The Lord Jesus Christ himself
instituted what we call the Remembrance Service or perhaps the Breaking
of Bread Service or Communion Service. These are all good biblical
names for this activity that the Lord's people engage upon
in our remembrance of the death of the Lord Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 10, verse 16,
we read, the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the
communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is
it not the communion of the body of Christ? And so we come together
to engage in communion. We are communing together in
a fellowship with the Lord. We believe and we understand
that the activity of gathering around this table, which the
Lord has instituted, is a blessed activity which he has designed
in order that we might enter into the closeness of communion
with him. This is a special service. This
is a meaningful activity, and we are to come to it thoughtfully. We are to come to it with an
understanding of what it is that we are doing. We steer clear of such terms
as sacrament or Eucharist or Mass. We don't use those terms
to describe this activity, though some other churches in following
this similar sort of pattern would use those terms. The reason
why we don't use those terms and we prefer rather biblical
terms to describe this service is that these other phrases carry
with them sacramental ideas. Now let me explain that. They
carry with them the idea that mere participation is itself
a blessing. That mere participation, mere
consumption of the bread and drinking of the cup is in itself
a means of grace and that grace is dispensed from God by the
act of participation. Now, we recoil from that because
that is subject to so many problems and issues. People get confused
under such sacramental ideas and they have assumptions that
their very participation, their very gathering out together is
in itself in some way a blessing to them when we have come to
understand that these things must be spiritually discerned
in order to be a blessing to our souls. The ordinance of the Lord's Supper
reminds us that the Lord Jesus Christ himself both ordered,
as far as directing his people to participate, and also set
in place the way in which this service is to be undertaken. His church and his people gather
in order to remember his death. Our wise Saviour designed that
His people would be regularly and frequently brought back to
this place of thinking about His death and His sacrifice. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior,
is the only ground of acceptance with God. If we are going to
approach God, if we are going to come together to worship God,
if we have a desire in our hearts to have a spiritual relationship
with God, There is but one means of doing so. There is only one
way of access and approach, and that is through the shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only when we understand
the significance of the cleansing of our sins by the blood of Jesus
Christ that we can have communion with a holy God. There has to
be the taking away of our sin. There has to be the carrying
away of our iniquities. There has to be the dispensing
of a righteousness, a holiness, a perfection as perfect as God's
himself. in order for God and man to engage
together in spiritual union and communion. This is the significance
of what happened on the cross. This is the importance of the
Lord Jesus Christ's sacrifice. And once again, the Lord wisely
designed that we should be brought back time after time after time
in this service, if at no other time, to focus upon the sacrifice
that He made. We must always return to the
cross. We must always be going back
to look at the cross. And whatever our preaching might
be, whatever our desires for worship might be, whatever our
gathering together and church activities might entail and contain,
if we are not being regularly frequently brought back to the
cross, it's all just so much activity and it is meaningless
beyond the camaraderie and friendship that it might enjoin. It is here
at the cross that our blessed Saviour dealt with our sin. It is here at the cross that
the Lord Jesus Christ bore God's wrath against our sin. And if we're in any sense denying
that we are sinners, if we fail to grasp the consequences of
our own personal sin and transgression. We're never going to grasp the
implications and the consequences of that great work of redemption
on the cross. Here at the cross, the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself, the God-Man, He who was with the Eternal God,
who is the Eternal God, came into the earth, took upon Himself
our frame, our body, took upon Himself a soul like us unto our
soul. and there he suffered and there
he died. He died as God's lamb. He died as our sacrifice. And all those great doctrines,
all those great words of spiritual importance, such as atonement
and redemption and remission of sins, and substitution, and
satisfaction, and reconciliation, and propitiation, and expiation,
and pardon, and justification. They all, they all derive their
meaning from the cross. They all flow from what the Lord
Jesus Christ did on the cross. This is a many faceted jewel. This great work of salvation
which the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished and secured for his church and
people. This salvation which gathers
all these doctrines, all these words about redemption and justification
and reconciliation and satisfaction, and binds them all together as
a gift of His grace and mercy to His people. This was all transacted
at the cross. Therefore it is to the cross
that our eyes must be drawn again and again. There it was. that our covenant-keeping God
demonstrated His everlasting love towards us. There, He revealed
in the fullest way His perfect holiness. It is as if He had
to say, I cannot look upon you, I cannot look at your sin unless
you are holy as I am holy. And there is but one way of you
becoming holy, and that is that your sin has to be taken away. The Lord Jesus Christ, in shedding
His blood, remitted that sin, carried that sin, carried it
upon his own shoulders, took it into himself, laid down his
life in order that we might live. There, at the cross, the absolute
justice of God is set forth and evidenced to us. There, God was
vindicated. There, at the cross, sin was
defeated. There, a ransom was paid. Liberty was secured. Freedom from the curse of the
law was achieved. And our blessed Savior, on surety,
accomplished all his covenant obligations for us. In a little while, we are going
to share together in the Lord's table. And we shall remind ourselves
that we are following the Lord's pattern, not slavishly in incidentals,
but in principle. We shall take bread because that
bread speaks of the Lord's body. and we will break it and we will
share it together. We shall consume wine, the fruit
of the vine, which speaks to us of the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ that was shed to take away our sins. And we will show
forth the Lord's death until he comes again, God willing. We shall follow his direction.
We shall give thanks. We will break the bread as he
broke it. and we will in solemn reflection
and with understanding participate in this meal, consume the elements
and see beyond the mere bread and the mere cup a deeper spiritual
truth and significance for our soul and for our eternal well-being. The Apostle Paul in writing to
the church at Corinth said this, when he had given thanks, that's
speaking of the Lord Jesus, on the night that he celebrated
the Passover meal with his disciples prior to his death and At that
Passover meal instituted this new feast of remembrance, setting
aside and laying down the old pattern of Passover to establish
the new of this remembrance communion service. When he had given thanks,
he break it and said, take eat. This is my body, which is broken
for you. This do in remembrance of me. What I'm going to do for the
next few minutes, as the Lord enables, is to think simply about
one little phrase in that verse, which I want to employ in order
to draw our thoughts and our minds to this service and its
meaning. I want to take three simple words,
Broken for you Broken for you And I want to consider what they
tell us about the sacrifice made by the Lord Jesus Christ Broken Broken Our Lord's body was broken As
we break the bread, it symbolises the fact that the Lord Jesus
Christ's body was broken. Brothers and sisters, let us
not forget the agonies that the Lord Jesus Christ endured for
us. From the crown of his head, to
the soles of his feet, nor a part of the Lord's body wasn't battered
and bruised and bloodied. It is perhaps beyond our grasp
to think about the sheer pummeling that that frame took. In Lamentations, verse one, Chapter
one, I'm sorry, in verse 12, we read these words. Behold, and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me. Wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. That fierce anger was the anger
that was spilled out on the part of the Holy God upon
His Son, His precious Son, as He died on the cross. And the Lord was taken by those
soldiers, those Romans. The Jews participated in it to
the best of their ability, but it was the soldiers that actually
executed Him. And they took a crown of thorns
and they pressed it into his head. They punched his face. They bruised his shoulders by
laying great weights upon them. Our Savior collapsed under the
weight of the cross that he was forced to carry. They lacerated
his back. Pilate scourged the Lord Jesus
Christ before he was ever taken to the cross. Before he was handed
over to the soldiers in order for them to vent their wicked
aggression against his holy body. Pilate had him scourged. I don't
think any of the other two that were crucified that day were
scourged. Pilate had an idea. He thought,
maybe if I scourge him, this one who evidently has done no
wrong, this one who is obvious is the victim of some political
machinations, some religious scheming on the part of these
Jews, Pilate couldn't see through everything that was happening,
but he probably realised that at the end of the day, he was
actually the mug. And so he thought, well, if I
scourge Jesus and tell them that there, I don't find any fault
in him, certainly nothing worth his death, I've scourged him. Now let him go. but it was cumulative for the
Lord. He was scourged probably to within
an inch of his life had it been any other man and then he was
crucified and then he was handed over to the soldiers. They pierced
his side his hands and his feet. And as he hung there upon the
cross, his muscles were strained and stretched and ripped and
torn. In Psalm 22, verse 14, it says,
I am poured out like water. What happens when you pour out
water? Does it maintain its shape? Or does it just all flow down
and become one big mess? The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am poured out like water. What was happening to all his
internal organs at that time as he hung there? All my bones
are out of joint. There was no substance any longer
to his frame. He was literally pinned to that
wood by the nails. My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of
my bowels. Friends, we can't begin to understand
the pain that the Lord Jesus Christ went through. I wonder if you've ever dislocated a finger
and the pain that that causes you. If you've ever pulled a
muscle or torn a tendon or hurt your back and we wince And we
ask the doctor to give us painkillers. And we take our dosage and we
try to ameliorate our suffering. Our suffering. The Lord Jesus
Christ suffered. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered. And yet, He did not die. I believe that our Saviour was
sustained miraculously sustained in order to suffer. He did not pass out. He did not
become unconscious under the severity of these beatings that
he had taken for so long. He did not lose control of his
mind or of his vocabulary or of his emotions, but he remained
conscious and cogent and caring right to the end at that moment
when he dismissed his spirit. Perhaps we can get a little bit
of a clue to that when we reflect upon what happened to the Lord
in the Garden of Gethsemane, how that that weight of suffering
began to lay upon His soul, though the physical ardour of His punishment
and suffering was yet to come. Already there in the Garden we
can see that that weight of suffering had begun to enter his soul. And we are told in Luke 22, 43
that there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening
him. What did that mean, strengthening
him? Giving him courage, emboldening him, reassuring him that it was
going to be okay? Well, perhaps. But I think rather
holding him up like the sacrifice that he was so that he didn't
succumb to it in its early stages. but continued all the way through
it, right to the bitter end. When he said to his father, if
it be possible that this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not
my will, but thine be done, I think to some extent he was recognising
that he had to be there right to the very end. That cup had
to be drained. consciously drained. That suffering had to be endured
right to the very end. And even that hardly begins to
convey any sense of the spiritual dimension of that sin which was
so alien and contrary to the Lord Jesus Christ in his perfect
holiness. being poured into his soul, that
sin being laid upon his shoulders, him being made sin for us, that
the legitimacy of the judgment of God might be propitiated as
that sword of God's judgment was unsheathed and placed into
the soul of our Savior. All the apostles speak of the
suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us never be distracted from
remembering that whatever we have to bear in this world, whatever
we have to carry in this world, it is nothing in comparison to
that which the Lord Jesus Christ physically, emotionally and psychologically
and spiritually endured in himself for us. Christ's body was broken. But this is interesting. Not
his bones. Not his bones. His body was broken,
but not his bones. Have you ever thought about why
it might be that John makes such a point about the bones of the
Lord not being broken. Turn with me to John chapter
19, please. John chapter 19. Look at verse 31. John chapter
19 and verse 31. The Jews therefore, because it
was the preparation that the bodies should not remain upon
the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was a high
day, besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that
they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers and break
the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified
with him. But when they came to Jesus and
saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs. But
one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side and forthwith
came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record,
and his record is true. And he knoweth that he saith
true, that ye might believe. For these things were done that
the scriptures should be fulfilled. A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith,
they shall look on him whom they pierced. What's the importance? What's
the significance of this aspect of the Lord's death? The Lord
says, this is my body broken for you. And his body was broken,
but none of his bones, they were all out of joint, but none of
them broken. There's an illusion here, I think,
to two different references in the Old Testament scriptures.
One of them is this, that when the Lord was instituting the
Passover feast, and when he was giving instructions to Moses
and Aaron, he explicitly forbade that any bone of the Passover
lamb should be broken. A lamb was to be taken, it was
to be roasted, it was to be consumed, but not one of the bones of that
lamb was to be broken. That is an amazing picture of
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me say this, the Lord didn't
instruct Moses and Aaron not to break
one of the bones of the lamb because in some way he was thinking
about the lamb and the well-being of the lamb. He was telling them
that because he was giving them a spiritual picture which would
be fulfilled in its antitype, in its reality, in its fullness,
in its significance when the Lord Jesus Christ Himself died. Always remember that. When we
talk about the Lord fulfilling prophecy, It's not that he did
what he did in order to fulfill the prophecy. It is that the
prophecy was given in order to tell us what the Lord Jesus Christ
was going to do. Let us understand that from the
right side. And here we see that none of
the bones of the Lord Jesus Christ were broken. Why? Why is that significant? Because
the lamb that was eaten at the Passover was only for the family
in that house. They were to eat that lamb in
its entirety. That lamb was not to be broken
up. That lamb was not to be divided
up and some given to one person and some given to another. They
were to be united in their consumption of that lamb. They were to be
gathered in one place and they were to eat all of it and that
lamb was not to be broken up. The significance there is a picture
of what the Lord Jesus Christ did for his people. The death
of the Lord Jesus Christ, like the sacrifice of the Passover
lamb, was for a particular family. It was for a particular people.
This is not a general atonement. This is not a universal atonement
that is being spoken about here. This is a particular work done
by the Lord Jesus Christ for a particular people. And that
picture of none of his bones being broken speaks to the fact
that he had one body. One body that was always united
in the eternal purposes of God and in the eternal realms of
glory forever and ever. That people are the gathered
people. and not one of them will be lost,
not one part will be broken. The Lord's body is united and
though he suffered in his body, yet every bone was kept without
breaking. The second allusion which I think
we can draw on is a reference that is made in Psalm 34, verse
six, where it speaks about a poor man, a poor man that goes before
the Lord in need. Well, there's many poor men and
women here today. We know what it is to be poor
in spirit if we've been thinking about the Lord's teachings. But
the poor man in Psalm 34 is the Lord himself. And he was the
one who went before his father as the sacrifice, as the substitute. This poor man cried and the Lord
heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. Of this poor man it is said,
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivered
him out of them all. He keepeth all his bones, and
not one of them is broken. The Lord delivered that poor,
righteous man out of all his afflictions. and his bones were
kept, not one of them was broken. The Lord's people are a spiritual
people. They are complete. They are whole. They are undivided. When the
Lord gathers his bride, she is going to look beautiful. There's
not anything going to mar her. Not anything going to spoil her. When the Lord gathers His people,
she will be adorned in perfect righteousness and she will be
complete. No one will be missing. The Lord's
not going to lose one of His little ones. He is going to bring
His people together. Christ died for His people, for
His church, for His body, for His bride. And not one will be
lost. Our Lord Jesus Christ was broken. He was broken for a reason. He was broken for a purpose. This was not a random execution. This is not a mere incident in
history. This certainly wasn't a miscarriage
of justice. And once again, our Lord's disciples
and the Lord himself is very clear on presenting the death
of the Savior in its proper light. Christ suffered for sin. This is my body broken for you. Christ suffered for sin. In Matthew 1.21, the angel said,
Call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And this was the means of accomplishing
that purpose. 1 John 3 verse 5, Ye know that
he was manifested to take away our sins. to take away our sins. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ
went to the cross. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 3, Christ
hath suffered for us in the flesh. 1 Peter 4 verse 1, Christ, I'm
sorry I've read those wrong. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 3, as
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And 1 Peter
4.1, Christ has suffered for us in the flesh. The Messiah,
God's lamb, the suffering servant that Isaiah speaks about, Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And here, the divine
purpose of eternal grace is revealed. Here, the outworking of everlasting
love is made manifest, and the glorious salvation of guilty
sinners is accomplished. Romans 5.8 says, God commendeth
his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. We're going to be thinking about
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It speaks to us of the love of
God, an everlasting love, an eternal love. When you take that
bread, when you drink that cup, know this. Everything about this
death, this sacrifice, this suffering is by design. Nothing was accidental. God planned it. God purposed
it from everlasting because he loved his people and desired
to save them from their sins. 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. I want to say
one more thing. The Lord Jesus Christ said, this
is my body which is broken for you. The Lord's body was broken
designedly and purposefully. Again, Isaiah 53 says, it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. Thou shalt make his soul an offering
for sin. He shall see his seed. He shall
prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. He shall see his children. He
shall see his heritage. He shall see his reward. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
was crucified, was crucified for people. He says, this is
my body, which is broken for you. Who are these people that
the Lord saw when he was on the cross? Who was it that he saw
there? Who was it that God was pleased
to bruise his son on their behalf? For whom did the Lord Jesus Christ
die? The Lord says, broken for you. You. He was speaking on the Passover
feast to his disciples. The Apostle Paul was writing
to the church at Corinth when he says, you, and it's you personally,
and it is you the sinner. It is you who see their need
of a savior, who recognize their sin before God's holiness. Scripture nowhere teaches or
even suggests that the Lord Jesus Christ died for everyone. If he had done, then everyone
would be saved. If he had done, then there would
be no more sin and no more hell and no more judgment. There'd be no separation. There
would be no depart from me ye wicked into everlasting punishment. Why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
had died for all that sin. But rather, God has a people. God is a people that he has loved
everlastingly. A people for whom he devised
and designed a way of salvation. And he entered into covenant.
He made promises. He made a contract. that upon
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, he would redeem those people,
cleanse them from their sins, and bring them to himself. God's people are loved everlastingly. They are chosen eternally. They are set apart in this world. They are redeemed in time by
the blood of Jesus Christ. They are born again through the
work of God, the Holy Spirit, and the preaching of the gospel.
They are given faith. They are guarded by angels. They
are gathered by grace. They are supplied with every
blessing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Can I identify these loved, chosen,
sanctified, redeemed, gathered people? Can I identify them? Do I know who they are? You bet I can. I most certainly can. They are
those who hearing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
hearing the gospel of God's sovereign grace in Christ, who seeing the
Lord Jesus Christ lifted up in the preaching of the gospel, believe in Him, and trust in
Him, and are saved by Him. These are they, blessed folk. These are they for whom Christ
died, for whom His body was broken, Now let me be blunt. Do you trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ for the cleansing of your sins? Do you trust in Him alone
for righteousness before God? Do you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ? If you seek forgiveness from
Him, if you seek to be united to Him through that great work
of intercession that He accomplished on the cross, then you have acceptance
with God. For all who come to Him will
be received, and He will turn away none. Then I declare, His
body was broken for you. His body was broken for you,
and you have acceptance with God through the Lord Jesus Christ's
sacrifice. And if you trust Him, this is your feast. And it's not an offer, it's an
obligation. It is as much an obligation as
hearing the gospel preached. It is as much an obligation as
coming to the Lord and trusting in Him. We are obliged to participate
in this service. This isn't for holy people. This
is for sinners saved by grace. This is for those who trust the
Lord Jesus Christ. The privileges of the church
are your privileges because His body was broken for you. Come and dine. This is my body
which was broken for you. this do in remembrance of me. May the Lord bless us. Amen.