Tonight, I invite you to turn with me to Matthew 26, again, backing up a little bit from where we read this morning, reading together verses 17 through 30, considering in a particular way verses 26 through 29, doing so in connection with our confession regarding the Lord's Supper, Lord's Day 28, if you would please turn to pages 36 and 37 in the back of the Psalter hymnal. Lord's Day 28 is the first of three Lord's Days on the Lord's Supper, each having their own unique consideration, as it were. There are actually three questions and answers for Lord's Day 28. We're just going to recite together question and answers 75 and 76 before we turn to the Word of God. Lord's Day 28, page 36. Question 75 asks, How does the Lord's Supper remind you and assure you that you share in Christ one sacrifice on the cross and in all His gifts? In this way. Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup. With this command, He gave this promise. First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup given to me, so surely His body was offered and broken for me, and His blood poured out for me on the cross. Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of Him who serves and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, given me as sure signs of Christ's body and blood, so surely He nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with His crucified body and poured out blood. What does it mean to eat the crucified body of Christ and to drink His poured out blood? It means to accept with a believing heart the entire suffering and death of Christ and by believing to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life. But it means more. Through the Holy Spirit, who lives both in Christ and in us, we are united more and more to Christ's blessed body. And so, although He is in heaven and we are on earth, We are flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone, and we forever live on and are governed by one Spirit as members of our body are by one Spirit. Then turning to Matthew 26, beginning at verse 17, as we now hear and give our consideration to the Word of God. On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover? He replied, Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, The teacher says, My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house. So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve. And while they were eating, he said, I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me. They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, surely not I, Lord. Jesus replied, the one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him, but woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man, it would be better for him if he had not been born. Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, Surely not I, Rabbi. Jesus answered, Yes, it is you. While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take and eat, this is my body. Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and offered it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day, when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom. When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, it was Passion Week. The week of our Lord's crucifixion and death. Soon He would be betrayed and arrested. He would be tried and condemned and sentenced, as we considered in part this morning. But for now, at this time, He was gathered one last time with His closest disciples. And even though His disciples were still in the dark about what was going to take place, the light of the world at this time would do something. He would give them something that would bring together centuries of practice, and at the very same time, it would shout out to them, I am the One. And this gift that He would give to them at this time would stay with the church throughout her history, even for you and me, until Jesus Christ comes again. A gift by which believers would constantly be reminded with our eyes what He has done. And a gift with which the Holy Spirit nourishes our faith under greater assurance of such a great salvation, even as He prepares us for that which is awaiting us in eternal glory. And that gift, you know, is the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. That blessed sacrament of the Lord's Supper, which points to Christ given for me. Christ given for you, Christ given for me, Christ given for believers. Question 75 really is quite beautiful, even in the way it's worded about this gift. How does the Lord's Supper remind you and assure you? That's what it does. It reminds you and me and assures you and me of something. How does it remind you and assure you that you share in Christ's one sacrifice on the cross and in all His gifts? How does it remind you of Christ given for you and me as a final sacrifice, as a timeless sacrifice, but also as an effective sacrifice? Now the Lord's Supper, we know, is not for everyone. It's not for just anyone. Paul very clearly points out that those who do not know and understand and believe what the Lord's Supper is all about eat and drink judgment unto themselves if they partake. The Lord's Supper is only for those who by the grace of God say yes to their baptism. Who say yes to that wonderful promise that God has given to you and me in our baptism. It is only for those who by the grace of God say, Yes, Christ was given for me too. First of all, as a final sacrifice. You see, on this particular evening in question, with the broken bread and the poured wine, Jesus was symbolically focusing the eyes of His disciples on Himself, on the sacrifice of Himself that He was about to make. And in doing so, He was reminding them of the old covenant. He says, this is the blood of the covenant. And they understood what that meant. Especially in this context, it was a Passover context. They had just finished eating the Passover meal, that feast which had been observed one time per year for over 1,500 years by this time, by God's covenant people, a feast that was a reminder of the salvation of Israel by having their lives spared by the blood of another that was spread on the door frames of their houses as they prepared to exit Egypt. A reminder of their salvation as they received strength for the journey as they ate the meat of the sacrificial lamb. And now Jesus, with the bread and the wine, and in the context of the Passover, that covenantal context, He is teaching them, it's all about Me. It all points to Me. And He uses sacrificial language that indeed the disciples would understand again in the context of the covenant. They understood that sacrifices were an essential part of that covenant relationship between God and His people with the blood of the sacrifice, as it were, being the signature on the dotted line of that covenantal contract. Exodus 24 records the establishment of that old covenant with the blood. In verse 8 it says, And Moses took the blood, the blood of the sacrifice, sprinkled it on the people and said, this is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words. And now Jesus said, this is My blood of the covenant. They understood that without the shedding of blood, there could be no remission of sin. Without the shedding of blood, there was no covenant, no special relationship of friendship between God and His people. They understood the need of blood for covenant violation. failure to give the required obedience to god needed sacrifices to be offered again and again and again to remove the wrath of god to have life the life of another had to be shed given with its blood with its blood shed leviticus 17 verse 11 says for the life of the flesh is in the blood and i have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. The disciples understood clearly the old covenant, the sacrificial system, the necessity of blood. And now Jesus, here on this night in question, He demonstrates with the bread and the wine, He demonstrates that He is the better way. He is the only way because He is the final sacrifice replacing the old with the new. Because His is perfect blood. Teaching them that all of the Old Testament bloody sacrifices, including the yearly Passover sacrifices, were ongoing. They were insufficient. They were promises. But they were not enough. They could not make anyone perfect. As Hebrews 10, verse 4 says, For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin. but Christ's blood, to which all the blood of all the Old Testament sacrifices pointed, that blood was perfect and acceptable to God. His blood is the blood of the new covenant. Now some Greek manuscripts use the word new in Matthew and in Mark's record of this, but some do not, and the NIV follows a manuscript that does not use it. Luke, it seems, in all the Bible translations that I looked at, Luke calls it New Covenant. So the Greek manuscripts there use it most often, the word new. And Paul, when he quotes the Lord Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 22, he says, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Clearly, Jesus was presenting to them a new covenant, a better, a more lasting covenant, One that is that way because it rests on one foundation, not many sacrifices. On one foundation that would never be moved. As Hebrews 10.14 says, For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. His blood is the perfect blood He was teaching them. His blood is also the promised blood. You see, with this covenantal language in the context of the Passover, Jesus points to Himself as the promised Messiah. He points to His shed blood through death as a means by which He would fulfill His purpose as the Messiah. He was teaching them that now was the time of fulfillment. And with these symbols of bread and wine, He is saying in essence that just as the bread nourishes the body and gives strength for the physical journey, My body nourishes your faith and gives strength for the spiritual journey. Beloved, the Lord's Supper by the operation of the Holy Spirit gives assurance to our hearts through our eyes of Christ's final sacrifice for me. How does it remind you and assure you? In this way, Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup. Boys and girls, you remember that when we celebrate the Lord's Supper, you see me or Pastor Donovan or Dr. Godfrey or any one of our ministers who may be up here. You see us break that bread. There's a reason we hold it up before you. that you see it being broken. You see the cup with the wine or the juice in it. And just as certainly, just as certainly, surely, you see that and it's real. That's how certainly Christ actually gave Himself on the cross. The Lord's Supper gives assurance to our hearts, through our eyes, of Christ's final sacrifice, of the reality of it. That it is real. And also the reality of no more shedding of blood. If more blood needed to be shed, that would say that Christ's blood was not powerful or plentiful or pure enough to do what God required. But not only is Christ's blood all of these things, but Christ was given for you and me in the second place as a timeless sacrifice. Indeed, a sacrifice accomplished in time. Paul says, in the fullness of time, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law. And Paul says in Romans 5, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And we have now been justified by His blood. Very clearly, His timeless sacrifice was accomplished in time. It is an historic, it is a redemptive event. It is that which Isaiah 53, for example, prophesied about. It is that which the sacrifices pointed forward to. It is that which the Lord's Supper looks back at. It actually happened. If it didn't, we are deceived. And we are deceiving ourselves each and every time we celebrate. And if that's the case, we better get to work because we have a lot of road to catch up on. But we don't have to. Because it's been done. A timeless sacrifice accomplished in time, but then celebrated throughout time. Not just for the disciples on that evening, but celebrated throughout time. Luke and Paul both quote the Lord as saying, do this. as if to say do this again and again and again do this in remembrance of me it is to be celebrated throughout time Jesus that as you do you proclaim my death every time every faithful celebration of the Lord's Supper is a visible sermon preaching loudly of the death and the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ alone by which we have spiritual life. It is timeless, celebrated throughout time, proclaiming his death, but also then God's people partaking of real nourishment. Oh, the bread and the wine or the juice is only bread and wine. But again, they point to a reality. Second, answer 75 says, As surely as I receive from the hand of him who serves and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, given me as sure signs of Christ's body and blood, so surely He nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with His crucified body and poured out blood. Just as certainly as I hold that bread and I taste it, and as bread and wine nourish the physical body, the believer's faith is nourished. Not by the bread and wine. by the body and blood of Christ. And although we may not necessarily sense that nourishment at the very time that we partake, we know that our faith is nourished as more and more we become more confident and more certain of our salvation through Christ's timeless sacrifice, which then is also sufficient for eternity. It's timeless. He nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with His crucified body and poured out blood. A mystery to us. We don't understand how the Holy Spirit does that. But He does that. Jesus said in verse 29, I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom. No doubt those were hard words for the disciples to hear because it meant that His death was near. But those were also triumphant words for them and for us because it means that we, as Paul says in Romans 5, are saved from God's eternal wrath through Him. It also means that the word of our Lord is true, what He said in John chapter 6, verse 35, we read, Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. And in verse 51, I am the living bread that came down from heaven. and if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. It means that His Word is true, that He is the bread from heaven. He is the food that endures for everlasting life. He is the bread that gives life to the world, sufficient for eternity. And that also means that there is a great wedding banquet of the bridegroom and his bride. Beloved, we have a feast of eternal joy that we look forward to when Jesus Christ gathers around Himself all who belong to Him. The truth of the Lord's Supper is that Christ's death alone preserves our lives and His blood. His blood guarantees, beloved, that we will never become covenant breakers. His blood guarantees that those who believe in Him by the grace of God will never become covenant breakers like Esau. It doesn't mean that we will never sin. We know that we struggle with sin day by day, but we will never become covenant breakers as He will preserve us. The truth of the Lord's Supper is that it is the refreshment that we need as we continue to live in a world that challenges and outright denies this truth and therefore because of our weakness, sometimes we too begin to feel like maybe, just maybe, it's not true for me. But the Holy Spirit nourishes and refreshes us, indeed with the word preached, first of all, but also with this visible sermon. As what so often is out of sight and therefore easily becomes out of mind, but our Lord keeps this before our eyes to remind us of the truth, of what He has done, and a refreshment for you and me. This is the assurance that we are given as we physically see with our eyes the broken bread and the cup, and as we physically hold with our hands and taste with our mouths the bread and the wine. But this assurance is not just because we see and feel and taste with our physical senses, but all of this is true only because Christ has been given for you and me in the third place as an effective sacrifice. Seeing, feeling, and tasting are nothing without true faith. Again, the text says, beginning in verse 26, While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, Take and eat, this is My body. Then He took the cup, gave thanks, and offered it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. When Jesus gave His disciples the command to eat and drink, it was a call to faith. It was a call to believe. He was saying, partake of me by faith. Because his sacrifice is an effective sacrifice, accomplishing that which he set out to accomplish. And that is the forgiveness of sins, which is ours by faith. Question 76 again, what does it mean to eat the crucified body of Christ and to drink his poured out blood? It means to accept with a believing heart the entire suffering and death of Christ and by believing to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life. The Lord's Supper is a blessed reminder of the cross of Jesus. A reminder that His body was crucified and His blood was shed into a complete remission of all of our sins. Which means that God's people are delivered from the wrath of God. We are delivered from eternal death. It means that we are given the favor of God. We are given eternal life. And it means that Christ's sacrifice really accomplished what He meant for it to accomplish. And it also means unbelievers beware. Because the Lord's Supper is so intimately tied with what we have only by faith that, again, it is only for those with true faith. To partake but not believe is dangerous, as Paul says. To partake but not believe is to blaspheme the name of God. It is to blaspheme the truth of Jesus Christ. It is to lie. Because the catechism is correct. What does it mean to eat the crucified body of Christ and drink as poured out blood? It means to accept with a believing heart the entire suffering and death of Christ and by believing to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Those who believe and partake give evidence by their actions that they believe. But those who partake but do not believe, they make it look like they believe, but they reject the Gospel in their heart. And therefore, the call goes out even this very evening, if you are here tonight and you do not yet believe. If you do not yet believe, You do not yet have Christ's final sacrifice, His timeless sacrifice, His effective sacrifice. But God's word of truth for you is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and all of it is yours. And the believer's desire, those who understand the Lord's Supper and all that it means by the grace of God through faith, the believer's desire is to partake. It is to be with God's people every time we have an opportunity to partake in a particular way through the Lord's Supper. It is to desire to do that. Because it is a means of grace by which through Christ's effective sacrifice we enjoy fellowship by faith. The second part of answer 76 says, but it means more. Through the Holy Spirit who lives both in Christ and in us, we are united more and more to Christ's blessed body And so although He is in heaven and we are on earth, we are flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone, and we forever live on and are governed by one Spirit as members of our body are by one soul. Ours is fellowship by faith, which means that we are united to Christ by faith. And you see, beloved, the very same grace that God pours out upon His people through the primary means, the preaching of the Word that we hear, That very same grace God pours out as we partake of the visible gospel of the Lord's Supper by faith. But that fellowship by faith also means that we are united to each other. We are the body of Christ united by one faith, one hope, one Lord. Those who partake together rejoicing in that one salvation that you and I have in common. And that fellowship by faith also means living unto Christ with His life spirit flowing in us. Living unto Christ with lives transformed, lives that are no longer dead to sin and no longer delight in the deeds of the flesh as we remember the blood He shed. But as we remember the blood that He shed, we delight in obedience to the God who loves us. Living unto Christ with no fear that I owe God anything not covered by Christ because He left nothing undone. Living unto Christ without fear of being in bondage, of trying to get right with God, but because I am right with God through Jesus Christ, I am free for what? Free to give myself as a living sacrifice of thanksgiving to Him and He will accept me as imperfect as I am. He will accept me for Jesus' sake. Dear people of God, the Lord's Supper for the believer means that Christ hasn't abandoned me. That by faith I am one with Him. He is my refuge and my strength. He is my intercessor and advocate before the throne of God's grace. He is with me by the Holy Spirit. The Lord's Supper for the believer means that Christ isn't finished with me. That not only is He busy preparing a place for me at the eternal banquet table, but He is preparing me by the Holy Spirit to be with Him forever. And therefore, this life with all of its details is to be used by you and me for getting ready, for looking forward to that day when we will feast with Him forever, not through bread and wine, but face to face. But dear people of God, what a gift is the Lord's Supper. Because it is God's own Word to you and me that Christ was given for you and me as a final sacrifice, as a timeless sacrifice, and as an effective sacrifice, all that we need for both now and forever. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, we praise Your name indeed for always knowing what's best for us. Knowing better than we do what it is that we need. Knowing that we did need a visible reminder of Your grace through Jesus Christ. And we thank You for the sacraments that you have given to us that do just that. And in particular, we thank you for the gift of the Lord's Supper by which you remind us indeed of that great work of Jesus Christ and through which, with which, you nourish our faith unto eternal life. Father, we thank you over and over again for such a great salvation, for your love and your care for your people, those who do not even care about themselves. We thank you for not leaving us into the hell into which we have cast ourselves, but you have delivered your people from darkness into your wonderful light, snatched us from the clutches of death, and given us eternal life in Christ Jesus. We thank you for all of these things for Jesus' sake. Amen.