“THE LAST SUPPER” Luke 22:7-23
FBCF – 3/10/24
Jon Daniels
INTRO – “Never Forget!” – Start seeing these words around 9/11 each year. Many of us will never forget where we were that Tuesday morning. Others will never forget where they were when:
- Pres. JFK was assassinated – Pres. Reagan was shot – Elvis died.
Other significant days we may never forget:
- Wedding day
- Birth of our children
- Graduations
- A vacation of a lifetime
- Winning a championship
- Killing that big buck
- Death of a family member or friend
- Citizens of Rolling Fork – March 24, 2023
Today, as we continue “Those Final Moments” of Jesus’ life during Holy Week, we are looking at Jesus’ Last Supper w/ His disciples. Many of you are familiar w/ Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting from the late 1400’s that depicted this event. Take a look at this picture & let’s read this passage together.
EXPLANATION – Luke 22:7-23 (p. 881)
3 considerations from this passage:
THE POINT OF THE PASSOVER – v. 7 – Let’s talk about this thing called Passover.
- One of most widely celebrated Jewish holidays.
- Celebrates the children of Israel’s exodus out of the bondage of Egyptian slavery under the leadership of Moses.
- Exodus 12 – In obedience to God’s command, Moses has gone before Pharaoh 9 different times asking that he let the people go. Each time, Pharaoh said “No,” even though the plagues got progressively more intense & more painful for the Egyptian people.
- The final plague – God Himself, or the “destroyer” (Exodus 12:23) – most translations – “Angel of Death” (GNT) – “death angel” (NLT) – “So Moses said, ‘Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, & every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, & all the firstborn of the cattle. There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’” (Exodus 11:4-7)
- The way that God’s people would be spared from this horrendous plague was through the blood of the Passover Lamb. God instructed them to take a male lamb w/out blemish, sacrifice it, & take some of its blood & put it on the doorposts & the “lintel” – the top of the doorframe. And Exodus 12:13 gives this amazing, life-saving promise from God: “The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.”
- There’s Jesus! There’s a picture of HIS blood! If it wasn’t for the blood the Passover Lamb, the children of Israel would have been destroyed. And if it wasn’t for the blood of Jesus, the perfect, ultimate, final Passover Lamb, you & I would be destroyed in our sin. This is why the Church sings about the blood so much!
o Lewis Jones’ great hymn (1899): “There’s power in the blood”
o Robert Lowry’s great hymn (1876): “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
o Charity Gayle’s great hymn (2021):
o Thank you, Jesus, for the blood applied
Thank you, Jesus, it has washed me white
Thank you, Jesus, You have saved my life
Brought me from the darkness into glorious light
o There’s no hope w/out the blood…power w/out the blood…forgiveness w/out the blood…salvation w/out the blood!
THE PREPARATION OF THE PASSOVER – v. 8-13 – Not going to spend much time here – just to say that Peter & John obediently followed Jesus’ instructions & carefully prepared the Passover meal.
- Slaughter & roast the lamb.
- Unleavened bread – represented the need to get sin out of one’s life & household.
- Bowl of Salt water – reminder of the tears shed by their forefathers during 430 yrs of Egyptian bondage.
- A bitter salad – remind them of the bitterness of the years of slavery.
- A dark paste-like mixture of fruit w/ cinnamon sticks – picture of the bricks that were made when they were slaves to the Egyptians
- 4 cups of wine to remind them of the 4 promises God gave them in Exodus 6:6-8 to bring them out of bondage & set them free.
- A lot of careful, meticulous preparation needed. Was an important job!
THE PARTAKING OF THE PASSOVER – v. 14-20 – Look at the incredible nature of what’s happening right now! It’s something that could only be orchestrated in the mind of God Almighty. The actual divinely-appointed perfect Passover Lamb was Himself serving & partaking of this final Passover meal w/ His disciples. Everything He did – every movement of His hands – every word from His mouth – every expression on His face was pregnant w/ meaning & significance.
- The hands that were breaking the bread & serving the wine were the hands that would be pierced w/ nails in just hours.
- The feet that would move Him around the room as He knelt & washed His disciples’ feet as John’s Gospel tells us, were the feet that would carry Him to Golgotha where they, too, would be pierced w/ Roman nails.
- The eyes that looked into the faces of these men who had given up everything to follow Him were the eyes that would look down on His enemies from the cross as they mocked & ridiculed Him.
- The voice that spoke these words to His disciples of the bread symbolizing His body that would be broken, & the wine symbolizing the blood that would pour out of Him, is the same voice that would speak words of forgiveness over those who crucified Him & words of eternal life to the thief on the cross.
- Everything about that final Passover Meal & that first Lord’s Supper pointed toward the cross, toward His death, toward the anguish of the sacrifice required for us to be saved.
What does this mean for us today?
APPLICATION – The Church takes the Lord’s Supper so we will NEVER FORGET the price that was paid for our salvation!
IT’S FOR SOLEMN REMEMBRANCE – 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 – “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, & when he had given thanks, he broke it, & said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
The Christian life is a life of remembering. Some things good – some things bad – remember times of rejoicing –times of grieving. But all for a purpose: To recall God’s hand at work in our lives in every situation & His provision for our every need.
Remembering Jesus’ death on the cross should be a solemn experience for us. Sure, we rejoice that He died in our place & there’s a place for loud, exuberant praise. But there’s also a time for us to sit in the heaviness of His sacrifice for us.
- Ponder the pain – Envision the wounds & the blood – Try to hear the sounds – Meditate on the agony He was enduring – All so we would not have to.
- John 15:13 comes into view when we do this: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
IT’S FOR SORROWFUL REPENTANCE – 1 Corinthians 11:27-28 – “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”
We don’t like to do this part. This is the time in the sermon where we check out – where we glance at our social media feed – where we started getting our stuff together to get out of the service. It’s uncomfortable to do what is required of every person BEFORE you come to the table. You see, the Lord’s Supper is reserved for 2 groups of people:
- Saved people – This observance is reserved for the Church – for those who have truly trusting in Christ alone for their salvation. Consequently, it’s not for the unsaved person.
- Repentant people – The Christian life is an examined life where we take seriously the call to walk in humility, holiness, & repentance. Unfortunately, there are those who willingly refuse to acknowledge their sin, who stubbornly walk in a state of unforgiveness, bitterness, immorality, & refuse to repent or attempt to reconcile any broken relationships. The Lord’s Supper is not for those people either b/c, in their unrepentant state, they are proclaiming that they don’t need the forgiveness that was purchased for them on the cross. They are turning their back on the GRACE of God & should not come to the table. In fact, to come to the table in unrepentance is to invite the painful discipline of God into your life.
IT’S FOR SINCERE RENEWAL – 1 Corinthians 11:26 – “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.”
But when we DO repent & come to the table, we have the joyful opportunity to renew our love for Jesus & renew our commitment to obey Him & keep proclaiming the Gospel until He comes again.
CONCLUSION – You might think that after this sermon, we would observe the Lord’s Supper, but we aren’t. We will 2 weeks from today. So, here’s the challenge:
Take the next 2 weeks & get yourself truly ready to come to the table.
- Do some serious examining.
- Some of you will need to make a phone call or a visit to someone.
- Some of you will need to come pray w/ me or w/ another brother or sister in Christ as you deal w/ the sin that’s in your heart.
- There will be some tears shed, some pain experienced, maybe some sleep lost.
- But it will be SO worth it as you come to the table to remember & celebrate what Jesus has done for you!
