Alright, would you please pray with me before we go to the Lord in the Scriptures. Heavenly Father, you are worthy to be praised. You are the only true God. And Jesus, you are truly Lord and Lord, Lord of Lords, King of Kings. And as we sit here, as we proclaim or think through your word, Lord, we pray for our hearts to be bursting, not just content, but bursting with affection and thrilled with what you have done, Jesus, for us. Lord, that we would be in awe of who you are, of your work, and God, how you laid your life down in Christ for us. Help us to gain an even greater sense, Lord, of your godness in our life. It's a new word, I don't know where that comes from, but Lord, that we would see you as bigger. as we would see you as more, and that everything else would shrink. Lord, please lead us this way, in Christ's name, for your name's sake. Amen. OK, Matthew chapter 26. And as I said, Lord willing, this will be the last of three messages on the Lord's Supper. And we're not going to say everything that could possibly be said. I don't know how many I would have to do to do that. But we're going to go a little bit deeper than where we've been here the last couple weeks. So if you would turn with me there, Matthew chapter 26, and we're going to read from verse 26 through verse 46 this morning. We're not going to preach through the whole of that, but we're going to hit the highlights as regards to the Lord's Supper. Okay, 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 had given 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 that 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 is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter answered him, Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away. Jesus said to him, truly I tell you, this very night before 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. Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray. And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch with me. And going a little further, he fell on his face and prayed, saying, My father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. nevertheless not as I will but as you will. And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping and he said to Peter, so could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you might not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak. Again, the second time, he went away and prayed, My father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, Sleep, and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand. Okay, so the last couple weeks we went over what the Lord's Supper is in effect. First we looked at what are the roots of the Lord's Supper. Now, I promise this message will not be as long as last week, as long as you remember what I said last week. So there's going to be a test here. So what are the roots of the Lord's Supper? The Passover. The Passover. Thank you. Good job. The Passover is the root of the Lord's Supper. That's where the foundation comes from. This is the meal they were celebrating. And all the symbolism behind that, we've already kind of exhausted that, so I'm going to leave that alone. But that's the root, where it comes from. That's the foundation. God passing over those that put the blood around the posts of their door, saying, I'm with you. I trust you. You are the only God. You are Lord. You're King. Those are all interchangeable here. Pharaoh is not my God. He has no power. These false gods in Egypt, they have no power. That's the foundation here, the Passover. Alright, then we looked last week at different views, theological views of the Lord's Supper. We looked at the Roman Catholic view, the Lutheran view, the Reformed view, and then the Memorial view, kind of in two different respects, kind of the higher view. where there is great meaning in it, and then a lower view which says, oh, it's just a thing we do. Well, we certainly reject that. We reject the Roman view, and even the Lutheran view, and the Reformed view, believing that Christ is always with his church, right? So anytime believers are gathered, it should be a special thing. God is present with his people always, but there is no magic in the substance of the symbol. It is a sign that points to something greater, which is what? Thank you! Say that louder. Jesus is Lord. The same thing that the Passover pointed to, that Jesus is Lord, that God is King, that I trust Him. It is a sign that points to that greater thing. We talked about who should partake of the Lord's Supper, right? And who should partake of the Lord's Supper? You're doing well on this test so far. true believers and what's the what's the entrance into the new covenant what is the first thing that somebody should do before they take the lord's supper they should baptism they should be baptized okay you're doing great so this morning I want to dig in a little bit deeper in one more direction and talk about the nature of the Lord's Supper when it comes to this sign. And in Luke, he uses the word where Matthew says, this is the blood of the covenant. Luke says this is the blood of the new covenant. So I think it's important before we Before we close out this chapter in our understanding of the Lord's Supper, that we look at the nature of covenants, just briefly, so we can help to see the importance of this sign that points to something greater. Now we're not going to exhaust this. I would be longer than last week if we really exhausted this. I just want to be very kind of broad sweeping here as we talk about covenants. So there are five major covenants in the Bible. The first one is the covenant that God made with, anybody know? with Noah. That's really the first major covenant, I'm going to say. So you could say that, and you could also say the priestly covenant is kind of a covenant too. It is a covenant, but those aren't the ones we're going to cover. The first one we're going to cover is the Noahic covenant. Genesis chapter 9, you can put that in your notes so you can go back and review later. What happened in Genesis with Noah? the flood, okay? And then what is the covenant that God made with Noah? Can anybody tell me? Whoa. Okay, in unison. Okay, no. So God said that he promised he wasn't ever going to flood the whole earth again, right? With water. Right. He promised he wasn't going to flood the whole earth with water in Genesis chapter 9. And what's the symbol or the sign that points to that covenant? The rainbow! It's not a flag for somebody else. god developed at first okay so the rainbow is the symbol or the sign of the Noahic Covenant that points to the fact that God will not flood the whole earth with water ever again. By the way, if you're interested, I haven't gone through the whole thing yet, so I'm a little... I have a little trepidation in recommending this to you, but so far it's been really good. I've been watching on Amazon Prime. They have this series on Noah and the flood right now, free for Prime members. And it is talking about the science behind everything that happened. It talks about the geology. And it's quite fascinating. It's a bit dry, but I recommend it. I don't recommend binge watching it. It's too much to take in at once. But if you watch it's like each one is an hour to two hours long, and there's I think four of them if you watch just a half hour to an hour you know and then digest that and It so far. It's been I thought very good. That's just a side note Okay, so second major covenant is The Abrahamic Covenant, right. And this is a big one. Let's go to Genesis chapter 12. I want to just look at this briefly with you. Okay, Genesis 12 in verse 1. He says, Now the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Take note, both the Nolaic Covenant and the Abrahamic Covenant has to do not just with this nation called Israel, but it says through this all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Alright? And in this Abrahamic Covenant, does anybody know the sign or the symbol of the covenant? What's the major... circumcision. Yes. Circumcision is the major sign or symbol of that covenant, but there's actually a second one that is probably not easy to label, but I'm going to call it obedience. Okay? And so there we are with that covenant. But it is for the whole earth. Okay? And in this, land was promised and blessing was promised. Okay? And future redemption is promised. Later on, he tells Abraham, you're not going to be able to count your descendants. It's going to be like the stars in the sky. All right, so that's the second major covenant. Then the third one is the big one that almost everybody knows about. Even if you're not a Christian, you've probably heard of the Old Covenant, also known as the something law. Mosaic law, right. It was the covenant that God made with Moses. now this one is more particular it was for Israel this covenant was different than the first two in that this one is conditional also on obedience okay now what is the major sign or symbol for this covenant the law that the ten commandments right in the heart of the covenant, right? Those would be the things that Israel would point to and say, yep, that's our sign, that's our symbol for this covenant, is the law of Moses, the Ten Commandments, and or the Ark of the Covenant. Again, we're not exhausting this this morning by any stretch. Each one of these could be one, two, three messages by themselves. Okay, then we move forward. God makes a covenant with David. the Davidic component. And in this, you know the sign or the symbol in that. It's so easy that it's hard. It's a big thing. What's that? No. No. It's a place. The temple. The temple. Now even though David didn't build the temple, It was, that was to be what was coming, that was the sign or the symbol of this covenant. And what was special about that? God dwelled there. He dwelt there. And it made Jerusalem the spiritual center of the entire world. Okay? It wasn't just an optional thing if you were a Jew. You had to go to Jerusalem to celebrate, for instance, the Passover. It made Jerusalem the spiritual center of the whole world. Now in this covenant, what did God promise? I'm going to help you with this one. He promised a descendant to reign in the line of David. So in that, He promised hope Okay? And we know that that future descendant that is the new David, or David was a symbol for, is Jesus Christ in the line of David. All right, so that brings us now to the fifth major covenant And the final, really, covenant is this covenant that is called the New Covenant. The New Covenant. Now the New Covenant is kind of a mixture of the different covenants. It's got some similarities to the, mostly to the Abrahamic Covenant. But it also has some similarities to the Mosaic Covenant. And it fulfills the Davidic Covenant. And we're going to look at that this morning in regards to the Lord's Supper. Now, without going into this again exhaustively, Who can tell me what is the sign of the new covenant? Now it's a trick question. What's that? The cross? The cross, I would say, is kind of an all-inclusive sign for it, but this Lord's Supper is what he says, this is the new covenant in my blood. But there's a second part of a symbol or a sign of the New Covenant, and we've already said it, baptism. Baptism, just as circumcision was the entry point in the Abrahamic Covenant, baptism is the entry point into the New Covenant. Everybody following along? Okay, good. So let's look here at this new covenant and what I want to do first is I want to go back and look at prophecy about it. Okay, so it didn't start here with Jesus at the supper saying it. It started much earlier. If you turn back to Jeremiah, chapter 31, we'll take a look at that. I think I mentioned this in our message a couple weeks ago, but we didn't really explore it. Jeremiah chapter 31, and in verse 31, he says, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant that they broke because there was an obedience aspect of that. It was conditional. They did not meet the conditions. They broke them. though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, declares the Lord, I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me. from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Amen. Okay, now this is really, really important, Gentiles. And I'm guessing that's everyone in this room. Don't know that for a fact, but he says, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with who? The house of Judah with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah is what it says. So this covenant, we're going to get there, we're not there yet, is a benefit to you. It's a blessing to you. You get to partake of it. Praise God. It wasn't for you originally. I know, but I'm entitled! I'm an American! This wasn't to Americans, okay? This was to the House of Israel and the House of Judah. Now, there's one other place that talks about this, and this is in Ezekiel. Just go a little bit further in the Old Testament, and you're going to see Ezekiel chapter 36. All right? Now, the word New Covenant does not appear in here, but the concept and the same thing that he's talking about is here. Alright? So we're in Ezekiel 36 in verse 22. And he says, Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God, It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name. Anybody say Psalm 23? For my name's sake? Says the Lord. Okay. Which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. and i will vindicate the holiness of my great name which has been profaned among the nations and which have you have profaned among them and the nations will know now get this this is really pivotal and the nations will know that i am the lord remember what we've been talking about what's the point of this jesus is lord And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols. I will cleanse you, and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit. I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. that you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God, and I will deliver you from all your uncleanness, and I will summon the grain, and make it abundant, and lay no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourself from your iniquities and your abominations. it is not for your sake that i will act declares the lord god let that be known to you be ashamed and confounded for your ways oh house of israel thus says the lord god on that day i will cleanse you from all your iniquities. I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the waste places shall be rebuilt. And I'm going to skip down to verse 36 here and it says, Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord. And then we see in Ezekiel 37 a picture of this. this picture of the valley of dry bones where God breathes into them and they live now this is really important what he says here that God was going to do this and he was going to take out this heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh and he's going to put a new spirit into them. What's that new spirit? The Holy Spirit. Jesus, when he says, I'm going to send my helpmate, my paraclete to you, the Holy Spirit, and he will remain with you. He will be your helper. Right? Is what he says in the book of John. That's a whole other message. Here we are with the background and the prophecy of the coming of the New Covenant. And what's the point of it? Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. Pretty soon all you're going to get that. Jesus is Lord. Now, if we move forward a little bit here in the New Testament, go with me to the book of Acts. I want to show you something really cool. In the Old Testament, you had 3,000 people in Israel that bowed down and worshipped a false god at one point. And here we see 3,000 people coming to faith in the true God, Jesus Christ, in the beginning of the church, which is the day known as Pentecost. Pentecost is 50 days after the Passover. That's what Pentecost literally is. It's 50 days after the Passover. And we see in here, in Acts chapter 2, that Israel, 3,000 of them, received the Holy Spirit and it says here in verse 36, let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him, he's talking about Jesus, both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, they were convicted, okay, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children, for all who are far off, for everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. And with many other words, He bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls." Now, if you roll back a little bit here into the beginning of Acts chapter 2, we see that it wasn't just people that lived in Jerusalem that were gathered here, we see Ezekiel's prophecy coming true, that all these people from different countries were coming, all these Israelites from different countries were coming, they didn't even all speak the same language. And so that's why the apostles had to speak in tongues, in different languages, so they could understand them. Another message, but that's what we see here in the beginning of Acts chapter 2. Go back and read it for yourself. Now, I want to forward with you to Acts chapter 10. This is really cool. Remember, who is this new covenant made for? It was made for Israel, and the house of Israel, the house of Judah, right? But we see here the graciousness of God in that in Acts chapter 10, verse 34, actually let me back up a little bit to verse 15. Peter has this vision, this dream, and in verse 15 it says, and the voice came to him again a second time, what God has made clean do not call common. This happened three times and the thing was taken up at once into heaven. Now there's a whole story here, go back and read Acts 10 later on your own, but there was this centurion man, his name was Cornelius, he came, he believed in God, he wanted to be part of what God was doing. Peter, who was the leader of the church at the time, God gave him the keys, He was the leader. He had this view at the moment that was like, no, I can't let Gentiles in. This is for Israel. This is for Judah. This is for the Jews only. God gives Peter this vision, opens up his mind, and he goes, oh, I get it now. It's not just for us. It's for anybody who the Lord calls. It's for the whole world. Which is exactly what Jesus says at the end of Matthew chapter 28, doesn't it? All nations. So in verse 34 of Acts 10, So Peter opened his mouth and said, Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As far as the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. Wow! That's pivotal to our understanding, that he is Lord of all. Now this isn't like God just designed this. He's like, okay, not enough Israelites came, so I guess... I guess I'll let some more other people in. No, this was God's design from the very beginning. The salvation of all nations. In Israel, and again this is a separate message, I'm just going to mention it, Israel was intended to be the light to the world. The light to the nations. not just to themselves to keep under a bushel basket just like Jesus condemned them for, right? You're not supposed to let your light shine and hide it. No, you're supposed to be a light to the world that God is God and there is one. And that amongst those gods He sent His Son, or amongst God, He sent His Son, Jesus, to be the Savior of the world, right? He sent Jesus to be the Savior of the world. He is God in the flesh. And then we could turn there. We're not going to. Colossians chapter 1 talks all about that Jesus made the whole world, that He is God. Go back with me to Acts chapter 2 before we go back to Matthew. I want to just remind you of what it says here. Acts chapter 2 in verse 36, let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. We see all over the scriptures that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is Lord and there is but one. Alright, so we see the prophecy of the new covenant coming. We actually see it coming into effect here in the book of Acts. Super-duper exciting. And now we need to talk about what all this does, right? How does this affect and how does this work through the Lord's Supper? There's a couple places we're going to turn to, but let's go to Hebrews first. Hebrews chapter 9. I hope you're buckled up and staying with me here. There's a lot here to take in, but this is all very important. Hebrews chapter 9. We have this, or at least part of this, as our memory verse for October, and we set it together earlier today. Okay, so if I begin here, let's begin in verse 11. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by the means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption." Isn't it good to know that you're not going to get to heaven and God goes, okay, you got ten minutes. This is eternal, eternal redemption. Okay, for if the blood of goats and bulls and sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh? How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" When he says that, from dead works, he's giving a nod to the fact that anything we do in the flesh, and the fact that Israel did so much of what they did because they were supposed to, They did it as a routine, rather than worship from the heart, that that's a dead work. God doesn't respect dead works. He wants you to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Therefore, He is the mediator of a new covenant. so that those who are called may receive promised eternal inheritance since a death has occurred that redeems from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established." In other words, until Christ died for our sins, there couldn't have been redemption for our souls. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. And since God made this covenant, He was the one who was going to have to die. Jesus. Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people saying this is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you and in the same way he sprinkled with blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship indeed under the law almost everything is purified with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins therefore going back to the book of Matthew hold your place there in Hebrews let's go back to the book of Matthew chapter 26 In verse 28, Jesus says, for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Without blood, there is no forgiveness. Without death, there is no forgiveness. Because the covenant isn't in effect. Because it's like a will contract. You tracking with me? Okay. We see the connection between the blood and the forgiveness, between the death and the covenant. Now I want to make one more connection here that's super duper important. Okay. Look here in Matthew 26 still. Jesus is praying a little while later. And he says this in his prayer. He says, My father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Now, this is his prayer by himself. He was not with the others. Remember, he walked away to pray. Please God, if this is possible, if there's any other way, from me." And that is specific language, that word cup there. And then he prays again, just a couple verses later, again for the second time, this is verse 42, again for the second time, he went away and prayed, my father if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done. He's again talking about this cup. Now remember, he refers to this cup with the disciples, he says, this cup, this is a good cup, this cup is the cup of the new covenant in my blood. Alright? Now, this other cup that God, the Father, has given me to drink, well, I don't want to drink that one. That's a nasty cup. What's in it? It is. God's wrath is in that cup. And we see that pictured a few different times here, but I'm going to just point you to a couple of them, okay? So, Jeremiah chapter 25. Jeremiah chapter 25, in verse 15. He says, thus the Lord the God of Israel said to me, take from my hand this cup of wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. they shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them." This cup of wrath, it's a symbol of destruction. It's something that nobody would want. And then if you go to the end, go to the book of Revelation, a similar cup, the same type of cup is pictured in Revelation chapter 14. Again, there's a few more places we can look, but we're just going to look at these two. Revelation chapter 14 in verse 9, And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast, now that's anybody who's not a believer, and its image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath. poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb." The Lord Jesus is going to watch this happen. This cup of wrath. When Jesus died on the cross, He, yes, received pain from the nails, He received severe pain from the beatings, from the scourgings, from the whip. He was dehydrated. He was in pain all over his body. That's not the worst of it. There actually have been many humans who've endured that. Most of them probably deserved it. Jesus went willingly. and sinlessly to the cross. And he did it for the purpose of drinking the cup, the cup of God's wrath. As he drank that cup of God's wrath, that's that period of time where the veil was ripped after he had drank the cup of wrath down to its dregs. and he said it is finished because for all people of all nations that put their trust in him that say I that Jesus is Lord there is no more cup of wrath for you to drink All those that do not come to the Lord that way will end up drinking that cup themselves. First Corinthians chapter 11 speaks much of the Lord's Supper. We talked about it somewhat last time. and talked about how the church was disobedient, and that they weren't loving one another, and often they were taking it selfishly, and that this is a corrective that Paul sends to the church to say, hey, you better wake up here. This isn't what God intended for this to be. Verse 23, chapter 11. For I received from the Lord what I also deliver for you that the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took the bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also he took the cup of 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. As we eat the bread, we remember the broken body of Jesus for us. As we drink the cup, we remember that we are blessed in the new covenant. It's a covenant. It is not something that was man-made that can be changed. It's something that God ordained and is eternal. This new covenant is eternal. And when we drink the cup, As we drink it and remember the blessing that it is, we also remember what Jesus did in drinking the cup of wrath for us. Don't we? Now, what about what I've said the whole time here? About the fact that when we take this Lord's Supper, what we're really doing is we're making a proclamation. Because he says as long as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death. What's a proclamation? Hear ye, hear ye. It's something that's important that you're shouting out, that you're remembering. Sometimes families have traditions where they read a certain thing every year to remember something. Israel certainly was given a lot of things to remember about what God did, with the Exodus particularly. Some families have a tradition in the United States that they read the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence every Fourth of July. That's not a bad thing. But no matter what you forget and remember in this world, if you remember one thing that's the most important thing, nothing else really matters. And that is Jesus is Lord. When the disciples, or I should say non-disciples, when the unbelieving Jews came to the place where they said, Brothers, what should we do? Because they were convicted, they were cut to the heart. They were told to confess that Jesus is Lord. They were baptized. Same thing with the Gentiles. Now, as the church, then and now, what the church does to continually enforce that or reinforce that remembering is we take the Lord's Supper to remember that Jesus Christ is Lord. We don't come to church to get a quick pick-me-up. We don't come to fix our life, although God quite often rescues us, doesn't he? He intervenes. He saves us from things that we don't even see coming. I mean, every one of you, I bet, have been saved from different calamities in your life, different accidents, and different discouragements, and different things. And God has worked in your life through the Word, through the Holy Spirit, through His power, through the angels that protect us, Right? We need to remember that Jesus is Lord. Now next week we're going to move on a bit, and we're going to move on here in Matthew 26. But before we do that, the last place I want to take you to is going back to the Psalms. Now remember, it says, as they were leaving after the Lord's Supper, they sang Psalms. These Psalms they sang were part of the Hallel, the Hallelujah Psalms, Psalm 113 through Psalm 118. I think a couple weeks ago we looked at Psalm 115 I want to look at or really mostly read to you Psalm 116 and just make a couple remarks. I believe this is more prophetic than most people give it credit for. Psalm 116. I love the Lord because He has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. because He inclined His ear to me. Therefore, I will call on Him as long as I live. The snares of death encompassed me. The pangs of Sheol laid hold on me. I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord. O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple. When I was brought low, He saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, and I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed. Even when I spoke, I am greatly afflicted. I said in my alarm, All mankind are liars. What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. Isn't that what Jesus did when he went to the cross? I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of his peoples. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his peoples in the courts of the house of the Lord's in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord." This is one of the Psalms that was sung by the disciples as they were leaving this Lord's Supper inauguration Passover meal and how prophetic when Jesus went to the cross he lifted up the cup of salvation as he drank the cup of wrath and we as his people are to lift up his name by continually calling on him and remembering that he is Lord this week When you are down, if you get down, I do sometimes. Remember, Jesus is Lord. When somebody cuts you off in traffic, somebody does something to you at your workplace, you have conflict with your brother or sister, You're just in a funk. Jesus is Lord. Romans 10.9 says, this is what we do in the beginning, right? Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Churches, we take the Lord's Supper this morning and every week here. we remember that Jesus is Lord. Amen? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us life and that you haven't left us as orphans. You don't forget about us, but you have forgiven, you have removed completely and removed, as far as the East is from the West, our sin. And we are but nothing, and you are Lord. As we remember you, Lord, by taking the bread and the cup, help us in our weakness, in our frailty, in our mind, in our failings, to not look to those things, but to look to you as Lord. We had nothing to offer you when we came to you and we still have nothing but everything that we have is given by you. And so Lord, we trust you for life now and for eternity in Christ. I thank you for this church. I thank you for your word and how you've worked through us and ask that you would bless us and keep us and make your face shine upon us. Our countenance be great for you. That we be a witness to the nation just as you called Israel to be. That your church is to be a witness here and everywhere. For the name of Christ, Amen.