We turn in God's Word to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. We there read verses 27 through 29, as we consider two points, essentially, in today's morning catechism sermon. We want to consider question 80, were the non-participation at the Mass, and then questions 81 and 82, were the participation at the table of the Lord. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 27 through 29. This is the word of the Lord. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup, For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. This is the word of the Lord. Let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask for his blessing upon our time. Gracious God and Heavenly Father, we ask that you would be merciful to us this day. that you would teach us, Father, what it is that we confess, what it is that you sign and seal to us in the Lord's Supper, and seeing the distinction, Father, between the Lord's Supper and the Roman Mass, that, Lord, we would flee idolatry and run to you, the God of our salvation. Father, we pray that we would examine ourselves, not, Lord, so that we could engage in endless morbid introspection, far from it, but that, Lord, we would seek to despise our sins, depend on Christ, and be desirous of living a godly life. Help us, Lord, we pray, even today, as we anticipate the celebration of the supper of Christ. We ask all these things in his precious name, amen. The Bible calls us to self-examination. This is a truth not only in connection with the Lord's Supper, but in connection with our lives. All of our life is to be lived thoughtfully. in a sort of preparatory manner, always anticipating the Lord, always anticipating the Lord's return, of course. but living in a manner worthy of the gospel. And so when we talk about examination, self-examination at the Lord's table or even beforehand, it's not something wholly different, completely and altogether separated from that which Christ calls us to in the Christian life. It's of a piece of the self-examination that we are called to engage in as Christians. Paul here calls the Corinthian church to self-examination, particularly in connection with the Lord's Supper. Verse 28, let a person examine himself and thus participate, verse 27, not in an unworthy manner, but in a worthy manner. Right? We are called to be worthy participants in the Lord's Supper. Now, what worthy participation means is not that we look inside ourselves and we find there some righteousness that commends us before God. No, in this original context, it's very simple. And as we'll work through Heidelberg 81 and 82, it's also delineated there. The church at Corinth had so many problems, and they were to examine themselves. Are they united to Christ Jesus? Do you find, Paul is asking the Corinthian Christians, your salvation and forgiveness of sins only in his one sacrifice on the cross? Have you discerned the body of Christ? Do you find your life only in Jesus unselfishly giving up his life? This is, of course, an implicit rebuke of the Corinthian Christians, who were proud, who were boastful, who claimed to follow Apollos here, and Paul there, and Cephas over here, and the most spiritual of them all claimed to follow Christ himself. And so Paul says, forget that party spirit, forget that partisanship, that sectarianism, that divisiveness that has characterized your body, that has characterized the church at Corinth. Are you united to Christ? Do you find your life and your identity only in Him? Or do you find it in yourself, in your selfish self, living for what you are proud of and what you're boasting about? Whatever human knowledge and wisdom you may have or haven't attained in this world, are you united to Jesus? And then secondly, Paul says in verse 29, for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, right? So again, what does it mean to discern the body? Are you united to Jesus? But then secondly, are you united to his church? And this really is one of the perennial problems in the Corinthian congregation. That people were living selfishly for their own interests. But Paul says, are you discerning the body? That you are part of one loaf, one body. Are you living in real communion with your brothers and sisters? or are you dividing, are you breaking apart the body of Christ in some way, either by pride or by gossip or by not seeking to join the body of Christ in the local congregation? We are called to self-examination, to participate in the table of the Lord in a worthy manner, and we do so by discerning the body of Christ. We'll come back to that in Heidelberg 81. But as we begin looking at the Heidelberg questions and answers, we've confessed, we start with Heidelberg 80. There are oftentimes things that look alike in life. And you might think, well, they are similar. They are the same. They are perhaps not the same species, but part of the same genus, right? And so we come to the Roman mass. It uses bread or kind of wafer. It uses wine. It comes at the end of a service, right? It's led by a priest in the Roman communion, the Roman church. Is this the Lord's Supper? Is it the same as the Lord's Supper? And what question 80 says is, no, it's not. In fact, it's so completely different from the Lord's Supper. In the Lord's Supper, what we find is a declaration that our sins are completely forgiven in Jesus Christ, that we have been engrafted into his one body by the Spirit What we find in the Roman Mass is not this at all. What we find is that our sins have not been forgiven. The Mass teaches that the living and the dead do not have their sins forgiven through the suffering of Christ, unless Christ is still offered for them daily by the priests. The Roman Mass is a re-sacrificing of Christ This question, to be sure, was added in the second edition of the Heidelberg Catechism after the Council of Trent met in 1563 and formulated the doctrine of what we call transubstantiation, or what they call transubstantiation. That is to say that the bread and wine change into the literal body and blood of Christ. Council of Trent met over many, many years, and in 1563, it was their last session, and they formulated this doctrine. And as a result, the authors of the How-to-Berg Catechism added this question. In fact, the prince, Prince Frederick, asked this question to be added, this question and answer to be added, as a response to the Roman teaching, the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. If you look at Trent, and I'm gonna quote here a couple of things, I wish you had this in front of you, but if you're taking notes, it's Trent, the 13th session, the first decree, chapters four and five, all right, that deal with, particularly with these matters of transubstantiation. This is what Trent says, that by the, quote, by the consecration of the bread and of the wine, a conversion is made of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord, and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His blood." Substance here is another word, it's a classical word that deals with the actual essence of the matter. The essence of the wine has been changed into the essence of the blood of Christ. And similarly, Rome teaches for the bread into the body of Christ. In case you're wondering if this is just a historic teaching, way back in the past that hasn't been repeated or reformulated, the Catholic catechism which was written In the 20th century, it was overseen by Pope John Paul II, repeats the same teaching. In sections 13, so the Catholic catechism isn't like our catechism, it has not questions and answers, it has paragraphs. If you buy it, it's about this thick of a book, all right? I have a copy in our home. And so paragraphs, let me just give these to you, 1366, 1367, 1374, 1376, and 1413, all deal with transubstantiation. 1366 says, But because his priesthood was not to end with his death, that is the priesthood of Christ, at the Last Supper, on the night when he was betrayed, he wanted to leave to his beloved spouse, the Church, a visible sacrifice, as the nature of man demands, by which the bloody sacrifice, which was to accomplish once for all on the cross, would be represented. 1367 says it's one single sacrifice, the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and the sacrifice of the Eucharist, that is, of the Mass. The same Christ who offered himself, it says, quote, once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and offered in an unbloody manner. This sacrifice is truly propitiatory. 1374, in the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist, this is the Catholic catechism here, the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained. 1376, 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 of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. And then 1413 again. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine, Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner, his body and his blood, with his soul and his divinity. I hope you see here with these quotations, and more could be said here, how strikingly contrastive is the vision of Rome to that of the Bible. The Bible says, Jesus says on the cross, it is finished. The work of atonement is done. But what does Rome teach? That it is not finished. The cross, in effect, does not save. It only makes salvation possible. Hence, the need for ongoing sacrifices. The ongoing sacrifice of Christ in the Mass. Notice what Hebrews 9, Hebrews 10 says. 925 of Hebrews. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own. For then he would have to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages. Verse 25, so Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many. And then again Hebrews 10 verse 12, but when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins. Verse 18 of Hebrews 10, where there is forgiveness of these there is no longer any offering for sin. What the book of Hebrews is meant to address is the Jewish religion of ongoing sacrifices. And what the writer to the Hebrew says is that with the coming of Jesus Christ, there is no more need for ongoing sacrifices. He is the last priest. The cross, Golgotha, is the last altar. and Jesus' body and blood in that historic event on the cross 2,000 years ago is the last sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice that takes away the sins of the world. But Rome, in effect, by its teaching of transubstantiation, denies all this. And that's why there are priests in the Roman church. Because there is a need for ongoing sacrifices. There is, in the architecture of a Roman church, an altar. Because on that altar, by the consecration of the priests, that body, that bread and that wine are converted, according to Rome, into the body and blood of Christ that is represented and re-sacrificed. It's a denial, the mass is a denial of the one sacrifice of Christ and of the forgiveness of our sins. And that's why you can never really be assured of forgiveness of sins. If you follow, if you're a bad Roman Catholic, you might be more Protestant than not. But if you are a faithful Roman Catholic, if you follow the teaching to a T of what Rome says on paper, there's no way you could ever be assured that your sins are forgiven. The second problem with the mass, as question and answer 80 puts it, is that if Christ is the bread and wine, right, if there is something as transubstantiation that occurs, if the bread and wine are converted to the body and the blood of Christ truly, really substantially, then Christ must be worshiped. That bread is Christ. You must worship that bread. You must worship that wine because it is Christ. It has been converted to and into Christ. The one follows from the previous. And again, Trent says this clearly in the 13th session, the first decree in chapter five. that all the faithful of Christ may render in veneration the worship of Latria, which is due to the true God, to this most holy sacrament. In other words, Latria in Rome is contrasted with Dulia. These are, Latin words, right? Latria is the worship we give God alone. It's the exclusive worship that belongs to the Supreme God, the triune God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Dulia is what, according to Rome, we give to the saints, right? A kind of veneration, a kind of respect. We pray to the saints and so on and so forth. But what Trent says is that the worship that is due, God is due this holy sacrament. so that when you see the bread, you ought to bow down and worship it. And this, of course, is repeated in the Catholic catechism, paragraph 1378, the worship of the Eucharist. It says, quote, in the liturgy of the mass, we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord. Reserving the consecrated, skipping a few, skipping a sentence here, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful and carrying them in procession. Hope you see how idolatrous this is. Christ, in His humanity, in His body, is nowhere on earth, but sits at the right hand of God, His Father, and our Father. And there is nothing here that is Christ. But this table is not Christ, this bread is not Christ, this wine is not Christ. Christ alone is Christ, and Christ is at the Father's right hand. Through His Spirit, He is everywhere present in all His power and glory and attributes. But in His humanity, He remains always and ever at the Father's right hand. And so in summary, we conclude our consideration of question 80 and answer 80 the mass denies the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ that is the main problem the mass then because it denies that once-for-all sacrifice of Christ thinking that the bread becomes the body and the wine the blood of Christ it also commits idolatry and worships the elements as Christ this is You know, what's the application for us? The application for us is to hold out and hold forth to our Catholic friends, our family, our neighbors, the once for all sacrifice of Christ on the cross as their only hope, as their only ground of justification. Not the mass, not a sacrament, not baptism, Jesus Christ on his cross alone. the Lamb of God taking away the sins of the world. But secondly, the cash value, as it were, for us is that we should not participate in the mass because we believe what scripture says that Christ has sacrificed once for all time for our sins. We might be invited to Wedding done in a Roman Catholic Church go if you're invited Be a witness as long as it's a lawful wedding, right? Sometimes you might be invited to a funeral that's conducted in a Roman Catholic Church And oftentimes the mass is celebrated beloved do not take of the mass Do not take of the mass. It looks like the Lord's Supper. It smells like the Lord's Supper it acts like the Lord's Supper, but it's not It's not, it's a denial of the once for all sacrifice of Christ and a condemnable idolatry. That's the first point, worthy non-participation. But secondly, and I wanna spend the remainder of our time looking at question 81 and question 82 to some extent as well. who should participate in the Lord's Supper. And with question 81, we're also given how we ought to participate in the Lord's Supper. We have two young people who will profess faith later this month, Lord willing. You should know how to come to the table of the Lord. This is instruction for you, this is instruction for all of us. How are we to come? What are we to think about? How are we to approach the table of the Lord? The catechism gives us a threefold answer. Those who are displeased with their own sins, those who are dependent upon the Lord, and those who are desirous of serving the Lord. When we come to interview you later this month, young people, we're gonna ask you, do you despise your sins? Are you dependent on the Lord alone for your salvation? And do you desire to live for Him and serve Him? This, of course, is the outline of the Heidelberg Catechism, is it not? Sin, salvation, service. What three things must I know to live and die in the joy of this comfort that is given to me in Christ? How great my sins and misery are. How I am delivered of all my sins and misery. And now how I am to thank God for such deliverance. People of God, this is not a description of only some people, right? Only some people, you know, some people are despising their sins. Some people trust the Lord. Some people want to serve God. No, this threefold characterization, threefold answer must characterize all of us. All of us must be disgusted with our sins and not proud of them. All of us must be dependent upon the Lord and His one sacrifice for our salvation and forgiveness of our sins. And all of us must be desirous of further sanctification, of serving the Lord. There is here, and in Scripture, as we've seen in 1 Corinthians 11, a certain level of self-examination that is needed. And here, of course, is one of the main reasons why children who have not been examined by their elders or professed faith This is why children cannot partake of the Lord's Supper and ought not to partake of the Lord's Supper. There is, of course, a trend in our day of paedo-communion. It's a very new kind of fad, and yet it is not biblical, and it's not confessional either. The Lord's Supper requires thoughtful preparation of the same kind that we need people of God, for worship and for the Lord's day. When we come to worship, we should not simply waltz in here thoughtlessly, not knowing, not understanding or recognizing what we're doing. We need to prepare for worship throughout the week, the night before especially. We need to prepare for the Lord's day, the prior week and also the night before. The Christian life cannot be lived Thoughtlessly. I want to read a couple of excerpts from an old, old work entitled, Words to a Young Communicant. Now these are words directed not only to the young people who will profess faith, these are words, and I find them words to be directed to all of us. How wholesome, how biblical, how nourishing God's word is. as reflected in these words, this work, Words to a Young Communicant, I commend to you all. It was written by John W. Alexander, who was the son of Archibald Alexander, who was the first principal of Princeton Seminary. J.W. Alexander, a Presbyterian minister, wrote this work in the 1840s or so. This is what he says. You will properly ask yourself why you propose to come to the Lord's table. If rightly disposed, your answer to be sufficient must be something like this. Because I believe in the Lord Jesus, because I love him, and because I wish to remember him as my dying redeemer. Not because I am good, but in the deep persuasion that I am a sinner. As a sinner, relying on His righteousness, receiving His promise, and hoping for His Spirit, I desire to sit at the foot of His cross. As ignorant and wavering, I crave new faith in this holy ordinance. As his child and servant, I long to come out from the world and make the most public avowal of my attachment and subjection to him. And as a Christian, I would hasten to own my fellowship and unity with that body of which this bread and wine are the communion. Isn't that People of God so wonderfully reflected in the words of the catechism, despising our sin, dependent on the Lord for his salvation, desirous of living for God. But what happens, you see, in the celebration itself, right? This is how we prepare beforehand. But what about the act of partaking? This is what J.W. Alexander says. The act of partaking is passing and brief. It only lasts but for a moment. And the thoughts of those few instance must of course be short. The proper exercise must be such as may be compendious. It is plain therefore that your views at this juncture must be extremely simple. You will not greatly err if you fix your regards on Jesus Christ and him crucified. And so he gives us in his work a number of things that we can be thinking about, such childlike thoughts as these will properly arise. He says, Lord Jesus, I remember thee. Later today, as we partake of the supper, it is not incorrect, but wholly appropriate to think and to say, Jesus, Savior, I here remember thy body broken for my sins. Lamb of God, who takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon me. Lord, I show forth thy death till thou come. O Lord Jesus Christ, I take this cup in memory of thee as the new covenant in thy blood. I, a wretched sinner, confide in thy blood, shed for many for the remission of sins. Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Blessed Jesus, who has died for me, I here give myself away to thee. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Let this cup of blessing be blessed unto me for the sake of my dying Lord, whom I thus remember. At times when we celebrate the Lord's Supper, our minds might and our hearts might turn towards our sin and how grievous it is. And J.W. Alexander says, We don't want to ever manufacture that, but it's okay if it happens. He says, it is as a guilty, helpless creature that you have come to this table. The sins which crucified him whom your soul loveth may well seem bitter and horrible as you gaze on the cross. The most profound humiliation is compatible with faith and love should you vow an everlasting separation from your sins. It will be with good reason. Indeed, the moment is favorable for inflicting deadly wounds on the body of sin. This is, of course, a privilege that we have, but it's also a command to come to the table. And we come to the table not as perfect people, and I've said this before, but as a pilgrim people whose faith needs strengthening. who need Christ at all times, who have not arrived but are on their way living and seeking to live in communion with Christ and his church. If you'd like to see the confessional basis of what J.W. Alexander says, you can look later on on your own time at Westminster Larger Catechism, questions 171 to 174 that talk about how we are to prepare ourselves before the Lord's Supper, and what is to be our posture in the Lord's Supper celebration. And then finally, question 82, who should not participate in the Lord's Supper? And by answering this question, we also answer what is characteristic of those who should not participate in the Lord's Supper? Question 81 already gives us part of the answer, right? Hypocrites and those who are unrepentant. Question 82 fills up the answer. The unbelieving and the ungodly. The unbelieving and the ungodly. Their doctrine rejects the scriptures. Their life rejects Christ. They are to be warned and excluded. And you see why, of course, because this is a meal of peace and of reconciliation. So how can those who are at war with God come and show that they are at peace with God? It would be the most dissonant thing. When we take questions 81 and 82 together, we realize the dynamic of the Lord's Supper. 81, question 81 is more restrictive and is left to the individual who must evaluate his heart. You must examine yourself. Are you despising your sin? Are you dependent on the Lord? Are you desirous of serving Christ? 82 is more general. and is left to the church to be the judge of objective fact. And yet what you need to see here is that coming to the table of the Lord is not simply a personal decision. It's also an ecclesiastical decision that the elders are called to now weigh. Can they welcome such a one who is in obvious disregard of Christ and his body, of his word, and of the Christian life to the table of the Lord? Elders, pastors, we do not judge of hitting things. We can't look into your heart and say, well, I can tell that you are despising your sin, desirous of serving Christ, dependent on the Lord. We can't do that. What we can do is see if there are obvious hindrances to the table. Is such a person living in disregard of Christ and his church? Living in disregard of Christ and his word? The bottom line, beloved, is that the Lord's Supper is always to be an active participation in Christ. We approach the supper by faith, focusing upon the Lord's sacrifice that is signed and sealed to us in it. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, help us, Lord, to not only understand this your truth, but to live in it. And Father, to understand that we are called to this table. What a privilege it is, and yet it is a command as well. So Father, may we repent of our sins and turn from them. And Father, as we come to the table in faith, may you nourish us and strengthen us to eat and drink by faith through the power of your spirit, Jesus' very body and blood. We pray in his name, amen.