Stand with me, if you would, for a reading of the word. We're gonna be reading from Matthew 26, verses 26 through 28. Again, that's Matthew 26, verses 26 through 28, and it reads as follows. Now, while they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, he broke it, and giving it to his disciples, he said, take, eat, this is my body. 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 the forgiveness of sins. You may be seated. This week's message is titled, The Meaning Behind the Lord's Supper. We're beginning a short two-week series on the Lord's Supper, mainly to make sure that everyone is on the same page of why we do the Lord's Supper, and this will be something that we'll continually reference back to as our church grows. And so that everyone is on the same page as far as why we do the Lord's Supper, why we do it and the frequency that we do. And so we're just going to spend a two week short period on this topic, and then we'll be moving on to the next subject. So for this week, I'm going to be focusing on the meaning and the why, why we do the supper as well as the elements, that are used, specifically the bread and wine, why we specifically use what we do. And then we'll also be working on how often we should be conducting the Lord's Supper and then ultimately how the Lord's Supper is to be conducted when it's here in service. Next week, I'm going to be focusing on the numerous errors that surround the partaking of the Lord's Supper. And much of that is because most of what I'm going to cover today, most agree on that or if they disagree, it's a small potatoes type thing. But when you pull out the errors, and then bring them into the light, that's when we really start to see our own blind spots. And so in our own beliefs, the things that we were raised with that we were just always told that's why it is. And so we're going to focus on those next week. And again, that's specifically related to the Lord's Supper. Now, as we gather today, like any other day, and any time we gather on the Lord's Day, we have what's called a church liturgy. And liturgy is simply the way in which you engage in the worship of God. Literally the how and why each item that you do in your church service is done. So both the how and the why, and ultimately then the events, the schedule of events. And this is to follow or abstain from what is stated in First Corinthians 1440. But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner. Now, everyone has a liturgy. Everyone. Every church has a liturgy. Even those that say they don't or try and act like they don't, they do. And it's like the fools that we have now that claim that they're non-binary. It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. There's no such thing. Claiming you're non-binary sets you up against binary, which is literally non-binary versus binary, which is a binary process. So saying you have no order or even working towards the fact that you have no order of events is literally a liturgy. Now it's the liturgy of chaos and disorder, but that's your liturgy. And so everyone has a liturgy. And if you have chaos and disorder, that is anti-Christ because Christ and God are of order. Now, never forget, the devil also has his own liturgy. Now, that liturgy can sometimes be of order or sometimes not. It just depends on how he's working the system. But the point that I'm trying to drive home is every church of believers has a liturgy. Everybody has a set reason why they do something, why they don't something, even if it's a bad reason, they still have it. And then that liturgy that you have sets you apart from some churches and it makes you similar to others. Now, understand there is freedom in how different local assemblies decide where to place emphasis specifically on the preaching and teaching and these other things. And so that's why we can have some differences in why we do what we do. And we're not getting outside of Scripture. We're still operating inside Scripture. But you can also have those differences where you've now fully placed yourself outside of Scripture. One of those would be female preachers. female leaders. Anytime you introduce that into your liturgy, you've now stepped outside of what the Bible says is permitted. And that's why I say that you can still get an air even with the discretion that we have. Now, the Lord's Supper is part of that liturgy, that order of events, even if you don't do it. Because if you're not doing it, then you're specifically not doing it for a reason. That's why I say the Lord's Supper has a part of your liturgy. It's either gonna be an integral part, or it's gonna be specifically an integral part that you don't have in there for a reason. And so, mind yourself with that. Now, whether you have it in there or not, it is important to understand that Christ instituted it himself, specifically. So if you're not doing it, you better have a darn good reason why you're not doing it. because he's the one that instituted it. But the other thing to remember is this is a specific thing that was actually stated for us to do together. And so that's another aspect of why it specifically comes into the church liturgy, because it's not only instituted by Christ, but it's instituted to the church body as a whole, not to the individual. And we need to understand then why we do it, and hopefully, each and every time we partake of it, we have that biblical foundation, and so that's what I'm trying to give you here today. Now, turn with me, if you will, back to Matthew 26. Now, we read verses 26 through 28, but I actually want you to start looking at verse 25. Now, primarily, when we talk about the Lord's Supper, it's pretty well the same throughout the three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John focuses more on the washing of the feet, and some of the interactions during the dinner, including Judas. But John, in particular, really helps us understand the timeline of events of the Lord's Supper, specifically that are in the Synoptic Gospels. And we see here in Matthew, between verses 25 and 26, we have this verse from John, which is John 13, 27, and it reads, and after the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Therefore, Jesus said to him, what you do, do quickly. And so this is a specific direction to Judas. So we have Judas at the supper, at the dinner, at the feast. And then between verses 25 and 26, you have Satan enters Judas. Jesus looks to him and says, go what you're going to do. In other words, I know you're going to betray me. You'll get it over. And so Judas leaves. And this is really important to understand because you have the feast is ended and now they're getting ready to do the Lord's supper and the false believer is gone. The unsaved one, the false believer, is gone. And so the only thing that's left in the room is the 11 that are true believers. And that's important to know because that's key for us doing our own Lord's Supper. And so the 11 are staying, the one that's false is gone. Verse 26 reads, now while they were eating, now remember, This is Thursday night in the upper room and they're celebrating Passover. You have the Passover feast from the last of the plagues in Egypt, where the destroyer comes in and takes all the firstborn children. And the way that you alleviate that is you take a unblemished lamb, you slaughter it, you smear the blood over the door, and it passes over you. And that was Passover feast and the 11 disciples are eating with the lamb. That's what they're doing. And so they're eating with him. And then he's getting ready to institute something new. And so this text is actually more after the feast, after the Passover meal sort of taking place. And this would be towards the end. And most of us have this in our own families, but it's a commonality that you eat this big feast and then, you know, you still got food out and you're sitting around the table and you're drinking coffee and you're just talking and having a good time. And so it's towards the end of this, Judas has left, they're kind of winding down, but you still got kind of the feast out. And so, and mind you, everything on the table, remember that when you're talking about the Passover, every single thing on the table means something specifically, and it's meant to, and it's gonna be even more important now that Christ is here. And we'll go over those elements in a minute, but I want you to understand everything on the table means literally something. It was intent, or I should say figuratively, it means figuratively something that they were to remember that was the point of the feast. And so there's all this symbolism surrounded around this. They're eating, and it says while they're eating, Jesus took some bread. Now, of course, it's bread of the Passover. So the only bread allowed at the Passover feast was unleavened bread called matzo. And it's important to know that. It's the only bread that was there. And after blessing it, he broke it and giving it to his disciples. And so there's one chunk of bread, and he breaks it open, he blesses it, and he gives it to his disciples. And he says, take, eat, this is my body. Now, the pastor and teacher in me requires me to take for a moment to emphasize how any blue-collared Jewish person in the first century would have understood these words. They were not the intellectuals, but they would have understood the covenant that had been created with Abraham and the breaking of animals, and they were all laid apart to create that covenant. And so then Christ comes in and breaks that bread in front of them. They would have understood that. They would have understood what he's getting ready to do, even at their blue collar aspects. They wouldn't, however, have gone off into some other type of intellectual craziness that has been drummed up. They would have been focused on the Levitical law that they had been taught in the synagogues and on that first covenant that had been done with Abraham. So he takes this bread, he gives it to his disciples, and he says, take, eat, this is my body. Now, don't miss this. Take, eat, that's a command. That's not, hey, I think you should do this, this is a really good idea. Okay, that's not what it is. This is a father to his children saying, take it and eat it, because I said so. It's a command, that's what it is. Now, so many things can be settled with proper exegesis, this is not a recommendation. And so many things that have been falsified through the last 2,000 years about this supper boil down to a command, is you either recognize that it is a command, or you fail to recognize that it's a command, and then you just think that it can be done whatever you want. This is a command, and it's important to understand that. Now, many denominations teach that if you have sin in your life, and have not confessed that you should abstain from taking the Lord's Supper. And the idea is that because of your sin, you are unworthy. Now let me make clear, no one is worthy of this gift. And that's the whole point. That's why he commanded it to happen, because nobody's worthy of it. If you come to the table and remember you have sinned, then that is your duty to confess it. And because of Christ's death, you have the ability to do so. You have no right to hold on to your sin, nor do you have the right as a believer to withhold yourself from his offering, because that's what you're doing. He's giving a gift and he's saying, take it. And you're going, no, I'm greater than you. I will hold my sin. That's the false theology of many denominations. And that's what they're pushing forward. If you are a believer and you come and you go, I have sin, and I haven't confessed it, then you better get on your knees and confess it right then and there, and then take the supper. That's how this is designed. That's the point of it. That's why it's a command. Now, I say all that because I want to be your pastor, and I want to love you, and I care about you, because you can do this in error in one of two ways. You can either be holier than thou in your thinking, that you're too great for it, or you can try and be humblier than thou. I'm too much of a sinner. Of course you are. That's why there's a command. So as your pastor who loves you, if you are a believer, confess your sin and then take because it's a command. Now, that's all because we can let our traditional understandings get in the way of a direct command from God himself. And so we get to verse 27, and when he had taken a cup and given thanks, given thanks, understand, the verse ahead was blessed. Now we're giving thanks. It's completely different, and remember that. It's important to remember that the given thanks, what we've primarily been taught, and Jesus is fulfilling that here, is you give thanks before you get ready to eat. It's the customary prayer before a meal is blessed. One of the many blessings the Lord gives to us as fathers is the privilege and duty of praying and giving thanks before we consume meals as a family. And this is beautiful that Christ is demonstrating this himself as the head of all fathers, and he gives thanks. Now, some of you quick-witted folks So is he changing the giving thanks that you give thanks after the feast is over? No, that's not what's happening here. He already gave thanks more than likely. Scripture doesn't record it, but he already gave thanks for the first meal. This is the beginning of the second meal, which would be his supper. And so he's giving thanks as an indication of starting something anew. And that's important because they would have recognized that you give thanks at the beginning So he's starting a new meal for them to realize this is something new. And he gave it to them saying, drink from it, all of you. And the point is for the disciples and for us as well, this is not optional. Again, it's a command. Drink from it, all of you. And why? Verse 28, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. And the point that he's emphasizing is they all must drink from this cup, for it is his blood, my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Now, not to make something possible, that's not what Jesus, he is not saying this is poured out so sins might be forgiven. No, he is saying this is poured out because sins are forgiven. It has accomplished something. It will accomplish something. it has accomplished something. And so the point of the supper, in Jesus' own words, is directly and intimately connected with your doctrine of atonement, and specifically His doctrine of atonement, and how you have peace with God, which is in Romans 5.1. Now, His atoning sacrifice, that's the why the Lord's Supper is for those that have embraced that sacrifice. Otherwise, it's pointless. And remember that the atoning that we have, the point of atoning, we primarily see in Leviticus, and it's been throughout the Old Testament, but Leviticus speaks of it numerous times, and one of those times, I'm gonna go over Leviticus 1, four through five, which reads, and he shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, that it may be accepted for him to make an atonement on his behalf. Then he shall slaughter the young bull before Yahweh and Aaron's sons, and the priest shall bring the near the blood and splash the blood around the altar, that's at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting. So the steps are, that they were given throughout the entire Old Testament, is that when you have sin, something has to die for you, and it has to shed its blood for you. And so you would lay your hand on the head of the offering, confess the sin that you had made, which the atonement is necessary, the blood is necessary for, to pay for. Remember, atonement is appeasing. It is appeasing the wrath that is coming to you. So something is having wrath done to it, and it's this innocent animal. Then you cut the throat of the offering, pour out the blood around the altar, and your sin is considered atoned for. And so Christ's whole teaching in this is that his blood is atoning for you. His body was broken, his blood was poured out for you to atone for your sins. That's why he is instituting this here, which is why if you're a non-believer, then it means nothing. It's absolute garbage. It has nothing to do with anything for you because as you're taking it, you are taking it as the one saying, this is the blood that is poured out for me, okay? So the second thing I want you to understand, at the Lord's Supper, the sacrifice point is made by the son to the father. Christ is the lamb at the Passover and here at the Lord's Supper, he's instituting it. Now, they didn't completely understand what was going on here. They understood what he was using in his words. They just didn't realize he was getting ready to die. So they were understanding that he was getting ready to take the place of the lamb. They just didn't see the foretelling of how this was going to happen until it did. And so The second thing we need to remember is the only one we need to worry about accepting the sacrifice that Christ has done, or was getting ready to do, and specifically in Matthew, is the Father, and not us. And this is another flipped thing that can happen. It amazes me how many people think that the sacrifice is meant for them to appropriate. The offering that is made to us that we are supposed to approve. Oh my, no, absolutely not. The sacrifice was made on your behalf to appease the Father. It's not to appease you. That's not what it's for. So the only way you can think of that, ultimately, is you're a Westerner. It's the only way you get to that. You're an idealist, you're an individualist, or both, but ultimately, you're thinking about yourself. And the blood of the covenant is poured out for the remissions of sins, so it is to appease God and not you. So, any person who comes to the bread and the wine to take them, that's what they're saying. The appeasement was to God, and the appeasement is for me, and I am in need of it, but it is to God. And so there's only one means of forgiveness. I can't accomplish it. There's nothing I can do in and of myself. And I'm completely clinging to Christ, His finished work, His shed blood for me. And then I'm proclaiming it as I take the bread and wine. I am proclaiming it as I affirm Him as Lord and Savior of my life. That's what you're doing. You're stepping forward and saying, I am his, the end, because he did this for me, not the other way around. And that's why it's an absolutely unique Christian experience. And so the aim that I'm trying to drive into your bones is to understand the deep theology that lies in it. And so every time that you take it, you can have that perfect harmony with what the scriptures teach about the atoning sacrifice of Christ. made for you to appease his father. That's why we take it. Now, the second thing that we need to look at in scripture about the Lord's Supper is in First Corinthians 11. Turn with me, if you would, to First Corinthians 11 20. Now, the reason we honestly need to look at this is because if you go to any university, any Bible college, you're going to be told that the norm of the early church was diversity and contradiction, not unity. You're gonna see this over and over. Anybody who wants to disprove, this is the first thing that they're gonna come to, and they usually come here to Corinthians to try and prove it. It's mainly because they don't understand proper ex-Jesus. And so sadly, not only are you gonna be taught this in colleges and universities that I would expect, but you're also gonna be taught it in some seminaries as well. So don't just think, because they have the name seminary in it, that they actually know what they're doing and they're faithful. And so we want to emphasize that the scriptures are not only the inspired word of God, but God was active in the protection of the traditions and the scriptures before they were even written down, because that's what he was doing during the time of Acts after Christ had left. And so in the same tradition that Matthew drew from, we see the same tradition in Luke and Mark, and even here in Corinthians, and this is most likely written 10 years after the fact, And Paul had already spread as he had done his missionary journeys. People had already had the proper understanding, the proper things had occurred. He had already given it to him before it was even written down. He had instituted those when he went on his missionary journeys. And so the point is that the tradition that Paul had received, he had delivered to the Corinthian church as well as what we have in scripture. And so they would have already had that. Secondly, In the majority of the sermons that are delivered on this subject, this is gonna be the key text that they pull out of and point to. And sadly, a lot of times we have great air there as well. And that's also why we're gonna go through this. And so one of the things that we can learn when we read about the Corinthian correspondence is that God can use apostles to found churches through his divine power and the presence of the Holy Spirit. and them still be a giant mess. And that is the example that we're given in Corinth. And if you read the rest of the letter, Paul lays out that they had people in these churches that were holier than thou, super apostles, questioning Paul's authority. And it's important to understand that much of the letters cover the rest of that stuff. And so you have sin on an incredible level, including incest in the congregation, And the sad part is there's no mourning over it. They've got this massive sin inside their church, and they're doing nothing about it, not even mourning. So Corinth is an absolute dumpster fire when Paul starts writing this letter. And so the context of 1 Corinthians 11 If you read the whole letter and the chapters beforehand, it's a messy, messy place. And yet in the midst of that, and here's the part that we all need to hear in our own brains, in the midst of mess and chaos, they are commanded to celebrate the supper. That's important to realize. Now, normally everybody wants to start in verse 23, but we need to start at a minimum the paragraph ahead. So if you look at verse 20, Therefore, when you meet together in the same place, it is not to eat the Lord's supper. For in your eating, each one of you takes his own supper first, and one is hungry and another is drunk. For you do not have the houses in which to eat and drink, or you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing. What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you." That's through verse 22. Paul is actually saying, and this can be somewhat, with the Greek coming over to English, can be somewhat to understand, but he's saying to them, you're celebrating the supper all wrong. You're coming together, and it's supposed to be for the Lord's Supper, but it's not. There's some people aren't waiting for others. Rich people eat all their fancy food, and they don't bring anybody for the poor people. It's a mess. There are people showing up drunk to the Lord's Supper, but the point being, is they're celebrating this more like a pagan feast. It's not even supposed to be a dinner. It's not supposed to be with food. Yet, that's what they're doing. They're turning this into a massive feast and then doing everything all wrong. It's supposed to be worship, not just a big drunken party. And so earlier in Corinthians in 10.16, Paul gave what it was supposed to be. And he said, is this not the cup of blessing, which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is it not the bread, which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? And so he calls it the cup of blessing, which we bless. Now this is a figure of speech called synodoke, which can be, you can take the part and be applied to the whole. And so Paul is not saying that we want to limit the blessing to the cup, excluding the bread. Some have gotten that wrong too. The point that he's making to the Corinthians is the entire Lord's supper is a blessing. and it's a Thanksgiving. It's both throughout the entire supper. Now, another part that's important to understand is that persecution had just started really coming on a very massive level, and it's going to get worse under Nero. And so the true believers at this point are thought to be a cult. And so they're meeting in house churches primarily out of worry of persecution. And so When we have large church buildings, there's also a level of anonymity. You can kind of hide. You may see some people that you somewhat know, but you don't really know them, know what's going on with their lives. And so it's truly hard to know everybody very well. And that was the case of what's going on in the Corinthian church. But you've got this explosion. And so people of all kinds are forced together into these homes. And so you kind of have what I like to refer to as like this weird junior high dance situation going on. You've got the rich people on one side of the house, the poor people on the other side of the house. And then luckily enough, you just have a bunch of drums that show up and mix in the middle of it. Okay. And so you've got this weird, secondly, you've got this weird non-communal potluck, meaning it's like a weird coworkers picnic in the same area, but you're not sharing food. So it's not a true potluck. And so what's going on in the preceding paragraph right beforehand, before you get the correction, is what he's saying is this is not how the Lord's Supper is to be performed. You're not performing the Lord's Supper rightly. That's what he's saying. This isn't a picnic. If you've got food, eat it at your house. If you were to bring food for a feast, like a lot of times we do at church, we do a big potluck after church, that's fine, but you bring enough for everybody. Otherwise, keep your food at your house. The Lord's Supper is meant to be a church function, and specifically no division. And that's the main thing that Paul is driving home, no division. And the point that he's trying to get to is that this whole thing is for worship, and it's to be done decently and in order. But the Corinth, their understanding is just bonkers, okay? And it's inappropriate behavior and conduct at the Lord's party. That's what they had turned it into. And that's why he said, don't do the Lord's supper. That's what he's talking about. He's talking about, you're making this into a party. You're making it into a drunken feast. And that is not what it is to be. It is to be worship when you do it. And by the way, this is one of the reasons it's really important to have church membership. This really here helps when you're doing communion. How in the world are you supposed to shepherd your sheep to know who has made professions and who hasn't without membership, especially as your church grows? Most churches these days are starting to do away with church memberships. And you have entire denominations that do not have it. And they offer a variety of reasons. But there's a single issue that they cannot answer, and it's how are you supposed to shepherd the needs of the sheep when you don't know who they are, let alone protect them from wolves, and know how to carry out discipline, specifically in removing the Lord's table from an unrepentant sinner if you don't know who they are. That's why we have church membership. It's one of the big reasons we do, and it's because The true beauty of the Lord's Supper is something that should bring all believers together except unrepentant sinners. Those that will not repent, they are to be removed just as Judas was because they don't understand the beauty of it because they are unwilling to repent. That's who they are. So the division that was being created Those who had little means weren't able to partake. Those who had great means were getting drunk and having a massive feast. And so what is supposed to bring us together, there is to be no socioeconomic division. No division amongst the sexes, which has also been done. No ethnic or cultural division, which has also been done. No division amongst the ages, which you see more commonly now. No division of any kind whatsoever. We all together come forward and partake of the same elements, and by doing so, we are saying that we all have the same Savior, and hear me, the same access to that Savior. That's the part that they're missing. So they need correcting. Verse 23, for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night which he was being betrayed 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. We are to remember the work of Christ on the cross, but we are also to remember he gave thanks for his sacrifice prior to giving it. Think about that for a minute. He gives thanks knowing he's getting ready to go be murdered in the most horrid way known to man, and he thanks God for it. How much more should you thank God for being able to receive that which he's given you? Verse 21. You cannot drink of the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Meaning you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of the demons at the same time. You pick one. Nor can you sit at the table of the Lord and the table of demons. You pick one seat. You make your choice. when you take the bread and the cup, whose table and whose cup you drink from. But do not miss, there are two tables. And the worshipers partake in the same way. You just make the choice of where you sit down. Now, as believers, we don't have an option. We're not sitting down at Satan's table. That's for the true believers. So you make that choice. The table of the Lord, however, and I want you all to understand this, this is where so many people miss the theology. The table of the Lord is the center of all believing. I'm not saying you taking the meal is what saves you. That's not what I'm saying. But the table of the Lord, the atonement is the center of everything. The center of your obedience of following the law and commandments. the center of repentance and leading to purity, the center of sanctification, leading to becoming more and more like Christ. Either the Lord's Supper is your center or the table of demons is your center. It's one or the other. That's why I said earlier, if you come to the table and say, I am not worthy, I have sin that I cannot let go. You choose the table of demons instead. And sadly, that has been taught and preached from countless Protestant churches. Verse 27, excuse me. Therefore, whoever eats of the bread or drinks of the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But a man must test himself, and in doing so, 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. For this reason, many among you are weak and sick and unnumbered in sleep. But if we judge ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 1 Corinthians 11, 27 through 31. The point that Paul is making very clear is the abuse of the supper does bring curses. That is true. Christians are warned about faulty participation in the supper. But the threat against this is not just some empty religious ceremony. That's the point that he's making. It's not so much about your worthiness. That's not what it's about. And so what I want you to really take home is that this is a covenantal act, and it's establishing a covenantal people. How did Christ think on his death? In the same way he took the cup after supper, saying, this is my cup of the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink of it in remembrance of me. And so the point that Christ made when he instituted the Lord's Supper, and Paul is correcting it here, When Christ laid down his life, he did so in order to establish a new covenant with his people. Those are to gather, remember his death, but who neglect the covenantal aspect of it are missing the point. So when you withhold yourself from that covenant because you think you have too much sin, you have missed the whole point of being his. You've missed the whole point because you have removed yourself from that aspect. And when we gather at the supper, we do so in order to demonstrate our understanding of and faithfulness to the new covenant. That's why you confess your sins beforehand. So participation in the supper is an act of covenantal allegiance. It's why it's a command to believers. You are making your allegiance to someone, specifically Christ. And then participation in the supper is an act of that covenantal renewal every time you do it. This understanding helps us with another problem that has been perplexing many believers, and that is the question of the real presence of the Lord in the Lord's supper, which we will cover more next week. But understand the debate is usually centered on whether the Lord's presence is spiritual, physical, spiritually physical, or physically spiritual. But these aren't even scriptural categories, and they miss the whole point. The real presence of Christ, the point of Christ's presence in the supper is the covenant. It is the who you are making your allegiance to and whose atonement paid for you. That's the point of the supper. So don't get that wrong. Secondly, Christ is God. He is everywhere. And he dwells in the hearts of believers through the Holy Spirit. What are you talking about? Where is he at spiritually? He's everywhere. That's a really foolish way to look at this. That once you start doing the the Lord's Supper, all of a sudden, he shows up? That doesn't make any sense. It's the silliest thing ever. The whole point he made, and Paul is reiterating, is that the Lord's Supper is an act of covenantal allegiance, and that's why it's a command. Now, it's not surprising that backsliding Christians should come to the supper with trembling, and confession had better be on their lips before the bread and the wine is. Let me be clear on that. But there's a point that you miss if you think it's just those with sin that are holding on to sin, I should say. The one who is walking faithfully under the covenant should also come with trembling, because he should know the sins that he has committed. And he should be more worried about forgetting a sin than being sinless, because he knows he's not sinless. The same type of trembling that any preacher worth their salt, when they stand behind the pulpit, they should have a trembling. They should worry about degrading the Lord's Word. In the same way, when you go to take that offering, you should be worried about degrading, and you should beg Christ for forgiveness before you take it. That's what we should all be doing. If you come to the table thinking, I'm good, I deserve it, I'm owed it, or I've earned it, you know nothing of Christ. You've missed the whole point. You should come to the table trembling, just as the sinner that could not lift his head, and say, please, Lord, forgive me. That's how you come to the table. That's how you're meant to come to the table. The offering of this table is the same understanding that John the Baptist had when he stated, it is not you in need of baptism, it is me. When Peter said, I am not worthy for you to wash my feet. No one here or anywhere else is worthy to receive this bread and wine. And that's why he commanded it. That's why, that's why he commanded it. Because without the command, You will never be eligible to take it. It must be commanded. So, confess your sins and proclaim that Christ has done for you by receiving the gift of bread and wine, the picture of the body broken for you and the blood shed for the forgiveness of your sins. Without that occurring, you would still be in your sin. Now, let me pull this all together for us. Consider what we're doing. Number one, we do not own the supper. The supper is the Lord's supper. He is the host. This is not our church, it is his church. So it is his supper. Number two, when we approach it properly, receive a blessing which cannot receive in ordinary situations. Number three, the cup is the cup of blessing. which distinguishes it from all other cups. If our Lord facing death was able to give thanks, how much more should we come together, confess our sins, and celebrate that confession of sin and give thanks back to him through his supper? And when we see the other believers with us and discern the Lord's body in our fellow saints, that's when we have communion. So we must signify our loyalty to Christ by partaking of his supper. This is our covenantal oath. Remember this, get this deep into your bones. Taking of the Lord's supper is you declaring him as Lord and declaring him as Savior. We break bread just as the father broke his son. That's why we break bread. And remember the heart of the new covenant, which is the remission of sins in his blood. And understand the new covenant in his blood is the ability to have your sins forgiven. It's not just for you to have sin, you have that. It's for you to have your sins forgiven. And the breaking of his body and the pouring out of his blood, that is what we are remembering. That is what we are signifying. That is what we are proclaiming, is that he was broken for me. And if you are not doing that, you have sin in need of major repentance. And anytime you get this wrong, in over-significance or under-significance, you are sinning in the worst possible way next to unbelief. You make a mockery of what he did, the day in which he laid down his life for you. In the table of the Lord, we have a glorious opportunity to grow in faith as the Lord commanded us through his word. An act, the act done properly, enriches not only the word, but your faith. at the same time, every single time you do it. First Corinthians 10, 15. I speak as to prudent people, you judge what I say. Verse 16, is this not the cup of blessing which we bless, the sharing in the blood of Christ? Is it not the bread which we break and sharing in the body of Christ? In this text, Paul assumes, just as I'm assuming here, that he's addressing wise men and women. He does not speak to those that react. His message is to those who submit to the teaching of the word. And we learn here that the Lord's Supper is a means of blessing. It's very clear. And the means of when a believer comes to the Lord's Supper and partakes of it in a worthy manner, he is blessed by God in the coming. This blessing is done in the elements. That's how it's done for you. And so Christians are to take the elements, remember him, proclaim his death until the second coming. Now don't let that word remember become watered down and commonplace. It is a memorial in the Old Testament sense in which we are asking God to remember us for Christ's sake, as we remember him for our sake. The bread was used, it was in the middle loaf of the three. It was part of the Passover. Again, remember I said everything had significance on this table. It happened to be Lebanon. We'll go more over that here in a minute. And so Christ took it, broke it, and gave it a new significance. This is my body. And during the time there were four cups of wine, the third cup was called the cup of blessing. This is what Paul is referring to. This would have been the third cup that Christ wanted us to drink from all eternity, is the cup of blessing. And so that kind of brings us into what type of bread and wine should be used in service. Now, the question really concerns leaven versus unleavened bread. And contrary to popular opinion, leaven does not always represent sin in scriptural imagery. The basic idea behind leaven is neither a representation of sin or righteousness, but more of that of growth. Growth may be for good or ill, depending on what kind of leaven it is. And we've covered this extensively in First John in particular, but I want to just give a quick overview. And so the assumption where Bible represents sin, it certainly does represent sin at some times. And let me give you a great example. 1 Corinthians 5, 6-8 reads, your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Clean out the old leaven so that you may have new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, was also sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And so here, leaven represents sin as it did a lot of times in the Old Testament. But listen to Jesus' own words. He presented another parable of saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed in which a man took and sowed in his field. And this is the smallest of seeds. But when it is fully grown, it is the largest of the garden plants and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. He spoke to them another parable, the kingdom of heaven is like leaven. which a woman took and hid a three salta of flour until it was leavened, Matthew 13, 31 through 33. And that imagery is something very small that grows into something very large. And that's what leaven is to be. It is growth. So you can either have massive growth of sin or you could have massive growth of righteousness. And so the unleavened bread of the Passover meal was representation of the break with leaven of Egypt. And consequently, the unleavened bread was called the bread of affliction. That's important. You shall not eat leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste so that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. Deuteronomy 16.3. The meal was also eaten with bitter herbs to remind the people of horrible time they had in Egypt to help them look forward to the times of the Messiah. They were not to take any of the leaven of Egypt with them as starter. Because if you bring out of Egypt, what is Egypt? You'll just restart a new Egypt. And so we know on the basis of this passage of Deuteronomy, the missing leaven from the Passover was to show the affliction of Egypt and the haste in which Israel left. Thus, leaven can represent sin, the leaven of Egypt as works of corrupting something good, or it can represent God's leaven in establishing righteousness. There's actually places in the Old Testament that have leaven being used well for something in righteousness. One of their offerings was a peace offering when they were entering the promised land, and it was the picture of reconciliation which the Messiah would accomplish. With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for Thanksgiving, he shall bring near his offering with cakes of leavened bread, Leviticus 7.13. And this leaven is, again, that picture of Thanksgiving, as a lack of leaven is a picture of affliction or sin and hastening away from sin. So the point bringing people of Israel into the promised land was to liberate them from sin and give them rest, meaning they were to offer back to God offerings which they had leavened Israel in it. A Thanksgiving leaven, not the leaven of Egypt. And we see the same truth, the offering of the first fruits at Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks, also gloriously fulfilled in the coming of the Messiah. You shall count 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. You shall bring a new grain offering near Yahweh. You shall bring from it the places of habitation, two loaves of bread for a wave offering made of two-tenths of an ff and shall be a fine flour baked with leaven, have its first fruits brought to Yahweh. Leviticus 23, 16 and 17. So interestingly, the first recorded instance of Christians celebrating the Lord's Supper after its institution was at the festival of Pentecost. Acts 2.46, at Passover, no leaven could be present, but at Pentecost, the presence of leaven was commanded. In other words, the first celebration of the Lord's Supper was not held in the strictness of Passover, but in the liberty and joy of Pentecost. Therefore, our celebration of the supper must therefore be unleavened. And yes, I said unleavened. Hear me here. The reason that we must have it unleavened to start is in the sense that we reject all worldliness and sin. Now that I've said that, but our celebration of the supper must also be leavened in the sense that we proclaim the gospel, which will transform the entire world. Both of those things are true, and both of those things you need to understand when you take the bread. They are both legitimate statements to the supper. First, we reject all worldliness and sin, and second, we proclaim the gospel which will transform the entire world. And I know some of you are saying, well, then what kind of bread do I use? The answer boils down to which of these two truths do we want preeminence in our observation of the supper? So the first one is the Christian church should stay away from worldliness, that's unleavened bread, or second, Jesus died to save the world. which is leavened. The tone of the whole New Testament is conducted to the latter statement. Leavened bread represents the potent, growing gospel, and that is the bread that we use. Now, this cup, this cup of wine was fermented grape juice. The practice of the Jews was to mix water with their wine, usually a ratio of two to one, and that was to prolong the duration of the wine. So the cup was one of diluted wine, a common evangelical practice of substituting grape juice for wine is honestly scripturally unwarranted and more than a little imputed. Now, a lot of people get to the point of, well, the kids don't like it or I don't like wine and it's bitter. Good. Think of how bitter it was when he hung on that cross for you. And when your child says, daddy, it's bitter. That's when you have an opportunity to teach. how bitter it was when he hung on that tree for them. That's why it's bitter, because it was bitter for him. Now, when you get to a place of possibly you're doing prison ministry, something like that, they won't let wine in. I'm going to cover in a minute the times that are not optimal, so we'll get into that. But other than that, bread and wine should be used, and that's the key. I'm not trying to say that using grape juice there is sin. That's not what I'm saying here. But what I am saying is that you open the door to Pepsi and Cheetos becoming your bread and wine because it doesn't matter. That's what I am saying. So that's something you still have to be careful of. And in order to be consistent with scripture, bread and wine should be used and they should be used individually of heart versus the church, churches that dip the bread in wine and take them together. You're not combining these two things. You are to take them individually and remember what Christ did, why he did it at the supper that way. Now, ideally, based on scripture, having Sabbath dinners the night before service, making bread and having wine and saving a little extra to bring with you for the Lord's Supper the following Lord's Day. This encompasses both the criteria that Christ was tying together at his own Last Supper and his crucifixion. Again, the communion of saints together, remembering their beloved Savior. Nothing better than to have a feast Saturday night before as a group of saints together. Bring your remaining in. And we break that as remembrance and proclamation of the one that broke himself for us. So how often should we do this? Now, before I begin this discussion, let's pretend for a moment that we have no traditions on the frequency of communion to maintain. So how often then? Daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually? When we come to this question, we have to pause for a moment and realize There is virtually no biblical case that could be made for the two most common practices of monthly and quarterly. It is nowhere in scripture. That is something you have to understand. If you do that in your churches, you have to answer for that because there's nowhere in scripture that has it. Annual communion can be defended honestly on the basis of the Lord's Supper being established in the context of Passover, which was an annual feast. you could go that direction. Jesus said of this cup, speaking of the cup of blessing and the Passover meal, as often as you drink of it, it should be argued that he simply intended a symbolic meaning, but it was done annually then. Now, while it is possible that his meaning included this application, what we do have is that it was more frequently done than that. Another option is daily communion. In the days following Pentecost, believers broke bread daily from house to house, Acts 2 46. And remember, that phrase is specifically speaking about the Lord's Supper. And so from this, we learn that if daily communion is not normative, it is at least lawful. And so the Lord's Supper should not be restricted to just the Lord's Day. But after you started to have some stabilization, we can see that the practice of the early church was a weekly time. And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began speaking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. Again, they gathered weekly, breaking bread. Therefore, when you meet together in the same place, it is not to eat. That is what they were doing that was right. The Corinth church that we started this whole context with, The one thing they were doing right was meeting weekly. The thing that they were doing wrong is they turned it into a drunken pagan feast. So therefore, it is fair to say that the weekly communion, while not mandatory in the absolute sense, is biblically normative. And we have more evidence for weekly communion on the Lord's Day than we have for anything else. We have more evidence for communion than we do for weekly sermons and singing. So why do we do weekly sermons and sing? Because why not do it all? And this brings us to consider the theology of the Lord's Supper, the closing aspect of the Lord's Supper. Lord's Supper is both a sign and a seal of the covenant promise of Christ, of what he did, and your proclamation for that. And so whenever we think of a seal, we think about something that is in a natural order. So when you write a letter, then you seal the envelope. When we negotiate a contract, then you seal it with signatures. When you get married, the marriage is conducted first, the wedding's conducted first, and then you seal it sexually that evening. In short, the seal follows that which is sealed. And so a seal by its very nature is the culmination. And so in terms of a covenant, we are bringing the prayers and psalms in service of the worship service to a sealed ending of the Lord's Supper. And given this, why wouldn't we want to practice it legally, to seal everything that you did that day? Now, as I said before, one thing I'd like to mention is that we don't fall in the same place the Pharisees did. Like baptism, how we conduct the Lord's Supper, how often we conduct the Lord's Supper, and the elements that we use that I just described, Those are all ideal situations. But just like baptism, if I only had a cup of water and I was in a desert and I had somebody that needed baptizing and there's no lakes, no streams, no oceans, and I would have no problem whatsoever baptizing somebody with a cup of water. And the same thing goes for the Lord's Supper. If I have somebody on their deathbed and they want to receive communion and the only thing that I have close by are crackers and juice, I would use them. but where we can follow without bending, we should. Now, Christ gave us also the example of bending. That's why he healed on the Sabbath, because it was proper worship. And so doing this in a proper way is ideal. When you can't, as I said before, if you're going into prisons and they won't let you bring alcohol in, which is understandable, then you do it with juice. But understand, it is not the ideal. And there is a danger anytime you step outside of what God has said. You must be in the right to do so, so be careful. This principle, it must not be abused for the sake of laziness or comfort. That's too often where this gets interjected. And it should be done because you literally have no other options. So how do we conduct the Lord's Supper specifically for us in our worship? And if it's the Lord, if the Lord suffers the culmination, the idea of this, as we pray the word, sing the word, read the word, and preach the word, that should drive you to a place of repentance during the service. And then I'll lead us in a culmination of that repentance in the memorial of the one who died for us, who was broken for us, and whose blood was shed for us to pay for the sins that you must confess. And if you have confessed them by that time, that's a good time to do it. And then we're gonna form a line down the center aisle here, and here's why. When we take the Lord's Supper, we are proclaiming that the Lord's death until he comes again. That's a proclamation of your meeting. So when you stand up and you get in that line, there is a visual representation of your proclamation. And that's why we form a line, you can't hide. Whether you're sitting there sort of hunched over in the pew, you can, Avoid it. But think of it this way. You have Hitler and all his cronies sitting in the back, wanting to know who the real believers are. Are you the one that's going to stand up and get in the aisle and receive communion? That is a command for you. That's the point. And so the line, there's no place to hide. And you proclaim the Lord's body broken for you, his blood covering your sins. There's something else about this that I want you to remember. Jesus commanded to do this, and we're obeying him 2,000 years later. Think about that for a minute. 2,000 years ago, there was nobody that was in this spot where we're at. No one. It was probably a prairie. And now we are fulfilling that 2,000 years later. Now there are hundreds of homes and buildings and thousands of people that every Lord's Day gather together and share in the body and blood, in the remembrance of him. It's stunning. And so that's why we do it every week. It's really an amazing thing. I've already said everything, but I want to summarize who should be taking this, who is able to take it. Firstly, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ. Now, what do I mean by that? You believe that Jesus Christ was the only truly son of God. The eternal word made flesh, not just a prophet, not one God amongst many gods. If you believe in Jesus Christ and have committed yourself to him, repentance and faith, yes, repentance, we use that word here because you can't define the gospel without it. In repentance and faith, you are welcome to come to the table. You are welcome to remember him. As Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me. And as often as you eat of this bread and drink of this cup, you do this in remembrance of me. And so we're going to remember are sin bearer. And if he is your sin bearer, then you are welcome to take the Lord's supper. But if you have not made that commitment, don't just follow the crowd. Do not do which would have no meaning. And in fact, I'm going to warn you against it because there are many warnings against it. And if you are part of a church of like faith and order and you're under discipline from that church, do not come and take the supper here just because you can't take it someplace else. deal with that relationship with that other church first before you come here. But in the end, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, partake of the elements in obedience from the command of our Lord Jesus.