I had worked on Hebrews chapter
11 for the last few days and I woke up this morning and the message completely changed
on me. Scripture started going through
my mind concerning the Lord's table and and I've never really
done it this way, but I'm going to read several portions of Scripture
on my way, on my way to 1 Corinthians 11, that'll be the last portion
of Scripture. The title of the message is The
Lord's Table. I want you to turn, first of
all, to Exodus 12. We looked at this not too long
ago, the institution of the Lord's Passover, when the Lord delivered
Israel out of Egypt, and He provided a substitute for the firstborn
of Israel, a lamb. He told them to take a lamb,
as you will see as I read this. A LAMB FOR THE FIRSTBORN OF ISRAEL. Which shows this, before I start
reading, it shows this, that the firstborn of Israel was just
as guilty, just as sinful as the firstborn of Egypt. But God
provided a substitute to die in their place, but they were
just as sinful. But God provided a substitute
for His people. And we'll see this as we go along
and we'll see it in Christ in the end. And the Lord spake unto
Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall
be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first
month of the year for you. It's a new life for you. Now speak ye unto all the congregation
of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall
take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their
fathers, a lamb for a house, AND IF THE HOUSEHOLD BE TOO LITTLE
FOR THE LAMB, LET HIM AND HIS NEIGHBOR NEXT UNTO HIS HOUSE
TAKE IT ACCORDING TO THE NUMBER OF THE SOULS. EVERY MAN ACCORDING
TO HIS EATING SHALL MAKE YOUR COUNT FOR THE LAMB. YOUR LAMB
SHALL BE WITHOUT BLEMISH. A MALE OF THE FIRST YEAR, YOU
SHALL TAKE IT OUT FROM THE SHEEP OR FROM THE GOATS, AND YOU SHALL
KEEP IT UP UNTIL THE FOURTEENTH DAY OF THE SAME MONTH. and the
whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the
evening. And they shall take of the blood,
and strike it on the two side post, and on the upper door post
of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. This is the blood applied. And here they who applied it,
applied it by faith, they believed God, and they did so. AND THEY
SHALL EAT THE FLESH IN THAT NIGHT, ROAST WITH FIRE, THIS IS CHRIST
CRUCIFIED, AND UNLEAVENED BREAD, AND WITH BITTER HERBS SHALL THEY
EAT THIS, IT'S WITH REPENTANCE. EAT NOT OF IT RAW, NOR SODDEN
AT ALL WITH WATER, BUT ROAST WITH FIRE, HIS HEAD WITH HIS
LEGS, AND WITH THE PERTINENCE THEREOF. AND YOU SHALL LET NOTHING
OF IT REMAIN UNTIL THE MORNING, AND THAT WHICH REMAINS OF IT
UNTIL THE MORNING YOU SHALL BURN WITH FIRE. and thus shall ye
eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and
your staff in your hand, and ye shall eat it in haste. It's
the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land
of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt. I will kill them, both man and
beast, and against all the gods of Egypt, the princes of Egypt,
I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. THE BLOOD SHALL
BE TO YOU FOR A TOKEN UPON THE HOUSES WHERE YE ARE, AND WHEN
I SEE THE BLOOD, WHAT A POWERFUL STATEMENT. GOD SAYS WHEN I SEE
THE BLOOD, YOU KNOW THOSE INSIDE THE HOUSE COULDN'T SEE IT THEY
KNEW THEY PUT IT ON THERE BUT WHEN THEY SHUT THE DOOR WENT
INSIDE THAT THEY COULDN'T SEE IT BUT GOD SAID WHEN I SEE IT
YOU SEE IT'S WHEN GOD SEES IT When I see the blood I will pass
over you and the plague that is the plague of death shall
not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt
and this day shall be unto you for a memorial and you shall
keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep
it a feast by an ordinance forever. Now over in verse 25, listen,
And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which
the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye
shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass, when
your children say unto you, What mean ye by this service? Because
they're going to have children that weren't there. And so when
they ask you, Why do you do this? He said that you shall say it's
the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover. That's who Jesus Christ is. He's
the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover. Christ our Passover sacrifice
for us who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in
Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses and
the people bowed their head and worshipped. Now turn over to
Isaiah 53. You see, this is all about substitution,
all about God providing a substitute in our place for us. Israel did not ask the Lord to
provide that lamb, you know that? God did it, God purposed it,
God gave it, God executed it, God did that. God gave His Son,
Jesus Christ, for our sins. NOT FOR EVERYBODY ON THIS EARTH,
BUT FOR A MULTITUDE OF SINNERS HE CHOSE, WHO ARE HIS PEOPLE,
AND HE GAVE HIS SON TO DIE IN THEIR PLACE, TO BE THEIR PASSOVER
LAMB, AND THAT IS SUBSTITUTION, CHRIST DYING IN MY PLACE. THE
SON OF GOD, THE CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, REALLY, REALLY DIED,
PUT THE DEATH IN THE FLESH, FOR ME. for me and for you, you who
believe, and all who believe, all whom the Lord brings to faith. Isaiah 53, this is the gospel
of substitution and satisfaction in this chapter. WHO HATH BELIEVED
OUR REPORT, OUR MESSAGE? Here is a call for faith in the
first verse. You see, He told them to put
the blood on the door, kill the lamb, put the blood on the door,
and they did. That is an act of faith. And here He says, WHO
HATH BELIEVED OUR REPORT, OUR MESSAGE? It is a true message. Who believed it? It is a message
of grace, a message of God's glory. Who hath believed it?
AND TO WHOM IS THE ARM OF THE LORD REVEALED? That is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the arm of the Lord. For
he, the arm of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant. And as a root out of dry ground,
he hath no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him. There's no halo over his
head. When he walks about, his face
is not shining. He looked like an ordinary man.
There was no beauty we should desire in Him. This is the Son
of God. This is the Son of God. And look here at His reception.
You'd think when He came into the world, we'd be thrilled to
death, wouldn't you? You'd think when the Creator came into the
world, the world would receive Him with joy and rejoice in Him. But listen, He's despised and
rejected of men. HE'S A MAN OF SORROWS AND ACQUAINTED
WITH GRIEF. MY SORROWS AND MY GRIEF. THAT'S
WHAT HE'S ACQUAINTED WITH. AND WE HID, AS IT WERE, OUR FACES
FROM HIM. DON'T EVER, YOU WOULDN'T DO THIS,
BUT LET'S NEVER SAY I WOULDN'T DO THAT IF I WERE THERE. THERE'S
ONE STUPID PREACHER, I GUESS I'M NOT VERY POLITICALLY CORRECT,
BUT THERE'S ONE STUPID PREACHER WHO SAID IF HE WAS THERE, HE
WOULD HAVE STOPPED HIM. I'M SO GLAD HE WASN'T THERE. No, he
would have been swinging a hammer. That's what he would have been
doing. I'm glad nobody stopped him. That's our salvation. No, we, we, he, we, we, and he's
including himself. We hid as it were our faces from
him, embarrassed of him, embarrassed of him. We know you, you're the
carpenter's son. He was despised and we esteemed him not. We made
nothing out of him. Surely He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted." That's why He was smitten, stricken,
and afflicted, because He was carrying our griefs and sorrows,
our sins. He bore our sins in His body
on the tree. Boy, I tell you what, we ought
to read this chapter right here with such joy and with tears
that the Lord did this for me and you. But he was wounded,
over in the margin it says TORMENTED. He was tormented. He was wounded
for OUR transgressions. Now listen, these transgressions,
these sins and these iniquities belong to someone. He keeps saying
OUR, OUR, OUR. He was wounded for OUR transgressions. He was bruised for OUR iniquities.
THE CHASTISEMENT OF OUR PEACE WAS UPON HIM, AND WITH HIS STRIPES
WE ARE HEALED. ALL WE, LIKE SHEEP, HAVE GONE
ASTRAY. WE HAVE TURNED EVERYONE TO HIS
OWN WAY, HIS OWN WAY OF SINNING, HIS OWN WAY OF IDOLATRY. WE WERE
ALL IDOLATERS, EVERY ONE OF US. BEFORE GOD SAVED US, WE WERE
ALL IDOLATERS. We went our own way, a way of sin and debauchery. And the LORD
hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Over in the margin
it says, made the iniquity of us all to meet on him. It all
fell on him at one time, there at Calvary. That's what it did. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth, Why? Because He's a WILLING SAVIOR. He's a WILLING SUBSTITUTE. He
willingly, WILLINGLY with GLADNESS and JOY died for us. He did that willingly. He wasn't
forced to do that. No man takes my life from me. He's brought as a LAMB to the
slaughter. Here we are. Here's the Lamb. and as a sheep
before her sheers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He
was taken from prison, and from judgment, or judgment was taken
away from him, they lied on him. And who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken." Here's the substitute, God provided
a substitute for his people, my people. And he made his grave
with the wicked, and he was there between those two thieves. And
with the rich in his death, he had the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea,
a rich man, he was buried in that tomb. Because he had done
no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Though he
had done no violence, no deceit in his mouth, he was a spotless
Lamb of God. He knew no sin, yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. You know why it pleased the Lord
to bruise him? Because it pleased God to make you His people. That's
what God said. That's what Samuel said concerning
God's people. It pleased God to make you His
people. And that being so, it pleased the Lord to bruise him.
He hath put him to grief. God the Father put him to grief.
God's in on this. Thou shalt make his soul an offering
for sin. He shall see his seed, he's not
going to fail. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul, he shall see of the birth pains of his soul, and shall be satisfied. He'll
have no stillborn children. They'll all be living by his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall
bear their inequities And here's satisfaction therefore
will I divide him a portion with the gray He shall divide the
spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his soul unto
death and he was numbered with the transgressors and he bared
the sin of many and made intercession for for the transgressors There's the Lamb, we go back
over in Exodus 12, that Lamb in the type and picture, here
He is in prophecy. Now let's go over to John, over
to John chapter 1. The Gospel of John, chapter 1. Look in verse 29. These are the scriptures that
just rolled through my mind this morning and I got up and wrote
them down. The next day, John seeth Jesus
coming to him, John the Baptist, and he saith, Behold the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. That Lamb that
was typified back there in Exodus 12 as the Passover Lamb. and look again down in verse
35 and again the next day after john stood and two of his disciples
i want you to notice how the message does not change the next
day and john looking upon jesus as he walked he saith behold
the lamb of god THAT'S OUR MESSAGE. SUBSTITUTION. GOD'S LAMB TAKING
OUR PLACE, TAKING AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD. THE JEW AND GENTILES
ARE INCLUDED IN THE SALVATION OF GOD. Now turn over to John
chapter 6. In John chapter 6, look in verse
51. I'm going to read 51 through
66. I AM THE LIVING BREAD. which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The
Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give
us his flesh to eat? And Jesus said to them, Verily,
verily, I say to you, EXCEPT YOU EAT THE FLESH OF THE SON
OF MAN AND DRINK HIS BLOOD, YOU HAVE NO LIFE IN YOU. WHOSO EATETH
MY FLESH AND DRINKETH MY BLOOD HATH ETERNAL LIFE, AND I WILL
RAISE HIM UP AT THE LAST DAY. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. That's taking Christ
in, receiving Christ. As the living Father has sent
me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he
shall live by me. THIS IS THAT BREAD WHICH CAME
DOWN FROM HEAVEN, NOT AS YOUR FATHERS DID EAT MANNA, THAT NATURAL
BREAD, OR THAT BREAD THAT WAS GIVEN TO THEM IN THE WILDERNESS.
THEY DID EAT MANNA AND ARE DEAD, BECAUSE THERE IS NO LIFE IN TYPES,
AND MANNA WAS JUST A TYPE OF CHRIST. HE THAT EATETH OF THIS
BREAD SHALL LIVE FOREVER. THESE THINGS SAID HE IN THE SYNAGOGUE,
AS HE TAUGHT IN CAPERNAUM. many therefore of his disciples
when they heard this said this is a hard saying who can hear
this who can who can understand this or or hear this and when
jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it he said
to them does this offend you what and if you shall see the
son of man ascend up where he was before now listen here's
the key here's one of the key verses it's the spirit that quickeneth
the flesh prophets nothing It's what I've been saying to you
is spiritual. And it's the spirit who gives life. It's the spirit
who quickens. You know, they're sitting there
thinking like cannibalism. You know, he's talking about
eating his flesh and drinking his blood, but he said, what
I'm talking to you is spiritual. You know, tonight, just sitting
here, you are eating His flesh and drinking His blood, aren't
you? By faith, you're doing that. I believe Jesus Christ shed His
blood on Calvary Street. I believe that His body was broken
for me. I believe that He bore my sins
in His body on the tree, and His body was broken for me. He's
that bread from heaven that came down and was broken for me. IT IS THE SPIRIT THAT QUICKENETH
THE FLESH, PROPHETS NOTHING. THE WORDS I SPEAK TO YOU THEY
ARE WHAT? SPIRIT. And you can't understand
them if God hasn't given you a new birth, that which is born
of the Spirit of the Spirit. Nicodemus came to him at night
and he was going to ask the Lord some questions and the Lord stopped
him. Except you be born again, you can't see the Kingdom of
God. You can't understand the Kingdom of God. You don't have
anything to put it in. THE FLESH HAS NOTHING TO PUT
TRUTH IN! A MAN HAS GOT TO BE BORN OF GOD
BEFORE HE CAN RECEIVE TRUTH AND UNDERSTAND IT! YOU HAVE GOT TO
HAVE THE NATURE, A SPIRITUAL NATURE, THAT WHICH IS BORN OF
THE SPIRIT OF SPIRIT TO UNDERSTAND THE THINGS OF GOD BECAUSE GOD
IS SPIRIT OTHER THAN I AM! BUT THERE ARE SOME OF YOU THAT
BELIEVED NOT, FOR JESUS KNEW FROM THE BEGINNING WHO THEY WERE
THAT BELIEVED NOT, AND WHO SHOULD BETRAY HIM. AND HE SAID, THEREFORE
SAID I UNTO YOU, THAT NO MAN CAN COME TO ME EXCEPT IT GIVEN
HIM BY THE FATHER. FROM THAT TIME MANY OF HIS DISCIPLES
WENT BACK AND WALKED NO MORE WITH HIM." They said, this is
ridiculous! This is ridiculous! And Jesus
said to the twelve, will you also go away? And I love what
Peter said, and this is exactly what every child of God says.
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou
hast the words of eternal life. We have nobody else to go to.
You have the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art to Christ, the Son of the living God. Now turn over to Matthew 26.
In Matthew 26, 26 through 30 and then I'm gonna
say a few things about the Lord's table and then we're gonna go
over the first Corinthians and take the Lord's table And as they were eating 26 26
Matthew 26 26 And as they were eating Jesus took bread and blessed
it and he break it and gave it to the disciples and said take
eat this is my body and And he took the cup, and gave thanks,
and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it. For this
is my blood of the new testament, that new covenant we ve been
looking at in Hebrews, which is shed, he says, for many for
the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not
drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when
I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." And when he
said this, they went out and sang a hymn, which is what we'll
do at the end of this. We'll sing a hymn. But let me
make some comments on this, and I'm going to try to keep it brief.
In all the Scripture that I've read to you, We have the Gospel. We have the Gospel of Substitution.
We have the Gospel of Substitution and Satisfaction. And we have
here in Christ the true Passover. He is the true Passover Lamb.
Behold the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the world.
And this is what we are going to do tonight. We are going to
take the Lord's Table. And this is not just a remembrance of
an event that happened 2,000 years ago, this is the remembrance
of a person. Do this, as often as you do this,
do this in remembrance, he said, of me. Do this in remembrance
of me. And in doing this, we show the
Lord's death till He comes. Now I want you to notice the
simplicity of this supper. There's no rituals. There was
no ceremony going on. Just as tonight, there's no ceremony
going on. I'm not dressed in some priestly
garb. There's no incense being burned.
All we have is the bread and the wine. That's all we have. It's very simple, very simple
service. Yet, if I had the tag I'm trying
to be careful saying this, but if I had to tag any service as
holy as the holiest service, this would be the one. This would
be the one. When we take the Lord's Table
and we remember His death till He comes is what we're doing. But the simplicity of it is remarkable. Unleavened bread and wine. Unleavened bread because it represents
His sinless body. There was to be no leaven, not
even in the house. If you remember over in Exodus,
they couldn't have it in the house. For seven days they had
no leaven. No leaven. Because leaven represents
sin. Remember a little leaven leavens
the whole lot. It represents our Lord's sinless
body. And the wine represents His pure
blood. his blood and you'll notice also
here there's only one loaf he says the Lord took the bread
there wasn't 12 loaves sitting there in front of each one of
them there's one loaf of bread and the Lord takes that bread
and he breaks it he didn't pass it around here break a piece
off no he breaks it and he gives it to them this represents his
broken body which he said is broken for you It's broken for
you. And let me mention what this
table is NOT. It's not, as the Catholics say,
transubstantiation. It's not that. The bread and the wine DO NOT
turn into the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
is absolute foolishness and it's a lie. It doesn't do that. You know, Luther, I didn't know
this, I was reading this, but Luther, and let me say this,
sometimes it takes a while to get the grave clothes off. Sometimes
we have some of those old superstitions, stuff that hang on for a little
while before we finally let it go. But Luther at one time taught
that the bread and wine mystically and spiritually turned into the
Body and Blood of Christ, and the elements became holy and
communicated grace to those who partook of it. But then after
reading Calvin, after being taught of God, he gave that up, he left
that. But when I read that, I thought,
it takes a while. We've been going through Hebrews,
and what's Paul dealing with? Wanting to go back under the
law, wanting to go back under at least part of it, you know,
circumcision, they wanted to do that, or the priesthood, at
least keep the priesthood going. They was having some of them,
especially some of them, and some of them even left. But they
were having a difficult time leaving those things, letting
those things go, that they grew up with. God give us patience. Patience
with sinners. You know, we all don't learn
at the same rate. We should have learned that when we went to
school. We all don't learn at the same rate and it's so spiritually. It's so spiritually. No grace is conveyed by these elements
here. NO MORE THAN BAPTISM WASHES AWAY
SIN. Baptism, you know, when we are
baptized, we, you know, submitted to baptism, it didn't wash one's
sin away. ONLY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST WASHES AWAY OUR SINS. THAT'S
JUST IDENTIFICATION WITH CHRIST. BEING BAPTIZED, FIRST OF ALL,
IT'S OBEDIENCE. IT'S OBEDIENCE TO THE COMMAND
OF CHRIST. and it's following Christ and we're saying that
and it's identifying with the Lord Jesus Christ and His death,
burial, and resurrection. It's saying we were raised to
a new life. I'm not going back to that old
life. That's gone. I'm not saying the
sin is gone and we're not troubled. You know, those things still
trouble us to the grave. No, I'm not going down the broad
road no more. I'm not walking on the broad road no more. Straight's
the gate and narrow's the way. You're the bee that find it,
but thank God if He enables you to find it and He's leading you
on it. Thank God for that. Now, I thought about this. Is
it important that we use Unleavened bread and wine. Can we just use
grape juice? No. Can we use bourbon? No. We use exactly what He said
to use. What He used that night. Unleavened
bread and wine. And that's exactly what we use. I know some places, places I
used to go to before I heard the gospel, they wouldn't use
wine. They wouldn't do it. It's grape
juice, they would not do that. You know what? They didn't discern
the broken body and shed blood of Christ. They didn't discern
it at all. If they had discerned it, they'd
know what sin is, and it ain't in a bottle. Sin is not in a
bottle, it's not in drugs. Sin is what I am, and it's what
I do with these things that are sinful. But they're not sinful
in themselves. No sin in those things. Sin is
not in material things. It's in me. He bore our sins in His body
on the tree. 2 Corinthians 5.21 For He was made
to be sin for us who knew no sin. THAT WE MIGHT BE MADE THE
RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM. HE WAS MADE TO BE SIN FOR US,
WHAT AM I? SIN. When I read that, I understand
this, HE WAS MADE TO BE WHAT I AM, THAT I MIGHT BE MADE TO
BE WHAT HE IS, RIGHTEOUS. I CAN'T EXPLAIN THAT, I CANNOT,
BUT I DO KNOW THIS, HE TOOK MY SINS FOR ME AND MADE THEM HIS. made Him His, and that's the
only way I can be justified. Nobody on this earth, no judge,
the highest court on this earth cannot justify me. It can pardon
me. It can forgive me. It can't justify
me, but God can justify me. God can take every sinful thought
I've had, every sinful deed I've had, and wipe it away, and it's
gone. Only the judge of the earth can
do that. Only He can do that. So these
are, let me get back to what I was saying. It's important
that we do it as he said. It's important. And then here,
the bread, this bread represents his body. It's not his body,
it represents his body. Christ's body was given for us,
it was broken for us. He says in 1 Corinthians, well,
I'm gonna get over to 1 Corinthians 11 here in a minute, but he says,
take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you, for you. And you'll notice here in Matthew
26 that he gives thanks. He's about to be betrayed. He's
about to be tormented. He's about to be crucified. And
what does he do? He gives thanks. Our Lord gives thanks. He gives
thanks for what this signifies, the salvation of His people.
He's thankful that He can do this. I thank you, Father. He gives thanks. in the face
of suffering he gives thanks but he also gives thanks for
the joy that's set before him you know he despised the shame
but but he gives thanks for this
joy it says over in hebrews 12 too for the joy that's set before
him and we haven't seen that yet
but he has he has he's he knows And He broke the bread, which
is a symbol of His voluntary death. I quoted it already. No man takes My life from Me.
I lay it down of Myself. I lay it down of Myself and I
take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father.
But no man takes My life from Me. When He was on the cross,
He said, Father, into Thy hand I commend My Spirit. He gave it up. He gave up the
ghost. He gave it up. and then he says here again he
gives thanks but he says take and eat after he blesses the
bread he says take and eat you see salvation is personal too it's personal it's receiving
christ there's a receiving christ it's like we are going to receive
this bread we are going to receive this wine into ourselves we're
going to take it into ourselves we're not going to take a look
at it Jesus Christ standing beside me is not going to save me. Looking
at Him, hanging on a cross is not going to save me. It?s Christ
IN you, the hope of glory. That?s what Paul said. It?s Christ
IN you. It?s receiving Him by faith,
which is the work of the operation of God, which is my message for
Hebrews 11, which I?ll get on next week, Lord But that's the
work of the operation of God, it's a gift of God, but we do
receive Him. To as many in John 1 12, But as many as received
Him, not accepting Him as their personal Savior, that's a different
term, that's a different meaning. But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God, the right, the
authority to become sons of God, even to them that believe on
His name. Our Lord is the bread of life
and we must feed on Him and we do so by faith. And then we have the cup here,
Christ's blood shed for many and He gives thanks for that.
Even for this cup of suffering and being able to shed His blood,
He gives thanks for that too. Just as we will tonight. We'll
give thanks for the bread, and we'll give thanks for the wine,
which represent His Body and Blood. The Scripture says without the
shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. So we give
thanks for this. He gave thanks. And notice right
here, drink ye all of it. Don't take a sip. Don't sip it
and see if you like it. Don't sip it and see if you like
it. Drink all of it. It's either
all of Christ or none. It's not a partial gospel. It's
all the gospel or no gospel. And he said this blood is the
new testament. It's the blood of the New Testament. It ratified the New Testament.
That's what I'm trying to say. His blood ratified that New Testament
as we have been looking at in Hebrews. It seals the everlasting
covenant. Now who should partake of this?
Who should take this table right here? I was telling Madison and
Cole something about it. I baptized both of them and they
both have confessed Christ and I was talking to them about this
today. Who should take it? I'll tell
you exactly who should take it. Those who believe. You see, now listen, this is
the LORD'S TABLE. This is not Bethel Baptist's
table, and it's not the Baptist's table, or the Presbyterian, or
anybody else's. It's the LORD'S TABLE. And for
anyone who believes, I don't care where they're from, if they
believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, this gospel that
I've read to you, Take it. Take it. This is not about perfection. It's not about perfection. You
know, here's something interesting. Here's something interesting.
After they took this, every one of them forsook him and Peter
denied him after they took this. It's not about perfection. It's
about faith. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. I believe. Help my unbelief. It's about FAITH. Examine yourself,
it says in 2 Corinthians, whether you be in the faith. How do you
know whether you be in the faith? How do you know that? Do you
have a real, genuine interest in Jesus Christ? Do you really? Peter, do you love me? If you can say yes to that, yes,
you're in the faith, you have the faith of God's elect. This table here, the Lord's table
points back to the cross, inward to faith, and forward to His
returned. Do this in remembrance of Me.
As often as you do this, we do this until the Lord returns. Now turn over to 1 Corinthians,
wait a minute, yeah, 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11. Doug, if
you and Carl will come and pass this, pass out the bread and
the wine. Yeah, go ahead. I'll start in verse 23, down
through 26. Yeah, go ahead. an Okay. Okay. Okay. Paul wrote in verse 23 of 1 Corinthians
11, 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. And when he had given thanks,
he broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken
for you, this do in remembrance of me. Doug asked the Lord to
bless this. Our Father, as we come to this
table, Lord, this is your table, and in your Word you tell us Mm-hmm. Remember your broken
body. Lord, bless this service now that we might give you all the
glory and honor and praise for that sacrificial. Thank you, Lord. amen verse 25 and after the same
manner also he took the cup when he had supped, saying, This cup
is the new testament in my blood. This do ye, as oft as ye drink
it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread,
and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till it comes. Carl, would you lead us in prayer?
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for your grace and your mercy. Thank
you for the Lord Jesus Christ, for your mercy, Thank you that
he shed his blood, Lord, and suffered, bled, and died on the
tree for our sins. Lord, help us to live a day more
in the way that will be pleasing to our sight. In Jesus' name,
amen. Now as the Lord, as I said, over
in Matthew, they went out and sung a song. And that's what
we're going to do now. Let's sing and sing unto the
Lord who lived and died for us and rose again and lives for
us, lives for us now.