And now let us turn to our sermon passage for this morning, which is in 1 Corinthians 11. We continue from last week's passage on to verses 27-34. 1 Corinthians 11, verses 27-34. Hear now God's word. Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. but if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come." Amen. Please be seated. Previously, in 1 Corinthians 11, we considered the institution of the Lord's Supper, the meaning of the words by which the Lord instituted or ordained this sacrament, that we might continue to practice it until he returns. We considered how he connected his own death and the blessings that flow from his death to the elements, to the bread and to the wine, that when we partake of them, we partake of Christ and him crucified by the power of his spirit, ministering those things signified to us, strength and joy in the Lord. And so this is no ordinary supper, this is no ordinary meal that we partake of together. And therefore, the Apostle Paul goes on immediately in our passage to warn the Corinthians regarding how they should participate in this supper. You recall that the Corinthians were horribly abusing the supper, both selfishly consuming all the food on one side and leaving none for others and none for those who are poor and needy, and even getting drunk on the wine of the Lord's Supper. And so they were terribly abusing this ordinance of the Lord. And you might imagine then that Paul goes on to warn them after he makes clear how special this supper is and says, in essence, something like this. So just stop. Just don't do this anymore. Just stop altogether because of how terribly you are abusing this thing. You shouldn't be handling it at all. But he doesn't, does he? No, he gives stern warnings. He gives chilling warnings even. But the conclusion is, and so partake. Notice, as he says, let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Really, he is exhorting them not to stop practicing, but to continue practicing this, but only to do it rightly. Why? If these warnings are true, if this is the reality that we could die by wrongly partaking of these elements, if we could be guilty of the body and blood of Christ, why should we continue partaking? Well, there are some things that are dangerous, certainly, but so useful that we continue using them. A knife, for example. A knife can cut you, and no doubt a knife has cut you in the past. And yet you continue to use them for food and in the kitchen. Why? Because they're so useful. They're dangerous, sure. but useful, so useful that it is more useful to use them than the danger that they pose to you. Or cars hurling masses of steel. We continue to drive them. Why? Because they're so useful to us. They're so important to our way of life that despite the danger they pose, we continue to use them. Well, so, too, the means of God's grace are dangerous. The Lord Jesus in Matthew 11 spoke to Capernaum and made this point to them. He says that they will be condemned far greater than Sodom in the day of judgment because Capernaum heard the gospel ministry of Jesus Christ. And because they mishandled that gospel ministry, they are of greater condemnation than even that infamous city, Sodom. Yes, these means of grace are dangerous. The Lord's Supper is dangerous. But it is so valuable, so useful, so profitable to our souls. that we do not cease practicing it, cease handling it, but rather we handle it in a way that is right, in a way that is reverent and sober and proper, that we might derive from it the blessing God would grant to us in it. And so with that in view, we'll look on our passage under two headings. The first is the exhortation to the supper, verses 27 through 32. While he mixes in and certainly has significant warnings in this section, ultimately it is an exhortation to partake of this supper in a right manner. And then very briefly we'll look in verses 33 through 34 at the distinction of the supper. meaning this supper is different from all other suppers, from all other meals. We'll look then first at the exhortation to the supper. After the importance of the Supper, the Apostle Paul gives these rather horrifying warnings to us, that we would be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the very essence and heart of the gospel. Christ in him crucified, his love and his grace shown there most profoundly that we'll be guilty of that which is most dear to us, that is most precious in our sight, that instead of being blessed by it, instead of being forgiven by it, instead of gaining by it, we will be condemned by it, we'll be condemned because of it. This is a very chilling warning. Yet what exactly does this mean? How exactly could we unworthily partake of the supper? No doubt when we hear the word worthy or unworthy, our minds might immediately jump to ask questions such as this. Am I truly worthy to partake of Christ? What does it mean to be truly worthy to partake of Christ? And on one hand we might say then, well clearly none of us can be worthy. This must be referring to worthiness in Christ, worthiness because of Christ. This must simply mean that we must be Christians to partake of the supper, that in Him, because of His righteousness covering us, because of His grace lavished upon us, we are worthy because of Him to come and to partake. Others say, no, it seems to have more leaning towards sanctification, that there is a certain measure of holiness that we must have to partake of the supper. so that if we had a bad week with regard to sin, or we sinned rather grievously this previous week, then we are unworthy to partake of the supper, we should refrain. We must have lived a relatively decent week in order to be worthy to partake. But both of these groups are wrongly reading this passage. The Apostle Paul does not speak of the person coming being worthy or unworthy. He speaks of the way we come. It is an adverb, unworthily coming. It modifies not the participant, but how we come to the supper. We must come in a way that is worthy. We must come in a way that is proper and right, in a way that God has designed and commanded us to come. It may seem a small difference, but it is a tremendous distinction. Let me put it this way. If there is a young man who wants to marry a young lady, and so he is desiring to ask her to marry him, and he asks the question, am I worthy of her? especially because he would think highly of her, the answer would probably be no. And he'd be paralyzed in his depression and in his unworthiness. He cannot ask her. He's not worthy of her. But if you were asking the question, what is the worthy way to ask her? What is the proper method by which to ask this woman to marry me? Then that is a question he can answer. How do I go about it is a much different question than that soul-searching and often morbid introspection of, am I worthy? But rather, how do I come in a worthy manner to this supper? And that is what the Apostle Paul is saying here. How do we come? We count Christ to be of greatest worth, as precious in our sight. And if we ask, are we worthy to come? Then surely we would never come and no one would ever come. But if we ask, what is the way that he calls us to come? What is the proper manner of approach? What should we do rightly to partake? Well, that is a question we can answer and will lead to us partaking of the supper. And this question has some teeth to it, doesn't it? Because the Apostle Paul says that if we come in an unworthy manner, we'll be guilty of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Since these elements are united spiritually by the Spirit of God to Jesus Christ and his benefits, since we recognize they are set apart for the nourishment of our souls upon Christ, Then we understand that this is a supper that is holy and consecrated. These elements are important and to mishandle them is to mishandle Christ himself. We'll be guilty of profaning the crucified lamb whom we should honor and not dishonor. We sin against the heart of the gospel and lightly treat the weightiest matters of God. Again, consider this analogy if someone said, the person who killed my parents or my family member is going to be executed by the state and I want you to be there. And you said, sure, sounds like fun. You'll be treating that matter with such lightness, with such scorn, a matter of profound weight and sobriety, a matter of justice and life and death. And so, too, when we come to the Lord's Supper and we say, oh, nice, a little snack during the service or something like that. It is to profane and make light of that which is most significant and weighty from the Lord. Anything less than coming to these elements with a reverence and an acknowledgement, this is from God, this is His blessing to me. These are elements set apart to be united to Jesus Christ, so that when I partake in Him, I partake of Him and am nourished upon Him. Anything less. then that sort of reverent and careful approach is to profane, is to make light of this meal. And so the Lord makes clear through his apostle that if we in any way come mishandling, we are guilty of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. So what then? Should we stay away from this supper lest we profane it? Should we out of an abundance of caution, just not partake of the supper or not offer it very often at church and so forth? Should we, knowing how serious it is to mishandle it, just not handle it and err on the side of caution? If a man professed to love a woman and desired to marry her, but he never asked her, he never approached her, Did he really love her? Did he really desire her? Does he really need her? So that when we come to Christ, we recognize we need Him, we desire Him, we love Him, we must draw near to Him. It is the desperate need of our souls to be fed on Christ and Him crucified. in all the means of God's grace. So we do not say, let us not partake lest we in any way mishandle. We say, we need to partake. So then how ought we to partake rightly? And that is what the Apostle Paul is saying here when he says, Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord and an unworthy man will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. How do we approach? We approach first after self-examination. We come to commune with God through the supper. Remember in the previous chapter, 1 Corinthians 10, the Apostle Paul made this point that he who partakes of the sacrifice is fellowshipping or communing with the God being worshipped. And so he's saying, before we come to communion with God, before we come to fellowship with God, we must examine ourselves to see if there are any hindrances to that fellowship, to that communion, that must be removed before we partake. Well, what is it that would hinder fellowship and communion with God? The most crucial thing that enables us to have fellowship with God, and without which there is no fellowship with God, is saving faith to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, in 2 Corinthians 13, 5, the Apostle Paul says this, the most fundamental examination possible, Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. That is the first wrong examination. Are you a Christian? Hebrews 11 6 also says, but without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. to have saving faith in the Lord, to trust in Him alone for salvation, to rest on His grace alone to save you? Do you therefore know and love the Lord who first so loved you? Do you have an appetite for Him and for His grace? Do you love His people, the ones whom He has loved? Do you desire Him? Do you love Him? Do you believe in Him? Do you trust in Him? Do you know Him? This is the first rung of examination that we should have, that we are true believers in Christ, that we may have true fellowship and communion with God. Do you believe? Second, we recognize that sin hinders us from fellowship with God. We see this throughout the scriptures. Psalm 66, 18, If I regard sin in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. 1 Peter 3, 7, he who lives not with understanding with his wife, his prayers will be hindered. There is a hindrance to our fellowship and communion with God by our sins. So that in Matthew 5, the Lord Jesus said to the man who brought his sacrifice to the altar, but then remember that his his neighbor had something against him, that there was sin between them, he said, leave that sacrifice. Don't offer it yet. Don't presume to go and approach the Lord and have communion with him through that sacrifice until you are reconciled to that person. Go and be reconciled, and then come back. and you will be able to have communion with God, having removed the hindrance of that open, unresolved, unrepented, unreconciled sin that is in your life. And likewise, when we approach the Lord's Supper, if we would have communion with God, we must examine ourselves to see whether we have sin that we need to confess. So does that mean if I have sinned horribly this past week, well, clearly I cannot partake, or if I've sinned too many times in the past week, or even today I've sinned, that I cannot partake of the Lord's Supper because there is that hindrance, that sin between me and the Lord, or me and other people here in this congregation? Is that what we mean here? Are we to be paralyzed in that morbid introspection as we think, what is enough sin, or what is too much sin that would prevent us from coming? What is too great a hindrance from coming to the Lord's Supper? No, the examination is to expose sin, that you may confess it and be reconciled, that you may come. It is not a matter of how much sin or how little sin, how great a sin, how small a sin. It is a matter of, are you convicted of sin? Do you have sin in your life that you know of? Well then, confess it to the Lord, be reconciled to Him, be reconciled to each other, and then come, because you've removed that hindrance from fellowship with the Lord. Here is how our larger catechism puts it, may one who doubts of his being in Christ or of his due preparation come to the Lord's Supper. One who doubts of his being in Christ or of his due preparation to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper may have true interest in Christ, though he be not yet assured thereof. And in God's account has it if he is duly affected with the apprehension of the want of it. That is, he feels this grief that he is not certain and assured. and unfeignedly desires to be found in Christ and to depart from iniquity. He truly desires to be united to Christ and truly desires to depart from iniquity. In which case, because promises are made and the sacrament is appointed for the relief even of weak and doubting Christians, he is to bewail his unbelief and labor to have his doubts resolved. And so doing, he may and ought to come to the Lord's Supper that he may be further strengthened. You see, this examination of ourselves is designed to reveal how unworthy we are to come to Christ, so that we humbly turn to Christ for the mercy and grace we so desperately need and sincerely come to be filled by him, and he fills us through his means of grace. Let me put it again in another analogy. If you were to go to dinner with a friend of yours, It was to be a joyful time of fellowship together. That was the purpose of this meal. But your friend was angry at you. You had done something foolish. You had sinned. And your friend was offended and angry with you. And now you're going to go to dinner together, to this joyful time of fellowship together? Well, it's not going to be a joyful time of fellowship, is it? If it appears that way, it's a facade. You're pretending. It is not until you deal with that ruptured relationship, that ruptured friendship, until you're reconciled, that you can go to have this joyful meal. And so too, the Lord's Supper. If we are in a ruptured relationship with the Lord, if we've offended Him by our sins, if they're open sins, unreconciled sins, we know about them and we refuse to deal with them, how can we come to the Lord's Supper, to this joyful time of fellowship with Him? And likewise with one another, it is a picture of the unity of the Church, and so if we are refusing to repent of sin that the Spirit has convicted us of as sin, then we cannot come to this supper in joyful fellowship with the Lord. We must remove that hindrance before we come. And so this means that if you have sin that you know of in your life and you refuse to deal with it, you refuse to turn from it and turn to the Lord and ask for His mercy and be reconciled over it, Or if there are people in your life you have offended, you have sinned against, legitimately sinned against, and they're angry with you, you know it, and you refuse to go to them and be reconciled and have peace between you two, then you may not come and partake of this supper, because those are hindrances to fellowship, and those are things that the Lord condemns. We mishandle the supper if we do not first examine ourselves in this way. But if you have those sins in your life and then next week it is that same sin that prevents you from coming to the supper, well, how could you? This is the Lord offering His grace to you. How could you wait so long and be so hardened in that sin that you would not be able to partake of the supper two weeks in a row? Or likewise, if we have a fight on the way to church. Ever happen to you? And you're fighting with your spouse or children or whatever it is, and you come and you haven't had time to address it, to deal with it, to be reconciled over it. then you must not come. You must leave, as it were, your sacrifice at the altar and be reconciled before you come. But again, if the next week arrives and you are not even yet reconciled over that sin, well, how could you? Do you not desire Christ? Do you not want His grace? Do you not long for Him? Well then, let us turn from our sin that we might partake of the Lord and of His grace. Let us examine ourselves. Now, we need to be careful here because sometimes there are tender consciences that ask many questions in this regard. Have I missed a sin? Have I missed a sin that I committed and I'm unaware of? The answer is yes, you have, certainly. And that's not the question. The question is not, can you remember every sin and confess it all to the Lord? The question is, are there open, known sins of which you are convicted and refusing to repent of? Others say, but have I repented enough? Is it good enough repentance? The answer again is, no, it is not. But is it genuine repentance? Is it sincere turning from sin? Well then, those are the things that enable you to fellowship with God because they humble you before the Lord. This process is designed to humble us, to show us our unworthiness and need for Christ. And when we are humbled by our sins, broken over them, and we come to Christ, we are ready in a worthy manner to feed upon him, to be blessed by him. And so we must examine ourselves. But second, notice in verse 29, he speaks of discernment, the discernment that is necessary. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. That which was intended to bless is turned into that which condemns. But what exactly does he mean here by discerning the Lord's body? Notice now that he's addressing each person. In the previous passage from last week, he is speaking to you, in general terms, to you all. But here he's speaking to the individual. Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself and so forth. There are those who would say that he is speaking of the body of Christ in terms of the church, because this was one way in which the Corinthians were abusing the supper. They were not unified in their participation of the supper. But he is not speaking to them as a group. He's speaking to them here as individuals. And he's not making the point about unity. He's making the point about the significance of the elements and mishandling them. so that when he speaks of the body of Christ, we are right to agree with the vast majority of Reformed theologians that this refers to the body of Christ as signified in the elements themselves, as signified in the bread in particular, but also by inclusion, the wine of the Lord's Supper, that this is what he means we are to discern, that we are to discern that they are set apart and connected to Christ by His Spirit, so that when we partake of them, we partake of Christ, not corporally or carnally, not that the elements change, but the Spirit of God ministers to us the grace that is shown to us in those signs. And so we are to discern that these elements are not ordinary elements. They're set apart for spiritual blessing. Therefore, we are not to break off the bread absentmindedly, thinking perhaps of the rest of our day and what we'll do or the next meal we plan to have. We should not think of these things lightly or handle them carelessly, but we are to recognize they are significant and to give a reverent attention and consideration to what we are doing in the supper. Again, there are those timid souls who become nervous and fearful and say, well, am I taking it seriously enough? Well, if you are concerned about that, you're not taking it lightly, and you are probably then able to take it properly, because you're not carelessly and lightly partaking, but with concern and reverence and consideration, you are looking at those elements and partaking of them. And so there is this discernment that is necessary to recognize these elements are set apart as the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This is why we do not believe in paedo-communion, giving communion to small children or infants. because this process involves self-examination, to consider your sinfulness, repent of it, and proper knowledge and discernment of the elements, what they are, what they signify, what they mean. which is something that an infant cannot do, does not have. And so we do not feed it to infants. But the paedo-communionists will argue that the children partook of the Lord's, of the Passover in the Old Testament. Did they? Did they really? How do you know that? There is no explicit statement to that effect in the Old Testament. In fact, the passage we read this morning, you may have noted, gave the three different annual feasts that the Israelites would go to Jerusalem to participate in. The Passover and Unleavened Bread, it speaks of the household, sure. But the other two specifically speak of the sons and the daughters. That one doesn't. Why? Likewise, in Exodus chapter 12, you recall when the Passover is instituted, the son would ask the father, what do you mean by this? Not what do we mean by this, but what do you mean by this? Implying that he's not partaking of the Passover with his father, that his father is doing that, and he's looking on. That is one reason why in Judaism today there is a discussion about who can partake and what level of knowledge do they have to have to partake of which part of the Seder. But even if they did partake of the Passover in the Old Testament, it was a physical meal to fill the belly. And children, of course, needed to have their bellies filled. But the New Testament Lord's Supper, though it is related to Passover, is not the same. It is not a meal to fill the belly. It is a meal to satisfy and nourish the soul. And that can only be done by the reception of faith. It is not like baptism, a passive action that is done to children. It is an active participation that is required after self-examination, after discerning the Lord's body, to feed upon Christ, to have that spiritual appetite to feed on Christ in the supper. But again, the paedo-communionists will argue, this was instruction for adults here, not children. This only applies to adults, not to the little children who would partake of the supper. But what does Jesus say when he institutes the supper for everyone? Do this in remembrance of me. If you partake of the supper, you are doing this in remembrance of Christ. There is a mental activity, there is an active participation, there is an understanding that is required to partake of this supper. It is different from baptism. It is distinct, even though related and organically connected to Passover, yet it is advanced beyond it to something that is even greater and better than Passover. And so, yes, we say our children are part of the kingdom of God. They belong. We baptize them and declare that they are members of the church. They are those who belong in the church. They are citizens of the kingdom of God. But that doesn't mean every privilege is theirs yet. We do the same thing with America's kingdom, don't we? You're born here, you're a citizen, and yet you can't vote until you're a certain age, or drive, or all these other things. Those privileges come with time and with maturity. So to the Lord's Supper, we believe our children are members of the covenant, are part of God's people, but every privilege and right is not theirs until they grow to understand and appreciate and be able to handle them rightly. And again, he emphasizes this with regard to the judgment of God upon the improper handling. He says, for this reason, many are weak and sick among you, many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world. The reality is that God has chastened the Corinthians for their improper partaking of the Lord's Supper. Some of them were sick, some of them were even dead. That is what it means by asleep. They fell asleep in the Lord. They died. And so, this is a possibility. Even today, when we partake of the Lord's Supper, it is a possibility that if we mishandle the supper, we are chastened by God with sickness or even death, because he takes these things seriously, and so should we take them seriously. Well, how? Again, he reiterates, by judging ourselves. If we judged ourselves, He would not judge us. If we examined ourselves and said, here's the sin of which I'm aware, here's the sin that I know of my life, and I'm condemning myself for it and crying out to be forgiven, then He will not judge us. But if we do not judge ourselves and partake, He will judge us for that. Again, it is not how many sins, how great are those sins. It is, have you dealt with those sins before the Lord? Have you judged yourself, or must He judge you for it? And even then, it is but chastisement. It is a loving correction of the Heavenly Father. He chastens those whom He loves. And so he does this for our good to distinguish us from the world, to say, these are my people. I will judge them for this. I will chasten them that they would not continue in their sin and go the way of the world. That means if you are partaking of the Lord's Supper with a vain heart, not believing in Jesus, not caring about your sin, and nothing is happening to you, that is the worst scenario possible. because the Lord chastens those whom he loves that we would not be part of the world. But if you partake and you recognize you're partaking wrongly and the Lord is chasing you, then that is a blessing because he is driving you back to himself that you may repent and turn to him and be filled with his grace and feed upon him and not be condemned with the world. That brings us to our second point very, very briefly, verses 33 through 34. We said it throughout, but here the Apostle Paul makes clear that this meal is not a physical meal. It is not to satisfy our physical hunger, not to satisfy our bellies. Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come." He's saying you've been disunified in your partaking of the supper, and you've looked at it as a way to satisfy your bellies. Neither of those is true. It is not a meal in which one is elevated over the other. We are to together partake as one body of Christ. Yes, certainly. But also, it is not for our bellies. It is for our souls. That is why we have but a little bit of bread and wine. It is not a meal to satisfy our hunger. It is a meal to satisfy our souls. And finally he says, those are the most important things, and when I come, all the other problems that the Corinthians have, he will set in order at that time. They are not as important at the moment. Therefore, we conclude that you and I are utterly unworthy to partake of Christ and His grace. And it is precisely this sense of unworthiness by which we worthily partake of the supper. It is by examining ourselves, finding sin, humbling ourselves, confessing and turning from it to Christ that we are rightly to approach the Lord's Supper. And brethren, if Christ is worthy of all honor, it is precisely by discerning this fact that he is worthy of all honor that the elements are united to Christ that we would approach with thoughtful reverence, discerning the Lord's body, that we in that way partake rightly of the supper too. examining ourselves, recognizing the significance of what is happening here, humbled by it, coming with a due sense of reverence and honor. That is the worthy manner of partaking in the supper. Acknowledging our own unworthiness and need of Christ's worthiness, that we come humbly and reverently with expectation that God will graciously feed us. Let's pray. Our Father, as we come now to you in prayer, we acknowledge that you are great beyond compare. We acknowledge that you are the holy, holy, holy Lord of hosts, that there is no one and nothing worthy to be compared with you, the great I AM. that you are the Lord and not we ourselves. And we bless you for giving us these elements and the many means of grace that you have granted to us that may draw near to you and commune with you and you with us. And we pray your blessing upon each and every one of those elements, those means of your grace. And we ask, Lord, that you would grant us a due reverence and appreciation of these things, knowing that they are dangerous, but so very profitable and needful that we must have them. So, Lord, come and bless them and bless us that we might rightly partake of them. And now we do pray, even as you have taught us to pray, by saying together, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.