Partaking in the house (The Lord's Supper)

Now we're going to open our Bibles at the Gospel of Luke, chapter 22, and we won't try to read the whole chapter. It's got 71 verses, so we will start at verse number one now. Luke 22 and verse 1. Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew nigh, which is called a Passover.

And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him, for they feared the people. Then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them.

And they were glad and and covenanted to give him money. And he promised and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude. Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed.

And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the Passover, that is, the Lord sent them, that we may eat. And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them, Behold, when we are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where he entereth in.

And ye shall say unto the good man of the house, The master or the teacher saith unto thee, Where is the guest chamber where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished. There make ready. And they went and found, as he had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover.

And when the hour was come, he sat down and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat the Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

And he took the cup and gave thanks and said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took the bread and gave thanks and break it and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you.

This do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, The cup is a new testament in my blood, which is shared for you. But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me at the table.

And truly the son of man goeth as it was determined, but woe unto the man by whom he is betrayed. Now, that's all we're going to read. We might refer to some of the other scriptures, but that will suffice.

And we know that God will bless this word. Now, for those who haven't been here previously, we have been speaking on four times about four houses. Well, maybe we touched a few more, but four main houses in the gospel of Luke.

And the first one was in chapter 7. And what we noted there, or what we called it, was the house of poverty. There were two people there, Simon the leper and a woman that had been characterized as a sinner. And the Lord told them a parable.

And he said, When they had nothing to pay, he freely forgave them both. So they were both penniless. They couldn't pay anything.

So it was poverty in the house. And then in chapter 14, we read of a house at the beginning of the chapter and one at the end. And the one at the beginning, we found out a man with dropsy, that is water retention, a person that's puffed up.

And really, it speaks of pride in the house. The Pharisees, one of the chief Pharisees' house, there was lots of them, and I tell you, they were proud. And then at the end of the chapter, we found there was another house, and there was a man went out, a little picture of the Holy Spirit, and he invited people into the feast.

And so there was a great provision in the house. Some refused, but thank God there were some that came. And after the nation of Israel refused the invitation, it went out in a wider sphere.

It went out to the Gentiles. That took place early, first of all, on the day of Pentecost. So we were brought in and invited to the house.

And then, last night, chapter 15, the prodigal in the house, and we saw there the interest that God has in the salvation of precious souls. The shepherd going out after the lost sheep, a lovely picture of the Lord Jesus, going out after the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And he brought them, not to the fold or to the wilderness, but says he brought them home.

And all that belong to the Lord Jesus, no matter what dispensation it was, we know they're all going to be brought safely home. Then we read about the woman that swept the house and took a lamp, and we suggested that she was a picture of the Holy Spirit. And you say, well, could a woman really be a picture of the Holy Spirit? Well, I think the idea is the Holy Spirit in the church.

The church is a bride of Christ, and we're here to represent him. And the Spirit works through his people to get others. He can bring them into circumstances as well, but generally he uses his people.

And then, tonight, we're going to read of partaking in the house. Some in the house, they partook of the Passover supper. That's very important.

It's called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They're closely associated together. And then, as you know, they partook of the Lord's Supper.

So those are the main things we will speak about in the meeting tonight. And as I said, this is a long chapter. So much of it is concerned with the background of these feasts and what was going on when others were betraying him and denying him and so on.

And yet, the Lord had a little group, a little group that he enjoyed being with. Having loved his own, John 13 says, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. He loved them with an extreme love.

So he had appreciation of the little group. And you can see that when you think of the scribes and the Pharisees and all that were against him, right down this chapter. And even the disciples, wondering who's going to be greater in the kingdom.

And the Lord still has a heart and occupation with them. And he tells them of rewards in the kingdom and so on. And he warns them of what's going to take place, going to leave them.

And he's going to go, first of all, to Calvary. But just to go to where we started, the first part of the chapter has got to do with the possession of Judas by Satan. Here's a man that was so privileged.

One of the 12. But you know, if you read the word of God carefully, you find that he never called Jesus Lord. Not once.

Jesus Christ is Lord. He's the Lord. But he never really belonged to the Lord.

It's not a picture of a believer being lost. The Lord said he kept them all except one in his prayer in John chapter 17, who was the son of perdition. But he says now, and this is a background, there's a difference, of course, we know between the Passover feast and the Lord's Supper.

But they're closely linked together here. And I think the idea is that, first of all, that the Passover is linked with the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Feast of Unleavened Bread would last seven days.

It began with the first night of the Passover, and it would go on that last seven days. And for us, we know that seven is a complete number. And for us, it should tell us that we should always be holy.

Leaven always speaks of sin, no matter where you get it. Even, you know, in Matthew 13, some of the old writers, they would tell you that the woman that put the meal, or the leaven in the three measures of meal, was the gospel permeating and going into the world. But I don't see that for one moment.

It's always sin. It was sinful doctrine concerning Christ. The three measures of meal would remind us of the meal offering, Leviticus chapter 2. And I think you can see today in many circles, they have put wrong doctrine into the doctrines concerning Christ.

In other words, they say he could have sinned if he had wanted. We know that's an impossibility. The Lord Jesus couldn't sin now.

He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And of course, we know he's God. So when he was tested in the wilderness, it wasn't a temptation like the way we would be tempted, where we could respond to it, because we have a sinful nature.

But there was nothing in him. He was tested to show that he was absolutely pure. You know, if you read the Gospels, you read that he was baptized.

And the heavens were opened, and the voice said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And then comes the testing. And what does Satan say? If thou art the Son of God, make thee stone's bread.

He said, You're God's Son. God says not that he didn't know. But he said, If you're God's Son, show it, prove it.

But you see, as God's Son, he came into the world as the obedient Son. And that's what we would have read if we had read on down the chapter. He was a stone's throw from the disciples.

In the Old Testament, that's where the disobedient Son was put. A stone's throw is to be stoned to death. But here's the obedient Son.

But it uses that same expression, a stone's throw from the disciples. So as the obedient Son, he's not going to listen to Satan or anyone else. But he's going to go according to the Word of God.

It is written. It means it stands written. It's never going to change.

And we can always depend upon it, for he's giving us an example how we can face the tempter as well. So the feast of unleavened bread drew near. And you know that that was a time when they put leaven, all the leaven, out of their houses.

There's different kinds of leaven spoken of in the Scripture. There's the leaven of the Pharisees. They were the ones, the chief priests, who have in verse number two, and the scribes and so on, they sought to kill them.

The leaven of the Pharisees was ritualism. Then we read of the leaven of the Sadducees. That's rationalism.

They didn't believe in resurrection or spirit. But you know, in the day when Peter was in prison, the priests of Israel were Sadducees. But God said, I don't care if they are.

I'm going to send an angel anyhow, whether they believe in him or not. And they must have been incensed when it was spread abroad that an angel came and rescued him out of the prison. So here we have the feast when they were to put all sin out of the coast.

It's the leaven of hypocrisy too. And the leaven of herd would be political leaven and the leaven of malice and so on. They were to put it all out.

And here they are, they're plotting the death of an innocent victim. What hypocrisy there was among these people. One of the old Irish preachers, Frank Knox, he said, never call it hypocrisy.

He said, there's nothing high about it. I looked it up in a dictionary. Go watch these Irish boys.

And I checked it and it does say hypocrisy. It's not hypocrisy. But anyhow, I thought that was a good way for him to put it.

So here they are. And they're trying to find a way they can do it without offending the people. They wanted the people to follow them and so on.

And so it says, then entered Satan, verse three, into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being a number of the twelve. And he went his way and communed to the chief priests and captains how he might betray him. Why? He was Satan's man.

Later on, we see God's man here in this passage, a man with a pitcher of water. But here's Satan's man. Satan entered into Judas, and it's very sad that one that was so close to the Lord.

But it tells me this, that Satan likes to attack God's people. And, you know, if he couldn't really get to him through the Scribes and the Pharisees, which he tried on numerous occasions, he would try to get one right in among them. And Satan can do that today.

And sometimes there's some come among us, among God's people, that cause more trouble. And they're not really helping the gospel. They're spreading false gospel.

Satan sows tares among the wheat, and he's still doing it today. So he gets a man right among them, a man that was interested in the money and material things. And so he goes away and he tries to figure out how he might betray him.

And we know he did. And when he betrayed him, he betrayed him. The Lord says, Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss? The thought is he smothered him with kisses.

And I've often thought when we preach the gospel, we have often said that he kissed the door of heaven and fell right down into hell. Smothered the Lord Jesus with kisses. It's the same idea last night when the father smothered the prodigal with kisses.

You know what I mean, smothered. It's figurative. But he covered him with kisses.

Better way to put it. So they were glad. And they said, We're going to give you money.

So of course he thought, some have thought that maybe the Lord would have escaped. And Judas maybe thought that. But we're not really told.

But we know Satan entered into him. And he was glad to get money. What a price.

Price of a slave he put on the Lord Jesus. And from that he sought opportunity to betray him. And we know how he did it.

Did it at the Mount of Olives where the Lord would go to pray. But we won't touch that right now. Then came the day of unleavened bread.

That would be the first day when the Passover must be killed. So he sent Peter and John. Ever wondered why he sent Peter and John? Well, we're not told, but I'll tell you that they were the two writers that wrote about the Lamb of God.

And he was a Passover lamb. He was fulfilling that. And John, after he tells us of the greatness of Christ, the creator, all things were made by him.

Without him was not made anything that was made. And he tells you of his greatness. And he comes out from God, tabernacles amongst men.

And then he says, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. What a contrast. The one coming from the glories of heaven that made all things.

He was never created. He didn't make himself. He was no created being.

But then we have John can point him out as the Lamb of God. And then what did Peter, he said, Peter said, we're not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold. From our vain conversation, retrieved by, received by tradition from our fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ.

As of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but as manifest to us in these last days. So I think it's interesting that these are the two that the Lord sent. He said, you go and prepare a room for us.

And they said, well, where will we prepare? You see, in the Old Testament, the Passover was linked with a house, the first Passover. But that was the only one. It was a unique sacrifice.

It was a sacrifice without an altar. But, but God told him when you go into the land, there's going to be a place and you sacrifice it. There's a place that I have chosen.

And that's where you bring your sacrifices. And we believe is a place that God has chosen. And that's where we bring our sacrifices, not animal sacrifices, but the fruit of our lips, giving praise onto his name and to do good and to communicate, forget not for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased.

In Hebrews 13. So they said, well, where do you want us to prepare? And he said, go into the city, that would be Jerusalem. And you'll see a man.

And it'll be an unusual thing because men don't usually carry the pitchers of water. Usually the women were the ones that went for the water, like the woman at the well in John 4. But he says, you'll find a man and he's bearing a pitcher of water and follow him into the house where he enters in. Now, I think that's, here we have the house that we're talking about.

And we're not told the name of this man. And we mentioned, I think, before that nameless servants, there was one that invited the people into the feast that we looked at a couple of nights ago. Nameless servants are always a little picture of the Holy Spirit.

And so for us, we would say, where are we going to meet? Go with the Holy Spirit. He'll lead you. And that's what we have here.

And he's bearing a pitcher of water. I don't know what they would think of this, but water in the scriptures, usually if it's not moving, it speaks of the word of God, the water of the word. If it's moving, it often speaks of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit using the word.

And that's where we should be, where the Holy Spirit would lead us according to the word of God. But as well as that, the Lord was going to wash the disciples' feet. So, here's a man with a pitcher of water.

So, you know, that's where the Lord in John 13, and although the Lord doesn't mention the breaking of bread, and there's maybe more than one reason for that, but, you know, just recently I thought, you know, John the Apostle lived at Ephesus, and they would be the first ones to read the letter, Revelation, I would think, the book of Revelation. But they were already breaking bread and carrying out everything perfectly except the love was gone. So, he didn't have to do that.

And of course, you know, there's nothing broken, really, in the gospel of John, no rent veil and so on. But be that as it may, he said, you follow and you enter in. And then in the next verse, say to the good man of the house, the teacher, the master, teacher.

When I was a boy in school, our male teachers, we called him the master and the headmaster, but it was really teacher. And the teacher, tell him, the teacher told you to ask, where is the guest chamber that I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? Now, guest chamber is an interesting word. It's a word that's used for the inn at the Lord's birth.

And it's the same word here used just before his death. There was no room for him in the inn, a Cataloma, they call it. I always remember that because over in the old country, some of them give their house a name, like Bethany or something like that, or Cremond, as well as the street address.

And I went to a house and that's what it said, Cataloma. It was right in the shade of the moor mountains, beautiful, big stone wall beside it. And I said, Cataloma, that's the guest chamber.

That's where the animals were unladen and so on. And I thought that was a nice name for the house, although not too many people would maybe know what it meant, but likely they'd ask anyhow, what is this? But anyhow, that's what it means, a guest chamber. And here now, the Lord has a guest chamber.

He's not all alone, just with Mary and Joseph in a stable, because there was no room in the guest chamber. But now here's a guest chamber. And he said, this is where I'm going to eat the Passover with my disciples.

And he said, he's going to show you a large upper room, furnished there and made ready. You know, when we gather together, and especially we're leading in, it's still the Passover, but we're leading into remembering the Lord. It's good to know that it's a place that's near to heaven.

Well, you say it's not much nearer because it's a second story, but yeah, I think it could tell us that. There's a place that's near to heaven. And when we meet together, especially to remember the Lord, it's a place that's very near to heaven.

You know, I know an older lady, you have to be careful when you say old anymore, an older lady, and she was quite a character. I shouldn't tell you all this, because it's really done, maybe link in here, but she lived in the prairies, Canadian prairies, which was young girl. And three young men came to stay at her home, going to a conference.

And they all kind of fell in love with her, the whole three of them. And she married one of them and he died and she married the next one. And he died and she married the next one.

She got all three of them, you know, but he, he also died too. And I was having dinner in her house and she says, I would just love to die at the Lord's supper. What she meant was she felt she was near to heaven.

She wouldn't have far to go. Well, I said, I'd rather go home and eat my roast beef and potatoes and then die. You wouldn't want to disrupt a meeting, would you? That'd be an awful thing to disrupt a breaking of bread.

But remember what she meant. She meant she felt really near to heaven. Wonderful to feel that because actually we worship in the heavenly sanctuary.

So we can't get any closer than that. It's in spirit. We enter into the heavenly, uh, sanctuary, but here's a, uh, a large upper room furnished.

It means there was everything there that they needed for them. It would be everything for the Passover, likely. And, uh, I thought, uh, when you come to the local assembly, everything is there that we need.

And when I thought of furnished, somehow my, uh, my thoughts went back to the furniture of the, in the tabernacle. Very simple. What do you have? A lampstand.

And Leviticus 8, where it speaks of the consecration of the Levites. Before it does that, it tells you about the lampstand. And the lampstand was to give light over against itself.

It speaks of the Lord, doesn't it? And all the meetings in the local assembly is to show him to others, illuminate the things concerning the Lord. It was gold that speaks of his deity. And, uh, it was a beaten work.

I would speak of Calvary, wouldn't it? And the flowers would speak of his beauty. And it's strange in a way, there's nothing strange in the Bible, but naturally speaking, that comes in before the consecration of the Levites and their service. So it shows them that their service is all for him.

That's all motivated by him. And the assembly is a lampstand. We know that from the book of Revelation.

And we know from the parables that we are all lights. He said, don't hide it under a bed. Don't be lazy.

Don't hide it under a bushel basket. Don't be too busy where you can't let your light shine. We shine as lights, luminaries in the world.

We reflect the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then there was a table of showbread there. That's where the priests ate the showbread.

And, you know, the room that God has furnished for his people should have food, food for the priests. That's very, very important. That's a golden altar, altar of incense.

It's a place of prayer, a place of worship. And, you know, of course, it had the mercy seat. That's what Paul said in Hebrews 4, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need or grace for seasonable help.

That's where the Lord takes us. We have the word of God, Hebrews 4 says. And I think it's the word of God in a way there that reminds me of the word in the ark.

It shows you what you really are, shows your weakness. And then it says in your weakness, we have a great high priest. So that's the one in our weakness.

We can lean on him. Song of Solomon said, who is this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved? We can lean in the Lord in our weakness. Where did she take us? To the throne of grace, to the mercy seat.

And you have all this associated really with the meeting place of the Lord's people. But then it says when the hour was come, he sat down. That's a good scripture, isn't it? You know, there's a hall, I think it's in Windsor, Ontario.

They have that verse beside the clock. So you stop on time, you don't go over time. When the hour was come, he sat down.

So that's a good one to have at the back. But that's not what it's really talking about here. I try to get me down in time anyhow.

But that's where the time would come. He sat down and the 12 apostles with him. And then he said unto them, we're in verse 15 now, with desire I have desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

The Lord was going to suffer. They were all waiting for the kingdom. And they didn't want the suffering.

Nobody wants the suffering. They all want the kingdom to come in. They're all looking for a king that would reign and make him the head of the nations.

But first of all, there had to be suffering. Aren't you glad that the Gentiles were going to be brought in? There was going to be a church. They wouldn't understand anything about that here.

And even though the Lord told them about it. And he said, I'm not going to eat anymore Passover until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Some have linked that with the time of the Lord's Nazariteship.

Nazarite wasn't to drink strong wine or so on. But anyhow, he knew there's going to be Passovers in the kingdom. That is when the Lord comes as far as the nation is concerned.

Ezekiel 45 and 21. I took a little note there. And it tells you that they're going to have the Passover then.

But it's going to be commemorative. It's going to look back to Calvary. Here it was looking forward.

I don't know how much they understood what it was, but they should have known really from the Old Testament scriptures that the Lord Jesus was the lamb. That's what you have at the Passover. The roast lamb.

And they were sheltered under the blood. That's what you preach in the gospel. Are you sheltered under the blood? But when you're talking to believers, you ask them a different question.

Are you feeding on the roast lamb? Feeding on the roast lamb, its head and the legs and the inward parts, the pertinence thereof, was to wean you away from the world. Think of the sufferings in the world that crucified him. How could we be occupied with the things of the world? We need to be weaned away from the world.

In the wilderness, it's a manner. Christ in humility. So that would help us to get through this wilderness, humble and obedient and dependent upon God.

And then when they got into the land, and we're in all places at once, you know, you have the old corn of the land. It's Christ in resurrection. God always has food for his people.

I've thought, you know, in Exodus 12, it's food for the heart. It's to get you away from the world, to get your heart occupied with Christ. In the manna, it's food for the humble.

Then there were certain animals they could eat, and some they couldn't, and with fish and fowl. That's food for the holy. But then there's food for the heavenly.

That's Christ in resurrection. There are hearts there. That's where we'll be occupied with.

Anyhow, then he took the cup. That would be the last cup of the Passover in verse 17. And he gave thanks, and he said, you divided among yourselves.

I'll not drink of the fruit of the vine till the kingdom of God shall come. There's going to be joy and blessing in the kingdom. The kingdom, there's a kingdom in mystery now.

Every believer is a subject in the kingdom. But it's going to come into reality in the future. The Lord's going to reign.

It's going to be a great time in this old world. But then you have the breaking of bread. In the next little section, he took bread and gave thanks.

And he broke it and gave to them saying, this is my body. It's symbolic of his body. Some people say, oh, it's his real body.

Sure, he was there in his own body. How could he be giving them his own body? He's giving them bread. And the word for bread in 1 Corinthians 11, where Paul speaks about the Lord's supper, it's the word for ordinary bread.

It's not unleavened bread. It's just the word for ordinary bread that they would use every day. So he took bread and he gave it to them.

This is my body. It represents my body. This doing remembrance of me.

I think he's the only one in the gospels that says that. Remembrance. Paul takes it up in 1 Corinthians 11.

And then he took the cup. After supper. What does that mean? Not after the Lord's supper.

It's after the Passover supper. He takes a cup and he says, this is a new testament in my blood, which is shared for you. And that's significant.

If you read in Matthew's gospel, when he took the cup, it was a new testament in his blood, shared for the remission of sins. Matthew is the gospel of the trespass offering. It transgressed against God.

When we come to Mark, it says, this is a cup of the new testament in my blood, which is shared for many. Why would it say many? Because it's a gospel of the sin offering. And then the sin offering, if you go back into Leviticus, there were different sin offerings for different classes of people.

The priest was different, but it was for him. And the prince sinned, it was for him. And the person that sinned, and so on.

So it's for the many. But this Luke is the gospel of the peace offering. And the peace offering is where the offering that others can share in.

So what does he say? It is for you. That's what Luke says. And if you read the crucifixion, what sayings does Luke record? Well, on the way to the cross, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

He's thinking of others. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. He's thinking of others.

Today thou shalt be with me in paradise. He's thinking of others. Then he commits his spirit into the hands of the father.

But that's what Luke, the peace offerings, for others to share. It's not so much the sufferings, but it's the others that share in the suffering. So he says, it's for you.

And you know, they're very fitting emblems. Bread and wine. What does the bread represent? Well, it represents, in a way, the people that are gathered together are all one.

It's communion. They're all partaking of it. But you know, he said, this is my body.

It represents his body as well. And what does the blood represent? It represents his work. What he did, he shed his blood on the cross.

And you could say the person at work, maybe. But you know, you and I have three great enemies. You know, the first one was ourselves, what we are.

And then our sins, they're bringing us down. And then there's death. But when we remember the Lord, when I think of the loaf, I think of that verse, Romans 8 and 3, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, or as a sacrifice for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.

So it tells me God has dealt with me, myself. When I think of the cup, the precious blood that he shed, I think of my guilt and my sins. But you know, they were taken care of as well.

Not just, we're more occupied with our sins, but we should think of ourselves, all that I was an atom is gone. And then what about death? You just show the Lord's death until he come. So he conquered all these enemies.

So it's tremendous to think of the greatness of the work of the Lord. And then he says, a hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. Now, this is a little difficulty, I think.

You say, why? Because we always teach that Judas wasn't at the breaking of bread. He was at the Passover. And if you go to the gospel of John, it would seem that after the Passover, Luke 13, that he went out.

So how could this be? Well, that's what he says. They began to inquire among themselves who should do this thing. Now, what I believe, and I think you'll maybe go along with this, Luke doesn't write chronologically.

He takes a subject and he finishes it and he starts another one. You say, can you prove it? Well, I think I can. If you go way back to the beginning of the book, you have John in prison.

And then the next verse says, the Lord Jesus went out to him to be baptized. The Lord didn't go to prison to be baptized. So it's not chronological.

So I still don't think that Judas was there. If he was, it wouldn't make any difference. Unsaved people can partake of the breaking of bread or communion.

It's been done in the past. But it seems to me that it's just because it's not chronological. And anyhow, they should do this thing.

It's sad to think of a betrayer right among them. Who would do such an awful thing? Who would betray the Lord? But then when you read the next verse, there was strife also among them, which should be accounted the greatest of the greater. That's a sad reflection, isn't it? They're talking about who it is that's going to betray him.

And then they're all trying to be great. And the whole gospel, as we found out, was where we tell them to be humble, to take the lower place, he said, when you go to a feast and the person will give you a higher place if you deserve it. Don't take the high place, you'll be brought low.

And here they are. The Lord's thinking about giving us life on the cross. When the Lord Jesus gave thanks for the bread, wonder what he was thinking.

He must have been thinking, my body's going to be on a cross. And when he took the cup, he's thinking, my blood's going to be shed, I'm going to be crucified. What are they thinking? Who's going to be greater in the kingdom? Again, he didn't seem to grasp that Calvary must come first.

Suffering comes before glory. So if you're suffering in any way, don't hang in there. The glory is coming.

I had a brother-in-law who was an executive in the ship building industry in Ireland. And he came to New York to try and collect some money from Texaco. They built him a super tanker and they couldn't get the money or some of the money out of him.

He came over, but as well as that, at the shipyard's expense, he came into the Detroit area where I lived at that time. He's not a saved man. But he went back to Ireland and he went to see my folks and tell them he'd seen me in America.

They weren't home, but my mother was there, my grandmother. And he said, you know, Bill seems to be doing all right in America. And my grandma says, we're not worried about him one little bit.

He's heading for the glory. That's the way they express it. Heading for the glory.

It's good to be heading for the glory, but not to be trying to be greater than someone else. The father is the one that will give the... But that's what he said. The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship 25 over them.

And they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so. For he that is greater among you, let him be as a younger.

And he that is chief, as he that doth serve. Think of the Lord Jesus. Too many sitters today and not enough servers.

But the Lord Jesus came as a servant. He wasn't man's bond servant. He was God's bond servant.

But we come in after the blessing of that service. So he says the greater one is the person that will serve. And then he promises rewards.

And he goes on and said the rewards in the future. They're looking for something. They thought it was coming right away.

But he said, ye shall eat and drink at my table, verse 30, in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And then he says, now there's one that's going to deny me. Sad, isn't it? You can tell, and I'm saying this now just to show the background to the Lord's Supper, mainly is what I have in mind.

When we remember the Lord, we show our allegiance to him. But here's a man, he boasted so much. He thought he was pretty great.

See, Peter didn't take the humble place. He thought, I can handle it. I'll go with him.

There's nobody could help the Lord in the work at Calvary. No man could come near. So we have them.

And then he talks about the swords and so on. And he tells them, get a sword. There's going to be hostility.

It's not going to be easy. The Lord's rejected. And then they went on and they said, we're going to take two swords.

And he said, that's enough of that. It wasn't that his kingdom was of this world, then his disciples fight. Some religious organizations, they like to fight.

Have faith in God and keep your powder dry. Sometimes they say, but we're not to fight. And then you have the Lord praying in the garden.

He was a man of prayer. And if he needed to pray, I'll tell you, we would too. And he spoke about the cup.

Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. It shows there was no other way. And then you have more treachery coming in.

He's right in the presence of the father. Then you have Judas coming with the 12 and so on. Then you have the powerlessness of Peter.

Thought he could stand up, but he couldn't stand up to even a young woman. And you have the plotting of the priests. And then in the next chapter, you have his trial and so on.

Sad, isn't it? But thank God for the local assembly. A large upper room. Used to always say, but large enough for all the word of God, for all the people of God.

That's good. That's what we need. Large enough.

Large upper room. Wonderful. To be able to remember the Lord.

But it's linked with the Feast of Unleavened Bread to show that the people that partake of it should be examining themselves. Let a man or a person examine themselves and so let them eat. We shouldn't take it lightly.

But at the same time, we should think of the great privilege. When others, even in religious circles, were not making a blanket statement, but there are many others, and they're really denying the Lord in many ways. But he said, this do in remembrance of me.

He has it for every believer. That's what he expects them to do. He says, this do in remembrance of me.

So may the Lord bless his word. When I think of the house where this man with the Holy Spirit would lead a person to that house. If you want a picture to think of it as a word of God.

It's a spirit of God uses the word to bring us into the place where he is. And that's where we should want to be. So may the Lord bless his word to us now for his name's sake.

And the time has come ready for me to sit down. Our Father, we do thank thee for these few things we have been considering from this lovely chapter in thy word. And yet it's lovely in a way.

And yet it's pathetic when we think of the attitude of men toward the Lord and even his own, having to see their own weakness and the Lord's greatness. What a tremendous person he was. Allowed himself to be taken.

He could have called 12 legions of angels. He had 12 disciples. All forsook him and fled.

One betrayed him, one denied him. And all alone he bore the wrath and the judgment of God. Help us to appreciate more and more of what was accomplished at Calvary and help us to live our lives faithfully for him.

So we do thank thee for what we have considered these few times when we've gotten together. We ask blessing upon thy word and upon each one here. Remember all our absent loved ones as well.

For we ask in the worthy name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.