The Last Supper
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
The cost of change - money when traveling.
Exchange rate.
The cost of what Jesus started, the Gospel, had a cost.
Focus On The Lamb
Focus On The Lamb
vv. 17-19
The final passover.
The meal that was to celebrate and remember how God freed the Israelites out of Egypt.
Matthew emphasizing that this is what they were doing - 3Xs.
Typically, a heavy focus on the lamb of that meal.
We remember the role of the lamb played in the tenth plague. The death of the firstborn.
No mention of that specifically here. Matthew wants us to understand that…
Jesus is the sacrificial Lamb.
Why we find language like
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
As the passover lamb pointed back to the lamb that provided protection (from the judgment) and separation (from the world)…
So now…
Jesus provides forgiveness and salvation.
The lamb is not used because it is pretty and fluffy.
The lamb reminds us of the cost, the price that Jesus paid.
Focus On Authenticity
Focus On Authenticity
vv. 20-25
As they gathered for this important meal, Jesus passes along some heavy news.
One of them would betray Him.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record very similar statement here.
He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me.
This phrase always puzzled me until I thought about it in the context of communal meals and the Passover.
Jesus is indicating that He would be betrayed by someone He was close to.
And their reaction… “is it me, Jesus??”
Then Judas…
The way John adds some more to this interaction, as Jesus serves Him a morsel of bread.
So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?”
Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
What did Judas do with that morsel? He didn’t eat it.
Matthew—All Authority in Heaven and on Earth A Sovereign Plan; A Responsible Man
Judas Iscariot had the highest possible religious privileges. He was a chosen apostle and companion of Christ; he was an eyewitness of our Lord’s miracles and a hearer of his sermons; he saw what Abraham and Moses never saw, and heard what David and Isaiah never heard; he lived in the society of the eleven apostles; he was a fellow-laborer with Peter, James and John: but for all this his heart was never changed.
How sad that Judas had spent so much time with the Lord of Life and never allowed it to transform his life.
Yet, how many in our world today grow up in church, go to VBS, Falls Creek, Sunday school, could score at least a 70% on a Bible quiz and yet have never received salvation?
I think this serves as a warning to us.
Don’t just be close to Jesus.
Knowing about Jesus isn’t the same as knowing Jesus.
Focus On Forgiveness
Focus On Forgiveness
vv. 26-30
Some confusion about this passage… Jesus is the bread and the wine.
The bread is no more the flesh of Jesus than Jesus is a physical door or a vine.
Consuming the bread is a picture of relationship.
We use the phrase today:
You are what you eat.
My favorite candies!
To eat the bread, His flesh, is to enter into a saving relationship.
Why he says in John 6:35-51.
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
A lot of people misunderstand his words and think he’s advocating for cannibalism.
Jesus is instead emphasizing to be a part of the New Covenant.
“The blood of the new covenant” (v. 28).
Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”
And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Jesus is instituting a covenant of grace.
What is grace.
Mercy vs Grace
The Gospel proclaims both mercy and grace.
Conclusion
Conclusion
When we partake in the Lord’s Supper we are reminded of His sacrifice.
But we are also reminded of what we are now.
The crucifixion led to victory.
Jesus, victory over death. Victory over sin as the Lamb.
But, then we who have asked Jesus to forgive us of our sins and committed to following Him as Lord,
The Bible describes us as being “In Christ.”
To be “in Christ” means that we share in that victory.
The only way that we can overcome sin is by receiving that victory in Jesus.
