Temple Baptist Church - 1-14-2026
1 Corinthians 10:16-22
Introduction:
A. Let us keep these verses for tonight in their context. Chapter 10 discusses several things we need to be aware of.
1. The Great Privilege that we have. Verses 1-4. Deliverance, Protection, and Provision.
2. The Great Responsibility that we have. Verses 5-11. Examples and Ensamples.
3. The Great Failure of Israel and the potential that we have to do so. Verses 5-11.
4. The Great Help of God that is available in temptation. Verses 12-15
B. Verses 16-22 speak of the blessings and curses of either our abiding or failure to abide in communion with Christ while abstaining from the world.
C. There are two “Cups” mentioned in these verses. A Cup to be taken and a Cup to be avoided. Let us look at both of them.
1. Verses 16-17. A Cup to be Taken. “The Cup of Blessing which we bless.” Notice two blessings named in verse 16.
1 Corinthians 10:16-17 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? (17) For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
a. The Cup that God blesses is found in the Lord’s Supper. God loves His children and blesses them through remembrance. Let me begin by saying that the Apostle Paul is not teaching the heresies of Transubstantiation or Consubstantiation. Since many are unfamiliar with these two terms, I will provide the definitions from Merriam-Webster.
Transubstantiation: the miraculous change, according to Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox dogma, by which the Eucharistic elements, at their consecration, become the body and blood of Christ while retaining only the appearances of bread and wine; an act or instance of transubstantiating or being transubstantiated
Consubstantiation: the actual substantial presence and combination of the body and blood of Christ with the eucharistic bread and wine according to a teaching associated with Martin Luther.
b. Grace is never given through what man does. Grace is God's gift to us, what we do not deserve. That the unleavened bread we use in partaking of the Lord’s Table is just bread! It does not turn into the literal body of Christ and has no grace attached to it. “This do in remembrance of me” tells us that the bread is only a type of Christ’s body being broken for us at Calvary.
c. The Elements of the Cup of Blessing: unleavened bread and grape juice in remembrance of what Christ did for us.
d. The Blessing of God. God blesses our fellowship and communion with Him. As Christ is always here with us and for us, God blesses the believer that is always there with Him and for Him.
e. The Blessing by the Believer. “Which we bless.” We can find no greater joy than to walk in fellowship and communion with the Lord!
John 15:13-14 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (14) Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
f. Verse 17 declares that when we are one with Christ in fellowship and communion, then we are one in fellowship and communion within the body of Christ!
2. Verses 18-22. Esp. Verse 21. “The Cup of Devils.” “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.” A Cup to be avoided.
a. The Christian life is not merely a system of beliefs—it is a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation brings us into fellowship with God, and that fellowship must:
1) Be guarded. Three enemies – Sin, Self, and Satan – are constantly chipping away at our communion with our Lord. We are not ignorant of the sinfulness of our flesh, the deceitfulness of our hearts, and the devices of our enemy.
1a) Sin, because of the attraction and corruption of this present evil world.
Galatians 1:4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
1b) Self, because of the wickedness and deceitfulness of our hearts.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Romans 7:17-18 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. (18) For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Philippians 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
1c) Satan, because of his hatred for God and, therefore, all that God has made. Especially mankind.
1 Peter 5:8-9 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (9) Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
2) Be cherished. Greater love hath no man than this! God loved us enough to sacrifice His Son for us. The Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, has assured us that He will never leave nor forsake us.
1a) The Path of God.
Psalms 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. (Life, fulness of joy, pleasures for evermore.)
1b) The Presence of God.
Psalms 73:28 But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.
1c) The Place of God.
Psalms 27:4-5 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple. (5) For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.
3) Be practiced daily. Herein lies the Key. Communion and Conversation go hand in hand. Communion with God is directly tied to our Conversation in this world. Conversation does not mean to be vocal, though what we say is a part of our conversation.
1a) Conversation – to life; behaviour.
1b) We must put off the Old Man in order to put on the New Man. Ephesians 4:21-24 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: (22) That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; (23) And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; (24) And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
1c) Moment by Moment, Day by Day, Week by Week, Month by Month, Year by Year.
Psalms 118:24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
b. So many of God’s people have been allured by the world. I want to reiterate that there is no benign state of neutrality with God! We are either for Him and with Him, or we are against Him.
c. Let us commune with Christ so that we can commune with the body of Christ. Satan is the “Divider and Chief” of this sinful world.
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