Do this probably 4 times, maybe five times a year, and the
message doesn't change. And I've said that many times,
and there's so much to the actual story and so much to
communion that you'll never run out of things to talk about.
And I hope it doesn't get old. Always.
I'm focused on a few different things.
Last time you remember, we talked about the fact that Judas
sat there and ate, ate the meal with Christ, knowing that he was
going to betray him. And how often we do the exact
same thing when we sit in church and make a decision or take
communion. And then knowing that we're
going to go out and live our lives the way that we want to
live and do exactly what we want to do.
And we don't really care. Not discerning the Lord's body
is the way the Bible says it in First Corinthians.
And that's a very serious thing. It's very dangerous thing.
But what I want to focus on tonight is, is just really the
exact reason that Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper in
Matthew 26. And of course, you know, the
whole story. And I think about this, you
know, Jesus came for one reason and that was to die on the
cross. It wasn't because he wanted to
experience what it was like to be a man.
It wasn't. It wasn't because he wanted to
show off how, how you know, his abilities and, and everything
else that he'd do in the miracles and all those things.
That's not why he came. The Bible said the Son of man
has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
That's why Jesus came to earth. And the moment he came and in
fact, for, for probably all of eternity, he knew there was
going to come a moment when he was going to come to this tiny
little ball in the middle of a huge, huge Galaxy in the middle
of, of a, of many other galaxies, in the middle of a
huge, huge universe. He knew that he was going to
come and give his life. And it's a very, very special
thing what Jesus did. It's not like he's going all
over to the universe. And maybe if there's multiple
universes or who knows what else is out there, It's not like he's
going all over to these different places, dying on all
these different planets for all these other different people.
He did that for us. And and just to think that that
we feel so insignificant when you actually think about how
small we are in relation to the rest of the universe.
And yet Jesus Christ, God's Son, God himself, came down in the
form of a man, lived here for 33 1/2 years and died for us.
And he did that. He came knowing that that's
exactly what he was going to do. And now his ministry is coming
to an end. He's spent 3 1/2 years.
One minute they're trying to make him a king, the next minute
they're trying to kill him. Back and forth.
It went like that all the way throughout his ministry.
And you think about maybe putting yourself in this
situation, something that you finally resolve, You know, you
got to do it. And you're saying, all right,
the time's come. I'm going to take it like a man.
I just got to go out and do it. And as you get closer to that
thing, you start having second thoughts and say, man, I thought
I was tough. I thought I could handle this,
but I'm now I'm not so sure. And that's kind of what Jesus
went through. And I'm not saying that he
thought, oh, I'm not tough, but obviously it was a very, very
difficult thing that he knew he was about to do.
And I think it's something that's way more than what we
could even imagine. It's way more than we could even
comprehend. This is the God of the universe.
And, and I've said this many times before and, and again, I'm
not, I'm not trying to make it, I'm not trying to downplay and
I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to make it any less
important. But it's, it's like taking a, a
Lego set, building some people out of Legos and creating your
own little, you know, little universe out of Legos and then
going and dying for those Legos. I mean, it's just something that
we can't even comprehend, right? Or, or, or taking something and
making that out of play DoH and then saying they're not doing
exactly the way that I wanted them to do.
Let me go die for them and take their place.
It just it doesn't make sense to us that somebody who would
create all of this would be willing to go die for his
creation. It it, it doesn't.
If you, if you could, if you could put this into the mind of
Christ and think about what Christ must have been thinking,
It doesn't make any sense to us that he would be willing to come
and die for us. It doesn't make any sense for us
to say we know better than you do and shake our fish that God
and sin and do all of these other things.
He created us. He gave us life.
We would not be here were it not for him.
We wouldn't have any of the things, we wouldn't have the
breath that we have if it wasn't for Jesus Christ.
And what he, what he gave us that creation.
And yet we seem to think that we are powerful enough that we can
shake our fists that God and tell him, I'm not going to do it
your way. I'm going to do it in my way.
And even in the middle of that, God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
And He's coming to the end, and He knows that it's the end.
He'd been telling them that the end was coming for a long time
for him. He told them exactly what was
going to happen. He was going to die, and He was
going to raise again in three days.
But they didn't understand it. And in Matthew 26 verse #26
they're sitting there eating the Last Supper as we know it.
And there's Jesus sitting with his 12 disciples, his 12
apostles. And as they were eating, Jesus
took bread and blessed it and break 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 remissions,
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.
First Corinthians chapter 10 tells us.
First Corinthians Chapter 11 tells us that we should be doing
the, the taking, taking the Lord's Supper, taking the bread
and taking the cup and, and doing it to remember Jesus
Christ. And this is a very, very
important time for us when it comes to communion to make sure
that our heart is right before God, to make sure that we're not
taking communion unworthily, to make sure that our hearts are
right. And I'm going to talk about that
in just a minute. But what I want you to think
about again tonight is the sacrifice that Christ gave for
us. Matthew chapter 26 verse 26
through 29 we just read verse 30 begins Peter's denials.
Jesus Christ said that Peter was going to deny him, and Peter
said no way, not possible. Everybody else might deny you,
but not me. I'm not going to.
Then Jesus took Peter and James and John and he went to the
Garden of Gethsemane. And verse 38 My soul is
exceeding sorrowful even unto death.
Tarry ye here, and watch with me.
And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and
prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but
as thou wilt. If Jesus did not know what was
coming, if He didn't know how difficult that was going to be,
He wouldn't have been asking for that.
He knew why He came. He came for that very reason.
The only reason he was born was so that he could die.
The only reason he had a a ministry on this earth was so
that he could die. That's the only reason he came.
And he knew that it was going to be so difficult to go through
all of those things that he said.
God, I know, I know This is why you sent me here.
But please, if there's any way possible, make it so that I
don't have to make it so that I don't have to go through that.
But if that's what you want, I'll do it.
The Bible says in verse 42 he went away again the second time
and prayed, O my father, if this cup may not pass away from me,
except I drink it, thy will be done.
Verse 44 he prayed the third time saying the same words and
then we know what happens. Verse 47 down through about
verse 56, Judas comes and betrays Jesus with a kiss on the
cheek, and they arrested him. And verse 57 then they that laid
hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where
the scribes and the elders were assembled.
Verse 60 they had tried to get witnesses against Jesus to put
him to death, they didn't find any.
Verse 60 Yeah, though many false witnesses came, yet found they
none at the last came two false witnesses and said, this fellow
said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in
three days. And the high priest arose and
said unto him, Answerest thou nothing?
What is? What is it which these
witnesses, against which these witness against thee?
But Jesus held his peace. The one thing that he did answer
was the question that came in verse 63.
Tell us whether they'll be the Christ, the Son of God.
And Jesus saith unto him, Thou has said, Nevertheless, I say
unto you, Hereafter shall you see the Son of man sitting on
the right hand of power, coming in the clouds of heaven.
Of course, everything that Jesus said was going to happen with
Peter came to pass. In verse 69, Peter denied Christ
not once, not twice, but three times.
And then the cock crowed, and he remembered what he said, what
Jesus had said in the Bible says in verse #75 And he went out and
wept bitterly. They brought Jesus to Pilate in
verse. In chapter 27 Judas gets
emotional, if you will, sorry for what he did, sorry that he
got caught, took the 30 pieces of silver and threw it back at
those high priests, those chief priests, and he went out and
hanged himself. And then begins the long process
for Jesus before Pilate and before others.
Verse #15 of Matthew chapter 27. Now at that feast the governor
was want to release unto the people of prisoner whom they
would they had then a notable prisoner called Barabbas and
they demanded that they release Barabbas.
Verse 21 Whether of the twain will you that I release unto
you? The governor said and they said
Barabbas they and Pilate couldn't Pilate couldn't
comprehend it. Why do you want Barabbas Jesus?
I can't find anything wrong with him.
Why do you want him? And they just shouted louder and
louder, Crucify him, crucify him.
And then begins the process of Jesus dying on the cross.
Verse #26 Then released Hebrew Abbas unto them.
And when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be
crucified. Then the soldiers of the
governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto
him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put
on a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a
crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a Reed in his
right hand. And they bowed the knee before
him, and mocked him, saying Hail King of the Jews.
And they spit upon him, and took the wreath, and smote him on the
head. And after that they had mocked
him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on
him, and let him away to crucify him.
And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name.
Him they compelled to bear his cross.
And when they were coming to a place called Golgotha, that is
to say, a place of a skull, they gave him vinegar to drink
mingled with gall. And when He had tasted thereof,
he would not drink. And they crucified him, and
parted his garments, casting lots, that it might be
fulfilled, which was spoken by the Prophet.
They parted my garments among them, and upon My vesture did
they cast lots. And sitting down they watched
Him there, and set up over his head his accusation written.
This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.
Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the
right hand and another on the left.
And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and
saying, Thou that destroys the temple, and build this in three
days. Save thyself.
If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
Likewise also the chief priest, mocking him with the scribes and
elder, said, He saved others himself he cannot save.
If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross
and will believe him. He trusted in God, Let him
deliver him now if he will have him, for he said, I am the Son
of God. The thieves also which were
crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
Now from the 6th hour there was darkness over all the land until
the 9th hour and about the 9th hour Jesus cried with a loud
voice saying, Eli, Eli llama, so box tonight.
That is to say, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
Some of them that stood there when they heard that, said This
man call it for Elias. Straightway one of them ran and
took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and put it on a Reed and
gave him to drink. The rest said, let be, let us
see whether Elias will come to save him.
Jesus, when he'd cried again with a loud voice, yielded up
the ghost. Of course, you know, everything
that happened after that, the temple, the the, the veil in the
temple was run in twain. There was an earthquake,
darkness over the face of the entire earth.
And even some of those that were there said surely this was the
Son of God. And all we get in other passages
in Mark and Luke and John about the crucifixion and it goes into
more detail and just the way that that Jesus was beaten to
the point where he was not even recognizable as a man.
And they hung him on that cross. And you can imagine what that
vinegar must have felt like to all the open wounds that were on
his body. It's what it must have felt like
where they ripped his beard out. I'm sure his face was bleeding
and his head was bleeding, His back was bleeding, His body was
bleeding. And then as if that wasn't
enough, they took the spear and they shoved it up into his side.
The Bible says the blood in the water came out.
Jesus did that for us. Had we not sinned, he never
would have had to die. And I believe that the majority,
if not every person in this room this morning, this this evening
is saved. And I hope you are, I hope you
know Christ is your Savior. But don't ever forget what he
did for you. He took that from me.
He took it for you. And that's where the communion
service is all about. Yes, we must.
We must, we must make sure that our hearts are clean before God.
But this is a remembrance of His body that was broken for us.
It's a remembrance of His blood that was shed for us.
We must never, ever forget it. And so as I do, let's turn over
to 1st Corinthians chapter #10 there's requirements for taking
the Lord's Supper. And I just want to run through a
few of these things very quickly with you to make sure that
you're not taking the Lord's Supper unworthily.
It's a very dangerous thing to do that.
The first thing is that you must be a born again Christian.
First Corinthians chapter 10 and verse #16 the cup of blessing
which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of
Christ? It's where we get that word from
the bread which we break. Is it not the communion of the
body of Christ? Taking communion has everything
to do. In fact, verse 17 For we being
many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that
one bread. If you've never partaken of that
bread, it's the bread of life. You never partaken of the bread
of life, then you are not part of that body and there is no
communion for you. There's no communion of the body
of Christ. There is no communion of the of
the blood of Christ. So you must be a born again as a
Christian. But secondly, in fact, if you
will turn over to Acts chapter #2 Acts chapter #2 you must be
baptized in order to take part in communion.
And we see the pattern that they followed in Acts chapter 2.
Then they that gladly received His word were baptized.
And then the the following step after that is to join yourself
to the Church. If you haven't done that, I want
to encourage you to do that. It's an important step.
Then they that gladly received His word were baptized.
In the same day there were added unto them about 3000 souls and
they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and
fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers.
First Corinthians Chapter 11, verse 20.
When you come together, therefore into one place is not
to eat the Lord's Supper. Verse 33 Wherefore, my brethren,
when you come together to eat, tarry one for another.
If any man hunger, let him eat at home that you come not
together into condemnation. The rest of all I set in order
when I come. Paul said, but you need to be
saved. You need to be baptized.
And by the way, we've got it. We've got, as I mentioned a
little bit earlier, eight people that are that are set to be
baptized next week. And I'm not in the place of God
to give permission or not give permission.
But I know that if we had done the baptism this week, you would
have all been baptized. And so I think it's important to
to give you the decision. But I think it's perfectly fine
if you want to take the Lord's Supper tonight, then you're fine
to do that. We're going to do the baptism
next week. But I know that that many of
you, we've been planning to do it for a while.
We would have done it today had it not been for our special
Sunday. So I'll leave that decision up
to you. But I think it's, I see no
problem with allowing any of you that want to, to take part in
the Lord's Supper tonight. But not only should a individual
be saved and a new individual should be baptized, but you need
to be in fellowship with the Lord.
And that's such an important part.
In fellowship with the Lord also means in fellowship with one
another, because you can't be in fellowship with one another if
you're not in fellowship or you can't be in fellowship with the
Lord if you're not in fellowship with one another.
And I'm so thankful that we don't have any of that head
butting in the church. We don't have a lot of that of
any of it to my knowledge. I mean, if it's, if there's any
going on, you need to get it right.
But when we're all trying to do what God wants us to do, when
we're all trying to live as as close as we know how to what the
Lord wants us to do, there is going to be that sweet
fellowship, right? You read all the way through the
book of first John. You find over and over in first
John that the Bible says if, if you're not in fellowship with,
with one another, then you don't have the love of God in you.
It's very plain. It's very plain in the Bible.
But if you but but turn over to 1st Corinthians chapter #11 And
I want to give us, as I always do, the fourfold look at the
Lord's Supper because that's what this is all about.
And in particular tonight, as we take a few minutes, as soon as I
finish up with here, we always take a few minutes.
And I want to give you an opportunity to get things right
with the Lord. If you need things to be right
with Him. If there is something that's in
your heart, you better not take the Lord's Supper unworthily.
You better not take the Lord's Supper with something in your
heart unconfessed. But as we sit there, I want you
to think through the events of all that took place with Jesus
Christ when He went to the cross.
I think that He did that for you, did it for me.
And so the first part of looking at the Lord's Supper is the
backward look. It's the look at what Jesus
Christ did on the cross for us. It causes us as believers to
look back at the cross of Christ, which were it not for
His cross, there would be no salvation.
Were it not for His cross, there would be no eternity in heaven.
Were it not for His cross, there would be no wonderful life on
this earth. And in First Corinthians Chapter
11 and verse #24 the Bible says, And when He had given thanks, he
break it and said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken
for you. This do in remembrance of me.
After the same manner also He took the cup when He had Sup
saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood.
This do ye as OFT as you drink it in remembrance of me.
So this is absolutely a part of it.
We should be looking back on what Jesus Christ did for us.
That's part of the whole purpose of doing the Lord's Supper, of
part of the whole purpose of taking communion.
But then it's also the look around and we see this in verse
#25 of First Corinthians 11, by the way, that the, the, the,
there's a lot of people who say that, ah, that it does.
You know, the version of the Bible that you use doesn't
really matter. It just, it's just a different
way to say the same thing. One of the things that's that's
a beautiful part of the King James is that we have these and
thous and yees. Oh, that's the that's the
archaic language that makes the King James the Bible that most
people don't want to read today in our modern new world.
But I tell you what, there's an absolutely essential part of
having these and thous and ye's and use these and thous.
All the words that start with T are singular.
All the words that start with Y are plural and it makes a huge
difference in the way that we read this verse, verse 25 after
the same manner. Also he took the cup when he had
Sup saying this cup is the New Testament in my blood.
This do ye as OFT as you drink it in remembrance of me.
Singular or plural, plural. That's all of us.
That's a look around. That's a communion of the body
of Christ. It's all of us doing this
together in fellowship together. Verse 26 For as often as ye eat
this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till
he come. Singular or plural?
Plural. It's a look around.
Yes, we're looking back at what Jesus Christ did for us, but we
are reminded of the fact that we are part of a body, we are part
of a family of believers, and that we are not just individuals
trying to go through this world by ourselves.
We're together in this thing. Ye do show the Lord's death till
he come, but then we have the forward look and that's that's
at the end of that verse 26, ye do show the Lord's death till he
come. We should be looking for the
coming of Jesus Christ. He's coming back.
You know, I don't know if if you've been looking around at
anything going on in our world today, but it seems to me that
everything is pointing to the fact that he's coming back and
he's coming back soon. And we do this because we're
showing the Lord's death till he comes back for us.
Hey, Paul thought the same thing 2000 years ago.
Paul thought Christ was coming back.
And through all the centuries they thought Christ was coming
back. And here we're in the same
position. But boy, I tell you what, we
have a lot, a lot more signs pointing to the fact that He's
coming soon than they did back then.
But then verse #28 we have the inward look and that causes us
as believers to look within ourselves.
And what a wonderful thing it is that God gave us the opportunity
to judge ourselves before he has to judge us.
Man, that's, that's a, that's a privilege beyond what we really
even contemplate many times. But first 28 of first
Corinthians Chapter 11. But let a man examine himself,
and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.
For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh
damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
For this cause. Many are weak and sickly among
you, and many sleep they're dead because of it.
For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
I've said this before, what a genius plan God came up with
when He instituted communion because He tells us we better do
it, but then He tells us we better not do it unworthily.
It is a time where we are required to get our hearts right
with God. It's a hard restart.
It's a reset of everything. Hey, after tonight, you don't
have to go back to that sin that you think you're addicted to.
You don't have to go back to that sin that you just can't let
go of. Let this be.
Let this be the day that you start over because if you're
going to take part in the Lord's Supper and you should because
the Bible says you should this do, that's a commandment.
But if you're going to take part in the Lord's Supper, you better
not take part in the Lord's Supper unworthily.
And all we look at that and we say, well, that was that was
back for those days there. There's, there's people around
you that are sick, there's people around that are weak.
There's people around you that are dead because they took the
Lord's Supper unworthily. That was for them.
Then why is the rest of the Bible for us, but not that part,
right? I believe there's people who are
weak and sickly and dead among us because they took the Lord's
Supper unworthily. I am trying to scare you because
I don't want you to take the Lord's Supper unworthily.
And I say that often when I'm, when I'm, when I'm given the
gospel. I'm not trying to scare you.
I just want you to understand the gravity of the situation.
I am trying to scare you. I want you to be scared to take
the Lord's Supper unworthily. You should be because He said we
should be and He's given us this opportunity.
Verse 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be
judged. Wouldn't it be great to not have
to face the judgement of God for your sin?
He says be sure your sin will find you out and it will.
But I believe He gives us a little window most of the time.
He gives us a little window to get it right ourselves, and this
is your window. I don't know what you've got in
your life. I don't know what maybe you've
got hidden in your life. I don't know what you're doing
that you don't want anybody else to know about.
But this is your opportunity to get it right with God.
For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
It's a great, it's a great opportunity not only to remember
Christ's death, not only to remember his blood and his body
that was broken, but to get things right with him.
I want to do that tonight. I always give us the opportunity
to do that and have a time of invitation before we partake in
the Lord's Supper. And I'll ask Miss Becker to come
up here to, to the piano. I believe God gave us this time.
That kind of forces us really to, to look inside and get
things right with him. I hope you've done that already.
I hope you've already been examining your heart.
But if not, or even if you have, this is another opportunity to
do that, just to make sure your heart is completely right with
him before we start this. Because I don't want you to be
weak. I don't want you to be sickly.
I don't want you to be dead because you took the Lord's
Supper unworthily. So as the piano plays, we're
going to take a few minutes. When she's done, we're going to
have the song that we always listen to, and then we'll get
into this tonight. Take a few minutes, examine your
heart. Make sure that your heart is
right with the Lord. The.
The.
The heart of man can fathom what
if God the Father felt when he saw the pain, His Son would soon
go. Through, though, he had but
every reason to ignore. Or.
Cry for help, he. Did what?
Love and. Only love I do.
Love Alert him Gone. Love let him walk alone Love let
him leave in his words all the. Wrong alone, love.
Let him. Go.
To somewhere because. He loved us all.
Love led to our guardian, where we'll all and he wept and read,
for he knew his. Final the world was.
Had had though his father. Could have saved him.
He chose to turn off and because it had to be, as I reminded.
Let him leave. Let me go to die or die or go
away to call the willing wind in those in love to song.
But let you go. And death gonna help me make the
great. But Jesus broke the chains of
sin. And on the new day I'll let you
go. I roll the soul away.
The sacrifice was made so on the world and gone.
To take us home again. How can it be?
I love my God to decide for me. Or let it go, or you go back
again to take us home with you. Amen.
A powerful song just to put you I mean, I don't know, it puts me
right back in the in the garden and puts me right back at the
cross and it just puts me right there.
And I don't know how you can sit there and not be moved by a song
like that when you think about what Christ did for you.
And that's the whole purpose of what we're doing tonight.
So we're going to have the ushers, I mean the deacons pass
out the the bread and we're going to do that first.
And just we're going to have the piano play.
And so just sit there in the attitude of prayer.
Think about, think about his body that was broken for you.
That's the whole purpose of why we're doing this tonight.
And so we'll take some, we'll take some time to do that, and
then we'll have a word of prayer, and then we'll do that
together. The.
The.
We check with the nursery. We check with the nursery the.
You get the sound booth, too. You get the sound booth.
You get the guys in the sound booth.
Yes, OK. Doc, would you leave us in
prayer, please, Heavenly Father, Lord?
We love you and we thank you for your goodness to us.
We thank you, Lord, for your broken body.
As we remember that, I pray God that you would help us to just
continue to work on being a right Christian, right with you.
Have a desire to see souls saved Lord, to serve you in the best
way that we know how. We pray God that you just bless
this time as we have our yes and service.
Lord, just continue to work in our hearts.
Thank you for all you've done for us.
Lord help us not to take any of that for granted.
And we pray in Jesus name, Amen. Amen.
Bible says in First Corinthians Chapter 11 and verse 24.
And when he had given thanks, he'd break it and said, take,
eat. This is my body which is broken
for you, this due in remembrance of me.