The Expression of Our Unity: The Lord's Supper

Providence Baptist Church iconProvidence Baptist Church

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1 Corinthians 11:17-26

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Thank you Gunnar. Thank you Alex for our worship and song here.
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It really is a joy and a blessing. Now you know this, we've told you this a lot, but next
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Monday, so a week from tomorrow, Pastor Jacob and I will be heading, so here's kind of our itinerary.
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We'll be leaving from here about 7 o 'clock in the morning. We will be heading to Dallas.
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The plane ticket actually, even with the drive, saves us quite a bit of money. And then
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Lord willing, I think it's sometime around 4 o 'clock that we're going to be flying out.
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Jacob really keeps up with all that stuff, and I'm just like, you know, so it's good.
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We make a good team. That's good. So we'll be heading out about 4 o 'clock when we get there, and this is going to lead into the sermon today, so you can turn in your
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Bibles to 1 Corinthians 11. When we get there, after a day of rest, we will begin a church conference.
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So two things we'll be doing down there. We'll be doing a church conference, and during the day we'll be doing a pastor's conference, so the church conference at night.
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And as part of the church conference, we're going to be preaching on the unity of the church. And I've been assigned to preach on the expression of the church's unity, the
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Lord's Supper. Well, in preparing this message, and then just in the providence of God, aligning this
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Sunday with the Lord's Supper, I thought, you know what? I think that it would be good for our church to also hear a sermon on the
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Lord's Supper as we prepare to take the Lord's Supper. So all this is just kind of lined up together, and so that's what
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I'll be doing this morning. We have not forgotten Ahom. We're going to do that book, okay? But it's going to be after the return from Mexico.
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So today we're going to look at 1 Corinthians 11, 17 -26, the expression of the church's unity, the
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Lord's Supper. Would you stand with me as we honor the reading of God's Word? We'll begin in verse 17.
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But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better, but for the worse.
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For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and I believe it in part.
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For there must be factions among you, in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.
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When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal.
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One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in?
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Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?
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What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. For I received from the
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Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread.
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And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, This is My body, which is for you.
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Do this in remembrance of Me. In the same way, also He took the cup after supper, saying,
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This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.
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For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
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Father, help me to be a better pastor. Help me to be a better communicator of Your Word.
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Help me to articulate rightly the meaning of our text before us.
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Let the saints today be encouraged and equipped and challenged, called to repentance. God, we sing these songs and we sit under this preaching.
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May it not be done in vain or going through the motions. May we not be a people who despise the church of the living
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God. Feed us today. Feed us today in Your Word.
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Feed us today spiritually as we partake of the Lord's Supper. Show us the grace that we need.
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Give us more grace. Make us holier than we are. Help us to be the church that You would have us to be.
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Let the idea of Christ being worthy of a healthy church not just be a cute saying, but be actually the aspiration of our heart and soul, the great affection of our heart that Christ would have the bride for which
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He died. Not only in inheritance of nations, but that each visible local church would be what
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Christ desires it to be, would be ordered according to the mind and heart of Christ.
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Lord, we're missing some this morning and we pray that You would be with them and bring them back to us soon.
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We pray, Lord, that You would teach us about this great ordinance of the
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Lord's Supper. And may the gospel be proclaimed. It's all our hope. We pray in Jesus' name.
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Amen. You may be seated. So here's an outline for today. I have one practical observation.
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Then I have three theological foundations. And then I have three ways that the
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Lord's Supper expresses our unity. So number one, I have a practical observation.
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And that is in verse 17. First, a practical observation. But in the following instructions,
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I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better, but for the worse.
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Now, if you go back to verse 2, Paul says, Now I commend you, because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions, even as I delivered them to you.
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So in verse 2, Paul praises the church. Paul commends the church. But now in this matter, in verse 17, in the
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Lord's Supper, the church is not commended. Their coming together is not for their betterment.
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It's not for the improvement of the body, but it is for the body's worsening.
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Listen. The observation is this is serious. The worship of God is treated too carelessly by many who profess to know
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Him. Paul is not talking to a pagan temple here. So sometimes we want to get on those who are at the
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Dallas Cowboys game, or whatever the case may be. Paul's not talking to a pagan temple.
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Paul's talking to a local church. He says, you're coming together in verse 17. I do not commend you.
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It's not for the better, but it is for the worse. It's similar to Isaiah.
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If you read the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 1 is an example. He explains to Israel that when they come together to worship
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God, they're trampling His courts. It's not for the better. It is for the worse. God hated their worship because it was flippant and it was false.
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So listen very carefully this morning. The abuse in Corinth of the Lord's Supper, God took seriously.
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And it resulted, if you know the end of the chapter, in serious sickness and death.
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So just the practical observation here is this is a serious matter.
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And I might add that even not just the worship of God, but the ordinance itself is treated too thoughtlessly or perhaps too mechanically by many churches.
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So let me give you an example. When is the last time you heard a member of our church or you yourself?
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You changed your plans because we're taking the Lord's Supper. Oh, I can't miss this service.
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We're taking the Lord's Supper. Yeah, I understand there's there's providential hindrances, aren't there?
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Of course. But I'm warning us to dismiss partaking of the Lord's Supper, to dismiss it as something frivolously or carelessly is forsaking worship.
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Or consider perhaps when you do take it, do you treat this ordinance as mundane or just mechanical?
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You're just going through the motions or maybe for you it's the opposite. You treat it as some religious work whereby when you partake of it, you feel smug that you've
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I took the Lord's Supper today and all those other people didn't. And you feel smug and you've got it checked off the list.
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So I'm giving a practical observation this morning, church, as we consider our text that God is not pleased with false or flippant worship and that he takes the
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Lord's Supper seriously and therefore so much to church. Let me just tell us this false worship is something.
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That a lot of people are united in, but false worship is not the proper expression of the church's unity.
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Secondly, then three theological. Foundations, three theological foundations of the
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Lord's Supper. The first is I just went to adjust my glasses. The first is baptism and the
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Lord's Supper are ordinances. This is a mouthful, but I'm taking it from the confession because it's right.
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But baptism in the Lord's Supper are ordinances of positive and sovereign institution appointed by Christ.
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I'll read that again. Baptism in the Lord's Supper are ordinances of positive and sovereign institution appointed by Christ.
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Let me explain this. Verse 23 says this for I received from the
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Lord. So here's what you might think. You might think, well, Paul read the institution of the
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Lord's Supper in the gospels. And then he and then he explained, no, no, no. That's not what
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Paul saying. Paul had a revelation from the Lord, a direct revelation here. I understand that.
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But I include it here to remind us that the ordinances, baptism, the
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Lord's Supper are given to us by Christ. Paul received instruction from the
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Lord, and then he gave this instruction to the churches. So positive means not happy like these are happy ordinance.
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That's not what we're saying. Positive means these are commands specifically attached to the new covenant.
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You understand? So baptism in the Lord's Supper aren't old covenant ordinances.
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They're new covenant ordinances. They're attached to the new covenant. They're ordinances of the new covenant. Sovereign means they're appointed by Christ.
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These are Christ ordinances. That's why we call them ordinances. They are ordained by Christ.
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They're they're they're ordered by Christ or commanded by Christ. In fact,
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I remind you in verse 20, look at verse 20. When you come together, it is not the
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Lord's Supper that you eat. Now, in Paul rebuking the church reveals something to us.
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He calls the supper whose? The Lord's. In critiquing the
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Corinthians worship, Paul reminds them that the supper is the
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Lord's Supper. Now, this is going to be a tad bit complicated. I'm going to keep it as simple as I can.
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The word Lord in the text is in a grammatical construction that's only used two times in the
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New Testament. So, for example, I'm going to show you something. Verse 26, you see in English Lords, but it's not the same.
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So verse 26, it says, for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death.
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So Lord's Supper and Lord's death, the grammatical construction of the word
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Lord is not the same. In verse 20, for Lord's Supper, the grammatical construction in verse 20 is only used one other time in the scriptures.
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You may know where that's at, but it's in Revelation 1 .10. And what does Revelation 1 .10
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refer to? The Lord's day. OK, there's something special about this.
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That is, all meals are the Lord's. We pray before every meal and we give thanks to who?
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We give thanks to God. Why? God owns all the meals. They're all His. All days are the
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Lord's. God owns every day. God owns Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
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Every day and every meal God owns. Yet, the scriptures teach that Christ has a unique supper and He has a unique day.
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Both His day and His supper remind us of His authority. That is, they are
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His. They are owned by Him. They remind us of His authority. They compel us to adoration.
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We worship Him on His day and in His supper. And they remind us of the gospel.
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His day, the Lord's day, is Sunday, the first day of the week.
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Because on that day He rose again from the dead. Having defeated death and hell and the grave.
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Having been our perfect sacrifice. And I might mention here too, by the way, it's the
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Lord's day. It's the Lord's day. Not the Lord's morning. And then, of course, in our text, the
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Lord's supper reminds us of the gospel. And we'll get to that now in the second theological foundation.
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So first, baptism and the Lord's supper are ordinances of positive and sovereign institution appointed by Christ.
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Number two, the Lord's supper is a visible reminder of the gospel.
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So verse 23, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you. That the
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Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread. And when He had given thanks to it, He broke it.
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Given thanks, sorry. He broke it and said, this is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
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The same way also He took the cup after supper. Saying, this cup is a new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
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For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup. You'll proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
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So to reiterate, the meal that we're about to eat is no ordinary meal.
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It is the Lord's supper. So as the bread is broken and as the cup is poured.
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You have a visible demonstration of what Christ has done. I'll make this just as an aside.
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But a lot of churches sometimes they want to do, I saw this not long ago. A church on Sunday morning trying to do like a passion play or whatever.
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We just want to visibly represent. We just want to visibly show what happened to Christ. But the
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Lord has not ordained such in His worship. The Lord has ordained instead a more beautiful way.
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To demonstrate the broken body and shed blood of Christ in the Lord's supper. You say, well
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I like the movie. I would like to watch a clip of the Passion of the Christ. That would be better.
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The Lord in His wisdom does not think that that is better. The Lord in His holy wisdom thinks that the elements of the bread and the fruit of the vine.
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Pointing to the broken body and shed blood of Christ is better.
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Now this supper is an expression of our unity. But we have to get the order right.
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It's not called the church's supper. We're not partaking this morning of the church's supper.
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We're partaking this morning of the Lord's supper. Because He gets the preeminence.
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If you focus on us first, then you will develop a superficial unity.
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And that's happening all over in churches today. You can have a unity. I've used this illustration before.
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Gunner loves it so much so I'll use it again. You're at a football game. You're at an Arkansas Razorback football game.
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And the Razorbacks score. And you turn to the person on your left. You don't care who they voted for for president.
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You don't care who does their 401K. You don't care their skin color.
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You don't care anything about them. You're just giving them a high five. Why? Because you've joined in unity together over the
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Arkansas Razorbacks. There's false unity all over. That's superficial and flimsy. And as soon as the
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Razorbacks lose and they'll find a new way to do it, that unity is broken. That kind of unity is not the unity of the church.
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The unity of the church is a participation in Christ. And this supper demonstrates
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Christ's work before our eyes. To be received and feasted on by faith.
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The bread and the cup are signs. They're not actually the body and blood of Christ. They're signs whose end is
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Christ. Who terminate in Christ. The signs point us to Jesus. This is the cost of our sin.
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This is the cost of our unity. The broken body and shed blood.
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How could I forget Christ? Did you sin this week? Yes. Did you fall short this week?
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Yes. Doesn't your heart get pulled toward lesser, unworthy objects?
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Aren't you prone to selfishness and idolatry? And then, when you do sin, aren't you susceptible to fall into a sort of penance?
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Like, I sinned, I messed up over here, so now I'm going to do ten Hail Marys and make it right.
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Now, we don't say that because we're Baptists, but you say, Well, I messed up over here, so now this week I'll give more in my tithe.
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Right? Or I'll volunteer more at the church. I sinned over here, so let me do ten things now to make up for it.
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We're prone to forget the Gospel. Or maybe you say this would be dangerous.
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I sinned, so what? Grace may abound. But we come to the supper today.
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The Lord's Supper. And it tells us, Look at the cross.
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Be reminded today of what Christ has done. Be reminded today of the great cost of sin.
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I want to tell you something that you need to remember. The greatest cost of sin is not that you miss out on something.
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Many of us have missed out on something in our life because we've sinned. We could have gotten this.
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We could have gotten that. We could be ahead in our life today, but we're not because we sinned.
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And yet, that's not the greatest cost of sin. Sin brings disruption and disunity in our marriage.
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It brings friction to the closest person, the person that you love the dearest. Sin comes in and brings division and disunity in the marriage.
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And yet, even that is not the greatest cost of sin. The greatest cost of sin is that the
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Son of God was nailed to a cross of wood. That spikes were driven into His hands and to His feet.
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A crown of thorns was pressed upon His brow. A sea from His head, His hands and feet.
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Sorrow and love flow mingled down. This is the cost of sin.
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God crucified His Son for sinners. But you see, this morning, the supper reminds us of the remedy.
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Verse 24, when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, This is My body. For what?
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Which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.
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Verse 25, in the same way, He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood.
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This is My body for you. This cup is the new covenant in My blood.
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Your sins, they are many. His mercy is more. Your sins have been atoned for.
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Jesus, the Righteous One, the God -Man, born of the Virgin Mary.
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This Jesus lived about three decades on this earth, fulfilling every jot and tittle of the law.
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And then He took upon Himself the law's condemnation. He took upon Himself the penalty of the law.
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Not for His own sins, He had none to atone for. But for us, for His bride, for what we deserve, the wrath of God.
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We deserve fell upon Christ as our substitute. So look to the supper and see the gospel in action.
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Let me be very clear. I need to be clear on this here. I need to be clear on this in Mexico. But Jesus is not being sacrificed again.
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We don't need Him to be sacrificed again. The supper reminds us that His sacrifice is enough.
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And that's where our hearts and minds... And listen, even more than that, we should hear the voice of Jesus like Song of Solomon 2 .10.
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Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. Come! Come to the table!
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Christ bids His body. One writer notes that the Lord's Supper is a means of grace for the weak, not a reward for the strong.
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You need this ordinance. Like, if I get everything together, and if I have a perfect week, then
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I'll take of the Lord's Supper. You missed the point, then, of the gospel that is being proclaimed in the
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Lord's Supper. So, we come to the table in need of what it represents.
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Christ's work. When you come this morning to the table, you are confessing before the Lord and to one another, you need
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Christ. So we look to the bread and the cup and we remember. We remember Christ.
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We remember His glory. We remember His divinity. We remember His humility. We remember
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His humanity. We remember His perfection. We remember His suffering. We remember His sorrow,
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His bleeding, His death, His burial, His resurrection. We remember His matchless grace and His sovereign love.
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So hear the gospel. Hear the gospel again and receive it again in faith.
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Believe. Oh, but listen, preacher, I fell short this week. Yeah, I know.
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You did. You already were. Yeah, and Christ was given for you.
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Nonetheless, on that tree, He died and He rose again in victory. Receive Him in faith.
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Believe the gospel. You need it. You need it every day. And in the Lord's Supper, we have a visible reminder. Thirdly, the
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Lord's Supper is a bond and pledge of communion with Christ and one another. The Lord's Supper is a bond and pledge of communion with Christ and one another.
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And you say, you put that beautifully. Well, I plagiarized it from the confession.
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But in 1 Corinthians 10, but if I said I plagiarized it, then
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I'm free from plagiarism. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 16. So flip back one chapter.
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1 Corinthians 10, verse 16. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?
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The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
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Verse 21. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the
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Lord and the table of demons. So I'll make this quick. The Lord's Supper is a bond and a pledge of communion with Christ and one another.
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The Lord's Supper is given for our spiritual encouragement and nourishment. It is a memorial.
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As Baptists, we affirm this. But let me be careful to say, it's not merely a memorial.
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Because the Holy Spirit strengthens us, nourishes us, grows us in our faith, even through this ordinance.
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As the gospel is recounted before our eyes, as we participate in partaking of the bread and the cup, we're strengthened and encouraged by the
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Holy Spirit. Richard Barcells is important. He notes that the Lord's Supper is not a converting ordinance.
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But it is a sanctifying ordinance. So you cannot be unconverted and take this and magically become a
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Christian. That's not what this does. It is not for unbelievers. If you are not a believer, please, for the sake of your soul, do not take this
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Supper. You would be treating the blood of Christ contemptuously. You'd be saying, well,
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I don't need to repent and believe the gospel. I can just take this magic stuff and boom. That's wrong.
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But if you're a believer, a baptized believer, you should partake of the
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Lord's Supper. Supposing you're not in some sort of secret sin. Because the
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Holy Spirit is pleased to grow us in the Lord and one another. As we receive it by faith,
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Christ is with us. Clearly, again, he's not physically present in these elements. But he is spiritually present with his church.
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He's promised to be with his church. And we inwardly feed on him by faith, united with him and united with one another.
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Again, this is why the ordinance is only for those who are in Christ. Both ordinances, by the way. And for those who have publicly identified with Christ, this ordinance, before the congregation in believers' baptism.
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Now, with that theological foundation, let me give you three ways that the
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Lord's Supper expresses our unity in Christ. Number one, the
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Supper expresses our unity because it is for the entire gathered church.
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I'm going to argue here that the very nature of the Lord's Supper demands that it expresses unity.
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Because it's for the whole church. So look at verse 20. When you come together.
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Now, he is making an indictment on the church. It is not the Lord's Supper that you eat. But we're focusing here on the first part.
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When you assemble. When you come together. Paul did not have a problem with the assembly.
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That's what they should be doing. You're not a church. A lot of people say, I don't go to church,
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I am the church. No, you're not the church unless you assemble. Because that's what the church does.
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The church assembles. The church gathers. The church comes together. So that's what it means to be the church.
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You cannot be the church without assembling as a church. Without coming together as a church, you're not the church.
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Now, the problem is not the assembly. The problem is what they were doing once they were assembled. But the point here in this text is that the supper is for the entire church gathered.
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The church is assembled in obedience to God. In adoration of Christ.
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In thanksgiving to Christ. I might make this mention too. When we partake of the Lord's Supper, it is a meal, if you will, of thanksgiving.
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We give thanks to God together for what God has done for us in Christ.
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So we focus on the gospel. But listen, I need to be very clear here.
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This is not an individualistic ordinance. Neither is baptism.
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But in one sense, maybe baptism is a little more individualistic. But this is for the whole church.
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So we focus on the gospel, but it spills out over onto the whole body.
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We think about the whole assembly. You understand that Christ didn't purchase individuals merely.
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He purchased a family. He won a bride. He loved the church,
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Ephesians 5 says, and gave himself for her. His work, Titus 2 says, is about purifying for himself a people.
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Not individuals, but a people for his own possession who are zealous for good work. Yes, you can't have a people without individuals.
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But you understand, you can't focus on the individuals and forget the people. You can't focus on the people and forget the individuals. This is for the church gathered.
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So the Lord's Supper reminds us of this. So this is a theological reality, but the
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Lord's Supper also presses us to make this practical as well. So let me just encourage you with something this morning.
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Very tangible, practical, bottom shelf application. We forgive faults.
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We look over minor infractions. We thank God for putting us together with such a body.
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We think of the people in our church by name. I'm not just taking this as an individual thing between me and God.
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I'm taking it together as the church, as the gathered church.
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That carries some practical application that we've mentioned before to mention. If you try to partake of the
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Lord's Supper at a wedding, it's not the Lord's Supper that you eat.
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Because that's not the gathered church. If you try to have some sort of, and this happened before. One time it happened to me when
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I was in youth group. If you try to have some private ceremony or you just gather, it's like the youth group tonight is going to partake of the
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Lord's Supper. Or the men of the church are going to partake of the Lord's Supper. Or the women of the church are going to partake of the Lord's Supper.
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That's not the Lord's Supper that you eat. In 2020, because of COVID, churches were doing online communion.
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So we're all going to look at each other on Zoom. We're going to take the Lord's Supper. You are not together. That's like calling a circle a square.
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You just can't do that. Or drive -by. They call it drive -by which is sacrilegious in itself.
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Drive -by communion. You come by, we'll hand you the elements, and you drive off and you take them by yourself in your car.
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That's not the gathered church. You cannot have this ordinance without the church gathered.
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When you come together. So I'm going to serve this in family worship. You can serve bread.
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You can serve the fruit of the vine in your family worship. But it ain't the Lord's Supper.
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When what you're doing is not right before the Lord. Because it's for the gathered church.
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Okay. So the Lord's Supper, I'm saying, is by default an expression of our unity.
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Because you can't even partake of it without the assembled body. Secondly, there are no divisions between social class, age, ethnicity, or gender at the table.
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How is this an expression of our unity? Because every member takes it. That's what's being argued in verse 18 -22.
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I'll just read that again. For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you.
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And I believe it in part. For there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.
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When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal.
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One goes hungry. Another gets drunk. What? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?
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What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No. I will not. And the point that he is arguing there is that the church was coming and that they were despising the various types of people in the church.
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So I remind us this morning, there is level ground at the foot of the cross. All may come, but there is only one way to come.
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That is trusting Christ, turning from sin, repentance, receiving Christ, believing on Christ in faith.
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Everyone gets in the same way. By grace alone. Through faith alone.
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In Christ alone. You don't get into the kingdom because you got more money. Because your skin color is one shade.
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Because you are a male. Because you are a female. Because you are older. Because you are younger. Because you are better looking. Because you are worse looking.
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We all get in the same way. The mercy of God in Christ. And so at the table, we come together in this way.
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It is not the rich people come. And then the poor people come. And then the young people come. And then the tall people come.
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And then the white people come. And then the black people come. And then the men come. And then the women come.
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This would be a reproach upon what Christ has done. We come together in the same way we came to the cross.
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By grace. Through faith. It is wicked to deny the elements to someone because of their ethnicity.
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Because of their gender. Because of their age. Because of their social status.
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We are one in Christ. Now you say amen to that. But listen to me. Another application.
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It is wrong to flippantly absent yourself from the table.
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Because it makes a division where Christ says there is unity.
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I'm not trying to be legalistic in the sense of saying you had some sort of emergency. You're out of town.
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You were sick. I get it. There are providential hindrances, aren't there? There are real providential things that keep us from the table.
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But I'm telling you and I'm warning you this morning that to flippantly dismiss yourself from the table means the rest of the church comes together at the table.
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You flippantly absented yourself from the table. And you therefore have made a division where there is only unity in Christ.
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Look at verse 22. Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God?
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What an indictment this is. You understand the world despises the church.
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Right? Politicians despise the church. So many today scoff at the church.
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But Paul asks the question to those who profess to love Christ. Do you despise the church of God?
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And he's asking, do you despise the church of God? Because the way that they worship, disordered worship, and the way that they are partaking of the
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Lord's Supper, disunified, coming together, it is actually a revelation that you don't care about the church.
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You despise the church. This is a serious indictment, a serious warning this morning that you must take to heart.
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Do you despise the church of God? When we take the
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Lord's Supper, we want to see a unified body. We want to see us here.
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Of all shapes and sizes, testifying together to the glorious and unifying work of Christ.
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And by the way, let me say this. I don't think this is an issue here, but if it may be becoming an issue, I can cut it off now.
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But there is an issue in other places of adding disunifying things to the table that the
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Lord does not add. So, I'll give you some examples. I read this week, there's a church in Ogden, Utah, that you have to homeschool your children to be a member of the church.
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That's wrong. I have a deep conviction about homeschool.
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Others in here have deep conviction about homeschool. But that is a conviction that I cannot place upon every person in this church.
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You may have a conviction about alcohol. You may have a conviction about head coverings.
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You may have a conviction about whatever the case may be. You may have convictions that are serious, and I'm not dismissing them.
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And you consider them biblical convictions. But what I'm saying is you cannot bring your convictions in and bring disunity to this table.
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Right. Again, I don't think that's an issue, but let's let's head that off. If it were to become an issue, the blood of Christ unites us and we cannot create divisions that the
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Lord does not. Thirdly, the Lord's Supper expresses our unity because it is a corporate proclamation of the gospel.
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You guys get to preach this morning. I thought you didn't think women could preach. Well, they can preach according to the way the
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Lord has ordained the Lord's Supper. Right. Because the text says in verse 26, for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the
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Lord's death until he comes. In other words, listen to me carefully in case that came across carelessly.
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When you take the elements of the Lord's Supper, when we gather in just a moment and we partake of the
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Lord's Supper together. This is what the text says. When we eat the bread and we drink the cup, the church as a whole, congregationally in unison, is proclaiming the gospel.
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This is the same word that's used in other places for preach. Right. Now, there's nothing wrong, by the way, with weekly
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Lord's Supper. But I do want to be clear that the text doesn't command this. It just simply says as often as you do it.
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Now, I don't think it should be done less than monthly. Some churches have done it quarterly.
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We used to do it quarterly. By God's grace, we've moved in a healthier direction. But what is happening as we partake together is that we are corporately, congregationally, unitedly.
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We are proclaiming the gospel. Again, in case you're confused about it, I'll read again. For as often, verse 26, as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you, that is plural, the church, together, proclaims the
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Lord's death until he comes. Now, we share in the gospel together, but we aren't sharing the gospel to one another.
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We're not sharing it to one another. We're declaring it. We are proclaiming it. This is a much stronger reality.
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My friend Randall Easter says to declare something is to put the declarer in the position of submission to a higher authority.
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I'm not just sharing something subjectively. I'm not just sharing something that I feel.
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I'm declaring to you as I partake of the Lord's Supper, I'm declaring what
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Christ has done. And we're preaching together. We declare to one another what the
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King has done and has commissioned us to proclaim. Namely, Christ's death is enough.
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I need no other argument before the Lord. I need no other plea before the
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Lord. My works don't have to speak for me. I plead the blood of Christ. And by eating and drinking these elements that point to Christ and his work, we preach to one another that there is no hope of salvation in anything else.
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There's hope nowhere else other than what Jesus Christ has done for me. And what he has done, once for all, it is enough.
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The only way that I have right standing with God is because he saw fit to slay his
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Son on the cross for my sins. And this Jesus lives now in resurrected, ascended, and exalted victory.
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And I proclaim that my hope is in Him and that my life is cast here alongside this motley crew.
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I love Christ and I love you. And by His grace,
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I am united to Him and united to you. And this is what we are proclaiming. So, we proclaim a global gospel.
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That is, we proclaim the Lord's death to any sinner who will listen. We declare in taking the
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Lord's Supper the King's edict of peace to the homosexual, to the liar, to the sexually immoral, to the feminist, to the greedy, to the hypocrite, to the self -righteous, to the disobedient, to parents, to the idolater.
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We preach a global gospel. Will you listen? We're saying, when we eat the elements, we're saying, by the authority of our
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King, this gospel is for you too. If you will have it, if you will repent and trust
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Christ by faith, if you'll follow Him in obedience, in believer's baptism, you may partake of the supper with us.
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As the Spirit and the bride say, come in the Lord's Supper. We are proclaiming a global gospel.
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If you're not a Christian, or you're not a baptized believer, don't eat. Don't eat.
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Watch us eat. But in watching us eat, listen to what our actions are proclaiming.
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Christ and His gospel and believe it. Secondly, we proclaim a transforming gospel.
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In the Lord's Supper, the church proclaims a gospel that really transforms, a gospel that leads to holiness of life.
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I won't read it for time's sake, but that's what's going on in 27 through 34. And this is why we fence the table.
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This is why we don't just dole out the elements to anyone. The Lord's Supper is only for those born again and whose lives demonstrate this reality.
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It's not for perfect people, there are none. But it is for repenting people. Thirdly, we proclaim a unifying gospel.
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This gospel unites us in Christ and to one another. And let me say this, there's only true and lasting unity in holiness.
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Not only does the Lord's Supper express our unity, but actually it also cultivates our unity.
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And in the Supper, we actually demonstrate the practical power of the keys of the kingdom.
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So, by the very nature of this ordinance, we are telling the world who we believe is in the kingdom and who is outside the kingdom.
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So this is why church discipline is so closely connected to the
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Lord's Supper. Because the Lord's Supper is an expression of our unity and sin is an expression of disunity.
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Sin disunifies. A little leaven, Paul says, leavens the whole lump.
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Therefore, a church is obligated, it must at times say to those unrepentant of sin, you are out.
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You do not get to partake of this rehearsal dinner of the marriage supper of the
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Lamb because by all evidences afforded to us, you are not a believer.
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And the Lord's Supper is a very public opportunity to say this is what true unity in the gospel looks like.
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This is why we have the word excommunication, right? You heard that? Excommunication.
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Well, it comes from out of communion, right? So the church puts someone out of communion based on persistent and unrepentant sin.
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So it is the church's responsibility to protect her unity by barring those unrepentant in sin from the
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Lord's table and dismissing them from the fellowship and membership of the church.
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That's what we proclaim in this gospel. And then finally, the church proclaims a lasting gospel. So just notice about verse 26.
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For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death.
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For how long? Until he comes.
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Friends, there is one gospel. And this gospel is going to preserve and persevere the church until he comes.
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We keep proclaiming the gospel. We keep preaching the gospel.
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We keep laboring in the proclamation of the gospel until when?
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Until Jesus comes. Why? Because the church needs the gospel. You need this proclamation that happens this morning, not just in the preaching of the word, but you need the proclamation of the gospel as we partake of the
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Lord's Supper together. We need reminded of what Christ has done. We need reminded of our unity in Christ and in that unity that spills out to unity with one another.
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We need reminded of the glory that is to come when we feast with Christ after he has vanquished every foe.
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The Lord's Supper has a past, present, and future reality. Past, we remember what Christ has done.
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Present, Christ is with us now. Future, Jesus is coming back. He will come again.
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We declare that in this ordinance. And so as we partake of the Lord's Supper, we show forth a unified body.
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Look, you might be able to kill us. You might be able to burn our building down. You can wreck our earthly fortunes.
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You can drain our bank accounts dry. But there's one thing that you cannot do. You cannot break this bond of love.
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You can't do it. You can kill us. You can torture us. You can imprison us. You can forsake us.
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You can abandon us. So many things you can do to us, but you can't break the bond of love that exists within the church because it flows out of the gospel of our
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Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot break gospel unity. And we are going to keep proclaiming this gospel until Jesus comes.
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The love of Christ permeates this ordinance. And as we partake, so does our love for Him permeate this ordinance.
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And His effectual work and our love for His body, the church, all expressed locally right here in Perryville, Arkansas.
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And so we keep proclaiming a lasting gospel, a gospel big enough to save any sinner, a gospel narrow enough only to save those who receive
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Christ on God's term, and a gospel powerful enough to transform us evermore into the image of Christ.
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Before we close, do you have that gospel? Like is that your hope?
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Is your hope today Jesus and? Or is it Christ alone? That's what we're proclaiming in this ordinance.
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We're not proclaiming Jesus and. We're proclaiming Christ alone. You're pastors.
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That's all we've got. It's Christ. The only hope we have is Christ. What Jesus has done,
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His broken body and shed blood, and not merely the physical torment, but the fact that Jesus was put upon the cross to be a propitiation, a wrath satisfying sacrifice.
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The wrath of God that you deserve fell upon Christ in your stead, and then he rose again, and he bids in his great love for sinners.
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Come, come to Christ. Believe whosoever comes to him. How will a no wise cast out?
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Jesus says, John 637. Do you know this, Jesus? Why would you preach to the gathered church the gospel like this?
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Because there are some here who, if they die this moment, they will spend eternity in hell.
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And you need to hear. That God will forgive you. Of all your sins.
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If you'll lay hold of Christ. Only by faith.
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And church, you need to be reminded. That God isn't more favorable of you today because you're here, because your hair color, skin color, bank account number, credit score.
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God has demonstrated his love for you in Christ. And in the gospel.
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That is what we preach in this ordinance. So let us prepare ourselves to demonstrate the expression of our unity in the
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Lord's Supper. Gunnar will come, we will sing. As he comes, let me say a prayer.
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Father, thank you. For this precious ordinance.
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We pray that you would be with us. Help us prepare ourselves to think through the gospel.
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And to think through one another. If there are harboring frustrations or minor faults,
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I pray that we would look over those and forgive those. I pray that you would prepare our hearts to express our unity this morning.