Well, tonight I invite you to turn in your Bibles that are in front of you to Matthew chapter 26. I know the bulletin said 1 Corinthians 11. We're going to be actually looking at the institution of the supper as Jesus gave it in Matthew chapter 26. I'm going to read tonight. I'll just read the question answers that we're considering of what the meaning is of the Lord's Supper. And next week we have the privilege to be able to come back and partake of the supper at night. So this is, as you're turning to Matthew 26, this is Lord's Day 28. How does the Holy Supper remind and assure you that you share in Christ's one sacrifice on the cross and in all his benefits? In this way, Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and drink this cup in remembrance of him. With this command comes these promises. First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup shared with 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 the believing heart the entire suffering and death of Christ, and in this way 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 the members of our body are by one soul. Where does Christ promise to nourish and refresh believers with His body and blood as surely as they eat this broken bread and drink this cup? In the institution of the Lord's Supper. Lord Jesus, on the night in which when he was betrayed, he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, also he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. The promise is repeated by Paul in these words, the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there's one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake the one bread. And now we'll read the scripture from Matthew chapter 26 beginning at verse 6. Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask, a very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, why this waste? For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor. But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, why do you trouble the woman? For she's done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she's done it to prepare me for my burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her. Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priest and said, what will you give me if I deliver him over to you? And they paid him 30 pieces of silver. And from that moment, he sought an opportunity to betray him. Now on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying, where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover? He said, go into the city, a certain man, and say to him, teacher, the teacher says, my time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples. And the disciples said, did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined at the table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me. And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, is it I, Lord? He answered, he who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. Judas, who would betray him, answered, is it I, rabbi? He said to him, you have said so. Now as 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. And he took a 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. I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, you will all fall away because of me this night. For it's written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I'm raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter answered him, though they all fall away because of you, I never will never fall away. Jesus said to him, truly, I tell you this very night for the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Peter said to him, even if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And all the disciples said the same. And there we'll stop the reading of God's Word. Well, Matthew chapter 26 becomes, I think, a really big help to the people of the Lord over the question of endurance and the question of falling away, you'll notice how much was going on in that particular chapter, all that had as a centerpiece there the institution of the Lord's Supper. Isn't that interesting that the institution of the Lord's Supper sits right in between all of this mess and all of this denial and betrayal? Isn't that fascinating how the Lord gave us that and inspired that. Even though these horrible things are happening, what the message is tonight to help us and think about as we're trying to understand better and appreciate the Lord's Supper is how the Lord is keeping us, how the Lord is preserving us, how the Lord is upholding us in this age. Those are very important questions. We've looked at that he uses certain means to do that. He uses what we call means of grace. He gives us a glorious gospel. And he gives us, tonight we're considering the Lord's Supper as a great blessing. We considered baptism last time, these last few weeks. And now we're coming to why we have the Supper and what is the meaning of the Supper. And you'll notice in this particular section that he holds out to his own disciples, his body and his blood as true nourishment to uphold them. As true strength to keep them. as a real help to them in the most distressing moments of life. That's not coincidental that the institution of the supper comes in the midst of this kind of turmoil. This was meant to teach us something and to help us that we as sinners have a great need constantly. And there's been a lot of debate in the history of the church over the frequency of the supper. I have to say this much, that as a pastor, I have seen the Lord work in remarkable ways to give the supper in the light of the congregation at times and at moments that were really needful and really helpful in light of great afflictions and hardships that were going on that typically wouldn't have been appreciated in other ways. Now we can have a big discussion about frequency and that's not my goal tonight. I want to help you to see how Jesus was holding out the supper as a way to help the sheep in distressing times, as a way to encourage them, and to have meaning with the supper. So that's what we're looking at tonight, very simply the brief institution of the supper, and then the meaning of the supper, and then I want to end on this great note of the joy that is a result of the supper. They went out and sung after this, you'll notice that, and then Peter would stumble, wouldn't he? So there's a lot to consider here, and don't worry, it's not an overly long sermon tonight. You have fireworks, I'm sure, to get to after this. In verses 6 through 13, a woman comes to Jesus. Special moment in the Gospels. Beautiful moment in the Gospels. One of the best moments in the Gospels. Jesus makes it such a moment that he says, I want everyone to study this moment. This woman has come to me, and what she's done is a memorial for all the generations to talk about. So it's a big moment as she pours this alabaster flask of oil over his head. You'll remember what happened right after this. All of a sudden there's criticism. You just dumped your whole livelihood on him. Here comes the Judas sort of statement. That could have been given to the poor. That could have been given to the poor. And we know from the other gospels that all the disciples got sucked into this. So this big moment happened and Jesus stops and he says, leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She's done something beautiful for me. You always have the poor with me, but you do not always have me with you. In pouring this ointment on my body, she's done it for my burial. Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she's done will be told in memory of her. Now, I've often pondered this and thought this is such a big moment in the Gospels. It's a little confusing to understand exactly why the things follow from this and what exactly the Gospel writer Matthew was doing with this. And I hope that by the end you'll see that. This was a great commendation, and Jesus holds her up to us as, like Psalm 131, a trusting saint, weaned, trusting the Lord in everything. And a gospel memorial as she poured everything she had of value in this life, understanding the greatest value was him. The greatest value was him, Jesus. Isn't that beautiful? It's a beautiful moment. So that's placed right up front. That's placed right up front for us to hold on to that as we come back and we get to the institution of the supper, we'll see how this becomes an important issue. Right after this, in verse 14, then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priest and said, what will you give me if I deliver him over to you? And they paid him 30 pieces of silver. What a sad moment following, isn't it? That's all he valued Jesus, the price of a slave in the Old Testament? 30 pieces of silver? Motivated with a faithless, greedy heart, he wanted the gain of the world, and he accepts in verse 30 the price of a slave and sells Jesus. So you see the contrast going on here that Matthew has set up for us and then we have this great question of the issue of the value of Jesus' life. Look at the value of Jesus' life in stark contrast to the one who poured everything on him, anointing him for his burial because she knew, as I've made this case before, She had a good understanding of what he had come to do for her. Well, now it's in the midst of this turbulence that I think all of that was intended now to have us look for a moment at the disciples, which are the ones that we identify with. We identify with them. In verses 17 through 30, we have Jesus doing something remarkable as he institutes the supper. The Lord brackets the supper between these things. Really, the betrayal of Judas and the denial of Peter, which is remarkable, isn't it? I've always been struck by the way that the New Testament writers write about the supper. Remember what we read over so quickly about the supper, and we always say it, but we don't really stop to think about it. In the night in which he was betrayed, he took bread. Matthew is grabbing that moment to have us think about it. It obviously had a lot of meaning to the disciples when they were thinking about the apostles when they were trying to teach the supper. We need you to understand that this was instituted on the night in which he was betrayed. Now, that's what leads us into this particular passage. One of the most moving verses here is verse 22. That when he said, one of you is going to deny me tonight, betray me actually. They were all exceedingly sorrowful. Each began to say, Lord, is it I? Lord, is it I? It probably literally reads better like this. Lord, I'm not the one, am I? Imagine this scene, you know? You're sitting there next to your Lord, and there's 12 of you, and your odds, one of you is going to do it to me. What a pain to hear that. Lord, I'm not the one, am I? when Luke records this particular scene Jesus says it again truly a son of man goes as it's been determined but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed in this passage you notice that it would be better if he had not been born which one of us would do this which one of us would do this Luke also records that in the midst of all this there was a dispute among them as to which of them would be considered the greatest. It's just really remarkable when you think. You stop and you say, they really look nothing like this woman. They're struggling. They're weak. They're frail. Could they do it? And Matthew is really pressing us with this question of, could they go do this against Jesus? we talk about perseverance of the saints, don't we? Could they do this? And then you talk about preparation for the supper. They don't seem very prepared for what's coming. I could jump on them. And then I think back to this question, why did Jesus keep showing us this woman? Why does Jesus hold her out? What was so special about that? What are the writers showing? One more time, I want to quote Luke. I assign to you a kingdom. I do it just as my father besowed one upon me that you may eat and drink at my table in the kingdom. Matthew is recording this and helping us think about this. He who dipped his hand with me in the dish will betray me. 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. So Judas now answers. Isn't it interesting how the writers offset him? The writer does here? The disciples ask, is it I, Lord? It couldn't be me, could it? And then Matthew says, Judas now talks. Rabbi, is it I? It's really interesting, isn't it? Is it I? He didn't care about Jesus, did he? He's already been shown to have no value for Jesus. He's already been shown that he was in the kingdom. We know he was stealing from John from the money purse. He was a thief. We know that he followed and had no faith. We know that he was the greatest hypocrite, now exposed right at the end. There's no love for the Lord. There's no faith in this man. There's no trust in Jesus. Is it me? Can you hear the tone of that almost? It's so different. It's interesting that Matthew does record that they use the word Lord. Judas doesn't. Is it me? It's just such a moment to think about. Surely not I, Rabbi, is it? Kind of glaring to me that Judas won't address him as Lord. But I think the contrast that is being drawn here among his own now in all of this is the frailty and the weakness of the disciples who do love their Lord. You know, I think many of us in the course of life struggle with the question. We're so performance-driven, aren't we? We live in the constant feeling that I'm never going to perform enough to make it into God's kingdom, to do enough to be accepted of God. That's just, it's what we constantly face. We fall back into it. We struggle with that. And I think this struggle of the disciples is a real struggle for people with assurance. We know what we're capable of. Could we do this? So I'm pressing that. Could you do this? William Perkins once wrote a dialogue to help troubled consciences, and I was flipping through it, and again, I picked it up. Let me read a little bit of this to you. I've lived a long time, and the Lord knows how I have lived, in the lusts of my filthy flesh. What is my case then? I feel that I'm a rebellious wretch, ugly in the sight of God, than any toad can be in my sight. What do I do? Let me hear some word of comfort from your mouth, man of God. Minister, tell me one thing plainly. You say you feel no assurance of God's mercy. None. Do you desire with all your heart to know that assurance? I do. Then do not doubt. For the man that would have any grace of God tending to salvation, if he does truly desire it, he shall have it. For Christ has promised. Now listen to this. I will give to him that thirsts of the well of water of life freely. I gather then that if any want the water of life, having an appetite for it, he shall have enough for it. And therefore, fear not. Listen to this. Listen to what he says now. Only use the means which God has appointed to attain faith. Earnest prayer, receiving God's holy word reverently and receiving his sacraments. You'll see this thing verified in your life. That's William Perkins. The father of Elizabethan Puritanism, they say. Did Judas do that? Did Judas care? Did he have any desire for this? He bolts as soon as he gets the bread to sell Jesus. Now, Jesus knows their fears. Jesus knows their weakness. Jesus knows their sheep. Jesus knows how much they need. Jesus knows they can't uphold themselves for a minute. It's not, look at this woman. She did it, and I didn't. It is dependency upon Jesus completely to uphold you is what the woman displays. Now here's my point tonight. All that to give you real meaning in the supper. Jesus at this moment, in the midst of all this hardship, in the midst of all this distress, all this worry, all these feelings of failure because of sin in this life, all the things we've done we should have never done. Think of the disciples. Think of what's going to happen after this. Peter, after this, is going to go deny him. You know what you read there? Now as they were eating. One of the most powerful sections in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus took bread and after blessing it broke it and gave to the disciples and said take eat this is my body and he took a cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying drink of it all of you for this is the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of your sins. Lord, I wouldn't betray you, would I? Eat. Drink. See, this is a big moment in the Gospels. I love when we, some of the old forms that we read to help people understand the supper and says something so beautiful that we've read right over, we shouldn't let the weakness of our faith or our failures in this life keep us from what he's intending to give us. What is he announcing to you in the supper? What is he doing for you in the supper? He's helping you. And this is where I think the Heidelberg is so beautiful tonight. That's why we read that. These are not just empty documents that have no meaning. This is what the church has wrestled through throughout hundreds of years. How does, listen to this, the Holy Supper, and we said this about baptism, remind and assure you that you share in Christ's one sacrifice on the cross and all his benefits. How does taking the supper remind and assure you that you share in what Jesus did in this way? Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat the broken bread and drink this cup in remembrance. And then when he does that, he's giving promises. This is what comes with it. First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread broken for me and the cup shared with me, so surely, listen to what this means, his body was offered and broken for me. And his blood was poured out on the cross for me. As surely as I receive from the hand him who serves and tastes with my mouth the bread and the cup of the Lord given to me as sure signs of his body and blood. Here's what he does. Here's what he does for us. This is what Jesus is. This is why I love putting this in a context in a story to look at this is the very thing that the institution of the supper, this is what he was saying he would do. He would keep them even in their failures. So surely he nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with his crucified body and poured out blood. I love also in question 76 that we receive all this by faith, and when we believe with a believing heart and we partake with a believing heart, notice this, we receive from him. Now again, the sacrament's not disconnected from the word of God. I'm assuming we understand that. We receive from him forgiveness of sins, an everlasting life. That's what 7D6 says. Isn't that beautiful? That's a wonderful thing for you to appreciate. See, I think like we said with baptism, everyone's searching to find meaning right now. I said in baptism a few weeks ago, everyone's trying to find identity. Everyone's looking for a sign. Everyone's looking for a sign somewhere of something real and something authentic and something that will give us help and something that will give us life. And we've got every sign in our culture under the sun to try to claim you and give you identity and offer you a way. And Jesus blessed and sanctified this sign and seal and said, this is for you so that you might know that I'm going to keep you and that you might have an assurance that I will uphold you, that I've forgiven your sins, and that I've nourished your souls with life. They were seeing visibly in the sign an announcement of what was about to happen. We, of course, look back on this and understand that Christ's death was for them, that he would cover them with his blood, all their failures. They were being given spiritual life. They were being helped. They were being encouraged. They were being strengthened. That none of their failures could ever pluck them from his hand. Isn't that the best news ever? It's a far different thing than what happened with Judas. A far different thing. In fact, he's the exception in the scriptures. In terms of us, remember that the scriptures might be fulfilled. Jesus wants us to understand that when we come to him with believing hearts and receive from him what the bread and the wine signify by faith, we have him. We have him. He will uphold us. Isn't this a weaned child? Isn't this a weaned child? think of all the things in life we're now ashamed you see the assurance he gives you of his promises the strength is not in the sacraments themselves it's in what they signify it's in what they proclaim that we believe by faith they saw the lamb of god vicariously stepping into their place to pay for all their sins all their sins that they had ever committed It was washed, cleansed, forgiven. And Jesus says something so beautiful in 29, doesn't he? Of course, the blood of the new covenant ratified Christ. Look at what he says in verse 29. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on till the day that I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom. There's an anticipation. We're going to do this one day face to face. We're going to be in the marriage supper of the Lamb forever. We're going to enjoy his blessed presence forever. That's coming. That's what this is telling us. And that anticipates it. The Lord's Supper anticipates this. Well, there's joy in this, isn't there? Sometimes I think that in the Lord's Supper, we've made a great mistake. Not that, of course that, we should always be humble for our sins and confess our sins and be contrite about our sins, but also to remember that the Lord lifts up our heads in the supper and gives us joy, gives us life, gives us encouragement. He wants us to leave the happiest people on earth, the happiest people. This is what is happening here. Did Judas leave happy that day? Here's the other thing. Peter's going to go out and stumble right now. He's going to go out this week and stumble. And Jesus had already made a provision. Jesus has the power to keep you. Jesus has the ability to hold you. And Jesus gave us the real beautiful example in that woman of what childlike faith and resting looks like. You see, that was meant to be a great encouragement to them. Rest in me. Trust in me. She didn't accomplish that herself. This was what the sustaining love and power of God does. It keeps his people. It upholds his people through this life. That's what you need. That's what you need. She displays Jesus' power to bring us in childlike faith to him, just like this morning. You may be weak. You may stumble at times. You will. You may even go out and deny Jesus sometime. You won't betray him, like Judas, but you might deny him. You may face periods of great distress in life. You may wonder about God's love. You may really struggle with personal sin. Inwardly, a war wages on, and Christ holds out for you in the supper his body and his blood. And he says, I'm for you, and I love you. Whoever eats my flesh, said Jesus, and drinks my blood, John 6, has eternal life, and that's for you. Well, what happened to their hearts of gloom? Verse 30, and they went out, after they had sung a hymn, they went out on the Mount of Olives. Their sorrow was turned to joy. Their sorrow was turned to joy. We are a happy, trusting people, beloved. Jesus paid for your sins. And there's a day coming when he will drink this anew, eat and drink anew with you in the kingdom. So next week, let's come with eager hearts to partake, joyful hearts to partake, contrite about our sin, confessing our sin, and seriously turning away from sin and looking to Jesus, and he will uphold us. he will keep us. He will strengthen our faith, and our sorrows will be turned to joy. Let's pray to him together tonight. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word to us tonight. Thank you for your word of gospel and help. Thank you for helping us more to understand the blessed supper. Obviously there's much here that we will be going through, but guide us in its truth. Keep us in a knowledge of it, and let us appreciate, Lord, what you've given us. Thank you for keeping us all the way to the end. Thank you for not losing one of your own. You will persevere us to the end by your power, your strength, the life of your Son upholds us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.