Right? That's why we came to Him. But it's just between us and Him. This morning is just between me and the Lord. It's between you and the Lord. And I pray that you enjoy it. And appreciate that. That it'll show you through His Word. That it'll teach you. That it'll draw you closer to Him. And that we'll worship Him together. One more verse I'll read. You can stay where you are. 1 John 3, 16. Hereby perceive we, this is how a human being, here's how a human understands the love of God, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. It's just love, and you all know a couple weeks ago I met a guy up in Indianapolis, we were walking through it, and he did not understand the love of God. As we're going through this this morning, this is not for salvation. Salvation is when a human comes to God by faith. and says, Lord, I'm a sinner. Like Brother Larry said this morning, we bring our sins to Him by faith. Say, Lord, will you please save me? We trust, we believe that the Father sent His Son to pay for the sins of the world. We believe that You sent Your Son for me. We believe that He paid the price for the sin of the world. He was buried, He rose again victorious over death the third day. Now He sits at the right hand of the Father. I believe that. And that's where you hear the Word of God and you come to Him by faith. Right? And he saves your soul. That's salvation, believing in the gospel. This is remembering what made it all possible. Okay? You all with me? Yeah, so we're all... And so the rest of the service now is just worshiping. We're going to remember. We're going to self-examine. We're going to anticipate. And you'll watch the words that Jesus says. for you, my body for you, my blood for you. We worship because he did it for us. That's it. So we'll go through the service. Brother Jeff will lead us. Jeff, if you want to come up, and I'll pray when you're up here with us. And then when I'm finished praying, Jeff will come. But then we're going to finish the service here, and then we'll sing two songs when we're finished. And then we'll be all set for the day, OK? Oh, great. Come pray with me. All right, I'm going to pray. Father, we love you. We love you. I'm thankful that we can come together as a body of believers and worship you and remember and praise. Lord, I pray that 100% these next few minutes would be all about you. and that you would have your way in my heart and each heart in this room. If there are folks in this room who have never accepted you by faith, have never come to you as a sinner and said, Lord, will you please save me? I pray that in these next moments they would, by faith, that they would hear the word of God and receive it. And then I pray for all the rest of us, Lord. that we would let you have your way in our hearts, that the Holy Spirit would have free reign to work and to show us and remind us that we would rejoice, remembering back who we were and now who we are, new creatures in Christ, and that we would anticipate the future. Father, please use Brother Jeff, please use your word, please use the folks as we serve. Father, please work. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Oh, you want this? It's good to be here. Is there any doubt why we're here today? No doubt, no doubt at all. This is like a trick here. All right, well, good to be here. Good to see you. Good to be able to just worship the Lord today. Just good to be in his house. Today is a day of celebration. Today is a day that we get to reflect on what Christ has done, right? We get to reflect on what he's doing in our life. Like Bob said, we're looking at remembrance today. The Lord's Supper is a lot. about remembrance. It's a lot about, you know, that self-examination, where are you? And it's a lot about anticipation, you know, where we're headed. But I want to take a step back today. If you want to turn to Matthew chapter 26, just want to do a light message here on, well, how good Christ is. No matter where you go in the Word of God, it all points to Christ. It's amazing. He is the New Testament. He is the New Testament. Read that in Hebrews a little bit, we'll get into there. And so praise God for that. But Matthew 26, I wanted to go back. When Bob asked me to do the Lord's Supper, I thought, man, I need to do some work here. I need to do some research. I need to start studying. And it's amazing what you learn, what you see. It's just incredible, the love of Christ. And so we get to look at that today. But I want to go back to that last supper. Remember, remember the last supper. It was his last supper with the disciples. It was His Last Supper, and so I don't want to just gloss over today and say, well, you know, we're doing the First Communion, we're doing Lord's Supper, it's called so many different names. No, we're looking back, and we're remembering what Christ did for us. We're celebrating what Christ did for us. That's what today is. But I want you to see the compassion of Christ, the realness of Christ. This is God. Christ is God, manifest in the flesh. But he felt things. He felt things, didn't he? He felt compassion. He felt sorrow. We'll see that. And he felt pain. But he did it for us. He still did it for us. He said, not my will, but thine be done. Not my will, but thine be done. Matthew chapter 26. There's so much here, but I just want to go through the story quickly here. It's not just a story. It's a fact. This happened. This really happened. in this room, in this upper room. Just imagine what that was like. Just imagine what that was like. But we'll read through it here. It says in verse 17, Matthew chapter 26, Now the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? So it's Passover time, they're going to have a feast together, that's the tradition. And so they're looking to their leader and they're asking him, he says in verse 18, And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, The Master saith, My time is at hand, I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples. And if you read other gospel editions of this, you'll see that he told them actually to look for a man with a pitcher of water. And when you see the man with the pitcher of water, go into his house and then ask him what he just asked him right here. It's amazing. God had it all set up. He had it all set up. And you'll see that that upper room that he showed them, it was already furnished. It was already furnished. It was ready to go. He had it all ready for him, just like he knew the plan of why he was here on this earth. Verse 19, the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them. There's obedience there. That's something to reflect on today. Jesus, God wants us to be obedient. And they made ready the Passover. Verse 20, Now when the evening was come, so it's more nighttime here, it's getting ready for dinner, He sat down with the Twelve. So it's Christ and the Twelve. So here they are in this room all together. The disciples, they don't fully understand what's going on, but Christ does. He knows it's His last time with them, having dinner together, and He knows what's coming, doesn't He? He knows what's coming. But here he is. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? Why were they sorrowful? They loved each other. They loved each other. They didn't want it to be them. They didn't want it to be them. They loved him. Verse 23, you see that closeness that they had as a group. Verse 23, and he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of Man goeth as it is written of Him, but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It had been good for that man if he had not been born." So he's talking about Judas Iscariot here, verse 25. Then Judas, there he is, was betrayed. Him answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said, Thou hast said. And we'll keep going here just a few more. 26. Remember, this is the Lord's Supper. This is what we're celebrating today. Verse 26, And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and He blessed it, and He broke it, and He gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it. In verse 28, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. It's very clear, isn't it? We just sang about it today. Nothing but the blood. Jesus paid it all. It's all about the blood, isn't it? It's all about the blood. But verse 29 says, but I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. You know, I got to thinking, we didn't get to be in that room, did we? We weren't in that upper room on that evening. We didn't actually have that last supper with him. But I got to thinking, if you put your trust in Christ, if you trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior, we're looking forward to a day where we're going to be with him. We are going to be with him. And I thought about in Revelation chapter 19, the marriage supper of the lamb. That's going to be a fine, fine dinner, isn't it? That's going to be a fine, fine time with our Savior. And so when He says, but I say unto you in verse 29, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom, I think. That's me too. That's me too. That's not just His disciples. That's me too. Because I put my faith in Him. I put my faith in Him. Have you put your faith in Him today? Have you put your faith in Him today? Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me. But by Me. We're coming through His blood. And that's what we're celebrating today. That's what we're recognizing today. Let's keep going. We want to remember that last dinner. So that's where they are. They're in this room. They're going through it together. They're getting ready to go out, choosing into the garden. And I want you to see the compassion that Christ had, that Christ has, an incredible compassion, even though He was going through some serious pain, wasn't He? He was going through a lot of agony, wasn't He? But I want to take a moment just to read through it. It's just incredible to see what our Savior did for us. In verse 36, if we just skip down of Matthew 26, Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder." You know, He was always taking care of them, wasn't He? He was always taking care of them. He always had a plan for them, and He knew that He was going to the cross. He knew how long it was going to be before he went to the cross. He knew what it was going to feel like to go to the cross. But yet he still went to the cross. He still went to the cross. It says in verse 37, and he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. You know, sometimes, I know in the past for me, I thought, ah, he's God. He's God. He doesn't feel some of these things. Yes, He does. Yes, He does. And we know it because of this passage right here, and a lot of other passages. He knows what it feels like. He knows what you're going through today. He knows the sorrow that you might have in your heart. He knows the things that you think, there's no way I can get through this. There's no way I can make it from here to there. There's no way. Yes, He does. Yes, He does. And He gave us a comforter too, didn't He? If you're saved here today, if you put your faith in Him, you have the Holy Spirit inside of you, and that Holy Spirit bears witness of itself, and the Holy Spirit will help you. He left us a comforter. He did not leave us comfortless. But here He goes, He's going to the garden, He's very sorrowful and very heavy. So you can imagine, that's a tough place. He knows what's coming. He wanted those guys with Him. He wanted them with him, didn't he? He was, he wanted to be comforted too. And so he went to his father. Verse 38, he says, then say at the end of them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Man, that's a tough place. Tear ye here and watch with me. Tear ye here and watch with me. And he went a little further and he fell on his face. And he prayed, saying, O my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as I willed. So there's some obedience there in verse 40. And he cometh unto disciples, and findeth them asleep. And he saith unto Peter, What? Could you not watch with me one hour? Could you not watch with me one hour? He says, Watch and pray, that ye enter not in temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Even in this time, what is Jesus doing with his disciples? He's teaching them. He's teaching them. He cares about them. He wants them to know, hey, when things get tough, when things get tough, there's someone you can pray to. When things get tough, I know, I know what's going on. That's what He's showing them here. Verse 42, He went away again the second time. And He prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And then we'll do a couple more here. And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. You know, we'd be sleeping too. You know, we'd be sleeping too. You know, these disciples cared a lot about Him. They cared a lot about Him. But God knew where He was going. Jesus Christ knew where He was going. He's going to the cross. Why was He going to the cross? Why did He have to go to the cross? What did John the Baptist say as he introduced Jesus the first time? Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. That's why He was coming. He was on a mission. He knew what He had to do. Was it easy for Him? No. No. No. Really, really tough. Verse 44, last two here, it says, And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. And so you find that even Jesus Christ, who is God, he was praying to his Father. He was praying to his Father, and that helped him. Verse 45, Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, verse 46, let us be going. Behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. So he knew. He knew what was coming. He knew exactly what was coming. And he said, not my will, but thine be done. And here he goes. And today, as we celebrate Jesus Christ and what he did in the Lord's Supper, we can remember what it is that he did. We can try to just put ourselves there a little bit and just let everything kind of fade away today. Let all the cares of this life drop away and remember that Jesus Christ did that for you and me. He did it for you and me. All we have to do is say, I believe. I trust you. I believe. I want to live with you forever. Let's just go to Hebrews. I want to just show one more here. We want to remember. We want to examine. We do want to examine our hearts, don't we? We do want to examine our hearts. I was just thinking of the song, Just a Closer Walk with Thee. Granted, Jesus is my plea. I think it's something like, Ever walking close to thee, let it be, dear Lord, or Lord Jesus, let it be. What a great song. And as we're doing the Lord's Supper, as we're thinking about it, That's where we want to be. We want that closeness with Him. We want that closeness with Him. Hebrews chapter 10, it's just, I mean, Hebrews. I was reading through Hebrews. I think you were teaching on Hebrews a little bit today. I mean, what an incredible book. There's so much there. But I just want to look at a couple of verses here in Hebrews chapter 10, just thinking about self-examination, thinking about anticipation. And I was just kind of struggling a little bit. Where do I go? Where do I go? And I just started reading, and I thought, oh, God, it's right there. It's right there. It's the power of God's Word. It's amazing. It's all right there. Like Brother Charlie would say, what a treasure. What a treasure chest. It's right there. Verse 19 of Hebrews chapter 10. There's no mistake about it, why Christ came. There's no mistake about it, what the way is, according to the Word of God. And I just want to read a couple verses here about His body and His blood. And then we'll get into the Lord's Supper. Verse 19, here's what it says, having therefore, I always like what's therefore therefore, having therefore brethren, boldness, boldness to enter into the holiness, holiest by the blood of Jesus. That's how we enter into the holiest. That's the only way, is by the blood of Jesus. Remember, remember in the crucifixion, remember He went to the cross. Remember they beat him. Remember they slapped him many times. It even says with their palm. Remember that they put that crown of thorns on his head and they took that reed and they smashed it down on his head. Remember that. Remember after three hours on the cross that he gave up the ghost. You remember what happened next? Does anybody remember? That veil was torn in two. That veil was torn in two. That's that Old Testament. That Old Testament veil where that priest, he can only go in there once a year. And it was under very specific conditions. And now that veil, by the blood of Jesus, that veil is torn in half. All the way. All the way down. Not partially. All the way down. What does that mean? We can come boldly. We can come boldly. It's by the blood of Jesus. It's by the blood of Jesus. Praise God. That's what we're celebrating here today. That's what He did. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16. We've heard this many times. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Don't forget, today, you put your faith in Christ, He's right there. He's right there. He says you can come boldly, and by the way, you can come boldly because of what I did. Because of what I did. He's the New Testament. He's the testator. He tells us. He knows. Man, it's amazing. You could just go through Hebrews just over and over. The High Priest. This is capital H, capital P. The High Priest. He made it happen. Don't forget. Verse 19. We look at the juice, which represents Christ's blood. We look at the crackers there, which represents His body. It's not actually His body. It's not actually His blood. It's a representation. We do this by faith. We do this to remember and to celebrate. It says in verse 20, look at this, by I knew, well, let's go back, having therefore brethren boldness to entrance the holiness by the blood of Jesus. Remember, I'll say it again there, this is not a, I don't take my works, I don't take my career, I don't take what I've earned in this life, I don't take some kind of special card and swipe it and say, God, I'm ready to come in, open the door. No, I present the blood of Jesus. And I say, I put my trust in Him, in the finished work of what He did. But it says in verse 20, by a new, how are we going in? By a new and living way. He's still living, by the way. He's still living. He's alive today. Let me actually read for you, Hebrews 7, 25. Wherefore, He, speaking of Christ, is also able to save them to the uttermost. That's everywhere. To the uttermost that come to God by Him. By Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. And so when you pray, you're praying to Jesus Christ, and He is making intercession for you. Think about that. That's the God we serve. That's an incredible God. Incredible love. Incredible love. By a new and living way, which He hath consecrated, made new for us, Through the veil, that's interesting. Through the veil, that is to say, His flesh. And that's referring to the cross there and what He did for us. And heaven and high priest, verse 21, over the house of God. And here we go into examination a little bit. All right, so Christ, what do we need to be doing here? What do we need to be doing? We're remembering, what do we need to be doing? Let us draw near with a true heart. Ooh, a true heart. Not, I'm going to show up and I'm going to act like one person but be another person. This is a true heart between you and God. God knows where we are. He knows exactly where we are. A true heart. A true heart. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. That assurance of faith is through what? The blood of Jesus Christ. full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." So there's a couple words there, draw near, true heart, full assurance, pure water. Pure water. That's what this relationship is about with Christ. Verse 23, let us hold fast. Hold fast. That means hold on tight. Hold on tight. Don't let go. Don't let go. Even when things get tough, even when things don't make sense, don't let go. Because by the way, He's not going to let go of you. You're sealed. If you put your faith in Him, you are sealed. You are sealed with the earnestness of the Spirit. But let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised." I like this little parenthesis, for he is faithful that promised. Just add a little nugget there for us. Then two more verses here, just things to be thinking about as we examine our heart. And let us consider one another to provoke and to love and to good works. love, and good works. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, that's where we are right now, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as you see the day approaching." Man, that's good. That's good timing, isn't it? That day is surely approaching, isn't it? It's coming. It's coming. Okay, well, does that make sense? All right, so we want to remember what he did. We see the Last Supper. We kind of see what he went through. We see the pain. We see the obedience. We see the love that he has for us. And we want to remember that. We need to remember that we only enter. We only enter through his blood. We only enter through his blood. His body was broken for us. It's time for us to stand fast. It's time for us to stand fast. But I think that's good. I think that covers that. I want to move into the Lord's Supper here. What I would like to do here is Let's just take a couple moments, just a couple moments here, and just examine our hearts. I think we'll take maybe a minute, a minute and a half, two minutes, and just get your heart right with God. If it isn't right now, just reflect on what he's done and what he's doing in your life. I think it's really good to put yourself in a place where you say, God, Have I confessed my sins to you? What's my relationship like with you? Where are we at, God? Will you help me? And so let's just pray for a minute or two here, and then I'll pray, and then we'll move forward with the Lord's Supper. So let's just take a moment here.