Tom, what are we opening with?
Bolton. Bolton, OK. Well, good morning
again. Good morning. Trish and I are
very much looking forward to you all coming over this afternoon. We hope you will. If you don't,
you might see me 10 pounds heavier next Sunday. All the stuff that
I'm going to have to eat that you're supposed to be eating.
So please come. We're very much looking forward,
and Trish has done a lot to prepare for you. We look forward to that. Amos chapter 5 verse 4, you don't
have to look it up. Let me just read this one verse
to open our service. For thus saith the Lord unto
the house of Israel. Is this the house of Israel?
And this is God's word to me and you. Seek ye me and you shall
live. You want to be alive? Really alive? God enables us
to seek Him. The means by which He enables
us to seek Him is His command to seek Him. So, the Lord says,
seek ye Me. What's my warrant for seeking
Him? He's commanded me to. He's commanded me to. That's
my warrant for seeking Him. God commands us to seek Him and
promises in seeking Him that we shall live. Let's stand together. Tom's going to come lead us in
the hymn on the back of your bulletin. To thy temple we repair, Lord,
we love to worship there. There within the veil we meet,
Thee upon the mercy seat. While thy glorious name is sung,
Tune our lips, unloose our tongues, Then our joyful souls shall bless
Thee, the Lord, our righteousness. While to thee our prayers ascend,
let thine ear in love attend. Hear us when thy spirit pleads,
hear for Jesus intercedes. Please be seated. Greg was talking about good,
it's good to be back. We've missed all of you. Last week they came out with
a study that said all of mankind came from one man and one woman. And scripture says in Genesis
chapter 3 and verse 20 that Adam called his wife's name Eve because
she was the mother of all living. But it never says that about
Adam. It never once says Adam is the father of all living because
there's an exception. There's an exception to all mankind. And like everything else man
does, it's only half true. If they would have said all of
mankind with one exception came from a couple, then it would
have been true. Genesis, or Matthew, Genesis, I'm sorry, I've been
away so long I can't remember. Matthew chapter one and verse
18. Matthew chapter one and verse
18 is about the exception. Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wise, while as his mother Mary was a spouse to Joseph,
before they came together, She was found with child of the Holy
Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was
minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these
things, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and
said, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee, marry
thy wife. For that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost, and she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, because he shall save
his people from their sins. Now all of this was done to fulfill
that which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son,
and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted
is God with us." This God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was not conceived
in sin. He was not shapen in iniquity. He did not come forth from the
womb speaking lies as soon as He be born. He is the spotless
Lamb of God. And this God shall be our God
forever and ever. He will be our guide even unto
death. Psalm 48 verse 14. Our Father, we come here this
morning, Father, to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, Father, to
hear about Christ. We're so thankful, Father, that
he was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world for
our sins, Father, that he laid down his life that I might have
to, that he kept the law of God because I cannot do it, Father,
and it was accounted to me for righteousness. Thank you for
Greg father. Thank you for this church. Thank
you for bringing us all back safely. Give us grace today father
to hear the word and give great Greg the grace father to bring
us the word. We ask these things in Jesus
name, amen. Let's stand together once again
and we'll sing hymn number 294 from the hardback timbrel. ? Savior, like a shepherd lead
us ? Much we need thy tender care ? In thy pleasant pastures
feed us ? For our use thy folds prepare ? Blessed Jesus, blessed
Jesus Thou hast bought us, Thine we are. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast bought us, Thine we are. We are thine, do thou befriend
us, be the guardian of our way. ? Keep thy flock from sin defend
us ? Seek us when we go astray ? Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus
? Hear, O hear us when we pray ? Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus
Hear, O hear us when we pray. Thou hast promised to receive
us, poor and sinful though we be. Thou hast mercy to relieve
us, grace to cleanse and power to free. Blessed Jesus, blessed
Jesus, early let us turn to Thee. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
early let us turn to Thee. Early let us seek Thy favor,
Early let us do Thy will. Blessed Lord and only Savior,
with Thy love our bosoms fill. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast loved us, love us still. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
thou hast loved us, loved us still. Please be seated. The mailing address on the front
of your bulletin is our home address in case you need that
this afternoon. Will you open your Bibles with
me, please, to Mark Chapter 14. Mark Chapter 14. We're going
to be observing the Lord's table this morning. And in the Lord's
good providence, His providence is always good, but I'm very
thankful that we are in our study of the book of Mark at the Last
Supper. And so I thought that It would
be good for us this morning to look at what the Lord has to
tell us about His body and His blood. I've titled this message,
The Body and Blood of Christ. And I want this message to be
simple enough for our children to understand it. I really do. I want this message to be the
simplest message I ever preached. In Exodus chapter 12, after the
Lord gave the children of Israel the Passover ordinances, he said
to them, when your children ask you why you do this, then you
can tell them. that it's the Lord's Passover.
It's the Lord's Passover when God passed over his people Israel
in Egypt. Turn with me to that passage
of scripture. Hold your finger there. Mark chapter, Exodus chapter
12. Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter
11, I fear, I fear, this was Paul's concern for the church
in Corinth. His fear for them was that by
any means, the serpent which beguiled Eve through his subtlety,
through his subtlety, that he would corrupt their minds from
the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. The gospel is very simple. It is very simple. It's simple
enough for our children to understand it. It is. Exodus chapter 12. Verse 26,
and it shall come to pass when your children shall say unto
you, what mean you by this service? I hope that some of your children
will say to you today, what exactly does the Lord's table mean? And what does this mean? And
what does that mean? That they'll begin to hear some
things. And this is what you shall say
to them. It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover who passed
over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote
the Egyptians and delivered our houses and the people bowed the
head and worshiped. If the Lord enables us to understand
and to believe what we're doing this morning, then we will bow
our heads in worship. Knowing that it's his Passover,
when he destroyed the Egyptians, he passed over the houses of
the Israelites. And there's one reason why he
passed over those houses. One reason only. He saw the blood
on the door. That's the only reason. He said,
you take that lamb, you slay the lamb, you take the blood,
put it on the the lintel and the doorpost of every house and
stay behind the blood. And when I see the blood, I will
pass by you." That's what the Lord's table is. When the Lord
Jesus Christ met with His disciples here in Mark chapter 14, turn
with me there, Mark 14, He was identifying Himself with
that Lamb. the lamb that was without spot
and without blemish. He was identifying himself with
that blood that the Israelites had been observing for 1,500
years. They had been year in and year
out and now the Lord is going to meet with his disciples and
celebrate the Passover for the last time. And it's the last
time that the Passover was to be celebrated in the Old Testament
way among all believers. The Jews still practice Passover. I've met people who call themselves
Christians who go through all the details of the Old Testament
Passover thinking that they are somehow honoring God by doing
such. But the Lord took that Old Testament
Passover and he reduced it down to two things for his New Testament
church. He took the bread, that unleavened
bread, and he broke it and he gave it to the disciples and
he said, take and eat for this is my body. He took the cup and
he passed the cup around and he said, take and drink for this
is my blood. The Passover is all about the
body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mark chapter 14 will begin in
verse 10. And Judas Iscariot, one of the
12, went unto the chief priests to betray him unto them. And
when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him
money. And he sought how he might conveniently
betray him. And the first day of the unleavened
bread, when they killed the Passover, his disciples said unto him,
where wilt thou that we should go and prepare that thou mayest
eat the Passover? And he sendeth forth two of his
disciples and saith unto them, go ye into the city and there
shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in,
say ye to the good men of that house, of the house, the master
saith, where is the guest chamber where I shall eat the Passover
with my disciples? And he will show you a large
upper room furnished and prepared They are make ready for us. And
his disciples went forth and came into the city and found
as he had said unto them and they made ready the Passover.
Now you remember when the Lord comes in to Jerusalem on his
triumphal entry just a few days before this and the Lord told
his disciples, go to where the crossroads are and you'll find
an ass with its colt tied up there and bring him to me. And
if they ask you what you're doing, tell them the master has need
of him and they'll let him go. These people didn't know who
the disciples were talking about. Go walk up to somebody and see
if they're going to give you your car and say, well, God told
me to take it from you. Or knock on someone's door and
say to them, you know, God told me that I was to have a meal
here at your house. It doesn't work like that with
us, does it? But it did with him. It did with him. Why? Because the owner of the house
and the owner of the ass were his. He was owner of them. He
was in complete control of all the circumstances surrounding
his life and his death. And he was controlling, and he
still is. He still is. When we say, well,
that was providential. What we really mean by that is,
well, we were lucky that time. Because the truth is that everything
is providential. Everything. The Lord is in control of everything
that men do. He's in control of everything
that you and I do. He's in control of this world. And that's what
He's telling us here. This is, I'm gonna have this
Passover with my disciples. And in the evening, he cometh
with the 12, verse 18. And as they sat and did eat,
Jesus said, verily I say unto you, one of you which eateth
of me shall betray me. And they began to be sorrowful
and to say unto him one by one, is it I? And another said, is
it I? Lord, I know the sinfulness of
my heart. I know that if you don't keep
me, I'll deny you. And he answered and said unto
them. It is one of the 12. That dippeth with me. In the dish. And the Son of Man indeed goeth
as it was ordained. As it was ordained of God that
he should suffer and die, the Son of Man indeed goeth as it
is written of him. But woe to that man by whom the
Son of Man is betrayed. Please, please, please notice
the last phrase in verse 21. For this phrase is not just true
of Judas. I don't know how to... This is
true of any person that leaves this world without the Lord Jesus
Christ. It would be better for that man
had he never been born. That's how, that's how important
this is. It'd be better to never have
been born than to live without Christ and to die without Christ. Now, the thing I want to say
about Judas is that Judas suffered horrible pains of conscience. His guilt got the best of him
and he made a desperate attempt to alleviate his guilt by taking
the 30 pieces of silver that the Pharisees had given him and
he went back to the Pharisees and cast the money at their feet. Now who do those Pharisees represent?
What do they represent? They represent the law. Men make
a futile, desperate attempt to alleviate the guilt of their
conscience by going back to the law. well you know if I just
remember when Elijah was running from Jezebel and the scripture
says that he went to Horeb which was Mount Sinai that was the
mountain of the law and the first thing that God said to Elisha
when he met with him on the mountain he said Elisha what are you doing
here why did you come back to the law but people do it all
the time they suffer pains of conscience for bad behavior and
they think well I'll do better. I'll recommit myself. I'll not
do those things anymore. I'll be more faithful to keeping
the law." And they go back to the law in order to try to alleviate
their conscience. Did it work for Judas? Now I know that Judas was the
son of perdition. I know that it was ordained of
God for him to fulfill the role that he fulfilled. But the truth
still remains that had Judas taken those 30 pieces of silver
and went back to the Lord Jesus Christ and cast him at his feet,
he would have been forgiven. He went to the wrong place to
try to salve his conscience. And it didn't work. And so he
took the next desperate step, I'll make the ultimate sacrifice.
Surely, surely if I just sacrifice enough, even my own life, I can
atone for my own sins. That's what the story of Judas
is all about. An attempt to atone for sin by
either going to the law or making a sacrifice. And it doesn't work. It doesn't work. There's only
two ways to alleviate fear and pain of a guilty conscience.
One is to believe the lie. The lie that the world says,
you know, I'm okay, you're okay, it's really not your fault, I
didn't mean it, it's, you know, and we, And we lie to ourselves
until we believe the lie, and that sads the conscience for
a while. Or we turn to religion, and we
think, well, you know, God's going to somehow overlook my
sin, and he's going to forgive me of my sin if I just be sorry
enough. And we try to make enough sacrifice
to atone for our sins. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. The only thing that works, the
only thing that alleviates a guilty conscience, the only thing that
gives us comfort and peace and hope is the truth of the gospel
in the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. If it is true
that the Lord Jesus Christ bore in his body upon that tree all
the sins of all of God's people, and put them away by the sacrifice
of himself once and for all, then I have no guilt before God.
If it is true that God has separated my sins from me as far as the
east is from the west and that he remembers them no more, then
I have a clear conscience before God. In looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ, my sins are no more. They are no more. If it is true that the shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ was sufficient to satisfy God's requirement
for the covering of my sin, then if God's satisfied, why ought
I not to be? I can be satisfied with what
God's satisfied with. Now that's the only true way
to alleviate and resolve the shame and pain
of a guilty conscience. The body and blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, it didn't work. All the attempts that Judas made
to alleviate his guilt did not work. You have your Bible still open
to Mark chapter 14. Verse 22, and as they did eat,
Jesus took bread and blessed and break it and gave it to them
and said, take, eat. This is my body. This is my body. Now the Bible is written in symbolic
language and it's written in literal language. And every heresy
that's ever crept into the church has come as a result of men taking
the literal language of the Bible and making it symbolic or taking
the symbolic language of the Bible and making it literal. The scripture says that we are
to study to show ourselves approved, a workman that needeth not be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. We rightly divide
the word of truth when we understand what God is saying. I make this
point because this is symbolic language. This is symbolic language. when the Lord said this is my
body, let me tell you when I was a boy growing up in the Catholic
Church I was an altar boy and back in those years the mass
was done in Latin and this is my body translated is hoc est
corpus that's the Latin for this is my body and when the pagans
back years ago, heard the priest waving his hands over the bread
and the wine and saying, Hoc est corpus, they didn't know
what it meant. You know what came out of that?
Hocus pocus. Hocus pocus. And that's all that
it is. To think that the body, that
the bread and the wine that we're about to receive is literally
the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is a bunch of hocus
pocus. That we're going to somehow transform
the nature of that bread and that wine into the body and blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ and by receiving it, you're going
to receive the body and blood of Christ then you've just believed
a bunch of hocus pocus. That's all it is. When the Lord
said, this is my body, he was speaking symbolically. So what did we, we don't call
the Lord's table a sacrament because sacrament by definition
means that it confers grace. The Lord's table does not confer
grace. There's only one thing that confers
grace, only one. And that's faith. Faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ is the only, only, only means to grace. There
is no other means to grace. And that's not, you can't practice
faith in an outward sense. Faith is a work of grace in the
heart. It's believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ. When that Ethiopian, when the
Philippian jailer asked the Apostle Paul, what must I do to be saved?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in that
house. That's the only. Now, God has given to his church
means to faith. What we're doing right now in
preaching the gospel is a means to faith. Faith comes by hearing
and hearing comes by the Word of God. And what we're about
to do in observing the Lord's table is nothing more than preaching
the gospel. I hate the way I just said that
because you can't do anything more than preach the gospel.
But what I'm trying to say is that it's not some mystical sacrament
It is the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
is one of the two ordinances that God has given to His church
to outwardly observe the gospel. The other one is baptism. When
a believer is baptized, they go down into the water, baptized
in the Lord Jesus Christ, immersed in Him, cleansed of their sins
and raised to walk a new life in Christ Jesus. Baptism is a
picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ and my union with Him. When He died, I died. When He raised, I raised. Christ
is my life. The death, burial, and resurrection
of Christ. And so is the Lord's table. But
all the heresies that have ever crept into the church have come
because men have taken literal language and made it symbolic,
or they've taken symbolic language and made it literal. You say,
well, how do we know the difference? Well, you compare scripture to
scripture, and the spiritual to the spiritual. And you interpret
the obscure passages in light of the clear, obvious passages. And it's clear and obvious. that the Lord Jesus Christ is
seated in the heavens. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And that he has given to
his church the message. The gospel is a message. It's
a message about a person, about who he is and what he accomplished
in his life and what he did to save his people. And faith is
believing on him. That's it. It's resting in Him. So when we take this bread and
this wine, we are saying the life of the Lord Jesus Christ,
His body, His life of perfect obedience before the Father is
the hope of my life before God. His death on Calvary's cross
and the shedding of His blood is the only hope that I have
that God's gonna pass by me and not gonna do to me what He did
to the Egyptians. And that the only hope that I
have for my sins to be covered before God is the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 23. So this isn't hocus pocus. There's nothing sacramental about
the Lord's table. It doesn't confer grace, but
it is sacred. It is sacred in that it demonstrates
the life and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. who himself
is the gospel. And so he took the cup in verse
23, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they
all drank of it. And he said unto them, this is
my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many. The blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ was not shed for all, He didn't lay
his life down for the goats. He laid his life down for the
sheep. The sacrifice that he made on
Calvary's cross was particular for God's elect, and he actually
successfully saved all that God had chosen in the covenant of
grace. And that's what he's saying. This is my body. As often as
you do it, One of the other gospel accounts tell us, do it in remembrance
of me. Verse 25, verily I say unto you,
I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until the day that
I drink it new in the kingdom of God. What he was saying to
his disciples is, this is the last time we're going to do this
here in this world. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10. Hebrews chapter 10. The Lord's table is a divine
ordinance. It's ordained of God to demonstrate
the gospel. To put into a physical picture
what we're what we're preaching audibly. And there's no difference
between what we're doing right now when we preach Christ and
when we take the table. It's the same thing. The means of faith is the Lord's
table, because that's the preaching of the gospel. It's baptism,
because that's the preaching of the gospel. It's preaching,
because that's the preaching of the gospel. It's prayer. because
in prayer we're confessing our dependence upon Christ. It's
the study of scripture. It's the reading of God's Word.
It's the fellowship of the saints because we encourage one another
in the gospel. These are all means to faith. Faith is the only means to grace.
We don't pretend to think that in taking the bread and the wine
that we are somehow conferring grace or anything of that sort. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1, this
is my body. This is my body. This is my blood. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1, for
the law having a shadow of the good things to come and not the
very image of the things can never with those sacrifices which
they offered year by year continually make the comers thereto perfect.
The Lord's telling us all those Old Testament practices, all
those Passover meals that you've been having for 1,500 years,
all the sacrifices that you've made throughout throughout all
the Old Testament under the law, never made the comer perfect. For then, would they not have
ceased to be offered? You see, once you've been made
perfect, there's no reason to do it again. Because that the worshipers once
purged should have No more conscience of sin. How can you and I have a clear
conscience? We've already talked about it,
but how can we do it? To be innocent. We have no sin. That's the only way you're going
to have a clear conscience, if you're honest. Let's try to cover
it up or try to turn forward to try to put it you got to be
without sin to have a clear conscience. How am I going to be without
sin? I'm going to be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness
which is of the law but that righteousness which is by the
faithfulness of the Lord. I'm going to be crucified with
Christ so that the sins that he bore in his body upon that
tree where I was in them That's why Paul said, I'm crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet it's not I, but it's Christ
that lives. The life that I now live, I live by the faith of
the Son of God who loved me and died for me. You see, the life
of Christ is our life. The death of Christ is our death.
The resurrection of Christ is our resurrection. The ascension
of Christ is our ascension. If we're in Him, then everything
He did, we did in Him. That's the gospel. That's why
faith is the only means to it, because how are you going to
prove that? How are you going to prove that? That everything
Christ did, you're going to try to emulate His life in your life
and get some sense of accomplishment and comfort by the fact that
you're, well, I'm living for Jesus. I'm doing what, that's
evidence. No, it's not. No, it's not. Faith is the substance
of things hoped for. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. It's believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the only means. And so
he's saying that these worshipers, if all that they had done in
the Old Testament under the law had successfully put away their
sin, then they would have no more conscience of sin. They
wouldn't have a guilty conscience anymore. But in those sacrifices
there's a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is
not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away
sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world he saith, this is the reason why the Lord Jesus Christ
said when he came into the world, sacrifice and offerings thou
wouldest not. God was not pleased with the
sacrifices and the offerings of the Old Testament for the
putting away of sin, but a body thou hast prepared for me. Now
would the Lord say, this is my body? The Lord Jesus Christ came
as the last Adam to do what the first Adam failed to do. Sacrifice and offerings thou
wouldest not? Isn't that what Judas tried? Judas tried sacrifice
and offerings. He made an offering to the law
and he made the ultimate sacrifice. What was he doing? Trying to
salve a guilty conscience, trying to atone for his own sins, trying
to find some peace. And God said, sacrifice and offerings
thou wouldest not, but a body thou hast prepared me The Lord
Jesus Christ, the scripture says, was born of a woman, born under
the law to redeem them who are cursed by the law. Cursed is
everyone that hangeth upon a tree. The Lord Jesus Christ hung on
that tree and was cursed of God in order to satisfy the demands
of God's justice and put away the sins of his people once and
for all. If I'm looking for Christ, if I'm looking to Christ and
resting the hope of my salvation in his obedience and in his righteousness,
then I have no more conscience of sin. In burnt offerings and sacrifice
of sin, thou had no pleasure. God didn't have any pleasure
in all those Old Testament offerings. Then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. The Lord Jesus Christ made of
himself no reputation and became a servant and obeyed the Father
even unto death, even the death of the cross. I came to do thy
will, O God." If we're in Him, then we've done
the will of God. We've done the will of God. This
is the only means to comfort. This is the only means to peace.
If you're not looking to Christ, then your conscience is going
to smite you. But in looking to Him, Where
the Spirit of God is, there is liberty. And if the Lord Jesus
Christ has set you free, you are free indeed. Free of what? Free of a guilty conscience.
Free of the inability to believe. Free of the power of sin. Free
of the penalty of sin. Sin's power is what keeps men
from not being able to believe. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
gives you faith, that sin is broken. Above, when he said, sacrifice
and offerings and burn offerings and offerings for sin, thou wouldest
not, neither had thou pleasure therein, which are offered by
the law. Then said he, lo, I have come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. That Old Testament law has been
put away. The Passover meal has been put
away. The animal sacrifices have been
put away. The Lord Jesus Christ came not
to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. And he did that in the body
of a man. He fulfilled the law of God. By the witch will, we are sanctified. Now that word sanctified means
made holy. By the will of God and the work
of Christ, we are made holy. Perfect, perfect. We began the first hour by looking
at Isaiah chapter six. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God of hosts. And the Lord's telling us here,
you're in Christ. He's just as holy as he is. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,
once for all. So this is my body. this unleavened
bread, the sinless life of the Lord Jesus Christ lived for God
and lived with his people. Let me show you that. Turn with
me to Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians chapter one. Verse 22, and have put all things under
his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.
So the body of Christ is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now turn with me to Ephesians chapter five at verse 30. Verse 29, for no man ever hated
his own flesh, nor nourisheth it, but nourisheth and cherish
it, even as the Lord the church. For we are members of his body
and of his flesh and of his bones. What God's saying is that he
loves his body just as much as you love your body. No more. No man ever hates his body. He
tends to it, he cherishes it, he feeds it, he cleans it, he
binds it up when it's wounded. We're concerned for the health
of our bodies. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
looks to his church as his body. And when he bore in his body
upon that tree the sins of his people, he bore his people. We were there. This is my body. This is my body, which is given
for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
The bread that we're about to receive. When our children ask
us, why do you do these things? Well, son, daughter, the simplicity
of it is that the life of the Lord Jesus Christ lived in his
body on this earth is my life. The only hope that I have for
God Almighty to pass over me and to not charge me for my sins
is to have Christ as my life. As my life. You hear people say,
well, Jesus is the most important person in my life. That's not
good enough. That's not good enough. Is the
Lord Jesus your life? Apart from Him, you have no life.
No life outside of Him. And then He gave them the cup,
and He said, This is My blood which has been shed for you.
When Adam sinned all the way back there in the Garden of Eden,
God had to slay a lamb and shed blood. The wages of sin is death
and life, the scripture says, is in the blood. And so the blood
of this lamb had to be shed in order to cover the nakedness.
What was Adam? Adam's got the same problem that Judas had.
Same problem that Peter had. When Peter said, I go fishing,
I've ruined it. Same problem that you and I have.
Guilty conscience. And he was trying to atone for
his own sins by covering up himself with fig leaves. And God said,
no, lamb's got to be killed. The righteousness of Christ is
the only thing that's going to cover your nakedness. Oh, but
when it does, she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. You're
going to be righteous like him. You're going to be sanctified
like him. Do this in remembrance of me.
Abraham had to slay animals in order for that covenant that
God had made with Abraham to be ratified and the Lord walked
between those animals and God saying, here's my son. Everything was pointing to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then when they took that
lamb in Egypt, God said, Roast it with fire. Roast it with fire
and don't leave any of it. It's all got to be consumed.
Take the blood and put on the door. And when I see the blood,
I'll pass by. Why do you drink wine and eat
bread, dad, mom? Because that bread represents
to us what the preacher's been saying from the Bible. that Christ
is our life. His life is my life. His death
is my death. His resurrection is my resurrection.
His ascension is my ascension. I'm looking to Him and that body
for all my righteousness before God. But righteousness alone
is not sufficient. Righteousness alone is not sufficient.
Sin has to be paid for. It has to be atoned for. Justice
has to be satisfied. God's not going to overlook sin.
He's not going to allow the guilty to go unpunished. Every sin's
got to be paid for. Every one. And that's where the
blood comes in, son. That wine reminds us. When we take that wine, we are
remembering. It's a remembrance. That's what
it is. It's an outward sign. of the message of the gospel,
the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is our only
hope. And what hope he is. What hope
he is. God saw the travail of his soul. And God said, I'm satisfied. God's not satisfied with you.
He's not satisfied with me. Nothing we do satisfies God.
The Lord Jesus Christ satisfied God and the only means to grace. His faith. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Rest the hope of your immortal
soul on his life and his death. Because he's the only one that
God satisfied with. That's why we take the bread
and the wine. Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly
Father, how dependent we are on You to send Your Holy Spirit
to give us faith, to believe the words that we've heard, the
words that You have spoken, and the table that You've given us
to observe. We pray that as we receive these
common elements of bread and wine, that you would cause our
hearts to rejoice and rest in the life and death of thy dear
son for all the hope of our righteousness and all the hope of our justification
before thee. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 17, if the men would come
forward please and distribute the bread and wine. Just remain seated. See the table spread before you,
see the feast of bread and wine. These are symbols of our Savior,
tokens of His love divine. Bread that's broken is his body,
crushed beneath the wrath of God. Wine poured out is a reminder
of our Savior's Children of our God, remember
how he bought your soul and mine. In remembrance of our Savior,
eat the bread and drink the wine. Jesus came, the God incarnate,
to fulfill God's holy law. on the cross he made atonement
and retrieved us from the fall let us never forget the promise
jesus made to come again soon he comes our king to call us
home to glory praise his name with this hope and expectation
we rejoice to keep this feast Celebrating our redemption, Till
we lean on Jesus' breast. I have a whole other message
I want to preach, but we'll save it for another time. And that
is that in observing the Lord's table, we don't just look back
to the life of Christ, but we look forward to that wedding
feast. I don't know what all the Lord
meant when he said, I'll not drink of this cup again until
I drink it anew in my kingdom. But I knew that I do know that
there is going to be a great wedding feast. when all of God's
children gather together around the table and the scripture says
he's going to serve them. I can't comprehend that, but
I look forward in faith to the hope of seeing him as he is and
being made like him. So this table points backwards
and it points forward. And the Lord said, as often as
you do this, do it in remembrance of me. I'm sure that that last supper
where those 12 men met together with the Lord, that they all
broke from the same loaf and they all drank from the same
cup. And we're not able to do that with this many folks here,
but the symbolism is good, isn't it? Union with Christ. There's
one loaf and there's one cup. And he said, as often as you
do this, do it in remembrance of me. And all God's people said, amen. Let's stand together. Brother
Jerry, would you dismiss us in prayer, please? Thank you. Lord, we thank you for the truth
that you brought us.