Turn this morning to the Gospel
of Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. This morning
we are to partake of the very ordinance that the Lord Jesus
Christ established on the occasion in this text. If you look beginning
in verse 7, it says, "...then came the day of unleavened bread,
when the Passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John saying,
Go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat. And they said
unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? He said unto them,
Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet
you bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where
he entereth in. And ye shall say unto the good
man of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is thy
guest chamber, where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And He shall show you a large
upper room furnished, there make ready.' And they went and found
as He had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover.
And when the hour was come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles
with Him. And he said unto them, With desire
I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not
any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of
God. And he took the cup and gave
thanks and said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not
drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall
come.' And he took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and
gave it unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for
you, This do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after
supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which
is shed for you." I want you to notice especially that 19th
verse. It says that our Lord took bread,
and gave thanks, and break it, and gave it unto them, saying,
This is my body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance
of me. There are those who believe around
this world, many who believe, that through their praying over
the bread, that it actually becomes again the body of Jesus Christ. That is utter blasphemy for the
one thing. Because nowhere does the Scriptures
teach that that is the case, but rather, that the elements
of this table, they are symbolic of the body and blood of Jesus
Christ. Just like that Passover lamb
was symbolic of the Lamb of God Himself, This bread is also symbolic
of the body of Jesus Christ. In order to save men, Christ
became a man. And he is described particularly
in the New Testament as the man Christ Jesus. in order to be the sacrifice
for our sins, and the substitute who died in our place, the Savior
of men, who is none other than the eternal Son of God, He took
into union with His own divine self, humanity. a body, a real body. He did not become two persons,
but he as God the Son, that divine being, did according to the will
and purpose of God, take to himself what is described as a body that
was prepared for him. You read in Hebrews 10 that it
was said even in the Old Testament, Wherefore when he cometh into
the world, he saith, that is, Messiah saith, Sacrifice and
offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. And this is necessary because
also in Hebrews 10, he tells us that this being according
to the will of God, he says, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ We read by the Apostle John things
like this, that the Word that was in the beginning with God
and was God, that Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. The apostle Paul, in another
place, says, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in the flesh. But he also, in the epistle to
the Romans, makes a distinction here. He says in Romans 8 and
verse 3, "...for what the law could not do, in that it was
weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh." not in the reality of sinful flesh, but in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. And so the Son of God, He did
take that body, that human nature, into that divine nature, and
he as a man, as one person, came into this world. Now, all we
have to do to find out something more about that body is to simply
think about and inquire as to what kind of body did the Holy
Spirit prepare. In other words, it is said in
Scripture that in the womb of this woman Mary, who was herself,
in and of herself, a sinner, In her womb there was prepared
a body, in that womb, and that body was prepared by the Spirit
of God, and it was announced to her. It was told to her before
ever he was born that this would not be a mortal body, but an
immortal body. You and I having mortal bodies,
but here was the immortal one. Listen to what was said to her.
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow
thee, therefore also that holy thing." That's not what you and
I were when we were conceived in our mother's womb. We were
of ourselves, and as the fallen sons and daughters of Adam, a
very unholy and therefore mortal thing. But in her womb was this
body that was that holy thing which shall be born of thee,
and shall be called the Son of God." Now why is it that he is
not only in that body called holy, but is described as that
holy thing. That is because we are to know
and be assured of that this is no phantom, this is no mere spirit,
this is real substance, this is a real body. And this holy substance, this
holy nature, this holy flesh, is made so by the Holy Spirit
of God. He is, as the old theologians
used to say, He is that impeccable One. He is that holy thing. He is that One who is capable
of dying. He is a body, therefore capable
of dying, but he is not tainted with all the seeds of sickness
and death and all these things that are the consequence of one
who is born in sin and shapen in iniquity. You see, if He is
to die for men and women, if He is to die for men, then He
must Himself be a man. And yet, being a man, in order
to die for sinners, He has to be separate for sinners. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
2. Hebrews chapter 2, and listen
to what the Apostle says in Hebrews 2 and verse 14. He says, "...for
as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood."
He also himself likewise took part of the same, that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that
is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were
all their lifetime subject to bondage." Now you think about
that. Because I know how we are as
foolish, stupid sinners. We sometimes entertain in our
minds the notion that we have in ourselves nothing to fear
in death. We hide behind such foolish,
empty notions as when we die, there'll just be nothing else,
or we'll just be annihilated, or something like that. But God
who knows our hearts, He knows that we are, as He has just said
here, all our days, in and of ourselves, living in the fear
of death. We fear to die. You say, no,
I don't fear to die, preacher. Well, you can tell that to somebody
who you might fool. But whenever we face a disease
or we face danger, whenever things happen, it brings to the surface
the reality that we actually do really fear death no matter
what we say. He says, for verily he took not
on him the nature of angels, He didn't redeem the angels that
fell, but he took on him the seed of Abraham, wherefore in
all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. In order to be the sacrifice
and in order to be the high priest, it is of necessity that he not
only have a body, but that body be free of any of the pollution
of sin. Let me read you another verse
out of Hebrews. He says, "...for such an high
priest became us, or suited us, or fitted us, who is holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens."
Why do we need a priest like that? Because we're nothing but
sin. We can't stand as a priest in
ourselves before God. He's holy and we're nothing but
sin. We can't offer a sacrifice from
ourselves or even of ourselves because He's holy and we're nothing
but sin. And he goes on to say, "...for
we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin." That's what it says. And if you think
about this, had He in this body, had He as our priest or our sacrifice,
our Savior, our Redeemer, by whatever name you call Him, had
He at any time sinned or been a sinner in any sense or become
before God a sinner, He could not have been. our Savior. He could not have done what the
Scriptures say that He did do. And I say that because Had that
happened, had he at any time in any way imagined by men or
in any way in reality before God, had he in any way done that
or been that, his sacrifice and his work and his death would
not have been voluntary. Now you think about this. You
look back at our text verse. It says that, "...he took bread,
and he gave thanks, and break it, and gave it to them, saying,
This is my body which is given for you." You see that? This is my body which is given
for you." Now if he had been in any way, in any way thinkable,
imaginable, any way speculated upon, if he had been identified
with sin any way in himself, then he could not have given
his life. Why? because the justice of God
would have reached out and have dealt with him in the same way
it deals with every other sinner outside of Christ. It would have
laid hold on him and taken him, and justly so. But that's not
what happened. You see, he must be of such character
He must in His body as a man be of such in Himself that He
does not have sin laid hold of because He's a sinner, but He
lays down willingly and voluntarily His life for His people. And that's the greater part of
His glory. That's His glory. I want you
to turn back to John chapter 10. John chapter 10, and look
down in verse 11. If the good shepherd is going
to save his sheep and give to them eternal life, look at what
it says here in verse 11. He says, I am the good shepherd,
The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep. Did divine justice
just reach out there because He was at some point a sinner
and therefore lay hold of Him and take Him and deal with Him? Absolutely not. Because the Good
Shepherd gives His life for the sheep. Look down in verse 15. He says, "...as the Father knoweth
me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep." That is, freely and willingly and unbound and unhindered, I
lay down, I give my life for the sheep. Look down at verse
17. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down of myself." I have power to lay it down, and I have
power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. That sounds pretty plain to me.
And in no way can we ever imagine that that can be diminished or
in any way made to be less than it is by his being viewed by
God as the one who stands in our place before His justice. You see, we look to Christ as
our Savior and we praise Him for His great sacrifice for our
sins as the One who gave Himself willingly, freely, voluntarily. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
9 and listen to what the Apostle says in Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9 verse 14, How much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered Himself without spot to God? Here is the sinless sacrifice. Here is the sinless substitute
and Savior. offers, voluntarily offers himself
to God without spot. Without spot. What did he offer? What did he give? He gave himself. How did he give himself? What
was he when he gave himself to God in the matter of being our
Savior? He was without spot. without
spot. As a matter of fact, when He's
hanging there on that cross, when men have taken Him and nailed
Him to that cross, as real a thing as ever has been in this world,
they nailed Him, this man, this God-man, they nailed His body
to the cross. And yet, at no time did he ever,
as a man hanging on that cross, cease to be God. He did not alter. He did not change. He is the
immutable, holy Son of God. Now listen, Luke says, "...and
when Jesus had cried with a loud voice..." But he is bleeding. His life's blood is pouring out
of him. He probably hasn't eaten in forever. His physical strength appears
to be at a low point and ebb. But it says he cries with a loud
voice. And he said, Father, into Thy
hands I commend my spirit, and having said thus, He gave up
the ghost. He yielded up His life. He offered Himself, gave Himself,
gave His body voluntarily, freely. That's what Matthew said. It
says, when He had cried again with a loud voice, He yielded
up the ghost. One old writer said, the sacred
beauty The ineffable blessedness of that holy humanity mainly
consisted in the Lord's being what? The Lamb without blemish
and without spot. You see, when they went, you
remember the soldiers, when they went there in the garden to lay
hold of Him? Do you remember what happened?
The Bible says that when He opened His mouth, they all fell backward. They weren't any more able to
take Him, to force Him, to get Him to do anything, even though
this is a picture of how His being our Savior requires that
we be set free if He dies for us. He said, if you want Me,
let these go. Let these go. But they couldn't
take Him because there's nothing There's no sin in Him. There's
no weakness in Him. There's no frailty in Him. He is God manifest in the flesh. And the Scripture says that we
are redeemed, not with silver and gold, but with the precious
blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Here He is, the spotless, blemish-free
Lamb of God. But you see, as that justice
cannot of itself lay hold of him because of any other reason
that the Lord has laid on him the sins of his people, he has
to voluntarily, willingly, freely give himself. And that never
changes. As a matter of fact, when the
apostle is talking in Acts 13 in verse 37, he says, "...but
he who God raised again saw no corruption." Why? Because he's
without sin. He saw no corruption. And he died in the place of his
people, And they, because of that death, all go free because
He wanted to. This is what really amazes me. Can we ever imagine this? Not only that the Son of God
would become a man, a sinless, holy, incorruptible, immortal
man, and die in our place before God's inflexible justice, but
also that He did it voluntarily, freely, willingly, and that He
wanted to. Now, we talk all about the purpose
of God, the will of God, the plan of God, all of which are
absolutely true and right. We talk about doctrines like
substitution, we talk about doctrines like surety, ship, and all these
things. We talk about the justice of
God, which rightly and truly ought to be talked about. But
think about this. If Christ died for me, He did
so because He wanted to. Now I might even, by some stretch,
be able to think about why He might want to die for you, for
the life of me. I cannot fathom. Now this One
who is none less than God Himself, why He would become humanity
and walk on this earth, and go to that cross and do so because
He wanted to do it for me. Wanted to. Voluntarily wanted
to. Freely wanted to. That's the message of the Gospel.
That if you're one of His sheep, He wanted to. He desired to. He lovingly did it for you. Not in, we say, you know, he
laid down his life for the sheep, rightly. He loved the church,
gave himself for it, rightly. His bride, rightly. But all these are just names
that are given for the composite whole of his church. When in reality, He died for
each one of them individually and personally for their sins
because He wanted to. He said, this is my body which
is given for you. Matthew says, even as the Son
of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give
His life. A ransom for many. Christ in John 6, I am the living
bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. And then He said this in John
15, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down
his life, give his life for his friends." I don't think that
ever I've seen, as I have this week, how freely, how particularly,
how willingly that Christ died for each of His people. You see, right to the end of
His life, He lives here on this earth. God manifests in the flesh. And living in this life, in this
world, with all that goes on in this world, all of which we
blame mostly for our sins, He didn't sin. He loved God with
all His heart. He did all things that the Father
desired, pleased Him in every way. He goes to that hour of
judgment, and like a lamb before He shears His dove, He opens
not His mouth. They nail Him to that cross,
and He's suspended between earth and heaven. He looks down at
John, and He said, Take care of your mother. take care of
my mother like she was your mother." He says, Father, forgive them
for they know not what they do. And nothing can happen to him.
Justice cannot reach out for him because he has no sin in
him. But at that hour, He gave His
life. He yielded up the ghost. He did something that no one
has ever been able to do before. I looked and I thought of an
illustration. There is none. I thought about
When those shootings were taking place in the movie theater in
Colorado, I thought about how it said that so many men died,
putting themselves, covering their wives or girlfriends, and
they took the bullet, as we say. But those men were sinners just
like us. Noble was such a deed. This is
the perfect Son of God. And He maintains that perfection. Right to that minute of that
hour, he has to be that lamb without blemish and without spot,
and he has to give himself. A sinner can't give himself. Justice lays hold of him. But the Son of God laid down
His life, gave His life, gave His body, Paul says in Galatians
1 that he gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us
from this present evil world according to the will of God
and our Father. He says to the Ephesians, walk
in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself. for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling Savior. John says, Hereby perceive we
the love of God, because He laid down His life for us, and we
ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. What we read in
Hebrews about a body, being prepared for him. Or, as it also says
there, the fact that God would not find any pleasure in sacrifices
for sins, all these things that represented Christ in the Old
Testament, these are made reference to in Psalm 40. And right in the midst of that
psalm, he says, mine ear hast thou opened or digged." Now,
what in the world does that mean? Well, that is simply, I believe,
a reference to that bondservant that is described in Exodus 21. In Exodus 21, it describes that
bondservant who has served all his time,
showed himself to be all that he was supposed to be in the
Master's house, and now the time requires that he be set free. Well, being in the Master's house,
he has gotten a wife and children. And so the day comes and the
master says, all right, you're free to go. You go ahead on.
And this servant says, but master, I love you. I love you. And I love my wife and I love
my children. I say I love my master and my
wife and my children. I will not go out free. You know what they did? The master
would take him down to the center of all the legal activities in
the town or community, and they would take an awl. You know what
an awl is? It's like an ice pick. And they
would push that awl through the lobe of his ear. They would open
his ear, dig his ear, if you will. And that would make that
unmistakable scar an opening so that everything he did for
his master, everything he did in his master's house for his
wife and his children, men would know that he did it because he
wanted to, not because he had to. He didn't do it as a slave. He did it as a free man. And
that's what the Lord Jesus Christ did. He gave Himself freely and
willingly, Paul describing it in such a wonderful way in Philippians
2. Philippians 2 and verse 5, he
said, "...let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. But he made himself of no reputation."
And he took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in
the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross." And for that reason, God hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name." Christ
died for sinners. He suffered in the place of sinners. He gave His body as a sacrifice
for sins. But as a sinless, holy, perfect,
Man, He did so voluntarily, willingly. He did it, and in doing so, He
committed the greatest act of love that has ever been. If Christ is your Savior, you've
been loved with a never-lasting love. And if we can imagine such
a one, doing such a thing for us, and it not break our cold,
hard hearts, then nothing will. Nothing will. The hymn writer,
he said something like this, Amazing love, how can it be that
I'd have some kind of interest in the Savior's blood? Did He
die for me who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued,
amazing love." His body was given freely. And when we take of this
which represents His body as well as His blood, His body being
that perfect sinless body, His blood being that blood, that
life that was laid down, poured down, and given in our place,
He said, this do in remembrance of me. God help us to do it.