Now, in Matthew 26, verses 17 and 20, and verses
26 and 29, I titled the message, Eating the
Bread and the Wine. We have now come to the Passover
and the instituting of the Lord's Table, what we call communion. And He's going to sit down with
His disciples, and He's going to eat the last
one with them. It says in verse 17 through 19,
Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, the disciples
came to Jesus, saying unto Him, Where wilt Thou that we prepare
for Thee to eat the Passover? And He said, Go into the city
to such a man, and saying to him, The Master saith, My time
is at hand. I will keep the Passover at thy
house with my disciples.' And the disciples did as Jesus had
appointed them, and they made ready the Passover." What we have here is the true
Passover lamb has come to replace the tithe. As it is written in
1 Corinthians 5, 7, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. The true Passover Lamb has come. As you know, the Passover was
established back in Exodus chapter 12 when the children of Israel
were in Egypt. And they were to keep this each
year to commemorate their deliverance out of Israel, or out of Egypt,
I mean, Israel out of Egypt. And as they would observe the
Passover, the fathers would teach their children what it meant. And they would do this year after
year, as often as they did it, because when they went into captivity
and there was times they didn't do it, couldn't do it. And when they did this, Israel
of old, they did it to commemorate, to remember an event. We do it when we take the Lord's
table, we do it to remember a person. Christ said, as often as you
eat this bread and drink this cup, You do show forth the Lord's
death till He comes. We do this in remembrance of
Him, of our Lord. Now we come to the supper. And
as they were eating, Jesus took bread, there in verse 26, Jesus
took bread and blessed it and break it. and gave it to the
disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body. And he took
the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink
ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which
is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you,
I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until
that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. Now, one of the first things
I want to notice is the simplicity, the simplicity in which the Lord's
table was held. There were no ceremonies, no
hoopla, just our Lord with His disciples sitting at the table
along with Christ. The bread was broke, the wine
was served, they took it, it was just that simple. It was
done reverently, respectfully, but it was done in simplicity.
The bread and the wine, the bread was broken, they drank the cup
of wine, and that was it. There was no ceremony done. Then
notice the simplicity of the elements. They took unleavened
bread and wine. Unleavened bread to represent
His sinless body, and wine to represent His blood. And we dare
not use anything else. We do not use grape juice. We
do not just use what's available or what's convenient. We use
unleavened bread and we use the wine, just as our Lord had established. If you also notice, In the reading
of that, there were not 12 loaves of bread. There was not 12 loaves
given out. There was one loaf. One loaf
of bread. And they all ate of that one
loaf. There's only one gospel. There's
only one way to God. There is only one salvation.
And that salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only one. And we eat of that one bread
or we don't eat at all. Now there have been much error
made over the Lord's table. The Catholics teach that the
bread and the wine turn into the body and blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They do not. They absolutely
do not. You eat the bread and the wine
and they stay the bread and the wine. They do not change into
anything. But I didn't realize this until
I was studying this past week that Martin Luther, had taught
in the early part of his years after he had come to the truth,
he taught that the bread and the wine were mystically and
spiritually transformed into the body and blood of Christ,
and so that the elements themselves became holy and they conveyed
grace to the partaker. But after he read John Calvin's
view on it, he changed his mind and he changed what he had to
say about it. They do not even mystically or
spiritually turn to the Body and Blood of Christ. They do
not convey grace to those who take it. However you are when you take
it is the same as after you take it. You're the same. It doesn't
change you. Just like baptism does not wash away sin. that
water, if I baptize or when I baptize someone, it does not wash away
your sins. Baptism is a confession, it is
a confession before the church of your identification with Christ
and with the church. It's identification. It doesn't
add anything to you. And whoever baptizes you doesn't
add anything to you. Whoever serves you at the Lord's
table doesn't add anything to it. at all. Now it says in verse 26, He blessed
the bread or He gave thanks. That's what He's saying. He gave
thanks for what it signified. It signified salvation. is signified
salvation for His people. Our Lord knew exactly what was
going to happen to Him. When He broke that bread, I know
they didn't understand all that meant, and I know they didn't,
because Peter said, No, Lord, I'll die for You. I won't forsake
You. You can't go. You cannot die. Remember that?
He said, You can't go to the cross. Well, I know they didn't
understand all that, but He did. When He broke that bread, He
understood, and the Lord was showing to them My body, this
bread represents my body. And it's got to be broken. I
have to die. If you're going to be saved,
I've got to die for you. I've got to die for you, die
for your sins, and put them away. He knew the death he must accomplish,
and he knew who it was for, and he gave thanks. He gave thanks. And after he gave thanks, it
says he'd break it. He's showing us here His willingness
to die. Our Lord was willing, and I cannot
emphasize that strong enough, He was willing to lay down His
life for the sheep. You believe the gospel? If you
believe it's because God has saved you and Jesus Christ was
willing to take your hell, your punishment, and your place, Willing
to do it. Willing to be broken. Shows his
willingness. He said in John 10.18, No man
takes my life from me, I lay it down of myself. I lay it down
of myself. And then after he break it, he
gave it to his disciples. He gave it. He gave it. He gave himself for our sins. He broke the bread and he gave
it to them and he gave it to them to eat. When we receive Christ, we're
not receiving Christ the healer, Christ the good man. We receive
Christ crucified. Christ died for me. Christ died
for me. That's what we're saying. Anyone will accept Christ the
healer. Anyone will accept Christ the man going about doing good.
It's Christ crucified. It's what does that say about
me? When you look at the cross, you realize what that says about
you and me? I realize, as a believer, and
you realize as believers, ones of you who believe, you realize
that for such a person to have to die such a death, such a ignominious
death, how bad must I have to be? How bad must I be for him
to have to do that? That's what it says about me. He broke the bread he gave to
his disciples, and notice what he says to them. Take, eat, this is my body. This bread represents my body.
Now we know that bread itself was not His body, just like He
said, I am the door. We know that the door is not
Him. It's a representation of Him. Look over in John 6. In John chapter 6, look in verse
35, I'll start, no, verse 30, I'll
start in verse 30. They said, therefore unto him,
what signs showest thou then that we may see and believe thee? What dost thou work? Our fathers
did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, he gave them
bread from heaven to eat. And Jesus said unto them, verily,
verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from
heaven, but my father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth
life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord
evermore, give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am. I am the bread of life. He that
cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. Now look over in verse... look
to verse 48. He says in verse 48 again, I
am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. It's evident the bread they ate
had nothing to do with life. He didn't give them life. You
know bread doesn't... what you eat does not give you
life. It just sustains it. It sustains the physical life
of this body. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh. which I will give for the life
of the world, not the Jews only, but for Gentiles also." That's
why He's saying it. Now look in verse 60. In verse
60, listen, "...many therefore of His disciples, when they had
heard this, said, This is a hard saying. Who can hear it? Because our Lord was talking
about, he that eats my flesh and drinks my blood. And they
said, well, this is a hard saying. You see there in verse 55, for
my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He that
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I
in him. They thought he was talking about
cannibalism. When they heard that, when they heard that, This
is what happens when human reasoning takes over and God does not give
you spiritual understanding. They said, this is a hard saying. We're not cannibals. Go eat his
flesh and drink his blood. Now, verse 60, Many therefore
of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard
saying. Who can hear it? Who can receive
this? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at
it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What, and if you
shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? Listen,
it is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh, prophets. Nothing,
the words I'm speaking to you, they're Spirit. They're Spirit
and they're spiritual. I'm talking to you about spiritual
things." See, they're thinking fleshly things. They're thinking
of natural things. He said, I'm talking to you about
spiritual things. And they are life. And there are some of you
that believed not for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were
that believed not and who should betray. And many of them from
that time forth went away. They followed Him no more. They
didn't follow Him. Take, eat, this is my body. This is spiritual eating. This
is spiritual taking. And he says here, Take and eat,
no one is force-fed Christ. He didn't force-feed them. We
are willing to take spiritually, in a spiritual sense. We are
willing by faith to eat His flesh and drink His blood. We believe
that the Son of God came into this world, took upon Him flesh,
and was crucified. We receive that. You know what
that is? That's eating Christ. That's feeding upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what that is. The Scripture
says in 1 Peter 2.24, "...who His own self bare our sins in
His own body on the tree." I believe that. I do. I believe that Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, in the flesh, died on the cross, bore my sins
in His body on the tree. That is what it is to receive
Christ. That's what it is to eat Christ
by faith. That's to eat His flesh and drink
His blood. It's a spiritual thing. And then He took the cup in verse
27. He took the cup and gave thanks
and gave it to them saying, Drink ye all of it. all of it. You notice when he
took the cup, he also gave thanks. When I read that, it just jumped
out at me. This is one man, the man Christ
Jesus, who gave thanks for absolutely everything. Everything. I thank you, Father. I thank
you, I thank you. The most grateful man that ever
walked this earth is Jesus Christ. I thank you. When the sun come
up, I thank you. When they sit down to eat, I
thank you. He thanked him for everything.
But now here we come to the cup of wine, which represents his
blood. represents His blood. In Hebrews
9.22, listen, And almost all things are by the law purged
with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission. The law calls for the shedding
of my blood, the soul that sinneth shall surely die. The law of
God calls for my blood, and without the shedding of blood
there's no remission. Scripture says, it's the blood
that cleanses us from all sin. It's written in 1 John 1.7, but
if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us
from all sin. There is no sin that the blood
of Christ cannot cleanse us from. No sin. No sin. The blood of
Christ answers for all my sins. Brother, here's the good news.
Here's the good news of the gospel. Christ's blood was shed under
punishment, under punishment of law for my sins. The reason I say my sins is because
I believe the gospel for your sins. Do you believe the gospel?
His blood was shed under punishment of law for your sins. Therefore
God can forgive me. God can forgive me because His
law is satisfied. The demand of the law has been
answered. It's answered in the blood of
Jesus Christ. So all my sins have been dealt
with. And God Almighty can be a just
God and a Savior toward me. And He says to them, Drink ye
all of it. This is not a taste test. It's
not a taste test. There are some things I don't
like to drink. There are some wines I don't
like. Some wines I don't like the taste of. It don't matter. This is not a taste test. It's
all of Christ or none of Christ. We receive Christ as He's revealed
in the Scriptures or we don't receive Him at all. We don't
just, like we do, especially when you're a kid growing up,
you just pick at your food. You don't want to eat the greens,
you don't want to eat this, but you like that, and you'll eat
that. That's not the way it is. You eat all of it. It's either
all of Christ, or it's none of it. It's either the way He's
revealed in the Scriptures, or it's no Christ at all. No Christ
at all. Drink ye all of it, for this
is my blood of the New Testament." This is human blood. It's human
blood. It's God's blood. Acts 20, 28. You've been redeemed by the blood
of God, purchased by the blood of God. And it's precious blood. It's the blood of the Lamb. It's
the precious blood of the Lamb of God. But it's real blood. And he said, this wine represents
my blood. Drink all of it. And listen, and this blood is
the blood of the New Testament or the new will and testament.
This is what ratifies that new covenant. This is what ratifies
that new will and testament of grace. In Hebrews 13, 20, now
the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of
the everlasting covenant. This is the blood that ratified
the covenant of grace. And this is the blood, this is
the blood that allows God to be a just God and a savior. Shedding
my blood will not satisfy the law. You know that? If me dying,
if me suffering, if my blood being shed satisfied God's law,
then there would be an end to hell. The reason hell is eternal,
the reason it lasts forever and ever and ever is because you
and I can never satisfy God by our suffering. Because all the
time we'd be suffering, we'd be shaking our fist in God's
face. You know, it says when this world experiences the wrath
of the Lamb, they're going to call for the mountains and the
rocks to fall on them and hide them from the face of the Lamb,
of the wrath of the Lamb. You don't hear of them asking
for mercy or crying for mercy. They don't do it. You know when
that man, when that rich man lifted up his eyes in hell, being
in torment, he said, Father Abraham, send someone back to my brother's
house, to my brothers, and remind, and tell them of this place.
Warn them of this place. And that's exactly what Arminianism
does. Arminianism is warning people
about the place. They're not telling them about
a person. Jesus Christ. Don't warn them about the place.
Warn them about God. You're about to meet God. Every
time somebody dies, and I hear about it, I always think they
know who God is now. They know who God is. They have
met Jesus Christ. He's not someone you hear about
now. He's someone that's very real. If you meet him as your savior,
what a day that'll be. But out of Christ? Nobody in
hell ever repents. They're just anger with God.
What's the scripture say? Weeping and wailing and gnashing
of teeth. That's anger. That's unleashed
anger. That's unleashed hatred. Not
just toward one another down there, but toward God also. My blood, my death wouldn't please
God's law. The Scripture says He takes no
pleasure in the death of the wicked. God finds no satisfaction
in the death of the wicked. But I'll tell you where He does
find it at. In the death of Jesus Christ.
In the death of Christ. Flee to Christ. That's what I
say to every sinner. Flee to the Lord Jesus Christ.
There's where safety is. There's where God is satisfied.
It's right there. Right there. And he says in verse 28, for this is my blood
of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission
of sins. Shed for many, many, many. Look over in Romans 5. In Romans
5. Let me show you representation
here. In Romans 5, look in verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. That many spoken of in that verse
are the many they represented. That's representation. That's
what that is. Everyone for whom Christ died
shall be saved, not one shall perish. That's the truth. That's
the truth. You know, the scripture says
Christ died for sinners, and those sinners are going to be
saved. Christ died for the ungodly. And I've said this so many times
from this pulpit, you can't even find him in prison. Go to prison, go to the local
jail, and they'll have an excuse why they're there. They'll have
an excuse for why they did what they did. But you find a sinner,
and this is the work of God, who says, against thee and thee
only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. I make no
excuse for what I've done and what I am. I am what I am. I am a vile, sinful person, and
I need you. I need you to save me, Lord,
from myself and from my sins. And God is going to save a multitude
of sinners. The blood of Jesus Christ was
not shed in vain. If anyone perishes, now listen,
if anyone perishes for whom Christ died, His blood was shed in vain
for that person. And it does not say, you know,
Christ did not just die for sins and then if I activate it by
faith, then I can apply it to myself. He didn't die just for sin. Sins
belong to someone. You know that? Sins belong to
someone. Sin's not something floating
out there in the air. You know, apart from us, there
wouldn't be any sin. There wouldn't be none. Take us out of the pictures
and there's no sin. Take Satan and the devils and
us. Christ died Listen, look over
in Isaiah 53. I'm trying to think of something
here. Let me see if I can find it. Isaiah 53. Now I want you to listen to the
language of Isaiah 53. This portion of scripture, Isaiah
53, has to do with the substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's speaking
of him. Now let me look in verse four.
Surely he hath borne our grease. He didn't say surely he hath
borne grease and carried sorrow. It's our, it belongs to someone.
Yet we did esteem him strict and smitten of God and afflicted,
but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our inequities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed." They belong to someone. They belong to someone. Now, who are the ones that are to take the Lord's table. Because there's much controversy
over who should take it. He's sitting there with His disciples.
He's not sitting down in the street. He's sitting with His
disciples in a private room in a private place. Who should take
the Lord's table when it's served? Believers and only believers. Those who believe on and love
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who it's for. The only
hedge around the Lord's table is this. Do you believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ? There are some who teach that
unless you belong to that local church that you can't take of
it. That's not so. It's the Lord's table. It's not
my table. It's not your table. It's the Lord's table we're taking. It's not, have you sinned or
not sinned? Have you been good boys and girls this week or not?
No, you haven't. I'll just answer that question
for you right now. No, you haven't. You say, well, wait a minute.
We haven't gone out and done a lot of... You and I know both
that what goes on in this heart, what goes through our minds,
If that was the case, it would run us from the table. It would. It would run us from the table.
Listen, Peter is going to deny Him shortly, and all the disciples
are going to be scattered. Do you know when Peter said,
I will not deny you, I'm going to go with you? You know it says
that all the other disciples said the same thing. They all
said the same thing. They all agreed with him. We're
behind you, Peter. We're with you. But God just made an example
out of Peter because he's the one brought it up. That's why the scripture says,
examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith, examine yourselves.
Over in Corinthians, we'll be looking at that here just shortly
in our Bible class. I think it's next week, maybe. But anyway, we are to discern
when we take the Lord's table, do we understand what's going
on? Do we understand? That is, do
we discern? Has the Lord given us an understanding? The Scripture
says in 1 John 5, the Son of God hath come and given us an
understanding. I understand that bread and that
wine represent His body and His blood, and I understand it was
shed for a multitude of sinners, and I'm a sinner. I am a sinful
man. Like Peter said, Lord, depart
from me. I am a sinful man. I am a sinner in need of mercy,
I'm a sinner in need of grace, I'm a sinner in need of washing. John Bunyan called him a Jerusalem
sinner. But he says here in verse 29,
But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit
of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my
Father's kingdom." I don't know what all he's saying here. I'm
not even going to pretend I know. But I do know this. He is saying
this. We will not gather like this
again on this earth. This is the last one. They walked
with him for three years. They were with him for three
years. And for three years they did this. And he said, this is
the last one. This is the last one. Next time
you and I meet, It'll be in the kingdom of God, in the physical
presence. He's with us spiritually. He's
with us spiritually when we meet together and when we gather around
the Lord's table, just like this morning. But He's saying this,
as we have been meeting and doing this Passover, it's not going
to happen again. It's not going to be that way again. But let
me close with abounding grace here. And when they had sung
a hymn, I bet he could sing in tune.
I bet he could sing in tune. And when they had sung a hymn,
they went out into the Mount of Olives. Then says Jesus unto them, All
ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written,
and it's over in Zechariah 13, 7, I will smite the shepherd. I, who will? The Romans, the Jews, God said,
I, I will do it. Awake, O sword,
against my fellow, against the Lord Jesus Christ, that's who
he's talking about. God was there at Calvary taking
out his wrath on his son. I will smite the shepherd, and
the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad." And our
Lord says in verse 32, but after I am risen again, I will go before
you into Jerusalem. Our Lord always quoted the Scripture.
He pointed them back to the Scripture so that they could confirm their
faith. And they were all offended. Remember,
they're all scattered. You say, I wouldn't do that.
If I was there, I would have stopped them. No, you wouldn't.
They were like a scared rabbit, just like the rest of them did. They were all offended and confused. You remember those two men on
the road to Emmaus over in Luke 24-21? Our Lord was walking along. He said He held their eyes. They
couldn't see who He was. He's walking right beside of
them. The Lord Jesus, walking right beside those two men, and
it says He held their eyes, they couldn't see who He was. But
they see this man, they're walking with Him. This is amazing to
me. They're walking with Him, and they're talking about this
whole event of His crucifixion. And they said this, We trusted
that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel. They were
so confused. We thought He was the Messiah. How fickle we are, but notice
how gracious He is. But after I am risen again, I'll
go before you into Galilee. I will never leave you nor forsake
you." It's written in, I think it's 2 Timothy. If we believe
not, yet He abideth faithful, He cannot deny Himself. He's
their master. He's their Savior. They doubted that we thought
he was the Messiah. He is. He is. If you'll remember the rest of
that story over there in Luke, over there in Luke chapter 24,
after he opened her eyes and then he vanished out of their
sight, and they said, did not our hearts burn within us when
he talked with us? Did not our hearts burn within
us? I think Paul Mahan has a message on that on spiritual heartburn.
Did not our hearts burn within us? Romans 4, 8 says, blessed is
the man to whom God will not impute sin. We have our moments of doubt. And that's shameful and sad.
But our Lord abides faithful. He knoweth them that are His,
and He never leaves us nor forsakes us. Even when we're saying, well,
I thought He was the Messiah. Well, He is. He is. And I say once again this morning, eat by faith. the bread of life and drink his
blood. All that is, is to believe on
him. To believe on him, receive him, and follow after him.