The Lord is My Portion

Well, as I said, good morning. It's good to have all of you here. As a church, this past week has been fairly busy, and it's not been slowing down. And I wanted to say that I am very grateful for our church, that just the life that there is. There's not much busyness with things that are dead. Busyness, you can't have... that's just for the sake of busyness, but I don't think that we have that. I think the busyness that we have is the busyness of life and of growth and of health. And so it's encouraging for me to see how committed everyone is and how to the work of the church and the events that happen at our church and throughout the life. And it's an encouragement. And it's something that I think demonstrates a love for one another. And so that's great. Continue in it.

Don't be grumbling about the work. Be joyful in it. Well, let's turn to Psalm 119. We will be reading verses 57 through 64. This is the chet stanzas. The first verse is probably, I would guess, one of the more familiar verses in Psalm 119, or maybe on the second tier of familiar verses. And it says that the Lord is my portion. The Lord is my portion. This morning, I want us to consider if the Lord is your portion, if you would claim him as your portion, and if you would claim that the Lord is your portion, if your life actually reflects that. My aim is to exhort you and to strengthen you. I want to exhort you to claim God as your portion, and I want to exhort you to live that way.

That he is your portion. I also want us to be strengthened because throughout the difficulties of this life, the fact that God is our portion helps us to go through all sorts of trials and temptations and troubles. The hope and the joy of a Christian is in knowing that the Lord is their portion. That our inheritance is not of this world, but our inheritance is God. what we're going to do, the structure of this sermon is the majority of it will be on the first verse and the first half of the first verse, which is the Lord is my portion. Because what happens is when the psalmist declares this, the rest of the verses sort of flow out from that fact. So we're going to talk about that and then we'll look at how the other verses fit in. Please stand for the reading of God's word.

This is Psalm 119, 57 through 64. The Lord is my portion. I have promised to keep your words. I sought your favor with all my heart. Be gracious to me according to your word. I considered my ways and turned my feet to your testimonies. I hastened and did not delay to keep your commandments. The cords of the wicked have encircled me, but I have not forgotten your law. At midnight, I shall rise to give thanks to you because of your righteous ordinances. I am a companion of all those who fear you and of those who keep your precepts. The earth is full of your loving kindness, O Lord. Teach me your statutes. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. The Lord is my portion. Now, the first thing...

I would like to point out, which I guess on our screen, it's not this way, but if you have a NASB Bible, when you read the Lord, you'll notice Lord is all capitalized. And the idea is, in Genesis, when you go through the book of Genesis, the word for God is Elohim, which is sort of a generic name for God. And then once we hit... Exodus chapter 3, God reveals himself in a unique way to Israel. And the name that he reveals himself is a name that's spelled Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh. We call that the Tetragrammaton. It's commonly called Yahweh. The true pronunciation of that we don't really know because the Jews, out of reverence, I would argue a misplaced reverence of God would not speak that name. Maybe it started in a good place, but God had given them his covenant name. And so when you read through your Bibles to help us understand what name for God is being used, often they will have Lord in all capital letters. And that is to say that that is the covenant name of the Lord. That is Yahweh.

So as we read that, we should make note of it. The only, on a side note, the only difference would be when it's Lord God, Adonai is the name for Lord, and Yahweh is the name for God. So rather than translating it Lord, Lord, they'll say Lord God. So usually in a double phrase like that, it would be Adonai, Yahweh. Now, why do I bring this up? Well, a couple reasons. One is that How God reveals himself to us is very important. And in scripture, because we believe that every word is inspired by God, it's very important that we understand the words that we're reading in it. And so I want you to understand what you're reading more clearly. And to do that, I would encourage you that when you have a Bible, you ought to look at the foreword in which the translators tell you what they're doing in the text. And they'll tell you things like, The reason why Lord is all capitalized is because we're referring to this specific covenantal name of God, which is Yahweh. But the main reason I bring it up this Sunday is because the name is the covenant name of God. And so when the psalmist makes this claim that God is his portion, he's talking about something in particular. He's talking about the God of Israel. He's talking about the God who had covenanted himself to...

Now, when we want to understand what he means by the word portion, it's hopeful for us to go back to the book of Joshua. Now, everyone loves the first 12 chapters of Joshua. They're exciting. They are a thrilling read. But once you get to chapter 13, who knows what happens in chapter 13? Yes, the land is a portion to everyone, right? And that's when our eyes start glazing because it is, we send out these spies who get all the allotments of the land and then it's so many names of cities that we can't hardly pronounce and saying that this portion of the land goes to this tribe and this portion of the land goes to this tribe.

Every tribe gets a distinct area and cities. They all have boundaries. And the inheritance goes from father to son within that tribe. And now you say, well, what would happen if a man only has daughters? Well, that actually happens, right? We have the daughters of Zelophehad. And the leaders come and say, well, what do we do in this situation? And what God says is they have to marry within the tribe. So intermarriage within tribes was fine as long as there was a son to inherit the land, the portion, right? But when it came to there only being daughters within a family, they had to marry within the tribes so that the lands did not get confused. So it's an important thing, these portionings of the land, this dividing of the land. However, there is one tribe which is unique in all of this.

And that is the tribe of Levi. Levi does not get a land. They do not get a portion. Now, to understand why that is, we go even further back to the book of Numbers. And in Numbers 20, God gives instructions about the priests and the inheritance that the priests should receive to Aaron. And this is what he says. The Lord said to Aaron, you shall have no inheritance in their land. nor own any portion amongst them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel. So think about this. The dividing of the land is so important, half the book of Joshua is given to it. And all the tribes get it. And it's so important, the Lord limits who would be able to be, like who women could marry in particular tribes if they didn't have a brother to inherit the land. So this is all really important, right?

All the tribes get land and a territory to conquer and to pass on to their sons, but not Levi. Levi does not get that sort of inheritance. Their inheritance is God. Now, we might ask ourselves, who got the better inheritance? Who had it better? Now, when you say all the 11 of the tribes get the land, And the cities and the vineyards and all this stuff. And then the Levites don't get that. We think, well, obviously, the other tribes must have it better. But then when we say the Levites have their inheritance as God, you may feel obligated to say, well, obviously, Levi had it better then. Because we know God's better than that. But I think often in our thinking, we actually practically think that Levi probably got shorted. But the Levites.

It's not a random thing that they don't get land and instead they inherit God. The Levites are actually a picture that should teach us. The psalmist here does not doubt or waver who had the better inheritance. It was Levi. Levi had the best inheritance. When we claim God as our portion, we are saying that we have an inheritance that is better and is greater. than anything the world has to offer. Thomas Manton, the Puritan pastor, says that we are to be spiritual Levites, that that's the tribe we should want to associate with, the one who had God as their portion and inheritance. This is better. And think about this. How many times in Scripture are we told that the spiritual is greater and better?

It's the pearl of great price. You can gain the whole world as your portion, but if you lose your soul, what have you gained? Don't fear those who can merely kill your body, but fear him who can cast body and soul into hell. And so we have to have spiritual eyes to understand that the portion with which we have in God is better than anything that the world has to offer or can offer. And yet, So much of our lives, I'm afraid, are caught up and grasping at earthly portions. I'm going to read this quote from Jeremiah Burroughs. This comes from his book, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. And bear with me because it's archaic. But he's getting at this point and he illustrates it really well. A little in the world will content a Christian for his passage.

Mark, here lies the mystery of it. A little in the world will content a Christian for his passage, but all the world and 10,000 times more will not content a Christian for his portion. A carnal heart will be content with these things of the world for his portion. And that is the difference between a carnal heart and a gracious heart. But a gracious heart says, Lord, do with me what you will for my passage through this world. I will be content with that, but I cannot be content with all the world for my portion. So here's the mystery of true contentment. A contented man, though he is more contented with the least things in the world, yet he is the most dissatisfied man that lives in the world. In other words, A Christian can be satisfied with very little when it comes through his journey in this world. Food, clothing, shelter, whatever God provides is enough for the Christian. But nothing, nothing in this world can ever satisfy him as to his portion, his inheritance. The unbeliever is content to make the world his portion, but the believer says, Lord, you are my portion.

The world is just the road I travel. A Christian can be content with any amount of provision in this world, but he will never be content with the world, no matter how great and how awesome the promises of this world seem to be. Why? Because the Christian's portion is God. The world's not great enough. It's not satisfying enough. It's not big enough. Because what is greater than God? Earthly portions get lost, right? Our riches rust. They're stolen. They fail. Honor is fleeting. Fame is fleeting. Friends can come and go. They betray us. Your earthly portions will leave you unsatisfied. And when you die, they're gone. He who dies with the most toys dies.

But a heavenly portion is what? It's free. What can you do to earn God as your portion? Nothing. It's free and it's sufficient. And we have to remember that the way we use sufficient is not how it's used when the Puritans are talking about it, right? We think of sufficient as being bare minimum, like just it's adequate, right? But that's not a biblical concept of God being sufficient. Like it's full. It can't hold more. It's the cup that runs over. So a heavenly portion is free. It's sufficient. It satisfies. It satisfies every longing of the heart. It's deeper and richer than any worldly portion can be. And it does not end.

In fact, when you die, you'll come into the full realization of the portion that you have in the Lord. It's not left here. And in this world, we don't fully realize what it means to have the Lord as our portion. It's not until we get to heaven that we'll actually realize it. And then it's going to take us all of eternity to actually learn what it means. But how true is this of us? I'm afraid too often we are contented with the world and we forget that we should only be contented with God as our portion and our inheritance. A little further down, and we'll talk about this more in a minute, but the psalmist considers his ways. Consider your ways. What do you fear? What makes you angry? How much do you worry about your stuff and about money? You know, When I think about what makes us angry and upset, sometimes it makes me wonder if we care more about this world than the one to come. If we think that our portion here, the toys we have here, the stuff we have here, is more real to us and better to us than the portion that we have in the Lord. It's backwards. Now, don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that this world doesn't matter. The world matters. Our bodies matter.

Our bodies in this world are vitally important to us. But why they're important to the Christian is drastically different than why they're important to the worldling. For the unbeliever, this world matters because it is all that they have. It is appointed unto man to die once, and then the judgment. And in the judgment, they will lose everything. Their portion is with Satan in hell. All the good things that they receive will be in this life and in this life only. So of course they have a mad scrabble over it because the grave is emptiness in their mind. They must eat, drink and be merry today because tomorrow they will die and they will have nothing to eat, drink or be merry about at that point. And so if this world is all that they have, then they are going to fight and argue and live.

and act in such a way as if this world is all that they have, because it is. But as Christians, that ought not to be us, because this world is not all that we have. Now, it's important because how we live and act and move here has an impact on our inheritance in heaven, our portion in heaven. We work hard and discipline our bodies so that we will bring a greater joy and pleasure and glory to our Father in heaven. It's not irrelevant how we live here, but we don't live here for the good things of this life. We live here to glorify our Father in heaven, to strive after that greater inheritance. And so we ought to consider what our fear and our anxiety say about us.

Do we live for the things of eternity or the things of now? And maybe a good question to ask would be, what would our coworkers say? What would your wife say? What would your husband say? What would others say as they look at your family that you're living for? Would they say, it doesn't make sense. It seems like the things of this world do not have a hold over him. Seems like he's living for something else. Having declared that the Lord is his portion in verse 57, the psalmist then goes on to show us what such a life looks like. Verses 58 through 64 unfold the marks of a person who has God as his inheritance. Says, the Lord is my portion. I have promised to keep your words. See, faith and obedience are inseparable. If we say that, God is our portion, that he is the goal, the end of our life, that he is the one that brings meaning and fullness to it, then we must be obligating ourselves to obey him. And it's hopeful the psalmist sets a good example for us in declaring the Lord is my portion. I have promised to keep your words because resolve is necessary for us.

Resolve helps strengthen us when times of temptation come because our hearts are fickle. They're prone to wander. So public and private promising, covenanting helps strengthen our obedience. Formally stating our resolve before God and others helps us to be resolved to obey when hardships come. This is part, I mean, the most common ways that we see this are in baptism. And in marriage. But it's a strength. It's a strength when we take vows of membership. That are public. Because we're saying. This is who we will be. And these are the things we're promising to do. And then we should consider the vows that we've made. And that should help strengthen us. If nothing else. Because maybe our desires are going one way. But we gave our word. So we won't follow the desires. That are fickle.

And so this is instructive that if the Lord is our portion, we ought to resolve to follow God wherever he leads, whatever commands that he gives. Then the psalmist goes on and he says, I've sought your favor with all of my heart. Be gracious to me according to your word. The psalmist is living for God's favor, not anyone else's. Now think about this. How many movies or books or things have you read where the plot of the story is, there's the rich aunt or uncle or someone who has all the money, and then there's the inheritor of that money, and their whole life is lived in fear of offending the person who's going to inherit them with all the money, right?

So they're constantly living and trembling and the whole plot of the story is, well, they offended the person and now they're trying to get back at the person's good graces because they want to inherit the portion, right? Well, it's not that we earn our portion by our good works from God. It's a free gift, but it's gracious, right? He says, be gracious to me according to your word, the promises within scripture. But we ought to live in such a way is that we gain the favor of God. We ought to see, okay, he's made these promises. We ought to live in such a way that we would be worthy of the inheritance that he's promised us of. And so we need God's favor, not man's. So some of you, some of you have a lot of difficulties right now with family. And you have to think, whose favor am I living for? Who do I want to have peace with, right?

And so this gets really practical because we all feel pressure to gain the favor of someone. And the psalmist is saying the favor that we need is God's favor. We ought to seek that. So when we take a stand in our families for truth and righteousness and holiness, we have to trust in having God's favor rather than our parents or our siblings or maybe our teacher. You're convicted because they lied or they spoke or they blasphemed God. And you say, I need to speak up. Whose favor are you seeking? If you're seeking your teachers, if you're seeking your bosses, if you're seeking man's, then you'll be quiet. But if we seek God's favor, then that will inform the decisions that we make and the way that we live our lives. Because we're more concerned about the Lord and living.

and obedience to him and his word than about the favor of man? Is there anything more precious than dying and coming before the Lord and hearing, well done, good and faithful slave. Enter the joy of my rest. If you wanna hear those words, live for God's favor. And remember this, the second part of that is that God is gracious. So trust God in seeking his favor because he is your portion. You can have hope in the fear of loss of a relationship and in the tensions that come because God is gracious and he operates according to his word and in it are rich and deep promises. We're told again and again in scripture.

that we ought to put God first. And when he does, when we seek his kingdom first, all the things will be added to us. Remember, he says that if we love father and mother, and it's not just father and mother, but father, it is father and mother, but because those are like the closest relationship you can have. And he says, if you love them more than me, you're unworthy of anything. But if we love God the most and put him first, Then you will gain life. Well, the psalmist goes on and he says, I have considered my ways and turned my feet to your testimonies. See, the psalmist claims God as his portion. He promises to keep God's word. He says, I have sought your favor. Now he considers and he says, well, have I done that? Or where am I failing to do these things that I've set out to do?

This is a deliberate, careful consideration of his way. This is something that the proud man refuses to do. The proud man, when he is confronted, has an answer. He doesn't listen. He has an answer for every consideration that's brought to his attention as to how he may not be seeking God's favor or may be in sin. He's wise in his own eyes. When he enters a room, no one is as smart as him. The proud man, when he fails, always blames someone else. It's their fault. He never considers that his way may be the problem. Consider your ways. This is something that we need to do. If you're a Christian, you need to consider your way. Examine your way. We have to be doing this and we have to be doing it regularly. Why? Because we have to be repenting.

And this is what the psalmist does. He examines his way, he considers it, and then he turns from it. Today is a communion Sunday. Paul warns, we ought not to partake of communion if we have not rightly judged ourselves. Are we walking in our own way or in the way of the Lord? Now, notice, this is important for some of us. We do consider our ways, right? All we do is sit here and think and think about what we've done. The psalmist doesn't just sit there and think about the things that he's done. He turns. This is important, right? We ought to consider our ways, which is what some of us need to hear. Some of us do have a tendency to consider our ways, but do we then turn? We must repent of every way in which we are out of align with God's way.

When you do this, you may leave others behind, but that's okay. We follow God. If he is to be our portion, we must unreservedly obey him and it will be worth it. Well, he goes on and he says, I hastened, it did not delay to keep your commandments. It's not good enough, as I was just saying, it's not good enough to just consider your way, but then you have to change. And he says, I hastened quickly. What do we tell our kids? Delayed obedience is disobedience. Obey right away, all the way and with a happy heart. How often have you sat in church on Sunday morning and been so convicted of your sin? And Monday morning, you couldn't say one word what happened in the sermon. You just don't remember. Because we were convicted and we didn't do anything quickly. And then we forget. How often?

Have you been convicted? I see this problem. I need to say something. And then you don't. Well, it's not a convenient time. I'll go back to doing it. But then you start rationalizing why you don't actually have to do it. And so slowly, we don't act. We don't hasten to obey. And then we just don't obey. Our hearts are deceitful and we can so easily rationalize our way out of being convicted of a sin or of acting in the way that God has called us to act. By Monday, we forgot what we were convicted of on Sunday. We're convicted to act and we wait. The opportunity becomes lost. We talk ourselves out of it. And so the considering of our ways is something that we must do, but we also must be quick to repent.

and quick to obey and not give our fickle hearts time to decide we didn't actually have to obey. In 61, the psalmist says, the cords of the wicked have encircled me, but I have not forgotten your law. See, we live in a very poor, fallen world. We're surrounded by wicked people. And at different points, we're more... or less surrounded by these wicked people. And as we are, we're always given a choice. Do we forget God's law, or do we follow God's law? What happens when we're at school, or at work, when we're being observed by unbelievers, reveals much about us, and much of where our hope is placed. If we truly believe that God is our portion, then we have a hope which is beyond this world. We have our eyes set high. And it will give us the strength to withstand the pressures of the ungodly. Because we'll have something that no matter how angry they get, how bitter they get, no matter what they say or do to us, we know we have an inheritance that's beyond their touch and control.

And so it can strengthen us to withstand the temptations and the pressures put on us by wicked men because we know we have that of which they cannot comprehend or touch. So we don't need to fear what they can do because it's beyond their capabilities to affect our portion. The worst they can do is touch our stuff or our body. Again, Thomas Manton says that external pressures discover the soundness of our choice. If God be our portion, the loss of other things will not make us quit his service. And the pressure that we have of being surrounded by wicked men and their snares will prove to us, will help reveal to us how much of our hope is in this world and this stuff and how much of it is in the Lord and him being our portion.

and our hope, and our joy, and our strength. He goes on and he says, at midnight I shall rise to give thanks to you because of your righteous ordinances. You know, maybe perhaps the most striking thing about him rising at midnight is, like, how many of us rise to give thanks during the day? But he's so full of joy and he sees his sins and he sees the Lord as his portion that when he's awake, he's just giving thanks. God is so great to him that his thought at midnight when he wakes up or when he can't sleep. It's not how miserable his life is and how his enemies are surrounding him, but it's of the Lord's portion and of God's goodness and mercy and graciousness to him. So he's giving thanks. And he's not laying in bed doing it, hoping to fall back asleep. He wakes up and he goes and gets up and rejoices and gives thanks. And I think this is a foreign concept to us. I mean, to think that maybe the wakefulness that we have at night means that we should consider our ways.

repent of them and give thanks to god don't waste it he goes on and he says i am a companion of all those who fear you and of those who keep your precepts those who have the lord as their portion have a love for others who fear god partially because we can understand each other and the world can't understand us who are your best friends If your best friends are unbelievers, you need to examine your ways carefully and see if you are not compromising your faith when you're around them. Because your paths are very different. It shouldn't be a seamless friendship. Bad company corrupts good morals. See, the proud man has friends who are scoffers. Men who always agree with him and who don't push back on his ideas. They won't fight with him. They won't tell him when he's out of line and he's being stupid.

Not so the Christian. The Christian has friends who are God-fearers. Everywhere the Christian goes, they have kinship with other believers. And that is on a deeper level and a sounder kinship than blood, than culture. Fearing God is an incredible bond that Christians share because they have an inheritance. in a portion that's not of this world. It unites Christians in a love and in a kinship that can't be comprehended by those who do not fear God. You know, this is something that Ruthianna and I have experienced both when we went down to Florida and when we were first moving here, where you meet people, you stay in someone's house who don't know you from Adam.

But there was a Christian who said, hey, these are Christians and they need a place to stay. Could they stay in your house? And they welcomed you with open arms saying, oh, you're a Christian? We're Christians. And there's just a sweetness to the fellowship knowing that though we may differ on theology in ways and differ in our ideas on raising kids or whatever, any number of things, but what we do is we both have a fear of the Lord. And so it's a bond that unites us deeper than any other thing. You may have distance between you and your family because of sin. They may be distancing from you because you're being faithful to God. But remember, God is gracious. And he has provided a family in the church. In the church, we have brothers and sisters that are closer than those who share our blood but reject God. And so give yourself to the church.

Have family within the church, a love that can help strengthen and sustain us when we have endless conflict amongst family because of undealt with sins or because of rejection of God. Find comfort in the unity that we have with believers who fear the Lord, whose goal is the same as yours, to find God as their portion. Finally, he says that the earth is full of the Lord's loving kindness. And, you know, probably one of the couple Hebrew words that most people should know or know, chesed, right? God's chesed, his loving kindness, his mercy, his faithfulness, this covenantal union that he has with his people. But it's God is love, right?

And so that suffuses the world. Even in the midst of the corruption of the world, if you look, you can see the loving kindness that God has for his people and for his creation. We cannot hope to keep up our walk with God on our own, but we should not fear because God is faithful. Think about all the stories in scripture. God, who is faithful to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and David. and Daniel, and Peter, and Paul, and to my parents, and to me. Look at Hebrews 11 and see God's chesedness, his fullness of loving kindness and mercy to his people. And don't just look at scripture, but look in your own life and see how God's been faithful to you. Look at the lives of the other Christians in your family and see how God's been kind to them.

Look at the world. When has the sun failed to rise? God is full of loving kindness and it spills out to the whole world, his grace, which is common to man. So we ought to look at that and we ought to take comfort and strength in the fact that God is full of loving kindness. So is the Lord your portion? The psalmist doesn't just claim the Lord as his portion. He lives it. He loves it. If the Lord's your portion, these things that we've talked about should mark your life. You should be someone who's resolved to keep God's word, who's seeking God's favor above everyone else's. You should be considering your ways and turning towards God's testimonies. You should be obeying without delay, standing firm when surrounded by wicked men, giving thanks at all times.

You should be walking with those who fear the Lord and trusting in God's covenant love. Remember, the earthly portions are fragile, easily lost. They will disappoint and they will not go beyond the grave. But if God is our portion, we have a free inheritance that's sufficient and satisfying that will last beyond all death. It's better than land. It's better than riches. It's better than your reputation. It's better than any comfort you can find in this world. We should be spiritual Levites saying that the Lord is my inheritance. So examine yourself. Does your life reflect that God is your portion? Reject lesser portions, lesser inheritances. Seek God's favor. Obey him and take courage in the fact that God is steadfast in his love. And he delights to give good things to his people. May we, like the psalmist, declare and live that the Lord is our portion. Let's pray. Father God, we come before you and we thank you. We thank you that in you we have a greater inheritance, a lasting inheritance, more than us poor sinners.

could comprehend or even hope for. We ask that you would help us to live as children of you, that we would not live for the things of this world, that our lives would be markedly different than those around us, that as administrations turn over and as stock markets go up and down and as we have losses and as we have trouble in our families, that we would not respond or act as Those who have no hope or whose hope only resides in this world. But may we live and have the joy and the strength and the comfort of someone who knows that our hope and strength is beyond this world. It's untouchable. Help us to see this and to grow in the delight that we can have knowing that we are not dependent on this feeble, broken world. But we have a hope in a world that is going to be made new.

And unblemished. We pray this in Christ's holy and precious name. Amen. We have the pleasure of taking the Lord's Supper today. The elders would please come forward. The words of institution in 1 Corinthians. Paul says this. For I receive from the Lord that which I also delivered to you. That the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took the bread. Giving thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And in the same way, he took the cup also 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.

Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason, many among you are weak and sick and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home so that you will not come together for judgment. The remaining matters I will arrange when I come. What we have here in the Lord's Supper is a testament to the portion that we have in God.

It's a reminder of that one day, all those who are his people will come to heaven and we won't have some bread and wine that's a little crusty. Rather, we'll have a whole wedding feast laid out. This is to give us hope. It's a promise of the great feast that is to come and the joy that is to come when we are in the presence of the Lord. No, this is not merely just to remind us of that reality so that we have these thoughts. It's more than that. The Lord's Supper, in the Lord's Supper, Christ is here. He's present with us, but not in a carnal physical sense so that as we eat the bread, we're not actually chewing up Christ's body. There's nothing magical about this table. Rather, the power of the table.

comes from those who have faith and have faith that is united with the power of the Holy Spirit. And in it, we don't rip Christ back down to earth. Rather, spiritually, we ascend to be with him. This table reminds us of the forgiveness that we have in Christ, that we are not worthy to be with him on our own merits. We're all filthy sinners. We must be cleansed by the blood of Christ. And so this represents the cleansing work of Christ and the nourishment that we find in him. It's a bond and a pledge. It's us saying that we are with Christ and Christ saying he is with us and that he will sustain us. It's what we talked about a little bit in Sunday school this morning, that he who began a good work and you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. That's the bond of Christ to us as his people.

that he will not neglect us, that he will not leave us to figure it out on our own. And it's us pledging to him that we are his people and that we are united with him. And that is why there are such strict warnings given. This meal is for those who fear and love the Lord, not for those who live in unrepentant sin. Because in this table, what's represented is Christ. who died because of our sin. And so to give yourself over to sin and not repent is to blaspheme this table, is to blaspheme Christ, because he died to break the power of sin. And you cannot be giving yourself over to sin as if Christ did not die and break its power. It's a lie. And so if we live in unrepentant sin, then this table is not for us.

This table is also not for those who are not a member of a church or seeking membership. Because again, this is a family meal. And it's a pledge saying, I am one with Christ. I am with him. But if you're not with him, if you reject his body, then you're not invited to the feast, the wedding feast. And so you must be a member of a church. You must be a member in good standing who's not under discipline. Because if you're under discipline, it means there's disunity. And first, you must go back and be reunited. That wrong must be righted before you can say that you have unity with Christ and unity with the body. Because we're partaking of one cup and one bread, which means we're unified in love. And so we must examine ourselves. Paul says that those who partake unworthily are sick.

Dying or dead doesn't mean that they fell asleep in church. They died to protect them potentially from further judgment, from having partaken unworthily. And so this is a serious work that we must look at ourselves and see if we're living in an unrepentant sin and if we need to repent of that before we come to the Lord's table. However, we should remember that this is actually a sweet time. In this table, we also see God's forgiveness that we could not be broken for our own sins. It wouldn't be enough. Our blood could be shed every last drop and it wouldn't be enough. We need Christ. We need his forgiveness. We need his sustaining power. And that's what's shown forth in this table. And so this is medicine for the poor and the sick who find hope in Jesus.

who hate their sins, but find joy in the Savior. And if that's you, if you look to Christ alone for your hope and salvation, and you reject your sin, and you confess, and you consider your ways and turn from those paths to follow Christ, then you are more than welcome. Christ calls to you to remember the sacrifice that he did and to take joy and find hope in that. Let's pray.