As you can see by looking toward
the front this morning, we're going to observe the Lord's table
today. I think that most everyone has
a general idea as to what is represented or pictured in the
partaking of the unleavened bread and the wine. Yet in hearing
many folks talk, there seems to still remain many unanswered
questions about this ordinance, which is sometimes called the
Lord's Table or the Lord's Supper, even called by some Holy Communion. So it's my hope that any unanswered
questions and misunderstandings might be answered and understood
at the conclusion of this message before we partake of the table
together. So I'd like to use Luke chapter
22 as my text this morning. The gospel of Luke chapter 22,
verse 19. We find the Lord Jesus here with
his disciples and in verse 19, Luke 22, we read, and he, speaking
of Christ, took bread and gave thanks and break it and gave
unto them, his disciples, his apostles, saying, this is my
body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. Verse 20, likewise, also the
cup after supper saying, this cup is the New Testament in my
blood, which is shed for you. To truly understand the Lord's
table, we have to really go back to the time when Israel was in
bondage and captivity in Egypt. Those of you who have been able
to attend on Wednesday evenings, we've been studying through the
book of Exodus. And as you know, for over 400
years, the nation of Israel had been under the rule of the Egyptians
and their Pharaohs. We've said many times how that
Egypt in the Bible is a type of this world and that Pharaoh
is a picture of sin. Israel, God's chosen nation,
they were in captivity. They were in bondage. They were
slaves to Pharaoh and Egypt. And what a picture that is of
our bondage to sin in this world. Before God in Christ redeemed
His chosen people, we too were slaves in bondage and captivity
to our taskmaster called sin. And the truth is that we would
have remained there if God had not in mercy and in grace purposed
to save us. That's just the fact. The Lord
was pleased to show mercy to Israel and he was determined
to deliver them from the hand of Pharaoh and from the slavery
of Egypt. So you remember what God did. God sent plagues one after another
upon the land of Egypt. And after many of the plagues
that God sent, Pharaoh would promise to let the people of
God go, but then he would change his mind. The scripture says
that he hardened his heart. The scriptures also say that
God hardened his heart. Now, which is it? Well, let me
answer that this way. All God has to do to harden men
and women's hearts is just leave them alone. Just leave them to
themselves. God lets rebels have their own
way and he lets them follow their own will. So Pharaoh hardened
his heart against God and the Lord led him. Just that simple. You know, our constant prayer
should be, have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way and
don't let me have mine. After God had sent nine plagues,
nine disasters, that's what the word plague means, on Egypt,
Pharaoh still wouldn't let God's people go. And this would be
a good time to interject this thought. God could have easily
very, very easily have delivered Israel and wiped out the whole
nation of Egypt with just a word. But God raised Pharaoh up, Paul
says in Romans chapter nine, for this very purpose. Romans
9, verse 17, God raised Pharaoh up that he might show his power,
his power in and over Pharaoh, and that God's name might be
declared throughout the world, that the whole world would know
that God was God. That's why God raised Pharaoh
up. When God gets through with our
sin, we're gonna know the same thing. We're gonna know that
God is God. Only God in Christ can deliver
us from our sin. When Moses and Aaron went before
Pharaoh and they said, the Lord, the Lord God of heaven and earth
said, let my people go. Do you remember what Pharaoh
said? He said, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice
to let Israel go? I know not the Lord and neither
will I let Israel go. You can read that in Exodus chapter
five, verse two. But after the final plague, when
God came through the land of Egypt and killed all the firstborn
that did not have the blood upon their door, you know what Pharaoh
said then? He said, take your flocks and
your herds and be gone. Get on out of here. And then
he said, and bless me also. I'd say that he had learned some
things about who God is. After these first nine plagues,
the Lord spoke to Moses, and the first thing God told Moses
to do was speak to the children of Israel and have each household
take a lamb. He said, take a lamb for each
house. And if the house was too small or didn't have enough members
and that household couldn't eat all the lamb, then they were
to join with another house and have a lamb for two houses. But
every house must partake of the lamb. Now, listen, this is very
important. I'm trying to show you from scripture
why this blessed ordinance of the Lord's table is so important.
Secondly, God told Moses that this lamb was to be of the first
year. It was to be a lamb in the prime
of life and that it was to be a male lamb. I believe you're
beginning to see the picture. Thirdly, this lamb was to be
put up. It was to be pinned up for four
days to be observed. It was not to have one blemish
or one spot or no disease. They were to watch this lamb
for four days to make sure that was not the case. So we see that
the qualifications for this lamb was to be of the first year in
the prime of its life. It was to be a male lamb and
it was to have no spot, no blemish or disease. And then fourthly,
God instructed Moses that in the evening of the 14th day,
of that particular month that they were to kill that lamb.
They were to roast the body of that lamb with fire and eat all
of it. None of it was to be left for
the following day. And fifthly, the head of each
house was to take the blood of the lamb and put it on the lintel
and the two side posts of their house. I know you're familiar
with that story. And the Lord told Moses, he said,
I'll pass through the land of Egypt at midnight and I'll kill
the firstborn in every home from Pharaoh's palace, even to the
firstborn of the cattle in the field. Yet the Lord promised
this to Israel. He promised that Israel would
be protected. And this was the Lord's Passover. And God said, when I see the
blood, I will pass over you. Are you getting the picture here?
The shedding of the blood of Christ is the only thing, and
I repeat, the only thing that can save and the only means that
can deliver us from our sin. Israel is in bondage in Egypt
and God purposed and determined to deliver them. How in the end
is God going to deliver them? God is going to deliver his people
through the blood. Like every sacrifice of the Old
Testament and like every sin offering from the first one that
Abel offered, Abel offered the blood on the altar and God accepted
his sacrifice. Cain brought the works of his
own hands and God rejected it. From that first offering of blood
on the altar, all pictures Christ, our blessed Passover lamb. Paul
said, 1 Corinthians chapter five, for even Christ, our Passover
is sacrificed for us. That's the only way a sinner
would be saved is if Christ died for them. And we can never fully
understand the Lord's table apart from understanding this. Every
Old Testament sacrifice and every Old Testament sin offering, every
Old Testament offering is a picture of Christ and a promise by Him
to come and to save His people from their sin. The whole Old
Testament points to He that is coming to save His people from
their sin. The Old Testament shows us Christ
and His sacrifice. It shows us that in prophecy.
It shows us that in promise. It shows us that in picture.
It shows us that in time. The New Testament is Christ in
person, in the flesh, God in the flesh, fulfilling every prophecy,
fulfilling every promise, fulfilling every picture that God gave in
the Old Testament. The example is, Jonah was three
days and three nights in the belly of the fish. So shall the
Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth. What a beautiful picture Jonah is of the death and the
burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. In another place,
the Lord Jesus said, and Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness. The serpents came and bit the
people of Israel and they began to die. And Moses built a brazen
serpent on a pole and he lifted it high. And those that looked
into that brazen serpent lived. And Christ Himself said, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth on Him, shall
not perish, but have everlasting life." Oh, you've got to look
to Christ, dear friend, to be saved. You've got to look to
Him. You've got to trust in Him. That
brazen serpent on the pole, what a picture of Christ being high
and lifted up on the pole of the cross of Calvary in the place
of His chosen people who were bitten by the fiery serpent of
sin. I think about that rock from
which living water flowed. Paul said that rock was Christ.
Christ is Noah's Ark. Those found in Him are safe from
God's wrath. Christ is that manna, that bread
that fell from heaven in the wilderness. And friends, Christ
is our bread of life. He's our sustenance in this desert,
in this wilderness of a world in which we live. Christ is the
tabernacle in whom we worship. Christ is the altar where His
blood was shed. Christ is the sacrifice that
we offer to God. He won't accept any other sacrifice.
It must be perfect to be accepted. And He's that Lamb without spot
and without blemish. Christ is the mercy seat where
the sacrifice is accepted. Christ is the high priest who
offered our sacrifice to God. He's all and in all. He's everything. Christ is the intercessor as
we see in Moses. Christ is the city of refuge
in whom we hide. Christ is that ram that was substituted
for Isaac. And it goes on and on. God told
Israel to take a lamb of the first year, a male lamb, a lamb
without spot, a lamb without blemish, a lamb without disease. And friends, that's Christ. That's
our holiness. Christ is our holiness and He's
our righteousness. He who knew no sin, He who thought
no sin, He who did no sin, He's our sacrificial lamb. He's the
Passover lamb and that lamb was put in that pen for four days
and was observed and found to be perfect. While our Lord Jesus
walked on earth for 33 plus years and he was observed by all and
none found any fault in him. Perfect, sinless, spotless, without
blemish, perfect in every way. Even Pilate said, I find no fault
in him. As the lamb was slain, our Lord
Jesus was crucified. He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. And he was God the Son crucified
upon Calvary's cross. Do you see that? As unto the
law of the old covenant, almost all things, scripture says, were
purged with blood. Even so today, without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission of sin. Christ's blood was shed
for us. We're saved by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Peter said, we're not redeemed
with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with
the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without spot and without
blemish. It's by his one offering that
he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. Jesus Christ
is made under God's people, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Christ our Passover is sacrificed
for us. This is what the ordinance of
the Lord's table represents and pictures. It pictures Christ
and Him crucified. That's the very thing that Paul
said, I'm determined to know nothing else among you. What
think you of Christ? Do you see that the gospel is
Jesus Christ and Him crucified? His blood being shed in the room
instead of His people. This pictures how Christ died
for our sins according to the scripture. The Lord's table does.
It pictures how Christ died for our sins according to the scripture.
How did Christ die? He died according to the Old
Testament scriptures. As the Passover lamb, God will
provide himself a lamb for burnt offering. And God provides for
himself and God provides himself as the burnt offering. God provides
for himself and God provides himself as that lamb for burnt
offering. Man, that's the best news this
sinner ever heard. Now every year Israel would slay
a lamb. Every year they would roast that
lamb's body with fire and eat it and consume it until it was
all gone. Every year they'd take that blood as the offering of
a sacrifice and it was called the Passover. When God visited
Egypt in judgment, wrath, and condemnation, He smoked the Egyptians
so that no house was without the dead, the scripture says.
Every house in Egypt, there was someone dead there, the firstborn. But God spared Israel, how? By the Passover, God passed over
them. Why did God pass over them? He
saw the blood. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. You see, we're spared from God's
wrath by His sacrifice for us as our Passover lamb. The Passover
feast continued from that day when Moses and Israel first observed
it in Egypt until the day that Christ came to this earth and
was sacrificed for His people. Israel was still observing the
Passover when the Lord had dinner with them on this night that
we're reading about in Luke chapter 22. Look at verse 13. And they went and found, as the
Lord Jesus had said, the Lord told them to go in, they'd meet
a man and that he would lead them to an upper room. And it
says here that they went and found, as the Lord had said unto
them, that upper room and place to meet, and they made ready,
what? The Passover. You might ask,
well, if the Lord is the Passover, then why did he himself observe
the Passover? Very simple answer, really. It
was because he fulfilled every type, and every sacrifice, and
every holy day, and every feast day, and every law to bring a
perfect righteousness for his people before God. When Christ
was made sin for us, friends, He knew no sin. He knew no sin. He was made sin for His people.
Why? That they might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Christ fulfilled every law of
God and did so perfectly. And that's where our, the believer's
perfect righteousness comes from. It comes from Him. Being a Jewish
boy, the Lord Jesus was circumcised the eighth day according to the
law. He as a man was born of woman,
born under the law, the law of the home, the law of the land,
especially under the law of God, the Levitical law, the Sabbatical
law, the moral law, every law for that matter. Just like we
are, and He must fulfill them all, every single one of them,
in order for us to be made the righteousness of God in Him.
It's His imputed righteousness given to us that makes us righteous. We can't in and of ourselves
produce a perfect righteousness that God will accept, you know
that. He must fulfill all these things
for us. You might ask, well, why was
the Lord baptized? It was for the same reason, to
fulfill all righteousness for us. That's what he told John
the Baptist. John said, I don't have any business
baptizing you. You should be baptizing me. And
the Lord said, suffer it or allow it to be so to fulfill all righteousness. Christ was baptized in order
to fulfill all righteousness and to provide for us all the
righteousness that God required of us. You know what it's called? Substitution. God doing for us
what we could not do for ourselves. You know, this would be a good
time to mention the ordinance of baptism. We've often commented
that baptism does not save, and it doesn't. But I am convinced
beyond a shadow of a doubt that a saved man or woman will most
definitely desire to be baptized. First and foremost, because it's
a commandment of God. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Mark 16, 16. You see, baptism
is to publicly before other believers, and the whole world for that
matter, to identify with Christ. I know that there's no saving
efficacy in baptism, and it's not a means through which God's
grace comes to us, but that doesn't make it any less important. Now
let me give you an example. When a man and a woman get married,
the marriage ceremony doesn't cause them to love one another.
Does it? No, they get married because
they already love one another. To not enter into marriage together
means that they don't love one another enough to be totally
committed to one another. And it's the same with baptism.
It's not the cause of our salvation. Baptism speaks of a relationship
that was already there, already there before the baptism took
place. Someone who professes to believe and refuses to be
baptized, refuses to publicly display their love for Christ,
it's the same as saying that they don't love Christ enough
to commit everything to Him. Like the bride does her husband,
and the husband does his bride. Love like that's not love at
all. A man proves his love to his
wife, and a wife proves her love to her husband by marrying one
another, by entering into that marriage ceremony together. They're
saying that all that I have is yours. It's a commitment. It's
a public profession of a commitment together. Refusing to be baptized
is like someone who refuses the covenant of marriage and its
ceremony. A believer wants everyone, I mean everyone, to know that
they love and they trust Christ. Is there everything? I think
about that eunuch on that chariot. Philip preached the gospel to
him and he said, what hinders me from being baptized? He said,
do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? He said, I do. And he
said, there's some water right over there. We can stop this
chariot right now. And that's exactly what they
did. What hinders me? I want the world to know that
Christ is my Lord and my Savior. On this night, on this evening,
before Christ's betrayal and before His crucifixion, we're
told as was His custom, our Lord gathered His disciples around
the table with Him to observe the Passover. That's what's going
on here. But this would be the last Passover
that God would ever require. Now that Christ was to be crucified
and to be slain, Christ, who is our Passover, is now the only
sacrifice for sin. No other lamb is to ever be offered. The lamb of Christ Jesus has
been offered to God. The lamb of God has been accepted
of God. There's just but one lamb that
all the other sacrifices had pointed to. Every time that they
sacrificed a lamb, it pointed to Christ. Christ is that Lamb
without spot and blemish. This was the last Passover after
this. There'd be no need for another.
There'd be no need for a Sabbath day. Christ is the Sabbath. There
would be no further need of a holy day. Christ is our holiness. There'd be no further need of
these feast days because Christ had, by the accomplishment of
His death, fulfilled all these feast days. He taketh away the
first that He may establish the second. By the witch will we
are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. All those sacrifices that have
been made since that first Passover pointed to Him. and pointed to
His covenant of grace. He'd take it away, the first
covenant of works, and He established the second, grace in the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's how God saves His people
from their sin. Those sacrifices and offerings
could never take away sin. So Christ, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. And friends, it's by this one offering that his people
are perfected and perfected forever and ever, forever sanctified. Read Hebrews 10 sometime and
you'll see what I'm saying. Paul said this, he said, there
is therefore now no condemnation, no judgment to them who are in
Christ Jesus. As our Lord sits this night with
his apostles, he takes the bread in his hand and he breaks that
bread and he blesses it. And he gave it to each one of
his disciples, each one of them that he loved, each one of them
that he died for. And he said, this is my body
broken for you. this do in remembrance of me."
Then he took the cup of wine and he blessed it and he gave
it to the apostles and he said, this is my blood, the blood of
the New Testament. The first one's been done away
with. This is the new one. It's the blood of the New Testament,
the new covenant, the covenant of grace, which is found in Christ
alone. And he said, which is shed for
you. There are no more lambs to be slain. There are no more
blood to be shed. There's no more sacrifices to
be made. Paul, speaking of this blessed
ordinance, said, in as often as you eat this bread and drink
this cup, you do show forth the Lord's death until he come. He's coming back. He's coming
again. Now the key to the observance
of the Lord's Table, the Lord's Supper, the key to understanding
this blessed ordinance is in the Lord's words there that said,
this do in remembrance of me. You know, last week I showed
you how the Apostle Paul said, oh, let's take the more earnest
heed to the things that we've heard lest we slip. The key to
this blessed table is remembering Him who loved us and gave Him
so for us. The Lord's Supper is not a sacrifice. Christ is our sacrifice. The
elements, the bread and the wine, as some religious denominations
think, actually become the body and the blood of Christ. No.
Not so. They represent the body and the
blood of Christ. The Lord's table doesn't have
any more saving power than water in baptism does. Because it's
the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
Not the water of baptism. Baptism's a picture of Christ's
death, burial, and resurrection. And a believer is baptized in
order to be identified with Christ in his death, in his burial,
and in his resurrection. Are you following me? Baptism
is not the putting away of sin. Baptism pictures the putting
away of sin. The unleavened bread represents
the Lord's sinless body. The wine is symbolic. It represents
and pictures the blood of Christ, which actually does put away
sin. The Lord didn't say, this do
in order to be saved. He said, this do in remembrance
of me. Who is Christ our Savior? Why? He's the Passover lamb. He's
the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He's the one that
shed His blood in order to wash us white as snow. Now the Lord
instituted this ordinance, the Lord ordained it, the Lord gave
it, and the Lord blessed it. The same night in which the Lord
Jesus was betrayed, the Apostle Paul said, the same night that
he was crucified, he became our Passover lamb. When God sees
the blood, remember, he'll pass over you. And that's why unleavened
bread is used. You can take unleavened bread
and you can put it up in your kitchen cabinet and come back
to it months later and it'll never mold or decay because it
doesn't have leaven. Christ's body is without sin. Unleavened bread pictures our
Lord's perfect life. He broke that bread, which shows
us something of his sufferings. He was broken. His body was broken,
showing us something of his agony upon Calvary Street. He was made
to be sin for his people. Oh, what agony that must have
been. All the sin of God's elect throughout all time laid upon
him. No wonder he sweat as it were,
great drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane. Christ took that
wine which pictures His blood that was shed. And some insist
that it was unfermented grape juice. Grape juice will mold
and it'll spoil. It'll go bad. But wine, which
is fermented, it won't spoil. You can keep it for years. Matter
of fact, there are people that pay big money for wine that's
many, many years old. There's an old saying, you know,
it's like wine gets better with time. This wine also represents
the suffering of our Lord. The grape was pulverized. It
was squeezed. It had the life pressed out of
it. as the juice came out. This is
a picture of Christ's blood being shed for us. Listen to what the
Lord says. He says, this is my body broken
for you, broken for the people of God. This is my blood, which
is shed for many, not all, not all, but many. Child of God,
when we partake of the Lord's table, when we eat this bread
and we drink this cup, Paul says you show forth the Lord's death
until He comes again. What we're doing is we're identifying
with the Lord Jesus Christ and we're saying that we know that
it's His body that was broken for us that saves us and that
we know that it was His blood shed for us that saves us. and
we want everybody to know. First, let me wrap this up by
summarizing to you how the Lord's Table causes us to remember the
One who laid down His life for us. I won't keep you much longer
because I want to partake of the Lord's Table. First, this
bread represents His flesh and His body, which proves that God
became a man in order to justly die for sinful men and women.
The wine represents His blood that flowed from His body, that
blood that gave Him life as a man. God became flesh and blood. That's
what we remember in this blessed ordinance, that it took God Himself
to become a man and come to this earth and put away the curse
of the law by being made a curse for it. Secondly, the Lord's
table shows us something of His holiness and His perfect righteousness
before God as the unleavened bread and that fermented wine
and that unleavened bread shows us something of His perfections. Thirdly, the Lord's table shows
us something of Christ's sufferings as our substitute and as our
sacrifice. The bread was broken and the
wine was squeezed and poured out. What a picture that is of
what God did to His beloved Son in our room and stand. Do this
in remembrance of me, you see. Fourthly, the Lord's table shows
us something of His substitution for us. His body was broken for
His people. His blood was shed for them,
not the whole world. And lastly, the Lord's table
shows us something of our union with Christ. When we partake
of the Lord's table, when we take that unleavened bread and
put it in our mouths and swallow it, that bread becomes part of
us. When we drink the wine and swallow
it down, we see something of our union with Christ. That wine
is no longer in that little cup. It's within me. And I'll answer
one last question. This is asked often, who is to
observe the Lord's table? Had a fellow come one time, and
we were actually taking, I think it was the first Sunday he and
his wife came, and we were taking the Lord's Table that day, and
he said, is the Lord's Table for just members of this church? And I said, oh no, the Lord's
Table's for believers. The Lord's Table for those who
put their trust in Christ and Him alone. Those who depend upon
His broken body and His shed blood to redeem them from their
sin. The Lord's Table was for believers.
It's observed by those who know Christ. How can you remember
one you've never known? Isn't that right? How can you
remember someone you've never known? Our Lord said, this do
in remembrance of me. His disciples knew Him. They
loved Him. They believed Him. They followed
Him. They could remember Him. One who has never loved Christ
can never remember Him. In 1 Corinthians 11, which I'll
read from here shortly, Paul said this, he said, let a man,
woman too, examine themselves and so let them meet. Now, what
is this examination about? Do I know Christ? That's how
we are to examine ourselves. Do I know the Lord Jesus? Do
I love Christ? Do I believe and trust in Him? If I do, do this in remembrance
of Him. Who's to partake of the Lord's
table? Those who know Christ, those that desire to remember
His sufferings and sacrifice for them. Oh, I desire to remember. We need to take heed, the more
earnest heed, that we don't forget the things that we've heard.
Those who know Christ and desire to remember His sufferings and
His sacrifice, that's who are to partake of it. How long are
we to observe of this ordinance? Till He comes, till He comes
again. What is the Lord's Supper? It's the Supper of the Lord who
delivered us from sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Paul said
that, "...he that eateth and drinketh unworthily in an unworthy
manner, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the
Lord's broken body." Now, what does that mean? You know, I know
believers who are scared to partake of the Lord's table because of
that verse. Well, I don't want to partake
of it unworthily. Listen, in and of yourselves,
you can't take it any other way. We are unworthy. That's what
makes it mercy, Sharon. That's what makes it grace. It
means that we partake of the bread and of the wine. We understand
what it means and what it represents. We discern what these elements
picture and we choose to remember the one who loved us and gave
himself for us. When I partake of this bread
and this wine, I think of my Lord and Savior, whose body was
broken for me and whose blood was shed for me. And I'm gonna
tell you, I consider it a privilege to partake of this table. All
who know Christ, all who love and trust and believe in him
are welcome to partake.