Well, as we come to the synoptic accounts of the institution of the Lord's Supper, I want to cover just very quickly something of the Passover connection regarding the timing with the Passover very plainly the Lord Jesus says, we read in the Luke 22, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. And each of these accounts is going to place the first Lord's Supper in that time when the Lord Jesus was just about to go to the cross. In John 19, we are told that the day that they are before Pilate, it was the day of the preparation of the Passover week. But then secondly, I want to mention something about the content of the Passover. Not that we need to understand all of the ins and outs of the Passover because it seems like there was the Passover and then the Lord's Supper was something of a separate matter, something of a separate institution. But nonetheless, in the content, this is B, of the Passover, there was a preliminary course And with that, a first cup of the watered-down wine in the cup, a dish of green herbs, bitter herbs, and fruit sauce. There was a Passover liturgy where the Exodus 12 account would have been read. as a son, youngest son, asked the question, why is this night different from all other nights, and the drinking of this second cup of the watered-down wine, and I presume that it was as for the Lord's Supper that there was a sharing of this cup, so we ought not to think of them, certainly, on the night that they're going to be heading out of Egypt that there would be four cups of full-strength wine that they're downing in the process. The third part was the main meal where there would be this meal of lamb and unleavened bread and bitter herbs. and a third cup of this watered down wine that would be shared. A fourth part where there would have been a singing of Psalms 114 to 118 and praise given over a fourth cup of this watered down wine. wine. So very quickly that gives you something of the background that there is this Passover meal. Over the centuries, from the 1500 years since it was given in the time of Moses, there were some elaborating of details that were brought into this Passover celebration. Roman numeral two, the simple identification of the three main actions. What does Jesus do? What does Jesus say at this meal? Well, there is in the Luke 22 account a reference of a cup first and then the bread, and it may be that this is perhaps in reference to one of these earlier cups or when they're transitioning from the Passover meal to this of the Lord's Supper. But it says in verse 17, and when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he said, take this and share it among yourselves. And it does not appear to be specifically the cup that was shared, the meal, because there's mention of that a little bit later. Then secondly, the eating of the broken bread. This meal, if we call it that, usually involved the eating of this unleavened bread. The synoptics mention what Jesus did with the bread. He took it. He gave thanks. He broke it and he passed it to the disciples and told them that this act was to be repeated. And concerning this bread, Jesus did say, this is my body. and His words were accompanied by the action of the breaking of the bread and handing it to His disciples. But I think if we just pause for a moment and think of Jesus standing physically in their presence, as real as you're real and I'm real. And if you imagine me just stepping down, grabbing some of the bread and bringing it back up here, you would have no difficulty at all in knowing which was bread and which was my body. And very plainly the Lord Jesus often spoke in figures of speech. He would refer to himself as the vine, as the door, as the cornerstone, as the morning star, and we don't have any trouble in understanding that he is using those as figures of speech. So if the Lord Jesus is holding this bread, perhaps even the broken bread, and saying, this is my body, In a little bit, he's going to say, this is my blood of the new covenant. And they would understand that his blood was still in his veins and had not transgressed over into that cup. Then thirdly, the sharing of the symbolic wine. here from Matthew's account, took the cup, given thanks, gave it to them, and tells them, drink from it, all of you. And these slight little variations are good for us because each one of them gives us a measure of detail. And this of saying, drink from it, all of you. We've got the Mark 14 account where everything is very similar, slightly different language. This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many and the forgiveness of sins is not mentioned as in Matthew. Luke 22, he took the cup after they had eaten saying, this cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. So here, The Lord Jesus takes the cup that symbolizes his blood and says that this is the blood of the new covenant. So there we have those things that Jesus did, those three main actions. And then Roman numeral three, the transformational remembrance where Jesus says, in the gospel accounts to remember, particularly in connection with the bread, that they are to remember him. First of all, A, the giving of the remembrance points to Jesus' authority. Now, imagine if you or I would go into a group of modern day Jews that are celebrating the Passover and we would kind of take over the event and say, you know, we're not gonna be focusing on Egypt so much anymore. We're gonna be focusing on me. How well do you think that would go over? Well, the enemies of the Lord Jesus would have to think that he was trying to hijack the Passover by coming into this sacred event and say, now this Passover is pointing to me as the sacrifice that is going to protect you. but he's going to give direction to the people of God that we are to be thinking about Jesus Christ and his redemptive work. This is an expression of his authority. On the one hand, it is rather daring On the other hand, he's the Son of God. He's the one who spoke the worlds into existence, so it's altogether right for him to do this. And it's evident in the accounts that we have of the Lord's Supper being celebrated at Troas and Corinth and Jerusalem, that New Testament Christians followed up on the Lord Jesus and they did remember Him. And Jesus was not asking us as we come to the table of remembrance that we are to shut our eyes and we are just to imagine Jesus however we choose to imagine and kind of remember Him in that way, but rather He helps us along saying, here is bread that is broken, think of me, remember me as you partake of this, think of my broken body there at the cross. And when he is pointing to the cup, then highlighting that this is his blood, Of course, he is pointing to his redemptive work. Remember me in this way. The Passover had unleavened bread, a roasted lamb, and bitter herbs, as well as these cups of wine and perhaps these other elements. The Lord's Supper has bread and wine. The Lord's Supper is not only about eating the bread and drinking the wine, it involves watching the breaking of the bread and the suggestion of some, perhaps the pouring out of the wine into a cup. So there is a shifting of focus here. where the Lord Jesus exercises his authority and he says, we're not going to be thinking about an Exodus redemption so much, now we're going to be thinking about my redemptive death on the cross. Secondly, B, The remembrance is based on Old Testament worship or Old Testament worship pattern. Remembering was a crucial feature of the Old Testament. Let me give you one example from Psalm 137. There in Babylon, the poet says, we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. A part of their worship is remembering all those institutions that God has given to them. Then the psalmist, reflecting on the need to remember the holy city and its temple as the center of their worship, cries out in an imprecation, if I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget. And he goes on to say, may my tongue cling to my palate if I do not remember you. So Jesus, coming along in this tradition, and just think for a moment, the number of the Psalms that reflect on the Red Sea incident or the Exodus incident, over and over. This is what God has done. This is who God is. This is what he has done at the flood. This is what he has done at creation. And so here, the Lord Jesus is saying, remember, remember as a part of this ordained worship. So just as the Passover festival was to be celebrated as a memorial to the Exodus redemption. So the Lord's Supper was to be a perpetual reminder of the new and greater exodus by which all sinners could find release from sin's bondage and deliverance into a new and everlasting life. Jesus says, do this in remembrance of me. And it's interesting that if the gospel accounts have the remembering, particularly in connection with the bread, not saying that you're not supposed to remember the Lord Jesus with the wine according to the gospel, but it's not highlighted. But when we come to 1 Corinthians 11, 24, and 25, both the eating of the bread and the drinking of the cup are said to be in remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to William Hendrickson. This do in remembrance of me. It was the desire of our Lord that by means of the supper here instituted, the church would remember his sacrifice and love him, should reflect on that sacrifice and embrace him by faith, and should look forward in living hope to his glorious return. Surely the proper celebration of communion is a loving remembrance. It is, however, more than that. Jesus Christ most certainly and through His Spirit most actively is present at this genuine feast. His followers take and eat. They appropriate Christ by means of living faith and are strengthened in this faith. Roman numeral four, the definitive inauguration of the new covenant, the definitive inauguration, and an inauguration is a beginning, something that has got some bit of pomp and circumstance to it. Something that has the kind of details that will help people to remember that this event actually, oh yeah, we did make him president. I remember that we had these thousands of people gathered and this is the process that they went through. Well, so with this covenant, it is instituted in a definitive way, it is in place. Matthew 26, this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for you. Mark 14, pretty much the same. Luke 22, this cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. So think with me on A, The New Covenant was prophesied, spoken of course by Jeremiah, Jeremiah 31, and there in Jeremiah 31 through 34 we are told of this New Covenant that is coming. And we are told that the first great blessing is that God's laws would be written on minds and hearts, that all believers would know the Lord, having a personal relationship with Him, and that God would definitively forgive all of their sins. So it was prophesied. But when we come to these gospel accounts, we find particularly in the Luke 22, this cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Jesus, the very next day, is going to the cross, is going to die as that sacrificial lamb for us. He's going to shed His blood, and as He does so, the new covenant is brought into effect. We've got Hebrews 8, Hebrews 10 to tell us much the same thing. The Passover was connected to the old covenant given through Moses by God, and when Moses ratified the covenant, there was the sprinkling of the blood of a sacrificial animal. And listen to Exodus 24, 8. So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words. In Leviticus 17, 11. For the life of the flesh is in the blood. I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. The God-man, is there standing physically present with those disciples as a living, thinking, talking, loving man, and he's holding a glass, a chalice of wine, and he is, I shouldn't say chalice, he was holding a glass of wine, and he is saying that this that's in there, the symbolic blood is going to be poured out, and that is going to be for the instituting of the inauguration, the starting of the new covenant. How do we rightly value the Lord Jesus Christ? when you stop and think of what He, as the Son of God, the God-man, is saying in the institution of the Lord's Supper. He gave His life to shed His perfect sacrificial blood, we ought to value Him as the supreme love of our lives. Thirdly, C. The new covenant involved a substitutionary sacrifice. And dear, I want you to think of the language of Matthew 26, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. And it takes us back to Isaiah 53 where we have the concept of substitutionary atonement laid out plainly for us. Verse 11 says, my servant will justify the many as he will bear their iniquities. We've got verse 12 that says, he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he himself bore the sin of many. There it is. Substitutionary sacrifice was plainly known in the Old Testament. It's behind all of their sacrifices. the Jeremiah promise of the new covenant, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more. After all of those sacrifices in the Old Testament, something is happening in connection with the new covenant where there will be a definitive forgiveness of sin. Other covenants that God made with his people had signs reminding them of his commitment to them. The rainbow was a sign for God to remember his promise. It was also a sign to Noah that God was keeping his promise. Abraham had the sign of circumcision. The Israelites had the details of the Passover and the other feasts. And in a similar way, Christians have the symbols of the bread and wine to remind them of God's commitment to them in the Lord Jesus Christ. The broken bread stands for the broken body of the Lord Jesus. What believers receive when taking the bread and the wine are separate pledges. There's a pledge that comes from the broken body of Christ. There is a pledge that comes from the shed blood of Christ. Then I want to come back to this little phrase, that which is poured out for many. Different preposition that is used, but this one in Mark 14, 24 is one that could be translated not as for, but in behalf of, for the sake of. So it's poured out for the sake of many. It's poured out in behalf of many. So the idea that is conveyed is that Jesus is dying as the representative of others, and he is dying in their place. Fifthly, the V. The believing participation. The believing participation. A, the Lord's Supper highlights spiritual redemption. He gave it to the disciples. Take, eat, this is my body. Drink from it, all of you, for this is the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. The Passover was a time to look back and remember that God had redeemed them physically. He physically took them out of the land of Egypt and took them across the Red Sea and delivered them. Jesus in his looking back is talking to those who are believers, and he is highlighting that of a spiritual redemption. It's not so much of a physical movement, but much more of their sins being forgiven through the Lord Jesus. And what Jesus is doing is saying that I don't want you to be thinking in terms of your Abrahamic DNA, I don't want you to be thinking so much of your physical connection to this nation that came out of Egypt, but I want you to be thinking of your spiritual connection. You are here because you are believing disciples. So, instead of recalling what happened on the night of the exodus, remember me. Remember what I did on the cross. Secondly B, the Lord's Supper is for the local church. The Lord's Supper is for the local church. He gave it to them and they all drank from it. And we have in First Corinthians that clear message that when you come together as a church. So just consider this. that the Passover was celebrated by whom? Who gathered in the various homes? They gathered by family. This is not dealing with family. This is not bloodlines. Though the Passover was usually a family occasion, here the disciples are reminded of their connection with the Lord Jesus Christ through their personal faith in Him. And the disciples eating of the bread and drinking from the cup was symbolic of their communal involvement with him. The Lord's Supper is for a local church. But then thirdly, see, the Lord's Supper involves a covenantal commitment, a covenantal commitment. One author that I read highlights that this whole level of commitment in the Lord's Supper is not very frequently talked about, and I think we have to agree. But when the Lord Jesus talks about this is the blood of the covenant, this is my blood for the new covenant, We ought to be sobered by that language of covenant, and we ought to be sobered by the language of blood. And we know that, by and large, the most common way, the ninety-eight percent of the time you speak of the covenant in the Old Testament, it is cut a covenant. and you cut the covenant by cutting these animals down through the center, putting one on each side, and then the participants walk between the pieces and they pledge, if I don't keep my word to you, then let me be like one of those split pieces begun by God in Genesis 15 as God pledges himself for the good of Abraham, the flaming torch which passed between those pieces of meat. But in Jeremiah 34 and verse 18, God complains because they cut the calf in two and they pass between the parts and they make this solemn oath and pledge, they make this commitment and then they don't follow through with what they had promised. So there is this solemn and serious aspect of the covenant. The statement here suggests that if we partake of these covenantal elements, if we partake of that symbolic body of Christ, if we partake of that symbolic blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are pledging that we are going to walk in the way of Jesus Christ. And if we don't, and we are expecting that there will be serious consequences that will come to us. So the Lord Jesus in a sense, and for these early disciples with all of their Jewishness, there's even a heightened level of loyalty as being expressed as they come to this Lord's Supper. It's like the Lord Jesus is saying, alright, you've had this Passover for all of your years, And this is Passover 2.0, but we're not even gonna call it Passover anymore. It's the Lord's Supper. And you're gonna have to make your definitive choice on whether you're gonna stick with the Jewish pattern and the Passover, or if you're going with me in the Lord's Supper. Well, sixly, The summary observations. Summary observations. What do we say as we look back over this information, reading these three synoptic gospel accounts? What can we learn? Well, first of all, A, the Lord's Supper is Christ-centered. And you say, well, of course it is. Well, it wasn't of course, it is to them. They're used to the Passover. They're used to thinking about the Red Sea. They're used to thinking of this wonderful deliverance, and they've got this whole meal, and by this time they've got their four different watered-down cups of wine that they're going to drink, hopefully share those cups together. But the various actions of the Lord's Supper point to Jesus, the bread, the wine. the remember me as you partake of this. As you partake of this and some 2,000 years later we're still partaking of this and we've got this reminder that Jesus has pledged he's not going to partake of this meal until we all arrive at heaven. So everything is pointing to the Lord Jesus. It's all about Him as our Jesus, our God, our Savior. Secondly B, what do we observe? The Lord's Supper highlights Jesus' substitutionary death. And I don't know that I recall that these synoptic accounts are so plain about this. This is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for you, for the forgiveness of sins. It's poured out for the many. And so it's taking us back to that language of Isaiah 53 that early on says, surely our griefs he himself bore and our sorrows he carried, yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon him, and by his scourging we are healed. All of us, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. There is substitutionary death. in Isaiah 53, and it finds its way very plainly into the synoptic institutions of the Lord's Supper. Thirdly, C, the Lord's Supper reminds of a new and permanent relationship. What is the replacement of the new covenant? Well, I don't think there is one. You might argue heaven, but I'll argue that the new covenant with God being the God of his people and all of them knowing the Lord from the least of them. The new covenant is realized in heaven and the new covenant goes on for all eternity. So the Lord's Supper reminds of this new relationship. It was different from what was known in Jeremiah's day. And we don't celebrate the Passover in the new covenant. It's part of the mosaic that falls to the ground with the rending of the veil. The Lord's Supper is a reminder to us that this new covenant is in place and we will have our sins as believers definitively forgiven. We will know the Lord, all of us, from the least of us to the greatest of us. We will know the Lord, and God will be writing His law upon our hearts, and that will be realized even more fully for all eternity. I will be their God and they shall be my people is language that meets us in the end of the book of Revelation and it's for all eternity. Fourthly D, what other observations? The Lord's Supper is a memorial. And again, that's just a commonplace statement. But is it really that commonplace? The Lord's Supper is memorial. The Passover feast was a memorial feast, right? it looked back on the Exodus and it said, all right, we're going to reflect on those 10 plagues, we're going to reflect on God's miraculous power, we're going to reflect on how wonderfully he brought underdog Israel out of Egypt and delivered them and brought them up to their land. No one thinks that the Passover Feast is some sort of mysterious hocus pocus of we're going to go back and we're going to re-exit Exodus. We're going to re-exit Egypt. Well, nobody even thinks to think of that. But in the same way that the Passover Feast is a commemoration of something that God has done and appointing to Christ, Similarly, God intended the death of his son to be a one-time, utterly unique, once-for-all event. It is never to be repeated, but it is to be often remembered. Do this in remembrance of Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. E, the Lord's Supper is for believing church members. When you come together as a church, the Lord's Supper is a communal act. They are all to partake of the bread. They are all to partake of the wine. The supper stresses the togetherness of those who are Christ's disciples. It's for believing church members. So Paul can say, therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. F. The Lord's Supper looks ahead. to Christ's glorious return. The Lord's Supper in each one of the accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, has a future aspect to it. And it's brought out by Jesus' statement that He's not going to partake of this again until I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." For instance, the Mark account, I will never again drink the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. And so it's not surprising that Paul picks up on this. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. As believers look back and remember Jesus through the symbols of the bread and the cup, they also look ahead to what is signified in the marriage supper of the Lamb, right? Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true words of God. So as we look back over, the institution of the Lord's Supper, slight variation in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, what are we to take away from it? Well, a couple of things that stand out to me is the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. to come in as a Jew, yes, but to come in as a Jew to the Passover and saying, all right, we're gonna take this and we're gonna change some things around and it's not going to be about Egypt anymore. It's going to be about me, the Son of God, and my sacrificial death on the cross. To me, that's huge. We need to recognize his authority. Another thing that stands out is the plainness of the substitutionary death. This is the blood of the covenant. This is my blood of the covenant. This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for you, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. And each one of them has some aspect that this is a substitutionary death for us. And then that note which we hear frequently of remember, remember, remember, remember. This is not a religious rite that we can just enter into automatically and we'll get some sort of benefit from it. As long as you get your five quarters in the machine, the soda can is going to pop out. No, there is a spiritual process that is involved in remembering who Jesus is and what He has done for us. Let's pray. King Jesus, it is mind-boggling to think of you standing physically present in the midst of those early disciples and you saying to Peter, James, and John and company, this bread, this is my broken body. And this wine symbolizes my blood. And it's going to happen very, very soon that my body is going to be broken and my blood is going to be shed. And Lord Jesus, we are disappointed that our fellow mortals didn't understand, that it didn't sink in. We don't fault them as if we would have gotten it. We would be even more hard-hearted. But to think of you as the Son of God, and yet, truly man, standing before them, holding the bread, holding the cup, and laying things out so plainly, and yet at that point it appears that nobody got it. Father, we pray that you would help us, that you would send the Spirit, that we would understand these things very plainly on this side of the cross. Help us as believers to value this sacrificial death. And we pray that for those who are not yet believers, that You would cause them to see a beauty and a love and a majesty that would draw from their hard heart a loving repentance and a loving belief in Your Son. Sanctify these moments to us, we pray it in Christ's name. Amen.