Morning, everyone. Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Luke Chapter 22. Luke Chapter 22. The name of
the message is, In Remembrance of Me. Luke Chapter 22. Our text will be found in verses
14 to 20, but I want us to take note of a few things in the verses
that precede our text. In verse 3, we see Satan entering
into Judas Iscariot. Verse 3 says, "...then entered
Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the Twelve."
And this fulfills the Old Testament prophecy. of Christ being betrayed
for 30 pieces of silver, because we know that he is the one who
betrayed the Lord for 30 pieces of silver. And Zechariah says,
And I said unto them, If you think good, give me my peace.
And if not forbear, so they weighed for my price 30 pieces of silver. And also note that our Lord Jesus
Christ sends John and Peter from Bethany to Jerusalem. It's a
two mile journey. And he sends them there to make
preparation for the Passover feast. And also note Peter and
John had to secure a room for them to meet in during the time
when almost every room would be taken. Think of that too. It's the time of the Passover.
Almost every room would be taken. And almost every room would have
already been spoken for. But note the question Peter and
John asked the Lord in verse 9, what will thou that we prepare? Now, Peter and John had God's
providential hand guiding them. And our Lord told them they were
to meet a certain man who was bearing a pitcher of water and
they were to fall him into the house that he entered and tell
the good men of the house, the master saith unto thee, Where
is the guest chamber? Where I shall eat the Passover
with my disciples. Let's look at that starting in
verse 9. And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare?
Verse 10, And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into
the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water,
following him into the house where he entered in. And ye shall
say unto the good men of the house, the master saith unto
thee, where is the guest chamber? Where I shall eat the Passover
with my disciples. And he shall show you a large
upper room furnished there and make ready. Now remember again,
it's a Passover time, so there'd be hardly any rooms open, or
the rooms that were open would more than likely have been spoken
for. But again, they have God's providential hand guiding them.
We use GPS, don't we? We all use GPS, we love it. We
turn our phone on now, we got it right in our hands now, we
put in the destination we want to go to, and the GPS tells us
where we're going to go. But as one great preacher commented,
Peter and James here had GPH, God's Providential Hand. And so do we as believers, even
now. God's providential hand is what
guides us, isn't it? What directs us. Always. And he who guided them and told
them to do this is he who is sovereign over all things. The
Lord Jesus Christ. And so let us remember, we who
believe, that we have God directing us nowadays too, even now. And
our Lord told them that they would meet a man carrying a pitcher
of water, and what happened? They did. They did. It happened just exactly as our
Lord told them it would happen. And our Lord told them to follow
that man into his house, and to tell him that the master had
need of a guest chamber. And the man showed them the room,
and this was by God's providential hand. All by God's providential
hand. This was not chance or luck.
We don't believe in those things. The scripture doesn't speak of
any of those things, does it? No, this was by God's providential
hand. This was ordained by God. This
was planned by God. This was purposed by God. And
this was executed at his command, at his command. All by his providential
hand. all by his providential hand.
They went and found the man and the room just as the Lord said
they would, and they made it ready for the Passover. Now ponder
this, you who hear this today. Peter and John had walked for
two miles to get to Jerusalem. What would be the chances of
them meeting that man at the exact time that they entered
into Jerusalem? Peter and John found everything
just exactly like our Lord Jesus Christ said they would. And let we who are redeemed,
let we who are the redeemed of the Lord know that our great
God and King with him, there's no chance or luck. This was all
worked out by his hand, all worked out by his providence. And we
see that in our lives, too, don't we? We see that even in our own
lives. We see evidence of this in our
own lives. He brought us to the place where
we would hear the gospel. He opened our ears. He opened
our understanding. Didn't He? He did. He gave us
life when we were dead in trespasses and sins. All by His hand. All by His hand. And we see this. We see God working His providence
in the world. We see God working His providence
in the church. We see God working His providence
in our lives, and we see God working His providence in the
salvation of a sinner, doesn't He? It's all planned and purposed
by God. All by Him. All by His hand. He saves whom He wills, when
He wills. All by His sovereign, almighty power. And for you who
are redeemed, let us be amazed that He's done this for us. It's
incredible. And think upon this, and may
it bless your soul. If you are a believer, the same
providential hand that brings us to Christ guides us in this
world. Guides us through all the troubles
and trials and situations we go through in this life. The
same providential hand that saved us is the same providential hand
that guides us. And it's the same providential
hand that will take us home to God. were in His hands. And the believer
says, praise His mighty name. Praise His mighty name. And God's
preachers, we use this very same truth when we declare the Gospel.
Say, insert the Scriptures. We point sinners to the Scriptures,
don't we? We point sinners to Christ. And
we declare that those who have been born again by the Holy Spirit
of God will see the Gospel truths in the Scriptures as the Holy
Spirit reveals them. As it pleases Him to do so. And they who are born again will
see that salvation which was prepared by God's eternal purpose.
Prepared by God's eternal purpose. Those who are born again will
see that salvation is executed by God. All by His sovereign power. And
they will see that salvation is of the Lord, just as the book
declares, right? We're given eyes to see that. And we see that Christ is declared
all through this book. We who are born again, we see
him all through this book, don't we? We didn't at one time. If we took the time to read the
Bible before the Lord saved us. Oh, now we see him everywhere,
all through the scriptures. And the only reason we see this,
the only reason we see him, It's because God's providential hand
has moved in our lives. Jesus Christ is Lord of all.
He's Lord of all. He's God incarnated in the flesh.
And what he what he proclaims shall come to pass. What he proclaims
shall come to pass. He told Peter. What he told Peter
would come to pass and James would come to pass. And note
it did, whether this man was a disciple who they went to his
house, whether he was a disciple of the Lord or not, he still
had to obey the Lord Jesus Christ. Because Christ is Lord of all,
because this was planned and purposed by God in eternity. And remember, he knows the end
from the beginning, doesn't he? He knows the end from the beginning.
And think upon this, God sends his preachers to where he wants
them to be. all by His providential hand.
He sends His preachers to where He wants them to be, and the
preacher gets up, and we tell those who hear the things that
the Lord Jesus Christ has said, and the results are in His hands.
The results are in His hands. They're not left to chance, they're
not left to man's supposed free will, no. The results of the
preacher's ministry is all by God's providential hand. All
by God's providential hand. And we know that as many as were
ordained to eternal life believe, don't we? Turn, if you would,
to Acts 13. Look at this. And here, right
before us, we see this. We see this. We see God's providential
hand moving. And this is a wonderful portion
of Scripture right here. Absolute wonderful portion of
Scripture. Acts 13. verses 47 to 49. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that
thou shouldest be for the salvation unto the ends of the earth. And
when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, they preached
Christ to them, and they were glad and glorified the word of
the Lord. And look at this, and as many as were ordained to eternal
life, what? Believed. All by God's providential
hand, the Lord. He saves whom He wills, when
He wills. And the word of the Lord was
published throughout all the region. God's people, we proclaim
the great things the Lord has done for us. Oh, my. Turn, if you would, 1 Peter 2. God's preachers declare the report.
The report of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who He is.
What He's done for His people. And where He is right now. He's
in glory right now. And God does the saving. And
those who were ordained to eternal life believed. Just as we looked
at right there in Acts 13. And those who turned a deaf ear
to the Gospel were appointed to stumble at the Word. Look
at this in 1 Peter 2, verses 6 to 10. Wherefore also it is
contained in the scripture, verse 6, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. Now look at this in verse 7.
Unto you therefore which believe, he is precious. He's precious
to we who believe, isn't he? He's precious. He's the pearl
of great price. He's precious to us, but under
them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed,
the same is made the head of the corner, and the stone of
stumbling. He's a stone of stumbling to
those who don't believe. And what? And a rock of offense
to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto
also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, that
ye should show forth the praise of him. who hath called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light." And oh, what a darkness
we were in, beloved. We were in the darkness of sin.
And He's called us into the marvelous light. We're born again. We've been given eyes to see
and ears to hear and to look to Christ. Faith, to believe
upon Christ, is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. And look at this, look at what
verse 10 says, which in times past were not a people. There
was a time when we were dead in trespasses and sins. We had
no care for Christ. We had no care for his word.
We had no care for his people. Everything's different now, isn't
it? Now we love his word. Now we love his people. Now we
love the Savior. But are now the people of God,
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
And oh, what mercy we've obtained. What mercy we've obtained. So
let us, we who are redeemed, take great comfort in this precious
truth and let the truth encourage us as we walk on this earth,
that God's providential hand guides and directs us every second
of every day. When we're awake and when we're
sleeping, his providential hand is over us and upon us and guides
us and directs us. This should encourage us. This
should encourage us. And what should this encourage
us to do? And we struggle with this because
we're sinners. This should encourage us to put our complete trust
in Him at all times. It should. We trust Him for our
soul, don't we? Our eternal soul. We rest in
Him and Him alone. Let's go back to our text in
Luke chapter 22 here. And we'll read the verses 14
to 20. Luke 22, verses 14-20. And when the hour was come, he
sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them,
With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before
I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not
eat any more, I will not any more eat thereof until it be
fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave
thanks, and said, Take this and divide it among yourselves, for
I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until
the kingdom of God shall come. And he took the bread and gave
thanks, and break it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my
body, which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me.
Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament
in my blood, which is shed for you. So let's consider verse
14 first. It says, And when the hour was
come, he sat down in the twelve apostles with him. The appointed
hour had come. The appointed hour had come and
our Lord sat down with his disciples. And one commentator said, the
custom of those days, when you sit down, you would lay on a
couch with your legs stretched out, away from the table, and
the Lord and his disciples were in a reclined position. They
were in a reclined position, not like these pictures you see.
They were in a reclined position. And notice the 12 apostles are
with him. Our Lord is going to institute the Lord's Supper.
And we'll see this, that we do this in remembrance of what the
Lord has done for His people. Dying as our substitute. Shedding
His precious blood for the remission of our sins. And let us note
in the next verse, the Lord knew exactly what He had to do. He knew exactly what He had to
do. He came here on a mission. And His mission must be completed. And the completion of that mission
is for Him to die upon Calvary's cross. Because He came to what? He came to save His people from
their sins. And the only way He could save
His people from their sins was to die in the room in place for
them, right? To satisfy God's law fully for us. Look what it
says in verse 15. And He said unto them, With desire
I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. Now,
our Lord desired to eat this Passover, the scripture says,
as as he was quickly approaching the appointed time of his suffering. He was quickly appointing or
coming to the appointed time of his suffering, the time when
he would die on the cross for the sins of his people. And and
he knew this because he was God incarnate in the flesh. He knew
this. And here is is what the scripture
declares is is the joy that was set before him. He will endure
the cross. He will endure the wrath of God
being poured out upon him. He will endure suffering in the
place of his people and satisfying the law of God for them. Because
he loves them. Because he loves them. And they're
his joy. His people are his joy. And he's about to redeem them. Those he has loved from eternity. those whom his love has been
set upon from eternity. The joy that was set before him
was his disciples and not just those, but all the elect of all
the ages. That includes you and me, if
we're redeemed. All that the father had given
him from eternity. Oh, my. And by God's grace, we can look
at that and say, that's me. That's me. I like what one grace preacher
brings forth, that this is the last Old Testament Passover feast. Our Lord here before us is instituting
his ordinance, which is the ordinance of the Lord's day. Passover was
what? To be a reminder for the Israelites
to look back and see God's deliverance out of Egypt. Out of the bondage
that they were in. And we who are the blood-bought
saints of God, we come to the Lord's table. And it's a perpetual
reminder for us, for God's people, of what our
dying Savior, of what our dying substitute accomplished on Calvary's
cross for us. It's a perpetual reminder. It
ought never to be commonplace. It ought never to be commonplace.
It's a perpetual reminder for us of the great cost to redeem our souls. and that
our Savior accomplished for all of His chosen blood-bought saints
salvation on Calvary's cross. So we come to the table remembering
that our Lord has perfectly honored God's law in our place and that
He has established the perfect spotless righteousness for us
by His life and by His death, by His perfect obedience as God's
substitute for us. And we come to the table remembering
that the law has no claim upon us anymore. No claim upon we who are born
again, we who are blood-washed saints of God, all because of
Christ's finished work. Christ has delivered us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. He's delivered us
from the curse of the law. Who is Christ? He's our Passover,
isn't he? And he's been sacrificed for
us, for his people. And we come to the table and
we remember that God's holy justice and law has been perfectly satisfied
by the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ in our place. That
the just one dies for the unjust. And our great God sees his people
justified in Christ. And He looks at us just as if
we've never sinned. Why? How can that be? Because God has already poured
out His wrath, which was due our sins, upon our great substitute. Jesus Christ, the God-man. And when we partake of the Lord's
Supper, we remember that we would not be righteous before God if
we were not clothed in Christ's perfect, spotless righteousness. We would not be righteous before
God if Christ had not died as our substitute on Calvary's cross. And our Lord Jesus knew what
was before Him, beloved, and He willingly went to the cross. He knew. So let us remember He
willingly gave up His life for us, for we who are His people.
And after His sufferings, He was buried. He died and He was
buried and He laid in a grave. But He rose again, beloved, for
our justification. So let us remember these precious
truths when we partake of the Lord's table. And as God teaches us about Christ,
we grow in the grace and the knowledge of Him. We learn more
and more about this wondrous salvation which we have in Christ. This wondrous salvation that
Christ accomplished, that He accomplished for His people at
Calvary and His sufferings. How He was wounded for our transgressions. How He was bruised for our iniquities.
How the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And by His stripes
we are healed. All by what He did. What a Savior. We say, what a
Savior we have in Jesus Christ. And by God's grace, we who believe
embrace the truth of the Gospel, don't we? There was a time when
we didn't. Now, we who are born again, we embrace the truth of
the Gospel. We believe that Jesus Christ by Himself, by Himself,
purged our sins. our sins. And we confess Him
as our Savior, don't we? We confess Him as our Redeemer.
We confess Him as Sovereign Lord. And when we come to the Lord's
table, we remember what He, by His death, accomplished for all
those who were given to Him by the Father. And we who believe are commanded
to come to the Lord's table. We do this in remembrance of
what Christ has done for us. It's not something that a believer
takes lightly. If you love me, keep my commandments.
So we're reminded to come to the Lord's table by our Master.
This do in remembrance of me. Do this in remembrance of me.
Look at verse 16. For I say unto you, I will not
any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of
God. So let us never forget that all the law of Moses, the written
letter of the law, all the ceremonial law was fulfilled when our Lord
Jesus Christ uttered these words on the cross. It is finished. And for the believer in Christ
Jesus, Christ is the end of the law for what? Righteousness. He's the end of the law for righteousness. He's all my righteousness. For every believer in Christ
God Himself has abolished the law of Moses. Consider the word
abolished used in the New Testament. Turn, if you would, to 2 Corinthians.
We'll look at a couple different places here where this word is
used. The word abolished. 2 Corinthians 3. It's plainly stated in that God's holy law, which is
glorious because it comes from God, has been abolished. And
the righteousness of Christ excels so much that the law of Moses
had no glory in comparison. Look at 2 Corinthians 3.11-13
and consider that these words were recorded for our learning,
beloved. For if that which is done away
was glorious, Speaking of the law of Moses, much more, that
which remaineth is glorious, speaking of Christ. See then
that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech, and
not as Moses which put a veil over his face, that the children
of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which
is abolished. Now here are some of the meanings
for the Greek word abolished. Done away with. Made of none effect. Destroyed. Vanished. Ceased. Now turn, if you would, to Ephesians
chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. And we see the same Greek
word used, it's translated the same way, abolished. Ephesians 2, verses 13-15. Ephesians
2, verses 13-15. But now in Christ Jesus, now remember, Remember, Paul opened this chapter
up, was telling us we were dead in trespasses and sins. And then
verse four, but God, who's rich in mercy, we're born again by
the Holy Spirit of God. And look what he says here in
Ephesians 2.13, but now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were
far off, and that was our state, before we were born again by
the Holy Spirit, are made nigh by what? By the blood of Christ.
For he is our peace. The only way we have peace with
God is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Outside of Christ
is no peace. In Christ we have peace with
God. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath
broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having
abolished, same Greek word, having abolished in his flesh the enmity,
even the law of commandments, contained in ordinances, for
to make in himself of twain one new man, so make in peace. Now turn, if you would, to 2nd
Timothy, 2nd Timothy chapter 1. This word is only translated
abolished three times in the New Testament, so we'll look
at all three of them. 2nd Timothy chapter 1, verses
8 to 10. So with this word abolished in
our minds, let's turn here. be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, verse 8, nor of me, his prisoner,
but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, But according to his own purpose
and grace, there we see God's providential hand, right? Cuz
it's according to his purpose, and it's according to his grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus, when? Before the world
began. But is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death
and has bought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Now turn, if you would, to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter
3. So he's abolished the law for
his people. It's still there, but he's abolished
it for us. We're not under the law anymore.
And look at what Galatians chapter 3, verses 23 to 25. We read this in light of what
we read in those three passages. Galatians 3, verses 23 to 25. But before faith came, we were
kept under the law. Shut up unto the faith, which
should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was what? Our
schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ. That's what the law does.
The law of God, when the believer, when the Holy Spirit reveals
to us what we are, we see the holy law of God. And we see ourselves
as undone. Because we can't fulfill one
portion of the law, can we? Not one. It's our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. Because what's it do? And this
is all by the power of God. We have revealed to us our desperate
need of Christ, that we are guilty before the law of God. And it's
our schoolmaster to what? To bring us to Christ. We flee
to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. We believe upon Him,
because God has granted us faith to believe. But after that faith
come, look at this, we are no longer what? Under a schoolmaster. So anyone who attempts to be
justified by the law or sanctified by the law does not know the
true gospel of God's saving grace. So let us remember that when
we come to the Lord's table, we show forth the Lord's death
until he come. We proclaim the Lord's death
until he comes. We who are redeemed, we proclaim
what he has done, that he has abolished death for us. Now we're
physically going to die, right? But we won't, we won't, we won't
spend eternity in him. No. We won't face the second
death. No. We've been given eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's wondrous. It's absolutely
wondrous. So let us remember this when
we come to the Lord's table, that He's abolished death for
us. We're living eternity in glory because of what He's done
for us. Let's look at our text again
in verse 16. keeping in mind what we just
looked at. For I say unto you, I will not eat any more thereof
until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Our Lord and
Savior was obedient even unto death, the death of the cross,
and God set Him on His holy hill of Zion. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the anointed King over all, forever. And He is the King forever over
God's eternal kingdom. And when one of God's lost sheep
are born again by the Holy Spirit of God, again we pass from darkness
to light, just what we looked at earlier. We pass from death
to life. And it's God Himself who delivers
us from the power of darkness. It's God Himself who translates
us into the kingdom of His dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now during the apostasy, apostolistic
age, the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Jews were attempting
to keep the Passover feast even though God had abolished it forever. Because Christ is our Passover.
Christ is our Passover. And let us not forget that true
Christians, true born-again, blood-bought believers were coming
to the Lord's table even then. Even then, remembering the Lord's
death, remembering His burial, remembering His resurrection,
remembering what their Savior had accomplished for them at
Calvary's cross. And they continued steadfastly
in the Apostles' doctrine and in fellowship, and in breaking
of bread, and in prayers. And this has continued all through
the Gospel age, hasn't it? Even up to now, and it will continue
until the Lord comes back. And they came to the Lord's table.
They came to the Lord's table back in that age, praising Christ
for making them righteous. We come to the Lord's table today,
praising Christ, we who are redeemed, praising Christ for making us
righteous. For making us righteous. For
fulfilling the law of God in God's sight. They came to the table, praising
God for making them holy. We come to the Lord's table today
praising God for making us holy. The saints of old came to the
Lord's table praising Christ for paying the ransom in full
for their souls by the shedding of his own precious blood. We come to the Lord's table today
praising Christ for paying the ransom price for our souls. Nothing's
changed, has it? We praise him for reconciling
us to God by laying down his life. We praise him for being
our great high priest and our king who's entered into heaven
himself with his own precious blood there to appear before
the presence of God for us. And it's he who ever lives to
make intercession for us. And we praise him for that, don't
we? And we praise him for giving us faith to believe. We'd never
believe. Left to ourselves, we'd never
seek him. We thank Him for giving us faith
to believe upon Him. We thank Him for revealing to
us that He's our blessed surety, that He's our risen Lord, and
that He is able to save to the uttermost those who come unto
God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for us. And we praise God for for keeping us from falling,
for preserving us, for taking us through all the
things that we go through in this life, all by his power and
all by his providential hand. And beloved, the saints of old
did the same when they came to the table. And we praise our all-powerful
Savior for giving us a new heart, for giving us a new heart. And the saints of old did the
same thing. If God has given us faith to believe the record
He has given us of His Son, then we're in the eternal kingdom
of the Lord Jesus Christ right now. We're part of His people. And right now we see through
a glass darkly, don't we? We see through a glass darkly
right now, don't we? We do. But then, when we're in glory,
we'll see Him face to face. Let's look at verses 17 and 18
now. And He took the cup and gave
thanks and said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. For
I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until
the kingdom of God shall come. So let us observe here the institution
of the Lord's Supper and note as we looked at earlier, that
the Passover ends here, and the Holy Supper begins, the Lord's
Supper begins here. The Lord Jesus Christ is here
doing away forever with the one ordinance and establishing another. And this was the last Passover
to be observed, because Christ, the true Passover, has now come. And it is He who is our Passover.
So remember what we've looked at before, the shadow and the
substance? The shadow was in place, right?
To point us to the substance. Passover was the shadow of Christ.
And He's the substance. 1 Corinthians 5.7 says this,
I'll read this. For even Christ our Passover
is sacrificed for us. There's the substance. There's
the substance. So here is the first supper in
commemoration of Christ's death. And which was instituted for
a perpetual reminder, a remembrance until time should be no more.
And the Lord Jesus Christ abolished the one and established the other. and tells the believer in Him,
His blood bought people to what? To do this in remembrance of
Me. Do this in remembrance of Me.
Do this in remembrance of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was sacrificed for His people. Let's close with verses 19 and
20. And He took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave
unto them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you.
This do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper,
saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for
you. And these two verses plainly establish the fact that during
the last Passover feast, the Lord's Supper was instituted
by Christ our Savior. The unleavened bread is symbolic
of the body of Christ, and the fruit of the vine is symbolic
of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this ordinance is
to be observed by all members of the body of Christ, we who
believe, and we consider it an honor, don't we, to come to the
Lord's table on a regular basis. And this ordinance typifies the
sufferings and death of our blessed Redeemer. And we say to folks
who aren't saved, don't partake of the Lord's, this is a remembrance
for God's people. A remembrance for His people. And we remember the sufferings
and death of our blessed Savior. And as we looked at earlier in
the message, we remember the suffering of our Lord and Savior. We partake in the ordinance of
the bread which typifies his body. And we remember the sufferings
of Christ and the shedding of his blood for the atonement of
our sins and the drinking of the wine. And the cup is the New Testament,
the new covenant. It typifies and clearly shows
that Christ, our substitute, fulfilled all the conditions
of the eternal covenant for us. He did it all. He did it all. All by his perfect obedience
in life. And all by his perfect obedience
unto death. It's complete. It's wonderful,
and we remember that when we come to the Lord's love. We rejoice,
don't we? And you ever hear people say,
when I was in religion, they used to say this, and I was reading
an article by Brother Tim James, and he said, this is just utter
foolishness. They used to say, and we are to examine ourselves,
right? We are to examine. What we're
to examine ourselves is whether we're in the faith, okay? But
when I was in religion, they used to say this, and y'all might
have heard this, those of you who were in religion before,
they'd say this, they'd say, Examine yourself if there's any
sin in your life. And if there is, you can't partake
of the supper. Well, that wipes everybody out,
doesn't it? You ever think of that? No one can take the Lord's
Supper then. No one. And brother Tim said,
that's just utter foolishness. Now we're to examine ourselves
whether we're in the faith. And we partake of the Lord's
Supper. And we remember the great things that Christ had done for
us. For us. The shedding of his precious
blood. It's a remembrance. It's a remembrance
of the, when we partake of these elements, it's a remembrance
of his shed blood. It's a remembrance of his broken
body. Oh my, it's wonderful. And it's a remembrance that I'm
saved, I'm redeemed, I'm purchased by his blood. It's wonderful,
it's absolutely wonderful. So when the believer comes to
the Lord Jesus, or Lord's table, we're confessing our faith We're
confessing our faith in Christ as our Savior. We're confessing
that He's our Redeemer. That our salvation is only in
Him. And we're confessing Him as our blessed and only hope.
Which hope we have as an anchor of our soul, both sure and steadfast,
and which entereth unto that within the veil, whether the
forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made a high priest,
forever after the order of Melchizedek, Hebrews 6, verses 19 and 20. We look to the Lord Jesus Christ,
don't we? Who is the author and the finisher
of our faith. And this encourages us, because
He never changes. He never changes. So the command,
look unto me and be ye saved, is not only the hope and strength
of the seeking sinner, right? We point sinners, look, look
to Him. Look to Him and be saved. But it's the constant hope of
the believing sinner. Isn't that so? It's our constant
hope too. Look to Him. And we just keep
looking to Him, don't we? We keep looking to Him. The believer knows our sins,
don't we? Folks often say, you guys are,
you think you're holier than thou. No, we don't. We know our
sin. We know what we are. But we rejoice
in his grace. We rejoice in his mercy. We know our weakness, but we
rest in his strength. We know our emptiness. We know
we're bankrupt sinners. But we rest and we rejoice that
we're complete in Him. Complete in Christ. Oh, what
peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. Why? Because we do not cast our
sins and our souls on Christ and leave them there, one preacher
said. Let us never forget and let us
constantly be reminded that when we come to the Lord's table,
it's a constant reminder to all of God's born-again blood-washed
children that true saving faith places our complete trust, our
complete trust in only Christ, in only Christ. And when we partake
in the Lord's table, we have a constant reminder that Jesus
Christ is our Savior, and our blessed Redeemer, and that He
is the only way. The only way. And when we partake
in the Lord's table, we have a constant reminder that Jesus
Christ by Himself purged our sins. Purged our sins. And when we partake in the in
the Lord's table, we have a constant reminder that Christ himself
has obtained eternal redemption for us, for us. And the last
point, when we partake in the Lord's table, we have a constant
reminder that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone,
in Christ alone. In Christ alone. Gracious Heavenly
Father, we thank Thee for Your mercy and grace, which has been
bestowed upon we who believe. Oh, may we come before the Lord's
table today, and may we be in remembrance of these wondrous
things, the wondrous salvation which You have wrought out for
us, by Your life and by Your death. And may we marvel. May it be
a constant reminder to us that we are purchased by Thy precious
blood, that our salvation comes at a cost, Your life and the
shedding of Thy blood. We give You all the glory and
all the honor and praise. In Jesus' name, Amen.