Go ahead. I'm going to ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Matthew chapter 26. Matthew
chapter 26. I'd like to consider one verse,
Matthew 26 verse 20. Now when the even was come, he
sat down with the 12. Let's pray together. Our Father, as we call upon you
this evening, how thankful we are for this blessed time to
be able to meet together. And Lord, I ask you, would you
be pleased to bless the word Blessed to our understanding,
our comfort. Lord, thank you that you've given
us a time to assemble ourselves together. Lord, as your people,
to hear the gospel, to rejoice in Christ Jesus. Forgive us where
we fail you. For Christ's sake, we ask these
things. Amen. The time of the Passover. has come. And the Lord, in the
first part of this chapter, verse 2, reiterates to His disciples
what is about to happen. Matthew 26, 2, Ye know that after
two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of Man
is betrayed to be crucified. Now, He said, you know that.
He had told them. Turn back to Matthew 20, verse
17 to 19. He had previously expressed to
them what was going to happen. Matthew 20, verse 17. And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem,
took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them,
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed
unto the chief priest, and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn
him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock,
to scourge, and to crucify him, and the third day he shall rise
again." Now, there's a conspiracy among the Jewish leaders. Back in Matthew 26, Verse 3 to
5, then assembled together the chief priest and the scribes
and the elders of the people under the palace of the high
priest who was called Caiaphas and consulted that they might
take Jesus by subtlety and kill him. But they said, not on the
feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people. Based on what they had just said
in that latter verse, verse 5, that's don't do it on the feast
day, lest there be an uproar among the people, an event that
had previously happened is recorded right after that. It says in
verse 6 to 13, now when Jesus was in Bethany in the house of
Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman having an alabaster
box, a very precious ointment, poured it on his head as he sat
at meat. But when his disciples saw it,
they had indignation, saying, to what purpose is this waste? This ointment might have been
sold for much and given to the poor. When Jesus understood it,
he said unto them, why trouble ye the woman? She hath wrought
a good work upon me, You have the poor always with you, but
me you have not always. For in that she hath poured this
ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say
unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole
world, there shall also this that this woman hath done be
told for a memorial of her." Isn't that amazing? Everybody's
heard about the woman with the alabaster box. I mean, you just
grow up, you know. You hear about that. That's a
promise from the God, from the Lord. And God Almighty has made
good on that. We all remember this woman. Now, that event took place a
few days before what was happening. I'll show you. Look in the book
of John, chapter 12, verses 1 to 3. John 12, verse 1 to 3. Then Jesus, six days before the
Passover. Now, we just read in 26, it came
to pass when Jesus had finished all these things, he said to
the disciples, you know that after two days, so four days
before what the Lord had just said, four days before that,
this took place. Then Jesus, six days before the
Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead,
whom he raised from the dead. There made him a supper. And Martha served, but Lazarus
was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary
a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, anointed the feet
of Jesus, wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled
with the odor of the ointment. The Spirit of God was pleased
to reveal something. The Jews, they said, they were
planning to kill the Lord. We can't do it on a feast day.
It's just going to be too many people here. It's going to be
an uproar. Because the people, they love
the majority of the people. They wanted to hear these sayings. They saw the miracles and they
followed after the Lord. These Jews that wanted to kill
Him had to be careful so the Spirit of God gave an example
of the love and appreciation of the Lord Jesus Christ that
the people have. So back in Matthew 26, after
the Lord had said, had gotten on to His disciples, What He
related in Matthew 26, it says, whenever His disciples saw it. Actually, it was Judas that raised
it. And the way the Scriptures is
written, the others kind of started going along with it, but it was
Judas that raised that first thought. And then it says in
Matthew 26, verse 14, after the Lord, reprimanded them. Why are you troubling this woman? She's wrought a good work upon
me. Verse 14 says, Then one of the twelve called Judas Iscariot
went unto the chief priest and said unto them, What will you
give me? And I will deliver him unto you.
And they coveted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And
from that time he sought opportunity to betray him. How vividly is
it made evident that the actions of Judas proved the deadness
of the carnal heart? He had been with the Lord, been
with the other eleven, witnessed the miracles that the Lord had
performed, he heard the messages that the Lord had preached, But
even after seeing all of these things, hearing all of these
things, he was not swayed in his desire to sell him out for
30 pieces of silver. He went to the chief priest.
The hatred of the Lord was well known. He knew, he knew that
the chief priest hated him. And he says, what will you give
me? How much money I'll deliver him
unto you and they struck a bargain. This is how much we'll pay you.
30 pieces of silver and from that time now he's looking for
an opportunity. And then verse 17 to 19 says,
Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, the disciples
came to Jesus saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare
for thee to eat the Passover. And He said, Go into the city
to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is
at hand, and I will keep the Passover at thy house with my
disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus
had appointed them, and they made ready the Passover. Now, it's Thursday. It's Thursday. The first day of the feast, the
day of the preparation. These disciples, knowing that
preparation has got to be made, they're asking the Lord, where
do you want us to make the preparations? Where would you have us to do
this? And the Lord gave them the direction. He said, you go into the city,
you go to such a man. Mark and Luke give this bit of
information about it. He said, you go into the city
and there shall you meet a man bearing a pitcher of water. That's
what you're looking for. You follow Him. And the message
that the disciples were given, very specific. This is what you're
to say to the man. The master, this is what Matthew
26, 18. The master saith, my time is at hand. I will keep
the Passover at thy house with my disciples. The Lord said in
John chapter 10, verse 27, he said, my sheep, hear my voice. I know them. and they follow
me. These disciples did just exactly
what the Lord said. He had just told them, I'm going
to be crucified. They didn't question Him. They
did what it said, followed after, made the preparation. And now
we pick up in verse 20, now knowing all of these things, The Lord
knows. He knows. He knows who Judas
is. He knows who these high priests
are. He knows what's going to happen.
Here it's coming down. And I want us to consider verse
20, just the comfort, the peace, the sweet fellowship that the
Lord has with His people. Now when the even was come, He
sat down with the twelve. There's three glorious truths
that's found in that passage of scripture. And before we look
at those three points, just for a moment, I want us to consider
the setting of that verse. He's getting ready to be crucified.
the exactness of the Spirit of God to set forth the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's look at this. The day is
coming very soon for the Lord to die. But though our Lord's day was
nigh at hand, and He told them, my time is near. He told the disciples, you go
tell the man at the house, I'm going to be at your house, This
is where I'm gonna eat the Passover. The master said, this is my evening. That's what it's saying. When
the even was come. Now let me tell you the significance
of that. Hold your place and turn to Exodus
12. Exodus 12. It wasn't just information. It wasn't just to tell us, well,
it just happened to be the time of the day. The even was come. Exodus 12, verse 5 and 6, when
they were making preparation, the institution of the Passover
in Egypt, this is what the Spirit of God moved upon Moses to instruct
the children of Israel that they were to do concerning the killing
of the lamb. This is how it was going to be
done. Exodus 12 verse 5 and 6. Your lamb shall be without blemish,
a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the
sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it up until the
fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. in the evening. This is when
you're going to do it. This is where the lamb is going to die.
This is when you're going to eat it. Now He has told them,
I'm getting ready to die. And the scripture says, now the
even was come. Now it's time. He's getting ready
to go to the cross. But there's one thing that I
want us to consider the certainty of concerning not only our Lord's
crucifixion, but our time. He had a time, it's appointed
unto man. Even the Lord Jesus Christ, it
was appointed for him to die. My time, remember how many times
he slipped away from them, they wanted to take him, he went and
he couldn't get, but his time was not yet. But now it's time. Now it's time. The even has come. How we're reminded that our time
is coming to. How quickly our evening approaches. 1 Corinthians 7.29 says, But this
I say, brethren, the time is short. The time is short. I may have told you this about
a week ago. I had gone into Fairmont, I was
with Glenn, and we'd gone into an office there and came out
and there was a lady walking out and I heard her say to the
receptionist, she said, this December I'll be 91. And she was walking by, and I
said, I want you to know, I said, how wonderful you look. I said, I heard you tell that
lady you were going to be 91. And she said, you know how I
got to be 91? I said, how? She said, I just woke up one
day, and I was 91. I was 90, she said. I woke up
one day when I was 90, and I thought, That's exactly how all of us
do. How did we get to this age, Carl?
Just one day, I mean, one day we woke up and here we were.
Brethren, the time is short. The scriptures continually remind
us of the frailty of this life. Our time will come exactly according
to the Lord's decree. David said in Psalm 90 verse
12, So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts
unto wisdom. I heard Brother Henry preaching,
he said he didn't say weeks or months or he didn't say years,
he said days. Teach us to number our days. Some foolishly think that we
can calculate our years, and therefore assume
that we possess years that we've never been promised. We can say,
well, I know it says that the average is so and so, and I'm
only this. So therefore, that means that I will You remember the rich presumptuous
farmer who said, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. I worked hard. I tried to do
the right thing, tried to invest where I could, and tried to make
preparation. I got my financial advisor. Things
are all squared away. I got it said, it's calculated
that I should be able to get X amount of dollars, you know,
for the rest of my life. Statistically, I'm set. But God said unto him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be
required of thee. We think, we think we've got
this, that or the other. We have exactly what the Lord
has ordained us to have. It's appointed unto man who wants
to die. Oh, may we be reminded, as the
Lord who knew His time, He knew His time was come. The even was
come. It's time for the killing of
the Lamb, for the partaking of the Passover. But do you realize that someone
in this congregation is closer to dying than anybody else? It's
one of us. Lord, teach us to seriously consider
the shortness of our life. and direct and guide us that
our lives might be so that we adorn the Gospel of God, our
Savior, in all things. Lord, let me walk today in a
way that is honoring to You. Let me walk in a way that encourages the brethren, honors
Christ, honors this Gospel, I don't know if we'll ever meet
together again. This may be it. It may be. I don't know. But
if it is, Lord I pray, help me to act in a way that I should. I want to treat you as I ought
to treat you. So in light of this evening come,
and the certainty of ours surely coming, I want us to consider
three precious truths from this verse of Scripture. First, I
want us to consider the glorious Lord who finished the Father's
work to redeem and save His people from their sins. The Scripture
says, knowing that all things are now ready for Him to suffer,
the Scripture says, He sat down. That's verse 20. When the even
was come, He sat down. Now physically, He has yet to
go to the cross. But here is the Lamb slain in
the eternal counsel of Almighty God from before the foundation
of the world, Revelation 13.8. The Father's already seen this. He's eternally seen it. This
is the Lord. He sat down. Here is the one that prayed in
his high priestly prayer. Now this is in John 17, 4. Here's what he prayed. And he's
not gone to the cross yet when he prayed this. He said, I've
glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. He's the I am. Everything to
Him is now. Here is the one who has the right
to sit down. You know, you read those words,
when the even was come, He... I mean, isn't it amazing how it
doesn't have to say the Lord, it just says He. But we know. We know who that is. He sat down. If it had said one of the disciples
sat down, you know, what difference would that make? But he sat down. Here's the one who has the right
to sit down. The Old Testament priests, you
know this, they never sat down in the tabernacle with no chair
because their work was never done. The blood of bulls and
goats would never put away sin. Only the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ puts away sin. Only by the shedding of blood,
His blood, is there remission, is there forgiveness, is there
the putting away, the atonement, the covering. He who sat down
with the twelve that day sits right now, according to the Scriptures,
at the right hand of the majesty on high. Seated until all of
his enemies are made his footstool. And he who sat with his disciples
that day sits now as the conqueror over death and hell and the grave.
He sat down. I mean just that thought right
there. He sat down. It's done. It's
finished. That's comforting to God's people.
He sat down. He has the right to sit down.
Here's the second thing. Consider the union that God's
people share with Him. It says, when the even was come,
He sat down with the twelve. He sat down with the twelve.
Now the scripture reveals the glorious blessing that God's
elect have with the Lord to sit with Him. He sat down with the
twelve. The Lord promised that His people
would sit with Him upon His throne. Now this is something that I'm
going to just go ahead and just admit that we all think. We cannot,
this side of glory, we cannot enter into this. I mean, I know
what He said. Listen to this, Revelation 3.21.
To Him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in my throne,
even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in His
throne. The fellowship, the rest, the
communion which began on this earth, our communion with Him
in conversion, according to the Scriptures, will last forever. We'll always have that communion
with Him. All who have by faith been made to be victorious in
Christ, those that are kept by the power of God through God-given
faith shall be given the privilege to sit with Him in His throne. That's too high for me, Neil. It was in the nature of His people,
He was made flesh, and in that nature, He wrought the victory
in their redemption and salvation. And again, though we readily
admit, we cannot grasp whole of the wonder of this thought,
We believe Him. We believe Him. Do you truly
believe we'll sit with Him in His throne? He said we would,
so that means we will. Oh, thanks be unto God, which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He declares
this to be so, and His word shall stand He who has possessed all
things common with His Father and the Holy Spirit, who sits
upon the throne of His deity, shall triumphantly in our nature
as the God-man mediator. Just as the apostles saw Him
go into heaven. John said, we touched Him. Our
hands handled the Word of life. We looked upon Him. Job said,
I know my flesh. I'm going to see God. I'm going
to see God. We're going to sit with Him.
We're going to sit with Him in His throne. When the evening was come, he
sat down with the twelve. Thirdly, lastly, we consider
the communion that God's people have with each other. It says he sat down with the
twelve. Now, there were twelve that were
seated with him And the scripture declares according to the word
of the Lord, one of them was the devil. There was a tear among the wheat. But that tear was there by divine
appointment. God put him there. It was necessary that that devil
be there, that the eternal counsel of God to show mercy and compassion
to His people be brought to pass. God ordained a Judas to be one
of the twelve that the Lord sat down with. Eleven of them in electing grace. One of them sat under condemnation,
but they all sat down. He had to be there. Secondly,
for the fulfilling of the Scriptures concerning the sufferings of
the Lord. Read Isaiah 53. We've met it. I read Isaiah 53. His sufferings. He must be there. But thirdly, it's necessary for
Him to be there to distinguish the wheat. 1 Corinthians 11,
19, For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are
approved may be made manifest among you. He had to be there.
No doubt. Judas was allowed to do exactly
what he wanted to do. He wanted to betray the Lord.
But there were eleven who the Lord sat with by the grace of
God that wanted to be there with Him. That wanted to be with Him. And He permitted them by the
eternal counsel and will and purpose of Almighty God to be
there. Chosen in Christ, chosen in Himself
before the foundation of the world. And here they were. And they had fellowship with
Him, they had fellowship with one another. And their love for
one another evidenced their love for the Lord. By this shall all
men know that you're my disciples if you have love one for another.
And the fellowship that they had with him in those final hours
before he suffered was surely blessed of God to them. And oh, may we be found with
a heart. Lord, that we might be allowed
to sit with you. Lord, that we might be allowed
to rest in you, and to hear you. When the evening was come, He
sat down with the twelve. Oh, the fullness of one little
scripture, and the wealth of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the blessing to His people, for His glory in our good. I'll let you submit.