Amen, I'm thankful for the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, because without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. And I'm thankful we can find life and find cleansing and find hope through his shed blood, aren't you? And it'll never lose its power, never. And I'm thankful for that wonderful truth. Well, this evening, as we come to take part in the Lord's Supper, let me ask you this question. Have you ever thought, ever had the thought at least, why do we do, as a church, why do we do this? Why do we take part of the Lord's Supper? Why do we do what we do? Anybody ever had that thought? Yeah, me too, all right. And it's okay to ask why we do certain things. We want to do it, making sure that we're being biblical, not just because, well, that's how we've always done it. You know, no, we ought to have a better a better foundation than just that, right? Tradition, it's gotta be stronger than tradition. It has to go far deeper than that. It has to have a stronger foundation. And we do what we do because of the word of God, because of the Bible, because of what God taught us and teaches us. to do. But no doubt many have had the question of why do we do what we do when it comes to taking part of the Lord's Supper. I know there are people that take part of the Lord's Supper in their lives for different reasons. Some people do it because they believe this would grant them some sort or form of grace. It's a sacrament to them, a grace giving thing to them. That's why they would do it. Some believe it would put them better standing with the Lord. Others still believe and cling and hope in that by partaking in the Lord's Supper, it grants them some form or some type of salvation with God. That's why some folks do it, honestly. I know people personally who, and I'm not talking about in this church, but other churches that would not be of like faith, that would take part of the Lord's Supper, as they would call it, in hopes of gaining salvation through taking part of that, but that's not the reason. That's not the reason that we do what we do. Rather, we do this as Bible-believing Christians in simple obedience to God, in simple obedience to the Word of God, just to do this. Listen, just to remember, remember Him. God has given the church in the Word of God two ordinances, all right? And those two ordinances are these, baptism, which happens after salvation, And the Lord's supper or Lord's table or some call it communion. They get that word communion, uh, from first Corinthians chapter 10. All right. But, uh, but some people call it different things, but it's the Lord's supper. And, uh, but both of these ordinances that are given to the church, listen, are just pictures. They are pictures of what Jesus has done for us. They don't grant salvation. They don't grant cleansing, they just show the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. And we do these things in obedience to God, in obedience to the Lord, in obedience to the word of God. So that's why we do what we do when it comes to the Lord's supper. And I try to keep it very simple as to why we take part in this. All right. It's just a simple obedience to God, obedience to the word, to the word of God. But when it comes time to take part of the Lord's table or supper as we have chosen as a church to do so every fifth Sunday, I think that makes it a special time, looking forward to that, a special time. It's not just something we add on to a service, all right, but it's something we look forward to and it's special, we set aside specifically to do. But as we do this, taking part of the Lord's supper, it's also a great time for us to reflect upon the Lord, upon ourselves, upon our fellowship and relationship with the Lord. It just says the Lord has said, do this in remembrance of me. It should cause us to stop and reflect, to stop and to think when it comes time to take part of a Lord's Supper. So I want you to do that this evening. I want you to pause and just think upon the Lord. and thank even upon yourself. All right? So do this. Number one, as we come to the Lord's table, Lord's supper, I want you to do this. Take a look back. Take a look back. In Matthew chapter 26 and verse 26 through 30, the Bible says, and as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it. He gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, drink ye all of it. For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Now there in Matthew chapter 26, as Jesus was having his last supper with his disciples, he was talking to his disciples here and using the common visual aids, if you will, of the bread and wine that they had at the table to teach them of what was to come. Teach them a lesson on brokenness and the brokenness is gonna happen to him. To teach them of what was about to happen to the Lord Jesus Christ in just the hours prior, or the hours to come, rather. To show them what was about to happen. And we know the awful, brutal things that happened to Jesus. We know of the scourging. The beating of as commonly referred to as the cat of nine tails, the beating of that. And I try to picture in my mind as Jesus was trying to teach them this lesson of brokenness and things to come. that was gonna happen to him. He says, this is my bondage is broken for you. As he took a piece of bread and as he took that and he tore it, I don't think he cut it in a nice little tiny square pieces, all right? I think he took that piece of bread and he ripped it. Have you ever took a piece of Italian bread or whatever your favorite bread and maybe it's just a little bit stale, but you dip it in that soup and it's just as good as new, right? Know what I'm talking about, right? Am I the only one that does that? Am I the only one that eats stale bread? Okay, everybody else, okay, you do too. But you take that piece of bread and you rip it and it makes a sound, right? You know what I'm talking about. I try to picture in my mind as Jesus was being beaten with a cat of nine tails and those pieces of metal or bone, whatever it may be, at the end of those cat of nine tails dug into his body and as they ripped it off of him, I can picture in my mind that same sound. as they're ripping off the flesh of Jesus. Understand what he went through for you and me as his body was broken was something we cannot even fathom. It is so hard to put into words. Hollywood does not do justice when they try to paint a picture of Jesus being beaten and broken for you and for me. The Bible says that he was beaten so severely you could not even recognize his image, his visage as a man, unrecognizable as a man. I've never seen that before. I don't know what exactly that looks like. Try to use my sanctified imagination on that, but I can't imagine. Yet, he did that for you and for me. His body was broken. His body was given. It was crushed. Everything he did, he went through. Listen, he did it for you and he did it for me. This bread we're about to eat, this little wafer just kind of represents that. as we put it in our mouths to eat and we bite down on it and crush it, understand his body was crushed for you and for me. And then as we take part in the juice here in just a moment, remember this again is the picture that Jesus, a picture of his blood that he shed for us. And I'll remind you of these wonderful verses we find in scripture in Hebrews chapter nine and verse 22. These are great verses about the blood that Jesus shed for us, all right? But Hebrews nine verse 22, without shedding of blood, there is no remission. That word remission simply means forgiveness. We must be forgiven, but to be forgiven, blood, had to be shed. Ephesians 1-7, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Romans 5-9, much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Colossians 1.20, and have him made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him, I say, whether it be things in earth or things in heaven. Understand it's through the blood of Jesus Christ we can have, and we do have, cleansing and forgiveness through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. He shed it all. Why? For you and for me. You know, many times when we think of someone passing, someone dying, we don't want to think about it. Normally we don't. We want to remember the times when they were alive, right? And we definitely don't want to think about the times of how an individual died. We don't want to think of those times, but listen, when Jesus says this during the remembrance of me, he never wants us to forget how he died, nor why he died. He does not want us to forget it. And I had to ask the question, why? Why does he not want us to forget? Because listen, everything we are as believers centers around this very fact of the finished work of the cross of Calvary. It centers around the death, burial, and resurrection. Because again, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. We'd be of all men most miserable if he didn't die for us and shed his blood for us. Therefore, he wants us to remember that everything he has done, it is central to who we are and what we are. Listen, it's the gospel message. Again, in 1 Corinthians 15, one through four says, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, which you also have received, and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. And here's what he declared, here's what he preached to them, the gospel, all right. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that, Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Jesus does not want us to forget. You may have been saved for 150 years, but guess what? He doesn't want you to forget. He wants you to take time to remember Everything he did for you and for me, for us, why? It should cause us to stop and be thankful. It puts all these other things, these lesser things out of mind, all these lesser things that should just be put away, you know, that we grumble and complain and gripe about. It should just put those things away when you think upon, reflect upon Jesus and what he's done. It's what it should do. He does not want us to So as we take part in this ordinance here in just a moment, take a look back. Remember, what Jesus has done for you, what he's done for me, what he's done for the entire world. Take a look back. And then do this, take a look within. Take a look within. You see, as we take a look back and see all that Jesus has done for us, it should cause us to take a look at ourselves as well and do a little checkup, if you will. Check up on our fellowship with him, on our relationship with the Lord. It should. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 28, the Bible says this in 29, but let a man, I'm sorry, but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. Now, Paul here, he was not saying you have to be worthy in order to take part of this ordinance. Rather, he is saying take part of this in a worthy manner. You see, the Corinthians were coming to this very flippantly. The believers in this church, they were coming to this time together, very flippant manner, all right? Not taking it serious, not examining themselves, just very flippant about it. And so he's trying to encourage them and let them know, look, you need to come with a more seriousness to this because of how serious it really is. We're talking about the Lord here. We're talking about your Savior here. Oh, he's done for all of us. It needs to be a serious time as we reflect upon the Lord. So if we are to partake in a worthy manner, then we must examine Our own hearts, first to see if we are in the faith, meaning if we are true believers, because listen, when it comes to the Lord's table, it is for believers, just as baptism is for, it is for believers, all right? So taking part of this is for saved, saved people. And then as believers to see, we need to check on ourselves, examine ourselves, take a look within to see if there be any known sin that we're just unwilling to confess. If that's so, listen, we need to confess it or just don't partake, okay? Again, it's a serious thing, it should be. We needed to examine our own selves. You know, too many times we are Christian detectives and we're very good at examining others. and their relationship with God, or their fellowship with God, or their sin, or whatever, but listen, if we would take care of our own selves, a lot of this stuff take care of itself, you know that? I like what the one country preacher said, he said, listen, don't come sweep off my front porch and your back porch is filthy, all right? And so I know what he's talking about. Check on your own self. If there's unconfessed sin in your life that you know of, look, confess it. And I encourage you to pray this prayer. It shouldn't just be a prayer we pray at church and even a time like this. Really, it should be one we pray often. But it's this prayer of the psalmist in Psalm 139, verse 23 through 24. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in a way everlasting. So take a look within. Take a look within. Let me ask you, is there anything this evening that would be between you and your Savior? If there is, let me give you this wonderful verse. We read it this morning, but I'll read it again. In 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Just confess it to God. He already knows about it. You're not gonna shock him by what you've done. He already knows, confess it to him. And he promised that if we would, he would forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And we would come to an ordinance like this in a worthy manner. So as we come to Lord's Supper, take a look behind or look back, take a look within and then do this, take a look ahead. Take a look ahead. Again, in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, in verse 26, the Bible says, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death, here it is, till he come. And even when Jesus was with his disciples in Matthew 26, and he talked about, he said, I will not eat of this or drink of this fruit of the vine until I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom. Listen, he was looking ahead as well. and trying to get them to look ahead at the coming kingdom. And we today are looking ahead at the coming Christ. Listen, many people today in the world are looking at prophecy, they're looking at when will the Antichrist show up? Really what they're looking for is the Antichrist. I wanna tell you as a believer, I'm not looking for the Antichrist, okay? You know who I'm looking for? I'm looking for the Christ, amen, all right? That's who I'm looking for. I'm looking for Jesus, because one day he is coming back. And he's going to take all of us to know Jesus as Savior, know him as our Savior. He's going to take us all home to be with him in heaven forever. And as the Bible says, so shall we ever be with the Lord. That's what I'm looking for. So as you take part in the Lord's table, Lord's supper, take a look back and remember what he did for you and for me. But before we do, we're going to pray and spend a little time And as she plays that, I just want to encourage you to pray. Pray with your family. Pray with your spouse there. You say, my family's not here. Well, pray with somebody close to you. And thank the Lord for what he's done. Just be thankful. Looking back at what he has done for us should cause us to be thankful people. And then, pray with your family. Pray with your spouse. And in quietness of the moment, if there's something that you know of that, unconfessed sin, you know, it's just, you know, it's between you and the Lord, confess it, confess it. And let's come to an ordinance like this, a time like this, a special moment like this in a more worthy manner. All right, let's do so. And as we take part, when we finish up, let's be reminded that it could be tonight. that the Lord comes back. Could be tomorrow, could be this week, this year, we don't know. But he is, one thing for sure we do know, he is coming back. So look back, look within, and look ahead as we take part in the Lord's Supper. So in this moment, as Miss Erin plays, I wanna encourage you to pray with your family. And pray, if you can't, just pray alone, that's fine. But spend some time in prayer, thanking the Lord for what he's done for us. and confess any known sins you know to God. Let's come to a time like this in a worthy manner.