WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:09.119 As I think about this church and the history, by the way, have you gone to the corridor and seen the pictures, the photographs of the history of this church, the buildings? 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:12.560 What a great reminder of God's faithfulness. 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:20.079 There's a story of God met us in every one of those buildings and led us and took us from one building to the next to this building. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:27.519 To think about the history, I think of uh I think of the man who had the vision from God to start this church. 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:34.320 He's sitting right there in the second row, Robert Morrison, and he had a birthday yesterday. 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:53.280 Robert, we're so glad that God gave you a vision for the need for a Presbyterian Reformed Gospel Centered Church in Alexandria. 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:58.320 We're gonna look this morning in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:00.640 We're gonna be thinking about the Lord's Supper. 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:04.480 Going to preach on the Lord's Supper. 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:13.840 But first let's read in Paul's epistle, his letter to the Corinthians. 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:36.640 Some of you know about the Corinthian church, there were a lot of gifts, evidently a lot of gifted people, a diverse body of Christ, a church that the Apostle Paul ministered in great ways to, but they had problems, like every church. 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:38.959 There's no perfect church. 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:43.040 You're not still looking for the perfect church, are you? 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:47.040 Come on. 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:53.519 We're sinners saved by grace, just like you. 00:01:54.879 --> 00:02:03.120 But let's hear how God addresses congregations like Corinth and Alexandria and others. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:05.760 Hear the word of God. 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:11.199 But in the following instructions, I do not commend you. 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:15.599 Because when you come together, it's not for the better, but for the worse. 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:21.439 For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:23.680 And I believe in part. 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:30.159 For there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:34.560 When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat. 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:40.240 For in eating, each one of you goes ahead with his own meal. 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:43.520 One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:44.560 What? 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:48.879 Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:54.080 Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:56.159 What shall I say to you? 00:02:56.479 --> 00:02:58.479 Shall I commend you in this? 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:00.719 No, I will not. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:05.120 For I receive from the Lord what I also deliver to you. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:14.240 That the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you. 00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:16.879 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:25.120 In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:29.360 Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:36.400 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:45.120 Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:51.439 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:57.599 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:02.719 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:07.599 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:14.879 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned along with the world. 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:19.680 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:22.560 If anyone is hungry, let them eat at home. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:26.240 So that when you come together, it will not be for judgment. 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:30.079 About the other things, I will give directions when I come. 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:34.399 This is the reading of God's holy word. 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:43.519 Oh, how we need the power of God's Spirit to make the word of God come alive. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:45.199 Let's ask Him. 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:49.759 Father, we do thank you. 00:04:50.399 --> 00:05:03.519 We thank you for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, bought by His blood, purchased by His atoning death, that you would include us, that you would invite us into your church. 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:07.759 We will never get over, we will never stop thanking you. 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:21.759 But Lord, now even as we read these important instructions from the Apostle Paul, may we not get stuck in anything else, may we not be distracted. 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:41.279 Lord, if we're not engaged, engage us by your Spirit to teach us, to grow us, to train us in godliness and righteousness, to be open to receive whatever it is, Spirit of God, that you would have to give us this morning. 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:43.920 We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus. 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:44.879 Amen. 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:53.120 This morning, as I said, we ponder the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 00:05:54.160 --> 00:06:04.480 What a joyous Sabbath day this is to be able to install, ordain officers, and feed at the Lord's table, to be fed by God. 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:09.040 This morning we're going to look at the context for this passage. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:12.319 We're going to look at the meaning of this supper. 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:15.519 And lastly, we're going to think about our response. 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:20.560 The context for this passage, the church at Corinth. 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:27.680 The early church started special fellowship meals that came to be called love feast. 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:30.399 Now, many of us are not familiar with this. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:36.720 This is not necessarily our practice, but it was the practice of many of the churches in the early church. 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:47.600 And you understand that there were no buildings like this in the early church in the first decades for sure, probably centuries. 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:51.759 They didn't have big church buildings that people got together in. 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:55.199 That came later in Christendom. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:58.560 They met in people's homes, houses. 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:03.519 Oftentimes the person with the larger house that could accommodate more people. 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:09.040 But there weren't likely groups of 500 meeting together. 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:13.199 They were maybe large covenant fellowship groups. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:16.800 It would vary from house to house. 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:22.959 Probably in some there were 10, perhaps in some there were maybe 40, maybe 50. 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:28.399 And they got close to each other and they met together frequently. 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:37.439 And before celebrating the Lord's Supper, they had this practice of having what we might call a church potluck today. 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:46.800 And they would bring food, they would bring drink, they would sit around the tables and talk about their lives of the week. 00:07:47.759 --> 00:07:56.720 And Paul says, well, wait a minute, what I'm hearing about what's going on in your times together is not good. 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:05.040 What I hear, I must speak to, because it's not right in the eyes of God. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:07.360 What was going on? 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:20.959 These gatherings that were supposedly focused on their oneness in Christ served also to celebrate their unity in Christ at the Lord's table, the one Savior who died for them all. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:30.800 In the church of Corinth, as they were following this early tradition of these love feasts, however, they had turned the meals into something very different. 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:35.600 They were leading them to sins like gluttony. 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:42.240 Gluttony is one of those sins that it's almost laughed at in our day and time, isn't it? 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:51.200 When was the last time you or anybody you know confessed the sin of gluttony? 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:57.120 Just eating more than you needed to eat. 00:08:58.159 --> 00:08:59.679 Eating too much. 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:04.559 Eating to satisfy an emotional need. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:08.960 We don't, we kind of soft pedal that sin, don't we? 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:11.600 But gluttony is a sin. 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:15.759 Drunkenness is certainly a sin. 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:17.840 Drinking too much alcohol. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:26.080 And when the meal was associated with holy communion, it became blasphemous to the Lord of the Supper. 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:32.799 Verse 21, Paul says to them, each one of you goes ahead with his own needs. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:35.840 In other words, let me paraphrase what he's saying. 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:45.360 Some of you are getting to the love feast early, and you're just kind of preoccupied with the food or the wine. 00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:51.919 And you're not really understanding, you're not paying attention to what this is really about. 00:09:53.600 --> 00:10:01.360 You're losing understanding and attention to the very purpose for your being there. 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:08.799 Maybe one application we talk about at APC with our covenant fellowship groups. 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:13.679 Did you know that the purpose of your covenant fellowship group is not simply for fellowship? 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:19.039 Pastor Josh reminds us of this all the time. 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:23.519 It's good to have fellowship when you get to your CFT. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:28.559 It's maybe good to have food and to have prayer. 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:31.519 But let's just say it one more time. 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:38.159 The purpose of our gatherings of covenant fellowship groups is for nothing less than spiritual transformation. 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:43.679 We're not there simply to study the Bible and learn something new. 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:44.720 No. 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:48.159 We're not there just to see our friends. 00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:50.240 No. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:57.840 We're there to be have our hearts touched by the grace of God, the word of God, the Spirit of God. 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:02.720 And that's a beautiful thing when we experience that. 00:11:04.559 --> 00:11:10.399 Paul says to the Corinthians, each one of you goes ahead with their own agenda. 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:18.320 It revealed how self-centered these followers of Christ had become without realizing what they were doing. 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:22.399 Do you know when we get caught up with this stuff, we rarely, barely ever see it? 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:23.440 Did you know that? 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:26.480 It's true. 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:34.240 What is that about our human hearts that we oftentimes are the last ones to see what's really going on in our hearts? 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:35.759 Have you noticed that? 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:38.960 What is that? 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:43.519 That's the power of self-deception. 00:11:44.480 --> 00:11:48.399 That's the power of a self-focused life. 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:52.559 Just to see what I want to see. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:55.919 Do you know we do that? 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:00.240 And by God's grace, we need to repent of that. 00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:08.240 Just to put our glasses on to see what we want to see, to not see what we should see sometimes. 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:11.600 That's really what Paul's saying. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:15.600 He addresses their disobedience. 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:20.240 He says, you're not even really sharing your food with each other. 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:23.440 That sounds pretty bizarre. 00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:25.120 A church potluck. 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:27.759 I mean, it's kind of a weird picture, right? 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:29.120 A church potluck. 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:38.000 Picture a church potluck and all the food's laid out on the counter and people are kind of elbowing to get to the front of the line. 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:40.240 To get the good stuff. 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:42.960 Paul says, come on. 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:45.120 What are you doing? 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:50.720 Some people are getting there early and they're starting to drink the alcohol. 00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:58.960 Some of them are actually a little buzzed by the time they get to the Lord's Supper. 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:02.159 Paul says, stop it. 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:08.879 Take care of your own physical needs at home before you gather together. 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:18.799 Because when you gather together, it's imperative that you're focused on what is truly important so that you're not deceived. 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:25.759 In their pride, they did not even see the ways that they were pulling apart from each other. 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:29.519 That's the nature of the self-centered life. 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:37.120 To focus so much on you that you don't really understand your impact on those around you. 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:46.399 You're so honed in on your own world that you're not really seeing what's going on around you in the lives of the people, even that love you. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:52.480 I have no doubt that the people that gathered in these homes, remember, we're not talking about hundreds of people. 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:56.720 At best, we're talking about dozens of people. 00:13:56.960 --> 00:13:58.720 They knew each other. 00:13:59.840 --> 00:14:03.039 And yet they were stepping on top of each other. 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:05.840 We're stepping over each other. 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:09.679 You know that can still happen today. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:13.519 That's not just something for 20 centuries ago. 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:18.879 There was bickering among them, there was arguing in their midst. 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:22.879 Paul says, I hear that there are divisions among you. 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:27.279 He uses the word from which we get our English word, schisms. 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:39.519 The body is breaking down because of pride, because of selfishness. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:44.320 People are so absorbed in their own world and their own needs. 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:46.960 And how about today, their own opinions? 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:56.240 Opinions that are so strong that are not central to the doctrine, to the central doctrines of the gospel that they divide. 00:14:56.559 --> 00:14:57.200 Split. 00:14:57.440 --> 00:14:58.639 Churches split. 00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:03.759 Christians split and divide over things that are not of primary value. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:06.240 Secondary things. 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:15.279 You don't want to stand before Jesus one day and have to explain why you split over secondary matters, trust me. 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:17.120 You don't. 00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:18.480 I don't. 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:32.399 One of the things that we talked about this weekend at the retreat that came up time and again was the precious gift of unity that God has given this church from the beginning. 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:37.200 And it's not that we haven't had hard things to deal with, trust me. 00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:47.279 The precious gift of how the unity has been preserved in this body over the years. 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:50.559 So precious. 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:58.720 One of the most fearful things in the church is division, a sign of sure spiritual sickness. 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:01.440 Paul takes this on. 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:05.360 We've got to take this on. 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:06.559 It's in the scriptures. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:08.320 We can't ignore this. 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:12.559 Secondly, what's the real meaning of the Lord's Supper here? 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:19.279 And he tells us, let's go back to those verses that we're familiar with, verses 23 to 26. 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:27.039 For I received from the Lord what I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread. 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:34.159 And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you. 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:36.799 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:43.600 In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. 00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:47.679 Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:55.120 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 00:16:56.960 --> 00:17:01.200 One Bible commentator put it like this, these verses in this context. 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:05.440 These verses are like a diamond dropped in a muddy road. 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:09.759 Have you ever seen it like that before? 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:11.519 In this context? 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:15.839 Like a diamond that was dropped in a muddy road. 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:24.400 One of the most beautiful passages in the Word of God is given in the middle of a strong rebuke of selfish, carnal living. 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:38.319 Of Christians! He's addressing Christians, followers of Christ, whose focus was more on themselves than the Lord of the sacrament. 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:51.440 What the Apostle Paul is doing here, what we must do this morning, he's taking us back to the cross in the midst of the mess. 00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:55.599 It's always a good place to go, isn't it? 00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:06.000 Jesus in this sacrament, the Lord's Supper, he's reminding us there's really three aspects of the Lord's Supper. 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:10.880 Looking back, do this in remembrance of me engraved on this table. 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:13.920 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:18.000 Don't ever forget what I did for you. 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:23.119 Don't ever forget what I did to save you. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:26.240 To make you a child of God. 00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:29.279 To receive the love of God. 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:32.319 Don't ever forget that. 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:37.039 We look back at what he did. 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:39.519 We look within. 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:43.119 So I say examine yourself. 00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:45.680 I say examine yourself. 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:47.359 Examine your heart. 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:49.039 Examine your behavior. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:51.039 Examine your motives. 00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:53.200 Examine your life. 00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:56.799 And look forward. 00:18:57.759 --> 00:18:59.200 What does he say? 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:05.200 Keep doing this until the Lord's return. 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:07.200 Until he comes. 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:09.839 Don't stop proclaiming his death. 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:14.079 Don't stop proclaiming life in Christ until he returns. 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:16.640 We're looking back when we come to this table. 00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:18.880 We look back, we look within. 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:20.880 And we look forward. 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:27.599 One day we're going to be gathered around the marriage feast, the supper of the Lamb in glory. 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:32.079 That day there's going to be no elbowing. 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:37.039 That day there's not going to be any pride. 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:45.039 There's not going to be any racism. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:54.640 There's not going to be any putting down of other people whose opinions are different than yours. 00:19:55.920 --> 00:19:58.160 It's going to be a beautiful feast. 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:01.440 And you're going to be really glad you're there. 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:06.000 And Jesus says, I want you to start preparing for that now. 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:11.119 In this world, in this body of Christ, now. 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:16.960 Oh, the meaning of this supper is beautiful. 00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:21.839 Jesus says, this is my body. 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:30.079 He didn't just give you his blessings. 00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:33.519 He could have done that from heaven. 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:41.920 He didn't just give you his presence spiritually by faith. 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:44.799 He did that in the Old Testament. 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:49.359 He said, this is my body. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:54.000 A body not unlike yours. 00:20:55.359 --> 00:21:00.000 He said, but the purpose for my body is for my body to be broken. 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:04.319 My body to be crucified on a cross. 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:08.000 So that one day you will sit at the feast with me. 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:11.119 This is my body, which is. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:14.480 Anybody remember those next two words? 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:18.319 Which is for you. 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:23.359 Because I was sharing with the officers this weekend staff. 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:30.079 I I was repairing this text all week and I just got stuck on those two words. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:32.319 And it was good. 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:37.839 Early in the week, I just got stuck on those two words. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.559 Sometimes I can read quickly past those words. 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:48.559 And sometimes I can think, no, I've got the idea. 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:50.960 I've got the idea, I understand. 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:52.880 I understand. 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:57.279 Sometimes I feel the Holy Spirit asking me, Tom, do you? 00:21:58.400 --> 00:21:59.039 Do you? 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:01.279 Really? 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:08.640 This is my body, which is for you. 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:12.480 When he says you, he's got faces in mind. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:14.240 He's got names in mind. 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:25.839 He's got people, not just people groups, he's got people with names and faces and histories and sins. 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:28.960 He says, this is for you. 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:45.680 Jesus comes to us, finding us stuck in our mess, finding us stuck in our sins, finding us stuck in our selfishness, saying, in effect, he says, I'm thinking of you. 00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:47.759 I'm doing this for you. 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:51.599 Where's your heart in all this? 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:00.240 What does Paul say? 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:06.079 Just a few chapters later in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:10.480 What does Paul have to say about this? 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:19.279 We implore you, implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:30.400 For our sake he made him, God made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:31.839 Did you know that? 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:42.000 God made the one who never knew sin, the one that never committed sin, the one who never ever rebelled against him. 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:53.839 He made him to become a sin offering so that in him, Christ, and through his work, you and I might become the righteousness of God. 00:23:54.319 --> 00:23:55.759 This is the gospel. 00:23:56.880 --> 00:23:58.480 This is the gospel. 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:03.200 It's said so many times in so many places in Scriptures. 00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:11.119 One of the places that I'm just drawn to often is in Galatians chapter 3. 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:16.960 Galatians chapter 3, Paul says this as clearly as he says it anywhere else in the scriptures. 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:20.720 Verse 13. 00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:26.880 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. 00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:30.640 For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:36.160 I haven't been hung on a tree, have you? 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:42.799 And even if we were, it wouldn't help anybody's sin problem. 00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:55.039 That was the most obscene, grotesque, shameful experience in Paul's world, in Jesus' own world that day. 00:24:55.359 --> 00:25:08.480 That was to put you at the bottom of the bottom of the pool as a social outcast to be taken outside the city, staked to a cross, impaled to a cross. 00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:11.039 Oh, how Jesus could have cried out from the. 00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:13.119 This is not what he cries out. 00:25:13.839 --> 00:25:17.119 He cried out a lot of things on the cross, but he did not say this. 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:21.279 Hey, look, trust me, I'm not here because of my sin. 00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:23.279 It's not me. 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:26.559 He didn't say that. 00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:30.880 He didn't say, hey, I don't want you to get the wrong impression of me. 00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:33.200 I'm really perfect. 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:38.559 He didn't say that. 00:25:43.680 --> 00:25:45.759 He knew why he was there. 00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:49.599 And it wasn't for his sin, it was for your sin. 00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:51.359 It was for my sin. 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:53.839 The gospel. 00:25:54.880 --> 00:26:03.279 He says, I'm putting myself in your place before God so that one day you can be in my place in my righteousness. 00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:07.039 That God, when he looks at your sin, he will not see you the sinner. 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:10.000 He will see Jesus Christ, the sin bearer. 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:11.680 He's putting you there. 00:26:12.400 --> 00:26:15.200 Oh, praise God Almighty. 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:17.440 The meaning of our Lord's Supper. 00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:20.160 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:26:20.559 --> 00:26:22.480 It's not about you, Tom. 00:26:22.799 --> 00:26:24.160 It's not about you. 00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:27.839 He says it's about me. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:30.000 The paradox. 00:26:31.200 --> 00:26:32.319 The paradox. 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:39.279 Yet it is as we see all that Jesus did was for you, it becomes all about him. 00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:42.480 Isn't that true? 00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:48.400 And the more you see that, the more that'll change your life. 00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:57.920 The more you see that it was all about what Jesus did for you, it will become more and more in your life all about him and less of you. 00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:00.720 That's just the way the gospel works. 00:27:02.720 --> 00:27:06.720 This is my body, which is for you. 00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:13.599 As you take the elements this morning, don't forget that. 00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:19.599 Invite the Holy Spirit in to show you in new ways the beauty of this truth. 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:24.160 That you will drink deeply of the grace of God this morning. 00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:29.039 We're going to sing a little bit later. 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:35.680 Words that only a gospel, only a gospel man could understand, or a gospel woman. 00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:37.839 In this case it was Isaac Watts. 00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:40.160 Alas, and did my Savior bleed? 00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:41.920 Did my sovereign die? 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:48.880 Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm? 00:27:51.359 --> 00:27:52.000 As I. 00:27:52.400 --> 00:27:56.160 That's not very popular language in our culture today, is it? 00:27:57.759 --> 00:27:59.759 To see ourselves as worms. 00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:02.880 That's below our dignity. 00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:07.920 Was it for sins that I had done? 00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:10.400 He groaned upon the tree? 00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:15.519 Amazing pity, grace unknown, and love beyond degree. 00:28:16.079 --> 00:28:27.119 My God, why would you shed your blood so pure and undefiled to make a sinful one like me your chosen precious child? 00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:30.799 Lastly, as we close, our response. 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:35.680 Let a person examine himself then before we eat the bread and drink the cup. 00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:44.319 This meal always brings with it a command, not only to eat and drink, but a command to examine our hearts. 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:55.039 You see, if you take this sacrament without examining your heart, you're actually harming your heart. 00:28:55.519 --> 00:29:09.920 If you take it thoughtlessly, if you take it carelessly, if you take it self-absorbed, it will not do you good, it will do you harm. 00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:16.480 This is what he says, and we don't always talk about this passage, but that's why we preach on it from time to time. 00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:27.759 He's saying some of you are very sick because you're not taking the Lord's Supper in the Spirit of the Lord. 00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:31.119 What did he say beyond that? 00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:33.039 Some of you have actually died. 00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:35.599 Now, Christians today get all weirded out by this. 00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:37.440 No, that no, no, no. 00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:38.319 Yes. 00:29:39.359 --> 00:29:40.000 Yes. 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:43.519 Do you think this is still not happening today? 00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:45.759 Of course it is. 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:51.759 If it happened in the early church, the only difference is that here we're reading about it because it was in Scripture. 00:29:52.319 --> 00:29:54.799 Do you think that's still not happening today? 00:29:55.359 --> 00:29:58.720 You think people are not eating in an unworthy manner today? 00:29:59.279 --> 00:30:00.960 Automatically, well, this is what we do. 00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:03.440 We sing songs, we take the cup. 00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:04.079 No. 00:30:07.759 --> 00:30:11.920 So let a person examine his heart, her heart. 00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:17.599 Do you see your need for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ? 00:30:17.920 --> 00:30:24.720 Do you see that he would die for such a one, a worm, as you, as me? 00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:30.400 Have you come here this morning to confess your sin? 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:38.000 We not only come to praise him, we come to confess to him what's getting in the way, Lord. 00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:41.119 He's not saying don't take this cup unless you're perfect. 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:42.720 There's nobody perfect here. 00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:46.079 But he is saying, examine your heart. 00:30:47.119 --> 00:30:49.440 Invite the Holy Spirit in. 00:30:49.759 --> 00:30:54.400 Please reveal to me the finished work of Jesus for me. 00:30:55.279 --> 00:31:00.079 May the lights shine brightly on Jesus this morning. 00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:06.799 When the lights shine on Jesus, they also shine on the dark places of our own hearts. 00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:08.000 Did you know that? 00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:12.559 That's just the work, that's the work of the Spirit. 00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:33.440 When the Holy Spirit shines the lights on Jesus Christ, the beauty of his person, the power of his atoning work on the cross, his finished work, we can't help but to see the darkness that still resides within us. 00:31:34.400 --> 00:31:36.480 We confess our sins. 00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:45.839 It's only because the lights don't shine brightly on Jesus that the lights don't shine in your heart to see your sin. 00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:53.200 If the lights are shining on Jesus, the light will shine on the darkness of your sin. 00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:56.160 That's just the way it works. 00:31:59.119 --> 00:32:00.559 Understandably. 00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:12.319 Holy Spirit, reveal where our sin is this morning in harming others, in our divisiveness, our pride, our selfishness. 00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:18.000 And Jesus will be glorified. 00:32:19.440 --> 00:32:22.079 And you will be healed in new ways. 00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:43.920 We just can't keep on going about our lives, gossiping, criticizing, putting people down, being self-absorbed, and all the other sins. 00:32:44.559 --> 00:32:54.000 We just can't keep on doing that if Jesus is really shining the light on our hearts. 00:32:54.880 --> 00:32:56.960 We see it and we confess it. 00:32:57.200 --> 00:32:59.440 But you cannot do this alone. 00:32:59.920 --> 00:33:03.119 Only the Holy Spirit can do this work in your heart this morning. 00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:05.680 Only the Holy Spirit can do this work in my heart. 00:33:05.839 --> 00:33:08.400 Otherwise, I simply will not see it. 00:33:08.720 --> 00:33:10.319 I will not own it. 00:33:12.400 --> 00:33:14.960 Oh, we're here to confess our sins. 00:33:16.160 --> 00:33:20.480 You see, it's not just about us and Jesus. 00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:24.799 It's also about how our sins wound others that Jesus loves. 00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:31.839 Surely the letter from Paul sent to the Corinthians was not only to Jesus for forgiveness. 00:33:33.440 --> 00:33:43.119 When the Spirit is at work in your heart, you don't only go to Jesus for forgiveness, which you do, but you go to other people who you have harmed. 00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:45.279 You go to them as well. 00:33:45.920 --> 00:33:48.559 That's what Paul is saying in this context. 00:33:51.279 --> 00:33:53.519 And only the Spirit will take you. 00:33:54.240 --> 00:33:56.880 Otherwise, you'll not move. 00:33:57.359 --> 00:34:00.480 Otherwise, you'll just sit back and say, Well, I'm waiting for them. 00:34:03.119 --> 00:34:09.920 Otherwise, you'll sit back and say, Well, you know, wait, I may have had something to do with it, but it's more their fault than mine. 00:34:11.679 --> 00:34:13.360 That's not the gospel. 00:34:17.840 --> 00:34:27.280 When the lights are on Jesus and the Holy Spirit takes us to Jesus, we do business. 00:34:29.199 --> 00:34:30.159 We respond. 00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:33.519 We confess, yes, we thank him. 00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:36.000 We just sing differently, don't we? 00:34:36.480 --> 00:34:37.840 With a free soul. 00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:44.480 Don't you sing better when you are being taken into the love of Jesus in a new way? 00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:48.320 Oh, friends. 00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:54.480 We desperately need to come to Jesus now. 00:34:55.199 --> 00:34:56.800