Sermon #63 Mark Sermons

Title: “FURNISHED AND PREPARED”

Text: Mark 14:10-16

Subject: Preparations for the Passover

Date: Sunday Morning - October 18, 1998

Tape # U-88b

Reading: Exodus 12:1-24 or Malachi 1:1-14

Introduction:

From old eternity, before the worlds were made the Lord God ordained the sacrificial, sin-atoning death of his darling Son at Calvary. He predestined the time, place, and means of his Son’s death as well as its sure accomplishments. God set forth his Son to be the propitiation for our sins, to satisfy his justice for the sins of his people, to put away our sins, so that he might be both just and the Justifier of all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

The holy, just, and true God demanded satisfaction for sin. Satisfaction could be made only by the sacrifice of his dear Son. Therefore, as it is written, “When the fulness 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, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

The Lord Jesus lived as our Representative for 33 years in perfect righteousness. He worked out a perfect righteousness for us. But his obedience in life alone could never save anyone. Justice must be satisfied. Our debt had to be paid. Our sins must be punished to the full satisfaction of divine justice. Therefore, “In due time Christ died for the ungodly.”

In Mark 14 we have come to that solemn evening which preceded the most significant event in history. Let us read the things recorded here with great care, asking God the Holy Spirit to be our Teacher, asking him to inscribe the lessons in these verses upon our hearts with the finger of omnipotent grace. Our text this morning is Mark 14:10-16.

Mark 14:10-16 "And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. (11) And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him. (12) And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover? (13) 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. (14) And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? (15) And he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. (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."

The time has come for the observance of the passover. Therefore the Master sent two of his disciples to Jerusalem in preparation for this ordinance of divine worship. If you are taking notes, the title of my message is found in verse 15 - “FURNISHED AND PREPARED.”

Divisions: As we look at these verses together, I want to direct your attention to four specific lessons contained in them.

1. Many profess faith in Christ who do not possess faith in Christ.

2. The man Christ Jesus really is God himself.

3. The worship of God requires preparation and sacrifice.

4. “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.”

I. First, I want each of us to understand that there are many in the visible church of God like Judas, MANY PROFESS FAITH IN CHRIST WHO DO NOT POSSESS FAITH IN CHRIST (vv. 10-11).

Mark 14:10-11 "And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. (11) And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him."

A. Judas is held before us as a glaring example of false faith.

Like Judas, many men and women feel much, experience much, and do much in religion, in the name of Christ, whose faith is but a false faith, a satanic delusion. It is impossible to imagine a greater, more glaring example of this fact than Judas Iscariot.

J. C. Ryle wrote, “If ever there was a man who at one time looked like a true disciple of Christ, and bade fair to reach heaven, that man was Judas.”

1. Judas was personally chosen by Christ himself to be an apostle.

2. He was a close companion of the Son of God for three years.

3. He was an eye-witness to the mighty works and miracles of the Lord Jesus throughout his earthly ministry.

4. Judas was a fellow-laborer with Peter, James, and John for three years.

5. He was doctrinally orthodox, as doctrinally orthodox as the rest of those men who were personally taught the gospel by the lips of the Lord Jesus.

6. He was sent forth with the others to preach the gospel and perform miracles in the name of Christ.

7. Judas was highly regarded by all the other apostles, so highly regarded that he was made the church treasurer, so highly regarded that even when the Lord Jesus said “One of you shall betray me,” not one of them suspected Judas!

Yet Judas was apostate, a child of the devil all along. He departed from the faith completely. He betrayed the Son of God with the kiss of a friend!

B. How can we account for the conduct of this man?

Was he once saved and then lost at last? Nonsense! Those who speak like that know nothing of the grace of God. When God saves, he saves forever. He gives eternal life. And those to whom he gives eternal life shall never perish!

Judas was a tare sewn among the wheat, a goat among the Lord’s sheep, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He had the garments of religion, but not the Garment of salvation. He had the doctrine of Christ, but not Christ. He had the religion of Christ, but not Christ.

1. Though he professed to be a disciple of Christ, Judas was a covetous man.

“The love of money” was the cause of his fall. Covetousness was his ruin. That same groveling covetousness which enslaved Balaam and turned Gehazi into a leper brought Judas to utter apostasy and to hell. The Holy Spirit tells us plainly that “He was a thief” (John 12:6). Judas stands before us as a glaring commentary on 1 Timothy 6:10 - “The love of money is the root of all evil!”

2. Let us never be content with anything short of the true grace of God in Christ.

Great knowledge, great gifts, great experiences, great privileges, an outwardly holy life, church membership, power in prayer, preaching, and witnessing are all useless things, if we are not converted.

· We must be born again!

· We must be made righteousness!

· We must be converted!

· We must repent!

3. Let us lay to heart our Lord’s warning - “Beware of covetousness!”

Covetousness is a sin that eats like a cancer. It is the most heart-hardening of all idolatries. If we indulge this lust of the flesh, there is no end to the wickedness into which it will lead us! May God give us grace to be content with such things as we have (Heb. 13:5). Wealth is not the one thing needful. Christ is!

II. Second, I must not fail to point out that our text sets before us another of those many, countless displays of the fact that THE MAN CHRIST JESUS REALLY IS GOD HIMSELF (vv. 12-16).

Mark 14:12-16 "And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover? (13) 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. (14) And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? (15) And he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. (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."

Throughout his earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus Christ claimed that he is God. The Scriptures everywhere assert that he is God. And, the simple fact is, if he is not God, he was not a good man, but a liar and an imposter; and we are yet in our sins. HE WHO IS OUR SAVIOR AND REDEEMER MUST ALSO BE OUR GOD. Only one who is both God and man could put away sin!

Frequently, this man, Jesus of Nazareth, demonstrated in the clearest manner possible the attributes of divinity, by which he enforced his claims.

A. Who but the omnipotent God could raise the dead with nothing but the words of his mouth, the touch of his hand, or the will of his heart?

B. Who but the Creator God could multiply a few loaves and fishes to feed thousands so completely that none wanted another bite and twelve baskets of fragments remained?

C. Who but the all-knowing, omniscient God could have known that his disciples, upon entering Jerusalem, would find a man carrying a pitcher into a specific house, with a room large enough for him and his disciples to keep the passover together?

Jesus Christ the man is himself God over all and blessed forever!

III. Third, our text sets before us an example of the fact that THE WORSHIP OF GOD REQUIRES PREPARATION AND SACRIFICE.

In order to keep the feast of the passover and worship God, our Lord and his disciples must go to Jerusalem. There it was common practice for people to prepare and rent out rooms to the multitudes who came in from outside the city.

Our Lord and his disciples did not live in luxury. They purposefully avoided anything like a show of wealth. However, when it came to worshipping God, keeping the feast of the passover, no ordinary place would do. He sent his disciples ahead of time to find the finest, most well-prepared, well-furnished place in town.

One of the old writers suggested that the words “furnished and prepared,” mean that the room was beautifully adorned and laid with carpets. Once the disciples found this large upper room, beautifully adorned and laid with carpets, they were commanded - “There make ready for us.”

There is much more here than I can get said in this message. But I want you to see these three very important things.

A. You cannot worship God unless you come to the place where he has established his worship.

I know that God is Spirit, and we worship him in Spirit. But I also know that we must worship him in truth. We cannot worship God in falsehood. We cannot worship God apart from the ministry of his Word in the assembly of his saints, where he has established his Word and his worship.

B. You cannot worship God without preparation.

Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. (2) Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few."

James 1:19-21 "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: (20) For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. (21) Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls."

C. You cannot worship God without personal sacrifice.

Read Malachi 1 one more time, and understand this - God almighty will not be worshipped with our leftovers!

IV. Fourth, I want to finish my message by reminding you of the glorious fact that “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us!”

This fact is stated in 1 Corinthians 5:7. It is beautifully illustrated here. It was no accident that our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified on the very day that the paschal lamb was sacrificed. This was not a fluke, a matter of lucky timing, or the result of blind fate or chance!

This came to pass as it did by the hand of God. He predestinated it in eternity and arranged it in providence. It was thus arranged because God would make it manifest that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world, is the true Passover, of whom the Old Testament paschal lamb was but a type, picture, and prophecy.

Indeed, all the laws, ordinances, and sacrifices of Old Testament worship pointed to Christ, were fulfilled by Christ, and have been forever abolished by Christ as a way, means, or grounds of worship.

A. The passover was a reminder of deliverance from bondage, darkness, and tyranny according to the promise of God made with a covenant head long before the bondage ever began.

B. The passover was a reminder of special, particular redemption by the life’s blood and violent death of an innocent lamb.

C. The passover was a reminder of blood sprinkled, applied to every house in Israel, by the commandment of God.

I read something while preparing this message I had never seen before. Turn back to Exodus 12:23.

Exodus 12:23 "For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you."

I have always thought that as the destroyer went through the land of Goshen, whenever he saw the blood of the lamb applied to the door posts and lintel of a house, he simply skipped by that house. But the words “pass over” mean something else. They mean “jump, or leap against.”

In other words, when the blood was applied to the house, the Lord God himself, Jehovah (God who saves), jumped against the door of that house to protect it from the destroyer!

What a picture! Hear me now - He who is himself God has jumped over your door, child of God, and stands between you and the destroyer!

D. None were safe on the night of the passover except those who personally ate the slain lamb (John 6:53-58).

John 6:53-58 "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. (54) Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (55) For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. (56) He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. (57) As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (58) This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever."

E. All for whom the paschal lamb was slain had the blood applied by the father’s hand, ate of the lamb personally, and came out of Egypt by God’s almighty, stretched out arm, at exactly the time God had ordained.

· Redemption By Divine Purpose

· Redemption By Divine Purchase

· Redemption By Divine Power

Application:

May God be pleased now to sprinkle the precious blood of Christ our Passover upon your heart and give you grace to eat his flesh and drink his blood by faith.

AMEN.

Exodus 12:1-51

1. And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,

2. This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

3. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:

4. And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.

5. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

6. And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

7. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

8. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

9. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.

10. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

11. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover.

12. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.

13. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

14. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

15. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.

16. And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.

17. And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.

18. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.

19. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.

20. Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.

21. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover.

22. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.

23. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

24. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever.

25. And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.

26. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?

27. That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD'S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.

28. And the children of Israel went away, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.

29. And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.

30. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

31. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said.

32. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.

33. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men.

34. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.

35. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:

36. And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.

37. And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children.

38. And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.

39. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.

40. Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.

41. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

42. It is a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.

43. And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:

44. But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.

45. A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof.

46. In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof.

47. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.

48. And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.

49. One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.

50. Thus did all the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.

51. And it came to pass the selfsame day, that the LORD did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.

Malachi 1