If you have your worship guide still, you can reach for that. Right on the front, I printed a text from Paul's letter to Timothy. I just want to focus on the latter part of that. 1 Timothy 1, verse 10. For it is for this we labor and strive because we have fixed our hope on the living God. who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. It's critical to the believers growth that we are able to fix our hope on the right object. That's what Paul is talking about. He makes clear what the right object of our hope is. Look at it there in that text. The living God, the Savior of all men, especially of believers, he said three things there first. God in Christ is our savior, the sacrifice of our sins, and we're to fix on that. We're to know that and to anchor there. Secondly, God is alive. The sacrifice, the death of Christ at the cross was not the end. If it was, Paul told the church at Corinth that that's all there was. And we are of all pity of all people to be most pitied. Our hope is in the reality that he is not dead, but that he is alive because he rose again from the dead. Thirdly, he tells us there that this. Fixing of our hope on the reality that God in Christ is our Savior and the reality that God is alive has a peculiar application to believers, especially, he says. To believers, what does that mean? Well, anybody can know the fact of Christ dying for sin. Anybody can know the fact that he rose from the dead. It was attested to by many witnesses. But believers in a peculiar way recognize those truths and those truths in believers produce faith. We respond to that reality. We know those things. We fix our hope on them, it says. It's by faith that we have been saved. It's by faith alone that we have any real hope. And so in a special way for believers, we fix that our mind is stayed on those realities. That God in Christ is our savior and that he is alive, it's critical to our faith that we fix there. Now, one of the regular practices of the faithful church that aids us in fixing our gaze, our hope where it should be. is in the regular sharing of the Lord's table that was instituted by Christ himself and put into practice immediately by the early church. It's the communion of the saints. And it is there that we fix ourselves, stay ourselves, as it were, on that hope. Now, for almost 2000 years or a little over 2000 years, I should say, the church has faithfully Come to the Lord's table to the communion of the saints, and for most of those years there's been dispute over that table. That dispute has oftentimes led to strife and to division and controversy. People have laid down their lives for their convictions of this table, and people have taken lives. For their conviction of this table. Three questions this morning that I want to press on you very simple. to help us to avoid the confusion that so often is introduced at the Lord's table. Three questions. Why the Lord's Supper? Who the Lord's Supper and what the Lord's Supper? First, why? Why the Lord's Supper? That's really not complicated. And I'll tell you that it's one of those areas I get frustrated when I consider how much confusion there has been over the centuries. And in my own mind is challenged to say, well, what makes you think you get it? But yet I open God's word and I see that four times we are given a record of our Lord's instituting through his last supper, the Lord's Supper. Matthew records it. Mark records it. Luke records it. And Paul records it in First Corinthians. All four of them give us the detail of what our Lord did when he instituted this supper now. Paul and Luke alone tell us why. Paul and Luke tell us why our Lord instituted this supper. And it was simple. Do this in remembrance. They both wrote down what our Lord said, and that's what he said. This is why you do this. You do this in remembrance. In First Corinthians 11, Paul adds this detail. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. That's why we do this. We remember what our Lord has done to accomplish our salvation. As I said, it was first instituted by our Lord. Four times we have record of that. And twice he said it was for the remembrance of his death. Period. He didn't add anything else to that. He didn't he didn't give some long soliloquy about all the other mysterious ramifications of what this table is. He simply said, when you do this, as often as you do this, whenever that is, do it in remembrance of me. And you know what I am compelled to say, that's enough. That's where we should stop, for I would tell you, we should always stop where God's word stops. If we add something to this table beyond what our Lord instituted, we do it at our own peril. We introduce confusion in the church. We introduce frustration in the church. Why do we take the Lord's table? Our table has the words on it. We do this in remembrance of him. That's why we do it. We proclaim his death until he comes. Now that presses on us, if I could, just as one illustration, one of the challenges, because the largest gathered communicant of professing, I would say it that way, believers would comfortably add something else to the table quite comfortably. In particular, the Roman Catholics, when they come to the table, are very comfortable in saying it's not just in remembrance, it's way more than that. You missed the point entirely. It's a sacrifice. This bread becomes really Christ's body and the cup becomes really his blood. But just let me set the case clear in case there's confusion in your own mind. Not one of the writers of the New Testament ever speaks of the Lord's Supper as a sacrifice. Not one of the writers of the New Testament ever called the Lord's table an altar. Not once is it even mentioned or suggested that a minister, a Christian minister, is serving as a sacrificing priest when he comes and administers the elements from this table. The universal doctrine of the New Testament is that there was one sacrifice once for all delivered to the Saints period done in Christ. And we remember that when we come to this table, we don't sacrifice him again. But that is the practice. Regular practice of what is called a Catholic mass, and that is a major point of difference that we should recognize when we come to that table between worshiping Bible believing evangelicals and a huge contingent of others who call themselves believers. But there's a line of demarcation at this table. It's a sharp line. It was the greatest, most distinct line between Rome and the reformers. And it is still the greatest and most distinct line between the evangelical faith and that of the Roman Catholic Church. The Bible expressly teaches that the communion was to be a remembrance of our Lord's death. And that's all. It's not an offering. It's not a sacrifice. That sacrifice is finished in Christ. Number two, who who the Lord's table, who can partake of the Lord's table? First, let me give you who can't and then we'll focus on who can. Number one, listen, it is not right for all professing Christians to be invited to this table. It's not right. I've made that mistake. I often say it in print and it seems to suggest such. But when we administer this table, if we just say all professing Christians are welcome at this table, let me tell you what that is. That's ignorance to what the Bible teaches. Nowhere does the Bible throw open so wide a door at so solemn and reverent a place as this table. In fact, nowhere in the Bible in the New Testament church is the door more narrow than it is at this table. The Apostle Paul said a man ought to examine himself before he eats at this table. A man ought to examine himself, whether he be in the faith before he comes to this table. A man ought to examine his relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ before he comes to this table. This table is not for every professing believer, it's only, listen, for the self-examined professing believer. Secondly, people living, listen, people living in open sin are not to come to this table. You are not welcome here. Bad things happen here if you come to this table with living sin. The Apostle Paul told the church at Corinth, because of that, many of you are sick. Many of you have died. And I fear even worse, Paul would say, for the state of their souls. Listen, ladies and gentlemen, it is an insult to Christ if you come to this table with known abiding living sin in your heart. Not only is an insult to Christ, it's an insult to the other believers who come to this table desiring to remember him. Let me say it very frankly, if I could, don't say that you have some desire to remember him, your Lord, when you have no desire to obey his commands, don't do that. It is done at your own peril. So this table is only for self-examined believers, this table is only for believers who are seeking obedience to God's commands. Thirdly, self-righteous Individuals are not welcome at this table. If there is a testimony that a believer makes at this table, it is that he or she is solely dependent upon the grace of God, which was administered and exhibited through the once for all sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's our testimony at this table. In other words, this is a table of what? Grace. This is not a table where man brings their merits and their works in order to gain entree or acceptance into the communion of the saints. Self-righteousness has no place in the Christian church. We are saved, how? By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The unexamined cannot come to this table. The sinful cannot come to this table and the self-righteous cannot come to this table. So who can? Who is welcome here? Well, I think anybody who has three simple characteristics, the Bible would say you're welcome here. Those three things are repentance, faith and an abiding love, repentance, faith and an abiding love, repentance toward God, faith toward Christ and love toward the brethren. You're welcome here. A repentant heart is a heart that's filled with God's grace, a heart that's rich in living faith, and it's a heart that is gladly loving the brethren. If you lack repentance and you probably lack faith and you're not welcome here, If you have repentance and you seek to have an abiding faith, but you don't love your neighbor, you don't love your brethren, your faith is severely in question. Don't say God said you love me whom you have not seen when you cannot love your brother who you have seen. Don't don't play games that way and surely don't play it at this table. I would say it this way. If you're here this morning and you're earnest for the unity of the fellowship, which we should all be earnest for, then you're ready to come to communion. If you have a repentant heart towards God, if you have a faith towards Jesus Christ and on him alone, are you depending and you desire earnestly to love the brethren? And there is no offense that you know of that separates you from anybody in this fellowship. You're welcome here. Well, there's a final thing. That's why we come, that's who can come. Now, the question becomes what? What do you get when you come to the Lord's table? What do you get? What's what do we get in response to participating in this fellowship? Well, there's been confusion here, too. Some would suppose that it's a necessary means to heaven. It's a part of our salvation that we have to have that grace taken in that body and shed blood, that continued sacrifice. Some have suggested that without this, you can't get to heaven. You've seen that illustrated on the television. Perhaps you've had it lived out in your own life through a family member. They're dying there. They're near death. And the most urgent response is we've got to give them communion before they die. We got to serve in the Lord's Supper before they die, because without it, their state in heaven is at question. Well, is that true? It's not true. I want to quote J.C. Ryle here, because I think he says it so well, listen carefully. Let us settle it firmly in our minds that the Lord's Supper was not given to be a means either of justification or of conversion. It was never meant to give grace where there is no grace already or to provide pardon when pardon is not already enjoyed. It cannot possibly provide what is lacking with the absence of repentance to God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. It is an ordinance for the penitent, not for the impenitent. It's for the believing, not for the unbelieving. It's for the converted, not for the unconverted. The unconverted man who fancies that he can find a shortcut to heaven By taking the Lord's Supper without treading the well-worn steps of repentance and faith. We'll find to his cost one day that he is totally deceived. The Lord's Supper was meant to increase and help the grace that a man already has, but not to impart grace that he doesn't have. It was certainly never intended to make our peace with God. It was certainly never intended to justify us. It was certainly never intended to convert The human soul in quote. I think Paul's phrase there in your worship guide from your scripture gives us a good picture of what we get here. I think it's real simple. Listen, we come to this table to see Christ. We come to fix our hope on him. And I do think we get a lot. Listen. A repentant, faithful, loving believer should expect to see him clear at this table. We should expect to see more clearly the sacrifice that he made for us. We should expect to see more clearly and understand better the atonement. That he provided for us, we should recognize better than ever, our Lord and our mediator, that we have an advocate with him, we should be able when we come to this table to see more clearly our redemption. Our forgiveness, our salvation bought with his blood paid for with his sacrifice. We should come to this table expecting a fuller understanding of our righteousness through him, a clear reminder of our sinfulness before a holy God, of our need for fresh repentance, of our need for fresh faith. I submit to you at this table, we know him better, we understand him more and we gain fellowship with him. It's not just the communion of the saints, it's the table of the Lord. And we are in fellowship with him. At this table. I would add a few more things, I think they're important. We should be humbled here. We should be sanctified here. We should be separated unto him here. We should be drawn to worship here. We should be delighted here. We should be satisfied here. We should be filled with hope here. That's why we come to the table. To remember our Lord. That's who should come, the repentant, the faithful and the loving. And that's what you should expect to get Christ fuller, richer, more meaningful fellowship with him. Is it any wonder why this table has been so cherished in the church? And why, I suppose, it will continue to be so cherished in this church? It's a place where, once again, we're confronted with God's grace. The truth wrapped up in these elements Is the truth of your salvation and the truth of my salvation. It's our hope. I'm delighted. That we have the opportunity to share in this fellowship together, would you pray with me, please? Heavenly Father, a cherished table. A place of remembrance. I know that if there were time, testimonies would say, you know, I've been at that table And in a richer way, I've understood the suffering of our Lord. I've understood that it was me that He was dying for. I've understood what it means when He says He's coming again to eat with us at this table. My hope has been quickened. My faith has been encouraged. My grace has been more rich. There are those who can give testimony that to come to this table in their life has been a fearful things at times. They've had sin and they've they felt the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, even the rebuke of God himself when they flippantly still came to that table. And now, Father, we're drawn to repentance. We're drawn to cling to your grace, to seek your face, seek to live obediently to you. There are times, Father, when we've not been able to come to the table because a brother or sister in Christ has had an offense or we've had an offense and we're working through it. We're praying through it. We're we're seeking to be reconciled. And we understand that a part of that is that we separate ourselves from that table. We go, as our Lord said, and we settle that and then we come back to worship, we come back to have that fellowship together. Thank you, Father, for the symbol of this table. Thank you for the joy and privilege of remembering Christ. In whose name we pray, Amen.