May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let's turn to the
Gospel of Luke, chapter 22, and we'll read the last clause in
verse 19. The Gospel of Luke, chapter 22,
and reading the last clause in verse 19. this do in remembrance of me? Well it's been some five months
of course since we've been able to hold the Lord's Supper because
we haven't really been able to meet here. and therefore we haven't
been able to obey this word of the Lord's which instructs us
to this do in remembrance of me, which is of course to keep
that which the Lord instituted on that Passover night in the
upper room. but we should be thankful tonight
that we are able to gather together for this position and situation
and we pray the Lord will be with and bless us indeed. It is a wonderful privilege that
the Lord in his mercy to the Church of God instituted the
Lord's Supper after what we might remember as the Last Supper,
the Passover which had been carried out for hundreds, indeed thousands
of years, had now come to an end. There was to be no more
need for it, because that which the Passover foretold was now
going to be fulfilled. And after it was fulfilled, therefore
there was a new situation, because in the fulfillment of that Passover,
what occurred was the death and the resurrection of the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Lord very wonderfully,
therefore, carried out this Passover, and as we read together in the
15th verse of this 22nd chapter, the Lord said, with desire I
have desires 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. And so this was effectively the
last true Passover. We know, of course, the Passover
is still maintained among the Israelites today, but the whole
significance has passed away. And so sadly, most of the Jewish
people do not realize that that which they are partaking of and
remembering has no present significance because it has already occurred. Nonetheless, the Lord graciously
partook of this Passover, and having said that He would not
eat it any more until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. Of course,
as we look forward, the Church of God looks forward, there will
be a wonderful time in glory. Of course, we don't know the
details of that. But what we do know is this,
that there will be the marriage supper of the Lamb. There will be a wonderful fulfilment
of the Word of God when the whole Church of God, every member,
will be privileged to sit down on that wonderful occasion at
the marriage supper of the Lamb. That means when The whole Church
of God, the Bride of Christ, is united to the Bridegroom,
the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a wonderful position to
ponder and to think about, so that as we partake of the supper
on this earth, to always be able to look forward to that great
day in glory. And so the Lord Jesus then came
with the disciples and it would seem that Judas was still with
them on that occasion. He went out after the Lord had
instituted the Lord's Supper. And so he took bread and gave
thanks and break it and gave unto them saying this is my body
which is given for you this do in remembrance of me. So we have this wonderful statement
really that the Lord was giving his body giving his body for
the Church of God, giving his body as a living sacrifice. He gave himself, himself, his
whole self, as a sacrifice to satisfy the demands of the holy
law of God. There was nothing other than
the giving of the life of the Savior, which was going to be
satisfactory to a holy God for our salvation, and indeed for
the salvation of the whole Church of God. And in order, therefore,
to bring this to fulfillment, the Lord Jesus Christ was to
give His life. And so he tells the disciples
he had spoken previously while he was on the earth of that which
would come to pass, his death, how it would come to pass, how
he would be those three days, and how he would rose from the
dead. But the problem was the disciples' eyes were blinded. Their ears were really stopped. They didn't really understand
the great significance of what was to occur. Of that which they
were to observe. They just didn't really understand
it. And as we know, it wasn't until
after the Lord rose from the dead that these things were revealed
to the disciples. So it will be a great blessing
for us today in this gospel day if we are blessed with the right
appreciation and a right understanding of the wonder of that which the
Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on the behalf of all his people
when he died upon Calvary's cross. and also this wonderful act of
introducing this supper of remembrance for us today. See, we are very
forgetful and we often fail to appreciate the great cost of
our salvation. And so the Lord very graciously
and very wonderfully brought about this supper that we are
to remember. And so he says, this do in remembrance
of me. And that is a word directed to
every true believer. It's not something that you and
I can avoid or something which is irrelevant and somehow it
doesn't apply to us. It is a wonderful word of the
Saviour to the living Church of God that they might do this
in remembrance of me. And therefore it is a great blessing
if you and I have that true desire to partake of this which the
Lord has left on record so that you and I remember the cost of
our salvation. And it's spelled out really in
two ways. First of all, his body, the broken body of the Savior.
And remember, there were no bones broken. In the Book of Psalms,
we're told there were no bones broken. And so there were no
bones broken. His hands and his feet were pierced.
His side was pierced with a spear, but there were no bones broken. And so his body was broken. And then also, of course, there
was the wonderful truth that he shed his blood. in order to atone for the sins
of the whole Church of God. And so, in a very simple ceremony,
we find set before us the wonderful significance of the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ and how you and I need to have a personal
interest in it. to know that the Lord Jesus Christ
did die, he did shed his precious blood, his body was broken in
order that you and I might receive the great and blessed and glorious
gift of eternal life. This do in remembrance of me. And we are thankful, therefore,
that ever since this was instituted, down through the ages, The Church
of God, moved by the Holy Spirit of God, have kept this ordinance. And what a blessing it is that
you and I are able, by the grace of God, to keep this ordinance. Of course, there is, as I'm sure
we know, a qualification. A qualification to partaking
of the ordinance is to pass through the only other New Testament
ordinance which we have in the New Testament. And that of course
is a baptism. And of course it's referred to
correctly as believer's baptism. It's not something which is to
be put on or gone through by those who are unbelievers. But those who believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ are to follow the blessed example of the Lord
Jesus Christ and to be baptized. We look back, don't we, to the
early days of the Savior. When he was 30 years of age,
he came to John the Baptist, and John the Baptist, who was
the forerunner, indeed baptized, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we
see the wonderful significance of what occurred on that occasion,
when the Holy Spirit descended like a dove, and the voice from
heaven came and said, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased. And we know that the scripture
is true, and we know that the things that are recorded are
true, and therefore those words with respect to the Lord Jesus
Christ were true. And as we know, They were spoken
from heaven. They were spoken to the Blessed
Saviour in His wonderful example to us. What a mercy it is if
God gives us grace to follow the pattern set before us in
the Word of God. Of believers' baptism and coming
to the Lord's Supper. And when we think and compare
it with the Old Testament, there were so many Ceremonies which
had to be carried out so exactly in those days. And now in this
New Testament age, we have two very simple and two very significant
ordinances to carry out in accordance with the commands of Almighty
God. This do in remembrance of me. Well, it's no hardship, is it? There's nothing difficult about
it, is it? It's a very simple ordinance. Many of the Old Testament
ordinances were not easy. They were difficult to actually
carry out. And they had to be carried out
so very accurately. Whereas we are blessed today
with the simplicity of these ordinances and the significance,
and of course, as we recently had set before us, the Ordinance
of Believers' Baptism, and what that represented in following
the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, these things do have
a deep, although very simple, significance. And we should not
think they are irrelevant. We should recognize they are
very relevant to us, and they are instituted by God himself. It wasn't just something haphazard. It was something that was planned
in eternity past. And there it was, eventually
fulfilled, when the Lord Jesus Christ came to live on this earth. And so let us remember this wonderful
blessing of the broken body of the Savior and realize that it
was done in order that you and I might be forgiven of all our
sins. Because as we're born into this
earth, we're born in this earth as a sinner. as an undone sinner,
as an unpardoned sinner. And as such, we can never go
to heaven. We need, we need a saviour. We need someone to save ourselves. We need someone to deliver us.
And the only person, the only person is the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what do we think tonight
of the Saviour? You may say, well that's a very
obvious question. Well, the Word of God is obvious. But what a blessing if we, you
and I, have right thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that
means thoughts which humble us. to think that this ordinance
of the Lord's Supper was brought about for the whole Church of
God to remember Him. This too, in remembrance of me. It's very simple, isn't it? Very
simple words, very straightforward. But how many people turn away
from them? How many people somehow seem
to think they have no application to their life, and yet many people
glibly think they're going to heaven, glibly think everything's
going to be wonderful when they come to die, and yet while on
this earth pass over the gracious words of God. ignore them and think and value
the Saviour in a very small or perhaps no way at all. If the Holy Spirit directs us to have some small
appreciation of a number of things first of all to realise that
all of us must die. And all of us must either go
to heaven and either go to hell. There's no alternative. There's no other place. There's
no other way to go, you and I. When time for us will be no more,
we shall either be in heaven or we shall
be in hell. That's a very solemn consideration
because as we are born in sin and shapen in iniquity, if we
remain in that condition, if we remain in that position, there
is only one place that we will go to. And that will be eternal
hell with eternal misery. And don't forget that eternity
means what it says. There is no end. There is no
end. It's hard for us to appreciate,
but it is good sometimes to just sit still and try and think how
long eternity is. you will find, if you sit down
properly before God, that it is an enormous sound. You cannot say it is an enormous
time because there is no time. When our life upon earth finishes,
time for us finishes and we enter into that eternal state. either to be in heaven with the
Saviour or to be in hell with the devil. And that forever. So it's a very solemn position
to find ourselves in. And all of us will find ourselves
in that position. But what a wonderful blessing
if We are amongst those for whom the Lord Jesus Christ died to
take away our sin. You see, there is no sin in heaven. Heaven is a holy place. There
is no sin in heaven. And that means if you and I have
sin, we cannot go to heaven. That means if you and I are not
forgiven, we cannot go to heaven. and therefore how necessary it
is that we are forgiven, that our sins are taken away, and
the only way that our sins can be taken away, and we're all
sinners, and don't ever think we're not a very bad sinner.
One sin condemns us to eternity in hell. There's no such thing
really as a small sin. Sin is sin. And if we are not
washed from our sin, not cleansed from our sin, we shall not go
to heaven. And yet how vitally important
it is that we do go to heaven. And we shall only go to heaven
if we are amongst those for whom the blessed Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, died. Those whom he loved. those for
whom he had mercy, those who he caused to pray. You know, you and I might say
our prayers. I hope we all do say our prayers.
But there's a very big difference between just saying prayers and
praying to God. You might say, well, can you
just explain what you mean? Well, what I mean is this. You
and I can just say words. Words are very easy to say. You
and I can repeat prayers. Nothing wrong in repeating prayers.
But the great important thing is that you and I are blessed
with words, prayer, from our heart. That means our innermost
being. Not just a mere form of natural
words, but something that we really mean. Something which
is really important to us. Something that we really want
to receive an answer for. Well, if the Holy Spirit comes
and touches our hearts, we will know what it is to really pray
to God. And we have a very simple prayer
recorded in the Bible. The Lord Jesus speaks the parable
He speaks about a Pharisee and a publican, two different examples. One was very proud of his religion,
very proud of his prayers, thought he was a great prayer. The other
man was the complete opposite. And his prayer was very simple. Isn't it wonderful that God gives
us a lovely example of a very simple prayer So we don't have
to learn anything complicated. And that simple prayer was just
this, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Now that man prayed
from his heart. And the Lord Jesus tells us,
he said, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified. That means he was made just before
God. He was justified. He was no longer
under that condemnation, because God had received him. God had
heard his prayer. And so may you and I come. We
don't have to come in any complicated way, but we do have to come,
and we do have to pray, and we do have to pray sincerely, and
we do have to pray from our heart that God would and will Be merciful
to us, a sinner. And that will mean that we feel
condemned. Condemned before God because
of our sins. Condemned, really, to suffer
eternally for our sins. See, that's the punishment for
sin. The wages of sin is death. Eternal
death in hell with the devil. That's the payment. What a blessing,
therefore, if the Lord Jesus Christ has come into this world
for the great and wonderful favor of saving us, delivering us from
the wrath to come, setting our hearts and our affections upon
things above. Now, the Lord has set before
us this gracious and wonderful example of himself, dying in
our place. You see, if we were to die, give
our life, it wouldn't be satisfactory to a holy God. Because our life
is a sinful life. And as I already said, no sin
can enter into heaven. So our life, we might give a
sacrifice. Some people do give their lives.
My friends, it won't get us to heaven. What will get us to heaven
is the evidence that the Lord Jesus Christ has given His life
for us. And what a life that was to give.
Just again think of that. The Lord Jesus Christ was God,
is God. The second person in the Trinity,
equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. the one who created
all things, the one who controls all things today in this vast
world. He gave his life so that you
and I might receive the gift of eternal life. And you see,
you and I need this as a personal application to our souls. to know that the Lord Jesus Christ
died for me. You will need it personally applied
to you. It won't be any good, will it?
The person sitting next to you in the seat going to heaven and
you not. It won't be any satisfactory
situation for the person next to you to be forgiven and you
not. We all need the blessed forgiveness
of all our sins. We all need to know. And the
blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, Almighty God, graciously,
wonderfully, gloriously died to save our souls, died to redeem
us. To redeem us means to pay the
price which you and I should pay but could not pay because
we didn't have the right currency. Our currency was faulty. It wasn't
satisfactory. But the Lord Jesus Christ, he
came and he gave his life. And his life was a perfect life. And because it was a perfect
life, that he gave, it was satisfactory to Almighty God as that sin-atoning
sacrifice. And so here we are tonight with
these very simple words, this do in remembrance of me, to remember
the cost of our salvation in the broken body of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and of course the symbol taken for that is just bread. A very simple element, isn't
it? Very available, nothing difficult, and the Lord selected this very
simple element so that it could be obvious to us and that we
can be partakers of it. And as we do partake of this
bread, to realize what it represents, It represents the broken body
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it's a mercy if the Holy
Spirit then comes and applies these truths to our hearts and
applies the relevance of them and the importance of them because
they're not something which is just a mere figment of our imagination. It's the very word of God. It's the very truth of God. And it has great relevance to
you and to me. None of us, I hope, want to enter
or rather go out of this world without a hope of eternal life,
without the evidence that God, the Lord Jesus Christ, gave his
body to redeem our souls. What a mercy to think the Lord
should have looked upon us. You know, he tells us in the
15th of John, these simple words, ye have not chosen me. We wouldn't choose God by nature. But he says, but I have chosen
you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit
and that your fruit should remain. It is the great prerogative of
almighty God to choose his people, not because of any good that
they've done. You and I will never be able
to come and say, well, I merited get into heaven. None of us merit
get into heaven. All of us deserve to go to hell. Be very clear about that. We
all deserve to be shut out. What a mercy then to have a savior
who has willingly come to save our souls. and has willingly
died upon that cross at Calvary. And so we have then this ordinance
of the Lord's Supper set before us in the broken body of the
Saviour and also in the shed blood because the words go on
to tell us Likewise also, the cup after supper saying, this
cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you. It's hard, isn't it, for us to
understand really the value of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We read in the epistle of the
Hebrews, without shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness. There's no forgiveness, there's
no remission. Blood had to be shed. And the reason for that
is it was the Lord's way of cleansing, the way, the Lord's way of healing
through the shed blood. And you can go right back in
the history of the world to the days of Adam and Eve, when the
Lord graciously came and gave them animal skins to clothe them,
to cover their nakedness. They just made some aprons of
fig leaves, it wasn't satisfactory at all. But the Lord graciously
came and gave them that covering of skins, which very clearly
signified that in order to produce that, the animals had to have
been slain. The life had to be taken. The life was given. The blood
was shed. Without shedding of blood, there
is no remission. You know, we do read a lot about
blood in the Word of God. right from Genesis, right through
to Revelation, there's much about blood. But perhaps one little
verse stands out, and that stands out in the epistle of Peter,
when he tells us, you were not redeemed with corruptible things
as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by
tradition from your elders, with the precious blood of Christ. Now surely the Apostle Peter
knew the value of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, because
here it was, as we read together in this 22nd chapter, who was
so bold He was so bold that he would
do, he would stand and he would never deny the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord told him that he
would and he would do it three times. You see how strong Peter
thought he was in himself. And it's a big warning to us
to not think that we're strong that we would never do this or
never do that. As the Apostle Peter also says,
kept by the power of God. He knew the significance of such
words. He knew the strength of such
words. And he knew, therefore, that
he needed to be cleansed with the precious blood of the Savior. and that's why he's able to speak
so beautifully and so forcefully, that he indeed was blessed with
that wonderful deliverance, the precious blood of Christ. Well, tonight, as we think of
these words, what a blessing it is if we have some appreciation
of the value of the blood of Christ. The hymn writer has a
little line which tells us this, invaluable blood. That means
you and I cannot put a value on the blood of Christ. You may say why is that? Well
it's quite easy to understand really. If you ponder again eternity,
which never has an end, And the value of this blood, shed to
take away our sins, gives us blessed access into glory with
the Saviour, and that will never be removed. We shall be eternally
with the Saviour. So therefore, perhaps, you can
understand a little the value of this blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. What a mercy then, tonight, as
we ponder this word of instruction, this do, in remembrance of me. It's not remembering anything
else. It's a very simple statement. My friends, it's a very necessary
statement. And how blessed we are To be
able to gather together to remember the cost of our salvation, that
really is what it sets before us, the cost of our salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ, he suffered,
there's a line in the hymn which says, he suffered all incarnate
God could bear, with strength enough and none to spare. Incarnate
means God being made man. and the most that he could bear,
right to the very limits. And as we read in the case of
the Lord Jesus Christ, entering into that garden of Gethsemane,
we have a little view, don't we, of the agony. Just think it was the agony to
save and to redeem our souls. That's why it's a wonderful privilege
to remember Him. Yes, it was an agony, we're told. The Lord came and said, pray
that ye enter not in temptation to His disciples. And He was
withdrawn from them of stones cast and kneeled down and prayed,
saying, Father, if Thou be willing, Remove this cut from me, nevertheless
not my will, but thine be done. You see, the Saviour was so willing
to do his Father's will. Are you and I willing to do the
will of the Saviour? And the will of the Saviour is
clearly this, this do in remembrance of me. Well, what a blessing
that Lord Jesus was willing to do this. Nevertheless, not my
will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto
him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony, he prayed
more earnestly, and his sweat was, as it were, great drops
of blood falling down to the ground. Well, that gives us just
a little view of how he suffered, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that
is what you and I, by the grace of God, are able to remember.
The cost of our salvation. The enormous cost of our salvation. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
died as God, but he died as man. He died as our representative.
What a wonderful favor to have such a Savior who was so willing
to suffer so greatly for such an unworthy sinner as you and
me. Do you think you're worth dying
for? Do you think you're worth the
Lord Jesus dying for? Well, our response should really
be, well, no, of course. So why did the Lord Jesus die
for us? Do you know why He did? Because
He loved us. He loved us with an everlasting
love from eternity past. Again, a mystery that you and
I cannot understand. You and I can't understand everything.
No, there are some mysteries in the Word of God that you and
I can't understand. But the Lord gives us faith to believe the
truth of God's Word. And the truth of God's Word is
before us in this very simple statement. This do in remembrance
of me. And of course his sufferings
didn't halt in Gethsemane. He was arrested. He was taken
to the judgment hall. He was mocked. He was lashed. He was beaten. The Saviour endured
so, so much. And then of course He was condemned
to death, not because of His sin, but He was condemned to
death to bear the punishment due to you and me. That's why
we have that lovely line with Him, He bore the punishment instead. That which was due to us, he
bore. He went to the cross, willingly,
willingly, and suffered there on that cross when his father
hid his face from him. He cried out, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? And the Saviour bore that for
us. His body was broken. He shed his most precious blood
in order to fulfill the glorious demands of a holy God who demanded
life to take away sin. And the blessed Savior so willingly
fulfilled that which was set before him. And of course, he
came to that time when his work was complete. after 33 years
on this earth, he was able to come and speak those wonderful
words, it is finished. And we know that there was a
gracious and wonderful approval by the Father. And we see that
in the evidence of that Vaila temple, which had separated between
the holy place and the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the
Covenant was and the Mercy Seat, was torn from the top to the
bottom. There was now no more need of
entry into that holy place, because now there was access into the
Holy of Holies, Heaven itself, through the shed blood, the personal
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. So what a mercy for us today,
unworthy sinners, as we come and do this in remembrance of
me, to realise that you and I can pray to our Father in heaven,
the great holy God. through the one sacrifice of
our Saviour, through His finished work, as He there intercedes
for us, He stands between, again the hymn writer says, in garments
dyed in blood. And it's He, instead of us, that
is seen as we approach to God. Well, let us have some little
understanding of the greatness of these simple words, this do,
in remembrance of me. It is a wonderful favour and
a wonderful privilege that poor sinners of the earth can come
together and remember the dying love of the Saviour. And so these
words, may they apply to us, may they rest with us, May there
be a blessing to us. And he took bread and gave thanks
and break it and gave unto them, saying, this is my body, which
is given for you, this dew, in remembrance of me. Likewise also
the cup, after supper, saying, this cup is the new testament
in my blood, which is shed for you. May all of us know, by the
glorious grace of God, that the blood of Jesus Christ, which
cleanseth from all sin, was shed, so that you and I might live
eternally with the Saviour, having all our sins forever washed away. Amen.