A religious experience, even one as significant as the Passover pilgrimage, can become an enemy to the child of God by causing them to lose sight of Jesus Christ as the focal point of their lives. The sermon highlights how Mary and Joseph, caught up in the religious customs and fellowship of the Passover feast, mistakenly left Jesus behind, only realizing their error after a day's journey. This illustrates that true communion with God is not found in rituals or experiences alone, but in a constant, personal connection with Christ, who is the ultimate focus and the only way to God. The message concludes by urging believers to return to the cross, where they first found Christ, and to ensure their relationship with Him remains central, lest they too lose Him in the midst of their own experiences.
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the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days as they returned, the child Jesus carried behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.
And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. And to all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed. And his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us?
Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my father's business? And they understood not the saying which ye spake unto them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them. But his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.
Shall we pray? As we are here this evening, our Father, and we are on enemy territory because of the God of this world, the prince of the power of the air, is the reason we are coming to thee, that as thy son broke his power at Calvary, so may he be defeated this evening from thy people receiving thy mind through the word of God that they might see afresh the Son of God in a different perspective.
We pray that thy people will not have wasted an evening by coming to hear what saith the Lord. For unless by thy spirit through thy word thou art ministering to thy people, thy servant is of no avail whatsoever. So prepare thy people. May they anticipate thee. And may they be quickened in thyself. We ask it our Father in the name and for the sake of the Lord Jesus.
Amen. I usually don't give titles to any of the messages I bring, but somehow or other this lends itself to a title. And it is this. A religious experience is the greatest enemy of the child of God, for in that religious experience he can lose the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, who should be the focal point of his life.
We read in verse forty-one, Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And as far as I can recollect, when we came from Poland, and when I was at the age of six, I faintly remember, and it was more indelibly impressed on my mind of going every year to the synagogue to celebrate the Passover. And here, as the command was given in Deuteronomy, so it was still being fulfilled, that every year they went to the Passover.
But the tragedy of their going this time lies in the fact of the word mentioned in verse forty-two. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And instead of it being the feast of Jehovah, the gospel account in John tells us that it became a custom and it became a feast of the Jews.
When you first turn with me to John the second chapter and verse thirteen, John chapter two and verse thirteen, and we read here in verse thirteen, and not Jehovah's Passover, But it tells us, and the Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. It was the Jews' Passover. That which should have had a deep spiritual connotation became a religion, a custom that belonged to the Jews.
And it is not called here the Feast of Jehovah. Turn again to the seventh chapter and verse two. And in the seventh chapter of verse two we read, Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. Not Jehovah's Feast, as in Numbers and in Deuteronomy, or in Exodus, but the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand. Again turn to the eleventh chapter and verse fifty-five of John.
And in John the eleventh chapter and verse fifty-five, and the Jews' Passover was nigh at hand, and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were going to be religiously scrupulous in performing the Passover. They purified themselves, but at the same time we read in verse fifty-six, then sought they for Jesus. and they wanted to take him in order to kill him.
So we notice they went there as was accustomed to do. When you notice we read here in verse forty-two and when he was twelve years old they went up to Jerusalem. Now Nazareth is north of Jerusalem, and yet instead of saying they went down to Jerusalem, it tells us even though Nazareth was north of Jerusalem, they went up to Jerusalem. The Word of God is replete with that thought that no matter where you are located, that when you went to the temple, you went up.
But if you left the temple, you went down. And that is why it tells us here, and when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem. And when we were in Nazareth, we noticed the population at that time. Oh, that was about almost two years ago. But in the time of our Lord, one historian mentioned the fact that there were about two hundred people there, including children. And early in the morning, just as it began to dawn, they hurriedly prepared themselves.
They came out on one village, another village, another, another, until they were banded together. They took their donkeys. They ladened their animals with the vitals that they would need and the pots and the money that they would carry. for the feast was to be for seven days. For we read in verse forty-three, and when they had fulfilled the days as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind. So it was more than one day, it was seven days.
Nowadays, the Jewish people, not the real Orthodox in Israel or in Brooklyn, New York, but the other Jewish people, they commemorate the first evening of the Passover, and then they wait a week, and they close it with the last evening of that week. But here, they were to be there for these seven days. They got together. And as they got together, they laden their animals, they took their money, for they had to buy their sacrifices near the temple, taking the sacrifice with them, it would become blemished to illness or perhaps die in the way.
For Nazareth was approximately seventy miles to Jerusalem, and they did not then have the paved roads that we have now there, or they have now. And they had to go by foot, and it was rough terrain. and they banded themselves together. And when they went together, the men traveled with the men, the women traveled with the women, and the children traveled with either one of the parents. It tells us when he was twelve years old, how often were the Jewish people to come before God in a year.
When you turn with me to Exodus the thirty-fourth chapter, holding your place in Luke, Exodus the thirty-fourth chapter. And in Exodus thirty-four, when you notice verses twenty-three and twenty-four, Christ in the year, Shall all your men's children, men's children, appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel? And the men's thought of this. If they would leave the wives and the females behind, their daughters behind, What would happen to them?
The enemy would come in, invade them, slaughter them, and it wasn't practical to be obedient to the command of God that three times in the year shall all your men's children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. And the Lord knew the consternation and the fear that entered their heart. And he said in the next verse, don't worry about it, for I will cast out the nations before thee and enlarge thy border. And as you are obedient to my will, bringing the men children before me, all the males three times in the year, here's what I will do.
Neither shall any man desire thy land. I will so work in his heart that he will not desire it nor come near it, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God rife in the year. Now, what times did they go up? What three times? Therefore, turn with me to Deuteronomy, the sixteenth chapter. Deuteronomy chapter sixteen and verse sixteen. Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose.
The males only shall appear before the Lord thy God. Three times first in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Passover, the Feast of Weeks, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. So three times in the year they were to appear before Jehovah. But here we are told, for the first time that when he was twelve years of age they were taking him to the feast. It was not until I was what they called bar mitzvah or reached the age of thirteen was I permitted to participate in the Passover.
Being younger than that, I went to Hebrew school. As soon as we came from Poland, from the age of six to the age of thirteen, I was taught to read the Torah, the first five books of Moses. I was taught to interpret some. I was taught Yiddish. I was taught various things in Judaism. And when I became thirteen, After these seven years, it was a joy being the only son for my mother and my father to see me presenting myself to God that I have reached the age of maturity, that I have grown up to be a man in Israel taking Judaism upon me.
And quoting Deuteronomy six four. Smar Yisrael El Adonel Elohenu Adonel Echord. Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one. And the Jew from the time of his bar mitzvah to the time of his death constantly wants to be ready to quote this verse before he passes into eternity. At the age of thirteen, for the first time after dedicating myself, yielding myself as a son of Israel, I was able to participate with the rabbis, both questioning them and hearing answers, entering into their conversation.
That is why you can understand more fully Verse forty-six, and it came to pass that after three days, that is of Luke the second chapter, and it came to pass that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. He had a right. It was at that time, the age of twelve, In our time, the age of thirteen, and he was born mitzvah, he was able to come into their midst and have spiritual intercourse with them, and there he was.
So at the age of twelve, they took him for the first time. Before I go any further, at born mitzvah, you learn not only the Torah, not only to read Giddish, be able to speak it, to write it, but you also learn how to use the flack trees. And the flack trees consisted of leather thongs attached to each end of a cube that was resting on a flat disc. In that cube were the Ten Commandments. You took the thongs and you pulled them over your ear that the cube might be as frontless between your eyes.
Then you took off your shirt and the arm was bare, and you, with another cube, fastened on to a thong, leather thong, and you made a circle whereby you slipped it over your hand, tightened it, and there was another hue near to the heart. Then you bound the thongs ten times around your arm, and stood for both the ten plagues that were upon Egypt, from which Israel was delivered, from whom?
Israel was delivered and also the Ten Commandments. Then you took the rest of the leather thong and you wound them around the palm of your hand. You clipped your finger and you made the Hebrew letter sheen with the thong around the knuckle. And the letter Hebrew letter Sheen stands for El Shaddai, the Almighty God. Here at the age of twelve, they took him.
And I believe that he knew all about the phylacteries. I believe that when he was bar mitzvah, he used the phylacteries. For this reason, turn with me. to Deuteronomy or first Exodus the thirteenth chapter and verse nine. Keep holding your place in Luke. Exodus the thirteenth chapter and verse nine. And in thirteen nine we are given or Israel is given instruction here. and it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thy hand, and 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.
Now Deuteronomy the eleventh chapter and verse eighteen. Deuteronomy chapter eleven and verse eighteen. Again we find it there. And in verse eighteen, therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul and bind them for a sign upon your hand that they may be as frontless between thine eyes. Again in Deuteronomy the sixteenth chapter and in the sixteenth chapter and verse sixteen we read No, I have the wrong scripture.
Deuteronomy the sixth chapter. I'm sorry. Deuteronomy the sixth chapter and verse eight. And in Deuteronomy We read, And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. But in verse nine it says, And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates. If you've ever been in a Jewish home, you would find on the posts of the door on the side of the door is tacked on what is called a mezuzah.
And in there are the Ten Commandments also. That when a Jew, before he enters the Jewish home, if he is a religious Jew, will touch it, put his hand to his temple, then kiss his hand, and do the same thing when he comes out, from that house. After having said that, we see them traveling from Nazareth, and for the first time he is being taken as a full-fledged Jew to the temple. And as they are traveling, the men with the men, the women with the women, the children with either one of the parents, and as they kept on traveling, they were careful to see if any bands of thieves were waylaying them in the mountains.
because these crooks knew that they would have money on them for the sacrifices they would have food with them and other possessions. Therefore the men so traveled to protect the children and the women. Why the women went when the command was specifically, thy males only shall appear before me three times in the year. I don't know, but there they were. And as they traveled, they thought of the songs that they will hear, the sons of Asaph singing, the songs during the holiday festival.
And they began to sing them and rejoicing. And as they traveled down seventy miles or so by foot, they became weary and tired. And just as they were about two miles away on the outskirts of Jerusalem, Up on the hill was there on Mount Zion the temple, Herod's temple. It was really the second temple that they built when they came out of Babylonian captivity. But Herod was forty years in embellishing and beautifying that temple.
And they saw the dome of the temple that as the sun shone on that gold-bleed dome, it was to these Jews, these zealous Jewish people, as if Jehovah was extending his arms, bidding his people to come unto him. And when they saw that, even though tired, they took heart and courage. and they went all the way and finally came into the precinct of the temple area. They had to find places to lodge for these seven days. They had to feed their animals, take their bittles, put them away.
This they did, and all of a sudden there was a hush over Jerusalem. And as soon as the first star appeared, a priest went up into a hill. He took a ram's horn. He began to blow it, and it's called a chauffeur. S-H-O-S-A-R. And as he blew that ram's horn, it was calling God's people unto himself. with the burden of their sin and the atonement that was to be made.
Why did he use a ram's horn? The ram's horn is symbolic of salvation. The ram's horn is symbolic of substitution. For when Abraham was to offer up Isaac, and just when he was to plunge the knife into Isaac, The Lord said, Abraham, Abraham, don't do it. I know that you fear me, but I wanted you to go through the whole process of manifesting faith, and such faith was a joy to me. Abraham, I have a substitute for Isaac.
And he turned around, and there caught in the thicket of the bush was a ram caught by its horn. and Abram offered up that animal. And ever since then, the lamb's horn became symbolic of redemption by way of substitution. Excuse me. And they came. We saw a replica in Israel of Herod's temple. And we noticed that as you came into the court, there were fifteen steps that led up to the place of sacrifice.
Whether the women went with the men, I don't know, except for the fact that at the base of it, there was one place called the court of the women and another the court of the men. Whether they went up or whether the priest, the sacrificing priest, who were to enter into offering up sacrifice for their sins would enter these steps is plausible. But as they came to the first step, ere a step was taken up, they heard singing from within.
and as the priests sang from within, when they stopped, these took up the refrain. And as they took up the refrain, they went up one step. Then the priests again sang from within. When they stopped, the people took up the refrain, and they went up another step. It was antithonal singing. Back and forth, back and forth, and so by degree the fifteen steps were walked up until they came to the place of sacrifice.
Why were these fifteen steps added in that second temple? Why would they should go up by degrees? The only reason I can find for it is found in the Psalms. When you turn with me, first of all to Psalm, one hundred and twenty. Psalm one hundred and twenty, and under Psalm one hundred and twenty, what is the title under that Psalm? Read it out loud. and under Psalm one hundred and twenty-one under Psalm one hundred and twenty-two and so you will find from a hundred and twenty right through Psalm one hundred and thirty-four they are called the Psalms or the Psalms of Degrees and in these Psalms you have concerning the land, concerning God and his people, and the priesthood
and the atonement, and all these things. Therefore, I believe, personally, that I went up these fifteen steps by degrees, and the singing from within and without was because of these songs of degrees. Finally, as they went up, the sacrifice was offered in behalf of the people. And as the sacrifice was offered, and it was the last day of the feast, again the priest went up into a hill, blew the ram's horn, indicating that it was over.
As soon as it was over with, you could imagine all the Jews from the different parts of the world gathered in Jerusalem, gathered to the temple for the Day of Atonement, not having seen one another, the women got together, and I am sure they compared the latest hairdoes, you know, And the men got together, and they spoke about business. But the key thing that was the conversation of these people was the land, the temple, the incense that they smelled, the music that they heard, the vestments of the priest that they beheld.
And all these things were like a narcotic. It was like an opiate. It invaded all their senses. And because of the social times and the religious experience that they had, and so filled with it, they started going back from where they came. And as they went back, they still have ringing in their ears the singing of the priest. before their eyes the gold vestments with which they were dressed and in their nostrils the incense that was offered and the fellowship that they had and they had such a wonderful marvelous experience that as they went back the men began to travel with the men the women began to travel with the women, and as they went back full of that religious experience that filled their senses, they
did not recognize the fact that Jesus was not in their midst. And that's why I say, fellowship with saints, is a wonderful experience. Blessings are wonderful experiences, but we must not forget that as we live momentarily by the breath, by the air we are able to breathe, so momentarily we must live by the breath of God's Spirit, constantly communing our souls with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Otherwise, we become so taken up with the experience that we leave him behind. And this is what we see here. And when they had fulfilled the days, verse forty-three, as they returned, the child Jesus carried behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother knew not. But they supposing, what were they supposing? as soon as the senses could no longer to the eye see and no longer to the nostril smell and no longer to the ear hear and no longer have that fellowship with the other Jewish people that they had.
When all that was dying out, something took place somewhere. And I am sure that a mother is more sensitive to her children than the father is. And it could have been Mary. And as she was traveling with the women, she must have said to herself, I wonder if my son, his bar mitzvah, and what he got out of it. And I wonder what he's saying to his father. And then perhaps a consternation gripped her. I wonder if he is with his father.
And Joseph, as he was traveling, must have felt the same way, wondering if he was communing with his mother as to what he got out of the Passover. In going back, they went a day's journey without him. Why did they go a day's journey without him? Because they built everything around a mere supposition rather than fact. And it was this religious experience that caused them to lose him in the way. So we notice right here, but they, supposing him to have been in the company, they went today's journey.
And something happened. Someone must have broken ranks. for a woman to go out from the midst of the women and come to where the men was, was unheard of. But if the men, for some reason or other, came in the midst of the women, that is understandable with them, as I read in Jewish history. But it must have been one of them. And according to what I read, it must have been Joseph who broke ranks. Something troubled him. And when he went amongst the women to find out if Jesus was there, he wasn't there.
And to their consternation, they began to seek him. And where would they start seeking him but those who were near to them? those of their own group, and they began to seek him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance, but they could not find him. There may be someone here who is religiously inclined and you feel because you go through various rituals it does something to your senses and it gratifies self and it gives it a good feeling and somehow you have some vague feeling that you're alright with God and yet you are not and you are merely supposing and what do you do instead of finding him through the only way that God has provided, you try to find them among your acquaintance, amongst your relatives, and you cannot seem to find a manifestation of him.
Here we see they sought him among their kingsfolk, they sought him among their acquaintance, and when they found him not, And it was a shame for a mother and a father to so neglect a child. It was considered a shame in Israel for children were of the Lord. and the nation could only go on as they would propagate, and a barren woman was considered as one who was cursed of God. That's why Zechariah, when he was in the temple at the incense burning, he prayed. Why did he pray?
His wife was barren. And the people wondered what kind of an infliction God put upon them. And he must have been praying that a child might be there. So did they yearn for children. And for a mother or father to neglect a child was considered horrible amongst the people. In spite of public opinion, we read in verse forty-five, when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem. But this time they did not go back to hear priests singing.
They did not go back to the smell incense or to look at the vestments of the priests or the life that was strewn around Jerusalem. This time they went back not for religion, for the word of God tells us this, and they turned back again to Jerusalem seeking him. And the word tells us that when they made a diligent search for him, verse forty-six says, and it came to pass that after three days they found him. Where did they find him?
They found him just where they left him. On the basis of supposition, they left him there, thinking he was with them because of that marvelous religious experience. But they had to go back to where they left him, and they found him exactly where they left him. Where does a believer find Christ the first time? At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away, it was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the day.
And what about a believer who is merely living on the husk of experience trying to sap from other lives a blessing for themselves? who once knew the Lord, what about them? You can find him just where you left him, for its burdens are lifted at Calvary. And as you go back to the cross, not this time for salvation, but go back and confess and let the Spirit of God take possession of your life, you will find that the arms are still outstretched and welcoming.
They found him just where they left him. They made a diligent search and they had a definite answer. There might be someone here. who may be religiously inclined, who is influenced by Christian people, and somehow or other they feel it does them so much good. What God is doing through that circumstance in your heart is asking you to come to the cross where his son died, and there the righteous one took your unrighteousness upon himself.
And for your sins, as you put faith in him, he gives you back his righteousness. So we find that as they made a diligent search, they had a definite answer. They found him where they had left him. And there he was participating with the wise men. the rabbi, and all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed. I still cannot fathom as to why Mary and Joseph were amazed.
They had such an experience. the angel visited Mary. She begat the Son of God by the Spirit of God in her womb. She gave birth to him. The Lord spoke to Joseph. And all that came to pass should have conveyed to their minds that he was unique. He was the Son of God. But Like in your experience, so in their experience, as they went through the humdrum of life with the everyday pressures surrounding them, they took the Lord in a humdrum way.
They took him within the circumference of everyday life that they were living and never saw him beyond the scope of their own life. And so here they were amazed. They didn't recognize him. when he asked these questions and answered them, and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought these sorrows. Who was to blame that he was left behind, whether he or they?
It was they who were to blame. They didn't recognize Him for what He truly was and is. And they were to blame. And what happens as soon as our relationship with Him is broken. And we go through a trying experience of heartbreak. A loved one is taken. Health is broken. And to this means the Lord is trying to bring this back unto Himself. We usually say, Lord, why did you let me go through all this? Why did you do this to me?
The first one who is blamed is the Lord himself. We never seem to blame ourselves. That is the human heart. It is so against God that even a child of God, in the time of great distress and trial, becomes bitter in the ways of the Lord in their life. So the word of God tells us here, Behold, thy father and I have sought these sorrows. And the end of such an experience of being cut off from communion with the Son of God in the child of God's life is truly a sorrowing experience.
And he said unto them, How is it that he sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my father's business, and they understood not the saying, Would she speak unto them? And what did he do? As they went down to Nazareth, one really should be up to Nazareth. It says down because they were leaving the temple, they were leaving Jerusalem, and now they were going down to Nazareth, what did the Son of God do in the days of His flesh? In this humanity, the Word of God tells us this, He was subject unto them.
Why, in closing... while all these verses in John saying there was a feast of the Jews. It was the Jews' feast of Tabernacle. It was the Jews' doing. It was not a feast unto Jehovah, for the simple reason that there was the true Lamb in the midst of them. And there he was, and as he was there, in the light of his being there, all that they were performing were mere customs and rituals. And when John said, Behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, I say, why didn't he say, Behold, the bullock of God that takes away the sin?
For they used bullocks on the day of atonement. Why not say, Behold, the kid of God that takes away the sin of the world? For they used kids. They used other animals. Why the Lamb of God? For this reason. When they came, before they came out of Egypt, They were all on one level. There was not rich, middle class and poor. They were all bond slaves. And therefore, each family take a lamb unto itself, slay it, and put the blood on the doorpost.
But when they came out from Egypt and finally came into the land, the rich man could offer an expensive offering, the middle class man a less expensive one, and the poor man may be a couple of turtle doves. And when John said, Behold, the Lamb of God that takes us away, the sin of the world, not the bullock, not the kid, not the ghost, but the Lamb, he was doing this. He was taking the rich and he was bringing them down. He was taking the poor, and He was bringing them up, and He put them all on one level.
Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And it was he, not their religious practices, not their feasts of the Jews, but he who was there that made all the difference in the world. It was their religious experience that caused them to leave him behind. Shall we pray? Our Heavenly Father, we thank thee for thy word. Thy word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths. As thy people have come, may the Spirit of God have given them, may the Spirit of God have given them something to cause them to rejoice in.
to meditate on, to yield themselves more fully unto thyself, and beware of any opiate that might break communion between thyself and their safe soul. Dismiss us with thy blessing, O our Father, for we ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen.