I want to read a couple of passages
of scripture for a text tonight. First Corinthians, chapter 10. First Corinthians. We'll read two verses in chapter
10. Our subject tonight is the cup
of blessing. The cup of blessing. Verse 16. 1 Corinthians 10, the cup of
blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood
of Christ? The bread which we break, is
it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many,
all generations, nations, tribes, kindreds, tongues, are one bread
and one body, for we are all partakers of that one cup and
one bread. Now, chapter 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, took bread. And when
he had given thanks, he break it and said, Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken
for you. This do in remembrance of me.
After the same manner also he took the cup, which he had supped,
when he had supped. saying, this cup is the new covenant
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, you do show the Lord's death till
he come. Now this world in which we live
is a religious world, very, very religious. especially in this
day. Religion has reached an all-time
high in popularity. And the religious people of this
world have many thoughts and opinions about this ordinance, which we have gathered together
tonight to observe the Lord's Table. There are many thoughts
and ideas and opinions about this this particular ordinance. To some people it's a sacrament.
What is a sacrament? Well, a sacrament is, according
to the dictionary, a means of grace, a means to convey grace. In other words, it's a saving
ordinance. Many believe to receive this wine and this bread is actually,
literally, to receive the body of Christ and the blood of Christ.
That having been blessed by the priest, it actually becomes the
body and blood of Christ. And when you drink the wine and
eat the bread, you literally take into yourself salvation.
And that's what they had so many battles over that. So many people
died resisting that belief. denying, it's not so, it's just
not so. These elements are nothing but
wine and bread, and that's all they ever are. They represent
Christ. They're not... And He's present
in the taking of them. He's present in the observing
of them, but He's not... We don't receive salvation by
putting bread and wine in our bodies, natural bodies. We receive
salvation when we receive Him. Christ Jesus our Lord. And secondly,
to some people, this has become a mere religious ritual, to take
communion. That's the way they talk. We're
going to take communion. It's a matter of form and ceremony,
as they observe this particular ordinance. And then, to some
people, it's a local church fellowship, a local church event. And it's
tied up in some manner with authority, local authority and local unity
and local discipline. There have been preachers who
disciplined their church around what they called the Lord's Table.
But the Apostle Paul here in 1 Corinthians 10, this first
scripture I read, uses a more, he uses more meaningful language. He doesn't talk about sacraments,
and doesn't talk about ordinances, and he doesn't talk about tables. He talks about communion. He calls it, look at verse 16
of 1 Corinthians 10, the cup of blessing. The cup of blessing. You know the word cup, this occurred
to me, the word cup. is used frequently in the scripture
referring to great things, the cup. Let's look at two or three
places in John 18. In John 18, this is interesting,
the word cup. Now this cup is both real and
figurative that we drink tonight. This cup of blessing is both
real. Our Lord took the cup and blessed it, and when he had supped
from it, he gave it to them. The cup is a real cup. But this real cup represents
a cup. And so listen to these scriptures.
In John 18, verse 10. John 18, 10. Simon Peter, having
a sword, drew it. This was in the garden. He smote
the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. The servant's
name was Malchus. Then said Jesus unto Peter, put
up thy sword into the sheep, the cup which my Father hath
given me, shall I not drink it? That wasn't a literal cup, was
it? He's talking about the cup of sorrow, the cup of suffering,
the cup of sacrifice. He drained the very bitter dregs
from the cup. on the cross, this cup. Now in
another place, in Mark 9, let's look at this. So it's figurative. This cup my father gave me. Shall I not drink it? In Mark
9, verse 41. Verse 41 of Mark 9, we talk here
about the cup of service. Whosoever shall give you a cup
of water, he's talking to his disciples. Whosoever shall give
you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to
Christ, verily I say unto you, you shall not lose his reward.
It may mean a cup of water, but I know it means a whole lot more
than a cup of cold water. I think it means service, blessings. Whosoever shall give in the name
of Christ to a believer, a kindness, help along the way, assistance. God will bless it. And the next
verse said, And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones
that believe on me, well, better for him that a millstone were
hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. Here's
another reference to the cup, a cup, in Revelation 14. Revelation 14, verse 10. Revelation 14, 10, the same shall
drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without
mixture into the cup of his indignation. Can you imagine what all that
means? His judgment and wrath and eternal condemnation drank
of that awful, awful cup of the wrath of God. He shall be tormented
with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and
the presence of the Lamb. And there are many other references,
you can run some of these. The cup. This cup which my father
gave me, the cup of suffering. The cup which we administer to
others, the cup of service. And the cup that awaits the unbeliever,
the cup of wrath. But here, look back at our text. In verse 16 of 1 Corinthians
10, the cup of blessings. The cup of blessings. What is
that cup? Well, he told us over there in
that scripture Ronnie read, let me just turn and read it. He
said, when he handed them, and he took bread, verse 19, and
gave thanks and break it and gave it to them saying, this
is my body which is given for you, this do in remembrance of
me. Likewise the cup, after supper, saying this cup, this cup of
blessing is the new covenant. It's the covenant of grace, the
whole covenant of grace, the whole covenant of mercy. It's
the sheer mercies of David. It's all the heavenly blessings
that we have in Christ. This cup of blessing is the blood
and righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we receive
from Him. That's the cup of blessing. That's
what David meant when he said, my cup runneth over. My cup is
full and running over. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of thine enemy. My cup just runs over full, nothing
can be added. And in Psalm 116 he wrote this,
What shall I render unto the Lord for all his blessings to
me? What shall I render? I tell you,
I will take the cup of salvation, this cup of blessing. this covenant
of mercy, this new covenant in my blood. I'll take the cup of
salvation and I'll call the name of the Lord. What we're doing here tonight
and what we're professing is the greatest, most important
thing in the world to us. It's the cup of blessing. The
cup of blessing. Salvation, redemption, life in
Christ. Covenant of mercy. And notice
this text again, this cup of blessing, which we bless. How do we bless it? Well, I think
four things are indicated here. This cup, and like I say, it's
real. We approach it with dignity and
solemnity and sincerity and reverence. But yet it's not this cup, it's whom it represents. It's not when we take the wine
and the bread, that's not when Christ enters, we take it because
Christ has entered. You see what I'm saying? It's
a cup. It is a cup which we bless. It is a cup which we bless. We
better be careful. He said in that other chapter,
that encounters this ordinance in an unworthy manner shall be
guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. That's serious.
That's serious. So, here's four things. This
cup of blessings, we bless. Number one, we bless this cup
by setting it apart. It's no ordinary cup. It's the
cup of our Lord. It's no ordinary meal. It's a very special time. It's a very special time. This
is a very special time, special cup. Secondly, we bless it by
faith. Let none but true believers partake
of it. Let none but those who actually
in their hearts discern the broken body of our Lord and His shed
blood. So we bless it in that way, by
setting it apart, And by restricting it, not to church members here
only, but to believers. It's not for all men, it's for
all believers. See what I'm saying? So that,
we bless it by faith. Thirdly, we bless it by prayer. In a few moments we'll take the
cup, we'll take the bread, as our Lord gave us an example,
and we'll pray. We bless it by prayer. We call
upon Him in whose presence we appear. We call upon Him to give
us His blessings, His favor, His presence, and accept our
worship. Our Lord even did that. When
He took the cup, He prayed. Fourthly, now listen, we bless
this cup by meditation. Meditation and reverence. You
notice in here it's quiet. And this is what I'm saying.
Meditation and reverence has always been evidence of the Lord's
presence. Noise, clamor, has never indicated
the presence of God except in judgment. Remember when the mountains
smoked and the thunder rolled and the fire paled? That's judgment. But when God's presence is manifested,
men, be still. Be still and know that I'm God.
The Lord is in His holy temple. Let thy words be few. So this
cup of blessing, we bless. We bless. by setting it apart
reverently, by faith, by prayer, and by meditation and reverence. It's the Lord's table. And then notice this word, this
cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the
blood of Christ? This bread which we break, Though
it be real, but is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
This cup which we pour and we drink, is it not the blood of
Christ, the communion of the blood of Christ? Is it not the
communion of the body of Christ? Well, I looked at this word communion
and looked it up. And it has three meanings, all
the same, three parts. One meaning, three parts. First
of all, this bread, this wine, is it not the communion of the
blood and body of Christ? That is participation. We actually participate in the
blood of Christ. We actually participate in the
body of Christ. The blessings and benefits of
his sacrifice are actually ours because of this cup. Of God are
you in Christ who's made unto us wisdom. He's wisdom, but he's
our wisdom. Righteousness, he's our righteousness. Sanctification, he's our sanctification. Redemption, he's our redemption.
So this cup which we bless, it's communion, it's participation
in the very blood of the Son of God. Participation in the
body, the broken body of the Son of God. Another word is the
word partnership, which means union. We're joined together with Christ
as the head joined to the body, as the branches to the vine,
as a husband to a wife. We're joint heirs. He said you
love them as you love me. What's mine is theirs. Participation,
partnership, one with Christ, seated, crucified with Him, buried
with Him, risen with Him, seated in Him, with Him in the heavenly. And thirdly, fellowship. When John wrote about the gospel
he preached, he said in 1 John, let me read to you, he said, that which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you. that you may have fellowship
with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son, Jesus Christ. And we walk in the light as He's
in the light, we have fellowship with Him, one with another in
Him, and the blood of Christ, Jesus Christ His Son, cleanses
us from all sin. This cup, this cup of blessing
which we Solemnly set apart, approached by faith, anointed
with prayer, observed with meditation and reverence. This is actually
communion, participation, union, love and fellowship with Christ
Jesus, with God in Christ, through His blood and His broken body.
Well, where, where, where, where? Look at verse 17. For we being
many, of one bread and one body, and thank God partakers of that
one bread. Well, where did we get this?
Well, look at verse 23 of chapter 11. Where did we receive this
awesome blessing? Did we work for it? Did we merit
it? Did we earn it? Did we conceive it, create it,
organize it? No, we received it. 1 Corinthians
11.23, Paul said, what I received of the Lord, I received it of
the Lord. I delivered it to you. I received
it from Him. We received this cup, this covenant,
this cup of blessings, all that it encompasses and includes.
First, we received it in promise. So many promises back here. that
we love and in which we delight and in which we take great joy
and comfort. The Lord shall come to his temple.
That's a promise. We received it first in promise.
Then secondly, we received it in picture. When Moses announced to Israel
God would lead them out of Egypt, he said, I'm going to give you
a picture of how God saved sinners. Take a lamb. Not just any lamb,
without spot or blemish, in a prime of life, one year old. Put it
up for four days, observe it, test it, then kill it. Take its
blood, put it on the doorpost, and then roast it with fire.
Don't mix anything with it, no gravy, no herbs, no nothing.
Eat it, eat all of it, all of it. Don't leave a thing. eat
it all, and go in your house and wait. And when I see the
blood, when judgment falls upon Egypt because of sin and unbelief,
wickedness, I'll pass over you when I see the blood of the Lamb."
That's a picture. And then we received it in promise,
many pictures, and finally in person. And old John the Baptist,
the miraculous pole runner, pointed one day to Jesus of Nazareth.
After 4,000 years, he said, behold, look, the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. And then here in our scripture,
he took the cup, blessed it, gave it to his disciple. He said,
this is my blood. This is my body, shed for you
and broken for you. Watch this. Turn back to Luke
22 just a moment. Let me show you something here. Let me show you something briefly
here. In verse 19, He took the bread. He took our flesh. flesh and blood, bones and body.
Bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. He took that upon himself.
He took our nature. He took it on himself. He became
a man. And he gave thanks. And he break it. Took it to the
cross. And break it. Pleased God to
bruise him. He blessed it by making that
flesh accepted to God. And then he gave it to us. Gave
it to us. Righteousness, sanctification,
holiness. He took the flesh. He blessed
it before God. Honored it. Perfectly obeyed every law, every
jot and tittle. Broke it under the judgment of
God. Raised it from the grave. Took
it to glory. And there's a man up there. A
man of flesh, and bones. And he gave that to us. He said,
take it. And that's what I intend to do. Take it. That's my only hope.
My only hope. And he said here, over here in
1 Corinthians 11, this is interesting here, verse 26. As often as you eat this bread
and drink this cup, this cup of blessing, this covenant, this
blood and righteousness, this body and blood of Christ, you
do show the Lord's death till he comes. You show it to whom? That's an interesting question,
isn't it? Show it to whom? Well, I'll tell you, first I
show it to myself. I need this time. I need this
time of personal communion. I need this time to say to this
heart of mine once again, He's your hope. He's your life. He's your salvation. He's your strength. He's your
sanctification. He's all in and all. He's all
you need. I need to say that to myself, show it to myself.
I do, over and over again. That's what Paul said, I know
whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded he's able to
keep that which I've committed to him. And again tonight, I
commit it to him. I show it to myself. I came here
with a determination of blessing this cup of blessing. And I go
away tonight thanking God for this cup of blessing. It's going
to bless me. I'm going to say it to me. I
say it to God. I say once again, my commitment
My profession, my faith, I say to God, great God of heaven,
I take this bread, this which represents the broken body of
your son, I take it and eat it. I take this cup, which is his
blood shed for sinners like me, and I drink it. And my God, this
is my hope, my confidence, my faith is in Christ and Christ
alone. Not in anything I am or do or
give or think or learn, it's in Christ. It's Christ now and
always will be Christ. I say it to God Almighty. And thirdly, I say it, we say
it to one another. You know, we're told to exhort
one another. We're told to encourage one another.
We're told to forsake not the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is, but to teach one another, and encourage
one another, and sing spiritual psalms and songs to one another.
And when we come together in the assembly, all this family
around our head, and we help one another, don't we? I say
it to you, and you say it to me. I'm so glad you believe in
Christ, and you're glad I am. And we rejoice together. This
is not my hope alone. This is our hope. He is our hope.
We encourage one another. We all go away blessed and happy
and rejoicing. You see, this cup gives us hope
under the memory of sin. And there's all kind of failure
here. Our sins are all sin against God, though they're different
in action and deed and thought and word. They're the same in
His presence, just sin. But this gives us hope. He gives us hope
in the memory of sin. He gives us patience under trial. He gives us comfort in the light
of death. He gives us courage in the time
of persecution. He gives us assurance. And we
go away rejoicing. And then, in closing, turn to
Exodus 12. We show it to ourselves. We show it to our God, our Heavenly
Father. We show his death to one another
in Exodus 12, verse 24. And you shall observe this thing
for an ordinance to thee and thy sons forever. And it shall
come to pass when ye be come to the land which the Lord will
give you according as he hath promised, ye shall keep this
service. And it shall come to pass when
your children, your sons and daughters, and your grandchildren
and your friends' children shall say unto you, what do you mean
by this service? That you shall say it's a sacrifice
of the Lord's Passover. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
Passover. That's what you tell them. Who
passed over the houses of the children of Israel and Egypt
when he smote the Egyptians, and he delivered our houses,
he delivered us by his blood, and the people bowed their heads.
and worship God. This cup of blessing which we
bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? This
bread, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? Yes, indeed,
it is. What a blessing.