Well, we have, as I mentioned just a few minutes ago, been looking at the matter of the Lord's Supper itself instead of focusing as often we do on some particular aspect of the suffering or death or resurrection of the Lord Jesus. We began by looking at the Passover as it prefigured and shadowed the Lord's Supper. to see how the Lord Jesus desired to eat that last Passover and it was during that Passover that he instituted this special meal that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. We saw in our last Lord's Supper that we are to be united as we partake of that one bread together as the emblem of our unity around the foot of the cross. This evening, We want to come to 1 Corinthians 11 and let us note together as we begin that really this is the only place in the scriptures where it is our communion meal, our communal meal is called the Lord's Supper. And the word here used for the Lord is a special word if there are many, many, many times that curious into the hundreds of times that that term would be used in the Greek New Testament. When it comes to this variation of that, Kyriakos instead of Kyrios, this is one of the two times that that special term is used. One is Revelation 1 and verse 11. where John writes that he was in the spirit on the Lord's day, a special day that belongs to the Lord. And here of the various meals that we can have throughout the week, there is only one meal that in a special way belongs to the Lord, and it is this communion meal. This expression can suggest a number of meanings. That which lies right on the surface and most literal is the supper belonging to the Lord. We could think as well of a supper hosted by the Lord. He is present. The supper which the Lord ordained. That is true as well. And the supper at which the Lord's body and blood are shared. It is also helpful for us to recognize this evening as we come to 1 Corinthians 11 that a, humanly speaking, a large part of the reason why we have Paul's teaching on the Lord's Supper here is because of the carnality of the Corinthian church. Because they were so bad that Paul needed to address what their sin was in their wrong way of trying to celebrate the Lord's Supper and then to lay out in the midst of that something of the distinctive focus in his laying out of the institution of the Lord's Supper. So let's come to Roman numeral one and notice something of the Corinthian abuse. the Corinthian abuse of the Lord's Supper. And I have more in my notes than what I want to cover and what I can comfortably cover this evening, so I'm going to move more quickly through verses 17 through 22. First of all, A, the context of the abuse. He doesn't just start immediately by saying, all right, this is what the bread symbolizes and this is what the wine symbolizes. But rather, we start as we did by seeing from verse 17 that there is something of a definite shift. And what we want to do is to see that there is a shift in the Apostle Paul's focus in this section beginning with 11.17. That is to say that earlier he has addressed the matter of lawsuits within the church and given direction. and he has talked about the issue of marriage, and particularly when you have a married couple, they both were unbelievers, and now one is converted and one is not, and how do they fit together? He deals with the matter there of marriage, and then chapters eight through 10, focusing more on foods that were offered to idols. Now in chapter 11, he is coming to focus on matters of the gathered church. And so I highlight what I read already, 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 17, since you come together and highlight as well the next verse 18, for first of all, when you come together, as a church. He's going to move on from 1 Corinthians 11 to talk about the use of gifts in their worship. So he's continuing on in that theme of when you are gathered together as a church, let me deal with the communion abuse. Let me deal with the abuse of spiritual gifts. Let me talk about love. Let me come in 1 Corinthians 14 to consider further matters of the church gathered for worship. So let me, as we've already highlighted verse 17 and verse 18, let me highlight for you verse 20 and some of the other verses here in this section. So at verse 17, since you come together, verse 18, you come together as a church. Verse 20 is, when you, plural, come together in one place. Verse 33, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. Verse 34, but if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And then over to 1 Corinthians 14.23, if the whole church comes together in one place, and 14.26, whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has and interpretation. I trust that these passages make it abundantly plain that dealing with the Lord's Supper, the Lord's Supper is to be viewed as a gathered church issue. Paul makes that abundantly plain. And then we want to recognize what we already know, I trust, that when he says, when you come together as a church, what is a church? And I think God has been very kind to us in leaving something of the old meaning of ecclesia in our New Testament scriptures. So we get a sense of that before we see how it is to be understood you. as the context of God's gathered people. And in Acts 19 in verse 32, it is used there in verse 32, verse 39, verse 41, as the assembly of the citizens. There is a matter, there's actually something that borders on a riot that takes place, and all of the citizens have been gathered together there in the stadium, and they are referred to by this term ecclesia, but it's translated in verse 32, for the assembly was confused. Verse 39, it shall be determined in the lawful assembly. And verse 41, and when he said these things, he dismissed the assembly. There were no slaves in that assembly. That ecclesia consisted of those who were the citizens of that city. And so when we think of ecclesia as the church, when you come together, there is this designation, this focus on when you're coming together as the citizens of God's kingdom, those who have a right to be there, those who have been judged, it has been judged appropriate for them to be there. The citizens of Christ's kingdom are a known group. In Acts chapter one and verse 15, the number of the names was about 120. And so the citizens of Christ's kingdom here at Grace Church of Downingtown ought to be a recognized and certainly a knowable group. And it is in that gathering of the citizens of the people of God that we celebrate the Lord's Supper. We recognize that it is something for these who are the citizens to come together and to have this meal together that speaks of their common union and commitment to one another. Malcolm McLean, one of those several books that I've been looking at in recent months, writes about the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is a communal meal. It is a meal that expresses the unity of the congregation. This unity was highlighted in 1 Corinthians 10, I'm gonna summarize his message, where in 1 Corinthians 10, you've got these who are part of the table of the Lord, and maybe over there, you've got those who are part of the table of that demon, and those who are part of the table of that demon, and there is to be no intermixture. So there was a union of the people of God as they relate to those who are on the outside. In 1 Corinthians 11, there is a slightly different emphasis. It is, once again, the people of God, but it is the people of God united in their relationship to one another. There is to be no division among them. They are to be a united people of God. So just keep in mind this evening that this is the Lord's Supper, a meal that in a special way belongs to the Lord and we want to do everything in a way that is pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, there is something of A, the context of the abuse. Notice with me. Secondly, B, the identity of the abuse. And we have in verse 18 and 19, a dual designation of the sin. I hear there are divisions among you, verse 19, for there must also be factions among you. The factious spirit may point to something of different viewpoints, perhaps something of heresy. These people coming together, what they have in common is the Lord Jesus Christ. There are a lot of things that they do not share in common. Somebody may prefer Paul and somebody else, Apollos, somebody else, Peter, and someone who is super spiritual claims to have a special affinity for the Lord Jesus Christ. But further, some are Jews, some are Greeks, some are Romans, some are nationals from other countries that are working there in Corinth. Then you've got another potential division. Some would be the dock workers there at Corinth as a seaport. and others would have been more professional and belong to the educated class, living in their spacious homes, while others would be down as low as the slaves. So there is a lot that they do not have in common, and yet what they have in common in the Lord Jesus Christ is to be the glue That brings them all together. But there, there are schisms, there are factions. But further, we notice in verse 19 that there is God's overruling purpose in such sin. It's wrong that they have factions. but those factions will be used of God that those who are approved may be recognized among you. When you go through a crisis as a church, the behavior of some will probably not be that commendable. Others, their behavior will be very commendable, and you see things coming out of their character that perhaps you have never seen before. And you recognize who is approved by having that kind of special allegiance to the Lord Jesus, even in a crisis situation. Further, notice the destructiveness of this sin. What's the big deal if you have some schism, if you have some faction within the citizens of the kingdom of God? Well, it's there in verse 20. Therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's supper. Now, maybe it was announced to be the Lord's supper that evening, And maybe there were emails going out in Corinth saying this is what the meditation will be on that particular time. But if you come together and have these various factions and you're still going ahead with it, you can't really celebrate the Lord's Supper because that is something that highlights the unity of the people of God. It is very important for us to be united as a body of believers. And living in a sin-cursed world, there will be situations, there will be crises that we face. That test something of that unity and common commitment to one another. But we have to recognize that we can't just allow disunity, schism, faction, different viewpoints on how we move. We can't allow those to dominate in a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Further, The essence of the sin is seen in verse 21. One is hungry and another is drunk. McLean again. Paul's description of the practice in Corinth reveals that the Lord's Supper was connected to a meal. And his description also reveals that the entire church, particularly the poor members, did not share in this meal. The wealthier class, they would have had their food and their drink right in front of them, and they partook of it. Perhaps there are slaves that are coming in later because of their work demands, perhaps even. working for one of these that's a little bit more self-absorbed. But there is, on the one hand, those who have such abundance of food and such abundance of drink that they become a little giddier than what they should be at the Lord's Supper. And on the other hand, you've got individuals there that you can hear their stomachs growling because they have not been able to eat. Leon Morris writes, There were even in the heathen religions meals where the rich shared their food with the poor. But at Corinth what took place was a travesty of love. The Corinthians did not even reach up to the standards of the heathen. Each put his provisions in front of him and proceeded to eat his own food. The context of the abuse, the identity of the abuse was B, and now thirdly, C, the blameworthiness of the abuse. Does Paul really care about this happening in the church? Now verse 22, what? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the Church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you. There is this selfishly adapted feast is not something that is forced on the Corinthian church. It's not like you have been shipwrecked and you're coming in from sea and you haven't eaten in a week. All I'm saying is just is a part of your routine is you have homes that you can eat and drink in so you shouldn't be so horribly hungry as you come to the worship of God that you must eat all of this and drink all of this that you have. But then this selfishly adapted feast shows a despising of the Lord Jesus and the rest of the church. And that's what selfishness can do. And we may not see our own selfishness. Let's face it. We are quite comfortable with ourselves. We know how we think, we know how we got to such and such, and so we may really need the Holy Spirit to convict us of something of our selfishness, but Paul is saying your actions are communicating a selfishness. You're eating and drinking all that you can right in front of you, but you are not concerned about those who are poor, those who have nothing, those who have perhaps even had to work on this Lord's Day. So this selfishly adapted feast cannot be praised. He refuses to praise them for it. So what is he really doing? is saying you guys at Corinth once again are in a mess. And it's a mess that needs to be addressed. Fourthly D, the avoidance, the avoidance of the abuse. We need to beware of a party spirit as we come into the table of the Lord. There cannot be rightly a disposition where we come to the table of remembrance and we don't like one of those guys who is passing the tray, or we don't like a person that we are passing the tray to, that we complain about these individuals, we despise them, we look down on them, we feel distance from them. Remember Paul's pointed words here in verse 20. Whatever it is that you're doing here, Whatever it is that was announced on a Sunday morning, whatever was announced in a church-wide email, it is not to celebrate the Lord's Supper. Because the Lord's Supper is a supper that belongs in a special way to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now living in a sin-cursed world, there are going to be difficulties that we will face, and difficulties that we will face even in the matter of working through issues together. But remember the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 12 and verse 18, if possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. And if that has a broad application into all of society, then surely it has an application to us as the people of God. Maybe there is something of some friction and some difficulty, if possible, So far as depends on you, be at peace with all men. So, the Supper of Remembrance. On the one hand, it is very individual. Make sure that you examine yourself, not that you're to be examining your neighbor. It's very individual. On the other hand, It is very corporate. It is not just about me. It's not just about you. It is about all of the people of God. Roman numeral one, the Corinthian abuse of the Lord's supper. And now Roman numeral two, the original apostolic institution of the Lord's supper. And here we're looking at verse 23 through 26. And it's amazing how much truth Paul packs in to these four verses. First of all, A, the source of the Apostolic Doctrine of the Lord's Supper. For I receive from the Lord that which I also delivered to you. Aren't you glad? that the Apostle Paul is able to say, what I'm passing on to you is truth that I have received from the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is striking that Paul's words of the institution are very similar to the words of Jesus in Luke 22 and verse 19. This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And in the same way, he took the cup after they had eaten saying, this cup, which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. There's a lot of similarity. But I don't think that Paul is just saying that I read Luke's gospel of what Jesus said about this. I think it's more direct. For I received from the Lord, the Lord Jesus, very likely, spoke directly to the apostle Paul and said, this is what I want to happen in every church's Lord's Supper celebration. But then his apostolic directory is saying, here is a delivery. Here it is, Corinth. We want to purify the church by dealing with this selfishness. So we're going to deal with the selfishness, root all of that party spirit out. And then we're gonna come to the foot of the cross, and we're gonna say, this is what the bread stands for, and this is what the wine stands for. So the source of the apostolic doctrine. Secondly, B, the essence. The essence of the apostolic doctrine of the Lord's Supper. It is bread and wine. There is this symbolic bread. Verse 24, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And I'll go ahead and I've read from the New King James, leaving out a couple of additional words. Let me read from the New American Standard. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. So in verse 24, we have the thanks. The thanks that is so common in connection with food. How much more in this special meal of the Lord. The breaking. The breaking of the bread. It does, in a sense, symbolize the broken body of the Lord Jesus Christ, how his skin was pierced, how his body was hurt with the crown of thorns, with all of the flogging. But there is a breaking here, it seems, for distribution. We can't all just pick up It's broken into the pieces and then distributed. And then the stated representation. The stated representation is this bread, it stands for my body, this too in remembrance of me. Let me read McLean again. The Lord's Supper is a sacrificial meal. not in the sense that the participants are offering a sacrifice, but in the sense that they, in eating and drinking the elements of the bread and wine, participate in the benefits that Christ gives to them because of his sacrifice. It's a sacrificial meal only in the sense that these elements, the bread and the wine that we partake of, are to be partaken of in remembrance of that one, once for all, sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the thanks. the breaking for distribution, that stated representation, and now the required remembrance. There at the end, do this in remembrance of me. Thomas Watson, writing concerning the Lord's Supper, says, let us make this use of our Lord's suffering on the cross. to learn not to wonder much if we meet with troubles in the world. Did Christ suffer, who knew no sin? And do we think it strange to suffer, who know nothing but sin? Did Christ feel the anger of God? And is it much for us to feel the anger of men? Was his head crowned with thorns? And will the members lie among the roses? Must we have our bracelets and diamonds when Christ had the spear and the nails? The required remembrance. We partake of these elements, but we are specifically thinking back to our Lord's sacrificial death, the bread. What else is of the essence of the apostolic doctrine? Well, there is the wine. the fruit of the vine. He says, in verse 25, Paul writes, in the same manner, he, Christ, also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. There's a representation once again. The wine. this very modern version of the wine. It still is the fruit of the vine. It could be confused as being the same being blood. But this is to represent, it is to remind us of that shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But then concerning the significance, as we hold our modern little representation of a COVID cup of the blood of Christ, what are we to think of? Well, these lines of significance I've drawn from Thomas Watson. Christ's blood is a redeeming blood. From Acts 20 in verse 28. Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. It is redeeming. It pays the redemption price. It purchases us out of the sleeve market of sin. But further, with Watson, Christ's blood is a reconciling blood. As we partake of this and say, what does this wine, what does this fruit of the vine represent? What does it signify? It signifies that in Christ's death, He was reconciling us to God. Colossians 1 and verse 22, yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death in order to present you before him holy and blameless beyond reproach. I didn't read the word blood there, but hopefully the idea of the death of Christ and how frequently death and blood are put together, we can see that the blood is a reconciling blood. Further with Watson, Christ's blood is a quickening blood, John 6 and verse 54. Though this is not a Lord's Supper text, John 6, Yet John is able to record of the Lord Jesus, he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. He says if you eat normal wine and normal bread, physical wine and physical bread, it will sustain or even give you physical life. But if you will partake of this spiritual bread, Christ's body, and Christ's spiritual blood, then it will impart to you eternal life. Further, Christ's blood is a cleansing blood. If the heifer sacrifice in the Old Testament worked for the cleansing of the flesh, Hebrews 9, now verse 14, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? What else are we to think of as we look at this emblem that represents that blood of the Lord Jesus. Well, Christ's blood is a comforting blood. It brings assurance to us. It comforts us in our relationship that we have with God. And I think of our text in Romans 5. Romans 5 and verse 8, but God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. And he goes on to argue, that because of the definitive death of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we ought to have this assurance that we are indeed reconciled to God and that we will be received into the eternal heaven. Christ's blood. Watson now. Christ's blood is good against fainting fits. Christ's blood is better than wine. Wine cheers the heart of a man that is well. Yet wine will not cheer his heart when he has a kidney stone or when he has the pangs of death on him. However, Christ's blood will cheer the heart at such a time. It is best in affliction. It cures the trembling heart. A conscience sprinkled with the blood of Christ can, like the nightingale, sing with a thorn in its breast. The blood of Christ can make a prison become a palace. It turned the martyr's flames into beds of roses. The martyrs are beaten, they rejoice. They die and behold, they triumph. Why? Because steeped in the blood of the cross, they do not fear death, but hope for it. Did you catch that? They do not fear death, but they hope for it. the significance, and now briefly the remembrance. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. It is a memorial. Common wine, common fruit of the vine, it stands as a representation of that once for all sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ when his body was broken and his blood was shed. Now all that remains is verse 26. This is C. The special summary purpose of the apostolic doctrine of the Lord's Supper. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. There is a proclamation. The purpose here is to have the gospel shared. The purpose is not to offer another sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the frequency of this proclamation. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, the gospel has got to be central to the Lord's supper. As often as you eat it. For the early church, that was likely weakly. The elements. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. And one has pointed out that the bread and the wine have already been elevated. They've already been given thanks for. but there is no change to those elements according to the text. It's still bread and it's still wine. We eat the bread that is still bread, but it's a symbol and we are remembering to that once for all sacrifice. And we're drinking of the cup, but it's still wine, but it reminds us of that of the past. Then the long duration, of this proclamation, until the Lord returns, till he comes, as long as the Great Commission will be assisted by Christ, until the end of the age, until Christ returns. And it's wonderful that, once again, we see how the Christ Return is just everywhere in the New Testament. It's at every Lord's Supper, or ought to be somewhere there in our minds, the long duration. Notice the proclamation purpose. In the Lord's Supper, we have a great object lesson of the gospel. And the object lesson of the gospel is, There was the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ that was given for a sacrifice, and it was broken, it was pierced, and there is that blood. there is that symbol of the shed blood. So whenever we have the Lord's Supper, we've got these object lessons, common things that many of us would find in a kitchen cabinet any day of the week. But there was an object lesson here, and God is saying, I want you to understand that this is what the bread stands for, and this is what the blood stands for. It's a proclamation. It's proclaiming the Lord's death. And this may seem silly, but it's one death. It's not proclaiming the many deaths or the many re-sacrificings of Christ, that one death. But the gospel is given to us not only in an object lesson, but the gospel is given to us at the Lord's Supper because you and I believe what we are doing. And we have the gospel being proclaimed when tonight we take this thing, which before the service, we were talking about how, you know, it's really not the tastiest bread that we've ever had. That's not the point. The point is that it stands for the real flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, who is willing to humble himself to become a man and then double humble himself to go to the shameful death of the cross. And we are taking that, placing it to our lips, and imbibing Christ and saying, I believe in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, I believe in the broken body of the Lord Jesus Christ, I take in this wine, I take in this fruit of the vine that stands for the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, And I believe, I believe that as I partake of these elements, speaking of how I believe in Christ and believe in his sacrificial death, as I take him and make him to be my own, I believe that I will be received into heaven. There's the gospel. There's the gospel and the object lesson. And there's the gospel and you and me perhaps not even thinking about how we are sharing the gospel with those of younger years and those who are not yet Christians by saying, I believe, I believe, I believe. May God grant that the gospel will be proclaimed as we partake. here this evening.