We commented generally on this
passage, verse 23 through 34, last time, and mentioned
that we might wanna go back and look more closely, verse by verse,
if not word by word, once we had done that, and I believe
that's what we'll do, Lord willing, if you'll teach us. Verse 23
for I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto
you That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed
took bread now What is true of that which pictures the gospel
here the table clear? gospel message in the table Is
also true of the gospel itself. We have received of the Lord
that which we've delivered unto you. This was Paul's rebuke. Think about this. He didn't use
expletives and shaming language. What's the greatest and most
noble and most powerful way to rebuke them? It's simply to say
that which you've ignored, that which you cast by the wayside,
that which didn't mean enough to you for you to bother, that
which you did away with in preference for your own fleshly feelings
and lusts, I received that from the Lord himself. Before I delivered it to you,
I got it from the Savior. What a rebuke. That's as good
as it gets when it comes to rebukes. The perverted observance of the
Lord's table Was so bad that that paul says in this passage
that they were eating and drinking condemnation unto themselves
And that it were better verse 17 if they didn't meet at all
together It would be better when you come together. It's not a
win. It's a loss Because of how they had perverted the lord's
table specifically So what what that's that's the way The scriptures
are profitable for reproof and rebuke. Is that not right? He
said, I received this of the Lord. He didn't say it in an
angry and condescending way. You can't just cast this aside.
You can't disregard it. I got this from the master. And
that's how, far be it from me ever to take somebody aside and
scold them for something. No, the scriptures are profitable
for reproof and rebuke, instruction in righteousness. And that's
what Paul simply did. I got this from the Lord Jesus. And so it is with our doctrine.
If the doctrine of total depravity, that we're so utterly abominable
before God that nothing that we do, say, or think even comes
close to measuring up to his standard of righteousness. What
a sinner means is that all we can do is sin. That's what we
do, we sin, that's all we do. Our best deeds, what does the
scripture say? Even our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in the sight
of God. Wretched and vile, the best that
we did. Man in his best state is altogether
vanity. Totally depraved, not only worthy of hell in the sight of
God, but nothing we can do about it. The more we do, here's what
you need to do to be saved. No, what you do is the problem.
Quit doing and rest in Christ. Quit doing and look to Him and
what He did. The more you do, the more you
sin. So God give us grace, but if
the doctrine of total prayer and the doctrine of unconditional
election, that God just chose a people because He loved them.
He didn't choose those that chose him first. The scripture says
the other way around. You have not chosen me, but I've
chosen you. We love him because he first loved us. His love is
the cause of our love. You can't switch that around. God in eternal love chose a people. And if the doctrine of limited
atonement, that is that everybody that Christ died for, he redeemed,
he saved them. His death is salvation. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. I don't need to add anything
to it. In fact, if I try to, I've made it of no profit to
me. Christ has come of none effect
unto me. So limited, particular atonement And the doctrine of irresistible
grace. Well, you know, it's up to you. No, it's not. It's up to God. If God sets his affection on
you and he's determined to have you, he's gonna have you. That's
clear in the word of God. And the doctrine of the perseverance
of the saints or preservation of the saints that you can't
be saved and lost and saved and lost. Salvation is eternal for
one thing. It's not something that's cast
about by the winds of time. It's an eternal grace from God. But if those things are just
personal preferences, if they're just differences of opinion,
if they're just opposing ideas that we have, that would be one
thing. But somebody's saying what God
said and somebody's not. That's the thing. We have received
of the Lord that which we've delivered unto you. That's the
key now. If they speak not according to
the word of the book of this prophecy, it's because there's
no light in them. Thus sayeth the Lord. We've received
of the Lord what we deliver to you. You make sure of that. You don't trust what I say. You
trust me to say what God says and verify it. That's why we go word by word,
by word, by verse, by chapter in the scriptures. I've shunned
not to declare unto you the whole counsel of God, Paul said. Somebody's saying what God said.
Somebody's preaching that salvation is not of him that willeth, nor
of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Somebody's
saying that. Where'd we get that from? Someone's telling how that God
said, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and whom I
will, I'll harden like Pharaoh, who God hardened just to show
that he's God and dumped him in hell. Is that all right with
you? Is that all right with me? Someone is expounding the scripture
where the Lord Jesus passed by a multitude of halt and lame
and diseased and asked one particular cripple, will thou be made whole? And he didn't even say yes and
the Lord saved him anyway. Someone's thanking God for his
sheep because God hath from the beginning chosen them unto salvation. through sanctification of the
spirit and belief in the truth. Somebody's doing that, where
do we get that from? Well, why Chris, are you a predestinarian? Because your parents were? Because
somebody brainwashed you? Because you just deduced logically
that that was the most logical thing though? Simply because
I have received of the Lord that which also I have delivered.
unto you. And this simple Christ honoring
ordinance is to be observed in its simplicity and as the worshipful
homage to the Son of God that it is because thus saith the
Lord. Nothing, can everybody hear me all right?
Nothing that we do, Can we ever do without having been guided
in it by the word of God? Nothing. Say a harsh word to
one of God's sheep or about one of God's sheep. Indulge in a
worldly pursuit in preference to worshiping the Savior. Get gain in this world to consume
it on your own lust rather than to glorify God with it. It's
the word that exposes you. Not me, it's the word. It's the
gospel that calls you out. It's the word of God that's quick
and sharp, sharper than any two-edged sword. Am I a hypocrite for exhorting
you in things of which I am horribly guilty? If I am, then I have nothing
to say to you. Does that make sense? God uses hypocrites. But I've got to say what he said. I'm exhorting us, not just you. There are no decisions to make
at the Lord's table. There's not one decision to make
at the Lord's table. And so it is with the gospel.
Well, preacher, you've got to decide to eat or drink. No, you're
wrong about that. That's not a choice that you
make. Paul received it of the Lord and delivered it to you.
That's not your decision. That's not your choice. You see,
we've received it of the Lord. That's like if when God told
Adam and Eve, thou shalt not eat of this tree. Thou shalt
not eat of this tree. It's like if you said about that,
well, I guess Adam and Eve have a decision to make. No, they
don't. No, they received it of the Lord.
There's nothing to decide. And that's how it is with the
gospel. That's spectacularly false. There is no choice to
make. God doesn't say, well, I hope
you'll decide to bow to me. No, he says, bow. He says, except
you repent. You're all gonna perish. You're
going to hell. I'm gonna put you in hell if
you don't repent. Satan is the one who told Adam
he had a choice, not God. And that's what he does now.
Satan will tell you that now, the choice is yours. No, it's
not. God has never left anything up
to you or anybody else. Quit saying it. Nothing is up
to you. I know y'all don't say it, but
in case somebody hears this that has ever said that, quit saying
it. It's not up to you. No, the table is a glorious demonstration
of the wonderful truth that Christ is all and that salvation is
Christ himself. Does it not scream that? As Solomon
said, wisdom crashed in the streets. This wasn't done in a quarter.
It's not unclear, it's not ambiguous. It's not the mysterious nonsense
that some so-called religions or whatever you wanna call them
do with draping things and folding things and pouring things. And
I asked people that went there, what does that mean? And they
said, I don't know. It's simple and clear with the
same message we preach. Every time we preach, Christ
is all. It's his broken body. It pleased
the Lord to crush him. It's his person and his work,
his body, his blood, Christ and him crucified. His will, Matthew 8.2. If you
want to jot these down, we won't turn to them. It's Christ's will. Salvation is Christ's will, Matthew
8, 2. You know that verse, don't you?
It's his decision, Romans 9, 15. It's his choice, 2 Thessalonians
2, 13. It's his power, Isaiah 63, 1. It's his love, 1 John 4, 19.
It's his grace, Ephesians 2, 8. You know that one. It's his
gift of faith, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. It's his effectual sin cleansing
and unspeakably precious blood. Hebrews 9, 12. Salvation is a
person. That's what the table says and
that's what the gospel says. And we received all of it from
the Lord and it's Christ and only Christ. I'm afraid we often
let it get by us now. In this one verse of scripture,
Paul tells us twice who we're dealing with here. Oh, what a
rebuke this is to this church. It's not Paul making an idiot
of himself or getting offensive or upset even. It's Paul just
showing that this is gonna be you or the Lord. It's not gonna
be both. It's not gonna be a cooperation.
It's not gonna be your preference. You've made choices in a no-choice
zone. We let this get by us now. Often,
I'm afraid, who's Paul referring to in this short verse? Paul
identifies him as the Lord. I've received of Jesus, no. He could have said that. Would
have been true. I've received of the Lord. I've
received of the one who gets to decide. I've received of the
one who it is up to. That which I've delivered unto
you. And it's the Lord Jesus that
took bread. How beautiful this is. We need
to understand that now in regard to his betrayal. This verse speaks
of betrayal, but we need to understand. Let me read you the definition
of Lord in our text. He to whom a person or thing
belongs, about which he has the power
of deciding. You think I made that up, don't
you? I didn't make it up. You belong to him and he will
decide what happens to you. All of it, everything. He already
has. He is right now and he always
will. The possessor and disposer of
a thing. Like the potter and the clay. One who has control of the person,
the master, sovereign, prince, chief. This is all right from
the Greek dictionary. A title of honor used to express
respect and reverence with which servants greet their master. This is why we call it sovereign
grace Because that's the only kind of grace there is God giving
you another chance is not grace You don't need another chance.
You need the Savior God's grace is grace over which God has the
power of deciding Sort of like if he would have said something
like this I will have mercy on Whom I will have mercy kind of
like that We don't have to go to Romans
nine to see that God is sovereign in salvation, but we certainly
could, couldn't we? But just look at the table. I've
received of the master. I've received of the one that
it's up to. I've received of the one that
owns you and will dispose of you as he sees fit. I received
it from him and he's the one that was betrayed. He wasn't
a victim. He wasn't a victim. Not in the
sense that we typically use that word. Look at the table the same
night in which the one who has all control, the one who decides
everything was betrayed. He took bread. And it says he was betrayed.
Was he the Lord as defined? By this word, Lord, when he was
betrayed? Well, you know the passage I
would go to about that, John chapter 13. I was gonna read
all of it, but for time's sake, remember what it says. Well, let me just read it to
you. When Jesus had thus said he was troubled in spirit and
testified and said, verily, verily, I say unto you that one of you
shall betray me. Then the disciples looked one
on another, doubting of whom he spoke. Now there was leaning
on Jesus bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter
therefore beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be
of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus' breast
saith unto him, Lord, who is it? And Jesus answered, he it
is to whom I shall give a sock when I've dipped it. And when
he had dipped the sock, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son
of Simon. And after the sock, Satan entered
into him. Then said Jesus unto him, that
thou doest do quickly. He's the one that told him it
was fixing to happen. And then when Judas, when Satan
enters in, if the Lord's aware of that, the Lord did that, And he doesn't say, oh, it's
so sad that you were betrayed. He said, get it done, go do it. You see who we're talking about
here? This is not the Jesus that sits in a corner waiting on you
to do something. He said to Judas, Thou doest quickly. Now no man
at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. Some
of them thought because Judas had the bag that Jesus had said
unto him, go buy those things that we have need of against
the feast or that he should give something to the poor. He then
having received the sock went immediately out and it was night. Therefore, when he was gone out,
Jesus said, now is the son of man glorified. This is the Lord
we're talking about. This is the way that he's glorified
and the way that his sinful people are saved. You know, the disciples,
the ones that were true disciples of the Lord, they had no idea
what was going on. He made it clear too, didn't
he? Didn't that us? The Lord makes it clear, we still
don't know what's going on, but you know what does it? if we
needed to know what was going on. And that about which we do
need to know, he reveals it to us, but not everything. We don't
know what's going on, but I know this. He's doing right now, though
I'm completely ignorant, he's doing the same thing he did then.
He's glorifying himself and saving his sheep. And I'm still clueless, except
for he's Taught us by his grace Oh Because now listen it was
I the Lord that was betrayed here. It pleased the Lord to
do this. In the same night in which he
was taken, he was betrayed and taken, that word is used by him
in describing how he was taken by wicked hands and crucified
and slain. In the same night he was taken,
he took. He took bread. And that word
means to take with the hand, to lay hold of any person or
thing in order to use it, to take what is one's own, to take
to oneself. Why does that matter? Because
the night in which the Lord was betrayed and taken, it's important
to know that it was Christ himself that took, not them. It was important
enough for the Lord himself to be very clear about it in John
10, 17. Therefore does my father love me because I lay down my
life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. That's what happened. The Jews
didn't take and break the bread when they cried, crucify him.
The Roman soldiers didn't take the bread and break it when they
whipped and beat him, nor when they came with swords and staves. The Lord Jesus took the bread
and he break it in the same night in which he was betrayed into
the hands of wicked men to be crucified and slain, showing
them all and to us that salvations of the Lord, the Lord, the Lord. It was and it is and it ever
shall be up to him. When Paul said I received this
of the Lord, what did it have to do? What was what he received? What did it have to do with?
Christ crucified. And how the Lord's death was
to be shown forth until he come. And so it is with the gospel. What we have received of the
Lord and are commissioned to deliver unto you concerns only
Christ and his precious blood. We don't have anything else.
The progression and growth of our worship, which I'm very interested
in, and I hope you are too, it does not consist, and it will
not consist, in us learning more than Christ, but in learning
of Christ. not in expansion beyond Christ,
but in the elimination of all else but Him. That's how we grow. That's how we worship Him better. That which we have received of
the Lord is perfect now. We're not, but the table is. And may we see Christ and Him
crucified as clearly in every sermon as we do in His table. in the bread and in the wine.
May we not only agree as we hear the gospel, but partake by his
grace. Not only observe, but eat. Not only the bread, but the one
pictured by it. According to the will of him
that owns us and decides. Okay, that's great.