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00:00:01 today's scripture reading will be taken from the book of 1 Corinthians we'll be starting at chapter 11 in verse 17 until the end of the chapter 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 so then when you come together it is not the Lord's Supper you eat for
00:00:38 when you are eating some of you go ahead with your own private suppers as a result one person remains hungry and another gets drunk don't you have homes to eat and drink in or do you despise the Church of God by humiliating those who have nothing what shall I say to you shall I praise you certainly not in this matter for I received from the Lord what I have also passed onto 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
00:01:16 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 so then 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 everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup for those who eat
00:01:53 and drink without Discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves that is why many among among you are weak and sick and a number of you have fallen asleep but if we were more Discerning with regard to ourselves we will not come under such judgment nevertheless when we are judged in this way by the Lord we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world so then my brothers and sisters when you gather to eat you should all eat together anyone who is hungry should
00:02:29 eat something at home so that when you meet together it may not result in judgment and when I come I will give further directions this is the word of the Lord good morning Brothers and Sisters in Christ can you hear me okay good all right so next week will be gender by design by Brother an Lim um the following week after the body and spiritual gifts part one and part two by Dr Peter okay I need to find the clicker I was told please do not Wonder more than an arms length away from the middle otherwise the people online will not be
00:03:08 able to see anything all right let's come to the Lord in prayer let's bow our heads together Our Father we give you thanks this morning that we can come to remember your son and our father as we open your word we ask our father that you help us to Behold our Lord Jesus Christ in the emblems of the bread and of the cup and pray father that you will teach us the meaning of what it means to do this in remembrance of me we ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ amen okay so this morning we have read 1
00:03:40 Corinthians chapter 11 uh: 17-34 it's the second part of chapter 11 time sticking let's move so we can roughly divide this into three parts so first he talks about now in giving these instructions I do not Praise You etc etc we have read that earlier verses 17 to 22 really talks about the um what you call the perversion of the Lord's Supper what happens is that the people of Corin the Believers in Corin they came together but they didn't actually come for the Lord's Supper they were doing things that were actually an antithesis
00:04:15 as it were of what the Lord's Supper should represent verses 23 to 26 talks about the purpose of the Lord's Supper so this is really the Crux of this particular passage what it really means to have the Lord's Supper uh we will look in this in more detail um and then finally in verses 27-34 there's the preparation for the Lord's Supper it tells you how are we to prepare for the Lord's supper now I'm going to do an exercise okay um with everyone over here right every time I'll come to this phrase do this in
00:04:52 remembrance of me all right so when let us all read it together in verse 24 you see at the end over there so it says that take this is my body okay ready go for the do this in remembrance ready one two do this in remembrance of Me Okay one more time do this in remembrance of me third time do this in remembrance of me okay so it's not that much of a phrase only five words I do this in oh I don't really know how count one two three six with sorry all right so the Lord's Supper there are a few things that it does okay
00:05:32 and one of it is it reminds us of Christ in the past if you read that passage earlier for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed on the same night in which he was betrayed so when you think about it it reminds us of something that has happened before when you break that bread when you drink of that cup the night in which he was betrayed what kind of night was it we know that it was the Passover he was having a Passover
00:06:09 meal the Lord Jesus was in the upper room with his disciples saying come let us have this Passover together and then there was bread there was the cup and there was all sorts of other things at the Passover usually one of the children if they eating with their family would ask why is this night unlike all other nights or what makes this night different then all other nights what makes it different It's really because it was referring to the Great ACT of Liberation in which God brought the Israelites out of Egypt let's take a
00:06:43 look in a sense then what is the meaning of the Passover before we jump into the Lord's Supper so remember the children ask when your children shall say to you what do you mean by this service and then you shall say it is the Passover service of the Lord what is this Passover so let's take a look at the summary the children of Israel were back in Egypt as slaves they were serving Pharaoh the king of Egypt and the King will not let them go now this is back in Exodus so remember that you know they
00:07:19 had all sorts of luxury in Egypt but they need someone to actually make all the work done and they were using these Hebrew slaves and they were really you know you know in a sense torturing them making sure they work you know they were you know creating bricks as it were to you know finance and also you know build the pyramids Etc so they were under great slavery and God tells Pharaoh let my people go and guess what Pharaoh was very stubborn he says nope I'm not going to let your people go therefore God says I tell you what
00:07:57 I'm going to send you plagues and the last plague the 10th plague was the angel of death you see the first born of every household every creature is going to die all right the first born so if you have one son or one daughter then you you'll be very very sad like you won't have any children anymore right so what the Lord was doing was on a real small tiny little mini scale he was actually bringing down Divine Justice the sword that you will see in Judgment Day in that day to come and put which puts everything right he's just showing
00:08:31 a preview as it were because of Pharaoh's stubbornness but think about it the Israelites were no different in that sense from the Egyptians they were also human beings and they were also exposed to Divine judgment and retribution just like everybody else so what was the solution God gave a solution how were they how were they going to survive this angel of death and God gave them a solution in this little cute little animal with four little legs with lots of white fur Okay it's a lamb God's command he says in every town in
00:09:08 every home and Israelite family must come together and they must have a feast of a meal they must slay a lamb okay so it's a 14 day of the month they must eat the lamb put the blood on the door poost of the house the linle and the door po what does it look like it look something like this okay so it takes you take the blood of that lamb put it up on the top of the house um door and on the side post as well so essentially the lamb dies in the state of the first born of every home you have something called a
00:09:45 substitute and so when the angel of death comes and sees the blood on the doorpost the angel of death will pass over that's where the phrase Passover comes from when I see the blood I will pass over you and as a result they took shelter under the blood of the Lamb because the lamb died in everyone inside the house the Israelites were saved the Egyptians did not have that luxury they did not have that salvation as it were so then after this the Israelites were liberated they were brought out of slavery out of Egypt in Exodus chapter
00:10:21 12 we see this phrase for I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and strick all the firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and animal beasts and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment I am the Lord now the blood shall be assigned for you on the houses where you are when I see the blood I will pass over you now Moses says that this is to be a Perpetual Memorial that should never be changed before forever and it didn't change until the night on which the Lord Jesus Christ was
00:10:57 betrayed he made a very interesting change he says there because the night in in which he was betrayed he was priding and while he was priding he began to make changes a very very incredibly audacious thing to do because Moses said you should not ever change this but he did so he's looking back then to this great Act of Salvation it was a paradigm shift moment because the first thing the Lord Jesus did was to talk about the bread he wasn't talking about any lamb okay instead of saying as a presider might say this is the bread
00:11:31 of our Affliction that we ate in the wilderness he took the 11 bread and said this is my body as it were if we can paraphrase this is the bread of my Affliction not our Affliction my Affliction given for you he changed it now what there at lamb at the Lord's Supper up in the upper room now we read the text just now in 1 Corinthians 11 and you actually find no mention of any lamb in in that portion was there a lamb there was no lamb was there a lamb so in a sense the Bible is silent about whether there was a real furry
00:12:14 lamb physical Lamb with legs but I believe the spirit of God did that on purpose why now in Isaiah chapter 53 it says there we all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the lord has laid on him the iniquity the sin of us all he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth and he was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her sharers his dumb or his silent so he opened not his mouth he was silent that now that you think about it
00:12:54 is the Passover Lamb he was the Lamb of God wasn't he Behold the Lamb of God which take away the sin of the world and on the night in which he was betrayed Jesus Christ said I am he I am that person that you're looking for this is my body this is my blood I am the main cause as it were what he was saying I the lamb that takes away the sin of the world it was the climactic event that all of history was pointing towards this great salvation it was the sacrifice as it were to end all sacrifices now every
00:13:29 every sacrifice every Liberation every Prophet priest and even the king every deliverer has been pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ remember this Pascal lamb or the Passover Lamb is also pointing to him this is the night unlike all other nights why because on this Passover night I am going to deal with sin and death itself everything that was pointing to me I'm this is the night in which is going to happen and the Lord Jesus Christ is described as our Passover Lamb in 1 Corinthians 5 or indeed Christ Our Passover same thing
00:14:04 the Lord Jesus Christ says we have heard people proclaiming Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world John chapter 1 verse 29 truly he's really that lamb the blood shed for the sin of the entire world for yours and for mine all right so the Lord's Supper connects us to the p it reminds us about what has happened when we take the bread and the cup it has a direct connection between what is happening right now and what is happening in that night so that's the first point reminds us of
00:14:41 Christ in the past but what does it mean for us in the present the bread and the cup in 1 Corinthians 11 also recalibrates us to Christ in the present in the here and now and what does that mean now this section is going to take take a while right this is the longest part and and um I hope you'll be patient uh with this particular um area so what does it mean to recalibrate as you were ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ in the present moment with the bread and the cup now first of all we are going to take a look
00:15:14 at what are the elements of the Lord's supper right what the elements what the emblems two things that the Lord shows it's interesting that there are many um ways we could have remembered him chose only two very simple things bread and cup which every culture in the world has right for us we have our masimo bread or gardinia bread you know in India you know then they have you know your chapati you know and all it's bread right so it's 11 and 11 is is still bread every culture has bread and that
00:15:53 actually is something so commonplace that you know everyone knows what it means so the first thing bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said take it this is my body which is broken for you let's all read this together do this in remembrance of Me Okay so the bread really is the first element and he says this this is my body a very puzzling statement but we will look into what he means after this now the body that is being represented by the birad is described in Hebrews um in this verse therefore when
00:16:38 he came into the world he said sacrifice and offering you did not desire but a body you have prepared for me an it's a quotation of an Old Testament scripture and the Lord Jesus Christ is saying this when I came to this world God prepared a body as a sacrifice for the of the entire world a body you have prepared for me sacrifice and offering thou would not he God didn't really find pleasure in the burnt offerings of the Old Testament none of that could take away sin but a body you have prepared
00:17:14 for me so it's telling you now something that God would actually take pleasure in in saying that this will actually take away sin a body you have prepared for me for as much as the children are partakers of Flesh and Blood likewise he also himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil now what does that mean who are the children for as much then as you and me we are partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself took part of the same what does
00:17:49 that mean in order to redeem man mankind you need a man think about it you need something in exchange for something else a man for a man so that's what God is trying to say to redeem you and I we need someone else to take that place same like us Flesh and Blood just the same so he was given a body not just a body but he was also given a life living body with blood so what does that mean now in the same manner he also took the cup after supper saying this cup is a New Covenant in my blood this do as of as
00:18:37 you drink it in remembrance of me same phrase notice he doesn't say here this wine is the New Covenant in my this cup we'll talk about this in more detail later but this cup focus on that it does talk about the blood right the cup symbolize the blood and blood symbolizes life Leviticus 17: 11 says for the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your soul for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul now we're going to dive a little bit
00:19:18 deeper here okay so um we're going to you know hold hands together in a sense you know and slowly you know March our way through the different passages so you say Wow Cup now New Testament my blood what does that mean okay now we are told as well in the New Testament in the book of Hebrews that the New Covenant this Covenant okay is this promise that God is going to make is ratified in blood oh wow so many big terms I cannot seem to process it I understand how you feel because I was there so what is the ter covenant mean
00:19:54 Covenant means a promise right so when God makes a promise he's making an agreement with you all right it's like saying I want to buy a car or I want to buy a house you know I have to sign something called a sales and purchase agreement right so you sign this document this Covenant as it were okay now the Bible says that this new covenant that the Lord Jesus Christ is making we'll see what it means that word covenant where is reference it is ratif it is signed in blood it has to be signed in blood you
00:20:35 say wow sounds very cultish um not quite okay the Bible explains this further why so in Exodus chapter 24 this is an example of what Moses did in the Old Testament okay Moses took half the blood put in basins half the blood he sprinkle on the altar this the Old Testament now remember this not the New Covenant this the old Covenant then he took the book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people and they said all that Lord has said we will do and be obedient and Moses took the blood of the
00:21:03 sacrifices and sprinkled it on the people and said this is the blood of the Covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words who imagine now this morning I bring blood sprinkle on all of you I think all of us going to squir a bit yeah but that was what was happening okay Hebrews explain this in great detail and I will not read everything I'll do my best not read everything but I'll read the important parts of this Hebrews chapter 9:16 for where a testament a covenant is there must also
00:21:37 of necessity be the death of the testator for where a testament is in force after men are dead since he has no power at all while the testator lives therefore not even the first Covenant was dedicated without blood then down to verse um 21 then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the Tabernacle and the vessel of the ministry that's what Moses did and according to the law almost all things are purified with blood without the shedding of blood there is no remission where you want a covenant to be in
00:22:07 force whoever made that Covenant shouldn't be alive anymore should be dead then you know that that Covenant is in force and the very good example of this is a will okay if I were to write a will and say I'm going to um will whatever I have to such and such a party whoever that party maybe as long as I live that person doesn't get anything right and I can still change my will anytime I want to you know so the The Testament is not in force but if I were to die that Testament that will will finally come
00:22:48 into Force so as long as the testator lives that Testament will not be in forc and this is what the Lord he was trying to say I have a new covenant with you and it has to be ratify in blood someone has to die to ensure that this Covenant takes force and that's what the Lord Jesus Christ did it was his blood and what was this new covenant is described in Jeremiah chapter 31:33 but this is the New Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days says the Lord I will put my laws in their minds and write it
00:23:22 on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people wow this law written on our hearts I I don't see it written anywhere on my heart right it in my mind how now this New Covenant was described as with Israel but in the book of Hebrews he talks about it as the New Covenant that the Lord Jesus Christ has made interestingly enough it is something that can only happen because the Lord Jesus Christ died for you and me because uh the the law in the Old Testament people tried to you know
00:23:54 follow it to gain God's salvation couldn't happen they were using as a means of righteousness but in the New Testament when Christ died for us we have already been made righteous and now we can live God's law without the need of me trying to prove my worthiness or my righteousness and that is the New Covenant that God was trying to talk about here the our covenant with God is ratified in the Eternal blood of theist without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins there's no forgiveness of sins
00:24:30 now this is a very interesting passage that the Lord talks about his flesh and his blood and this is a precursor of what we're going to talk about next he says I'm the living bread which came down from heaven if anyone eats this bread he will live forever the bread that I shall give is my flesh wow you know so does that mean I have to eat his flesh and then and then in verse 52 the Jews started to you know um argue among themselves you know how can this man give us his flesh to eat is he going to
00:24:56 cut himself and then give a piece you know for us to eat guess what then Jesus said to them most assly I say to you unless you eat the Flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you wow he takes the knife plunges it forther twist some more we don't understand now you're asking us to eat your flesh you're asking us to be cannibals and then only we can have life eternal know it's a bit hard right to understand whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life very very
00:25:24 confusing but guess what a verse that comes after that just just a few more verses after that verse 63 says it is a spirit who gives life the flesh profits nothing the words that I speak to you are Spirit they are life the flesh profits nothing your physical body doesn't profit anything yes to eat his flesh and drink his blood as it were is a picture it is a metaphor of what is going to happen when you believe believe in the Lord Jesus Christ John chapter 5 talks about this about how if you believe on his name you
00:26:07 will have everlasting life just believe and the believing is the meaning of what the Lord was trying to say here the partaking of his flesh and drinking of his blood is just to believe he's using a physical metaphor to describe a spiritual reality if you want to eat my flesh and drink my blood as well you just do it by faith you believe in me that it was what he's trying to say the flesh profits nothing my words are spirit and they are life now with this backdrop we can move on okay what does he mean to his words
00:26:47 many people who heard him were offended they say you know oh you you know I have to eat his flesh and drink his blood I'm not talking about the flesh that's what the Lord Jesus is saying the flesh means nothing it's Spirit spiritual behind it nothing physical so is the Lord Jesus alluding to the Lord's supper here and when people start to say you're talking literally he says no it's not literal it's figurative it's spiritual is what I'm talking about is feeding on my words my words spirit and they are life how do
00:27:17 we feed on God's word now we try to think about it we might try to literally eat a Bible so it's literal versus figurative it's a bit hard to try to differentiate and discern but it's not that difficult if you really think about the rest of whatever the Lord Jesus was teaching he's saying this when you want to feel my words it's not just that I want you to I don't want you to just believe on my words I don't want you to just believe that I love you I don't want you to just believe that I died on the cross
00:27:45 or I don't want you to just believe the gospel I want you to feed on them I want you to drink them my words his word all in encapsulated in the gospel needs to be infused in us we need to digest it as it were a long list of words here to digest it it needs to be become a part of you it needs to saturate your mind it needs to become really truly in your heart it comes in and shapes the way you live and how you relate towards others that really means that God will spiritually graft his word and his truth
00:28:21 and his gospel and his grace into you that is the meaning of feeding on my word words that's what the Lord Jesus was alluding to not a physical thing so we've talked about the elements of the law of let's talk about the essence of the Lord's Supper we've known that is not really um physical you say but then what you have in your hands is physical bread and physical wine or grape juice it's a cup a physical Cup right so what's the essence of it and there there it's a bit hard to approach this but I
00:28:59 would like to approach it this way let's approach it from the point of what the Lord's Supper is not what the essence of the Lord's Supper is not and there are many misinterpretations of this and have to be very careful where I thread and one of them is ritualism okay and uh we have friends who are in Catholic circles who believe in what they call transubstantiation and there's another one another big word consubstantiation we only look at transubstantiation today just to give you an example so it they
00:29:35 teaching that the bread and the wine become the actual body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ so remember this is not what is supposed to be okay and why so remember trumps Association is the belief in the sense that the invisible substance of your bread and of the cup become the literal actual body of the Lord Jesus Christ when you partake of it becomes the actual flesh all right and this is what happens when you try to tie John chapter 6 in with First Corinthians 11 now the problem with trans subst
00:30:09 trans substantiation is remember he was holding his body that's why he saying this is my body so the body was holding the body does that kind of make sense this is my body like so where is the real body right it's hard to say so this was in the night in which he was betrayed he said this is my body problem number one physical body holding his physical body it doesn't quite make sense number two we are sacrificing him all over again and in Hebrews and chapter 9 we are told twice there that he was offered once but
00:30:44 now once at the end of the Ages was he have he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself once and then the in verse 28 so Christ was once offered to Bear the sins of many when you say that this is the physical body and blood of the Lord you are sacrificing him all over again it doesn't make sense the offering has been made once and that is it problem number three this cup is a new testament in my blood not this wine so this cup so when he says this cup does it really mean that you know this is the
00:31:22 actual blood how can the cup be the blood the wine can but not the cup the cup is representative of something this cup represents the New Covenant in my blood so we think in a sense at least our Catholic friends sorry not we our Catholic friends might think then that the bread and the cup is the means to Salvation I can partake physically his flesh and partake physically his blood that's in John chapter 6 and therefore I can have eternal life but guess what remember that is having faith in the bread and in the cup you're not having
00:31:55 faith in the Lord Jesus Christ your faith is resting somewhere else if that were the case problem number two what is is not it's not literalism some people think when we take it into our hands and upon our lips it is a living means of contact with the Lord Jesus Christ that you can communicate directly with him through this bread and through this cup is that true you can experience him in a very real and spiritual way now the problem with this view is that we do not receive anything when we partake of the
00:32:24 bread and of the cup nothing physical nothing spiritual we come to give God our appreciation not to receive anything for him remember what was the phrases now do this in remembrance of me okay third one formalism now this is what the church in Corinth did despite their Dreadful condition they still continue to break bread they shouldn't have they were very divided Church they have a lot of sin a lot of gluttony you know they were taking each other to court there was drunkenness there sexual immorality all
00:32:52 sorts of things and without conscience they just continue to partake the bread not Discerning the Lord's body became a formality it just became something that they just went through the motions and and that was it but it didn't mean anything to them so what is the essence of the Lord's Supper this do so that you may be saved this do so that you may have fellowship with me this do so that you may have that you may experience my presence this do in remembrance of me none of the above you don't do this to be saved you
00:33:28 don't do this for fellowship with the Lord in a sense you do have fellowship with the Lord but it's not in the bread and in the cup that is not the essence of it we do have fellowship with our God because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us but that is not in this emblem so in remembrance of me you you come across this word a lot of times right so we have read it I'm not going to read it again but the word remembrance comes from a very interesting origin is the word n Amnesia all right
00:34:00 and Amnesia is to recollect to remember is the opposite of the word Amnesia right so the the the word Amnesia is to have the loss of memories of facts of information and experiences and Amnesia is the opposite of that you are reestablishing your connections with events in your memory now if you are trying to recall events in the past photos are very very helpful I was I was thinking of how to um illustrate this point I wanted to use a photo but couldn't really find a nice photo and um yeah imagine if I have a
00:34:37 photo right and someone really misses me I say tell you what take this photo and when you see this photo it's easier for you to remember me um and imagine that person takes that photo and say you know when I'm not around say if I went you know out of state for work and say if I touch this photo I'm actually touching William you know or you know if I talk to this photo I know I'm talking to William doesn't quite make sense right the photo is just a symbol it's just a picture as it were I have another
00:35:15 example um I'm just going to put this here sorry to Ste your your mic uh I'm just going to replace the mic all right good can everyone still hear me all right now National Day is coming up you must be thinking I'm a very patriotic person I I don't know so I'm going to say this is Malaysia all right and you have friends overseas imagine one of them wherever they are in the UK in the United States you know in Australia in India wherever you give them this and you say this is Malaysia and then they touch it and then
00:36:00 they say you know oh I've been to Malaysia or you know you say that if as long as I plant this flag that that place that place is Malaysia this is not Malaysia this is a flag of Malaysia it's different it represents Malaysia but it is not Malaysia and that is the essence of what you hold in your hands today it represents the body and the blood of the Lord but it's not not the body and the blood it's different so we'll move on we are physical beings we need physical reminders of things and you know when a
00:36:37 marriage occurs you have an exchange of wedding bands and likewise we also need physical reminders that the Lord knows that we are forgetful creatures and he says this bread represents my body this cup represents my blood it's a reminder of what in the present a reminder that we are saved by grace through faith and we are when we take this bread and we take this cup we are restating our total dependence on what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross to save us we are telling the Lord we are reminding
00:37:12 ourselves this is what saved me not the bread in the cup his death on the cross symbolically is we are associating ourselves to him when we partake of that cup there is great symbolism in this there is also example of you know the Jewish um weddings where they drink from the same cup they associating themselves with each other in the same way we are doing that with the Lord and we have already put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is a once in the past has been done thing and now we are just renewing as it were our
00:37:47 covenant with the Lord it is an outward representation of an inward conviction and last but not least is an expression of gratitude when we take this bread and cup we thank the Lord for sending his son it is a reminder Luke 24: 28-3 this is an experience of two disciples on the road to with the Lord they were walking and say you know ah you know the Messiah this man that he promised to be he has died you know you see the real Messiah maybe not so they drew near to the village and then after that you know the
00:38:22 Lord was with them he and then they said to him abide with us stay with us you know for the night is far spent you know day is fand and he went in the stay and he came to pass as he sat at the table with them he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them and guess what this after this was after his resurrection and their eyes were opened and they knew him the bread and the cup didn't represent anything but the blood and the body of Lord it represented and they recognized it the same way we can
00:38:53 recognize it so what's the consequences of forgetting in Corinth there was something called called The Love Feast the Agape Feast as it were and they came together to eat it was a practice where they each brought their own food and have a fellowship meal one with another but it was a terribly divided church and what does this mean for the Lord's Supper they brought their food from home but there was something very very strange going on they were supposed to eat together but what actually happened
00:39:20 some were hungry some went away hungry some went away drunk they were hungry how did you come together with a potluck meal and some of you walk away hungry why it was not the Lord's Supper that they came to eat so the Richer Believers at a point in time they came together and they ate and guess what they didn't leave anything for the poorer believers who came later so they were hungry some of them were drunk they didn't care about each other they went ahead and makan first before everyone else was there they did
00:39:57 not care there was great disdain some parties were disdainful of other parties so when they got to the Lord supper they gobbl their food and they left early didn't care about the other people weren't around some people had enough food to get drunk and others people didn't have enough they were left hungry so if you were wealthy you brought a lot of food if you were poor you didn't really bring much it was supposed to be a fellowship meal didn't quite happen there were class divisions so if you forget the meaning of this bread and
00:40:22 this cup this is what's going to happen so you are not Discerning the Lord's body and that's what Paul was condem ing them about he was so upset because you're not recognizing the Lord's body in this that's the heart of the Gospel we are saved by grace and not works if we are not saved by works we are not even saved by our own pedigree what we are doesn't matter whether I'm rich or I'm poor it doesn't matter so why are we making it a point you know of trying to discriminate against someone else
00:40:50 someone else who may not be as talented in service we also discriminate against them how can we do that if someone is you know more gifted than us how can we discriminate that there is discrimination in Christ there is no slave or free there is no Jew or Greek there is no male or female those distinctions don't matter anymore we are walking contradiction if we if that were to happen it happens because of Pride and say if that division is among you how dare you take that bread and how dare you take that cup you are walking
00:41:23 contradiction you're not Discerning the Lord's body so remember the Lord Jesus Christ in this there is neither Jew nor Greek slave or free male or female all are one doesn't matter whether you are the CEO it doesn't matter whether you are the janitor it doesn't matter whether you are tansri whether you are of a different Nation or nationality doesn't matter what your skin color is it does not matter this is the result if we do not remember what is the meaning of this bread and this cup we don't recognize
00:42:00 the Lord's body anymore that we are saved by grace now I'm going to tell you a story all right this will what be our last stor 2th of November 1979 there's something called the mount arabus disaster so there was this flight from New Zealand going down to Antarctica called te901 what they did not know the pilots was that there was a two degree error in the course that they were setting towards Antarctica and you think about it 2° doesn't seem that much but he ended up with 28 miles being of course as the pilots approached what
00:42:40 they thought was their intended destination in Antarctica to give the S years a better look at of the beautiful scenery in Antarctica they descended to a lower altitude so they could see more but they didn't know about this two degree change in their course they had no way of knowing the in cor coordinates that have been placed upon them and they were actually headed right towards an active volcano by the time they realized what was happening it was too late sadly the plane crashed in the side of that
00:43:11 volcano killing everyone on board it's hard to imagine in that sense How This Disaster can happen only because of a matter of just two degrees this was the cause the dotted one the dashed one is where it should have gone and the yellow one is where you actually landed 2° was all it took 2° if they corrected their course Midway through flight they would not have reached and hit that volcano 2° what about us we too need to recalibrate and correct our cause as well if we don't this is what the Lord
00:43:55 is saying there will be disaster as it were a list of things you know listed down of the Judgment that God will bring but we're not going to look at that in detail how do we cause correct it is with that bread and that cup that you hold in your hand we are told to examine ourselves but let a man examine himself so they eat a bread and drink of that cup examine yourself it's not to say whether we are worthy or unworthy we'll talk about that in just a little bit more detail it means Grace if there's any relationship
00:44:28 that has no Unity if you're are bitter against someone or mad against someone you know we may say that we are believers and we are sin saved by grace but we are not living it what does that mean we can how do you maintain a grudge and be bitter at someone and at the same time remember that God if God holds a gudge against us we are gers so to pick up the bread and to pick up the cup and still go out b means we are not remembering we are bringing judgment up upon ourselves so if there is a relationship that needs to be
00:45:00 mended repent and remember make a commitment to reconcile and ask God's forgiveness and get that Grace you need the Lord didn't say that if you are unworthy to eat this bread to drink this cup then you don't we are actually all unworthy but the Lord Jesus Christ has made us worthy but he says whosoever eats his Bread drinks his cup in an unworthy man manner in an unworthy manner we are already saved as it were there is now no more condemnation so it's it's not a contradiction if you approach this bread and this cup without
00:45:39 Discerning the L's body that this is what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for me if you just take it as a normal routine and it means nothing to you don't take it that is an unworthy manner if you take this cup and this bread and still have bitterness towards others is difficult that is his and our unworthy manner so not Discerning the Lord's body it recalibrates to the present um it recalibrates to Christ in the present finally it reconnect us to Christ in the future last Point how does this reconnect
00:46:19 this this phrase for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes until he comes for a limited time only this a limited time offer it's not going to be forever for as often as he dis and drink this cup you Proclaim until he comes up what's going to happen after that the Lord's Supper what you have in your hands right now is going to give away to what we call the marriage supper one day that will be replaced when whenever you take this bread and this
00:46:59 cup just remember it's one last time you're going to take it before the Lord comes I'll be looking forward to that marriage supper of the lamb as it were I'm going to close with this before we um invite um ourselves to sing for the final song the three points reminds us of Christ in the past recalibrates us to Christ in the present reconnects us to Christ in the future this bread is also called the bread of communion in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 or the word communion really means common Union real
00:47:38 Union how can we have communion with God how can we have fellowship with God in Luke this is our final reading in Luke Chapter 22: 19- 20 captur something that 1 Corinthians 11 doesn't at least only in half the detail this this is my body which is given for you this cup is a New Covenant in my blood which is shed for you this body and this blood does it mean anything to you is it really for you if it's really for you and you believe with all your heart that the Lord Jesus Christ died for you so that
00:48:24 you can have that fellowship and their communion with God by all means take that bread and take that cup and maybe then draw closer to him who gave himself for us let's all read together do this in remembrance of me right I shall close in prayer before we sing our final song our gracious God and our father we give you thanks for the emblems that you have given to us even the bread and the cup which symbolizes the body that was given for us the blood that was shared for us even at the cross of Calvary father we
00:49:11 acknowledge that we will not have this relationship with you if not for what our Lord Jesus Christ has done even on that night in which he was betrayed be thank you Father for the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world we thank you that truly he was that lamb and that all he asks of us now is that we remember him in his own appointed way we ask our father that you help us even as we partake of this bread and this cup we as we do it our father we pray you help us to do it in remembrance of him
00:49:46 we ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ [Music] okay so good morning church we now come to a time of the Lord's Supper so for those who have the elements please do not open it yet we will open up together as a church as a body uh but for those who do not have the elements uh please raise your hands so that our ushers can attend to you [Music] so our brother William today have reminded us of what the Lord supper is therefore I'll emphasize on who the Lord's Supper is for it's for anyone who
00:50:51 has placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for their salvation if you have not proclaimed your faith to Christ we humbly ask that you refrain from participating in the Lord's supper and today we will do things a little bit differently uh in the in the time of preparing ourselves for this beautiful occasion right for this beautiful moment of reflecting and remembering him uh we will asked the worship team to play a song for us to reflect that song is called how beautiful now it's not a song that we
00:51:26 often sing here but there are two things that you can respond to this that you can reflect on this if you know the song please by all means sing along but if you're not familiar with the songs please just meditate on the words uh in silence and yeah I'll pass the time to the worship team [Music] how beautiful the the wi and Bre and the sun of how beautiful the Fe have the long Dusty roads and a hty the cross how [Music] beautiful how [Music] beautiful how beautiful is the Body of Christ how [Music]
00:53:08 beautiful the heart that to call my sin and bur instead how [Music] you the US the choose still for again and never despise how be beautiful how [Music] beautiful how [Music] beautiful is the body of Christ let as he laid down his life we are for this sacrifice that we wi just as he died willing to pay the price willing to f the pr how Beau the r and bright who waits for her with his light and how beautiful with Humble Hearts the F the up your life the how beautiful how beautiful how beautiful is the body of Christ
00:55:25 [Music] how [Music] beautiful the F that bring the sound of good news and the love of the king how beautiful the don't Qui the Sun the how beautiful how beautiful how Beau it's the body of chist [Music] now let's open the elements together [Music] I'll read from today's passage again 1 Corinthians 11: 23- 24 the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread and we had 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 from today's
00:57:31 message there's no doubt that we are forgetful people we do not discern the body and because of that there's divisions among us even over little details we stand divided against each other even against a fellow brother or sister in Christ with the Lord's Supper we remember of our Lord's Jesus Christ Affliction Forest Jesus laid his life down for us his body broken for the div for the divisions that we've made but today we can stand United with each other and with God because we have something much bigger than the little
00:58:14 things that we fight over we are all under one body and that body is [Music] Christ how beautiful it is for the one that took all of our sins and borrow it instead let's partake of the bread together in remembrance of [Music] [Music] him 1 Corinthians 11:25 to 26 in the same way after supper he took the cup saying this this 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 as we partake the cup we
00:59:11 remember that we are now living in a New Covenant we live as a Justified and a continually sanctified people we live under a New Covenant where God himself puts his law in our minds and writes his words in our hearts he is our God and we are his people and we only can have this because of the blood of Christ on the cross because of the forgiveness of sin how beautiful is the heart that bled thank you Jesus for your blood let's partake the cup together in remembrance of him let's pray how beautiful is the body of Christ
01:00:03 God thank you for your son for his sacrifice that has brought reconciliation and salvation to us place in us your spirit to remind us that we are deeply loved that we are united in you and also in our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ because of what you have done give us a conviction to feed and drink on your word his word let's look forward to your return and while we remain devoted standing in unity with your church let us also remember why we take the Lord's Supper as a church together as your body and how beautiful
01:00:42 this gift that you have given us amen before the benediction uh I do have a short announcement for the Lord's Supper for the elements uh the ases would not collected for you but instead there will be baskets plac at the exits of the hall so please deposit your elements at the baskets the benediction Colossians 3 verse 16 let the word of Christ dwell in you in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in thals and hymns and spiritual songs singing with Grace in your hearts to the Lord and let all of God's people
01:01:24 say amen thank you and the service is now over and have a blessed Sunday
