Congregation, for our Scripture reading tonight, turn with me to 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11, as we read together verses 17 through the end of the chapter, verse 34, our text tonight being verse 26. No doubt a familiar portion of Scripture to all of us as this is the portion in which Paul recites, again, the institution of the Lord's Supper, even as we read it last week together, in the preparatory portion of the forum. Verses 17-34 as we now hear the Word of God. In the following directives, I have no praise for you. For your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not. For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you. The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, 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. For 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. 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. So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home so that when you meet together, it may not result in judgment. And when I come, I will give further directions. Beloved of the Lord, do this in remembrance of me. That is why the Lord's table is prepared before us tonight. And that is why we on a regular basis celebrate the supper of our Lord because He commanded His people to do this and to do this for a purpose to remember Him. Memories. There are some memories we cherish. Like many of our childhood memories. Or memories of exciting times in our lives like certain vacations or graduation from a particular level of education or our wedding day or the birth of our children or our immigration to this country or you fill in the blank. Many memories that we cherish and we have mementos of these memories in the form of pictures and videotape and many other souvenirs from these wonderful things to remember. Because as we were reminded this morning, we do tend to forget. But there are good memories, but there are also some not so good memories. But the truth is, most of our memories are really only that. Memories. Events in the past. But they really have no lasting effect, at least beyond this life. But that's not true with what we are called to remember as we partake of the Lord's Supper. We are called to remember our Lord Jesus Christ. And what that means is we are called to remember who He is and what He has done and what that means for us both now and forevermore. Again, the Lord's Supper is a sign of remembrance lest we should forget, as we heard this morning. Boys and girls, that means that we as Christians are called to remember the death of Jesus. Now why is that so important, to remember the death of Jesus? Because without the death of Jesus, there's no way that God is satisfied for our sin because of our offense against Him. And there's no way we could go to heaven. Our justification before God, that is, He's declaring His children to be not guilty of all of our sins, depends completely upon the punishment and death of Jesus Christ. But now there's more to partaking of the Lord's Supper than just simply remembering. That is all so important. But there's more than just remembering. As we remember, we also then proclaim that which we remember. As we partake of the Lord's Supper, we remember our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. And at the same time, this Holy Supper is a visible sermon that preaches the Lord's death and what He accomplished for you and me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. That's the Word of God that we consider together tonight as we consider this text with this theme, proclaiming salvation while partaking of the Lord's Supper. Proclaiming salvation, beloved, with a view to the past, with an eye on the present, and with a look to the future. Notice the text again. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. And notice Paul doesn't say, you do this, you ought to proclaim the Lord's death. Or it would really be a good idea if when you do this you would proclaim the Lord's death. Instead, he says this is the fact of what takes place. You do this. Christ's death is being proclaimed. There is no other event in history that is tied to the Lord's Supper. There is no other explanation or sermon that fits with the Lord's Supper than the message of the death of Jesus Christ and what that means. As a means of grace, along with the preaching of the Word of God, the sacraments, baptism, and the Lord's Supper give a visible picture of what is to be preached from the pulpit. Therefore, for example, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is to support what is preached from the pulpit, which means that what is seen in the sacrament matches or is to match what is heard in the preaching. But the question then is how is this done? And what I mean is, as believers, we must not participate in a way that would minimize or de-emphasize or even cast shame on our Lord's work. You see, this was the problem in Corinth. In Paul's letter to the Corinthian church, he addresses a number of different problems, including abuses in worship, particularly with regard to the Lord's Supper. Worship, and again particularly the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in worship, is about fellowship with Christ and His people. Communion with our Lord and our brothers and sisters in Christ. As Paul says in Galatians, we are all one in Christ Jesus. Believers are united in Christ Jesus. United with Him and with each other. And we commune with one another in the name of Christ. In Christ, the things that distinguish us and make us different from one another in daily life, like status or wealth or any number of things, are put behind us. Because in Christ Jesus, we enjoy spiritual unity. But in the Corinthian church, that spiritual unity was being wiped out. The distinctiveness of God's people was being erased because some were lording it over others. Now, there was often a love feast when God's people gathered together, which included sharing a meal together, a meal that was then to be a demonstration of the love of Christ for one another, and that meal would be followed by the celebration of the Lord's Supper. But some were discriminating against others. Class distinctions were arising which gave preferential treatment to some over others. The very body of Christ, the church, was being despised and the true unity that is to exist among God's people in Jesus' name was being ripped apart by selfishness and the I deserve it, so what's in it for me attitude. And therefore, Paul reminds this church of the institution of the Lord's Supper given by Christ Himself, quoted by the Gospel writers in the various Gospels, reminding them again what it is that the Lord's Supper is all about and what their gathering is supposed to be all about. Paul is reminding them that the supper is about Christ first of all and what He did. He reminds the Corinthian church that the bread and the cup of the Lord's Supper signify the death of Christ. And then the practice of the supper reminds us of the salvation that was earned through His death. And then Paul adds the words of our text, whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Whenever you do this. Now, he doesn't tell us how often we are to celebrate this sacrament, although just as we need physical food regularly for the health of our bodies, we ought to celebrate the Lord's Supper regularly for the nourishment, for the spiritual nourishment that God promises from it, and as well, lest we should forget our awesome God and His amazing grace. But Paul makes it clear here that believers do something as they partake, Beyond remembering. And that is our celebrating, our partaking of the Lord's Supper proclaims the salvation earned for us by Christ. And it does so, first of all, with a view to the past. What is it that is proclaimed, or declared, or published, or we could say heralded? The Lord's death. Not just any death, but the death of the Lord. Paul is emphasizing here, I believe, that it wasn't just the man, Jesus, who died, but God Himself, our Master and our Ruler. And the Lord's Supper is a look back at the reason we have hope in the first place. Now, of course, there is so much that is included in the phrase, the Lord's death, we cannot even begin to cover it all in one sermon or even in a lifetime of sermons. But as the communion form makes clear, as we think of and proclaim the Lord's death, we are to remember that this Jesus was the one promised to the patriarchs and prophesied by the prophets in the Old Testament. He is the only begotten Son of God who became flesh and blood, human nature, and took upon Himself the punishment of God that we deserved. And as the form says, when we think of His death, we are to remember, it puts it in such a beautiful summary fashion of the benefit for you and me. Listen. That He was bound that we might be loosed from our sins. He was innocently condemned to death that we might be acquitted at the judgment seat of God. In other words, that God would pronounce you and me not guilty. He became a curse for us to fill us with His blessing. And He humbled Himself on the cross to hell's deep agony which wrung from Him the cry, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? In order that God might never forsake us. And we remember also, the form continues, that He was buried to sanctify the grave for us. He was raised for our justification. He is exalted at God's right hand and that He shall come again to judge the living and the dead. Beloved, what a beautiful picture for us. A beautiful picture of being brought from the rags of sin and shame and hell and delivered to the riches of the glory of heaven. When we proclaim His death by eating the bread and drinking the cup of this supper, all of this that we just recorded in summary form is what we proclaim in the very phrase, the Lord's death. Jesus Christ, by His death and resurrection, has turned our world around. Actually, He has turned us as believers right side up. And the Lord's Supper proclaims the amazing grace of God and that Jesus Christ has removed that which destroys us and He has freely given to us that which we need for our salvation. He has freely given to us eternal life. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18, for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Boys and girls, to the unbeliever, the little piece of bread and the tiny sip of juice that we are going to partake of in a few moments are totally meaningless because that little piece of bread and that tiny sip of juice would barely satisfy the hunger of a church mouse. But you and I know by the grace of God that it points to the nourishment our souls and our faith receive from the very body and blood of Christ. This supper points to the power of God in salvation for us. Beloved, we are not to come and partake out of custom or superstition or selfishly as the Corinthian church did or with improper motives. But we come and partake understanding that as we do so, all of this points to Christ. And our partaking in faith gives testimony to the great fact of redemption. And therefore, as we proclaim salvation while partaking, we also do so with an eye on the present. As we proclaim our Lord's death, which we know took place almost 2,000 years ago, and as we consider what He accomplished, our partaking is also our glorious profession, that He did this for me too. A little old me who lives in the 21st century, He did it for me too. His work was accomplished on the cross so long ago, but it is still effective today. His blood is not dried up, if I may say it that way. It is still effective. And as Paul says in Romans 10, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. You see, the only time limit on this is Christ's return when He comes again. But until then, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, as Paul also says in Romans 10. Beloved, as we partake today January 19, 2003 as we partake today in true faith we declare His death to be our life in the spring from which all of our comforts and all of our hopes flow and in our worship of the one true God we celebrate Christ's death as the only sacrifice and ransom necessary for us which has already been accepted by God as well we proclaim our Lord's death for the comfort and the strengthening of our own faith and through our participation in this sacrament we demonstrate to the world that we belong to Jesus Christ only because of His work and we trust in Him alone for salvation as well to be acceptable to God the Father and that's why we cannot come out of custom or superstition or with an unbelieving heart because the Lord's Supper is a confession and a testimony of the truth of Christ and His saving work. And to come with an unbelieving heart, you see, is to give outward confession to something that one inwardly rejects. As we said a couple of months ago, an unbeliever who partakes really toasts, says, hear, hear, to his own destruction. He eats and drinks about a truth that He rejects. As well, we as believers are to come prepared, having rightly examined ourselves. We are to take seriously about what we are about to do and to understand with humility what Christ's work means for me. And all of this is true, congregation, because all of this is not just some sort of a pious wish, but it is a proclaimed truth. And therefore, as we partake, we also proclaim salvation with a look to the future. We proclaim His death until He comes. Today, in our day, the cross is still foolishness to those who refuse to believe. But one day, the truth of the cross will be plain to see to every single eye when Jesus Christ comes again in all of His glory as the victor. You see, this is a memorial with an eternal effect. Our celebration of the Lord's Supper is to be ongoing. We are to practice it continually, but it will not be never-ending. The Greek text translated here as until He comes has the idea of or it points to a single future act with an actual coming. It points to a single act, a single future actual coming. Jesus Christ is coming again once more actually and physically for the salvation of those who believe and as well to judge the world. And that means, congregation, that partaking of the Lord's Supper proclaims the certainty of His return. Again, lest we should forget. He's coming back. Many of our Lord's parables pointed to the fact of His return one day. At His ascension, the angel told the disciples in Acts 1 verse 11, the same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven. Paul speaks in a few different places of Christ appearing one day and as he does, he also talks about the glorious transformation of believers who have not yet died to this life as well. The incredible change for those who are resurrected when Christ comes again. The revelation of John, we know, speaks of Christ's return in symbolic language. And our Lord Himself spoke directly about His coming back when He said in John 14, And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me, that you also may be where I am. Beloved, our partaking as believers points to the fact that we are actively watching and waiting for Christ's return because this world is not our home. Are you actively watching and waiting for His return? This supper, you see, has eschatological significance. Boys and girls, that means end times significance. At the end of this life, this world as we know it, because it points to Christ, the bridegroom, escorting His bride to church, the church into that everlasting banquet in which He will nourish us for eternity. Is that hard for us to imagine and comprehend? You better believe it. But it doesn't make this truth any less true. Today, today we are called to do this in remembrance of Him. To remember Christ and His death and to proclaim the truth of His saving work for God's glory and on our behalf. We are to proclaim this to our children of Jesus Christ and God's faithfulness. We are to proclaim this to one another, to remind one another of the same thing. We are to proclaim this back to our God. To say, I believe. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for your grace and your good pleasure. But you see, the day will come when God's people will no longer have to look back and remember. Because one day we will enjoy the fulfillment then of that which we are called to remember today as we will see the Lamb of God who was slain in all of His glory and all of His splendor. When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration and there in heaven proclaim, My God, how great Thou art! When Christ comes again and God's people are gathered one and all in the new Jerusalem where the glory of God is its light and there is no sin, no sorrow, sickness, tears, or death, then we will enjoy forever the fulfillment and the goal of His death. Beloved, as we eat and drink of this supper, we proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. We proclaim His victory for those who believe on Him. we also proclaim His defeat over those who reject Him. And as well, this visible sermon then is also a call to repent of your sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ if you have not done so. Look to Him and Him alone, the One whom we are to remember. Because of that alone which has everlasting effect. And you are called to look to Him and repent of your sins with the guarantee of life forevermore. Congregation, may our comfort and strength be the truth of His death and all that He has accomplished on our behalf through His death. And may we partake tonight with humble hearts filled with love for and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ. And may God be glorified and may He strengthen our faith and increase our assurance of salvation through that which we now celebrate.