Turn with me to the book of Matthew
chapter 26. Matthew 26. I'd like to read
verses 26 through 28. Matthew 26, starting
in verse 26. And as they were eating, Jesus
took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples
and said, take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup
and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, drink ye all of
it. This is my blood of the New Testament. which is shed for many for the
remission of sins. Let's pray together. Our Father, as we call upon you
this evening, how we thank you for the blessed time that we
have to assemble ourselves together as your body in your presence
How we thank you for the miracle of the grace of God that would
give us a heart to want to be here. Lord, would you bless the
service tonight for Christ's sake? Amen. The time of the passage that
we just read was the time of the Passover. Now that truth
is confirmed to us in verse 17 of Matthew 26. Now, the first
day of the week, I'm sorry, the first day of the feast of unleavened
bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying unto Him, Where
wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? This blessed Passover, was instituted,
you know, back in Egypt. The Lord was going to deliver
his people by Moses out of the land of Egypt. The Lord had sent
plagues. Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Pharaoh hardened his heart. That is, he did exactly what
he wanted to do and the Lord allowed him to do it. The Lord told the people of Israel,
through Moses, you take a lamb and you kill this lamb. You eat
it. After you eat it, you take the
blood that was applied, take the blood and apply it to the
doorpost. Get behind the door and when
I come through, when I see the blood, I'm going to pass over
you. And this blessed Passover was kept year after year after
year. It was the remembrance of when
the Lord passed over His people during that night. As they were eating, the scripture
says, in the remembrance of the Passover, in verse 26, as they
were eating, the Lord Jesus Christ took bread. Now this was the
bread that was being eaten from the Passover. And this bread
was unleavened bread. Now that was commanded by the
Lord God when the Passover was first instituted. In Exodus chapter
12 verse 8, And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast
it with fire, an unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall
eat it. Leaven is set forth in the scriptures
as a type of sin, error, hypocrisy, leaven. And it was not to be
found in the bread when that bread was to be used in the eating
of the Passover, because the bread that was eaten for the
Passover was a picture of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. All the way back in Egypt, that
was a picture of the body of Christ. It was to have no leaven
in it. He was made flesh. He was made in the likeness of
sinful flesh. But He knew no sin. And so leaven
was completely forbidden when the Passover was to be eaten. So as they were eating, Jesus
took bread and he blessed it. He blessed that which Almighty
God had provided. Gave thanks for it. Now in verse
28, the other element of the Lord's Supper that was to be
used also from the elements of the Passover was the cup. In verse 28 it says, for this
is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the
remission of sins. He had taken the cup. The cup
contained wine. as it was revealed by the Lord
in verse 29. But I say unto you, I will not
drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until that day when
I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." That blessed
drink, that wine, was a beautiful type of His precious blood. It was truly wine. It was real
wine. It was not grape juice. It was
not something else. It was wine and it was a fit
symbol of the purity of His precious blood. It's that blood that we
are commanded to spiritually drink of as we associate ourselves
with His death, just as we eat the bread and we drink the cup. We associate ourselves with His
life, the bread, that body that was broken, and with His shed
blood. Blood that was shed, the scripture
says, for many. Now the scripture says forth,
except you drink of my blood, except you eat of my flesh, spiritually
so. Now these elements do not become
the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, except you
eat of his life and death by faith. Except through the hearing
of the gospel, you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that when
He lived, He lived for you, establishing righteousness for you. Except
you believe that He died for you. I know He died for His people,
but did He die for me? He lay down His life for me. Now this blessed ordinance that
we observe once a month, is an ordinance that we are to keep
obediently. This is not an ordinance that's
an option. When we eat and when we drink,
we do so in remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ. We do it in
obedience to His command and spiritually. We are coming together
tonight to feast upon His broken body and to drink of that cleansing
and reviving blood that was shed for His people. When we drink
spiritually of that blessed blood set forth in the symbol of wine,
we're revived. Psalm 85.6 Will thou not revive
us again that thy people may rejoice in thee? I know that
the Lord is going to revive his people. I know he will. He promised
he would. But I'm going to tell you something.
I need reviving. Psalm 138.7 says, Though I walk
in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch
forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy
right hand shall save me. I need to eat afresh of his body. I need to remember again. This do in remembrance of me. Every time we come together,
these elements that are so simple in themselves, simple elements.
It's bread and it's wine. Unleavened bread and wine. But what they set forth the precious
broken body of the Lord Jesus Christ. That precious blood that
God Almighty ever sees. When I see the blood, I'm going
to pass over you. That blood's not gone. He ever
liveth. to make intercession for His
people. Jesus, Matthew 26, as they were eaten, took bread.
That means He actually was made flesh. A body was prepared Him. He did not come to redeem angels,
the fallen angels that rebelled with Satan. The third of the
angels. He did not take upon Him the
nature of angels. Demons cannot be redeemed. He
didn't die for angels. He took not the nature of angels,
but the likeness of sinful flesh. He came made in the likeness
of His people. He was made flesh that He might
be made sin and redeem His own. God Almighty cannot die. He was made flesh and truly died. The Scripture says He took bread
and He blessed it. Thanked His Father for the bread
that was there without a doubt. We thank the Lord for the food
that he provides, we ask the Lord's blessing upon it. But
he took that bread that was a fit picture of himself, his body,
his flesh, and he blessed it and thanked the Father for giving
him a body that would be broken, that would be bruised. He thanked
God that he would be able to lay down his life for his people. He thanked his father for the
work that the father had given him in the redemption of his
sheep. He as the willing sacrifice said
this, not my will but thine be done. He took the bread and he
blessed it and thanked God, thanked his father. that he was laying
down his life. And the scripture says, and he
break it. We take it in bread and it's
broken. This is my body broken for you. But the scripture says, he took
bread, blessed it, and break it. He broke it. He broke it. He said, no man taketh my life
from me. I lay down my life for the sheep. You say, well, the Roman soldiers
took him and nailed him to a cross. Pilate condemned him and they
hollered, crucify, crucify him. The Jews, the Jews crucified
him. That's correct. They did. And
he laid down his life willingly. He said, nobody takes my life
from me. I have the power to lay it down, I have the power
to take it again. He broke it. Ephesians 5, 2 says, And 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 savor. And the scripture says, He broke
it and He gave it to the disciples. What a beautiful picture. of
the mercy of God to give what He has done for them. Give it
to His people. He gave it to His disciples.
It has nothing whatsoever to do with them taking it and exercising
their free will and doing this. He gave them the bread. He gave
it to them. Salvation is the gift of God,
not of works. Why? Because anything that a
man or woman does, or anything they think that they do in the
appropriating of salvation, they will boast of it. They will brag
about it. I know I didn't do much, but
at least I believed. I did more than you did. I know
I didn't do much, but at least I exercised my faith." He gave
it to the disciples. This is my body, which is broken
for you. And then he told them, he said,
take, eat. You take it and you eat it. And God's people, by faith, made
willing in the day of His power, They do just exactly what he
commanded them to do. There is a personal application
of his sacrifice to his people. A believer says in his heart,
when he died, he died for me. You take it and you eat it. As I said a moment ago, I know
this. I know he died for his people. But I need for Him to
tell me, Marvin, you eat this. This is personal. I need to eat of the flesh of
the Son of God. I need to drink of His blood. And the scripture says in verse
27, He took the cup. Again, He gave thanks. that He could lay down His life.
Thankful that blood would be shed in the redemption of His
bride. That bride that had been given
Him from before the foundation of the world. The bride that
He eternally rejoiced in. That bride that He betrothed
Himself to. He loved her. Eternally loved
her. And when she fell in Adam, It
did not relinquish, put away, do away with the love that he
had for her. He said, I've always loved you. He came into this world and thankfully
laid down his life, shed his blood. He took the cup, he gave
thanks, and he gave it to her. And he said, drink ye all of
it. This is my blood. My blood. This is my blood, verse 28 of
the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of
sins. Here, he said in the symbol of
this wine, is my blood. This is the payment. My broken body, my shed blood.
This is the payment. This is the New Testament whereby
peace and pardon and righteousness and life eternal is given to
you. Oh, the preciousness of that
broken body and that shed blood. Lord, keep us from ever forgetting. Lord, ever cause me to remember. That body, that blood that was
broken and shed, was shed for His people. Lord, teach me again
tonight, for Christ's sake. Amen.