You would remain standing and turn into the Gospel of Luke as we are making our way through the Gospel of Luke, we are in chapter 22 we're going to be reading together verses 14 down to 23 Luke, 22 beginning in verse 14 to 23 before we read God's word, let us go to Him in prayer. Let's pray, Lord, we we pray as we just sung, that You would speak and Lord give us ears to hear. Lord, I pray that you would strike our heart and hearts that we might have hearts of flesh to receive your word, that you would unstop our deaf ears and give us ears to hear, that you would open up our blind eyes, that we might see and behold Jesus by faith and receive him this day, let us hold fast to The Cross. Lord. We thank You for Your Mercy. We thank you that you are speaking to us through Your Word. Help us to be looking out to see what you will say to us this morning in Jesus's name. We pray. Amen, people of God, hear God's word this morning from Luke chapter 22 beginning in verse 14, and when the hour came, he reclined at table and the apostles with him, and he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He said, Take this and divide it among yourselves, For I tell you that from now on, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and he gave to them, saying, This is My body which is given for you do this in remembrance of Me, and likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it as it has been determined. But woe to that man by whom He is betrayed. And they began to question one another, which of them it could be, who was going to do this? He who has ears, let him hear the Word of God. Please be seated.
Well, there's something that all of us, pretty much do every day, that we are quite good at, and maybe even some of you might think it is your spiritual gift, and that is eating. And one of the things that we eat every day is bread. It's a staple in our diet. And when we go to restaurants, you are served a food that you didn't even order, and it's often bread, and we get really excited about it for some reason, like, we've never seen bread before or had it almost every single day of our life, but at the restaurant, we're excited and like, it's an exotic dish, and we even wonder, do they have more because I want more bread, and I think we're usually excited at this point because we're hungry, and doesn't matter what you put in front of us, we are excited to eat like you're told not to go to the grocery store when you're hungry because everything looks good, And I'm excited to devour it. But there's something about bread that just hits the spot when you're hungry. Jesus is going to give us bread, and it is a bread that we should be absolutely excited to eat and devour. We are spiritually starving and famished people, and there is only one platter that will nourish your soul, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, who presents himself with bread, and as we'll see, also wine, he lays a feast of himself that you as believers, are called to eat.
The title for this sermon is called the first and last supper. It's the last supper because this is the last meal with his disciples before his death. In just a few hours, Jesus is going to be betrayed, he's going to be arrested, and in about 24 hours, Jesus will be dead. The time is near. The hour is near when this text begins in verse 14. It says when the hour came. And this is the hour that is referring to his betrayal.
The hour had come. For Jesus to be betrayed. The hour had come for his mission to be accomplished. All the way back in Luke chapter nine, remember he had set his face as flint as stone, to go to Jerusalem and everything from there to this point, the hour is now come, his time to die for sinners is approaching. It's also the Last Supper, because this is the last Passover. This is the last legitimate Passover to ever happen, to ever take place. Do you remember how just recently, if you were here a couple weeks ago, Jesus talked about the temple being destroyed, and the temple would be destroyed in 70 ad, but the temple had to go away. The temple had to come down because the temple was a picture of Jesus, and the Jesus had arrived. The temple was there because it was the picture of how people approach God. The temple was there because it had priests, and they were the mediator between God and man.
But the now, the one Mediator, the great high priest, had arrived. You know, in the temple too, it had incense that they would they would offer up to God as a sweet smelling aroma, but Jesus Christ is the sweet swelling smelling aroma to God, the Father. In the temple, they had show bread, another picture of bread, but it was also a picture of looking to Jesus, the one who would truly spiritually nourish us. In the temple, they had the menorah, the lights, and Jesus says, I am the light of the world. In the temple, they had bowls for washing, but Jesus is the one who can cleanse your heart by faith and wash away your sins with his blood. In the temple, they had the altar where they would put the lamb on, and the lamb would represent the sins of the people going away.
But John the Baptist says, Behold the Lamb of the God.
Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world all pointing to Jesus. And you see how the temple was just a picture of Jesus. But Jesus is now here. Jesus, here in our text, is going to, if you will, push the Passover lamb off the table and lay himself on it and says, it's about me. It's a picture of me. We don't need the lamb anymore. I'm the reality.
I'm what that picture was looking for. We don't need to do the Passover anymore, because the true Lamb has arrived, and the true lamb is about to be betrayed and offering Himself up for your sins. Imagine if I had a picture of my spouse. We were separated for some time, through deployments, other trainings, and imagine I'm looking at my picture, and I love my spouse.
It's a beautiful picture. Oh, she is gorgeous, and she is isn't she? And I long for her. I can't wait for us to be reunited, and one day we are and she arrives, and she's here in the flesh. But what do I keep doing if I keep just looking at the picture? The picture is so lovely, isn't it, dear, the picture, wouldn't that be silly?
Wouldn't that be foolish? Well, that is what Jesus is saying here. Stop looking at the pictures of the Passover. Stop looking at the pictures of the temple. Stop desiring those things. Because the reality is here, I am here. That's why it's the last Passover. The reality has come. This is also the first meal, not only the last, but this is the first meal, because Jesus replaces that Passover with the Lord's Supper. This is the apostles and disciples first communion. This is the first time taking the Lord's Supper.
And let's look at that here in our text. But before we even do that, Jesus says in verse 15, and he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. Jesus says, I earnestly desire to have this fellowship and communion with you. And Jesus knows what's going to happen. He knows that he's going to ask these exact men that he is earnestly desiring to bless and to have fellowship with in just a few short moments, he's going to ask in his moment of need, would you watch and pray?
And what are they going to do, fall asleep. And we even ask him, would you watch and pray, and what are they going to do sleep? He knows what they will do. When he's arrested. They will flee. He knows what will.
Been before the rooster crows three times. And yet Jesus looks around this table of men who are gathered there, and there's no reluctance, but he says, I am eager to be with you. I am eager to bless you. I am eager to cast myself on this table and be the Lamb of God for you, he's reflecting here on a new age of salvation. Jesus is no longer looking at the the the freedom of Israel, out of Egypt.
He's no longer reflecting on the Passover. He's talking about the new age of deliverance that he will usher in by the shedding of His blood. You know, I think so often we think of God, and maybe you felt this where we feel like God is really kind of reluctant to bless me. I mean, why should he? I wouldn't, and we sometimes feel like, again, we have to twist God's arm or manipulate him if we say this many prayers, or I didn't do this, or I didn't have that fault, maybe God would bless me. Maybe he would be for me. But here we are reminded Jesus is eager to bless His people. He is eager to save and we don't deserve it, and he knows it, but yet he's eager to bless us. Hebrews tells us for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, but the joy that is set before him, what was the joy that was set before Him, to bring many sons to glory, to bring sinners to himself, the joy to wash away your sins with his blood. He was eager to set you free. He was eager to deliver you from the domain of darkness and to bring you into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. But even before Jesus puts the Passover away and institutes the Lord's Supper, he directs us forward again, For I tell you in verse 16, I will not eat until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And what does this mean?
Well, it means that even in the Lord's Supper meal, it's anticipating another meal, the meal the fullness of the kingdom of God. It's an already, not yet the kingdom has come, but it yet hasn't come in its fullness.
Christ it will conquer sin, and He does it in His death and resurrection. But we are still pilgrims. We aren't yet in our heavenly home. And even here, he says, there's still a time yet to come, and to anticipate that time. In fact, we are told to do this until he comes again, anticipating that time when we are completely and fully delivered. And he gives thanks again, verse 17, and also verse 19. And this is when Jesus gives thanks. Here. This is not just God, you know. Thank you for our family. Thank you for our friends. Thank you for this food. Amen again he is thankful for what He's about to endure, for your salvation. He is thankful for the elements that are given, that are going to direct us to him and what he is about to do, thankful that he's going to be used for the glory of God by the giving of his life. In verse 19, he took bread, and we have given Thanks.
He broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is for you. He takes broken bread and says, This is my body.
Now, did that bread become the literal carnal body of Jesus Christ? Well, no, it didn't.
There's no magic. There's no mysticism. Here it remains, ordinary bread. It's a metaphor that Jesus is using to make a spiritual comparison, as Jesus says in other places, like in John chapter 10, where Jesus says, I'm the door, and the disciples didn't say, Well, Jesus, did you get hinges? And how do we? What do we? How do you operate this door? Or when Jesus, in other places, says, I am the bread of life, they aren't, then, assuming that Jesus has become some kind of Doughboy made out of bread that just needs to be needed. No, he's speaking of a spiritual reality here. And so why does Jesus Institute bread? Well, as we've already mentioned, that bread is a basic food to our bodies. If you look at the food pyramid, what's the foundation of the food pyramid? Uh, it's the carbs, right? It's the bread. So, Jesus is the foundation of our lives. Christ is the foundation of what we need. We must have him. We will die of starvation. We will die in our sins. Bread is also a food that's eaten regularly.
It's a common bread. It's a food that is eaten daily. Even as we pray, give us our daily bread, that it's to be a reminder that each day, we are dependent upon Jesus Christ, each day, each moment, we are dependent upon His grace, His righteousness, dependent upon his body being broken and given for us that we need his grace. It's also a food that is for both kings and paupers, a bread is one of these foods that no matter where you are in life, you eat it. And so Jesus is the savior who meets the needs of everyone. And you see, it's a very fitting title for our Savior when he calls himself the bread of life, and it's bread which is given for you, he says, and not just Jesus didn't just die for your benefit, but he actually has died in your place. He has suffered death that you and I deserve. Remember, the wages of sin is death, and that is what you and I deserve as we read the 10 Commandments that we have broken them with our thoughts, with our words and our deeds, and we deserve to die, but he dies for me, the sacrifice was as we called substitutionary as Galatians 313 says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. And so when you hold the bread, when you smell it, when you taste it, you can think of the Lord Jesus Christ as your bread of life. You can ask yourself even some questions.
When you hold it, are my sins really forgiven in Christ? Has my guilt really been taken away in Jesus Christ? Am I truly free from the wrath and curse of God?
In Jesus Christ, do I truly have victory over the grave? Do I truly have eternal life and boldness now to stand before the throne of God in Christ. And if you are a Christian, you know what you can say. You can boldly say yes, for me, for me, because Jesus said For Me, For You, he says, even for me, even though I have doubts, even though I'm selfish, even though at times I've denied Christ, the gospel is for me. Jesus is for me.
Think about all the times we spend thinking about our bodies and what we should eat, and the health crazes and the the billion dollar industry that it is, and God not only made us with bodies, but he has given us souls. And how are you feeding your soul? Or how do you feed your soul? And I found this quote, and I forget where it came from, but it says, Faith is the mouth of the soul that receives Jesus Christ himself at at the sacrament turn to to the nourishment of our spiritual lives. Faith is the mouth of the soul that receives Jesus Christ himself at the sacrament to the nourishment of our spiritual lives. If you are eating what this world gives you, you will be hungry, you will not be satisfied, and you will die in your sins. But if you eat the living bread by faith, if you feast upon Jesus Christ, if you receive Him and rest upon Him alone, you will be saved and you will be satisfied. He's the bread of the world. He's the bread of life. And he's also gave a cup in verse 20. And likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Now, the very nature of a sacrifice is that blood is separated from the body, and so we have even when we take the Lord's Supper, the blood and the body are separated, the bread and the wine are separated, and that's what we have here. There's a separate cup that represents the poured out blood of Jesus. Now to understand this cup that Jesus gives His disciples, I think it's important to remember the context of what's happening here in the. Life of Jesus. And even if you just skip forward a little bit in your text of verse 39 you'll see Jesus talks about another cup. There's a cup here in the Lord's Supper. But even in that very chapter, just look at verse 2039, the Father gives Jesus a cup.
The father sets a cup before Jesus. You know what that cup is. It's a cup of cursing. It's a cup of God's wrath and judgment upon your sin. And the father tells Jesus He will drink all of it, and Jesus will drink that cup to the very Dregs, not leaving a single drop when he goes to the cross and His body is broken and his blood is poured out for You, Jesus will experience hell for you, he says Jesus, and now Jesus puts in the hand of his disciples, as you will hold a cup yourself. But this is not a cup of cursing.
That's the cup that you and I deserve. But you get to hold a cup of blessing. And you know what you get to do, drink all of it to the very Dregs, because Christ took the cup of cursing and drank it to the very dregs down. You get a cup of blessing, and you get all of it to the very last drop. Every single blessing that God could ever give you is given to you in the Lord Jesus Christ, there's nothing withheld from you in Christ, you get to drink all of it. And he gives them wine, not because wine just looks like blood, though it does, right?
And we hold the cup, and we can remember his blood. We also remember that wine has a bitterness. I've talked to a number of young folks when they're first starting to take communion, and maybe some older folks who don't maybe drink wine that often. And they drink wine and sometimes they cough, has a little bitterness. And I remember there were some young men, even after they drank the wine, they would have a chaser with water just to help the burn, if you will. But the wine is there to remember the bitterness, the curse that Christ went through, remember the wine press of God's judgment that Christ went through. He was crushed for our iniquities, He was crushed for our sins, and is to remember that. But also, wine is sweet. What was the first miracle that Jesus did? He turned water into wine, where at the wedding? Because at the wedding, this is the time of celebration. This is the the time of joy. And so it is when we come to the Lord's table, we remember that Christ has finished the work, and we get the cup of blessing. It is a cup of joy. We get to drink it to the very dregs. And so it's a day of celebration. It's a day that that Christ is ours. And so points us to the day where of the wedding feast of the Lamb, the consummation of our bridegroom, and we wait for him, and we just remember, we just get the little bit of wine. But we want more. We want we want Christ. We want him in the fullness. We want him face to face. You. Uh, it's a new covenant in his blood, that is.
It's a reminder that Jesus again is the answer to everything that the Old Testament pointed to. We don't want the we don't want the picture. We want the reality.
And it's here. It's new. It's a new covenant in his blood.
Making covenants was a messy thing, and Jesus spilled his blood to usher you out of shadows into the reality of salvation for your sin, and if you notice too, the sacraments that we have now. There's no blood because the blood's been spilt. There's no more Passover lamb and cutting it up and putting blood on doorposts and and things like that. No, the Passover lamb has died for your sins, and we have baptism now we have water washing away. NO, NO and NO Passover too with did I say no circumcision and baptism, or did I mix up my words? So yeah, no no circumcision, no bloody sacrifice or no bloody cutting off skin, and that that's replaced with baptism and no Passover. Now we have the Lord's Supper, and he says, Do this in remembrance of me. If you could see it, it's on the table the. The cover might be hiding it, but do this in remembrance of me. He says, you know that this past week, many of you remember that we remember 911 and the slogan for 911 is never forget. You hear that said just about every year, never forget. But Jesus is saying, this is the one thing, the one thing. Never forget me. Never forget me. Never forget what I have done for you. Never forget that I have died for your sins.
Never forget I have washed them away. Never forget. I have made you right with God. Never forget that I am your high priest, that I am your king. Never forget.
Remember me. Focus on me. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me.
Jesus says, you know, one of the things in our worship that I want is simplicity. I don't want smells and bells and things to distract you. I want your focus to be here as you see the word and I want your focus to be here. These are the visual signs that God has given to us that our focus should be right here.
Remember, don't be distracted.
Focus here. Look at Christ. Look at Christ, as he reveals to himself, as he reveals himself to us in His Word and Sacrament.
And he says, Remember, focus, don't forget, because we forget, right? And you've heard me say this time and time again, how we are, just like Israel, God would do something amazing, incredible in the Old Testament, appear in a pillar of fire, apart the water, send bread from heaven, which was a picture of Christ again, Old Testament, and the people of Israel be like in the Moment. Wow. But what would happen the next day? Grumble, grumble, Murmur, murmur, God, where are you? Why can't we just go back to Egypt and slavery was so much better back there, and it wasn't. And that was just like us. God delivers us. He answers our prayers, and then the next moment, the next day, we're like God. Do you even exist? Where are you? What have you done? Am I alone? Remember, remember, do not forget. Now, just receiving the Lord's Supper doesn't do you any good either.
It's not like there's something just magical and and just taking bread, and whether you have faith or not, remember, it's not like, you know, if little mice get the bread that they are somehow now more spiritual. No, it must be received with thankfulness. It must be received in faith. Phil reichen, the the pastor and now President at Wheaton College, says our Savior knows that we have worldly hearts and treacherous memories and that we stand in need of all these memorials to keep us keep up the lively remembrance of His love. The phrase even there do this is it's not a suggestion. It's not I think it would be helpful if you did this. I think you'd be encouraged if you do this. This is a command from your king to do it. Do this because this is a means of grace by which I will spiritually feed you. And can we do it too often. Some people think, well, you know, if we do it too often, it might just be mundane. I might be mundane. I might be boring, but the Lord's Supper is not receiving grace is not boring. It is glorious. And if it feels mundane, that's maybe on me, maybe it's on you, but I rather err on receiving too much grace rather than too little. I'd rather have our children say, remember again.
Remember Jesus again. Didn't we just do that last week, rather than them say, remember? What are we remembering doing? What?
Let us remember. Let us remember. Let us not forget.
Never forget the Lord Jesus, Christ and His death and resurrection for sinners like you and me, and then the end here. But behold the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined. But woe to that man by whom He is betrayed. And they begin to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this? The betrayer is at the table. Judas is there, and Jesus knows that he's going to be betrayed Psalm, Jesus knows his Bible. Psalm 69 says that there would be a betrayer. He knows that a betrayer would be a close friend, and only a close friend can be a betrayer.
Stranger has nothing to gain. A stranger can't be a betrayer, and he serves even Judas knowingly that he will betray him.
I think that's just a wonderful picture of Jesus's patience and long suffering. Now Judas will not repent. He will not turn from his sins. He will not turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will perish. Jesus will even said it's better for him that he wasn't born than to face the wrath of God. But remember, Judas is a warning to us. If you were here last week, Judas is a warning to you who are here because Judas was very near to Jesus. Remember, Judas heard every single one of Jesus's sermons. He went with Jesus to synagogue, and he saw Jesus's miracles. Judas loved money, and also, it's a reminder to you, just because you're here doesn't mean that you're a lover of Jesus. Remember, just because you sit in a garage doesn't make you a car. Just because you you sit in a church doesn't make you a Christian. You must put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You must repent and turn from your sins and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. The table is laid out for you as it was laid out for them. And it happens very purposely, that it happened that Jesus did the Lord's supper on the the night in which He was betraying because the table is a picture for us. It's a picture.
It's a table of loyalty and of devotion. It's a table that every Sunday, you make a choice, will I be a follower of Christ, or will I not? It's a table of meeting with Christ. This table of loyalty is a table, though, for loyal sinners. It's not a table for the perfect or the perfectly loyal. And as they sat there with Jesus, and Jesus said, one of you will betray me, remember, they didn't all point to Judas and say, Jesus, we've known it's that guy all along.
It's Judas. It's so obvious.
It's so clear he's the one without faith. It's so clear he's the one that's not repenting of his sins. They looked at one another and they said, Is it me? Is it me?
Because they know their own hearts, and they know I am Prone to wander. I'm prone to deny Christ the if you notice here at the table that Jesus is instituting. This is a table full of sinners who have doubts about who they really are, doubts about who Christ is.
These are people with a weak faith. These are people that sit at the table and you know what happens in the very next verse?
Who's the greatest? I'm the greatest. No, I'm the greatest.
They start arguing with one another. This is the first Lord's Supper, but he earnestly desires to save sinners, like his disciples, like you and me.
This is us around the table, but you know what the supper tastes best the sinners just as we begin, why is that bread taste so good sometimes because we're hungry, and that supper tastes best to those who see themselves as spiritually malnourished and empty, And the only way that I can satisfy my soul is through the bread of life. I'm a hungry man, and I need bread. I need the Lord come to the table, as Matthew five says, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Let's go to the Lord in prayer, asking for his blessing as we are about to come to the table, let's pray, Father, we thank You that You have given us a means of grace, a picture of your body, of your blood, being poured out for us, for giving us a new covenant for putting away the Passover and giving us the new Lord. I pray that you will help us to see our need, to see ourselves as spiritually malnourished, to see that we deserve the cup of wrath, but yet you eagerly went to the cross and died for our sins, and give us a cup of blessing, and give us your body, help us to feed and feast upon it. And it's in Jesus's name we pray amen as we come to the table. I want to read in First Corinthians, chapter 11. This is Paul, who is writing to the church in Corinth. And. Uh, they were taking the elements of the Lord's Supper and just getting drunk, having a good old time, which is also a picture. They were using wine as well, right?
Uh, getting drunk off of it. And then he says, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when I 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 after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. So let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. How do we come to the Lord's table in an unworthy manner, without thanks and without faith? This table is for those who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who recognize that there is no salvation apart from Him, that He is the WAY, He is the truth, he is the life.
And no man comes to the Father apart from him. This table is for those who have joined themselves to a body of believers too. This is, again, not just me and Jesus moment he instituted it in a corporate setting with His disciples. And I know pews are difficult because we're not at a table, but you can even look around and you can see others holding a cup too, and say it's not just for me, but for them, for you too.
And we can remind each other, not just for me, but for you.
And where we are fellow pilgrims together, we are fellow brides to our bridegroom together. And this is a table for those who have been baptized, who who have come to the Lord Jesus, Christ, and use that, that other means of grace and sacrament as that picture of a washing away of sin and faith in Christ. If Christ isn't your Lord, if he isn't your savior, if you're not part of a church that professes the gospel, if you haven't been baptized, allow the elements to pass by. But again, consider your soul. You're not just a body. You have an eternal soul, and the only way to nourish it is Christ. Come to the table, be fed, be nourished. It is medicine for weak and weary sinners. You know what many of us are going to do after this, when we go home with our families, and what many of us did even this morning before the service argued, and that's exactly what the disciples do.
After this is done, we're going to start arguing with kids and spouses. But God's merciful to us. He washes away all of our sins, not in part, but the whole are nailed to the cross, and we bear them no more. But he feeds us. It's a blessing, so let us feed ourselves. Let's pray, Father, we thank you that there's a table that you set before us. This is a table that there we have done nothing to to accomplish it or deserve it. We deserve wrath, but we're going to get to hold the cup. We're going to get to remember that it is finished, and we get to hold the cup of blessing and drink it to the very dregs as you drank what we deserve the cup of wrath and drink it, all of it, Lord, we thank You that we're going to get the hold a piece of bread, and we're going to remember that you have done it for me, that my sins are forgiven, that I am right with you because of Christ, not because of me. And so Lord, let us remember. Let us remember. Let us not forget. Let us remember. This world is not our home. Let us rest upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's in his name we pray, amen. Amen.