What an appropriate song for
the moment. If you have your Bible, please
turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And I'm going to try to bring
a short devotional on the Lord's body. Discerning
the Lord's body. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. and beginning
in verse number 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
things, he break it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which
is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me.
And 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 often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as
often as you 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 Lord's 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. This is the Apostle Paul
writing to the Corinthians and he's recalling the Lord's table
to them and reminding them and giving them instruction on taking
the Lord's table or observing the Lord's table as we're about
to do here tonight. And this setting here with our
Lord, as our Lord spoke to his disciples, I want us to remember
that it was in the upper room. It was the last moments before
he would go to the cross. He sat here with his disciples
and one of them would betray him. But these disciples, he
sat there with them, and this was the last instruction that
he was to give them before he was to die. How important this
observance is, this ordinance that the Lord has given us. And
after he left the upper room, he then went to the Garden of
Gethsemane, where we know that he was under great duress and
much prayer. And then for Gethsemane, he was
arrested by the soldiers and taken to the judgment hall. And
then from the judgment hall to the cross. So how solemn and
how critical this moment is. If you would look with me at
verse 23. For I have received the Lord
that which also I delivered unto you. that the Lord Jesus, the
same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. He took bread, verse
24, and when he had given thanks, he break it. He broke the bread
and said, take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for
you. this do in remembrance of me. This table that is before us,
it represents his body. Now this is just bread that no
doubt one of the ladies have made, but it's been set aside
for this moment, for this observance that we might remember. It represents
his body. It represents his body that was
broken for us. And we are here tonight to remember
him. Now, if you will, I wanna look
just for a minute, a little closer at the bread, at this bread.
So if you will turn, we'll come back to here in chapter 11, but
if you will turn over to Exodus chapter 12, and I wanna look
at just a few verses here at this bread. And so Exodus
chapter 12. And the first verse to look at
will be verse eight. And while you're turning there,
let me say that the setting here is the Lord is instructing Moses
to instruct the children of Israel on the Passover. He's giving
them direction as to how to observe the very first Passover that
they would observe. In verse eight it says, and they
shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire and unleavened
bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Unleavened bread. First of all,
let's speak of this unleavened bread so that we might understand
better these passages that I want to look at. Unleavened bread
in the scripture represents purity. When you bake bread and you want
it to rise, you put impurities in it, you put leaven in it,
and it rises. But bread in the scripture is
a representation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is that bread
which came down from heaven. And that bread which came down
from heaven needs nothing added to it. So our Lord is that bread
which came down from heaven. And here it is that bread is
referred to as unleavened bread. It is pure bread. Now, let's
look at verse 15 in chapter 12. Seven days shall you eat unleavened
bread. And in the first day you should
put away leaven out of your homes. For whosoever eateth leavened
bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall
be cut off from Israel. Observe and note that we are
to only eat unleavened bread, Christ alone. And all of the
leaven that's in our lives, in our homes, in our hearts, represented
here in the house, whatever leaven you find, get it out. Take it
out. Verse 15 here says, crossed alone. And then look at verse 20. You shall eat nothing, leavened. You shall eat, have no works,
nothing. Works is forbidden with this
bread. We are only instructed, crossed
alone, crossed alone. In all your habitations, You
shall eat unleavened bread, unleavened bread. This is teaching us Christ
alone. Now, if you will, let's turn back
to our 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and look at a few more verses. Verse 27, wherefore, whosoever
shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily
shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. Look
at verse 29, for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth
and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
Does that not strike fear into your heart as you approach this
table? I don't know how many times in
my life, especially in religion, when I would read this and it
says if I was to eat unworthily. And what do we do when we read
this and we approach this table? What do we find when we examine
ourself? I find sin. I find nothing but
sin. And if I'm going to approach
and partake of this table, how can I partake of it if I'm nothing
but sin? Sin is not a problem with the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he died. When we examine
ourselves, we are to look not for sin, but for self-righteousness. That is the leaven. that we are
not to mix. And that is the leaven that is
damning. So he who is here this tonight,
who is a sinner and has no righteousness in themselves, this bread has
been prepared by the Lord Jesus Christ for you. He broke it. for you, the sinner, not for
the righteous, but for the sinner. Now, I want to close with this
from the bulletin this morning. And I thought it was so, such
parallel with this, what was in my heart to bring tonight.
But our pastor wrote this and I want to read a couple of excerpts.
One denomination says man has to do this work. Another denomination
says a man has to do that work. All the while, they do not realize
that any work or any leaven that they add with their hands will
bring death or damnation to them. When we add our own hand or when
we add leaven, to God's holy perfection, to that bread which
come down from heaven. It is certain that death or damnation
for us because we are touching it with our sinful hands and
God will not and cannot have anything to do with man's sinful
hands. Christ is all. Christ must do
it all by himself. We do not look to his death plus
our obedience to the law, our leaven, we look to his death
and to his obedience to the law. We look to him. Let's pray. Gracious heavenly Father, Lord,
we're so thankful for this ordinance, the observance of our Lord in
this service tonight. And we pray, Father Lord, as
we take this bread and drink this wine, Father, that we would
truly remember you, you in our heart, in our thoughts, in our
minds, of what you have done for us. Lord, we can provide
nothing for ourselves. Oh, Father Lord, remind us this
over and over again, because we're so prone, Lord, to try
to find something to bring to you. Lord, you have provided
all. We thank you, Lord, tonight.
We pray, Father, as we observe this table or that we would do
so in remembrance of the.