An Abundance of False Witnesses! Mark 14:55-59

Text: “And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put Him to death; and found none. For many bare false witness against Him, but their witness agreed not together.”

Mark 14:55-56.

 “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”                                                                                                      Exodus 20:16.                                                                                                              “Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.”                                                                                                                                        Exodus 23:1.                                                                                    

Good morning, Commandment-honouring Christian!  Praise God for Christian believers who take God’s Ten Commandments to be profoundly serious instructions for living obedient lives in Christ Jesus! You do well, dear sister! You do well, dear brother! The Lord is pleased with us when we hear His Commandments with our hearts, and seek diligently to obey them, in the ever-given power of God the Holy Spirit, and to the best of our all-to-often weak and human fallibilities. Praise the Lord for Commandment-honouring Christians!

The alternative to being Commandment-honouring Christians, is a consequence too dire to consider.  If the Lord God has spoken to our hearts/minds – we should be careful to obey His Word.

“And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold (look and fully understand) to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.  Because thou (king Saul) hast rejected the Word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king. And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.”  (1 Samuel 15:22-24)

Disobedience doomed Saul to an ignominious future and eventual defeat in death.  Let us continue to obey God’s Word, especially His Ten Commandments.  Apparently, the Roman Catholic religious system has recently removed the Second Commandment from Roman Catholic Bibles, I wonder why? (Exodus 20:3-6) Could it have anything to do with worshipping ‘graven-images’, or idols of what they call ‘Mary, the queen of heaven’?  Beware such disobedience. (Jeremiah 44:15-30)

However, true and genuine Bible-believing, Spiritually regenerate Christians may also fail, fall, and falter in our faith. Show me the Christian who has never sinned, and I will show you the altogether pure, Holy, and ever-victorious Jesus Christ alone.  (Hebrews 4:15-16)

J.C. Ryle Comments:

Let us notice, lastly, in these verses, how much the faith of true believers may give way. We are told that when Judas and his company laid hands on our Lord, and He quietly submitted to be taken prisoner, the eleven disciples “all forsook Him and fled.”

“Perhaps up to that moment they were buoyed up by the hope that our Lord would work a miracle, and set Himself free. But when they saw no miracle worked, their courage failed them entirely. Their former protestations were all forgotten. Their promises to die with their Master, rather than deny Him, were all cast to the winds. The fear of present danger got the better of faith. The sense of immediate peril drove every other feeling out of their minds. They “all forsook him and fled.”

“There is something deeply instructive in this incident. It deserves the attentive study of all professing Chris­tians. Happy is he who marks the conduct of our Lord’s disciples, and gathers from it wisdom!

“Let us learn from the flight of these eleven disciples, not to be over confident in our own strength. The fear of man does indeed bring a snare. We never know what we may do, if we are tempted, or to what extent our faith may give way. Let us be clothed with humility.

“Let us learn to be charitable in our judgment of other Christians. Let us not expect too much from them, or set them down as having no grace at all, if we see them overtaken in a fault. Let us not forget that even our Lord’s chosen apostles forsook Him in His time of need. Yet they rose again by repentance, and became pillars of the Church of Christ.

“Finally, let us leave the passage with a deep sense of our Lord’s ability to sympathize with His believing people. If there is one trial greater than another, it is the trial of being disappointed in those we love. It is a bitter cup, which all true Christians have frequently to drink. Ministers fail them. Relations fail them. Friends fail them. One cistern after another proves to be broken, and to hold no water. But let them take comfort in the thought, that there is one unfailing Friend, even Jesus, who can be touched with the feeling of their infirmities, and has tasted of all their sorrows. Jesus knows what it is to see friends and disciples failing Him in the hour of need. Yet He bore it patiently, and loved them not­withstanding all. He is never weary of forgiving. Let us strive to do likewise. Jesus, at any rate, will never fail us. It is written, “His compassions fail not.” (Lamentations 3.22)

“Footnote: The question has often been asked, “Who was the ‘certain young man,’ mentioned at the end of this passage, on whom the young men laid hold, and who fled away naked?” (Mark 14:51-52) St. Mark is the only evangelist who relates this circumstance; and he has given us no clue to further knowledge as to who it was, or why the event is mentioned.

“No satisfactory answer to these questions has yet been given. The utmost that can be said of any of the explanations attempted, is, that they are conjectures and speculations.”  (J.C. Ryle’s Exposition of Mark’s Gospel)

One thing this young man had in common with Christ’s disciples, he too ‘…fled from them naked…’  Even the most faithful Christian man/woman is still merely a man or a woman. We must trust in Christ.

Thought: Let us seek God’s help to be faithful and true witnesses for Christ, daily.

The Living Jesus – Betrayed by a Kiss! Mark 14:43-49

Text: “And he that betrayed Him had given them (the chief priests and religious rulers) a token (or a prearranged signal), saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He; take Him, and lead Him away safely. And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to Him (Jesus), and saith, Master, Master; and kissed Him.  And they laid hands on Him, and took Him.”

Mark 14:44-46.

Good morning, loving Christian!  Because of the deep love and affection, you feel in your heart for, perhaps, your husband/wife, your little and not-so-little children; your fiancée, or favourite aunt/uncle – you often express such wonderful love by kissing such persons.  You do well, beloved sister; you do well, tender-hearted brother, the Lord is pleased when we can express such innocent love to our families and one another in Christ Jesus.

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”   (1 John 4:7-8)

Judas Iscariot, now, today, no doubt languishing in a particularly hot section of Hell, believed in the concept of offering a holy kiss; as was the tradition of the early church.  However, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.  Judas’ heart was black and perverse indeed, and thus he perverted that very same tradition and used his treacherous kiss to betray the Son of God, Jesus Christ, to the enemies of the Lord God Almighty.  Christ Jesus was betrayed by a kiss.

“And he that betrayed Him had given them (the chief priests and religious rulers) a token (or a prearranged signal), saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He; take Him, and lead Him away safely. And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to Him (Jesus), and saith, Master, Master; and kissed Him.  And they laid hands on Him, and took Him.” (Mark 14:44-46)

An Old Testament prophecy of king David was being clearly fulfilled, as all prophecy in Scriptures must surely be fulfilled to the letter.  God’s Word is truth. (John 17:17)

“I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with Me hath lifted up his heel against Me.”  (John 13:18)

“While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy Name: those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” (John 17:12)

“Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of My bread, hath lifted up his heel against Me.” (Psalm 41:9)

Let us more fully understand from our selected Bible passage today, the nature of Christ’s Kingdom: Christ’s Kingdom is not of this pathetic world, Jesus was not just some charismatic political leader who would win the carnal hearts of the Jewish nation and lead them to overthrow the Roman occupation armies of Caesar by armed violence. No! Christ’s Kingdom is a Spiritual Kingdom, a Heavenly Kingdom, an Eternal Kingdom – a Kingdom that shall continue on throughout all Eternity and know absolutely no end.  Hallelujah!

“And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” (Daniel 2:44)

We Bible-believing, born-again Christians, are not called to physically fight and kill for Christ’s Kingdom – He has already won the victory at the Cross of Calvary, indicated by His cry from that cruel Cross: “It is finished!”  Nothing more needs to be done to establish the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.  “Stand still, and see the Salvation of the Lord!”

J.C. Ryle Comments: 

“Let us notice in these verses, how little our Lord’s enemies understood the nature of His kingdom. We read that Judas came to take Him “with a great multitude, with swords and staves.” It was evidently expected that our Lord would be vigorously defended by His disciples, and that He would not be taken prisoner without fighting.

“The chief priests and scribes clung obstinately to the idea, that our Lord’s kingdom was a worldly kingdom, and therefore supposed that it would be upheld by worldly means. They had yet to learn the solemn lesson contained in our Lord’s words to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.” (John 18:36)” 

“We shall do well to remember this in all our endea­vours to extend the kingdom of true religion. It is not to be propagated by violence, or by an arm of flesh. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal.” “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”        (2 Corinthians 10:4; Zechariah 4:6)

“The cause of truth does not need force to maintain it. False religions, like Mahometanism, have often been spread by the sword. False Christianity, like that of the Roman church, has often been enforced on men by bloody persecutions. But the real Gospel of Christ requires no such aids as these. It stands by the power of the Holy Ghost. It grows by the hidden influence of the Holy Ghost on men’s hearts and consciences. There is no clearer sign of a bad cause in religion than a readiness to appeal to the sword.”              (J.C. Ryle’s Exposition of Mark’s Gospel)

Fear is a terrible thing, not only did Judas betray Jesus, ALL the rest of his disciples ‘…forsook Him, and fled.’ (V.50) You and I would probably not have acted differently. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, comes to mind. (Mark 14:38)

Thought: Jesus was led away to be humiliated, brutalised, slain: for your sins and mine.  Let our love for Him be genuine heart-love and obedience. He comes soon, beloved Reader.

Remember Gethsemane! Mark 14:32-42

Text: “And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and He (Jesus) saith to His disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray. And He taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; and saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.”

Mark 14:32-34.

Good morning, watchful, but weary Christian!  Since the day our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, redeemed our never-dying souls from our sins, you and I have been empowered by God the Holy Spirit to be watchful: watchful in all we say and do not to bring shame to our Lord and Saviour’s Holy Name; watchful to make sure we are ‘…studying to show ourselves approved of God’, willing to learn from His Word that, ‘…rightly dividing the Word of truth…’, we might be able to teach others the Gospel message, and God’s way of Holiness and daily obedience to His Sovereign will, as taught in His inspired Word. 

We have not always succeeded in these Holy aspirations and deep desires – but we have been trying our best in the strength God gives us as His followers in Christ Jesus.  In doing so, especially over a long period of time as born-again believers, we have often become very weary in such ‘…well-doing…’ and need to continually return to close fellowship with God in humble and fervent prayer to receive vital restoration power.  Praise the Lord, He never pushes us away; He is always right there to forgive our sins; cleanse us from all iniquities; and fill us afresh with Holy Spiritual power to persevere in the ‘…faith once delivered unto the saints…’ (Jude 3) (1 John 1:5-10) We are weary, but persevering in watchfulness.

Gethsemane: Gethsemane, or ‘the Garden of Gethsemane’ in Hebrew tradition, denoted a garden of Olive Trees which contained an ‘olive press’ – a device for pressing ripe olives in order to extract their juice, i.e., olive oil.

Spiritually speaking, we can easily envisage the Lord Jesus, the night before His cruel Crucifixion, feeling under infinite pressure, being Spiritually squeezed like a ripe olive, by the culminating pressures of His dedicated and foreordained ministry to God’s elect people as ‘the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the Father’s elect of the world’. “…And thou (Joseph) shall call His Name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.”  (Matthew 1:21) (John 1:29)

Verse 36 of our Bible selected reading for today has too often been read in confusion by otherwise genuine Christian believers. Many have thought, wrongly, that the Lord Jesus in this verse was under pressure due to the infinite sufferings He was just about to endure that very next day: brutal buffeting by hardened Roman soldier’s fists; gross torture by merciless scourging; having the very beard of His tender face plucked out; ‘marred more that any man’; then being nailed to a Roman Cross, His side pierced by a spear; and left there to die in agony.

However, this was the only reason Christ became flesh in the incarnation, took on a human body, obediently fulfilled His time on earth in human form; and went ‘…as a Lamb to the slaughter…’ for to make the way of Eternal Salvation for those whom God the Father had given Him in Eternity to save.  Christ Jesus had no fear or aversion to this suffering at all!

No! What made the impeccably pure and Holy Lord Jesus cry out to His Father was the fact that for the first time in all Eternity, God the Son would take upon Himself all the vile sins of you and of me, ‘His people’!  He had been forever, SINLESS!  Now, in Gethsemane’s Garden, the very thought of taking sin upon His pure and Holy Person was truly ‘sore amazing…’ and an infinitely ‘very heavy’ burden to contemplate. Yet, always having come to earth in order to fulfil His Father’s Sovereign will – Christ prayed to God the Father, “Nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt.” (Verse 36) What a Selfless Saviour!  ALL glory to the Lamb Who was slain but now lives forever to save ‘His people’ from our sin!

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“Let us mark, in the first place, how keenly our Lord felt the burden of a world’s sin. It is written that He “began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; and saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death,” and that “he fell on the ground, and prayed, that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.”

“There is only one reasonable explanation of these ex­pressions. It was no mere fear of the physical suffering of death, which drew them from our Lord’s lips. It was a sense of the enormous load of human guilt, which began at that time to press upon Him in a peculiar way. It was a sense of the unutterable weight of our sins and transgressions which were then specially laid upon Him. He was being “made a curse for us.” He was bearing our griefs and carrying our sorrows, according to the covenant He came on earth to fulfil. He was being “made sin for us who Himself knew no sin.” His holy nature felt acutely the hideous burden laid upon Him. These were the reasons of His extraordinary sorrow.

“We ought to see in our Lord’s agony in Gethsemane the exceeding sinfulness of sin. It is a subject on which the thoughts of professing Christians are far below what they should be. The careless, light way in which such sins as swearing, sabbath-breaking, lying and the like, are often spoken of, is painful evidence of the low con­dition of men’s moral feelings. Let the recollection of Gethsemane have a sanctifying effect upon us. What­ever others do, let us never “make a mock at sin.”  (J.C. Ryle’s Exposition of Mark’s Gospel)

God’s urgent lesson for each of us ‘watchful but weary’ Christians is made abundantly clear: He has called us to be ever watchful, waiting the soon return of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, but also acknowledges the fact of our often-weak nature as dust of the earth. He has granted us His gift of fervent prayer, for ourselves, and for each other in the Body of Christ, the universal and international ‘church’, of which He alone has made us ‘members’. Therefore, let us uphold ourselves and each other in prayer. The Lord returns real soon to take us Home to be with Him always.  Let our weariness be refreshed by this great thought.  Take new heart and steadfastness, beloved Christian!

Thought: “Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.” (Mark 14:38) New power is available right NOW! (Acts 1:8)

Christ choses ‘Weak Offenders’ Mark 14:27-31

Text: “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in His Presence.”

1 Corinthians 1:26-29.

Good morning, weak and offending Christian! Take heart, beloved in Christ, the weaknesses, faults, and failings of both you and I - as Spiritually regenerate Christians - is not some awful new cause of rejection and censure. Our weaknesses, faults, and failings were well prophesied by our Lord God hundreds of years prior to Christ’s incarnation in human flesh; His thirty-three and a half year impeccable and Holy ministry among us; His cruel Crucifixion and death as our Substitute; and praise God, His victorious resurrection in glory on the third day to justify us in the sight of our thrice Holy Lord God. The Lord KNOWS whom He has chosen to save and to serve Him, weaknesses, faults and all!  Hallelujah! He is risen!

The full Atonement for our weaknesses, faults and sins has been made by our Saviour, the living Lord Jesus Christ! “…The Lord KNOWETH (knows, has always known, and shall forever know) them that are His. And, let everyone that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity.” (2 Timothy 2:19)

Our weakness foretold: “I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.” (Mark 14:27) “In that day (of Crucifixion) shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrim-mon in the valley of Megiddon…In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness…Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered…”   (Zechariah 12 & 13)

When the Lord Jesus applied this prophecy of Zechariah to His disciples of the time, Peter, being his usual bold and forthright self, immediately sought to dispute what was about to happen: “But Peter said unto Him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily (truly) I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny Me thrice.” (Mark 14:30)

The rest of Christ’s disciples were also vehement that they would not be weak and run away from the betrayed Christ Jesus: “But he (Peter) spake the more vehemently, If I should die with Thee, I will not deny Thee in any wise.  Likewise, also said them all.”            (Mark 14:31)

However, we know from what is recorded in the God-breathed Gospels, that all the disciples revealed their human weaknesses and fled from the arrested Jesus – denoting the weaknesses inherent to us all as followers of the risen Christ. As the well-known hymn clearly states, “Jesus knows our every weakness, take it to the Lord in prayer…”  There is only ONE sinless Christian, and this is Christ Jesus Himself.

“For we have not an High Priest (Jesus) which cannot be touched by the feeling of our infirmities (faults, failings, weaknesses); but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  (Hebrews 4:15-16)

“For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise…” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“We see in these verses, how well our Lord foreknew the weakness and infirmity of His disciples. He tells them plainly what they were going to do. “All ye shall be offended because of me this night.” He tells Peter in particular of the astounding sin which he was about to commit: “This night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.”

“Yet our Lord’s fore-knowledge did not prevent His choosing these twelve disciples to be His apostles. He allowed them to be His intimate friends and com­panions, knowing perfectly well what they would one day do. He granted them the mighty privilege of being continually with Him, and hearing His voice, with a clear foresight of the melancholy weakness and want of faith which they would exhibit at the end of His minis­try. This is a remarkable fact, and deserves to be had in continual remembrance.

“Let us take comfort in the thought that the Lord Jesus does not cast off His believing people because of failures and imperfections. He knows what they are. He takes them, as the husband takes the wife, with all their blemishes and defects, and, once joined to Him by faith, will never put them away. He is a merciful and com­passionate High-priest. It is His glory to pass over the transgressions of His people, and to cover their many sins. He knew what they were before conversion, wicked, guilty, and defiled; yet He loved them. He knows what they will be after conversion, weak, erring, and frail; yet He loves them. He has undertaken to save them, notwithstanding all their shortcomings, and what He has undertaken He will perform.

“Let us learn to pass a charitable judgment on the con­duct of professing believers. Let us not set them down in a low place, and say they have no grace, because we see in them much weakness and corruption. Let us remember that our Master in heaven bears with their infirmities, and let us try to bear with them too. The Church of Christ is little better than a great hospital. We ourselves are all, more or less, weak, and all daily need the skilful treatment of the heavenly Physician. There will be no complete cures till the resurrection day.” (J.C. Ryle’s Exposition of Mark’s Gospel)

Thought: “My grace is sufficient for thee: My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

The Lord’s Supper: Mark 14:22-26

Text: “And as they did eat, Jesus took bread and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this in My body.”

Mark 14:22.

Good morning, Christ-remembering Christian!  In church services, or family gatherings, when we are walking worthily of the Lord God in obedience, we partake of an ordinance we call ‘The Lord’s Table’, or ‘The Lord’s Supper’ – we do so at all times as a remembrance of Calvary and what the Living Lord Jesus has done for us, ‘His people’ there. 

His Body has been broken for us; He has suffered God’s penalty for our sin, and died in our place; He has taken the full penalty of all our sins upon Himself; He has borne our sins away like the scapegoat of old; He has washed His elect people totally clean in His own shed Blood of Atonement.  How could we EVER forget that He has wrought this great Eternal Salvation of sinners such as we?  Glory, all glory, to the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sins of ‘His people’!

“And she (Mary) shall bring forth a son, and thou (Joseph) shalt call His Name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission (of sins).” (Hebrews 9:22)

On the night Christ Jesus established The Lord’s Table/Supper remembrance meal, He was betrayed by one of His own disciples, Judas Iscariot. One of the vilest ways in which you and I, as Christian believers, can ‘betray’ the Son of God today, is to cease to respect and believe His written Word; cease to have close fellowship with Him in prayer; and fail to tell others of His great Salvation Sacrifice on Calvary’s Cross.  In what manner are you and I betraying King Jesus Christ today?

“If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:6-7)

Let us, who wish to be faithful to God’s Word and will, clearly establish the fact that The Lord’s Table/Supper is at all times an ordinance of remembrance of what Christ did for us on Calvary’s cruel Cross on the day of His Crucifixion.  There are NO MEANS OF GRACE in this Christian ordinance!  Partaking in this sacred remembrance service will NOT heal the sick; and certainly, will not benefit unsaved souls one iota or put them in a better position to receive God’s grace in Salvation.  Fact.  The Lord’s Table is exclusively an ordinance service for Spiritually regenerate (born again) souls to partake in.  All others eat unworthily to the damnation of their never-dying souls.  Beware! The Lord’s Table is a serious ordinance! “Wherefore whosoever shall eat of this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep (die).” (1 Corinthians 11:27-30)

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“These verses contain St. Mark’s account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper. The simplicity of the description deserves special observation. Well would it have been for the Church, if men had not departed from the simple statements of Scripture about this blessed sacrament! It is a mournful fact that it has been corrupted by false explanations and superstitious ad­ditions, until its real meaning, in many parts of Christen­dom, is utterly unknown. Let us however, at present, dismiss from our minds all matters of controversy, and study the words of St. Mark with a view to our own personal edification.

“Let us learn from the passage before us, that self-examination should precede the reception of the Lord’s Supper. We cannot doubt that this was one object of our Lord’s solemn warning, “One of you which eateth with me shall betray me.” He meant to stir up in the minds of His disciples, those very searchings of heart which are here so touchingly recorded: “They began to be sorrowful, and to say unto Him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?” He meant to teach His whole Church throughout the world, that the time of drawing near to the Lord’s table should be a time for diligent self-inquiry.

“The benefit of the Lord’s Supper depends entirely on the spirit and frame of mind in which we receive it. The bread which we there eat, and the wine which we there drink, have no power to do good to our souls, as medi­cine does good to our bodies, without the cooperation of our hearts and wills. They will not convey any blessing to us, by virtue of the minister’s consecration, if we do not receive them rightly, worthily, and with faith. To assert, as some do, that the Lord’s supper must do good to all communicants, whatever be the state of mind in which they receive it, is a monstrous and unscriptural figment, and has given rise to gross and wicked superstition.

“The state of mind which we should look for in ourselves, before going to the Lord’s table, is well described in the Catechism of the Church of England. We ought to “ex­amine ourselves whether we repent truly of our former sins, whether we steadfastly purpose to lead a new life, whether we have a lively faith in God’s mercy through Christ, and a thankful remembrance of His death, and whether we are in charity with all men.” If our conscience can answer these questions satisfactorily, we may receive the Lord’s supper without fear.” (J.C. Ryle’s Exposition of Mark’s Gospel)

So often we learn of erring Protestant ministers running to the death-beds of parishioners to administer a piece of bread and a thimble of wine/juice to the dying person.  What utter Popery!  Roman Catholicism teaches another Gospel in which there are three means of Salvation – infant baptism, confirmation, and extreme unction (the last rites). Let us not practice such false ordinances; let us be faithful to God’s word, and be ‘born again’.

Thought: Spiritual baptism, Spiritual confirmation: remember, Calvary is complete!