Father, we come before you acknowledging that you are Lord over all things, over physical things and spiritual things, over every realm and every authority that exists, you are King. We thank you that you're a just judge and that you cannot stand in the presence of sin, but have to punish it. And because of that, you've made a way to reconcile us back to you. You've sent your own son to come die in our place so that we could gather here together a people to worship you in spirit and in truth. We thank you for making a way for us to come to you. We also thank you for setting apart a day each week, the Lord's day, where we can gather corporately and we can worship you. and we can set aside all worldly cares to set our mind and our hearts fully upon you. We pray as we continue this worship that you'd be blessed and glorified by it. We pray that our aim always would be the glory of Christ in our worship. But we also pray that you would use this time to bless us and to grow us in our understanding of you, and that you would give us a deeper understanding of your word, and that we'd have a deeper unity with one another. And so, as we approach your word, we pray that you'd give us focus, you'd allow your word to go forth in power, and that it would be met in our hearts with the Holy Spirit, and you'd apply it to us powerfully, and that we would leave here this morning more like Christ than when we arrived. for those things in Jesus' name, amen. Please turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1 Corinthians 11, we'll be looking at verses 23 through 29 this morning. Well, if you'll remember, we have been studying the ordinary means of grace in this sermon series whenever I have the opportunity to preach. And we've been examining each of these elements and seeing how God uses them as the ordinary means or the most common way to communicate grace to us, sanctifying grace to us. The typical ways that God makes us more like Christ. And perhaps a helpful analogy just to kind of remind us of what we're talking about would be our modern day use of cars. If you were to think about the majority of the traveling that you do, I'm sure you would see that you ordinarily use a car. Most likely that's the case. Now this isn't to say that there aren't occasions that you may fly on an airplane or ride on a train ride a bike, walk, or use some other way of transportation. Stating that cars is the ordinary means of transportation simply means that the most common way that we travel is in cars. It's not to say it's the only way to travel, but it's the most common way that we travel. And so that's what we mean. We mean the same thing when we're talking about the ordinary means of grace. We're not denying that God can and does use other means. We're simply emphasizing that the most common way that God has chosen to work through us is through these means. And so, in the same way that we rightly make good use out of cars to travel, we should also make good use out of the ordinary means of grace as common vessels through which God has chosen to sanctify us. And so, by way of reminder, these four means of grace, as historically understood, are preaching, prayer, baptism, and the Lord's Supper. And so, for a quick recap, we saw in our first study that God uses preaching, specifically the faithful preaching of God's word, to speak to his people. And through hearing God speak, we are sanctified, right? So that was the first one. Then we saw that God uses prayer as both a means of carrying out his decree, as well as to align our will with his will. And so the more our wills are aligned with the will of God, the more we are like him, right? The more we're sanctified. And then finally, in our most recent study, we saw that baptism saves us, as Peter tells us, or sanctifies us, as an appeal to God for a clear conscience. It serves as an outward proclamation to the world that we belong to Christ and that he belongs to us, that we've been united with him in his death and raised to newness of life in him. And now we'll see that the Lord's Supper, our final means of grace, is very similar, or it functions very similar to baptism. And that brings me to the main point of our text this morning, which is the Lord's Supper is a sacrament whereby we remember the substitutionary death of Christ and publicly proclaim our union with him and with his body of believers. And so, let us begin our fourth and final means of grace, the Lord's Supper. Look with me now at our text this morning, please. First Corinthians chapter 11, verse 23. We read, Now, If you'll remember back to our discussion in previous sermons, I mentioned the regulative principle of worship. And that principle means that we only include in our worship those elements which are positively prescribed in the scriptures. We only do what God has positively told us to do. And so here we see in this first part of our first verse that Paul says, this sacrament was given to him by the Lord, and that Paul is now delivering it to the church. Well, the institution of the Lord's Supper came from Christ himself. We also have Paul prescribing it in his letter to the Corinthians. He's saying, I received this from the Lord and now I'm delivering it to you. So there's a positive institution of it. So right away we can see that this sacrament, the Lord's Supper, is a prescribed element of worship. Paul's saying, I received this instruction from Christ and I'm instructing you to do it now. So that's the first thing, is that it is prescribed. And then moving forward, we see this in this latter part of the same verse. The Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed. So, Paul starts by setting the stage for the story of the institution of the Lord's Supper. He tells us that it was on the night that Jesus was betrayed that he instituted the sacrament. And so there's two ways in which this is significant, that it was the night that he was betrayed. The first way that it's significant is that we know from the gospel accounts of this institution that So Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22 tell us that this night that he was betrayed, the night that Jesus instituted this, was the Passover feast. So that's the first way that's significant. It was during the Passover feast that Jesus did this. And we know from our scripture reading that the Passover feast was given in Exodus 12 as a reminder of God's passing over the people in Israel with his judgments upon Egypt and the Pharaoh. So, by way of reminder, I'm gonna read this story again just because we're gonna highlight some of the important things that are going to serve us moving forward. In Exodus 12 we read, It is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, on the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves according to their father's household, a lamb for each household. Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them, according to what each man should eat. You are to divide the lamb. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male, a year old, and you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. Moreover, they shall take some blood, notice blood, and put it on the two doorposts on the lentil of the house in which they eat it. Significant and bitter herbs. And then moving forward past where we were at in our scripture reading, we read this. through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike down all the firstborn of the land in Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you from the houses where you live. And when I see blood, I will pass over you and no plague will befall you or destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So notice the key points here. The people of Israel were instructed to take an unblemished lamb, to sacrifice it, and to cover the doorpost of their house with its blood. And by doing this, they would be spared from God's wrath that would come upon the land of Egypt. And so it's in this context during the Passover meal where the disciples are actively remembering the lamb that was sacrificed in the land of Egypt, whose blood covered the Israelites from God's wrath back in the days of their ancestors. In this context, Jesus, the true lamb of God, whose blood covers us from the eternal wrath of God, institutes a new feast, a new meal. It's a new meal given as a fulfillment of the old meal. While the body of the lamb was broken and the blood of the lamb was shed for the temporal deliverance from the wrath in Egypt, so the body of Jesus would soon be broken and his blood would soon be shed for the true deliverance from God's eternal wrath towards sin. Do you see the parallels? And so because Jesus' sacrifice was a fulfillment of the type and shadow given in the Passover, it's only fitting that he would institute it during the feast in which the remembrance of the type and shadow was to be remembered. So while they're remembering this type and shadow, Jesus points to himself as the fulfillment and the true and greater meaning of the Passover feast. And so that's the first way in which the timing of this institution is significant. It's during the Passover. The second way that it's significant is that it was on the night that Jesus was betrayed. So it was during the Passover and it was also the same night that Jesus would be betrayed. And the one who would betray him that very night was none other than Judas Iscariot who was present with Jesus and the disciples at this Passover. So what's the significance of that? As we'll see later in our text, Paul teaches us that to partake of the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner is to eat and drink judgment upon oneself. And this is precisely what Judas does. So he sits at the table of the Lord as an enemy, a traitor. And by doing this, He eats and drinks judgment upon himself. And we'll look at this more in depth when we reach that part of our text, but note the significance here that Jesus, or excuse me, Judas was present with Jesus. And so the Passover feast and Judas's betrayal are both important details to acknowledge. Now look back with me please at verse 23. we will see the first element used in the Lord's Supper. Moving forward, it says, the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread. Took bread. So here's the first element of the Lord's Supper. Jesus took bread. And so knowing that this all is taking place during the Passover feast, we know that the bread that was taken by Jesus was unleavened bread. An unleavened bread, for those that may not know, is bread that does not contain yeast. It doesn't rise like a typical bread would. Typical bread that we're used to. So it doesn't contain yeast. And this is why we use thin unleavened crackers when we partake of communion. It's because of this is the type of bread that Jesus would have used. This is the type of bread that would have been on the table at the Passover feast. So because it was prescribed in the Passover feast in Exodus 12, we know that's what Jesus would have used as they're sitting there eating. So that's significant that it's prescribed in the Passover feast, but also it's important to notice that the New Testament uses leaven to represent sin. In verses like Luke 12, 1, and 1 Corinthians 5, 8, And so since the bread, as we'll see, is representative of Christ's body in the Lord's Supper, and leaven in the New Testament represents sin, then the bread that's used in communion must be unleavened because Christ was without sin, right? So if leaven is representing sin and the bread is representing Christ's body, it can't be leavened bread because Christ was without sin. So, both because the unleavened bread was used by Jesus to institute the Lord's Supper and because leaven represents sin, the only proper use or proper bread to use in the Lord's Supper would be unleavened bread. So again, bread being the first element of the Lord's Supper. Now moving forward, I want to point out the manner in which Christ took the elements. Look at verse 24. He took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. So Jesus here demonstrates for us the manner in which the elements of the Lord's Supper should be received. Paul tells us that Jesus took the bread and he gave thanks. Jesus demonstrated a spirit of thankfulness for this bread. And looking at the middle part of verse 24, we see that he broke the bread. Gave thanks and he broke it. So why is it fitting to give thanks for this bread? Why is that the proper manner in which we should receive it? It's because the broken bread was symbolic of Jesus' body that would soon be broken. In other words, The bread as well as the wine, which we'll see moving forward, are both symbolic of Christ's sacrifice for sinners. And so because this is true, the only proper way to receive the Lord's Supper rightly is with thankfulness. Also consider that Jesus gave thanks to the Father for this bread, he thanked the Father for making a way for sinners to be saved, right? He is thankful for this broken bread, which was symbolic of his broken body. He was thankful that forgiveness would be achieved to the glory of God. He was thankful for that. And so, Jesus himself had an attitude of thankfulness, even though he knew that he himself would be the sacrifice. He's thankful to God, to the Father, for the sacrifice, even though he knew that he was the one to be sacrificed. And so how much more should the recipients of this forgiveness be thankful when remembering in the Lord's Supper? If the one who is being sacrificed showed thankfulness, how much more should the ones receiving the benefits of the sacrifice show their thankfulness? So again, we see Jesus demonstrate the manner or the spirit in which we should partake of the Lord's Supper. It's a spirit of thankfulness when we approach the elements, spirit of thankfulness. And next, we'll see the first function of the Lord's Supper as a means of grace. Jesus said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In remembrance of me. So the purpose here of taking the bread and the wine, as we'll see, is to remember Christ. It's in remembrance of Christ that we take these elements. And it's not simply to remember him in some vague or general sense. No, look at the first part of Jesus' statement. This, broken bread, is my body, which is for you. This broken bread is for you, my body. So what he's saying is that he gave, or this time will give, it's in the future tense, hasn't happened yet. He will give his body for the disciples. He's saying, my body is going to be broken for you. His death is substitutionary in place of the disciples, right? He says, it's broken for you. It's for the disciples that his body will be broken. And so it's in this specific way that we're told to remember Christ. We're not told to simply remember the things that He taught or the miracles that He did. No, we specifically remember His death. We remember that Christ gave Himself for us, the just for the unjust. We remember this. And so remembrance is the first function of the Lord's Supper as a means of grace. Consider again the main point of our text, that the Lord's Supper is a sacrament whereby we remember the substitutionary death of Christ and publicly proclaim our union with Him and His body of believers. So next, we will look at, or we'll see Christ introduce the second element used in the Lord's Supper. Look at verse 25 now with me, please. Verse 25. In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. So Paul tells us, records for us that Jesus now takes the cup. And it's important to know, or to note that he took the cup in the same way. in which he took the bread. It says, in the same way he took the cup. So, how did he take the bread? With thankfulness, right? So, in the same way he took the cup also, with thankfulness. Again, it's the proper way we approach the Lord's Suppers, with thankfulness. But, if you'll notice, the text does not tell us what was in the cup, right? It just says the cup. He took the cup. Was this wine? Was this grape juice? Was it water? What was it? What was in the cup? Our text here in Corinthians doesn't make this explicit, but luckily we have multiple accounts of this in the New Testament that can help us to answer this question. You don't need to turn there, but we read this, the same account in Matthew's gospel, chapter 25, verses 27 to 29, we read this. And when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he gave it to them saying, drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until the day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. So we see here that the, what was contained in the cup was the fruit of the vine, which means we can narrow it down to either wine or grape juice, but we're not left wondering or guessing which one of these two it was. In this passage, it's clear that what was, in our passage in Corinthians and Matthew, it's clear that what was being used was wine, not juice. And so there's a few reasons for this. The first is that in ancient times, it wasn't possible to press grapes into juice without the fermenting process starting. So in order to have grape juice, you'd need to press the grapes and then immediately drink the juice before the fermenting started taking place. The New Testament text concerning the Lord's Supper, we see no mention of any of the disciples or anybody going and pressing grapes right before the meal. So, we're without any reason to believe that that's what happened. And also, it was a tradition of the Jewish people to have wine during their feast, especially the Passover feast. So, Because we don't see any indication that there was any pressing going on right before to make grape juice, then we also know that during the feast there was wine. We have good reason to believe it was wine. But we have more than good reason because there's actually concrete evidence of this found earlier in 1 Corinthians 11 before our passage begins. So it's just prior to our passage this morning. If you'll look up a little bit. Paul, before he gives his positive instruction, which we're looking at, to the church in Corinth, he corrects them for wrongfully taking the Lord's Supper. And so we read this account in verses 18 through 21, where Paul says, When you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you, and in part, I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you. Therefore, when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper, for in your eating, each one takes his own supper first, and one is hungry and another is drunk." So, In Paul's correction, we see that there were divisions in the church. And most commentators think that these divisions were drawn along financial lines. The rich and the poor. And we see that some of these groups were eating first, and they were leaving the others out. And it also appears that they were not only eating first, but they were also overindulging in eating and drinking. And so there's no unity or equality taking place here in the Lord's Supper. But the main point and the thing that I want to highlight here is found in verse 21 where it says, in your eating each one takes his own supper first. The one is hungry and the other is drunk. Right? And so they're overindulging and they're getting drunk. This proves the point that what was in the cup in the Lord's Supper was wine. Right? Wine would be the proper element for communion. People obviously don't get drunk off grape juice, right? So it's clearly wine that's in view here in Paul's letter. Now, you may be wondering why it is then that we offer both wine and grape juice when we partake of the Lord's Supper here. I'm going to read you a passage from the book of Numbers that describes the vow of a Nazirite. And the word Nazirite comes from the word Nazir, which means set apart or consecrated. So this vow was taken by someone who wished to be consecrated or separated in a special way unto God. Samson is the most notable example of one who took this vow. So that's what this passage tells us. And so in this passage, we read what the vow consists of. It's in Numbers 6, 2 through 4, we read this. When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the Lord, he shall abstain from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice or eat fresh or dried grapes. All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grapevine, from the seeds even to the skin. So, We see in this vow that drinking wine was a violation of the Nazirite vow, right? To drink wine. But it didn't just stop there. It wasn't just the drinking of fermented grape juice or wine. It was not to drink wine or grape juice or eat grapes or eat grape seeds or eat grape skin, right? It kept going. It was anything having to do with the grape vine. And so the fact that wine and grape juice were lumped into the same category of forbidden drink in the Nazarite vow, we can use this same principle to conclude that using grape juice in communion instead of wine is permissible. I will say this, however. I believe that it's best to use the elements that Jesus himself used as far as it is possible to do so. The choice to abstain from wine should be one of conscience, not one of preference. The Bible warns about the dangers of drinking much wine and there are undoubtedly those who should err on the side of wisdom and abstain from alcohol. To those people, I say that it's good to follow biblical wisdom and to use grape juice as an alternative because it's a biblically acceptable alternative. However, if your conscience would allow for it, I would encourage you to use the same elements that the Lord Jesus himself used. And so we've seen that Jesus used wine as the second element of the Lord's Supper, but the grape juice is in fact an acceptable alternative to those whose conscience will not allow them to use wine. And so moving forward, I want to examine what Jesus says about this cup. Look with me please at verse 25. Jesus says, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. So just as the bread was symbolic of the broken body of Jesus, the cup of wine is symbolic of the shed blood of Christ. Notice that he says that the cup is the new covenant in his blood. He's pointing to the fulfillment, again, of the Passover lamb. Just as in the old covenant, the blood of the lamb protected the Israelites from God's judgment upon Egypt, now the blood of the true lamb, the true lamb of God, protects God's elect from God's judgment upon sin. The old covenant was symbolic. It was a type and shadow of things to come. And the blood of animals, right, Hebrews tells us, could never take away sins. But now, the greater sacrifice has come. The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The Messiah, right? Truly God and truly man. So that He, as a man, can make atonement for men. But also as God, he can take the place of more than one man. He takes away the sins of all those who were chosen in him before the foundation of the world. And it is in his blood, he tells us, that the new covenant has been made. So Jesus repeats his instruction on how to receive the wine. We're told in the same way that he took the bread, which is in remembrance of Christ. Right? This is the new covenant in my blood. Do this in remembrance of me. to point again to the main point of our text. The Lord's Supper is a sacrament whereby we remember the substitutionary death of Christ and publicly proclaim our union with him and body of believers. And so we're remembering him through the bread, which is symbolic of his body, and we're remembering him through the wine, which is symbolic of his shed blood, right? The greater fulfillment of the blood shed through the old covenant. So we remember, that's the first part. And that leads us into the second part now of our main point this morning. Look with me please at verse 26. Verse 26, we read this. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So here's Paul's kind of commentary on what is taking place during the Lord's Supper. So while the first function of the Lord's Supper is to bring us remembrance of Christ's death, right, now the second function is that we proclaim his death publicly. So we're proclaiming as we're partaking of it. And if you'll remember back to our last sermon, we noted that baptism is a way to publicly proclaim our union with Christ. It was an outward sign of an inward reality, namely that I have been united with Christ in His death and I have been raised to life in Him, right? That's what baptism is demonstrating and proclaiming outwardly. And so the Lord's Supper here functions similarly to that. By partaking of the Lord's Supper, you're proclaiming that Christ's body was broken and His blood was shed, and more specifically, that it was broken and shed for you, right? So you're proclaiming outwardly what has taken place inwardly. It's to say that Christ died to save sinners, and I as a sinner have found forgiveness in His death. He's died for me. I belong to him and he belongs to me and we are united, right? That's what you're proclaiming in your partaking of the Lord's Supper. But this goes further than that. It's not merely an individual proclamation of his death. It's a corporate proclamation. Look with me back at our text in verse 26. says, for you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. And so what's not clear, what's kind of lost in translation in the English is that the word you here is in the second person plural, which means Paul isn't saying you singularly or individually are proclaiming Christ's death. He's saying you plural, right? You all. or as my Greek professor made us say, y'all, right? He's saying you all are proclaiming his death. It's a corporate you, plural you. So there's a corporate proclamation that Christ died and then he died for us corporately, right? Us as a people, we are proclaiming, I'm not proclaiming about myself, we are proclaiming together by partaking of the Lord's Supper that he has died for us. So do you see the significance here? While baptism expresses our unity with Christ primarily on an individual level, the Lord's Supper has a corporate element built into it. To partake of the Lord's Supper on the Lord's Day is to publicly proclaim our union with him, the first part, and then also with his body of believers. And again, that's the second part of our main point. We proclaim publicly. our union with Him and with His body of believers. So, when we take the Lord's Supper in remembrance of Christ's death, we do this together. And by doing it together, we're proclaiming His death in our union with Him and with one another. So, the corporate element there. Now, moving forward, our text will transition from the positive instruction on how to rightly partake of the Lord's Supper into a warning to those who would partake of it in an unworthy manner. So we've seen the right way to partake of it, and now we're going to see the dangers in doing it the wrong way. So look with me now, please, at verses 27 through 29 as we conclude our passage here. It says, Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing, he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly." So, Here's the warning and the punishment that's connected with the Lord's Supper. The consequences for partaking in an unworthy manner is to be found guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. To take the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner is to eat and drink judgment upon oneself. Right? And so there, I've heard a lot of confusion about the meaning of this. Many people unfortunately jump to the conclusion that this means that if you're not righteous enough, or if you failed perpetually and not overcome X, Y, or Z, that this warning's for you. Basically, if you're not good enough. And so I delight to tell you that this is not the case necessarily. The key to understanding what an unworthy manner is, can be found in the first word of verse 27. The first word of verse 27 is, therefore. So Paul's saying, by saying therefore, he's saying, because of all these things that I have just said before, therefore, now this is true, right? There's a connection there. The warning is a conclusion. He's saying this is the right way to do it, therefore don't do it wrongly. And so more specifically, because he's positively explained how to receive the Lord's Supper correctly, now we understand what it looks like to do it incorrectly. So consider the points. that he made in his positive instructions, or that we've pointed out in Jesus' positive instructions. We are instructed to take the elements with thankfulness, right? To remember that Christ's death was for us, and to proclaim his death and our unity within the church, right? So those were kind of the three main ways in which we partake of it rightly. And so in contrast to that, right, We can see how you'd approach it wrongfully. One who approached it wrongfully would be the one who approaches the Lord's table without thankfulness, lacks thankfulness. Someone for whom Christ did not die, who does not have fellowship with the church, that person coming to the table would be eating and drinking judgment upon themselves, right? So who would that person be? It's an unbeliever. Because he's outwardly proclaiming to possess something he doesn't have inwardly. He's a poor man parading around in a stolen robe. He's displaying outwardly something that has no basis inwardly. And so he's unworthy of the symbolic elements in the bread and the wine because he's not received the things that those elements are pointing to. The unworthy partaker is indeed categorically different than the worthy partaker, but it's not the categories that many people assume. It's not that those who are unworthy are categorically different because they have more sin than those who are worthy. No, it's simply this. Those who are unworthy are unworthy because they have not received grace through faith in Christ. And contrarily, those who are worthy to partake of it are only worthy because they have received grace in Christ. And so it's not a question of how sinful a person is. It's rather whether or not they've found grace in Christ. Grace is the dividing factor between one who's worthy and who's unworthy. I mean, how little sense does it make to say that you can't partake of a sacrament that emphasizes your need for grace because you're in need of too much grace? It doesn't make sense. We all approach the Lord's table knowing our need for grace. And in doing that, we remember that we've found grace in Christ. And we proclaim outwardly that we've found that grace, right? So the Lord's Table is for those who have found grace in Christ. Anyone who has not is unworthy to partake of it. So the Lord's Supper is for Christians only. Now one thing needs to be said about this. There is a point in time where biblical wisdom would lead an individual to decide on an individual basis or the elders of a church to ask a person to not partake of the Lord's Supper for a time. This is because we're instructed in Matthew 18 how to handle church discipline. And if you'll recall, if a person proceeds an unrepentant sin through all the steps of discipline, he or she is to be treated now as an unbeliever, right? If it escalates and doesn't get addressed. Excuse me. So in some cases of church discipline or even an individual self-evaluation, continual refusal to repent and to wage war against sin should lead for a time of abstaining from the Lord's table. Now we've seen that the unworthy person is an unbeliever, right? And an unworthy person that partakes of it is eating and drinking judgment upon themselves and they're guilty of the body and blood of Christ. And so in a case of church discipline where a person refuses to repent, and to take the necessary steps to fight against their sin, wisdom would instruct that person to refrain from partaking of the Lord's Supper because they are displaying behavior that could be indicative of not truly being a Christian. So it's not that they're too sinful necessarily, it's that that could mean that there is a deeper issue, meaning that they have not found grace in Christ. And so, to prevent eating and drinking judgment upon oneself, sometimes it's wise to refrain from partaking of the Lord's Supper. So, and again, a person who has been born again still sins daily, right? but they have a new heart and they have God's spirit within them and that makes them hate their sin and want to wage war against it. And so to have a flippant attitude towards sin and to fail to heed the warnings of the church is to demonstrate the possibility of not truly being converted. And I think if we consider Peter and Judas as an example of this, we'll gain a better understanding. Think about this night, right? Judas would betray Jesus, and Peter would also deny him the same night. They both were there eating at the Passover feast. They both took the Lord's Supper together. They both failed the Lord in grievous ways, yet Judas would end up getting judgment, and Peter was given grace and was restored. Why? It's because Peter was a sheep that had gone astray and Judas was a goat who was stealing food that's only fit for the sheep. And so these situations sometimes require wisdom and perhaps a time of refraining from partaking of the Lord's Supper because there could be a deeper issue and a reality of not being converted. And so that's where that would be wise to refrain. But having said that, the main thing that I want to point out and I want people to understand is that the Lord's table is never closed to the weary saint who's waging war with sin. As a matter of fact, the Lord's supper is one of the most empowering things that you can do in your fight against sin. The one who's fighting and even often losing the battle with their sin will be strengthened and encouraged to press on when they hold the elements in their hand and they see the gospel and the bread and the wine and they proclaim with the church that Christ has died and that he's died for me. It's empowering. And so the table is never closed to the weary saint. And so this leads now to our concluding applications, which are simple. The first thing is that the Lord's Supper requires self-examination. It's somewhat of a spiritual fork in the road that forces you to look within yourself, not primarily to see if you find sin, but if you find faith. We are all sinners, and when we self-examine ourselves, we will all find sin. That's not a question. We all have piles and piles of sin, just like the unbeliever. We're all guilty. So whether or not you have sin is not the question. The thing that must be found, the thing that must be searched out, the question that must be answered is when I look within myself, do I find faith in Christ? Charles Spurgeon famously wrote, I have a great need for Christ and I have a great Christ for my need. We all have a great need. But have you placed faith in Christ to satisfy that need? If you have not, then consider this an appeal to you. Because God delights to save sinners. He calls all of the thirsty to come and drink. And so if you do not have faith in Christ, come to Christ today and trust that he can provide the forgiveness that you need through his broken body and his shed blood. All you must do is come to him and believe and trust in his work for sinners. On the other hand, if you examine yourself today and you do indeed find faith in Christ, then rejoice. Because this sacrament was given to us as a joyful reminder that we have found mercy We have received grace and mercy in Christ. And so, the application for you is to come to the Lord's table, but come with thankfulness as Jesus instructed us, and with remembrance of Christ's death for you. And as you hold the elements in your hand, look around and know that you are publicly proclaiming with the church, with other believers, that we've all been united in Christ through his death, both to the Father and to one another, and that he's made us a people. And so, when we partake of it, we proclaim it together. And so, as we continually meet and gather and each Lord's Day partake of the Lord's Supper together, remember that when we partake of it, we remember the substitutionary death of Christ and publicly proclaim our union with him and his body of believers. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for Christ, that in the same way that the Passover lamb was slain, and His blood was used to protect the people of Israel from your wrath upon Egypt, that Christ, the true Lamb of God, has shed His blood to protect us, your people, from your wrath against our sin. We thank you that not only did He die for us, but He also gave us this wonderful sacrament whereby we can approach the table with thankfulness, remembering his death for us and proclaiming our union with you and with one another. We pray that you would never let this sacrament become common in our minds, but that it always receive our highest gratitude and thankfulness. We pray that you continually use it as a way of strengthening us in our fight with sin, that we would be encouraged, and that we would, each time we partake of it, lay ahold of Christ anew by faith, and remember his great work which he accomplished for us. It's in his name we pray, amen.