The sermon by Eric Bechler focuses on the 1689 London Baptist Confession's teachings on the Lord's Supper, specifically addressing those deemed unworthy to partake. Unworthy individuals are described as ignorant and ungodly, lacking a relationship with Christ and living worldly lives. The sermon emphasizes the grave sin of partaking in the Lord's Supper unworthily, equating it to those who crucified Christ. It stresses the importance of 'fencing the table,' where church leaders prevent unbelievers from participating to protect them from spiritual harm. The consequences of unworthy participation include being guilty of the body and blood of Christ and bringing judgment upon oneself. The sermon advocates for preparation through self-examination, stimulating desire, and spiritual adornment, drawing on the teachings of Wilhelmus Brackel and Jonathan Edwards. It encourages believers to meditate on biblical truths and prepare their hearts to commune with Christ and the church, stressing the sincere desire to partake as an essential aspect of the Lord's Supper.
Our reading today from the Second London Baptist Confession of 1689 comes today from chapter 30 of the Lord's Supper, paragraph 8. All ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with Christ, so are they unworthy of the Lord's table, and cannot, without great sin, against Him, while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto. Yea, whosoever shall receive unworthily are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, eating and drinking judgment to themselves." We finish today our teaching in the Lord's Supper. Last week we focused on worthy receivers. Today we shift our focus onto those who are unworthy of partaking of the Lord's Supper, and the consequences of partaking in an unworthy manner.
Let's understand what is meant with these two groups mentioned in our paragraph. First, those who are unworthy. Our confession describes them as ignorant and ungodly persons. These persons are unbelievers, they're unconverted. The helmet of Brackel gives a comprehensive description of them.
The ignorant persons who do not even have an intellectual knowledge of Christ's person, nature, suretieship, humiliation, and exaltation, nor of the necessity of the atonement and efficacy of Christ's death. They are not humbled by their sins and can live peacefully without seeking for reconciliation in Christ. They have no exercise of faith, nor are they engaged in choosing Christ to be their surety, in longing for Him, yearning for Him, fleeing to Him with prayers and supplications, receiving Him unto justification and sanctification, surrendering to Him, making Him the heart's desire and living in union with Him. And finally, their life is entirely in this world. They desire long, they desire, they long for, seek, concern themselves with, love, delight in, and are anxious about earthly things, only that is the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.
The Lord's Supper is not for them. They do not know Christ nor have they ever known him. Paul warns us, do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness, and what communion has light with darkness, and what accord has Christ with Belial, or What part has a believer with an unbeliever and what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God, 2 Corinthians 6, 14 through 16. When we are partaking of the Lord's Supper, we are communing with Christ.
We are communing with the body of Christ, His church. These persons, unbelievers, are not even members of a Christian church. Thus, they are unqualified and unfit to partake of the Lord's Supper or to enjoy communion with Christ for what communion has light with darkness. When we partake in the Lord's Supper, we hear the words of Christ as recorded by Paul, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you, this dew in remembrance of me. In this cup in the New Testament in my blood, this do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me.
We're to do this in remembrance of Christ, of his sacrifice, his death. How can someone who doesn't even know Christ, nor know all that he has done, do this in remembrance of him? They can't. They are unworthy of the Lord's table. In fact, it would be a great sin against Christ for them to partake of these holy mysteries.
But notice what word is also used in the confession, or be admitted thereunto. It would be a great sin against Christ for ignorant and ungodly persons to be even admitted to the Lord's table. They should not be allowed to participate. The confession is taking the stand that the elders of the church or the pastors should not let an unbeliever partake in the Lord's Supper. Some would describe this as fencing the table, that is, declaring that the Lord's Supper is only for baptized believers walking in fellowship with Christ and with each other, that any unbelievers are not welcome to come forward at that time.
This is not done from a spirit of arrogance or exclusion, but from a spirit of love and care, from a desire to protect unbelievers from the consequences and dangers of improperly celebrating the Lord's Supper. Which brings us to the second point of our paragraph today, the consequences of receiving the elements unworthily. These consequences are the guilt to the body and blood of the Lord and eating and drinking judgment to themselves. We'll first try to understand these consequences and then follow up with who is being spoken of here. First, what does it mean to be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord?
Ellicott's commentary suggests sin was the cause of that body being broken and that blood shed and therefore the one who unworthily uses the symbols of them becomes a participator in the very guilt of those who crucified that body and shed that blood. Barnes notes on the Bible states, those therefore who treated the symbols of his body and blood with profaneness and contempt were united in spirit with those who put him to death. They evinced the same feelings towards the Lord Jesus that his murderers did. They treated him with scorn, profaneness, derision, and showed that with the same spirit they would have joined in the act of murdering the Son of God. They would invent their hostility to the Savior himself as far as they could do by showing contempt for the memorials of his body and blood.
Thus those who would partake in the Lord's supper unworthily are equated with those who actually crucified Christ, who broke his body and shed His blood. By showing irreverence and contempt towards the bread and the wine which represent the body and blood of Christ indicates an indifference towards the Lord's Supper as if it were just another meal. This is not discerning the Lord's the body of Christ. Christ does not take the misuse of His supper lightly, and those who do not partake in faith and repentance risk their very lives. There is another consequence of partaking of the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner.
What does it mean eating and drinking, damnation, or judgment to themselves? John Gill explains, eternal damnation is not here meant, but with respect to the Lord's own people, who may through unbelief, the weakness of grace, and strength of corruption have unworthily behaved unworthily at the supper. Temporal chastisement, which is distinguished from condemnation with the world and is inflicted in order to prevent it. 1 Corinthians 1132. And with respect to others, it intends temporal punishment as afflictions and diseases of body or corporal death, as it is explained in 1 Corinthians 1130.
Some of the Corinthians had come under divine judgment and even death for their misuse or abuse of the Lord's table. Thus Paul stresses our need for preparation. We must partake with a right heart and in a right manner. Now who is the confession speaking to here when it says whosoever? It seems that this is speaking about believers.
Of course all of us are unworthy. We are all sinners. We don't deserve anything but eternity in hell. Our access to the table is by grace alone, just as is our salvation. The word worthily here is best understood as in a worthy manner.
It wouldn't make sense for an unbeliever to partake in a worthy manner. How could he if he didn't even have a relationship with Christ or even know who he is? It wouldn't be possible. So we can better read this phrase as believers who partake of the Lord's supper in an unworthy manner and enlist out the consequences. Dr.
Beeke explains, the supper is a sign of Christ's death for our sins and the unity of the church. It also is a means of communion with our Lord. Hence, partaking unworthily involves eating and drinking without exercising faith in Christ alone. While living in conscious refusal to repent of sin, or when acting in a way that divides Christ's church or shows irreverent disregard for His holy presence, such attitudes and actions blatantly contradict the very meaning of the supper. If we are not partaking in the Lord's supper in a worthy manner, we are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, and we eat and drink judgment to ourselves.
Paul helps us here in 1 Corinthians 11, 28, and tells us, let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. We must examine ourselves before we are to approach the table. It is our practice in our church to do this prior to reciting Christ's words of consecration and prayer. We take a moment of silence to prepare our hearts before partaking in the Lord's Supper. We need to recognize the need to prepare ourselves for the table, to make time for it, to prioritize it over other things that compete for our time.
How can we prepare when we're so busy, when we're rushing to church, when we're distracted by fussy babies or fidgeting kids or the looming demands of the coming week. There's so much to pull our thoughts away from Christ and Him crucified. Meditating on biblical truths and preparing our hearts is serious business, and it's one we shouldn't push aside or ignore. And we might even consider beginning preparations on Saturday, Saturday night, or for us, Sunday morning. Vahamas A.
Brackel offers three things to help us focus for this preparation. First, we must practice a stimulating of desire. We must practice self-examination. And finally, we must practice spiritual adornment. Let's take a moment quickly to look at what he means here on each of these.
Dr. Beeke explains what a stimulating desire would look like. Like David, we should stir up a strong desire to be in God's presence with his people. Psalm 27, four, Psalm 42, two and four and Psalm 122, one and two. We should meditate on all the benefits of the supper to increase our longing to commune more fully with God and Christ in His chambers.
We must wet our spiritual appetites and open our mouth that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. Jonathan Edwards taught that self-examination before the Lord's Supper should include asking oneself the following questions. There's four of them. Do I practice any known sin? If you live in willful rebellion against the will of God in any known commandment, you are unfit to come.
Number two, do I have a serious resolution to avoid all sin and obey all known commands as long as I live? If you intend to confess some sin in order to approach the table, only to return to that sin afterwards, you are insincere and unfit. Number three, do I entertain a spirit of hatred or envy or revenge toward my neighbor. If so, the leaven of malice and hatred makes you unfit to celebrate the Holy Feast. And number four, What is my motive for coming?
Is it to spiritually profit and grow in grace and holiness, or to seek some temporal advantage or credit, such as being accepted in the church or saving face in front of others? Only sincere motives are acceptable to the Lord. He tries men's hearts and with omniscient eyes sees with fire. This would be a lot to go through during our time of self-examination during our worship service. So I would recommend maybe spending some time the night before, in the morning before, to ask yourself these four questions and to be honest with yourself.
Give time for reflection, for dealing with what you discover. You might need time for confession or repentance, or even possibly seeking out someone to ask their forgiveness. And finally, spiritual adornment. What is that? Dr.
Beeke summarizes Brackel's explanation for spiritual adornment. And I would mention if you're not familiar with A Christian's Reasonable Service by Will Helmus Brackel, It's an excellent book. It's four volumes, so it's a little bit long, but it's very, very profitable. His addressing this section is on the Lord's Supper, I don't know, it's 20, 30 pages. And just on the spiritual adornment, he spends four or five pages.
So it's really and it's very practical as well so I would encourage you to seek that out. So Dr. Beeke summarized what's going on there. When someone is to attend a wedding He adorns himself with the very best that he has. A bride will adorn herself in a most excellent manner, so that she may be desirable to her husband and honor him.
Much more must a believer do this in order that the King may delight in his beauty. This adornment consists in reflection upon the entire work of redemption from election to Christ's death and resurrection, meditation on our unworthiness of God's love, evangelical shame over our sin, full confession of sins, prayer for forgiveness and peace of conscience, renewal of our covenantal commitment to our God and surrender to His Lordship, a sincere resolution to lead a more holy life, esteem for Christ's Church, having a heart which is moved and loved towards all God's children, and seeking with prayer and fasting the outpouring of His Spirit upon His Church. Luke records Jesus' words to the apostle, with fervent desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer from Luke 22 15. Jesus wanted to commune with his disciples in a very intimate way. And it was at this point that he instituted the Lord's Supper.
And it is with the same fervent desire that Christ desires to commune with you in his church on earth today. What about you? Where is your heart? Do you have that same fervent desire to partake of the Lord's Supper? To commune with Christ, to commune with each other.
If you are indifferent or not taking notice, perhaps you should spend some time practicing those three things that Wilhelmus Brackel recommends to prepare us for the table. I'd like to close with some words from Dr. Sproal. When we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we believe Christ is present in a special way. To pour out His tender mercy on us, to condescend to our weakness, to restore the joy of our salvation, and to assist us in the struggle for sanctification.
We enter His house, and we come to His table, and we commune with the risen Christ in a very real way. Amen.