The Last Supper of Jesus

[0:00] The following message is given by Walt Alexander, lead pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Athens, Tennessee.! For more information about Trinity Grace, please visit us at TrinityGraceAthens.com.

[0:14] Mark chapter 14, verse 12. This is the Word of God. And on the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?

[0:33] And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, go into the city and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. And wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, the teacher says, where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?

[0:53] Verse 15. And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. There, prepare for us. And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them.

[1:13] And they prepared the Passover. Verse 17. And when it was evening, he came, that's Jesus, he came with the twelve. And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus says, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.

[1:39] They began to be sorrowful and to say to one another, one after another, is it I? He said to them, it is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me.

[2:00] For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.

[2:10] It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. Verse 22. And as they were eating, he took bread and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to them and said, take, this is my body.

[2:28] And he took cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank of it. And he said, this is my blood of the covenant, which is poor out for many.

[2:41] Truly I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. May God bless hearing and preaching of his word.

[2:58] I want to ask you, have you ever seen the 19th century painting of Jesus called The Shadow of Death? I think we have it for you.

[3:11] This fascinating painting, please leave it up there for a few moments. I want to describe it, but it was done by a man named Holman Hunt from 1870 to 1873. Mr. Hunt lived in Jerusalem and spent his time painting images of Jesus.

[3:24] The story goes that he painted this image while sitting on the roof of his house overlooking Jerusalem. And you see in the picture, stripped to his waist because of the afternoon sun, Jesus stands in the workshop where he did his carpentry work with his father.

[3:41] Next to him is the stand where he had just set down his saw. Now he's gazing up into heaven with his arms raised.

[3:52] As he stands there, the evening sunlight comes through an open door, casts the shadow of him on a cross on the wall behind him. If you can look closer, you see the bar on the wall holding its tools looks like the horizontal beam of the cross.

[4:10] The horizontal beam is a place where his hands will be nailed and the hammers, the tools hanging are the very instruments that will pound the nails to his flesh. Kneeling beside him is his mother Mary, looking into this treasure chest, all the treasures from the magi that were given to Jesus, the gold, the frankincense, and the myrrh.

[4:34] But when she looks up, we can't see her face, but you just imagine she's startled by the shadow of the cross on the wall. Now, obviously, that scene is not an actual scene, at least that we know of.

[4:50] Well, I think it's safe to say it's not. It's fiction, not fact. But even though it's fiction, it communicates a very important theological truth. From his youth, indeed from his birth, the cross cast its shadow forward on the life of Jesus Christ.

[5:11] The cross cast its shadow forward. There was not a year, not a day, not a moment when Jesus was not aware of the cross.

[5:21] We see this in what he says. He's clear-eyed and concentrated on what he came to do. John 12, 27 says, speaking to his disciples, right before he's betrayed, he says, now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say?

[5:33] Father, save me from this hour. No, but for this purpose I have come to this hour. Author John Stott concludes, despite the importance of his teaching, his example, his works of compassion and power, none of these were central to his mission.

[5:52] What dominated his mind was not the living, but the giving of his life. In our passage, we come into, the Gospel Mark brings us into the night before his death on the cross.

[6:08] It's the night of the Passover, when the people of Israel would look back on God passing over their houses, the houses of all the Israelites. But on this Passover, on this last night with his disciples, Jesus is not looking back.

[6:23] Jesus is looking forward. The shadow of the cross has become larger and larger, knowing his death is imminent.

[6:36] But remarkably, Jesus does not flinch. And what I love about this scene, it's not filled, his last night of freedom is not filled with his fretting and worrying. Jesus does not even have second thoughts in this moment, nor does Jesus kind of party down and act like this is not going to happen tomorrow, knowing tomorrow he'd die.

[6:53] It just doesn't matter. No, Jesus takes the last supper to serve. Jesus takes this last supper with his disciples to explain what the cross means for him and for them.

[7:05] He takes this last supper to explain why this Passover is so much different than every other Passover. And the word where we're going is, come eat and drink, for the judgment of God has passed over you and fallen on Jesus.

[7:18] Come eat and drink, for the judgment of God has passed over you and fallen on Jesus. We're going to break this out in three simple points. The first is the Passover preparations. The Passover preparation.

[7:30] The first several verses of this text focus on the Passover preparations. And so Jesus is gathering his disciples to celebrate the Passover. And that's where it begins.

[7:41] Look in verse 12. He says, So Mark is wanting to make very clear that we know that all this stuff that's about to happen is happening on the day of Passover.

[7:57] Now you probably remember the story. At the end of Genesis, the people of Israel are in Egypt because they went there to escape the famine and they're still there after Joseph and all his brothers die.

[8:09] But the people of God continue to grow and strengthen numbers. And a new king arises in Egypt named Pharaoh who does not like them. We've been reading this.

[8:19] You know, Exodus is tons of fun. Actually, some of the Old Testament is just tons of, just great reading. And so this Pharaoh oppresses them. He makes them work like slaves. He cracks down on them.

[8:31] And the people cry out. The words literally say, they cry out to the Lord and their prayer reaches up to his ears. What a vivid reminder of how powerful prayer is. And so it reaches up to his ears and the Lord calls Moses through the burning bush and says, Deliver my people.

[8:48] Now you thought with the Lord in charge, this would be very easy. But things don't go as planned. And Pharaoh doesn't just let the people go. And so the Lord brings down the plagues.

[9:00] He turns water into blood, frogs, lice, flies, the death of livestock, boils, hail, locusts. But Pharaoh continues to harden his heart.

[9:11] For 10 chapters, something like that, this battle royale between the Lord and Pharaoh's hard heart. And then the Lord prepares the people for one final plague.

[9:22] He says, Take a lamb without blemish, kill it at nightfall, and roast it. Take some of the blood, and put it on the doorpost, and eat the lamb at home, and watch and wait.

[9:34] Exodus 12 says, It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through, that's the language, the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down all the firstborn of the land of Egypt, both man and beast.

[9:47] And on all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I'll pass over you.

[9:58] And no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike down the land of Egypt. And so, if you read Exodus, the Lord does what he said he was going to do.

[10:08] The people do what the Lord says, and the Lord says, or does what he says he's going to do. He strikes down the firstborn of every household, and every beast in Egypt.

[10:20] But no one of the people of Israel was struck down. No one who had the blood on the doorpost. And it's hard to, you know, from where we sit, 21st century, it's hard to understand the impact of the Passover, and the deliverance had on the people of Israel.

[10:42] They looked back for years and years to come, but it shaped who they are. In the same way that we sing like the Star Spangled Banner at nearly every major sporting event to remember the freedom that we enjoy, not take it for granted, the people look back also to the Exodus.

[10:59] They look back to the Passover. They look back to this dramatic deliverance to remember that they were the Lord's people. No matter what's going on, this is what located them. And so they sang about it.

[11:09] They celebrated Psalm 136. It's a fabulous song that captured it. Give thanks to the Lord for He's good, for His steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His steadfast love endures forever.

[11:21] Give thanks to the Lord of the Lord. His steadfast love endures forever. To Him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, steadfast love endures forever. And brought Israel out from among them. His steadfast love endures forever.

[11:33] With a strong hand and an outstretched arm for His steadfast love endures forever. And so this emerge, actually it's commanded to be this feast that they celebrate and they remember.

[11:44] And so as Mark begins this story and locates us in what is about to happen in the life of Jesus Christ, he wants to make it very clear that all that's about to happen happens on this night.

[11:55] This most holy night for the people of Israel. It's very important that we see this so that we might see what God's trying to show us.

[12:07] And so Mark continues and he kind of tells them how to prepare. You know, they ask him where should we go to prepare the Passover? And so he gives them some details just like the Lord told them how to prepare for the Passover in Exodus 11.

[12:18] So the Lord Jesus tells them how to prepare for this one. Look in verse 13. He says, go in the city. He sent two again. Go into the city and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.

[12:29] Follow him. Wherever he says, enter, or wherever he enters, go in and say, where's my guest room? The teacher says, where is my guest room? And you'll find an upper room there. Now this little four verses are loaded with evidence of the all-knowing and all-powerful Lordship of Jesus Christ.

[12:49] They say, go in there and find a man carrying a jug of water. Now men in those days did not carry a jug of water. They may carry a skin of water, but they would not have walked around carrying a jug of water.

[13:01] So it would be very easy to spot a man carrying a jug of water even during Passover and a million plus people descend on this city. But did you notice that Jesus says, this man will meet you?

[13:17] So go to the city and this man will meet you. Now it would be pretty remarkable if Jesus said, go into the city and you will meet this man. Like you'll see him, you'll meet him. But it's doubly remarkable that Jesus said, that's not what he said.

[13:31] That's what we expect him to say, that's not what he said. Jesus says, go into the city, look for this guy with a jug of water, he's going to come and meet you. He's going to know who you are. Follow him into the house.

[13:42] I love this. He says, when you get into the house, say the teacher says, where is my guest room? Where I can eat.

[13:54] Because he's the Lord. The earth and the fullness thereof is the Lord's. So they prepare the Passover.

[14:07] Now this is the upper room. Now I remember as a kid that used to be this devotional, always in the back of the church, the upper room, you know, good Presbyterian devotional. And so, so this is the upper room. This is the place of the final meeting with Jesus' disciples.

[14:22] Interestingly, many believe this is the same upper room where they gathered in Acts 1 to select Matthias. And they also gathered in Acts 12 when Peter was released from prison, if you remember that.

[14:33] And they thought he was a ghost. And so, so it was owned by the mother of John Mark, the very author of this gospel. Isn't that amazing? So this is this, this is that upper room.

[14:44] Oh, to be there. Point two, the Passover meal. So the Passover preparations, the Passover meal. When it was evening, Jesus and his disciples go to the upper room to eat the Passover meal.

[14:58] Look in verse 17. When it was evening, he came with the 12. Now, they go to the upper room in the evening. Again, Mark is emphasizing that they're going to eat the Passover.

[15:12] The Passover meal is only eaten after sundown. So that's, that's when they're going. That's what they are. So this is the last supper now. So they're in the upper room. This is the last supper.

[15:23] The last meal Jesus will eat with the disciples. The last meal he'll eat before his death. I mean, wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall? Wouldn't you love to see the faces around the table?

[15:35] Jesus knew what was coming for him. The disciples didn't know what was coming for them. Several years ago, a chef, one chef, released a cookbook entitled, Meals to Die For.

[15:46] It was recipes that he had fixed death row inmates for their last meal. You know, it captures the curiosity of so many people. What would you want to eat before you die?

[15:59] Obviously, most common was steak, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, things like that. You know, but if you only had one last meal, what would you eat? Where would you eat?

[16:09] Who would you eat it with? Would you finish it off with a dairy barn, whatever. You know, whatever you like. From there, you know, there's so much curiosity about the Last Supper.

[16:23] That's why there's so many paintings. There's so many reenactments. The very image that da Vinci painted is an image recreated so many different times.

[16:34] It's been the subject of numerous questions and studies, but Mark leaves almost all of our questions unanswered. Includes very few details. Mark doesn't tell us about Jesus washing the disciples' feet.

[16:47] Mark doesn't include Jesus' exhortation for a new commandment to love one another. Mark doesn't write down Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit. Wonderful.

[16:57] John 14. Whole wonderful sermon about the Spirit who will come and help you. It's better that I go to the Father because He'll come. Mark doesn't add Jesus' long prayer for unity.

[17:09] But like all the other Gospels, Mark does include Jesus' warning that someone will betray Him. We already know that Judas has agreed to deliver Jesus over to the chief priests and scribes, but the disciples don't know.

[17:26] And Judas doesn't know that Jesus knows. Look in verse 18. While they're reclining at table, Jesus says, Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me.

[17:37] One who is eating with me. Now, it's hard for us to take us into this moment, but this is, this is the band of brothers. These are the people following Jesus Christ.

[17:47] These are the people that have stuck their neck out for Jesus. But Jesus says, one of you will break rank. One of you will betray me. Now, it's hard to imagine the collective shock of a moment like this.

[18:01] if you've been betrayed, you know the shock of finding out that your business partner has ruined you.

[18:12] Your friend has been stealing from you. Your sister-in-law has been slandering you. Your spouse has run around on you. And so, disciples, look at verse 19.

[18:26] they began to be sorrowful and to say to one another, is it I? Or, sorry, to say to him one after another, is it I? And so, they're all kind of on this table, bewildered.

[18:38] Is it I, Lord? Is it, is it I? Am I the one that are going to, that's going to betray you? Jesus responds, doesn't answer their question.

[18:51] He responds, it is one of the 12, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. So, Jesus is very clear.

[19:02] The person who betrays me will not be one of the crowd of followers. So, at this time, Jesus was not there with just the 12, the crowd in that house. After all, it's John Mark's mother's house.

[19:15] But Jesus says, it's not one of the crowd that will betray me. It's one of the 12. It's one of the men eating with me, dipping with me.

[19:27] The shock of this statement doesn't land on us because we don't understand the significance of eating together in the first century. You know, we eat kind of as a utilitarian, like get some calories in it so we can keep going.

[19:39] But mealtimes were much more than that. In the first century, being invited to someone's home was an invitation to close friendship and fellowship. That's why the religious leaders were so hacked that Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners.

[19:56] And so Jesus says, one of them will betray him. Now, Jesus is not betrayed by a concerned citizen or an offended neighbor or a high and mighty civic leader.

[20:08] Jesus is betrayed by one of his own. One of the 12. One of his friends. One who ate with him. But it does beg the question, why does Jesus tell the disciples this?

[20:21] Like if he knows and Judas knows, why does it matter that everyone else knows? I mean, why not let what happens, happens? Que sera, sera. Just let it play out.

[20:32] Why not just do that? And I think, Jen, Jesus again is displaying that he's the all-powerful Lord by telling him that he'll be betrayed by one of his disciples. Something they could never believe so that they would not fight back and would not become discouraged.

[20:47] So that they would know it's part of the plan and purpose of God. Look at verse 21. I think that's exactly what he means when he says, for, so that's a purpose clause, for the Son of Man goes as it is written.

[21:02] He goes as it is written. It's part of the plan and the purpose of God. It's what is written, what is planned, what is decreed, for him.

[21:13] But look at the way he continues, but woe to that man. Now, I was reading that this morning. It reminded me of Winston Churchill. He always called Hitler that bad man.

[21:26] And I thought, stand out both. He says, that man, woe to that, we could insert, bad man, by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for him, for that man, if he had not been born.

[21:40] born. Now, this is, this is, this statement is one of those conundrum type statements. Now, wait a minute. If Jesus tells his disciples that all that is supposed to happen, must happen, how can Jesus say, woe to that man?

[21:57] How can Jesus say that this will happen as it is written, yet hold Judas accountable? responsible. So, people ask, is God sovereign or is man responsible?

[22:13] Yes! Our statement of faith articulates it this way, I think, sheds light into what's going on in this moment.

[22:25] From all eternity, God sovereignly ordained all that exists and all that occurs in creation in order to display the fullness of his glory. yet God in his foreordination is not the author of sin, nor do his decrees negate, that just means take away, remove, nor do his decrees negate the will of his creatures who act with the power of a willing choice in accord with their nature.

[22:52] Therefore, all persons are responsible for their actions which have real and eternal consequences. I think that walks the line very, very well. So, what it's saying is God is absolutely sovereign and yet his sovereignty does not remove the willing choices of men and the real and eternal consequences of those choices.

[23:14] So, what Jesus is saying, Jesus assures his disciples, so, so, so as you go out tonight, as we go out into the darkness tonight, all that's happening, all that does happen, all that will happen will happen according to the plan of God.

[23:28] But Jesus assures his disciples, Judas is no pawn. He chooses to betray the Son of Man, his day will come. This is not the matrix. This is not fate.

[23:42] The decisions of Judas, decisions of every man have real and eternal consequences and that's some of what Jesus is talking about and walking this line. point three, the Passover lamb.

[23:57] The Passover lamb. As they are eating the Passover, Jesus explains to them what will happen and what it all means. As, as I mentioned a moment ago, the Passover meal began at sundown and continued though to almost midnight.

[24:15] night. It had a certain order. Certain things you're supposed to do, certain things you're supposed to eat, that you drank four cups of wine throughout the evening included eating the Passover lamb, the bitter herbs, reminding them of walking through the wilderness, the greens, the stewed fruit, the unleavened bread because there wasn't a time enough for the bread to rise.

[24:37] Along the way, there's various questions that children in the house are called, are encouraged to ask the head of the household. Questions like, why is this night a holy night?

[24:49] Why do we eat unleavened bread? Why do we eat bitter herbs? Why do we eat only roasted lamb? And so they're eating the Passover together.

[25:03] Jesus and his disciples. Jesus begins to teach them though about the true meaning of the Passover. Look in verse 22. As they were eating, he took bread and after blessing it, he broke it and gave it to them and said, take, this is my body.

[25:27] Now all the attention in that verse is on what Jesus is doing with his hands. There's seven verbs describing what he's doing as he rips this bread as he gives it to the disciples.

[25:42] Jesus breaks the bread and gives it. The last time those two verbs occurred together was when Jesus fed the 5,000 and the 4,000 and he took those five loaves and two fishes and he fed this multitude.

[25:56] There he was saying he will provide bread but now he's saying I am the bread. so he breaks the bread and he says this is my body. A little while later he takes up the cup.

[26:12] Verse 23 and when he had given thanks he gave it to them. They all drank of it and he said to them this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many.

[26:25] So he pours out the wine and he says this is my blood. Now what's Jesus saying through these vivid objects?

[26:37] This is an object lesson from Jesus. He says my body will be broken my body will be crushed I will die for you. He says my blood will be shed my blood will be spilled I will be killed for you.

[26:52] Jesus is driving home to his disciples that perhaps still hung on to some figment of imagination that Jesus would rise up to a throne in Jerusalem.

[27:04] The central reason why he came was to die. Again John Stodd helps us. He says the Lord's Supper which was instituted by Jesus and which is the only regular commemorative act authorized by him dramatizes I mean that puts on display neither his birth nor his life neither his words nor his works but only his death.

[27:32] Nothing could indicate more clearly the central significance with Jesus attached to his death. It was by his death that he wished above all to be remembered.

[27:44] There is then it's safe to say no Christianity without the cross. If the cross is not central to our religion ours is not the religion of the cross.

[27:57] So above all what Jesus is saying what he's putting on display and maybe it's so obvious because we've celebrated communion so many times we've done these things that he came to die. He says there if you look there with me he says he came to die for many this is the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many this reminds of exactly what he said in Mark 10 for even the son of man did not come to be served but to serve to give his life as a ransom for many it's also a reference though to Isaiah 53 the most substitution centered chapter of the Bible that ends with he gave his life as a ransom for many so what Jesus is saying is that Jesus came not to be a good man not to be a great man but to be a substitute for man and to be the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all humankind now many have noted along the way that real life changing love is substitutionary sacrifice it's one of the most common themes in everything you read but we see it in friends who really help you know if you love a friend who has it all together that love costs you nothing but if you love someone who doesn't have it all together if you love someone who's persecuted and suffering it'll cost you a lot you're gonna have to sacrifice for him you know we see this sacrificial substitute type love substitutionary sacrifice type love in parents who limit their freedom and independence to devote their children to devote to helping their children learn the things they need to learn to help them learn the things they cannot learn in any other way parents who don't do this have children that grow up but never grow up we see it in nature

[29:46] I read recently about this story in the National Geographic and a park ranger was talking about walking through Yellowstone after a forest fire these fires that consume so much of the landscape and they went out to survey the damage and they came upon a bird in which there's nothing left but the shell of the bird's body they're petrified and covered with ash and one of the rangers knocked the body with a stick and three tiny chicks crawled out from under the dead mother's wings what a beautiful picture of substitutionary sacrifice what Jesus is saying is real love is substitutionary sacrifice and the symbols of the bread the words of his mouth and the actions of giving it to his disciples Jesus is saying I came to be your substitute to be the perfect sacrifice for your sins and I think in many ways suddenly so much of the bible began to make sense to these disciples they knew that god was holy they knew they had sinned against him they knew they had a debt they knew they needed to pay for their debt they knew they need to pay for their punishment so they were commanded to offer sacrifices to god sacrifices of bulls and goats and doves and pigeons and lambs but they had no idea that the importance of all these sacrifices was to prepare them to receive the one sacrifice of the lord jesus christ and that's what he teaches at the last supper he's saying to them i came to offer myself in the place of guilty sinners so that guilty sinners might be forgiven and freed forever what he's saying is that this sacrifice on the night of the passover is a sacrifice that will replace all the other sacrifices replace the sacrificial system all the bulls and the goats and the doves and the lambs will be thrown out because this sacrifice will be offered and will establish a new covenant between god and man a covenant not based on the works of men but based on the blood the spotless blood of the lamb jesus christ and first peter 3 tells us for christ also suffered once for sins the righteous for the unrighteous that he might bring us to god and so through this supper jesus wants to see that above all he wishes to be remembered by the cross and he wishes to be remembered above all by the cross because it is there that he offered the substitutionary sacrifice john was right when he said behold the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world so on this passover night which mark is taking great pains to help us understand that this is when all this has happened jesus is rising up to tell them that he will be the passover lamb that he will be the one crushed for the sins of the world he will be our passover no longer will we look back to what god did in egypt we will look back to what god did on calvary and so come and eat the judgment of god has passed over you and fallen on jesus so how do we respond because in fact over the next six weeks it's hard to know how to respond because all of these verses are all about jesus if you read through for what should i do for the lord today he might not find something in there i want to say two things first is you must take and eat for yourself you must

[33:48] take and eat for yourself jesus broke the bread and gave it to him jesus poured the cup and gave it to him jesus gave himself for him first timothy one says for there is one god and there is one mediator between god and man man the man christ jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all jesus gave himself for us and he gave himself to us so you must take and eat for yourself it was not enough for bread to be broken it was not enough for wine to be poured it must be eaten it must be drank it's not enough for jesus to die not enough for jesus to be offered as a sacrifice for sin you must receive him i think that's what it's saying the ball's in your court eating and drinking now this is where the church spilt a lot of ink trying to figure out what does it mean that he's a body he's a blood you know and and and gotten all quite all sorts of arguments but i think the main point of eating and drinking is driving at the the wonderful pictures they are of faith that that faith is not just believing there's a god in heaven who sent his son faith's not even agreeing that he came at a certain point in the time of history faith is staking everything on it in the same way that you would eat for sustenance you eat and drink in jesus christ because you receive him and you lean on him so i do offer you jesus christ there's one uh there's one god and there's one mediator between god and man there's no other way this is where uh the christian religion stands unlike every other religion every other religion talks about how we can get up to god christianity talks about how god has come down to us and become the sacrifice for our sins and the mediator between us and god and so jesus said i am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father no one knows god except through me so if you will believe in him take him in he'll be yours forever but it also says all you must do is take and eat you know you can't be a christian and be a self-made man we like to think like that but you can't be a christian till you bow yourself low enough to receive because all you must do is take and eat on the night of hassover the only thing the people of israel commanded to do was sacrifice a lamb and throw the blood on their doorposts so too the only thing you commanded to do is take and eat and he says that's enough like that's enough for the judgment to pass over you in fact you must not add anything to it one theologian d.a.

[37:31] carson imagines the story of two men talking together on the night of the passover that i think illustrates this well let's call them mr brown and mr smith good jewish names you know mr smith says to them what do you what do you think about tonight i mean this has been crazy all these plagues has come down you remember that a nats i mean we had to swat those nats for days you know and frogs dropping from the sky what do you think i'm nervous about tonight what do you think about tonight mr brown says nervous what are you nervous about didn't you slaughter the lamb and spread its blood on the doorpost of your house just like he said didn't you have the meal with your family he said yeah yeah yeah i did all that but there's a lot of crazy things going on cattle dying frogs flying gnats everywhere and tonight the firstborn of every household is supposed to die it's all right with you you have three sons i only have one and the angel of death is coming it's scary to me mr brown response yes yes i know but bring it on i trust the promises of god on the night of the passover the angel of death passed over both houses because the power is not in how hard you cling to it but only that you threw up the blood so jesus is saying all you must do is take and eat that's where the power is that's where you receive that's where you stand on what i've done that's where you rest forever and did you notice that mark tells us in verse 23 that they all drank how could the lord let judas drink i mean nfl you throw a flag i mean that's when you throw get that guy out of the house but how could jesus let the fickle disciples drink too those who would deny him before the night is up because this meal and this death is for all who are far who are far off it's for traitors jesus death is for traitors it's for backstabbers it's for thieves it's for faithless followers it's for children it's for lust addicts angry husbands anxious mothers self-righteous rule followers discontent complainers and hopeless sinners it's for anyone who's far off that's who it's for and so jesus includes judas that night and he includes the other eleven that'll leave him in a few hours so it might be very clear to us that we can run to him and hide from the judgment that is coming so come eat and drink the judgment of god has passed over you and fallen on jesus christ may he receive all the glory father in heaven we cast ourselves onto you this moment we hide in you don't lean on our own understanding we lean on you and rest in you we praise you for your death on our behalf and the joy that we have

[41:32] through forgiveness in jesus name amen you've been listening to a message given by walt alexander lead pastor of trinity grace church in athens synessey for more information about trinity grace please visit us at trinitygraceathens.com who