Let us read tonight in the familiar fourth chapter of the book of Exodus, please. Exodus chapter 12, we're just going to pick out a few verses, which you will notice as we read them, have to do with the feast of the Passover. We have reached the 12th chapter, in our study of the chart, and in this chapter we have the Passover referring to three different things. We have it in verse 21, I believe it is, referring to the sacrifice, and so you read of them killing the Passover. Now that certainly must refer to the lamb, that was plain that night. Then in verse 27, we again have the Passover referred to, and there it has to do with that which is undoubtedly central in the chapter, the sparing of the firstborn. We were noticing in one of our recent studies how all the firstborn in Egypt died that night. amongst Israelites were spared because of the sprinkled blood. So that was referred to as the Passover. And then in verse 11, we have the Passover to be eaten. Now that would refer to the supper that was connected with this wonderful deliverance. And it's that latter thought that I want to take up tonight the feast of the Passover, give me an opportunity to say some things regarding the Lord's Supper. There's a great deal in this chapter regarding this feast, and it points up many important things regarding the Lord's Supper, which I believe need to be reiterated. So we'll read from verse 8, first of all, chapter 12 of the Book of Exodus, verse 8. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire his head with his legs, and with a pertinent therav, and he shall let nothing of it remain until the morning. And that which remains of it until the morning he shall burn the fire. And thus shall eat it. with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye shall lead it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. Now down to verse 24. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever, and it shall come to pass when ye become to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And shall come to pass when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel and Egypt, when he smoked the Egyptian, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. Now down toward the end of the chapter, And we'll read in verse 43. And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover. There shall no stranger eat thereof. But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou has circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof. In one house shall it be. carry forth thought of the flesh abroad out of the house. Neither shall he break a bone thereof. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the Passover at the Lord, let all his mails be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it. And he shall be as one that is born in the Lamb. For no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you. Now, as you can see immediately, we have a great wealth of teaching here of a very practical nature, and I believe that we need once again to go over some of the ground that is quite familiar to us in connection with the Lord's Supper. years of experience that the Lord's Supper gives a strength and stability to the local assembly that nothing else will give. And I believe that needs to be re-emphasized today when there are those who are seeking, even amongst the Lord's people who meet in the Lord's name alone, there are those who to minimize the value and the need for the weekly remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now there is undoubtedly much more than we will be able to cover here tonight, because there are other references in Scripture that I think be possible for us to look at, but we'll just perceive as time permits. I think we might do well to ask, first of all, So what was the purpose of this feast? God is about to deliver his people. He has told them how they can be sheltered from that blow of judgment and how the life of the firstborn can be spared. On the moral after this, they are going to move out after centuries of bondage in the land of Egypt As we've been studying, they're going to move out with a new liberty, a new freedom. They are going to become pilgrims on their way to their God-given inheritance. And in a very special way, they are going to be free now to worship God Jehovah. Why then, we might ask, did God connect a supper? peace with this wonderful deliverance. Well, I believe that we might say immediately that it certainly would remind us of the fact that very closely connected with our salvation, our redemption is the Lord's Supper. Even those who have a very limited understanding of the significance of the Lord's Supper, realize that it is a remembrance of our deliverance through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. I would suggest that this feast here is given for three reasons. First of all, it would provide them strength for the journey that lay ahead of them. I repeat, they are going to move out on the moral, old and young men and women and children, they are going to move out this vast number of people, numbering anywhere from a million to three and a half million people. They're going to move out and become pilgrims, traveling on foot through a great and terrible wilderness. Now they need strength for that. only shelters them by the blood, and gives them assurance by his word. But he gives them strength and satisfaction through feeding on the speech. And in that we certainly would be reminded that not only has the blood of our Savior sheltered us from judgment, But you and I are to find our satisfaction in Christ. We are to feed on Him. And as we feast on our Lord Jesus Christ, we are strengthened for our Christian journey. And we are satisfied as this meal satisfied the physical need of the body in connection with Israelite. So, as we feed on the Lord Jesus Christ in a spiritual sense, we are strengthened spiritually for what lies ahead of us in the Christian life and journey. Now, there needs to be real care there. I'm convinced that as we sit and remember our Lord and partake of the Lord's that that gives us a spiritual strength for our life. I'm convinced it feeds us spiritually. And I believe that is why those who neglect the Lord's Supper are missing a great deal in their Christian life. Now, I repeat, we must be careful there. You see, there is that doctrine that is taught in Roman Catholicism called transubstantiation, that is, in the mass, as the Lord's Supper is called in Roman Catholicism, when the priest takes the bread into his hands and other certain words prescribed formula in Latin, they are taught that that actually transforms that bread into the literal body and blood of Christ. Now that is why I have absolutely no use for Catholicism, and I cannot understand evangelical. I don't care who they are, how popular the name may be. It matters not a thing to me. I can't understand how they can go hand in hand with that blasphemous doctrine. Now listen, I haven't finished it. Not only does the Roman Catholic dogma teach that that actual wafer is transformed into the body of Christ, But when the priest breaks it, the fat is sacrificing the body of Christ. Now what is that? That's exactly what you have in Hebrews chapter 6. They crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh. And every time they go through the blasphemy of that, they are repeating, according to their doctrine, of Christ. Now I can have nothing to do with that and never will with the help of God. Now that's transubstantiation. They believe that wafer actually becomes the body of Christ and that cup of wine actually becomes the blood of Christ. Not literally, not symbolically I mean, but literally. Actually, Now at the time of the Reformation, and in spite of all the truth that was recovered during the Reformation, there was a great deal that wasn't recovered, because a lot of the rags of Rome were brought over into the Reformation churches, and one was this doctrine. Now they didn't call it transubstantiation. trans a cross that is changing the bread into the body. They didn't call it that. But Lutheran doctrine, which originated at the Reformation, Lutheran doctrine teaches consubstantiation. Why do you say, what does that mean? Con with. That is, they teach. But that is still a piece of literal bread. But on the other hand, the body of Christ exists along with that piece of bread. Now it's just the same error under a different name. And more recently, there has been another error, so far as we can determine chairman, it sprang up in China. It was brought to this country by a man by the name of Watchman Me. Not Watchman Me. He was the originator in China, but Witness Me, who came to America and claimed that he had been a co-worker with Watchman Me in China. And Witness Me taught this, that in a, well, it's awfully hard to describe what they did teach. They didn't go to the length of Catholicism or Lutheranism, but they taught that when you partook of the Lord's Supper in some mysterious way, you were assimilating the body of Christ. in some mysterious way you are actually partaking of and assimilating into your being Christ. Now that doctrine began to raise its head in this assembly, and the elders immediately stopped because we were of absolutely nothing of that nature in this assembly. The hymn is perfectly correct, only bread and only wine. They are the symbols of that which is heavenly and divine, but they are not. That bread and wine is bread and wine. And when you partake of it, you are not assimilating Christ. You are remembering Christ. Now the only way to keep from error is to stick close to what the Bible says, and Christ said, this do in remembrance of me. Now, those who read their Bible carelessly and those who teach it carelessly try to associate the Lord's Supper with John chapter 6, where the Lord his body and drinking his blood. Now it doesn't have any connection whatsoever. We could have a very interesting study tonight, had we time, in looking at John chapter 6. And you would see that Christ, in speaking about eating his body, his flesh, is the word that's used, and drinking his blood, he is speaking of coming to him and believing on him. Now there are two words that are used in John chapter 6. They're both translated eat. But if we began at verse 51 and followed on down there for eight or nine verses, we would find in our English translation here the word eat. number of times. And there are two Greek words. Now the one means to take food and eat it. It's just the ordinary word of taking some food, whatever it is, and eating it. The other word means to chew. You know, you take your food and you chew it, you masticate it. Thus you get the strength out of it. That's really what does us good isn't it you could take food and swallow a lot of it all the good you get would be indigestion but if you take that food and masticate it then you get the nourishment from it now i repeat it's very interesting in john 6 to follow the thought through you and i are to initially come to christ and partake of him just as we take food into our body bodies to give us physical strength, we take Christ to give us spiritual one. Having taken him, then we are a two, I don't like to use the word, but I'm using it because I did it in connection with the literal meaning of this word, chewing. Just as we chew our food, part of us. We derive nourishment from it. If that food has the proper elements in it, as we chew it, and as it goes through the process of digestion in us, then we derive strength from it. Now the Lord is saying, we come to him, we get life by appropriating him, eating him. We continue to live in him, to get spiritual strength by chewing on him. You see? Mastigating on him. Now what do we call it? We call that meditating. And the way you and I get spiritual strength is to meditate on the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we do, we spiritual strength. Now I didn't intend to spend as much time on that, but that is the first reason I would say the purpose of this Passover feast was to give them strength and sustenance and satisfaction so they'd be prepared for the journey. Now I believe that is one reason why coming together on Lord's Day for an hour, for Forgetting about everything else, forgetting about the loss temporarily, forgetting about our service, forgetting about our needs, and feeding on Christ, not in any literal sense, but meditating on him, allowing the Spirit of God to bring thoughts concerning Christ to our hearts and our minds. and a brother gives out a hymn with a lovely expression of Christ. Someone, some brother leads us in worship and expresses those thoughts which God has given him concerning Christ. Some brother reads a portion of the word of God and occupies us with Christ. Doesn't it satisfy you? Doesn't it strengthen you? Don't it feel that you're ready for Monday morning with all his moanings? Are you ready now? You've been strengthened by it? That's what God wants. So that's one purpose. Now a second purpose in this Passover feast was it was to remind them. It was a feast of remembrance. And I hope before I leave this study, not tonight, but before I leave it eventually, will be able to point out to you the different times in which the feast is referred to in the rest of the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament. But it was a reminder of the lamb that had died for them. You see, what we're reading of, this roast lamb had given its blood to shelter the first boy. Now, you'd have to think of that when you're eating that lamb. And isn't that exactly what the Lord's Supper is? As he explained the significance of that bread, this is my body which is given for you, as he referred to the wine that his blood which is shed for us, there you have the death of the one whose blood shelters us from judgment. And thus we are reminded, as we partake of the bread and the wine, we are reminded of the one who died for us, whose blood has sheltered us. But not only did this feast look backward to the facts, you see, now these facts are taking place in Exodus 12. The next reference you have to pass over is in Numbers chapter 9, and you see they're in their land, or they're at least on the borders of it. They're on their way to the land in Numbers chapter 9. In Joshua 5, the next reference, they're in their land, right on the border of it. each time after this, they are reminded of the deliverance that they were in the enjoyment of. Now, isn't that what we'll do on Lord's Day morning when we come together? Won't we not only be thinking of our Lord who died for us and rejoicing in him, but won't we be remembering that through his death we have been delivered? And the fact we're there at the Lord's Supper is because we have been delivered in Numbers 9. They could say we're out here in the wilderness, not back there in the bondage of Egypt because the Lamb died for us. When they got the Canaan they could say we're here in our inheritance because the Lamb died for us. And so it is at the Lord's Supper. But it was not only that, this feast was to have them look forward, I believe it was verse 26, we were noticing, verse 25, we were noticing, they were to look forward to the land that God was going to give them. He is bringing them out of Egypt to bring them into Canaan, and this feast would be a looking forward now. As they stood there in their houses in Egypt that night, they were looking forward to the fact that someday they'd be in their God-given inheritance. Now isn't that exactly the same with the Lord's Supper? We look back to the Lamb who died for us, and what does it, say, in 1 Corinthians 11, For as oft as ye eat this bread and drink this wine, ye do show the Lord's death till he comes. So we're looking forward to his coming. And when he comes, we'll be taken out of this wilderness world altogether and we'll be in our God-given inheritance. Now we've got that inheritance now. We've got the title to it. But we're not in it. But we will be then. Paul tells us that we have our inheritance. Peter says it's being kept in heaven for us. So we've got the title to it, and we're going to be in the enjoyment of it in the coming day. And as you and I will sit at the Lord's Supper, this coming Lord's Day, if he be not come, we'll be looking forward to the moment when he comes and takes us to be with himself. Now all of this, the whole 12th chapter of Exodus, is fulfilled in Christ. I'll have much more to say about that. In 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 7 we read, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. So that's the fulfillment of it. You notice a very interesting verse. In the prophecy of Ezekiel chapter 45 and verse 21, the Passover feast is going to be restored again during the millennium for Israel. Now, I haven't tried to go into that in any detail, but I believe that that will be the complete fulfillment of the Passover when at last they're not only in their land and their God-given inheritance, but they're under their king, the Lord Jesus Christ. and they are a righteous nation enjoying the full blessing of God. And I believe the Passover feast then would just be like the Lord's Supper now. During the church day, the Lord's Supper reminds the church that Christ died for us to deliver. During the millennium, the Lord's Supper had been entirely out of place because that's not connected with Israel. But the Passover will remind them that they have been delivered by the blood, not of the Lamb in Egypt, but of the Lamb of God on Calvary. You see, and it will be perfectly fulfilled then in the millennium. Let us look at just a few of the particulars regarding this feast. cover all that. We've thought of a purpose of it. We should notice the particulars of it. We must study the participants, those who participated in this feast. But let's look at some of the particulars now of Israel's feast. There were three things, the roast lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs. Now let's just take a brief look at the lamb. As I've already pointed out, it was the one that had died for them to shelter them by its blood. And I repeat again, that is what the Lord's Supper symbolized. You can't take the bread nor the wine without remembering, now this is a symbol. Don't go past that for a moment. It's the symbol of the one who died for us. That's why you have the bread and the wine separated, because in death the blood was separated from the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is my blood which is given for you. And he gave his blood, it was separated from his body, and God We are reminded of his death. Now look at verse 8 again, please. You shall eat the flesh in that night, roast the fire, and unleavened bread, with bitter herbs, they shall eat it. The unleavened bread, we'll deal a little later. But in connection with the eating of this roast lamb, now notice verse 9. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast. with fire, it was not to be raw. Now raw lamb is from a dead lamb, but a lamb that has not come near the fire. Now it isn't enough, and I say this carefully, it isn't enough that Christ died for us. He died for us under the judgment of God. you see. There are a lot of people, in liberal Christianity, certainly they admit Christ died. They say he died as a good man. An example. He died as a martyr. Now that isn't enough. That's raw flesh. That's death. But no judgment. Now that isn't our Christ. Don't ever settle for that. Nor sodden the tall with water. That is, they went to boil it. Now, when you boil something, certainly there is the effect of the fire. There's the heat. And we use the expression, even in English, in our language. We talk about being in hot water. Well, I suppose a foreigner would wonder what in the world we're talking about. If we said we got in some real hot water the other day, think we got in the bathtub when it was too hot. We Americans know what we mean. It's just an idiom in our language, a colloquialism. We mean we got in some trouble. There was distress. There was trouble. There made them suffering connected with it. But the fire didn't touch the flesh when you let it boil some meat or stew some meat. The fire doesn't get to the meat, the effect of it does, through the water. Now it's not enough to say that Christ, and let me say his reverence, it's not enough to say that Christ was in hot water on the cross. Please remember I say that reverence. It's not enough to say that he was in trouble. It's not enough to say he was in distress. That's not enough to say he suffered. All of that is true, but that's not enough. But it was to be roast with fire. That is, the fire itself must feed on it. And that is what you have at count. In the prophecy of Jeremiah, the little book called The Lamentations of Jeremiah, you have the prophetic word in chapter 1 and verse 13 from above has thou sent fire into my bones. And on Calvary our Lord did not die as a martyr. He did not merely die in trouble. He died under the judgment fire of God. Now that's a word to remember when we partake of the Lord's Son, to be roast with fire. But that isn't all that it says about. It says his head with his legs and with the pertinence thereof. Now, that means it was in one piece. They didn't cut up the lamb. You see, when they roast the lamb, it was one lamb. The head, that's at one end. The legs, that's at the other. The pertinence, that's inside. So the whole land that had been slain, and whose blood had been applied to the little on the side post, the whole land was roasted with fire. Now what does that tell us? It tells us that we not only need a whole Christ, we've got a whole Christ. We've got his head, his thoughts, we've got his legs, his perfect walk. We've got everything in between, and we've got the pertinence thereof, his inward motives and submission to the will of God. That's the one we feed on, brethren and sisters, as we sit at the Lord's Supper and meditate on our Lord Jesus Christ. I know that with many young Christians, They wonder and sincerely wonder how they should be occupied when they're not actually singing, but when they're not actually listening to some brother leading the worship. Now, how should I be occupied? All of us said that when we were young in Christ, before we learned some of these things, how should we be occupied? We should be eating on the roast land. You see, I should be meditating on his head, his wonderful thoughts regarding me. I should be meditating on his walk, that perfect walk that took him all the way to town. I should be meditating on his inward devotion to Christ and his affection for me. Now, when you do that, you'll find that those silent moments that the Lord's Supper are amongst some of the most precious moments you can stand on the face of God's earth. It doesn't do for us to come to the Lord's Supper, and everyone sit there, and all the brethren keep their mouths shut, as though we're a Quaker meeting. That isn't the Father's talk. But on the other hand, it shouldn't be a popcorn meeting. You know, it's like that. Gotta get up, gotta get up. Let's keep this thing going. Sometimes you feel like saying, well, give me a minute or two to meditate on the Lord. I just enjoy so much about him. Please don't interrupt me. You know, we've got to sing this. We've got to sing that. We've got to sing the next thing. Go on, Christians, go and tell of Jesus. For a lot of time, the rest of the Lord's day to go and tell of Jesus. Keep that. But wait until after the Lord's Supper, and let's meditate on him. But you'll notice there's so much more here. We will take another study, because I would like to pass on to you, reminding you of many of these precious things concerning the Lord's Supper. As you know, we have been associated with this assembly now. years. And I repeat, I believe that one of the things that has given stability through and steadfastness through the years has been the honoring of the Lord in the remembrance on Lord's Day morning of this Blessed One. And I have watched, not in any critical way whatsoever, I hope with the eye of a shepherd because you know the word for oversight when it is used in the verb form in the New Testament really means to look out over and you can just see a shepherd almost standing on his tiptoes looking out over the flock and seeing that they're all safe and they're all getting along all right and they're all getting food and water. That's an overseer. That's an oversight. melded. So we tried to look out over the flock during these 30-odd years. You know, I've noticed though these, this, that those who have, in spite of many other things that could have drawn them away, those who have given the Lord his portion at the Lord's Supper and taken in that hour to remember him are the ones who've made progress in the things of God. And we've had some nice Christians come. They have witnessed the Lord's Supper and some of them have never come back. A few have even said they didn't see anything to it. And I, tonight, I doubt if you could find one of those really going on for the Lord. Not that the Lord suffers everything. There's a lot more in the Christian life. But it is a very, very important thing. When Israel was given this feast of the Passover, and we'll get to that in our study of the participants, those who did not cut off from the assembly the congregation of Israel it says they had sined now that was under law but I'm quite sure the spirit of it is just the same in this church age I believe we are failing when we neglect our Lord's desire this do in remembrance of me shall we life. Heavenly Father, we thank thee for the privilege of remembering our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, each Lord your name on. What a privilege. Instead of it becoming a drudgery to his father, it becomes more precious as the years go by. Know how much it of men in our spiritual life to meditate on our blessed, perfect Lord Jesus Christ, passing through the fire of judgment for us. We pray that every one of us may be drawn closer to him as a result of our coming together tonight, bless all whom we've prayed for and all whom we should have prayed for in his worthy name. Amen. you