WEBVTT 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:12.720 I'm gonna do something that's dangerous for a preacher to do. 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:16.079 I want you to think about lunch. 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:24.480 Whatever you're planning to eat for lunch today, I want you to imagine it. 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:26.800 Maybe some home-cooked meal. 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:30.160 Maybe it's some Silverados, I've seen you all there. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:35.840 It's not Chick-fil-A, I'm sure of that. 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:42.079 And imagine that that food is beneath those lids right there. 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:54.799 And imagine that instead of sitting in these wonderful, comfortable pews, you're sitting in a movie theater style seat, and it's one of those like leather recliner guys with the table that comes out. 00:00:55.359 --> 00:01:05.200 And imagine that in a few moments, when we take communion, as the men come forward and they pass the plate, there's your lunch, right before you. 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:20.159 And then imagine that with that steaming plate of food sitting before you, you looked at it and you said, no thanks. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:22.959 I'll just have the gum under the seat. 00:01:26.719 --> 00:01:28.560 And you refused the meal. 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:51.680 So then why is it that so many of us, when we come to the Lord's table, starve our souls when we are presented with a feast? 00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:56.799 This practice is called many things. 00:01:56.879 --> 00:02:01.120 The Lord's table, communion, the Lord's Supper is what Paul calls it in 1 Corinthians 11. 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:07.439 The Eucharist, the body and the blood, the bread and the cup, the wafer and the wine. 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:14.000 This sacred meal has been many things to many people. 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:25.599 In church history, it has been the cause of more debate and battle and even bloodshed than almost any other part of the church. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:33.840 John Hooper, a faithful Protestant believer, was burned at the stake for what he believed about communion. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:39.919 The Marian Martyrs, the very same, because they rejected the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist. 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:50.479 There was a young boy, 12 years old in the fourth century, Tarsisius, who was asked to bring the communion bread across town to the church. 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:56.000 And while he was on his way, he was jumped by a band of marauders wanting to steal his food. 00:02:56.240 --> 00:03:07.520 Rather than give them the food, he clutched it to his chests as they beat him to death because he so loved the body. 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:29.199 We have those little cups with the like, I mean, it's just styrofoam little wafers on top. 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:36.000 And a while back we had some that we kept a little too long, they got fermented, like it actually was wine by the end of it. 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:44.560 I think for a lot of people, communion is just some kind of weird churchy Christian thing that you do. 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:48.960 They don't really understand, but I I guess Jesus said it, so you're supposed to do it. 00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:55.120 Honestly, for a lot of people, communion isn't even a church thing anymore. 00:03:55.199 --> 00:04:00.240 I've been to plenty of weddings where people do communion, been to retirement homes where folks do communion. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:05.599 There's even a new phenomena in the last couple years called virtual communion. 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:09.280 Uh one of them is named Dr. 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:13.360 Marcia McPhee's Comfort Food Feast of Love Liturgy. 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:19.040 Literally, you can, in the comfort of your home, eat cornbread and drink sweet tea and call it communion. 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:23.759 Which, by the way, that's not communion, just to be clear. 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:25.120 Doesn't count. 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:33.279 So what what on earth is this table that we do every so often? 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:41.279 Well, I just want to, as a way of introduction, answer three kind of nuts and bolts questions about the Lord's Supper. 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:44.079 So the first question I want to answer is what is it? 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:45.759 What is the Lord's Supper? 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:49.839 Well, very simply, it is an ordinance of the church. 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:51.519 It's a regular ritual. 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:55.920 There are two ordinances that Jesus left for his church, baptism and the Lord's Supper. 00:04:56.079 --> 00:04:58.000 And so this is the second of those. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:04.560 Jesus instituted it on the night when he was betrayed by saying, Do this in remembrance of me. 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:11.519 And you might think, well, maybe that was just like a one-time thing, until you get to 1 Corinthians 11 and you realize that Paul didn't understand it that way. 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:19.279 The passage we read, Paul understood this to be an ongoing ordinance that Jesus established this regular patterned ritual. 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:24.319 He received it from the Lord, and so he's delivered it to you. 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:30.959 And I think ancient rituals feel weird to us in kind of Bible church land. 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:33.279 There's other churches that have a lot more rituals. 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:36.480 We don't have very many, we just kind of have the two. 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:39.279 And so it feels strange to us. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:41.199 You know what a ritual is, though. 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:42.480 You've practiced this. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:46.560 You remember in school when you stood and you recited the Pledge of Allegiance. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:49.439 Or you're at a football game in D.C. 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:51.519 Washington saying the national anthem. 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:58.560 You know what it is to do something in kind of a regular way that's for the purpose of remembrance. 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:04.480 I think some people, though, when they come to the Lord's table, it feels a little cultish to them. 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:07.680 Like all of us are going to drink the same Kool-Aid at the same time. 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:08.639 This is a little weird. 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:12.560 Maybe they have a negative association with the Lord's table. 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:17.279 But I think it's supposed to feel a little bit strange. 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:20.560 It's supposed to feel ancient, transcendent. 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:23.199 I think that's why Jesus instituted it the way that he did. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:31.279 It's supposed to transport us in a way outside of the age of the iPhone into another world. 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:36.399 That's what the Lord's Supper is. 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:37.519 It's an ordinance of the church. 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:41.519 Secondly, I want to ask the question: how is the Lord's Supper supposed to work? 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:45.680 I'll start by answering it in the negative. 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:50.399 It's not supposed to work like a magic meal. 00:06:51.040 --> 00:07:08.000 I would reject the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, which is to say that the wafer and the juice actually turn into, really turn into the body and blood of Jesus and are sacrificed again every mass. 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:09.199 I totally reject that. 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:11.040 It's not at all what the Bible teaches. 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:13.279 And it's a horrific blasphemy. 00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:15.680 Jesus is not sacrificed again. 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:16.959 He died once for all. 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:20.560 So it's not a magic meal. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:22.639 It's also not a saving ritual. 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:30.240 This is not something you come to, and if you like eat a lot or you eat it really well, then somehow you get into heaven or you get a bigger apartment in heaven. 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:31.920 That's not how that works. 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:35.839 This isn't a meritorious act. 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:38.079 So what is it? 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:41.439 Well, very simply, it's a memorial feast. 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:42.639 That's what Jesus said. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:45.040 He said, Do this in remembrance of me. 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:48.480 Or you could translate it as a memorial about me. 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:52.639 This is very much an echo of the Old Testament feasts. 00:07:54.319 --> 00:08:05.439 The idea of them was that God gave his people these occasions where they would eat and in eating together remember something about the saving acts of God, what he's done for them. 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:11.519 And then they would explain that to their children so the next generation would continue to learn and continue to feast. 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:15.120 It was for his people for their spiritual benefit. 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:24.879 And what that means is that this ritual that we do as a church is not beneficial to you externally. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:31.920 It's beneficial to you internally, spiritually. 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:34.000 Can I say it this way? 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:39.039 The Lord's Supper is a food sermon. 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:43.360 It's an exposition that you eat. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:47.840 It's in the most meaningful way, soul food. 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:52.720 Or, as Thomas Watson called it, it is a soul festival. 00:08:53.679 --> 00:09:01.039 This meal preaches to our hearts the sign, the life, the death of Christ. 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:05.679 It is a feast for the heart, not for the stomach. 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:11.039 That's how it works. 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:14.960 And then thirdly, I want to ask the question: who is the Lord's table for? 00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:19.840 We know what it is, it's an ordinance, we know how it works, it's a memorial feast, but who is it for? 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:22.639 It's for the Lord's people. 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:25.200 This is a family meal. 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:32.559 That's why whenever we take communion here, we remind everyone this is a meal just for believers. 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:34.879 This is something just for believers to do. 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:39.919 If you're not a believer, we ask, would you let the cup and the bread pass from you? 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:41.360 Why is that? 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:43.279 Well, think about it. 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:51.919 If it's only good for you internally, spiritually, then you need spiritual taste buds for this to be helpful for you. 00:09:54.639 --> 00:10:01.279 You need to be given, so to speak, a spiritual stomach to spiritually digest the gospel truths that are rehearsed in the supper. 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:02.240 This is how J.C. 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:03.679 Ryle said this. 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:10.480 He said, quote, to enjoy a spiritual feast, we must have a spiritual heart and taste and appetite. 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:18.000 To suppose that the Lord's table can do any good to an unspiritual man is as foolish as to put bread and wine in the mouth of a dead person. 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:19.519 End quote. 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:22.320 So it's just for believers. 00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:23.840 That's who it's for. 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:30.240 Now, here's what I want to talk about the rest of our time. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:40.000 If you're a believer, and when you come to the Lord's table, you kind of struggle with what am I supposed to be doing? 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:50.639 Like I'm sitting here, I have this little cup with the plastic lid I gotta rip off, and gotta make sure not to spill it on myself. 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:57.679 Do you struggle ever to kind of know what am I what am I supposed to be doing in this moment? 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:00.000 I think I'm supposed to be praying. 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:05.120 But is there something else that's supposed to happen here? 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:07.919 That's who I want to talk to this morning. 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:13.919 I want us to see from the text of Scripture what we're supposed to do with communion. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:16.799 What is it for our souls? 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:20.960 And here's how I want to say it. 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:25.519 Communion is an invitation. 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:34.320 An invitation to come and to feast on Jesus at his table. 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:42.480 The Lord's table is an opportunity to feast on Jesus. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:50.240 And so we're going to look at that in two parts today, not surprisingly, one being the bread, one being the cup. 00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:58.080 If you would feast on Jesus at his table, then first you must eat the bread of Jesus' life. 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:01.120 Eat the bread of Jesus life. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:08.879 And in order to understand this, I think we need to be transported back to the moment that it was instituted first. 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:12.080 So if you would, turn with me to Luke chapter 22. 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:18.159 Luke chapter 22 shows up in all of the synoptic gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:26.960 But Luke's account, I think, is the most helpful, it's the fullest in describing for us this scene. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:35.200 And I want you to have a sense for what Jesus was thinking as he was instituting this meal. 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:39.519 Luke chapter 22. 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:47.200 Jesus has already sent out his disciples to prepare the meal in this upper room. 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:57.200 And it says in verse 14, in chapter 22, When the hour came, he that is Jesus reclined at table and the apostles with him. 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:11.279 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. 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:20.639 The scene is, it's Thursday night of Passion Week, the night before Jesus is going to go to the cross to die. 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:32.639 They're observing Passover, the Jewish meal instituted in Exodus chapter 12, before the actual Exodus. 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:40.559 And you remember the Passover meal, it had to do with God rescuing his people from slavery in Egypt. 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:48.320 Now, what Jesus is about to do here, he's not just slightly tweaking Passover like communion is Passover 2.0. 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:49.919 That's not what's happening. 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:58.399 But he is going to draw on some of the significance of this Old Testament meal to help them understand this new one. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:04.080 And so it says in verse 17, he took a cup. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:13.360 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. 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:26.159 Now the way that the Jews practiced Passover in Jesus' day, first of all, the Galileans would have done it on the Thursday night, and the Judeans would have done it on the Friday. 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:31.039 That's why they're doing it then, even though the Passover lambs are going to be slain on the following day. 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:34.720 The way that the meal would have worked is that there have actually been four cups. 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:41.919 And so the first cup that we read about in verse 17, that's not the communion cup, is the cup of blessing that would begin the meal. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:44.399 And then they would go and they would ritually wash themselves. 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:47.759 This is probably the point where Jesus washes the disciples' feet. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:52.480 And then they would come together, they would drink a second cup, and then the meal itself would begin. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:15:03.919 And you remember the meal would have the bread, and it would have the bitter herbs, and it would have the paschal lamb, the whole lamb that was sacrificed, whose bones weren't broken, and they had to eat all of it that night. 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:08.720 And then they would take a third cup and a fourth cup, and then they would sing and leave. 00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:23.039 And so in verse 19, he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, and this is where he gives this meal a new significance: this is my body which is given for you. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:25.120 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:36.320 And then likewise the cup after they had eaten, that's the third cup, he said, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:48.320 And in so doing, Jesus establishes for his church a perennial ritual that we would observe to remember him. 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:53.360 And in the middle of that he says, This is my body which is given for you. 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:54.720 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:15:54.879 --> 00:15:57.759 So what is the significance of this bread? 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:00.399 Why is it significant that we would eat the bread? 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:03.519 Well, let me give you kind of two subheadings underneath this. 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:08.240 As we eat the bread of Jesus' life, we feast on his sustaining life. 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:10.480 We feast on his sustaining life. 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:15.679 He says, This, meaning the bread, it probably looked kind of like a pedo's unleavened bread. 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:18.559 This is my body. 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:21.279 He's saying this is a metaphor. 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:28.000 This is a whole grain homily, preaching to his people something about himself. 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:42.159 He's saying, This bread that I'm breaking right now, this is like my flesh, my physical frame that I have come to give for you. 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:50.399 And if you're if you're thinking about this for a moment, you should be asking the question, why the bread? 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:54.159 Wasn't Jesus a Passover lamb? 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:56.080 Isn't that what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5? 00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:57.679 Why didn't he just do that with the lamb? 00:16:57.840 --> 00:16:59.679 Why did he do it with the bread? 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:08.480 Well, I think because he's getting at something different here than his life as a sacrifice specifically. 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:15.359 I think that's what he's going to say with the cup, but I think here with the bread he's doing something different. 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:19.119 What he's saying is what he said in John chapter 6. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:27.440 You remember the crowds, he fed them, followed him across the sea, feed us more, they don't understand, so what does he say? 00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:31.599 I am the bread of life. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:34.160 And they still don't get it. 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:39.039 And in Jesus' customary way, when people don't understand things, he just ups the ante. 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:50.160 And he says, Okay, if you don't eat my flesh and drink my blood, you got no life. 00:17:52.559 --> 00:18:01.839 And then he finishes by saying this, John chapter 6, verse 58, this is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread that the fathers ate and died. 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:06.880 Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:24.000 What Jesus means when he offers up the bread and says, This bread is my body, is that when we feed on him, which in the context he means believe, when we believe in him, we get his life. 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:28.240 It's a visceral image, isn't it? 00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:34.319 Isn't it curious that the Lord left us an institution where we eat? 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:35.839 Why is that? 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:45.440 Well, because there's something about taking the food in that sustains and nourishes you, that is a picture of what Jesus does for you in believing. 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:52.160 That as you believe in him, he sustains and nourishes and strengthens you with his life. 00:18:52.400 --> 00:19:04.559 In other words, as continually eating bread sustains your body for physical life, continually eating, believing in Jesus sustains your soul for eternal life, beginning now. 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:07.839 In a sense, you are what you eat. 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:10.880 You eat life, you get life. 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:18.079 Faith, then, is the Christian spiritual food supply line. 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:21.839 It's like a dasher bringing five guys to your house. 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:29.359 And what faith brings you, believer, is your Savior. 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:41.680 All of his goodness, all of his love, all of his life for you to enjoy and be strengthened by. 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:53.759 Every ounce of spiritual good. 00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:56.960 Here's the way Robert Murray McChain said it. 00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:12.079 He said, The Lord's table is a solemn declaration in the sight of the whole world that you have been put into the clefts of the smitten rock, and that you are feeding on the honeyed treasure there. 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:19.920 It is declaring that you have sat down under Christ's shadow, and that you are comforted and nourished by the fruit of that tree of life. 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:27.200 It is saying, I have come to trust under the shadow of his wings, and now I drink of the river of his pleasures. 00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:36.880 It is a sweet declaration of your own helplessness and weakness, and that Christ is all your strength and all your life. 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:43.200 Oh, the glory of that bread to say, I am nothing, and Christ is everything. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:47.119 His self-giving life is now my life. 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:52.240 There is no richer meal than that. 00:20:54.799 --> 00:20:57.839 And also, we feast on his uniting life. 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:00.480 It's not only a sustaining life, but it's a uniting life. 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:10.880 And I just want to mention briefly Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 10, he says this of the Lord's Supper, the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:14.960 The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:21.359 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:27.200 That word in that passage, participation, it's the word for fellowship, Koinonia. 00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:33.279 He's saying that when we partake of this food, we're participating in the life of Christ. 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:45.599 But I think Paul has a more horizontal mindset in this passage because he says, There's one bread, so we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one meal. 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:52.640 Meaning, when Jesus says, This is my body, he means it singularly. 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:55.359 You don't eat lots of different bodies of Christ. 00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:58.000 You all eat one body of Christ. 00:21:58.319 --> 00:21:59.759 You're all at the one table. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.759 Having the one meal. 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:09.359 As you are united to Christ, so then you are united to all other believers who are in Christ. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:15.839 It erases any kind of distinction. 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:21.920 We're all the same, sharing the same meal. 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:25.440 You know this because you sing it. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:43.599 Elect from every nation, yet one or all the earth, her charter of salvation, one Lord, one faith, one birth, one holy name she blesses, partakes, one holy food, and two one hope she presses with every grace indeed. 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:48.319 This is the unity of the body of Christ in a meal. 00:22:57.119 --> 00:23:04.000 There is no greater unity, friends, than the unity that we have in Christ. 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:10.960 The world will try to staple you together in a flimsy fraternity of ideas and causes. 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:15.039 But those are not true unity. 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:28.400 True unity is feasting on the same Lord, drinking from the same blood, having this mind, which is yours in Christ Jesus. 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:29.920 One. 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:34.880 You have Jesus in common. 00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:37.759 And that changes everything. 00:23:39.519 --> 00:24:01.759 So as we take communion today, and you look at this little wafer, I want you to spiritually, in your heart, in your mind, feast on the goodness of Jesus, on his righteousness, on his meekness, on his love, and on his unity. 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:10.079 Let the bread preach to you the glories of Jesus Christ and sate your soul on him. 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:15.039 Listen, the danger here is not that you won't eat, it's that you'll eat the wrong thing. 00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:19.039 We're always eating, spiritually speaking. 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:20.640 We're always stuffing our faces. 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:22.720 The problem is it's usually fast food. 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:31.039 The problem is TV shows, it's vain conversations, it's useless trivia. 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:35.920 Instead of the bread of life. 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:46.319 The question at the table is whether your diet gives you strength for obedience or whether it fattens you with pride. 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:55.359 Secondly, we drink the cup of Jesus' death, we eat the bread of Jesus' life, and we drink the cup of Jesus' death. 00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:57.920 If it's possible, this feast gets even better. 00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:01.359 Because Jesus not only gives us one sign, but two. 00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:04.400 The second being an emblem of his death. 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:09.519 That's what he means in 1 Corinthians 11 when he says, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:10.880 Blood signifies death. 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:21.359 And if you weren't sure, Paul makes it clear for you in verse 26, he says, For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:22.960 But what kind of death is it? 00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:24.640 Also, two subheadings here. 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:27.680 The first being that we feast on his atoning death. 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:29.599 His atoning death. 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:40.640 You should consider that when we're remembering the death of Jesus, we're remembering a horrific thing. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:46.480 The hour of darkness, a gruesome and a bloody death. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:50.079 So how is that good? 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:54.799 Why do I want to remember something like that? 00:25:57.599 --> 00:26:08.240 Well, because of what Jesus says, which is Matthew alone records, Matthew 26, 27 to 28, same scene. 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:18.480 Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many, for the forgiveness of sins. 00:26:20.559 --> 00:26:24.559 Oh, brothers and sisters, there is so much glory in those five words. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:28.799 For the forgiveness of sins. 00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:43.200 Though you should be condemned. 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:48.160 Psalm 75, verse 8. 00:26:49.119 --> 00:27:03.440 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs. 00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:10.559 You and I are the wicked of the earth. 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:13.119 That's our cup. 00:27:16.319 --> 00:27:19.200 And yet Jesus prays in Gethsemane. 00:27:21.359 --> 00:27:29.200 Father, take this cup from me, but not my will, but yours be done. 00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:38.240 Christ drank God's wrath on sin, then cried, 'tis done. 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:42.640 Sin's wage is paid, propitiation won. 00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:49.440 Do you ever notice that your name isn't on the communion cup? 00:27:50.960 --> 00:28:01.039 That's because your cup is sitting empty in a heap of cups at the foot of a bloody cross. 00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:08.960 Christ drank God's wrath for you so that you could stand forgiven. 00:28:13.519 --> 00:28:20.880 That's why Chrysostom calls the Lord's table the feast of the cross and a death meal. 00:28:24.640 --> 00:28:30.799 Jesus' forgiving heart is a feast for the believer, is it not? 00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:35.839 But also we feast on his redeeming death. 00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:46.640 His life forgives us, his death forgives us in the courts of heaven, but it enacts a new reality in your life right now. 00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:51.519 Luke chapter 22, he calls it the new covenant in my blood. 00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:54.559 You remember how covenants work? 00:28:55.119 --> 00:28:58.160 In Exodus chapter 24, they inaugurate the old covenant. 00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:00.559 Moses says, Okay, you guys gonna obey? 00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:01.839 They say, Yep. 00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:03.759 And so he says, Okay, here's a bunch of blood. 00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:04.640 Whoosh. 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:06.079 Covers them in blood. 00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:20.319 And then Jeremiah chapter 31, when it becomes obvious that they aren't going to obey, God says through his prophet, I'm gonna institute a new covenant. 00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:26.799 And I'm gonna put my spirit in them, and my law will be on their heart, so they'll obey me. 00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:34.799 What he's saying is that in this new covenant, I will fully and finally break the back of sin in the life of the believer. 00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:39.599 That's what he says in Hebrews chapter 9. 00:29:39.759 --> 00:29:55.440 Therefore, he is a mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 00:29:56.000 --> 00:30:02.480 Jesus' death not only pays for your sin, but it destroys the power of sin in your life. 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:09.519 You're ushered into a new covenant, a new relationship with the Lord whereby you can obey joyfully. 00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:12.079 You don't have to keep obeying sin. 00:30:12.160 --> 00:30:14.880 You're not a slave to sin anymore. 00:30:17.200 --> 00:30:22.480 That's why it's so important when you come to the Lord's table to confess sin. 00:30:24.319 --> 00:30:29.599 This is a holy meal for God's sanctifying people. 00:30:32.559 --> 00:30:35.200 You realize sin wants you to starve. 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:38.720 It doesn't want you to be well fed. 00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:42.720 It promises to feed you, but it never does. 00:30:44.720 --> 00:30:47.920 Only Christ can make you full. 00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:20.960 That makes no sense. 00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:28.160 That'd be like pouring gasoline and water on a fire at the same time. 00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:33.039 That'd be like getting pulled over by the cops for speeding, and he says, You know what? 00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:37.359 I'm gonna let you off with a warning, and you say, Thanks, officer, and then you speed away. 00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:39.359 Makes no sense. 00:31:39.599 --> 00:31:43.839 This is what the author of Hebrews says in chapter 10, verse 29. 00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:52.000 This would be like trampling underfoot the Son of God, profaning the blood of the covenant. 00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:55.119 Sin is serious. 00:31:55.759 --> 00:31:58.400 And we take it seriously at the Lord's table. 00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:11.839 Part of the glory of the feast of the Lord's table is to remember that as Christ has died to inaugurate a new covenant, he has brought you into it. 00:32:13.200 --> 00:32:16.079 You are free from sin. 00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:21.200 You are free to obey. 00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:25.359 What a glorious truth it is. 00:32:25.519 --> 00:32:29.440 He is a liberating, merciful, gracious Lord. 00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:42.079 Oh, how often do we try to sate our souls at the devil's diner when we have been prepared a feast by the Lord. 00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:47.599 There's nothing boring about this Savior. 00:32:47.920 --> 00:32:52.079 There's nothing uninteresting or flavorless about him. 00:32:55.680 --> 00:32:59.359 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. 00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:07.599 If you're here this morning, I wonder if you still feel hungry. 00:33:09.359 --> 00:33:12.640 If you've never had your soul satisfied by Christ. 00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:19.759 If that's you, I beg you this morning, receive Christ. 00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:25.119 Have his life for your life. 00:33:25.759 --> 00:33:36.160 Die with him on his cross and be resurrected in newness of life, so that you can taste how sweet and how good he is. 00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:49.839 And if you do, then there's one more thing that you'll get to taste in the Lord's table. 00:33:50.160 --> 00:33:52.079 Did you notice it when we read? 00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:56.559 In Luke chapter 22, Jesus says it twice. 00:33:57.119 --> 00:34:01.440 The Lord's table is also a foretaste. 00:34:03.359 --> 00:34:08.559 Jesus twice mentions that he's going to eat this meal in the kingdom of God. 00:34:09.679 --> 00:34:14.480 In fact, he says, when this meal is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 00:34:14.639 --> 00:34:16.239 That's what it's pointing to. 00:34:16.400 --> 00:34:28.880 That there is a coming banquet, there's a coming meal for all the chosen, for all his people, that is so much better than just a little bit of bread and a little bit of juice. 00:34:30.400 --> 00:34:32.320 It's the wedding supper of the Lamb. 00:34:35.679 --> 00:34:37.679 It's prophesied all over the Bible. 00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:40.719 Jesus himself talks about it in Matthew 8, Luke 12. 00:34:40.880 --> 00:34:45.519 The prophets talk about it in Isaiah chapter 34, Jeremiah 46, Zephaniah 1. 00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:49.840 But I want you to see the most glorious, I think, passage describing this. 00:34:49.920 --> 00:34:52.000 Turn with me to Isaiah 25. 00:34:53.280 --> 00:35:00.719 As we look at this last passage, Isaiah 25, I just want you to feel the glory of this feast. 00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:03.760 That is to come. 00:35:12.719 --> 00:35:36.559 Isaiah 25, speaking of the end times, the prophet says in verse 6, on this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. 00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:50.159 And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all the peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations, he will swallow up death forever. 00:35:50.880 --> 00:36:02.239 And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. 00:36:02.960 --> 00:36:09.039 And it will be said on that day, Behold, this is our God. 00:36:10.079 --> 00:36:13.840 We have waited for him that he might save us. 00:36:14.079 --> 00:36:15.440 This is the Lord. 00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:17.280 We have waited for him. 00:36:17.679 --> 00:36:21.280 Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. 00:36:24.400 --> 00:36:28.159 One of my favorite hymns by Isaac Watts. 00:36:29.440 --> 00:36:43.199 How sweet and awful is the place with Christ behind the door speaking of this feast, where everlasting love displays the choicest of her stores. 00:36:43.840 --> 00:36:53.760 And while all our hearts and all our songs join to admire the feast, each of us cries with thankful tongues. 00:36:58.960 --> 00:37:04.559 Why was I made to hear your voice and enter while there's room? 00:37:05.199 --> 00:37:11.280 When thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come. 00:37:12.159 --> 00:37:13.599 Here's the answer. 00:37:22.400 --> 00:37:27.519 Else we had still refused to taste and perished in our sin. 00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:33.599 Friend, here today are you refusing to taste? 00:37:35.760 --> 00:37:37.519 Don't do it anymore. 00:37:38.239 --> 00:37:40.079 The feast is spread before you. 00:38:01.039 --> 00:38:03.360 On that day we will feast with him. 00:38:04.719 --> 00:38:09.519 Blessed is the one who is invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. 00:38:10.800 --> 00:38:11.920 Let's pray. 00:38:21.760 --> 00:38:23.280 God in heaven. 00:38:27.920 --> 00:38:29.199 You know our need. 00:38:32.079 --> 00:38:38.559 And you have met our need perfectly in your Son Jesus Christ. 00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:50.079 So we ask, Father, as we come before your table, may we feast on Jesus. 00:38:52.639 --> 00:38:54.639 May He be all our life. 00:38:54.960 --> 00:39:01.280 May His death free us to glorious communion with you. 00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:05.840 In rich fellowship with each other. 00:39:09.199 --> 00:39:21.519 May this table that we take together be a glorious sermon to our souls of how Christ has become all for us. 00:39:25.760 --> 00:39:28.960 We pray this in his precious name. 00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:29.920 Amen. 00:39:31.280 --> 00:39:34.239 And now for a parting word for Pastor Jesse Johnson. 00:39:34.480 --> 00:39:35.679 Thanks for joining us. 00:39:35.840 --> 00:39:37.280 If you're in the Washington, D.C. 00:39:37.360 --> 00:39:40.000 area, I would love to see you at Emmanuel Bible Church. 00:39:40.159 --> 00:39:45.119 For more information on our church or our current service times, go to iBC.church. 00:39:45.360 --> 00:39:48.400 For more information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C. 00:39:48.559 --> 00:39:51.199 location, go to TMS.edu. 00:39:51.679 --> 00:39:59.360 I hope this resource has been a blessing to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel with boldness.