Ezra 6 - Help Us Remember

In Ezra 6, the long delayed work on the temple is finally completed after years of opposition and spiritual drift. What began with foundation laying and immediate resistance eventually gave way to distraction, as God’s people turned to building their own lives while the house of God remained unfinished. Yet through the preaching of Haggai and Zechariah, the people are stirred again, and the temple is completed.

Following this restoration, the children of the captivity gather to keep the Passover in accordance with Exodus 13, where God commanded His people to remember His deliverance from bondage and to pass that remembrance on to every generation. This moment in Ezra is not only a return to obedience but a return to identity, as a purified people, including priests and Levites, come together to observe what God had commanded from the beginning.

The emphasis of the passage is clear. When God restores His people, He also restores their worship and their memory. The Passover becomes a corporate act of obedience and gratitude, anchoring them again in the truth that their history is defined by God’s saving power, not their delay or failure.

The passage calls God’s people to remember rightly, to return to faithful worship, and to let restored obedience lead to renewed reverence for the God who delivers and sustains His people.

Thanks for listening to the Living Faith St. Louis podcast. This episode is part of our weekly sermon ministry from Pastor Blade Sbisa, with occasional guest speakers and special series.
 For more information, visit the LFSTL website.

Transcript

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Four years after this long delay go by, and Israel got back to work and they got the building done. They got the temple done. And it was completed and they dedicated it to the Lord. And there were many sacrifices, some hundred, uh seven hundred sacrifices, you know, a lot smaller number than at Solomon's dedication, but nonetheless, Israel was uh back to a place where God wanted them, humble and obedient before him. Now pick up with me. Ezra chapter 6 and verse uh 19. Chapter 6 and verse 19. We'll we'll read to the end of the chapter. That's all we're addressing this morning. It says, And the children of the captivity kept the Passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. And here in a moment we'll look at the book of Exodus, but this was the beginning of months, as God would set forth for the seven feasts that Israel is to observe. Verse 20 it says, For the priest and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the Passover, for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren, the priest, and for themselves. And the children of Israel, which were come again out of the captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land to seek the Lord, the God of Israel, did eat, and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. And so as you read through your Bible, you're going to find a different feast, some in the springtime and some in the fall. As we are in a city that's very Catholic, you'll be probably bumping into people that are observing what the Catholic Church is calling Lent, this process or days leading up to ultimately the resurrection that we're going to celebrate at Easter. And in this time, ultimately, we see some parallels between what Israel was to observe with their first month, a Nisan. And so that's what we're looking at today. Israel finally getting back to keep this Passover that God had called them to in Exodus chapter 12. And so we'll look at some of these passages. I'm processing now that I failed to do our scripture reading, which is just terrible. But that was Exodus 12, verses 1 through 11. So maybe we'll find some time here in a moment to read through that and see what God called Moses to tell the people. If you remember last time, as I mentioned here just a moment ago, that Israel was called to build this temple and get back to ultimately worshiping the Lord there. And instead they had spent some 20 years after moving back before they actually observed this feast. And an additional, if you remember, an additional 70 years before that in Babylonian captivity. And so it had been a long time since Israel had kept this feast. Look at with me, verse 19. 19. If you can, this is Ezra chapter 6, and verse 19. If you can imagine, this was a very special time for the nation after so many years of delay. For various reasons, some of which were very legitimate, others which were certainly not. Verse 19 says, And the children of the captivity kept the Passover. This included, the verse goes on, the priests and the Levites, which were purified together. There's that word together again, as we've seen now multiple times as we walked through the book of Ezra. It says, All of them were pure, as a great contrast against the many priests that we had seen prior in Israel's history, who were certainly not pure. It says they killed the Passover. For all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren, the priest, and for themselves. This Passover was kept by everyone. They came together and they observed it with one another. And that's because, as I mentioned here just a moment ago, in Exodus 12 and then ultimately 13, God tells Israel to do or keep this every year, and from generation to generation, so that Israel would know the God that saved them and gave them mercy from bondage in Egypt. It was for their own hearts. Israel was to remember and observe this feast for their own hearts, but it was also an opportunity for them to declare generation to generation that God had delivered them and wrought great works against Egypt and the Red Sea. Look at with me if you have your Bibles. We turn into Exodus chapter 13. Exodus 13. I just want us to see this initially given to Israel as Moses speaks to the people. God speaks to Moses and twelve, and then Moses turns to the people and tells them, or relays what God had given them. Exodus 13, starting in verse 3. It says, And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day in which ye came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for by strength of the hand of the Lord brought you out from this place, there shall no leavened bread be eaten. And then skip down here for time's sake to verse 8. It says, And thou shalt shoe thy son in that day, saying, That is done because of which the Lord did unto me when I came when I came forth out of Egypt. Verse 9, and it shall be for a sign unto thee in thy hand, for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth. For with a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt. Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year. And then verse 14. You keep this ordinance in its season from year to year. Verse 14, and it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? That thou shalt say unto him, By strength of the hand of the Lord brought us out of Egypt from the house of bondage. So you can see certainly this was for Israel to keep so that they would remember that they've been delivered, but it was also a good opportunity, year by year, season by season, as Israel would observe this feast, to say, Yeah, God delivered our fathers. That is the same thing that we get to do in the New Testament context as we observe the Lord's Supper. Here in a little while, my sons will have enough knowledge to look at us particul uh participating in the Lord's table, and they're gonna say, What does that mean? What does that mean? What are we doing? Why do you do this? And it'll be what a great opportunity, as oft as we keep it, as oft as we choose to remember the Lord's table, to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, this Passover was a legitimate historical event for the nation of Israel being delivered from Egypt. It was an opportunity, though, for them to be reminded of God's power and strength over Egypt. But thirdly, it's an ordinance given so that they can have a landmark to discuss the faithfulness of God to the next generation. Okay, this though is shared and expressed in the New Testament in 1 Peter chapter 1. Here, look it with me just a moment. 1 Peter 1, verse 18 and 19. While this is a specific event in Israel's history, it is also a foreshadowing of what we have in being delivered from Egypt or the world and the bondage of sin and the enemy's strength and the person of Christ, our Passover Lamb. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verses 18 through 19, it says, For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversations received by the by traditions of your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish. And there it is, Exodus chapter 12 and verse 5. If maybe hopefully you kept your hand in both passages, Exodus 13. You have your hand in 1 Peter, but if you look back to Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12. Hopefully I'm not moving too fast here if you got your hand out of that spot. But in the chapter before, when the Lord is speaking to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, giving them this ordinance, he says to them, Exodus chapter 12, starting, let's say in verse 3, since we didn't do the scripture reading. It says, speak unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth month of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house. And then verse 4. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to him, unto his house, take it according to the number of the souls. Every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. In other words, a lamb becomes the lamb for each soul, and then verse five, Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year, ye shall take it from the sheep or from the goats. A male, a lamb without blemish. That's the language, right, that Peter just gave us in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 18 and 19. Christ, our Passover Lamb, is that lamb without blemish. He is the Lamb, right, that John declared in the beginning of the earthly ministry of Christ. Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. There it is, the Lamb of God, our Lamb. Yes, it's Israel's Passover, but the New Testament also gives us an opportunity to see that Jesus Christ is our Lamb, whose blood was shed, and by whose stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53. Okay, so again, you and I, as we look in the New Testament, can find that we've been redeemed by the precious blood of our Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I just want you to see some of the language that's used in Ezra chapter 6. You have your third hand? Put your third hand back in Ezra chapter 6, or your nose. I don't know how you get there again, but Ezra chapter 6 and verse 20, it goes on. It says, For the priest and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure and killed the Passover. And I just want you to see that that word killed, because it's the same word that then Peter's preaching in his second sermon in the beginning of Acts upon Pentecost and the receiving of the Spirit. Okay, the third feast that Israel is observing there. So you have the Passover, the feast of unleavened bread, and then Pentecost. That's Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 3, we find this lame man healed, and the people begin to ask and wonder about what God's doing. And this is Peter's sermon, Acts chapter 3 and verse 13. Peter's sermon expressing to ye men of Israel that they had killed their Messiah and ultimately the Lord Jesus. And he uses that same word, killed. I want you to see that. Acts chapter 3 and verse 13 through 15. It says, The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One, capital H and O, and the just, capital J, speaking of Jesus. And desired a murderer, Barabbas, to be granted unto you. Verse 15, Acts 3 and verse 15. And you killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. The Apostles, who lay the foundation of the church, right? We've been kind of talking about that new at New Testament application of what it means that we are the building of God. God laid that foundation for the church with Christ, ultimately the chief cornerstone, and then the apostles. And the message of the apostles to a Jewish nation, in very Jewish context in the beginning of Acts, is you've killed your Messiah. You killed the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. And if you know the history there, and we'll talk about it around Easter, but this lamb was killed on Passover. And Israel, because of their maybe judicial blindness, could not see what had happened and what they had done. And so God raises up some preachers to try to get them to see an opportunity to repent and a little window of mercy for Israel to turn back to their Messiah. And as we can see in the New Testament, they finally reject that at the stoning of Stephen. Okay, so be thinking though, back to Ezra 6. Here, Israel keeps the Passover and they kill the Passover lamb in one breath. I want you to see that this would have been a great time of celebration to remember that God had delivered them. And I think we can, we should, we should do the same thing, right? God, by his great power and defeating death by death, has given me victory over the grave. Hallelujah. I'm so thankful for that. I'm so thankful for life in Jesus. And it's a celebration song, right? The Passover is an opportunity to celebrate the victory we have, just as Israel was brought through, delivered from Egypt and brought through the Red Sea. Delivered from the hand of bondage, brought through the Red Sea. For this little moment in Israel's history, it's not just them remembering that they've their fathers were brought through Egypt and the Red Sea, but also that they had just been allowed to leave captivity after 70 years. So what a special, special moment for them. And for us too, right? It's an opportunity for celebrating the great victory we have in Jesus, but in the very remembrance of this victory is the recalling of an innocent lamb whose blood is shed. And there's that weird juxtaposition in the Old Testament and new of ultimately remission only being by the shed blood of a lamb. And we don't think of victory that way. We don't think of victory and then brokenness, but that is the message of the gospel. Ultimately, that when we remember the victory we have and the strength we have in the Lord by the gospel, we remember Christ and his shed blood. The writer here in Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 22, says, And almost all things are by the law purged with blood. And without the shedding of blood is no remission. And without the shedding of blood is no remission. And so if you ever have somebody preach to you a gospel that doesn't include the blood of Christ, just know it's a false gospel. I had a guy walk up to our house last week out of nowhere. I was working outside, he walked up to me, very strange, odd character, was hard to even figure out, pin down, have a conversation with. And I called him out on it. And he was wiggling, called, you know, I reminded him of some Bible verses, and sure enough, he, you know, he ended up going his way. But uh that's what ultimately the subtleness of the enemy is trying to always do. Downplay the strength and the power of the blood. Why? We have to ask, why? And maybe you've heard this, but but why the blood? You ever have somebody ask you that question? Or maybe you've thought it yourself. Could God have done it a different way? If God is all powerful and all-knowing and all-loving, couldn't he have offered salvation another way? The Bible says that there's something inbound to God's character that expresses this need for the shedding of blood for the remission of sins. In Leviticus chapter 17 and verse 11, maybe you remember this verse from Bible study, it says, For the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls, a covering for your souls. For it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. And that's that's what it is. When we accept the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're brought into Christ via the baptism of the Spirit or the circumcision made without hands, Colossians 2, God gives us this new identity whereby when the Father looks at us, he can say, I see the righteousness of my son covering you. You've come under the atonement of the precious blood of the Lamb. Doesn't that, I mean, that should just like that should give you reason to say, Thank you, Lord. Thank you for thank you for your blood. Now, if you've been paying attention, a lot of the passages, almost every single one that we've read, has had a Jewish context. 1 Peter, the book of Hebrews. And even as you look through the New Testament, you don't find all of this Passover language used for the Gentile audience that Paul is primarily preaching to. But you still find the ordinance carried into the churches. And so that's what I want to bring us into this morning. I want us to see that while this is a very Jewish feast, God still intends the church to observe it. Okay, so in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, this would be our key passage, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, and he says in verse 2 that we are to, and this phrase is really important, keep the ordinances. The same word that we saw Moses given in Exodus chapter 13. They were to keep this ordinance. You remember that? Here in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 2, the Apostle Paul writes to Christians at Corinth and he says, You are responsible to keep the ordinances. Plural. I just want to make mention here that at this church we're going to observe two ordinances. Not sacraments, we don't need to add more than what we've been given in the text, but two ordinances, the Lord's Supper and baptism. That's what we believe the Lord has asked us to observe. If you say only the Lord's table, some people write off baptism. Just mind you, 1 Corinthians chapter 11 says there's ordinances, plural. So you've got to figure out at least what number two is. So we would say that's baptism. The Lord's asked us to observe that, to physically display what spiritually happens at salvation. So I just ask you to consider you know, have you partaken as a Christian in those ordinances? As we gather this morning, we gather to read the book of Ezra, pick up where we left off, but we also gather as a little crew endeavoring to keep unity and agreeing with one another that we've been washed and cleaned and covered by the blood of the Lamb. And so when we observe the Lord's table, it is us individually examining ourselves to consider what Christ has done for us, but it's also to say, by one man, Jesus Christ, he has united many that have been in sin and lost, and he's brought them into one body, so making peace. And that's what we celebrate this morning. The act of breaking bread and drinking of the cup is a sober reminder. By the way, we'll read here in a moment in 1 Corinthians 11 some more. But the Lord's table is a reminder to us that speaks to not only our heads, our hearts, but even the soulish part of us. It's an act of remembrance that reaches into our relationships and it challenges us to forgive one another as Christ forgave us. The Lord's table is an act of remembrance that invites us to be thankful and to praise God, and yet to sit in silence for a moment and just say, okay, Lord, have I done my part in remembering your death and showing it until you come? Or, Lord, have I been like Israel, delaying and forgetting to remember what you've done by your strength and bringing me out of bondage? It's an act of remembrance to reflect and examine ourselves, to process Am I living according to the purity and righteousness that I have in Jesus? Ezra chapter 6 and verse 21, it says, and all such had Separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land. Ezra chapter 6 and verse 21 says that as Israel, all the captivity and the priest themselves also, as they observed this Passover, they separated themselves. That's the language. They sanctified themselves. They got away from the filthiness of the heathen of the land. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 21, John writes, He says, Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. Just as we are to keep the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, the Lord's Supper also is that thing the local church does to remind us: Am I right with God? Am I right with my brothers and sisters? Am I right with my family? Am I right with others who claim Christ and have accepted Christ? Am I partaking in idolatry? You know, Colossians chapter 3 says covetousness, which is idolatry. Yes, we're not setting up idols or little Buddhas in our house. I hope not. Are you doing that? I hope not. But do I have a covetous heart? Is my heart bound to idolatry in that way? Do I love the Lord Jesus? The Lord's table is a time to remember him, yeah. It is that. It's a time to celebrate, it is that, but it's a time to examine ourselves and say, Lord, have I forgotten truly the sin that you became? Am I still agreeing with that? 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 6, 2 Corinthians chapter 6. I want to just show you some language that is mirrored in the New Testament with Ezra chapter 6. We see some of the same language Paul used to teach the church at Corinth that they need to separate themselves from idols. 2 Corinthians chapter 6, starting in verse 14, it says, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, the heathen of the land, that would be the application there. For what fellowship hath righteousness and unrighteousness? And what communion hath light and darkness? Verse 16. And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God. Here again, the New Testament application of what we learned in the dedication of the temple, as we picked up from last week. God has dedicated this temple to be holy unto him, which ye are, right? Ye are the temple of the living God, as God said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. Paul here quoting the Old Testament in 2 Corinthians 6 to tell Corinth to separate themselves from darkness. And then in the very next chapter, look at the language again. 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 1. Having therefore these promises, 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 1, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Isn't that the same word that we just saw in Ezra? The filthiness of the heathen? Here it is, Paul using the same language to Corinth. You need to separate yourselves from the works of darkness. And you and I have a responsibility to cleanse ourselves from the filthiness of the flesh and spirit. How do we do that? Well, as a Christian, I've been completely cleaned by the blood of the Lamb, and the process that I work through in becoming cleansed from the filthiness of the flesh and spirit is to reconcile what Christ has done for me, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, separating myself from the things that would keep me bound to temporal things rather than eternal. As you would have read in coming through the context of 2 Corinthians. As an act of remembrance, we take the Lord's Supper to examine ourselves. It makes me consider David's prayer at the end of Psalm 139. It says, Search me. David writes, Search me, O God, and know my heart, and try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. That's my prayer this morning. Lord, search me. Know my heart. Know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Lord, reveal these things to me so that I can surrender them back to you and cleanse myself. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, and verse 27 through 29, it says, Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and that and drink of that cup, for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. First Corinthians 11 is teaching us to examine ourselves. And the word there that you can see in the King James is right, unworthily. Unworthily. That is not the same word as unworthy. Because aren't we all unworthy of the cross? For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no, not one. None of us are worthy of the cross. This passage uses the word unworthily. In other words, in the manner of your taking, and the manner in which you take it, make sure it's consistent with who you are in Christ. If you are righteous in Jesus and He's given you grace to be given a new identity, make sure that when you partake in the Lord's Supper and you say, Lord, thank you so much for your death and resurrection, and defeating death by death. Lord, thank you so much. Just make sure that that's done honestly. It's not done in a manner that's that's unworthy. You and I are unworthy, made worthy because of Christ, but the actual act can be hypocritical if we don't do that, having examined ourselves. This Lord's table, this opportunity to observe the Lord's ordinance, is an act of remembrance of his great mercy and grace towards us. Time to pause, get real, and consider what Christ has done. It's not a religious act or ritual or spiritual hocus pocus. There's nothing, as many churches, uh, especially in this city, teach, it is not the act of the juice or the wine and the cracker or the bread, the unleavened bread, actually becoming the body and blood of Christ. That doesn't happen. Transubstantiation and the Catholic Church is a false doctrine. That is not true. And it is not ritualistic. We don't do this every single Sunday, or at least we will choose not to do that, because we don't want to have a vain repetition in our church. Can somebody have the liberty to do that? Sure, go for it. The Bible just tells us, as oft as you remember it, do it in remembrance of me. A pastor, a church, a congregation has liberty to do it as often as they want. You want to do it at 10 a.m. in the morning for breakfast and 6 p.m. at night? Sure, go for it. We will just observe it as oft as we do. As the Lord leads us, fifth uh Sundays will be a common metric, but Lord willing, we'll have other opportunities to observe this ordinance. And in so doing, we don't want to ever let this become a ritualistic act. It's just an act of remembrance to think we don't need to do anything more to add to what Christ has already done. It's it's finished. And so let's just ask the Lord this morning as we observe the Lord's table to remember. Lord help me remember what you've done. To me, it's a very, if I can just speak plainly here, it's a very sad reality that God has to make the Lord's table an ordinance in the church so that we don't forget. God tells us to remember this ordinance, do this ordinance so that you remember. Do this in remembrance of me. Why? Why do we have to be told to remember that the Lord of the universe has become a man and he's died and shed his blood for our forgiveness? Isn't that kind of a sad reality? That God has to actually instill an ordinance in the church to be kept so that we don't go about our business doing what we call church and actually forgetting him and the process. Just like Israel. Just like Israel did. Psalm 106 and verse 21 through 22, it says, They, speaking of Israel, forgot God their salvation their Savior, which had done great things in Egypt and wondrous works in the land of Ham and terrible things by the Red Sea. The very thing Israel was called to remember, Psalm 106 says they they forgot the God, their Savior. Jeremiah chapter 2 and verse 32, right before the Babylonian captivity, Jeremiah the prophet is preaching pre-exile, and he's saying, Can a can a maid forget? This is what he preaches to Israel. Can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire? You think uh a bride is going to show up to her wedding without her dress? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number. How was God's word to Israel? Not even a woman would forget her dress at her wedding day, and yet Israel had forgotten the Lord days without number. And it had become that, especially after the kingdom divided and went into apostasy, and that continued to spiral and wax worse and worse. Israel had forgotten the Lord and the God of their salvation. And they needed to go back and draw from the wells of salvation, uh, as we can see in Isaiah chapter 12 and verses 2 through 4. Uh Isaiah writes in this chapter, and he says in verse 2, Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song, he has become my salvation. Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in the day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. I'm not sharing these things this morning to express an assumption that you have forgotten God. I just want you to consider briefly that God has set an ordinance so that we don't forget, and that that shows some tendencies in our human condition that are pretty sad. We forget the God who died on a cross for us and saved us. And God asks us to eat some chips and some juice, some unleavened bread and some juice, to say, Remember me. Remember what I've done. Don't forget. Don't get distracted. Don't look away. Remember me. It's sad that we have to be told that. Maybe you haven't, but so often in my life I become distracted and I forget just truly that that event at Calvary that gives me life, gives me purpose, and gives me hope. Ezra chapter 6 and verse 22. I just want to read to you now the last verse of this text and uh show you some of that same language, the seven days following Passover, that Israel would observe, the feast of unleavened bread. It says in verse 22, not only did they keep the Passover, but they kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy. For the Lord had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them to strengthen their hands and the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. So here's the two outcomes of ultimately the Passover and them remembering what God has had done, and then their keeping of the feast of unleavened bread. Joy, God had given them joy and made their hearts joyful, and also strengthened their hands. And that's exactly why we we find, or what we find, in the Passover and in that ordinance that Israel was to observe. Ultimately, that God's hand, God's hand had delivered them from the enemy. And so it's a beautiful thing to me to just see here in the end of Ezra chapter 6 and verse 22 that the Lord had made them joyful and the Lord had strengthened them. Because that's the same language we get in Exodus 13, when Israel was first told about the Passover, they're reminded that by the strength of the Lord they were brought through the Red Sea. So it is that that perfect uh melding of God's great mercy and his kindness uh towards us, his grace that we don't deserve, and his great strength and his ability to do it. Who is God if he's only merciful but unable to actually extend us mercy? Who is God to be desirous of forgiving us and then yet has no real functional ability to make us clean? Well, there's a lot of gods in the world that offer things like that. But it's only Christ who's able to give us power over death. And so that's what we celebrate this morning. The ordinance of the table uh will be taken at this time. There's some uh juice and crackers up here on the front here at Living Faith. We'll practice what I will refer to as close communion. So there's a number of ways you can practice communion in a church. Um some churches practice closed communion, meaning if you're not a member of our church officially, then you can't take with us. That's personally not what we uh participate in or will observe. Other churches are open. So they say, anybody who wants to take the bread, even if you're unsaved, come, eat. And uh that's not what we do as well. We we want to make sure that somebody does know the Lord, that when they partake of the Lord's table, they are doing that not unworthily. Um they're unworthy of the Lord's table, but we want to make sure that the manner of their taking is reflective of their identity in Christ. And so if they aren't if you're not saved, uh don't partake of these because it's a dishonest receiving of the uh the ordinance. Right? You're saying, I love the Lord Jesus, his death and his shed blood, and oh by the way, I by faith do not accept that my sins are forgiven there. And so close. If you're like my of a like-minded church, um, you know, we haven't officially done membership here, so to me it's kind of irrelevant. We're a group of believers who have come together to say the blood of Jesus has cleansed us, and we want to remember that and be thankful for it. And so, close, not closed, close communion. Uh, if you're saved and you know the Lord, uh partake with joy and uh receive it with thankfulness. A time of uh reflection. And so uh I'm gonna just have some piano uh hymns going in the background here in a moment. I'll start us and grabbing uh some of the elements and uh then just at your own uh time, go ahead and just come up here and grab some. Go back to your seat. Uh I'll go get the ladies so that they can participate as well this morning downstairs. And uh then I'll come back up and uh we'll observe it together. And I'll I'll read a New Testament passage and we'll take and eat together. But let's just spend some time this morning and the privacy of our heart uh just saying, okay, Lord, quietness of our heart, saying, Lord, is there any area in my life you want to uh deal with me about? I I want to be right with you, I want to be thankful and rejoice in remembrance of you. Sound good? Alrighty, so let's do that now. Um and uh we will get started or continue here in maybe maybe 10 minutes or so. Alrighty, Matthew chapter 26, and uh verse 26 through 27. It says, starting in verse 26, and as they were eating, this is Jesus with his disciples, it says Jesus took bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to his disciples and said, Take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it. So likewise together, take, eat, drink ye all of it. And then in verse 30 of Matthew 26, it says, and when they had sung in hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. And so that's what we'll do to close our time together is sing in hymn, and um pray this morning that in the act of uh remembering the Lord's death, uh our hearts can can leave rejoicing, as uh we saw there in uh Ezra chapter 6. Uh a really sweet time. I was I was hoping that I know a lot of the ladies uh might have had had missed from Bethany, but how how long had it been since you guys were able to partake in the Lord's? How long had it been since Bethany had been able to observe the Lord's table? Yeah. So I I want to make sure that we have some space for that, uh, just for the for everyone, but a good time for us all, right, to just push pause and say, Lord, thank you. We love you so much. Alrighty, let's stand, let's worship. Uh, this last song will be Jesus Paid It All.

SPEAKER_01 41:32

That he should give his holy son to make precious treasure. How great the pain of searing eyes, how far the churches face away as food chosen price. I stand up on his shoulder. Until it was a cause. His kindness has brought me life that it is fit. What should I gain from this reward? I cannot give an answer for this I know with all my heart is going to be my answer. Why should I gain from his remote? I cannot give an answer, but this I know with all my heart.