Our Lord gave us this ordinance. To remember his death until he
comes. And honestly, that's what we
do every time we gather together. We remember his death. We remember
what he did for us. But he gave us this wonderful
ordinance to. To hear to taste. To. really enter in to Christ
in us, us in him, him in us, union with him. And it's such
a precious and blessed thing for this particular service. We are going to do things differently.
Normally, I will bring a message and we observe the table. It's
been a while since we have done it this way, but Brother Luke
and I are each about to bring a very short devotional to you.
And I'm now gonna speak on behalf of our Lord's body and in a moment
he will come and speak to us on behalf of the Lord's blood. But for our text for this portion
of the body, I would like to look at Matthew 20. Turn with
me to Matthew chapter 20. We have been going through Matthew
and these were the next verses in line and they just really
stand out to me that our Lord just so plainly told his disciples
exactly what his purpose was for coming. And this is now the
last time that he tells them this. Matthew 20 verse 17, it
says, And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem,
took the 12 disciples apart in the way and said unto them, Behold,
we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed
unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn
him to death. and shall deliver him to the
Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him. And the third
day he shall rise again." Isn't that a glorious announcement?
This is everything that's gonna happen to me. This is everything
that I'm gonna endure. They're gonna betray me. They're
gonna condemn me. They're going to deliver me.
They will mock me. They will scourge me. They will
crucify me. He said in the third day, I'll
rise again. When I read those three verses,
this announcement comes to my mind. It's when our Lord said
to his disciples when he gave the ordinance of this table,
and I read this before we take the elements. As he handed them the unleavened
bread, he said, take, eat. This is my body broken for you. This is my body broken for you.
This is a representation. This is a picture of my body
that In his moment, he was saying, will be broken for you, is about
to be broken for you. And now we can say was broken
for us. In observing this table, these
elements do not become the actual body and blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But they are a representation
reminder of the broken body and the shed blood of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. And he said, you take this. and
you eat it. You lay hold of this and you
commit your body to this for all of your sustainment and all
of your life. We live on him. Take, eat, this is my body broken
for you. literally broken for you. Verse 18, he said, behold, we
go up to Jerusalem. He was saying this is the last
time that we are going to go up to Jerusalem. Something is
going to be accomplished this time when we go to Jerusalem.
He said, behold, we go up to Jerusalem. and the Son of Man
shall be betrayed unto the chief priest and unto the scribes,
and they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to
the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him." He said,
I'll be betrayed, I'll be condemned, I'll be delivered, I'll be mocked,
I'll be scourged, which that means beaten nearly to death. And he said, I'll be crucified.
This is my body broken for you. That really hit me this time
as I was really thinking about this. This is my body broken
for you. Literally, literally broken for
you. He said, all of that will happen
to me for you. Now, here's what I want us to
enter into tonight. Man did not do that to him. So many people
believe that man did that to him. So many people say, if I
would have been there, I would have stopped it. I would have
stopped man from doing this. I would have stopped Rome from
doing this. Man did not do that to him. God did. God did that to him. God Almighty broke his body. God broke his body. That's just
that's too much. That's too wonderful for me.
That's too full of wonder for me. Why would God the Father break
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ for us? Why would God the Father
break the body of the Lord Jesus Christ for us? Here's the reason. And just think about this. It's
because we sinned against him. And that's what He had to do
to forgive us for our sin against Him. Now let me say that again,
because that's the truth. Why did God the Father break
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ? Here's the reason why. It's because
we sinned against Him. Had we not sinned against Him,
the Father would have never had to broken the precious body of
His only begotten Son. But we sinned against him. And
that was the only way that he could forgive us for all of our
sin against him. He had to break the body of his
own son. Turn over to Isaiah 53 with me. Isaiah 53, the end of verse six
says, the Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all, us all, all that the father gave to him.
Look at verse 10. It says it pleased the Lord to
bruise him. It pleased the Lord to blue,
to bruise Christ. Why? Because all of God's people
had transgressed against Him. All of God's people had committed
iniquity against Him, sin against Him. Therefore, all of God's
people were owed the blow of God's judgment and wrath. They
all had to receive it. They all had to receive the due
reward for all of their transgression and all of their iniquity. But
God in mercy gave Christ to be the substitute, to bear that
judgment, bear that blow and the substitute to stand in the
place of his people, to bear all of the grief and all of the
sorrow. He bore it all from beginning
to end. The grief of it, the sorrow of
it, the sin of it, the actual sin of it. God the Father laid
the guilt and the shame and the blame. I carry so much guilt
for a life of sin that I have committed. I don't know about
you all, but I do. And my only relief is the Lord
Jesus Christ, that's my only relief, is that God took all
of that and laid it on him. And all the guilt that I have,
he bore the guilt, he bore the shame, he bore the blame for all of his people. He laid,
God the Father laid all that on his son so that his people
might be delivered from the wrath to come. Verse 10 says, It pleased
the Lord to bruise Christ. It pleased the Lord to do it.
Verse 4 right here says, Surely he hath borne our griefs and
carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. but he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed
and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth, he is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before her shearers
is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison
and from judgment. And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the
land of the living. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. And oh, how he was stricken.
Oh, how God smote him because of our sin. Look at Isaiah 52
verse 14. It says, many were astonished
at thee. His visage was so marred more
than any man and his form more than the sons of men. Oh, he
was smitten and beaten and dragged through the wine press of God's
wrath. to the point that he couldn't
even be recognized. The last time we had the Lord's
table, we looked at everything that our Lord endured physically
and it was bad. But that's nothing compared to
what our Lord endured spiritually from God. God the Father dragged him through
the wine press of his own wrath. Why? Because that's what we deserved. That's what we deserved. Look
with me at Psalm 22. Psalm 22, the Lord Jesus Christ
from the cross, verse one, he cried, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? It's because that's what we deserved.
We deserve to be forsaken of God. Look at verse 12. He said,
Many bulls have compassed me, strong bulls of Bashan have beset
me round. They gaped upon me with their
mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water
and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, it is melted
in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like
a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou hast brought
me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me, the
assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and
my feet. Why? That's what we deserved. That's what we deserved. He said,
they nailed me to a cross and they're just staring at me, waiting
for me to die. That's what we deserved. In the
goodness and the mercy of God, he provided the Lord Jesus Christ
to bear and to endure and to suffer everything that was owed
to God's people for their sin against him. And in glory and
in victory and in the accomplishment of our salvation, The Lord Jesus
Christ brings the gospel to us. Now just listen to this. Because of that, just listen
to this. This is what he says to his people. He says, here,
this is my body broken for you. You take this. You can have this. This is my body. Broken for you. Betrayed for you. Condemned for
you. Delivered for you. Mocked for
you. Scourged, lashed, ripped apart
for you. And crucified for you. I did
it all for you. I did all of that for you. And
he said, I want you to observe this table in remembrance of
that. He said, don't ever forget that. And by God's grace, we won't.
For all eternity, we will cry unto him that loved us and gave
himself for us, gave his body for us. That's what we're going
to remember in observing this table tonight. Let's all bow
our heads. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we
don't know how to say thank you for breaking your body for us.
We don't know how to say thank you for providing a substitute,
providing one to bear what we cannot fathom bearing. But Lord,
in faith, in the faith that you've given to us by the mercy and
grace that you've given to us, we do say thank you, Lord. We do remember our Lord and Savior,
and we do say thank you. Thank you for his body, Lord.
Thank you for everything he endured through the life he lived on
this earth and the death he died on the cross. Thank you for the
grave, Lord. Thank you for the resurrection.
Thank you for the ascension. Thank you for all of the redemption
we have in him, Lord. Thank you for everything. We
do observe this tonight in remembrance of the Christ our Savior. We ask all these things in his
name, amen. All right, Brother Luke, you
come. You would open your Bibles to
Hebrews chapter nine. Hebrews chapter nine. This evening, I want to use a
few verses in this chapter to look at three statements about
blood. Those statements are, the price
of sin is blood. Secondly, Christ paid that price
for his people by shedding his blood. And thirdly, Through his
blood sacrifice, he obtained redemption for his people. Look
at verse 22 of Hebrews chapter 9. And almost all things are by
the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is
no remission. Almost all things are by the
law purged or cleansed with blood. And without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission." You could also say that last phrase by
changing it to say, without the shedding of blood is no deliverance. Or without the shedding of blood
is no forgiveness. Romans 6.23 covers all three
of our statements in one verse. It says, the wages of sin is
death. The price of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The heading at the top
of my page says, the sacrifices of the law far inferior to the
perfect sacrifice of Christ. This chapter spends many verses
comparing the Old Testament sacrifices that the high priest did to the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Look at verse 11. It says, but Christ, being come,
a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this building. This tabernacle they're speaking
of In the first few verses is the building and the place to
where they did all the sacrifices. But this verse says, when Christ
being come in high priest of good things to come by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, the sacrifices of man were not
enough. There had to be a perfect sacrifice. There had to be something heavenly,
something perfect to be sacrificed, and that is His body. The Lord
Jesus Christ became a man. His body, not made of man or
even through man. He was born of a woman. And verse
12 says, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His
own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. By His blood, He entered into
glory. The only way for anyone to enter
into glory is through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
only way. It says here once. The high priest
of old days went in over and over and over again. Depending
on the type of sacrifice, it was a daily, a weekly, a monthly,
an annual thing. They just kept having to do it
because the sacrifice wasn't a perfect sacrifice. It didn't
do anything for their sins, yet it was a picture of our Lord's
sacrifice that would eventually, when it happened, was effectual,
and His blood being shed is all that any sinner needs. It says
here at the end of that verse, having obtained eternal redemption. It uses the word obtained, which
implies it was gotten. It was taken. It is his. When I read this word and talking
about obtaining eternal redemption, Yet for some reason makes me
think of what I can attain, what I can get for myself. Anything
that I get in this world is given to me. Yet for some reason I
think I obtain things. Yet what happens to every single
thing that we obtain? We lose it. We taint it. We mess
it up. We take it for granted. We don't
obtain anything. Anything we obtain is totally
messed up, which goes back to, why would we want to have any
part in our own salvation? We mess everything up. But then
we realize that if we look at that verse, it says, But Christ,
in verse 11, and then verse 12, not by the blood of goats and
calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy
place, Christ having obtained eternal redemption. He's the
one who obtained it. And when He obtains something,
it's His. Nothing can be taken from Him.
Nothing can be separated from the Lord Jesus Christ. And when
we see this, Those last two words there, having obtained eternal
redemption for us, that sounds really good, but those two words
are in italics. They were added. So this verse
says, having obtained eternal redemption. Well, is it really
for us? Who's it for? Go to verse 15. At the end of verse 15, it says,
they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. The Lord Jesus Christ did it.
No one else can take glory for this. By shedding his blood,
he redeemed us. So this says the called get the
eternal inheritance. Those who are called, and this
is a heavenly calling, We can't take any credit for it because
we can't call anyone. We are the ones who get called.
And once this call is received, because once called by him, we
have already been put in the blood. And once a sinner is in
the blood of Christ, we receive by his grace, the eternal inheritance. The difference in those two verses,
one says, having obtained eternal redemption, the other says, They
which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. It uses the word inheritance.
As an inheritance, it's a gift from the father. An inheritance
is not someone has ever deserved. It is something that is given
because of the blood. Because of your blood connection
is why you get the inheritance. The inheritance is given because
we are of the same blood as our father. In the Lord Jesus Christ,
we get the inheritance because of His blood. In verse 12, through
His blood, we have obtained eternal redemption. Look at verse 22. And almost all things are by
the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is
no remission. It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with
these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices
than these." The Old Testament sacrifices couldn't do it. We
needed a heavenly sacrifice. We needed a perfect sacrifice,
which is why we needed the Lord Jesus Christ to do it for us.
Let me read you from Ephesians chapter 2 a couple verses. That
at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world. What does no hope
mean? It means being without God. But
now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by
the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath
made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us." There is a great wall, a great divide between
God and man, and we can't break down the wall. False religion
is always trying to sell something. It is always trying to get man
to buy something. But the pulpit is not a place
to sell something. The pulpit is the place to proclaim
that Christ has already paid the debt. He paid it all. There's nothing for us to do.
Verse 24 says, For Christ, it is not entered into the holy
places made with hands, which are the figures of the true,
but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God
for us." The Lord Jesus Christ entered into the holy places
made with hands, but into heaven itself. The Lord Jesus Christ
is sitting on the throne in glory, victorious of what he has done. And that last phrase in verse
24, now to appear in the presence of God for us. What a statement. We'll elaborate
in another verse on that. Verse 25 here says, For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. These verses say that he didn't
have to keep sacrificing. In the Old Testament, they kept
sacrificing. The Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed
one time. His blood atonement for his people
was successful. It's a one-time event, and it
is effectual through eternity. And then this says, he appeared
for this reason. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
this world to put away the sins of his people. And the only way
to do that was by the sacrifice of himself. We had to have his
blood. Matthew says, the son of man
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his
life a ransom for many. He said, I must be about my father's
business. He set his face like a flint
to the cross. He had one purpose, to make a
blood sacrifice for his people, to redeem them. Look at verse
27. And as it is appointed unto man
once to die, but after this, the judgment. In the flesh, we
will all die. Then we will face judgment. Does that not make the last line
of verse 24 mean something? It says, now to appear in the
presence of God for us. Knowing that we must stand once
we die, this flesh dies, we will have to stand in judgment before
a holy God. There is nothing scarier than
that. Yet there is nothing greater
than saying that the Lord Jesus Christ, because of what He did,
because of His blood sacrifice for His chosen people, He will
appear in the presence of God for us in Him. Do you want to know what the
outcome will be when we face judgment? Everyone always wants
to know what happens when I die. That's a common theme from all
eternity. Everyone was, I wonder what happens
when I die? Well, let me answer that by just
quoting one verse. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. It's that simple. Or we could
use another verse where Peter said, we are not redeemed with
corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ.
If we have the blood of Christ, we have eternal redemption in
Him. John said, the blood of Jesus
Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all our sin. This is what
we must understand. The price of our sin is spiritual
death. That's what we have coming. The
Lord Jesus Christ paid that price for His people by making a blood
payment on the cross with His sacrifice. And through His blood,
He obtained redemption for those that He chose, those that He
called, those that He elected. And look at verse 28. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. The Lord
Jesus Christ didn't come to save just a few, and he didn't come
to save everyone, but many. All that he called, all that
he chose, all that he predestinated to be conformed to his image,
his blood sacrifice. And unto them who believe on
him and look for him, he will appear without sin unto eternal
glory. I sure hope that that sounds
good to us. Let me close with a chorus I
remember singing so often as a kid. Under the blood of Jesus,
safe in the shepherd's fold. Under the blood of Jesus, safe
while the ages roll. Safe, though the world may crumble. Safe, though the stars grow dim. Under the blood of Jesus, I am
secure in Him. All right, that's Bauer Hess. Our Heavenly Father, Lord, we pray that you might
put us under the blood of Christ. Lord, we beg of you to show us,
to teach us, to make us see this. Lord, we pray that you would
call us, Lord, that you would show us who you are and what
you've done. Lord, once you Call one of your
children. Lord, how wonderful it seems,
how wonderful the thought to have you stand in our stead before
a holy God. Lord, it's so wonderful to know
that you saved many. Lord, we have so many loved ones
and friends and family that we pray for and we ask for your
mercy to be upon them. Lord, as a holy, wonderful and
gracious God, we're so thankful that we can look to thee and
trust in thee for all things. Lord, as we take this ordinance,
Lord, we pray that you would make us to take just a few minutes
to clear our minds, to think upon thee, to think of your amazing
sacrifice. That you would be willing to
do this for such sinful creatures. Of your power and your majesty
and your glory for what you did and for what you accomplished.
And Lord, that we might look forward, that we might focus
and you give us a desire to search for thee, to look for thee, to
dwell on thee, to focus on thee. Lord, we pray that we do constantly
remember you. We can't do that without you,
Lord. Please make us to remember your sacrifice and our substitute. Lord, we ask these things in
Christ's name. Amen.