Turn with me in your Bibles today
to Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter 14, and this morning
we're looking at verses 12 through 26. And the first day of unleavened
bread, when they killed the Passover, his disciples said unto him,
where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat
the Passover? And he sendeth forth two of his
disciples and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there
shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in,
say ye to the good men of the house, the master saith, where
is the guest chamber, where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large
upper room furnished and prepared. There, make ready for us. And his disciples went forth,
came into the city, and found as he had said unto them, and
they made ready the Passover. And in the evening he cometh
with the twelve. And as they sat and did eat,
Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, one of you which eateth
with me shall betray me. And they began to be sorrowful,
and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? And another said, is
it I? And he answered and said unto
them, it is one of the 12 that dippeth with me in the dish.
The son of man indeed goeth as it is written of him. But woe
to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. Good were it
for that man if he had never been born. And as they did eat,
Jesus took bread and blessed and break and gave to them and
said, take eat, this is my body. And he took the cup and when
he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank
of it. And he said unto them, this is
my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many. Verily
I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine
until the day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. I have four divisions in the
message I want to speak to us from today from these verses
that I've just read. First, notice that our passage
begins with the disciples asking the Lord Jesus this question,
where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat
the Passover? We see that in verse 12. Where
wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the Passover? Now last week, those of you who
were here, remember that the Lord Jesus Christ directed them
as to where they would eat the Passover by following that man
and going into the house and telling him that the master had
need of the room. But today I want us to think
about the word prepare. Not where, where wilt thou have
us to eat the Passover? He told them where in that house
that they would come to by following that man bearing a pitcher of
water. But the word prepare, where wilt thou that we go and
prepare? What was involved in preparing? to eat the Passover. What would
be involved in them preparing to eat the Passover? Well, the first thing that we
know is they would need a lamb. The Passover was all about a
lamb. And as I thought about that,
I thought I need to say and remind us that the scripture, the Bible,
The book that you hold in your hands today is all about the
Lamb. It begins with the Lamb that
Abel offered, and he was accepted, not because of his righteousness,
but because of the Lamb, the sacrifice that he offered in
his stead. And as you go through the scriptures,
That's always pointed out to us, the Lamb of God, the Passover
Lamb. It's all about the Lamb. And
then I thought, you know, heaven, it's all about the Lamb also.
It's all about the Lamb. And I hope and pray today that
your life, your heart, and mine is all about the Lamb. It's all
about Christ. It's all about Him. So the first
thing that would be involved in preparing for them to eat
the Passover was to procure a lamb. Now normally they would do this
by going to the temple and purchasing a lamb because we've seen him
cleansing the temple. They had those animals there
in the temple which they sold for sacrifices. So most often,
that's where they would obtain the lamb. They would go to the
temple and buy a lamb. But then the lamb has to be prepared. It has to be slain so that it
might be roasted. But more importantly, the blood
from that lamb would be poured out at the side or at the base
of the altar. Now the first Passover, we know
the blood of that lamb was applied to the post of the doors. But
only that first Passover did they do that. But that memorial
feast, the Passover memorial feast, was to keep before their
eyes continually the need of blood. That without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission of sins. The blood. It was always to remind them
that they needed a sacrifice, a substitutionary sacrifice,
a lamb to die in their stead. That without the shedding of
blood, as the apostle writes in the letter of Hebrews, there
is no remission. Why do we sing about the blood?
Why do we preach about the blood? Because it is the blood that
God has given. as the scripture says, to make
an atonement for the soul. It's the blood of his dear son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. They would not only need a lamb,
but they would also need bitter herbs, because this is something
that they ate that first Passover feast, and this was continued
as the years went by. have the lamb, and that lamb
had to be roasted whole, could not be boiled or anything like
that, because it pictured the wrath of God that the lamb of
God would experience in the place of his chosen people. And not
only bitter herbs, but also unleavened bread, because the feast is called
the feast of unleavened bread most often, but it was a feast
of Passover The first day was the Passover and then seven days
the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And they would continue to eat
unleavened bread throughout that week. So it begins with the Lord's
disciples. This passage begins with the
Lord's disciples asking, where wilt thou that we go and prepare
that thou mayest eat the Passover? What a question, right? Where's
the lamb? What's the lamb to you? What's
the lamb to me? Is he everything? He's everything,
the scripture says. He fulfills all the types and
all the pictures of the Old Testament, the lamb of God. Now second,
our passage continues with the Lord Jesus coming with his disciples
to eat the Passover in verse 17. And in the evening, he cometh
with the 12. Now Luke in his account tells
us that he said, with desire, I have desired to eat this Passover
with you before I suffer. And then he told them why, what
his reason was for desiring to eat that Passover with them. He had eaten, no doubt, at least
two Passover suppers with them before, but it was this Passover,
he said, with desire, have I desired to eat this Passover with you
before I suffer. And then he said, for I will
not eat any more thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom
of God." It be fulfilled. That was to be the last Passover. I tell you, people today who
call themselves Christians and they continue to celebrate the
Passover, they've been thrown a curve as far as I'm concerned.
The Passover ended. That was to be the last Passover
because it was fulfilled by the sufferings and the dying of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Passover had been a picture,
that's all it had been, a memorial picture of the Passover lamb. But when Christ suffered and
died, that supper, that memorial supper came to an end. There's something that you and
I must remember. There's five things that we should
remember when we read that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered. That's
what he said. With desire, I have desired to
eat this Passover with you before I suffer. Five things. First of all, we should know
that his suffering was foreordained of God. And he is a lamb slain
from before the foundation of the world. His suffering was
foreordained of God. A second thing is his suffering
was voluntary. He said in John chapter 10, the
good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And again, he
said, no man taketh it from me. but I lay it down of myself. His suffering was voluntary. And third, his suffering was
vicarious. In other words, he suffered in
the place of someone else. His suffering was vicarious.
He suffered in the place of those that the Father had given unto
him in that everlasting covenant, those who were his sheep. and
his suffering and death was propitious. That means that his suffering
and death is the only propitiation that there is for sin. Now, I
was asked a question after a message, I believe two weeks ago, about
people who have never heard the gospel, about the fact that men
must hear the gospel in order to be saved. My point is there's
only one sacrifice for sin. There's only one name given under
heaven among men whereby we must be saved. There's only one sacrifice
that effectually puts away the sins of God's people, and that
is His sacrifice. It's propitious. It turns away
the wrath of God from us. Our sins deserve the wrath of
God. That's what we merit, the wrath
of God because of our sins. And it is His blood, His sacrifice
that's vicarious and propitious. It turns away. It atones for
the sins of His people. And the last thing, His suffering
and death is successful. It's successful. He didn't do
what he did and suffer what he suffered and die as he died to
make salvation possible if men will add their part. Now that's
what so many people are being told today, that he just made
salvation possible. No, he secured the salvation
of his people. He saved his people. God can
require no more. because the law of God he satisfied,
both by his obedience to the law and by suffering the penalty
of that broken law. Now notice the third, our passage
continues with the Lord Jesus announcing that one of his 12
would betray him. And as they sat and did eat,
Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with
me shall betray me. And they began to be sorrowful
and to say unto him one by one, is it I? And another said, is
it I? And he answered and said unto
them, it is one of the 12 that dippeth with me in the dish. When our Lord announced that
one of them would betray him, we see there was two reactions. on the part of his disciples.
The first reaction is they began to be sorrowful. They began to
be filled with sorrow. And we can only imagine, we can
only imagine the sorrow that those words of the Lord caused
his disciples. You know, before this, the Apostle
Peter made this statement to the Lord. He said, We have left
all. We've left all and followed thee. And when Peter said that, he
didn't just say, I have left all. He said, we, we the 12,
we've left all and followed thee. And now they hear that one of
them, one of them who too had left all, left everything to
follow Christ, that he is going to betray the Savior. What sorrow filled their hearts? And the second reaction was they
began to question and they began to question themselves. Is it
I? Now when you compare, and I encourage
you to do this always, but when you compare Matthew with Mark
and Luke and John, this is what you will see about this question.
They all ask it. All 12 of the disciples, they
all asked the Lord. When he announced to them that
one of them was going to betray him, they all said the same thing,
Lord, is it I? Is it I? But what you will find
out when you look at all the gospel narratives is, Judas,
yes, he did ask that also, but he only asked it after the Lord
had pointed him out. as the one who would betray him. The other disciples, they asked
it immediately. And that just reminds us that
God's children are usually somewhat suspicious of themselves. You know, God's children, blessed are the
poor in spirit. That doesn't mean that they are
poor in spirit when they first come to know the Lord, but that's
a characteristic of God's children as we go through this world.
Poor in spirit. Meek. Hunger and thirst after
righteousness. Mourn. And so they all begin
to ask, Lord, is it I? Am I the one? You know, David,
The psalmist David, when he ended that wonderful psalm of his,
he ended it with this prayer, Search me, O God, and know my
heart. This is the sweet psalmist of
Israel. This wasn't the first psalm he
wrote. Servant of the Lord and experienced the grace of God
for many years, but he prayed search me Oh God and know my
heart Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked
way In me and lead me in the way everlasting now, I don't
believe that when David prayed that prayer and that he was asking
the Lord, search me and just see if there's any way, any wicked
way in me. And in other words, as far as
I know, there's no sin in me. I don't believe that's what he
meant at all. But he was praying and asking the Lord to search
him, to see the wickedness in him, that he might confess that
sin, that he might repent of that sin, that he might turn
from that sin. And I believe the same thing
would be true of these disciples here. Lord, is it I? They wanted
to know, if it were them, that they might confess that sin,
that they might repent. That's always the case with God's
children. The guilty person here, Judas,
he never asked, is it I? Until the Lord pointed out, it's
the one to whom I give the salt. And we know that was to Judas. The innocent, those who were
innocent at that table, they all questioned themselves. That
made me think that most of God's children were always a little
suspicious of ourselves. You say, I'm not. Well, I am.
I am. You say, what do you mean by
that? I mean that knowing God and being
saved is so important to me, I want it to be right. I want
it to be right. And if I'm not saved, I want
to be saved. Lord, is it I? You say, well, and I heard a
preacher say this one time. He said, since the Lord saved
me, I've never had a doubt. And I thought to myself, well,
you must be the exception. You must be the exception. I
don't question what his experience, but most of God's children, we
do have doubts and fears and questionings, just like these
disciples did. Lord, is it I? You know, once
before he had told, he had asked his disciples, will you also
go away? Will you? A big crowd had left
him. There in John chapter 6, will
you also go away? And don't you love Peter's answer?
For all of them, not just Peter, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou
hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's our
assurance. You know, I talk with people
sometimes and they say, well, I just don't have any assurance.
Well, what do you, what do you mean by assurance? And what I
find out is most people by assurance, they mean some kind of feeling. Some kind of feeling that they've
conjured up in their minds that if they had assurance, they would
have that feeling. No, our assurance is we believe
and assure. no doubt about it, no question
whatsoever. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Now notice the fourth thing in
our passage. It continues with the Lord Jesus
instituting the Lord's Supper. Again, in the Gospel of Luke,
we are told that it was after supper. In other words, after
the memorial Passover Supper had ended, the Lord Jesus Christ
instituted the Lord's Supper. Now that Passover Supper was
a memorial of God passing over Israel, delivering them from
Egyptian bondage. The Lord's Supper that he instituted
now is a memorial service of a much greater deliverance than
Israel experienced from Egyptian bondage. Because this deliverance
is from the bondage of sin. That's the deliverance that he
gives his people. It's a memorial service, memorial
supper rather. And I say this because the Apostle
Paul, when he gives the instructions and 1 Corinthians 11, which he
said he received from the Lord. The Lord said both when they
ate the bread and when they drank the cup, this do in remembrance
of me. When you eat the bread, do this
in remembrance of me. When you drink the cup, do this
in remembrance of me. It's a memorial service. It's
a memorial service. And what should we remember when
we eat the supper? We try to have the Lord's Supper
here the first Sunday evening of every month. A communion service,
some people refer to it as. But what should we remember when
we eat the Lord's Supper? Well, first of all, we remember
who He is. We remember who He is. If he's
not God, then to eat his flesh, that which symbolizes his flesh,
and drink that which symbolizes his blood, it would have no value. We remember, first of all, that
he is God-man. He is the eternal son of God
who, in the fullness of the time, was made of a woman, that he
came into this world. And then second, we remember
when we eat the bread that as the bread is broken, so his flesh
was broken for us. Listen to these prophecies concerning
the breaking of the bread, the flesh that it represents. In
Isaiah chapter 50, these are the words of the Lord when he
said, I gave my back to the smiters. How was his flesh broken? I gave
my back to the smiters. In other words, those Roman soldiers
with the cat of nine tails beat him, broke his flesh. I gave
my back to the smiters and my cheeks, my cheeks to them that
plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame
and spitting. And then another prophecy. as
many were astonished at thee." When they saw the Lord Jesus
Christ, those pictures that men have painted of the crucifixion,
try to get those out of your mind if you possibly can, because
there was nothing beautiful about that crucifixion scene. Many
were astonished at thee. Why were they astonished? Astonished
it says, but it means astonished. Why were men astonished when
they saw the Lord Jesus Christ, his body being broken and broken
for us? Because the scripture says his
visage was more marred than any man. More marred than any man. and his farm more than the sons
of man." When we eat the Lord's table, we remember who he is. And when we eat the bread, we
remember that his body, his flesh was broken for us. And then we
read, the chastisement of our peace was upon him. For you to
have peace with God. And we do, don't we? Therefore
be justified. By faith we have peace with God. We come into this world enmity
with God. But to have peace with God, the
chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And with His stripes
we are healed. That's what the prophecy said.
His flesh like the bread was broken, but not of bone. And
that's important, isn't it? Not a bone was broken. They came
to break the bones of the Lord. They did break the bones of the
two thieves that were crucified alongside of him. And that was a mercy. That was
a mercy, really, to break the bones, their legs, so that they
could not possibly support themselves anymore and speed up their death,
their cruel death. They're suffering death. But
when they came to Christ, he was already dead. It amazed Pilate,
didn't it, when the soldiers came back and told him? It amazed
him that he was already dead. Why? Because crucifixion was
a death that sometimes lasted for days, not for three hours. But because it was the beginning
of the Sabbath, the Jews wanted to take those bodies down and
put them in the grave before the Sabbath. But not a bone of
him was broken, just like that Passover lamb. Not a bone was
broken. The type is fulfilled. And then
we remember that like the juice, Like the juice is squeezed from
the grapes and making wine, so his blood, his blood poured from
his wounds. See from his hands, his head,
his side. Sorrow and love flow, mingle
down. What a wonderful hymn we sing
sometimes, don't we? When I survey the wondrous cross
upon which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gains I count
but loss and poor contempt on all my pride. The blood that flowed from His
wounds, healing blood, cleansing blood, justifying blood, sanctifying
blood, Praise God for the blood of Jesus Christ. That fountain
that was opened. The Lord Jesus, by his death,
he ratified and he sealed the new covenant. This is the covenant. Notice
what he says here in our text, and I'll close. But here in verse
24, he said unto them, this is my blood. This cup represents
my blood of the New Testament. Do you remember the Old Testament? When God gave the Old Testament
to the nation of Israel, it too was ratified and sealed with
blood, but the blood of animals. But now this New Testament, it's
ratified and sealed with the blood of Jesus Christ. And let
me just read you this new covenant as it is given to us in Hebrews
chapter eight. This is the covenant. I will
put my laws into their minds and write them in their hearts.
I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
They shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his
brother, saying, know the Lord. For all shall know me from the
least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. It would be a good message, maybe
one day God will let me preach it. It would be a good message
to take every one of those points of that covenant. But I just
want to mention one. I will be a God to them. God promises to his people all
that is desirable In other words, everything, if
you could imagine, if you could just sit down and list, make
a list of everything, if you could invent God, if you could
create God, this is what I would want right here. This is it.
Everything that you could possibly want in God, God is to his people,
everything. He's our Father. Don't you want
a Father? He's our Savior. He's our Deliverer. He's our Protector. He's our
Defender. He's our Provider. I will be God unto them. So that you and I, those of us
who know Him this morning, we may say with the psalmist, the
Lord is on my side. I will not fear. The Lord is
on my side. I will not fear. May the Lord
bless these thoughts and words to all of us here this morning.
We're going to sing a hymn. He keeps me singing.