Let's look at Luke chapter 22 verse 1. Now the title for the sermon this morning is The Last Supper.
So as we're reading through that chapter, I'm sure you guys gathered that we were looking at The Last Supper here.
So the title is The Last Supper. Let's pick it up from verse number 1.
It says, Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.
Now keep your finger there. We're going to go straight to the book of John.
Go to John chapter 2, please. Okay?
So we know this is the final week before Christ is crucified.
In fact, he's going to be crucified within 24 hours at this point, okay?
And so let's go to John chapter 2, please.
Because I just want to show you why we know that Christ's ministry lasted for three years, okay?
And I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but the reason we know it's lasted three years
was because during the ministry of Christ, there are three Passovers that are mentioned.
So let's look at the first Passover here in John chapter 2 verse 13, please.
John chapter 2 verse 13.
Because the book of John is the only one that actually captures all three Passovers, okay?
But John chapter 2 verse 13, it says,
And the Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
So as the practice was to go up into Jerusalem there, verse 14,
And found in the temple those that sowed oxen, and sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting.
So you guys may recall this is the first time that Jesus goes in and cleanses the temple, okay?
He casts out the money changers there.
And then just drop down to verse number 20.
Because I want to show you some consistency as well with the Passover during the ministry of Christ.
Verse number 20,
So notice with the first Passover in his ministry, he is teaching about his death and burial and resurrection.
You know, he's already pointing people to the fact that he's going to die.
That he's talking about his own temple of his own body that would be risen from the dead.
Now let's go to John chapter 6, please.
John chapter 6.
We're going to have a look at the second Passover in his ministry.
So that should, you know, work it out for you that between John chapter 2 and John chapter 6 is a period of one year, okay?
That takes place there.
John chapter 6, verse 4, it says,
And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
Verse 5,
When Jesus then lifted up his eyes and saw great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip,
When shall we buy bread, that these may eat?
So I won't go into the story now, but this is the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000.
Okay?
Jesus feeding of the 5,000, speaking about getting bread there.
And then we're going to have a spiritual application to that bread.
Drop down to verse 25, please.
John chapter 6, verse 25,
And when they had found him on the other side of the sea,
So the same multitudes find Jesus on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.
Same guys.
They said unto him, Rabbi, when cameest thou hither?
Oh, here you are.
We found you.
When did you get here?
He said, verse 26,
Jesus answered them and said very rarely I say unto you,
Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
Okay, so the same group of people that were fed by the loaves of bread.
Verse 27,
Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life,
which the Son of Man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed.
So here's Jesus teaching a spiritual concept, okay?
Seek for the food, the meat that will give you everlasting life.
Now let's drop down to verse 53.
Verse 53 there, what is Jesus speaking about?
Verse 53,
Then Jesus said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
So what's this spiritual bread that Jesus is referring to?
His flesh, his blood.
Verse 54,
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
So of course, this was a hard saying for the people at this time.
And the Roman Catholics really messed this up.
Because they think, when they partake of their communion, of their mass,
they think that wafer, when it goes into their mouth, or when it's blessed by the priest,
they believe it becomes the literal flesh of Christ.
They believe they're actually eating flesh of a human being, when they partake of that wafer, okay?
And when that wine is blessed by the priest, and they drink of that wine,
they believe they're literally drinking the blood of Christ.
Literally the blood.
They think that's blood, that they're drinking.
And so they take that teaching here from John chapter 6, and it kind of sounds that way.
But if you just drop down to verse 63, John chapter 6 verse 63, it says,
Jesus says, it is the spirit that quickeneth, okay?
It's, what he's teaching is a spiritual truth.
And then he goes, the flesh profiteth nothing.
Like eating my flesh will profit you nothing.
He's not talking about literally eating his flesh, literally eating his blood.
No, it profits nothing.
It says, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.
I was speaking to you a spiritual truth, okay?
You spiritually have to partake of my flesh and my blood in order for you to have eternal life.
Once again, Jesus Christ here is cryptically teaching about his death, burial and resurrection.
Look at verse 64 there, John 6 64.
How do we receive the flesh?
How do we receive the blood?
But there are some of you that believe not.
For Jesus knew from the beginning whom they were that believe not and who should betray him.
You see the people that would not participate of his flesh and blood would be those that would believe not.
So how do we spiritually partake of his flesh and blood?
We believe on him.
We believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's how we have eternal life.
And of course in verse 64 there, Jesus is alluding to Judas Iscariot,
who would not believe, who would betray him, okay?
So that was the second Passover that we read about in the ministry of Christ.
We won't go into the third Passover in the book of John because we're reading about it here in the book of Luke.
So if you guys can go back to Luke chapter 22, please.
Go back to Luke chapter 22.
So if you're wondering how do we know it's three years of Jesus Christ ministry, that's why.
Three Passovers during his ministry.
Go to verse number two now.
Verse number two.
It says,
So if you guys remember from last week, Jesus Christ was going into the temple, wasn't he?
You know, he'd go into the temple every day to teach.
You know, he'd be critical of the scribes and the Pharisees and the priests and so they wanted to kill him.
But they feared the people.
You know, they knew if we took him, if we arrested him, the people love him.
The people are flocking to hear his preaching.
If we take him, they're going to be against us, you know?
The believing Jews love Jesus.
Verse number three.
So here we have the first time that we read about Satan himself.
Okay, you know, the prince of the power of the air.
You know, this is the first time we read about Satan actually possessing a human being.
Now, of course, in the Bible, we read about other men that are possessed of devils.
But this is the only time, and actually this is one of the two times that we see Satan actually possessing a person.
But by this time, if Judas was not a reprobate by this time, he definitely was now.
Okay, he definitely was now.
Jesus Christ is on his way to being crucified and Satan enters into Judas.
And possessed of devil, he became a vessel for Satan.
I mean, you know, Satan was looking for a way to kill Christ.
You know, seeking for a way to betray Christ and he found it in the vessel of Judas Iscariot.
And so, of course, the other, the second person that gets possessed by the devil,
we read about that in the book of Revelation, and that is the beast.
That is the antichrist, okay?
And it's really interesting that both of these men, Judas Iscariot and the antichrist, are given the title of son of perdition.
Okay, that means son of damnation or a child of the devil, if you want to put it that way, okay?
They're both given this same title because they're the only two men in the Bible
that actually get possessed by the devil himself, possessed by Satan himself.
Verse number four,
And he went his way, that is Judas Iscariot, and communed with the chief priests and captains,
how he might betray him unto them.
All right, so here we have a guy that's been in the ministry of Christ.
He's seen the miracles.
He's been a friend to Jesus Christ.
You know, I'm sure he was blessed by the ministry of Christ.
I'm sure he learned many things, and yet he never believed on Christ.
You know, what a waste of a life.
And this is, you know, many people believe, I'll just read it to you quickly from Psalm 41 verse 9.
Many people believe this is a fulfillment of this passage, Psalm 41 verse 9, which says,
Yea, mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat at my bread,
have lifted up his heel against me.
Many people believe that Psalm 41 verse 9 is a reference to Judas Iscariot
as a friend to Jesus Christ, as someone that was fed by Christ.
That was a friend to Christ, as it were, lifted up his heel against Christ there.
And I believe that reference is about Judas Iscariot as well.
Look at verse number five,
And they were glad, all these that were conspiring against Christ,
they were glad and covenanted to give him money.
Now keep your finger there, go to Matthew 26 now, Matthew 26.
So Judas gets paid, gets paid to plan a way to betray Jesus Christ into the hands of the scribes.
Go to Matthew 26 please, verse 14, Matthew 26 verse 14.
It says,
So Jesus Christ was sold, as you guys know, for 30 pieces of silver.
And from that time, he sought opportunity to betray him.
All right.
Now I wanted to read that to you and I just, you don't need to turn there.
I just want to read to you from Zechariah chapter 11 verse 12.
Because once again, 500 years before this happened,
this was prophesied in the Bible in Zechariah chapter 11 verse 12.
It says,
I mean Zechariah records the words of Judas Iscariot of what he's saying to the scribes.
He says, look, if you think it's good for me to betray Jesus, give me my price.
Meaning that it's Judas that came up with a price of 30 pieces of silver.
And he goes, and if not for bear, for they weighed for my price 30 pieces of silver.
Hey, that's just 500 years before these events took place, prophesied by the prophet Zechariah.
So if you're ever wondering, you know, was Jesus betrayed and he didn't know about it?
You know, was this, you know, was God caught off guard?
You know, did God have to go to plan B because plan A failed?
No, you know, of course, Jesus Christ, you know, the Lord God knew that he would be betrayed.
And you know, we see the proof of that in the writings of the Old Testament prophets.
So please go back to Luke 22 verse 6.
Luke 22 verse 6.
I mean, what a sad thing to betray the Lord God, the Messiah, for 30 pieces of silver.
I mean, is that, I don't know if that's a lot of money, 30 pieces of silver.
Yeah, I'm not sure. I mean, what's an ounce of silver cost these days?
$25, $25, $30.
So 30 of that, what's that, what does that work out to be?
30 times, let's say $30, 30 times 30, who's good at maths?
What is that? $900.
$900? Yeah, yeah, 30. That's right.
Yeah. All right, cool.
I mean, for $900, betraying the Messiah,
but it's probably undervalued right now in our, you know, the way we look at silver anyway.
But look at verse number 6 there.
It says,
And he promised and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.
So it's Judas Iscariot that had to find a way to betray him in the absence of the multitude.
In private, in other words, okay?
Because the multitude that the scribes knew would raise up and protect Christ.
No, Judas Iscariot was called to do it in private, all right?
So now what I want to do is just drop down to verse 21.
We'll continue going through this chapter, but let's drop down to verse 21.
We'll keep it on the topic of Judas Iscariot right now.
And of course, this is, you know, Jesus Christ has the last supper.
And then he says this to his disciples in verse 21.
I mean, look, these are his 12 disciples.
These are the closest men that he had during his ministry.
He says the person that's going to betray him is right here on this table.
Once again, Jesus Christ knew very well that he was going to be betrayed, okay?
Verse 22,
You know, the disciples had no clue.
They had no idea.
They were asking amongst themselves, you know, is it I?
Is it me? Is it you? Who is it that could betray the Lord?
You see, and this is what you need to understand about the local New Testament church, guys,
is that we could have a reprobate in our midst.
We could have a betrayer.
We could have someone who wants to hurt our church, to hurt our ministry.
There could be someone in our church today.
You know, I hope not.
I hope not, but it's possible.
Because here's the thing, you're not going to know.
You know, in fact, probably the one that stands out the most
is probably not the one that's going to betray, okay?
It's usually someone that's undercover, that's hidden, okay?
That does not want to be found out to be that reprobate betrayer.
And so please, you know, be aware.
You know, I'm not saying, you know, don't trust anybody and like, you know,
you know, try to find out who's a reprobate in the church.
And no, that's going to cause, you know, a division in the church.
That's going to cause problems in the church.
But always be aware, you know.
I would never, you know, put myself in a position.
Now, I'm a very trusting person.
I just trust people, generally speaking.
But I would never put myself in a position, even amongst church brethren,
where if they betrayed me, I would be damaged,
where it would hurt my family, where it would hurt my children.
I would never put myself in a position where I'm relying on someone so much
that if they were to betray me, it would, you know, hurt me and my family
or hurt the church.
So, you know, I would say, you know, it's probably wise to be the same way.
You know, be protective, especially for the family,
the children that God has given you to protect.
And let's keep going, though, in verse 24.
And I think this is pretty understandable.
So first, they're inquiring amongst themselves who could betray Jesus.
But then in verse 24, it says,
And there was also a strife among them.
All right, that's why, you know, you don't need to be wondering who's the reprobate.
It's kind of called strife in the church.
But look at this.
And there was strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest?
Okay, so at first they're like, who could it be? Is it me?
And then it's like they seek to justify themselves.
Now they're arguing about who's the greatest.
Okay, because they're probably going like, it can't be me that betrays Jesus.
I've done all these works.
I cast, you know, I cast out five devils when Jesus sent me out.
No, I cast out seven devils.
You know, I healed two blind people.
I healed, you know, and so they're discussing, hey, look at all the works that we've done.
They're trying to figure out who's the greatest, right?
Because they don't want to be the one that's counted as the one that betrays Jesus.
Okay, they started to compare their works.
Look at verse 25.
And he said unto them,
The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them,
and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.
But ye shall not be so.
Okay, hey, I don't want you to be like the Gentiles, you know, that lord over their people.
He says, but ye shall not be so.
But he that is the greatest among you, let him be as the younger.
And he that is chief, as he that doth serve.
Hey, if you want to be the greatest, the best thing to do is to consider yourself the youngest.
You know, consider yourself the least.
You know, be the most humble, be the one that comes and serves the brethren.
Verse 27.
For whether is greater, or who's greater, he says?
He that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth.
So, just that question, think about that yourself.
Who's greater?
You know, if you're sitting at a table and you're being served,
is the person that's being served the greater?
Or is it the person that comes to serve?
Obviously, the greater is the one that sits at meat waiting to be served.
Okay, that's why he's got a servant.
Because the servant is serving his master.
Obviously, the one that sits to meet is greater.
It says, after he asked that question, he says,
Is not he that sitteth at meat?
So, Jesus is saying, yeah, the one that sits to meet.
But I am among you as he that serveth.
He goes, look, even though I'm the greater,
obviously, I'm the Son of God, I'm the Messiah,
even though that's the case, I come here serving you.
Okay, so Jesus Christ at the Last Supper was not seeking to be served.
He was serving his disciples.
Okay, and you know, he probably served the meal.
We know that he definitely served them by washing their feet.
All right, so that's what Jesus is saying.
Look, right now, right now, you know, it's important for you to be a servant.
Right now, it's important for you to serve one another.
But there is a coming a time, there is coming a time when you will be served.
There is a coming a time when you will be considered great in the kingdom of heaven.
Look at verse 28 there.
He says,
So it's not just that we ought to serve one another.
It's not just telling his disciples, hey, serve one another,
but that you're also called to face the same trials and temptations as Jesus Christ.
Hey, right now, on this side of life,
before Christ comes and establishes the millennial kingdom,
we're here to be servants of God.
We're here to face the trials and temptations that come by being named a disciple of Christ,
by being named a child of God.
Okay, that's what we're called to do right now.
We're called to go through hardships, to go through persecutions,
to go through difficulties and troubles.
Okay, but to even in the face of those things,
to be thinking about how can I serve the Lord?
How can I be serving the brethren?
There is coming a time in the millennial kingdom,
when we get those opportunities, the tables are flipped,
and we'll be the ones that are served.
Let's keep reading, verse 29.
He says to his disciples,
And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father have appointed unto me.
So we know the kingdom of Christ, the millennial reign of Christ,
is a kingdom that's been given to Christ by the Father.
And he says, look, in that kingdom, I've also appointed you a kingdom.
All right, verse 30. This is obviously the future.
All right, that's the time.
You know, to be seen as great, that's coming in the future.
That's coming in the millennial kingdom to come.
Verse 30, now it says,
That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom,
and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Remember he said, who's the greater?
The one that sits to meet, the one that sits down to be, to eat.
And he says that's going to happen in verse 30, he says,
that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.
Okay, so right now, you know, it's our time to serve.
The future time is the time to rule and reign with Christ, okay?
And talk about greatness then, all right?
Right now, I don't want you talking about who's the greatest.
I want you to be going, hey, I'm the least.
I'm the least of the brethren.
You know, everyone in this church is better than I am,
and I'm going to try to serve my brethren here in my church.
That's what Christ is calling for us.
Now, I wanted to read this to you in verse 30 then,
and that's, we're not going to go beyond verse 30,
but we'll go back and look at the Lord's Supper,
is that Jesus Christ has established 12 thrones
for his 12 disciples to judge the 12 tribes of Israel.
Okay, so that's going to be the millennial kingdom.
I don't know if that's going to extend into the new heavens and the new earth,
but definitely the millennial kingdom.
But of course, we know Judas Iscariot was the one that betrayed Jesus.
Okay, we know that Judas Iscariot, after he betrays Jesus, commits suicide.
Okay, and he's damned. He goes to hell.
He's the son of perdition.
So, the question is, who's going to fill the 12 thrones?
Of course, we have the 11 that remained,
but who's that last one?
And it's my personal opinion that it's Matthias.
Now, basically, in Christendom, people argue these things all the time.
They're like, is it Matthias or is it the Apostle Paul?
Okay, and not Matthias, so you guys are looking at Matthias, not Matthias.
Matthias, okay, Matthias.
So, let's have a look at this very quickly.
Let's go to Acts chapter one.
And of course, remember the book of Acts was written by Luke as well.
So, Acts is pretty much just a continuation, you know, from the book of Luke.
So, let's go to Acts chapter one, verse 15.
Acts chapter one, verse 15.
And it says here,
In those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said,
the number of names together were about 120.
Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled,
which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake concerning Judas,
which was guide to them that took Jesus.
And he was numbered with us and had obtained part of this ministry.
And it's an interesting thing that you have a reprobate
that was ordained by Jesus Christ as an apostle.
And even though he's, you know, all that works is for nothing that he did.
You know, even though he's damned, they recognize that he was part of the ministry.
And they recognize his ordination that came by Jesus Christ.
Let's drop down to verse number 20.
It says,
For it is written in the book of Psalms,
Let his habitation be desolate,
and let no man dwell therein,
but his bishopric let another take.
Okay, let, and his bishopric let another take.
Now bishopric sounds a lot like bishop.
And it's the same kind of idea.
Okay, it's an office that was held by Judas Iscariot.
He says, let another person take that office.
So it's interesting that even though he was a reprobate,
his office was still legitimate.
Okay, it was still seen as legitimate
to the point where even the apostles here said,
hey, we need to take that office and give it to someone else now.
Okay, because he has been,
he's committed suicide, he's dead,
we need someone else now to take that position.
Let's keep reading, verse 21,
Wherefore of these men which have accompanied with us
all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
beginning from the baptism of John,
unto the same day that he was taken up from us,
must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.
So there we have, he says, look,
the one we're going to appoint to this position,
the one we're going to ordain to this position,
is someone that must have been there with us from the baptism of John.
And that they saw Jesus Christ get baptized by John,
you know, they were there, he was there,
even as a witness of the resurrection,
he says, must be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.
He was amongst us, he was with us,
and saw the resurrection of Christ,
and he was also taken up from us.
So he also witnessed Christ being taken up
to be seated at the right hand of the Father.
So who they work out that to be, verse 23,
And they appointed two, Joseph, called Vassabas,
who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.
So there were two men that fit this category,
for them to replace Judas Iscariot with, verse 24,
And they prayed and said, Thou Lord,
which knowest the hearts of all men,
show whether of these two Thou hast chosen,
that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship,
from which Judas by transgression fell,
that he might go to his own place.
And they gave forth their lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias,
and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
So some people say, well, that was just Peter.
You know, just Peter coming up with the idea
we'd better replace Judas Iscariot.
And, you know, that wasn't really God's intention.
God really wanted the apostle Paul.
And so that's one reason, it's like, well, they cast lots.
You know, is that really the right way to do it?
I mean, probably not, okay?
But they did pray for the Lord to, you know,
make sure they make the right decision.
So maybe even without the casting of lots,
they probably would have come to the conclusion of Matthias anyway.
But also, it says here he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
Okay, and that's sort of important to remember.
But also, it's in chapter one of the book of Acts.
You know, it sort of seems important to me
that God would record this at the beginning of the book of Acts,
because we know then the rest of the book of Acts
are about the works of the apostles and so forth.
And, well, some people say, well, it can't be Matthias
because he's never named anymore in the Bible.
This is the only time he's named.
We don't see anything else that he does.
And so it wasn't Matthias, but we know a lot about Paul.
But, I mean, there's that argument, but also after this time,
the only apostles that are named after this is
Peter, John, and James, the death of James.
Like the other apostles aren't mentioned either.
So it's kind of like, well, I mean, they're not named either,
so why is it significant that Matthias is not named later either?
You know, it's just that, you know, God focuses on certain people.
So let me just, let's go to, I didn't write them down.
But anyway, it doesn't matter.
I just wanted to show you that it's my opinion,
I'm willing for you guys to change my minds if you want,
that it was Matthias that took up that 12th position
and that he'll take up that 12th throne,
judging one of the tribes of Israel.
And the question becomes, well, what about Paul?
I mean, he does so many works.
You know, surely he should be one that sits there.
I would just say, maybe Paul has another position.
Maybe he'll be judging, you know, many of the Gentile nations to come.
I mean, yeah, he did great works.
I'm sure the Lord's going to reward him.
And some people think that it's Paul
because, you know, he's clearly called an apostle, you know.
And so that was God's choice.
But the thing is, there are many,
and we've gone through this already,
that there are many apostles.
You know, even Barnabas is named an apostle in the Bible.
So it's my opinion.
Even, actually, let's go there.
Let's go to 1 Corinthians 15 very quickly.
1 Corinthians 15.
I don't have that in my notes, but just very quickly.
1 Corinthians chapter 15.
So 1 Corinthians 15 is, let's read from verse 1.
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you,
this is Paul writing, of course,
the gospel which I preached unto you,
which also you have received and wherein you stand,
by which also you are saved,
if you keep in memory what I preached unto you,
unless you have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you first of all,
that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,
and that he was buried,
and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
Now notice verse 5.
And that he was seen of Cephas, that's Peter,
then of the twelve.
You notice that?
Because he wasn't an apostle at this time.
But he caused them the twelve, okay.
And then later on in verse number 9,
or verse number 8, he says,
And last of all he was seen of me also,
as of one born out of due time,
for I am the least of the apostles,
that I am not meant to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the church of God.
So we see, even Paul,
and remember he's only the inspiration of the Holy Ghost,
even he doesn't classify himself as one of the twelve.
He says he was seen of the twelve.
But we know by Acts chapter 1,
that Matthias was amongst the twelve,
when he was seen at the resurrection of Christ,
and the taking up of being before the right hand side of the Father.
So that's why I believe it's Matthias.
I don't really see any other clear passage that says,
it's Paul the apostle is one of the twelve.
There's nothing like that.
It seems like even Paul himself recognised
he's not numbered amongst the twelve there.
Anyway, that's a side note, it's not that important,
but I thought a lot of people wonder that question,
if you were wondering, at least you have an answer there.
Let's go back to Luke chapter 22 please.
Luke chapter 22.
And let's go to verse number 7 now.
Luke chapter 22 verse 7.
So let's just have a look at the Last Supper now.
Verse number 7.
And then it says here,
Then came the day of unleavened bread,
when the Passover must be cured.
And he sent Peter and John, saying,
Go and prepare us the Passover,
that we may eat, and they said unto him,
Where wilt thou that we prepare?
So I just want you to notice, Jesus says,
prepare the Passover.
So what do you think they prepare?
They're going to prepare the Passover.
And verse number 7 said,
Then came the day of unleavened bread.
And if you know the Old Testament story,
they weren't allowed to have any leaven in the house.
The only thing they were allowed to eat was the unleavened bread.
So we know as they prepare,
they're going to have unleavened bread at this Last Supper.
They're going to have unleavened bread at this last meal,
before Christ is crucified.
And then it says in verse number 10,
And he said unto them,
Behold, when ye 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 men of the house,
The Master saith unto thee,
Where is the guest chamber,
where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples?
So what are they going to eat?
The Passover.
Okay, with the 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.
I mean, how many times do you have to read there?
You know, Passover, Passover, Passover.
They made ready the Passover.
They were to prepare the Passover.
So keep your finger there.
Let's go to Exodus chapter,
sorry, Exodus chapter 12, please.
Exodus chapter 12.
I think I need some water.
Exodus chapter 12, please.
Because what I want to talk about here,
of course, is how we do communion.
And I've already preached on this,
but now's the proper time to do it
because we're going for the Last Supper.
You know, why do we do communion the way we do it?
You know, communion is also given the name of the Lord's Supper
or the Lord's table.
It's when we partake of the bread and the wine
or the grape juice, if you want to say it that way.
You know, remembering the death,
barren resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ,
especially His death.
That's sort of the key thing
when it comes to doing communion.
But look at Exodus chapter 12, please.
Verse 8, Exodus chapter 12, verse 8.
It says, and this is after Christ.
Christ says, look, on the 14th day
of the month of Nisan,
you are to kill the Passover lamb, okay?
And then it says here in verse number 8,
and they shall eat the flesh in that night,
roast with fire, and unleaven bread.
And with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Eat not of it raw, not sodden at all with water,
but roast with fire his head with his legs
and with the pertinence thereof.
Pertinence means like all the insides as well.
And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning
and that which remaineth of it until the morning
ye shall burn with fire.
And thus shall ye eat it with your loins girded.
Now this is important.
It says when you eat it,
make sure your loins are girded.
And make sure you're fully dressed.
Make sure you've got your, you know,
your clothes on, your belt on.
It says your shoes on your feet.
Make sure you're wearing shoes, you know,
and your staff in your hand.
Say why?
We'll have a look.
And ye shall eat it in haste.
You need to eat it fast, okay?
It is the Lord's Passover.
Johnny, sit down, please.
All right?
It's the Lord's Passover.
So remember that I went to eat it fully dressed
with a staff ready to go
because you know the story
that soon after this happened,
you know, Pharaoh would allow the Israelites
to leave Egypt.
And the instruction was you've got to do it in haste.
You've got to go.
You've got to be packed, ready to go.
It's all going to be done very quickly, okay?
But we see that they ate unleavened bread, okay?
And now go to the book of Deuteronomy, please.
Deuteronomy chapter 16.
Because the book of Deuteronomy
explains what the unleavened bread
and we kind of gather that by the context there
in Exodus 12.
But look at Deuteronomy chapter 16 verse 2.
When they look back at the Passover,
Deuteronomy chapter 16 verse 2,
it says,
Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover
unto the Lord thy God
of the flock and of the herd
in the place which the Lord shall choose
to place his name there.
Thou shalt eat no leavened bread
with it.
Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith,
even the bread of affliction.
Look at this, why?
Why unleavened bread?
For thou camest forth
out of the land of Egypt in haste,
that thou mayest remember the day
when thou camest forth
out of the land of Egypt,
all the days of thy life.
You see, the importance of it being unleavened,
yes, some people say it's because it's a picture,
leaven is a picture of sin.
I understand that.
But really the context of it,
the greater context,
the primary understanding of why it means
what the unleavened bread represents,
it is to be done in haste.
It's to be done quickly.
You see, you can make unleavened bread
very quickly, okay?
But if you add yeast,
if you add leaven, you want it to raise
and you want to eat bread
the sort of standard way we eat,
that takes time.
It takes several hours
for it to be ready,
you know, once you put yeast in the bread
for it to rise
and to be able to eat bread like that.
You know, eating leavened bread
is not something that can be done in haste.
It takes time for you to wait
for that bread to be ready.
But you know what?
You put that unleavened bread
in the frying pan,
it's ready to go very quickly.
And that's why it's done in haste
because it's a picture of them
coming out of the land of Egypt.
And I've already covered this
but it's also a picture of our salvation
because, you know, it's done in haste.
It's quick, it's done.
As soon as you believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ,
you're saved.
It's not some long process.
It's not something you got to wait around for.
Am I saved?
No, once you believe in Christ,
you're ready to go.
You got your staff in hand,
you got your shoes on,
you get out there now, you're saved.
You know, you've come out of the power of sin.
It's the same kind of picture
of coming out of Egypt in haste.
All right?
So yeah, it doesn't require additional time
waiting for the bread to rise.
So that's why
when we partake of the Lord's Supper,
we have unleavened bread.
Number one, because that's what they used.
But number two, it pictures
the salvation that we have
that it's immediate, okay?
So let's keep reading then.
If we can go back to,
let's have a look.
Luke 22, please, verse 14.
Luke chapter 22, verse 14.
Verse 14.
And the reason I say that to you guys,
there are churches,
there are preachers and pastors
that just want to be different on purpose.
And they'll say things like,
well, the New Testament never commands
that the Lord's Supper
should be done with unleavened bread.
Yes, the apostles did it with unleavened bread, okay?
But there's no other reference
to the New Testament to say,
therefore, I'm going to have
the Lord's Supper with leavened bread.
It's just, people do things to be different.
People do things to stand out,
to, you know, try to make a name for themselves.
But you know, it's so dumb
when we have the consistency of the Bible
from the Old Testament to the New Testament.
Of course, we're going to carry through,
especially if it's a picture of salvation.
Especially if it's a picture of that,
then of course,
we're going to partake of the Lord's Supper
with unleavened bread.
But let's keep reading, verse 14,
Luke 22, verse 14.
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 this 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.
Now, this is another debate amongst Christians.
Did Jesus eat the Passover lamb?
Okay.
Now, here's the thing.
When Christ was crucified on the cross,
okay,
that was the same time,
okay, because it was on the 14th day
of the month of Nisan,
where they were meant to kill the lamb
and roast it with fire,
you know, to be eaten.
Well, when Christ was crucified,
and that was done in the evening, by the way,
it corresponded with Christ's crucifixion.
Okay.
So the lamb was meant to be killed and cooked
the day of His crucifixion.
Here we have the Last Supper.
It's the day prior to His crucifixion.
It's the day prior to the lamb
being killed and cooked.
Okay.
So the question is,
did Jesus have the Passover a day before?
And some people think He did,
because He went, you know,
saying we're going to prepare the Passover
and eat the Passover and things like that.
Now, I can understand that opinion
that maybe He did it one day earlier,
but I struggle with it as well.
I personally don't believe
He ate the Passover lamb.
Okay.
That's my personal belief.
Okay.
I don't think there's anything really inherently wrong
with if He did,
because, you know,
He's the Lord God.
Okay.
But we know that Christ came to fulfill Scripture.
We know that He came keeping the commands.
So if the command was to kill the lamb a day later,
I struggle to reconcile that with Christ
doing it one day before.
Okay.
But Jesus said,
prepare the Passover.
Yeah, they went to prepare the Passover.
There was a preparation of the Passover,
obviously, before they ate the Passover.
Okay.
So they were prepared.
They were ready to go.
There was a lamb picked out, I suppose,
but it had not yet been cured.
But they had, you know,
the unleavened bread ready to go as well.
And so it is my opinion
that they ate another meal.
They just had a pre-Passover meal,
but they had unleavened bread as well
because that's what they prepared for.
Okay.
And if we look at verse number 15, once again,
again, a lot of people have different opinions
as to what this is.
And guys, I'm willing to hear your thoughts.
I really, I actually want to hear
what you guys have to say.
But verse 15, let's look at it again.
In His sentence there,
with desire,
I have desired to eat this Passover with you
before I suffer.
So they say,
well, see,
He desired to eat the Passover
before He suffered, before He died.
So He must have eaten the Passover, they say.
Well, you can also interpret that another way.
Okay, He says,
with desire, I have desired to eat the Passover,
meaning I desire to have this Passover with you,
but I'm not going to do
because I'm going to suffer.
Like I'm going to,
you know, I have that desire to do it,
but it's just not going to happen.
Okay.
And then it says, verse 16,
for I said to you,
I will not anymore eat thereof
until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
So you can take these verses
and basically formulate
whichever position you take on that,
you can sort of make it mean
one or the other.
Okay.
So I personally don't believe
He ate the Passover lamb,
but if He ate it one day early,
I don't think that's a big doctrinal problem
because again, He is the Lord of the Sabbath.
Okay, He didn't, you know,
He's the Lord God,
but yeah, I just,
I think He had to, you know,
do things properly
and He did not eat the Passover.
He was the Passover lamb.
He became the Passover lamb.
And the reason when we participate
of the Lord's Supper,
the reason we don't have a lamb,
okay, is because Christ is our Passover lamb.
You know, and I'm not of the opinion
that the Lord's Supper is a continuation
of the Passover.
Did I get that wrong?
I'll just say it again.
I'm not of the opinion that the Lord's Supper
is not a continuation of the Passover,
but they are very similar.
They both point to the same thing.
Okay.
I believe the Lord's Supper
is a New Testament ordinance,
a brand new New Testament ordinance.
Let's keep reading.
Verse number 17 there.
Verse number 17,
Luke 22 verse 17.
It says,
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.
So we see what did they drink?
They drank of the fruit of the wine,
of the vine.
Okay.
So they drank grape juice.
Okay.
Now again, people must have been alcoholic
because, you know, Jesus speaks of wine.
But notice that Jesus calls it
the fruit of the vine.
Notice He doesn't just call it wine,
which can have two meanings.
Okay.
It can be alcohol
or it can be non-alcoholic.
But He actually calls it the fruit of the vine.
You know, meaning,
you know, I understand that to mean
that that juice they were drinking
had just literally come off the vine.
You know.
And remember, remember,
if a leaven is a picture of sin
and yeast is a very similar thing to leaven,
it operates in the same way,
then that would also be a picture of sin.
You know, you'd be staining the grape juice
with the picture of sin.
And of course,
the grape juice represents the blood of Christ.
And of course, Jesus Christ was without sin.
But not only that,
remember,
the reason they had the unleavened bread
is because it was done in haste.
So again, think about the process
of squeezing grapes from the vine
and making it to alcohol.
That requires time as well.
It requires time to ferment, you know.
And if they were doing it in haste,
you know, then obviously they would have drunk,
you know, non-alcoholic grape juice.
Okay.
So the reason why we have non-alcoholic grape juice,
the reason why we have unleavened bread
is because we follow the pattern
that Jesus Christ gave us here
on the Last Supper.
And that's how we do communion.
That's how we do the Lord's table.
All right.
So if I've not explained that very well,
please let me know.
Let's keep reading verse number 19.
Verse number 19.
And he took bread and gave thanks and breaketh,
and gave unto them saying,
this is my body which is given for you,
this do in remembrance of me.
So now he's teaching from a year ago
in the last, the previous Passover,
now he's explaining it all to them
or the spiritual understanding
of participating of his bread,
of the bread of his body and the blood,
drinking his blood.
Now we have this representation
that he's teaching us here
and do this in remembrance of me.
Verse number 20.
Likewise also the cup after supper saying,
this cup is the New Testament in my blood
which is shed for you.
Okay.
So when we participate of the Lord's Supper,
it's about remembering Christ.
Okay.
This isn't something we take lightly.
It's not something that we should just
not take seriously.
Okay.
When we participate of the Lord's Supper,
we are remembering the broken body of Christ.
That God prepared a body for his son
that was sinless, that was perfect.
Okay.
It's the righteousness of Christ
that is imputed upon us
when we believe in him.
It's so important that he was perfect
without sin.
Okay.
And that same perfect body without sin
was then broken for us.
Okay.
It was broken for us.
And of course when it was broken,
the blood was shed.
You know, the blood of the New Testament.
And of course, you know,
Hebrews chapter 9 verse 16 says,
for where a testament is,
there must also of necessity
be the death of the testator.
Okay.
So we're remembering that the Son of God,
you know,
shed his blood for us,
broke his body for us,
suffered cruel torture for us.
You know,
so when we participate of the Lord's Supper,
we take it seriously guys, you know.
And just one other thing I want to mention
is we take it.
I believe it's important
that we take it with supper,
you know, with dinner.
When we do it,
there's a meal that we can share together.
We can serve one another
as we bring that meal.
And then we participate of the unleavened bread
and the fruit of the vine.
So that's what I've got for you today.
Next week,
we'll go through the other verses
in Luke chapter 22.
But yeah,
I hope that gives you an insight,
you know,
seeing how Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus.
You know, be aware,
you know,
not everybody that claims to be a Christian,
not everybody that has a position
of authority in the church
is necessarily a believer.
There's a lot of reprobates out there.
Okay.
And also remember,
you know,
don't forget,
Jesus Christ says,
do this in remembrance of me.
Jesus wants us to be remembering
His death for us,
you know,
how much He suffered for us.
And you know,
we can, you know,
it's a somber time,
but it's also a time of rejoicing
to know that's the sacrifice
that, you know,
God has given us.
So let's pray.