Transcript

The story is told of tribes which used to roam through the land now called Russia. One particular tribe had a leader who was known to be very powerful. He was physically very strong but also he was well-known for his great wisdom.

His word was absolute law in the tribe. A problem arose in the tribe in that someone was stealing things.

He demanded that the stealing stop or punishment would be decreed. The stealing continued so he established a punishment of so many lashes with a whip.

The stealing continued. The punishment increased and increased until finally when a thief was caught many of them did not live through the beating.

Then one day another thief was caught, but it turned out to be the mother of the great leader. She’d certainly die under such a beating, but he had given his word.

A date was set and the tribe began to debate whether he would break his own law because of his great love for his mother?

The day came: He ordered his mother to be brought forward. She was tied to the whipping pole and the whipmaster was called.

The great leader demanded that the punishment begin. Before he gave the final command though he stepped from his royal place, took off his garment, and stepped over to where his mother was.

He extended himself across her to cover her back with his and then said, ‘Let the beating begin.’ He took on his back that which would have caused her death. He took her punishment so that she might live.

So it is with our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We’re guilty sinners. We deserve the punishment and judgment of God because of our sins. But out of His love for us, Christ extended Himself upon the Cross and took our punishment. He faced the judgment of God against our sins and paid sin’s penalty and punishment for us.

And when we trust Him, that He died for our sins and rose again, we are saved from all our sins and are given the gift of eternal life.

We have been looking at Broken Things in the Bible. We’ve seen how we live in a broken, sin-cursed world, and how we each are broken and have broken God’s law and sinned. These broken things are the result of sin. And Christ’s body was broken as the result of sin.

But by the Cross and His broken body, He paid our sin debt in full and He makes us whole and new in Him when we trust what we did for us.

1 Corinthians 11:23: “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread.”

Paul wrote here that the practice of the Lord’s Supper was given to him as a special revelation from the Lord Jesus Himself. “For I have received of the Lord” Paul said.

Later in this book in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul wrote about the terms of salvation for today, the gospel which saves us from our sins. And he wrote that he had also received this message directly from the Lord:

“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand…For I delivered unto you first of all THAT WHICH I ALSO RECEIVED, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

The Lord Jesus Christ revealed the saving gospel of grace for today directly to Paul. We are saved from our sins and have a righteous standing before God by trusting that Christ died for our sins and rose again.

And it is a privilege to do it. We welcome it, because it causes us to remember; it causes us to stop and think about our Savior, His sacrifice, and His love and grace.

Next Paul says, “the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread.”

On the evening before His crucifixion, the Lord ate with the disciples in the upper room. It’s often called the last supper. The Last Supper was the Passover meal which was required of the Jews under the Law. And the Lord fulfilled and kept the Law perfectly.

Passover was a remembrance of Israel’s deliverance from their bondage in Egypt by God. But on the evening before Christ was crucified, after eating the Passover meal, the Lord established a new remembrance for Israel which superseded the old one.

It was a remembrance of a greater deliverance for Israel, deliverance from their spiritual bondage in being redeemed and set free from their sins by the Cross.

That was under the prophetic program and under law, but Christ revealed to Paul that under grace His will is that the Church, the Body of Christ also remember the deliverance from our spiritual bondage by the Cross by the Lord’s Supper.

When God established the Passover, He told Moses in Exodus 12:26,27: “And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?

“That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.”

Exodus speaks of when the children in Israel later asked their parents, what are we doing all this for at the Passover, why are we killing a lamb with blemish, then roasting it and eating it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs?

The parents were to explain how the Jews did this at the original Passover and that God’s judgment passed over their houses when He saw the blood from that lamb on their doorposts, and did not smite their firstborn as He judged the land of Egypt.

They were to tell their children that by this climactic plague and God’s strong hand He dramatically freed His people and delivered them out of their bondage in Egypt.

And when our children ask us, why are we doing this service of the Lord’s Supper, we have something to tell them also: how at the Cross, Christ’s body was broken for us, how the Savior took our sins on Himself and He willingly shed His blood and died for our sins.

And by God’s strong hand and Christ’s victorious sacrifice at the Cross, He has freed us and completely delivered us from the bondage of our sins.

Israel celebrated a remembrance of their deliverance from bondage in Egypt, and the Lord’s supper is also just that, a remembrance, a remembrance of our redemption, our deliverance from sin; it’s a memorial of the Cross, a remembrance of sins forgiven.

Exodus 12:27 tells us that when the people of Israel received this instruction about their deliverance they bowed their heads and worshipped. And so our hearts should be bowed and humbled and we should worship Him for our deliverance by His sacrifice for us.

God knows our hearts, and knows we need to be reminded. We forget. And so God instituted the Lord’s Supper as a remembrance for us, for a time to ponder, meditate, and thank Him for what He’s done for us, so we might keep the Cross ever before us.

1 Corinthians 11:24: “And when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me.”

Notice how it says that “the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed” that He took the bread, gave thanks, and broke it.

The same night He was betrayed, He gave thanks. The Lord knew that Judas would betray Him. John 13:21 says, “When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray Me.”

With the pain of that betrayal from one who followed the Lord His entire earthly ministry, which troubled Him in His spirit, He still gave thanks. And with the suffering of the cross before Him that next day, He still gave thanks.

You sometimes here the Lord’s Supper called the “eucharist” which means “the giving of thanks.” The words “when He had given thanks” in verse 24 is the Greek word “eucharisteo.” And this is where this title originated.

But like our Savior did the same night He was betrayed and in the shadow of the cross, the Lord’s Supper is about giving of thanks. It is a service of gratitude, a remembrance, a memorial of thanksgiving for our salvation. It is a grateful celebration of all our sins being forgiven because of Christ.

The Lord took the bread that was on the table for the Passover meal, and He broke it and said “Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you.”

The breaking of the bread reminds us of Christ’s suffering in His physical body as He paid the price for our sins. The punishment for sin involves both suffering and death.

The bread and the cup in the Lord’s Supper are symbols and metaphors. The meaning of Christ’s words are that the bread represents His body, and the cup represents His blood.

The broken bread is to remind us of Christ’s broken body, and the poured out juice is to remind us of the blood of Christ which was shed and poured out for us at the Cross.

It is all a picture, a visible sermon that proclaims the Cross and all Christ did for us, and by it, it reminds us in a very personal, powerful way how much our Savior loves us.

And notice that it says, “this do in remembrance of Me.” We don’t just remember an emblem, a wooden cross, we remember HIM; we remember our Savior; we remember the One who loved us so much His body was broken for us willingly, so we might live.

John 19:1-5: “Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on Him a purple robe, And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote Him with their hands.

“Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in Him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the Man!”

Attempting to appease the Jews who wanted Christ to be put to death, Pilate had Christ scourged verse 1 says. He hoped they would accept this rather than an execution.

There is a lot of suffering and agony involved in the statement that Pilate “took Jesus, and scourged Him.”

Roman scourging was designed to quickly remove the flesh from the body of a victim.

The instrument used for scourging was called a flagellum. It was a piece of wood 14 to 18 inches long. Attached to that wooden handle were two or three leather straps or lashes. Sewn in the end of those lashes were bits of metal, and sometimes glass and stones.

The victim was tied to a post by the wrists. The flagellum was brought all the way back and whistled forward, smashing against the skin, digging into it, and tearing it.

Two soldiers, one on each side, kept whipping again and again across the flanks and the back and the legs, ripping into the flesh. Arteries and veins were gashed and torn.

Roman scourging often exposed the bones and sometimes tore organs. It was a brutal, bloody beating. Some died from Roman scourging. Many passed out, only to be awoken by having a bucket of salt water thrown on them.

The Jews gave 40 lashes save one. The Romans didn’t have a number. We don’t know how many lashes they gave the Lord. We don’t know how long they pounded Christ with those whips, tearing and ripping His flesh.

After the scourging, the Lord was mocked and tortured by the soldiers. They platted or wove together a mock crown of thorns and cruelly shoved it down on His head, tearing into His scalp and brow, causing blood to flow down His face.

Warren Wiersbe points out, “Sin had brought thorns and thistles into the world, so it was only fitting that the Creator wear a crown of thorns as He bore the sins of the world on the Cross.”

In the soldier’s mocking of Christ as a King, they arrayed Him in kingly attire, a purple robe. In Matthew it says they also gave Him a “reed” or a stick, in other words, a mock scepter. Then they bowed to pay Him fake homage and said, “Hail, King of the Jews.”

Following this, John says that they stood up and hit Him in the face, with closed fists. Matthew says they also took His reed from Him and hit Him on the head with it, driving the thorns deep into his scalp.

Isaiah 50:6 says, “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.” At some point in all of this, they also grabbed handfuls of His beard and ripped it off His face.

Isaiah 52:14 reads, “As many were astonied at thee; His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.”

His “visage was so marred more than any man.” Having endured such excessive cruelty, viciousness, and malice, His appearance was so disfigured, so defaced, so destroyed, he scarcely retained the appearance of a human being. He was beaten beyond recognition, more than any man.

And the prophet says, “and many were astonied at thee.” In other words, to look at our Savior on that day was to be absolutely astonished. His appearance was so unspeakably awful it was astonishing, terrible and shocking. It was overwhelmingly horrifying.

The Lord is brought back to Pilate. Pilate goes out and speaks to the crowd first telling them, “Behold, I bring Him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in Him.”

And then the Lord is brought out wearing the crown of thorns and purple robe, drenched in blood. Pilate cries out to the crowd pointing to Christ: “Behold the Man.”

Think about Him standing there. “Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me.” Regarding our Lord’s suffering it’s been rightly said that we need to “speak less and think deeply.”

Seeing Christ in His terrible beaten and bloodied condition, instead of being moved to pity or compassion, the chief priests and people want it finished and immediately begin crying out “Crucify Him, Crucify Him.”

Pilate, a cowardly leader, gives way to the wishes of the mob, and concedes to the crucifixion. The Lord is led away to be crucified.

Having carried His Cross beam as far as He was physically able, then walking the rest of the way as it was carried by Simon of Cyrene, they arrived at Golgotha.

Dr. Truman Davis wrote this about Christ’s crucifixion from a medical perspective: “Jesus is quickly thrown backward with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood.

“Quickly, he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement.

“The left foot is now pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed.

“The Victim is now crucified. As He slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain—the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves.

“As He pushes Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He places His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again there is the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet.

“At this point, as the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain.

“With these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by His arms, the pectoral muscles are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to act.

“Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get even one short breath.

“Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically, He is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen…

“Jesus experienced hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain where tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber.”

Like the Passover lamb, none of His bones were broken, but His body was broken in His suffering for us.

His body was broken when they scourged Him and the skin burst open and was torn away, broken when they crowned Him with thorns and those thorns sank deep into His head and brow when they hit Him across the head, broken when they drove the nails through His hands and feet, broken when they pierced His side and the water and the blood came forth. He was broken for us.

He said “This is my body which is broken for you.” Now He desires that we be broken for Him, that we humble our hearts before Him and yield our lives to Him.

Romans 12:1: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

Paul Harvey told this in 1977 as part of his The Rest of the Story radio program. “It is gratitude that prompted an old man to visit an old broken pier on the eastern seacoast of Florida. Every Friday night, until his death in 1973, he would return, walking slowly and slightly stooped with a large bucket of shrimp.

The sea gulls would flock to this old man, and he would feed them from his bucket. Many years before, in October 1942, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea.

But there was an unexpected detour which would hurl Captain Eddie into the most harrowing adventure of his life. Somewhere over the South Pacific the Flying Fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio.

Fuel ran dangerously low, so the men ditched their plane in the ocean. For nearly a month Captain Eddie and his companions would fight the water, and the weather, and the scorching sun. They spent many sleepless nights recoiling as giant sharks rammed their rafts. The largest raft was nine by five. The biggest shark…ten feet long.

But of all their enemies at sea, one proved most formidable: starvation. Eight days out, their rations were long gone or destroyed by the salt water. It would take a miracle to sustain them. And a miracle occurred.

In Captain Eddie’s own words, “Cherry,” (that was the B-17 pilot, Captain William Cherry) “read the service that afternoon, and we finished with a prayer for deliverance and a hymn of praise. There was some talk, but it tapered off in the oppressive heat.

“With my hat pulled down over my eyes to keep out some of the glare, I dozed off. Something landed on my head. I knew that it was a sea gull. I don’t know how I knew, I just knew. Everyone else knew too. No one said a word, but peering out from under my hat brim without moving my head, I could see the expression on their faces.

“They were staring at that gull. The gull meant food…if I could catch it.” And the rest, as they say, is history. Captain Eddie caught the gull. Its flesh was eaten. Its intestines were used for bait to catch fish.

The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone sea gull, uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land. You know that Captain Eddie made it.

And now you also know…that he never forgot. Because every Friday evening, about sunset on a lonely stretch along the eastern Florida seacoast you could see an old man walking white-haired, bushy-eyebrowed, slightly bent.

His bucket of shrimp was to feed the gulls…to remember that one which, on a day long past, gave itself without a struggle…like manna in the wilderness.”

And he never stopped saying “Thank you.” That’s why almost every Friday night he would walk that beach with a bucket full of shrimp and a heart full of gratitude.

The Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for us. He gave His body to be broken for us, He shed His blood and gave His life that we may live, that He might save us from our sins and have eternal life.

And our hearts should be filled with gratitude as we think of the Lord’s sacrifice for us.

And like Captain Eddie we should remember and never stop saying “Thank you” to Him, and to also demonstrate that gratitude by living a life that is transformed by His grace.