In the 26th verse of 1 Corinthians 11, the Apostle Paul wrote to the people at Corinth and said, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come. For more than 2,000 years, local churches have met together to worship God, to preach the gospel of free grace. And those churches over that period of time have maintained two great ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper. I tell you, we need to know what they mean. We know and need to know what they mean. Most people I know of who talk about being baptized have no idea why. They have no idea what. They have no idea what the significance is of that ordinance or of the person who baptized them. They don't understand the Lord's Supper. They don't understand the bread. They don't understand the cup. I remember when I first came to Harrodsburg, and this church called me its pastor. We started taking the Lord's Supper. Many of the people in the church here had never taken the Lord's Supper with wine before, because the churches around here use grape juice. They're worried to death that somebody will turn into an alcoholic because they drink a quarter of an ounce of wine, I think you're safe. You can't get a blessing out of something that you don't understand. And these ordinances that God gives us are intended to bless our souls. I tell you, I get excited when we baptize somebody. I hope they get excited, because I do. And I get excited every time we come and sit at the Lord's table and eat this bread and drink this cup. If you observe ordinances and you don't know what they mean, they just turn into a form. It's just something you do. I don't know how many of you have got your Halloween costumes picked out, I don't have one. I'm just going to go as me. I understand me a little bit. I don't understand all that other stuff. I don't want to just observe a form, and I don't want to generate some superstitious practice. We must not take the Lord's Supper for granted. It's not insignificant. And the text that I'm using this morning reminds us what the Lord Jesus Christ did for his people, and it also reminds us that he's coming again to finish his glory. Every time we meet for the Lord's Supper, it ought to remind you of two things. The Lord came and died, and he's coming again to reign. I want to preach to you this morning, if the Lord will help me, and I try not to take too long, a message that I have titled, A Prospect of His Return. There are three or four things I want you to see with me about the Lord's Supper from this verse of scripture. The first thing is this. What do we do? What do we do at the Lord's Supper? So we eat a piece of bread, we take a cup of wine, and that's it. We sing Amazing Grace and go home. If that's all you get out of it, you missed the point. This is intended to show the Lord's death. That bread speaks of His broken body. That wine speaks of his shed blood. And there are several meanings in the Bible that are represented by this. The elements in the Lord's Supper declare our firm belief in his ministry. The scripture reading this morning, he had gone to this wedding and his mother said, they're about out of wine. He said, you'll mind your own business. And then he took several hundred gallons of water, and he turned it into wine, and when they gave it to the master of the wedding, he said, this fellow's crazy. Said he's supposed to give them the good stuff, and then when they get drunk, he gives them the junk. But this is the best I've ever had. You know, God brought Israel out of Egypt with a memorial, and that memorial was a Passover feast. And all through their history, they would offer a lamb, put blood on the doors to remind them of the Passover. He gave them that lamb to kill and to eat as a declaration of divine mercy. Every time we take that cup and that bread, it reminds us of divine mercy. There are certain rites and ceremonies that are memorials to many nations. And those events remain perpetual remembrances. We have President's Day in this country. We remember the presidents. To be honest with you, most of them in my lifetime, I'd like to forget. We have other holidays that remind us of something that needs to be kept in our memory. This needs to be kept in our memory. When I open a calendar, For next year, the first thing I'll do is see which Sundays have five Sundays in them. Those are special days. Those are the days we take the Lord's Supper. Our Lord's death on the cross is declared and promoted by this bread and this wine. It speaks of what he suffered for us. Our hope that he'll reign victorious is seen in that. We take that bread and we take that cup to remind us that our Lord is not dead and buried in Jerusalem. He's not sitting in a chair, an easy chair up in heaven just watching TV. He's waiting to come. Power and glory. To set forth the Lord's supper is also means to represent. It represents some things. It's a representation of his death and his burial and his resurrection in behalf of his covenant people. You know, people have pictures of Jesus. He's got long hair hanging halfway down his back and a long dress on. Pretty sissified looking, most of them are. They carry crucifixes around and they count the beads. Those things don't talk about Christ. They're idolatrous. He points to this supper. The Lord's Supper is our show. People like to show off. show off their pictures, and then show off their jewelry, and then show off their kinfolks. Some girls who have a really handsome husband like to show him off, and a lot of us fellas that's got a pretty girl, we like to show her off. But this is our show. It's the preacher's business to declare Christ and Him crucified. That's what I do. I'm not a philosopher. I'm not a socializer. If you want somebody to counsel you, go talk to a hog. They'll probably give you better advice than I will. But my job is to preach this glorious Christ. This glorious Christ. God has ordained representing Christ in the word that we read. Christ in the word that we preach. And Christ in the word that we observe in this supper. To show means to declare. To testify. To be represented. It means to hold forth. To be made clear. I couldn't think of a good example of this, so the only thing I could come up with is a young girl who just got engaged. She doesn't have to say a word. All she does is just, you know, reminds me of A joke about the lady whose husband died, and somebody asked her how much did the service cost, and she said $25,000. Wow, that's expensive. I said, well, the funeral was about four or 5,000, and the burial was a couple thousand. I said, then the stone was about almost 20,000. I said, wow, what kind of stone did you get? She said, oh, it's about four carats. Girls that just got engaged like to show you their engagement ring. And the death of Christ has been hidden by many people but we display it. We display it every week in our preaching and we display it every time we take this supper in the fact that he's coming again. We gather around that table all the mysteries taken away. We're not ashamed of him. We're not ashamed of him. He's our surety. It's Christ on the cross that we declare to this distressed world. I know the message. Nothing else worth saying. Here's the second thing. What do we show in the Lord's Supper? It tells us here you show the Lord's death. I know everybody's got a picture of Jesus. He's this handsome, long-haired hippie walking around, being nice to everybody and kind to everybody and passing out suckers to the kids and bologna sandwiches to the grownups. He never did do that, but if he did, it wouldn't be important. What's important is that he died. When somebody dies, somebody that you are close to, somebody that you care about, when they die, what do we talk about? We talk about their life. He was a good farmer. She was a good cook. They were good parents. You know what we talk about Christ? He died. He died, this perfect man. without a single error, without a single sin, without a single failure. He died for our guilt. It's intended that we eat this bread and drink this wine to show his death. He meets every spiritual need of God's chosen people, everyone. I don't know if you think about your sin very much, but I think about mine a lot. I took a class when I was in college, and they had us take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. He told us everything we ever did right, write it on the left side. Everything we ever done wrong, put it on the right side. Well, after I ran through about 25 pages of writing on the right side, I got an arm cramp. I still hadn't run out of sins. And the good news is he hadn't run out of righteousness. And you better be thankful for that. God has made a feast of Christ to cover the sins of men and women just like you and me. We also ought to show in this ordinance that his atoning death was for believers. Now, You and I may have a disagreement about this, but I'm pretty sure the Bible will stand on solid ground. Jesus Christ did not die for everybody. He died for those people that the Father gave him before the foundation of the world. And his death for them is successful. That bread represents His body and that cup displays His shed blood which was offered for all of His covenanted people. The elements are necessary to show His redeeming death. Necessary. The last time we took the Lord's Supper here we just had bread. I've felt bad about that ever since then. But that bread and that cup are intended for our participation in this remembrance. They have no relevance on this table. I came over here and put that wine in those cups about 9.30 this morning. My sister made that bread and put it in there a while ago. It's been there for, oh, I don't know, a while. It has no relevance. But when I get through preaching, we're gonna pass those trays. And those of you who are resting in Christ should take a piece of bread and then take a cup. And in your taking of the bread and taking of the cup, His death will have relevance. You know, the Lord Jesus went through so much to meet our needs. He was pressed in the wine press of God's holy wrath and became that spiritual wine that satisfies both God and the sinner. I hear people idly say frequently, well, I'm pleased with what Jesus did. Well, you may be, but you better make sure God's pleased with it. Because you're pleased with lots of things that God's not pleased with. You better make sure he's pleased with it. We show his sufferings and his death As a real man, the Lord Jesus Christ was a real man. He was as human as you and I are, except he had no sin. We we show our participation with him in this supper of remembrance. The message is that there's a savior. And God's given me life and brought me to faith in him. It's like. consuming a warm biscuit. The other day I made a pan of biscuits and cooked a bunch of sausage. And the boys ate all the sausage and they left four or five biscuits. And I put them in a bag. And the other morning I thought, that'd be pretty good. And I heated up two of those old warped up biscuits put them in the microwave and nuked them. And I'll tell you what, that's pretty good, pretty good. But when we sit at the Lord's table and we take that cup and take that bread, it's real good, real good. I have trusted him and there's no question that he's sufficient, none at all. The bread and the wine, when they're eaten, are assimilated into our systems. You know, Christ believed in is one with us. He's the hope of glory. Yesterday afternoon, I ate a submarine sandwich. No, I didn't. What did I eat? I ate a chicken sandwich. Now, you can get back a lot of things for me, but you can't get that chicken sandwich back, because my body has already broken that down and assimilated it into my bloodstream and everything else, and it's part of me. We're inseparable. Well, I'll tell you, he's a well that springs up into everlasting life. You can't get him back. He has taught all his people his wondrous mysteries. Now what is it we must show forth? And how do we display it? When people have altars, and I know a lot of churches say they got an altar, you know what they do? They destroy. the meaning of the Lord's Supper. He's the altar. He's the priest. He's the sacrifice. We don't need a wagon, you know. Israel had wagons just to carry all the utensils and stuff that went along with the tabernacle. We don't need a wagon. A package of cups, a few pieces of bread is good enough. We just need those simple elements. A little bread, a little wine. This ordinance needs to be kept simple. We don't need to add anything to it. I know some churches that they wash feet at the Lord's Supper. Well, if you want to wash your feet, that's okay. If you've been walking around barefooted, they probably need it. If you haven't washed them for a while, they probably really need it. But they got nothing to do with Lord's Supper. We show the Lord's death plainly until he comes again. You know, this is a feast. Most people think about a feast, they think about a great long table that's got food hanging off of it. I go to Claudia Sanders' every once in a while and have them at the buffet, and boy, they got a long table, it's longer than this church building. They got food hanging off every piece of it, sides of it, and a table at the end of it. I'll tell you, that's a feast. But this is a spiritual feast. We come with joyous hearts to bless our Christ. I'm so glad he did what he did for me. This way of showing Christ's death is a way that people call communion. We must feast together. You know, one person can't keep this supper. I know different churches do different things, and I'm not being critical of anybody, But we don't take the Lord's Supper by ourself. I don't take the Lord's Supper to people that are in the hospital and people that are at home. A lady asked me about that one time and I told her, I said, you gotta understand that God and his purpose puts you in the situation you're in for his glory and for your glory. And part of the, afflictions of this body may be to not be able to take the Lord's Supper. We come to bless Christ. The king comes to his table and he refreshes our spirits with his grace. Another question we have here is who is to make this show? He said ye. Now, there was never a church as messed up as the Corinthian church. I mean, they were a mess. Every time I read this book, and I'm reading it again right now, I'm mindful of how many times Paul tells that church that the Lord loves them. This is a meal for believers who are resting completely in Christ. I looked across this crowd this morning and I got a feeling y'all look pretty good on the outside. But I got a feeling there might be a worm twisting around there somewhere or somebody. There might be somebody who's hiccuped or said the wrong thing or done the wrong thing or dealt with somebody the wrong way. And the Lord still says that ye should show the Lord's death till he comes. Every person who comes to this table spiritually shows his death. You may feel like the worst downtrodden rascal that ever came along the road. But in this cup and in this bread, if you know Christ, you show his death till he comes. I'm anxious that we show his death today as we take this cup of this bread. Think about the bread. Think about the wine. But think more about Christ. I've come here to see his death. I want to see it. We need to pray for the master to manifest himself to us as we celebrate this ordinance. That's our main business here today. We shouldn't be satisfied without sharing his glorious honor. As often as you eat this bread, drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he comes. That brings me to the fourth question. When are we to show this? The answer is, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup. The text says to do it often, as often as you eat. It teaches us that we ought to do it often. Now our church, And it's a local church's ordinance, and it's a local church's preference. Our church chose several years ago that we would have the Lord's Supper on every Sunday. They had five Sundays. We'd take it on the fifth Sunday. Some churches take it every week. That's fine. Some churches take it once a month. Some take it once a year. I know some churches, they don't even have a regular schedule. They just take it whenever the pastor thinks he ought to serve it. The early Christians gathered and observed it often. The early church kept this on the first day of every week. The other mark of this text is till he comes. When he comes, there'll be no more Lord's Suppers. I've got a box back there in the cabinet. I think it's got 10,000 of these little cups in it. If the Lord comes tomorrow, however many thousand are left in that box can stay there. We won't need them. We won't take it in heaven. My wife has been dead almost seven years. She's never taken the Lord's supper since she died. And she'll never take it again. Because she's with him. There's coming a day when I'm going to die. And I'll never take it again. I'll be with him. And until he comes, however, this is a feeding ordinance that ought to be kept. This cup will never be emptied until all of the elect are redeemed. Supper will be fulfilled. in his word. In Matthew 26, 29 says this, 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. He told the disciples, I'm through with this. You all keep it up. I'm through with it. I'll drink it with you in the father's kingdom. This cup filled with wine is also filled with his love. He loves us. We have no measure of ability, but he's more than a conqueror. If you believed him, then you ought to keep his commandments. There's one lesson that also must be remembered. And I'd be remiss if I didn't remind you of it again, until he comes. Until he comes. Until he comes, we have nothing to think of but him. There's no food for the church but Christ, who's the bread of life. The message he left for us was show my death. There's nothing left for us but to remember him. We need to keep on coming until Christ comes for us. Let ungodly men and women know that they have absolutely nothing in this world. Nothing. The older I get, the more I think about that. Maybe you do too. Some of you all are getting as old as I am. All this stuff we've accumulated and acquired through life, I don't know who's gonna get it. I don't care. If you need some size 15 shoes, I've got eight or 10 a pair. I'll be glad to give you a pair of them. I have suits in my walk-in closet from a 44 long to a 64 long. If you need any of those, you're welcome to them. One day the boys are probably trying to give them away or sell them in a yard sale. I can see the yard sale sign out in the yard right now. Old man, the tent makers work. But our first business is Christ. Trusting Him is the only hope we have. If you're here today and you're a believer, then you ought to obey Him. Obey Him in baptism. And obey Him in the Lord's Supper. It's time to come to His table. Time to show His death one more time. to the glory of God. As often as you eat the bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he comes. Amen.