Revering the Word
Deuteronomy 16 Always remember the Passover Lamb
Good morning everyone this morning. We are in Deuteronomy chapter 16 and We are in the desert. Moses is leading his people They are about to enter the promised land. God is reminding them of everything that is important to him So that they don't forget when they get to the promised land what it's going to mean to honor him and in Deuteronomy 16 We have a reminder about three of the main festivals religious celebrations that God wanted them to continue to do when they entered the the promised land and he says Observing the month of a beep, which is also the same is the month of Nisan Two different names, but the same month and that's the first month of the year and celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God For in the month of a beep the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night You shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock and the herd in the place where the Lord chooses to establish his name You shall not eat 11 bread with it seven days You shall eat it with unleavened bread the bread of affliction For you came out of the land of Egypt in haste So that you may remember all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt for seven days No, 11 shall be seen with you in all your territory and none of the flesh which you sacrifice on The evening of the first day should remain overnight until the morning You're not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of Your towns which the Lord your God has given you but at the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish his name You shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening at sunset at the time that you came out of Egypt You shall cook it and eat it in the place which the Lord your God chooses in The morning you'd return to your tent six days. You shall eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day There shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it So this is the the Passover celebration Which also became known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread and when the Israelites on the original Passover Were making bread they needed to make it unleavened because they were not going to have time for it to rise because they were going to have to leave Egypt in haste and God wanted to have them make this a special commemoration of that day that he spared them By the blood of the lamb over their door posts and ultimately then by the party to the sea and they went on through dry ground and this is something that God wanted them to pass on to their children and Their children's children from generation to generation that God had miraculously worked in Israel to have them escape the slavery that they had in Egypt And that this would be a reason that they could all remember and honor the Lord your God and it would happen on that first evening at sunset because the new day changed at sunset and That's when that 14th day would begin would be at sunset on the first month of the year And they would celebrate the Passover, you know, what's incredible and You know, we think a lot of times of the Last Supper and we see you know Jesus with his With his men at the table of the Last Supper You know that famous photo which recently has been mocked in the French Olympics And that's what a sad thing that they would mock such a a special thing for the Christian faith. Well Anyways, we tend to think of that as the Last Supper But really what they were there to do was to celebrate Passover Jesus got his guys together and said, you know Where are we gonna celebrate the Passover that the Apostles asked him that and he had it all set up and you'll find a guy carrying a jar of water Ask him for the upper room. They went and prepared the Passover in the upper room And Jesus was commemorating that special day and what is incredible is on that same day the night of the Passover leading to the next 24-hour period It began at sunset on Thursday night and would go all the way till sunset on Friday That was the day they celebrated Passover But it was also to the same day that Jesus shed his blood for our sins Jesus died on Passover Friday the same day that the blood of the lamb saved them So many years ago now Jesus saves us through his blood. He is the Passover lamb and he died on just that one day It's only one day out of 365 days and Jesus died on that day and what's also incredible is if you were to go back to Exodus Chapter 12 verse 46 It says that you're not supposed to break the bones of the Passover lamb That was one of the things is you you want to break the bones of the Passover lamb And indeed when Jesus is up on that cross and they wanted to make sure him and the two thieves were good and dead They came and broke the bones of one thief And then they broke the leg bones of the other thief to get them to die quicker because they wanted to get the bodies off the cross before Friday ended at sunset and it would be Saturday because Saturday would be a Sabbath and they wanted to have this all over with by the Sabbath when they came to Jesus they saw that he already gave up his spirit because he had the ability to say That it is finished and give up his spirit on that Friday So he was already dead, but to make sure they was dead They took a spear and they pierced him in the side and out came blood and water and they didn't break any of his bones Why did all of that happen because you're not supposed to break the bones of the Passover the lamb The guards didn't know that they were doing that but God fulfilled his word because not the bones of the Passover lamb Jesus were broken and it was said that he would be pierced You can read about that in Isaiah 53 and in Psalm 22 Including the fact that there'd be holes in the hands and it holds in his feet Which is written in Psalm 22 all of that was written way before it ever happened and Jesus's bones were not broken But he was the only one of the three that was pierced because it says that he will be pierced for our transgressions crushed for our Iniquities the punishment that was upon him brought us peace and by his wounds We are healed hallelujah, all we like sheep have gone astray each turn on way But the Lord laid upon him on Jesus the iniquity of us all Jesus took our sins upon that cross Isaiah said it 700 years before it ever happened That you know our iniquities we get laid upon him and that's how we're forgiven of our sin today because Jesus Christ died on Passover he shed his blood for the forgiveness of sins He's the once and final sacrifice hallelujah, and now today when we celebrate Good Friday and the last supper were also celebrating Passover and the death and resurrection which then happened on the first day of the week on Sunday Which is why Christians now go to church on the first day of the week because that was the day that Jesus rose from the dad Hallelujah these holidays are important and it became a seven Day feast where they would eat no 11, and you know 11 is considered sinful especially during the feast of unloved bread and So it was a seven-day Feast so there you have it a quick summary of the significance of the Passover It's so deep and there's more that I could share, but we will move on from it today But hallelujah Jesus is the Passover lamb have you trusted in him as your Lord and save you he died to forgive you You got to place your trust in him otherwise your sins still separating you from God But God didn't want it that way He sent his son to take it But you got a through faith trust in him for what he did on that cross and then the sin that separates us from God because all of Sin did fall short of the glory of God Then it gets placed on his son through faith hallelujah, and we can be forgiven of our sin Have you trusted in him have you then followed through and getting baptized because that's really the best way to express your faith in him Is to go under that water and die to living on your own died to live in your own way And to commemorate the fact that Jesus died for you and then to rise out of that water to new life in him And it's it's also a symbol that one day will rise from the dead hallelujah Just as Jesus rose we will rise to all of that is expressed in the waters of baptism Have you placed your faith in Jesus have you followed through on the command in the Bible to repent and be baptized every one of you For the forgiveness of sins hallelujah, I would encourage you to do that if you haven't talk to your church talk to your pastor Give your life to Jesus Place your faith in him get baptized and live a new life for the king of kings and the lord of lords hallelujah You shall count seven weeks for yourself You shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain then you shall celebrate the feast of weeks of the lord your God with the tribute of a free will offering of your hand which you shall give just as the lord your god blesses you And you shall rejoice before the lord your god You and your sons and your daughter and your male and female servants and the leevite who is in your town and the stranger And the orphan and the widow who are in your midst in the place where the lord your god chooses to establish his name You shall remember that you were a slave in egypt and you should be careful to observe all these statutes This became known as pentecost seven weeks is 49 days And on the 50th day from the the Passover you would count 50 days then they would celebrate the feast of weeks They would celebrate pentecost and They were supposed to do both of these by the way in Jerusalem So that's why Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover On the night that he gave his life and celebrated the last supper and that's why 50 days later they were in Jerusalem again And that's when god's holy spirit came so just as god did something special in the new testament on Passover and having Jesus die He also sent his holy spirit on the feast of weeks on pentecost 50 days later And that's really the first birth of the church When people became born again in the spirit of god And now when you believe in Jesus you become born again and you get the holy spirit to come live inside of you And god did it all on his jewish special holidays this one being the feast of weeks pentecost The next one hallelujah is the feast of booths you shall celebrate the feast of boos seven days After you have gathered in From your threshing floor and your wine vat and you shall rejoice in your feast You and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and a leva and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your towns Seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the lord your god and the place which the lord chooses again in Jerusalem Because the lord your god will bless you in all your produce and all the work of your hands So that you will be all together joyful and you know, isn't it something that the jews And there's nothing wrong to still acknowledge these days But the jews had these festivals where they would get together and celebrate all that god had did from in the past now the feast of boos They would remember their slavery and they would they would live in like temporary boos and remember all the years that They lived in tents And that was something that they did to commemorate how god had provided for them when they left egypt Now this one happened when they brought in their grain harvest this feast would be in the fall But it was still dating back and remembering how god had provided for them when they didn't have any shelter And when they were, you know, escaped slavery in egypt There was another way of commemorating all of that later in new year and it turned into a seven-day feast Sometimes I feel like we as christians today You know, we need to celebrate more the things that god has done Uh, I think it was good and right that the jews had these holidays now we we do have holidays that we celebrate christmas and And you know last supper passover resurrection sunday and that's good and right Um, but they would get together and fellowship for a whole week and have a celebration Sometimes I think we're missing out in that we don't do some of that today Three times a year All your mayo shall appear before the lord your god and the place which he chooses at the feast of unleaven bread and at the feast of weeks And act the feast of boos. That's what we've just seen those three Things and they shall not appear before the lord empty hand that every man shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the lord Your god, which he has given to you. So you'd bring sacrifices you could also bring offerings to the uh temple and Jerusalem at that time You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your towns, which the lord your god Is giving you according to your tribes and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment You shall not distort justice. You shall not be partial. You shall not take a bribe For a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous justice and only justice You shall pursue that you may live and possess the land which the lord your god has given you now This is going to be A new season of history where once they got into the promised land and they were going to have all these cities and Israel was really going to get spread out and they weren't going to be living all in Jerusalem They would come to Jerusalem for these feasts But they'd be living in all different kinds of places and remember they were going to have a theocracy And god was going to be their god and they weren't going to have a king So, you know even all the way back in um In exodus moses had other people help judge small cases for him because they were going to need You know, he needed help. There's too many people to handle all of it So they were going to appoint judges to help in this regard um But imagine all these people Not even having moses or even later joshua in their midst because moses and joshua could only be in one place at one time So now all these israelites were going to be in their cities. What do you think is going to happen? You know, well, they did they ended up worshiping false gods. They ended up doing all kinds of corrupt things Uh, we'll see that when we get to the book of judges After the joshua moved on and after they conquered the promise land The israelite people did not really farewell in honoring god and as a result they'll end up getting punished for it um First 21 you shall not plant for yourself an ashra of any kind of tree beside the altar of the lord your god Which you shall make for yourself you shall not set up for yourself a sacred pillar Which the lord your god hates god hates any other worship of any other false god By any other false means we're supposed to worship god in him alone and now God has revealed himself through the revelation of jesus christ who came and lived among us for 33 years And now he's left but he sent us the power of the holy spirit Which now lives inside of his church and we are to worship him and him alone and nothing else And um, that's one of the 10 commandments, but it's something that god cares very very much about that We would worship him and him alone and you know, sadly we have so many who have turned away from the worship of jesus And they worship, you know They worship their own flags. They worship their own made-up god people make up god in their own image And and don't look to his word don't look to what god desires But have forsaken him turned away from him and you know what? There's punishment and judgment coming on a world that's Largely rejected god and his son jesus christ and don't be one of them hallelujah lord willing when that judgment comes one day on this earth he's going to take his beloved his bride out of this earth And then he's going to leave judgment to the jews and all those who are left who have not accepted jesus christ And there'll be an opportunity then in that tribulation period where many will come to jesus because of all the things They're going to be taking place in the world. But what i have to say is get your life right with jesus Get your forgiveness of sins through him place your faith in him And hallelujah, you've become then his beloved bride and the wrath that is coming upon this earth is going to be though for those who've rejected him hallelujah They had three celebrations at least the ones mentioned in this chapter To honor god throughout the year and may we honor god and not forget him and worship the lord jesus christ God bless you all