Divine Approval: Understanding Jesus' Sacrifice: Mark 14:22-25

Good morning and happy Palm Sunday. Welcome to the preaching ministry of Dillingham Moravian Church.

My name is Pastor Simon, and we are grateful to God that we get the privilege

of learning from God's Word today together.

As many of us here know, our communities here in Bristol Bay and much of Alaska

rely a lot on the harvesting of fish and other seafood and the processing of that seafood.

An essential part of processing seafood is that seafood is safe for consumption by the public.

And in order for our seafood to be safe to eat, seafood processing companies

such as OBI or Silver Bay must have a hazard analysis critical control point plan,

which is approved by the FDA and other government agencies.

They also employ quality control technicians or managers that are certified

by the FDA in seafood quality control.

These quality control personnel are to be the final authority in regarding to

food safety for the plant.

Seafood does not leave the plant unless they have gone through a rigorous testing,

auditing, and have been approved by the quality control personnel.

And this concept of a plan being approved of and implemented was part of what

Jesus was doing in the Last Supper.

Jesus approved of and blessed the Father's plan of salvation,

the plan for the death of the Son of God. Let's pray.

Oh, Heavenly Father, we are just so blessed and honored to be able to hear from

You and Your Word. may you teach us and instruct us.

Show us who you are through your word.

Show us your Son by the power of your Spirit, Lord.

Help us, O Lord, to learn from you and to abide in you every single moment.

We praise you and we bless you. In your precious Son's name,

jesus christ in the power of the spirit we pray amen turn with me today to mark chapter 14 verse 22,

Mark 14:22

mark chapter 14 verse 22 to 25,

Mark 14:22–25

While they were eating, he, meaning Jesus, took some bread, and after a blessing,

he broke it and gave it to them and said, Take it, this is my body.

And when he had taken the cup and given thanks, he gave it to them,

and they all drank from it.

And he said to them, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

Truly, I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until

that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.

Since the events of Passion Week of Christ are celebrated during the week,

I rarely get to preach on those events on a Sunday.

And this is why we are learning from Mark's gospel account today.

Up to this point in the book of Mark, Jesus had sent His disciples to prepare

the upper room and then began eating the Passover meal with them.

During the meal, Jesus told his disciples that one of them would betray him,

and all the disciples began to wonder if it could be them.

Finally, Jesus reminded his apostles that His death was foretold in the Scriptures,

and Jesus warned the betrayer that should he go through with his betrayal,

his fate would be so horrendous that it would be better off if he had not been born at all.

In Mark 14, as we get to verses 22, Jesus and His disciples were still eating

the Passover meal, and Jesus was just about to break the bread and pass the wine.

There are four major truths that I believe God is teaching us today.

The first major truth is that as Christians, we are to view Christ's death as

God's divinely approved plan of action.

Let's look at Mark 14, verse 22.

Mark 14:22

While they were eating, He, meaning Jesus, took some bread, and after blessing

it, he broke it and gave it to them and said, take.

This is my body. Mark began this section by describing the blessing and breaking

and giving out of the bread.

There are two principles that I see in this verse. The first truth that God

is teaching us pertains to Jesus' blessing of the bread.

The word to bless meant to bestow or enact divine favor.

I bring this word to your attention because Jesus was not asking God to bless

the food that they were eating, like we would before a meal.

No, Jesus was blessing or bestowing His divine favor upon the near-future sacrifice

of His body being broken.

What did Jesus do with the bread?

He broke it and then compared the broken pieces of the bread to his body.

Was Jesus saying the bread was exactly his body?

No, rather Jesus was pronouncing that the broken bread was a symbol or a picture

of what would happen to his body.

Nobody would be able to force Jesus to his death against his will.

Similar to the quality control officers who put their stamp of approval on the

products leaving the plant, so also Jesus put His blessing or His approval upon

the salvation plan of God.

Another aspect of verse 22 is that Jesus gave out the bread to the disciples.

Since the bread represent Christ's body or Himself or His presence,

Jesus was giving out His presence to the disciples.

According to one commentator, the bread represented His body, i.e.

His abiding presence, promised to disciples on the eve of His crucifixion,

and the words become a pledge of the real presence of Jesus wherever and whenever

His followers celebrate the supper.

I would go even farther than this commentator. Jesus giving out the bread to

disciples as a symbol of Himself was a pledge or promise that Jesus would, after His death,

come and dwell or live in His disciples through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In part, this is what Jesus was referring to in John 14, verse 23-25.

John 14:23–25

Verse 23, Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves me,

he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him.

And this is what I want you to pay attention to.

And make our abode with him.

He who does not love me does not keep my words, and the word which you hear

is not mine, but the Father who sent me.

These things I have spoken to you while, while, and here's the word again, "abiding" with you.

The word that Jesus used in verse 23 for the Father and Him making their abode

with those who love Jesus meant to live, to stay with.

I want you to see something here. In verse 25, Jesus said, These things I have

spoken to you while abiding with you.

Jesus lived and stayed with the disciples in His physical body before His death.

Now, Jesus and God the Father going to abide or stay or live with the believing disciple after Jesus'

death and resurrection is the same word as when Jesus was physically staying with his disciples.

This is really amazing. Meaning that Jesus' spiritual staying with us,

staying with his disciples, will be just as real as when he was there in person.

And this is what Jesus was promising. when he gave the bread out to his disciples.

Jesus was promising to share himself, his very life with his disciples.

What can we learn from this verse? The first truth that we can learn is that

Christ's death wasn't an accident.

Christ purposely allowed Himself to be crucified by ungodly men because it was

God's will and Christ completely approved of that plan.

There are some false teachings about Christ that say that Jesus was killed by

accident or that he wasn't really killed at all.

Others believe that Jesus did actually die, but it wasn't part of the original plan.

Jesus' death was never an afterthought. It was always plan A from all of eternity.

And from before the foundation of the world, Jesus was set on going to the cross.

And as Christians, we need to trust this truth.

The second way to apply this verse

is to trust and truly believe that God in Christ

Jesus truly gave himself to abide or dwell in his believing disciples and by

the grace and power of the Holy Spirit God almighty dwells in us as we are part

of christ's church moreover as we obey Christ out of faith as lovers of Him.

God the Father, God the Son stays or abides or makes their home in us and with us.

According to Paul, God the Holy Spirit also stays with us as well.

And I say this because there is a lot of craziness in our world that has happened

in the last five years or so.

With COVID and the lockdowns, worldwide rioting and terrorist attacks,

the rapid increase in the persecution of Christians all over the world,

the cultural mindset of North America changing so rapidly,

Russia's attack on Ukraine, the Israeli war against Hamas.

China's continual testing of the U.S.'s resolve to defend our ally,

Taiwan, the security and peace of the world is sitting on a precipice.

And yet, as Christians, we have God Almighty, the King of all the universe,

dwelling in us and with us.

That has got to change things for us!! Even in the midst of suffering,

the midst of trials and uncertainties, we need not join into the fear that the world has. Why?

Because Christ our Lord, who has overcome the world, is dwelling in and through

us, giving us as believers the power to live victorious, loving faith,

peace, joy of Christ in the midst of this crazy world.

So far we have been taught that as believing disciples of Christ,

Christ Jesus blessed the plan for His own death.

Jesus also promised to give Himself

to His apostles and to those believing disciples who came after them.

Additionally, as Christians, we are to be thankful for Jesus' death.

Mark continued recording the events in Mark 14, verse 23.

Mark 14:23

"And when He, Jesus, had taken the cup and given thanks, He gave it to them,

and they all drank from it."

Not only did Jesus give his divine approval or favor upon his sacrificial death,

Jesus also thanked God beforehand with gratitude for the shedding of His own

blood. I want you to understand this truth.

Jesus did not see His upcoming death and torture as terrible,

but as a blessing for which he was grateful.

Why? Because He loved us!! And Jesus knew that His death was essential and the

only way for us to have life with God and pay the blood debt that we owed before

God. There was no other way.

I wish us to look at another passage. Turn with me to Psalm 118, verse 22 to 24.

Psalms 118:22–24

And this passage is critical to understanding the Palm Sunday or the events of Palm Sunday.

Verse 22, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day which the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Verse 24 is often taken out of context to mean that this day,

the day that we are on right now has been made by God and we are to rejoice and be glad in it.

Well, this is true. this is not what the verse means in the context of the verses around it.

Well, what happened in verse 22? The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

And who was that cornerstone?

Jesus, the Messiah, who was rejected by the leaders or builders of Israel.

And what happened as a result of the cornerstone being rejected?

The Messiah was crucified.

That event, according to verse 23, was the Lord's doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes.

The day that Jesus was rejected and crucified was the day that the Lord had made.

And we are to rejoice and be glad in it. This is so amazing.

I want you to see that Jesus, when He took the cup and He had given thanks,

Jesus was giving thanks to the Father for His own sacrificial work on the cross

that was going to happen.

So how can we apply this truth to us as Christians?

We, you and I, are to view Jesus' death in the light of His resurrection as

the greatest blessing ever to exist.

And we must continually rejoice and be thankful for Christ's sacrificial death on our behalf.

The question is, why do we need to be thankful for Christ's blood slaughter on our behalf?

We are to be thankful because Christ's blood is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant.

Lately, my wife and I have been getting pre-approved with house loan companies

in case of the possibility of buying a home when houses in our price range come

available in Dillingham.

The loans begin with the pre-approval process in order to guarantee that we

will fulfill our promise to pay our debt to the bank in full.

After the loan is approved of by the bank, the bank then purchases the house

on behalf of the buyers until the debt is paid in full.

The sacrifice of Christ's blood was the fulfillment of the covenant promise

made between the Lord and Israel, and our blood debt was paid completely in full.

Jesus continued on in Mark chapter 14 and verse 24,

Mark 14 · chapter mention

"And he, Jesus, said to them, This is my blood of the covenant,

which is poured out for many."

In this verse, Jesus compared his blood to the wine in the cup and declared

"His blood was indeed the blood of the covenant, which was poured out for many and for all."

Now, for us to understand what Jesus was referring to, we have to go to Exodus

to get a clear picture of what the blood of the Covenant was.

Let's go to Exodus 24, verses 4-8.

Exodus 24:4–8

Let's look at verse 4. "Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord.

Then he arose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain

with 12 pillars for the 12 tribes of Israel.

He set young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and

sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord.

Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the

blood he sprinkled on the altar.

And then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people.

And they said, all the Lord has spoken, we will do, and we will be obedient.

{And here's the main focus, verse eight}.

So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said,

behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words."

The covenant the Lord had made with Israel was that the Lord would accept the

blood of animals as peace offerings for the forgiveness of His people's sins.

And in response to the Lord's covenant, Israel was to be obedient to God's Word.

The problem was that the people continued to sin, and the priests continued

to sin so that the forgiveness gain was only good until the person sinned again.

And the process had to be repeated again and again.

And this is where Christ came in. As the Holy God, Christ was the only High

Priest that was and is completely holy and pure.

And that is why He was also the Lamb that was to be sacrificed in our place,

to pay in full the debt of blood that all of humanity, including myself and all of you.

I want you to remember back in Mark 14, verse 24, that Jesus said that His blood

Mark 14:24

was the blood of the covenant poured out for many.

Jesus' blood took the place of the blood of animals,

and our blood, so that our sins may be forgiven.

I want you to notice that unlike the sacrificed animals, Jesus' blood was not

sprinkled, but poured out for the sins of many.

Through Christ's sacrifice, which communion is a remembrance of,

the atonement or the forgiveness gained from His death was not temporary,

but complete and permanent.

How can we apply this truth to us as Christians today?

The application that I see is that as a result of Christ's poured out blood

atoning for our sins, you and I, who have responded to God's grace through faith,

our sin debt before God has been paid in full.

Our sin is not held against us in regard to our eternal salvation.

Now, don't get me wrong. God absolutely hates sin, and He desires for us to

grow in Christlikeness, but our salvation is not based upon whether we keep the whole law or not.

Our salvation is based purely on the precious blood of Christ,

which He so lovingly poured out for us.

So many Christians struggle in their Christian life because they do not truly

believe that God has saved them and forgiven them.

You and I, we must trust this! We must believe in God's love for us,

in Jesus Christ, in His salvation for us, or else we cannot abide or stay with

Christ, and we cannot grow to be more like Christ!

And if you're here this morning or listening, and you've never received the salvation of God.

The only way for God's salvation to be put into your account is for you to trust

and believe in Christ as your only God and Savior.

And if you are a believing disciple of Christ, to live in His salvation,

you are called to remain or stay with God in faith by obeying God's Word as

you wait with all of Christ's church for Christ's glorious return.

How can we wait for Christ's return without the expectation of everlasting life?

And that is why we as Christians, we are to have the hope of eternal life.

As many of you know who travel to different countries, that you have to present

a passport to the border and customs agents in order to enter that country.

To live in a country, you have to prove that you are a citizen of that country.

I am a citizen of two countries. I was privileged to become a citizen of the

United States a number of years ago.

Abigail and two other ladies from our congregation were there to prove it.

Now, due to COVID, some countries are still requiring proof of vaccination in

order to enter into that country, even if you are a citizen of that country.

But that's not the case in heaven.

You and I who are in Christ are citizens of God's kingdom now and forever.

Jesus, in Mark 14, verse 25, proclaimed, "Truly I say to you,

Mark 14:25

I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink

it anew in the kingdom of God."

What's so cool about this verse is that Jesus clearly expects that He will see

His disciples again in both the millennial kingdom and in heaven.

Why? Because Jesus knows that through His death and resurrection,

not only will He break the power of sin, but also death.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 50-54 instructed.

1 Corinthians 15:50–54

"Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of

God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed

in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable,

and we will be all changed.

For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, this mortal will

have put on immortality, and then will come about the saying that is written,

Death is swallowed up in victory.

Before Christ, the grave was the end. But now, due to Christ's death and resurrection,

we, you and I, can walk through heaven's gates unstopped by God's legions. Why?

Because we are already citizens of heaven. We belong there.

Not because of anything we've done, but everything that Jesus has done on our behalf.

We will have new bodies, no more sorrow, no more pain. And this is the best

part, in my opinion. No more sin!

No more do we have to struggle with temptation. Praise God for that!!

We get to see our loved ones again, but most importantly, you and I will be

in the presence of Almighty God, Jesus Christ, and we get to stay with Him forever!

What has God taught us today? The first truth we have learned is that in the

Last Supper, Jesus blessed the bread in approval of the salvation plan of His own sacrificial death.

Jesus also gave out the bread to the disciples as a promise that Jesus would,

after His death, come and dwell in His disciples through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The second truth that God has revealed to us is that we are to continually rejoice

and be thankful for Christ's death or sacrificial death as the greatest blessings ever to exist.

God also taught us that the slaughter of Jesus' blood fulfilled the requirements

of the Old Covenant so that our sins could be forgiven.

Lastly, we have been taught that through the death and resurrection of Jesus,

we have the real hope of being in heaven with Jesus one day.

The heart of this message is that the celebration of the Lord's Supper or communion

is a remembrance of Christ's sacrifice as He substituted Himself for us and

bore the wrath of God for our sins so that we could have full forgiveness and

be in the presence of God.

For us to live in His salvation, we, you I are called to remain or stay with

God, in faith, by obeying God's Word as we trust in His love and as we wait for

Christ's glorious return.

I'd like to leave us with a question. Is the Lord's Supper just a ritual to

us that we do every month or whenever we do it?

Or is it about us remembering Christ's death and surrendering to His work in our lives? Let's pray.

Father God, we are so, so grateful for the mercy that you have showed us,

that you bestowed on us in Jesus.

You have broken your body and shed your blood as a payment for us so that we

didn't have to shed our blood, that we didn't have to die to be in God's presence.

Thank you for your love, your mercy that we don't at all deserve.

Thank you for your goodness to us, and may we always remain or stay with you.

In your precious Son's name, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

I'll leave you with this blessing from Psalm 67. "May God be gracious to us and

bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, that your way be known on the

earth, and your salvation amongst all the nations."

Have a wonderful Sunday, and may the Lord bless you. Thank you.