Well, I can't tell you what a
delight it is to be with you again. Shelby is very sorry she
couldn't be here, and she literally couldn't be here this time. So
you please accept her apologies, and she understands the reasons
she couldn't be here. But we are constantly in prayer
for you, thankful for what God's done in this place, and I pray
he will meet with us tonight. I began preparing this message
right before dinner last night. Kevin and Chris came in and we
were talking a little bit, and Chris made some comments with
regard to the places, the place where she and her family worshipped
before coming here, or tried to, and were constantly beat
down and left feeling unworthy of accepting receiving the Lord's
table. unworthy of worshiping God. If you want to just put your
bookmarks at First Corinthians 11, I'm going to be moving there
for my text in a little while, but I want to talk to you tonight
about the subject, who is worthy. I went home last night and began
working on this message, and again this morning and this afternoon,
and I believe I have something that you need to hear. I trust
God will give you grace to hear it. What is the most important
aspect of your life? Really. What's most important
to you? What's the most important aspect
of a believer's life in this world? I don't doubt that most
will hear that question and respond, well, it's private prayer and
worship and Bible study. Some will say it's prayer meetings. We get together with folks, and
we have our prayer meetings, and they're just wonderful times
together. Other folks have Bible studies,
home Bible studies, and they think that's a great time together. Witnessing to other people. All of those are wrong. All of those are wrong. Private
prayer is important. Private worship is important.
Personal study, your study with your family, leading your family
in the knowledge of God and his word is important. I can't stress
significantly the importance of those things. But if there's
something else that's not more important, more vital to your
life with God in this world, then I'm afraid you've missed
the boat. That which is the most important aspect of every believer's
life is public worship. The worship of God's saints in
his house with the gathered assembly of God's people just like we're
doing here tonight and hope to do tomorrow on Saturday and again
on the Lord's Day. The single most important aspect
of every believer's life is the public assembly of God's saints
to worship our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me see if I can make good
on that. I'll give you the reasons for it. This is the place. This is the only place topside
of God's earth where the Lord Jesus promises to meet with his
people. He said we're two or three. are
gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Where two or three, not two or
three gathered together, two or three are gathered together,
gathered together by the Spirit of God. brought together by the
providence and grace of God in the name of the Lord Jesus, that
is, trusting Christ, seeking his glory, obeying his will,
seeking to know him, and seeking to know his will, his word, and
his way in this world, where two or three are gathered by
the Spirit of God in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Sometimes he makes himself known,
and sometimes he doesn't. But he's always here. Sunday
mornings, I get to our church building early. I get there early
for every service. Of course, it's easy for me.
I live right behind it. But I get there at least an hour before
anybody else shows up normally. And on Sunday mornings, about
20 minutes to 10, I walk out on the front porch, summer and
winter. And I walk out to greet folks as they're coming in. But
it's more than just greeting them. I greet them, praying, Lord,
calls Mother Dawn and his wife and their daughter have come
seeking you. Gather some people seeking a
word from you. Lord, come with them. You see,
when we come together as a fellowship of believers to worship God,
this is the temple of God, 1 Corinthians 3.16. And the Spirit of God dwells
in you. So that when we come together,
brought together by the Spirit of God to worship Christ, something
that cannot be explained in mere human terms, something wondrously
mystical happens. If we've been brought here tonight
by the Spirit of God, just, I don't know how many is here, but if
they're just two or three who've been brought here tonight by
the Spirit of God in the name of Christ to worship Him, this
is the temple of God. and the Spirit of God dwells
with you. So that as we come together in
the name of Christ, God the Holy Spirit comes with us. That's
what gives special unction to the local assembly that you don't
have anywhere else. Martin Lloyd Jones said years
ago when it became popular to send out cassette tapes, which
we've all done. We use every means we can to send the gospel
around the world. I've often said God allowed a bunch of infidels
to send men to the moon so we could send the gospel around
the world for 50 cents. But the fact is, that's wonderful. Many
of you are here tonight because you heard the gospel by one of
those means that God's given us in this marvelous electronic
age. But I want to tell you something
you can't do with free grace radio or with the CDs or DVDs
or cassette tapes. Lord Jones said you can't put
the Spirit of God on a tape. I don't know how many times somebody
said, Bill, I can't be there, but I'll get the tape. Well,
I want you to get the tape and listen to it, but you can't put
the Spirit of God on the tape. can't be done. God's people meet
together in the name of Christ to worship him and as we do God
the Holy Spirit comes with us and we are the temple of the
living God. This is the family of God. This is where God's family meets
and gathers together one with another and families need each
other. I have Three sisters. My parents are both dead. I had
three sisters, and I get to see a couple of them once or twice
a year, and I always look forward to it. We'll get to spend two
or three hours together once or twice a year, and it's always
wonderful, delightful. But that's not my family. This is my family. This is my family. Some of you,
I can't remember your names before I get out the door. This is my
family. This is my family. You're the
sons and daughters of God Almighty. And this relationship's forever.
This relationship's forever. Our Lord Jesus, on one occasion,
the disciples said, Master, your mother's calling for you. And
he came in and said, see Peter and James and John and Mary?
Behold my mother and my father. This is my family. Earthly ties
are just earthly ties. Earthly relationships are just
earthly relationships. And these earthly relationships
will soon cease. This family is forever. When
we come together in the house of God, in the name of our Lord
Jesus, with the family of God, the Lord God meets sinners in
this place. I know God saves sinners by lots
of means. God uses lots of tools by which
he calls out his elect from this world and gives them faith in
Christ Jesus. But for the most part, most of
you, most of you who know Christ, heard the gospel, And by the
amazing work of God's grace and the power of his spirit, he calls
the gospel you heard to take root in your heart and bring
forth life, giving you life and faith in Christ in the meeting
of God's people in his house under the sound of the word.
Most of you, most of you, on the day of Pentecost, Every man
heard the gospel of Christ preached in his own language, and suddenly
the spirit of God fell upon that meeting, and God added to the
church that day 3,000 souls. How? Just what we're doing right
now. And he adds to the church daily,
such as should be said to this day. And principally, he does
it by this same means. And this is the place where God
deals with men. This is the place where God deals
with me. Whatever goes on in your life, all right? Doesn't
matter what happens to you at three o'clock in the morning
and the word sinks into your soul and brings your thoughts
and your mind in a certain direction. It's because of what you've heard
in this place. God deals with men by his word
through the preaching of the word. It is by the preaching
of the gospel that he calls out his elect, giving them faith
in Christ. It is by the preaching of the
gospel that he teaches his saints, edifies and strengthens and comforts
and reproves and directs and guides his saints in all the
affairs of life. What I'm saying is this is vital. And Mike, nothing else in the
world is vital. Did you hear what I said? Nothing
else in the world is vital. This is vital. The worship of
God's saints in his house. In all ages, the people of God
have known and identified themselves and been known by others by their
public gatherings for worship. Wherever God has had a people
in this world, he's had a congregation to worship him. Sheep are always
found together. The only time you will find sheep
by themselves, they're either lost or they're sick. Otherwise,
sheep are always found together. They need each other. They need
each other. And God's people are his sheep.
We need one another and we need one another's influence, not
so much the influence of that good time we had last night over
at your house. Not so much that. That's wonderful.
We had a great time. Not so much that. as the influence
that we have in God's family as we meet together, worshipping
him in song and hymn and praise and preaching, worshipping him
as lively stones in the temple of God. Did you know that when
they built the temple in the Old Testament, God required that
there not be the sound of a hammer, not be the sound of any instrument
in the temple. And they cut the stones for the
temple. Each stone had its place. Each
what? And as they cut the stones for
the temple, they didn't cut any of them to fit. If I'm building something, and
I'm not a builder. If you've seen some of the birdhouses
I've built, you'd know that. But if I'm building something,
I try my best to cut everything to fit. They didn't do it deliberately. Didn't cut any stones to fit. But they cut them too big. Every
stone in the temple was deliberately cut too big. Put a stone here
and a stone here and then they'd bring a stone just a little bit
too big and they'd work it until it dropped right
in place and fit perfectly. And I need Eric Lutter to rub
my rough edges off. You understand that? We need
one another to fit as lively stones in his temple. We need
one another so that we are fitted together by the Spirit of God
in his house, laboring together in the calls of our Redeemer.
Public worship is the one identifying mark of true believers. so that
with David every saved sinner is resolved to worship God, saying,
As for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy
mercy, and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. I don't know how to say things. using personal experience and
example without somebody possibly misunderstanding or misrepresenting
what I'm doing. So with that as the warning,
let me tell you something. God saved me just before I was
17 years old. And since I was 17 years old,
I'm 62 now, just in case you're wondering. I'm not near as old
as I look. I'm 62. In those 45 years, In those 45 years, you know how
many times I missed a worship service when I could have been
there? You know how many times? Not one. Not one. Well, but what about when your
daughter heads up to school? We didn't miss them. Well, what
about when other things came up? We didn't miss them. But
you're the preacher. That's the way it was before
I was a preacher. And if I wasn't preaching now, that's where I'd
still be, God giving me grace. Because I made up my mind, when
I'm 17 years old, I'm going to build my life in the worship
and service of God, and nothing's going to interfere. Nothing's
going to interfere. I went and applied for a job
once, and this occasion it was greatly because I was a preacher.
I was in Bible college. I had a baby girl and couldn't make
ends meet selling shoes part-time, and they paid good money at the
loading dock, McLean Trucking Company, and I went and applied
for a job. There was only one problem. All the part-time help
had to work on Sunday. And I was going to school five
days a week and spent most of my time preaching somewhere on
Sunday. And I filled out the application. Of course, the fellow
looked at me and figured I could pick up any box they had and just
hired me right on the spot. And I said, now, there's just
one thing. I said, I can't work on Sunday. He took the application and threw
it in the trash can. He said, we can't use you. I said, well,
before I leave, let me tell you, I'll work any hours you want
me to. Anytime you call me, if I have to miss school, I'll miss
that. I just can't work on Sunday. If you work anytime I call you,
we'll give it a try. And I was the only fellow they
ever hired didn't work on Sunday. You see, God Almighty deserves
from you and me the totality of our lives. God's church and
kingdom deserves from you and me the totality of our lives. And if we're going to serve God,
Now we can talk about it, we can yak about it, we can debate
about it, we fuss about it. If we're going to worship and
serve God, we're going to worship and serve God with the totality
of our lives, or we're just going to yak. That's all. There's no in between ground.
God's people are God's people. Christ is Lord, lock, stock,
and barrel over all of me, all my family, all my time, all my
possessions, all my talents, to do with me as he will. And I pray that he might be pleased
to use this man for his glory. But this I know, this I know,
nothing, nothing can interfere with the worship and service
of my Redeemer if I hope that he might use me for his glory.
You're called of God to be pastor of this congregation. Give yourself
to it. I've had a lot of conversations
with your pastor before he became a pastor, before he met this
lady he's married to. And he will verify what I'm saying.
No excuses will be heard. No excuses will be heard. But
I feel, don't care how you feel, no excuses will be heard. Not
if you're going to give yourself to the labor of the gospel. I'm
so tired, just have to be tired. It's so stressful. Just have to be stressed. But
it takes so much time for my family. Family's got to be second.
That's too much. Not to serve Christ is not. Not for this privilege is not.
Too much for anything else under the sun, but not the cause of
the Redeemer. And the same is true of you,
if you're His. The same is true of you. You
see, the Lord Jesus demands surrender, the total surrender of our lives
to him, to do with as he will. And I'll tell you something else
about public worship. The neglect of public worship,
the neglect of public worship is the first step toward total
apostasy. Read the 10th chapter of Hebrews.
Paul admonishes us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is. He admonishes us to encourage
and admonish one another that we not forsake the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is. He admonishes
us to lift up the hands that hang down, to help to strengthen
the knees, to run the race set before us, not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is because
those folks Those folks who sin willfully, after having received
the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, tread under their feet the blood
of the Son of God, do despite to the Spirit of grace, trample
under their feet the things of God. You see, apostasy rarely, rarely, rarely,
rarely is a sudden thing. Rarely. I've been pastoring for
40 years now. I've watched a good many folks
who seem to run well, who made a profession of faith, who were
baptized and excited and very zealous leave the gospel. I've seen it happen many times. I have rarely seen anyone do
so suddenly. Usually it's the care of the
world and the deceitfulness of riches things that gradually
get their hearts and choke out the word. And this apostasy is
so subtle, so cunningly devised of Satan, that men forsake Christ
altogether and never realize they've forsaken him. They never realize what they've
done. They never understand it. They
never come to know that they have walked away from the one
thing that's vital. Yes, the most blessed privilege
we have in this world is the privilege of public worship.
The gathering of God's people called his house. His church,
His temple, not the building in which we're meeting. If I
have occasion, I'll speak to you about that a little bit,
but it's not the building. The building is just a building.
That's all it is. The church is God's people, the
assembly of God's saints, and we understand the universal aspect
of the church, but that doesn't diminish in any way the vital
necessity of a local church, such as God has given you in
this place. Giving you the gospel of his grace, giving you a place,
Scott, where you can raise your sons and daughters. You bring
them Sunday morning, Thursday night, and hear the gospel and
worship God. Oh, my soul. Oh, what a privilege. What an honor. What great grace,
what great mercy. Perhaps the very fact that the
local church is so vital to the welfare of our souls is the thing
that makes it such a target for our adversary the devil. He constantly
raises up confusion about the local church and the worship
of our God, the proper usefulness of the ordinances of the gospel.
And therefore the Holy Spirit gives us very clear, crystal
clear instructions about worship. Many times people have the idea
that this book is ambiguous about public worship. These things are very important.
So the Bible doesn't give clear language about it. We can agree
to disagree about these things. This book's not ambiguous about
anything. It's not ambiguous about anything. The Word of God
doesn't state anything in hazy terms that you might not understand.
The things revealed in this book are revealed with clarity. And
those things that are involved in the worship of our God, in
the assembly of his saints, are crystal clear in the Word of
God. There's no ambiguity about it. The scripture talks about
baptism. I know some of you folks come from Presbyterian or other
backgrounds where they slosh a little water on a baby's face
and call it baptism. There's no excuse for that. That's just
a piece of papacy left over in Protestant churches. Baptism
isn't burial. You can't baptize folks without
burying them. You can't be buried with Christ without being buried
with Christ. It's a burial in water. It's
baptism of folks who profess faith in Christ and by that means
profess that faith. The Lord's Supper. These days,
people are very casual about observing the Lord's Supper.
They'll pass out. I was in a place not long ago,
and they passed out some, I went back in the back and got a loaf
of that dirty bread, that stuff, that healthy stuff, wheat bread. Got a loaf of that, and that's
what was passed out for bread, and some Kool-Aid. And call it
worshiping the Lord's Supper, observing the Lord's Supper.
That's a joke. That's a sad joke. You observe the Lord's Supper,
we're going to see in just a little bit with bread, unleavened bread and wine,
and it's not possible to observe it otherwise. The Scriptures
are so very plain about orderly worship. Paul's whole subject
in this portion of 1 Corinthians is he's setting in order the
matter of worship. He's setting in order the things
that ought to be done and must not be done in the Lord's house
when we come together in the Church of God. He tells women
that they ought to come and show themselves to be women of modesty.
The symbol in that day was the wearing of a veil. I've got to
say this because of the confusion. Down where I'm from, we have
some folks who think that women ought to wear a head covering.
And, you know, it's not fashionable these days for ladies
to wear hats. Not even in the South, except
on Derby Day. So most women don't wear hats. But you know what
they do? They carry a little doily around in their purse.
And when it comes time to start the service, they put a doily
on, and they call that wearing a veil. No. That veil was exactly
what you see in Iran and women wearing in Iran. And I don't
know anybody suggesting they should start doing that. The
symbol of the veil was a symbol of a woman's subjection to her
husband and the man's authority over his wife so that women are
instructed to come to the house of God and behave as women ought
to behave everywhere in all ranks of society in subjection to their
husbands not as heads over their husbands. The Apostle Paul is
a dealing with this matter of the Lord's table then. And it
comes to talk about the Lord's table. These Corinthians had
greatly abused it. They had greatly abused it. They
were interjecting into the worship of God the frivolity of what
became known as love feast. Instead of just observing the
Lord's table, they'd come together to worship God, to observe the
Lord's Supper. Now, there's nowhere in the scripture
that commands that the Lord's Supper be observed every Sunday.
Nowhere in scripture. But that was the way it was commonly
done in the New Testament days. So that whenever the disciples
came together on the Lord's Day, they came together for breaking
of bread. The Corinthians had made the coming together to worship
God in the breaking of bread, which was another term for worship.
They came together for worshiping God and they threw a party. They
had a good time when they went to church. They had love feasts
and they'd bring their feasts and their wine and they'd just
have great festivities that made church fun for young folks and
old folks alike. Sound familiar? Well, everybody
tries to do with church. Try to do something to make it
appealing to the flesh. Try to do something to compete
with the church down the road so that there's something that
attracts people. We've got to have an attraction,
an attraction other than the worship of God. An attraction
other than the preaching of the gospel. An attraction other than
the honor of God. An attraction other than the
exposition of God's word. An attraction other than singing
praise to God's name. An attraction other than bowing
one another before God in prayer. Some attraction other than God.
And that's what the Corinthians were doing. They were having
these love feasts. Now watch what Paul says in verse
27. These three verses, 1 Corinthians 11, 27, 28, and 29. had been more troubling to sensitive
souls, I suspect, than any other in the New Testament. 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."
This is specifically what Chris was referring to last night,
at the Lord's table, and they'd hold the bread and wine and say,
now, have you got any secret sin? any unconfessed sin, any
known sin in your life, then you can't take the Lord's supper
or you're eating and drinking unworthily and God will get you. Is that pretty close? That pretty
close? That's what you've heard all
your life. Read on. Whosoever eateth and drinketh
this cup of the Lord shall be guilty of the body and blood
of the Lord. But let a man examine himself
and so let him eat. Let a man examine himself, now
listen, and so let him eat. Not let a man examine himself
and then don't eat. Let a man examine himself and
so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he
that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation
to himself. Now here's the key. Not discerning
the Lord's body. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily,
eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the
Lord's body. Who is worthy? Who is worthy to observe the
Lord's Supper when you all come together and whatever time you're
having a sit to observe the Lord's Supper, you come together? Who's
worthy, really, to take the bread and wine? Well, let's extend
it a little bit. Paul is here dealing with worship,
orderly worship. Who is worthy to pray? Who's worthy? Who's worthy to
come to God and say, my Father? Who's worthy? Who is worthy to
be baptized in the name of Christ, confessing Christ as Lord? Who
is worthy to stand here before a congregation and open God's
book and read God's book? Who's worthy? Who is worthy to
lift our voices and our hearts together in praise to God in
song and sing his praises in the house of God? Which one of
you is worthy? Who's worthy? Who is worthy to
stand before men and preach the gospel of God's grace? Who's
worthy? Who's worthy to do that? The
fact is the scriptures are very clear. Every true believer, every
sinner who trusts Christ alone, everyone who looks to Christ
alone as his wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption
is worthy of receiving the Lord's Supper and is obliged to receive
the Lord's Supper. Everyone who trusts the Lord
Jesus is worthy to call God his father and is able to call God
his father, crying Abba Father. Everyone who trusts the Lord
Jesus is worthy of believers baptism and is obliged to confess
Christ in believers baptism. Everyone who trusts the Lord
Jesus is worthy of the worship and service of God in his life
and is obliged because Christ is Lord and Redeemer to worship
and serve God in the totality of his life. Now let's look at
this passage of Scripture together, and I believe the Lord God may
give you something to encourage your hearts and strengthen you
in the faith. Paul is setting in order the
disorderly affairs of this church at Corinth. And he does so by
divine inspiration, teaching us how to worship God. And he
specifically deals with the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. Look at
verse 20. When you come together, therefore, into one place, this
is not to eat the Lord's Supper. Now there are three things he
says in this verse. Number one, there was a specific
place where the Corinthian church assembled for public worship. These days there are lots of
people, and there have been other days, who belittle public worship. and the public ministry of the
word and they like to have home bible studies. Isn't that wonderful? And they like to have home prayer
meetings and they just worship God independently where they
don't have any pastor or church to answer to and no responsibilities
and no commitments and no cost. I think I got close to home.
and no responsibilities, and no cost. People love that. They're spiritual welfare bums.
They'll traipse around to Bible conferences. We'll have our Bible
conference in a little while, but they'll traipse around Bible
conferences, and they'll attend Bible conferences, and get to
talk to preachers, and debate theology, and discuss those things,
and then go home and forget it. And they have no commitment,
no responsibility, no cost. And so they object to having
a place of public worship. These Corinthians came together
at an identified specific place. They had an identified specific
place. Not only that, they came at a specific time. They came
for the purpose of worshiping God at an appointed time. They
didn't just haphazardly say, well, we'll get together this
week, we won't next week. They had a time and a place,
came to worship God. Well, boy, it sure seems awfully
straight-laced. It does, doesn't it? That sure
seems awfully matter-of-fact. It does, doesn't it? Responsibility
involves matter-of-fact responsibility. And we have responsibilities,
not just for me and my family. I have responsibility for you
and your family. I have responsibility for everybody
I come in contact with. And we meet responsibilities
by meeting the responsibilities. Dealing with things in reality.
They came to a specific place at a specific time. But notice
this third thing. Paul says you didn't come here
to worship God. You didn't come here to observe the Lord's Supper.
The Corinthians said, let's go to the church of God and worship
God in the observance of the Lord's Supper. But they came
to throw a party. They came to have a good time.
He said, when you come together in one place, this is not to
observe or to keep, to eat the Lord's Supper. You've come to
have a party at home in our congregation, we do observe the Lord's Table
every Sunday night. We've done so since the beginning
and we will continue to do so. We call it the Lord's Supper
because Christ the Lord is the author of it. He's the subject
of it. He's the host of it. It's for
his family and he's the reason for it. It's the Lord's Supper.
That means that it belongs to Christ and that means it belongs
to you if you're his. That ends the debate about closed
communion, doesn't it? That ends the debate. Well, we
observe strict communion. That's not your business. None
of your business who observes the Lord's Table. I tell our
men when they pass out the bread and wine, I say, I don't pay
any attention to who takes it, don't you pay any attention.
That's not my business. It's the business of you who
worship God to examine yourselves, not mine to examine you. It's
the business of you to understand your relationship with God, not
mine to determine your relationship with God. I don't even look up
when they pass out the bread and wine. I deliberately don't
want to know who's taking and who's not because that's not
my business. You see, God's servants aren't
priests. We're preachers. I'm not your
mediator. I'm not your intercessor. I'm
not your confessor. I'm God's messenger to your soul.
That's all. I declare God's message and wait
for God to work in you by his word. And that's all. So we observe
the Lord's table in just those simple ways. But the Corinthians
abused it horribly. Look at verse 21. He said, you
didn't come to take the Lord's Supper, to eat the Lord's Supper,
for in eating, everyone taketh before other his own supper,
and one is hungry and another is drunk. Wow. What were they doing? I don't know how y'all do things
here, but at home, we don't have enough bread. When we're having
the Lord's Supper for 75 or 80 or 100 people, we don't have
enough bread for one person to get full of. We don't have a
big loaf that everybody gets. Folks just have a little piece.
And the wine? If one person drank all that
was served, he could drive legally, he'd be all right. It wouldn't
hurt him any. Well, what were these Corinthians doing? They
said, we've come together to eat the Lord's Supper. But they
came together, pretending to worship God in clay. They were
having a feast like we had at the cattle's last night. I mean,
just a feast, everybody bringing their food in, and they start
to go there, oh, steaks are ready. And the folks who had plenty,
gorged themselves, piled their plates high. And the poor folks
who didn't bring anything to contribute were sent home hungry. Folks came to feast and have
a party and enjoy themselves without regard to the material,
the physical, let alone the spiritual needs of anyone else in the house. Paul said, this is not right.
This is not right. You see, the Church of God is
not a place for entertainment. The Church of God is not a place
for the gratification of our lust. The Church of God is not
established to entertain folks on their way to hell. The Church
of God is not established so that this is a good family activity
center, a family life center, all the other stuff that people
have in religion. Oh no, this is a place for worship.
This is a place where the gospel is sounded out to the world.
And we exist for no other reason. I told you this the first meeting
you all had together. This is the only reason for a
local assembly. We are a sounding board for the
gospel of God in Christ Jesus. No other purpose. No other purpose.
Not ball teams, not shows and theatrical performances and musical
productions and all the horse manure that goes
with stuff. There's no place for it. No. This is the place
where we come to worship God. The Corinthians had added to
the ordinance of Christ a gaudy feast that got terribly out of
hand, and it was just a gratifying party. Read on, verse 22. What, have ye not houses to eat
and drink in? Or despise ye the church of God,
and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall
I praise you in this? I praise you not. Now again,
a word of caution. This is not a prohibition. When
God gives you a place of worship and you build a church building
and you've got the means to do so, we just finished completely
redoing our dining hall, fellowship hall, kitchen, all stuff downstairs. And I know folks who won't come
and eat. There'll be folks at our conference who won't go down
there and eat. They won't do it. They don't think you ought
to eat in the church house, as if there's something holy about
that building. They don't have trouble using the bathroom in
it, but they won't eat in it. I never have figured that out yet. But
they won't eat in it, because they think the building is holy.
No, Paul's not prohibiting that. That's not what's prohibiting
at all. What Paul is prohibiting in this place is the abuse or
the interjection of anything into the worship of God that
God hasn't ordained. The interjection of anything
into the worship of God that God hasn't written in this book. That means there's no place in
the house of God for about 99% of what goes on in churches in
our day, let alone the heresy. No place in the House of God.
Years ago, they don't call me anymore, but the newspaper gal
called from local paper a week or two before Easter Sunday and
she said, we're doing an interview of all the preachers and churches
in Boyle County and we want to know what y'all are doing Easter
Sunday. I said, we're going to meet and
worship God. She said, no, you don't understand. We're trying
to find out what are you going to do that's special Easter Sunday? And I said, I'm going to preach
the gospel to folks Sunday morning, Sunday night. And I pretend to
be dumber than I am. I just kept on. And she finally
said, Reverend Fortin, I'm not making myself clear. What are
you going to do that's different Easter Sunday? I said, Annabelle,
you be here Sunday morning, and you'll be astonished how different
it'll be. Astonished how different it'll
be. What you gonna do? We're gonna worship God. We're gonna
worship God. One of our men dating a lady,
he was in his 80s, and he was dating a lady almost as old,
and she'd been in church all her life, and she'd been two
or three times, and she said, it's just not any fun going to
your church. And Brother Huber said to her, I didn't know it
was supposed to be fun. I thought we were supposed to worship God. The
church house is not to entertain you. The house of God is not
to entertain you. The people of God don't make
sacrifices to entertain you. The church is for the worship
of God, for the preaching of the gospel. All right, now let's
look at verses 23 through 26. Paul tells us exactly how we
are to observe the Lord's Supper in specifics. 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, and when
he had given thanks." Now, if you read Matthew's account, you'll
find that Matthew says he blessed the bread. The Apostle Paul writes
by inspiration and tells us that means he gave thanks for the
bread. We often ask somebody to pray before a meal. Most of
us anymore will say, would you pray for us? But sometimes it's
still, people say, would you ask the blessing? That's a Roman
tradition. It's the notion that somehow
now we're going to take this food that was cursed and we're
going to bless it. And the papists, you know, they
do their little mumbo jumbo and suddenly the bread becomes the
body of Christ and the wine becomes the blood of Christ and it's
supposed to be really the body of Christ and really the blood
of Christ. And people who otherwise have
good sense fall for that junk. And they think that somehow that
priest by St. Abracadabra turns it into the
body and blood of Christ. No, the Lord just gave thanks
for the bread and gave thanks for the wine. And then he broke
it and said, take ye, this is my body, not really my body,
symbolically my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance
of me. The reason for it is to remember
me. After the same manner, also he took the cup, and when he
had sucked, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood.
He's not saying it's really the New Testament, the New Covenant.
He's not saying it's really my blood. He's saying it represents
God's covenant of grace in my blood, shed for my people. This
do ye, as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as
often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show forth
the Lord's death till he come." So that we come together to take
the Lord's Supper and we take the bread, unleavened bread representing
his holy humanity, his perfect, perfect humanity, no sin, representing
his body crushed under the wrath of God when he was made sin for
us. Crushed to death as our substitute. And the wine representing his
blood, not grape juice, not Kool-Aid, wine. Because the wine, by the
process of fermentation, has all the leaven removed from it.
And it properly, perfectly represents the blood of Christ, the Holy
Lamb of God. His blood squeezed from the grape,
who tread the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God
as our substitute, and now we eat the bread and drink the wine,
just as each believer personally receives Christ by faith, so
each believer takes the bread and takes the wine to himself,
remembering the Redeemer, remembering the Redeemer, remembering the
Redeemer. Our business when we come to
the house of God is the remembrance of Jesus Christ. The remembrance
of Jesus Christ in who he is, in all he's done, in all his
grace, the remembrance of Jesus Christ and as you remember him. your sins exposed, your corruption,
your depravity, the evil of your heart, the evil of your nature,
the blessedness of his grace, the blessedness of redemption,
the blessedness of heavenly goodness, the blessedness of God our Savior. And you go your way worshiping
God. So that the whole of worship
is the remembrance of Christ. It's the remembrance of Christ.
So when you come to the house of God, You come asking God to
speak to you by his word, to reveal Christ to you, to give
you a fresh vision of the Redeemer, a fresh revelation of his goodness,
a fresh token of his grace. And when he does, you leave the
house of God confessing your sin, and you leave the house
of God rejoicing in the Savior. And when you do, you say, man,
how long is it until we meet again? When do we get together again? What a blessed privilege. Well,
who's worth it? Most people take this passage
to say, well, you know, if you're not living right, now, you know,
you know, I could have been watching too much television, not reading
the Bible enough. How much have you prayed this week? You and
your wife been having trouble? Lose your temper with the kids?
Just getting mad and cussing somebody at work? Well, you can't
take the Lord's Supper. You can't take the Lord's Supper.
That's not what he said. That's not what he said at all. What
is it to eat and drink unworthily? To eat and drink unworthily is
to eat and drink not discerning the Lord's body. Not discerning
the Lord's body. One reason I have such strong
statements against what folks call infabaptism is because it's
wrong, it's wrong to raise your sons and daughters with the presumption
of grace. It's wrong to raise your sons
and daughters with the presumption of grace. I don't chase ambulances
and try to get folks to make a profession of faith. I don't
do it. Somebody, oh, my boy's in an accident. I believe he's
ready to accept the Lord. Let him call me. Let him call me. You
mean you're not going to go see him? No. No. If he wants me to,
I will, but I'm not otherwise. No. My boy's in jail now. I believe he's broken. I doubt
it. Maybe, but I doubt it. I doubt it. Well, won't you do
anything? I will. I'll do what I've been
doing. I'll pray for him and I'll preach to him when I get an opportunity.
But I'm not going to try to twist his arm and get him to make a
profession of faith. You young people, I'm not going to try
to talk you into a profession of faith in Christ. You old people,
I'm not going to mentally Psychologically massage your binds and try to
force you to profess faith in Christ because to eat and drink
unworthily To presume that your gods when you're not is to eat
and drink damnation to yourself You got that It is to eat and
and drink damnation to yourself, so that the longer and more you
practice religion without the knowledge of God, the more you
sear your own conscience before God and harden your own heart. You eat and drink unworthily,
convincing yourself that you're God's when you're not, and thereby
eat and drink damnation to yourself. What's that mean? It means exactly
what you think it means. Exactly what you think it means.
Well, that's talking about believers eating and drinking damnation
to themselves. I don't think a believer can do that. You're
not under the law. Christ has redeemed you from
the curse of the law. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. No, no, no, no believer not going
to drink damnation to himself. It's the unbeliever who practices
godliness but doesn't know God. It's the unbeliever who practices
religion but doesn't know God. What are we to do then? We preach
the gospel and we tell every man to examine himself. Examine
himself. What are you to do? I hope tonight,
Cyril, I hope God's given you grace to examine yourself. My
business when I preach, every time I preach to everybody I
preach, is for you to examine yourself. Examine yourself. Whether you are in the faith.
Whether you are in the faith. That's the point of examination.
not how good you are, not how good you live, or how bad you
live. Do you or do you not believe
God? Do you or do you not trust the
Son of God? If you do, let Him eat. Come, worship God. Come, keep
the feast. Come, remember the Redeemer.
If you do not believe, oh, God give you grace now to believe. God give you grace now to trust
his darling son and go your way rejoicing in Christ the crucified
Redeemer. And thus we come and eat and
drink the Lord's Supper worthily. Worthily. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something about
Don Ford. Let me tell you something. Some of you know me pretty good. Some of you know me better than
I want you to. Let me tell you something you might not know. Kevin, I'm completely worthy
of God. I am completely worthy of God's
smile on me all the time because I'm one with his son. I'm one
with his son. I'm as righteous as he is. He
is my righteousness. I'm as holy as he is. He is my
holiness. I'm as pure as he is. He is my
redemption. I'm as free of sin as he is.
He put away my sin. That means I am meet to be partaker
of the inheritance of the saints in light. So I can come to God's
house with God's people and sing God's praise and call God my
father and I can stand up here and read the scriptures and lead
you in a Prayer to the throne of grace. I can even open God's book and
preach Jesus Christ crucified to you and make no apology to anybody
because I'm worthy in Christ the Redeemer. Would you be worthy
of God's smile, of God's approval? of God's acceptance all the time
in the depth of your own conscience? Would you? Would you like to
go to bed tonight and think about judgment and
eternity and heaven and hell and sleep like a baby in his
mother's arms? then fall in the arms of the
crucified Redeemer. Trust the Savior and rest your
souls in Him. Amen. Thank you, Brother Don. Eric,
why don't you and Sarah come up here. We're going to sing
a closing hymn.