Most of us are aware that there are different views regarding the participation in the Lord's Supper. Martin Luther said, I do not ask how Christ can be God and man, how his natures could be united, for God is able to act far beyond our imagination. To the word of God, one must yield. It is up to you to prove that the body of Christ is not there when Christ Himself says, this is my body. I do not want to hear what reason says. God is above and beyond all mathematics, and His words are to be adored and observed with awe. God, however, commands, take, eat, this is my body. I request, therefore, a valid proof from Holy Writ that these words do not mean what they say. what they seem literally to say. At this point, Luther then wrote the words, this is my body on the table with chalk, placing the tablecloth over it. From the plain, literal meaning of these words, he would not budge. Well, transubstantiation is the idea predominant in Roman Catholic circles that there is a conversion of the substance of the bread and the wine into the body and blood of Christ at the consecration and only the appearances of bread and wine still remaining. Lutherans believe that the body and blood of Christ are truly and substantially present in, with, and under the forms of consecrated bread and wine, the elements, so that the communicants eat and drink both the elements and the true body and blood of Christ himself in the sacrament of the Eucharist. The omnipresence of Christ, this is not them saying it, this is me saying it, summarizing how I think they get to this. The omnipresence of Jesus Christ's deity applies to the physical body of Jesus Christ, so that the communicant eats and drinks both the elements of the true body and blood of Christ himself. Well, how are we to respond? If we view the Lord's Supper much more as a symbolic ordinance where Christ is present, though, in this ordinance, then how do we square it with the way that Luther was insisting, this is my body? Well, come with me to notice with me Roman numeral one, the background. The background to Christ's words at the first Lord's Supper. First of all, A, his words are rooted in the Passover. Here is the New Testament testimony that links the Lord's Supper with that of the Passover. verse 19 of our chapter that we read, Matthew 26, 19. So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. We've got much the same, Luke 22, verse seven, verse eight. I'll read from verse 11 of Luke 22. Then you shall say to the master of the house, the teacher says to you, where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? Luke 22 and verse 15. Then he said to them, with fervent desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. Listen to William Hendrickson. At this point, the Passover passes over into the Lord's Supper. For it was while toward the close of the Passover meal, the men were all freely eating, that Jesus instituted the new sacrament that was to replace the old. A few more hours than the old symbol being bloody, for it required the slaying of a lamb, will have served its purpose forever, having reached its fulfillment in the blood shed on Calvary. It was time, therefore, that a new and unbloody symbol replace the old. Nevertheless, by historically linking the Passover and the Lord's Supper so closely together, Jesus also made clear what was essential in the first was not lost in the second. Both the Passover in the Old pointed forward to the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only and all-sufficient sacrifice for the sins of His people. The Passover pointed forward to this, and the Lord's Supper points back to His sacrificial death. Well, that was A, where we're looking to see His words are rooted in the Passover. But now, B, His words are rooted in the covenant. Here we have read in our New King James that this is the blood of the new covenant. You holding a New American Standard will not see new, but simply covenant. But it is the new covenant. For we find in Luke 22, and none of the manuscripts have a question about this, this is the new covenant in my blood. The new covenant reminds us of what Jeremiah said in chapter 31, and that distinctive blessing, the third of those three blessings, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin, I will remember no more. And what we read in Matthew 26 and verse 28 is, which is for the forgiveness of sin. But now thirdly, C, Our Lord's words are rooted in his established teaching method. Take, eat, this is my body. Now, if the Lord Jesus had never used figures of speech as he taught, then we would be obligated to go along with Martin Luther's understanding of this passage. But I want you to hear a number of passages where the Lord Jesus is speaking with pictures. He's using figures of speech. The first that I'll read is Matthew 16 and verse 6. Maybe in the interest of time, I'll not give the reference, but I'll just read the key part of the verse. Beware of the leaven, the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." Was it real yeast? Or was it their erroneous teaching, which, if you imbibe it, is going to be like yeast that's going to impact the whole loaf? Then Matthew 21 and verse 42, Jesus said, have you never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone? Are we to understand the Lord Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone in the building of his church? Well, yes, symbolically, but not that Jesus is a real piece of stone, of inanimate stone. John 2 and verse 19, Jesus answered and said to them, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. So on the one text, Jesus thinks that he's a slab of stone And by this literal interpretation, on another occasion, that Jesus somehow identifies Himself as the temple. They thought He was talking about destroying the whole temple, and He was really talking of His own body. John 3, in verse 3, I say to you that unless one is born again, He cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus got into problems with this, didn't he? What am I supposed to do? Enter into my mother's womb again and be born again? Jesus was using the figure of speech. that in the same way that a little baby comes from the mother, so spiritually there has to be this birthing that comes from God the Holy Spirit. John 4 and verse 14, whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water, springing up into everlasting life." Is Jesus advocating some kind of magical water, which they literally would never need to drink again in this life? No, He is speaking not of a magical liquid, but He is speaking of salvation, but doing so, with these figures of speech. Jesus said to them, the disciples in connection with the woman at the well, I have food to eat of which you do not know. He was talking about the work that he had to do. That's what he needed to focus on. He says in John 6, 51, I am the living bread. which came down from heaven. The bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." There's symbolism, isn't there? Over and over and over again, Jesus spoke. In pictures, he turned men's ears into eyes so that they could get something of his message. John 6 and verse 53, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. And again, it's a figure of speech where he's saying, you have to be so close to me, so united to me, it's like the very stuff of Jesus has to go deep down into you. John 10 and verse 7, Jesus said, I am the door of the sheep. Well, he means something by that, but he does not mean that he is a literal, physical door. John 11 and verse 11, our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him. I'm going to raise him from the dead, really. But I'm going to communicate to you, it's going to be as easy, and it's going to be as if I just go and shake somebody a little bit, and we wake them up and bring them back to life. John 15, in verse 1, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Revelation 22, in verse 16, I am the root and the offspring of David. I am the bright and morning star. Are all these to be taken in a literal way? So, as I mentioned before, if our Lord never or very rarely used a figure of speech, then we would need to consider the literal use and literal meaning of His words. Listen to Matthew Henry. The body of Christ is signified and represented by the bread. Jesus had said this formally, I am the bread of life, and upon which this metaphor, this sacrament, upon which metaphor, this sacrament is built. As the life of the body is supported by bread, which is therefore put for all the bodily nourishment, So the life of the soul is supported and maintained by Christ's mediation, and that's what we need to feed on. Roman numeral two, the significance. The significance of Christ's words at the first Lord's Supper. First of all, notice with me the sacrificial focus of his words. We think of the specific timing, It is the Passover meal that they are eating. And as they are eating this meal, they are thinking upon a symbolic blood ceremony. There are blood on the posts, blood on the lintel. There's blood in basins. There's a Passover lamb that has been cooked in bitter herbs. There is unleavened bread. But even in the placing of the blood, the angel of death is to pass over. And it's not a sacrifice that actually takes away sin, but it's symbolically pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. The sacrificial focus. Think again. of our Lord's, the center of this, on Himself. Think of some of the stupendous claims of the prophets and of the Lord Jesus. John the Baptist says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I am the bread that came down from heaven for the life of the world. This water, if you will drink it, you will never thirst. I am the light of the world. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Well, we want to remember here that there is a stupendous claim right here in the midst of the Lord's Supper. In the midst of the Passover meal, Christ directs all attention to himself And he says, this is the bread, this is the blood that is connected with the instituting of the new covenant. Bread speaking symbolically of his flesh. The cup speaking of the blood of the Lord Jesus. The partaking would be speaking of how they need to imbibe the Lord Jesus Christ. But then think of the symbolic nature of his words. Symbolism is found in that Passover. Symbolism is found in the regular teaching of the Lord's Supper. And so, Dr. Luther, it's not altogether surprising that there would be symbolism included here in the Lord's Supper. After all, God is condescending to us. reminding us of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and its efficacy towards us. Now remember, when Christ is standing there, right there in front of the disciples, when he is first instituting that first Lord's Supper, his words had to be symbolic. When they started to eat the bread, Our Lord Jesus was not writhing in pain as if somebody had clamped down on him. There were no wounds as they would drink of that cup of wine. And so, in the very first institution, the very first Lord's Supper, there was symbolism. Another thing that comes to us is that all of the miracles of the Lord Jesus are discernible. You can see it, you can know it. When He takes the bread and multiplies it, and takes the fish and multiplies them, they can take the bread and they can eat it, and when they're all done on the one occasion, there are 12 baskets full of stuff that is left over when they started with this very small amount. the 10 lepers. Go and show yourself to the priests. You got leprosy now. By the time you get there, the leprosy is going to be gone. Well, none of this in our Lord's miracles, where some would come and tell us, well, it looks like bread, and it looks like wine, and still tastes like that, but internally it has become the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. None of this. Well, I know, priest, that it still looks like leprosy. in its accidents, in its Aristotelian outward form, but in its internal, indiscernible substance, it is not leprosy. No, the miracles are discernible. Matthew, Henry again. The new covenant, which is procured and ratified by the blood of Christ, is a charter of pardon in order to work a reconciliation between God and man for sin was the only thing that made the quarrel. And without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. The pardon of sin, which is that great blessing in the Lord's Supper, is conferred on all true believers. It is the foundation of all other blessings and the spring of everlasting comfort. Now, secondly, B, the memorial feast. the memorial feast established by his words. In Luke 22, in his recounting of the institution of the Lord's Supper, he includes the words, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. not viewing this as a re-sacrificing of Christ, but recognizing that there is this once-for-all definitive sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, and once that has been accomplished, We have this Lord's Supper to reflect back on what has already been done, and so Paul comes along and repeats the Lord Jesus, this do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. This is not the language of re-sacrifice. It is remembering the once-for-all sacrifice. Thirdly, C, what do we have in the Lord's Supper? We have the proclamation established by His words. If you take this ordinance, this simple, symbolic ordinance, you are proclaiming the Lord's death till He comes. It's a process of eating and drinking, but these realities point to that work of Christ on the cross. Fourthly, D, what else is going on in the Lord's Supper? The fellowship involved in His words, 1 Corinthians 10, 16, the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion? Is it not the shared life? of the blood of Christ. The bread which we break, is it not the shared life of the body of Christ? All of the people of God are to partake of these elements, to partake of that symbolic bread, that symbolic blood of the Lord Jesus. And by this, we are expressing something of our close connection to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Come with me then to Roman numeral three, the practical relevance, the practical relevance of Christ's words at the first Lord's Supper. Bless God for the rationality and reality of true religion. I'm not asking you young people to check your brain in the coat room when you come in. If it's winter time and you got a heavy, put your coat in there, but you don't need to leave your brain in there. You don't need to do that every time that you come to worship. I'm not asking you to believe something that does not make sense. I'm not asking you to believe that there is a miracle that takes place in the Lord's Supper that we can't observe, that we can't discern. Now, I do ask you to believe in the invisible God, that God that you cannot see. but I do not ask you to believe in that which does not make sense. Remember your Creator in the days of your youth. We ask you to believe that which expands and ennobles your thinking, not that which is irrational and destructive to true thought. Secondly, by way of lessons, bless God for the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. The whole sacrificial system is greatly symbolic. Did the blood of any one of those thousands and tens of thousands of sacrifices in the Old Testament, did one of those animals ever take away sin? Well, no. We are told that they came every year, but with those sacrifices, they can never, year by year, make those who approach perfect. Most definitively, Hebrews 10, verse 4, for it is not possible It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin. So the scapegoat that has the high priest with his hand on the head of it, confessing the sins of his people, it's not a literal transfer. It's symbolic. There's a picture that is going in. And the Old Testament system of sacrifices were all symbolic. They all point to the Lord Jesus Christ who was to come. There was a sacrifice provided through the enfleshment of God's own Son. The Holy God was pleased with the sacrifice of that Son. By that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Words could not be plainer. The text I'm looking at on my notes is here. I want to use it as showing that the Lamb of God actually does take away sin, the words of John the Baptist. But what did John say? Behold the Lamb. So if we flip back to the figurative and the symbolic language, you ask yourself the question, was Jesus wooly? Well, of course not. That's abhorrent to us. We recognize the symbolism in the language all along the way. With those glimpses into heaven through the book of Revelation, There stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, the Lamb of God who is worthy to unseal that book and unwrap that scroll and unfold the decrees of God. He was worthy because of that once-for-all accomplishment in His death. Thirdly, see, bless God for the memorial feast as a means of grace. There is not automatic blessing that comes to anyone by simply being in a Lord's Supper service. There is no automatic blessing that comes by partaking of the elements. But rather, Paul warns us Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. He goes on to say, whoever eats and drinks in an unworthy manner, eats and drinks judgment to himself. It's not automatically better for you for having partaken. It would be better if you had not partaken. if you disregard the great importance attached to the Lord's Supper. And yet there is grace that comes to us in the ordinance. Acts 2.42 tells us that the breaking of bread is one of the ways that God communicates spiritual enablement to us. And Christ is present with His church when they discipline. Christ is present with his church when they gather for worship and the word is preached. And there is this shared life that comes in connection with the blood of Christ, with the cup of blessing. So here at communion, there is this memorial feast that is a means of grace. At communion, one of the ways that it works for us is that at communion we judge ourselves so that we will not be judged later on. We go over our lives as we prepare for the Lord's Supper to find if there are areas of sin, areas of weakness that need to be confessed and need to be mortified and need to be addressed plainly. And then we pledge to walk in the ways of Jesus Christ. Look to our heavenly Lord and we look around at our earthly brethren and we speak of our union with our brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. Martin Luther wrote on the table this is my body." And he wouldn't move from it. But did he write on the table, I am the door Did he write the Baptist words? Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We understand the meaning of the Bible by seeing how the Bible itself conveys truth to us. And so without apology, we come, we understand this as a symbolic ordinance. where there is a symbol of Christ's broken body. There is a symbol of his blood that was shed. We take it in, mindful of our weakness and our deficiency and asking for spiritual help that will bring us ultimately to heaven. Let's pray. Father, we want to have an accurate understanding of this ordinance. We want to have it very plain in our minds what the Lord Jesus meant when he said, this is my body. Just like when he said, I am the door of the sheep. Father, we pray that seeing the symbolism, that this would not detract in any way from the importance of this ordinance, help us to see that we need to scan our lives looking for areas of weakness and deficiency, and that we need to own it. And then we come afresh to the Lord's Supper as a sinner's ordinance, acknowledging all over again that we are sinners, that we need your grace, and to believe that there is spiritual enablement that is given for us, that we can increase in our ability to bring glory to your name. Father, be with us. Send your Spirit. Help us as we partake together. We pray that you would be pleased to seal this ordinance to us. We pray it in Christ's name. Amen.