2865. Fencing The Table

No. 2865-50:13. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Evening, January 2, 1876, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

A Sermon Published On Thursday, January 7, 1901.

But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. {1Co 11:28}

 For other sermons on this text:
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2647, “Preparation Necessary for the Communion” 2648}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2699, “Examination Before Communion” 2700}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2865, “Fencing the Table” 2866}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3391, “Preparation for the Lord’s Supper” 3393}
   Exposition on 1Co 11:17-34 Lu 22:14-24 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2638, “Right Observance of the Lord’s Supper, The” 2639 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Mt 26:17-30 1Co 11:18-34 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2865, “Fencing the Table” 2866 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Mt 26:17-30 1Co 11:20-34 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2595, “What the Lord’s Supper Sees and Says” 2596 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Mt 26:17-39 1Co 11:20-34 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2699, “Examination Before Communion” 2700 @@ "Exposition"}
   Exposition on Mt 26:26-30 1Co 11:20-34 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2268, “Question for Communicants, A” 2269 @@ "Exposition"}

1. There are two symbolic ordinances in the Christian Church, and only two, — Believers’ Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These have been so misinterpreted, perverted, and abused, that the wish has sometimes crossed the mind of spiritual people that they should never have been instituted. We do not wonder that there should be a denomination of Christians who have given them up, though we think that, in this matter, they have not acted according to the Word of God. We ourselves retain them, for this reason only, because we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ ordained them; and we desire to observe them exactly as Christ ordained them; and only in this way shall we find them instructive and helpful for our souls.

2. Baptism, the immersion of the believer in water, is the sign of his death, burial, and resurrection with Christ. It illustrates the fellowship which he has with his Lord as the apostle tells us: “Buried with him in baptism, by which also you are risen with him”; — not that the plunge into the water confers any grace on the person who is baptized, but it is the type, the emblem, the instructive symbol of the new birth, which new birth consists in passing, by death and resurrection, into newness of life. You all know that we are only born once. A thing can only have one true beginning. Hence, baptism is never to be repeated. Once done, it is done for ever.

3. The other ordinance is the Lord’s Supper; and, just as baptism illustrates, typifies, (notice that, nothing more than typifies,) and is the emblem of the new birth, so the Lord’s Supper is the emblem of the spiritual feeding of that new life. Now, though a man is born only once, he eats a great many more times than once, and drinks a great many more times than once. Indeed, to eat and to drink often, are necessary for the maintenance of our life. If we neglected to do this, we should soon find ourselves in a bad way. Hence, the Supper of the Lord, representing, as it does, the spiritual feeding of the new-born life on the body and blood of Christ, (and only representing it, notice that, — not really doing it in any carnal sense,) is to be repeated often. We find that the early Christians very frequently broke bread together; I think they did so almost every day. It is recorded, by some of the early church fathers, that the first Christians seldom met together, on any day of the week, without commemorating the death of Christ. Augustine mentions this; and he seems to have taught that, at least once in the week, on that blessed day which celebrates the resurrection of our Lord, Christians should meet for the breaking of bread. I think that, the more often we meet for this purpose, the better it is for us. The Holy Spirit specifies no particular time; we are not under a law which binds us to this period or to that. Our Lord leaves it very much to our own loving hearts; but the words that Paul quotes, “Do this you, as often as you drink it, in memory of me,” certainly imply that we should often “do this” in memory of our dear Lord and Saviour.

4. A simple feast, even of bread and wine, a feast often celebrated, would be liable to be trifled with and misapplied. Hence, as paradise of old was guarded by cherubim, with a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life, so stands this simple Supper of the Lord guarded with a flaming sword, of which my text is a portion: “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.”

5. Now, with this thought on our minds, let us go to the text itself, and observe how we are told to examine ourselves before we come to the table of the Lord. We will speak, first, concerning the necessity for this examination; next, the person who is to perform it; then, the vital points of the examination; and, lastly, the spirit in which we should come to the table after we have examined ourselves.

6. I. First, then, THE NECESSITY FOR THIS EXAMINATION.

7. The sense of that necessity will be very strongly impressed on us if we remember that many have profaned the table of the Lord. Hence it is incumbent on us to examine ourselves lest we should do the same. Years ago, — our grandfathers remember it well, — men had to “take the sacrament,” as it was called, before they could be made mayors of towns, or hold certain offices in the municipalities, and, in that way, the communion table became a passport to secular office. I tremble as I think how the laws of this land compelled men — though they ought never to have yielded obedience to such laws, — to eat and drink judgment or condemnation to themselves as they profaned this holy ordinance. Others have made it, as I fear that some still make it, a means of obtaining alms; coming to the communion table because those who are members of the church are helped in the time of their poverty, or there is a distribution of alms-money among the needy communicants. Ah, dear friends, however poor you may be, it would be better for you even to starve than to get help in this way if you are not really the Lord’s people. If any of you have acted like this, I charge you, before Almighty God, to do so no more. If we have any suspicions that we have ever done such a thing, we may well examine ourselves concerning that matter, and sincerely repent if we have so sinned against the Lord.

8. Others come to the communion as a piece of sheer superstition, really believing, poor deluded souls, that, when they take the wafer into their mouths, they actually eat the flesh of Christ. Such a monstrous doctrine as that is only fit for cannibals; it is not a doctrine of Christianity. What a profanation of the ordinance it is to come to it with such a notion as that! If any of us have the slightest idea that, to partake of what is called “the sacrament” — though there is no such name as that for it anywhere in Scripture, — confers grace, let all such thoughts be banished from our minds at once.

9. It is not a converting ordinance, nor a saving ordinance; it is an establishing ordinance and a comforting ordinance for those who are saved. But it never was intended to save souls, neither is it adapted for that purpose; and if it is so misrepresented, it is apt rather to be the means of damning than of saving the soul, for he who so eats and drinks may, in very deed, be eating and drinking damnation to himself.

10. I fear that there are others who come to the communion table out of mere form. I find that it is the custom of certain people to always do this on Christmas day and on Good Friday, though what particular sanctity there can be about those two days, I am sure I cannot tell. I see little enough of holiness about them, and a great deal of sheer superstition. But let all of us be careful that we never come to the communion simply because it is the first Sabbath in the month, or even because it is the day of our Lord’s resurrection, and because, as church members, we feel that we ought to come there. I mention these things — although I hope, for most of you, they are unnecessary, — because they are necessary for a certain class of people who, in one or other of these ways, thoughtlessly profane the table of the Lord.

11. But, brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to examine ourselves, because it may be that, though free from these evils which I have mentioned, we have come to this solemn feast without due solemnity, without serious thought, without the proper preparation of heart or the right observance of the ordinance. We have come very often to the communion table, yet there has been very little real heart-fellowship with Jesus. There has been bread on the table, and in our mouths, but we have not discerned the Lord’s body. There has been wine there, but we have not looked through the sign to the blood of which it is only the symbol. If it has been so with any of us, we have, to that extent, eaten and drank unworthily, and I do not know how much deserved chastisement God may have laid on us on that account, but the apostle’s words have often been fulfilled since his day, “For this reason many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.”

12. This examination is necessary, next, because the purpose of this ordinance requires that we should be in a fit condition for its observance. What is the object of this ordinance? “Do this in memory of me,” says the Lord Jesus; but you cannot remember what you do not know. Then, how can you remember an unknown Christ? By coming to the communion table, you are supposed to let men see, as they look on at this ordinance, that you believe that Christ lived and died to save sinners. But suppose that you do not believe it, — that you do not, at any rate, in your heart savingly believe it; then, you are not a fit person to proclaim that truth to others by means of this ordinance. The Lord Jesus Christ does not want his enemies to be his remembrancers; he wants his friends to cherish his memory, and to keep the fact of his death prominently and permanently before the eyes of the world. It must be his friends who must do this. Besides, this ordinance is one special means of communion between Christ and his people, but what communion can there be between you and Christ if you are a son of Belial? If you love sin, and continue to live in sin, what possible fellowship can you have with the holy Christ? Will he have communion with a man who even comes to his table drunk, — or who comes from dishonest actions all the week, — or who has been singing a lascivious song, but now turns to join with those who laud and magnify the name of the thrice-holy God? Do not imagine that Jesus Christ will welcome such as you are to his table. If you do come, it will be at your most imminent peril. It can do you no good; it must be a curse rather than a blessing to you. So, let us examine ourselves, because those, who come to the table of the Lord, ought to be of such a kind that the purposes and objects, for which the ordinance was instituted, may be illustrated by them.

13. But let us especially examine ourselves, because, if we do not come properly, we shall incur very severe penalties, — the penalties which I have already mentioned to you. Let me again read to you these solemn words: “Therefore, whoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” And then follows the sure penalty on true believers who, nevertheless, come in an unfit state to the table. I have read it to you before, but I will read it again: “He who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks condemnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” Take off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. Do not rush in to the sacred place, but come with that gracious timorousness — no, rather, with that holy boldness — which becomes a sinner who has been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, and is robed in his spotless righteousness.

14. And, dear friends, once more, there is a necessity for us to examine ourselves, because we must know that there are, among us, some who are, doubtless, partaking of the Lord’s Supper unworthily. We have known, to our great sorrow, of some who have been harbouring an unforgiving spirit, yet who have dared to come to the communion table. When I have really known that this has been the case, I have prevented the wrongdoer from sitting down with us; but, unknown to me, and to other ministers, it must often have happened that people have come, professing to be Christians, yet all the while not revealing the true spirit of Christianity towards some offending brother or sister. You remember how even the loving apostle John writes, “If a man says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”

15. Then, alas! there are some, who, by coming to the communion, profess to be Christians, yet who, nevertheless, are all the while living in shameful sin which they dare not have discovered! This is one of the greatest sources of sorrow for true ministers of Christ, and it has made us often wring our hands with agony, and weep bitter tears before the Lord, when we have seen trees looking fair and green, but which, inwardly, as Bunyan said, were “so rotten that they were only fit to be tinder for the devil’s tinder-box.” Their profession was a false one; for, all the while, their moral character was unsound. There was a rottenness about them which no one discovered until, on some fatal day, — fatal to their own reputation, but good for the church’s purification, — they were exposed, and driven out with shame. Judas was found out at last; Ananias and Sapphira were at last found out, and cut off from among the people of God, and the unclean and unholy among the early Christians were excommunicated from the assembly of the saints.

16. Now, brothers and sisters, if, to your own personal knowledge, this has been the case with others, forgive me when I ask, — Is there not at least the possibility that it may also be the case with you? At any rate, you will do well to examine yourselves; and if, after having honestly examined, you can say, “No, that is not the case with me,” then bless God that you can truthfully say so. Take no credit for yourselves, but give all the praise to God’s grace. Still, look thoroughly into this matter. “Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith.” I, as a minister, am bound to examine myself, because there have been eminent preachers of the gospel who, nevertheless, have lived unhallowed lives. No preacher may dare to say, “My office screens me from this test.” Deacons and elders of the church, you must examine yourselves, because you have known church officers who have brought disgrace on the offices that they have filled. And you, Sunday School teachers, open-air preachers, tract distributors, and the like, — and you, members of the church, — however useful you may be, and however highly you may be respected by your fellow members, I beseech you, nevertheless, do not shirk this duty, but let each one examine himself before he comes to sit down at the table of the Lord.

17. II. Now, secondly, I am to speak about THE PERSON WHO IS TO PERFORM THIS EXAMINATION: “Let a man examine himself.”

18. Do not let anyone say, “I was examined by the proper officers of the church, before I was admitted into church membership, so I do not need any further examination.” Now, notice, it is the duty of every church, in receiving members, to judge all applicants by their fruits. “By their fruits you shall know them,” is our Lord’s own test. We must have a credible profession of faith, supported by a life that is consistent with it, but that is all on which we can form a judgment. We cannot examine the heart, and we cannot infallibly judge the life. How very often have we been deceived in these matters! If anyone were to suppose that a certificate of church membership is to excuse him from the duty of personal self-examination, he is grievously mistaken. No, dear friend, you know what your secret thoughts are, and what your private actions are; and therefore it is to you that this duty is committed: “Let a man examine himself.”

19. “Well, but,” someone may say, “my friends — my private friends — are quite satisfied concerning my spiritual condition. I have been talking to my godly mother; I have been conversing with my praying father; I have had sweet fellowship, just recently, with a good old Christian friend; and they all seem perfectly satisfied with me.” I am glad they are; but Paul says, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “Let a man examine himself.” There is no greater error under heaven than to try to shift the responsibility of our own personal religion onto friends or to so-called “priests.” There can be no more gigantic imposture than the supposed sponsorship of infants. It amazes me that anyone can dare to say, on any child’s behalf, that the child shall renounce the pomps and vanities of this world, and everything else that is mentioned in the Church Catechism. But it would be an equally gigantic imposture if we were to establish a sponsorship for grown-up people. Both of them are wicked, and neither of them can be carried out; we cannot guarantee the Christian character of other people, the apostolic rule must remain: “Let a man examine himself.” Look well to the state of your own souls; and, for this purpose, go to God in prayer, and say, as David did, “Search me, oh God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

20. III. Now, thirdly, WHAT ARE THE VITAL POINTS IN THIS EXAMINATION? There are a good many, but I have arranged them under five points for the sake of brevity, and to help your memories.

21. First, my dear friends, examine yourselves concerning your knowledge. There are some who are too ignorant to come to the table of the Lord. They may have taken their M. A. Degree at Oxford or Cambridge, they may even be Doctors of Divinity, and yet be too ignorant to come to the Lord’s table. What knowledge is necessary for coming properly to the table? I answer, — Saving knowledge — a living knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, “Do this in memory of me.” You cannot remember a person you never knew; so you must be acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ if you would observe this ordinance as he instituted it. There is the bread on the table. Have you ever known what it was to be spiritually hungry? Do you know that Jesus Christ is the only food that can relieve the hunger of your spirit? Have you learned to know him through feeding on him by faith? Then, you are a fit person to partake of the bread on the communion table, because you are a person who understands what it means, you who have been satisfied by feeding on Christ. There is also the wine cup on the table. Were you ever spiritually thirsty? Did you then see how the Lord Jesus Christ, by his atoning sacrifice, has fully met all the needs of your soul? Have you really partaken of Jesus Christ, and has your heart been refreshed, and revived, and cheered by the application to it of the precious blood of Jesus? If so, you understand the meaning of that communion cup, and you are a fit and proper person to partake of it. But if you have never known this spiritual hunger and thirst, — if you have never understood your own spiritual needs, and if you have not known what it is for Christ to supply those needs, I charge you to keep away from this table until you do know these things. Otherwise, you will be eating and drinking in utter ignorance; and the mere physical acts will be of no use whatever to you. May the Lord give grace to you to know him whom to know is life eternal, and when you do know him, then come to his table, for you will not then eat and drink unworthily.

22. Then, next, examine yourselves concerning your faith. Knowledge is all in vain without faith; and the knowledge, of which I have been speaking, is a knowledge that is closely allied with faith. Are you trusting only in the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ? I have asked myself that question many scores of times, and I do not remember that I ever had any hesitancy about how to answer it. I know that I am trusting in Jesus. If I am really living, — if there is any truth in my own consciousness, — I am sure that I have trusted my soul, for time and for eternity, entirely to the keeping of that Saviour who lived, and died, and rose again for sinners. Well, that being so, I have a right to come to the communion. Christ wants believers at his table; they are his own children. If you are believing in him, he invites you to come, and you will be welcome if you do come. You will not eat and drink unworthily, dear friend, if you apprehend, by faith, that Christ’s flesh is food indeed and his blood is drink indeed. You will come to the table in the right way.

23. In the third place, I want you to examine yourselves concerning your repentance. In the emblems on the communion table, I can see something of what it cost your Lord to redeem you from sin, and death, and hell. The bread, representing the flesh of Jesus, is separate from the wine, which represents his blood, and the separation of the blood from the flesh indicates death, — a bleeding away of life in the most acute anguish. It cost your Lord untold agony to redeem you from going down into the pit, so can you ever imagine that any man is a fit person to participate in the emblems which illustrate that agony if he has never felt, in his own soul, any agony on account of sin? What right has an impenitent person to come where the death of Christ, on account of sin, is especially presented! A heart that has never been broken, because of sin, — shall it come and remember the broken body and broken heart of Jesus? A heart of stone, that has never been melted, — shall it come and remember his precious flesh that was melted in the agonies of Calvary? If your eyes have wept no tears of repentance, how can you properly remember him whose veins wept blood to redeem his people from their sins? It is a contrite heart and a broken spirit that Christ wants here. Only with such people will God condescend to dwell, and only with such will Christ commune, either at his table or anywhere else. See to it, then, that you have genuine repentance.

24. The next vital point for self-examination is love. Examine yourselves concerning your love. I think, brethren, that none of us can worthily eat of this bread, and drink of this cup, unless we truly love our Lord; so I venture to ask the question of each one you here. I do not know your names, but the name that is used by our Lord Jesus will do for you. He says, “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me?” You answer, “Yes,” do you? Then I will ask the question again: “Simon, son of Jonas, Jesus says to you, ‘Do you love me?’ ” And yet a third time I may ask it: “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me?” It is Jesus with the pierced hand, and with the pierced feet, who speaks, and he says, “Do you love me?” This is the test of whether you may come to his table, or not. Can you answer, “ ‘Yes, Lord; you know all things, you know that I love you.’ Sometimes, my friends hardly know it, for I am not always as consistent as I should be. Sometimes, Lord, I even have to question it myself, but YOU know that, deep down in my heart, notwithstanding all my coldness and forgetfulness, all my wanderings, and all my faults, you know that I do love you.” Come along, brother; come along, sister; you will not eat and drink unworthily if this is true concerning your love for your Lord.

25. There is one other matter which is vital, and that concerns obedience. Examine yourselves concerning your obedience; for, unless a man obeys the commands of Christ, he does not prove that he really loves Christ. If we truly love him, we shall keep his commandments. If Paul had said that no one had a right to come to the communion unless he was perfect, I certainly could not come, and I feel sure that there is no one in the whole world who would have the right to come. Perfect? Ah, perfect weakness; and if anyone says he is perfect in any other sense than that, he must be possessed with perfect folly. But the obedience that we must have is of this kind. Do you desire to be perfectly obedient to your Lord? Do you, in your heart, desire to be rid of every sin, and to forsake every false way? Is there any sin that you would gladly harbour and indulge? Then, you are not truly obedient; but can you, on the other hand, say, “Lord, I would be purged from every evil of every kind, and I desire to obey you in all things. No matter how it may grate on my feelings, or how contrary it may be to my wishes, wherever you ask me to go, I will go, and whatever you command me, I will do, — your grace helping me”? Is that what you say? Then, you may come to the communion, for Jesus himself welcomes you. But if you will not give up sin, if you have even one pet sin that you still determine to keep, you are a traitor to Christ, and you have no more right to come to his table than Judas Iscariot had.

26. IV. Now, in closing, I want to speak a few words concerning THE SPIRIT IN WHICH, AFTER THIS SELF-EXAMINATION, WE OUGHT TO COME TO THE COMMUNION.

27. Dear friends, ought not each one of us to come in the spirit of holy wonder? This is the Lord’s table, and I am coming, with the Lord’s redeemed people, to eat and drink there; what a wonder that I am here! I never come to the communion without being astonished at the amazing grace of God to me, and especially as I think of this great church which God has been graciously pleased to gather in this place. How much I owe to him! How constantly I am struck with the marvels of his mercy to me! And each one of you, my fellow believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, has some particular reason for feeling the same kind of wonder in your own case.

28. Next, we ought to come to the communion with a sense of self-abasement. Brethren, we ought to think little of ourselves everywhere; but when we come to the table of our Lord, we ought to shrink to nothing, — yes, to less than nothing. In the wilderness, man ate angels’ food, but angels never ate such food as this; yet we are permitted to come and partake of it. So, let us sink, and sink, and sink, and sink, and sink, and sink, and sink, until we are lost in wonder, love, and praise that we should ever be permitted to come to this sacred feast.

29. Let us come, at the same time, in a spirit of strong desire. I believe that, in a sermon, people always get good when they come desiring to get it. A hungry congregation will be sure to be fed; and if we come to the communion table feeling, “My Lord and Master, I desire to meet you. The bread alone will not satisfy me; I want to feed spiritually on your flesh. The wine will not quench my soul’s thirst; I want spiritually to receive your blood into my innermost soul. I desire, with all the passion of holy ardour, to put my finger into the print of the nails, and to thrust my hand into your side”; — if you come to the communion in this spirit, longing for Christ, you shall have him. Open your mouths and pant for him, and the living waters shall quench your soul’s thirst.

30. Then come to the table with a believing hope. Perhaps you have not seen your Master’s face recently, you have been sorrowfully walking in darkness. Come to the communion hoping that he will look through the lattice, and reveal himself to you. Do you not know that the two ordinances are windows of agate and of carbuncle to the opened eyes of his people? Maybe, your loving Lord will look again through one of those windows while you are sitting at his table. So, come expecting him; come with your heart wide open to receive its rightful Lord and Master, and with your eyes of love looking up to him, and, surely, if the eyes of your love look up to him, the eyes of his love will look down on you. If you come to his table, singing, “My Beloved is mine, and I am his; he feeds among the lilies”; — if you come passionately desiring to enjoy his company; — then you may also come with the full confidence that his presence will be given to you.

31. I have only one more thing to say. Come to the communion table resolved that if, in the ordinance, you do not find your Lord; — if, in the breaking of bread, he is not revealed to you; and if, in the pouring out of the wine, you get no taste of his love; — you will still trust in him. Do not depend on outward signs and visible evidences, but say, “ ‘Though he kills me, yet I will trust in him,’ and if his table should yield me no spiritual food, I will still cleave to my Master; and if he will only let me be as a dog beneath his table, I will eat the crumbs that fall there, and so I shall live, for in every crumb of his mercy there is everlasting life.”

32. As for you, who perhaps have never thought about this subject, I have to say just this to you, and then I am finished. Remember that religion does not begin with ordinances. While I have been speaking to professing Christians concerning the communion, I hope that none of you have been thinking of it as a saving ordinance. You, as sinners, have to exercise faith in Christ before you have anything to do with believers’ baptism; you have to come to Christ himself before you are qualified to come to the Lord’s table. As soon as you have, by faith, received Jesus Christ himself as your Saviour, the symbols and emblems of his death will become instructive to you; but until Jesus Christ is entirely yours, hands off all these holy things! For, just as uncircumcised Philistines would have had no right to be at the Paschal supper, so have those, who are not renewed in heart with that circumcision that is made without hands, no right to come to the feast of Christian love which is reserved for the followers of the Crucified. Come to Jesus, to Jesus only, and put your trust in him. May God grant that you may do so, for Christ’s sake! Amen.

Expositions By C. H. Spurgeon {Mt 26:17-30 1Co 11:18-34}

26:17-26. Now on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to him, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” And he said, “Go into the city to such a man, and say to him, ‘The Master says, "My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover, at your house with my disciples."’ ” And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the Passover. Now when the evening was come, he sat down with the twelve. And as they ate, he said, “Truly I say to you, that one of you shall betray me.” And they were extremely sorrowful, and every one of them began to say to him, “Lord, is it I?” And he answered and said, “He who dips his hand with me in the dish, the same one shall betray me. The Son of man goes as it is written concerning him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It had been good for that man if he had not been born.” Then Judas, who betrayed him, answered and said, Master, “Is it I?” He said to him, “You have said.” And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it,

So the Jewish Passover melted away into the Lord’s Supper. Indeed, so gently did the one dissolve into the other that we scarcely know whether this incident, relating to Judas Iscariot, occurred during the Passover or the Supper. According to one account, it would seem to be one; and according to another account, the other, but, indeed, the one ordinance was almost imperceptibly merged into the other.

I want you carefully to notice, as we read this narrative through, whether you can see here any trace of an altar. Look with both your eyes, and see whether you can find any trace of a priest offering a sacrifice. Watch diligently to see whether you can perceive anything about kneeling down, or about the elevation or the adoration of “the host.” Why, even the Roman Catholic Church knows better than to believe in what it practises. Most of you have seen copies of the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci, himself a Catholic of the old school. How does he picture those who were at the institution of the Lord’s Supper? Why, they are all sitting around a table, with the Lord Jesus in their midst. I wonder that they exhibit, and still allow to be in their churches, a picture like that, which, painted by one of their own artists, most effectively condemns their base idolatry, in which a wafer-god is lifted up, to be adored by men, who must be besotted indeed before they can prostitute their intellects so grossly as to commit such an act of sin. What a rebuke to that idolatry is conveyed by this simple statement: “As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it,” —

26. And broke it, and gave it to the disciples, and said. “Take, eat; this is my body”.

The Romanists do not even break the bread. They have a wafer so as to avoid anything like an imitation of the example set by our blessed Lord and Master. He took a piece of the bread which was provided for the paschal feast, — the ordinary unleavened bread, and he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, and said to them, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Not, of course, the literal body, which was there at the table; but this was the emblem of his body about to be broken on the cross on the behalf of all his people.

27. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink all of it;

“Every one of you, take your own personal share.” This also the Papists have perverted by denying the cup to the laity.

28-30. For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives.

It was a social feast, somewhat funereal, and tinctured with sadness, for Jesus was about to go from them, to die; still, it was a joyful celebration, closing with a hymn. At the paschal feast, the Jews always sang Psalms 113 to 118. Probably our Lord sang all these through. At any rate, Christ and his disciples sang a hymn; and I always like to think of him as leading the little company, — going to his death with a song on his lips, his voice full of melody, and made more sweet than ever by the near approach of Gethsemane and Calvary. I would like always to sing, whenever we come to the communion table, in the way in which they sang that night: “When they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives.”

Now let us read what the apostle Paul writes concerning the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians.

11:18-22. For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, so that those who are approved may be revealed among you. When you come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. For in eating everyone takes his own supper ahead of others: and one is hungry, and another is drunk. What? have you not houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise the church of God, and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you.

These Corinthians fell into a great many errors. Everyone was a speaker, and said whatever he pleased; and they had no proper order or rule. Among other evils, when they met together to observe the Lord’s Supper, they brought their own food with them, thinking that eating together like this was keeping the sacred feast. So the richer ones feasted to the full, and the poor went almost without anything. “One is hungry, and another is drunk,” says the apostle, and he tells them that this was not the right way of observing the Lord’s Supper. Yet it is evident that the idea which was in their mind was that of feasting together. They had exaggerated it, and carried it to a grievous excess; but that was the idea they had concerning it. Certainly, there was no altar, or priest, or anything of the kind. Now the apostle tells them how the ordinance should be observed.

23-25. For I have received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, 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: do this in memory of me.” In the same way he also took the cup, when he had supped, saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood: do this, as often as you drink it, in memory of me.”

How wonderfully simple it all is! There is nothing here of the paraphernalia of a “sacrament.” It is a simple memorial festival, that is all.

26, 27. For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you show the Lord’s death until he comes. Therefore whoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

He shall be guilty with respect to that body, — not with respect to that bread, against which he cannot sin, — but with respect to that body which is represented by the bread, and with respect to that blood which is represented by the cup. See with what holy solemnity this humble feast is fenced and invested. There is a divinity which hedges the simple ordinance of Christ lest men should trifle with it to their eternal ruin.

28, 29. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

“Judgment” or “condemnation” is the word in the original, not “damnation.” That is not a fair translation, neither does it express the truth. He who eats and drinks unworthily condemns himself in doing so, he comes under judgment for that act. This is the kind of judgment that falls on Christians if they come unworthily to the Lord’s table: —

30-32. For this reason many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, so that we should not be condemned with the world.

Believers, who are rendered sick, or who even die, because of their offence against the Lord’s ordinance, are not therefore condemned to hell. Far from it; it is so that they may not be condemned that God visits them. “When we” the people of God — “are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, so that we should not be condemned with the world.”

33, 34. Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. And if any man is hungry, let him eat at home; so that you do not come together for judgment. And I will set the rest in order when I come.

By due attention to the apostle’s injunctions, they would be able to properly observe the ordinance; and we also may learn, from what Paul wrote, how we may worthily come to the table of our Lord.