to the book of 1 Corinthians
chapter 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. First Corinthians chapter 11,
I'd like to read verses 27 to 29. 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." Let's pray
together. Our Father, as we come this evening,
come thanking you for the privilege to be able to read your word
and to pray and to ask, Lord, teach us this evening. Help us
to hear. Help us to see. And Lord, forgive
us where we failed you. Oh, may we walk, Lord, as it
becometh the gospel. magnify the gospel that we profess
for Christ's sake. Amen. Eating of the bread and drinking
of the cup of the Lord's Supper is an ordinance that was given
by the Lord Jesus Christ the night in which he was betrayed. This is a supper that every redeemed
and regenerated vessel of God's mercy is commanded to eat, to
drink, and to do so with a spirit of remembrance of the Lord's
death. The scripture declares in 1 Corinthians
11.24, when he had given thanks, he break it and said, eat, this
is my body, not literally, representatively, which is broken for you. He was talking to 12 apostles. One of them was the devil and
he meant it for 11. This do, the taking of the Lord's
Supper for a believer is not optional. In remembrance of me, he said
in verse 25, this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This
do ye, in remembrance of me. The taking of the Lord's Supper. This is a very serious matter. We're not just here to take the
Lord's Supper. We're here to worship. And the Lord is here. And He
knows. And I would pray that this evening
we might seriously consider His Word. Now listen. if the Lord
has revealed himself heartily to us through the preaching of
the gospel. Now, understand what I'm saying. The preaching of the gospel of
God's grace is the only message that the Spirit of God blesses
to the salvation of His people. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation. What does that mean? I mean that
a message that makes this so-called salvation to be an offer that
God is making to His people. or to a people, an offer that
you think that you have to accept in order to make it real. That's
not the gospel. Let me tell you what the gospel
is. Almighty God declared that before the foundation of the
world, He chose a people that He would save. He was going to
save them. He gave those people to His Son. to redeem. The Son went to the cross for
the elect only. John 10, 15. He said, I lay down
my life for the sheep. He told some Pharisees, he said,
when they told him, won't you be plain with us? He said, I'm
plain, but you don't believe because you're not my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice. I know them, they follow me.
Now listen to me. This supper is for God's people. And I'm going to qualify this
to show you, I'm not going to, by the grace of God, I won't
leave you hanging. If the Lord has revealed Himself
heartily to you through the Gospel, showing us the error of our former
ways in revealing Himself as the only Savior of His people,
apart from any work If you think you did something to make salvation
real, that's not the gospel, that's not salvation. That's
a work, and not by works of righteousness that we've done according to
His mercy. God saves us and then tells us
about it. So when we come together to eat
His table, we come as worshippers, sinners, who've been born from
above by the power and grace of God, servants of the Lord
who hear His Word. And we eat this bread and we
drink this cup. This is a piece of unleavened
bread, symbolic of His holy body. It's a cup and it's got real
wine in it. That's what the Lord did. A picture
of the precious blood that cleanses his people from all sin. And
so Paul related. He said, that which I've received,
I received of the Lord. But then the apostle gives a
warning. And this warning is a warning
from the Spirit of God. Now listen, and I'll, by the
grace of God, I'll try to say this so we might learn something
tonight. The scripture declares, he said in verse 26, for as often
as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's
death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat
this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, in an
irreverent manner, That's what that word means, irreverent manner. "...shall be guilty of the body
and blood of the Lord." Now, here's what he's saying. Whosoever
eats and drinks this cup in an unworthy manner. Now, here's
what Paul did not say. Whosoever shall eat this bread
and drink of this cup who is unworthy." He didn't say that. He didn't say that. But let me
tell you something. There's nobody in here worthy.
There's nobody here. Everybody in this room tonight
is in themselves a worthless creature of the dust. There's not a thing that is good
in ourselves to be said about any of us. None of us are worthy. If it's going to be that whoever's
worthy to eat, you take, then nobody's going to take. Because
none is worthy. There's none good. Not one. But now this supper is Not for
those who are worthy. This supper is for all that are
unworthy. But that's not the word that
the apostle used. He said, whosoever shall take
of this bread and drink of this cup unworthily. Now here's what I want to come
to, and I'll just be here for a minute. What? is he talking about when he said,
Whosoever shall eat and drink unworthily, listen to the words
of the Lord. Verse 24, I'll read them again.
When he had given thanks, he break it and said, Take, eat,
this is my body which is broken for you. One was a devil, and the Lord
Jesus Christ did not redeem Judas. Why? Because the scripture says
that he hung himself and went to his place. He went to hell. Christ didn't redeem him. Had
Christ redeemed him, he would have lived forever with the Lord. He didn't lay down his life for
Judas. He was the son of perdition.
But there were 11 others that were there. And he said, I'm
dying for you. I'm laying down my life for you.
My sheep, I'm dying for my people. I'm dying for the elect. Then
after the same manner, he took the cup when he had stopped saying,
this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye, the
ones that my body was broken for, his elect. As often as you
eat and drink it, you do it in remembrance of me. So let me
tell you what it is to eat and to drink unworthily. It is to eat the bread and drink
the cup of the Lord when one refuses to eat and drink in the
exact manner and in agreement with the words of the Lord. When
the Lord Jesus Christ said, I lay down my life for the sheep, all that are in agreement with
Him, I believe that He laid down His life for the sheep. When
He said that the Father chose a people before the foundation
of the world, that they should be holy and without blame before
Him loved, those that eat and drink of the Lord's Supper agree
with the Lord, or they drink and eat unworthily. They're eating
and drinking and not in agreement with Him. When He said, this
is my body broken for you, when we eat and drink, here's what
we say, I believe that He died for me, having been eternally
chosen in Him. That's what I believe. Now if
I tell you I believe that He died for all the sins of all
the men, all the women in the world, and I believe He died
for everybody. And He made salvation possible.
And salvation is possible if a man will decide to exercise
his free will. I would highly advise you not
to eat and not to drink. I would highly recommend you
don't do that. Because the Scripture sets forth,
whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup and not be
in agreement with the Lord shall be guilty of the body and
blood. They are doing so in an injurious
manner and they reflect dishonor upon Him. If you are in agreement
with the Lord, and His Word and His Word alone shall stand."
What he's saying is this, all who agree with me eat and drink. All that agree with him are refusing
to take their own thoughts and they agree with the Lord. All
that disagree with the Lord All that think that salvation is
by a man's will, and a man's works, and by his efforts, and
by his good behavior, and all of that foolishness. Let me tell
you what they're doing. They're actually drinking. They're
drunk with the spiritual wine of deception, the wine of false
religion. They're drinking of the wine,
the spiritual wine of the mother of harlots, Mystery Babylon. And so the scripture says, in
verse 28, what are we going to do? Are we to pass judgment and
just to say, let me tell you what I think I'll do. I think
I'm going to kind of keep my eyes on everybody. I'm going
to try to see, I'm going to just, I don't want to let this get
out of hand. I don't want to let somebody
come in here that's not going to meet my standard. The Scripture
says in verse 28, but let a man examine himself, and so let him
eat of that bread and drink of that cup. The Scripture sets forth in verse
31, for if we would judge ourselves, and here's the only Scripture
that ever gives a man a right to do any judging, The next time judgment is made
on somebody, it better be on me or on you, and it better be
from me or from you to yourself. The scripture sets forth, he
that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation
to himself, not discerning the Lord's body, not realizing why
he died, why he came. why he rose, where he is right
now. Now listen to me. The Scripture
gives no man a right or the responsibility to examine another and determine
his fitness to eat or drink at the Lord's table. The Lord settled
that issue. Peter came up to him and when
he was talking about John, the one that leaned upon the breast
of the Lord, Peter asked the Lord, he said, well what about
him? You remember the Lord's words?
He said, what is that to you? You follow me. This evening, as we come to eat
at the Lord's table, this is the Lord's table. It doesn't
belong to Katie, it doesn't belong to Todd's Road, it doesn't belong
to 13th Street when Henry was there. Let me tell you whose
supper this is. This is the Lord's Supper. And
the Lord has set forth the criteria by which a man or a woman may
eat in a worthy way. Unworthy in self, but to eat
and drink in a worthy way is for sinners. that are saved by the grace of
God. Let a man and a woman examine themselves. You believe God? If you're looking to yourself
for salvation, if you're looking, did you walk down the aisle,
or you gave your heart to Jesus, or I was baptized or something,
and that's the reason you think you were saved, don't eat. But if you've cast yourself upon
the mercy of God, And you come as a helpless sinner. One that
needs a mighty savior. Lord save me, as Peter said,
I'm going to perish. Lord save me. If you need him,
let's eat. That's what he said together.
Verse 28. So let a man examine himself
and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. If God
Almighty has saved you by grace, and you've not been baptized,
confess Him in baptism. If Almighty God has saved you
by grace, we're here to remember Him. I'll ask the men to come
forth. Let's do so at this time.