I'd like to notice the author
of the hymns which we sing. James Montgomery was the author
of that last hymn. I ran into his name several times
recently reading the life of William Jay. He was a friend
of William Jay's and he wrote a hymn especially for Jay's Jubilee
service, 50 years as a pastor there at Argyle Chapel in Bath,
England. Also, in looking at the authors
of those hymns, I like to look at the year they were born and
the year that they died. And think about especially the
year that they died, how long they have already been in heaven,
worshiping the Lord. Heaven's just begun. Eternity's
just begun. What a wonderful future those
of us who know Christ have to think that one day we will be
with our Lord in heaven, a place that he has prepared for us,
a place that he has prepared for his children. What a wonderful,
wonderful place. Let's look tonight for just a
few minutes in 1 Corinthians 11 as we come together this evening
to observe, to obey our Lord's command to observe this ordinance
that he's given us. I want us to look once again
at what the Apostle Paul tells us here concerning the Lord's
Supper in 1 Corinthians 11. Beginning with verse 23, 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 break it and said, take, eat. 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 stopped saying, this cup is a new testament
in my blood. This do you as often as you drink
it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this
bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till
he come. It's clear from what the Apostle
Paul wrote here in verse 23, that the same was true of the
Lord's Supper that he said was true of the gospel. That is,
that the Lord revealed the gospel to Paul that had to be so for
him to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. There in Galatians
1, he said, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught
it by the revelation of Jesus Christ. And you see, he says
the same thing in verse 23 about the Lord's table, what he taught
about the Lord's table. For I have received of the Lord
that which also I delivered unto you. The office of an apostle
was a special office. We know in Ephesians 4, he gave
some apostles, prophets, and pastors and teachers, evangelists,
pastors, and teachers. The title of apostles is listed
first. And there were 12 apostles of
the Lord. Paul made up the 12th apostle. They laid the foundation. The
foundation, of course, is Christ, the chief cornerstone. But they,
in their office as apostles, laid the foundation of the Lord's
church. And then think about this. Over
2,000 years now have come and gone, and the Lord has continued. Remember, Paul said that they
ordained elders in every city. Now here we have the apostles,
the beginning of this dispensation, the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then the apostles ordained
elders, or pastors, teachers. Then they passed off the scene,
and they ordained pastors, teachers, until we come down till today. The office of a pastor. It is
the office of, or the work of the ministry, I should say. It's
a very important, a very important work, a very important office
in the church. And it is through the church,
I want you to turn to a verse in Ephesians chapter three. Ephesians chapter three and verse
10, where the apostle makes a, A statement here, he says, to
the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in
heavenly places. We're talking about angels, aren't
we? Principalities and powers in heavenly places. Remember
in the first chapter of first Peter, the apostle tells us that
angels desire to look into these things. But Paul here says, to
the intent that now unto the principalities and powers and
heavenly places might be known by the church, by the church,
the manifold wisdom of God. How is the manifold wisdom of
God revealed in this world? By the church, by the church. institution that the Lord Jesus
Christ established, isn't it? He said, upon this rock, I will
build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. And as you look back through
the years, and if you read church history, you see at times the
church has flourished. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ has flourished. Hundreds have come into the church.
Yea, thousands have come into the church. But at other times,
there's been few. And it seems that God has ordained
that you and I live in this time when there are few. And it behooves
us even more, seeing that's true, to be faithful, to be committed
to the church, that the Lord Jesus Christ bought with his
own blood. I mean to be faithful that this
local church, as a representative of God's universal church, I
know that we shine as lights in this world, that we be faithful,
be committed. The apostle tells the church
here at Corinth that What he had revealed to them about the
Lord's table, he didn't just sit down and make it up one day.
And he wasn't even taught it by the Apostle Peter or James
or Thomas. No, this was revealed to him
by the Lord Jesus Christ, the head of the church. The head
of the church. And this alone shows us the importance
of this ordinance. The Lord's Supper, it's an important
ordinance. It's a command of the Lord. Remember
he said, he that loveth me hath my commandments and keepeth them.
It's a command of the Lord that we do this. He said, do this. Do this. That's a command, isn't
it? And remembrance of me. shows the importance of this
ordinance that the Lord instituted it before he even went to the
cross, before he was betrayed that night in the garden. You
remember he, he, after the Passover and the Passover was quite a,
quite a dinner that they, they had. You can read about that
and, and, uh, that was, that was involved. But after the Passover
was ended, And that was the last Passover because Christ, our
Passover, would then be crucified for us. But he instituted the
Lord's table, told his disciples what we read here and what he
had revealed to Paul. It has the Lord's authority behind
it. I call this a church ordinance
because I believe it is a church ordinance. It was given to his
church. We wouldn't take bread and wine
and go down to the hospital. We might have a brother or sister
in the hospital that is a faithful, committed believer and member
of our church, but we wouldn't take the bread and wine, just
the pastor or maybe the deacons, and go down and have the Lord.
No, no, it's a church ordinance. Now if the whole church should
go down there, the church isn't a building, but if we could just
announce all of us are going down to the hospital on a certain
day at a certain time and we're going to have the Lord's table.
That would be one thing. But we're not free to just have
this in our home, you know, when we want to. It's something the
church is to do. And we see that those who are
commanded to observe this table are to do it in his memory, in
memory of Christ. And it is the memory of his death
especially that is brought out in this ordinance. As we eat
the bread and drink the cup, the memory of his death. And
in doing so, we show forth His death till He comes, till the
Lord Jesus Christ comes again. That's what we're doing here
tonight. We're showing forth the death of our Savior. I have three points I want to
make. First, we see that His death was one of suffering. One of suffering. We see this
in the word broken. The scripture here says, when
he had given thanks, he break it and said, take eat. This is
my body, which is broken for you. Broken. Broken. Suffering. It was one of suffering. John
chapter six and verse 51, the Lord Jesus spoke of himself as
the living bread, which came down from heaven. And then he
said, it is the bread that I will, or the bread that I will give
is my flesh. His flesh, his body was broken. Now that word there in John 6,
51, the bread that I will give is my flesh is the same word
in John chapter one in verse 14, where we read the word was
made flesh. Now, that doesn't mean he just
received a body. No, he was made flesh. Whatever
makes up a man, which is more than just a body, also a reasonable
soul. The Lord Jesus Christ received
and joined to his eternal deity, a body and a soul. When he speaks of his body being
broken for us, we know that he did suffer in his body. The message
this morning, those of you who were here, we looked at that,
didn't we? Somewhat at the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ on the
cross. But he didn't just suffer in
his body. He did suffer in his body, that's for sure. But we
know that he suffered in his flesh. And his flesh is more
than just his body. It includes his soul. He said,
my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. Most of the
old writers, if you read about this, they'll all say the same
thing. The soul of his suffering was his suffering in his soul. That's where he suffered. In
Isaiah 53, the prophet said, thou shalt make his soul an offering
for sin. His body, yes, his body broken,
yes, was an offering for sin, but also his soul. He poured
out his soul. This means that his whole human
nature, both body and soul, suffered. and his greatest suffering was
in his soul. The soul of his suffering was
his suffering in his soul. When he was made to be sin, I
don't know that I could rightly even speak about this, but the
holy son of God, the suffering he endured, the thought of just
being made sin, everything that was opposite of what he was,
immutable holiness, that he would be made sin. And that because
of his being made sin, his father, I believe that is what was in
the cup, don't you? The cup which the father gave
him to drink, what was it? It was to take the sins of his
people upon himself and to suffer his soul. Second, we see that
his death was vicarious in his words for you. We see that his
sacrifice was one of suffering and the word broken, but then
it says he's broken for you, vicarious. I remember many, many years ago,
When I first started preaching, I ran across that word vicarious. I didn't know what it meant.
I had to look it up in a dictionary. That's an important word, isn't
it? His vicarious suffering. He didn't
suffer for his sins. He didn't have any. He had no
sin. And all of his accusers and his
judges all confessed that. They found no No sin in him,
but he suffered in the room and in the place of others. That's
what the word vicarious means, isn't it? It means performed
or suffered by one person as a substitute for another. His death was vicarious. He died
in the place or in the stead of his people. And because you
say he died, we will never die. Because he suffered, we will
never suffer for our sins. You say, well, I know some believers
who suffer in this world. They do suffer. Believers do
suffer in this world, but not for their sins. They suffer as a father would
chase in his children. Those of us who are fathers here
tonight, we know there have been times, and are times, when you
must chasten your children. That's a lot different, a father
chastening his children than a judge sentencing a criminal
to prison. That's a lot different. Yeah. His soul was made an offering
for sin. He had no sin of his own, but
again in Isaiah 53 and verse 6, the scripture says the Lord
hath laid on him. That word means that the Lord
made to meet on him all the sins. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. I heard a preacher one time say,
well, the scripture never tells us that our sins were imputed
unto him. In fact, this is the statement
he made. He said, the Bible never says that God imputed our sins
to Christ, but we know that he did. And my thought was, if the
Bible doesn't say it, how do we know that he did? No, the Bible doesn't say it
in those exact words, but the Bible does say it, that our sins
were imputed unto him, when it tells us that he bear our sins
in his own body on the tree. And when it tells us, for he
who knew no sin was made to be sin for us, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. How are we made the righteousness
of God in Christ? By imputation. By his righteousness
being charged to us, to our account. And the same thing, in the same
way rather, was he made to be sin for us. The sins of his people
were charged to him. And they became his in such a
way that he said, my sins are more than the hairs of my head. You say, can you explain that?
No, no. But I believe it. And I rejoice
in it. Somehow, there was a great exchange. And God took all the sins of
his covenant people and laid them upon Christ. And Christ
suffered and paid, and the justice of God was satisfied and answered
for the sins of all his people. Not one sin. If there had been
one sin, if there is one sin, you say, well, he took all my
sins but one. Well, you're not going to heaven.
You're not going to enjoy heaven throughout eternity if there's
one sin that He didn't take. No, He took them all. That's
the reason the scripture says the blood of Jesus Christ, His
Son, cleanseth us from all sin, because He took all our sins
and bore them in his own body on the tree. The third thing,
we see that his death established a new covenant in these words,
this cup is the new testament, the new covenant in my blood. These are three things that we
remember as we observe the Lord's table, that he suffered for us,
that his death was vicarious in our stead and in our place,
and by his blood that he shed, he established the New Covenant. That's what he said. This is
my blood of the New Testament. The word testament, of course,
is the same as covenant. This cup is a New Testament in
my blood. Now we're familiar with covenants.
When you read through the Old Testament, you know that Israel,
God brought Israel out of Egypt and brought them to Mount Sinai
and made a covenant with them. And that covenant was ratified.
And it was ratified with blood. But it wasn't the blood of a
man. It was the blood of animals. Moses took the covenant and he
took some blood that was from animals that were sacrificed.
And what did he do? He sprinkled that blood on the
covenant and on the people. Made a covenant. And that covenant
was that depending on their obedience, It was never a covenant by which
the Israelites would be saved. It was a covenant made with the
nation of Israel that by their obedience, they would prosper
in the land of Canaan. They would remain there in the
land of Canaan. And if, always that if, it was
a conditional covenant. If they broke the covenant, then
they would forfeit all the blessings of the land of Canaan. We know
they broke the covenant immediately. Thank God for this new covenant,
this new covenant, which the blood of Jesus Christ established. And we're told that Jesus Christ
is a mediator of this new covenant. And we're told also that it was
established on better promises. Hebrews chapter eight. The old
covenant promised the land of Israel, or promised Israel the
land of Canaan upon the condition of their obedience. The new covenant
promises life and every blessing to every believer upon the obedience,
not of you, not of me. We failed a thousand times. No,
the blessings of the new covenant are promised upon the obedience
of the surety, the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me, if you will, to Hebrews chapter 10, just a
moment. We love to read these promises,
don't we, in the new covenant. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
16, the apostle said, this is a covenant that I will make with
them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws
into their hearts and in their minds will I write them. And
their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. You see this, writing this upon
the heart, God does a work in us, right, he did a work for
us, outside us, through Christ dying in our stead and in our
place, but he does a work in us as well. Read about that,
if you will, in Jeremiah 32, and verse 40, I will make an
everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from
them. Aren't you thankful for that
promise? I will not, I will not, Turn away from them. What's that
Hebrews chapter 13, I believe it is? God promises those five
negatives in there. I will not, no, never depart
or forsake them. I will not. I will not turn away
from them to do them good. But I will put my fear in their
hearts. The fear of God is the beginning
of wisdom, isn't it? Who puts that fear in a person's
heart? God does. God promised to do that. Every child of God here tonight,
you fear the Lord. You say, I don't fear, I'm not
talking about slavish fear, the fear that a person has, you're
afraid he's gonna zap you or anything like that, no. But you
reverence him. You reverence God. Because he's
put his fear in your heart. And then he went on to say that
they shall not depart from me. I will put my fear in their hearts
that they, in order that they shall not depart from me. And
I want you to turn to one place in Ezekiel. And I'll finish with this passage
here in Ezekiel chapter 36, which speaks to us of the new covenant. Ezekiel chapter 36, beginning
with verse 25. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you. What is that clean water? That's
a gospel. That's a gospel. I will sprinkle
clean water upon you and you shall be clean. From all your
filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new
heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within
you. And I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
Now looking at this this past week, this next verse really
spoke to my heart. And I will put my spirit within
you. Now notice, and cause you to
walk in my statutes. And you shall keep my judgments
and do them. If you serve the Lord tonight,
and you do, if you're one of his children, you do so because
he keeps you, because he has put his spirit in your heart. Well, I pray the Lord would bless
this message.