The Blood of the Lamb

Welcome everyone together. Um again as we celebrate this week and and it is indeed a celebration uh any Bible scholars uh you can attest that the entirety of the time leading up to the death of Jesus and then the time when he was in the tomb, the time then when he was resurrected and the time after that. guys. It was a very hard and challenging time that had never happened to that time. It's not happened since. But things, needless to say, were turned on the end. Um, we this the Passover, of course, is a very solemn thing because so much was at stake. I don't have time tonight to go into the entirety of what happened when the children of Israel were facing the death angel. Uh quite honestly, they should have died equal to the rest of the Egyptians and animals and everything. The firstborn, that was the death angel's task. God ordained it. You death angel, go kill the firstborn male. Go. And that's what happened. But go ye know that when God brings judgment, he makes a way of escape for those who will yield themselves to it. Hence, if you'll take the Passa or the lamb that you've been holding back and you kill it and you take a bundle of hissup or branches or shrubbery t certain type that grew in that particular part of the world, dip it in there and put it on the right and left side of your door and over the top of your door. When the death angel gets to your house and sees the blood, he's going to he will pass over. I don't know about you, but that would thrill any heart to know that death was outside the door. But the blood of the lamb But the blood of the lamb But the blood of the lamb changed everything. Let's go to the book of Mark. We're going to look at Mark chapter 14. And of course, you can find the account in several of the gospels of Mark 14 and 22. The Bible says, "And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, blessed, break it, and gave to them, and said, take, eat. This is my body." Verse 23. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them. And they all drank of it. And he said to them, verse 24, "This is my blood of the new testament which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until the day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God." Now this, of course, Jesus had already told his followers, "The feast is upon us.

Passover is coming near to us. I need you guys to go and prepare the place." So that together as disciples, as followers, together as students, we can partake of the feast New Testament. Now, and we can partake of it because it's required of us to do this at the Passover every year. If you take time and you go through your Levitical law, you go back into Deuteronomy, you go back into the Old Testament, you're going to find out that God was very specific with the children of Israel. He was very specific with Moses. Listen, Moses, this is what you tell them. And if they do not adhere to it, they will not survive. They won't live. They won't be able to. Okay? The feast of Passovers was always in position and in place because if you forget what has happened in times past, child of God, then you are most likely to stray in the future. Listen to me carefully. Generation to generation to generation, something happens to the standard, to the level, to the mark that somebody puts. I can almost promise you, mom and dad, that the life of holiness and the standards and the things that your grandparents did, you're probably a little under that level. Your children are then going to be under that level. Your grandchildren are going to less likely to follow. It's not because they're mad or angry, but it's because they have lost the instruction and the importance of why it is that people do what they do when it comes to the things of God. You understand what I'm saying? So God knew that about humanity. That's why, for an example, last year we spent the entire year talking about the tabernacle, which very conveniently lays out laws, precepts, and concepts that they were not to forget. In fact, if they forgot them, they would be overtaken by an enemy and they would be destroyed. When the original law was given, give give me just a moment here to establish a few things. Again, every year I get to talk about this on this particular service. And for me, I really really do enjoy it. The New Testament, of course, Jesus and the followers of Jesus, the disciples, they knew the Mosaic law. They had given themselves to study. So we find here that is it is no strange thing that Jesus is telling them we're going to go celebrate Passover. In the origin of the law though there was a spotless lamb that had to be reserved had to be put aside for 14 days. And on that particular time then that lamb could be brought to become a sacrifice for the family.

the blood that would be shed, the meat of the lamb then would be used. The all of the things that were pertinent to the sacrificing of a lamb would come into effect. But the command that was given said, if you're going to leave bondage, listen to notice this, please. If you're coming out of slavery in Egypt, it is going to cost something. You cannot simply sache out of bondage. You can't cop an attitude and walk away from bondage. We see in our world daily people that say, "Tomorrow I'm turning over a new leaf." Only to find out they don't know where the leaves are. It's good intentions. They want to do right, but within the nature of humanity, it is a sin nature. It takes a supernatural indwelling and empowering from God. Stay with me a bit. If you're going to walk out of bondage, God told them, "This is what it's going to require. You already know what lice feels like. You're already accustomed to frogs. You already know what bloody waters like. All of the plagues that were sent had specific Don't you think for a moment that God was rolling the dice." God knew absolutely what he was doing in every one of the plagues. But then when it came down to it, God said, "Now, Moses, you've been in Pharaoh's house. You've been in Pharaoh's throne room. You've been in Pharaoh's particular part that is separated from everything else. And you've been pleading with him to let your people go. But he has always said what? Not going to happen. That is not Pharaoh simply speaking. That is me doing a job that's going to take some time. Understand? Can I can I give a side note? Some of us want to pray a prayer and hurry up and get up and let God do it right now. And God's saying, "Hold on. There's a process here that I'm putting you through." How many's thankful for the grace and mercy of God? Yeah. And so at that point, finally, God got to the 10th and God said, "Okay, now this is what's going to happen. The generation to come, follow this, Moses, the generation that is to follow you, something is going to happen to that generation. What God, I'm going to kill every one of those who are not under the blood, firstborn male. They will die. That's an entire generation. You know, the law, right, was the rights of the inheritance went to the firstborn male. And God was telling Moses, "You listen to this. I'm gonna kill every one of them, firstborn males, because I'm stopping this plague of slavery against my people." Now, listen to me.

If that were the case in that day, God knew exactly what he was doing. If a child of God, a child of Israel, would have not applied the blood to the doorpost and the top of his door, guess what would have happened? that death angel would have ignored the door and killed the firstborn male in that house. The only thing that separated that death angel from that house was the blood of the lamb. Now stay with me. When we understand the purpose that God was trying to instruct the people, when we understand that they needed to remember the good things, the slavery, the bad things, they needed to remember how that they had taught their children and their children's children and so forth. They needed to get to a place where they remembered the goodness of God and the mercy of God over them all because of the blood of the lamb. I'm saying that again. It's for emphasis. We know then that as far as they were concerned in that day, they were simply following what Moses, their leader, was telling them to do. Put your shoes on, g up your loins, which means put your robe on, tie up so you don't trip and fall. Grab your stick. Stand behind the door where the blood is applied outside. Eat your Passover lamb. Partake of it. Oh, by the way, hear this. Do not touch the leavenan because it's gonna be nasty right now for a moment. When they left Egypt, they did not take leaven with them. Why? Because God said, "I don't want you to partake of the good things and the good life you used to have because it will draw you back." But I need you to understand that if this is going to be a journey and the bread that you're going to eat is going to be made because it's only got a few ingredients in it. It hasn't risen. It's not good to slice a little bit, open it up, put it on a toaster, put a little mayo on it, a tomato, some bacon, and all that, and while it's nice and warm, gone and bite down. That's not what you're going to have. In fact, what you're going to have is what in the Civil War they call tac. Imagine those who have a a real problem with people smacking at the table. Am I right? Some would have been you have to eat somewhere. Right. Listen to me. Listen to me. God was not punishing them. God was not causing them to fall apart at the scene. What God was doing was telling them, "This is going to change you forever." Now, follow me for a moment, please.

Deuteronomy is where I'm going to pick up here if you're okay with that. Chapter number six. These are some verses that you well know. Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse one. Now, these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land whether ye go to possess it. Commandments, statutes, judgments. Say that with me. Commandments, statutes, judgments. God is serious about this. This is serious business. You're going to a land to possess. And I need you to understand that if I'm going with you, there are some things that you're going to have to take serious that thou mightest. Verse two, this is why that you got to understand the commandments, the statutes, and the judgment. Because thou mightest fear the Lord thy God to keep all his statutes, commandments that I command thee, thou who else? Thy son. Who else? Thy son's son. How long? All the days of thy life. Why? That they may be prolonged. Listen to me. When you teach the people my commandments, my statutes, and my judgments, I am not doing this to be mean to you, to cause you to be weirdos or anything like that. I am doing this to you so that you will fear God and understand that he is serious about this. And it's not just for you. It's not just for your children. Listen to me. It's not for those who are far off only, but it's for every single generation that comes in and out, in and out. Notice what else is said here. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it, that it might be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee in the land that flowth with milk and honey. When you do what I'm telling you, commandments, statutes, and judgments, there's a blessing. There's an anointing. There's a promise that is going to come to those who will follow commandments and statutes and judgments. Verse four, you ready for it? Everybody knows it here. O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. What else? And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thine heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might. The commandments, the statutes, and judgments have a purpose. Now listen, Israel, God is one. You need to love him with everything inside of you. You need to make sure that you understand. Notice these are commandments, statutes, and judgments. You got to get God in your life. What now? What does he say after that? You love him with your heart, soul, and might.

Verse six says this. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart. I'm going to put this in you. And then you're going to have to keep it alive. Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children. shalt talk of them when thou sitest in thine house, when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, when thou riseest up. Verse eight, and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the post of thy house, and on thy gates. And it shall be verse 10, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he swore unto thy fathers to Abraham to Isaac and Jacob to give thee great and godly cities. Notice this, which thou buildest not, and houses full of all good things which thou filst not, and wells dig, notice it, which thou digest not. Vineyards and olive trees, what happened? Which thou plantest not. when thou shalt have eaten and be full. Notice verse 12. Then beware, lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house bondage. The familiarity of Deuteronomy chapter 6. We will focus on here. O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. We'll even at times approach the subject of teaching them diligently to your children. Making sure that your kids know that God is one. Making sure that those in your family understand the power of one God. But the truth remains that this chapter in Deuteronomy has an entire complexity of processes that God was telling the people. If you don't follow this the way I'm teaching and telling you to follow it, you are going to be overcome and you are going to be overtaken and you're going to die by yourself. Because if you disobey what I'm teaching you, what your grandparents and parents are teaching you, you are going to be lost. Pastor, why are we doing this lesson on communion night? I can tell you why. Thank you for asking. The words of the laws of God have a purpose. The principles and precepts that God has established for all of time, his word is what? forever settled where where >> in heaven. So none of us can get there to change them. No one in generations past have been able to go to alter them. There's no spell check. There's no way to go in and alter it through AI. Listen to me. They are settled in heaven. Listen, if that's the case, I am convinced 2026 the laws of God are still right.

the concepts, precepts, judgments, statutes, commandments of God still matter. >> Amen. >> Somebody nod your head like this. If that's the case and we really believe that, listen to me. I know we are living in 2026 and there's a whole lot of things that have gone by the wayside. I've said this multiple time, my pastor would have a cow walking in this church cuz the lights are moving. He he just wouldn't be able to believe there's a Bingle tiger laying on the front altar because of because of the carpet color and to have a little bitty podium made out of metal. Oh my. Things change in methods. Somebody say amen. But the word of God never does change. That's listen to me. That's why the Bible says thou That's why the Bible says thou shalt this. But the Bible doesn't say thou shalt not that on every situation. Anybody know the Bible says thou doesn't say thou shalt not do drugs? Let's use that one. Does it? So then we can do them. Young people, look at me. That's not true. What do we understand? We understand the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments of God. And we know that if we're not in our right mind, and we're altered by synthetics things in our world, guess what? We will be affected by that. And so, we teach to our kids, don't pick that up. Don't do that. Don't in partake of that. Why? Because we want them to live a holy life that represents and reflects God. Somebody say, "Amen." Hey, there's a reason I'm apostolic. There's a reason that I'm apostolic. I believe in the apostles doctrine and teaching which mirrors what was taught in the law. Now, believe it or not, we're going to do communion here in a minute, but I want us to understand the value of what we're about to do. The laws could not be forgotten. The precepts could not be done away with. The miracle hands of God working in people's lives did that on purpose, intentionally. There was no other way anyone could ever explain why. How three million people left Egypt and walked and started walking out across the desert. And somehow water showed up, food showed up, fire showed up, clouds showed up, everything they needed showed up. They just smoked a rock and water started fall. They got hungry and mana started. There nobody can explain any of that. There's nobody that can explain that a voice came out of heaven and said, "Noah, build a boat to save your family. I'll give you everything you need." And then 110 plus or minus years later, all of a sudden, it start to rain, which it had never done to that point.

There's no way that you could ever say that that God doesn't do things right. When it comes to your salvation, don't you think for a moment it's a haphazard roll of the dice or spin of the wheel? Not that. No, not at all. But it was the blood of the lamb. It was the blood of the lamb that changed everything. As you look at the life of Jesus Christ, we all know that he came, he was born of a virgin, but we know that that's the Christmas story, if you will, that the angels declared it. The host, the heavenly host said, "You got to go and find this babe. He'll be wrapped in swatling clothes, lying in a manger. And so they did made haste. They went and found this Jesus. Wise men came and they said, "We've studied the maps and we've studied the the books and we've looked for the the the constellations to lead us and behold, there's a there's a star like we've never seen before in a lifetime." And there's a reason for all that because the promises of God never fail. So Jesus is born and things start happening. Again, the Bible is very explicit. The the world could not contain the volumes of things that Jesus accomplished on earth. There's not enough room to write them. With eight billion people on planet Earth today, if every one of us wrote our story, the goods, the bads, and the uglies, there's no way that you could read those books. It would take hundreds and thousands of generations to do so. The provision of God has to be remembered. As we look at the life of Jesus sitting for an example around a table with his followers, I think it interesting to note that all everything up to the point where Jesus is sitting at this table was a miracle. Hey Jesus, we're we're going to do Passover. You better believe it. What do you want us to do? Get out of that chair, start walking towards that town. And when you see somebody with a vessel of water in their hands, follow them. And when you follow them where they're going, tell them that. And then go and and then make it. Jesus, are you going to Jerusalem? Yeah. Hey, come here, buddy. I need you to go and find a at the gate there's going to be a a little colt that's never been ridden. It's a It's a little guy and you just walk up to him and say, "The master needs him and the guy's going to give you his colt." H Yeah. Just go. And guess what?

Yeah. Um the master needs him. Oh, okay. There's no way it makes sense, brother Daniel. No way it makes sense. Jesus now is sitting around the table and the Bible says they're partaking of the Passover meal which means that they would have specific types of foods that they would be eating. They'd have specific types of spices to be using and they keep in mind Passover you got seven days set apart seven more days because you can't kill the lamb until it's set apart for how long? 14 days. So, they've been in a mode, very fine-tuned in their emotions and their spirit right now. And they're sitting here with Jesus at this table that's all been laid out exactly the way Jesus said. And Jesus looks at him and he says, "Hey, I need to remind you of something." Yeah, sure. We are sitting here right now and the only thing we are doing in this feast right now in this festival is we are remembering the blood of the lamb is the Passover. Oh, absolutely. My great greatgrandfather taught that. Yeah, absolutely. Jesus. Okay, got that guys? Got it. Okay, hand me that bread. The Bible says that he picked the bread up and he broke it. Now they're eating a meal. I need to I need to pause here for this is a commercial. I don't want anybody be mad. This is not a meal. You going to have to get something when you leave here. Okay. Some of y'all thought we going to have Passover meal, man. We eating. No. No. It is what it is. But Jesus says to them, and I've often wondered, why is this the case? Jesus takes the bread and he breaks it. They're all sitting there eating. And Jesus starts passing out bread. Unleavened bread by the law. Not not real good bread. Somebody's not understand. It's not Jim and Nick's cheddar rolls. Well, now somebody about to have church, right? It ain't a good taco shell. It's rolled up and Okay, Seth, I was trying to help you. This is unleavened bread. And they pause because it's not the servant bringing the food, it's the spotless lamb bringing the food. Guys, need you to eat this. Yeah. Okay. Ho ho ho. And when you eat it, my body is represented in that. Now, I don't mind saying if I was sitting at the table and I was about to drop that bread in my mouth, knowing how yucky it was, knowing how unattractive it was, and Jesus said, "That's my body." We We need a little explanation here. Don't act like you're odd. No, I would just have done it by faith.

No, you're sitting there at this table of food and Jesus is breaking this bread. And he says, "I need you to eat this because this is my body." And they look at him. I can only imagine looking at him. I don't understand. He said, "In the original Passover, you kept the lamb aside and you killed it and you took the blood and put it over the doorpost of your house and you stayed inside the house behind the blood and you ptook of the lamb meat and you ptook of the unleaven bread. I want you to know that in that house, the unleavened bread that they were eating, your greatest of greatest of grandparents were eating, that's me. What do you mean? That's me. Well, why do we have to eat this? Because every time that your greatest of greatest of grandparents and your grandparents and you as parents and your kids and your next kids and every time that they partake of this, they need to know the value of it. Didn't start under a rock. It didn't start and and somebody just flipped the coin. somebody real. This actually started because of the law of God. From the precept of everything, the concepts of all things, God said, "I need you to remember how good I am to you." And so now there's a little different reverence. And now they've got bread and they're partaking of this bread. And he takes the the the wine and he pours it. It's it's the fruit of the grapes. And he pours it into a cup. And the Bible says that he drank and he passed it and they drank and they're drinking again. This is Jesus now. He's teaching. Jesus says to them, "Hey, that was my body, but in that cup is my blood." Excuse me. Because the crushing and the changing and what it takes to make this is going to forever be remembered when people partake of this meal at Passover. Now, brother drawn, it doesn't taste the same. doesn't mean the same. It now all of a sudden takes on a a whole another light of Jesus has attached this cup of wine that I went and bought at that store down the road and brought it in here because we were passo we were doing the Passover and Jesus is saying this represents the blood that covered the door. So every time you do this and every time you do this, I'm gonna be there. I'm going to be there. Do this in remembrance of me. Communion, guys, is not just a cool thing because everybody else is doing it or something like it's not.

But it's so that mom, dad, it's so that you can teach your children about this. And shame on you, mom and dad, if you simply tell them it's a wafer and some grape juice that they went and bought at the store, and there you go. That's all. No, your grandchildren are not going to know Jesus. Mom and dad, unless you teach it to them, unless you give it to them. I've said this multiple times and my time is running. Listen to me. I've said this so many times in my life. I am so thankful that I'm fifth generation apostolic. What a gift. My kids, I have a granddaughter. I told y'all she got to be four before she's baptized. And I'm sitting there going, "It keeps going. Now, communion, can I confess something? And and and maybe I shouldn't, but I will. When I was a kid, I was afraid to do communion because the old-timers used to tell you, "If you got sin in your heart, you're going to die right there in front of that table." Tell me I'm lying. Anybody, Brother Rob, am I right? Sister Hedgers, she would have said it. Oh, buddy. Anybody? I was for scared to death, buddy. I was on the ground praying, Lord. Oh, I don't I don't want to die tonight. That almost sounds silly, don't it? But you know what it did to me, Sister Gina? It taught me the reverence of the sacred things of God. I'll tell anybody in this room, you are more than welcome to join us tonight. But you better understand the value of what God has done for you. >> If you're not full of the Holy Ghost, baptized in Jesus name, walking right with God, you might ought to pray a little extra. You know why? Because if you do the things of God and you partake of them haphazardly, God is going to stand there and he's going to say, "That's a work that you did with the things in your heart and you didn't do it for the right reason. I can't bless what you're doing. Therefore, and you're going to walk out of here and wonder why the anointing of the Lord is not helping you and stuff." It's not because of this. It's because he's telling you, "I have kept you. The death angel should have already had you, but the blood of Jesus went over you.