Summary:

1. Abide in the Lord, and He will abide in us.
2. Jesus died for us. Besides being thankful, have we repaid the grace of Christ through our actions? Are we truly living for Him who died for us?

Turn to 1 Corinthians 11:23-26;
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 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 remembrance of Me.”
25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

There were 2 important reasons why the Lord Jesus personally instituted the Holy Communion:

1. For us to partake of His flesh and blood
2. To remember the Lord’s death
   Today, we cannot achieve the first aim of the Holy Communion because the Circuit Breaker has disabled us to gather in church for the Holy Communion. But we can achieve the second purpose; we can, each in our homes, remember the Lord’s death though we don’t partake of the Holy Communion.

The death of our Lord accomplished 2 great things:
1. Through His blood that was shed, He set the new covenant as the blood of the new covenant
2. By His blood, He has cleansed us our sin so that we may be saved. Through the blood He has shed, He gave us life; the life of the blood
This is an everlasting life. Turn to John 6:53-54;
Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

When we partake of the Lord’s Holy Communion, we partake of His life because the Lord said in v53;
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.

This is an everlasting life because the Lord continued to say in v54;
Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

Whenever we partake of the Holy Communion and His death, we must believe and affirm the words of the Lord Jesus. Turn to 1 Corinthians 11:29-30;

For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.

Paul reminds every believer that whoever eats and drinks not discerning the Lord’s body eats and drinks judgement onto himself. Some have been disciplined by the Lord for not discerning; some disciplines were serious to the point of death. Therefore, we must believe in the words of the Lord. We partake of His flesh and blood so that we may have life; on the last days, He shall give us life.

Recently, the speaker heard a testimony spoken by Pr Daniel Chin.
There was once when they were conducting the Holy Communion in church when one of the EXCO members saw a vision. He saw the body of a person lying on the pulpit wrapped in white cloth shining bright. When he saw that vision, he was astonished, “Why did Lord Jesus show me this vision?” In his astonishment, the body he saw turned into a bread. When he saw that sight, he immediately wept. He couldn’t control himself as he shouted out, “O Lord, forgive me of my sins!” Everyone heard him crying out loud but nobody knew what his sins were.

Later, he testified that he all along had not believed that the Bread and Cup after being blessed is the body of the Lord Jesus. All along, he believed that the Cup and Bread only symbolised the body and blood of Jesus though the ministers would always remind the believers that after the blessing the bread, it is now the body of the Lord; after blessing the cup, it is now the blood of the Lord. This brother had been converted from another Christian denomination and hence his mindset was that the Bread and Cup only symbolised the Lord’s body and was not the body itself. The Lord said clearly in the Bible, “My body is flesh indeed, my blood is drink indeed.” Though often emphasised, he didn’t believe these teachings. He felt that as long as he did not voice out his opposition, he didn’t sin; you can have your beliefs while I have mine. But he overlooked one thing — there is no win-win situation with regards to the truth because there is only one side to the truth. You have to discern for yourself what is true with regards to the Word of God.

Now, through the vision of the Lord, He wants to testify that this bread is indeed the body of the Lord. Hence, he wept because he realised that he had been wrong all along. Though he did not openly deny that this was the body of the Lord, just believing that the Holy Communion is just a symbol and not the body of Christ itself is wrong. Paul tells us clearly that if we do not discern the Lord’s body, we bring judgement onto ourselves; we will be disciplined by God. But the Lord did not punish him and gave him a vision to reveal to him his pride because he didn’t want to acknowledge his wrong. This made him feel ashamed but at the same time thankful for the Lord’s grace; hence he cried to God to forgive his sins.

God tells us in John 6:54;
Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

The Lord Jesus reminds us who partakes of His body that not only should we partake of the Holy Communion, we also need to abide in the Lord Jesus. Then, the Lord will also abide in us. If we do not abide in the Lord, the Lord will not abide in us. This is not the Lord ing us an eye for an eye. Rather, it is because though the grace of the Lord Jesus is freely given to us, the grace of the Lord Jesus is not cheap. It doesn’t mean that you can come and take it whenever you want and cast His grace aside when you don’t want it. The author of Hebrews tells us if we neglect this grace of salvation after receiving this great grace, the sin is great. Though the grace of our Lord Jesus is given to us, this grace is not cheap!

The Lord Jesus will not force anyone to come before Him to receive His grace because the grace of this living water is only given to those who truly thirst. Our Lord wants all man to receive this living water but He only calls out to those who really thirst. Therefore, we ought to have a heart of thirst as we come before our Lord. Let us thirst to abide in the Lord that He may abide in us.

Perhaps we may consider being with someone forever; even the thought of being with the other party makes you happy. Do we have the same heart of longing when we think about our Lord? Do we think of abiding in Him that He may also abide in us? This is very important because the Lord Jesus tells us very clearly that if we abide in Him and He in us, He will raise us up on the last day; where He is, there we will be also. But if we do not abide in Him today, how shall we be with Him in the future? Therefore the Lord reminds us, who have received His blood and flesh, that we should not stop at believing but TRULY believe. We don’t only believe that He is our saviour but we also believe that He is the judge to come judge the world one day. We ought to preserve ourselves in the Lord. This is one of the most important things in life.

There are different things we deem important in different phases/age of life. When we were young, there were certain things we felt were indispensable. When we lose these things, we cry out loud because these things were very important to us then. When we grow up, those things we felt were very important then have now become unimportant when we look back. We may even have memories of us placing so much importance on these things; when we think of those things, we laugh at the naivety we had in the past because we cried so loud over such small matters. When we grow up, we each have our own ideals to fulfil and there are many important things we want to fulfil. Therefore, we work hard for our ambition. However, in the twinkling of an eye, we realise that our hairs have turned white. We have been striving forward but why is it that the road ahead is not as long anymore? There is not much to go on anymore. How have we grown old in such a short time? When we’ve grown old, what is the most important thing in our lives?

There was a very lonely old man walking along the road. He saw a frog jump out of the pavement and heard a voice speaking to him, “Old man, old man, if you kiss me, i’ll become a beautiful princess!”

The old man looked around but didn’t see anyone speaking. He saw the frog and took up the frog, “Are you talking to me?”

“Yes! If you kiss me once, I’ll turn into a beautiful princess! I promise to give you wealth!”

The man laughed and put the frog in his packet. The frog jumped out, “What I’m saying is real! If you kiss me once, I’ll become a beautiful princess and give you wealth! Okay, I’ll also agree to live with you for awhile.”

The old man agreed and put the frog in the pocket. The frog jumped out again, “Why don’t you believe me? Haven’t I given you the best conditions?”

“I believe you but as you can see, I’m an old man. Beauty and wealth are not so important to me anymore. I’d rather have a talking frog to talk to.”

Indeed, when you grow old, what you thought was important is no longer important. Very often, we hear the older ones say, “It doesn’t really matter” or “nevermind”. They wouldn’t have said such things in the past because they felt that it really mattered then. Therefore they were calculative and struggled with others when they were young. There were so many things that they were once concerned over. But when age catches up, people come to the realisation that there are many things that are not so important anymore; when death comes upon us, all the things we once deemed important will come to nothing. It is only then when we come to our senses about what the Lord Jesus has said — there is only one thing that cannot be lacking, that is the Word of God.

Perhaps among the young people may agree with what the Lord Jesus has said but not fully agree right now; when you grow old, you definitely will. When death comes upon us, you will realise that all things are but empty. When the speaker was young, he often spoke of such sermons especially during evangelistic services to convince people that God gives us eternal life; or to encourage believers to the pursuit of eternal life. When the speaker thinks back to the time when he spoke such sermons and compares it to now, his experiences are different; there is a kind of agreement and realisation of these words.

Therefore, this is the reason why the Lord Jesus has not promised us the riches of this world; the Lord Jesus didn’t promise us peace of the world as well. Instead, He tells us that in the world we will have tribulations; blessed are those who are poor! This is because He has promised what is most important in life, that is everlasting life. Eternal life is what’s most important because the promise of everlasting life can give comfort to those facing death. The Lord Jesus has prepared for us a place in heaven and one day He will come to receive us back. Where the Lord is, there we will be as well. Hence, as we remember the Lord’s death, let us also remember His word. John 6:54
”Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
This is our joy and hope, this is a hope that is good beyond measure.

The life of the blood does not only refer to eternal life but also the life of love. When soldiers of a country die in the battlefield, the blood that was shed tells us that they love their country and they sacrificed themselves for the country. The Lord Jesus sacrificed His blood for us on the cross and died; His blood tells us that He loves us and gave Himself for us. There are many in this world who have sacrificed Himself to save others. Paul tells us that there will be people who will be willing to die for the righteous or good men but no one is willing to die for a sinner. Only Jesus was willing to die for us when we were still sinners. As a result, the love of our Lord Jesus was manifested towards us.

We know how much the Lord Jesus loves us but do we know how to repay His love?
We read 2 Corinthians 5:14-15;

14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;
15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

Every Christian is thankful for the Lord’s love but not every Christian is serious about repaying His love. You may say, “I feel so thankful for His love, isn’t this already a manifestation of repayment?” Since young, we’ve been taught to be thankful to the people who give us gifts. This is basic courtesy. Many people are courteous but most are selfish because they only know how to receive but do not know how to repay. If one does not give to them, they complain that he is without love. They have received so much grace, yet do not repay; where is their love?
Did the Lord Jesus die for us just so that we can be thankful for His love? Paul tells us clearly that the Lord died for us so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died and rose again. This is what the Lord looks forward to; He died for us but He doesn’t expect us to die for Him. In reality, not everyone is able to die for the Lord. That is very special grace because that is a very special glory. The Lord Jesus doesn’t expect everyone to die for Him, but the Lord Jesus expects everyone to live for Him. He has good reason for such an expectation - before He expects this from us, He has already died for us. His only expectation is that those who live should die for Him. If we truly believe in Him and understand His love, let us no longer live for ourselves but for Him.

Besides continuing to take care of our own family, we should also take care of His household. Besides sacrificing our time and service to support our family, we have to learn to sacrifice out time to serve the family of the Lord. This is because we know that He has died for us and He expects us to live for Him. But very often, because of the busyness of life, our hearts are weighed down by the matters of this life. Therefore, we know the great love that Jesus has, and we know we need to repay, but we are unable to. It isn’t the case that we don’t want to repay His love, but we delay it. We tell ourselves, ‘Yes, one day, I’ll definitely repay Him, one day I’ll live for Him!’

As we continue delaying, our love and desire for the Lord Jesus also dies down. Our Lord Jesus does not want us to be lost in the matters of the world. Hence, the Lord Jesus wants us to conduct the Holy Communion and as often as we do, to remember His death. It is not just a reminder that He died, shed His blood and delivered us. In our reminder, we must remember this: the Lord has died for me, I ought to live for Him!

Let us consider: When can I really begin living for Him? When will I begin to think more of the love of the Lord and less of the matters of this world?

Turn to 1 Peter 1:24-25;

24 because “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away,
25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.”

All these are words spoken by the elderly. Peter, in his old age, wrote his epistles to remind us young people, “All flesh is as grass. All the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, the flower falls away.”

Are we imagining this image in our minds - the scene of a beautiful flower withering? Or right now, are we thinking of other things? Whenever the flower blooms, people are astonished. Whenever the flower withers, people lament. The blooming and withering of the flower tells us that good things in the world do not last. The things we are proud of, such as our beauty, wealth, and accomplishments, are just like the flower. This is not like grass. In the field, we see a field of grass but only a few flowers. Not many people are beautiful though many may think so; and not many are rich. The truly beautiful and rich are likened to the few flowers in the field; they are really special. But so what? One day, they will wither. When the grass withers, how long can the flower last? Though it may be beautiful, it won’t be beautiful for long. Therefore, the next verse reminds us in v25;
”the word of the Lord endures forever”

If we really believe, shouldn’t we esteem the Word of God? Our theme for this SM is ‘Loving the Bible’. The Bible is not just light and hope during this time and gloom of the pandemic. More importantly, the Bible will lead us to the path everlasting. We ought to esteem the Word of God. If our desire is to be that beautiful flower of the field, no matter how much we want to retain this beauty, we will realise that it is ultimately just a dream. When will we awake to our sense that these things are fatal? The Lord Jesus has told us solemnly that “man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds by the mouth of God.”

Only the Word of God endures forever. How many who are still living in their dreams will be awakened by these words of our Lord? The Lord Jesus cries out to us, to no longer sleep but wake up, lest we fall into temptation. When we see others falling into temptation, will we continue in our ways? Or will we stop, reflect and ponder? Therefore, we ought to always preserve ourselves that we may abide in the Lord, that the Lord will also abide in us. On the last days, the Lord will raise us up. Where the Lord is, there we will be also.