And we are probably been said a couple of times by now, but we are drawing very close to the end of our study through the, uh, through the London confession. We've got two more chapters after this. And so hopefully it's been a, it's been a blessing. We're, we're looking at the Lord's supper tonight. And some of this may kind of sound redundant because the, um, The last several chapters have had some repetitive material with the communion of the saints, baptism, the Lord's supper, and then they take baptism separate, which is what brother Isaac just did. And then the Lord's supper separate here in chapter 30. Um, so we want to look tonight at the Lord's supper. And, um, I think as I was studying through here, reading through here, um, I'm thankful. For the brothers that put the thought and the time, obviously a love for God, a love for his word, to be able to lay out these distinctions. I was hoping to be able to have you a handout, but again, the printer in the office is not working. So hopefully by next week I can get you a handout and it may help out. And as you read some of these points that they make in the London Confession, a lot of times, at least I do, I'll read them and I'll think, why in the world did they say that? Of all the things they could have said, what does that have to do with anything? And so as I was reading through there, I just tried to categorize where these different things fit in, hopefully so that when you look back later, It'll make a little more sense if you had some of the same thoughts maybe that I had. So the Lord's Supper, let me just read the first heading. It says, the supper of the Lord Jesus was instituted by him the same night wherein he was betrayed to be observed in his churches under the end of the world for the perpetual remembrance and showing forth the sacrifice of himself in his death, confirmation of the faith of believers and all the benefits thereof, their spiritual nourishment and growth in him, their further engagement in and to all duties, which they owe to him and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him and with each other. Now that's a mouthful, but really what they do in, um, this first point is to lay out. This is what the Lord's supper is all about. This is when it was established. This is why it was established. This is the purpose of it. And so we want to go through this first point and kind of break it down just a little bit. The first thing I want to point out is throughout this chapter, all eight points, We're going to kind of camp out in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, 23 through 26. And we're going to refer a lot to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, 16 through 17. So let's go ahead and turn to 1 Corinthians 11. And I think it's helpful just as far as even a memory aid as we work through these eight points. If you are not in the Gospels and you're wondering where to go to learn about what the Lord's Supper, what the Bible says, what the Apostle Paul particularly says about the Lord's Supper, 1 Corinthians 10 and 11 is where you're going to find it. Again, that can be helpful. Maybe not tonight, but as you're thinking about it and you want to recall 1 Corinthians 10 and 11, 1 Corinthians 10 and 11, that's where Paul addresses the Lord's Supper, particularly 1 Corinthians 11. All right, let's read 1 Corinthians 11, verses 23 through 26. The Apostle Paul says, for I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he break it and said, take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. So the first point that they make here in the London Confession is that the Lord's Supper was instituted by Jesus Christ the night of his betrayal. That's verse 23. What's the significance in that? The significance is we observe the Lord's Supper because it is instituted. It was instituted by Jesus Christ while he was on earth. It's not a man-made practice. It's not something that, um, Baptist or Christians or, or anyone else just decided to come up with and, and, and, uh, thought it might be a good idea, but this is something that Jesus Christ not only instituted, but we'll see in a minute is something that Jesus Christ, um, told his disciples to perpetuate, to continue to do. And so it's to be observed in his churches until the end of the world. That's the language of London confession uses Christ uses in verse 26, um, to observe it until, or maybe I should say, Paul says in verse 26, uh, that as often as you eat and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come. And so this is, uh, something that's to be observed in the Lord's churches until he comes back. Now. When we think about that, um, again, those two little phrases, as oft as ye again, eat and drink is something that's to be done more than once. And then till you come now, there's a lot of room in there for how often the Lord's supper is observed. Uh, you can't go anywhere in scripture and find where, um, the apostle Paul or where God inspires anyone to say, you know, the, the, um, The Lord's supper is to be observed once a week, it's to be observed once a month, it's to be observed quarterly, it's to be observed once a year at the end of your annual meeting. You know, there's no, there's no direct place in scripture that tells us how often that we do that. Um, there are some that do it more than others and that's okay. There's allowance for that. The third point. The Lord's supper is for the perpetual remembrance and showing forth the sacrifice of his death. Again, verses 24 through 26. We're still here in first Corinthians 11. When he had given thanks, he broke it. He break it and said, take eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me, it's a memorial. It's a, it's a thing to bring back remembrance of the, the, uh, death of Christ, the shedding of his blood, the breaking of his body. And, uh, then again, he says the same thing in verse 25, after the same manner, he took the cup. when he had supped saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood, this do ye as oft as you drink in remembrance of me. So it's a time to remember, a time to meditate upon, it's a time really to express gratitude along with that remembrance. And also there's a public showing forth of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We're publicly acknowledging. We're publicly partaking of, it's an outward expression, again, kind of like baptism, it's an outward expression of an inward reality. We're eating the bread, which is a symbol of his body. We're drinking the wine, which is a symbol of his blood. The whole thing, as far as the Lord's Supper goes, is an outward expression of our communion with Jesus Christ, our communion with one another. so that we are in Christ, Christ is in us, we are recipients of the benefits of the cross of Jesus Christ, and when we come to the Lord's table, it's just a picture, it's an outward expression of that reality. And when I say just, I don't mean that in some sort of a minimizing type way. I mean we are celebrating the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on behalf of his people. Namely, we're celebrating the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on my behalf, on your behalf, on our behalf. This is what gives us commonality. This is what gives us fellowship. This is what gives us communion with one another, and that is the fact that we have communion with Christ. Now, in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, you look back a chapter, in verses 16 and 17, it says, the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ, the bread which we break, Is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread." As they go on in the confession in that first part, they make this They make this point that the Lord's supper really is a confirmation of a believer's faith and all its benefits. So there's nothing magically imparted, but he says the cup of blessings, which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? Again, it's, it's a remembrance, but also in a sense, it's a confirmation of our faith, of the benefits of our faith as we have communion. and the blood of Christ, communion with the body of Christ that was broken for us. This Sunday, I plan to preach a message on redemption, just in its whole aspect. And again, that's going to be a summation of what we're celebrating when we celebrate the Lord's Supper, the benefits that we have, those who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. That's a celebration. That's what we're thinking about whenever we go to communion. And then the Lord's Supper is also a bond and a pledge of the believer's communion with Christ and our communion with one another. We being many are one bread. That's one loaf. The idea is we are one speaking of the body here. That's an expression of our communion together. It goes on to say, and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread. That is our communion with Christ and our communion with one another, the expression there of unity. Now let's move on to the second. second bullet here, the second section. It says, in this ordinance, Christ is not offered up to his father, nor any real sacrifice made at all for remission of sin of the quick or dead, but only a memorial of that one offering up of himself by himself upon the cross once for all, and a spiritual ablation of all possible praise unto God for the same, so that the popish sacrifice of the mass, as they call it, is most abominable, injurious to Christ's own sacrifice, the alone propitiation for all the sins of the elect." So the brethren there in the confession, they jump straight into, The purpose, and for the next, I don't know, several things, uh, several points, they're going to talk about not only what it is, but also what it is not. So the purpose of this ordinance, the purpose of the Lord's supper is that it is a memorial and an offering of praise concerning the death of Christ. When we come together to have the Lord's Supper, it's nothing more and it's nothing less than a remembrance, a memorial, and an expression of praise concerning the death of Jesus Christ. Now, they go on to make these points. Number one, there is no real offering of Christ up to the Father during the Lord's Supper. We have, and they'll get to that in a second, but we have wine that remains wine from start to finish. We have bread that remains bread and nothing more than bread. And you may wonder why I'm making that distinction. And the reason that. I say, I'm making it, they're making it. And it's necessary to make these types of distinctions is because there are groups who teach that there really is something mystical going on there. It really is some kind of atonement taking place. There really is in some sense, an offering for sin. as a pastor or as a priest, blesses the blood, blesses the wine, as you partake of that, that there really is some sort of benefit as far as you and your sin being cleansed before God based upon that wine and based upon that bread. Obviously, we do not teach that. We don't believe that because it's not biblical. I think it's an important distinction to make. The reality is, whenever we go through these things and we hear some of the arguments that they make and think, why are they saying that? Our generation is just one generation away from a rank heresy. I mean, you realize that, right? When things become irrelevant that our fathers have faced in the past, and I'm talking about legitimate things, when they become irrelevant, then we leave the next generation wide open to rank heresy. So I think it's important not to browbeat, not to beat a straw man, but to lay out the realities of where we are and what those counter distinctions are. So number two, there's no forgiveness of sins granted based on participating in the Lord's Supper. So it's just like baptism. It's an outward expression of a inward reality concerning the saints, concerning the believer. No forgiveness of sin is ever granted based on participating in that. Now that's something that the Catholic church and maybe various other, uh, churches, uh, will teach that there really is some sort of atonement based on taking the mass, the, the, the, um, what we would call the Lord's supper. And that there really is some spiritual merit based upon that sins are forgiven based upon that, but it's just not true. And the reason it's not true is because it's not biblical. So I'll make sure I say that. You don't find that in the scriptures. We've said this already, but there's number three, no mystical or spiritual benefit imparted by eating or drinking the physical wine or bread. And what I mean by that, I don't mean it's not a blessing to us. I just mean you don't walk away from the Lord's supper with any more of a greater standing before God than you did before you got there. You're still the same you. I think it's important to remember that Ephesians 1, 3, that in Christ you've been given all spiritual blessings and there aren't any extras that happen after you take communion. Uh, as far as that is concerned, as far as you're standing with God, there really aren't any extras that take place after you're baptized. You know, it's a, it's a outward expression of an inward reality. Um, obviously we believe that we ought to be baptized. Believers ought to be baptized, but it doesn't change your standing before God. It's an act of obedience to God the same way with the Lord's supper. So look in Hebrews chapter nine, and we're going to read verses 24 through 28. It says, for Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest entered into the holy place every year with blood of others. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world. But now, once in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this to judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Now the point that we want to get out of this, and this is the reason why the writers put this in this section as far as the London Confession goes, is verse 28. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. Christ was offered once and we are once and for all atoned for. Now the reason they make this point and the reason this point is still a legitimate point to continue to make today, not just in a counter distinctive way, but in a way to bring clarity. So the Roman Catholics teach that there is a perpetual offering of Christ to the Father. Every time you take communion, there is an offering of Christ to the Father for atonement. And so it's a continual thing. There's a continual atonement going on. There's a continual offering going on. But according to Hebrews chapter 9 and many other verses in scripture, Christ died once for sin. Christ offered himself up once for sin. So again, this is not an insignificant point. It's not a straw man, but it's really a gross perversion of the atonement of Jesus Christ. It goes over or falls over into the heretical camp. Christ on the cross died for our sins and there on the cross, our sins were forgiven. We were justified through his resurrection and Christ intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father from now until he comes back. There is no more atonement to be made. There's nothing else that you need for your sin to be covered, to be forgiven. It's all on Calvary. It's all at the cross. Now, Outside of it just being unbiblical and unwrong, what does it do? What is the doctrine of this perpetual atonement through the Lord's Supper? What does it do? Well, it really is spiritual poison in a couple of ways. Number one, it gives false assurance. It makes people feel like they're okay when they're not okay. It's one of those works that is invented by man, really, to try to give us relief from a guilty conscience. So, you know, if I show up, if I drink the wine, if I eat the bread, I'm okay with God. Well, it's just not true. Based on that, you're not okay with God. But on the other side of the coin, it also puts people into bondage. It puts God's people into bondage with the idea that if I'm not there, if I have to miss or until I get to the Lord's Supper, the communion table, I am not okay with God. My sins are not atoned for. It's not until I eat that bread. It's not until I drink that wine that my standing with God is right. Well, brothers and sisters, may it never be that anyone in our congregation is under that kind of bondage or under that kind of false assurance based on the Lord's supper or really anything else. Why don't we go through the time to talk about, you know, that as it relates to the atonement, because when we think about the atonement, that is Jesus Christ on the cross, reconciling us back to God, making us who were enemies with God reconciled so that we're now his adopted children. When we think about the, the, uh, atonement. I don't think it's a stretch to say the most important thing about you is where you fall in the atonement. Either your sins were atoned for or your sins are not atoned for. And how you come to understand how that atonement works really is, I don't know if it's the, but it's one of the most important things about you. It will put you in bondage or it will give you freedom. And thank God that the Lord has blessed us to have a heritage of faithful men who have freely preached the truth about the work of Jesus Christ, the truth about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the doctrines of grace. And so again, it's easy for us to maybe scratch our head at this and think, well, what's the big deal? It's a huge deal for someone who comes out of that kind of bondage, someone who comes out of that kind of slavery. All right, let's go to the third one. Number three, the third section addresses the administration of the Lord's supper, the administration of the ordinance. So the question is, how do we do this? It says the Lord Jesus hath in this ordinance appointed his ministers to pray and bless the elements of bread and wine and thereby to set them apart from a common to a holy use and to take and break the bread to take the cup and they communicating themselves also to give both to the communicants. All right. Look in first Corinthians 11, 23. through 26. We said we'd be there a lot, and we will be. 1 Corinthians 11, 23 through 26, for I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and we had given thanks, he break it and said, take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye, as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he comes. And so according to that model and according to the order in the Gospels, the administration of the Lord's Supper goes this way. The minister of the Gospel is to, number one, pray. Number two, break the bread, serve the bread, serve the wine. Now you could break down that little third section in the London Confession of Faith, and essentially that's what it says. This is the way you administer the Lord's Supper. We pray, modeling the way that Jesus administered the Lord's Supper. We break the bread, serve the bread, we serve the wine. And it's our practice here to pray before and after the bread, but that's why we do it. That's why we do it. Number four, and this will be the last one we look at tonight. Number four, the denial of the cup to the people worshiping the elements, the lifting them up or carrying them about for adoration and reserving them for any pretended religious use are all contrary to the nature of this ordinance and to the institution of Christ. So the fourth section there, essentially it says the elements, we're talking about the bread and the wine. Anytime we talk about the elements of the Lord's supper, bread and wine and the instruments, plate to the cups, are for serving, they are not for exalting, adoring, or worshiping. All that to say, when we come together and we have the Lord's supper and we break the bread and serve it, when there's bread left over, it was kind of funny, Brother Herb was telling about making this distinction in Russia and how the Brethren, they're kind of had a difficult time with this at first. They asked him, what do you do at home? If you have too much bread after communion, what do you do with the bread? And he said, well, we throw it away. And I said, what, what do you mean you throw it away? And he said, well, brothers, it's just bread. It'll continue to be just bread. It is set aside for a holy use, but the bread itself does not become holy. It's a symbolism. We don't worship the bread, we don't worship the wine, we are thankful for and we are again remembering the one whom we do worship through the bread and through the wine. We're expressing the reality of the one whom we worship because this is the way he's told us to do it. through that bread and through that wine, but there's nothing in and of itself wholly about that bread. There's nothing in and of itself wholly about that wine. The same way with the plates and the cups as they get to here. And, and they go so far as talking about the lifting up of the cups. You know, maybe sometimes you've seen, uh, someone lift up the cup and pray for the wine or lift up the plate and, and, and, and pray for the plate or, or not the plate, but the bread, uh, to exalt it. Well, you know, I'm not sure that the posture of the thing has to do with it as much as the motive of it, but there's a reason, or one of the reasons why we drink those little plastic cups and, and, and throw it away. That's because the cup is insignificant, right? Who cares what cup you drink out of? We serve the bread, before we get it on the little communion plates up here, it's just on a dinner plate. Nothing special about it, right? Why? Because it's not about the plate that the bread is on, right? It's about the body of Jesus Christ that was broken for us, that's symbolized there. So again, there's nothing in and of itself, holy about the cups, the trays, plates, wine, the bread, any of that that's used in the Lord's supper. To assign any sort of intrinsic value to the bread or the wine or any of the instruments that are used is unbiblical. It's unbiblical for a couple of reasons. Number one. When you look in the gospels, I'm not going to read this section, but in Matthew 26, 26 through 28, this Christ is administering the Lord's supper. There's no mention of him exalting anything that he was, you know, they were just drinking wine and breaking bread. Paul doesn't mention anything about that. And so to assign any sort of value to the cups or to the bread or to the wine that's in and of itself valuable really is what Matthew 15, 9 calls just a doctrine of men. It's just something that someone came up with. It's not in the Bible. And so is there anything wrong with having a gold cup that you drink the wine out of? No, there's nothing necessarily wrong about that. Is there something wrong with mandating that we have a gold cup that is only for that and you better not touch that cup because it's the holy cup that the wine is put in? Yes, there's something wrong with that. Because the cup's not holy, it's just a cup. The tray's not holy, it's just a tray. The bread's not holy, it's just bread, and the wine's not holy, it's just wine. They all are representing the Holy One, Jesus Christ, and the sacrifice that allows us to become saints, set apart, holy unto God. But in and of themselves, there's nothing there that's holy. Nothing there that is to be worshiped or exalted. And so really what it turns into is idolatry. And so again, you see that in, um, places like with the Catholic church or the Greek Orthodox church, which is a close cousin, I guess, to the Roman Catholic church and, and, and churches like that, where they have a lot of, um, um, formality and the way they do that sort of thing. Uh, we don't have holy instruments here. And there's a reason for that. We've just said it. They're not holy. We don't worship those things. We don't exalt those things. And we don't reverence those things. And the reason is is because those things are given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ to represent the Lord Jesus Christ. And so in obedience to Jesus Christ, we do not add to or take away from what he has given us as far as his instructions and his example as we partake of the Lord's Supper. And so may God bless us. to be faithful in this, that we would participate, that we would administer, that we would understand the purpose of the Lord's Supper for what it is that we might bring acceptable worship to God. Thank you for listening to this message. Our prayer is that you've been blessed by the messages and the daily devotional blog on sermon audio from Ripley Primitive Baptist Church. We would love the opportunity to be of greater service to you in your walk with Christ. In other words, we would like to get to know you better. Do you have need of counsel, of a home church, or can we just pray for you? please feel free to contact us by phone at 662-837-8590 or visit our website at www.ripleypbc.com.