Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] What an awesome time of worship.
[00:00:07] And we really are just sons and daughters being called into covenant and relationship with a mighty God that loves us so much.
[00:00:18] And right at the end, Johann got Psalm 103. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our sins from us.
[00:00:30] That the, the price that he's paid on the cross, it's complete, it's finished, there's nothing else. It's just we are justified by our faith in receiving the covenant that we've been invited into.
[00:00:50] Sorry, I just want to get back, back.
[00:01:03] And a lot of what the worship is, is celebrating what the King did on the cross. He came and he took our sins to the cross.
[00:01:13] And the title of my sermon today is, is a Call to Remember.
[00:01:20] So this is a time where we remember. We're going into Easter and it is a time where we need to remember what he did on the cross. And I think for a lot of us, if we've been in church for a long time, there's Easter service after Easter service and we can just go through the motions and we can come and we can sing a couple of songs, but the importance of it sometimes can be lost.
[00:01:50] And if we look in the Bible, we see that God the Father, he always wanted us to remember certain things. And it's scattered within the Bible. We see that there's these little anchors that he's put in the sections of the Bible, whether it's a feast or a covenant.
[00:02:13] And he wants us to remember.
[00:02:16] So it's very close to God's heart that we actually do remember.
[00:02:22] And.
[00:02:27] So some interesting facts about the human mind is that we're not so good at our memory.
[00:02:36] It says that research shows the average person can only remember about five to nine things at once in a short term memory. So the perfect is about seven, either two below or two above.
[00:02:54] But the average person can remember about seven things in our short term memory. And studies also show that people Forget up to 90% of, of new information within a day unless it is repeated or connected to an experience.
[00:03:13] So the chances of you going out and actually forgetting a lot of what is said is quite high unless we actually connect it to something.
[00:03:25] And the memory becomes much stronger when it involves multiple senses.
[00:03:32] So sight, smell, taste and a story would be a good way to connect.
[00:03:41] So I want to give you an example of Passover and what God did during that time and how they actually celebrated the feast of Passover.
[00:03:54] So there was the Lamb and the, the Lamb was obviously an innocent lamb that paid the Price for our sins. So it's a redemption offering, something that is without sin to remove the sin. And we see this from the early start in the Bible, where Adam and Eve sin at first in the garden, and then they leave the garden covered with skins.
[00:04:23] And I bet you those skins would have been a lamb, because it would have been an innocent animal that covered the sin. So redemption offering.
[00:04:35] And then you've got matzah, which is your unleavened bread.
[00:04:39] So if you look at the story, when they're leaving Egypt, they didn't take their ovens with them.
[00:04:45] They would have gone with their flour and water, and they would have had to cook that over the fire.
[00:04:52] So it was unleavened bread, and it represents the haste in leaving Egypt.
[00:04:58] Then bitter herbs.
[00:05:01] Bitter herbs were eaten to make your face scowl at the bitterness of slavery. So it would remind you to the actual bitterness of slavery.
[00:05:13] Then there's caraset, which is a sweet fruit and nut mixture, and you would dip the herbs into that.
[00:05:24] And that represented the bricks as slaves. So it was made in a mortar and pestle. It was crushed, and it represented them making bricks when they were slaves.
[00:05:35] Then you've got kapas, which is parsley, which is dipped into salt water. And that represented the tears of slavery, the people crying out to God for saving.
[00:05:50] Then, as Pete went through last week, we had the three cups of wine. The first one was a cup of sanct, sanctification.
[00:05:59] The second cup was a cup of judgment, which was about all the plagues that were judged in the seven plagues or 10 plagues that were judged in Egypt.
[00:06:11] And then the third one is the cup of redemption. And we see that Jesus, when he's celebrating the Passover, he takes the third cup and he says, now this cup is my blood. This is a cup of redemption. And it's pointing to that redeeming lamb, that it will be the redemption, the final redemption.
[00:06:34] And then the fourth cup is the one that Jesus said, I won't share in this one because it's a cup of completion or a cup of praise. And he said, I'll only share this one when I'm reunited, when I come for my spotless bride.
[00:06:50] And the last part is that the story was actually told to the next generation. So they would get the youngest child, and they would encourage the youngest child to actually ask questions about all these elements and what they mean. And it represented a flowing to the. To the next generation of what God had done. And it speaks about his character. This is why God wants us to Remember, he puts an anchor so that we recognize that he's the God who saves. He's the God who delivered. He's the one who split the Red Sea. He's the one that during the judgment, passed over their houses because of the blood on the door.
[00:07:39] And so you can imagine during that time, there's the roasting of lamb.
[00:07:44] They get the smell, they get the sights, they get the stories. And it's a good way to remember.
[00:07:52] So in Exodus 12, verses 1, I just want to go through the Passover a little bit. It says, now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, saying, this month shall be the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. So you can see this is an extremely significant point. God's actually taking the calendar. So we in March now, it's like saying, this is going to be the 1st of January. It's going to be the beginning of months. We're going to start time again. It's that significance.
[00:08:28] And so it's a starting point that, as we know, the Old Testament was a foreshadow of things to come. And this is pointing that there's going to be a starting point, a new thing is going to happen. And we see that the new covenant was instituted from this time. We see a new covenant. So he's saying, this is a starting point for us. But it was already pointing to a new covenant that would come.
[00:08:58] And it says, speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, on the 10th of this month, every man shall take for himself a lamb according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And so each head of the home, the father of the home, would take a lamb for his household that he would sacrifice, put it on the lintels of the door, which would take the judgment off his house.
[00:09:24] And sometimes they didn't have enough, so they would gather as many people where they had too much meat, and they'd gather as many people into the house. And that represented the covering of the blood covered by the blood.
[00:09:39] And verse 13 it says, now the blood shall be a sign for you. So the sign is for you where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So we see the redeeming blood of the lamb was for the household, and it passed over the judgment.
[00:10:07] Now I want to look at a time in 2 Chronicles 30, verses 1 and, and 5.
[00:10:15] And this is King Hezekiah and he's probably about 250 years from when Solomon built the temple. We know that it was an awesome time. God filled the temple. He came to dwell with man. That was at the feast of Tabernacles, God coming to dwell with. With man. And. But from that time, in just 250 years, which is not a long time, some of us can live 100 years. 250 years.
[00:10:45] Israel had actually drifted so far that they weren't actually celebrating the Passover the way that it was supposed to be.
[00:10:55] And so King Hezekiah, he comes in in 2 Chronicles 31. 5, and it says, Hezekiah sent a word to to all Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh inviting them to come to the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. The king and his officials and the whole assembly in Jerusalem decided to celebrate the Passover in the second month. They had not been able to celebrate it at the time, at the regular time, because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not assembled in Jerusalem.
[00:11:38] The plan seemed right both to the king and to the whole assembly. They decided to send a proclamation throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, calling the people to come to Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. It had not been celebrated in a large number according to what was was written.
[00:12:01] And so he calls a celebration a time of remembrance. We're going to celebrate this time. We're going to gather everybody and restore the honor and celebration of this time. It's been forgotten. We've drifted.
[00:12:16] And we see what happens during this time is in 2 Chronicles 30, 18 and 20, the multitude of the people, they came, they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, may the Lord God provide atonement for everyone who prepares his heart to seek the Lord, the Lord God of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. So it was people hadn't been celebrating, they weren't prepared. They came and some people had just buried the dead. They hadn't been sanctified or cleansed for eating the Passover.
[00:12:54] So Hezekiah prays, and the Lord listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.
[00:13:00] And so in this time of remembrance, he sees people's heart coming back to seek him again, to remember him again. And we see that healing is put on the people, and then the people are blessed. In Chronicles 2 Chronicles 30, verses 26 and 27.
[00:13:18] So there was great joy in Jerusalem.
[00:13:20] For since the time of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. So that's a long time from the time of Solomon, 250 years, there had been nothing like this.
[00:13:33] Then the priests, the Levites arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling, the place of heaven. So we see that the priests come and. And they bless the people. So there's healing, the judgment is now being taken off, and we see a blessing that starts to flow on the people.
[00:13:59] And just after this, we read in 2 Chronicles 31, 1 and 2, it says now, when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke the sacred pillars and pieces, cut down the wooden images, threw down the high places and the altars from all Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned to their own cities, every man to his own possession. And Hezekiah appointed the division of the priests and the Levites according to their divisions, each man according to his service, the priests and the Levites for burnt offerings and peace offerings, to serve and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the camp of the Lord.
[00:14:48] And so we see an opening of people's eyes as they come to worship, to honor, to celebrate, a time of remembrance that God actually wants us to remember.
[00:15:02] We see they. They start to see how far they've actually drifted from God, and they go back to their houses, they go back to their cities, and they break down. All the high places, all the places of idolatry and worship to other gods is actually. There's a whole revival that sweeps the nation.
[00:15:22] And so.
[00:15:23] And then it says, praise in the gates of the camp of the Lord. And gates always represent authority.
[00:15:31] So that's the authority was always at the gates. Just like the immigration customs of Zimbabwe. It's the authority at the gates. It's the same thing here, that the praise of the Lord was restored at the gates. So the authority of the Lord came back into all of those cities.
[00:15:52] So now that we see the importance of remembering, let's look at Christ and what he did.
[00:16:00] In 1 Corinthians 5, 7, it says, Therefore, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed, Christ, our Passover was sacrificed for us.
[00:16:16] So in Corinthians, this is saying that Christ is our Passover, that was sacrificed for us. So it's his blood now that is over our doors. It represents that it's him that has taken off the judgment. It's him that has given us deliverance from our enemies and Egypt.
[00:16:39] And it says, purge out the old leaven. So it means the old sinful self. We've got to get rid of that, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. It means that you are already forgiven, you are unleavened. There is no sin in you.
[00:16:57] The sin has been removed by what Christ has done. And it's something that we have to work towards in ourselves, is removing the old and actually accepting we have been forgiven, we are sin free and to become a new lump, a new person.
[00:17:16] And he institutes a new covenant at this time.
[00:17:20] So as we know, he gathers his disciples.
[00:17:24] And on the last Supper, obviously the, the disciples would have been Jewish. They would have been very aware of all the customs. They would have eaten the matzah, they would have eaten the, the wine. They would have prepared the feast of bitter herbs, the parsley. They would have gone, been prepared to tell the story and sing the songs. And in Luke 22:19 and 20, it says, and he, Jesus, took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them. This would have been matzah bread, saying, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
[00:18:04] So now what he's saying is we're not remembering Passover anymore. This time I'm taking, this is now a remembrance of me.
[00:18:13] Likewise, he took the cup after the supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you. And as we know, that's the third cup. It was deliverance, it was redemption.
[00:18:26] So he was saying, I'm becoming that Passover lamb for you.
[00:18:34] And so if we look at the. The deeper meaning of what God is inviting us into, we know that as the new covenant, that we eat the bread which represents his body, and we drink the wine which represents his blood and deliverance.
[00:18:53] And in Leviticus 17, verse 11, it says, for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and so the whole life of that animal is in the blood. And that's why it was a spotless, unblemished lamb. It had to be spotless. It represent that blood represented the body of that animal. So the life of the flesh is in the blood.
[00:19:19] And in John 6, verses 53 to 54, it says, then Jesus said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh, of the Son of Man and drink his blood. You have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. And I will raise him up in the last day.
[00:19:45] And we see that what God, what he's saying in giving communion to us, which is unity, which is covenant, he's saying, as you take the blood and you drink the blood, you are in covenant. You are one with me.
[00:20:01] What I've done and what I've accomplished, my life, the blood that is on my life, that I sacrificed for you, becomes one with you. It becomes your starting point. It becomes your victory to receive. You don't have to be without sin. You don't have to pay the price. What I'm offering to you is my blood. And as you receive the blood, you become one with Christ.
[00:20:28] In John 6, 48, 51, it says, I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
[00:20:48] If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, and which I shall give for the life of the world.
[00:20:59] And it's a beautiful thing because we know in Passover they went into the desert and then they cried out, they've got no food. And so God poured out manna. And that was enough. It was sufficient for the day. It was always sufficient. You couldn't gather it up in barns or store it. It was each day the bread of life was there. Sure, many of us have got. Have seen that little diary, the Bread of Life, where you get daily devotionals. That's every day we receive from the Lord something that spiritually feeds us. And so Christ is saying that he's the manna. He's the manna. If we eat of him, if we eat in communion, it says there's everlasting life that we can receive from him.
[00:21:48] In Revelations 19, verses 10, it says, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
[00:21:58] And we understand that the testimony is contained within the blood because the life is in the blood. So the testimony of that is in the blood. And this speaks that the testimony and what he overcame becomes the spirit of prophecy. We can look at his life, we can see what he's achieved, what he's done. And we can say, that's prophecy.
[00:22:26] That's something that. That's the promises that I can walk into. There's healing, there's deliverance. These are things that we can attain by our belief in Jesus.
[00:22:38] In Revelations 12, 11, it says, and they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives to death. And this is speaking to us at the end. We overcame by the blood. Now we know of the blood that we're talking the blood of the Lamb. And by the word of our testimony. How does our testimony align with his testimony?
[00:23:05] Because his testimony was up to the cross and the resurrection. That's what he's given to us. And it becomes a starting point for us, is the victory that we can now receive in communion. And that should bring us to alignment with the testimony of Christ.
[00:23:27] So this is a time of remembrance. And we've seen that as people stop to remember these things. You don't want to be that generation of 250 years that have drifted. We've stopped to remember the Passover and what he's done.
[00:23:45] And now the idolatry is in our houses.
[00:23:49] And everything that he's accomplished on the cross, we just say as common. It's just something common. We go over this time. We don't actually understand it for ourselves.
[00:24:01] And so this is a time of remembrance. And I want to really encourage us as we go home, whether you're single, whether you're a family, and especially heads of households, we see that the head stood for their households to remember a time, and we need to remember this time. And the best way that we can do that is remember the victories that we've received from Christ.
[00:24:29] What has he done from the time we were saved? What victories have we received?
[00:24:34] And how can we share that to the next generation so that they don't forget? So that it becomes a testimony within our household, we actually start to celebrate. Because our human mind, we forget too easily. You leave it a year, you leave it three years, and suddenly it's a distant memory of what he did for you. But if we recite these things, if we thank him, if we take communion and say, thank you, God, this is because of what you did on the cross, that I've got this victory in my life.
[00:25:08] And you remember and you tell the generations to come.
[00:25:12] It's so powerful.
[00:25:14] And if there's anything that you need to remember going out of this place, it's that we need to remember from every Easter, every Easter, it's a time of remembrance.
[00:25:28] Find some communion, go and sit with your family and just speak about the year, speak about what he's done, and glorify him for what he's doing. In your life.
[00:25:40] So if I could invite the worship team up. We're just going to sing one more song and I think just engage in remembering what, what he's done, the little victories.
[00:25:53] And remember that it's a spirit of prophecy that, you know, if you are in a battle right now, we can put it at his feet and say, you are the overcomer, Lord Jesus, you are the overcomer, you are the chain breaker. You are the healer. You are. You're the one that I can trust. And I want to put this at your. Your feet in faith that that is who you are.
[00:26:17] And so, guys, I want to invite you up and let's. Let's worship him.
