Jesus dies. So I want to look at things that we know for sure. Well, for sure, even the things that we think we know for sure, might not be that for sure. But there are some things that we can say are for sure. One, the Bible is true, right? Okay, I got one amen out of that one. The Bible is true. Okay, there we go. The Bible does not contradict itself. Okay, no matter what your viewpoint is, concerning some of these things. You'll understand what I'm saying here in a minute. It does not contradict itself. So if John says something that's a little confusing to what Luke says, somewhere there's a balance and a synchronizing of the text. So if our viewpoint is contradicted, guess who's wrong? We are, we're wrong. The Bible's not wrong. So our viewpoint's got to match everything in the Bible. Palm Sunday, when Jesus went into Jerusalem, what we call Palm Sunday, although some say it was Monday, is pretty much set in stone and you'll see the reason why here in a second. Nisan 14 was Passover and I'm going to go back to what Fred had read in Exodus 12 and hopefully we'll gain a greater understanding of what Passover is. But the 14th day of the first month of the tribe of Israel is to be celebrated Passover. That's set in stone. The days, this is important to understand, this is what messes my whole brain up. The days in the Bible start from 6 p.m. to 6 p.m., not midnight to midnight. When we calculate our days, Wednesdays, Thursdays, all that sort of stuff, it all gets confusing because we're so set on midnight to midnight. So the Bible times 6 p.m. to 6 p.m. So if you kept the Sabbath, that would be Friday night at 6 to Saturday night at 6, then the Sabbath is over. So, what time is it? We're in which day? We're in Sunday now, I think. See, I'm confused already. I can't figure it out. My brain's not smart enough. Sunday. In Jerusalem, in April, the sunrise time is 538. The sunset time, 749. So the day ends, and there's still yet an hour and 49 minutes of light. That might help you bring the Bible to life sanctified imagination, hopefully. Key things we know, Jesus died and he rose again. Jesus gave up His spirit around three in the afternoon. That's the ninth hour. That's Matthew 27, 46. The darkness was at noon, according to Luke 24, 44, noon to 3 p.m. There's three hours of darkness. That's the sixth to the ninth hour. We know that He died on Friday. Well, maybe we don't know that. I'm not sure. I think we know that. I think I know that. Why? Mark 15, 42. We'll see that in a second. The day before the Sabbath. Jesus was raised on the first day of the week. We know that for sure. That's Sunday. Jesus was, this is important as we go through this, Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of everything that the Old Testament, shadows, types, all the pictures were pointing to. So when we look at Passover, which we will in a second, everything there is symbolic to being fulfilled in Jesus. We no longer have to go back and do Passover because Jesus was the fulfillment of Passover. I wrote the verse on the board. That's 1 Corinthians 5 saying, For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. That's for the Christian church. He was three days and three nights. Maybe not literal, maybe literal. Not sure. 24 hours, not sure. But he said he would be three days and three nights like Jonah in the belly of the fish. Jesus redesigned, I don't know if that's the right word, or put in place of, or reinstated, or fulfilled what Passover was to represent in the Lord's Supper. So what we do here, which we'll do after with the bread and the grape juice, we use grape juice, you can use wine if you want, that is Jesus' reinstatement of the celebration remembrance of what had happened to Israel. And that's been practiced through the New Testament church for 2000 years. Question, was the Passover lamb, was it an atonement sacrifice? When those people killed the lamb in the first Passover that Fred read in Exodus 12, was that an atonement sacrifice? Yeah, I think that one was. Okay, because why? What had happened? They put the blood on the door, the death angel passed over, they were saved. Okay, was it an atonement sacrifice from then on? No, it was a remembrance. It was a remembrance of the atonement sacrifice in the day of Israel that the death angel passed over. It's important if you're gonna correlate the Passover to the Lord's supper, right? We're understanding that that's a remembrance. This isn't the actual body and blood of Jesus. It's a symbol. It was a substitution at the time, and that's what we're remembering. The Israelites, here's one more thing that we know. According to Deuteronomy 16, 16, they were to go, this is what it says, three times a year, on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and on the Feast of Booths. All your mails shall appear before the Lord your God in the place that He will choose. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. They were commanded to go celebrate the Passover with the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Remember I said that the Passover and Unleavened Bread sometimes are used synonymous with each other in the New Testament. All right, here's something that will help us. This is how we interpret our Bibles. We try to place ourselves in the time frame of the people that are hearing what is written and what's going on. This is historical context. That's what you call it as you're interpreting. Does anybody remember how many people were said to be in Jerusalem during Passover at this time? Two million, good guess. Two million, that comes from Josephus and just guessing, okay? If there's two million, think of this. Well, how many, actually, I didn't realize that Exodus 12 actually said the number of people that were coming out of Egypt. Did you catch that one? How many did it say? 600,000 men. Yeah, 600,000 men, I just, boy, that was like a light bulb when you read it. Yeah, you guys were in sync on that one. Plus women and children, that's a lot. Let's say a million people and they just sacrificed that night, they had to go grab the lamb or the goat, right? And that many people needed to sacrifice all at the same time and put the blood on the door, right? Okay, that's a lot of death and a lot of bloodshed. Now, if there's 2 million people in Jerusalem, at the time, that's a lot of lambs slaughtered. Josephus said 256,000 lambs were killed in that time. And that's for one household, which we'll see when I go back through Exodus 12. One household would say 10 people. You can imagine how many people were there, how many lambs were slaughtered on that day, all at the same time, within a two-hour frame period, by the way. Amazing. I don't know if they held to that. They probably cheated the time frame, I'm guessing. All right. That was from the 9th to the 11th hour they were to sacrifice. That's 3 to 5 p.m. They were supposed to sacrifice all the lambs. One account, a group of priests said they could do 18,000 lambs in those two hours. I mean, that's a lot. Just imagine how fast that is. Cutting, hanging, cutting, skinning, hanging. And then they had to catch the blood, too. And laymen could do it, but the priest needed to catch the blood out of the lamb. Anybody could kill it. They're supposed to be in Jerusalem, supposed to be by the temple, supposed to be by the priest. The priest is to catch the blood and sprinkle it on the altar. Now, for bonus points, who remembers the three essentials out of all of the Passover teaching that I said two weeks ago? There were three essentials that they were supposed to do in Exodus chapter 12. Anybody got the answer? Three essentials. Spotless lamp. OK. And what were they to do with it? Kill it. Kill it is one. What were the other two? Huh? Apply the blood. Apply the blood to? Hook them. And? Keep it, stay inside. Oh, Rayleigh, you're on it, girl. Kill the lamb, apply the blood, stay inside. If that's all you get out of any of this teaching, that's success in my eyes. Kill the lamb, apply the blood, stay inside. Those are three essentials. Turn over to Exodus chapter 12. I'm not going to relive all this. I'm trying to give you an understanding of what Passover meant to the people of the time. These are certain facts concerning it. In verse, is everybody there? Exodus chapter 12. I'm going too fast. Exodus 12. God recreates. the calendar in verse two, this month shall be the beginning of months for you. It is to be the first month of the year to you. I don't care that you started in January. We're gonna make all things new. Here's your first month. Isn't this like God? Doesn't God make all things new? He starts your whole calendar all over again. He doesn't care what your opinion is about it. Here's the first month for you. It used to be called Abib, the month, now it's called Nisan, when we get to our New Testament. That changed after the captivity, after they came back. Verse 3 tells you a specific day. Now this is important, you're gonna really get this here in a second. Look at verse 3, speak to all the congregation of Israel saying on the 10th of this month, they are each one to take a lamb for themselves according to their father's household, a lamb for each household. Which day? The 10th, four days before. Thursday, Wednesday, Tuesday, Monday, Sunday, what happens on Sunday, Jesus goes into Jerusalem on the donkey, right? As a fulfillment of this, they are to select their lamb on that day, four days before they are to kill it. And Jesus fulfills this verse by coming into Jerusalem four days ahead of time. as the perfect Lamb of God. The crowds choose Him. Some reject Him as the perfect Lamb. Only God can do stuff like this. Only God. Verse 4, if you didn't have, I'm just going to paraphrase this, if you didn't have a big enough family to eat an entire lamb, you could join yourself to a bigger family so that you can all partake together. This is communal. So if there was a family with just two, they would just go to their neighbor's house. All right. Let me see, verse Verse 6, you shall keep it until the 14th day. You're supposed to keep that lamb close to you for those days. Then on the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation shall kill it. So you're becoming familiar with this lamb for a couple of days and then you are to kill it. 1 Peter 1. 18 says, knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your feudal way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood as of a lamb, unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. 7 through 10. You're supposed to put the blood on the doorpost. You're supposed to roast it with fire. You're supposed to eat unleavened bread with bitter herbs. The entirety of the animal is to be consumed in one night. Don't leave anything till the morning. I had a question. Did they skin it or did they just cook it with the skin on. I don't know if your mind works that way. Mine does. I got my answer. Second Chronicles 35 11. The priest threw the blood from them and the Levites skinned the animals. So everybody had a job to do. They apparently skinned them. Verse 11, look at what you're supposed to do. You shall eat it in this manner, your loins girded about, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You shall eat in haste. Guess what you get to do? You get to eat like ranch kids. You just get the plate and you shovel it in as fast as you can swallow it. You're eating like ranch kids. You just hurry up and go get the job done. You are to eat it in haste, ready to go. 12 through 13, the death angel and the Passover when he sees the blood. So you're going to Passover, that's the death angel. You're saved if you have the blood on your doorpost. Now, if you keep your finger there, turn over to 1 Corinthians 5. In verse 15, while you're turning there, it says this in Exodus 12, 7 days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from the house of Israel. Look what 1 Corinthians 5 says. This is a fulfillment of that. 1 Corinthians 5, so let me explain a little bit. Even in Jewish tradition now, they are to clean their house of leaven. The wife, I don't know why they do this, will leave a little bit of leaven. Usually if she's nice, she'll put it in the same spot every year. If she's mad at her husband, she'll hide it a little farther, somewhere different. But the husband is supposed to go into the house and search and make sure his wife did a good job cleaning and got all the leaven out. And then she'll leave him a little bit so it feels like he's doing something, right? So he's, ah, I found it again. I found it this year. We're going to cast out. I declare this house clean. Family, this house is clean. Okay, we're ready to go. Here's how Paul applies this in 1 Corinthians 5. It is actually reported that there's immorality among you, an immorality of such as a kind that does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife. You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst. See that same language? For I on my part, though absent in body, but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. Verse 4, In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your boasting is not good, church. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. What is the leaven in the Christian's life? Sin. Sin, clean out the leaven from your life. The thing that makes the dough expand is a sin that you're in, Christian, that is wrecking your life. It's expanding into your life and wrecking your life. Cast it out. You know what I saw here? This is written to the Corinthians who are not predominantly Jewish, who did not predominantly keep Passover. And yet Paul, says to them, for Christ, verse 7, the middle of it, it's one on the board, for Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, Christian church, celebrate the feast. When? 14th of Nisan? No, every day, every day. We're celebrating the spiritual fulfillment of the Passover every day, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And then you can go on. I was going to read the whole thing, but you got the picture. You see, Old Testament matters and we should know it. We should read it and know it. New Testament is the fulfillment of the old. Back to Exodus 12, verse 16-20 is just the reiteration of the commands for Passover. 21-22, the elders of the house took and slayed the lamb for their families and they applied the blood. 23-41 is a reiteration of God's revenge. Look at that, verse 30, Pharaoh rose in the night, he and all his servants and all of the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there had not been someone dead." You know what just happened for 80 years prior to this? You know what the Pharaoh was doing? Murdering the sons of the Israelites for 80 years. And God said, I'll avenge you. I'll avenge you, my people. And he took the firstborn of the Egyptians. 80 years, every time an Israelite woman would give birth, they would kill her if it was a boy. 42 through 51, more instructions, you must be circumcised, eaten in a single house, don't leave any, is again, but Fred stopped in chapter 13, it keeps going. That's 51 verses in 12 and 16, that's 67 verses concerning the Passover. It's an important thing for us to understand what the Passover is so that when we come to the New Testament, we understand how Jesus fulfills Passover. Okay, that's why I'm spending the time to do it. Chapter 13 stresses the redemption remembrance. Remember this, remember. I have a short paper to read for you. This is Jewish tradition. This is probably what they did. Sorry if it's a little long. It's not that long. This is the preparation. So as they were about to do this, this is how they prepared for it. And this is the things that they did. This preparation would include the provision of unleavened cakes. That's what we pass around, too. We make unleavened bread for the Lord's Supper. Of bitter herbs, the four or five cups of red wine mixed with water, and everything, in short, necessary for the meal. Can you guys stop? It's really hard to read, and I can see you guys poking each other. Thank you. At this point, it may be well to try to realize the manner in which the Passover was celebrated amongst the Jews in the time of our Lord. With the Passover by divine ordinance, there had always been eaten two or three flat cakes of unleavened bread, and the rites of the feast by immoral memory Sorry, I can't say the word. Usage had been regulated according to the succession of the four cups of red wine always mixed with water. So they would take the wine and they would bring the remembrance of what they were supposed to say at that time, and I'll get into that here in a second. These were placed before the master of the house where the fastical feast was celebrated, or at the most eminent guest who was called the celebrant, the president, or proclaimer of the feast." Now think of this as we go into Mark 14, you had one guy that was supposed to be the head, the president, the one leader. Now you have Jesus and 12 guys that like to argue about who's the greatest, right? Right? I wonder if they just kept their mouth shut this time. I think they probably did. Jesus was probably the president, the proclaimer of the feast. After those assembled had reclined, he took one of the four cups, known as the cup of consecration, in his right hand and pronounced the benediction over the wine and the feast, saying this. This is the benediction. This is what they would say for 1500 years. Blessed be thou, Jehovah our God, thou King of the universe, who has created the fruit of the vine. Wow. He then tasted the cup and passed it around. Water was then brought in and he washed. So he'd wash his hands, followed by the rest. They would all wash their hands, being dipped in the water. The table was then set out with bitter herbs, such as lettuce, endive, suckery, jorham, that's all like, like horseradish type stuff. The sauce called Cheruseth and the Passover lamb. So picture this, you have the cups of wine, you have the little things here, the little dip here that they remember Jesus dipped the thing in and gave it to Judas. You have the lamb sitting there. Sorry, I lost my spot. The celebrant then once more blessed God for the fruits of the earth, and taking a portion of bitter herbs, dipped it in the cheraseth, and ate a piece of it the size of an olive. And his example was followed by the rest. The hegedah, or showing forth, now commenced, and the celebrant declared circumstances of the delivery of Egypt as commanded by the law." So some say that when Stephen was, what he did in Acts 7, All that stuff that he said was what he would say at his table. So that's the sort of thing that he would recall every single year, the history of Israel. That's what was to be done right here. Then the second cup of wine was filled, and a child or proselyte inquired." Okay, so now you have the least of the men there. Somebody has to, you're like, I'll do it. You know, who's the worst here? Here, let me see which one of you is the worst. Who wants to ask me the question? Oh, nobody. Oh, Jenny's the most humble one here. Good job. Just kidding. So you see that, It took the lowest of the low to ask Jesus the question that night. Okay, who was it? Which one was it? I wanna know, Bartholomew? Maybe it was Judas. He would ask this, what mean ye by this service? Okay, so why are you doing this? Please tell us, President. It was a leading question so he can expound what it all means. To which reply was made according to the prescribed formula of liturgy, the first part of the Hillel, Psalm 113 and 114. I know I put you on the spot, Fred, could you read for us Psalm 113 and 114? This is what was said. Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord! Blessed be the name of the Lord, from this time forth and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ashy to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord. When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob, from a people of strange language, Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion. The sea looked and fled. Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams. The hills like lambs. What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back. O mountains, that you skip like rams. O hills, like lambs. Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water. Amen. Then the second cup was solemnly drunk. The celebrant now washed his hands again, and taking two of the unleavened cakes, broke one of them, and pronounced the thanksgiving in these words. Blessed be thou, O Lord, our God, thou King of the universe, who brings forth fruit out of the earth. Then he distributed a portion to each, and all wrapping some bitter herbs around their portion, dipped it in the charoset and ate it. The flesh of the lamb was now eaten, and the master of the house, lifting up his hands, gave orders over the third cup of wine, known as the cup of blessing. and handed it around to each person. After thanking for the food which they had partaken, and for the redemption from Egypt, a fourth cup, known as the cup of joy, was filled and drunk, and the remainder of the Hallel Psalms were sung." I wanted to do that, but some of the guys that I wanted to read it didn't show up. You can read that on your own time. So you can see what had happened for 1,500 years. This was the system, right? You do all this little pictures. They pass the bread, they wrap it in the thing. It's not like this overindulgence meal here, is it? There's food there, but it doesn't sound like very much. But this was possibly what was going on in the room with the apostles and Jesus. So hopefully you have a picture of that. Back to Mark 14. On the first day of unleavened bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed. So we know, despite people that want to say that it didn't happen this way, the Bible says this Passover lamb was being sacrificed. Jesus is on his way to go celebrate this Passover. Okay? He says to his disciples, or his disciples say to him, where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover? Okay? One thing that we can do as we look at the other Gospel accounts, all four of them have somewhat the same accounts. John doesn't give all this chronological stuff to it. But in Luke, let me just read it for you, it will be better if I read it. Luke 22's account. Verse 15, Jesus said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. This is something Jesus wanted to do with his apostles, with his disciples. He earnestly desired to eat the Passover. Can you apply this, Christians? Do you earnestly desire to eat the Lord's Supper with fellow Christians, or is this just X? Nothing to you. Look what else happens. Jesus gives instructions. Luke gives us who it was. It was Peter and John. He said to Peter and John, go into the city and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Why? This is a covert operation. Why? Remember previously, Judas had left to conspire against Jesus. He does not want Judas to know where he's going yet. It's a covert operation in secret. He sends them, go follow this guy, follow him. Now, remember that there is Maybe two million people in the city. He wants them to go into the city and find a guy carrying a pitcher of water. I don't know if there was just one guy out of the two million that was carrying a pitcher of water. I'm guessing there was probably more than just one. And they're like, OK, sure. I'm going to go into the city. I'm going to find this guy. Now, I don't know if he had a sign like at the airport, Peter and John. Here, I'm looking for Peter and John. I don't think so. I don't think so. I think this is showing Jesus's omniscience and complete control over the situation. Remember, again, Judas is looking for an opportunity. Judas is not there. Okay, go into the city, see a guy carrying a pitcher and follow him. Okay, so I don't know if it went like, hey, are you the guy? Yeah, I'm the guy. Okay, follow me. You know, like that, or if they just followed this guy, but typically women and slaves carried pitchers of water. So there would have been guys carrying water that were slaves. This guy must've been a slave because once he gets to the house, say to the master of the house, this in verse 14, the teacher says, where is my guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples? Maybe this is a guy Jesus knew and he had prepared for this ahead of time. That's no problem. But the other thing is, how did they know when to go? How did they know at that time? Did Jesus, if He prepared this meeting, did He say at 10 o'clock, check your watch at 10 and make sure that you're there at the fountain of Siloam or whatever? and meet me." No, this is showing the divine nature of Jesus. They saw the guy, they followed the guy, they went to the room, and they did what He said. Verse 15, He will show you a large room furnished and ready, prepare for us there. Peter and John are there preparing all those things that I just read to you. The herbs, that little dip with the apples in it and the nuts and all that sort of stuff. The lamb, what did they have to do? They had to go find a lamb, right? I'm assuming that they kept the lamb part of it. No, so they had to go and get the consecrated lamb as well. John Gill says this, This is a commentator that I just happened to read. And they made ready the Passover. They went and bought a lamb, they carried it to the temple to be slain in the court, where it was presented as a Passover lamb for such a number of persons. They had it flayed, cut up, the fat taken out and burnt on the altar, and its blood sprinkled on the foot of it. Then they brought it to the house where they had to eat it, Here they roasted it and provided bread and wine and bitter herbs and sauce called shero seth into which the herbs were dipped. And in short, everything was necessary. So they did it. They went and prepared it for Jesus. And Jesus is gonna show up here in a little bit to what they had just prepared for him. All right. Here's another thing that a commentator wrote concerning this, because some people say that he didn't eat the Passover lamb, it was a pre-supper or something like that, so I want you to be aware of that. It doesn't really matter, to be honest. This is what Matthew Poole wrote. But what the disciples did as these matters the scriptures not told us. It is enough for us that we are told the Passover was made ready, and we may be assured that nothing in preparing of it was omitted. By the law of God was required as the sacred action. It was not the business of the evangelist, Mark, to acquaint us with every particular circumstances, only to let us know that our Lord did keep the Passover and in the close of the feast instituted the supper to which relation our evangelist now comes. They did it. He wanted to do it. He earnestly sought to do it with them. I believe they did it according to the Bible. All right, so there Jesus enters, verse 17. It was evening. He came with the 12. Remember, later, if you know the story, later he's gonna go to the Garden of Gethsemane the same night. The same night. Okay, so it's evening time now, so it's around 6 p.m. I'm guessing Thursday night. Maybe Friday, not sure. As they were reclining at the table, so you sat down and you reclined, Jesus said, truly I say to you, one of you will betray me. Imagine that. So you're sitting there eating all this symbolism stuff. He's going through the thing. And all of a sudden he just says, one of you are going to betray me. I bet you could have heard a pin drop. One of you will betray me. one who is eating with me. They began to be grieved and say to him, this is verse 19, surely not I. You know who else said that? Judas. What's going on in the house? Surely not I. And he said, it is one of the 12 who dips with me in the bowl. Now we know from John's account who it was. There's a couple of people that knew who it was. John writes that there was a disciple leaning on Jesus's breast. Peter says, hey, ask him who it is. Who's the one? John says, Lord, who is it? The one who dips in that share of stuff with me is the one. He dips it, he hands it to Judas. Judas swallows it. Now John knows, Peter knows, Jesus knows. The rest of them, no idea, no idea. John's account has Judas leaving, He dipped a piece of bread, this is coming from John chapter 13. He dipped a piece of bread, took it and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. After this, Satan had entered him. Therefore, Jesus said to him, what you are doing, do it quickly. Now, none of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose he had said this to him. For some were assuming since Jesus kept the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, buy the things we need for the feast, or give it to the poor. So after receiving the piece of bread, this is verse 30 of John 13, he left immediately and it was night. So you have these little details. Judas now leaves the Passover supper. It's nighttime. We know he's going to... where he's going he's gonna try to look for an opportunity to maybe maybe he's going to say hey I know where he is right now let's go back to the upper room and let's get him here's our chance maybe that's what happened well while he's gone while he's gone Verse 21 says, the son of man is to go out just as written him, but woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. It would not be good for that man if he had been born. It would have been good for that man if he had not been born. It'd be better if he didn't even live. He's gone. He's out of the fellowship. He left the fellowship right there at that moment. What's our next passage in Scripture? The Lord's Supper. We're removing the leaven from our houses. The bad, the bad, the unconverted, the one that are betraying Jesus are out of the fellowship of the Lord's Supper. You know what happened? I forgot to mention this before this, the foot washing and Judas was there. Jesus, the lowly Jesus gets down and washes their dirty feet. How can Judas have such a heart like this? right in the face of Jesus. It's going to get worse. I'm going to give him a kiss in the next section. Surely not I, teacher. How can some sit here, or here, or other places, hear the gospel, hear the truth, and just reject it? Yeah, I believe it's true. I believe it's true, but it doesn't change my life. Now, this next section from 22 to 31, I think, I can't remember where it was. One of the gospel accounts is Jesus began to be troubled in spirit. But verse 22 in Mark here, while they were eating... Okay, so now you have the ceremony was done. The stuff was being explained, the question from the lowly was asked, the history, the Hallel Psalms were sung. Now they're just kind of relaxing and finishing up the food. And by the way, someone said that once the ceremony thing was over, it becomes unconsecrated stuff. Now you can just eat it, no big deal. It was a symbol, it was a type of something. And so they're eating. They're finishing. Remember, they weren't supposed to leave the lamb until the next day anyway. So now they're eating. They might be talking. I'm guessing they were talking and having fellowship, just like we would. All of a sudden, Jesus took some of the bread that was already there, that was already symbolized. He's going to reinvent the system, isn't he? He takes the bread after a blessing. Oh God, great Jehovah, King of the universe, who brings forth fruit from the land. He broke it. He already did this once. He does it again. He broke it and he gave it to them. But this time he says, take. Take it. This is my body. Wow. This is my body? Jesus, what do you mean? I don't get it. I don't get what you mean. This is my body which is broken for you according to a different gospel account? You're like, okay. They took it. And when he had taken the cup, he had given thanks again, just like before. O great Jehovah, master of the universe, our great God who brings forth fruit from the vine. He took the cup, he'd given thanks, and he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said, this is my blood. of the covenant. Wait, what? I thought it was the blood on the doorposts. That blood? What do you mean, Jesus, that this is now your blood of the covenant? Remember the woman, Mary, in the previous chapter understood that he had to die and anoints him for his burial. The apostles are still not understanding. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Matthew has for the forgiveness of sins. Poured out for many. And he reinvents or reinstates what true Passover is right here. I want to look at this word covenant real quick. Now, to a good Jew who knew the Old Testament, they would have thought of one place where the word is used the only time in the Old Testament, New Covenant. New Covenant. Can anybody guess where it's used? You can cheat, because I wrote it on the board. All right, Jeremiah 31 is the place. Way to pay attention, Fred, that a boy. Jeremiah 31. No doubt did their minds run to Jeremiah 31 when he said, this is the covenant in my blood. Luke 22 has, this is the new covenant in my blood. Paul writes, when we reiterate the Lord's Supper and all that sort of stuff, this is the new covenant in my blood, quoting Luke. 100% their minds went to Jeremiah 31, which says this, Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day, I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. God had made a covenant with Israel in the day that He led them out of Egypt. That's what we call the Mosaic Covenant. It was basically this. Here's the commands. Are you going to be my people? Yes, God, we'll be your people. Are you going to obey these commands? Yes, God, we'll obey these commands. All right. Sprinkle the blood on the book. Sprinkle on the people. Sprinkle on the altar. All right, if you don't obey, you said you're gonna obey, you're my people, you're gonna follow me, you don't obey, guess what this blood, now we're gonna take your blood instead. Because if you disobey, you die. Anybody wanna be part of the Mosaic Covenant? Any volunteers? Who wants to be part of the Abrahamic Covenant? Me. By faith you become the sons of God. See, Israel entered this covenant with God foolishly, said, I'll obey. But God says, all right, you guys blew it. Obviously, because the law was a schoolmaster to lead us to Jesus. I'm going to make a new covenant with you in Jeremiah 31. You will be my people. I will be your God. I will put my laws in your hearts. They won't be on tablets of stone. I will be here. I will send my Spirit into you so that you can obey. This is the new covenant that Jesus had said. This is the new covenant in my blood. It's here. It should be celebrated. It should make us joyful. We should sing the Hallel songs with all our hearts over what Jesus had done, poured out His own blood. Not just the blood of 2,000,000 or 256,000 lambs that filled the trenches outside the gates of Jerusalem into the spring of water flowing out the mountain. No, Jesus is the spring, the blood flowed and the springs of life come and clean it and make us new. This is the covenant in my blood. I'm going to close with Hebrews chapter 8. The longest quotation of the Old Testament in the New Testament is found in Hebrews chapter 8. You know what he quotes? Any guesses? Jeremiah 31. Good job, Fred. Two for two. Now the writer of Hebrews writes this in verse 1 of Hebrews chapter 8. Now the main point in what has been said is this. Now I get comfort from this because I think I talk too much sometimes when I'm up here. And I try to fit too much details and probably like, yeah. And apparently it took eight chapters for this guy to finally like, all right. So anyway, so the main point, the main point of what I've been saying is this. What have you been saying writer of Hebrews? We have such a high priest who has taken a seat at the right hand of God over the throne of the majesty in the heavens. That's the main point. We have a high priest, Christian, that never dies. a minister in the sanctuary, in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not in the skin of animals, in the poles, in the temples, in the system. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, so it is necessary that the high priest also have something to offer. What did he offer? Now, if it were on earth, he would not be priest at all, since there are those who offer gifts according to the law, who serve, who are slaves, who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. That's what the Passover was, a copy and a shadow of heavenly things. Just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle. See, he says that you make all things according to the pattern which is shown you on the mountain, verse six. But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry by as much as he is also the mediator of a better, better, better new covenant. which has been enacted on better promises. This is my covenant in my blood for the forgiveness of sins. If you wanted your sins forgiven, you had to try to keep the law, which nobody can. Jesus promises, trust in me, believe on me, repent and believe the gospel, believe on me and you will have the forgiveness of sins because I shed my blood for your soul. Then you have the quotation of Jeremiah 31, And he ends this in verse 13, when he said a new covenant, he had made the first obsolete. It's gone. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. This is written in 8060. All right. Or somewhere in there. I don't know. It's growing old. They're still celebrating Passover. They're still doing the sacrifices. I don't know if the Christians were. Somebody was. And then what happened in 70 AD? Removal of all the systems and the public display of this old way is gone. We have a new way in Jesus. We have the new covenant in His blood. That would have shocked that would have shocked those guys in that room that night when he said, this is the covenant in my blood. What you've been waiting for Israel is now here, right in your midst. And in a couple hours, I'm going to go shed my blood, Jesus said. They're going to leave and they're going to go somewhere else. He's going to get arrested in not too long. Let's pray. Father, we come before you as recipients of what Jesus had said for many. The blood was shed for many for the forgiveness of sins. Lord, our heart cries out in terror for those who will reject us. and think lightly of this. Lord, how spoiled are we that we can sit here without machine gun fire, without worry that we will be arrested, without panic and anxiety that what we're doing is illegal. But Father, we think of those that are in I think it was Brother Nick that said about those in North Korea that are trying to escape through miles and miles of rivers and boats and underground things. Lord, what would they think of this? How joyful would they be to celebrate the Lord's Supper, to hear the Word preached, to sing hymns out of a book with nice pages and not smeared ink, with no blood on them. How thankful would they be to have 16 Bibles in their house? Lord, we love your Word and we ask, Lord, that you would reveal it to us as these weeks go by here on Sundays. Father, we thank you for the elements in which symbolize the redemption that was brought to us in the blood, the life, the death, the blood and the resurrection of Jesus. We confess that he still lives as the high priest sitting at your right hand and constantly is making intercession for us. And he cares for us. Oh, how we love Jesus because he first loved us. May your name be praised in your people today and forevermore. Amen. All right, if you want to remain seated, we're going to do the Lord's Supper together. I'm not sure how to do this in an orderly way. Yeah.