The Lord's Supper as a Means of Grace (2)

The Fiery Passion for Gospel Purity and its Link to Ordinances

0:04 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, January 30th, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, in order to set our exposition in a very particular setting and sphere of reference, I would ask you to turn with me to Paul's first letter to the Galatians, or Paul's only letter to the Galatians, and the first chapter, Galatians chapter 1, and follow, please, as I read verses 6 through 12. Galatians chapter 1, beginning with verse 6. That you are so quickly removing from him that called you in the grace of Christ a different gospel, which is not another gospel, only a gospel of the Holy Spirit, only a gospel of the Holy Spirit, only there are some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you,

1:29 let him be anathema, that is, accursed of God. As we have said before, so say I now again. If any man...

1:42 If any man preaches unto you any gospel other than that which you received, let him be anathema. Or am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ.

2:09 For I make known to you, brethren, as touching the gospel, which was preached by me, that it is not after man. For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ. It is quite clear from this passage that I have read in your hearing that the Apostle Paul was filled with what we may justly describe as a fiery passion. A fiery passion to maintain the purity of the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So intense was that passion that he invokes the very curse of God upon any creature upon earth below, or from heaven above, who would tamper with the contents of that gospel. Now, church history clearly demonstrates to us that maintaining the purity of the gospel is very often inseparably linked with maintaining both the purity and the simplicity

3:35 of the two special gospel ordinances instituted by Christ in which the spoken gospel, in its leading truths, is baptized, validated and illustrated in the symbolism of those wordless ordinances, namely baptism and the Lord's Supper. And therefore, if we believe with the Apostle and share his spirit, that the maintenance of the purity and simplicity of the spoken gospel is a matter of life and death, then we cannot be indifferent to the maintenance of the purity and simplicity of those gospel ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. In our continuing consideration of the manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church, we are presently dealing with the ninth affirmation in that manifesto, namely, that we are determined to maintain a balanced, New Testament doctrine of conversion, the Christian life and the mission of the church.

The Biblical Basis for Observing the Lord's Supper (Recap)

5:01 And under the second major category, that is, the doctrine of the Christian life, we are presently examining the fifth and final principle of a balanced doctrine of the Christian life, one which I have stated as follows, that there are no effective substitutes, that there are no effective substitutes, that there are no effective substitutes, for the God-appointed means of grace in living the Christian life. Having sought to identify and open up private or individual means of grace, such as secret prayer and the personal reading and assimilation of the word of God, we are now examining what we have called the public or corporate means of grace, using Acts 2.42 as the framework to identify those major corporate means of grace. In Acts 2.42, writing of the early church in Jerusalem, Luke tells us, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine or teaching, in the fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.

6:17 Now we are presently focused upon the third of those four public means of grace, mentioned in Acts 2.42, that description of the continuance of the church in the breaking of bread, a phrase which points to their practice or pattern of periodic celebration of the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. Now in our initial study of this third public or corporate means of grace last Lord's Day, we addressed over the last few days, just only one fundamental issue, namely the biblical basis for observing the Lord's Supper. And in that study, we saw that the biblical basis rests upon two lines of biblical evidence. First of all, the original command of the Lord Jesus Christ, particularly as it is given to us in Luke's account, chapter 22 and verse 19, Luke has in common with Matthew's account in chapter 26 and Mark in chapter 14 of his Gospel, that this Supper of Remembrance was instituted after the celebration of the Jewish Passover meal,

7:41 and our Lord having instituted a new Supper with new elements, with new intentions and significance, said, this he continually doing in remembrance of me. And then the second pillar on which practice rests is the perpetuation of the command of Christ by the Apostles. That perpetuation is seen both in their practice and in their precepts. Now having addressed that one issue last Lord's Day, namely the biblical basis for observing the Lord's Supper, and from a pastoral standpoint, I want to tell you very bluntly, I would be deeply grieved if any one of you had a four or five year old child who at the next Lord's Supper should observe things and afterwards say, mommy and daddy, why do we practice the Lord's Supper if you could not sit down with your child and say for two reasons, because in Luke 22 19, Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me, do this in remembrance of me, and because in the book of Acts we have two passages that show this was obviously the apostolic practice, Acts 2 42, Acts 20 and verse 7, and it was inculcated by apostolic precept,

9:08 1 Corinthians chapter 11 23 and following. Now is that expecting a lot of so-called mature believers? And I say God have mercy if we do not listen, absorb and lay up the word of God sufficiently to be able to do a simple thing like that. And if we're too lazy to do it, mark my word, there will be an erosion of the simplicity ordinance and with it an erosion of the gospel.

9:39 Give up careful attention to these things and eventually there will be to some degree a relinquishment of the gospel itself. So I urge you to master that simple, fundamental, biblical structure of argument as to why we observe the Lord's Supper. Now we take up only one thing this morning. Having considered the biblical basis for the observance of the Lord's Supper this morning, the biblical significance of the Lord's Supper.

The Threefold Biblical Significance of the Lord's Supper: Recollection

10:17 What precisely does the Bible say this supper is intended to be? What precisely should we expect from it when we observe it? When our children ask us as it was expected Hebrew children would ask their parents when they observed them partaking of the Passover meal what does this mean? Not why do we do it but what does it mean?

10:46 What will you tell them and with what scriptures would you back up your answer? Now in the face of the mountain of confusion, mystery, superstition, man-made traditions and soul destructive errors that surround this simple supper involving and the fruit of the vine do the scriptures say with respect to the significance of the Lord's Supper? Now it is my thesis this morning and this is what we'll accomplish in the time that remains to demonstrate that when we take all of the biblical materials and they are relatively few that address themselves specifically to the Lord's Supper come to the conviction that the biblical significance of the Lord's Supper can be captured in three words recollection, participation and declaration recollection or something that's close to a synonym you may prefer commemoration

12:12 recollection or commemoration act of calling back to mind is the dictionary definition of recollection participation an act of sharing in something and declaration an act of proclaiming something every leading line of biblical material which addresses itself to the question what is the significance of this supper can be found ranged under one of those three words consider them with me then as I flesh them out in rather larger headings but so that you can keep the substance of the message together in just three words I've given them to you at the outset number one the Lord's Supper is intended to produce heightened concentrated recollection of the person and work of Christ crucified the Lord's Supper is intended to produce a heightened concentrated recollection of the person and work crucified now in opening up that heading my outline is very simple and I'll use the same under each heading

13:40 consider the biblical evidence and then several lines of application consider the evidence Luke chapter 22 19b we looked at this last week with reference to why we observe the Lord's Supper because it is the command of the Lord Jesus this be ye continually doing a present imperative but now this morning the focus is on the latter part of that command Luke 22 19b this be ye continually doing in remembrance be ye continually doing unto this specific end that is a fresh calling of myself this be ye continually doing in remembrance of me and then in the very familiar words of the institution in 1 Corinthians 11 we have the same words given to us twice 1 Corinthians 11 24 this is my body which is for you this do in remembrance

15:07 of me at the end of verse 25 this cup is the new covenant in my blood this do as oft as you drink it in remembrance of me now the Holy Ghost could not underscore more clearly than he has done by bringing into conjunction the language of the original institution by Christ and then the language by which Christ revealed this institution and its binding nature upon the church to the Apostle Paul he says I delivered unto you that which I received what did he receive he received a directive in which the very words of the Lord Jesus from the original institution are given to us not once but twice so three times in the relatively scanty materials with respect to the Lord's supper central to that supper is this word remembrance eating bread that represents my body given drinking of the cup that represents my blood shed do these things in remembrance of me now this particular noun translated remembrance is found only one other place in the New Testament and it's a very helpful usage

16:36 if you'll turn to Hebrews chapter 10 there are other words remember or remembrance and this word has that other word the major one as its root but this is an intensified use it's that word with a preposition as a prefix but it's used in Hebrews chapter 10 follow as I read verses 1 to 3 for the law having a shadow of good things to come not the very image of the things can never with the same sacrifices year by year which they offer continually make perfect than that draw nigh else would they not have ceased to be offered because the worshippers having been once cleansed would have had no more consciousness of sins but in those sacrifices and here's our word now there is a remembrance made of sins year by year now what are the contrasting ideas notice them in the context remembrance of sin is contrasted with no more consciousness of sin do you see that in the passage alright so that the law did not institute a final and an effectual means

18:05 of putting away sin because the sacrifices which brought sin to remembrance were continually offered and there was the annual day of atonement which in particular was a reminder that sin had not yet been fully finally irrevocably put away in the sight of God and so the contrast between remembrance is no more consciousness what's the opposite of no more consciousness it is the fresh heightened calling into the realm of one's mental and spiritual awareness that's what it is in its usage here in its verbal form is a helpful illustration of the use of this word in conjunction with Peter the Lord had prophesied before the rooster crows three times twice you will deny me three times and Mark tells us in Mark chapter 14 and verse 72 and Peter calling to remembrance the word which Jesus spoke he was then broken he wept bitterly Christ had spoken a word that had fallen out of the present heightened mental awareness of Peter amidst all the hurried

19:33 and fearful events from the arrest to the trial Peter had somewhat pushed those words or they had drifted down into the deeper chambers of his mind and his soul but when Christ looked away upon him we are told in another gospel account and Peter brought these words up to a what a heightened concentrated present mental awareness then his heart was broken and he went out and he wept therefore in answer to the question what is the biblical significance of the Lord's supper I answer the Lord's supper is intended to produce a heightened concentrated recollection of the person and the work of Christ crucified now why do I say having shown the meaning of the word remembrance that it is a heightened concentrated recollection of the person and the work of Christ crucified because he said this do not in remembrance of my death but in remembrance of me my person he could have said this do in remembrance of my death

21:01 with regard to the third significance of the Lord's supper we read in first Corinthians 11 as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you do proclaim the Lord's death not his person but his death till he comes Jesus could have said this do in remembrance of my death but he didn't he said in remembrance of me the one who is about to die the one who will die and be raised from the dead and will be remembered at his own table until his second coming it is to be a heightened concentrated recollection of his person but not of his person in some general way person in conjunction with the two simple activities he has just mandated this in remembrance of my person this do in remembrance of my person and what are we to do we are to take bread that has been set apart from the common use of bread bread which has been set before us and which we have thankfully received from God as a symbol of the body of Jesus Christ bread that we eat as a reminder

22:27 that that body was given up in the cruel death of the cross for us and then it is the cup which symbolizes the new covenant in his blood it is that which we do when we drink and he says these two things do in remembrance of me so it is this heightened concentrated recollection not only of his person or of his person in general in generic terms or his person primarily as our great prophet to teach us our king to rule over us but essentially and primarily and centrally as our great priest whose body was given up in death for us blood was poured out in the vial in death of the cross as he died the sinners substance if that is indeed the first element of the significance of the Lord's supper what do we say by way of application well let me trace out two lines of application with you and I hope you sense something of the amazement that this ought to produce in our hearts if this is the divine intention with respect to a divinely instituted ordinance namely to produce

Application of Recollection: Christ's Desire and Our Forgetfulness

23:54 a heightened concentrated recollection of the person and work of Christ crucified consider with me first of all what an amazing display this is of Christ's holy desire for the loving thoughts of his people an amazing display of Christ's for the thoughts of his people true Christian to some degree lives in Christ for in John 15 we are told if any abide not in me is cast forth as a branch and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burnt we cannot abide in Christ by faith without thinking about him every true Christian obeys Christ my sheep hear my voice and they follow me we cannot be true Christians and not think of Christ and his words we are further motivated in obedience to those words we are further spurred to abide in him by the great realities of his dying love for us to some degree every Christian is constrained by the love of Christ so in that sense it is only of the wicked that God says surely God is not in all of their thoughts Christ is not in the thoughts of the wicked except in terms of fearing him

25:23 as the judge who will consign them to hell in the day of judgment but they have no spontaneous delightful thoughts of Christ every true Christian has to one degree or another throughout the day thoughts of Christ for it is the very nature of love to think with delight upon love's object it is the very nature of love to think with delight upon love's object and every true Christian loves Christ 1 Peter 1.8 whom having not seen ye love and surely if we love him we think of him ah but he desires that those thoughts be given a periodic powerful visual tangible impotence frequent and more concentrated and he says I have chosen to do this by bread and the fruit of the vine this do in remembrance of me this do in remembrance of me now why would he value our remembrance of him enough to institute this simple supper of Christ

26:51 but he there was no one who could not by no means not do this with the light of his own sweet meatballs and that he was in Jesus being of the of powerful, visual, tangible impetus to intensify thoughts of him, he says, this do in remembrance. In a choice little work by Andrew Murray, South African man of God of another generation, some of whose works I heartily endorse, others I have serious reservations about elements of mysticism and other things, but he was greatly used in his generation and his books continue to be greatly used in a lovely little monograph on the Lord's table.

28:14 Listen to Andrew Murray as he addresses this very question. Why would Christ want our thoughts about him to be intensified? And Jesus will not be forgotten. He will see to it that this shall not take place for his own sake.

28:34 He loves us so dearly that he sets great store by our love and he cannot endure to be forgotten. Our love to him is his happiness and joy. He requires it from us with a holy strictness. He cannot endure to be forgotten.

28:56 So truly has the eternal love chosen us that it longs to live in our remembrance, every day.

29:09 Think of it. It's eternal love that rescued us from hell. Eternal love that purposed that rescue in eternity. And that love will not tolerate long lapses when we do not remember him who lavishes it.

29:29 And so my first word of application is stand in amazement that Christ who gave himself for us, cherishes our loving, reflective thoughts, person, and his works, crucified. But then secondly, by way of application under this first head, it is an amazing, grievous, humbling display. It's an humbling display of the retributiveness of the hearts of his people. Should a man be found burning in a building or in a burning building, trapped in the firemen have said, we can't get. We can't get. We can't get to him.

30:27 And some brave soul who bore no previous relationship to him breaks through the restraint of the firemen and that great risk to himself, rescues that man and in the process bears in his body for the rest of his days horrible and grotesque scars for that expression of concern for another human being. We would say surely the man rescued from a fiery death would never forget. His friend, the son of God, the second person of the Godhead, came all the way from the undimmed glory of the Father's immediate presence to take to himself in Mary's womb a true human soul and body. And in the mystery of the incarnation, humbled himself to become true man. And in his human nature, it was true manhood. Nothing but manhood.

31:29 Sin accepted. Therefore, he passed through all of the stages of prenatal development and birth and infancy and all of these other things. And then he lives in this sin-cursed world, bearing the burdens of that sin upon his sensitive spirit and ultimately carries up to the tree our sins in his own body where body and soul are immolated at the hands of men. And rapture.

32:01 Act with the greater pain of the wrath and fury of God to rescue the likes of us. And he bears forever in heaven the only, only marred body in heaven. They'll apparently be the wounds that are yet left in terms of the sight of the people of God ever to remind them of why they are there. Surely we don't need a piece of bread and a little of the fruit of the vine, to make us remember someone who rescued us at such cost to himself.

32:42 The self-emptying and the humiliation of the incarnation. All of the trauma and the grief and pain of living in this sin-cursed world, going to the cross and there becoming a curse for us that we might be rescued. Surely we would have to ask leave of Christ to think of anything else. We'd say, Lord, please forgive me.

33:09 Will you allow me not to think of you while I do my math lesson? Lord, will you allow me not to think of you while I concentrate on the Route 80 traffic as I drive to work? Lord, would you please allow me permission not to think of you while I do this task? You would think we would have to ask permission to draw our thoughts away.

33:30 Oh, shamefully that the Lord Jesus knows that the influence of our remaining sin on the world is only to deter us from God. That the world, the whole world, my every soul will not live with the complaint. A seducing world and a wily devil will take that heart that once burned in the throb of the fervor for his love to Christ. And so quickly he will have to say as he did to the Ephesian Church, I have summoned against thee that thou hast left. he was being betrayed, he thought enough of us and our need for a helper to our devotion to him that he said, take, eat in remembrance of me. Drink in remembrance of me. For if the love of Christ is the all-encompassing and most powerful motive to a life of gospel obedience, then anything that dampens that love is our greatest enemy. Anything that

34:58 fuels it is our great friend. And the Lord Jesus instituted this supper to the end of holy recollection. This too, in remembrance of me. The first biblical significance of the Lord's Supper then is this. It is intended to produce a heightened, concentrated recollection of the person and work. But then secondly, the Lord's Supper is intended to produce a present believing participation. There's our second key word. It is intended to produce a present believing participation in the virtue of the body and blood of Christ.

The Threefold Biblical Significance of the Lord's Supper: Participation

35:55 Crucifixion. Crucifixion. Crucifixion. Crucifixion.

35:56 Crucifixion. Crucifixion. Crucifixion. Crucifixion.

35:56 Crucifixion. Crucifixion. Crucifixion. Crucifixion.

35:56 Crucifixion. Crucifixion. The biblical evidence, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, please. The subject matter of this section is announced by Paul in chapter 8 in verse 1.

36:10 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols. They had questions with respect to the matter of meats that were offered up to idols in an idol temple. And was it right for a Christian to eat those meats? If he could purchase them as a bargain piece of beef for some other animal in the bazaar somewhere near to the place of temple worship, was it right for him, knowing that there's no such thing as an idol, it's just a name, there is no real being behind the idol, is it all right to sit down at a feast where meat is being eaten that has been offered to an idol? These are some of the concerns. As Paul was dealing with. And in the process of dealing with them, now follow me closely, I've tried to reduce this to the minimum of simplicity without doing violence to the context, he's going to demonstrate to them, when you eat the meat that is offered to an idol as part of the overall complex of the worship of the idol, you have a participation, a koinonia, a fellowship in that idol.

37:30 The idol worship, and behind that idol is a demon, and therefore he says, look at verse 20, but I say that things which the Gentiles sacrifice, 10, 20, they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I would not that you should have communion, participation with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake. The table of the Lord and the table of demons.

38:05 So he's concerned to demonstrate there's no such thing as a morally neutral meal if you're sitting at a meal where meat is being eaten that has been offered to the idol. And he said, you cannot truly come and confess at the Lord's table what is being confessed and have real believing participation in the. Virtue of the death of the Lord Jesus, while at the same time, you're seeking to have spiritual intercourse with idols, i.e., demonically induced worship.

38:44 Now, it's in that overall setting that we have this most helpful verse, verse 16, with reference to the biblical significance of the Lord's Supper, the cup of blessing, which we bless. Is it not a communion, a participation of the blood of Christ, the bread which we break? Is it not a participation, a communion, a sharing of the body of Christ? You see the emphasis in this particular text as he makes a passing reference to the Lord's table while dealing here, not with the subject of the Lord's table. He's. Dealing with the subject announced in chapter eight in verse one. But he assumes that the Corinthians would understand this particular strand of emphasis concerning the significance of the Lord's Supper.

39:46 He assumes they will understand that when, as a congregation, thanks is given unto God for the cup, the cup that now is not just an ordinary cup holding the ordinary fruit of the vine. It is now a cup set apart to commemorate Christ's blood shedding for sinners, the bread, the ordinary bread once set apart and for which thanks has been given to God. Those still ordinary bread looks like it smells like it tastes like it because that's what it is, but because it is bread set apart to signify the body of Christ in eating of it, we are brought into a. Particular. Particular. Particular.

40:31 Participation, a communion with we are brought into fellowship with the body of Christ. So you see the concept of communion. That's where we got the term, the communion service. We're going to have communion tonight.

40:50 It's taken from this English translation of the Greek word coin on ear. So what do we learn then from this passage? We learn that the Lord's Supper is. Intended to produce a present participation in the virtue of the body and blood of Christ.

The Nature of Participation: By Faith Alone (John 6)

41:09 Now, no one who believes the Bible denies what Paul says, that when we come to the Lord's table, we have communion of the blood of Christ and communion of the body of Christ. But now here's the cruncher. In what way do we have communion with his body and blood? Roman Catholics have an answer.

41:34 It's unbiblical. Lutherans have an answer. It is unbiblical. Others have answers that do not square with the scriptures.

41:43 Now think very carefully with me. This is crucial. I don't know how to make it any simpler. I can't do your thinking for you.

41:50 I've done mine to try to arrive at the irreducible minimum, to lay it out simply, but gird up the loins of your mind. Here's the question. In what way, in what manner. What is the nature of the communion, the sharing, the participation in the body and blood of Christ?

42:10 Well, the answer is this. Scripture is clear that it is only by faith that anyone appropriates to himself the saving virtue of the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus Christ. It is only by faith that any sinner in any place at any time under any circumstances, only by faith that a sinner can appropriate to himself the saving virtue in the broken body and shed blood of Jesus Christ. And in no passage is this made more clear than in John chapter 6.

42:51 And I want you to turn there with me for a few moments, please. In John 6. If you remember, Jesus fed the 5,000.

43:01 Now the crowds press in upon him and Jesus tells them why they're doing it. John chapter 6 and verse 26. Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw the signs and therefore understand that I am your Messiah, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Work not for the food which perishes, but for the food which abounds.

43:28 Hides unto eternal life which the Son of Man shall give unto you. Don't work for food that perishes. Don't be ready to traverse wildernesses and follow me all over simply to have your belly filled. Concern to press after that food which is eaten is unto eternal life.

43:51 Then they answer with a question. They said therefore unto him, what must we do that we may work the works of God? Jesus. Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent.

44:10 This is what God requires of you, to believe on the one whom he has sent. And that I am that one, my signs and miracles attest to it. But you don't yet see me for who I am. And then he goes back into the theme of bread.

44:30 Notice verse 33. The bread of God. God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life unto the world. They said unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.

44:42 Jesus said, I am the bread of life. Now notice, he that comes to me shall never hunger. He that believes on me shall never thirst. How do we eat the bread of life that Jesus is and that Jesus gives?

44:56 By coming to him which is synonymous with believing upon him. You see that in the context? Then he says in verse 40, this is the will of my father, that everyone that beholds the son and believes on him should have eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day.

45:14 What do we need to do to be raised up, glorified, safe in the last day and enter the everlasting kingdom with the Lord Jesus? We need to behold the son and believe upon him. And we have the word of Christ will be raised at the last day. But then as he goes on, into what becomes a rather testy discourse, notice what he says later on in this passage.

45:40 Verses 48 and following. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate man in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, which a man may eat thereof and not die.

45:54 I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. Now notice, yea, and the bread which I will give is, my flesh for the life of the world. And the Jews strove with one another saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?

46:11 Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. Now note, he that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. Now, keep your finger on verse 54 and go right back to verse 46. I'm sorry, verse 40.

46:49 This is the will of my father, that everyone that beholds the son and believes on him should have eternal life. I will raise him up at the last day. What's the requirement for being raised up at the last day? You must possess eternal life.

47:08 How do you get eternal? You must possess eternal life by beholding the son and believing on him. Now Jesus, the same Jesus in the same setting says in verse 53, except you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the son of man, you have no life. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.

47:31 I will raise him up in the last day. Who will be raised up at the last day? He that has eternal life. Who has eternal life?

47:38 He that eats the flesh of Christ and drinks his blood. Now you've got one of two conclusions. Either Jesus in the same context, two ways of salvation.

47:52 He teaches the way of salvation with straightforward language in one and with figurative language in the other. You can't have it any other way. The promise is precisely the same. Eternal life, resurrection at the last day unto glory and blessedness.

48:10 The path to it, in one place is said to be seeing the son, believing on him. The path in the other is said eating his flesh and drinking his blood. So you've got two ways of salvation.

48:24 Salvation by cannibalism. Salvation by sacramentalism. Salvation by ingesting bread and wine.

48:39 Does Jesus come out of heaven to teach such nonsense? No. He is using, eating his flesh, drinking his blood, as marvelous metaphors.

48:57 Faith, deed of the soul. Faith takes his body broken on the cross. Faith takes his blood shed for sinners and says, Oh God, that body broken and that blood shed are all life and my salvation. I take Christ and that salvation in him.

49:31 I take the bread from his hands. And I, by faith, would eat his flesh and drink his blood.

49:41 And what is true of the initial act of saving faith then? God desires to have constantly perpetuated among his people. Now look at 1 Corinthians 10, 16.

49:59 View it in the light of what we've seen in John chapter 6. The cup of blessing which we bless. Is it not a communion, a participation of the blood of Christ? What do we do at the table when we take the bread and take the cup?

50:20 What we are saying is that here at the table there are present believing acts directed to the Lord Jesus Christ in the virtue that is in his body broken and his life. His blood shed. That as it was the believing appropriation of those realities and the virtue in them that brought me into the way, so now I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not move on from Christ crucified, but I grow up into him in all things, ever standing before the living, God in the posture of one whose only hope of life and salvation is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. As we corporately bless and give thanks for the bread and what it symbolizes, then we are to eat with intelligent, present actings of faith in the virtue that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, in the body broken and the blood. Fresh cleansing, fresh confidence

Application of Participation: Who Should Partake and How

51:47 that every blessing sealed by that blood and promised in the new covenant will be fulfilled in us. So that coming to the table is not only a call to recollection, to remember the person and work of Christ crucified, but to a fresh, fresh participation by faith in the virtue of the body broken and the blood shed. Now quickly, what do we say to this second head by way of application? Well first, if one has never begun to appropriate the virtue of the body and blood of Christ by faith, he has no business at the Lord's table. If one has not personally appropriated the virtue of the body and blood of Christ by faith, he has no business being at the Lord's table. That initial reference in Acts 2.42 describes a people who had come under conviction of sin and cried out, men and brethren or brethren, what shall we do?

52:59 They were directed to repentance and faith and to confession of Christ. And with many other words, Peter set before them the implications of discipleship and identity with Christ. Then it says, they that received his word, were baptized and were added unto them and they continued steadfastly. And you would be amazed at how good men have argued to use the Lord's table as a means of evangelism.

53:28 No, no my friends, it's not a means of evangelism in terms of partaking. You'll see the sense in which it is, but not in partaking. It is a means of nutrients, of the soul being absorbed. The only way the soul can absorb them, by faith, by faith.

53:50 That's why Paul said to the Corinthians, when you come to the Lord's table, some of you are drunk and others of you are burping yourselves silly. You've bloated your bellies full of food and been gluttons and you're insensitive to one another. What you're doing, though you may be praying over the cup and praying over the bread, he said it is not possible for you to be keeping the Lord's supper. There is no autumn.

54:15 There is no blessing. There is blessing only when we come in the way of faith and it's only a believer who can thus come in the way of faith. The second obvious application is if a believer does not engage in present actings of faith at the table, his eating and drinking will do him no good. You see, the problem with many of us, we're superstitious and we wait for some kind of holy zapping to hit us while we're there at the table, while we take the bread and drink the cup and wait for some mindless, tingles to go up and down our spine.

54:49 No, friends. We are to fix the eyes of the soul upon Christ as he's represented in that bread and in that cup and by faith afresh confess our confidence in the virtue of that body broken and that blood shed. A believer must engage in present actings of faith at the table if he's to have any, any profit. And thirdly, there's no visible representation to aid faith given by God other than the bread and the cup.

55:29 Roman Catholics say, well, seeing Christ on a cross, a crucifix, it's an aid to my devotion. It's an aid to my faith. God never warranted crucifix. He never warranted stained glass windows with pictures of the great shepherd and other biblical scenes.

55:49 It's a violation of the second commandment, but he did say, take bread and take a cup. And let these be the visual reminders. I died for you, my people. Feed my faith upon me.

56:04 Yes, I know. You've stumbled. You've fallen. Your devotion has been weak and your affections have been fickle.

56:12 You've allowed yourself to be spattered with the filth of this world, without and within. But, oh, my people, I shed my blood, and it ever goes on cleansing from all sin. Come in faith and trust me. Your present cleansing.

The Threefold Biblical Significance of the Lord's Supper: Proclamation

56:30 But then, thirdly and finally, and more briefly, the Lord's Supper, in its biblical significance, is not only to be understood in terms of recollection, participation, but thirdly, proclamation. The Lord's Supper is intended to be a symbolic declaration of Christ crucified as the source, and center, of the life of the people of God. The Lord's Supper is intended to be a symbolic declaration of Christ crucified as the source and the center of the life of the people of God. Now, where is the biblical evidence? Turn to 1 Corinthians 11. In verse 26, Hear the apostle Paul by the inspiration of the Spirit, and this may also well be part of what came to him by special revelation, part of what was given and he delivered, or it may be his Spirit-inspired deduction.

57:43 In any case, it is the word of God. How does he finish what we would call the more formal words of institution with these words? As often as you eat this bread, it was bread before, as a congregation, you gave thanks to God for it through the mouthpiece of one of those at the table. It was bread before, it was bread after, it's bread when it's broken, bread when it's passed, bread when it's eaten.

58:11 As often as you eat this bread, but it's bread set apart to signify the body of Christ assumed and given in a violent death for us. As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, obviously you don't drink the cup. As you melted a cup, you couldn't drink it. It's a solid.

58:34 You drink that which is in the cup, the fruit of the vine, a cup which is set apart, containing the ordinary fruit of the vine. It was fruit of the vine before it was set apart. It was fruit of the vine when you blessed and gave thanks to God for it through the mouthpiece of the one who's leading you at the table. It is fruit of the vine afterwards, but it is this cup now set apart to signify Christ's blood shed for us.

59:03 As often as you eat this bread, and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he come. Here the apostle says, you proclaim, katangelo, one of the words frequently used in the New Testament to describe preaching. It's the word used back in chapter 9 where Paul says in verse 14, even so did the Lord ordain that they that proclaim, they that preach, they that solemnly declare the gospel should live of the gospel. It is used in Colossians 1.28 where Paul gives a summary of his apostolic ministry and speaking of Christ in you, the hope of glory, he says, whom we katangelo, whom we preach, whom we proclaim, whom we solemnly declare. It's used in Philippians 1.16 and 18, and some preach Christ. They proclaim Christ of envy and strife and some of sincerity.

60:12 It's used several times in the book of Acts, Acts 13.5, 17.3. I don't want to labor the point.

60:18 I simply want to give you enough text that when Paul wrote, as often as you eat this bread, we describe what that bread is, and the cup, you proclaim. In all the other instances, it is a verbal declaration, of the truth of God. But here, he says, is a non-verbal declaration. And whenever we come to the table and conduct ourselves according to the apostolic directives in the spirit of holy remembrance, of recollection, of present participation by faith in the virtue of the body and blood of Christ, we become a company of preachers. We all become preachers. We, together, become one mighty megaphone when we come to the table. Now, what do we declare?

61:18 Well, look at the text. As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death. Literally, the death of the Lord. Now, isn't it interesting?

61:32 He didn't say you proclaim Jesus' death. He said you proclaim the death of the Lord. So, when we, become one huge megaphone, through which, as a congregation, when we break bread and drink the cup, we become a mighty voice to preaching. We're preaching the death of the Lord.

61:57 Surely, that involves at least these two things. We're preaching our conviction that the One who died and rose again is none other than the Lord of glory. He was the Lord of glory, who came to Mary's womb. The Scripture says, had the Jews known His identity, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

62:22 He is the Messianic Lord, according to Acts 2.36, who has been put in a place of sovereign mediatorial lordship as the reward of His sufferings and death and humiliation. And when we come to the Lord's table, we're preaching this One. He is Lord.

62:43 We preach the death of the Lord. We preach the fact that we believe the One who died and rose is none other than the Sovereign Lord, the incarnate and now exalted God-man, Christ Jesus. And then we preach, secondly, our conviction that the death He died is the central issue in our religion. The death He died is the central issue in our religion.

63:12 We proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. Do we have no appreciation for His life? Ah, yes. It was that perfect life which was credited to us and gives us perfect standing in the court of heaven.

63:30 But it's by His death that He removed the guilt that would have damned us. And this is why Paul could say earlier in this epistle, When I came to you, Corinthians, I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him, crucified, crucified. 1 Corinthians 2-2 A synonym for the gospel is what? We preach Christ crucified unto Jews a stumbling block and unto Greeks foolishness.

63:56 Galatians 6-14 God forbid that I should glory save not in the cradle at Bethlehem, not in the throne at the right hand of the Father, but God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. No, What we are proclaiming, dear people, is the death of the Lord. We're proclaiming the fact that we believe that he who died and now lives is the Lord. And we're proclaiming our conviction that his death is the central issue of our religion.

64:34 And we are proclaiming, in a secondary sense, our conviction that he will come again in glory and in power. You proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. So someone asks us, how long will this go on? You say, well, if the Lord delays his coming, he will have a people remembering him at his table, wherever he has a people who love him and who derive all of their spiritual life from his death and the virtue of that death.

To Whom We Proclaim the Lord's Death

65:04 But a time is coming when these emblems will give way to sight and will behold the glorified Lamb in the midst of the throne and bread and the fruit of the vine will no longer be. And to whom are we proclaiming it? It says you preach the Lord's death till he comes. Well, to whom are we preaching?

65:25 Well, we're preaching, first of all, to our own hearts. You know how to preach to yourself? You don't have to be eloquent. You don't even have to be fluent.

65:34 If you haven't learned the art of preaching to yourself, there are many of the songs you can't pray through with any sympathy. Preaching to ourselves. As we sit and take the bread, we're saying to ourselves, yes, you are a sinner. In many ways, you're a miserable failure.

65:50 But this bread signifies the body in which he lived a perfect life. In which he consummated his obedience in the death upon the cross. All my hope is in him. I eat.

66:02 I take afresh to myself the virtue of his perfect life and his obedience consummated in death. I take the cup. And as I take the cup, I say to myself, as really as this cup is filled with the fruit of the vine, pressed from some grapes, gathered on some hillside somewhere in New York State or somewhere else, surely as those grapes once existed whole and intact and were crushed, and this is now the result, the blood of the incarnate God spilt from wounds opened up by thorns and by lash and by nails and by spear. And in that blood shed on behalf of sinners, like me, is all my hope and all my salvation. I preach to myself the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin. That sin of being irritated with my wife an hour before I came to the service tonight. That sin of looking upon that thing I shouldn't have looked upon on Thursday.

67:09 The sin of this, that, or that. And then we preach to one another. We sit as a company of sinners whose only hope is Christ. And what encouragement it is as my brethren take their place in the presence of God.

67:25 They take their piece of the loaf and they say, Christ crucify. Christ's blood shed is my only hope. And I take my piece of the bread and my cup and I say, we're in this together. And we preach to one another symbolically, non-verbally, by eating this bread and drinking this cup.

67:47 We preach to ourselves, to the gathered brethren. We preach thirdly to our children and the unconverted among us. We're saying, We're saying to people all among us, our only hope is in the Lord of glory who came down from heaven, who lived and died and went back to heaven, taking with him in his person all the virtue of that body given up in death and the blood shed for sinners once for all. In him all that virtue resides and our hope is in him alone.

68:21 We preach the death of the Lord. It is his death. Which is central to all of our religion. All of our life grows out of an immolated Savior.

68:36 And then we preach the principalities and powers. Look at Ephesians 3.10. I don't have time to consider it with you.

Application of Proclamation: Guarding Simplicity and Centrality

68:42 But they're looking in as well and they stand in amazement when they see a company of hell-deserving sinners joyfully remembering the Lord at his table. Now in closing, let me make just a couple of quick applications on this third principle. The third aspect of the significance of the Lord's table. The first is negative, but it needs to be made.

69:05 We've looked at all of the major biblical materials related to the significance of the death of Christ. I mean the supper of the Lord, I'm sorry. And there's not a shred of evidence that the Lord's death could ever, by any stretch of the imagination, be construed as a reenactment of the Lord's death. of the Lord's death.

69:29 of the Lord's death. of the Lord's death. of the Lord's death. of the Lord's death.

69:30 of the Lord's death. of the Lord's death. of the death of Jesus Christ. The Roman Catholic doctrine that the primary focus of the Lord's table is Godward.

69:42 It's a reminder to God in a bloodless but real reenactment of the sacrifice of Christ. That's why in the old rubric the priest had his back to the Lord that he was acting on their behalf towards God.

70:00 Dear people, there isn't a shred of biblical evidence for the Roman Catholic doctrine nor for the Lutheran doctrine.

70:07 Many other doctrines that have been built up in books written when the simple data says do this in remembrance of me. Is it not a communion of the body and blood of Christ? You do preach the Lord's death till he come and when you've looked at those three sets of texts that's it!

70:32 This blessed, simple, gospel-ordinary and why has the devil signs and imaginative, superstitious minds to concoct these weird, blasphemous, no-sins-of-a-simple-suffer-of-remembrance because he hates the gospel. And when people believe that nonsense they're blinded to the simplicity of the gospel message. And they put their hope in superstitious hocus-pocus.

71:05 And that's why I say you and I must jealously guard the simplicity of this ordinance. When the proclamation of the sacrificial death of Christ for sinners ceases to be central in the ministry of the word, and in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, vital religion will die. Preaching and the Lord's Supper must have Christ crucified at the center. Well, last Lord's Day we examined the biblical basis for the Supper, the command of Christ, and the perpetuation of that command by the apostles in both practice and precept.

Final Application: Deliverance from Worldliness

71:45 Today, the significance of the Supper, recollection, remembrance of me, participation, communion, in the body and blood of Christ, in the only way we hold that communion, by faith and proclamation or declaration, you do proclaim the Lord's death till he come. Now, may I be so bold as to close today with one very, very pertinent application. One of the reasons for which Christ died according to Galatians 1-4 was to deliver us out of this present evil age. Now, you've got a choice, some of you sports lovers.

72:30 You can go home today and sanctify a whole day unto the Lord and sit down with your kids and break down what I've given you into simpler words and go over the text with your kids until you've made your own little catechism about the significance of the Lord's Supper and you've nailed down these texts and sought to instruct your family. You can sneak off to your bedroom where you keep your little 13-inch TV set and pop in every few minutes and check the score of the Super Bowl. Listen. What you're doing, if you choose the latter, you're bringing into serious question whether or not the blood of Christ has ever been applied to your heart.

73:10 Because he died not to leave you wedded to this world. Did you count the concerns of 300-pound men, button heads of more concern than obeying the living God who says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. You show you have more regard for playthings than the word of God taking root in your soul and in the souls of your children. It's crunch time for some of you.

73:42 You better stop your inveterate patterns of worldliness or give up your profession of belonging to Christ. Because Christ never saved worldlings leaving them worldlings and then took them to heaven. He'll put your heart in heaven before he takes you there. And it's crunch time for some of you.

74:02 And you don't realize how much you're in bondage to playthings until you determine, I am going to do absolutely nothing to even find out the score of the Super Bowl until tomorrow morning. You won't even be able to get off to sleep if you're in such bondage. Yes, some of you are that bad. Have hard feelings with God and ask him to apply the severing power of the cross to your heart.

74:33 Ask God to deliver you from the madness that will find they estimate 135,000 of our countrymen finding an excuse to fill their bellies with beer and pop corn and watch a game. Is Christ crucified not precious enough to keep the day on which he rose from the dead? I trust your life will bear witness that he is. Let us pray.

Prayer of Benediction

75:11 Our Father, we thank you for your word that it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway. We thank you that it is a sufficient rule of faith and of practice. We thank you for the portions we've been able to study today that we might not be able to do today. May we be in ignorance when we come to the table of our Lord Jesus in your will and purpose even next Lord's Day.

75:37 May we come with a renewed understanding that we come to a supper that you intend should be a season of recollection, a season of participation, a season of declaration. And may we in dependence upon your Holy Spirit so come and may you draw near and make the table to us. Amen. All you intended it should be.

76:03 Seal your word then to our hearts we pray and dismiss us with your blessing resting upon us and have mercy upon our nation as we this day would mourn in our hearts for its idolatry even beneath the tokens of your frown and your judgment. Oh, may we not become not only gospel hardened but judgment hardened as well. Oh, gracious God, fulfill your word which says when your judgments are in the earth, the sons of men learn righteousness. May that be true of our nation for Jesus' sake.