Take your Bibles and go to the
book of Luke and we'll get into the 22nd chapter. Look at a few
verses here. Luke, the 22nd chapter. I spoke in the first session
in our Bible study of the necessity of the Spirit of God being with
us when we open up the Scriptures. I hope we all recognize and understand
that, as John the Baptist said, a man can receive nothing except
it be given him from heaven. As I look into your faces, as
Susanna was singing that wonderful song, and I was just kind of
glancing around the auditorium, thinking about the fact that
I'm about to speak to people who are going out into eternity, I'm going to speak to people
who will someday meet God. I just felt so helpless in and of myself. I do ask God to bless as we enter
into the study of His Word this morning. I need help. And you do too. If we're to receive anything
of any value to our souls, God's going to have to give it. God's
going to have to speak to me. And God's going to have to speak
to you. I do know this. If He speaks,
He speaks through His Word. That's why we open up this book.
We seek to take a portion of Scripture, break it open, and
we ask God that maybe it will be a precious alabaster box full
of delightful, fragrant wonders of the beauties of Christ Jesus
our Lord. I want us to worship today, and
I know that's what you want to do too. As we come to Luke, the
22nd chapter, and we begin to read about our Lord's sufferings and His death, and
then as we end the book of Luke, we see His resurrection. As we
look at these things to the casual reader, that one who doesn't understand
that all things are of God, all things come forth from His
mind and will and purpose, that person who doesn't understand
that God reigns over everything, to the casual observer, to read
the events that lead up to and consummate with the death of
Jesus of Nazareth, it seems to them that the architects of this
awful event were his ungodly enemies. Of course, there are many I don't
know, call them stunning characters, involved in the arrest, the accusations,
the trial of mockery, the beatings, the crucifixion, the death of
Jesus of Nazareth. There's no question but what
the Jews The Jews to whom God had given the Scriptures. The
Jews who said they were looking for Messiah. The Jews who had
some grasp of the facts of the Old Testament. There is no question
about what they are involved in this. In fact, Peter will
say in Acts the second chapter, he'll talk about the wickedness
of these people. You with your wicked hands. In
the third chapter, he'll say you killed the prince of glory. There's no question of their
guilt. There's no question of their non-innocence in all of
this. They demanded His death. And
of course, not only the Jewish people in general, but specifically
the Sanhedrin who influenced the rest of Israel. Because at
first, our Lord seemed to have many followers. But these people
were fickle. They soon followed the advice
and the counsel and the insistence of the religious leaders of Israel.
The Sanhedrin accused him of blasphemy because he said he
was the Son of God. And yet we know if he wasn't
the Son of God, everything that he did was of no value. He had to be the Son of God,
and he was. But they denied that, and when
he said he was the Son of God, they said he's guilty of blasphemy
and worthy of death. So it's no question what the
Jewish people are involved in this and they bear guilt in it. And then there is Pontius Pilate, who himself said, I find no fault
with this man. And yet he caved in to the wishes
of the Jews. And he ordered Jesus to be crucified. He's guilty. Herod's guilty. The soldiers are guilty. All
of these, however, are secondary characters in this death of Jesus
of Nazareth. But who brought it all to pass?
And the answer is, that one who is himself the first cause of
all things, God Himself. God brought this to pass. At
true, He used men. He used Judas. Judas, of course, he was held captive by Satan
at his will. Satan enter into his heart to
betray the Son of God? But the Lord used Satan, He used
Judas, He used the Jews, He used the Sanhedrin, He used Pontius
Pilate, He used Herod, He used the Gentile soldiers who crucified
the Lord Jesus. God used all of these people,
including the evil one himself, in order to bring to pass that
which God ordained to happen before He ever made the world.
Because the Lord Jesus is that Lamb who was slaughtered before
the foundation of the world, in the mind and purpose of God. He had eternally been the Savior
of His people, the surety of His elect, that one who is the
covenant head of all of His family. God had given to the Lord Jesus
a people more numerous than the stars of the sky or the sands
of the seashore, and elect people, a chosen people, by Him to be
saved, to be redeemed, to be reconciled, to be made righteous
by His death upon the cross of Calvary. Who brought all of this
to pass? There's no doubt about the guilt
of these characters who are involved on earth, but ultimately, this
is the redemptive purpose of God being worked out exactly
as He detailed it in the covenant of grace. And moreover, Our Lord Himself,
He gave His life. He gave it voluntarily. Back in old eternity, He accepted
these chosen ones of God as a gift. As a gift! And He promised to
stand good for these. To save them, to deliver them,
and to bring them all safely home to God at last. I'm just
going over yonder. I'm just going home. Home to
God. Home to the Savior. And He will
bring all of His redeemed ones safely home to God. And so as you read of the events
leading up to and including the death of Jesus of Nazareth, understand
this. This is God's redemptive will. This is according to His purpose.
This is according to His counsel of peace. This was the way whereby
God would restore His banished ones unto Himself. Indeed, God
is full of love and grace and pity toward His elect. And yet
God cannot compromise His own justice or His holiness. and therefore he found the only
way whereby he remained just, he remained holy, he remained
his own impeccable self in pouring out wrath upon sin, and he could
save us, restore us to favor, embrace us, accept us forever,
and he did so through the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you see, that's what we're here today to remember. His death. This is indeed a memorial supper. We shall today take of the bread
and we shall take of the wine in remembrance of Him. Not in remembrance of your works,
or your church membership, or your baptism. We've often heard it said, this
is a time of examination. And I agree, it is a time of
examination. We're going to take the Lord's
Supper. This is serious business. But what does this examination
involve? Am I holy enough? Is that what
the examination is? Have I done enough good deeds?
Am I truly repentant enough? Am I faithful enough to the Lord? I've heard it said through the
years, preachers will say, you better not have any known sin
as you approach the table of the Lord. I've got news for you,
you've got known sin and you've got a lot of unknown sins. This
examination is not to look within and see if you're worthy in and
of yourself to take of this supper. The examination is the examination
of the foundation of your hope of glory. It's an examination
of who the Savior is and what He did for us and is He all of
your hope and all of your righteousness and all of your salvation. You see, the fact of the matter
is, we're all full of sin. There's no doubt about that.
And if you look within, if you look within, you're going to
find nothing, nothing that will make you feel good about yourself. That is, if you look within with
eyes given to you by the Spirit of God. Now, if you look within and you
say, you know, I look pretty good. That's not spiritual eyesight
there. That's totally carnal. Are you above an inspired apostle
who said, O wretched man that I am? Who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? Are you better than the Apostle
Paul? He looked within and found nothing
good whatsoever. My counsel to you is not look
within to see whether you're worthy or good enough to partake
of this supper. My counsel to you is, are you
resting in the blood and the righteousness of the Son of God? If you are, then you're worthy
through His worthiness to take of this supper. You see, this is all about His
death. It's about remembering the Savior. He said so often in these verses,
Matthew 26, Ron read to us here in Luke 22, also in 1 Corinthians
11, he talks about this due in remembrance of me. What am I
supposed to be thinking about, preacher? Well, you're certainly
not supposed to be thinking about things out there. They'll still
be there when the service is over. Your thoughts are to be on Him.
Your thoughts are to be focused upon the person of Christ Jesus. This One who of God Who of God
is made unto us to be wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption? Think of Him. This do the Savior
said in remembrance of me, not in remembrance of your church
membership, not in remembrance of your works, not in remembrance
of I made a decision years ago, but in remembrance of Christ
Jesus. Oh, that God would fill our minds
and fill our hearts with thoughts of His Son, the Son of His love,
the Son of His everlasting bosom, the Son who accomplished salvation,
the Son who ever lives to make intercession for us. The Son
who has all authority over all flesh to give eternal life to
as many as God gave Him. We want to focus on Him. Think
on Him. Remember Him. This is a memorial
supper to Christ Jesus. This too in remembrance of me. You see, all of this that unfolded
about our Lord's sufferings and His death. This was that hour He talked
about. He talked about His hour. You
know, as you go through, you kind of march through the Scriptures,
and you'll find that His enemies often tried to kill Him. In Luke
chapter 4, He preached on distinguishing grace. Don't get all excited when you
hear some preacher on television say, I believe in salvation by
grace. Well, wait a minute. Is it distinguishing
grace? Is it sovereign grace? Is it
special grace? Is it effectual grace? Our Lord
preached effectual, sovereign, saving grace. And for His troubles, they tried
to throw Him off a cliff. and dash his brains out. Later, in John chapter 5, he
had healed a man who had been lame for 38 years. He did it
on the Sabbath. The Jews got all worked up into
furious anger. Because he did it on the Sabbath
day. They didn't rejoice that this man had been lame for 38
years and was healed. No, they're mad at the one who
healed him. Our Savior sought that man out
and revealed Himself to him. And the Jews, they raised their
angry voices against the Son of God. What do you mean you're
working on the Lord's day, on the Sabbath day? He said, my
father worketh hitherto, and I work. And then they went berserk,
because he called God his father. And they were ready to kill him,
but they couldn't, because it wasn't his hour. It wasn't his
hour. John chapter 6, he talked about
being the bread come down from heaven. He talked about the Word of God,
the Spirit of His Word. He talked about eating His flesh
and drinking His blood, which is faith. He talked about all
the Father giveth me shall come to me. Him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. He said of all that the Father
gave me, I'll lose nothing but I'll raise them all up at the
last day. End of chapter 6, a bunch of
them left Him and followed Him no more. And to get into chapter
7, it says, And Jesus walked no more in Jewry. He stayed in
Galilee. You know why He stayed in Galilee? Because they were ready to kill
Him, but His hour was not yet come. They were ready to kill
Him. In John chapter 8, He again tangled
with the religious leaders. And they got to talking about
Abraham. Abraham's our father. And then he really blew their
minds when he said, before Abraham was, I am. And they picked up rocks and they
was going to stone him to death. But they couldn't because his
hour was not yet come. John chapter 10, he identified
himself as being the shepherd. who lays down his life for the
sheep. He's the one who later said to
those Jews who hated him, he said to them, you're not of my sheep. You're
not of my sheep. And here's the evidence, because
my sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me. And
then he goes on to say, I and my father are one. And again,
they tried to stone him. And he said, what's the reason
you're trying to stone me? What work have I done that should
drive you to be so frenzied and furious and anger against me? What work have I done? They said,
for a work we stone you not, but you being a man, you claim
you're equal with God. And a little bit later, he says
in that same chapter in John chapter 10, the Father is in
me and I in Him. And again they tried to kill
him. But they couldn't kill him because his hour was not yet
come. But in Luke 22 and in Matthew
26 where Ron read, his hour had come. This was the hour marked
out for him before God made the worlds. It's the hour of his
death. It's the hour when He would render
to God the sacrifice that would fully put away all the sins of
all the people that God gave Him in the covenant of grace.
You want to know when we were saved? Go back 2,000 years ago. We were saved then. Wait. Go
back before the world ever began when God gave us to Christ Jesus,
He being the head and we being the body, and God joined us to
Him. I'll point back there and say,
right there is where we were saved back there. That's when
we were saved. That's when we were reconciled.
And I tell you, all of you who are the Lord's people, all of
you whose only hope is in Christ Jesus and Him crucified, God
will never, never look on you with anything but love and grace
and mercy. He only has good things in store
for you. He's always had good things in
store for you through Christ Jesus. You have never been answerable
to His justice. Your substitute was. Your surety
was. The representative of God's elect
in the covenant of grace, He stood for us and He said, Father,
look to Me for everything you demand. Everything you demand. And as I read portions of Scripture
Like this. Luke 22, he says in verse 19,
Jesus took bread. He gave thanks. Luke 22, 19,
break it and gave it to them saying, this is my body. This is my body. It's given for
you. It's given for you. You know
what that is? That's substitution. It's given
for you. So this do in remembrance of
me. Do this, take the bread, eat
the bread, drink the wine, you who believe Christ Jesus, and
do so remembering that He gave His body for us. Did He stand for me in the covenant
of grace? In the fullness of time, did
He come into this world, born as an infant to a young virgin? Was He born for me? Yes. Did He live that life of perfection
that I could never live? Life of obedience that I could
never render? Did He do all of that for me?
Moreover, did he suffer the wrath and the vengeance of God for
my sins? Would he devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I? My, what grace this is! What
grace this is! Verse 20, likewise also the cup
after supper, saying this cup is the New Testament, read it,
the New Covenant. In my blood, which is shed for
you, which is shed for you, would he shed his blood for me? You think of the sufferings and
the agonies, the death of the Lord Jesus. And I know His physical, the physical beatings and the
slappings and the mockery and the nails and the crown of thorns. All of that was horrible. But there's another aspect to
his sufferings. God took out the full vengeance
of his wrath on his only begotten son. He did that for us. Now I will tell you, if that doesn't melt your heart,
Nothing will. What is it that God the Spirit
uses when he works in the hearts, works mysteriously and miraculously
in the hearts of sinners who are dead in trespasses and sins? What is it that he uses? He uses
the gospel of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. And is it not your Testimony, I suppose is a good
word to use. That even now, your heart just
melts as you remember, He did all of
this for you. He gave His body for you. Remember in Hebrews chapter 10,
the Savior says, as He's entering into this world. "...Lo, I come
to do Thy will. A body Thou hast prepared me."
A body? Will God dwell in a body? Solomon acknowledged that God
could not dwell in, could not be contained in an earthly temple. The heaven of heavens cannot
contain Him. Shall our God, invisible God,
invincible God, infinite God, shall He be born into this world? Shall He come into this world
in a body? Yes. A body that was prepared
for me. Why was that necessary? Because
in our bodies we defied God. In our bodies we sinned. In our
bodies we have rebelled. And for those who live and die
in their sinfulness, they must forever perish in hell, body
and soul. And our Lord Jesus was given
a body. A body. And in that body, he agonized
due to the whippings and the beatings of men. But there was another kind of
suffering that we remember. We do remember his physical suffering. I would take nothing away from
those. But it's his soul sufferings. That's the very heart of his
sufferings. And you see, all that we would
ever have had to suffer, forever and ever, ever, our Lord
Jesus suffered in his soul on the cross of Calvary. And you
hear him cry out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why did God forsake his son? And the answer comes back from
Psalm 22 and verse three, for thou art holy. All the sins of
all of God's people of all the ages were made to meet on him.
There they were charged to Him. Guilty by imputation. You bear
responsibility therefore to bear the penalty for all of the sins
of all of the people that you bear. And He did. And there is therefore now no
condemnation. to those who are in Christ Jesus.
Preacher, aren't you afraid that God's gonna get even with you
for your sins? God got even at the cross. That's where everything was made
right. That's where the issue was settled. And as that song, It says, and
I don't remember the rest of the words to it, but it just
came to my mind, the old account was settled long ago. And I don't
know what the author of the song was, what long ago meant to him,
but it was actually settled long, long ago in old eternity by God,
and it was settled at the cross of Calvary when Christ Jesus
died as the substitute of His people and the satisfaction of
the justice of God. And that is the gospel. I appreciate His birth. I'm thankful
for His birth. I'm thankful for His life. But
neither His birth nor His life established righteousness for
us. It was by His death. That's how
He brought in righteousness. God made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin that we, listen to it, that we might be made
in order that we would be made the righteousness of God in Christ
Jesus. He's my hope. And you see this service, it
is a time of examination. But the examination is this.
Who's your Savior? Just who is your Savior? And
most people, if their eyes of understanding could really be
opened, their Savior is themselves. Yeah. And I got news for you. You ain't no Savior. You English
teachers and majors, forgive me, but for emphasis, you ain't
no Savior. You're not qualified. You're thoroughly unrighteous.
Only one who can save us has got to be equal with God, got
to be bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. And he's got to
be free of all sin. The Lord Jesus, our Savior. So as we come to this memorial
supper this morning, who's this for? It's for the Lord's people. You see, it's an object lesson. When I was growing up in Sunday
school and also on Wednesday nights, our preacher's wife She
would teach us, and she had her flannel graph board, and she
had other things that she used. She had all these object lessons.
And you know, they were beneficial in many ways, those object lessons. And really, throughout the Old
Testament, aren't there just so many object lessons concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ? So, well, we don't have any more
object lessons. Well, just a minute. We got two. We got baptism. That's an object
lesson. We identify with Christ Jesus
who died, was buried, and rose again the third day. That's an
object lesson. But that, for the people of God,
is just a one-time thing. That's a one-time object lesson.
But this object lesson, it's as often as you eat. Ever how
often you do it. This is just another object lesson.
But oh, what an object lesson. This is not a ritual. This is
not a ceremony. This is a feast. It's a feast. And you see, as
you take the bread, that's an object lesson of His body. And
you drink the wine, an object lesson of His blood. And here's
the lesson, as you take those into yourself, you're really
illustrating faith. Because we feed on Him who is
the bread of life. We eat His flesh. We drink His blood. What does
that mean? You do it literally? Of course
not. the teaching of Catholicism,
the transubstantiation, that the bread actually turns into
the body of Christ Jesus. Listen, when He said, this is
My body, take, eat. His body is right before these. There's His body. It's just an
object lesson. It's like when He said, I'm the
vine, you're the branches. Well, that's not saying Christ
Jesus is a grapevine. It's an object lesson. So that
we might better understand what the Lord is talking about. And
we better understand who He is, what He did, why He did it, and
where He is now, by remembering Him taking the bread. taking
the wine. We remember his death until he
comes again. For those of you who don't know
Christ Jesus, oh, may God the Holy Spirit work
mightily in your heart. You need a work of grace. See,
the rest of us in here, those who are believers, God's done
something for us. We didn't do anything for God.
He did something for us. Oh, He brought us to repentance
of dead works, repentance of our idols, repentance of ungodliness. He
brought us to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But He brought
us to those things. That's His doings. We didn't
muster that up ourselves. The Lord did something for us.
He's still doing something for us. Isn't He? He's keeping us
alive. He's keeping our interest. He's
maintaining our faith. No wonder Peter says we're kept
by the power of God. Salvation is all of God and we
ask God to do something for you that you can't do for yourself. And if He does something for
you, The evidence will be you'll look to Christ Jesus for everything.