Luke 22:19
The Lord's Supper
The goal tonight is not for me to preach but to help you to move any
obstacles out of your life that might be blocking you from
accomplishing the purpose of this service.
This is service is most unusual for several reasons. It is unusual
because:
1. It's keeping is commanded by the Lord.
2. It's elements were selected by the Lord.
3. It's participants are the people of the Lord.
4. And it's purposes are outlined by the Scripture of the Lord.
This service does not have definitive time to be performed. It does
not have definitive pattern to be followed. It is not a ritual.
The purposes are given to us in the Scripture. You have heard me
give them to you many times. They all come out of the book of
1 Corinthians; but even though I have given them to you many times,
I have seen something new about them.
1. I have seen they seem to have an order to them.
2. I have seen that the first four purposes will lead us to the
third purpose.
Let me them to you tonight:
1. It is a service of examination:
1Cor 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so
let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
2. It is a service of repentance:
1Cor 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we
should not be judged.
3. Then it becomes a service of remembrance:
1Cor 11:24 ...this do in remembrance of me.
4. And then a service of anticipation:
1Cor 11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread,
and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death
till he come.
5. And all of these build up to make it a special service of
joining our Lord.
1Cor 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless,
is it not the communion (union with) of the blood
of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not
the communion (union with) of the body of Christ?
My favorite place to go when we partake of the Lord's Supper is to
the middle: to remember. However, you cannot enjoy the remembrance
of the Lord's Supper if you have not first examined yourself and made
yourself right with God.
Three things we need to remember tonight:
I. We remember our condition.
A. The human race is a diverse race.
1. It may seem that we have very little in common.
a. We are different sexes, ages, and statuses.
b. We come from different nations.
c. We may even speak different languages.
2. But it is the things that we have in common that we need
most to remember.
B. We need to remember...
1. We have the same linage:
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered
into the world, and death by sin; and so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
2. We have the same condition:
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short
of the glory of God;
3. We are all headed for the same hell.
4. We are sitting in the same darkness.
Luke 1:79 To give light to them that sit in
darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide
our feet into the way of peace.
a. The darkness being spoken of in that verse is sin.
b. However, it reminds me of the darkness of fear,
discouragement, and depression.
c. Those are not good places to be, but the human race
needs to visit there every so often.
(1) Lost people who forget their condition forget
they need a Savior.
(2) Saved people who forget their condition forget
they need a Lord.
II. We remember His pain.
A. It is not possible for us to understand what Jesus went
through for us because He paid the price so that we would
never know it. But we must try.
B. There was His pain of debasement.
1. Two Bible passages, one in the Old and one in the New
Testament, describes that Jesus' suffering did not start
at the cross.
2. There is a word used in both of those texts which
describes how the Holy Ghost suffered pain to debase
Himself.
Psalm 113:5 Who is like unto the LORD our God,
who dwelleth on high,
6 Who humbleth himself to behold the things that
are in heaven, and in the earth!
Php 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and
took upon him the form of a servant, and was made
in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.
3. The word is "humble."
a. For God to even look into the affairs of sinful
mankind, He must debase Himself.
b. How much more for Him to lay aside the attributes
which are uniquely God's.
(1) Omnipresence
(2) Omniscience
(3) Omnipotence
c. And even more to become a human being.
d. And even more to become a human being with no
standing, no authority, no luxury, no comfort.
e. And even more to become a human being who would die a
cruel, harsh, criminal's death!
C. There was His soul's pain.
Matt 26:37 And he took with him Peter and the
two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful
and very heavy.
38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and
watch with me.
1. The Bible described the pain Jesus felt before He felt a
slap across the face or a thorn pressed into His brow.
2. It was the pain of His soul as He looked ahead to the
cross, perhaps even as the weight of men's sins began to
be dropped upon His shoulders.
3. He asked His disciples to help shoulder that pain, but
they either could not or did not.
4. The weight was so great that the Father sent angels to
minister to Him \\#Luke 22:43\\.
D. There was His body's pain.
1. This is what we see and what the Bible focuses upon.
2. The pain Christ endured in His execution was horrific -
especially remembering His nerves would never deaden
being without sin.
a. spit on Him \\#Matt 26:67 Mk 14:65\\
b. smote Him with their palms - slapped Him \\#Mk 14:65\\
c. buffeted or hit Him with their fists \\#Mt 26:67\\
d. blindfolded Him, slapped Him, and then mocked Him to
prophesy and tell who had hit Him. \\#Mt 26:68\\
e. mockingly worshipped Him with the crown of thorns, the
purple robe, and the reed for a scepter.
\\#John 19:2-3\\
f. scourged Him with a cat-of-nine-tails for 39 lick
g. nailed Him to the cross
h. crucified Him which was to affix Him to the cross in
such a way that He would slowly die from suffocation,
lung and heart congestion, and stress to cardiological
and nervous systems
E. There was His Spiritual pain.
1. This we cannot see at all, but for six hours Jesus hung
on a cross physically while His spirit paid for our hell.
2. There are almost 7 billion people on earth, and they say
7 billion have lived and died.
3. Somehow, Jesus paid for the damnation of 14 billion
people.
III. We remember God's power.
A. God did not leave Jesus in the Tomb.
B. Hell and the grave have something in common:
1. Neither have an exit.
2. Both are eternal.
3. Neither have 2nd changes.
4. No one has ever escaped from either.
5. Until Jesus. He defeated them both!
C. Men did what they could to make the tomb secured. They placed
a Roman seal and guards around the tomb.
D. I'm sure the devil did what he could to make it secure as
well.
1. If we could weld the stones together, he did.
2. But I feel certain he amassed all the demons he could
muster to sit upon that rock, to hold it fast in place.
3. I figure the earthquake was the resistance the devils
offered as God scooted the stone away from the door!
E. Jesus arose because of God's power.
1. That is the power we remember tonight.
2. That is the power we celebrate tonight.
3. And that is the power God's offers tonight!
Let us examine ourselves this night to be sure we are able to partake
of the Lord's Supper.
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