[0:00] Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Squamish Baptist Church, the city where summer never ends, right?
[0:13] Praise the Lord. Before I get into today's sermon, I just wanted to cover a couple of things. First things, I just wanted to give you an update.
[0:24] I'm going to show you a picture that I showed you last week. So last week we kind of announced to you, in case you're new here, we're doing a mission trip to the Philippines, and the churches got together and we purchased these books for the pastors that are needy.
[0:41] So that was last week, this is this week. They're all set. So that's going to be delivered to all the pastors over there. So it's kind of Pastor Appreciation Month, and thank you.
[0:54] Thank you for giving, providing. God kind of intervened in a lot of really cool and different ways that I'm really appreciated to that these pastors are going to be able to get these wonderful books that will really help them in their study, and I believe in their worship of God.
[1:13] The second thing I just want to do right now before I get into today's sermon, I just want to pray for the Strohs, just in case you don't know. Melanie lost her mother, so I just thought we'd take that time.
[1:25] Dad, sorry. Oh, my goodness. Someone else would be having a heart attack if I'm sending out things that are true. All right. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear, holy, heavenly Father, just moved by your words about how you reign in majesty, that you are glory over all.
[1:46] Father, we just need to lift our eyes to see it. But even in this beautiful paradise that we have, oh, Lord, we do experience pain and loss.
[1:57] And right now we're just lifting up Melanie and her family just with the loss of her father. Just it's been a struggle for a time. But I pray that you'd bring them comfort, that you would display your love even in the midst of loss, that you would bring them great memories of growing up.
[2:21] And those are the things that we are to cherish, oh, Father, as we live in a way that glorifies you and love one another, oh, Lord. So we just thank you for that life.
[2:31] And we thank you for Melanie and the rest of the Strohs who are just mourning on this weekend. I pray that you'll comfort them.
[2:42] And I pray that our church will surround them, love them during this time. We ask these things in your gracious and glorious name. Amen. Amen. So in case you're new, visiting, we're doing a study in the life of Christ.
[2:58] We're kind of going through a chronological look at the life of Christ. And we've been taking time kind of reading between the lines of the text, kind of explaining why certain things are happening in the life of Jesus, what are the motivations of people going around him.
[3:15] And last week we opened up with Thursday of the Passion Week. And it is the day on this passionate week where Jesus Christ is preparing to have this last Passover meal with his disciples.
[3:34] It's also the night that Jesus will be arrested. And then we know what happens on Good Friday.
[3:45] So if you remember from last sermon, there was two instructions that Jesus Christ gave his disciples to prepare for this Passover meal.
[3:56] The first instruction was to prepare for the meal itself, which meant to gather the food, which first was to take a lamb, go to the temple.
[4:07] And he gave these instructions to John and Peter. And in the temple, this is where the lamb would have been sacrificed. The sacrifice, the offering would have been put on the altar.
[4:17] They would have sprinkled the blood. And then they would give the men a basket with parts of the lamb that they were to take back home and to eat. And if you remember, and this has to do with the second part of the instructions, they had to find a place.
[4:32] And there was two rules in regards to a place where you'd eat the Passover. It had to be in a domicile, something that had doorposts, right?
[4:43] Because that was the symbolism of the lamb was dipped in blood and it would put over. So you just couldn't do it in a regular tent. You kind of needed a, and I showed you a picture of what a Middle Eastern tent would have looked like.
[4:56] It would have been a home, a domicile, or within Jerusalem as well. And so there was a couple of stipulations. Either it had to be in Jerusalem, and then the rabbis, as Jerusalem got a little bit bigger, it had to be a little bit farther to a place where you could see the temple.
[5:13] Or later on, you could see the smoke arising from the temple. And they believed that was the aroma that God, as the priest, laid the lambs on the altar.
[5:25] And the smoke from the altar would go to heaven, and you'd be able to see the smoke. So if you could see that smoke where that offering was, you knew you were in a place where you could celebrate the Passover.
[5:39] And as he said it, we remember in Luke 22, 9, Jesus' set of instructions were a little bit cryptic. He didn't just say, go to the Solomons. They have a house for you to rent.
[5:52] He actually gave them these kind of funny instructions on how to find the house. And I argue that there's two reasons for these types of instructions. The first, I believe he wanted to keep that location hidden until they ate.
[6:08] Why? Because we know that there was a man named Judas. One of his 12 was planning to betray him. Luke 22, 6 says, Judas consented, this is to the high priests, and sought an opportunity to betray Jesus.
[6:28] And he needed to do it where the crowd wasn't around. Because we know, if you remember, Jesus is still wildly popular. Just four days earlier, he came in on the triumphal entry.
[6:41] Hundreds of thousands of people are all for Jesus. They believe if he's not the Messiah, he's definitely a prophet. So to go ahead and do anything to Jesus in the crowd could have been met with riots and instant death for those who tried to arrest Jesus.
[6:58] So he's got to find this perfect, quiet place. And one of the most perfect places would have been the Passover meal. Because you celebrate it in your household, your family, you wouldn't have done it out in public.
[7:11] So we assume that is one of the reasons why Jesus did this. And the main reason Jesus wants to do this now is because it's imperative to celebrate this meal with his disciples.
[7:26] Luke 22, 15 says, as they were sitting down around the table, Jesus simply says, I have earnestly desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
[7:41] This is the longing of his heart. He is craving to be with these men before he passes. Now, before I get into the biblical text, I thought I would take some time, and I shared with you a little bit of the history of the Passover meal.
[8:01] I thought I would take some time to explain the Passover meal and the events that occurred during that meal. And I'm not telling you these things because, hey, look, I read some really good books this week, and you know all the details and see how smart I am.
[8:19] I want that to happen. But anyway, but there's significance in some of these details. And you're going to see, I'm going to bring out that there's something that's very important to us to this day on how this whole Passover meal happened.
[8:37] So it's not like one of our Thanksgiving meals. And some of you, I'm sure, and I've been at certain friends that make a really... I've celebrated Thanksgiving in the States, right?
[8:49] Anybody have Thanksgiving in the States? Nobody? Ryan, come on, man. Don't leave me hanging. It's a big... Rachel, is it not a big deal? It's a big deal over there. They go through, and I'm not talking about the shopping part, right?
[9:02] And one of the things that you would do is you'd go around and you'd say what you're thankful for, but it'd be carrying on, all right? That pales in comparison to how long a Passover meal would last.
[9:13] That would be several hours of stuffing your face. But what the Jews would have been doing for a Passover meal would have been highly significant. So here's Jesus.
[9:24] We know from last week, he's washed the disciples' feet. They're sitting around a table. If you remember, I've got Ryan. Remember, this is how a table would have looked like, all right?
[9:36] It would have been kind of a U-shaped table, and there'd be a specific order to how they would have sat. So I believe on the far left, this would have been Judas.
[9:47] Or on the... Yeah, on our far right. Sorry, my far left. Oh, my goodness. So Jesus is second from the left with the white. Judas would have been on the right side of him. John on the left, and we believe that is Peter across the table.
[10:02] And there was symbolism to where you would sit. And we know that Luke tells us when they got in there to sit, they began fighting.
[10:13] Right? And we believe it's in the reason of where they would sit, because Jesus Christ has told them that there will be a kingdom, and he will be ruling with them. So now there's this tension of where you sit is going to decide where you're going to rule.
[10:28] Let me be honest with you. There's 12 tribes of Israel. Not every tribe is equal. Some tribes are more prominent than other tribes. So it's not as if you're going to be, you know, who wants to get Gad when you can get Judea, right?
[10:42] Like, this is some of the things that would have been going on in your head. And if you're not laughing at your joke, you need to be reading your old Bible more. All right? So anyway, so you have this situation where there's this tension, but they're absolutely clueless to what Jesus is trying to do on this night.
[11:05] Jesus goes in with a troubled heart. Yet they are rivals against one another. So after the washing, before they would sit, they'd be fighting about these honored spots.
[11:20] And then Luke 22, 28 says, You are those who stayed with me in my trials. And I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
[11:41] Now we know they're not accepting that the kingdom come. They're expecting the kingdom tomorrow. So a Passover feast would actually begin four days prior than the actual meal.
[11:59] And I told you about that. You would go get the lamb, the unblemished lamb. You'd bring it into your home. You'd live with that lamb. You'd grow attached to it. There'd be a bond that is supposed to be attached.
[12:10] Do you know what was four days before on this Passover? The triumphal entry. When Jesus Christ came riding in on a donkey in Jerusalem, guess what he represented?
[12:27] He was the perfect lamb of God presenting himself before God's children. So there's significance in how that all holds out.
[12:38] So four days ago, we know what they'd done with the lamb, and we know what Jesus did as he presented himself as the unblemished sacrifice. On the day of the Passover, when everyone would be get together, we'd heard that most times a servant will wash their feet, but we learn in John 13, Jesus washed his disciples' feet in a marvelous display of how we are to live the Christian life.
[13:06] I don't wash your feet because you wash my feet. I wash others' feet because Jesus washed my feet, right? That's the idea that is carried out.
[13:18] So after he washed their feet and he demonstrated to them, they would be around the table, and they would have these pillows spread around the back of the table because when you would eat the Passover, there's a part of reclining, relaxation.
[13:35] And the reason is it's going to take a long time to eat this meal. And there were six elements to the feast, and I will explain them briefly to you. So the first is the Passover lamb itself.
[13:48] This lamb had to be roasted over a fire. Absolutely everything needed to be eaten. Anything that remained needed to be burned.
[14:01] And it was interesting that the most significant element of the Passover, the lamb's blood that was shed for the household, this was the symbol that God allowed his people to live.
[14:11] This is why we meet. And then you had this other element. It was called the unleavened bread. And remember I commented on this last week. Unleavened bread had no yeast or a riser.
[14:23] And the significance was that when God was bringing salvation to the Jews in Egypt, you would have no time to eat or wait for the bread.
[14:35] So you made sure it was unleavened because it reflected that God's salvation was so quick that they didn't even have time to break bread. The third element that would be on the table would be a bowl of salt water.
[14:50] And this was a reminder of their sorrow and tears of their captivity in Egypt. The fourth element that would be at the table would be bitter herbs, which reminded them of the bitterness of their bondage to slavery in Egypt for 400 years.
[15:08] And then there was this keroseth. It's a fruit puree. And it was to remind God's people that they used to make bricks when they were slaves in Egypt.
[15:22] And then finally there was four cups of red wine that was mixed with water. And these four cups reminded them of the promises God made to them in Exodus 6. Let me read it to you.
[15:34] God said to Moses, Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the Lord. I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
[15:48] And I will deliver you from slavery to them. And I will redeem you with an outstretched arms and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people.
[16:01] And I will be your God. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
[16:17] I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord. So the psalm that David read to us this morning, they would begin with that psalm.
[16:33] And the way they would begin the Passover meal, you'd begin with a prayer, you'd read the psalm, and you'd have a portion of the meal. And the first course was the bitter herbs.
[16:45] You would take these bitter herbs and you'd dip them into the salt water, and then you would have them. And it was interesting because they said that all food would be removed from the table and except for a second cup of wine.
[16:59] You would have begun with a cup and you'd have this second cup of wine. And then with everything off, the youngest person in the room would ask a question.
[17:11] And the question was a simple question. Why is this night different from all other nights? And of course, the father, the patriarch, would answer the question quoting scripture about why they were here and why and how God saved them.
[17:30] So God has wanted this idea of the Passover ingrained into the Jewish people for the last 1400 years. He wants them to know this story.
[17:44] And then they would pray, and then they would wash their hands, and then the food would return to the table. They'd pray over the bread. They'd break the bread. And this is where it starts to get interesting, and it starts to tie into our story.
[17:58] It says the host, at this point, would break the bread of the guest of honor. And he would take it, and he would dip it into the pate.
[18:09] And they would, in turn, break his neighbor's bread and dip it together, and so on down the line. And this is how they would eat the meal. Now, I want you to see or understand is that this meal takes several hours to eat.
[18:26] So in your bulletins, I gave you a text, and now we're getting to the text. You guys have them? Does anybody not have it? If you don't have it, we still have some more bulletins.
[18:38] And what does this text that I have? These are the pages from the books that we're providing for the pastors in the Philippines. It's a harmony. It's basically the editors have taken all four Gospels and kind of streamed the story together, kind of tied it in.
[18:54] So you're going to want to have that. So all these passages we are reading are directly from God's Word. So if you're new and you're wondering, oh my goodness, the people in Squamish Baptist Church are reading some crazy stuff that BK wrote, that's not true.
[19:13] Right? This is from God's Word. All right. And you'll notice, when you see at the very top, it tells you which text it comes from. So it says, and it begins with John, when Jesus had said these things, as they sat and ate, he was troubled in spirit and testified and said, most assuredly I say to you, one of you who eats with me will betray me.
[19:43] Behold, behold, the hand of my betrayer is with me on the table. Remember a couple weeks ago, we've been really drilling home that this is a drama.
[19:59] This is dramatic. When Jesus reaches over, and we know the guest of honor is Judas, it's not like a simple going through the act, da-da-da, here you go.
[20:17] He's troubled in spirit. This is a man who's walked with him for three years, that he has poured out his love as a brother during that entire time.
[20:32] In the text, it's important to say that Jesus was troubled in spirit. And there's another meaning here that I'm going to get to in a couple of minutes, but this is no small thing.
[20:46] Imagine if you had to give food to the one who was trying to kill you, right? It'd be like, right? You'd be shaken. How would you do it? Right? You'd be an emotional wreck.
[21:01] And here is Jesus about to engage the one he knows who is going to betray him. Let's continue reading. Then the disciples looked at one another, perplexed about whom he spoke.
[21:17] They began to question among themselves which of them it would, who would do such thing. Now, think of the drama here. Judas in no way has tipped his hand.
[21:31] None of them suspect him. In fact, he's sitting at the place of honor at the table. Now, there was leaning on Jesus' bosom, one of his disciples.
[21:48] And that would have been John as he would have been leaning that way whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter, therefore, motioned to him to ask who it was of whom he spoke.
[21:59] Then leaning back on Jesus' bread, he said to him, Lord, who is it? And they were exceedingly sorrowful.
[22:11] And each of them began to say to him, one by one, Lord, is it I? And another said, is it I?
[22:22] It's not like they're going through this kind of a game, right? When you kind of read the text, like, it would have been a personal, deep response. Could it be me, Lord? Would it be me?
[22:34] Is it I? I love you. Is it I? Jesus answered, and he said to them, it is one of the twelve who dips with me in the dish, to whom I shall give a piece of bread, I have dipped it.
[22:49] The son of man indeed goes just as it is written of him. But woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. It would have been good for that man if he had never been born.
[23:02] What a warning, eh? Then Judas, who was betraying him, answered and said, Rabbi, I?
[23:13] Is it I? And he said to him, you have said it. And Jesus, having dipped the bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
[23:27] Now, after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, what you do, do quickly. But no one at the table knew for what reason he said this to him.
[23:39] For some thought, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus had said to him, buy those things we need for the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. Having received the piece of bread, and remember, that's the piece of bread for the guest of honor at that table.
[23:57] He then went out immediately and it was night. Now, it's important for us to understand the timing of this occurrence. After one set of the meal, there'd be a third cup poured out.
[24:13] And the last of the unleavened bread wafers would be blessed, broken, and eaten. So they've already eaten the lamb and they'd be coming to this point. They would do grace over the meal.
[24:25] And I believe this is the point, is on the opera bread part of the meal that this would have occurred. Because, and I'll tell you why.
[24:35] So they would have eaten the bread, had a glass of wine, and that would have kind of closed off. One of the biggest questions that most often gets asked here, and we know that Jesus will be marking the end of Passover, and Jesus is going to switch from Passover to communion, right?
[24:55] This is to be the last Passover. Jews aren't supposed to celebrate this anymore. Because the perfect lamb of God has already come. So he's closing that off.
[25:07] And he's going to be introducing this communion. One question that theologians and historians have often asked is, was Judas present for communion?
[25:19] And there's a theological underpinnings for this reason. Because if Judas was there, it means the communion table is open to all.
[25:30] If Judas isn't there, the communion table is only open to those who profess and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? So, there's some church denominations which will close this off, unless you're a member of the church, and I respect what they do.
[25:47] They're holding to the sanctity of that table and that command, not wanting anybody to err to have a part of that communion without being saved. For the way we do it here in communion, I am leaving that up to you.
[26:00] I'm going to explain the gospel, what that means, and I'm trusting on your honesty that when you are partaking of this communion, you are indeed a child of God.
[26:11] You with me on that? So, there's a significance. So, is Judas a part of it or not a part of it? Well, I believe when we look at the text combined with the knowledge of what we have at the Passover meal and how it was ordered, the most obvious answer is no.
[26:27] Because it would have meant something after that bread, it would have been quite normal if someone had to run out and get something to go get something. Does that make sense? Go get something, go get something.
[26:38] Anyway, it would have been normal. So, we believe that Judas would have indeed left. Luke's rendering makes it sound like Judas was still there because Jesus still brings up the idea that someone will betray him.
[26:55] but Matthew, Mark, and John are all easily read that he wasn't there. But what's interesting is in 1 Corinthians 11, and this is Paul's instructions to the Lord's Supper.
[27:08] I'm just going to read it to you. Paul, writing under the power of the Holy Spirit, is writing to this church of Corinth and they've been struggling with this communion and how it works. So, he gives them these instructions.
[27:20] And the first instruction, he says, do not practice the Lord's Supper if there is division among you. That's one of the first commands.
[27:34] I couldn't think of a stronger argument why Judas couldn't be there. Because if Judas is there planning to betray Jesus, could there be a deeper division?
[27:45] Of course not, right? Like that, he couldn't be there. But, in 1 Corinthians 11, 23, Paul writes, for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread.
[28:03] And he's not talking about the significance of the night, but the sense is that while Jesus was being betrayed, which meant, and we're going to get into it, Judas had already left and was going to Rome, or to the Roman authorities.
[28:16] Okay? So, meaning Judas was on his way to notify the high priests that Judas was not there, that he was actually in the act of betraying Jesus.
[28:30] Now, in order for Judas to betray Jesus, he had to leave that night. And the upper room, I'm going to show you a map next time we preach on this, but it would have been in a kind of a nice spot of Israel.
[28:42] So he would have had to, or Israel, Jerusalem, he would have had to walk down, and he would have had to have gone to where the high priests were, and it was a little bit outside the temple. We assume it would take maybe 30, 40 minutes to get there.
[28:55] He would have to notify the priests, and then the priests got to notify the Roman authorities where the soldiers are, and we know that they are outside the temple, so that probably would have taken another 40 minutes to an hour.
[29:09] Listen, if they did it an hour, that's like a world record for government bureaucracy, right? But anyway, so it took time. And we believe that by the time Judas, the soldiers, which would have been 400 to 600 men, Jesus would have been long gone from where they were eating this Passover.
[29:37] So by the time everything that Judas must do to betray Jesus, Jesus is given time to introduce the Lord's Supper. He's got more than enough time to instruct his apostles and prepare them for what's to come.
[30:00] Personally, what I find the most remarkable thing about this drama is Judas is sitting at the place of honor.
[30:10] did he argue? Think about this for a second. Did he argue this? Did he just win the biggest battle? Was he the biggest guy in the room?
[30:23] But some reason he got in that place and Jesus gave him that place. Jesus was promising him an honored position in the kingdom of God.
[30:37] God. And he still wants to betray him, right? Like out of all the other guys, he would have thought to himself, hey, I'm in the place of honor here.
[30:50] Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I thought too hastily about these things. And on that very night, as he was sitting next to Jesus, Jesus dipping this bread and serving to him, is Jesus Christ still reaching out to him in love.
[31:20] And what's interesting in the love that Jesus offers Judas, which was meant to soften his heart, actually hardens his heart.
[31:32] but Judas takes the bread and then he leaves.
[31:46] And like I said, he is so good of an actor, not a single apostle suspects that it could ever be him.
[31:59] Turn with your text to me with John 12. I want to show something to you. Remember a couple weeks ago, the event happened after Jesus confronted the religious rulers.
[32:14] Remember they came to all those questions trying to challenge his authority, his knowledge of God's word. I kind of described it as a boxing match, right? Jesus took them down. There's these Greek guys come and they want to speak to Jesus.
[32:29] And if you look at John 12, 27, and right after that, Jesus said, now is my soul troubled, right?
[32:43] And what shall I say? And I believe he's talking to the father here. He's kind of like, my soul is troubled. Father, should I ask that you save me from this hour?
[32:55] But then he asserts, but for this purpose, I have come for this hour. This is my whole purpose is to be here. And in verse 28, it's like he's affirming, Father, glorify your name.
[33:11] Then a voice came from heaven, which is God the father speaking to him. I have glorified it and I will glorify it again.
[33:23] Now, the point I made is that this was a turning point in the life of Jesus and I believe this signified the absolute hatred that the priests and the Pharisees had for Jesus.
[33:42] Remember, I used the word there's no turning back kind of thing, right? It's like act comes down, the curtain goes down and then it's going to go up. Take a look at John 13 30.
[33:57] I want you to see this for yourselves. The text reads, so Judas after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out and it was night.
[34:11] Look what Jesus says. When he had gone out, Jesus says, now is the son of man glorified and God is glorified in him.
[34:25] If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him at once. You see what happened by offering the bread to Judas, he started the clock on his crucifixion.
[34:42] By Satan coming in and entering and taking off, there is no turning back. earlier, the priests had already planned. Judas went, said, I'll be a part of your plan.
[34:55] And Jesus, just think about that. I was just thinking about is there like this button, spiritual button, and it's like, if I press the button, I know I'm going to be crucified in the next day.
[35:12] what would you do to, you know you have to do it, but would you do it right away, or would you still hesitate? I still want to spend time with my brothers, people that I love.
[35:29] Like, it's a completely selfless act that he's doing by simply engaging Judas because it engages the clock on his death.
[35:40] God will be glorified in the Son. And take a look at John, what it says in verse 33.
[35:54] Just even this term, it says little children. He's not calling them little kids, but it's a deep term of endearment.
[36:07] Right? My friends, my bestest friends, my closest compatriots, my students, yet a little while I am with you.
[36:22] You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, where I am going, you cannot come. we know from the book of John, gospel is gone, John, Jesus stays, he foretells Peter's denial, he encourages the disciples, but then he gets to a point of Matthew 26, and please turn with me.
[36:56] And this is the institution of communion. This is Jesus indicating, this is the turning of the page. The Passover is ending, and communion will beginning.
[37:09] He says, now after they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, take, eat, this is my body.
[37:20] He's not offering a prayer from Psalms, but he's giving them this statement, take, eat, this is my body. And he took this last cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
[37:46] I tell you, I'll not drink again in the fruit of the vine until that day when I need it, drink with you and my father's kingdom. When Paul tells us, teaches us what was going on, he uses this word, he says, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.
[38:10] Remember that word covenant? Covenant's a promise. And if you remember back in the spring, we talked about Abraham's covenant, right? The Abrahamic covenant, there's the Davidic covenant, and there's the Mosaic covenant.
[38:24] These are contracts that God entered into with man. The Abrahamic covenant is actually an unconditional covenant, meaning no matter what we do, God's still going to fulfill the terms of that contract.
[38:44] The Davidic covenant, I will give you a king who will sit on the throne eternally, which we know is Jesus Christ, that was an unconditional covenant.
[38:54] covenant. The Mosaic covenant, though, was a highly conditional covenant. If you worship me, you will have blessings. You turn away from me and worship other gods, you're going to be in big trouble.
[39:10] What did they do? They worshiped other gods, and that's why we now have Israel being ruled by Rome in a total mess with no power, no rights, no nothing.
[39:21] Now, remember, the people, the Jews, thought Jesus was going to overthrow Rome. That's what they believed, that he was a prophet, the Messiah, would overthrow Rome and give Israel back the kingdom.
[39:38] Now, here's the million dollar question. If God did that, he got rid of Rome, he gave the Jews back their land, their temple, their people, all those things, what's to stop it from happening all over again?
[39:56] Are you with me? That's the message of the Old Testament. No matter how many chances they're given, they still mess it up. Why?
[40:06] It's the same reason we would mess it up. We have this inborn sin, indwelling sin. We are seeds of Adam. We're rebellious.
[40:20] something has to happen. And when Jesus Christ says this new covenant, he's actually referring to a prophecy that's found in the book of Isaiah.
[40:36] And I'm going to read it. You can write it down. It's Isaiah 31 to 34. And Isaiah prophesied that this covenant was coming.
[40:49] We call this the new covenant. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
[41:01] Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand and bring them out of the land of Egypt. Right? That was the Mosaic covenant. It's not going to be like that covenant anymore.
[41:13] My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord.
[41:27] I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
[41:40] And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor, and each his brother saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord.
[41:52] For I will forgive their iniquity, which is their sin, and I will remember their sin no more. Amen? That's what Jesus was doing. This is the new covenant.
[42:03] He's going to do that work. Why? Because we would end up the same place over and over like a comedy of errors. we need a changed heart.
[42:17] I can't change my heart. You can't change my heart. I can't change your heart. But there is one person who promises to change your heart, and that is Jesus Christ.
[42:32] You see, with this institution of communion, we no longer need a Passover. Passover. That is why it's a festival that the church does not celebrate.
[42:43] We celebrate communion. And those that celebrate communion are those who've had their hearts changed by God. They're the ones that God has called in with the new covenant through the blood of Jesus Christ.
[43:00] We don't need a lamb on our doorposts anymore. Jesus, by dying on the cross and shedding his blood, covers us eternally. Amen?
[43:12] Doesn't just cover my past, and then when I sin again, I got to go back and ask for forgiveness. No, no, no, no. He's already taking care of that. The sin just isn't for my sin, your sin.
[43:23] It's for the sin of all who came before, and for the sin that will come again. Why? Because he was perfect. He was the perfect son of God. This communion is those who are called out by God to be his worshippers.
[43:39] The question is, how do you know that you are a true worshipper about God? Well, first, you accept what the Lord says about you, that you can't change your heart, that your heart is broken and miserable, and Jeremiah actually calls it a stone.
[44:01] But it's not until Jesus Christ changes it into a heart of flesh. Can you be a follower of Jesus Christ? And Jesus Christ became the perfect Passover lamb to cover the wrath that was justly deserved for us.
[44:18] So when Jesus Christ calls people to believe, this call is always a call to obedience. It's a call to holiness. It's a call to follow Jesus.
[44:30] Why? Because he's your king. The call of Jesus Christ has always been to allegiance to him and obedience to him. It's never been a dual citizenship.
[44:43] It's a heavenly citizenship. And the citizen states that you, if you are a believer of Christ, you are God's and God's alone.
[44:54] if you accept these things, that Jesus is your perfect Passover lamb and died, that you might live, you will be saved.
[45:07] And if you were saved, you are part of the new covenant. Jesus' blood was shed for you, and that is the reason and the only reason why you can have communion.
[45:19] communion. So when we come together to share this communion, we are testifying that Jesus is our king. Amen? He is who I have given my allegiance and my obedience to.
[45:32] Now, we all know we're still broken vessels. There's sin that still resides. It fights us. As always, till this flesh is gone, it will always be there.
[45:44] And that's why it says, if there's division among you, don't have it. If there's someone you need to go and ask for forgiveness for it, take that time to go do that.
[45:55] Make yourselves right as well as you can before coming to this meal. And then and only then, come freely to testify to one another that Jesus is my God and my Savior.
[46:12] Amen? So this morning, we are going to celebrate communion. in memory of Jesus Christ being the perfect Passover lamb, who did this for us 2,000 years ago.
[46:26] So like I said, if Jesus Christ isn't your Lord, see, this is the thing. There's nothing magical in this. You know that? Like some people believe they're sick, if they have some, all of a sudden they're going to be cured.
[46:37] There's nothing magical in this. It really isn't his blood and his flesh, but it is a memory of those things. So we come this morning to take of communion where ultimately testifying to who he is, is reflected in our lives.
[46:54] And we do it because he commands us to. You with me on that? Let's pray. Let's give thanks. Dear Holy Heavenly Father, we just thank you for the God that you are who gave your only son.
[47:09] Father, I just, I am moved by the story of Jesus just even on that last Passover, how he continually reached out to Judas with love and at the same time knowing that if Judas took his bread meant his condemnation was soon occurring.
[47:27] But Jesus Christ knew that it would be to glorify your name. Father, we want to take this communion in a way that glorifies you. That the testimony of how we are living our lives on this earth is a testimonial to your glory, oh Father.
[47:46] Whether it be in raising our kids and loving our spouses and working for our employers. Father, this isn't a table for the perfect.
[48:00] We can even use the opportunity this morning right now. We're going to have a time of silence where we can take this time to reflect on our lives and give thanks to God and ask you for forgiveness.
[48:16] So Father, we just ask that you would bring to mind those sins, those areas that have caused barriers between us and you to come to mind so that we may ask forgiveness.
[48:27] So that we can come to this table in a right way that glorifies your name. So Father, we thank you for the blood that was shed for us and that you have brought us into the new covenant and given us a new heart.
[48:47] We ask these things in your most holy, perfect, and wonderful name. Amen. Come along the side. Just line up when you're ready.
[48:58] Just sometime during the song. Our wonderful musicians are just going to play a song. Either sing along with it or use it as a time of meditation. And then return back through the outweighs.
[49:10] And after we're done, I'll pray again, give thanks, and then we'll partake of the bread and the juice together. Sound good? All right. Bye.
[49:21] Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
[49:32] Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
[49:42] Bye-bye.