If you will take your Bibles
and turn with me to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. And our text this
morning will be found in verse 7. Acts chapter 20 and verse
7. The title of the message this
morning, The Lord's Day and the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Day
and the Lord's Supper. Scripture says, And upon the
first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break
bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow,
and continued his speech until midnight." Now here we have the
Apostle in this chapter beginning in verse 1 of chapter 20. We
see that the Apostle Paul has made ready to leave Ephesus. Remember, last week we discussed
the uproar at the church of Ephesus. We discussed how the Lord Jesus
Christ had determined that this uproar would come, and not only
determined its beginning, but also in providence used it according
to His own sovereign purpose. And now then that the uproar
has ceased, Paul being a good shepherd, a good pastor, he waited
until the uproar was finished so that the children of God might
be comforted. He didn't leave them in the time
of their trouble. He stayed with them until they
were settled, until they were comforted. And when this time
came, he left with one purpose, and that was to visit the churches
and then go to Jerusalem. Okay, this is Paul's last missionary
journey. We have been with the Apostle
Paul now for three journeys. This is his last one. This is
his last time he will see these churches. At least at this point,
this is the last time he thinks he'll see the churches. He's
determined to go to Jerusalem, and there he knows he must suffer
many things and be brought before Rome. before Caesar. And so now
he has a heart to visit these people one last time. He wants
to comfort them one last time before God would take him home
to be with him. So he leaves and he goes into
Macedonia. He goes up by Philippi. And you've got to imagine he's
headed north and he's going up to Philippi and then he goes
through Thessalonica and then he goes and spends three months
in Corinth. And as he's there in Corinth,
we read this, that there were men waiting for him. He was ready
to sail to Syria, but according to the providence of God, Paul's
plans changed. He found out about this and went
back the same way he came. And we can see in this, again,
the providence of God. The providence of God. God again,
Paul had a plan. It was a good plan. It was good
motives on the Apostle's part. He wanted to be there at Passover
with the people of Jerusalem so that he might preach. But
God had other plans for him. How many times have we determined
to do something good? Determined to do something that
we felt was in accordance with the will of God. And yet something
comes in our way, something that stops us from doing what we should
or thought we should do. We should be like the Apostle
Paul and just bow down to whatever providence God has for us. Now
I'll tell you, it's one thing to know what is good and not
to do it. Isn't that right? The Scripture
says in James 4, verse 17, Therefore to him that knoweth to do good
and doeth it not, it is sin. So if you know to do good and
you don't do it, true, that's sin. But friends, if we desire
to do good and we are hindered from doing good, know this, that's
providence. That's providence. And we should
bow in our hearts to the sovereign grace of God. And Paul did, and
what happened? Well, these churches were blessed
again, weren't they? He come through Philippi, he
says, boys, I'm leaving. You're not going to see my face
again. He goes to Thessalonica and says, I'm leaving, and God
is going to take me, and you're not going to see me again. He
goes to Corinth, says the same thing. But he comes back up,
and sure enough, there he is in Thessalonica again. Don't
you suppose that they were happy? to see Him once again before
He died? Yes. Yes, they were happy. And so God always works His providence
for the good of His people. It may not be He doesn't work
His providence for our convenience, does He? Many times His providence
is not convenient. It's not comfortable. But that
doesn't matter, does it? because God is working all things
for our good. Now then, in verse 6, we cut
Paul now, he's come back to Troas. He went through Troas, Philippi,
Thessalonica, Corinth, and he's come back the same way, and now
he's here in Troas in verse 6. It says, "...and he sailed away
from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread," or Passover,
And it came unto them to Troas in five days, where we abode
seven days." And then we have our text, "...and upon the first
day of the week." Now this morning I wanted to see two things in
this text this morning. I wanted to see the Lord's Day
and the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Day and the Lord's
Supper. First of all, the Lord's Day.
This was the day. This was the day that the New
Testament believers would come together and meet together on
the first day of the week. That's today, isn't it? That's today, isn't it? I know
many of you, as I used to do when I was in the private sector
and working in a public job, I always thought Monday was the
first day of the week. Wasn't you? I mean, we think
Sunday, that should be the end of the week. Because that was
the day we have our last bit of rest before we have to go
back and go to work. No, Sunday is the first day of
the week. Today is the first day of the
week. Not the last. Today is the first. And we meet together because
this is what was instituted by the early church, and not only
instituted by the church, but ordained by our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. That's why you meet here today.
This is why we're here today. Because this is the first day
of the week. Now, I want us to remember this. When you read
the book of Acts, you must understand that this was a transitional
time. The Apostle Paul, he went into
the synagogues on the Sabbath day, which was Saturday. Why? Because that's where he had an
audience. That's where he had an audience. But when they came
away from that, when the Jews finally rejected Him and kicked
Him out of the synagogues, He and the disciples that the Lord
gave Him, they would meet on the following day. They would
meet on the first day of the week. This was the custom of
the Christian church. And this was a transition period
from the old covenant. to the New Covenant. Why did
the Jews meet on Saturday? Why? It was in the law. The law prescribed for them a
Sabbath day. And the Sabbath day was for Saturday. Now, the first thing I wanted
to say about this Lord's Day is that it is not a Sabbath day. Today is not the Sabbath day. And we should get that vocabulary
out of our system. I'll tell you what, I read a
lot of the early Puritan writers and they call this day a Sabbath
day. And I know that they are wrong
to do that. They are wrong to do that. Because what they've done is
they are bringing us back under the law in some measure and means
by calling this a Sabbath day. And I'll tell you this, before
the Lord's resurrection, we know that the people were under the
law of Moses. And Jesus Himself said, I came
not to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law. And not one
line, not one jot or tittle, what is that? Not one T cross,
not one I dotted in the law, will pass away until all are
fulfilled, including Sabbath worship. But friends, Jesus Christ, this
is why He came in the flesh. This is why He became a man.
So that He might fulfill the law on the behalf of all of His
children. That He might, in His humanity
and His humility, not destroy the law, but establish it as
the federal head of His people. And so when all who are in Christ,
If you're a believer in Christ this morning, you are in Christ. Now what does that mean? It means
that you are in union with Christ. When Christ obeyed the Sabbath
day, you obeyed the Sabbath day with Him, in Him. When he honored
all of the law of God, he did that on our behalf. And we did that in him as our
representative. And I'll tell you, when he was
raised from the dead, we were raised from the dead in him,
Paul says in Colossians chapter 2. He established a new covenant
for His church, a new covenant that freed us from the burden
of the law. Friends, how many of you love
to go to Exodus and read the law? I mean, do you really spend
a lot of time there? I'll tell you, if you read the
law without looking for Christ, you will not find any comfort
in that law. That law is a burden. People coming to a building to
hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, most people won't even do that.
Much less all that the law prescribed. The law is a burden. But Jesus
Christ has relieved us of the burden of the law. In Deuteronomy 28, it tells us
that there are blessings for all who obey the law and keep
His commandments. Well, believer in Christ, be
comforted in this. You have obeyed the law. You have obeyed the law in every
jot and tittle in Christ. In Christ. You've obeyed the
law. In Christ we have honored the
law of God. For Christ is our head and the
blessings of His obedience are now ours. But the Scriptures
are clear, cursed is everyone that continues not in all things
written in the book of the law, Galatians 3.10. You desire to be under the law? I don't. I don't. Then why would we ever call this
day a Sabbath day? Why would we do that? The Sabbath
was part of the law. And people love to do this. Religion
does this all the time. It takes part of the law. It
takes titles. It takes days and weeks, feast
days, and they try to incorporate that into the New Testament church,
and it doesn't work. You can't do that. If you take
one area of the law to yourself or to the church, That places
us under the whole law. You can't pick and choose which
laws you want to obey and which ones you don't. And this includes the Sabbath
day which was under the Mosaic law. This Sabbath day was like
all the other commandments. It was a picture. A type of Christ. Isn't that what all the ceremonies
in the law were? They were a picture of Christ.
Jesus said that all is written of Me in the law and the prophets. That's what He told those disciples
on the road to Emmaus. So when you read the Old Testament,
we need to look for Christ. Because He's the fulfillment
of all that. He's the fulfillment of the Sabbath day. He is our
Sabbath day. Now what is Sabbath? What does that mean? It means
rest. He is our rest. The rest of a
believer. I'll tell you that when men get
a hold of the law, the only thing they do is try to twist it so
that they might have something to do where they can obey it.
They always do that. You know, the Pharisees made
the law of God even more of a burden than it really was itself, even
if that's possible. You realize that on the Sabbath
day that they wouldn't even allow a man to gargle if he had a sore
throat? What a burden that would be.
When Christ wanted to heal that man, they said, you can't heal
on the Sabbath day. You can't do good on the Sabbath
day. And Jesus said, hey, the man
is not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man. It's
for you. It was for your rest. And you've made it a twisted
thing. Friends, Jesus Christ was made our Sabbath. The Sabbath
was made for man. He was made a man for us so that
we would not be under that burden of the law. So let us not as
believers refer to this day of the week as a Sabbath. Don't
do that. Don't do that. It's not what it's meant. Paul
says in Galatians 5, verse 1, "...Stand fast therefore in the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled
with the yoke of bondage." This first day of the week was set
apart to worship Christ who is our Sabbath. Number two about
this Lord's Day, why the first day of the week? Why today? Well, there are several reasons.
First of all, the Lord Jesus Christ established it Himself
at His resurrection. Remember that He has risen on
the first day of the week. I like this in Matthew 28, verse
1. It says, "...in the end of the Sabbath." In the end of the
Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,
came Mary Magdalene to the sepulcher. And what did she find? He was
risen. He was risen. It was then that the stone was
removed and the empty tomb of Jesus Christ revealed. So then
when believers in the early church gathered together on the first
day, it was because this is the day that the Lord rose from the
dead. Two thousand years ago, on this
very day, our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He rose from
the dead on this day of the week. And so Paul says in Colossians,
he says, let no man judge you in meat or drink or respect of
holy day or new moon or Sabbath. In other words, don't let men
ridicule you because you don't listen to these things anymore.
Because you don't follow these things anymore, don't let any
man judge you about these things. Why? Christ is risen. Christ is risen and we are free
from these things. Christ has blotted out our transgressions
with His blood. He blotted out our transgressions
and spoiled those that would oppose us. Sin, death, hell,
the law. Christ has triumphed over all
of these things for us. When you got up this morning
and you got ready for church on the first day of the week,
is this what was in your mind? Is this what was in your heart? Do you realize that we come here
today and celebrate the Lord Jesus Christ's resurrection on
the first day? Because this is the day that
He rose from the dead. This is the day. The Lord instituted
it by His resurrection. Number two, the Spirit anointed
it at Pentecost. You remember, Pentecost was 50
days after the Passover. And the 50th day always fell
on the first day of the week. And the Spirit of God descended
in that early church on the first day of the week and poured out
Himself on all those men in that upper room. Believer, we meet together on
the first day of the week that we might be filled and fed by
the Spirit of God. I hope that that's your prayer
this morning. I hope you didn't come to hear me. I hope you didn't
come to hear a message from me. I hope you come to hear a message
from God. Because this is where God said
He'll meet with us. Where two or three are gathered
in My name, there I am in the midst of them. How? By His Spirit. That's how He
comes in the midst of us. He comes by His Spirit, and it
is the Spirit of God that pours out the message to us. It's the
Spirit of God that must teach us. He doesn't teach us we've
met in vain. The Spirit of God must be poured
out on us. Now, believer, I know He abides
in us every day, doesn't He? Isn't that the promise of God,
that the Spirit of God would make His abode with us? Of course
it is. He abides with you every day.
Everywhere you go, everything you do, the Spirit of God is
in you. It dwells in your body. But there's
a special way in which the Spirit manifests Himself on this day. Because this is the day that
He pours Himself out by the preaching of His Gospel. This is how He
stirs our hearts to remember the things of Christ and to teach
us the things of Christ. The Spirit of God anoints us. And this Word of God, this Word
of God, Peter says, is a more sure word of prophecy. Is this why we woke up today?
to be filled with the Spirit of God? I hope so. I hope so. I long for God to fill me with
His Spirit so that I might see Christ more, that I might love
Christ more. Number three, this is the Lord's
day for preaching and encouragement. Our text says that Paul preached
on this day. And I'll tell you what, these
believers had a great appetite for the gospel because Paul preached
all night long. Paul preached all night long.
There are certain times in the church that I read of men who
had, of the church having great appetite. There are some times
where men were able to endure messages and rejoiced in them
in long periods of time. I don't think we live in such
an age. It's a very difficult thing. We're so surrounded by
the temporal things of this world that they creep into us that
we lose that. I think we lose out on the importance
of this. We begin to think that church
is just a part of our life instead of Christ being our life. But this message every day on
this Lord's Day, it should be preached to the encouragement
of God's children. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1.18,
he says, "...for preaching of the cross is to them that perish
foolishness. But unto us which are saved it
is the power of God." It is the power of God. Now, all who oppose
gospel preaching are foolish and perishing. Now, they can
say what they want to. God's Word says different. They
can claim to love Jesus. They can claim all they want
to. But if they neglect the foolishness of preaching, if they think that
preaching is a foolishness, that they can find some other way,
that there's some better means by which the Spirit of God teaches
us, then God says they're foolish and perishing. Some say, well,
I know more than the preacher. I don't think that would be hard.
If you want to dedicate yourself to study, I'm sure that you can
excel yourself in theological things far beyond what I can. But still, God has called me. God has called me. Someone says, I can do this for
my own family at my own home and I don't need the preaching
of the gospel. The problem with this is that
the preacher is called of God and that man is not. That man
is foolish and perishing in his sins for he declared by his disobedience
that the means and method of God is foolishness. But God calls him out. God calls
all men out who claim this to be foolishness, and He says,
I'll destroy your wisdom. You that think you're wise in
your own mind, I'll destroy it. How will He do that? Because
God saves His people by this means, and God feeds His people
by this means. I'll tell you, thousands of people
think they're saved who think this is foolishness. But God
says, I'll destroy your wisdom by saving my people and leaving
you to yourself. This is God's means. So on the
Lord's Day, this is what we do. This is why this is the center
of our worship, the preaching of the Gospel, because this is
how God conveys His love and His mercy upon men. This is the
power of God unto salvation. And His people rejoice in it.
His people rejoice in it. This is the day that God has
ordained for believers to come together and to be encouraged
and fed and saved. Hebrews 10.25 says, "...not forsaking
the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some
is, but exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see
the day approaching." I long for people to heed the voice
of that command. I long for God's people to listen
to what God says. We all want encouragement. Who
wants encouragement? That's a silly question, isn't
it? Who wants to be strengthened? Well, not me, Pastor. I don't
want to be. I've got enough strength. No, we want to be strengthened.
We want to be encouraged. Well, how is that possible? How
is God ordained for that to happen? Don't forsake the assembling
of yourselves together. That's how we encourage one another.
You have no idea how much you encourage me when you're faithful
to God's Word. You have no idea. I'm encouraged. I'm strengthened by it. And I
hope that you're strengthened by my faithfulness to preach
the Gospel to you. We strengthen each other in this. We encourage one another in this. And this is why it's necessary. And we should not forsake it,
for this is the Lord's day. How many people think this is
their day? How many people think that the
preacher should entertain them? How many people think that they
should be the ones that this day is for? No, this is God's
day. This is the Lord's day. And we
should rejoice in it. We should long to praise Him
in this day. And lastly, The Lord's Supper. I'll have
to hurry through this one. They break bread together. Look
at that in your text. He says, they met on the first
day of the week, and when the disciples came together, they came together
to break bread. This word means love feast. They came for a love feast, which
was the Lord's table. We know the Lord instituted two
ordinances for His church. Both of them very simple and
very plain. Not extravagant. Simple. Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Both of which are a picture of
what Christ has done for us. In baptism, we stand with Christ
in the water. We stand with Him that He lived
the righteous life for us in our stead. When we are submerged
or immersed in the water, we testify that we died with Christ
and buried with Christ. And when we come up, we testify
to men that we are risen with Christ. The Lord suffers the
same way with two things, wine and bread. Very simple, isn't
it? You know, I watched one ceremony
of that, and man, you see the man coming down the aisle with
the smoke, and you see all of these processions of people with
their big robes and their fancy words of Latin that they speak. Hogwash. God made it very simple
for every man to understand. A little child can understand
this. The bread pictures his body that
was broken. When you hold that bread, I see
the body of Christ and how it was broken for me. How He was a man of sorrows acquainted
with grief. And how He was wounded for our
transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. You see, it must
be by flesh. that sin is taken away because
it was by man that sin came. It must be by man that sin is
taken away. It was by man that sin entered.
It must be by man that righteousness entered. So when I see the body
of Christ in that bread, I see that He is my righteousness and
that His body was broken and He suffered for me. I see in
that wine, I see His blood. I see the blood of the new covenant.
The blood that takes away all my sins. The blood in which my
sins were imputed as Christ. And as God saw my sin in Christ,
the blood drained from His body as the Lamb of God for me. And
atoned for my sins. That's what I see in the wine.
I see His blood. And you know what else I see?
Listen to this. I see my unity with Christ. Don't you? What
do you do with that bread and wine? You eat it. You drink it. You see that bread
and that wine now become a part of me. And this shows our unity in Christ. He is our head and we are His
Body. How much is your head attached
to your body? How close is that? This is a
simple picture. It's not difficult for people
to understand. Everybody can see this. Your
head is attached to the body, and the body to the head, and
they're one. Well, guess what? I am one with
Christ. And God will never cast me out
because He'll never cast Christ out. I'm in Him. That's what it is to believe
in Christ. It is to be in Him. Unified with Him. One with Him. Father, I pray that they might
be one as we are one. I in them and Thou in me. Is that not simple? God's worship is simple, not
complicated. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is the Lord's Day. This
is the Lord's Supper. Let's worship Christ today. Pray
God will bless this to us.