We looked this morning in Exodus
chapter 12 concerning the institution of the Passover. And I want us
to look tonight, this afternoon, just for a few minutes, when the Passover was changed.
Come a time when it was changed. And we see that in Luke chapter
22. I want to begin reading. Let's
begin reading in verse 1. Luke 22, verse 1, And the feast
of unleavened bread drew near, which is called the Passover. They called it the Passover because
God passed over the houses where the blood was. And you remember,
they ate unleavened bread for seven days. They ate unleavened
bread. And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might
kill him, for they feared the people. Then entered Satan unto
Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.
And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains,
how he might betray him unto them. And they were glad and
covenanted to give him money. He promised and sought opportunity
to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude. Then
came the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed. And the Lord sent Peter and John,
saying, Go and prepare us the Passover, that we may eat it.
And he said unto him, Where will you that we prepare? And he said
unto them, Behold, when ye enter into the city, that is, the city
of Jerusalem, there shall a man meet you, having buried a pitcher
of water. follow him unto the house where
he entereth 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 made
ready. And they went and found as he
had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover. And
when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles
with him, And he said unto them, Would desire have I desired to
eat this Passover with you before I suffer? For I say unto you
that 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 you. For I said to you,
I will not eat or drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom
of God shall come. And he took the bread, and gave
thanks, and broke 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, said, This cup is the
New Testament in my blood which is shed for you. Now, I made
the statement this morning that this was 1,500 years after the
Passover was instituted there in Exodus chapter 12. And I made
the statement this morning, only the wisdom of God could predict
such a thing. Only God in His power and providence
could arrange all of these things to come to pass that Jesus Christ
should be killed, should be crucified the very day and the very evening
that this Passover was first instituted back in Exodus chapter
12. He was delivered, and the Lord
Jesus knew this. And it is strange but true that
nobody else knew this but Him. He said in Matthew 26, you know
that after two days is the feast of the Passover and the Son of
Man is betrayed to be crucified. He knew the very hour that His
crucifixion was coming. Nobody else knew it. The disciples
did not even understand what He was saying. Judas did not
understand what He was saying. The Pharisees and the high priests,
nobody understood this, but the Lord Jesus Christ said in two
days, they're going to kill the Passover. And I am that Passover. When they kill that Passover
that you guys kill every year, I'm going to be crucified on
that very day. That's amazing, isn't it? And it shows us the
wisdom and the power of God. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ here
in verses 19 and 20 that I read to you, He reveals the true nature
of the Passover. He reveals the reality of that
type that we studied about this morning. And that was Himself. Himself. Just as that Lamb in
the Old Testament endeared the fire and was roasted by that
fire, the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary endeared
the fiery judgment of God. And just as the blood over the
lentils and side posts of the door turned the wrath of God
from that house, the blood of the Lord Jesus saves us from
the wrath to come, from the awful wrath of God. Listen to what
Paul said in Romans 5 and 9. justified in the very eyes of
God by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I bet you
could do this, if you wanted to do this, in your own neighborhood. If you're bold enough and take
the time enough to get you a little pen and a pad to go around through
all your neighborhood and ask them, do you believe in God?
Do you believe God is holy? And probably everybody that has
any understanding of God at all will say, we believe that. Do
you believe you're a sinner? Well, yeah, everybody's a sinner.
Then how are you justified before God? And I bet you, 99 times
out of 100, you're going to get different answers, but the right
answer. And here's what Paul said, being justified by the
blood of Christ. being justified before God, we
shall be saved from wrath. When the Lord, when God came
in at midnight down there in Egypt, do you know what He was
looking for? He wasn't looking, let's be honest
about this, He wasn't looking to see what was going on inside
those houses. There may have been some sleeping,
there may have been some reading, there may have been some praying,
there may have been some partying. But what was he looking for?
What would justify God passing over that house? It was that
blood, wasn't it? It was that blood. That's what
justifies us before God. As poor sinners as we are, and
holy as He is. He looks upon us and forgives
our sins for the sake of this blood and is merciful to our
unrighteousness. Now I want to show you a scripture
over in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. One of the complaints that the
Jews had in our Lord's day was that he was doing things and
didn't seemingly have the authority to do it. Remember when he went
into the temple and drove everybody out of it that was selling sacrifices
in the temple, had their money changed, all this business going
in the temple. And he planted him a quilt and
ran them out of there. And they came to him, and they
said, but what authority? Who gave you the authority to
do this? Well, we know, but they didn't.
God gave him the authority. He is God. He had the authority. But he was doing many things,
and they were concerned about him changing everything. Remember
when Stephen was preaching in Acts chapter 6, and this is the
charge that they brought against Stephen, and said he's blaspheming,
and this is the charge they brought. They said, We have heard him
say that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place. Well, he
did, didn't he? He sent Roman soldiers and destroyed
it. But here's another charge, that he will change the customs
which Moses delivered unto us. He's changing things. He's changing
things. Well, he was. It wasn't so much
he was changing things, he was revealing the true nature of
the things. He told them the priesthood was
coming to an end. I am the priest. I am the priest. Aaron was just the type of the
real priest. The sacrifices are going to cease
to be offered. Those are shadows and facts.
I'm the substance. And this Passover is coming to
an end. You're never going to have to
go out and get your lamb again, and search him and make sure
he's without blemish, and bring him in here and roast him over
the fire. Why? He changed that, didn't
He? He changed it. What He did was
reveal the true nature of this Passover. Now, I want you to
look at that. Look at what is said about it
in chapter 5 and verse 7, 1 Corinthians. Chapter 5 and verse 7. "...proved
out therefore the old letter, that you may be a new lump, as
you are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover,
is sacrificed for us." See, Christ is the Passover. That lamb that
we studied about this morning, that was a shadow. Christ was
the substance. That was just the picture. Christ
is the person. So he's revealing to them here,
his apostles, the true nature of this sacrifice. He said, no
more are you going to take a lamb and eat him. I am the lamb. No more are you going to take
blood and sprinkle it over the door. It's my blood that's shed
for the remission of your sins. That's the true nature of the
Passover. He didn't so much change it,
he did that, but he revealed the true nature of it. He was
just shadowed. Types and pictures of the Lord
Jesus Christ who is the real Passover. And notice what he
says here in verse 7. He says, Christ our Passover. Christ our Passover. And you know it's very telling
who he's writing to. Because he's riding to the Gentile
church. Look over here to your right
in chapter 11. Look here in chapter 11. You remember
who was to eat of the Passover down in Egypt? Strangers weren't
allowed to eat of it. If a Gentile stranger
come in there, he wasn't allowed to eat of it. The only way a
Gentile could eat of that unleavened bread and partake of that lamb
in Exodus 12, he had to be purchased. The owner, the Jew, had to purchase
him and he had to circumcise him. And then he could eat of
the lamb. But no stranger could eat it.
And that's very telling to you and I. You and I, if we're still
strangers to the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot eat. We can't come
to this table this afternoon and eat these symbols of Christ's
flesh and His blood. We have to be redeemed. We have to be circumcised in
our hearts. Then we can eat of this. And look what Paul says here.
And what I like about this, is this is the apostle of the Gentiles,
and this is the place where we see that the Gentiles are allowed
to partake of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
didn't know before if Gentiles could partake of this. We knew
the Jews could because it was a Jewish institution. He instituted
among the Jews. And he told his disciples to
eat of it. But what about the Gentiles?
We were dogs. And they looked upon us as dogs
even after we were converted. So what the Lord does, He calls
this great Apostle Paul and He gives this Lord's Supper, this
communion to the Gentiles. And look how He does it in verse
23. For I have received of the Lord
which I also delivered unto you, you Gentiles, that the Lord Jesus,
the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when
he had given thanks, he break it, and said, Take, eat. This
is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of
me." The same manner also he took the cup when he had supped,
saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do you as often
as you drank it, and remember it to me. For as often as you
eat this cup, you eat this bread and you drink this cup, you shall
the Lord's death until he come." He's talking to the Gentiles.
And he said, the Lord Jesus was very careful to reveal unto me
and command me to make sure that you Gentile believers realize
that this ordinance is now not just for the Jews, but for you. It's for you. This Passover is
my body. This wine, this cup, is my blood. And it's for every believer,
whether he's a Jew or he's a Gentile. All of those who have been called,
redeemed, circumcised in their heart, they can come and partake
of this bread. The Lord Jesus Christ hinted
at this in John chapter 6, when He said this, I'm the living
bread which came down from heaven, if any man eat of this bread. He shall live forever, and the
bread which I give, I give for the life of the world." Now the
Jews understood what he meant by that. Not just for the Jews,
but for the Gentiles. I give my body, I give my blood
for the life of the world. This is the bread, he said, which
came down from heaven that a man may eat. bear of and not die. A man may eat. Aren't you glad that you can
come this evening? No matter who you are, Jew or
Gentile, bond or free, male or female, educated or ignorant,
old or young, you are a believer in Jesus Christ. And you can
come and sit and partake of this communion and remember his death. You may, he said. A man may eat. That's permission enough. You
may eat. So the nature of this Passover
is it changed from a lamb that you could eat to the body of
Christ and the blood of Christ. He changed it. And he took it
from the Jewish nation and gave it to his church. Now his church
can partake of this communion, the body and blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. One more thing before I close. What's the nature of this bread
and this cup? The Lord Jesus said in Matthew
26, 26, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and said,
Take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup and gave
them after he had given thanks and said, Drink you all of it,
for this is my blood of the new testament which is shed for many
for the remission of your sins. And he says the same thing here
in verse 24 and 25. This is my body. which is broken for you, and
this is my blood which is shed for you." But what's the nature
of this? How do we eat of this? Do we
physically partake of Christ's body? Catholicism has a doctrine
that they call transubstantiation. And that simply means that when
the Catholic priest gets up and takes the bread, the communion
bread, and used to be the wine. They don't take it anymore. And
they pray and bless that bread. It turns in to the literal body
of Jesus Christ. And Christ suffers as really
and surely as he did upon Calvary. Now that's what they call trans-substantiation. And poor Luther never could fully
get away from that. It was so ground in him. And
he acknowledged some of these traditions were so ground in
him. But here's the two things that's wrong with that. One is
this. Christ suffered only one time. And the Scripture is very clear
about that. I want you to turn to that so
you can see this. Look in Hebrews chapter 9. In Hebrews 9. Different places
tell us this, but look here in Hebrews 9 and begin in verse
24. Hebrews 9.24. Peter made this statement while
he was turning there. He said in 1 Peter 3.18, Christ
also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring
us to God. Once. once suffered for sin. And why would he ever have to
suffer again? The price that he paid upon Calvary
was a sufficient and eternal price for sin. There would be
no need for it. And here is what the writer of
Hebrews says in 9, verse 24. For Christ is not entered into
the holy place made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us, nor yet that he should offer himself often as
the high priest entered to the holy place every year with the
blood of others, for then must he often have suffered since
the foundation of the world." Now hold it there a minute. What
he's saying is this. He's saying Christ was not in
those sacrifices. Those were animal sacrifices,
and Christ was not in them. They were pictures of Christ,
but Christ was not in those things. If that would be so, then he
had suffered over and over and over again since they offered
those sacrifices. Then he goes ahead to say, But
now, once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, and to them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. So when the
priest blesses the communion bread, Christ is not in it. He's
not suffering again just as surely and truly as He did upon the
cross. He's already did that. And there's
no need for Him to suffer anymore. Somebody said that hinges on
blasphemy. I think it goes farther than
that. I think it is blasphemy to say that. But the second reason
that Christ could not be literally in the bread and in the wine
when they used to take it, is for this reason that Christ's
human body is in heaven. Jesus Christ is truly in heaven
in his humanity. A glorified humanity, but he's
there. And that's a real humanity. And
since it's a real humanity, it cannot be but in one place at
a time. He's not a pretended humanity. He's not some sort of a supernatural
humanity that can be divided up and appear over here and over
here and over here. He's a real humanity. And since
He's a real humanity, He can only be in heaven in that body
and nowhere else. Now, in spirit, He's everywhere,
isn't He? David said, if I send to heaven,
you're there. If I make my bed in hell, you're there. I can't
get away from your presence, he said. But he's speaking of
his spiritual presence and not his physical presence. Jesus
Christ ascended to heaven. He's there in his human body,
glorified body, and he's sitting there in heaven, ruling, reigning
in this world, saving his people. And someday, physically, he's
coming again. But until he does, this world
will never know his physical presence. And when they say,
Christ's body is in this bread, no, that's impossible. He's in
heaven. He's in heaven. For by God's
grace, we hope to be soon in heaven. What then is the nature of this
bread and wine? It can't be physical. It cannot
be physical. When he says, this is my body,
he could not be speaking literally. You cannot eat the literal body
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he said, this cup is my
blood, he cannot mean literal blood. You cannot drink blood. He forbids it. Look over here
in one more place. Look in John chapter 6 and let's
see the spiritual nature. or the nature of this, and we'll
see that it is spiritual. Look here what he says in verse
48. John chapter 6 and verse 48.
This is the very thing the Lord Jesus was dealing with here beginning
in verse 48. And it confused these Jews. Listen to it now. Verse 48, John
6. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness, and they are dead. This is the bread which
come 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 strove among themselves saying, how can this
man give us his flesh to eat? Now let's be honest about it
and not be too hard on these poor fellows. If you had been
there, what would you have said? Would you and I have not have
thought the same thing? We cannot eat your flesh. We cannot drink
your blood. We're not cannibals. And God's
forbid us to eat and drink blood. How? And that's the question
the Lord Jesus is going to answer for us. And He says here in verse
53, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh
of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you have no life in
you. So in some sense, we have to
eat His flesh and drink His blood, don't we? And some say we have
to. Whoso eats my flesh and drinks
my blood, he hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink
indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinks
my blood dwells in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath
sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eats me, even he shall
live by me. This is the bread which come
down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and are
dead. He that eats this bread shall live forever. These things
he said in the synagogue when he taught in Capernaum. Many,
therefore, of his disciples will be heard this saying. This is
a hard saying. Who can hear it? And look down
now in verse 63. It is the Spirit. quick enough. The flesh, my flesh,
my living flesh, profits nothing. He's not speaking carnally, is
he? The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they
are life. He says, you're misunderstanding
me. I'm not saying you eat of my physical flesh and you drink
of my blood. I'm speaking to you in a spiritual
sense. And you here this evening that
know the Lord Jesus, you know something about the power of
His broken body and the power of His precious blood. How do
you take that into your soul? By faith, don't you? It's a spiritual
feeding upon Christ. When we take this bread and we
drink this wine, we by faith look upon these symbols as the
body of Christ. We look beyond the bread and
we see the body of Christ. Faith gets hold of this and our
souls feeds upon Christ spiritually. Faith looks beyond the wine and
it sees the blood of Christ atoning, putting away sins, turning away
God's wrath from us. And we feed upon that in our
spirits. You can't explain this, especially
to a lost person. But I tell you, you can understand
that. You can get a hold of it. Don't
you love to hear about his broken body? Don't you love to hear
about His precious blood? Don't that feed your soul? And
by faith you enter into it. That's the nature of this Passover. That's the nature of His blood.
That's the nature of His broken body. You feast upon it by faith. It's a spiritual eating of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is why it does no good for
a lost person to partake of this. He can't enter into this. The
Lord Jesus went on to say in verse 64, But there are some
of you that believe not. That's why you don't understand.
That's why when I talk about my blood and my body being broken,
it's not going to your heart. You're confused. This is a hard
saying to you because you don't believe. You don't believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. Therefore
he said, I said unto you, No man can come to me except my
Father draw him. From that time many of his disciples
went back and walked no more. And he said unto the twelve,
Will you go away? And Peter said unto him, Now
look here at Peter's feet. He said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. Peter couldn't
explain this. You know he couldn't explain
it. But he was feeling it in his soul. When the Lord Jesus
said, My flesh is meat indeed, my blood is drink indeed, he
is feeling that in his soul. And he said, Lord, we believe
and are sure that thou art the Christ. That's the way we feed
upon Christ. We believe He went to the cross.
We believe His body was broken. We believe His blood atoned for
our sins. He's our life. He's our strength. He's our living. And may God
help us today as we partake of this bread and this cup, that
our faith will look beyond the bread and the cup and will feed
upon the body that was broken. and upon the blood that was shed
for us.