Sunday, May 5, 2013

Today´s Sermon


2013.05.05             Jesus Celebrates the Last Passover
                 Luke 22:1- 20                        
Luke chapter 22 begins the final and most significant section of Luke’s gospel.... The death and Resurrection of the LORD JESUS CHRIST!
This is the fulfillment of the gospel……. Jesus is on His way to the cross……This is the most important event in redemptive history…….
We often talk about studying the Bible verse by verse so that we can see the BIG picture….. Well…. The death and Resurrection of the LORD JESUS CHRIST is the Big Picture! We need to go back to the beginning to see the Big picture….. Genesis….. The garden of Eden…. Adam and Eve walked with God everyday…… They had sweet fellowship with our creator….. It was heaven…… but unfortunately…. Sin entered in and their relationship was shattered because of their willful sin and disobedience……  There were 2 important problems in the fall…..
The Fall
1 Their Fellowship with the LORD GOD was broken…..
2 Their once pure sinless hearts were hardened because of the presence of sin in their lives…..
This was not a surprise to God….. We know from the scriptures that Jesus our Passover lamb was slain from before the foundation of the World….. Rev 13: 8….
All of redemptive history is about the reconciliation and restoration of lost sinners to a loving God…..
Remember…. God is by nature a Savior….. He planned this substitutionary atonement……. Jesus….. God in the flesh….. came to die in our place……
It is the perfect fulfillment of God´s perfect plan of redemption…. God said…… For my great names sake…… I will take out your hearts of stone and give you a heart of flesh…  Ezekiel 36…v25….
Ezekiel 36: 25-27               NLT
25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. [fn2] 27 And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.
The cross is the perfect solution to repair the damage caused by one man´s sin….. Romans 5…v 1,18
Romans 5: 18          NLT             Neues Leben  
18 Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.
18 Ja, die Sünde Adams brachte Verdammnis über alle Menschen, aber die Tat von Christus, sein erlösendes Handeln, macht alle Menschen in Gottes Augen gerecht und schenkt ihnen Leben.
How does that help us?
We who have repented and believed the Gospel receive this new heart and life by faith….. Look at Romans 5…v.1…
Romans 5:1                   NLT   Neues Leben
1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.
1 Da wir nun durch den Glauben von Gott für gerecht erklärt worden sind, haben wir Frieden mit Gott durch das, was Jesus, unser Herr, für uns tat.

What Good News! Peace with God because of what Jesus has done for us….. That means our fellowship is restored…… our sins are forgiven and we have new hearts….. In the Big picture….. we see that Every OT sacrifice pointed to the restoration of The destruction caused by the Fall…. We have 2 needs….
1 the need for forgiveness….. and ….
2 We need restoration of fellowship with our Loving heavenly father…
We now begin the account of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ…… And with the cross, we come to the reason for the incarnation…… God has promised to tabernacle with us…. to live with us….. He promised to restore our fellowship with Him….. Just like in the Garden of Eden….. Even better because there will be millions from every tribe and tongue……..The cross is exactly why Jesus came… ….. Jesus….the son of man… was born to die…… He came to seek and to save….
Luke 19:10          NKJV    Schlachter 2000
10 "for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
10 denn der Sohn des Menschen ist gekommen, um zu suchen und zu retten, was verloren ist.
That´s why He came….. to purchase our salvation….. It all comes to this great point…… Apart from the cross and the resurrection…… there would be no hope….. there would be no forgiveness….. there would be no good news…..  Because without the cross and Jesus´ resurrection from the dead…..  there is no salvation for anyone…..   Of course…. It doesn´t make a lot of sense to unbelievers…. They say it´s crazy… Let´s turn to 1 Cor 1: 18…..

1 Corinthians 1:18-24        NKJV
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks [fn2] foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
The message of the cross is the power of God….. revealed to mankind….. God´s plan to restore and redeem the damage caused by the Fall….. He wonderful plan to save all who will repent and come to Him…. Redemption and forgiveness is found right here……
Jesus said…..  no man takes my life….. I lay it down….. Jesus gave himself freely as our substitute…… He took our sins upon himself….. He suffered and died in our place…….
This is the idea of substitutionary atonement…….
Substitutionary Atonement…..
Stellvertretenden Sühneopfer
1 We are sinners
2 We cannot save ourselves….. We need a substitute…….
Why?.... Because all Sin demands a sacrifice….. We see this truth all through the OT…. Turn to Ezek 18… Ben spoke about this chapter last night…. It´s a good place for your own personal quiet times…
Ezekiel 18: 4b         NKJV Schlachter 2000
4b the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
4b  Die Seele, die sündigt, soll sterben!
 You sin you die….. And of course….. all of us have sinned….. we all deserve to die… Paul puts all of this together in Romans…. Turn to Romans 3….
Romans 3:23-26                NLT
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

WOW!!!!!!
What Good News…. Although we deserve to die because of our wickedness and rebellion….. We don´t have to…. We can repent and cry out to GOD….. We have a Savoir…. JESUS….
Jesus atoned for our sins on the cross….. He paid the price….  The Cross of Christ is Glorious Good News….. We who have repented of our sins….. We who have  cried out to the LORD Jesus for mercy…..
Find in Him forgiveness and restoration…..a Miracle…
The Glorious miracle of the Gospel is shown in the cross…..
God´s plan to provide a substitute is found all through the Word of God….. Beginning in Genesis….
It is pictured in the death of the first animals in the Garden of Eden….. They were slain by God to make coverings for guilty sinners…….. The glory of the cross is seen in the acceptable sacrifices of Abel offered to God……
 The cross is pictured in the ram caught in the bush that Abraham substituted for Isaac as a sacrifice to God on Mount Moriah….. We see cross in the Passover lambs in Egypt….. whose blood was splattered on the doorposts…..   in order to cause the angel of death to pass over them and not kill the first born…..  .
The glory of the cross is seen in all the  sacrifices in the Old Testament…... The glory of the cross is seen in the serpent lifted up in the wilderness to whom people could look and be delivered from death….. Numbers 21:
Those are just a few of many of the Old Testament pictures of substitution…… pictures of the cross…..
It is clear to any honest student of the Bible…..
1 that the soul that sins dies…… and that the only hope to escape divine punishment…. was
2 forgiveness of sins…..  which was dependent on a satisfactory or acceptable sacrifice……
But No sacrifice ever offered was satisfactory…… Otherwise they would have ceased…. Turn to Hebrews 10..v1..
Hebrews 10: 1-4, 10                      NLT  
1 The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. 2 If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.
3 But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. 4 For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
now verse 10
10 For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
There was never a final sacrifice offered in the Old Testament….. They were all pictures of the one Final perfect sacrifice…. They were all symbols pointing us to the LORD JESUS…... the long promised redeemer…..  
So the whole Old Testament points to a final acceptable sacrifice….  which atones for sin and restores our relationship with the Father….……. That is why it was so important that when Jesus showed up in the wilderness….. That John identified Him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world….. John1: 29
As we open our Bibles to Luke 22….. the time for Jesus´ death and resurrection has come….

Luke 22:1- 20                        NKJV  
1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover. 2 And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people.
3 Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. 4 So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. 5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. 6 So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.

7 Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. 8 And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.”

9 So they said to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare?”

10 And He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. 11 Then you shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ 12 Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready.”
13 So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.

14 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. 15 Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

17 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.
Here we see the continued preparation for the cross.......
As the disciples prepare the Passover……. They are also preparing for the first communion…. Which Jesus will turn in to a remembrance of His death and resurrection on the cross…..
Look at verse 1, it says, “The Feast of the Unleavened Bread which is called the Passover was approaching...
Luke 22:1 NKJV                       Schlachter 2000  
1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover.
1 Das Fest der ungesäuerten Brote, das Passahfest, rückte näher.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread….. Is also called the Passover…. By this time the words were used interchangeably…. We´ll talk about the Passover in a few minutes… let´s go back to Luke 22….v2…

Luke 22:2                NKJV    Schlachter 2000
2 And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people.
2 Die obersten Priester und Schriftgelehrten planten, Jesus umzubringen. Sie fürchteten sich allerdings vor der Reaktion des Volkes.
The scribes and the Pharisees…. and really almost all of the leaders of Israel had been trying to Kill Jesus for a long time now…… But they were afraid of the people…. They couldn´t take Him….. Once in desperation they sent the Temple guard to take him into custody…… But they went back to the chief priests empty handed…… They said…. No one ever spoke like this man…… read all about it… John 7: 46….
They needed to get Jesus when he was not in the Temple teaching the crowds….. They needed a Judas… a traitor to tell them when and where He would be alone…. V 3…
Luke 22:3- 6                NKJV
3 Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. 4 So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. 5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. 6 So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.

Finally…. The chief priests get what they want…. Judas offers to betray Jesus for money….. and they are glad…. These supposed representatives of the LORD are rejoicing in wickedness…… They are glad?
Judas meant it for evil….. But God meant it for the redemption of mankind…. Redemption and restoration…
It was God’s perfect plan that on that very Passover….. the one true Lamb of God would be betrayed and die for the sins of the world…….verse 7
Luke 22: 7- 15               NKJV
7 Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. 8 And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.”9 So they said to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare?”

10 And He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. 11 Then you shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ 12 Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready.”

13 So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.
14 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. 15 Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”


Let´s talk a little about the feast of the Passover and unleavened bread…..   In this section of scripture…. We see the Final proper Passover…… and the beginning of the Celebration of  Communion.”
Passover…… It commemorated God delivering them from Egypt, which is recorded back in the book of Exodus……. When the people of Israel were taken captive into Egypt, they were made slaves in Egypt  for many generations…… Israel had been in Egypt in bondage for  430 years….. They had been oppressed and enslaved to the Pharaohs…… Finally God delivered them by the leadership of Moses through a series of plagues….. You can read about this in the opening chapters of the book of Exodus……. Finally Pharaoh   let them go…… The final plague, you will remember, was the death of the firstborn….. the angel of death came and killed the firstborn in every family….. Unless you had sacrificed a lamb and splattered the blood on the doorposts and the side beams…… If you had applied the Blood of the Lamb…..  the angel of death passed by……
There’s a simple principle that comes through….. To be delivered from judgment requires death…… A substitute was needed…   That death can be the death of a substitute…… God was saying, “I will spare you, I will deliver you from this judgment if there is the death of an innocent substitute.”
The message of the Passover is….. God delivers….. God saves through the death of an innocent substitute……. Remember…. God the Father is by nature a Savior….. He delights to rescue…. and He is the one who promised to take out our hearts of stone and give us a heart of flesh….. Let´s talk about the Passover for a minute…. Jesus chose this celebration to transform into communion….. Communion is an eternal reminder that we have been redeemed…… We have also been restored to fellowship with because of His shed blood and broken body….. The Lord Jesus used The powerful symbolism of the Passover to institute Communion….

There are 4 cups of wine in the Passover celebration……. Each of the first four cups....... point to the four promises that the LORD made in Exodus 6: 6- 8....
The Lord promised to redeem and to restore fellowship with His people….   FOTO
Passover Celebration    The Exodus

First cup-       First promise

I will free you from oppression

Second Cup       Second promise

I will rescue you from slavery....

Third Cup            third promise

I will redeem you...

Fourth Cup               fourth promise

I will take you to myself.....

All of these promises are here in the remembrance of the Passover….

Let´s turn again to Luke 22…. V 17…

Luke 22: 17- 20                NKJV
17 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

As we look at these very familiar verses… We use them as we celebrate communion… I want to focus on the last 2 promises…. They point to the restoration of our fellowship and forgiveness… First ….. The 3rd cup and the 3rd promise….. This is the cup of wine they drank after supper… v20..

Third Cup            third promise

I will redeem you...

This cup is called the cup of blessing.... or the cup of redemption....We believe that this is the very cup.... That Jesus turned into a remembering of the great Passover Lamb.... the LAMB OF GOD.....
Please notice this parallel.....

The Lord God instituted the Passover as a way of remembering his deliverance from Egypt... before he delivered them.....
Jesus instituted the Lords Supper as a way of remembering and honoring him...... before he died on the cross.....
4th cup   fourth promise

I will take you to myself.....

This 4th promise shows that we are not only forgiven of our sins….. but we have been restored to fellowship With the Father….. It´s Good News….

These  2 promises point to the restoration of the Fall…. I think this is why….. Jesus uses this feast to begin communion… When we see the Big picture…. We see the wonderful plan of God to restore and redeem all things through the substitutionary atonement (Stellvertretenden Sühneopfer)…… made by Jesus on the Cross….
The Cross reverses the effects of the Fall on mankind……. It puts into place the Perfect Plan of God to restore all things…… Not yet….. but soon will will see the complete and total restoration of all things…..  Revelation 21….v1
Revelation 21: 1-  6    NKJV
1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John,[a] saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me,[b] “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

6 And He said to me, “It is done![c] I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.
That’s why John sees Christ as the Lamb that was slain and is worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing…. Revelation 5……. Amen!
Let´s pray….

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