Alright brethren, let's turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Lord willing, we will soon come
to this chapter in our study of 1 Corinthians. And when we
do, we'll try to look a little more in depth at the context. This morning we'll focus our
attention on verses 23 through 29. The Apostle Paul says, I have received of the Lord that
which also I delivered unto you." This is the ordinance of the
Lord. Paul said, I received this of
the Lord and I delivered this unto you. That the Lord Jesus,
the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread. He took bread. And when He had given thanks, He interceded. He gave thanks
for that bread. And then He broke it. Right there
in front of the apostles, He broke it. It was one bread, wasn't it? He
broke it. And He said, take, eat. That's so important. Take, eat. It was His command to them. Take,
eat. And He told us what it pictured. This is my body which is broken
for you. This do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also, He
took the cup. He took the cup. He gave thanks. He gave thanks. This was after he had supped,
or either after the Lord's, means after taking the Lord's Supper,
or after he took the bread. I'm not sure, but after he supped,
he said, this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This cup
is the New Testament in my blood. Now this do ye as often as you
drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this
bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till
he come. Wherefore, wherefore, whosoever
shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily,
He shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself,
and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. Why is
it that he drinks unworthily? Why is it he's guilty? Verse
29 says, For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and
drinketh damnation to himself." Here's how he does it unworthily.
Not discerning the Lord's body. Not discerning the Lord's body. Not discerning the Lord. I've
titled this, This Do in Remembrance of Me. Two times there, Paul
said, the Lord said, this do in remembrance of me." Now that's
the purpose of this table. The purpose of this table is
to be, and these elements, is to be a help to remember the Lord. To be a
help to turn your focus from you and from me, to turn your
focus from Anything that would distract
you from Christ that we might remember Christ. These elements are to be helps
to remember Christ. Remember Christ. He gave us this
ordinance to symbolically set before our hearts and our minds
the person and work of our Savior. He said there, when you eat this,
you do show forth His death. And you know, that means you
show forth everything included in His death. Everything that
was the result of His death. That's what you're showing here.
In fact, in everything our Lord did, as He ordained this and
observed this, everything He did, It shows us His death and
all the effects He accomplished by it. It shows us in the actual
act of what He did when He ordained this ordinance. It all shows
us that. And let's look at that. Now I
pray now, this is my prayer. I want the Lord to focus our
hearts on Him. Not on one another. I don't even
want you to be focused on the ceremony. I hope you can understand
what I'm saying. I want you to be focused on the
Lord. This ceremony is to be a help so much as it turns you
to remember the Lord. But when it causes you to focus
on the ceremony, that's just a dead legal superstitious ceremonialism. That's not why He gave it. He
gave it for us to remember Christ. I pray God will help us do that
now. It will be the only way we can as He makes us to do so. Now first of all, verse 23. And
I want to show you here now that everything our Savior did when
He instituted this ordinance that night reminds us of His
person and work. It all shows forth His death
and the results of it. Look here at verse, first of
all, verse 23. The Lord Jesus, the same night
in which He was betrayed, He took bread. Before He could be
betrayed, before He went to be betrayed, our Lord took bread. They were finishing observing
the last Passover. We're not observing a Passover.
That's not what this is. Our Lord Jesus Christ is our
Passover. And they finished that. When He finished that, observed
that, He showed us He's the fulfillment of the law. He finished it. That's
done. Now He's ordaining an ordinance
that's entirely new. It's an entirely new thing. And
they finished there. partaking of this Passover, and
they finished that up, and our Lord then, He takes, He reaches
and He takes, the gospel says, as they were eating, Jesus took
bread. They're sitting there eating,
Jesus stops them, and our Lord voluntarily took bread. He voluntarily took bread. He
held it up before them. And He showed by that, How? That our Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily,
willingly, God the Son, the Son of God, God in human flesh, He
voluntarily took bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh.
When He came here to live and suffer and bleed and die and
save His people, He became one with us and He makes us one with Him.
Look here now at Hebrews 2 and verse 11. Turn to Hebrews chapter
2 and verse 11. It says, Both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one. They are all of one. For which cause? He is not ashamed
to call them brethren. Look at verse 14. For as much
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same. You see that wording there? Just
like he did that night when he took that literal bread. Our Lord took. He took. He partook of flesh and blood. He took part of the same as the
children, 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, what does verily mean? It means it's very important.
Verily, he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took
on him the seed of Abraham. He took on him the flesh and
blood of all God's elect. He took into union with Him His
elect, the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved
Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a
merciful and a faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. That's
why He came first and foremost to be a great high priest to
represent the people to God, to make reconciliation for our
sins to God. There was a second work of that
high priest, and this is why it behooved him to be made flesh.
Look at verse 18. For in that he himself hath suffered
being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.
You see, the high priest did something for the people toward
God, and he did something for God toward the people. And that's
why he made himself one with us. He who is the Spirit, God
who is Spirit, came and took a body and was made flesh. And
He has made us who are just flesh to be partakers of His Spirit.
He has made us one body. One body. The bread was unleavened
bread. Look at Hebrews 7 verse 26. The
bread was unleavened bread. We know that because it had to
be for the Passover. And this bread is unleavened.
Unleavened is a picture of sin. Unleavened is a picture of defilement
in the Scriptures. And our Lord They, he took unleavened
bread because when our Lord took a body, he was born of a virgin.
He wasn't conceived of corrupt seed like you and me are from
Adam. He was, he's the last Adam and he was conceived in the womb
of a virgin that he might be holy. Because it was necessary
for him to be perfect under the law to go and lay down his life
and be made sin for us. He had to be holy to do that.
That lamb that they brought had to be a spotless lamb. It had
to be a lamb without spot, without blemish. And look here, verse
Hebrews 7, 26, For such a high priest became us, whose holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher
than the heavens. Brethren, our Savior took one bread to remind
us that we're one with Him, and He's one with us. He's made it
so. He's made it so, and He's made
us one with one another. Look back at 1 Corinthians 10
and look at verse 16. The cup of blessing, 1 Corinthians
10, 16, the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion
of the one blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is
it not the communion of the one body of Christ? For we being
many are one bread and one body. For we're all partakers of that
one bread. We're partakers of that one heavenly
bread. And therefore, he says, now you
be partakers of this one symbolical bread. We're one with Him. To have communion with Him and
communion with one another, we're one. I can't begin to even try
to explain how one we are with Christ and separably one with
Him. But it's so. And it's an amazing thing that
we're one with Him. Secondly, back in our text, 1
Corinthians 11, 24, and when He had given thanks,
our Lord takes this bread, this one bread, And He holds it up
before them, just like He took our flesh and our blood, made
us one with Him, and then He gave thanks. He gave thanks. Brethren, do you know what our
Lord took flesh and blood for? Do you know why He took that
one body and took the seed of God's elect into union with Him?
Do you know why He did that? To make intercession for His
people. They didn't all pray at that table. He prayed at that
table. And the whole purpose for which He came into this world
was to make intercession for His people, to be a blessing
to God for His people, to bless God for His people, to thank
God for His glory and His grace and His mercy, to show it forth
in everything He did. That's why He came forth into
the world. In Hebrews 10.5, the Scriptures tell us this, When
He cometh into the world, He said, Sacrifice an offering thou
wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared Me. In burnt offerings
and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I,
Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of Me,
to do thy will, O God. You see Him there of that loaf,
that one bread, and you see Him giving thanks. And you hear Him
saying, God, before as yet any of My members were fashioned.
you knew all my members, you put them all in my body, you
chose me, you elected me, you put me, you put them in, you
elected them, you put them in my body and formed this whole
body and then you made a body for me to come forth and work
your will on behalf of my people. This is all, this is what his
whole work was, was to bless God and as he offered himself,
this was his high priestly prayer. And I think this is probably
what our Redeemer, something along the lines of some of the
things He probably said that night at that table as He thanked
God, holding that bread up before them. These words spake Jesus
and lifted up His eyes to heaven and He said, Father, Thy hours
come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee. As Thou hast given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that
they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. I've glorified You on the earth.
I've finished the work which You gave me to do. And He says,
Now, Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self for the glory
which I had with Thee before the world was. Can you see him
there thanking God for His people, for His body, for His people,
making intercession? He prayed one time and thanked
God when he walked this earth. And he said, Father, I thank
you. God, Father of heaven and earth, I thank you. You've hidden
these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto
babes. You reckon he said that that
night? Thank you, Lord, for giving me these apostles. Thank you
for giving me these brethren. Thank you for giving me this
body. That's his body. It's his body. Oh, I'm sure,
and I have no doubt, he thanked God for the literal bread, but
there's so much more to it than that. thanking God for his body. And then thirdly, it says verse
24, and then now, he's standing there and he's got this bread,
this one bread, showing us one with him and his body, and he
thanked God for that body, for God's purpose and grace and bringing
us together in oneness, and then you know what he did? He broke
it. He broke it. Right in front of
him. He broke it. What he's showing us there, brethren,
is he willingly laid down his life, willingly gave himself
to be broken in the room instead of his people. Remember what
he said? He said, no man takes my life
from me. He was in control of everything that was taking place
on that cross. He was in control of it. No man takes my life from
me. I lay it down of myself. This is a commandment I received
from my Father. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it up again. Oh no, no man took it. I laid
it down of myself. He said, Now Isaiah, I gave my
back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked out the
hair. I gave it to them. And He, bearing the sins of His
people, our Lord gave Himself into the jaws of justice to satisfy
justice. He willingly gave Himself to
be broken, to be broken inwardly, so in that separation of God
from Him. He gave Himself to do that for
His people. He gave Himself. He had joy set
before Him. God gave him joy. Now, the actual
going through with the cross, he said, I'm straight until it
be accomplished. But brethren, this was joy to
him to know he's declaring his Father just. He's magnifying
his law and honoring his law. And he's also declaring his Father
the justifier of all who believe in Jesus. He's declaring the
righteousness of God. And at the same time, Justifying
his people and making the law just. He's showing us mercy. He's showing us loving kindness.
He's showing us his faithfulness. He's showing us the very glory
of God in what he's done for his people. And having mercy
on us, saving us. That joy set before him to sanctify
this bride. and to present her to himself
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
This was the joy set before him, that he might have her with him
forever in glory, forever. And so for that joy he gave his
back and his body and his soul to suffer, to suffer, to be broken,
to be smitten, so that with His stripes we might be healed. And then, fourthly, verse 24,
He said, Take and eat. Take and eat. And then He declared
what this is. This is My body which is broken
for you. This do in remembrance of Me. Now, our Lord, they would have
never taken that bread if our Lord hadn't said, Take and you
eat this. And they'd have never known what
He meant by it if our Lord hadn't have said, this is a symbol of
my body which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me.
They wouldn't have known that. And you know what brethren, you
and I, dead sinners as we were, we'd have never known any of
this that God did for us, our Savior did for us, if He had
come to us in the season of His love and set us down at this
gospel table and declared to us You take my body and you eat
my body. Except you eat my flesh and drink
my blood, you have no life in you. You take it and you eat
it. And He spoke intimately in our
hearts, especially, particularly to each of us for whom He died.
And He said, this is my body which is broken for you. And
you know what happens when He gives you that command? You know
what they did when He gave them that command that night just
at that table? They took that bread and they ate that bread.
And they remembered Him. You know what we did when He
gave us that Gospel command in our heart? We took Him and we
ate Him. We ate His flesh, we drank His
blood through faith, believing on Him. He said, Whoso eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. You couldn't
eat and drink it if you didn't have eternal life. He has spoken that word. He has
spoken life. The bread from heaven has entered
you and He has given you life. And He has made you take it now
and eat it. And He says to you now, you have
life. And I am going to raise you up at the last day. Isn't
that what the apostles said? You know, He said this that day
to some sitting there. And He didn't speak this command
into their hearts. And they said, who can hear this
stuff? This is too hard. Why? Why do they say that? Why do
they go away? All they had was the carnal. All they saw was
that bread that filled their belly and that drink that filled
their belly, and that's all they wanted. They didn't want heavenly
manna. They didn't want the true bread.
They didn't want eternal life. They didn't want to stop working
and rest in Christ and rejoice in Christ. They wanted to go
on with a charade of religion. But those to whom he spake, you
know what they said? They said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we're sure,
we know, you are that Christ, Son of the living God. How do
we know it? Because you spoke those words of eternal life and
said, take and eat this of my body. Shed for, broken for you. You spoke it effectually. You
see the picture of this beautiful man? We're showing his death.
Everything his death accomplished for his people. Now, look here now at this next
thing. You know, let me say this before
I move on. The only way we can come to this
table, and he says to you and I now, take and eat, for this
is a picture of my broken body broken for you. The only way
that we can come to this table is because he's already spoken
into our hearts and given us faith to partake of his spiritual
body. His broken body, in faith, resting
in Him. You see, He says, take this and
do this in remembrance of Me. That means take this and remember
Me by this. I want you to do something. Try
something right now. Try to remember somebody you
don't know. It's impossible. Can't do it. That tells you who this table
is for. It's for those who He's given a heart and introduced
Himself to in power and grace and made you to know Him so that
you can remember Him. That's who this is for. Alright,
now look, fifthly, verse 25. After the same manner also, He
took the cup. He took the cup. He held that
cup up and He gave thanks. He gave thanks for it. And the Scripture says He told
them, now you take this. You take this. You divide it
among yourselves. And He said, this cup, He taught
them what this cup is. This cup is the New Testament
in My blood. This do you as often as you drink
it in remembrance of Me. You know, look at Hebrews 9. Let me tell you something while
you turn there. The only way that atonement was made ceremonially
under that old covenant That old covenant earthy priest and
that sinful priest. The only way atonement was made
ceremonially was by the shedding of blood. That's the only way.
God said, the life of the flesh is in the blood. Drain your blood
out of you and your life's gone. The life of the flesh is in the
blood. I've given it to you upon the
altar to make an atonement for your souls. For it's the blood
that makes an atonement for the soul. But the new covenant, that
was the old covenant. That had to be done every year
because the blood of a bull and a goat couldn't take away sin.
But the new covenant, he said here, this blood is the new,
this is the New Testament in my blood. And the blood of that
new covenant, that everlasting covenant, is much better blood
than the blood of a bull and a goat. And it's given and established
by a better mediator And it's a better covenant. It's all better.
That's the message of Hebrews. It's better, better, better.
Because Christ did it. Look here now, Hebrews 9, 12.
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. This doesn't have to be repeated.
If the blood of bulls and of goats and ashes of a heifer sprinkling
the unclean sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, If just
that ceremonially sanctified to the purifying of flesh, how
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God and for this cause? He is the mediator of the New
Testament. That by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under that first covenant,
they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. He said when he handed them that
cup of wine, he said, this is a picture of that New Testament. It's written in my blood. I've
blotted out your sins by my blood. I've made that covenant ordered
and sure in all things by my blood. This can never be undone. That's what He was showing them.
Look over at Isaiah 51 and verse 22. Our Lord went to the cross and
He took... He became us. That's the essence of Him being
made sin. He became His people. That's
right. He was made to be guilty in the
room instead of His people so that God could justly pour out
judgment upon Him in our room instead and satisfy justice.
He was made to be His... that one body on the cross made
to be His people. And He took that bitter cup,
that bitter...dregs of that bitter cup of the fury, God's wrath,
His fury, and He drank that cup. He drank that cup. He shed His
blood until life went out, death, death, satisfied justice, because
that's the wages of sin, death, until He satisfied it. He drank
that cup dry, and now He hands you this cup. He says, it's my covenant in
my blood, you will never drink that cup ever. Look here, Isaiah 51-22, Thus
saith thy Lord, thee Lord, and thy God, that pleadeth the cause
of his people. Behold, I have taken out of thine
hand the cup of trembling. Even the dregs of the cup of
my fury, thou shalt no more drink it again." That's what we're
remembering. I'll never drink that cup again.
I'll never drink it, because He drank it. He drank it. Verse
26, 1 Corinthians 11, 26. Now, we do this not only remembering,
we do this not only remembering, But we do this looking forward
to something as well. Look here now in verse 26. As
often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the
Lord's death till He come. That night of that first observance,
the Lord told His apostles, He said, I won't drink of the fruit
of this vine again with you till I drink it anew with you in My
kingdom. And I can tell you this, there's
coming a day, brethren. There's coming a day called the
restitution of all things. Whenever Christ our Lord is going
to return and He's going to redeem us to Himself, that purchased
possession that He purchased, He's going to bring us to Himself.
And He said, you're going to sit down at My table in My kingdom
and I'm going to serve you. This is what the Scripture says,
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them
that look for Him. Shall He appear the second time
without sin unto salvation? You know where we saw Him last?
If we just look to Calvary's tree, we see Him last bearing
our sin. But when we see Him coming back,
He's not going to be bearing our sin. He's going to have put
that sin away. He's going to bring us to Himself.
We're remembering His death. This is all what was accomplished
by His death. Brethren, one day we're going
to be with our Redeemer in glory. You know, these things right
now, what did Paul say about them? What we're doing right
here, right now, these are childish things. When a child grows up,
he puts away his toys. These are the childish things,
brethren. One day, faith's going to be made sight. Hope's going
to be made Divine reality and we're gonna put all the way these
childish things the only thing that will remain that we have
now is love That's what that's the best thing in love Now Now then let me give you
this most important word verse 27 Says wherefore wherefore I
Because of everything we've seen here now, he says, Wherefore,
whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord
unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
What does that mean? Look at verse 29. He that eateth
and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself,
not discerning the Lord's body. That's why you're guilty of the
body and blood of the Lord when you don't discern the Lord's
body. That's to come to this table
unworthily is not discerning the Lord's body. Now, the first
thing that tells you of me is this table is not open to unregenerate
sinners. It's not open to unregenerate
sinners. It's open to those God has given
spiritual discernment. The natural man receives not
the things of God. They're foolishness to him. Neither
can he know them. Why? Because they're spiritually
discerned. You can't discern the body and blood of Christ
if you don't have spiritual discernment. And you only have spiritual discernment
when you're born in the Spirit of God. This is for regenerated
believers who trust Christ only. That's who it's for. That's who
it's for. It's no dishonor in not taking
it. The dishonor would be to try
to fool, think you're fooling God and take it anyway when you
can't discern the Lord's body. That's not going to fool Him.
So that's where the dishonor would be. Try fooling God and
say you don't have a heart to discern Him. So He says don't
take it. Don't take it. Don't take it. But if we would partake of this
table worthily, Meaning in the right manner and in the right
spirit. Here's what we're to do. We're to do so looking only
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Only to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Discerning His body and His blood in this. Showing that this thing
is not just a common bread and common wine. This is an ordinance
set to the Lord. This is like baptism. We're showing
His death by this. This is a serious thing. And
it's to be done in a reverent manner. It's to be done in a
respectful manner. It's to be done looking to Him
only, discerning Him. Now let me say something on this.
I didn't want to get too in-depth in this because I want to deal
with this when we get to it in our chapter, in our study. I
want you to keep your eye on Christ. That's why I don't want
to deal with this too much. But this is important to understand, brethren.
whenever the corinthians they were they were come in and have
in this big love feast is big gaudy feast and they weren't
discerning the lord's body many of them were he said many of
you sick because the many of them were now some of them could
have been medium work though but he still told of this this
is not doing this thing worthily it's not doing this thing reverently
and discerning lord's body that they were taken each one is separate
and over here and over here and they were You know drink until
they got drunk all this and they turned it into a big just a big
big supper big social He said no this thing is so simple
that's what he's showing you here the simplicity of it our
Lord He didn't try to turn put put on some austere Pretentious
show he just took bread And he prayed thank God and he broke
it He said, now this is going to represent my body. Now you
do this and remember me. He did the same with the wine.
Now let me say something to you. Just like they were not discerning
the Lord's body because they were turning into this big show
and doing all this extra stuff, you know, they were doing. Let
me tell you something. Don't be looking at how we're
doing this supper and focusing your attention on that. you'll do the same thing they
were doing. You'll be focusing on this bread instead of the
bread from heaven. You'll be focusing on this wine
instead of the blood of our Redeemer. And the whole purpose of this
bread and this wine is to cause you to remember Him. It's not
to cause you to look to this. See how sinful we are and how
backwards we are? We'll take the things that are
meant to turn us to Christ, and to show us Christ, and to be
a beautiful symbolic picture of Christ. We'll start falling out over... We've been doing everything exactly
right, exactly right. You remember whenever the Pharisees
came to the Lord and they were upset, they said, why do John's
disciples and the Lord's disciples, they don't wash their hands before
they eat? Remember what the Lord told them? It's not what goes into your
mouth that's defiling you. It's the fact that you're looking
at everybody else out of your heart and saying, I do that better
than you do it. That's phariseeism. That's just
dead dog phariseeism. And I'm going to say to anybody,
I say it to my children, I say it to my wife, I say it to myself,
and I'm going to say it to you. Look to Christ. Don't look to
that. Look to Christ. Be just as guilty of not discerning
the Lord's body by putting too much focus on the elements as
you can if you don't put enough importance on the elements. Do
you understand what I'm saying? Is that making sense to you?
I hope you understand what I'm saying. Let me give you an example
and I'll finish. Whenever I was... I left, moved
when I got to be 24 years old. I moved from the church where
the Lord saved me, where the Lord gave me the gospel and preached
the gospel to me. I moved from there and I moved to another
church. I'd never been in any other church but that church.
I moved to a different congregation. I got to this other congregation
and they did things a little differently when it came to the
Lord's table than what the church did where I came from. It was
reverent. It was honoring. Everything about
it was. Everything about it was. But
it was a little different than where I came from. And so I had
difficulty taking it, observing the Lord's table. And I went
for a while and I was like, it was just eating at me. Because
I thought, here I am, I'm worshipping with these people, we're one
in our communion with Christ, we're one in our purpose, we're
one in our doctrine, we're one in our heart, we're one in spirit,
we're one in every other way. And I can't take the Lord's table
with them, because it's just a little different than... And it dawned on me, or rather
God made it dawn on me, I put more emphasis on the supper than
I am the Lord of the supper. And now I've traveled all over
this world preaching the gospel. And I can tell you, everywhere
you go, people do it a little differently. And you know, it's
just how it is. But we worship God in the spirit.
The heart's the thing. You know, there's places in the
congregation I was in, it was a small congregation. We could
break the bread. I've been in congregations that's
so large, that if they started breaking the bread, they'd be
there all day. And all night. And I understand, but you see
what I'm saying? We don't worship God in the letter. We worship God in the Spirit.
And as long as it's not done to be irreverent, and it's not
done to... As long as you hear the truth
of we're one, and you hear the truth of what this bread and
this wine represent, and you hear the truth of it, we want
to stick as close as we can to it, but we're not going to turn
it into just a ceremony and worship the ceremony. Do you understand?
Did God give you grace to get that? I hope so. So what does
he say do now? If I'm looking at you and you're
looking at me, I'm not discerning the Lord's body now. You can't
look at me and me look at you and us be discerning the Lord's
body. Now after all this error, they were in it, Corinth. Look
at what Paul says to them. Still said to them, verse 28,
let a man examine himself. And so let him eat of that bread
and drink of that cup." Wouldn't this have been a good spot if
Paul was wanting to say, now, you know, hedge this table and
close this thing off? Wouldn't that have been a great
place to do it? See, the issue is your heart
and Christ. I can't intrude into that. You
can't intrude into that with me. The issue is your heart,
between your heart and Christ. So let a man prove his own self,
whether he be in the faith, and come and discern this Lord's
body. The only fitness now, I know men will say, well it says unworthily,
it doesn't say unworthy. Let me tell you something, if
you're coming unworthy, you're coming unworthily. And the only
worthiness you have that will make you come worthily to this
table is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Don't be looking and
saying, well, now I've... Let me give you this for an example.
This occurred to me the other day when I was thinking about
this. Everybody I've ever met that ever used this has said
that the table is closed just for our church, just for this
church. The church is one body. We're
many members, but it's one body. one body. I don't care. God is not divided by hills and
valleys and roads like we are. He's church in one way. You've
been called to the General Assembly and Church of the Living God.
Hear Christ speak. He's the head. All that matters
is God giving you a heart to be able to come to this table
trusting Christ only, worshiping Christ only, having all your
worthiness in Him. But everybody that I've ever
met that practiced a closed communion, I'm not saying everybody, but
most I've ever met that did this, what they do is they use the
Lord's table as a tool to whip people. You can't come to the
table. You can't come to that. God forbid
that be my heart towards this table. You never use it that
way. Now let me ask you something.
When you've sinned and Christ has shown you your sin and your
heart's broke over your sin, what do you need more than anything
else? You need to be drawn to Christ,
don't you? Why on earth would I want to keep a sinner from
this table then? repents and loves the Lord and desires to
be in communion with Him. Why would I ever say? We're not
persuaded yet that you've reached our estimation of repentance.
Let a man examine himself and you get out of the way. You see
what I'm saying? Alright brethren. If God's given
you that heart, Christ is your wisdom, your righteousness, your
sanctification, your redemption. He's your worthiness for coming
into God's presence in glory, and He's your fitness for coming
to this table. And the only way you can take it worthily is coming
and discerning His blood and His body. Alright, and He says
now, one last thing, He says now for you, if this would be
the case, He said this is not an option for you. Is baptism
an option for you? He's disan ordinance. We don't
obey Him. He said this do. Do it in remembrance
of Me. Alright. We're going to do an
observed Lord's Table now.