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[0:00] We welcome you to the media ministry of Bethel Community Church, knowing Jesus, making Jesus known. There, now you're talking. How's that Frank?

[0:15] All right, you're the one I'm concerned about and I want to make sure you can hear me. You need some teaching this morning, brother. But Frank knows what I'm speaking on this morning and he's a great encouragement for me in this area.

[0:33] As we talk about this, I'm encouraged. I get excited when he shares some of these things in the Lord's Supper. So I was given this task several months ago and I've been thinking much about it.

[0:50] It's on the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper. And so I want to look at that this morning. I want to look at who instituted, how it was instituted, when it was instituted, and encourage you, if you're not a part of it, to be a part of it this morning.

[1:12] So, but first let's start out with a little quiz. Start out with a little quiz. It's a pretty easy one. What did you have for breakfast this morning?

[1:25] Nothing. Nothing. We had donuts in there. You could have donuts. Nothing. That wasn't that hard to remember, right? You only had to go back a couple hours. What did you have for dinner this past Tuesday?

[1:38] I wrote the question and I still don't know the answer. How long have you been married, men?

[1:51] How many days? Yeah. Can't remember that, right? Two more. What day of the week did you speak your first word?

[2:05] You say, I can't remember that. That's a long time ago. All right. Let's go with one last one. What happened 26,506 days ago?

[2:19] Come on. You don't remember it? It was a very and very important day. What's that?

[2:31] You might have got it. Israel became a nation. Don't you remember that? May 14, 1948.

[2:44] Wow. Your memory is not very good. It's probably better than mine, though. And that's one of the reasons I want to look at the subject this morning, the Lord's Supper.

[2:54] Because I got a bad memory. And the Lord knew that I have a bad memory. And He wants me to remember.

[3:06] He wants me to remember Him. And so if you'll turn to 1 Corinthians 11, there's four areas where the Lord's Supper, where it talks about the institution of the Lord's Supper or when it began.

[3:21] Three of them are in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And, you know, we know that it's the Passover. The Lord has met with the disciples.

[3:35] In fact, in one of them it says, the Lord says, I desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you. Wow. He desired.

[3:45] And yet it was the same night in which He was betrayed. And that very night that He was going to be betrayed, the Lord said, I am bringing something to you that I want you to do.

[4:05] That I want you to do. You know, in the church there are two ordinances that we practice. One is baptism. And one is the Lord's Supper.

[4:18] And on these ordinances the Lord taught them or gave them. It was the Lord who gave them. The apostles, they practiced them.

[4:31] And the church as well. And so we at Bethel, we practice these two ordinances. And I just want to take a little closer look at that this morning.

[4:43] Because for me, as I've gotten older, that time has become very, very precious to me. You know, when I was seven years old, when I first started being in attendance of the Lord's Supper, I was like pretty much most of the kids, when's this going to end?

[5:12] Man, what's all the quietness about? What's happening here? I'd have my things where, you know, oh, oh yeah, I got a neat thing I can work on this week.

[5:24] I can doodle on this. Didn't have to worry about getting out of line too much. My dad, you know, he had us in two long rows. And all he had to do was look down.

[5:37] Boy, we straightened up. Whether you wanted to be a part of the meeting or not, you straightened up. And yet, though, as the years have gone by, it's become different for me.

[5:49] It's become a time that I really, truly look forward to. I have to tell you, during the week, I expect the Lord to show me something, something that happened in my life, no matter where I'm at, that I will be able to bring to him on Sunday.

[6:04] That is an expectation that started a couple years ago. And it happened. And it's not because of me. It's just because the Lord shows me things that are happening, no matter the struggles I'm going through, no matter the great times I'm having.

[6:22] That, wow, Lord, it's all about you. It is all about you. It's not about me. And that's one of the reasons, I think, for the Lord's Supper, the way we practice it here at Bethel.

[6:34] And the way we do it doesn't mean that that's exactly the way they did it back in this time. But I think there are some great, there's a great profit from it.

[6:50] So let me read these couple verses here. We want to start with the verses that Paul wrote to us, and we will conclude our session. Because I'm going to have to probably fan out some of the verses, or not use them, but verse 23 to verse 26.

[7:09] For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which He was betrayed, took bread. When He had given thanks, He broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you.

[7:21] Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, He took the cup also after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

[7:35] For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, You proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. You proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Father, I'm just, I'm not a very good proclaimer of words.

[7:50] And the older I get, I feel like it becomes less and less. And yet this portion of Scripture has become very near and dear. And I pray that you would help me just to expound some on it, that it can become refreshing to the others here this morning.

[8:07] Amen. So I had that quiz for you because if you're like me, you know, you forget things. You know, I had to be reminded twice by my wife and my daughter on Saturday.

[8:22] Hey, your oldest sister's birthday, give her a call. Yes, yes. And around 9 o'clock I gave her a call. And so I didn't have to say the next day, I forgot your birthday.

[8:35] Has anybody here ever had a birthday that nobody remembered? That you didn't get any calls? You didn't get any happy birthdays? That nobody said anything about?

[8:45] Boy, if you have, probably felt like a downer. You probably wonder, like, does anybody know I even exist?

[8:58] And yet I think here the Lord's saying, you know what? I've got something I'm setting up so that you can remember me. And it's not about you, it's about me.

[9:10] And I know you're going to be just like those Israelites who went across the Red Sea. And I did a magnificent miracle for them. And they sang a song.

[9:21] And they were having a great time in only a couple, maybe two months at most, maybe less. They're grumbling. They're wondering how are they going to get fed? Who's going to take care?

[9:31] They're wanting to go back to Egypt. They forgot about what I did for them. And it happened time after time after time. And I can read those things and I say, what? Israel, didn't you see all the great things that happened?

[9:45] And yet, I'm right there. I have to say, Lord, I am just like Israel. I had a great Sunday and then I go out on Monday and I forget, oh, I forgot all about the Lord.

[9:58] And so he instituted this. And Paul, this is the fourth passage of this institution by the Lord.

[10:08] And so, if he, look at first, what I want to go here, I want to start with 25. It said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

[10:21] Hmm. The new covenant in my blood. If this is a new covenant, there must have been an old covenant. So let's take a couple minutes to see what this old covenant was. What it was like to them.

[10:32] If you turn to Exodus 24. Moses is with the Israelites. And read the first eight verses.

[10:48] This is where the people are going to affirm the covenant with God. It says, Then he said to Moses, Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and you shall worship at a distance.

[11:04] Moses alone, however, shall come near to the Lord, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him. Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the Lord, and all the ordinances, and all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words which the Lord has spoken, we will do.

[11:24] Ouch. Just as a side note, don't say that. Because if you're like me, you'll be breaking them. You'll be breaking them.

[11:35] And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Then he arose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord.

[11:52] And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.

[12:09] So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.

[12:21] So we have the situation. Moses had animals killed. He takes blood. He's sprinkling the altars. He's sprinkling the people.

[12:31] And he's saying, You know what? We're confirming this covenant that God has with you. And you have been very clear.

[12:41] You said you will obey it. And so this covenant, though, and this old covenant, it had a lot of ordinances. It had a lot of commandments.

[12:52] It's not just the Ten Commandments. It's hundreds of commandments. It's ordinances. And we can get familiar with ordinances, can't we?

[13:03] Like city. Have you ever looked through your city ordinances, and you're like, There's an ordinance for everything. Ordinance 40.3. No loitering.

[13:15] Ordinance 5,602.2. No littering. And it goes on and on and on. And when you look at these, you're like, Is there anything I can do?

[13:29] Or is it all what I can't do? This covenant was two-sided. The Lord said, If you do this, I will do this.

[13:43] If you obey all these commandments, all these ordinances, all these things that I've said to you that I'm laying out for you, then this is going to happen to you. But if you don't do this, then I'm coming after you.

[13:57] Don't think you're going to get away with it. Let's look at a couple of these verses. Deuteronomy 30, verses 15 and 16. Verses 15 and 16.

[14:17] It says, See, I have set before you today life and prosperity and death and adversity. And then I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you're entering to possess it.

[14:40] Wow. The Lord said, I've got all these things for you, but you know what? I'm going to bless you. I'm going to give you a land. I'm going to give you food.

[14:51] You are going to be so well taken care of. And the Jews, you know, to Moses, they said, We will do it all. We will do it all. And it wasn't very long.

[15:02] It's only a couple chapters later, chapter 32, you have the golden calf. Wow. That wasn't very long. They forgot. They forgot their covenant.

[15:15] They made other God. They made idols. And yet, I can be just like that. I can be just like it.

[15:28] And so, let's look at a couple passages of the good things here that could happen to them. And if you want to turn, Exodus 19.

[15:41] 5 and 6. It says, Now then, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession.

[15:52] Wow. Is that a neat blessing? Is that a neat promise? We'll be his own possession among all the peoples.

[16:05] Wow. For all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 5.

[16:23] Verses 33 to chapter 6, verse 3. It says, You shall walk in all the ways which your Lord, your God, has commanded you that you may live and that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.

[16:40] Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord, your God, has commanded me to teach you that you might do them in the land where you're going over to possess it so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord, your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command you all the days of your life and that your days may be prolonged.

[17:02] O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you in a land flowing with milk and honey.

[17:15] Skip over one page, chapter 7, verses 12 to 16. Then it shall come about because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them that the Lord, your God, will keep you with his covenant and his loving kindness which he swore to your forefathers and he will love you and bless you and multiply you.

[17:35] He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock and the land which he swore to your forefathers to give you.

[17:46] You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall be no male or female barren among you or among your cattle. Get any idea?

[17:57] Get any idea? There was a blessing the Lord wants to give his children, Israel. And he says, you do this, I'll do that. You will be so blessed.

[18:09] He said, but if you don't do this, you'll be cursed. You'll be cursed. Doesn't that sound like a pretty neat covenant though? Of course, I would, who wouldn't like, I'll be called the people, I'll be the chosen among all the earth, I'll be his own possession.

[18:29] He's gonna provide for this, I'll have that, I'll have this. The only problem is is that fallen creatures, we can't reach that perfection on our own.

[18:44] We try and we try. You ever feel like you go through a week, you're like, Lord, it was so great last Sunday, I was rejoicing in you and I went out and I was ready for this week and by Tuesday, I am failing miserably.

[18:58] Miserably. It's because we're fallen creatures and the Lord said, he was using this, he was using the law to show them, you know what, there's a better covenant coming.

[19:11] There's a better thing coming. I've got something in the future that's gonna surpass this and it's an unconditional covenant.

[19:24] This one's conditional. It's based upon what you're gonna do, this is what I'm gonna do. I will be faithful, the Lord said, I will be faithful to my part of it. Israel couldn't be.

[19:37] Time after time after time. There was so much there. Then you come to Jeremiah. Jeremiah 31.

[19:51] Jeremiah 31, I just, this is one of the portions I just read through about a week and a half ago and this might be the highlight of the Old Testament.

[20:07] Look what it says in Jeremiah 31. Verses 31 to 34. Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

[20:27] Not like the covenant which I made with your fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord.

[20:39] But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it and I will be their God and they will be my people and they shall not teach again each man his neighbor and each man his brother saying, Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more.

[21:10] Can you imagine to hear those words? I will forgive their iniquity and their sins I will remember no more.

[21:20] How could this be? Because in this old covenant we had to continually bring a dead animal and that's what brought the covenant into effect.

[21:33] Remember back in Exodus 24 Moses had the animals killed he took the blood the covenant was enacted. And so it says the covenant does not become enacted until the death of the one who is able to make it happen.

[21:51] And so in the Old Testament the old covenant the animal was killed the blood was applied and it had to go it went on day after day after day it says that the priests were standing daily giving sacrifices can you imagine you go into the oh you again Kevin how many times are you going to be bringing a sacrifice?

[22:13] the Lord said I broke this one I blew it here I blew it there you better go get some more this isn't enough we got to we got to kill some more and the futility of it all that day after day you have to bring more and more and more and then this comes along it's a new covenant that's going to happen and if you go over to Hebrews 8 Hebrews 8 I'm going to spend a couple minutes now there this old covenant it sounded good it seemed good but the one side was continually breaking it because they couldn't live up to it they couldn't and it wasn't the Lord in Hebrews 8 I'm not going to read it all because I'd be rereading Jeremiah 31 it's the same thing there because it's been fulfilled it's been fulfilled through the Lord

[23:17] Jesus Christ it says in verse 6 of chapter 8 but now he has obtained a more excellent ministry by as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant which has been enacted on better promises verse 7 for that first covenant had been faultless there had been no occasion sought for a second but finding fault with them he says and then if you in your bible it will show that it was this whole portion after that was taken from the old testament and in verse 13 when he said a new covenant he has made the first obsolete but whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear it's ready to be done with it's no good you don't need it brothers and sisters today we don't need it we have the new covenant and look at Matthew 5 17

[24:21] Matthew 5 17 this was the Lord speaking he said do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets I did not come to abolish but to fulfill Israel failed and failed miserably you and I if we were part of Israel at that time we would have failed and failed miserably but then there came our Lord Jesus Christ and he fulfilled every part of the law he did not fail in one single area because he was perfect he fulfilled it and that's why he says then in those three accounts in the gospels I have a new covenant ah can you imagine that the disciples starting to think wait a second the old covenant we had to do this this and this and then he would do this this and this a new covenant does that mean who's going to die a covenant to be enacted is going to have to take death who's going to and he's been telling them this whole time

[25:35] I'm going to the cross I'm going to the cross I'm going to die for you I'm the one who takes away the sins of the world a new covenant and even though our Bible when it says new testament the covenant began when Jesus died on the cross when he was buried when he rose again because now there is no need for other sacrifice the Lord has paid it all you and I don't have to spend the whole day oh no did I break this did I break that what kind of animal do I have to bring Lord I'm going to have to sacrifice another one is it perfect is it the right one no instead the Lord said I'm paying for all your sins and let me just share a couple things on what that new covenant it was only it was enacted upon the Lord's death his burial his resurrection just like in Exodus 24 6-8 there was that killing of that animal that covenant was enacted the new covenant enacted when Christ shed his blood in Hebrews 10 14-15 it says for by one offering he is perfected for all time those who are sanctified and the

[27:00] Holy Spirit also bears witness to us for after saying this is the covenant that I will make with them and goes again repeats what it said in Jeremiah one time one time and you know what here Bethel when we come for the Lord's supper we do not re-sacrifice the Lord we do not crucify him again we are remembering a one time a one time in history event and we're sharing it with one another as we remember the Lord this covenant is unconditional it was talked about by the Lord it was accomplished by him you and I can't take any credit can you imagine Israel thinking oh okay well I'm I'm going to keep this I'm going to keep that and keep that and keep that and then a couple days later I've broken them all but in this new one it's not dependent upon any of my good works

[28:06] Ephesians 2 8 9 for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself it's the gift of God not of works not of works I can't take any credit it's not dependent upon me what a what a great great new covenant so let's go back as we I just want to spend a couple minutes as we finish going back to 1 Corinthians 11 as Paul he talked about he said you know what I didn't hear about this at the Passover because I wasn't a part of the disciples the Lord shared this with me later on and he says to remember you know the Passover was a time of remembering they had to remember that that day that they left Israel that terrible event that took place where the firstborn was killed if the blood was not applied to the doorpost and so every year they would gather for that Passover to remember what happened that time of event the

[29:23] Lord said don't you forget about this I brought you out of Egypt and so they hadn't and we get to Matthew Mark and Luke John they're still remembering they're still having the Passover Passover and the Lord brings it up again and it was such a picture of Christ the perfect lamb they couldn't just go out and get some throw away animal there was a specific kind of animal and then the blood was given for them it was applied to the doorpost you know that took faith they had an act upon faith you know we're doing this this is crazy why would anybody kill an animal and put blood on there to keep out the death angel but that's what they said would happen and it said everyone who did that their first born was saved did not die and so you can see the beautiful picture of the Lord there and by faith when we put our trust in him we're saved and so in this here you may ask well how often

[30:38] I remember in college there was a girl that we were talking about the Lord's Supper and she said well how often do you have I said well once a week once a week how boring I was like no I have to tell you for me it's becoming better and better and so some places may practice twice a year once a year once a month here we practice it once a week and when well if you go to Acts 20 it said Paul says and upon the first day of the week as the disciples gathered to break bread so you have this concept there that this was happening weekly the first day of the week week that's in Acts 20 verse 7 and what do we do we gather together we come together we think about this together and we want to remember the Lord together because we're also a forgetful people and so we have this every week we have it at nine it's really a specific thing you know why because it's about the

[31:57] Lord you know right now you guys are all you're you're either falling asleep or you're listening and you're within three days studies say you'll forget 95% of what I said that's sad if you can remember 5% it said how precious the Lord's supper is what he asked us to do because it's not about you or me it's about the Lord and that's one thing that's different about that than the rest of the meetings right now you're really not participating you're trying to take in what I've said and what I'm saying but in that meeting it really is up to what Lord you're you are the one you're the audience we're not we're bringing praise to you we're bringing worship to you we're wanting to remember you part of that meeting it's not about us it's about him let me just share a couple things concerning the Lord's supper and I pulled this out of

[33:07] I think it highlights well what we do the Lord's supper is primarily designed to elicit or to stimulate our hearts remembrance of the person and work of Jesus he says in verse 25 do this in remembrance of me so it's to stimulate our heart to the Lord I don't know if you've ever thought about this it says this remembrance is commanded it the Lord said look what he says do this in remembrance of me wow it's commanded an author here said prolonged absence from it is spiritually unhealthy third point this remembrance entails the use of tangible elements bread and wine in our case we use a cracker and juice I don't know if one day the Lord would say what did you guys do that for I hope he doesn't but that's how it's done here and the author here says it isn't enough simply to say remember

[34:16] I'm going to remember it says here as often as you drink it or take it you do it in remembrance so they're symbols and it's a personal remembrance we are to remember Jesus you know focus isn't on Abraham Moses Isaac you me it's about the Lord do this he said again in remembrance of me and then the last in this remembering we proclaim the Lord's death till he come we proclaim the Lord's death till he come so I will ask the musicians if they want to come up as I'm just wrapping this up like I said if you remember five percent the five percent would be that the Lord's supper is a wonderful thing I'd encourage you to be a part of it it starts at nine o'clock maybe you say you know what but I have kids if you have more than 13 kids then I'll give you that out but that wasn't an out for my family growing up my dad we missed the first week of when we went to

[35:31] Maplewood Bible Chapel because we were too late so we got there my dad turned around we went home and that was pretty normal for our family we were late but my dad brought us all and he expected us whether inside he couldn't control that but he could control the external part of it and so what I take out of that is as a child there's a lot of things I gleaned I really did I gleaned it even when I was there and I wasn't even a believer well no I was a believer already at age six but so as a child I was saved as a child I got baptized as a child I began the Lord's Supper as a child I began Bible reading as a child I began verse memorization as a child I began participation in camps so on and so on don't don't don't say you know what when they get this old then we can be a part of it or they can be a part of it they can come observe they may say the same thing oh it's boring maybe not though maybe afterwards dad mom what's going on what's happening here why is there quiet times why who's doing what that was special for me and it's even more special today and so

[37:04] I would encourage you you know if you go away from here thinking oh no Kevin just made a legalistic message here trying to bind me up to be here nah nah I will say the Lord says remember me and we get to be accountable to the Lord for that and so if you haven't experienced it I encourage you to father once again I thank you personally you've shared some things with me and as I look back over time I remember just thinking that's kind of crazy it's kind of boring what's this all about but the more the older I get I see wow in my life I do make it all about me and here's a time we've set aside 45 minutes to remember you to you not Isaac not Abraham not Moses not Adam

[38:13]  Eve it's about you and I pray that this is just is an encouragement to each person here because you command us to remember you help us to remember you and so I pray for just a day that is a blessing Lord help us tomorrow morning it's only going to be 24 hours from now help us not to forget about you Amen for more and I once I pray term because you are