Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3099
“This do in remembrance of Me.” 1 Corinthians 11:24.
[Other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon upon this passage and verses before and after are as follows—Sermons #2, Volume 1— THE REMEMBRANCE OF CHRIST; #2368, Volume 39—THE GREATEST EXHIBITION OF THE AGE; #2595, Volume 44—WHAT THE LORD’S SUPPER SEES AND SAYS and #2638, Volume 45— THE RIGHT OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER]
THERE are some persons who do not consider the Lord’s Supper to be a Divine ordinance. They say that they cannot see where it is commanded in Scripture. I have long ago given up trying to understand other people’s understandings, for some of them are constructed upon such peculiar principles that I believe the Holy Spirit, Himself, could not put a Truth of God in such a form but that some people would understand Him to mean the very opposite of what He said! Now to me, Christ’s command to observe the Lord’s Supper seems to be so plain and so positive that it would take greater ingenuity than I possess to be able to justify myself, as a Christian, if I lived in neglect of the Communion! I know a good deal of what has been invented by others, but I cannot myself invent any syllogism, or argument, or reason by which I could set aside such a plain Divine precept as that which is recorded in this Chapter— “The Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread: and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood: this do you, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” If Christ did not mean that we were to do this, and to do it in remembrance of Him, what did He mean? It seems to me to be very plain and positive that this is what He did mean and being so, the precept comes to Christians with very great force for it is issued upon the highest possible authority! It is not the Apostle Paul who tells us to do this in remembrance of Christ, but the Master, Himself, who says, “This do in remembrance of Me.” The utmost solemnity appertains to the Ten Commandments because they were issued by God Himself on Mount Sinai—and there is no less weight attaching to the command before us, since it was issued by the Son of God, Himself, who could truly say, “I and My Father are One.”
It also seems to me that this command derives singular solemnity from the occasion upon which it was given. If the issuing of the Law of God was specially solemn because “Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire,” I venture to say that the giving of this plain, positive command, “This do in remembrance of Me,” is none the less solemn because it was given by “the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed.” What other night, in the world’s history, can be more august and more solemn to Him and to us as Believers in Him, than that night when He went, with His disciples for the last time to Gethsemane? My Lord, as this command was given by You at such a special time, how dare I neglect it if I am indeed Your disciple? Let none of us who believe in Jesus, live in habitual disobedience to this command of His!
Let me make just one other introductory observation, namely, that this commandment was evidently not issued for one occasion only, for it is quoted by the Apostle Paul in writing to the Corinthians—and he adds these significant words, “For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do show the Lord’s death till He come.” The command, therefore, remains in force until the Second Advent—and until Christ, Himself, shall again appear upon this earth, these memorials of His passion are to be constantly before us!
I. I am going to remind you, first, of THE NEED OF SUCH COMMEMORATION OF CHRIST—“This do in remembrance of Me.”
The need exists, first, because of our forgetful memories. Memory, in common with every other faculty, has been injured by the Fall. It is more retentive of that which is evil than of that which is good and, as you all know, far more easily recollects injuries than benefits. But it certainly does show the deep depravity of the human heart that we should ever be likely to forget our Lord. Have we not often sung—
“Gethsemane, can I forget?”
Yet we have practically forgotten Gethsemane and have omitted to act towards our Lord as we should have acted had Gethsemane been perpetually painted on our memories. Yes, we are apt to forget our truest Friend, our best Beloved, Jesus, in whom our souls delight! We do forget Him, and it ought to humble us when we remember that Christ knew what forgetful lovers we would be and, therefore, gave us this love-token, this double forget-me-not.
Did there not also exist a need for this command in the fact of our childish condition?We are not, my dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, what we shall yet be. We are, to a great extent, still underage. We are children of God and heirs of the Kingdom of God, but at present we are under tutors and governors. Now in a child’s book there should be pictures. We are not altogether little children—we have grown somewhat—and some Christians think we have grown so big that we do not need pictures, but Jesus knew that we should be, in many respects, little children or big children, so He has put two pictures in the Book which He has given to us because He would have us remember that we are not yet men, we have not yet come to our full estate. The two pictures are Believers’ Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Because I am a child, therefore must I still have emblems and tokens, for these are more powerful to my mind than mere words would be.