From Passover to the Lords Supper - Mark 14:12-25

3:29God came down to deliver His people. And much we see in the person of Christ. Again, Yahweh coming down to save His people. And we see, we recognize God's sovereignty in both the Exodus and the events surrounding the Exodus and the events surrounding the Lord's Supper. We saw that He had Pharaoh in his hand. He had orchestrated everything 400 years in bondage. God was in control of the events that surrounded the Exodus. And as we walk through this passage, we see very clearly that God is in control, that Christ is in control of his own destiny. Judas' betrayal is not something that happened outside of the will of God, though Judas is going to be responsible for his sin and justly held responsible. And the evil workings of the Jewish leaders that were set against Christ, yes, God had those in control. In fact, he orchestrated him, though each will bear the responsibility for their sin, yet. Yet, the point of it all is that his life wasn't taken from him. This wasn't some failed attempt to establish a kingdom, and then all of a sudden everything went bad because man rose up in revolt and crucified Christ. No, the point is that Jesus gave his life, just like God was sovereign over the events of the salvation of the Exodus, so Christ is sovereign over the events of the cross. And then finally, where we left off last time is we looked at the slavery, we looked at the Savior, we looked at the sovereignty of God, and now we're looking at the sacrifice this morning. The sacrifice. That is where we want to focus our attention this morning. We want to look at the sacrifice, the parallels between the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb and the sacrifice of our Lord. So coming to this passage in verse 22, we're going to plan on working through the last four verses of this. Coming to this, there's two pictures of the sacrifice, two images that come to mind in Mark 14. First is this beautiful picture of Mary anointing Jesus' feet, taking that costly alabaster jar, breaking it, and pouring out its precious contents. That's the first imagery. As we start to understand the Lord's Testament or the Lord's Supper, we must understand it against the backdrop of Mary's sacrifice. As she broke the vessel and poured out The precious contents, so this is exactly what Christ is going to do for his people. What God is doing, he's going to break Jesus and pour him out for the life of his people. You see, how does one express love? Sacrifice. How does one express extreme love, extreme sacrifice? This is what Mary did, but this is exactly what Christ did for his people. It gives us the backdrop. Christ pours himself out for his people. But as you keep working your way through Mark 14, there's another image of sacrifice, and that is the image of the Passover Lamb. Jesus said he must suffer and die. He'd been telling his disciples this all along, that he's going to suffer and die in Jerusalem. And then all of a sudden, the context of the Passover Lamb sets a whole nother dimension to the purpose and death of Jesus. You see, Jesus' death parallels the death of the Passover Lamb. Just as the blood of the Lamb of the Exodus kept the wrath of God from visiting the house of the Israelites, so the blood of Jesus keeps the wrath of God away from his people. Very strong imagery. The question is: how do I get his blood on the doorposts of my life? How do I do that? We don't sacrifice a lamb. We don't take the blood and we don't put it up on our doorpost like they did at the first. Exodus. So the question is, how do I get the blood of the Lamb, the true Lamb of God, upon the doorpost of my life? And that is what this text answers this morning for us. And so my goal this morning is to work through the last four verses of this section, verses 23 to 25. And as I do, I want to point out four key features of the Lord's Supper, so that in a moment you will partake and that you will know a little bit more about the Lord's Supper and maybe appreciate it a little more and take of it in a worthy manner. So that's where we're going this morning. The first key feature of the Lord's Supper is self-examination. Look at verse 22. While they were eating, he took some bread, and after a blessing, he broke it and gave it to them and said, Take that. This is my body. Eight verbs here. First, eating. While they were eating, this is Jesus' last meal before the cross. This is the last meal, probably after the second cup. They were eating, probably the second cup had already, of the Passover, had already been circulated. And so after the second cup, they begin to eat. And he announces the betrayer. But it's during this time that after the second cup, that he took. Look at the verbs. He took, he blessed, he broke, he gave, he said. And he says, See that? He took some bread, and after blessing it, he broke it, and he gave it to them, and he said, You see the action? This is all Jesus doing this. And then he said to them, Look what he says: you take or take. That's an imperative command, the only imperative command. Take this. You must take this. The idea: take this. He said, This is my body. He took, he blessed, he broke, he gave. He said, You take, this is my body. And he doesn't use the word flesh, normally translated as the word flesh. He uses a different word. This is my body. And the idea of this word is, this is myself. This is my whole self, often used to refer to the whole self. You see, and what this is saying is that Jesus gives himself wholly and without reserve to his people. His self-offering is himself wholly and totally. This is for you.

10:06You see, and his gift is most vividly displayed on the cross. But, brothers and sisters, it's not limited to the cross. We can see the cross and we see that he gives himself totally and completely and wholly for his people, but it doesn't end there. He lives and he hasn't changed. His heart towards his people has not changed. He gives totally. And holy to his people as our high priest, as our mediator between God and man. And Paul understood this. And this is why Paul can say in Romans 8:31, what shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also give us freely or freely give us all things?

10:58You see, when you get a glimpse of God's love for you, you get excited. Do you really think that God loves you to this degree? Listen, the day I realized that Nancy loved me and liked me, just forget the love. I mean, just I thought she was interested in me. I was on cloud nine. And that's just her love for me. And I'm like, wow, this is incredible. Listen, on a much higher and nobler plane is the love of God. And when you come to understand that the Creator of the universe loves you totally and holy, I mean, it breathes life into your bones, into your soul. It did Paul. And the point of it all is his life and his blessing is nothing you can forcefully take from him.

11:52Just think if I had taken a gun to Nancy's head and said, You love me, wouldn't happen. You know, you can't. Take it from him. There's nothing you can do to earn this kind of love and blessing of God. It is freely given. And that's the point of this. He took, he blessed, he gave, he broke, he said. It's all him. Something he gives. His whole being, his whole life. And you can receive it or you can reject it. And this is going to be the mark that you will bear for eternity. What did you do with the great love of God that was poured out for you? What did you do with it? Did you receive it or reject it? So if you have not received him, and I'm speaking to you who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ today, who have not welcomed him into your life and have not put your faith and trust in him, I say to you, you need to do so today. But let me tell you something. The reason you need to receive him today is because you need him. You need him. I mean, listen, look at verse 22. He wouldn't offer himself to his disciples if they didn't need it. Okay, if there was some other means to peace with God or whatever, he would have just said, look, go there. This is what you need to do. No, he offered himself and he offers himself to you today because you need him. And remember, the context in which the Lord's Supper is instituted is in the context of gross betrayal. And gross defection. We have in verses 17 through 21, you have Judas and his betrayal, who was overcome by his sins of greed, his sins of temptation. God didn't fit in the box that he wanted God to fit in, and so he rose up in revolt against God and he wrestled against God and he declared war against God because Jesus wouldn't fit into the mold that Judas wanted Jesus to fit into. Brothers and sisters, be very careful and be warned that there is a temptation within us to try to make God do what we want him to do, and when he doesn't, we get irritated at him. That's what Judas did. But then, going beyond that, there's the sins of great betrayal, but then there's the sins of great defection. Verse 27, Jesus says, all of you are going to fall away. And then in verse 31, all of them are saying, no, we won't. Great defection. There's Peter's defection. And these bring to mind there's not only just the sins of betrayal, but the sins of defection. That is, the sins of fear. That is, we don't really believe him, or the sins of shame to be identified with Christ. Then there's the sins of weakness, where we just. Just don't have the resolve to follow Christ no matter what. And listen, this is us, is it not? Weak.

15:08How often do we promise and yet fail to meet our promises to God? I can't tell you just how many times I've heard this testimony of someone who's made promises to God and just keeps falling flat. I keep making promises. I keep making promises to God. I keep failing, so I'm not going back there anymore. And there's this guilt and this shame that is piled up. I cannot, I can't. I try, I try, and I fail every single time. That's the cry of humanity.

15:42You see, when you look at this passage of the Lord's table, it's just like an island of faithfulness in the midst of the gross betrayal of humanity and the gross defection of humanity. We see this island of faithfulness. We see God's faithful love poured out for his people. You see, we need a basis of a relationship with God that can withstand our own infidelity, don't we? You see, our relationship with God cannot be a mere contractual relationship where if we do this, then God will do this, because we are at heart betrayers and defectors. You see, when you come to the table, it's not a table of merit, it's a table of grace. And this is what the Lord knew his people needed. They need a table of grace. Where our relationship with God is not based upon how well I can keep my end of the deal, but upon his faithfulness to love me despite of it. It's a table of grace. Come to the table. That is what he is instituting. It's a beautiful, beautiful table. You see, we are very prone to betray, aren't we? We are very prone to defect.

16:54And sometimes we don't even realize it. You see, the prerequisite for the Lord's table is need. That's what the table is. It's given in the context of need. Man needs a relationship with God that is not based upon man's faithfulness, but based upon God's faithfulness. That's what we need. And in a little while, we're going to pass the elements around. And quite honestly, some of you are going to be more interested in the time on the clock than whether or not you're going to betray him. Or you're going to be more concerned about, and kids, I'm talking to some of you because I've been there, you're going to be more concerned about how much juice you get in the little cup than you are with the fact that you may possibly betray him or have betrayed him this past week or that you may defect from him in the future. See, it's a time of self-examination. Take into consideration how prone you are to betray. That's what it is. The night of the Lord's table was not a Blessed Assurance type evening. It was very awkward. It was very difficult. There was a lot of soul searching. Is it I? Is it I? So as we come to the Lord's table, we come as people in need. So the first key feature of the Lord's table is entering into a time of self-evaluation, self-examination. So how do you get the blood of Christ applied to your doorstep? First of all, you must recognize your need to have Him in your life. Second key feature, second key feature of the Lord's table is communion. Communion. Look at verse 23. And when he had taken a cup and had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.

18:50First thing, it's a time of communion, a communion with each other. Verse 23, notice, to them he gave it, and they all drank from it. And this is exactly what it is. This is what distinguished them from everyone else. And they had a shared distinction. And if you remember from the history of Israel, if you spend any time studying the family of Jacob, who was later changed to Israel, or his name changed was Israel, if you look at his sons and his family, you realize they were a very dysfunctional family. Okay, right there on the pages of Scripture, a very dysfunctional family. What did they say? Have in common? Well, they had in common this cruel bondage to a taskmaster, that they had, but that's not really what distinguished them. There's many people who have been subject to a cruel taskmaster. What distinguished them was the blood of the Passover Lamb. That's what distinguished them from the Egyptians and from the rest of the world. The blood of the Lamb. And so it is today.

19:56This is what distinguishes us who are in Christ from all the other worlds, from the rest of the world. It is the blood of Jesus that distinguishes us. It was the blood of the Lamb, Passover Lamb, that distinguished Israel from the rest of the nations, and it is the blood of Jesus that distinguishes us from the rest of the world. And this is exactly why we celebrate open communion here. That if you have been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ, that is the distinguishing mark. You don't have to be bought by the blood of Jesus and then go through our little pond to partake with us. You don't have to sign on to our little creed or our little thing. No, it's the blood of the lamb that separates, that distinguishes. And to start putting on other requirements other than the blood of the lamb is to go beyond Scripture and to add to the work of Christ. You see, this is what distinguishes the blood. The applied blood of the Lamb. So they had a shared destiny, but they also had a shared distinction, but they also had a shared destiny. That is, they had a common union. When you share the cup with someone, biblically speaking, it was a graphic expression of intimate communion. You are sharing the destiny with one another, for better or for worse, for good or bad. And this is the one thing the disciples had in common with each other. I mean, you had a political zealot, you had a tax collector, you had fishermen. I mean, these guys were not really joined by much, many of them, but they were joined by that they drank the cup. But also, they had a shared suffering. They would share in the suffering of their Lord. They didn't go to the cross like he went to the cross, but his rejection was their rejection. And so they had to identify and be identified with a rejected Christ. They would also share in his sacrifice. They did not go to the cross and lay down their lives for the salvation of the world, but they did lay down their lives in proclaiming the gospel. They sacrificed themselves out of a love offering, much like Mary poured out her precious ointment to anoint Jesus' feet, so the disciples poured out their precious content. Their life. So they shared in his sacrifice. They also shared in his humiliation and his obscurity. And they also will share in his glory. A common cup. It's the common cup of Jesus Christ's blood that we have in common. That's it first. And one of the biggest tragedies in church history is the division that has occurred over this simple institution. Let me show you the two most divisive words in the Bible, and it's in verse 22. It's two letters. It's the word is.

23:06This is my body. That little word has brought about more division in the church over the Lord's Supper than anything else. There's the Catholic view of transubstantiation, that what happens is the elements actually become the physical body. It's change in substance, physical body and blood of Christ, and that you actually eat him physically. Well, this doesn't take place at all. I can tell you for a number of reasons. But number one, when there was a change of the water into wine, the gospel writers made sure it was very clearly laid out there. And if the wine had been turned into blood, I guarantee you it would have been marked. Second thing, or they would have commented on it. Second thing is Jesus hasn't even gone to the cross yet. His blood hasn't even been shed yet. And the whole idea of the Lord's Supper is to take us back to that. Memorial. They weren't eating his blood that night in a physical sense. Then there's the Lutherans didn't much care for that, and I think they took a step in the right direction: that it's not physically eating the body of Christ, but it's spiritually eating the body of Christ, that he's in and around. He's there among the elements in a spiritual sense. Well, he certainly is present spiritually with us, for sure. Certainly. But the better take is that this is a memorial meal. Just like the Passover was to memorialize the Exodus, the salvation that occurred under the Exodus, so the Lord's Supper is to memorialize. And I'm going to stop here for a minute because many of you will say, okay, well, it's just like a memorial, like, okay, a little plaque on the wall somewhere.

24:51And we kind of mentally assent back there for a little while. Just remember that that happened. No, it's more than that. A memorial, a biblical memorial, was designed to take us into the event, to make that event a fresh reality. And so as they celebrated the Passover, it was something that God did for the people. Let me just turn to Deuteronomy 26. Let me just tell you, I want you to see this, because this is what the intent of a memorial, a biblical memorial, is. It's to take you back, to relive. The event and to understand what took place there happened for you. In Deuteronomy 26, in verse 5, and this happens during the Passover meal in response to a child who says, Why do we eat unleavened bread tonight? And most of the days we eat leavened bread. Why do we tonight? Why is tonight different? And this is the response they give in their celebration. In verse 5, you shall answer and say before the Lord your God, My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, but there he became a great, mighty, and populous nation. And the Egyptians treated us. You see that word? Us, underline that, harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us. That's you and me. Then we cried to the Lord, and the God of our fathers and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression. And the Lord brought us up out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great tarry and with signs and wonders. And he has brought us to this wonderful place and has given us the land, this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. You see, the goal of the Passover was to take them back in time to the Passover itself, to the events, and to understand that this is what the Lord did for you, much like the Lord's table. As we go back that night, The night of betrayal and defection. We go back to a night where he poured out his blood for his people, or he memorialized the salvation, and it's for us. And so, when we partake in the memorial this morning, its design is to go back to that night and to understand that this is for you, for us. So, there is a communion with each other. The Lord's Supper is a time of communion, and this is why it is important before you partake that if you have unforgiveness with somebody, that you deal with that. Because if you do not recognize the body of Christ, you're in trouble. You're taking it in an unworthy manner. Because the one thing that unifies all of God's people is that blood. The second part of the communion is that you have communion with God. Not only is it a communion with each other, but it's communion with God, and it's communion with God based on the new covenant, a better covenant. If you remember, going back to the Exodus, after he brought the Israelites out, he made a covenant with them. It was a covenant based upon works, a covenant based upon the faithfulness of Israel. It's a conditional covenant. Exodus 24, 7. Then he took the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, All that the Lord has spoken, we will do, and we will be obedient. That was the Basis of the covenant. All that he has spoken, we will do, and we will be obedient. And of course, the sad history of Israel is there's no way they could. They never did. And that is why they are dispersed today, because they are being dealt with on the basis of that old covenant, and all that is left in that covenant for them is curses, because they have forsaken the covenant, and so God has dispersed them, and there they remain this day. But of the covenant that is made in the Lord's Supper is an unconditional basis, a communion that's not based upon what you will do, but what God has done. Jeremiah 31:31 says this: Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them, and on their heart I will write it, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. They will not teach again each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. Nothing about, if you do this, then they will do this, but what the Lord is going to do. And it's going to be that he is forgiving. He is letting go the sins of the past. But there is a basis for letting that go. Not as what an unjust judge would look the other way and show favoritism. No, there is a basis, and that basis is in Jesus. And so we commune with one another, we commune with God, but we commune with Jesus. Verse 24. And he said to them, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. You see, the old covenant was sealed by necessity with the blood of a substitute, and that blood was merely sprinkled on the exterior of the people. When Moses cut the covenant, he sprinkled the blood on the exterior. But as you remember, external rituals do not have the power to cleanse. They don't have the power to cleanse man because they merely touch the body, the outside part of man. In fact, in Mark 7, you remember Jesus spent a good deal of time talking about defilement and having not eaten with unwashed hands. They were thinking, this defiles you. And Jesus said in Mark 7, verse 18, Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from the outside cannot defile him because it does not go into his heart? That which proceeds out of the mouth, that's what defiles the man. From within, out of the heart of men produce the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting, and wickedness. As well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness, all these come from out of man, and that's what defiles a man.

31:38And so you can't have, just as dirt going into your body doesn't defile you, neither can anything physical go in and cleanse you. You see, only that which touches the heart can defile, and only that which touches the heart can cleanse. You see, the blood of Christ cannot simply be splattered on you, but it must be internalized. It must be taken into the deep recesses of your being. It's the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many, not just for Israel, but for Gentiles, for all who will believe. But this is a morbid thought. I mean, there is not a closer expression of a shared union than drinking someone's blood. Think about it. This is a really morbid thought, drinking somebody else's blood. In fact, it would have been really morbid to the Jews. One of the very first things, even before the Mosaic covenant came out, was that after the flood of Noah, God said, okay, you shall not eat the blood of an animal, because in that blood is its life. And the blood is not for you to eat. Very early on, blood had a whole different purpose. And it was not for eating. It was for covering sin. Very early on, deep within the.

33:00The thinking of the Jewish nation was blood, was offensive. So here is Jesus saying, Here, drink this. And see, the life is in the blood. And so to drink blood is to take in that life essence into a being. Very graphic language. I mean, think about what happens in a physical sense. You eat a pretzel, okay? What happens to it? It goes in, your body takes the nutrients out of it and goes and builds. When you're young, I read recently that the whole skeletal system of a growing person is replaced at an alarming rate. Just the whole skeletal system. That's why you've got to drink milk, you know, because you're growing and you need, and your skeletal system is being replaced. And it's a very, your body takes in that physical food and it transforms the nutrients, right? And you use it and it becomes part of your physical body. Well, think of it in a spiritual sense. Jesus' life must become part of yours. And not just in your physical body, but in your spiritual being at the core of who you are. He must touch your heart. And this is what's being communicated. Very graphic language, but there is a spiritual meaning here. The first Adam became a living soul, but the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. So as we come to the Lord's table this morning, it's entering a time of self-examination. It's also entering Entering a time of communion, a communion with each other, communion with God, and communion with Jesus. Now, real quick, I want to look at the third and fourth key features, and that is promise and proclamation. Promise and proclamation. Look at verse 25. Truly, I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine again until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. There is a promise here for those who partake, for those who believe. There is a promise, and see it. The Lord's supper that night ended on a note of joy. It's not like it was just a bunch of lambs to the slaughter. They were all going to be slaughtered, and it's going to be just one big melolly scene. No, it ends on the note of joy that he is going to drink it again, that his suffering will produce something. And there is a coming kingdom, a physical one. And I believe this is what Ezekiel 45, 21 through 25 is about. That Christ in the millennial kingdom will again celebrate the Passover. And he will host the Passover meal like he did this night, except it's not going to be commemorated what happened in the Exodus. It's going to commemorate what he did going to the cross. So all of it's going to look back. The Passover points to what the Lord did. But one thing is certain. Those who partake of it, as this text says, will die. Drink again with him in the future. In fact, Matthew 26, 29 makes it very clear. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom. And that Father's kingdom is not something that was established by man, nor was it established with the help of men, but the kingdom of God established and built upon the faithfulness of God. Then the fourth is the proclamation. Proclamation. When we partake, we declare. We're declaring something. Not only is that promise for us, but we are also proclaiming. We're proclaiming His soon return. We're proclaiming the coming of a physical dimension to His kingdom. You see, when God's wrath was upon the Egyptians, you remember? The death angel was sent out to destroy the firstborn of every household, and only those houses with the blood were spared. Likewise, as we partake, we proclaim again that there is a day of God's wrath that is coming against the whole world. And it's a wrath that will end this age in one final act of judgment. And only those who have the blood on the doorposts of their life are going to be spared by that wrath. You can remember the days of Noah, there was this ark that was being built, and it was going up everywhere. And for a century, people could see it. What does this testify to? What does it testify to? A coming wrath that's going to wipe out the earth. And as we take, and as we take, week in, week out, and we celebrate this, we are declaring again a future day of wrath and a need to have the blood of Christ upon the doorposts. You see, his love for you is meant to save you. That's what all this means. That's what is seen in the elements. His love is meant to save you, but you must be willing. It's interesting in verse 21, it was only Jesus who pronounced woe for Judas. And it wasn't a vindictive woe, like I'll get even with you type things.

38:05It was a lament. Woe. Your state of misery is going to be so great. Listen, God takes no delight when a sinner perishes. So, four important key features of the Lord's table: self-examination, communion, promise, and proclamation. Now, I've tried to come up with something that maybe would help you remember this. Okay, what does this say? What does this talk about? SEC football, right? What does SEC stand for? Southeastern Conference football. We all know about that, right? Have you ever heard of SEC ping-pong? Oh, neither have I. But it might help us for this, okay? So, SEC ping-pong. Think about that. Now, what does SE stand for? If self-examination. What is self-examination? Stand for? Communion. Communion with who? Each other. God. And with Jesus. And what does PP stand for? Promise and proclamation. So when you go home, you can quiz each other. And as you celebrate the Lord's Supper, entered into this time. Maybe somebody can come up with a better acronym. That's fine. I'm interested in it. But whenever you come before the Lord's table, it's important to remember it's a time of self-examination. Let's go back to that night. It's a time of communion, one with one another, one with God, on the basis of a much and greater, greater promise. It's a time of identifying personally with Jesus Christ. It's a time of promise, that this promise is for us, that we are going to have it again with Him. And that is the aim of our whole life, to be looking at that time when we have it again. Look, Christ doesn't spend a lot of time worrying about this day and age. If you look through the Testament of Scripture, God is far more concerned about eternity than He is the moment, and we need to be. He is all about eternal life. And then again, it's proclamation. I want to read to you a portion of this. This would have been the last psalm that would have been sung that evening. Psalm 118. And it's about the goodness of God. It's about the loving kindness, that His loving kindness is everlasting. And it. It says this in verse 19, Open to me the gates of righteousness, and I shall enter into them. I shall give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord. The righteous will enter. The psalmist is saying, Open up to me the gates of righteousness, and I will enter into it. And then he says, This is the gate of the Lord.

40:51I shall give thanks to you, for you have answered me, and you have become my salvation. You have become my salvation. And then these words: the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Jesus is going out, singing a hymn. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. O Lord, do save, we beseech you. O Lord, we beseech you, do send prosperity.

41:32Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and He has given us light. We get these words in verse 27. As He is going out, the last words of the last song, bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. You are my God. And I give thanks to you. You are my God. Thank you. I extol you. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. So the last words of the last song: for his loving kindness is everlasting. Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. It's exactly what he did. I want to show you one. I would go back to Mark 14. I want to show you the amazing, amazing picture of Christ here. It's a remarkable attitude. Notice he blessed in verse 22. Verse 23, he gave thanks. It's the word we get Eucharist from.

42:43Remarkable attitude. All his life, he saw sacrifice over and over, and he knew that every single sacrifice pointed to him. And here he is giving thanks. How many of us are so different? We give burgudgeonly, not him. He gave, here's my, I pour it out. He gives thanks. It's an amazing picture. So in verse 22, he blessed it. He broke it, and he gave to them. And he said, You take. This is my body for you. And then verse 23, and when he had taken the cup and had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. Heavenly Father, Father, what more can be said? You've said it all. You've sealed your faithfulness to us in your blood. And, Father, I just pray for those among us that we all may come to believe this truly, totally, and wholly. God, we thank you. We thank you for your great gift. Be with us now as we leave. In Jesus' name, amen.