Our Father, we are so thankful
that we have the privilege to be able to call upon You. And
Lord, in the very presence and with the exhibition of the sufficiency
of Your grace, how thankful we are that we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God. Lord, Those who
are the called according to Your purpose. We pray for Brother
Tom and for the group down in Pikeville. Pray that Lord that
You'd help and bless this situation to Your honor and the good of
Your people. Pray for the men that'll be going, men that can
go, for those that Father will be down working and pray You'd
watch over us and keep us. Tonight we pray for the services
here and pray You'd bless it. thanking You, knowing that Your
Word is alive. The Word spoken is a discerner,
living Word, a discerner between the thoughts and the intents
of the heart. We pray, Lord, that You might
be honored in what is set forth. And as we partake of Your table,
cause us to remember the death of Him who loved us and gave
Himself for us. For Christ's sake, we ask these
things. Amen. I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to Luke 22. Luke 22. I'd like to read verses 7 through 15. Luke 22. 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? And 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 the
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." The heart of the Lord Jesus Christ
is laid bare in this passage of Scripture. With desire. The margin in my
Bible says, I have heartily desired. The time of His crucifixion was
at hand. And He had come into this world
and He had come to finish the work that His Father had given
Him. And here He is, the God-Man,
the Mediator. The Lord Jesus Christ is getting
ready to eat for the last time the Passover that for hundreds
of years had been eaten. First time it was ever eaten.
It was eaten in Egypt. You remember, the Lord told them,
you take a lamb and you set him aside. Make sure it's a spotless lamb.
And on the night that the Lord told them to eat, kill him, roast
him with fire, Eat it. Take the blood from that lamb
and you put it on the two side posts on the top of the door. And you get inside and you stay
inside behind the blood. And he said, when I come through,
I'm going to come through. And he said, every place where
there's no blood, the firstborn. Every house in Egypt, there was death either in that
particular house or in a substitute. But the firstborn is going to
die. Whether it was men, people, whether
it was animals, whatever. Firstborn is going to die. And that Passover was remembered. That was every year, every year,
every year. The Lord told His people, when
your children ask you, why do you do this? You tell them, this
is when the Lord passed over in the nation of Israel. He came
through and He smote the Egyptians. And those that believed God,
applied the blood to the door. God passed over them and showed
mercy. All of those Passover's. And
now, our Passover. The Lord Jesus Christ. He's getting
ready. This is going to be the last
one right here. This is it. He told His disciples, He said,
I want you to go and prepare the Passover. And verse 15, with
desire, with a hearty desire, I have desired to eat this Passover
with you. Now you think about this. He
who is the everlasting surety, He who was slain from the foundation
of the world. He that the Father saw in eternal
counsels, in that everlasting covenant of grace, the Father
that always saw the Lamb, always saw the blood. And because He
always saw the blood, He justified His people freely. by grace. He looked to the surety. And because the surety stood
in the Father who first trusted in Christ, now you think about
this, all of God's honor, all of God's glory, all of His Word,
all of His merit, everything, He trusted the Son. He trusted
the Lamb. He looked for satisfaction to
the Passover, the one that would die. And the Father looked and
saw eternally, saw this day right here. The Lord Jesus Christ has eternally
loved His people. He has eternally been married
to His bride. He said, I've betrothed you to
Myself with an eternal, everlasting betrothal. You've always been
Mine. Knew that she would fall. Loved
her knowing that she would fall. And in that fall, the glorious
redemption and the honor that He would bring to Himself in
her redemption. that he would have the glorious
privilege and honor to set his face like a flint. He loved her. He loved her to the end and knew
that what she must have, he alone could provide. Satisfaction. He lived for her. He died for
her. He answered the law's demand
for her. It's the end of the law for righteousness
for her. The law has no hold on her whatsoever. And now He knows He's getting
ready to suffer. And in His suffering, He's going
to absolutely, actually, with the actual shedding of His blood,
He's going to put away her guilt forever. And He tells her, I greatly desire
to eat this Passover with you. This is going to be the last
time. And He's going to suffer. And she's going to live forever
based totally upon what He has done with desire. Well, knowing that He never changes,
knowing that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. He desired to eat that Passover. That Passover looked forward
to the death of the Lamb. And immediately after He ate
the Passover, He took some bread and He took some wine and He
gave it to His disciples. And this was the last Passover
and the first Lord's Supper. That Lord's Supper was going
to be everlasting until He comes. till He returns, was going to
be a remembrance of His death. Passover looked forward to the
death of the Lamb, and there He was, the Lamb. And now here's
the Lord's Supper. He gave His disciples that bread
and that cup, and He told them, He said, in remembrance of me."
Now, with that same desire that he had to eat that Passover,
he said, where two or three are gathered together, in my name,
I am in the midst of you. And wonder of all wonders, our
great High Priest, the Lamb Himself, who bears in His body right now
the marks of his crucifixion. Thomas said, unless I see the
scars in his hands and his feet, I'm not going to believe. And
he told Thomas that night, he said, Thomas, put hither your
finger. Behold my hands. Take your hand,
Thomas, and plunge it into my side. The Lord Jesus Christ is in this
place this evening. Two or three are gathered together,
I know, in His name. And with great desire, with a
hearty desire, He said, I desire to eat with you. He has graced
us with His presence. Now let me ask you this. What
could prompt us more to desire to be in His presence with His
people eating the bread and drinking the cup in remembrance of Me.
What could prompt us more? What could give us more desire? Lord, as You have desired to
be here, Lord, grant me a desire to be here. I'll tell you as
I've told you before, Brother Henry is telling me, he said,
at no greater time are we more worshipful than when we partake
of the Lord's Table. That shows you the prominence. That shows you how imminent this
supper is. With desire. He desired to eat
with his apostles before he suffered. He desired to be with them after
he came back. All the instances of seeing when
he would meet with his people. Desired to be with those that
he'd everlastingly love. He met with Abraham. He talked with Moses face to
face. Wrestled with Jacob. And there
with his apostles just before he went back. He knew they were
going to be sad. He was getting ready to leave
them. He knew they were going to miss Him. But there He would
be in spirit by His Holy Spirit with them, sending them the Comforter. He said, I'll send you another
Comforter. I'll go back to be with the Father. Great mystery
of all mysteries. Here is the Lord Jesus Christ
in the very presence of His people. Here He is at the right hand
of the Father Here He is, the great High Priest. He said, I
and the Father will live, be in you. It's a wonder of all
wonders that He would desire to be with us. Those of us that eat with a new
heart, we do remember. And as we hear His words of desire,
to be with us. Even now, we thank you. Lord,
thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank
you, Lord, for your presence. Thank you for your death. Thank
you for your suffering. Thank you for your love. Thank you that you gave yourself
for me. Forgive me I think so lightly of that. Forgive me where
I'm not able to remember as I ought. But thank You for expressing
through these Scriptures Your desire. May the Lord bless our
eating tonight, drinking for His sake, for our good and for
our comfort. And as we eat tonight, I want
to encourage first of all myself, and I want to encourage you,
when you eat of that bread, You ask Him. You drink of that cup. You ask Him. The Lord calls me
to remember. Don't let this just be a little
piece of bread and a little bitty cup of wine. Lord, help me. Help me to remember. Without
You, I can do nothing. For Christ's sake, Amen. I'll
ask the man if he'll come.