Look, tonight we're going to be sharing in the Lord's Table.
It's also known as the Lord's Supper.
In most churches that I've been part of, when they have the Lord's Supper,
we have a tiny piece of bread and a little bit of grape juice
and we remember the death of Jesus Christ.
And there's nothing wrong with that in of itself.
But there's a reason why it's called supper.
Because obviously the word supper is synonymous with the word dinner.
And so when we get together to remember the Lord's death and have the Lord's Supper,
we're also going to meet together to eat and to share together,
have a bit of fellowship and then we'll take a time to remember
the body and the blood of Jesus Christ.
But I want you to notice in 1 Corinthians 11 29, it says,
For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily,
eateth and drinketh damnation to himself,
not discerning the Lord's body.
Title for the sermon tonight is,
Discerning the Lord's Body.
Now you can see here that if we partake of the Lord's Supper
and we don't do it worthily,
we are drinking damnation or condemnation, judgement,
from God upon ourselves.
And so it's important that we discern.
You know, if you look up a dictionary definition for the word discern,
you'll come up with something like having a good judgement
or a good understanding of whatever topic at hand it is.
And of course the topic at hand is the Lord's body.
And so really what I want to do tonight is,
you know, I want you to be able to discern the Lord's body.
I want you to understand the importance of it
and the difference, I suppose, between the body and the blood
and the different aspects that this relates to
in our understanding of his death, suffering and payment for our sins.
Now we are going to come back to 1 Corinthians 11.
But come with me now to John 6.
Come with me to John 6
because I want to show you a group of people
that did not discern the Lord's body properly.
Okay, they were lacking understanding.
And the first time that Christ really teaches on this topic
in depth comes from John 6
and this is where even the Roman Catholic Church gets all mixed up.
But in John 6, verse 53.
John 6, verse 53.
I'll give you a bit of context leading up to this.
Jesus Christ was talking to the Jews about the manna that rained down from heaven
when the Old Testament Israelites came out of Egypt
and they wandered in the wilderness and they got hungry
and the Lord God fed them with manna.
Now they're talking about that manna being this miracle
but Jesus Christ points out that even though they ate of that manna
they still died. They still perished.
And then he compares the manna with the food or the meats
that he is able to offer us which gives us everlasting life.
And so he says in John 6, 53
Then Jesus said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
So Jesus Christ is making it very clear
that we must eat of his flesh,
we must drink of his blood
or we don't have life in us.
And of course the life that Jesus Christ is speaking about here
is everlasting life.
Now this is where the Roman Catholic Church
you know, they don't understand.
You know, they'll start teaching when they do communion
when they do mass and communion
they'll say when they do the magic prayer
or the magic rituals, you know.
They'll say that the bread or that little wafer
has turned into Christ's literal flesh.
So as you're eating of that wafer
as it's going down your body
you've actually taken a bite out of the arm of Jesus
or something like that.
And they believe as you drink of that grape juice
that as it's going down it's actually the blood
you're actually drinking the blood of Jesus Christ.
And obviously they take this way too far.
Okay? Way too far.
In fact as we keep going I want to explain to you
what Jesus Christ is teaching here.
But he says in verse 54
Whoso eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood
hath eternal life
and I will raise him up at the last day.
So if you have eternal life right now
you know the moment you believe in Jesus Christ
you're given everlasting life aren't you?
If you have that right now
then you have eaten of his flesh.
You have drunk of his blood. Okay?
Then he says in verse 55
Whoso eateth 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
he that eateth me
even he shall live by me.
So you know
as you can see Jesus Christ is not
at this moment he's not clarifying
literal from symbolism.
It's all very literal teaching.
It seemingly seems like a very
literal teaching from Jesus Christ.
Then he says in verse 158
This is that bread
which came down from heaven
not as your fathers did eat manna
and are dead
he that eateth of this bread
shall live forever.
So everlasting life
is based on
the consumption of receiving
Christ's body and his blood.
Now as we keep reading
I want you to notice this because
the title of the sermon tonight is
Discerning the Lord's Body.
And I want to show you that the audience
that Jesus Christ is teaching this to
have not discerned the Lord's body properly.
They've not understood what Christ is teaching.
Cause it says in verse 159
These things said he
in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum
many therefore of his disciples
when they heard this said
this is a hard saying
Who can hear it?
Many of them actually believe in him
I don't understand what Jesus Christ is talking about.
How can we eat of his body?
How can we drink of his blood?
They don't understand
the teaching that Christ is saying here.
Then verse 61
When Jesus knew in himself
that his disciples murmured
at it, he said unto them
Doth this offend you?
So what are you saying?
This teaching is offending people.
Could you imagine if actually salvation
was literally in the body of Jesus?
Was actually literally
drinking his blood.
It's like where do we find the body of Jesus
right now to take a bite of his flesh
and drink of his blood like a vampire?
So look if we take it that way
you know it is kind of offensive.
How do I do that?
Then he says in verse 62
What? And if you shall see
the son of man ascend up where he was before.
Now notice this
Notice this
He says in verse 63
It is the Spirit
that quickeneth
The word quickeneth is to make alive
You know it's the Spirit
We're born of the Spirit
We're revived by the Holy Spirit of God
the moment you trust on Jesus Christ
Notice he's saying
it's not his flesh
like his literal flesh
that quickeneth
It's not that that gives you everlasting life
It says the flesh profiteth nothing
Like if you could
get a hold of Jesus' flesh
It's not going to benefit you
It's got to be a work of the Holy Spirit within you
It says the words
Look at this, it makes it clear
The words that I speak unto you
They are spirit
and they are life
So how do we consume
the body of Jesus Christ?
By receiving the words
that he speaks unto us
Spirit, this is life
Verse number 64
But there are some of you that believe not
Now it makes it even clearer
How do we receive the words?
How do we receive the Spirit?
By believing
By believing on his body, his blood
as the payment and sacrifice for our sins
He goes but there are some of you that believe not
So they've not been born again
They've not eaten of the body of Christ
They've not drunk of his blood
Spiritually speaking
Then he says
For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not
and who should betray him
So
We're talking about these students and the Lord's body
These early Jews
as they believed on Christ and some of them didn't believe on Christ
You can see some of them here
They struggled with the teaching
Until Christ clarified, look, it's spiritual teaching
The way you consume is by believing
Believing the words, believing the message
of his body and of his blood
That's how we're born of the Spirit
That's how we receive everlasting life
You don't need to find some priest who's going to do a magic trick
and turn the wine into literal blood of Jesus
I mean they're making the same mistake
You know
They're taking this teaching from a carnal
fleshly perspective
That profits nothing
But when you believe the words of Jesus Christ
When you believe the gospel message
You've received the spiritual life, the everlasting life
So this is understanding the body of Jesus Christ
Okay
His body was a very physical body
Yes it was a sacrifice
But we eat of it, we consume of it
When we believe on the gospel message of his sacrifice
of his body
Come with me to Luke 22
Luke 22 and verse number 13 please
Luke 22 and verse number 13
Luke 22 verse number 13
Let's fast forward a little bit
in the ministry of Jesus Christ
This is obviously the night before
he's arrested
And
This is when they come together for the Passover meal
They're eating together
And in Luke 22 verse number 13
Luke 22 verse number 13
It says
Until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God
And he took the cup
And gave thanks
And said
Take this and divide it among yourselves
For I say unto you
I will not drink of the fruit of the vine
until the kingdom of God
Shall come
And he took bread and gave thanks and break it
And gave it unto them saying
This is my body which is given for you
This too
In remembrance of me
So this is known as the Last Supper
I guess it is the Last Supper
as far as the Last Supper
the disciples shared together
before Christ was taken and crucified
But it's not really the Last Supper
because what we're doing tonight is a continuation
of that Last Supper or the Lord's Supper
or Communion
as it is known in the Bible
Come with me to Hebrews 9 please
And while you're turning to Hebrews 9
I want you to just remember the words of Jesus
He says
In remembrance of me
This is the commandment
This is something that we as a church body
need to do from time to time
People ask me the question
How often do you do it?
Jesus doesn't give us a commandment
But he tells us that it is something that we ought to do
And I personally think the best time to do it
is leading up to Easter
Because that is the time that he died
And of course when we think of Easter
On the Australian calendar
It's always different
It's in March this year
I think it was in April last year
Why is that?
Because our calendar follows the solar cycles
And of course the Jewish calendar
The Passover is based on the lunar cycles
And so it changes as far as
the dates on our calendar system
But it's good to remember
This is the time when Christ had the Last Supper
I believe it is a good time to have
the Lord's Supper as a church around this time
Sometimes I also have it
leading up to Christmas
And sometimes someone might say
Pastor, I feel like we haven't had the Lord's Supper in a while
Especially if they've missed it
Then I might do one, just randomly another one during the year
And some churches do it every once a month
Some churches do it once a week
It really depends
But there is no direct command how often that we should do it
But the command is that we should do it
It's something that is important for us to remember
To contemplate, to have a memorial
of what the death of Jesus Christ was
2000 years ago and his suffering on the cross
But in Hebrews 9
Look at verse 15
Hebrews 9, 15
It says
And for this cause he
speaking of Jesus
is the mediator of the
New Testament
And by means of death
for the redemption of the transgressions
that were under the
first testament
they which are called might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance
Now when it says those that
the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament
we're talking about the Old Testament saints
But notice that he
is also the mediator
which they are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance
What it's saying here that even those that
died under the Old Testament
their salvation, their eternal inheritance
was still Jesus Christ
Obviously they had
the system of the sacrificial
lambs and the goats and the bulls
and all that kind of it
But all of that was to show them
or to communicate to them that
Jesus Christ will one day die on the cross
pay for their sins and rise from the dead
It says in verse 16
For where a testament is
there must also of necessity
be the death of the testator
For a testament
is a force after
men are dead
Otherwise it is of no strength at all
while the testator liveth
This is essentially the same as
how we think of a will
My wife and I
we put together a will some years ago
that if her and I ever
pass away, you know we had some
instructions with what was to be done
with our children
some instructions what's to be done with our
property and our money and all that kind of stuff
But that testament or that will
is not in effect while we're alive
Don't tell my kids this
But it's in effect after
we pass away
And then they get the benefits of it
after we pass away
When it comes to the New Testament it's the same
It came into effect
at the death of the testator
which is Jesus Christ
It says here in verse 17
Sorry verse 18
Whereupon
neither the first testament was dedicated without blood
So it's saying the first testament
being the old testament
it was dedicated with blood
And then it says here
For when Moses had spoken
to all the people according to the law
he took the blood of calves
and of goats
with water and scarlet wool
and hyssop and sprinkled
both the book and all the people
So how did the
first testament come into effect?
By the death
by the sacrifice of calves
and goats
then the blood of those creatures were taken
mingled with water with hyssop
certain herbs
given upon the people
I mean that's pretty gross
I think if you're living in the old testament days
and you're following after Moses
he's taught us all the laws of God
and we're like yes we'll become the people of God
under this old covenants
or under the first testament
as it says here
and then Moses went around sprinkling everybody
with the blood of these goats and calves
God man there's blood on me
Yeah yeah yeah but again
what is it showing? What is it testifying of?
We've trusted on him
His blood is put upon you
His blood cleanses you from your darkness and sin
before the almighty creator
and he sees us cleansed
by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ
Amen
It says in verse number 20
saying this is the blood of the testament
which God has enjoyed unto you
Moreover he sprinkled with blood
both the tabernacle
and all the vessels of the ministry
and almost all things
that are by the law perched with blood
and without shedding of blood
is no remission
without shedding of blood there is
no remission
It's saying here there is no other way
that God could have remitted us
of our sins
There's no other way that God could have forgiven
our sins except by the
shedding of blood
Now as we keep going we'll find out
the blood of the bulls and the calves
It's not enough, it's not good enough
The only blood that could
save us, the only blood
was the blood of God
Because you take my blood
It's got a sinful condition
I mean some of your blood
might even be tainted with what kinds of issues
Right, you know a lot of people
have health issues because their blood's not good
But it had to be the blood of God
The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ
And if we continue there in verse number 23
It was therefore necessary
Now this is important
That the patterns
of things in the heavens
should be purified
with these
But the heavenly things themselves
with better sacrifices
than these
The Bible's saying here that the first covenant
the Old Testament was following a pattern
that was in the heavens
But on the earth, yes they used
animal blood on the earth
But it says here
to sanctify the heavenly things
with better sacrifices
than these
Better sacrifice, well what
is a better sacrifice
than the blood of bulls and goats and calves
and all this
We know it's the blood of Jesus
The Bible's telling us here, you know just giving us a hint
that the blood of Jesus Christ is in heaven
You know that it was sprinkled on the mercy seat of heaven
Which was a, you know what was on the earth
was just a pattern
of what was in the heavenly realms
Chapter 24
For Christ is not entered
into the holy places made with hands
So what's the holy places
made with hands?
That's the earthly tabernacle or the earthly temple
Christ did not enter into that temple
and shed his blood there
It says which are the figures
of the true
So what's the true
in heaven?
The mercy seat in heaven
It says but into
heaven itself
Now to appear in the presence
of God for us
So Jesus went to heaven
shed his blood
okay put it there and there his blood
testifies
It's there in the presence of God for us
Another reason why you
can't lose your salvation
is because the blood of Jesus Christ
is testifying of his salvation
to us in heaven right now
before God
So before God even is able to look
down to earth and see our sins
which we still commit to this day because we're not perfect
the blood of Christ is saying no no it's all been paid for
it's all been covered
in heaven. Praise God for that
Verse number 25
Not yet that he should offer himself often
So Jesus didn't have to
offer himself or die often for us
As the high priest enterth
into the holy place every year with blood of others
For then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world
So it's not necessary
for Jesus to continue suffering
Otherwise he would have had to keep suffering
since the foundation like every year
we're going to have to crucify Christ over and over again
Again when the Catholics get it wrong
don't they? Because every time they have mass
they're pretty much saying
Christ is crucified all over again
and again and again and again
and again. Obviously
their salvation is null and void
They haven't discerned the body
of Jesus Christ
They don't understand
the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ
Verse number 27
As it is appointed unto men once to die
but after this are judgments
so Christ once
offered to bear the sins
of many and unto
them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without
sin unto salvation
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins
of many. How often? Once
2000 years ago
Christ came to this earth
lived a holy life
He's the testator of the New Testament
He came to offer his body
his broken body
that we may be able to consume his flesh
and his blood, that we could receive
everlasting life
and everything before in the Old Testament
would just be a picture, a pattern, an image
of what truly would happen
of the true
of the true sacrifice, Jesus Christ
truly in heaven, in the temple
and tabernacle that is located up there
in heaven. Come with me now to
1 Corinthians 11
So we had
the reading there in 1 Corinthians 11
so let's just break it down a little bit
and just like last night
for New Life Baptist Church, I'm not really
trying to preach a sermon so much
I just want to look at the death of Christ
and just the different aspects that the Bible speaks about
So as we come, my point
today is just
to point us back to Jesus, particularly his death
we understand a little bit clearer
maybe if there's been any confusion
I don't want you drinking damnation to yourself
I mean I don't think you would anyway, because this is a smart church
but anyway, we still need to understand
we don't want to be like Catholics and think
as we're drinking that juice
it's become blood or something like that
No, we need to understand correctly what the Bible teaches
But in 1 Corinthians 11
verse 17
Now, actually before I keep reading
We need to understand the context
We need to understand what's going on
When you read the Corinthian church
Look, okay, let me say something to you guys
If you're ever like
I'm thinking about leaving blessed up Baptist Church
I don't know, I don't really like the people
so much
Whatever reason people come up with
to leave church
Before you decide to leave, before you ring me and say
Pass, I'm thinking of leaving church
Please read 1 Corinthians
Because then you'll realize
Our church is really good
You're going to realize that
This was a messed up church
A messed up church
You know what, God used Paul
to write two epistles
to this church
Because God cared about this church getting things right
And so they're all fighting
amongst themselves
There's divisions
Some people say, I'm of Paul
I'm of Apollos, I'm of Cephas
They've got their favorite preachers
Paul says, you're all carnal, you're all babes
What's wrong with you guys?
It just fell apart
The church fell apart
When you get to this, then you understand
why he's talking about
the context of everything that's going on here
He says in 1 Corinthians 11.17
Now in this, I declare unto you
I praise you not
This is not praise worthy guys
That you come together
Not for the better
Better, but for the worse
Now I don't know about you
but when I come to church
When we come together
I want it to be for the better
I want to walk away and go, you know what
I'm a little better today after I went to church
You know, I had some fellowship
I feel lifted
I learned something from God's word
I sang his praises
You know, I was encouraged by the brethren
or whatever it is
Or maybe I was encouragement
How about you come to church and go
Who can I encourage? Take the other view
Alright? When we come together
It ought to be for the better
But when they came together for church
They came for the worse
It was worse
They're better off just being homes
By themselves than coming together
Because it just makes things worse and worse
As this church continued
Verse number 18
For first of all, when you come together in the church
I hear that there be divisions
There must also be heresies among you
That's false beliefs
That they which are approved
may be made manifest among you
Then he says in verse number 27
When you come together therefore in one place
This is not to eat
the Lord's supper
So it's saying here, look
This is what I believe it's teaching here
That when they are coming together
They're not eating the Lord's supper
They might be calling at the Lord's supper
They might even be
Breaking the bread and drinking the grape juice
But what they've been doing
Because of their divisions
It's not the Lord's supper
Cause he says this in verse number 21
For in eating
Everyone taketh other
Sorry, before other his own supper
And one is hungry
And another is drunken
He goes, you don't care about each other
You know when the food's been offered
There are some that are just so selfish
They'll eat it all
I don't care if there's anything left
Right, it's like people are going for seconds or thirds
Before someone's even had their first
Okay, and it says look
Some of you guys are hungry
Other of you's are well drunken
You've eaten well and you've drunk well
But others are hungry like
There's divisions, you don't care about each other
This is why it's not the Lord's supper
What, verse number 22, what
Have you no hazards to eat and drink in
Or despise you the church of God
And shame them that have not
Shall I say to you, shall I praise you in this
I praise you not
So when we come together to eat, we want to share
We want everyone to, you know, eat together
We don't want to be like okay pastor
You get all the pizzas and the rest of us go hungry
Well that's not the Lord's supper
The Lord's supper is communion
It's being together, fellowshiping together
Serving each other
Putting others before ourselves
Like Christ put others
He put a sinful mankind
Before himself
To sacrifice, lay down his life
For you and I
So when we come together to eat
We ought to be remembering the mind of Christ
And thinking about our brothers and sisters
In the Lord as more important than me
I'm going to serve them
I'm going to let them go first
And grab their slice of pizza or whatever we're going to eat tonight
Now
To give a little bit further context, we're in 1 Corinthians 11
Come with me to 1 Corinthians 10
Previous chapter
1 Corinthians 10 verse number 15
Obviously 1 Corinthians 10 comes before 1 Corinthians 11
So let's just get a bit of understanding here
Let's understand what the purpose of the Lord's table
Of the Lord's supper is
1 Corinthians 10, 15
The Bible says
I speak as to wise men
Judge ye what I say
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
Now the Catholics use the word communion
There's nothing wrong with the word communion itself
The word com is like the Latin gone with
Union, you know what union is
Together
United
Communion, okay
When we think about the blood and the body of Jesus
This is what ought to unite us
You know sometimes we're going to have
Difference of opinions
Sometimes we're going to look at passages
People come up to me with the most cryptic passages
Pastor, what do you think about this?
And I'm like, what do you think?
I'm not going to fight you over it
If it's that cryptic and some secondary or tertiary issue
You know
But sometimes people get very emotional and heated up
Did Adam have a belly button or whatever
And then all of a sudden we're arguing amongst ourselves
That's not communion
We're coming for unity
We're coming for unity together
And what brings us together as a church
If anything's going to bring us together
As a church
It's remembering the body and the blood of Jesus Christ
That should be number one
Okay
It shouldn't be Pastor Kevin Sepulveda that brings us together
Okay
It shouldn't be
You know, this is a post-trib church
Post-trib pre-wrath, therefore I'm going to be part of this church
You know, what should bring communion, togetherness
Is the blood and body, the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ
That's the most important thing in this church
I don't care if you believe in the pre-trib rapture
If you have the body and the blood of Christ with me
We're together, we're communion with my brother and sister and the Lord
We are to love each other
That's what brings unity in our church
Anytime there's division
You know, this brother didn't say hello to me
Or whatever it is
I don't know what people fight about
What's there to fight about with church brethren?
I don't know
I don't know why people have fights at church
I don't get it
I seriously don't get it
But anytime we feel a certain dislike one for another
You know what?
I'm a sinner that was saved by grace
By the blood of Christ, broken body
And so was my brother who we just had an argument with
And I'm going to love them because Jesus Christ loved them
You know
We're going to get along, we're going to have peace
We're going to have unity
In remembering the death of our Lord Jesus Christ
Communion, being brought together
That's why it says in verse 17
For we be many
Are one bread
And one body, one united
Together
For we are all partakers of that one bread
Behold Israel after the flesh
Are not they
Which eat of the sacrifices
Partakers of the altar
What say I then?
That the idol is anything?
Or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything?
But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice
They sacrifice to devils
And not to God
I would not that you should have fellowship with devils
So look, when we come together for communion
We come together for church
It ought not to be to bring in the ungodly Gentiles
And their false religions
And their idol worship
And their false gods
No, no, no
We're coming together as the people of God
Remembering the true God of the Bible
And that's why it says in verse number 21
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils
You cannot be partakers of the Lord's table
You cannot be partakers of the table of devils
Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?
Are we stronger than he?
So communion, coming together to remember the Lord's death
It's for believers
Believers who make up one body
The church
The body of our Lord Jesus Christ
It ought to bring us unity
And you know what?
I don't know
I hate gossip
If you ever want to try to turn me against the brother system of the Lord
You're going to fail
I'm not that kind of person that says
These are my friends and if you guys don't get along
I can't be your friends
I'll be friends even if people are fighting
I want unity
I want peace and I want unity
If you have any division
Any arguments, any bitterness
To what a brother system of the Lord today
Before you take of that juice
Before you take of that bread
I want you to be able to forgive them
Forgive them in your heart
Then later on in the week
Come back with me to I Corinthians 11
I Corinthians 11
Verse 23
I Corinthians 11
Verse 23
I Corinthians 11
Verse 23
I Corinthians 11
Verse 23
I Corinthians 11
Verse 23
I Corinthians 11
Verse 23
I Corinthians 11
Verse 23
Then he says
For I have received of the Lord
That which I also delivered unto you
That the Lord Jesus
The same night in which he was betrayed
Took bread
And when he had given thanks
He break it and said
Take eat
This is my body which is broken for you
This do in remembrance of me
So you can see he's quoting what we read there in the book of Luke
In the book of Luke
And he's saying that you know the Lord Jesus Christ
Told Paul these words in his teaching the church once again
That we do this in remembrance of Jesus
You know when it comes to certain religious holidays
I guess in Australia
The two ones are Easter and Christmas aren't they
And nothing wrong with Christmas
I think it's fine if you want to remember
The birth of our Lord Jesus Christ
But as far as a commandment from Jesus
What we are to remember
What we are to commemorate
It's his death
It's the Easter
Like that's vastly more superior
Than remembering the Christmas
And now Christmas is wonderful don't get me wrong
I'm not talking about the presents
I'm not talking about the trees and the lights
I'm talking about Jesus Christ's birth in Bethlehem's manger
But
Yes he came and was born praise God he had to
But he was born to die
He was born that he would be crucified
And sacrificed for you and I
To be all sufficient
Before our Heavenly Father
That we may receive by him
And then it says in verse number 25
After the same manner also he took the cup
And when he had stopped saying
This cup is the New Testament in my blood
This do ye
Look at this as oft as you drink it
In remembrance of me
He doesn't say how oft often
He just says as oft
So really at the end of the day
We as God's people we as a church are kind of up to
Decide up to us how often we want to have that
But again Jesus Christ says this is in remembrance of him
So when we have the bread
And we have the juice
We're going to follow the same procedure
We're going to give thanks I'm going to ask two men
That can give thanks one man to give thanks
For the bread
One man to give thanks for the
Grape juice that signifies or
Testifies of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ
And look at verse number 26
For as often
As ye eat this bread
And drink this cup
Ye do show the Lord's death
Till he come
So this is something we're going to continue
Doing until he comes
Until the second coming of Christ
This is something that we must continue to do
But see how in verse number 26
This is how we show the Lord's death
So when someone says to you
Show me the Lord's death
What is that? What's the significance of the Lord's death?
He says well this is the significance
His broken body
And his shed blood
This is how we show the death of our Lord Jesus Christ
And we do this till he comes
Verse number 27
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
So notice after we have our dinner together
And we break the bread and we drink the juice
We need to drink of it
Worthily
Because if we drink of it unworthily
The Bible says we're going to be guilty before the Lord
Now
You say what does that even mean pastor
Number one
The only way you can be worthy before God
Is to be saved
Let's just start with that
Our righteousness is never worthy
Enough for the eyes of our heavenly father
So that's why it says in verse number 28
But let a man examine himself
And so let him eat of that bread
And drink of that cup
So I can't examine you
I can't say
Brother so and so
You're not worthy
Step outside
Sister yeah you're worthy
You can participate
It's not up to me
It says let a man examine himself
If you know you are saved
You can drink worthily
Of this cup
And then it says in verse number 29
For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily
Eateth and drinketh damnation
To himself
Not discerning the Lord's body
Like I said the title for the sermon tonight
Was discerning the Lord's body
I want you to be able to understand
What this is all about
What this is symbolic of
What it represents
That you have been saved by our heavenly father
And look at verse number 30
Look what the drinking damnation might look like in your life
Verse number 30
For this cause or for this reason
Many are weak and sickly among you
If you ever participate at the Lord's table
After this you just had this sudden sickness
Or something
For a moment for you to think hold on
Did I drink of this worthily?
And many sleep
Many have passed away
Because they have not participated of this worthily
Now
I don't know
I've gone back and forth over this
Over the years whether Judas Iscariot
Partook of the Lord's table or not
Some say he didn't some say he did
When you read the book of Luke it appears that he did
But I also know that the book of Luke is thematic
And is not always in chronological order
But let's just hypothetically
Let's just say that Judas did eat
Did partake of the last supper
Maybe he didn't but let's just say he did
The fact that he, not the fact because I'm saying hypothetically
But if he did
What was his end result?
He ended up committing suicide
He lost his life
So we want to make sure
Number one that we're saved
Now it continues in verse number 31
For if we would judge ourselves
Like we're going to examine ourselves
If we would judge ourselves
We should not be judged
Okay
God's not going to judge you
It says but when we are judged
We are chastened of the Lord
That we should not be condemned with the world
Okay
So being condemned with the world is of course
The world is dying without Jesus Christ
They're going to suffer for all eternity in hell
And so if God chastises you
So this speaks of another layer of being worthy
We know that as believers
Positionally
We are righteous
In the eyes of our Father
Because we're dressed in the righteousness of his Son
The Lord Jesus Christ
Positionally that will never change
But we also know that
As we walk
In our spiritual life
In our fellowship with our Father
That as we walk through life
When we commit sin
And we're in darkness
The Bible says in 1 John
That we break our fellowship with our Father
Because in our Father there is no darkness in him at all
If we're walking in darkness
We can still be saved but we're walking in darkness
We're walking in sin
We have unconfessed sin in our life
Then we're not in fellowship with our Father
So I believe it is just as important
We're not going to be condemned with the world
But we should examine ourselves
We should judge ourselves
And say Lord have I confessed my sins before you today
Because I guarantee you've sinned this week
There's probably sins that you've not even confessed to the Lord
Because sometimes we sin and we forget
You know
We just forget
Many times when we confess our sins before the Lord
They might be the major ones
The things that we struggle with the most
But sometimes the smaller things
The little bitterness
The little hatred
The little things that we might have toward people
Or whatever it is
We forget to mention it to the Lord
Don't be surprised if right now we have some
Unconfessed sin in our life
And so before we do partake of the Lord's table
I'm going to give you guys a moment
To have a minute's silent prayer
Again, positionally you're saved
Nothing's going to change that
You're not going to be condemned with the world
But our walk might be a little dirty
We want to make sure that we confess our sins before God
That we're worthy not just in position
But that we're worthy in our fellowship
And walk with our God
And then we can partake of that bread
And that juice
It says in verse number 33
Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat
Tarry one for another, wait for each other
So we can share together
Verse number 34
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
Paul is just saying, look, I'll fix you guys up when I come
Because I had so many issues
Other issues
He's obviously trying to fix some issues in his epistles
But he says when I come, I'll sort out everything else in the church
But brethren, you know, obviously
As we partake of the dinner after this service
Let's wait for each other
Then just jump in and eat
Hey, let's give thanks to God for the food we're going to share together
Let's enjoy
Our fellowship one for another
You know, remember the reason we can fellowship
The reason we're gathered here to gather tonight
Isn't because we had nothing else to do on a Thursday night
We're here to remember our Lord
We're here for our Lord Jesus Christ
That's the communion, that's what brings us together
And if we can do that
We can do that as we share in fellowship
Remembering our Lord
Once we're done eating
I'll start to prepare things for the Lord's table
But the whole point for tonight
Is to just simply remember
The death, the body, the blood
The sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ
We're going to show the Lord's death
Till he comes
Okay, let's pray