Okay, Matthew chapter 26, verses 26 to 29. These are on the occasion when the Lord Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper. I thought it would be good for us to look at them again in remembrance. Sometimes simple is better. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it, broke it and 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. For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 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." Now there's something to anticipate. There is a day coming, a great day of celebration, when we will celebrate with the Son, and with the Father, and with the Holy Spirit, and with others of every tribe, and nation, and tongue, and peoples. And we will gather around the throne, and we will rejoice in the kingdom. This is the institution of what we call communion, or the Lord's Table. It occurred on the night that he was betrayed. It was the night that he with his disciples celebrated the Passover and remembered it with them. And he took that occasion to institute the Lord's Table, communion. And it is a celebration that we are to practice until he comes. Until he returns as King over all things and is visibly displayed in that fashion. Then we will enjoy it in the kingdom. Until then, we do it in remembrance. As I was thinking about this the other day and contemplating on it, I find it very interesting that all that we spend a lot of time, we are going to again tonight, look at some of the aspects here that just as a remembrance. But the only thing the Lord Jesus said to remember was Him. He doesn't say it here, but in other passages, other accounts of it, remember me. Remember me. Now there are a lot of things we can remember about him, and we're going to look at some things tonight that hopefully will cause us to do that, remember some things about him. But he didn't say anything specifically to remember about him. He just said, remember me. And how often we go skittering about our day, and we forget Him. I know you do, because I do. Not because I'm thoughtless, but you're like me. You forget Him too. And the Lord Jesus, knowing our frame, knew we would forget Him, and so He instituted this celebration time for us to set aside some time to remember Him, to think about Him. I want us to just very simply tonight look at one aspect of the emblems that he used in that first celebration. He used the bread and the wine. I want us to look at the bread, just the bread, and give some thoughts regarding what he said here in regards to the bread. And I pray it will help us remember the Lord Jesus in so doing. First of all, in choosing bread, it was something very common. A common element, a common symbol. Everybody ate bread. Not everybody had steak. Not everybody had lamb. Everybody had bread. Some unusual kind of bread that was without leavening. On this occasion, we know because part of the celebration of Passover was unleavened bread. So you know on this occasion the bread that was part of the meal of the supper was unleavened bread. It was only about as thick as your thumb. But it was big. We picture you know big poopy pieces of bread. Oh no, not unleavened bread. Very flat, kind of like we might call flat bread, maybe pocket bread, maybe pita bread, but very flat and big. large like a plate or a platter in size. That's why they broke it instead of cutting it. You know, they didn't cut it. They broke it because you'd grab a piece and pass it on, you'd break a piece and that's the way they ate the bread. So when the Lord Jesus said to them, here take some bread, take it and eat, that's what he did. He took one of the flat breads and they passed it around and broke off a piece of bread. It's everyday life, eating of bread. So the Lord Jesus picked a very simple symbol to use of Himself. And bread, as we know from the Lord Jesus' own statements, is a picture of Christ. For He was the one in John chapter 6 who said, I am the bread of life. You talk about the time in the wilderness when Moses gave you bread. Well, you know, as was often the case, the Jews tended to get things confused and viewed them in their own light as being the way they saw was the correct way and not the actual way. Moses didn't give them bread. God gave them bread. God was the one who gave them manna in the wilderness. It wasn't Moses. Moses, under the instruction of God, told them how to use that manna. And the Jews, in their very glorious and wonderful acceptance of that gift, soon tired of it, said, we're tired of this manna. Give us some real food to eat. So they're saying Moses gave us bread in the wilderness Very off the mark. It was God who gave them manna. And that manna that he gave was a picture looking forward to when the bread of life would be given. The Lord Jesus. He was given. He was the bread of life. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. So it's a picture of the Lord Jesus. A necessity of life bread is. It is common to every day. It provides nourishment and health and strength. So does the Lord Jesus. We need that bread of life every day, constantly throughout the day. Jesus is the bread of life, granting to us that spiritual nourishment, that spiritual strengthening that we need as we face the vicissitudes of life. That's the bread. It didn't become his body as many teach today. There's no saving merit in eating the communion bread as many teach today. It's a symbol. It's a picture. Jesus didn't become a slab of bread on that night when he instituted. He was still there. He was the one handing it out. So how could he hand out himself? No, it's a symbol, it's a picture. And the scriptures frequently use pictures to describe to us the nature and the character of God. You can read through the Old Testament, especially in the book of Psalms, where we read about our God is our rock. Well, does that mean what God is is a rock? God is our fortress. Does that mean He's a walled safe haven where we go in and you pull down the gates and bet God? No, He doesn't become a fortress. He doesn't become a rock. He's the tree of life. Does He become a tree? Hopefully not a cottonwood tree. But is He a tree? No. So the Scriptures frequently use symbols to picture for us the nature of God. And here it is. He's using bread to picture himself. He's the source of life, a necessity. We must have him. And we must have him daily, and we must have him throughout the day, frequently, as the source of strength, spiritually speaking. So that's the bread. Notice the second thing in verse number 26. He broke it. It was broken. they didn't each get a slab of bread which they ate exclusively for their own but the bread was broken now we do read in scripture that not a bone of him was broken and that's true when the soldiers came on that day of crucifixion and typically they would break the bones of those ones crucified which would cause them to finally die because they could no longer support themselves and their bodies would slump and they would suffocate to death which was the death of crucifixion. It says when they came to the Lord Jesus, they didn't have to break his bones because he was already dead. So there was no bone of his body broken. But again, the picture here is of the sufferings and the wounds that the Lord Jesus did suffer. They were many. His body was beaten and in many ways broken, although the bones were not broken, His body was certainly cut to ribbons. And the beatings that He took on His face and His body and not counting the internal wounds that he suffered that were of a spiritual nature, he certainly was broken. And it was a picture that the Lord Jesus was trying to give to his disciples to not only prepare them, but to instruct them that there is coming a new covenant. I'm instituting a new covenant, and that includes me, my broken body. So there's the picture and the brokenness of our Lord Jesus. Broken for us and for sinners like you and me. His sufferings, his wounds both physically and spiritually and mentally, emotionally in all regards. Third thing I want you to notice about this bread is that it was given. Jesus took the bread and said here take eat. This is my body. It wasn't something where the disciples all sat around and grabbed on to the platter of bread and said, I want my slices. And there was the hands grabbed and all. The Lord gave it to them. He gave them the bread. What a picture. What a picture of the Lord Jesus. He himself was given. But the Father gave Him. The Father so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. He Himself was given. Then we read in John chapter 10 that the Lord Jesus, in speaking of Himself, says, No man takes my life, I give it. So not only was the Son given by the Father, but then the Son gave Himself. Nobody took His life. He didn't die of crucifixion. He gave up His life on the cross. He gave it up. He yielded up His life, it says. After He had cried out, it is finished, it says, He yielded up the ghost. And he said, into your hands I give my spirit. He gave up his life. Jesus said, the Father has given me this right and this power to do this. It is mine to give up. It is mine to take again. He gave up his life. He was given the willingness of the Lord Jesus to sacrifice himself on behalf of sinners. speaks to us very clearly of the gift of life that we enjoy. It's a gift. You didn't earn it. You didn't deserve it. You did nothing to get it. And you still don't deserve it. It's a gift. It was given to you. The Father, in eternity past, looked down through the corridors of time, and He saw you, chose you out, gave it to you to earn it. And there are myriads of others like you to whom the Father has given the Son, and for whom the Son gave His life, that they might have life in Him. Salvation is a gift. something that is given to you by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So that's the third thing I want you to notice. It was a gift. The fourth thing I want you to see, it was distributed. It was taken and eaten. Lord Jesus said, here's this bread that says, my body, take and eat it. Don't just take it and lay it on the table beside you. Don't just take it and lay it on your plate. Take it and eat it. There are those who believe, as I indicated earlier, that the bread of the communion service or of the Lord's table actually becomes the body of Christ. And they say that because they want to fulfill a verse in John, John chapter 6 where the Lord Jesus is talking about I am the bread of life and in part of it there he says you must eat my flesh and drink my blood and the one who does that will inherit eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day and so those who then say well that's where it happens is the bread actually becomes his body and the wine becomes his blood and we eat and we drink and therefore we're saved and so they get a conglomeration there of not only what is called transubstantiation but also making it a saving virtuous act to take communion well that of course is contrary to what the scriptures teach If you go back to the same passage in John chapter 6, and you take the whole context from the time that the Lord Jesus said, I am the bread of life, to where He concludes it, you find in there He speaks very clearly that you must believe and trust Him. And as when you trust upon Him, the bread of life, it is then that you inherit eternal life, and you are raised up at the last day. And so the Lord Jesus uses this picture of eating the bread, taking it in. Oh, what's the word I want? No, that's not the word I want. The one I want is appropriating it, making it part of me. Of course, that's what we do with His gift of life, salvation that He gives. We take in and eat. We make it part of us. We appropriate it into our being, so that He becomes part of us. He then indwells us. And we take that by faith. The Lord Jesus, in John chapter 1, No, I guess it's just a commentary. I don't think this is a statement of the Lord. He came unto his own, and his own received him not, John 1.12. But as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe on his name, which were born, not of flesh, but of the will of God. So you have there The explanation to us of what it means to eat His flesh and drink His blood is to trust Him. To accept His gift of life by faith in a simple trusting Him. That when He died on the cross and paid the penalty of sin for sinners, He included you in that group. And you are trusting Him as your advocate. as the one who paid the penalty for your sin on your behalf. Take, eat. This is my body. And He encourages us and instructs us to trust Him. And by faith, believe in His salvation that He provided for us on the cross. Well, those are the four things I wanted you to see about the bread from that first night when the Lord Jesus instituted this memorial service. But what can the Spirit of God do with these truths? First of all, He can reveal to us the truth. There's a great deal of error that floats around concerning communion. One is the transubstantiation, the fact that the bread and the wine actually become the body and blood of the Lord. There is the error about you have to eat of them, and that's how you then obtain eternal life, by the physical eating of the bread and the body that has become, under some chance and some ceremony, the body and blood of Christ. That then puts it in the realm of works. something that I do to accomplish salvation and eternal life. And that somehow in participating in this ceremony, I then obtain and inherit eternal life. I merit it, I earn it, I get it. That's error. The second aspect of revealing to us the truth is not just identifying what is false, but then instructing us in that which is true. that which is fact. The bread is symbolism. It's a picture to us. And that Christ is the bread of life. He is the one the Father sent and He became our living bread. And that the life of Christ becomes part of us when we trust Him. It's imparted to us by faith. That being true, we must then reject that which is false. You can't mix the two. I find it very interesting that Christianity is the only religion in the world where salvation is given to you, not earned. Every other religion, you have to earn it. And you never know if you've earned it. You never know. You might work all your life and never get it. You don't know. You might only come back as a frog. You don't know. Every other religion, your salvation depends upon you, upon your works, your abilities, what you do, how you sacrifice, the length of your sacrifice, the amount of good works that you do, It all hinges on you, except Christianity. Salvation is a gift. It's given to you. It's provided for you by someone else. And that which has to be fulfilled to satisfy an angry God is provided by a substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that by simple faith and trust in the substitute, You receive eternal life. Only one who provides it in that fashion. So our salvation rests upon what Christ has done for us. Not what we do for Him. So the implications then is remember Christ. Remember Him. Remember His works. What He did for us. that He is the bread of life and He is broken for us through His sufferings and His wounds and the separation from the Father. He is the source of eternal life and of spiritual life and it's imparted by faith. As often as you eat this bread and drink this blood, you do show forth the Lord's death until He come, this do in remembrance of me. The second thing the Spirit of God can do with these truths is reassure us. We need reassurance, don't we? Sure we do. We need strengthening. We need encouragement. We need reminding. Oh yeah, it's not my works. That doesn't mean we sit in an easy chair and rock our way till death. No, it doesn't mean that. But it does mean that it doesn't depend upon me. And there's reassurance in that. Because our humanness, we are so prone, so prone to not only think but to act like it does in some fashion depend upon. Certainly there must be something I have to do. No. No. Nothing. It's already done. It's paid for. In full. So there's nothing more for you to do. Trust Him. And we need reassurance of the truth. that we have not believed cunningly devised fables, but we are resting upon the truth. Third thing the Spirit of God can do is it can rebuke us. It can point out, the Spirit of God can point out to us our failure to remember Him. We're guilty. The second thing He can do is remind us of the simplicity of the truth of the Gospel. Trust. resting entirely upon what the Lord Jesus has done, and trusting that He fulfilled it for you. After rebuking us, He wants to reform us, remold us back according to the truth, to conform us to the truth, that we might be revived. Well, you can just forget it all and say, well, that was an interesting little discussion or talk or whatever. Or you can trust it. I pray that the Spirit of God will so work in your mind, your heart and your spirit to trust it, to trust it more. Say, well, I trust it more. Trust it in a new area of your life. Trust it in greater extent. Give thanks and praise to the Father and to the Son for what He has done and to the Holy Spirit for imparting it to you and to making it alive and active and operative in your life. Thank Him. Praise Him. Honor Him. Worship Him in new fashion. I pray that's what will happen in your life. Let's close with prayer and then we'll enter into the celebration. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for your great gift of your Son, to pay the penalty of our sin, to satisfy you, to make atonement for us, and to become our advocate and our substitute. Thank you for your grand plan of redemption, that you can be both just, according to your law, and the justifier because of your provision in Christ your Son. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your gift. Thank you that you gave of yourself. No man took your life. No punishment took your life. You gave it up. And then you took it up again. Thank you. And thank you, Holy Spirit, for your gift. For your gift was to place within us a new heart and to give to us the desires to hunger after the Lord Jesus and the Father, which are not normal human responses. That we might seek salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus, the Savior of sinners. And now as we enter into the celebration and remembrance May we not only remember you, Lord Jesus, but may we sense your presence. And may we truly honor and worship you tonight. Amen.