Reading in verse 31. I want to remind you that Jeremiah was physically alive when the city of Jerusalem was completely smashed and utterly destroyed by the Babylonian armies. That means this man lived almost half a millennium, almost, not quite, before Jesus. And Jeremiah has some very harsh words to say to the people of Israel and of Jerusalem in particular. Similar to Isaiah, who had been even before him, these major prophets, they have long ministries, they have lots to say. But one of the things that Jeremiah anticipated was a time when there would be a substantial reordering of God's way of doing things. It would be with the house of Israel, but it would also involve nothing less than God's word being written on the hearts of his people. It wasn't written on stones. That's not what Jeremiah was looking forward to. It was written on human hearts. They will all know me. How is this possible? Well, according to Jeremiah, the key to this whole thing is your sins will be forgiven. I will not remember your sins anymore in a judicial sense. It's not that God doesn't know, but it's that God doesn't keep track. He doesn't mark our sins in the ledger against us anymore. Friends, this is what Jesus' life and death was all about. And so all of this is wrapped up in one phrase. You're going to see it here right at the beginning of this reading in verse 31. I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. And so that phrase, the New Covenant, is what Jesus is going to pick up on when we read then in the Gospel according to Luke. He's going to say this cup is the New Covenant. How is that possible? How is it possible that this New Covenant, where God, Yahweh, will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more, how is that possible? This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Imagine one person giving themselves as a substitute for all the sins of all the believers for the rest of time. But when God forgets something, guess what? He doesn't just tuck it in his back pocket. He doesn't just put it on the shelf to pick it up later. He judicially lets go of those sins. Are you in this new covenant? Listen how Jeremiah describes it. The Lord is speaking here. 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 up out of the land of Egypt. My covenant that they broke, 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 one 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. This is God's word regarding the new covenant. And then if you would turn with me to Luke 22. Now we're not in Acts today, that's volume two, but we are in volume one that lays the foundation theologically for the book of Acts. And so, in Acts two when it says that they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, this is what I believe Luke has in mind there in that passage. So we're going to read verses 14 through 22. And I would point out that there are actually three steps. These are gonna be the three points of the sermon today. The body of Christ, the blood of Christ, and the kingdom of Christ. So pay attention, especially to the later part of the reading. Luke 22, beginning at verse 14. And when the hour came, He reclined at table and the apostles with him. And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took a cup when he had given thanks and said, take this and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them saying, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise the cup, after they had eaten, saying, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed. And they began to question one another, which one of them it could be who was going to do this. A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And he said to them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them. And those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest. and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greatest? One who reclines at the table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? I am among you as one who serves. You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you as my father assigned to me a kingdom that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." This is the Word of God. Well today, We wanna think about the new covenant and specifically about the new covenant in Christ's blood. Jesus here explains this table. And I wanted to do something rather unusual today because I remember as a covenant kid, you ready kids? I was in the pew just like you. Way out there, there were big, tall pews I could barely see over the top. Right, Hayes? You haven't seen very much of what's going on up here. So what I want to ask you guys to do is come and join me at this table for just a minute. And we're going to talk about it. So come on up, sit in these front two pews, OK? Come on up. I wanted to start today trying to pay attention to everybody. Come on, just right up here. Just sit right up here. All right? Because I want you guys to see what we've got going on here today. Now, there's not a lot to see. Because did you know that before Jesus was born, that the Son of God was invisible? Did you know that? He would come down, but no one could see him. Okay, but then what happened was he came and he took two things. He stayed God, but you know what he did? He took to himself skin and he took to himself blood. Do you know what happens if you don't have blood running in your body? Well, if you start to lose some blood, first thing that happens is you faint because you don't have blood. And if you still don't get blood really fast, then you die. But what we wanna remember is underneath here, I'm not gonna take it off yet, but I hope you can watch today. Underneath here is bread, regular old bread made by a special lady in this church, and regular old cups of grape juice. I know, I saw it, yum, right? Someday you'll get to take this. But right now, what I want you to remember is that when we come to the Lord's table, it's not to fill up our bellies, right? We just watch a little bit of bread and a little bit of juice. But what I want you to think about today is that even as all of these people here are going to take the bread and the juice, you know what they're really taking? They're taking Christ. And you know how they're doing it? Not with the tongue. Did you know that your faith is the mouth of your soul? And the way you feed on Christ is not with this. It's with your faith. Did you know that? That's why if you don't have faith, then this, this is not going to fill anybody up today. So you have to have faith, and you have to come to an age of understanding about what this symbolizes. These, the bread and the cup underneath here, you'll see it in just a little while, are symbols of something that is true, but we can't see it. Christ is in heaven, but you know what? He promises to be spiritually present here. and to bless all those who feed on Christ, not with the tongue, but with the mouth of faith. That's why this feast can't benefit people who aren't Christians. So I hope that each one of you become Christians and put your faith and trust in Jesus. And then I want you to talk to your parents as you get a little bit older and say, when do I get to become a communicant member of the body of Christ. We don't want to have to go out, parents, and recruit, hey, it's about time for your child. We would really like and really be excited if children were saying, I want to study and learn. I want to become a communicant member of the body of Christ. I don't think that's somehow limited until a certain age. But really what the elders are looking for is less about how old a potential communicate member is and much more, do they understand the gospel? Because if they understand the gospel and can articulate that clearly, then this is of tremendous benefit to those even who are relatively young. All right? Thank you guys for coming up, and you can go back to your seats now, and you watch, particularly as this gets uncovered here in a little bit. Are you, children, but all of us now, again, devoted to the apostles' teaching? If you believe what the apostles teach, then you have an understanding of what Christians believe. The Scriptures are teaching us. Matthew was one of these apostles. Matthew tells us what happened on this particular day. Peter tells us through his secretary, publicly known associate, tells us in Mark chapter 14. And Paul is the one who is relaying things that he had heard from Christ, the resurrected Christ, that he's passing on in 1 Corinthians 11, and also according to the Gospel of Luke. I want us today to think about what particularly the Gospel of Luke teaches us about the Lord's Supper. Minor details of the dinner may vary. And I want you to be aware that verses 24 through 30 are telling us, the other gospels make it clear that others were asking about who is the greatest, but particularly verses 28 through 30. This is a unique element of what took place after the supper. that I think is helping us, particularly as Gentiles, to understand the significance of this, not as Passover, but as the fulfillment of Daniel chapter seven, which we'll see here in just a few minutes. So we turn today to Luke's gospel, which remember, we always need to remember, Luke's gospel is volume one. The book of Acts is the Acts of the Apostles, it's volume two. And we wanna have Jesus explain to us how his table sustains and strengthens our faith. And in particular today, orienting us more and more to his kingdom. To come back again and again and again and to understand God's kingdom better. What is it like? How does it come to us? What does it mean to live as a citizen of His kingdom? I want to call you today to come to the table with joy at God's abundant provision. Faith is the mouth of the soul. Right? You have a mouth in your face, but what we're talking about is faith is the mouth of your soul to feed upon Christ. All right? Let's think about this in three ways today. First of all, we see here that Jesus brings forth the bread. He took the bread, The first thing he did and the first thing we'll do today is give thanks. He prayed to God and then he took that bread and he broke it and he gave it to the people and he said, this is my body. Now, we have to stop here for a minute. Does Jesus mean this bread is being magically at this moment turned into actual human flesh? Or did he reach and pull out a chunk of his arm and give it to somebody, or pull out a chunk of his leg? Are we talking about his physical body? The answer is a resounding no. And by the way, this was one of the things that was going on in the Reformation. The Reformation was saying, this is not the actual flesh and blood of Christ. But friends, we need to remember that prior to the Reformation, people who named the name of Christ and were regarded as godly were bowing down to the bread and the cup, as though this was Jesus laying in pieces on the table. And the sacrament of the Lord's Supper almost became a reenactment. Jesus is being crucified again today. And the Reformation said, no, that's incorrect. Jesus is truly present, but he is spiritually present, not physically present in the Lord's Supper. And so Jesus is using a metaphor here to communicate how absolutely necessary it was to continue to feed upon Christ. His body, which he then, his body, let me put it in quotes clearly, air quotes, is broken for us. His blood, quote unquote, is poured out for us. Thus, there is a meeting in this table of that which is physical, namely the elements of the bread and the cup, with that which is spiritual, namely the spiritual presence of Christ. And this is why fencing the table is so necessary. Because, and this has become more clear to me the more that I've seen misuses of this table, this is not an automatic thing. This is not that, oh, you know, I roll up to the drive-thru window, I'm hungry, you know, I need a Big Mac. And the Big Mac is passed through the window, and then you fill your belly. This is not a drive-thru today. It's pretty efficient. The elders serve you all really fast. But that's not the point, is to feed your body. The point of the Lord's Supper is to sustain your soul as you seek to walk with Christ over the totality of your life. It's like a marathon. People who run marathons know how critical it is to rehydrate. And usually there's need even for calories along the way in order to sustain your body over such a long distance. So point number one, His physical body is given for us. In other words, even as they're sitting around the table tonight, Jesus is using two metaphors that are going to become the most potent metaphors in the entire New Testament. This is my body, break. This is my blood, pour. And within a matter of hours, Jesus is going to be hanging from a cross, dead, in your place. And He's saying to those who follow Him, you must have this. If you are going to be in fellowship with Me around My table, you must have this. But this is not sitting on the table. That's not the actual body and blood of Christ. Where is the actual broken body and shed blood of Christ? It's on the cross. And he said it is finished. Once for all. And therefore, this is a spiritual exercise. There is a spiritual banquet for those of you who have a hungry mouth of the soul. So Christ's physical body was given for us in history. And there is the bread. Thank you to those who have brought forth this bread today for us to remember, even as we take it into our physical mouths, that we're feeding on Christ with our spiritual mouths. Christ's physical body is given for us. Point number two then today, let's move along to verse 20. In the same way, or likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, this cup that is poured out for you is, the new covenant in my blood. And here I want to point you to the verses that we read just a few moments ago in Jeremiah 31. The new covenant is given to Christ's people. It involves a change of our hearts. And now this cup, and by the way, you should know, and this is an active conversation in many denominations these days is, is it necessary to drink from a common cup? That used to be a very common practice, but one cup and then we would just pass it around and everybody and if it's your family or if it's three people, that's one thing. I don't think the doctors in the room would be real happy with that. That probably wouldn't be very sanitary by modern standards. But that's one of the reasons that we have a one cup. Even as we want to accommodate our colds and our allergies and all of those things, we also want to remind everyone that there is one cup here. This cup. And He says, drink from it, all of you. That's not in this passage, but in one of the parallel passages. And so, the cup, point two of the New Covenant, is poured out for us. Jeremiah 31. But I want to remind you, let's turn in our Bibles to Isaiah 53. Very familiar passage, but I just wanna link one huge passage from Jeremiah, Jeremiah 31, and one huge passage that may be the most clear, crystallized prophecy of Jesus in the Old Testament in Isaiah 53. And I want you to notice here, Isaiah 53, verses five and six and 10 and 11. It says, but he was pierced for our transgression. He was crushed, thus the breaking of the bread, for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. and then jumped down to verse 10. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. To crush him. He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. Who's the offspring of Christ? Well, Jesus doesn't have physical offspring. But those who are united to him by faith are his children, and he is their father. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. He shall bear their iniquities. He was the sacrifice that God had ordained. Not an animal sacrifice, a substitutionary sacrifice. Not to remind us of sin the way it was in the old covenant, but to take away sin once and for all. This is what God has done. So point number three then, the kingdom assigned to us. Now in the last number of weeks, twice, we've spent a good deal of time in Daniel 7. So I'm not gonna do that today, but I want you to see I've included the cross references there. But I want you to remember that in this Last Supper, Jesus was talking about his kingdom. That's not included in every eyewitness account. But I want you to see and I want you to think here about why Luke wanted to include this. Because he wanted us to connect the Last Supper to the fulfillment of prophecy in Daniel chapter seven. He says, so Luke 22 verse 28, you are those who have stayed with me in my trials. And let me just say here, this is one of the reasons that we reject the idea that the Lord's Supper in its original, in its first gathering, was intended for unbelievers. Do you know that throughout church history there have been those, Jonathan Edwards' father-in-law, Solomon Stoddard, was one of these, who wanted to actually invite non-believers to come to the Lord's table so they could see Christ and be benefited by the Lord's Supper. But look at who was there. Who was at the first Last Supper? Not all y'all come in off the highways and byways. You are those who have stayed with me in my trials. Says in verse 30 that these who are there will sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. This was not for everyone. This was for the apostles. There may have been others there, that's a matter of much discussion. But for those who devote themselves to the apostles' teaching, we need to see that this was a personal thing. This was with the faithful. This was with those who had been and were anticipated to continue walking with Christ. And so verse 29, I assign to you, as my father assigned to me, a kingdom. Daniel 7 verse 13, the ancient of days gave a kingdom to the son of man. And then that kingdom is given to the saints that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Now there's probably other eschatological things being foreshadowed here. I'm not going to go into that today. But I just want us to see that biblically this supper is connected to the present kingdom of God. that we are called to be translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of Christ. And that's the kingdom that was on display in the first Last Supper. And Jesus was assigning a kingdom. And so it's kingdom citizens. It's those who have been born again to a living hope. It's those who have walked with Christ who are to be invited to this table. And that's why, and I just want to put a fine point on this, we met with the Sheplers this last week and we had the opportunity to talk through, had they been baptized? Have they been a member of a local church? And particularly the most important question, has Jesus changed your heart? If He hasn't, then you're leaning on something false and you're not going to get the benefit of the supper. And it just becomes a tradition. It just becomes something we do. It just becomes a box that we check. But friends, for those of you who have been born again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, You know that he's alive today and that he's coming to his people. I wonder what this is like. He doesn't come physically, but spiritually he's present here in this place. And he wants you to be sustained by him. He wants you to be strengthened by him. He wants you to be enabled to resist temptation when it comes by Him. He wants you to be holy by Him. He wants you to live forever by Him. Do you see how the totality of the kingdom is present here? Christ, in His historical accomplishment of the covenant, the new covenant at the cross, Christ as the returning reigning King. We will sit and eat and drink, I think physically, with Christ at His table in the new heavens and new earth. It's all here. The feast for the believer is on display today. Let's close in prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for your provision for us in this beautiful meal. Lord, thank you that you used the metaphor of the bread and the cup to communicate yourself to us spiritually. Lord, it is only by the Spirit, it is only by faith that we can tap into this source of strength. that, Lord, our lives are drawn from mere repetition to the living, vital, sustained faith of those who have been born of the Spirit, who have been made new even now, who have a hope that when their bodies die, their souls will live with Christ forever. O Christ, we ask that you would come and you've promised to be present with your people. And Lord, we pray that this sacrament would be a means of grace to weak pilgrims who are yet sinners. but who need to be strengthened for the race of life that you've set before them. Bless us as we come to this table, in Jesus' name, amen. We're not gonna sing today as we come to the table, because my desire today is that we would be sober, we would be silent, before the Holy God. I want to remind you that this was... These were the last moments of Jesus' public ministry before His crucifixion. And so, there's times that we've emphasized the joy and the celebration, but today I want us to be sober and quiet as we come to the Lord's table. We'll sing about God's chosen one at the end here, but now let us come again. Children, I want to remind you that we want you to watch. You can't participate until you've professed your faith in Christ, but I want you to watch and I want you to understand how in the next few minutes Jesus is strengthening his people. Elders, please come forward and we'll proceed. It was only Jesus who knew that these were the last moments that he had with his disciples. He showed up routinely over 40 days after his resurrection, but that was not a public ministry. That was a ministry the Bible makes clear to believers alone. This was the place where Jesus would be teaching a lesson that they wouldn't understand at the time. But he did say that one of you would betray me, and that set off a little mini-crisis around the table. Well, is it me? Is it me? Is it me? They were seeking, as best as they knew how, to walk in the new covenant in Christ. And so, the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, he took the bread and also the cup. And so, following his example and ministering in his name, I take this bread and this cup and exhibit them to you as the sacramental symbols of the body and blood of the Lord. After the Lord Jesus had taken the bread and the cup, he blessed them. Let us now pray as we give thanks and consecrate these elements. O Lord, our faith for our salvation is free to us, but it is not free. You commissioned your son to come into the world, to live under the law, to be hated and mocked and whipped and humiliated, to carry his own cross as far as he was able, to then be hung upon that cross with nails and with spit with a spear, and Lord, to hear his words, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Lord, this new covenant is new, but it is not cheap. Thank you, oh Lord, for your grace. We today, as we come to this table, reaffirm our trust in you, in Christ's righteousness, in Christ's mediation for us. And Lord, we plead for you to grant the gracious and effective working of your Spirit in this sacrament. Lord, we come today as those who are weak, as those who are distracted, as those who ponder our eternal destiny so seldom. Lord, we live in a world that has cheapened the covenant of grace, and Lord, has so emphasized the personal aspect of that relationship, that it almost feels like Jesus is my girlfriend, or Jesus is my buddy. We pray, O Lord, that you would help us to understand what the angels proclaimed, holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is filled with His glory. O Christ, give us eyes to see Your magnificence. Draw us by giving us sight for our spiritual eyes. and hearing for our spiritual ears. O Lord, we ask that you would bless so much of these elements that shall be used on this occasion, which we hereby set apart from a common to a sacramental use in the name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. the king and head of his church. Amen. Well, after the Lord Jesus had blessed the bread, he broke it. And now I want you to see, children, I'm holding a piece of bread that hasn't been broken. But following his example, and in the name of Jesus, I break this bread, even as Jesus broke his body for us. And I say, take, eat. This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. I would ask that you would hold the bread until all had been served, and then we will eat together. Okay. Let us eat together. In the same manner also, Jesus took the cup after supper. It was a common cup. He said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do 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. Once again, I'd ask that you would hold the cup until all are served, and then we will drink together. Let us drink together. Well friends, this is not fast food. Although that was pretty fast. Being up close here, there's some logistics and we've gotten pretty good at this. But I want to remind you that in fact, this is something far healthier for you, spiritually, than anything the world has to offer. This is designed to nurture and strengthen your personal relationship with Jesus, whom you have never seen, but who comes to you again and again and again in the means of grace. He trains your mind and your will, but He also touches your heart and He changes it by the power of the Holy Spirit to enable you, and I want to remind you, The Holy Spirit does not make us nicer merely. The Holy Spirit doesn't make us stronger merely. At the heart of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and in fact this is why it's His name, is the spirit of holiness. The Lord says, holy, holy, holy, I am holy. Be holy as I am holy. The purpose of the supper is not to save you. It's to sanctify you. It's to transform us year by year throughout our Christian life to be more like Christ, to have our minds fixed on Him as the only hope of our salvation. This is a beautiful thing. And when we partake as the Lord has modeled for us, We bring glory to his name. We proclaim collectively, together, the Lord's death until he comes. Let's close together in prayer. And then following the prayer, we'll sing Psalm 89a. O Lord, our God, how we thank you for all that you've done for us. We ask, Lord, that you would sanctify us, that, Lord, you would strengthen us to say no to that which our sinful nature desires, and to say yes to holiness. Lord, help us to walk in ways that glorify your name. Lord, show us how we can be salt and light in this world. Lord, show us how we can love our neighbor the way you would love your neighbor. Lord, show us how we can be a source of blessing to those who are in need. We pray, oh Lord, that you would lead us and guide us in all of these things. We'll give you thanks in Jesus' name, amen. And now in closing, if you would turn to Psalm 89a and let's stand and we'll conclude with this psalm. The Lord forever mine is.