For over 17 months now, in conducting
the Lord's Table, I've read you the same passage of Scripture
each time that we observe it. But last week, when I read that
familiar passage of Scripture, two little words just jumped
out at me. They jumped out at me like they
never had before. And these two little words are
found in three different passages. They're found in our text this
morning, which is Matthew 26, 26. If you'll go ahead and turn
with me there, Matthew chapter 26, verse 26. And they're also found in Mark
Chapter 14, verse 22, and then they're found in Paul's account
of the other two passages, I believe in 1 Corinthians. I didn't write
it down. Two little words that say so
much. This passage is speaking of the
Lord's Supper, the same night that He was to be betrayed by
Judas. As you know, they sat in an upper
room and they broke bread together. And verse 26 says, and as they
were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it. And he gave it to the disciples
and said, notice these words, take, eat. This is my body. I think we all
understand that the Lord's Supper is a picture of the death of
our Lord and Savior. It shows us the way in which
we receive benefit from Him as our substitute. The bread sets
forth His broken body. The cup represents His shed blood. And these, though separated from
each other, show forth his death." The way we receive this bread
and this wine is by eating and by drinking. And this sets forth
the way by which we receive the merit and the virtue of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We receive it by faith. which
is like eating. We receive it by trust in Him,
which is like drinking. And even as we receive naturally
the bread and the fruit of the vine in our bodies, we receive
Christ spiritually in our hearts. Now these two words, take, eat. their practical directions concerning
the Lord's Supper. But let me tell you this, when
they're spiritually understood, they're the gospel of the grace
of God Almighty. I believe that every disciple
of the Lord hears a a spiritual voice, a small, still voice,
not anything audibly, just something within their heart and soul that
says concerning Christ, when they hear the gospel, take, eat. God gives you a craving in your
heart, a craving to possess Him. He gives you a craving to desire
Him. And He allows you to see your
need of Him. God says to your heart, take,
eat. This is the way to have Christ.
Take Him, partake of Him, and He's yours. And I pray that those
of you who are yet without Christ would be troubled in your conscience
this morning and that you may be led to Christ by the words
of this text. Take and eat. Take and eat. I'll only give you two divisions
to this message, only two points, and they come from these two
words. The first is take. Take. Now I'm presently taking
some prescription medicine given to me by my doctor and on the
pill bottle are these words. Take one pill twice daily. Take one pill. Our Lord said
to his disciples in our text, take. That word take is often
translated in our New Testament as receive, receive. Christ holds out the bread of
life or the bread in his hand and he says receive it. Take
it into your hand. Jesus took bread it says and
blessed it and break it and then holding it out to his disciples
he said take. Take. To this one, take. And they took it and the bread
became theirs. Bread became theirs. This is
the way that God's saints get blessings. They take them as
God gives them. This is the way that sinners
also get blessings by the grace of God. They take them. They don't make them. No. No, they don't earn them. No
way. And they certainly do not deserve
them. Absolutely not. But they take them. They take
them. Christ says to them, take. And
they obey his voice and they take. Nobody at the table this day
or this night said, Lord, I shouldn't take it. Or none of them said,
no, thank you. But when Christ said, take, they
took. Nobody said, I'm not worthy to
take. And none of them were. And none
of you are. including myself. But when Christ
said take, they took it. They took it. Now if a man is
poor, and he's a beggar, and someone offers him a gift of
generosity, he doesn't say, well, I think charity's wrong. I mean,
you haven't inquired about my character. You didn't ask me
if I was unemployed. No sirree. I used to have a grade
school teacher say, no sirree, bobtail, horsefly. I never knew
what that meant. But no sir. Let me tell you something. You're a beggar. You're poor. And you don't think
twice. You take it. You're starving. You're hungry. You take it. I'll tell you something, if you're
starving and there's bread where you are, you'd better eat it if it's given
to you. You've heard me say often concerning
salvation that you don't have to tell a man that is drowning
to take the life preserver. Wouldn't that be ridiculous?
He's drowning, he's going under and the life preserver is next
to him and you go, you better take that, you better take that.
You're going to perish if you don't take that. No, I'm going
to tell you what, he'll grab hold of that thing and he'll
hold on tight. That's what he'll do if he cares anything at all
about his life, if he values his life at all.
And friends, I know that you've heard me say, and I know that
you know, most of you anyway, that we are by nature starving
beggars. Starving beggars. Beggars on
a dunghill. Beggars whether we know it or
not. And let me tell you something, if food is freely presented to
you, freely take it. Really take it. I wouldn't ask
any questions, not only for conscience sake, but for necessity sake. I especially wouldn't argue if
the gift was presented to me by the Lord Jesus Christ and
His sovereign mercy and grace. Take. Spurgeon once said, there's nothing
freer than a gift. Nothing freer than a gift. I
like that. And there's not. Oh, if the Lord does freely give,
I ask you, dear friends, should I not freely take? If one of you gave me a gift
this morning and I refused it, It would be insulting, wouldn't
it? That would be something that would more than
likely hurt your feelings. Do you really suppose that the
Master stood there holding that bread out to Peter for about
a half an hour while he thought about it? No sirree. He said, Peter, take. Peter took it. He said to John,
he said, John, you take this bread. John took it. He said to Philip, take. And
Philip took it at once. Blessed are those who accept
Christ the first time they hear about Him. And blessed are those
that accept Him in all. Now when I say accept, let me
make myself clear. When I say accept what Christ
gives, I don't mean in the sense of choosing Him. I don't mean
in a way where you're making a decision to take what He offers. No, that's not what I mean. Starving, mercy beggars will
not contemplate on whether or not they should take the food.
They'll take it. Could it be that you're not starving?
I don't know. Have you ever seen movies? I
don't know that many of us have ever seen it in real life. If you have, I'm sure it had
a profound effect. But have you ever seen movies
where someone's starving and they were given some food? They eat it like a madman. They're
just shoving it in with both hands. They shove it in their
mouths as though they can't get enough. You've seen that, haven't
you? And when I say accept, I mean
to bow. Bow to Christ when He says take. Take. Christ said if you're thirsty,
take and drink from the fountain of life. He said, if you're hungry, take
and eat of the bread of life. If you're weary and heavy laden,
take and I'll give you rest. I anticipate that some would
say, am I then to have Christ by only taking Him? Well, do
you need a Savior? Do you need a Savior? Has God shown you you need? Do
you desire to be delivered from sin and the power of it? Do you? I'm going to tell you what, here
is the only one who can wash you. Here's the
only one who can enable you to live. Take Him, O sinner. He's as free as the air you breathe. Oh, I'm not belittling our Lord
and Savior, but you have no more to pay for Christ than you have
to pay for the next breath that goes into your lungs. Even your next breath comes as
a free gift of God. Is that not right? What do you
pay for it? Every time you take a breath,
do you put a quarter in a box? No, it's free. It's a free gift
of God. And when He gives the last breath,
you shall be no more, not in this life. Oh, I can hardly imagine that
a poor, unworthy, wretched, depraved sinner like me, such as I am,
just as I am, may take Christ. I really can't understand that
with this finite mind that I have. But what did Christ say to His
disciples? What did he say? He said, take,
eat. This is my body. This is my body. Well, first of all, we see how
free Christ must be to sinners because God prepared him a body.
There was a time when he had no body. There was a time before
the foundation of the world that the blessed son of God was a
pure spirit. But he condescended, didn't he?
He condescended to be born of a woman. He became flesh that
he might redeem fallen men. Can you see him as an infant
cradled in a manger? That's God. What humiliation. Can you see that the Lord of
all stooped so low that He nursed upon His mother's breast? God! Can you imagine the King of glory
allowing Himself to be wrapped in swaddling clothes like any
other baby? God Almighty! Oh, you want to talk about humiliation.
You want to talk about condescension, condescending down. The Lord
of life and glory has taken on human flesh. He lives in Nazareth
as a child. He grows up as a laboring man,
the son of a carpenter. Let me tell you, you men that
work, and I know most of you do, your God became a carpenter
for you. Take Him. Take Him. Surely the very fact
that He came among men and took a body like our own shows us
to take and to eat. This is my body, He said. Take
and eat. And that in itself should encourage
us to feel that we may freely take Him. His name is Emmanuel,
God with us. Dear sinner, if He's God with
us, He's bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, and He came all
the way down from glory to bless us, let us not doubt that we
may freely take what He's come to bring. Dear friends, remember also that
as Jesus Christ had a body, and in that body he died. So the object of the death must
be something outside of himself. He would not have gained anything
condescending to be a man to gain for himself in any way.
He was God. He needed nothing. He could not have died for any
purpose that had to do with his own glory. He died for the glory
of God and the salvation of his people. He was under no necessity to
reveal the majesty of His Godhead in a mortal body. He had nothing
to prove to anyone. He came for one purpose and one
purpose only. I shall call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sin. Can you take Oh, that you might have the sense
to see that Christ had no sin of His own. And He died to atone
for the sins of His people. So let me tell you. Take Him. Take Him. Take Him freely. Christ Himself. Now listen. Christ
Himself gives what we're bidden to take. Note how this verse
speaks. Jesus took bread, blessed it,
break it, and gave it to the disciples and said, gave it to
the disciples. This is a gift. This is a gift
of God. Not by works, lest any man should
boast. And He said, take, eat. Now what
Jesus gives, what He gives, you may truly
take." Is that not right? Am I wrong? Now, I may not go
and take another man's goods, that'd be stealing, but I can
take what He gives me. If Gary's cooking fish out on
the grill, and I run over there while he's not looking and take
some fish off, And don't put it past me. I'm going to tell
you something, that'd be stealing, wouldn't it? But I'm not stealing
if he gives it to me. Grab you a couple pieces of fish
here, brother. He says, give. He gives. And I take. Oh, I tell you friends, if Christ
gives you grace and you take it, you're not a thief. You're
not a thief. In fact, no man ever comes to
Christ without a lawful right to do so. Now, if a dog runs
into a butcher shop and he grabs a piece of meat, he steals it,
and the butcher tries to take it away from him and does, Won't let him eat what he's stolen.
But I'm going to tell you something, there never was and never will
be a dead dog sinner who came and laid hold of Christ's mercy
and grace and Christ took it away from him. Never once. There's hope for dead dog sinners.
if I lay hold of Him. When He says, take, I have a lawful right to do so. Do you hear the word of His command? That's what it is, too. It's
not an invitation. He didn't say, Peter, if you
want to, take this. Peter, why don't you just make
up your mind to take this bread? He said, take! Take! Take! My! He didn't ask them if they
wanted the bread. He commanded them to take it. The second point is the second
word of this great and merciful command. Eat. Take. Eat. Take. Eat. Now eating, that's something
I'm good at. Eating is such a simple thing
that it really doesn't need explaining, does it? There's some of you,
myself included, that's hungry right now. I hope it finishes by 12, I'm
getting hungry. How many times have I thought
that during a message? Many times. Every hungry man,
every living man knows what it is to eat. Well, what is eating? What is it really when we get
down to it? To eat is the innermost kind
of reception. It's taking in to yourself the
food that's set before you. So, those of you who are His
disciples, will you not take Christ? Of course you do. You
take Christ, you take himself, his work, his blood, his righteousness,
you take them right into your being. Like food, they become one with
you. When I eat, I think to myself, and you do too, this is for me,
this is my food. You got your food over there,
and this is my food. And I take it for myself, and
I have no partner in anything I eat. When I eat, I eat for
myself. You cannot eat for your wife.
You cannot eat for your child. You have to do that for yourself. And it's no different spiritually
speaking, dear friends. I want you to say in your heart,
this dying Savior is mine. He's mine. This risen Savior, He's mine. He's mine. Just as I eat food
for myself by faith, I take this blessed Son of God who became
a man, a living, dying, risen Savior, I take Him for myself.
And you must do the same. He's mine. It's a personal thing. I take Him for myself and to
myself, and I'm going to tell you, it's a necessary action. Your spiritual life depends upon
it, just as your physical life depends upon eating and drinking. You have personally sinned. And you must personally take
Christ and eat. You who are personally hungry,
you must personally eat. If I say I'm starving to death
and we go out to eat and I watch everyone else eat, what good
has it done me? That's not a hard thing to understand,
is it? And when food is to be eaten,
it's not only taken in, but it has to be digested. It has to
be chewed and digested. It's in the mouth and it's chewed
over and over so that, first of all, the flavor is enjoyed. And it's the same, dear friends,
with eating the bread alive. Oh, when it's thinking of His
redeeming work, read, mark, learn, meditate, inwardly digest the
truth. Christ died for sinners. Christ died for sinners. Jesus
died in the room instead of sinners. I'm a sinner. Oh, I'm a dead dog sinner. Digest
that great truth. Chew on it over and over. Chew
on that great doctrine. Chew on it with the teeth of
your mind. This is the very bread from heaven
that you can eat. This is the very bread from heaven
bid you to eat. The whole business of eating
is to get the food in you for nourishment. That's the main
point. To get it so into you that it becomes your own. It
becomes part of you. And if we do that with our Lord
Jesus Christ, you know what? We're going to live forever. And I imagine that some would
say, oh, but it just seems too far-fetched that I, a poor, unworthy
sinner, am to take Christ to be mine? As I would take a piece
of bread to be my food? Listen, he bids you to do it. He bids you to do it. Take! Eat! Isn't that proof enough? I'm the most unworthy child of
hell, yet Jesus bids me to trust Him. I may trust Him, because
He bids me to do so. Isn't His bidding sufficient
enough for me to do it? Is it not? If you desire to be His child,
He bids you to eat. Don't hesitate. His bidding is
enough. He condescends to compare himself
to bread. And let me ask you something.
What good is bread unless it's eaten? Why is it made into bread unless
it should be eaten? Why does it stand in rolls at
the grocery store or in the baker's shop? To be looked at? Oh, that's some beautiful bread.
No. to be eaten. And when the Lord
Jesus Christ compares Himself to bread, He means that He's
made Himself into such a shape and a form in the covenant of
God's grace that He intends for us to receive Him. Bread that doesn't get eaten
is of no profit. That manna in the wilderness,
you remember how God provided for for his children in the wilderness,
but that bread that wasn't eaten, it became full of worms and it
stank. It stunk, I'm telling you. And
let me tell you this, our Lord Jesus Christ is of no profit
unless sinners are saved by him. Now I don't mean that he's not
profitable, but he's no profit to you. Paul said to the Galatians,
we studied it on Wednesdays, he said, I say unto you that
if you be circumcised, Christ profit you nothing. If you're going to try to work
your way there, then Christ is of none effect to you. He's of
no profit to you at all. Will you look to the law to be
saved? Shall you endeavor to keep the do's and the don'ts
in order to have life? No. You'll fail. You'll fall. And what is a Savior
that saves nobody? Well, He's like a man who opens
a gift shop and never sells any goods. You walk in and you grab
and you put it on the head and that's not for sale. I'm not
selling that. That doesn't do any good, does
it? It's like a doctor that comes
to town and doesn't see any patients. No profit. Come and take and eat of that
bread. I tell you, the bread misses
its purpose and its design and its end if it's not eaten. One old writer said, Christ is
bread, but not eaten becomes Christ dishonored. Friends, when our Lord says,
take, eat, His words set forth to us, that He is the true nourishment
of our soul. Jesus Christ is all I need. All I need. Souls have to be nourished by
the truth of God. It's our spiritual meat, and
that is Christ our Lord. And when we think of Him, and
meditate on Him, and believe in Him, and trust in Him, and
receive Him, He becomes the food of our souls, the sustaining
of our spirit. Well, let me close in saying
these words. Christ our Lord said, he that
believeth in me hath everlasting life. He has it now. Right now. And it's everlasting. And the scripture says he shall
never lose it. He that believeth in Jesus Christ
is not condemned. regardless of all his past sin
and guilt. But brother, you don't understand
the things that I've done. It doesn't matter. Christ says, take and eat. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Now friends, this is the gospel. This is how our Master put it.
He said these things Himself. Take heed. And if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. This book you hold this morning
says, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. My word to you this morning is
simply this. Take. Eat. Take. Eat. Take. Eat.