Remember
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
We’re coming to the part in the book of Luke that we normally think of, this time of year, in the spring, when the flowers are blooming and the grass is turning green and in a few weeks, eggs hidden in the grass. And it’s no accident. I planned it this way. We’ve been in Luke off and on for a couple of years now, and I wanted us to finish. But I want us to do that with caution, because if we’re not careful, we can come to point where we only think of these passages as Easter passages, where this is the only time we think of them.
But the fact is, that was never meant to be the case. As good as it is to have this time built into our seasonal, cultural calendars, Easter isn’t the only time we should think about Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection—not at all. On the contrary, that’s the reason we get together every Sunday. Every Sunday, we get together to celebrate the resurrection. That’s why we do it on Sunday. Sunday is the day Jesus rose from the dead, so Sunday, every Sunday, should be THE key celebration of our week.
All that to say, these passages that we’re coming up on, these are year-round passages. They’re not meant for us just to look at and focus on during one season of the year. We always need to think about, we always need to meditate on, we always need to remember what Jesus has done for us. Why do we need to do that? Because, if we don’t, let’s face it, we will forget.
We’re forgetful people, aren’t we?
If you know me at all, you know that I’m forgetful. Thankfully I have technological advances and systems in place that help me not to forget things like my keys or my phone or my wallet. But I’m still forgetful. Every week, there are things that I intend to mention at the end of the service, reminders of things happening in the life our church, but if it’s not written, I will not remember to remind you!
And that’s a shame, because we are…all of us…forgetful.
And not just with our keys or our appointments or things like that. No, we’re forgetful when it comes to our sin.
That’s why we struggle with sin. It’s not that we want to sin. None of us, if we walk with the Lord, want to sin. And it’s not that we don’t love Jesus. Man, we love Jesus more than anything. It’s just that, in our day-to-day-lives, in the priorities that we let into our lives, we forget that we belong to Jesus. We forget about the joy and peace that He brings into our lives. We forget that the things that we crave, the things that drive us to ungodly anger, the things move us toward impatience and hostility toward others, we forget that the importance of those things pales in comparison to the glory of the God who saved us.
We forget. And, because we forget, we do things we don’t want to do. We live lives we don’t want to live, and we become people that we don’t want to become.
Forgetfulness is dangerous, isn’t it?
That’s why we have to remember. That’s what we’re going to talk about this morning—some things to remember, not just during this time of year—but some things to remember every day, as we walk with our Lord Jesus.
Now, just to give you the context here, remember that Jesus has made his way to Jerusalem, and now He’s closing in on the day of his crucifixion. He’s been teaching in the temple all week, the week leading up to Passover, the big celebration that commemorates what God did to bring His people out of slavery in Egypt. Remember that? The sacrifice of a spotless lamb, its blood spattered on the doorframes of the Israelite homes, and that blood would be the sign of protection from the curse of death that would take the life of every firstborn son in Egypt.
And every year, Israel was to gather and, in their homes, eat a meal to commemorate that sacrifice.
To remember.
Luke chapter 22is where we are. As we dig in here, what are some things that we do well to remember?
Look with me at verse 1:
Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching.
And the chief priests and the scribes were trying to find a way to put Him to death, since they were afraid of the people.
And Satan entered Judas, the one called Iscariot, who belonged to the number of the twelve.
And he left and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he was to betray Him to them.
And they were delighted, and agreed to give him money.
And so he consented, and began looking for a good opportunity to betray Him to them away from the crowd.
Here we see the beginnings of betrayal, this betrayal that would ultimately lead to Judas leading the authorities to Jesus and then greeting Jesus warmly with a false kiss of friendship. It’s the betrayal that would result in Jesus’ arrest, his torture and abuse, and ultimately his death.
And Luke tells us that here, even as they gather to remember God’s goodness toward them, this betrayal was already brewing. And that’s one thing to remember on a day like today.
Remember His betrayal
Remember His betrayal
Maybe you’re thinking, “Well, that’s great, but why do I need to remember that?” Well, we need to remember this betrayal; we need to meditate on this act of Judas, because, as much as we despise his actions here, the truth is, when we sin, our actions really are no better.
We make a mistake when we think of Judas as particularly shadowy and evil. Externally, Judas fit in with everybody else. When Jesus mentioned that one of them was going to betray him, you can almost hear them talking all at once: “Lord is it me? Surely it’s not me!”
And then, of course, their argument leads to another argument about which one of them would be the greatest, a ridiculous argument that just shows that they really don’t get what is happing. Jesus had literally just served them, according to the Gospel of John, washed their feet in humility, and now they’re arguing about who would have the most power in the new Kingdom. And apparently Simon Peter was right in the middle of that argument, because Jesus singles him out. Verse 34:
But He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”
Just as you would never have guessed that Simon Peter would deny Jesus, No one guessed that Judas would sell Him out to the authorities. As far as they knew, Judas was just one of the guys. The only difference was, he had this secret sin, this secret act of betrayal shaping up in his heart that nobody knew about—that is, nobody but Jesus.
Let me ask you, brother, sister, is there some secret act of betrayal brewing in your heart, some secret sin that nobody else knows about? Make no mistake. All sin is betrayal. All sin is a betrayal of Jesus.that’s why we confess our sin. We confess our brokenness and our failures. The solution to sin is not perfection. the solution to sin is to come to Jesus to find forgiveness.
But to that, we have to remember His betrayal.
Remember His betrayal. Pick up in verse 8:
And so Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, so that we may eat it.”
They said to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare it?”
And He said to them, “When you have entered the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you; follow him into the house that he enters.
And you shall say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?” ’
“And he will show you a large, furnished upstairs room; prepare it there.”
And they left and found everything just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover.
To keep from forgetting, we remember His betrayal. Also…
“They found everything just as He had told them.”
By now, maybe the disciples were used to it. This is the second time in less than a week that they’d been sent into town with some strange instructions. Just a few days before, right before the triumphal entry, he told a couple of them, “Go, find a colt tied up, untie it and bring it to me.” Scritpure tells us there, “They found it just as he had told them.”
Now here we have it again: “Go into town, find a guy (not a woman, a man) carrying water, follow him and wherever he enters, go in, and say to the owner of the house, “The teacher says, “Where is My guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?” Again, kind of random, right? I’d be kind of nervous about this mission: “Lord, what if they’re not there? A man carrying water? That’s woman’s work!”
Sometimes the things the Lord asks us to do seem random, but if we’ll learn to listen to His voice and take Him at His word, we will find things, we will consistently find things just as He says. He’s faithful. His Word is true, and He keeps His promises.
And that brings us to another thing to remember as we consider what He has done for us. Remember His betrayal, and second…
Remember His instructions (8-13)
Remember His instructions (8-13)
And, of course, in order to remember His instructions, we have to know His instructions. That’s why it’s so important that we dig deep into His Word, that we learn to love His Word, and that we grow in the knowledge of His Word, where we find His instructions.
Pick up in verse 14:
When the hour came, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him.
And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
for I say to you, I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves;
for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.”
And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, which is being given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup, which is poured out for you, is the new covenant in My blood.
Remember. Remember His betrayal, remember his instructions, third…
These verses are familiar to us. We reference them every time we receive the Lord’s Supper, like we’re doing today.
One thing we have to remember is that Jesus and His disciples have spent at least two other Passover meals with Jesus before this one. But it is only now… as they are about to face the greatest challenge of their lives… a challenge that they will ultimately fail… It’s only now that Jesus sees fit to talk to them about this bread being His body and the cup being His blood.
Why do it now? Why hasn’t this been a repeated image at every single Passover they’ve celebrated together?
Well, because this Last Supper is all about Hope. It’s meant to place images in their minds to help them understand that the coming crisis will not be an accident. In just a few hours they’re going to see Jesus arrested, beaten and crucified. And they’re going to be afraid. And they’re going run away. And they’re going to assume that they’ve lost.
Jesus gave this talk because He wanted His disciples to understand: the crucifixion was the point. The crucifixion was the whole reason they were there to begin with. If Jesus hadn’t gone to the cross for our sins… they would have lost. And we would have lost.
And that’s we don’t just remember His betrayal and His instructions. We also…
Remember His sacrifice.
Remember His sacrifice.
Because we didn’t lose… Jesus did go to the cross – He died – He was buried – and on the 3rd day He rose from the dead.
As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:
For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Jesus gave His body, Jesus shed His blood, and He didn’t just do it randomly. He did it intentionally, very intentionally, for us. In John 10, he put it this way:
For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it back.
No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back. This commandment I received from My Father.”
Jesus did these things for us, and if we’re going to have any victory in this life over sin and death, we must, we absolutely must, remember His sacrifice.
And not just remember it; we have to own it. Let me ask you, have you owned that truth—that Jesus died for your sins, that He gave His life so that you could know God?
There’s a book I have in my office that’s a great book on the cross of Jesus and everything He endured for us. It’s called the Cross of Christ, by John Stott. Listen to what he has to say:
“I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statute of Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world.
But each time, after a while I have had to look away. And in imagination, I have turned instead to the lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross; nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness.
That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain.
He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of His. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross which symbolizes divine suffering.
Remember. Remember His betrayal, remember His instructions, remember His sacrifice. Let’s remember these things as we receive the Lord’s Supper together.
