 But today we're looking at the Passover celebration and the institution of communion. So let's begin reading at verse seven here. In Luke chapter 22, we'll read verses seven through 13 and we'll get into our study. Luke chapter 22, beginning at verse seven, reading to verse 13. Luke writes, then came the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John saying, go and prepare the Passover for us that we may eat. So they said to him, where do you want us to prepare? He said to them, behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where he enters. Then you shall say to the master of the house, the teacher says to you, where's the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? Then he will show you a large furnished upper room. There, make ready. So they went and found it just as he had said to them and they prepared the Passover. Now as we begin, let's remember a little bit for a moment here. Let's remember that last time we're together, we saw how that Judas had arranged, made an arrangement to betray the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a secret meeting that had taken place in the Jewish High Council called the Sanhedrin and Caiaphas who convened that meeting was greatly concerned, concerning the popularity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so there was a desire on their heart to take the Lord Jesus and to try him, but they were greatly concerned because if they were to do so in a way that was open, then it might cause a riot. And so that's the problem they have. How can we take the Lord Jesus Christ, try him as a heretic and do so without an uproar, without a riot? And they're greatly concerned about that because the Lord Jesus Christ is extremely popular. Just a little earlier, Jesus had entered into the city of Jerusalem and what is referred to as the triumphal entry. And as he had entered in, the people there were greatly amazed at him and had been shouting praises to him. You see that in Luke chapter 19, how in verse 37 through 40, it says he was drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives and the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees called to him from the crowd, teacher, rebuke your disciples. But he answered and said to them, I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out. And so they were greatly concerned at the popularity of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were trying to stifle praise. They didn't want the disciples to be calling out Hosanna to him and all. And the people and yet there was no way that Jesus was gonna stifle that. Now they're concerned. And so they're wondering how they're gonna be able to capture Jesus without having a riot. And so he entered Judas. Judas comes in and he provides an answer for them. And what had happened, as we saw in John chapter 13, verse two, is that Judas has surrendered to the influence of Satan. And so he went and he made an arrangement in order that the Lord Jesus Christ might be betrayed to them. And he did so as we saw last time for 30 pieces of silver. He betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. That word betray means to deliver up treacherously to cause someone to be taken. And so that's what he's going to do. He's gonna let Jesus Christ be taken. And so now he's beginning to await his opportunity. As this is all going down, verse seven, we begin to see that the day of unleavened bread has come and this is when the Passover must be killed. When you study your Old Testament, you see that there are various feast days or festivals, celebrations that the Jews would observe throughout the calendar year. They have the Feast of Pentecost, also called the Feast of First Fruits, which celebrated God's provision at harvest time. They have the Feast of Trumpets, also referred to as the Festival of Rejoicing, calling on God to give favor and grace to Israel. They have Yom Kippur, the High Holy Day. And once a year, there's a sacrifice offered for sins by the High Priest. They have the Feast of Tabernacles, also called Festival of Booths, commemorating Israel's wandering in the wilderness. They have the Feast of Dedication, we know it as Hanukkah, commemorating the Maccabees' victory over Antiochus. And then you have the Feast of Purim or the Feast of Lotts, which celebrated the protection from slaughter of the Jews in Persia and you find that in the Book of Aster. They also celebrate the Passover, the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And so what they're doing here is they're celebrating these Feasts. Now, they are two separate Feasts, as I mentioned last time, but they are actually celebrated in connection. It begins with the Passover, which is a single day Feast and it's followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And both of these Feasts are to celebrate Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage. And that's what they're doing here, is they're celebrating the deliverance. The nation of Israel celebrates Passover to this day. Children of Israel had gone to Egypt and had remained in Egypt in their history for four centuries. Ultimately, what had happened as a pharaoh had arisen who didn't remember Joseph and the good that Joseph had done for the nation of Egypt. And so when that happened, we know the story, as we found in the book of Exodus, we know that he began to work against to persecute the Jewish people. Ultimately, the children of Israel began to cry out to God because of the bondage and the suffering that they were going through. And God heard their cry and God raised up a man to bring deliverance to them, a man by the name of Moses. And as you study in the first few chapters of the book of Exodus, you see how that God uses this man, Moses, as the deliverer. Now initially, when God begins to speak to Moses, he's there by a bush in the wilderness that is aflame but is not burning or being consumed. And Moses seen this burning bush as he sees it there in that wilderness, he turns aside and he wants to look at it, examine it. Why is this on fire and not being consumed? And you know the story, you know that he walks up to this site and the voice of the Lord speaks to him and says, remove your shoes, the place that you're standing is holy ground. And God begins to speak to Moses and God says to him, I've heard the cry of the children of Israel and I have come down to see whether these things are so. And he says, and I've made a decision that I'm gonna deliver them and I'm gonna do so through you. And Moses, you know, after that point was probably saying, yeah, good thing. But when he says, I'm gonna use you, that's where Moses begins to argue with the Lord and says, listen, I'm not eloquent, I'm unable to speak. And that's when God says to him, who made your mouth? All you need to do is trust me. And what's that in your hand? And well, he had a staff in his hand. He says, throw it on the ground and he drops it on the ground there and it becomes a serpent. And can you imagine what Moses is thinking as this wooden staff is transformed into a living thing? And then once again, Lord says, take it in your hand and he takes it and once again it's a staff and he says, put your hand inside of your robe there and then pull it out. And he sticks his hand in his robe and pulls it out and now it's leprous. And he says, no, you can put it back in and pull it out again and now it's healed. And God is making it very clear to him that he is going to use him and he's gonna use miracles. He's gonna do wonders amongst the nation of Egypt to deliver the children of Israel. And that's what God does. He brings a series of plagues. You've seen the movie, The Ten Commandments. He brings a series of plagues and you see the water turned to blood and the flies and the boils and the whole nine yard. You see all of these things. Every one of those according to the book of Exodus is judgment on the gods of Egypt and then ultimately the firstborn is slain. All of this is leading up to what is called the Passover. Passover is found in Exodus chapter 12 when God gives commands to the children of Israel there and tells them that they're gonna be set aside, that they're gonna have a certain meal. They're gonna eat a lamb and they're supposed to take the blood and they're supposed to put it on the doorpost and that when the avenging angel comes through and is slaughtering all the firstborn from Pharaoh to the lowest slave in the nation, they will be passed over by this avenging angel and they will survive when all the others are judged and destroyed. And so from that point on in Exodus chapter 12, throughout the history of Israel up to this point, they still celebrate Passover. It's a feast, a festival that they continue to celebrate and it's a feast that is intended to celebrate Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage. Now I want you to notice here in verse seven that it says it's the day of unleavened bread. Unleavened bread. The reason it is unleavened is because in the Bible, sin is often portrayed symbolically by leaven. Leaven is small, but leaven it only takes a little bit for it to be able to infect an entire lump of dough. And so that's how sin is in a person's life. It may seem small, but it is capable of spreading throughout the whole person and so in the Bible very often leaven is a type of sin. You see it in Matthew chapter 16 verses 11 and 12, how it says, how is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread, but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. In Luke in chapter 12 at verse one, he had written in the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together so that they trampled one another he began to say to his disciples first of all, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. And so leaven very often is a type of sin that you find in Scripture. Now during this time, the time of the Passover, it is recorded that over 250,000 Passover lambs were slaughtered in Jerusalem. Now tradition required that no fewer than 10 people or more than 20 could eat one lamb. And so the estimate would be that as many as 2 million people would be in the city of Jerusalem slaughtering lambs for the Passover. And what makes that significant is all of the lambs and all of their blood combined could not cleanse away the people's sin. You see, the Bible declares Jesus Christ to be the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That's what John, the Baptist said in John chapter one, verse 29, when he saw Jesus coming toward him and he said, behold, the lamb of God who takeeth away the sin of the world. That's why in 1 Corinthians chapter five, verse seven, Paul would say purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump since you truly are unleavened for indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. And so in all of this slaughter, in all of this blood shed, in all of this sacrifice and all of these offerings, they were all to be repeated on a yearly basis. And we need to understand that and keep that in mind. Every year there was a slaughter and every year there was a remembrance. Even on the day of atonement, when they would make that one great offering that was supposed to expiate their sin for the year as they would come in faith and make that offering, we're told that there in the offering is remembrance because every year they have to do the same offering. Every year they have to do it once again because it is not possible that sin should be wiped out by the blood of bulls and goats. It took the precious blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us from all sin. And so the Passover slaughter, all of those lambs is a picture. It's something that is portraying the need for the blood shed but also there's a remembrance because there's a constant reminder of the past of deliverance, yes, but every year you're being reminded of that and then on that day of atonement again, they are remembering their sin. And so Jesus Christ who is the Passover lamb is to die for us and he's gonna pour out his blood for us one time for all time so that there never has to be another slaughter because his blood is enough. And that's the picture that we're having. And so in verse eight, it says he sent Peter and John saying go and prepare the Passover for us that we may eat. So they said to him, where do you want us to prepare? And so Peter and John are to go and notice he says go and prepare. When he says prepare, that would give us insight that the lamb has already been selected but now it has to be slaughtered and it's slaughtered by a priest. So they need to go and take care of that. Plus they need to go shopping if you will. They have to buy unleavened bread. They have to buy some wine and bitter herbs. They have to get some dates and apples, some pomegranates, nuts and cinnamon sticks. And then that lamb that they have is gonna be slain. It's slain at twilight, which would be between three and five in the afternoon. And some of its blood would be sprinkled on the altar and then it would be taken home. It would be roasted in preparation for an evening meal. So that's what Jesus is saying when he says in verse eight, go and prepare the Passover for us that we may eat. It's gonna take a lot of work and you're gonna have to go shopping and all of that. But as he says it to them, they have to ask the question in verse nine, where do you want us to prepare? You see, they had no place of their own. So they don't know the location of the meal. According to chapter 21 here in Luke verse 37, it says in the daytime, he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and stayed on the mountain, called all of it. They didn't have a place. They didn't know where they were gonna go to have this. They needed to have a place, a location for the meal. In chapter nine, verse 58, the Bible says that Jesus said, foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests. The son of man has nowhere to lay his head. And so they're saying where do you want us to go that we might prepare this meal? We don't have a place and certainly you must have prepared a place for us. And so he has. Verse 10, he said to them, behold, when you've entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house which he enters. And then you shall say to the master of the house, the teacher says to you, where's the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? And he'll show you a large furnished upper room. There make ready. So they went and found it just as he had said to them and they prepared the Passover. Well, there's so many pilgrims now in the city of Jerusalem. They have to make an assumption that Jesus has made arrangements. And he has. They're to follow a servant carrying water. Now it's interesting because I want you to see this in verse 10. It says, when you've entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Now, wait a minute. There are tons of people there. People drink water all the time. How are we gonna know who is supposed to lead us? You see, Jesus wants to make sure that Judas doesn't follow them at all. He wants to make sure that the feast that he's gonna have the location is kept secret because Judas could betray that location. So he has to have some kind of signal. But this would seem to me, at least upon first reading, that that wouldn't be much of a signal at all. Somebody carrying a pitcher, a man carrying a pitcher. Well, it wouldn't make sense unless you understood a little bit about Jewish culture. And that is very simply put that men didn't carry the pitchers of water. The women did. Oh, what a beautiful society. No, the women did. The women would carry the pitchers. Men, when men carried water, would carry it in water skins. So it would be common to see a woman carrying a pitcher, but if a man was carrying water, he'd be carrying a skin of water. And so when Jesus says, you're gonna see a man carrying a pitcher, that's an unusual thing. And it may not go, people may not really notice that because they're so busy. But the disciples are told, no, this is gonna be your signal. You're gonna walk into the city. There's gonna be somebody there with a pitcher. Obviously, the man with the pitcher will see them coming in and recognize them. And he'll walk past them. As he walks past them, in case Judas is somewhere around, they're not gonna notice what these two men are doing. They'll just walk following the guy and that's how Jesus does it. And so very easily he's helping them to find that place and that's what's gonna take place. And so what happens, verse 11, they finally get to the place that the man enters into and they speak to the master of the house. And all they need to say is the teacher says to you, where's the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? So obviously this is pre-arranged. And so all he needs to do is speak and ask that question. Now interestingly, Matthew adds another detail concerning this. You find it in Matthew chapter 26, verse 18. And when they're speaking in Matthew 26, 18, they are to say that the master says, my time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples. So my time is at hand. Once again, Jesus is on his own timetable and is moving according to it. In Galatians in chapter four, verses four and five, Paul said, when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. So God has his own timetable. Jesus is according to his father's hour, his father's timetable. And all he needs to do is say through his disciples, my time is at hand. It's time for me to be sacrificed and it's gonna work out. Now, I want you to notice something here. I want you to notice something very basic. His disciples obey his simple commands. Once again, very often when the Lord says something to us very simply in his scripture, all we need to do is the simple thing that he commands us to do. So very often we may think that we should do something very difficult for the Lord, but I've discovered that if I do the simple things that he gives me other things to do. If I'm faithful in that which is least, I will be faithful also in that which is much. If you are faithful in that which is least, you'll be faithful also in that which is much. That's why when my kids were growing up and starting to go out and they're 16 years old and they're asking to go out with their friends and all and I say to them, come home at a certain time, that's why if they come home on time, they're gonna be able to go out again. But if they come home late, they better have a very good excuse and if they have a lame one, they're not gonna be doing that again because I don't trust them because they didn't do the simple thing. It starts with cleaning your room. It starts with taking out the trash. It starts with the little things. You're asking for a car, when you don't even put your bike away. It's the small things and then it grows to the larger things. Ministry is the same way. The Lord speaks and says, I want you to do the small thing. It's the small things like reading the Bible. It's the small thing like learning to pray and having fellowship and being willing to share your faith. Those are small things. Those are not difficult things to do. When I first got saved, those are the basic things I was told to do. You know, last Saturday, I have the opportunity to speak to 8,000 men. But I didn't start out that way. I didn't get saved one day and the next day speak to 8,000 men. I started out by speaking to the one person God put in my path. I started out by talking to my parents. I started out by talking to my sister, to my friends, to people that I met, to people in the military, to people that I was going to school with. I started out that way. Every person I know that the Lord uses in any way that seems to be a large way started out the same way. You know, I remember the story, a story that Greg Laurie, everybody knows Greg in his wonderful evangelism and all. And I know the story how Greg had said that he had asked the Lord to give him ministry and to fill him with the power of the Holy Spirit. And he said, and he prayed, God, baptize me in your spirit. And he said, I didn't feel anything. And so I just thought, well, maybe God didn't. He says, and then I go and I'm ordering some food and at the jack in the box, and you got to be old to remember this. Jack in the box used to have a big clown head that was there that you actually pull up to and you'd have to talk to the clown. And you know, and then the voice would come out of this big old head, you know, what do you want? And if you'd been drinking, that was a very scary thing. But as Greg, Greg says how he pulled up and the jack in the box started talking to him. And he said, and before you know it, I'm trying to lead the jack in the box to Christ. You know, he's talking to the clown there. But you know, that's what happens when pastor Raul, when God was moving in Raul Reese, you know, Raul would go to the high school that he had at one time attended. And he would just go and he would sit in the center of the quad there where the kids were eating their lunch and he would read his Bible. And they used to throw things. They'd throw their milk on him. They'd throw their food at him, you know, just to mock him. They were crazy for doing that, but they would. And then one day finally the Lord spoke to Raul's heart and said, now's the time. He'd been going there for weeks, just sitting there and just reading the Bible for weeks. He had gotten permission to go on campus and never said anything, you know, just sat there waiting on the Lord. And he had a burden for the kids. He'd pray for them and he'd read his Bible, pray for them. And then one day Raul says how that the Lord finally said, now and he stood up and he climbed on one of those benches and he started to preach. And hundreds of kids came walking up to listen to him speak and 500 kids gave their hearts to Christ. The first time he gave a message there at that high school. But it's the small things. It starts out in the small things. And God will speak to you and he'll say, I want you to do the basic thing. No, I want to be used to do the great thing. Well, in whose side is that great? You know, everybody here remembers the names of some great guys. D. L. Moody was a great evangelist in the history of the United States. D. L. Moody, a former shoe salesman. And yet his Sunday school teacher came up to him. A Sunday school teacher who was concerned that every one of his students come to know Christ. And while D. L. Moody was there on the job selling shoes, his Sunday school teacher comes in and speaks to him and says to him, I want to make sure you know Jesus Christ and leads him to Christ there in the back room at a shoe store. Nobody remembers the name of the man who led him to Christ but many of us know the name of D. L. Moody. You know, everybody knows the name of Billy Graham. Everybody knows Billy Graham. He's the most famous evangelist of our day. And yet who here knows Mordecai Ham? Anybody ever hear of him? Most of us haven't. Mordecai Ham, who's that? Mordecai Ham was an evangelist who led a young 17-year-old boy by the name of Billy Graham to the Lord. That's who Mordecai Ham is. And so we don't know. We don't know some of the names of the people who led some of the names that we recognize to Christ. But it's doing the small things. It's being faithful in that which is least. And then God gives you something sometimes that is even greater. These people were told you simply do a small thing. I can't tell you how important that is. Do the small thing. Do the basic thing. The small thing. It's not difficult to be a strong Christian. You just have to make up your mind to be obedient whatever the Lord tells you to do. In this particular case, he says to them, listen, I want you to go into the city and you're gonna see somebody carrying a pitcher of water. Follow them. As you follow them, they're gonna lead you to a house. As you go into the house, the master of the house is gonna approach you. All you need to do is say, where is the guest room where the master and we can celebrate the Passover? That's all you need to do. And when you do that, it's gonna give it to you. And that's what happens. It says in verse 13, so they went. And they found it just as he had said to them and they prepared the Passover. Verse 14, when the hour had come, he sat down and the 12 apostles with him. Then he said to them, with fervent desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Then he took the cup and gave thanks and said, take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. And so the hour has come according to verse 14. It's somewhere around six o'clock Thursday evening. Jesus is at, he's having supper, he's reclining. Lying back on the left side of the couch, his right hand is free, and he's reaching onto the table and that was the normal way things were done at that day. And he begins to speak to them. He says, with fervent desire, I've desired to eat this Passover with you. When he says, with this fervent desire, with this great desire, I've wanted to have this Passover. It reminds me of what he had said in Luke 12, verse 50, when he said, I have a baptism to be baptized with and how distressed I am until it is accomplished. I have a desire. I wanna fulfill the purpose that I have been sent. I'm not an unwilling sacrifice. I am a willing sacrifice. And I'm here with great expectation to fulfill my Father's plan. And I have come here to do that. He says, with fervent desire, in verse 15, I've desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. That word's suffer before I undergo pain and passion, before I go through this. You see, the closer the hour of his death came, the greater he longed for it to come. Why? Because salvation is that important to him. Remember in John, you might wanna turn there with me for just a moment. John, chapter 12, remember something that Jesus said there. John, chapter 12, I wanna read that with you. It's found in verses 24 through 27. In John, chapter 12, verses 24 through 27, Jesus said this, most assuredly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it. And he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, let him follow me. Where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, him, my father will honor. Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose, I came to this hour. What am I supposed to say? Find a way to get me out of here? He says, no, because I came here for this. I came here that I might lay my life down voluntarily. Unless a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it's gonna abide alone. But if it dies, it will bring forth much fruit. Jesus knew that his death and burial and resurrection, it was gonna produce the church. And he loved us so much that he was longing to embrace the cross so that you and I could be set free from the bondage of sin that has so easily ensnared us. He loved us so much that he was willing to go through the most painful of deaths, and though he did not deserve it, in order that we might have that which we don't deserve. He loved us so much that he was willing to go through pain and suffering. And he did so because it fulfilled his father's plan to rescue us. It fulfilled his father's plan to set us free because the Bible teaches that if I am in sin, I am a slave to sin. And as a slave, I cannot dwell in my father's house. I need to be set free, and the way to be set free is through Jesus Christ who died on the cross to break sin's bondage in my life. And so when I committed my heart to Christ by receiving that sacrifice, I did not begin to embrace a new way of thinking alone. See, I think that's something that needs to be reiterated, and that's why recently I have felt the need to continue to say similar things, because I believe right now that the church in the 21st century, you know, 2008, that the church today reminds me an awful lot of the days just before I got saved when people would go to church services and think themselves Christians because they go to Christian churches. There are a lot of people today who absolutely are self-deceived into believing that they're Christians because they go to church. It reminds me of what it was like just before I got saved, where I thought I was a Christian. Recently I was interviewed for a documentary that's gonna be put out in about a year and a half. It's on the Jesus movement, and in that particular documentary, the lady interviewing me asks me the question, how did you get saved? And so I'm sharing my testimony with her and all, and most of you, not all of you, have already heard it, so I won't bore you with it now, but I will say this. I will say that when I went to the Hollywood Palladium, December 27th, 1970, as a 20-year-old young man, when I went to the Hollywood Palladium and heard the gospel, I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that I believed even when I was on the road going there, when I walked into the room, when I sat down on that carpet, around 4,000 people, I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that I believed I was a Christian. I believed it, and I would argue with you hammer and tong, and I would tell you things that I believed that if I were to speak to you today, if you had spoken to me, if I were in this room and you were witnessing to me as a non-believer at the age of 20, if you didn't know the life I was living, if you didn't know the way I was, if we were strangers and you were talking to me, you could have been deceived into thinking I was a Christian, because if you'd have asked me questions like who is Jesus Christ, I would have said he's the second person of the most holy Trinity. If you said you believe in the Trinity, Trinity I'd say yes, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, absolutely. If you'd have said, well, what is a Christian? I'd say a Christian is somebody who's a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, do you know anything about needing the Holy Spirit? Oh, absolutely, of course, you need the Holy Spirit. Why did I say that? Because I was confirmed at the age of 12 in the Catholic Church. I was able to give you the doctrine. I knew it. I was able to talk to you about baptism. I was able to talk to you about communion. I could talk to you about Christian doctrine. Now you and I, when we talked, I'd say we have a difference and a disagreement about some of these things. But I could have convinced you just through my theological knowledge, because I had received good training, that I knew these things, that they were real to me. If you didn't know I was an alcoholic and drug abuser, if you didn't know I was a thief, if you didn't know I was a violent person, if you didn't know those things about me, then you would have thought I was a Christian. And I could have convinced you that I was under normal circumstances, could have, because I was able to talk the talk. I believed I was a Christian when I went to the Hollywood Palladium. I believed I was a Christian the first time I went to Calvary Chapel. And I sat there with several hundred other hippie kids, enjoying the music, clapping my hands, just getting into it, even though just before I went, I was drinking my beer and smoking my pot, you know, and I thought I was a Christian. That's why when the invitation came and my friend turned to me and said, Dave, do you want to receive Christ? I looked at him and I said I'm already a Christian. I don't need to go forward. What for? I'm already, I've told you I'm already a Christian. That's how I was. And so that's why when I was there at the Hollywood Palladium, and they were standing up, and there were 4,000 kids, and we used to put our arms around each other's shoulders and we would sing and sway to the music. And you have to picture 4,000 hippies singing the song love, love, love, love, Christians, this is your call, love your neighbor as yourself, for God loves all. And I was standing there when everybody stood up, everybody had their arms around somebody else and I put my hands in my pockets. And as they had my hands in my pockets, I was the only person around that I could see that didn't have anybody's arms around their shoulders. And as my hands were in my pockets, I started feeling very uncomfortable. And I remember beginning to pray a sincere prayer and I said, man, I feel uncomfortable. And I heard a voice in my heart say, why? And I said, because I don't feel like I belong here. And I heard a voice in my heart say, what makes you different than these people? And I answered that voice by saying, because I'm not a Christian. That was the very first time in my life I was 20 years old that I ever admitted. And I thought it was just to myself I was admitting it. I didn't know that John 16, 8 applied. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. I didn't know it was a voice of the Lord speaking to my heart saying to me, what makes you different? And that I was convicted by the Spirit to agree with him by saying, because I am not a Christian for the very first time in my life and I thought I was just admitting it to myself in reality, I was admitting to God. I am not one of your followers. And as the Lord is my witness, a friend of my name George Adams was standing behind me and he and a girl named Lori and some of the kids I came with and I heard George say, David and I just turned with my hands in my pocket and I turned and I looked at him and he and Lori separated and made a space for me to come and slide in there. And I came and slid and I put my arms around George and I put my arm around Lori and I started swaying with him to that music. No, I wasn't being brainwashed and no, I wasn't giving over to emotionalism. But when I did that and I put my arms around them, that's when I started saying to the Lord, I need whatever it is that they have. They have something I don't have. And that's why when Arthur blessed the evangelist, got up and shared the gospel and he said, if you need to give your heart to Christ, then stand to your feet. That's why I sat there and I said, Jesus, I need you, but I'm shy. You know I can't stand in front of people but if somebody would stand with me, I would stand. Arthur blessed immediately says when I said, I will stand, Arthur blessed immediately says, perhaps you're afraid to stand by yourself but if somebody would stand with you, would you? And that's when George tapped my shoulder and said, I'll stand with you. I have never doubted God's ability to save because that's how I got saved. God has a way of reaching in that quiet moment of your life where you think it's just you and him in reality, he's moving other people, other people and he's just tying them together and he knew that almost 38 years later, I'd be standing right here in this pulpit, pastoring a church like I am right now, he knew that. I didn't, if you'd have told me, if you'd have told me at the age of 20, all that God was gonna do in my life, I would have said, you're crazy, what are you smoking? You're crazy, you're crazy. Are you kidding me? No, David, you're gonna go sit in a meeting with the president of the United States. Are you kidding me? Little Mexican kid from Norwalk, there with the president of the United States. Are you kidding me? I don't think so. You're gonna speak in front of 8,000 men for 16, 18 years. I'm gonna use you like that. Are you kidding me? Should the windows of heaven be open could such a thing happen? You watch and you will see. It's the small things. Do the small things. Trust him in the small things and watch what he does day by day, increasing and working in your life. It's the small things. And what we do is we simply understand that Jesus loved us and he gave himself for us. And we open up, not to a philosophy, we open up to a person. And it's not the power of persuasion, it's the power of the spirit that causes me to move on. It causes us to live. It's that Jesus said you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You shall be witnesses to me. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, unto the uttermost parts. You're gonna receive the spirit because it's not just adhering to certain precepts and certain things that I've taught. It's not just lessons that you've learned. It's a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Where your body actually becomes a temple of the spirit of God who lives within you, who dwells within you, empowering you. And the word of God is no longer simply the words on a book that we have in our lapper here on this desk, but he has written his word on the tablets of our hearts. And so we do those things from the inside that are pleasing to him. No longer are there rules and regulations that are written in stone, but they are now just embedded in the fleshly tablets of our hearts. And so we do those things that are within us because they please him and because we love him, not because we're so afraid and we're trying to earn our way to heaven, but because Jesus Christ laid his life down, his body was broken for me, his blood was poured out for me, and out of love I've responded. Jesus says in verse 16, I'll no longer eat of it until it's fulfilled in the kingdom of God back in Luke chapter 22. This is the last Passover that I will partake with you on earth. And all that it represents will be fulfilled in my sacrifice, which is about to take place because Jesus is the Passover lamb and he will be slain as the sin substitute and this type will be fulfilled. You see, during the Passover meal various things were taking place. The meal would begin with the host pronouncing a blessing over the first cup of wine, passing it to all present. Four cups were passed during the meal, the cup of blessing, the cup of affliction, the cup of redemption, and the cup of praise. The first cup would be drunk, then bitter herbs would be dipped in fruit sauce and eaten, a message would be given on the meaning of Passover. The first part of a hymn would be sung, it's called the Halal, it's found in Psalms 113 through 118, the Psalms of praise. The second cup, the cup of affliction would be passed, the host would break and pass around unleavened bread, then the meal would be eaten, which is the lamb, the Passover lamb. Then the third cup, the cup of redemption, after prayer would be passed, the rest of the halal would be sung. And the fourth cup, the cup of praise, celebrating the coming kingdom would be drunk immediately before leaving. And so the Lord Jesus Christ is participating in Passover. Now I want you to notice something here, you might not have noticed this, notice verse 17 and verse 20, because Luke mentions two cups. In verse 17 he's mentioning the first cup, which is the cup of blessing. But the second cup is mentioned in verse 20, which is the cup of redemption. So he takes the bread, he gives thanks, he breaks it and he gives it to them. He says, this is my body. When he says this is my body, the bread represents his body, but to a Jew, the word body represents the totality of the person. In the case of Jesus it includes his teaching ministry, his miracles, all that he did. This represents all that I am. And so the point he's making is I'm giving up all that I am for you in sacrifice that I may provide for you. Even as Paul in first Timothy verse six said, Jesus gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. So I give myself completely. In verse 20 he takes the cup after supper. This is the covenant in my blood. So the cup is a reminder of the blood that was poured out for atonement. The meal is almost complete. Jesus uses the third cup to illustrate redemption. The cup represents the lamb's blood that was smeared on the doorpost. It reminds us of what Jesus did on our behalf as we await his return. This is the last Passover that he celebrates with them on earth. The next time they gather together is when God's kingdom is established. We take the cup and we take the bread and we do it in remembrance of him. And we do so awaiting his return. Hebrews chapter nine verse 28 says, Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for him he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. So when you and I, when we take of this cup we do so, one, remembering what he has done, two, enjoying what he is doing, but three, awaiting his return. So whenever we take communion it is symbolic of what he has done, what he is doing and what he will do in the future. And so it keeps us motivated and keeps us serving him as we await him. Every time we take of that bread it represents the body broken for me. Every time I drink of that juice it represents the blood that was shed for the remission of my sins. I do so remembering what he did on the cross. That's why when Jesus said do this in remembrance of me my heart is drawn back, my mind is drawn back to his suffering, his passion and what it costs and what it means. But I also am aware of what he's doing right now. So I rejoice in that. And then I look forward to one day being with him. All of this wrapped up in this one holy ordinance that we Christians call communion that came out of what is called the last Passover. Jesus celebrated it with his disciples and it is a picture of his full sacrifice for us and his promise to not leave us alone but to return for us.