I want you to turn in your Bible.
Well, we're going to go a couple different places because I want to frame our lesson this morning
! and its intent clearly in your hearts.
But before we do that, we're going to pray.
Do you know why we pray?
We do so many different things when we pray, but one of the things we do is that we confess
His sufficiency in our dependence.
Isn't that right?
And if there's anything we always need, it is the work of the Holy Spirit in our frail
lives in rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ and being satisfied supremely with Him.
So you join me in prayer.
And don't kind of be sitting there like a bump on a log thinking about lunch.
You just be begging God to do something in your life that needs to be done.
Amen?
Amen.
Holy Father, we are so very blessed to be able to come into Your presence this morning,
to come with humility, to come with boldness that is not of our own making, but is because
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And as we heard sung this morning when He said, Tetelestai, He was not only saying it is finished,
but He was also saying it is paid in full.
There is now, therefore, no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.
And, Lord, while it does not yet appear what we shall be, we know that the day is coming
when we will see Him and we will be like Him.
And so our prayer this morning is that our hearts would be good soil to receive the Word
of God and to allow the truth of the Word of God to affect our thinking and our living.
That as we study in the Scriptures this very particular truth relating to how Jesus looked
at the Last Supper, that we would grow to love Him, that we would grow to appreciate the beauty
and the depth of His work for us, and that our affection for the Lord Jesus Christ would be
something that not only makes a difference in our life, but makes a difference in the world around us.
And most importantly, that Christ is glorified.
And we ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, I will get to the sermon eventually, and I do want you to put your finger in Luke chapter 22,
because that's where we will be.
But one of the things that I think is important is to understand what's the takeaway?
What's it really going to look like when it all plays out?
Not just the sermon, but the work of the Word of God in your life.
I think about a passage in Romans chapter 8 where it says this, that God explains the issue of His
sovereign care for us, and it says, all things work together for good to them that love God
and are called according to His purpose.
And then it goes on and says this, that in essence, we are going to be conformed into the image of Christ.
Isn't that right?
I alluded in the prayer to a passage in 1 John where it says that though we don't see Him yet,
the day is coming when we will see Him.
And what will be the effect of seeing Him?
What will be the effect?
Say it with me.
We will become like Him.
Can I tell you that duplication or modeling after someone else is the highest form of a compliment,
isn't it?
I want to be like whoever it is that you want to be like.
You are crediting as being someone significant and worthy, someone that you want to model your
life after.
And the truth of the matter is this, is that God intends for us who are His children to be
like Christ.
How does Christ-likeness happen?
I'll just kind of sit there and it'll happen automatically.
I want you to understand, for one, growing to be like Christ happens as the Word of God
makes a difference in our life.
And I think about a passage, there are several different ones.
One in particular is over there in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18, where it says that we are transformed
from glory into glory and that transformation takes place when the Word of God makes a difference
in our life.
I also want you to understand that we grow to be more like Christ as we grow to appreciate
who He is and to grow in our love for Him.
The truth of the matter is, is that left to our own devices, we are only good at loving
one person.
Who is that?
Me, myself, I.
In fact, I'm a little irritated when everybody else doesn't love me as much as I do.
And you're the same way.
When you're pouty or irritated with whatever is going on in life that's not going your way,
it's just saying, hey, I want to be the center.
And it is the work of the Spirit of God and the work of the Word of God that brings us to realize
the supreme beauty and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And seeing that, we grow to love Him and be interested in Him.
And if there's any time in our attention to the Word of God that our hearts should be stirred
in loving Jesus, it is when we come to this table.
Luke chapter 22, verse 14.
And when the hour came, He reclined at table and the apostles with Him.
And He said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
And He took a cup, and when He'd given thanks, He said, take this and divide it among yourselves.
For I tell you that from now on, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.
And He took the bread, and when He'd given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying,
this is My body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of Me.
And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, this cup is poured out for you.
It is the new covenant in My blood.
The thing that I want you to do this morning with me is stop and think carefully,
deeply, about how Jesus viewed this table.
You look there at the passage, and if you would put your finger for me on verse 15.
I want you to do that consciously and deliberately.
And some of you have iPads and other electronic devices.
Go ahead.
You're afraid that if you tap it, it's going to, something else will happen.
But kind of mark it.
Look at what it says here.
I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
The Hebrew reads this way.
In essence, it's saying, I have desired with desire.
And one of the things that we know about Hebrew language is that when something needs to be emphasized,
in our culture, when we want to draw attention to something, we underline it.
Or we use a yellow highlighter.
Isn't that right?
Judith and I are in a modest process of remodeling, and I promise it will be the last one.
But we have drywallers that are coming tomorrow, I hope.
I'm going to be away deer hunting.
And so I had to make some little notations on some boards in Spanish.
You know?
Remove this screw.
And so here I was talking with the drywaller because he is not going to be there, and his crew is going to be there.
And so I was spelling out in Spanish, remove this screw.
Big arrow, underline, underline.
In Hebrew, when you wanted to make something clear and emphatic, what you would do is you would double up on it.
Remember Jesus said, verily, verily?
Truly, truly?
So when Jesus says here, with desire I have desired, he is saying, I am really into this, and I care about it a lot.
I'm kind of struck by that when I thought about it.
How many of you have ever read a passage and missed it completely, and then later on it's like, wow.
It's there.
It's beautiful.
And I was praying several weeks ago about the Lord's Table, and I have to admit that when you do something month after month,
and I am now into about 35 years of the Lord's Table and have done many, many of them, right?
It can become a little tempting to be relatively routine.
And I always pray about sermons, but there is a sense in which I pray more about the Lord's Table because of that routine.
And as I was praying and meditating upon a variety of scriptures, I was just, it's like, bang, there it was.
I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover before I suffer.
And I stopped and thought, what was it about this that made this particular Passover so important?
Well, I would suggest that it wasn't the historical significance of what the Passover represented to the nation of Israel
in that it was the Passover that historically was a celebration of God's work in delivering the nation of Israel from Egypt and from slavery.
It was more than that.
I think as Jesus thought about this Passover without question, He understood several things that I want you to ponder with me
and allow it to inform your thinking regarding why this Passover was so important to Jesus,
and by extension, it should be important to us.
For one, Jesus understood that He was the fulfillment of God's promise to provide for our sins.
Stop and think with me just for a moment that we don't even get out of Genesis chapter 3 before the world's a mess.
Sin entered the world.
and we will enjoy glory without all these impediments and heartaches.
And so here, as Jesus thought about what this table represented,
He understood that He was the fulfillment of the promises
that had been made throughout the Old Testament
regarding His coming and His salvation and His work of redemption.
He understood what was in front of Him was ultimately not this great tragic moment,
but the reality that He was the fulfillment of God's promises throughout the centuries.
Let me ask you, do you ever get a little impatient with God doing things slower than you'd like?
You know, I'm going to, I swear, use chewing gum on the side of my face so that it doesn't move.
But, at 67, I remember thinking to myself the other day,
God, why don't you go ahead and finish this process of progressive sanctification
because I was at a point where I was a little frustrated with some of the gross repetition in my life
of some of the difficulties I've had.
Anybody else there?
Why are we doing this again, Jesus?
You know, I mean, it's like, I've been through this.
I know how I should be.
And yet, we find that God in His mysterious plan of working out the plan of redemption over the centuries
brought it to fulfillment in Christ.
And here is Christ just days prior to the fulfillment of God's promises regarding our salvation.
He says, man, it is with desire that I've desired to do this.
Not only that, but I firmly believe that Jesus understood that His death for our sins would glorify His Father.
Do you know that there was nothing that gave Jesus greater pleasure than making His Father feel good or happy?
Turn in your Bible, if you would, to John chapter 13, verse 31.
John chapter 13, verse 31.
In the context of the Last Supper, after Judas had left, it says there in verse 31,
when He'd gone out, Jesus said,
Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.
The idea of glorifying someone means to draw attention to them, make them significant,
or recognize something particularly exceptional about them.
How is God glorified in the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf?
I want you to stop and think with me about the religions around the world.
I've said it before, and certainly not original with me,
that you may divide all the religions of the world into two groups.
The majority that propose that salvation comes about by your own efforts,
whether they're repeated and you allow for reincarnation to get another try at it.
I don't want to ask if any of you ever had to take a class over,
but the idea of Hinduism is that if you don't get it the first time,
you get it the second time, or the third, or whatever else.
Or the idea of slowly kind of working your way up the ladder,
and you do these things, and you do these things, and you get there.
On the other hand, you have the Bible that tells us that we, unable to save ourselves,
have received the grace of God who sent His Son to die in my place
and satisfy the debt of my sins and to redeem me with His own blood.
God is glorified in that His plan of salvation is so marvelous and so wonderful
and so unbelievably incredible that, you know, the angels kind of look at this whole thing
of people like me and people like you being saved, and they go, what is that?
God is glorified in the work of Christ in coming to be our Savior and our Redeemer.
I want you to recognize also that as Jesus, with desire, desired this,
that He must have been thinking also about His joy in our redemption.
I think of two different passages in relationship to this.
One was recited actually in our Sunday school class, one of the two Sunday school classes,
or three that we have.
And in Hebrews chapter 12, I want you to turn over there just for a moment.
In Hebrews chapter 12, the author references Jesus in His attitude towards the cross.
Looking unto Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him,
endured the cross.
I don't think it's right for us to think that Jesus, as He thought about the cross, went,
woo-hoo, that's it, you know?
But on the other hand, when He thought about the cross, He thought of our redemption,
and it satisfied His soul, and it gave to Him a pleasure and a delight that you and I can only appreciate and enjoy.
Turn in your Bibles, if you would.
You're there keeping your finger in Luke because we're coming back to it.
But I want you to look at Galatians chapter 2, verse 20.
I have to confess, one of the characteristics of the Bible is that sometimes the Bible puts more thought into an issue
than our little pea brain can handle at one time.
And as a result of that, we kind of get buried on one point or another,
and we don't appreciate the fact that some Bible truths are profoundly complex,
and you can come back to them again and again and be enriched in each case.
And so it is when you stop and think about Jesus being satisfied with the matter of this Lord's Supper
as He thinks about our redemption over in Galatians 2.20, here's what it says.
I've been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
In the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith, now mark this,
in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.
So why did Jesus die?
He died because He loves me.
I want you to listen to me carefully because this is something that I think far too often
we diminish its significance simply by not thinking about it.
He loved me in that He was willing to die for me.
You know, when you ponder the depth of the love of Christ
and you begin to gain through the Scriptures that inform us of His love,
we either grow in our appreciation and affection for Christ
or we harden our heart at the claim His love makes upon us.
Does that make sense?
As you understand that Christ loves you as skunky as you are,
and I joined the crowd with that, you know,
you're either overwhelmed or you just dismiss it.
And so when we come to this table,
it is something that the Spirit of God intends for us to take seriously
and allow the thinking of the love of Christ to affect our behavior and our living.
Don't you wish that loving Christ could be done strictly in the abstract?
You know, we could kind of say nice things about loving Jesus.
Oh, I love Jesus.
But really when you stop and think about it,
every time the love of Christ is brought into frame for us little pea brains that we are,
it's always kind of tied in with loving other people.
And other people are what?
Are not as easy to love as we are.
And yet,
Jesus loves me.
And I,
in the glory of that truth,
am affected by that love
and slowly grow to be like Him.
Do you understand that?
Well, I want you to look as you think here
that as this,
going back to Luke chapter 22, if you would,
as this first celebration of the Lord's table was taking place,
Jesus begins it by saying,
I have desired with desire
to partake of this with you.
And so what I would like us to do
is just take a moment right now
and ask the Holy Spirit
to help us desire the Lord's table
because what it reminds us of.
Can I say that again slowly?
I'm asking that you join me in prayer quietly right now
and that you say to the Holy Spirit,
Holy Spirit, help me this morning desire the Lord's table.
the way Jesus desired it.
Not exactly because I'm human,
but let me do more than just be here as a passive bump
waiting for 1215.
Let's pray.
Holy Spirit, this morning we are thankful
that we can come in humility
to you
who we know in John
tasked by the Father,
sent by the Son
for the express purpose
of helping us understand
and grow in our affection
and grasp of the holy glory of Christ.
Christ.
And so we ask this morning
that you would help us
to appreciate the beauty
of what Jesus has done for us
that we remember this morning
at this table.
And that as a result of our taking these elements,
the bread and the cup,
that our affection for the Lord Jesus
who is our Savior would grow
and our passion for godliness
would grow
and our hatred for personal sin
would grow.
We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, we've looked, first of all,
this morning at the passage
and marked what it says
that Jesus there in verse 15,
He says,
I have earnestly desired
to eat this Passover with you.
Now let's look at the second part
where Jesus says,
before I suffer.
Jesus never hid the fact
that He was going to suffer
for our sins.
He understood
from the very beginning
that He was destined
for suffering.
And He often,
at various times,
referred to His cross work
in His ministry
with His disciples.
He wanted them to know
what was in front.
Incidentally,
that is one of the characteristics
of God in His dealings with us.
He lets us know ahead of time
how the story plays out.
Isn't that right?
He tells us of the hardships
and difficulties.
He tells us also
of the future glory
that we are going to have
with Christ
so that in the journey
and in the difficulties we face,
we're not utterly overwhelmed
and surprised.
We knew it
because He told us ahead of time.
I want you to look there
with me at verse 19.
It says there,
He took bread and broke it
and gave to them,
saying,
and later on,
comments,
this is my body
which is given for you.
There are several things
that I want to draw out
from this passage
as we think about it.
For one,
I want you to understand this,
that Jesus did not die accidentally.
It wasn't something
that just kind of happened.
If you're there in Luke,
turn with me just for a moment
over to John chapter 10
and verse 17 and 18.
Let me just read it to you
if you're not there.
But in 17,
it says,
For this reason,
the Father loves me
because I lay down my life
that I may take it up again.
No one takes it from me,
but I lay it down
of my own accord.
I have authority
to lay it down
and I have authority
to take it up again.
This charge I have received
from my Father.
I kind of chuckle
when I think about
and I just finished reading
the book of John
and over and over again
in each of the Gospels
when it talks about Christ
before Pilate
and before the Sanhedrin,
et cetera.
Remember Pilate says to him,
How come you don't say anything?
I've got the power
to put you to death.
Yeah, right.
No.
Jesus of his own volition
and of his own choosing
decided that it was appropriate
for him to lay down his life
for Tim Knoyer
and for you.
For another thing,
Jesus fully satisfied
the debt for our sin.
Over in John chapter 19,
verse 30,
I want you to look at the passage
just for a moment
and I have to appreciate
the way in which
attention to the Word of God
directs the songs
that we sing.
John chapter 19,
verse 30.
When Jesus had received
the sour wine,
he said,
It is finished.
And he bowed his head
and gave up his spirit.
This morning as we listen
to Stephanie and Caleb
sing,
Te Telestai.
They were referencing
the point that
when Jesus died
for our sins,
what he did was
he fully satisfied
the debt for my sin.
It's really hard for us
to fathom
the infinite offense
that our sin
is against the Holy God,
isn't it?
I mean, hey,
we're pretty comfortable
with our own sin.
You know,
I stop and realize
that an indication
of how serious sin is
is that Jesus
had to die for my sins.
Let me help you understand
the two different choices
that a sinner has.
And there may be
some of you
sitting here this morning
that have never come
to the place
where you have cast
your faith
completely on the
finished work of Christ.
So here are the choices
you have.
You can spend eternity
paying for the infinite
offense of your sin
against an absolutely
holy God.
God.
We finished painting
the lobby several weeks
ago.
Kathy, you saw me,
didn't you,
wiping the paint off?
I mean, here's the deal.
I enjoy painting.
It's something I kind of like.
But some things happen
after you finish
painting something.
Do you know little kids
put scuff marks on walls?
And within a couple days
after that lobby was painted
and I was having
infinite pleasure
and how nice it looked,
there's a couple marks
on the wall
and I'm going around
rub, rub, rub.
And Kathy walks by me.
She says,
what was it called?
Magic eraser or something?
I wasn't getting it
with a paper towel
and spit.
You know,
I was like,
do something better, Tim.
Now listen,
if I was a little tweaked
about kids' black marks
on the,
why do kids put marks
on walls?
I don't know.
I used to be a kid
so let's balance
that one out.
But you know,
here I am kind of
moderately irritated
at marks on walls.
That's nothing compared
to sin.
Against the holiness
of God.
And Jesus satisfied
my debt.
He paid my price.
He took my sins
upon Himself
and bore the full wrath
of God.
Remember I said,
you got two choices.
You can suffer for your sins
for all eternity.
And there are some of you
sitting here today
that consciously,
whether you understand fully
what's going on or not,
every time you say no to Jesus,
you're saying,
hey, I'm taking it.
Bring it on.
I don't care about
what you did for me.
On the other hand,
you can come brokenhearted
to Jesus and say,
I realize I'm a sinner
that stands justly condemned
before a holy God
and I understand
God the Father
willingly sacrificed
His Son for me.
I can't help but think about
the words to that song.
My sin,
oh the bliss
of this glorious thought,
my sin,
can you say it with me,
not in part
but the whole,
is nailed to the cross
and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord,
oh my soul.
Is that true for you
this morning?
My sin,
oh the bliss
of that glorious thought,
my sin not in part
but the whole,
is nailed to the cross
and I bear it no more.
There is now,
therefore,
no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus.
Does it get any better than that?
Huh?
No.
Later when you take the bread,
I want you to think to yourself,
Jesus died for my sins
and He died in my place.
He suffered the full measure
of God's holy judgment
against sin for me
and there is no remaining debt
on my account.
Now look at verse 20.
Verse 20,
it says,
the cup that is poured out for you
is the new covenant in my blood.
I don't know how excited
you get about the new covenant
but I want you to think with me
just for a moment
and we're going to kind of
press things together here
a little bit.
Understand the significance
of the new covenant.
There are really two pieces
that we're going to enjoy
this morning.
The bread that reminds us
that Jesus died for our sins
and the new covenant
that says,
and He made a promise.
Do God's promises
get you excited?
Yesterday as I was
out on our porch
a guy was cycling by
who I've gotten to know
in my neighborhood
and he's cycling by
and he stopped
and looked at me
and says,
hey, Reverend,
pray for me.
I'm going to play
my lottery ticket.
I said,
not in your life.
Why do people expect
a reverend to pray
for their lottery ticket?
Don't ask me again.
But in comparison
to a little bit of cash,
I have the promise of God,
the new covenant.
Let me kind of touch
on three little pieces
of the new covenant
because I am overwhelmed
when I stop and think about
when I take that blood,
it reminds me of promises
God has made for me.
One is this,
the new covenant
promises transformation.
In Jeremiah chapter 31,
and we're not going
to look there,
it says,
I will give them
a new heart.
How many of you remember
when it was
that you had a heart
that was darkened
and miserable by sin?
You were absolutely burdened
with the nastiness
of your soul.
Christ Jesus came
into your life
and gave you
complete forgiveness
and he gave you
a new heart.
One of the things
that I love to say
to people
when I'm sharing
the gospel with them
is you don't have
to stay the way you are.
Oh, by the way,
to some of you
who are believers,
I got to tell you,
you don't have to
stay the way you are.
In fact,
everybody follow me
with this.
Are you with me?
Over here.
If you don't see
the evidence
of progressive change
in your life,
you probably ought to
check your birth certificate.
Now, I agree,
you're not moving
probably as fast
as you'd like
or your family
would like either.
But here's the deal.
If a man
is in Christ Jesus,
he's a different person.
He's a new creation.
Old things are passed away
and he's at work.
And I am so very thankful
that at 67,
I'm not the man
I used to be,
but I look forward
to being the man
I someday will be.
Why?
Because the new covenant
tells me,
I will give them
a new heart.
Secondly,
the new covenant
also grants me
complete forgiveness
through Christ's blood.
You know one of the things
it says in the new covenant?
In the book of Jeremiah,
it says,
their sins I will remember
what?
No more.
How many of you
have family members
that bring up
some of the old things
you did
that were incredibly unkind?
I was a scoundrel
and a skunk,
still partially that way
a little bit,
but I have a lot
of people that I grew
up with that just
cannot imagine
that I could be
any different
than I ever was.
And they can't get over
some of those things.
Here's what Jesus says
in the promise
of the new covenant.
It says,
I will remember
your sins against
you no more.
Satan may bring up
your past,
but God doesn't.
In fact,
he made a promise,
ironclad,
bound,
that he will never again
bring those things up.
Finally,
the new covenant promises
a full and unchangeable
relationship.
I love this.
If you ever want
to have fun
in kind of a little
Bible survey,
start in the book
of Genesis
and work your way
to the book
of Revelation
asking,
where all
in the Scriptures
do I find
this concept?
I will be their God
and they will be
my people.
God says that
he will be
in relationship
with me.
Not just kind
of a distant,
yeah,
well,
I know him.
No.
My name is written
on his hand.
The believer
is as precious
to God
as the apple
of the eye,
the eye itself.
And so this morning
as you take
these elements,
our prayer earlier
was this,
is that the Holy Spirit
would stir your heart
to desire
these elements
the way Jesus
desired to take them.
And he took them
thinking about you
I want you
to take them
thinking about him.
Do you follow that?
Have the men come
as we gather
around the table
and I would plead
with you,
listen,
we're going to
take these elements
this morning
to honor the Lord
Jesus Christ
and to remember
his sacrifice
and I pray
that your heart
is overwhelmed
with thanksgiving
and as we,
John are you
playing the instruments?
Okay,
you're playing
quietly,
softly.
Here's what I want
you to do
back up to the
just quiet soft music.
Everybody look at me.
I want Bible verses
from you
as the elements
are passed,
right?
Bible verses.
Now that's a little tricky.
Some of you are going
to have to rely
on using one hand
and somebody else
holding the cup
or you can go
for memory.
But I want Bible verses
just to absolutely
roll out of this
blessed congregation.
God's people said what?
Let's try that again.
And God's people said what?
That's moderately better.
Okay.
We want to pray
and ask God's Spirit
to give us clear consciences
as we come to this table,
don't we?
Let's do that.
Our Father God,
this morning we think
about the Lord Jesus Christ
who you sent
to be the Savior of the world
and our Savior in particular.
And as we take this bread
and we take this cup,
we do show forth
the Lord's death
until He comes.
We remember that He died for us.
We remember the promise
that He made to us.
And our hearts are lifted up.
This morning we understand
Father that to take this bread
and take this cup
in a dishonest,
deceitful way
is dangerous.
And so if there's someone here
that does not know Christ,
Father,
on the basis of Your Word
I would plead with them
to trust in Christ as Savior
and then take the elements
or to let the elements pass.
and let us as believers
who take these elements
take them with a clear conscience,
allowing the Spirit of God
to challenge us
to think carefully
if there are things in our lives
that we need to confess
and to forsake.
And let that confessing
and that forsaking
be something that is genuine
and deep
that we would be a people
that are marked by holiness
and the desire
for the glory of Christ.
We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.