The Lord's Table

As we come to a time in the Word, let us ask God to direct us in it Father, we do ask that you would direct us as we come to your Word, that we might honor you with all that is said Then may we put into practice what we are learning in our own lives, that we may honor you Amen We've heard music this morning that have brought us into worship, that have led us through that from point to point, pointing to the fact that today is the day that we celebrate the Lord's table So we want to talk about the Lord's table today

We want to talk about what it is, what it is not, and what is its proper use for us today We're going to look at Luke 22 as we start with our conversation about what it is Luke 22 Our usual method would be to read through the passage first Today we just want to walk through the passages verse by verse So verses one and two says, now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching and the chief priests and the scribes were trying to find a way to put him to death since they were afraid of the people To put him to death would be put Christ to death

They were seeking a way that they might put Christ to death. I asked myself a question about this Why this Passover? Why are they seeking to put him to death on this Passover? But then scripture also helped me out in John chapter 7 to where it wasn't the first time that they were seeking to put him to death at a feast But on this celebration he allowed himself to be there Why? In Acts chapter 2 verses 22 to 24 Peter would give us an answer to that Now this is after the death, after the resurrection The church is now being born and Peter is preaching

He says in verse 22, men of Israel listen to these words, Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know This man delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men, putting him to death But God raised him from the dead, putting an end to the agony of death since it was impossible for him to be held in his power Peter says this Passover because it was a predetermined plan of God for it to be at this particular time

It was a time already set He says it was in God's foreknowledge that he was nailed to the cross by the hands of sinful men Now notice God did not relieve them of their responsibility for killing Christ even though it was his determined, predetermined purpose for God He then would still hold them accountable who did the sinful act But then he goes on to tell us that he raised him from the dead Notice John chapter 10 verses 17 and 18 He says for this reason the father loved me because I laid down my life that I might take it up again

No one takes my life away from me but I lay it down on my own authority that I may lay it down and then have the authority to take it up again This commandment I received from the father When you lay your life down, Jesus could lay it down whenever he got ready If they would take his life then they would take it on their terms But he says no one takes my life. I lay it down When did he lay it down? At the proper time Galatians chapter 4, Paul would address this issue

He says but when the fullness of time came God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law so that he might redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons God in eternity past chose the time that he would send his son to be born to a woman Why? Because he had promised from the woman's seed they would come and redeem her Under the law Why? Because man could not keep the law So he would send him that he would keep the law that he might redeem all who are under the law That we might come to know this Christ that he is calling us to

Look back at Luke 22 verses 3 to 6 And Satan entered into Judas, the one who is called as Kariot, who belonged to the twelve And he had left and discussed with the chief priests and the officers how he might betray him to them And they were the site delighted and agreed to give him money And so he consented and began looking for opportunities to betray him That he might do this away from the crowd You know the psalmist had spoken of this in Psalm 41, 9 He said, even my close friends in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, would lift up his heels against me

Jesus would mention it in John 13, 18. I am not speaking about all of you. I know the one in whom I have chosen But this is happening so that the scripture may be fulfilled He who ate my bread lifted up his heels against me None of this took him by surprise It was all the predetermined plan of God That we might come to understand God is in charge of all things Look again at Luke 22 verses 7 to 13 Now the first day of unleavened bread came upon which the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed And so Jesus sent Peter and John saying, go and prepare the Passover for us so that we may eat it

They said to him, where do you want us to prepare it? And he said to them, when you enter into a city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you Follow him into the house that he will enter And you shall say to the owner of the house, the teacher says to you, where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large furnished upper room Prepare it there And they left and found everything just as he told them And they prepared it. I love that that last phrase And they found everything just as he told them

What's our problem today? We're not believing the word of God as he told us He has given us what it is that we are to do and he has made a promise to us that he would do it He says, go and prepare the Passover that we may eat Well, they had a legitimate question Where would you want us to prepare? He says, when you enter the city, you'll meet a man carrying a pitcher of water Follow him into the house that he goes into What man? You're sending us into the city as in followed the man with the pitcher of water? What man that's going to be? The only man carrying a pitcher of water

Men didn't carry the pitchers of water Women did They went to the well in the morning, they got the water and they brought it back So when they walked in the city, they saw one man carrying a pitcher of water They followed him into the house And they said to the owner, hey, the Lord says, where can we prepare this? He showed them a room where they could prepare this And they did so Picking up now at verse 14, when the hour had come, he reclined at the table and the apostles with him And he said unto them, I earnestly desire to eat this Passover with you until I suffer

For I say to you, I should not eat of it again until it is fulfilled in God's kingdom And when he had taken the cup, he had given thanks And he said, take this and share it among yourselves Now it says when he had taken the cup, this would have been the first of four cups of the Passover So he takes this cup, he gives it to them And he says, you drink this and share it among yourselves Continuing at verse 18, he says, for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until it is fulfilled in the kingdom to come And when he had taken the bread, he had given thanks and he broke it

And he gave it to them saying, this is my body, which is being given for you Do this in remembrance of me And in the same way, he took the cup after they had eaten saying, this cup, which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood Notice Luke mentions two cups This would be the first cup and the fourth cup He says, but this cup, he is going to institute something new This cup is being poured out for you And this cup represents a new covenant in my blood Covenants was done in blood

And then when he says a new cup, what does that mean? Remember, Jesus said to his disciples, a new commandment I give unto you You remember what the old commandment was? Love your neighbor as you love yourself What's the new commandment? Love one another as I have loved you That's the new commandment So now he says, I give to you a new covenant What does that mean? That means there were some old covenants There was old covenant Yes Some of them are not necessarily named covenant, but when we look through the scripture, we can see them and know that they were

So let's look back at Genesis starting with Genesis chapter three We're going to pick the narrative up in verse eight It says, now they heard the voice of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden Then the Lord called to the man and said unto him, where are you? He said, I heard your voice in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked So I hid myself

And he said, who told you you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree from which I commanded you not to eat? Then the man said, the woman whom you gave to me, she gave to me some of the fruit from the tree and I ate Then the Lord said to the woman, what is this that you've done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me And I noticed there are four questions in that passage All four questions are asked by God, who is omnipotent, omnipresent So therefore he knows everything He is everywhere present, but yet he asked the question Well, Lord, we knew you was coming So we heard you

So we hid ourselves because we were naked Who told you you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree that I told you not to eat of? Notice the questions that he asked So when God asks a question, what is he asking for? Not for information He's asking for a confession And they gave it Yeah We were naked Oh, I never explained to you that you were naked So who told you you were naked? Something has happened to them that had not happened before They were naked and unashamed before, but now sin has come in and entered the picture Now they are ashamed And when you're ashamed, you need some covering

So God would address the serpent And in verse 15, he says, because you have done this, I will make enemies of you and the woman and of your offspring and her descendants And he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel The offspring of the woman is going to bruise the serpent's head The head, the serpent will bruise his heel Then he goes on and he talks to the woman, tell her that her pain is going to be multiplied in Chalber He tells the man that you, by the sweat of your brow, you will till the ground and that's how you would eat

And then down in verse 20 of Genesis chapter three, it says, now the man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living And the Lord God made garments of skins for Adam and his wife and clothed them Now they could have their nakedness covered Therefore they could face each other now without being ashamed because their nakedness was covered But there is something else that was covered also Their sins were covered, not taken away because the blood of the animals could not take away their sin, but covered their sins That was a covenant with them

Although it's not a named a covenant, the blood of the animals was shared The skins were covering their sins God made a promise that there would come a redeemer out of this And by the way, men, you and I are still sweating by our brow to bring food to the table because these are the things that he has brought to us Let's look at another covenant Genesis 15 Remember in Genesis 15 five, God said to Abraham and he took him outside and said, look up toward the heavens and count the stars If you can count them And he said to them, so shall your descendants be

Then he believed in the Lord and he credited it to him for righteousness Abraham believed what God told him And when he believed it, God credited it to him for righteousness Paul tells us in Romans four, the same thing happens to you and to me When we believe God, he credited unto us for righteousness as well Look at verse seven of the chapter It says, and he said to him, I am the Lord who has brought you up out of the land of Ur out of the Chaldeans to give to you this land to possess it

But he said to him, Lord, he said to, but he said, Lord God, how may I know that I will possess this? Now God's going to tell him how you're going to know this Verse eight So he said to him, bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a toad dove and a young pigeon He brought them and he cut them into half and he laid them each on opposite sides, but he did not cut the birds And the birds of prey came down to eat these and Abraham had to keep the birds of prey off And then darkness fell upon him and he got in this, this, this great, uh, sleep

It tells us that in verse 12, he says, not when the sun was going down, the deep sleep fell upon Abraham and behold, terror and great darkness came upon him The Lord said to Abraham, know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that's not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for 400 years But I will also judge that nation by whom they will serve And afterwards they will come out with many possessions As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace and you will be buried at a good old age

Then in the fourth generation, they will return and the wrong doing of the Amorites would not yet been completed Now, when he, he, he tells him all of this and then look at verse 18, he says, on this day, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham saying your descendants, I have given this land from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates God made a covenant with him after the slaying of these animals And he would make this covenant with him, a covenant in blood He told him that your people are going to go into a land They're going to be there for 400 years

They're going to be oppressed You know what happened at the end of that 400 years? God gave them what is called the Passover Exodus 12 Now the Lord said unto Moses in the land and Aaron in the land of Egypt, this shall be the beginning of months for you It will be the first month of the year for you So he's starting their calendar This month, right now that you're in, this is going to be the beginning of months for you

Speak to the congregation of Israel saying to them on the 10th of this month, they each, one of them would take a lamb for themselves according to their father's household, a lamb, and they will share the same This is a Passover that he is giving to them for a purpose Look at verse six He says, and you shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month Then the whole assembly of the congregations of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the house in which they are to eat it

You're going to slay this lamb and when you do, there's going to be blood Take that blood and put it on the doorposts of the house Notice what is required here is obedience Do what it is that God is telling you to do Look at verse 11 Now you shall eat it in this way with your garments belted around your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in a hurry It is the Lord's Passover

For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night and fatally strike all the firstborn of the land of Egypt from the human firstborn to the animals, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord The blood shall be assigned for you on your house where you are living, and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no play will come upon you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt All was taken was obedience That's what God calls us to today Obedience Doesn't matter what's going on around us in the world

God wants us to obey what he has said to us in his word So the Lord's table What is it? It is a new covenant in the Lord's blood, and he tells us that So let's look at now what it is not It is not the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ No matter what the teaching of some is, it is not What does, what did that idea come from? It comes from John chapter 6 When we think of John chapter 6, we think of the feeding of the five thousand After that Jesus would do some teaching In verse 48 he says, I am the bread of life Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and are dead

This is the bread which comes down from heaven, so that anyone who eats from it will not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven If anyone eats from this bread, he will live forever The bread which I give for life to the world also is my flesh Look at verse 52 Then the Jews began to argue among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say unto you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves

The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and it will, excuse me, and I will raise him up at the last day For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him Just as the living Father has sent me, and I live because of the Father, the one who eats me, he also will live because of me This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers did eat The one who eats this bread will live forever These things he said unto them in the synagogues as he taught at Capernaum

Now he tells them about eating his flesh This kind of upsets them It didn't seem like he doubles down on it He goes through this whole explanation and says, Yes, you must eat my flesh You must drink my blood because other than that, you have no life in you It cannot happen Then down in verse 60, it says, So then many of his disciples, when they heard this, says, This statement is very unpleasant Who can listen to it? Jesus, aware that his disciples were complaining about this, said to them, Is this offensive to you? Notice Jesus asks the question

Is this offensive to you? By the way, take note when it says many of his disciples grumbled The word disciple only meant follower This is not talking about the 12 This is talking about everybody in the crowd who was following him They were considered disciples because they were following him So he asks the question, Does this offend you? Verse 62, What then if you see the Son of Man ascending where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life The flesh prophet is nothing The words that I spoke to you are spirit and are life

But there are some of you here who do not believe because Jesus knew from the beginning who it was that did not believe and who it was that would betray him. 65 And he was saying this For this reason, I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father And notice Jesus, they all upset with this and Jesus said, Does this offend you? He said, Let me tell you something What if you see the Son of Man ascending back to where he was before? That's a clue. I'm going back to where I was before Therefore, I won't be here for you to eat my flesh and drink my blood

Oh, you won't? Then what's all this you've been telling us? The words that I've spoken to you, they are life The words which I've spoken to you, that's what I want you to eat That's what I want you to take in The words that I've said, I won't even be here. I'm going back to where I came from But I want you to know that my word will be here Then in verse 66, it says, As a result of this, many of his disciples left Remember who they are Just follow us Many of his disciples left and would no longer walk with him

So Jesus said to the twelve, Do you want to leave me also? Simon Peter answered and said unto him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life And we have already believed and come to know that you are the Holy One from God He said, We've been waiting from the Old Testament all those years of reading that the Messiah is coming and you have sent him to us and we have believed What did he believe in? He says, Where are we to go? You have the words of eternal life He didn't say you have the flesh of eternal life Why? Because Peter understood

He says, We've already seen and we've already believed that you are the Holy One from God Peter knew that there was no one else coming We waited for the Messiah He's here We have seen and we believe Therefore, we know that you are the one and there's no one else coming So we hear all of this and we say, Yeah, but that was to the Jews So what about us Gentiles? Well, John the Baptist answered that earlier in Jesus' ministry Remember when Jesus was baptized and he went off into the wilderness and then he was returning back? John sees him in John chapter 1 verse 29

It says, The next day he saw Jesus come unto him and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. A startling announcement Behold, there is the Lamb of God and he will take away, no longer cover it, he will take away the sins of the world No longer just for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles Then the disciple John would pick up on this as he's writing in 1st John. 1st John 2, 1 and 2 He says, My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous

And he himself is the perpetuation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world By the way, you know what that word whole world means? Whole world That's all it means Okay He says he's the perpetuation for our sins Who are the our? We Christians, but not for ours only Then for who else then? For everybody who's not a Christian, for the whole world Every person has an opportunity to receive this Savior that you and I enjoy today He's given this to us and it is clear in scripture We've seen what it is It is the covenant in Christ's blood

We've even seen its purpose He says, do this in remembrance of me We've seen what it is not It is not the actual blood and body of Jesus Christ We do this in remembrance of him So how is, what is this proper use of today? Paul would pick up on this in first Corinthians 11 He says, and I received from the Lord that which also delivered to you that Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body Do this in remembrance of me In the same way, he took the cup saying, this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood

Do this as often as you drink in remembrance of me For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do proclaim my death until I come When we do this, we are proclaiming the death of Jesus Christ Then Paul would say in verse 27, therefore, based on what I have just said to you, therefore, whoever eats this bread and drink of the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord But a person must examine himself and in so doing, he is to eat of the bread and to drink of this cup He tells us that we are to do this

Before we come to this table, we are to examine ourselves to see if there's sin in our lives and to see if there's things that we need to confess Is there a brother or sister that we need to get right with? He says, if it is, then get that taken care of before you come to the table In verse 29, he says, for the one who eats and drinks would do so judgment to himself if he does not properly recognize the body For this reason, many among you are weak and sick and a number are asleep. A number of them have died because they took this in an unworthy manner So, the warning is here

This is to be done in remembrance of him because we are proclaiming his death until he comes Therefore, do not do this in an unworthy manner.