back in the passage where our
brother read a moment ago, Matthew 26. I'd like to speak out of the 26th, 27th,
and 28th verse. But as he was reading, I was
looking at that passage of Scripture back just a few verses before. When the Lord said in verse 21,
As they did eat, He said, You know, this may seem like
an insignificant thing, but I just think even just reading that
part, he said, I mean, just to stop and think, he actually was
made flesh. He was sitting there with them.
He came to this earth. He was the God-man. He was a man. It was a flash. He was sitting there. Peter says, We beheld Him. We
touched Him. I mean, we heard Him. And He said to him in verse 21,
Verily, truly, I say unto you, One of you shall betray me. One
of you is going to hand me over. The omniscient God, He knew. He knew. He knew who it was. It sat right there with Him.
He knew it. He knew His thoughts. He knew what He had done. He purposed. And they were exceeding, verse
22, exceeding sorrowful, just crushed them.
One of you, they knew. I mean, Peter had said not too
far back, the Lord asked him, he said, Who do men say that
I am? And I gave some, you know, a
few, John the Baptist, Jeremiah, Elijah, who do you say I am? And Peter said, You're the Christ. You're the promised one. You're
the Messiah. You're the one who spoke this
world into existence. You were from the beginning.
You're the everlasting God. You're God. You're God in flesh. You're the Christ. You're the
Savior. That's who you are. And he said, Peter, flesh and
blood, you didn't come up with that. You don't know that. Man
by nature thinks he knows that. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. Those that believe this morning,
you, within your very being, You, by the grace of God, know
some things by His revelation that you just by nature couldn't
know. You just wouldn't know it. You
realize some things by divine inspiration. He just breathed
that into your heart. By His Spirit, He has indwelled
you. teaches you, dwells with you. Peter said, ìYouíre the Christ.î
He said, ìFlesh and blood didnít reveal that to you, but my Father,
which is in heaven.î And they looked on him and they
loved him, desired him. just touched Him, heard Him. These men, these disciples, they
learned the gospel from His very lips. He taught them. I mean, we're blessed people.
I heard a man preach one day. I told somebody one day, I heard
a man named Henry Mahan preach the gospel. I never heard that
before. That's an amazing message. These men heard the gospel. They heard it. He taught them
the gospel himself. That's the apostles. The apostles heard the message
from the Lord himself. And the Lord now is speaking
to them, and he said, one of you is going to betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful. They knew. This is not just a
man saying this. This is Christ himself. And he knows what he's talking
about. And they began, every one of
them, to say unto him, Lord, is it me? Is it I? They knew. They knew the tendency
of their heart. They knew it. I mean for him to say, one of
you is going to betray me. And they all just honest about
it. Am I the one? The very thought that I would
do it, makes me exceeding sorrowful. But I know, left to myself, that
tendency is there. You leave me to myself, and I'll
betray you. I'll turn you over. Lord, keep
me, because if you don't, I will. I will absolutely turn you over. Verse 26 says, As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and he blessed
it, and he broke it, and he gave it to the disciples. And he said,
Take, eat, this is my body. He took the cup, and he gave
thanks. He gave it to them, saying, Drink
ye all of it. This is my blood of the New Testament,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins." The crucifixion of our Lord was
imminent. It was soon. And he ate and he drank of the
Passover with his disciples. They were—that's what he just
said. Samuel was reading that. Verse
17, it says the Lord sent. He said, you go and you
find this certain one. You tell him. You say, we want
to eat the Passover together. Here he shows forth in this,
the Lord's Supper. death, surely he was going to
have to die. Not only did he show the surety,
the certainty of his death, but he set forth the purpose of his
death. It reminds me of—I heard a story
of a little boy, and he asked his mother, he said, Why did
Jesus die? And she said, He died for sins. You say, but yeah, but why? Why
did he have to die? Why did he have to lay down his
life? He says right here, in the twenty-eighth
verse, for the remission of sins of many. That's why. He didn't die for an example. It wasn't that he was dying as
just to show, well, this is what, you know, will happen if you don't act
right or, you know. He wasn't dying to make salvation
possible. He was dying as a substitute.
He died for many, is what he said. He put away the guilt for
many, many. For the remission of sins—remission,
that means the freedom from, the pardon, the forgiveness of,
the remission—put it away. Put them away. We said this morning
in Sunday school, this is what a believer wants to know. Tell
me how Christ has put away my guilt. Tell me one more time
how. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that be in Christ. Tell me what it is to be in Christ.
Tell me how He paid my debt. His body and His blood, His body,
true body, a body has Thou prepared for me, a body prepared in the
book of God's purpose, God's decree, God's covenant grace,
a body. formed by the Spirit of God. Scripture says that holy thing
that was made, prepared, in the womb of a virgin, the Son of God, closed Himself, God Himself, closed in flesh, one that he'd dwelt in and absolutely
performed the will of Almighty God. The man, Christ Jesus. I stop and think just a moment,
think there was a man, God-man. the man who lived, died, raised
from the grave, the man ascended into heaven. A man, the man who
sits on the throne of Almighty God. God Himself, the man the God-man who ever
liveth to make intercession for the saints, for his people, who
answers to his blood that ever speaketh." He said right here, as they were
eating, Christ himself, that body prepared
by the Spirit of God. In Psalm 47, 40, verse 7, it
says, Lo, I come in the volume of the book. It is written of
me. That's what this book is all
about. It's about Him. I delight to do Thy will, O my
God, I delight to do that." We spoke this morning, God's people,
they, the will is present with them. But how to perform that
which they would, they find not. Here's what he said, I delight
to do thy will. Here's the God-man. the rites,
his delight, his desire, his longing, his meat. That's what
he said. This is what I feast on. I feast
on doing his will. My meat is to do his will. One
sent me. And he did that for his people.
I delight to do it. I obey for them. I live for them. and his blood they were eating. He took the bread and he took
the cup, his blood. In 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19, the
Scripture says, For as much as you know that you were not redeemed
with corruptible things. Just think about this, corruptible
things. Everything in this world, in
this life, is passing away. You were not redeemed, bought
back, paid for. The ransom was not—the price
of payment. You were not redeemed, bought
back, with corruptible things of silver and gold from your
vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious, the precious, the precious blood of Christ,
as of lamb without blemish and without spot." The precious blood. Scripture didn't say he shed
his blood, he said his precious blood. And as the Scripture describes
his blood as being precious, it's precious. Precious. Without the blemish
of original pollution, Was that the spot of actual sin? The precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was precious to the Father. There was a sweet-smelling savor
with which he was well pleased, because it was shared as the
ransom price, as the atonement for his chosen people. Precious
to the Father, precious blood. Let me ask you this. You that
believe, is it precious to you? It is precious to all his people,
those that have trusted him, cast themselves upon him. For
by it, they're justified. Through it, they have the forgiveness
of sins. And think about it. It's not
by works of righteousness that you've done. As we did say this morning, God's
people long after obeying Him, following after Him, trusting
Him. They're long after it. But His people, pardoned by His
blood, salvations of the Lord. free grace. What did you do? What have you done? The number
one merit? Accomplish it? Maintain it? What have you done? Nothing.
But I tell you this, you don't think rightly of it. It's precious,
precious blood. God's people's peace with God
reconciliation to him made by the blood, the precious blood,
sanctified. And by his blood you have boldness
to enter into the holiest of all. The blood of Christ covers,
cover God's people to even speak to him. in prayer. You know, Father, we come to
you by the blood in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't approach you in ourselves.
We don't even speak to you. Outside of Christ, God is a consuming
fire. Christ satisfied. By him we come, by him, by his
blood. He took the bread, the Scripture
says. You know by now, you know this
is a picture of him. Here he is, in type. Christ himself, the bread of
God, That's what the Lord said in John 6.33, "...the bread of
God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto
the world." The bread of life that a man comes to and never
hungers, that a man believes on and never thirsts, the bread
himself, bread which is truly fit in its picture. and its type of that which satisfies
hunger. Right now, God's people, they
feast on Him. You think to yourself, this is
bread to me. This is life. This is meat. This is drink. It's Him. This
satisfies my soul. Tell me about Him. I want to
talk about Him. I want to hear about Him. Tell
me about Him who has come, the bread of life that has come down
from heaven. Tell me about Him whose blood
was shed for the remission of those many. I believe He died for me. And
in that, I've got some comfort. It says that the Lord, as they were
eating, He took the bread and He blessed it. He did give thanks for it, but
in the blessing of that bread, that in type is a picture of
Himself. Blessed of the Father, sent by
God. Blessed. I look that word blessed
up. You know what it means? Now,
we hear that word all the time. Blessed. It means pronounced
holy. That's what it means. Consecrated. The Lord blessed
the bread. Who alone is worthy to be blessed? If I just said a moment ago,
that's what the Scripture says, this holy thing. Holy. Consecrated. Sanctified. That's what it means. He blessed
it. Sanctified. You know what that
word means? Set apart. There's a glass of water. If
I had two glasses of water, and I took one and I just set it
over here, I said, now that right there, anybody who wants a drink,
now you come get this one. Now that one over there that
I just set right there, that one is, that's mine. Okay? Sanctified, set apart. Set apart. pronounced holy, sanctified.
The Lord Jesus Christ, in John 17, 19, sanctified himself. Now, let me ask you this. Are
God's people sanctified in Christ, set apart? Yes, they are. He himself, he said, sanctified
himself that his own might be sanctified through the truth.
He sanctified himself, and they in him. Why are God's people
sanctified and looked upon by Almighty God as accepted only
in the Beloved? Accepted in Him. The elect are
not worthy in themselves. They're unworthy of all but condemnation. But Christ himself, he said,
I sanctify myself for them. Turn with me to Psalm 92. Psalm 92. I'm sorry,
32. Psalm 32. Psalm 32. I sanctify myself, the Lord said
in John 17. Psalm 32 says, Blessed is he
whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed,
you see that word blessed, set apart, sanctified. The Lord took the bread and he
blessed it. He blessed the bread. is he whose transgression is
forgiven. Blessed, verse 2 of Psalm 32,
blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,
and whose spirit there is no guile. Blessed, set apart. Let me ask you this. Are God's
people, have they been blessed in that there is no iniquity? charged to them, imputed to them. Are they blessed people? Scripture says they are. We talk
about people being blessed, and we think all of a sudden, you
know, they've got a nice car and a nice home, they've got
a nice bank account, and they've got something. For a man gains
the whole world and loses his soul. Is that man blessed? No. Blessed is the man to whom
the Lord will not impute iniquity. That's a blessed man. Blessed. The Lord Jesus Christ, back in
Matthew 26 now, deals with the Father on his own merit, applied
himself to God's justice, one ready, one willing, one able
to lay down his life a ransom for many. The Lord took the bread,
and he blessed it. Blessed. There is the glorified
man set apart on high, the object of his people's affection and
worship. Blessed. Blessed. All that the Father displayed
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, You see me? You've seen
the Father. Blessed. He took it. He blessed it. Then the scripture
says, He break it. Now, you look at the—here's how
it goes. Took that breath. Picture That's
blessed bread. That's blessed. That's blessed
bread. Picture of himself. He broke
it. I want you to turn with me to
Luke 24. Luke 24. I won't read this whole
passage for time's sake. This is the story of the two
on the road to Emmaus. There's some passages that when
I read them, they just, to me, and I know you're like this,
there's just some passages you read and they just absolutely
just stir your heart. There's just some that just the
Spirit of God has taught you something out of those passages,
and you rejoice in them. Now, in Matthew 26, this is what
the Scripture said. The Lord took it, He blessed
it, He broke it, and He gave it to them. That's what it said
in Matthew 26. Look in Luke 24, and in verse 30. Two on the road to Emmaus. came
into their house. It said, Came to pass, as he
sat at meat with them, he took the bread, took bread, and he
blessed it, and he broke it, and he gave it to them, and their
eyes were opened. And they knew it, and they vanished
out of their sight. These men went and told some
other people what had happened. In verse 35, it says, And they
told what things were done in the way, and how he was known
of them in the breaking of bread. When he took that bread, blessed
it, and he broke it, they saw him. They saw him. And they knew him. They said
before, they said, our hearts burned in us, within us, as he
opened unto us the scriptures. They saw him. The Scripture says he'd break
it, back in Matthew 26. Bullets, what a fit picture. Takes some corn, takes some wheat,
whatever that bullet's made out of, it's bruised, it's ground
in a mill and baked in an oven. The Lord Jesus Christ, bruised,
pierced by our sins, broken the mill of God's wrath and affliction. He suffered in our state. That's what we're talking about.
Tell me again how he suffered in my place, not how he made
salvation possible for me. I don't want to know how—if his
salvation is possible. And all that's left is for me
to do something. Don't tell me that I've got to
do something, because I'm just like those disciples when he
said, one of you is going to betray me. Lord, is it me? Or don't leave it to me. Lord, you leave it to me. I'm
not going to do it. I'm not going to make it. Salvation
must be by grace. It must be. Or I don't have any
hope. Boy, tell me how the bread was
taken and how it was blessed of God, how it was broken. Tell me how you took my guilt
upon you. And you paid my debt, and you
put away my sin. Tell me how my sin is cast as
far as the east is from the west. Tell me how it's cast behind
God's back. He's not going to look on it.
Tell me how iniquity is not going to be charged to me. I know.
I know. that there is in myself, in my
flesh, I know that there's something in me that is condemnable. I know that in me there's sin. I know that. But tell me how
he took the penalty of that sin and put it away. Tell me how
I'm free in Christ. Tell me that. Tell me how God
Almighty is going to deal with me totally in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Tell me again how His blood is
going to answer. Tell me in that day how I stand
before Him in a substitute. Tell me how God Almighty will
look upon me for Christ's sake, for Christ's sake, for Christ's
sake. and say to me, for his sake,
well done. That's salvation by grace. That's salvation by grace. Sovereign
saving grace. He took the bread, he blessed
it, he break it, suffered. And then he gave it to his disciples.
Gave it to them. He gave it to them. He gave it
to them. He didn't offer it to them. Said,
now if you take it, you know, he gave it to them. He said,
I give unto them eternal life. Gave himself. My sheep," he said, "'hear my
voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them
eternal life.'" I give it to them. The Father chose them, Christ
redeemed them, gives them life. As he gave that bread to his
disciples, He gives eternal life to his sheep. Eternal life. Eternal life. It's not earned. It's not merited. Not won by
man's effort or cunning or will. It's the free gift of God. Sovereign, saving grace. Free grace. Take, eat. This is my body. It's broken
for you. And those disciples, they took
it, and they ate it. That's what God's people do.
He just gives it to them. They sit back here, and they
hear this message, and they eat it. And they say, it's good. It's the favor of life. Doesn't this sound like life?
This is life. You sit in the air just thinking,
just, you say, you know what, this is real. This is it. This is what it's all about.
It's concerning him. Christ himself, feasted upon,
took our guilt. He said, unless you eat the flesh
of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
He said, here, take it, eat it. Here, take it. They took it.
Ate it. He broke it. Broke it, broke
through. Take it, eat it. They ate. The bread that he gives is his
flesh, and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
breaking of his body, is received. Take it and eat it. It gives
him a heart. And clearly that heart, that
heart, that heart eats it, takes it. There is the birth of that
new heart, that new mind. They just feast on it. Evermore. What did that woman
at that well say? Evermore. Give me that bread. We feast upon the risen Lord. Man died spiritually by eating
the bitten fruit. Man is made alive spiritually.
by eating of Christ. A man died by eating, and he's
made alive by eating. In verse 27, he took the cup,
and he gave thanks, and he gave it to all of them. And he said,
Drink, drink ye all of it. This is my blood of the New Testament,
which is shed for many, for the remission of sins. As his body
was broken, blood was shed. Without the shedding of blood,
he had blood. There's no remission of sin,
no forgiveness, no pardon. That blood that was shed wasn't
the amount of blood, it's whose blood. Who put away? Who was dying? Who was that that
was hanging on that cross? What a—there's not even a word
to describe who he was. The God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
God dealing with God. For those that the Father had
chosen, Christ redeems. Here He was. God dealing with
God for His elect. Putting away their guilt. Putting away their sin. Redeeming
them. Satisfying God. This law never
was the law of God more honored. Calvary. Honored. obedience, satisfaction, justice. I mean the love of Almighty God
for His own. There He was, under His wrath and justice,
the Lord Jesus Christ, made to be sin. Almighty God You think
he would just absolutely just forget about it? Guilt found
on him. Justice must be satisfied. Just like in Egypt, when the
blood of the lamb was applied to the doorpost, and God saw
the blood, what'd he do? He said, I passed over. Where
the blood was not found. death was. When I see the blood,
not when I see your free will or not when I see your baptism,
not when I see you sitting in church, when I see the blood, it's by the blood that the church
was purchased, by the blood that we're cleansed from all sin It's
the blood that washes the believer's white robes white, the Lord Jesus Christ. He said,
I laid down my life, shed my blood
for the remission of many, many that were ordained to eternal
life, many that were given to the Lord Jesus Christ. many that
were justified by him, the many sons that he himself will take
to glory. This is the blood, he said, of
the New Testament. This is my blood. This is the
cup. Drink all of it. That's what
God's people say. Lord, I drink of you, all of
you. I eat of you. I feast on you. I look to you. It's my body,
broken for you. Take it. Eat it. Here's the cup. My blood. New Testament. Drink all of it. Our Father, how thankful we are
that we have this time to come before you to thank you, to praise
you. We ask you to forgive us for
we have thought so lightly on these indescribably wonderful
passages of Scripture. We ask you, Lord, even now calls us to remember
these things. It's when we eat and drink together
of the Lord's table, we remember Him. We remember that joy and privilege of hearing. We remember being chosen. We remember the life you lived,
the death you died. Remember the resurrection raised
for our justification. Lord, cause these things to be
hidden within our heart, for Christ's sake. Amen. I want to take a... Let's turn
to 236. I want to sing, I think it's
had amazing grace, 236. I want to sing a couple of verses of that, and
then I'll ask Brother Sammy to come up and dismiss it. So let's
stand together, 236. Well, let's sing all four. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me I was lost but now I'm found,
was blind but now I see. ♪ Was raised that told my heart
to fear ♪ ♪ And raised my fears to relieve ♪ ♪ How precious did
that grace appear ♪ ♪ The hour I first believed Through many
dangers, walls, and stairs, I have already come. Tis grace that brought me safe
thus far, and grace will lead me home. When we've been there ten thousand
years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing
God's praise than when we first begun.