Chapter 14, verses 10 through
16. Mark is coming to the end of his gospel of Jesus Christ,
and he's now talking about the time before his crucifixion. And I encourage you to read along
with me as I read these verses aloud. Mark chapter 14 beginning
with verse 10. And Judas Iscariot, one of the
12, went unto the chief priest to betray him unto them. And when they heard it, they
were glad. And they promised to give him
money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him, that
is, without causing any notice to himself. And the first day of unleavened
bread, when they killed the Passover, his disciples said unto him,
where wilt thou that we should 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 you to the good man of the house, the master saith, where
is the guest chamber where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? and he'll show you a large upper
room, furnished and prepared. There, make ready for us. And his disciples went forth
and came into the city and found as he had said unto them, and
they made ready the Passover. My subject this morning, although
it is gonna cover several things, is about supper with the Savior. That's where we're gonna wind
up. Our Lord shows us four things that we need to see as we proceed
through this Passover. The first thing is a frightening
reminder of false faith. False faith is frightening to
me. I don't know if you've ever thought
about it or ever give it any study. But it's a fearful thing. What
do I mean by a false thing? I mean a phony duplicate of the
original. That's what I'm talking about.
It's a religion without conversion. No conversion, no change. All you have now is a figment
of your imagination. All you have, like he said about
the Gentiles, they walk in the vanity of their mind. You have
some idea of security, some idea of religion, and it's all in
your mind. There's no reality to it. False faith is a satanic delusion. Now listen to me. Judas was an
apostle. We say somebody tricked him. No, the Lord called him. The Lord called him. He called
all of the twelve. He was a disciple. He followed
our Lord. He was recognized and treated
as a disciple. He was chosen of Christ and obtained,
the scripture said, part of their ministry. I don't know how far
that went. I don't know. We're not told.
But he received the same instruction as the rest. And Christ himself
taught him. He was a model disciple. He was
so highly esteemed by the disciples that he was chosen to be the
treasure. He was trusted. And like Demas, who was once
known as a fellow laborer with Paul, even so Judas Iscariot
was among the disciples. These are those our Lord called tares. He described them
as tares. He said, while we slept, Satan
come in and planted tares. in the garden, that's God's garden. All right, so how are we to deal
with these terrors? How are we to treat those who
are so well hidden that even the apostles couldn't recognize
them? We are to ignore them. just as they were ignored in
the scripture, just as they ignored Judas, just as they ignored the
false prophets, they went right on with the Passover, they went
right on doing God's will, they went right on with their ministry
that was given to them, and they totally ignored Him. We're to ignore them and let
our God and Savior deal with them when He's ready. It was
obviously to me at least, it was very obvious that they couldn't
identify him. Even when the Lord said, one
of you is gonna betray me, they all looked at it and said, is
it I? Is it I? Nobody suspected Judas. And that's why our Lord said
of those terrors, he said, leave them alone. Don't you start separating
them because you can't see their heart. And they're hidden from
you and they're hidden from the rest of this world. They're hidden,
leave them alone, I'll deal with them. I'll deal with them. In Romans 14, four, he said,
who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master
he standeth or he falleth. And the Lord forbids us to separate
tares lest we pluck up some of the wheat by mistake. On the
outside, Judas was as clean as he could be, but on the inside,
the scripture reveals that he was a thief, and he cared not
for the poor. He pretended to. This is frightening to me, because
a man can be deceived and not know it. He can be deceived and
be persuaded that he's God's servant. When Judas betrayed
Christ, he thought he was doing God a service. In 2 Timothy 3, Paul describes some as base. He describes to
us a man. He's base and vile in his nature. He goes on and tells us all about
murderers, adulterers. He goes on and on and on. You
can read it for yourself. And then in verse five, he said,
they, talking about these base and vile men he just described,
they have a form of godliness. You mean you can be base in your
nature and in your mind and in your heart, and pretend to be
a Christian? That's exactly what I mean. Well, how does the Lord deal
with such men? He said in 2 Timothy 3, 9, they shall proceed no further,
for their folly shall be manifest unto all as Jannes and Jambres
were who resisted Moses. And then they were exposed as
having no power of God. God will separate them in his
own time, and until such time, he'll use them to accomplish
his sovereign will, just as he used Judas. Now it appears to
me that Mary's anointing of Christ for his barrel was the last straw
with Judas. He watched that precious ointment
going on his master's head and on his feet and this woman who
was a converted sinner, there she is and she's weeping and
washing his feet and just making a spectacle in his eyes and just
dumped that whole box of precious ointment out. The way I read it in the scripture,
he kind of gasped and he said, that could have been sold for
this much money and given to the poor. But in John it said, not that
he cared for the poor, for he was a thief and he carried the
bag. That was money out of his pocket. I hope you understand what I'm
about to say. Satan was working in him all
along, but now the restraints are being taken away. Unbelief has its limitations
in its pretense. It has its limitations. It can
only pretend so far. and the Lord knows exactly which
button to push. And he'll push it, and he'll
expose them. All right, that's enough about
that. The second thing we're brought to see here in these
verses is the divinity of Christ. Who but God could say to his
disciples, they said, where we gonna eat this supper? They'd
been with him the whole time. He didn't make no plan. Where
we gonna eat this supper? We have to keep the Passover,
we're Jews. You just go into town and there'll
be a guy in there carrying a pitcher of water, you just follow him.
Who but God would know that? How many times did he display
his divinity in little things that nobody paid any attention
to? Should we pay tribute to Caesar?
Well, whose inscription's on the coin? Well, Caesar's inscription's
on the coin. Well, render unto Caesar that
which is Caesar, and render unto God that which is God. They didn't
have any money to pay taxes. He said, I'll tell you what you
do. You go down here and get your fishing rod and throw it
out there, and you're gonna catch this fish, and there'll be a
coin in its mouth, and you go pay your taxes. Who but God would
know such a thing? or could bring it to pass. It's
one thing to say it. I was having fun out on the river
with these guys. I told them, I said, I need me
a hat. And what I'd tell them was, you
can't hear them catfish up there on the line? I said, there's
three big flathead catfish on that line. We went up there and
there was three big cathead fish. They pulled them out and I told
them something else on the next one and it had it on there. And
they said, we're going to get you a hat, fish whisperer. Well,
it didn't work out on the next one. Who but God could know these
things? This is the divinity of Christ.
And he took those few fishes and loaves and fed 5,000 on one
occasion, 4,000 on another occasion with just a handful of fishes. This is the divinity of Christ,
and I see it all through the gospels concerning him, how God's
providence attended him, and sometimes he'd tell them when
the providence unfolded, and sometimes he'd tell them before
it unfolded. I've been confronted before with
men saying, well, don't that just make men puppets? I don't know. But I tell you
this, the alternative is you've got the strings and God's the
puppet. I'd rather be on the strings
when you let God pull the strings. Beloved God is God. He's sovereign. He's the creator. He's the sustainer of all things.
And Christ made this world for himself. All things were created
by him and for him. He created every detail of this
creation for himself. And I'm convinced that one of
the things that you and I, if indeed we're his children, one
of the things that you and I will do throughout all eternity is
we'll look at a that old fishing worm and we'll figure out exactly
what that worm has to do with the glory of God. And we'll look
at that butterfly and we'll look at that bird and we'll look at
all things that he created and we'll see the connection between
those things and his redemptive purpose. Some of those things
he's already revealed to us and used in pictures. He's God. The scripture says
this, hath not the potter power over the clay? He's the creator,
isn't he? Doesn't he have power? When that
potter sits down and he puts that clay and he spins that wheel
and he takes his hands and gets a little water on them, he starts.
Who has power over that clay? The guy with his hands on it.
Huh? Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor? What if God willing to show his
wrath and make his power known endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? That's what God's
doing with most of our society, putting up with them. That's
what longsuffering is, that putting up with. He's putting up with
them. And that he might make known
the riches of his glory, now listen to this, on the vessels
of mercy which he hath afore prepared unto glory. Even us
whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. Jesus of Nazareth is God come
into the flesh. We're told that plainly in the
scripture. And none but God can turn water into wine, feed thousands
with a few fishes, and none but God could have known
that the corn was in the fish's mouth. None but God could raise the
dead. Our great God and Savior Jesus
Christ, sits even now at the right hand of God, arranging,
dictating his providence to fulfill all his redemptive purpose. Why is it so hard for us to believe?
He's God. If he hadn't been God, God would
not have given into his hands all power in heaven and earth. But he did. And then the third thing we're
confronted with here is a special care concerning the worship of
God. This feast was not just a feast.
It wasn't just a party. They kept this Passover. This is how they worshiped. This
is how Old Testament saints worshiped God. They didn't have a man like
me standing before them preaching the gospel to them. They had
the types and the symbols. If you'll read carefully, Through
Hebrews chapter 9, you'll see he describes that priesthood
and everything that they did in it. He said, these were figures
for the time then present. That's what these were. This
is how that gospel was set before them. It's set before them in
the slain lamb, in the blood poured out on the mercy seat,
in the priesthood. All of the Old Testament types
and ceremonies were carefully detailed with things concerning
the worship of God. And I'll give you just a few.
The first thing that I see back in these old types, now I'm talking
about the details surrounded with the worship of God. If a
person wanted to worship God in the way God prescribed, he
must go to the place which God ordained. Our Lord said he had
to go to Jerusalem and keep this feast. Why? Because that's where God
said to keep it. You want to participate in worship
as it's set forth in the Old Testament, you had to go to Jerusalem.
Well, what about our sheep and our cattle and all that? He said,
you don't worry about it. You go to Jerusalem and worship.
When you get back, it'll all still be there. But you go to
Jerusalem. And today, where do we worship
God? Where the saints are assembled.
Why? Because that's what God said. Not somebody's idea, it's not,
well, that's a Baptist thing. No, it's a God thing. You couldn't keep the Passover
Out in the woods, you had to go to Jerusalem. You had to go
to Jerusalem. Why? Because that's where the
priest was. That's where the priest was.
Well, where's our priest? Where two or three are gathered
in his name, there shall I be in their midst. Isn't that what
he said? Lord, our representative is fulfilling
the law, and he must go to Jerusalem and keep the Passover. It was
the center of worship. It was the ordained place. You know, our Lord said to the
Samaritan woman, she said, you worship in Jerusalem. She knew
that. That's more than we know. I didn't
know anything when I was in religion. She at least knew that. You worship
in Jerusalem. And she said, we worship out
here in the mountains. He said, you worship, you know
not what. The day's coming, and now is,
when true worshipers will worship God in spirit and in truth. Spirit and in truth. And I'm
gonna bring a message out of 2 Corinthians 3 this morning,
and I'll show you what that means. But God is spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. And we worship
God in spirit and in truth when we gather ourselves together
and worship him through the preaching of the gospel. You know, I've
been to Armenian churches who had a person or two in there
who actually heard the gospel and believed. and talked those
church members into having a gospel preacher like Henry Mahan or
Scott Richardson or somebody come in and preach to them, and
I went to the meetings. And the first thing they called
to their attention was these ungodly, un-gospel hymns that
they were singing. There's no gospel in them. Is
it important that these things be doctrinally correct that we
sing? You better believe it. Everything
concerning worship has to do with truth. Truth. All right, second thing I see
prominently set before us is that they that would worship
him must prepare themselves for this worship. That's what the
disciples asked Christ was about the preparation. We got to prepare. You don't just You don't just
at the last minute run in the door and sit down and have the
Passover. There has to be a lamb chosen and examined. It has to
be brought to the priest to be killed. Its body has to be roasted
on the fire, and then you can sit down at the table and eat
the lamb. There's preparation involved. And all of these Old
Testament types, they were detailed in that preparation. And God has plainly manifested
in the Old Testament his hatred for carelessness and irreverence
in worship, and especially that in our day, when we have the
full revelation of Christ declared to us. You can read about that
in Ecclesiastes 5, 1 and 2, and in James 1, 19 and 21. There are warnings to us about
neglecting Preparation. Let me just say a few things
about that. The church consists of the saints of God, not the
building. We always called the building,
I'm going to church. No, you are the church. Or at
least a member of it, if you're a believer. Is that right? The building's
not the church. It's the people. The building
allows us to come in out of the elements. I'm glad that we're
not meeting out in the parking lot. It kind of drizzled and
rained a little bit this morning, cool. I'm glad being here. It
allows us to come in out of the elements and away from the noise
of the world and worship. We can worship here. And in this
sense, it is the house of God. And we must not, because the
building is a holy place, but because of what and who and why
we gather into it. Treat it with respect. Not be
careless. Prepare yourselves. Don't treat worship like it's
just another event in your life. Well, it's Sunday, today we do
this. Monday I go to work, Wednesday
I'm going here, I'm gonna do that, I'm going to the football
game. All right, Sunday again, now we're going to worship. Now
this is special. This is special. Treat it that
way. Treat it that way. We gather here to be ministered
to of God the Holy Spirit, without whom we cannot worship. Prepare your hearts and minds
for it. Pray that God will bless it with His presence. Pray that
He'll give me a message for you that's honoring to Him and good
for you. And come into this place in expectation,
anxious to hear. Could be God will speak to me
today. Wouldn't that be something? Wouldn't
it be something? There'll come a day when He did.
I went just like He told me to go. And I sat there, and I had
no expectation whatsoever, and he spoke to me. And I have expectation
every time I come now. If we would worship him, we must
prepare to do so. And then another thing, when
you gather here to worship, gather here to worship. I know it's handy, everybody
we know's here, so what we do is we start making plans. We
wait till we get to church and then we start making plans to
don't do that, don't do that. Wait till afterward and then
do that. Make sure everything you do when you come here is
a constant preparing to worship God. And he'll honor that, he'll
honor that. We don't play video games on
our phone. We don't read sports magazines.
That's not the place to plan your next fishing trip or your
vacation. Come here to worship and reverence
the time and the place to that end. Come here fresh and rested,
not wore out from Saturday night. I've done this. I know exactly
what I'm talking about. I've been so wore out, stay up
to 1 in the morning. and then come in on Sunday morning
so tired I can't hardly hold my eyes open. Christ arranged all these things
for the Passover, but he still sent two disciples to see that
these preparations were made. And he's made all the preparations
for us to worship. He's ordained all the means,
he's arranged his providence. He still tells you to prepare,
don't he? And then lastly, Christ is our
Passover. No accident that Jesus Christ
was crucified on the very day the Paschal Lamb was slain. God
predestinated it from all eternity, arranged it in his providence,
and he brought it to pass by his son. He said when the fullness
of the time was come. What time? That time he predestined. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth his son. And having fulfilled all these
things, all these things are forever abolished by Christ who
is the way and the means and the reasons for it all. He himself
is the ground of all true worship. And we who are true circumcision,
we worship God in the spirit and we rejoice in Christ Jesus. And we have no confidence in
the flesh. And worship is symbolized in
the Passover as a feast. It was the feast of the Passover.
They gathered in that upper room to eat the lamb's lamb. And then something wonderful
happened. I had no doubt they ate the Passover.
That was the law, they had to eat the Passover lamb. And Christ
partook of it with him. But when he got done, you see
it's the feast of the, not only of the Passover, but of unleavened
bread. And he got up when the feast
was over, and he said, now we're gonna have a feast. And he broke
that bread. And he said, this is my body,
which is broken for you. Eat this. And then he took that wine and
he poured it in a cup and he said, this is my blood which
was shed for you. Eat this, drink this. You see
what I'm saying? We come here to feast. What we
gonna feast on? Believers only feast on one thing,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Except you eat of my flesh and
drink of my blood, you have no part with me. This is what we eat, this is
a feast. You've been y'all gathering for
three days, all you hear is preaching? Why? Because it's a feast. I don't know about you. Somebody
gonna go out here and fix a big Boston butt or a big old brisket
or something or fry some fish. I could do it for three days,
couldn't you? Well, yeah. We'd sit right there. Have a
glass of wine, eat that fish. We've done it on more than one
occasion. But what about this? You get tired after three days
of hearing Christ crucified, Christ glorified, Christ at the
right hand of God. Well, not me. That's a feast.
That's a feast. All right. May the Lord be pleased
to teach us how to worship.