I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to Matthew 26. Matthew 26. I would like to read verses 1 to 25 and then make
a few comments. Matthew 26, verse 1, And it came to pass,
When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples,
You know that after two days is the feast of the Passover,
and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled
together the chief priests and scribes and elders of the people
unto the palace of the high priest, who is called Caiaphas, who 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." 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, and poured it on his head as
he said it, 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? for she hath wrought
a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with
you, but me ye 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. Then one of the twelve, called
Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests and said unto them,
What will you give me? And I will deliver him unto you. And they covenanted with him
for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought
opportunity to betray him. 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. 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
when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve, and as
they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you
shall betray me.' And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began
every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered
and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the
same shall betray me. The Son of Man goeth, as it is
written of him, but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man
is betrayed. It had been good for that man
if he had not been born. Then Judas, which betrayed him,
answered and said, Master, is it I? And he said unto him, Thou
hast said. Let's pray together. Our Father, this evening we thank
you for the blessed privilege to come together and to read
your word and to call upon you and ask your blessing. We pray,
Lord, that you would bless this word to the comfort of your people,
the salvation of your elect, We pray for those that have been
mentioned and those, Lord, that we have not mentioned, we ask
that you have mercy upon us. For Christ's sake, we ask these
things. Amen. During the time that we just
read probably one of the greatest
exhibitions of man's depravity, set forth in these scriptures
that we just read, these verses. Here we find our Lord explaining
to His disciples, this is what's getting ready to happen. I'm
getting ready to be betrayed. I'm going to go to the cross.
I'm going to lay down my life. The Son of Man is going to be
crucified. As our Lord explained these things,
the Scriptures set forth this woman that comes and takes this
alabaster box. It's a stone alabaster. It had
to be broken. A picture of our precious Lord,
the rock Himself, and the precious ointment that came forth, anointed
Him for His burial. Some of the disciples were there. It doesn't say exactly here who
said what. But the point was that they began
to rail on this woman, asking why? Why this great waste? The sad part about it was that
the disciples, when his disciples saw it, they had indignation
saying, to what purpose was this waste? I just want it all. Why? This could have been taken,
sold, given to the poor. That wasn't the issue. The depravity of man. Then our Lord set forth that
he was going to be betrayed. Judas had already purposed Satan having entered
into his heart. The Scripture says, well, soon
go, and he's going to make preparation. He didn't even call the Lord
by name, just called Him Him. What will you give me? What will
you give me? And I'll turn him over to you."
The very one who was one of God's chosen, not chosen in mercy,
but chosen to be one of the twelve apostles, Judas. Scripture bears out that nobody
suspected him. And here was this man, Judas,
that dipped in the very same bowl as our Lord, who would actually
sit and listen to our Lord as He traveled and preached, saw
the miracles that were performed, soon would betray Him with a
kiss. Eternity to remember that I sat
there with Him that night, sat next to Him. Dipped in the same
bowl that he did. Ate from the same bread that
he did. Kissed him. My lips actually touched his
face. And this man perished. Thirty pieces of silver. He agreed
to sell the Lord out. Thirty pieces of silver. The
price of a slave. That was all he counted him worthy.
Thirty pieces of silver. Scripture bore this out in the
Old Testament, that he was going to be sold for thirty pieces
of silver, that the money would be brought back, thrown down.
The priests would not want it. No, that's the price of blood.
The potter's field is going to be bought and paid for. All of
this set forth. Almighty God had predetermined
that these things would come to pass. And they came to pass
just exactly the way that the Scriptures set forth. And in the midst of all of this
ridicule of the woman, the betrayal by Judas, the Lord said that
the Son of Man was going to go. As it had been ordained, He's
going to go to the cross. He's going to be betrayed exactly
the way the Scripture said. But woe unto that man that betrays
Him. It had been better for that man
to have never been born. It would be better to have never
been born at all, for anyone, than to come into this world
and leave this world without Christ. It would be better if
you would have never been born. All the darkness that is coming. In fact, to the very point when
our Lord was crucified, God hid the Son. Darkness on the face
of the earth. No one was able to see what was
going on. But in the midst of everything
that was going on, I looked at three verses of Scripture out
of what we just read. In the midst of that woman being
ridiculed for anointing him for his burial, in the midst of Judas
being exposed as the one that was going to betray him, the
Lord saying, it would have been better if he had never been born.
than to have betrayed the Son of Man who was going to actually
be crucified according to God's purpose. And now we come, these
three verses of Scripture that I want us to look at as comfort
and peace tonight as we prepare to eat our Lord's Supper. Verse 17, 18, and 19. 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. 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. And we're coming to the actual
accomplishment of what the Scripture sets forth that Almighty God
saw from before the foundation of the world. The Lamb. Here's
the Scripture. Revelation 13 talking about the beast of Revelation
13. All of the false religion. That's
what that beast set forth. And here's what Revelation 13
says. All that dwell upon the earth
shall worship Him. the beast of false religion,
whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world." From the foundation
of the world, Almighty God beheld our surety, our precious Savior. He saw the blood. He saw the
satisfaction. and justified his people according
to the Lord Jesus Christ as our surety, slain from the foundation
of the world is what Scripture says. So Almighty God, according
to His everlasting covenant to show mercy to His people, beheld
the obedience of His precious Son. Had it not been for the
eternal accomplishment of grace according to God's covenant of
mercy in Christ, when Adam fell in the garden, God would have
justly obliterated mankind. When man sinned against God,
God Almighty in justice would have eliminated all mankind. But there's mercy with God according
to the blood that the Father saw slain from the foundation
of the world. And now we behold tonight this
precious supper that's going to be eaten. And in the midst
of everything that's going on, His disciples are going to sit
down with Him and eat with Him. And He's going to break bread
and drink of the cup with them this last time before He suffers. Now there's three things that
I saw. that we're doing tonight as God's people. Three things
that we recognize tonight in the midst of the darkness of
what was going on right here. These three verses of Scripture.
I want you to look at three things. Number one, God's people know
their place. God's regenerated sheep. Those that have been called out
of darkness, they know who they are. They're servants. Servants. The Scripture says,
verse 17, Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread.
This is the Passover. Now, you know why this is being
observed. Remember when they were in Egypt,
and the Lord told Moses, He said, you tell the people, you take
a lamb and you kill it. Set it aside. Kill it. Take the blood. Put it on the
doorpost. And I'm going to come through.
You get inside. Get behind that door. If you're on the outside,
you're going to be under God's wrath, God's judgment. You get
behind the door. Get behind the blood. And when
I see the blood, I'll pass over you." Now this is what they're
remembering. This is the Passover. The first
day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The disciples came to
Jesus saying unto Him, now here's the point, where wilt thou that
we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? Lord, where would you
have us to go and make preparation? The disciples came to the Lord
Jesus Christ and asked Him, according to His grace, and mercy. Lord,
what would you have us to do? Servants of the Most High God.
Romans 1.1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. Believers are willing, loving,
and obedient. I know what we are by nature.
But God's people are obedient. They agree with God. They know
what they are. I know what I am. In me, that
is in my flesh, there dwells no good thing. But there's a
new man there. According to God's Word, there's a new man born
of God that sinneth not. And it has one heart. Him. Believers are bond slaves
of the Lord Jesus. I want to be His slave. I want to be His servant. This
was a position that our Lord directed His disciples to. Listen to this, Mark 10, verse
44. And whosoever of you will be
the chieftest shall be the servant of all. Servants to Christ and
servants to His people. Esteeming others better than
themselves. were his property, bought and
paid for by his precious blood. Servants by willing consent,
bond slaves who loves their master and realize, we have no rights
of our own. Who are we? Servants of the Most
High God. And it is the highest honor for
us to say or ask, Lord, what would you have us to do? We come
this evening. In a few minutes, Lord willing,
we're going to eat the bread and drink of the cup. You know
why we do it? He commanded us to do it. We
do it in remembrance of Him. As I've said before, you cannot
eat that cup, not a believer, you cannot eat of that bread
and drink of that cup without remembering this due in remembrance
of me. This is my body. This is my blood. So I know this in the midst of
what was going on, in the midst of his betrayal, In the midst
of those high priests, those priests that hated Him and resented
Him, in the midst of that, God had a people. God had some servants. Lord, what wilt Thou? Where wilt Thou that we prepare
for Thee to eat the Passover? Here's the second thing I know.
A service. The one that we serve is the
obedient servant himself. Verse 18 says, And he said, Go
into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master
saith, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at thy
house with my disciples. His time was at hand. The time of His obedient suffering. It was for this reason that He
came into this world. He came as the Redeemer. He came
to finish the work of Almighty God. The redemption of His sheep. Turn with me to Isaiah 42. Isaiah
42, we'll read verses 1-6. Isaiah 42. Now here's God's servant, the
obedient servant. And we serve Him. Isaiah 42,
verse 1, Behold My servant, and that's what we do tonight.
Behold My servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom my soul
delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he
not quench. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged,
till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isle shall
wait for his law. Thus saith God the Lord, He that
created the heavens and stretched them out, He that spread forth
the earth and that which cometh out of it, He that giveth breath
unto the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein, I
the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine
hand and will keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people,
for a light of the Gentiles. Let's read 7, to open the blind
eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison and them that
sit in darkness out of the prison house. Who is the one that we
serve? We serve God's servant. The servant of the Most High
God. But let me tell you what else, back in Matthew 26. Let
me tell you who else He is. God's servant, yes. But this
is the omnipotent, omniscient, and now omnipresent, having gone
under the Father and descended under the Father, and the Spirit
now has come back. But this is God Almighty speaking. Listen to what He says in verse
18. He said, Go into the city to
such a man, and say unto him, The Master, sayeth, My time is
at hand. I will keep the Passover at thy
house with My disciples." In Mark chapter 14, I read the account
there concerning this very event right here. Mark 14 verse 13
to 16, it says, 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 man of the house, the master
saith, where is the guest chamber where I shall eat the Passover
with my disciples? He will show you a large upper
room furnished and prepared there make ready for us." Now, think
about this. Everything that he told them
that was going to happen, happened exactly the way he said it was
going to happen. You go into this city, you find
a man there, he's carrying a pitcher of water. Wherever he goes, you
just follow him. Wherever he goes, you follow
him. And you go into that house, And
you say, the man that owns that house, the master, the master
inquires of the guest chamber. Everything, everybody is moving
in this world since this world was created. Everybody moves
exactly the way that Almighty God predestinated them to walk. No one takes a step. No one moves
except Almighty God directs them. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will. Not one person, believers or
unbelievers, not one person moves unless Almighty God directs their
movement. He is working everything. to the accomplishment of His
purpose. Can you imagine? How could one
thing be out of kilter? How could one step be outside
of His direction? And all things be working after
the counsel of His own will, and there's one person, one step
that's not in accordance with His direction? This is God Almighty! Go into the city, such a man,
saying to him, The Master saith, My time is at hand, I will keep
the Passover at thy house." You go in here, you see a man, he's
carrying a pitcher of water, you follow him wherever he goes. You go in there, and you said,
The Master. But let me tell you the one we
serve. The latter part of that verse 18. I will keep the Passover
at thy house, and I love these last three words, with my disciples. The one that we serve is the
one that is pleased to have fellowship and communion with his people. I know that one of the twelve. was a betrayer. One of the twelve
did not know Him in grace and mercy. One of the twelve was
going to betray Him into the hands of a chief priest. I know
that. But there were eleven there that loved Him. There were eleven
there that had found grace in His sight. And it was those eleven
that in mercy, compassion, He was going to eat the supper with
them. One of them, I know, had no heart
for Him. But eleven of them did. Blessed
thought. Everlastingly chosen in Christ. Everlastingly loved by Him. We know that according to His
mercy and compassion, we have an interest in all that belongs
to Him. 1 Corinthians 1.9 says, God is
faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord. It is a most blessed thought
to know that right now, as we come together and we meet together,
and especially as we're going to be eating His supper, when
He said we're two or three gathered together in my name, in accordance
to what He did, what God sent Him to do, what He accomplished
in my name. That's what we looked at last
Sunday. Ask the Father anything according
to my name, in my name, and the Father will give it to you. In
accordance with what He has done, here we're meeting together in
honor of Him, to remember Him, and in fellowship tonight. He
is in the midst of us. I know that. According to His
Word, according to God's eternal promise and purpose, He has called
and ordained us to be in companionship and fellowship with the Son. And He will discharge every promise
to us in His Son, the Father. shall give you all of your need. And I'm telling you, we have
Him. He is all I need. I will keep. I will keep the Passover faithfully,
perfectly, at thy house, providentially, with my disciples, mercifully. And then thirdly, back in Matthew,
the last thing I noticed in this concerning the servants of the
Lord. Verse 19, And the disciples did
as Jesus had appointed them, and they made ready the Passover. A lamb was going to have to be
purchased. That lamb was going to have to be slain. That lamb
was going to have to be cut up. Everything was going to have
to be done just exactly according to God's law. And these disciples
went And they got the lamb, just like they were supposed to, to
eat the Passover. And then after they ate the Passover, the Lord
ate His last supper with the bread and the wine. The disciples
did as the Lord Jesus had appointed them and made ready the Passover. God's sheep. The Scripture says,
My sheep. John 10.27. Hear My voice. What did He tell them to do?
Go find a place. And make ready the Passover.
This is how you'll find Him. And He providentially ordered
their steps. And they did just exactly what
the Lord Jesus Christ instructed them to do. My sheep, hear my
voice. I know them in mercy. I know them in grace. I know
them in compassion, united with them. And they follow Me. They follow Me. God's sheep follow
the Master. Lord, tonight, as we eat and
drink, drink of the cup, eat of the bread in remembrance of
You, cause us to remember that we are Your servants, bought
with a price by the precious blood of the Lamb. And the one
that we serve is the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God. who orders all things according
to His everlasting purpose, grace, and mercy. And He does so in
perfect harmony and fellowship with us, causing us to know who
we are in Him. We are what we are by the grace
of God. And we have a heart to follow.
made willing in the day of His power. Lord, in the midst of
what was going on here, in Your betrayal, in the animosity and
the darkness of man's unbelief as they hated You and plotted
against You, here was the Lord fellowshipping with His people,
keeping them, encouraging them. Lord, teach us afresh tonight
for Christ's sake. Amen.