[0:00] Take your Bibles, if you would, and turn with me to Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter 14. We are in that very last week of his life. He will die soon and be buried and rise again and ascend into heaven, and he is alive.
[0:15] But this is a time to consider the fact that our Lord Jesus is going to die. We're going to find out today about the Passover, and you're going to learn more about that, and you're going to realize that Jesus is our Passover.
[0:27] Look, if you would, in Mark chapter 14 and verse 12, and I just want you to underline a few things. Now, it is key to your understanding what's happening here to understand what the Passover is.
[0:38] If you don't understand the Passover, then the crucifixion won't make near as much sense to you because it's built on what they understood and what they knew. Look in chapter 14, verse 12.
[0:49] And the first day of unleavened bread, they killed the Passover. Would you underline that? They killed the Passover. You see, every family selected a lamb. They selected this lamb, and that lamb will die in their place.
[1:03] That lamb will become a substitute for them. That lamb is the reason they will be passed over when the death angel shows up. Also in verse 12, underline the phrase, eat the Passover.
[1:15] So the Passover dies, and the Passover is then consumed. The Passover is a lamb. They kill the lamb, and then they eat the lamb. And if you go down to verse 14, you'll find the phrase, eat the Passover.
[1:29] They're going to eat that lamb that died. We'll look at that just a little bit. In verse 16, they are making ready for the Passover. So I want to take you back through the Passover just a little bit.
[1:42] But the first thing, if you write anything down, the first thing is to admit this. All of us ought to remember where we came from. All of us ought to remember who we were before he saved us.
[1:53] And so in this story, we're going to go through the Passover to begin with. Egypt had been, you've got to go all the way back to the book of Exodus. The book of Exodus is about the escape, the exodus, the leaving of the country of Egypt.
[2:07] And they had been slaves in Egypt for over 400 years. So everybody had been raised, born, raised, had a family, and died as slaves.
[2:18] And they were crying out to God. It had started out pretty good because they were treating them well. But by the end, they're killing their babies. By the end, they're beating them and mistreating them. And it's a horrible place to be.
[2:29] And God heard their prayer. And God sent a man named Moses who writes the first five books of the Bible. And Moses shows up. He writes Genesis, Exodus, Ephesians, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
[2:41] They're called the books of the law, the books of Moses, the Pentateuch. And Moses shows up in Egypt. And he says, God sent me to take my people out. I'm going to take my people out of the nation of Egypt.
[2:53] He's going to free them. And over a series of time, 10 miracles are worked. With every miracle, it was God slapping a false god in the face and saying, you're not a real god.
[3:08] I'm a real god. All the plagues were made after one of their gods. And on the last one, they worshiped the whole idea of their firstborn and the god of the firstborn.
[3:19] And so Moses goes in and says, God's going to take your firstborn. All of your firstborn, your animals, your children, they're all going to die in one night.
[3:32] And then he went down to the Israelites, the believers, and he said to them, but God has made a way that you don't have to, your children don't have to die in this terrible night of death.
[3:44] All the firstborn are going to die. So here's what you do. You're going to go get you a lamb on the 10th day of the month. You'll get you a lamb. You'll keep that lamb until the 14th day of the month.
[3:56] And you'll hold on to that lamb. And then on the 14th day of the month, you will kill that lamb. So they've chosen a lamb. The lamb has to be a male.
[4:08] The lamb has to be without any spot or blemish. He can't have any markings on him. Nothing can be wrong with him. He can't be crippled. He can't have anything wrong with him.
[4:19] On that 14th day, by the way, before I go on a little bit more about what they're doing, on that 14th day of the month, they will kill the lamb. They will save that blood. They will tip a hyssop in the blood.
[4:30] They'll dip some leaves in the blood. And they will sprinkle the doorpost with blood. And they'll sprinkle the lentil with blood, the bar that grows across. It'll all be sprinkled with blood.
[4:40] So blood is on every door of every believer. They go in that house, and they are to prepare that lamb in a very special way. Not one bone could be broken.
[4:53] And he was roasted. And a spit goes through his mouth. It comes out the back end. And he is held there in the air. And he's prepared for them to eat. If their family couldn't eat all of a lamb, they could get another family to come with them while they ate the lamb.
[5:08] And then they ate bitter herbs. They ate food that wasn't as pleasant to eat because they're remembering the sad life of slavery. And they've got this lamb who is a substitute for them.
[5:20] Whatever they couldn't eat had to be burned. There would be none left over. So when they got through eating, they burned whatever was left. And then there was a feast that went on for a whole week called the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
[5:33] That's being mentioned in here. That was a feast to remember how God took them out of where they had been. They were celebrating being freed from Egypt.
[5:44] The unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, they cut themselves off from the attractions and the allure of Egypt. Egypt's got everything you can imagine. It's like the most modern, up-to-date, fancy place you've ever been.
[5:56] But they were slaves in that place. And they're marking all that. And then God is going to bring them out. Never forget where you came from.
[6:09] You need to look back on your own personal life and you need to remember Egypt for you. You need to remember where you were before you got saved. Now, I got saved when I was seven years old. So the blunt truth is I never really lived that wicked life before I got to know Christ.
[6:24] I mean, I've seen more after getting saved than I ever did before I got saved. But the truth is that my dad was an alcoholic. And my dad came from a horrific home.
[6:35] And my dad, when he was six years old, his mother had an illegal abortion and she died. He was raised as an orphan boy. He was taken out of his home, passed from family to family.
[6:45] Families didn't want him. He had a lot of bitterness until he was, I mean, he was in his 70s when some of the aunts came to visit and said, Charlie, we told you we didn't want you, but we had our own kids to raise and we weren't trying to be ugly.
[6:57] And I wasn't there, but my brother was. He said it was like a revival, crying and hugging and family making up. But he lived a pretty hard life. And then he went off and by 14, he was basically living on the street doing his own thing.
[7:08] His own words to me were he did everything you could do wrong. He stole. He used drugs. He used alcohol. He did everything wrong. He came to a gospel preaching church because of my mother.
[7:19] He saw her and he wanted to get to know my mother. And so she wanted to go to church. And so they went to church. He said he went to church. He was so drunk he could hardly stand up.
[7:31] He said, so I grabbed a hold of the bench. Every time we sat up and I squeezed the back of that bench. Well, the pastor, being like typical pastors, don't know what's going on, thought he was under conviction. He thought the poor guy, he's looking at me, he's grabbing that bench and won't let go.
[7:43] And then he told me later, he said, I wasn't under conviction. I'm just making sure I didn't fall down. He said, you don't understand. And on a Sunday morning, he heard the gospel and he got saved. I never knew that man.
[7:54] I never knew that man. I never knew the drunkard. I never knew the smoking, the cussing. None of that. I never knew any of that. I only knew a guy who taught me about the Lord and took me to church.
[8:05] You need to remember your story. Your kids need to remember your story. A few years from now, when you're gone and your kids are here, I hope they can stand up and say, I know how it was before daddy got saved and I know how God worked.
[8:17] You need to remember them killing your babies. You need to remember the forced labor that took place while they were in Egypt. You need to share your testimony. The first question is, do you have a testimony?
[8:29] I want you to imagine with me on that night. And that night's going to be remembered from now on. They are going to have the Passover. The reason Jesus is doing the Passover is because everybody is like Thanksgiving. It's like Christmas.
[8:40] Everybody's celebrating what happened hundreds of years before back in Egypt. And on that night, if you can imagine, I told you this before, but on that night, the death angel starts and is crying and is screaming and is wailing.
[8:53] It's coming across the city as everybody goes out and their oldest child is dead and their animals are beginning to die. Death is all over the place and it's horrific. But when the death angel shows up at a house that's got the blood on the doorpost and on the lentil, the death angel passes over to the next house.
[9:13] So the death angel doesn't touch that house. They were freed. They didn't die. Their firstborn didn't die. The death angel didn't touch them.
[9:26] The reason is, and we'll get to this in a second, but you need to understand something. He didn't pass over their house because they were Jewish. He passed over their house because there was blood on the doorpost. He didn't pass over their house because God didn't like Egyptians and he didn't like Jews.
[9:39] He passed over their house because there was blood on the doorpost. Listen to this. Because a substitute had died in their place. That lamb had to be a lamb less than a year old.
[9:50] That lamb was a firstborn lamb. That lamb was without spot and blemish. That lamb couldn't have a bone broken. Every one of those will be prophecies about the Lord Jesus. Jesus died to save us.
[10:03] Now they're coming together as a group. He's got the 12. And if you can imagine, I mean, Joshua just up here talking about the meal and all the things that go on at Thanksgiving. Well, if you can just imagine, everybody celebrates the Passover.
[10:15] It's a big deal. And Jesus has a room reserved. And they're all going to think about way back then if they do like they ought to do. Or if it's like Thanksgiving is today. In our day and time, it's Turkey Day.
[10:26] It's a day for football. Not really much Thanksgiving. But you get the idea. So they're going to have a meeting. And they're going to think about that. Now here's what's going to be beautiful in the story today. Today, Jesus is going to make it real clear.
[10:38] Y'all remember the Passover? Y'all remember how the lamb died? Here's what he's basically going to say. I am that lamb. I am that lamb.
[10:50] He's basically going to say, you remember how a lamb died and the death angel passed over? Because they had believed and the substitute had died in their place. That's what's about to happen.
[11:01] Guys, just minutes away, outside the doors of right where we're meeting, Judas is already fixing to betray us. He's already left in just a couple of verses back. He's already left to go get the guys to come get Jesus.
[11:13] Jesus will soon walk out and they will soon kill him. But he needs them to understand, I'm dying on purpose. I'm dying on purpose because I'm going to be your Passover. I'm dying on purpose because I'm going to take your sin debt.
[11:24] I'm dying on purpose because I don't want you to die. I want you to live. And so Jesus is going to die in their place. Go with me if you would to Mark chapter 14 and verse 21. Write this down somewhere.
[11:35] The entire plan of God is a substitute taking your place, taking our place. A substitute. Mark chapter 14 and verse 21.
[11:46] The Son of Man indeed goeth as it is written of him. But woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. Good were it that that man if he had never been born.
[11:59] You need to underline this. Written of him. You understand, all the way from the very beginning of the Bible all the way to right now what's happening with Jesus, God knew what was going to happen. God planned what was going to happen.
[12:12] God has brought events together so that what will happen will be beautiful and on purpose and intentional. Jesus is about to die for people to be saved. Now why?
[12:24] Why the Passover? And why does Jesus need to die? And that is because sin has to be paid for. Sin has to be paid for.
[12:35] God is a holy God and an honest God and a just God. And if you sin, your sins bring death. For the wages of sin is death.
[12:47] But the gift of God's eternal life. I don't know if you're going to write these down or look them up with me. But look at James chapter 2 and verse 10. I want you to understand that very easily, you know, you live in the southeast of the United States.
[13:00] You were bought up in Christian homes just like I was. It was so funny. We had the students here last weekend or this past weekend. And when the missionaries and everybody was telling their testimony, telling their story, which I told you I think you ought to do, is they told their story.
[13:14] The majority of them would say, I was brought up in a Christian home. I had good godly parents. And so somewhere along the way when you are brought up in a good godly home and you've always been in church and they christened you when you were a few days old and then they baptized you or sprinkled you when you were 12 years old and you joined the church.
[13:32] And somewhere along the way you begin to think for some reason that you're on your way to heaven. But your sins haven't been forgiven. You haven't trusted Christ. You haven't even acknowledged you were a sinner. Fact is, you tend to think you're not much of a sinner.
[13:46] You tend to think, well, I mean, if we're going to talk sinners, there's sinners and then there's sinners. And I am not one of those sinners because I haven't done much wrong.
[13:56] Look what James said in James chapter 2 and verse 10. Whosoever shall keep the law, the whole law, and yet offend at one point is guilty of all. Would you underline he is guilty of all in your Bible?
[14:10] If you took all the law out of the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, there's over 400 of those laws. The numbers are all different. But there's tons of these laws. And if you kept every one of them and only messed up in one small part, you'd be guilty of all.
[14:28] We need to get a hold of that. Because to be blunt and honest with you, I have never murdered anybody until Jesus told me, unless I think it in my heart, I'd never even considered that I'd murdered anybody. I've never committed adultery until Jesus said, if you look at a woman and think it in your heart, then you've done it.
[14:42] I'd never even thought about that one either. Now, I wasn't too good on honoring my parents and obeying them. I'm just going to be honest about that one. I'll just be honest about that one. I mean, that's where he gets me. In fact, my daddy was, when he got older and I was grown, and daddy said, son, I probably whipped you way too much.
[14:57] I'm sorry. And I looked at him, I said, truth is, buddy, you missed a whole bunch of them. He said, well, I know you never lied to me. I said, oh, yes, I did.
[15:08] All the time. I mean, if you want to think I did. Daddy said, did you do that? I'd be like, no, my brother did that. And my brother's over there. I said, he lied. So I knew. And here's what the verse says.
[15:19] Guilty of all. You need to see yourself guilty of sin or you won't need a Passover. You need to realize you're in a country where the death angels fix to come through and literally kill all the firstborn, and you are on the docket to die.
[15:35] The Bible says in Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin is death. I want you to look with me at John 3, verse 17, if you would. John 3, verse 17. You know, Jesus didn't come into the world to condemn the world.
[15:49] That's a very important thing that you ought to get a hold of. Why did Jesus come to the earth? What was his purpose in coming? Did he come to the earth because he's holy and he's perfect and he came down here to show us what was right and to tell us we were wrong?
[16:04] Here's what the Bible says in John 3, 17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. The world was already messed up.
[16:15] The world was already messed up. Men were already sinning. And all you got to do is read the 39 books of the Old Testament, and you know that on every hand. Verse 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already.
[16:28] I really think you ought to write those words down somewhere. Condemned already. You need to understand the whole human race stands under that term, condemned already. Your mother, your sister, your aunt, your cousin, your children, your brother, your sister, your friend, they are condemned already.
[16:46] They are marked to die. The death angel is on his way, and they will die if they don't come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.
[16:56] Go with me, if you would, to Romans chapter 3 and verse 24, if you would. Romans chapter 3 and verse 24. So Jesus offers himself as our sacrifice for sins.
[17:11] Jesus offers himself as our sacrifice for sins. You see, in the Bible, it's a substitute. Go all the way through the Old Testament. When they sinned, when God gave the law, God would always say, you better keep this or you're in trouble.
[17:25] And then he would say, now I've got a lamb that can die for you here when you mess up over there. He even built the ark. And when he built the ark, he put the laws, the Ten Commandments in the ark. And he said, but when I speak to you, I'll speak to you from the mercy seat, which was above the ark.
[17:39] God wasn't going to speak from the law. God was going to speak from mercy. God cares. And he loves you. And he wants you to be saved. And so what he does in the New Testament is he is offering himself.
[17:50] Everybody who got saved at the Passover, everyone whose child didn't die. They didn't die because somebody else died in their place. Somebody else died in their place. Somebody else died so they didn't have to.
[18:01] Look at Romans 3, 24. Being justified freely by his grace. You need to underline that. Freely by his grace. You are saved free. You are saved without being baptized.
[18:13] You are saved without doing good works. You are saved without any of the things that you might consider that you can do by his grace. Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. You need to put a line under the words, in Christ Jesus, in your Bible.
[18:27] You see, the way you came out of Egypt was not because of your goodness, not because you deserved it, not because you outsmarted the death angel, but because the blood of that lamb was sprinkled on your doorpost.
[18:39] And the way you go to heaven is in Christ Jesus. You ought to underline that. In Christ Jesus, everything we have is because we're in Christ Jesus. Now read verse 25. In Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation.
[18:54] That's a massive word. A propitiation. To declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness that he might be just and justified to him that believeth in Jesus.
[19:09] Jesus, I want you to go and look at this word propitiation for a second. You know what that propitiation is? It's a sin offering. What the propitiation is? It's what takes your place and receives what you should receive.
[19:21] You know what the propitiation is? On the 10th day, you went out and got your little lamb. You brought your lamb to the house. You examined that little lamb over. He's under a year old. He's still sweet and cute.
[19:32] Now, my parents were country people. And me and some of the church staff, we went up to visit my parents one time and we got in their house. And they had a lamb running around in their house. A lamb.
[19:44] Ba, ba, ba. Running all around the house. I'm like, what in the world? I've heard of dogs and cats. I've even heard of pigs. But I never know anybody keep a lamb. But they had this lamb and they got the lamb in the house. And the lamb's got no blemishes.
[19:57] Children are getting to know the lamb. The lamb's standing there hanging around the house for four days. If you've got kids or grandkids, you know how they get when they got a little lamb there. And on the 14th day, it was time.
[20:09] And that lamb would die. He would become the propitiation. He would become the substitute. He would come. What brings mercy to you is the lamb dying in your place.
[20:24] And you know what happened when Jesus came to the earth? He didn't come to be a good man, to be a good teacher, to live a good life. He came to be a payment for sin so people can be saved. Look, if you went at 1 John 2 and verse 2.
[20:37] And he didn't just do it for us and our church here. And he didn't just do that for the Jewish people. And he didn't just do that for a few churches that believed in him. In 1 John 2, 2, it says that he is the propitiation of our sins.
[20:50] And look, it's clear as day. I mean, you've got to be pretty slow not to be able to understand this. But not ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. He wants Chinese people to know about the lamb.
[21:01] He wants Indian people to know about the lamb. He wants Indonesian people to know about the lamb. He wants Europeans and Africans to know about the lamb. Because the lamb died for all of them. Any of them could be saved.
[21:13] What did he do? Look at Galatians chapter 3 and verse 10. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 10, if you would. He became or took on the curse for us. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 10, if you would.
[21:25] See, this is what's going on on that day. They're fixing to take the Lord's Supper. We'll get to that in just a second. But at the Passover, they're supposed to be remembering that God let them live because a lamb died.
[21:42] You ought to remember that. God let them live because a lamb died. God let them live because a lamb died. God. In Galatians chapter 3 and verse 10, the Bible says, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.
[22:01] For it is written, Cursed is everyone that continues not in all the things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Now, you need to understand this. But look, if you came here this morning thinking, Now, wait a minute.
[22:12] I'm a good person. And I've been baptized. And I'm loyal to my wife. And I'm a member of the Lions Club and the Kiwanis Club and the Rotary Club. And I'm the best person you ever met. Here's what he said.
[22:23] You're under a curse. The whole world is under a curse. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. For there is none righteous. No, not one.
[22:34] And you're under a curse. And if you think for any way possible that you can do good stuff, or you can be buried in the right place, or you can have people pray for you after you die, you are under a curse.
[22:51] The whole world, the whole human race was under a curse. But read verse 11. But that no man is justified by the law and the sight of God, it's evident.
[23:03] It's obvious. It is obvious that no man is justified in the sight of God by the law, because the just shall live by faith. Now look at this for a second.
[23:14] Look. When the death angel passed over Egypt, no one could say, I hear the death angel pass, and I know what Moses said, so I'm going to run out of my house and run to my neighbor's house, and then I'll run back, and my kid won't die.
[23:27] That's not how it works. There was nothing you could do to save your kid. There was nothing you could do to live. For the wages of sin is death, and there is no hope for you except Jesus.
[23:41] Verse 12. And the law is not of faith. The man that does him shall live in him. But look at what it says in verse 13. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.
[23:54] For it's written, curse the seed that's hung on a tree. You know what Jesus did? I was a cursed man. I should have died and gone to hell. That's what I ought to have had happen to me. But instead of that happening, Jesus took my curse.
[24:08] Jesus took your curse. And Jesus took the curse of every man and woman, boy and girl, in the entire world. One of our favorite passages is the book of Isaiah, which the Lord will, and we will start preaching through on Thursday night.
[24:21] Sermon number one is already ready. Look at Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 4, if you would. This is the picture of what happens with Jesus. It's the picture of what was happening at the Passover. Look at Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 4.
[24:33] The Bible says, Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Why did Jesus die?
[24:44] Because he was carrying my griefs and your griefs, my sorrows and your sorrows. Look at verse 5. He was wounded for our sins. The Bible says, He was wounded for our transgressions.
[24:56] He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes were healed. It's Jesus. Jesus dying on a cross, paying our sin debt.
[25:07] It's Jesus dying for us. Verse 6. One of my favorite verses of all the Bible. Verse 6. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
[25:22] You know what God did? God took your sins. Every reason you should go to hell, every reason you should not be saved, God took all of those and placed them on Jesus for you and every other person in the world.
[25:35] And when he finished on the cross, this is what he said. It's finished. I got her done. I took care of it. All your sins are paid for. All of them. In 2 Corinthians 5, in verse 10 and following, he actually says this, I have reconciled the world to myself.
[25:49] Now go tell him to be reconciled. I've done everything. I've done everything so everybody everywhere can be saved. Why are we such a big missionary church? Because he's done everything for everybody everywhere so that everybody can be saved, and he wants everybody to know, and he wants everybody to be told.
[26:03] That's why. Now go with me, if you would, to Mark chapter 14 and verse 24. We're going to move into the New Testament now. You see, there's the Old Testament, which was a physical lamb dying, an animal taking your place.
[26:19] But now Jesus says we're in the New Testament. Look, if you would, in Mark 14, 24. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many.
[26:31] Would you want to align the words my blood? It's my blood. Not the blood of a lamb, not the blood of a bull or a goat, but the lamb of Jesus Christ, the very son of God.
[26:43] And then underline this. He said this is the New Testament. See, in the Old Testament, there was a lamb that died for you, but you went and bought that lamb. You took that lamb. You went down to the priest, and you sacrificed that lamb, or you went out, and you found your Passover lamb.
[26:54] You kept your lamb from the 10th day to the 14th day. Your lamb died for you, but it was still a lamb, and you did it again next year, and next year, and next year. But this time, but this time, Jesus will be the lamb.
[27:08] Guys, in just a few minutes, you're going to come get me. We'll all be out there in the garden. You're going to hear them coming. They're going to come with a crowd, and they're going to catch me. Judas is already going to betray me. I'm fixing to die, but don't you worry. I'm doing it on purpose, because my blood is going to be what saves you, because my death on the cross is going to be what saves you.
[27:27] Look, if you would, at Hebrews chapter 9. He would become our Passover lamb. His blood was shed for us. Jesus died for me. Jesus died for you.
[27:38] Hebrews chapter 9, verse 11. But Christ become a high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands.
[27:48] That is to say, not of this building. Look at verse 12. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood. He entered into the holy place, and He obtained eternal redemption for us.
[28:03] Watch this. In the Old Testament, this year you brought a lamb, you sacrificed a lamb. Next year you brought a lamb, you sacrificed a lamb. Next year you brought a lamb, and you sacrificed a lamb. Next year you brought a lamb, and you sacrificed a lamb.
[28:16] But that was the blood of a bull, or a goat, or a lamb, an animal. Jesus said, New Testament boys, He obtained my blood, and my blood is sufficient.
[28:28] My blood will get the job done. And He entered in with His own blood. And you need to underline this in your Bible, eternal redemption. Do you have that underlined? He obtained eternal redemption. Listen to me.
[28:39] He didn't save you temporarily. He didn't give you temporary life. He gave you eternal life. He didn't give you a pardon for a while. He gave you eternal pardon. He gave you eternal life.
[28:50] He made you eternally saved. Eternal, everlasting, forever. When He died, when Jesus went in, and He walked out, He said, I'm not coming out here with a forgiveness for one year. I'm coming out here with forever's taken care of by what I did on the cross of Calvary.
[29:08] In just a moment, He will die. But right now He's telling them, Guys, we're taking the Lord's Supper. We're taking the Last Supper.
[29:19] And we'll celebrate that on a regular basis here at our church. We're not really drinking His blood. But we do know Jesus was that Lamb. And I'll show you this in just a second. We know Jesus is that Lamb.
[29:29] What's it say in John 1.29? John 1.29, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming and said, Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world.
[29:42] The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. When we take the Lord's Supper, we're doing it in remembrance. He was using juice. We're using juice. And Mark, and we'll read it in just a second, in Mark, He hadn't died yet.
[29:55] That's not literally His blood. But it's a symbol to remember. It's Jesus who died for me. Every time you take the Lord's Supper, you know what you need to remember? I couldn't. He could.
[30:06] I couldn't pay my sin debt. I couldn't make me right. But our God could make me right. Our God could do it. And Jesus died on a cross so I could be saved. Go with me if you would to Mark chapter 14 and verse 22 now.
[30:20] Back to the Lord's Supper. See, they're at the Passover. You understand? They're at the Passover. This is their Thanksgiving meal. This is like our Christmas meal. And they're all gathered together.
[30:30] It's a special evening. And they have killed a lamb. They have killed a lamb. That lamb was without spot and without blemish. That lamb didn't have one bone broken. And that lamb was special prepared.
[30:41] And they kill the Passover. And they're eating the Passover. They're eating bitter herbs. By the way, when they ate those herbs, they ate that food, they had to eat it standing up, fully dressed. Because it was saying, as soon as we eat this, we're out of Egypt.
[30:54] Salvation is through this lamb who died for us. And so, Mark chapter 14 and verse 22, look what the Bible says. Jesus took bread.
[31:05] And blessed. And break it. And gave to them. And said, take eat. This is my body. Well, it's a piece of bread. It's a symbol. But Jesus said, now guys, see, they're in a room with unleavened bread.
[31:19] They're in a room with everything prepared for the Passover. And he says, listen to me, guys. This bread is a symbol of my body. And it's about to be broken for you. I'm going to go out there and they're going to kill me.
[31:31] My body's going to be destroyed. Not a bone will be broken, by the way. Not one bone will be broken because he's the Passover. And I will give my body. Take eat. This is my body.
[31:42] Then he picked up the cup. Mark 14, 23. And he took the cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank of it. And he said to them, this is the blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many.
[31:56] Which is shed for many. They sung a hymn and they went out. So here's what's happening at that supper. The guys walk in there to eat the lamb and the bitter herbs and to do what they'd always done and follow all the traditions.
[32:12] And in the middle of the traditional meal, Jesus said, I've got some changes I'm making. See, we're not still in the Old Testament. We're in the New Testament now. We're not going to celebrate the blood of animals.
[32:23] We're going to celebrate the blood of the lamb of God. And he said, this juice represents my blood. This bread represents my body. I'm going to show you in the Bible, by the way, Jesus Christ is our Passover.
[32:37] I'm not making it up. The Bible says it. I'll show you the verse in just a second. He is our Passover. So Jesus was saying, guys, you remember how we got out of Egypt? We're celebrating that right now. We got out of Egypt because a lamb died in your place, in your great, great, great, great grandfather's place.
[32:52] A lamb died. Take that piece of bread. I'm fixing to die. Take that drink. I'm fixing to die.
[33:04] And I'm going to have this supper with you and I won't do this again until we're together in my kingdom. Go with me, if you would, to Mark chapter 14 and verse 25. Very loud saying to you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until that day.
[33:19] You should underline until that day. The disciples are probably still pretty confused about what's going on because they don't really get it. They don't really get it for a few days after Jesus is resurrected for them to really capture everything like they should because they're just in a case of denial.
[33:38] He's not really going to die. He's just talking about that. And right now, Jesus knows he's about to die and he gets through taking that supper and he looks at him and says, last time guys, I will not be doing this again until we do it on that day in my kingdom when I come back and I set up my kingdom.
[33:55] He'd already told him in John chapter 14, let not your heart be troubled. Do you believe in God? Believe also in me. For in my Father's house are many mansions and if it were not so I'd have told you, I'd go to prepare a place for you and when I get it prepared, I'll come back and get you and I'll take you to myself.
[34:07] This was his last supper. When you take the Lord's Supper, you're remembering Jesus died for you. There's only one way you're going to go to heaven. Jesus died for you.
[34:22] In just a few minutes in our Bible story, it is going to seem like everything is totally out of control. Judas is already going to betray him. He's bringing a crowd of soldiers and people to come get him.
[34:34] It won't be long until Peter is denying him. It won't be long until they're dragging Jesus into trial after trial. He'll go through like five trials and it's going to seem like everything is falling apart but he is still in total control because he is dying for our sins.
[34:52] Look if you would at 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 7 and underline this phrase. You need to look that up in your Bible so you can mark it in 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 7. The Bible says, Purge out therefore the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you are unleavened for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
[35:15] Jesus will be dying in hours now. He knows what's going to happen to him but he loves you and he loves me and he loves all of us.
[35:26] He loves the whole world and he wants everybody to be saved. He has paid for everybody to be saved. He's done everything that's needed to be done.
[35:37] He's just minutes from it and he says, I want to have one little thing that y'all are going to use from now on to remember me. Take the bread and take the cup. This is the last time I'll do it until I do it with you in my kingdom.
[35:52] He became, he is our Passover. If you go to heaven when you die, it won't be because of any works you did. It won't be because you got baptized or joined a church that didn't miss Sunday school, didn't miss church, gave a lot of money.
[36:05] It'll be because you realized you had sinned against an awesome God and deserved hell, deserved to suffer for eternity in a place called hell and Jesus died for you and took everything you deserved so you could be saved.
[36:25] Are you here this morning and not saved? Are you here this morning and not sure you'd go to heaven when you die? Today's your day. You can be saved. You can be saved. Today you can have your sins forgiven.
[36:36] They're already forgiven. He's just going to give you the gift. He's already paid your sin debt. He doesn't have to do anything else. It's already taken care of. It's just up to you to receive a gift. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life.
[36:54] Jesus is God in human flesh dying on a cross for lost people, for people on their way to hell. the death angel misses your house is because you have the blood applied.
[37:08] That death angel started over and he passed over every house that had the blood and you can't get saved for anybody but you. You can't be saved for your wife. You can't be saved for your children but you need to know that you have gone to him, that you believe him, that you trust him, that you've accepted his free gift that he offers and you've become a born again follower of Jesus on your way to heaven because the curse is coming.
[37:35] The curse is here. Death is moving but Jesus has already done everything for you to go to heaven.