Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Matthew. Matthew chapter 26. Matthew 26.
Let's look at verses 26 to 28 and then ask our Lord's blessing. 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. For this is my blood of the New
Testament which is shed for many. for the remission of sins. Let's
pray together. Our Father, this evening as we
come before You, we are thankful, oh, for the blessed privilege
to be able to assemble ourselves in the name of our Lord and Savior.
Lord, this evening I pray would you bless the Word. Bless it
to the honor of our Savior. And Lord, I pray that you'd bless
it to the salvation of your people. Thank you that we can come together
and eat and drink remembering Him. Thank you. We ask these things for Christ's
sake. Amen. As the Lord Jesus Christ was
eating the Passover with his disciples. The Scripture sets
forth, we just read, the beginning of the ordinance of the Lord's
table. In the observance of the supper,
he set forth the vital truths of his substitutionary death
at Calvary. How the Scripture sets forth
that as often as we eat and drink, that we do so in remembrance
of Him. And I began to think on that
afresh this morning. And I thought about remembering
our Lord. And as I thought on that, I thought,
what is it that is set forth that we are to remember This
do in remembrance of me. Well, the truth that we remember
is found in that 26th verse and following. Look at these words. The Scripture says, As they were
eating, Jesus took bread. Now just in that Symbolic act. Just Him picking up that bread. He took bread. Took the bread. The Scripture sets forth into
His hands because He was getting ready to do something with it.
Now, the symbolic significance of what He did. He took bread. Now just think for just a minute. As our Lord took that bread,
broke it, gave it, think of what the Spirit of God teaches us
this evening in our eating and drinking of the Lord's table.
The Scripture sets forth as the Lord took bread that we are reminded
of His flesh. The Word made flesh in the incarnation,
deity, robed in human nature. He took breath. The Scripture
sets forth in Hebrews 2.14, For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, He was Himself likewise. to take, he likewise took part,
I'm sorry, of the same that or in order that through death,
through the means of death, he might destroy him that had the
power of death, the devil. For the Lord Jesus Christ to
redeem his people. For the Lord Jesus Christ to
be eternally married to his bride. He had to be of the same nature
as they. The Scripture sets forth, John
6.33, My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. He alone is the sustaining food
of the soul. Nothing sustains the soul of
God's people. Save the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is the bread. The Scripture says He took bread. He came into this world made
of a woman, made under the law. A body was prepared Him. So the Lord Jesus Christ, as
they were eating, Jesus took bread. That's what we remember. we eat of that bread, that's
the first thing we remember. He was made flesh. He was made
what we are except without sin. He was in all points, because
He was made flesh, tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Here is our Savior, the God-Man
Mediator. God Himself made flesh. Jesus took bread. Then the second
thing it says, He said, He blessed it. He took bread and He blessed
it. I looked that word up. Blessed. This is what it said. To speak
well or to praise or to celebrate with praises that which is addressed
to God, acknowledging His goodness with desire for His glory." Boy,
I thought, you know what? That's a good definition. He
blessed to speak well, to praise for God's glory. The Scripture
says concerning using this same word, blessed. Luke 1-64, when
Zacharias had John the Baptist as his daddy, everybody assumed
that he was going to be named Zacharias. Scripture says that the Lord
spoke to an angel and told Zacharias his name was going to be John.
And Zacharias questioned it. And the Scripture says that the
Lord caused him to not be able to speak. until the birth of
John the Baptist. And the Scripture says concerning Zacharias, that priest, concerning
him speaking the truth concerning what the angel had said about
John's name, it says, and his mouth was opened immediately
and his tongue loosed and he spake and praised God. I looked that word up. Blessed.
Same word. To praise or to celebrate with
praises that which is addressed to the Lord God Himself with
the desire for His glory. The Scripture says that Jesus
took bread and He blessed it. He blessed it. You know, we think
about asking a blessing at a meal or something. Here's the blessing. He blessed it. The Father bless
the Son at the Son's baptism and on the Mount of Transfiguration."
It is baptism, Matthew 3.17. The Scripture says, "...and lo,
a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased." That is transfiguration. Almost the same words, Matthew
17.5, "...and behold, a voice out of the cloud which said,
This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him."
The blessing of the One who took bread, He was blessed of the
Father, and He Himself who took bread, who was made flesh, blessed
the Father. The praises of both toward the
other. Listen to what the Lord Jesus
Christ said concerning His praises to the Father. John 17, 25, 26,
O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee. But I have
known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I
have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the
love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."
He is the one that took bread and blessed it, praised His Father,
and His Father praised Him. His Father set forth His glory
at His baptism at the Mount of Transfiguration and the Lord
Jesus Christ whose meat it was to do the will of the Father.
Oh, the blessing of Him who took bread. Then the third thing says,
and you break it. Boy, I'm telling you, when the
Scriptures, you just look at them. And the Spirit of God blesses
them. And you think, what a message. I began to look at this, Neil,
and there were the points right there. Here was the message right
here. He took bread. He blessed it. And he break it. The breaking of the bread set
forth the sufferings of our blessed Lord unto the justice and the
judgment of His Father. He came into this world for the purpose to seek and to
save that which was lost. His Father had given Him a people,
everlastingly loved, gave them to Him in eternal electing grace. The Son who ever stood for them
as their surety He came into this world chosen of God, called
the servant of the Lord, the angel of the covenant, the messenger
of the covenant. He came into this world to redeem
them from the bondage of sin. Live for them. Establish righteousness
for them as their substitute and representative and brother
and Lord and king and priest. went to the cross. The Scripture
sets forth that He was made sin. Now listen to me very carefully. He was not made sin symbolically. The Scripture sets forth in Isaiah
53, verse 4, "...surely He hath born our griefs, that is, taken
them up, lifted them, accepted them. That's what the word born. He has lifted them, taken them
to Himself from us and accepted them and carried our sorrows. I've told you what that word born, He shall bear our iniquities."
That word means gravid. It's the same word as pregnant.
Same word. He carried our sorrows, our anguish. And we did esteem Him stricken,
smitten of God and afflicted to be the substitute of God's
people. to take away the guilt of God's
people. He must stand before God as their
absolute substitute. He must. He must bear the penalty
deserving of this sinner. For this sinner to have any hope
whatsoever, he must bear My sins. He who knew no sin. And remember
this. This is so important when we're
talking about this. We talk often of this. This is
the heart of the Gospel. I had someone tell me one time.
They were angry with me. Angry. And they told me, they
said, look, I know what your pet doctrine is. I know what your pet doctrine
is. It's the substitutionary work of Christ. And I said my pet doctrine, I
said that is the very heart of the gospel, substitution. Christ being made sin that I
might be made the righteousness of God in him. Christ bearing my iniquity. Christ Himself hath borne our
griefs and carried our sorrows. And we did esteem Him stricken
and smitten of God and afflicted for Christ to put away our sins.
He is going to have to be made sin. He is going to have to bear
our iniquity. and be found in the place of
judgment before God Almighty. As I said a few weeks ago, where
the law found sin, the law demanded absolute justice. And He bore
our grief. He bore our grief. He bore our
grief. He took bread. took that flesh upon Himself.
He blessed it. He made it honorable. He thanked
and praised His Father. He did always only those things
that pleased His Father. He blessed it. Honored God's
law. Satisfied God. Satisfied the
justice of God's law. Sin was not swept under the rug. God Almighty put it away. He
broke it. And then the Scripture says,
the last part of verse 26, "...and gave it to the disciples." It
said, Take. Eat. This is my body. The Lord Jesus Christ who gave
himself to be the substitute of God's people. And thanks be
unto God for this truth. He never leaves the fulfillment,
the application, the accomplishment of. He never leaves that to man's
ability. He never leaves it to man's impotent
will. He gives Himself to His people.
He Himself is the one that gives life by His Holy Spirit in quickening,
regenerating grace. God's people, His disciples,
His own, they're made willing in the day of His power. He gives
them a new heart. He gives them a new mind. A new
spirit. That's what He said. I'll put
My Spirit in you. You'll be My people. I'll be
your God. They'll realize that glorious relationship that Almighty
God has established before the foundation of the world. Setting
forth the wonder of God's mercy and compassion to show to a people
that which He alone is pleased to do. When He said in John 10,
28, I give unto them eternal life, they didn't earn it. In themselves, they didn't deserve
it. What He said was, I give them Myself. He is life. I am the way, I am the truth,
I am the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. And the
life of the Lord Jesus Christ is God's gift to a people that
He has chosen to show mercy to. Romans 5, 17, For if by one man's
offense death reigned by one, much more they which receive
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign
in life by one, Jesus Christ." The Scripture sets forth, and
as they were eating, and here's what we remember, Jesus took
bread. Christ, the bread from heaven,
the bread given by the Father. He says, My flesh is the bread. His atonement, His life. He took bread. He blessed it. He break it. He gave it to the
disciples. He said, take, eat. This is my
body and they do. Grace and mercy and power. And
He took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, drink
ye all of it. For this is my blood of the New
Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins. What
joy! What comfort! We come this evening
to remember our Lord. And we do remember that He took
bread. We do remember that He blessed
it. We do remember that He broke
it. And we do remember that He gave it to His disciples and
said, Take, eat. And when the Spirit of God takes
God's Word, and blesses it to God's people. By faith, they
eat of Him. And they remember that broken
body and that shed blood. When God Himself says, when I
see the blood, I'll pass over you, I think to myself, oh, the
mercy and the grace of God. Not when I see your faithfulness. I love thinking about this. I think I heard Brother Henry
say this. He said, not your faithfulness, not your decision, not your ability. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. Aren't you glad that our salvation
is not in ourselves? Salvation is by grace. And it's known through faith. That faith is not of yourself.
Why? Because all we do is boast. Oh,
may the Lord cause us tonight to remember that broken body
and that shed blood.