Sermon Overview
Scripture Passage: Hebrews 11:28

The Passover is a Jewish tradition that should be interwoven with our celebration of Easter. We as Christians have reason to celebrate Passover because it prophecies our redeeming faith in Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 11:28 says, “By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.”

The Passover was first introduced in the Book of Exodus. The Israelites sacrificed lambs and painted blood on their doorposts. The sacrificial lambs had to be spotless in order to cause the death angel to pass over their homes.

After the lambs were sacrificed, the families shared them, celebrating their atonement.

Through this tradition, God taught His people one of the fundamental truths of His Word: without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.

The Passover displays the prophetic anticipation of Calvary’s sacrifice. Jesus is the sacrificial lamb without spot or blemish. When we receive His saving power of salvation, we are nourished by Him. Further, we are called to share the feast with others.

The Passover reminds us of the promised consummation of Calvary’s sacrifice.

In the final week of His life, Jesus was examined and questioned by the religious leaders. This process mimicked how a Passover lamb was inspected. They could find no fault in Him, confirming to us that He was the promised one.

John 1:29 confirms this promise: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’”

Finally, Passover calls for the perpetual celebration of Calvary’s sacrifice. 1 Corinthians 5:7 says, “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”

No longer do we recognize Passover to obtain redemption. As Christians, we celebrate Passover through the Lord’s Supper, to remember our redemption through Jesus Christ.

Adrian Rogers says, “In the Old Testament, they put the blood upon the doorposts. In the New Testament, we confess Christ openly as our Savior.”

Apply it to your life
Do you possess a redeeming faith in Jesus Christ, the spotless, sacrificial lamb of God? Share the feast with others today; celebrate what He has done. Openly declare your faith as the Israelites did when they painted their doorposts for all to see.

now let me tell you friend, you take the bible and cut it anywhere and it will bleed. It is a book of blood. It tells us about the blood redemption all the way from genesis, right on through to the Book of the Revelation. And so in Passover, we see calvary sacrifice in anticipation. And then at calvary we see the sacrifice in consummation. Then in the Lord’s supper, we see the sacrifice in celebration. Adrian Rogers ability to apply biblical truth to everyday life was one of the many things that made him such a remarkable pastor, teacher and writer today on love worth finding. He’ll be bringing that uniqueness to this series of messages that were calling champions of faith. Have your bibles open to Hebrews chapter 11 and join us for today’s message. And this message is an encouragement to you. Remember you can stream this message again and download Pastor Rogers outline notes and other resources to go along with this message all at L WF dot org. Now, let’s join Adrian Rogers. Would you open the Word of God to Hebrews chapter 11 And uh we are going to spend some time together enjoying the Word of God. We’re in a series of bible studies entitled Champions of faith. How’s your faith doing? We meet one another today we say, how are you feeling? Why don’t you say? How are you? Faith feelings are fickle faith keeps us steady. You’re no stronger than your faith. The bible says according to your faith, be it unto you and I want you to be a champion of faith. Today, we’re talking about the redeeming blood of jesus christ uh the redeeming blood and we’re going to help you to understand something of the power of faith In the shed blood of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Now look if you will here in hebrews chapter 11 in verse 28, it speaks of moses and it says through faith, he kept the passover and the sprinkling of blood lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. Now, that’s just a verse of scripture unless you get it in context. Now let me give you the context. The Children of Israel are in bondage, they’re down in Egypt, they go down into Egypt in the time of famine. They stay down there and now uh old pharaoh has them as his slaves and they’re making bricks without straw, day after day, under the cruel taskmaster and under the lash of the Lichter they are working night and day in bondage. But God is going to deliver them, God is going to bring them out and God brings them out in a night called the night of the Pass over. Now, what is the Passover. Well God had told the Children of Israel, the jews that he’s going to send an angel through the land of Egypt and that angel would be a death angel and the first born in every family would be slain that night, a terrible horrible thing. But there was an exception. God said to his people, if you will take a lamb, a spotless lamb, take the blood of that lamb and put it upon the door posts of your house and upon the little of that house when the death angel comes through the land and he’s gonna be looking for the blood. And God says, when he sees the blood he will pass over you. Hence Passover, that’s what Passover is all about. Did you know that christians are to celebrate Passover? Did you know that? Did you know that the bible commands us to celebrate Passover? Now many christians don’t know that, but you’re in for a great blessing because in Passover we see a picture of prophecy of the Lord jesus christ. Now let me tell you friend, you take the bible and cut it anywhere and it will bleed. It is a book of blood. It tells us about the blood redemption all the way from genesis, right on through to the Book of the revelation. And so in Passover we see calvary sacrifice in anticipation. And then at calvary we see the sacrifice in consummation. Then in the Lord’s supper, we see the sacrifice in celebration. Now that’s what we’re gonna look at today. So just take your bibles and be ready to study with us. Look again, if you will please in hebrews chapter 11 and verse 28. Speaking of moses through faith, he kept the Passover. Now, Passover is all about a lamb, a little lamb was slain, we all love lambs. Uh we call our babies little lambs. I have a granddaughter whose name is Rachel, which means little lamb cuddly little white lamb. Is there anything more tender? Anything more gentle? Anything more helpless? That a little lamb, hello lamb seems to say, are you hungry? Kill me and eat me? Are you cold? Then share me and make some wool, keep yourself warm. If you kill a lamb, the land will hardly make a sound. The lamb seems to be defenseless. It can’t, but it can hardly run on its wobbly little legs. It has no claws to to fight with. It has no uh incisor teeth to bite with. It’s just just a little lamb almost presents itself to death. Now, God listen, God is going to use a lamb to deliver his people Now, where are they? They are in the land of Egypt, in the bible, Egypt stands for bondage. It stands for the world, the flesh and the devil pharaoh himself is a type of picture. An illustration of the devil pharaoh, of course, the king of Egypt. Now, old pharaoh had a crown and on his crown was a serpent right there. On his crown is a serpent. You look at some of those ancient Egyptian pictures and look and you’ll see a serpent coiled up there, that’s the symbol of Egypt here. You have the serpent! Over here, you have the land now, it’s the lamb who’s going to defeat the serpent. That’s what Passover is all about. God is going to bring his people from the land of bondage, from the Land of Wickedness, from the Land of Sin, from the land of cruelty. God is going to deliver them and God is going to do it with a lamb, a Passover lamb. Now keep all that in mind. And let’s look at the first point. All right, now, here’s the first thing we’re going to see, the prophetic. The prophetic anticipation of calvary’s sacrifice. Calvary is not an afterthought. It is not an emergency matter. Jesus was in the heart and mind of God before he swung this planet into space. I’m talking about calvary. Rather jesus of course, was the one who swung it into space. But calvary in anticipation was in the heart and mind of Almighty God. Now we’re in Hebrews chapter 11. But it’s writing about the old testament. And so we’re gonna find that in Exodus chapter 12. So just go back text this chapter 12, if you will and we’ll spend most of the rest of our time in excess 12. So you can feel free to turn to it, keep your bibles there in your lap. Now let’s see what he says here next is chapter 12, Beginning in verse one and the Lord Spake unto moses and Aaron in the Land of Egypt saying, This month shall be unto you, the beginning of months, It should be the first month of the year to you, Speaking to all the congregation of Israel saying in the 10th day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbors next to his house take it according to the number of the souls. Every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb, your lamb shall be without blemish. A male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening and then he says in in verse 11, and you shall eat it with your loins girded, that is have your robe, on your shoes, on your feet, your staff in your hand and you shall eat it in haste. And here it is, it is the Lord’s Passover, the lamb, the lamb, the lamb, the lamb, the lamb, it is the Lord’s Passover. Now I want you to notice some things about this lamb that anticipates the Lord jesus christ in prophecy number one, it was a spotless lamb look again, if you will in verse five and your lamb shall be without blemish. That spotless lamb is a picture, a prophecy of the sinless son of God. The Lord, jesus christ. Now they took this lamb on the 10th day of april and they kept it for three days and the lamb was not to be killed until the 14th day. They keep this little lamb together. They examined this lamb very, very carefully from his little tail, its ears, its eyes, its nose, uh every hoof, uh every inch of the skin, any blur, any block, any blemish, any scar, any scab, any malformation that lamb was no good. These little lambs, they had to be without blemish. A spotless lamb say spotless! Spotless. All right now the lamb is a spotless lamb. Now they take a spotless lamb and then make the spotless lamb a sacrificial lamb. Look if you will now in verse six and you shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. Now wait a minute, a spotless lamb that little lambs done no one any harm, but you’re going to kill the land. This land is sacrificed. The father would take the neck of that little lamb and take a lethal knife and pull it across the lamb’s throat and the rich red blood would spread out into a basin and the blood caught in a basin, what is God teaching already. Here by anticipation. Without shedding of blood is no remission. Now here it is a spotless lamb, a sacrificial lamb and then the land becomes a saving lamb. Look if you will in verse seven and they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side post and on the upper post of the houses were in. You shall eat it. And then look, if you will. In verse 12, God says, what’s going to happen that night? Is this for I will pass through the Land of Egypt this night and I will smite all the firstborn in the Land of Egypt, both man and beast and against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord now watch and the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Now, you know what it’s called Passover. 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 now this land, the spotless lamb, the sacrificial lamb is therefore the same and they would take the blood of land put upon the door post of the house. And when the death angel that night it comes to the land of Egypt sees the blood, he passes over them and does not bring the judgment salvation, I’ve told you, is not learning lessons from the life of christ is receiving life from the death of christ without the shedding of blood is no remission. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. A spotless lamb is a sacrificial lamb is a saving lamb. It is when the blood is uh put there upon the door posts of the house that the death angel passes over. Now watch. This lamb is also a shared lamb. Look if you will in verses eight and nine and they shall eat the flesh that night. Roast with fire and unleavened bread with bitter herbs. They shall eat it, eat not of it raw nor sodden at all with water that is don’t boil it in water, but roasted with fire. Roast with fire. His head with his legs and the pertinence there of the whole land is to be roasted with fire. Now we’re talking here about a shared land. Can you imagine what it must have smelled like in the land of Egypt? A quarter of a million lambs being roasted that night. What must it have smelled like? And there to take this lamb and there to feast on this lamb. Why listen, a group of slaves are now becoming a nation and a group of people are having fellowship around the lamb. They now feed on the lamb now they would eat all of the lamb. That means when you receive jesus christ, you receive all there is of him. He’s master mediator and messiah. You don’t say, well, I’ll have a little, I’ll have a little savior good today, but no lordship thing you know. No, they would eat all of the land and they would eat the lamb with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. Now bitterness speaks of Brokenness. Have you wept over your sins? You see, you cannot feed on the Lord, jesus christ apart from bitter herbs. Godly sorrow works repentance with bitter herbs and unleavened bread leaven in the bible is an illustration a type and emblem of sand. It works quietly and luke warm conditions. It’s yeast. Ladies, it’s what you put in. I’m telling you, you need to tell me I had to read about it uh and cake and bread and cookies and these things that that that causes it to be inflated and puffed up. Well, uh passover was not with 11. All through the Bible, 11 is illustrated as we’re going to see even later in the message illustrates send so as they feed on the lam there to eat the lamb with bitter herbs and unleavened bread that tells us that were to be broken over our sins and broken from our sins. Now they eat this lamb, all of this lamb, this lamb that has been roasted, why was it roasted because the fires of God’s wrath would burn themselves out on the Lord jesus christ and he has become our sacrifice when they they had this celebration, No work was to be done exodus 12 verse 16. And in the first day there should be a holy convocation. And in the seventh day shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done in them say that which every man must eat only that only may be done of you. The only work could be done was to be to prepare the land. That’s all, nor the work. What is God teaching? It is not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. And so God says, Now, when you feed upon this lamb don’t do it with any kind of work. And then he says, you eat it. Look if you will in chapter 12 and verse 11 and thus you eat it with your loins, girded your shoes on your feet, your staff in your hand and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s passover. That is this day is not the end. It is the beginning. I performed a wedding for a boy. He was frightened to death after they said, I do, he said, Pastor, is it all over? I said, No son. It’s just beginning. Now when you when you give your heart to jesus and your feet on the lam, then you know when your loins girded your shoes on your feet, your staff in your hand, you are getting ready to serve the Lord and then you become a new creature. Look, if you will in chapter 12 verse two, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. When you give your heart to jesus, it’s a brand new day. You’re all tomorrow’s, you know, yesterday’s, it’s the first day of the rest of your life when you get saved and feed upon the land. Now, what we said, this Passover Land, a spotless lamb, a sacrificial lamb, a saving lamb, A shared lamb. That’s the Passover lamb, that friend is calvary in anticipation. In anticipation isn’t the bible a wonderful book. Now, let’s see calvary in consummation. Let’s see the promised consummation of calvary’s sacrifice. That lamb only prophecies that Jesus would come and die for us upon the cross. Jesus is the lamb of God. John the baptist who was the forerunner of the Lord, jesus christ saw, jesus coming when john was down there by Jordan baptizing the people. He saw Jesus coming. And john said, that’s him, behold the lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world, you know, moses knew he understood that all of this was only prophecy, john, the baptist knew and understood that all of the old testament was only prophecy concerning jesus who would come. Now let’s see how jesus compares to the Passover Land. The Passover lamb was a spotless lamb, Jesus was a spotless lamb 1st Peter one verses 18 and 19, for as much as you know, you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of christ. Now listen to this very carefully as a lamb without blemish and without spot. Do you see how it ties together God said to moses moses take a lamb, That’s moses lamb, this is mary’s lamb, mary had a little lamb. His fleece was white as snow as a lamb without spot and without blemish jesus was a spotless land. Now, here’s the third and final thing and I have just a few moments for this, but notice the perpetual celebration of calvary sacrifice. We talked about anticipation, consummation. Now, here’s celebration. We keep the Passover First Corinthians five verses seven and eight Paul is talking to the Corinthian church purge out therefore the old 11, that you may be a new lump as your unleavened for even Christ. Our passover is sacrificed for us. If some of you think that I’m far fetched and reading too much in it. So did Paul, Christ. Our passover sacrifice for us. Therefore let us keep the feast were to keep passover. How do we keep Passover when we come to the Lord’s table. When we we have the Lord’s supper. We’re keeping the feast. Let us keep the feast, not with old leaven neither the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, that’s why we use unleavened bread in the Lord’s supper. Levin, I told you yeast represents sin that works quietly and stealthily. But uh this this uh the pure blood of the great and this unleavened bread by the way, fermented wine has yeast in it. Uh No, this is unleavened on 11 that we take up and this this this unleavened bread represents uh the pure body, the Sinless Son of God. And we’ll keep the feast with unleavened bread. The jews when they have the seder Passover, they have a little game The Father well take some crumbs of leaven bread, some some cookies or some cake and maybe put it on the mantel or in the bookshelf or under the couch and the little kids burst into the room to try to find a crumb of 11 in the house. And they say papa pa there’s some leavened bread and father comes in with a feather and a wooden spoon and gets it carries it to the fire and throws it in because there would be no 11 in the house. When you take the Passover, what is God saying to us when we come to the Lord’s table? How do we come? Clean hearts. No one confessed, No one repented of sin because we are celebrating the Lord’s Passover. We’re celebrating what the Spotless Sinless Son of God did for us listen to the scripture First Corinthians 11 verses 23 through 26 Paul said for I’ve received of the Lord. That which also I delivered unto you the Lord jesus the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread and when he had given thanks, he brake it and said, take eat. This is my body which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me after the same manner also. He took the cup when he’d stop saying this cup is the new testament. The new covenant in my blood. This two years. Oft as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord’s death, Hallelujah tilikum till he come. We are celebrating friend. When we come to the Lord’s table, we’re not coming to mourn a corpse were coming to hail a conqueror. Jesus christ has defeated the old serpent, the land has slain the serpent. And we celebrate, of all people, we ought to celebrate. I’m telling you, precious friend. Uh the little Children would find that piece of matzo wrapped in linen hidden somewhere maybe under a cushion. And when a child finds it, it is, he doesn’t know it, but he’s celebrating the resurrection of jesus christ that buried bread wrapped in linen coming up out of the earth. Isn’t the bible a wonderful book. I mean when you think of how God put all of this together. How God tied it all together. I love jesus. I love him with all of my heart. Hi, who are you? And I thank God for the precious blood of jesus? Now in the old testament. They put the blood upon the door post. In the new testament, we confess christ openly as our savior, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that thou shalt believe in thine heart and confess with thy mouth, The Lord jesus, you’ll be saved with the heart. Man believes unto righteousness with the mouth, confession is made under salvation. Value heads in prayer. If you’re not saved, you need to be, by the way. If you’re not saved, you have nothing to celebrate all you can look forward to is the death Angel. Because the death Angel will not pass over you if the blood has not been applied. So how do you apply the blood by faith, by faith! By faith. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Would you pray like this? Lord jesus? I am a sinner, and I’m lost and I need to be saved and I want to be saved, jesus. You shed your blood for me. Thank you for doing that. I believe that God raised you from the dead, and now I receive you into my heart as my Lord and savior, forgive my sin and save me, jesus. Lord jesus! Help me never ever to be ashamed of you Amen. And as we conclude this message, may I ask you a very personal question. A very pertinent question are you saying? I didn’t ask if you were religious baptist methodist, presbyterian, Episcopalian or anything else? Do you know, Jesus christ? Is he a bright living reality in your life? If not, I’ve got good news, you can receive him today as your Lord and Savior and he will save you instantaneously. He will be with you continually and he will keep you eternally pray like this. Lord jesus come into my heart, forgive my sin, save me. Lord jesus, pray it and mean it. And if you do write to us and let us know so we can rejoice and we’ll send you some literature to help you get started in your christian life. We hope that you’ve been encouraged by these character studies from Hebrews Chapter 11 that we’re calling champions of faith. You can stream this message again, share this message with a friend and download other resources related to this message all at L WF dot org or the my L WF app while you’re there. Be sure to check out our new bible studies on today’s topic as well as many other topics at L WF dot org. You can also subscribe to our day heartbeat emails. Each heartbeat contains a daily devotional from Adrian Rogers 90 seconds. A profound truth also from Adrian Rogers as well as a link to our daily radio program all in one place delivered directly to your computer or mobile device each day? Or you can catch up with our program each week on our facebook page or Youtube channel and on the my L WF app. Thanks for joining us for today’s message. We’ll see you next time. Light has absolute power over darkness. The darkness cannot put out the light. The light can put out the darkness. Light is more powerful than darkness and truth is more powerful than error. The times are growing dark, but as Adrian Rogers says, they are gloriously dark because the light of christ shines brighter in the darkness in his book. Standing for Light and Truth, Pastor teacher and author, Adrian Rogers offers insights and guidance to help you live with oddly integrity and to shine his light in a world growing dark for your gift. This month we’d love to send you standing for light and truth request yours when you give at 1 806 47 94 100. Or you can give online at L WF dot org. Stand boldly for truth in these dark days of deceit call or go online today