And what, like Larry said, he
did it, he did it all for me. And when you see that he did
it for you, you personally, then you can say, I've been saved
by the grace of God. This is the reason why death just is a shadow. Verse 22, Mark chapter 14. And as they did eat, they'd taken
the Passover, you know, the Lord Jesus told them to go and they'd
see a fellow carrying a pitcher of water. He said, you follow
him, whatever house he goes in, you go in and follow him in there.
And you tell him, good men of the house, to prepare the chamber,
the upper chamber, for the master. And he says that for the Master,
capital letters. That's where we're going to need
to pass over. So they're in this upper room. They've got the roast
lamb. They've got the bitter herbs. They've got the unleavened bread.
And as they did eat, Jesus took bread and blessed and break it
and gave to them and said, Take eat. This is my body. And he
took the cup. And when he had given thanks,
he gave it to them, and they all drank it. And he said unto
them, This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed
for many. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until that day that
I drink it new in the kingdom of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ, every
word and every deed that our Savior did was significant. Everything
He did had meaning to it, instruction to us, His children. He didn't
do anything that we couldn't learn from. Any word He ever
said, any deed He ever done, any act He ever performed, He
done it that we might instruct us, that He might teach us, that
we might learn. And here is our Master with His
disciples in the upper room, and what He does here when He
deals with His disciples is so significant. Here He Himself
is instituting something that the saints have rejoiced in and
commemorated and done in memorial since this day in memory of our
Lord Jesus Christ, remembering His death and showing forth His
death. As long as there's been time, and God's had people since
this day, they've took the bread and they've took the wine, just
like our Lord did here. And He was doing, He's handling
the symbols of His own body and blood, and this is the night
He'll go out into the garden to get Semenite. And they'll
come out there and they'll take Him. And then they'll put Him
on trial, and they'll take Him over to Herod, Priest will put
him on trial, then they'll take him to Herod. Herod will put
him on trial, and then they'll take him up to Herod. Herod will
put him on trial. And then nine o'clock the next
morning, he's nailed to a cross. But here he is with his disciples.
Here he is with his blessed people, the people he loves. And he's
handling the symbols of his own body. And he here is facing his
death, his crucifixion. And he tells them by his words
and he tells them by his deed what this signifies, what it
means. And that's why he told them in Luke 22, 15, he said,
with desire, great desire have I desired to eat this Passover
with you. I've hardly, I've really, really
looked to this day, to this time, to take this last supper, this
last supper with you. And you know, one of these days,
we're going to sit down with Him, and we'll eat the Last Supper
with the Lord Jesus Christ, and guess what? I'm going to say,
well, you know what will happen? He Himself will gird Himself
and set us down, and He'll feed us. And I guarantee you there'll
be wine on the table, because He said He'd drink, not again,
the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God. And He'll serve
us. And we'll remember that broken
body and shed blood. That's why we're there. One of
the old hymn writers says this on the night of his utmost trial,
when Gethsemane was near, traitors kiss and friends deny, cross
of shame and piercing spear. Thou didst give the symbols holy
of thy sacrifice and love, spread the table for most lowly, and
to pass of bliss above. But let's look at how our Lord
dealt with this tonight. I haven't preached on this on
the Lord's table, and I don't know when. I've always preached
something else, but I feel like I should do this tonight. In
verse 22, And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, blessed it,
break it, gave it to them, and said, Take eat, this is my body.
The bread is a symbol of our Lord's body. And you know what
the staff of life is. They said bread is the staff
of life. And bread is what we all enjoy. And our Lord Jesus
Christ, you keep this, and look with me in John chapter 6, in
verse 31. You know, the staff of life is
bread. Mary, whenever we go somewhere
to eat, she always said, bring extra bread, bring extra bread.
She wants, and butter. Extra bread and butter. Always
says that. And here in John 6.31, look what
it says. He's the staff of life. We must
have bread to sustain us and give us life. We must, must have
the broken body, the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ in His
body for life and salvation. He said, Our fathers, this is
what the Jews said to Him, Our fathers did eat men in the desert.
As it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then
our Lord answered and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven. Moses didn't
have a thing in the world to do with that. But my Father giveth
you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven, and giveth his life, and giveth life
unto the world. And this is what else they said.
Then they said, Lord evermore, give us this bread. I am that
bread of life. Give it to us, Lord. And so,
just as we have bread to sustain us and give us life, we must,
must have the sufferings. We must have that body suffering. We must, Christ must suffer.
He must suffer in His body for our life and our salvation. That's
why the Lord said, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man,
you have no life in you. And then look what He said about
the bread. Jesus took bread. He said He took it. He took it. And, beloved, this was His own
voluntary act. This is something He did completely
voluntarily. He came into this world. And
beloved, he entered into a covenant and nothing, nothing made him
do this but the covenant of grace and the love that he bore for
his own people. He came into this world knowing
that he was coming to this time. Came into this world knowing
that there was somebody at that table that was going to betray
him. Knowing that Simon Peter was going to deny him three times.
Knowing exactly how he was going to betray him. But still, he
took it, that bread. Took that bread. And that's why
it says, when he took it, he took upon himself the likeness
of sinful flesh. Oh, beloved, he was the invisible
God, and he took upon himself a visible body, a body that he
could suffer in, a body that could hurt, a body that he could
die in, a body that he could bleed in, a body that he could
suffer in, a body that he could face the justice and wrath of
God in. Look in Hebrews 10, 5. You know, he was The Word was made flesh, and
we beheld Him as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and full of truth. In Hebrews 10, 5, look what it
says here about our Savior. He took it. And when we talk
about this bread, we're talking about our Lord. He took it. It
was His own voluntary act. He took it. He took upon Himself
a body. And that's why it says, this
bread is my body which is broken for you. Look what he says in
verse five. Wherefore, when he, when Christ,
come into the world, he said, Sacrifice and offerings, thou
wouldst not, now listen to it, but a body hast thou prepared
thee. There had to be a body. Christ
was no phantom, he was no ghost, he was not a creation of God,
he was actually God manifest in the flesh, and he took upon
him, the invisible God took upon himself a body. And the only
reason he took upon himself that body was to be able to suffer
in it, to die in it, and endure in that body what you and I could
never, ever endure. In his own body he bore our sins,
in his own body on that tree, being put to death in the flesh. So you see, he took it. And then
look what else it says about him. He took it and he blessed
it. Oh, he blessed it. Oh, he blessed
it. And I'll tell you what was blessed.
He blessed that bread. Oh, his body was a blessed body.
His sacrifice was a blessed sacrifice. His suffering was a blessed sacrifice.
And let me tell you something. I read this years and years ago
in John Gill's Body of Divinity. that the Lord Jesus Christ offered
his human body upon the altar of his deity, and that is what
made it so holy and acceptable. And you see, beloved, and I told
Scott Richardson that, and that book's about that thing. He said,
if that's all you've got out of it, you've got more than most
anybody else ever got out of it. And that's something our
Lord Jesus Christ, he blessed it, his divine nature, His holy
nature, His nature as God, and His human body, and His human
nature. That's why He called about that
holy thing which shall be born of thee. You see, Adam brought
curse upon their youth and race, but our Lord Jesus Christ as
a man was perfect, blameless, holy, harmless, undefiled. And what He did is He offered
His sinless humanity, that sinless humanity, upon the altar of his
deity. And because of that, we're blessed
eternally by what our Lord Jesus... He blessed it! He blessed it,
and in blessing it, He blessed us. And then look what else it said.
And break it. And He'd break it. This was also his own doing.
You remember in John 10, he says, no man takes my life
from me. Nobody. He said, I've got the
power to lay it down, I've got the power to take it up again.
Don't you know we have the power to crucify you, our Lord? And
I said, you've got no power at all, except it given you from
my Father. He said, I can call twelve millions of angels, but
my kingdom's not of this world. And when they cried out crucify,
my Lord said not a word. And this was his own doing. He
himself offered himself without spot and without blemish to God.
He said, take him. You know, our Lord, he was led
as a lamb to the slaughter. When they took our Lord Jesus
Christ, He never resisted. He'd break. He'd break that bread. He said, this is what's going
to happen to my body. I'm going to be broken. I'm going to be
smashed. I'm going to be beaten. I'm going
to be mangled. I'm going to be ridiculed. And He'd break it. And this was His own doing. And, oh, the Scripture says,
we with thy wicked hands crucify thee, yet he himself break his
own body on that tree. When he told Simon Peter, I must
go up to Jerusalem, I must be delivered in the hands of sinful
men, and I must be crucified, Simon Peter said, no, no, no,
no. But after he found out what it
meant, he said, Lord, blessed be your name. Huh? You see, he
willingly gave himself for us. Willingly gave himself for us
when he'd break in. You know what he did? He gave
his back to the sliders. Gave his face to them who plucked
off his beard. Gave his hands to those who would
nail him to the tree. His whole life was an act of
giving. And everything that's been done
in this world is all that God, for Christ's sake, has ever done,
is give to the human race. Give and give and give and give. But he especially, especially
gives to his children, especially gives to his elect, especially
gave himself for those that he loved. He is a sacrifice, a sweet
smelling savor to God. And then look what he said, and
he gave it to them. He took it, broke it, blessed
it, and said, here. Here it is. Here's my body. Here's my body. It's for you. Take it. Take it. He gave it. You see, He gives life. He gives
Himself. God gave Him and He gave Himself.
And everything we've got from Him, He gave it to us. It's a
gift. And I tell you what, there was
people sitting at this table that He gave it to. Now, whether
Judas was there, I don't know. My opinion, I don't think he
was. You look at other places and it doesn't appear that he
is. But whether he is or not, that don't make any difference.
I do know this, that he gave it to Simon Peter, who was going
to deny him. He gave it to John, who was going
to run. He gave it to all his blessed saints sitting right
there around him. And you know what? He gave each one of them
a piece of that bread. Here, Peter. Here, John. Here, James. Here, Matthew. Here's yours. And that's what
He does for us. He reaches out. Here. Here's yours. Here's yours, Rick. Here's the bread for you. Here's the bread for you, Bruce. Here's my broken body for you.
He gives it to us. It's not earned. It wasn't inherited. And I know, I thought this morning,
Marlene played that song. You know, how can it be? I thought,
if I was a Savior, I wouldn't even save myself. I'm such a
despicable creature. I would not even make an effort
to save myself. How in the world God could save
a wretch like me? But He did. He said, I lay down
my life for who? The sheep. Said, nobody's going
to take it from me. I'm going to lay down my life
for the sheep. And he said, here's my broken body for you. So bless
God for giving His Son. Bless the Son for giving Himself.
And bless the Holy Spirit who brought Christ and applied Him
to our hearts. Amen. Now look at the cup now.
That's His body. Look at the cup now. And He took
the cup. And when he had given thanks,
he gave it to them, and they all drank it. And he said unto
them, This is the blood, this is my blood, the New Testament,
which is shed for many." The cup is a symbol of our Lord Jesus
Christ's blood. Leviticus 17 says, The life of
the flesh is in the blood. And in giving his blood, he had
to pour out his soul unto death. The life of his flesh, the life
of his body, was in his blood. And he, when he offered that
blood, when he offered his life, what he's saying is, I'm offering
my life through the shedding of my blood. Through the shedding
of my blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins. And look what he says after he
took that bread and said, this is my body. This is my body. This is my body. And he took the cup. He took
the cup. He took the bread and he took
the cup. You know, the cup in the Scriptures, every place it's
mentioned, it's always a cup of wrath, a cup of justice, a
cup mixed and mingled with sorrow and grief. They offered him a
sponge, a vinegar on a sponge, put it to his face. But you know
what God put in his hands? He put in a cup. A cup. The cup of suffering, the cup
of woe, the cup of justice, and the cup of wrath. Look down at
verse 36 here of Mark 14. He's out there in the garden
and he's praying. And he said, I have a Father.
All things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup from
me. Take it away. It's so bitter. It's so painful. It's so distasteful. It's full
of sin. It's full of sorrow. It's full
of woe. It's full of shame. It's full of justice. It's full
of wrath. Everything that your children
should drink, I've got to drink it. The dregs. The dregs of their
life. The dregs of everything that's
awful in this world. You're going to give me this
cup to drink? And Lord, if it be possible, take away this cup
from me. Nevertheless, not what I will,
but not what I will. And so, beloved, he took that
cup of justice. He read Psalm 116 tonight. It says, What shall I render
unto the Lord for all his benefits for me? And then he says, I'll
take the cup of salvation. He took a cup of woe, and wrath,
and bitterness, and dregs, that He may give us a cup of salvation.
And oh, beloved, He tasted death. When He took that cup, it tells
us He tasted death. He tasted what it is to be separated
from the Father. That's what real death is. When
our Lord was going to go to the cross, He was going to be separated
from everybody. Separated from His disciples,
and His Father was going to separate Himself from Him. That was what
was the most agonizing part of all of these sufferings, that
his own father would turn his back on him, that his own father
would not come to save him, that his own father would leave him
to himself, that his own father would come, who was daily his
delight, called him the son of his love, and that he would turn
out the light and that he would inflict upon him And he would
have to drink at this cup full of wrath, injustice, and shame,
and sorrow, and guilt, and all the pains, beloved, that a holy
and righteous man should never have to suffer. But our Lord
Jesus Christ took that cup, turned it out, and I'll tell you what
he did. He emptied that thing, and he
set it down, and it'll never be lifted up again. Not on anybody
for whom he emptied it. Will it? Huh? And oh, beloved,
he tasted death that we might taste that the Lord is gracious.
He tasted justice that we might taste the grace of God. He tasted
wrath that we might taste the mercy of God. And then look what
it says. When he took the cup, he gave
thanks for it. Gave thanks for it? How in the
world can this be? giving thanks for something,
for so much suffering? To give thanks for the symbol
of his awful agony and death? Giving thanks for dying for sinners? But he said, Oh, it's written
of me in the volume of book, Lord, it's written of me. I come
to do thy will. Yea, Lord, I delight to do thy
will. And he saw the travail of his
soul, and he said, I'll be satisfied to bear it. I'll be satisfied
to bear it. And then look what it says then
again. And again, he gave it to them. He gave it to them. He gave us his blood, redeemed
by the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without spot and without
blemish. washed in His blood, wonder-working
power in the blood. And Paul said in 1 Corinthians
11, after he had sucked out from that cup, he said, do this in
remembrance of me. And then look what he did. He
gave it to them, and listen here, and they all Here's this cup. This is my blood.
And this is the New Testament for you. I shed my blood. This
is the will of God. Not the will of the law. This
is not the law. This is not the curse. This is
not... This is the New Testament. This is the Testament where I
do everything for you. I do it all for you. This was
always what I was going to do. And, beloved, I know this, that all His people partake of
the Body of Christ. We eat His flesh and drink His
blood every time we come to a service in Christ's Presence. He is our
bread. He is our water. He is our light.
He is our light. He is all we need. And we need
bread. We need blood. We need drink.
We need sunshine, we need water, we need—and everything that that
Christ is, He is that to us. And I'll tell you this in closing. In observing the Lord's table
tonight, when you take this bread, our Lord handed it to them and said,
you take it and eat it. And you do it and remember me.
In observing the Lord's table, we're not told to remember Him
as a teacher. not told to remember him as an
example, but to remember him as suffering
and dying. He says, remember me. And Paul says, you do show forth
the Lord's death until he come. And I'll tell you why. It's a
wonderful, wonderful thing. I'll never forget when I saw
the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross for me. For me. Just for me. And there was an
old man that had been a deacon in 13th Street Baptist Church
for a long time. One day he was on his way somewhere,
and as he was driving in his car, he was listening to a message,
and God saved him. Been a deacon for years. And
he said, I've never ever saw Christ crucified for me. I never ever saw Him dying for
me. Never ever saw Him bearing my own sins there in His own
body on the cross. And I saw it that day. He is
saved by the grace of God that day. He went back to the services,
told the preacher, and said, I've got to tell the church.
He said, I've got to let them know that the Lord Say, I saw
Christ and I saw Him for myself. Have you ever saw Christ for
yourself? Saw that broken body and that shed blood for you?
If you have, take the cup, take the bread, take the cup, and
remember what He did. He did for you. Amen. Gary, you
and James Cutler.