most of you will remember that
this morning we preach from Jeremiah the 10th chapter the second verse
which told us that we were not to learn the way of the heathen
and that was the command from God and now in this evening we
have another command but this is a very different command And
we find it in the Gospel of Luke chapter 22 and the last clause
in verse 19. The Gospel of Luke chapter 22
and the last clause in verse 19. And it reads, this do in
remembrance of me. There is of course a vast difference
between these two commands of God. But they are both very important
and significant to the Church of God as they travel through
this life. And so this evening, may it please
God to bless us as we consider these words, this do in remembrance
of me. these words were spoken on that
most memorable night in the history of the world. The Passover had
been carried out for some 1,500 years and now the last occasion
had come when that would have been carried out with any significance. And so the Lord Jesus desired
that he might partake of that supper with his disciples. And we read that he desired,
desires to do that, he says, with desire. I have desired. We see how great that desire
was. It wasn't just a single desire.
a desire. I have desired, would desire,
have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. And so this last Passover, the
last Passover which was significant. I know that it was still kept
by the Jews for years after and still does today, but it's lost
all its significance. Everything that was demonstrable
about it, was taken away by the New Covenant, by the death of
the Lord Jesus, and by the institution of the Lord's Supper. Now just
for a moment, let us think of the vast difference, the Passover,
had to be carried out very carefully, exactly as there was that instruction. And it had to be done in a correct
way and at a proper time. Everything, the finest details
had to be adhered to. So down through the years, this
had been carried out. It was relatively a complicated
ceremony. But now, on this Passover night,
having partaken of the Passover, the Lord Jesus now comes and
tells them, I will not anymore eat thereof until it be fulfilled
in the Kingdom of God. 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 this do 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." And we see then the wonderful beauty of
the simplicity of this supper of remembrance. This which the
Lord Jesus Christ instituted on this Passover night, a night
when the Lord Jesus was to really, as it were, begin the agony. Agony of his death, which was
culminated, of course, upon the cross. But as we read together,
the Lord Jesus went into Gethsemane. He had instituted this supper
remembrance. And he told them, this do in
remembrance of me. It was really a very simple command. A very blessed command. A command to the Church of God. And it is to be done so that
we might remember the Lord Jesus Christ in a more particular way. We're very forgetful people.
We become very involved in the poor old things of time. And
we should be thankful that God has ordained such an institution
so that we might be able for a short period to remember in
a special way the Lord Jesus Christ. Through this in remembrance
of me. Surely it instructs us to remember
him not only in his death, but in his life and the time that
he was born in that manger in Bethlehem. So that we might indeed
be able to consider him. Consider him. There's no better
occupation than considering the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let me repeat that. There is
no better consideration, no better occupation than considering the
life of the Lord Jesus Christ. From his birth to his death and
then his resurrection and his ascension and today his intercession. There is nothing more beneficial,
more profitable for you and me, than to heed the exhortation
to remember Him. Because our eternal well-being
depends upon what we think and know of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not something that you
and I can trifle with, and I believe if the Spirit of God is moving
in our hearts, producing that tender conscience, then we will
truly desire to heed this gracious exhortation of the Lord himself,
this do in remembrance of me. Remembering then, around this
table of remembrance, to remember what the Lord Jesus Christ did,
so that we might possess the great and glorious favour, that
gift of eternal life. How valuable it is, that you
and I might ever have a right understanding of the value of
our soul, and to realise that that value of blessing is only
ours as we receive it from the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we
are to receive it, it is because of what he has done for us on
our behalf, what he passed through during those 33 years of his
life upon this earth. He never looked back. He never
went back. He always moved forward. He always did the will of his
father. And he left us a great and wonderful
example. And to meditate and consider
that through his life and death we receive that hope of eternal
life. How valuable, how valuable to
think that through these great blessings, one day, by His grace,
we shall be found with Him in glory. Indeed, around that throne of
God in heaven, praising the Saviour, for what he's done. Now, my friends,
that praise won't commence in heaven. Be very sure of that. Praise from the Church of God
begins on this earth. It begins on this earth so that
we may show forth in all of our lives His praise We may bring
to his great and holy name, honour and glory, for his great love
and mercy to unworthy sinners of the earth. Indeed, the hymn
writer said, sinners can say, and only they, how precious is
the Saviour. And that means sinners who are
convinced of their sin by the Holy Spirit, who come with nothing,
nothing in their hand they bring, they come empty handed, but they
come clinging to the cross of Christ, because that is their
only hope of eternal life. There is only hope of salvation.
And so the Saviour sets before us these words, this do in remembrance
of me. It is a wonderful favour and
a wonderful privilege to be amongst those who are able to be found
around this table of remembrance, partaking of these simple elements
which demonstrate our love for the Saviour, which demonstrate
our desire to keep His sayings, to do His will, indeed to humbly
obey His commands. You know, we come tonight, don't
we? We gather here together. We come
to worship. What is our worship really about? What is it centred in? Well, the answer is very simple. The Lord Jesus Christ. Surely, we only come here tonight
because of the Lord Jesus Christ. If there was no Saviour, there
would be no purpose in you and me coming here tonight. But it
is because of the Lord Jesus Christ that we are here, or at
least I hope it's the reason that we are here. Now you must
answer before God. I cannot answer for you. I cannot
speak on your behalf. You have to answer before God. And as to the reason that you are
here tonight, is it because of the Lord Jesus Christ? And if
it is, and if that is true, then surely the desire would be to
be numbered amongst those who do the will of the Saviour. There is much blessing, there
is much benefit from doing the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, there is a wonderful
liberty in following the Lord Jesus Christ, the despised and
crucified man. It's something which is to be
enjoyed by the true followers of the Lamb. What there is, is the answer
of a good conscience. And not only the answer of a
good conscience, a willingness and a desire to do that which
the Lord Jesus Christ has set before us in His Word. What a blessing it is, and I'm
sure we would all agree, I hope we would all agree that it's
a wonderful blessing to have the Bible to read, and the truths,
the glorious truths it contains. And if we really believe that,
and if we really can say it, then surely In order to be consistent,
we should be those who hear and are doers of the word and not
hearers only. Now my friends tonight, I'm not
speaking to anyone in particular. Herbert Dawson used to say many
years ago, he wasn't fitting any caps. That was that he meant
he wasn't picking out people and putting caps on them. And
I'm not doing that tonight. I'm just very simply laying before
us the great and the blessed truth
of God. It's not the truth of a man,
it's the truth of God. And it's the Word of God. And if it's the Word of God,
Surely that word is to be taken notice of. Surely we should not
turn away from it and ignore it and think it doesn't have
an application to me. Somehow there's another passage
for me. I heard it described once as
somebody might think there was a back staircase. Well, there's not. There's only
one way of access to God, and that's through the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's only one way of forgiveness,
and that's through the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we desire access
at the throne of grace. We desire that our prayers will
be heard and answered. If we desire the Lord will look
upon us and remember us. If we perhaps cry out like that
Doris Heaton, Lord remember me. And a good prayer and a right
prayer. But should we expect Almighty
God to come and bless us if we are not obeying the simple, gracious
exhortation of the Lord as he comes and tells us, do this in
remembrance of me. And that means joining together
and sitting around this table of remembrance, to join together
in an open profession that we do confess that our hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. You see, in
reality, we cannot honestly say that, can we? If we are not hearing
God's voice and obeying God's voice. Surely it has to be the
whole heart and not a half of it. Surely our concern should
be to hear the Lord's words. You might say, yes, I want to
hear the Lord's words. Do we want to hear all the Lord's
words? Or are we dictating to God and
saying, well, I want this particular word and that particular word. We have the Word of God. Sometimes we might expect and
pray for a certain application which we may never receive. We may never receive. You see, one of the great skills
of Satan is to make us believe there are those things and those
situations which we must have. And what they are, they are really
our own view of things. We put on our own view, our own
conclusion. And we haven't in fact just sat
down very prayerfully and very quietly and considered the truth
of God. Remember then this occasion. You see there are only two institutions
in the New Testament. Believers' Baptism and the Lord's
Supper. And they are set before us, that
the Church of God can follow in those ways. The Lord Jesus
instituted them. They weren't man's institution. They were the Lord's institution.
Doesn't that put a very different complexion on it? Yes, they're
not what man would have us do. It's what the Lord would have
us do. If we love the Lord, if we, I
might say, if we pretend to love the Lord, is it just a pretense? If we really love somebody, do
we not desire to do that which is right, that which they desire? We don't want to offend them.
We don't want to go against their will. and to think, again just pause
and ponder, if the Lord Jesus Christ loved us so much, so much,
that he was willing to leave that place of glory to come into
this sinful world and to endure such opposition and hardship
and rebellion that we might receive the gift of eternal life. I would
just ponder that. What love? What love? Why should God love you? Why
should he love me? Is there anything good in us? Nothing at all, by nature. But oh, the Lord has loved us. And if He's loved us, my friends,
it's not a temporal love. It's an everlasting love. God
only has one love. And it's everlasting. And it's
sure. And it's secure. If God has loved
you and loved me, then oh, may you and I return that love. to the Saviour. It always comes
that way around, never comes the other way around. We love
Him because He loved us. My friends, if the Saviour has
loved us, and if we have a love to Him, surely we should be a
true follower of His gracious commands which He sets before
us in His Word. You know, the Gospels, the large
part of the Bible, what do they set before us? The life of the
Lord Jesus. What do they bring before us?
His death. His conquering death. What do
they show to us? His amazing love. Not only, of course, Is that
demonstrated so clearly in the New Testament? We read of it
really throughout the Word of God. Wonderful love. The love of God. The love of God the Father in
sending His Son. The love of the Son in so willingly
coming. The love of the Holy Spirit in
revealing these things to us. Well, just think of that tonight. Just ponder that tonight. The
love of the Father. Do we know anything of it? For God so loved the world, that
he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. Is our heart moved by that? The
love of the Father toward us. The love of the Son. All that
He endured so that we might, through His grace, one day be
found in glory with Him. Oh, what love there was. As we think
of that, What the Saviour did. Are we now standing back and saying,
well, I understand that, but I'm not going to follow, I'm
not going to keep the commands of such a great and glorious
Saviour. In effect, we are denying the
Lord Jesus Christ. Do you want Christ to deny you
on that great day of judgment? Do you want Christ to deny you
and to say, depart from me, I never knew you? Oh, how we need a Saviour to
speak and say, come in. Now, blessed are my Father, Inherit
the kingdom reserved for you from the foundation of the earth. Is that what we want to hear?
Well, I hope it is our desire to hear those glorious words.
But can you really consider that? Standing there, a guy with nothing
in your hand, and remembering that you did
not keep the gracious Word of God. And now you're expecting
God to keep His Word for you. It's a very solemn thought, isn't
it? The great debt that you and I
owe, that we can never ever repay, the debt of our sin, so great,
So mighty, and yet to have the blessing, the favour, to know
that the Lord Jesus Christ died upon Calvary's cross to atone
for our sins. You know, we read together what
the Lord Jesus went through in that Garden of Gethsemane. Why did he do that? Because of
his love. His love for unworthy sinners. And we read together, He prayed
saying, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cut from me, nevertheless
not my will, but Thine be done. Now, we read that, don't we?
Can you pray that? not my will, but thine be done." My friends, if you can pray that
from your heart, you have the answer. Do this in remembrance
of me. Because the effect is, you are
doing the will of God. We dare not say that we don't
want to do the will of God. Oh, my friends, then we see the
effect of this gracious word of the Saviour. Now the Lord
Jesus, he uttered that. But thine be done. What was he
concerned about? What should we be concerned about?
The same thing. Do you know what that is? The
honour and glory of God. The honour and glory of God. That's what we should be so concerned
about in our little lives. And so the Lord Jesus, here he
was, in his weakness, in his weakness. What do we read? And there appeared an angel unto
him from heaven, strengthening him. Now remember, in his time
of great need, he was carrying the sins of his church. Your
sins and my sins. Our sins of disobedience. Our sins of enmity against God. And being in agony, he prayed
more earnestly. And his sweat was, it were, great
drops of blood falling down to the ground. He prayed more earnestly. For us, for you and me. Oh, the debt we owe. The cost
to the Son of God. Not a mere man. The holy Son
of God. The sinless Son of God. He endured. He endured to the uttermost. And so there were these great
drops of blood falling to the ground. And when he rose up from
prayer and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow. Not only did he then continue,
not only was he brought before Pilate. Yes, he'd been brought there. Judas Iscariot had come and shown
the soldiers who he was. He'd been betrayed. He'd been
betrayed. Are we betrayers of the Lord
Jesus Christ? Are we betrayers? Or we may cringe
from such an accusation. But are we by our actions betraying
the Lord Jesus Christ? This do in remembrance of me. Are we betraying the Saviour?
For what He's done for us Are we saying, I will not have this
man to rule over me? My friends, if Christ doesn't
rule in your life and my life, we shall never go to glory. If Christ does not reign in our
lives, if he is truly reigning in our
lives, will this not be Something that
we will desire to do. This do in remembrance of me.
To come and sit at the Lord's table and partake of these simple
elements which show to us a little of his sufferings. Yes, he shed
blood and his broken body. What he endured, no tongue can
tell. He went down into the depths
of hell for you and me. He endured everything. What a mercy. What a blessing. Do we not come tonight? Can we
not say from our heart, what a Saviour. What a Saviour. We look at ourselves
and think, well, Think of that, this great saviour, giving his
life for such an unworthy, sinful, wretch as I am. And yet, it was
because of his love, because of his amazing love, he suffered,
he endured, he endured until the end. Yet he didn't give up. However hard it was, remember
that he was on the cross, suffering that ultimate agony. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? And He passed through those things
so that you and I might receive the forgiveness of all our sins. That you and I might be found
under the blood. Remember the Passover night in
which the Lord Jesus Christ partook on this occasion. What did it
set before the people? Safety under the blood. What did the Lord Jesus now set
before his disciples and before the Church of God? Safety under
the blood. So tonight, how necessary it
is for you and me that we are safe under the blood of Christ. There's no safety anywhere else. And if we are under that blood,
that means his blood was shed for us. It means that he died
that we might live. It means that through his death
we will be blessed with eternal life. It means through his death,
by his grace, one day we shall be found in glory, around that
throne, singing that song, worthy is the land that was slain. And
so here we have this gracious exhortation of the Lord Jesus
to us tonight. This too, in remembrance of me. It is, my friends, a most gracious
exhortation. Many people pass it by. Many people are disobedient to
the commands of the Lord, but all of you and I are filled with
His love, with His grace, with His mercy, as we meditate upon
the great blessings of the Lord toward us. Do we not come and
stand before a gracious, holy, loving God, and bow down and
come and say, Lord, remember me and help me indeed to do this
in remembrance of Thee, for Thou art worthy. Is He not worthy
of that from us? What is it? It's a demonstration
of our love to the Lord Jesus Christ. It shows that we do believe
the Word of God. It shows that we do consider
that our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. It shows that we desire to show
forth our love in return for his great unmerited love. It was and it is unmerited love. The line in the hymn is so true.
What was there in me that could merit esteem or give my Creator
delight? Nothing at all. Whoever must
say, because it seemed good in thy sight. And isn't that amazing? That you and I should have received
the love of God because it seemed good in His sight. And so tonight,
As we enter this new year, remembering these two situations, we are not, as I spoke this morning,
to learn the way of the heathen, but on the other hand, we are
to follow the way of the Lord Jesus Christ, one brings with
it condemnation, the other brings with it eternal blessings. And so tonight, may we consider
these great truths as we think of this time of the institution
of this supper of the Lord, the preciousness and the glory of
the symbols, the broken body symbolised by the bread, They
shed blood by the wine and have that living desire and determination. As the Lord may give us grace
to do the will of God, and that will of God is very clearly,
this do in remembrance of me. Amen.