Understanding the Lord’s Supper

Grace Fellowship Church

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This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To access other sermons or to learn more about us, please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca.

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We're going to do things a little bit differently today, or at least in a bit of a different sequence.

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And what that is, if you've been with us for any length of time, you'll know that we usually, after we read from the

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Word, we'll preach from the Word, and then we will close in prayer, and then we do what's called fencing the table, which essentially is an introduction of the

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Lord's Supper. To warm God's people's hearts to the table and what we're about to partake in.

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Today we're going to rearrange the sequence a bit, a little bit of the elements of our normal order of worship.

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And what I intend to do for this afternoon is to engage in a bit of an extended fencing of the table.

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Not after I preach the Word, but while I preach the Word of God. And if you're trying to categorize in your mind then what it is that we're doing this afternoon, you could consider this an expository sermon as an extended introduction to our participation in the

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Lord's Supper. And so the centerpiece for today is the preaching of the Word and the table of the

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Lord. And the reason for this, the reason why we're going to do an extended fencing of the table, is because today our passage deals with Christ's ordaining of the

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Lord's Supper. And you might be, if you've been here for a while, you're familiar with that word ordinance.

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You might know that the Lord Jesus Christ left us, both the universal church and every true local church, with two ordinances to practice.

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And kids, I'm going to put you on the spot early to keep you on your toes. What are the two ordinances of the local church?

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One we do when people are believers and we put them under the water, we immerse them in water. What's that one?

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Baptism. And there's one other. What might it be? Communion. Yeah, communion or what we might call the

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Lord's Supper. That's exactly right. Good job. And so the Lord has ordained two ordinances, the

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Lord's Supper and Baptism. Now you see, unlike the Roman Catholic Church, if you were to visit a Roman Catholic Church this morning,

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I wouldn't recommend that, but if you were to go to a Roman Catholic Mass, what you would find is that they would practice seven, what they call, sacraments.

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Now we call them ordinances for a good reason. We call them ordinances because they were ordained by Christ.

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Or if you were to use a different synonym, we might say that they were appointed by Christ. They were commanded.

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They were decreed by Christ. And what Christ commanded his church to practice in perpetuity until the end of time and until his ultimate return is not seven sacramental rituals that confer what the

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Catholic Church would call sacramental grace. That's why we shun that word sacrament, typically. But Christ has given us two ordinances that are special, that are symbolic, and that are substantive in nature.

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And today what we're going to find ourselves talking about is Christ's ordaining of, or decreeing of, the perpetual practice of the

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Lord's Supper. Now, that might not sound all that exciting, a little bit doctrinally heavy, but it's thoroughly practical.

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And I want to bring this to all of our levels. So if you feel like we're in the realm of academia,

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I want to ask you this. What is the Lord's Supper? There are probably some of you in this room that have asked yourself that, and you're a believer and you have been for a long time.

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You might ask yourself, what is the Lord's Supper? Why did Christ command his church to celebrate this meal?

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What is its significance? Or you might even ask me specifically, why is it that we do it so frequently in this church when other churches only do it once a month, or once a quarter, or once a year?

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If you found yourself asking these questions, this text and this sermon is for you. But if you're also a mature believer, maybe you've been a believer for many years now, and you're finding that familiarity is breeding contempt in your heart for the

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Lord's Supper. Maybe as you approach the table, or as you hear the fencing of the table, or as you take the elements in your hands, you're less stirred than you used to be.

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You're less moved. It might even be appropriate to say you're less terrified at times than you feel you ought to be.

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Then this sermon is also for you. If the Lord's Supper has lost its sense of gravity, then this text and this sermon is for you.

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Because today, as I've already let the cat out of the bag, we're going to see the Lord Jesus Christ introduce the

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Lord's Supper, what we celebrate here on a weekly basis. And what we're going to see as he introduces this is we're going to see unveiled the

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Lord of the Supper. Who is the Lord of this table? We're going to see the significance of the

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Supper. If it has had no significance for you ever, or if it is losing significance, we're going to see that.

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And then lastly of all, and I think most encouraging of all, we're going to see, brothers and sisters, our place at the table.

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That it is a table that is open for the saints of God. And so when we rightly understand this ordinance, we can't help then to be struck by the significance of it all.

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And I hope to relay that as we look in the text. So let's, if you haven't already, open our

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Bibles to Mark chapter 14 and verse 12. If you want to refer to the insert in your bulletins, you'll see the three headings.

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The homiletical outline, one might say, of today's sermon. And that is this.

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We're going to look at three points. The Lord, the Supper, and the recipients.

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The Lord, the Supper, and the recipients. And with that in mind, I want us first to consider the theme of the

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Lord. Who is the Lord of this table? And we'll begin by looking at verse 12.

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Verse 12 reads like this. And on the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him,

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Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover? And he sent two of his disciples and said to them,

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Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and whatever or wherever he enters, say to the master of the house,

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The teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?

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And I will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. There, prepare for us.

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And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it, just as he had told them, and they prepared the

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Passover. And so first let us consider the Lord of the Supper. Over the past several months, we have been working our way through Christ's final

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Passion Week. And what I've tried to do throughout is to orient ourselves in this week. And so where we find ourselves now in chapter 14 and verse 12 is on Thursday.

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Now, you'll know that Christ went to the cross on Friday. And there he paid for the sins of every believer and died on that cross on Friday afternoon.

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So this is now Christ's last full day of life and ministry on this earth.

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But on this Thursday, what we see is that Christ sends now two of his disciples ahead of himself to prepare for the meal, the

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Passover meal to be exact. And as many of us know, the Passover meal had a long and rich history.

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We heard a little bit about it last week that in Exodus chapter 12, God ordained the

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Passover meal when he led the nation of Israel out of Egypt after he delivered them from the angel of the

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Lord who had struck down all the firstborn of Egypt. And you'll remember, children, you'll remember this, won't you?

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That what happened was the Israelites were commanded to slaughter one lamb and to smear that blood on the doorposts and on the lintels of their houses.

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And with that, the angel of the Lord would pass over their home as he struck down the firstborn of the nation of Israel.

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And so what would happen during that process was that each family that lived in each of those dwellings in the land of Egypt would slaughter the lamb and they would roast that lamb together.

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And then together they would eat it as part of an elaborate feast that they would serve with unleavened bread and bitter herbs and wine.

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And according to God's word, they were to practice this every year after they left the land of Egypt.

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So such a meal with its sacrificing and sprinkling of blood was to remind each generation of Jews of the night when their ancestors marked the doorposts and the lintels of their houses with the blood of the

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Passover lamb and were kept alive and secure from the sweeping judgment of the

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Lord on all of Egypt's firstborn. And if you were to travel to Israel then in Christ's day and explore a little bit of what was happening, what you would find is that on a busy

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Passover year, Josephus tells us, for instance, that as many as 255 ,000 lambs were slaughtered on the

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Passover. Now, one Passover lamb was usually good for a family of about 10 people.

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And so what that translates to is something along the lines of 25 ,000 families who were in the nation of Israel during the

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Passover meal. For the average Jew, then, it was meant to be a sobering and a joyful commemoration of God's redeeming work for the nation of Israel.

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So here Christ sends, then, his two disciples into Jerusalem. Now, we know it's

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Jerusalem because Deuteronomy, the book of Deuteronomy, tells us that in chapter 16, verses 5 to 8, that the

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Passover was to be celebrated in the place that God would appoint. And so the disciples head into Jerusalem.

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And verses 13 through 15, if you read that ahead of time, you might have noticed are strikingly similar to what we read in Mark chapter 11.

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And when Christ, we'll remember in that if we go to Mark chapter 11 briefly, and verses 1 through 6, when

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Christ sent, again, two disciples into Jerusalem to prepare for his triumphant entry, or into the village ahead,

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I should say, so that he could enter into Jerusalem for his triumphant entry. And when

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Christ did that, again, not only do we see that he sent two of his disciples into the city ahead, and not only does

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Christ perfectly predict what is to come in that event, but if we were to carefully analyze this, and don't do it now, you'll miss everything

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I'm going to say for the next 10 minutes, but you'll see that there are the same 11 words that we see in Mark chapter 11, verses 1 to 6, are the exact same words found in consecutive order in Mark chapter 14 and verse 13.

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You can go back and check that later. So Mark 11 and Mark 14, 11 of the exact same words.

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The only difference, then, are the details. Instead of sending the disciples into a village ahead, he sends them into Jerusalem, where the

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Passover had to be celebrated. And it was in this city that the two disciples would have to find a man carrying water through the city.

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Now, this comment probably wouldn't be well received if we were on White Avenue talking about this, and I have to caution even the sisters, but in Christ's day, carrying water was considered woman's work.

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And so this would have been actually quite a unique thing to see, to see a man carrying an earthenware vessel on his shoulder through the city.

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But that's exactly what Christ tells them to do here in this first century setting, where one would expect to find a woman to look for a man with the vessel.

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And that now filled in a city, or in a city, excuse me, filled with somewhere up to 2 million people for the

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Passover. We saw that last week. Josephus said in AD 66 that there were as many as 2 .5

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million people in Jerusalem during the Passover. And so during this time, it was expected then that the citizens of Jerusalem would extend hospitality for all of the various people that would make their way into the city for the

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Passover. And so here these two disciples are, sent on a mission to go into a city filled with somewhere around 2 million people and to look for one man who's out of place, carrying an earthenware vessel full of water.

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And there they're told he would take them to a room that was ready and furnished for them.

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And what we see is that is exactly what occurs. That as the disciples go in, they find the man with the vessel of water.

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They follow him to the home. There the home is ready for him. And what we're told in fact here is that the home was quite large, at least large enough for Christ and his 12 disciples.

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It would have been very likely that this would have not only been a regular home but the home of a very wealthy person, ready to receive

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Christ. Now what is this paragraph showing us? One commentator rightly points out, he says, the effect of both of these stories, this one and then in Mark chapter 11, is to show

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Jesus' knowledge and complete governance of events as his hour of death approaches.

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He says, Jesus is not a tragic hero caught in events beyond his control. No, Jesus displays, as he has throughout the gospel, hear this, a sovereign freedom and authority to follow a course he has freely chosen in accordance with God's plan.

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Judas and others may act against him, but they do not act upon him. And so what we see first as Christ sends these men into the city ahead, we see not only the

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Lord's Supper, but we're first then confronted with the Lord of the Supper. Here Christ is demonstrated to be all -knowing.

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He is omniscient. And even when exercising his divine attributes as a man, and we looked at that hypostatic union a few weeks ago, even as a man with his divine attributes, he knows every detail in the cosmos.

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He knows where one man in a city full of two million people may be found. He knows where he came from.

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He knows where that man is going. He knows even insignificant details like what that man will be carrying on his way.

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Certainly, Christ with the knowledge and the omniscience that he had at that very moment could have told you from across the

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Kidron Valley how many hairs that man had on his head. Make no mistake.

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Jesus, as some people would say, Jesus is my homeboy. They would wear a t -shirt that says, Jesus is my homeboy.

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Jesus is not your homeboy. Jesus is Lord. And he's the all -knowing Lord and God of the world.

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But more than that, what this passage shows us is that Jesus Christ is all -sovereign.

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Here we see that Christ is in control. Not only does he know all future events, but he is in control of all future events.

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He not only knows where the man will be with the water jar, but he sends the man.

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The man is sent, we're told, to meet the disciples. The owner of the home is ready to receive the disciples.

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In a city bursting to the seams, with 10 ,000 families, hundreds of thousands of people, all looking for a room,

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Christ ordains a place for him and his 12 disciples. A place large enough for him and his 12 disciples.

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This, as I mentioned, would have been a home probably owned by a wealthy family, wealthy landowners.

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But see this with me. Christ is Lord, not just of the peasant, but of every man.

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There is no hard heart too proud for him to soften, no knee too stiff for him to bend. And all of this was done all in anticipation of ordaining this meal for his future church, including this local church, even today.

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Christ not only knew and ordained what was to happen across the Kidron Valley that day with his disciples, but he knew and ordained all that would take place across the annals of time.

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Even in our day, even in our church. So on that Thursday, think about this with me.

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If you knew that you were going to die tomorrow afternoon at 3 p .m., how would you order the affairs of the last 24 hours or 36 hours of your life?

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Seriously, what would you do during that time? Well, here in this final 24 hours of Christ's life, on that Thursday, one day before he would go to the cross, as the time on the clock is running down, the

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Lord Jesus Christ, with the power to create and destroy worlds at his disposal, he orchestrates the seemingly insignificant affairs of this city that his disciples might go into the upper room and prepare for the

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Passover. What could be so important about the Passover that he would use his power and his time for that purpose?

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This ought for some of us to take hold of us and to shake us out of our stupor concerning the

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Lord's Supper, concerning the Lord's Table. Dear friends, by way of application,

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I want you to see here that the first thing that we need to take notice about the Lord's Supper is that it is the

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Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper and not your supper, not my supper, not even this church's supper, but it is the

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Lord's Supper. When we participate in the Lord's Supper, it is not first our meal, but it is

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Christ's meal. And what I mean by that then is this, that it is not ours to do with or to do whatever with, sorry, to do whatever we want to do with it.

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It is Christ's meal. And we are to do all that he has commanded concerning this meal, no more and no less.

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That's why, brothers and sisters, you might have heard of the expression the regulative principle. What does the regulative principle mean?

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It means that we will only do, when we meet to worship God, we will only do in this church what

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God has commanded, and no more and no less. And anything more and anything less is not true worship.

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Now, in the early, I guess, early modern period of church history, and I'm becoming just a small expert on these things as I fill my brain with it over the last month or so, is

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I say small, I highlight small. But in the mid -1600s, the Puritans went through a great struggle with the

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Church of England and the Lutherans. And the Church of England and the Lutherans would say that the church can do anything that God does not forbid.

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And they called that the normative principle. But the Puritans, they lived and they fought and they waged war to say, no, we can only do that which

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God has commanded. And we must do that which God has commanded. I heard a brother use a fitting analogy that if we were to use only the, if we were to build a house and use only the building materials that God has prescribed in his word versus all the building materials that God has not forbidden in his world, those houses would look very, very different.

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But which one pleases God more? That which God has commanded or to only refrain from doing that which

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God has forbidden? God is serious about us ordering our affairs after the dictates of his word.

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Now someone might say, Shane, you're just taking this way too far. You're being way too severe about this, way too serious that Christ is the

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Lord of the supper and therefore we can only do what he says concerning the Lord's supper. But I believe the only way this charge could be leveled against me, at least in a credible fashion, is if people have forgotten passages like 1

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Corinthians 11, verses 28 through 30. There it says, let a person examine himself then.

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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.

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That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. It makes me think that with the way that some churches and some

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Christians treat the Lord's table, you must conclude that there's nothing short of the mercy and the grace of God, that there aren't piles of bodies lined up in front of the

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Lord's table every week across the Western world. How we ought to observe the

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Lord's supper in all aspects of our worship with the greatest of seriousness, trusting and remembering that it is the

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Lord who has given us these things. And another quick point of application.

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Christ not only regulates, should not only regulate the details of our worship observance, our

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Lord's supper observance, excuse me, but our attitudes concerning the Lord's supper. How often do you approach this table as if it is the church's supper?

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How often do you approach this table as if it is your supper? Whereas our brother

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Alex has reminded us even sometimes how we might approach it as our own personal supper between just me and the

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Lord. We must frequently admit, I must at least frequently admit that like many things related to the worship of God, we approach these things with far too much levity.

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We're not approaching our grandmother's dinner table. I use that example specifically because when

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I was a child, I would wake up in the morning and my grandmother would say, what would you like for breakfast this morning? And if I said ice cream, she would say, let's get you some ice cream for breakfast.

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We're not approaching our grandmother's table who will wink at our sins and who has every amount of patience with our foolhardiness and rebellious heart.

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We're not approaching the president's table or even the king's table with all of its pomp and procedure.

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But we are approaching something far greater. Every week, brothers and sisters, when we come to the Lord's table, we're coming to the

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Lord's table. And so we ought to treat it with the greatest care, the greatest of thought to the holiness and the majesty of God and the rich symbolism that is presented here.

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Every week, we don't just come to this plastic fold -out table, which it is, but we come to the holy table of the sovereign

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Christ. And he is the master of that little table, as unimpressive as it is, because of what is on it and of what it represents.

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I heard a great story once of an 1800s, 19th century

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German missionary. One of our German brothers in our company in this church.

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And it seems like a good German thing to say, but in the 1800s, there was a man named

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William Schaufler. He was a missionary and he traveled to Constantinople. That's modern -day

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Istanbul, Turkey. And when he arrived there, that was under the control of then the

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Russians or the predecessor to the Russians. I don't know that much about Russian history, but the

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Russian ambassador, the ambassador of that land, said, my imperial master, the Tsar, will never allow

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Protestantism to set foot in Turkey. Now, what did our German brother,

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William Schaufler, say in the middle of the 1800s? He said, he answered the ambassador, he said, the kingdom of Christ, who is my master, will never ask the emperor where it may set its foot.

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Will never ask the emperor for permission. And under the banner of that sovereign

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Christ, Schaufler preached the gospel for 44 years in Constantinople amongst the

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Jews and the Armenians. Christ is the sovereign master of Constantinople or Istanbul today.

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And he's the sovereign master of this table without apology. Now, brothers and sisters, is that reflected in your observance of the

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Lord's Supper? The second point that I want us to see here then, we've seen the

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Lord, the sovereign Lord of his table. I want us next to see the

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Supper. We've seen the Lord, now we'll look at the Supper. We're gonna look, read specifically in Mark chapter 14, beginning in verse 21, 22, excuse me.

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And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to them and said, take, this is my body.

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And he took a cup. And when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank of it. And he said to them, this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

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Truly I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

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And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. So for this moment, we're gonna briefly jump over verses 17 through 21 and look specifically at verses 22 through 26.

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And this is what we see. That in that upper room, which would have been extended to Christ and his disciples, when we read that it was fully furnished, what that means is not that it had wonderful couches and tables and coffee tables, but to fully furnish a room for the

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Lord's Supper was to lay out rugs and mats and carpets and for room for the men where they could recline on their backs and to participate in the

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Lord's table. It was a different table than we might expect today. And as Christ and his disciples sat around the table, as it were, on this last earthly eve of Christ, it may very well have, this likely would have followed the normal course of events for a

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Jewish Passover. And I'm not sure if anyone here has been to Israel or to Jerusalem, certainly not for a first century

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Passover, but in the first century, if you were to go there and to participate in a Passover with a family in Israel, this is what it would have looked like.

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And I must acknowledge, I'm very in debt to one particular historical commentary or commentator who

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I've gleaned a lot of this information from. He says that in a Jewish household, the eldest male in the family, so the big brothers in the household, that's you back there, the eldest boy in the household would recount the meal or recount the significance of the meal by describing the events that took place in the

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Passover. And in the course of this young man, this elder male's teaching, he would talk about the past deliverance that the

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Jews had enjoyed from the slavery in Egypt. He would speak in detail about the blood on the doorposts and on the lintels of the house and about the ready travelers who were inside getting ready for the

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Passover. In dramatic fashion, that eldest male would highlight the confidence and the safety that the

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Jews enjoyed even as the, and picture this, if I told you today that a tornado was going to just buzz the roof of your house tonight, you'd probably have a difficult time falling asleep.

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But they would relay how in dramatic fashion the very angel of death would pass over the homes striking dead the neighbors around them on every side, the firstborn in every

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Egyptian home. And this firstborn male would speak longingly of the coming

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Messiah who would once again redeem Israel. After this was done, they would begin to prepare for the meal.

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And the meal itself was divided into four different parts, each time concluding with a drink from the wine or a cup of wine.

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A blessing would be pronounced by the head of the family over the gathering. And then the children, children, think about this for a moment, okay?

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The children were not often some far off room, maybe down the hallway playing or plugged in front of a first century

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Israeli iPad. But no, they were in the place of worship with the rest of the family.

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It's not just that they were to be seen and not heard, but they had an active role in the worship of God on the

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Passover Eve. And so what would happen is after the firstborn or the eldest male would give his discussion or his introduction to the

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Passover, and after the father had pronounced the blessing on the gathering, the children would recite this question.

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And the children would be expected to memorize this question and to ask it during the meal.

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And this is the question. The children would ask, why is this night different from other nights?

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Imagine that, children. In first century Israel, your family has just slaughtered a lamb for the

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Passover meal. Your father has pronounced the blessing and you have one line to memorize. And it's this.

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Why is this night different from any other night or from other nights?

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Now fathers, I want you to note this with me. It wasn't a priest. It wasn't a highly educated

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Jewish historian who answered the question. But the father of the house would then teach his children about the deliverance that the nation of Israel had enjoyed, that these ancestors had experienced while in Egypt.

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The father would then pronounce a benediction with the various foods that symbolized the

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Israelites' bitter captivity in Egypt and would describe all of the hardships and the blessings of the exodus.

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And then after all of this was done, the family would eat. The family would eat and enjoy each other's company and go through these four stages of the dinner.

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And near midnight, just as we see if we look in verse 26, where Christ sings with his disciples.

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I've always appreciated that, that Christ sung a hymn with his disciples. Near midnight, they would take a final drink of wine and the group would conclude by singing the psalms of Hallel.

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Now that's a shortened form of the word Hallelujah. And it simply means to praise. They were the psalms of praise.

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Now you have, I'm not sure if you knew this, you have those psalms of praise on your lap today. They're psalms 113 through 118.

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And so once everything was wrapped up and the last drink of wine had been taken, the family would sing from the psalms of praise and most likely would sing from psalm 118.

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And it's a long psalm. It's over almost 30 verses, so I'm not going to read it all, but I want to highlight just a few verses that that first century

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Israel, Israeli family would sing. Psalm 118, verse 1.

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Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

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Psalm 118 .5. Just think about this for a moment. In this room with your family, giving thanks for what

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God has done. Out of my distress, I called to the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me free.

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Free from the chains of Egypt. Free from the bondages or the bondage of death. Psalm 118 .14.

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They would sing, the Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. Verse 17.

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I shall not die, but I shall live and recount the deeds of the Lord. And then verses 28 and 29.

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You are my God and I will give thanks to you. You are my God. I love this word.

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And I will extol you. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

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So here Christ leads his disciples as the sovereign Christ into this upper room where they're to participate in the

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Lord's Supper. And then here we see the supper and the main theme of the supper itself.

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And if someone were to ask you, what was the Passover about? It was about one thing primarily.

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That was God's saving work for his people. The whole Passover was permeated by reminders and songs about a

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God who took a helplessly enslaved people. He heard their cries. He gave them life.

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And so they, in return, were to give him their unremitting praise forever.

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So now we see from Christ's words that this observance, his observance, of this

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Passover meal, in many respects, was no different in its theme. It is filled with the same expression, the rich expression of God's salvation.

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But as Christ describes this particular Passover, we begin to see that it is very different in its details.

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In verses 22 through 24, as Christ breaks the bread, as one might expect, he doesn't highlight the unleavened bread of the

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Israelites, but he highlights his own crushed body, broken for his disciples.

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And in the normal Jewish fashion, as the father would pronounce his benediction and his blessing,

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Christ gives thanks for the cup. But as he does this, he doesn't highlight the blood of the

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Paschal Lamb, slain 1 ,600 years ago at the

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Passover, but he highlights his own blood, poured out for the salvation of many, the blood of a new and of a better covenant.

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And what we see here, brothers and sisters, see this with me, as Christ participates in this

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Passover, that he's not just participating in another Passover, one of many that could be had in any home around Jerusalem, but he is establishing a new

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Passover meal for the people of God. A new meal that the blood -bought people of God were to enjoy as a means of looking back to Christ's past saving work and the future consummation of his redemption, his redemptive plan.

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The reason why we celebrate the Lord's Supper together, I want you to see this with me, is not just to maintain some religious tradition.

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It exists, like the Passover meal did over 2 ,000 years ago as part of the old covenant to press all of us and our children and each successive generation to ask, why is this day different from other days?

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To which, brothers and sisters, friends, we tell our own souls, we tell our own children, we tell the generations that are not yet born, because this is the day when we remember that Christ's blood was shed and applied not to the doorposts of a house, but to the doorposts of our hearts, to the lintels of our hearts, that we might be saved not from one passing of the angel of death, the angel of the

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Lord, the Lord himself, but the just judgment of God for all of eternity. And just as the

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Israelites were safely resting in their homes when that angel of death passed over their heads, so we too are saved to rest from our works and to rest securely, shielded from the just wrath of God that we deserve.

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Today we remember the day when God, rather than striking us down with the rest of the sons of Adam, chose instead, from eternity past, to strike down his only begotten son on our behalf.

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The day when Christ became, this is a good theologically rich statement, our vicarious sacrifice for all of our wicked deeds, all of our sin, all of our lawlessness.

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So brothers and sisters, when we come to the Lord's table, it's not a practice that's removed from the history of the world or removed from the history of the

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Bible, but we come every time to the new Passover, the new

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Passover celebration. And I'm not extending this too far. 1 Corinthians 5, 7 says,

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For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 1

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Peter 1, verses 17 through 19 says, We were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from our forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like what?

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Like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. Our brother,

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Steve, will remember a time in our lives, our respective lives when we poured ourselves out in service to the students at Grant McEwen University.

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And we would spend many of our Fridays there and many other days on the phone with students or going to different events at the school.

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And I remember our first time, our first year being an official ministry club on campus that was recognized by the university.

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They gave us a table on the university and it felt so official. For a long time, we were meeting in kind of borrowed rooms.

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Students would rent a room in their name and we would meet. But finally, we had real status on the university.

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And to be anything in the university's eyes meant nothing at all except that we got a room and when all of the campus groups met, we got a table.

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And to our joy, when I arrived at the table that was set up on campus, I discovered that we were right next door to a group called

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Mystery Lies in History. And Mystery Lies in History, the key word there, the operative word is lies, was the group known as the

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Church of God, World Mission Society, a cult that has a massive following here in Edmonton.

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And I think some of you have probably heard this story but I know many of you haven't. But we were eager when we found out that the

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Mystery Lies in History, it's a tongue twister, was going to be next to us. We were going to talk to them about the gospel.

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We were going to talk to them about what we believed, about what they believed. We were going to compel them, surely, that the unadulterated gospel of Jesus Christ that can be found in Scripture was in fact the message to rely on, to lean on.

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That was the mystery of history. And as we got to meet them, what

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I soon realized was that the World Mission Society is probably one of the most ungracious, their ambassadors were the most ungracious cult members

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I'd ever experienced. And so they immediately said, no, you don't want to talk to us. I said, no,

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I really do want to talk to you. And so they began to grill me on things like Christmas trees and Jewish feasts and festivals and a flurry of other topics.

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And then they got to the crux of the argument, the throat grab of their argument. They said,

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I bet you don't even celebrate the Passover. Now, I'm not sure that that's the throat grab argument, but it was their argument.

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Now, let me ask you, how would you answer if they came to you and said, I bet you don't even celebrate the

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Passover? I said, well, no, no, I don't. And they said, exactly. And in their own minds, they were smug in their victory.

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But if I were there again today, if I were given that same opportunity, if they were to say, do you celebrate the

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Passover? And not in a proud or an arrogant way or in a way of one -upmanship, but I would say this.

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Yes, I do celebrate the Passover and a better one than you. Because my

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Passover lamb is not a mere creature of God. It's not a fluffy animal that is killed and eaten.

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But my Passover lamb is the eternal Son of God sent to rescue sinful men like me and sinful men like you and sinful men and women like you.

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And I say this on the authority of the inerrant and authoritative Word of God. Hebrews 10 .4

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says, For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. If you were a

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Jew celebrating that Passover, you could celebrate the temporal passing over of the angel of death some 1 ,600 years earlier.

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But the Passover lamb and the Passover meal that we celebrate today looks back to Hebrews 10 .14.

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For by a single offering, He, that is Jesus Christ, has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

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Even as we approach God, as imperfect as we are, as unsanctified as we are.

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Because of that Passover lamb, I am perfected. And you, if you are a

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Christian, are perfected for all time in Christ. So then we celebrate the

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Lord's Supper carefully, seriously, worshipfully, joyously, as a new and a better Passover meal.

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And we don't have time to sit there long, but if you were to go to 1 Corinthians 11, it really fills in the details.

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1 Corinthians 11, verses 17 -34. We learn that this is not just a biological family meal when each family would go home and participate, but this becomes a family meal for the blood -bought household of God.

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When we assemble with one another on not one day a year, in the first month, on the 14th day of Nisan, but one day every week on the

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Lord's Day to remember what Christ has done. We are to wait for one another.

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1 Corinthians 11 says. We are to discern what Christ has done for us collectively. We are to discern the new covenant body of believers to which we belong.

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In light of this, we are to examine ourselves. And then in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 26, it says,

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As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

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The new covenant, Passover. So we've looked at the Lord. We've looked now at the supper.

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And I want lastly for us to look at the recipient. This is a brief touch on this.

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I ask the question, who are the recipients of this meal? When we come to this table, who rightly receives this meal?

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I think to get to the bottom of the question, accurately, theologically, we have to ask ourselves, who were the recipients of this meal?

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And we see this in verses 17 through 21. And we certainly see it a little bit further in verse 23.

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I'm not going to read it all. But I'll just highlight briefly. The verses 17 through 21 deal with the betrayer.

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Who was to betray Christ? We know that was Judas Iscariot. And what a sad thing to be said of, to say it would have been better for that man if he had not been born, than to betray

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Christ. Now we can look at Judas Iscariot, but he is hardly the ideal example.

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But I think as we look more closely, maybe at verse 23, we begin to see, who are the participants of this meal?

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It says, and he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of it.

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They all drank of it. I think what's really interesting, most of us would probably miss it.

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Had I not had the benefit of, of reading one particularly helpful author on the topic,

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I would have missed it. But that word all, is a very interesting word. What you find in fact, is that all, all of the disciples, have a lot more in common with Judas Iscariot, than we might expect.

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In verse 23, it tells us the bread and the cup, were consumed by all, signifying all the disciples.

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Now it doesn't tell us much about, about this all, except that we look then, at what all is spoken of, in all of chapter 14.

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At least as it pertains to the disciples. How are these all spoken of?

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James R Edwards, points this out very helpfully. He says, that this word all, if we were to look all through chapter 13, echoes throughout the remainder of the chapter, to recall the failure, of the disciples.

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These men who partook in the Lord's Supper, that night, were rightly called failures.

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Verse 23 says that, all drank. We've seen this now. Verse 31 says, all swore allegiance to Christ.

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All the disciples. In verse 27, Christ said that all, would fall away.

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In verse 50, we read, all fled. What is the one thing that describes, these all, these men, who partook in the

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Lord's Supper? I think it can be summarized in a single word. They were unworthy. The original

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Last Supper, as one commentator writes, is attended by, traitors and cowards. It is a table not of merit, but a table of grace.

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Throughout all of church history, I've appreciated that, the Lord's table has been understood, as what's been called, a sinner's ordinance.

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An ordinance for those who, are unclean. Who are unworthy. Who, of their own merit, cannot approach the table.

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We come, like Jonathan Edwards might say, if you were to summarize it. We come to the table, just as we come to Christ.

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With nothing to offer, except the sin that made, our salvation necessary. We come to the table, with nothing to offer, except our sin, which made the table itself, necessary.

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But dear brothers and sisters, it is at this table, that Christ receives us.

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Just as he received us, when we came to him, by repentance and faith. It is at this table, that Christ receives us, mysteriously, wondrously, astonishingly, miraculously.

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And only through what Jesus Christ, has done. And so what we find is that, that Christ is the

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Lord of this table. That this is the supper, of the Lord. A Passover remembrance, as it were.

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Of Christ's work on the cross, on our behalf. And brothers and sisters, we come to it, in the same way that we come to God, every single day.

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Which is unworthy, of that love. Unworthy, of being received.

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And yet, freely received, because God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die.

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Again, to use that expression, as a vicarious sacrifice, in our places.

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And so we come, then to the Lord's table, every week. If you are believers, righteous in Christ, because of the double imputation, that happened on Calvary's hill.

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And at the moment, of that you first believed. That on Calvary's mount, when

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Christ was affixed, to that tree, he became accursed of God. And the very sin, and the punishment, and the wretchedness, that you so deserve, and that I so deserve.

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The wrath of God itself, was poured out on Christ, in our place. And 2

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Corinthians 5, 21, says that he became sin. That he became the very punishment, for the sin, of you and I.

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And then the other half, of that double imputation, that on the day, when the Lord called us, to himself effectually, just as he arranged, the affairs of Jerusalem, that afternoon, from before the foundation, of the world, he arranged the affairs, of your salvation, when you would come to him.

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And on that day, when the Lord effectually, called you to himself, and you repented of your sins, and you believed on him, not only did

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Christ become sin, on your behalf, but you became the righteousness, of God in him.

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And so as we come to this table, we come unworthy, in one sense, and yet righteous. What Luther would say,

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Simon just a peccator, at the same time a sinner, and yet righteous.

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Simultaneously a sinner, and yet righteous. And righteous in the sight of God, so that you're received forever.

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On September 8th, 1796, I told this story, last week, maybe

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I'll start this way, I told this story last week, about John Newton. Apparently I'm on a bit, of a John Newton kick.

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This is just, is coincidental, I suppose. But on September 8th, 1796,

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John Newton wrote a letter, to a young lady, named Hannah Moore, whom he led to Christ.

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And more ministered, we're told, in the area of, Mendip, England. Teaching from the

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Bible, and ministering, to the poor people there. And Newton wrote to her, he said,

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I cannot wonder, that a sense of the love, of Jesus to you, should constrain you, as it does, to devote all your time, and talents, and influences, to your service.

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Nor do I wonder, at the success, and the encouragement, he gives you, in your department. Really, he's praising her, for her hard work, amongst the poor.

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And Moore wrote back, she said this, I love these words, she said, God is sometimes, pleased, to work, by the most, unpromising, and unworthy, instruments.

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I suppose, to take every shadow, of doubt, that it is his own doing. It always gives me, the idea, of a great author, writing, with a very bad pen.

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Brothers and sisters, if we were cups, or pens, in the eternal cup, of God, on the desk, we are all bad pens.

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We are inconsistent. We are blotchy. We don't write straight lines. We move, in God's hand, as if, we had a will of our own.

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And yet, God is pleased, to receive us, and to use us. What a blessing.

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And John Newton, that same John Newton, who was himself, a redeemed slave trader, slave ship captain, he said at a later time, he said this, he said, when

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I get to heaven, I shall see, three wonders there. The first will be, to see many people there, that I did not expect to see.

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The second, to miss many, that I did expect to see. And the third, and the greatest wonder of all, will be, to find myself there.

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But in Christ, brothers and sisters, we will find ourselves there. As I prayed, during the pastoral prayer, in 10 ,000 years, if you're in Christ, here now, today, in 10 ,000 years, you will be there.

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In 10 ,000 years, we will be around, the true table of the Lord, as it were.

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The banquet of the Lamb, and of Christ, in the very presence of God.

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And it won't be because, we worked hard in this life. And it won't be because, we did more good than bad. But it will be because,

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Christ, the Passover Lamb, went to that cross, 2 ,000 years ago, in our place.

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And so every week, when we partake in the Lord's Supper, we remember, why is this day different from any other day?

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Because this is the day we remember, that Christ died for us. And not only did he die for us, yet now he lives for us.

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And he lives ever to intercede for us. And one day, Ephesians 5 says this, it's in reference to marriage, but I want to,

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I often quote it to husbands, but I'm going to quote it to all of us, in reference to Christ. Ephesians 5, 25 says,

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Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church, and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, that she might be holy, and without blemish.

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Dear brothers and sisters, when we come to the table, we remember, that these words will be true. They are true now.