Bomberger, Phil: The Lord's Supper 1988-02 ~ 1 Cor.11;

I invite you to turn this morning to First Corinthians chapter eleven. First Corinthians eleven, we begin at verse twenty three. First Corinthians eleven verse twenty three, where we have the New Testament instruction by Paul to the church at Corinth for the institution and the remembrance of our Lord, known as the Lord's Supper. Verse twenty three says, For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he brake it and said, Take eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also, he took the cup when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament or the New Covenant in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him avoid the Lord's Supper. Doesn't say that. Notice what it does say. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Now let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you that you as the God of the universe, the God of heaven, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, you deign to meet us in precious fellowship when we remember the Lord. What a glorious position and portion is ours. We pray thee, O God, as we study this portion this morning, we'll get a new insight into the gospel and a new insight in our relationship with thee. And may it please thee to have the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart be acceptable in thy holy sight. For Jesus' sake, amen. Now, we are dealing this morning with a precious instruction that is given to the church by the Apostle Paul, who had received it directly from the Lord. I'm always amazed when I come to the Church of Corinth, because the Church of Corinth had so many problems, and one of the problems that I have with the Church of Corinth is a problem I have with myself. I don't know how large it was. Now, you may say that's strange. Well, uh, we don't know how large any of the New Testament churches were. We don't know how large Ephesus was, we don't know how large Pergamos was, and especially we don't know how large Corinth was. In the eighteenth chapter of the Acts, Paul was feeling a little uneasy in Corinth, and I can understand why, because of the wickedness of the city, but the Lord appeared to him, and he, the Lord said to Paul, Paul, hold not thy peace, I have much people in this city. How large is a group when God says, I have much? Ha, I'd like to know that. I'd, I often wondered how large was the church at Corinth? Well, one thing about the church at Corinth, they were a gifted church. They came behind in no gift, but they were a splintered church because of the many things that they permitted there. And one of these has to do with the Lord's Supper. At Corinth, the Lord's Supper had been degraded into an ordinary meal, a meal that divided them into parties, and the Lord's Supper became a meal for satisfying hunger, contrary to its original design. The design of the Lord's Supper, according to our text, was that we might remember Christ, not one another, not the food, but the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the meal at Corinth, the way they were having it, so degraded it that it became a cruel perversion of the feast of love, and it wounded the poorer brethren, and it humiliated them at the same time. Now, what was the real problem at Corinth? The real problem at Corinth was our problem. They knew better. They knew better. Paul had to say to them, I cannot praise you in this. Your manner of celebrating the Lord's Supper is totally inconsistent with its original institution, and we noted that in our previous study in verses seventeen through verse twenty two. You see, their sin was one of irreverent disobedience. It was not the excuse of ignorance. A lot of times we can excuse and get an excuse, and people can say, oh, I'm ignorant, I didn't know. The church of Corinth couldn't say this. Now notice verse twenty three. Paul says, for I have received of the Lord. Not only could Paul say this concerning general doctrines, when you get to chapter fifteen and you get to the heart of the gospel, he says, I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. This is not something that was conjured up in Paul's mind. Paul had direct revelation from God. I believe, when he was in Arabia, in the uh three years that he spent in Arabia, alone with God, and getting the foundation that he had in the Old Testament and seeing the fulfillment of it in the person of Christ in the New. So with regards to doctrine generally, so with regard to the institution and the design of this ordinance, the Lord's Supper, Paul disclaims all indebtedness to traditions or to instructions of men. He said, I received this from the Lord. He asserts a direct revelation from Jesus Christ. Now, as Paul delivered, or as Paul received the message, so he delivered it, and that's what you have in verse twenty three: For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. What they had been taught was of God, but they disregarded it. Now, what did he receive? He says, the same night in which he was betrayed. In other words, while our Lord was being betrayed, while the tremendous scheme of the treachery of Judas was in progress. This is one of the reasons that I believe why Judas was not at the Lord's Supper. He was at the Passover feast, but as you read in the thirteenth of John, he went out, for it was night. And while our Lord was being betrayed, our Lord took bread. He took bread. In other words, this fact God saw fit to reveal to Paul. God saw fit to speak to Paul about the betrayal of Judas. What a wicked man he was. For Judas, in his betrayal of the Lord, Judas showed what he really was. He was a covetous man. He was a man who loved money. And if you really want to know what he was, you have to read the hundred ninth Psalm in the Old Testament. Our Lord was never deceived by Judas. Judas was the leader of the disciples. Now we have an idea it was Peter, but it wasn't. It was Judas. And I can tell you where I base my thinking on. Remember when our Lord was anointed by Mary of Bethany? Judas's carrier said, why wasn't this money taken, the ointment sold, and the money gotten and given to the poor? Now the Spirit of God adds, not that he cared for the poor, but he liked what was put in the bag. He was a covetous man. And when Judas spoke up, all the disciples said, yeah, why wasn't it? In other words, what had been given to the Lord, it was costly. Judas didn't like it. He didn't like it. Judas was a covetous man. Our Lord was never fooled by Judas. For you remember the time that our, it was time to pay the temple tax, and Peter didn't have it, neither did the Lord. The Lord told Peter, go down to the lake, and he didn't say, go to Judas, he has the bag, he can, he can take care of it. He didn't go to Judas. He said, go to the lake and throw in the line, and the first fish that you take, open its mouth, and there'll be coins in its mouth. You pay my temple tax and yours as well. And my friend, we may be able to fool people concerning our covetous acts, concerning our love of money, concerning our love of things, concerning the inward lusts of our own hearts. We can fool people, but remember the Lord is never fooled. Our Lord was never fooled by Judas. And the Lord revealed this fact to Paul in relation to the Lord's Supper. And when we remember the Lord, we re- we remember first the night in which he was betrayed. And while our Lord was being betrayed, he took bread. Now he's with his own, and with his own he says to them, take eat, this is my body which is given for you. But before he did that, he gave thanks. Thanksgiving. This is what the Lord's Supper is all about. This is what it's all about. And this morning at the Lord's Supper, we opened with that hymn. A thousand, a thousand thanksgivings. And my heart said, yes, Lord, that's what this meeting is all about. Giving thanks unto the Lord. Our Lord gave thanks. For what did he give thanks? He gave thanks for a broken body. First Thessalonians five verse twenty three says, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. And God never asks us to do a thing that he himself didn't do. And our blessed Lord, he gave thanks that night that his body was going to be broken in order that the likes of you and me could be in his holy presence, and that for eternity. He gave thanks. And by the way, when you read First Corinthians ten, it's speaking of this, the cup of blessing which we bless. Is it not the communion of the body of Christ? When we sit at the table, we say, ask the blessing. Well, who do you bless? Who do you bless? Well, usually the one who asks the blessing. Our Lord blessed the disciples, and he gave them something. What can you give to God? When you sit before you eat dinner today, and you, I trust you give thanks, I trust you're not like a dog. Our dog in the morning, he dives right into it when I go out to visit him. But we don't do it that way at our table, we give thanks. But who do you bless? What can you give to God? What can you give to God that he already doesn't have? What can you give to God that would make him more richer? There isn't a thing that you can give, but we return thanks unto him for his goodness and his grace unto us. That's what we do. We acknowledge that everything we have is because of his mercy and because of his grace. In Matthew's gospel and in Mark's gospel, concerning the Lord's Supper, we read, having blessed it, having blessed the bread, he gave it to them. Here is grateful acknowledgement, beloved, of the mercy of God and the invocation of our Lord. He blessed it. He gave thanks. He blessed it to his disciples. This is my body, which is given for you. Now, what a blessing to be able to give thanks unto God. This is why at the Lord's Supper we say, let us give thanks for the bread. To whom? We're thanking God for Christ, and that's what the Lord's Supper is all about. We're thanking God for Christ, and I'll be honest with you, there's one thing I'm waiting for from our brethren, is more thanksgiving. You know, this morning we had an unusual meeting. My soul was blessed. One brother, he really blessed my heart when he told of Gypsy Smith. I've never lost the wonder of it all. And I tell you, if you've lost the wonder of being saved, something's wrong. I've never lost the wonder of the love of God in Christ. I've never lost the wonder that he would pick me up and place me into the family of God. And time and again, when I read Ephesians chapter one and I read the words in Christ, in Christ, in Christ, that's where God placed me, and I'll never be separated from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And beloved, when I meet people on the street in witnessing for them, or when I meet them elsewhere, and they tell me that they're looking for a blessing, I always feel sorry for them. I feel sorry for them. I said to a preacher the other morning in the coffee shop, I said to him, do you believe in the second blessing? You see, I knew he did. I knew he taught this because of the TV station he was on. So I said to him, do you believe in the second blessing? He said, oh yes, I do, don't you? I said, no. I believe in the two million, but not what you teach concerning the second one. I don't believe it. My Bible, because in the family of God, beloved, and get this and get it well, in the family of God, there is not one group that's elite and another that's way up here in God's eyes, they got it. You know, they got a second blessing, and you ought to come up to where I am. You know, that's a lot of nonsense. And I say that, and I say it kindly, even though I say it firmly. My Bible says in Romans eight, and I told this preacher that, my Bible says, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. Whom he predestinated, he called. Whom he called, he justified, and whom he justified, he glorified. And those whom he foreknew, he glorified. I don't find an elite group among them. Not a one. Not a one. And I said, by teaching that you can have a work of grace that puts you above another is contrary to the Bible, for the Word of God says in Colossians two and verses nine and ten, in him, in Christ, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power. We're complete in Christ, beloved. And if that man wants me to have, you ought to have the blessing I got and come up to me, I don't want it. I'm already complete. I don't want what he claims I need. The day I trusted Christ, I was placed in Christ, and I received everything I need for time and eternity. This is what it's all about, friends. He gave thanks for the bread, and we thank God that we're in Christ. In Christ. I'll never can get out of Christ. I'm in, as we sing at the Lord's Supper, once in him, in him forever. Thus the eternal covenant stands. Why? Those whom he foreknew, he also glorified. In Romans eight, where you have the glorious scheme of salvation. You see, beloved, that glorious truth of who God is and what God has done in the salvation of the sinner becomes a solid foundation under our feet, that it keeps us from drifting. This is my body, broken for you. Our Lord said, this do in remembrance of me. Now, these words are not found in Matthew's nor Mark's account, but they are in Luke's account, in Luke chapter twenty two. Our Lord requested that he be remembered as the one who died for our sins. I don't know if you realize what that means or not, but there's an awful lot of sin in the world. Our world in which we live is not getting any better. When you think of the homosexuality, when you think of the wicked rebellion against God that is, uh, that God gave up other civilizations because of their activity in it, that are prevalent in our day. When we think of the group of liars in Washington that tell us one thing with out of one side of their mouth and something else out of the other, it all began with one little sin in the Garden of Eden. Just a little sin, taking a piece of fruit that God says, that's mine, not yours. It has led to all the death, it has led to all the wickedness, it has led to all the jealousy, it has led to all the deceit, and all these other things that are seen as sin in the world. And this is why our Lord wants to be remembered. He is the only one, friends, who can deal with the sin problem. There's no one else that can ever touch the problem of your life. And the problem of your life is so deep-seated, you can't even deal with it yourself. Only God can. You don't even remember all your sins, and neither do I remember all mine. But God knows every one of them. Our Lord says, this do in remembrance of me. I want to be remembered as the one who took your sins and your sorrows, on whom the iniquity of us all were laid. They were, the iniquities were laid on him. He died for our sins. No wonder we can sing with Gypsy Smith. I've never lost the wonder of it all. That the Lord of glory would come to a sinful place, he and all his holiness, and have our sins laid on him. Not so much yours, but mine. And we sing sometimes at the Lord's Supper, all my sins were laid upon him. Jesus bore them on the tree. God who knew them laid them on him, and believing we are free. In verse twenty five, we come to the cup. After the same manner also, he took the cup, and the cup speaks of the blood of Christ, but it speaks of something else. It speaks of the new covenant that was ratified in the blood of Jesus Christ. Jeremiah chapter thirty one says, the days are coming, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with them when they came forth out of the land of Egypt. Which covenant they break? Israel never kept the covenant that God gave them at Mount Sinai. They couldn't, but God says they'll keep the new covenant. They'll keep that one because I'm going to write my law in their minds, and I'm going to write my law in their hearts. They'll keep it. Now I'd like you to turn very quickly to the eighth chapter of the Hebrews. Hebrews chapter eight, where we have the blessings of the New Covenant. We hear so very little about the New Covenant, but I wish we spent more time on our thinking about it. Hebrews chapter eight verse eight says, for finding fault with them, he saith, and here's a quotation from Jeremiah. Jeremiah thirty one, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is a covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind, and in their hearts will I write them. And I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. Now, I know from this passage that this, the fullness of this, is awaiting the coming of the Lord. But beloved, you and I have the earnest of it right now. For when the Lord Jesus took the cup that night, he said, this cup is the new Testament in my blood. He cut the covenant, beloved. As they cut the covenant in the Old Testament by slaying the sacrifice, the innocent sacrifice, and laying the parts one a- across from the other, and then walking between them. As we read in Genesis chapter fifteen. so our blessed Lord, he cut the covenant. He says, I will. It's all what he will do. It's not what we do, it's what he does. And he cut the covenant in his own blood. And we, when we gather together to remember the Lord, we have the earnest of that glorious day when everybody will know the Lord. We won't have to say, brother, do you know the Lord? For all will know him, from the least to the greatest. And we're waiting that day. And therefore we read in the next verse, for as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we do show forth his death till he comes. There are two things here that are very important. Now I'm skipping over t- a few things that I'm going to take up next week, or maybe the week after that. I'm thinking of next week being Easter. I'm, I want to preach on I know that my Redeemer liveth next week. But the next time we're in First Corinthians eleven, I want to take them up. What does it mean this is my body? What does it mean this is my blood? But I don't have time today. But in verse twenty six we read as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup. Notice the words as often. It doesn't say as seldom. It says as often. And the early church gathered every Lord's day to break bread, to remember the Lord. Acts twenty verse six says, the church being ga- being gathered to remember the Lord, Paul discoursed of- with them. And that's an interesting passage there in Acts twenty. that we don't have time to go into this morning. But there are two things here in verse twenty six we have to go into. It says, as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we show forth his death till he come. We show forth the faith of the church. For the faith of the church, the church is made up of... For the faith of the church, the church is made up of people, people who have been saved. But what is the faith of the church? It's what we believe that saves a soul. As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we show forth something, his death. It is the death of Christ. Why did he die? He died for our sins. That's why he died, and we show forth his death. But more than that, we not only show forth the face of the church, we show forth the future of the church. It's till he comes. That same Jesus who was crucified is coming again, and the future of the church is we shall ever be with the Lord. I have a question for you. Are you in the number? Are you among those who are truly saved? It doesn't matter where else you belong. If you don't belong to Christ, it doesn't mean a thing. Not a thing. For the future of the church is wrapped up in a relationship with Jesus Christ. This is why I feel sorry for those who are mixed up with the Masonic order. I tell you why. In all their ritual, Jesus Christ is left outside. They may say it's so nice, they do all such good things, yes, but they don't acknowledge who Jesus Christ is. And it's sad, beloved. I always feel sorry. And they depend more on that order than they do on the precious one that we remember. Now we can look at them and feel sorry, but how about you? What are you depending on? Are you in Christ? Are you among those whom he has redeemed by the blood of his son, so that you can say, I know whom I have believed? I think we should sing a two stanzas of a hymn this morning, having spoken of the coming of the Lord and having spoken of the death of Christ, Two hundred eighty three in our hymn books. Alas, and did my Savior bleed, and did my sovereign die? Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? This is what it's all about, beloved. And you're either in Christ by the blood of the new covenant, or you're out. Let's stand and sing the first and the last as Rick Lee. Let's stand, please.