Passover Service 2017

Ron Weinland

April 10, 2017

Every annual Passover service is a sobering one, and it is a serious one as we are to reflect upon the extreme suffering and death of our Passover, Jesus Christ. We are to strive to better grasp and understand the kind of suffering Jesus Christ experienced for us so that we can be more deeply thankful and respond to such a sacrifice that enables us to be forgiven of sin, and then to have a personal and a growing close relationship to him and his Father, our Father, the Almighty Self-Existing Eternal God.

This service is also an encouraging service since it reveals the depth of God's kind of love and that of our Passover, Jesus Christ. We need to be reminded that our participation in this service is an expression of our faith in the death of Jesus Christ on our behalf, faith in the reconciling death of Jesus Christ. This service should also remind us of our commitment to allow Christ and our Father to live their way of life in us and through us.

God gave us this appointed time to remind us of the kind of love, the sacrificial love, the reconciling love Jesus Christ has shown mankind and his Church.

Let's begin this service by looking at the New Testament Passover. Going to be reading out of 1 Corinthians 11:23 where Paul said: For I have received of the Lord that which also I am delivering to you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. And after the same manner also he took the cup, when he had finished dining, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: you are to do this as often as you drink it, which we understand is once every year at the time that God set aside on the fourteenth of the first month of the holy calendar that God gave to mankind to be able to keep appointments with God, appointed times. And this is one of those appointed times, the beginning, that which launches us into the Holy Day season. It all begins with Passover. Our calling and the beginning of a process of change in our live begins with our Passover.

And so again, he said, And you do this, in other words, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. So we do that once a year. For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death until he comes.

Then in verse 27 it continues by saying, Wherefore whoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. And so we understand that. We do it soberly. We come before God Almighty and Jesus Christ on this night to be able to take of this Passover service, to have such an incredible opportunity to do so so that we can have a right relationship with God and Jesus Christ, so that we can grow on a spiritual plane, so that our minds can be transformed and changed into something different than natural, carnal, selfish human nature.

And so he said, But let a person examine himself, and then so let them eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. So we're to think about those things before we ever take this Passover service. We're to be aware of the kind of life that we're living and repent when we're not living it right so that we don't take this in an unworthy manner. We're going to seek to change our lives on a continuing basis.

For any who eat and drink in an unworthy manner, eat and drink judgment unto themself, not discerning the Lord's body. Not understanding everything that Jesus Christ went through for us. So that as well, not only understanding what he went through and sacrificed for us in his death and his suffering, the kind of beating he took before he ever was put to death, but what it means for the Body of Christ, that we're able to have fellowship in the Body of Christ.

For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. Now, this has, can have, obviously, some physical manifestation in life and be a part of life, but it refers to far more than something that is physical, because God has given us laws to live by and those things affect us. They affect our health. They affect the way…even the way we think can affect our health. And yet this is far deeper than that, far deeper than something physical. It has to do, indeed, with the mind and how we think. And if we cut ourselves off from God, or as we spoke of recently here, if we begin to squeeze off that umbilical cord of life, the power of God's spirit, begin to quench that power that's coming into our life or be cut off from it then we have no strength spiritually, we can't grow spiritually. And so it says, "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." We can fall asleep spiritually. The evidence of that is around us in a very powerful way in the Church that was scattered.

Verse 31—For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. It's better that we search out our own lives, that we seek God's help, that we be stirred up in spirit and desire to be close to God so that we can be transformed, so that we can change, so that we're not the same year after year after year, but that we're becoming something different, better through the power of God's spirit, through His life living in and through us.

Verse 32—But when we are judged, when we don't do it ourselves like we should, when we don't put ourselves to that test, if you will, and seek to change as we hear sermons and work on those things and pray about those things and seek God's help to change… But when we are judged, we are chastened, corrected, of the Lord, so that we should not be condemned with the world. God hasn't called us to not succeed. He's called us to succeed. He's called us so that we can change and conquer and overcome. And it's through the very thing we're picturing here this night, through Jesus Christ who is our Passover.

Luke 22:7—Then came the season of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. And he sent (Jesus sent) Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare the Passover for us so that we may eat it. So here is a matter of that which was still a matter of that which was in the Old Testament of taking the lamb on Passover night, of killing it, of how they were to go about the entire process, and eating of it that night.

And they said to him, Where would you have us prepare it? And he said to them, Behold, when you have entered into the city, a man shall meet you there who is carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him to the house where he enters. And you shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master is asking of you, Where is the guest room where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room that is furnished; there you can make it ready. And they went, and found as he said to them, and they made the Passover ready. And when the hour had come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. After the sun had set and the Passover day had begun they came together for that dinner meal to eat of the Passover lamb as commanded in the Old Testament.

And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. And so he was looking forward to this time, to the final Passover that he would observe on this earth as a physical human being. He was looking forward to that time that he would be with his disciples on the final night before he would go through the things that he knew that he was called and given life for to fulfill. And so he said, "With desire." And it's not just any desire, this is "with great desire," something that was burning within him.

Let's turn over to John 13:1—Now, before the Feast of the Passover, so it's talking about the Passover season. And we understand that the only Feast days, the only Holy Day period there, the only High Day is the first day of Unleavened Bread and the seventh day of Unleavened Bread. Those are the actual Feast days. But it's speaking of a season, which was commonly understood amongst the Jewish people of that time. So before this period when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And again, it's an incredible love, a sacrificing love, a life dedicated with incredible purpose beyond that which we can really grasp to its full extent because of the mind he had, because of the life and the understanding that he'd been given through the power of God's spirit—the Word of God made flesh. Things that we don't fully grasp yet. We can only grasp it in parts and see in parts. And so it's speaking of these things.

Going on it says, And dinner being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him… And so Satan always a part of trying to thwart, trying to hurt whatever God does, trying to cause havoc wherever he can. And every time before Passover season, and especially in this period of time that we're in toward the end of an age where things around us happen, where that being and those who followed him seek to stir things up, to get us off course, to get us sidetracked so that we're not close to God, so that we get caught up in other things. And we have to recognize that and recognize the things that take place around us and deal with them accordingly, to look to God to deliver us from those things through Jesus Christ, knowing that's where our strength and our power is. It's not in ourselves, to rely upon ourselves or to be burdened down by other things going on around us. On the contrary. But to move forward with confidence and boldness of life that God gives to us, that those beings have no power over us. They can raise havoc and cause static around us but we don't have to give in to that. And sometimes people do, they're tried and tested in that. And so here it says, concerning Judas Iscariot and that he was going to betray him.

Verse 3—Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God… So Jesus Christ understood the function before him, the job, the responsibility that was upon him and all that was coming together, everything he knew in his life that was leading up to this moment in time knowing that he indeed came to the earth born of a woman, born from Almighty God from heaven who impregnated his life in a woman to be His Son, the only Son of this kind ever to come into life for a great purpose. First, to be a Passover. And Jesus Christ knew that. He knew what that meant.

And so he rose from supper (dinner) and laid aside his garments, and took a towel and girded himself. And after that he poured water into a basin began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with a towel wherewith he was girded. He was doing something here to change the very nature and the function and the meaning of Passover into that which was deeper and more meaningful for the Church, for the Body of Christ, and for those things that Christ was going to experience for us so that we could be a part of the Body of Christ. And so indeed, this was the beginning of this particular ceremony that the Church has been told to do year by year by year, to follow this example, to follow this that Jesus Christ gave. What an awesome thing that we can participate in such a thing that so few have ever understood!

Then he came to Simon Peter, and Peter said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? And Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do, you don't know now, but you will know hereafter. And that's the way our lives are in so many things. There are so many things that happen around us and we continue to go forward and we don't necessarily always understand everything. And then later on we experience it, just like the Apostasy, and afterwards we begin to see as God shows us what it meant.

And Peter said unto him, You shall never wash my feet. And Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with me. And so again, in a certain kind of human way trying to state that, "No, this is beneath you to wash my feet. I'm not worthy of it." Anyway, it went on to say, Simon Peter said unto him then, Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head. So "If this is what this means to have part with you, wash me thoroughly!"

Jesus said unto him, He that is washed doesn't need but to have his feet washed, but is clean every whit: and you are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him, therefore, he said, You are not all clean. What an incredible thing to know that there was one there who was going to betray him, who had already started the process of betraying him. He knew because God gave it to him to know, and those things that are written.

So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said to them, Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord; and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another's feet. Incredible meaning here of humility and a desire to do things God's way, a desire to humble ourselves before others in the Body of Christ, a desire to live a right way before others in the Body of Christ. Because this is our arena of life, to learn to apply and to live this way of life, God's way of life, a sacrificing kind of love toward others. Not our will but God's will. Not our own desires but looking more upon the desires of others. Not to be selfishly motivated, in other words.

For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, That the servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than He who sent him. If you know these things, happy (blessed) are you if you do them. So it's not just a matter of washing one another's feet, which we do, it's what we live the rest of the year. That's what's so important. It's how we live toward one another, if we are indeed of a humble spirit and willing to humble ourselves before others, and never getting into a spirit that's combative or offended or jealous, or any of those things that reflect selfish human nature. Those things should never be a part of us. And whenever they are we should seek to get a hold of them quickly, fast, because they'll destroy people and they have destroyed many. There are many who aren't with us today, tonight, because of such things. Sad. It truly is.

So again, Jesus instituted this ordinance for his disciples to illustrate his desire and willingness to serve and love us unconditionally. Total giving, sacrificing, and he commands us to follow his example of humility. And so we are to humble ourselves to serve others, to be of a serving spirit, not of a getting spirit, not easily offended, not of any kind of a mind that would go against someone else through jealousy, through envy, through being offended, through getting into arguments and being combative. That isn't God. That isn't the mind of God. That isn't what Jesus Christ suffered to give to us. On the contrary, he suffered so that could be taken away, so that could be rooted out of us. So we are to humble ourselves to serve others out of a genuine love, care, and concern for them. Genuine.

So at this point need to give some necessary instructions because we are going to come to a point here where you're going to need to pause the video. And right now you need to follow the instructions of whatever the set-up is in your area of people going through the process here then of getting the water that they need and being able to organize it so that you can go out and do the footwashing at this point in time.

So go ahead and do that now. Pause the video here and then come back and start it again.

Everyone is back from the footwashing; it's time to turn over to Isaiah 53. Going to read out of Isaiah 53:1, a prophecy concerning those things that Jesus Christ was going to experience in his life that led up to this very night and the following daytime portion of the Passover day when he would give his life for us.

Isaiah 53:1—Who has believed our report? You know, it's an incredible thing. It's like asking who can believe these things. Who believes in a Passover? Who believes what he did and what he was going to go through and why? And the world around us has so tarnished that and so messed it up in every way and taken away from the meaning of it, holding what they call communion once a week that has no meaning to them like God intended that it should have once a year or the things that it truly teaches. And so the world has so messed up everything around us and God has called us out of this world. And so who can believe it? Well, only those whom God draws, only those whom God gives of help through the power of His spirit to begin to see and to understand what it means, that there is no conflict between what's written in what is called the Old Testament or what is written in the New Testament. On the contrary, they complement one another and build upon. Those things that are in the Old, the New builds upon those and gives greater insight and understanding of those things on a spiritual plane that we're to see and grasp and understand.

And to whom is the arm (strength) of the Eternal revealed? Again, to those whom God calls because otherwise there is really no ability to see and understand. So how blessed are you that you're here tonight and that you can see these things, that you can understand these things? There aren't many who do.

For he shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, speaking of Christ's life and his relationship with His Father and what God, the life that God had given to him. And it goes on to say, and as a root out of dry ground; impossible to take place except that God gave it. And what a powerful thing that God gave indeed in life, the Word made flesh. He has no special appearance nor attraction, speaking of Jesus Christ. Wasn't someone that just by appearance… Some people have that where just by their looks, their appearance, and sometimes the way they act about and talk and so forth that people are drawn to—oftentimes for the wrong reasons. But it's making it clear here Jesus Christ wasn't like that, wasn't like that at all.

So again, no special appearance or attraction; and we shall see him, there is no countenance that we should desire him. You're not automatically just drawn to him because of who he was. Because what was more important was what he said. And that's the point of it all. It's the word. It's what came from God and what came from God through him to this world. That's what's important. It's not a kind of judgment that man so often uses. And that's why God did things and does things the way He does. It's a beautiful thing.

Going on, He is despised and rejected of men. And we understand that. And so are those who follow him, as a whole. …a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Because when you live God's way of life there are things you're going to experience from this world where you realize and learn in a very powerful way this world has nothing to do with God, truly. It has to be changed. And we look forward to the time that's coming soon now when God's government is going to exist on this earth and not mans. Man has miserably ruled himself for 6,000 years.

He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. That's what our lives as human beings reflect. Not wanting him. It's like Adam and Eve in the garden, in the trees and not wanting God to see them. And that's the way human beings are. And that's the way people are toward the truth, about who Jesus Christ really is. They don't know who Christ is. They have these stories that they tell and these things that are supposed to make you kind of feel good inside and it has nothing to do with what's true and right and what God can do in us through that life. And so we hid, as it were, our faces from him; he was despised, and we did not esteem him. That's the way human nature is, until God calls us and helps us to see what we're like, to see how we would, just as you would treat others who are in the Church if you were outside in the world and caught up in the world. And the more you're caught up in it, especially in traditional Christianity, the more you're going to resist and fight against and look down upon, even despise, as it were, so often as people do, what is true and those who hold on to it.

And so we did not esteem him. Surely he has carried our sickness, our corruption, you know, that corruption of the mind. That's why he sacrificed his life in the way that he did, in the manner that he did so he could be our Passover. And so he has carried that corruption and that sickness of the human mind, of human beings so that we could be saved out of this. …and burdened down by our suffering. Yet we did, as the word means here, devise (account) him to be stricken. In other words, "Let it happen." He died. People don't even believe some of those things but it's like it doesn't have much meaning to people in their life. They're going to live the way they want to anyway. And so they don't esteem as we're to strive to do, and especially once a year like this, to have it more deeply embedded in our minds what he went through for us, to understand that so that that has an impact on our lives as to how we choose to live and choose not to live, and what we're willing to fight against.

And so again here, yet we did devise (account) him as stricken, to be allowed to be slain of God. That's the way we are. It's like we're going to live our way. That's the way human beings are. They don't care; they don't think about that. They don't understand that yet until they're able to see it fully. And so indeed, God did allow him to be stricken, to be killed, to die, to be beaten and suffer in the manner that he did so that we could have life, so that we can have life in the future as a part of Elohim and have a begotten life now. And so, to be allowed to be slain of God and afflicted. So God allowed those things to take place.

Verse 5—Thereby, he was wounded for our transgressions, because of this attitude of human beings that's so selfish and doesn't want God in their life. You go to different places now a day's… You know, in the south they talk about God but that understanding is misguided. But you talk about God in some countries, in some places, and they're uncomfortable. They don't want to talk about that. Thereby, he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed (broken) for our iniquities, as the word means. Broken. His life. We break the bread. His life was broken, crushed, ended. The chastisement for our peace was upon him, so that we could have peace, so that we could begin to experience a peace that comes from God. Not peace like man has peace, because that's false, that's evil and selfish indeed.

So again, the chastisement, in essence, was for our peace, what he received, what he took upon himself in his life. …and by his stripes we are healed.

All of us like sheep have gone astray; we all have sin. We have turned every one to his own way. That's the way we are and we need to be delivered from that. …and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And so it's a means whereby because of the Passover that his blood was spilled to the earth, our faith in what he did for us, that we can begin to live by faith, the truth that God gives to us. We follow those things, we faithfully live by whatever it is that God gives to us, to seek to obey Him, to draw closer to Him, to be at-one with Him. What an awesome thing.

Verse 10—Yet it pleased the Eternal to crush (break) him; to allow it. Meaning to allow it. Because it was the only way this could take place. It was the only means whereby man can be saved. He has put him to grief: so that when you shall make his life an offering for sin… So that's what we do. We look to his life that was made an offering for us. It's not what we can do, in that respect; it's what he did for us. And so we look to that. We look to his offering, his sacrifice, and prayerfully humbled by it and are deeply, deeply thankful. So much so that we respond to God's love and kindness and mercy in kind, seeking to have that kind of love in us as well.

So He shall look upon His seed— in other words, God, when He sees such things, when we look (like this night), to the Passover. Those things, they're encouraging to God. They are exciting to God. To see human beings that do respond, that desire His way of life when He gives them a portion of His holy spirit, because not all have done that. And so you have to continue to cry out for the help to be able to continue on that path, to continue on that course, and to cry out to God for help. And so God looks upon that and is reminded then, it's always before Him, in other words, about His seed and His purpose and what He has done. And there is that which is a satisfying thing in that because of the fruit it's now producing in life to bring about Elohim.

He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Eternal shall prosper in his hand, in Jesus Christ and what is being done and will continue to be done into the future through him.

Verse 12—Therefore, will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his life unto death. And obviously far beyond all others in human life. He is the first of the firstfruits, the first born of God's creation into Elohim. And he was numbered with the transgressors; so looked upon as a… He has two thieves on either side of him who were being put to death and so people look upon him, "He's guilty too! He has to be guilty. He needs to die." What a sick, sick world! …and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors; for all of us.

So Christ's sacrifice was for the healing indeed of the body. That's the beginning of understanding. God gives that to us when we're young in the Church and we begin to see things. And I've seen this so often where those who are newer they have certain things that take place and they begin to learn it's important to ask for anointing, it's important to respond to God and ask for that anointing that He has given through His ministry to perform so that we can learn from that process. But it's a physical process.

And as time goes along we learn other things. God doesn't always intervene. He doesn't always intervene right away. We learn other things because we become more mature and are able to see things and understand things in a different light. And there are things we can go through in our life that are going to benefit us even later on, let alone now, but especially later on in what it does in the transforming of the mind. You can't put a price on that, and so we willingly go through whatever we go through in life. Because we're in God's hands. We belong to God and He knows how to mold and fashion us in perfection in order to be born into Elohim. And that's an awesome thing, to live by such faith.

And so again, that's the beginning, that which is physical, and leads to a greater purpose in the fulfilling of the healing of our lives. It teaches us things about the healing of the mind and the mind that must be transformed, it must be changed. And that's a healing. That's why I love those scriptures over and over again in the Old Testament, especially when it…and some in the New when it talks about healing when you know and understand that it's about the healing of the mind. That's how God describes it: Our minds are sick and they need to be healed. There is that corruption and that which is vile because of our choices of going in a different direction and yielding to selfishness. And God has to heal that by the power of His holy spirit. Thank God He can. Thank God that He's created us in such a way so that we can repent and so that we can change and so that our minds can be transformed.

Let's turn over to Hebrews 4:14—Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession (our calling). Hold fast and treasure it and understand what we've been given. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot be touched by the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tested just like we are, and yet without sin. So he lived a physical life. He knows what it's like, indeed, to the point of being beaten, to a point where couldn't even tell who he was, skin ripped off of his body as he was whipped so horribly, and then a spear run through his side so that the blood would gush out to the earth as he was there upon that stake. And he knows what suffering is like, to live God's way of life in this world. And we have to learn it too. We learn it's not a fair world. It's not a just world. It isn't God's world. And we so long and look forward to that. But we endure many things because we choose to live God's way of life. And you suffer when you do.

Verse 16—Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace… And so indeed to come before God Almighty with boldness, with liberty as well (is what the word means). There's a liberty we've been given and a boldness to be able to come before God Almighty through Jesus Christ, that we may obtain mercy… We need mercy because we need forgiveness of our sins. We need our Passover on a continual basis day by day, week after week as we see the flaws in our thinking, in our minds, in our human nature and our reaction to too many things that is so deeply embedded in us. And it's a constant battle all our life to fight against this. But it's for a short time. Forty, fifty, sixty years is really a short time on earth. It truly is compared to what God has in front of us. This is just a passing moment in time, fleeting. But to us it can seem like a long, long time. But it isn't for that which is far greater. And so we have this great High Priest in order to find grace to help in time of need.

Luke 22:14—And when the hour had come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said to them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

And then verse 19—And he took bread, and he gave thanks, and broke it, and gave some to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you. Broken in life, life taken away. Do this in remembrance of me. So Jesus instructed the disciples to eat some unleavened bread which symbolizes his broken body. That's what we do on this night once a year.

John 6:32—Then Jesus said unto them, Truly, truly, I say unto you that Moses did not give you that bread from heaven; but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. They had something they could eat that was physical. It was a miracle to have it, to be able to go out and collect it, but it was physical for physical sustenance in life. But this is different. There is that which is to be learned here about the bread of life that is spiritual.

Verse 33—For the bread of God is he who came down from heaven, and gives life unto the world. That's where life comes from. Life comes through him. God has ordained it in this way. It's a beautiful thing to understand the plan and purpose of God.

Verse 34—Then they said to him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. They didn't understand what he was saying. They didn't grasp what he was telling them at all. They didn't understand it until much later after the holy spirit had entered into their life in the sense of the impregnation then of God's spirit that could begin to grow within them. Then they began to see and understand all the things that Jesus had been telling them.

Verse 35—And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes on me shall never thirst. Now, it's hard for us oftentimes to put ourselves in the position of someone like that at that point in time where they weren't impregnated with God's holy spirit yet. They were being drawn by it but their perception and understanding of things was quite shallow in many respects. There were certain things they could pick up on that God gave them to know about Jesus Christ, who he was and so forth, but the things he taught, they couldn't put these things all together by any measure on a spiritual plane. They couldn't understand them.

And so to hear, to read something like this and to hear those words that he spoke it's an awesome thing. "I am the bread of life." You know that! But they didn't know that. "What does this mean he is the bread of life?" There was so much more they had to learn yet and they hadn't even come to the point of time of understanding what it meant that he was our Passover. But you have that understanding. How blessed are you, truly?

Verse 48—I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and are dead. Didn't keep them alive. Only for a certain amount of time. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down out from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. So he was teaching them things about the Passover. They didn't have any idea what he was talking about because they hadn't even taken the Passover yet. They hadn't taken of the symbols of the broken bread that Jesus Christ gave to them on that final night of his life on earth. And they didn't grasp what that meant then at that point in time until after the Passover, until Pentecost, and then all of a sudden all this has meaning. Incredible!

Verse 53—Then Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except you eat of the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. And we understand there were many at this point, as it goes on in Chapter 6, talking about how there were those that had followed him to this point that couldn't follow him anymore because this was so far off they could only see something physical, "Drink blood? Human blood at that?" That was so against what was taught in the Old Testament that they knew this couldn't be of God – in their minds, in their thinking.

Whoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood—Eat human flesh; unclean?—and drinks my blood has eternal life. They had no understanding. But yet he was setting the groundwork here for the Church, for those in the Millennium and the Great White Throne to understand what his life meant for all mankind who will receive that, that he is the Passover. And so whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. So through an incredible process of faith and that which is attributed to us then because of believing and knowing those things and daily repenting in life, knowing that it's through Jesus Christ and what he suffered that we have such ability to continue in this way of life before God, to continue to have our minds transformed, to be able to continue to grow more spiritually.

Whoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells in me… They couldn't understand that. And you didn't either until God gave it to you in the Church after you were begotten of His holy spirit. And even so much of this has not been understood by the Church very well in times past. But you're blessed to know it. You're blessed to see it. How blessed are you to take this Passover tonight?

Whoever drinks by blood, eats my flesh, dwells in me and I in them. It's a spiritual thing, a spiritual presence of life. As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father: so he who eats me, even he shall live by me. We'll live this way of life. We'll seek to live the way of life that he instructed and taught and gave to the disciples to give to us, and has given to his apostles to give to us on a continuing, maturing basis of present truth. This is the bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead: any who eats of this bread shall live forever. Awesome!

1 Corinthians 10:16—The cup of blessing which we bless… And so here it is now Paul talking about those things, that he was reminding them that was given through Jesus Christ to the disciples to pass along to the Church to do year by year as a memorial, as a new way of observing the Passover. No longer eating the Passover lamb on a physical plane of a lamb that had to be sacrificed, a physical lamb, but now that which is spiritual, now through the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, our Passover.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the fellowship of the blood of Christ? A kind of fellowship that we're able to have, a union with God and with Jesus Christ and with one another because of this. The bread which we break, is it not the fellowship of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, that's what we're to be, one bread, one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. There is only one bread, one way of life, one Church, one Great God Almighty.

1 Corinthians 11:23—For I have received of the Lord that which also I am delivering unto you, so again being reminded, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. So the bread is symbolic of Christ's suffering in our place for our sins, the physical suffering he went through for us – which was much. The punishment we deserve for our guilt fell upon Jesus Christ, fell upon him. And the unleavened bread is also symbolic of the life of Christ living in us, the bread of life, the word of God that's able to live in us as our minds are being transformed. And so again, it's symbolic of the life of Christ living in us and our need to live by every word of God. It's what we strive to do, should strive to do always. So this symbolism of eating the bread also pictures the unity, the unity we are to have in the Body of Christ.

So at this time everyone should remove the cloth covering from their bread, as I'm doing here now, for the observance for the Passover tonight on this night as you will be observing it at the time that you are listening to this particular video. So at this time here if you've taken it off, the covering off of the bread, I'm going to ask everyone then to bow their heads as I ask for the blessing of God upon the meaning of this for each and every one of us this night.

[A prayer should be given thanking God for the meaning contained in our partaking of the bread and also asking God to bless it accordingly.]

Now at this time we're going to be breaking the bread, so that those of you who are going to do so you'll come forward and begin breaking the bread. And then it'll be passed out by those who are going to be passing it around. And after being served each person should quietly and solemnly eat a small piece of the bread thinking about its meaning to you and what it means for you in your life.

So at this time if you'll pause the video. And then after you've taken the bread and passed it around and bring the container back to the front, then continue with this service.

Going to read out of Matthew 26:27. Here Jesus Christ instructed his disciples to drink the wine which symbolized his shed blood. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink all of it. For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

And then in 1 John 1:7—But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. So there's this unity and oneness that we have that begins through the Passover, through Jesus Christ. And that's what this night is about. And to grasp what this means for the Body of Christ, the Church of God and our fellowship within it and with Jesus Christ and with God the Father. And so it says, If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, is cleansing us from all sin. So there is that which we must yield ourselves to so that we can indeed continue to be cleansed of all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins… There's a difference in attitude it's talking about here. There is that which acknowledges sin in life, that which is seeking it out rather than just ignoring it and living life ever how we want to in our own selfish ways. But we recognize that we must change and we're addressing selfishness in our life and we're fighting against it and we're seeking God's help to fight against it, to get rid of the selfishness so that our relationships, especially within the Church, are right, so that we have good, holy, righteous fellowship through the power of God's spirit living in and through us with one another. Because that's the only way we can have that kind of fellowship. And if we don't yield to that power and that spirit we don't experience that kind of fellowship, we experience a physical kind of philia kind of fellowship and that's not enough.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, we're cleansed, we continue forward; He can give us more of His holy spirit then to continue on the course of being cleansed and fighting the fight. So He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Hebrews 9:11—But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves — not a physical temple, a spiritual one, the beginning of something, the cornerstone. Awesome! Neither by the blood of bulls and goats but by his own blood he entered in once into the Holy Place, the Holiest of Holies, into God's presence with God, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal's spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new covenant, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament (first covenant), those who are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. And the old covenant couldn't give that, but the new through the meaning of the Passover, through our Passover and understanding those things it begins to thrust us forward into a new life of growth and begettal and change that leads into Elohim. What a great and glorious thing indeed that God has given to us.

Romans 3:23—For all have sinned, not just have sinned, but all have sin. It continues to happen in life. But it's to become less and less. We're to become stronger and stronger in God's way of life. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God has sent forth to be the propitiation through faith in his blood; sent to die for us, sent for the purpose of becoming our Passover the first time, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. God's great patience and what He gives to us to help us bring us through this process from the time of begettal to the time we die or the time of a change in our life.

To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of those who believe in Jesus. God is just. Jesus Christ is just and righteous. We are not. But we go through a process of becoming justified, of drawing closer to God, of being purified, of being cleansed, of being transformed into something new, a new creation.

So our sins, the transgression of God's law caused the death of Jesus Christ. He died in our stead. He paid the penalty for us. And that's why we're blessed to be able to be here this night on this night of Passover.

So at this time everyone should remove the covering from the wine as I'm doing now, and then I'll pray over it as I did the bread. And then it can be passed around. So at this time here if everyone would bow their heads and I'll pray over the wine.

[A prayer should be given thanking God for the meaning contained in partaking of the wine and asking God to bless it accordingly.]

So now it's time to distribute the wine to each person, to pass it out. So if you'd begin that process. You should take a glass, each one of you, and quietly and reverently drink it, remembering what it pictures, thinking about that which it pictures, as it symbolizes your acceptance of the blood of Jesus Christ for the remission for your sins.

So at this time please pause the video and then as soon as the wine has been passed out and all the glasses have been collected and brought back to the front then we'll continue with the service.

Now that you're all finished it's now time to take the covering once again to cover the bread and to cover the wine containers and the unused portion, if there is any, to cover those once again. And I'll begin reading some scriptures that will lead to the close of this particular service today, tonight.

I'm going to begin reading here in John 13, as we do year by year, because this pictures the time as Jesus Christ was preparing to take this final Passover with the disciples. We've already read those verses where he went through, and after they had observed one last time a physical observance of the Old Testament Passover of eating a physical lamb, now he instituted the symbols of a new covenant that he was getting ready to fulfill for them in their lives through his life, his death, and suffering. And so these are the things that lead up to all that. And the things he had to say then, as well, some of those things we're going to read now that he read that particular night…or that he said, I should say, that we're reading. That he said on that final night before he was taken and later beaten and then put on the stake to die for all of us.

So John 13, we're going to pick it up a little ways down here, verse 31—Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now the Son of man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. So they'd finished observing the things of the Passover, the new Passover, and the bread and the wine and the footwashing that we have already observed here, and it says he went out and he began to talk to them and tell them these things. And he went away as well to pray to his Father.

And so it went on to say here, If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. The time had come. This is what it was all about. Things that we really still can't fully grasp the entire magnitude of, of all that took place. Little children, yet a little while and I am with you. Not much longer. You shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Where I go, you cannot come; so now I say to you. A new commandment I give unto you… And so all of this and this kind of instruction now on that night, those things that are so important to grasp the meaning of what he suffered, why he suffered it so that we can have participation in, fellowship in the Body of Christ, the Church.

And I hurt inside from time to time when I hear of people who turn against each other, who hurt one another, who say wrong things to one another, those things which should never been in our life and show such lack of understanding or appreciation or thankfulness for what this very night pictures, candidly said. Because of what he said now. Because this was what it was all about. How much do we love it? How much do we appreciate it? How much do we want it? How much do we seek to live in and humble ourselves and swallow our pride over and over and over again to humble ourselves, to not always seek to get our way as we do as selfish human beings but to give, and sometimes to sacrifice to give, sometimes just, well, it's still a sacrifice of our own human selfish nature, but that needs to be sacrificed, candidly.

A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another… Now, it's new in one respect, and in one way it really wasn't. But it's new in the sense of what he's giving to them because it goes above and beyond anything that people had revealed to them to this point in time. This goes beyond that. This has to do with something on a spiritual plane and that was going to be able to be fulfilled and accomplished to bring about the Body of Christ so that people could live this in a greater way; far more people now because of the Church being raised up, that was going to take beginning on Pentecost, and how God desired and gave through Jesus Christ to give to us how we should seek to live. …that you love one another as I have loved you. How often have you heard me say these words, "as I have loved you." He's getting ready to be beaten, to have flesh ripped off of his body and off of his face, so beaten, so whipped that he couldn't be recognized for who he was. And to go through that, to be weakened so much because of the blood loss and all that he went through, and then to be nailed to a stake (a pole) to die and to have a spear run through his side so that the blood could pour out on the earth as he was dying on that stake – to end his life that way because his blood had to be spilled out to end his life.

…that you love one another as I  have loved you, that you also love one another. It's not just about a nice kind of fuzzy feeling. It's about something that's genuine and something that's true, something that requires sacrifice on our part, to sacrifice self. That's what he's telling them. This is what he's getting ready to go through so that we can have this, so that we can experience this in the Church. That's why those who don't participate, who don't strive to live this to the fullest of their means and aren't making any kinds of changes in that area, to bring an end to divisiveness, to combativeness in life, to jealousy and envy and the way people are treated and mistreated in life, those things cut us off from the flow of God's spirit, cut us off from God's spirit to where people begin to wander around in the courtyard and then they're gone. Now a days if that happens they're going to be gone because of where we are in time, because of what we're living.

And so indeed, a very sobering Passover in many respects, a very serious Passover.

By this shall all know that you are my disciples, if you have this kind of love to one another. They don't know it now but they'll come to know it. "Oh, you were in the Church of God." And if we don't live it we're not in the Church of God.

Chapter 14. Said it many, many of time, one of my favorite places of scripture because of what God gave to the Church in this end-time, what He reserved. Not to be given back in 1975 when He first revealed it, but later on in the Church of God—PKG at the end here so that we could grasp and understand something on a far greater plane than the Church has understood after Philadelphia – Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, and then finally an end to those eras and the beginning of a remnant Church, the Church of God—Preparing for the Kingdom of God. So unique.

And so he told them [John 14:1] Don't let your heart be troubled, because what was getting ready to happen. And don't let it be troubled at any time, frankly. Don't let the pulls, the hurt, the suffering, the evil of this world trouble you. There's that which is going to be unsettling, that which causes anguish at times, indeed, but not to the point of distraction, not to the point of taking us away from the trunk of the tree, not at the point of trying to carry the burden yourself, but of understanding you belong to God and you are God's. He said, Don't let your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me. So he's revealing more here now about what we're able to have because of the Church, because of what he's going through, getting ready to go through here.

In my Father's house are many places of dwelling. Into the billions! We don't know how much. In time that's God's desire for all who will choose it, for all who will listen, that if they yield themselves to the process of what we're going through this is just the beginning, this is a slight beginning of what's going to take place. Then we have the Millennium, and then the Great White Throne, billions who are resurrected to have opportunity that we have now to become a part of God's family. So In His house, in what He is building and creating, there are many places of dwelling, to dwell, to live on into life everlasting together. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. So for nearly 2,000 years Jesus Christ has been working, working with far more those who are going to be a part of the firstfruit, those who are going to be resurrected as a part of the 144,000 who are going to be part of God's government to govern on into the future. It's an awesome thing.

He says, If I go and prepare a place for you, I… It's not "will come again" in the sense of the future; I am coming again. And that's a present progressive type of thing. It happens in life, speaking of, and that's how the Greek words are, it's referring to not a future return but a process here of him living and dwelling in us and God the Father dwelling in us. That's why he was going to give his life, so that we could be impregnated with the holy spirit – forgiven of sin, impregnated with the holy spirit of God, and then to have them live and dwell within us. "There are many dwelling places in the future." It's not just talking about Elohim, it's the process of getting there. …in the Millennium for all those who are part of the Church. …and I'll receive you unto myself; and where I am, there you may be also.

And where I go you know, and the way you know. So it's about a way of life, the way you know. Because when we're called we're given the ability to know the way, to know God's plan from Passover to the Last Great Day and all those things that are contained back in Leviticus 23. And Thomas said unto him, Lord, we don't know where you're going; and how can we know the way? They didn't understand that which was… To them it was all physical. We're blessed to understand it's spiritual and he is with us, and God the Father is with us, and we're with them. And where we are gathered together this night of Passover, they are so very much with us and in us.

And Jesus said unto them, I am the way. He reveals the way of life, how it's to be lived on a spiritual plane, just as he just told them that we're to love one another. "A new commandment…as I have loved you." That sums it all up right there. I am the way, the truth… All that's true comes through him to us, and the life. And no man comes unto the Father, but through me. That's the way God intended it to be. It starts with Passover. Beautiful, beautiful picture that we could observe once a year.

If you had known me, you should have known my Father also: and from henceforth you know Him, and have seen Him. Again, what an awesome thing that they couldn't see this but we can because it's of God's spirit And Philip said unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and that'll satisfy us. Because they were just looking physically. And Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? What he was living was the way of the Father. Totally. What he spoke was of the Father. He even said the words that he speaks they're not his but they're of the Father.

He that has seen me has seen the Father. What a beautiful thing. …and how do you say then, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? Well, at that moment they couldn't. They didn't, couldn't grasp it yet. But they did shortly. What an awesome thing here to understand, a life, that Jesus Christ was in the Father and the Father was in him and the things he spoke they were from the Father, in unity and oneness, the Word of God, the truth of God. And so here he says it: The words that I speak unto you I do not speak of myself. "They are not from me." But the Father that dwells (abides in, lives in, continues) in me, He does the works. Knowing everything came from the Father that is true and right. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.

Truly, truly, I say unto you, He who believes on me, the works that I do shall he do; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. So truth that God would continue to give to us through Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ leading and guiding and directing the Church and giving more and more truth to us. Just like what we've been receiving of the last few years, to me one of the most awesome things, beyond what was given in 2005, of God changing things that began in the Garden of Eden concerning family, men and women, husbands and wives, and how we're to live together, how we're to see each other in life, how we're to function together. So different, so beautiful how God intends it to be in the Millennium and how He says it's to be in the Church now.

And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that is of God's spirit, of those things that God has promised to give to us and work with us in, if we do the things God shows us, in repentance, as an example, and desire His holy spirit. It's about the spiritual life. It's not just about getting things. It's about what God promises we can have if we do as we should and respond as we should.

If he shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments. And so it's how we live. And the one we just read, a new commandment, that's sums it all up in human relationships and human life and how we're to live within the Church. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another comforter, that it may abide with you forever; speaking of the holy spirit, the holy spirit that is to live and dwell within us. They don't have to be here present, as Jesus Christ was with them at that time, in a physical body, but to be of that which is spirit and to give us that which is spiritual. Even the spirit of truth, that reveals what truth is, it helps us to see and know and retain what is true. Because it can be lost and it can be lost so quickly. …which the world cannot receive, because it does not see it, neither knows it: but you know it, for it dwells with you, and shall be in you. So he's revealing something here that can live and dwell within us. And not only that but he goes on to show what this really means in a greater way. Because he said something earlier that was so important, that what he spoke and what he did was because of the Father that dwelt within him, that abides in, dwells in, lives in him, accomplished. He says, "I will not leave you comfortless. I am coming to you," meaning present progressive, on a continuing basis.

Yet a little while, and the world sees me no more; but you see me: because I live, you shall live also. That which we're able to see on a spiritual plane. Not a physical thing! And at that day you shall know… And here it is, something that the scattered Church does not grasp, something they do not grasp to the core of their being, what this is saying about Jesus Christ when he said, "I am coming to you," that it would be in an ongoing continuing basis. At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Aren't many who know that or who have known it. How blessed are you?

He who has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is who loves me. Do we love this way of life? Do we keep it? Do we seek to live it? We need to strive with all of our being to do so. …and he who loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest (reveal, show) myself to him. So it's not a physical thing. It's a spiritual thing. We come to see and know things about Christ, of Christ. We grow spiritually. We grow in understanding.

I think of all the truths God has continued to give to us. One of the most powerful and the greatest in this end-time was the getting rid of the total amount of the trinity and what it had done and what we have been blessed to receive. Awesome!

And Judas said unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself unto us, and not unto the world? "How is it you're going to reveal yourself to us?" Again, they could only see physically. How is this going to happen? And Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words (my logos). It's the Word of God. It comes from God and it's blessed to be in our lives. And we can live it through the power of God's spirit. …and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and will make our – it's that word that's translated as "mansions" in many Bibles up there in verse 2, "In my Father's house are many places of dwelling." And that's what it's saying here, the only two places this is used. And we will come unto him and make our place of dwelling with him. Such a beautiful thing, truly is. Has such great meaning. He who loves me not does not keep my saying (my logos), and the word, which is the logos, again, which you hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

These things I have spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the comforter, speaking of the holy spirit, which the Father will send in my name, it shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave you, and my peace I give unto you. And then he goes on to show it's not the way of the world. It's different. God's spirit is different, what we're able to receive, what we've been blessed to receive into our lives.

And so, so much more is stated here about this process and we talk about these things every Passover, just as it talks about in chapter 15 [John 15:1] where Jesus Christ said, "I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes it away. So we're to bear fruit in our lives. We can't be walking around in the courtyard. We can't bear fruit that way. We have to be in the temple and God's spirit living within us and all of us growing. And so again, our lives are to reflect that fruit is being produced.

And every branch that bears fruit, He purges it that it may bring forth more fruit. Again, beautiful verses here talking about this process here and likening it to this process of being a part of a vine. And we all are to have fruit in our life. And if a part, a branch somewhere doesn't produce fruit, it's like being in the courtyard. It's non-productive. Have to be in the temple. And so it's pruned, it's cut off. And in some cases what we have in our lives is pruned off, that which is not productive in our lives. We're to learn from that as well that we're to be productive.

So he says, You are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. It's a choice of how we live. As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; he said, no more can you, except you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit. For without me you can do nothing. And so it shows our need, our dependence upon looking to God at all times through Jesus Christ to receive this spirit, that life into us, that they live and dwell… Jesus Christ died, spilled his blood to the earth so we can experience that life in us. Because it's only through the forgiveness of sin that we're blessed to have this life live in us.

Verse 6—If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done. Herein is my Father glorified… So how is God glorified? It's by how we respond and it's how we live, and it's how we yield ourselves to the power of God's holy spirit living in and through us to produce right fruit in our life. Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples. It's how we're disciples, able to continue to learn and be taught.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: continue, the word means "to abide; to live in; to dwell in." Continue you (abide) in my love. Agape. We're to abide in the love of God. It's the only way to live. That's why Jesus Christ died, to give us this ability. How awesome, how beautiful is that? He says, If you keep my commandments, it's a matter of living this way of life, you shall abide in my love. It's how we live toward each other. It's how we live toward God. Even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in (dwell in) his love.

These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. God wants us to be filled with peace. He wants us to be filled with joy. Jesus Christ died to give us that ability of life, that experience, that which we can experience in life in order to prove, indeed, God's way of life is the only way of life to be lived. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Sometimes we continue on with chapter 15 and 16 and some in 17. He repeats many of the things we've gone through but we've hit the highlights of that tonight, and you can read those things on your own. Again, saying some of the same things in different ways but driving the point home of what we're to live, what we're blessed to live, why he did the things that he did and to ever love and appreciate that more and more, to grow in our thankfulness for our Passover, Jesus Christ.

So with that we're going to conclude now with a song. And hopefully all of you have a copy of that. Many of you who have been around for some time know this song now, In Thy Loving Kindness, that's from Psalm 51. We're going to sing all four verses and then once the song is over that concludes the Passover service for this night.

And so at this point here I'm going to get a little help from the recorded portion of this so that it's not just my voice coming through. But I'm going to make a joyful noise, and we all need to do so as we sing this song, In Thy Loving Kindness, Lord.

In Thy Loving Kindness, Lord

Psalm 51

Dwight Armstrong

In thy loving kindness Lord, be merciful to me;

In compassion great blot out all iniquity.

Wash me thoroughly from sin, from all guilt cleanse Thou me;

For transgressions I confess; sins I ever see.

'Gainst Thee only have I sinned, done evil in Thy sight,

That Thou speaking may be just, and in judging right.

My iniquities blot out, my sin hide from Thy view,

And in me a clean heart make, spirit right renew.

From Thy gracious presence, Lord, O cast me not away,

And Thy Holy Spirit take not from me I pray.

Joy which Thy salvation brings again to me restore;

With Thy spirit free do Thou keep me evermore.

Sacrifice dost thou not want, else would I give it Thee,

And with offering shalt Thou not delighted be.

For a broken spirit is to God a sacrifice,

And a broken, contrite heart, Thou wilt not despise

Table of Contents

Chapter 1