Now, the beauty of this ordinance,
and we will, Lord will, and I just wanna speak in general terms
regarding this whole passage tonight, and then I'd like to
go really word by word through this after that, like we've never
really done before. But just a general, several comments
on this ordinance. It's revealed here and the beauty
of it is in the simplicity The simplicity of it the simplicity
that's in Christ is seen in that by which we worship him It's all him and only him it's
it was that way in the old covenant Everything pictured him and it
did so plainly plainly There was a high priest because we
have a high priest before God. That's the mediator between us
and God, between the sinner and God. And that high priest had
something to offer because our savior had to offer himself a
sacrifice for our sins. There was a mercy seat because
we need communion with God and there must be blood in God's
favor. The law must be preserved. and
life given to dead sinners. Everything clearly pictured in
this table is like that in the beautiful simplicity of it. It's
two simple elements, bread and wine. And we're told simply to
eat and drink. And we're told what to do inwardly
as we perform those outward things. That's really all we do. We eat
and we drink. But there's something on the inside that we do. Remember,
remember, remember. Don't do it in a mechanical fashion. Don't do it thoughtlessly. Do
it remembering what it represents, who it represents, and what he
did for us. And we're told why. were to do
all this. And again, it's the simplicity
that's in Christ, isn't it? We do this in remembrance of
him, why? To show forth his death. To show
forth his death. You know, I understand wanting
to broadcast the gospel as much
as we can. And the Lord has sheep in this
world that we'd love to reach if we could. But this shows forth
his death, not to this world. You see what I'm saying? The
world has no idea what goes on in here. We're showing forth
his death to ourselves. We show forth his death Like
Paul said concerning the gospel itself, it's a sweet savor of
Christ unto God. And so you see in showing forth,
it's not like something we put on a big screen in the town square. It's a private thing, but it
shows forth his death to those who love him, to those who care,
to those who trust in his blood. and to him who shed it. It's
a sweet savor of Christ unto God to show the Lord's death. Now we're always to expose the
error of our day as it becomes necessary in order to teach the
scriptures. But the primary business of the
gospel preacher is not to expose error. That'd be full time and
there'd be no time for preaching the gospel. The way to expose
error is to just preach the truth and mention the error along the
way. The first truth that I want to
set forth in this is that the table consists of simple, unleavened
bread and wine. There's no magical transformation
of that into some cannibalistic freak show. That's religion making
up stuff. Some take the words, this is
my body, to mean that when our Lord broke the bread, it changed
into his actual body. But they've changed even what
our Lord said. Since it's obvious that the bread
is not a human body, it was bread. They called it bread, it looked
like bread, they saw that it was bread. He took bread and
he broke bread. But they've changed it to mean
that once it goes into our body, it's his body. Oh, okay, because
that's not verifiable, right? You can fool sinners if that's
the way it happens. He didn't say, this is fixing
to be my body. He said, this is my body. And
everybody knew what he meant by that, everybody. He handed
them a piece of bread and said, this is my body. Do you think
that you would have understood what he meant by that if he had
done that? He handed you a piece of bread and said, this is my
body. We would know what he meant by that. When John said, behold,
the Lamb of God, people weren't looking around for a sheep. They
knew what he was talking about. When Christ said, I am the bread,
did anybody think that he literally meant that he was made out of
wheat? Then why, when he said, this
bread is my body, do they think that literally it was his body?
It's made up, it's foolish, it's ridiculous. Now when our Lord
observed the table with his disciples, he said something to them that
I think is worth remembering every time we come to the table.
If it's gonna be precious to us, I think it helps to think
about how precious this was to our Savior. Turn with me to Luke
chapter 22, please. And let's look at that. This was a very precious thing. And I've seen, we're not to make
some religious spectacle out of the table, but I also don't
think it needs to be done mechanically and automatically and rushed. I've seen it just be such a quick,
you know, let's, throw a couple of things back and say a prayer.
Listen to what our Lord said about it. Luke 22, 14, and when
the hour was come, he sat down and the 12 apostles with him
and he said unto them with desire, have I desired to eat this Passover
with you before I suffer? Remember our text, in the same
night in which he was betrayed, he took bread. and blessed it
and broke it. Before I suffer, I've desired
with desire, with longing, I've desired to eat this Passover
with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not
any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of
God. The next time that we do this
together, he's saying, it's gonna be in glory. It's not just gonna
be a picture anymore. It's gonna be us actually finding
him. He's gonna be, in some way we can't even understand
yet, our fountain of life. He is that river of water clear
as crystal that flows from the throne of God. And his blood
represents that, who he is. in reality to us, he is our life,
he is our sustenance. It's gonna be fulfilled in the
kingdom of God. And he took the cup and gave
thanks and said, take this and divide it among yourselves for
I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit
of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took
bread and gave thanks and break it and gave unto them saying,
this is my body. which is given for you. What a wonderful word. He broke
it. In our text, it says he broke
it because no man took his life from him. He laid it down of
himself, but it was a gift. It was the gift of life to the
people of God. If any man eat not the flesh,
Son of man, there's no life in him. You see that that's what
this represents that by faith we partake of Christ Spiritually,
he's our spiritual food. He's our spiritual sustenance.
He's our spiritual life and strength and joy It's given for you this
do in remembrance of me see we're told were given two elements,
told what to do with them, and told what should happen on the
inside when we do that. And likewise also the cup after
supper saying this cup is the new covenant. All of the promises
of the new covenant where he said I'll be your God and you'll
be my people. I will and you shall. There's
no conditions. put upon you, they're all met
by Christ. In blessing, I'm gonna bless
you. When I save sinners, I'm gonna save you. Your sins and
your iniquities will I remember no more. That blood is that salvation. It's that salvation. The penalty
for us breaking the old covenant and the fulfillment of the new, It's the new covenant in my blood,
which is shed for you, for you, for your benefit, for your eternal
glory and benefit, but also in your place, for you instead of
you. The Lord Jesus taking the full
unmitigated wrath of God against our sin. That's what that blood
represents. It was shed for you in your place. He broke the bread
and gave it to them to divide among themselves and he poured
the wine showing that our Lord gave himself for our sins. He laid down his life of himself. And if he does not himself, think
of the simple, beautiful symbolism of that. If he does not himself
break his own life, please the Lord to crush the Lord. That word bruised in Isaiah 53,
it please the Lord to bruise, that means crushed. When you
get a bruise, it's because blood vessels are crushed or capillaries
or whatever that something's crushed. That's what that word
means in Isaiah 53. It pleads the Lord to crush his
son. And as that bread is broken and crushed between our teeth,
that's what we acknowledge, that it took that. It took the very
sacrifice of God's son to redeem our souls. And if he does not himself give
us of himself, We can't receive him any other way. We can't receive
him any other way. No man can come to him except
the father which hath sent me draw him. He's got to give himself for
us and he's got to give himself to us. That's the simple beauty
of the table. The bread is unleavened because
leaven is a symbol of sin and our Lord was no sin. There's no sin For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
Your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers
But with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
And without spot if he is not the sinless of without blemish
and without spot, eternal lamb of God, then we have no redeemer.
We can't be redeemed any other way. The wine is real wine because
it doesn't corrupt. And wine is unique in that way.
Old wine is better than new. That's in the scriptures, Luke
5, 39. No man also having drunk old wine, straightway desireth
new, for he saith the old is better. It doesn't get old. It doesn't decay. It doesn't
corrupt. It just gets better. And his
blood is symbolized in its eternal nature by that. We observe the table as much
as we know how exactly the way our Lord did. And notice that
Paul didn't say I received of the fathers what I delivered
unto you. I received it of the Lord. And
then he proceeded to say, here's what he did. The same night in
which he was betrayed, he took bread, he broke it, he took the
cup, he did this, he did that. That's what we wanna do. And
we know that our Lord and his disciples ate this supper at
night. In 1 Corinthians 11, 23, where we read, it says, I have received of the Lord that
which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus, the same
night in which he was betrayed, took bread. The Passover, which
the Lord's table superseded, because Christ is our Passover,
Everything that Christ fulfilled is done away the Old Covenant
law and customs are done away Because Christ fulfilled those
but in its place he gave us this ordinance to remember him by
so simple and beautiful but even the Passover itself, which this
is Has superseded was done at night
in Exodus 12 5 it says your lamb shall be without blemish and
a male of the first year and you shall take it out from the
sheep or from the goats and you shall keep it up until the 14th
day of the same month and the whole assembly of the congregation
of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take
of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the
upper door posts of the houses wherein they shall eat it. And
they shall eat the flesh in that night. roast with fire and unleavened
bread and with bitter herbs, they shall eat it. And if for
no other reason, and I don't know all the reasons for it,
I know that when it says that Judas went out and betrayed the
Lord, that it was night. Why are we told that? I don't
know, but we're told that it was night. And in that same night, the Lord
said, I desire with desire, and they ate that table together. So if for no other reason, we
will eat it at night because they did. And by his grace, we'll
remember and think upon that in our hearts. It was on a night
like this that our Lord communed with his disciples and was betrayed and slain for our sins. I don't understand all of this. I know that Judas, the Lord said
he was a devil from the beginning, but our Lord had befriended Judas
and it broke our Lord's heart to be betrayed by his friend. In Matthew 26, 47, Through 50, let's turn over there,
Matthew 26. Our Lord knew everything that was
gonna happen. But you know what, so do we.
We know what's gonna happen, don't we? We know that we're gonna die.
And as believers, we know what's gonna happen after that, but
it still breaks our heart, doesn't it? It still breaks our heart. When someone we loved dies, and
when Lazarus died, the Lord Jesus Christ wept. And people try to
figure out some complicated reason for that, like, oh, it must have
been their unbelief that broke us up. Is it sinful to weep because
somebody you love died? Is that sinful? Our Lord was a man, he was the
God man. I'm getting off the subject,
but you see what I'm saying? The Lord Jesus, he wept when
his friend died, and when his friend here betrayed him, he
knew what was gonna happen, but it was still heartbreaking to
experience it. Matthew 26, 47. And while he yet spake, lo, Judas,
one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude, with
swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.
Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever
I shall kiss, that same as he, hold him fast. Forthwith he came to Jesus and
said hail master and kissed him and Jesus said unto him friend
Wherefore art thou come? Then came they and laid hands
on Jesus and took him Judas was a hypocrite and a liar,
but our Lord wasn't He didn't say friend and not mean it He didn't do that And the breaking
of the bread indicates Our Lord's sufferings and the pouring out
of his blood Seen in the wine his sacrificial Death when blood
is separated from the body. There's death The life is in
the blood the scripture says Leviticus 17 11 for the life
of the flesh. I Is in the blood and I have given
it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls For
it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul The sufferings of our lord's
body were unthinkable But that was not what caused
him to cry What he did from the cross Even the shame of bearing the
sins of his people, the scripture says in Hebrews 12 too, he counted
as a small thing. But my Lord, when he was forsaken
of his father, that's what caused him to cry out. And when we eat and we drink,
we should remember that. It wasn't physical pain. There wasn't even whatever horrible
suffering was caused by the bearing in his own body of our sins. I don't even know what that means. But we should remember Lamentations
112. Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by, behold, 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 When the Lord gave them the cup He said this cup is the new covenant
in my blood the new covenant So when we drink it We should
remember this turn with me to hebrews chapter eight As I say well lord willing we'll
look verse by verse through this For the rest of this chapter
the passage that we read tonight. I want us to look at some key
words and understand what's taught in every word if we can, if the
Lord will give us light on it, I wanna see it. But tonight we'll be brief and
just generally speaking, see the beautiful simplicity of this.
Now, when the Lord, again, a cup of wine, but he said this, this
cup is the new covenant in my blood. in my blood." Look at
Hebrews 8.8. What does he mean by the new
covenant? That's what that word testament means. It means covenant.
Hebrews 8.8, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I
will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with
the house of Judah. Now the scriptures speak of the
new covenant quite a bit throughout. And it's never two different
things. There's one new covenant. It's the new covenant. It's the
covenant of grace. It's the covenant, unlike the
old in that, and we're gonna read that, how that the old depended
upon the obedience of the people. But this new covenant did not and does not. So there's
one new covenant. So this is what he's talking
about when he says, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.
This is exactly what he's talking about. I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. And
as you know, Paul said, they're not all Israel, which are of
Israel. It's spiritual Israel he's talking about. It's his
elect from every tribe, nation, kindred and tongue. Not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when
I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.
That's the Old Testament law. And he said, do these and live. Do these and live, obey. Do this,
don't do that. Thou shalt, thou shalt not. That
was the old covenant. But he said this new one's not
like that. It's not like that one. Not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by
the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. Why not? Why
would God do something and then redo it? If you know the answer
to that, you know the gospel. If you know the difference between
the two covenants and why there's a difference, that's the gospel.
Because look at what he said. Here's why. Here's why this covenant's
not like the old one. Because they continued not in
my covenant. The new covenant's not gonna
be like that. It's not gonna depend on them. There won't be
any issue as to continuing in it, obeying it, not obeying it.
That's not gonna be an issue anymore. That's the difference.
Well, how can you do that? Because the terms of this new
covenant are conditioned upon Christ and not you. The only reason he gave the old
covenant was to show what a failure and a miserable wretch you are. By the law is the knowledge of
sin, period. It was never meant to be a way
to gain access or the favor of God. Never. The old covenant
existed. As Paul put it, it was a school
master to bring us to Christ. It taught us our need of a substitute,
of the substitute. This is the new covenant in my
blood. the new covenant, the one that actually gives hope
to a wretch like me. That's the difference, the only
difference. They didn't keep it. They continued not, and I
regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those
days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts. They're not just gonna
be on tables of stone, left expecting them to measure up to it. I'm
gonna put it right here and right here. They're still not gonna
measure up, but they're gonna want to. They're sure gonna want
to. Paul said, I love the law of
God after the inward man. It's just that how they perform
it, I find not. But they're gonna want to now.
I'm gonna put it in their mind, I'm gonna write it, and I'm gonna
be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall
not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
know the Lord, for they're all gonna know me. Now that doesn't
mean that they're not gonna teach their children the things of
the Lord. He's saying, that's not gonna be the way that people
know who I am. That's the means, but they're
not just left to that. They're not left to themselves
in this thing. It doesn't depend on you. The
Lord may use you to teach your children. I suspect he will if
you're a believer. But here, all of them are gonna
know me. This is the new covenant now,
this is not the old one anymore. Everyone that has an interest
in this new covenant, I don't mean they just are interested
in it, I mean that have an interest in it, that are included in it. They're all gonna know me. Because
I put it in their hearts and in their minds to know me. from the least to the greatest,
and look, here's how they're gonna know me, here's why they're
gonna know me, because I'm gonna be merciful to their unrighteousness. I'm not gonna give them what
they deserve. I'm gonna give Christ what they
deserved, and them what he deserved. And their sins and their iniquities,
will I remember no more. You see the precious, why we
call it the precious blood of Christ. This cup is the new covenant
in my blood. My sins are gone because of that
cup. And we do show the Lord's death
until he come. We do several things in the worship,
which clearly are in the scripture. That's why we do them. That's
our only warrant for doing anything. Anywhere ever especially in the
worship of God Is that God taught us to he showed us to he revealed
it to us? That's why we do them but none
more beautiful None more instructive none so compellingly simple as
The precious table of our Lord nothing else is done exactly
the same way each time like this This is our compass in a sense. All that we do, we should aspire
to do as simply and clearly and worshipfully as we do that. As that beautiful table shows
forth his death, so should every message, every song, and even
our very conversation show forth his death until he comes. May
my sermons be as much and as simply Christ and Him crucified
as this beautiful ordinance is. If this is for the showing of
His death, then should not all we do show forth His death? And you know what that word show
in first Corinthians 11 26 our text that word show you know
what it means Most often it's translated preach You didn't know you were a preacher
did you oh May we show forth Christ in him crucified in everything
we did Especially in this place Hey, man, let's pray