Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] All right, let's get our Bible and turn to the book of First Corinthians 10, 1 Corinthians 10.
[00:00:24] We're actually going to be in chapter, chapters 10 and 11.
[00:00:30] In fact, we'll just go ahead and read our texts together in both chapters, and then we'll get into the subject. I want to do just an examination, a review, if you will, on the subject of the Lord's Supper, because we are having it today, and moving forward, we are going to be having kind of stepping up our game as far as the Lord's Supper and doing it more freely, frequently than we have been. And so I think it'll be a blessing, especially as we, as I studied this subject and I.
[00:01:00] And I think the Lord showed me some interesting things and reasons why that the Lord's Supper, the observance of the Lord's Supper, is so important.
[00:01:11] And so we're going to look at that this morning. Let's look at First Corinthians, chapter number 10 and verse number 16.
[00:01:20] The Bible says this. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?
[00:01:27] The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, being many, are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold, Israel after the flesh, are they not, excuse me, are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What say I then? That the idol is anything, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God.
[00:02:03] And I would not that you should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. You cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? And from Sunday school we know the answer is no. Got to answer those questions. Got to answer those questions. Look at chapter 11, if you would.
[00:02:30] I won't read this entire section, but just suffice it to say that in early, early New Testament times, from what we can tell from the Scripture, the churches would have a meal, would often have a meal together. And the Lord's Supper was more along the lines of a meal, similar to the way it was when Christ instituted the Lord's Supper, because that came at the end of a Passover meal, which was a full meal. And the Lord took the elements of the Passover, the bread and the fruit of the vine. And he used it to institute something new, which was, of course, the Lord's Supper.
[00:03:12] And so in the early church, I think that was more common, a larger meal. But it produced some problems too, because there were some people that come to church just to eat. And there's some people didn't have to eat. And it became kind of a problem of dissension.
[00:03:26] And even it says there were people here who were drunk, who came to church and had their meal and were drunk, and others who didn't have it. And it's just a shameful thing that's happening in First Corinthians. But keep that in mind. Mind, because we know the church at Corinth had a lot of problems, especially at this point in time. We'll come back to that in a little bit.
[00:03:47] So they would have their meal, and then after that they would have the Lord's Supper. And so that's where we pick up in verse 20, Paul says to them, when ye come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. For in eating everyone taketh before other his own supper. And one is hungry and another is drunken. What, have ye not houses to eat and drink in?
[00:04:11] Or despise ye the church of God and shame them that have not?
[00:04:18] What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
[00:04:23] 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, 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. After the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me.
[00:04:55] For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world.
[00:05:38] Wherefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, tarry one for another. And if any man hunger, let him eat at home. That ye come not together unto condemnation, and the rest will I set in order. When I come, will you pray with me?
[00:05:53] Our Lord in heaven, we come to you now. We thank you for the opportunity to observe the Lord's Supper. We thank you for the Scriptures, but especially we thank you for this observance, that you have instituted this ordinance, that you have given command that we practice and there are good reasons for it. And Lord, I pray that as we study this subject and we see the truths, that they wouldn't just be truths on paper, they wouldn't be just dry doctrinal points, but there would be very helpful and practical truths that we could really embrace and that you would help your people. Please, Lord, help your people. Help me to get out of the way and just say, just guide me into what I say that your people might be helped and that your name might be glorified. Especially Lord, what you have done for us, Lord, you have saved us, you have died for us, you have shed your blood for us. Thank you, Lord, for purchasing our salvation.
[00:06:55] And we pray these things all in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:06:59] So we might say. We might divide up what I want to say based upon these two passages of Scripture into four easy points. For those of you that like to take notes, we'll say it like this. Number one is upward.
[00:07:15] Number two is outward. Number three is inward. And number four is forward, upward, outward, inward and forward. So I want to look at these four points, because these four points essentially describe what are the most important points of the Lord's supper. Look at First Corinthians, chapter number 11, where we just were, and verse number.
[00:07:45] Here's what I mean by upward. The Lord's Supper reminds us of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, of course, we know right now our Lord is in heaven. He died upon the cross, he rose from the dead, and he after 40 days ascended back to the Father. He is at this moment in heaven, but that doesn't mean he's distant. He is, in fact, by his Spirit he's in every one of his children, every one of of those that believe in Him.
[00:08:13] But I say upward because we look to him. We look to the Lord Jesus, where he is now, and are reminded of what he did for us. In verse number 24, Jesus, the Bible says, and when he had given thanks, he break it the bread and said, take, eat. Now follow the words carefully, take Eat.
[00:08:37] This is my body which is broken for you. Notice that. Broken for you.
[00:08:52] Now, this is not just, you know, we hear these words so often, and we just kind of our minds sort of think that this is just another way to say I loved you this much or something like that. But it is far more important than that.
[00:09:08] This is not just an expression of love, although we know it was came out of the love of God. But this is the Lord's. This is the Lord saying, my body is broken as a substitute for you. Means a substitute. It is a substitution for us. His body for us, his body for us. Look back. Hold your place here, because we will come back. Look at John, chapter 6, if you would.
[00:09:40] John 6 and verse number 51 won't read the whole passage. Jesus speaks of the bread of life, the bread which came down from heaven. We'll just concentrate on this one verse, just for time's sake. In John 6:51, Jesus says this. I am the living bread. Now, let me ask you a question. Is Jesus saying literally he is bread? Obviously not. All right, he has a point that's beyond just a physical bread, right? He said, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. This tells us of the source and the origin of the Lord Jesus Christ and who he is. None of us came down from heaven. He. He only. He only came down from heaven. He is divine. He is God manifest in the flesh. Notice, he came down from heaven. Now he's making a comparison to the manna in the wilderness. As the manna fell from heaven, the children of Israel gathered it each day. He's saying like that, manna, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
[00:10:45] He says, if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Now, just like the remember, the context of the Lord's Supper is the Passover. The kind of bread used in the Passover was unleavened bread. Unleavened bread, leaven. Of course, in scripture speaks of sin. And of course, Jesus came down from heaven, lived a righteous 33 years upon this earth. Never once, not even in the smallest degree, not in deed, not in word, not in thought, had any mark against him in the sight of his Father. Not one time he was unleavened, if you will, unleavened bread.
[00:11:35] And yet, what's interesting about unleavened bread is this.
[00:11:42] Brother Vernon saved me a piece of our matzah here. What's interesting about unleavened bread is because it has no leaven, it doesn't rise. Right? Leavening is what causes it to rise. And because it has no leaven, when it's cooked, it becomes brittle. So unleavened bread in scripture is brittle. It's not soft like wafers like you might have seen before. It is actually crispy. And here's why. This represents the body of Christ come down from heaven. No leaven, no sin. And the Bible says. And it has to be like that because the Bible says his body was broken.
[00:12:20] Broken. Now, you can take a nice warm, you know, baguette. You know, French baguette. Those are good for subs and hoagies and things, right? But that's not what we're talking about, because that can't be broken.
[00:12:35] But see, Jesus body, this is what's intended. This.
[00:12:42] That's what it is. Broken.
[00:12:45] Broken for you. Broken for me.
[00:12:49] He endured the punishment and the suffering that we deserved. His body was broken upon that cross. That's why it all matches the unleavened bread. All of that comes together in this symbol.
[00:13:04] Now, if you read verse number 51 and you compare it with verses 53 to 57, Jesus said, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. Verse 55. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me. You know what? The Jews that heard that cringed. They cringed at that idea. And frankly, it's kind of cringy. I admit it's a little bit cringy. But he says plainly in the context when the disciples come and ask him about this, because they kind of cringe, too.
[00:13:51] He says, this verse number 63, it is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. He's saying, I am not talking about my actual flesh being bread and my actual blood being something. And see, that's how it's been interpreted, that somehow we have to literally eat something that is the body and something that is the blood of Christ. So there has to be some magical incantation or formula or spell that can be cast to turn it into this bread, this fruit of the vine, and turn it in. That's not what he's saying at all. He's saying, I'm speaking of a spiritual matter. These are symbolic, right? But the symbols are so precious. You know, you think about this.
[00:14:40] Of course, this is just a part of a piece, but when you look at a whole loaf of matzah, you know, a square loaf of matzah, a loaf cracker, I mean, whatever, you know, we know what I'm talking about. When you look at it, you can't. All of us can't really partake of it easily until it's first broken. When it's broken, it comes into little pieces which then Sister Karen, Ms. Juanita can take, and Brother Dennis and brother Lauren and Ms. Pam and all. Each one of us can have a part because it was broken. And so it is with Christ. Christ, his body was broken upon the cross.
[00:15:19] And as a direct result being broken, the door of salvation was flung wide open to anyone and everyone.
[00:15:28] You see that? That's what all of the bread pictures. And then we get to the. Then we get to the.
[00:15:38] Well, let me say one more thing about this, because it's actually related to both.
[00:15:42] I think Brother Sam quoted this verse, but some people have understood these verses. When Jesus says, except ye drink, eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood. The idea that when we take the Lord's Supper, we are receiving Christ. In other words, because we're eating those symbols, we're receiving Christ. The scripture doesn't say that. The Scripture doesn't say that. But that's not how you receive Christ. First John, chapter 1, verse 12, says, but as many as received him, to them gave ye power to become the sons of God. What's the next phrase? Even to them that believe on his name, to receive Christ is not to eat this, to eat this is to eat bread, to receive Christ, to put your faith and your trust in the Savior who died for you. That's the only way to receive Christ.
[00:16:39] Trusting in Jesus and trusting in your eating of a cracker is not the same.
[00:16:46] Okay? Even if you think there's power in eating the cracker, it is not the same.
[00:16:52] John, chapter one makes that perfectly clear. Now, notice what he says back in First Corinthians.
[00:16:58] He says this, chapter 11, verse number 25.
[00:17:05] After the same manner also, he took the cup and when he had supped, saying, this is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. So Jesus took the cup which had the fruit of the vine in it. Go, if you would, to Matthew, chapter 26.
[00:17:21] We'll be in Matthew a fair amount, so you might want to hold your place there or bookmark it. Matthew 26, number 27.
[00:17:41] This is the actual account of the Lord's Supper here says this. And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, drink ye all of it. For this is my blood, the New Testament, which is shed from many for the remission of sins.
[00:17:57] Notice that these same truths as In John, chapter six, verse 51, you see here, the same truths that refer to his body also refer to his blood. Notice it says, this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed, which is shed.
[00:18:19] You see, the shedding is required. What does shed mean?
[00:18:26] I might make a mess here, so if I do. Sorry.
[00:18:38] Now, this is a picture of blood, right? This fruit of the vine. This is grape juice. No alcohol in it. This is a picture of blood, right? A symbol.
[00:18:49] But as it is in this cup, it pictures the blood of someone who's alive. You know, you live because you have blood in your body physically. You live because of that, right? But the Bible says that Jesus blood was shed. Here's what that means.
[00:19:07] That's what it means.
[00:19:09] It means it was spilled, poured out.
[00:19:14] See, when Christ was on the cross, his blood was shed. The Lord Jesus Christ did not just die.
[00:19:21] That would not have been enough because the Old Testament pictures required not only that the animal, which of course, pictured Christ, not only that the animal die, but that its blood be shed and then applied at the place before God. You see? So shedding of the blood was part of that, was an essential and necessary part of Christ's work on the cross to shed. When Christ shed his blood because his life was in his blood, it cost him his life.
[00:20:06] His blood was poured out.
[00:20:09] His blood had to be shed.
[00:20:11] In verse number 28 of Matthew, it says. You read it one more time. It says, which is shed for many.
[00:20:20] See that? We saw that with the body. Remember? For you, for many, Christ's blood was shed.
[00:20:29] A substitute for us so that our soul would not perish in hellfire.
[00:20:37] Christ's blood was shed in our place.
[00:20:42] Listen, there are religious people. Please hear me. There are religious people all over this world that are in some form of Christianity that know these words. And their soul is not resting in that truth.
[00:20:56] They're on the road to hell, as we studied last week. They're on the road to the wide road that leads to destruction. They're on that road with the pedal to the metal. But they know the words. Christ died for me. They know the words, but at no point has the truth of those words ever hit their soul.
[00:21:20] They think, Christ died for me. Now, all these Other things I need to do to be forgiven of my sin. All these other things I must do to get to heaven. All these other things I must do to have eternal life. No. Christ died for you. He was the substitute.
[00:21:38] He did what was necessary. He did it.
[00:21:43] You can't. I cannot. He did it.
[00:21:47] That's what 4 many indicates. But he says, for many.
[00:21:54] For the remission of sins, let me say remission just means forgiveness. Listen, it is impossible for you or for me.
[00:22:03] Impossible. It doesn't matter if you climb the steps on some tall hill to a temple at the top that's strewn with broken glass. It doesn't matter if you fast for 40 days and 40 nights. It doesn't matter if you become an ascetic. It doesn't matter if you give yourself to celibacy. It doesn't matter what good thing you do. It is impossible. It is not possible to be forgiven. Of the crimes that you and I have committed against God, except the blood of Christ was shed. That is the only way of forgiveness. You say, well, I'll just ask God to forgive me. He will not forgive you. You know why? Because he is holy. He cannot. His holiness does not allow forgiveness unless the price is paid. Unless a savior becomes your substitute, you say, well, that's mean. God is good. God would forgive anybody that would ask him for forgiveness. Listen, without the bloody Christ, there is no forgiveness.
[00:23:05] You and I would go straight to the lake of fire because we have earned it.
[00:23:12] We have earned it and God is just and holy.
[00:23:19] If you think. Listen.
[00:23:22] If you think that you are forgiven because of some religious ritual that you performed or words you said, you listen. You are yet unforgiven. Your sins are still held against you because you have looked dimly upon the one whose blood was shed for your forgiveness and said, no, it's something else. No, it's not something else. And it's also not Christ and something else. It is Christ and only Christ and his blood shed. Full stop.
[00:23:59] Notice in verse 28 again, he says this at the beginning of the verse. He says, for this is my blood of the New Testament, New Testament, that I don't have time. But it refers back to Jeremiah chapter 31. In fact, let's just go there. Jeremiah 31, Jeremiah, chapter 31.
[00:24:20] You guys don't have anywhere to go, so you're good.
[00:24:24] Jeremiah 31, verse number 31.
[00:24:28] When Jesus says, this is my blood in the New Testament, he is referring directly to an Old Testament prophecy of a new covenant. Right? And this is that new covenant. Jeremiah 31 verse 31. The Bible says this. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. That's referring to Moses. Which my covenant they break, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts. That's Sunday school for those of you in Sunday school.
[00:25:15] And write it in their hearts. And will be their God. And they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more, Every man his neighbor and and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. Here it is. This is what Jesus said. For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. How is that covenant instituted? There's only one way. It cannot be. It cannot come into effect unless Christ's blood is shed.
[00:25:49] And it was. That's what he said.
[00:25:52] So this is the symbolism. You got the body of Christ in the bread. You got the blood of Christ as symbolized by the wine or the fruit of the vine.
[00:26:05] Now go back to First Corinthians where we started.
[00:26:11] Chapter 11, verse 24 says this. 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. He says the same thing in verse number 25.
[00:26:29] And then in verse 26, well, verse 25, first it says this. We've already seen.
[00:26:35] This is to be done in remembrance.
[00:26:39] So the ordinance of the Lord's Supper and partaking of it of this observance is not in order to be forgiven. It's to remember.
[00:26:48] You understand?
[00:26:50] You're forgiven. You're supposed to be forgiven when you trust in Jesus. This can't forgive you.
[00:26:57] It's a symbol. It's a symbol. He says this do in remembrance of me. It has no power to forgive. Christ's actual blood has the power to forgive. When someone trusts in the blood shed for them, then they are forgiven. This juice cannot. Has no power to forgive. You can drink the whole. This is just Welch's grape. You can drink the whole thing and you aren't going to be forgiven.
[00:27:25] And it has no power to grant eternal life.
[00:27:29] Then in verse 26, notice what it says. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come.
[00:27:39] You do show the Lord's death till he comes. So the ordinance of the Lord's Supper is an object lesson. That's what it is. It's an object lesson. It's a demonstration. It's supposed to draw our minds and hearts to the actual truths, not to the elements themselves.
[00:27:57] To focus on that is to miss the whole thing.
[00:28:01] You see, it's a shadow that points to a real thing.
[00:28:07] The bread and the juice are not the real thing. They're just a symbol, a shadow similar to, like, for instance, a flag would. A flag would represent a country, or a flag would represent a state. It is not the state, but it's a symbol of the state. It's the same sort of way. So what do we see from this?
[00:28:29] The Lord says, as oft as ye do it, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. It tells us that God wants us to be in constant memory of what Christ did for us. He wants us as often as we do it. In other words, he has set up an ordinance for the specific purpose, to remind us of something so that it does not get far from our memory. Because the Bible says that we should live in the conscious awareness of Christ's sacrifice for us. Galatians 2:20. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
[00:29:12] And the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am crucified with Christ. That's this. But that's me every day.
[00:29:24] For the Christian, the sacrifice of Christ should never, ever be far from his or her memory. It should be constantly before them. We should live our life in light of that truth, always.
[00:29:41] So that's upward.
[00:29:43] The rest will be shorter.
[00:29:46] Next is outward communion with the church. Look at verse number 10. Look at chapter 10, rather, of First Corinthians, verse 16.
[00:29:57] The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? I know. I know. We call this. We're having communion. That's not actually. That's not technically correct. We're observing the Lord's Supper at the Lord's table. That's what it's actually called in Scripture. The communion part is beautiful, though. Communion is also, you could also say fellowship. You know what that means. It simply means something you share.
[00:30:30] As I said, you got upward. The point of the Lord's Supper is to point us upward, but also outward to all of you.
[00:30:39] There's something that all of us that have put our faith in Christ share.
[00:30:45] Not just this as a symbol, but the real thing.
[00:30:50] For those of you in this room that have put your faith in Christ and your trust is resting, your very soul's hope for your eternal life is resting on Christ and his bloodshed for you, you're saved. That's the only definition. There's no other. Can I get a nod? There's no other.
[00:31:08] You are sharing with the same Savior as me.
[00:31:13] You are sharing faith with me. You're sharing in the benefits of Christ's body broken with me. You're sharing in the benefits of Christ's blood shed with me.
[00:31:27] In other words, we have all partaken of the same bread. We have all partaken of the same. Does that make sense? That's the whole idea of communion. In other words, the Lord's Supper is supposed to remind us that we are we as a church. We have an essential connection between one another. We're not just atomized people that do our own thing. And every Sunday we come to no you. We all share. We're one body in Christ. We're one family in Christ. And the common thing that we share, we. We might come from different countries, we might have different colors of skin, we might speak a different language. But the common thing we share is the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:32:11] And come out of that communion, that fellowship should come love and compassion and kindness.
[00:32:21] The Lord's Supper symbolizes this shared Savior and salvation. Here's what that means.
[00:32:32] That means that you should not view yourself as an outsider, but an insider in the church of God and in this local physical representation of the church of God.
[00:32:46] You should view yourself as an integral part of this church and of the people of God at large.
[00:32:53] You are on. If you have trusted in Christ, you are on the inside.
[00:32:59] You're part of that group that the Lord has called out that the lord is sanctified.
[00:33:07] First Corinthians 10:17 says, for we are all partakers of that one bread. But it's not only that. Look at verse number 17 once again. For we, being many, are one bread. So not only does the bread represent Christ, his body broken, but it also represents the church because we are his body. And that's what it represents.
[00:33:27] That's why, technically, we want to be. We've kind of strayed a little Bit. But technically what we'd normally do is we'd take a matzah and we would break it. One matzah. And we would break it and give it out. You're all eating the same bread and then you would have a chalice, if you will, lack of a better, but a cup of juice. And every one of us would take a drink. That's what they did in the Last Supper.
[00:33:58] We're all drinking from the same place.
[00:34:03] I think a lot of. Listen, I think a lot of Christians have a cultural Christianity view of church and they view it as something that they rather than as something that they are.
[00:34:21] And so it becomes a cultural kind of make your appearance, but it really has no real association with their lives outside of the times that the church has meetings.
[00:34:32] That is not a biblical view of the church.
[00:34:36] The Bible says we are members one of another. We have a shared eternal connection that extends beyond our marriages. And that's true. As important as that is, it extends beyond the relationships we have with our children. We are all going to be in heaven together with the Savior one day.
[00:34:58] And the reason is, is because we share that same Savior.
[00:35:04] So that's outward.
[00:35:07] Next is inward. Look at 1st Corinthians 11, verse number 27.
[00:35:21] Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink of this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
[00:35:29] But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, drink of that cup.
[00:35:35] Inward means we practice self examination before we take part in this.
[00:35:42] Remember, these are just verse number 29. It says, for he that drinketh, eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself. Here's the key. Not discerning the Lord's body. In other words, there's no honor, there's no respect given to the symbols. Let me give you. This is just bread. This is just juice. We all, we understand that, right? It's a symbol.
[00:36:03] But that's what this is too.
[00:36:06] If I take my ring off, like right now, am I no longer married?
[00:36:11] No, I'm still married. I am absolutely still married.
[00:36:15] But you know, you've heard about couples, they get mad at each other and in a fit of rage rip their ring off, threw it across the room, does that mean they're not married?
[00:36:28] No, they're still married. My wife said they're kind of human.
[00:36:32] No, they're still married. But what I've done, I've disgraced and dishonored the symbol which represents the Real.
[00:36:41] That is the same thing.
[00:36:45] I'm going to have a hard time finding that thing now. Oh, there it is.
[00:36:50] That is the same thing as not examining yourself and taking part in the symbol, the Lord's Supper, without first examining yourself to see, am I right with God?
[00:37:03] Am I right with my brother?
[00:37:06] Self examination.
[00:37:08] Listen, you and I should not take part in the Lord's Supper if we are not right with God, right with others. If we have open sin in our lives or secret sin in our lives.
[00:37:24] Nobody's going to judge you. Nobody's going to be paying attention if you just say, just pass it right along.
[00:37:31] But you should not take part in it. If you. Listen, please. If you have unresolved anger, resentment or bitterness toward another person, you should not take point of the Supper.
[00:37:45] If you have any of the problems that are mentioned in first Corinthians, right? There was problems with fornication, problems with marriage, problems with idolatry, problems with tongues, problems with this, problems with that, all in 1 Corinthians. Listen. Examine yourself first.
[00:38:02] Examine yourself first. You see, one of the reasons the Lord gave us this observance is so that we would examine ourselves on purpose at regular intervals.
[00:38:17] The Lord wants us to take it seriously.
[00:38:20] It is serious.
[00:38:22] It's just as serious as what I did with my wedding ring. Only as an illustration.
[00:38:28] Yeah, this is just bread.
[00:38:30] But the Lord knows what it symbolizes, and you do too what it represents. And you do too. It's like flag burning.
[00:38:38] It's like burning the American flag. You have a right to do it, but it is a dishonor to the country that it represents. It's the same principle. To dishonor the symbol is to dishonor the thing.
[00:38:51] And so it is with this. Lastly, outward, inward, forward.
[00:39:05] Look at First Corinthians, chapter 11, verse 26. Jesus says, Paul says this. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come.
[00:39:18] When Jesus instituted the first Lord's Supper, here's what he said. He said this right here, this do in remembrance of me. That's the command. Do what I'm doing in perpetuity until you do it with me anew in my Father's kingdom. That's what Matthew says.
[00:39:44] So we're reminded in the Lord's Supper of his sacrifice. We're reminded of our communion and fellowship and shared faith and shared Savior together. We're reminded of the need of self examination. And lastly, we're reminded of Christ's coming because we're going to be doing this until at last we do it with him in heaven. And you know what that tells us?
[00:40:07] That tells us that even in heaven, even in heaven, no more sin. Sin's gone forever. Even in heaven, the sacrifice of Christ will be something that's brought up and remembered, will be held as a memorial. In fact, you look at Revelation, chapter 5. The Bible says exactly that. It says that the saints of God will cry, thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood. Out of every nation, kindred tribe and tongue. That's what they will say.
[00:40:38] So even in heaven, this is something we'll observe with the Lord Jesus. So we look forward to his coming, when all of these symbols will have a reality we've not known so far.
[00:40:57] So by means of this observance, we know that there is no efficacy. You don't get forgiven from sin. This doesn't help you get to heaven. It doesn't give you eternal life. It's none of that.
[00:41:09] You're supposed to have all that settled before you come to this point.
[00:41:15] But we should use this time to remember what the Lord has done for us, to examine ourselves and to remember our brothers and sisters who share in this same reality, and to remember that Christ is coming back for us.
