You'll turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11, verses 23 to 25. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took 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, he took the cup also after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this. as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." Paul is reminding the Corinthian church of the inauguration of the Lord's Supper and he's reminding them of the importance of it in the context of how the Lord Jesus inaugurated the Lord's Supper and the purpose behind the inauguration of the Lord's Supper. This morning, I want us to think of one overarching theme. Paul reminded the Corinthians of the proper observance of the Lord's Supper. Paul reminded the Corinthians of the proper observance of the Lord's Supper. Now he'll have several main points under that, but there's a context here of the proper observance of the Lord's Supper. And he's reminding them of this proper observance through the background of what happened at the time of the Lord Jesus inaugurating that supper. Remember as of last week he said that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed. This morning we read from Mark chapter 14 the context of that Lord's Supper and he said Jesus or Mark recorded while they were eating. While they were eating. The context was in the night of his betrayal and it was while they were eating the Passover meal. All of this was in the background of the Lord's Supper itself. And so there was something very peculiar and particular in the context of the Lord's Supper. And the Corinthians had thrown all of that aside and they had just made this agape feast and then the Lord's Supper just some other meal where they got together and they fellowshiped how they wanted to and it basically just became a free-for-all. It was something that they just kind of threw together and they did what they wanted and some of their people had become gluttonous and others were drunkards. And Paul went back to the simplicity of the Lord's Supper and said, there's a proper observance here and you need to remember this background. And the background is in the night while they were, the Lord Jesus would be betrayed. It was while they were eating the Passover meal. And why is that so important? Well Paul says here in 1 Corinthians 11 23 that in the night in which he was betrayed he took bread, he took 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. Firstly, under our main heading, bread is in remembrance of His body. Bread is in remembrance of His body. Bread had all kind of connotations in the Old Testament. It had a context even in the Passover meal. Bread was a symbol of so many different things in the sense of the scripture as a whole. And the Lord Jesus says here that while they were eating this Passover meal, he took the bread of the Passover meal that they were eating and that bread is in remembrance of his body. Firstly, the bread is a symbol of Christ's body. It's in remembrance of his body. It's a symbol of his body. And how is it a symbol? Well, number one, it is unleavened bread in remembrance of Christ's perfect life. It is unleavened bread in remembrance of Christ's perfect life. Leaven is biblically a symbol of stain and corruption. You go throughout the Old Testament and the New and you can see the idea of leaven as a symbol of stain and corruption. even in places where it says a little leaven leavens the whole lump. It tells you that leaven doesn't just symbolize a little problem but if a little leaven can leaven the whole lump then that stain and corruption can corrupt the whole of a person. Leaven is oftentimes looked at in the context of sinfulness. Well, if it takes just a little sin to corrupt the whole of the person, the Lord Jesus is a sinless person. So it's unleavened bread in remembrance of Christ's perfect life. It is unleavened bread in remembrance of Christ's perfect life. His body is sinless along with his spirit, mind, and soul. Christ's body is pure. He took on sinless flesh and lived a sinless life. We spent time in Hebrews chapter 2 and chapter 4, at the end of those chapters, looking at the context of Christ's sinlessness. The sense of which it is so important that He came in sinless flesh and lived a sinless life. When Christ took on flesh, he did not take on leavened flesh or sinful flesh. This is why it was important that it was the Spirit of God that gave that seed to the womb of Mary. He was the second Adam, born of the Spirit of God, not the first Adam. He was not even of first Adam in his seed but he was of the human flesh because he was born of that Virgin Mary but his flesh was sinless flesh. Therefore to coincide with the unleavened bread of the Passover Christ took the unleavened bread and likened it to his body. You can see something new taking place here. He's taking this Passover meal, and the disciples are recognizing in the moment something new is happening. We came here to eat the Passover meal. There was all kind of providence that came about for the Passover meal, and the Lord Jesus had directed His disciples where He wanted to be, how He wanted to get there, all the kind of things that were to happen, but they were there for this Passover meal, which to them had a particular context from the Old Covenant. But right there in their sight, right there before their very eyes, while they were eating, he took the bread and he broke it and he said, this is my body. That same idea of the unleavened bread of the Passover is connected directly in this unleavened bread of the Lord's Supper because the Lord's Supper is based on the very new covenant and the new covenant is through his sinless flesh, mind, body, spirit that he lived perfectly on this earth. Well it is unleavened bread in remembrance of Christ's perfect life but it is broken bread in remembrance of Christ's broken body. Upon Christ living this perfect life, never sinning, not in thought or in deed, nothing he did was in sin, nothing. He never even had one iota of a moment, not one. I mean, think about microscopic molecules that you cannot see by the naked eye, but through that microscope you can see them and you see them dancing around on that little slide. They're that little bitty, but they're actually there and they're interacting with one another. The Lord Jesus never had one even little microscopic moment of sin in mind or body. So he said, that he could take that bread and he broke it. It is broken bread in remembrance of Christ's broken body. It was broken for his people. One writer says, the body is for you. The emphasis is on the vicarious work of Christ. What happened to the body was for us. This writer is speaking of believers. It's a commentator looking at the context of believers. He notes there was purpose in his suffering, a purpose of blessing for his people. You may say, well, what's a vicarious work? He said the emphasis on the vicarious work is that Christ stood in our place. And he didn't just stand in our place when he was on that cross, he stood in our place as he walked on this earth. So from that unleavened life, He then was able to have His body broken on our behalf. His body was broken, for when He spoke the truth to the religious leaders of His day, they hated Him. But He never sinfully hated them back. When Judas betrayed him and handed him over and he was taken into the custody of the religious leaders, they mocked him. He never hated them back. He just answered with truth. When he stood before Pilate and was questioned, He never once sinned against Pilate, he just spoke with the truth. And then they sent him away to be whipped and beaten. As they striped him, they striped him further than they would have striped any other common man. Those 39 lashes would have gone to the depths, beyond the surface of the skin, to the very bone and muscle and sinew itself. Before he ever got to the cross, his body was being broken. The body was being broken down. That body was bleeding That body was in pain, that body was in agony. And by the time they nailed him to that tree after he had carried that cross for a little ways, by the time they nailed him to that tree, he was already in great pain. They put a nail through his hands and through his feet and on the cross the purpose was to suffocate him. That he would have to hang there and with his feet have the strength by his legs to lift himself up every time to take a breath. And every time he lifted himself up that nail was in his feet and he would feel it. Those nails were in his wrists and hands and he could feel it. His body was being broken. He was standing in our place. He was dying a sinner's death. Physically, his body was being broken on behalf of sinners like you and I. As he hung there, they mocked him while he was on the cross. In all of his agony, in all of his suffocation, every breath, there was pain. And the longer he hung there, the more pain there was. And he was there to do the will of the Father on behalf of his people. He went there, His body to be broken as a vicarious work on behalf in the stead of His people. This one act can never be reenacted. This one act can never in any moment be pieced or portioned off to any other individual. Only the Christ, the sinless Christ, could bear it. And as he hung there and his body was broken, his body endured the pain of the wrath of God being poured out on him. See, the only reason he was on that cross was because the wrath of God had to be poured out on sin, that God could be both the just and the justifier. All of that pain that he went through was purposed in the context of the wrath of God. The sins of all of God's people, every single one of them, past, present and future people, past, present and future sins, every single one of them, the wrath of God for those sins was poured out onto the Son and He hung there and in body He endured that. His body was being broken on behalf of His people. Sometimes pastors, commentators want to get into a debate of how much pain it was in comparison to other pains some other people might feel. And that's not even the sense of what is taking place. How is it that we could ever know what it's like to have the wrath of God poured out onto us in the fullness to pay the debt of our sins? And yet Christ endured it on behalf of his people that not one of them would ever be lost. His body was broken, it was broken. The bread is unleavened bread in remembrance of Christ's perfect life. It is broken bread in remembrance of Christ's broken body. It is useful bread in remembrance of Christ strengthening his people. It is useful bread in remembrance of Christ strengthening his people. One old writer says, for as bread strengthens man's heart, Psalm 104, 15, so the flesh of Christ and the spiritual blessings and graces purchased for us by Christ when he was incarnate are the food for our soul. supporting and strengthening it in the spiritual life into the hope of eternal life. When he broke that bread and he gave it to the disciples, they didn't understand why they would need to remember him and his broken body until later. But that's the point of the supper, is that one can come to the table and remember that Christ's body was broken on their behalf. As Scott pointed out, think of its context rightly. Here it is, he inaugurates the Lord's Supper, then he gives prophecy that you will all flee and you'll deny me, and Peter says, no, no, no, I will not. as emphatically as you can say it, as though you know it with everything in your mind and body and your heart. And yet the Lord Jesus had already, had already invited them to the table. Peter would need that remembrance, for he would remember that he did deny him. And what hope was there for Peter but in that broken body? And how could he remember that broken body but through the supper inaugurated by the Lord himself and given to them to say, when you eat this, remember me. Not just remember me in vague mental ideas. They didn't have Polaroids then so they couldn't take a picture. Don't just remember me in the loving moments of this, that, or the other. No, he's saying remember my broken body. You will see me on that cross. You will know what I have gone through. Remember what I went through on your behalf. And just to remind you, I think they would have had every picture to remember it rightly because after his resurrection, he goes to these disciples and he tells them all of the scripture and how he fulfilled it. And they would have had the great picture of all of that, even a better understanding of how the Passover meal had now been transitioned and this new meal had taken its place for all who would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They would need that meal as nourishment for their bodies and their minds to be reminded, Christ's body was broken for me. Even though I denied Him three times when I said I wouldn't, and I still did it anyway. I said I wouldn't, I said it, and I meant it, and then I did it anyway. But His body was broken for me. Peter's representation for the whole of the body of Christ is infinitesimal. It is infinite to the body of Christ. How many of us have said, I will not do or say this again against you, my God? And how many of us have done it or said it again? Can we not remember his body that was broken for sinners and specifically for his people? This bread is so sustaining to our bodies and our souls. I may be having physical difficulties but I can come to the table and I can eat of the bread of the table and be reminded that my body will be made whole through the broken body of Christ. It may not be made whole on this earth but it will be made whole again one day at his second coming. And does Jesus not say it himself? He said, I am the bread of life. What better sustaining can there be than to be bread of life? We know what happens to us if we don't eat food, right? If someone doesn't eat food for days and days and days, they have nothing to sustain their body. And Jesus says, I am the bread of life. When you come to this table, you remember his broken body. Furthermore, the Lord Jesus says, this cup is in remembrance of his blood. It's the next main heading under the larger headings. This cup is in remembrance of his blood. The cup was in remembrance of his body. We've walked through that. The cup is in remembrance of his blood. Now, I remind you here, I meant to remind you of this in my introduction. Forgive me for that. We're condensing a lot of things here. This is another reason the elders have decided to do a Bible study on the Lord's Supper, because we haven't done that in years. There's so many things that we're condensing here, from the Old Testament perspective into the new. I'm literally just dragging you so fast over whole issues of Old Testament context. I've already done that with the bread. There's just all kind of places we could have gone. The same is going to be with the cup. I'll say some things and I'll give some context to it, but it'll be you know, minor compared to the time that could be spent on it. And we're going to do that in a study. Because we need to be reminded of these things in a more holistic way. But this morning, I want you to see the simpleness and the simplicity of what Paul is doing here in driving the Corinthian church to drop all of what you've been doing. And remember, this is how the supper was given to you. It was given to you in this proper observance. Stop all this craziness that you've got going on in the background, especially you Gentiles that have just acted like a bunch of nutheads. Y'all need to quit all that business and we need to come back and we need to get this right in its proper observance. But even as I say a few of these things this morning, I recognize that I'll say some things that might be a little uncomfortable. And I don't want to do that to you unwittingly. So just bear with me. Bear with me. So the cup is in remembrance of his blood. The cup is a symbol of Christ's shed blood. The cup is a symbol of Christ's shed blood. Now there's phrases that we have in the scripture. Verse 25, in the same way, he took the cup. He took the cup. This is an idea that we have in the New Testament in a couple of different places, and oftentimes I've gotten the question over the years, well, what is in the cup? What is in the cup? For years I've not said much about this because I know it makes some people uncomfortable, and quite frankly, I just have no desire to offend anyone or make anybody mad. And I've just left some of this alone. And I think I've probably done that unfairly to the church. It's all really been about my fear of man. Please don't be upset when I explain these things the way that I understand them to the best. Just understand I'm trying to give them to you biblically, but not for any offense. What is in the cup? I think biblically and historically the cup was filled with wine. How do we know? Well, Jesus called what was in the cup at the supper in Luke 22 and Matthew 26 and Mark 14, he called it the fruit of the vine. That has a historical setting to it. The Bible uses this idea with the offerings of the Old Testament. and tells us specifically wine was used in these Old Testament offerings, in the grain offering. Now, once again, remember, I'm kind of giving a little bit of a flyover here, and some of this stuff we're going to go back over in depth, and Scott's going to spend some time in the Old Testament here. So I'm giving you this flyover so you can see there's a background to this. But Bible history uses this idea with the offerings of the Old Testament and tells us specifically wine was used in these Old Testament offerings. The grain offering, Leviticus 23, 13. Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil. And that's the context of bread. And an offering by fire to the Lord for a soothing aroma. With its drink offering, a fourth of a hen of wine. tithe offering. In the tithe offering, there was a whole context of the tithe offering that's in Deuteronomy 14. I don't have time to go through all of that right now. That's some things we'll deal with later. But in God's directive to His people, He says, look, if the distance is so great that you who are not able to bring the tithe, Since the place where the Lord your God chooses to set His name is too far away from you, when the Lord your God blesses you, then you shall exchange it for money. Take your tithe, exchange it for money, and then bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. You may spend the money for whatever your heart desires for oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink and whatever your heart desires and there you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice you and your household. in the Feast of Booths in Deuteronomy 6.13. This is in the chapter that's dealing with setting up these feasts, the Passover and the Feast of Booths. And he says, you shall celebrate the Feast of Booths seven days after you have gathered, gathered in from the threshing floor and your wine vat, and you shall rejoice in your feast. You and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your towns. Now, I have like, I don't even know, 80-something scriptures that deal with the context of this from the Old Testament. If you were to come ask me what was in that cup, I would say, well, therefore, when he took the cup, it was the cup which had been used for the historic Passover meal, and the plain reading of the Old Testament shows wine was used in the meal and the offerings. I know in modern day Southern church, especially, that's very hard to hear, I'm not throwing that at you to be ugly or mean to any of you. I'm just trying to answer that honestly. If you ask me what was in the cup, I just have to say it probably was wine. It had to be. It's what they would have used. It's what they would have known. Even pagan histories tell us of the phrase, the fruit of the vine, and when it uses it, it talks about a wine-fermented beverage. Herodotus, in book number one, gives us this context. It doesn't take away the fact that Jesus was against drunkenness. He was. He plainly taught against drunkenness. He warned them of what wine and strong drink would do. And even though he preached against drunkenness, He had no issue with wine in and of itself. He changed the water into wine in John 2.10, and according to scripture, it was the strong wine. Even in Luke 7, 33 through 35, for John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine. Some say that John the Baptist took a vow of the Nazarite. It's an Old Testament context. He says, for John the Baptist has come eating bread, eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say he has a demon. Listen to what the Lord Jesus says about himself. The Son of Man has come eating and drinking. He said John the Baptist was eating no bread and drinking no wine and then he says the son of man has come eating and drinking and you say behold a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. The Lord Jesus is saying that he himself drank wine. This is why our confession in explaining the Lord's Supper uses the word wine, because biblically and historically, that's what was in the cup. Now, what are the practical implications of that? You know what? We're going to discuss that later. Because you're going to have major questions, and some of you are going to go home today a little saddened that I even brought it up. It's not my goal, but it was just to be honest. If you have questions, feel free, call me. you want to cuss me on the way home I understand it's okay. Most of you have never heard a Baptist preacher say those things and I get it and this Baptist preacher for a long time has tried to say nothing for those very reasons. But that's what's in the cup but what about the symbol? See, that's what's most important here, especially in the context of what Paul is trying to deal with. The Corinthians had no problem with what was in the cup. They knew it was wine because they were misusing it and abusing it, and Paul had already gotten on them and rebuked them for it. Stop being a bunch of drunkards. That's not what the Lord's Supper is about. You're not supposed to come and drink enough wine to be drunk. You're supposed to be able to take the wine and remember and understand what it was to symbolize. Well, what does it symbolize? Well, the cup is a symbol of the bitterness of his death. The cup is a symbol of the bitterness of his death. An old writer says, and we must not omit that as wine is squeezed with much force from the grapes, when trodden in the wine press, So in like manner, the Lord Jesus was straightened or distressed, Luke 12, 50, and oppressed with much anguish that the blood might flow to us from his blessed body and his spiritual grace with his blood. In the bitterness of his death, his life's blood was squeezed out of him. This is what they do in the wine press. Sometimes in some communities they would take a vat of grapes and one or two people would get in the vat and they would stomp and stomp and stomp and they would squeeze all of the juice out of the grape. Sometimes they would have an actual press that they would screw that press down and they would squeeze the lifeblood out of the grape. This is What we're supposed to remember when we take the cup, the squeezing of the lifeblood of our Lord, his blood being shed on our behalf. Some are not bothered by the fact that I talked about wine this morning, others of you may be. If you are bothered by the fact that I talked about wine, please move forward from that and think about what Christ did in the shedding of his blood, that his life's blood was squeezed out on behalf of his people. That's the bitterness of his death, what happened with the wine, and how it was squeezed out, the bitter taste of the wine reminds us of the bitterness of his death. Not only is the cup a symbol of the bitterness of his death, but the cup is a symbol of the new covenant in his blood. The beast's blood in the old covenant was simply a foreshadowing. It accomplished nothing in actuality. When you go through the book of Hebrews, this is really the whole context of the letter is to show that all the blood of beasts and goats and bulls and the heifers, none of that will do. All of that was a foreshadowing. It was a type. It was looking forward to something. And while Christ hung on that cross, His body is not only being broken, but His blood is being shed. It's not to be grotesque, but you have to think that it was a grotesque picture for the Savior to hang on that cross. His body already being whipped and beaten, nailed to a tree, and from the wounds that he already had, his blood is being shed, and then they put a spear into his rib and side. His very life's blood is being drained from him. He is being squeezed as the one and only sacrifice. blood of a bull or a goat would not do. He had to go there. He had to pay that price. It's why the Hebrews writer calls it a new and better covenant because it was a better ministry. all of the sacrificial system, the stench and the smell of the burning flesh of a bull and a goat, the blood of that animal being shed and it going everywhere and it being so nasty and messy all of the time over and over again. Now the Christ would come and His blood would be shed once and only for all time for all of His people and not one of them would be lost. All their sins would be forgiven in His shed blood. This is why the prophet Jeremiah spoke the words of the Lord that he did about the new covenant. And that it's a promise being made true. That through the shed blood, the people of God would be given a new heart and they all would know him. Not one of them would have any one of their sins not forgiven. All of their sins would be forgiven and they would be as people, the one whose law is written on their heart. It also brings us to a context to understand that although the blood of these bulls and goats did nothing in perpetuity, they were just a foreshadowing. Christ fulfilled it in totality and it promised future forgiveness in totality. Think of that prophecy of the woman pouring the perfume onto the Lord Jesus. And he said, wherever this gospel is preached, her name will be remembered. What an odd prophecy. You realize in the reading of that word this morning, you've taken part in that prophecy being fulfilled and being fulfilled down through the ages? And this woman kneeled She worshiped the one and only true Christ and his blood was shed for sinners like her in totality. So we can say finally the new covenant was ratified through the blood of Christ. The new covenant was ratified through the blood of Christ. One writer says, the cup represents the new covenant that Jesus ratifies with his blood. When Moses confirmed the first covenant at Mount Sinai, he sprinkled blood on the people and said, this is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you. Exodus 24, 8. You can also see some prophetical context in Zechariah 9, 11. Animal blood was sprinkled for the first covenant. Christ's blood for the new covenant. See, that blood being sprinkled then and there was all in the context of taking care of the idea of the appeasement of God's wrath. That's the idea of ratifying a covenant, is to bring appeasement and satisfaction in the covenant between the two parties. If we were to put it in a monetary context, that doesn't fulfill it totally, but we can think in those terms. If one has a debt that has to be paid, then you can pay that in money, and you can ratify that you have performed the things necessary to make good on your agreement and your promise to pay your debt. The problem for us as men and women of the first Adam is that we can make all the promises we want to but we cannot pay the debt and the guilt of our sin in and of ourselves. We are like the deadbeat debtor who cannot pay the debt Some may want to, but they cannot do it, and they don't see that they can't do it, and they will not find someone who can do it. They just keep saying, I'll do it, I'll do it, I'll do it, and they never do it. Some know they can't do it, and they just continually lie about it on purpose, and they continue to be the deadbeat debtor. The problem is, God knows. He knows we are not able. And he knows his wrath must be satisfied and it must be satisfied totally. And all of the blood of bulls and goats would not do. It would not do. It had to be the blood of the very son of God who came as the son of man. It had to be that blood. that would be shed as the one and only sacrifice for all of time, space, and history for the people of God. The Old Testament believer had the promises applied to their account until the fullness of time came for Christ's work to be completed. Those promises stood sure as Christ would not fail in the future. But once it was finished, it was applied to them in completeness. The New Testament believer walked and walks in the past completed work having been applied to them in the time of their appointed belief, even after the ascension of Christ. His shed blood enacted and completed forgiveness of sins for all of God's church, that God's wrath would be appeased or satisfied, and He would not pour out His wrath onto those sinners of His choice. He poured out His wrath onto His Son, and His Son shed His blood in appeasement for the wrath of the Father. Our sin imputed to Christ, His righteousness imputed to our account. That could not be true if it weren't for the shed blood of Christ. When you come to this table, remember the shed blood. Remember its purpose. Remember what it did, what it has done and is doing. We come today with all thanksgiving. Thursday's our big thanksgiving day. Everybody talks about thanksgiving, thanksgiving. I say today is the day of thanksgiving. Every Lord's Day that we come to this place and worship is a day of thanksgiving, especially when we come to this table. We haven't even tackled the phrase, remember and give thanks. But can you not see it in its picture? Don't you and I as believers have so much to give thanks for? Certainly in our cultural American context, there's so many blessings we have. Count your many blessings, count them one by one. But the greatest blessing of all that you could ever count is that Christ paid the price and the debt for your sin through his broken body and his shed blood. And if that is true of you, that you've repented and believed in him alone, then you can come to this table in the greatest of all thanksgivings. Remember him today and glory in him alone, our one Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. us pray. Our Heavenly Father, you've been merciful through your word to bring us to a time of your table. Will the pictures given this morning from your word help us, not hinder us, give us a focus on the most important things that we would glory in you as we come to the time of the table. Let us examine ourselves, confess our sins, and remember, the table is not for the perfect, or Peter would not have ever been able to come back to it. Remind us of our sins, that we would confess them to you, and bring them before our only, one and only Savior and Lord, Jesus the Messiah. It's in his name we pray, amen.