What mean ye by this service? (Quality: Very good)

[0:00] independence upon the Lord, I ask your prayerful attention to Exodus chapter 12 and especially the latter part of verse 26.

[0:14] What mean ye by this service? I'll read verses 26 and 27 to give the setting.

[0:26] And it shall come to pass when your children shall say unto you what mean ye by this service?

[0:37] That ye shall say it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses.

[0:58] And the people bowed the head and worshipped. What mean ye by this service?

[1:14] This seemed to rest upon one's mind in connection with the ordinance that we have been asked to take after the end of this service.

[1:27] And while this question clearly in the first place refers to the Passover, we think it is also applicable to the Lord's Son.

[1:41] Passover. The Passover took place before the Lord suffered, died and rose again.

[1:51] So in that sense it was prophetic. The Lord's Supper takes place after his sufferings, death and resurrection and is therefore a remembrance.

[2:12] And there are of course essential differences between the one and the other. But I feel we should just touch first of all upon the children asking this question.

[2:31] And of course it is not to be confined merely to children in natural years but children spiritually who have not yet as it were grown in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

[2:53] But they have already life. They have already a desire to know. And as in natural things we should encourage our children to ask questions, to ask in a right spirit but also to explain and answer those questions as the Lord enables us to set the truth before them.

[3:21] We find in Psalm 78 the psalmist refers to this aspect. I will open my mouth in a parable.

[3:34] I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us.

[3:45] We will not hide them from their children showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and His strength and His wonderful works that He hath done.

[4:06] We do not of course in any way pretend that we who the Lord has called by grace so many years ago are any better or that we feel to know more.

[4:22] It would be false modesty to say that we do not know more. We do know more than in our early days of our sinnership and of the Lord's mercy and grace towards us.

[4:39] But the more we know that the more we realize the amount we do not know just as it is in natural things.

[4:49] If a person says to you I know all about that subject you can be fairly sure they are quite ignorant. When I was in the infant school and could add and subtract and multiply and divide I thought I knew all there was to know about mathematics.

[5:07] When I'd studied it for more than 20 years in evening classes and correspondence courses I then realized how little I knew to what there was to know.

[5:20] I did know more but I felt my ignorance more. And then this aspect we read in the prophet All thy children all Zion's children shall be taught of the Lord.

[5:42] And I remind you of that in Psalm 25. What man is he that feareth the Lord that has that beginning of wisdom we touched upon this morning.

[5:55] Him, that man shall he, the Lord teach in the way that he, the Lord shall choose.

[6:09] What man feared the Lord more than Job? And he was taught but not in the way that he would have chosen but in the way the Lord chose.

[6:23] So that after the Lord had spoken out of the whirlwind and all that that sets forth Job was saying Job said Behold I am vile I have heard of thee by the hearing of the air but now mine eye seeth thee wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.

[6:54] Well let us look as the Lord enables firstly then at some of the things prophetically set forth in the Passover.

[7:08] I may have said this here before but it bears repetition concerning the New and the Old Testament. The Old the New is in the Old concealed but the Old is in the New revealed.

[7:31] The New is in the Old concealed the Old is in the New revealed. and now after these previous nine plagues of Egypt we come to the greatest and the tenth plague and just in passing for your meditation ten in scripture so often sets forth the full number of witnesses we read how Boaz took ten men of the city as witnesses that he'd purchased all that was eliminated.

[8:20] For example there were these ten plagues there were the ten commandments there were the ten virgins in the parable we read in revelations of the tribulation ten days and so on many other tens in scripture that the Lord may bless your meditations upon but now this was to be the first month of the year to year the month nice when their calendar year the religious year was to commence but in a spiritual sense old things are passed away all things are become new to the Lord's people when they see by faith Christ their redeeming lamb lamb and in the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb and what a beautiful type of

[9:35] Christ in the fifth verse your lamb I like that possessive word your lamb your lamb shall be without blemish a beautiful type of Christ in his sinless perfection a male of the first year in the prime of its life Christ did not die an old man but clearly in his early thirties in the prime of manhood a male of the first year he shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats both clean animals both dividing the hoof both chewing the calf and then it was to be killed in the evening the blood we read was to be put in a bison and the plant hyssop dipped in that bison dipped into that blood and the blood struck upon the lentil the beam over the door and the two side posts of the houses wherein they were not on the doorstep to be trodden under front they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat and if by faith we rightly partake of this ordinance then we shall do it as in the ninth verse roast with fire and with bitter herbs they shall eat bitter sorrow over repentance how essential is repentance over our sins and not just a remorse because of the punishment we know it brings upon us but true repentance is mixed with faith believes that

[12:06] Christ suffered for those sins and just as we would be grieved naturally from injuring or hurting one we love how much more so when we think of the sufferings our sins of course the dear Lord Jesus I often think of that verse in Corinthians ye are bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which is Christ m 803 is very opposite the diamond that's for thousands sold our admiration draws for dust men seldom part with gold or barter pearls for straws then what inestimable worth must in those crowns appear for which the

[13:14] Lord came down to earth and bought for us so dear and in the second part did the darling son of God for sinners deign to bleed the purchase of that precious blood must needs be rich indeed I nearly chose that second part for our last hymn this morning eye hath not seen nor hear hath heard nor can the heart conceive what blessings are for them prepared who in the Lord believe roast with fire we deserve through our sins eternal punishment in that place where hope and mercy never come and

[14:19] Christ bore that punishment for his people's sins upon the cross eternal and infinite punishment compressed to few hours mathematically it could not be done but faith believed it was done of his suffering so intense angels have no perfect sin roast with fire and thus shall you eat as pilgrims this is not your rest it is polluted with your loins girded the long outer garment tied up around the waist signifying ready for instant obedience so often in the scripture your shoes on your feet that asher be blessed with children thy shoes shall be iron and brass and as thy day shall thy strength be shoes of iron and brass are not needed on velvet carpets but they are needed in the pilgrimage path and your staff in your hands in many ways setting forth the

[15:47] Lord's holy word that support to his people grasped as it were by faith and ye shall eat it in haste it is the Lord's Passover there will be no delay for I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the first born in the land of Egypt both man and beast we read it was from Pharaoh upon his throne to the captive in the dungeon and the blood may say more about that when we come to the ordinance of the Lord's Supper the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are and did the Lord say when you see the blood

[16:48] I will pass over you no he didn't if you desire to see that blood may the Lord answer that prayer and you will in measure see it for they shall look on him and they appear but the essential thing is does the Lord see the blood when I see the blood I will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt what mean ye by this service that ye shall say it is the sacrifice of the Lord pass over who passed over the houses of the children of

[17:48] Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses well let us turn to the ordinance of the Lord Saba we read in Luke I think it is that the Lord sent Peter and John and he said to them to go into the city and then there we read there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water follow him into the house where he entered in if we meet someone clearly they're not going in the same direction as we are so you see they had as it were at least to turn about or turn aside from the path they were thinking was right and a man bearing a pitcher of water was of course an unusual event so often we read in scripture of the women going to the well to fetch water but in a spiritual sense how often the

[19:18] Lord sends forth his servants with that water of life of which the Lord spoke to the woman at the well of Samaria and what a mercy if as it were he enters this house and you are constrained by love to enter with him and that he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared we read at even time the Lord came with the true here we just read go into the city to such a man and say unto him the master saith my time is at hand I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples just in passing in the gospel recorded in

[20:21] John I think it is the twelfth chapter we read it commences six days before the Passover and from that chapter 12 right through to chapter 20 eight chapters were only about one day of the Lord's life upon the earth but what a momentous eight days they were in your salvation and mine depend upon what the Lord did for our sons at that time of the Passover and then we read of Judas having covenanted with the high priests the love of money not money itself but the love of it is the root of all evil woe unto that man by whom the son of man is betrayed it had been good for that man better for him if he had not been born coming then to this

[21:40] Lord's supper as they were eating Jesus took bread he chose bread as that symbol of his own body in John chapter 6 we read in more detail of the Lord speaking of this bread as a symbol of his own body I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst perhaps some poor tried soul may be saying yes but I do hunger yes but I do thirst notice the future tense for blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness that they shall be filled but the time will come in heaven when there will be no hunger and thirst we read of it in revelation 7 who are these and whence came they sir thou knowest these are they which came out of great tribulation and you can't come out unless you have first been in it and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb therefore because of that are they before the throne they shall hunger no more so they did hunger in the past neither shall they thirst anymore so they did thirst why is there no hunger and thirst in heaven for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and lead and lead them unto living fountains of waters and

[23:48] God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes to he he took bread we cannot eat grain as it comes from the harvest field even if it were perfectly pure it would do our bodies no good might indeed do us harm if we ate much of it that grain wheat has to be crushed in the mill and the resulting flour has to be heated in the farm and then it becomes bread often described as the staff of life Christ came into this world of sin and sorrow and set a perfect example of how we ought to live but that never saved one soul if that is all he did there would be no hope for your soul nor mine his holy soul and we emphasize his soul though his body to fulfill the types and shadows had to set these things forth but his holy soul had to be crushed under the norm the prophet

[25:16] Isaiah wrote he shall see of the travail of his soul always notice the small print he didn't say the pain of his soul but the travail the sorrows and pains a woman has before the birth of her baby is different from all other pains if you have a broken arm the most you can hope for is it will be restored to what it was before you want her three arms but after travail there is an increase the childless couple are now parents the only child as a brother or sister of the increase of his kingdom there shall be no end he shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied and so crushed under that law that his people had brought he sweat great drops of blood in the garden we see in his prayer both his humanity and his divinity in his humanity father if it be possible let this cup pass from him then his divinity not my will but thine be done and

[26:45] I think I have mentioned here before he still felt union with his father in the garden and even initially upon the cross when he cried father forgive them for they know not what they do but as his sufferings reached a precend he did not cry my father my father why hast thou forsaken me but my God my God however it grieves one if we hear those two words used as an expletive God will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in God oh may we have a tender conscience when we know the Lord cried those two words in his forsaken spirit upon the cross my God my God why hast thou forsaken him his friends had forsaken him and fled though we know

[27:53] John returned and the women came late and what is the answer to the question because his people deserve to be forsaken and cast into the pit forever and ever and he bore that punishment in their room and place he took bread when we break the bread at the Lord's supper I have often commented we never read in the scripture of the Lord cutting bread with a knife whether it was at the Lord's supper whether it was in the feeding of the multitude or that he broke the bread and when bread is broken every piece is different from every other piece in shape and size half a crumb is real bread as much as half a loaf

[29:02] I love that dear woman who after so much discouragement she had come to the Lord concerning her daughter he answered her not a word then the disciples said send her away for she crieth after us then he said I'm not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel then he said it is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it unto dogs if he said those things to you and the disciples had said send you away would would would you would you have gone elsewhere no she came we read and worshipped as if she came nearer than what she was before and worshipped truth Lord yet yet dogs may eat of the crumbs that fall from their master's table and if a dog gets a crumb from your table often think of it ourselves at home they must be close to your feet and if you're close to the feet of the

[30:22] Lord that's where you'll get the crumbs under his toe I remind you of the first chapter of Judges where we read of three school and ten kings who had their thumbs cut off and their great toes cut off you can't grasp very well without a thumb and you can't walk very well without a great toe but we read they gathered their meat under the king's table we read of Mephibosheth lame on both his feet as perhaps setting forth his lameness in providential things and in spirit but as from Mephibosheth said the king he shall eat at my table then we must just touch upon the feeding of the multitude here we read in John how he said to

[31:25] Philip when should we have so much bread to feed so great a mold and Philip said and this was one of my first texts I ever spoke from at Hokington there is a lad here with five barley loaves and a few small fishes and what are they among so many and he said command the people to sat down they sat down in ranks of fifties and hundreds the number of the disciples that distributed the food were few in comparison with the thousands that were sat down some must have been fed straight away some must have waited a long long time perhaps you have returned from a service and others have spoken the food their soul has had and you are still hungry are you out of the secret no you may be further down the road we read they did all eat and were filled there must have been a last one 4999 had been fed and he was still hungry but the time came for him to feed as well they did all eat and then another thought we must soon move on when we consider our children or in our case grandchildren how they grow though they all live so close to us yet often we exclaim how they are growing where does the extra flesh bone and sinew come from it doesn't come out of the air it comes from the food they have digested it becomes part of them and cannot be separated from them and it is only as you and

[33:30] I feed upon Jesus Christ by faith that we shall grow in grace and in the knowledge of him he took bread and blessed it at the ordinance we pray for the Lord to bless it we cannot bless it as he did but we can pray for his blessing upon it and our partaking of it and he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said take it this is my body the Roman Catholics as you know say it actually becomes the Lord's body and that of course is a stand against that error that many martyrs gave their lives in the middle ages the

[34:30] Lord said I am the door was he ever a door of course he wasn't he said I am the good shepherd there's no record he ever literally kept sheet it was a metaphorical way of speaking in the years Boil the the bread was an emblem of his body he blessed it and said take eat this is my body and he took the cup which contained the wine remember as we read elsewhere where he trod the winepress alone.

[35:15] He trod the winepress alone. He took the cup and gave thanks. Oh, what an infinite mystery in its way stands here.

[35:33] That he should give thanks for that which set forth his sufferings and the shedding of his precious blood.

[35:44] What did I say this morning concerning love? Where there is love, there is a willingness to make sacrifices for the object of that love.

[35:59] And greater love hath no man than this. For the man lay down his life for his friends. And I must say the rest, ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.

[36:21] Drink ye all of it for this is my blood of the New Testament.

[36:35] Of the New Testament. Paul was inspired in writing the Hebrews and as we read the epistle to the Hebrews, remember written to the Hebrews or Jews as we would refer to them more often.

[36:55] They knew the history of the children of Israel. They knew the types and shadows of the Lord. And he was inspired to expound these.

[37:06] A testament is a force after men are dead. Otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

[37:20] This is my blood of the New Testament became of force because of his death. Whereupon neither the First Testament was dedicated without blood.

[37:36] For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats with water and scarlet wool and hissel and sprinkled both the book and all the people saying, this is the blood of the Testament which God hath enjoined unto you without shedding of blood.

[38:06] is no remission of sins. In the gospel as it is in Leviticus, that is no slip of the tongue. Leviticus is so full of gospel teaching.

[38:21] We read in the 17th chapter, the life of the flesh is in the blood.

[38:32] The life of the flesh is in the blood. The life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you upon the altar.

[38:46] A gift, you see, given. The blood is in the blood. The blood is in the blood. To make an atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

[38:59] Spiritually as in the natural body. Blood takes the oxygen from the lungs to the various muscles to maintain warmth, life and energy.

[39:20] Blood takes the nutrients of the stomach all over the body for healing, growth, if we are of a growing age, and to maintain our life.

[39:32] And as you know, if a person is injured, one of the first things to be attended to is to stop any significant flow of blood or death will resume.

[39:47] My blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

[40:00] And significantly, when they had sung this hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives.

[40:14] Into the Mount of Olives. To that place called Gethsemane. And as the poet put it, Gethsemane, the olive place.

[40:26] And why so called, Let Christians guess. Now just comparing the new, the Passover with the ordinance, those that disobeyed the commandment, though none of the children of Israel clearly did, but had they done so, death would have resulted.

[40:58] What takes place with His people if they disobey His commandment?

[41:10] Then, they will be chastened. The Lord will correct them. If we despise His ordinances, our rebellion will cause us to dwell in a dry land.

[41:28] And how much better in the family when there is obedience through love rather than through fear of punishment? Rather than through fear of punishment.

[41:42] But just to touch upon something that is often a hindrance to the Lord's dear people, we find in the book of Numbers, chapter 9, you can read it in more detail later.

[41:58] I often say that and often wonder how many do. In Numbers 9, when they were to keep the Passover in the wilderness, there were certain men who were defiled by the dead body of a man that they could not keep the Passover on that day.

[42:23] How many of us often feel defiled by our dead body of sin? Remember, Paul writes of it in Romans, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this dead?

[42:40] As the Romans chained the dead body of the person killed to the person that had killed them. And the living carried about that corrupting body from which they could by no means free themselves.

[42:56] And so with that figure before his eye, doubtless, he exclaimed, And who shall deliver me from the body of this dead? But there was no union between the living and the dead.

[43:10] But what a hindrance that dead body often is to us. And they came unto Moses and Aaron. Wherefore are we, we are defiled by the dead body of a man.

[43:27] Wherefore are we kept back that we may not offer an offering, to the Lord in His appointed time, season among the children of Israel?

[43:38] And Moses went to inquire of the Lord. If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body or be in a journey far off, yet he shall keep the Passover over unto the Lord.

[43:57] The fourteenth day of the second month instead of the first month, that even they shall keep it and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

[44:14] Well, we feel we have only, as it were, touched upon the surface of these things. But oh, that we may know these things and put them into practice in their lives, in our lives.

[44:34] What mean ye by this service? Amen.