The Lord's Supper

Well, let's turn in our Bibles tonight to Matthew chapter 26.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 26. And as I've mentioned several

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

Times Now, obviously this is this is something that can very

easily just become something that we do because there's

something that we do and oh, it's the same every time.

And, you know, it's, it's something that if we don't take

it seriously, if we don't see the importance of it, we can get

to the point where it's just something we do because this is

what we do. But the Lord's Supper in Matthew

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

chapter 26 was, was instituted as a, as a memorial.

And of course, the night before Jesus Christ went through

everything that he was about to suffer.

And it just, he said, he said, and we'll read later on in First

Corinthians that we should do it in remembrance of him.

But I, I always try to think through the story and, and read

through the passage and, and try to give you something that, that

will make us think a little bit. And, you know, kind of in light

of, of what I preached on this morning and, and what I've said

many times before about the fact that, you know, very often it's

easy for us to pretend that everything is OK to everybody on

the outside, right? It's very easy for us because we

know the, the drill. Most of us have been in church

for a long time and we know it's, it's very easy to to fool

the people around you into thinking that your heart is

right with God, that you are having a, that you have the

relationship with God, that you are walking with the Lord, that

you are doing all the things that that's being preached, that

you that you're doing all the things that are expected of you

because you're a Christian and all of those things.

But here's I think The thing is, Judas was actually very, very

good at that exact same thing. Because look what the Bible says

in Matthew chapter 26 and verse #20 Now when the even was come,

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

he sat down with the 12. And as they did eat, he said,

verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.

And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one

of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?

You know what that tells me? If everybody knew that it was

Judas and Jesus said, one of you is going to betray me, guess

what? Everybody would have done,

right? Everybody would have looked at

Judas because they knew it was him.

But Judas had learned how to play the game to the point where

every one of them started thinking, man, I can't think.

It can't be any of the other 11 because it look at look at every

one of those. Maybe it's me.

Am I the one that's going to be trained to the point where they

were questioning that themselves on whether or not they were

actually going to be the one that betrayed him?

Because Judas had learned to play the game so well.

He blended in so well. He fits so well with the other

11 disciples. He fits so well as a disciple of

Jesus Christ that the other 11 started questioning themselves

because they never thought it could have possibly been Judas

as the one that was going to betray him.

And then it wasn't long after that, of course.

Then verse 23 he answered and said, He that dipeth his hand

with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.

The son of man goeth, as it is written of him, but woe unto

that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed.

It had been good for that man if he had not been born.

Then Judas, which betrayed him answered and said, Master, is it

I? He said unto him, Thou hast said

Now Judas, if you, if you go back a few verses in that

passage to verse number 141516, he had already set up the

payment. He had already arranged to

betray Jesus when he asked that question.

Lord, is it I? He knew already that he was the

one that was going to betray him.

I don't know what he was trying to do.

I don't know if he was testing to see if Jesus really knew who

it really was, but it just proves the fact that Jesus

Christ knew his heart and he could have fit in very well with

everybody else. He could have blended in very

well with everybody else. He could have fooled all the

rest of them, but he didn't fool Christ.

Is it me? You said it, It's you.

And I wonder how many times we do the exact same thing when it

comes to taking communion. We sit down at the table

together and everybody's sitting in here and I and we look around

and there's not one person that I would think, wow, that that

person must be ready to betray Christ.

They're pretending that they are, you know, one of his.

They're pretending that they know Christ as their Savior.

They're pretending that their heart is right with God.

But boy, that person right there, right there's, there's,

there's none of that nobody in here that I would that I would

single out and say that about right.

We've all learned in many cases how to play the same game that

Judas played, right? But in your heart you are

saying, Lord, is it I? And you already know what the

answer is. You already know it's you and he

already knows it's you. You're not fooling him.

You're not fooling him. You're not getting one passed on

him. Well, maybe I can just maybe I

can slide through this time and I can take communion and, and I

can take it unworthily and I'll be OK this time because, well,

everybody else thinks I'm all right.

Doesn't matter what everybody else thinks, all right?

It matters what God thinks. And he knows your heart.

He knows your thoughts. He knows what you've got going

on in the background that nobody else knows about.

And it's very, very important as part of remembering what we're

doing here, that you get your heart right with God at the same

time. And so the apostle Paul, well,

we continue Matthew chapter 26 and verse #26.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and

break it, and gave it to his disciples, and said, take, eat,

this is my body. And he took the cup and gave

thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it.

For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for

many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not

drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when

I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom.

Let's go over to 1st Corinthians chapter 10, The apostle Paul in

first Corinthians and we'll look at this in just a little bit,

very plainly tells us that the Lord's Supper is a memorial.

This do in remembrance of me, he says, and it's a picture.

He said ye do show the Lord's death till he come.

It's a picture of the Lord's death until he comes.

And so the Lord's Supper is not just a ritual.

That's why that's why we don't have a table set up in the back

that you just take it every time you walk into the church

building, right? It's not, it's not, it's not a

ritual. It's not something that you do

just for the sake of doing it. It's a relationship reminder.

Jesus didn't institute the Lord's Supper as a religious

obligation. He instituted it as a sacred

moment for his people to remember the price of their

redemption. He did that for us and it was a

great price. And every time we gather around

the table, we're reminded that salvation was not cheap.

It was purchased by the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus

Christ. And that's a that's a great,

great, great price to pay. That's a reminder to us that

that Christianity is not built on, on good works.

It's not built on on church attendance.

It's not built on tradition. It's not built on any of those

things. It's built on the sacrifice of

Jesus Christ. And so because of that, there

are some requirements to those who participate and partake of

the Lord's Supper. And the first one obviously, is

that an individual must be born again.

First Corinthians chapter 10 and there's other verses.

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

I was looking looking back at some different verses yesterday

and a couple days ago. First Corinthians chapter 10

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

though, is a great, a great verse to tell us about this in

verse #16 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? For we being many are one bread

and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread.

Obviously the Bible says that Jesus is the bread of life.

And when you've partaken of that bread of life, then you have

life that's going to last forever, right?

But that's what salvation is. Salvation is having that having

part taken of the bread of life. But then also, and let's let's

let's turn over to Acts chapter 2, Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention Acts 2 · chapter mention

And again, we have some great examples there of the first

church and what they did and, and things that we can use to

follow after their example. And there's a lot of different

things that they did. But the second requirement for

the Lord's Supper then is to be a baptized member of the church.

Acts chapter 2 and verse #41 when they that glad they

Acts 2 · chapter mention

received his word were baptized, and the same day they were added

unto them about 3000 souls. And they continued steadfastly

in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of

bread and in prayers. They were saved, they were

baptized, they were added to the church, and they took part in

the communion. And, and, and that's what the

Bible says there in First Corinthians chapter 10.

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

It's the communion. We call it communion because

it's a communion of the body of Christ.

It's the communion of the blood of Christ.

But then the the third thing there and, and one that's, I

believe, just as important as the first two.

Obviously you have to be saved and baptized, but the the third

one is that you should be in fellowship, not should.

You must be in fellowship with the Lord and that that involves

striving every single day to live in obedience to his word

and and and in obedience to what he's what he's given us in in

the Bible. And of course that that involves

confessing our sins before him. First Corinthians chapter 5, if

1 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

you'll turn over there, First Corinthians chapter 5 and we

1 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

we've been talking about this in on Wednesday nights with our our

Bible, our discipleship course, our Bible study that we've been

going through about the importance of joining yourself

to a body, joining yourself to the church because it it gives

you that, that not the responsibility, but that, that

what's the word I'm thinking of the but the fellowship.

Why is the word the accountability?

That's what I'm trying to think of the accountability, the

accountability. It's a really big word.

That's why, but it gives you that accountability to somebody

else, right? It's you're not just an

individual floating out there just trying to do the best you

can and hoping that one of these days when you stand before God,

everything's going to be good. You make yourself accountable to

a church body. You, you keep yourself clean

because you need the church body.

You need the church and 1st Corinthians chapter 5 and verse

#11 says, but now I have written unto you not to keep company.

If any man that is called a brother, be a fornicator.

Now you're not calling him a brother unless he's what saved,

right? So this is talking about people

who are saved who, who, who should know better and who

should be walking in the Spirit close enough that you're not

doing these things. But this is what he said.

Don't keep company with these people.

If he's a Christian, if he's a brother in a fornicator or

covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an

extortioner with such and one know not to eat.

That's it. That's a strong statement, but

it's an important statement. Don't let somebody that is one

of those things take part in it right now, here's the problem.

It's very easy to see somebody on the outside who's a drunkard,

drunkard, right? Or somebody who is, who is a

fornicator. It's very easy to see those

things. But there's a lot of times when

we have those things in our heart that nobody knows anything

about. And it could be that pride, it

could be that bitterness, It could be something that you're

doing when nobody else is looking and nobody, you haven't

been caught yet because you will eventually be caught, but you

haven't been caught yet. And so nobody knows, oh, this

guy needs to be excluded from the Lord's table.

This guy needs to be disciplined out of the church for this

woman's got this issue and she needs to be, you know,

discipline needs to be involved in it.

There's a lot that that is is hidden beneath the surface,

right? But what he's saying here and

what is obvious is that you shouldn't show up to the Lord's

Supper with sin in your life. And he listed these sins, but

obviously there's so many of them.

There's no way that he could list all of them.

But in First Corinthians Chapter 11, if you turn over there a

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

couple pages, he's saying, he's saying this in, in First

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

Corinthians Chapter 11, verse #27 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, not caring about 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. Now notice that Paul does not

say that only perfect people can come to the Lord's table.

If if perfection was what was required, then none of us would

be able to participate. None of us would be able to

partake. The issue is not sinless

perfection. It is honest confession.

It's not sinless perfection. It is honest confession.

It's being honest with the Lord about what you have in your life

and getting it right with Him. That's what the Lord's Table is

about when it comes to this, this part of the this part of

the Lord's Table. And so the warning is not

against those who struggle, it's against those who refuse to

examine themselves. None of us are perfect.

And if we had to be perfect to take part in the Lord's Supper,

there wouldn't be any bread and there wouldn't be any juice in

there because nobody would be able to do it.

But it's about honest examination of our own lives.

I have to be honest with myself. I have to be honest with God.

I have to call sin what it is, and I have to be willing to get

it out by the root. That's what this is about.

So the only way to be in fellowship with the Lord is to

be honest with ourselves about our own sin.

Is there any known sin that I'm holding on to?

Is there anything that I have not surrendered to the Lord?

Is there bitterness that I have not surrendered?

Is there pride that I have not surrendered?

Have I been walking closely with Christ?

Is there somebody that I need to forgive?

I mean, the list goes on and on and on with the things that

we've got to make sure that we have gotten out of our life if

we're going to take the Lord's Supper worthily.

And so there you are in First Corinthians Chapter 11.

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

I want to give you, as we always do, the fourfold look at the

Lord's Supper and the importance of why we do this.

And the first one, of course, is the backward look.

It causes us as believers to look back at the cross of

Christ. He is the source of our

salvation. Without His cross, without His

blood that was shed, without His body that was broken and and

beaten and whipped and tortured, there would be no salvation.

Blood had to be shed in order for us to be saved.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.

First Corinthians Chapter 11 and verse #24 says, and when he had

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

given thanks, he break 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 Sup saying, This cup is the New

Testament in my blood. This do ye as often as you drink

it in remembrance of me. We were we when we when we look

back at Calvary, we're reminded of the fact that Jesus did not

just die. He died for us.

He died from my sins. He died for your sins.

He died for the sins of the whole world, but he died for me.

The bread reminds us that his body was was was.

He gave his body to those who were going to torture it.

He gave his the the cup reminds us that he that he that he shed

his blood. He didn't just, it didn't just

happen by accident. He he did it on purpose for us.

And the cross reminds us that that that grace is free, but

that it cost him everything. That's the backward look.

And then of course, we have the look of look around.

Verse #25 He says, This do ye that word ye is plural.

This do ye as often as ye drink it in remembrance of me.

For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do

show the Lord's death till he come.

We're, we're, we're reminded that we're part of a family.

And that's why we've been talking about the, you know,

the, the membership idea, joining yourself to the church.

You need the church. We are a body.

We're a family of believers. We're not just individuals,

which is why it doesn't work for you to just sit there at home

and, and break your own bread and, and take your own juice

and, and take communion by yourself.

It's, it's all part of the body of Christ doing this together.

Communion is, is, is a way to remind ourselves that we are not

walking this Christian life alone.

This is this, we're all in this together.

Before we, before we take the, the, the, the, the bread and,

and, and, and drink the, the, the cup, look around and just be

reminded that these are your brothers and sisters, right?

Sometimes in some cases your brothers twice, right?

But we are brothers and sisters. We're in this together.

We are part of the family of God.

So we rejoice with those who are rejoicing.

We bear the burdens of those who are hurting.

We have to guard the unity in the church.

Communion is is a very personal thing, but it's never private.

We do this together and so then we see the forward look for as

OFT as you eat this bread as often as you eat this bread and

drink this cup. Verse 26 you do show the Lord's

death till he come. It causes us to look forward to

the coming of Jesus Christ and to be mindful of the fact that

we need to be ready at all times.

Well, he could come back before we finish this up tonight, and I

hope He does. Wouldn't that be a great thing

if if we're doing this thing right, if we're doing this thing

right and you, your heart is perfectly right before God?

Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if he came back on?

Your heart was just right with him.

You just got everything confessed before him.

Everything was exactly the way that it should be.

And then He comes for us. Man, that'd be a that'd be a be

a tremendous time for him to come.

But every observance of the Lord's Supper is a rehearsal for

the table that is going to come. One of these days we're going to

be sitting together at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

One day our faith is going to become sight and we won't have

to worry about doing, doing the communion and all of those

things because we will be able to worship face to face with the

one who died for us. That's what this is all about.

Looking forward to the day that Jesus Christ is going to come

back for us. What a wonderful thing that is.

And of course, the last part of that is the inward look.

First Corinthians Chapter 11 and verse #28 But let a man examine

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

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.

Well, that's I don't think we take that serious enough

anything about all the people who just do community every

single week, right? Just for the sake of doing it,

because this is what we do. Walk in, you grab it, eat it.

You're having a conversation with somebody else while you're

doing it and everything else and you don't take it seriously.

For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh

damnation to himself. Not discerning the Lord's body.

That word, not discerning the Lord's body, that phrase means

not caring about it. Just whatever, It's just another

thing that we do. No, it's not just another thing

that we do. This is a, this is a very sacred

thing that we do. And so this self examination is

not meant to drive us away from Christ.

It's meant to drive us toward him, right?

A community should not produce that that fear in US.

It should produce humility. It should produce repentance.

It should produce that renewed fellowship.

That's what this is all about. I, I need to be back in

fellowship with God and this is the time, this is the

opportunity for me to do that. I want to be right with God, and

not just that, I want to. I need to.

I need to think about if, if if if this was labeled damnation.

Would you go eat it? Of course you wouldn't, right?

Because who's going to eat damnation or drink damnation,

right? But that's, that's what the

Bible is saying when you take it unworthily, when you are not in

fellowship with the Lord, when you are not in fellowship with

other believers, and you eat the bread and you drink the cup, you

are literally eating and drinking damnation to yourself.

That's how serious this is. This is not something to just do

because this is what we do. This is something that we take

very, very seriously. And it's the, it's the inward

look. And so the Lord's Supper reminds

us as believers of the, the, the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made

so that we can be redeemed back to God forever.

And that's a, it's a wonderful, wonderful word forever.

Once you're saved, you're always saved, right?

But we're going to have a time of invitation before we partake

in the, of the bread and the cup.

There's something very serious that we do before God and we're

commanded to do it, but we're commanded not to do it

unworthily. So really, you don't have an

option if you're a Christian. If you've been saved and you've

been baptized, then we're commanded to do it.

You can't just say I'm not going to do it now because I don't

really feel like getting right with God, or I don't really have

time to get right with God or whatever else.

Right? You don't really have an option.

He's commanded us to do it, but he's commanded us not to do it

unworthily. If you're saved but you're

carrying unconfessed sin, it's time to lay it down at the

cross. There's a broken fellowship with

God, maybe with some other believer.

It's the time to get it restored.

See, I believe God did this instituting communion to give us

a time where we force ourselves to look inside and make sure

that everything is right. Right.

And, and I've said this many, many times before, the the

chances that you don't know what's in there is very, very

small. You know, you know what the sins

are that are that are holding you back.

You know what you have between you and the Lord.

Let it go, let it go, get it right, and let this be the let

this be day one of living a life that's pleasing to Him.

So I want to give us an opportunity right now to take a

few minutes and to make sure that your heart is clean and

right before God. I asked you to do that this

afternoon a little bit, but I want to give you an opportunity

to do that tonight as well. So we'll have the piano, Miss

Becca come up to the piano and as she plays, you take a few

minutes. You can kneel there at your

seat. You can come up to the front at

the altar, but we'll take a few minutes and make sure that our

hearts are right before God. None.

The. The.

The. The.