Mark chapter 14. I want to bring a message to you
today from verse 10 down to verse 16. Verse 10, beginning with
the betrayal of Judas, and then how the Lord and the disciples
go to observe the Passover and make ready. Now the title of
the message today is taken from verse 15 where it says, and He
will show you a room, He will show you a large upper room furnished
and prepared. There make ready. And that's
the title of the message. Furnished and prepared. Furnished and prepared. That's a good description for
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ itself, is it not? furnished
and prepared. He furnished all things by His
grace and He prepares to save sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ
by His saving mercy. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Furnished and prepared. Remember He said, I go to prepare
a place for you where I am, there you may be also. And if I go
away, I'll come again and receive you unto myself that where I
am, there you may be also. Now here we see in these verses
the Lord Jesus Christ sends out two of His disciples, Peter and
John probably, as they prepare to observe the Jewish feast of
Passover. This was a memorial sacrifice
to remember how the Lord delivered them from Egyptian bondage through
the blood sacrifice of that designated lamb. You remember they were
instructed to pick out the best lamb, a male of the first year,
and put it up for those certain days and observe it to make sure
there's no defect in it? It must be a spotless lamb. And that tells us a lot about
the Lord Jesus Christ who is the spotless Lamb of God, and
how God delivered Israel that night through the blood of the
Lamb. The Passover we know is a beautiful, glorious picture
of the gospel of Christ Himself. How He died for our sins according
to the Scripture. And as He comes to observe the
Passover, He is honoring the law of God for us. He said in Matthew 5, I didn't
come to destroy the law, and He didn't. He came to fulfill
the law. He came to fulfill every type,
picture, promise, and shadow, all through the Old Testament,
every type, picture, and shadow, the Lord Jesus Christ honored,
fulfilled, and completed. Not only is that so, honoring
the law of God for us, But He is actually going to become our
Passover sacrifice Himself. And He's going to die for His
covenant people according to the design of God. The Apostle
Paul, when he wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 5-7, he penned
these words, God-inspired, God-given, these words, for even Christ,
our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Aren't you glad you have
a Passover lamb? The Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It was through His obedient life,
through His obedient death, that the Lord accomplishes our salvation. Both are necessary. Both are
necessary. His obedient life, He never had
a unclean, impure thought. Sin never entered his mind. He is holy, harmless, undefiled,
and separate from sin. He had no sin. He honored the law of God in
his life perfectly. Every precept he honored in his
life. And dying under the curse of
God's law, both his obedient life and his obedient death are
both necessary to accomplish our salvation. One we see righteousness
established. The other we see sin put away
by his own blood. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. Aren't you glad God provided
a Lamb, the Lamb? John said, Behold, the Lamb of
God that takes away our sin. Now, let's look at these verses
here this morning in chapter 14. Ask God the Holy Spirit to
be our teacher as we consider two things in verses 10 and 11. We see the betrayal of the Lord
by one of his own apostles. Judas sold out his loyalty for
30 pieces of silver. He was a covetous man. The scripture
calls him a thief. He got so upset that that woman
took that costly, precious ointment and poured it on the head of
the Lord Jesus Christ anointing His body unto burial. And he
complained, we could have taken that and sold it and put that
money in our pocket. As a matter of fact, he called
it a waste. Why did you waste that precious ointment on the
head of the Lord Jesus Christ? You see, this man was a covetous
man. Judas sold out because he was
a lover of money. not a lover of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Secondly, we will conclude by
looking at verses 12 down to verse 16, and we'll see how the
Lord prepares to observe this Passover. Now this is not the
first Passover he observed. Even as a child, growing up in
his Jewish home every year, they observed the Passover sacrifice. You remember the Lord said, I've
given it to you for a memorial forever? You're to observe this
Passover, how the Lord delivered you from that bondage and slavery. So let's look at the first thing
here. Judas. Judas. When you think of his name, what
do you think of? When you think of that apostle,
What do you think of? You think of him being a false
apostle. You think of his betrayal of
a dear friend and his own Lord. Judas was a phony, wasn't he?
He was a phony. What can we learn from this?
I think we can learn several things. The person may be very
religious. He was. Very orthodox. He was. A person may make a profession
of Christ. He did. And yet, a person may
not actually be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. A person may
be very successful in religion. He was. Recognized by others
as being a believer, and in reality, not really know the Lord Jesus
Christ. Judas is set before us as a glaring
example of false faith. Now, do we need to talk about
that? Why did the Lord include it? He could have just left it
out. There is a great lesson for us
here, and I pray the Lord will be our teacher. How far can one
go in religious exercise and still be lost? And still not
know the Lord? Well, consider the life of Judas
for a moment and this very painful truth. Judas was personally chosen
by the Lord Jesus Christ to be an apostle. He said that in John
6. Have I not chosen you twelve?
And he knew exactly who that man was. He said, you have chosen
me, I have chosen you, and I have ordained you. He was personally
chosen by the Lord to be an apostle. He lived with the Lord Jesus
Christ three years. Ate with Him, slept with Him,
lived with Him. He was an eyewitness to countless
miracles. When the Lord said to dead Lazarus,
come out of that tomb, Judas stood there and watched a dead
man come alive. Oh, you think of the countless
miracles this man saw. He was a co-worker with Peter,
James, and John. He was numbered among the twelve.
He was even sent out to preach the gospel. He was a preacher. No doubt he had power to perform
miracles as the apostles were given those gifts. He was so
like the other apostles that none of them even suspected him
of being a phony. He put on a show. That's what
the word hypocrisy means. It means a play actor. He acted
out his part. But soon we're going to see his
real nature. Yet Judas, even though he had
all that religious experience, all that religious baggage, yet
Judas was a turncoat. Judas was a traitor. He was an
apostate. And I mean by that someone who's
defected from his former loyalty. He defected. He was an apostate. He betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ
with a kiss of false-hearted friendship. He died in his sins
by his own hand. You remember the end of his life?
He went out and hanged himself. What a miserable end this man
experienced. Now here's a vital question for
us. How could this happen? How can we not account for such
a diabolical behavior? Was Judas saved at one time and
then lost again? No, absolutely not. For the Lord
saved with an everlasting salvation. He said, I give my sheep eternal
life and they shall never perish. Was the Lord surprised by his
action of this fallen friend? Not at all, if we look at verse
18 in our text. Verily I say unto you that one
of you which eateth with me, he is going to betray me. The Lord knew exactly what was
going to happen. Turn over here to John chapter
6. Nothing takes the Lord by surprise. In John chapter 6,
Verse 69, when Peter declared that thou art the Christ we believe,
and we are sure, John 6, 69, that thou art that Christ, the
Son of the living God, Jesus answered them, have not I chosen
you twelve? And one of you is a demon, a
devil. He spake of Judas Iscariot, the
son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him, being one
of the twelve. Turn over here to John chapter
13. The Lord knew. Look at John chapter 13, verse
1. Now, before the feast of the
Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should
depart out of the world unto the Father, having loved His
own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end, and
supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart
of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, Jesus knowing that the Father
had given all things into His hand, that He was come from God
and went to God. Look over at John chapter 13
verse 18. I speak not of you all, for I
know whom I have chosen, but that the Scripture may be fulfilled.
Psalm 41.9. He that eateth bread with me
hath lifted up his heel against me." Now I tell you before it
comes to pass that when it has come to pass, you may believe
that I am. The Lord was not surprised by
the actions, attitude of Judas. Judas was a tare among the wheat. Judas was a goat among the sheep.
Judas was a wolf in sheep's clothing. He had the garments of religion,
but he had not the garments of salvation. He was full of religion,
but not full of Christ. He was a covetous man. He was
a thief, the Scripture said in John 12, verse 6. The reason
Judas betrayed the Lord, he was never regenerated. He was never converted. He was
never a lover of the Lord Jesus Christ. He never believed the
truth. He never repented as a sinner
before God that he sinned against God. He never cried out for mercy. He loved money more than Christ. Do you remember the Scripture
of 1 Timothy 6.10? The love of money is the root
of all evil. Therefore, he became an easy
target for the malicious enemy to attack, conquer, overcome,
and use Satan himself. Now let me show you something
very interesting. Turn to Luke 22. Turn and read
this with me. Luke 22. Verse 1 says, Now the feast of
unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. And the
chief priests and scribes saw how they might kill him, for
they feared the people. Then entered Satan into Judas,
surnamed Iscariot, being one of the twelve. And he went his
way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he
might betray him unto them. And they were glad and coveted. or covenanted to give him money,
and he promised and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the
absence of the multitude. He became an easy target for
Satan, the malicious enemy, to attack, conquer, overcome, and
to use. Now stay right here in Luke 22,
and let me show you a stark difference and a contrast. Satan attacked
Judas and he was helpless. He was helpless. In the same
chapter here, Luke 22, Satan comes to attack Peter. And notice
the difference. Peter had a Passover. Luke 22
verse 31, And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, talking about Simon
Peter, Behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may shift
you as wheat, But I pray for you that thy faith
fail not. When you are converted, strengthen
the brethren." Judas had no intercessor. Judas had no advocate. Judas
had no Passover lamb. Therefore, he was easy fodder,
firewood for the fire, Satan's malicious, malicious attack. Now, let us beware, my friend.
Here's a warning of Scripture. Hebrews 3 verse 12, Let us beware,
take heed, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief,
you know how it's manifested? In departing from the living
God. My friend, there are many warnings
like this throughout Scripture, throughout Holy Scripture. Let
us make our calling and election sure. Let us just not go through
the motions. Do we know the Lord Jesus Christ? Are we a lover of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Let us make our calling and election
sure. Let us examine ourselves whether
we be a lover of Christ, whether we have true faith, the faith
of God the less that looks to Him alone. Christ alone, faith
alone, grace alone. Let us make sure that we are
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And let us make sure we count
all else but dumb, rubbish, that we may win Christ and be found
in Him. It's a stark, stark reality that
there are many who profess the name of Christ who will hear
Him say in that day, depart from Me, I don't even Know you, I
never have loved you, you workers of iniquity. That's why this is given to us
in Scripture. I don't want to be a Judas. I don't want you to be a Judas.
I want you to believe God, live in faith, and die in faith. Saving
faith is saving faith that never quits. We die believing Him. Now, here's the second thing.
In verses 12 down through verse 16 in our text, the Lord and
the disciples prepare to eat the Passover. Now, there are
several vital lessons that are taught here, three or four things,
and then we'll be through. But the first thing we see in
verses 13 down through verse 15, we see the Lord's glorious
deity there displayed. He tells these two men to go
into a certain city, to find a man bearing a pitcher of water,
and you follow him to this certain house, and then you say to that
man, the goodman, the owner of the house, the master has needs
to use your house. And there you'll find a room
already furnished, prepared, and there you make ready to eat.
How did the Lord know all these things? Here we see the glorious
display of His deity. That is, He is God. As God, He has all power. As
God, He has all knowledge. As God, He is everywhere present. He knew exactly what these men
would find because He decreed what would happen. His knowledge
is based upon His eternal, immutable decree. He knows all things because
He has decreed all things that come to pass. He instructs His
disciples where to go, whom they will meet, and there you'll find
this room ready, and there we'll observe the Passover. All through
our study in the book of Mark, we've seen Him act as God our
Savior. Who but God can speak a word
and the winds stop? What manner of man is it that
even the wind, the seas, they obey Him? When He says to the
wind, peace, be still, and there's a great calm. Who but God can
speak to the wind We had this wind here this last week. Didn't
you try to speak to the wind and stop it? Well, I'd worry about you if
you did. It blows where it wills, but God who controls the wind. The psalmist said he has a treasure
house full of wind and sometimes he opens the door and lets it
blow. He's God Almighty, my friend.
Who but God can speak a word and raised the dead. That little
daughter that had died. And they wept so. The parents,
the mother was broken hearted. And the Lord walked into the
room and He said, Daughter, I stand before your eyes! And she came
to life. Who but God can speak to the
dead? Who but God alone can heal the
blind? Give sight to the blind? Who
alone can cause the lame to walk and leap and praise God just
with a word? I say unto thee, arise. Who alone
but God can cause the deaf to hear? And that's what the Lord
Jesus Christ, He is God. Turn over here to John chapter
14, and we'll read something about it. John chapter 14. He
said, I and my Father, we are one. In John chapter 14, look
at verse 6. John chapter 14, verse 6. You
see, the one we worship today and the one to whom we preach
is God our Savior, who is the Almighty Lord of heaven and earth. Thomas said, Lord, how can we
know the way? John 14.5, and the Lord said,
I am the way. I am the truth, the life. No
man comes to the Father but by me. If you had known me, you
should have known the Father also. Henceforth you know Him
and have seen Him." And Eliph speaks up and says, Lord, show
us the Father and we'll be satisfied. Look at verse 9. Jesus said, Have I been so long? time with you, and yet you've
not known me, Philip. He that seeth me hath seen the
Father. How sayest thou then, Show us the Father? You're looking
at God. That's what he's saying. Believest thou that I am in the
Father, and the Father in me? The word that I speak unto you
I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me. He
doeth the work. Believe me that I Him in the
Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me, for the very
work's sake, His work's manifested, He is God. Who alone but God
can act this way? Now here's the implications.
If the Lord Jesus Christ is not God, manifest in the flesh, now
listen, If the Lord Jesus Christ is not God Almighty, God the
Word made flesh and dwelt among us, if the Lord Jesus Christ
is not God manifested in the flesh, then He is a liar, and
He is an imposter. And we are yet in our sins, and
His soul is in hell. If He is not God, He is a liar,
He is an imposter. My friend, He is God, for it
is who He is It's who He is that gives infinite value to what
He accomplished. Acts 20, 28 declare that God
bought us with His own blood. Who's this one who died on Calvary
Street? That's that little Jewish boy
from Nazareth. Oh yeah, but He's much more than
that. He is God Almighty. And that
gives me hope. He came to save sinners. Here's
the second thing we see in this chapter. Proper worship of the
true and living God requires preparation. Look at verse 16. Mark 14, 16. And His disciples
went forth and came into the city, and found as He had said
unto them, and they made ready the Passover. Proper worship of a true and
living God requires preparation. They made ready to observe the
Passover. They had to observe the Passover
in the prescribed way that God ordered. We read that in Exodus
12. The sacrifice had to be slain. Blood put upon the altar. The
body roasted and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. To deviate
from that meant no worship took place. And all the efforts of
their going through the motions were hopeless, useless, and vain. Even so, it is true today. We
must prepare our hearts to worship God in a way the Lord has prescribed
for us to worship. only through the Lord Jesus Christ,
only around the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and only where
the gospel of God's grace is preached. That's where we are
to assemble together. For he says over here, turn to
John chapter 4 this time, he says over here, if you want to
mark this, in John chapter 4, it's a very prescribed way of
worship, where the gospel is preached. Only through the Lord
Jesus Christ did we approach God. In John chapter 4, He declares
to that Samaritan woman at the well, verse 23, The hour cometh
and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him, for God is, and here we read it this way, God
is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit
and in truth. In truth. Don't leave that off. If we meet together and assemble
to worship, we must declare the truth of God's salvation in Christ
Jesus. Everything else is just going
through the motions. Spirit and in truth. Worshipping
and preaching around the true gospel of God's grace in Christ
Jesus. Here's the third lesson. It is
no accident or result of blind fate that the Lord of glory is
sacrificed for our sin on the exact same day the Passover lamb
was to be sacrificed for their memorial as a sin offering to
remember how God delivered them. The Lord Jesus Christ dies on
that appointed day. Boy, isn't that lucky. It's not blind faith. It's not
just an accident. It just didn't happen. God determined
and decreed. For we read this in Scripture.
Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken Him by wicked hands, have crucified and slain
the Lord of glory. Christ our Passover is sacrificed
for us at the exact time that God determined from all eternity. He said the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world before Adam sinned, before Adam was
created, God had the remedy. Before He fell and sinned and
plunged us into ruin, the Lord Jesus Christ stood as a Lamb
slain. He stood as a surety, the guarantee
of the everlasting covenant of grace in His own blood. Him being delivered by God's
determinate counsel. And when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth His Son made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law. Isn't that amazing? Christ in our Passover? That's
why the Old Testament, the old type, the old observance that
the Passover was ended, and He instituted the new memorial. This is the new covenant in my
blood, my body that is broken for you. We'll look at that next
week. What does a Passover feast under
the law and Christ crucified under the covenant of grace have
in common? The Passover is a picture and
type that the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled. Whenever you read
in the Old Testament about a lamb, a sacrifice, What's the first
thing you think of? Christ. Our Sacrifice. Christ our Lamb. Now here's some
common things. How the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
that Passover. And here's the things that the
Passover and the Gospel have in common. One, two, three, four
things. I'll let you go. First of all
is this. Deliverance from the bondage
of sin is only by His power. The Egyptians had no way to deliver
themselves. They couldn't do it. Pharaoh
and his army was too mighty. They were in slavery. They were
in chains. They were in bondage. They could
not deliver themselves. God had to. What is that a picture
of? We are in bondage to sin. In
bondage to the law has got a claim on us. We're held captive. And
we have no way to deliver ourselves. It's only by His power, His purpose,
and His grace, His providence, that He sets us free. He delivered
us from the kingdom of darkness, and He has translated us into
the kingdom of God's dear Son. Secondly, redemption is only
by the blood of the appointed sacrifice. The Lamb of God. There had to be lambs slain.
Blood had to be put on the door. and then enter in and partake. Eat the lamb. Receive the lamb. Redemption is only by the blood
of the appointed sacrifice, and we know that is the Lord Jesus
Christ. For we are not redeemed with
corruptible things of silver and gold, but with the precious
blood of Christ. He is a lamb without blemish,
and He is a lamb without spot. You see how in the Gospel we
see the fulfillment of the type? Thirdly, the blood sprinkled
upon the doorpost and the blood of Christ sprinkled upon our
conscience in regeneration cleans us or clears us from all guilt. I no longer have a guilty conscience
before God. The blood of Christ cleanses
me from all sin. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus, cleared of all guilt. I can,
by His grace and by faith, I can rest in the Lord Jesus Christ
with confidence. My conscience has been sprinkled
with the blood of Christ. Lastly, every house in Egypt
that night where the blood was applied, the Lord protected them. Remember I read to you in Exodus
12 verse 23? It's just not that the destroyer
just simply passed over the door, although he did. But the true
sense of that word, pass over, is that the Lord of glory, somehow,
He sprang into action in front of that door and said, ah, they
belong to me. You can't enter here. And that's
exactly what God does for us in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord Jesus springs and leaps
over us to protect us, to save us, to keep us. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God who justified. It is
Christ who has died. Now, who can charge me? He springs to protect us. In
closing, let us always be mindful of the Lord Jesus Christ and
His great sacrifice for us. Let us always be mindful of our
great need of His mercy and grace to save us, to keep us, and to
protect us. The Passover Lamb. Christ our Passover. He sacrificed for us.