Ten years ago, if you can believe
it, Eugene and Natalie Switston moved here from Denver, Colorado
with their two little boys. Jason, who I guess was about
eight then, and Dennis, who was seven. And they were in our fellowship
for several months before they moved to Charlotte, North Carolina
and worshipped with the believers that are there. In the last year or so, I've
had the delight of fellowshipping with Dennis, who's not a little
boy anymore. And I've asked him to read scripture
and lead us in prayer this morning. And I've asked him to preach
for us tonight in Sarasota. We're so looking forward to that.
You pray for Dennis. This is the very first time he
ever preached. He'll be doing it tonight in Sarasota, and he
has a message prepared that God's put on his heart. So, Dennis,
you come and read scripture and lead us in prayer, please. Good morning. It's a pleasure
to be here and truly my privilege to have the opportunity to speak
to you all. And as Brother Greg said 10 years
ago, my family and I lived here and attended here regularly and
what a blessing it is to see how the Lord remains faithful
by keeping his people faithful. Faithful in the gospel and faithful
in the truth and a desire to hear Christ. If you will, turn
with me to Psalm 115. And we'll start at verse one. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Wherefore should the heathen
then say, where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but
they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell
not. They have hands, but they handle not. Feet have they, but
they walk not. Neither speak they through their
throat. They that make them are like unto them. So is everyone
that trusteth in them. O Israel, trust thou in the Lord. He is their help and their shield.
O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their
shield. Ye that fear the Lord, trust
in the Lord. He is their help and their shield.
The Lord hath been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will
bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron.
He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great.
The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children. Ye are blessed of the Lord, which
made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens,
are the Lord's. But the earth hath he given to
the children of men. The dead praise not the Lord,
neither any that go down into silence. But we will bless the
Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord.
Now there's so much in this psalm that's worthy of our time, but
I want to focus for a few minutes our attention on verses 9 through
11, which repeat Repeat the same phrase, trust in the Lord, he
is their help and their shield. And when you look at the first
phrase of verses 9 through 11, O Israel, O house of Aaron, ye
that fear the Lord, it's different names talking about the same
group of people, God's sheep, God's elect. And the important
part is to read what he says next, what David tells us, trust
thou in the Lord. Trust thou in the Lord. Trust
him for everything. Yes, physical things, of course,
he provides all that, but spiritual things especially. He provided
everything that was necessary for our salvation. What is necessary
for our salvation? First, the atoning work of Christ's
blood, which was shed for us in his sovereign grace. And second,
the perfect righteousness accomplished in Christ, which is imputed to
our account It's the double blessing that is talked about time and
time again in scripture, and the Lord has blessed us with
that. So, as David writes here, trust thou in the Lord. He is
their help and their shield. If you're a citizen, like our
brother said, of Israel, trust thou in the Holy One of Israel.
He is our help and our shield for everything. And if you trust
in Him, it's because He's given you faith to trust in Him. Praise
the Lord. Let's pray. O Holy One of Israel, We come
now before thy throne of grace as poor, needy sinners, begging
for more mercy and more grace. Lord, bless this man that's about
to speak in this next hour, and bless all your preachers and
pastors and fellowships that don't have a pastor now, that
you would send your Holy Spirit and comfort them wherever they
may meet, that the name of the Lord may be lifted up. Lord,
enable us to trust in you for everything. All our spiritual
needs are, you accomplished it all. Everything was accomplished
in our sweet Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, cause us
to say in our hearts, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but
unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Amen. Let's all stand together. We're
going to sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin,
and then Bree Waits, she's going to bring some special music.
Let's all stand together. That's a blessing, wasn't it?
Thank you, Brie. Thank you, Dennis. Will you open
your Bibles with me to the 14th chapter of Mark? Mark chapter
14. We're going to observe the Lord's
table this morning, which is a remembrance It's a memorial
celebration bringing to mind what the Lord has done in bringing
his children Israel out from under the bondage of Egypt. Now for 1,500 years the Israelites
observed the Passover from the very time when The Lord began
that memorial there in Egypt to the last time that the Lord
Jesus Christ celebrated it with the disciples. They memorialized
that deliverance. The Lord is still delivering
his children from the bondage of sin. He's still doing it. What he did for Israel physically,
he's still doing for spiritual Israel. He's still delivering
us from the harsh taskmaster of the law. He's still delivering
his people from the bondage of sin. And he does it by the sacrifice
of his body and his blood. It's called the Passover. In
Exodus chapter 3, the Lord said to Moses at the burning bush,
I have seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt. Now if you're a child of God,
if the Lord has been pleased to make Himself known to you
and give you the faith to trust Him, He found you in Egypt. That's where he went to get you.
And he put in your heart to cry out for him to deliver you. He
said, I have seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt,
and I have heard their cry by reason of their taskmaster. Now, the taskmaster were those
slave owners that beat the Israelites and forced them into bondage
and into labor, and they were never able to satisfy. The taskmasters
would give them a quota of how many bricks they had to make
in a day, and if they ever got close to satisfying that quota,
they just raised the quota. And so they could never fulfill
the requirements of the taskmaster. And the Lord said, I've heard
the cry of my children by reason of their taskmaster, and I know
their sorrows. I know the sorrow that sin has
caused in their lives and in their hearts. I know the demands
that the law has placed on them, the law that they can't fulfill.
I've heard their cry. I know their sorrows. And I have
come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians. That's what I've come to do.
And he said, I'll send another prophet like unto Moses. And
so the Lord Moses is just a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is the deliverer of the children of Abraham, the Israelites from
the bondage of Egypt. And he said, I will bring them
into a land that's flowing with milk and with honey. And that's where we sit now.
That's where Israel sits now. Delivered from the demands of
the law, having the law satisfied by the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is himself the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. The law has nothing else to say. There's no condemnation to them
who are in Christ Jesus. We're not under the law. We're
not under the law. Those taskmasters have been silenced. They've been drowned in the sea.
We've been set free. Set free from the bondage of
sin. Set free from the penalty of
sin. In the Lord Jesus Christ, set free from the power of sin. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you're not under the law, you're under grace. We're
able to believe. We're able to flee to Christ.
We're able to rest in Him. We couldn't do that before. And
having the glorious hope, the glorious hope of knowing that
one day we'll be set free from the very presence of sin. When
this corruptible becomes incorruptible and this mortal becomes immortal,
and we're caught up into glory and made to be like Him and given
a resurrected body, there will not even be a remembrance of
sin. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
came to do. He came to set His people free. And He's still delivering His
children from Egypt and bringing them into that land that flows
with milk and with honey. We read in Isaiah chapter 55,
Come, buy without money, without price. Eat and drink. It's free. It's free. What great joy! and comfort and
hope the Lord Jesus Christ gives to the heart of his children
when he delivers them from the law and delivers them from the
curse of the law, the penalty of sin. Now in Mark chapter 14 we have an account of the Last
Supper, when the Lord told his disciples
to go into the city and they would find there a room already
prepared. In verse 12 of Mark chapter 14
it says, 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? Lord, what can we do so that
you can enjoy the Passover? Now they didn't know that the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself was the Passover. They didn't understand
that He was the Lamb that was going to be slain the very next
day. The very next day. that God was
going to hang him on a cross and suspend him between heaven
and earth and make him a sacrifice for the sins of his people and
satisfy the demands of his holy justice by putting his son to
death. Christ himself was going to be
that Passover. And they said, what can we do?
to work the works of God. What can we do to prepare for
the Passover? What can we do to make this happen
for you? You know that's really the attitude
of religion today. What can I do for God? And if
you talk to religious people, they're quick and proud to let
you know what they are doing for God. In verse 13, He sendeth forth
two of his disciples. By the mouth of two witnesses
shall a thing be confirmed. The Lord always sent the disciples
out by two so that their testimony would be confirmed by the testimony
of the other. You know he still does that today. They're just, God's preachers
see eye to eye. And there's no division in Christ. It doesn't matter where you go
or who you listen to. There's no controversy. in the
Lord Jesus Christ. My wife and I were talking about
this the other day and what a revelation that was for us when the Lord
first saved us coming out of religion and all the controversy
and conflicts that we had in religion and now we come together
and we hear the truth of who the Lord Jesus Christ is and
what he's accomplished and it doesn't matter who's speaking
it, we're able to rejoice together. And we're able to understand
there's no division in Christ. There's no division in Christ.
We just all believe the same thing. I get emails a lot, and I got one
this week. And I gave the guy the benefit
of the doubt and answered his question. Well, by the time I
got two more emails from him, I had to block him. I didn't
want to talk to him anymore, so I just blocked him. He may
be listening now, I don't know, but he can't get in my email
anymore. I answered his question as kindly
as I knew how, and he wanted to argue and debate. I'm not
going to shame the Lord Jesus Christ by making him the subject
of a debate. The Lord sent the disciples out
two by two. And they all preach the same
thing. They all agree together. Look what he said. He said unto
them, Go ye into the city. Now the city is where people
are. You know the Lord is still doing
that. He's still sending his disciples
into the city. He's still sending us out into
the highways and byways to compel them to come in. He's still saying
unto us, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and when he does,
you'll be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria
and unto the uttermost parts of the world. Go ye therefore,
and as you're going, preach the gospel. Tell people about the
Passover. That's what they need. That's
what they need more than anything else. They need to be set free
from the taskmaster of the Law. They need to be delivered from
their sin. They need a Savior. They need
a Lamb. They need shed blood. And when
I see the blood, when I see the blood, I'll pass by them. That's what the Lord told Moses.
You take that lamb and you slay him. You put the blood on the
doorpost and the lintel of the house and you tell the Israelites
to stay behind the safety of the blood. And as long as they're
there, when the death angel comes through, I'll pass by them. It's
the same message, and the Lord's still declaring it, and He's
doing it in the cities. And there shall meet you a man
bearing a pitcher of water. God's people, particularly God's
preachers, and God's church are pictured here in the man carrying
a pitcher of water. Follow Him. Now, if the only
water you ever drink from is the water that comes from the
pitcher that the man's carrying, then you're not going to have
your thirst satisfied. But if the man leads you to an upper
room that is prepared, where the Passover is eaten, then you'll
have water that will be like that water the Lord spoke to
the woman at the well about when he said you'll never thirst again.
you'll never have any place else that you'll need to go. The church
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the man bearing the pitcher of water. If you're part of the church,
if you're part of the church, you're part of that work. We looked Wednesday night on
Matthew chapter 25 where the Lord separated the
sheep from the goats. And he said to the sheep in verse
34, come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdom which has
been prepared for you from the foundations of the earth. That's
what he said to the sheep. Come enjoy the blessings of my
father, which were prepared for you in the covenant of grace,
the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world.
When God chose a people according to his own sovereign purpose
and will, it was all prepared. It was all prepared. Come enjoy. Four. You remember Matthew 25? Four. When I was hungry, you fed me.
When I was thirsty, you gave me to drink. When I was naked,
you clothed me. When I was in prison, you visited
me. When I was a stranger, you took me in. And what does the
child of God say? Lord, when did we do that? When
did we do that? And the Lord said, When you did
it unto the least of these, my brethren, you did it unto me. And then he turns to the goats
and said, I was hungry and you didn't feed me, and I was naked
and you didn't clothe me, and I was thirsty and you didn't
give me to drink. Lord, when did we see you that way and not
do those things for you? Why, we've got food closets and
rescue missions and prison ministries going on all over the city. We've
been doing wonderful works in thy name. And what does he say?
Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, for I never knew you. It's the preaching of the gospel
that puts the robe of righteousness on the naked. It's the preaching
of the gospel that feeds the hungry. It's the preaching of
the gospel that leads the thirsty to the river of life. It's the
preaching of the gospel that sets the prisoner free. It's the preaching of the gospel
that takes the stranger in. Now, if God gives us opportunity
to help someone out, we should do whatever we can, but all this
stuff, all this activity that's going on in the world in order
to try to earn favor with God and prove yourself to be a...
It's putting Band-Aids on cancer patients. That's all it is. All these food closets and prison
ministries and rescue missions. I talked to a lady recently,
She's been in and out, a drug addict, been in and out of rescue
missions all her life, 53 years old, all her life. She said, you know, I try to
get things together and they tell me about God and I only
feel more guilty and more shamed and drives me deeper into my
addiction. He said, what she said to me,
what you just told me is the first message of hope I've ever
heard in my life. First message of hope I've ever
heard in my life. Why? Because I told her where
she could go to get clothed, to get fed. All they've been
doing is putting Band-Aids on cancer patients. That's it. That's
all they're doing. The church is the man with the
pitcher of water. You say, well, God hadn't called
me to preach. I like what I heard Brother Don
Fortner say recently. A brother in his church said
to him, said, Brother Don, Don was going off somewhere to preach
and he said, Brother Don, I'd love to go with you, but I just
have to go to work. And Don graciously said to that
brother, he said, if you didn't go to work, I wouldn't be able
to go preach. You know, the church, it's not
the, beautiful are the feet of them who bring good tidings.
You don't see my feet. If you're a part of the body
of Christ, If you're a member of the... Now, if church is just
something you're doing just sort of, you know, to get some points
with God or whatever, you know, people come to church for all
sorts of... If that's what it is, then I'm sorry for you. But if you're a part of the body
of Christ, you're a part of the carrying of the pitcher of water
and showing men. And you may say, you see, we
don't know the effects the gospel has, do we? We say, well Lord,
when did we see you naked and clothe you? We don't know the
effects that the gospel has. God uses the foolishness of preaching
to save them which believe. How shall they call upon Him
in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in Him
in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? The Lord uses the gospel ministry of his church
to lead men to the Passover. Look back at my guitar text. Verse 14. 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?" The Master saith. That's the only question to be
asked. What saith the Scriptures? What does God say? Because that
settles all controversy. And that's just, believers just
believe whatever it is God says. Well, the master saith, where
is the room that we shall observe the Passover? And verse 15, and
he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared. It's already done. It's finished. They thought that they were going
to go find a lamb, kill the lamb, prepare the lamb, set the table,
fix the meal, and then that the Lord would come and enjoy what
they had done for him. And he said, no, you go into
the city, you'll see a man there carrying a pitcher of water.
You follow him. And he's gonna take you to an
upper room. And the owner of that room is gonna have, you
know, I don't know, maybe somebody else had reserved that room,
like you would reserve a hotel, and they canceled at the last
minute. Whatever it was, the Lord had prepared that ahead
of time. It was already prepared. The
meal was already set. The tables were already there.
Everything was done. It was prepared. Come, ye blessed
of my Father, and enter into the kingdom which has been prepared
for you from the foundation of the world." Our Lord said in John chapter
14, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. For in my Father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you, I go and prepare a place for you. I'll come again and
receive you unto myself, so that where I am there you may be also."
The only thing that takes away our fear of God's wrath is that
the Lord Jesus Christ has presented Himself before the Father on
our behalf. That He is our righteousness
before God. That His sacrifice on Calvary's
cross has satisfied divine justice once and for all, and God is
pleased. He's honored the law. The guest
list has already been made. It's already been made. The table's already been set.
And He makes them willing. It's already done. I'm going
to make them willing in the day of my power. They're going to
come. And they're going to believe. And not one of my sheep are going
to be lost. I know you think you're going to go do something
for me. But let me tell you. You go into the city. You're
going to find a man there. He's going to have a pitcher
of water. He's going to lead you to an upper room. You're going to find
it's all done. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
22. Verse 1, And Jesus answered and
spake unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven
is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son."
Do you get that? Now we don't use that kind of
language today. He made a marriage? Savannah
and Ryan, you guys didn't have anybody make your marriage for
you, did you? You did a lot of it yourself,
didn't you? I mean, when you get ready to
get married, there's a lot of work involved, and a lot of details
that have to be... This king had made a marriage
for his son, and sent forth his servants to
call them that were bidden to the wedding, and they would not
come. We command all men everywhere
to repent and come to Christ. Many are called. The outward
call of the gospel goes to all men. We don't know who God's
elect are. So we just issue the call. He sent forth other servants,
saying, Tell them which are bidden. Behold, I have prepared my dinner.
My oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready." They're
all ready. It's all done. I've shared with you all the
story about Charles Spurgeon. had an elderly widow lady in
his congregation that was extremely poor, very poor. This being the
1850s. And lived in London, and she
wanted the pastor to come to her home for a meal. And he knew
it was gonna be a financial burden for her, for him to come just
for a meal. And so he was going to relieve
some of the burden from her by bringing some food with him.
And he showed up at her door at the appointed time and had
some food. And this dear lady took the bag
of food from his hand and dropped it right in the trash can. She said, Pastor, the table's
already set. I've prepared everything. You know, that's exactly what
the Lord does to us. You bring anything to the table of salvation,
that denies Him His glory and salvation, and He puts it right
in the trash. He says it's already prepared.
It's all done. Verse 5, but they made light
of it. They made light of it. You know,
that's exactly what men do today. They make light of the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace. The gospel that gives to Him
all the glory. Why? Because it robs them of
their participation. And they make light of it. And they went their way. One
to his farm, another to his merchandise. And the remnant took his servants
and entreated them spitefully and slew them. And they're still
doing that today. You stand for the gospel, and
you'll find out how much men hate Christ. You'll find out. But when the king heard thereof,
he was wroth, and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those
murderers, and burned up their city. Then said he to his servants,
The wedding is ready. It's ready. The king's made a
wedding for his son. It's all ready. It's all prepared. Everything's done. There's nothing
left to be done. But they which were bidden were
not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways,
and as many as you shall find, bid to come to the marriage. Compel them to come. They'll
come. In other words, go out into the
places where the street people live, the beggars, the poor and
the needy. They'll come. They hear that
the king has a feast prepared for them. They're hungry. They're dirty. They're naked.
They'll come. So those servants went out into
the highways and gathered together all, as many as they found, both
bad and good, and the wedding was furnished with guests." Go back with me to our text in
Mark chapter 14. Verse 15, He will show you a large upper
room, furnished and prepared. There, make ready for us. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Men
go about trying to establish their own righteousness, being
ignorant of the righteousness of God. It's all finished. The law's been fulfilled. He's
made it, as the prophet said, honorable. He satisfied His own
holy standard by His perfect obedience. The justice of God,
what God requires for the penalty of sin, the death penalty, the
Lord Jesus Christ satisfied that. When God plunged His holy sword
into the side of His dear Son, He said, I'm satisfied. It's done. The lamb's been slain. The blood's been shed. Sin's
been covered. The table's set. What can we
do to help you, Lord, to observe the Passover? He said, you go
into the city, you're going to find a man there with a pitcher
of water. Follow him. He'll show you a large upper
room. You say, well, I don't know if there's enough room in
this upper room. There's enough room. There's enough room. You know, sometimes you get a
group of people together and you're a chair short. No, there's
no chair short at his table. There's a chair for everyone. The guests have been chosen.
Their hearts have been made ready. They're come. And they'll enjoy the Passover.
It's finished. It's just finished. Men won't
have a gospel life. Men, in their pride, will not
have a message of salvation that they can't participate in. They
just won't have it. They've got to do something. I quoted that passage from 1
Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9 in the previous hour. Turn with
me there. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Verse 9. But as it is written, here's
what God says, the Master has said. That's all I want to know. What saith the Lord? What's God
say? Here's what God says, I has not
seen, nor has ear heard, nor has it entered into the imagination
of man the things that he has prepared for us. You see that? He's prepared it. And we take that verse just like
that all by itself, and it's true. I mean, we just can't imagine
the fullness of His glory, can we? We can't comprehend His holiness. Faith just believes it. Why? Because God said it. But look
at the next verse. Look at the next verse. But God
hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. In other words, through the eyes
of faith and through the ears of faith and through the heart
of faith, I know something about the Passover having been prepared. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. The deep things of God are the
things that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished as our Passover. He shed his blood. He presented
himself before God. He bowed his head. He said, it's
finished. It's finished. Follow that man
with a pitcher of water. He's going to lead you to the
upper room. What a blessing we have to point
men to Christ. Just to point them to Christ. He is what you need and what
I need. He's our Passover. There's going
to come a day there's gonna come a day when God's gonna visit
Egypt and he's gonna he's gonna destroy
everyone the Israelites cross the Red Sea by faith by faith
but let's pray together our Heavenly Father we ask that you would give to us that childlike faith
that would enable us to trust Christ alone for all our salvation. To believe that His broken body
and His shed blood is sufficient for you. That you're pleased
with Him and those that are found in Him. We ask, Father, that
you would give to us the faith to rest in Christ. Bless this table as we memorialize
His work, for we ask it in His name. Amen. I want to ask the
men if they'll come, please, and distribute the bread and
the wine. Tom, we're going to sing number one in the Saltback
Temple, number one. so