Now, turn with me back to 1 Corinthians
chapter 11. I do not always do so, but as
we plan to observe the Lord's Supper this morning, I thought
I might say a few things this morning about it. The Lord's Supper is an ordinance. given to the church by Christ
Himself, and one which we're commanded to keep. Often we want to look at baptism
as a commandment, but the Lord's table is an option. And the fact
is, He did not say, this ye ought to do. He said, this do. When the King said, this do,
He means this do. And there's much superstition,
much tradition and ceremonialism attached to the general practice
of this ordinance. The Catholics have attached what
they call transubstantiation. That is, they believe when the
bread enters your mouth, it is mystically changed into the flesh
and body of the Lord Jesus Christ. and that the wine, when it enters
your mouth, is mystically changed into his blood so that you're
actually eating the body of Christ and you're actually drinking
his blood. They call it the Eucharist bread
and wine. And then some Baptists and others
have attached such things as personal worthiness. I just can't
for the life of me, see how any man could think himself worthy
to be a partaker of the body and the blood of Christ. That's
his gift of grace. This is the mercy of God which
has given us these things. All those who think themselves
worthy will never know anything about it. And the very first
thing he does is reveal to us our unworthiness. And then church membership, that's another
thing they attach to this ordinance. You have to be a member of that
particular church in order to part, they call that fencing
the table sometimes. If you're not a member of the
church, then they'll, I was visiting, this was years and years ago
before I knew anything. There were some folks out there
who knew a little bit about these doctrines, and I was hearing
them preach, so I went down to this landmark church, and they
had the Lord's Table that morning, and they were passing around
the bread, and I reached for it, and God pulled it back. He
wouldn't let me have it. And I just looked at him, and
I went like that. But if you weren't a member of
that church, then you couldn't take of the bread or take of
the wine. There's just hundreds of things. They call these things
fencing the table. And then others have certain
days when it's to be practiced, and they attach certain rules
concerning how the leftovers are to be disposed of. The little
Armenian church that I went to for a while when my wife and
I was young, the deacons of the church would take out the leftovers,
or the deacon's wives, I can't even remember how it went now,
but they had to go out on a certain night, at midnight, at whatever,
full moon, or whatever, I don't even remember all the particulars,
but you had to go out and bury it that night, all the leftover. And others have certain things
that they do. Elements of the table. Lots of the Baptist churches
nowadays use grape juice instead of wine. They use non-alcoholic
beverages. They might be using grape soda
for all I know, and they use soda crackers, you know. I've
seen that done, and white bread broken up and passed. And then
other use, I took some the other day over Mississippi, and I know
they bought it down at a at a Bible bookstore or something, but it
tastes like styrofoam. It was anything but bread. I
don't know what it was. And then several churches attach
a ceremonial pageantry to the table. They use altar boys and
certain tools carried by the priest to put the bread and wine
into your mouth. And our Lord didn't put this
bread and wine into the disciples' mouths when he gave it. He broke
the bread and passed it out. They ate the bread. And if ever
there was a priest, any man worthy to be a priest, it was Christ.
And so where do these things come from? Where do these tools
and this pageantry and all these things? We attach them. We attach
them to here. Why? Visual aids and sensual
effects and so on. And then others attach foot washing.
That might be something y'all never heard of. But they practiced
that up in the mountains. They actually believed that to
be an ordinance of God where Christ washed the disciples'
feet and they attached that. Anytime we had the Lord's table,
they had a foot washing in the chair. Brethren, the Lord suffers not
any of these things. Not any of these things. The
Lord's Supper, like baptism, is a very simple and plain picture
of our salvation in Jesus Christ. Baptism pictures our union with
Christ, dying with Him, being buried with Him, being raised
up in Him unto life everlasting. It says that. It says that on
several occasions. And it is the believer's confession
of faith. To go into a pool with no understanding,
to go into the water just because somebody told you you had to
go into the water doesn't confess anything. This is the believer's
confession of faith. And if he don't understand what
he's doing, then it had no effect. And the same thing has to do
with this. If we just eat the bread and drink the wine, and
had no understanding of what it means, then we hadn't accomplished
anything. We just went through another
meaningless ceremony. The Lord's table is a symbolic
picture of the redemption of Christ. It pictures His body
which was broken for us. Isn't that what He said when
He broke that bread? Jesus Christ, in covenant union
with His people, took to Himself their flesh and bones in order
to represent a body, He said. A body. What kind of a body was
given to Him? Why must He take on a body? As
a sacrifice. As a sacrifice. And in covenant
union with His people, He took to Himself their flesh and bones
in order to represent them under the law and in order to bear
their sins in His own body on the tree and to raise them from
the dead and be justified from the highest court in heaven.
Man is dead in trespasses and sins. No matter what he does,
he continues to sin. Have you ever thought about that? I don't care what he does. No
matter what he does, he continues to sin. If he quits gambling
and drinking and selling drugs and joins a church and reforms
his life, he still continues to sin. If he goes to seminary and learns
to preach, whatever that is, and takes a church and becomes
their pastor, he's still a sinner. He still sins. If he tithes of
all his possession and gives himself completely to the ministry
and lives on the mission field, he still continues to sin. There's nothing a natural man
can do of himself to justify himself before God or redeem
himself from his sins. And so Paul cries out. as a carnal
man sold unto sin, as one who wanted to do good, but evil was
still present in him. And he said, O wretched man that
I am. I wonder how many in here this
morning can say that. O wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? And there's only one answer to
the question. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. This blessed ordinance is sometimes
called communion. Communion. Somebody said, are
we going to have communion? When was the last time we had
communion? Do you know what communion means? Common union. That's what it means. Salvation
is through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our representative and
substitute, took our place before the holy law of God, took our
place before the bar of His uncompromising justice. Surely, surely no one
in this place today believes that they can redeem themselves
by their half-hearted obedience. Surely you don't believe. Surely
you are not ready to go out and meet a holy and a just God based
on your present performance and your thoughts and deeds. Surely you are not satisfied
by your own works to go and meet the living God. And surely nobody in this place
today feels that they are worthy to inherit eternal life based
on their good intentions and commitments. There's only one
hope for any man or woman in this place today, and that is
that Jesus Christ, God's dear Son, come into this world, and
by His own righteousness and shed blood, by His broken body
and death on the cross, redeemed us from our sins, clothed us
in His perfect righteousness, and raised us up out of the graveyard
of humanity to become a son of God. That's the only hope there
is. There's not any hope anywhere
else. And this simple truth is the truth of this ordinance.
It's just this. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. And when you eat this
bread and drink this wine, you do show the Lord's death till
He returns. You picture it. You show it. You declare it to be for you.
And we do these things in memory of Him, that is, remembering
what He's done for us. So the Lord's table is first
of all a communion. And then secondly, it's a supper.
Turn with me to John chapter 6. This is the Lord's supper. John chapter 6. Let me see if
I can show you something here. In verse 35. Now the Lord had multitudes of
men following Him up to this point. Lots of men. They saw His miracles. They saw
things that He did. And they said, we believe this
is the Christ. Now they didn't know what the
Christ came to do. They didn't know a whole lot
about Him. But they thought that He was the Christ. And then Christ
began to teach them something about his death. And listen to
what he says here in verse 35. Then Jesus said unto them, I
am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Verse
48, I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am
the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat this
bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." Now,
my friend, this is not talking about transubstantiation of elements. Something transformed into his
physical body. If you read on down, you'll see
there where that's what they thought he was teaching, cannibalism. And they said, this is a hard
saying. Who can receive this? And they turned away and they
wouldn't walk with him anymore. They said, he's nuts. And he
said, my words are spirit. That is, they're spiritually
understood, spiritually spoken, spoken to believers. He's talking about the daily
sustenance of faith. Faith eats and drinks Christ
the Lord. It recognizes Him as coming down
from heaven as the manna was in the wilderness, scent of God,
coming down from God. It recognizes Him as being given
by God to produce life and sustain life. It recognizes that like
the manna, there's nothing else to eat in the wilderness. You'll
find it where God gives it. You'll gather it in a time when
He tells you it's acceptable to Him, and you'll eat what you
gather and gather more as it pleases Him to give it. Is that
so? Sure it is. Christ is the bread. And what we'll do here in just
a few minutes is an act of faith. It's an act of faith. The wine
is just wine. It'll be wine going in and wine
coming out. The bread is just bread. It'll
be bread going in and bread coming out. It's not going to change.
But the picture and what we demonstrate when we take that bread. It's
broken bread. Kathy broke that bread last night.
Broke it up and put it there. It's unleavened bread. It pictures
His pure flesh. Unmixed. It's an act of faith. It pictures
our redemption and pictures our union with Christ. We eat that
broken bread and drink the bruised grape as an act of faith. And
you take these things, that actual bread, you're going to take it
in you. It becomes a part of you. Even so, faith, the Word
of God, these spiritual things, they become a part of us. And
we eat those things. We eat that broken bread and
drink that bruised grape as an act of faith declaring the very
basis and foundation of our hope before God. Let me tell you something. If Jesus Christ did not represent
you when He was born in that manger, when he walked under
that law, when he was judged before Pilate in this world,
when he was nailed on that cross and put to death, buried in that
tomb and raised from the dead, and ascended to sit on that throne.
If he did not represent you, then you still have that bar
to face and that death to die. Is that too hard? In Hebrews chapter 9 and chapter
10, he goes through great lengths to set before us the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he gets down toward
the end of that chapter and he said, if you sin willfully... Well, all sins willfully. He's
not talking about you willful sins. What he's talking about
there is if you sin willfully and leave that which has been
set before you, You leave that. There's nothing left for you.
There's no more sacrifice for sin. This is the only sacrifice. You leave that. You leave that
bruised body and that shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you go on to some other hope. There remaineth no more sacrifice
for sins for you, just a certain fearful looking for of judgment
and fiery indignation. Because this is the only propitiation
for sin. The Scripture said, he that believeth
not shall be damned. And it tells us, by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. And
you say, well, I'm going to produce my own righteousness. I'm just
going to walk under the law. Cursed is everyone who continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.
That curse was given when God gave the law. And faith looks
to Christ. It rejoices in Christ. It rests
in Christ. It follows after Christ. It eats
His flesh and drinks His blood. This is the Lord's supper. It's
a feast of faith. And then thirdly, the Lord's
table is an ordinance. And we're commanded by the Lord
to observe it. He didn't say, well, you ought
to do this. He said, do this. Do this. And there's only one thing to
prevent you this morning from taking this supper, and that
is if you do not understand what it means. If you don't understand
what it means, then you're unworthy to take the table. Don't take
it. Because you eat and drink to
yourself damnation if you do. Turn with me now to 1 Corinthians
11 and let me show you something here. There's a common practice
in most Baptist churches. They like to use the Lord's table
as a means to settle disputes and differences and separations
in the church. And what they say is, because
of these things, you are not worthy to eat. You are not worthy to take the
table because you are out of fellowship with this one or that
one, or you have done this or done that. Let's read what Paul
says about it. 1 Corinthians 11, 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 shall
be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine
himself." It didn't say for the church to examine him. It didn't
say for a board of deacons to examine him. It said, let every
man examine himself. And so let him eat of the bread. Judas ate of the bread and the
Lord led him. And Judas had no more idea what
that bread meant than a man in the mouth. And he ate and drank
to himself damnation. Let him eat of that bread and
drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh
unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself. Now are
you listening? Not discerning the Lord's body. Not understanding what his broken
body means. That's the only thing that makes
you unworthy to take this statement. And very simply, discerning that
his body was a sacrifice for sin, that his body was a representative
body by which our sins could be put away and God could be
just and justified. Discerning his death to be particular
affectual and personal. Listen to what he says. This
is my body which was broken for everybody. I know what that says. He said, this is my body which
was broken for you. You know, sometimes people get
the wrong idea about what we're saying concerning the death of
Christ. Jesus Christ came and lived and died and reigns in
glory for the salvation of His elect. But His elect are scattered. They're scattered abroad throughout
all the earth, every kindred, nation, tribe, and people under
heaven, Jews and Gentiles and white and black and yellow and
red and everything in between. John said he's the propitiation
for our sins and not ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world. They're just one propitiation,
not just for the Jews, But for any nation, any people, anywhere,
there's just one propitiation. That propitiation is Christ. And any man anywhere can look
to Him and believe on Him and trust in Him. Whosoever will,
let him take of the water and life freely. Are you willing? Take it. Are you thirsty? Drink. You hungry? Eat the bread. I say this without any hesitation. If you're willing to come, come
on. And if you can hear and understand, there's nothing else to prevent
you from coming. But that in no way means that
Christ died for every man, woman, and child. It simply means that all for
whom He died are called and made willing and given a thirst and
made hungry and called to repentance and faith. Listen to the Scriptures, John
6, 39. Christ said, this is the Father's will which is sent me,
that of all which He has given me, I should lose nothing but
raise it up at the last day. Now listen to this. This is the
very next verse. And this is the will of Him that sent me,
that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may
have everlasting life, and I'll raise him up at the last day.
God's elect and the whosoever wills are the same people. Nobody
else will. Nobody else is hungry. Nobody else is thirsty. You have
to be made thirsty. You weren't born thirsty. Have
to be made thirsty. Have to be made hungry. Have
to be made willing. My people shall be willing, he
said, in the day of my power. And you read in the book of Revelations
about the 144,000. And right after that, the number
that no man can number, they're all the same people. But if his death, I'm going to
tell you this, if his death is not particular, then it cannot
be effectual. You let that sink in. If it's
not particular, then it can't be effectual. And if it's not
effectual, there's no salvation for you. Can you discern the Lord's death?
Can you understand what His body and blood have to do with your
salvation? Then you're worthy to eat the
bread and drink the wine. My friend, if it's just a ceremony,
if it's just a meaningless ordinance, leave it alone. Just leave it
alone. But if you're here this morning
and you believe and you understand what these things are, then it
ought to be the highest privilege on earth for you to reach in
and take that breath and drink that wine and remember Him and
think on His death and think on His shed blood. Oh, my soul. No hope for me apart from that.
No hope. But oh, what a privilege. What
a privilege. Those men must have sat around
that table on that evening. And he handed it to them. They
still didn't understand exactly what was about to take place.
But they did afterward. And I know they mused hard up
on that first table when they sat there. And he handed them
that bread and told them what it meant.