The Proclamation and Examination of the Lord's Supper
Introduction
What is the Lord’s Supper?” In answer to this question, Charles Spurgeon wrote: “The Lord's Supper is an ordinance of the New Testament, instituted by Jesus Christ; wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to His appointment, His death is shown forth (1 Cor. 11:23-26), and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporeal (bodily) and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of His body and blood, with all His benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace.”
BENEFITS OF HIS DEATH:
Repentance, Belief in the Gospel, Cleansed of our Sin, Forgiven, Exchanged Life, New Nature, Settles our Eternal State.
Like baptism, the Lord’s Supper presents a visible sermon, and therefore, the normal means of marking out those who have been separated from the world and given fellowship with Christ. All is entirely dependent on God’s Spirit to create the spiritual communion between God and believers that it depicts.
I. THE PROCLAMATION OF THE LORD’S SUPPER. 26
In sending forth His dear Son, God the Father dealt a death blow to sin. The instrument of death was the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross represents God’s judgment on sin, but is also the way of life for the sinner because the essence of the cross is love.
You cannot view the cross with your Bible in hand without seeing the -
1. Wrath of God on His Son
2. Love of God for Sinners
His (God) remedy for our sins was the suffering of His Son on our behalf.
“What a heartbreaking thing is this extraordinary love of God, the immensity thereof lavished on such pitiful objects as we are.”
Clyde Crawford, Because We Love Him
1 John 3:1, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God.” The language of this text speaks of this love being foreign. It’s not of this world, but Heaven.
Is there anything that should humble us more than the love of God?
“The Love of God”
“The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Thou stretched from sky to sky.Refrain:
Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
The saints’ and angels’ song.” Frederick Lehman, 1917
Verse 3 was penciled on the wall of a narrow room in an insane asylum by a man said to have been demented. The profound lines were discovered when they laid him in his coffin.
The holiness of God exposes to us our wretchedness before Him, but when the awesome truth that this holy God has loved us in spite of our wretchedness begins to dawn on our souls, our arrogance shrivels in the dust of shame.
When we contemplate the love that God displayed on Calvary, we enjoin A.W. Tozer in his poem:
“Jesus! Why dost Thou love me so?
What hast Thou seen in me
To make my happiness so great,
So dear a joy to Thee?
Ah, how Thy grace hath wooed my soul
With persevering wiles!
Now give me tears to weep; for tears
Are deeper joy than smiles.” Tozer, The Book of Mystical Verse
God commands love by His very nature. Those who know Him cannot help but love Him.
II. THE EXAMINATION AT THE LORD’S SUPPER. 28
The Bible commands us to love, and the first object of that love is God Himself. The command shines a blinding light into our hearts and exposes the selfishness so evident there. Yet, we do love God, however small that smoldering ember may seem. But embers can be coaxed into sparks and sparks fanned into flames.
To love God is to obey God. Our obedience is directly proportioned to our love. If we do not obey, how can we say that we love? None love God flawlessly, and the results of flawed love is flawed obedience. But we must at least want to love and obey God perfectly.
SELF EXAMINATION:
Do you want to sin? Hopefully, no. The Christian has in his heart a growing desire to obey God, although the insatiable appetites of self often take over. Thus, he does what he does not wish to do in the inner man.
If this is true of you, why do you not want to sin? The best answer is that you love God. Some might indicate fear of displeasing God. Christian fear is a good thing; it is not being afraid of God as though He were a monster out to get you. God’s perfect love casts out all fear of that nature (1 John 4:18). Our fear of Him is a reverential awe, perhaps over a dread of His reality and His holiness. Bottom line, fear is the fear of hurting the God we love. Love to the point of fear lest we offend is a great deterrent to sin.
Do you love righteousness? In Ps 119, David exclaims, “I love Thy Law!” He said it over and over again.
Ps 19:10-11, “More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward.”
When we choose self, we betray the righteousness of Christ. We may grieve the Holy Spirit by saying yes to sin, but this does not diminish His love. You can grieve someone who truly loves you. We may quench the Spirit by saying no to His promptings, but this does not cause Him to withdraw and stand aloof. He simply waits to woo again, working in us all the while