If you will, turn with me to
Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter 14, and you can read along with me
as I read through these verses, verses 17 through 25. And in
the evening he cometh with the 12. And as they did,
as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, verily I say unto you,
one of you that eateth with me shall betray me. And they began
to be sorrowful and to say to him, one by one, is it I? And another said, is it I? And he answered and said unto
them, it is one of the 12 that dippeth with me in the dish. Now, I forget if it's Matthew's
or John's or one of the accounts adds this, and Judas said, he
was the last one to say it, and he said, is it I? And he answered and said unto
them, it is one of the 12 that dippeth with me in the dish.
And the son of man indeed goeth as it is written of him, but
woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. Good were
it for that man if he had never been born. And as they did eat,
Jesus took bread and blessed and break it and gave it to them
and said, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup, and when
he'd given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of
it. And he said unto them, this is
my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many. 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. My subject this morning is his body and his blood. When he handed them the bread,
he said, this is my body. And when he passed the cup, he
said, this is my blood. by God's sovereign order and
the carrying out of that arrangement. In the fullness of His providence,
the disciples with their Lord were gathered together in that
upper room, that upper room that was already furnished for them, ready to accommodate all of them, so they could observe this Feast
of the Passover. And the Passover as an ordinance
was established on that final night of the plagues. You remember
that back in Egypt when God would kill all the firstborn in Egypt.
And he commanded through his prophet Moses that a lamb be
put aside, be looked at, examined, for a length of time to ensure
that this lamb was without spot and without blemish. It wasn't
a sick lamb. It wasn't a weak lamb. It was
a lamb of the first year, a male, and it was to be observed. And
then at such and such a time, they were all to slay the lamb
and put its blood on the two side posts of the door and on
the lintel above the door. And they were to take the lamb
and roast it with fire, and to eat the whole lamb, and with
it, unleavened bread mixed with bitter herbs. That's Exodus 12,
14. He said, and this day shall be
unto you for a memorial. And you shall keep it a feast
to the Lord throughout your generations, and you shall keep it a feast
by ordinance forever. Forever. A feast, he said to the Lord. And these things were pointing
to him whose body and blood would keep them safe from the wrath
of God. You know, it's not man's good
intentions, like he's told today. It's not man's decision. It's
not his determination to go one way or the other. It's the Lamb. It's the lamb. Only one thing
saved Israel that night in Egypt, the lamb. It was the lamb. We're told in Hebrews 9, 9 and
10 that these things were figures for the time then present and
they consisted of meats and drinks and various washings and carnal
ordinances. imposed on them until the time
of reformation. And then also in verse 23 of
Hebrews 9, he calls these things patterns of things in the heavens. They were patterns, figures,
verse 24 in Hebrews 9, figures of the truth. And then in chapter
10, he calls them shadows of good things to come. So the feast
of the Passover and unleavened bread was commanded to be kept. They didn't ask him pretty please.
They didn't say, whosoever will, take the blood. No, it was a
commandment of God. Take the blood. Take it and put
it on the two side posts of the door and put it above on the
lintel. And then as an ordinance, they
were commanded to keep it, exactly as God instructed them. On such
and such a day, on the first month of the year, such and such
a day, seven days are gonna be set apart for this feast of unleavened
bread and the Passover. It wasn't an option or some kind
of alternative. And even so, the Lord, our representative,
in fulfilling the law on our behalf, must come here to Jerusalem
and keep this feast exactly as God commanded it to be kept. And so he did. But he will not,
and this is what I want you to understand, he will not allow
his disciples to eat the lamb and the bread without understanding. He wants them to know what this
blood and this bread is all about. It's not just blood and bread. I mean, it's not just wine and
bread. It's not just eating a lamb that's roasted on the fire and
having a little wine with it and some unleavened bread. Now,
when I grew up, I was made to attend church. Every time the
door was open, I had to go. I had to go. And we celebrated
all kinds of holidays, mainly Christmas and Easter. Had to
celebrate those. And we kept the Sabbath day,
so we thought that they were honoring the seventh day and
not Saturday. And then Christmas, we were told
this. We were told that we were celebrating
the birth of Christ but not one of them ever told us who he was
or why he had to be born. Why did God have to robe himself
in human flesh and come into this world? They didn't tell
us that. Didn't tell us that. In the end, it come out something
like this. He did this so everybody could
have an opportunity to be saved. And then on Easter we were told
that we were celebrating the resurrection of Christ, but all
I can ever remember as a kid is hunting Easter eggs. I don't
remember anybody saying anything about the resurrection. Now they
stated the fact he rose from the dead. So did Lazarus. So what's the
significance of his rising from the dead? They didn't tell us
that, never told us that. They just left us to, we just
came in there and they gave us the fact that he was raised from
the dead, gave us the fact that he was born, and then left us
to our own imaginations as to what this resurrection meant
and what his birth meant and what was accomplished by his
death, burial, and resurrection. And the Sabbath, which is Saturday,
which they said they kept on Sunday, they called it a Christian
Sabbath, but they never told us why or what happened on Saturday
or why that was so significant. Why did God command them on that
day to keep it? But our Lord would not have us
to do anything in ignorance. Don't ever do that. Well, everybody
else got baptized, I guess I will. No, understand what it means. Understand what it is, understand
what it signifies, what it's telling, what it's picturing,
what it's saying. Don't just do these things, don't
just, we're gonna have the Lord's table this morning. I don't want
you just to take that because everybody else is taking it,
or taking it because your mom takes it, or your dad, or somebody
that you care a lot for, they're taking it, I guess I will, you
know, and just eat the bread and drink the wine. No, no. Understand what it means. And this was the downfall of
Israel, I'm telling you the truth. This is why God, he said, who commanded you to come into
my presence? Who commanded you to hold your
hands up and wave your hands? He told that woman at the well,
she said, we worship in the mountains, you all worship down in Jerusalem.
He said, you don't know what you worship. You just go to church. That's
all you do. Worship is about knowing God. And your heart's being lifted
up with thanksgiving and praise to God. Why? Because He's our
Savior. He's our Savior. Our Lord wouldn't
have us to do anything in ignorance. And if I only had one word to
describe at least my experience with worldly religion, it would
be this, ignorance. Ignorance. Paul prayed for his
kinsmen, and he said, I bear them record, they have a zeal
of God, but it's not according to knowledge, for they being
ignorant of God's righteousness. Now, if you're ignorant of God's
righteousness, then you, like Israel, gonna be going about
to establish a righteousness of your own. But when you understand
something about the righteousness of God, you're gonna stop all
that. You see what I'm saying? Israel was as religious as you
could be. They were as dedicated as a man
could be. They were as zealous as any people
I've ever known. Consecrated, determined, but
ignorant, just ignorant. Christ said to the highest officers
in their religion, this was the master theologians among the
Jews. This was as high as you could
go, the Sanhedrin. And he said, you neither know
me nor my father. That's what he said. Our Lord
said to the Samaritan woman that she worshiped, she knew not what. And the Lord will not have his
people ignorant. In John 8, 31, he said, if you
continue in my word, that is my teaching, Then are you my
disciples indeed and you shall know the truth. See, this is
what preaching's all about. This is what teaching's all about.
I'm not up here to just babble because it's Sunday or get up
here and read some scripture because they're in the Bible
and then everybody gets feeling good and I brag on the moms and
the dads and the kids and everybody goes home. Man, I feel so. No. No. If God sets a man in this pulpit,
whether it's temporary or permanent, you're up here to teach, not
to babble. You're up here to teach. When
you get done, I want you to feel good when you walk out that door.
At least I have set the truth before these people. That's what
Paul said, I'm free from your blood because I have not shunned
to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. I talk to you
from the word of God. The Lord would not have his people
ignorant. There's no freedom, there's no
rest, there's no assurance, there's no hope, there's no comfort in
ignorance. Ignorance is no more than a rabbit's
foot. You know, when we were kids,
we carried around rabbits' foots in our pockets. We'd rub on them.
Somebody told us that was good luck. It's like we used to hunt four-leaf
clovers. Boy found a four-leaf. Boy, that's
good luck, ain't it? Fine, get a four-leaf clover.
People back in my day, when I was young, put them in their Bibles. They put them in books. They
put them all over the place. Four-leaf clover. And here's
another one. Whistling in a cemetery. Oh,
I had to walk home. And this was a railroad town
that I lived in, and the New York Central and the Pennsylvania
Railroad crisscrossed in that town. And I had to either walk
two and a half miles, or I could walk one mile down that railroad
track and be home. But boy, that railroad track
was dark. When you left that town, you couldn't hardly see
your hand in front of you. And it went right through the
middle of two cemeteries, one on either side. And I'd walk
down that thing, and I'd be thinking about them old hobos and whatever
else a kid's imagination can dream up on this side or that.
And I'd start whistling. What would that do? Huh? You reckon that'd scare them
off if you did? You see what I'm saying? And
this is what folks do, and they feel safe. They feel safe. It's ignorance. Ignorance. And it might make you feel good,
but it's got no value to it whatsoever. And I have no reason to doubt
that these disciples came into this upper room and ate that
lamb no differently than they ever did. They ate that lamb
just like those rabbis had instructed them. But then something wonderful
happened. Something wonderful happened.
Our Lord stood up And he walked up there and he took that little
slab of 111 bread and he picked it up in his hands. And he broke it. Just took that
bread and he just broke it. And he blessed it. And then he
stood up right in front of him. Walker, he was from ear to ear,
right in front of him, standing there holding that bread. He
said, you see this bread? This is my body. It's not yours. You don't have
any right to it. But I'm giving it to you. I'm
giving it to you. This is my body. No man killeth me. No man can take my life from
me. I lay it down freely. This is my body. The church is
his body. It's his body. This is what this
is. We take this bread. That's what
this symbolizes. That's what this is telling us.
This is his body, which he freely broke and gave it to us. And now he said, you eat this.
You eat this. Oh, my soul. That's what that
unleavened bread, way back in Indonesia, that's what that meant. Don't you know their minds and
hearts come alive when he told them that? And then they took
that cup. He took a whole cup of wine.
I don't know. You know, we got these little
dispensers, and I guess that's handy. We pass them. He didn't
do that. And I'm going to tell you something.
Everybody don't have a little drop of Christ's blood. This
is my blood, he said, the whole cup, the whole thing. Now, get your drinks. It's my blood, not yours, it's
mine. You can't just reach out and
take it. You can't just any time you want to run up and get a
drink. It's my blood, my blood. And I've given it to you up on
the altar. Freely, lovingly, my blood. Now you drink it. You drink it. This bread is blessed by him.
And he would not let him eat it in ignorance. And then watch
this, he break the bread. He didn't hand him a biscuit. Don said he went overseas one
time and they served the Lord's table and they passed out crackers.
He said, I wanted to cry, I wanted to cry. He didn't hand him a
cracker or a biscuit. He took unleavened bread and
he'd break it. And then he handed it to him.
Here, here. You know how, how's a man get
saved? Well, he can't get saved. But
he'll be saved when the Lord takes his body and gives it to
him. Takes his blood and gives it
to him. And then he'll tell him, not
gonna ask him, he gonna tell him, eat that, drink that. And they're gonna eat it and
drink it. Every one of them did. Every one of them did. God the Father blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And then that
bread was broken. And then he passed it out and
he gave it to them. Do you know that faith is the
gift of God? It's the gift of God. You can't
conjure it up. Well, fella told me, he said,
all you have to do is believe. This is the work of God that
you believe on Him. You can't just believe. Well,
I can believe any time I want to. How come you don't? Because you can't. That's why. Faith is the gift of God, he
gives it to you. He gives it to you, and I tell
you, when he makes you to understand that, you'll beg him for it. This is my body, not yours, my
body. Let me read you something over
here in Hebrews chapter 10. I'm not gonna get through all
this lesson, having told us that the law was
a shadow of good things to come and speaking specifically about
its sacrifice. Telling us that those things
that he'd been talking about were nothing but a vague silhouette
of good things to come. And he goes on to say, for it
is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take
away sin. That's not even possible. Wherefore,
when he cometh into the world, when God sent him into the world,
his coming, he didn't actually say this out of mid-air, but
his coming saith this. His appearance in this world
saith this. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he sayeth, sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not,
now watch this, but a body hast thou prepared me. Why? Why? To be broken for his people. That's why. That's why. A body. a substitutionary body, a representative
body, a body into which we've been put in union with, a body
through whom God can be righteous in his remission of sins, a body
through whom justice can be satisfied and righteousness established,
a body given to do, to accomplish the redemptive will of God, and
one to which the volume of the scriptures Give witness. Huh? Isn't that what he said?
In the volume of the book, it's written of me. I come to do thy
will, oh God. And when you eat this bread,
I want you to know what it means. It's my body given to you. And
then the cup of wine, not grape juice, wine. Many a person come
into a church that uses wine as one of the elements, and as
soon as they smelled it, they put it back in the tray. Why? Well, they say Christ never drank
wine. Why didn't they call him a grape juice bibber instead
of a wine bibber then? He drank wine. He often drank
wine. He wasn't a drunk, but he often
drank wine. Fact is, he even took water and
turned it into wine. But on this occasion, he said,
this is my blood of the New Testament. What's that mean? New covenant. Now, turn with me to Hebrews.
This New Testament, or New Covenant, is not new in the order of its
being created. The covenant is as old as God.
Now watch this, Hebrews chapter 13, verse 20. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep, are you listening? Through the blood of the everlasting
covenant. He was the lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. And his blood is the blood of
the covenant. King David talked about this
covenant. In fact, it was the last words
that he ever spoke. He said, although it be not so
with my house, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and sure, and this is all my salvation
and all my desire, though he make it not to grow. If he don't call another living
soul, it's still so. That's what he's saying. Christ is the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world, and His blood is the blood of
that covenant. But it's new in its revelation. Now it's being revealed by Him
who shed that blood. He's gonna have them to know
what's gonna take place on this cross. And he goes on and on and on
all through the book of Hebrews, but especially in chapter nine,
he said, by his own blood, he entered into heaven itself to
obtain, now watch this, eternal redemption for us. He's not trying to secure it,
he's not hoping to secure it. It's his possession, it's in
his hands. And he's seated at the right
hand of God expecting. till his enemy's been made his
footstool. And then here's something else, he gave it to them, and
they all drank it. Now I'm gonna ask you something.
What makes, I'm gonna use myself, I won't use you, I'll use myself.
What makes me think that the blood of Christ was shed for
me? That's a pretty bold statement
when you say he shed his blood for me. What makes me think he
did that? What gives me the right to take
that wine and think on this blessed sacrifice? Well, I'm going to tell you something.
When he gives you the cup, you'll know. You'll know. Because when he gives you the
cup, he already gave you the faith. Else you wouldn't take
the cup. Because you wouldn't know what
the cup stood for. but if he gives you that faith. Isn't that
how we know we're sons of God? Huh? All that the Father given
me, Christ said, gonna come to me. Come to acknowledge of me,
come literally to me, come spiritually to me. Nobody else could tell them what
Christ himself told them. Isn't that so? Oh, my body, my
blood. The blood of the everlasting
covenant. And those who are given his body and blood are those
he calls and gifts with faith in him. Now Judas ate the bread. He drank the wine. He took that
little bit of lamb and he dipped it in that sop and ate it with
Christ. He was there and present among
the 12, but there was no covenant relationship ever started with
him. He still didn't know what that
wine was and didn't know what that bread was. Now, the last verse. Verily I
say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine,
until the day I drink it with you new in the kingdom of God. And so he did. So he did. And he's been doing it ever since.
Been doing it ever since. Oh, what a blessed savior we
have. What a blessed salvation. What a blessed privilege. He given us to minister. minister
his gospel, and we all do. I'm not the only minister in
this church. Y'all supportin' me, I couldn't be here without
that. We're all part of this ministry. And what a blessed
thought that our risen Savior still passes out his blood and
his body that we might remember him. Thank you.