Well, for our time tonight. we would like to look at this portion of scripture that we read. We'll be looking at verses 7 to 23, having looked at the first six verses last week. The title I want to give to our meditation tonight is The Plan of Salvation. The Plan of Salvation. Now, it is true that this portion that we're looking at deals with the last Passover, and it deals with the institution of the Lord's Supper, which replaced the Passover. And maybe, I hope maybe as you're here, and as I've given the title, The Plan of Salvation, you might wonder, what's the connection? Well, the connection is found really when we considered the first six verses last week, because the first six verses last week highlighted the plan of destruction. What do I mean? Well, if you look at these first six verses, you will notice there that the chief priests, the leaders, and Judas, what united them? They were united in the desire to bring about the death and the destruction of the Lord Jesus Christ. But here in these verses that we're going to look at, ultimately Christ, he was fulfilling the plan of salvation. They were seeking to bring about his destruction, but the Lord Jesus Christ, that one who is full of the love of God and who has revealed that love of God to humanity, His aim, his goal was ultimately to go to Calvary and to do all that was required in order that poor people like myself could come to a pulpit like this and tell people about the glorious good news from heaven that Jesus Christ has come to seek and to save that which was lost. So we want to look at these verses, and I have three brief headings that I wish to highlight from this portion of Scripture, which deals with, as we said, it deals with the last Passover. And when the Lord Jesus Christ, at the end of the Passover, he instituted the Lord's Supper, something that we ourselves do twice a year. And indeed, one of our sister congregations was doing exactly the same thing today. They were remembering the Lord's death until he comes. Now, the Lord's Supper is a sacrament. What does the Lord's Supper teach us? What's it all about? Well, first of all, the Lord's Supper is a remembrance. It's a remembrance of what Jesus Christ has done. Verse 19, here we have the Lord. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me. Whatever we know about the Lord's Supper, we must remind ourselves that it is an act of remembrance. We are remembering something that happened in times past. Now, it would be helpful maybe for some of us if I said something about the Passover, because This was the reason why Jesus gathered his disciples together that they might celebrate the Passover. Now, what is the Passover? Well, many of you will know exactly what the Passover is, but it's good to remind ourselves. The people of God, the Israelites, were in Egypt, and they were under slavery. They were under hard bondage. They were badly treated by the Egyptians. And they cried out to the Lord. And we're told the Lord heard them. And the Lord remembered the covenant that he made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And that covenant, part of it was that Abraham and his descendants was going to receive a land. and they were going to go into that land. But here the people of God, the Israelites, were in bondage in Egypt, and they were being extremely badly treated. And they cried unto God that he might remember them. And ultimately God did remember them, and he sent Moses to take them out of Egypt, and to take them into the promised land. Now you know what happened. Moses went to Pharaoh. And basically, friends, in modern language, Pharaoh said, who is the Lord? Why should I listen to him? Who is he? And he would not let the people go. God then sent various judgments or plagues upon Egypt. And although these plagues were sore and although Egypt was brought to ruin, yet Pharaoh hardened his heart and he would not let the people go until God sent the final plague, the death of the firstborn. What does that mean? Well, it simply means that God said through Moses to Pharaoh, if you will not let my people go, I will kill. the firstborn of man and of beast. And Moses said this to Pharaoh. Still, his heart was hardened. Moses then told the people of Israel, the Israelites, this is what's going to happen. The angel of death is going to go through Egypt one night. And he's going to kill all the male firstborn of man and of cattle and of beast. And in order that we might escape this plague, something's required of the Israelites. They had to take a lamb without blemish. They had to kill that lamb. They had to take the blood from that lamb. And they had to put the blood on their doorposts and the lintels of their dwelling places. And they had to eat the lamb. And they had to eat it with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs. And when the angel of death would pass through Egypt on that night, that dreadful, that fearful night, When the angel of death would see the blood on the doorposts and on the lintels, God would pass over as the angel of death was going to enter into that house to stop the angel of death going in. And therefore the people in that house would be spared and their firstborn would not be destroyed. And as you know, that's what happened. The angel of death came, and the male firstborn of the men and of cattle of the people of Egypt were destroyed that night. From Pharaoh's son to the slave's son, they were all destroyed. Terrible devastation. You can imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth when they realized what had happened. But none of the Israelites suffered this because the lamb was slain and the blood was on the doorpost and the angel of death was not allowed to enter into that home. And the people were required to remember this yearly. And this is what they were doing here, remembering the Passover. Now friends, Christ is our Passover Lamb. The Passover Lamb in the Old Testament was pointing forward to that time when the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, would be sacrificed. And that those who believe upon the Lord Jesus will not suffer death, in the sense that they will not suffer eternal death. because he has died in their room and in their place. He has been punished in their place. And therefore, when the Lord Jesus was celebrating his last Passover, he instituted the Lord's Supper. That was the end of the Passover. There was no need to celebrate another one. because the real Passover lamb had come, even the Son of God himself. He was without blemish. He was absolutely perfect. He was sinless. And therefore, he was able to offer that once for all perfect sacrifice. Well, friends, when we come to the Lord's table, Remember, we are remembering what Jesus Christ did some 2,000 years ago. We're looking back to that, and it is primarily an act of remembrance. I don't know if you notice this, but it is an extremely simple sacrament. Extremely simple. The Passover had four cups. It was far more elaborate. but in keeping with Christian worship, which is far more simpler than Judaism or Old Testament worship. The Lord's Supper is extremely simple. What do we have? We have wine, which represents the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have bread, which represents the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we must note that the Lord's Supper is not a sacrifice. Many people err as far as this is concerned, and many people will celebrate as they see it, the Lord's Supper, and to them, it is a sacrifice. To them, they are sacrificing Christ afresh, albeit a bloodless sacrifice. But that is absolutely repugnant to us. That is indeed blasphemy. Why so? Well, because Jesus Christ has offered up that once for all perfect sacrifice. And there is no more sacrifice for sins. There is no other way to be reconciled to God. There is no sacrifice now that is required. Why? Because the perfect sacrifice has been offered. as the book of Hebrews would tell us. In Hebrews chapter nine, verse 28, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. What we are particularly to notice here is, so Christ was once offered, once offered, and for him to be offered again and again and again would signify that what he did 2,000 years ago was not sufficient. But it was sufficient. It satisfied God's inflexible demands. It satisfied his law. Therefore, it is not a sacrifice. And notice also, The bread and the wine, they don't change. Some people will tell us that when they observe the Lord's Supper and when prayer is offered up, the bread literally becomes the body of Christ. And the blood literally becomes the wine becomes literally the blood of Christ. This obviously is not the case. The bread remains bread. It simply represents his body. The wine, it remains wine. Our senses will tell us that. it doesn't change. We certainly don't agree with the doctrine of transubstantiation. No. These things are elements that represent the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there's another thing that's important for us when we remember it is an act of remembrance, that the Lord's Supper does not automatically confer grace. Many people think that if they go to the Lord's Supper, well, that's their sins forgiven. And somehow, just by taking the elements, that they will be blessed. That is not the case. Those who come to the Lord's Supper and who partake at the communion table, they must do so with faith. They must have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, they will never benefit from the Lord's Supper. There is nothing magical in the elements, nothing whatsoever. And it does not automatically confer grace as some people would have us believe. In the will of the Lord, we ourselves as a congregation would expect to observe the Lord's Supper at the end of April. What are we doing? We are remembering the Lord's death until he comes. And yes, We do believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is at the head of the table and those who partake in a right manner with faith can look to have communion with Christ himself. It's his table and he invites his people to come to that table that he might commune with them. And of course that the believers have communion one with another. But principally, We are remembering what He did. We are remembering the immense cost of our salvation. We are remembering that it took the life and the death of the Lord Jesus to secure us from a lost eternity. He paid the price of our sins. And therefore, it should cause us to come to that table eagerly seeking to be reminded of his sufferings and all that he undertook, joyfully, willingly, voluntarily, in order that his people might enjoy eternal life. Well, secondly, if it is an act of remembrance, we want to impress upon every single one of us that this is binding upon Christians. It is binding upon Christians. Again, if we read verse 19, Jesus, he took bread and give thanks and break it and give unto them saying, this is my body which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me. This do. He's talking there to every single person who is a Christian, anyone who has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, anyone who is looking to Christ in order to save them, anyone who recognizes that they're a sinner and that Jesus Christ is the Savior, and in some way they have put their hope and their trust upon Him, they are to come to this table. This is a command from the great head of the church, Jesus Christ Himself. He says, what this do in remembrance of me. And therefore, if we're Christians, we are to be found at the table. We know there are some Christians, and they're in various denominations, might not be the right word to use, but they're in various Christian organizations like the Salvation Army, And the Quakers, they don't observe the sacraments at all. Now, this is not correct. The Lord Jesus, the great head of the church, he tells us, this do in remembrance of me. It's not an option. It's required. Ask yourself, would you deliberately or willfully break the Ten Commandments? Now, of course we know that we cannot possibly keep the Ten Commandments. Well, they are spiritual, we know, but nevertheless, we seek to keep them. We recognize their authority upon us. We recognize that the finger of God wrote the Ten Commandments on stone, thereby signifying that they were eternal. and they were perpetual, and they are bounding not just upon Christians, but upon every man, woman, and child that ever lived. And therefore, we would not willingly despise or neglect or break the Ten Commandments. Why then do we think that we can somewhat dispense with this commandment that Christ has given us? This do in remembrance of me." People might then say to themselves, well, I'm not ready for the table. And they might absent themselves from the table. There may be occasions when that is the correct thing to do. We're not going to go off on a tangent here, but sometimes a church member might be under discipline. and he may or she may have committed a sin. And because of that, they have appeared before the Kirk Session. And the Kirk Session have said that they are going to be denied church privileges for a certain season in the hope that that person would repent and be restored Well, it may be that during a period of discipline that it would be inappropriate for someone to come to the Lord's table. That can happen. But we're really aiming our message here at people who are Christians and who are not under discipline, but they will say to themselves that they are not ready to sit at the table. and they will not come to the table, although maybe secretly they are looking to Christ to save them. They might say to themselves, well the table, what's the table? The table's for what they might say elite Christians or strong Christians. Well of course the table is for strong Christians, but It's not just for strong Christians. It's for weak Christians also. It's for anyone who has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Anyone who has come to an end of themselves and recognized that they are a sinner and that they need to be saved. And that they are looking at the Lord Jesus Christ in order to save them. They recognize that he is the God-appointed Savior. He is the only mediator between God and man. And therefore, they have, in some real way, put their trust upon the Lord Jesus Christ. They may not have assurance. That's another matter. But if they have faith in Christ, if they're looking to Him, and if they want to be saved by Him, then they are to be found at the table. The larger catechism speaks of this. Question 172. May one who doubts of his being in Christ or of his due preparation come to the Lord's Supper? Now, you heard that question. Maybe some of you, if you've heard that question, may one who doubts of his being in Christ or of his due preparation come to the Lord's Supper, you might instantly say, no, he should not come. Is that what the catechism says? You'll have to read this for yourselves because it's quite a long quote, but it's worth quoting, friends. One who doubts of his being in Christ, or of his due preparation to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, may have true interest in Christ, though he be not yet assured thereof. And in God's account has it, if he be duly affected with the apprehension of the want of it, and unfeignedly desires to be found in Christ. and to depart from iniquity, in which case, because promises are made, and this sacrament is appointed for the relief even of weak and doubting Christians, he is to bewail his unbelief and labor to have his doubts resolved. And so doing, he may and ought to come to the Lord's Supper, that he may be further strengthened. That's a lot to take in, I acknowledge. And you really need to go to the catechism and read it for yourselves. But basically, friends, it's saying weak Christians are to come. Why? Because the Lord's Supper is a strengthening ordinance. And if we are weak in faith, how can we strengthen our faith? It is by coming to the ordinances that God in Christ has appointed to strengthen our weak faith. It's not to stay away. If we desire to be in Christ, if we desire to live according to Christ, if we have our faith in him, we are to be found in the table. And if we partake in a worthy manner, now that's an important thing to realize. We're never worthy to take the Lord's Supper. We're not looking to be worthy in ourselves, but to take worthily means to prepare ourselves and to recognize what we're doing. That's what it is. And we are to come to the Lord's Supper. We are to come to that feast that Jesus Christ has provided for his poor sheep. We are not to distance ourselves from it. Do we have faith? Oh, it may be weak faith. Oh, it may be like a thimble full of faith. But do we have real faith? Do we have genuine faith? Do we know repentance? Oh, our repentance is not perfect. Our faith is not perfect. Our love is not perfect. Nothing's perfect. But our Savior is perfect. And he tells you to come to the feast. Avail yourselves of what he has offered there in order to strengthen yourselves. that you might grow in faith and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are to be found. We are to come. It is binding upon all Christians. You know, friends, let's be clear on this matter. We're not opening the table up to everyone. Oh, we're happy to preach the gospel. We're happy to tell everyone, whether it's your first time in the church or whether you've been here a hundred times, we will preach the gospel to you and we will tell you that you are commanded to obey the gospel. You are commanded to receive Christ as Lord and Savior. But we do not command everyone to come to the Lord's table. It is for his people, but his people must come. This is what he says, this do in remembrance of me. And before I pass on to my last and final point, if we have no good reason, if we do not come to the Lord's table, except for being under discipline. If we cannot come to the Lord's table, we're not ready to die. We should keep away from the Lord's table if we're under discipline, yes. But For any other reason, if we cannot come, we're holding our hands up and we're saying, we are not fit to die. This do in remembrance of me. Thirdly, then, finally, again to encourage us, I hope, who were the first communicants Well, we know the disciples were the first communicants. Was Judas there at this first Lord's Supper? I don't think we can be dogmatic about it, but there are one of the things that we can be dogmatic about before we come to some conclusion. We know that Judas went to the chief priests and agreed to betray Christ for 30 pieces of silver. We know that. He did that. That's clear. Judas was at the Passover. He did celebrate the last Passover with Christ and his disciples. We know that. that can be easily proved. He definitely took part in the Passover. Now after the Passover, Jesus then instituted the Lord's Supper. The debate is, did Judas take part in the Lord's Supper? Verse 21 of the chapter that we've just read, it would seem to indicate that he did. Because Jesus says in verse 21 of Luke 22, But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. But before we come to any conclusion, we have already said in times past that Luke does not always present his material chronologically. He does not always do it. We've noticed that. That's a fact. If you look at verse 3 of the same chapter, what do we read there? There was a point when they were together. This was a very notable occasion. We're not going to digress, but we do know the Bible teaches us that all unbelievers, and we would remember that we ourselves were unbelievers at some time, and we followed the course of the devil. We weren't demon-possessed, we're not saying that, but we were in some sense controlled by the evil one. This is something far more and far different. This is someone whom Satan has entered into and has taken possession of that person. It's very difficult for us to understand, but this kind of individual here, when this happens, this person is doomed to destruction. This person does not fear God, does not worry what he does. He couldn't care less about the gospel, about Christ, about anything. He was just out to serve himself or to serve the evil one. This is what happened here in verse three. Now, if we notice in John's gospel, what does John say about this incident? Well, Jesus was talking in John chapter 13. He was talking to his disciples, and he was telling them that one was going to betray him. And they were asking him, who is it? Who's going to do it? And in verse 26 and verse 27, he says, Jesus answered, he it is to whom I shall give a sop. when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. This is the important part. And after the sop, Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, that thou doest, do quickly. I would maintain that after Jesus had given the sop, to Judas, Satan entered into him. And that's the same thing that happened there in verse three that's recorded in Luke chapter 22. Now, in John's gospel, after Satan entered into him, Judas left immediately. He left the group. And it was then that Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper. Now I know it's a debatable thing and not everyone agrees, but I'm inclined to believe that Judas did not partake of the Lord's Supper. But I said this point was encouraging, and it is encouraging for every single one of us. Why is it so encouraging if Judas didn't partake of the Lord's Supper? Why is that encouraging? Well, friends, all the others that did partake of the Lord's Supper were not perfect. They were far from perfect. Oh, they were genuine. That's true. They were real, genuine Christians. There's no doubt about that, but they were not perfect. We did not read it, but we'll read it next week. Verse 24 of Luke chapter 22. What happened immediately after supper? And there was also a strife among them. Which of them should be accounted the greatest? Can you believe it? This all happened around the time when Jesus washed the disciples' feet. He humbled himself, and he talked about his death, and he talked about all of these things that would happen. And what do we find? There was a strife among them. Which of them should be accounted the greatest? Does this not tell you, and does it not encourage you, that they were saints? Yes, but they were sinners. They were not perfect. And this is to encourage us because We might seek to avoid the Lord's table because we might say to ourselves, well, I haven't reached a certain standard. I haven't reached a certain level. The Lord's table, the Lord's supper, it is for saints, yes, but it's for sinners. It wasn't for angels. It's not for perfect people. It is for poor, broken sinners. And what a master we serve. And are you going to absent yourself time after time after time? Come therefore, come to the Lord's table. come and feast upon the spiritual food that he has prepared by his life and by his death and by his resurrection. Amen.