If you would turn with me to Hebrews 10, Hebrews 10 as we read together the first 31 verses. And also if you would turn to Lord's Day 30 in the back of the Psalter hymnal, page 40 and 41, where we find three questions and answers there. The third and final Lord's Day dealing with the Lord's Supper. I'm not going to have us recite the answers this morning as I will cover them carefully throughout the sermon. But if you would have it open for reference as well, I encourage you to keep your Bibles open to Hebrews chapter 10 as we refer back to that portion as well. In Hebrews 9, we have the writer's words with regard to the blood of Jesus Christ being necessary to have our sins forgiven. The blood of animals was not enough. Continued sacrificing of the priests was not enough. Only the sacrifice of Christ. And then chapter 10 carries this on as Christ's sacrifice was once for all. The first 31 verses as we give our attention to the Word of God. The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said, Sacrifice an offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for Me. With burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, Here I am. It is written about me in the scroll, I have come to do your will, O God. First, he said, sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings, you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them, although the law required them to be made. Then he said, Here I am. I have come to do your will. He sets aside the first to establish the second, And by that will we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day, every priest stands and performs his religious duties. Again and again, he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time, he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. Because by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says, This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds. And then he adds, Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way open for us through the curtain that is His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, But let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching. If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified Him and who has insulted the Spirit of grace. For we know Him who said, It is mine to avenge, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge His people. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Dear people of God, In our instruction of the Word of God, as summarized in the High Liberate Catechism, we have considered the fact that the sacraments are a snapshot of salvation. They lay before us in visible fashion the meaning of the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ offered on the cross. And as we consider today this third and final Lord's Day that deals with the Lord's Supper, we are to be reminded of the angel's words to Joseph when the angel said, And she will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Now boys and girls, you know that that's what the angel said to announce the coming and the birth of our Savior. But we must never forget that he was born to die for his people. We cannot separate our celebration of Christmas from what we celebrate a few months later, the observing of his crucifixion on Good Friday. He was born to die so that we as believers, as His people, might have the comfort of that which is signified and sealed or promised or guaranteed in the sacrament of Holy Communion. And we've considered that comfort together already a few weeks back with regard to question and answer 75. How does the Lord's Supper remind you and assure you that you share in Christ's one sacrifice on the cross and in all His gifts? In this way, Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup. With this command, He gave this promise. First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup given to me, so surely His body was offered and broken for me and His blood poured out for me on the cross. Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of Him who serves and tastes with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, given me as sure signs of Christ's body and blood, so surely He nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with His crucified body and poured out blood. You see, this is the blessed comfort signified and sealed to you and me in the Lord's Supper. That just as I see with my eyes these physical elements, just as certainly as that, I can be assured of the fact that Christ's body was broken and His blood was shed, that He was crucified on the cross for my sins. And just as I take in my hand and put in my mouth the bread and the cup, Just as surely my sins are forgiven completely and fully. We've considered all of that already. And now with Lord's Day 30, we need to consider the place of the Lord's Supper in the church. In the visible church, if you will. As we consider, first of all, the truth of the Lord's table. Secondly, the participants at the Lord's table. And then finally, the guarding of the Lord's table. These things are important, beloved, because of the important place of this supper. Now it's no secret that question and answer 80, which asks how does the Lord's Supper differ from the Roman Catholic Mass, it's no secret that that question and answer is confrontational. Some don't like this question and answer. It's too judgmental, they say. We shouldn't even consider it. We ought to take it out. But congregation, we need to remember that the catechism, this catechism is a fruit of the Reformation, and the writers of the catechism knew by the grace of God, they knew what they were talking about, and they knew the opposing view that they left behind. The unbiblical view that they left behind. And therefore, it's important for us to consider this, because the truth is that the Roman Catholic Church, as an entire church, has never changed its belief. I'm not saying that everyone in the Roman Catholic Church understands it this way or believes it this way, but the church as a whole still holds to this. A couple of years ago, I took some time to read some of the articles of the Council of Trent with regard to these issues. The Council of Trent, you may recall, was the Roman Catholic Church's response to the Reformers and the Reformation. And what they decided and declared at that council, they have written down, And it's still in use today. They're a confession, if you will. Beloved, to the Roman Catholic Church, we are anathema. We are accursed in their sight because of what we believe. With this question and answer, saying that their practice of the Mass is nothing but a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of Jesus Christ and a condemnable idolatry, With that, the Reformed are accused of being unnecessarily offensive. But you see, the Word of God itself says that it is offensive. It is a stumbling block to those who do not believe. And it's important for us to consider error so that we don't fall into it. And sometimes we are able to gain a better understanding of the truth by examining that which is false. And that's the intention of this question and answer. That's what it seeks to do. And we must appreciate what the writers of the catechism did here in first giving a positive exposition of the truth and glory of the Lord's table and only then giving a caricature of the Roman Catholic Mass. How does the Lord's Supper differ from the Roman Catholic Mass? Notice the contrast. The Lord's Supper declares and then it says that the Mass teaches. The Lord's Supper declares to us that our sins have been completely forgiven through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which He Himself finished on the cross once for all. It also declares to us that the Holy Spirit grafts us into Christ, who with His very body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father where He wants us to worship Him. But the Mass teaches that the living and the dead do not have their sins forgiven through the suffering of Christ unless Christ is still offered for them daily by the priests. It also teaches that Christ is bodily present in the form of bread and wine where Christ is therefore to be worshipped. Thus, the Mass is basically nothing but a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of Jesus Christ and a condemnable idolatry. And we need to remember that idolatry involves any kind of replacement of or for God and His design for worship. The truth of the Lord's table includes the fact that Christ has secured reconciliation with God for the elect sinner. Again, the first part of the answer, the Lord's Supper declares to us that our sins have been completely forgiven through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ which He Himself finished on the cross once for all. The older version of the Catechism speaks of it as a full pardon of all of our sins through the one sacrifice of Christ. But you see, this Supper testifies to us what Christ has done. Not what He will do at some later date. And as you listen to this truth, do you hear the beautiful song of salvation? And do you hear the emphasis here? Not partial forgiveness, or forgiveness with reservation or exclusions or fine print attached, but complete forgiveness. As well, not half or three-quarter or even 99% of our sins, but 100% all of our sins are pardoned, as the psalmist says. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. The Lord's table also reminds us why we have these benefits. You see, it's not because of ourselves, it's not because of our ability or our merit or our earning power or our goodness, but only by the one and only sacrifice in Jesus Christ. This is the only ground of our salvation. The writer of Hebrews stresses this fact and includes that Christ's sacrifice was once for all. Notice again verses 10 through 12 and 14. And by that will we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties. Again and again he offers the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Then verse 14, Because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Then in chapter 9, verse 12, the writer says that he entered the holy place once for all. Then also verses 26 and 27 of chapter 7, Such a high priest meets our need, one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. You see, the testimony of the Lord's Supper is that the believer's life is guaranteed only by Christ's death on the cross, which took place so long ago. All of my sin and shame and guilt and deserved punishment is pardoned by the grace of God for the sake of Christ Jesus and His once-for-all sacrifice. But you see, the Mass teaches the opposite. It teaches that this isn't true. The Catechism says, but the Mass teaches that the living and the dead do not have their sins forgiven through the suffering of Christ unless Christ is still offered for them daily by the priest. You can read the Council of Trent. You can see that these things are still true. The Mass is a re-sacrifice of Christ. A sacrificing of Him over and over again, which the Roman Catholic Church believes needs to be made every day. The Mass teaches that Christ's sacrifice was not once for all, clearly contradicting especially what the writer of Hebrews says. His finished work, which He Himself declared to be finished when He said, it is finished, according to that church, wasn't sufficient. It wasn't enough to do what needed to be done. In fact, there's no comfort even for the dead, as purgatory points to. The dead, too, depend upon more, and that more is the work of the priests helping out Christ's work to make it sufficient and effective. Our salvation, beloved, depends upon being washed in the blood of Jesus. We know that. In the Old Testament, God made it clear to His people through all of the animal sacrifices which pointed forward to Christ, but through those animal sacrifices, God made it clear that life is in the blood. But the Mass teaches that an unbloody sacrifice needs to be offered daily to supplement and to help out Christ's bloody sacrifice. And therefore we are reminded of what the writer says in Hebrews 10 verse 29. When he says, How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him? The Mass is a denial of Christ and His work as being sufficient and by adding to His work, it is an idolatry which is condemnable by God. Yet we also must examine to see if we are guilty of this at times. To say that I must improve before I may come to the table or to say that I must do something even a little bit to secure my salvation is idolatry of the worst kind because I put myself in the place of God. The truth of the Lord's table speaks of reconciliation with God through Christ, but it also speaks of communion with Christ. The second part of the answer, the Lord's Supper also declares to us that the Holy Spirit grafts us into Christ, who with His very body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father where He wants us to worship Him. We're familiar with grafting, taking a branch and putting it into another tree, making it one with the tree. It grows and becomes a part of that tree. This grafting, of course, is talking about becoming one with Christ. We've also considered this before in our study of the Lord's Supper, that just as our bodies become one with the bread and the cup, believers become one with Christ. So that Christ's life becomes our life. In Him, we live and move and have our being, as Paul says, as well, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. But we know this is spiritual communion. Yes, indeed, we have physical union with the bread and the cup, but that represents the spiritual union the believer has with Christ by the working and the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ is sitting on His God-given throne in heaven, and we are called, as the communion form rightly says, let us not cling with our hearts unto the external bread and wine, but lift them up on high in heaven where Christ Jesus is. Yet the Mass teaches us that we have physical union with the physical Christ through the bread and the wine. The Catechism says of the Mass that Christ is bodily present in the form of bread and wine. You see, this is in essence dethroning our Lord, bringing Him down to our senses so that we eat His body, which looks and feels and smells and tastes like bread and nothing more. And we drink His blood, which looks and feels and smells and tastes like wine or juice and nothing more. But if this is true, beloved, then think about this. those who partake but don't really believe, they still become one with Jesus Christ. But that cannot be. Again, to add or replace spiritual communion with physical communion with Christ in the external signs is a condemnable idolatry. But we too must be careful not to cling to external formalities that rob the true spirit of the worship of Almighty God because then the letter of the law becomes more important than the spirit of the law and that too is idolatry. The letter of the law is to be followed to be sure, but it is to be followed in a way that gives honor to the spirit of the law. But the truth of the Lord's table not only teaches reconciliation and communion, but it also addresses the proper homage. Boys and girls, that means the proper submission and worship which must be brought to Christ. The Lord's Supper teaches that Christ is in heaven where He wants us to worship Him. Colossians 3, verses 1 and 2 tells us, If you then have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on the things that are on earth. Our Lord sent His Holy Spirit. He sent the Comforter to live in and to direct His people, to guide His church. Why? Because He was going away. He physically ascended to heaven and He is there even now. But the Mass teaches that Christ is bodily present in the form of the bread and wine where Christ is therefore to be worshipped. Now, I trust that we don't have to say much about this. The Mass teaches that the bread and the wine are to be adored and worshipped because these things are Christ. Question and answer 97 of the Catechism, which deals with the second commandment, speaks of making images. May we then not make any image at all? God cannot and may not be visibly portrayed in any way. Although creatures may be portrayed yet, God forbids making or having such images if one's intention is to worship them or to serve God through them. The Mass does what God forbids by giving to the created thing, in this case the bread and the wine, that which belongs only to the Creator. Worshipping the bread and the wine as if these were Christ is a condemnable idolatry. If Jesus Christ Himself, who is in heaven, but is present through His Spirit, if He is not the focal point of our worship and celebration of the Lord's Supper, then our worship and our celebration is empty and vain and it is an idolatry. And I need to add something here, and that's because of a question one of you asked me last week. And that deals with partaking of the Lord's Table in another church, let's say outside of the Reformed or Presbyterian camp. What do we do when we go on vacation? And we go to some various churches and so forth. And they're celebrating the Lord's Supper. What do we do? Should we partake? I trust that it's clear with regard to the Mass, of course. But I have sought the advice of those who are wiser than I am. And I bring to you some suggestions that you might consider when you're in that situation. First of all, is it an evangelical church that maintains a biblical view of the sacrament as we have considered in the catechism? And therefore also maintains the actual presence of Christ in the supper. Not that it is simply memorial, that Christ is not present in any way, we just simply remember him. But the actual presence of Christ in the supper. But then not that He is present in the form of the bread and the wine, but that He is present through His Holy Spirit by which He really nourishes our soul and strengthens our faith with Himself. Maybe these are some suggestions that can help you if you find yourself in that situation. But that means, beloved, that you need to do your homework. That means you need to plan ahead. That means you need to know what others believe with regard to the Lord's table. Christ's Supper is given to those who understand the truth of His one sacrifice to those who, as Paul says, are able to rightly discern His body. He does not need to be sacrificed daily because His sacrifice was final. He does not need to be laid on the altar every day to be sacrificed and worshipped because He sits on His throne in heaven. The place of the Lord's Supper in the church is not that it is a re-sacrifice of Christ, but that it is done in remembrance of His one sacrifice of which He continues to nourish and strengthen our souls with His broken body and shed blood. Who then are called to remember and believe this? We also consider in the second place the participants at the Lord's table. Notice question and answer 81. who are to come to the Lord's table? Those who are displeased with themselves because of their sins, but who nevertheless trust that their sins are pardoned and that their continuing weakness is covered by the suffering and death of Christ, and who also desire more and more to strengthen their faith and to lead a better life. Hypocrites and those who are unrepentant, however, eat and drink judgment on themselves. I hope that this answer sounds somewhat familiar to you. Those who are called to participate at the Lord's table are those who live and die in the joy of the comfort of belonging body and soul in life and in death to their faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. And that comfort includes knowing my sin, knowing my salvation, knowing the service that I am called upon to render to God with a thankful heart. The table is for those who by the grace of God truly examine themselves and know the necessity of Christ's sacrifice because of their sin and misery, Who then trust Christ's one sacrifice for full and free forgiveness for their sin past, present, and future. And then also who desire to daily become more and more one with Christ. Demonstrating His life in their daily walk. All of this, you see, is evidence of true faith. And we need to notice that the answer doesn't say that the table is for those who lead blameless lives or for those who do all the right things. The focus of true participants deals with the internal and not the external, with what's on the inside, not, first of all, what's on the outside. The deep recesses of the heart are challenged. Notice again verse 16 of Hebrews 10. This is the covenant I will make with them. After that time, says the Lord, I will put My laws in their hearts and will write them on their minds. And then verses 22 and 23. Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for He who promised is faithful. Congregation, the standard of participation at the Lord's table is the disposition or the character of the heart. Is there a sorrow because of sin? Is there trusting that these sins are forgiven? Is there a desire to have my faith strengthened and to lead a holy life? You see, it's not, first of all, who you are in public. But God points His finger at you and me and says, Who are you in private? This is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 28, But let a man examine himself. As much as we would like to examine each other, we must not do it. Because examining ourselves is a full-time job. Only God can truly read the heart of another. Not you, not me. We cannot tell if another truly abhors himself or trusts in forgiveness through Christ or desires to improve his life. I must ask about me. Do I abhor, that is, do I loathe and hate my sin and desire to flee from it? The truth is that only the born-again Christian professes the evil which I would not. The evil that I don't want to do, that I do, wretched man that I am. As one commentator says, only the humility of self-abhorrence leads to the heroism of faith. Do I trust that forgiveness and full pardon is mine only for the sake of the one sacrifice of Christ offered for me on the cross? And am I truly thankful? And if so, how do I show it? You see, faith bears true fruit. The external is not the first consideration, but the external is certainly not excluded. But it is to be evidence of what's on the inside. Faith is the root of life, and only by faith in Jesus Christ can life be improved, because as Jesus said, without Me, you can do nothing. So therefore then, what is it that is to be visible? What is to be seen? Not what I can do. But what change has taken place with Christ living in me? And therefore, beloved, who is to participate? Sinners who cannot live without Christ. Those who know Him. Those who trust Him. Those who desire to live for Him. But there's also an urgent warning against unbelievers. And we need to understand that this is addressing unbelievers in the church because those outside of the church don't have opportunity to come to the Lord's table. They don't care about the Lord's table. And just as believers are called to examine themselves, in the same way unbelievers are exhorted to examine themselves. This is talking about those who claim to be believers. And the Catechism mentions two kinds of unbelievers. First, hypocrites who say they believe and they go through the motions, but who, as Isaiah says, they draw near with their mouths, but their hearts are far from God. Hypocrites are pretenders who wear a mask while hiding the truth. But the catechism also speaks of those who are unrepentant. The older version says, such as turn not to God with sincere hearts. Now we know, of course, that that includes hypocrites, but this is talking about those who are more open about their unbelief. But those who do not truly believe, who do not openly truly believe, along with hypocrites who fake it, must stay away lest they eat and drink judgment to themselves. Beloved, those who claim to be a part of the body of Christ but don't truly believe bear the guilt of eating and drinking in an unworthy manner. And by not truly believing, they mock the saving sacrifice of Christ. And the church, upon warning them, is not responsible for them when they partake. These drive themselves away from Christ. They deny themselves His benefits instead of becoming more and more one with Him. But not only does God give us the individual responsibility to examine ourselves, but the church is called, finally, to guard the Lord's table. Question and answer 82. Are those to be admitted to the Lord's Supper who show by what they say and do that they are unbelieving and ungodly? No, that would dishonor God's covenant and bring down God's anger upon the entire congregation. Therefore, according to the instruction of Christ and His apostles, the Christian church is duty-bound to exclude such people by the official use of the keys of the kingdom until they reform their lives. Again, this is talking about those in the visible church who demonstrate by their confession in life that they do not truly believe And the obligation of the church is to keep them from the Lord's table. That's why we are called to fence the Lord's table. Does it mean that we do that perfectly in this church? No, we don't. In fact, we offend some who are true believers sometimes by not allowing them to come with us. We need to constantly re-examine our practice. But yet we are to strive to do what is commanded by God. The responsibility of the elders and ultimately the entire congregation as a covenant community is to keep such as these away from the Lord's table, reminding them that as Hebrews 10.26 says, if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left. Now the only discipline that the church can exercise against hypocrites is the discipline of the Word of God. Trusting the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. But against those who openly demonstrate that they are not of God's congregation through their ungodly speech and spiritless living, those who openly reveal that they are unbelieving and ungodly, the church must act against them. The church must be on guard for purity of doctrine and purity of conduct of life in as much as she is able by the grace of God. Those who demonstrate that they are unbelieving and ungodly do not live under the authority of the one sacrifice of Christ. Now we may think that these are easy to spot, since the preparatory form speaks of idolaters, blasphemers, despisers of God, adulterers, drunkards, gamblers, thieves, and the like, but you see the list goes on. All who are disobedient to their parents and superiors, all who live in hatred and envy against their neighbors, all these, and here is the important statement, lest all of us should be excluded, all these, while they continue in such sins, shall abstain from this food which Christ has appointed only for His believers, lest their judgment and condemnation be made the heavier. Some of these aren't so easy to spot, yet they're included. And these are to be excluded in a sense, first of all, on the one hand, for their own good. Because by partaking, they make things worse for themselves. So that instead of being a table of life for them, it is a table of death as God will hold them accountable what they did or did not do with what He gave them. As each of us will be held accountable. But the church must act against these for her own sake as well. God has entrusted His church with the keys of the kingdom that we hope to consider in Lord's Day 31. And if the church knowingly fails to exercise the keys and to keep these from His table, then as answer 82 says again, that would dishonor God's covenant and bring down God's anger upon the entire congregation. How would that happen? I really don't know. I don't know how God might choose to do that. But this thing is true, that God takes His covenant seriously. The table and our Lord are proof of this. Remember, the Old Testament congregation, All Israel suffered defeat at Ai because of Achan's sin. As well, the entire church at Corinth was suffering because of the openly wicked in the congregation. You see, the Lord's Supper is a meal of reconciliation with God and an enemy simply cannot be a partaker. But this is more than just the task of the elders. This is a matter of mutual discipline as a congregation. and this is where we start to get cold feet. When we are called upon to exercise mutual discipline for who am I to say to my brother or sister anything about their spiritual life. But we must. You see, beloved, those who are in error are fellow members, at least in the visible sense. And we would do anything, wouldn't we, to keep from losing one of the members of our physical body like an arm or an eye or a leg. We would do anything it took. to keep from losing that member of the physical body. Verses 24 and 25 again, And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching. Not one of us may say, I'm not my brother's keeper. You see, the goal of discipline, as we hope to consider more later, is restoration. Always restoration. The door must always be kept open. The catechism says these are to be excluded until they reform their lives. Notice, the church is not to accept simply the promise of a reformed life, but the reformed or changed life itself. The church is to require a credible profession of faith in as much as she is able, yet with that profession, the church may and must expect a lifestyle that makes that confession credible, believable, and plausible. The goal of church discipline is not to get the dirty ones out, because then not one of us would be here. But the goal is, by the grace of God, to get them washed. Not one of us is acceptable to our God unless we are washed in the blood of Jesus. And again, the Lord's table is a symbol of reconciliation and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ for those who believe by grace through faith. But for those who reject Him, the same table is a symbol that one does not have that reconciliation and fellowship. And apart from true repentance and faith, one will suffer eternal separation from Him. And therefore, instead of an eternal banquet in glory, that one will suffer everlasting starvation in the fire of hell. Christ our Lord came in order that for His people His body might be broken and His blood shed unto a complete remission of all our sins. What is the place of the Lord's Supper in the church? It's the celebration of eternal life. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, indeed, we thank You and praise You for that precious gift of salvation signified and sealed in the Lord's table. And Father, we pray too that we might come before You again in humility, recognizing that the truth that we have, the truth that we profess, we did not come by it on our own. We do not deserve to have it. But You of Your mercy and grace have given it to us. And therefore, may we not take what we believe and therefore exalt ourselves and think that we are better than anyone else. But our prayer goes up for those who do not understand the truth of the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Those who distort the truth. That You would work in their hearts and their lives powerfully and effectively even as You have blessed us. That they might have a right understanding. That we might understand, Father, what it is that we deserve. And it is to starve in the pit of hell. By the grace of God, we look forward to the glorious nourishment and feast unto eternal life. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray all of these things. Amen.