30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 22 7-13 PREPARING FOR THE PASSOVER MEAL 07 Luke 22 8-13 Cleansed in our inner man
📖 Luke 22:7-13
*FRIEND OF GOD*
Tue13Jul2021 - *Cleansed in our inner man* - _Luke 22:7-13_ - PREPARING FOR THE PASSOVER MEAL (07) – Bible reading: _Amos: 4:12-13_
We have looked at divisions, factions and selfishness that need to be rooted out before we participate in the Lord’s supper.
We now look at the matter of cleanliness in the inner man.
As we come to partake of the Lord’s supper, there needs to be holiness in the deepest parts of our hearts. We cannot continue to nurture wickedness in the secret places of our hearts and pretentiously come to the Lord’s supper, as though it is alright to fellowship with God.
The Lord knows us completely. Nothing in all of creation is hidden from His eyes. Even when we come to the meal without setting the undisclosed issues right with Him, He remains gracious, merciful and patient with us.
Can we take God for granted and remain in our uncleanness in the inner man? No. We must set these issues right.
When we read the following verses, we see how the Lord knew all things.
_Luke 22:8-13 And He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat." (9) So they said to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare?" (10) And 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 which he enters. (11) Then you shall say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, "Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?" ' (12) Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready." (13) *So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover*._
The Lord gave Peter and John, vivid and clear instructions, as to what they needed to do to prepare for the Passover meal. The Lord gave them specific details as to what would happen as they enter the city.
What do we learn from this episode? The Lord gave such clear, unambiguous instructions because He was God and had all things in His control.
This is astounding.
This is who God is. He knows it all. Nothing is hidden from Him. _Psalm 139:2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off._
When we come to the fellowship of the Lord’s supper, we dare not assume that God does not know who we are. He knows us fully.
He expects us to be cleansed before Him in the secret areas of our lives. We have kept many secrets away from the eyes of people around us, even from our loved ones. It is foolish and dangerous on our part to think that we can go through the Lord’s supper as conventional practice.
The time of the Lord’s supper is a wonderful opportunity for us to experience the cleansing of the Lord, in the inner person, before we partake of the meal.
_Amos 4:12-13 "Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, *Prepare to meet your God, O Israel*!" (13) For behold, He who forms mountains, And creates the wind, *Who declares to man what his thought is, And makes the morning darkness*, Who treads the high places of the earth— The LORD God of hosts is His name._
We need to come to the Lord’s supper knowing who is our God. The Lord is telling us to prepare ourselves to meet Him.
_Proverbs 15:3 *The eyes of the LORD are in every place*, Keeping watch on the evil and the good._
Peter and John had an awesome experience of knowing who is God and how He knows everything. How astonished they would have been, to see how the Lord’s instructions were perfect to the letter?
We come to the Lord’s supper not with fear or hesitation but with overwhelming joy. We can be open before Him, surrendering our all to Him.
He is the only one before whom, we need not hide any of our secrets, for He knows it all. There, in His presence, we can experience the cleansing of our inner man and then we can be ready to participate in the Lord’s supper.
_I Chronicles 28:9 “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; *for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts*. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever._
Our coming to our God is not just at the level of our thoughts but at the level of the intent of our thoughts. That is where we surrender our all to Him and experience His wellness.
If we try to hide and pretend before God, He will forsake us in the sense that we will not be in a relationship with Him. We would have partaken of the Lord’s supper but it would have been only a formality.
This is how it is with many of us. We are partaking of the Lord’s supper as a ritual and there is no real union with our God.
*Thought to ponder*
```There are consequences if we participate in the Lord’s supper in an unworthy manner.```