A Question for Communicants

A Question for Communicants

(No. 2268)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY AUGUST 7, 1892.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JUNE
1, 1890.

"What do you mean by this service?" Exodus 12:26.

IN a spiritual religion everything must be understood. That which is
not spiritual, but ritualistic, contents itself with the outward form.
Under the Jewish dispensation there was a very strong tendency in that
direction, but it was kept in check to some extent. Under the Christian
faith this tendency must not be tolerated at all. We must know the
meaning of what we do, otherwise we are not profited. We do not believe
in the faith of the man who was asked what he believed and replied that
he believed what the church believed. "But what does the church
believe?" "The church believes what I believe." "Well, but what do you
and the church believe?" "We both believe the same thing." He would not
explain himself any further. We look upon such expressions as the talk
of ignorance and not the language offaith. Faith knows what she
believes and can give a reason for the hope that is in her meekness and
fear.

Concerning the Passover, the young people among the Jews were
encouraged to ask their parents this question, "What do you mean by
this service?" Children should be encouraged to ask such gracious
questions now. I am afraid they are not prompted to do so as they used
to be in Puritan times. After the sermon always came the catechizing of
the children when they were at home–and every father was bound to be
attentive to the sermon–because he had to ask the boys and girls in
the evening what they had heard. The children were more attentive,
then, than now, because they had to be prepared to answer any questions
of their parents. Cultivate in your children a desire to understand
everything connected with our holy faith!

In this chapter, from which I culled my text, the parents are taught
how to answer their children. If the parent is ignorant, a question
from his child is inconvenient. He finds his ignorance exposed and he,
perhaps, is vexed with the child who has been the innocent means of
unveiling him to himself. Be ready to tell your children what the
ordinances of the Gospel mean. Explain Baptism to them, explain the
Lord's Supper to them and above all, explain the Gospel–and let them
know, as far as words can make it plain, what is that great mystery
whereby we are saved, whereby sin is forgiven, and we are made the
children of God.

I thought it would be profitable, if God gave me strength for the
exercise, very briefly to answer the question supposed to be put by an
intelligent youth, "What do you mean by this service?"–this service
that is called, by some people, "Holy Communion." Which is sometimes
called the "Eucharist." And among us is called, "the Lord's Supper,"
or, "the breaking of bread." What does it mean?

It means many things, but chiefly five, of which I will now speak.

I. This supper is, first of all, A MEMORIAL.

If you want to keep something in mind from generation to generation,
you may attempt it in many ways. You may erect a bronze column, or you
may engrave a record of it upon brass in the church. Eventually the
column will get sold for old bronze and somebody will steal the brass
plates from the church–and the memorial will disappear. You may write
it upon marble if you please, but in our climate, at any rate, the
inscription is very apt to be obliterated and the old stones, though
they last long, may, after a time, be as dumb as the treasures of
Nineveh and Egypt were for centuries. These monuments did preserve the
records, but they were hidden under the sand, or buried beneath the
ruins of cities. And though they now have a tongue and are speaking
forcibly, yet whatever had been entrusted to them would have been
forgotten while they were lying under the sand of the desert, or in the
debris of the palaces of Koyunjik. There are other

ways of preserving memorials, such as writing in books, but books can
be lost. Many valuable works of the ancients have entirely ceased and
no copies of them can be found. Some of the books mentioned in the Old
Testament which were not inspired books, but still were books which we
should greatly value, have quite passed out of existence.

It is found that upon the whole, one of the best ways of remembering a
fact is to have some ceremony connected with it which shall be
frequently performed so as to keep the fact in memory. I suppose that
Absalom will never be forgotten. He built himself a pillar in the
king's dale–he knew his own infamous history and he thought it might
be forgotten. No one would care to remember it, so he built himself a
monument. And there it stands–or what is reputed to be that monument,
to this day–and every Arab who passes by the spot throws a stone at
it. Absalom will better be remembered by the ceremony of throwing
stones at his tomb than by any record in marble!

To turn your thoughts to something infinitely higher, I cannot conceive
of a surer and better method of keeping the death of Christ in mind
than of meeting together, as we shall do tonight, for the breaking of
bread and the pouring out of the juice of the vine in memory of His
death. Other facts may be forgotten–this one can never be. Tonight and
every first day of the week, in 10,000 places of worship, Believers
meet together for the breaking of bread in remembrance of Christ's
Cross and passion, His precious death and burial. Those great facts can
never pass out of mind. Jesus said to His disciples, "This do in
remembrance of Me." In obeying His command, you are doing what is most
effectual in keeping your Lord in remembrance. As I preach, tonight,
having no sort of reliance upon my own words, I want you to practice
them as I go along. Then you will be like the woman who said that when
she heard a sermon about light weights and short measures, though she
forgot what the preacher said, when she got home, she remembered to
burn her bushel, which was short. So, if you can just practice the
sermon as you hear it, it will be well.

Remember, then, that you come to this Table tonight to remember an
absent Friend. Jesus has gone away. He who loved us better than any
other ever loved us, has left us for a while. We sometimes take little
parting gifts from friends, and they say to us–

"When this you see Remember me.

Probably, almost everybody here has, at some time or other, had certain
tokens of remembrance by which they might be reminded of some dear one
who is far away across the seas–out of sight–but not out of mind. You
come to the Communion Table, then, to remember your absent Friend.

You come, also, chiefly to remember His great deed of love. This supper
is a memorial of what Jesus did for you when He was on the earth.
"Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
his friends." He laid down His life for you–remember that tonight. "He
loved me, and gave Himself for me"–dwell on that fact. Let these words
wake the echoes in your hearts, "Gethsemane!" "Gabbatha!" "Golgotha!"
Can you forget all that Jesus suffered there on your behalf? If you
have let these things slip in any degree from your heart's affections,
come and write them down again! Come to the Table and there celebrate
the memorial of His love, wounds, agonies and death for you–

"In memory of the Sa vior's love,

We keep the sacred feast,

Where every humble contrite heart

Is made a welcome guest.

By faith we take the bread of life,

With which our souls are fed.

And cup, in token of His blood

That was for sinners shed.'

You are also called upon to remember a dear Friend who, although He has
gone away, has gone about your business. It was expedient for you that
He should go away. He is doing you more good where He has gone than He
could have done if He stayed here. He is interceding for you tonight.
Your business would miscarry were it not for Him–within the veil that
hides Him from you, He is pleading for you. His power, His dignity, His
merit are all freely being employed for you. He is pleading the causes
of your soul. Can you, will you, forget Him? Will you not now forget
everything else and indulge the sweet memory of your faithful Lover,
your dear Husband who is married to you in ties of everlasting wedlock?
Come, I pray you, keep the memorial of this dear Friend!

And you have to remember a Friend who will return very soon. He only
tells you to do this till He comes. He is coming back to us. His own
words are, "Behold, I come quickly!" That is not quite the meaning of
what He said–it was, "Behold, I am coming quickly!" He is on His way!
His chariot is hurrying towards us. The axles of the wheels are hot
with speed. He is coming as fast as He can. The long-suffering of God
delays Him till sinners are brought in–till the full number of His
elect shall be accomplished–but He is not delaying! He is not
lingering! He is not slack, as some men count slackness. He is coming
quickly. Will you not remember Him? Soon will His hand be on the door.
Soon for you, at any rate, He may cry, "Arise, My love, My dove, My
fair one, and come away." And soon He may be here among us and then we
shall reign with Him forever and ever.

I charge my own heart to remember my dear Lord, tonight, and I pray
you, Brothers and Sisters, let not the feebleness of my reminder
deprive you, now, of the happiness of thinking much of Christ your
Lord! Sit still and let all other thoughts be gone–think only of Him
who loved you and died for you. Let your thoughts go back to Calvary,
as you sing, in mournful accents–

"O sacred head once wounded,

With grief and pain weighed down,

How scornfully surrounded

With thorns, Your only crown!

How pale are You with anguish,

With sore abuse and scorn!

How does that Visage languish,

Which once was bright as morn!' Oh, eyes full of tears! Oh, shoulders
once beaten with the gory lash! Oh, hands once nailed to the cruel
Cross! Oh, feet once fastened to the bitter tree! Soon shall we behold
the Christ who loved us and died for us. Therefore let us observe this
sacred feast in remembrance of Him.

II. But I must be more brief on my second point. The second meaning of
the Lord's Supper is that it is AN EXHIBITION. "As often as you eat
this bread, and drink this cup, you show the Lord's death till He
comes." We are helped to remember it by the type, the emblem, the
metaphor which is supplied to us by this supper. How is that? Is there
any likeness to the death of Christ in this supper? I answer, there is
a great likeness.

There is His broken body, represented by the bread which is broken and
intended for use. His dear body was broken, marred, sadly marred, given
over to the hands of death, laid in the sepulcher, wrapped about with
fine linen, left there, as His enemies thought, never to rise again. In
that broken bread, broken that even believing children may eat their
morsel, you see Christ's body given up for His people's sake. But there
stands a cup. It is full of the red juice of the grape. What does it
mean? He, Himself, shall explain it–"This cup is the new testament in
My blood, which is shed for you." Now, the shedding of blood is the
great token of death. One would not long talk of killing without
speaking of shedding blood. In fact, bloodshed usually means dying by a
violent death, and so did Jesus die. They pierced His hands and His
feet. A soldier thrust his lance into His side, and forthwith came
there out blood and water. That stream of blood was the token that He
really was dead. He has poured out from His veins His precious life to
purchase His redeemed! The broken bread, the cluster pressed into the
cup and leaving nothing but its blood-red juice–these two things
symbolize Christ's death.

But, most of all, this is an exhibition of the two things separate–the
bread and the cup. We have heard of some mixing the bread with the
wine–that is not the Lord's Supper! We have heard of others partaking
of the wafer, as they call it, and leaving the cup–this is not taking
the Lord's Supper! They must be both there–the bread here, the wine
cup there–because the separation of the blood from the flesh is the
surest token of death! "The blood is the life thereof and if the blood
is drained away, there is death. Therefore the blood is represented by
the cup–and the flesh is represented by the bread. These two,
separated, are the great token and emblem of Christ's death.

We show, display, exhibit, symbolize the death of our Lord at this
Table in this fashion–we partake of both symbols–eating of the bread,
drinking of the cup, the whole ministering to the support of our life.
At this Table we say to all of you who do not know Christ–Christ's
death is our life–and the remembrance of Christ's death is the food of
our life! If any of you are spectators of the ordinance, this is the
meaning of our little acted sermon–Christ has died. Christ's death is
the support of our faith, the food of our souls, in token whereof we
take this bread and this cup, and eat and drink. So this supper is a
showing forth of Christ's death. How many here can say that Christ's
death is their life? How

many of you can say that you feed upon Him? Dear Friends, you must not
come to the Table unless you can say it. But if you can, come and
welcome! But if you cannot, oh, may the Lord teach you the lesson that
is so necessary, the lesson that is so blessed, when it is once
learned–that Christ on the Cross is the one hope of eternal glory!

You have thus had two meanings of the Lord's Supper. First–it is a
memorial. And next–it is an exhibition.

III. The Lord's Supper is, next, A COMMUNION. We must have this brought
out prominently, or we shall miss a great deal. We are at the Lord's
Table–we eat of His bread, we drink out of His cup. This betokens
friendship. When, in the East, a man has eaten of an Arab's salt, he is
from that time under his protecting care. And he who has spiritually
eaten of Christ's bread has come under Christ's protection–Christ will
take care of Him. All feuds are ended. An eternal peace is established
between the two. It was a tender parable in which Nathan spoke of a man
who had a little ewe lamb which did eat of his own meat and drank of
his own cup, and lay in his bosom. This is your privilege–to lie in
Christ's bosom, to drink out of His cup and to eat of His bread! This
is a very sweet fellowship! Enjoy it tonight to the fullest.

We go further than that, for we not only eat of His bread, but
symbolically we feast upon Him. His flesh is meat, indeed, and His
blood is drink, indeed! Can I really feed upon Christ? Really, yes!
Carnally, no! There is no such thing as the carnal eating of His flesh
and drinking of His blood–that were a horrible thing! That were to
make a man a cannibal! But the spiritual feeding upon the Incarnate
God–this is what we mean. He gives us His flesh to eat and we thus
enter into a fellowship of the most intense and mysterious kind–not
merely eating with Him, but eating Him–not merely receiving from Him,
but receiving Him, Himself, to be the life of our hearts! May you get
to that point tonight! I believe in the real Presence of Christ, but I
do not believe in the carnal presence of the Roman Catholic. I believe
in the real presence of the Believer, but that reality is none the less
real because it is spiritual–and only spiritual men can discern it!

Now, Beloved, if we really come in the right spirit to this Table, when
we have eaten the bread, it becomes part of us. When the wine is
sipped, the juice of the grape enters into our constitution–we cannot
separate it from ourselves. Such is our fellowship with Christ. He is
one with us and we are one with Him. "Quis separabitV "Who shall
separate us from the love of God?" We are one with Christ, partners
with Him. All that He has is ours–all that we have is His. He gives
Himself to us–we yield ourselves to Him. It is Christ and Co., only
the little, "Co.," drops its name to be swallowed up in Him who is All
in All! That is the meaning of the bread and the cup. We take Christ
into ourselves, as He has taken us up into His greater Self.

But communion also means that we are one with each other. I wish that
you would catch that thought. I am afraid there are some members of the
Church, here, who have never realized their union with all the rest of
the members. "We, being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone,
members, one of another." One is our Master, even Christ, and all we
are Brethren. There should be an intimate feeling of fellowship, a
readiness to help and love one another. Rejoice with them that rejoice
and weep with them that weep!

I cannot shake off from myself the idea that this makes up a large part
of the meaning of the Lord's Supper, the communion of saints with each
other as well as the communion of the saints with Christ. May we enjoy
it tonight! For my part, I like to feel, when I come to the Table, that
I am going to have communion, not only with this Church, large as it
is, not merely with the members of one denomination, (I wish there were
no denominations), not merely with the company of one body of
Christians–would to God, there were but one body of Christians
throughout the world!–but freely inviting all who belong to any part
of the visible Church! I delight to think that at this Table, tonight,
I shall have fellowship with the Brothers and Sisters in the Unites
States, of all names, and sorts, and ages, and ranks. There cannot be
two churches of Christ. There is but one Church, one Head and one body.
Though there are some very naughty children in the Lord's family, they
must not be kept without their supper–there is some other way of
chastening them! And as long as there is true living communion between
one Christian and another, where God has given the thing signified, I
dare not keep back the sign. If He gives them to have fellowship with
Christ, who am I that shall say, "You shall have not fellowship with
Him"? I dare not say it!

The meaning of this Supper, then, is communion.

IV. But a fourth meaning of the Lord's Supper is A COVENANTING. Our
Lord said to His disciples, "This cup is the new testament, or
Covenant, in My blood." We do well to sing–

"Your body broken for my sake,

My bread from Hea ven shall be; Your testamental cup I take, And thus
remember Thee.'

When we come to the Lord's Table, we must be careful that we there take
Christ to be our God in Covenant. We take the one living God forever
and ever. He gives Himself to us and we take Him, and we declare, "This
God is our God forever and ever. He shall be our Guide even unto
death." Do you understand that Covenant relationship, everyone of you?
Do you know what you are doing when you take the piece of bread and eat
it–and take the cup and drink of it? If you are truly a Believer in
Christ, God is in Covenant with you through the body and the blood of
Christ–and you recognize that blessed Truth of God–and take Him to be
your God.

Now, the Covenant runs thus, "They shall be My people, and I will be
their God." When, therefore, we come to this covenanting Table, we
agree that we will be the Lord's people–therefore, not the devil's,
not the world's, not our own– but the Lord's. When the Lord's people
are chastened, we expect to be chastened with them. When the Lord's
people are persecuted, we expect to be persecuted with them. We must
take them for better or for worse, to have and to hold, and death,
itself, must not part us from the Lord's people. That is the meaning of
coming to this Table–recognizing that between you and God there is an
agreement made that must not be broken, a Covenant ordered in all
things and sure by which God becomes yours and you become His–so that
you are forever to be one of those that belong wholly to Him.

Here, at the Communion Table, God, the Covenant God, seals His love to
us. "Come here, My child," says the Lord, "I love you and I gave Myself
for you, in token, whereof, put this bread into your mouth, to remind
you of how I gave Myself for you. I love you so that you are Mine. I
have called you by My name, in token, whereof, I remind you that I
bought you with My precious blood. Therefore, let that sip of the juice
of the vine go into your body to remind you that by My precious blood,
which was shed for many, I have redeemed you from going down into the
Pit." There are seals at that Table, new seals of the Covenant, new
tokens, new love gifts from the Lord, to remind you of what He has done
for you!

And you are to come here, tonight, to testify anew your love to God.
Here you say, "My Master, let me eat with You." If any of you have lost
your first love and have grown spiritually cold, the Savior stands at
the door and knocks–and He says, "Open to Me"–and He also says that
if we open to Him, He will come in and sup with us, and we with Him. He
said that to the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans, the Church
which was neither cold nor hot, which He threatened to spew out of His
mouth. If you are only fit to make Christ sick, yet if you will open
the door to Him, He will come and feast with you tonight–and all shall
be well with you! He testifies His love to you. Come and testify yours
to Him tonight. That is the meaning of this bread and this cup. Your
covenant with death is broken, your agreement with Hell is annulled!
And now you are in Covenant with God and He is in Covenant with
you–even in an everlasting Covenant which shall never be broken!

V. Lastly, and very briefly, this supper signifies A THANKSGIVING. It
is often called, by friends who love hard words, the "Eucharist." We
have some friends who always carry a gold pencil, on purpose, to put
down every word that nobody understands, that they may use it next
Sunday in their sermon. Such people call the Lord's Supper the
"Eucharist," which signifies "the giving of thanks." This is the
thanksgiving service of the Church of God. It ought to be celebrated
every Lord's Day. Every Sabbath should be a thanksgiving Sunday, for
Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week and we ought to
give thanks every time we celebrate His Resurrection. Certainly we
should do so when we celebrate His death! What are we going to do
tonight by way of thanksgiving?

Well, we are coming to a festival, not a funeral! The choice festival
of the Jewish faith was the Passover. The Lord's Supper takes its place
with higher joys! We come to this feast to testify our joy in Christ.
There is bread, but there is also wine upon the table. This is to show
that it is a festival for joy and delight. And you cannot praise Christ
better and give thanks to Him better than by rejoicing in Him! Praise
Him by your grateful joy! I think that we should always come to the
Lord's Table with a feeling of deep reverence, but that reverence
should never tend to bondage. We want you not to come here quivering
and shaking, as if you were slaves that came to eat a morsel of your
master's bread, under fear of the lash. No, no! Come, children! Come,
beloved ones of the Lord! Come, table companions of Christ, and sit at
the festival He has prepared and let your joy be full of thanksgiving!

We come to the Table, next, actually to praise the Lord for giving
Christ to us. When our Lord broke the bread, He gave thanks. So shall
we tonight. Come, Beloved, to thankfully praise the Father for the gift
of Christ. And as you take the bread into your mouth, say in your
heart, "Bless the Lord!" And as you drink of the cup, say in your
spirit, "Blessed be His holy name! Blessed be the Father for His
eternal love to us! Blessed be Jesus for His love which has saved us to
know all these precious things!"

One way in which we show our thanks to Christ is that we receive with
gratitude the emblems of His death. Each one who communes with us will
receive the bread and eat it, and take the cup and drink it. We do not
hold it up and look at it. We do not kneel down and pay it homage–we
receive it. We have done so now these many years. How long is it since
we began this holy feast? Well, with some of us, it is over 40 years
since our first communion, and we do not need any better food. We
desire to keep in memory the same Christ, to feed upon the same
doctrine of the Incarnation and atoning Sacrifice. And if we should be
spared, Beloved, another 40 years, which is far from likely, we shall
have a sweeter tooth for Christ even than we have now! He will be more
dear to us, more precious, more delightsome, even, than He is tonight!
So we come to the Table to show our gratitude by receiving and
receiving again.

Let me whisper in your ears, when this communion is over and you shall
leave this Table, "Pray, Beloved, that you may go away in the same
spirit as your Lord and Master did when, after rising from supper, He
went out to the Garden, not there to have a sweet hour of lonely
communion with God, but there to sweat, as it were, great drops of
blood falling to the ground! He went there to be arrested, to be
hurried off to the bar of Annas, and Caiaphas, and Pilate, and Herod,
and the rest of them. He went there, in fact to die! But He went away
singing." So I want you to go away from this communion singing praises
to God!

As my dear Brother said in prayer, you must have your Gethsemanes, your
Golgothas–but I want you to go away from this Table singing! Whatever
comes, high or low, bright or dark, Heaven or another age in this dark
wilderness, Brothers and Sisters, let us sing! We often say, "Let us
pray," but tonight, at the Table, I say, "Let us sing!" Let us sing
unto the Lord because of His great gift to us, which we, tonight,
remember, and set forth, and commune with, and Covenant with! Let us
sing unto the Lord as long as we live, for we can never sufficiently
praise Him for all that He has done for us–

"We'll praise our risen Lord,

While at His feet we sit!

His griefs a hallowed theme afford

For sweetest music fit."

Thus I have explained all about the Lord's Supper. Do you know anything
about it? Some of you are going away. You are going away! Yes, and the
day shall come when you will not have anywhere to go! When the great
marriage supper is spread and the feast of the gracious shall be held,
and the whole universe shall be gathered, oh, where will you go? You
will not be allowed to linger at the door, neither will you go home to
wait till others shall return from the festival. You must be driven
from God's Presence if you come not by faith in Christ to that great
feast! The fiery swords of the angel guards shall be unsheathed and
they shall pursue you through the blackness of eternal darkness, down
to infinite despair! The Lord have mercy upon you, tonight, that He may
have mercy upon you in that day, for Jesus' sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON MATTHEW26226-30and 1 CORINTHIANS11220-34.

We will read, first, Matthew's account of the institution of the Lord's
Supper.

Matthew 26:26. And as they were eating. In the middle of the Paschal
Feast our Lord instituted the sacred festival which was always
afterwards to be known as, "the Lord's Supper." The one ordinance was
made to melt gradually into the other–"as they were eating."

26. Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to the
disciples, and said, Take eat; this is My body. "This represents My
body." He could not possibly have meant that the bread was His body,
for there was His body sitting at the table, whole and entire! They
would have been astonished beyond measure if they had understood Him
literally! But they did not do so any more than when Christ said, "I am
the door," or, "I am the Goof Shepherd."

27. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying,
Drink you all of it. "Everyone of you." Was this the Lord's Supper?
Yes. What say the Romanists about it? Why, that the people may not
drink the cup! Yet our Savior said to His disciples, "Drinkyou all of
it."

28. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many
for the remission of sins. Now they were to have a perpetual pledge of
the pardon of sin, in the cup, which was the emblem of Christ's blood,
"shed for many for the remission of sins."

29. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the
vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's
Kingdom. Jesus took the Nazarite vow to drink no more, to partake no
more of the fruit of the vine, till He should meet us again in His
Father's Kingdom. He has pledged us once and for all in that cup, and
now He abstains until He meets us again. Thus He looks forward to a
glorious meeting, but He bids us take the cup and thus remember Him
until He comes.

30. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the Mount of
Olives. To His last great battle the Champion goes singing, attended by
feeble followers who could not protect Him, but who could sing with
Him! I think He must have led the tune–His disciples were too
sorrowful to sing until His clear voice started the Hallelujah
Psalms–but they joined Him in the holy exercise, for, "they," as well
as their Lord sang the hymn. When you are about to face a trial, offer
a prayer. But, if you can, also sing a hymn! It will show great faith
if, before you enter into the burning fiery furnace, you can sing
Psalms unto the Lord who redeems His people!

Now let us read Paul's version of this same matter.

1 Corinthians 11:20, 21. When you come together, therefore, into one
place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. For in eating everyone
takes before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is
drunk. These Corinthians had fallen into a very strange state. I do not
think that any Baptist Church that I have ever known of has acted in
this fashion, but when churches have no ministers–when there is an
open ministry where everybody talks and nobody listens–they fall into
a strange condition, especially into divisions and heart-breaking
strifes. It was so in the case of this Church at Corinth. Here
everybody brought his own provision and some ate to the full, while
others had not enough–and they thought that they were observing "the
Lord's Supper!"

22. What? Have you not houses to eat and to drink in? There is your
proper place if you need a meal. Go home and eat and drink! Do not come
to the sanctuary for such a purpose–"Have you not houses to eat and to
drink in?"

22, 23. Or despise you the Church of God, and shame them that have not?
What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not!
For I have received of the Lord that which I delivered unto you. He had
received it by a special Revelation. Poor Paul was brought in late and
he was like one born out of due time. He had not been present in the
upper room with Christ at the first famous breaking of bread, so the
Lord came and gave Him a special Revelation concerning this sacred
feast, so that, whenever he spoke or wrote to any of the Churches about
the Lord's Supper, he could say, "I have received of the Lord that
which I delivered unto you."

23, 24. That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed,
took bread: and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, Take,
eat: this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance
of Me. The Lord's Supper is a simple service of remembrance. Nothing is
said about an altar, or a priest, or a sacrifice! Our Lord took bread,
gave thanks for it, broke it and gave it to His disciples, saying,
"Take, eat: this is My body which is broken for you: this do in
remembrance of Me." Mark that, "this do"–it will not be right to do
something else instead of this–and we must not do this for any other
purpose than the one He mentions, "This do in remembrance of Me." This
command raises a previous question, "Do we know Him?" We cannot
remember Christ if we do not know Him.

25, 26. After the same manner, also, He took the cup, when He had
supped, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood: this do you,
as oft as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat
this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till He
comes–

"By Christ redeemed, in Christ restored,

We keep the memory adored,

And show the death of our dear Lord,

Until He comes!

And thus that dark betrayal night, With the last advent we unite,

By one blest chain of loving rite Until He comes!"

27. Therefore, whoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the
Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
If such a man has treated "this bread" and "this cup" with contempt, He
has treated "the body and blood of the Lord" with contempt! It shall be
so reckoned to him. Many have been troubled by this verse. They have
said, "We are unworthy." You are, this is quite true, but the text does
not say anything about your being unworthy. Paul uses an adverb, not an
adjective! His words are, "Whoever shall eat this bread and drink this
cup of the Lord unworthily"– that is, in an unfit way–to gain
something by it, as men used to take what they called, "the sacrament,"
to get into certain offices, or as some come to the communion table for
the sake of the charitable gifts that are for the poor of the Church.
This is to eat and drink "unworthily." To come carelessly, to come
contemptuously, to say, "I do not care whether I am a Christian or not,
but I shall come to the communion"–this is to eat and drink
"unworthily." Notice the LY– we are all unworthy of this sacred
feast–and if unworthiness could shut us out, who would dare to be
here?

28. But let a man examine himself. Let a man look himself up and down,
as a lawyer cross-questions a witness, as a man examines money to see
whether it has the true ring of gold about it or not–"Let a man
examine himself."

28. And so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. Let him
come as a true Believer, as sincere, if not perfect, yet true! If not
all he ought to be, yet in Christ! If not all he wants to be, yet still
on the way to it, by being in Christ, who is "the way, the truth and
the life."

29. For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation
to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. He does not see the meaning
of the emblem of Christ's death. He degrades the symbol by making it
take the place of the thing signified. He sees the bread, but not the
body–and he damns himself, condemns himself, by such eating. He is a
loser rather than a gainer by eating and drinking unworthily.

30. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
Persons coming to the Lord's Table in an improper spirit are very apt
to come under God's discipline. Some will be taken ill and some will
die. This discipline is being carried on in every true Church of God.
God's Providence will work in this way if many treat the Table of the
Lord as the Corinthians did–acting as if it were a common place for
eating and drinking! Many of them were weak and sickly, and many died.

31. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. If we are
God's people, we shall be judged by Him here for our wrongdoing. We
shall not be like the world that is left to the Day of Judgment, but we
shall be judged now. God will visit with temporal judgments those of
His children who sin against Him.

32. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we
should not be condemned with the world. You know that a man will see a
great deal that is wrong in children in the street and say nothing
about it But if it is his own who is up to mischief, he will give him a
sweet taste of the rod. So, if you belong to God, you cannot sin deeply
without having a present judgment, a present discipline–but you ought
to be thankful for it, painful though it may seem to be for the time,
for–"when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should
not be condemned with the world."

33. Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one
another. How gently Paul talks to these Corinthians! They deserve to be
scolded, but he is very tender with them. He says, "If you must come
together in this way, at least have the good manners to wait for one
another. And if you do come to the communion of the Lord, treat it with
that respect and reverence which it deserves.

34. And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that you come not
together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I
come. May we, tonight, keep this feast in due order under the power of
the Holy Spirit! And may we find a blessing in it to God's praise!
Amen.