WHBC
09/22/2024 - Bro. Kason Kuykendall
As we come to this time I was remembering my little girl, Kacen. She got saved within the last year and she was so excited to finally be able to take the Lord's Supper. And so a few months back we had the first Lord's Supper that she could be a part of. She was the first one in the car that day. It was that evening. She was ready to go and she said, "Daddy, I can't wait. I'm so excited." And I looked at her in the service and she was full of glee and she was kind of shaking around and she kept asking, "Daddy, when are we going to take the Lord's Supper?" "What are we going to get those little square pieces of bread?" And I said, "Baby, they're coming. Just a little bit. You've got to be patient." And so finally the time came and the tray was passed and she reached down and she picked one out. She had the biggest smile on her face and a little bit later the prayer was said was prayed and I said, "Baby, go ahead and take it now." And she took it and she started chewing on it. And she leaned over and she said, "Daddy, I thought it would taste a little bit better. I've spent a lot of time this week looking at the Lord's Supper and studying the Lord's Supper. And I realized that there have been many times that I have come to a service like this and I didn't take it as serious as I should have. I didn't understand the great significance of this, that we gather together as the body of Christ, as family, we come together and we celebrate what the Lord has done. It is an enormous privilege for us today. And so what I want us to do is I want us to look a little bit deeper. See if we can get a little bit deeper understanding of what the Lord's Supper is and how that applies to our life. Throughout the history of the church there had been gatherings. There were gatherings called the agape feast or the love feast and that is where that early community would gather together and they would expound on the love of God and the love that they have for each other. After Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, it came by various names. Some called it the Eucharist and that is simply from the Greek verb Eucharisto which means to give things. It was always the time of giving things. And there are various ways that different folks, different denominations carry out the practices of the Lord's Supper. And so we're going to look biblically this morning as quickly as we can because we've got a lot to do in a short amount of time but we're going to look biblically at what the Lord's Supper represents for us. Immediately our mind goes to that upper room experience to where Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper. But I think if you open your Bible you will begin to understand that it even goes back further than that. If you remember the context, this is in Luke 22, 15, Jesus was setting up for that institution of the Lord's Supper but beforehand he said this, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." Go and get the room, get everything ready because I have earnestly desired to eat the Passover with you so they were celebrating the Passover together and that is the context in which Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper. There is a connection in the Bible between the Passover and between the Lord's Supper. Jesus knew that his time was coming to an end, his trial, his death, his resurrection and his return to the Father, it was coming oh so quickly so we said I deeply desire to celebrate the Passover and within that context he instituted the Lord's Supper. First Corinthians 5-7 it speaks like this, it says Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. There's a connection between the two, it's a connection that I have not heard preached a lot, it's a connection that many folks may not see but I want to show it to you today. I want us to look at the foreshadowing of Christ, I want us to look at the work of Christ and then I want us to see the remembrance of Christ, pray that we can get all that accomplished quickly. But as we begin let's think about the foreshadowing of Christ. If you remember back to the people of God when you get into the book of Exodus they find themselves in this bondage enslaved to Pharaoh and Pharaoh was ruthless. The Bible says that they suffered greatly and they moaned and they groaned in their sufferings but the Bible also says that God listened to or God heard their groanings and because of that God goes out and he finds a man out in the wilderness and that man's name was Moses. You'll remember that Moses was wanted dead or alive and so he was out to himself, he was tending to the sheep and all of a sudden God appeared to Moses in a burning bush. Exodus chapter 3 verse 5, "Do not come near, take your sandals off your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." And the Lord went on and gave a mission to Moses, "Moses I want you to go back to my people. I'm going to use you to deliver my people." Now do you remember how Moses responded? It was one of those responses like, "Lord are you sure you want me?" "Lord I've got lots of weaknesses. I've got lots of problems. There's got to be somebody else. When I get there, who do I say sent me because I don't have any power?" And the Lord responded, "I will be with you." So I am sent to you. Just trust me and let's see what happens. And so Moses goes back and he goes back under the mighty power of God. And God embraces this power upon Moses and there begins to be a showdown between the magicians of Pharaoh and Moses under the power of God. And you remember the plagues begin to take place. The first nine plagues begin to build one on the necks and they got stronger and stronger and stronger. And God displayed his great might and his great power. And then it came time for the climax and the climax was in that tenth plague. If you have your Bible, please open to Exodus chapter 11. Exodus chapter 11. And so all the first nine plagues have been accomplished. And then in Exodus 11 verse 1 says the Lord said to Moses, "Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt and afterward he will let you go from here. When he let you go, he will drive you away completely." Now let's get down to verse 4. So Moses said, "Thus says the Lord about midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die. From the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the hand mill and all the firstborn of the cattle. This plague tops all of the others. This was a plague that shows the amazing wrath of God, all the firstborn are going to die. From the firstborn to Pharaoh to the firstborn of the slave, they're all going to die. This will show the wrath of God and then Pharaoh will let the people of God go. This is extremely important to the Jewish nation and to our Christian heritage. Now look over to chapter 5. Here in chapter 11, go to chapter 12, I'm sorry, chapter 12, verse 5, that makes more sense. Exodus 12, look at verse 5. Now he's talking to the Israelite people. He says, "Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old, and you may take it from the sheep or the goats, and you shall keep it until the 14th day of this month. And when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two door posts of the lentil of the houses in which they eat it." Look at verse 12, "For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and all the other gods of Egypt. And when I execute judgment, I am the Lord. The blood shall be assigned for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep its feast." Now look at verse 29, "And at midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock, and Pharaoh rose up in the night, he in his servants, and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, and there was not a house where someone was not dead, and then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night, and said, "Up, go out from amongst my people, both you and the people of Israel, and go serve the Lord as you have said. Take your flocks and your herds as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also." Can you imagine the tragedy in that day? Can you imagine if on that night you were in your home, and the death angel comes around and death is struck all over the place, and can you imagine as you awake and you hear the cries and the screams and the wailings and the moneens and the groanings all around your home, and you gather your family, and maybe you just hold each other close, and you're holding on as tightly as you can because you realize that this is a dreadful, dreadful day. It is a day of the wrath of God. It is a day like no other, but at the same time it is a day that shows the wonderful grace in the mercy of God. It's a day that shows the wonder of God and the majesty of God, and you'll notice the one thing that made the difference, the one thing when that angel of death passed over that made the entire difference was what? It was the blood of the lamb. One difference. It was the instructions to take that blood from the lamb and put it on the doorpost, and when the death angel came and it went by and it saw that blood on the doorpost, it just kept on going, and it went to the next house. It was a day of wrath, but it was also a day of great, great mercy. It was a day of ultimate calamity and exposure to God's wrath, but at the same time it was a day of wonder for the people of God. And so when Jesus calls His disciples up into that upper room, this is what they're celebrating. This is what they are remembering. This was celebrated as history was unfolded. It was celebrated every single year, and so Jesus says along to a desire to celebrate the Passover with you, not just as He desired to celebrate, but there's a connection between Jesus. Do you remember what John said early on in John chapter 1 when he saw Jesus? He said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." Now the original audience, they didn't quite catch it, but we better not miss it. This is the Lamb of God. This is the one who takes away the sin of the world. First Peter 1, 18, knowing that you were ransomed, listen, this applies to your life. We've got to understand this, know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without spot or blemish. Romans 5, 9, it says, "Since therefore we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved from the wrath of God." Now go to Matthew 26. Let's see the institution of the Lord's Over. So this is all in mind as they meet in this upper room on their hearts and their minds. They're thinking back to the Passover. They're thinking back to the wonderful grace and mercy of God for those who had the blood on the doorpost. In Jesus, throughout His ministry, as we've been studying, as we've walked through the Gospel of Luke, throughout His ministry, He's been trying to prepare His people, to prepare them that there's going to be suffering, there's going to be death, but that's not the end of the story. And so He's trying to prepare them that He is the Lamb of God. He is the Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world. And so then He comes in Matthew 26 and look at verse 26. Now as they were eating, Jesus took the bread and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to His disciples and said, "Take, eat. This is my body." And He took a cup and when He had given things, He gave it to them saying, "Drank of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant," which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Then He goes on and He says, "I will not eat of this again until we are together." You'll see that in the following verses. There's going to be a meal that comes that we are in the presence of Jesus and we partake of this possibly throughout all of eternity. The church will gather together in a time of remembrance and we will celebrate with the Lord Jesus Christ, but as we come together now, we look back on the past, we look at what Jesus has done and we look forward to the future for that time when there will be no more sin. Amen? There'll be no more disease, there'll be no more cancer, there'll be no more dementia, there'll be no more tumors, all that is done away with and we will have this meal in the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so today we come and we realize what He has done for us. This is the blood that's marked over the door of my life, it's the blood of Jesus. It's not the blood of an animal, it's not the blood of a lamb or a goat, it is the precious blood of Jesus and that blood was spilt for me and that blood was spilt for you. Now, our last passage and I know we're moving quickly, go to 1 Corinthians. So we have remembered, we've seen the foreshadowing of Christ, we've seen the work of Christ and now we remember Christ. First Corinthians, go to chapter 11. First Corinthians 11 and Paul gives us instructions for this sacred time that we come to. This time that has been carried out since Christ instituted the Lord's Supper. How do we do this? What are our instructions? We see this in 1 Corinthians 11, beginning in verse 24, "Please pay close, close attention." It says, "And when He had given things, He broke it and said, 'This is my body which is for you, do this in remembrance of me.'" In the same way, He also took the cup. First Supper saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." Look at verse 27, "Whoever therefore eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord." Listen, let a person examine himself and then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. Now, listen to me, there's a lot of verses, all the verses we should pay special attention to, amen? They all matter. But what we just read says that when you come to this table and you take this Lord's Supper, you've got to make sure that you are right when you do it. He says, "There are some who have taken of the Lord's Supper. And they've done it in a way that's not right and because of that, they have become ill even to the point of death." Now, a lot of you want to get up and you want to run right now, right? I don't want to bring this on my life. The point is not to be afraid. The point is that we realize how significant this is. The point is not that we pass the plate because we say I'm unworthy. The point is that if we make ourselves righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ before the Father, that we look at our life and we begin to investigate and we say, "Lord, would you show me what there is in my life that doesn't bring you honor?" So that when we take the Lord's Supper, we are clean and we are pure. The Bible says that we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all in righteousness. So He offers the power for forgiveness and then after we leave, we're able to carry out His mission as clean, clean vessels. So what do we do? Well, I want to ask you to think about this. Number one, I want you to take a moment in self-examination. Take a moment and think about your life. I've done this this week. I've talked about my life. But in my life, it's not bringing honor and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. Is there any sin in your life that you've not confessed? Is there any sin in your life and you just keep running back to it over and over and over again? And for some reason, you bought into the law that the sin is not a big deal. And maybe you think everybody else does it or everybody has their sin, it's really not a big deal. I pray the conviction of the Holy Spirit comes upon this place so that we see sin for what it is and we confess that sin and we are cleansed from it. Listen, you might have sin that nobody else knows about. You may be really, really good at hiding it. Your spouse may not know, your kids may not know, your coworkers may not know. But can I tell you God knows about it? God knows. He knows the evil in my life and in my heart, he knows the evil in your life and in your heart. So he says reflect, examine your life and see what there is that doesn't bring him glory. Psalm 139, it says search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Search me. Show me what in my life is not right. It's a critical spirit. Maybe it's an attitude. Maybe it's pride. Maybe it's being judgmental all the time. Maybe it's gossip. Maybe it's slander. I could go on and on, but we don't have time. You know what it is in your life. And so he says examine yourself. In the verse 29, anyone who eats or drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. He said, well, what does that mean? I think there's two implications. In the body, we're talking about the body of Christ. When we come to this table, we discern, we remember what Christ did for me. How often do we take it for granted what the Lord's done for us? Do you realize the pain that Jesus, God, and the flesh took for you? Do you realize the beatings he took upon his back and the crown of thorns that were pressed into his skull? Do you realize the nails that were driven through his hands and his feet? The Bible says that any moment he could have called down legions of angels to take him down off that cross, but he did not because he loves you so much. Discern the body. Remember what Christ has done for you don't take that for granted. Don't take the little square and just throw it in like it's no big deal. It represents the body of Christ that was broken. The juice represents the blood of Christ that was poured out. The body also represents the family of God, represents us together. Discern the family maybe it means that there ought to be unity in this place. It could be that you've got a grudge against someone. You've got hard feelings against someone. Some things happened and there's a disconnect. And maybe before you take the Lord's Supper, you seek reconciliation. We're going to have a time of invitation here in just a moment. And normally in a time of invitation, we don't want your phones out. Listen, it may be that during this time you take your phone out, you send a message and you say, "I'm sorry and I want you to know I love you." It may be that God is so honored by that and then you come to the table. It may be that during this time you go and you find somebody and you say, "Hey, I just feel some tension. I don't want there to be any tension. I love you and I want us to serve God and that's what I want us to do moving forward." And that would bring glory to God. Matthew 5, it says, "So if you're offering your gift at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go first be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. I want to ask you to close your eyes and bow your head. We have, real quickly this morning, we've looked at the foreshadowing of Christ through the Passover, through that blood that was on the doorpost and then we saw the institution of the Lord's Supper by the Lord Jesus Christ, that it is His blood that covers us. It is His blood that gives you hope, it is His blood that gives you a future. It is because of the blood of Christ and then we have seen our responsibility and our responsibility is to examine our life and to make sure that we are living in a way that is pure before the Lord. For you that might be, you pray right where you are and you confess sin. It may be that you come down to an altar. It may be that you pull your phone out and you send a message to someone. May the Lord lead you to do that. Could be that you find someone in this place or you make plans. I'm going to do this, that or the other, Lord give me the strength but you seek to partake of the Lord's Supper with a pure heart. Lord I don't know what you're calling from us. I understand what you called out of my life and I realize that in this room there's different callings for each of us but Lord we realize that this is a very, very serious time. The Word makes that so clear to us. Lord would you please forgive us for the times that we've taken your bloodshed for granted? Would you renew a passion within us to realize what you've done so that we can live for you? And so Lord show us in our lives what needs to change so that we can be fully committed to you. Lord we love you. We ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen.