Are You Worthy To Take The Passover?

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In just two weeks (evening of April 17th, 2011) will come the Passover.

What is the real meaning of the Passover? For the true Christian, it is to be taken every year. But if not careful, even we can take it for granted, without thinking of its deep meaning.

1 Corinthians 11:27 says, “wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread,” (at the time of the Passover), “and drink of the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.”

Now unworthily doesn’t mean that you are worthy to take it. It’s referring to the manner in which you do it, and the condition in which you are when you do it, as to whether you do it worthily or not.

Verse 28, “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of this bread and drink of this cup.”

Every one of us have sinned. The trouble is most people don’t stop to really confess and admit that. We seem to take it for granted that we’re just pretty good. We don’t realise how unworthy we really are ourselves.

The blood and the body of Christ

Jesus’ body was broken for us, for our healing. So we read in verses 29 and 30, “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily,” that is the manner in which you do it, “eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lord’s body.” Which was broken for us and for our healing. When we’re physically sick. “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” Many have had some kind of a sickness or disease and have died, and they sleep, which is Bible language for having died. It represents death as being in a type of sleep.

But Jesus’ blood was shed because of our spiritual sins the transgressions of His Spiritual Law. All sickness and disease is the result of sin, and most don’t realise that.

It doesn’t always mean that you have deliberately had a wrong attitude or wrong intention, and have deliberately sinned and caused it by your own wrong thoughts, motivations, and actions. It could be an accident. It could be a germ in some water you drank, or a contagious disease that disrupted the natural rhythm of the laws of your body.

But the thing is that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Does the blood of Christ alone save you?

Catholics and Protestants believe that if you are “saved,” — that you go to heaven when you die. Otherwise, you go to purgatory, and after that you’ll go to hell if they don’t pray you out of it. But Protestants believe you go straight to hell, a fire that keeps burning forever but you never burn up. You’ll have to go through that torture continuously forever.

They believe that all you have to do is accept Jesus Christ, and the blood of Christ saves you. But the blood of Christ does not save anyone. Romans 5:9 says we’ll be justified by Christ’s blood (made innocent or righteous), but we are saved by His life (verse 10). We are NOT saved by the death of Christ; we are reconciled to God the Father by His death. But we are to be saved by His resurrection (by His life), and through our own resurrection, made possible by His resurrection.

A lot of people think because they are baptised, they are saved because they’re a Christian and in the Church. That notion is wrong. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve been soused in water, (and I don’t mean to ridicule the very sacred ordinance of baptism), but for many that’s all it is, just a sousing in water.

Mark 7:6-9 reads: “Jesus said, this people honoureth me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. How be it in vain do they worship me.” They not only accept Christ, they not only believe in Christ, but they worship Him, and they do it in vain. “…in vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men and making the commandments of God of none affect by your tradition….For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” And then He said unto them, “Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may hold to your own tradition.”

We Must Repent

Notice in Luke 13:3-5, Jesus said, “I tell you, Nay but except you repent you shall all likewise perish.”  In other words, regardless of how many times you’ve been baptised, if you have not repented you shall all so likewise perish.

And John 8:30 furthers this thought: “As Jesus spoke these words many believed on him.” Here, clearly, are people that believed on Christ. “Then said Jesus to the Jews which believed on him. If you continue in my word then you may be my disciples indeed” (verse 31).

And they began to dispute Him right away; they didn’t believe what He said. And so later Jesus said, “Why do you not understand my speech.” That is what I’m saying, my speech. “Even because you can not hear my word. You are of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father will you do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth because there was no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth you believe me not.” They believed ON Christ, but they did not BELIEVE Christ. They did not believe what He said.

So just accepting Christ, just believing on Christ doesn’t save you. There are the two conditions. One is repentance and the other is faith.

You read in Mark1:1, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Then in verses 14 and 15, “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the GOSPEL.” What gospel? “The gospel of the Kingdom of God, and saying the time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

Most don’t know what real repentance means. They say, Oh, I’ve repented; yes, I know I’ve sinned. But they haven’t really repented; because they do not understand what the word really means. You are not Christ’s until you have the Holy Spirit of God, and you cannot have the Holy Spirit of God until you have repented.

The power of the Holy Spirit

Rom. 8:9 shows that without the Holy Spirit in the Christian, He is NOT of Christ. And more than being in him, the Spirit must be leading him, and the Christian must be following, must be led by the Spirit of God.

“But ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have have not the SPIRIT of Christ he is none of his.”

Then read beginning in verse 11, “But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken,” or make immortal, “your mortal body BY his spirit that dwelleth in you.”

The Holy Spirit of God is the impregnation of eternal life, but we only have a chemical temporary existence, just to exist a little while and then die.

Rom. 8:14: “For as many as are LED by the spirit of God.” We have to be led by the Spirit of God. It won’t get hold of us and pull. It doesn’t force us. It also doesn’t teach us. But it does open the mind to comprehend what is taught. Jesus came and taught people who didn’t understand. They didn’t have the Holy Spirit. Even the disciples who were with Him three and a half years didn’t comprehend and understand the spiritual knowledge He told them.

Christ said as much about the day of Pentecost, that the Spirit of God would remind them of things He had taught them. Then they would come to understand it. You see it is God who must teach you. And He teaches through Christ who is the Word of God.

Only the Father reveals spiritual truth

Spiritual truth is revealed by the Father. Anyone not having the Spirit of God WILL NOT comprehend real Spiritual Truth. So you read in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, “Eye has not seen nor ear heard,” that is, “nether has it entered into the mind of man,” the spiritual truths, the things that God has prepared for us. But GOD has revealed them to us.”

Many people will understand a certain amount of the Bible, because there’s so much of the Bible that is relating to ordinary materialistic or physical knowledge, and much of it is history. But when it comes to the real deeper Spiritual teaching, the natural mind of man cannot comprehend. It is the Holy Spirit that opens the mind to comprehend.

Repent…Believe…be baptised

Now the conditions to receiving the Spirit, as Jesus said, REPENT ye, and BELIEVE, the gospel, the message, the Truth. And the message comes from God; believe what He says in other words.

Christ ascended to heaven after He had been crucified. He did not have to repent because He had never sinned. So He took our sins on Himself and paid the penalty for us. Its just like, God is a great banker, and you owe the bank a lot of money. And Christ is the banker’s son. And you can’t pay what you owe the bank. But his son, the son of the banker, pays it for you and says, ‘well I paid that off for you so you don’t have to worry anymore about it, it’s all paid.’ That is you don’t have to worry about the past sin, but you’d better worry about whether you sin anymore in the future, from now on, because then, then you bring the penalty right back on yourself again if you do go on sinning any more.

Acts 2:37 – On the day of Pentecost when Peter preached the first really Spirit inspired sermon by a human man to thousands gathered there, it says that  “they were pricked in their heart.”

“And said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” What are we going to do now that we’ve heard what we did and heard how Christ had been crucified.

“Then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptised, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

There is no promise in the Bible that anyone will receive the Holy Spirit until after he has repented and been baptised, (which is only an outward physical form, or ceremony, picturing real repentance and belief).

But some people haven’t ever undergone any change. They’ve just accepted a few additional instructions or teaching or doctrines that they’ve heard. They want to do what’s right, they want to believe what’s right, they don’t want to do what’s wrong. But they can’t — they don’t have the Spirit of God because thy have never admitted to being wrong,

Proof baptism does not convert

In Acts 8:13, Simon the sorcerer (the head of the Babylonian Mystery religion) himself believed Christ, he believed the truth. “And when he was baptised he continued with Phillip and wondered beholding the miracles and the signs which were done.”

Now Simon came and offered Peter money for the Holy Spirit. He had BELIEVED and he had been BAPTISED, and he wanted to pay money to receive the Holy Spirit.

“But Peter said unto him, thy money perish with thee because thou hast thought that the GIFT of God may be purchased with money.

He had not repented but had believed, he had been baptised. Too many say, yeah I guess I was a sinner so I’m just gonna believe now. And in your own goodness you do, but this is not repentance. Repentance is the death of the old self.

Well who are the followers of that Simon today? He went out any way and he organised what finally became the biggest religion in this world, what is known today as Christianity. He was the real founder of what the world looks on as Christianity today, and you find it described in Revelation 17:5. Her daughters (Protestants) came out of the Roman Catholic Church in protest and that is called Christianity, and that was started by that same Simon, and he had the title of Peter. And he is the Simon Peter of the Roman Catholic Church.

Surrender is not optional

Do you know, God has to break our wills and we have to be brought to the place 0f surrender to Him? We can’t , in our own goodness, see the Truth and say, Oh yeah, that’s true, I’m gonna accept it. I’m so good that I just wanna accept it, and I’m gonna be a Christian from here on. We don’t receive the Spirit of God that way.

David certainly did not receive the Spirit that way. A lot of people would never understand how David could ever be called a man after God’s own heart. Look at the things he did. God wouldn’t let him build the Temple in Jerusalem when he asked God. He was a man of war who shed much blood in battle. And not only that but when God told him not to take a census of His nation he went ahead and did it anyway and disobeyed God deliberately. And God really punished him for that. And another time he committed  adultery with another man’s wife and she became pregnant. Then he did a worse thing by having him put in the forefront of the battle where he would get killed himself. And he was killed. David now became a murderer. And God sent Nathan the prophet to tell him what he had done.

In the 51st Psalm is a prayer of David when he woke up and finally realised what had happened. Most people would say that any man that’s done those things, he’s no good. God couldn’t use a man like that, and yet I think they must sit in judgement of God, for He called David a man after His own heart.

Look at this prayer. He was crying out to God, he said, “Have mercy thou upon me Oh God according to thy loving kindness, according unto thy, unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.” Now he’s beginning to admit his transgressions. He’s admitting how wrong he was. “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquities,” my iniquity, “cleanse me from my sin,” now he’s confessing it. “For I acknowledge my transgression and my sin is ever before me.” And then, notice verse 10 shortly, “Create in me a clean heart, Oh God, and renew a right spirit in me.” He confessed his sins and David never did it again.

Ephesians 2 states that very one of us has been spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, trespasses against God and God’s Law. We were spiritually dead. But now, if we have the Holy Spirit, if we have repented, if we have been conquered and received the Holy Spirit of God, that changes every thing. “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,” who is Satan and he’s a prince of the power of the air, “the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience,” and every one of us is a child of disobedience and has been, and the Spirit of God has worked in us.

Two can’t walk together if not agreed

You can’t walk with Christ if you don’t agree with Him. You can’t walk with God the Father, until you’ve repented, because in your sins you aren’t agreeing with Him. You’ve got to make a surrender, have a changed life and purpose altogether. But then you’re going to sin again even after that.

So we read in I John 2:9, “If we, (true Christians after repentance, baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit) confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.” We’ve sinned, but we have not disagreed with Him, we didn’t mean to sin but we slipped up, we forgot, or maybe we got careless. Maybe we hadn’t continued in prayer as often as we should. Maybe we slipped up a little while. Maybe we’ve sinned since being converted. But if we confess those sins, He’s faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

Now it goes right on in the next chapter, “My little children these things write I unto you,” that’s those in the Church, “that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate,” that is a believer, “with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not ours only, but also for the whole world.” It shows that he meant if we in the Church sin He will forgive us. But if we don’t change our main attitude and main purpose, we may still have the Holy Spirit, but if we don’t repent and continue on in sin, pretty soon we’ll just be lost entirely.

2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith, prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is IN you, except you be reprobates?” It’s not too late.

Examine yourselves before the Passover.

Now, it says, I read to you, “let a man examine himself, and then let him take of that Passover.” Of course there its speaking of how you take it worthily, unworthily, rather than taking it worthily, but, we have to examine ourselves and we should before the Passover, and to know that we are back on the track ourselves walking with Christ as we should be.