Series: The Things Jesus Took
The Life: The Sacrifice of Surrender
Matthew 26: 26-28
 
In the Western section of London is a cemetery known as Bun hill Field. For many years, Bun hill Field has been considered to be the Westminster Abbey of Christianity. It was a dissenter's cemetery. That is, if one was not a part of the Church of England, in those days, then they could not be buried in a Church cemetery. Thus, many "dissenters" from the Church were buried in what was known as "No Man's Field," known today as Bun hill Field.
 
As you journey through the cemetery you come across the graves of Susannah Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley. There is the grave of John Bunyan, the man who wrote "Pilgrim's Progress." There is the grave of William Dafoe, the author of the classic, "Robinson Crusoe." There are also the graves of John Gill, John Owen and John Rippon, some of the greatest Puritan preachers of that day.
 
However, near the far eastern corner of the cemetery lies a grave of a man named Isaac Watts. Isaac Watts almost single-handedly revolutionized congregational singing. It was from his pen we have the favorite:
 
"At the Cross, At the Cross;
Where I first saw the light,
And, the burden of my heart rolled away.
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And, now I am happy all the day!"
It was also from the pen of Isaac Watts that we received, what many have called, including Charles Spurgeon, the "most perfect hymn ever written," contained in the words:
 
"When I survey the wondrous Cross,
On which the Prince of Glory died.
My richest gain, I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride!"
 
Oswald Chambers said, "All Heaven in interested in the Cross of Christ, and all hell is terrified of it. While men are the only beings who more or less ignore its meaning!"
 
C. H. Spurgeon once said, "People have often asked me, ‘What is the secret of your success?' I always reply that I have no other secret but this, that I have preached the cross-not about the cross-but the cross. Whatever subject, topic or sermon that I am preaching I always head cross-country to the Cross. It is the full, free, glorious gospel of the Living Christ, who is the Incarnation of the Good News. Preach Christ, crucified, risen and coming again, brethren, always and everywhere."
 
As we continue to look at "The Things Jesus Took," we find a passage, in Matthew 26, where the shadow of the Cross falls upon the scene. Jesus stands only a few hours away from the Cross. Thus, to share with His disciples certain truths about His life, and death, we once again find Jesus taking something.
 
We have seen how He "took" the lad to define the secret of success. We have seen how He "took" the lunch to show the source of sufficiency. 
 
We have seen how He "took" the linen to illustrate the standard sanctification. Today, we see Jesus as He "took" the "bread" and the "cup" representative of His life and the sacrifice of surrender.
 
1. The PICTURE
 
When Jesus "took" the "bread" and the "cup," He established these two ordinary items as everlasting symbols of His death. These two items are everlasting memorials of His death.
 
Every time we, as believers, commemorate the Lord's Supper, we take of the "bread" and the cup." We do so because they are everlasting symbols of His death. 
 
"For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come." (1 Corinthians 11: 26)
 
Thus, again, when Jesus "took" the "bread" and the "cup" he was giving an object lesson, a visualization regarding the picture of His death. 
 
If they are a symbol or a picture, what then, do they represent? What does the "bread" and the "cup" symbolize? What is the meaning that these symbols reveal? 
 
First, the "bread" reminds us of his human body that was shattered
 
Verse 26
 
Note the phrase “broke it”. Over in 1 Corinthians 11:24, we are told that He instructed them to eat by saying, “this is my body, which is BROKEN for you." 
 
The word "broken" literally means, "To shatter." It reminds us of His humanity and how He who was fully God would become fully man. He became flesh, and His human body would endure unimaginable pain, agony and torment. 
 
He became flesh that He could become man. He became man that He might die as a man and become a substitute for man.
 
And the "bread" is a reminder of His flesh. He was a real man who really died. 
 
The we are told in verses 27-28 about the cup.
 
What dos the cup represent?
 
The cup represents His Heavenly blood that was shed.   
 
I love the great hymn of the faith, "Grace Greater Than Our Sin." However, there is a line in the first stanza that I think gives a wrong impression, and in fact, may be theologically incorrect. The stanza reads:
 
"Marvelous grace of our loving Lord.
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt.
Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured,
There, where the blood of the Lamb was SPILT!"
 
Friend, His precious blood at Calvary was not spilt, it was SHED. 
When something is "spilt" it describes an accident. And, the blood of the Jesus was not a dramatic accident, but a divine appointment. 
 
I love the words of Dr. Ian Paisley, "The King's Highway has been blasted out of the Rock of Ages and cemented together by the blood of Cross. It is the only way from the City of Destruction to the City that lies Foursquare. Men sail to hell on the Dead Sea of sin; but, we sail to Heaven on the Red Sea of the Redeemer's blood!"
 
The "bread" is a picture of His human body that was shattered. The "cup" is a picture of His heavenly blood that was shed. Although they are but symbols, their blessed meaning deserves respect.
 
Now don’t miss the point: That’s the meaning, but what is the message. You see, it is possible to grasp a theological understanding of the symbols and miss the impact of it. 
 
Many acknowledge Jesus, and give a head nod to His historicity. But there is a message in the meaning, and the message is, “Observe these symbols in remembrance of Me.” 
 
Luke records it this way: 
"This is my body which is given for you: this do in REMEMBRANCE of me." (Luke 22: 19)
 
Twice Paul uses the statement,
"Do this in REMEMBRANCE of Me." (1 Cor. 11: 25, 27)
 
The message of the "bread" and the "cup" is very simple. We are to never forget that Jesus died for us. We are to never forget that He died so that we might live. In fact, the words "Do this," speaks of a repetitive action. In other words, “we are to always remember, and never forget, that His human body was shattered, and His heavenly blood was shed for us.
 
An 80-year-old couple was having problems remembering those good times, though they were having problems remembering anything. So they went to see their doctor to get checked out. They explained and, after checking the couple out, the doctor said they were physically OK, and they should write things down, make notes. They thanked doc and left.
 
Later while watching TV, the man got up from chair and the wife asked,
"Where are you going?"
 
"To the kitchen."
 
"Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?"
 
"Sure."
 
"Don't you think you should write it down so you can remember it?"
 
"NO, I can remember that."
 
"Well, I would also like some strawberries on top. You had better write that down, because I know you will forget that."
 
"I can remember that you want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries."
 
"Well, I also would like whipped cream on top. I know you will forget that, so write that down."
 
With irritation in his voice, he said, "I don’t need to write that down; I can remember that!" He then fumes into the kitchen.
 
After about 20 minutes he returns and hands her a plate of bacon and eggs. She stares at the plate for a moment and says angrily, "I TOLD you to write it down You forgot my toast!"
 
May I say how easy Christians forget! How easy it is for us to lose sight of what Jesus did for us! How easy it is to forget the wonder of it all! How easy it is to forget what it means to be a child of the King!
 
We come to church, and rub shoulders with the very things of God, and become so accustomed to them, we’ve forgotten the great price that He paid to make those things available to us.
 
We get caught up in church activity and selfish pursuits and forget that the salvation we enjoy was free, but it WAS NOT CHEAP! It costs us nothing, but it cost God EVERYTHING! It was purchased by the Lord Jesus at a tremendous price. 
 
However, Jesus took the "bread" and the "cup" to say to us: NEVER FORGET! 
 
As Jennie Hussey said in her great hymn:
 
"Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget Thine Agony.
Lest I forget Thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary."
 
As I look at what Jesus said and did; I see Him explaining the type of death He was soon to die. He not only wanted His disciples to remember the picture of His death; but, also
 
2.   The PROCEDURE
 
He wanted them to know the kind of death He would die. There is a reference to that, again, in the word “shed”
 
Verse 28
 
The word "shed" is literally means, "To pour forth." At other times, the word is translated "poured out." 
 
Dr. Luke describes the death of Judas by using the word.
 
"Falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels GUSHED OUT!" (Acts 1: 18)
 
The words "gushed out" are the same as the word "shed" in our text. Thus, when Jesus spoke of His blood being shed, He used a word that described the severity of the death that He would die. 
 
He would experience more than a little bleeding from a little wound. He would experience the kind of wounds which would cause His blood to gush, and pour out. It would be a savage death.
 
Isaiah 53 gives a glimpse into the torture inflicted upon Him. Isaiah used words like, "stricken, smitten of God, afflicted;" "wounded, bruised, and stripes." In Isaiah 52: 14, he prophesied that "his appearance" would be "marred more than any man."
 
In other words, the death of Jesus was a savage death, an inhumane death, and an imaginable death. He suffered as no man had ever suffered. He endured incomprehensible agony, torment, and pain. 
 
In his book, "The Life of Christ," Frederick Farrar said, "A death by crucifixion seems to include all that pain and death have to offer...horrible and ghastly. Dizziness, cramps, thirst, starvation, sleeplessness, traumatic fever, shame, publicity of shame, long continuance of torment, horror of anticipation, mortification of intended wounds. All intensified just up unto the point they can be endured at all. All stopping short of the point that would give the sufferer relief of unconsciousness."
 
The Roman method of crucifixion was the worst form of Capital punishment known to man. It began with the scourging of the victim. Many never got past that particular stage. They would be whipped with what was known as a "cat-of-nine-tails" which was a wooden handle with 9 leather strips on it, each strip embedded with glass, or razor sharp pieces of metal.
 
A victim would be tied to a pole with his arms pulled up in the air. As the whip came down on the back, it would rip hunks of flesh from with every lash. Many times the whip would wrap around the body, cutting open their stomach area, ripping the victim's insides out. 
 
Many victims bled to death at this point. However, if they did endure the scourging stage, then followed the agonizing torture of being crucified on a cross. The criminal would be laid down upon the cross, followed by his feet and hands nailed to the cross by spikes. 
 
Once the victim was nailed to the cross, he would then be lifted up in agony, shame, and humiliation. Many times, just the lifting up of the cross would break several bones in their body. Those long, tortuous hours of hanging on a cross, usually ended in death by suffocation or the heart bursting.
 
The death of the cross was an agonizing, vicious and savage death.
 
But let me show you another important word in these verses. It is the word “took”.
 
The word "took" speaks of "accepting that which has been offered." In other words, He took to Himself that which He made symbolic of His death. He embraced it. Get the picture: Here he stands holding the cup and bread in His hands. 
 
It was as if Jesus was saying, "I accept the death that is before Me. I willingly, voluntarily and submissively yield to the death of the Cross." By taking the bread, and cup into His hands, He was indicating that His death was a submissive act. His destiny was in His own hands.
 
From a divine perspective, His death was appointed and arranged by God. From a human perspective, His death was accomplished and allotted by wicked hands that laid hold of Him, and crucified Him. However, although wicked hands took Him, it was an act of being willing to die. He was willing to let them take His life.
 
Jesus, Himself said of His life,
"No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself." (John 10: 18)
 
The word "lay" means "To place in a passive or horizontal position." In other words, He was not forced to bear the cross. They did not take Him kicking and screaming. Quietly, voluntarily and submissively He laid down His life, and allowed them to nail Him to the Cross.
 
His death was savage. It was submissive, and it was sacrificial.
 
The savage and submissive death was the result of His death being:
 
Dr. Evan O'Neil Kane was a pioneering physician who believed most surgeries should be performed with local, not general anesthesia. To prove his point, he decided to operate using only local anesthesia. But he was not able to find a willing volunteer to be the patient. 
 
Having performed nearly 4000 appendectomies, Dr. Kane applied a local anesthesia to himself and removed his own appendix. He made medical history by becoming the first doctor to operate on himself.
 
If I could put it this way, at the cross, Jesus operated on Himself. He who "knew no sin" was made to "be sin for us." 
He willingly, voluntarily, and submissively made Himself the sacrifice for sin. Jesus did not come to offer a sacrifice; He came to BE the sacrifice. The Great High Priest and the Sacrifice was the same Person.
 
Notice what Jesus did with the "bread" and the "cup" once He took them, and blessed them. 
 
[26] "He gave it to the disciples."
[27] "Gave it to them."
 
What He did with the symbols of His death spoke of why He was willing to die the death He did. 
 
When He gave them the "bread" and the "cup," He was giving Himself to them, and for them. When He gave them the "bread" and the "cup" He was giving His life for theirs. 
 
I can't help but believe that is the meaning of Paul's words,
"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5: 8)
 
C. H. Spurgeon, nearing the close of his life, said to a friend, "I am tranquil and happy, though very weak. My theology is now very simple. I can express it in just four words. I don't say they contain all you should preach, or that they are sufficient to live by, but I know they are enough to die by: JESUS DIED FOR ME!"
 
He was willing to die a savage death, and a submissive death, because He had in view a sacrificial death. 
He died for you, and He died for me! When He was on the Cross, YOU were on His mind!
 
The Picture
The Pattern, and  
 
3. The PURPOSE
 
Verse 29
 
There is the entire purpose for His coming to this earth to die. Jesus did not just come to this earth to live a good life for 30-plus years. He came with a purpose and for a purpose. He came because of:
 
Man’s undeniable guilt
 
Verse 28
 
Sin necessitates a sacrifice. Had there been no sin, there would have never been a sacrifice. And, had there never been a sacrifice, there would have never a substitute, or someone to die in the place of another.
 
Man, by nature, is a sinner. WE ARE NOT SINNERS BECAUSE WE SIN; WE SIN BECAUSE WE ARE SINNERS. Thus, man stands before God, in his sin, guilty and condemned to die, because "the wages of sin is death."
 
I read about a New Jersey artist who came up with the idea of selling "guilt kits." Each kit contained ten disposable paper bags and a set of instructions that read, "Place bag securely over your mouth, take a deep breath and blow the guilt out. Dispose of the bag immediately."
Amazingly, he sold about 2,500 kits at $2.50 each, because many people were carrying around a load of guilt, and searching for some way to remove it.
 
There is no way for us to remove the guilt of our sin. The law of God reveals our sin, numbers our sin, lists our sins, and magnifies our sin. The law of God demands payment. The law of God demands punishment. The law of God demands penalty. The law of God cries out, "You are guilty, and you must pay the price."
 
As sinners, we have nothing to pay to satisfy the law of God. God only accepts one standard; and that is PERFECTION! Thus, everyone is excluded, because "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
 
However, God knew before the foundation of the world that man would sin, and his sin would necessitate a sacrifice. God has always demanded a sacrifice for sin; a blood sacrifice. Jesus was God's provision of a substitute to die in man's place. 
 
Thus, Jesus is saying that by His shed blood, that man, who is a sinner that deserves eternal death, can be saved and enjoy eternal life. He was saying that man can now enjoy the forgiveness, or the "remission of sins."
 
"What can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
O precious is the flow,
That makes me white as snow,
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Watchman Nee said, "The Blood deals with what we have done, whereas the Cross deals with what we are. The Blood disposes of our sins, while the Cross strikes at the root of our capacity for sin."
 
Jesus did not die just to die; He died because man was dead. The shedding of His blood reveals the undeniable guilt of man. 
 
But it also reveals
 
God's Undeserved Grace
 
Jesus makes a most interesting statement referring to His blood that was shed at the cross.
 
[28] "For this is my blood of the new testament."
 
He spoke of His blood being a "new testament." The word "testament" speaks of a "will, contract, or covenant." It described a binding will made by a person to ensure proper disposal of goods upon the death of the person making the will.
 
In the New Testament we find two covenants mentioned. There is the "old covenant" and the "new covenant," which Jesus described in our text. The "old covenant" refers to the law with all its outward institutions and ritualistic services. 
 
In it, God said, “Do this, and you’ll live”. And man agreed, but man didn’t and couldn’t. 
 
So God made a new covenant. In this one, God said, I’ll do it all. And I’ll do it by grace through faith. And all you’ll have to do is accept it. 
 
You won’t have to maintain it, or earn it or deserve it. Just accept it. And this "new covenant" is a covenant of grace.
 
And by submissively yielding to the death of the Cross, Jesus was saying, "Whosoever will may come! It matters not who you are or what you have done, you can come to Me and find salvation."
 
Two men graduated from college. One became a successful lawyer and later became a judge. The other man went on to become the town drunk. One day, the drunk was arrested and was found guilty for an offense that he had committed. But, to his amazement, the judge was his former classmate. 
 
The lawyer wondered what the judge was going to do under the circumstances. To his surprise, he pronounced the heaviest monetary penalty the law would allow upon his friend. Then, the judge left his bench, removed his robe and walked over to the clerk and paid the debt himself.
 
Man's sin left him with a debt he could not pay. Jesus, who was not obligated to pay the debt, left the Heavenly courtroom, to pay a debt He did not owe.
 
By His death He declared that salvation was not based on who we are and what we do. Salvation is based on who He is and what He has done! Salvation is not a "Do," or a "Don't." It is a DONE! It is not something we can earn, merit, or deserve. It is not something we can do for ourselves. It is something that He does for us, by His grace.
  
Andrew Tellford describes grace as, "Anytime God looks our direction." At the Cross, God looked in our direction. When we couldn't get to Him, He came to us and did for us something we could not do and we did not deserve.
 
Years ago, in a large metropolitan city a little boy had wondered far away from his home. He had been gone for some time when a policeman found him sitting on a curb. He sat down next to the boy who was very distraught, and was weeping uncontrollably. The little boy informed the policeman that he had wondered away from home, and could not find his way back. 
 
The policeman reassured the young lad that he was going to help him find his way back home, and ask him for his telephone number to call his parents. However, the lad informed the policeman that there was no telephone in their home.
 
The policeman then asked him if he could remember what street that he lived on. However, the boy could not remember. The policeman had thought of everything he knew to try to help the young boy, and then finally he asked him if there was some distinct landmark that might jog his memory. 
 
The little boy thought for a moment, and then a radiant smile came across his face. He said, "Yes, officer. Behind my house there is a church with a large cross on its steeple. And, I believe that if you can get me to that cross, then I can find my way home!" 
 
There was a day when I wondered helplessly and hopelessly through this world as lost as I could be, and could not find my way. But, one day, when I came to the cross, Jesus showed me my way home. 
 
Someone might look at this wicked, evil, and sinful world around us and ask, "Why doesn't God do something about sin?" 
 
HE DID!! At the cross,
God the Son said,
        "IT IS FINISHED!"
                God the Father said,
                        "PAID IN FULL!"
                                God the Holy Spirit said,
                                        "I'M ON MY WAY!"
 
He "took" the "bread" and the "cup" to give His life for mine as the sacrifice of surrender.