The Passover: Part 2 (Exodus 12:1-20, 43-51; 13:1-16)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab your Bibles. Go to Exodus chapter 12. We are looking at the story of the Passover.
We're working our way through the book of Exodus, and we're taking two weeks to look at the Passover because in Exodus, when the Passover happens, it is an event. It is a historical moment. It takes place, but at the same time in the book of Exodus, God institutes a memorial feast and a practice that's going to take place throughout the life of the people of Israel, and so we've decided to take this in two parts. Last week, we looked at the event, and this week, we're going to look at this memorial feast that's instituted by God, this tradition that is given to them, this practice that's given to them to help them as they continue to follow Him that God puts in place in Exodus chapter 12 and chapter 13, and then we're going to hopefully see how it helps us as Christians and how we get to engage with the Passover.
I love musicals, and Spencer this week said, yeah, a lot of people looked at you and thought, yeah, this guy loves musicals, and they were right. I do. I love musicals, and there are some people who say musicals are stupid. You're stupid. Musicals are great. I mean, I wouldn't say that, but someone should tell you.
But my favorite musical is Fiddler on the Roof, and in Fiddler on the Roof, and I've seen it, I've seen the play, but I've specifically thoroughly enjoyed the 1971 movie, but in Fiddler on the Roof, the main guy's Topal, is the guy who plays it, but his name's Tevye in the play, and it starts with a fiddler on a roof. It's a bit on the nose. It shows a guy standing on a roof playing the fiddle, and then the main character, Tevye, who's also the narrator, looks at the camera, and he says, A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? I won't do the voice for the rest of the quote, but this is his start-off quote.
He says, but here, in our little village of Anatevka, you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof. This story is about a Jewish family in a Jewish village in 1905 in Russia. He says, you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof, trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck. It isn't easy. You may ask, why do we stay up there if it's so dangerous? Well, we stay because Anatevka is our home.
And then he says, and how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word, tradition. And then he bursts into song because it's a musical. They sing a song about tradition, and the whole point is that these Jewish people have tradition that helps them know who they are and what they're supposed to do, and that they use tradition to guide their lives. And that we're actually looking at, the Jewish people added a bunch of traditions, but they also were given traditions, given practices by God. And we're going to look at the first feast that God gives them in Exodus chapter 12, that he says, you're going to practice this.
You're going to institute this. And that happens throughout the whole book of Exodus. And so we're going to look at the first one today and try to help see how God gives this to help guide them, that they're going to have practices that help them know who they are and where they're going and help them find their way over time. And hopefully we'll see how we get to engage with this practice of the Passover for the same purpose, that it helps us to use the words of Tevye, be able to follow the Lord without breaking our neck, without losing our way. And so let's pray. And we're going to read starting in chapter 12, verse 1 together.
Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you institute practices for our good, that you help guide us in what we are to remember and what we are to hold on to. We pray that you'd help us to understand from the institution of Passover, how we as Christians get to engage in that in a blessed way this morning. In Jesus name. Amen. So what we're going to read in chapter 12, and we were in chapter 12 some last week, is we're going to read this institution of the first Passover.
So the first bit we're going to read is just for this first one, for the event. So it says, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, this month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. So he says, I'm changing your calendar. This is the first month of the year now, because this is when I'm rescuing you from slavery. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the 10th day of this month, every man shall take a lamb according to their father's houses, a lamb for a household.
And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons, according to what each can eat. You shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male, a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats and you shall keep it until the 14th day of this month when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. So on the 10th day, they pick a lamb from the sheep or the goats with it's without blemish, a male, a year old, and they keep it for four days.
And then on twilight, when the sun is setting on the 14th day of the month, they slaughter it. Verse seven, then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lentil of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night roasted on the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted its head with its legs and its inner parts. You're going to cook the whole thing.
And any part that's left, it says they're going to burn up. That's what it says in verse 10. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning. Anything that remains until the morning, you shall burn in this manner. You shall eat it. Now, this is for the Passover, the original one with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste.
It is the Lord's Passover for I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast and all the gods of Egypt. I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So he's going to come through and he's going to see the blood on the houses and he's going to pass over them and they're to eat ready to leave there to eat quickly.
They're to not put leaven in their breads because it won't have time for it to leaven there to make quick bread, eat quickly and leave. He's going to pass over the houses and then they're going to leave. That's for this original one. And then it says this in verse 14, this day shall be for you a Memorial day and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations as a statute forever. You shall keep it as a feast. So now he's turned, he's given him the instructions for the particular one.
And now he says, and this is going to be a holiday. You're going to have a feast every year. I'm going to do this this time and rescue out of Egypt. And then every year you're going to celebrate that I did this. There's going to be a feast. And are we just thankful that our Lord commands feasting?
I mean, we understand there are times to mourn and there are times to fast, but isn't it a joyous thing that God says, I want you to celebrate in recognition of what I have done. And you're going to do this every year. Seven days, you shall eat unleavened bread on the first day. You shall remove leaven out of your houses for if anyone eats, what is leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day, you shall hold a holy assemble and on the assembly, sorry. And on the seventh day, a holy assembly, no work shall be done on those days, but what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared for you.
And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread for on this very day, I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a statute forever. In the first month from the 14th day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the 21st day of the month at evening for seven days. No leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel. Whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land, you shall eat nothing leavened in all your dwelling places.
You shall eat unleavened bread. So it's the feast of the unleavened bread. They're going to have a Sabbath day. Then they're going to practice the feast of the whole week as a feast of unleavened bread. They're only going to eat unleavened bread. And then they're going to have another Sabbath day, another holy day where they don't do any work.
They're not going to continue to paint their doorposts. That was for the event of the Passover, but they're going to have the feast of the unleavened bread. And they do continue to have a Passover sacrifice in memorial to this. And they do often eat lamb and bitter herbs. But what is instituted is a feast of unleavened bread to remind them that we left quickly, that God's salvation was quick when he brought us out of the land of Egypt.
And to Mark that he did this with a strong hand is the way it's going to word it several times. Let's jump down to verse 43. So we read last week, the 21 onward, we read where they actually, this happens. And now we're going to look again as he's giving instructions about the perpetual practice of this. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, this is the statute of the Passover. No foreigner shall eat of it, but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him.
No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house. You should not take any of the flesh outside the house. So this is for the Passover feast that the night at twilight on the 14th day when they sacrifice and you shall not break any of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised.
Then he may come near and keep it. He shall be as a native of the land, but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There should be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you. All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. And on that very day, the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts. So he draws this line and he says, those who want to participate in this have to belong to the people of Israel.
And the sign of belonging to the people of Israel is circumcision. That's the covenantal sign given to Abraham in the Genesis. And so he says, this is fenced off that the Passover feast is for those who belong to the covenantal people of God. That's really all that was getting at. And it says that they followed his command. Now in chapter 13, we're going to see him reiterate some of this and we're going to see that he institutes another practice.
And then we're going to get to talk through why is he doing this? Because we're going to see a little more of why God is giving this feast and this practice to the people of Israel. Chapter 13, verse one, the Lord said to Moses, consecrate to me all the firstborn, whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and beast is mine. Then Moses said to the people, remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery for by a strong hand, the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten today in the month of a bib, you are going out.
And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. And on the seventh day, there should be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days. No leavened bread shall be seen with you and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. You shall tell your son on that day.
It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt and it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand, the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this statute as at its appointed time from year to year. So there's a couple of things he says in there. He says, we're going to practice this and you're going to tell your son what it means. Part of the reason we're practicing this is so that we'll remember and so that you'll explain it as you go.
That there's going to be times where you need to stop and say, Hey, here's why we're doing this. And I parents in the room. Do y'all do that? Do you take time when we do some of the practices we have like showing up here to sing and to gather? Y'all know that this is weird, right? The only other people who gather to sing together are at concerts.
We let y'all in for free. No, but we gather to make much of the Lord, to spend time singing together, to study the word together. We celebrate Easter and Christmas and communion and baptism. There's these different things that we have. And do you take time to explain? Here's why we do that because we're meant to, they were meant to with this.
And we're meant to with the practices we have to be able to articulate. Here's why we're doing this. And it says that it's going to be, he says this twice. So we'll talk about it again in a second, but it's going to be as a Mark on your hand or front lip between your eyes. And then he says, it's going to be that the word of the Lord, the law of the Lord might be in your mouth that we speak and eat out of our mouths. And that's part, kind of a play on words in this practice is that they're to partake in what God has done to help them remember.
That it's to be a physical thing that they partake in so that they might remember as they practice this and that they might tell it to the next generation. Verse 11, when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers and shall give it to you, you shall set apart to the Lord. All that first opens the womb, all the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord's. Every firstborn of a donkey, you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it, you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons, you shall redeem. And when in time to come, your son asked you, what does this mean?
You shall say to him by strong hands, the Lord brought us out of Egypt from the house of slavery. For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord, all the males that first opened the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons, I redeem. Now the first one he said, practice the Passover and you'll tell your son. And this one he says, when your son asks you, why are we doing this? Because if your son watched a donkey be born and then you snapped its neck, your son might say, why did you do that?
That this is meant to be a perpetual practice for them. And y'all, it's kind of heavy. And it's not like the Jewish people would have loved to do this. If you have flocks and they begin, they get old enough to be able to, to give birth to young, the firstborn all belong to the Lord of every animal that is a sacrifice animal. So that would have been their sheep, their goats, their bulls.
But then it says of donkeys, you don't sacrifice that the Lord. He doesn't belong to the Lord. You redeem it or it just has to die. An unredeemed donkey dies. A redeemed donkey gets to live. And it's a practice that teaches them over and over again as they redeem every son that they have.
That's the firstborn son. It's a practice over and over and over again that reminds them that God redeemed us out of slavery at the cost of a redemption sacrifice. And without a sacrifice, there is no redemption. Without a sacrifice, there is a death. All firstborn sons that were not hiding behind the blood of the lamb died. And so we remember perpetually, continually that if we don't have the covering of the blood and the sacrifice that God puts between us and his wrath, there is death.
And they practice this over and over and over again. And that's what he says in verse 16. It should be as a Mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes. For by a strong hand, the Lord brought us out of Egypt. They're going to practice this so they would remember him. It's to be a Mark on their hand or a frontlet between their eyes.
My oldest son, and he was two, he was learning how to talk and he would say some words, you know, he'd say ball, probably said stuff like milk and no, you know, the important things that you need to know when you're two. And, but he really wasn't talking, talking. And you get kind of used to your kids not talking. And it's, you know, when they say the first words, you're really excited. And, but he just, he wasn't talking. And my, uh, my wife, uh, was watching him one morning and she had put, uh, like a green skin mask on her face.
And she came walking in the room with this and our two-year-old son was watching TV and he looked at it and he went, what's on your face? He was like, I'm going to need a full sentence for this. We got to no more, just one word stuff. I'm what is happening here. And that's what he says is that this practice, these practices are meant to Mark you in a startling reminder way that you can't get away from. It's meant to be a part of your life.
Like something attached to your hand or your face. That's what he's calling them to. And so they do this. The people of Israel practice this for 1500 years. They practice this. Now they, at times don't, there are times where they rebel, there are times where they're in captivity, but in general, the people of Israel, when they're being faithful, they're practicing the Passover.
They're practicing the redemption of the firstborn. And it's just part of who they are. And they remember, they remember the Exodus out of Egypt as the moment in their history when God worked in a mighty way to make them into a people and to redeem them out of slavery and to call them to himself. And they practice this over and over and over again. Go to Luke chapter 22. We're going to see Jesus and his disciples in first century Jerusalem in the Roman empire practicing the Passover.
This is Luke 22. We're going to read verse one. We're going to read verse seven, and then we're going to read starting in 14. Now the feast of unleavened bread drew near, which is called the Passover. Now, maybe you've read the new Testament and now we've gone through Exodus and you go, Oh, I know what that's talking about. Yeah.
We just read about the feast of unleavened bread called the Passover. We now know what that's talking about. Verse seven, then came the day of unleavened bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So the Passover lamb is sacrificed at twilight because they won't their calendar sundown to sundown. So it's sundown.
It begins the next day. They sacrifice the Passover. They're going to have their Passover meal. Verse 14. And when the hour came, this is them celebrating the Passover meal together, Jesus and his disciples celebrating something they would have celebrated every year of their entire life. The whole nation would stop and celebrate the feast of unleavened bread.
If you didn't, you were cut off from the people. Like we don't have anything like that. I jokingly told one guy one time, I said, Hey, look, you've moved to the South and you don't understand this. You need to come to church with me on Easter because it's the South and everybody has to go to church on Easter. If you don't, the cops come by your house and check. And he went, really?
No, not really, but you should still come. But that's how this works. Somebody saw you eating leavened bread and it was like, Oh, you, you're not, you don't belong anymore. You're not welcome anymore. They practice this every year and it mattered. They're used to this, this Passover meal.
And it said, when the hour came, he reclined at table and the apostles with him. I just want to point out he reclined at the table because this has gone from the first event, which was belt on shoes on staff in your hand to a feast to remember the glorious work that God has done. It's now like, it's like Thanksgiving belt off. We've got to make some room here. People they're reclining at the table, celebrating what God has done. And it says a reclining at table.
And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Okay. So Jesus is about to do and say some odd things. If you had been practicing Passover your entire life, he's about to do and say some odd things. The first thing that he says that is odd is I've earnestly desired to eat this.
I'm not going to eat it. I've earnestly desired to eat this Passover meal with you. I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Now, if you heard that and you're the Jewish person who's practiced the Passover, the past, the Passover is fulfilled. What are you talking about? I've longed to eat this with you.
I'm not going to eat it until it's fulfilled. Go ahead. That happened hundreds of years ago. Passover fulfilled. God's already done this. But he says, I'm not going to eat it until it's fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
Verse 17, and he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he said, take this and divide it amongst yourselves among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. This is for you, but I'm not, I'm not partaking. And he took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them saying, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. They're practicing the Passover.
They're taking the feast of unleavened bread and he breaks it and he says, this is my body that's given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Break bread in remembrance of me. Practice the Passover in remembrance of me. You're not, unless you're Jesus, you're not supposed to do that. You don't get to.
I mean, you can try. I'd encourage you to try. The holiday season's coming up. Give it a shot. You got a few coming at Thanksgiving. Say, I'd like us to go around the table and everyone say a thing that they're thankful to me about.
Maybe a thing you're thankful for me or to me. Grandma, you want to kick us off? Thanksgiving's about me. I'm sorry. I don't know why y'all are looking at me like that. Do this.
Remember me. Just give it a shot. You can't, like at Christmas, go over to someone's house. Like if you get into DIY and you like make a little tree topper of yourself and you put it on their tree. You're like, Christmas is about me. When y'all open presents.
Think about how I'm a great gift to the world. The ball is dropping. They start counting down. You run over to people and you're like, we're counting down for me. And they're like, is it your birthday? And you're like, no.
Also, if y'all kiss, that's about me. What? Don't mind me. I'm just going to watch. You can't do this. You can't just co-op things that have been happening forever.
This one's been instituted by God. And Jesus just says, I'm not going to do this until it's fulfilled in the kingdom, which we would have thought it already had been that God had already fulfilled the Passover. This is an event that took place. But he says, no, the ultimate fulfillment of Passover is yet to come. And he says, this is about me. Verse 20.
And likewise, the cup after they had eaten saying this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. These are a covenantal people. There's a covenant with Abraham that's renewed with Isaac and Jacob, but it's the covenant to Abraham. There's a covenant with Moses. There's a covenant with David. They're covenantal people.
And he says, Passover is about me. It's going to get fulfilled. And here's a new covenant in my blood. And to institute a new covenant for them is like. Jesus says something's happening here. The fulfillment of the Passover is here.
And Passover is about me. That the blood of the lamb that stands between us and judgment is about to be fulfilled. The blood that isn't just for one household for one night, but a lamb that you know and then is slaughtered and you partake in it. That the blood covers you, but you also consume it. That's about me. And when you practice Passover, remember me.
That's what he says. So let's go to first Corinthians 11, because now we're in the church and we're seeing how Christians have taken this so that as we as Christians study the Passover, we see that Jesus says it's about me. In first Corinthians in chapter five, prior to this, Paul says, for Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. That Jesus is our Passover lamb. And then he talks about the Lord's supper and how we are to practice it. Chapter 11, verse 23.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, we just read about this, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, also, he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and you drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
So this Passover meal that was practiced every year, Jesus says, this is about me. And then the New Testament church starts practicing this on a regular basis. That everything that was built into the Passover, this salvation out of slavery, this protection from wrath, this divine judgment, but the death of an unblemished firstborn to redeem. All of that built in and rolling up. And Jesus says it's about to be fulfilled. And he fulfills it fully and finally and eternally through his death on the cross.
And the church gathers to remember and proclaim. That when we partake in communion, the Lord's table, we remember and we proclaim. Anyway, my wife and I went, we were in the mountains one time and we went to go see a waterfall. And there was this way to get down to the waterfall. You could stand up or you could try to, on this little perch, or you could try to get down to it. And on the way down, there was a rope.
It was tied off on one end and it ran down this really kind of awkward way. But it helps you know where to go. And if you followed the rope, you'd get where you were supposed to be. And it was something to hold on to. So that you wouldn't fall.
Because falling was a real possibility. And I think without the rope, we probably wouldn't have made it. We'd have gone a little ways. And then I'd have been like, Anna, go ahead and see how it works. And then I'll see if I can come later. I wouldn't have.
But anyway, it helped us get there. It helped us hold on. And that's some of what he's saying is these regular practices for us as a church. This regular practice of communion is tied to the death of Christ. That we're proclaiming his death. And it takes us until he comes.
We do this until. He's already died. And we proclaim it until he comes. And we hold fast. And so when we gather. And this morning we're going to take communion together as a church.
We're going to celebrate the fulfilled Passover. That there is blood of a spotless lamb that covers us and stands between us and judgment. And we're going to proclaim his death until he returns. And so there are a few things that happen when we take communion. We have bread that's been broken. We have the cup that we share.
And so there's a few things that happen. One is it reminds us that our redemption is costly. There's something that's proclaimed. Physically proclaimed to us. Every time we gather and we've got communion set up on these tables. You're a sinner.
Without a sacrifice. You're in trouble. You need to be redeemed. And if you've come in here this morning and your plan. Is to be moral and righteous and holy. In your own strength.
In your own name. By your own merit. May you look at that table and know you're a sinner who needs to be redeemed. But that table proclaims. That we have redemption. That there is forgiveness.
You need forgiveness. But there is forgiveness. If you came in this morning dragging. Feeling like you're going to be swallowed up by your sin. Wondering how on earth am I going to make it to the end. How on earth will I stand before a holy and righteous God.
And not just be crushed. The answer is. We hide behind the blood of the lamb. That there is forgiveness offered. And that we celebrate and remind ourselves. That I need forgiveness.
But I can receive forgiveness. Through the work of Christ. When we partake in communion together. We remember that our redemption is real. There's something about physically having to touch it. That when we take this in a moment.
And you dip it in the cup. And you. Every time I'm walking back. And it's kind of dripping on my fingers. Or on my hand. And I'm walking like this.
It reminds me that he really died. That his blood really spilled. That he poured it out. And it's a new covenant. That guards. And protects.
Just as the people in the Passover. When they slaughtered their lamb. And they were painting the blood on their doorpost. And they could see it. They could see the cost of their protection. They could see the cost of their redemption.
That we get to see it. And we get to remember that it really happened. That it stands as an event in history. That we proclaim. And look back to. And remember.
So that we know. That we have forgiveness. And we partake in it. That every time. I take communion. And you take communion.
You get this moment to say. Lord I need this. Without your forgiveness. Without your sacrifice. I am hopeless. And helpless.
And it helps us hold on. And then. It reminds us. That our redeemer lives. Because we proclaim his death. Until he comes.
And we have a certain future. Purchased. Not by our works. Our intelligence. Our effort. Praise Jesus.
Not by our works. Our intelligence. And our effort. But by his. And that we long. For the day.
That he returns. And claims us. And it helps us. Stay tied to him. That's why we practice it regularly. We practice this more often.
Than we used to. Because we need. More often. A reminder. That we need Jesus. That we're going to gather together.
That we belong together. That he's accomplished this for us. And that we need forgiveness. And we receive forgiveness. And we have hope in him. It's tied off.
To the death. Buried on resurrection. And it leads us. To his ultimate return. And we. Remember his death.
And we proclaim it. Until he comes. If we're not careful. We'll have a guiding line. But it won't be Jesus.
Some of us. If we're honest. If we really think about it. It's tied off. To I used to be poor. And it's tied up.
To I'll be rich one day. It's tied off. To loneliness. And it's. It's anchored up here. To romance.
If I can just work my way. I can make it. That's my hope. That's my future. And the problem is. We make all these decisions.
In our lives. That don't make any sense. Because we're supposed to be tied off. To a forgiveness. And a hope. Set secure in Christ.
And anchored to an eternal hope. Set secure in Christ. For the day that he returns. And claims us. We're supposed to live. Between those two points.
And we gather together. As a church. To proclaim that to ourselves. And to each other. I love. When I get to sit back here.
And watch our church family line up. And all of us remember together. And I need forgiveness. But I get forgiveness. And I'm proclaiming the death of Christ. Until he comes.
Because I have hope. And only in Christ. Oh it's a glorious thing. To get to participate. With a family of sinners. Redeemed by the blood of Christ.
With our hope anchored in Christ. Longing for the day that he returns. And claims his people for himself. It's a glorious thing. To get to partake in. To get to remember.
That we have a Passover lamb. We have blood that stands between us. And utter destruction. We have a redeemer. Who's died. Who's risen.
Who lives. And one day returns. To claim his people. And may we cling to that. Hold to that. Practice that.
Remember. May it be on our hand. And on our forehead. So that we can walk. This life. Between those two points.
The band's going to come back up. And we're going to practice the Lord's Supper. So that we might remember. There's going to be a moment for them. To play. And for you to pray.
For you. To remember. I'm a sinner. And I need forgiveness. Some of you need to ask for forgiveness this morning. But you need to know that you're given forgiveness in Christ.
That the purchase. The cost of your redemption has already been paid. That we have hope. Some of you need to talk to the Lord about longing for his return. Proclaiming his death until he comes. And recentering yourself on living between those two points.
With our hope fully in him. If you are not a Christian. Communion is not for you. Because it's a celebration. Of Jesus' blood on our behalf. And that we belong to him through his sacrifice.
Christ is for you if you're not a Christian. That you can come to him and ask for forgiveness. That you can ask him to redeem your soul. And he will. That you can say I need your blood to cover me. And he will.
And then you can take communion. For the first time as a celebration of what he's done. But if you're not a Christian. And you haven't taken that step. And we ask that you remain seated. Out of respect for Jesus.
And for our church family. But if you're a Christian. After a moment. Of praying. Of praising. Let's celebrate.
That we have a hope. And let's remember his death. And proclaim it. Until he comes. So you pray.
And when you're ready. To take communion.