It's not uncommon for Christians to have varying levels of assurance of salvation. In other words, there are periods of time where I feel very confident that I'm in the faith and other periods of time where There might seem to be a distance between myself and God, or there's sin persisting stubbornly in my life where I have less assurance. So what should a Christian think about those times, and specifically with respect to the Lord's Supper should a Christian continue to take the Lord's Supper. This question always makes me think of Mark 9 24. A father asking Jesus for help for his son is asked if he can believe, by Jesus, if he can believe for the help.

And the response of this father is wonderful. He says, I believe. Help my unbelief. I think every Christian or somebody who's been in the faith for a while can empathize with that answer. I do believe there is faith in my heart but I also find weakness of faith and and unbelief coexisting really right alongside that.

So it's not an uncommon experience. So what should a Christian do who is feeling that? I do believe, but I also need help with my unbelief. I want to go to Lord's Supper text, 1 Corinthians 11, and I'll read 1 Corinthians 11 verses 27 and 28. Paul writes, therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup." What do we have here? We have a warning, a serious warning about engaging the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner. It doesn't mean at a personal level that sometimes we're self-righteous enough to participate in the Lord's Supper. What is being said here is that we should never engage the Lord's Supper in a thoughtless, careless way. So the next verse really explains that.

But let a man examine himself. Throw off thoughtlessness and carelessness and actually Examine yourself prior to taking the Lord's Supper. But then the exhortation is to take. And so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cups. I think our natural disposition should be towards, in the moment, examining, repenting of things that God would show us there, but then having a bias towards taking it.

Is it ever inappropriate for a believer to let the cup and the bread pass? Of course, of course, but I think our bias should be towards taking it. Why is that? Well, because grace is really communicated to us. The Lord's Supper is a channel for grace.

It's not magic, but at the same time it's not nothing. You