Our Lord taught his disciples by asking
them questions. He asked them a lot of questions,
among whom were these. He said, whom do men say that
I, the Son of Man, am? And they answered and said, well,
some say you. John the Baptist, and some say
Jeremiah, and some say one of the prophets. But he said, whom
do you say? He left off son of man. He asked, what do the people
say about the son of man? He said, whom do you say I am? That's another question. I am. I am. I am. And Peter answered,
he said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Then
our Lord asked this question of the Pharisees. He said, what
think ye of the Christ? What do you think of the Christ?
Whose son is he? They said the son of David. He
said, well, why is it then that David called him Lord? How can
he be David's son, be David's Lord at the same time? And nobody
asked him any more questions. But one day he fed 5,000 people
and preached to them and most of them left. And he turned to
those disciples and he said, will you also go with me? He asked them. Peter said, to
whom shall we go? There's nowhere to go. You have the words of life. And
we believe and assure the thought of Christ. Well, I want you to
consider some questions tonight. I wouldn't mind if you jotted
them down. I'm going to ask you to consider five questions, the
last of which is my text for tonight. I'm going to ask you
four, and then I'm going deal with the fifth one at length. But here are the polls. Number
one, is salvation a gift or is it an offer? I hear people talk
about the free offer of the gospel. Well, is it a gift or is it an
offer? The scripture says, by grace
are you saved through faith and not by yourself. It's the what?
Gift of God. Gift of God. That's what salvation
is. It's the gift of God. 1 John 5, 11 says, this is the
record. This is the witness. This is
the record. God has given us eternal life. This life in His Son. So the
gospel is a free gift. It's a gift of God, not of what? Second question. Is salvation
by God's choice or is salvation by chance? I hear people say,
well, everybody ought to have a chance. Salvation's not by
chance, it's by grace. It's by choice. Our Lord said,
you've not chosen me. I chose you and ordained you
and sent you to bear fruit. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenly places in Christ according as he chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. He chose us that
we should be holy and without blame. He chose us. The next question, the third
one. Is salvation by the will of God or is it by the will of
man? Is salvation totally, completely
by the will of God or is it by the will of man? Well, our Lord
said in John 1, as many as received him, to them gave he the privilege,
the power, the right to be sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name, which were born. Not of blood, not of natural
genealogy, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of
man, born of God. So salvation is not by the will
of man, it's by the will of God. But of course, Romans 9 says
this, so then it's not of him that will it, it's not of him
that run it, it's of God who shows mercy. Here's the fourth
question. Are we saved and regenerated
because we believe the gospel? Or do we believe the gospel because
we're saved and regenerated? Paul answered that, Acts 13,
48. It says, when the Gentiles heard
Paul, when the Gentiles heard this, They were gladdened, and
as many as were ordained to life, they believed. They were ordained
to life, that's why they believed. That's right. We're not ordained
to life because we believe. We believe because we're ordained
to life. That's just so. Barnard used
to say, that's not deep, it's just so. It's just so. Well, here's my fifth question. I want you to turn in your Bibles
to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. I want you to listen. Because in verse 15, 1 Corinthians
10, 15, I speak as to wise men. And I'm looking over this congregation
at a bunch of wise men and women who've been taught. I speak to wise men and women,
and you judge what I say. You consider what I'm saying. Take it to heart. Pay attention. Now listen, here's the question.
The cup of blessing which we bless Is it not the communion
of the blood of Christ? Is that what it is? This brain which we break tonight,
is it not the communion of the body of Christ Jesus? Now let's start out with the
cup. The cup of blessings. which we
bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? This
is cut. You know, the Bible uses the
word cut, C-U-P, many, many times. Sometimes. Sometimes real things
are meant. Sometimes figurative language
is used. But these are great scriptures.
I'll just quote them for you. In John 18, verse 10 and 11.
Why don't you turn and read that? John 18, verse 10 and 11. John
18, verse 10 and 11. This cup, the cup. Then Simon
Peter, having a sword, drew it and smote the high priest's servant
and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. Then said the Lord Jesus to Peter,
put up your sword. Put up thy sword into thy sheep,
the cup, the cup which my father hath given me, shall I not drink
it?" Our Lord refers to this cup here,
his cup of suffering. The cup which my father has given
me, shall I not drink it? And then in Mark chapter 9, I'll
just quote this though, the cup, there's a cup mentioned, the
cup of service. There's a cup of suffering which
our Lord endured, then there's a cup of service which all of
us partake of, the cup of service. And here's what it says, whosoever
shall give a cup of water to drink, to them in my name, Because you
belong to Christ, you'll never lose your reward. That's the
cup of service. You know what I'm talking about?
Because every one of you here partake of and give out that
cup of service. We serve one another. God's people
are generous people. They're gracious people. They're
good people. They're people that love Christ. That's the cup of,
our Lord talked about the cup of suffering, that's His cup
of suffering. And there's a cup of service,
that we serve one another. And then there's the, I hate
this one here, the cup of wrath. There is the cup of wrath. It
says here in Revelation, those who worship the beast shall drink
of the wrath of God. which is poured out without mixture
into the cup of God's indignation. Cup of suffering. Cup of service. And to those who don't know Christ,
it's a cup of wrath. Oh, we're talking about something
different here. Look, back to my text. I speak to the wise
men, judge what I say, the cup of blessing which we bless, this
cup of blessing which we bless. It's the cup the Lord prepared
for us. That's right, in the book of
Psalms 23, David said this, he said this, the Lord prepared
for me a table and my cup runneth over. He sets a wonderful table. And our cup just runs over. It's
a cup of blessing. A cup of blessing. A cup of blessing
because the Lord gave it to us. A cup of blessing. And then there's
a cup of salvation. In Psalm 116, David said, What
shall I render to the Lord for all the benefits towards me?
I'll tell you. I will take the cup of salvation. And I'll call on the name of
the Lord. Cup of blessings. Cup of blessings. Which God prepared for us. The
cup of salvation. And then he said this, this is
the new covenant in my blood. This cup, Christ said, is the
new testament, the new covenant in my blood. David talked about
that. David in his dying, on his dying
bed, last words. He said, although it be not so
with my house, God was made with me an everlasting covenant. The
cup of covenant. The cup of covenant. Ordered
in all things and sure. This is all my salvation. All
my desire. Although we make it not to grow.
So, the cup. The cup of blessing. It's the
cup the Lord prepared for us. It's the cup of salvation. And
it's the new covenant. This cup is the new covenant
in my blood. Well, let's look a little further. The cup of blessings which we
bless. Now this cup of which we'll partake
tonight. This cup. This cup. It's not an ordinary cup. It's
not just the everyday cup. We bless this cup, first of all,
by setting it apart from the other cups. We set it apart. That's right. It's no ordinary
cup. It's no common meal. We've already
had the common meal. We're going to partake of something
richer, greater, more wonderful. We're going to partake of a special
cup. It's a special time. It's a special
cup. It's no ordinary cup. We bless
this cup by setting it apart. Secondly, this cup of blessing,
which we bless, we bless by setting it apart. Secondly, we bless
it by faith, by faith. We believe this cup. We believe
this blood. We believe this brain. We believe
it. And let none but true believers
take that cup. He warns us, don't fiddle with
this. This is not a sacrament. An ordinary
meal. This is not a church supper.
This is not something to make you feel pious and holy. This
cup is the cup God gave us to remember His death. You take it by faith. Let none
but believers take this cup. It is for those who discern the
Lord's body and the Lord's blood. They discern it. They know what
they're doing. And thirdly, we bless this cup
by prayer. Our Lord took the cup and gave
thanks. Our Lord took the bread and gave
thanks. We bless it by prayer. And the
pastor will, in a moment, take the cup and offer prayer. Take
the wine and offer prayer. We bless this cup by setting
it apart. We bless this cup by faith. We
bless this cup by giving thanks, and we bless this cup by meditation. Not noise. Not whooping. By meditation. Thinking on Christ. Loving Christ. Receiving Christ. All right. Now, third point.
This cup of blessing which we bless, how do we receive this
cup? How did we get in on this? How
did we get in on this cup of blessing? But I'll tell you,
the Lord gave it to us. Paul said that. Look at the next
chapter. Chapter 11. He said here, in
verse 23, chapter 11 of 1 Corinthians, verse 23, I received of the Lord
that which I delivered to you. Yeah, we received this from the
Lord. That the Lord Jesus, the same
night in which He was betrayed, He took bread, gave thanks, break
it, and said, take eat. This is my body which is broken
for you. This do in remembrance of me. The Lord gave us this cup. When? Before the foundation of the
world. This cup was designed by God. ordered by God, promised
by God, when Adam fell in the garden. Because He said, I'll
put enmity between thee and the woman, between her seed and your
seed. That's the promise of the coming
Christ. The promise of His blood, the promise of His body. Also, when Abraham and Isaac
walked up that mountain, and Isaac said to his father, he
was a wise young man. He said, Father, we're going
to worship God. Here's the wood. Here's the fire.
Where's the lamb? And Abraham said, My son, God
will provide the lamb. He's already provided the lamb.
That's right. By promise and by picture, when
they took the lamb and slew it and put the blood on the door,
that's Christ. And then in person. Oh, listen
to this. Turn to Luke chapter 22. Luke
chapter 22. Listen to this. This is the Lord
Jesus in Luke chapter 22. Let's read,
if you will, beginning with verse 15. He said unto them, With desire
I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For
I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be
fulfilled in the kingdom of God.' And he took the cup, and gave
thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves.
For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine
until the kingdom of God is come. And he took bread, and gave thanks,
and break it, and gave it to them, saying, This is, oh listen,
this is my body. God had promised it, God had
prophesied it, God had pictured it, and now in person, there
He stands. This is my body. This is my body. This is my body. This is my body. He took the
brain. He took our flesh. The Son of God was made flesh
and dwelt among us. He took our flesh. And then he
blessed it. He fulfilled, lived a perfect
life. Fulfilled God Almighty's holy
love. He blessed, he blessed this body
and he break it. He took the brain, he blessed
it and he broke it. He pleased God to bruise him.
He had to die. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
die. I know, I read a long thing a fellow sent me this week on
eternal justification, and I know all these things. I've read all
the, you've got to hear the gospel to be saved. You've got to hear
it and believe it. You've got to receive it yourself.
You've got to, like Charlie preached this morning, there's a will
in Bible. I will. Rebecca, she said, I
will go. I will. I will. I will. And you will too, or you'll perish.
That's right. And the Lord Jesus Christ, God
ordained his death before the foundation of the world, but
he had to die. He had to die. He had to bear
all of our guilt and sin and corruption that John, what's your name? Tom talked about it. Our Lord
had to take that on Him. He had to die. And I'm telling
you this, you and I got to die. Got to die. To self and pride
and arrogance and all that. And fall at the feet of Christ
and kiss the Son. That's TBA. That's right. Personally, you and me. We're
going to believe on it. He took the brain. He took our
flesh. He blessed him. He lived the
perfect life. He breaks the bread. He pleased
the Lord to prove. And he gave it to him, this disciple. And he said, eat it. That's the gospel. He gave it
to his disciples and he said, this do in remembrance of me. It's only bread, but it represents
It's only wine. This is not a sacrament. This
is just what it says. It's in remembrance. It's in
remembrance of our Lord. Now then, let's listen to something
here. Let's get back to this text. 1 Corinthians 10, verse
16. Now listen to this. I speak,
verse 15, I speak as to wise men. Now you consider what I'm
saying. You judge. You think about it. The cup of
blessings which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood
of Christ? This bread which we break, is
it not the communion of the body of Christ? What does that word
communion mean? It's only used in the Bible four
times, twice right here, and twice more in another part of
Corinthians. The word communion, all you have
to do is get a concordance and look it up. And I did. And it
has four words. It has four words. We'll give
you three of them, maybe the fourth one. It's partnership. Communion in the concordance
means partnership. Union. He's the head, we're the
body. He's the vine, we're the branch.
He's the husband, we're the wife. They're union. They're together. You can't have one without the
other. And that's what this communion, this bread is the communion,
the partnership of God and his people, Christ and his people. That's what we read in Ephesians
this morning, chapter 5. Let's look at it. Let's return
to Ephesians chapter 5 and listen to this. Ephesians chapter 5. This is a union between Christ
and His church. In Ephesians 5 verse 22, Wives,
submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For
the husband is ahead of the wife, as Christ is ahead of the church.
Yes, He's the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject
to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and
gave Himself for it. that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word that he might present
it to himself, a glorious church, not having a spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Partnership. Is not this, brethren,
which we bless, the partnership of Christ and his people? What's
the next word? The next word is participation.
Participation. For he was made sin for us, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. We participate,
not only we participate in his sufferings, he died bearing our
sin in his body on the tree. We participate in that. That's
right. Of him are you in Christ. who of God is made in us, wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We have all that
in Him. We participate in Him. He gives it to us. And then John
17, 21. Let me read this. John chapter
17. John 17, verse 20. John 17, verse 20. Let's read
verse 19. And for their sake I sanctify
myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth."
We're sanctified in Christ. "'Neither pray thou for these
alone, but for them which shall believe on me through their word,
that they may all may be one as thou, Father, art in me, I
in thee, that they may be one in us, that the world may believe
that thou hast sent me in the glory which I The glory which
you gave me, I've given thee. We're participating. We're a
partner and we're participating. Everything Christ has for us
is given to us. And then here's the third word.
It's fellowship. This bread which we bless, is
it not the fellowship of Christ? Read 1 John chapter 1. 1 John
chapter 1, the fellowship of Christ. John chapter 1 verse
3, that which we've seen and declare we unto you that you
also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is
with the Father and with his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we are. Fellowship. Read verse 7. And if we walk
in the light, as He's in the light, we have fellowship, one
with another. Not just you and me. We are of you and me, but Christ
in us. We have fellowship with Him.
And the blood of Christ cleanses us of all sin. Alright. Closing. Look at my text again. I Corinthians 15. I speak as
to wise men Consider what I say, the cup of blessing which we
bless, setting it apart by faith, meditating. Is it not just the
fellowship, the partnership, the participation in the blood
of Christ and this bread which we break? Is it not the partnership,
participation, benefaction and fellowship of the body of Christ?
It certainly is. It's real. And verse 17, for
we being many. How many? Revelation chapter
7. Revelation chapter 7. I think
we read this this morning too. Revelation chapter 7 verse 9. Listen to this. Revelation 7. And after this, I beheld, and
lo, a great multitude." We being many, don't talk about, you know,
peanut. People, it's the Lord's people. It's the Lord of hosts. The Lord
of hosts. Are they, my, my. I behold a great multitude, which
no man can number, of all nations, kindred, people, tongues, stood
before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and
palms in their hands. We're many." He said, we're many,
but wait a minute now. Verse 17, for we being many are
one, one bread and one body. We're one. God said to me one
time, I said, you and I are not of the same faith, are we? I
said, we better be. There's just one faith. There's
just one. He says there's one body, there's
one bread, there's one spirit in which you're called in one
hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
and Father of all, who's above all and through all and in you
all. We're many, but we're one in
Christ. We're one. Read on. For we are
all partakers of that bread. We're all partakers of that one
bread and that one blood. For as often as you eat this
bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death to become.
How do you show the Lord's hand? Well, we show it to ourselves. When we meditate upon this bread
and wine and all these things that the Lord has taught us about
our Savior's death and suffering, we show it to ourselves. The
Apostle Paul said, I know whom I have to leave. I know whom
I have faith. I'm persuaded He's able to keep
that which I've committed. I know Christ. We have Christ. We know Christ. We love Christ.
Peter looked at the Lord when the Lord said, Do you love me?
He said, Lord, you know everything. You know I love you. Of course
you do. Of course you do. Of course you
do. Secondly, we show it to ourselves and we show it before the throne
of God. Short before the throne of God, before the very throne
of God, I beheld in the midst of the throne stood a lamb as
it had been slain, having seven horns, almighty, seven eyes,
all-knowing, seven spirits, omnipresent, and he came and took the book.
I saw him. We confess this to ourselves,
we confess this before the throne of God, we confess this to one
another. Forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together. Exhort one another. Speak to
one another in psalms and hymns and special words. We show it to one another. Then,
everybody gets the Bible and turn to Exodus 12. Exodus 12. We being many, one bread, one
body, we show the Lord's death till he comes. We show it to
ourselves. We show it before the throne of God. We show it
before one another. And we want to show it to our
children. Our babies are here. Our children are here. Now listen
to this. In Exodus 12, verse 24. Exodus
12, verse 24. Here it is. Verse 24. You shall observe this ordinance,
this thing of an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever.
They come to pass when you become to the land which the Lord will
give you according to what he promised, that you'll keep this
service. And it shall come to pass when
your children, when your children say to you, what do you mean?
What do you mean? What is this communion, participation? Partnership, fellowship, what
is it? You tell them, listen. In your
sight is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed over
the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smoked
the Egyptians and delivered our houses and the people bowed their
head and worshipped him. I found a little poem. Lord Jesus,
engrave it on my heart that Thou the one thing needful art. I could from all things parted
be, but never, never, Lord, from Thee. Needful art Thou to make
me live. Needful art Thou all grace to
give. Needful to guide me when I stray. Needful to save me every day. Needful thy presence, dearest
Lord, true peace and comfort to a foreign. Needful art thou
to be my stay through all this life's dark and stormy way. No
less in death thou would needful be when my soul departs to be
with thee. All right, the Lord bless you.
Thank you.