Our gospel lesson text this morning is from second Chronicles chapter 35 will begin in verse 7 this morning I'll give you a moment to find that if you're using the Bibles in your seats there That's page 332 if you're using the Bible you brought from home If you go to the Psalms and go back left word a few few books, you'll you'll find that shortly
Second Chronicles chapter 35 beginning in verse 7. This is God's word. He turned away true
Josiah provided provided for all the late people who were there a total of 30,000 sheep and goats for the Passover offerings And also 3,000 cattle all from the kings own possession His officials also contributed voluntarily to the people in the priests and Levites Hilkaya Zechariah and Jaheel the administrators of God's temple gave the priests 2600 Passover offerings and 300 cattle also Kananaya along with Shamaya and Nathanael his brothers and Hashabaya GL and Josephad the leaders of the Levites Provided 5,000 Passover offerings and 500 head of cattle for the Levites The service was arranged and the priests stood in their places with the Levites and their divisions as the king had ordered The Passover lambs were slaughtered and the priests sprinkled the blood handed to them while the Levites skinned the animals They set aside the burnt offerings to give them to the subdivisions of the families of the people to offer to the Lord as Is written in the book of Moses they did the same with the cattle They roasted the Passover animals over the fire as prescribed and boiled the holy offerings and pots Cauldrons and pans and served them quickly to all the people After this they made preparations for themselves and for the priests because the priests the descendants of Aaron were sacrificing the burnt offerings and the fat portions until nightfall So the Levites made preparations for themselves and for the eronic priests The musicians the descendants of ASAF were in the places prescribed by David, ASAF, Hemaan and Jettathun the king's seer The gatekeepers at each gate did not need to leave their posts because their fellow Levites made the preparations for them So at that time the entire service of the Lord was carried out for the celebration of the Passover and the offering of burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord As the king as King Josiah had ordered The Israelites who were present celebrated the Passover at that time and observed the feast of unleavened bread for seven days The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel and None of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah with the priests the Levites and all Judah and Israel Who were there with the people of Jerusalem This Passover was celebrated in the 18th year of Josiah's reign Here ends our reading we have in our bulletin a response of thankfulness our Expressing our thankfulness to God for giving us this is word. Let us respond the word of the Lord Let us pray our God and Father. We are grateful to you for giving us this your word for it reveals what you're like And it reveals your good news the gospel to us Grant us insight and understanding by the work of your spirit and your word here that we might see you more clearly And become more like you indeed spirit of God grant us willing hearts receptive minds that we might hear your word and Follow you Jesus preached to us by this your word and by your spirit make it effective And us we ask Jesus in your name Amen It's interesting if you've been we have amongst us a number of school teachers and administrators and all of us have Been around other people and can engage their level of interest in various things with school and such and sometimes you get surprised by Somebody maybe you know them in a certain context maybe they were somebody in your English class for instance, and they didn't care lick about English and so they were bored and and getting in trouble that kind of thing But then you get them out in another class or perhaps in the athletic field and they've got great enthusiasm And you see this whole side of them that you haven't seen before Because this new spirit of this enthusiasm has overtaken them because of their interest In this this new subject or this new thing That's what we're seeing here in this passage as we look at Josiah the king of Israel the son of David And as we look at God's people as they celebrate the Passover They had previously not seen their need for it and God's people had been lazy or laughs and their Interest in celebrating the Passover even though it was something they were supposed to celebrate each year But we see that they they get a hold of this and they recognize their need For Passover their need to celebrate Passover for it would bring them to remembrance of what God himself had done for them as we start out here in our Gospel lesson you see that there's an outline in your bulletin and if you like to fill in blanks You're welcome to do so if you want to just listen that's fine. That's fine too But as we look here in this passage the first thing that we remind ourselves of is this That Passover or the gospel is what we need that's your blank there the gospel The Passover is what we need indeed that the Passover is a precursor or a Fourshadowing of what Jesus would accomplish in the gospel and as we look at the Passover and understand It's meaning both of Moses and and with these people here under Josiah We see that this meaning is the same meaning of the gospel itself But this passage even though written long ago has great meaning for us because of this That is as I've mentioned that God's people under Josiah had been in a place in their lives where they hadn't recognized their their need For God's work on their behalf and that's what the Passover was about It was a reminder every year to God's people of how much he had done for them and how he continued to be their protector forgiving God So we all have some extent to which we're like the people in this chapter Maybe you're here this morning and you're just at the place right now and in your own life where you're starting to realize You know, I have need for God in my life Maybe I have need right now for this the gospel or this good news I have need to understand what that means. Maybe there's something there That that that I need that's more than I've recognized that I've needed in the past Maybe you're here this morning and and you're here every week and you've been here in a church every In some church every week for the last five 10 50 years of your life, but this passage is still a reminder to you if that is the case for you The Passover was celebrated every year And what God communicates in that in this requirement of his people that they celebrate the Passover every year was this That in our souls We are in need of reminder time after time of what God does for his people and So that's what we speak about here this morning the Passover the gospel We need to think over this over and over that God Accomplishes much for his people God rescues his people by a Passover lamb So we say this in believing the gospel like the Passover in Egypt one here are the things that you need A in believing the gospel one escapes from death That's your first blank there and call red force this morning from Romans 6 that last Verse that he read their forest from Roman 623 for the wages of sin is death That is what a person earns for himself his wages What a person earns for himself for his sin is death Now God has created us who causes us to breathe every breath and he keeps our heart beating one more beat every beat Along the way throughout our whole lives. We owe him everything and we have not given him everything and It's right that what comes upon us is death for our sin But this was the case in another way back in Egypt under Moses You know the first Passover was a literal Passover. It was the 10th plague That Moses was the instrument by which God brought this on Egypt the 10th plague God was going to come and he was going to put to death the first born in every house in Egypt unless That house had lamb's blood painted over its door and along the sides of the main door going into the house and God said if I see Lamb's blood on the door of a house. I will pass over that house and will not bring death into that family That's the Passover God's people when they celebrated the Passover like under Josiah We're reminding themselves that God rest you them from death in Egypt Now today in the gospel the message is the same except we remove the Egypt part, don't we? The gospel is the message of Passover That is that by the blood of Christ figuratively spread upon the door posts and over the lentil the top part of our lives As we believed in Jesus his blood has been sprinkled upon us and it covers our sins and this the blood of Jesus rescues us from eternal death and So everybody us and everybody who's ever lived having sinned we need rescue from death And that's what the gospel is good news about that the gospel brings rescue from death so we need the gospel we need the Passover be in believing the gospel one also escapes from judgment This was the case in Egypt God said he would send his 10th plague this this plague of death on the Egypt as Judgment judgment upon Egypt and upon the gods of Egypt and as we read this morning and referenced already That the wages of sin is death the judgment the sentence given for sin is death and Jesus spoke of this sentence of death in many many places and in the the Gospels the four gospels that we have in the New Testament one of those places a reference for you here Matthew 1122 where Jesus speaks of judgment coming to those who have not believed in him the Son of God And so everybody not only has death into a nothingness or Death into a ceasing of existence, but Jesus himself speaks of death going into a judgment where there is a sentence of eternal death and eternal Punishment eternal judgment going upon a person. This is what Jesus taught But Jesus also taught this good news that his Passover death caused his people trusting in his blood To be shed upon across That death would not come to their house to their life, so to speak And so one who believes in Jesus has Jesus blood cover him like The blood of the lamb covered those houses in Egypt long ago And that's something that all of us that each person needs escape from death Escape from the judgment that follows it Third thing that comes with believing the gospel and believing the gospel one escapes from hell and we See in Egypt the case was that Egypt was a hell of a sorts for God's people They were in slavery there They were under a king a master who didn't care if they died in the midst of their labors for him He wasn't paying them to work for him wasn't treating them well and God's people in the Passover in this tense plague got escaped from the land of Egypt They got escaped from the kingdom of Egypt They got escaped from the kingdom of this evil king who sought to do them harm Who had enslaved them who caused them to work and hard labor But Colossians 113 which we read this morning in our declaration of the gospel It's the second sentence there since it in the gospel. This has happened he God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness The kingdom of the evil one And brought us into the kingdom of the sun he loves You see how this is a reliving of the Exodus experience that is God's people were released from the kingdom of the evil king Pharaoh And brought into the kingdom of God in the promised land Released from an evil king an evil kingdom and brought into the kingdom Led by God's beloved son David and his sons and eventually now for us in the gospel Jesus And that's what got to accomplishes for us in the gospel message when we believe the good news when we believe on Jesus What is happening is this transfer of kingdom citizenship? We are transferred from the dominion of darkness from being a citizen of that kingdom from having Satan is our master He who doesn't care about us he would have who would have us go into eternal condemnation and eternal punishment and Enjoy that being the case we transfer out of that kingdom and We enter in to the kingdom of the sun God the Father loves the kingdom of Jesus So we need Jesus our Passover to escape from hell then D When we believe the gospel want to escape from the dominating power of its sin nature That's your blank sin there a Roman six a Carl Red Force this morning tells us that every person Who's not yet believed in Christ is Dominated in his life or slave in his life to his own sin nature Ourselfishness our desire to do what just Serves us that gets us in a whole mess of trouble and what the Bible tells us is that when we come to faith in Christ when we believe on this Gospel when we believe in our need for this Passover in Jesus that we are
freed From our doubt from the domination of our sin nature in our life We still sin we still fall to sin but we're not dominated by it and God tells us no Tentation overtakes us, but such is his common a man and God is faithful He provides the way of escape also that we might endure and do the right thing in the midst of Tentation he tells us that in 1 Corinthians 10 13 God frees us from our slavery to sin in the God Gospel So we need the gospel and then lastly your e-point there and believing in the gospel one is cleansed One is cleansed by God of his corruption God's people were dirty when they came out of Egypt maybe even literally so maybe they had mud on their on their legs And under their toenails from stomping in the mud pits If there were anything like Charlton Heston in that movie when he comes in he's got the mud all over him And God's people have the mud all over them from stomping out those bricks there But also figurative way in the spiritual sense they were they were dirty They were coming out from this this kingdom of of this this pagan king Pharaoh And 1 Corinthians 10 says the red sea wasn't just a way to make a separation between my people and the people of Egypt It wasn't just a way to once and for all eliminate the possibility of Egypt to being able to take God's people back into slavery by wiping out their army in the red sea First Corinthians 10 that a Carl Red Force this morning said that that was a baptism That was a baptism of God's people. It was God cleansing his people Through the water of the red sea That they might be clean before him And that's what happens in the gospel when one comes to believe in the gospel when one comes to believe in the Passover They're cleansed of their sins God washes us clean and we all need that as well So pass over the gospel is what we need for all these reasons so what should be our Reaction to this what should be our Thinking and our actions on the Passover gospel of Jesus Well, this gets back to the point that we started with with enthusiasm Ever been around somebody and if you're one of them don't take offense Ever been around somebody who's enthusiastic about everything
Ha I've had to talk to somebody on the phone a few times and interact with somebody on the phone a few times and with Something we've dealt with with the the building. It's not someone in our congregation and she is always Well, okay, that's great. Okay, talk to you later. Thanks for calling We're talking about I won't tell you what it is so that you won't know it's none of you will know what it is Oh man, where's me out and you don't have to be enthusiastic about everything God's wired us most of us at least not to be enthusiastic about everything But he clearly communicates in this passage where to be enthusiastic about at least one thing and that's the Seer point number one be enthusiastic about the gospel Be enthusiastic about the gospel the Passover we see it here in verses 7 and 8 all these gifts that are given by Josiah the King and by the priests and lewits all these gifts that are given people are enthusiastic about that They haven't celebrated the Passover in a couple of generations and this is the first Passover that any of these people in their lives have celebrated And they are reminding themselves of how God takes care of all their needs He gets them escape from death. He gets them escape from judgment He gets them escape from hell. He gets them escape from the dominating power of the sin nature in their lives and he cleanses them This is what they were celebrating and this is about which what they were about what they were being enthusiastic And God says to us in this passage this is the way we should be when we think about the gospel Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us Therefore let us keep the feast that's going to be your Theme verse on our last song that we sing together on the title page of that song Christ First Corinthians five seven is our Passover and God says to us in this passage This is the kind of enthusiasm that we are to have about Christ our Passover This is the kind of enthusiasm we're to have about the gospel Josiah is so enthusiastic about the gospel. I mean how many three thousand cattle 30,000 sheep and goats for the Passover offerings out of his own possessions I think he's enthusiastic about the Providing all these sheep and goats it's so much that the priests and the Levites who are serving have to have other people Bring the Passover to them Because they they're serving and serving and serving and so somebody else has to take care of their own Lamb sacrifice for them so that they can join in the celebration You know, it's like the guy who who works at the concession stand through through lunch at the football game You know, he needs somebody to get some lunch for him so he can eat As he has time, but there's great enthusiasm enthusiasm about the gospel and here's what we say We talked about this before Jesus is the son of David He's called bad in the four gospels son of David and that was a title of king I meant he was the son of king David and he was a rightful king over God's people Just like Josiah Josiah was a son of David the NASA before am and before sons of David Jesus shows us beyond Josiah enthusiasm Jesus is enthusiastic about the gospel about his Passover sacrifice that he was going to make He was more enthusiastic than Josiah Josiah gave all these things out of his possessions But Jesus literally gives his life and that's a blank for you somewhere there That Jesus is so enthusiastic about about the Passover that he gives his life literally for the gospel He hands over his breath and his heartbeat for the gospel Our king the son of David is like Josiah to an exponential degree The gospel is so important That he gives his life Jesus is so enthusiastic about what it is he is going to achieve for us his people In this Passover sacrifice of him himself being the Lamb of God and dying as a Passover sacrifice on a cross That he goes there anyway. He bears to a passage. I love it says Jesus despised the shame of the cross But for the joy set before him he went to it That's this Passover enthusiasm So we as people as followers of Jesus were to follow Jesus like the people in Josiah and they followed Josiah See how they in turn become enthusiastic about the gospel The God takes care of his people he cleanses them from their sins I give some escape from judgment and death We're to be like the people in this passage and be all about the gospel down at here's your blank Down at the soul level rejoicing in it in your heart and in your mind We see in verse 18 it says this the Passover not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel That was that was pre-David That was about 400 years 450 years prior to this This is a big Passover celebration and we are at our soul level to be excited about the gospel To rejoice about the gospel because this is God showing us he loves us This is God showing us that he cares for us But not only this not only is God showing us he loves us and cares for us God is accomplishing it and it knows small cost to himself God himself cares about the gospel so much That he sends his son to be abused mocked scored and shamed That's how enthusiastic God fathers about the gospel and Jesus actually does it He becomes this lamb of God And so that his blood can be put on the doorposts of our house So that we can experience the benefits of Passover so that we can escape the 10th plague that was hanging over our lives So We are to be all about the gospel down at the soul level rejoicing over the gospel in our hearts When we think about the gospel when we think about the church it's not just to be a surfacy thing It's not just to be a dry ritual that we go through But it's to be something that that affects us in our hearts and in our souls So one the enthusiastic about about the gospel and two God says to this morning through this passage be generous so that the gospel the Passover can be big When we see this in verses 7 through 9 in this passage Just say and name the people I keep all these people keep giving and giving and giving So that the Passover can be big and you see that the the Passover celebration goes beyond Judah the group of people over whom the son of David Josiah was king but also those in the northern regions in Israel Are invited down those for two two distinct areas Judah was in the south and Israel was in the north And God's people want the Passover to be big and so they bring in all these people from Israel as well They're interested in as many people celebrating the Passover as will come So we're to be generous so that the gospel the Passover can be big and we see again as our example in verse 7 here that Josiah gives all these things For the Passover But we remind ourselves that Josiah is the son of David and that the true final ultimate son of David Jesus gives something else And that is here's your blank Jesus gives His life for the gospel
It's right for us to give For the gospel's advancement Jesus gave his whole life So the gospel could advance so that people could come to believe in him and have their sins forgiven So that people could have eternal life So as people could die and go to heaven and be with God forever in his blessing Jesus wanted A big Celebration of the gospel and he didn't just limited to the Jews of his day his own people But he tells his followers johnton. I have sheep that are not of this fold I have those that I will bring to the Passover celebration who are beyond the Jewish people living here in Israel And so he tells us disciples after his resurrection and the great commission Go and preach the gospel to all nations make disciples of all nations make the Passover celebration Big invite everybody So Jesus gives his life so that people might be forgiven so that people might have eternal life The question is for us To what do we give and how The Passover today is made big by here's your blank the Passover today is made big By spreading by the spreading of the gospel Matthew 28 you realize that the great commission the command of Jesus to to make disciples of all nations So proclaim the gospel to all that's us making the Passover celebration big It's us including people in the blood of the lamb Jesus So that they can escape death and judgment so that they can escape having their own sin nature be the dominating force in their lives as slaves To sin and so the Passover today is made big by the spreading of the gospel And we make the spreading of the gospel big by a couple of ways that are spoken of here And one other that we won't talk about right now You can ask me about it later if you want to but the two that are dealt with in this passage is this We make the spreading of the gospel big by being generous with our abilities being generous with our abilities The priests and the Levites here you see a jessiah whatever their ability is they go and they perform That's almost to the point of exhaustion probably But we see that they have to be fed the the the Passover meal Because they're using their abilities Using their roles using their place in life So that the Passover celebration can be big So that lots of people can celebrate this and rejoice in God And for us today God has given each of you abilities Some natural abilities some spiritual abilities and this is a call to you as you make Your abilities available to the church and do what you're able to do we're having a uh Informational time about the church this Sunday and and next Sunday at three o'clock and and uh, you know, I don't have great abilities when it comes to desserts Um Except for eating them. I have great ability to eat desserts Uh, but not to make and and so you know, I've asked some of you who who can make some desserts and so some of you have stepped forward with that Those kind of things Help the Passover celebration the kingdom of God Grow Helps people come in but whatever your abilities are Got to say into you this morning into me use your abilities For his kingdom's sake for the sake of the Passover that that might be big so that Jesus might be honored and glorified And that people might experience the benefits of the Passover that Jesus accomplished for us So be generous with your abilities and then the second thing be generous financially and we see this with Josiah here and the Levites and priests They give of their own Stuff of their own possessions So that this Passover celebration might be big and this gives meaning to when we give in the church We're not just we're not just giving for for lights And an end there We're giving in yeah part of what we give pays the pays the light bill Part of what we get pays the light bill, but why are we paying the light bill? We're paying the light bill so that people can hear the gospel So more people can experience the blood of Jesus Covering their sins so that their sins are forgiven so they cast from death on the life So so they can pass from judgment and condemnation to the blessing of God This is why we this is why we give this is what Josiah gave he gave all these lamps so people could experience the joy Of what God does for us people and so we give and we're generous financially as well so that other people can experience the Passover meal of Jesus
I skipped that and that reminds me I skipped a line right above your point one What we have right in front of right in front of me here Is the succession of the Passover meal Jesus celebrated the Passover meal and he redefined it or he gave it its final ultimate meaning And he said do's disciples in essence This Lord suffer here now. Let me fill your blank up for you here The Lord suffers a reminder to us of the Passover nature of the gospel Gospels your blank there Jesus sat with his disciples at the last supper which was a Passover celebration and he says That this lamb and the blood of the lamb and his broken bread and the spilling of this wine It is fulfilled in me This is the new covenant in my blood He says to his disciples and so when we celebrate the Lord suffered here, we're reminding us We're reminding ourselves of how we need Jesus We're reminding us of What Jesus has accomplished for us And we want those not just ourselves, but those we know in our workplaces in our neighborhoods, in our families among our relatives, our friends, our classmates We want them to be included in the blessing that God has for all his people in the Passover meal in the gospel So make the gospel big by being generous be generous with your abilities be generous with your finances So that the gospel can be big So more and more people can come to believe and experience God's blessing And then lastly he who freely gives Look at verse 7 which is about the son of David giving freely he who freely gives is like Jesus This is us living out the gospel Jesus said the gospel is so important. I'll give my life for it And we are to say the same thing the gospel is so important. We'll give our time, our abilities, our money We don't live in a country where many of us will give literally our lives for but some Christians and other nations do If we were ever called to that, we should do it. But God says to us Everybody needs the gospel Give of yourself in whatever way that you're able to give So that the celebration of God's grace to his people in the gospel might be big. Let's pray
Father, you've done much for us You've given us in Jesus and his gospel escape from death Escape from judgment Escape from hell Escape from our sin nature is dominating our lives here in our lives here And you have and your gospel cleansed us from our corruption cleansed us from our sins and for this we're grateful Lord help us in light of this to be like Josiah and the people here to be enthusiastic about what you have accomplished for us in Jesus and his gospel Help us now to fix our eyes and hearts upon this truth as well as we celebrate this gospel in your supper Amen