Communion Message
Partake of the Passover
September 5, 2004
Pastor Leighton Sheley

Reading from 1 Corinthians chapter 11: For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

On the night that He was betrayed...on that night the Scriptures tell us that Jesus was gathered with His disciples celebrating the Passover; a celebration that had been held annually by the Jewish nation for many centuries, even millennia. A celebration that was passed from generation to generation to remind succeeding generations that God had provided salvation in a land of bondage and slavery.

Throughout the Scriptures Egypt often is used to represent this world's systems; world systems that promise, as did Egypt initially, a place of provision and protection, but ultimately a place of slavery and bondage. Egypt was under a prince of Egypt, a Pharaoh, who wanted to exploit and kill the chosen people, and destroy God's promise and God's people.

We live in a worldly system that's under a prince as well, a prince of the power of the air, who wants to steal, kill and destroy.

When God gave instructions to the Israelite nation while they were still in Egypt, He told them that as they partook of the meal they were to have their sandals on and staff in hand as though they were ready to travel.

Travel where? Travel to the Promised Land. To some that meant Canaan, but we learned several weeks ago that Canaan was not the Promised Land in the eyes of Abraham, for Abraham was looking for a city whose builder, whose architect and builder, was God. Abraham was looking for a heavenly city, and as we now partake of this Passover we look forward to traveling to that city as well.

In these words Jesus gave a new dimension of meaning to that ancient celebration of freedom from bondage, slavery, and death.

When the angel passed over to give judgment upon Egypt and all who were in it, only those who were under the blood had the angel of judgment pass over them. Only us who are under the blood of the Passover Lamb will have judgment pass over us

The New Testament says Jesus is the Passover Lamb, the blood of the Lamb. I'd like to invite you, if you are physically able, to join with me now as we kneel in the presence of our Lord and Savior.

Lord, we are so thankful that You have provided salvation for us, for we cannot save our self. We are so thankful, Lord, that our salvation does not depend on us; anything we might think, say, or do, because if our salvation depended upon us, it would be uncertain at best.

Thank you Lord that our salvation is established in You and what you have done in gong to Calvary's cross to pay the wages of our sin. Thank you Lord that You are the same yesterday, today, and for ever; that the blood that was spilled on Calvary is just as powerful today to cleanse from sin and its stain as it was 2000 years ago.

Thank you Lord for being the Passover Lamb, and Lord the elements that we now partake of we do so in remembrance of You, asking for Your forgiveness and Your cleansing. Let's partake of the bread...and also the cup.