Congregation I say this regularly, but I'll say it again tonight before you put your Psalter hymnal too far away Let me remind you that we'll be in the Heidelberg Catechism again tonight in a moment and that'll be in the back of our blue Psalter hymnal So we'll we'll come to those and I'll make an explanation about that in a minute. But first we'll turn in our Bible to 1st Corinthians chapter 11 First Corinthians chapter 11 where we want to hear what it is the Apostle Paul by the Spirit says to the Church of Corinth and the Christians there, and there are challenges to be considered. So we're gonna read there first, but then we will go to the Heidelberg Catechism. And again tonight, like last time, we're gonna take a little bit more than normal. We'll take Lord's Days 28 and 29. Now we don't always do this in taking so much, and I admit it's a bit of reading tonight. The reason for this is there is a consistent theme in these two Lord's Days that I want us to consider, which is from 1 Corinthians 11 primarily. And so we'll take up a little bit longer reading tonight if you'll just be patient with me in that regard. And there is important biblical truth to be drawn from those things. And so we'll come there to the Heidelberg Catechism in a moment. But first, beloved, to 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verses 17 through 34. And this is what the Spirit says through the Apostle Paul to us. In the following directives, I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent, I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not. For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you. The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. This do in remembrance of me. In the same way, after supper, he took the cup, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. So then my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home so that when you meet together, it may not result in judgment. And when I come, I will give further directions. As far as your congregation, those words of God by the Apostle through the Spirit to us, keep your Bible there. We'll be paying careful attention to that text. But then we'll read together now the answers to the questions that we find in Lord's Days 28 and 29, beginning on page 36 in the back of our Psalter hymnal. And so, congregation, these things, first of all, from Lord's Day 28, How does the Lord's Supper remind you and assure you that you share in Christ's one sacrifice on the cross and in all his gifts? In this way, Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup. With this command, he gave this promise. First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup given to me, So surely his body was offered and broken for me, and his blood poured out for me on the cross. Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of him who serves, and taste with my mouth the bread and the cup of the Lord, given me as sure signs of Christ's body and blood, So surely he nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with his crucified body and poured-out blood." What does it mean to eat the crucified body of Christ and to drink his poured-out blood? It means to accept with a believing heart the entire suffering and death of Christ, and by believing, to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life. But it means more. Through the Holy Spirit, who lives both in Christ and in us, we are united more and more to Christ's blessed body. And so, although he is in heaven and we are on earth, We are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, and we forever live on and are governed by one spirit as members of our body are by one soul. Where does Christ promise to nourish and refresh believers with his body and blood as surely as they eat this broken bread and drink this cup? In the institution of the Lord's Supper, the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. This promise is repeated by Paul in these words, The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Are the bread and wine changed into the real body and blood of Christ? No, just as the water of baptism is not changed into Christ's blood and does not itself wash away sins, but is simply God's sign and assurance, so too the bread of the Lord's Supper is not changed into the actual body of Christ, even though it is called the body of Christ in keeping with the nature and language of sacraments. Well, why then does Christ call the bread his body and the cup his blood or the new covenant in his blood? Paul uses the words of participation in Christ's body and blood. Christ has good reason for these words. He wants to teach us that, as bread and wine nourish our temporal life, so too his crucified body and poured out blood truly nourish our souls for eternal life. But more important, he wants to assure us by this visible sign and pledge that we, through the Holy Spirit's work, share in his true body and blood, as surely as our mouths receive these holy signs in his remembrance, and that all of his suffering and obedience are as definitely ours as if we personally had suffered and paid for our sins. Well beloved those many things we believe for we are taught them in the Word of God Let's ask the help then of the Holy Spirit tonight as we come to his word and it preached Our father now we are very thankful that we have your word you Never leave us Wanting you always fill us richly with And that is our request tonight. The by your spirit as we take this up this your word that we would be filled. Our hearts Lord would overflow. We would have a delight in these things. Father, we want to rightly understand. What it is to take the Lord's Supper. And so bless us, Oh Heavenly Father tonight. We're asking for help. And we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Dear congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, there was a problem at Corinth. Actually, there were many problems among the Christians in that Greek community, and those problems were serious. Here at 1 Corinthians 11, Paul addresses their problem of misunderstanding Christ Jesus and the supper he gave the church, the Lord's Supper. And to this day, misunderstandings about communion, the Lord's Supper, abound. Depending on the church you visit, depending on the denomination that you're considering, depending on the situation and history of a particular Christian group and people, there will be strengths and weaknesses in all manners, and particularly in how the sacraments are handled. Perhaps one error about the Lord's Supper most common in Reformed and Presbyterian churches is a failure to rightly appreciate what we have in communion, what we are receiving in the Lord's Supper. Well, here's your first fill-in-the-blank then, people of God. People of God, a proper practice of experiential communion will bring us to more fully appreciate What Jesus Christ has done for us? And given to us. In this supper. That word experiential. Is going to be important this evening. And if I might be so bold as to say this. That word experiential is what Paul is upset about. In 1st Corinthians 11. So let's try to see why. The command to eat and drink at his table is testimony and spiritual enrichment. The command to eat and drink at his table is testimony and spiritual enrichment. So what Christ has provided, he also commands that we take in. Would you notice with me at 1 Corinthians 11 verses 24 and 25, would you notice with me that Paul here is pointing out the direct correlation between substance and command. He is dealing with the connection between substance and command. Notice what he says in verse 24 where he records the words of the Lord. This is my body which is for you, do this. And then in verse 25 we he records again the words of the Lord. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. There's the substance and now comes the command. Do this. That correlation beloved needs to be something weighty and and significant for us. It is how the Lord Jesus Christ says we remember him. But it is also how the Lord Jesus Christ nourishes us. And so because this was not being practiced properly in Corinth, the Apostle Paul is upset. Verses 17 through 22, and then again verses 27 through 34, because the Christians there in Corinth have missed Christ's own statement about what it is they are doing in terms of the substance, what he commands them to do because they have missed this, Paul is angry. You think that regular food and drink, he says in verse 22, are more important. Where rather this is the body and blood of the Lord. This is the bread and the cup of Christ, verse 27. So the Lord is telling us here that he has provided food and drink, which we must take in in order to be found faithful. Dearly beloved, Eating and drinking the Lord's Supper properly, according to his command, is a sign of Christian faithfulness. So there is then, in Paul's anger and in Christ's command, a basic biblical prescriptive about experiential Christianity. including experiential communion practice. And that basic biblical prescription which comes from Christ about experiential communion goes like this. Experiential communion is that Lord's Supper behavior that follows Christ's command. The basic issue is following Christ's command and how to practice the Lord's Supper. And in that proper practice of the Lord's Supper will come the blessings of an experiential practice of communion. Now, to look at that roundabout the other direction, We have the apostle reminding the Christians in Corinth and we ourselves, not only in the Lord's Supper, I mean, not only in the Heidelberg Catechism, but in our form for the Lord's Supper, we have the apostle reminding them to eat in an unworthy way, verse 27, is to sin. So in a certain sense, beloved, the responsibility that falls to us is to heighten our understanding of the weightiness of our practice of the Lord's Supper. What does it mean to practice properly, to engage biblically in terms of eating and drinking the Lord's Supper? But the Apostle Paul noticed it. He says more. He mentions in v. 29, he mentions in v. 31, he mentions again in v. 34 that to practice the Lord's Supper improperly leads, and here is his word, to judgment. He uses kind of cloaked language. He says this is why some of you are sick. This is why a number have, quote, fallen asleep. What does he mean by that? Well, you mean some have died. Now, would we then take a long arm to separate ourselves from the weightiness of this? Would we say, oh, Lord, that sounds a little a little hard. That sounds a little demanding. It sounds a little heavy and maybe even negative. Or would we turn it around the other way and say, Lord, I want to appreciate and understand the precious, incredible benefit and blessing of the Lord's Supper. This beloved is what the Apostle Paul is pounding on in this text, and I say that word meaningfully, pounding on the extreme importance of these things. So people of God, the first step, people of God, the first step in experiential communion is for us to rightly and highly esteem the great blessing of the supper of our Lord from our Lord. The Christians at Corinth were going, eh, it's the Lord's Supper. Eh, okay, no big deal. Beloved, we cannot read this text any other way. Neither about what they were doing nor about the reaction of the Apostle Paul. Well, then secondly, our ingesting, our ingesting reminds us of all he has done for us. So let's go back to this and consider it again carefully. Christ has provided the bread and the wine, the food and the drink, his body and blood. Think of John chapter six if you want more on this and read sometime this week the entirety of that long chapter of John six and when you get to the end of it you will see how weighty indeed is the church's practice of the Lord's Supper there in John chapter six. As Jesus tells us there to eat and to drink to remember him. When we do something in an experiential way, we are, well, experiencing it. It's why some people like roller coasters. If you happen to be one of those people who like roller coasters, you do it because you like the experience of it. You go to an amusement park and pay way too much money and wait in lines much too long because you like the experience of that feeling. This is what we mean when we're using that word experiential, we experience. Do we experience something when we take the Lord's Supper? That's the question. So to experience something properly then is to have our brains involved. We need to have our spirituality awareness dial turned up to 10. Where sometimes believers today, and if we're honest, we could include ourselves, sometimes believers today are like the Christians in Corinth who had their spirituality awareness dial turned down to zero. Now am I saying that just to be harsh? Or more importantly, is the Apostle Paul harsh just to be harsh? Do you realize that what he is saying about the Christians at Corinth was that they were viewing the Lord's Supper as only food and merely drink? Oh, I can eat at home and I can be full. I can drink at home and drink too much and get drunk. And that's an understanding of a conception of the Lord's Supper that is entirely inappropriate. Is the Lord's Supper food? Yes, it is. Is the Lord's Supper drink? Yes, it is. But what is its nature? What is its quality? And what is its purpose? What does the bread? Teach us. What does the drink and struck us in now? There's more, but we're just limiting ourselves to the mind for the moment. Because the matters of the mind need to sink down into our heart and the Apostle here is condemning them because the truth of the of the experience of the Lord's Supper neither was in their minds nor had settled down into their hearts. Their practice proved that. Beloved, I don't know how you characterize Paul's address to them than by saying he was angry. That's what comes flying off the page. Why was he angry? Because their practice of the Lord's Supper was entirely wrong. What are we doing when we take the Lord's Supper? What is involved? Dearly beloved, experiential communion, experiential communion is filling our mouths with bread and drink, which action fills our minds and hearts with the truth of all Christ did to save us. So again, are we aware? Are we thinking as we celebrate communion? Are we incredibly in tune with what is going on? Did we, verse 28, examine ourselves so that we are sure that we know, verse 29, what is it that we are to know according to the Apostle Paul through examination? What does he say in verse 29? We must know the body of Christ. Who is he? Christ, what is he like? What has he done for us? What extent has he gone to to save us? Beloved, these things we must know when we come to take the Lord's Supper. And so, examination is what Paul, what the scripture calls us to. And Paul here rakes the Corinthians over the coals because they came to the Lord's Supper in an unspiritual way, not ready for the experiential acting out and the practicing of biblical Lord's Supper and communion. But we have every reason to be ready when we come. We have every opportunity given to us when we come. In a certain sense, we want to be a little bit nicer to the Christians at Corinth, at least compared to our own situation, because what more do we have than they had? Now, they had the Apostle Paul. He was writing to them, had met with them, was around them in personal ways. But what more do we have? If you begin to count the centuries and begin to think of the information and begin to evaluate the blessing that has been given to the church in our day, how much more do we have? Well. We have 1st Corinthians 11, for example. This letter that Paul writes to them comes by the Spirit and by the preservation of God down through the ages to us. To help us. Because our God loves us. And why is it then that our Heidelberg catechism quotes both 1st Corinthians 11 and 1st Corinthians 10? Well, for good reason it is. It is truth to prepare us. People of God, we are fully equipped. We are fully equipped by the truth to enjoy the Lord's Supper as. A meal. That reminds us. Of all Christ did to save us. But that's not all. Thirdly, our ingesting nourishes us for eternal life. I think, and I'm not trying to be negative, but I think we should be a bit angrier at the Corinthian Christians. Are we angry at what they were thinking? Which thinking led to what they did? Paul was angry. Are you? Am I? Now the reason I want to stress that, beloved, is because this is a passage of the Bible that we know very well. We use 1 Corinthians 11 in every celebration of the Lord's Supper. Either we read it outright or it's found in our Lord's Supper form, the preparatory section, the actual practicing, the participation of the Lord's Supper, we find it there. And so we're very familiar with it. Especially the section beginning in verse 23 and ending in verse 26, we know that so very well. We've heard it countless times. But when we have that in the context of 17 through 34, we see something a little bit differently here. And it goes like this. What were the Christians at Corinth thinking? What did they want? What they were thinking and what they wanted, verse 22, was to have their stomachs filled. Don't you, verse 22, have homes to eat in and to drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? Certainly not, the old language, by no means. So because what they wanted, verse 22, was to simply have their stomachs filled, it led them to despise the Church of God, as the Apostle Paul uses that language, and he says, again in verse 34, if you're hungry, eat at home. What is Paul saying? He is, beloved, saying to us that there is a different reality that we need to grab hold of. It is of a spiritual feeding A spiritual feeding. I hope you notice this, and it's one of the reasons we read all of that of the Heidelberg Catechism quite a bit tonight. I hope you notice the repetition that was given to us in the Heidelberg Catechism about a spiritual nourishment that occurs when we rightly celebrate the Lord's Supper This is why we use the word experiential. Because you see, the most important nourishment we can receive, beloved, is not food as food and drink as drink, but it is the spiritual nourishment which occurs to the Christian at the Lord's Supper. Answer 75 question 77. I'm not going to go back and read them. I'm just listing them for us. So again, answer 75 question 77 answer 79. All say to us what Paul says in 1st Corinthians 11 that the most important aspect is the spiritual nourishment which reminds us of what Jesus Christ has done for us. And so a proper participation is experiential. It is eating and drinking spiritually speaking. Dearly beloved, dearly beloved, when we eat and drink at Christ's table by faith, we will depart that meal experiencing spiritual renewal and spiritual filling of the reminder that all our sins are forgiven, we will leave feeling nourished. Oh beloved, I just used the word feeling. Can reformed folk use that word? I sure hope so. Can we have a sense of something in our gut? Can we have an appreciation for something that fills us and gives us delight and joy? I sure hope so, because that's what Paul was critiquing the Christians at Corinth, because they didn't want that. They didn't understand that. And they didn't receive that. They were simply happy to have their guts filled with food and beverage. And so, beloved, the notion laid out clearly in the Heidelberg Catechism, again, I mentioned, answer 75, question 77, answer 79, that which is laid out there in the Heidelberg Catechism is the historic Reformed and Presbyterian conviction. This is not something new. In other words, now I wanna press us again. I don't mean to make you feel bad. But in other words, if we find it odd to say that we should experience something in our participation of the Lord's Supper, we are the ones that are being ahistorical, out of the mainstream of Reformed and Presbyterian practice. What is the norm, biblically and historically in Reformed and Presbyterian churches, is to say that we should sense nourishment spiritually. That we should go away filled. That we should go away delighting more in the Lord Jesus Christ after we have come to his table than we did in a certain sense before we came to the table. And that includes, by the way, the practice of the week of preparatory, like with the devotionals that you are given to read each week before we come to the Lord's Supper. May I simply drop a name? This is called name dropping. John Calvin firmly believed and taught these things. And so we ought not be shy about this, beloved. Well, how then do we recapture this experiential practice of the Lord's Supper? There's much to be said here. I simply want to give us three biblical principles, and I'm not going to go long here, very brief, but three biblical principles which will help us recapture an experiential practice of the Lord's Supper. And the first of those, we've already been hinting at it, Fully engage in the week of preparatory. What does the Apostle Paul say? Verse 28. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. Verse 29 for anyone who eats and drinks without what recognizing the body of the Lord. Eats and drinks judgment on himself. So the first thing that enables us toward a experiential, a spiritual enriching practice of the Lord's Supper is for us to fully engage in the week of preparatory, as if it's vital for us, because it is. Which leads, secondly, to this. It means really and truly accepting the significance of our Romans 7 struggle against sin and a need for a Savior. You see, that's what the week of preparatory is for. It's to kind of set us into the context of Paul now at Romans chapter 7, which I might think Paul would have said to the Christians at Corinth, didn't you read Romans 7? Or at least say the same things to them that he says to us in Romans 7, that our struggle with sin is real, constant, continual, and thus our need for Christ is never changing. And if we go into the Lord's Supper, we come to church on the Sunday when the sacrament is laid out in front of us with a mindset of having wrestled through our struggle with sin and coming to a greater delight in the Lord Jesus Christ, how blessed would that be for us? Isn't this in summation what Paul says was wrong at Corinth? They devalued their sin, thus they devalued the salvation that is for them in Jesus Christ. And that's the third thing, is to have a much sweeter love for the Lord Jesus Christ when we come to His supper. This is what Paul was saying to the Christians at Corinth, oh, don't you love Jesus Christ? Isn't He sweet to you? Oh Christians, that's exactly how we ought to come to the Lord's table. We ought to come with such an upwelling in our hearts of love for Jesus Christ that we delight in him so. We want him. We delight in his mercy, his grace, his goodness. We love to be told that old old story that those who have long lived with Christ need to hear every day. Isn't that right? People of God? People of God, when we are honest in who we are, delighting in who Christ is, we will take in his supper as the most important meal we could ever eat and depart spiritually enriched. Because fourthly, and now this is so important, That which we see, we must taste to see that He is good. To help us with that, beloved, I want to remind us what the Catechism told us earlier back in Lords Day 25 in Question and Answer 66 about what is the nature of a sacrament. and is again part of the reason that Paul was so angry about what was going on in Corinth. Sacraments, as we were taught earlier in the Catechism, are visual. They're visible signs and seals for us to use. Visual signs and seals for us to use. Why did you bring your children forth for baptism? Why do you delight to see someone who has come to faith later in life be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? We wrestled with this last time. Do you remember about what is the point of the water? Well, it's a visual. It shows us the washing of Christ, cleansing all of our sin away, and we make use of that. Well, the same, beloved, is true in regards to the Lord's Supper. We can see the bread. You can picture it in your minds right now as if that table that we always use, that table that we always put down there with those trays on them, you can see that in your mind's eye right now as we come into the Lord's house for the Lord's supper, and then you can see the bread as the elders bring it and pass it around, it passes by you, you take out your piece, and then later comes the drink and you take out your part and you can see it. And then you ingest it. You can see that the Lord is good. But you must really taste. So that you can see that the Lord is good. This is what the Apostle says. He records Jesus words in verse 24. This is my body, which is for you. Notice the substance again, and he calls forth then an action, a response. Do this. Don't just look at it. Don't just see it. Verse 25, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. There it is. You can see it. Do this. Eat, drink, believe. And in that process, beloved, what occurs for the Christian is a closer and closer union with Christ's body and blood. is an enriched fellowship unto a closer relationship with Jesus Christ. Dearly beloved, we grow closer to Jesus by a regular spiritual feasting at His table because this is His will for us and as we use As we use. This food. Oh Christians. God is entirely gracious to us through Christ in giving to us the sacraments. They're good for us. We're blessed by them. We need them. They're not meant to be a new law for us. It's not meant to be a new path of legalism to write over the old path of legalism. But they are designed as grace. They are second only to the preached Word, which is the preached Word, the primary means of grace. But they are nonetheless a means of grace. The Lord's Supper is given to us by God as grace. So that in them and in our use of them, we can experience, as Paul was wanting at Corinth, we can experience the kindness and the richness and the goodness of God's grace all over again every time we come to the Lord's table in richer measure through our proper participation in the Lord's Supper. People of God, we can know in richer measure the kindness of God, the forgiveness from Jesus, and that spiritual nourishment we need. By taking in the meal of our Lord, rejoicing in this most glorious food. Oh beloved, what we need the most, God graciously gives us because he loves us. Let's rejoice in that, amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much tonight again for the richness of your word, which is the primary means of grace, which teaches us, your word does, about the secondary means of grace. Included in that is the Lord's Supper, which we need, which you have blessed us with. And Lord, we thank you tonight. Hear our thanks, for we offer it in Jesus' name, amen. Well, let's sing something of these things tonight, congregation. We'll stand at number 138, and then our doxology, 425. We get to sing, we get to respond in song to God's goodness. We'll stand beginning at 138.