I do invite you to open your Bibles this morning to the Gospel according to Luke. The Gospel according to Luke to chapter 22. If you're new to the Bible, there's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that open up the New Testament to us. Matthew, Mark, Luke, Luke chapter 22. In the Pew Bible, you'll find that on page 1121. Luke chapter 22. Now, all four Gospels say something about the night in which Jesus was betrayed, the night before his crucifixion, the night that he shared his last meal with his twelve apostles. It was the Passover, that time year after year when all of Israel offered bloody sacrifices of lamb that then they would take home and gather around to eat with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. In Luke's streamlined account of that night, of that particular Passover, he tells it to us in such a way that he highlights the pivotal importance of that night in the history of redemption. He sets there side by side two scenes, set right by side by side to help us see that as Jesus communes with his church that night, he is not only suspending the Passover that they are celebrating, He is also initiating the supper, instituting the supper. As this Passover that night drew near, Luke tells us that the chief priests and the scribes were seeking to put Jesus to death. The heat was turning up, the focus was drawn on Jesus, and that's the mood that we take up in chapter 22, beginning at verse 7. There we read that, Then came the day of unleavened bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John saying, Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it. Then dropping down to verse 14, taking up our text this evening. And when the hour came, he, that's Jesus, reclined a 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 had 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 bread, and when he had 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 that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. And here ends the reading of God's word this morning. Well, Luke introduces us to the scene in verses 14 and 15. When the hour came, Jesus 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. John's Gospel lets us know that this was not the first, nor was it the only Passover that Jesus spent in Jerusalem with his disciples. But because the time had come for him to go to the cross, this Passover would be his last Passover, and it would be the last Passover of his church, at least for the time being, as we will see. Therefore, Jesus was eager to eat this Passover with his apostles. the 12 foundations upon which he would build his church. And so as we see him recline at table with these apostles, we should see him recline at table with his church. And as Jesus communes with his church, James wants us to see that Jesus is suspending the Passover. And that we see in verses 16 through 18, the first panel, the first section. Luke sums up the Passover in two main elements. First, the lamb itself, in the text called the Passover, the lamb, the same words used for both because they were tied together. So the Passover lamb, the symbolic center of the meal that they must eat until it was all gone, and the fruit of the vine that they would partake of in four cups. The Passover pointed Israel backward in time and forward in time. They pointed back to their exodus from Egypt into the freedom of an earthly lamb and that by the blood of lambs that turned away the wrath of God against their sin. But in remembering that event and pictured in that event, they'd also looked forward to the exodus of all God's people from every tribe and nation, people and language out of slavery to sin and death into the freedom of a heavenly country. Having looked forward to the blood of the lamb, the Lamb of God, who would take away the sins of the world. And so it was during the celebration of the Passover, looking back and looking forward, that Jesus sits and communes with his church. And we call to mind that when Jesus came into his ministry, he came announcing the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God has come near. And now it was time for him to go to the cross and accomplish the salvation of everyone who belongs to that kingdom. But the time had not yet come and still has not come for that kingdom to be consummated, to be fully gathered, to be fully represented. And so he stands with the Passover between those fulfillments. It's only when Jesus comes again in glory that he will establish the kingdom of God in its fullness. Only then will the entire church commune with Jesus Christ face to face. in what the Passover looks forward to and what Revelation John calls the marriage supper of the Lamb. Until that day, in the meantime, Jesus has suspended, as of that night, the Passover. And He did so saying in verses 16 and 18. He says it twice so that we don't miss it. I tell you, I will not eat it until. I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until. Until when? Until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Until the kingdom of God comes. And it is in the middle of this suspension, when he sets aside the Passover, in verse 17, he takes up one of the cups of the Passover, and after he had given thanks, each of the apostles would have lifted up their own cup in agreement with him, in unison, much like a toast. And at that very moment, Jesus interrupted them, and he surprised them with a new commandment, a very direct commandment. He says, take this, his cup, and divide it among you. With this command, he changed the flow of the Passover. He changed what they had expected and practiced all of their lives. He changed it in a way by which he honored them, and he blessed them, not only bringing them into closer fellowship with himself, but also through Himself bringing them in closer fellowship with one another. This was now a communal meal that came from their host. But it also prepared them with this cup of the Old Covenant for another cup, a cup of the New Covenant that He was going to give them in just a few minutes. On that night, Jesus suspended the Passover. For the time, He will be physically absent from the church and at present at the right hand of God the Father in Heaven. after his crucifixion, until he comes back in glory. And then in verses 19 through 20, Luke goes on to show us Jesus instituting the supper, the Lord's Supper, to be observed in the meantime. We call this Lord's Supper a sacrament. Why? Well, in Heidelberg Catechism question and answer 66, we ask and answer this question, what are sacraments? Sacraments are holy signs and seals for us to see. They show us something, they're signs. They assure us of something, they're seals. They are instituted by God so that by our use of them, He might make us understand more clearly the promise of the gospel. And might put His seal, His certification on that promise, and this is God's gospel promise, to forgive our sins and to give us eternal life by grace alone because of Christ's one sacrifice finished on the cross. That's what the Supper is given for. That's what baptism is given for. The Lord's Supper is a visible sign. Today we will see bread and wine. And this sign directs us to His once for all sacrifice on the cross of His body and His blood. And it's also a seal by which God assures everyone who trusts in Christ that the salvation that Christ accomplished on that cross already is for you too. And Jesus instituted this sacrament on that night using two common elements, bread and wine. In verse 19 we read that He took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them. And likewise the cup, verse 20 says, after they had eaten. Again, Luke has set these in parallel so that we see the common strand between. When we look at this and hear this, we should understand Luke is saying that just as the apostles received together from one loaf, they received together from one cup. Just as Jesus had prepared them to do when he interrupted the Passover. And then having presented to them the bread and the cup, Jesus clearly identified himself with these elements. He took the bread saying, this is my body. And the cup saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. There was no confusion. There is no confusion. This is my body. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. But what did Jesus mean? The question has vexed and divided the church through the ages. The answer, it seems, to borrow an infamous quote, depends on what the meaning of is, is. And I'm not here to present you a comparative religions class, but I'm here to tell you that we believe and we confess that the flesh and blood of Jesus is physically distinct from the bread and the wine in the supper. It was distinct that night when he stood in the presence or he lay in the presence of his apostles and he handed them, he gave them bread and wine. There was no confusion. But also this morning when Jesus is no longer physically present here, he's physically present at the right hand of God the Father in heaven, as his people here today will receive bread and wine from his minister's hands. We confess that the body and blood of Jesus is distinct from the bread and the wine. Therefore, we deny that Jesus is physically present here in these elements. He's not here to be received in our stomachs by way of our mouths, whether in the form of bread and wine somehow being transformed, neither in, with, or under, mixed up together with the bread and the wine. He's not physically present here. He's physically present with God the Father in heaven. But at the same time, we affirm and we are expectant that Jesus Christ is really present. He's present in the supper to be received in our souls through the faith that He gives us to receive Him. This is a mystery, I know. But it is what we believe and confess from the full counsel of God and all that we're told about where Jesus is and his nature and where we are and what we're partaking of. In Heidelberg Catechism 79, we ask this question, why does Christ call the bread his body and the cup, his blood or the new covenant in his blood? And we answer in part that he wants to teach us. He wants to teach us that as bread and wine nourish our temporal lives, our physical bodies, so too His crucified body and His shed blood truly nourish our souls for eternal life. But more important, more important He wants to assure us by this visible sign and seal that we, through the work of the Holy Spirit and invisible work, through faith, that we, through the Holy Spirit's work, share in his true body and blood as surely as our mouths receive these signs in his remembrance. This is a sacrament which Jesus has joined himself for the benefit of his people. He did not institute this sacrament for personal use by any one of the apostles or by anyone, for that matter. He instituted this supper for use in the church. In the church when it's gathered together as it was that night in the apostles, as it is this day in this congregation. He gave it for use in the church, gathered together corporately. That's a word we don't hear very often in the sense of bodily. The body of Christ here is together to receive this meal. In our corporate, our gathered worship that includes the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he gave it for use in the church gathered together under his watchful eye. Even on the night he was betrayed, all of the apostles were there. A mixed crowd to be sure. We know that Judas was there. We know that he partook of the table. And we know that from 1 Corinthians chapter 11 that we should understand that he ate and drank condemnation to himself. Because he partook of this meal that's for God's people under the watchful eye of Christ. And in our day, that watchful eye comes under the elders that he appoints in each church. He's appointed them to guard it and to guard you. He's appointed them to determine its frequency that is fit for this congregation. Some place on the spectrum between day by day, as it was in the early chapters of Acts, to week by week, as it was by the end of Acts, as often as you eat the bread and drink the cup as Paul describes it in 1 Corinthians 11. But as a church, we've agreed no less frequently than every three months or four times a year. That's the elders' responsibility. And on the night that Jesus instituted this supper with his apostles, they participated looking forward to the cross. But ever since that night, until the kingdom come, until it is fulfilled in the coming kingdom of God, the church, we participate while looking back to the cross. And so the bread that Jesus gives at his table signifies and seals to us his body that was broken for us on the cross once and for all and that we receive today through faith. And the wine that Jesus pours out for us at his table signifies and seals His blood that was shed once and for all on the cross and that we receive today through faith. Therefore, in the midst of this institution, verses 19 and 20, in the very middle, Jesus gives this command, do this in remembrance of me. Do this. Do what I have shown you. Say what I have said. Which we will do, and which we will hear in just a moment. And when you do this, remember me. Remember my once-for-all sacrifice on the cross, for each of you, for all who will repent and believe. Remember, my physical presence is now with my Father in heaven, reigning over all things and interceding for you, my people. And remember my real presence here with you in the supper to nourish your souls through faith as you receive for your bodies bread and wine. Remember me in this supper until the kingdom of God comes. When I come again in glory to gather you all into the marriage supper of the Lamb and there commune with you face to face when the Passover is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. He's called us to his table to meet us there and nourish us. And so let's prepare for the supper by singing together.