You're listening to Key Life Fellowships Pulpit ministry
podcast. We thank you for tuning in as we
learn from God's Word together. If you would like more
information regarding Key Life or to speak with one of our
pastors, please visit us at keylifefellow-ship.com.
Amen. I am, and I know many of you are
as well, thankful that His mercy is more.
More than all of the sin that we have ever done, more of all than
all of the unrighteous acts that we could ever commit.
It is grace, and His mercy is more than the worst thing that
you could ever imagine doing. So we celebrate that this
morning, the mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and we
go to the cross today and we remember where that mercy was
poured out, where that mercy was displayed every first Sunday of
every new year that the Lord has blessed us with at Key Life
Fellowship. We take time to do what we are
going to do this morning. We don't do something new,
something hip, something cool or creative.
We don't start some flashy canned life help life hack
series that'll help you get going in your new year.
We definitely don't give you 7 steps to a better you.
We simply begin the year approaching the Lord's Table to
remember the communion and the fellowship that we have with the
Lord because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Every first Sunday of the new year, we remember the body and
the blood of Jesus Christ and what that means.
Now, I know that we live in a time where that can be rather
confusing to many people because we don't take the time often
when we observe the Lord's Supper to speak of the magnitude
of what this ordinance really is and what it means.
So today what I want to do is I want to make sure that everyone
here has a clear understanding as to why we would even do such
a thing. Why does the church remember the
body and the blood of Jesus Christ?
And why is this so important? So let us begin this year
remembering why? Remembering who?
Remembering exactly what Christ did for us at the cross.
Because if you're in Christ, the whole reason that you're here
this morning is because of Christ and what he did for you
at the cross, or you would have no reason to be here.
And so today, as we open the Bible to 1st Corinthians Chapter
11, where we get some instructions from Paul to the
church regarding the Lord's Supper, what many have called
communion, which represents our fellowship with God through the
body and the blood of Christ. Paul is going to give
instructions here in first Corinthians Chapter 11.
I'll give you a moment to get there in your Bible so you can
see exactly what he is saying, so that you don't miss any of
this, because all of it is of great importance when we are
preparing to approach the table of the Lord and to partake of
the Lord's Supper. Paul here in the first
Corinthian letter, the 11th chapter, is giving some
correction to the Corinthian believers who have mishandled
the Lord's Supper. They've made it into a drunken
party, a festival of gluttony. They've turned it into something
that it never was intended on being.
Paul has gotten wind of this and Paul's going to give correction
from the teachings that he received from the Lord
specifically. And we see that teaching here in
the 23rd verse of the 11th chapter where he says this.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you.
He says that what I'm going to teach you came directly from
Christ himself in that encounter that he had where he was taught
by the Lord. He said the Lord Jesus, on the
night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given
things, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for
you. Do this in remembrance of me.
In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying This cup is
the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in
remembrance of me. But whenever you eat this bread
and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the
Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the
body and blood of the Lord. He says in verse 28, a man ought
to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of
the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks
without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks
judgment on himself. That is why many among you are
weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.
When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that
we will not be condemned with the world.
Let's pray together. Father, in the name of Jesus, we
come to you. We thank you for your word that
you have preserved for us all of this time.
That we may approach the Lord's Table today properly.
That we may remember properly the body and the blood of Jesus
Christ. That we may examine our lives
properly as you have called us to do before partaking God.
That today we would honor the Lord Jesus Christ.
We would honor him and worship and adoration as we approach the
Lord's Supper properly, biblically.
God, I pray as we do just that, that you would be honored and
you would be exalted, that you would be glorified in this
place, the Lord. I also pray for those who are
here today who are not in Christ.
They have no communion with the Father because they have no
communion with the Son. There is no communion with the
Father apart from communing with the Son.
And I pray that you make known to them today that this table is
not for them. In fact, your word declares that
they are alienated from this fellowship and this table.
God, I pray today that they see the only way to be reconciled.
It's through the sacrifice that we are remembering today.
And that in seeing that, they would see the gospel clearly and
their need for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to cover them and
forgive them of all of their sin.
And then they would cry out to you by faith, trusting in Jesus
as Lord and Savior today, that you would truly welcome them to
your table to feast with your children and to commune with
you. Lord, we'll give you praise and
honor and glory, what you're going to do today as the word of
God is proclaimed. And we pray and we ask all of
these things in the mighty name of Jesus.
Amen. So as we open the Bible, as we
look at Paul's teaching on the Lord's Supper, we have to take
note of this. In our church culture, in the
day and the time that we live in, many people are confused
about what the purpose of the Lord's Supper is, what this
means, what what does this signify?
In fact, they treat it as we are going to talk about in a moment,
with total irreverence. They're lackadaisical in
approaching the table of the Lord, as if it's somehow just
some ritual that we just exercise for the sake of
exercising. But I want us to learn today
from the Word of God that there is so much more to the Lord's
Supper than just to simply passing out an unleavened wafer
and a cup that is from the fruit of the vine.
That when we observe the Lord's Supper, we are remembering
Christ, and we are remembering Christ for who He is and for
what he accomplished through his sacrifice.
If you're in Christ, you're indebted to that sacrifice, not
just now, but for all eternity. You will be indebted to that
sacrifice because it is. That sacrifice, as we will see
it, has rescued you from the penalty of your own sin.
But as we approach this, may this be a time of explanation
because Paul here in verses 23 through 25, he gives
explanation, in fact, the explanation that he gives, the
instructions that he's giving to the Corinthian church, He says I
received this directly from the Lord.
He is actually teaching them properly and it's interesting
that he rebukes them, but then he comes back and he teaches
them. Nothing wrong with rebuke as
long as it's followed with correction and teaching.
And So what he's going to do, he's going to correctly teach
them. And he's going to teach them
that this is a time of explanation that needs to really
be paid close attention to. And he explains to them
concerning the body of Christ. He wants them to clearly
understand what we are remembering when we do
participate in the Lord's Supper.
He wants them to know that this broken, unleavened bread
represents the broken body of Christ.
It was broken and crushed for all who will believe and trust
in Him. He wants the people to know that
this is a time to remember just how Jesus was crushed, just as
Isaiah said that he would be. We can go back several 100 years
prior to Christ and Isaiah prophesied the Christ would be
crushed at his body would be broken.
As we read the Gospels, we know that this came to pass.
Those Roman soldiers, soldiers took the cat of nine towels and
they ripped literal flesh and sinew from the body of Christ,
but they pressed a crown of thorns down in his head.
They tortured Him, and He suffered great pain and agony
and ultimately death. And He suffered this pain and
this agony and this death because He was being crushed by
the wrath of the Father. He was being crushed by the
weight of our sin. Isaiah 53, the prophet says this
verse 5 But He was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by His
wounds we are healed. He goes on and says, And six, we
all, like sheep, have gone astray.
Each of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on
him the Christ, the iniquity of us all.
Verse 10 goes on to say this. Yet it was the Lord's will to
crush him and cause him to suffer.
It was the will and the plan of the Father to have the body of
the Son crushed under the weight and the wrath that belonged to
us. I want you to stop for a moment
and think about that as we prepare to approach the Lord's
Table. When you take this piece of
unleavened bread that represents the body of Christ, may we
remember that it was His body, not ours, though we should have
been there. It was our sin, not His that He
bore the wrath for. It is just as Paul said in
Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21, that God made him who
had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God. What happened at the cross?
Here's what happened. The body of Christ was crushed
under the weight of our sin. He bore the penalty upon his
back that we deserve, that you deserve, and that I deserve.
And he bore that in our place. Now watch this exchange.
He took the punishment for our sin.
He bore the wrath and the weight that belonged to us, and then
upon doing that, He then imputed His righteousness to our
account, so that we now can stand before the Father,
reconciled to God. We can watch us commune with the
Father because the Son was crushed according to the will of
the same Father. O may we today, in remembering
the crushed body of Christ, know that God the Father had a plan.
It was according to His pure, pleasing and perfect will that
His Son was crushed on our behalf so that we might become
the righteousness of God. When you partake of the body
today, that piece of unleavened bread, don't just approach it in
a nonchalant manner. Approach it understanding that
this points to the crushed body of Jesus Christ.
And if He had not bore the wrath of God in your place, you would
never have experienced the righteousness that He's given us
by His grace. You could never stand before God
acceptable, but because of Christ and his body that was
crushed, we can. So this is a time of explanation
so that we can understand concerning the body of Christ,
but also concerning the blood of Christ.
We talk about the blood of Christ and the symbolism that is
here at the Lord's Supper. We see that the Lord took the
cup of the vine. Many want to argue at this
point, was it really wine? Was it grape juice?
Was it alcoholic? Was it fermented?
How fermented was it? Let me help all of you in the
room. If you are using the fruit of
the vine from the Lord's Supper to try to justify your drinking
of alcohol, shame on you. That is not what this is about.
It is about the fruit of the vine.
Whether it had alcoholic content or not, I don't know.
I wasn't there. I have to assume that it
probably did. But I can tell you this.
It had so little that none of them became drunk because
drunkenness is a sin. God would have never promoted
sin through the Lord's Supper. What we can't agree on is when
we talk about the blood of Christ, that this cup represents
His sinless blood offering, that blood offering that was poured
out as a propitiation, as an atonement for the sin, as the
Word of God said of many and the many are those who will believe
Jesus Christ offering His blood for those that the Father had
ordained and willed would come to him.
Why his blood? Why is that so important?
We know that the Bible says that without the shedding of blood
there is no remission of sin. But in the same book we also
learned this that the blood of bulls and of goats can never
truly atone for sin. All those sacrifices were were
annual, annual reminders of the fact that we are sinners in need
of atonement. But when Christ came, the
perfect atonement was made, the perfect propitiation was made, A
sacrifice once for all, a sacrifice that does take away
sin. Are you thankful this morning if
you were in Christ, that your sin has been forgiven, that your
sin has been removed, that you are clean before a holy God and
you are not clean before a holy God because you are a good
person. You're clean before a holy God
because Christ sacrificed. His blood was acceptable to the
Father as He truly was a lamb without spot, without blemish.
His blood truly is pure enough to cleanse the most wicked and
vile of Sinner. How can this be?
Christ was not born in the same manner in which we were born.
It is through tainted, sinful blood that we inherited the sin
of our fathers, the sin of our Father Adam.
But it is through the pure, perfect and holy blood of
Christ, the one who was born of the seed of God, born of a
virgin, as we have spoken of a lot at this time of year.
Therefore His blood was worthy to cleanse the most wicked and
vile of sinners. His sacrifice was acceptable.
In fact, in Ephesians chapter one verse 7, it says in Him we
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins
in accordance with the riches of God's grace.
It is God's grace that provided for us a greater sacrifice, A
sacrifice greater in the blood of sheep or goats or bulls, but
the sacrifice of His only begotten Son, God Incarnate.
The eternal Son of God who came to this earth as God Incarnate,
truly God, truly man, fully God, fully man, offering his self as
a sacrifice of atonement for all who would believe according to
God's grace. First John chapter one verse 7
John says this he said, but if we walk in the light as he is in
the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood
of Jesus his Son purifies us from all sin.
Oh don't you love that word all there in a moment when we
remember the cup of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember it is the blood of the Son that purifies us from all
sin. I would encourage you to
remember all sin, all the sin that you can think of, all of
the defilement that you have ever had in your life, all of
the blasphemy, all of the blatant spitting in God's face
that you have done in your lifetime.
Know this, that in Christ, and because of His blood, you have
been forgiven of all of that. See the blood sacrifice of
Christ for what it is. It is the sacrifice of
atonement, Paul says to the Romans in chapter 3 verse 25.
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through
the shedding of his blood. It's Christ blood that atones
for our sin. It satisfies the requirement of
a pure and a perfect sacrifice. I'll be thankful today when you
approach the table, that blood that was poured out, the blood
of the New Covenant. This is a time of explanation.
Let us understand those things. Let us understand why we are
partaking of the body, why we are partaking of the blood, and
to remember the body in the blood properly.
It's a time of explanation, but it's also a time of exaltation.
This is a time of worship. This is a time where we ought to
bow in humility and brokenness. As we read it again in Chapter
11, in the 24th and the 25th verse.
This isn't when He had given thanks.
He broke it and said, this is My body, which is for you.
Do this in remembrance of Me. This is a time to remember and
to memorialize Christ, to literally worship Him.
He said in the same way after the Supper He took the cup,
saying, this is the cup in the New covenant in my blood.
Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me.
This ought to be a time of worship, because if you're
really in Christ and you think on the body and the blood of
Christ, it ought to bring you to a position of worship.
It ought to bring you to your knees.
It ought to bring you to a point of awe in your life, for you
rightfully remember Jesus. I believe this is true.
We can't think on these things. We can't meditate on these
things surrounding the Lord's Supper.
Not be moved to a place of worship.
If you're a true believer, you'll be moved to a place of
worship. And if you're not moved to a
place of worship after contemplating the body and the
blood of Jesus Christ, after contemplating His selfless
sacrifice that he made on your behalf, if you're not moved to a
place of worship, you don't yet know Christ.
Because I'll tell you this, only an unbeliever can shrug the
shoulder instead of bowing the knee in regard to the Lord's
Supper. Because for the true believer,
he remembers the crushed body of the Lord, the shed blood of the
sacrifice of the Lord. He's moved to a position of
praise. He's moved to a position of
humility. He's moved to a position of
adoration. He bows his heart, he bows his
knees, he bows his head, and he says, thank you, Lord, what you
did for me at the cross that I did not deserve.
Thank you for your sacrifice. He rightfully remembers Jesus
bringing him to a place of exaltation.
Know it be true that he rightfully remembers Jesus.
That is also true when we remember the body and the blood
of Christ and this time of exaltation, it ought to cause us
to reverently worship Jesus. A true believer will come to a
point of reverently worshipping Jesus.
And I think we need to pause for a second and talk about this
just a little bit because we live in a day and a time in a
church culture where people are satisfied with just, you know
what? We don't want to really take the
Lord's Supper and use it in our worship service, but So what?
We can do for the sake of time, because they would rather be in
here entertaining you than teaching you for the sake of
time. What we'll do is we'll set up a
little kiosk around the building with a wafer and some grape
juice, and as people pass by, they can observe the Lord's
Supper for themselves. The problem with that is that is
all messed up and it's not the due reverence that the Lord
deserve because we as the body of Christ ought to reverently
come together and we ought to observe the Lord's Supper
together. Being taught the truth that
Scripture contained in regard to the Lord's Supper.
Letting this not just be some ritual that we do in the hallway
or in the foyer, but approaching the Lord's Supper with an
attitude of complete and utter reverence.
Oh, in our irreverent church culture of the day, it's not a
surprise to me that we have irreverently trampled over the
Lord's Supper I mentioned in the first service.
I wouldn't be surprised if some of these hip, cool and relevant
churches don't begin to launch the Lord's Supper elements out
with some type of potato gun into the audience because we see
this ridiculousness going on over and over and over again
with every element of the church.
But may not be. So here.
May the body and the blood of Jesus Christ cause us to
reverently worship Jesus, to approach Him properly, giving
Him the proper reverence that He is truly due, considering once
again His willing sacrifice. His willing sacrifice.
You know and remember what Jesus said.
No man takes my life, but I lay it down.
He laid down His life for us. How can we approach that
irreverently, as if somehow we were entitled to it?
Let us not approach the table with the attitude of
entitlement. Let us approach the table in
reverence and appreciation, full humility toward Christ for what
He did for us at the cross. Let's consider His willing
sacrifice, the fact that God Incarnate, the Word made flesh,
willingly died in our place, that he was buried, and that he
rose again three days later. To prove that he truly is the
Son of the living God, let us give him the reverence that he's
due. Let us worship him this morning
as we approach the table. Thirdly, we see Paul and his
directives encouraging the church to remember that this is
a time of expectation. Verse 26.
He makes sure that they understand that the weight that
they are enduring is just temporary.
He's just for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup,
you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
Now if you were here last week, you know this.
We spent a lot of time talking about the return of Christ.
I'm not going to belabor the point this morning.
I am going to reiterate some things.
But what Paul is teaching the church here is as we are waiting
for the return of Christ, every time that we remember the body
and the blood of Jesus Christ, let us also remember that He has
made us a promise. And that promise is that He is
going to return for His bride. And again later on, we can hash
out all eschatological views on that, but he will return for his
bride just as he has promised that he would do.
And Paul's instructing the Corinthian church, and he's
saying this as we observe the Lord's Supper.
Let this be a time of great expectation.
Let it be your desire, let it be your prayer.
Lord, I'm going to observe the body and the blood of Christ and
remember Him today on this earth.
One more time on what a joy it would be that this would be the
last time that we observe it in this manner, but that the next
time that we remember the Lord in this way will be in His
presence, dining with Him, something with Him, and
fellowship for all eternity. Let us think on those things
this morning. Let it be a time of expectation.
If it really is a time of expectation, shouldn't we look
with anticipation? Again, I know that I talked
about much of this last week, but I'm thankful that it all
goes hand in hand. We ought to be anticipating the
return of Christ, especially when we observe the ordinance of
the Lord's Supper, knowing that, yes, it is true, His body was
crushed for me according to the will of the Father.
His blood was shed as an acceptable atoning, propitiation
and sacrifice. And it is true that because He
went to that extent to save me, He will also rescue me from this
world, as He has promised. It's a time of great
anticipation until He comes longing for our Redeemer.
Are you longing for Him? Are you longing for him?
As Paul said that he had longed for him, as he closed out his
earthly ministry, as he spoke to Timothy, where he said that I
have fought the good fight, I finished the course, I have kept
the faith, and now there is a crown of righteousness that is
kept for me. And he goes on, and he says, and
not for me only, but for all those who long for his
appearing, may we observe the body and the blood of Jesus
Christ. Today.
A man calls us to long for his appearing, all the more to long
for that promise crown of righteousness, that victor's
crown, that he promises to all who endure to the end for
Christ. Maybe remember the body and the
blood of Jesus Christ bringing us to a place of anticipation,
longing for that Redeemer, looking for our Redeemer.
Or do you spend any time looking for the Redeemer?
I know there are many people who have heard me say this, that I
don't miss the sunset and I don't I sunrise and I don't I
don't miss the sunrise. Every morning I get up.
I spend time with the Lord in prayer and in Bible study.
If I can go outside, I go outside.
If I can, I'll look out the window.
A sun comes up in the eastern sky every single morning.
I know that His compassion's are renewed every day.
I praise Him for it, but I also look to the east, and I long for
my Savior, and I look for my Savior.
Lord, could today be the day? Could today be the day for the
eastern sky is open wide, and you come for your bride.
Could today be that day? Oh Lord, let it be that day.
Let us approach the return of Christ with great expectation,
looking for our Redeemer. As you partake of the Lord's
Supper today, it calls you to be anticipating all the more the
promise of the return of Christ. We should look with
anticipation. But you know what else, Church,
We should look with excitement. I wish we shouldn't be afraid
when we look to the eastern sky. This is the day.
Let it be the day. Let it be the day, Lord, for you
prove to everyone that you are who your Word says that you are,
that you show your faithfulness again and again as you have from
generation to generation to generation to fulfill everything
that you have promised. Oh, may we be excited about
that. As you think the body and the
blood of Jesus Christ today, that makes that hope possible.
Did you know without the body and blood of Christ there would
be no hope for you for all eternity.
It would only be fearful expectation of fiery judgment
that awaits the unbeliever. Oh, may we see the hope that we
have in Christ, and may it cause us with excitement look for our
Savior, desiring to see face to face the One who died in our
place. Are there any Christians who
long for that anymore? See Him face to face?
Oh, that was the desire of the Saints of old to see the face of
God. One day we shall meet Him, face
the face, and for the believer, oh what a day that will be when
my Jesus, I shall see, when I look upon his face, the one who
saved me by His grace, when he takes me by the hand, leads me
through the promised Land. What a day, glorious day that
will be. Pretty longing for that day with
excitement. You have a desire to see Him.
May you have a desire to see Him today.
As you meditate on and you concentrate on the body and the
blood of Christ, may it stir within you an excitement to see
Him face to face. Why long for that day?
I pray that you do the same. This is a time of expectation.
You expect him to be faithful. He's been faithful to everything
else up until this point. You can trust him.
He will be faithful to return for those that he sacrificed
himself for. So we have seen a time of
explanation, a time of exaltation, time of expectation.
I want you to pay especially close attention to this one.
This is also a time of examination.
In the 27th verse to the 32nd verse, Paul is going to speak in
some rather harsh term, and he's going to do it from a heart of
love, but he's not going to somehow skirt the topic.
He's going to address it head on.
And that's what I desire to do today.
In the same manner as we read these words, verse 27, he says,
therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the
Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the
body and the blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself
before he eats the bread and drinks the cup.
Or anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of
the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.
And he says this to the believer who might do this.
That is why many among you are weak and sick and a number of
you have fallen asleep. That term fallen asleep is a
reference to the death of a believer.
He's not talking about unbelievers here.
He is talking about a believer who has been judged by God in
the form of death to no longer bring reproach upon the name of
Christ on this earth. He says in verse 31, But if we
judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.
What is he saying? Church, judge yourself.
Why? Judgment begins in the House of
God. This is where it should begin.
We ought to examine ourselves. We ought to take inventory of
our lives. We ought to do it as
individuals. We ought to do it as a whole.
He says, but if we judged ourselves, we would not come
under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord,
we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with
the world. Be thankful all is letting them
know. Be thankful that He's not going
to let you be condemned with the world.
If you're mishandling the Lord's Supper, they're going to be
consequences. Many of among you are sick and
weak, and some of you have fallen asleep.
Please see His grace and His mercy and that He still rescued
you eternally. Why?
Because of the body and the blood of Jesus Christ that you
were trampling over. You're mishandling.
You're partaking of in an unworthy manner.
Let it not be so. Paul's warning the church so
that they can avoid this, so that they will take the proper
measures to take a time of examination.
And this time of examination ought to be prior to approaching
the table, and you ought not to observe the Lord's Supper and
then after. So we'll say, you know, I
probably shouldn't have observed that because I have this in my
life. No, what we ought to do is we
want to think on the body and the blood of Jesus Christ and
what He endured for us, and that ought to move us away from sin.
That ought to move us away from anything that would be counted,
founded, or considered as an unworthy thing in our life.
We ought to repent of that. We ought to confess that.
We ought to trust the Lord's forgiveness that comes through
his sacrifice. And what does he say that if we
confess our sin first, John 19, He is what?
Faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. So I would encourage every
believer here today, examine yourself.
Is there any unconfessed, unrepented of sin in your life
right now? You know what I'm talking about.
You know the little secret sin that you've been holding on to,
the one that the Spirit has convicted you about over and
over and over again, and you continue to ignore that
conviction. What Paul is warning the church
is this. He's saying you could approach
the Lord's table today and it could result in you becoming
weak, weak, you becoming sick, or you even losing your life on
this earth. I know the question that the
American church immediately has, does God still do this?
Yes, Make very clear that he said this about himself and
Malachi. I, the Lord your God, do not
change. Yes, He still disciplines his
children, and He disciplines His children however he sees fit to
do it. And the only way for you to
avoid that discipline is to confess your sin and to walk in
the forgiveness that Christ paid for you to have continually.
So I would encourage you today to repent if need be, to confess
to the Lord if need be, so that you don't approach the table in
an unworthy manner. That unforgiveness that you have
toward a loved one, That unforgiveness that you have
toward a family member or maybe another member of this church
that needs to be reconciled today before you approach the
Lord's table. Why?
So that you don't eat or drink judgment upon yourself from the
Lord. It's that plain and simple.
Because I have lived long enough to tell you plainly, I have seen
people who have partaken of the Lord's Supper with active and
public sin in their life, resulting in the discipline of
God in their life. He is still the same God, and He
does still work in the same way. And so please fear Him properly
prior to approaching His table. You need to examine yourself
first. Ask yourself this question.
Am I truly a believer? Why would I ask that question
first? Because this table is not for
the unbeliever. Did you hear me?
If you have not surrendered your life to the Lord Jesus Christ,
you are not welcome to partake of the Lord's Supper.
It's not for you, you say, well, Kirk, I don't like the sound of
that. You don't like the sound of that
because of the inclusive world that you live in.
This table is exclusive. It is exclusively for those who
have trusted by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior. If you've not trusted in Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior, you know nothing of his body.
You know nothing of his blood. This is not for you.
Many would say, well, Kurt, won't that push people away?
No, it actually does the opposite.
It actually causes the unbeliever to see that they are
cut off from God, that they are alienated from God, that they
are enemies of God, and that they need to be reconciled.
And upon seeing that, we can say this reconciliation is found
nowhere else other than the body and the blood of Jesus Christ.
That is the gospel. So be reconciled unto God today
through Jesus Christ by surrendering to him as your Lord
and Savior. And then come and dine.
Come to the table freely. Fellowship and commune with God.
Fellowship and commune with the Son, Fellowship and commune with
the Spirit. Fellowship and commune with the
body of Christ, his church. But until then, you're not fit
to partake of the table because Christ has not cleansed you yet.
Oh, but my prayer for you is this, that you would trust Him
to cleanse you today. As wicked and vile as you may
be, the sacrifice is enough to wash you, to cleanse you, to
make you right with your heavenly Father.
This is a time of examination. Look at yourself, see who you
really are or who you aren't. What a great day it would be if
one of you here today. I've heard these truths and God
uses them to draw you unto Himself to receive the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ, your life, the time of examination, it's prior
to approaching the table, and it's for the preventing of
judgment for the unworthy participant.
That's what this is designed for, preventing judgment for
unworthy participation. That is why we examine ourselves
so that we don't step off into the Lord's discipline in our
life. It's a serious issue.
Why is it a serious issue? Because there's serious
consequences. How many church services have I
set in? But they encourage us to partake
in the Lord's Supper, but never tell us the truth about when we
do it incorrectly. We're in grave danger of
offending God, making ourselves candidates for His discipline in
our life. Oh, I understand that I'm
probably not going to win a popularity contest for teaching
you the whole truth about this. But will you please hear it
today? This is the whole truth that we
must examine ourselves and we must cry out to the Holy Spirit.
Lord, search me, know me, show me anything, any defilement in
my life. Show me any conviction that I
have ignored. Show me because when I approach
the table, I want to approach the table.
As righteous as Christ died for me to be, I want to approach the
table in a worthy manner, in a manner that brings honor and
glory to the one who gave himself for me.
The time of examination so that you will prevent the inevitable
judgment that will come upon anyone who participates in an
unworthy manner. Know the consequences, fear the
Lord. I know in our hip, cool and
relevant society and church culture, we never talk about
fearing the Lord anymore. I would encourage you never stop
fearing the Lord, Never stop fearing Him.
Approach him properly, knowing that who He loves, he
disciplines. He chastens you with a rod.
And if you were without discipline, you're illegitimate,
as the author of Hebrews says. So as legitimate children of God
in Christ, let us avoid that type of discipline.
Let us prevent it. It's a simple measure, isn't it?
Lord, show me, show me. Is there any defilement in my
life? Confess it to him.
Confess again your need for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Continually thank Him for the forgiveness that He and He alone
offers you, and then walk in and enjoy that forgiveness all the
way to His table. We need not approach His table
in shame. Christ died to bear our shame
and to take it away. Perhaps you've picked it up
again. Discard it.
Throw it back where it belongs, at the feet of Jesus.
Confess your sin. He's faithful and just to
forgive your sin. Cleanse you from all
unrighteousness and join us at the table.
We fellowship and we commune with the Father and with the Son
through his sacrifice. So as we prepare our hearts this
morning to do what we've talked about to observe the Lord's
Supper, may we adhere to the teachings of the apostle Paul
here in First Corinthians Chapter 11.
To the Church believers, may you prepare your heart to partake of
the Lord's Table. To the unbeliever, I would
encourage you today, repent of your sin.
Trust in Jesus Christ alone as the only acceptable sacrifice
unto God, to cry out to Him for mercy and forgiveness and
restoration and healing. Repent of your sin, turn to
Christ and have fellowship and communion.
An intimate relationship with the Father restored because of
the body and the blood of Jesus Christ.
Be saved today. Would you stand to your feet
now? Heads are bowed and eyes are
closed. You've been listening to Key
Life Fellowships Pulpit Ministry podcast.
Join us each week for more teaching from God's Word.
Yeah.