The Last Supper Pt 1

[0:00] chapter 14. If you've got a Bible, open it up to Mark 14. And today we're going to be looking at a few different things.

[0:13] This is really the last, really where we're at is the last day or two before Jesus is crucified. And there's a lot going on. And a lot of the gospel of Mark, it spans over, well, it's mostly just the life of Jesus after, there's a little bit about his birth, but then primarily it's the three years of his ministry.

[0:38] But the last few chapters of the book just span over less than a week. And so this chapter here is just looking at two days. Last week, as we looked at this, we looked at the plot that's going on where Judas is involved, one of Jesus' 12 disciples.

[0:56] We're going to look at that a little bit more because it's kind of intertwined through this whole narrative, the plot and the betrayal of Jesus by Judas.

[1:09] So we'll look at that betrayal. We're also going to be looking at the Passover feast. This is something that Jesus and his disciples are celebrating. And not just the Passover, but there's actually three feasts that are happening in the same week that is going on here in Jerusalem that is part of kind of tied to the Passover.

[1:35] And then we're also going to look at how this feast or these three feasts specifically relate. And I forgot to pass out. Could I get my, yeah.

[1:46] We have a little handout, a little visual. Everybody like visuals? So I'll have some kids here pass out these pieces of paper for you because we'll look at that in just a few minutes.

[2:00] But we're going to look at how these feasts relate to what Jesus Christ accomplished for us and then how many of the things in the Old Testament are actually, do you notice as you read through the Old Testament, there are lots of laws and rituals that just seem kind of weird and strange.

[2:19] And people have wondered that. I'm sure the Israelites thought that for thousands of years. Why is God having us do these things? But we find, especially in Christ, that there's a fulfillment of many of these things in Jesus Christ.

[2:32] And we're going to look at just a few of those today. Let's start real quick here in verse 10. Actually, what we usually do is we kind of read through. So let's do that.

[2:44] We're going to start in verse 10. And let's go to verse 26. It's actually a large portion of scripture. But we'll read it, kind of get this into our minds, and then we'll go back through just verse by verse and talk through it.

[2:58] Verse 10. Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priest 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.

[3:12] 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, Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water.

[3:28] Follow him. Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, The teacher says, Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples? Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared.

[3:41] 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 prepared the Passover. In the evening he came with the twelve. Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with me will betray me.

[3:58] And they began to be sorrowful and to say to him, one by one, Is it I? And another said, Is it I? And he answered and he said to them, It is one of the twelve who dips with me in the dish.

[4:09] The Son of Man indeed 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.

[4:20] And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and he blessed it and he broke it. And he gave it to them and said, Take, eat, 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.

[4:32] And he said to them, This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it.

[4:43] I'm new in the kingdom of God. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. So, Jesus and his disciples, this kind of passage starts out, well, I looked at the first two verses, so let's look at that, verse 10 and 11.

[5:00] Judas is making plans to betray Jesus. And why is that? And we'll look at more Judas in a second. But one of the things I can kind of see here is, there's Jesus' people have their eyes on him.

[5:16] They're making plans to kill him, the leaders of Israel. And I think Judas sees this and he's looking for an opportunity to make some profit here.

[5:29] There's some money to be made. And so, he goes to these leaders and says, hey, for some cash, I can deliver this guy to you.

[5:43] Notice in verse 11, it says, so he sought how he might conveniently betray him. So, he made this deal with the leaders. He's going to betray him, but now he's looking for the opportunity.

[5:58] When am I going to do it? And what we'll find out, and what we just read here, is that he doesn't have to look very far. Jesus is going to deliver him the opportunity on a silver platter.

[6:11] And why would that be? Because, well, this is actually part of the plan. The next thing we'll look at is this Passover meal. Verse 12 says, 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?

[6:29] So, we're going to talk a little bit here about the Passover, and then some related feasts that are in the same week. The first thing we'll do, though, is kind of look at this funny phrase.

[6:40] It says, Now, on the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover lamb. So, we go back to the Old Testament and the law of Moses.

[6:53] God gave Moses a law, and there's a lot of things in there about, you know, the kinds of foods you should eat, and the kinds of foods you shouldn't eat, and the kind of sacrifices you should give on a regular basis.

[7:03] And there was laws about the Sabbath days, and keeping them holy, and not working on those days. All kinds of different laws. Well, there were also some celebrations, some feasts or festivals that were provided for the Jews to celebrate.

[7:21] And these were mandatory. They weren't optional. They were mandatory. And there were actually seven of them. There are four of them in the spring, and three more in the fall.

[7:34] And, you know, for our holidays, we have lots of holidays, right, in this country. Every country has their own holidays, right? And typically, usually, they're kind of spread out throughout the year, right? Well, these Jewish holidays are kind of grouped into two main clusters, the spring ones.

[7:50] And we're going to look at three specifically that all are within one week of each other. Isn't that wild? Having three holidays that are within one week of each other. And we're going to find out, why would you have three holidays all right next to each other?

[8:03] That doesn't make any sense. Why don't you just have one holiday, right? Celebrate it. It can be a whole week, right? And then you have one kind of outlier, another holiday that ends up being about 50 days after this spring group.

[8:21] It's still in the spring. That's the Feast of Weeks, Pentecost, as it's also known. And then you have three more holidays.

[8:31] They're in the fall, and they all are grouped together as well within a couple weeks of each other. And so it's kind of strange. Instead of just being spread out throughout the year, you've got two major holiday weeks, and then one that's a little outlier.

[8:49] We're going to talk about this. Let me kind of go to my notes here and make sure I don't miss anything. Let's actually look at this in Leviticus 23.

[9:05] If you've got your Bible and you want to look at this, Leviticus 23. It's Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, so the third book from the beginning.

[9:17] And this is where these feasts, all seven of them, are prescribed. We'll start in verse 4, because that's where it starts with the feasts.

[9:30] It says this, And then he gives some specific dates. It says here, And so here he describes two feasts.

[10:12] One is called Passover. It's to be on the 14th day of the first month of the year. And on the Jewish calendar, the first month of the year is actually kind of in spring, April time period. And then the day after Passover, you were to start a full week celebration called the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

[10:32] And the first day and the last day of that feast were to be what we call Sabbath days. They were days of rest and assembly. And you could actually work during the feast between those days, but on the first day and last day of Unleavened Bread.

[10:50] And you could actually even work on the Passover day, I believe. But yeah, so on the first day of Unleavened Bread and the last day were Passover days.

[11:07] And then it goes on, and it says this in verse 9, And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land, which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.

[11:22] He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted on your behalf. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it.

[11:34] Now, it's a little bit confusing here, because, well, what day, he says on the day after the Sabbath, is that every day after the Sabbath? What's the day after the Sabbath?

[11:46] Sunday, right? We call that Sunday anyway. It's the first day of the week. The Sabbath day is the last day of the week. So the day after is the first day of the week. In our culture, it's Sunday. And so, but this actually ties to the other festivals.

[12:04] And so the way this works is, you have on the 14th of the month, of the first month of the year, Passover. Passover. The next day starts the Feast of Weeks, which lasts the whole week.

[12:16] And then sometime in that week, wherever Sunday falls in that week, you're supposed to celebrate the Feast of Firstfruits.

[12:28] And the Feast of Firstfruits is a celebration of, you know, the early harvest. the very first kind of budding of grain, stuff coming, you're supposed to bring in a sheaf of grain, and there's a wave offering.

[12:45] The priests will wave it. There's also sacrifices involved with that too. But there's this whole week of three different festivals. Let's kind of talk a little bit more about each of them individually.

[12:58] So Passover is meant to be a, let me mark my place here, a celebration of an event that happened early on in Israel's history.

[13:11] The Passover, the term Passover, is a reference to when the angel of death passed over the firstborn when Israel was about to leave Egypt.

[13:24] Remember there was, Israel was taken captive. They were slaves in Egypt. And Moses went to Pharaoh and said, God says, let my people go.

[13:35] And there ended up, you know, Pharaoh said no, and there ended up being ten plagues, right? And the last final plague was the death angel killing the firstborn of every household and even of the animals.

[13:49] But God gave Israel and said, I want you to sacrifice a lamb on this day. on this night. And this, it was, the instruction was to do it in the evening.

[14:01] I want you to sacrifice this lamb in the evening and put the blood of that lamb on your doorposts. And if you do this, you'll be saved from the destruction that is coming on the rest of Egypt.

[14:14] And then the next morning is when they, they leave. And part of, as part of this, this Passover night, they were supposed to, you're not supposed to bake bread.

[14:27] The bread had to be unleavened because, well, you're heading out in the morning. You're heading out to escape Egypt. And so this Passover meal and the sacrifice was meant to memorialize that event when God delivered Israel from the hands of the Egyptians and saved their firstborn from the angel of death.

[14:52] So as part of this meal, it was supposed to happen in the evening, at night. Actually, the instruction is very specific. It's supposed to happen at twilight. Twilight is between when the sun goes down and when it gets completely dark.

[15:06] So there's an hour or two period in which this is supposed to happen. You're supposed to eat the meal, eat the lamb, so you sacrifice the lamb and then you eat it and then part of the instruction and we actually read this in Deuteronomy.

[15:21] I don't know if I wrote this down somewhere. I don't see the passage written down. Deuteronomy, chapter 6, I think. Or maybe that's not right.

[15:33] But you're supposed to eat the lamb as a family or a group and you can't break the bones of the lamb that wasn't allowed. And if there's anything left over after the evening, you're supposed to just burn it up.

[15:46] anything that didn't get eaten up. So the purpose of the Passover meal celebration was to memorialize their deliverance from Egypt. So you sacrifice a lamb or a goat, you eat it for your meal.

[16:03] The sacrifice is supposed to take place at least later on after Jerusalem and the temple was set up. You're supposed to take your sacrifice to Jerusalem. In fact, that passage in Deuteronomy talks about taking it to the place where I will designate it.

[16:18] It didn't have a name at the time the law was given, but we know that that place is Jerusalem. The animal had to be a male. It was either a sheep or a goat. It had to be about one year old and it had to be an animal with no blemish.

[16:31] You don't take kind of the runt in the litter, right, and use that as the sacrifice. You had to take a pristine animal that had no blemish. And then the meal included both unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

[16:46] And the unleavened bread was to represent their hurried flight from Egypt. There's no time to leaven the bread. We're just going to eat it unleavened. And then the bitter herbs, and this is described in that passage in Deuteronomy, the bitter herbs were to represent the bitterness of their suffering in Egypt.

[17:02] So you can see all the typology and symbolism of this Passover meal. And the timing of when you took this Passover meal was to coincide with the timing of the actual Passover event in Egypt.

[17:20] Then you have this feast of unleavened bread, and this is also to memorialize their deliverance from Egypt. And again, we talked about kind of the symbolism of the unleavened bread.

[17:35] It's the hurried flight from out of Egypt. And then the last one is this first fruits that happens during the week of unleavened bread. And this was to memorialize the fruitfulness of the promised land that they were going to enter into.

[17:48] And so remember that God said, I'm going to give you this land to enter into. It's a land flowing with milk and honey, and you'll be a fruitful people there. And so this festival or this feast was to represent the fruitfulness of the land.

[18:05] We are all fairly familiar with kind of what happened with Jesus dying on the cross. But I'd like to, and maybe not all of us are familiar, and this is where we'll get these sheets out.

[18:20] Could I get actually one of those so I can reference it? Oh, what is it? Deuteronomy 16. Deuteronomy 16, yeah.

[18:31] So if you want to write that down and look at it later, Deuteronomy 16 is, where you'll find the details of that. But this shows, this little chart that shows how the different Old Testament feasts tie in to what Jesus Christ accomplished for us.

[18:52] You know, Jesus was crucified, and the Bible calls him over and over again what? The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is the Passover Lamb.

[19:06] In fact, it says this in 1 Corinthians 5, verse 6. You don't need to turn there, but I'll just read this. 1 Corinthians 5, verse 6. He says, Paul's saying, Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

[19:20] Therefore, purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump since you truly are unleavened. For indeed, Christ our Passover has sacrificed, was sacrificed for us.

[19:32] Therefore, let us keep the feasts, not with the old leaven, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. There, I just wanted to point out this title of Jesus. He's called, Christ is our Passover.

[19:45] He is our Passover. And so, on this 14th day of the first month of the year, Jesus Christ was crucified at the same time that the Passover lambs were being sacrificed in remembrance of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt.

[20:08] And then, the day, and then Jesus, he dies on the cross, and then he's buried right before the Sabbath day. And that Sabbath day is the first day of unleavened bread.

[20:21] And remember, they had to take him down off the cross because they didn't want dead bodies to be exposed during a Sabbath day.

[20:33] That was considered improper. And so, they wanted, they needed Jesus to be buried in a tomb before that Sabbath day started. And so, Jesus was buried on the first day of unleavened bread.

[20:50] And leavened is a symbol in the Bible of what? Decay. You know, when you bake bread and you put leaven in it, well, it makes the bread easier to eat, right?

[21:01] It's more fluffy. But as soon as you introduce that yeast, the bread starts immediately to spoil. If you didn't put that yeast in there, the bread would last longer, right?

[21:14] So, the yeast, even though it is an agent for making the bread kind of nicer to eat, at the same time, it brings in decay. And so, we see yeast seen as a symbol throughout the Bible of sin, corruption, decay.

[21:30] But, was there any decay in that tomb? Did Jesus decay? No, he resisted decay, right? And he rose again from the dead.

[21:43] And so, we can see how this festival of unleavened bread represents Jesus. And Jesus entered into that tomb. His body was delivered into that tomb on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

[21:56] Now, this year, when Jesus was crucified, the first day of the week landed when? On that day after.

[22:09] There's actually a little bit of dispute here. There's a whole debate out there and I'm not going to get into it about what was Jesus buried for two days or two nights I guess or three, right?

[22:22] And so, there's a debate about exactly how long he was in the grave and was he crucified on a Thursday night or a Friday night, right?

[22:32] We celebrate Good Friday but some people say, no, it was actually Thursday. Some people say it was Wednesday. I'm not going to get into all those details. I just want to kind of, but I just wanted to bring it up because there is some dispute.

[22:44] But we do know that Jesus rose from the dead on what day? Sunday, the first day of the week. And so, he was in the ground. He did not see decay. And then on the same day that they are celebrating the first fruits festival, Jesus rises from the dead.

[23:06] And I want to read this scripture to you. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, which is a passage all about the resurrection. of Jesus. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 20.

[23:19] But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead.

[23:33] For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order. Christ, the first fruits, and afterwards, those who are Christ's at his coming.

[23:49] You see, when Jesus Christ rose from the dead, he gave up a mortal body that was subject to death, and he took on a new body, a body that was incorruptible, an immortal body.

[24:06] and the Bible teaches that he is the first fruits of a great harvest in which all of those who trust in Christ will also receive the same.

[24:20] We will receive a harvest of new bodies in the final resurrection. So Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection from the dead, the early sign of something, a greater harvest to come.

[24:36] Isn't this symbolism amazing? Remember that these feasts were put into place 1,500 years earlier before all this happened with Jesus. And it's pretty wild as we look at the life of Jesus, and there's lots of skeptics.

[24:50] Was Jesus legit? Was he just kind of making things up? Was he a deceiver? Was he a liar? Was he just kind of crazy? Can you imagine how difficult it would be to align all of these things even if you're the smartest guy on the earth?

[25:10] How do you set up your own death and then your own resurrection? Or maybe some people think it's the fake resurrection.

[25:21] But the typology and the symbolism here is pretty amazing. And by the way, we talked about the other three festivals or feasts in the fall.

[25:34] And we won't take time to look at them, but one of the things you'll notice about those, there's the Feast of Trumpets, I'm trying to remember, Feast of Tabernacles, what's the other one I'm missing? Day of Atonement, thank you.

[25:46] And those all point to something that I believe is still future, the return of Christ. Remember, what are we going to hear when Jesus comes?

[25:57] Sound of trumpets, and there's a Feast of Trumpets? Ooh, that's interesting, isn't it? Maybe we'll look at that some other time. Let's go back to the story in Mark chapter 14.

[26:08] And he sent out two of his disciples, and he said to them, go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him. Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, the teacher says, where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples?

[26:21] Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared, and there make ready for us. So the disciples went out and they came into the city and they found it just as he had said to what's going on here.

[26:33] This is kind of a, there's some mysterious plans going on here. It makes me, it reminds me of when Jesus told, remember when he enters into the city of Jerusalem, we call it Palm Sunday, and he told his guys, he said, go and find a donkey and tell them the master has need of it and then they'll give it to you.

[26:52] It's like, okay. So was this something that was just miraculous? Like we talked about last week, is this like a Jedi mind trick, you know, where you say something, and then there's just a miraculous thing going on where they're just going to do whatever you say or whatever Jesus has planned?

[27:09] Or did Jesus actually plan this out? It doesn't say for sure, but it seems to me as we read through this, that this is actually something that Jesus set up beforehand. And remember that this is a huge celebration going on in Israel at the time.

[27:24] There are hundreds of thousands, maybe even over a million people here in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas at the time. There's a lot going on. And can you imagine during this week that places kind of might fill up, hotels, if you will, upper rooms might fill up?

[27:39] Yeah. And so Jesus may have made a reservation months beforehand with somebody that he knew. It seems to me that that's probably the case. But for whatever reason, he didn't tell his disciples about it.

[27:53] He didn't tell his two disciples, he says, hey, remember Larry, go talk to Larry, he set up a guest room for us and go make sure that we have that prepared. No, instead he kind of does this kind of mystery thing.

[28:09] And so there's a guy, he's going to be carrying a picture of water. It's kind of like a spy novel, right? You've got to go to the appointed place, go into the city, and there's going to be somebody and he's going to be carrying this thing. And then you'll know that that's the right guy because he's carrying this thing.

[28:23] And that's exactly what happened. And then, so the question is that I was asking, you know, as you study through the Bible, this is one of the things I do, I'll read through a passage and then I'll just write down the questions that come to mind and consider them and look into them.

[28:42] And one of the questions is why all the mystery around this? Why not just be straightforward about it? And you know what? I came up empty handed. If anybody has any ideas, let me know. We'll continue on.

[28:54] And in the evening he came with the twelve. Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, assuredly I say to you, one of you who eats with me will betray me. So they're sitting down, they're eating this meal together, and Jesus drops a bomb.

[29:10] And he said, now remember last week we talked about this phrase, assuredly I say unto you? And what is that a reference to? Well it seems to me, we actually see this a lot, we're going to see this again even this morning.

[29:23] Assuredly I say to you seems to be a reference to a prophetic utterance. Remember in the Old Testament, thus saith the Lord is what the prophets would say, and Jesus never said that.

[29:33] Jesus never said thus saith the Lord, even though he was a prophet. But he said many, many times, assuredly I say to you. And this is one of those times. That one of you who eats with me will betray me.

[29:47] And so it's some kind of prophetic statement, and I think we need to look closely at when he's using that kind of phrase. The other thing is, one of the things we know, he's actually, as he talks about this, this isn't something new.

[30:03] There's actually a passage in the Old Testament, Psalm 41 actually, and I think we'll, I didn't actually write it down, but there's a passage that, it's actually about David and his life, but it's a reference to somebody who betrays me, somebody in my own company who betrays me.

[30:29] And so it could be he's using this phraseology to reference an Old Testament passage that is speaking to this. Why would he reveal the betrayal beforehand?

[30:41] That was another question I asked. Why not just let Judas do his thing? I think there's two reasons. One of them is actually, I think, very specifically provided in the passage in the same account in the Gospel of John.

[31:02] And he says this as he, this is a part of the passage where he is revealing who his betrayer is or that he will be betrayed. John chapter 13 verse 19, he says this, And so Jesus is letting his disciples know, hey, betrayal is coming.

[31:28] I want you to know now that this is expected. So that when it comes, I want you to know it's not a surprise for me, and I want you to know that I've got this under control.

[31:41] This is part of the plan. The other reason why I think Jesus is doing this is Jesus is setting up his own death.

[31:53] And the timing of his own death, this is part of his responsibility. He is supposed to die on a very specific day, the day of the Passover.

[32:07] And so he's basically, you know, he knows that Judas is looking for an opportunity. And so now he's like, here is the opportunity. Somebody's going to betray me.

[32:18] Who is it? And we'll find out that he says, all right, Judas, go your way. Okay. Verse 19, and they began to be sorrowful and say to him one by one, is it I?

[32:37] And another said, is it I? You know, evidently this was not obvious to the disciples who the betrayer was. Now we know that Judas had a history.

[32:51] The Bible tells us that he stole money from the collection. But I don't know that they find these things out later.

[33:03] I don't know if people had clues beforehand. It's not clear. But there was some question from his own disciples, is it I?

[33:16] He answered and said to them, it is one of the twelve who dips with me in the dish. The son of man goes just as is written of him. But woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed.

[33:28] It would have been good for that man if he had never been born. And then there's a final detail that is shared in the Gospel of Mark on this.

[33:39] That's not in, excuse me, the Gospel of Matthew. And so I'll just read that, Matthew 26, 25. It says this, this is how kind of this whole thing ends. Then Judas, who was betraying him, answered and said, Rabbi, is it I?

[33:53] So there was kind of, it went through the disciples. Is it me? Is it me? Is it me? Then finally Judas says, is it I? And he knows it's him, doesn't he? And then Jesus responded and said to him, you have said it.

[34:09] There's a question also that comes up. Did Judas fall away? Was Judas a faithful disciple who became corrupt during his three years with Jesus?

[34:23] Or was he corrupt from the very beginning? And I think it's the latter. It seems to me to be very clear. And I'm going to point to a few passages. I think Jesus intentionally chose Judas because he was a deceiver and had no love for the Lord.

[34:51] There was a time, and this is recorded in the Gospel of John, during Jesus' ministry in Galilee, that he's giving some difficult teachings about eating his blood and drinking, or drinking his blood and eating his flesh, and there's some questions about that.

[35:08] In John 6, verse 60, it says this, therefore, many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, this is a hard saying, who can understand it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples complained about this, he said to them, does this offend you?

[35:21] What then if you should see the Son of Man ascending where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing, the words that I speak to you are a spirit and they are a life. And then he says this, but there are some of you who do not believe.

[35:36] And it says this, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe and who would betray him. Jesus knew from the beginning who would betray him.

[35:50] If you go down to verse 70, it says this, Jesus answered and said to them, did I not choose you the twelve and one of you is a devil? And he spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray him, being one of the twelve.

[36:05] Now he didn't expose who it was at this time. But he said one of you is a devil. At that time earlier on in his ministry. But notice how he says, I chose twelve of you.

[36:19] He chose eleven as faithful disciples and I think he chose one of the twelve as a betrayer to take that role. Also when we read about, last week, about Mary anointing Jesus with oil, with the costly oil, Israel, and there was a reference to Judas saying, hey, we could have used this money for helping out the poor.

[36:45] And it made the point that he didn't say this because he had a love for the poor, but because he was stealing off the top. He was a lover of money. Oh, and here's a passage that actually references Psalm 41, John 13, verse 18.

[37:04] this is actually a last supper passage in the Gospel of John. He says this, I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen, but that the scripture may be fulfilled.

[37:17] He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me. Now I tell you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am he. And so he says, I know whom I've chosen.

[37:29] I've chosen some of you to be my disciples forever, to sit on twelve thrones with me, ruling over the twelve tribes of Israel. But one of you I have chosen to be a betrayer.

[37:46] Are there people like Judas in church today? People who go through the motions of the Christian life, joining church, but they actually have no real interest in the things of God.

[38:05] People who just use church as an opportunity, maybe for profit. I've seen situations where people join a church so that they can add more down lines to their multi-level marketing scheme.

[38:23] You know, sometimes these deceivers actually fill the pulpits. In churches, even today.

[38:36] Sometimes people join churches not because they have interest in the things of God, but because they have political aspirations. You know, and in this country anyway, right? If you want to get political office, this is changing, I think, in probably just the last few dozen years.

[38:54] But in the past, especially, right? If you wanted to be a political candidate, you had to be a church-going person, right? And so some people, they would just go to church. They make sure they carry their big Bible with them, right?

[39:06] Have you seen that before? Big Bible. Let people know, hey, I'm one of these Christians. But they don't do these things because they have a love for the Lord, but because they have other things that they're interested in.

[39:21] Let's finish up with this. We won't get to the actual details of the Lord's Supper. We'll wrap up with this. But I just want to talk about Judas and ask this question.

[39:37] Judas was part of a plan that included betrayal. And some people have asked the question, could Judas have repented during all this?

[39:53] Was this Judas' lot in life? Was he born for this purpose? Did God create him to be a betrayer?

[40:04] And there are some people who would teach that. In fact, they would teach that everybody is born for a specific purpose. There's another person that's described in the Bible in a similar manner, and that's Pharaoh.

[40:19] Pharaoh. Right? Pharaoh. The Bible actually says that God raised up Pharaoh to be an example, basically, in order to judge him.

[40:30] He raised up Pharaoh in order to judge him. And so some people say, well, God creates some people for wickedness and for destruction.

[40:41] And I think that's a horrific teaching. You know, if God wanted to use someone as an example of evil, somebody to make an example out of, does he have to look very far in the world?

[41:01] No. Does he have to create somebody specifically to be evil? Or is there just enough evil in the world already to begin with? And there are plenty of candidates.

[41:14] I think that's certainly the case. And God can, if he wishes, find one of those candidates who he knows their heart is hardened against him and use them for his purposes.

[41:28] But God says in the scriptures, and I want to make this clear because this is one of the most important teachings in all of scripture, that God wants every person to come to him and trust him, to love him, to repent and be on his side.

[41:50] 1 Timothy 2, verse 3 says this, For it is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

[42:02] For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.

[42:13] God wants all men to be saved. Anyone can have salvation if they'll just turn to Christ. The second passage, 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 9, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

[42:39] You know, God did not want Judas to perish. He did. We find out Judas went to his grave in rebellion against God.

[42:51] And Jesus talked about it would have been better for him never to have been born. You know, hell is real. Eternal destruction is real. But God does not want a single person to go down that path.

[43:06] And his love and offer of repentance and offer of Jesus Christ is open to anybody willing to take that offer, no matter where they started, no matter how hard their heart has been in the past.

[43:19] Ultimately, this didn't happen with Judas, but I'd like to say it could have. Judas could have taken that opportunity.

[43:30] He was with Jesus those three years, but he didn't. And he ended up filling part of God's plan to use the wicked for his own purposes.

[43:43] Let's finish up there. We didn't get to all that we'll look at. I wanted to look at today, but we'll pick up there next time. Let's pray. Father, we love you.

[44:02] We thank you for the gift that you gave us and the amazing, the amazingness of it all and how you aligned all of these things. It's just beyond incredible.

[44:17] You made, I mean, you spent thousands of years putting together a system for the Jews of rituals and feasts and then tied everything together in a fulfillment through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

[44:33] We pray that we would take these things to heart and live lives in gratitude to you for all that you've done and accomplished for us. Thank you for all of these things in Jesus' name.

[44:46] Amen.