The Passover lamb and its blood were foreshadowings of Christ's sacrifice as the Lamb of God; just as the Israelites had to apply the lamb's blood to be saved from the final plague in Egypt, we must apply Christ's blood through baptism to be saved from sin; we commemorate Christ's sacrifice through the Lord's Supper just as the Passover feast commemorated the Israelites' deliverance from slavery in Egypt.

Transcript

Good morning. If you have your Bible with you, would you open it up please and turn to the book of Exodus. Exodus chapter 12 will be the first passage that we will read together this morning. And we have a few gentlemen who are going around the congregation. If you would like a handout for the lesson this morning and you did not Get one of those or didn't pick one of those up raise your hand and they'll get one of those to you.

And that might be helpful to you, especially this morning. We're going to have a list that we're going to go through here in just a moment rather quickly. So you may want to have that. We won't even turn to all of the passages that are, that are listed there on the handout. But that might be helpful to you.

So if you're in Exodus chapter 12 then you're ready for our lesson this morning. Have you ever read a book or maybe watched a movie? And seemingly insignificant details from the beginning of the story take on greater meaning when you find out the end of the story. And it's almost like you remember all of those things, or maybe you re watch or you re read, and you say, oh, wait a second, that's telling me something that's going to happen, and you didn't know it.

Well, maybe one of the most famous, maybe the most famous beginning to a story that's ever been told is Jesus and His beginning as a baby in a manger. And over the next month, we'll see reminders of Christ's birth everywhere we go. But during the time of year where so many are, are fixated on the baby Jesus, and, and don't misunderstand me when I say fixated on that.

This is a cause for joy and a cause for celebration, that Jesus was incarnated, that He came to earth, that He lived as a man, and that began with His miraculous birth. But I think sometimes people are fixated on baby Jesus because Baby Jesus brings only joy with very little responsibility. Baby Jesus requires very little of us.

But may I suggest this morning that the beginning of this story with the baby Jesus tells us and points us to some things that are going to happen at the end of the story. that do require something from us and tell us much deeper meaning. And maybe we need to look, not away in a manger, as the song goes, but away from the manger to the Lamb of God on the cross.

And even, I would suggest this morning, the events of His birth point us in that direction, away from a baby The details of this beginning are familiar to most of us, but maybe we need to be reminded of their significance. Luke's gospel tells us that Jesus was born in what was likely a barn or a stable for Animals, like lambs.

His crib was a manger. We'd call that today a feed trough, maybe. For animals, like lambs. After that, the details get mixed up in many of the popular portrayals. But following the gospel's account of these events, the first people to come and worship this baby boy, this would be king, are not wise men from the East who wouldn't arrive for months later.

To my knowledge, there's no account that includes a little drummer boy. But the first people who visited him were shepherds, who, at the announcement of the angels, left their flock to visit and pay homage to this baby. In all this, Luke's gospel is associating Jesus, not with kings and splendor. John's gospel skips the birth of Jesus, but John the Baptist identifies Jesus in this way in, in John 1 in verse 29.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold, look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And this imagery of Jesus as a Lamb of God fulfills so many of the types and shadows and images of the Old Testament. We think about the sin offering and, and the need to offer a lamb for the sins that have been committed.

The, the day of atonement and the scapegoat and the sacrifices there. The whole sacrificial system really is about animal sacrifice primarily, though there were other sacrifices that were made as well. But perhaps more than anything else, this concept, this idea of the Lamb of God calls to mind The Passover lamb.

Paul makes this intended connection explicit to us as revealed by the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 7. For indeed, Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. And so we see, the beginning of this story goes back Much further than that evening in Bethlehem. Christ and the Passover are closely connected.

Christ is the fulfillment, the spiritual reality of the Passover. And in this comparison, this type and anti type, this shadow and reality, we are able to see the Lamb of God more clearly and see the purpose for which that baby boy The first Passover is found there in Exodus chapter 12 beginning in verse 1.

Let's read a few verses together there to remind us of this account and what's happening on this occasion. In Exodus chapter 12 beginning in verse 1 The plagues have come on the people of Egypt and specifically on Pharaoh. and on the gods of Egypt. And yet still, Pharaoh has refused to let the people of Israel go.

And so we find that there is going to be a tenth and final plague more horrifying than all that have come before it. And the people of God are warned of this plague that is coming. And they are told to make preparations both for the plague itself and the angel of death who is coming to kill the firstborn of all of the people and then also for the haste with which they must leave the land of Egypt.

when Pharaoh's heart finally allows them to go. And so in verse 12, or excuse me, in verse 1 of chapter 12, it says this, Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth of this month, Every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.

And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons. According to each man's need, you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be, without blemish, a male of the first year. She'll make it. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat. They shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire with unleavened bread.

And bitter herbs they shall eat it. 'Do not eat it raw or boiled at all with water, but roast it in fire, its head with its legs and its entrails. 'You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. 'And thus you shall eat it, with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hands.

'So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. 'For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. 'Now 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 the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

'So this day shall be to you as a memorial. A cause for us to remind ourselves, to be reminded of what happened. And you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout all your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by everlasting ordinance. And along with it, verse 15, Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread in this ongoing yearly feast for all the generations of Israel.

On the first day you shall remove leaven. What we call yeast from your houses. Whoever eats unleavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel if you eat the leavened bread. And you drop down. He goes on to talk about observing it and some of the things that you need to do and how your children are going to ask you about this.

You need to be prepared to give an answer. And we see the result of all of these things down in verse 29. And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.

So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night and said, Go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go serve the Lord as you have said.

Now obviously, we read through that text and, and there, there immediately jumps out at us a number of similarities between the Passover and Christ's ultimate sacrifice on the cross, that all point to the superiority of, of our covenant, of what we have with our Lamb.

Again, you have this on your handout, but let's run through these rather quickly as we think about the Passover and the crucifixion. We see, first of all, that Christ was crucified during the Passover. These things took place at the same time. And while there is some debate about the exact chronology of these events that we won't deal with this morning, perhaps Jesse dealt with some of that in Bible class it is clear that the events leading up to Christ's death occurred during the Passover feast, and Christ's sacrifice called to mind the sacrifice of that perfect Lamb.

This was no coincidence, of course, this was by God's design. That there was a sacrifice of a perfect lamb. If you're still there in Exodus chapter 12, back there in verse 5, we were told that it was a male without blemish of the first year, taken from either the sheep or the goats. Later, in verse 46 of chapter 12, notice.

In one house it shall be eaten, you shall not carry any of the flesh outside of the house, nor shall you break one of its bones. And John, in his gospel, makes this, again, explicit connection. In verse 36 of chapter 19, For these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled, not one of his bones shall be broken.

But it's obvious that God has more in mind than just this physical connection of Jesus bones not being broken and, and when the soldiers come and find him already dead, they don't break his legs so that this prophecy could be fulfilled. There's also a spiritual reality that we see with Jesus as well, that, that he was perfect in regard to sin.

And it's well represented, I think, again, by that baby in a manger. Who here has ever held a newborn baby? Raise your hand if you've ever held a newborn baby. That perfect, dependent innocence, fresh and clean and without sin. It, it, it's a pretty amazing experience whether that child is yours or someone else's to, to hold that newborn life in your arms.

And yet what's amazing to me with all of that innocence of that baby and it's, and it's total dependence and, and even if it's not your own you're like, Man, I think I'd give my life for this thing that I'm holding, right? But especially if it's your own. It's amazing to me to think that Jesus, at 33 years old as he is going to the cross, is just as innocent as he was as that baby in the manger in regard to sin.

He was just as pure. He was just as holy. And we see the Apostle Peter speak to that idea in 1 Peter chapter 1. If you want to turn over there to 1 Peter chapter 1. I think, of course, that we know and accept this reality, those of us who are believers, but Notice the way Peter puts it in 1 Peter chapter 1, in verse 18.

Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by the tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot, he says. And later we see in chapter 2 in verses 21 through 24. Peter describes what this lamb without blemish and spot is like.

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree.

that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed. As Barrett read to us so eloquently a moment ago. Christ is that perfect Lamb of the New Covenant. He lived without sin, and thus He was able to conquer death and the grave and sin. But this perfect lamb is not just something you go and buy at the supermarket.

It's not even something that you go to your flock and get right when you're ready to sacrifice it. Instead, we see that this perfect lamb dwells with you. Did you notice that? When did they go and get the lamb to bring it back to the house? In Exodus chapter 12 and verse 3, it's on the 10th of this first month that they go and get the lamb.

But it's not until the 14th day of the same month that they actually sacrifice, that they actually kill this lamb. And for the Israelites, this meant that they got to know the lamb, perhaps even as a pet of sorts, before they killed it. To this point, I've been able to beat my family off on this, but there have been a couple of occasions where kittens have become available, and you know, that picture goes out, and it's like, oh, this is so cute, we have to have one of these.

And my retort is always, kittens turn into cats, right? That's what happens there, generally. But, but I've been able to say, okay, we've got one cat now, that's enough so far. But imagine we take one of those precious little cute kittens, and we bring it into the house, and we love on it, and we care for it, and everybody's so excited, and on day four we're like, okay, time to kill it.

I mean, that would be traumatizing, wouldn't it? You ever seen, like, a one year old lamb? Maybe that one's just slightly younger, but I mean, they're not ugly animals. You think about a full size lamb, they're kind of dumb and kind of nasty and those sorts of things, but this cute little thing, you bring it into your home, I imagine the revolt that would take place in my household to say, Okay, day four, now it's time to kill it and eat it.

And maybe we're more squeamish about those sorts of things in our society, but I think, I think this is part of what God is trying to accomplish in bringing the lamb into the household with the family. This dwelling is significant in at least two ways. Number one, Jesus came, yes, in that manger as a lamb.

He came to dwell with us. And number two, the Israelites, like Abraham, perhaps, when he had to sacrifice Isaac, they got a small taste of God's anguish in Christ's death. Sacrificing something very close to them and very important to them. So that others might live. And so, too, I think we should have that same sort of anguish in knowing the one that loves us the most had to die because of our sins.

The Lamb's blood must be shed, we are told, and the death of that Lamb was necessary, and so, too, Christ's blood was necessary for us to have the opportunity to be saved. As Jesus himself is instituting the Lord's Supper, the, the communion as we call it in Matthew chapter 26, Jesus says, For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is said for many for the remission of sins.

And the book of Hebrews, especially in chapter 9, tells us that it is only through the shedding of blood that forgiveness can occur. But that the blood of bulls and goats, and for that matter, lambs, It's not sufficient for true forgiveness of sins. Christ's perfect sacrifice was the price necessary to blot out our sins.

Maybe this is not a type anti type connection, but I think it is a connection that we must see that salvation in both instances are by grace, but also through faith that is seen in obedience. The Israelites did not deserve to be saved. They were a rebellious people in so many ways, and, and neither do we.

But the Israelites had to, had to have faith. They had to believe in what was being done for them. And motivated by that belief, they had to obey the conditions of salvation. To put the blood on the doorposts. And so too with us, we must obey the conditions of our salvation. And in each case, we see that this Leads to a deliverance from bondage.

With the first Passover, it was bondage from Egypt. Ours is a different kind of slavery, a spiritual slavery to sin. And if you turn to Romans chapter 6, for just a moment, Romans chapter 6, notice just a few verses in the book of Romans that describe that sort of condition. And there are lots of places we could turn to that talk about the The problem of sin and the universal problem of sin, but but notice how it's described here in Romans chapter 6 Let's start there in verse 3 Romans chapter 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father and Even so, we also should walk in newness of life. Notice verse 17. But God besanks that though you were slaves of sin before this process of being buried and baptized into His death, you were slaves to sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form, that pattern, that type of doctrine to which you were delivered.

And having been set free from sin, He became slaves of righteousness. We have this deliverance from sin. And through this deliverance from bondage we remind ourselves of what God has done for us by eating of the lamb and eating of the unleavened bread. We eat of Christ's blood and His body with the emblems of the unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine that we did just a moment ago.

And we see in both cases, number eight, that there is a, there is a regular commune, communion, commemoration meal, that it's a memorial and a, and an opportunity for fellowship. The Passover memorial feast that occurred every year was one of, if not the most important feast in Judaism. And the Lord's Supper every first day of the week is just as important to us.

Partaking of the Lord's Supper on the first day of the week was universally practiced in the New Testament times, and for the first 300 years or so in the history of the church thereafter. The Feast of Passover was a reminder to the Israelites of what God did for them and freeing them from the bondage of the Egyptians.

And the Lord's Supper is a memorial feast occurring every first day of the week which calls to mind our spiritual emancipation from sin and death. Here's my question. Who here has seen a list like this before of the Passover and the Crucifixion? Raise your hand if you've ever seen a list like this before.

Quite a few of us have. If you didn't raise your hand,

there's part of me that wishes I could switch places with you.

Because seeing this for the first time, not, not seeing it for the first time, comprehending it for the first time, hearing it for the first time, is an unbelievable experience. I, I first heard a list like this when I was a teenager. Well, that was the first time it clicked for me. And I realized to myself that this is what God has been planning all along.

That God from the very beginning knew what was going to be required for there to be a solution to sin, and it required a, a perfect sacrifice. Not of a lamb, even one without spot and without blemish, but of a son who was a lamb, the Lamb of God.

So what does this mean for us? Well, allow me to make some application here at the end of our lesson this morning. Three practical reminders as we consider these things. We don't observe the Passover anymore, but there are still some things that we need, just as they needed. We still need the saving blood, don't we?

Turn to 1 Corinthians, and that's where we'll spend most of the rest of our time as we make these applications. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. We quoted this at the beginning of the lesson, but now let's turn over and read the context together. 1 Corinthians chapter 5,

verses 1 and 2 are necessary to see what the Apostle Paul is saying here. There was rampant sin in the church in Corinth, unfortunately, and they were kind of proud of it, to a certain degree. Look at our graciousness, look at our tolerance. We're able to welcome all of these people with all of this sin, and we're not gonna ask them to do any changing at all.

And we see in verses 1 and 2 of 1 Corinthians chapter 5 it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles. That a man has his father's wife. And you are puffed up. You are arrogant about this. And if not, rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.

And then Paul uses something to try and snap them out of this complacency towards sin. In verse 6 he says, Your glorying is not good, do you not know, this is the illustration, that a little leaven Leavens the whole lump. You put a little bit of yeast in some dough and it's gonna spread through the entire dough and causes it to rise.

Therefore, he says verse seven, purge out the old leaven. That you may become a new lump, since you are truly unleavened. Now, that, that illustration works just fine, leaving it there, but, but Paul has greater significance in mind. He says, For indeed Christ, our Passover, would sacrifice for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Paul is making this comparison between the Passover, the feast of unleavened bread that went with it, and the new life that is here for us as a Christian. And what is he saying? What is the imagery, knowing what we do about the Passover and its connection to Jesus? Well, just as the Passover ultimately depended on that lamb being sacrificed, and blood being put on the door, So that the Lord, the angel of death, might pass over from visiting the homes of God's people.

So too Christ was sacrificed for us. And God needs to see Christ's blood to pass over us and remove the eternal death that is due us for our sins. Our Passover is describing becoming Christians thanks to Christ's blood. He is the means by which we escape. Eternal damnation, eternal death. The book of Revelation leans heavily on this imagery of the Lamb.

If you want to mark your spot there in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, we see in the book of Revelation, in Revelation 1 and verse 5, Jesus is said to have loved us and washed us from our sins by His blood. In chapters 4 and 5, we see the Lamb. Glorified in heaven. It is a lamb as though it was slain. We are told worthy is the lamb that was slain.

The angelic army of heaven shouts in ter victorious worship, but I especially like Revelation Chapter seven, verses 13 through 17 in chapter 12 verses 10 and 11. Let's read those together. Revelation chapter seven, beginning in verse 13. And one of the elders answered, saying to me, Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?

And I said to him, Sir, you know. So he said to me, These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him all day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them in this perfect peace that He describes.

And in chapter 12, beginning in verse 10,

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ have come. For the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before God day and night, has been cast down. And they, These ones of the kingdom overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and that they did not love their lives to the death.

We need to be washed in the blood of the Lamb to have this salvation. Our robes must be made white. And passages like we read earlier in Romans chapter 6 makes it clear to us that this happens when we die with Christ. That we have to die with Christ in a spiritual sense. And we do that in baptism.

That's when we're freed from sin. That's when we're given a new life. That's when the blood washes us whiter than snow. Not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the washing of our conscience, of the inner man, as Peter says, so that we might walk in newness of life. And the new life is described back there in 1 Corinthians 5 that we read a moment ago this way, that we need to purge That leaven, that, that old leaven that is in our life.

And, and what is the leaven that he describes here? Well, he calls it the leaven of malice and wickedness. Leaven is sin. And he describes these people who could be truly unleavened there in verse 7 because they are washed in the blood of Christ. Because they are without the defilement of sin. But if we are washed in Christ's blood, if we are saved by the blood of the Lamb, we need to make sure that the leaven of sin is gone from our lives.

Just as how they had to purge that leaven from the household, they had to get all of it out, and you're condemned if you leave any of it there. So too we have to purge that leaven from our life. The old leaven refers to the sin. of their past life and the sin of our past life, the leaven of malice and wickedness, among those other things that are described so vividly in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 9 through 11.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. That's the leaven. That's what has to be purged.

We cannot inherit the kingdom of God with those things still in our lives. And such were some of you, he says, verse 11, but you were Washed. You were sanctified, you were set, set apart. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. And by the spirit of our God, this is who you were before you were washed in the blood of the lamb.

But it is not who you should be anymore. All the Levin. Whether in our lives or in the church, as we find here in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, needs to be purged. And we need to live our lives in sincerity and truth. With that unleavened bread of living this life as best we can as God has commanded.

That's the devil trying to make sure we don't hear this part, right? Because how often is that the case? How often is the case of, I love the idea of the, the, the lamb that washes away my sins. But this idea that I have to purge these, these things of a sinful nature out of my life if I'm going to truly be saved by the blood of the Lamb, that's, that's the hard part.

That's the difficult part to accept. Christ, Christ went through so much. Again, Barrett did a great job describing that this morning. And, and Christ didn't do all of that so that we could just continue to live a life of sin. God did not make these plans from before the foundation of the world so that we could just go on living the same way we were living before we were saved by Christ's blood.

What is the leaven in your life? What is the leaven in this local church? It will spread if we don't purge it. And don't you want to? Knowing that our Passover was sacrificed for us. And like them, we still need the memorial meal that we partook of a few moments ago. One of the main points that we can draw from this comparison is this.

That just as the Passover was at the center of the identity of who the Israelites were. If you want to talk about the biggest event in the history of the children of Israel, what was it? coming out of Egypt. It was the Exodus and the Passover that made that possible. And so too for us, the Lord's Supper is at the very center of our identity as Christians.

And we know, Acts chapter 20 and verse 7 says, Now on the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread, they came together for this express purpose. This meal is the reason why we're here. We do other things while we're here, and those things are commanded and necessary, and all those sorts of things, but we need to be reminded.

We need to be reminded of what Jesus has done. We need to refocus. We need to remember. And we need to proclaim the greatness of what Christ has done until He comes. Without the Passover, if there had been no Passover, consider what it would have meant for the Jews. The end of their nation, continued slavery with no hope of salvation, and proof that they had been abandoned by God.

And without the crucifixion, which we remember at the Lord's Supper. It would mean for Christians today the end of humanity's hope. Continued spiritual slavery to sin with no hope of salvation. And proof that yes, we have been abandoned by God. So we are reminded that we haven't been. And that we have salvation through His blood.

And instead of proof of all of those negative things, we remember the event that gives us fellowship, communion with God once more. The event by which we have hope and spiritual freedom. Turn to one more passage, 1 Corinthians chapter 10. If you would, 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

Paul says, The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion, the fellowship, the sharing of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion, the fellowship, the sharing of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body. For we all partake of that one bread.

This meal that we partook of is a private fellowship or sharing with Christ and with other Christians. In the ancient world, eating at another's table was a sign of fellowship and intimacy. In fact, verse 21 of this same chapter says, You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons.

It's about fellowship. It's about our relationship. And when we partake of the emblems of the communion, we are at the Lord's table, and thus we are in very close And in some ways in our culture, you know, that was so important to them. This fellowship of having people at my table, and I'm going to take care of people, and I'm going to show hospitality.

But in our culture, where we've become much more private in so many ways, That idea of having someone into your home to eat with them means that they're close. That this is someone that you love, someone that you care about. This is someone who's like family.

And when we come together at the Lord's table at His invitation, that's what we are with Him. That's what we are with one another. As we are reminded that we have all been saved by the same Lamb and by the same blood. And that's evidenced by this one body mentioned in verse 17. The saved are the ones invited to the feast at His table.

Where we have communion with Him and one another. And in it, we have a foretaste of glory. When our fellowship with Christ will be full and unending. Think of it this way. The Lord Himself is inviting you to eat at His table. Every week, every week the Lord says, Come, come on, come to the feast. Let us eat and drink together.

Let us be reminded of the relationship that we have. Surely we want to come. Surely we see how much we need this reminder of what's really important to us. From the manger to the cross to the throne in heaven, Jesus was and is the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God. And so what I encourage you to do as we go through this month, and as you see it on TV, as you see it as you're driving through neighborhoods, as you see it in shop windows, and you see Jesus.

Think of the Lamb. Be reminded of the Lamb, who came, was sacrificed, and is reigning so that you might be saved. And if you need to be saved, even this morning, we invite you to come while together we stand and while we sing.

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