(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

For the first time visitors, I normally preach on a Tuesday chapter by chapter. We've been going through the book of Matthew. Last week we did Matthew 25, we're up to Matthew 26, but if you look at the chapter, it's a big chapter, okay? And because I wanted to preach a shorter message today because of the Lord's Supper, we're only going to be looking at the first 29 verses there. And I thought it was good because as you could see here during these 29 verses, we have the Lord's Supper there being shared by Jesus Christ to the disciples. So I thought it'd be good to tie it all in together with the sermon today. So look at Matthew 26, let's look at verse number 28, Matthew 26, verse 28. It says, for this is my blood of the New Testament. The title for the sermon tonight is blood of the New Testament, blood of the New Testament. And let's pick it up there from verse number one, Matthew 26, verse one, and it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings. And remember, what are all those sayings? We went through Matthew 24, Matthew 25, the Sermon of the Mount, okay, he's done doing that. He said unto his disciples, ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover. So this is the third Passover we see in the Bible during the ministry of Christ. This is where we get the idea, the teaching, the doctrine that the ministry of Christ, I'm talking from his baptism to his crucifixion was approximately three years because we have three Passovers, this being the third Passover here, okay. But it says here at the end of verse number two, and the Son of Man, speaking of himself, is betrayed to be crucified. Jesus tells his disciples plainly, look, I'm going to be betrayed, and I'm going to be crucified. And if you guys know the rest of your Bibles, it went over the disciples' head, all right. They didn't understand, they still didn't understand it, even though Jesus tells them time and time again, I'm going to die. I'm going to perish. I'm going to be crucified, he tells them. Now what's interesting about this chapter is that it goes over the disciples' head, but it's actually understood by a very special woman. We'll look at it shortly, but look at verse number three. Then assembled together the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people unto the palace of the high priest, who was also called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him. Now cast your memory back to a few weeks back. We had Jesus Christ, remember, Matthew 21, Matthew 22, Matthew 23, where Christ is going head to head with these chief priests, he's going head to head with these rulers in the temple, and he's just telling them, look, you're not going to escape the damn nation of hell. He just goes head to head with them. We know during that time they're trying to take hold of him, they're trying to find a way to take hold of him, but now here they decide, look, we're going to take him by subtlety, we're going to take him in a way where we're not going to cause an uproar, we're not going to cause a riot by taking Jesus Christ, and we're going to kill him. They're going to kill their Messiah, they're going to kill, you know, the King of the Jews. And of course they find a vessel in Judas Iscariot. This is where Judas Iscariot steps in and obviously betrays Jesus Christ. Verse number five, but they said, not on the feast day, that being not on the day of the Passover, lest there be an uproar among the people. Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper. Now this is the first time we're introduced to Simon the leper. We don't really know anything else about him. We know that he's in the house of Simon the leper. Now there's probably two reasons why we're given this title, Simon the leper. Reason number one, I think Simon the leper is the same leper that was healed in Matthew, I think it was Matthew chapter eight, I've got to go back and check that. I think it was Matthew chapter eight, Jesus Christ heals a leper, okay? And we don't get the name of the leper, okay? But it would make sense to me as we're looking at the book of Matthew, we have this story of the leper being healed, and now we have Simon the leper. The other reason maybe his name Simon the leper is just because there's many Simons in the Bible, I mean Peter. Peter was Simon Peter. So maybe just to differentiate Simon Peter, this is not Simon Peter's house, this is Simon the leper, maybe that's why we're given that information there, okay? But we have a very interesting woman here in verse number seven. Look at this. Now remember though, the disciples did not understand that Jesus Christ was going to die, okay? But look at verse number seven. So she takes this very expensive perfume, this very expensive oil or perfume, and she pours it on the head of Jesus Christ. And as we looked at, I think it was just a couple of weeks ago, we looked at how when someone was anointed, appointed to a position, often they would be anointed with oil. And sometimes that oil would be poured upon the head because they're going to embark on a specific task, a specific job. And this woman understood, we'll see soon, that she's pouring ointment upon his head because he's going to do the task of die for us, die for our sins. And it's amazing that she understood this, okay? Look at verse number eight. So woman, why are you wasting this precious ointment? Why are you doing this? All right? Now look, let me tell you something. If you start living for the Lord, you start living after Christ, you say, Lord, I'm going to walk after your ways. I'm going to live. I'm going to stand on the word of God. I'm going to believe what the Bible says. You know what people around you are going to say? What a waste. Why are you wasting your time going to church? Why are you wasting your money? Why are you giving that to the work of God? Why are you doing that? Hey, calm down, relax. You don't need to spend that much time. You don't need to spend those precious moments there in church. That's what happens, okay? When you start committing your life and walking after the Lord, the same thing's going to happen. Hey, this woman, this is all she could do for Jesus Christ. She took this ointment. She paused it upon his head. She anoints Jesus and his own disciples. Look at it as a waste. You know, they put her down about it. And just be ready for that day when people put you down for walking after the Lord, for standing for the word of God, I hope you remain strong and understand, look, this happens even in the Bible. Even Jesus' own disciples are putting down a woman who just wants to honor the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse number nine, what do they say, hey, you wasted it, for this ointment might have been sowed for much and given to the poor. You know what I'm reminded of there, straight away, just because of what's going on in Australia? You know, look, I don't, you know, Israel Folau, you know, now look, I'm not on board with his beliefs because, you know, he doesn't believe in the gospel like we do, okay? People are saying, you know, people are giving money to the work, to his battle because he's going up against the homosexuals, he's stood up against it, he's called it out as a sin and you have like lots of Australians basically donating to the cause, right? I mean, the last time I checked, it was like he had raised $2 million for his court battles and people, you know, what's the media saying? What are those that are contrary to people saying, hey, why are Australians wasting money? Don't they know there's better causes, you know, don't they know there's poor, there's people that are suffering, why don't they give money to those things? That's what happens, right? But hey, you know what, there's a reality that the money that you make, the things that you possess, your material wealth is up to you, God gives you the liberty to decide what you want to do with that wealth. There's always someone else wanting to tell you, you know, how to control your money, right? There's always the government saying, hey, pay up your taxes, you know, start increasing taxes so we can distribute it to the poor, rather than giving it to that, you know, giving it over to the people that earn their own wages to decide what they want to give it to. There's always people complaining about how others spend their money, okay? And once again, you know, this is a great example for us as believers, hey, look, let's, let's, you know, what's important to us, winning souls, knowing the Lord, you know, living a righteous life, you know, walking in the ways of the Lord, hey, invest your time and efforts into these things. And again, just once again, a reminder, people are going to tell you, you're wasting your time, you're wasting your efforts, even Christians will tell you, you're wasting your time, okay? Be aware of that. Verse number, verse number 10, when Jesus understood it, he said unto them, why trouble ye the woman? For she have wrought a good work upon me. Hey, a good work. If you're spending time, effort, putting your resources into the word of God, spending your hours knocking the door, hey, this is a good work for the Lord. Don't let anyone discourage you for the things that you do. Don't let other people trouble you when you serve the Lord. Verse number 11, for ye have the poor always with you, but me ye have not always. For in that she have poured this ointment on my body. Look at this. She did it for my burial. She did it for my burial, okay? So this woman anoints Christ knowing that he's going to embark on his sacrifice, he's going to die on the cross, and he's going to be buried. She knew more than what the disciples knew, I can't believe it, but she knew more about that. Obviously, those things had gone over the head of the disciples, and look, I'm the pastor of this church, and I don't care how little you've been saved, if you've only been saved a couple of days, you know a little bit about your Bible, I'm still interested to hear what you have to say. Hey, if you have a question, you have something exciting that you found in the Bible, and you think, oh, I don't want to share it because I'm just a brand new Christian. I want to know, okay? I want to know, just like this woman had some information that went over the heads of the other disciples, look, if you've been saved for many years, or if you have a position of authority, I never want to see you thumb up your nose to someone that's new or young in the faith, okay? People that are new or young in the faith might have greater knowledge than you in some areas of the Bible, okay? Because they come into these things with a fresh pair of eyes, and they see things, and sometimes we've spent so many years learning certain things, we can get stuck in our ways and not see certain truths that other believers can see in the word of God, okay? Now, the reason I wanted to talk about this woman a little bit is, you've probably heard this story, and the thing is, there are three stories like this in the Bible, it's not always the same story, okay? So just to show you someone else that did something similar, keep your finger there and go to John chapter 12. John chapter 12 verse 3. John chapter 12 verse 3, while you keep your finger there. So we don't have the name of the woman that did this to Jesus, but remember she anointed the head of Christ, okay? She anointed the head of Christ. Now when you get to John chapter 12 verse 3, another woman did something very similar, but we do get her name, and this is Mary. This is Mary, the sister of Martha and the sister of Lazarus, okay? Not Mary Magdalene, but Mary the sister of Martha. John chapter 12 verse 3, then took Mary a pound of ointment of Spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus. Not just the head, you know, the other woman, but she did his feet, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Now drop down to verse number 7, then said Jesus, let her alone, because again they're bothering her. You know, this time it's Judas Iscariot saying, hey, it's a waste! You know, but verse number 7, what does Jesus say? Let her alone, against the day of my burying, have she kept this, for the poor always ye have with you, but me ye have not always. The same teaching, okay? So you know, Jesus Christ says, leave her alone, she's doing it for my burying. You see, another woman in the Bible, okay? And you know the story of Martha and Mary, Martha was busy, you know, she was doing good work, she was busy trying to serve the Lord, serving the disciples, but Mary sat at Jesus' feet. She was someone that was just listening, taking in the word of God, the teaching of Christ, and she understood it. She understood that this Jesus Christ, my friend here, is going to die on the cross and be buried and pay for all my sins. Now there's one other story, just to complete it. Let's go to Luke chapter 7, Luke chapter 7 verse 37, Luke chapter 7 verse 37. Now this one's a little bit different because the other two women that did this to Christ, they were believers, okay? They were saved believers, anointing the Lord, knowing that he was going to die. But Luke chapter 7 is a lady who gets saved, okay? It's a little bit different, but a very similar story. Luke chapter 7 verse 37, Luke chapter 7 verse 37. The Bible says, then behold a woman in the city which was a sinner. Now when the Bible says things like that, which was a sinner, we're all sinners, okay? But when the Bible says, hey, she's a sinner, or exceedingly sinful, like this is a great sinner. Normally when the Bible just points it out, hey, this is a sinner, it basically means this person's exceedingly sinful, okay? And then it says here, verse number, sorry, verse 37, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat at the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment. Now I just want to show you, just drop down to verse number 50, drop down to verse number 50, we won't read it all. Jesus says to this woman, and he said to the woman, thy faith have saved thee, go in peace, okay? So just to show you, those other two women that we read about, they were already saved, they were looking to the death of Christ, right? This woman was not yet saved. She was someone that was a sinner, okay? She was not yet saved, she does this to the Lord, she puts her faith there on the Lord, how do we know she put her faith, look, he doesn't say, your works have saved thee, well, you clean my feet, hey, now you're saved because you did a good work to me. Now in verse number 50, he said unto the woman, thy faith have saved thee, go in peace. You see, she did the work out of faith, it wasn't the work that saved her, but it was her faith on Christ that saved her. So just to show you, there are three different stories, okay? You're probably very familiar when you hear it, you go, wow, yeah, but the thing is, they're three different stories, okay? Three different women, and yeah, it's this great honor that these ladies put on the Lord Jesus Christ there. Now go back to Matthew 26, please, Matthew 26, verse 13, verse 13, Matthew 26, verse 13. This is after the woman, the first woman, you know, pulls the ointment on his head, verse 13, Jesus says, verily I say unto you, whethersoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this that this woman have done, be told for a memorial for her. So Jesus says, look, we're going to bring this woman to memory, you know, she's going to be known throughout the whole world, and sure enough, because the story is recorded for us in the gospel there of Matthew, and every time we read the book of Matthew, every time we read, we preach through Matthew 26, hey, that woman has been honored for what she did to the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? So her reward, you know, is great, you know, generations of generations knowing this great work that she did for Jesus Christ after being criticized by the disciples, bear in mind. Verse number 14, then one of the 12 called Judas Iscariot went unto the chief priest. So again, we're the chief priests, we're trying to find an opportunity to kill Christ, Judas takes up that offer, all right? Verse number 15, and said unto them, what will you give me? And I will deliver him unto you. And they covenanted with him for 30 pieces of silver. And from that time, he sought opportunity to betray him. Now verse number, we won't spend time on that right now, but verse number 17, I want to get on to the Lord's Supper here, okay, verse number 17. Now the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying unto him, where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? Now let me say a couple of things, there's some different opinions on the Lord's Supper, you know, I do believe the Lord's Supper is an ordinance that the church needs to observe, just like baptism. You know, I do believe we're a Baptist church, and most Baptist churches believe in two ordinances that being baptism and also being the Lord's Supper, okay? Now, you know, neither of those things will save you. It's your faith that saves you, we saw that already, okay? But these are things that we do to remember what Christ did for us, you know, baptism being when you stand in the water, being his, you know, his death, his burial in the water and his resurrection when he comes out of the water, and of course, the Lord's Supper when you partake of the bread and the grape juice, that's a picture of his broken body and he shed blood for us on the cross. So these two ordinances are pointing us back to the Lord Jesus Christ. And some people teach that the Lord's Supper is a continuation of the Passover. I don't believe that, I believe the Passover, Christ was the Passover that's been completely fulfilled but that the Lord's Supper is a new ordinance given to the New Testament churches. But in its sense, it's kind of doing the same thing. It's looking at the shed blood of the sacrifice of Christ. Anyway, verse number 18, sorry, there was one more little thing I want you to notice there. As they're preparing for the Passover, they're also, it's the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, okay? So the bread that they're going to be using here will be unleavened bread. The bread that we're going to be using to remember the Lord's Supper, or to have the Lord's Supper is also unleavened bread. That's bread without yeast, okay? And I'll go into the reasons behind that in a moment. Verse number 18, and he said, go into the city to such a man and say unto him, the master saith, my time is at hand, I will keep the Passover at thy house with my disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them, and they made ready the Passover. I love that because they just go to this guy, and they say, look, we need to use your house because the master needs to use it, right? The master needs to use it because his time is at hand. So that tells me the guy of this house is a believer of Christ because, oh yeah, Jesus, yeah, he needs, his time is at hand, oh, he's going to die for us now, he's at the time now. This guy obviously understood in order for him to offer his house for this group of believers in Jesus Christ to have that Passover. And then verse number 20, now when the even was come, he sat down with the 12, and as they did eat, he said, verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? You know? And sometimes, you know, these guys are going through a period of doubt there, saying, well, Jesus said someone's going to betray me, and they're looking around. Just like, man, I see all these good Christians, I see all these godly men, of course they didn't recognize that Judas Iscariot was the betrayer, and then, man, maybe it's me, maybe it's speaking of me. You know, and sometimes, you know, this reminds me just how in your Christian walk, you may go through periods of a bit of doubt. You might go through a period and say, look, am I just, am I even saved? Am I, or, you know, or am I, I'm not even living the way the Lord wants, you know, what's going on? People are examining themselves, is it I, Lord? You know? And, you know, we shouldn't be people that doubt our salvation, let me just say that first of all, but I do understand where a new believer can have doubts, okay? A new believer can have doubts, and that's because there's a lot of preachers out there that say, hey, the way you know you're saved, the way I know you're saved is by your performance. You know, if you're not, if you're performing to a certain level, then we can count you as saved. But they'll never tell you what that level is, right? If you're performing to this certain level, we know you're saved, but then, hey, what if I'm not performing to that level? Wasn't I saved by faith? Wasn't I saved by the death, the resurrection of Christ? And it's when you understand, no, it's Jesus Christ, he's done it all. It's his work. It's his performance. It's not my performance. When you understand that, and he's paid for all your sins, your past, present and future sins, you won't doubt anymore, unless you doubt Christ, okay? I mean, once you realize it's just Christ, if you can have confidence in him, you're going to stop doubting, okay? And if you have doubts, it's because you're doubting Christ, okay? And so I want you to just realize that, hey, if you're someone that doubts from time to time, just remember, bring back to remembrance who it was that died for you, and it was paid for by his blood, not paid for by your blood, not paid for by your works, but paid for completely by Jesus Christ. There's no need to have the doubts. Look, verse number 23, and he answered and said, he that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. So this, if you look at some of the other passages, it seems like they're having some type of broth or some type of soup, and if you're, I don't know, I remember my dad being like this a little bit, and some people have bread with their meals, and so when there's like leftovers, or let's say you're having spaghetti bolognese, and there's still like a lot of sauce left, you get that bread, and then you just sort of scoop up the leftover sauce and stuff like that, and you eat of that, okay? So he's saying, look, as Christ is doing that, there's always this someone else doing it with him at the same time, okay, doing that, they're eating out of that same plate. And it says here, so he says, he that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. Verse number 24, the son of man goeth as it is written of him, but woe unto that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. So it says to about Judas Iscariot, look, woe is he, then it says, it had been good for that man if he had not been born. Hey, do you think Judas Iscariot was saved? Do you think he ever got saved? You know what the Bible says, the Bible says he repented of what he did, okay? Now some people take that to mean, wow, look at that, he repented of what he did, he repented of his sin, hey, that's not how you get saved, but that's what they'll say, hey, but then he ended up, you know, committing suicide, right, committing suicide. Jesus Christ says it would be even better if he had not been born. So where do you think he is, if it was better that he wouldn't be born? He's in hell, right? He's in hell. Hey, if he was in heaven, hey, then it'd be good that he was born, okay, he just made a big mistake here, messed up with his life, and he's in heaven. No, but the fact that Jesus Christ says these words, woe to him, but if he would not be born, that means, hey, he died and he went to hell. In fact, there are other passages, we won't go through it now, where the Bible just tells us flatly that Judas Iscariot did not believe on Jesus Christ, okay, he did not believe he was the son of God. But we won't go into that right now, verse number 22, sorry, what am I up to guys, verse number 25. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said. And as they were eating, this is so unusual, because you'll notice this if you read the other stories, Jesus basically says, yeah, it's Judas Iscariot, and they just continue, they just continue like nothing happened, all right, because it's just a massive surprise. You know, the guy, they're thinking this guy, no, Judas, he's fine, we've seen him get out there and preach the gospel, we've seen him do great works, he's been with us the last three years, he's been there from the beginning, he looks just like us, hey, maybe he was even more righteous on the outside than they were, maybe this man was a non-believer, and it's like, again, it just goes over their heads, right? And then verse number 26, and as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it. And just let me pause there, guys, you see, before Jesus eats, you see how he blesses the food, okay, and you need to get into the habit, this is actually taught to us in the Bible, before you eat, you know, before you eat your breakfast, lunch, and dinner, always, you know, bless the food, always give thanks to the Lord God for the food, for the provisions that he's given us, okay? We see Jesus Christ has that practice, but he blesses the bread and break it and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. This is my body. So this is the bread that we're going to participate of, it makes, even though the Bible doesn't spell out that it's unleavened bread here, it makes sense that it is unleavened bread because it's the days of unleavened bread, okay, and that's the bread that they got ready for the Passover. Now, let me just stop here for a minute because I've got to talk about the Roman Catholic eyes, okay? At the end of verse number 26, it said, take, eat, this is my body. Now, if you want to take this very literally, and that's, you know, and look, I believe when you read your Bible, you should take it literally, okay, unless it's obviously not literal, okay? Now, Jesus Christ said about the bread, this is my body. If we're going to be totally literally, literal, then that's, that bread is actually the flesh of Jesus Christ, okay? And the Roman Catholics, what do they teach? When they have their communion, they teach that the bread they eat turns into the, literally the flesh of Christ, okay, and that the juice that you're drinking literally becomes the blood of Jesus Christ, okay? And the Bible condemns, by the way, eating and drinking blood, but that's what they believe, okay? Now, let me show you where they get these ideas from. Keep your finger there and go to John chapter six, please. John chapter six. John chapter six, verse 47. John chapter six, verse 47. John chapter six, verse 47. Jesus says, verily, verily, hey, what's verily? Truly, okay, these are true words. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Amen. Verily, verily, that's true, right? You believe on him, you have everlasting life. Let's say, believe on me and wash my feet, believe on me and get baptized, believe on me and go to church, believe on me and read the Bible. No, he says believe on me, you know, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. That's important as we keep reading. Look at verse 48. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven. So he's saying he's come down from heaven, the bread that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. Look at this. He shall live forever. You've got to eat of the bread to live forever. Now, what did the Roman Catholics say? You've got to have communion. That's part of your salvation, because it sounds like that's what it said, but how do you live forever? We just saw in verse 47 how to live forever. He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. That's living forever. That's how we live forever. Okay? What am I up to? Verse number 52. I didn't finish verse 51. And the bread that I give is my flesh, and I will give for the life of the world. And the Jews, therefore, strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? So they're wondering how are we going to eat? What? He wants us to eat his body? How is he going to eat his flesh? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, truly, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Amen. If you eat of his bread and you drink of his blood, not only are you saved, but you're going to be risen again. You're going to receive those resurrected bodies at the rapture. Say what in the world? Again, just keep in mind, verse 54, Whoso eat of my flesh, and drink of my blood, hath eternal life, must equal he that believeth on me, hath everlasting life. So how do we eat of his body? How do we eat of his flesh? How do we drink of his blood? By believing on him, right? By believing on him. Now, let's drop down to verse number 60, verse number 60. Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying. Who can hear it? I mean, yeah, if you're literally thinking you've got to eat a body like a cannibal, that would be a hard saying, right? Verse number 61, When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What? And if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before, it is the spirit that quickeneth. Look at this. Look at this. This is so important. It is the spirit that quickeneth. Now, when Bible says quick enough, it means it gives life, because we're born of the spirit. When you're saved, you're born again, you've been given that new life, okay? It's the spirit that quickeneth. It's the spirit that gives life. Look at this. The flesh profiteth nothing. He says, look, you think I'm talking about literally eating my flesh? If you could eat my flesh, it profits you nothing, he's saying, right? There's no profit in eating his flesh. And verse number, sorry, guys, I keep losing my spot here. How? 63. Look at this. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirits and they are life. Look, I'm speaking to you spiritual words, not physical, literal words here. You don't have to physically eat my body and literally drink my blood, okay? But these are spiritual words. Eating my flesh doesn't profit anything. It's the spirit. It's being born of the spirit, that quick enough, that gives life. Verse 64. But there are some of you that believe not. There it is. But there are some of you that believe not. Why? Because they haven't eaten of his flesh. They haven't drunk of his blood, spiritually speaking, because they have not believed. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my Father. From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will you also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and assure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Okay? And he said, Look, we're not offended. We're happy to eat of your blood and your flesh, because we've believed that you are the Christ, that you are the Son of the living God. Okay? So you see how the Roman Catholics really mess this up, okay, believing that you have to literally eat the flesh of Christ and drink literally his blood. And they believe when they've done their hocus pocus magic that it literally becomes that flesh and blood. And, you know, the Bible condemns eating blood. The Bible condemns eating, of course, cannibalism. I mean, yeah, the Bible can condemn that as well, right? But yeah, so that's just the answer. If you guys have ever faced those questions, you're not sure what that passage is teaching. I hope it makes sense to you. You can see that it starts off by believing on Christ. It ends about believing on Christ. Christ is in the middle of spiritual words. The eating flesh doesn't profit you or anything. So obviously, Jesus Christ was speaking words in a figurative sense about eating his blood and eating his body and drinking his blood. So if you believe on Christ, you've already done that spiritually, okay? It's like you've eaten that manna in the wilderness of the Old Testament Israelites, and you're already saved, okay? You're already saved because of the body, the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus Christ. And so when we participate of the Lord's Supper, we're not saying it's literally his flesh or literally his blood. It's just a remembrance of this occasion, of this ordinance that Jesus Christ has asked us to remember for him. Go back to Matthew 26, Matthew 26 verse 27. We've got about six minutes before the pizza's arrived. Matthew 26 verse 27, and he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, drink ye all of it, sorry, drink ye, drink ye all of it. For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Okay? How are our sins remitted of? You know what remission of? It basically means that it's been removed. If you've heard of people that have had cancer, and they say, hey, I'm in remission, it's because for a period of time, their body is without cancer, okay? For that period of time, they're in remission, they're without cancer. So how is it that our sins are remitted of? How are they done away with? It's by the blood of the New Testament, it's by the blood of Jesus Christ, okay? It's not by you trying to get rid of them in your life, you turning from your sins or repenting of your sins, no. It's by receiving the blood of Christ, by believing on Him. Verse 29, but I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. Now something I want you to notice, some people believe, do the Roman Catholics have alcohol? Like do they drink alcoholic wine? They do, right? So look, why don't we, well, first of all, the Bible condemns alcohol, right, and drunkenness and stuff. But another reason is, look, when Jesus Christ talks about the wine or the grape juice that they're drinking of, He says that it is the fruit of the vine, okay? So this juice that they're drinking has literally just come off the vine, you know, and obviously if it's alcoholic, it needs time for it to ferment and all that kind of stuff. It's something that's come straight off the vine. So what I want to show you there, the reason we partake of bread without leaven, without yeast is because it was the days of the unleavened bread. And the reason why we don't drink alcoholic wine with the Lord's Supper, well, there's several reasons, but you know, specifically here, because it was juice that came off the vine, okay, directly there off the vine. But there are some other reasons behind this. And I want to teach you a little bit because most Baptist churches that I've been part of have said the reason we have unleavened bread or, you know, and sort of when wine gets fermented into alcohol, it's basically leaven, it's basically yeast doing the same job in the alcohol that converts the sugar into alcohol, okay. Now, the common answer to that is because they say, well, in the Bible, leaven pictures sin. And of course, Jesus Christ was a sinless sacrifice, you know, he took our sins upon himself and he was sinless. And I'm not necessarily against that interpretation, I think it's okay, but leaven also represents the kingdom of God in the Bible. It's not always sin, okay, it has different representations. But there is a reason why, you know, the bread did not have leaven. And I want to show you what that is. So please take your Bibles and go to Exodus chapter 12, Exodus chapter 12, verse 8, Exodus chapter 12, verse 8. And we're looking at Exodus 12, because this is the first time they have the Passover. Remember the Israelites were in Egypt. And this is, you know, the night before they would walk out of Egypt, they would leave Egypt after all the plagues that God had put upon the Egyptians. And he teaches them about the Passover, you know, taking the lamb and taking the blood of the lamb, putting on the doorposts, all that. I won't talk about all of that, I just want to talk about the bread there. But look at Exodus chapter 12, verse 8. And they shall eat the flesh that be in the flesh of the lamb, okay. And that's why, you know, when Jesus Christ, this is basically a picture of Christ, you know, talking about eating his flesh, in the Old Testament, they would eat the flesh of the lamb. And he says there, 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. 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. This is how you need to eat it, he says. If your loins girded, hey make sure you got your belts on, your shoes on your feet, have your feet on, your shoes on, and your staff in your hand, and ye shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. I want you to eat it quickly, okay, it is the Lord's Passover. Why? Because as soon as Pharaoh says you can go, you need to get out of there, it's not time to pack your bags and get stuff, you need to be ready, you need to be dressed, staff in your hand, shoes on, ready to go, okay, immediately. Now that is, I can show you some other passages, but that is a picture of our salvation, okay. As soon as you believe on Christ, it's not this process of salvation, it's done in haste. You know, you believe, you're saved, you're out of Egypt, okay, the same kind of picture. So they did it in haste, okay. Now please go to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 16, Deuteronomy chapter 16 verse 3. So I just wanted to show you in Exodus 12 they had unleavened bread, and they were to eat in haste, okay. But Deuteronomy chapter 16 verse 3 puts these two things together. Deuteronomy chapter 16 verse 3, the Bible says here, 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 are they eating this bread, why? For, or because thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste. Thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life. The reason why it's unleavened bread is because it's a picture of them living in haste, them living in a hurry, something that was immediate, okay. If you, you know, I've never cooked unleavened bread before. But basically, unleavened bread obviously has no yeast, has no leaven, so you put it in the frying pan, I don't know how long you leave it there, it's pretty quick, and it's ready to eat, okay, it's quick. You do it quickly, okay. But if you're going to use yeast, and I've done bread with yeast before, I've practiced a little bit, it takes time, because the loaf needs to rise, it takes several hours for that to develop, and for it to happen, so, leavened bread pictures a slow process, unleavened bread pictures something done in haste, okay. That's the reason behind it, because not only, you know, going back to what it pictures, not only does it picture the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it pictures that his body and his blood was for our salvation, and our salvation is done in haste. It's immediately, it's immediate, it's quick, okay. And they, you know, because as soon as Pharaoh gave them the permission to leave, they weren't to leave. They weren't, you know, if they were using yeast, they would have to wait for the bread to rise and all that kind of stuff, no, no, they would eat and get out of there, okay. So what about the grape juice, okay. If it was alcohol, right, if Jesus Christ was teaching, or God was teaching them to drink alcohol, again, alcohol requires time. You know, if you were to throw yeast into it, you know, the sugar turns into alcohol, it can take a week. That's not done in haste, that's a long process, okay. So I just want to bring to your thoughts there, because you probably heard it pictures sin. It can, okay, but really it's the haste, it's that salvation is, once you believe in Christ, it's done. You're out of Egypt, you're saved immediately, there's no long process, you know, and that's why we participate of the unleavened bread and the non-alcoholic grape juice. So we'll just leave it there guys, thank you for your patience, hopefully the pizzas are on their way, let's pray.