You need to understand that if you're going to be a Bible scholar or study the Scriptures, you need to study the Scriptures. It doesn't mean just from Matthew to Revelation. It means go back to Genesis and read through the whole book and compare Scripture with Scripture so that you can be ready when you need to give an answer to any man that asks the reason of the hope that's in you. So let's look at this from a biblical perspective tonight. Passover, the idea of Passover doesn't mean to bypass. I want you to understand that. It doesn't mean to go around something. The idea of Passover is to make a statement, and I'm going to make in a minute, the Bible says Christ is our Passover. And that doesn't mean that he goes around us. That means he shelters us. That means he protects us. Now, that's different than going around something. When that plague was hitting those houses that didn't have the blood, the Lord was protecting that house. And it's not the Lord's gonna save you once and then leave you. No, when he saves you, he keeps you and he never leaves you. And so he's continually our Passover. Now, you think about the law is a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, make the comers there into perfect. The Old Testament law was bound, and people bound themselves to that law. But that law was not designed for salvation. That law was designed to show us our need of salvation. Even when Moses read the law to the people, before he could finish saying what he wanted to say, he said, yea, all that the Lord our God has said, we will do. And Moses said, you can't do it. And he said, and then they said again, no, all that the Lord our God has said, we will do. How many can do everything God says? Not a one of us. We can't do everything. How many of us have lied? How many of us taken something that wasn't ours? How many of us got angry before? How many of us disrespected our parents? Unfortunately for us, we've got a nature in us, it's not a good nature, it's a sinful nature. And that's why we gotta be born again, because the only thing that can save us is that being born again, that experience of being born in the spirit. And so the law, the Old Testament, if you will, law was a was not a salvation law, it was a law of rules and regulations that you had to do in order to be acceptable. But no one could be acceptable. The law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, make the comers therein too perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered. Because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sin. But in those sacrifices, there's a remembrance again made of sins every year. So if you were a Jewish person, the only thing that you could really look forward to was the Day of Atonement, which was one of the seven Levitical feast days when the high priest not only first of all offered a bullet for himself to cleanse him for his sins, but then he went and offered another one for the people You know, that was okay. Okay, if he comes out of there, we're good for another year. All that he could do at that point, all God could do is basically whitewash the wall for another year. It didn't take away sins, just covered them a little bit. The blood of Jesus is totally superior to any blood. Leviticus 17 11 says the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it upon the altar to make an atonement for your soul. So it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul. You can't earn that you have to receive that and that is the work in of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ for they would have not ceased to be offered because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sin, but in those Sacrifices there's a remembrance again made of sins every year for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins but look wherefore When he cometh into the world, he saith, who's this he? Sacrifices and offerings thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, and the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offerings, and burnt offerings, and offerings for sins, thou wouldst not neither have pleasure therein, which are offered by the law, then said he, Lo, I come, to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. You know what? When you're saved, you're saved once for all. Once for all. Not if I feel saved tomorrow, I'm still saved. No, the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. When I got saved, I got saved in the Free Will Baptist Church. They're the ones that were evangelistic and that's the one I went to from that track and heard the gospel and went back to that church and about six months I was out to sea. I couldn't wait to get back to that church and I went to church the first week. I was so happy to be back in church. You know what, I had to twist my arm. Then the second week I went to that church and Sunday school, and I remember the Sunday school teacher got up and he said, and beloved, I'm a born again, brand new baby in Christ. And he made this statement, he said, how many believe one saved all he saved? And I'm thinking, well, gee, I got saved about seven months ago, and I know when I did things I shouldn't have done, God got on me when I was out there in the ocean doing what I was on tour for seven months. So I put my, yeah, I believe, that's God, he saved me. He shot that down, he said, that's wrong. Have you ever heard of the verse where the Bible says the dog goes back to his vomit and the sow wallowing in the mire and all that? No, beloved, once you're saved, you're saved. Just because you mess up doesn't mean you have to get saved all over again. You get saved, you get saved. I met a guy last night named Sean. We didn't have the best first encounter. I didn't realize that he wanted the parking place I took. until he revved up his souped-up Toyota and backed up and said something I'm not going to repeat because it wasn't appropriate. And I thought, okay, I think the guy's upset that I took his parking place. I didn't mean it. There was another one right next to that one. What's going on here, right? So me, you know, trying to avoid conflict, decided to walk over and have a conversation with this young man. And I walked over across, my wife didn't know about, oh yeah, I did tell her. I walked over to the guy's car, seen he parked about, I don't know, a good baseball throw away. I walked up there, I said, hello. He looked at me like, I said, I'm so sorry I took your parking place. If you'd like it, I'll be happy to give it back to you. And he was like, oh, no, man, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that to you. I just had a bad day and things weren't going really well. And then that happened. And I'm so sorry. I said, well, that's OK. I said, I'm a preacher. Can I pray for you? Amen. He got out of his car. He shook my hand. He said, I'm so sorry. And I prayed for him. And I talked to him about Jesus. And I said, now would you like your parking spot? I'll be happy to move my car for you. He's like, no, no, no, it's great. I'm so sorry. Thank you. Prayer with him. We don't always have to look to fight. We can just love somebody, even if they're not happy. Now, I mean, that wasn't probably the wisest thing to do, but I decided to try and make a bad situation a little bit better. And I think it was good and he even talked about maybe coming to church this morning He didn't show up, but at least he said he got saved in 1990 No, sorry 2012. He got saved. I said well, I said, you know the one you feeds it when you're gonna be like So you feed your new nature gonna be more like Jesus you feed that old nature you're gonna be more like that ugly person that all of us have to deal with and And he appreciated that, and so I had prayer with him. Would you pray for him? His name's Sean. But I'm just saying, you know, Jesus, he's our Passover. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 6 and 7, I want to show you a couple of things this evening about Passover. 1 Corinthians 5, verse 6 and 7, it says, your glorying is not good. Your glorying is not good, no you're not that a little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump. Now the whole idea about Passover is you have got to understand that one of the things you don't want in the Passover Seder is leaven. The Jewish people spend hours and days meticulously cleaning their houses. I mean boiling the pots, boiling the pans, any kind of chumitz. Say that word with me. Chumitz. Say it again, louder. Chumitz. I didn't hear you. Does that sound like something you want? No, it doesn't. I want to get rid of that, right? So that's the Hebrew word for 11. So when you read this verse here, 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 6, it says, your glory is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth a whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Did you see? That's New Testament. Even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. What's that mean? He's our Savior. He's our Redeemer. Amen. So I want you to understand that this Seder is found in Exodus chapter 12. By the word, the word Seder means order. Passover Seder or service is the order of the Passover. So in our Bibles, in Leviticus chapter 23, you happen to have seven feast days. Seven feast days, called the Levitical feast days, they're actually God's days. All right, and there's seven of them. That's seven? Yeah, okay, I made sure I had the right amount of fingers up. First one is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and what dovetails with that is Passover. These are one and the same feast. Seven days you should uneat unleavened bread. This is Passover. And then along with that, the third feast is called the Feast of First Fruits. So these are all the first fruit. These are all the first feasts. You have Feast of Unleavened Bread. Passover and the Feast of Firstfruits. Now, in the Bible, we can read about firstfruits in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, when Jesus is called the firstfruits of the resurrection. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 6 and 7, Christ is called our Passover. In the Gospel of John, remember the Feast of Unleavened Bread, He is the bread of life, okay? So we see Him, He's the three feasts right there in the title. The fourth feast is the Feast of Pentecost. We have that in our New Testament, don't we? That's right. And one of the things during Pentecost is the high priest. By the way, that's Jesus. He's our high priest. He has two wave loaves in his hands. These wave loaves are basically bread loaves with kibbutz in them, leaven in them. Now, it's unusual, but he waves these during Pentecost. This is a type of a feast that represents that the high priest in the hands of a mediator, waving the, the, the wave loaves represents the church in the sense that Jesus put Jew and Gentile together in this thing called the church. And he's a mediator between us, all right, between God and us. And we are to be in his hands, but there's also some hummus in those loaves that represents the fact that they're not without leaven. And leaven is a type of sin. Moving forward, the fifth feast is the Feast of Trumpets. Now trumpets, I love the Feast of Trumpets because when we study our New Testament in 1st Corinthians chapter 5, I'm sorry, 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 13, we read about a feast that has trumpets. Do you recollect this? Let me read it to you. But I will not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. When we which are alive, alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall ever be with the Lord. That's the fifth feast. That's not happened yet, but it's going to happen. We've got Feast of Unleavened Bread, we've got Passover, we've got First Fruits, we have Pentecost, next is the Feast of Trumpets. That's when we get up out of the grave and we're reunited with a new body and those of us that remain are going to be caught up with the Lord and the Lord is going to meet us in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. The sixth feast day is the Feast of the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement is a future feast. It's going to take place, in my understanding of theology and teaching of eschatology, The sixth feast is the day of atonement when Israel recognizes during Christ's second coming to earth, not the rapture of the church, but the second coming to the earth, when they recognize who it is whom they've pierced and they mourn for him as one mourned for his only son. The seventh feast is yet to take place as well. That's called the Feast of Tabernacles. You can study the book of Zechariah and look at Hebrews. In the book of Zechariah, at the end of the book, you see that when Christ comes back to earth and he establishes his kingdom, For a thousand years, they're going to be required, everybody who's on the planet will be required to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. So there's a pattern here. God does everything decently and in order. In Exodus chapter 12, where we're going to kind of part tonight, the Jewish people, they do this Passover Seder every year. They clean the house. They get rid of all the hummus. They put it away. They put it away, out of sight. They spend hours boiling pots and pans, taking out shelving paper, replacing shelving paper. It happens in the spring. Isn't that interesting? This is Pascalian theology, not necessarily Accurate, but here it goes. My theory is spring cleaning came from Passover. Makes sense. Wow, they're cleaning their house. Maybe that's a good idea. We ought to do that, too. So let's all clean house. You know, when we celebrate the Lord's Supper as believers and we break the bread and we drink the cup, we're supposed to clean house. We're supposed to get ourselves ready to partake of that bread and drink that cup. So they're meticulous about cleaning all the khametz out of their home. When we take that Lord's supper, we're supposed to be meticulous about if there's any sin in our lives, we're supposed to ask God to forgive us and cleanse us from it so that we don't invoke on us the judgment of God. Because God judges those whom he loves and he chastises those who loves. Look over in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 24. and when he had given thanks he break it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me a little bit before there verse 23 for I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered on you that the Lord Jesus note this the same night in which he was betrayed took bread guess what night that was Passover Passover the eve of Passover And he had given thanks and he break it and said, take eat, this is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. Now I want you to note there's some little details that are very specific details and very important details. Verse 25, after the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped. So after supper, he took the cup. We kind of got this idea that we take the bread and the cup. There are four cups in Passover. Okay. And this cup that Jesus took is the third cup. And this is one that represents the new covenant, which is in his blood. So it wasn't like boom, boom, there was a process here. They broke the bread and then after supper, he took the cup. Now there were already two cups preceding this cup. So he'd already taken the cup before then as well. But this specific cup is very specific. This is called the cup of redemption. Remember that. So the first cup is a cup of sanctification. The second cup is a cup of blessing. The third cup is a cup of redemption. The fourth cup is not been partaken of yet. It is yet to be partaken of. And when he had given thanks, he break it and said, take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. After the same enter also, he took the cup when he had supped, saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do you as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death, what? Till he come. Go with me to Matthew 26. Try to pull all these pieces together to make you understand there's Order of service. There's a Seder, an order of service. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. This detail is significant. We've already read about that, but notice the next thing in 27, and he took the cup and gave thanks and gave to them saying, drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remissions of sins. That's third cup. But I say unto you, I will not drink. And this was breaking Seder because up to this point, the Jewish people had four cups. All of a sudden, the Lord said, you're only going to have three cups. We're going to do the fourth cup later. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many through remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. Back over to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. I just like, I'm not trying to make you dizzy, but I do want to show you that the scriptures are, you study scripture with scripture, with scripture, with scripture, with scripture. Yes. Because if you just study one verse and take it at, and hey, I've got liberty to preach. Chances are if you haven't studied the scriptures, you're just taking a verse out of context to preach on it Chances are you're preaching outside of the context which means you're not rightfully dividing the word of truth So we see this idea here back in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup, For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. And if any man hunger, let him eat at home, that ye come not together unto condemnation. And notice this, remember, seder, that means order. And the rest will I set in order. When I come, there's a whole lot more to the bread and the cup than just the bread and the cup. There's an order. So I want you to understand that because it's important. I already told you before the Passover Seder, what do the Jewish people do? They meticulously clean the house, make sure there's no khametz. Say that word again. Is that something you want? No, so we don't want that in our lives. That hinders our relationship with others. It hinders our relationship with our Heavenly Father. And so what does God want us to do? Purge it out that you may be a new lump as you're unleavened in Christ Jesus. So this is the old feast of Passover. which is a shadow of good things to come according to 1st Corinthians chapter 5 verse 6 and 7 Christ is our Passover so this is what they did but we know what we're doing. Why do I want to say that? Because in the book of Romans it says this concerning the Jewish people and I know you're saying my goodness brother David how many messages are you giving us? But I want you to understand I'm trying to consolidate what we're doing. Kathy and I are going to New York to share the truth of God's word with his people. And the only way they're going to receive the truth of God's word for us is to get there and give it to them and for you to pray for us so that we can effectively do the work that God's called us to do. We're 75%. I'm excited about that. But it's taken, in my opinion, too long to get to that point. Many people have already perished and I just want to get to New York already and get working with these Jewish people. Thankfully, in about two and a half weeks, we're going up there and we'll be able to start doing some door knocking and interviewing in the community and seeking to reach souls. But we are at 75 percent. Pray for that last 25 percent. I'm hoping, I'm expecting, I'm looking forward to May of next year being there. I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall. Look at Romans 11 verse 11. I say then that they stumble that they should fall, unbelieving Israel. God's revival rather through their false salvation has come on to the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy." What are you talking about, Brother David? Verse 9, and David said, and this is this table concerning the unsaved Jewish community, And David said, let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and bow down their back all the way. I say then that they stumble that they should fall, God forbid, but rather through their fall. Salvation has come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy. We have eternal life. They don't. We know the Lord. They don't. They may know about the things of God, but we know the God that gave us the things of God. We ought to be living in such a way that when people meet us, they want what we got. Amen. Yeah, I like that amen. Why would somebody want what I got if I'm bitter and unhappy and difficult and a nag to be around all the time? I've got Jesus. I got all I need. Amen. I've got the Savior. It doesn't matter how bad it gets, guess what? God is always going to be good. I don't have to walk around and frown because I've got the Savior, amen? I know Him, I've believed Him, and I'm persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. It's not based upon my circumstances, it's based upon my God. And my God said, all things work together for good to them that love God. That's important. That love God and that are called according to His purpose. Where's that work for us? Verse 13, for I speak to you Gentiles, believing Gentiles, Paul's writing, I speak to you Gentiles, and so much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I may define my office. If by any means it provoked emulation, then which art my flesh, it might save some of them. For the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what should the receiving of them be but life from the dead? But if the first root be holy, the lump is also holy. And if the root be holy, so are the branches, unbelieving Israel. And if some of the branches, unbelieving Israel, be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, Gentile believers, were grafted in among them, and with them partakers of the root and fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches. But if thou bearest the root, but if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say, then the branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith, be not hymened, but fear. For God's are not the natural branches, take ye lest ye also spare not thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God on them which fell severity, but towards the goodness, if thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. In verse 23, And they also, unbelieving Israel, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, were grafted contrary to nature in a good olive tree, how much more shall these which be the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? Verse 30, Speaking to believing Gentiles that are believers now, for as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief, Verse 31, even so have these, unbelieving Israel, also now not believed that through your mercy, your being believing Gentiles, that through your mercy, they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all. Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, now in search of all his judgments and his ways, pass finding out. So when we get to New York, Our plan is, the Pascals are planning on starting Olive Branch Baptist Church and community center in Long Beach and the Five Towns area with a special emphasis on reaching many Jewish people and others for the glory of God. That's where we got the name Olive Branch. Now, let's get on to the Passover, Exodus chapter 12. The house is clean. I've made sure it's clean. One of the things that the ladies do in the Jewish home prior to this event is it's her responsibility to light the Shabbat candle or the festival candles. In this case, I have a little candle. It's a Jewish candle for Jewish holidays. I like the white candle on the big candlestick, but for now, that'll have to get by. Now, why do they do that? So if you remember the story of the garden, Adam and Eve were there and the devil deceived Eve and she partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and then she gave it to her husband and he ate with her. So every Jewish woman has a responsibility to light the candle. That candle symbolizes the light of the world that was put out. But there's a promise in Genesis 3 verse 15 that the light's going to come back in. In Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, there's a promise. Verse 14, and the Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shall thou go, and thou shalt not eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. What's significant about the woman's seed? Because that's not how people procreate. That means there's something that's going to be very significant about that seed of that woman. And if I had all night, we would go to Isaiah 7, verse 14, where it says, Behold, the Lord thy God shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and he shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted as God with us. The light was put out. God made a promise he was going to bring the or. the illumination back in. When Jesus was here on the planet, one of the titles that he gave himself was this, I am the light of the world. I'm the fulfillment of the promise back in Genesis 3.15. He also said this, ye are the light of the world. That word light is not like the sun and the moon and the stars. It is the Hebrew word ha-or, which means spiritual illumination. Just wanted to give you that. So that's a responsibility that has been fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ. In Exodus chapter 12, we see a redemption of the Jewish people. Now the first half of Passover is about bondage and the burdens of bondage. The second half of the Passover is about liberty and life and being delivered from bondage. So the Passover in the home takes four hours. So I hope you're not hungry. We're going to get through it in a lot sooner than that, I promise. Maybe two hours, maybe a little less. We'll see. Less than that, I promise. But I just wanted to let you know, if we were going to do it right, and that's not teaching all this other stuff, it takes four hours to go through it. So I'm trying to put a lot in a little bit of time. So the idea behind this last plague, this is a plague of the death of the firstborn. In Egypt, the firstborn was considered, in Pharaoh's house, like Pharaoh, a god. So God used these plagues to bring about judgment upon all the gods of the Egyptians because they weren't gods. There's only one God. Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad. That's the Hebrew blessing. Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one God. Echad. Echad means one in Hebrew. That's interesting because You know, some Jewish people say, well, you Christians, you worship three gods. You worship this god, the father. You worship this god, the son. You worship this god, the Holy Spirit. But right there in Deuteronomy 6.4, Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad. Here is where the Lord our God is one God. The word echad means a plurality of one. Well, isn't that interesting? Echad is a plurality of one. We don't worship three gods. We worship one God. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. You know, when they went to the Brook of Eshkol and they cut down a bunch of grapes and put it on a pole to show the people, the word one is the same word for a bunch, which means one bunch of grapes. How many grapes are on a bunch? A bunch. Very good. So there you go. So that's the word of God. So we don't worship three gods. We worship one God. I could even go to, I'm not going to, but I could. In the beginning, God created the Heshamayim and the Horets. In the beginning, God created the Heshamayim and the Horets. And God said, let there be a ore that was light. And the Ruach Elohim moved upon the face of the waters. You have the Trinity in the first three verses in the Bible in the book of Genesis. Told you I wasn't going to do it. The Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, just as Exodus 12. This is where we're going to stay for a little while. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, this month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. This is Passover. Speaking unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, in the tenth day of the month, they shall take to them every man of land. What day? Help me out. What day? Everybody. Tenth day. Speaking on all the congregation of Israel, saying, the tenth day of the month they shall take to them every man a lamb according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And the house shall be too little for a lamb. Let him and his neighbor next on to his house take it according to the number of the souls. Every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Notice this lamb is getting personal. Your lamb shall be without blemish. Amen. Amen. Very specific. of the first year in the prime of its life. And if she'll take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and she'll keep it up into the what day of the month? Fourteenth day of the same month and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel, she'll kill it in the evening. So if I get the lamb on the tenth day, and I keep the lamb to the 14th day, there is a time of observation. Why? Because that lamb had to be an acceptable lamb. That lamb had to be examined to make sure that lamb was without blemish, without hummus, without faults, okay? Let me just give you a little idea here. So fast forward, New Testament times, John the Baptist is in the wilderness, he's preaching, here comes Jesus. What does he say? Behold, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sins of the world, right? So this is my Jesus. This is about Jesus, okay? And the law having a shout of good things to come. Exodus 12 is the law, shadow of good things to come, the lamb. So look at this lamb and look at the lamb of God, the lamb of God being the Lord Jesus Christ. This lamb shall be a lamb. It shall be a male lamb. It shall be without blemish. It shall be of the first year in its prime. He shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats. Isn't that interesting? We read about the end of the world. God's going to separate two people into two classes. Sheep and the goats. So, here we go. Your land should be without blemish. A male of the first year should take it out from the sheep or from the goats. It needs to be examined. Look at a couple of places when they examined our Savior. Look at Luke 23.4. Luke 23.4. This should be one of them. I might do two. Let me make a look here. Luke 23.4. All right. In chapter 23 of our Gospel of Luke, And the whole multitude of them arose and led him on to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, we found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ the king. And Pilate asked him, saying, art thou the king of the Jews? And he answered him and said, thou sayest it. Then said Pilate to the chief priest and to the people, I find no fault in him. No fault. In other words, he was examined, he was accused, they tried to find something to condemn him with, and the answer was, I find no fault in him. So they got the lamb on the 10th, and they kept the lamb to the 14th day of the month. Why? To examine and make sure this lamb was an acceptable lamb. It wasn't just Pilate that said that, Caiaphas couldn't find anything, none of them could, because he was without blemish. This lamb is without blemish, a male lamb without blemish. The first year, you should take it out from the sheep. You shall keep it up in the 14th day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And note verse 7, and they shall take of the blood and strike it. I'll tell you what strike means. Strike means strike, not gently paint. They shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts of the houses where they shall eat it. And they shall eat that flesh in that night, roast with fire and unleavened bread and with bitter herbs, eat not of it raw nor sawn at all with water, but roast with fire his head with his legs and with the pertinence thereof. Now this is unusual. How many hunters hunt? Any hunters? Right, thank you. How many have to do something with the animal once you kill it? What do you do? You field dress it, you take the stuff out because you don't want the meat to go bad, am I right? You leave it in there, it's no good. But notice this, it's very interesting. So, and they shall eat that flesh in that night, roast with fire and leaven with bitter herbs, and they shall eat it, eat not of it rawn or sawn at all with water, but roast with fire his head with his legs with the pertinence thereof. Not gutted. Isn't that weird? I mean, normally you're going to eat something. I fish. I always clean the stuff out of the fish. And I'm not a hunter. If I was and I killed a deer, I better take the stuff out of it or it's going to go bad. Or turkey or anything else like that. But this lamb, no, you don't take the inside out. You leave the inside intact. Why is that interesting? Because when he was on that cross, he was intact. And there's more to this, let me go, I'm getting ahead of myself. Look at verse number, say number verse 46 for a minute. Same chapter, Exodus 12, about the lamb. There's a lot about the lamb. Verse 46, the same chapter here. In one house shall ye eat it, thou shalt not carry forth out of the flesh brought out of the house, neither shall ye break a bone thereof. This lamb is a whole lamb, this is a male lamb, a lamb without blemish, the blood, to strike the blood on the lintel and the side post. Let me tell you something, if I was to strike the lintel and the side post with the blood of the lamb, the lamb without blemish and without spot, you know what this is saying? Here's the basin. I got my hyssop in my hand. I dipped the hyssop. Verse 23. Somebody read verse 23 for me. Actually, you all read it. Somebody read it out loud for me. Preacher, can you read verse 23? Yep. Alright, so here I am. The basin. That's the foot of the door. The blood of the lamb. Strike the lintel with the blood. Strike the side posts with the blood. of the lamb. Let me show you something, folks. I'm not Catholic, but that's pretty amazing. It's a sign of the cross right there, amen? And it's not just water, it's blood, amen? And it's on the door. And after you put the blood on the door, you know what you gotta do? You gotta go in. And you know who's the door? Jesus said, I'm the door. By me, if any man enter, he shall be saved. I tell you, that lamb's a pretty special lamb, isn't he? The old is the new concealed, the new is the old revealed. Now, the Jewish people don't have a lamb today. They got a shank bone of a lamb, but not the lamb. What is a shank bone compared to a lamb? A shank bone compared to a lamb is not acceptable. They don't have a lamp. They don't have a sacrificial system. They don't have a priesthood. They don't have a temple to worship and offer that sacrifice. So what do they got? They got a bone. And you know what a bone is? A bone's pretty much lifeless. And I hate to say it, but here's the difference between what we got and what they got. We got the lamb, they ain't got the lamb, amen? The problem is we have the lamb, but there's more than enough lamb for us. That lamb needs to be given out to others. And we're to take the lamb of God and let other people know that that lamb is available, and that lamb's the loving Lord Jesus Christ, amen? This bone represents Judaism, because Judaism doesn't offer life, it offers death. It doesn't have life. That bone is very much what Judaism is without Jesus. The context is clear. They shall eat that flesh in that night, brusque with fire, unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs. Let's talk about the unleavened bread. Talking about the light, we talked about the lamb, talked about the bread. This is a matzah deco. Inside there's bread. Not like you go to Ryan's Steakhouse and get the yeast rolls, which I really like, with the honey butter. You know, my goodness, that stuff's so good. I like just dripping. It's so delicious. But this, you can't have chemetz, no leaven, right? So this contains bread without leaven. This is matzah. Matzah is unleavened bread. Now, there are three matzahs in here. OK? One. Put that one away. There's two. Another one there. Let's put that one away. Go to the bottom. There's another one here. So I got three and one. I got three and one here, all right? But I have something else about that. In the Jewish tradition, when you ask them, well, what about this bread? Well, they say, well, there's one bread in particular. We'll come right back to that in a minute. I'm going to get back to that. Notice this, it says that, eat not of it raw, nor salted, nor with water. Roast with fire, as hell with its legs, with the pertinence thereof. Verse eight, and they shall eat of the flesh, and that night roast with fire, unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs shall you eat it. I have something here also. I have water, water and salt. That interesting, water and salt. I'll tell you the living water is. Jesus is the living water, amen? And who's the salt of the earth, you and me? Combine these two here. In the Jewish religion, during Passover and the Seder and the tradition, we combine salt and water. Who's a real good chemist here? Where's Preacher's son? Drew, what do I get when I add water and salt and mix it up? Yep. You're awesome. That's right. So we just made salt water. See, you're a great chemist, I can tell already. I'm just teasing you. No, that's easy. I like to do that. But we get salt, we get water, we get salt water, right? Now, why is that important? Because one of the things that we do in Passover is we take carpus. This is a parsley, okay? It doesn't taste really good, but we take it and we dip it. and that salt water. Now let me get back here to this year. So we talked about how you clean the house, we talked about all the important things, and we talked about how there are four questions. There are four questions during Passover. First question is, why is this night of the year different than all other nights? To which the father replies, this is the night when we remember that we were slaves in Egypt, but God kept his promises and brought us out Okay, that's one of the reasons, that's one of the questions. Second question, why on this night of the year do we eat unleavened bread? Matzah. Why do we eat matzah? Why can't we have the yeast rolls from Ryan's? Because this bread, it talks about in the middle, this bread is a middle matzah. This is a middle matzah they take out. This represents affliction. We're going to get back to that. We were afflicted when we were in Egypt, but God delivered us. And so we remind ourselves that we were Pharaoh's servants. But now we are saved and redeemed by our God. Beloved, that's like us before we were saved. We were Satan's servants. But by the blood of Jesus, we're saved and redeemed and set free from that evil taskmaster, if you will. And so we talk about, there are two more questions. Why on this night do we eat only bitter herbs? We're talking about the earth now because these bitter herbs remind us of the diet that we had when we were slaves in Egypt You know, I remember before I was saved I'll tell you some of the things we partook of They didn't they may have been good for a little bit but boy they were bitter You know sin sin since since like the Bible says son since good but for a season I And then after you've been messing with something after a while, it ain't so fun anymore. Things like alcohol and things like drugs and things that we shouldn't be doing, and then there's a bitterness behind it. It's like being in bondage. When you're saved, why go back to being in bondage? I mean, the devil's a liar. He'll lie to you and tell you, oh, you need this, you deserve this. But don't listen. Go to God and say, Lord, help me. You're already set free. No sense in going back in that mess. Third cup, why on this night do we eat only bitter herbs? This reminds us that we were, when we were in Egypt, we had very meager substance for life. We didn't have much to look forward to. We went to slave labor and went and worked in hard bitterness and came back and had to eat the same old things. be treated the same old way. Last question. Papa, why on this night do we sit relaxing? Notice I have a pillow. It doesn't matter if you're the poorest Jewish family or the richest Jewish family. For that matter, it doesn't matter if you're the poorest Christian or the richest Christian. Worldly speaking, all of us in Christ are wealthy. All of us are royalty. Amen. A royal priesthood, a chosen nation. So we sit in the Jewish custom around the table to remind ourselves that we were slaves, but now we're God's people. We're delivered and we're set free. You know, we don't have to worry about things as much as we sometimes worry about things. We don't have to wish we had more when we've got all we need. Amen. But in Christ, it's perfect because in Christ, everything's even. We're all going to the same place when we die. Amen. We've all been redeemed by the same Savior. We should be looking forward to living for Him and thanking God for the position that we have in Christ Jesus. Positionally, it's like we're already seated in heavenly places with Christ. We're part of His family now. That's a whole lot better than the other family we were from. So they sit, they relax. The first cup is poured, the cup of sanctification. Talk to you about four cups. This is grape juice. It is kosher grape juice. It is 100% juice. There's absolutely no alcohol content in here at all. I wanted to make sure you know that. Proverbs chapter 20, verse one says, wine is a mocker. and strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. I got saved September 13th, 1986. I don't want any more of that stuff, and I haven't had any more of that stuff since that because I've been set free from it, amen? I don't need it. I've got the living water. I've got the bread of life, amen? Cup of sanctification. Prayer of Kiddush, thanking God for the divine feast of Passover and its deliverance. Everybody at the table partakes of the first cup. Kiddush, Kiddush, thanking God for the fruit of the vine and the feast of Passover that represents our deliverance. There's a little bit that we do before then. After that sanctification, we've already made sure the house is clean. There's no hummets. There's a basin that's brought up. The father has a Usually that's an assistant. You pour the water in his hands, representing his sanctification as the Levite of his home or the priest of his home. Gentlemen, we could learn from this. The washing of water by the word and keep our hearts and minds pure. We dry our hands. They're sanctified. We put on our priestly garments. I don't have it, but it's called a kiddle. I would normally wear it. It's like a white linen robe, similar to the ephod that the Levites would wear. I would have a mashing hat, and I would put that on, and then I would officiate as the priest of my home. We've sanctified, we've washed, then we do the rakhets. Remember, the first half represents bitterness and bondage. We take the salted water and the parsley, and we remember that we were slaves in Egypt, and that what we had in Egypt was nothing compared to what God has for us now. I should try some of that. It's pretty bitter. The salt water, The salt water reminds us of tears that we shed when we were in bondage, before we were in Christ. In their case, before they were delivered from Egypt. I also have an egg that's been added to the table. This was not part of the original three items. This was added later, 70 AD in the destruction of the temple. The egg was introduced. The egg is very significant inside of the egg. is a picture of hidden life, joy, and hope. It's also three in one. It's interesting. Got a hard shell, got a white, and you got a yolk. There's three in one in this as well. The Jewish people take this egg to remember that they are without a temple, but one day they're expecting to be back in Jerusalem. and that the temple would be rebuilt and that their joy will be restored. So we take this to represent that. But this was not part of the original Passover. This was added later. We dip that in salt water as well. We talk about the unleavened bread. Now think about it. Remember I told you a little bit about this unleavened bread. They're three in one. In the Jewish home, the top matzah, they'll tell you the top matzah represents God. The bottom matzah represents everyday people. The middle matzah represents the mediator, the one who goes in between God and man. So when our Savior broke bread with his disciples, do you think he took the bottom, the top, or the middle? He took the middle. He said, this is my body. I'm the afflicted one. I'm going to suffer for you. I'll tell you what's interesting. This matzah is kosher. It doesn't have any khametz. It's interesting because if you look at it carefully, it's pierced. You see the light shining through there? It's striped. Got marks from fire. And so we go to Matthew chapter 26 and we look at this. Our Savior took bread. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. So think about this. In a Jewish home, they do this every year. They take the middle matzah out. They say it represents the one who goes between God and man. My Bible says there's one mediator between God and man. That's the man Christ Jesus. They take it and they break it. They wrap half of it up in clean linen. This is what they do. It's amazing. They wrap half of it up in clean linen. They use the other one to partake of it, and this one gets hidden away until later. Clean linen, wrapped up, broken, hidden away. Let's see, who's the youngest we got here? How old are you, honey? Eight? How about you? You're 11? Anyone 13? Younger than 13, besides these two. How old are you? Ten, okay. How old are you, young lady? 15. 15? How old are you, ma'am? 17. Not ma'am. I mean miss. Sorry. Sister? 16. 16. All right, so let's do this. If you're over the age of 14, I'm going to let the little ones have at this, OK? But I give you something later. All right, so close your eyes. Do not peek. 1, 2, 3. So what happens is the father takes us and he hides us away somewhere. You gotta close your eyes. Can't hide it if you're looking. Oops. You can open your eyes. You can open your eyes, it's okay. So at the end, I'm going to ask you to find that, okay? We're going to kind of hurry up now. So why on this night of the year do we only eat unleavened bread? We break it and think about the bread of affliction, which is represented in our Savior for us being the bread of life. There are three compartments in the matzah deco. Each one symbolizes a part of the redemption story. The middle matzah is the one our Savior made reference to when he took it and blessed it and break it in the evening of Passover before he was afflicted and crucified for us. We, in the Jewish home, take the bread, break it, hide it away. We call it the afikoman. That symbolizes that which comes later. Alright, it's also very interesting because if you look in the New Testament Matthew 27 verses 59 and 60 look at this And when Joseph had taken the body the body of Jesus. He wrapped it in clean linen and cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the door of the pulpiture and departed." So just like in the Jewish home, we take the middle matzah, we break it, we wrap it up, we hide it away. So amazing. They're doing this in their home every year. And we see perfectly clear who this bread represents. His body is broken for us. And here our dear Jewish friends are not even aware of this amazing truth that they're doing this. We take this bread of affliction and we make a kharoseth, which is another item that's been added to the table. It's items kind of like, looks like mortar. What you would make bricks out of, kind of a chunky mixture. It's apples, it's almonds, it's raisins, it's cinnamon. We take horseradish, which represents another topic of bitterness and bondage. We put the horseradish on top of the... This is hot stuff, too. Uh-oh. Anyways, we put that on there. We kind of make a sandwich of a bread of affliction, horoseth and horseradish. And we eat it. And this represents what it was like being in bondage and bitterness. Mortar representing bricks and hard labor, bread of affliction, horseradish making us realize what bondage is really like and we eat this. I hope I don't make a mess, sorry. Honey, did you have to get the super hot horseradish? We poured the second cup. It's called the Cup of Blessing. Good name for it. That represents bondage and bitterness and slavery. It's designed to actually make tears possibly come in your eyes and open your sinuses up like if you're going to cry. Pretty good job. So we talk about this and actually this cup has got two names. It's also called the cup of deliverance or the cup of blessings. In this case, we'll call it the cup of deliverance, okay, because it's going to deliver me from that affliction and bondage. I want you to think about what our Lord endured for us. So you know when he went to Gethsemane, that word Gethsemane means the place of the olive press. So Gethsemane means garden of pressing. He took all that pressure on himself for us. He became our affliction for our just Just, we deserve that affliction. But he took it on himself. Now when he was praying there, he said, Father, if it would be possible to take this cup from me, nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. And it was out there. Isn't it amazing? But out of that bondage and that bitterness or sweetness, because that haroset, this apples, almonds, raisins, and cinnamon, it kind of overcomes the compliments and overcomes that bitterness. And I think about what our Savior did for us and how much we should be thankful for that, how much we should be willing to do for him. We can't never do enough, but thank the Lord for his blessings and his deliverance. Kudus, kudus. So now the first half is kind of over and I'm doing a really fast job of it, believe it or not. So we eat the bitter herbs, we eat the bread of affliction to represent we were slaves and we've now been delivered. The third cup is the cup that we're going to pour. Before we do that, there's a meal served and that meal is absolutely Wonderful, but there's no hametz, okay? So you have like roast chicken, roast fish, all kinds of good food, but no hametz, none of that. And it's interesting because they eat this meal kind of in the middle to make sure that they've understood where they've been, but now they're going to rejoice in what God's done and where they're going. The thing about us, when we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we kind of do the same thing. Think about where we've been, but think about where we're going. Remember, he says, this too is a remembrance of me and the rest of what I said in order when I come. He's coming back for us, folks. The main meal is served, and after the meal is served in the Jewish custom, their grace is said after the meal. It's kind of unusual, because usually you say thank you before, and they say thank you after. Then the third cup is poured, and this is called the cup of redemption. Now this is a cup that our Lord celebrated with his disciples, and he said this represents his blood that was shed for us, the blood of redemption, the cup of redemption. This is a cup our Lord referred to in the last supper he ate with his disciples. Again, Matthew 25, 26 through 30. Matthew 25, 26 through 30. Matthew 25, 26 through 30. Actually, I apologize, I got that wrong. It's Matthew 26, verse 26 through 30. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples and said, take eat, this is my body. We talked about that matzah, it was striped, it was pierced and it was broken. And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave to them, saying, drinking all of it, this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until the day I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. So the Lord has called us as his believers to celebrate Not fasts, not discouragement, but blessings. We've been saved by his grace and called. And he's gonna call us home one day. And when he calls us home, man, it's gonna be so much better than anything that we can imagine here now. I want you to know that the Lord has called us to keep feasts. It's okay to take time to fast, but don't be depressed and discouraged. Enjoy being a Christian. Enjoy being in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Jewish people are no longer in bondage like they were back in Egypt. So they've been set free. They've been liberated. If you're saved, you've been set free too. You've been liberated. Rejoice in the Lord. Be glad. It's kind of an interesting time to think about this. We can trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean on to our own understanding and in all our ways acknowledge Him knowing that He will direct our paths and thanking Him for His deliverance and His feast. We partake of the third cup. This is one that the Lord celebrated with his disciples, thanking him right now for the blessings that we received, for his redemption that he's provided. We do pour our fourth cup. And we have another place setting on our table for Elijah. Usually I have a fancier goblet for him, but I don't right now. But that's the best I got, so that'll work. The reason we pour this is because this seat's been reserved for the one that's gonna come, and they believe that he's gonna come during the Passover to let us know that the Messiah's on his way. So every year in the Jewish home, there's an empty seat, and there's an empty place setting. And towards the end of the feast, remember the fourth cup we haven't got to is a cup of the kingdom. They want Elijah to come and say, Messiah is coming. And then they fill that fourth cup and drink of it. But the Lord said, I'm not going to drink with that cup until I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. So the door is literally opened. Let's say this is the front door. Hope nothing's in here. Good. Say this is my home. We open the front door. We're all gathered around. We're all excited because God said he's going to send Elijah to come before the Lord's coming. We know who that one was, that was John the Baptist. He was the voice of one crying in the wilderness saying, prepare you the way of the Lord. He came in the spirit of Elijah. Okay, so he is that one. We know that, they don't. So every year they open the door and expect him to come. You know what's really sad about that? I mean, I already know who he is. And I have the Lord in my life, and they don't. And I just think about this. I want to read this one little part to you. Before we sing the song of praise, the hellel, the remainder of the hellel, Psalms 115 through 118. These are songs that we sing during the Seder, part of the Passover. It is no doubt here that the farewell discourse of our Lord took place as found in John 14 through 17. Now the head of the house speaks. Doors open. Elijah's cups poured. Thou God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, long have we waited for thy promise. We beseech thee now. Send thine anointed, whom thou hast promised, the son of David. Have mercy upon thy people Israel. Gather us according to thy word. And we shall be thy people and will delight in us as of old. Behold, all things are ready and we are waiting. Every Saturday they do this. Think about that statement. Behold, all things are ready and we are waiting. And the door's open. I get burdened about that every time I think about that door being open because no one's walking through that door. I want to walk through that door, amen. I want to be the messenger that comes through that door. You know how many doors there are in America waiting for a messenger to come? And you're the messengers. And you've got the greatest message. And like our brother said, when Jesus saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them. because they were a sheep fainted, if you will, without a shepherd. And I think about the Jewish people the same way. For us as Christians, we have such a message, a message for the nations. My wife and I specifically, the Apostle Paul writing the Gentile believers in the book of Romans, if you would look with me in Romans chapter 10, what's he say to us? Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God is for Israel that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And I can say amen. Moses described the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this why I say, not of thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down from above. Who shall descend into the deep? That is to bring up Christ again from the dead. But what sayeth that the word is neither even in thy mouth and in thy heart? And that is the word of faith which we preach. that if thou should confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. With the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Less than a week ago, I was in Florida. I was fishing. It was a morning about 8.30. It was super hot. I was already perspiring. The fish weren't biting. Along comes a man. His name's Ned. He's a Buddhist. I say, good morning. He says, good morning to me. I said, well, Lord, must be a divine appointment because the fish aren't biting. Tell me to be a witness. So I moved over to Ned, and I get to talking to Ned about the Lord and about God and about karma and about what he believes. And I begin to open the Bible. I begin to share with Ned my testimony. I said this to him, I said, Ned, when I was in the military, I didn't know God. I said, I wanted to know God. I didn't know how to know God. And so I said, God, over there, I'd like to know you. And God sent a pamphlet, and the pamphlet had a plan of salvation in it. And I want to share that with you in just a minute. And I shared more with Ned, and I found out, you know, we talked about karma, he always believed in one God, and the Buddhist religion comes from the Hindu religion, okay? And the Hindu religion believes in, if you will, thousands and thousands of gods. Even though he was Buddhist, he says, I don't believe in thousands of gods, I just believe there's one God, and I've been asking him to show himself to me. Oh, glory! You did you've been asking him to man there's a big turtle looking at us. Oh, I want to get on in this He's down there we're up there and looking at him I got my Bible I'm opening the word I said him what I want to share with you The Bible says all of sin and come short of the glory of God. There's none that do good. No, not one So your karma that says yeah, if I do good, I'll come back better if I do bad I'm gonna end up but maybe a lower animal or something like that I said, well the Bible says there's none good in that all of sin and come short of the glory of God But let me show you something else over here. But God commandeth us to love torches, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Let me tell you over to John 3, 16. For God so loved, you believe in that one God, right, Ned? Yeah, I do. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have an everlasting life. I took them back over. The wages of sin, how about karma? Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Yeah, you're right, man, we deserve penalty for our sins, but look at this, but God commanded us to love towards him. That way we were yet sinners. Christ died for us, amen? And then the Bible says, it's appointed unto men once to die, and after this, the judgment. I said, when I was 19 and I heard this, I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior. Would you like to know how to know the true God that you've been asking for? I would. I said, well, all you got to do is do what I did. You have to understand that you're a sinner. I acknowledge that. I acknowledge that. I said, you have to understand that God is love, and he loves you just like he loves me. And that he didn't want us to die in our sin, so he sent his son to be our savior. And that took him over to Romans chapter 10, where I was just with you. And I said, of that which you confess with thy mouth, O Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart, not thy head, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. With the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. where it is written, and then I took them to Romans where it says, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek in the same chapter, in Romans chapter 10, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. And I said, I'm Jewish and you're not, but there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved you know what Ned did I said Ned I'm not trying to put pressure on you or anything like that I said but man when I accepted Jesus in my heart my life was full I said would you want to trust the Lord right now You know what he said when I was a little boy, you'll get it, just get this for a minute. When I was a little boy, my mama told me something. He didn't use the word mom, but my mom told me something. She said there was a story about a man that was on a rooftop and there was a flood that came and he was crying out to his God, God save me. And God sent a boat to the man, but the man on the boat said, I'm here to rescue you. And he said, no, no, I'm waiting on my God to rescue me. And then another boat came a little bit while and he said, look, I'm here to save you. He says, oh, no, no, my God is going to save me. And then later a helicopter came and the helicopter lowered down the rope and said, come and get on here before you die. He's like, oh, no, I'm believing my God's going to save me. And then that man dies and he goes to God and he says, God, I asked you to save me. And the Lord said, I sent two boats and a helicopter. He said, my mom told me if that ever happened, I should get on the boat. I should get on the ladder. I want Jesus. And he prayed. He got saved. Amen. He got saved. I'll tell you. He got saved. He didn't think he was safe, he got safe. He just trusted Jesus. A Buddhist trusted Jesus and got saved. Man, I tell you there are Jewish people that need Elytras today. People with the spirit of Elytra and then the Holy Spirit of God that will go and will preach. Let me read the rest of what the Father says. After a few moments of waiting, the doors closed and the head of the house says this. Say again. Thank you, honey. He says this, how long, O Lord? How long will thy anger be turned away from thy people? Will not that have mercy and restore us to thy favor? This is after the door is closed. Behold our suffering. We are scattered among the heathen. They mock us, saying, where is thy God? Where is the promise of his coming? We grow faint, yet we wait. We are as one forgotten and dead, and yet we hope, oh Lord our God, may it please you to gather thy people speedily and restore us to thy favor, at least next year, when we celebrate this feast with thee in Jerusalem, thine own habitation. Isn't that sad? The doors closed after a little while, and the father mournfully says this, there's a place ready, but no one's there. Those of you that closed your eyes, I want you to come forward. I hid the Afi Coleman somewhere. Drew, why don't you all close your eyes. You count to 10. And at 10, you all can turn around and go find the Afi Coleman. Ready? Count kind of loud for all of them to hear. 1, 2, 3, 4. Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Okay, go find it and bring it to Papa. I'm Papa tonight. Hey, it's freezing cold over there. It's freezing cold over there. Really cold over there. You're getting warm. You're getting warm. You're getting very warm. You're almost on fire. Almost. You're very, very close. No, now you're cold again. Drew's the warmest of them all. No. At least they're honest. Amen. Praise God. All right, now. Not down here. Not down there. Oh, my goodness. It is so hot right where you are. I cannot. It is so hot right there. Ow, I see flames. I see flames. Oh, no. You got it. Come on. All right, very good. You did great, and you did great. But Drew, come here. It's true, right? So you found the Afikoman. Now I'm Papa, so you give it back to me. Wait, this is what we do in the Jewish home. Well, I can't give it to you for nothing. Go ahead. Say that. I can't give it to you for nothing. Tell that to him. Tell that to me. No, I can't give it to you for nothing. You mean I have to buy it? Yep. All right, I guess it's valuable, isn't it? Okay, well okay, I'll give you a dollar. It ain't good enough. It's more valuable than a dollar. All I got is two, will you take two? Please? Now the point is this, this is amazing because this represents what God gives us. When we find the Son of God, He gives us life and gives it to us more abundantly. In the Jewish home, we wrap up the afikoman, hide it away, the kids go find it, whoever brings it comes to Papa and Papa redeems it. And when you come to the Father through the Son, guess what the Heavenly Father does? He gives you a gift that you can't buy. He gives you the most valuable gift of all gifts, which is the gift of God, which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. He was broken, He was wrapped up, He was hidden away, and after Passover, He was found. And whosoever finds Him has life and has it more abundantly, amen? We take that off, we break that off. Everyone breaks a little piece and eats this. The fourth cup is filled, been filled, Notice verse 26 of Matthew 26. As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and break it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take ye this as my body. And when he took the cup, he gave thanks, and gave them, saying, Drink ye all of it. And this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." That's where we're going, folks. And they had sung a hymn. They went out of olives. What hymn did they sing? The Hallel. 115, 16, 17, 118. Look at some of the 118th Psalm. I'll tell you, this ought to get you shouting. Here Jesus is singing with his disciples, going to the garden. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, because his mercy endure forever. Let Israel now say that his mercy endure forever. Let the house of Aaron now say that his mercy endure forever. Let them now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endure forever. Hear our Savior singing with his disciples in the upper room. I called upon the Lord in distress. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear what can man do unto me. The Lord taketh my part with them that help me. Therefore shall I seem a desire upon them that hate me. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. All nations can pass me about, but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them. They can pass me about, yea, they can pass me about, but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They can pass me about like bees, they are quenched as the fire of thorns, for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. Thou has thrust sore at me that I might fall but the Lord helped me the Lord is my strength and song and it's become my salvation the voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacle of the righteous the right hand of the Lord do it valiantly the right hand of the Lord is exalted the right hand of the Lord do it valiantly verse 17 our Savior singing this I shall not die but live and What a statement I shall not die but live And declare the words of the Lord The Lord had chastened me sore, but he had not given me over unto death open to me the gates of righteousness And I will go into them I will praise the Lord this gate of the Lord unto which the righteous shall enter and I will praise you for thou has stirred me and art become my salvation the stone which the builders refused has become the headstone of the corner and This is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now I beseech thee. O Lord, O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. God is the Lord, which has showed us light, buying the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar. Thou art my God, I will praise thee. Thou art my God, I will exalt thee, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. Mercy endureth forever. Here Jesus is singing this with his disciples, getting ready to get betrayed, getting ready to be treated terribly and be crucified for me. I shall not die, but live and declare. Beloved, we have so much to live for, so much to speak for. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink anew with you in my Father's kingdom. He is coming again. I say, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me and my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, and I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there, ye may be also. Man, it's called the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and I'm gonna be there, amen? And I've got my reservation ready to go, and I didn't have to pay for it, it was paid for me by the blood of Jesus. Is your name in that book? Do you have your reservation? I'm so glad I do, but what about the people that don't? There's still room at the Father's table, the cump hasn't been taken, the last cup has still not been poured yet. Oh, we might get up and do the work God's called us to do. Amazing. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. Have you read Revelations chapter 19, verse one through nine about the marriage supper of the Lamb? Jesus is gonna gird himself and we're gonna sit down at his table and he's going to finish what he started. The doors closed, Elijah's not coming. He came in a person in the spirit of Elijah. His name was John the Baptist. We stand and we are dismissed. In the Jewish home and the Jewish tradition, we say it like this. We say, next year in Yerushalayim, next year in Jerusalem, would you stand with me? Beloved, for us, it could be next year in the new Jerusalem. That's right. Amen. That's wonderful. That's good news. Thanks for bearing along with me. I hope that You learn some things. Just do the thing that they do in the Jewish home. Next year in Jerusalem, ready? Next year in Jerusalem. For us, that could happen any minute. Praise God. Preacher, I appreciate you. I didn't take four hours. I took a long time, but thank you for your patience. Preacher, thank you.