Preparation for the Lord’s Supper

Preparation for the Lord's Supper

(No. 3391)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 1914.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink
ofthat cup." 1 Corinthians 11:28.

"Let a man examine himself." That is, any man–every man who intends to
eat of that bread and drink of that cup. The word is indefinite that it
may be understood to be universal. No man is to come to that Table, no
woman is to draw near without the previous self-examination. No age
will excuse us, for there have been aged hypocrites, as well as young
deceivers. No office will exonerate us from this examination, for there
was a Judas even among the Apostles. The highest degree in the Church
of God may consist with the most rotten formality. We are to examine
ourselves each time we come. Each man is to do so. No one is to shirk
the personal duty. Everyone is to undertake it as in the sight of God.
Brothers and Sisters, you members of the Church about to come around
this Table, give heed to the mandate of the Holy Spirit, by the
inspired Apostle! "Let each one here examine himself, and so let him
eat of this bread."

"Let a man examine himself." The word is forcible. Let him make
inquisition into his own soul as to whether all is right or not. Let
him search diligently, tracing out every symptom that looks
unfavorable, if, perhaps, that symptom may reveal the truth. Let him
dwell upon every dark side or ill-looking spot, if, perhaps, those dark
signs should mean more than is apparent on the surface. We are not to
trifle with ourselves by making a superficial survey. Let a man examine
himself as does the dealer in precious metals when he thrusts the ore
into the fire, knowing that only the gold will come out, while the
dross will be consumed. Put yourself into a crucible! Heat the furnace
of examination seven times hotter than before, for since your heart
will, if possible, escape from knowing the truth, be resolved that it
shall know it, and the worst of it, too! Let a man review, test, prove,
search, try! In all the strongest words that I could find that mean the
fullest scrutiny, would I put the language of the Apostle, "Let a man
examine himself."

"Let a man examine himself" He need not be so particular to examine
those that surround him. If there should be unworthy communicants at
the Table, his communing will not thereby be damaged. Though some may
have intruded where they ought not to be, yet if your heart and mind
shall come near to Christ in actual fellowship, we shall not have the
less indulgence from our Lord because a Judas happened to be there.
"Let a man examine himself." Let it be personal work. I know there is
an examination through which the Church member among us passes, when
such as are experienced in the faith ask, "What do you know of these
things? What is your faith touching this and that? Have you believed?
Have you repented?" Such an examination, however, must never content
you. I pray you never feel that it is any certificate of genuine
discipleship to have been seen by the Elders, or to have had the pastor
satisfied of your conversion. We are poor, fallible creatures–we
cannot profess to search the heart–no, we never did profess it! It is
but your outward life and your profession that we are called upon to
judge at all. You must not go by our examination, but, "Let a man
examine himself." You are to look into your own heart, with your own
eyes and ask to have them enlightened by the Holy Spirit! You are to
hold the balance, yourselves, and weigh your soul therein. You are not
to be satisfied with a second-hand judgment, or with another man's
search! Take the candle yourself, Man! Go through every corner and
every crevice. Sweep out the old leaven and so keep the feast in
simplicity of heart. "Let a man examine himself."

'"Andso," says the Apostle, "let him eat of that bread." That is to
say, the examination is to be seasonable. It is to come always at the
time of the eating of the bread and the drinking of the wine. It should
always be the prelude to communion. Examination should preface
enjoyment. You should see whether you ought to be there and have a
right to be there and, that ascertained, then you should come–but not
till then! Is it not a very significant circumstance that the very
first time our Lord took the bread and broke it, and instituted this
Supper, there was at that very time a selfexamination going on–and
they then made an appeal to the Lord, Himself, at the conclusion, for
each one said, when the question was asked as to who it was that would
betray Him, "Lord, is it I?" "Lord, is it I?"–not at all an unsuitable
question to be passed round tonight, when we shall break bread, and
hear it said, "One of you will betray Me." Ah, Brothers and Sisters, I
fear there are many more than one here among professors who will betray
Him! Perhaps there are scores, if not hundreds, among so large a mass
of professing Christians who will not prove, after all, to be genuine!
Then let the question, though it stirs the anguish of your souls, pass
round among you, "Lord, is it I?" "Lord, is it I?" Nor let any man eat
of this bread, or drink of this cup till he has humbly in his soul
sought to put it to his conscience, that he may investigate this matter
whether he is Christ's or not!

Now, dear Brothers and Sisters, for a few minutes we shall look at the
matter about which we are to examine ourselves. And then we shall press
upon you this examination, by giving you a few reasons for it May God
grant us a blessing in this searching business!

I. CONCERNING WHAT WE ARE TO EXAMINE.

You will observe that the text does not tell us, "Let a man examine
himself as to this or that particular, and so let him eat." He is to
examine himself, but the Apostle does not say about what. The inference
is that he is to examine himself about this Supper. He is to examine
himself as to whether he has a right to eat of this bread and to drink
of this wine. The Supper gives us the clue, then, as to what we are to
examine ourselves upon. I shall see before me, presently, broken bread
and the wine cup filled with the red wine. These two things are the
emblems–the bread of the body of Christ, which was bruised and made to
suffer for our sake–the wine of that precious blood of Christ by which
sin is pardoned and souls are redeemed.

I have no right to touch these emblems unless in my soul I believe the
facts that they represent Shall I not begin to question myself, then?
Do I accept, as a certain fact that the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us? Do I believe that God descended from the highest Throne of
Glory and became a Man born of woman? Do I believe that He suffered in
human flesh, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God? Do I believe
that in His blood, which was "shed for many," there is a virtue for the
putting away of sin and making Atonement to Almighty God, and that so
sinners may be accepted in the Beloved? Unless I believe these things,
I am clearly a hypocrite, a terrible hypocrite, if I dare to come to
this Table at all! I am perverse among the perverse to thrust myself in
to touch the emblems when I do not accept the facts which those emblems
set forth! Now, every man here can easily examine himself by that test,
but I hope the most of us here would say, "We do believe those facts."
Yes, but do you believe them as facts that are forcible in themselves
and fraught with consequences? Do you apprehend them in their amazing
weight and their stupendous bearing upon the judgment of God and the
destiny of men? God made flesh–God Incarnate–Jesus, Immanuel,
suffering to put away the sins of His people–The Christ of God
presenting salvation to every soul that trusts in Him! Why, this is
news such as never stirred even Paradise, itself, before! It is the
best, highest and most wondrous news that angels ever heard! We ought
to so hear and accept these facts in that same spirit that
characterized them when they transpired, in order to duly discern their
importance, or we have no right to come here!

Furthermore, Brothers and Sisters. Every man who eats of the bread and
drinks of the wine sets forth in emblem by the eating of the bread that
the flesh of Christ is his, and by the drinking of the wine that the
blood of Christ is his. Because he has possession of these things, he,
therefore, comes to eat as men eat their own bread, or to drink as men
drink their own wine. Now, dear Hearer, the question asked of you is
this–Have you an interest in the body and the blood of Christ? "How
can I know my interest therein?" asks one. You may know it thus–Do you
fully and alone rely upon Jesus Christ for your salvation? Do you
implicitly trust the merits of His agonies? Do you, without any other
confidence, cast yourself fully upon the great atoning Sacrifice and
transactions of Calvary? If so, that faith gives you Christ! It is the
evidence that Christ is yours–you need not be afraid to come and take
the wine when you so manifestly have the thing that is signified
thereby. You may come–you are invited to come–you cannot stay away
without sin if Christ, indeed, is yours!

The question may assume another form. This Supper was instituted that
we might remember Christ in it. A question, then, for each one–Can you
remember Christ? Will coming here help you to remember Jesus Christ? If
not, you must not come. How can you remember what you do not know? And
how shall you remember at all aright, One in whom you have no part nor
lot? To remember Christ as a mere person in history is of no more use
than to remember Julius Cesar, or

Napoleon Bonaparte! To remember Christ, who loved you and gave Himself
for you–this is the choice remembrance that will be beneficial to your
spirits. Beloved, I am quite certain that sometimes in what is called,
"the Sacrament," there is little or no recollection of Christ. Men and
women come to it with no idea of remembering Him. They think that there
is something in the thing, itself–some holiness in eating the bread
and drinking the wine–some Grace bestowed by the priestly hands that
administer the emblems of the Passion. But oh, it is not so! This is
not to receive the Lord's Supper–this is but Popish idolatry! This is
not the true worship of the child of God! You come to the Table to
remember Him! And only as far as those signs help you to remember
Him–to trust Him, to love Him–only so far do they become a means of
Grace to you! There is no latent moral virtue in material substances!
No regeneration lurks in water! No confirmation in Grace streams from
prelatic hands! There is no sanctity in lawn sleeves! There is no
holiness in bread and nothing devout in wine! These are just outward
and visible signs. The holiness, the sanctity, the Grace must lie in
your own hearts as you lovingly receive these symbols and draw near
with true spirits to the Lord who bought you with His blood! Ask
yourselves, then–do you remember Him? Would these things help you to
remember Him? If not, you have no business here.

It may be that some child of God here tonight is not fit to come to the
Table. You may be startled, perhaps, at that remark, but I venture to
suppose such a thing possible! And if it should happen to turn out to
be the case, I pray that Brother or Sister to take the admonition home!
Is there any Brother whom you have offended, whose forgiveness you have
not sought, or is there anyone who has offended you, to whom you have
not rendered forgiveness? I think that what our Lord said about coming
to the altar and leaving the gift before the altar until first we have
been reconciled to our brother–though this is no altar at all–may be
with all righteousness supposed concerning this Table! How can you
expect fellowship with Christ with an unforgiving heart? How can you
love God, whom you have not seen, if you do not love your brother, whom
you have seen? If it is so hard for you to forgive, how hard will it be
for you to be forgiven? An unforgiving spirit shuts you out of Heaven.
Why, Man, you cannot even perform the lowliest act–you cannot pray!
You, cannot say, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who
trespass against us." And if you cannot pray, much less can you
commune! Oh, see to that, and let each man and woman examine themselves
upon that!

In pressing this subject upon you, may I be permitted to say, very
earnestly, that the right way to examine ourselves before coming to
this Table is by the rule which is laid down in Scripture. Examine
yourselves by the tests and proofs of the Spirit which are spoken of in
God's Word. Just as you would examine another, impartially–

"Nothing extenuate, Nor anything set down in malice"– so must you
examine yourselves. Alas, we have one rule for others and another rule
for ourselves! How mistakenly quick-sighted are we to discover the
imperfections and infirmities of others of God's people, while our own
glaring sins scarcely give our conscience a twinge! We go about with
great beams in our eyes, all the while wondering why our Brothers and
Sisters cannot see the mote that is in theirs! Judge yourselves! Judge
yourselves and let the severity of your judgment upon your fellow
Christians be now turned upon yourselves! It will be much more to your
profit and much more according to the rules of Christian charity. God
grant we may, none of us, be afraid of the strictest rules of Scripture
in their sternest form. Alas, Brothers and Sisters, we often stop short
in our self-examinations just when they might be of use to us, like the
patient who tears off the plaster just when it begins to work, or
ceases to receive the medicine precisely when it has reached a point in
which it would be useful! Press home, press home, the grave questions
and anxieties that lurk within you! Never be afraid to be probed to the
quick and to be cut to the core. Make no provision for self-deception!
Ask the Lord to lay bare your hearts, right bare, before His Omniscient
eyes. And as you are thus examining, do not flinch, do not mince
matters, do not trifle, do not be partial, but judge yourselves truly
and thoroughly, lest, after all, you should be mistaken! And lest,
after coming to this Table, you should be banished from the Marriage
Supper of the Lamb!

Thus much upon the points which are in debate–about which we are to
examine our fitness to come to this Table. Allow me now, as best I
can–

II. TO PRESS THIS VERY IMPORTANT SUBJECT UPON YOU, WITH SOME REASONS
WHY THERE

SHOULD BE SUCH A SELF-EXAMINATION.

I might say, Brothers and Sisters, that such an examination should be
used because self-knowledge is always valuable. The old Greeks, whose
wonderful sayings often verged upon Inspiration, used to say, "Man,
know yourself!" It is ill for a man to be acquainted with foreign
countries and to know nothing of his own–to understand other men's
farms and to let his own run to waste–to be conversant with other
men's health and to be dying of a secret disease! To study other men's
characters, but to allow his own character to be obnoxious in the sight
of God. Know yourselves! Nothing will pay you better than to search
your own hearts and to know yourselves. Of all stock-taking, this is
one of the most beneficial. It will often be the death of pride when a
man finds out what he really is. Self-righteousness will fly before
such a searching, as owls fly before the rising sun! Know yourself and
you are on the road to knowing Christ, for the knowledge of self will
humble you, will make you feel your need of Jesus and may, in the hands
of God the Holy Spirit, lead you to the finding of the Savior! Oh, Men
and Women, how is it that you have so many acquaintances, such a large
circle of friends and yet do not make acquaintance with yourselves?
While you will read much of literature, you read not your own hearts!
You commune with others, yet you commune not with yourselves and do not
know yourselves. I pray you examine yourselves, if for no other reason
than because such lore is among the most precious that a man can gain!

Examine yourselves, again, you professed Christians, because it is a
marvelously easy thing for us to be deceived and to continue to be
deceived. Of course, every man likes to be flattered. Whether he
believes it is so or not, this is a universal truth, and any man–I
care not who he may be–is very easily to be persuaded that all is
right with him. Satan, too, will help your natural tendencies, your
partiality to yourselves. He only wishes to lull you to sleep and to
rock you in the cradle of delusion. All things around a man conspire to
help him to delude himself. The notion of Grace which is commonly
entertained, the popularity of religion, the ease with which a man can
join a church, the littleness of persecution in these days–all these
things help to make it a very easy passage by which a man may glide
along, until even when he dies he may still believe that he is on the
road to Heaven, while all the while he has been going post-haste to
Hell! Oh, since it is so easy to be deceived, and it is your soul that
is in jeopardy, I beseech you examine yourselves!

Besides, my dear Friends, you know how some are deceived. Charge your
memories a minute. Do you not know some among your own acquaintance
that are deceived? Ah, you readily remember them! But do you know that
there were persons sitting in other parts of the Tabernacle who were
thinking ofyouwhile you were thinking of them! You said of such a one,
"Ah, I have watched her at home. I know that noisy tongue of hers, she
is no Christian." And that very woman was just whispering to herself,
"Ah, I know him. I have traded at his shop. I know those short weights
of his–he is no Christian." Ah, you do not want God to condemn you–if
you were only allowed to speak, you would condemn yourselves! But if
such is the case, that we so readily can find out that others are
deceived, is not the question one that is worth the asking, "May we not
be deceived, ourselves?" Oh, let it come home. May not the preacher be
deceived? May not Elders and deacons, who have been in honor these many
years, be, nevertheless, rotten at heart? May not members of this
Church who have been at this Table from the very beginning, almost from
their childhood have, after all, had but a superficial godliness that
will not stand the fire, that shall try every man's work, of what sort
it is? Therefore, I beseech you, since many are deceived, examine
yourselves and so come to this Table.

Further, remember that it is important for professing Christians to do
this, beyond all others, because, perhaps, there is no greater bar to
the reception of Grace in all this world than the belief that you have
Grace already. It were a mercy if some here present had never joined
the Church. Sad that I should say it, but it is so. It were a mercy to
themselves that they had never professed to be Christians, because now,
if we preach repentance, they say, "I repented years ago." If we talk
of faith in the Savior, they say, "I have faith–I joined the Church
and avowed my faith." If we speak of Christian knowledge–they have
Christian knowledge–though it is the knowledge that puffs up. They
have the imitation of all the Graces and, as it is sometimes very
difficult to know which is the real gem and which is the paste gem that
imitates it, so these people live so much like Christians, in many
respects, that it is hard even for themselves to discover that they are
not rich and increased in goods, but are naked, and poor, and
miserable! If I were out of Christ, I would wish to be out of the
Church. If I had no faith in Him, would that I had no profession of
Him! If there is any soul in any place that is least likely to be
saved, it is an unregenerate soul inside the Church, participating in
Christian ordinances and dead while it lives! Search yourselves, then
on this account.

And let me add another solemn word. Search yourselves because within a
short time, at the very longest, you wiil be upon the bed of death and
there, if not before, there wiil be deep searching of heart. When the
outward man decays andthe flesh is melting away, you will need
something more than profession to lean on. Sacraments, and going to
places of worship will prove but poor things to bear you up in the
midst of the billows of death! How must a man feel when he puts out on
that dread sea with his lifebelt and finds it will not bear his weight!
When he leaps into his lifeboat that he had hoped would bear him safely
to the haven, and finds that every timber is strained and that it
leaks–and he sinks into the flood. Oh, find out your mistakes while
yet there is time to rectify them! I beseech you by the living God,
whose face of fire you shall soon see, prepare yourselves for His
judgment as well as for the judgment of your own conscience in the hour
of death, for every man must be weighed in the balance! No mere
pretender shall pass the gates of bliss. Destitute of faith, it matters
not how bright your profession–you shall be banished from His
Presence! If it is not Grace-work and heart-work, you may have eaten or
drunk in His Presence and He may have taught in your streets, but He
will never know you! If you have never confessed your sins in secret to
the great High Priest. If you have never laid your hand upon that
precious head that bore the sin of His elect. If you have never seen in
solemn transfer your iniquities passed over to Him–and if your faith
has never recognized that transaction and rejoiced in it–oh, beware,
beware, beware, for in the last tremendous day your professions shall
be but a painted pageantry for you to go to Hell in! Yes, worse than
that, among the firewood of your burning that shall flash most
furiously with devouring fire, will be the hollow sticks of your base
profession, your bastard godliness, your counterfeit graces, your
glitter that was not golden, your profession that was not based upon
possession!

Oh, dear Brothers and Sisters, for these reasons let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of this bread.

But now, supposing this to be all done and we have come to this answer,
"I am not in Christ. I am not a Christian. I have not believed"? Then,
away, away, away from this Table! But where shall I send you? I will
send you to the Cross. Though you may not come to the Table, you may
come to Jesus!

But suppose your answer should be, "I am very unworthy and sinful, but
still, I have believed in Jesus, though I yet see much in myself that
is evil." Dear Brothers and Sisters, that is not the question!
Preparation for the Lord's Supper does not lie in perfect
sanctification, but in true faith in Jesus! If, then, you have made
sure of this, have done with the examination–I mean for
tonight–because after you have examined yourself, it does not then
say, "Keep on," but, "So let him eat," and I do not like that
examination to stick in the throat so that you cannot digest the dainty
morsels of the Savior's precious body. It is done! You have examined
and you know Him! You have believed in Him and trusted that He is able
to keep you. Now, then, take care that you eat! I mean not merely eat
with the mouth and drink with the throat, but now take care to pray
that you may have real fellowship with the Incarnate God, gratefully
magnifying the Grace that has made you to differ and cheerfully
accepting the precious Person who is the ground of your reliance, of
the life of your soul!

God grant you now, having passed the door and shown your entrance
ticket as true Christians, to sit and eat bread in the Kingdom of God!

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MATTHEW 6:1-24; 1 CORINTHIANS 3:1-16.

Verse 1. Take heed that you do not do your alms before men, to be seen
of them: otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in
Heavei.. The motive which leads a man to give will form the true
estimate of what he does. If he gives to be seen of men, then when he
is seen of men he has the reward he sought for–and he will never have
any other. Let us never do our alms or good works before men, to be
seen of them.

2-5. Therefore when you do your alms, do not sound a trumpet before
you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that
they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their
reward. But when you do alms, let not your left hand know what your
right hand does, that your alms may be in secret: and your Father which
sees in secret, shall Himself reward you openly. And when you pray, you
shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in
the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen
of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward I have heard very
great commendation given to certain Easterns, because at the hour of
the rising of the sun, or the hour when the sound is heard from the
summit of the mosque, wherever they may be, they put themselves in the
posture of prayer. God forbid I should rob them of any credit they
deserve, but far be it from us ever to imitate them! We are not to be
ashamed of our prayers, but they are not things for the public street!
They are intended for God's eyes and God's ears, only.

6, 7. But you, when you pray, enter into your closet and when you have
shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your
Father, which sees in secret, shall reward you openly. But when you
pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think they
shall be heard for their much speaking. It is not very easy to repeat
the same words often without it becoming a vain repetition. A
repetition, however, is not forbidden, but a "vain" repetition. And how
greatly do they err who measure prayers by the yard! They think they
have prayed so much because they have prayed so long, whereas it is the
work of the heart–the true pouring out of the desire before God–that
is the thing to be looked at. Quality not quantity! Truth, not length.
Oftentimes the shortest prayers have the most prayer in them.

8, 9. Be not you, therefore, like they: for your Father knows what
things you have need of before you ask Him. After this manner therefore
pray you.And then He gives us a model of prayer which never can be
excelled–containing all the parts of devotion. They do well who model
their prayers upon this.

9-13 OurFather which are in Heaven, Hallowedbe Yourname. Yourkingdom
come. Your willbe done in earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day
our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil For Yours is
the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. Our Savior
now makes a remark upon this prayer and on one particular part of it
which has stumbled a great many.

14, 15. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father
will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. There are some who
have altered this and pray in this fashion, "Forgive us our debts as we
desire to forgive our debtors." It will not do! You will have to desire
God to forgive you, and desire in vain if you pray in that fashion! It
must come to this point of literal, immediate, completed forgiveness of
every offense committed against you if you expect God to forgive you.
There is no wriggling out of it. The man who refuses to forgive,
refuses to be forgiven! God grant that we may, none of us, tolerate
malice in our hearts. Anger glances in the bosom of wise men–it only
burns in the heart of the foolish. May we quench it and feel that we do
freely, fully and heartily forgive, knowing that we are forgiven!

16. Moreover when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad
countenance: for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto
men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.Simpletons
praise them–think much of them–and they plume themselves thereon and
think themselves the very best of men. They have their reward.

17, 18. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
that you appear not unto men to fast, but unto your Father which is in
secret, and your Father, which sees in secret, shall reward you openly.
Yet have I heard persons speak of certain emaciated ecclesiastics as
being such wonderfully holy men. "How they must have fasted! They look
like it. You can see it in their faces." Probably much more likely
produced by a fault in their digestion, than by anything else! And if
not–if we are to suppose that the skinniness of a man, his person, is
to be the token of his holiness–then the living skeleton was a saint
to perfection! But we are not beguiled by such follies as these. The
Christian fasts but he takes care that no one shall know it. He wears
no ring or token even when his heart is heavy. Full often he puts on a
cheerful air, lest by any means he should communicate unnecessary
sorrow to others! And he will be cheerful and happy in the midst of
company, to prevent their being sad, for it is enough for him to be
sad, himself, and sad before his Father's face.

19-21. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and
rust corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal But lay up for
yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through nor steal For where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also. There is many a way of
sending your treasure before you to Heaven. God's poor are His
money-boxes–His bankers. You can pass your treasure over to Heaven by
their means. And the work of evangelizing the world by the labors of
God's servants in the ministry of the Gospel–you can help this, also.
There is much need for your plenty. Thus also you can pass your
treasure over into the King's bank and your heart will follow it! I
have heard of one who said his religion did not cost him a shilling a
year– and it was remarked that very probably it would have been
expensive at the price. You will find people form a pretty accurate
estimate of the value of their own religion by the proportion which
they are prepared to sacrifice for it.

22. The light of the body is the eye. If, therefore, your eye is
single. If your motive is single–if you have only one motive–and that
a right one–the master one of glorifying God–if your eye is single.

22, 23. Your whole body shall be full of light. But if your eye is
evil, your whole body shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the
light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness/When a
man's highest motive is himself, what a dark and selfish nature he has!
But when his highest motive is his God, what brightness of light will
shine upon all.

24. No man can serve two masters. He can serve two persons very
readily. For that matter, he can serve twenty, but not two masters.
There cannot be two master principles in a man's heart, or master
passions in a man's soul. "No man can serve two masters."

24. For either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he
will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and
mammoi.. Though some men's lives are a long experiment of how far they
can serve the two.

1 CORINTHIANS 3:1-16

Verse 1. AndI, brethren, couldnot speak unto you as unto spiritual, but
as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ The Church at Corinth
consisted of persons of large education and great abilities. It was one
of those churches that had given up the one-man system, where everybody
talked as he liked–a very knowing Church, and a Church of Christians,
too. But for all that, Christian babies! And though they thought
themselves to be so great, yet the Apostle says that he never spoke to
them as to spiritual men–he kept to the simple elements–regarding the
carnal part as being too much in them as yet to be able to drink down
spiritual things.

2. Ihave fed you with milk, andnot with meat: for up to nowyou were not
able to bear it, neither yet now are you abl. How grateful we ought to
be that there is milk and that this milk does feed the soul–that the
simplest Truths of Christianity contain in them all that the soul
needs–just as milk is a diet upon which the body could be sustained
without anything else. Yet how we ought to desire to grow that we may
not always be upon a milk diet but that we may be able to digest the
strong meat–the high Doctrine of the deep things of God. These are for
men, not for babes. Let the babes be thankful for the milk, but let us
aspire to be strong men that we may feed on meat.

3. For you are yet carnal: for where as there is among you envying, and
strife, and divisions, are you not carnal and walk as men? A united
Church, you may conclude, is a growing Church–perhaps a grown Church!
But a disunited Church, split up into factions where every man is
seeking position and trying to be noted–such a Church is a Church of
babes. They are carnal and walk as men.

4. For while one says, I am of Paul: and another, I am of Apollos, are
you not carnalllnstead of that, they should all have striven together
for the defense of the common faith of Jesus Christ. No greater symptom
of mere infancy in true religion than the setting up of the names of
leaders or the preference for this or that peculiar form of Doctrine,
instead of endeavoring to grasp the whole of the Truth of God wherever
one can find it.

5. 6. Who, then, is Paul? And who is Apollos but ministers by whom you
believed, even as the Lordgave to every man? I have planted, Apollos
watered: but God gave the increase. Let God, then, have all the glory!
Be grateful for the planter and grateful for the waterer, yes, and
grateful to them as well. But still, let the stress of your gratitude
be given to Him without whom watering and planting would be in vain!

7, 8. So then neither is he that plants anything, neither he that
waters, but God that gives the increase. Now he that plants and he that
waters are one.They are pursuing the same design! And Apollos and Paul
were one in heart. They were true servants of one Master.

8, 9. And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own
labor. For we are laborers together with God: you are God's husbandry,
you are God's building. The Church is built up. God is He who builds it
up–the Master of the work, but He employs His ministers under Him to
be builders.

10-13. According to the Grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise
master builder, Ihave laid the foundation, and another builds thereon.
But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon. For other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now
if any man builds upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones,
wood, hay, stubble; every man's work shall be made manifest. For the
day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire
shall try every mans work, of what sort it isIt is very easy to build
up a Church quickly. It is very easy to make a great excitement in
religion and become very famous as a soul-winner. Very easy. But time
tries everything! If there were no other fire than the mere fire of
time, it would suffice to test a man's work. And when a church crumbles
away almost as soon as it is got together–when a church declines from
the Doctrines which it professed to hold, when the teaching of the
eminent teacher is proved, after all, to have been fallacious and to
have been erroneous in practical results, then what he has built comes
to nothing! Oh, dear Friends, what little we do, we ought to aspire to
do for eternity. If you shall never lay the brush to the canvas but
once, make an indelible stroke with it! If only one work of sort shall
come from the statuary's workshop, let it be something that will live
all down the ages! But we are in such a mighty hurry–we make a lot of
things that die with us–transient results. We are not careful enough
as to what we build with. May God grant that this truth may sink into
our minds! Let us remember that if it is hard building with gold and
silver, and harder still building with precious stones, yet what is
built will stand the fire! It is easy building with wood–and still
easier with hay and stubble–but then there will be only a handful of
ashes left of a whole lifework if we build with these.

14-15. If any man's work abides which he has built thereupon, he shall
receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer
loss, but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. If he meant
right–if he endeavored to serve God as a worker, though he may have
uttered many errors and have been mistaken–(and which of us has not
been?)– he shall be saved, though his work must be burnt.

16. Know you not that you are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of
God dwells in you?Do you know it? He says, "Know you not?" but I might
leave out the, "not," and say, "Know you that you are the Temple of
God?" What a wonderful fact it is! Within the body of the saint, God
dwells, as in a Temple. How some men injure their bodies or utterly
despise them, though they would not so do if they understood that they
are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in them.