What Mean Ye By This Service

Let us look to the Lord in a
word of prayer. Father, we thank you that we
have again this privilege of gathering. We ask the blessing
now upon thy word. Feed, we pray, our souls and
nourish up our souls in the Lord Jesus Christ this morning. Be
thou, Father, near and encourage and strengthen our hearts. We ask for a blessing upon all
those gathered in many and various places this morning in our land. And, Father, we pray that they
might be encouraged and blessed today and strengthened. We ask
that we may all be revived and our love for Christ will grow
more and more. We pray it in his name for his
sake. Amen. I want to read out of Exodus
12, I want to read three verses, verse 25, 26, and 27. If you please, if you want to
turn back there and notice. And it shall come to pass, when
ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according
as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when
your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the
sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed over the houses of
the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smoked the Egyptians,
and delivered our houses, and the people bowed the head and
worshipped. And then, if you will, turn to
the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And I want to begin reading with
verse 23 here, and I want to read down through the 26th verse. Verse 23 through 26 in 1 Corinthians
chapter 11. For I have received of the Lord
that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the
same night in which he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given
thanks, he broke it and said, Take ye, this is my body, which
is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. After the
same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying,
This cup is the New Testament in my blood, this do ye, as oft
as ye drank it, in remembrance of me. for as often as you eat
this bread and drink this cup ye do show the Lord's death till
he come. Now this morning I want to speak
on the subject of the Lord's Supper and I guess if you need
a title for the message it would be the verse there in Exodus
chapter 12 in verse 26 where it says that the children will
ask What mean ye by this service? What mean ye by this service? What do we mean? What's it all
about? Why do we take communion? Why do we take the Lord's Supper? Now, in the Christian faith,
we must know the meaning of what we do. We must know the meaning. We must know why. We must know
the meaning of what we do. Otherwise, it is of no profit
to us. We do not believe in the faith
of the man who was asked what he believed, and he replied that
he believed what the church believed. But what does the church believe?
Well, the church believes what I believe. Well, but what do
you and the church believe? Well, we both believe the same
thing. This is the talk of ignorance,
beloved. This is not the talk of somebody who is educated in
the Word of God, somebody who knows the meaning of this service,
who knows what the Word of God teaches and is able to explain
it. Now faith knows what she believes
and can give a reason for the hope that is in her with meekness
and fear. Now concerning the Passover,
the young people among the Jews were encouraged to ask their
parents this question, what mean ye by this service? Now children
should be encouraged to ask such questions because we know that
we read in Puritan times that after the sermon, after the people
would go and listen to the Word of God expounded and preached
during the day, families assembling for the purpose of hearing the
Word of God, then the children would be they would be catechized
afterwards, they would be instructed and taught and they would be
asked by the fathers and the fathers had to listen and they
had to be very attentive to be able to understand the sermon
in order that they could ask their children What did you hear?
What was it that you heard today? What did the preacher say? What
was he talking about? And the children had to listen
too in order that they would be able to explain what it was
that they had heard. And so children ought to be encouraged
and we ought to cultivate in our children a desire to understand
everything that is connected with our holy faith. Everything
that has to do with our faith, we ought to cultivate the desire
in our children and encourage them to understand it all. Be ready to tell your children
what the ordinances of the gospel mean. Be ready to explain to
your children what baptism means. Be ready to explain to your children
what the Lord's Supper is all about. And be ready to explain
the gospel to them, how God saves sinners, and let them know, as
far as words can make it plain, how men and women, boys and girls,
are reconciled to God, and how sin is forgiven, and how we become
the children of God. Now, well, what mean ye by this
service? Now, I want to speak on that
subject this morning, and I think maybe it'll be good for all of
us, I'm sure that it will be. I really believe that it will
instruct our hearts and enable us maybe to answer the question,
if we're ever asked, what mean ye by this service? we'll be
able at least to explain, as the children of Israel were to
explain, that this is the Lord's Passover. This has to do, when
they would celebrate the Passover, it would explain and show that
the Lord had passed over their houses, and that the Lord, when
he saw the blood, had had mercy upon them, and had withheld the
death angel from their house, and that he had spared them and
passed over them, and had delivered them from Egyptian bondage. And so this was the meaning of
the services for as the Jewish people were concerned. But what
meaning by this service? Why do we take the Lord's Supper?
Why do we take communion? This service here that is called
the breaking of bread. What does it mean? Well first
of all, and I want to give you four things, and in these four
things it will explain to you what we mean or what this supper
means. What the Lord's Supper means.
First of all, I'd like to say that this supper is a memorial. We read there in the book of
Exodus chapter 12 where the observance of the Passover by the Jewish
people that it was to be a memorial. Well, this also is to be a memorial,
the taking of the Lord's Supper, because the Lord Jesus said in
verse 24, He says, this do in remembrance of me. This do in
remembrance of me, and also in the last part of verse 25, the
same words, in remembrance of me. And so the Lord's Supper
is a memorial service, that's what it is. Now if you want to
keep something in mind, From generation to generation, you
may attempt it in many ways. You may attempt to keep it in
mind or to keep it in the people's minds in many ways. You might
want to write it on brass. You might want to put it in marble.
You might want to print it in a book. But we know books can
be lost, and we know that people steal brass and sell it for junk. And we know that marble in certain
climates, I mean, just eats away, and after a while it'll fade
away and be gone. But if you really want to keep
something in mind, it's found that even upon the whole, that
the best way of remembering a fact is to have some ceremony connected
with it, which shall be frequently performed, so as to keep this
fact in memory. Now I cannot think of a better
method of keeping the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in mind
than that of meeting together as we have here today for the
breaking of bread and the pouring out of the juice of the vine
in memory of the death of the Son of God. I cannot think of
a better way of perpetuating these gospel facts than to meet
together as we have and observe the supper as we do. Now, other
facts may be forgotten, but this one never will be as long as
we meet together for the breaking of bread in remembrance of the
death of the Son of God. Jesus said to his disciples,
this do in remembrance of me. And in obeying this command,
we are... In obeying this command, we are
keeping, I think, the Lord in remembrance. By keeping the feast,
by taking of the elements, we are effectually keeping our Lord
in remembrance. And brother, sister, that's what
we want to do. That's what it's about. It's
a memorial service. It's to remember the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now when we come together, we
are to remember, and when we come together around the Lord's
table, we are to remember an absent friend. An absent friend. Jesus has gone away from the
earth. He who loved us better than any
other ever loved us has left us for a while. He's left us
for a while. Now we sometimes hear friends
who are parting We hear them and we see them give something,
a parting, a little parting gift, and they say to their friend
when parting, when you see this, then remember me. When you see
this or when you look at this, remember me. And so the Lord
Jesus Christ, when He left this world, He gave us this supper. And in as much as what we've
read here in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, He said when you celebrate
this supper, remember me. Remember me. And so we are gathering
around the table then to remember an absent friend. Now then, We have friends who
are out of sight this morning, but not out of mind. Jesus is
out of sight, but He's not out of mind. These elements that
are before us bring Him to the front. They bring Him to mind,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, this memorial is to remember
an absent friend. Now, listen to me. You come chiefly
to remember, I believe, the great deed of love, the great deed
of love of the Lord Jesus Christ. You come to the Lord's table,
you remember this absent friend because, and chiefly, because
of what he did out of love toward your soul. This supper is a memorial
of what Jesus did for you when he was on the earth. That's what
it's about. Now then, the scripture says,
greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends. And if you're a child of God
this morning, if you're a child of grace, if you know the Lord,
and if you have in your heart the hope of the gospel, if there's
ever been a time when God has enlightened your soul and you
were regenerated of the Spirit of God, God touched you and you're
His child, Then, beloved, the life of the Lord Jesus Christ
was laid down for you. It was laid down for you. He
loved us and gave himself for us is the language of the scripture. Now dwell on that fact this morning
and let these words affect your hearts. Gethsemane and Golgotha. Do you know what happened in
Gethsemane? Do you know what happened on Golgotha's brow? On Golgotha's hill? Then beloved,
it was there where the Lord Jesus suffered. It was there where
that he suffered as it were and shed as it were great drops of
blood because he was bearing the iniquity of the Lord's people
upon himself. And then on Mount Calvary is
where he poured out his soul unto death. Can you forget all
that Jesus suffered on your behalf? Can you forget it? Well, you
can't forget it as long as you come and break bread and pour
the wine. As long as you take these elements
and they're set before you, you'll not be able to forget what He's
done on your behalf. Don't let these things slip from
your heart's affection. Come to the table and celebrate
the memorial of His love and His wounds and agonies and His
death for you. And that's why we come today,
is in order that we might remember what the Lord Jesus, this absent
friend, what he did for us when he was on this earth, when he
was made to be sin for us, and when he bore the judgment and
the wrath of God in our stead on Golgotha's brow. The poet
said, in memory of the Savior's love, we keep the sacred feasts. where every humble contrite heart
is made a welcome guest. By faith we take the bread of
life with which our souls are fed. and cupping token of his
blood that was for sinners shed. Now I want you also to note that
we're called upon to remember a dear friend who has altogether,
although he has gone away, now this is very important and I
want you to get it, has gone about, he's gone away, but he's
gone there into heaven above on our business if you please,
on our business. And I say it that way because
I believe it was expedient for you, expedient for all the children
of God that He should go away. Because He is doing you more
good where He has gone than He could have done you if He had
stayed here in the world. Because now he has gone yonder
to appear in the presence of God for us, the Bible says. Now your business would miscarry,
my friend, and I think you ought to understand this. You ought
to understand that you cannot keep yourself, you cannot keep
yourself saved, you could not keep yourself in the love of
God, you could not. Withstand all of the barrages
of Satan in this world and the old flesh, your own carnal nature. You could not deal with it and
it would all miscarry if it was not for the Lord Jesus Christ
having gone home to appear for us in the presence of God. But
now listen. Your business this morning, the
Lord Jesus Christ, He has gone within the veil that hides Him
from us, and He is there pleading for us in the presence of God. His power, His dignity, His merit
are all freely being employed by Him for us. That's what the
Lord Jesus is doing this morning. He's pleading the cause of our
souls. Hebrews 7 and 25 says that He
is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him,
seeing that He ever liveth to make intercession for us. And
so this absent friend has gone away, but he's gone away in order
to take care of our business. And why should we not meet in
memorial of him? Why should we not meet and break
bread and drink the wine? Why should we not do so in remembrance
of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, we do this remembrance
of Him when we take the supper, and also we must remember a friend
who I believe will return very soon. The Lord Jesus Christ is
coming back. He only tells you to do this
till He comes again. He tells us here that we're to
do it until He comes again. We show forth the Lord's death
till he come. Verse 26 of 1 Corinthians chapter
11. Until he comes again. And so
we are expecting that the Lord Jesus Christ will part the skies
and come down. This same Jesus whom the angels
saw go up into heaven will come again in like manner. He's coming
back to this earth. He says, behold I come quickly. Now the long-suffering of God
delays His coming until sinners are brought in and until the
full number of His elect shall be accomplished. The Lord Jesus
will tarry until everlast because it's not... Listen, my friend,
He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come
to repentance. That is, that all of the elect
would be brought into the fold. that every one of them would
come in and experience everlasting salvation in Christ. And until
that time, Jesus will not come, but He's not delaying, lingering.
He's not slack, as some men count slackness. He that shall come,
will come, and will not tarry when the purpose of God is right,
when God's will is finished on earth among sinners, and God
has gathered together His elect from the four corners of the
earth, when they're all gathered together in the one form in the
one body, then my friend, the Lord Jesus Christ will come again. But let's remember Him, and we
remember Him that is soon coming, and let's remember Him until
He comes and say, arise my love, my dove, my fair one, come away. Until he parks the sky and says
those words unto his church, then let's remember him. I charge
my own soul as I charge your soul. Remember him. Remember
him, the one that is coming again. Sit still and let all other thoughts
be gone and think only of Him who loved you and died for you,
was buried and rose again, and is soon coming back unto this
earth. Wherefore, let us observe the
feast in remembrance of Him, because it is a memorial. It is a memorial of Jesus. Now then, secondly, the second
meaning of the Lord's Supper is that it is an exhibition. And we read that here in 1 Corinthians
11 and verse 26 when it says this. He says, and for as often
as you eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's
death till he come. Now this word show here, to me
it means it's an exhibition. We do show the Lord's death by
the observance of the supper. Now then, as often as you eat
this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death
till he come. We are helped to remember the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ by the type, by the emblems,
and by the metaphors by which the supper is set forth. Well,
how is that? Well, there is a broken body. The body of the Lord Jesus Christ
is a broken body. And that is represented by the
bread or the one loaf which is broken before it's served to
the people of God. His body was broken, it was marred,
it was sadly marred, given over to the hands of death. He was
laid in the sepulcher. His body is represented, I say,
by the loaf, by the bread. Then there is the cup. Now what
does the cup mean? Jesus said this cup is the new
testament in my blood which is shed for you. Now blood shedding
usually means dying by violent death. And so did the Lord Jesus
Christ die. They pierced his hands and his
feet. The soldier thrust the spear into his side and out came
blood and water. He poured out from his veins
his precious blood to purchase his own people. Now the broken
bread and the wine and the cup, these two things, these two things
symbolize the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now they must be
both there. There must be the bread and there
must be the wine. Now because the separation of
the blood from the flesh is the surest token of death. When the blood is separated from
the flesh. Now the blood is the life thereof
and if the blood be drained away from the flesh, then there is
death. Therefore the blood is represented
by the cup and the flesh is represented by the bread. These two, when
separated, are the token and the emblem of Christ's death. Now you cannot mix the bread
and the wine That is not the way it must be. It must be separated. As the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ was separated from his broken body. And the two separated,
my friend, shows forth that violent death which the Lord Jesus Christ
died. His blood was shed and separated
from his body. So we have then given you two
meanings of the Lord's Supper. It is a memorial and it is an
exhibition. It's an exhibition. Now thirdly,
the Lord's Supper next is a communion. It's a communion. And we must
bring this out to you because I believe it's very important
for us to understand that this is the Lord's table. It is the
Lord's table. Look with me in the 10th chapter
of 1st Corinthians. 1st Corinthians chapter 10 and
look at verse 16 and verse 17. The cup of blessing which we
bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread
which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? We being many are one bread and
one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. And then also
notice verse 21, you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup
of devils. You cannot be partakers of the
Lord's table and the table of devils. I emphasize that the
cup of which we bless is the communion of the blood of Christ
and the bread which we break is the communion of the body
of Christ. We eat of His bread and we drink
of His cup. He who has spiritually eaten
of Christ's bread has come under Christ's protection and Christ's
authority. Christ takes care of those. It's kind of like I read one
time about with the Arabs. That if a man comes into his
house and partakes of his salt, as the saying goes, that as long
as he's in that man's house, he's under that man's protection.
Now when you eat spiritually of the blood and the body of
the Lord Jesus Christ, you are forever protected. partakes of the broken body and
the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, then he is protected
by Christ. He's saved by Christ. All feuds
are ended and eternal peace is established between the two,
that is between the soul and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this
is the privilege of the child of God to live in Christ's bosom
and to drink out of his cup and to eat of his bread. It's our
privilege to have communion with Him. This is a very sweet fellowship. Now, we really come to the table
in the right spirit, I think, when we have eaten the bread
and it becomes part of us, when it is assimilated into our system,
and when His flesh is meat indeed and His blood is drink indeed. Now you say, can I really feed
upon Christ in this way? Spiritually, yes. Carnally, no. You cannot. I hate the doctrine
of the Roman Catholics that says that by a priestly act, the bread
and the wine is turned into the actual body and the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. They feed that to the people
and they say that because you eat that, you have eternal life. And that's a lie. Spiritually,
you can partake of Christ and you can eat his flesh and drink
his blood, but no other way. I do not turn these elements
into the actual body and blood of Christ. No man has that power. No man can do that. I invite
you to turn with me to the sixth chapter of John's Gospel, and
I'd like to read these words. of the Lord Jesus to you this
morning. I hope that you'll listen to
them. We won't be very long this morning, and I hope you'll listen
to the Word of God because it's important that you hear these
statements of Scripture. Now in verse 48, Jesus said of
John 6, He said, I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat
man in the wilderness, and they're dead. This is the bread which
cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not
die. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The
Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give
us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of
Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth
my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will
raise him up in the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father
hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me,
even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came
down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna
and are dead, he that eateth of this bread shall live forever. Now he gives us his flesh to
eat and we enter into a fellowship of the most intense and mysterious
kind, not merely eating with him, but eating him. Not merely
receiving from him, but receiving him himself to be the life of
our souls, the life of our hearts. This is all by faith. It's all
done spiritually. It all happens in the new birth. It all happens in regeneration. It all happens when a man is
made a partaker of Christ by the Spirit of the Living God
in the time whenever he is brought out of sin's death into the life
of Christ, into the liberty of the gospel. Such is our fellowship
with Christ. He is one with us. and we are
one with Him. We're one with Christ, we're
partners with Him. All that He has is ours, and
all that we have is His. He gives Himself to us, and we
yield ourselves up to Him. I'm talking about communion of
a spiritual nature. I'm telling you, That's the meaning
of this supper. We're one with Him. We assimilate
Him into our system in a spiritual way. And we live because of Him. And if you eat not His flesh
and drink not His blood, then you have no life in you spiritually. And the only way to have it in
you spiritually is for God to enable you to partake of Christ.
You receive Him into your system and He is assimilated into your
very soul. He is life. And when you have
Him, you have life. And if you don't have Him, you
don't have life. I'm talking about communion.
That's what this is all about. We're one with Him. We eat His
flesh and we drink His blood. Now then, lastly and briefly,
this supper also signifies a thanksgiving. Now, some people in the religious
world call the Lord's Supper the, I don't know whether I can
pronounce this exactly like you would or not, but the Eucharist.
which means the giving of thanks. That's the meaning of the word.
This then, I believe, the Lord's Supper is the thanksgiving service
of the Church of the Living God. It's the thanksgiving service
of the Church of the Living God. So we're coming here today to
a festival, not to a funeral. And this is to be, I'm to remind
you of this, that it's not to a funeral, but to a festival
that we're coming. Now, this choice festival is
likened to the festival, although it's higher and it's more blessed,
It's like the festival of the Jewish Passover, the festival
of the Jewish faith, which was the Passover. Well, we read in
1 Corinthians 5 and verse 7 that Christ, our Passover, has been
sacrificed for us. And so therefore, let us eat
the feast, not with the unleavened bread of malice and wickedness,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And so the Lord's Supper takes
its place, I believe, as a place of joy in the hearts of the Lord's
people. It's a place of thanksgiving.
We come to this feast to testify of our joy in the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is bread, but there is
also wine up on the table. This is a festival for joy and
delight. And you cannot praise Christ
better and give thanks better than by rejoicing in Him. Rejoicing in Him. Praise Him
by being joyful in Him. Now listen, we should always
come to the Lord's table with a feeling of deep reverence. We ought to come with a feeling
of deep reverence. But that reverence should never
tend to bondage. It should never tend to shackle
us and make us morbid and sad and sorrowful, but we should
come with joy. You should not come quivering
and shaking as if you were slaves that were coming to eat a morsel
of bread out of your master's hand under the fear of the last. No, we're to come as children.
We're to come as the Lord's free men. We're to come as the Lord's
loved ones. unto His table, not coming in
the spirit of fear and bondage, but coming with thanksgiving
in our hearts as children who have been made protectors of
the heavenly gift. Now, so we sit at the festival
that He has prepared, and we ought to let our hearts be full
of joy and thanksgiving at this time, for we do truly come thanking
the Lord, our God, for giving us the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in John 10 and 29, we'll
quote maybe three verses there, but in 27 it says, I give unto
them eternal life, they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand, and my Father, in verse 29, and
my Father which gave them me. is greater than all, and no man
can pluck them out of his hands. And so when we gather around
the Lord's table, it is a time when we give thanks unto God
for giving us Christ. That's the only way we could
have ever, and I've told you that many times, that we could
have ever possessed Christ is that he be given to us. We couldn't
get him any other way. We couldn't entice God to give
us such a gift as Christ any other way. God had to just be
willing to give us the Lord Jesus Christ and this is the time to
give thanks for that gift when we gather around the Lord's table
because When the Lord passed the cup, He gave thanks. He gave
thanks. Now, you can read this in the
Word of God in several places, but if you were to turn quickly
to the Gospel of Matthew, I would read here. I'd just like for
you to see this. And as they were eating in verse
26 of Matthew 26, As they were eating, Jesus took
bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples
and said, take eat, this is my body. And when he took the cup
and gave thanks and gave it to them and said, drink you all
of it. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
gave thanks when he gave the supper, when he passed the supper.
And so again and again the Lord gave thanks. So let us come,
beloved, thankfully to praise the Father for the Lord Jesus
Christ. And as you take the bread into
your mouths, say in your hearts, bless the Lord. And as you take
and drink of the cup, say in your spirit, bless it. Be his
Holy Name. Blessed be the Father for His
eternal electing covenant love. Blessed be the Son for His obedience
unto death that saved us from a death that never dies. And
blessed be the Holy Spirit of God who has taught us all these
precious things about Christ which has so enriched our poor
souls. And so, beloved, might this be
a time of thanksgiving unto the Lord, and when we have finished
this morning taking of the Lord's Supper, might we go out as Jesus
went out, as we read over here in Matthew chapter 26 and in
verse 30, and when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the
Mount of Olives. And so we go out not mourning,
but we go out singing a hymn of praise unto God, a hymn of
praise unto the Lord as we have partaken of the supper, and it's
been a memorial unto Him, we've remembered Him, and we have shown,
we've exhibited His death by separating these elements and
serving them separately, and we also have had communion with
Christ because we have spiritually, this morning, fed on the Lord
Jesus Christ, And we have had this time of thanksgiving, this
time when we've been thankful to God for what He has given
in that He gave us the great gift of His own, the Son of His
love, the bosom love, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we're going
to have the Lord's Supper now. I wonder if we shouldn't go and
get Mike and tell him to come on up.

What Mean Ye By This Service

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What Mean Ye By This Service

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