Continuity At The Lord's Table

Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon We pray that as we declare the

Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who

Christ is May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you one of the most important aspects of The Old and the

New Testament is that these documents have continuity Now in the modern world we tend to view especially in the modern church.

We tend to view these documents the Old and the New Testament as if they're Discontinuous or as if they have no connection to one another almost as if they're two completely different religions

You've heard people say I'm a New Testament Christian. What does that even mean? We're whole Bible Christians.

God gave us his entire revelation by the breath of his mouth There's no division there's no angry

Old Testament God and New Testament God of grace in fact If you do the math

God strikes more people dead per year in the New Testament Than he does in the Old Testament written over a thousand years

New Testament written over 40. He's much more Righteously angry at worship than he is even in the

Old Testament. So that distinction doesn't work You see if God really is immutable

The same yesterday today and forever and we know that he is Then God loves

Every word that he has ever spoken He loves the

Old Testament. He loves the sacrificial system. He loves Leviticus in the feast in the temple and Believe it or not.

All of these things are still in operation today You ask yourself what about the law is there still continuity there is that still an operational you better hope that it is because Jesus said he fulfilled the law.

He did not abolish the law The moral law still tells us what we're supposed to do

The civil law still tells us how we're supposed to live in society The ceremonial law still teaches us how

Christ is the perfect fulfillment of all these things He did not come to abolish the law

But he came to fulfill it What about the sacrificial system is the sacrificial system still in operation today, well you better hope it is because if Jesus came and flipped a switch and said

Sacrificial system is over then you and I are still dead in our sins You and I are still lost because we're sinners.

We need a Savior We need a sacrifice the point of the New Testament is not to throw away the sacrificial system

It's to offer us the true and perfect sacrifice of Christ. We still live under the sacrificial system

Except not with blood the blood of bulls and goats with the precious blood of Jesus Christ We can't throw away 75 % of the

Bible and act like it doesn't exist when Christ is the fulfillment of these things

What about the pride high priesthood? I'm talking about Churches where you actually go and sit in a confessional booth with a priest

I'm not talking about that because we reject that there's one mediator between God and man. That's the Lord Christ But does the high priesthood continue?

Yes, it does When Jesus came he did not throw away the high priesthood. He stepped into and became the true high priest it says that he put away the order of Aaron and Then he stepped into the order of Melchizedek the perfect high priest forever

So yes, we you and I as Christians live under a high priestly system Christ is our high priest

What about the temple is the temple still in operation today? Well, we better hope that it is Because the temple is where God and man meet and dwell and while we don't go to Jerusalem to worship anymore

The true and better temple came and tabernacled among us and it says that he made us into Temples of the

Living God where the Holy Spirit dwells in us, so it's better now in the New Testament But there's still temples

You're a temple of the Holy Spirit of God Jesus Christ is the true and perfect temple.

The temple was not abolished What about the feast and the sacrifices of that in all of these things in the

Old Testament the clean and unclean laws? Are they still in operation today? Yes, they are but they're in operation in so much as they have been fulfilled by Jesus Christ He's the one who makes us perfectly clean that doesn't cease because if when you walk out of here today and Jesus mediatorial work ceases

You're back in Old Testament times and you have no covering We need

Christ Continual covering in his high priesthood in his temple and his clean and unclean fulfillment and all of these things we need

Christ He didn't throw away the Old Testament. He fulfilled it It was

Jesus himself who said do not think I came to abolish the law or the prophets I did not come to abolish but to fulfill

For truly I say to you until heaven and earth pass away They're still here

Not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until it is all accomplished

Now, why do I bring this up? As we begin today, I bring this up for three reasons because I don't want us to buy into the evangelical lie that 75 % of the

Bible is irrelevant to us God didn't abolish those things. He fulfilled those things and As we know that this is the second thing.

I want us to understand that Christ came and embraced the law He obeyed the law He fulfilled and completed the law and when we know that then it actually opens up the whole

Bible as a book that we can worship Christ in you can worship Christ in Leviticus because he's the day of atonement sacrifice

You can worship Christ in numbers because he's the one who's leading his people to the promised land You can worship

Christ in Isaiah and Ezekiel and all these places because you know now that all these things are pointing forward to him the only difference between us and Isaiah and us and Moses is that they look forward we look back but everything in human history points to him

The third thing is I want you to love the Old Testament All of the sacrifices all of the

Clean and unclean laws all of them are beautiful Because they all point to Jesus Christ If something points to him

It's beautiful. The only reason we don't see it is because we're dull and we need to slow down And we need to read with Christ as our focus

I Would say if we did that Bible reading plans wouldn't end the valley of dry bones of Leviticus And numbers and Deuteronomy we would see

Christ Our toes would curl in the morning We would run to work with a smile on our face like calves lit out the pasture

Our bosses would be like what is wrong with you? I just read Leviticus Christ is there

If we really saw it, that's the way we would be wouldn't it? Now this continuity applies all over the place you can put a

Continuity between a lot of different things today. I want to talk about the continuity that exists between the Old Testament Passover and the

New Testament Communion you have two feasts Essentially one is an

Old Testament feast one's a New Testament feast one is a Old Testament sign one is a New Testament sign But we can learn so much about Communion and what

God is actually calling us into as a New Testament Church by understanding what God did

With the Passover in the Old Testament. So what I want us to do today. This topic is way too big for us

There's way too much going on pray that we get out of here by midnight

That'll make sense in a moment But we're gonna examine the continuity between Passover and the

Lord's table So with that, let us pray and let us dive in Lord Jesus, I Thank you so much that your word is all pointing to something and that's

Christ Whether it's before Christ or whether it's after Christ.

It's all pointing to Christ Lord, I pray that Lord, I pray that even something

That I hadn't thought about until just this moment But something like this would happen that someone here today

Would say you know what I can look back in the Old Testament to find the answers and a more full

Explanation of everything in the New Testament. What a blessing that would be What a blessing if we if we eliminated this arbitrary division between Old and New Testament We just opened up our

Bibles and says Lord. What do you say about these things? Lord help us to learn today.

There's a lot of information help us to Learn to love your Old Testament Lord help us to see the fullness of what it is that we partake in at the

Lord's table Lord, I pray That nothing but thrilling joy

Would accompany us at the table this morning because we've seen all these things in your word in Christ's name.

Amen Passover or sorry the Communion was birthed right out of the

Passover meal Jesus introduces the Lord's Supper at the

Passover as soon as the Passover is over He gathers his disciples together and he does the

Lord's Supper So we know that Jesus at least thought that these two meals had continuity because he used the

Passover as the perfect opportunity To show us what communion is

Now unless you think that Jesus is random and that there was no significance to that which we know that that is not true

Then we can see that he chose this moment. That's the perfect opportunity to teach us what communion is

Luke 22 14 through 20 Says this when the hour had come

He reclined at the table and the apostles with him and he said to them I have earnestly desired to eat this

Passover with you before I suffer For I say to you I shall never eat it again

Until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God and when he had taken a cup and given thanks he said take this and Share it among yourselves

For I say to you. I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes and when he had taken some bread and Given things he broke it and he said to them saying this is my body which is given for you

Do this in remembrance of me? And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten saying this cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood

Jesus correlates these meals Even by using language like this is the cup of the new covenant

He's pointing back to the Feast of the Old Covenant. He's tying these things together for you and I Which lets us know again if we want to understand communion, we've got to understand the

Passover We have to the first thing that I would teach you or tell you about what the

Passover is is that the Passover is a sign and it's A seal of the covenant of God Remember we've talked about in covenant theology that every covenant has a sign and every covenant has a seal

So for instance Noah's covenant the sign and seal of that covenants the rainbow Moses's covenant. There's actually two signs.

It's Passover and circumcision Every covenant has a sign

Passover is the sign of the Old Covenant. Look at Exodus 12 13 with me You can write these references down where we're not putting them up there anymore.

It's not because Kevin doesn't want to it's because I told him not to because I want Kevin to be able to hear the sermon

So if you're wondering why we haven't put the verses up there That's why we want everybody in this room to be able to pay attention and not have our slides folks

Distracted with putting verses up so write them down. You can look at them later Exodus 12 13 the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live

Do you see that it shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live? And when

I see the blood I will pass over you and no plague will befall you or destroy you When I strike the land of Egypt God himself uses the word sign in the covenant that he's making with Israel He says this is the sign of the covenant, which is the

Passover meal so you have two signs in Moses's Covenant circumcision and Passover Now what's interesting is the new covenant also has two signs and What's even more interesting is that both of those signs are correlated?

circumcision correlates with baptism Passover correlates with the Lord's Supper We have this beautiful continuity between old and new covenant

But what is the Passover? We talked about that. It has a sign. But what is it? Well before we talk about what it actually is we have to talk about that how people had to prepare for it

In fact, they had to prepare for it rigorously for more than seven days They had to prepare for it in a couple different ways actually the first is that they had to be circumcised

If you're a man in Israel, you could not take the Passover if you were not circumcised

If you're a woman in Israel Then you would need to make sure that your husband maybe he was a

Moabite and He's converted but he hasn't yet been circumcised yet. You would have to say honey.

I know this is gonna hurt but You need to take care of that so we can go have the Passover Circumcision precedes the

Passover Circumcision in Israel was the entry ticket to the covenant community of God.

Isn't it fascinating that in the New Testament? That's exactly what baptism is Baptism is the sign that you receive to show that you're a part of the covenant community of God If you're a child that's been born to believers

You get the sign of baptism to show that you've been born into the covenant people if you came in as an adult

Meaning that you were not a Christian you were converted. We baptize you as an adult As a sign that you've been made a member of the covenant community of God Baptism is the sign that you've come in.

That's why We say that baptism comes before Lord's Supper Because how can you eat at the table of?

the Lord as a member of the covenant community if you're not a member of the covenant community if Baptism signifies that you've been made a member of the covenant community of God That's your entry ticket to the table

Same thing in the Old Testament if you were not circumcised you could not eat the Passover These things are the same look at Exodus 1248 but if a stranger sojourns with you and Celebrates the

Passover to the Lord. Let all his males be circumcised and Let him come near to celebrate it and he shall be like a native in the land, but no uncircumcised person

May eat it Now there's several examples of this one. That's actually fascinating is in Joshua chapter 5

If you remember Joshua 5 is right after that first generation of Israelites were unfaithful to God God said that every single one of their ancestors or every single one of that generation was gonna die in the wilderness

So all of them died Except Caleb and Joshua Who met the new generation in and you want to know one example of how unfaithful that generation was?

They didn't circumcise their children all the men in Joshua 5 needed to be circumcised and it's such a fascinating story because they're getting ready to go to war

The other nation can see that they're bordering their nation

They and then I can only imagine the lookout towers like what are they doing the whole nation

But God supernaturally protected them. Do you know why in Joshua 5?

That they were circumcised Well because it was obedience because they were the covenant people of God But right after that once they had healed they took the

Passover They were circumcised so that they could participate in the Passover the preeminent feast of the people of Israel again, the rationale is

You have to be in the covenant community to eat the meal and that's what God was pressing them for That's one way you can prepare is if you're a male in Israel be circumcised if you're a

Male female Jew or Greek in this room you prepare for the Lord's table through baptism

The second way that they prepared in the Old Testament is through the feast of unleavened bread seven days of crackers as it were described in Exodus 12 15 through 20 and What they would have to do is every single person would have to go through all of their cupboards and all of their cabinets

They'd have to go into their little bread rack and they would have to find every single Piece every crumb every morsel of bread that had yeast in it and they'd have to throw it out

They have to completely eliminate yeast from their home now the reason is

Not because God hates yeast or the yeast is somehow evil. Although Although I do think bread is fairly evil it

It's the reason that I am a shape but not the right one But that's not the point the point is that bread yeast causes a chemical reaction in the dough and It causes it to spread and it causes it to become the whole thing actually becomes polluted with this stuff yeast and it makes it

Expand and rise the metaphor that God was trying to get his people to understand was is that that's what sin is one sin in your soul infects the whole lump

Spreads multiplies it grows So as they were cleaning out their cabinets as they were sweeping their floors as they were doing all of this work to prepare for the

Passover they would have been reminded that sin is serious and I need to war against it

I need to mortify my flesh passionately and with great energy because God is a holy

God and Therefore we must be holy because he is holy now if you did not do this

It says that you would be cut off from the people of Israel If you failed to clean your house of all the yeast you'd be cut off from the people of Israel You would essentially be forfeiting your citizenship

This is what it says in Exodus 12 17 through 20 You shall also observe the Feast of the

Unleavened Bread for on this day. I brought your host out of the land of Egypt Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance in The first month on the 14th day of the month at evening

You shall eat the unleavened bread until the 21st day of the month at evening seven days

There shall be no leaven found in your houses For whoever eats what is leavened that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel whether he is an alien or a native

You shall not eat anything leavened in all your dwellings. You shall eat unleavened bread

God is giving them a very powerful metaphor of how sin infects the nation and they have to war against it

Now it's their continuity with communion We're called as the people of God To examine ourselves before we take the table

We're called as the people of God to look at our lives and make sure that we are Christians But now one of the really amazing things about communion and why communion is different than the

Passover is that you and I are Not the ones that go and sweep the cupboards You and I are not the ones that that go and sweep out the house and make sure that we are clean

Christ did that Christ by his work on the cross has made us clean

His blood has forgiven us of all of our sins. The leaven of sin has been crucified even though we still sin

Even though we still fall short of the glory of God Christ has done the work and he has pronounced you and I clean

So, what do we do? We prepare for the table by making sure we're in Christ We prepare for the table

By making sure that Christ has done the work in our life and not us The table is not about your performance

The table is not about your cleanliness The table is not about your righteousness

How many times have I personally sat in a church service and thought I? Can't go to the table today because I did this or I did that.

I need to clean myself up I need to do this and do that. That is not what the table is about The table is about the risen

Christ making you clean And the leaven of sin being crucified in your life so that you can come joyfully as Christians your examination is

Am I in Christ and has Christ made me clean? So there's continuity

Although the communion meal is better. It's better They're also told

We can only summarize this I'm trying to actually move quickly for your grace and your benefit here

But they were told how to do the Passover as well not just how to prepare for it But how to do it four days before the

Passover the father of the home so it was a head of household that was doing this was to go out into his flocks and he was to pick a lamb and That lamb had to be perfect and spotless without blemish and that had to be the choice lamb as it were

And I've told you this before but it's worth repeating. He would bring that lamb into the home Can you imagine?

It's that week of the year where the lamb lives in your living room The kids pet it the wife

Talks sweetly to the little lamb. It wags. It's little they don't do lambs have tails Okay.

Yeah wags its little tail I'm not a lambologist. I don't know these things But imagine four days in the home of the father and then what happens on twilight of the fourth day

The father carries or walks the lamb outside and the father speaks over the head of the lamb the sins of his family and The lamb receives on to himself as a substitution for that family the sins that they had committed

The father slaughters the lamb its blood is shed and its blood is painted over the doorpost of his home

They were commanded not to eat this meal Over time they were commanded to eat this meal quickly and in haste

They were commanded to eat all of it And if they could not finish that meal that night They would have to take the rest of it and put it in the flames and let the smoke go up to the

Lord as a Pleasing offering to him. They could only eat what they could eat and they could not eat anymore.

They could not take leftovers Which is an interesting thing if you think about they're getting ready to go through a wilderness

You would think the very practical Israelites were like just bought this Tupperware Why can't

I take a little extra but no? The reason that they were to eat it quickly is because God is going to set them free

The reason that they ate it with bitter herbs was to remind them that their slavery in Egypt had been bitter the reason

That they weren't allowed to save it any of it for later is because they had to move quickly So quickly in fact that they had to outrun the

Egyptians to the Red Sea They had to paint the blood on their doorposts even in a cross -shaped motion because the destroyer was coming and The destroyer would come into every home that did not have the lambs blood painted on it and every firstborn son would perish

They were commanded not to leave their homes. They were commanded to stay indoors all night as an act of faith and In the morning when they woke up the entire nation of Egypt was in mourning

Over the firstborn sons among them that had died Egypt at this point begged them to leave if you wonder where these

Israelites who were in slavery for 400 years got all the gold to make the tabernacle. It's because the

Egyptians gave it to them to leave They gave them their gold and their silver and their costly items and said get out

Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said get out. They had become a stench to the

Egyptians All of this is connected in the Passover Now, how does this have continuity with the

Lord's table in the New Testament We know that the true father is the one who chose the true lamb

Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and in Jesus there was no proof There was no spot

There was no imperfection There was no stripes He was chosen out of the flock to be the true lamb.

Did you know that four days? Before Jesus died. He came into Jerusalem Jerusalem is known as God's house the city where he dwells

Jesus comes into God's house four days before the Passover on the fourth day

They take him out at twilight early in the morning and they slaughter him in The same way that they would have slaughtered a

Passover lamb, and they didn't get it they didn't see the connection what they were doing and As his blood was painted on the cross

You and I Gained our redemption and our deliverance so that when we die

The destroyer doesn't take us But we're safe in the blood of the lamb you see the continuity

So when Jesus tells us to take this bread and to take this blood which represent his body and blood on the cross

He's telling us to think about Passover. I'm the true Passover lamb that saved you that delivered you

That redeemed you We'll get into this in a moment, but eating the meal in the way that we eat it is also really important You ever wondered why you get a small piece of bread and a very small thimble of wine.

It's not because God is stingy It's because we eat our meal in a hurry because this world is our

Egypt and it's not our home and We're in route to the land where God is Leading us new

Jerusalem where we live with him forever. You see the continuity in that Again Again we'll talk about that just a little bit more in a moment.

The next thing I want to share with you is Who can take the Passover We've seen kind of what it is and how it relates to Jesus's crucifixion, but who can take it

Who are the worthy? Receivers in ancient Israel that can take this Passover meal.

Is it just the men? Is it just the men and the women is it men women and children? What is it?

Well as we see in Exodus chapter 12, it's the whole family that takes the meal

But there is a caveat to that that I'd like you to understand The Bible does not instruct the men of Israel to force feed bits of lamb and Crackers and bitter herbs into the gummy mouths of their infants one and two day olds do not gnaw on the lamb

But that does not mean that they're not intimately involved They are involved.

Let me show you what I mean Exodus 12 24 through 27 and you shall observe this event as An ordinance for you and your children forever

When you enter the land which the Lord will give you as he promised You shall observe this right and when your children say to you, what does this right mean to you?

You shall say it is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord Who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when he smote the

Egyptians, but spared our homes and the people bowed low and worshiped

No one is excluded in this meal This is one of the reasons by the way, this passage is

One of the reasons why we do not take our children out of worship because you can't find an example in all of the

Bible Where God's children were taken away from their parents and and shuttled to a high energy kids service

You can't find it They're always there with their parents observing and that's where the the children are highly active in the

Passover meal They're observing what mom and dad is doing just as our children are observing us worship and Observing us singing the songs of the

Covenant and watching us take the Lord's table You see we have many today who asked the question how old?

Does a child have to be to participate in communion? I think that's actually the wrong question The question is not a question of age in the

Bible. It's a question of action. What is the child doing? Because in this text it shares with us that the child will look at its father and will say why do we do these things and Then the father will tell them and then the father will invite them to the table.

I think That the biblical standard is not an age

It's an action so for instance, let me Let me explain how this affects my life

I Have two kids that are under four or four and two

One of them looks at me every time she comes up to communion and she's she's reaching for it

The first time that she did that I went back and looked at this verse I went home and I taught her what communion was

I taught her what I've been teaching her the Westminster shorter catechism So I've been catechizing her, but when she understood it,

I took her to Derek and I let her Describe what communion is in front of him and I let her describe who

God is It's her Savior that her chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. I let her share those things with him

Now she is a child who met the standard of the Passover where she's reaching for the table

She wants to participate with the family of God and I now am in the role of teaching her what this means

Why would I forbid her to come I know that makes a lot of people uncomfortable Especially in the

Reformed world But there is no standard on how old you have to be to come to the table

Is it is it that I believe in Jesus raise your hand or is it they have to memorize all the questions of the

Westminster? Shorter, what's the standard if not Exodus 12? Where the child reaches for the table and says, why do we do these things and you teach them and Then you bring them to the table you see there's continuity and Passover and communion

There's continuity in these two meals. Now. I know that a fuller treatment is needed on this topic

Many people have probably had high blood pressure writing on this topic But the

New Testament, here's what we do know The New Testament does not prohibit young children from coming to the table.

Not once number two The one time that the disciples tried to remove the children

Jesus became fairly heated and then the third thing is that we have when the

New Testament comes around you have Jews who've been Jews for thousands of years and They're pro children and They're pro my children are with me when we celebrate these feasts and we celebrate these meals to think

To think that the New Testament writers wouldn't have mentioned. Hey, by the way, it's not like that anymore You can't give it to your children anymore

To think that they wouldn't have mentioned that I think is is a stretch I'm making an argument from silence, but the silence is deafening

We have a strong case in the Bible For children who want to participate if they've been baptized just like in the

Old Testament if they've been circumcised that they can come to the table and I see no biblical reason

That a child under those circumstances that they've been baptized Catechized they can physically digest the elements.

They can ask what the table is. You can teach them all those things. I don't see How we can deny them now again

There's subjectivity Within the Reformed world, so we need grace Because without a explicit passage that says thou shalt admit children when they've turned nine

Or thou shalt admit children when they've memorized Deuteronomy 6 or whatever the standard is without those things

We have Exodus 12 to go on and we know that the two meals have continuity again

My repentance in these things is I didn't grow up in the Reformed tradition. I didn't know these things The first thing

I had to do is I had to repent by baptizing my children Because I didn't see that there was continuity in the Old and the

New Testament now that I do I baptize my children Because they're members of the covenant community doesn't mean they're saved

Doesn't mean that they're elect, but it does mean that they're part of the visible church If my children are sitting in the pews and your children are sitting in the pews.

They are members of the church They're here at the church They're part of the visible church

To pretend otherwise and to treat them like they're pagans Is wrong after that,

I had to repent by By teaching my children these things and by inviting my children to the table

So if you're a mom and you're a dad and you've never heard us say this publicly The things that the

Bible would say that you need to have before your children can come and participate So they need to be baptized because baptism is the sign you've entered into the covenant community of God They need to be catechized

Which means that you need to be teaching them There is no scripture that says that the church is your

Disciple or for your children the Bible Overwhelmingly puts the responsibility on you men to teach your children and to teach your wives and then once you're baptized and catechized

You come to the table joyfully That's what the Bible says There's continuity also in Other questions that we might ask like we said earlier.

Am I worthy to take communion today? I was driving to church and I saw something and I had an impure thought am

I worthy to take communion today? I Got angry at my spouse because they did something that I didn't like I gave them a tongue -lashing on the way to church because the devil

Was riding with us in our car. Am I worthy? To take communion today. I Came into church in a bad place.

Am I worthy to take communion today? One of the things that I think is so beautiful in the

Old Testament story is Who was allowed to participate in? Passover because The Old Testament seems really rigid does it not?

Oh you touched a dead person. You can't participate. Oh, you ate some shrimp You can't participate up you on and on and on One of the things that you were always commanded to participate in even if you were in sin, it's the

Passover You're always commanded to participate in it. Look at what numbers 9 1 through 12 says we read a little bit of this earlier the

Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt saying now

Let the sons of Israel observe the Passover at its appointed time On the 14th day of this month at twilight, you shall observe it at its appointed time

And you shall observe it according to all the statutes and according to all the ordinances So Moses told the sons of Israel to observe the

Passover So they observed the Passover in the first month of the 14th day of the month at twilight

They keep repeating the dates because God cares about time According to all that the

Lord had commanded Moses so the sons of Israel did it but this is fascinating There were some men who were unclean because they had touched a dead person

So they could not observe the Passover on that day So they came before Moses and Aaron on that day.

Those men said to him though. We are unclean Because of the dead person

Why are we restrained from presenting the offering of the Lord? It's appointed time among the sons of Israel Moses said to them exactly what

Moses should have said to them and he says wait and I will go find out what the Lord has commanded concerning you then the

Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to the sons of Israel saying if any one of you or your Generations becomes unclean because of a dead person or is on a distant journey

He may observe the Passover the Lord in the second month on the 14th day of twilight

They shall observe it They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs and they shall have none left until morning nor break a bone of it all the same features exist though not on the first month, but on the second month because Passover was so important to God that he was unwilling for his people to skip it

He was unwilling for his people to miss out on the benefit of the Passover So he gave them an allowance where they could go not on the first month, but on the second month now

This is where it gets interesting because in the New Testament. We see continuity with the Passover and Communion, but our continuity is better because The only reason that I can see in the

New Testament for anyone to willingly skip Communion is if you're under church discipline for a grave sin

It says in the Old Testament that if you were cut off from the people of Israel through being unclean

You have to miss the Passover and take it the next month What cuts you off from the community in the

New Testament is grave sin Unrepentant sin and you're eventually excommunicated.

That's it. That's the only thing that cuts you off from the people Now, what am I talking about grave sin?

You're seriously cheating on your wife. You killed someone You stopped and had an abortion on your way to church

You've been living in unrepentant sin watching pornography for years and you you won't repent

The church has called you to repent. They brought you in front of another witness. They brought you in front of another elder

They brought you in front of the congregation and you're not repenting not repenting not repenting Then you're cut off from the community

That is the only time that I can see that the New Testament bars you from coming to the table if you're not there

Then you must come to the table of Christ The table was only barred for a very short season in the

Old Testament for a month well in the New Testament We must also have a path back for sinners who repent to come back to the table because God is gracious So if someone is caught in that kind of sin

The church has to work with them in order to get them back to the table because they're not beyond God's grace if they repent

But that's the only reason that I can see that would stop you from coming to the table because the question you need to ask yourself is

Am I perfect? Am I sinless? Have I performed well enough this week?

No, you can never answer. Yes to that We need the table because it's

God's means of grace to nourish us in our sin If you feel like you should not come to the table,

I would ask you to repent by coming to the table Because it's God's means of grace to you in your life communion

Is the most important meal that you and I will eat all week? We can go to the fanciest restaurants

We can spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars to eat and it all turns into the same worthless material at the end

But the table of Christ nourishes God's saints Feeds us in a spiritual way

Binds us to Christ and his promises. Look at what the Westminster confession of faith says just so you know,

I'm not making these things up Worthy receivers Outwardly partaking of the visible elements in the sacrament then or do then also inwardly by faith really and indeed

Yet not carnally and corporately but spiritually receive and feed upon christ and him crucified

And all benefits of his death the body and blood of christ being then not corporately or carnally in with or under That's a jab at luther yet as really spiritually present to the faith of the believers in that ordinance

And the elements themselves are to their outward senses what the Westminster is trying to say And it's saying in a little bit of old outdated english at this point because it's 400 years old is that christ is present at the table

That he is spiritually present there and he's spiritually nourishing us and feeding us on these elements

This is not a bare memorial that we're taking part of This is not a cracker and juice and this is not the actual physical body and blood of christ as All those would say who are in the catholic church

What it is Is that christ is still physically in heaven, but spiritually he is present with us at his table and he is nourishing us and feeding us

It says in john 6 Unless you eat the body and drink the blood of our lord you have no life christ is feeding us at his table

So for that reason, why would we ever advise you? To skip the table of the lord

Why would we ever tell you? To sit in your chair and avoid it

If it's a baptism issue get baptized If it's a sin issue come to the table and repent and enjoy the grace that christ has given to you

Whatever it is Come to the table because he's got grace for you that you cannot get anywhere else

It may feel pious Sometimes to skip the table. I'm, just not in a good place

That would be like skipping a meal if you're hungry That would be like turning down a cup of water in the middle of the sahara desert

That would be like rejecting a coat on top of mount everest you get my point

Not going to the table because you're a sinner is antithetical to the point

You go to the table because you're a sinner in need of god's grace Ready to receive from him

Another thing i'd like to show you about the passover is that the passover has punishments involved with it. It doesn't just have blessings

In exodus 12 if people did not participate in that original passover their children would die their firstborn sons

And in case we don't make the connection if your dad was a firstborn son He dies if your grandpa was a firstborn son.

He dies if your uncle was a firstborn son. He dies the imagine Imagine the devastation that the israelites woke up to that.

Egypt was mourning But you also imagine the tendency of the human heart because at the second passover

The angel of death is no longer Prowling And putting to death the firstborn sons

They wake up the next day and it feels like nothing is different and they're told to reenact the ceremony

And the human heart would say the threat's over I can relax a little bit I can

I don't have to participate this year I don't have to participate this year Well, what is interesting is that god repeats the punishments?

He doesn't threaten death. But in numbers 9 13, he says but the man who is clean And is not on a journey

And yet neglects to observe the passover that person shall be cut off from his people

For he did not present the offering of the lord at its appointed time that man

Will bear his sin Unexcused absences at the passover meal were were not acceptable in the old testament israel

Unless you were on a long journey If you're on vacation and you couldn't make it then you would go to the second month

If you were sick and unclean you would go to the second month what I see As far as continuity goes

Jesus did not die on the cross and sacrifice his own life for us to give us a lackluster attitude towards communion the same god

Who has high standards for people participating in the things that he's told them to participate in?

remains today The only difference is that christ has given us the safety

By which to exploit it with our apathy Isn't that interesting?

Christ has forgiven us. So we relax And yet god has called us to meet him at the table every single week

Now if you're on a long journey on your own vacation, obviously you can't come but praise god in our lifetime

This thing called the internet It exists this thing called a smartphone as of 2007.

I remember when it came out You can go online you can type in the wi -fi password at your hotel and you can say reformed churches near me

Crec churches near me opc churches near me And what's really cool is that it actually populates with results

Now you manage to drive a little bit But we can we don't have to miss church

We don't have to miss coming to the table of christ where he gives us his grace Just because we're on a long journey think about the grace that god has given us

And that no other generation had that if you're on a long journey You don't you're you're among strangers.

You don't know where the churches are. You don't know where the people are We have so many blessings and benefits today that we can use do we use them

Do we use them? What other reasons can we miss church or miss the lord's table here in the new testament?

Well, if you're sick and you're contagious god has grace for that he had it in the old testament

If you're in a nursing home, if you're injured if you're a shut -in God has grace for that If you're having car trouble because your car broke down and No one loved you enough to bring you to church that day

I think god has grace for that You see the standard is not legalistic. The standard is

At the table you get something It's not God's going to beat you over the head because you don't perform

It's he has a gift to give you that is better than anything else you could ever imagine And why wouldn't you come and why wouldn't you celebrate with him?

Preparing snacks for a football game is probably not legitimate Because we're tired and slept in is probably not legitimate

Because the church today has a general apathy for the things of god is probably not legitimate And that's why we're here in the new testament God wants us to worship him in spirit and in truth

Loving him with all of our heart. We forget that first one And our soul and our mind and our strength today

Active church membership is measured. This is true on the ligonier state of theology

By one church attendance per month That's how low we've put the bar one attendance at church per month

When the king of the universe has invited us here to give us his gifts Where else can you go where you will receive more than you will receive here?

Where else can you go and get fellowship with a more important person than jesus christ? Either something is more important to us than god

Or god is not that important to us at all. Those are the only two options Both testaments speak about participation in very strong ways

Because god wants to give us very beautiful blessings The curse of the passover

Continues on into the new testament the curse of the lord's supper. We don't often think about it in this way But the lord's supper is dangerous it says

In first corinthians 11 we'll begin in verse 17 But in this instruction

I do not praise you first corinthians 11 is the chapter on the lord's supper by the way and he's Telling the congregation i'm not happy with you

Because you come together, but it's not for the better, but it's for the worse For in the first place when you come together as a church.

I hear that divisions exist among you and in part I believe it Though there also must be factions among you so that those who are approved may become evident among you

Therefore when you meet together, it's not to eat the lord's supper For in your eating each one of you takes his own supper first and one is hungry and another is drunk.

What? Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink Or do you despise the church of god and shame those who have nothing?

And then in verse 27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the lord

That's serious But a man must examine himself and in so doing he is to eat

Of the bread and drink of the cup for he who eats and drinks eats and drinks judgment to himself

If he does not judge the body and the blood of the lord Rightly For this reason many among you are weak and sick and a number sleep.

That's a euphemism for dead But if we judged ourself rightly we would not be judged

But when we are judged we are disciplined by the lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world

God is saying that this meal of communion is so important That it has curses even attached to it like in the days of passover

And in fact the curses of the lord's table are more prominent and more pronounced and more

Aggressive even than the punishments of passover because in passover you're cut off from the people

In the lord's supper if you take it inappropriately Sickness death

Or what a weight I would even go as far as to say that the american church is sick and dead because of a low view of communion

It's one of the reasons maybe not the only reason but it's definitely One of the reasons why the american church is sick and dead paul said it

We need to be careful In the way that we think about communion

If you're a christian The wrath of god was poured out on christ and was not poured out on you Come to the table

But this one affects pastors as well Because you think about those corinthians who were rich and they were looking down their nose at the poor the sin of corinth

Was not that a few people didn't make sure that they were christians And that's why they were punished the sin of corinth is that they were treating other people who could have taken the lord's table like garbage

And they were causing the poor people in their church To not be able to take it and paul says that Is why you are sick and that is why some of you are dead when

I say this We've got to be very careful on who we allow to the table and who we say cannot come to the table because I know for me

I don't want to die because I was too rigid

On the table that I looked down my nose on someone Who needed to come to the table that doesn't mean we have no standards

But it does mean that we have the standards of the bible so for instance with children If children are baptized

If children are being catechized in their home, we allow those children to come Because I don't want to be the rich man of corinth who's looking down my nose at the poor children

This is personal for me Communion is a blessing communion is also a curse.

We have to treat these things carefully There's so much more that we could go through i'm going to try to go through this really quickly

Passover symbolizes covenant renewal every time israel fell into sin. They repented by going to passover

Every time you can go to joshua 5 you can go to 2nd chronicles 35.

Josiah's revolution or josiah's reformation Josiah led his people after they found the bible

They were so far gone that they did not even know the torah existed One of the priests found it inside the temple and they came and they're like, what is this?

Josiah read it. Josiah repented and he led the people into passover Look at the people who were led into the exile in the book of ezra

They build the temple. The first thing they do is they go to passover Passover is a part of the ongoing covenant renewal of the life of the people of israel

Because when you are doing passover in the appointed time We've seen that phrase several times that god tells us in his word

Then you're in covenant good standing with god If you fall out of that for sin for idolatry or anything else the way back into covenant fidelity is through passover.

The same is true with communion we maintain our relationship with god

Through regular participation at the table It is covenant renewal every week when we come to the table and are reminded of what god has done

That's what passover was for Except in the old testament was once a year now think about the grace it is that we get to do it once a week

Many will argue That there is no standard in the bible and how frequently we take communion.

Well, I think there is Acts 20 verse 7 on the first day of the week that sunday When we were gathered together to break bread, that's a word for that They use for communion paul began talking to them intending to leave the next day and he prolonged his message until midnight

You think I preach a long time he preached till midnight And they were happy about it

But look at what it says On the lord's day they gather together to have communion on the lord's day

That tells me that there's a frequency in communion that when we gather together as the saints of god, we take communion together

You can go to acts chapter 2 where it's where it also talks about this But I think it's pretty clear that in multiple passages

We see the church gathering to break bread together to celebrate what christ has done on the cross because every week we need that reminder

One of the ways that israel would always fall out of covenant relationship with god is that they would forget

That they would forget So god in his grace has given us 52 times a year that we can bypass our forgetfulness and remember the gospel of christ at the table

It's beautiful It's a grace Passover celebrates substitutionary atonement the lamb died in your place.

What does communion celebrate substitutionary atonement? Jesus died in your place. Passover symbolizes cleansing from sin.

What does jesus do? Jesus cleanses us from all of our sin. Passover celebrates, this is the last one.

It's not gonna be midnight. Passover celebrates an end time meal in both testaments.

You've got the people who are eating in a hurry. Exodus 12, 11 through 13 says, now you shall eat this in this manner with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, your staff in your hand, you shall eat in haste.

Have you ever went to sleep with your clothes on? It's uncomfortable, have you ever done that? So tired, you just fell asleep, your shoes are on, the next day your feet are aching.

It doesn't happen in your 20s, but later on it does. This is what they were supposed to do, go to sleep in their clothes because they were to wake up ready to leave.

It's the Lord's Passover. For I will not go through the land of Egypt, or for I will go through the land of Egypt on that night and I will strike down all the firstborn, and we've read this passage now.

They were to eat this meal in haste. They were to eat as if this is not my home. When you're in your home, you put on your pajamas.

This is where you live. This Egypt is not your home. Don't put on your pajamas. Don't get dressed down.

Live in your sandals because in the morning you are leaving. And how are they leaving?

They're leaving by the Spirit of God leading them. Fire by night, smoke cloud by day, leading them where?

To the land of Israel, of Canaan, that was flowing with milk and honey and blessings that they could have never imagined.

Do you realize that that's what Christ has done for us? That Christ himself has died on the cross for our sins and he's not left us.

It says that he gave us his Spirit to lead us. Does your life feel like a wilderness?

Does your life feel like chaos at times? It's because this life is not your home. Don't get comfortable here.

Don't build your castles here. Follow the Spirit of God as he leads you step by step with your eyes up towards heaven because he's not just leading us to a new country.

He's leading us to a forever kingdom in heaven. Do you see the continuity that exists between Passover and communion except communion is better?

Communion is a meal where we celebrate the eternal reality that God has saved you and will never lose you, never.

Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you did not throw away all of these pages in the

Old Testament but Lord you fulfilled them. At every point in the

Passover meal you're what's being typified. And at every point in the communion meal it's not just a made up ritual that pops in out of nowhere.

It has depth like the tip of an iceberg goes down deep into the icy ocean.

Lord I pray that we would eat the Passover, or eat the communion meal today like the people of Israel of old.

I pray that we would eat it as if we're in a hurry and not in a hurry to leave the church but in a hurry because this place is not our home.

This world is not where we belong. We are here for a very short time to build your kingdom until your kingdom comes in heaven, on earth as it is in heaven.

Lord help us to keep our eyes focused on you. Lord help us not to have deep roots in this world.

Lord help us to live light like our bags are already packed. Lord help us to have joy today as we go to your table where we meet with you.