Rules for The Lord’s Supper: Who is Worthy to Join the Feast | Pastor William Hixson

for that.

And so begin to meditate on the

importance of preparation

when we come before the Lord in the

different religious ceremonies he's

given us to indulge in and to enjoy

and to benefit from.

And I'm reminded that John the Baptist

wouldn't just baptize everybody that

came to him.

I'm reminded that uh he examined them.

He exhorted them. And it says in Matthew

Matthew 3:7

3:7, "When he saw many of the Pharisees

and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he

said to them, you brood of vipers who

warn you to flee from the rapture.

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance,

and do not presume to say within

yourselves, we have Abraham as our

father. For I tell you, God is able

these stones to raise up children to

Abraham."

You see,

um, John wasn't flattered. Oh, here

comes a bunch of Pharisees and

Sadducees. But my baptism, this is

wonderful. Come on in. He ex He saw the

lack of repentance. He saw the lack of

preparation for water baptism. And he

exhorted them in in in light of all of

that. And I think of the Apostle Paul in

first 1 Corinthians uh chapter

11 and chapter 10 and everything he says

about the Lord's supper, the things he

says about the Lord's supper

and

the warnings that he gives about the

Lord's supper.

And they're strong warnings, aren't

they? in chapter 11 and he says in

chapter 11 he's very clear um

in the first place when you come

together as a church verse 18 11-18 I

hear the divisions among you

and I believe it in part for there must

be factions among you in order that

those who are genuine among you may be

recognized when you come together it's

not to eat the Lord's supper eating each

one goes ahead with his own meal one's

hungry and others drunk. What have you

not houses to eat and drink in or

despise ye the church of God and

humiliate those that have nothing? What

shall I say to you? Shall I commend you

in this? No, I will not. So, he gave a

strong exhortation

uh to unexamined

uh people who hadn't dealt with things

that were wrong in their midst to

observe the Lord's supper.

And then he says in 11:28, "Let a man

examine himself, then so let him eat of

the bread and drink of the cup. For

anyone who eats and drinks without

discerning the body eats and drinks

judgment to himself, for this reason

many of you are weak and ill, and some

have died. But if we judge ourselves,

truly we would not be judged. But when

we're judged of the Lord, we're

disciplined so that we may not be

condemned with the world."

And so this examining of ourel not

whether it's for water baptism am I

saved do I know the Lord or whether it's

for the Lord's supper uh going through

religious ceremonies without spiritual

examination and letting God speak to us

is not a good thing and it can be a

dangerous thing and remember you can't

drink of the cup of the Lord and the cup

of demons. Paul said, "You're out here

holding hands with false religion and uh

God's not impressed with

uh what you're doing."

And so he says in ch 1 Corinthians 10, I

speak as to sensible people. Judge

yourselves what I say. The cup of

blessing we bless. Is it not

participation in the blood of Christ?

The bread which we break, is it not

participation in the body of Christ?

Because there's one bread who we who are

many are one one body and we partake of

one bread. And so consider the people of

Israel are not those who eat the

sacrifices participates in the altar.

What do I imply then? The food offered

to idols is anything or an idol is

anything. No, I imply that what pagan

sacrifice they offer to demons and not

to God. And I don't want you to be

partakers of demons.

You can't drink the cup of the Lord and

the cup of demons. You can't partake of

the Lord's table and the table of

demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to

jealousy?

Are we stronger than he? Those are great

words of uh exhortation to not just be

careless or routine when we come to uh

the ceremonies that God has given for

us, whether it's water baptism or

whether it's the Lord's supper.

Now, when we talk like this and we're I

I believe we should examine oursel. Am I

saved before we get baptized? Yeah. We

should examine oursel. Am I in

fellowship with the Lord before we take

the Lord's supper? Is there something I

should be confessing before I do this?

And but now when we talk like this,

people get nervous.

How much examination?

And we're all unworthy. So how much how

much is too much? Can we put it that

way? And what what what is any hope?

Because we got plenty of sins. We got a

lot of foolishness in us. And so

sometimes people get turned away from

the idea, well, I'll never be fit to

take the cup and the bread. I'll never

be ready completely.

So turn with me to Mark 14.

Turn with me to Mark 14.

I want to show you the first Lord's

supper

in the for first participants

of the Lord's supper.

And this is a very enlightening thing

as we do so.

And the shocker is we find out that the

original group that took the Lord's

supper

were not spiritual giants

at all.

In fact, we find there was much lacking

in them.

And I'm not saying this to excuse

ourselves.

I'm simply saying this that the people

who originally took the Lord's supper

were a lot less than they should be even

shortly before

they partake. They would partake of it.

And so join me in Mark 14.

And I'm not trying to belittle

uh

the idea of partaking even though we

fail the Lord. I'm simply saying

sometimes we get so nervous we set an

unrealistic

picture up in our mind.

I'm not I'll never be worthy. No, you'll

never be worthy. Neither will I. We can

do it in a worthy manner, right? We can

do it with reverence. and do it with

repentance and examination.

Now, Mark 14. Bear with me as I read.

It was now two days before the Passover

and the feast of unleavened bread,

and the chief priests and the scribes

were seeking how to arrest him by

stealth

kill him.

for they said not during the feast lest

there be an uproar among the people.

Now that crowd was the anti- Jesus,

antirist crowd and they certainly even

though they were religious leaders were

totally unfit

to observe Passover.

They were getting they they were getting

ready for Passover by planning a murder.

It's not a very good way to get ready

for observing

one of the God-given

uh ceremonies he's given us.

Here's the other crowd.

And while he was at Bethany in the house

of Simon the leper,

as he reclined at table, a woman came

with an alabaster flax of ointment of

pure nard, very costly, and she broke it

the flask and poured it on his head as

Jesus said.

Now, there's somebody

there's somebody that's attractive,

right? There's somebody that's

discerning. There's someone who's

digested the word of God and is ready

for these moments and her love overflows

to the Lord Jesus. In fact, she's

extravagant in her exuberance and in her

worship.

But there were some who said to

themselves indignantly,

"This ointment could have been sold for

more than 300 denary and given to the

poor."

and they scolded.

That's what the ASV said.

And but Jesus said,

"Leave her alone."

The men were critical of what Mary did,

but Jesus defended her. And she's a

beautiful picture

of what all of us should be.

And unfortunately, apostles were not at

their best on that evening,

even though she was.

And Jesus says, "She's done what she

could. She anointed my body for a

burial. She knows more than all you had

put together about what's going on."

She's the best listener Jesus ever had.

She's the best student Jesus ever had

and she left the apostles in the dust.

She internalized what he was saying and

she memorized what he was saying and she

meditated on what she was saying and she

realized if I'm going to do something

for the Lord Jesus, I better do it now.

And Jesus said in verse 9, "And truly I

say to you, wherever the gospel's

proclaimed to the whole world, what

she's done will be told in memory."

And when we take the Lord's supper, we

do it in memory of him.

But right before the Lord's supper, this

woman does something that Jesus says,

"Wherever the gospel goes, it's going to

be in memory of her.

That's very interesting.

So Mary of Bethany is standing out in

the crowd. She's the one that sat at

Jesus' feet and heard his word. She was

the best listener Jesus ever had. She

knew what they didn't know.

She was way above them, but they they

ganged up on her. They piled on

like somebody getting tackled on a

football field and then two or three

other guys pile on.

And you got you got 11 apostles piling

on you.

That's what they did. This one woman.

Jesus commended her. They condemned her.

Now that says a lot for her, but it says

it doesn't say a lot for them.

Surprise, surprise. These are the people

that would just in a very few minutes

are going to be sitting at the Lord's

supper.

Not a few minutes. They were in Bethany

and had something prepared in Jerusalem,

but just in a little while, they're

going to be partaking of Lord's supper.

The original Lord's supper.

Were they prepared?

Yes, they were because Jesus rebuked

them.

Jesus took them to task for their

uncharitable, unnecessary

hyperriticism of somebody was doing

good.

And so before we enjoy the Lord's

supper, we want to let the Lord take us

to task, right? If there's something

wrong in my life, I want him to show it

to me so I can confess it

and get ready

to partake of the Lord's supper

properly.

So, I want to spend a little time in

Mark 14 because uh if you once once you

get down to verse 12, you're at the

Passover and and when you get down to

verse 22 of this chapter, you're at the

Lord's supper.

But this happened very close to those

events.

Have you ever

really

done something really bad right before

the Sunday you're going to take the

Lord's supper? Maybe you lost your

temper or you just did something really

bad

and you think, "Boy, I am not even close

to why did it have to happen now, right

now?" And all of us have been there and

sometimes all of us have had to let the

bread and cup pass.

Well, the I just want to say this, the

original recipients, I don't know how

ready they were.

I know they were ready somewhat because

Jesus didn't give them a pass. He

confronted them with their unjust,

unnecessary, unhelpful criticism of

Mary.

They condemned her. He defended her. And

that must have

amazingly

shut them up for a while.

Now, there's a contrast also in chapter

14 that's very dramatic.

The enemies of Jesus, they're gathering

together and they're planning a murder.

They're planning a murder.

They're not honoring him. And we're

talking the chief priest and the

scribes.

And

so that's one group. And in contrast to

that group, there's this other group

that have believed in him and that love

him. But and we think of that group and

we think, "Yeah, there's a good group."

Yeah, but they weren't a perfect group.

Judas was the one behind all this. And

the rest jumped in. All of them jumped

in and ganged up on her. It was pylon to

marry.

Can you imagine all those men

criticizing her, jumping her case, one

poor woman just doing and they're all

against her and they're all saying the

meanest, nastiest things to her.

How she must have felt.

And then how she must have felt when

Jesus defended her.

Now all over this planet there are those

who are going to celebrate the Lord's

supper some Sunday morning, some Sunday

night.

They want to honor the Lord. They want

to worship him. They want to praise him.

They want to remember him. They want to

thank him.

And we're joining that group.

And then there's others that because of

illness or age or distance or legitimate

problems that have kept them from public

worship, they would love to be here to

remember him publicly, but they for

whatever reason they're not here.

And then there's others.

There's others. They're so far from

wanting to remember him, they want to

forget him. They want to get rid of him.

They don't like the thought of him.

And while the Christians were gathering

to praise him, the non-Christians were

doing their best to ignore him, to avoid

him, and as someone insignificant and

unimportant, or at least not that

important.

So, history's never changed. Some are

hostile and some are friendly.

And

what an awesome thing it is. Now, the

enemies, they they're saying, "We're

going to kill him, but we got a we got a

plan here, but not on the feast day. Not

on the feast day,

lest there be an uproar among the

people."

What are they saying there in verse two?

Jerusalem expanded during Passover,

Pentecost, and um

third one, the feast of the uh feast of

tabernacles. All men had to be there

from all over the world. And Jerusalem

just the population exploded.

Now, there's debates about what the

population was of Jerusalem in the first

century. Some say it was 25,000

and it went up to 50,000 on the

holidays. Another one I read said it was

50,000 went up to 250,000. I'm not sure

the scholars know. It depends on how you

figure what's going on. But either way,

there was a massive increase of

population during one of those three

feasts.

Uh a year or two ago, we were in North

and South Dakota

on vacation trip

and we had an opportunity to drive into

Sturgis, South Dakota.

Most of us here probably don't know what

Sturgis is, but you might have read

about it. They have a motorh

the bikers festival.

>> Yeah, the bikers festival. This is the

86th motorcycle rally in Sturgis. The

86th. It's a big deal.

And it always happens in August. This

year it's August 7th to 16th for 10

days.

So I'd never been to Sturgis. I'd been

to South Dakota before, but I'd never

been to Sturis. And this time I think,

well, I'm here. It's close. We're going

to drive through Sturgeis. So we drove

through Sturis. Stures normally is a is

a little place about seven 7,000 people.

is a little bit bigger than the planes.

Guess how big the population of Sturgeis

is during bike week.

500,000

people.

It goes from 7,000

to 500.

That's a fairly rowdy crowd.

without getting into detail.

That is what Jerusalem was on the feast

day. That's what it was on the week of

Passover week. They It just exploded.

That's the way it was at Pentecost.

That's the way it was at Feast of

Tabernacles. The city just expanded. And

one of the things when we were driving

around Sturgis

is we found out that in the little

countryside around it, they got all

these little places for people to stay

and these little sheds and little places

to park and paint put up a tent and all

that stuff. Well, Jerusalem had

something very similar.

And so, you know, people had their spot

and they probably got it every year.

Similar stuff.

So, this is a picture of the enemies.

They're saying, "We're going to kill

him, but we're going to do it before the

holidays or after the holidays, not

during the holidays,

because there's too many people

who want to get it over with and get it

done."

That was their plan.

They wanted to quickly and privately as

possible

kill Jesus.

That's what Cain did.

He called Abel out into the field.

The murderer.

I don't know his privacy was what the

issue back then as it is now. But

Kane didn't want anybody to see it. God

saw it.

And so this group that's plotting the

death of Jesus, we sense dishonesty,

animosity,

blasphemy, criminality, depravity.

These people are cold, calculating,

cruel. You got a room full of canes.

As Jude would say later, they've gone

the way of Cain.

He knew what he was talking about.

And can you imagine the blasphemy of

people that want to get ready for the

Passover by assassinating Jesus.

They wanted to use the legal system for

judicial murder. And we all know

politicians of both stripes love to use

the judicial system to get at their

opponents.

And uh so it's a political hit job in

many cases on both sides.

The NIV translates it looking for some

sly way to arrest him.

Get him arrested, put him on a quick

trial, kangaroo court, execute him

before anybody knows what's going on.

That was their plan. That was plan one.

That was plan

And uh they changed their plan. Why?

Because Judas agreed to betray him. And

they said, "Wait, wait. We got We

weren't going to do it on the feast day,

but this is too good. We can't let this

pass. We got to take advantage. We've

got an insider that knows where Jesus

is." They're rejoicing in that.

And we can't miss this opportunity. One

of the reasons the United States

attacked Iran when they did is they had

inside information where the leaders

were.

At least that's what they tell us.

The Israeli spies pointed out where they

were and so forth. Well, now this group

thinks we got an inside job. this

person's going to be paying a little bit

of money and we can get Jesus and still

pull it off even now.

That's the picture.

So, it's that's a pretty uh pretty

horrible picture.

Pretty horrible picture of the

leadership of the Jewish nation. Let's

reread it. It was now two days before

the Passover and the feast of unleavened

bread. The chief priests and scribes

were seeking how to arrest him by

stealth and kill him. It doesn't say

arrest him and put him on trial to see

if he's guilty or not. It's arrest him

and kill him.

We just want to show trial kangaroo

court to go through the motions and

we've already decided we're going to

execute

or they said not during the feast lest

there be an uproar among the people.

Well, in the amazing providence of God,

God interrupted that plan.

Aren't you glad God overrules and

overrides and overcomes the plans of

people want to do evil to his people and

to his program?

Uh I'm thankful for that.

Now, there's another group here in great

contrast.

There's this meeting of the apostate

Sanhedrin and then there's the apostolic

band uh a meeting in Bethany.

And while the one meeting's going on,

the other meeting is going on.

And while he was at Bethany, verse

three, the house of Simon the leper,

as he was reclining at table, a woman

came with an alabaster flask of ointment

of pure nard, very costly, and she broke

the flask and poured it on his head.

Now, who's this Simon with the leper? We

don't know. And undoubtedly, he was a

leper that Jesus had healed of his

leprosy.

And he was so grateful, he opened his

house. For whatever reason, Mary and

Martha and Lazarus's house was not big

enough or not ready or for whatever

reason. And so Simon opened up his house

and they uh were all there and he's

sitting there enjoying uh the Lord and

the apostles and everybody else.

There's a lot of love in that house.

It's hard to open up your home to a

crowd of people and feed them

and entertain them, but he did it. And

Jesus is reclining, so he's getting a

little bit of rest for just a few

moments.

And undoubtedly the Lord had healed this

leper just like he raised Lazarus from

the dead. Uh and uh Jesus is reclining

at this ex ex leper's house.

Now the Sanhedrin meeting is all dark,

more like a mafia meeting than a than a

religious leaders meeting. These guys

would make the mafia look like Girl

Scouts. But then there's this other

meeting going on.

The apostles are there. The friends of

Jesus is there. What a black and white

contract.

And

then this surprise comes and Mary's

exuberance offended everybody.

Now when we contrast these two meetings

in our minds, this is dark. This is

midnight.

And the other one is this is high noon.

We want it to be black and white, don't

we?

The Sanhedrin, there nothing good over

there. And this meeting, everything is

good over here.

Guess what we find

in the good meeting? Among the followers

who were loyal,

among the followers like Mary who were

deeply committed,

there was still a lot of work to do.

These people were saved, but they

weren't Lily White.

And there some self-righteousness and

indignation that's misplaced takes

place.

That hurts, doesn't it? We expect sin

from unsaved people. But what happens

when saved people do it?

What happens when saved people who are

leaders do it?

And

that's um that's a contrast. You you

want black and white. You don't want

black and

light gray.

But here that's what we got. We don't

have perfection.

Now Jesus planned ahead of time uh for

this all and uh Jesus stuck to his plan.

The Sanhedrin changed their plan. Yeah,

that's a wonderful thing. Jesus sticks

to his plan because he's sovereign. He

knows everything. He doesn't have to

change plans. He's going through with it

and he's planning it.

But what are some real practical lessons

here? Because remember, we're going to

get to the Lord's supper in chapter 14

and verse 12, but we're not there yet.

Here's a lesson.

Not all religious people, even in the

highest places of authority,

are all they ought to be

on every occasion.

The apostles didn't look good here.

They unjustly criticized Mary.

And I think they enjoyed it.

And Jesus rebuked him.

Uh

what a shock it is to see.

And remember

um

the Lord understands all this.

And the enemies are bad, but the friends

aren't as good as they should be.

The enemies are unholy, but the friends

aren't as holy as they should be. And

guess what? That's why you need

Passover.

When I see the blood, I'll pass over

you.

That's why we need the Lord's supper.

This is the new testament in my blood.

This do as often as you drink it in

remembrance of me.

Passover was prophetic of Calvary and

the Passover lamb was prophetic of Jesus

on Calvary.

And somehow God overruled it. This is a

great lesson. God overruled it so that

the enemies changed their plan so

prophecy would be fulfilled.

Passover is prophetic of the death of

Christ. Christ our Passover sacrifice

for us. Well, if he is, then he needs to

be sacrificed on Passover day. So, they

changed their plan and they unwittingly

fil fulfilled prophecy that they were

not trying to fulfill. It's amazing.

It's stunning.

So the wrath of man will praise you

as the Bible says.

But that one group is so dark and

they're so self-righteous and they were

getting manipulated by providence. Jesus

didn't have to change his plan. His plan

was right on schedule.

They changed theirs and they ended up

doing the very thing they didn't want to

do. Give credibility to Jesus.

And here's an application. Even though

the Christianity of the followers of

Jesus were real with the exception of

Judas, there were some deep

contradictions and inconsistencies and

frailties

in their life.

You expect a church where there's no sin

there. There is no church like that

until you get to heaven. The bride of

Christ is got wrinkles and spots and

everything else that she has to be

cleansed of to get ready for that great

day.

And so even among the saved, even among

those who are real, there's some deep

inconsistencies and contradictions. And

boy, do we see it.

And notice in verse four of chapter 14,

there were some who said to themselves

indignantly,

"Why was the ointment wasted like

reading the SD?" They were saying it to

one another

in Mary's presence.

They weren't talking to her. They were

talking to each other about her,

criticizing her extravagance.

They did give an offering to the poor

every Passover. And apparently Judas

wanted it to be a big one if you read

the Gospel of John because he wanted to

skim some off like himself. Judas should

have run for Congress.

every time they pass a law that they

might make some money,

but they're very indignant at her

and they believe they've got a right to

be. In fact, the next verse says they

scolded her.

Verse five. So, first they're talking

about her to each other, but not

directly to her, but no doubt she heard

it and everybody else heard it and Jesus

heard it. And then they scolded her.

Then they started picking on her. All of

them did.

They scolded her.

Now picture the intimidation. 11 men, 12

men with Judas being there ganging up on

one poor young woman

publicly.

It's beyond comprehension how bad that

was,

isn't it?

And Jesus came to her defense.

Let her alone.

Thank God for the Lord Jesus.

Let her alone.

She knows more than the rest of

she's far ahead of the rest of

you don't understand. He said, "Laave

her alone. Why do you trouble her? She's

done a beautiful thing."

What a defense.

How do you think they 12

elves,

all that self-righteousness, all that

we're better than you. We know more than

you. How dare you do waste money like

this,

let alone.

Thank God Christians have Christ to

defend us

sometimes from each other.

Not just from the lost, not just from

the self-righteous God-haters.

Sometimes we need to be defended from

each other and unjust unjustified

criticism.

And Jesus said, "For you always have the

poor with you, and whenever you want,

you can do good for them." Time's

running out, the clock's ticking.

There's just a there's not even 24 hours

before I'm on the cross. And Mary's done

what she could when she could do it.

It's very timely.

And listen,

I'm glad Jesus rushed to Mary's defense,

but what a strong exhortation to us that

time is running out for you and I to

show our love to Jesus.

Every day we got a day closer to his

return. Every week a week closer. Every

month a month closer.

We don't have that much time. We have

less time

every day.

And so there's a massive disconnect

here.

Um,

one of the ways we show our love for the

Lord is to observe the Lord's supper.

It's one way we can really do it. Isn't

that what we're doing?

You are my Passover lamb. Your blood

cleanse me. This do in remembrance of me

as often as you drink it. In remembrance

of me. Me. We're we're after Jesus,

right? We're showing him our love. We're

showing him our joy in him. We're

showing him our thanks.

I don't like to miss the Lord's supper.

I love the Lord's supper.

I wouldn't mind if I did it every

Sunday.

And some churches do.

But certainly, it's a time to show Jesus

we love him. And from the time I've been

here, we've always done it once a month

in the morning and once a month in the

evening so people couldn't make the

morning service could do it in the

evening. What are we saying by doing

that? It's important. We don't want

things to go by and go on and on and on.

We want to show the Lord we love him. We

need that for ourselves and others need

that out of us.

J. D Jones said, "The whole of Palestine

was divided about Jesus. He drew some

and repelled others. He moved some to

the depths deepest devotion. He stirred

others to well-nigh ungovernable rage."

That's still true today.

People talk religion, they don't want to

talk about Jesus.

People talk about this church and that

church, they don't want to talk about

Jesus.

Lukeap 2:34 said he was going to divide

people. He told Mary and Joseph,

remember the old man, "This child is set

for the rising and fall many

for signs going to be spoken against.

Get ready. It's going to be tough."

And Jesus said, "A man's foes will be of

his own household." And Jesus said, "Men

love darkness rather than light because

their deeds are evil."

So there's always going to be some that

reject him that hate him and want to be

rid of him. And there's some that want

to worship him and enjoy him and love

him. There's going to be some that hate

him. And there's going to be some that

sacrifice for him. And that's the way it

is till the trumpet sounds.

TC Riyle writing on this text said, "The

best good works are sometimes

undervalued and misunderstood.

The best

good works are sometimes undervalued and

misunderstood."

Let's illustrate it this way.

And I'm not trying to be critical of

people different than us. I'm just

trying to describe people as they are.

Our church gives a lot to missions. So,

we have a humble building. We get a real

big building if we spend it all on

ourselves.

But then some churches need a big

building because they got a big bunch of

people to serve.

And so they they spend a lot on a

building, but they don't spend so much

on missions. Actually, you should be

doing both. But some churches do one

thing, some do another thing, and the

Lord's their master. Are we going to be

critical of people with big buildings

that have a lot of people? I hope not.

They've got a ministry. They're trying

to serve people. They've got a role to

play. We got our role to play.

And I don't want to be Mary Mary's

critic. Whoever whoever they are, you're

too extravagant. You're wasting money on

that church building. You're wasting

money on that or you're wasting money

giving all that money to missions.

Whichever way it goes, people will find

something to fault with you.

Sometimes it's other

church leaders.

And sometimes they're right and

sometimes they're wrong. I'm sure the

next pastor, whoever it might be, is

going to find a lot of things wrong

about me. They'll say, "Boy, that

pastor, how'd you put up with him all

those years?"

And he might be right about some of it.

They won't be right about all of it.

People have their own perspective,

right?

And uh other people might defend me. Oh,

there's no pastor better than Pastor

Hicks as well. That's not a good

position either.

You know what I'm saying? And so

obviously what? Obviously Mary did the

right thing. Jesus approved of it. And

surprise surprise, the apostles are

doing the wrong thing and he confronted

them.

Another writer said, "Gosel of Mark

sharpens the contrast between the

selfless devotion of the woman and the

treachery with which the righteous

suffer is greeted by his friend and

that's Judas."

So there it is.

Now, why have I spent all this time

on this section?

It's because this section immediately

precedes

the institution of the Lord's supper.

And the same people that were sitting by

rebuking Mary of Bethany

did it right before

the Lord instituted the Lord's supper.

Now, did they go to the Lord's supper

unprepared? I don't think so. You know

why? Jesus rebuked them.

How did they feel after that?

And often when we come to the Lord's

table, the Lord's convicted us of

something. I shouldn't have said that. I

shouldn't have done that.

That was wrong. And that's good. That's

the way it should be. We should quiet

oursel and let him have his way with us.

And uh

now let's go on. Before

we

move into the Lord's supper, verse 9,

Jesus said, "And truly I say to you,

wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the

whole world,

what she's done will be told in memory."

How many people in the Bible does

something that you're people are going

to remember everywhere? Well, I know one

Jesus

is doing in remembrance of me.

Here's another one.

This is high praise. Mary's going to

have a good reputation

everywhere the gospel.

This is the story is going to be told

about

Somebody said it. It was Walter Wessel.

He's a commentator on Mark. And I read

him before, but I didn't remember this

comment when I read it the first time I

was rereading it. And he said, "In an

indirect way, Jesus here is predicting

uh uh his resurrection because the

preaching of the gospel presupposes the

resurrection.

There's no gospel of Christ isn't risen.

So Jesus said, "Wherever the gospel

goes, everybody's going to remember

her." What's the gospel? It's about who

Jesus is and what he did and how he died

for our sins and rose again. So he's

he's presupposing all this. He sees down

through history.

The Jewish leadership had what they

thought was a golden opportunity to

arrest Jesus and murder him. Mary had a

golden opportunity to love Jesus.

The Jewish leadership switched plans

because it's too good an opportunity to

miss. Mary had a plan and she stuck to

it because it was too good an

opportunity to miss. You and I got an

opportunity to show our love for Jesus.

It's this life. This life. This is it.

We don't get to come back and do it

again.

This is our opportunity.

This is our opportunity to be

extravagant in our love for the Lord

Jesus with our time, with our money,

with our attention.

May God help us to do it.

Now, the fa the 12 failed shortly before

communion.

They failed the Lord. They failed each

other. They failed marriage.

And yet somehow by this rebuke of Jesus,

they were prepared.

They were prepared.

Jesus defends his own

from those who are against his own.

Jesus defends his own

from his own.

How about that one? Jesus defends his

own from those who are against his own.

Jesus defends his own from his own.

And

he didn't defend himself

against Judas.

He didn't defend himself against the

Sanhedrin,

but he did defend his own.

and he did deal with his own about those

things that were not right before

he instituted the Lord's supper.

So it's only after all of this the

rebuke has been given and no doubt well

taken

and Judas in verse 10 and 11 he took the

opportunity to go out and betray the

Lord.

And in verse 12, on the first day of

unleavened bread, when they sacrificed

the Passover lamb, his disciples said,

"Where will you have us go and prepare

for you to eat the Passover?"

He sent two disciples and said, "Go into

the city, and a man carrying a jar of

water will meet you. Follow him.

Wherever he enters, say to the master of

the house, the teacher says, where's my

guest room where I may eat the Passover

with my disciples?" and he's going to

show you large room furnished and ready

there prepared for us.

The disciples set out went to the city

and found it just as Jesus told them.

And whoever those two were ones that

prepared the Passover, they killed the

lamb, they cooked the lamb, they fixed

everything.

And when it was evening, he came with

the 12.

This is the same group

that he rebuked earlier.

And now they were ready.

There was some self-righteousness.

There was some lack of love. There was a

lack of appreciation for the Lord. There

was all kinds of sin in what they did.

But Jesus prepared them

by his rebuke.

As they were reclining at table and

eating, Jesus said, "Truly I say to you,

one of you will betray me, one who's

eating with me." They began to be

sorrowful and say to one another, "Is it

I?"

Oh, no ganging up on Mary anymore.

There's no ganging up on one.

Everybody's got their mind on themsel.

All that self-righteousness and self

indignation is gone.

Now they're saying, "Is it I?" Nobody's

pointing the finger at Mary anymore.

They're pointing the finger at

themselves. Am I it?

They were ready.

Sometimes the falls that happen right

before we take the Lord's Supper help

prepare us for the Lord's Supper

and God's wonderful promise.

We realize that was really bad.

That was horrible. what I said, what I

did. Oh, God, forgive me not to ever do

that.

And he said to them, "One it's" and they

began to be sorrow, "Is it I?" And he

said, "It's one of the 12 who's dipping

bread with me in the dish. For the Son

of Man goes as it's written of him, but

woe to that man by whom the Son of Man

is betrayed. It would have been better

for that man if he'd not been born."

And as they were eating, he took bread.

After blessing it, he broke it and gave

it to them and said, "Take, eat. This is

my body." And he took the cup when he'

given thanks and gave it to them. And

they all drank of it. And he said, "This

is the my blood of the covenant which is

poured out for many. Truly I say to you,

I'll not drink again of the fruit of the

vine, for the day I drink it new in the

kingdom."

When they sung a hymn,

Father, we come into your presence

knowing that we're very foolish and very

frail people. The best of us are

in no way all we should be.

Get our eyes off each other. Get our

eyes off what others are doing or not

doing. Bring our minds to ourselves and

realize our own faults and foolishness.

And even this week, we failed you again

as we did the last time before we took

the Lord's supper. We thank thee there's

forgiveness with you that you might be

feared.

And help help us to come in repentance

and confession, but help us to not just

be examining oursel and focused on

oursel no matter how far we've fallen or

how foolish we've been.

May we know how to reverse our minds and

get our minds off ourselves and on off

of others and put our minds on you and

how wonderful you are and how glorious

it is to have such a savior

in Jesus name. Amen.

Lord,

Lord, thank you for your goodness that

you would leave your throne in heaven

to the flesh and become a member of the

human race, the second Adam you might

redeem us from our sins. Lord, we know

we have no hope and we thank you that

you gave your body to be broken.

of ourselves.

May it come for us.

We know we have no merit of our own.

There's no good thing in us.

We thank you that you were willing to

give yourself. We can't imagine the pain

that

we ask your blessing on

this

Give us greater love in our hearts for

you. For we know we all fall short.

And thank you for grace in all things.

In the name we pray. Amen.

Lord, as we go from this place,

loving you more, trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine

to a sin darkened world. As we go from

this place,