Since we are about to partake of the Lord’s Supper and Christ gives us to partake of His body and blood, given and shed for us for the remission of our sins, it is fitting that we heed the words of Scripture and examine ourselves before partaking of Christ’s Supper.

“But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body” (1 Cor. 11:28-29).

In order to examine ourselves and see if we are truly sorry for our sins, if we trust in Christ Jesus and His sacrifice upon the cross for the remission of our sins, and if we, as a fruit of our faith and with the help and aid of God the Holy Ghost, desire to amend our lives and live in accord with God’s Word, it is helpful for us to do so by examining ourselves based upon God’s Ten Commandments.

Today, we examine ourselves in the light of His first commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods.” What does this mean? “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”

Here, we must ask ourselves, Do I love the LORD God with all my heart, mind and soul (cf. Matthew 22:37-38)?

In examining ourselves, we consider the question as to whether God is truly honored as God in our lives. Is He first and foremost in our life? Does our worship and service of God come before all else? Or do we first seek our own will and desires? Do we place earthly goods, pleasures and ambitions before God? Do we put our own family, spouse, or children before God? It is easy to say we love God, but the proof of that is often not borne out in our lives.

Do we trust in God above all else? Or, do we trust in ourselves, our abilities, our jobs, our wealth or even in other gods or images of God made in our own likeness?

Do we seek to honor Him with our lives and all He gives us? Do we honor Him with our firstfruits, give in faith, serve Him with our lives, speak of Him to our neighbors?

In all these things we come short. We fail to measure up. We stand condemned by God’s commandment, and the wages of our sin is death!

Do you acknowledge that you have sinned? Do you confess and agree with God that you are guilty and deserving of his wrath and punishment? Do you believe God’s commandment is good and right but you are wrong, a sinner deserving of the torments of hell?

The Bible says: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal. 3:10).

But the Bible also tells us that “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Gal. 3:13).

Do you trust that Christ Jesus has truly redeemed you from the curse of God’s law? That He fulfilled its righteous demands and truly loved God with all His heart, mind and soul; but that He also then took your sins upon Himself, along with the sins of the whole world, and suffered your just punishment when He died upon the cross? Do you believe that Christ paid for your sins when he died upon the cross and that he rose again in victory?

Do you also believe Jesus gives you to partake of His sacrifice for the sins of the world in the Sacrament – that He gives you His body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins?

As a fruit of your faith, do you truly desire and seek God’s help to amend your life and live it to respect, love and trust in God above all else?

If you are truly sorry for your sins and look to Christ and His atoning sacrifice upon the cross for pardon and forgiveness, I announce unto you the grace of God and, in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Christian Questions with Their Answers (from http://www.bookofconcord.org)
Prepared by Dr. Martin Luther for those who intend to go to the Sacrament

[The “Christian Questions with Their Answers,” designating Luther as the author, first appeared in an edition of the Small Catechism in 1551, five years after Luther’s death].

After confession and instruction in the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the pastor may ask, or Christians may ask themselves these questions:

1. Do you believe that you are a sinner? Yes, I believe it. I am a sinner.

2. How do you know this? From the Ten Commandments, which I have not kept.

3. Are you sorry for your sins? Yes, I am sorry that I have sinned against God.

4. What have you deserved from God because of your sins? His wrath and displeasure, temporal death, and eternal damnation. See Romans 6:21,23.

5. Do you hope to be saved? Yes, that is my hope.

6. In whom then do you trust? In my dear Lord Jesus Christ.

7. Who is Christ? The Son of God, true God and man.

8. How many Gods are there? Only one, but there are three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

9. What has Christ done for you that you trust in Him? He died for me and shed His blood for me on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.

10. Did the Father also die for you? He did not. The Father is God only, as is the Holy Spirit; but the Son is both true God and true man. He died for me and shed his blood for me.

11. How do you know this? From the holy Gospel, from the words instituting the Sacrament, and by His body and blood given me as a pledge in the Sacrament.

12. What are the Words of Institution? Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said: “Take eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.” In the same way also He took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying: “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

13. Do you believe, then, that the true body and blood of Christ are in the Sacrament? Yes, I believe it.

14. What convinces you to believe this? The word of Christ: Take, eat, this is My body; drink of it, all of you, this is My blood.

15. What should we do when we eat His body and drink His blood, and in this way receive His pledge? We should remember and proclaim His death and the shedding of His blood, as He taught us: This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.

16. Why should we remember and proclaim His death? First, so that we may learn to believe that no creature could make satisfaction for our sins. Only Christ, true God and man, could do that. Second, so we may learn to be horrified by our sins, and to regard them as very serious. Third, so we may find joy and comfort in Christ alone, and through faith in Him be saved.

17. What motivated Christ to die and make full payment for your sins? His great love for His Father and for me and other sinners, as it is written in John 14; Romans 5; Galatians 2 and Ephesians 5.

18. Finally, why do you wish to go to the Sacrament? That I may learn to believe that Christ, out of great love, died for my sin, and also learn from Him to love God and my neighbor.

19. What should admonish and encourage a Christian to receive the Sacrament frequently? First, both the command and the promise of Christ the Lord. Second, his own pressing need, because of which the command, encouragement, and promise are given.

20. But what should you do if you are not aware of this need and have no hunger and thirst for the Sacrament? To such a person no better advice can be given than this: first, he should touch his body to see if he still has flesh and blood. Then he should believe what the Scriptures say of it in Galatians 5 and Romans 7. Second, he should look around to see whether he is still in the world, and remember that there will be no lack of sin and trouble, as the Scriptures say in John 15-16 and in 1 John 2 and 5. Third, he will certainly have the devil also around him, who with his lying and murdering day and night will let him have no peace, within or without, as the Scriptures picture him in John 8 and 16; 1 Peter 5; Ephesians 6; and 2 Timothy 2.

Note:
These questions and answers are no child’s play, but are drawn up with great earnestness of purpose by the venerable and devout Dr. Luther for both young and old. Let each one pay attention and consider it a serious matter; for St. Paul writes to the Galatians in chapter six: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.”

What happens when we die? People have many opinions on the subject, but God’s Word, the Bible, teaches that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

Since the next thing for us after death is God’s judgment, how do you wish to be judged by God?

If you wish to be judged on the basis of God’s law, you should know that God demands perfect obedience. The Bible says, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20); and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). And, lest you think that you have not broken God’s law, the Bible also tells us that “there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not” (Ecclesiastes 7:20).

My point is that God does not use averages or grade on a curve! His law condemns all who break His commandments in any point (cf. Galatians 3:10); and who among us can claim perfect love for God and neighbor and no sin in thoughts, desires, words or deeds?

The Bible explains further in Romans 3:19-20: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

If you wish to be judged under God’s law — on the basis of your life and good deeds — you stand condemned to the eternal torments of hell! You just don’t measure up; none of us do.

But there is another way to be judged and to be counted righteous, holy and acceptable in God’s sight: through faith in the holy life and innocent sufferings and death of Christ Jesus, God’s Son and our Savior!

In order that we not be condemned for our sins, God provided a substitute — His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary and made true man — to fulfill all the righteous demands of God’s law for us and then to take our sin and guilt upon Himself and suffer upon the cross our just punishment (cf. Galatians 4:4-5).

The Bible tells us: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6); “that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures … that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4); and that “Jesus Christ the righteous … is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1,2).

Therefore, when we acknowledge our own sin and guilt under God’s law and look instead to Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), God deals with us in grace and mercy. He pardons and forgives our sins because Jesus already suffered our just punishment under the law. He counts us righteous and holy because Christ Jesus fulfilled all the demands of the law in our stead. Instead of condemning us under the law, God declares us just and righteous for Jesus’ sake!

The Bible speaks of this when it says (Romans 3:21-26): “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”

And so, what happens when we die and are judged of God? If we are judged under the law on the basis of our own works and merits, we are condemned to the eternal death and condemnation demanded by God’s perfect law. If we die, trusting in Christ Jesus and what He accomplished for all upon the cross, we stand acquitted, innocent and righteous in God’s sight solely for Jesus’ sake (cf. Colossians 1:19-23).

It is as Jesus said in John 3:16-18: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Jesus also said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

[Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible]

“And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.” Mark 7:24-30

What right do we have to go to Jesus for help? Not only are we, for the most part, not descended from Israel, we are poor miserable sinners undeserving of God’s grace and mercy. We have no standing of our own, no basis, to expect God’s Son to hear us or to help us!

As we see from Mark 7:24ff., that did not stop a Greek-speaking Syrophoenician woman from coming to Jesus for help and deliverance for her daughter who was demon possessed. She was a Gentile from the Phoenician part of Syria and not of the House of Israel, and Jesus was sent first to His own people; but she still came, asking not to take away what rightly was for the people of Israel but to eat of the crumbs which fall from Israel’s table.

This woman’s daughter was demon possessed, something we hear little of in our day though it likely still exists but is diagnosed with other names. It appears, in such cases, that the devil or one of his evil spirits takes control of a person’s body, often seeking to destroy both body and soul. She begged Jesus to cast out this demon and make her daughter whole again. And Jesus granted her petition. The demon was cast out and her daughter was made well.

While we may not be bodily possessed by the devil, the truth is that each and every one of us comes into this world under the control and sway of the evil one. Ever since the fall of Genesis 3, people are born into this world “dead in trespasses and sins: wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1,2; cf. Psalm 51:5). The Bible tells us “the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). And the Bible tells us that “the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Only Jesus, God the Son, can free us from our spiritual bondage and reveal Himself to us as the Redeemer of the world. Only Jesus can raise us up from spiritual darkness and death and free us from the control of the devil (cf. John 8:23-24; 34-36).

We are not, for the most part, of the House of Israel. Nor are we deserving that Jesus should deliver us from our bondage to the devil. But when we humbly come to Jesus in faith, what happens? God delivers “us from the power of darkness” and translates us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14).

The Bible tells us of Jesus: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Therefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:14-17). The only-begotten Son of God took on human flesh and blood that He might obey God’s law in our stead and offer up Himself as a perfect sacrifice to atone for our sins — all that we might obtain mercy and forgiveness through faith in His name.

And God “made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself” and He brought us to trust in Christ after that we “heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Ephesians 1:9,13). “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-7; cf. John 5:24-26).

God graciously called us to faith in Christ Jesus through the gospel. And, when we come to Christ in faith, believing He atoned for our sins and the sins of the entire world (1 John 2:1,2), He forgives us all our sins, delivers us from the bondage of the devil and gives us new life in Him! Jesus makes us whole.

Have mercy upon us, Lord Jesus! We are unworthy sinners deserving only of wrath and punishment, but we look to You and Your sacrificial death upon the cross for mercy and forgiveness. Amen.

[Scripture quotations from the King James Version of the Bible]

“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” Psalm 119:18 (Read Psalm 119:17-24)

Unless the LORD God opens our eyes and gives us understanding, His Word, the Bible, remains a closed book to us.

Oh, we may learn many things from the Bible and even know the historical events it records. However, its central message will remain veiled and hidden from our sight (2 Corinthians 3:14-16). Without the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, we will not come to see our sinfulness as God sees it; nor will we come to know of His grace and mercy in Jesus Christ.

Jesus spoke of this when He quoted from Isaiah 6 in regard to the people of His day (Matthew 13:14-15): “By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”

Jesus also said, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life … And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father” (John 6:63,65).

Unless the LORD opens your eyes, you too will miss the life-giving message of the Bible. But, when the LORD opens our eyes to see and understand our sinfulness and rebellion against the LORD, and when He reveals to us the glorious salvation He has provided in His Son, Jesus Christ, we will truly see wondrous things in His Word!

O Spirit of the living God, open our eyes that we may see and understand the message of Your life-giving Word, repent of our sinful ways and trust in Jesus Christ and His innocent sufferings and death for our eternal salvation. In His name, we pray. Amen.

[Scripture quotations from the King James Version of the Bible]