Preparation for the Passover Meal

Introduction to Mark 14 and the Passover Context

0:05 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, March 12, 1989, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn together to the 14th chapter of the Gospel according to Mark, Mark chapter 14.

0:30 And will you follow, please, as I read what is the next major section that we will be examining paragraph by paragraph in subsequent weeks, but I want to read the sections so that you have a feel for this major unit of thought into which we now move in the expositions of the Gospel of Mark. I shall read verses 12 through 26. And on the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover, his disciples say unto him, Where will you that we go and make ready that you may eat the Passover? And he sends two of his disciples and says unto them, Go into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him. And wheresoever he shall enter in, say to the master of the house, The teacher says, Where is my...

1:38 My guest chamber, where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples. And he will himself show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. And there make ready for us. And the disciples went forth and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them, And they made ready the Passover.

2:05 And when it was evening, he comes with the twelve. And he says unto them, As they sat and were eating, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you shall betray me, even he that eats with me. They began to be sorrowful and say unto him, One by one, is it I? And he said unto them, It is one of the twelve.

2:34 He that dips with me in the dish. For the son of man goes, Even as it is written of him, But woe unto that man through whom the son of man is betrayed. Good were it for that man, if he had not been born. And as they were eating, he took bread.

2:56 And when he had blessed and broke it, And gave to them and said, Take, this is my body. And he took a cup. And when he had given thanks, he gave to them, And they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

3:19 Verily I say unto you, I shall no more drink of the fruit of the vine, Until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. And when they had sung a hymn, They went out unto the mount of Olives. Now let us again seek the face of God, In prayer that God by the Holy Spirit, Whom Jesus said was given to take of the things of Christ, And revealed them to us, Would himself set our Lord before us, In the teaching and preaching of his word. Let us pray.

3:58 Our Father, we have sung together that Christ, In his word, draws near. And we thank you that that is not just A line out of the Bible, Or a poet's imagination. But we thank you it is a blessed reality. And we pray that it shall be the reality That every single one of us experiences In this place this morning.

4:28 We plead with you that Christ himself Will come to each of our hearts In the teaching and preaching and application Of his own holy and inspired word. Amen. And bring Christ to us through the word For our good and for his glory. Amen.

4:54 Now in our initial studies of the 14th chapter of Mark's gospel, We have seen that the first 11 verses Stand as an introduction to this section of the gospel In which the betrayal and the crucifixion And subsequent resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth Are spoken. And they are set forth in great detail. In verses 1 and 2 of chapter 14, The resolute, murderous, and yet cunning intentions Of the chief priests and their scribes Are described in what we can call Nothing short of shocking nakedness. They are already committed to kill him, But to do so with subtlety, Lest there be a tumult, Among the people. In verses 10 and 11, The wicked treachery of Judas Iscariot And his willingness to betray Jesus Into the hands of the religious leaders Is described with a chilling bluntness That for 30 pieces of silver He is prepared As one of those in the inner circle Of our Lord's followers To hand him over To the resolute and murderous intentions

6:21 Of the religious leaders. But sandwiched in between These manifestations of the hellish nature Of the human heart When devoid of the operations of divine grace Is the moving account Bounded by verses 3 through 9 Of this memorialized act Of Mary of Bethany Anointing our Lord beforehand For his death. This burial And this moving act of devotion Some four days prior To the other events Described in this section Is set here As a beautiful contrast Between the murderous intentions Of the chief priest And the treachery And the betraying intention of Judas That we might, as it were, Be challenged To be brought to the place Of Mary's devotion As we have unfolded before us The details of the passion And of the resurrection Of our Lord Jesus. But now it is evident at verse 12 That there is a fundamental shift of focus From this introductory material To that which concentrates upon the Passover. In the unit of the narrative read in your hearing

7:49 There are three baselines Six points of focus Verses 12 through 16 Which we shall study this morning We could call preparation For the Passover meal Verses 17 through 21 Focus on the prophecy Of the betrayal During the Passover meal And verses 22 to 26 Focus upon the institution Of the Lord's Supper Subsequent Supper meal To the Passover meal So we have in this larger section Verses 12 through 26 Preparation Prophecy And institution All in conjunction With the Passover Supper Now since the Passover feast Is central to this entire section Of the narrative And since in this congregation There are not a few of you Relatively new Believers And relatively ignorant Of much of the Old Testament history I felt it would be Unto edification To take just several minutes To read a very helpful Little article That summarizes The heart of this institution Called Passover feast Or the feast of unleavened bread

9:17 And the Passover For without some basic knowledge Of its significance Much of this section Will remain closed to us The key chapter For those of you Who would desire to read In more detail on the subject Is Exodus chapter 12 I don't ask you to turn there now But perhaps between now And next Lord's day You would read that rather lengthy chapter For it contains The major directives As well as the major history With reference to The Passover feast Passover was the first Of three annual festivals In which all the males of Israel Were required to appear At God's special Appointed place of dwelling Or sanctuary This is found in Exodus 23 Verses 13 through 17 The Passover is associated With the feast of unleavened bread The week during which Leaven was rigidly excluded From the diet of the Hebrews Exodus 23 and verse 15 The historical Passover Is related to the tenth play The death of the firstborn in Egypt Israel was instructed To prepare a lamb For each household

10:44 Blood was to be applied To the lintel Which would be the upper support beam Of the door frame As well as to the side Of the door post The sign of blood Would secure the safety Of each house From the death angel That was sent by Jehovah To slay the firstborn In Egypt On the evening of the 14th Of the month Nisan The Passover lambs were slain After being roasted They were eaten With unleavened bread And with the bread of the Passover With bitter herbs Or some of you would say Bitter herbs Exodus 12 and verse 8 This was done To emphasize the need For a hasty departure And also to remind The people of God Of the bitter bondage in Egypt Deuteronomy 16 and verse 3 The Passover was a family observance In the case of small families Neighbors might be invited To share The Paschal meal The initial instructions Concerning the preparation For the historical Exodus That is the original institution Are found in Exodus 12 21 to 23 Subsequent directions were given For the observance of the seven day Festival of unleavened bread

12:12 And that's found in Exodus 13 verses 3 Through 10 The Passover experience Was to be repeated Each year As a means of instruction To future generations Concerning the mighty deliverance Of the nation Out of Egyptian bondage Exodus 12 24 to 27 Now in subsequent years A Passover ritual developed Incorporating additional features These were not divinely mandated But they became part of the tradition That was in place At the time of our Lord's celebration Of the Passover Of which we read in Mark 14 Four successive cups of wine Mixed with water were used Psalms 113 through 118 Were sung at appropriate places Fruit mixed with vinegar To the consistency Of a kind of paste Served as a reminder Of the mortar used During the bondage Now that gives you a little idea A sketchy idea Of the specific elements Involved in the feast The historical origins And significance of that feast And why it was perpetuated Even until the day of our Lord Hundreds of years

The Disciples' Question and Its Assumptions

13:40 After the Exodus Out of Egypt Now with this general outline Of the section behind us And with this little bit Of concentration On the essence Of the Passover meal What it signified How it began And why it was being celebrated Let us now address ourselves To verses 12 through 16 This first paragraph In this section That I have entitled Preparation for the Passover meal And this paragraph Has three major units In the narrative There is in verse 12 The question Of the disciples Verses 13 to 15 The response of our Lord To their question And then in verse 16 The obedience Of the disciples First of all then The question Of the disciples And on the first day Of unleavened bread When they sacrificed Could perhaps better be translated When they were accustomed To sacrificing the Passover His disciples say unto him Where will you That we go and make ready That you may eat The Passover Now in this question Of the disciples We note first of all The occasion of it The substance of it And then the assumptions

15:09 Contained in it What was the occasion Of their question Well the day had arrived When it was customary To sacrifice The Passover life The feast of unleavened bread Which technically Was a seven day feast Had grown to include That day on which The Passover lamb Was sacrificed And so writing Particularly now To Gentile people Or with Gentiles in view Mark says On the first day Of unleavened bread When they sacrificed The Passover It is now Thursday Of what we call The Passion Week The scriptures are Absolutely silent With reference to our Lord's Location or activities On Wednesday Of the Passion Week We are brought up To Tuesday night In the Gospel records But a veil of silence Is cast over Wednesday Of that week But now it is Thursday The beginning Or probably the early morning Of that day The evening of which Would constitute the beginning Of the Passover day When the sun set And on that particular day They knew

16:36 That the Passover lamb Had to be secured It had to be slain At the temple It had to be roasted The bitter herbs Had to be gathered Or purchased The wine had to be Procured or brought To the place Where the Passover meal Was to be celebrated And they understood That these preparations Could not be made In twenty minutes You couldn't simply Go to the cupboard And have all the items there And pop them in the microwave And have a quick Passover meal And so the occasion Of their question Was the realization That this was now Close to midday Of the day In which it was customary To slay the Passover lamb And to make preparations For the Passover meal That's the occasion Of their question Now look at the substance of it Since they are desirous That the Lord will decide the issue They ask His mind With respect to the place So that they might go to it And make the necessary preparations Where will you They say to their Lord That we may go And make ready That you may eat The Passover Both here And in the parallel passage In Matthew 26, 17

18:04 The question is couched in words Which underscore That it is the Lord's Passover meal You will notice They did not say Where will you That we go and make ready That we may eat The Passover But they said But both here And in Matthew 26, 17 It is the second person singular Where will you That we go and make ready That you may eat The Passover And though it is clear That they assume They would be eating with Him The emphasis of the text Falls upon the fact That it was Christ's Passover And since the Holy Spirit Has been careful to record That detail We should not pass over it Lightly Now that was the substance Then of their question The Passover Must be eaten We must make preparations Lord Where is it your will That we should Celebrate this meal And now that has some very Fundamental assumptions Contained in it And the assumptions are these They are the ones They assume That their Lord Who has meticulously kept All instituted moral

19:32 And ceremonial Would observe this feast Mandated by Jehovah For any Jew To live a life Of uprightness before God Ceremonial details Were moral obligations Don't ever forget that And the scripture says In the first verse of the book The fullness of the times Sent forth his son Made of a woman Made the law And therefore For our Mandated Passover feast Was not something He could dispense with And still The spotless Lamb of God Who takes away the sin Of the world Every mandated Was meticulously kept By our And it was In his keeping Of those laws Of Jehovah That he was The Savior Fulfilling All righteousness And this is underscored In the parallel passage In Luke 22 And verse 7 Where that strong Little particle of necessity Is used

21:00 In conjunction With this Passover And the day of unleavened bread Came on which The Passover A day Must be sacrificed The day On which the Passover Must Be sacrificed And it must be sacrificed Because it was a divinely Instituted And God ordained Ritual in Israel And if our Lord Jesus Were to indeed Be the one who came Not to destroy us But to destroy us Not to destroy the law But to fulfill it This was part of the holy obedience Which he must render To his Father Furthermore There is another assumption In the question of the disciples They assume his right To choose the place And their duty To make the preparations They assume that he alone Has the right to choose the place While it is their duty To make the preparations For his Passover Furthermore They also assume That it will not be held In Bethany But someplace Within Jerusalem itself This is why they ask the question

Christ's Response: Selection and Directives

22:29 Where will you that we go And make ready We must remove to another place Other than probably Bethany at this time Or one of the retreats Outside of the actual City walls of Jerusalem And because God himself Had ordained That the Passover land Should be slain In the temple In the place of his special dwelling God had ordained That that feast should be held In the place of his special presence They are assuming That in Jerusalem itself This meal will be kept Well that's the question Of the disciples The occasion of it The substance Of it The assumptions contained in it Now note secondly The response of our Lord To their question And there are two parts To his response The selection made And then the directions given First of all A selection is made Verse 13 And he sends Two of his disciples And says unto them He selects Two out of the twelve They are not named by Mark But in the parallel passage In Luke 22 in verse 8 We are told that the two Whom he selected Were Peter and John

23:58 Now that immediately Raises the question Why did he select Only two One commentator Who does not substantiate His sources Therefore I am reluctant To assert with any degree Of certainty Says that it was because Jewish law At that time Would permit only two To be present In the presentation Of the Passover lamb Before the priest And the actual slaying Of the lamb And the collecting Of its blood Now on that matter I cannot be certain For my own knowledge Of Jewish history And customs Is limited And since no authoritative Source was cited I am reluctant to assert That that was the reason But I am much more bold To ask And to answer The question Which also Naturally rises In our minds Why those two Why Peter Who in a few hours Will revert To his old Seaman's language And will curse And swear That he doesn't even know Jesus Why Who with the others Will be scattered When the shepherd Is stricken And the sheep Scatter Why these two Well I believe The answer is not Difficult to come at It is evident

25:27 From our Lord's Previous dealings With these two And with the third Peter, James And John That he was Marking them out For unusual responsibilities In his church He was developing them For unique places Of leadership They would be Two of the very organs Of direct revelation Peter would have Eventually be Mark's tutor Looking over his shoulder And guiding him And counseling him And giving him Many of these Wonderful little strokes Of intimate detail As Mark composed His gospel record Under the guidance Of the Holy Spirit And he certainly Chose these two And did not include The one who would Normally go forth When purchases Were to be made The implications Are that in Making ready They did not have In hand All of the necessary Ingredients For a full Passover meal And if you're going forth To make purchases You would normally take Your group's treasurer With you And one can only imagine How Judas Must have set his jaw And ground his teeth Because he was excluded And therefore Unable to carry out What he had already To deliver Jesus into the hands

26:55 Of the chief priest And the scribes At a convenient season And so our Lord Makes a selection Of James and Peter and John Fundamentally I believe Because whatever weakness Would soon surface In Peter and John Their basic loyalty To the Lord Jesus Their attachment to him In faith And love And their position As men who would have Unique places of leadership Had already been intimated When they were taken up With him Into the mount Of transfiguration When they would later on Be brought Into a closer proximity To the agony And to the wrestlings Of Gethsemane And so our Lord Selects Peter and John For this task Now then notice The directives That are then given Our Lord says That they are to go Into the city And there shall meet you A man bearing a pitcher of water Follow him And wheresoever he shall enter in Say to the master of the house The teacher says Where is my guest chamber Where I shall eat the Passover With my disciples And he will himself Show you a large upper room Furnished and ready There make ready

28:23 For us Now the directives given Are very straight forward They are to go into the city That is into Jerusalem When they do Our Lord tells them That they will be met Notice it doesn't say You will meet But there shall meet you A man bearing of water The word I'm translating jug Is the word from which we get Our word ceramic So it's a word that we use As referring to an ordinary water jug Now we ask the question With multitudes thronging into Jerusalem Others making last minute preparations For the Passover feast What would be so significant About a man passing by them With a water jug Well the significance would be this That this was a task That for the most part Was never performed by men It was the women And the girls Who went to the wells And to the watering places Filled their jugs And as you children have seen In some of your Sunday school pictures They would then balance the jug On top of their head And sometimes have a hand to steady it But you never saw I doubt you've ever seen A picture of a man With one of those water jugs Because the people

29:50 Who've drawn those pictures Were sensitive to the fact That as a general rule This was a task Accomplished And fulfilled By the women folk Now I am neither defending Nor seeking to make comment Upon that practice I'm simply stating a fact And this is why When our Lord said There shall meet you A man Carrying a water jug It would be easy Even amidst the thronging multitudes Entering into Jerusalem And within the city gates To spot a man with a water jug Especially Especially Especially If the man makes his way To you And meets you It is very clear And in the parallel passages The same emphasis is there That this man Would be sovereignly directed To meet them And he would be carrying A jug of water Well once they see the man Of whom our Lord speaks They are to say nothing to him There's no indication That they are to say Or to enter into any conversation But rather our Lord says They are to follow him The man meets them Perhaps he glances at them They glance at him He makes his way Through the streets

31:18 To the place of his master's house They are to fall in Keep him in sight To do what In detective jargon They are to tail him To his house And when the man enters Into the house Obviously he was performing A menial task And was not the owner of the house Then they were to say To the master of the house Which could be either The owner of the house Or the Lord tenant of the house This is what they were to say The teacher says Where is my guest chamber Where I shall eat the Passover With my disciples The man is not named He is simply called The master of the house And when they speak to him They are not to say Jesus of Nazareth They are not to say Jesus the Messiah They are not to say The Christ But simply The teacher says Where is my guest chamber Where I shall eat the Passover With my disciples And of course The intimation is That our Lord knew That this man Was one of his own followers Who would immediately know The significance of the words The teacher and my disciples

32:47 In fact There is a stroke added by Matthew In chapter 26 in verse 18 That indicates that he may have been Not only a disciple But a very knowledgeable disciple For verse 18 of Matthew 26 reads And he said Go into the city to such a man And say unto him The teacher says Mine is at hand I keep the Passover At your house with my disciples Isn't that interesting That he assumes That the words might have significance To this unnamed master of the house To whom they were to speak And then our Lord After giving them directives About where to go Into Jerusalem There to wait Until they are met By a man with a pitcher of water And after following him Enter the house And say those words Then our Lord predicts The response the man will give To their words And he himself He won't say to his house servant You show them And there is an intensified Underscoring of the fact That he himself will show you That rendering indicates

34:15 The added pronoun for emphasis He himself Not someone delegated Will show you A large upper room Furnished and ready He says the master of the house Will take you to an upper room And this has reference To large rooms That were often built On the flat top Of the houses of God Of the houses of God Of the houses of God Of the houses of God Of Palestine And these rooms Would be used As a guest chamber Or a place for retirement From the noise And the hustle and bustle Of the ordinary household affairs And it was into just such a room That our Lord says The master of the house Would lead Peter and John And when he takes them Into the room They will find it Furnished and ready That is They will find It with the appropriate couches For reclining at the meal With the appropriate tables They will find it With whatever other accoutrements Were needed In the way of cutlery And plates They will find it All ready For the Passover meal And then our Lord's directives Close then With this charge

The Disciples' Obedience and the Passage's Application

35:41 There make ready For us The room In its physical Surroundings And in its Material possessions As far as Tables And couches Will be ready But now All that is necessary To make ready For the actual Passover meal You are then to accomplish From thence You are to go And secure The spotless lamb From there You are to take the lamb To the temple There its blood Is to be shed Then you are to bring it back And to roast it On the way back You are to gather The bitter herbs And the necessary wine And all that is essential For the remembrance Of this great deliverance In the Passover feast Now those are the directives Given by our Lord So his response then Is the selection of the two And the directions given Now very briefly Notice The obedience of the disciples The paragraph closes With this very simple statement And the disciples went forth And came into the city And found He had said unto them And they made ready The Passover Just note the verbs

37:07 The obedience of the disciple Is beautifully and eloquently Set forth In these verbs And the disciples Went forth He had told them Go into the city They went forth And they came Into the city And found As he had said And made ready The Passover As one has beautifully stated They did everything as commanded And they found everything As predicted They did everything as commanded They found everything As predicted And so then the preparation For the Passover meal That our Lord with his disciples Is all in place And the Spirit of God Has given to us These details concerning This preparation For the Passover And having looked at the passage And unpacked its basic ingredients We ask the question And legitimately so What are we to learn from this? What are we to learn from this? What does it reveal to us Concerning our Lord Concerning our duty Concerning the plans and purposes of God Or to state it another way

38:34 How do all the details Interesting as they may be And I hope you found them interesting This wasn't all gathered in 20 minutes Nor put together in such a way That would be boring I hope you found it interesting I hope you have And I hope you have But how does this interesting account Of the preparation of a Passover In Palestine 2,000 years ago How over the centuries And sit itself down In this building On change bridge And horse neck roads And to you And to you And to you And to me And I confess when I first began To pray over the passage And think about it early in the week I had to say Lord I don't have a clue As to the answer to that question And I was very nervous About having to preach this next paragraph As I've often been nervous But as I prayed and reflected And sought light from those Who've gone before One by one some very helpful And very I believe God intended perspectives Began to come into focus With respect to the application Of this account Of the preparation for the Passover And as time permits

Application 1: Unmistakable Display of Christ's True Identity

40:01 Let me share some of those With you this morning First of all Consider in this passage The unmistakable display Of our Lord's true identity Re-entered on the threshold Of his humiliation And his death We have reminded you again and again Of the fact that we have We have reminded you again and again That Mark 1.1 is the key To an understanding Of the entire gospel account The beginning of the gospel Of Jesus Christ The Son of God And the old sinners Is good news Which focuses in this person Jesus of Nazareth Who is the anointed Messiah But who in the identity Of his person Is the Son of God That is God the Son And again and again In our studies of Mark We have seen how our Lord Demonstrates that that is His true identity Draws the confession From his own disciples Who do you think I am? You are the Christ The Son of the living God And how appropriate That once again

41:29 On the very threshold Of terrible humiliation Of forsakenness Not only by man But apparently by Our Lord should give To his disciples An unmistakable display Of his true identity And where do we see that In the passage? Well we see it in the fact That who but God The God of omniscience Who is the God of omniscience Knows beforehand The actions of men In such detail At such a distance And who can so order And control those actions That they come to pass Exactly as they have been predicted You see so called liberal theologians Hate prophecy And anything that we would call prophecy The telling of the truth The telling of the truth The telling of events beforehand With no possible way Of knowing them By mere intuition Why do they hate prophecy? For two simple reasons It means there is a God Who knows everything And controls everything And a God of absolute omniscience And unrivaled sovereignty They will not have But Jesus Christ

42:59 Who is God the Son Manifests those very Great things The graces Know those very characteristics Of Godhead When he says Go into the city And there will meet you a man Can a pot of water To him He knows where he is going He sees the house Into which they shall be taken He knows who the master Of the house is He knows the level Of his spiritual perception With the betrayer At his elbow Straining at every word To see if any little hints Will be dropped Our Lord speaks In veiled code language Follow him Say to the master Of the house Unnamed Unnamed but not unknown The teacher The teacher The teacher Says my time Is at hand He knows that that unnamed Man is not The master of the house Is one of his own followers One who has insights To his identity And apparently even Some additional insight To the significance of the words My time is at hand Perhaps He was of the society of Mary

44:27 Who saw what the disciples Did not yet clearly see And anointed him beforehand For the burial My time is at hand But you see Our Lord could only know These things If he were the God He could only predict them With certainty If he controlled all things By the word of his power Put yourself in Peter and John's place Your Lord's orders Are lodged in your ears And tucked away in your heart And you start going out the city And Peter says John, what did he say Would be the first thing that happened Would it be a man? Would meet us?

45:13 You know, John That doesn't happen in our society We men don't carry the water jugs You think the Lord may be meant Just a person Will meet us with Oh no, no, no John says He was very careful to say That a man would meet us Carrying a water jug We must look for a man, Peter Just a man, only a man And so they're making their way And they come within the city walls And there's the man And Peter nudges John Says, here he is Oh, here he is That's a man The water jug And they're tempted to run over and say Do you know how we Oh no, the Lord didn't tell us to say anything Let's just watch where he's going And he starts to wend his way Through the narrow, crowded streets With the multitudes of people And they follow him They're tailing him They got him in their eyesight They pace Quickens Slacks off Quickens, slacks off And then he stops Turns into a house And they say Now how are we going to greet? We don't know the guy's name We can't call him Mr. Peter Mr. Finkelstein Mr. Shapiro

46:15 What are we going to call him?

46:19 So, they say to the man with the water jug Take us to the master of the house So he takes them in And they say, Mr. Master of the house That's all we know how to call you That's all our Lord told us And our Lord has told us to tell you The time is at hand Show us the place Where we may eat the Passover With our master And then they say, Mr. Master Mr. Shapiro Mr. Shapiro Mr. Shapiro Mr. Shapiro Mr. Shapiro Mr. Shapiro Mr. Shapiro They wait to see his response And he says, oh, come with me And the servant is dismissed And he said, hey, it's coming to pass Just like the Lord said He himself He's taking us up the stairs And what are they going to see? When the door is open They see a large room Furnished and ready I wonder what went through Peter and John's minds I wonder what they said to one another I wonder what they said to one another I wonder what they said to one another I wonder what they said to one another I wonder what they thought As they then heard the Lord's word Now having seen these things come to pass Make ready for the supper

47:26 What thoughts must have flooded their minds As they made their way Into the temple precincts And completed the further preparations But surely, if not then After the Spirit of God was given They began to look back And reflect upon the Lord And reflect upon the true identity of their Lord They could not help but come to the conclusion Oh, how dull we were then But it's all so plain now He was giving us This undeniable manifestation Of his true identity Just as he would do later on in the garden When they come and say We are coming to seek Jesus And he said, who do you seek? I am your Savior I am your Savior There is a temporary Bursting forth of his glory And even hodgers fall flat to the ground Like they were shot with a machine gun So here our Lord Underscores that he is indeed The Son of God And why is it so essential to understand it? Well, as for them, so for us The only good news for us sinners Is that we have a Savior Who brings us back to life Who brings to his saving work

48:51 All the virtue and worth of Godhead And all the power of unleashed divinity To rescue the likes of you and me A Savior is not God Such as you are And such as I am And if you think you can be fixed up With a Savior who is just and exalted man And a kind and nice and benevolent And gracious man Great Dear man or woman, boy or girl Yet to begin to see The truth that was read in our hearing From Ephesians chapter 2 For if indeed we are natively dead In our trespasses and sins Bowed by our sins Enslaved by the devil Energeting and pressing And impelling And moving at his little lackeys Oh, when you come to see That you're dead You're bound by sin and the devil Then you know that your deliverance Can only come from one Who brings to his saving work The right arm of omnipotence And in this passage

Application 2: Christ's Voluntary Humility and Self-Impoverishment

50:19 On the threshold of his humiliation Our Lord gives an unmistakable display Of his true identity Before he goes to his death But then says Secondly Note in this passage Our Lord's voluntary humility And self-impoverishment Even on the threshold of his death Our Lord affirms afresh His voluntary humility And self-impoverishment On the threshold of his death As the Son of God Who is omniscient and omnipotent He is the creator and sustainer As well as the rightful owner Of the whole Hebrews chapter 1 Yet when it comes time To celebrate the Passover meal He owns no house In which to meet He must send two disciples To borrow a room And there's a very interesting truth It was Edersheim that first Put me on the track of it The word used in verse 14 Rendered guest chamber Kattaluma Apart from its parallel passage In Luke chapter 22 There's only one other place Where it's found In all of the New Testament You know where that is

51:47 There was no room for him In the Kattaluma When God Into our first world In the person of Jesus Expelled for his womb There was no room for him In the Kattaluma No room in the inn. He comes in poverty. Born amidst the pungent smell of dung and animal urine.

52:26 God born in the midst of a cow barn. And now when he would have a kataluma, a resting place, he has none that he's acquired in his earthly ministry. It must be in a borrowed upper room. He came into the world in abject poverty.

52:56 No room in the inn of Bethlehem. So now as his trial and death are approaching, he must borrow a kataluma. He must borrow a room for resting for his final Passover meal. No wonder Paul said, Ye know the grace.

53:16 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. That ye through his poverty might be made rich. Oh, how can we not have our hearts moved with increasing love and devotion to such a Savior who voluntarily humbles himself, takes, takes the posture of impoverishment, though the rightful creator and owner of the entire universe.

53:53 There is no resting room for Mary to give birth to him. She must do so in a stable. And when he would celebrate his final Passover meal, it must be in a borrowed room. My dear sinner friend, how can you be indifferent to a Savior like that?

54:20 How can you go on with the whole hum attitude when you hear the gospel preached?

54:27 This is God taking such a posture. He being rich with all his glory becomes poor.

54:44 To what end? Not that he might accumulate to himself a wealth of things,

54:52 but that he might accumulate his true wealth. That is a great, a great multitude whom no man can number out of every kindred, tribe and tongue and people and nation. He places worth upon the souls of the likes of you and me. Will you treat your soul so lightly when he places such a price upon the human soul?

Application 3: Christ's Prudent Action in Avoiding Premature Betrayal

55:21 Well, quickly in the third place, note in the passage, not only this fresh and unmistakable, unmistakable display of his true identity as son of God, his voluntary humility and self-impoverishment, but notice our Lord's example of responsible and deliberately prudent action in avoiding a premature betrayal. Our Lord's example of responsible and deliberately prudent action in avoiding a premature betrayal.

56:00 Think of the scene. He knows that Judas is intent upon betraying him. He knows that Judas has already entered into covenant with the chief priest and their scribes and that rattling around in his money box is Judas' evaluation of him, the price of a slave, thirty pieces of silver.

56:25 Knowing that Judas will seize the first opportunity he gives him, our Lord does not tempt his father, and simply blurt out, go into the city and there will meet you such a man and you go to such and such a street and such and such a place. Such and such a man owns the home. He does not pass on that information. He speaks in the kind of indefinite shorthand that will only be interpreted as they obey him in order that Judas the betrayer will be kept in absolute ignorance as to where he is going to be.

57:03 He will be kept in absolute ignorance as to where he is going to be. He will be kept in absolute ignorance as to where he is going to be. He will be kept in absolute ignorance as to where he is going to be. That feast will be held until with the twelve and the Lord is actually there.

57:12 And it is from that place, a fast over, that he then goes out to do his work. And the Lord knows that Judas knows where he can find him. For it says he went over the brook Kidron into the place where oft times he resorted thither with his disciples. And he orchestrates his own betrayal at the hands of Judas.

57:41 And he is not going to put the baton into Judas' hand.

57:48 Though he is God,

57:52 he is the man with the jug of water. And in his absolute sovereignty he controls his actions and his direction and the response of the master of the house in a way that tempts God. But rather, he responsibly and prudently speaks and acts in such a way that only until his time comes will Judas be able to fulfill his part of the covenant made with the chief priests to hand him over to them. Now why do I focus upon that lesson for this simple reason?

58:36 First John 2.6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself so to walk even as he walks. And it is not an indication of great faith in God when we walk wide on any prudent steps to avoid it. It speaks in Proverbs of the wise man who sees the evil and sees himself.

59:05 The prudent man does that but the simple pound and suffer for it. And dear people of God with respect to a whole host of things all the way from meticulously using our seatbelts to taking enough time to have a knowledge about basic nutrition and what happens if you clog up your arteries with excessive ingestion of high cholesterol foods and you don't take proper cardiovascular exercise to the whole matter of having some concern to be prudent with respect to what we do with our money in savings and in expenditures the whole dammit of every facet of our life comes under the scrutiny of the example of our Lord.

Application 4: Elements of True Discipleship

59:56 May God grant that if in this point in time when his own mind and soul are as it were with the great realities of laying down his life for his people he nonetheless has the composure of prudent action then we are never to excuse ourselves by saying there are conflicting responsibilities that warrant my recklessness thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God then I pass on to a fourth application that is so evident in the text we should see in this passage a beautiful picture of the major elements of true discipleship and saving attachment to Christ do you see them here at least three of them are highlighted I'll only point to them and say a word on each first of all supreme attachment to his person though the Passover was a family meal and it could well be that those these men Judas accepted were Galileans that many of them their families would not have come down there is good reason to believe that in the tight knit society of the Jews there were close relatives and perhaps even family members present on that occasion with whom they would have been expected to eat that Passover meal

61:24 but they demonstrated that someone had come along and intruded graciously into their lives and secured a loyalty beyond father mother brother sister and that was the Lord Jesus Christ himself and in this passage the disciples show that supreme attachment to the Lord's person secondly they show practical recognition of his authority of his power of his power of his power over them and their actions they say Lord where will have us go and make ready that you may eat the Passover they recognize that the disciple master relationship is one in which he calls the shots and in which they obey what a beautiful example of practical recognition of his authority over them and then thirdly the implicit obedience of Jesus Christ Peter and John to the word of Christ they did every single thing he commanded and therefore as I said earlier they found everything exactly as he had promised now they could have raised a dozen questions but the man drops his water jug and doesn't have any when he gets to us what if

62:52 he stops by his aunt Harriet for a visit before he goes what if no there were no what ifs it says in the text the disciples went forth came to the city found as he had said and made ready and dear people those are three of the major elements of true discipleship wherever you find a true disciple one who is savingly united to Christ you will find one who has supreme attachment to his person loyalty sister yes and our own life also and Jesus said if he is not given that place of supreme loyalty he will not own us as his and where there is true discipleship there will be practical recognition of his authority not a theoretical acknowledgement oh Christ is Lord he is the king kings of life where would to have us to make ready for the Passover we begin to recognize that the will of Christ is embodied in the word of Christ touches every aspect of our lives whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do is to be done to the glory of God and it's only done to his glory when it's done by the rule of his own word

Application 5: Unfailing Certainty of Christ's Predictive Word

64:20 and then in the implicit obedience of Peter and of John what a wonderful example of true discipleship a true disciple doesn't ask what if a true disciple is only concerned to know what Lord will you have me to do and he's prepared to leave the consequences of his obedience with God he's prepared to step out in obedience to the word in what appears to be a silly course if someone were to have stopped Peter and John on the way and said where are you going he said we're not quite sure he said we're going in the city what's going to happen well a man's going to meet us with a water pot on his head well what's going to happen then he's going to lead us to a home well who's home I don't know what are you going there for we're going to talk to the man and he's going to give us what do you mean you know you can read my what are you talking about you see they were doing things if they were questioning any point book could have said few bricks less than a full load something wrong they plant their feet in the way of obedience and then I close with what to me is one of the most sobering applications of this whole passage notice in it the unfailing certainty of every predictive word of the Lord Jesus the unfailing certainty

65:49 of every predictive word of Christ look at the text verse 16 they found as he said unto them they found and I remember my Greek teacher saying in many contexts when you see catharsis an equal sign they found even as what they only knew they now saw with their eyes and heard with ears and what they saw and heard perfectly with what he said and Jesus said it will be that way with every one of his words heaven and earth will be with you will pass away but my word shall never pass away child of God there is our comfort do we really rest upon his words when you pass through the water I will be with you and through the fire it shall not kindle upon you in this world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome the world oh if we but take his word we shall find it to be and then when we think of all that he's promised that awaits us I go to prepare a place for you in my father's house or many dwelling places and all of the glorious descriptions of our ultimate inheritance

67:17 dear people of God we are to feed our souls upon those words in the expectation that we shall find it even as he has said but my sinner friend that applies to you as well when he talks about these shall go away into outer darkness there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth where their froth where their worm does not die and where the fire is never quenched this to me is part of the most hellish aspects of the doctrine of hell is that though preachers have tried to be true to the text and warn sinners of every age and background that you do not come in judgment if indeed it will be even as he has said my friend take him at his word now and flee from the wrath to come because the words can never capture the magnitude and the horror of the reality any more than words capture the glory of heaven for the saints they cannot capture the awful frightening nature of hell but surely such words

68:46 are weeping and wailing look at their torment ascending up forever and ever they have no rest and tormented in this flame oh my friend those words are the words of Christ if you go on in your impenitence and you're cut off in your sin uncleansed by the blood and unrenewed by the spirit it will be said of you that you will find as he has said unto you that you will and you'll have eternity to think about that Sunday morning the 12th of March when a preacher told you so and you stiff-armed the gospel and you stiff-armed the virtues of grace only to be further hardened and ultimately to be damned oh learn from this incident of the preparation of the Passover that what Jesus says will come to pass and you'll have to flee the wrath to come run to the Savior and you'll find him ready to receive you let us pray

70:13 our Father we thank you again for your holy word we are so grateful that you have captured for us these incidents in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ we thank you that he does himself draw near to us in his word and we would bow before him and worship him as our God and our Redeemer we thank you Lord Jesus for your willingness though rich to become poor that we through your poverty might be rich we thank you that you are not only our Redeemer but our perfect example forgive us when we have violated the commandment thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God oh Lord help us to take you as our pattern of being prudent in avoiding evil where we know evil exists may we by your grace manifest that same concern that you did and oh Lord Jesus we thank you that your words are true they are life and they are spirit and we do believe that all that you've promised for us is your people will come to pass and when it does we shall not only find it to be as you have said

71:40 but a thousand times more glorious but oh Lord we're concerned this morning for those who really don't believe that you're going to send them to hell unless they repent for those who really don't believe that unless they are born of the spirit and made anew that they will perish in a place of unspeakable torment day and night forever and ever God have mercy on them in their unbelief don't let them put the dagger of unbelief to their own hearts and commit eternal suicide upon their souls but oh that they may this day by the word of Jesus rise up and flee from the wrath to come and find refuge in his own wounds and suffering in his open tomb and in his mighty power to save all who come unto you by him Lord may your word not fall to the ground but may it bear fruit unto everlasting life we ask for your dear namesake Amen