the first thing I want to talk about, first of all, let me say this, you'll notice one thing, that every Israelite had to take a lamb, and we'll get into that, but we have here right at the beginning what we would call in the New Testament the priesthood of all believers.

In other words, when they sacrificed that Passover lamb, they did not have to wait for the tribe of Levi to come along, and one of Aaron's sons to sacrifice that. It would have taken them, you know, hours and hours and hours and hours and hours, if not days and weeks, to go through, you know, a million plus people and sacrifice that lamb. It was the priesthood of all believers.

The Levitical priesthood came in because of Israel's sin, and I don't want to get into that right now, around the golden calf and so on, but that's, of course, in the New Testament we have the priesthood of all believers, isn't that right? We all have access into the presence of God and so on. The first word, and I've got a word for each of these, the first word is the word inauguration. Inauguration, according to the dictionary, it is a ceremony that marks the beginning of something.

We had an inauguration in January of this year where we celebrated a new president, isn't that right? A brand new season began, and so Exodus 12 and verse 3, it says, sorry verse 2, this month shall be the beginning of months for you. It is to be the first month of the year for you. In other words, the Passover commenced a brand new year for the Jewish people.

It would be like if the Passover, you know, started, say, in July, and God comes along and He speaks to us and He says from now on, July will be the beginning of the year, not January the first, but July the first. And so something was inaugurated. Something happened.

It doesn't matter what country you go to this morning, whether you go to a communist country, an atheistic country, you know, a Hindu country, Buddhist country, or whatever. If you ask them the date, when they give you that date, it is a testimony that Jesus Christ divided time, a brand new season began. Isn't that right? This is April the 16th, 2007, 2017 years ago, Jesus Christ was crucified.

And no matter what country you're in, it divided time. And that's the Passover divided time. This day, this month, shall be the beginning of months.

Obvious in our own life, the application of that is, if any man be in Christ, he is what? He's a new creature. A new creation takes place the moment you accept Christ as your Savior, a new season begins in your life. And there's many, many scriptures, John 3, of course, and verse 3, the last one is born again.

And again, the new birth, 1 Peter, as newborn babes desire, you know, once we accept Christ, we start all over again. We are born again of the Spirit of God. And we should celebrate that.

Again, that is an inauguration, if you like. The second thing is the word substitution. Verse 3, it says, speak to the congregation of Israel, saying, on the 10th of this month, they are each one to take a lamb for themselves.

They had to take a lamb for themselves. That lamb was going to be their substitute. That lamb was going to be slain in their place.

As the old hymn says, in my place condemned he stood, sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah, what a Savior. In my place.

Those nails that were driven into the flesh of Christ should have been driven into you and me. But thank God we have a substitute. One of the things that man has been unable to do down through the centuries is reconcile justice and mercy.

In other words, if I am just, you are going to have to pay that penalty. If I give you mercy, then justice suffers. And so on.

We have that dilemma. Remember King Darius after Nebuchadnezzar and so on, Daniel, of course, who had come out of Israel as a captive. He had risen to a place of incredible prominence, so much so that there was jealousy amongst all the other seers and prophetic people on both sides of the coin, I might add.

Those that were operating in the true Holy Spirit operation and others. But anyway, Daniel was the one. And so in order to get even with Daniel, they went to the king and butted him up a little bit and said, you are the greatest thing that ever came along and so on.

Nobody should worship any other god but you. And of course he fell for it. And so he signed a decree.

And that decree was, if anybody is found worshiping anybody else but me, he is going to be cast into the lion's den. And you know the story, of course, how they waited and Daniel left his windows wide open and prayed at the top of his voice. You know, you think he would have a little bit of wisdom and get down by his bed and close his mouth.

But no, he was not ashamed of the gospel. And so he began to cry out to God. And so they went to the king and said, ha ha, we found somebody that broke the law.

And the law says, and they were proud of their law, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, it could never be altered. And so the king had signed a decree and behind that decree, of course, was his own reputation. You promised that if somebody broke that law, no matter who he was, he was to be thrown into the lion's den.

And so Daniel was put in the lion's den. He spent the night sleeping on the belly of a lion, and the poor king who had his king-sized bed could not sleep all night. And it says that he wrestled with, how can I deliver Daniel? You see, he could not just reconcile justice and mercy.

This was his friend, this was his leading counselor, and here this man now is going to be off the scene. And I want to show him compassion, I want to show him mercy, I want to show him kindness. He's my friend, he's had insight and wisdom, we can't, you know, this regime can't go on without him type of thing.

But at the same time, if I show compassion, people are going to break the law everywhere and say, you know, your law doesn't mean a thing. And he could not reconcile justice and mercy. And thank God that the cross is the only place where Jesus Christ upheld the law.

The wages of sin is death. And Jesus Christ took your place and my place. And so the lamb, again, the word substitution.

John by revelation, when he saw the Lord Jesus Christ, behold, the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. John equated, again, Jesus with the fulfillment of the Passover. We're talking about deliverance, thank God for what God is doing in this family.

But the Passover, of course, is a major deliverance, a million plus people, 700,000 men that were able to draw the sword and were ready for war, aside from women and children. So some people say around, you know, two million people came out of bondage, you know, in one night. Talk about a deliverance service.

They were set free, you know, and that's what we are celebrating here. So the word substitution. The next word is the word inspection.

It says in verse five, your lamb shall be unblemished, a male, a year old, you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats. So it could not be any old lamb. You cannot just hop over the fence and grab one of your lambs and say, this will do, it's got a broken leg or it's, you know, it's going to die anyway, so we might as well sacrifice it, type thing.

No, it had to be inspected and it had to pass muster, so to speak, not one single blemish. If it had the slightest blemish, it could not be sacrificed. Remember when Abraham offered Isaac and there was a lamb, it was caught in the thicket, the Bible says, by its horns.

If it had been caught in the thicket some other way, it could have ripped its skin and so on. It would have been an unblemished or it would have been a blemished, I should say, sacrifice, but God saw to it that it was a perfect sacrifice and a substitute. And Jesus Christ, of course, was without spot, isn't that right? Let me give you some scriptures here if you're not familiar with them.

First Peter 1, 18 and 19, you are not redeemed with perishable things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of a lamb, unblemished and spotless. And then in Matthew 26, verse 59, it says, now the chief priests and the whole council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus and they did not find any. Remember, they accused Jesus in order to crucify him, they had to bring accusation against him.

This man is a blasphemer, this man is this and that and the other thing and so on. He's brought before the priests and, of course, it was a priesthood that would inspect the lamb and they examined him thoroughly and they couldn't find no fault in him. Not only was he brought before the spiritual hierarchy, but he was brought before the rules of the land.

In Luke 23, verse 14, it says, Pilate, having examined him, I find no fault in him. And then the next verse, verse 15 says, nor has Herod. In other words, he was brought before the social realm and the spiritual realm and those that accused Jesus, not one single one from the headship all the way down.

These were not just rank and file, these represented the government and the spiritual government of the land and they say, we find no fault in him. In other words, those accusations are not true. He truly is blameless.

In the mouth of two or three witnesses, the Bible says, let every word be established. And so Jesus met that criteria. Let me say this too.

I believe that when you and I offer a sacrifice of praise, it is also inspected by the great high priest. That's why the psalmist says, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be what? Acceptable. In other words, not all of our praise is acceptable.

It may be perfect pitch, not from me, but from most of you, but I believe mine is acceptable even though it's not perfect pitch. I'm tone deaf, but we, you know, sometimes, you know, our heart is not really in it. We know the song, we know the beat and so on and so forth, but we're thinking, where am I going to go for lunch and, you know, hope the line's not too long this week or whatever.

You know, that is not acceptable to God. And so we've got to give God a perfect sacrifice and the high priest every day looks down the book of Malachi says, oh, that somebody would shut the gates that you might not uselessly kindle fire on mine altar. In other words, they were bringing the lame and the sick and the diseased and the blind as sacrifices, but we can do the same spiritually.

Bring a sort of a lame song to the Lord in the sense of, you know, distracted, looking around and so on. Anyway, that's extra five cents there. Inspection.

The next word is affection, or if you like, companion. Exodus 12 and verse 6, it says, you shall keep it until the 14th day of the month. Now, most of you are city slickers.

I was raised on a farm in Ireland, moved from England where I was born over to Ireland. My mother's Irish and so for four years we had a farm in Northern Ireland and it was a sort of old McDonald's farm. We had a little bit of everything.

We had cows and cattle and we put in crops and we had pigs and we had sheep. And during lambing season, occasionally a ewe would die in the birthing process and we would end up with a pet lamb. And believe me, when the Bible says, well, the Bible doesn't say it, but when we say Mary had a little lamb, you know, and it followed her everywhere she went, that pet lamb really became a pet lamb.

You were its source of food and we would give that little lamb a bottle and it would come into the house and it would literally follow. We became the mother, you know, but you became attached to it. Now I guess the closest we would have to that today is a dog.

How many of you have dogs here? Quite a few of you. Now imagine you bring home a little puppy for Christmas and you present it to your family and you know, those first few days, three or four days, I mean that thing, you know, it's in bed with them, it's everywhere with them, they are just loving that dog. You know, over time, of course, that's another story.

Father ends up looking after it, but you know, but imagine after four days, daddy comes into the living room with that dog and proceeds to slit its throat in front of the kids. That really is the picture here. You shall take that lamb and you shall bring it into your house and there was an affection that was built up and then it was crucified.

He came unto his own, his own received him not. Zachariah says this, and one shall say among them, Zachariah 13 verse 6, what are these wounds in your hands? And he shall answer, those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends, in the house of my friends. The very one who came to be our friend was rejected and crucified.

And we need to see there, in fact, in the book of Revelation, let me give you the verse here, Revelation 5 and verse 6, it says in the midst of the throne, there was a lamb. My understanding of that from what I've read is that that word is anios in the Greek and it doesn't mean sheep, it really means a little pet lamb. It's the same word that Jesus used when he turned to Peter and he says, Peter, do you love me? After Peter denied him, remember? And he said, you know, feed my sheep.

He said again, Peter, do you love me? Peter said yes. He said, okay, feed my sheep. And then the third time he said, feed my lambs.

And that's the same word that he's used here for this word lamb in the Greek. It's that little pet lamb that was crucified. You could imagine, again, the affection and then all of a sudden the death of that lamb.

The next word is the word crucifixion or execution, verse 6, you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. Notice the whole assembly. In other words, every single one of us here, we are responsible for the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Is that right? We can't say, well, listen, I was good enough. I didn't need a lamb. You know, I was raised in a Christian home where I've never sinned in my life or whatever type thing.

No, all of sin, the whole assembly is responsible. And so it says it had to be killed, and it had to be killed at a specific time at twilight. Now we go to the New Testament, of course, Matthew 27, verse 22, where they cried out, let him be crucified, away with him, and so on.

And then Matthew 27, a few verses later, verse 45, at the sixth hour, darkness fell. In other words, it was an unnatural hour for darkness to come, but Jesus said in John 9 and verse 5, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. But the light of the world was put out, and darkness came, a symbol again that the light had been extinguished, if you like.

And so we find, again, the substance to all these shadows is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. The next one is the word application, or if you like, appropriation, those two words. Verse 7, moreover they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lentil of the houses in which they eat it.

In other words, it was not sufficient just to shed the blood of the lamb, that blood had to be applied. I dare say if you went out to the average rank and file American and asked them what Easter is all about, they would have enough of a background to say, well, that's when Christians believe that Jesus Christ, you know, was crucified and so on. Most people know historically that Jesus Christ died on the cross, but it's another thing to apply the blood.

The blood has to be applied to your house and to my house. The Bible says whose house we are. And so it was applied to the door.

Why? Because Jesus said, I am the door. If any man enters in through me, he shall be saved. Without the shedding of blood again, there is no forgiveness of sins.

Hebrews 11 verse 28 says this of Moses, by faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn should not destroy them. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood. You think it would just say by faith he kept the Passover.

But it's not enough just to partake of the Passover, it was the sprinkling of the blood. In other words, he himself trusted in the blood. The blood was on the house of Moses as it was everybody else's house.

And so we have to make that personal appropriation. You may be here this morning and you've never personally applied the blood to your house, so to speak. You know that Jesus Christ died.

You know that historically and so on, but you've never actually applied the blood to your own life and asked God to forgive you and cleanse you and save you and so on. Number seven is confession, confession. Verse seven again, moreover they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.

Now this was an outward sign to those in the world that they were trusting in the blood. In other words, if you were to walk down the street that evening and here was your neighbor who happened to be a Jew and he's got a bowl, a basin with some blood in it and he's applying it with hyssop to the doorposts and the lintel, they would say, what on earth are you doing? And they would say, this is what God said we're to do because this night judgment is coming and unless you are under the protection of the blood and so on, you will be destroyed and so on and so forth. And the neighbors had a choice.

Either we can laugh and mock and ridicule or we can believe. Some believed there was a mixed multitude that came out of Egypt or literally I believe some that were taken in by it and said, listen, we'll believe that. If that's true, we're going to apply the blood to our house.

But it was an outward confession. I think one of the things we miss today is the emphasis of confessing with our mouth. You know, we get saved and we sort of get saved secretly.

We get saved in church. We'll have an altar call and we're surrounded by brothers and sisters, they pray for us, but then we're afraid to tell our neighbors about it. No, the blood has to be on the doorposts of your house.

In other words, it has to be an outward confession. If we confess with our mouth, Jesus Christ is Lord. Believe that God has raised him from the dead, we shall be saved.

And so that's an important part that I think we fail in our presentation of the gospel many times to emphasize. Jesus said, if you confess me before men, you know, they could have put the blood on the inside. I mean, God knew that it was there.

He didn't have to literally see it in that sense. God knows everything. And he could have said, listen, you know, I don't want to embarrass you guys by, you know, I don't want you to acknowledge me, you know, that's a little, that may get you into trouble.

So put it on the doorpost on there and say, I'll still see it now. And yet that's what we do many times, isn't it? We become sort of secret converts in that sense. All right.

The next thing is the word impartation. In verse eight, they shall keep, sorry, they shall eat the flesh the same night roasted with fire. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

In other words, it was not just the blood of the lamb that was applied to the doorpost, but the flesh of the lamb was to energize them for the journey that lay ahead. They were going to go in the strength of that meat, so to speak, if we can use a biblical expression. That lamb literally came into them.

And of course, in the New Testament, what? Jesus Christ is not just, you know, a zillion miles away sitting on the throne. It's Christ what? In you. Jesus said, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no right to me and no part of me.

And so, thank God that it's Christ in you. We partake of the lamb in that sense. It was an impartation.

If you want the verses, Colossians 1 verse 27, John 6 and verse 53. The next word is the word separation, number 9. It says in verse 11, you shall eat it with your loins girded and sandals on your feet. You shall eat it in haste.

And then let me give you one other reference, Exodus 13, the next chapter in verse 3, Moses said to the people, remember this day in which you went out from Egypt. In other words, this was to be a night of separation. It was to be an act of separation.

They were commencing a journey. They were not staying in Egypt. They were not staying in bondage.

And you and I, the moment we are born again in the Spirit of God, we commence a journey. Isn't that right? We are pilgrims in this earth. Jesus said, you know, or it says of Jesus, you shall call his name Jesus.

He will save his people, what? From their sin. We have a theology today that basically saves people in their sin. You can't be saved in your sin.

You have to be saved from your sin. He shall save his people from. They were saved from the life of Egypt.

If I am drowning and I'm saved from drowning, I'm no longer in the water. Is that right? If I'm saved from a fire, I'm no longer in the fire. If I'm saved from sin, I'm no longer in sin.

I can't be in sin and keep on sinning and say, call myself saved. And so there has to be that separation. Colossians 1 and verse 13, he delivered us out of the kingdom of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his Son.

First Peter 2 verse 11, we are strangers and pilgrims. It says if we are, then we should abstain from all the fleshly lusts, again, war against us. And then 2 Corinthians 6 verse 17, come out from among them and be you separate, saith the Lord.

In other words, they were coming out of the house of bondage. They were coming out of all the servitude and everything else coming out of the world that Egypt typifies and so on. The Bible says come out from among them and be you separate, then I will welcome you and I will be a father unto you and you should be sons and daughters unto me.

There are conditions for calling God Father. Let me say that again. There are conditions for calling God Father.

God says a condition is this, that you separate yourself from sin, then I will welcome you, then I will be a father unto you, then you will become my son. Let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord, what? Depart from iniquity. In other words, if we are going to take the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have to live a separated life.

We cannot continue in sin. It has to be a separation from sin. And so that night they were leaving, again, their old lifestyle, their old friends, everything else that was all over, and they were going out in haste.

Jesus could have said, listen, you've had a busy day and so on and so forth, spend the night, you know, and over the course of the next few years, you know, you need to sell your house and get rid of a few things and gradually, you know, no. I think a lot of Christians do that, you know. It has to be a radical conversion, where, you know, we come out of the kingdom of darkness, we come into the kingdom of God's dear son.

The next one is the word declaration or exaltation. Declaration or exaltation, Exodus 12 and verse 12, it says, for I will go through the land of Egypt on this night, and I will strike down the firstborn of the land of Egypt, both of men and beasts, and against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord.

In other words, God displayed His power over all the power of the enemy. Remember the gods of Egypt were not just idols of wood and stone. They had tapped into the demonic realm, and that realm is a very real realm.

When Moses threw down his rod and it became a serpent, Pharaoh was not impressed. He called in his magicians, they threw down their rods, they became serpents too. In other words, they were operating under incredibly powerful demonic spirits.

But God says, this night I will show that my spirit is greater than all the spirits of Egypt, that I am God, I am the Lord. And of course, in the book of Colossians it says that He disarmed, Colossians 2 and verse 15, when He had disarmed rulers and authorities, He triumphed over them. Jesus Christ, when He died on that cross, triumphed over principalities and powers.

Isn't that right? It says in Ephesians 1, which He brought about in Christ, verse 20, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand in heavenly places, far above all principalities and powers. Thank God that we are able to declare as believers that we have authority over all the powers of darkness. I believe somebody said to me many, many years ago, that was a great intercessor, and he said, God spoke to me once and said, the most powerful weapon I have is communion against spiritual warfare.

Because when we take those emblems, which of course are tied in with the Passover, the death of Christ, and so on, do this in remembrance to me. Not just forgiveness of sins, but this night the cross represents my triumph over principalities and powers. And these symbols of the blood and the bread represent that triumph.

And sometimes we need to declare that our God reigns. Not just sing it, we can sing it at the top of our voice, but really declare it in faith. Whatever is not of faith is sin.

But if we truly believe that, that when we gather with communion, you know, if there's a need of deliverance, listen, this cup represents a triumph over all the gods of, not only Egypt, but all the gods of the world, so to speak. Principalities and powers are being stripped. They overcame Him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.

So the word exaltation. Alright, the next one is liberation. Exodus 12 and verse 13, And the blood shall be a sign to you on your houses where you live, and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague or no curse or anything else will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

Liberation, they were liberated. Romans 3 verse 25, In the forbearance of God, He passed over the sins previously committed. Romans 5 and verse 9, Much more then, having been justified by His blood, we have been saved from the wrath of God.

You and I deserve the wrath of God. The wages of sin is death. And as sinners, we deserve the wrath of God.

We deserve the judgment of God. And yet God in His love and His kindness and His forbearance again, sent His Son to pay that penalty so that you and I might be free. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 9, For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by or through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We do not have to suffer the wrath of God. John 3, 16, For God so loved the world, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Should not perish.

In other words, we are not going to perish. We have everlasting life. We don't face a judgment to come, at least not a judgment that is going to damn us eternally.

We'll be judged for other things, but not for that. But liberation. We are liberated.

It was for freedom that Christ set you free. You know, whom the Son sets free is free indeed. You recall, well, we'll get to that in a moment.

The next one is celebration. We celebrate it as a feast to the Lord. One of the great feasts.

Aren't you glad there were seven feasts and not seven fasts? Americans love that. You know, although maybe it should be seven fasts for Americans and the rest of the world can have seven feasts, but we do a good job in the feasting anyway. But we ought to celebrate it.

1 Corinthians 5 and verse 7, Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us, therefore let us celebrate the feast. It is a celebration. When they came out, you know, through the Red Sea, remember Miriam, Moses' sister, she grabbed the tambourine and she began to sing the horse and the rider.

I mean, it was a celebration. You know, that old tambourine has a way of, you know, they used to be very popular in meetings. It's sort of lost its vogue a little bit.

They irritate some people, but boy, you know, you can't not be merry with a tambourine, you know. I think when we all get to heaven, you know, we're lining up at the gates, we'll all be handed a tambourine. I'm going to look for that saxophone when I'm up there and be able to sit down and play that thing for all I'm worth.

All right, celebration. The next one is sanctification. Exodus 12 and verse 15, seven days, and remember seven is a symbol of perfection or completion.

Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. Now this is a brand new feast, but many times we tie it in with Passover because it began the very next day. And so sometimes when you read Passover, it includes, but it's technically a separate feast.

But once you are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, God expects you to walk in purity. Let me complete the verse here. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses.

For whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. That's a very strong statement. I have a book by a man by the name of Govett, Robert Govett.

Robert Govett was a brilliant expositor, Spurgeon, if you know that name, Spurgeon is considered one of the greatest preachers in the last, you know, few hundred years. And he said of Govett, he said, the day will come when his writings will be worth their weight in gold. And Govett makes a statement, there were two ways in which an Israelite could be cut off.

One, if he never applied the blood to the doorpost. And he had that option obviously, and I'm sure there were some that didn't. We don't know, the Bible doesn't say.

But if they did not apply the blood, they met the wrath of God. Then he says, but having applied the blood, if they did not remove leaven, they were also cut off. Even though the blood was applied to their doorposts, if they refused to walk in purity.

In other words, God has redeemed us and he expects us as a redeemed people to walk even as he walked. You know, be ye holy as I am holy. And seven again is a sign of completion or perfection.

It's not just for seven days and then you can carry on and do any old thing. Symbolically, obviously, we are to walk in newness of life. We don't go back to the old manner of life.

If we do, then we get cut off. I know that may mess with some of your theology. I personally believe that you can lose your salvation.

I don't believe one little sin will do it. But I do believe if we continue in sin, that ultimately God will cut us off. And the example of that is in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, we have a man who is sleeping with his father's wife.

And the church is not really doing anything about it. Seemingly they knew about it, but nobody's weeping and wailing and how dreadful this is and so on until Paul finds out about it. And he says, listen, we've got to celebrate the feast, not with the unleavened bread, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

In other words, he ties it right into the Passover. We should not celebrate this feast and this ongoing sin. You know about it and you're not dealing with it.

And then he says, we're going to deliver this person over to Satan for discipline that his soul might be saved. Well, if his soul can't be lost, it's a nebulous point, isn't that right? But not only that, he says if this man doesn't repent, he says remove him, cut him off. So Paul is using that same analogy in a very practical church disciplined way.

If this man does not stop doing what he's doing, you've got to cut him off. You can't have anything to do with him. You say, well, he may have not been saved and so on.

Paul says, listen, I'm not talking about going out into the world and dealing with that sort of sin, because he said then you'd never stop. But he said this is going on within the church. He recognizes that this man has been saved and yet he has lapsed in his life and he's living in sin.

So cut him off. Sanctification. God wants us to live a sanctified life, a separated life, a life that is consecrated to God.

And that's the power that we have as believers, isn't that right? Grace is an empowering, not to live in sin, but not to not live in sin. God gives us the grace, again, to live a life of liberty and freedom where no longer sin shall not have, what, dominion over you. The children of Israel at this particular time, they were under the dominion of the Pharaoh and all of his army, and they were under those taskmasters.

The Bible says he that commits sin is, what, a slave of sin. They were in slavery. God set them free and he sets us free too.

The next word is the word unification. Unification. Exodus 12 verse 46, it says, nor are you to break any bone of it.

In other words, that Passover lamb, one of the stipulations was you shed the blood, you can eat the flesh of that lamb, but don't break the bones of that lamb. I believe that lamb ultimately speaks about the body of Christ, if you like. We are the body of Christ, and one of the things that God longs for and what his son prayed for was unity.

Isn't that right? When Jesus was crucified on the cross in John 19, it says in verse 31 that the scripture might be fulfilled, not a bone of him shall be broken. Remember, what they used to do, crucifixion was a common event, and if they lingered for too long, I mean, as long as they could get a breath and they could use their legs to draw that breath, and so they would come along and break the legs of those on the cross, and so then they had no power to get that extra breath that could keep them going for hours and hours. But when they came to Jesus, he had already expired, he was already dead, and the Bible says that the scripture might be fulfilled, not a bone of him shall be broken.

God is a God of unity, and he wants unity even in the body of Christ, isn't that right? The old hymn, if you're old enough to remember it, Onward Christian Soldiers, all one body we, one in hope and doctrine, one in purity or charity, you know, one. When Jesus Christ looks down on Houston or any other place, he sees one body, if we're redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, we're not divided. We may meet in different places and so on, but there's one body, and ultimately that will be fulfilled, that not a bone of him shall be broken.

Number 15 is direction or vision or progression, Exodus 13 verse 20 and 21, then they set out the Lord going before them to lead them. They set out, in other words, they were now commencing a journey. The same thing is true of you and I when we accept Jesus Christ.

The Bible says if any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Notice who was leading, the Lord was going before them. God is wanting to be the one that leads you, the Lord is my shepherd, he leadeth me.

We don't tell him what we want to do, he tells us what we want to do. I know many times we'd like to tell him what we want to do, and we possibly do in a variety of ways, but he is the one that has to lead us, and we have to follow. And so it is a journey we're beginning.

Hebrew says we are to press on to maturity. You know, the Christian life is always progressive. You never ever come to a place anywhere in the Bible where you can say I've arrived.

Paul, who was caught up to the third heaven, saw things that were unlawful for him to utter, you know, even at the end of his life. Not that I've already attained, man, if I'd have raised the dead, remember one guy fell asleep in his meeting and he raised him from the dead, so don't fall asleep, I can't guarantee I can raise you, but anyway, Paul had that power, but at the same time, again, he knew I've not attained yet. Even though he gave us, you know, the bulk of the New Testament, at least all the epistles and so on, being caught up to the third heaven, all of those things, and yet Paul has that longing that I may know him, the power of his resurrection.

Paul, you don't know him, of course I know him, but, you know, in other words, we will never ever fully understand the magnitude and magnificence of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, all throughout eternity I think we're still, I remember Jack Hayford many, many years ago talking about the seraphim or the cherubim there, no, 420 elders, that's right, in Revelation chapter 4 where it says they were bowing down and crying out, holy, holy, holy, and Jack Hayford said, you know, they're not on some sort of timing mechanism that every ten seconds, you know, they go down type thing, he said, I believe what happens is every time they come up they see another facet of the nature and character of God, almost like a diamond ring that catches the sun and you see all the various hues and each way you turn, and he said, I believe that those 420 elders, every time they come up again they see something else that causes them to bow down in worship, they come up again, they see something else, and I think we'll spend eternity doing that. We're on a journey.

We should have some sort of vision and direction, we ought to press on to maturity. All right, the next one is redemption. Exodus 15, verse 16, the latter part of the verse, until thy people pass over, O Lord, until the people pass over whom thou hast purchased.

The word redemption means to buy, doesn't it? And you and I, the Bible says, we're not our own, we were bought with a price. We were bought. In other words, we tend to give God our sin and think that's it.

No, we belong to Him. The moment you embrace Christ as your Savior and acknowledge your need, you are His, the Bible says. You're not your own, you've been bought.

When you buy something, you don't leave it in the store. And if you do, you go back and get it, right? Because you bought it. It's yours by the right of purchase.

We are God's through the right of creation. He created us. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, but we are also His by redemption.

Not just by creation, but by redemption. He shed His blood so that you and I might be born again and might become His. And I've got a book on that and it may even be there at the table there, Blood Board.

It's all about that. But Titus verse 13 and 14, it says, He purchased for Himself a people. God does not want your sin.

Let me say that again. God does not want your sin. You know, He's a perfectionist and He's not going to allow sin in His house.

Isn't that right? But He will welcome you as long as you have clean hands and a pure heart sort of thing. You know how we say to somebody, please wipe your feet. You know, if you go to Asia, you know, it's automatic.

I remember my first time in Asia, I just walked into the house with my shoes on. Somebody tapped me on the shoulder and showed me all the shoes lined up there. And I thought Imelda Marcus had come for dinner and I had to take my shoes off.

You know, you do not go into an Asian home with your shoes on. You don't go into God's home with your shoes on, so to speak. We don't track the world in.

You know, we've got to have clean hands and a pure heart. And so we're not our own. We're bought with a price.

Revelation 5 and verse 9, it says, Whom thou didst purchase with thy blood. Whom thou didst purchase. God bought you.

You are His. You are His property. He wants to use you for His purposes, His glory, and so on.

He wants you to do whatever it is that specifically He has in mind for you. You may say, well, I don't feel called. I think Lauren Cunningham from Youth of the Mission say, you don't need to be called.

You have to have permission to stay behind. He's already told you to go. Go into all the world and preach the gospel.

So show me your permission slip. Don't tell me, you know, I haven't been called. You've been called.

You show me where God says I could stay. You know, that's the way we should look at it. Most of us sitting there, well, you know, I haven't heard any audible voice and so on and so forth.

No, we've been called. All right, the next one is, we're getting at the end here. Immersion or identification.

Exodus 14 verse 22 says, The sons of Israel went through the sea on dry land. A type, obviously, of our water baptism. They were raised up, what, in newness of life.

When they came out on the other side, they were free. The old taskmaster that had the bondage over them was broken. God drowned them all in the depths of the sea.

Isn't that right? And likewise, when we are raised up, we are raised up in newness of life. Romans 6 and verse 4 through 6, it says, We are buried with him in baptism that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Their slavery ended the moment they crossed over the Red Sea there.

The taskmaster that was over them, again, was drowned, broken. And water baptism, while we are not saved by water baptism, I do believe it is a very powerful testimony. And many, many times I've seen people come up out of the waters of baptism, speaking in tongues and so on.

Just a brand new experience. So, you know, if you haven't been baptized, I encourage you to be baptized. It's a good way to be a witness to your friends, especially if it's done outside somewhere, you know.

It says they were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, the children of Israel. And you and I need that water baptism. And the last thing, destination.

In Exodus 15 and verse 13, it says, In thy lovingkindness thou hast led thy people whom thou hast redeemed. In thy strength thou hast guided them to thy holy habitation. In other words, God, way before the children of Israel ever knew it, God had a holy habitation, a holy mountain that he was bringing them to.

In fact, it says there in verse 17, Thou will bring them and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thy dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands has established. In other words, there was a specific mountain in the mind of God that God was leading them to. We know, of course, that mountain was ultimately Mount Zion.

Isn't that right? Mount Zion, if you studied Zion in the Old Testament, was the epitome of everything that God wanted to do was summed up in Zion. You know, it's a place of his throne, the place of his dominion. I'll stretch forth my scepter from Zion and say, Rule in the midst of thy enemies.

It was the house of God. It was a presence of God. Their life was to revolve around the presence of God.

Now, the New Testament, of course, says in Hebrews 12 and verse 22, But you have come to, not to Mount Zion, but to Zion, the city of the living God. In other words, we are going to a Zion too, and it is to the church of what? The firstborn. How many of you know that God doesn't have any secondborn? I happen to be a secondborn.

I'm in the middle. But when I get to heaven or right now, I'm the firstborn in God's eyes. And the wonderful thing about the firstborn is he gets what? Double portion.

We come to the church of the double portion. But God has something in mind, and that is He wants to bring us to a place where our life revolves around Him, where He is the center of everything we do, everything we think about, everything that motivates us and so on. That's His ultimate intention, to bring us into that place where we just enjoy the presence of God.

One day, obviously, we'll graduate and we'll go to the ultimate place. But God way back there knew exactly what He had in mind and where He was going to bring the children of Israel. Well, our time is through here.

But, you know, this is the beginning of a journey. Isn't that right? I have a little diagram here. You can't see it at the bottom of my notes.

But if you want to jot this down, you've got Egypt, the wilderness, and Canaan. The problem in Egypt was sin. The problem in the wilderness was self.

The problem in Canaan was Satan or the enemy. Jesus, under the Egypt, He is the way. A lot of people know Jesus is the way.

And that's it. You know, I know I'm saved and they stagnate there. But here in the wilderness, He was to teach them.

I am the way, the truth. We've got to know Jesus not only as a way. We've got to know Him as a truth.

He wants to instruct us and teach us, wants to bring us to maturity and so on. But here in Canaan, He's the life. The Bible says we shall reign in life through one Christ Jesus.

Isn't that right? And so the problem again in Canaan was Satan, as I said, the enemy. They had to learn to drive out the enemy. We've got to learn the same thing.

And so anyway, this is a process, if you like. Under Egypt, you can put conversion. They were converted.

Under the wilderness was maturation. They had to learn. They had to grow.

God gave them the law. He began to teach them, began to instruct them. I've brought you on eagle's wings.

I might bring you into a relationship to bring you to myself and so on. But in Canaan, they were to enter in and they were to possess the land. Many Christians, we don't possess, I don't believe, what God wants us to possess.

They were to drive out the enemy and possess the land, take hold of their possessions. And I believe God wants the church to come to that place in these days where we begin to possess the land. Instead of the land, you know, instead of the world affecting us, the New Testament, these are they that turn the world upside down.

They began to possess the land. We're going to take this and we're going to establish, you know, the kingdom of God. And we've got to do the same thing.

So anyway, the Passover is just the beginning of that journey. But thank God that, again, we serve a risen Savior. The details to me are amazing of how the Word of God just comes together in such a wonderful way.

But if you're here this morning and you've never had the Passover lamb, never partaken of the Passover lamb, you've never applied the blood to your life. And I'm sure as we close that, you know, you'll be welcome to come forward and pray. Maybe you're struggling with something.

God is wanting to set you free. Maybe there's bondages in your life. And God is wanting to set you free so that you'll walk in newness of life.

Let's stand to our feet and let's close in prayer, if we can. Father, we just thank you again. We serve.