Handling Christians (Part A)

Communion is a sacred act to us. That's why Satan infiltrates it. Surprise! Who is surprised by that? Who would be surprised that Satan would target the most sacred things that we have in this life?

He won't be able to get to them in the next one, but right now he can. While he can defile a heart, he cannot defile this table. Judas, he chose to be a traitor, but he wasn't the last traitor to be at the communion table down through the centuries. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Gospel of Mark.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, here's Pastor Rick in Mark chapter 14 as he begins a new study called, Handling Christians. Surely I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, All of you will be made to stumble because of me this night, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter said to him, Even if all are made to stumble, I will not be. Jesus said to him, Surely I say to you that today, even this night before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.

But he spoke more vehemently. If I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And they all said likewise. Handling Christians started to entitle it Handling Peter. But then I saw some of you in these words. I saw us, we Christians, handling Christians from communion to contention.

That's what happened. Before I start talking about Mark, as we gather Sunday after Sunday, and the world outside is ablaze, as it always is, I am reminded of what Paul said to the Romans while he lived in Corinth. It applies to the world right now. It is applied to the world through the ages.

He says, Being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. They are whisperers, and he continues, Paul does. And here we are, we are focused on Jesus Christ, not the blaze that is going on outside, though the people that are there, hopefully, are on our hearts.

We have his passion. His passion was to save souls, and it still is to save souls. When John the Apostle started that first chapter of his gospel, he talked a bit first about John the Baptist. And he says in the seventh verse of John's gospel chapter one, he says, This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all through him might believe. John is saying that John the Baptist, John the Baptizer, was all about getting people to believe in Jesus Christ, and our mission is identical in that regard. And God has not left it entirely up to his people or his pastors, of which we are his people also, he's not left it up to us to decide what to address in the church, not entirely. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. He is the one through whom God makes himself available to us, through God the Holy Spirit, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

He is every bit of God, as is the Father and as is the Son. And Jesus said this about the Holy Spirit, he says, I'm not going to leave you orphans. I will give you the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father. He will testify of me.

He's going to preach me. And that's what John was saying, that we would, that all would believe. That's what John said, that all would believe.

Now all will not believe. We're after the ones who will. We just don't know who they are. Personally, I know everyone's social security number.

I just don't know who they go with. That's the hard part. God the Holy Spirit occupies himself with testifying of Jesus Christ, and so must we. And so, again, while the world is doing its thing, we're not in here talking about that word that starts with a C and ends with a 19, and all the other things going on. We're talking about Jesus Christ, because all these things are going to pass away, but he will not. The Holy Spirit is the substitute on earth for the bodily presence of this Jesus whom we preach.

He is the unseen presence of Jesus Christ, and he testifies of Christ. And if God the Holy Spirit testifies of Christ, then so must I. And that's why Paul said, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ, that all would believe.

That's what we are about, and we have no plan B, and we're quite proud of that. In the world, we have plan B and C for things that may not go the way we plan, but not when it comes to our theology about Jesus Christ and the mission that he has entrusted the church with. So, that is why we are going to talk about the Gospel of Mark and take verses 22 through 31. Looking at 22 again, verse 22, as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, Take eat, this is my body. Luke adds a very important note to this in his rendering of the story. He says that Jesus said, Do this in remembrance of me. Mark omits that, Mark and Matthew, but Luke puts it in for us. Paul echoes that when he is trying to teach those Henri Corinthians how to do church because they messed it all up.

He gently but thoroughly scolded them. Paul says, You know, if someone smacks you in the face, you're fine with that, but if I preach the Gospel to you, you've got a big problem. Man, I don't like the Corinthians, most of them, as they were. Fortunately, when we get to heaven, all that stuff will be gone, but looking at the record, it's so much in there to learn about ourselves. And so he writes to the Corinthians, echoing Luke, When he, Jesus Christ, had given thanks, he broke it, that is the bread, and said, Take eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. This is very important to the communion table and to Christianity. Jesus made his death the central matter of his work. He's talking about his death.

He says, I want you to remember the cross. Not his life, not his miracles, not his teachings, hear me out, but his death. Now we have to have his life, his teachings, his miracles. We must have those things, but what good are they if he doesn't die for us on the cross and take away our sin?

It is no good, it's nothing, but now it is everything. It's all come together just as the prophet said it would. The emphasis lie upon our redemption. That is what the communion table is. It is a sermon to the world, to hell, to the angels, to each other. Christ died for sinners. He did not stop loving humans when they became sinners.

If he did, Adam and Eve would never have made it out of the garden alive. And so this is a sermon, the communion table that we're talking about. And so the disciples, they don't get that yet. This is what Paul writes about the communion table in 1 Corinthians again. He says, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Now that he's coming again and that he has died evidently means he is risen, he is alive. That's what we do when we come to the communion table. We're supposed to preach by the act of communion, the simple, seamless act of communion. It is profound to God, it is profound to the angels, and it is profound to us. It does not need to be embellished. It does not need something to hold it up or make it look better than what it is because it cannot be done.

It would be like painting gold. And so here we are, he's talking about the communion table. Now at this point, it is difficult to determine if Judas has left the room when Jesus institutes this table of communion.

I think the answer is in the scripture, and I'm going to get to that. John is the only one that records the departure of Jesus, but John does not pinpoint the moment that Judas left the room. We know the faithful 11 were there, but Luke, Luke rings in again. And Luke implies that Judas did participate. And when we get to verse 23, we just read a moment ago, all took, all partook. Well, here's what Luke says. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you, verse 21 of Luke 22. But behold, the hand of my betrayer is with me on the table. He's there. You might not like that.

We'll open that up a little bit. If he did remain, his hypocrisy and his crime is even more appalling, that he would be at the communion table, depart the communion table, and betray Christ. Did Paul have Judas in mind when he warned the churchgoers at Corinth? Again, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, he says, Therefore whoever eats this bread and drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord, making them a murderer, a crucifier. He continues, But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat the bread and drink the cup, where he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. Did he have Judas in mind?

I think he did, based on what Luke just said. The hand of my betrayer is here. Communion is a sacred act to us. That's why Satan infiltrates it. Surprise! Who is surprised by that? Who would be surprised that Satan would target the most sacred things that we have in this life?

He won't be able to get to them in the next one, but right now he can. While he can defile a heart, he cannot defile this table. Judas, he chose to be a traitor, but he wasn't the last traitor to be at the communion table down through the centuries. But the presence of Christ sanctifies the table for those who come and for those who believe. Within hours, Jesus, the true Passover, will be slain in fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies, which is the expression of the will of God.

And he will fulfill these prophecies concerning his substitutionary death on our behalf. 1 Corinthians 5, verse 7, For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. So don't be, if Judas was at the table, don't let that bother you.

What does that have to do with you? If you're a believer, that's what matters. That's what Paul was telling the Corinthians.

Let a man examine himself. This substitutionary death of Christ, in other words, instead of bringing the lamb to be sacrificed, God provided his lamb as a substitution. Instead of having me be sacrificed for my sins, God provided his son to be a sacrifice to take my judgment, my penalty, upon me. And the substitutionary death is what Christ is now saying. Do this in remembrance of me.

In other words, this is a very big deal. That's what Christ is saying. Without the death on the cross, what are we left with? Paul said that about the resurrection. If Christ is not risen and your faith is for nothing, it is in vain. Romans chapter 15. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 18, Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct, received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. The perfect sacrifice.

The perfect substitute. And so a new feast is replacing the old one. That's what Christ is doing. So, you know, we're sitting here for the Passover meal. This will be the last one that will be authorized by God.

Now it is the communion table. Now the Passover will resume in a memorial, you know, bloodless sacrifices in the millennial reign to memorialize this because, again, there will be sinners born during the millennial age. They will need to believe in Jesus Christ. They will need to understand that he died for sinners. It will not be until there's a new heaven, a new earth, when there are no more sinners being born. But until then, this has everything to do with people. So the new feast of communion, replacing the old feast of the Passover. Consider the two symbols, and there are just two, the bread and the cup. And they're all about Christ.

They're not about anybody else. But his sacrifice, the bread that he broke, no one broke him. He offered himself. No one killed him. In the truest sense, he gave up the spirit. His body, torn apart by scourge, nail, and spear. His body was broken in that sense. His blood poured out because of the same things, because of the scourge, the nail, and the spear. Graphic picture he painted, which no disciple forgets.

He says, take eat, this is my body. They had already received a sermon on this. We read about it in John chapter 6. They should have been ready for this, because at that time, many people, as we would say today, left the church. Maybe they were preoccupied with that.

Maybe they were preoccupied when Jesus said, I've chosen you to be my disciples, and one of you is a devil, and they missed the point. Either way, they have no sight of it now. Verse 23, Then he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. Well, I said they have no sight of it.

They have a little bit of it, but not as much as we have, because we have a fuller record. We've watched the whole thing take place. They weren't ready for his death, but they were accepting the idea of this is my body, and this is my blood. In verse 23, where he says, then he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. The Roman Catholics are known to call this the Eucharist, which simply means to give thanks in the Greek. I prefer communion.

I disagree with them on everything, everything concerning Christ. I do. It is categorical. But anyway, he gave it to them. It is his to give. It was his body to give, and he gives it to us. The communion is a big deal for us.

Don't think that you need to have, you know, we need special music. We need to be together and pass the bread and the cup in remembrance of him. They all drank, and as I said, I believe Judas drank too. Many commentators don't share that view. I like when they're wrong and I'm right.

It makes me feel superior, and I need that for my self-image. I'm hoping nobody's taking me too seriously with that. Verse 24, and he said to them, this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you. A new covenant which the nation Israel currently rejects, the people of Israel. Individual Jews can be saved and are saved. They are part of this covenant.

But overall, Israel is not interested. They think Christ was a lot of things that are not very good. Jesus is fulfilling, just in one instance, Jeremiah 31 31, where he tells the Jewish people, behold the days are coming, says Yahweh, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Now that will not happen until the millennial reign for the house of Israel, the house of Judah, but has happened for believers of Jesus Christ. That's Jeremiah 31 31. Incidentally, if you're not aware of this, the word covenant and testament are the same word.

It is your last will and covenant, your agreement to this is what I want to happen with my belongings. Hebrews Chapter eight, in that he says a new covenant. He has made the first obsolete. That's where I said earlier that this is the last Jewish Passover that God is accepting as a Passover. After this, it is the communion because he's made the other one obsolete. Once I know I've been repeating this and it's necessary, that's what the whole entire letter to the Hebrews is about. Stop practicing Judaism if you're a Christian. You're a Christian now. We don't do that. Our perfect sacrifice is in Christ. He is our Passover.

A better covenant than the Mosaic covenant. So that, just in case. But back to this, this is my blood. Blood is a distasteful topic in general. I mean, when you see blood, the first thing you ask, is it me? Because if somebody's leaking and you don't want it to be you. The second thing, if it is you, is how bad is it? And if it's the other person, the second thing is, boy, I'm glad it's not me.

Then how bad is it? Because blood is a big deal. You know, fire. We all notice fire.

You go into a restaurant and if they have little candles on the table, you notice that, even though you don't look at, you know, the candles subconsciously, you know it's there. Blood is more so. It's, again, a distasteful topic. Would you rather visit a greenhouse or a slaughterhouse? Years ago, I had a friend, one assignment for him was a slaughterhouse in Pennsylvania. So he's telling me this story. He said, so I went to the, you know, to see the, made a customer a call, and they offered me a tour.

And I said, I'll take it. And they said, a nurse gave the tour. Well, why is that? Because people faint. When they see what happens to these cows, they faint. Not all of them.

He didn't. He said, I held it together, but that skinning part was pretty rough. So, again, the blood, the gore, it's, when you see blood, it's serious like a leak on a submarine. That's a serious thing. I mean, everybody in the sub knows, if you're seeing a leak, you don't just say, yeah, it's not that bad.

It's a big deal. So it is with blood. And God never meant that we should be ignorantly pleased with the word blood. I mean, if you need a transfusion, in that sense, you're pleased, but still saying there's something wrong. The sight of blood is a sermon in itself, preaching to humanity, something is not right here.

And death can be closer than you think. The first mention in scripture and human history of blood, it comes in the context, it surrounds a crime scene. It is when Abel killed his, was killed by his brother Cain. And God confronts Cain, the murderer. And remember, it was not long after they went to worship that this murder took place in Genesis 4. God asked Cain, what have you done?

The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now, blood is implied when the animals were skinned to cover the nudity, which was an emblem of their sin, Adam and Eve, it's implied there, but the first time it is explicitly stated is there at this crime scene. Violence being done to God's word by Adam and Eve and by Cain. Medically and theologically, it symbolizes trouble and hope. That's what blood is.

It is a big deal. It reminds the sinner that sin is deadly, that it will bleed them out if something is not done. And this is why Jesus said in Matthew 26 verse 28, for this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for remission of sins.

And so again, while the world is out there trampling on God's planet, committing forgery by saying He didn't do it, He didn't create this, it somehow happened, just in violation to reason, which is the norm now, because as we look at how this thing that starts with a C and ends with a 19, we see how it's handled, we see they don't care about science, they don't care about reason, they just care about whatever they care about, and that is their control and power and madness. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of Mark. Cross Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. To learn more information about this ministry, visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. Once you're there, you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. You can search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. That's all we have time for today, but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the book of Mark, right here on Cross Reference Radio.