The Lord's Supper

[00:00:01] Okay, so my question today is what holiday has the best meal? [00:00:11] I want to hear. What are your answers. What holiday has the best food or meal associated with it? Okay. [00:00:17] Christmas. Why? You know, what are you thinking of a specific food? [00:00:21] Just generally. What's your favorite Christmas food? [00:00:25] More like desserts. Oh, desserts. [00:00:31] Yeah. Apple ciders. There's so many. So many. Oh, man. There's so many hands over here. It's overwhelming. Yes, Pretty easily. Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. Yeah. [00:00:40] No elaboration needed. [00:00:42] Thanksgiving is about food. Sort of. It's about Thanksgiving. But, you know, post meal nap is strong. Yeah. [00:00:51] Fourth of July. Oh, what about Fourth of July? Hot dogs, burgers, ice cream. [00:00:58] Very American holiday. Oh, let's see. Let's go. Kellen, hear me out here. Halloween, just because of the candy. [00:01:07] Just like terrible candy. [00:01:10] Yes. [00:01:13] Okay. Your birthday. Were you gonna say that? Okay, okay, okay, we'll go. [00:01:23] Nathan, Christmas day breakfast. Christmas day breakfast. Okay. Connor. Easter. Easter. [00:01:30] What do you guys do on Easter that's so great? [00:01:33] We make pasta and stuff. [00:01:36] That's fun. That's fun. Cool. [00:01:39] Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. All right. Yeah, those are all really great answers. [00:01:45] You know, I was torn between a lot of these. I, too, thought 4th of July and Thanksgiving were kind of top of my list. It's not that Christmas is bad. Sometimes Christmas feels like Thanksgiving over again. Maybe that's just how we do it. It could just be, you know, maybe you guys do something different. [00:02:02] I don't know. [00:02:03] But Thanksgiving is important, and it's relevant to the meal, the Lord's Supper, that we're talking about today, because you might hear some traditions actually call the Lord's Supper. Or maybe some of you think of communion. I'm talking. It's the same thing. [00:02:22] They call it the Eucharist. Who's heard that term? [00:02:27] Yeah. Well, while we don't typically do it in this tradition, there's nothing wrong with that word. [00:02:32] Eucharist comes from the word Eucharistia, which means Thanksgiving. [00:02:37] And so that's partly why it has no republic. It has no historic relevance to the holiday. [00:02:43] But the idea of giving thanks and eating a meal is important. [00:02:48] And so that's what we're talking about today, the Lord's Supper. Let's do our review. What is theology? [00:02:53] Okay. Asher, is the study of God and how to be more like him. That's right. Study of God, how to be more like Him. And what kind of big doctrine are we studying now? It's been the same for several weeks now, Lincoln. [00:03:07] Yeah. Doctrine of the Church. And what have we covered so far? [00:03:17] You don't have to list them all. You can just say one. Yeah, the authority. Yeah. So we talked about church authority, or we called it church government. [00:03:26] Yeah, the marks of the church. Yeah. The nature and the marks. You know, what makes a true church or false church. Yeah, baptism. We did that last week. [00:03:38] We did talk about membership in a few. [00:03:43] Were you going to say membership, too? [00:03:45] We've kind of mentioned it throughout. Different ones. [00:03:49] But it's maybe most related to a different one, unity and discipline. So we did purity and unity as one. [00:03:57] And I remember talking about membership and most of these. And then discipline was another. And you can't have discipline if there's no membership. So it's very, very interrelated. And I think we just did them all. [00:04:08] Oh, no, there's one more. [00:04:10] There's one more. Yes, that's right. Yeah. We talked about elders and deacons, especially pastors and deacons, church offices. Okay. And then last week was baptism. And so naturally, the Lord's Supper is paired with baptism. [00:04:24] So here is the definition or the summary statement for the Lord's Supper. [00:04:31] One of two sacraments or ordinances of the church. The Lord's Supper. So the other of the two is baptism, one of two sacraments, sacraments or ordinances of the church. The Lord's Supper is the continuing rite or celebration of being in new covenant relationship with God. [00:04:51] It's the continuing rite R I T E. So kind of like a ceremony, tradition, sort of deal, or a celebration of being in new covenant relationship with God. [00:05:03] So again, we're going to go through some kind of major affirmations. Those are the main points. And we'll have some errors to avoid and applications sprinkled throughout. [00:05:14] So first, the Lord's Supper was instituted by Christ for the church. That's the big point. Number one. [00:05:20] The Lord's Supper was instituted by Christ for the church. [00:05:24] To see this, we're going to go to Luke 22. [00:05:31] There are other places we could go for this, but Luke 22 is perhaps the most explicit, so the easiest for us to see. [00:05:40] We're going to look at verses 14 through 20. [00:05:48] So Luke 22, 14, 20. [00:05:51] And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. [00:06:04] For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took a cup, when he had given thanks. He said, take this and divide it among yourselves. [00:06:14] For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. [00:06:21] And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. [00:06:31] And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. [00:06:39] But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me at the table. For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed. And they began to question one another. So the main point is, before we get to this discussion of who's going to betray Judas, is this meal. [00:06:58] So what other biblical meal does the Lord's Supper remind us of? It's mentioned in this passage. [00:07:06] What other biblical meal? [00:07:08] Yes, the Passover meal. That's right. [00:07:12] So they were actually there to eat the Passover meal. And the Lord, he took bread and wine, or he calls fruit of the vine, which is why, you know, many churches don't use wine, they use grape juice. Because he says fruit of the vine rather than specifically wine. But it's not wrong to do either way. [00:07:32] But yeah. So he takes these two elements aside and is instituting a new thing for them to do in remembrance of him. [00:07:41] So was this meal just for his disciples, or is it for us too? [00:07:51] Anyone? [00:07:58] It's for his disciples and disciples thereafter. [00:08:03] So not necessarily for everyone. But it wasn't just for this group of 12 people. [00:08:09] It is for disciples. We know this because he's talking to them. And we see kind of unfolded by Paul and other New Testament letters that this was something that the church regularly practiced. [00:08:21] So speaking to the church. So this group of disciples would have been the closest equivalent to what we would call the church at this time. [00:08:30] He gives it to them for the church. [00:08:34] But again, we see it further developed in letters like First Corinthians written to churches, that this is for a church. So speaking of First Corinthians, we're going to go to First Corinthians 11. Now kind of see how this idea of the Lord's Supper developed in the early church. [00:08:54] So if you're unfamiliar, you know, the Gospels are telling basically the story of Jesus. [00:09:00] And then after you get to Acts, Acts is kind of a history of the early church. And then all of the books after that, through Jude, which is the second to last book, are letters. Many of these are written to churches or to individuals or to a group of churches. And the point of these is to help kind of unpack what Jesus had taught his apostles. [00:09:22] So this is. Would have been written after Jesus, and now it's unpacking what he has taught in the past. So 1st Corinthians 11. Look at verse 17. [00:09:33] Paul writes, but in the following instructions, I do not commend you, because when you come together, it is not for the better, but for the worse. For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and I believe it in part. For there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. [00:09:57] For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What, do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? [00:10:12] What shall I say to you? I shall commend you in this. No, I will not. [00:10:19] So writing to a church, the church in Corinth, Paul tells them to do this often. [00:10:27] And we see this later on, so we'll keep reading. He says, for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. [00:10:39] 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. In the same way also, he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. [00:10:59] So again, he's quoting and referencing Jesus Last Supper with his disciples. [00:11:06] And again, what these letters, the apostles are doing in the New Testament is they're taking what Jesus said. They're maybe telling us things that we didn't hear, or they're interpreting what he taught them. And so if you're struggling, you know, is Jesus saying, do this? Is it just for them? Is it for the rest of the church? What does it mean? Well, we can go to the letters of the New Testament and we can see how the apostles interpreted it. And that is the way that we should interpret it. So that's what Paul's doing. [00:11:34] And so he told them, this church, to do it often. And then look at verse 17 again. [00:11:40] So looking there, why is it for the worse when this church comes together for the Lord's Supper? Why does he say, it's for the worse. [00:12:00] Yeah, because they're not sharing it together. [00:12:02] Yeah, they're not sharing it together. Now there are divisions among them as well. [00:12:06] But he even talks about how they're coming early. Some would come early and eat and drink everything, and others would get nothing. [00:12:16] This is an issue because the Lord's Supper is something that the whole church should practice together. [00:12:22] Everyone who can come should come and take together. [00:12:26] That's why we shouldn't do it at camps or in our houses or at weddings, even though it's popular to do these. This is something for the church to do together. And when they're not doing it together, Paul sees an issue with it. So that's why I think the Lord's Supper is for the church, because Paul just seems to assume that the church needs to be together to do this meal. [00:12:47] So application number one is, is that only take the Lord's Supper with the local church and only if you have been baptized and are a member of a gospel preaching church. [00:13:00] So since it is only for the church, then it must be reserved for those who have been affirmed as Christians by the church. How does a church affirm someone as a Christian? We have a way that we do that. [00:13:14] How do we do it? [00:13:18] Looks like you're saying it. [00:13:20] Baptism. That's right. [00:13:22] Yeah, we talked about that last week. This is the way that Jesus gave us to declare that this person's a Christian while they're also declaring, I'm a Christian. So that is how the church affirms. So that's why we believe baptism is something that needs to precede taking the Lord's Supper. [00:13:38] So that's point number one, or major affirmation one. [00:13:41] The second is that the Lord's Supper remembers the Lord's sacrificial death. [00:13:47] So the Lord's Supper remembers the Lord's sacrificial death. [00:13:51] So if you remember Luke 22, that was the first passage we read. Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me. [00:13:58] And then here in First Corinthians 11, Paul tells them that when they partake of the Lord's Supper, they proclaim the Lord's death. [00:14:08] So in this is the idea of remembering his death. It's something that we need to recall to look back on, but it's even a little bit more than just remembering. Right. Because Paul says it's a proclamation of his death. So we're not just internally remembering, but something about what we're doing is proclaiming his death. [00:14:31] So we celebrate it. [00:14:33] And in practice of the Lord's Supper, we depict the Gospel. [00:14:39] We show and tell the gospel in the supper. So how does the Supper show and tell the gospel? Does anybody know. [00:14:54] What is the bread? [00:14:56] Why do we eat bread? [00:15:00] Yeah. [00:15:00] Either of you? [00:15:03] Yeah. His body broken on the cross. Right. [00:15:06] And then the cup, the fruit of the vine. Yeah, Lincoln. [00:15:11] His blood poured out in death. So we are depicting Christ's sacrifice on the cross. [00:15:21] So error number one, the first error we want to avoid, we don't want to do the errors. [00:15:26] We cannot treat the Lord's Supper as unimportant. [00:15:30] If it's proclaiming his death and his death is what covers sins, then we can't treat it like it's unimportant. [00:15:40] Now leads us to a second application. [00:15:43] We should use that time to solemnly think of Christ and his sacrificial death. [00:15:53] So now we get to main point three, the third affirmation. [00:15:59] The Lord's Supper ongoingly unites believers to Christ and to one another. [00:16:09] So it's kind of an ongoing thing. That's why people get baptized once. But we take the Lord's Supper consistently ongoing, it ongoingly unites believers to Christ and to one another. [00:16:21] So we're going to stay in First Corinthians. Just go back one chapter to chapter 10, and look at verse 17. [00:16:29] Paul says, because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. [00:16:38] So connected with baptism, I hope you see that the church is a distinct people. [00:16:43] The people that come in have been affirmed, they've been baptized and marked off from the world. [00:16:50] There are members, and everyone who is not a member is not part of that church. [00:16:55] Pretty simple, right? [00:16:57] So to enter into membership, a new believer is baptized. This is kind of a review of last week, that baptism unites, or at least shows the uniting of the person to Christ and to the church. And if you have been united to Christ and the church, then the Supper basically applies the glue of membership to each person participating there. [00:17:18] It is what binds us together, continually taking that meal. This is what the churches believe. That's why. Have you guys heard of the term excommunication? It's a different word for church discipline. Because they would take away communion from them, they would no longer be allowed to take the Lord's Supper when they were expelled from the church, because that's what made the church the church. [00:17:41] That's why we have that word. [00:17:44] So everyone taking the meal together are then bound together again. That supper is like a glue. So application three is to confess sins against others and reconcile any division between you and another member before partaking of the Supper. [00:18:02] So if you look around, if you're a Christian, you've been baptized, if you look around and you're about to take and you have bitterness towards another person, or you and someone else are gossiping about each other, or you have some sort of beef or a feud, do not take it. [00:18:18] That's another member. You need to reconcile that relationship. Confess what you've done, apologize, ask for forgiveness. [00:18:25] Because when you do that, you are taking the meal that symbolizes unity even while you are being disunifying, that is profaning Christ's body. [00:18:37] It's very important. [00:18:39] Take that time seriously when you have a moment to reflect. [00:18:43] First Corinthians 11, verse 30 then says, that is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. [00:18:50] Paul is saying that there are people in the Corinthian church that have disrespected the Lord's Supper and are weak, ill, and dying. [00:18:59] Real curses can fall upon you if you don't do this. [00:19:02] It's not a promise that you will die or you will fall ill, but Paul seems to think that that can be connected. [00:19:10] I think we should at least take that seriously. [00:19:14] So then, point number four. I just have the Lord's Supper because we're going to go through a few different views of the Lord's Supper and kind of discuss them. [00:19:26] And so first, under this, we get to the second error to avoid. [00:19:31] You have a question, Lincoln? [00:19:34] Application three was confess sins against others and reconcile any division between you and another member before partaking of the Supper. [00:19:45] Did you get it? [00:19:50] Reconcile. [00:19:52] All right, so error number two, the Lord's Supper does not change into the flesh and blood of Jesus. [00:20:01] This error is called. You don't need to know this name, but you could. It's called transubstantiation. [00:20:08] It's a lot of letters, transubstantiation. It's the position of the Roman Catholic Church and it has been since the 13th century. [00:20:16] They believe that the substance, so like, kind of like the core of what the bread and wine are, change into Jesus's actual flesh and blood. [00:20:29] But the outer parts, the parts that you can sense, you know, touch, smell, taste, those parts stay the same, but the core, it's not a soul, but it's almost like the soul changes, but the body remains the same. [00:20:44] It's not exactly how they would put it. They would use much more complicated terminology, but that's what they believe. It's actually changing into flesh and blood, his flesh and blood. Not just any, but it Just doesn't taste or smell or look like it. [00:20:59] This is not defensible from the Bible. [00:21:01] If you have questions about certain passages, like John 6, you know, if you have Roman Catholic friends, they might bring that up. You can ask me later, just for the sake of time. I'm not going to get into all of that. [00:21:11] Along with the biblical argument. I think this, this belief is actually a heresy. [00:21:16] So not just something that we disagree on. I think it is very serious. [00:21:20] So let me explain why I think it's a heresy for Jesus to be our substitute. So take the place, take the punishment for us. He has to actually be a human. [00:21:33] Hebrews 4, for example, makes that clear. He has to actually be a human, like we are. [00:21:39] Humans, you might know, cannot be in more than one place at a time. [00:21:45] Right. Can you be in more than one place at a time? No. [00:21:48] Therefore, if Jesus flesh can be in more than one parish or church at a time, then it's not actually human flesh. [00:21:58] He's not actually a human substitute for us. [00:22:01] Now, to be clear, you might be confused, but Jesus is God. God's omnipresent. That's true. We need to remember to hold in distinction the two natures of Christ. So in his divine nature as God, Jesus the Son is omnipresent, but in his humanity, he's not. He's in a body, a real human body. [00:22:23] And I think the Roman Catholic view distorts that belief and makes him less than human and therefore not a substitute for sins. [00:22:32] Error number three. [00:22:33] So this is another view. The Lord's Supper does not contain the whole person of Christ. In, with and under the elements. [00:22:40] I don't remember what your blanks were. In, with and under, I think was probably what I put on the blanks. Does that seem right? [00:22:49] Oh, the whole person. The whole person of Christ. In, with and under the elements. This is another long word, consubstantiation. It's the view of the Lutheran Church. [00:23:00] They believe that Jesus, both his divinity and humanity. So both of those natures of Jesus are present in, with and under, in quotes, the elements, the bread and the wine. [00:23:13] Now, they don't really elaborate. It's not the same. It sounds like the Roman Catholic view. Right. [00:23:18] They say it's not and it's not. But they don't really. It's. They don't really elaborate to explain how. They kind of take it more as a mystery, just believing by faith. [00:23:28] Luther read Jesus words, this is my body. And he just took it very literally. If it's his body, it must Be his body, literally. And he says we don't need to be able to understand it. So I would commend their, you know, desire to follow the Bible and believe it wholeheartedly. [00:23:44] But I find, you know, the same issues with this view as the Roman Catholic error number two. [00:23:50] So there are two, I think, acceptable views. [00:23:55] One's preferable, but I'm gonna go through both. [00:23:58] The first view became the major view of Baptists by the 19th century. [00:24:05] That's the 1800s, if you're keeping track. And it is called the memorial view. Memorial, which is like remembrance. [00:24:16] This view says that the Lord's Supper is only a symbol in which we remember the sacrificial death of Christ. [00:24:23] It is a symbol in which we remember his sacrificial death. [00:24:27] So really good news. This view is not heresy. It's not. It is acceptable. We must remember the sacrificial death of the Lord. Right. Do this in remembrance of me, his body and his blood. We must remember these things. [00:24:43] However, in my opinion, I would prefer a different one. Again, lots of people. It's still the dominant view, especially in Baptist life. I'll just say it's the dominant view in Baptist and Bible churches, predominantly. [00:24:58] But for most of church history, this was not a popular view, if it was held at all. [00:25:04] And I think it struggles to place maybe some of the significance on the Supper. So let me explain again, if you fall into this view, it's fine. I won't be mad. I'll be very happy. As long as you're not in the first two. [00:25:16] So the second view is what was the major view of people who were reforming the Catholic Church, which is how the Baptists. That's where we came from. And it's called the spiritual presence view. [00:25:29] This view says that Christ is spiritually present in the bread and the wine or juice, the fruit of the vine, as we discussed earlier. So we can say that we feed on his flesh and blood without committing the heresy of the first two views. And we can uphold the meal's significance as well. [00:25:46] So biblically speaking, we know that Christ is present with his church spiritually. No one should object to this. [00:25:54] Matthew 18:20. Jesus says to the church, where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. [00:26:01] So Christ has a special spiritual presence with his church when they gather. [00:26:07] So Christ's presence is communicated through his spirit. [00:26:11] And while he is present in each believer. Again, that verse from Matthew indicates there's something special about his presence when the church comes together, the church most clearly comes together when we take the supper. [00:26:24] Now look also at First Corinthians 10. Maybe you're still on there. [00:26:28] First Corinthians 10. [00:26:30] Look at verse 14 and onward. [00:26:35] Paul says, therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? [00:26:50] The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? [00:26:55] Because there is one bread. We who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. [00:27:01] Consider the people of Israel, who are not those who eat the sacrifices, participants in the altar. [00:27:09] What do I imply then? That food offered to pagans. [00:27:13] The food. Sorry, that food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice, they offer to demons and not to God. [00:27:25] I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. [00:27:32] You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. [00:27:36] Let's maybe untangle this a little bit. [00:27:39] Verse 16. The cup which refers to the Lord's Supper is the participation in the blood of Christ, and the bread is the participation in the body of Christ. [00:27:51] So more than just a memorial, I think Paul is saying this is participation in some way. Participation in his very flesh, flesh and blood. [00:27:59] He then uses the example of food offered to idols. So he asked the question, are idols actually demons? Well, the idol itself isn't. But Paul says in verse 20 that what pagans sacrifice, they offer to demons and not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons. [00:28:18] So what is happening when someone offers a sacrifice to an idol? They're worshiping a demon who is spiritually present there. They're participating in worship with that demon. [00:28:29] We should not do that. [00:28:32] But using that logic, Paul is saying that Christ then is spiritually present in the cup of blessing and the bread. [00:28:43] And therefore, when we do those things, he receives worship as the demon would receive worship from idolatrous practices. [00:28:52] And thus we participate in his body and blood. [00:28:56] So why is this view so important to me? [00:28:58] Well, you know, maybe I'm just interested in it historically, that's probably part of it, but I think there's four benefits. [00:29:05] First, it takes into account Christ's special presence with his church through the Spirit. [00:29:11] He does have a special presence with his church. [00:29:14] Second, it not only remembers his sacrificial death, but allows us to participate in it. [00:29:23] Third, it unites us to Christ as we feed on him. And unites us together through his spiritual presence in the one Holy Spirit. [00:29:33] So he's binding and gluing us together as a church. And then fourth, it takes seriously the warning to not eat or drink in an unworthy manner. [00:29:43] If it's just something in which we remember. Just a symbol, just an empty symbol, nothing more. It's hard to see why it matters so much that people would get sick and even die from profaning the Supper and how people can incur more judgment by partaking it wrongly. If it's just a symbol, I struggle to see that. Lincoln, you have a question? [00:30:06] The third one. It unites us to Christ as we feed on him and unites us together through his spiritual presence in the one Holy Spirit. Did you get that? [00:30:18] So that's why I hold that. Again, the memorial view is. Is good. You know, I think that's fine. I don't prefer it. And I. Like I said, I think this spiritual presence view kind of more accurately portrays what the Bible is teaching. [00:30:33] But this is. Should not become a point of division by any means, because then we would miss the whole point, wouldn't we? We would be dividing the body over the very meal which is supposed to unite us. [00:30:45] And that doesn't mean we overlook Roman Catholic views and those sorts of things, but it does mean that we can lay down what we care about, even something that I obviously care about a lot for the sake of unity. [00:30:56] So in closing, I have one more application. Does anyone have any questions before I do that? [00:31:03] Okay, so this one's not on your paper, but Katie asked me, are you going to this application? I said, oh, that's really good. No. And she said, you should do it. So credit to her, she said she has heard. She kind of combined from a couple of different sources this. So application four. I will give you the short version, but then I'll explain each of these words. [00:31:26] So look up. [00:31:28] Look. [00:31:29] I'm sorry. Look back is first. Look back, look up, look around, and look forward. [00:31:36] So you can say, look back up, around, forward. [00:31:39] Does that make sense? [00:31:41] You guys get it, right? No, I'm just joking. You look back to the cross. [00:31:46] So if you are a baptized Christian, you're taking the Lord's Supper. Look back to the cross. [00:31:51] Remember Christ's sacrificial death for your sins. [00:31:55] Think of that. [00:31:57] Think of how you are now participating in his flesh and blood, in his sacrifice, and how unworthy you are to do that. [00:32:09] But it's not based on your worthiness. It's based on God. So that's why? After we look back, we look up to God. [00:32:15] We look up to him, we confess our sins, we plead with him that we need that sacrifice from Christ. We need that to be able to approach Him. Once we do that, we look around and I mean this part you physically should do look around the church, look at people, look who you're being bound together with. You can also be thinking in this time, do I need to reconcile this relationship with that person before I do this? [00:32:45] But then think and be encouraged that all these people are taking this meal together and participating in Christ's sacrifice together. [00:32:52] And then finally we look forward to Christ says he will not take of the fruit of the vine again until he is with us in paradise. [00:33:00] And so we can look forward to that future meal when Christ returns and we get to take it with him, participating with him in a whole new way, a whole more realized way. So look back, look up, look around, and look forward. That's something you can practically do when you take the supper. Does that make sense? Any questions? [00:33:21] All right, cool. Well, let's pray and then we can go head on over. Father, thank you for the sacrifice of Christ, the willing and humble sacrifice who had his body broken and blood poured out for the sake of sinners. [00:33:37] Lord, we are humbled by that sacrifice as unworthy sinners. Lord, we thank you. [00:33:44] God, we ask that you would draw those who have not turned from their sins, entrusted in Christ to you today. [00:33:49] Lord, give them faith. [00:33:51] Help them to see that Christ died for them and that he is their only hope. [00:33:58] Lord, we pray that next time we participate in the Lord's Supper together, those who have been baptized in the room would remember to look back up, around and forward, that we would anticipate the great meal of the last day, that we would reconcile any divisions that we have among ourselves, and maybe that those who have trusted in youn and repented truly, but have maybe delayed baptism, Lord, if that's something for them to do, I pray that yout put it on their hearts. But if not, Lord, confirm in their hearts that they truly have been born again. [00:34:32] We pray this in Christ's name, Amen.