I wanna turn your attention this morning to 1 Corinthians 11. And again, turning to Paul's record of the institution of the Lord's Supper. It's 1 Corinthians 11. And we're gonna read together from the verse number 23. 1 Corinthians 11, verse number 23. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he gave him thanks, he broke it and said, take it. This is my body, which is broken for you. Now this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, When it stopped saying, this cup is New Testament in my blood, this do ye as often as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till ye 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. Amen. We'll just end the reading there and ask the Lord again to bless us as we consider his precious truth today. I think it should go without saying in this carnegation that having the right views of God, those right views are vital for our lives. Again, a proper understanding of God is not only important intellectually that we believe the truth, but has tremendous practical bearing upon our daily lives. When we have wrong views of God, we then have a tendency to misunderstand the ways of God. We are prone to bitterness in our hearts against the Lord's providences and doubts regarding God's provisions. If we have not the right views of God, we will often fall into other sins. Again, the sin of a lack of proper understanding is often compounded by we then conduct other sins in the Lord's presence. And so I want to seek today to really begin our time of public worship in the Lord's house on this new year by connecting a proper view of God revealed in the gospel to a proper view of God in our providences. in our lives, in God's care for us. And so when I consider what this table tells us regarding God, His goodness, and in particular, His generosity. You see, I wonder, do we sometimes have two different views of God? We may not express it this way, but at times do we see God's goodness in the gospel, and we understand something of our sin, and we have no difficulty describing God as being good in terms of grunting us forgiveness and freedom and restoring us unto himself. We see God's goodness in the gospel, but we question God's goodness. If I put it this way, in the garden of our lives, in the regular sphere, and I mentioned the garden, even thinking back to what occurs in the Garden of Eden. And there the devil of course comes to Eve and says, hath God said, and we point out the devil raising doubts against the word of God, but he also poses questions regarding the goodness of God. Hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Why is there? Why is there a tree in the garden that God is holding you back from? Is there something that God is holding back? Is God really truly good? And so that attack against the goodness of God then in part leads to Eve's sin and then also Adam's sin. And what do you see immediately? You see the goodness of God in his creation, and you immediately see the goodness of God in the gospel. The promise is made. The promise is that he will send forth of the seed of the woman one who will bruise the serpent's head. And at the same time, God comes and makes provision. He makes coats of skin and clothes our first parents. One man says this, Those first three chapters, even in the horrors of the fall, revealed to us the goodness of God in creation, providence and redemption. So this year I'm encouraging my own heart That I'll believe in a God who reveals himself in this table, in this ordinance. And what I understand from this ordinance, that I will then take that conviction into life in every sphere. That I will not have these two views of God. That on the one hand, I believe his goodness in saving me, but I question his goodness in sustaining me in life. Again, you may not put it that way. You may not articulate the words in that form, but it is a continual threat upon our spiritual well-being that we question the goodness of God in our daily lives. So let's begin by noting how substitution displays God's generosity. Again, the text I've given is 1 Corinthians 11. It says here, this is my body, verse 24, which is broken for you. There we have, and we understand this very quickly, we have the element there of substitution. Substitution that is for the benefit of the other party. Christ's body broken for you. And I want to argue strongly that the doctrine of substitution is a tremendous display of God's generosity, of God's goodness and God's kindness and God's benevolence. First of all, it displays his willingness to accept the substitute. Think this through carefully. Sometimes theologians argue by the order of the decrees. A decision to save or the decision for the fall. We argue sometimes with the timing of those decrees and struggle to understand what those mean. A decree of God implies a decision, but we think of a decision in terms of something that wasn't there and is now there. And so we wrestle, how does God make a decision that is eternal? And there are things that really blow our mind and that are beyond our comprehension. The plan, purpose of God, the decrees of God are eternal. And so whilst we can't untie the difficulties of the eternal, infinite God, we can discern logic in the decrees of God. There's rationale in the mind of the Lord as we understand these things. So think about this. Historically, God sent his son. That event occurred in human history. But the language of God sending His Son implies and presupposes an agreement in the Trinity. We sometimes term this the covenant of redemption. An agreement between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit to, again, accomplish redemption on behalf of a people. This agreement made before time, that agreement seen in the decrees of God, then worked out in human history. So we just thought in recent weeks, God sent forth His Son. All of that presupposes a decision in the eternal mind of God's, an agreement within the three persons of the Trinity. That agreement was to appoint the Son as a mediator, as a substitute. But that again presupposes a willingness on the behalf of God to accept the sacrifice of the substitute. Again, we take for granted the history. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. But all of that is rested upon a truth, a principle in the very mind of God that he was willing to accept the substitute to die on your behalf. That should not be assumed. We see the love and the generosity of God to save and to redeem and to reconcile. God is not compelled in one sense to act in such a way. He agrees to receive a substitute that you will not be punished because he agrees to receive the action of another on your behalf. We see the heart of God in the very willingness to accept substitution as a means of redemption. We also see the heart of God in the providing of that very substitute. The plan and the promise of God are fulfilled in time, and the language, particularly of John's gospel, is God sent forth His Son. There's the sending of the Son. Again, all of that, it implies action and activity. It is God providing that substitute. Again, there are so many wrong views regarding the atonement, regarding the death of Christ. Our brother Mercer mentioned last Lord's Day. Some idea that it was almost like a plan B or something that God makes use of but does not intend. All of that things is very, very damaging. It leads to wrong views of God. You see, we see within the Trinity there's a full and entire agreement among the three members of the Godhead that they would continue together to provide our redemption. Salvation is of the Lord, isn't it? All required is provided for us. He sent his Son, and that sending is referred to as a gift. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. the gift that comes from God. You see, turn back to Romans 5. And just to emphasize here again, this concept of a gift is in view in God providing a substitute Of course, you all know the text in Romans 6, 23, the wage of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But that language of the gift at the end of Romans chapter 6 is being drawn from the language of gift in Romans chapter 5. Verse 14, nevertheless, Death reigned from Adam to Moses. It goes back to the garden, verse number 12. One man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin. Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression. He was the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And you'll see again the gift is here, verse 16. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift. For the judgment was by one to condemnation, that is Adam's sin. But the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. And that language continues, verse 17, verse 18. You've got this language of a gift in the context of Christ's work as our mediator. Verse 19. The provision of Christ to come into the world as our mediator, as our substitute, is referred to as what? The gift of God. It's a gift, and the gift reveals God's grace, God's generosity. God would have us view Him here today around this table as a God of generosity, a God of goodness, a God who gives from His heart. The Bible tells us that God loves a cheerful giver. Revealing to his heart that as a gift is given, it is the will of God that gifts are given, and they are given in a way with a freedom and a light in our soul, not begrudgingly, not reluctantly. And so if God loves a cheerful giver, it is impossible for God to give a gift that does not come from his very heart. And thus the heart of God in sending forth the son is revealed as he gives the son as our substitute. And we're meant to see the very heart of our God who delights in giving us this gift. We see in the table here, the goodness, the generosity, the openheartedness of God to freely give what sinners need. Substitution reveals the generosity of God. Secondly, this institution also displays God's generosity. We see it in a couple of ways here. Look at verse number 23 of our text. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. The institution of this ordinance is given to us by Christ himself. The second person, the Godhead, in human flesh, ordains this institution, and that ordination is itself a display of the goodness and the generosity of God toward us. Enables us, does it not, to remember him. Verse 24 and 25, they stood in remembrance of me. And if we are coming here to remember Christ, we are coming here to remember Christ who is what? Our substitute. He is the one who is our mediator. And so I'm suggesting to you, He as our substitute reveals God's generosity toward us. And then we come to the table and Christ institutes an ordinance that we would remember that God is kind. that the goodness and kindness of love toward man has appeared in the coming of Christ Jesus. And the Lord says, I'm giving you something in your life as a church that you will never ever forget. I'm a generous God. I'm a kind God. I'm a good God. And the Lord answers this table. That's why it's just beyond comprehension. Why believers would readily absence themselves from the table. This is a gift that's given to us. It's a gift. And it's important that we prepare ourselves for this gift. That we consider in advance, I'm going to come. And do you know what? It's a gift, but it's not a surprise. I know what I'm going to get when I come here. and I prepare my heart, I don't need to be surprised by it, but I can be delighted by it again. I get the same gift month by month. We come together, we remember Christ, and we remember the goodness and the generosity of God's. Come, remember, believe in the goodness of our God's. The institution reminds of God's generosity. But also, the institution shows us not only to remember the substitute, but it shows us the offering of the substitute. Again, verse number 24. And when it had given thanks, he broke it and said, take. Take what? Take the elements. Take the bread and take the cup. Take these things that have been given again to you for your spiritual benefit, for your nourishment, that you be strong in faith and believe in the goodness of God. But of course, we have to take not only the elements, but we have to take that which is symbolized by the elements, Christ himself and every spiritual blessing. You see, salvation is not only provided, it is announced. As Paul would say to Thestas, this thing was not done in a corner. The announcement of salvation, God showed himself to be kind in the coming of Christ, and then that kindness is offered to sinners in the word tek. Redemption is provided and then offered to us, a mark again of God's generosity. And you could have gifts sitting in a corner of a room sometime, and the children come to the gift, and they look, and the parent says, they're not for you. They're not your gifts. But God in the gospel says, here's the gift, and you can take it. Will you refuse the gift of God if you're not saved today? You're here together, first Lords, to have a new year. We're back around the table remembering Christ. Will you receive the gift of God offered to you freely? Christ comes in the gospel and says, come unto me, take, eat, receive, and drink salvation offered in the generosity of God. And so generosity is seen, I believe, in substitution and also in the institution, and thirdly, in the application of this. You see, the application of the gospel also then displays God's generosity. I turn you back to Romans chapter eight. And if you perhaps will know, I'm turning you back to my favorite Bible text. I'm always glad to have an opportunity to go back to Romans 8 and verse number 32. It goes, how does Paul apply substitution? He applies substitution by reminding us of the generosity of God. He that spared not his own son, but delivered up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? The God who gives His Son, who is willing to receive His Son as a substitute, and then gives His Son, and then offers His Son, and then gives us this institution to remind us of His Son. All of this is then taken by the Apostle Paul and said, therefore you must not doubt God's generosity. The God of heaven who's given his son to suffer as he does, to bleed and to die, is the God who will not withhold any good thing. The context is very important here. Again, you know the all things that are given are the all things that secure verses 29 through 30. That the ones whom God foreknew will also be glorified. It is the securing of our glorification that's involved in the all things. Everything we need to be glorified will be given to us. There's nothing that we'll be missing that would thereby in some way endanger our glorification. If we miss this, we may not be glorified. No, you will miss nothing that would endanger your glorification. Your glorification is secure based upon the goodness of God and the giving of Christ Jesus. Therefore, verse 28 is true. All things will indeed work together for the good of the people of God, because God will give all things for your spiritual maturity and final glorification. That's why I say it's important to have this joined up view of God. A view of God who is good in the gospel, but is also good in his providences. It is easier for us, I believe, to question God's goodness in our times of sorrow and suffering than it is to question God's goodness in saving us of our sins. Our sins are outside of ourselves in many ways. We see that happening in the courts of heaven, but our lives, our feet are on the ground right now, and we feel almost like with bare feet, we walk upon the thorns and the stones of the path of life, and we feel our suffering, and this path is a path that God has given to us, and we question God's goodness, and that's, oh, I'm forgiven. But is God really good? As I walk this scene of time, And it's important to see that the goodness of God in the giving of Christ is the guarantee of the goodness of God in our providences, even in the all things. And so as I say, I want to start this year this way, that we have the right view of God, a gospel view of God, and that would then govern our lives in the seasons of trial and turmoil.