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If you have your Bible's turn to 1 Corinthians 11, and I know for the last several weeks we've been dealing with the Lord's table, and here we go again on the Lord's table.

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We're going to be looking at this last paragraph of chapter 11 verses 27 through 34.

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And in particular we're going to try to ask what it does it mean when it tells us to examine ourselves.

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What does it mean when we examine ourselves?

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So begin reading with me in verse 27.

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"Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the blood and the body and blood of the Lord.

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Let a person examine himself, then so eat the bread and drink the cup.

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For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning, the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

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That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died.

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But if we judge ourselves," going back to that examining ourselves, "but if we judge or examine ourselves truly we will not be judged.

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But when we are judged by the Lord we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

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So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another, and if anyone is hungry, let them eat at home, so that when you come together it will not be for judgment.

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About the other things I will give directions when I come." Now examining yourself before you take of the table seems to be an important issue to the Apostle Paul because in this paragraph at least six times he speaks of judgment.

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Verse 27 says he will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord.

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That is if you do this without examining yourself and doing this in an unworthy manner you will be guilty as if you slayed Christ himself.

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Like you are there at the crucifixion and crying out, "Crucify him!" So this is a serious matter.

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Verse 29 it says eats and drinks judgment on itself.

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Verse 30 says this is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died.

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That is you are facing judgment and your sicknesses.

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Verse 31 it says if we judge ourselves we will not be judged.

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Verse 32 says when we are judged by the Lord we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned or judged along with the world.

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Then again in verse 34, "So that when you come together it will not be for judgment." Now the Lord's table is a means of grace.

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It is designed to be a benefit to us but in this case the Corinthians it was not beneficial.

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It wasn't unifying.

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It was divisive and it brought condemnation or judgment upon them.

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And this is why it is an important issue.

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The Lord's table, the communion is an important issue because it is designed to be for our good but if we don't do it in a proper way, if we do not discern the Lord's body and discern ourself or judge ourself and by the way when it says examine yourself and judge yourself those words could be and often are translated as discerning or examining yourself.

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Discern yourself, examine yourself.

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And so what was happening according to the context in the church of course as we talked about before they have made the Lord's table into a fellowship meal and it was not just a fellowship meal it became just a common meal like when you go and eat out with the saints at a restaurant you're just eating and you don't think well I'm going to invite the whole church you can't do that so you just like you're just kind of going out and not thinking about the whole body and you're not necessarily thinking about the elements and what they represent or not.

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They were coming to church and bringing their food and some people didn't have enough food and others were left out they got started before some even got to church that's why he says eat at home if you're hungry and when you come together wait on one another because this is a sacred ceremony this is a holy ceremony and so he's exhorting us to examine ourselves and in this we're going to look at what does that mean what does it mean to examine ourselves before we take of this table.

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In other words the thesis of this morning's sermon is how should we approach the table.

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How should we come to the table and this is important for us seeing that we're next month going to weekly communion and we need to know how to do this.

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Well I suggest to you that you come to the table in the same way you come to Christ.

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So you partake of the elements in the same way you're going to meet the Lord Jesus.

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Another way of saying it you come to the table like you come to the gospel if communion is a remembrance of the gospel what Christ did in his death remembering his broken body and a shed blood for us if we're remembering the gospel then we should come to the table in the same way we come to the gospel and it's one thing we need to realize as Christians there's only one time that we're born again.

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There was a moment of your conversion but we continue to believe the gospel every day have you ever had experience with someone's evangelizing or preaching the gospel.

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You're there and it's almost you're already a Christian but you're hearing the gospel and it comes to you afresh it comes to you.

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It's like it's new to you even though you've heard it a thousand times but it it's so refreshing it's almost like you're re-believing it for the first time it's almost like you're repenting again and coming to Christ.

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Well that should be the common experience of the Christian we're costly going back to the gospel we're constantly repenting and believing because you don't just have one act of faith you don't have just one moment of repentance you continue to believe right you continue to live by faith in the gospel and that is a life of ongoing repentance and so when we come to the table is as we're coming to the gospel we're going to do four things according to this text for exhortations because this is what Paul is doing he's correcting the Corinthians for their irreverent unworthy observance of the table.

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He says now this is how you should do it.

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So in the correction he's given instructions on how to do it properly and so we want to learn from the mistakes of the Corinthians and we want to make sure we're doing it as Paul instructs us to do it.

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So there's four things we need to do as we come to the gospel one we need to examine ourselves and I think these next three things kind of come underneath that one examine ourselves two we need to believe the gospel three that is two we need to believe the gospel three we need to repent and four we need to love the church.

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So every time we take the table here's the things we need to do examine ourselves believe repent love.

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First of all it tells us in verse 27 through 28 that we need to examine ourselves it says whoever therefore eats and the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.

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Here's the solution let a person examine himself then like do this before you partake then so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

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Now before we look at what it means to examine ourselves we'll see here there's a danger of not doing so.

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In fact there's a twofold danger first of all there's the danger of for taking it in an unworthy manner.

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Look at verse 27 it says whoever and now that can happen corporately but it could also happen individually that is corporately with the church could be doing it wrong or individually the church could do it right and you be doing it wrong and therefore this is a personal exhortation as we'll see throughout this text is a personal exhortation for you to examine yourself and it says whoever therefore eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner that is it's possible that you're partaking or could partake in a way that is not worthy the word worthy means that which is dignified it had this respectfulness to it and the point is there's a way of doing this that could be irreverent.

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The correct the Corinthians I think were treating the Holy Communion as something common a common meal which was disrespecting the elements disrespecting them not holding them in high regard but just treating them like regular food and this is not about regular food if you're hungry eat at home this is not just about drinking and eating this is about remembering and see the Corinthians lost track of what they were doing of course they were celebrating this at the early church did celebrate this every week we know that the book of Acts is they devoted themselves to breaking bread and to the apostles doctrine and fellowship this is what they did and we're going to go to weekly basis and you've been thinking what where's the Bible speak of it has to be done weekly well as we thought about this as I thought about this over the years I've held a weekly communion for probably fifteen years or ten years but we haven't done it not that I think it's necessary but if you're going to make a case for how often as often as you do this it says I think the only biblical case you could make is weekly because nowhere would you come to the conclusion it should be monthly or yearly but one of the maybe things that you might think well what if it comes weekly that it becomes common will lose the significance of it and it will be just you know if we do Christmas every day it's not gonna be Christmas right and that's the idea this is needs to be a something very special in our hearts and the Corinthians obviously have lost the significance they lost the significance of this and they did it every week but they lost the significance of this and I would say that is a true danger of doing something weekly that it becomes common but that's not really an argument against it because think of everything else that we do that's special on Sunday we pray we preach we sing these things if we let's just do those monthly let's just skip three weeks out of the month and just come together once a month that way it'll be more special no so you can't apply that necessarily to all the other things the church is commanded to do and so we need to be careful that it doesn't become something mundane and I think it's gonna even be something wonderful as we think about the gospel every week and be reminded of the gospel every week and that we can come back to the gospel every week through examining ourselves believing and repenting and loving as we'll see but you see the second danger is not just taking an unworthy manner or just taking in a common way forgetting what we're doing another danger is in so doing that we become guilty of the very blood and death of Jesus Christ look what it says therefore eats the bread and or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord now that's pretty serious language in fact if this wasn't inspired if it was just written in a by just some commentator we go man that's too severe we would revolt against such language you mean if I my mind's not right and I'm not actually believing the gospel and remembering the gospel and I'm just taking it casually and cavalierly that I would be guilty of the blood and body of the Lord you know it what do you think when you see someone burning our country's flag so very disrespectful right it's very disrespectful to see someone take our flag and burn it because the flag is not just cloth you know if you burn cloth go ahead do it all day long but the flag is a symbol of something bigger than the cloth the elements in this case they symbolize the very blood and body of Jesus and if you treat the symbols with disrespect is as you're disrespecting what they sing signify you're disrespecting Christ himself Charles Hodge the commentator says in this verse he says the Lord's Supper is to be very in its very nature a proclamation of the death of Christ it follows that those who attend upon it as an ordinary meal or in a irreverent manner or for any other purpose than that which was appointed are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord he goes on to say the idea that he is so evil that he would have joined in the crucifixion of the Lord or that he makes himself a particular partaker of the guilt of his death this is why we'll say some of them are sick and die this is how serious it is now as you think about this is like seems pretty severe surely God's not going to hold us accountable if we're daydreaming during the Lord's table or we're angry with our heart in our heart towards the saints or we have we're just disrespectful in our attitude how did you feel if some of you may not know this but for those who have been watch maybe didn't watch I didn't watch it but you've heard about the opening ceremony at the Olympics in Paris where they mock the Lord's table they the they the performance took that which is sacred now I'm not necessarily a big fan of that painting for say a da Vinci I'm not necessarily a big fan of that.

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But nevertheless that painting represents the table represents something sacred and they blasphemed the very image Christian image and made it into the very opposite would you be surprised if if God struck down Paris with lightning I mean to treat Christ in such a way the things that are holy in such a way does it should it not make our hearts angry do you not think the father loves the son and so we may go all that seems to the beer to for the Lord to get people sick and and and say you're going to be guilty of the crucifixion of Christ you might think that that's pretty severe language that's because we think to common we don't see the holiness of Christ we don't see the glory of God and the love that God has for his son and so this is a very very severe thing that Paul speaking about and so how do we avoid taking the table in an unworthy manner how do we avoid from being guilty of the death of Christ ourselves well it tells us that remedy this is the antidote this is a preventive solution look at verse 28 let a person examine himself the insole eat of the bread and drink of the cup now this take time to examine yourself this word means to discern yourself that is the Greek word means to prove after testing to distinguish by testing you see this is not simply an exhortation for the church body collectively to make sure they are collectively partaking of the Lord's Supper properly which obviously it includes that because the Corinthians church as a whole was doing it wrongly but this is our exhortation for personal examination if this is what verse 28 says look at it let a person singular examine himself you see it wasn't the collective church that was dying it was people it was individuals within the church that was getting sick and dying so we don't want to be guilty of personally protecting the Lord's Supper and unworthy manner so we need to personally individually examine what do we examine ourselves take time to look within now what does it mean to examine ourselves well we're going to go on I think the rest of this text helps us out on that we need to make sure we believe the gospel we need to make sure we are a pin of our sins we need to make sure we love the saints but this is why at GBC we fence the table we believe that the Lord's table is not for unbelievers I had a friend once that says hey my unbelieving mother finally came to church she hadn't been in church in years she's not a Christian and they passed the communion I was so happy she took the elements I thought whoa no no no no no and so parents and this is a word for us parents you know you got your children who are not Christians yet and here comes the elements they want to partake because everybody else is like no no this is the time not to let them take this is time to teach them the need of salvation use the Lord's table as a means of evangelism use this as an opportunity like listen this is for believers and God invites you to come so you can partake he's not saying you can't have it but there's a process of getting it this is why our confession the CCAA tells us in chapter 30 article 8 all ignorant and ungodly persons are unfit to enjoy communion with Christ I mean inside there are rebels against God right they're not submitted to Christ they're not in communion with Christ and therefore if they're not in communion with Christ they don't need to take the symbols pretending that they are in communion with Christ or otherwise it could be not a blessing in fact it's not a blessing a benefit to unbelievers to partake it so we want to protect unbelievers and fence it from them but how do we examine ourselves more thoroughly and I know some of you is like well I got all kinds of sins I got all kinds of problems through the week I should never take the Lord's table if you want me to examine myself then I will never ever partake well that's not the right way to examine yourself yes we'll see you do need to see if there's sins in your life if there's idolatry in your life if there's bitterness in your life if you're out of fellowship with God's people you need to examine all that sure but the point when you come to Christ when you come to the table you don't calm you don't make yourself worthy by being living a perfect life you see what makes you a worthy participant is not your worthiness is it it's his worthiness that's why you believe you believe the gospel look at verse 29 and 30 for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body that is Christ eats and drinks judgment upon himself this is why many of you are weak and ill and some of you have died so in discerning examining ourselves we should also discern and examine the body of Jesus we do remember as we talked about last week we remember his crucifixion his shed blood and his broken body what does it mean to discern the body of Christ you see it means that we understand that we are unworthy inherently unworthy you know when you come to the gospel when you come to Christ you can't clean yourself up before you come to Christ many people trip up in salvation because they think well I need to pray more I need to you know go to church before I do this I need to stop this sin I need to stop that sin I gotta clean myself I gotta get out of drugs I gotta get out of these all this and bondage did you realize you can't save yourself see if you had to clean yourself up and read yourself of the bondage of sin then you wouldn't need a saver you don't slowly improve until you get to enough improvement that then you can come to Christ you come as you are you come broken you come fallen you become as a sinner it's humbling isn't it but it's wonderful because you don't have to do anything you see it's not your sins that keep you from Christ it's your pride even in the Lord's table you know if we're not doing the Lord's table today but if we worries like examine yourselves and you find yourself coming up short that's why you need to come to the table right that's why you need to come to Christ right that's why you need to believe the gospel again and again and again and every day you have to keep believing that your worthiness is in the person of Jesus Christ you come with your sins now we'll talk about confessing them in the next point yes you confess them but you don't believe in yourself you don't come with your righteousness you come with your sins to the Lord you see you come to the table the same way you come to Christ by faith what should you do when your conscious condemns you you know ever taking the elements you're like man I don't know if I should do this what do you do by faith drink it by faith believe that he's covered your sins by faith realize that it's not you but Christ that saves you you see you come to Christ and your consciousness cleaned the Bible tells us in Hebrews 10 verse 19 therefore brother since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh his broken body and since we have a great priest over the house of God let us draw near with the true heart and full assurance of faith with a heart sprinkled clean from all evil from a in from a evil conscious in our bodies worse with pure water you see we are more likely to partake of the table in an unworthy manner when we feel good about ourselves than when we feel bad that is when we feel confident and prideful and self-righteous that's when I think we're more prone to not understand the importance of the table in the importance of the gospel to come as sinners you see the danger is not believe in the gospel it says look at verse 29 for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body again this is the danger we're taking an unworthy manner this is why Calvin Calvin himself there was one of the politicians led Geneva and one day it was a public scandal and he went to church under Calvin and what and then well they had communion Calvin one weekly communion but they that City Council only allowed them allowed them to have it once a year but anyway here comes the time they had communion and here comes the rank center who is living in public sin and Calvin stood before the table wouldn't let him eat it well you know what happened you don't do that to one of the city officials so they expelled Calvin from the city you see he sought to fence the table from sinners and this is why again this is why we should fence the table as well now there are three Protestant positions on how to fence the table many of you probably already know this but there's open communion open communion is where you go to church where there's not really a membership and it's just attendance base often these are secret sensitive churches and they do communion and they don't even warn people about the dangers of it and they just say just come if you're here take it believers unbelievers visitors it's for everybody that's just open communion and I think that's very dangerous then you have another position on the other I would say extreme but it's very conservative position it's closed communion that says you have to be a particular member of a particular church and you only take communion if you're a member of that church and many of the early 17th century Baptist had closed communion our church is kind of in the middle is called closed communion where if you know the Lord you believe the gospel you're a Christian and you're a member of a church or in fellowship with Christ and his people then you're free to partake with us you see because here's the danger the danger is if you're not discerning the Lord's body we don't believe the Lord's book that he died for you don't believe the gospel and understand the significance then you're in danger of getting sick and maybe even dying that's what it says in verse 30 that is why many of you are weak and ill and some of you have died now I don't know if you remember me saying this about four weeks ago but I said you wouldn't say some of you are getting drunk and I said that's probably how perbole that they were actually getting drunk but some are just having more than they needed and some didn't have any but maybe other the fact that I'm kind of rethinking that as I prepared this sermon maybe they were actually getting drunk because I mean that's probably why they were getting sick that's probably why they're dying I mean could you imagine could you imagine if this was the case that they're taking communion in a holy ceremony were there to be respectful remember the Lord's death and be joyful about forgiveness of sins and at this beautiful vein and then they're they're disregarding all that and they're just getting drunk no wonder they're getting sick no wonder they're dying that's that's I mean no wonder you know like we look at what happened in Paris with this ceremony this Olympic ceremony it's like me I wouldn't be surprised that I know God's angry over it that I can be certain of you see the main thing we need to do is we come we need to believe we needed to remember the Lord's body not just remember it we need to believe it discern it and apply it to our lives apply the gospel to our lives well that leads to the third thing we should do as we come to the table we see that verses thirty one and thirty two we need to repent of our sins and and we see that in verse thirty one it says but if we judge ourselves truly this is going back this is how we're examining ourselves kind of building off what does it mean to examine ourselves it means take inventory and evaluate yourself again this word could be translated as discern discern yourself but that means to make separation you know discernment judgment means to kind of be able to separate the good and the bad and take inventory of what's going on in your life and so as we come to Christ anytime we come to Christ as a lost sinner seeking to come to Christ by faith or as believers coming to the Lord's table it's the perfect opportunity for us to go now I need to kind of see where I'm at to look at my life some real self reflection now there's three types of judgments mentioned in verse thirty one to thirty two notice let's read thirty one thirty two slowly and notice there's three judgments and they're kind of a progressive thing look if we judge ourselves truly then we will not be judged but when we are judged by the Lord we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned or judged along with the world so there's three judgments here there's self judgment that's what we need to do first examine ourselves judge ourselves then there's the Lord's judgment which is disciplining us then there's the judgment when the whole world is going to be condemned and so you see that this is a progressive preventative the way to not be disciplined by the Lord and judged by the Lord is to judge yourself so if you don't want to be disciplined I'm at think about your children you know they they misbehave and disobey but if they come and confess the sins or confess what they did wrong before you find out I mean you that probably saved themselves a lot of trouble I mean and God is going to discipline every one of us that he loves he disciplines me disciplines you and thankfully discipline is a loving thing but it disciplines those as Hebrew tells us it's not pleasant and who wants discipline who wants the Lord to correct us we don't enjoy it it's not enjoyable but how do we avoid being disciplined well before God gets a hold of us if you would get a hold of yourself judge yourself so examine yourself first before the Lord examines you now the Lord already has examined you it's not like he doesn't know what's going on but he's giving us an opportunity to confess it before he calls us out on it and if he doesn't discipline us the third phase is you're going to be condemned now he doesn't discipline every one of us he doesn't discipline those whom he does not love he doesn't discipline those who are not his children and those whom the Lord doesn't discipline will be condemned on the day of judgment so we don't want to be condemned on the day of judgment so there's like these two preventatives first judge yourself so the Lord doesn't discipline and this can be applied to evangelism if you're here and you don't know the Lord you want to partake of the Lord's table you want to be saved well what do you do first realize your realize you're sent and no one can say he's without sin he who says he's without sin as a liar the truth is not in him according to first John so this is a time to judge ourselves to examine ourselves I mean we're going to come to the Lord for faith in faith asking the Lord to forgive us and accept the gospel by faith then you come to Christ repentant and I do believe repentance is a fruit of faith and there is almost like a coin that has two sides if you believe you're going to repent and if you repent it's because you believe so what does it mean to judge ourselves or examine ourselves I think it contextually it means that we're discerning the Lord's body we believe the gospel but also thinks it means that we understand that we're sinners and that we're ready to confess our sins before the Lord again we come to the table the same way we come to Christ by faith and repentance here's a beautiful thing about it there you know think about if we were doing community today you know it's like well man I got sin in my life well you can still partake because you can repent right there where you're at you can confess your sins you don't have to live in guilt you don't have to go well I'm just going to have to wait a week or two no you can make things right right where you are and then with a free clear conscience come joyful to the Lord's table I do think that the Lord's table should be a joyful ceremony because we're thinking about forgiveness we're thinking about liberation we're thinking about all of our sins being thrown into the sea and never forget remembered again begin what keeps us from forgiveness what keeps us from communion with Christ is a pride now think about that for just a moment before I get to this last point and we're almost done this is the most beautiful thing every one of us say hey I'm lost right here I don't even know any of a Christian you don't have to be you don't have to be lost well I'm condemned yeah I know you're condemned I'm a sinner yes I know I know me too welcome to the claw but come home and the Lord says I will eat and sup with you I will forgive you you can have communion can you imagine this communion with God and that's what the Lord's table is is signifying our communion our relationship that there's no sin between us and God there's nothing that's keeping God from you he's already dealt with it in this broken body in the shed blood come partake eat feast what a beautiful thing what a beautiful thing what a beautiful thing to do every week now my last point I think this is good as well look at verse 33 and 34 what's the last step so throw them my brothers when you come together and eat wait for one another if anyone is hungry let him eat at home so that when you come together it will not be for judgment that is it'll be a blessing it'll be for your benefit and not for judgment again the Corinthians were doing it wrong they made it in a common meal they weren't waiting on one another they weren't thinking about the unity of the church they weren't thinking about their poor the poor saints that didn't have food and though that might not be our particular difficulty and that was for the Corinthians the first century might not be ours how do we apply that particular point to us what is the timeless transcendental truth that we get from that I think it is that we love the church that we wait upon one another that is we're mindful that it's not just we're in communion with Jesus Christ we're in communion with the saints that this represents that we're one with Christ and we're one with each other and I think this is the process of salvation you see the Catholic Church says you get to Christ by getting into the church that we're the access to Christ you convert to the church and then by joining us through the sacraments through the Lord's table communion the Eucharist through only baptism and these things if you come to us and submit yourself to the Roman papacy and then you can get to Christ and they make the church the mediator to Christ we don't hold that it's the opposite you don't join the church to be united to Christ you're united to Christ in the result of your united your union with Christ is that you join the church the church is a reflection of being saved of the new birth of the new nature you see I think is intuitive is instinct within all believers that you love the saints that you've been made one you've been brought into the family of God you can't love the Lord Jesus Christ if you don't love his people and as some say your love for Christ can be determined by how you love the weakest of the saints and remember that when you're upset with someone and so the reflection of being examining yourself believe in the gospel be repented of sin is that you're going to wait for the saints you're going to love the saints you're going to be in communion with the saints so in conclusion here's what we do we partake how do we examine ourselves how do we come to the table believe repent love in some closing application therefore we should guard against having hurt in our heart what leads to bitterness resentfulness and separation and disunity often is someone hurt you or failed you or hurt your feelings and I know we've all experienced that where you've been wounded truly wounded and it's not a sin to be wounded or hurt is it but often we don't handle the wound properly it grows into resentfulness and a little bitterness and that leads to hate it leads to pride it leads to the wrong response and then all of a sudden we look down on the one that hurt us remember the Lord especially if they're a Christian the Lord loves the one who hurt you as much as he loves you right and though the hurt may be real and the offender may have not apologized to you or may not ever apologize to you or may not ever be aware of how he hurt you you don't have to have the bitterness in your heart you don't have to have the resentfulness because you can remember what Christ did for you you're going to remember how he's forgiven you a great debt how the death of Christ as you remember the body and the blood and the sacrifice of Christ and his love and his mercy and his kindness oh Lord help me to love those who hate me let me bless my enemies let me thank the best of them and care for them and pray for them this is how God would have us to do it and this is why I think it's important this could be an argument why I think it's important to fence the table to church members not necessarily UBC members but if you're not a member of a local church and you're not seeking to love the Saints and gather with the Saints this is why communion is not a personal ordinance you don't do this at home it's a church ordinance you do it with the Saints you fellowship with the Saints you have communion with the Saints and so we're to have a heart right with God and right with his church now in conclusion we come to the table as we come to the gospel we as we should hold it rubberly but we should take of it after we have examined ourselves with great joy and a great moment of celebration thank the Lord of this remembrance thank the Lord that he's giving us this ordinance so that we can remember the gospel let's pray the Lord we do give you things for the cup and the bread that we're not partaking of it today is in our hearts we have we do partake of the gospel every day by faith forgive us of our sins and how we've sinned against you and how we've sinned against our neighbor help us to love you and to love your people and have communion in our hearts with you thank you that you draw nigh to us and you broke down the wall that separated us and you nailed our sins to the cross so that we can have free access to you every moment of the rest of our lives this we pray in your son's name amen[BLANK_AUDIO]