The Lord's Supper as a Means of Grace (3)

Introduction to the Lord's Supper as a Means of Grace

0:03 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, February 6, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. May I encourage you to follow in your Bibles as I read in your hearing from 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, and I shall begin reading at verse 23 and read to the end of the chapter.

0:44 For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you. This do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is mine.

1:14 This is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body of the Lord.

1:45 But let a man prove or examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he that eateth and drinks, eats and drinks judgment unto himself, if he discern not the body. For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep. But if we discern not the body, then we shall not be able to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

2:15 If we discerned ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. Wherefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait one for another. If any man is hungry, let him eat at home.

2:38 That your coming together be not unto judgment. And the rest will I set in order. Whensoever I come. You who frequent this place of worship, and particularly those who come regularly on the Lord's Day morning, have heard it said many times in the past year and a half, that we as a church, we as your elders, in spiritual symphony and shared vision, with the church, we are determined to maintain a balanced New Testament doctrine of conversion, the Christian life, and the mission of the church. And that statement that you have heard numerous times is the ninth major affirmation in a series of studies entitled A Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church, of which to be read. It is a statement of the church. It is a statement of the church.

3:48 Today's message marks the 100th treatment of that manifesto. In seeking to set forth what constitutes a balanced New Testament doctrine of the Christian life, we are presently considering the fifth and final major principle of such a doctrine, namely, that there are no effective substitutes for the God-appointed means of grace in living the Christian life. In every age, there are those who presume to be wiser than God with respect to the question, how shall the life that God has imparted in his converting grace be nurtured and developed in the lives of the Christian people? And men have made their own inventions and sought to designate them as means by which the grace of God unto spiritual maturity would be operative among God's people. But I am asserting that any balanced biblical doctrine of the Christian life sooner or later must come to grips with this principle, that there are no effective substitutes for the God-appointed means of grace in living the Christian life.

Review of the Biblical Basis and Significance of the Lord's Supper

5:10 And using Acts chapter 2 and verse 42 as an outline of the major public or corporate means of grace, having addressed the private or individual means of grace, we have seen that in that church at Jerusalem, under the guidance of apostles who were the foundation builders of the church, that they guided that church into these four dominant activities as public means of grace. For we read of that early church at Jerusalem that they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching, and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers. And we are presently focusing upon the third of these four major means of grace instituted by God through the instrumentality of the apostles.

6:33 And while it is most likely that the terminology, the breaking of bread, had reference to something more than the Lord's Supper, it is clear that its significance as a means of grace is limited to that Supper of Remembrance called in the Scriptures the Lord's Supper. And so we have turned to the Scriptures and sought to establish from the Word of God the biblical basis for the observance of the Lord's Supper. And we have seen that that basis is comprised of the original command of the Lord Jesus, Luke 22, 49, and the perpetuation of that command by apostolic practice and apostolic precept. And then last Lord's Day, we took up in the second place the biblical significance, of the Lord's Supper. And I suggested that all of the biblical materials relative to the Lord's Supper can be reduced under three headings with respect to its significance.

7:53 It is a Supper of recollection or commemoration. It is a Supper of participation. And it is a Supper of declaration. It is a Supper of remembrance.

8:07 It is a Supper of remembrance. It is a Supper of remembrance. supper of recollection. There is to be a heightened recollection of the person and work of Christ crucified. For in the original institution in Luke 22 and twice in 1 Corinthians 11, we have his own words, do this, that is, give thanks, break, and eat bread that was bread before you gave thanks.

8:35 Bread when you broke it, bread when you eat it, but bread which has been set apart to signify my body given for you. And take the cup, and do the same thing with that cup, all of this in remembrance of me. It is to be an intensified calling to remembrance of the person and work of Christ crucified. But then it is also a supper of participation. For in 1 Corinthians 10, 16, Paul says that the bread that we bless, is it not a koinonia, a fellowship, a participation in the body of Christ? And the cup which we drink, is it not a participation, a fellowship in the blood of Christ?

9:34 And therefore the supper is to be a present, believing participation in the virtue of Christ's body given for sinners, Christ's blood shed for sinners, for there is no participation in Christ by any other means but faith. And the notion of the Roman Catholic Church, that we actually eat of the body of Christ. Though it appears to be but bread or a wafer, the doctrine, the blasphemous doctrine of transubstantiation, that with the words of consecration by a duly appointed priest, that these things become something other than what they were and what they appear to be and what they smell and taste to be, is not only nonsense, it is blasphemy. The only part. The only participation any sinner has in the virtue of the body and blood of Christ is by faith.

10:43 And therefore at the table we come to a supper of participation in which there is this present, believing appropriation of the virtue of the body and blood of Christ. And then according to 1 Corinthians 11, 26, it is a supper of declaration. For Paul says, as oft as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you do proclaim, solemnly declare the Lord's death until he come. And what we declare when we intelligently in faith come to the table of the Lord, we declare that Christ crucified is both the source and the center of all of our spirit. And I say that when we view the significance of the Lord's supper in that threefold light, we have incorporated every major aspect of biblical revelation regarding the significance of the Lord's supper. Now there are some secondary elements of its significance which find nuances of emphasis in the New Testament.

12:03 But at the heart of the supper is commemoration, participation, and declaration. Now having addressed the issues of the biblical basis for the observance of the Lord's supper, or why we should remember the Lord in this way. And having taken up the biblical significance of the Lord's supper, or what is the Lord's supper all about. We come today to consider some more.

Biblical Directives: Who Should Come to the Lord's Table?

12:33 There are several lines of biblical teaching under the heading, the biblical directives for the proper observance of the Lord's supper. The biblical directives for the proper observance of the Lord's supper. And as we do, there are two questions which will constitute the framework for these directives. And the two questions are these.

13:00 Who should come to the Lord's table? And secondly, how should we come to the Lord's table? Now even the kids who've just begun to print out their notes can put down who and how. Alright?

13:18 As we consider then the biblical directives for the proper observance of the Lord's supper, we address the question, who should come to the Lord's table? Now the answer to this question must surely, be derived from the revealed will of Him whose table it is. It is not our table, it's not the church's table, it is the Lord's table. And I said to you several weeks ago that that unique terminology, Lord's table and Lord's day, with reference to new covenant privilege and responsibility, underscores that it is a table over which He Himself presides. And therefore, human sentiment, religious superstition, man-made traditions or inclinations must not be allowed to frame our answer to the question, who should come to the Lord's table? It's the Lord of the table, who alone has the right, who has the right to designate who is welcome at His table.

Directive 1: Only Those Savingly United to Christ

14:39 When we come to the scriptures looking for an answer to this question, who has a God-revealed right of access to the Lord's table, the answer is clear, and it comes to us in two categories. First, only those who are savingly united to the person of Christ should come to the Lord's table. Second, only those who are savingly united to the person of Christ should come to the Lord's table. Now, the scripture on that issue is clear.

15:10 Only those who are savingly united to the person of Christ should come to the Lord's table. According to the scriptures, a Christian is one who has been united to Jesus Christ by faith. The doctrine of union with Christ is central to the biblical teaching, concerning salvation. For example, in a passage such as 1 John 5, we are told that this is the record that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

15:48 He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath not life. Who has life? He that has the Son.

16:02 He that is savingly united. United to the person of Christ. And how does one become savingly united to the person of Christ? John answers that question in his gospel, chapter 1 and verse 12.

16:17 But as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become the children of God, even to them that believe on His name. True saving faith is not a tipping of one's hat to Christ, on the cross, as the answer to our hang-ups, as the answer to the dilemma of the day of judgment. True saving faith is not, as we saw last Sunday night, having some kind of a spiritual burp that makes us feel good, that is in some way or another connected with Jesus. Saving faith is nothing less than receiving the Christ of biblical revelation. For who He is? He is and what He is. As many as received Him, not just His work on the cross, multitudes are ready to receive His work on the cross who have no heart to receive Him, because the one to be received is Lord and sovereign, and they are not ready to relinquish their own personal sovereignty.

17:28 The one to be received is the God-man who died and rose from the dead to receive His work on the cross. To receive Him is to embrace Him for all that He is, as revealed in the scriptures. Therefore, when Paul describes the conversion of these very Corinthians in the first chapter, he says, God is faithful by whom you were called into the koinonia, into the participation of, into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

18:04 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

18:04 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

18:04 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

18:04 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

18:04 Amen. Amen. Amen.

18:11 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

18:14 Amen. Amen. He is brought into fellowship with Jesus Christ, the Lord. Now, add to that what we saw last week, that if the significance of the supper is that we are commemorating, we are recalling, we are recalling, we are recalling, The person and work of Christ crucified for sinners.

18:40 We are presently participating afresh by faith in the virtue of his body given and his blood shed. And we are declaring to ourselves and to one another and to the unconverted who sit among us. And to unseen angels and principalities and powers that Christ crucified is both the source and the center of our spiritual life. How in the world can an impenitent, unbelieving, unjustified, unsanctified person ever come to the Lord's table and do anything other than blatantly break both the third and the ninth commandment at one and the same time? How? How can an unconverted man take that breath and take that cup of recollection, participation, and declaration without violating the third commandment which says thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain? It is to take the name of Christ in vain.

19:51 It is to break the ninth commandment. Thou shalt not bear false witness. When an unconverted man or woman, boy or girl. Takes those elements in that supper of remembrance.

20:03 He is violating the ninth commandment. He is declaring that Christ is the source and center of his life. When that's not true. Self and sin are the source and center of his life.

20:18 He is not participating afresh in Christ's body given and blood shed. No. His heart and his affections feed upon this world. His communion table is that of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Directive 2: Only Those Actually United to a True Church

20:40 So none but those who are united to the person of Christ should come to the Lord's table. Now while this part of the answer is clear and most who claim to believe the Bible would insist on this prerequisite of coming to the table. No. No.

21:01 No. No. No. No.

21:01 No. No. No. No.

21:02 No. No. No. No.

21:02 No. No. No. No.

21:02 No. No. No. No.

21:03 No. No. No. No.

21:03 No. No. No. No.

21:03 No. No. No. No.

21:03 And so that's the only requisite. If an individual judges himself or herself to be savingly united to Christ by faith, then there is no other requirement for coming to the Lord's table. But I submit to you that the same Bible that teaches that first truth teaches a second truth. Who should come to the Lord's table?

21:29 Part of the answer, only those who are saving the United to the person of Christ should come to the Lord's table. But secondly, only those who are actually united to a true church of Christ should come to the Lord's table.

21:52 Only those who are actually united to a true church of Christ should come to the table. Now listen carefully as I explain the meaning of my words. And then we shall turn to the scriptures. What do I mean by actually united?

22:09 I originally wrote formally united and I said no. Because the words formally say more than the scriptures say. I use the word actually united to capture the thought that whether with a written membership or an unwritten membership, there is an actual and real unity. Writing with a visible congregation of God's people.

22:40 And if we could conceive of a situation where people had no means of writing, they were all illiterate, are we saying there could be no church in that situation? No, not whatsoever because I would go beyond the scriptures. Therefore I am speaking of a situation where the individual has made an intelligent, real, actual commitment to the life of a given assembly so that he recognizes himself as one having so been committed. He recognizes the legitimate oversight within that assembly.

23:22 The assembly knows that he belongs to them and is within the orbit of the privileges and benefits and liabilities of membership. Should he or she become a subject of discipline, They would know when he or she was put out of that membership. That's what I mean by actually united. And then I said, not the true church of Christ.

23:45 I said a true church of Christ. That is an assembly, a congregation, where essential saving truth is believed. Where to get into that assembly, one must give a credible profession of repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. And assembly where there is a reasonable measure of biblical preaching and discipline so as to maintain a climate where Christ's rule and government in that church is to one degree or another a valid, and a true church of Christ.

24:26 And a clear reality. Because remember Jesus said in his warnings in the seven churches, a time comes when his rule and government and discipline and word are so despised that a church ceases to be a true church. He says, do this or else I will come and remove your candlestick out of its place except you repent. And while it's not my purpose.

24:57 It's my purpose in this message to go into all of the facets and the problems connected with this aspect of truth. Suffice it to say that according to the scriptures, when we take up the question, who should come to the Lord's table? Not only do the scriptures answer by saying only those who are savingly united to the person of Christ should come to the Lord's table. But secondly, only those who are actually united.

Biblical Basis for Church Membership Requirement

25:27 To a true church of Christ should come to the table. Now on what basis do I make that assertion? Turn back to the Acts 2 passage with me if you will please. For here in this marvelous watershed of so many aspects of biblical truth related to the church and its life and ministry, the divine order established through the apostles is as clear as the noonday sun.

26:00 You remember? You remember the sequence Peter is preaching? Men are stabbed in their hearts. They cry out in the middle of the sermon.

26:08 Peter gives them a little mini answer to quiet them down. Then he continues his sermon, verse 40. And with many other words he testified and exhorted saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. Then they that received his word were baptized.

26:30 And there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles teaching and fellowship in the breaking of bread. Who continued steadfastly in the breaking of bread? Well it's the they.

26:57 And who are the they? The they. The they includes all those but only those who on that day gladly received the word of explanation regarding Christ and his death and his resurrection. The word that opened up and explicated the implications of being united to Christ and to his people in the midst of a crooked generation.

27:28 They who received the word of God. They who received the word manifested that reception not by raising a hand, walking down an aisle, speaking in tongues. They manifested it by obeying the apostolic command, repent and be baptized. Verse 38.

27:47 And they that received his word were baptized and there were added unto them to be a hundred and twenty upon whom the spirit had come on the day of Pentecost. This whole new group is added to the existing group and as one vast entity comprising approximately three thousand one hundred and twenty on that day they continued steadfastly in these activities. Now surely brethren unless we have an axe to grind or a case to defend this passage sets the foundation of the gospel. The whole new group is added to the existing group and as one vast entity comprising approximately three thousand one hundred and twenty on that day they continued steadfastly in these activities.

28:30 Now surely brethren unless we have an axe to grind or a case to defend this passage sets the foundation of the gospel. For everything that unfolds in the subsequent record of the ministry of the apostles in the book of Acts and the configuration of the churches as they appear in the epistles. So that when we turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

28:51 Who is it to whom Paul is writing? When he says in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. I received of the Lord. Well, we go back to chapter 1 and the answer is clear.

29:12 This letter was not written by the apostles, sent to the printer, and then advertised as the hottest item in the local Christian bookshops to give a new sense of life and vigor to people's personal devotions. This, like almost all the letters of the New Testament, was written to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes, our brother, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, there's the doctrine of union with Christ, they are called saints, the words, to be in italics in an older translation indicate there's no verb there, to be, they are called saints, they are saints constituted, the company of those set apart from sin in the world unto God and unto Christ, called by God, they have been laid hold of by the God described in verse 9, God is faithful through whom you were called into the fellowship or participation of his Son, so he envisions the church existing at Corinth,

30:35 comprised of specific individuals who are sanctified in their union with Christ, called saints with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours, indicating that he recognizes and wants the Corinthians to recognize that though they are a discipline, they are a distinct entity as a church, they are part of the larger church of Christ, universal, all of the companies of those who call upon the Lord Jesus in every place hold fellowship with this particular church there at Corinth. So when we go back to the chapter that is the watershed chapter, chapter 11, and he writes in verse 17, In giving you this charge, I praise you not, that you come together, not for the better, but for the worse, who was coming together? It was the church, comprised of those who were actually united to that church. They knew who was in, and they knew who was out. Otherwise, the directives of chapter 5 are nonsense.

31:56 They said, cast out the wicked brother, the one who names himself a brother, cast out that wicked man. What have we to do with judging them that are without? God judges those without, we judge those within. They knew who was without, who was within.

32:13 And the issue is not, did they have a written membership? The issue is, there was an actual uniting to the church that was known by every individual who so united, and by the company of the united ones. And all...

32:29 All of his treatment of the doctrine of the Lord's Supper assumes that that entity is gathering together. Verse 20, When therefore you assemble yourselves together. Who is the assembling group? It is a church.

32:51 It is a gathering of those who are actually united in church fellowship, and in the church. In church commitment. And therefore, when we ask the question, who should come to the Lord's table? The answer of scripture is clear.

33:15 Only those who are savingly united to the person of Christ, and only those who are actually united to a true... Need to know.

Three Positions on Communion: Open, Closed, and Restricted

33:32 I shouldn't say you need to know. I believe it will be helpful. It will be helpful for you to know, and this is why I'm including it by way of application, that historically, there have basically been three positions among evangelical Christians on this question of the place of actual church membership in relationship to the Lord's Supper. There is the position that has been called open communion, the position called closed communion, and the position that we have chosen to call restricted communion.

34:05 Open. Open communion is the position that says anyone who believes himself to be a Christian is welcome to come to the Lord's table. For example, if we believe that entirely unrestricted open communion was the teaching of the Bible, when that table has upon it the large loaf tonight and the fruit of the vine, what we would say, whoever is leading at the table, forgot which of the two brethren are leading tonight, they would say, now, we welcome and expect that all of the members of Trinity Baptist Church will come to the table. If you're here visiting from an evangelical church, a church where Christ's word is loved and preached and you're not under the corrective discipline of that church, we welcome you to the table. Then they go on and say, and if you in your heart are convinced you've believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, if you in your heart are convinced that you are united to Christ, though you have never had that profession put to the test of the scrutiny of any congregation, any group of church leaders, if you judge your profession to be credible, unilaterally, you're welcome to come to the table. And the position of open communion says, communion must not be restricted any more than the offer of salvation is.

35:31 If Christ says to all men indiscriminately, Him, when it comes to me, I will in no wise cast out, then we must, as it were, echo Christ's invitation to life and salvation at the table and say, whosoever wills to come so long as you judge yourself to be a believer. Now that's the position of open communion. That's not a caricature. That's the position.

35:59 This is why certain parachurch groups don't have any scruples about having communion services, where they don't have a clue about the individuals. For example, when I was at Urbana a number of years ago, a missions conference called by InterVarsity Fellowship, a parachurch organization, thousands of students sat in a large, not auditorium, but like the Brendan Byrne Arena, a large basketball arena, and were encouraged to have a communion service. A totally non-church, non-ecclesiastical framework. They had no problem with, quote, That's a position that has been held, and alas, tragically is held by many in our day.

36:44 Then there is a second position that has been described as closed communion. And those who hold this position, and there have been some very able defenders of that position, I've sought to read their arguments and weigh them carefully, say that this is a church ordinance, a local church ordinance. Paul was writing, to the church at Corinth, and he said, when you come together, when you gather together, and their position is, that since only members of a local church, that is a true church of Christ, should come to the table, and since it should only be members whose walk before God does not scandalize the table, or bring judgment upon the one who partakes, then only members in good standing of that local church are invited to the table, and all others are excluded. That's the position of closed communion. Now some have a modified version of that, but that's it in its essence. But then there is the position that we have chosen to call restricted communion.

Advocacy for Restricted Communion

38:00 And by restricted communion, we mean this. We see in the scriptures that this is a local, local church ordinance. That it is an ordinance given by Christ to local congregations. And we see that it is not right to invite to the table anyone who simply judges himself to be a Christian, but who has not yet, for one reason or another, committed himself in an actual commitment of identification with a specific church.

38:38 A specific local church. However, we believe that there are other principles in the word of God which must be taken into consideration at the Lord's table. Do we believe that, as Paul writes to the Corinthians and says, you who are the church at Corinth, a specific entity, a local congregation, have fellowship with all who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus in every place? Is there such a doctrine as the church universal comprised of true churches around the world?

39:15 We say yes. And we believe it is incumbent upon us to bear witness to that truth wherever and whenever we can with a good conscience. This is why this morning we prayed for churches across the Atlantic Ocean in the United Kingdom, thereby manifesting in our corporate public prayers on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Lord's Day morning that we have spiritual fellowship with our brethren in the south of England, in East London, up in Glasgow, and way up in the Highlands in Inverness.

39:49 And we are manifesting by our intercession our conviction of that reality. Now, suppose next Lord's Day, for some reason, those four pastors for whom we prayed should show up the next Lord's Day, not today, were a communion Sunday. We believe that we must declare the same truth by the manner of our opening up the table. And therefore we say not only do we expect the members of this assembly who are not under corrective discipline to come to the table, but if you are here and you are a member of a true church of Christ, an evangelical church where the doctrine of Christ crucified is preached and loved, and where people to come into that church must profess repentance and faith, and you are not under the corrected discipline of that church, we welcome you to the table. What are we saying? We are there by seeking to manifest at the Lord's table our conviction of the doctrine of the universal church. Not an invisible church, but the universal church.

40:57 And while we do not have chapter and verse to demonstrate that, there are some passages where it's clear. For example, in Acts chapter 20, when the Lord Paul went to Troas, and there it says in verse 7 that he and his companions gathered on the first day of the week in order to break bread, and though it may have involved the common meal, that terminology surely points to that special supper of remembrance. No one is ready to prove that Paul and his companions were members of that local church at Troas. So there is some biblical material to warrant that position, but it's inferential, but it rests down squarely upon this larger biblical doctrine of the doctrine of the universal church. And therefore, what we practice here is not open communion. And that's not because we're narrow-spirited. That's not because we necessarily question the validity of every individual who believes himself or herself to be saved.

42:08 No. We do not practice open communion because we do not see that the Lord Jesus instituted a table that should be spread in that unrestricted way. What we see him instituting to his apostles is a table at which saved men and women come, yes, but saved men and women who have openly confessed their identity with Christ in baptism and have committed themselves to the life and discipline of a specific, concrete, local assembly of God's people. And if the Lord of the table has made known his will through the apostolic practice, then who are we to alter the revelation of his mind? So we do not practice open communion. We do not practice closed communion because we think those who hold that position are narrow-minded and nasty. And we want to distance ourselves from them.

43:11 If I were to name the names of some who held it, you'd be surprised. Godly, good men who had a love for Christ and a love for his church, but we practice restricted communion because we believe that this most helpfully expresses the full spectrum of biblical truth in answer to the question who should come to the Lord. The Lord's table. The Lord has been pleased to institute an order in his church.

43:48 And he has instituted that order for good and for wise reasons. And because he has done this, we dare not overturn what he has done and then claim to love him for he says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Now there are times when we have been regarded as unloving because we have not taken the position of open communion. And our answer is this.

44:21 Shall we be moved by a sentimental love that caves in to the pressure of men? Or shall we be moved by principled love to Christ that obeys his word?

44:35 And I think the answer is clear and the echo of the answer is in the heart of every true child of God. That we must obey our Lord. Now in the light of the clock, I can see we're not even going to get to the second part of our concern this morning. How should we come to the Lord's table?

Pastoral Application to the Unconverted and Unchurched

44:56 Perhaps we'll carry right on to that tonight. I'm not sure. But as we seek to bring this into a sharp, practical focus of concern, let me say to those who are here this morning who do not fit one or both of those categories. Who should come to the Lord's table?

45:19 Only those who are united to Jesus Christ by faith. My friend, listen.

45:31 If you do not have what God's people declare at the Lord's table, you are not a Christian, you have no hope in this life or in the age to come. What we declare at that table is that Christ crucified for sinners is the only object of our confidence for the forgiveness and cleansing of our sins. We declare our participation in the virtue of His body given up in death, of His blood shed as a sacrifice for sin. We declare that as food and drink, are the life of our physical existence.

46:17 So Christ crucified is the life of our souls. That is the declaration of every Christian. A Christian is someone who's gotten beyond a mere notion that somehow everything's not quite right and somehow there's a celestial big daddy up there who can fix it all up and somehow or other I've asked him to help me and I feel a little better and therefore I must be a Christian. No, no, my friend.

46:46 Listen. Until you have come to own that your greatest problem in the world is not your emotional and psychological hang-ups, not your relational disruptions whether husband, wife, father, child, sibling, society, until you've come to own that your greatest problem is that you are a sinner under the wrath of Almighty God and if God gave you what you deserve, hell would be your grave. And if God gave you and split wide open and swallow you up forever and angels would worship God for his justice in sending you there. Until you've come to that conviction you know nothing of being a Christian.

47:29 But having come to that conviction the good news is Christ died for sinners. And in dying for sinners what did he bear? He bore the hell that will surely be yours and mine if he does not intervene.

47:46 That's why there's nothing laughable about what he did on the cross. When God shrouded the heavens in inky black darkness for three hours and plunged the soul of his son into the realities of outer darkness it was the pressure of that darkness of abandonment that rung from his soul the cry my God why have you abandoned?

48:19 My friend the cross was no longer no joke to Christ. The hell he bore was real. The hell you'll go to is real unless conscious that that's where you deserve to go. You turn and throw the full weight of your hell deserving soul upon the Christ who died and rose from the dead and lives now in the virtue of all that he has done for sinners to take you to himself to credit to your account all of the virtues of his perfect life to credit to your account all of the virtue of his substitutionary death so that when he's done that he can say oh my father look at the record of that sinner and my father see if you can find one blemish the father with his all piercing eye looks at the record and says to his son my son I find no blemish that sinner must must , be brought into my presence with full acceptance no charge can I lay against him there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in my friend if you've not come to that place

49:49 of a conscious acceptance of your own hell deservingness and a conscious conscious reliance upon Jesus Christ don't be insulted and hurt and offended that we don't welcome you to the table be thankful that our refusal to let you come to the table is a reminder of a far greater and far more devastating refusal that will come in the day of judgment when Christ will exclude you from his presence except you repent and believe the gospel by hedging the table we do good to them we reminded them until they are in Christ they have no part in the virtue of his body broken and his blood shed my unconverted friend you have no right to the table for you've come to the Lord and embraced him as your own but you say Pastor Martin I have by the grace of God when you spoke of coming to the awareness of hell deservingness yes God has brought me there I see the sins that I once glossed over as little human infirmities and weaknesses I see them as offenses against the holy God I see them as provoking God's righteous wrath

51:18 and if God gave me what I deserved I'd be in hell already and God through the preaching of the gospel has shown me that Christ is the only hope of sinners and I rest solely in Christ in what he's done and what he is I see I am a child of God that faith is no dead faith I'm not the same I'm a mystery to myself I love things I once hated and I hate things I once loved I delight in things which once bored me and things that once thrilled me have lost their luster and their taste and their attraction I know that by the grace of God I'm a new creature then my friend why have you not confessed it in the way of God's appointment and committed yourself to God's institution his church not necessarily this church a true church of Christ whatever its name may be whatever its external circumstances of gathering may be that's not the issue the issue is that the Christ who called you out of darkness into light calls you into the fellowship of his church and surely if you love him you will keep his commandments and all through the book of Acts the Lord added to the church such as were being saved none added to the church but the saved none saved but that they were added to the church there's the teaching of the word of God

52:46 may God grant that you'll see that you despise Christ's church it may have been an ignorant despising perhaps you never heard till this morning that the matter of the church is not a matter of a convenient man-made institution it's a divinely conceived a divinely wrought institution I will build my church and it is Christ's body the church is called the body of Christ and therefore I would urge you seriously to go back to your Bible and see if the same Bible that pointed you to your sin and to the only hope for sinners does not point you as a penitent believing sinner to that ordinance of initiation baptism and into that institution and organism called the church within which in the fellowship of Christ and his people and under the oversight of those whom he gives as gifts to his church your soul may be nurtured and cared for and you in company with other redeemed sinners will be able to come to that table and sit in joyfully fellowship and bask in the wonders of the privileges of the blood-bought children of God who should come to the Lord's

54:16 table only those who are savingly united to the person of Christ and only those who are actually united to a true church of Christ let us pray our Father we thank you that you have given us in your word that which becomes a light to our feet and a lamp to our path and we pray that by the Holy Spirit you would take your word and make it effectual even this morning to give light to some who perhaps have been in ignorance for some who have not been in ignorance but have been in a state of disobedience we pray that your word will constrain them to a life of obedience Lord we pray that by your grace in this place the table of our Lord Jesus will ever be a table over which he presides and that all whom he welcomes will be found at that table each time it is spread and those whom he excludes will not presume to come against his revealed will seal then your word to our hearts we pray

55:43 and use it to draw some into that blessed saving union with your son and others who have been brought into that union use your word to bring them into the fellowship of your church to this end we commit your word to you asking you to seal it to our hearts in Jesus name Amen