We'll be looking at some scriptures tonight relating to. The biblical view of the Lord's Supper. But before we get into the biblical view. We will expose some false views of the Lord's Supper. Matthew 26 is the passage. which we'll be in for part of the evening here. And of course it starts in verse 26. And we'll just read down to verse 30 tonight before we begin our message. Matthew 26, verses 26 to 30. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and break it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks. And he gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. And when they had sung in him, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Let's pray. Father, tonight, as we approach the Lord's Supper, we ask you, Lord, to prepare us. Thank you for the songs that we can reflect on tonight. All that you have done for us on the cross, through your precious blood, your broken body, But also, Lord, help us to search our own hearts. Have you searched us, Lord, to examine ourselves. And what we know, Lord, we can deceive ourselves. We ask you to examine us through the Scriptures, to know our hearts, our thoughts, and to cleanse us and purify us by thy precious blood tonight. Father, we ask that you would teach us more about the Lord's Supper. We know Many have past religious experiences, maybe saved out of Catholicism or Protestant churches, Protestantism, and there's just a confusion in the world. So help us, Lord, to look at the scriptures tonight and understand the biblical view, the right interpretation of these passages. We ask that your Holy Spirit will be our teacher. We ask in Jesus' name, amen. So Jesus clearly says, in verse number 26, take ye, this is my body. And the next verse, or verse 28, for this is my blood of the New Testament. So what does that exactly mean? Think of Paul, go hold your finger. Well, we'll kind of come, we're going to go back in a few different ways, but we can go over to first Corinthians 11, uh, 10. Now first Corinthians 10, Paul is warning the Corinthians about idolatrous feasts, chapter 10. and he draws a parallel about participating in the Lord's Supper. Chapter 10, verse 16, verse Corinthians 10. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? So here he's saying there's a communion and He's saying there's a communion of the blood and of the body. So we need to understand the sense in which we are partaking of the communion of the blood and body. And what does that really mean? So before we actually look at the biblical view, I think we'll kind of get to it along the way. The first thing we need to look at is, number one, the Catholic view. The Catholic view. And it's a big word. So John was talking about big words, reading Josephus, history, the antiquities. This is one, brother, maybe you know it, transubstantiation. Go ahead and write that out, please. Transubstantiation. Now this word, we're going to read about the Council of Trent, 1376, and I quote, the Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring, quote, because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the church of God, and this holy council now declares again that by the consecration of the bread and wine There takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ, our Lord, and then the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change, the Holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation. That's transchanging. and substance, changing of substance. So what does the Roman Catholic Church believe? They believe that an ordained priest, when he blesses the bread, it is actually transformed into the flesh of Christ, the actual flesh of Christ. And though it retains the appearance, odor, and taste of bread, and when he blesses the wine it is transformed into the actual blood of Christ though it retains the appearance, odor, and taste of wine. So the Catholics have that interpretation of this is my body, this is my blood. That's what they're interpreting. Now there's several different ways they get there. Let's look at John chapter 6. John chapter 6 talks about eating Christ's flesh and drinking his blood. I'll give you the text because I won't be able to read it the whole text right now. But in John chapter 6 It begins at verse 32 and it goes all the way down to verse 58. And you could read that, but we'll jump right in to verses 53 to 57. So Jesus now, of course, he says, I am the living bread. in verse 51. So what's he saying? He's saying to them in verse 53, Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him as the living father hath sent me and I live by the father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me this is that bread which came down from heaven not as your fathers did eat manna in our dead he that eateth of this bread shall live forever this is the pretext we could say this is the text that taken literally that's what they're saying you take this literally a little interpretation is saying yeah we eat we eat his flesh we drink his blood and so the roman catholics interpret this passage literally and apply this message to the lord's supper which they title the eucharist or mass So that's the Catholic view. We'll deal with it in a moment. Number two, the Protestant view. Here's another word, John. Consubstantiation. Not trans, but con. And that word meaning with, with substance. not changing into the substance but with substance. So this view was held by Martin Luther and John Calvin. Of course Luther came out of the Roman Catholic Church and he wanted to correct the errors of the Roman Catholic Church while taking seriously both Jesus identification of his body and blood with the elements and the idea that he was truly present at the supper. So what do they actually teach? Their interpretation or Luther's solution, Calvin, was to say that although the bread wine did not literally become the body and blood of Christ, Jesus is nonetheless spiritually present under and through the elements under and through the elements he is present hence the use of the latin prefix con meaning with so that is their interpretation Jesus is really present in the uh in the supper but there's no change in the substance of the elements themselves so we have a very popular view the catholic view on the other hand we have the protestant view now we need to understand the biblical view and we can call it the baptist view because it is what we hold to today And when we look at John chapter 6, we're not interpreting literally that Jesus is saying literally eat my flesh and drink my blood. It's a figurative language. Think about how Jesus uses the verb to be in other symbolic ways. He says, I am the door. Is he literally a door? I am the vine. Is he literally a vine? So, even in the context of the Gospel of John you could probably go through a whole list of how Jesus uses figurative language. So, what we are talking about today is not literally eating his his flesh or literally drinking his blood but we believe that it is a memorial or a commemoration is what we call a commemoration a memorial now go back to the john chapter 6 Jump down to verse 63. Jesus said, It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh, profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. So Jesus is clearly saying his words are spirit In John chapter 6, think about the whole context. Jesus was using physical concepts like we understand eating and drinking common to everyone, but he's using it to teach a spiritual truth. Amen? And so what is he saying? Just as consuming physical food and drink sustains our physical bodies, our spiritual lives saved and build up by spiritually receiving him by grace through faith. Eating his flesh and drinking his blood are symbols of fully and completely receiving him in our lives and trusting him in our lives. That's what it means. so we have to come down to what the bible is teaching that the lord the lord himself will get back to a kind of an application here at the end which i hope settles the whole matter in your mind but paul over in first corinthians 11 let's go over there Verse 24. What does he say? And when he had given thanks, he break it and said, Take ye, this is my body, which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. There's a key word. after the same manner also he took the cup when he had stopped this cup is the new testament in my blood this do you as often as you drink it in remembrance of me that's in the bible amen it's a memorial it's a remembrance of christ and what he has done for us not the actual consumption of his physical body and blood. Now think of John chapter 6. Jesus did not have the Lord's Supper in mind in John chapter 6. He didn't even institute the Lord's Supper yet. So for us to take a leap back to John chapter 6 to read the Lord's Supper into John chapter 6 is unwarranted. That's the problem with wrong interpretations. Not only you can understand John chapter 6 is figurative language, but to say that is the Lord's Supper, that's what he's talking about. No, it is not. So we reject both the Catholic view and the Protestant view. Let me give you a few reasons. Number one, where's Jesus now, physically? Where's his body? It's in heaven. Jesus is physically, he has his glorified body, was glorified, but he is there. They're worshiping him. Remember the Lamb of God? this is if we're saying you know that he comes down let's say we're observing the lord's supper he's physically present here how's he going to be physically present everywhere else around the world that's observing the lord's supper tonight at the same time it's to undermine his true humanity which the bible clearly teaches god in the flesh The other reason it's a problem is because it's worshipful adoration of the elements. The elements become idolatrous. They are becoming the body and blood of Christ. So it is idolatry. But the most serious reason to reject this It is to re-sacrifice Christ over and over and over again. To re-offer Him again, His body and blood, again and again and again. It's against the Word of God. Go to Hebrews chapter 7, verse 27. We see several passages here, but it's talking about the high priesthood of Christ, his priesthood. And it says, who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people's. For this he did once, once, when he offered up himself. Do you see that if Jesus, this turns into the literal blood and body of Christ, it's offering Him again and again and again and again. No, it's a perfect sacrifice. It's once for all. Go to chapter 10, verse 10. Hebrews 10. By the witch will, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Amen. He does not need to be sacrificed again. 1 Peter 3 18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. Jesus Christ also hath once suffered for sins. Remember, God is very specific in the inspiration of His Word. And he wants us to know it's once and for all. We're not offering up Christ again. We're not receiving Christ again. In fact, that decision, I mean, is contrary to the gospel. You'd be receiving Christ every time you come to Mass, according to the Catholics, right? That's why I tell you, you talk to a Catholic and say, have you received Christ? Of course I received Christ. At the Mass we receive Christ. No. Have you been born again? That's a good question. Have you been born again? Now, let's go back to 1 Corinthians 11. I hope that helps you understand the different views out there and why we hold to the biblical view of remembrance, commemoration of the body of Christ and the blood of Christ. But I want you to think about a few things before we partake of the Lord's Supper. Verse 18. Just a few things to remind you. For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it. And then he says, verse 20, when you come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. Verse 22, have you not houses to eat and drink in, or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? So I want you to understand the context is the church, the church. And I realize that we do have a misunderstanding in a lot of churches that kind of look at the Lord's Supper as denominational communion, like, If you're in this denomination, let's say you're Lutheran, you can go to any Lutheran and get that, or Presbyterian, you can go to any. And even, I'm sure there's Baptists out there that kind of have taken that same concept that, well, it's denominational communion. Like, if you're a Baptist, and you're an independent Baptist, well, then of course you can go take it anywhere. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that we're to come together as one body. We're to come together in the church. We're to get right, amen, before the Lord. And then we are to partake of the Lord's Supper. So we believe that that it's a blessing when visitors are here, but we do not serve the Lord's table to visitors because you, more than likely, are members of other churches. So it's important to keep that in mind when we enter the Lord's supper table. Verse 25, or verse 24, and when he had given thanks, And he break it and said, take ye, this is my body, which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. As I mentioned, this is a memorial of Christ. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood, this do ye as often as you drink in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. So you're coming together to eat the Lord's supper. Church, coming together. And he said, if any man hunger, let him eat at home, that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come. So as we think about what the Lord has done for us, we think about his death on the cross, all of his suffering, his broken body, think about everything that he went through, think about the shed blood. We've had a lot of messages about the blood. Remember the blood of the lamb and and what Jesus did to offer his blood for us as an atonement once and for all for the sins of the whole world. Amen? Think about the precious blood of Christ and that payment for our sins. But the truth of the matter is, we are showing our expectation that the Lord did what he he accomplished everything as we are learning in the book of hebrews book of revelation right he he he went to heaven he's at the right hand of god he presented that perfect sacrifice the blood of christ and one day he's coming back amen that's the blessing here We do show the Lord's death till he come. He's coming again. So part of the Lord's Supper is also getting ready for the return of Christ. And how do we do that? Part of it is taking this time to examine our hearts, to confess our sins, to make things right. Remember, he doesn't want any divisions in the church. He wants us to be right with God. right with one another, as a church, and also right with Him. That's the main thing, amen? If you're right with God, you'll be right, you'll get right with others, if you have anything in your heart. So we're gonna take some time. I like that last one that you played, Hunt, about search me, oh God. Why don't you come, and we're gonna take a few moments right now, to judge ourselves that we should not be judged, to examine our hearts, and it says, let him eat and drink. You know, remember, this is a command. This do ye, and remember to me, this is something Christians ought to be doing to fulfill their obedience to Christ and loving Him, worshiping Him, and remembering all that he's done. Let's be obedient to him tonight and take some time and get, if you have anything to confess, you probably thought about it already. Maybe you already took care of it, but if not, maybe God reminded you of something even in this message. Let's have some prayer. Our sister's going to play. We have a moment of silence for