If you would turn with me to 1 Corinthians 11, please. We begin in verse 23. I had prepared a message tonight from 2 Samuel, but earlier this morning, I was impressed to speak to you about this blessed ordinance of the Lord's Table that we'll be partaking of tonight.

I titled this short study, Remembering what our salvation cost. Every time we come to this table, we're faced with one urgent question. What did it cost to save me? It was a great cost. It's freedom, you and I, but it cost God, His beloved Son. Not what did it cost to inspire me, not what it cost to improve me, But what did it cost to save me, to redeem me?

You know, in the scripture, the word redeem means to purchase out of bondage by paying a price. I like that definition. Redemption carries three key things, bondage or captivity. There's sin and death, the law's curse. That's what our sin brought upon us. And there's a price paid, a ransom. We all know what a ransom is. And it also involves a change of ownership or condition. We're not only set free, but we're brought to God. The Lord Jesus Christ brings us to God. We can come into God's throne of grace boldly and with confidence because of the fact that Christ ransomed us and He paid our sin debt.

In the Old Testament, redemption was pictured in a slave being bought back to freedom. It was pictured in property being restored to its rightful owner. A man would get into debt and couldn't pay that debt. the debtor would take his property. And then it also was pictured, the Old Testament pictures redemption as a kinsman redeemer rescuing a relative. It's so beautifully illustrated in the book of Ruth, which should have been titled the book of Boaz because it's all about the kinsman redeemer. This whole book is all about Christ. Now, in the New Testament, we see the fulfillment of redemption.

Jesus Christ paid the price. I hope we never take that for granted, that it just becomes cliche. Well, Jesus paid it all, you know. We need to think about what that involves. Scripture says, in whom we have redemption through His blood. Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. Blood had to be shed. Someone had to die, and not just anyone, not just any blood. The price was not money. You were not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ. Oh, how precious was His blood.

Why? Because it was the blood of God. That's a solemn thought, isn't it? How horrific is our sin? So horrific that God had to shed His blood to pay for it. God had to satisfy His own justice, fulfill His own law that you and I might be reconciled to Him. What were we?

And the result is just amazing, the forgiveness of sins. When God looks at me, He doesn't see sin because Christ put it away. The result was freedom from sin's power. We're no longer bondage to sin. Sin doesn't have its rule over us any longer. And the result was reconciliation to God, brought back in fellowship with the one that I offended. Doesn't it do something to your heart to think about the fact that God the creator of all, the universe of all things, is your heavenly father and you're reconciled to him. You have a relationship with him as a father and a child. What were we redeemed from? Sin's guilt. Sin brings guilt. I remember as a young boy, doing something I shouldn't have done, and I could just see on my mother and father's face that it was a disappointment to them, and I just felt so guilty.

But Christ delivered us from sin's guilt, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, Colossians 1.14. What were we redeemed from? The curse of the law. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law.

How? Being made a curse for us. For it's written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Calvary's cross is not something that we acknowledge by hanging a picture on our wall or wearing a piece of jewelry around our neck. God came, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem us who were under the law, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He was made to be sin for us. My, what grace, what mercy.

We were redeemed from a futile way of life, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, 1 Peter 118. This is what we were redeemed from. But what were we redeemed to? To God himself. to God Himself. Christ hath redeemed us to God by blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. We're redeemed to holiness and obedience. Christ who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. were redeemed to an eternal inheritance.

What a wonderful word eternal is. That's a long time, a long time. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained what? Eternal redemption. If it's eternal, it can't be lost, it's forever. So I suppose a simple scriptural definition for redemption would be God purchasing sinners out of bondage to sin, bondage to sin. Sin brings such bondage. He brought us out of bondage to sin and judgment through His broken body and His shed blood in order to make you and I His own.

That's what this ordinance represents. Okay, 1 Corinthians 11, verse 23, Paul wrote, 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, He took bread. Now, Paul says here that he received what he was delivering.

This isn't tradition handed down by man. We're not doing this tonight because that's what Baptist churches do, or any church does, or that's what they did before us. This isn't a tradition handed down by man. It's a truth handed down by Christ himself. This is not something that man has initialized, that man came up with.

This is something that God has put his initials on. Paul received it of the Lord. That's what he said here. Anything that we have, we received of the Lord. That's why Paul said, who maketh thee to differ from another? And what do you have that you haven't received? And if you received it, why do you glory in it? Well, believers don't because they know it was a gift. Nothing they earned, merited, or deserved. We received it of the Lord. And then Paul delivered this as from the Lord. What is the gospel truth we received and deliver?

Christ's death is substitutionary. And again, I'm afraid that this is something that men and women often just become callous to and just take it for granted. Christ voluntarily gave Himself up, anticipating betrayal and anticipating crucifixion. Why? To pay the penalty of sin. And let me bring it even home closer to you. Your iniquity, every evil thought, every evil deed, that which flows from the abundance of our hearts, that we so abhor and hate, Christ paid every sin, for every sin, past, present, and even future.

And the child of God doesn't continue in sin that grace may abound. No, no, no. They thank God for his mercy and his grace, and they don't want to be disappointing to the one that loved them and gave himself for them. Isn't that how you feel, dear believer?

The gospel confirms that salvation's of the Lord. Every message, every scripture in this book says salvation is of the Lord. It's not a man. It's not by works that any man should boast. And Paul emphasizes here that he received it from the Lord. He said, I received it from the Lord. That's pretty plain, isn't it? Everything we have, we receive from the Lord. And this truth is a divine revelation. It's not human invention.

And this blessed ordinance communicates the gospel. As you know, the bread represents Christ's broken body for his people. And the wine represents his precious blood shed for his elect people. Not for the world, but for those that God gave him before the foundation of the world. This communicates the gospel.

Partaking of this table is a remembrance and a proclamation of Christ's death until He comes again. Look down at verse 26. There's a personal application here to what we're doing tonight. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death until He comes. Believers are called to examine their hearts and repent and approach this table in faith, recognizing their need for salvation. That's why we partake of this.

It's an acknowledgement of what it actually took in order to save us from our sin. Look at verse 24. And when he had given thanks, he'd break it, that being the bread. And he said, take, eat, This is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. You see, first, this table points back to a broken body. Our Lord said, this is my body broken for you.

Christ didn't die by accident. The Lord Jesus Christ was not a victim. He was a sacrifice, and He was a willing sacrifice. Isn't that amazing? His body was broken. His body was beaten. His body was mocked. His body was nailed to a pole. And his body died on that pole. Scripture says that his visage was so marred that he didn't even look like a man. You talking about abused? You talking about beaten? Imagine that in your mind and remember that's what it cost to put your sin away.

My. It wasn't the Jews. It wasn't the Romans that put him on the cross. It was you and I. It was our sin, the sin of his elect people that did so. You see, our sin demanded judgment. Our sin demanded justice. God's justice required payment. Christ took both for His people, both the judgment, the wrath, and the justice of God.

His body absorbed the full weight of God's wrath. My, I can't even imagine. You know, what they did to our Lord physically doesn't even begin to compare the soul suffering that He suffered. Separation from God. He had always been at the Lord's side, being God the Son, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All of a sudden was forsaken of his Father. And he faced the wrath and judgment of God and the separation from God that you and I should have experienced.

Oh Lord, let us never become calloused to this wonderful message of substitution and this divine ordinance. We don't come to this table casually. We come realizing that that should have been us on the cross. This table points inward. As I read down in verse 28, Paul said, let a man examine himself. The Lord's table is not for the perfect. It's for those who are made perfect. But it's not for the careless either. We don't come examining our neighbor We don't come examining the church, we come examining ourselves. The Lord's table demands honesty. Are we looking to Christ alone to save us? Are we trusting in Christ alone to put our sin away?

This table points inward and this table points upward. Look at verse 25, after the same manner also he took the cup and when he had sucked, saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye, as oft as you drink it, in remembrance of me." This cup represents the blood of Christ, the price of the new covenant. Now this is not animal blood. They never put away the first cent. This is not just symbolic religion. We're not just going through the motions tonight. This is the very blood of the Son of God. That's what it represents. Christ's blood that cleanses sin. Christ's blood that satisfies justice. Christ's blood that secures forgiveness. How do I know I'm forgiven? Because Christ shed His blood for me and His body was broken for me and for you that love and trust Him. That's how we know.

It's not based on anything we do, because we'd have no confidence, we'd have no assurance that it was. But we've got full confidence and full assurance in knowing who it was that died in our room instead and put our sin away. We're not saved by personal effort, aren't you glad? We're not saved by our morality, aren't you really glad?

We're saved by blood and not just any blood. Oh, I can't reiterate it enough. It's the sinless, spotless blood of Christ, God, the Son. And here's the reality of it. If we're trusting in anything or anyone else, we're still lost in our sin. Well, that's pretty single-minded. God's pretty single-minded. God's Word's pretty single-minded.

It's pretty narrow, isn't it? This table points forward to a coming King. It points to the past, it points inward, it points up, and it points forward to a coming King. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till He comes. He's coming. He's coming again. This table is not only about what happened, It's about who's coming. Christ is coming again.

And when He does, there'll be no more looking to pictures and symbols and types. We'll be looking at Him face to face. Face to face with Christ my Savior. Face to face, how can it be? When with rapture I behold Him, Jesus Christ who died for me. Oh, what a day that'll be. What a glorious, glorious day. No more cup. Redemption will be complete. Judgment and justice will be found.

When we take the Lord's table, we're declaring that Christ died and that He rose and that He's coming again, just like we do in baptism. So what are we doing tonight? We're remembering what it cost to save wretches like you and I. That's what we're doing. May God enable us to remember day in and day out that our forgiveness and salvation came at a great cost.

It was the breaking of His body. It should have been my body that was broken. It's the shedding of His blood. It was my blood that should have been shed. It's His bearing of our sin. He was bruised. He was. For whose iniquities? It was the sacrifice of his life.

Again, verse 26, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come. And as we partake of this ordinance, we're declaring that salvation comes only through Christ's sacrificial death on the cross. Now listen, I love to think about this. No one took His life. You say, well sure they did.

The Romans came and took His life. They arrested Him in the garden. The Jewish leaders took His life. Oh yes, it was their wicked hands that God used to accomplish this horrific thing. But it was by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Jesus Christ is God.

No one took His life. He laid it down. He Himself said, no man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down on Myself. He said, I have power to lay it down. And I have power to take it again. In this commandment have I received of My Father. And what we see in this is His perfect obedience to the will and purpose of God. Someone must redeem us. Christ said, I'll do it. It'd be my honor and pleasure to do it. His coming and dying was in obedience to God, His Father.

And friends, in partaking of this ordinance, we're anticipating Christ's second coming. Aren't you looking forward to that? You know, we, by nature, we do everything we can to hang on in this life just one day longer, or if I could just live a year longer, or if I could just see my grandchildren grow up and my grandchildren get married. I understand that. But I'm looking forward to the Lord's return. It could be for me tonight.

We're anticipating Christ's coming for us. Communion connects the past, His death, with the future, His return. And that's what we celebrate in the partaking of communion. And by us partaking of this table together, we are as a local church body publicly confessing to the reality that salvation is in and by and through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

No other way to be saved. There's no other name by which we can be saved. And that's what makes this occasion so special and solemn. It points us directly to Christ's sacrificial death. We're remembering not only a death, but a brutal death. You know, people talk about how they would have treated Christ if they had been alive in His day. You don't have to look any further than the cross to see.

And I know it's a horrific thought, and none of us like to think that we would be capable of doing it, but we would have done the same thing. Why? Because we have the same heart in us that they had in them then. We would have done the same. We would have cried, crucify him with the rest of the world. We're remembering a brutal death, actually a murder. that paid for our sin.

And it stirs real gratitude and humility, doesn't it? When you think about these things. When we truly grasp what it costs to save us. It'll humble you. It sure will. It'll humble you. Our salvation was bought with a price, that being the broken body and shed blood of God the Son. And as I said, communion is a solemn thing because it brings us face to face with Christ's cross, our sin, and God's mercy all at the same time. We must not treat it casually. So with these things said, if the men would come at this time, we'll protect of this divine ordinance and let us remember as we partake of the bread and the wine, just what it took for the Lord to save us.