The Last Supper

What is the Lord's supper all about the memorial is what Christ accomplished at his crucifixion, or is there something more to it will find out next on Renewing Your Mind. The Sunday edition of earth). Today Dr. RC's role is going to address one of the most important gives the Christ gave his church.

This is a sermon that Dr. scroll delivered at St. Andrews triple the church, a copastor for many years.

This morning on going to be reading again from the Gospel according to St. Mark from the fourth instructor beginning at verse 10 and reading through verse 26 please stand for the reading of the word of God then Judas Iscariot, one of the 12, went to the chief priests to betray him, to them and when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money so he sought how he might conveniently betray him now on the first day of unleavened bread when they killed the Passover lamb. His disciples said to him, where do you want us to go and prepare that you may eat the Passover and he sent out two of his disciples and said to them, going to the city and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him wherever he goes in the sight of the master of the house. The teacher says, where is the guest room in which I might eat the Passover with my disciples that he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared there. Make ready for us so his disciples went out and came into the city and found it just as he had said to them, and they prepare the Passover in the evening he came with the 12th was.

They sat and ate. Jesus said assuredly, I say to you one of you who eats with me will betray me and they began to be sorrowful and to say to him one by one, is that I and another said is it I answered and said to them, it is one of the 12 who dips with me in the dish, the Son of Man, indeed, to goes just as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed, it would have been good for that man if he had never been born. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them and said, take eight. This is my body. Then he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank from it and he said to them, this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. Shortly I say to you I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of THIS is the inspired and infallible and inerrant word of God Almighty. Please be seated. We read in verse 10 then Judas Iscariot, one of the 12, went to the chief priests notice that it is that Judas initiation that this transaction takes place. He goes out of his way to visit those who may know were taking counsel together to find a way to get rid of Jesus and they went to the chief priests in order to betray Jesus to them. When I heard it. That is when the chief priests heard this, they were glad they were delighted and they promised to give him money. The other gospels make it clear that the amount of that money was 30 pieces of silver. We mentioned the value of the perfume that had been poured out by Mary across the body of Jesus and the value of that precious gift was two times the value of 30 pieces of silver.

In other words, Judas was prepared to betray Jesus for half the amount of money that the devoted woman had spent in her efforts to honor him and to give him glory.

In this sense, Jesus life is being sold at a cheap rate. Relatively speaking, and markers on to tell us that Judas sought how he might not notice. This doesn't simply say Judas sought how he might betray him, but rather he sought how he might conveniently betray him.

It wasn't enough that he intended to deliver Jesus into the hands of those who would kill him, but at the same time that he undertook this deed for monetary gain. He wanted to carry it out in such a manner that he would not be inconvenienced when murders are committed in our culture today and the investigators began to seek for the guilty party. They immediately ask a couple of questions. One who profits and to how can we follow the money.

Not that every murder is committed out of the motive of self enrichment, but so many of them are that investigators certainly follow that particular trail also.

When murder is committed in the courtroom, it's important to discern whether the murder was committed an act of sudden anger, or if it was planned.

If it was premeditated and we look at this account. We know that every one of the 12 reset with Jesus at the Lord's supper word in the hours to come betray him out of fear, out of weakness, out of the pressure of the moment, but only one of them betrayed him by pre-meta-patient.

This was pre-meta-has dictated treason against the King of Kings. So then Mark goes on with the record of the actual Passover and he says on the first day of unleavened bread when they killed the Passover lamb.

His disciples said to him what he wants to go and prepare that you made the Passover and notice the similarity here between the instructions of Jesus gave his disciples on this occasion and the instructions that had given them on the occasion of Palm Sunday and if his triumphal entry into the city. How he sent them to look for a person who had the donkey that was never written before now. He sends them into the village as you go into the city and you look for a man carrying a jug of water and you follow him, and wherever he goes in.

That's where we will celebrate the Passover together.

That's the place that is already been prepared for us to meet and to eat that we could read over this very quickly and miss some of the significance of that directive that Jesus gave his disciples because in the first instance, the carrying of water jugs was considered women's work by the biblical Israelites not about insight, and the only time you would see anybody but a woman carrying a jar of water. It would be if that mail was a slave except for one exception. We read a lot today about this group of ascetics that lived in the desert and who became famous with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Essenes who was that the sect of the Jews who divorce themselves from the mainstream of Israel and some of even tried to make out that Jesus had been influenced by the Essenes. But this text has fostered even more speculation because the Essenes had no women among their company and so if you would see a man carrying a jug of water in Jerusalem and, with that man was not a slave. Then in all probability it would have been Anna seen a member of that particular sect. In any case, Jesus had gone to the city. A man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him even if it was in the same still is remarkable. It would be to find a man carrying a jar of water would be even more remarkable to build a find and identify someone like that in the city of Jerusalem. At this time of year. We know that when Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D., according to Jewish historian Josephus, 1.1 million people perished in that Holocaust and we wonder how the world Jerusalem could have 1.1 million people in it well. 1.1 million people didn't live in Jerusalem but on the occasions of Jewish feast. Jews from all over the area would go up to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast. The only place in which it was lawful to celebrate the Passover, was in Jerusalem. Josephus tells us that in the year 66 A.D. over 2 million people were crowded into the city of Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover technologies assessor disciples going to the city and look for a man carrying a bottle of water.

Missed 2 million people. Not an easy task but one that had been prepared by the providence of God from all eternity. When you see that man say that the teacher wants to know where the guest room is in which he may eat the Passover. He will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared you go there and make ready for us so Mark tells us the disciples went out.

They came in the city and they found it exactly as he said to them, so they prepared the passive noun the evening he came with the 12th Nestlé Saturday the Passover meal Jesus said assuredly without a doubt one of you who eats with me will betray here.

The disciples are gathered around Jesus reclining celebrating the most sacred feast of the Jewish nation in Jesus interrupts this mood of worship.

This mood of celebration uses I want to tell you something beyond a doubt that one of you who was eating with me right here is going to betray me.

You can imagine the pall of horror that descended over the disciples, they were terrified and they looked at Jesus and one after another.

They asked about their involvement in this and they look to Jesus is that I was a Jesus is and I who will betray and one by one they go around asking the question as to whether they would be the one. First, Jesus answers, in general terms, he says it's one of the 12. Presumably there were others gathered in that room that night. It's one of the 12 one who dips with me in the ditch.

The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of him, but woe to the man by whom the Son of Man is betray it would've been good for that man if he had never been born in the other account so we get in the Gospels that when Jesus came around the group and Judah said Lord is the life that Jesus looked at Judas and said, thou hast said yes Judas you're the one what you have to do to quickly, as if Jesus were saying to Judas God for bid that I should inconvenience you go out into the night, finish your transaction. Then Jesus says about himself.

The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of him. Jesus was aware of the messianic prophecies regarding the servant of Yahweh.

He knew that he was destined to be betray that the betrayal was not a sudden invention of Judas at this last minute. In Jesus ministry, but the betrayal of the Son of Man had been ordained by God from the foundation of the world and Jesus says it's working out it's going exactly as the father ordained it from the beginning of the world.

Here we see the intersection between the secret counsel of God and the machinations of the human will and many read this text and link to the conclusion while if God predestined the betrayal of Judas. How could he possibly justly hold Judas responsible for this evil.

The you can hear Judas on the day of judgment, saying, Lord of just carrying out your will, in fact, if it weren't for me ever my betrayal, the atonement would never have taken place your people would still be in your sins but you use me to bring Jesus to the cross through which cross his people were redeemed therefore pin upon me, the heavenly metal of honor, now known that we look back to Joseph and his betrayal in the Old Testament. In his later meeting with his brothers when they feared the wrath of Joseph upon them and Joseph said wait a minute, you meant it for evil but God meant it for good. Is this incredible and the mystery of God's providence that we call the mystery of con currents when two streams come together and meet the sovereign will of God, the earthly will of human flesh. It's not as if God in his sovereignty coerces Judas forces him to this evil act but rather the divine Savior and the divine sovereign one works. His will in and through the choices of his creatures. Judas was doing exactly what Judas wanted to do.

They can't stand up at the last judgment say the devil made me do it blame him. You made me do it blame yourself. Judas did according to Judas own intentions. That's the wonder of how God even brings good out of evil brings redemption out of treachery as he did in the case of Judas in Jesus remarks at the moment the Son of Man goes according to what is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betray. I'm going according to God's for ordination but curses are upon the man, by whose and I am betrayed is been better for that man if he never been born. There have been those in the history of the world who cursed the day of their birth. If there was any human being who ever had reason to curse the day of his birth. It was Judas Iscariot and then Mark turns his attention to Jesus, changing of the Passover liturgy to the institution of the Lord's supper. We read as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them and said, take, eat, this is my body up they spoke these words of Aramaic, which he probably did. Basically what he was been saying is eat this my body and so we can imagine the number of theological disputes that have gone on in church history on how to interpret this one single line of the New Testament. One of the great tragedies of the Protestant Reformation is that the reformers under the leadership of Calvin and Zwingli could not come to an agreement with Luther and the German Protestants on this issue of the Lord's supper. The issue was whether or not the human nature of Jesus was physically present in the Lord's supper, and insisted that the human nature is confined by space and time, I cannot be in Orlando, Chicago, St. Louis and Beirut all at the same time the divine nature.

Yes, but the human nature know the human nature always is limited by the attributes of humanity rest.

Luther insisted that the divine attributes of ubiquity or omnipresence or communicated to the human nature, making it possible for Jesus in his humanity to be all of these places at the same time and insisted that the presence of Jesus in the Lord's supper is in some way physical or corporeal based on the words of institution. One point of discussion.

Luther like crew chef at United Nations member many years ago when the Soviet premier took off his shoes and banged it on the table at the UN and said we will bury you. So Luther that this colloquy pounded his fist on the table saying hello as corpus Miriam Bach as corpus ma'am this is my body. Reformers are women.

Jesus said I am the door.

You don't take that in a literal sense to mean that my flesh is the veneer of mahogany my navel as a doorknob, nothing like that so crass, so someone of the say what Jesus meant was that this bread, this one represents my body. Luther said no it's for more than and I think the truth is somewhere between if you make an identification and equation between the bread and the wine and the physical body of Jesus. You've got Christological problems of just one quick knit at the same time. Calvin understood that in the mystery of the Lord's supper.

There was something going on there and what Jesus was saying is not.

This is just my physical part of this is my person and that there is a reality involved here in the celebration of the Lord's supper beyond a memorial.

Yes, Jesus touching his humanity is in heaven, but touching his deity. He is not restricted by time and space so that we can have full assurance that we come to be in his real presence is here. Exhibit is always every time we gather together he's with us. Yes, that's true. So what's the difference. The difference is what he's doing is inviting us to a situation of intimacy at his table. He invites us to feed on him to be nurtured by to be strengthened.

The Lord's supper. The sacrament the Jesus graciously gave his church so that we would remember him and the sacrifice that he made for sinners were grateful that you join us for the Lord's day addition of Renewing Your Mind. It took Dr. RC Sproul more than a year to preach through the Gospel of Mark in each sermon. RC points us to Christ and provide solid application for our lives. We have a great resource to complement these audio sermons. It's Dr. scrolls commentary on Mark and we be glad to send you the digital version for your donation of any amount to leader ministries.

As a reminder, our offices are closed today so that our staff can enjoy the Lord's day in and worship with their families so request this resource with your gift. This go to Renewing Your Mind.work on behalf of all of us here at leader ministries. Thank you for joining us today and I hope you make plans to be with us again next it's that for Renewing Your Mind