Please turn with me in your copy of God's word to Luke 22. Luke 22, we're gonna be looking at verses 14 through 23. Luke 22, verse 14 through 23. And when the hour came, he reclined at table and the apostles with him. And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed.' And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this." So far the reading from God's Word this morning. May He add its blessing to our hearts. Well, every first and third Lord's Day at Cliffwood Presbyterian Church, we celebrate the Lord's Supper on the first Sunday in the morning service and the third Sunday in the evening service. Now, the session has determined that we will celebrate the Lord's Supper on the first and third Lord's Day. This is not a magic number. There's nothing magic about the first and the third Lord's Day. But it does show a frequency and celebration that impresses on us the significance of what we're entering into when we delight ourselves in the Lord's Supper. And this has been a practice of the early Church, even the Apostolic Church, as it first took shape. Right after the Sermon of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 and verse 42, you see there are four things that the Church is committed to. The Apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to prayer, and to the breaking of bread, which is another way of saying the Lord's Supper. Immediately, the celebration of the Lord's Supper was recognized as a significant event in the life of the church. Now, instead of looking at all four of the elements that are seen in the apostolic church right at its foundation, What we want to do this Lord's Day morning is take one of those, the breaking of bread, the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and examine for ourselves what it is and what God teaches us through this manifestation, through this sacrament that He teaches us to observe. And what we will see is that the Lord's Supper is a meal of remembrance for Christ's disciples in which his sacrifice is declared and his people feed on him by faith. And as we look at that theological truth, I want us first to see the Master as Jesus tells us his thoughts about what is taking place in the Lord's Supper in verses 14 through 16. Then we want to look at the institution of the supper itself in verses 17 through 20. And then we want to look at the betrayal of Judas Iscariot in verses 21 through 23. So we want to look at the Lord's Supper as a meal of remembrance for Christ's disciples in which his sacrifice is declared and his people feed on him by faith. We want to look first at the master, then we want to look at the institution, and then we want to look at the betrayal. So let's begin first by looking at the Master, our Lord Jesus Christ. It talks about Jesus when the hour came, the hour of the celebration of the Passover, reclining at table with his disciples. That's where we begin in verse 14. And it's interesting or it's important for us to note that the institution of the Lord's Supper is not a cold academic event. And what I mean by that, it is not something that's dreamed up in a classroom somewhere and then placed on the church as a cold doctrine to be observed. The celebration of the Lord's Supper comes to us in the context of Christ and His relationship with His disciples. It comes in the context of fellowship, the unity that Christ had with His disciples. Here Christ comes with his twelve special disciples and he institutes in their presence this practice that the church is to observe until he comes again. Now again, let's remember our timeline. This would be on a Thursday evening that Jesus is celebrating the Passover with his disciples. We know that Christ dies on a Friday, that he is raised on a Sunday, and this, therefore, the night before, must therefore be a Thursday. And so what is happening on Thursday evening is the celebration of the Passover feast. It's very important that we remember this context because Jesus very much uses what exists in the Passover. Jesus, in this passage, will in fact walk through typical elements of a Passover meal, but while walking through these elements of the Passover meal, will radically change what the elements point to. And so we understand the meaning that sits behind the Passover as still very much being relevant for us in our day, but Jesus having redefined them, or maybe a better way of saying it is, having clarified that which the Passover actually pointed to in the first place. as well. Last Lord's Day, we saw that the Passover gives the Lord's Supper its context, that the Passover deepens the meaning of what we're doing when we're celebrating the Lord's Supper together, because it frames the context. It adds significance to what we're doing, because we saw the Passover remembers an event that took place centuries ago, millennia ago, in the life of the people of Israel. The Passover, you remember, caused to bring to mind for the celebrants of the Passover that the people of God were led out of Egypt by the mighty hand of God and that they were brought into the land of Canaan, the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey as it's described in Scripture. It remembers that the angel of destruction passed over the house of Israel because the blood was painted on the doorposts, and because they were the angel of destruction, Passover, they were able to come out of Egypt and into the promised land. And it is in this context that Christ, who later in 1 Corinthians 5 is declared the perfect Passover lamb, that the perfect Passover lamb, who will be slain on the next day, takes the shadows of the Passover and shines a bright light on it. Yesterday I was, perhaps foolishly, mucking around with the electrical system in my house. And I was smart enough to know that I had to turn off the fuse box so that not great damage happened to me. But the problem, of course, is when you turn off the fuse in the fuse box and you're trying to fix a light, there's no light to be seen anymore. So I had one of my children holding the little iPhone with a flashlight, right, so that I could see. It was a shadow to me. The work that I was trying to do was a shadow to me. But a light was shone onto it so that I could see. So that I could see what was taking place. And that's what Christ is doing here when it comes to the Passover. He is shining a bright light on that which was in darkness. That which was in the shadows. And He's making it clear. He's teaching the significance of the Passover meal. But as Christ comes to this Passover meal, He is not void of His human nature. Jesus Christ came to the world fully God and fully man. And as He anticipates His suffering on Friday, you see something of this perfect manness that is in Him. He expresses Himself in human terms. You see it in verse 15. Jesus comes to the disciples and He says, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you. There is a joy, in a sense, as Jesus anticipates what He will do. what he will accomplish as the perfect Passover lamb. This is not a mystery to Christ. Christ knows why he came. He knows what's going to take place the next day. And he comes earnestly desiring to have this hour of fellowship with his disciples in which he can teach them something of the gospel, which is what he does. He sets the gospel before them. But there is also a tinge of grief, a tinge of apprehension, when he speaks of that which he will suffer. Now, we know that Christ suffered joyfully, that for the joy set before him, he went to the cross, despising its shame. We know this to be true. But that doesn't change that that word suffer is still part of Christ's existence. Suffering is never associated with something that we enjoy. And when Christ comes to the cross, he comes joyfully enduring that which is suffering because he knows what it will accomplish. But in his human nature, there is still a recognition that suffering is coming. He is earnest in his delight in teaching the disciples the gospel. He is unerring in his commitment to follow through on the task that in the covenant of redemption between father and son, this agreement was made. And he will carry it out with joy. But there is suffering that's part of it. And Jesus acknowledges it. He sees it. He knows it to be true. And Christ, He recognizes the finality of what is happening here, doesn't He? He knows that He is going to celebrate this Passover with His disciples, but in verse 16 it says that He will not eat it again till all is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Christ recognizes that His ministry here on the earth will come to an end. He will not celebrate again a sacrifice of sheep and goat with his disciples. He will not celebrate again with them the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine in the Lord's Supper until he comes again in all his glory, until the kingdom of God is fulfilled, until all that is represented in the Passover and the Lord's Supper has been in all its perfection accomplished. And that doesn't happen until Christ comes again. In 1 Corinthians 11, this passage of scripture that we read as the words of institution each time we celebrate the Lord's Supper together. In verse 26, it says that a person should eat and drink. Sorry, that's verse 28. For as often as you eat of this bread and drink of the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So herein we have an institution that Christ expects will be observed until He returns on the clouds of heaven. So as a church, we have been celebrating the Lord's Supper from the earliest foundations in Acts 2, when the breaking of bread was part of what the apostles practiced every time they were together, till today where we practice the Lord's Supper frequently, and that varies from church to church. This coming is not yet this coming of Christ. We wait for His return, and as we wait, we celebrate this feast, this Lord's Supper. Now, some of you may be saying to yourself, why are you talking about the Lord's Supper? Jesus isn't celebrating the Lord's Supper, He's celebrating the Passover. Haven't we just talked about that Jesus on Thursday is celebrating the Passover? Why are you talking about this Lord's Supper? Well, let's take some time to consider the institution of this feast that we call the Lord's Supper. The institution of the Lord's Supper, of course, is closely related to the Passover celebration, and that's intentional. on God's part. The Passover has its own liturgy. It had its own steps that would be taken as you moved through the feasts, which involved cups, which involved bread. And Christ here, as he walks through the Passover, radically reinterprets that Passover liturgy. He's changing the meeting. The context of the Passover gives us an avenue in which we can understand the discussion that we have of continuity and discontinuity when it comes to Old Covenant and New Covenant sacraments. When it comes to understanding the Passover, it's discontinuity, but it's continuity in terms of the things that it symbolized. And so Jesus uses the Passover quite intentionally to establish for his church the Lord's Supper. So what you see in verse 17, when Jesus takes the cup and he gives thanks and he divides it among the apostles, Jesus is taking the first cup that would be distributed during the Passover meal. And that's the start of the Passover liturgy. Jesus is entering into the celebration of the Passover. And so it establishes a connection for us, a very clear connection between the Passover and the Lord's Supper. There's continuity and there's discontinuity. There are important elements that remain, and then there is a reinterpretation of what's taking place in the Passover meal by our Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus continues in this Passover meal, in verse 19, He takes bread and when He has given thanks, He breaks it and He gives it to His disciples. All this would have been very normal for them. This was part of the second step of what people would walk through in a Passover celebration. But what are they remembering in the Passover? In the Passover, they're remembering that they left Egypt in haste. that they didn't have time to add the leaven to their bread. And so they ate unleavened bread and they broke it and ate it in haste. But in verse 19, Christ says something very different. When they take the bread and they break it, Jesus doesn't say, remember how you were led out of Egypt. Jesus said, this is my body, which is given to you. Do this in remembrance of me." You see what Jesus is doing here. Jesus is taking that which is a shadow, and he's bringing it into the light. Jesus is taking something that in the old covenant was established by God to prepare his people for the coming of Christ, and he's saying, look now, here it is. Here I am. He's taking that which is local. And temporal, local in the sense that it applied to Israel as a nation, a small nation in the Arabian Peninsula. And temporary in the sense that it applied to bringing them out of Egypt. And he's saying, that is local and temporal. Let me shine a light on it. And let me show you the eternal significance. And so he broadens it so that now, this is my body, which is for you. This is for people of all tribes, tongues, and nations. Do this in remembrance of me. How long? Until He comes again. So that which is local and temporal becomes broader and eternal. Because it speaks of Christ and what Christ will do. It's His body that we're remembering. We're not thinking about a paschal lamb anymore. We're thinking about Christ and His work and His mission here in the world. In verse 20, you see Jesus continuing to work through the Passover celebration. After the bread was broken and there was a second cup that was given in the Passover ritual, now here there's a third cup, which is given after they've eaten. And Jesus takes the third cup in verse 20 and he says, this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. The third cup, which is called the cup of blessing in the Passover meal. It was something that was used as a toast. Maybe that's a crass way to describe it, but this cup was somewhat of a toast that remembered the freedom that God purchased for Israel in the Exodus. And again, Christ doesn't say, remember the freedom that God purchased for you in the Exodus. He says, this is my blood. He redirects the meaning of the Passover meal. No longer is it focusing on Egypt, something local and temporal, but now it's focusing on Christ. And what Christ has done, and His work, is for a much broader group of people. And it's eternal in its significance. In 1 Corinthians 10, verse 16, there it speaks of the union that we have with Christ. And it's very significant when it speaks of the kind of cup that is used to give us union and communion with Christ in the Lord's Supper. In verse 16 it says, the cup of blessing that we bless. Is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? So the writer of the Corinthians, Paul, he's taking the cup of blessing, which is part of the Passover meal, and he is joining Christ in redefining that. He's no longer saying that the cup of blessing is to remember Egypt. The cup of blessing now is given to help us in our participation in the blood of Christ. You see how Christ moves a feast that is local and temporal to something that is broad and eternal in its significance. Christ is shining his light on the shadow of the Old Testament. He's showing the glory of all that is revealed in him. in Christ Himself, the new covenant. This is why Christ refers to this cup of blessing as the new covenant in His blood. He is pointing us. He is pointing His disciples to. this turning point in history when all that was shadow is now fulfilled, when all that was anticipated has now arrived. And Christ sets that before us through the celebration of the Passover. The Passover was a remembrance meal to commemorate the exodus, the entrance into the promised land, the passing over of the angel of judgment. but here in Christ you have a commemorative meal of what the Exodus anticipated. In Christ is being established that which the Passover pointed to, Christ and his work. The taking of a church wherever it's gathered, the people of God joined to him by faith from all tribe, tongue and nation. and bringing them out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of the sun, through whom they have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Now, Jesus is using the Passover to show that what it foreshadowed has truly come. Now, that is not saying that everything that the Passover stood for has been replaced. but the Passover is a local temporal shadow that pointed to the wider eternal work of Christ. The unclear is discontinued, the unclear is done away with, and it's replaced by the perfect. The Passover remembered the Exodus, the Lord's Supper remembers Christ. And so the grace of God in the deliverance of His people, though more clearly established here in the Lord's Supper, is not a new concept for God's people. God's rescue of His people is not something that is new to the New Testament itself. It is enhanced, but it's not a new idea. It's a deliverance of the whole person from sin to the promised land of heaven through the body and blood of Christ. That is what Jesus is setting before us through the structure, through the framework of that which was old, the Passover meal. And so Jesus commands, do this in remembrance of me. This is the nature of the sacrament. It is instituted by Christ for the perpetual observance of his people until he returns to remember what Christ has done. What we do in the Lord's Supper is a profession of faith of sorts. What we do in the Lord's Supper is a rehearsal of the profession that we made when we stood before the congregation and said, He is my Savior. He has rescued me from the dominion of darkness. And every time we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we declare His death until He comes. We're saying, yes, yes, Christ has saved me. He saved me in the past, He sustains me in the present, and in the future, He will come, and He will bring me home to glory. Because I died with Him, I also will be raised with Him. This is the profession of faith that we make in the celebration of the Lord's Supper. Now, I want us to look at one more thing when it comes to the institution of the Lord's Supper. And I want us to see that as it was true in the institution of the Passover, so also in the institution of the Lord's Supper, this is an institution that directs the people who receive the promise to something that is yet future. So the Passover takes place at what point, kids? When does the Passover happen? It happens between the 9th and the 10th plague. So the first Passover is celebrated by the Israelites while they're slaves in the land of Goshen. So the first exercise of the Passover is an exercise of faith. They're saying, I believe that what God is promising will certainly come true. And so it is with Christ and his disciples. When the disciples eat the first Lord's Supper, they eat the Lord's Supper before Christ has been crucified, before he has been raised from the dead. And so it also is an exercise of faith. It shows the significance of faith in the participation of both the Passover, but specifically here in our participation in the Lord's Supper. When Jesus' disciples break bread and drink wine, it is in anticipation of Christ's death and His suffering. So the Lord's Supper is a statement of faith. More often than not, Because of our time and because of the theological influences that we live in, we have imbibed the idea that baptism is a profession of faith. Baptism is much less a profession of faith than the Lord's Supper is. Baptism is actually a declaration of what God does in your heart when you are joined to Him by faith. Baptism is something that speaks of God's work in you, the washing of your heart, the removal of sin from your body, You have nothing that you can do to make your heart clean. That is God's work in you. It is a declaration of what God has done. In the Lord's Supper, you're also declaring what God has done, right? Christ's body broken, His blood shed. But you're also declaring your faith in the saving nature of the work that Christ has accomplished. And so when we come to the Lord's Supper, we're coming to a meal that is a meal of faith, and we proclaim the death of a lamb. But it's not a Passover lamb, not a Passover lamb with a little p. It's the Passover lamb with a capital P. We celebrate the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and His blood shed and placed on the doorposts of our hearts. It is a statement by those who have joined to Christ that He is my Deliverer. So, when we come to the Lord's Supper, we're coming to a declaration of our faith. The Lord's Supper is not primarily an emotional event, although it would be strange if our emotions weren't somehow joined to what Christ has done to us through His work on the cross. But primarily it's a declaration of what we believe. It is a declaration of our knowledge of how we are reconciled to God in light of our sins. And this is what we're celebrating in the Lord's Supper. And so because this meal is a meal of faith, because this meal is a declaration of what we believe, when we come to Christ in the Lord's Supper by faith, His grace is poured out on His people. He teaches us what it means to love Him. He grows us in our understanding of the gospel, which is being declared in His body broken and His blood shed. His grace is poured out on His people. So, if we were to define the Lord's Supper by looking at the passage of institution, what is the Lord's Supper? The Lord's Supper is something that Christ instituted for us to remember, to remember His death until He returns, where we break bread and we eat it, where we drink wine and we use those things to represent the gospel. We use it to represent the body and blood of Christ as we remember His work by faith. There is a participation with Christ by faith in this meal as we see His promise represented. But then there's, in our passage, right at the end, this section that deals with Christ's warning against Judas Iscariot, the one who would betray Him. And it almost seems like it's out of place, right? Here we are talking about the Lord's Supper, and then Jesus is talking about the betrayer. Why does He turn to the betrayer? Judas Iscariot was probably there. at the institution of the Lord's Supper. He probably partook of the first Lord's Supper, especially as it's recorded here in Luke. It seems like he was there because it says his hand, the hand of the one who would betray him, is at the table with him. It is significant in teaching us that there's no superstitious value in the celebration of the Lord's Supper. It is a meal that declares our faith. Eating bread and drinking wine is not the foundation of your salvation. It is not why you will stand before God and say, I am guiltless before you. Christ's work is the foundation of your freedom from guilt. Eating bread, drinking wine is not. Faith is the vehicle through which God delivers his people. And Judas, who ate the first Lord's Supper, seems from Scripture to be hopelessly lost, to be lacking the one element that is required. He is lacking faith. He is eating the supper and all it adds to him in eternity is woe. All it adds to Him in eternity is condemnation. So this discussion of the presence of Judas at the table, it removes superstition from our mind when we approach the Lord's table, but it also adds for us a sense of urgency, solemnity, when it comes to our participation in the Lord's Supper. Jesus is issuing the warning to the one who would betray him. It's a picture in a sense of the balance between man's responsibility and God's sovereignty, isn't it? Jesus says in this passage that The Son of Man is going to be as has been determined. But then he adds, woe to Judas. So God has determined it, but Judas will be responsible for his actions. And he says, woe to you, Judas, for what you are about to do. And this betrayer, he is not even evident to the disciples on the outside, is he? You look in verse 23, where it talks about the reaction of the disciples when Jesus declares his woe. They begin to question each other. Which of them could it be who was going to betray Christ? That's because Judas didn't have a little sign that he carried around with him. I'm going to betray Christ. Watch out for me. He doesn't have anything like that. It's inside of him. Because what he's lacking is not the external compliance. We saw already last Lord's Day how trusted Judas was. He was given the ability to heal. He was given the ministry of teaching when Christ sent the disciples out two by two. He was given charge of the money bag. Judas, on the outside, looked just like all the other disciples. It was only on the inside that something was missing. He lacked faith in the work of Christ. And so, because the disciples don't know who the betrayer is, It is a lesson that says to us, look at your heart. It doesn't matter. Nobody else can see your heart. And so Christ, by pronouncing woe on the one who was without faith, is saying to all who would come to this meal by faith, watch out. Be careful. Don't eat and drink in an unworthy manner. Christ, in essence, is encouraging the practice of examining ourselves before we participate in the Lord's Supper. And that's what I want to spend the remainder of our time on together. How do we examine ourselves as we prepare for the Lord's Supper? The fact that Jesus pronounces woe over Judas for his betrayal should be chilling to us. We should tremble in fear because of that statement because Judas was a man of great privilege. He walked with Christ. He learned at Christ's feet. And all that has been accomplished in this Judas is now doom. He was a man of privilege and now he's a man of great woe. And we could even argue the point that what is true for Judas is even more true for you and for me. Because we have seen all the promises of God fulfilled in Christ, except for His return. We have seen His resurrection through the eyes of eyewitnesses. We have read of the interpretation of the apostles by the power of the Holy Spirit as they lay bare before us the work of Christ in the Gospel. We have seen these things. And now we come to the Lord's Table, the Lord's Supper, which is a meal of faith. We must ask ourselves whether or not we are violating our privileged position. Hypocritical participation in the Lord's Supper is making God a liar. It is to dishonor Christ. It is to make a mockery of our Savior. And so we should not approach the table casually. We should never, beloved in Christ, we should never approach the table ho-hum. It's the first Lord's Day. This is what we do every Lord's Day. Why wouldn't I take the Lord's Supper? You know, there used to be a practice in the medieval church, the Reformation church, where the celebration of the Lord's Supper was actually greatly reduced in number. Sometimes they would have it once a year, sometimes they would have it twice a year. And the reason they did this is because it was the conviction of the people at that time that the elders would visit everybody in their home to examine them as to their worthiness of participation in the Lord's Supper. And if you pass the test, Whatever form that took, that the elders had, they would give you a token, a communion token, and this is still practiced in some denominations, and you could take your token and so gain access to the table of the Lord. Well, often times when we hear of that kind of practice, we kind of snicker to ourselves. Well, how quaint. Who has time for that, right? And even though we don't practice that examination here at Cliffwood, I think there's much for us to learn about the seriousness with which these people approach the Lord's table. That is not something to be entered into flippantly, that we should guard ourselves against entering into the Lord's Supper hypocritically. We ought to recognize the seriousness of worthy participation. The truth of the matter, of course, is that it doesn't matter how long the elders spend in your home examining you as to the worthiness of your participation in the Lord's Supper. The one element that determines your worthiness can only be seen and discerned by you. It's something that's inside you. It is your faith. And so when we come to the Lord's Supper, there is a tremendous responsibility, yes, on the elders to not allow people who are living in open rebellion against God to participate in this meal because it would be to allow hypocrisy, to allow blasphemy. But also for you to examine your own hearts that you would not come to the table as a hypocrite blaspheming the name of the Lord. Only man knows the condition of his heart. So examine yourself. And then the question becomes, well, how do I examine myself? And the larger catechism gives us great help with that in question and answer 171. And it gives us five things that we should do as we examine ourselves before the Lord's Supper. First, the larger catechism instructs us to see if we are in Christ what our sins are and what we lack in our walk. Now, it's important. We're to see if we're in Christ what our sins are and what we lack. Sin in the presence of a believer does not mean Christ is not present in him. The presence of sin is not the problem, it's how you react to the presence of sin that shows something about your standing. So when we come to the Lord's table, we are to examine ourselves for our sins and in the examination of our sins, seeing the things that we lack, we are to recognize that these things must be repented of. And that's the second question that we're instructed to ask ourselves when it comes to examining ourselves for the Lord's table. We're to examine ourselves for our knowledge, faith, and repentance. So, as we think about participating in the Lord's Table, have we given it any thought whether or not we know Christ more fully? Have we given it any thought whether or not our faith is growing? Have we given it any thought that there are sins of which we as Christians will inevitably repent because the Holy Spirit is in us? Are we examining ourselves for those things? Are we coming to the table recognizing that we're coming on the foundation of Scripture, that Christ's blood, Christ's body broken for us is our sure profession, and that we live contrary to that by our sin, that we are to repent of these things? Do you see that in yourself? Ask yourself that question before next Lord's Day morning. Ask yourself those things before you sit down here on March the 5th at 1055. Think of these things throughout your week. The third question that we can ask ourselves in self-examination is, do I love God and do I love His church? This is a fruit question, isn't it? My love for God will flow from God's love for me. If I don't love God, it's because His presence isn't in me. And when I do love God, it's an evidence that His presence is with me. But it goes beyond just love for God. When you are God's son adopted into His family, son or daughter, right? You are adopted into His family and you will love God's family. Do you love God's family? Do you love His church? Do you long to be with the saints? Do you desire to be gathered for the celebration of the Lord's Supper? Is that something that you hunger for? In that same way, your action towards these other obstinate sheep that are here with you this Lord's Day will be charitable when you face their sins, just as you hope that they will be charitable to you for your sins. This is what we're asking of ourselves before we come to the Lord's table. Fourth question. Ask yourself this. Do I seek Christ? Do I seek to obey Him? Again, it's a fruit question, but one that is unescapable. If Christ is your Savior, you will seek to obey Him. That's what God's Word teaches us. Because He has made you a new creation. The old has passed away, the new has come. So if you want to see whether or not you're making a hypocritical profession in the Lord's Supper, in your participation of it, ask yourself. Do I want to live in obedience to Christ? Do I seek after Christ? Our relationship with God, beloved, is not a one-day-a-week relationship, or, in some cases, a one-hour-a-week relationship. Our relationship with God is seven days a week. Do you see evidence of this in your life seven days a week? Do you seek after Christ seven days a week? Do you long to obey Him seven days a week? Ask yourself this question. And the fifth way that we can examine ourselves is to consider our meditation and our prayers. To consider whether or not our thoughts are about Christ. Whether we address him as our savior throughout the week. Do we cry out to him? Do we talk to him? Do we pray to him throughout our day? What time is it in the day usually when you recognize this is the first time I've thought about Christ? This is the first time I've thought about the Lord. This is the first time I've thought I should pray to God. What time is that in your day? Ask yourself that question to examine yourself, not to beat yourself up because you're coming to a supper that remembers Christ's blood shed for you, His body broken for you. You're coming to remember that you were brought out of not the land of Egypt, But you are brought out of the kingdom of darkness and you are brought into the kingdom of the sun. You have great joy because you belong to Christ. And so you're asking yourself, do I belong to Christ? Is that joy mine? That's what you're trying to determine when you come to the Lord's table. And so what do you do if you find in your self-examination that you lack these things? Well, all the things that you're asking yourself about, They're all evidences, fruits, of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life. So what do you do? You seek His face. You cling to Him, asking for His power to be at work in you, and then you go about working out your salvation in fear and trembling. This is the calling of the Christian, knowing that you will not reach perfection, this side of glory, but that you're to be working at it with all your might. You rely on Christ. You profess, in essence, the message of the Lord's Supper, that His body was broken, His blood was shed for sinners like you and me. And so you live in that grace. The Lord's Supper is a commemorative meal in which the death of Christ and its benefits is declared. Each time we remember what Christ has done, we remember that by grace, through faith, the blood of the perfect Passover lamb is spread on the doorposts of our hearts. And so when we come in this believing posture, when we come in this posture of faith to our Savior, the grace of God, and our fellowship with God and our communion with God will be shared by Him to us to the upbuilding of the believer and the strengthening of our faith. Let's pray together.