We're looking at the doctrine of the Lord's Supper. Now, I will tell you that every time we do the Lord's Supper, you are taught something about the Lord's Supper. And I think that's the way that it ought to be done. And it's amazing, as all the studies that we do about the Lord's Supper, that when you get to it, you realize, when you dig into it a little deeper, how amazing it is. So we're blessed to be in the Scripture, and we can learn from the Scripture. Amen? Would you like to learn this morning? I've learned this week. Hopefully, what I've learned, you'll learn just a little bit. Verse 26, now, as they were eating, Jesus took bread, And after blessing it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. And when they'd sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. So last week, we looked closely at the substance of the Lord's Supper. What about the bread and the wine or the juice are we to understand? We looked at the four different opinions, the four different major opinions about the bread and the wine. We looked at transubstantiation, which is the Catholic belief. that the bread and the wine actually becomes the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We looked at consubstantiation that it It actually becomes the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it keeps its substance. It doesn't really become the body of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We looked at ours. We are to do it in remembrance. It's a memorial that the literal translation of this is my body is this represents my body. It's a picture of my body. We looked at that... Becky, do you remember that word? I can't... mitomany? That's what it actually is, and that the juice... this is my blood. It really means this juice represents my blood. And then we looked at the spiritual application, that the Lord Jesus Christ is just spiritually a part of the service, spiritually speaking. And we looked at those views. This morning, we're going to look more closely at this thought of it being a memorial. 1 Corinthians 11, 24 says, And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And so that is the memorial view that we take. So what we're looking at today is these verses are really describing the Passover event. When Moses brought the people out of Egypt, there was a Passover observance in which they took the Passover lamb, and they slaughtered the Passover lamb, and they put the blood above the doors and on the sides of the doors, so that night when the death angel came, he passed over those homes. And so they're observing this Passover, and these verses really represent the Passover. It was the Passover observance of the Christians that Jesus is remembering, and while He's in that remembrance of the Passover, He goes right into the institution of the Lord's Supper. Okay? And so these verses represent the Passover event. So this week, we're looking closely at the doctrine, what is taught doctrinally that is displayed in this ordinance, and that Jesus taught and was confirmed by Paul. So not only do we have the institution of the Lord's Supper and teaching from it, from Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but we also have Paul coming in and kind of clarifying it all in the Corinthians account. So you've got your notes in front of you. What doctrine can we find hidden in these verses? Now you do know, we made a visit yesterday and so this church has different preachers every week and it goes from Baptist, to Methodist, to Assembly of God, and I forget the other one. And they would have taken the Church of Christ in the mix if they would have come, but the Church of Christ wouldn't come. So, what was said was, we really don't care what preached, we just want a preacher. Doctrine's a little more important than that, okay? It does matter what you believe, all right? It does matter what you believe. And that's kind of where we're at in America today. It's just we just want to feel good. We want to feel good about being in church. We want to get hyped up about being in church. Don't tell us anything too much serious, okay? So for you that are a little bit leaning that way, you'll probably get just a tad bit uncomfortable this morning. because you're going to see that doctrine is important to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, these are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ that we're looking at, okay? So, what doctrine can we find hidden in these verses? Okay, the first one is, this is a big word, I wish I could hear what Pablo is telling in Spanish-speaking, because I would like to hear this translation. The first one is a vicarious atonement. A vicarious atonement. Now what does vicarious mean? Vicarious is something that was done for me by another, by someone else. They did something for me I could not do. It's done in the place of or instead of someone else. What we needed done on the cross, y'all look at me, we couldn't do. Thank the Lord that the Lord Jesus Christ did it for us. You with me? He became a vicarious atonement. It's the idea, are you with me, that Jesus Christ took the place of mankind on the cross and died for us. He is your substitute. He took your place so you wouldn't have to pay your sin penalty. Want to know why? Because you and I didn't have any way to pay it. We were bankrupt when it came to spirituality. He, listen carefully, suffered the penalty for our sin. Atonement, vicarious atonement. Atonement means being reconciled or having amends made. By His taking our place on the cross, He has made us right. Are you all ready for this? With a holy God. And the way that that all precipitates for us is we trust and believe that's exactly what Jesus did. We've got to believe it. It happened, but the way you apply it to your situation is you believe it and put your hope, faith, trust, confidence in what He did. Are you with me? Okay. It's a historical fact that He did it. It doesn't apply to you until you believe it and trust in it. So, this is the very meaning of the Passover. that the Lord's Supper now clearly represents. The Passover lamb and the blood of that Passover lamb covered the homes and satisfied the death of the death angel. It stood in the place of that death angel taking the firstborn. It is what is symbolized by the breaking of the bread. This represents the broken body of Christ. It symbolizes the drinking of the cup, the shed blood of Christ. Do you see how that Passover lamb transfers to the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? Listen, Jesus did not do this for Himself. We're going to look at something next week that's difficult to look at. Let me ask you this question for you to think about. Why the agony? I mean, people historically have suffered cruel, agonizing deaths at the hands of evil people. But in this situation, when Jesus died on the cross, okay, He suffered, He agonized over this. So I'm asking you to think about this. Why the agony? We'll look at that next week. Let me say it again. He did not die on the cross to pay His sin penalty. He had no sin. He died on the cross to pay your sin penalty, my sin penalty. You've got to understand that. That's doctrine. Why He did it. He was perfect. Anybody want to raise your hand and say, that describes me? Are you? His body was broken, and His blood was shed, listen carefully, for those who know they needed a sin payment. You've got to know you're one of those that needed a sin payment. If you don't know that, you would never look to Him to fill that need. And they have put their hope, trust, and confidence in Christ to take care of that sin penalty. Alright, let's look at the Scripture. Verses 26-28. Overall, this is what these three verses are saying. Now, as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, and said, Take eat, this is my body. And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you. So now listen to verse 28. For this is my covenant, my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sin. So there's a whole lot in that, but generally what that is saying is, Christ was a vicarious atonement, a substitute for you and I. Romans 5, 6-11. You know it's one of my favorites. Why do we need a substitute? Well, listen to this. While we were still, y'all can read that word with me, weak or dead at the right time, Christ died for who? The ungodly. Skip down to verse 8. But God shows His love for us while we were still sinners. What happened? Now why in the world did He have to die? Because He was the perfect sacrifice. He was the perfect Lamb of God. Go down to verse 10. For while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by His life. So we were weak, we were dead, we were ungodly, we were sinners. We were enemies of God, so we needed a what? A substitute. And who was that substitute? None other than Christ Jesus. According to the Bible, the vicarious atonement is an accurate description of Jesus' Christ's role in our salvation. He took our place. He was our substitute. 1 Peter 3.18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the..." Who? Was that you? Was that me? "...For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to..." Oh, oh Lord, thank You. You have reconciled us to the Father. If you've never put your faith, trust, hope, and confidence in that, let me just tell you, you're not reconciled to the Father, and you're not ready for death or judgment. So it's important that you believe this doctrine, the doctrine of substitution, the doctrine of vicarious atonement, that He might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh, but made alive together in the Spirit. So number one, He is our vicarious atonement. And y'all are much quicker to memorize things than I am, but last night I was going over my five points and I couldn't remember this one. And it might be the one that I preach the most often about, but it didn't come to my mind as being one of the five. So the second, and it is now the vicarious atonement that He was our substitute. Number two is a new covenant. A new covenant. This taking the Passover and going to the Lord's Supper is identifying to us that we are now under a new covenant. A new covenant. Not the old covenant of keeping the law and the sacrifice of animals, but the new covenant of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and Christ in us. making us willing and able to live the life He would have us to do. That's the New Covenant. Matthew 26, 28. For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Now, just hang on. That doesn't say New Covenant. Okay? But this is one of three gospel writers, and they all have a little more detail than the others. Alright, so let's go on in the notes. This is the only place that the word covenant is found in all of the Gospel of Matthew. Did you know, in the Bible, if you're reading through the Bible with us again this year, you're already into the covenants. It happens pretty quickly, right? Would it be fair to say that God is a covenant-making and keeping God? Okay, well, we are in the new covenant. And I want to tell you, for any of us that's tried to live under the old covenant, we are glad that there's a new covenant. Amen? Because I'll just have to remind you, we weren't very good at keeping the law. Adam and Eve just had one in the garden. How'd they work out? We've only got ten. We can't even keep the ten. And what's he say? If you break one of them, you've broken how many of them? All right, so, obviously, aren't we glad that Jesus loves to quote Old Testament? This morning, in our reading through the Bible, we're reading the MacArthur one-year Bible, and it lists twenty different times that Jesus didn't quote from the Old Testament major prophets or minor prophets 20 times that he quoted from the Psalms. Well, it was wonderful. That was the psalm we were reading, and it was a wonderful teaching. But in this Matthew chapter 26 and verse 28 that we just read where he says, This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sin, comes from Exodus chapter 24 verse 8. And here's what it says. And Moses, how did they all always ratify covenants? With blood. Exodus 24, verse 8 says, And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant of the Lord is made with you in accordance with all these words. Now you young people, I want you to know, I've got way more faith in you than you have in yourself. Oh, you know, I mean, I wouldn't want to call somebody's name and say they'd be capable of understanding this. But you young people, listen, when you hear the word doctrine, don't you think that's too big for you? Doctrine is just what we believe, okay? And you're plenty capable of hanging on to this. You're plenty capable of understanding that Christ took our place on the cross. I mean, that's not hard to explain. Just like the Passover lamb, and the Passover blood of the Passover lamb caused the death angel to pass over, so Jesus is our Passover lamb. You can understand that. You can understand that Jesus did have one way that he dealt with the people through the law and through the Old Testament animal sacrifices, and now he has a new way that he deals with the people. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and Christ Jesus by the Spirit of God living in us. That's the new covenant. Matthew and Mark do not use the word new. But what did Luke tell us? Luke tells us, I'm going to straighten up everything that Matthew and Mark left out. Everything that's important, I'm going to tell you. So look at Luke 22, 19. And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise, the cup after it had eaten, saying, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant. in my blood. And Paul... He preserves the new in the transcription from the Gospels for Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 11, 25. And in the same way, also, He took the cup after supper saying, This cup is the what? New covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Now let me remind you, those that lived under the Old Covenant, the covenant of the law and the sacrificial animals. That was all looking, oh, 1,500 years down the road at what would happen. Now, I want to tell you, if you think coming to Christ in the new covenant is difficult, I'm fearful that I'd be one of those back in the old covenant, I couldn't look 1,500 years ahead. Y'all wake up now, listen to me. We get to look back at the historical fact that Christ did what? He died on the cross. They hadn't looked forward to what was going to happen. We get to look back at what did happen. And we all said what? Thank you, Lord. Tell me how good hindsight is. It's pretty good, is it not? Amen. Okay. Now, this is clear teaching of Jesus in that he is doing away with the Old Covenant and its sacrificial system, the system that saw millions of blood sacrifices. Did I tell y'all that I figured in 1,500 years of the observance of the Passover that 375 million lambs died? Guess what? That wasn't enough. didn't satisfy a holy God. Did it? Oh, my. Thank you, Lord. Listen to this. We're going to see it in just a second. Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 31, 31, 33, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a... What kind of covenant? New covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant that they broke, you remember that covenant down at Mount Sinai? Okay. Though I was their husband, declares the Lord, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. I will put my law where? Within them. I'll put it on their mind and I will write it on their what? Hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be my people. That is right. Amen. I can't hardly wait for the Hebrew Scripture, but I will. The old covenant and its law-keeping did not work. The old covenant sacrificial system was never sufficient. So God says He's going to do something what? New. Instead of the covenant, listen, out here, out here, of the law-keeping of those animals that were sacrificed, He put His law where? in our hearts and on our minds. And not only that, He put Himself where? In us by the Holy Spirit of God and makes us willing and able to do what He wants us to do. Let me tell you what we will have at the Day of Judgment. No excuse. Do you all hear me? Day of Judgment? No excuse. I put it in your mind. I wrote it on your heart. I put myself in you to help you do it. No excuse. Ezekiel 36, 27, I will put my spirit where? Did anybody besides me need that? We're going to look at Peter in a couple of weeks. Tell me Peter didn't need that. Huh? You remember that guy said, no, not me. As a matter of fact, he told Jesus, you're not going to die on the cross. What did Jesus tell Peter? Get behind me. Okay? Peter needed this. We need this. We need to claim it. You are my God and I'm your people. I put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Huh? I will cause you to keep my rules and I will Okay, you to walk in my statutes and to be careful to obey my rules. He gives us a desire to keep His rules. Philippians 2.13, y'all know it's one of my favorites. For it is God who works where? In you, in me, both to will and to do. You know what that means? We are willing and now able. Why? Christ in me. No excuse. So the vicarious atonement, the new covenant, and number three, we ought to be Pentecostals, jumping, running around the chairs and high-stepping the pews. The forgiveness of sins! The Lord's Supper teaches the forgiveness of sins. And what was man's greatest need? Why in the world did we offer 375 million Passover lambs? Because men needed forgiveness. We need forgiveness, Matthew 26, 27, 28. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. His blood was poured out for our forgiveness. Our great need is to be forgiven. And if you've gotten housebroken, and outwardly you look like a good guy, just remember your last thoughts you had. Our greatest need is to be forgiven. It is only with the forgiveness of sin is our debt penalty paid. and being clothed with the righteousness of Christ so we can stand before a holy God and judge. There's no way to stand before a holy God and to receive forgiveness and expiation unless our sins have been forgiven. It is by the blood of Christ that this ordinance represents that we are what? Forgiven. It says it right there for the what? The forgiveness of sins. Acts 2.38, And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 13, 38, "...let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through this man..." Who's that name? The name of what? There's a name that's above no other name. The name of Jesus that we might what? "...forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you." Let me read it without getting in the way. "...let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you." This is what I just wanted to shout while I go, is this scripture, Hebrews 9.22. You remember all those Old Testament sacrifices? There's no forgiveness without the shedding of blood, and there's really no permanent forgiveness without the shedding of blood of Jesus, Hebrews 9.22. Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there's what? No forgiveness of sin, unless you have embraced Young people, look at me. Do not be obnoxious. Do not be hard-headed. Don't think you've got plenty of time to do it. Unless you have put your faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have not been forgiven and you're not ready for judgment. Number four, particular redemption. Matthew 26, 27, 28, And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sin. So Jesus said, it's poured out for many. I want you to know you've got in blue there a link to a sermon by a young man by the name of Michael Ricardo. and he has got about a 52-minute sermon that was preached at the G3 conference back in January in Atlanta. It is a powerful message on the atonement and particular redemption. It's about 52 minutes. You can put that link in. I will send you that link on the phone this afternoon. All you've got to do, if you want to hear a well... preach sermon on particular redemption, it's it, okay? This is it. Jesus did not say that His blood would be poured out for all, every one, but many. That's what Jesus said in the Scripture. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Now, this is not in my notes, but let me just tell you. It's not even a full step. from believing that Christ died for all, to believing that all are saved. Universalism. It's not even a full step. So if you believe that Christ died for all, it's easy to embrace the doctrine of universal salvation. Just keep that in mind. Okay, we're talking about the blood of Jesus, right? It wasn't poured out for Judas, because Judas is in hell. It was not poured out for the rebellious angels. It was not poured out for the Old Testament people who have been in hell now for years. It was not to be poured out for Pilate. all Pilate needed to do was just need to hear Jesus one more time. Jesus taught that His death was for particular people whom the Father had given Him. Jesus made an actual atonement for the names of those that the Father had given Him. His sacrifice for them actually paid their sin penalty. Particular redemption means that Christ's death was not for all. But now remember this. But all the while, remember this, that Jesus did not die for a few, but for many. He didn't say, I died for a few. He said, He died for many. Many have come to Jesus. Many more will yet come to Jesus. Let me just leave you with some chosen texts from two of my favorite chapters of God's Bible. And I would say that I've got two each from Isaiah 53 and John 17. I would say out of those two chapters, there are five or six more in each one of them. I just want to give you two. I didn't want to bore you with the reading of the Scripture you can read for yourself. Isaiah 53, 4. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteem Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. You see that word? Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. You know what that means? He knows who it was. Isaiah 53, 12, Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. That's from Isaiah chapter 23, a beautiful chapter if you haven't read its entirety in a few days. And John 17, 2, Since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him." In John 17, 24. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you've given me because you love me before the foundation of the world. So, substitutionary atonement, vicarious atonement, the new covenant, the forgiveness of sin, particular redemption, and one of those hallelujah doctrines is this, eternal security. These verses teach us eternal security. How in the world did they do that? Look at verse 29. What's he saying when he says these words? I tell you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. So what's he saying? You that are here today, you that have believed in and trusted in me and partake of the Lord's Supper, I'm going to keep you through all thick and thin, and you're going to do that when? With me where? In heaven. So when we partake of it, we are claiming that He's going to keep us until we do it again with Him in heaven. Look at Jeremiah 32, 40. I will make them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them, and I will put my fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. When He makes us a part of the new covenant, when He puts His Spirit in us, writes it on our mind, gives us a new heart and a new spirit, puts Himself in us, He's going to keep us. And those people that say, well, He's going to keep us, but you can turn yourself away from Him. What's that Scripture says? I'll put my fear in you that you do not turn from Me. John 6, 35-40, Jesus said to them, I'm the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet you do not believe. Now listen to verse 37. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me, what? I will never cast out. So if we've come to Jesus, we put all our faith, hope, and trust in Him, He's going to hold us. Look, He's going to keep us, and next week we're going to look at Peter and the rest of the apostles' betrayal. Even when we betray Him and disown Him, He can keep us and bring us to repentance. I mean, can you get any worse than what Peter did? Three times said, I don't know the guy. And the last time he said that, he cursed him. But what did Christ do after the resurrection and before the ascension? He restored him. He is the Keeper. John 10, 27-30, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. That's a good one. I give them eternal life. And they shall what? I'm just giving the words of Jesus. And no one will what? No one will snatch them out of my hands. You know, that's what the devil was trying to do with Peter and the other apostles. And the Lord Jesus says about Peter, I allowed him to sift you. He allows Him to try us, right? But He doesn't allow Him to take us. Hallelujah. So I give them eternal life and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of a father's hand. And I and the Father are one. Isn't it a wonderful thing to have Jesus teach us The doctrine of eternal security? Who's this teaching this? It's Jesus. How in the world could you lay down at night and thinking that you've done all you could to be saved, you put all your faith, trust, and hope and confidence in Christ, but lay down every night and not know that you're saved or not? That's no security. Philippians 1, 6. Hey, listen. This is the one I love. And I'm sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus. You know, if He started a work in us, what's He going to do? He's going to finish it. All those chosen by God, redeemed by God, and given faith by the Spirit are eternally saved. They are kept in faith by the power of Almighty God, and thus they persevere to the end. So, this is in closing. I would like for you to have this little kiosk in front of you. And before we can go on, you've got to fill this answer out, but we don't. Okay. What did Christ do for you? Y'all look at me now. Well, let me go back a step. After you realized that you were a sinner, what did Christ do for you? That's number one. We covered it. Vicarious atonement. Okay? What's that mean? He took my place. He died for my sins, not did my sins. Died for my sins. Alright? What covenant are you living under? Are you still under the law? You still under the sacrificial system? Are you under the new covenant? The blood and the indwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ. Number three, what achieved your forgiveness? Your goodness? Your being a good person? No, the mercy of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. For whom did He specifically die? Are you one of the many Jesus died for? Claim it! And what confidence do you have in your eternity with Christ and your salvation? Is it in your keeping power or His keeping power? May the Lord bless the reading of the Word.