And I'm quite sure that there's one question, one
question that is shared by most every person in the world today
in regard to religion. And that question, you needn't
turn to it because you're quite familiar with it. is found in
Exodus 12, 26, and it is, What mean ye by this
service? What mean ye by this service?
Now I'm not just referring to what we're doing tonight, but
in all of religion. I see the different rituals that
people perform and go through, the different uniforms they wear
and the design of their of their buildings, the way the people
are seated and the kneel and stand and go through different
forms. What are they doing and what
do they mean by this? Why are they doing this? Do you
ever think about that? I believe that's a question that's
shared by most people in regard to religion. If you go to a different
church service or a different denomination, they go through
different things, you think, well, why are they doing this?
And why are they doing that? And why is the man dressed like
this? And why do they have this particular form? And most of
the time the folks that are taking part in it don't even know why.
What mean ye by this? And here's a pastor of a church
and people have been attending a long time and visitors and
friends and other folks out here tonight and we all have come
and we're sitting and we've gone through this song service and
special music and the reading of the Word. Now, out before
us here on this table is some bread and wine in silver
containers and covered by tablecloth. And this tablecloth was made
by some ladies in the Yucatan, Mexico. This was handmade. I was down there on the mission
field two or three years ago, and they had the Lord's table,
and some of the ladies had made the claws that covered the bread
and the wine, and I was admiring them, told them how much I liked
them. So they made us some, and I'm thankful for them. I think
they're beautiful. And what makes them even more
beautiful is the folks that made them. and the motive that was
behind making them, the love and the time that was given to
this. But here we are, and here's the
bread and the wine, and the question is, what are you doing? Why are
you doing it? What do you mean by this service?
What does it all mean? What does it all mean? Well,
I'm going to try to explain. I just read to you from the 22nd
chapter of Luke, our Lord met with his disciples in this upper
room at this particular time to observe the Passover. I don't
have time tonight to go back to the book of Exodus and preach
on the Passover. Most of you are familiar with
it. It was a yearly feast. It was the Passover of the Lord.
It was observed every year at the same time by the Jewish nation. Every year they observed the
Passover. It was instituted when the Lord delivered Israel out
of Egypt. You remember they took a lamb,
the firstling of the flock, of a year old, they put it up for
four days, examined it, and then they slew the lamb, and took
the blood and put it on the lentil and the doorpost, roasted the
carcass and ate it, and stayed in their homes, and at midnight
God passed through. In every home where there was
no blood on the door, he slew the firstborn. But he said, when
I see the blood, I'll pass over, pass over you. And he told Moses
to tell the Israelites to keep this feast every year, every
year, pass over. But it's a picture of Christ.
And when our Lord gathered his disciples here on this night
to eat the Passover, this was the last Passover. This was the
last one, the last one that God would honor, the last one that
any believer would observe. This was the last Passover. It
was to be no more. No more. Now ritualists may go
have their Passovers and may do it now. But as far as God's
concerned, He takes away the first and establishes the second.
He takes away the Passover, the type, the pictures, gone. Christ
our Passover is sacrifice for us. You see that? And the blood
is not put outside on the door and the lentil is put on the
mercy seat of glory and on the heart. And God sees the blood
of Christ and passes over us. So our Lord, I want to borrow
some bread. Russell, if you don't mind here,
hand me one of those wine cups there. And our Lord They ate
the Passover, he and his disciples. You see, our Lord was made under
the law. Our Lord was a Jew. Salvation
is of the Jews, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. But he was made under the law
and he observed the law. When he was eight days old, he
was circumcised. His mother brought her turtledove offering, being
a poor woman. When he was a certain age, he
was taken to the temple. He went to the synagogue every
Sabbath day, he observed the Passover every year. He fulfilled
the Levitical law, moral law, every law. When I came to this
last Passover, just before he died on the cross, and he observed
it, that's done. And he said he took bread, and
he blessed it, and he gave thanks, and he broke it. And he gave
it to his disciples and told them to eat it. And he said,
this is my body broken for you. This is my body broken for you.
Now this do, this do in remembrance of me. And then he took, he took
a cup. They probably had one cup. There
were only 13 of them, our Lord and 12 disciples. And he took
the cup of wine. Now please don't get in any silly
arguments about wine and grape juice. Don't do that. Don't reveal total ignorance. This was wine our Lord took.
It was wine. And it was unleavened bread.
There was no leaven allowed in the house of a Jew on the Passover.
It was unleavened bread, which represents the purity of Christ's
body. He was without sin. Leaven is
sin. It's a type of sin. The wine
is pure. It's pure. It will not spoil. Grape juice spoils. Grape juice
can't picture Christ anymore, and sprinkling can picture burial.
Because His blood is pure. And we use wine. And so he took
the cup, probably one cup, but he took the cup, and he gave
thanks, and he said, this is the new covenant. This is the
new covenant. in my blood, which is shed for
you. Now this do in remembrance of
me." Now, why are we doing what we're doing? Well, I meet with
two simple words. And you know, the Bible's profound. I know that's a mystery. Its
mysteries are hidden from natural minds. A natural mind receiveth
not the things of God, neither can he know them. And the carnal
mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither indeed can be. And the Bible's a closed book
to a natural mind, but to an enlightened mind, to a regenerated
mind, to a man who wills to know his will, the Bible's not all
that complicated. When you find the key, which
is Christ, it's Christ. And so I find two words, two
very simple words, to tell me why I'm doing this. What mean
ye by this service? And this tells me rather what
to do, what to do. First of all, two words. He said,
this do. What? This do. This do. He took bread, unleavened bread,
and he gave thanks, and he break it, and he gave it to them. And
he said, this do. And he took wine. And he blessed
it, he gave it to them. He said, drink ye all of this
dew, this dew, no more, no less. Do this. Do this. It's do this. In simplicity,
in sincerity, in solemnity, in remembrance, why must we confound
and confuse this simple command, this dew? And you watch people
observe the Lord's table, and the officiating party dresses
up in gaudy robes, and struts around and they form a processional
and then all these little boys dress up in gowns and linen and
form a circle and then they wave cups and crosses and they utter
mysterious words in foreign tongues and then they try to check, this
is bread. It's bread and I broke it, it'll
be bread and I eat it. It'll be bread and I'll swallow
it. And they go, they try to change these elements into something
they can't be. And they try to change this into
something that it'll never be. It'll never be the blood of Christ. Never, never, never, never. It
represents the blood. This dude remembers me. This
dude. And then make it a sectarian church supper? They argue about
how many cups to use? They argue about how often to
do it, they argue about who's invited, they argue about who's
in charge, and the Lord just said, this do, this do. What's wrong with us? This do. Couldn't be more simple. He went
in the upper room, just his disciples, believers, and he took bread
after supper and broke it. and blessed him, and gave it
to the this do. In remembrance. Or look at the
next word, this is why I do it. That's what I do, this do. This
do. And this is why I do it. He says,
in remembrance of me. That's what he said, for in remembrance
of me. He didn't say this do as another
sacrifice. That thought is repulsive. It's
blasphemous. He said by one offering he had
perfected forever them that are sanctified. After he had offered
one sacrifice for sin forever, he sat down on the right hand
of God. Let me read you another verse
over here in Hebrews 10, verse 18. Listen to this. Hebrews 10,
verse 18. Now where remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. If sin's forgiven, there's
no more offering. So really, if you turn it into
another sacrifice or sacrament, you're saying sin's not forgiven.
You've gone right back to the old law. Sacrificing every time. And then he didn't say, this
do as a means to discipline your church. I've got some dear friends
who say they discipline their church around the Lord's table,
but that's not what my Lord said. He didn't tell me to use the
Lord's Supper as a means of disciplining the church, Charlie. Either to
receive members or exclude them. I know that some places they
receive members at the Lord's table. That's not what He said
to do. He didn't say this do as a means to discipline the
church or build the church. He said this do in remembrance
of me. If there's any other reason, it's a carnal reason. And he did not say this due as
an indication of church unity. The pastor said to me one time,
we haven't had the Lord's Table in two years. I said, why not?
He said, we're not in unity. My soul. You know, strange that the most
complete description of the Lord's Table was given to the Corinthian
church. If there was ever a church not
in unity, it was the Corinthian church. And he gave them the
most full description of the Lord's table. I tell you, one
prerequisite to come to the Lord's table is unity with Christ. And
I just believe if you're in unity with him, you'll be in unity
with everybody else. If you're in love with him, I believe you'll
be in love with other folks too. And he did not say this due in
order to be saved. This table is no more saving
than that water. It's no more saving than a mourner's
bench. It's no more saving than a log.
This do in remembrance of me. But one thing for sure, you can't
remember one whom you do not know. Why do we do this? In remembrance of Christ. And
I'll give you five ways in which we remember Him. Number one,
we remember Him as our representative. Now watch this. Our Lord took
bread. He took bread. It's material. You know, the Lord God, He said,
this is my body. My body. The Lord God, the eternal
God, is invisible. Scripture says, immortal, invisible. The woman at the well, our Lord
said to her, God is spirit. He didn't say a spirit, he said
spirit. God is spirit. And they that
worship him must worship him in spirit. God is spirit. Well,
what are we doing talking about God being represented by a tangible,
material substance? I'll tell you why. Because he
actually became a man, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. Now, if God had not become a
man, There's no way that this would have any meaning tonight,
because you'd have to have something intangible. You'd have to have
only spirit. You see what I'm saying? But
our Lord is saying, you see, in the fullness of time, God
sent His Son into the world made of a woman, made in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and He became a man. John said, I touched Him,
my hands handled Him. And that's the reason I can take
bread and say, this is my body. See, it's real. Christ had a
real body. He endured real temptation. He knew real thirst. When the nails hit his hand,
it hurt just as much as it hurt yours. When the whip hit his
back, it was hitting real substance. That's the reason that he can...
You know, somehow we think, well, the Lord only knew. You don't
walk a foot He hadn't walked. You don't know a trial He hadn't
endured. Really. He was tested in all points of
where. He's your comforter. He's your friend. Let's take
it closer than a brother. He knows because He's real. He was a real man. That's right.
That's the reason we take this bread, actually, and you break
it. This is my body. That's what
he said. This is my body, Christ. And
I'm not in any way discrediting the glory of Christ as God, deity. He is. But he's a man. The man Christ Jesus. And that's
the reason he took that bread and he said, this is my body.
And when you eat it tonight, you just remember this. Your
Lord lived on this earth. numbered with the transgressors
walking in human flesh. And then he took the cup. He
said, this is my blood. Well, this is grape wine. But I tell you, something traumatic
had to happen for it to get in this glass. It had to be squeezed
out of those grapes. I mean, the grapes had to be
plucked and mutilated. And that came out. And our Lord's
blood was shed. It was shed. His body was broken
and bruised. No bone was broken. But He was
bruised and smitten for us. And His blood flowed from His
wounds, flowed from His side. And you notice this. He said,
this is my body and this is my blood. They're not together. They were once. But when he endured
the wrath of God and judgment for our sins, he died. That's what happens when blood
is separated from body, you got death. If you ever wonder if
Christ really died, there it is right there. This is my body,
broken, with my blood shed. That's one, I don't believe we
got any business dipping it either. I don't believe we got any business.
You see, everything man does, he does wrong. The very fact,
Ronnie, he soaks that body back in this blood, puts it back together
and does something to it, that's right. He'll do it wrong. If he doesn't this do, he'll
do it wrong. And he took the bread and he
ate it, he took the wine, blessed it separately and he drank it.
That's my body and my blood. You can't read the Bible at all
and ignore the relationship between forgiveness and blood. between
mercy and blood, between acceptance and blood. When God covered Adam
and Eve's nakedness, He went over and slew this innocent animal. And He said He didn't clothe
Adam and Eve with fur, but with skin. And that skin came off
that animal that was dead. And He said, able sacrifice to
pass over the atonement. We remember Him as our representative. We remember Him as our sin offering
thirdly. We remember Him as our Mediator,
and I want you to turn to Hebrews 9. In the ninth chapter of Hebrews,
listen to this, beginning with verse 11. The blood of Christ
pleads for us. The Mediator must have the high
priest a sacrifice to offer. In Hebrews 9, 11, but Christ
being come, and high priest of good things to come by greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is,
say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood he entered once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us. See, that's the reason we
do it in remembrance. By his blood he entered once
and obtained it once for all. Now, look down at verse 14. How much more shall the blood
of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purged your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God. And for this cause he is the mediator of the new
covenant, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions
that were under the first covenant, they which are called might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance." Hebrews 12. Now turn over there
just a moment. Hebrews 12. And verse 24, Hebrews 12, 24,
And to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Testament, or covenant,
to the blood of sprinkling, his blood, that speaketh better things
than that of Abel. His blood speaks. It pleads. It pleads for us. And then, fourthly,
we remember him with expectation. Now Paul gave this like I'm giving
it to you. The Apostle Paul said, what I
have received of the Lord, that I delivered unto you. That the
same night in which our Lord was betrayed, he took bread and
gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them, saying, take,
eat, this is my body broken for you. And after the supper, he
took the wine and gave it to them and said, this do in remembrance
of me. And then what Paul said this,
for as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you
show before God your faith in, before your friends your love
for Christ, before your children, you show them the way of life.
You're showing them the way of life. You're showing your children
tonight the way of life. You do show the Lord's death
till he comes. Just like the Passover one day
ended. That was the last one when our
Lord ate it and gave this table. One day this'll end. Won't be
any more Lord's table. You know why? He's coming. And
that'll be the end of it. But we do it till He comes. So
we remember Him with expectation. Now watch this and I'll close. We remember Him with thanksgiving. When I take this bread and wine
tonight, Put it in my mouth, chew it up and swallow it, drink
this wine. I'm receiving this bread and
wine the way that I received Christ. And you will too, if
you have received Christ. So watch this. You brought nothing
here tonight, did you? It's already here. You brought
nothing, not one thing, not one thing did you bring. that contributes
to this suffering except a sinner. That's all you brought. Right?
You receive it freely. That's the way you receive Christ.
Secondly, you receive these elements where? Inwardly. We're not going
to sprinkle them on you. We're not going to give them
to you to take home with you in your hand. Or you're not going
to wear them around your neck. You're not going to get some
bread and wear it around your neck. It won't do you any good. Christ
won't do you any good. It's a show. You're going to
eat it. You're going to drink it. And that's the way you receive
Christ or you don't receive him. You don't wear it up here. You
don't wear it around here. You don't carry it in your hand.
It's not sprinkled on you. He said you eat my flesh and
drink my blood. That's exactly the way you receive
Christ, inwardly, in the heart. I'm telling you the truth. You're
showing what's already been done. You receive Christ inwardly,
by faith in the heart. Like Brother Scott always says,
come to Christ, come to Christ, but don't you move a muscle. Don't raise your hand, don't
even raise your hand. Keep it down, and come to Christ.
Come running, come in a hurry. Come completely, but don't move
a muscle. That's the way you receive Christ.
And then last of all, there's nobody here that can eat it for
you. You've got to eat it yourself.
As much as you love that wife back there and those girls, you've
got to eat it yourself. Isn't that right? Now you're not coming two by
two into the kingdom of God, you're coming one by one. My wife would sit right beside
me and eat of Christ, drink of Christ, receive Christ, and I'd
go straight to hell. I've got to eat Christ. I've
got to receive Christ. And that's the reason our Lord
said, eat, drink ye all of it. You can't do it by proxy. No way. You can't do it that
way. You can't have a representative cannot do it. You may love your
pastor and love your wife and children, husband, friend, Brothers,
sisters, all these things, just like Paul, almost give your soul
for them, your life for them, but it can't be. I'm sorry, it
can't be. You. Do it yourself. And we better get serious about
it. And that's the reason I don't spend a lot of time here telling
you who can come, who can't come. I wish everybody could come.
But if you have received Christ, then this do, in remembrance
of Him. If you haven't, you've got nobody
to remember. But I tell you what I'd do, I'd
receive Him tonight. No reason why you can't say,
well, when I have a more convenient season, I knew a fella that said
that one time, his name was Agrippa, was that it? The season never
seemed to get there. This is the season. Now is the
accepted time. Today is the day of salvation.
So receive him. Receive him.