Thanks, Leo. Well, this morning we return in our study of God's word to the gospel of Mark. If you want to take your Bibles just to begin with and take a look at Mark chapter 14, Mark 14. Last week, if you were with us, you remember we looked at verses 12 through 25. Today I want to go back now and I want to look at that last paragraph in verses 22 to 25 and focus some attention specifically on things that go a little bit beyond what Mark is focusing on, but that really lay out for us an understanding of what Jesus is doing here and help you to see in the rest of the New Testament how Jesus, even though Mark does not specifically make mention of this, how the rest of the New Testament makes it clear that that night that when Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples, that he or established an ordinance for us to follow. In other words, he gave instructions to his disciples to go through an exercise that we refer to as either communion or the Lord's Supper, and to do it as a regular memorial of what he was about to do for us when he went to the cross. And so today we want to go back and look at Mark 14 verses 22 to 25. and look specifically at the details related to the subject of the Lord's Supper or communion. So last week we looked at the Last Supper. In other words, all the details surrounding how Jesus not only gave instructions to his disciples to prepare for the event, we also looked at the harmonization issue about how Matthew, Mark and Luke all clearly identified that what Jesus celebrated with his disciples was a Passover event, and yet John says the Passover was when Jesus died on the next day. So how do you work that out? And we did that last week. We looked at really Mark's primary focus, which is that Jesus is in control of all the events that led up to his betrayal and his arrest. He knew it was coming. He set up for the Last Supper in a way that prevented Judas from betraying him in that context. And yet, Judas was still able, as a result of the knowledge that Jesus gave to all of his disciples, that they were going to the Mount of Olives afterwards. And Jesus, knowing full well that one of them was going to betray him and identifying who that was, could have easily simply gone somewhere else that evening or just stayed in the upper room and the betrayal doesn't happen so that he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives and he is there in the middle of the night when the religious leaders come to arrest him and Judas leads them all right to him. He did that in submission to the father's plan because as he makes reference clearly in the text here that the son of man is going to go the direction that the scriptures call for. He fully intended to offer himself up as the once for all sacrifice for our sins so while judas and the religious leaders and the forces of darkness were all aiming to destroy him the fact of the matter was he was fully intending to accomplish the father's plan and go to the cross so jesus is in control the whole time that's mark's main focus and that's largely matthew's focus as well okay but there's something that happens that is worthy of our attention also and that is that celebration of the Last Supper and how Jesus turns it into a memorial that we're going to celebrate together this morning and that is what we call typically the Lord's Supper. So last week it was the Last Supper and this week we want to study the Lord's Supper. Now quick review remember that in Mark 14 and verse 12 it's the first day of Unleavened Bread that is the Feast of Unleavened Bread that week of celebration that immediately follows the Passover so you have the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread they back right up against each other and that's why those names by the time you get to the first century those names are basically interchangeable On the first day of unleavened bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, his disciples said to Jesus, where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover? So this is clearly an intention on Jesus's part to celebrate the Passover. And that's what Mark made clear. And Jesus gives instructions that are a little bizarre, but we went through this in detail last week. But he does that to facilitate them celebrating the Passover and doing it in a way that Judas can't betray him in that context. Jesus is in total control. They go and they find everything just like he had instructed, verse 16, they went out and they came to the city, they found it all just as He told them, and they prepared the Passover. So this meal that Jesus has with His disciples is a Passover meal. Now, we're going to go see exactly what the Old Testament gives as far as prescriptions for the Passover in a moment, but I want you to see this is a Passover celebration that Jesus and His disciples have here in the upper room. Evening comes, verse 17, he comes with the 12, they're reclining at the table, he indicates one of them is going to betray him. Verse 22, while they're eating, he took some bread, that is unleavened bread, right off the table in the context of this Passover celebration. He blesses it, he breaks it, and he gives it to them and says, take it, eat, this is my body. Now, him saying, this is my body, is something that he is adding to that Passover celebration. He is taking the very context of the celebration of Passover and now relating it directly to himself. And what he is about to do is he heads to the cross. And he's already made it very clear to them that he knows what's going to happen tonight. And it is one of them that's going to betray him, right? So none of this stuff takes him by surprise. But he is he is celebrating the memorial of God's deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt with them. Take some of those elements right off the table and applies new meaning and significance to them. So he takes bread. and says this is my body and then he takes a cup. He gives thanks and gives it to them and they all drank from them and he said this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many. So he's taken a cup off the table and he has used it also now and added new significance new meaning to this celebration. It's already a memorial celebration. I'll show you that in a minute. It's already a memorial of God's deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt. Now he's going to add a significance to memorialize his death, burial and resurrection. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. And then he makes the promise. He says, truly, I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God, meaning that even though I'm going to die, I'm going to rise again, and I'm still going to establish my kingdom, and when I do, when I do, you're going to be a part of it. Isn't that pretty cool? He's looking at the cross, but he sees past it. He knows he's going to be betrayed, but he doesn't try to find a way around it. He is in control of the whole deal. Judas thinks that he's got it all figured out and he's going to he's going to bring the religious leaders and get his money and the whole and the religious leaders think, oh, if if Judas is able to pull this off, we got him. We get him away from the crowd and we can do what we want. Well, all the while, guess what? It's Jesus who's got everything in control. And he says, you know what? I'm celebrating this final Passover with you. And when you read the rest of like John 13 through 16 and even 17, that high priestly prayer that Jesus prays in the same context, Jesus has a lot of instructions that he intends to give to his disciples in this upper room right before he is betrayed and heads to the cross. That's why he is purposeful in facilitating Judas betraying him after this event. Because he's on God's timetable, and nobody's going to mess up God's timetable. When Jesus goes to the cross, it is as the Passover lamb, exactly according to divine design, not the design of the forces of darkness. Is Satan involved? Yes. Are the religious leaders involved? Yes. Do the people of Israel reject their Messiah? Yes. Do the Gentiles crucify him? Yes. Do they kill him? Well, yes, but no. John 10, no one takes my life from me, I lay it down of my own free will and accord. In fact, when Jesus dies, John says that having seen everything accomplished, he prayed, Father, into your hands I commit, sorry, King James came out. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit, and he yielded up his life for us. When Jesus died, it wasn't because they killed him, it was because he gave up his life for you and for me, okay? That's what the gospels declare. Now when we're looking here, you'll notice in verse 26 another historical detail is shared because Mark isn't getting into all the things that John told us. Mark isn't getting into all the things that Luke tells us. Mark is just focusing in on showing you and me as we read his account because it's a lot more action oriented gospel. He's just focusing in from Mark 14 verse 12 all the way through verse 26 after singing a hymn, which is how you closed off the Passover celebration. They went out to the Mount of Olives, which is where the betrayal takes place. Why doesn't Mark tell us all those great things that Jesus told the disciples in the upper room? Because Mark is focusing in on showing you that Jesus is the Son of Man, and when He went to the cross, it was to pay for your sins and mine, and that He was in control, not the forces of darkness. So what has He just shown us from verses 12 through 26, basically? That He's in control the whole way. Now, I want you to You can keep a mark here in, pun not included, but you can put a mark in Mark 14. Turn back to the left and look at Matthew 26 in the parallel passage. Most of the material is the same, and there's a great similarity in the account here. Notice that we're told in Mark 26, starting in verse 17, it's the first day of unleavened bread. Matthew 26, 17. It's the first day of unleavened bread. The disciples come to Jesus and ask, where do you want us to prepare for you to eat? What? The Passover. OK, so they were celebrating the Passover. And again, how do you understand that Matthew and Mark are both saying that the Last Supper that Jesus has with his disciples on Thursday night is the Passover when John says the Passover is on Friday and the religious leaders wouldn't go into Pilate's Praetorium, his his house, because they would not be able to eat. They would become unclean having set foot in a Gentile residence. Because they wanted to eat the Passover and that's the next day. Well, you got you got three choices really one You can say something along the lines that of one or both either John or Matthew Mark and Luke are wrong Now if you do that, you're saying that scripture has errant records and scripture claims to be true, right and So that is not a viable option if you're going to believe what the Bible says about itself as being truth. For that matter, in John 17, John writes that Jesus says, sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth. So if John is really writing to correct Matthew, Mark and Luke and say it wasn't really a Passover, OK, John is contradicting himself in John 17 when he records the words of Jesus. Never mind what Paul says. All scripture is God, breathe, etc. Thy word is truth, Psalm 119, etc. Listen, either the Bible is true or it's not. And if it's not true and some factual details like this, then can you really trust it to record for you miracles, a virgin conception, creation out of nothing, the promise of resurrection and forgiveness for you on the basis of the finished work of Christ on the cross? If it can't get historical details right, can you really believe it on everything else it says? So then is there a way to understand what John and the synoptics Matthew, Mark and Luke are saying to harmonize those? And the answer is yes, there are two ways. One is that John is telling you that the Passover was celebrated on Friday. That's when the actual Passover lambs were sacrificed and Jesus, violating custom, chose to celebrate the Passover the night before because he knew what was going to happen to him on Friday. Well, that's certainly possible and reasonable, but there's nothing in any of the Gospels to tell us that he violated the instructions of Scripture or had stated to his disciples he had a reason for doing it on a different day. In fact, the synoptics say it's the Passover. It's the day that the Passover lambs are being sacrificed, not just one for him. Right. And so then you you have the calendar solution that I think really is definitively the best answer. Some people argue with that. But my view of Scripture, coupled with the testimony of the four gospels, I believe that's the right way to understand it. And there are historical records that attest to that. Not that I would need them, but that's that's also there so. Matthew 26 says it's the first day of unleavened bread and they ask Jesus again. Where do you want to eat the Passover? He gives those same instructions go into the city to a certain man and etc. And the tell the guy that the teacher says my time is near. I am to keep the Passover at your house with my disciples. In verse 19, the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and they prepared the Passover. This is a Passover meal. Evening comes, He's reclining at the table with the twelve. Verse 20, verse 21, Truly I say, one of you is going to betray Me. Being deeply grieved, they each one began to say, Surely not I, Lord? He answered, He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl is the one who will betray Me. And then he makes the definitive statement, just like there's a little bit more detail here than what Mark says, but Matthew again says the Son of Man is to go just as it is written of him, but woe to the man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been good for that man if he had not been born. You could even translate this. It would be better for him and if he had never been born. And the thing that Matthew points out, remember Matthew was there. Matthew points out this. He says, and Judas, who was betraying him, said, Surely it's not I, Rabbi. And Jesus said to him, You have said it yourself. And that's a little detail, I think that's an eyewitness testimony from Matthew. Mark wasn't there, but Matthew was. And Matthew remembers that and whether that's insight that he gleaned afterwards when he realized, actually, you know what? Now that I remember that that happened, Matthew, Jesus even indicated him. And Matthew, like the rest of the disciples, was were more worried about whether it was them that was going to botch it somehow and betray the Lord. And all the while, when Judas said, surely not I and Jesus said, you have said it yourself. Oh, he knew the whole time, and I think that's the kind of detail that Matthew is giving you here in verse 25. Verse 26 while they were eating Jesus took some bread and after a blessing he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said take eat this is my body when he had taken a cup and given thanks he gave it to them said drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. But I say to you I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until the day when I drink it new with you and my father's kingdom and after singing a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives. And then from there you have the conversation on the way and the Garden of Gethsemane, etc. Again, notice there's no specific instructions for us to be practicing that same celebration. But if you take your Bible and turn with me now to the Gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 22. Luke 22 We're going to start up in verse 1. One of the things to keep in mind when you're studying especially the Gospels, is that you have a different author and a different audience for each of the four Gospels, okay? By Gospels, I mean Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, and John, because Luke and Acts are two volumes of one account written by Luke for one audience on one occasion. You can see that in Luke 1 and Acts 1, okay? Matthew is writing to Jews to present the case for Jesus being the Messiah to a Jewish audience. That's why he starts with the genealogy, because if you're going to say that Jesus is the Messiah, you've got to prove he's got a rightful claim to the throne. He's going to begin with the virgin conception and tie it to Old Testament prophecies. He's going to go through and demonstrate all the different ways that Jesus fulfills the requirements of the Old Testament for him to be Messiah. When you go to Mark, Mark's audience is a Roman audience. That's why he's going to put a lot more about what Jesus did and present the miracles that Jesus did and give a lot less interaction with the Jewish aspect of some of the challenges that Jesus faced and skip over even to the woes to the Pharisees, right? When you get to Luke, Luke is, and I believe this is the best way to understand this, Luke is addressed, according to Luke 1 and Acts 1, to an individual, a person, by the name of Most Excellent Theophilus. Most Excellent is a title in Roman administrative government. And Theophilus, I think, is the guy's name. The name means the lover of God. And some people have said, well, that's just a moniker or like, I don't know, his what screen name or whatever you call it when you log into YouTube or whatever. or a nickname or pet name or like a disguise name. Well, given the fact that he says, I've done all my research and I've taken it to tasks to sit down and lay out the whole account for you. And the first account is from the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist all the way through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. And the second account goes from the ascension of Christ straight through to leaving Paul in prison in Rome. I believe Most Excellent Theophilus is in some way directly related to Paul's trial in Rome. Luke acts is written to lay out an extensive, definitive, biblical inspired case for the preaching of the gospel to be presented to Caesar. That's why there's so many more details. That's why it's so much more detailed as far as what happened, why it happened. There are explanations for people that are Jewish and excuse me, that are not Jewish as to Jewish customs and things like that. And that's why it ends without really an ending with Paul under house arrest in Rome. Well, that's why it also is careful to record instructions that relate to what Jesus expects of his disciples moving forward like in Luke 22 verse 1 the feast of now the feast of unleavened bread which is called the Passover because that's the first day Was approaching the chief priests and the scribes are seeking how they can put jesus to death because they're afraid of the people Satan enters into judas who is called iscariot belonging to the number of the 12 He goes away and discusses with the chief priests and the officers how he might betray him to them They were glad and agreed to give him money. So he consented and began seeking a good opportunity to betray him to them apart from the crowd and then came the first day or the day of unleavened bread that is that first day which is really the Passover. on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So again, Luke is very definitive. This is the day the Passover lambs are being sacrificed. And verse 8, Jesus sent Peter and John saying, Go and prepare the Passover for us so that we may eat it. Clearly, this is going to be a Passover meal. They said to him, Where do you want us to prepare it? And he said, When you entered the city, all the stuff, right? Verse 11, you shall say to the owner of the house, when you find him, the teacher says to you, where's the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples? He'll show you a large furnished upper room, prepare it there. Prepare what? The Passover. So they left. Verse 13, they found everything just as he's told them, and they prepared the Passover. When the hour had come, he reclined at the table, the apostles are with him. By the way, in John's Gospel, you know that John 13 talks to us about when they all got in the room and they're all sitting down before they begin the meal, Jesus gets up and puts a towel around his waist and washes all the disciples feet, right? Why do none of the synoptics talk about that if it happened? Why? Because it's not essential to their telling of the good news about Jesus to lay out the case. John tells us because it is essential because a main chunk of John's gospel is those final instructions that Jesus gave to his disciples there in the upper room. That's a main contribution of his of his gospel and his gospel is written to everybody. That's why it's in there especially to disciples which is I think another reason why you have the upper room discourse there in any case. When the hour had come, verse 14, he reclined at the table and the apostles with him. He said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. The very fact that he calls it a Passover here means it was a Passover celebration they were doing. For I say to you, and by the way, you may say, well, you keep stressing what's really obvious in the text. Why is that? Because this is the argument in all the commentators. That either Matthew, Mark and Luke or John have to be wrong. I'm telling you, they're not wrong. Matthew, Mark and Luke are telling you the truth. They celebrated a Passover. Why? Because if you're from out of Judea, the 14th of Nisan on your calendar is Thursday. If you live in Judea in those days, the 14th is on Friday. I'll show you why that's important here in just a couple of minutes. I say to you, I shall never eat it until it is fulfilled. Excuse me, never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he said, take this and share it amongst yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now until the kingdom of God comes. And when he had taken some of the bread and given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. And having done both, he says, What do this in remembrance of me? OK, there's the instruction to make this a regular practice. There is the gospel that records for us when Jesus broke the bread and added that new sense of meaning to it and said, this is my body given for you. This is my blood of the new covenant that is shed for many. Do this in remembrance of me. This is where it's recorded first. In Luke 22 that this was an instruction given by Jesus to his disciples to make this a practice where you remember Jesus and who he is and what he did for you. And in the same way He took the cup after it had eaten, saying, This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant of My blood. But behold, the hand of one betraying Me is with Mine on the table, for indeed the Son of Man is going as it has been determined. But woe to that man by whom he is betrayed. And they began discussing amongst themselves which one it might be who was going to do this." Which means what? Judas was there for that original memorial. Now, you'll notice, as you look at these three Gospels, you'll notice they all record the same events, that it's a Passover meal, and that Jesus added a new significance to it, and Luke is the one that tells you that he prescribed this as a remembrance of Him. And I want you to again look at verse 19. This is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. This is a memorial, OK? And that's going to be key as we go through to focus on what does the Lord's Supper mean? OK, now let's let's step back and answer three questions about the Lord's Supper. Now that you've looked at these three parallel accounts in the Gospels, Let's just step back and I want to answer three questions about the transition from the Last Supper to what we celebrate, which is the Lord's Supper. We're going to answer the question. First of all, what is it the Lord's Supper? What is it? Why is what we do different from what other people do and say? And then exactly how should we do it based upon what we've learned in scripture? OK, so what is it? Why is it different from what others do and how should we do it? Three questions I want to answer. All about the Lord's Supper as we transition from Last Supper to Lord's Supper. OK, so first of all, what is it? Well, I think we've already answered that to a degree. It's a memorial. But what is it a memorial of and and how does it tie to that Passover celebration that was happening in the upper room? Well, for an answer to that, I'd like you to turn with me to Exodus 12. Exodus chapter 12. We're going to pick up in verse 1. Now, there's a lot of stuff that I could go through here about, but I don't want to go through all the details of Passover and all those instructions. But I do want to take you to the original Passover. And I want you to see the context. Remember that for generations, Israel has been in bondage in Egypt. And by the time you get to the days of Moses, They're having a real tough time. They are slaves now, as opposed to those who are friendly. Pharaoh looks upon them in a friendly way because of Joseph. Now they are looked upon harshly and fearfully, and they have been enslaved, and they are doing the hard work at Pharaoh's bidding. and treat it as a race of slaves. And this has gone on for generations. God raises up Moses and He sends him to deliver His people from bondage. And He deliberately does it in such a way, even telling Moses in advance, when you go into Egypt, I'm going to harden Pharaoh's heart so that when you tell him to let My people go, he will not do it. So that I can demonstrate that I am the one true God and above all their gods. So he does a number of signs, right? Whether we're talking about the number of plagues that are poured out on Egypt, whether we're talking about insect swarms, whether we're talking about changing the Nile into blood, whether we're talking about comparing the power of God that done through Moses as opposed to the power of the little priests of Pharaoh. God demonstrates His absolute sovereignty and supreme power and authority over Egypt, over Pharaoh and all of Egypt's gods. We come to the very last sign that God is going to do, and this is when He's going to strike down the firstborn in every household in Egypt. After this, the very next day, Pharaoh is going to say, let him go. Well, here it is. Exodus 12 verse 1. The Lord said to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt. This month shall be the beginning of months for you. It is to be the first month of the year to you. So I'm changing your calendar right here right now. When I deliver you this month from now on first month on your calendar. Speak to all the congregation of Israel saying on the 10th of this month, they are each one to take a lamb for themselves according to their father's households, a lamb for each household. Now, verse 4, a little explanatory note. If a household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them. According to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. So if your household is too small to consume a lamb in one evening, then go to your neighbors and several of you get together and share the lamb. Your lamb Shall be verse 5 an unblemished male a year old you may take it from the sheep or the goats You shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month notice how this is tied to the calendar The 10th you pick out your lamb And what do you do with it you bring it into your home? now Some of us have younger kids. Let me ask you a question. And by the way, so this isn't the, how do I say this gently? So in those days, okay, those of you that are absolutely no pets because no hair, none of that stuff in the house or whatever, right? Okay, keep in mind that all the livestock that you own, it came into your home at night and it slept typically in the front room. It horrified my wife when we went to Israel and saw it's one big room and then all the animals sleep in the front part of the room and then you unroll your mats and you sleep in the back part of the room. Now some of you guys have no problem with this. My wife was horrified. And yet we have two dogs. Why? Anyways. But point is, okay, it was not uncommon to bring your livestock into your home every night. And it's an agricultural type of a society. So on the 10th of the month, Every household goes out and identifies a lamb. And you bring it into your home until the 14th. Now, you know I don't like picking on anybody in a public context like this. Katie, if you brought a lamb into your household for four days, do you think by the time you get to the fourth day, your kids have named it and started to view it as part of the family? Probably, yeah. Okay, that's what's supposed to happen. You're supposed to get a little bit attached to it. You're supposed to see that this lamb is like it's become part of the family. A cute little lamb. Look how look how cuddly is and look how gentle it is. Verse 5 Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or the goats. You shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month. And then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. Four days you've had it in your house. Become attached to it. Named it. Worse, your kids have named it. Little Whitey. Little Fluffy. Whatever. Okay? It's probably before the name Sparky became popular. But in any case, Little Spunky, the lamb. And guess what? Now it's Passover. And we take that lamb, and we all take our lambs, And we go out and we slay that lamb. Right at twilight, meaning right before evening, because that's when you're to eat it for seven. Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and they put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. The doorposts, if you look at the back wall, you see the big double doors we have back there, the doorposts are those two basically boards along the side of the doorway, and the lintel is that cross piece across the top of the doorway. So you're literally to slay the lamb, take some of his blood, and paint it on both doorposts and across the top of the door. That household where you're eating that Passover lamb is marked with the blood of that lamb that you had in your house for the last four days. And they shall eat the flesh, verse 8, that same night roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Now, later on you see the bitter herbs are the memorial that God instructs, so you always have bitter herbs, so you remember how bitter it was when you were in bondage in Egypt. Unleavened bread, because you're getting ready to leave, it's the exodus tomorrow. Don't eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs, along with its entrails. And you shall not leave any of it over until morning. Whatever is left of it until morning, burn with fire. Verse 11, Now you shall eat it in this manner with your loins girded, which means you're fully dressed and you're strapped and ready to go out the door. Your sandals on your feet. Your staff in your hand, eat it in haste. Why? It's the Lord's Passover. Because I will go through the land of Egypt on that night and I will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. I'm having you do this in this way so that you show the reason that I passed over you and the firstborn in your house didn't die is because you acknowledged me. And they don't, and so I will take out the firstborn, man or beast, of every household in Egypt. And the blood, verse 13, shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live. And when I see the blood, I will pass over and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Now, that's the original Passover. Notice the next verse, verse 14. Now, this day will be a what? Memorial for you. You know what a memorial is? The word memorial means a memory. I want to remember something. When we have a memorial service, we remember the person that we lost. When we have Memorial Day, we're remembering the sacrifice and the investment and the commitment of all those who dedicated their lives or even gave their lives in service to our country, etc. To memorialize something means to make a regular practice of remembering it. This day, the 14th of Nisan, the 14th of the first month of your calendar is to be a memorial to you and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove all leaven. Notice you get into some of the practices and we'll put a pin in that for some other day. Notice, this is the Passover. The original Passover was God literally striking down the firstborn of every household, man or beast, okay? Striking down all the firstborn in the whole land of Egypt, demonstrating His absolute sovereignty over all of His creation. And those households which acknowledged him as God and went through the process of sacrificing a Passover lamb and putting the blood on the doorpost, those houses he passed over. This is the celebration that Jesus is having with his disciples the night he was betrayed. They are celebrating the Passover, an annual memorial done in a way instructed here by which we remember how God delivered us from bondage in Egypt. Okay? Specific regulations on what to do and how to do it. It's the Lord's Passover. It's a memorial and a permanent ordinance that recalls this event that resulted in the redemption of Israel from bondage in Egypt annually. And the prescription even includes details as to what should be eaten and how it should be eaten, etc. Doing it in a way that memorializes the haste with which the entire event was celebrated. So every time they celebrated Passover, they were memorializing God's deliverance of them as a nation from bondage. Year after year after year, that's what God instructed. Now, I want you to take your Bibles and turn with me to 1 Corinthians 11 for a moment. 1 Corinthians 11. This is where the Apostle Paul, and it's interesting that Paul brings this up in a context of abuses that were going on in a church at Corinth. But in 1 Corinthians 11, he says, starting in verse 23, talking about the subject of communion, he says, I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was betrayed, took bread. 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. In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me, because as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are doing what? You are proclaiming the Lord's death until he comes. Now you can read before that and after that and 1st Corinthians chapter 11 and you can see the abuses that were going on in Corinth. They had taken this memorial celebration and The early church from the beginning started what became known as love feasts. So everybody kind of like a potluck. OK, so like what we did last week at the Staley's. Everybody's bringing something. We all sit down. We all have a meal together. where we're beginning with an expression of praise and thanks to Christ. A lot of times in the context of the early church, they were meeting every day. They were doing like Bible studies, either up on the temple grounds or in individual houses every day. They were also taking their meals together, etc. I'll show you that in a minute. And as they're going through this process, there is the fellowship of the saints, the view of the community, their members of the church, members of the body of Christ. They're getting instructed by the apostles and then they're in their meal time right before they ate. They would begin since the Passover meal was a memorial of God's deliverance of the nation of Israel from bondage in Egypt. Jesus said, you take the bread and you take the cup. The bread is my body, which is given up for you. The cup is representative of my blood, which is shed for you. It's the new covenant, the new promise. And you remember what I did for you, and they were celebrating that regularly. Well, guess what happened in Corinth? Well, all the people that work for a living, all the slaves and all the servants and all the people that actually, you know, worked as opposed to had workers. Well, all the people that were working were working and all the people that had workers, well, they're showing up early and they're eating everything. And by the way, if you have wine and you're just sitting there doing nothing but eating and drinking wine, what happens in time? You get intoxicated. And so that's the kind of things that were going on in Corinth and Paul is talking about. You know what? If you're hungry, eat at home. If you're thirsty, get something to drink at home. And this immorality and licentiousness, et cetera, it is offensive to God and to each other. You're treating each other as less than yourselves. So he addresses all those things. But in the middle here, he reminds them exactly the instructions that Christ gave to him. Now, remember, Paul is not one of the 12. Paul wasn't there in the upper room when the ordinance was established. So in 1 Corinthians 11, he says, I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you. In other words, Jesus taught me this personally. He taught me this personally. Remember that Paul got saved as a result of meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus while he was on his way out of Jerusalem. He he's standing there affirming the execution of Stephen for his testimony of the gospel. And then he gets a license from the Sanhedrin to go hunt down Christians in town and out of town. He's on the road to Damascus on his way to hunt down the Christians that fled Jerusalem, and he meets Jesus. And Jesus turns him into the apostle of the Gentiles. Jesus gives him personal instruction that he shares here. Part of it, I receive from the Lord that which I also deliver to you. Where did where did Paul learn about this straight from Christ instructing him that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed he took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me. You know what you need to do when you gather when you're when you're when you're celebrating the Lord's Supper. Instead of getting drunk instead of being all about you you know you need to be doing remembering him. Remembering what he did for you. This is what Jesus gave. This is what Jesus did on the night in which he was betrayed. This is the instruction he has given to me to give to you and I did. This is what communion this is what the Lord's Supper is all about. He took bread, He gave thanks and said, this is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of me. He took the cup, also after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant, the new promise in my blood, do this as often as you drink it, in what? Remembrance of me. Why? Because as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you're proclaiming the Lord's death until He comes. What does it mean to proclaim the Lord's death until he comes that by by eating the bread and drinking the cup? You are proclaiming that you believe that he died for you, that he gave his body up for you. He physically died in your place. He shed his blood so that your sins could be forgiven and you are proclaiming your belief in that death and also that you are waiting for him to what? Come again. You proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. You believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and that it is the new covenant, the new promise in Christ that washes away my sins. That's communion. It's a memorial. It's not a perpetuatory act. It doesn't result in you getting forgiven. You will see in 1st Corinthians 11 that he talks about examine yourselves, judge yourselves, right? Examine yourself to make sure that you're not coming in some flippant way or sinful way, but instead that you're actually treating it as a memorial. Listen, that's what Jesus instituted at the Lord's table or at the on the Last Supper, a Lord's Supper or communion exercise. That is us sharing in the one bread, each of us getting a portion of that loaf. You take the one loaf. Why is it broken? So that each of us gets a share. Your salvation isn't just about you. This is why you need to be part of a church is when you need to be a member of the body. The finger that I have on my left hand is very similar to the finger I have on my right hand. And they're both deficient in comparison to these fingers, right? But they're both there. All of them are essential. Now, can I live without this one? Yes. Yes. But it's going to directly impact me every day because I type a lot. And I do try to lift things and having a pinky is really convenient. And being without it or hurting it can be really detrimental. The celebrate the reason that the bread is broken and individual portions passed out is it helps us all see that we all have a share in that one loaf, which is Christ. And the reason for the cup is because he literally not only gave himself up, he literally died in our place. Because the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. A scripture reading for this morning that Steve shared with us from Hebrews 12, pointing to ultimately Christ as the one that we should be encouraging each other to follow, looking forward to Him. Because He is the once for all sacrifice, every sacrifice that was done in the Old Testament, every single one of them was insufficient to wash away sins. It atoned for or covered sin. It covered sin. What Jesus did took away sin. That's why the old covenant, the old promise is you trust me that I will ultimately provide and you do what I say in bringing these sacrifices and those sacrifices will cover your sin and you trust me and I'll forgive you on the basis of your trust in me. When you come to the New Testament, when Jesus came and John says, behold, the Lamb of God, who doesn't cover the sin, but what takes away the sins of the world. That's what makes him the new covenant, the new promise. Because it's no longer just that your sins are like like covered over and we aren't looking at them, they're literally washed away and gone. Jesus died once and that one death once and for all took away our sins. That's the whole argument of Hebrews. He had the high priest Aaron and all of his descendants and they keep dying. They're the intermediary between God and men. Jesus came and he says to his disciples in the upper room, one of you is going to betray me. But I want to establish for you a memorial in the context of the memorial of God's deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt. I want to start a new memorial right now. And it's founded on the new covenant that I make with you. I know one of you is going to betray me, but I'm going the way that Scripture says I'm going to go. I'm going to the cross. And I'm going to die for you. And this bread that you eat, there's nothing mystical or magical about it. This is my body. This represents my body. I'm going to break it and break it into pieces. You each get a share. And this cup. This cup is representative of my blood that I shed for you and for many. And when you drink it, I want you to remember that this is the new covenant that is made in my blood that once and for all takes away your sins. That's what we're memorializing at the Lord's Supper. And this is the way we do it. And this is why we do it this way. When you look at Jude 12, you can see the reference to love feasts. In Acts 2, verse 42, they were breaking bread from house to house. That probably refers to communion. Acts 2, 46, eating together like a family and probably celebrating communion almost daily there as well. 1 Corinthians 11, 23-26, the text we've got in front of us right here. Again, this is as often as you're eating the bread and drinking the cup, you're declaring the Lord's death until he comes. Listen, it's detached from Passover now. It's no longer just tied to Israel's bondage in Egypt and the Old Testament annual Passover celebration. This is a memorial of Christ for his people, Jews and Gentiles alike. Recognizing and remembering how he delivered us once and for all from our bondage to sin, Satan, and death. That's what the Lord's Supper is. On the Last Supper, Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples and ordained the Lord's Supper for his disciples moving forward. You say, well, why is that different from what others do, like Catholics and the like? Because, number one, they misunderstand. That's probably too gentle. They have corrupted the truth of what the death of Christ has actually accomplished. They have taken the Old Testament sacrificial system, the Old Covenant, the Old Promise, And they have brought it into the new covenant and connected the two in a way that frankly the book of Hebrews demonstrates is a violation. They have taken that Old Testament sacrificial system and said that what Jesus ordained was not a memorial. OK, but a sacrifice. So when Jesus said this is my body and this is my blood, some way, whether you're going to use consubstantiation, transubstantiation or other some other invention to describe what happens, whether it's mystical, magical, Calvin says spiritual. OK, I think the biblical answer is it's representative. The bread is always bread, and it's nothing other than bread. The cup is always a cup of either grape juice or wine, whichever one you use for your celebration, but it's still wine. It does not mystically, magically, or in fact actually transition into the blood of Christ. That's what the Catholics teach. That's why they say, on the basis of your participation in the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I declare to you the forgiveness of sins, because when you take communion, that's a re-sacrifice of Christ, and so now, having drunk the wine again, now you're clean again. All the sins up to now are all taken care of. Well, what if I sin on my way out the door? Well, you better get last rites. Or you got time to spend in purgatory. Show me any of that in Scripture. Well, it isn't. The reason why people are different, the reason why the Lutheran doctrine of consubstantiation is incorrect is because Luther came out of that. And so he's trying to figure out, well, this doesn't make sense that it's salvific. It can't be propitiatory, can't actually fulfill the forgiveness of sin. So I got to come up with some other way to explain it, because Jesus did say, this is my body and this is my blood. So maybe he's his terms in with and under the bread. Okay, I don't even know what that means. Jesus is in with and under the bread. What does that mean? And Calvin says, well, he's spiritually the bread. Okay, that sounds cool. Still sounds a little Catholic to me. It's bread. This is my body given for you means it's representative of it and you just eat the bread and you don't need to start to see something mystical or magical about it. Why? Because there's nothing spiritual that happens to you as a result of participating in communion. You don't get forgiven because of it. You don't get cleansed by it. You can certainly offend God in the way that you do it. Why? Because when you eat the bread, when you drink the cup, what are you supposed to be doing? Remembering Christ. remembering Christ and who He is and what He did for you and for me. It's a memorial. It's a memorial. There's a lot of things I could show you as far as many and varied ways to offend God in the celebration of communion in 1 Corinthians 11 because the Corinthians of all people were really good at offending God. But as far as just answering the question, what is it? It's a memorial. Why is that different from what others do? Because they failed to recognize the transition that takes place, the clear transition that takes place from an Old Testament context to a New Testament context. Take your Bibles and turn with me to John 1 for a second. Let me see if I can show you this. John 1. Verse 14. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. So the word is. Is Jesus Christ, but he's also God. That's what's argued from the beginning in the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God face to face with God. All things came into being through him, etc. So this the creator God is face to face with God, the father. And that Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we saw, or your Bible may say, beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. And John, that is John the Baptist, testified about Him and cried out, saying, This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me. Which is really amazing because John is six months older than Jesus. So if John is saying he came before me, he existed before me, what's he saying about Jesus? He's the eternally preexistent God incarnate. That was John the Baptist testimony. Now, here's the explanation of that. Verse 16, for of his fullness, we all have received even grace. Your Bible probably says something like upon grace. The Greek literally says grace in the place of grace. And that's explained in verse 17, for the law was given through Moses, grace and truth were revealed through Jesus Christ. OK, in the Old Testament, people were saved by grace through faith. On what basis? On taking God at his word that if they brought the sacrifices he prescribed, that that would cover their sins until God ultimately takes care of it in some way. And they just trust him. And when Jesus shows up, Jesus's death actually takes care of sins. So you have the Old Testament where people are not saved by the law, but by grace, unmerited favor. And that Old Testament sacrificial system is taken away, and now we're saved by grace through faith, not in God's promise in an Old Testament sense to at some point take it away, but in a New Testament sense because God has taken it away in the personal work of Jesus Christ. Make sense? See, that right there is what Jesus is about to do as He heads to the cross. That right there is what's in Jesus' mind when He's sitting there with the disciples celebrating the memorial of the Passover with His disciples, who are all Jewish, intending to go to the cross in a matter of hours and offer up His life for us, once and for all taking away sin. And what He tells them to do is what? I want you to remember me. I want you to take bread and remember that I gave myself up for you. I want you to take the cup and as you drink it, I want you to remember that I'm not drinking from any cup again until I establish the kingdom and you'll have a part in it. And in the meantime, remember this cup This cup symbolizes that when I shed my blood, that was the new promise, the new covenant in me shedding my blood that took away your sins. Communion is not meant to be hyper introspective. Should you examine yourself before you partake of communion? Yes. Should you think about your sins and if you have unresolved sins with each other or anybody else, make a commitment in your heart to say, I need to deal with this? Yes. But the memorial of Christ's death and burial and resurrection is not primarily about remembering our sins. It's about remembering whom? Christ and what he did. So how should we do it? How should we celebrate communion? Well, I think number one, we should do it regularly. And that's what we do. We do it regularly. You know, the early church most likely celebrate a communion from the beginning every time they met or nearly every time they met. Say, well, why don't we do that? Well, have you ever heard that familiarity breeds contempt? So if we celebrated communion every single time we met, guess what would happen to our celebration of communion? It would become ritual, rote, something that we go through and pay very little attention to. It would become a formality. Well, then maybe we should just do it like once a year, like with Passover. Maybe we should just do it on Good Friday or maybe we should just do it on Resurrection Sunday. Well, then guess what happens? It becomes like a High Holy Day and it becomes overly emphasized and sacred special occasion is associated with it. Plus, as often as you eat and drink these, remember me, given that there is no specific instruction like there was for Passover, the 14th of the first month, perpetually, we're free to choose. So what we do here is we choose about once a month. Are there times we do it more than once a month? Yes. Are there times like this month where we move it from the first Sunday of the month to the second Sunday because it fits in with the context of what we're preaching? Yes. And I think that's a very biblical way to celebrate the Lord's Supper. I hope this has been helpful. I hope this has helped you to see that the Bible is absolutely true in everything that it says. I hope that this has helped you to see that there is a spiritual element to the celebration of the Lord's table, but it is in a memorial sense. How much time? So this is my Shonda part in the sermon. How much time? This is where I meddle a little bit, okay? How much time do you actually spend thinking about Jesus and what He did for you as opposed to just thinking about yourself? How much time do you spend saying thanks to God as opposed to expressing what your dissatisfactions are to God and what you want Him to do for you is? What the Lord's Supper should be is a time when we very much focus our attention on remembering Him and what He did for us. so that we might be moved to commit ourselves afresh to live for Him. Amen? Father, thanks for this day. Thanks for sending your Son to die for us. Lord Jesus, thank you for the memorial that you established of yourself and your work of redemption on the cross for us. Thank you for willingly going and laying your life down for us, for surely None of us. Indeed, if you added all of us throughout all of redemptive history together, we could not together merit the salvation of even one of us. And yet you and your perfect love for us, you came and you died for us freely and willingly of your own accord, submitting even to being betrayed by one of your own. even to dying by means of death, even death on a cross. And while no one took your life from you, you nevertheless laid it down of your own free will and accord, in perfect obedience to the Father, and perfectly facilitating our eternal salvation and life. We look forward, O Christ, to when you return. We anticipate, O Christ, that you could return at any moment, and that even if you don't before we breathe our last as an individual and enter into your presence, we truly do see that the sting of death has been taken away by you because you died for us. And so death no longer has a hold on us. The wrath of God has been fully satisfied in our case. And we just pray that you would help us to remember you so that we might be all the more motivated to live for you until you return for us or call us home. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.