Thank you so much. If you will
now, let's open our Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Tonight, before we observe the
ordinance of the Lord's Supper, we're going to look at two verses
of scripture which speak to us concerning this ordinance. These
two verses speak of the Lord's Supper, but the Apostle Paul
gives them in the context of warning the believers in the
church at Corinth against idolatry. The two verses are verses 16
and 17. 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 are one bread and one body, for we are all
partakers of that one bread. We should all recognize that
some in the church at Corinth, some of these believers, before
the Lord saved them, they had been guilty of idolatry. If you look back to chapter 6, chapter 6 and verses 9 through
11, the apostle says, know you not that the unrighteous shall
not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of
God. And watch this, and such were some of you. The Lord Jesus
Christ, when he was born, the angel told Joseph, that he should
be named Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. From their sins. And these people
at Corinth, they had been saved, such were some of you, they had
been saved, Paul said, and such were some of you, but you are
washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. They were
saved, many of them, from idolatry. But they remained in a world
of idolaters. I'm sure that many of them had
family members, maybe parents, maybe children, brothers, sisters. They had friends, they had co-workers,
they had neighbors who continued in idolatry. And at times they
would be invited to attend an idolatrous service, and to eat
meat that was offered unto idols." If you look back to chapter 10,
Paul gives the example in warning the believers at Corinth against
idolatry. He gives the example of those
who God brought out of Egypt. that is the nation of Israel,
of whom he tells us in verse 5, even though they were all
baptized unto Moses, that is, they were all under that cloud,
and they all drank of that spiritual rock, which was Christ, and they
all ate the manna, but, verse 5, but with many of them God
was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. And then in verses 6 and 10,
he writes to them that these things happened as examples unto
us. Notice in verse 6. Now, these
things were our examples. He's writing to the believers
in Carth and to us here tonight. These things happened for our example, to the intent
And then he names five sins that the nation of Israel committed. Lust, that's the first one, lust. Idolatry was the second one.
Fornication is the third one. Tempting Christ, the fourth one.
And the fifth one was murmuring. And then in verse 12, he warns
them against presumption. Notice in verse 12, he says,
wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he
fall. Oh, well, I don't need a warning.
I don't need these examples. I'm above that. I'll never fall.
Well, David may have felt like that too. And he gives us a warning
against presumption, thinking that we have the power in ourselves,
in our own ability, in our own strength to keep ourselves from
falling. And then he gives a wonderful
promise, doesn't he? In verse 13. He says, "...there
hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man."
And here's the wonderful promise here. But God is faithful. Yes,
you're going to experience temptations, trials, testings, but never forget
God is faithful. And He will. He will, He has
promised, He will not suffer you to be tempted above that
you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to
escape that you may be able to bear it. And then notice the
next verse, wherefore. Now, I pointed out He named five
sins in particular, but He concludes with this one sin of idolatry. a special warning against idolatry. Wherefore, let him that thinketh
he standeth take heed, lest he fall. Wherefore, my dearly beloved,
flee from idolatry. Have you ever noticed how the
Apostle John closes that first letter? First John. Let me read
it to you, the last verse. Little children, Keep yourselves
from idols. Now, the two verses that we are
looking at which speak of the Lord's Supper are to warn them
against participating in pagan idolatrous services, knowingly
eating of things sacrificed to idols. This is what he is warning
against. And he uses the Lord's Table
as an example. In eating the Lord's Supper,
believers, those who know Christ, we have communion, we have fellowship
with the Savior. When we eat this bread and drink
this cup in just a little while, God's people here tonight, we
have fellowship, we have communion with Christ. So he would have
them, Paul would have these believers in Corinth to recognize that
in eating an idolatrous service, eating meat in an idol temple
and meat offered to an idol, then you will have communion
with idols and you will be a partaker of the table of devils and thus
be guilty of idolatry. And so the final word, do not. do not participate in things
of this nature. Now, setting aside the apostle's
argument here against idolatry, I want us to just consider what
he says in these two verses about the Lord's Supper. First, notice verse 16, the cup
of blessing. The cup of blessing. The cup,
the wine, represents the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Think
of the blood of the Lord Jesus and its blessings. The cup of
blessing. The blessings that we receive
because of the blood, because of the death, the sacrifice of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The cup of blessing. The blood of Christ, number one,
the blood of Christ blesses us with freedom. The hymn she sang,
I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. Free, look down in verse 20. I'm sorry, back in, I think it's
chapter six. Yes, six in verse 20. The cup
of blessing, the blood, first of all, blesses us with freedom. Notice in verse 20 of chapter
six, for you are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God
in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. In the New Testament,
there are three different Greek words which are translated redeem,
and they all have a little different shade of meaning. But this word
here in verse 20, you are bought with the price. It has the idea
that the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to buy those
in slavery. It has the idea of a man going
to the market and purchasing. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world to buy those who, yes, we were in slavery
to sin. And he bought us to set us free. One of the old examples we've
used before and still good is a pastor in Boston, Massachusetts
years ago. He met this little boy on the
street and he had some birds in a cage. And he asked that
boy, he said, boy's about nine, 10 years old, I guess, maybe
a little older. He said, how much are those birds? And he
told him, gave him a price. And so the pastor pulled the
money out of his pocket and paid. bought the birds and the cage
and everything. As soon as he did, he opened
the door and set them free. He bought them. They were his. And that's what we say the cup
of blessing, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all,
it blesses us with freedom. And we might ask, freedom to
what? We've been given freedom. Freedom
to what? To serve self? To serve sin? Oh, no. No, no. Now we are free
to glorify God. That's what he says in that verse.
For you are bought with a price. Therefore, because you've been
bought with a price, now you're free not to serve self, not to
live for yourself. No, no. But rather, to glorify
God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. The cup of blessing. The blood
of Christ blesses us with freedom. Second, the blood of Christ blesses
us with peace. In Colossians chapter one and
verse 20, we read, and having made peace
through the blood of His cross, to reconcile all things unto
Himself. By Him, I say. The blood of Christ,
which is represented to us by the cup of blessing, purchases
or blesses us with peace. Peace with God. He made peace
for us through His blood, which we know is represented to us
in the cup. The cup of blessing, the first
blessing that was purchased by His death that I'm speaking of
tonight at least, freedom. The second blessing, peace. We
have peace with God. Now by nature, men do not have
peace with God. In fact, the scripture says there
is no peace to the wicked. And that's what all men are by
nature, wicked, fallen, into sin and trespasses, and the only
way of peace, the only way to be reconciled to God, to have
peace with God, is through the cup of blessing, the blood. The
third, the blood of Christ blesses us with justification. In Romans
chapter five and verse nine, much more being justified by
his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Cup of
blessing represents freedom, represents peace, it represents
justification. That is being declared righteous. And when God declares a person
to be righteous, God justifies a person. It's more than pardon. It's more than pardon. Now, pardon
is wonderful. But justification is even more
wonderful. Because justification means that
God looks upon us as if we had never sinned. Just as if. Just as if we had never sinned. And that justification is purchased
by the cup of blessing, the blood. The fourth, the blood of Christ
blesses us with cleansing. First John chapter one and verse
seven, the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all
sin. The Lord said, come now, let
us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. White as snow, cleansed, washed,
how? He loved us and washed us from
our sins in His own blood. Cup of blessing. Oh, this cup's
full of blessing, isn't it? The blood of Christ is full of
blessing. It's running over. My cup runneth
over. It's full of blessings. The fifth,
the blood of Jesus Christ, blesses us with a home around the throne
in heaven. Look at that in Revelation chapter
5. The blood, the cup of blessing, blesses
us with freedom, blesses us with peace, blesses us with justification,
blesses us with cleansing, and yes, it blesses us with a home
around the throne in heaven. Revelation chapter 5. And verses
6 through 10, and all the church of God is represented here by
the 24 elders. The old dispensation, the 12
tribes of Israel, the new dispensation, the 12 apostles. You see that
in the holy city, don't you? And each one of the gates was
named after one of the tribes of Israel. Each one of the 12
foundation stones named after The Twelve Apostles. What we
see is that every saved person, if he lived before the flood,
after the flood, before Christ came, after He came, that we're
all redeemed in the same way. There's only been one way that
God redeems a sinner, that God blesses a sinner, and that is
with the cup of blessing. The cup of blessing, it gives
us a home around the throne in heaven. Verses 6 through 10. And I beheld, and lo, in the
midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst
of the elders, stood a lamb, as it had been slain. Having
seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God
sent forth into all the earth, And he came and took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And
when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty
elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps
and golden vows full of odors, which are the prayers of saints.
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof. For thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation and has made us under our God kings and priests
and we shall reign on the earth. So that's the first thing we
see in Paul's statement, the cup of blessing. The cup represents
the blood and all of these blessings I know there are many more, but
all of these blessings I've just mentioned, they all come because
of the death, because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Now, second, if you look at the
text, 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 16 again, the cup of blessing Which we
bless. Which we bless. We bless. We do that as we follow the example
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We bless. In just a few minutes,
one man, one brother, will come and he will bless. He will give
thanks for the bread. One man will come later and give
thanks. He will bless the cup. We give
thanks for all that that cup, which represents His blood, means
to us. We thank God the Father for His
great unfathomable love, which caused Him to give His only begotten
Son, that we might know Him as our Father. We might know God. This is life
eternal. that they might know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." We bless
God, don't we? We thank God for the cup, which
represents His blood. He shed His blood because the
Father loved us and sent Him to be the propitiation for our
sins. You know, some people have the
idea, the wrong idea, I might say, that the Lord Jesus shed
His blood to persuade God to love us. But that's not true. Because He loved us, He sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. His love is eternal. His love is everlasting. And
not only do we thank the Father, but we thank the Son of God.
We bless the Son of God for becoming our Savior and giving His, for
identifying with us. And for Him declaring He's not
ashamed to call us brethren. Can you imagine that? He's not
ashamed to call us brethren. We give thanks. We bless the
cup. Bless the Son of God for giving
His life that we might have life. And third, we thank or bless
God the Holy Spirit for revealing our need to us. So many people
go through life, they're born, they live, they just go through
life, they have an existence here, and they never ever come
to know their need. Their need. And the only reason
we do, if we do tonight, is because of God the Holy Spirit. He's
come, and yes, He uses His word. There's no question about that.
He uses the gospel, doesn't He? And He reveals, He shows us what
we really are, not what we imagine we are, not what we think we
are, not what the world and the psychologists and all of the
people think and say that we are, but know what God says we
are. That is, by nature, we are fallen. We are fallen. And because we
are fallen, we need a Savior. We need a Savior. And the only
reason we know that is because He reveals that to us. He convinces
us of our sins and He draws us. Our Lord said, no man can come
to Me. Man of himself, he doesn't have
that ability. No man can come to Me except
the Father which has sent Me draw him. And how does the Father
draw men and women to Christ? with the Spirit of God, the Spirit
of God and the Word of God, showing us our need and then lifting
up Christ, lifting Him up. We might look to Him. All right,
let's look at the third thing in the text. The cup of blessing
which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?
Now, the question cannot have any other answer than yes. The
cup of blessing that we bless is the communion of the blood
of Christ. When we drink the cup, in just
a few minutes, the Lord willing, those of us who partake, when
we drink the cup, it will be a symbol to us of our fellowship
with the Lord Jesus Christ in his death. It will be communion
with him in his death. It symbolizes that we as believers
in Him, that we have communion with Him, and we partake of the
blessings which He bought with His blood, we partake of these
blessings by grace through His blood which is shed for us. He
is our hope. When we drink the cup, what do
we say? He's our hope. He's our hope. I'm not trusting in frames, sweet
frames, bad frames, good frames, feelings, oh no. My hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Our hope of eternal life, our
hope of forgiveness of sins, our hope, our expectation, that's
what that word really means, our expectation of acceptance
with God is all based upon the sacrifice, the blood shedding
of Jesus Christ our Lord to satisfy God's justice on our behalf. Is it not the communion of the
blood of Christ? Oh yes. Now the fourth, the bread,
notice he says, the bread which we break, is it not the communion
of the body of Christ? Again, the answer has to be yes. Now Paul mentions the bread after
the cup in this passage, but in observing the ordinance and
as he gives it in chapter 11, And this is the way we find it
in the Gospels when the Lord instituted this supper. It is
the bread first and then the cup. I believe Paul has a reason
for putting the bread second in this place because remember
the context. He's warning against idolatry.
But notice in chapter 11 when he gives the way it is to be
observed. Verse 23, he says, 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, first bread. When he had given thanks, he
broke and said, take eat, this is my body, which is broken for
you, this do in remembrance of me. And after the same manner,
that is of giving thanks, He took the cup when he hits up,
saying, ìThis cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do
you as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.î We donít
reverse the order. This is the order. But as Paul,
in the context, is warning these believers about idolatry, making
them aware that to participate in eating meat thatís offered
to idols in an idol temple makes you a participant with idols
and with the devil. The bread which we break, is
it not the communion of the body of Christ? The same is true of
the bread as the cup we bless. Man, as I said, will come and
he will give thanks. We pray and give thanks for the
Son of God taking into union with his person that body which
was prepared him of the Holy Spirit from the body of Mary. That body, that physical body. A body, remember, he took that
body into union with his deities. He's not two persons, he's one
person, but he has two natures. He's both God and man, and he
took that body that he might be bruised. By his stripes we
are healed. He took that body that he might
suffer and that he might die. And that's all pictured to us
in the bread that is broken. Not a bone of his body was broken,
but his body was broken. The flesh was broken by the nails
and also by the Roman whips. And the last thing, the fifth
thing, Believers, being many, are one bread. I believe this
is the reason he puts this second in this passage. For we, being
many, are one bread and one body. For we are all partakers of that
one bread. In our fellowship in this ordinance
of the Lord's Supper, our communion, our fellowship, first of all,
is with Christ. It's with Christ. The way we observe it, we declare
ourselves to be of one body. Our communion is with Christ
in eating the bread and drinking the cup, which represents His
body and blood. Yet at the same time, we eat
together. When the deacons, when they pass
out the bread in just a moment, you take a piece of bread, you
don't immediately eat it, do you? You wait. until everyone
is served, and then we all eat together. Why? Because we're
many members, but we're one body. We're one body. One mystical
body. We make up the body of Christ,
of which Christ is the head. Just as a loaf of bread is made
up of many grains of wheat that are crushed and baked and preparing
the loaf, so all of us are many members, but we're one love. We're one love. We're one body
of Christ. And he is our head. I pray the Lord would bless these
thoughts, these reminders to us this evening about this communion
service. And I pray that each one of us
who know Christ tonight as our Lord and Savior, That truly,
as we eat the bread and as we drink the cup, that we will commune
with Christ. That it will not be just a form,
just a tradition, or anything like that, but that we commune
with our blessed Savior. I'll ask the men, if you will,
to come.