What is the Meaning of Passover? | Old Rules for a New Life

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Hey, guys. Welcome to Sandals Church. I'm so glad you guys are here. It's Palm Sunday weekend and we are headed for Easter man, but I wanna talk about something that many of you have heard of, but you've never known what it really was. We've been in the book of Exodus all year, and today I'm gonna talk about Passover.

How many guys ever heard of the term Passover? Okay. Some people haven't, and if you're new to church, it's okay. It's a Jewish tradition that we as Christians remember very differently than our Jewish brothers and sisters do. But I wanna just kinda summarize where we've been for 10 weeks.

For the last 10 weeks, we've been going going over the 10 commandments. And some of you, you think of commandments as, oh man, I I don't get to do this. But I want you to think of it this way. Number 1 on your notes. God has created a path to bless me.

So I want you to think of the 10 commandments like this. Like, is anybody terrible at bowling? Like, I'm terrible at bowling. I don't know how you get 300. I have no idea.

People have explained it to me. If I get over a100, it's a good day. So what we do when I like to bowl is when I when I'm about ready to give up is we put up these rails that no matter what you do, the ball just kinda makes its way where it's supposed to go. I want you to think of the 10 commandments like rails. Now some of you are like, well, I'm an adult.

I don't need these rails. Well, let me tell you something. How many times have you been in the gutter? And so you need these rails to remind you and help you, to guide you. You see, the God of this world is, oh, I'm spiritual, but I don't need guidance.

Let me tell you something. You are spiritual, but that doesn't mean you're good, right? The devil's spiritual, amen? Pray about it. But you need these guide rails to help direct you, to direct your marriage, to direct you as a single person, to direct your children, to give your children guidance.

So here's what Isaiah says about God in Isaiah 4817. He's speaking for God as a prophet, and he says, I am the Lord your God. Listen to this. Who teaches you what is good for you. Man, anybody ever experienced something and you wish you would have known how bad that was before you did it?

Raise your hands. Okay? God's saying, look, man, I can see your life ahead. I know what's in front of you, and I wanna teach you what's good for you. I wanna deprogram you real quick.

Because most of us when we think of religion, we think of everything that's bad about religion. I want you to know that there's beauty in religion as long as it's focused on God. Because God wants to show you not what's bad for you, but what's good for you. And he wants to lead you, and he wants to guide you, and he wants to bless you. He wants to lead you along the paths that you should follow.

The actual Hebrew word is prophet. Anybody want a prophet? You're like, no, pastor, I make too much money right now anymore, I'm gonna die, right? If you want a prophet, learn to listen to the prophets, amen? You see what I just did there?

They're gonna direct you. But so many of us, man, we're constantly making excuses for our bad choices. Anybody ever been at the wrong place at the wrong time? Okay. I want you to know that there's no such thing as being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Okay? Some of you are just trouble looking for a place to happen. Amen? Anybody raising that kid? I don't know why everyone was doing it.

I know because you were there. But a lot of us would say, well, I just keep ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time. You know why you lack guidance? You've gone off the rails. You've gone in the gutter.

Okay, and you keep making these mistakes. How many guys have ever seen something that you probably shouldn't have seen after you looked at it? Okay. You don't have to confess. There better be some ladies raising their hands.

All the guys are like, yes, pastor. Ladies look at bad stuff too. But we've all seen stuff like, well, I I wish I wouldn't have seen that. I I shouldn't have seen that. That wasn't good for my eyes.

K? How many of us have how many of us have ever done something we we we wish we wouldn't have done? And the reason for that is you lack guidance. We all have decision making challenges. Like we all know what we should and shouldn't eat to be in shape, amen?

Like it's not confusing. Should I eat this Krispy Kreme doughnut or all of them, right? One or all. Nobody confuses a Krispy Kreme with a multivitamin. Nobody.

Okay? You know, and yet what? You're drawn to things that you know are not good for you. You're drawn to that. So the 10 rules for your new life are not rules.

They're guidelines to bless you. They're guidelines to profit you. They're they're guidelines to show you how you should live. And the rest of the world's saying you shouldn't have any rules. Look at how they're doing.

So what are the rules? Rule number 1, you shall have no other gods but me. Okay, there are no such thing as atheists. There are people who worship themselves. They want nothing above them, so they make themselves God.

And and I know some of you, well, I just believe in science. Well just compare a science book a 100 years ago, and then 50 years ago, and then 20 years ago, and then last year. It keeps changing. The word of God doesn't. It doesn't.

God's got it figured out. Science is continually wrong. God is never wrong. Don't have any gods but me, okay? And here's the thing is, some of you say, well I'm not religious.

Yeah, but you are a worshiper. Everyone is a worshiper. Atheists worship themselves. If you're not an atheist, you're worshiping something else. Have no other gods.

No other god is worthy of your worship. Number 2, the second command, you shall have no idols. And we're saying, well, I don't worship things. Yes, you do every day. Every day.

Okay. This last week, I went to a Depeche Mode concert. Don't judge me. Yeah, I know he's the prince of darkness. Okay.

That's why I was there, to be light amongst the darkness. But he has this song, a very, very famous song called Personal Jesus. And he has this line. And I want you to know that most of the people in this room are not religious, probably even anti Christian, singing about Jesus. And there's this line where he says, reach out, touch faith.

And I quit listening to the music, and I just watched the crowd. And I watched thousands upon thousands of pagans reaching out, touching faith. And then I thought about you guys in worship. Now some of you are like, well pastor, I could reach out if I was as drunk as the people around you, right? You'd be like, Jesus.

But it was amazing to me. Listen to me. What it shows us is that we're all hungry to worship. It was powerful. That song personal Jesus, someone who cares, someone who listens, man, it's it's a powerful song that's mocking what we believe, but he understands that we all need faith.

Number 3, the 3rd command, do not take his name in vain. Anybody met a hypocrite? Man, it just breaks my heart how as Christians, we're so hypocritical. God says, don't call yourself to be one of mine and then not live like it. We've all been burned by fake Christians.

We've all been burned by people who say, you know, one thing and live another. The world doesn't need any more hypocrites. The world needs authentic people. It's why Jesus, his his worst thing he could call you was a hypocrite. He couldn't stand it.

Number 4, don't work on the Sabbath. Look, if you don't think you're a sinner, how many of us struggle to rest? That's how terrible you are. I can't even vacation for Jesus. That's how bad of a sinner you are.

Listen to me. If God can take time off, why can't you? It's because you're worshiping the wrong thing. You're worshiping the wrong thing. I had somebody this last week.

I'm not gonna mention their name, but it was Mark. And we were we were in the sauna together. I said spa when I told someone this story the first time, and that sounds really bad. I was not in the spa with Mark. I was in the sauna at the gym.

And here's what Mark asked me. He said, do you have to go to church if you love Jesus? Well, my first answer was yes. But my my my more thoughtful answer is no. You don't have to do anything because you love Jesus.

But you do have to go to church if you wanna be obedient to Jesus. You see, love doesn't demand. But we don't just love God, we worship God. And if we worship God, we need to be obedient to God. And so here's Mark's question.

How can I do the bare minimum and still get by calling myself a Christian? And then he began to tell me about his life. A mess. Why? He lost the guardrails.

His life is in the gutter and he doesn't know why. Number 5, the 5th command. You remember this one? Honor your parents. Anybody a toddler?

Were you a toddler? Then you broke this one. You broke this one. Well, I never swore. No, you don't remember.

All toddlers are cussers. They may not know the words, but they cuss. Amen? They do. They like to swear, little 3 year olds.

Man, you have no idea how how tough you were on your parents until you have them, and then you just go to your parents. I I remember saying this to my parents. I'm sorry. My mom was like, for what? I'm like, for everything.

Some of you are you're still not convinced. I I don't think we need religion. Well, how about this one? Don't kill. Don't murder.

Does anybody think that's a good rule? I think that's a good rule. I think we could use a little less killing, a little less murder. And some of you say, well, it's not like I I never killed anybody. No, you didn't kill anybody.

You killed somebody. His name is Jesus. That's who you killed. Every human being is is guilty of the murder of Christ. You see our sins killed the lamb of God.

How about this one, don't steal. You know, the average Christian gives 1.8%, The average committed Christian gives 1.8 percent of their income to the local church. Now, you would never rob a 711, but you will rob the alpha and omega. He's open all the time. Right?

He's open all the time. He's open 247. And we're constantly making excuses. Man, our our world is full of sexual sin. We we talked about adultery.

Sorry, I gave that one to our campus pastors. You know, I could've give him a softball. It wasn't. It's tough. Well, then why is that?

It's not tough because the teaching's tough. It's because our culture is so far from the teaching. Now, here's the thing. Even if you're not a Christian, even if you're not a Christian, you don't like people who cheat. My wife makes me watch The Bachelor.

I get to come out with my own show. It's called Matt Brown's commentary on The Bachelor. You know? And I'll translate what the guys are really saying for you ladies who believe what they're saying. I really love you.

But even in the context of a show where the dude is dating, like, 30 women, that's the show. Every woman is like, I just don't know why he just doesn't date me. The show is about cheating. You know? But even in that context, people are like, oh my gosh.

I can't believe he was what? A participant in the show? We don't like that. Because there's something inside of you that says, you know, true love should be true. True love should last.

Even atheists say, you know, no, no, there's something about commitment that matters. How about this next one, don't lie. Okay? A pastor once asked a Sunday school class, he said, what is a lie? And a little girl raised her hands.

She said, pastor, it's a sin against God. He said, very good. She raised her hand again. He said, excuse me. Yes.

She said, and a very present help in time of trouble. Why do you lie? Because it's a very present help in time of trouble. That's why you lie. Think about it.

That's why we lie. We lie because we're afraid of what the truth might do. Here's the thing you need to know about lying. There's always a cost. Always.

Always. I tell my kids this all the time. I love you no matter what, but trust is something that's built. Right. And here's the thing.

If you're in a relationship with anybody, it takes one lie to wreck trust, and it takes a lifetime to build it. Nobody likes being lied to, but we what? We all are tempted to lie. And then last week, we ended up with jealousy. Right?

Thou shall not covet. Some of you are like, we're doing so good until 10. You're like, god, really? Why wasn't it the 9? Because the 10th one gets us all.

Do not be jealous of what others have. Man. So here's the thing. God has given us these these guide rails to bless us, to save us. But here's the problem.

No matter what God does, even if we put up the guide rails when we bowl, you know what we do? We jump over in the gutter ourselves. Number 2, God has always had a plan to save me from myself. Your problem isn't someone else. Your problem isn't America.

It isn't your neighbor. Your problem is you. Isaiah 4311, I am the Lord. Besides me, he says, there is no savior. There's no savior.

Man, one of my favorite Instagram videos is this guy pulling the sheep out of the ditch. I don't know if you've seen this one. But this guy And and this is not no ordinary sheep. It's a fat sheep. You know what I'm saying?

I don't know what he's feeding this sheep, but he needs to cut back on the calories. And this guy's down in this trench, pulling the sheep out, and the sheep gets out, runs around, bounces, dives right back in head first. And that's why God calls us sheep. Because he has to save you from yourself every day. Every day.

You see, we all, every single one of us needs to be freed from the mistakes that we've made. And here's the thing. You didn't know better. You didn't know. Okay.

It's a mistake. But mistakes still cost. Mistakes still hurt. Mistakes still mess up your life. Then some of you, you've sinned.

You need to be freed from the things that you know you've done. I was talking with a woman in our church whose eyes just welled up with tears. And she talked about the pain of what she knew she had done wrong. And, oh, I wanted so badly to take the pain away from her, but I can't. But here's the good news, there is someone who can.

There is someone who can. I don't know what it is that you've done in the depths of your darkness, but I know someone who's been there for you. And his name is Jesus. So there's the mistakes I've made, there's the things I've done. But, you know, it's not just even the things I've done, it's the things I've wished I've done.

I mean, sometimes I look at my kids and I just feel so bad for what I wasn't, for what I wasn't. How many tea parties did I miss because of a stupid game? I can't remember the teams that were playing or the score at the end, but I know I lost. I lost. I think about my son putting pressure on him to be an athlete rather than teaching him to enjoy play.

Because you have a whole life to work and strike out. Amen, guys? Yeah. That's what I'm good at. And another miss.

But there's only so much time when you're little that you learn to play. And so here's the thing is, why do I feel so bad? We have a culture that is crying out. Right? What think about it.

We're more blessed than we've ever been. People have more free time than we ever had, and people are more miserable than they've ever been. Why? There's something deep inside of us that's wrong, that causes these mistakes, that causes these these things that we do that we know are wrong, and that causes us to regret is called sin. Romans 3 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

And let me just tell you, if you're struggling with God's standard, I'm gonna challenge you. Do you even meet your own? Because I don't meet my standard, much less God's. And I want you to listen to me. We we are list We are living in a world that is crying out for a spiritual bath.

I was watching a podcast on YouTube with one of my favorite cultural thinkers. His name is Doctor. Drew. I followed him since his days on K Rock. He started with a show called Loveline in the nineties.

And I've just watched his career. I've watched him change. I've always respected him. I've always appreciated him. But on his podcast, he had these 3 young men.

None of them were Christians. None of them were believers. None of them were remotely religious, but they were talking about guilt and shame. And one of the guys said, doctor Drew, why is it, listen to this, why is it that after I watch porn, he said, I think I need 3 things. He said, I feel like I need Jesus, a bath, and my mom.

Let me ask you. Why is it after what you do, you need those three things? I love doctor Drew. I hated his answer. I hated his answer.

Why is it that non Christians think they might need Jesus after watching porn? Because your soul is more honest than you will ever be. Your soul is crying out, Jesus. Jesus. It's why depressed, drug addicted, dark lead singers' hit song is personal Jesus.

Someone who cares, someone who's there, someone to hear your prayers. Why is it that he said, why do I feel like I need a bath? Because your soul knows that sin is dirty. You're not an animal. You're not an animal.

But we all need cleansing. Right? We all need cleansing. And no matter how hard we try, where it's never enough, is it? I just went to the dentist this week, and I I, you know, I just I didn't grow up Catholic, but I feel like when I go to the dentist, I am.

It's just a bunch of guilt. Amen? You know? Did you floss? Do you brush your teeth?

Every day. And then they just, you know, oh, oh, oh, oh, I'm never coming back. My teeth are gonna rot out. I don't care, man. And here's the thing about life.

Life is like trying to keep your teeth clean no matter what you do. The plaque just sticks. It just sticks. And then listen to this last thing. He says, why do I need Jesus?

Why do I feel like I need a bath? And why do I feel like I need my mom? What's he saying? He's saying I need a love that's not sexual, but that's safe. All three of these things are found in the God of the Bible.

This is a secular podcast. And let me just say this. Those of you who are scared to death to invite your neighbors to church, they're crying out for this. They may not even know it, but everybody needs Jesus, a bath, and their mom, and their mom. Number 3, the Passover points to the way for me to be free from God's judgment.

You see, God has always tried to guide me. God has always worked to save me from myself. And here's the thing. Even as God was calling his own people out of Egypt, out of slavery, he made a way for them to be saved. He made a way.

And God told Moses the way. In Exodus 1221-23, Moses called the the elders of Israel together. He said to them, go and pick out a lamb or a young goat for each of your families. He said, and slaughter the Passover animal. Now some of you guys, this is gonna feel really scary, it's gonna feel really old.

I want you to know this this text is 1000 of years old to a culture we barely understand. So just hang on there with me. Slaughter the the Passover animal and drain the blood into a basin. And then take a bundle of hyssop branches and dip it into the blood. And brush the hyssop across and atop all of the sides of the door frames of your house.

Put it on the doorpost and put it on the overhang. He says this, and no one may go out through the door until morning. You see, god said, I'm about ready to do something that's going to terrify pharaoh, and it's going to teach him that he is not God. And some of you are gonna have a hard time with God's judgment, but I want you to know that this is the 10th plague. God gave pharaoh and God gave Egypt 9 opportunities to repent.

Plague after plague is God's grace after God's grace after God's grace. Listen to me, everything that's gone wrong in your life may have been God's grace warning you to pull you out of the gutter before you go into it forever. And what you think is God's anger is actually God's love for you and your soul. He says stay inside. Put the blood on the doorposts.

And by the way, if you know any Hebrew, the doorpost, the word is mezuzah. So when you go to Israel, those little things on the doorpost, it's doorpost on the doorpost. That's what it is. Put it on the doorpost. Put it on the overhang, for the Lord will pass through the land to strike down the Egyptians.

Listen to this. But when the Lord sees the blood on top and the sides of the door frame, listen to me, The Lord will pass over your home. He will not permit his death angel to enter your house and strike you down. Listen to me. I want you to know that God is love and he loves you, but I also want you to know that the Bible teaches God is to be feared.

That's a hard thing. Most of you don't go off the rails because you forget God's love. You go off the rails because you forget that God is to be feared. He loves you, but he doesn't mess around. And he doesn't mess around with a thing called sin because sin doesn't just affect you.

It affects all of those around you. It affects everything. It affects you, the people you love. It affects the earth. It affects creation.

It has affected everything, And God hates sin. He hates sin. He loves you, but he hates the sin you do because he knows what it does. So God told Moses, I want you to tell the people, go out and sacrifice a lamb. Sacrifice a lamb.

Make sure that you're very, very careful, listen to me, you're not to break one of the bones in the lamb. The lamb is to be without blemish, and you're to drain the blood so that you can put it on your doorpost. And what God was showing is he was showing Moses the way he would not just save the Israelites, but he would save the world. And I want you to hear me. For those of you who think that god is maybe, you know, hating the Egyptians, anyone who put the blood on their doorpost was saved.

Egyptians, foreigners, Africans, Europeans, Egypt was an international country at that time. It was the New York City of its day and age. And we know this because the text says that rabble followed Moses into the wilderness. They're like, we don't know who God is, but we know it ain't pharaoh. Right?

And they marched with him. But I want you to know that this Passover was just a picture of something that God was gonna do. Remember, it says that not one bone was to be broken. Jesus died without a broken bone. I want you to know that they were to put the blood on the doorpost.

I want you to know that Jesus bled on a piece of wood as well for you. I want you to know that John the Baptist, when he saw Jesus, said this. John 129, the next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him, and he said, look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus didn't just come to save the Jewish people. He came to save the human race.

No matter your ethnicity, no matter your gender, no matter your sexuality, God sent Jesus to save you, to save you from yourself. You see, you you are your own pharaoh. Here's the next thing I want you to see in Exodus 12:6. Listen to this. The congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs when?

Exodus 12:6

At twilight. Do you know when Jesus died on the cross for you? Right before dark. He died on the ease of Passover exactly in the precise manner that God said to kill your lamb because Jesus Christ is your Passover lamb. He is your only hope.

Christians, stop apologizing to the world that Jesus is the only way. We just need to thank God there is a way. Can you imagine if we were on a ship cruising and it was sinking and we said, you know, I really wanna apologize to you that there's only one exit. Praise God. There's an exit.

Praise God. And it's for Muslims. It's for Jews. It's for Christians. It's for gays, straight, whites.

You name it. There's an exit and his name is Jesus. Stop apologizing. Can you imagine you have terminal cancer and your doctor's like, I'm really sorry. There's only one cure.

I'm not sorry. Let's do it. What is it? His name is Jesus. Peter says this.

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you. Listen, I love this. To save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. What's wrong with our world? It's empty.

It's empty. It's meaningless. It's pointless. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which has lost their value. It was paid with the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless lamb of God.

That's what Passover is all about. In Hebrew, it's called. God passes over our sin. You see, you and I have a choice. When the angel of death approaches you on the day of judgment, He will only pass over you for one reason, if the blood of Christ covers your sins.

That's it. Here's what God says. You die or Jesus dies. You choose. You choose.

I always always crack up at funerals. Oh, they're in a better place. Really? How'd they get there? Which direction is it?

You have no idea. Only Jesus knows where heaven is because that's where he's from. That's where he's from. Number 4, I must choose God's mercy while I still have time. Right before Passover happened, I love pharaoh.

Pharaoh is like a politician. He makes all these promises, they never come true. Pharaoh's last promise, he said this, the next time I see you, Moses, and I see you, Aaron, will be the last time you're alive. That's what pharaoh said. And then after the 9th plague, guess what pharaoh said?

I need to talk to Moses again. I need go ahead and summon him. I know what I said. You know, I was just trying to, you know, get elected. That was the campaign.

Bring him in. Bring him in. And pharaoh rose up in the night and he and all his servants and the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt. You wanna know why?

Everyone lost a first born. And I want you to hear me. God never lies. And that should both give you confidence and scare you to death. There was not a house, the Bible says, where someone was not dead.

Do you understand that? And then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and he said, go out from among my people, both you and your people of Israel, and go and serve the Lord as you have said. Take your flocks, take your herds. And as you have said, just go, but listen. He said, and bless me also.

Some of you never pay attention to this in the text. Moses leaves. Moses goes. Moses never blesses pharaoh. It's too late.

You had your chance, pharaoh. You had 9 chances. Listen to me. All throughout the story of Exodus, Moses called upon Pharaoh to repent. And listen to me.

The first five times, Pharaoh hardens his own heart, and the last five times, God hardens it for him. Some of you are really, really close between you hardening your heart and God hardening your heart. And once God hardens it, there is no hope. And here's the thing I want you to understand. Pharaoh was a strong man.

Some of you are very, very strong, and it's the very, very thing that's gonna keep you from eternal life because you depend upon your strength and not God's. But here's the good news. You don't have to be pharaoh. This doesn't have to be your story. For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

Let me just ask you. What is your excuse? What are you gonna say before God on judgment day? I didn't have time to apologize? You had your whole life to sin.

You didn't have a moment to apologize? You didn't have a moment to believe? And some are like, wow, I believe in science. Science is coming completely around. They're going, yeah, I think we got this god thing wrong.

Here's what science is saying. It looks like there's something holding this whole creation together. We can't see it, but we see evidence of its presence. You know what the Bible says? Christ holds all things together by the power of his name.

Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. In just a second, I'm gonna give you an opportunity to call upon the name of the lord. All you gotta do is be honest. Tell God you're a sinner. You are.

You are. Even if somebody brought you, they know. Nobody's gonna go, I thought you were mother Teresa. No one's gonna think that. And you know why they know you're a sinner?

Because they know they're a sinner. Because everybody knows deep inside they need Jesus, a bath, and their mom. But listen to me, Sandals Church. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved, but here's that's not where the verse ends. It says, how can they call upon him whom they have not heard?

Do you know what your job this week is? It's not to get saved. It's to bring somebody to Easter so they can be saved. And then you say this, well, pastor Matt, I'm not good at sharing my faith. Okay.

Well, let me give you the next first. How will they call upon him whom they have not heard and how will they hear unless someone preaches? Okay. I'll do that. I'll do that.

I'll do my part. You do your part. And you bring somebody to Easter. You bring somebody to Easter. Man, God is gonna move, and I believe that.

He's gonna move, and he's gonna save. But listen to me, church, we gotta bring people because people can't be saved unless they hear. And they won't hear unless they're here. Amen? So bring them.

Bring them to church this week. Let me go back to those of you that need to be saved. Just bow your head and close your eyes, all of us. If you know you're not right with God, would you just lift up your hand and say, God, I know I'm not right with you. I'm sorry for my mistakes.

I'm sorry for my sins. I'm sorry for my regrets. God, save me from myself. Lord, put your son's blood on my doorpost. Save me from my sins.

Pass over my guilt and pour out your grace upon me. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Hi. I'm pastor Matt Brown.

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