Book Of Numbers 9:1-13 – How to Remember Christ’s Sacrifice audio. The Lord instructed Moses to keep the Passover. Jesus fulfilled/ended the Passover with the Table of the Lord. The 1st Century church received the Table of the Lord every time they came together. When was the last time we had Holy Communion?
Why did the Lord bring Israel out of Egypt? Why did He choose you? He brought them out to dwell among them. He chooses you and me to have a relationship with us. Traditions say God wants us to go to heaven and dwell with God. In reality God desires to come be with us. “Thy kingdom come…”
Book Of Numbers 9:1-13 – How to Remember Christ’s Sacrifice
Book Of Numbers 9:1-13 – How to Remember Christ’s Sacrifice
Audio
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Scriptures used in this lesson:
Exodus 17:3, Exodus 29:46, Exodus 33:1, Numbers 9:1, Numbers 9:2, 1 Corinthians 11:25-26, Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 11:19-21, Numbers 9:3-5, Numbers 9:6-12, Numbers 9:13, 1 Corinthians 11:29-31,
Okay, Numbers chapter 9. Before we get started into Numbers chapter 9, I want to rehearse in our hearing again why we’re studying this book. Why are we studying the book of Numbers? Somebody tell me.
Get into the promised land. Get into the promised land. That’s good. That’s it. That’s why we’re studying it. The Lord God redeemed with a mighty hand the nation of Israel. Book of Exodus tells us that story. And God granted to them salvation.
Why, why Israel? Why those people? Why you and I? Why? Why did he choose them? John, why did he choose them? You’re not sure? That’s a good answer. He wanted to. But there’s reasons. And you know, I think that once we understand why he chose them, maybe we’ll understand better why he chose us.
I kind of want to know that sometimes, Doug. You know, I ask the Lord, why? Why me? What’s so good about me? And he thinks I’m pretty slick, John. He likes me. And I want to, you know, these are the little questions. So why are we studying the book of Numbers? Why did he redeem Israel? Why, why, why?
And I want to just look at this just a second. And I want you to look in the book of Exodus with me. Let’s look first at chapter 17, book of Exodus, chapter 17. And I want you to see why, why the people thought God brought them out of Egypt.
Why did God bring them out of Egypt? That’s exactly what we’re about to read. But why did he, why did he bring them out of Egypt? Why did he bring you out of the world? Or why is he bringing you out of the world? To bring us in? That’s the ultimate. That’s it. That’s it. So once we grasp, once we understand, understanding why he chose them and brought them out, maybe we’ll understand better why he chose us and is bringing us out.
Exodus 17:3
3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
But first of all, in Exodus chapter 17 and verse 3, we talk about here what they thought, what the people thought. And the people thirsted there for water. And the people murmured against Moses and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children, our cattle with thirst? You know, is this why?
You ever feel like that, you know, God, I believe you’re just trying to kill me. I believe there’s something about me that just ticks you off and you’re just trying to kill me in here. And that’s what they felt like. And again, notice that they really weren’t blaming God, they were blaming Moses. And it’s always the pastor’s fault, right? That’s right. I mean, hey, why are you doing this?
Exodus 29:46
46 And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God.
And then look at 29, chapter 29, Exodus 29, 46. Here is why. This is the beautiful passage of Scripture and it’s a real beautiful verse. It’s one that kind of sunk into my heart today. 29, 46. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt that, or for this reason, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.
Why did he bring them out? So he could dwell among them. Why did God bring you out of the world? He wants to dwell among us. It’s so amazing to me today as I was meditating on this verse, traditions of men have it that we want to go to him and dwell with him. Is that right? Let’s go to heaven and get to heaven so we can dwell in heaven with God.
But God said, hey, hey, whoa, whoa, I’m trying to get to you. I want to come dwell with you. Amen. But we pray thy kingdom come, thy will be done where? On earth. And so what we’re seeing is that God is really wanting to dwell with us and that’s so precious to me.
The reason he chose Israel, brought Israel out of Egypt was so he could dwell with them. He couldn’t dwell with them in Egypt. He couldn’t dwell with them among their idols and their gods. He couldn’t do that. It wouldn’t work. He had to bring them out. They had to go through this wilderness experience. They had to learn something, do something, accomplish something in the wilderness. He wanted to dwell with them. He wanted to dwell with them.
Exodus 33:1
1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it:
I want to look at one more. Look at chapter 33. And this was the ultimate reason that Michelle has already mentioned that he wanted to dwell with them. Chapter 33, verse 1. And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart and go up hence. Thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, Unto the land which I swear unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, Saying unto thy seed will I give it.
What God really wants to do is give us the promise. There are a lot of promises he has given this church. The promises he has given this church are all incorporated with the promises that he has given you. If you’re a part of this church, a member in particular of this body, your promises that God has promised you to fulfill are intricately attached to with the promises that he has promised this church.
It’s going to be very difficult for any of us to fulfill our individual promises outside of the body that God has put us in. Am I correct? Because we’re such a part, we help each other, we pray for each other. Somebody may pray that prayer in the body that breaks it loose for you.
There are these things, somebody may give you that word, that word of knowledge, word of wisdom, but somewhere it’s so intricately involved. God has put us here for a reason, that the body fitly joined together can supply the joint and the need.
God brought them out not to kill them. Sometimes you really do think, God, you’re killing me. The reason God brought them out was to dwell with them. That was so precious to me when I saw that today. He brought them out.
As we began this study of the book of Numbers, we were looking at it from the aspect of being in that wilderness that we wanted to get out of the wilderness. But you know what? Before we get out of the wilderness, we’ve got to come to a place where we allow God to dwell with us. So the primary reason to go into the wilderness was to build a tabernacle so that God could dwell in the tabernacle, so that he could dwell with his people.
And you and I are the tabernacle of God, or the temple of God, and the purpose is so that he can dwell in us, individually, corporately. So we’re looking at this book of Numbers to have the Lord reveal himself to us. And in this time of the wilderness time is when God does reveal himself to the people. He let the people learn him and see him. He revealed his character and his ways to them.
How do you respond to God? There’s two ways. Obedience and disobedience. But before we ever leave Sinai, we’ve got to be able to respond out of obedience.
The last paragraph under that section that we’re looking at right now, and the first section there, the last paragraph before we go to and the Lord speaking to Moses, let’s read that. What we are looking for in this study are the principles and character of the Lord. We want to know what to do, individually and corporately. I do not want to see any more die in the wilderness. I’m looking for principles we can apply here at our church and into our lives. We will learn his character. We will receive the blessings. We will enter our promise and promises.
I was studying today the cloud. We’ll talk about this probably next week. But the cloud, it’s in the cloud that God really revealed his character and his nature to Moses. I want to talk about that. Not today, but next week. It was such a wonderful time today. I enjoyed looking at the thoughts so much I had to call somebody and talk to somebody. I called Steve Lytle and just shared it with him. Probably didn’t mean a thing to him. I know I called him making a fax, and he was trying to listen to me and encourage me and make it work at the same time.
But, you know, when you see something and it excites you, you just want to jump right into it. But that will be next week. But I did see today about the cloud that before God really revealed, you know where? Well, I’m getting into that. Let’s go on. We won’t get through with Numbers 9 if I don’t get started with it.
Numbers 9:1
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,
Numbers 9. And the Lord spake unto Moses, and we already talked about that. Yes, we have. What’s the principle? Our God speaks. Amen. My sheep hear my voice, and they know me. Amen. And I know them. The Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai.
Can God speak to us in our wilderness? I don’t care what you’re in, what your state is, what situation you’re in, what the situation in your life is, what wilderness experience that you find yourself in, God can speak to you there. But why did he speak to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai? I’m full of whys today. Why, Lord, you know, why this, why that?
As I was going through my notes today, getting ready, I started saying, you know, I was asking a whole lot of whys. Why did you speak to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai? Why does he speak to you in your wilderness experience? To get your attention and to get you out of the wilderness. Am I right? He’s telling Moses what to do to get out of the wilderness.
Moses, before you get out of the wilderness, you’ve got to get this accomplished in your life. You’ve got to get this built. You’ve got to get these people lined up. You’ve got to get them numbered. You’ve got to get them set up. You’ve got to get all this built for the tabernacle. You’ve got to make me a place to dwell in. Moses, you’ve got to do this.
So every time that the Lord was speaking to Moses in the wilderness, it was so that Moses could get out of the wilderness. And when he speaks to you and I in our wilderness, it’s so that we can get out of our wilderness.
And on page 170, I’ve got an example here. Let’s read that first paragraph. Let’s look at an example. You are in debt up to your eyeballs. So you go for counseling. The Lord speaks through the counselor. Do you do what the Lord said? Most people do not. So what happens? Do we get blessed or cursed? We get the curse of debt. We remain in the wilderness, wondering about the desert. Is that right?
Okay, another one. Our marriage is bad. We want counseling. So the Lord speaks to us through the counselor. Do we do what the Lord said? Most of the time not. So what happens? We live the remainder of our lives in the wilderness of hell. We could enter the land flowing with milk and honey. We could have a home that we did not have to build. Our children could have a continuous inheritance.
Do we listen to the Lord? We do when we want to. When it’s convenient. So the secret of leaving Sinai is doing what the Lord says to do. Is that right? Is this true? Yes, this is true.
So what I’m wanting us to see is that the Lord spoke to Moses in his wilderness. In the wilderness of Sinai, the Lord spoke to Moses. And the reason that he’s speaking to Moses is to get Moses out of Sinai. And in your wilderness, no matter what it is, God’s going to speak to you. He’s going to speak to you through preaching, teaching, ministry, counseling. He’s going to get you in the cloud. He’s going to speak to you. He’s going to speak to you through your spirit, through the Word. Somehow, God’s going to speak to you in the wilderness.
But it’s going to be up to you to obey or disobey. If you obey, you get the blessings. If you disobey, you get the cursings. And the cursings is dying in the wilderness. So he spoke to him in the wilderness of Sinai.
I’m reading that verse one now. And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second year. That’s the emphasis point at this right now. After they were come out of the land of Egypt. They have been out now one entire year. They’ve been out of Egypt one year.
What brought them out of Egypt? What was the event that broke Pharaoh’s back and the people come out of Egypt? Passover. The Passover feast. They did the Passover feast that broke Pharaoh’s back and out they came. Out they come. Now he’s telling them again to have the Passover again. It’s been one year. They’ve been out one year. One entire year have they spent here learning the ways of God. Learning how to worship God. Learning how to praise God. Learning the law of God or the word of God for one year. And they’re about to move. Next chapter they move. Tomorrow we move. Okay.
And the principle that I first want to draw from him is when a new convert comes into the kingdom of God. How long should we really work with them? Training them how to worship God. Praise God. Learning how to read the word. Study the word. How long? What is a good timetable here? Do you see what I’m getting at? It’s going to take at least a year. And if you don’t get this into them they’re going to stay there forever.
But that first year we need to impact a new convert’s life so heavily with worship. With praise. With ways of approaching God. With the tabernacle aspects and all those principles. We need to approach that individual with the word of God. We need to get that individual in the word of God. Studying the word of God. Understanding the word of God. And if they don’t get it they won’t leave Sinai. They’ll live there the rest of their lives right there in the wilderness.
So that’s the first thing that I want to say. They need to learn the law or the word of God. They need to build that temple, that tabernacle, that place for God to dwell in them. They need to get it established.
And then the second thing I want to say here is the Lord records when he speaks to us. Now look how specific that he was. He said he spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second year.
How many of us have really, you know, without doubt, that you have received a word of the Lord? You know that the Lord has given you a word. Raise your hand. Do you know or do you believe that that is recorded forever? Forever? Was when the Lord spoke to Moses recorded? Not only was it recorded, but was it recorded when he spoke to him? See, Moses couldn’t come up to the Lord and say, well, Lord, you really didn’t tell me that. Oh, yes, I did, Moses. Here it is. It was in the first month, the 14th day, and you were at Sinai in the wilderness. And you and I, folks, I’m telling you, the Lord has recorded when he has spoken to you and I.
And one day, one day we’re going to stand before him. Lord, you really didn’t say that to me. Listen, I spoke to you right here in September of 1994, Chuck Clayton at the Church of Lafayette, right here. So it got written down. Right here’s where I spoke to you. And either I obey it or I disobey it. See, I told you that. And you and I have so many words of prophecy, so many words of direction that come to us. And actually, it’s a fearful thing to me.
You know, when the prophetic thing first began, everybody wanted a word. And they got them. And so many of those words have just kind of drifted off into Never Never Land, like they really don’t matter. They were just, God was just teasing me.
Do we really believe God when he speaks to us? Do we really believe it? Be real honest with me, and I’m the first one to, and I understand it better. Next week I’ll be able to project it just a little bit. I’ll say it now, so you’ll understand more of what I’m talking about, because I think it’s important.
First of all, let’s establish this. How many of you have ever gotten a word that you knew was the Lord, you really sensed was the Lord, you really believe right now it was the Lord, but you didn’t do it? That’s most of us. Well, let me show you what happens. And I’ll do this again next week, but it was just so good to me when I saw it today.
Okay, here goes Moses up into the mount. He ascends up into the mount, into the cloud. And up here in the cloud, up here in the cloud, God is so good. I mean, man, God is revealing himself to Moses. He’s in this cloud. He gives him the, Steve, he gives him the tabernacle. Moses can see it, it’s so clear.
He gives him the vision of the tabernacle, and it’s so clear how each piece, and the length, and the width, and the color, and the size, and what its purpose was, and how it was to be ministered, and the whole, he saw it so clear. He’s in this cloud. He’s in the presence of God, and everything else is dull all around him. Nothing else really matters. All I can see is the purposes of God, and I hear the voice of God, and it’s so clear. I can write the dimensions down on how big the shoebread table is. I can tell you, I can see it so good when I’m in that cloud. Right? Everything else is fuzzied out. It just doesn’t matter.
Then all of a sudden, you go back down the mountain, you find Aaron down there, the golden calf, and the stiff-necked people, dancing around, and seeking everything but the kingdom of God. Now, that has a tendency to do something to that word that you saw in the mountain. And that’s what’s happened to you, and that’s what’s happened to me. We heard it so clear. We knew it was God. We know it was God. But all of a sudden, we come back down out of that presence, and out of that place, and all of a sudden, you want to kill somebody. But folks, he really did hear the Lord. Moses did. You really did hear the Lord.
And what I’m wanting you to know right now is that it’s written in heaven. And one day, he’s going to read it back to you. And he’s going to read it back to me. And we better have done the will of God. That is his will when he speaks to us, by the way.
Numbers 9:2
2 Let the children of Israel also keep the passover at his appointed season.
I’m on page 171. Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at his appointed season. And the rest of our time is going to be spent talking about the Passover and its linkage to and its association with the table of the Lord.
Let me read that again. Verse 2 says, Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at his appointed season. Notice that the Lord expected Israel to keep this Passover at an appointed time. Do you see this? It’s so important that at its appointed season, at its appointed time, there’s a time that this Passover was to be kept.
Does he expect you and me to keep the table of the Lord at the appointed time? But what is the appointed time? As oft as you will.
Let’s read that second paragraph. When we look at Passover, we must think the table of the Lord. The table of the Lord is the fulfillment of Passover. The actual Passover feast means little to us today in its literal form. However, when we relate it to the Lord’s table, it becomes covenantal. I’m underlining covenantal. I want you to hear that.
When we really see the table of the Lord, we see covenant. It was from the foundation of Passover that the Lord Jesus gave birth to the New Covenant. What was he doing when he birthed the New Covenant? What was he doing? What was the foundation of that supper that he brought forth the table of the Lord? What was the feast? The Passover.
So from that foundation of Passover births the New Testament, and also it was from the foundation of the actual Passover that the Lord gave birth to the Old Covenant. So both covenants has its foundation in this Passover. And so the more you can understand about Passover, the more you understand about the covenant, the more you understand about what God is wanting to do. Both covenants has its foundation in Passover.
All the rites of it and according to all the ceremonies thereof. He told them to keep it according to all the rites and all the ceremonies thereof.
Now, on page, rest of page 171 and on page 172, just about all of it, I have listed here for us, I have a lot of books on the Passover. The Passover fascinates me. I’ve got numbers of books just about the Passover. One of them that I like the best is a book titled What the Bible Says About the Lord’s Supper, and it’s by Andrew Paris. And in this book, he describes explicitly the Passover feast. He gives us six indispensable elements and 18 different steps for this ceremony. It’s intricate, it’s very detailed, it’s very ritualistic, it’s very ceremonial.
And here are the six, and I’m not going to spend a whole lot of time on this, but what I really want to do sometimes is have a Passover supper. I really do. What you do is you have 12 people have one lamb, and 12 people have a lamb, and 12 people have a lamb. And then you eat this thing, and it’s a feast, it’s a Passover feast, but it’s so intricate.
Here are the six elements. The lamb that’s roasted, it’s whole, and of course you know the blood, what was done with the blood. It has to be roasted, and it has to be whole, and you have to eat all of it. It’s the unleavened bread. They made that in a hurry so they could get out of the land.
The bowl of salty water, which speaks of the tears. There’s bitter herbs, which speaks of the slavery. There’s this chero, there’s this paste. And this isn’t mentioned in the Scriptures, and anywhere does it talk about this paste, but this is what they sopped in. They took the bread and they sopped it into this paste, and you know that Jesus sopped. He said, He that sops with me, He’s the one.
And then there’s the four cups of wine. And then it goes through these 18 different steps. And let’s just hurry through these. I just want you to see the intricacy that was involved, the ceremony and these rites that went through this.
The first cup of wine, there’s what it was called. It was passed as the presider offered a prayer of thanksgiving. It’s filled with prayer, prayers of thanksgiving. The presider washes his hands three times. Everyone eats a piece of lettuce or parsley dipped in the salt water. It represents the hyssop that was put on the door post, and the tears of Egypt, and the waters of the Red Sea. It’s full of symbolisms. It’s full of rites, and it’s full of ceremonies.
One of the 311 cakes is broken in past. It’s the bread of affliction. It was out leavened. It was the bread of affliction. It speaks of the bricks and stuff that they were making. The presider began the narrative of Exodus. He begins to tell the whole story of while they were in slavery and how Moses came in and how God brought him out. This was the father’s duty to do this. Every father had a duty to do this Passover feast. It was handed down from generation to generation.
Number six, everyone that should be saying Psalms 113 and 114, they sang the psalm. Then the second cup of wine was the proclaiming cup, and it was passed. That was all washed hands now. All washed their hands. Number eight. Number nine, the presider offers a second prayer of thanksgiving. Number 10, more bitter herbs are eaten. Number 11, eating of the salt. There are some bitter herbs placed between two pieces of bread and dipped into that paste. That’s the salt.
The Passover lamb is now eaten. They wash their hands again. Remainder of the bread is broken and passed. It was probably this bread that Jesus instituted the New Covenant with. Do you remember as you read that, that when they sat down, he broke the bread after they had supped. After they had supped, he broke the bread. So it was after the meal when he instituted the table of the Lord. Remainder of the bread is broken. The presider offers the third prayer of thanksgiving. When we had taken some of the bread and given thanks, this is that one.
The presider closes to the end of the meal, would ask the Lord to send Elijah. Now this is the one, Jesus didn’t do this. This is where his whole thing changed. He didn’t ask for Elijah. He was going on. He said, this is my body. He didn’t ask for Elijah, he said, this is my body. And for those Jews that had to have gotten their attention, then the third cup of wine, which is the thanksgiving cup, it’s passed, and this is probably the cup instituting the New Covenant in his blood. This is probably that cup because Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10, 16, the cup of blessing or the cup of thanksgiving, which we bless is not the communion of the blood of Christ. The bread which we break is not the communion of the body of Christ.
Number 17, everyone sings Psalms 115 through 118 and then Psalms 136. At the end of the singing, the fourth and final cup is passed. And when they had sung a hymn, remember, they went to the Mount of Olives, and then prayers were offered. Now that’s the intricacy, and I just ran through it, but it was quite lengthy, it was quite intricate, it was quite ceremonial.
But the purpose of the whole thing was to be focused on the past, focused on remembering how the Lord brought them out of Egypt. The whole thing was centralized on remembering how it was and focused on how God brought them out of Egypt.
1 Corinthians 11:25-26
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
What is a primary part of what the table of the Lord is about? Do this in remembrance of me. You’re not remembering Egypt, you’re remembering him. And when you do it, he says, do it in remembrance of me. That’s in 1 Corinthians 11, 25 and 26, over to the right there. Let’s read those. After the same manner also, he took the cup, when he had supped, after they had supped, he took the cup, and he says, this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
So when we take that covenant cup, what are we supposed to do? Do this in remembrance of me. We’re supposed to remember him. And look at verse 26, where as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show something. What do you show? The Lord’s death.
Now, I’m going to get into that word show in just a few minutes, but I want to say it now so that we’ll get it when we get to it better. But that word show is to proclaim, so that you can proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. And I’m going to hit it a little bit better in just a second, but I want to say it now because every time we have communion in our church, in our body, we are proclaiming the cross. We don’t have to just preach the cross. Every time we have communion, it preaches the cross. And every time you do this, he says, do it in remembrance of me, because when you do it, you do show the Lord’s death until he comes.
How long will the church do this? How often will the church do this? As often as it will. Can you do it too much? Can you not do it enough? Good, good answers.
Numbers 9:3-5
3 In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, ye shall keep it in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it.
4 And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, that they should keep the passover.
5 And they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at even in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel.
Let’s finish up 172. And they kept the Passover on the 14th day of the first month at the even in the wilderness of Sinai. Notice it’s at specified time. He specifies the time. Once a year they did it. Once a year they kept this Passover. Here on this specific day, they kept all this ritual and all this ceremony and all these rites. And this is how they did it. And they did it once a year. So on the Passover, we find out that it’s once a year. And in New Covenants, it’s as often as you drink it, you drink it in remembrance of me.
But how often is oft? How often should we keep the covenant? I’m on page 173. How oft is oft? Now what I’ve done here is I’ve done some research from books I’ve gotten over the years and different things. But I’m going to give you some quotes, about five quotes from different writers. We’re going to first of all look at a biblical church view, what I know is in the scriptures concerning this thought, why I like to have it every week. And then we’re going to look at these quotes and we’re going to see what church history has done, how it evolved out of a regular thing into a once a year thing. And now we see it kind of coming back again into what I really believe the Lord wants it to be.
Acts 20:7
7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
But first of all, let’s look at the biblical church and then we’ll look at what early Christians wrote. In Acts chapter 20 and verse 7, now Paul is here coming back to Jerusalem in fact, he wants to get back to Jerusalem for the Passover. And in chapter 20 and verse 7 it says, and upon the what day? The first day of the week. What day would that be? Sunday. When the disciples come together to break bread. Now what were they coming together for? To break bread. Now would they come together just to have a common meal? They would come together for the communion, breaking bread. Jesus said he took the bread and he broke it. So that kind of became the title of it. It was the breaking of bread. So he broke the bread.
On the first day of the week when the disciples come together to break bread, Paul preached unto them and then he was ready to depart tomorrow. And that was the time he preached all the way till midnight. And then in chapter 16 of 1 Corinthians, verse 2, So we see that again, this church also met on the first day of the week and one of the things that they did was gather the offerings.
1 Corinthians 11:19-21
19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.
21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
And another thing that we know that they did is in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 19, for there must also be heresies among you that they which are approved may be manifest among you. When you come together, therefore, into one of the things that they did was gather the offerings. And that was the first day of the week. For there must also be heresies among you that they which are approved may be manifest among you. When you come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. In other words, what Paul is saying here is the way you’re doing the communion is heresy. Because he says here in verse 21, For in eating, every one taketh before the other his own supper, and one is hungry and another is drunken. The Lord’s Supper is a heresy. He says it’s not to have the Lord’s Supper. You’re really not doing the Lord’s Supper. What you’re doing here is a heresy.
But how often did they come together? First day of the week. And what did they do? Ate the Lord’s table. That’s at least one thing. They also took up an offering. They also preached. So we’re kind of understanding where some of the things that we do come from.
Now, what I see as I study the Scriptures, I find out that the early church, where it shows this, either they did it every Sunday or they hardly did it at all. And either it was called the breaking of the bread or it wasn’t called anything. They just didn’t do it. So what I find out when I study the Scriptures is that the first century church literally every week had communion on the Lord’s Day. On Sunday.
Now, what do the early Christian writers write? Now, I go all the way back here. I’m going to give you five quotes from five different writers. Justin Martyr. He wrote in about 140 AD. Then there’s Roman Catholic Council I’m going to quote from in 506 AD. Another Roman Catholic Council I’m going to quote from. It’s in 1215 AD. John Calvin in 1550. And John Wesley in 1784. I’m going to read you what these guys all wrote. And what you’ll see is that you’ll see that the church began having it every week. Then as time progressed and as the pagan rituals come in and as pagan people begin to come into the church and make the decisions, non-born again people bring in their paganistic beliefs, their paganistic holidays. And I can’t get into Christmas and Easter and all that stuff. But as they begin to bring all this stuff in, you find out that the importance of communion, the Lord’s table, diminished to three times a year. Which days would that be? If you’re going to have communion three times a year in the church, what days would that be? Christmas? Easter? So this is what we’re going to see. But then you start seeing it come back in the days of Wesley and so forth and Calvin. Let’s look at these.
In the first paragraph up there, you find it after Justin Martyr writing around 140 AD. On the day called Sunday, he writes, on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place. Then we all rise together and pray. As we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought. And there is a distribution to each and participation of that over which thanks has been given. And to those who are absent, a portion is sent by the deacons. Not only did they believe that it was important to take it every week, but if somebody wasn’t there because of sickness or whatever the reason was, they took it to them. As per good. This is Justin Martyr. This is in the first century. This is one of the earliest writings. He’s one of the earliest writers that we’ve got of the New Testament church after the Bible writings.
All right, then let’s go down to 506. Everything went along this way until around 400 AD or so when Christianity became the state religion under Constantine and it was made a state religion and everybody had to be a Christian if you were going to be a Roman. So what happened is the enemy infiltrated the church with pagan people and pagan holidays. And then in 506, if you found that in 506 AD, the Roman Catholic Council decreed, and this is what I quote, none should be esteemed good Christians who did not communicate at least three times a year, at Christmas, at Easter, and at Pentecost. So what the standard became was three times a year people took communion.
And then another council in 1215, another Roman Catholic Council, this is what they wrote, an annual communion at Easter was sufficient. Once a year it was good enough. Now John Calvin begins to write in 1550, also Matthew, Henry, and others, but I’m quoting here from John Calvin, plainly this custom which enjoins us to take communion once a year is a veritable invention of the devil. Whoever was instrumental in introducing it, for there is not the least doubt that the sacred supper was in that era set before the believers every time they met together. And there is no doubt that a majority took communion. The Lord’s table should have been spread at least once a week for the assembly of Christians and the promises declared in it should feed us spiritually. I mean like that one. Do this as often as you will. So as I’m starting to study this and really look at it, it’s like every time they came together one of the things they did was at the table of the Lord declare the promises. Because in so doing they were remembering him and proclaiming the cross every time.
Okay, then John Wesley in 1784 he wrote, I also advise the elders to administer the supper of the Lord on every Lord’s day. So this as often as you will seems to me that it’s as regularly as we meet together. The Lord designed the breaking of bread and the drinking of the cup to show the Lord’s death till he come. And here’s that word study on the word show. It means to proclaim. And then as you look on down into its root words, it means to lead, to bring, to drive, and to go, to induce.
Folks, when we have people come in here that are visitors or that may not be as solidified into the things of the Lord as we wish that they were and as the Lord would wish that they were, by having communion we’re proclaiming the Lord’s death. We’re proclaiming the cross of Christ. We’re proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ every time we have communion. We are showing his death and we’re going to do it until he comes. Amen? The table of the Lord in itself is a proclaiming of the Lord’s death by simply having communion or preaching the cross. I like that.
But when I saw that, when I began to do that word study and I saw that by setting this up and however that we’re doing it, we’ll do it different ways to keep it from getting so commonplace. But however that we do it, and as often as we do it, we’re proclaiming his death until he comes again. I love it. I love it. You love it? And this was even in the wilderness of Sinai. Numbers 9 and 5. And they kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month and even in the wilderness of Sinai according to all that the Lord commanded Moses to do so the children of Israel, they did it. Even in the wilderness, God gave them Passover. Even in the wilderness.
You know, and right here in this little section, I know so many Christians, and I’m sure that you do too, that hardly ever have the table of the Lord. They hardly ever take communion. For whatever reasons, they’re absent, they’re not here, they’re angry, they’re upset with somebody, and they’re missing the table of the Lord. And they go for months and sometimes even years without having the table of the Lord. And so I began to think about this. And these guys that follow this thing up here, and I’m wanting to get finished because I want to have communion before we leave, but these guys here, they had touched a dead body, and they come to Moses and they said, listen, we can’t have it because we’re unclean. And so what do we do? So Moses says, well, let me talk to the Lord. So he goes and he talks to the Lord. The Lord comes back and says, tell him to take it next month.
Now the purpose is, and the principle here that I want to show us is if you can’t have communion when everybody else is having it, have it when you can. Right? I mean, have communion. And the Lord says this, even though it was set up on this particular day, at this particular time, doing it this particular way, if you can’t do it this particular day, this particular time, do it when you can. And I know that sometimes things happen and we can’t participate in the table of the Lord, and I know that. But I think there’s a warning that goes here.
Numbers 9:13
13But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people: because he brought not the offering of the LORD in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.
And if you look at chapter 9, verse 13, off to the right there, I want you to read this. I want you to see this. And somehow this pertains to us. But the man that is clean and is not in a journey and forbeareth to keep the Passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he brought not the offering of the Lord in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin. That man shall bear his sin. He’ll be cut off because he forbeareth the table of the Lord, or forbeareth the Passover. And this word forbear is underneath there. It means you detest. You become flabby, to be flabby, to desist. And that word desist means to be discontinued. To discontinue the activity is to be idle. When somebody forbeareth the Passover, then they were cut off. They were cut off from the people of God. Now get with me and hear me, okay? And we’re done.
Again, I know that sometimes things happen when you can’t have communion. And that’s not what I’m talking about. But there are times when I think people forbear to have the table of the Lord. I think that there are people in our body who know that we have communion first thing or one of the first things that we do, and they don’t come and they forbear the Lord’s table. I think that. I hope I’m wrong. And I believe there are people that think, well, they’re just doing communion. You know, we used to do it the very first thing. We’d line up on each side and we’d come through. And I think the mentality of most folks is, well, they’re just doing communion. If we’re late, that’s okay. We don’t think we’ll miss this communion. And when you forbear this, you’re cut off.
Now I want to try to share what I’m trying to say here. Here’s the thought. Here’s the question first. Is a person cut off when they don’t have the table of the Lord? When you understand the table of the Lord, you understand it’s the covenant meal. He made covenant at that meal. That’s where you’re covenant together. And if doing it incorrectly can cause you to be weak or sick or die if you start doing it incorrectly, then what does happen when you don’t have it at all? When you forbear it. And I’m not suggesting that we cut them off. We can’t cut them off. I am suggesting that he can. I believe that habitual laxness concerning the things of God is a great sin, and the Lord will not allow it.
If we’re not properly observing communion, God’s people become weak, sick, and even die. We don’t do that to them, do we? Do we make them weak or sick or kill them because they haven’t discerned the body of Christ? Do we do that? Who does that? They do. And that’s the final thought. Do you really believe that we condemn ourselves? Do you really believe? Now I know you know that the Bible says that when you eat and drink the Lord’s table and you have not discerned the body, then you are drinking judgment or damnation unto yourself. I know that you know the Bible says that, but do we believe that? You know, we know it’s here, but is it here? I know most of the people say it the other way around, but he wrote the laws on our hearts, right?
And it’s our mind that’s got to get renewed, not my heart. And I’ve got to get my mind renewed. I’ve got to understand that I condemn myself by forbearing, by not doing it properly. And I believe laxness about the things of God overall bring judgment. Many times we’re lax about the things of God. Many times we’re actually damning ourselves. As Judy said, we’re not doing it to people, and I don’t think God’s doing it to people. I believe we do it to ourselves.
With that said, how many would like to have communion? Elders come. I need one, two, three, four, five.
Numbers 9:6-12
6 And there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the passover on that day: and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day:
7 And those men said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the LORD in his appointed season among the children of Israel?
8 And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the LORD will command concerning you.
9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
10 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD.
11 The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
12 They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it.
1 Corinthians 11:29-31
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
Book Of Numbers 9:1-13 – How to Remember Christ’s Sacrifice
Book Of Numbers 9:1-13 – How to Remember Christ’s Sacrifice
Other Related Sermons:
Feasts Of Israel Part 2 Jesus Our Passover
I see Grace part 1 audio video notes
Matthew 26:13-30 Judas Betrayal – Passover Audio
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