Luke 22. I began reading with verse 7, Luke
22, 7. Then came the day of unleavened
bread, when the Passover must be killed. The Lord Jesus sent
Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the Passover that
we may eat. They said unto him, Where wilt
thou that we prepare? He said unto them, Behold, when
ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you bearing
a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where
he entereth in. Ye shall say to the goodman 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 make 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
sat down 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
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 bread, and
gave thanks, and break it, and gave it to them, saying, This
is my body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of
me. Likewise also the cup after the
supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood which
is shed for you. And as our Lord and his disciples
gathered in the upper room to keep this last Passover, this
is the last Passover, because Christ would die as our Passover,
and the Passover lamb, having been slain, has shed his blood.
There's no more need to eat the Passover. And as they gathered
that day in the upper room to observe the Passover, we come
here tonight to observe the Lord's table, which is commanded by
our Lord and taught to the early church by the apostles. And as
far as I can see in the scriptures, as far as I can determine, our
Lord gave to his church Only two ordinances. Only two. All of these other religious
celebrations, even Sabbath day, Easter, Christmas, Lent, whatever
holiday you may name, is not ordained of Christ, nor is it
given to the Church to observe. There's two ordinances. Baptism,
the Lord's Supper. Our Lord gathered his disciples
about him before he ascended back to the Father. And he said,
All authority is given to me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore
and make disciples and baptize them. Baptize them in the name
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And teach them to
observe all things I commanded you. That is the ordinance of
baptism. And this ordinance the Lord's
table. When they had eaten the Passover,
then he took the bread and the wine and instituted, as after
they had eaten the last Passover, he instituted the first Lord's
table, because he is our Passover sacrifice for us. And he said,
now this day, he told them to baptize believers And he said,
this day in remembrance of me. And this first table of the Lord
in Luke 22 gives us really all we need to know about the Lord's
table in order to observe it as he commanded us to observe
it. That's this right here in these verses is all you need
to know about the Lord's table to observe it as he commanded
it. And I bring your attention four things. Those who participated. Secondly, the host who served
him. Thirdly, the elements. Fourthly,
the reason. The participators, the host,
the elements, and the reason. That's all you need to know.
First of all, the participators. Verse 14. When the hour was come,
he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. Those were the people
in the room, only his apostles. Those present were his disciples,
men who knew him, men who loved him, men who believed him. They
were there. Now, they were not perfect men,
not by any means. They were not men without sin,
but they were men who believed Christ. And they were men who
loved Christ. Peter was there. And Peter, in
just a few hours, would betray him, would deny him. And say,
I don't know this man. And yet he's here at the Lord's
table. But he believed Christ, he loved Christ. Thomas was there. And in just a few days, Thomas
would doubt his resurrection. A disciple said, the Lord's risen.
He said, I don't believe it. I won't believe it unless I put
my hand in his side. James and John were there. Those
were the two fellows who wanted to call down fire from heaven
on people that didn't follow them. These disciples all were
there who had spent time debating about who was going to be the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And every man there, before this
evening was over, would forsake him and flee. So those who participated were people who loved him and
who believed him. They weren't perfect, that's
what you were preaching a while ago, but they believed Christ. They were men of faith. And I
remind you of that to encourage all who believe here tonight,
all who love him, all who discern his broken body and shed blood. All who rest only in Christ,
not in our own righteousness and works, but who rest in him,
come to the table. As Brother Scott said, if I'm
fit to come to Christ, I'm fit to come to the table. What did Paul mean when he instructed
believers in regard to the Lord's to examine themselves and so
that of me." He meant just what he said. To examine ourselves. To find this one, this one characteristic, I believe. That's right. I examine my mind
and determine, do I know him? Yes, I know him. I know whom
I have believed. I'm persuaded he's able to keep
that which I've committed to him against that day. I know
him, for the Son of God came and gave me an understanding
that I may know him and the true God. This is the true God. This
is eternal life. We're told throughout Scripture
to examine ourselves. This is a daily practice, whether
we be in the faith. We're told to give diligence
to make our calling and election sure. So examine yourself. Secondly,
I examine not only my mind to see if I know him, I examine
my heart. Do I believe him? I do believe
him. Scripture says, If thou shalt
confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine
heart God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. I examine
my commitment. As Paul said, I know whom I have
believed, I am persuaded he is able to keep that which committed
to him. So other refuge have I none. Hangs my helpless soul on thee. Leave, O leave me not alone. Still support and comfort me.
All my trust on Christ is stained. All my help from Christ I bring. Cover my defenseless head with
the shadow of thy wings. Imperfect men in themselves,
but perfect in Christ. have assembled there with him
to take the Lord's table. Secondly, the host. It's the
Lord's table. He, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
watch this. The Lord Jesus Christ observed
the Passover with them. Look back there at verse, he
said, to ask the good man of the house,
verse 11, look at this, verse 11. You shall say unto the good
man of the house, The master saith unto thee, Where is the
guest chamber, where I may eat the pissover with my disciples? He was eating the pissover as
a man, just like they were eating it. The Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world in the human body, flesh and blood. born of
a woman, under the law. And Moses commanded all the Jews
to keep the Passover every year. And Jesus Christ, as a man, suffered
to be sold to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus Christ, as a man, sat down
with these Jewish brethren. See, the brethren were flesh
and blood, and he took the same, that he might redeem them. And
he ate that Passover. He kept the Sabbath day with
them. He was circumcised with them. He did all these things,
he observed all the feasts with them. But when he ate that Passover
with them for the last Passover, then he gave them the Lord's
table. He was the host. That's right. When he served the Lord's table,
notice it says, he took the bread and gave it to them and said,
you eat it. You take the wine and drink it.
This is my body. What they just got through eating
was the Passover lamb that Moses slew. They're eating now God's
Passover lamb, and he's right there with them, giving it to
them. That's right. And notice this
now. It was in a house. It wasn't in a cathedral. It
wasn't in the temple. It wasn't in some special place.
It was a common, everyday house, a common upper room, a common
meal, which might be observed, might be served anywhere. Secondly,
it was common food. Common food. It was bread. It
was the unleavened bread that was already there. And it was
wine already there that they had. Thirdly, the disciples were
not kneeling, they were sitting. He sat down, verse 14, with his
disciples. They were sitting down. They
brought nothing to the table. Don't kneel before a man and
take something out of his hand. They were sitting. They weren't
kneeling. They brought nothing to the table.
It says, and there were no robes, there were no officials. There
was none elevated above another. Peter didn't serve this. He didn't
touch it. The Lord gave it to him. He didn't
prepare it. The Lord prepared it. It says
he took the cup and blessed it and gave it. He took the bread
and broke it and blessed it and gave it. And he said, this now
is my body. Broken for you, this is my blood
shed for you. Thirdly, the elements. the elements. Bread and wine, unleavened bread
and wine. And this bread and wine show
his incarnation. He said, this is my body. God doesn't have a body. Our
Lord Jesus Christ said, God is spirit. They that worship God
worship him in spirit and truth. But Christ Jesus, to be our Redeemer,
God gave him a body. Thou hast prepared for me a body,
a body of flesh and blood and bones, just like you have, and
blood, just like you have. So he became a man. And this
presence of this bread and this wine is his body. Secondly, the bread and the wine
show his holiness. It was on leaven bread. When
the Jews observed the Passover, before the Passover was observed,
that house had to be cleansed completely of any leaven. Leaven
is a type of evil. Leaven is what rots. A little
leaven leavened up the whole lump. And so they get out of
that house everything that has any leaven. And when he came
to this house, this Jewish house, you can be sure at that Passover
time there was no leaven in that house. And this bread is unleavened
bread. It does not rot, it does not
decay, it does not spoil. It has no leaven. And it pictures
our Lord's perfect body. Perfect body. This bread doesn't
represent my body, because my body is a rotten body. It's withered
and dying, but it represents his. This wine, the reason we
take wine at the Lord's table, I wouldn't take it any other
way, because the wine is pure. grape juice defiles it. Two or three days sitting back
there, it's defiled. This stays there months and months
and months and months. The wine does, because it's pure. Our Lord Jesus Christ has to
be pure to be my representative, to be my sent offering, to be
my Savior. He has to be perfectly holy.
Thirdly, this bread and wine represents his suffering. How
was this bread made? It grew in the field. And they
cut it down. And they took it to the mill
and they ground it to powder. And then they baked it in an
oven, a hot, awesome oven. And our Lord Jesus Christ came
to this earth, a man, wounded for our transgression, bruised
for our iniquities, went to the heat of the oven of God's wrath.
I thirst, I thirst. Our Lord suffered, oh, how he
suffered, just like that bread, pounded, baked, burned, and then
broken. The wine, how is it prepared?
Take the grapes, squash them, squeeze the blood out of them,
stomp on them. That's the way it is. And notice
this, the bread and the wine is separate. You don't dip that
wine, you don't put them together. When you separate the blood from
the body, death. He died for us. You take the
bread, his body, broken, no blood, it's gone. His blood, and then
you take the blood. This is my body, my blood, separated,
suffering. The bread and wine show forth
substitution. This is my body broken instead
of your body. This is my blood shed instead
of your blood, shed under the judgment and wrath of God instead
of yours. There is no condemnation to them
who are in Christ. There is no judgment to them
who are in Christ. We are in the kingdom of righteousness,
peace, and joy. And it's all over because he
finished it. Substitution. And then the bread and the wine
is eaten. It's received in us. We receive
Jesus Christ in us. Christ in you. That's the hope
of glory. Christ is not a creed. Christ
is our life. I am the resurrection and the
life. He's my life. He's my sanctification. He's
my righteousness. He said, you eat my flesh and
drink my blood and you have eternal life, because we receive life
into us. It's not sprinkled on us, it's
not held by us, it's not worn by us, it's received in us. You take this bread and this
wine, in that same manner you have received Christ. Receive
him in your heart, in your life. What's the reason for the table? It says here in verse 19, listen.
He took bread and gave thanks and break it and gave it to them. And he said this is my body which
is given for you, broken for you. This do in remembrance of
me. He didn't say this do in order
to be saved. This do because I saved you. in remembrance of what I did
to save you. He didn't say this do in order
to make you holy and to sanctify you. He said this do in remembrance
of him who is your holiness and your sanctification. He didn't
say this do in order to make you feel religious. this do as
a ritual or ceremony at a certain given time. No, sir, as often
as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you show the Lord's
death for you in remembrance of me. What is it to remember
Christ? Well, you can't remember someone
you never knew, couldn't you? We remember him because we know
him. We know him as our Redeemer. By one man's disobedience, we
were made sinners. By this man's obedience, we were
made righteous. That's how I remember him, perfect
obedience. I remember him as my substitute
and set offering. By Christ we have the atonement.
He, God the Father, hath made him the Son, who knew no Satan. to be sin for me and you, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He's our sin offering. He's our atonement. I remember
him as my mediator. There's one God. I know that.
And there's one mediator, one high priest between God and men. And that's the man Christ Jesus.
I remember him as my coming Lord. He said, let not your heart be
troubled. You believe in God, you believe
in me. In my Father's house are many
dwelling places. If it were not so, I would tell
you. And I go and prepare a place
for you. And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again. I will come again. And I will
receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also. So how often and how long are
we going to take this supper? Until he comes. Until he comes. As often as you
eat this bread and drink this cup, you do, as a believer, as
one who loves Christ, who remembers him as your kinsman redeemer,
as your substitute in sin offering, as your great high priest, as
your life and love and hope. And as your coming Lord, you
do this till he comes.