That song, I hope, we, you and
I, sung it from the heart. It says, Break thou the bread
of life to me, to me. My spirit pants for thee. Oh, send thy spirit, Lord, now
unto me. The Lord said he would give the
Holy Spirit to them that asked for it. We need Him. If He does,
oh my, you'll be greatly blessed. Go
to 1 Corinthians 11 with me. 1 Corinthians 11. We have in the past had New Year's
Eve services. We've had speakers come in. Two or three messages, several
times. I preached three times. But today we've got one service. One service. We've got to give
it all we've got, children. Give it all we've got. And what
a good way to bring in the New Year's. It might be the last
day of our life, period. First day of life eternal. Read with me verses 23 through
32. 1 Corinthians 11, 23 through
32. 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. After the same manner also he
took the cup, and when he had supped, saying, This cup is the
new testament in my blood. This do ye, as often as ye drink
it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread
and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat
this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall
be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord of the Lord. 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
or judgment to himself, not discerning, not understanding the Lord's
body. For this cause many are weak
and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge
ourselves, examine ourselves, we should not be judged. But
when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord. that we should not
be condemned with the world. Now, the Lord's table, sometimes
called supper because it was taken at night, the Lord's table
was started by our Lord at supper. In the evening, He and His disciples
were gathered together and they ate, and then the Lord reached
and took some common bread. They ate bread and they drank
wine always, and fish, that the Lord took a loaf of common bread
on that table. There was nothing special about
that bread. It was just bread. And He broke it, and He said,
and He gave it to His disciples. This wasn't for everybody. And
you can go outside and say, everybody come in. No, it was His disciples. And He broke that bread and gave
it to them. The same thing with the cups. It said, eat, this
is my body. This is my blood shed for you. It was common bread and all it
was was symbolic. It was just a symbol. It was
an object lesson. The Lord was using an object
lesson for their understanding of who He is and why He came
and who He did it for. Okay? Christ is the bread. He said that, John 16. I'm the
bread of life. True bread. The bread of God
that came down like the manna. I'm the bread. We need bread
to eat, to live by. He said I'm the water of life,
didn't He? Christ is the wine. Make it glad, the heart. The
wine of medicinal reason. Now this, He did this before
He died, didn't He? He did this before He died. He
was about to go to the cross and he said, take, eat, this
is my body. Take, drink, this is my blood.
He hadn't died yet. That was not his actual body. He hadn't even died yet. He's
going to take his actual body and have it broken. It's going
to be mutilated. And his blood is going to be
shed by God himself, the blood of the lame. That bread and that
wine were not the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. It wasn't then and it's not now. So why are you saying this? Well, because there are millions
of people right now taking up what they call the Mass. in which
men have told them that it actually becomes the body and the blood
of Jesus Christ. And when you take it, you're
actually partaking of Christ. That's not true. This is just
common bread. I bought it at Kroger's. You
can buy it. Common wine, I bought it at Kroger's.
There's nothing special about these things. There's no holy
thing on earth. There's not one single thing
that's holy and consecrated and will do anything for you. Nothing
that goes in your mouth will defile you or bless you. Christ is the blessing. Do we need to say that? Oh, I
wish the whole world could hear this. I wish millions could do
it. It's symbolic of what Christ
was about to do. And now, right now, it's symbolic
of what Christ has done. It's symbolic. This doesn't do
anything for us. This is nothing sacred. This
is not a sacrament. It's just bread. And it's just
wine. And it's just a memorial supper. We're going to throw the rest
of the bread out when it's over. And the wine. Unless I drink
it later. It's nothing to Him, but it's
everything to Him. It's just symbolism. You need
to know that. You know how few people know
that? You need to know that before you take this. If you take it
for any other reason, if you take it thinking that it's going
to confer something special, don't take it. You've missed
Christ. You don't understand. Things
don't save us. Things don't do anything for
us. Christ is up. Alright, who was it for? Who
did He give that table to? His disciples. Well, who were
His disciples? He chose them. Every one of them. They knew it. Every single one
of them knew we wouldn't be here if He hadn't chosen us. We wouldn't
be here if He hadn't called us. We wouldn't be here if He hadn't
brought us, taught us, revealed Himself to us. We wouldn't be
here. So that's a lecture then. Yes,
it is. Bless God. These were His chosen disciples.
It was a private supper. They were chosen by Him. They
were loved by Him. They loved Him. You know why?
They knew the only reason they loved Him was because He first
loved them. They were the ones He came for.
That's who He prayed for, didn't He? I prayed for them, Christ
said. Not the world. Those are the ones he foreknew. For whom he did foreknow, he
did predestinate. These men were predetermined
to be his disciples from before the world began. And whom he
predestinated, he called. Simon, come! He came. Andrew, come! He came. Thomas, come! Thomas came. Patrick, come! There he sits. Or he wouldn't
be here. Did God be the glory? Did Christ
be all the glory? They knew it. They were called.
They were justified. He said, believe on me and your
sins are gone. Justified from all things. All
of your past wiped out clean. No sins on your record. Period. Why, Lord? Because I came to
justify you by my own precious blood, to impart to you, to impute
to you my righteousness in order to present you holy, unblameable,
unapprovable before God. I am here. I am your righteousness. I am your sanctification. I am
your redemption. I am your savior. I am your prophet. I am your priest. I am your king.
I am your holy one. I am your salvation. Just believe
now. I believe, Lord, then you are
justified. Except you are going into glory
with me someday. Why, Lord? Because of me. Because
of Christ. Do you know that? Do you believe
that? These disciples did. They all knew that. They knew
Him. They loved Him. They knew that He chose them.
They knew that they were nothing until He came for them. They
knew nothing until He came for them. They knew who He was. They
knew why He came, something. They loved Him. They lived with Him. They lived
with Him. And loved every minute of it.
They lived on Him. They hung on His Word. Everything
He said and everything He did, they loved it. They left everyone for Him, just
like He did for them, they did for Him. And they're not going
to go away, because He said He wasn't going to leave them. You
see, what's happened here? It's a marriage. They're His
bride. This is the bridegroom. This
is who he came for. This is a marriage supper. It's a private dinner. He was their God. He's my God. He was their Father. Brother
Chris Cunningham and I were talking one time. He said, you know,
I don't know if this is right or not. The Lord tells us to
pray our Father. He said, I catch myself all the
time praying to the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you? I do. Same thing. Same one. He was their father. He was their
husband. He was their friend, their elder brother. He was their
Lord. He was their shepherd, their
sheep. He was their provider, their
protector, their prophet, their priest, their king, their wisdom,
their everything. He was everything that He is
to them. Some of you are nodding your
head. You understand, you're understanding right now the gospel. This is going to be good for
you. It's going to taste real sweet. You remember what Nehemiah
said, eat the sweet. But you know, it had bitter herbs
in it. It was still sweet. Our sins make us feel bitterness,
don't they? But that's what makes the lamb
taste so good. Now, I just told you who can
take this table. Just told you. If Christ is all
that to you, you take this table. 2 Corinthians, go over there.
2 Corinthians 13. 2 Corinthians 13. If you know what you are, sinner,
you know who Christ is. Why can't you? This is for you, 2 Corinthians
13 verse 5. Now, it says, examine yourselves. You have it? Verse 5. Examine
yourselves whether you have made progress. No, it doesn't say
that. Examine yourselves to see if
you're good enough to take this test. No, it doesn't say that.
Examine yourselves to see if you've quit this and quit that
and straightened your life up and turned over a new leaf and
now you're dedicated and devoted and consecrated and now you're
through with the world and you're sincerely religious. It doesn't
say that, does it? What does it say? Examine yourselves
whether you'd be in the faith. Now what is the faith? It's Christ.
Here's the faith. Here's Paul saying, Oh, that
I might win Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness. But that righteousness which
is of God by faith of Him. Found in Him. Of God in Him. Made unto me. Now you read on. It says, Prove your own self.
Try yourselves. Examine yourselves. Whether you
be in the faith. If this is in you, you believe
Christ is all. Know ye not your own selves as
if Christ is in you, except ye be reprobate? Know ye not that Christ is in
you? What does that mean? In your
heart? In your mind? In your mind? You know in your
mind what you believe, or rather who? Paul said, I know whom I
believe. Do you know in your mind whether
or not Christ is all your hope? Do you know in your mind? Do
you know in your own heart? You should, unless you're reprimanded. Do you know in your
heart that you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked? And believe
in your heart that Christ is your covering, Christ is your
robe, Christ is your food, Christ is your drink, Christ is your
hope, Christ is all of you. Christ is your Lamb. All Israel
knows that they had to have a Lamb. When all Israel left and went
out that door and on their way to the Promised Land, they all
knew the reason they were leaving Egypt, the reason they weren't
destroyed, the reason God didn't pour out His wrath on them was
one thing. A Lamb died in their faith. The blood was over their house,
not the Egyptians. It wasn't their faith in the
blood, it was the blood. God said, when I see the blood.
And they didn't put it there. Somebody else did. Do you know
that? And so this table is just a memorial. Just a memorial. It's not...
Well, go back to our text now. 1 Corinthians 11. Go back there.
He said in verse 27, and some of these verses trouble Some, I'm sure, most of you have
heard this over and over again, but it says in verse 27, Whosoever
shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily
shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man
examine himself. Let him eat the bread and drink
the cup. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily
drinketh damnation or judgment, condemnation. And so God has
visited some sickness and affliction and even death because of it,
because of their treatment of it. Now, it's not saying here
that, as I was saying a while ago, that you examine yourself
to see if you're making progress or if you've come up, that you're
no longer the bad fellow you used to be and now you're much,
much better and so now that you're better, you can come take this
table. Don't take this table. If you can find any good thing
in you, don't take this table. You don't understand this. You don't understand it. Christ said, the well don't need
a physician but the sick. That's those who
think my whole head is sick. My loins are filled with a loathsome
disease. I am a leper. So the high priest says, clean. I won't preach on that
yet. I just did. Oh my. You see what makes you worthy
to be washed is dirt. It's the opposite, you see. Worth
means that something in you merits what you're getting. Now this
is not talking about worthy of praise and honor and glory. We're
worthy of death. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die, must surely die. The wages of sin, what we're
worth, what we've merited is death, judgment, condemnation
at the hands of God. Christ Himself preached on the
Sermon on the Mount and said many will say unto Him one day,
many, millions. I'm going to say unto him, stand
before him and say, we've done many wonderful works in Jesus'
name. We've prophesied, we've preached,
we've cast out devils, we've given our lives, but we've done
all this in your name. And Christ who knows men's hearts,
who looks on the heart and knows their thoughts, no, you didn't.
You did it for your glory. You did it for your honor. You
did it to merit heaven. You think that I ought to have
you into my heaven because of something you did. You think
I should let you in heaven because you did these things? You did
it for your glory. If you are to be seen of men,
you are doing it for others to see. You see what a good Christian
you are. And He said, bind them hand and foot and cast them into
outer darkness. Do you know who He is going to
let in? Those that don't think they deserve to be there. Why should I let you into my
heaven? Here's a thief that was just on the cross standing there. What good have he done? None. What have you done? Sins all
my life. Then why should I let you in?
Christ died because I need mercy. If you don't let me in, I don't
deserve it. If you let me in, it will be
mercy. This is who this is for. This is who this is for. The Son of God is worthy, you
see, of our highest honor, praise, worship, all our heart, mind,
soul. It's worthy right now. This message. I'm just preaching Christ. I'm
just preaching His Word. It's worthy of your undivided
attention. It's worthy of your hearts. deepest affection is worthy of
your mind's undivided attention, worthy of your heart, mind, soul,
and all your strength to gather yourself right now in gratitude,
in gratefulness, in thanksgiving, in adoration and praise and worship
of Him who would come down here to do something for the likes
of us. But we don't do that, do we? We've all come far short
of that. You see, that's why He came.
He came for ungrateful sinners. He came for those who take it
for granted. David said, deliver me from presumptuous
sin. Deliver me from secret sin. Deliver
me from ignorant sin. Deliver me from willful sin.
Deliver me, I'm nothing but a sinner. I ought to preach this message
with everything I've got, but I fail. And you fail to hear
it. It's worthy, you see, it's worthy
of our soul's best song. It's worthy of the best that
a man can give it to preach it, and worthy of the best that a
woman can do to hear it and to sing. But we've come short now,
haven't we? Do you know that? This table's
for you. That's who He is. He knows that.
The disciple, He was going to the cross and sweat blood in
the garden. What were they doing? Sleeping. He knows our pain. You see, I'm
trying to show every aspect of us unworthy. We're so unworthy. We're not worthy after He saves
us. Never worthy. But what makes us worthy, what
it is to be worthy of this, it's like the balm of Gilead. It's for the sick. It's those
who know the plague of their heart, Solomon said. That's who
this is for, those who really need Christ. If you're not worthy
of Him, if you don't feel worthy of Him,
this is for you. That's who He came for. If you think you ought to, you
deserve a chance to be saved. That's what religion says about
everybody. You deserve a chance to be saved. If you think you
deserve to be saved, think your mama does, or anybody for that
matter. You've missed it. You've missed it. That's not
who Christ came for. Our Lord began His sermon on
the mount by saying, blessed are the poor. Blessed are the poor. That's
poor in spirit. I'm a nobody, I'm a nothing.
You see your calling brethren? I'm a nothing from nobody, from
nowhere, nobody. That's who Christ came for, the
best of the poor. They're going to see Christ and
He's going to be a rich thing. He's going to be the pearl of
great price. The best are they that mourn. The unworthy, the
unworthy. The best are they that hunger
and thirst, hunger and thirst. We're talking about the body
of Christ, the blood of Christ, the best food. The best food. Those that are full of their
own self, full of their own righteousness, they don't need this. They don't
need this gospel. Those that are empty of self,
those that have nothing in them, oh my, hunger and thirst for
righteousness. To be worthy is to feel unworthy. To be worthy is to need Christ,
to want Christ, to be hungry and thirsty for pardon. To be
worthy of pardon, you've got to be guilty. To be worthy of
mercy, you've got to be guilty. To be worthy of forgiveness, Full of shame. To be worthy of
cleansing, you've got to be dirty. To be worthy of holiness, receive
this gift, you've got to be unholy. Matthew 10. Go to Matthew 10
with me. Matthew chapter 10. I've got one message, and I've
got to give it all to God. Brother Scott used to tell us
young preachers, don't tell everybody Don't tell people everything
you know in one message. Well, that's all I've got. One
message. Matthew chapter 10. Christ didn't
come to call the righteous, but sinners. He said in verse 6,
Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That's his
elect. They don't know it. He knows it. That's who he sent
the gospel to. That's who's going to come. That's
who he's going to call. Go preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven
is in hand. That's Christ. That's Him. Heal
the sick. Look who He went to. The sick,
cleanse the leper, raise the dead. Have you ever been dead in sin? Cast
out devils. Have you ever been a captive
to Satan and the world? Freely received, freely given.
Down in verse 11, whatever city or town you enter, inquire who
in it is worthy. See, who did He send them to
heal? Lepers. And that means covered. I told
you this story. My family doctor, when I was
Three of us, four kids, were delivered by him. He made house
calls. Little black bag. He'd come to
the house. I have fond memories of Dr. Winn. Big old fella. One time, when he was in his
office at his clinic, he got so tired of people coming in
because of hangnails and headaches. ingrown toenails and stuff like
that. Finally, one day, he came out
of his office into the waiting room and said, is there anybody
in here that's really sick? If you are, I'll see you now.
But if not, I'm going home. That's a good illustration. Funny
one, but this is serious. Go there, go into that town.
And if you can find a sinner. That's what he's saying. Find
some good people. There's none good. None righteous. No, not one.
The Lord looked down to see if there were any. He said, there's
none. But go into a town and see the Holy Spirit's going to
move before you do. And you're going to preach the
gospel and my elect are going to come and hear you preach the
gospel and they're going to find out, I'm unworthy. I'm a sinner. I've sinned against God. God
ought to send me to hell right now. That's who this gospel is
for. And you go into his house, verse
12, you come into that house and you salute it. Grace and
peace be unto you. Any sinners here? We're all a
bunch of sinners here. Oh, that's when Christ came.
I've got good news for you. If the house be worthy, your
peace is going to come upon them. Their peace? Their peace? Whose
peace? Christ is our peace. He said,
My peace I give unto you. My peace I leave unto you. They
just had the gospel of peace. And they preached crying. And
those unworthy sinners in that house, they all said, Oh, this
is great. This is wonderful. We love this
gospel. But if not, Verse 14, they won't receive
you nor hear your words, they don't need this gospel, don't
need saving, leave. And he said, I tell you what,
verse 14, 15, verse 15, it's going to be more tolerable for
the land of Sodom and Gomorrah. And that's it. Because he said
to the Pharisees one time, who thought they were worthy of heaven,
he said to them, the publicans and the harlots are going to
be in heaven and not you. You see, it's like preparing
a big meal. And I preach all the time to
some that never say a word about the food, that never show any
appreciation for it, that never had so much. It's just common,
it's like light bread to them anymore. If you prepared food, a good
meal, I'm talking about gourmet food, and I'm talking about Christ,
His bloodshed, His righteousness, His body broken for sinners. Who would you prepare that food
for? Somebody really hungry? Somebody
that could appreciate it? Somebody that didn't have any
food, wouldn't you? Somebody that appreciated it? After they
ate, they said, this is the best food I've ever had. Can I come
back next week? Oh yeah. My granddaughter told
you this. Told you everything I know, but
she was real little. She had a voracious appetite.
Life. She's full of life. That's how
you know you're alive. You've got an appetite. And she loved food. She loved
the taste of it. She couldn't get enough of it.
And we used to tell her, that's too much. You've taken too much.
She'd pile on, you know, because other people got to eat. That's
too much. Finally, one day, Bonnie, she came to the table and she
said, I want too much. This gospel is for those that
want too much. Am I asking too much, Lord? See,
I'm such a great sinner. I need mercy like nobody else
needs it. Lift your pull. I've heard that. I'm going to take this food somewhere
else. Somebody would appreciate it. That's worth. We're not worthy to hear this. I'm not worthy to preach it. Look at, let me, real quickly,
Matthew 22. Matthew 22, I believe it is. Matthew 22. Oh, that's the wedding
feast. Luke 14. Luke 14. Go over there
real quick. Luke 14. Luke 14. This is what
it means to eat, to be worthy, he said. To be worthy. Or unworthy. Luke 14. Somebody, when he heard the Lord
preaching, verse 15, one of them sat at meat and said, Blessed
is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Oh my, he
didn't realize what he was saying. But our Lord said unto him, A
certain man made a great supper, made a great supper and bathed
men. This is the marriage supper. And he sent his servant at supper
time to say to them that were bidden, that's not invite, that's
a pronouncement. Come, for all things are now
ready." And they all with one consent began to make excuse. Now this is, our Lord is talking
about God. He's talking about His Son, the
marriage supper of His Son. For rotten, no good, worthless
sinners. And they all began with one consent.
That is, they all had the same excuses. And they said, It was
all about things and people. I bought a piece of ground. I
need to go see it. I pray thee have me excused.
Another said, I bought five yoke auction. I pray thee have me
excused. Another said, I married a poor
woman and she doesn't like this what you're preaching. I can't
come to that. You don't have time for my son,
God said. And do you want me to let you
in my heaven?" He said, go. He showed the Lord
these things. The master of the house, verse
21, was angry. He said, go quickly in the streets,
the lane of the city, and bring in hither. Here's who you're
going to have to bring in, because they're all going to make you
do it if you don't bring them. Because that's how they all are
until you choose them, until you bring them. That's how you
were, wasn't it, Robin? Wasn't it, Dan? That's how you were.
That's how I was. I'm the prodigal son, unless the Lord had sent
me, I wouldn't be here. Election of doctrine? If God hasn't chosen me, I wouldn't
be standing here. I had nothing to do with this. This is the furthest thing from
my mind. It's the last thing on earth
I wanted to do. Now it's the only thing I want
to do. Bless God. And he did it. I had nothing to do with it. Go out, he said, the highway
and the hedges. Lying in a ditch. Isn't this
good news? Pick them up. Bring them. to
my supper. Hungry! Poor! Lame! Halt! Dead! Bring them in! They're going to love this food. They're going to be so glad I
chose them. They're going to be so glad I
brought them. They're going to be singing. They're going to
get so full of this food. They're going to sing until they
fall asleep. That's what this is all about. Well, this table... Now, one
more thing. There are two ordinances. Two
ordinances. Where am I? Go to Acts chapter
2, in closing. Acts chapter 2. This table is
one of two ordinances. That is, orders or command given
by our Lord. There's only two. Baptism and
the Lord's table. In that order. This table is
for those who confessed Christ publicly and baptized. Christianity
is not confession. Baptized as an infant is not
confession of Christ. That's not in the Bible. This
is for those that believe. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel and those that believe, understand. who Christ is, why
He came, understand what they are, and they have a need for
Him. Hear this gospel and believe it with all their heart, and
see their need of Christ, and call upon the Lord, and ask Him
for forgiveness. And they hear the gospel and
say, you're forgiven through Christ and Him alone. And they
are baptized, that is, they publicly confess. Baptism is a public
confession. The Lord's table is a private
consumption. Baptism represents something
that somebody did to you, for you. You're put in the water. Baptism, you're put in the water.
This is something you put in yourself, your mind. Baptism
represents that when Christ came, was crucified, I deserve to be
crucified. I was crucified with Christ.
And He was buried. I deserve to be buried, put away,
put out of sight. But nevertheless, I live. You
bring Him out of the water. Nevertheless, I live. It's not
I, but Christ that liveth in me. You're confessing before the
world, this Christ, the true Christ, why He came, who He is,
why He came. You're telling the world. It
doesn't do anything for you. It's just a confession of Christ.
It's just water out of a well. It's not holy water. But you're
confessing, like Christ said, confess me before all people. If you do, I'll confess you.
If you don't, I won't. And those who love Him, those
who appreciate that He came, those who know that He came for
sinners and believe they're sinners and they believe that He's their
hope, their salvation, their righteousness, His blood and
all that, they gladly get in there and tell everybody. It's
not saying, now I'm a good person. It's saying, I'm a sinner. I
deserve to die and Christ came to die for sinners. That's who
I believe. That's my hope of heaven. Dunk
me under. He said to do this. So that's
what we do. It doesn't change you. It doesn't
wash away your sins. You're confessing that you believe,
you hope that Christ washed away your sin. That's the first thing. First thing. Because you can't
remember somebody you don't know. You can't remember somebody you
don't confess. If you don't confess them, this
is private. Nobody's going to see you do
this. But that's public. You want everybody
to see. I'm a nobody, a nothing. You put me out of sight. Don't leave me there. Does that
make sense? Then the Lord's table is a memorial
supper. It's nothing special, but you're
thinking about Him. That's all you know. It's between
you and Him. You sit there and eat that. It's
yours. Isn't it? That little cup is
yours. And I'm not going to give it to you. The priest doesn't
administer salvation to you. Our Lord said, you take it and
you eat it. Nobody can believe for you, except
Christ. You take it. If you're hungry,
you're thirsty, you remember Him, you take it. Yes, I believe. Christ, take the bread, eat it.
It becomes one with you. It becomes part of you, doesn't
it? You eat out of hunger, you eat
out of taste, don't you? This is good. I love this. Christ
is the bread. I was going to show you an illustration
of the bread, seed, growing up, tender plant, bearing fruits,
corn, cut down, ground into flour, thrown in the oven. Comes out
bread. That's Christ crucified. Wine is a grape, seed, planted,
grows up, tend to plant, becomes a vine, got all these branches,
bears fruit, oh, full of fruit, bursting with fruit, flavor,
crushing. Blood, the life of the flesh
is in the blood, Christ's blood was shed, the life of the Spirit's
blood, Jesus Christ. Wine, that's wine that makes
glad the heart of a sinner. Let's take Acts chapter 2. It says that everyone that heard
these words, Acts chapter 2 verse 41, they that gladly received
his word were baptized. Every one of them. That's what
Peter said. Every one of you, in the name
of Christ, confess it. The same they were added. They
didn't add themselves. They were added. Who added them?
Well, the Lord did. About 3,000 souls. And here's
what they did. They continued steadfastly in
the apostles' doctrine. That's preaching the gospel,
fellowship around the Word, in breaking of bread. That's this
table. And in prayers and fear. They feared. Fear came upon them. Many wonders and signs were done
by the apostles. All that believed were together. Those were believers. They were
together. They had all things. common,
sold their possessions, a good part of them to all that every
man had need. And they continued, they continuing
daily with one accord in the temple, so they didn't have a
church house yet. And they went from house to house,
breaking bread from house to house. Very soon the whole church
was going to be scattered all over the world. Persecuted. They did eat their meat with
gladness, joy and gladness, singleness of heart, praising God, Having
favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church. You don't join the church. You're
joined to it by Christ. And this is how it's done. They
confess Christ. And they're with the people from
then on. Such as should be saved. Well, who should be saved? You
think you should be saved? Do you think you should be saved?
You think you're worthy? Then I think you should be saved.
That's what it said. I tell you who should be saved,
all that God chose. If He chose them, they should
be saved. If Christ died for them, they
should be saved. If they know they're sinners
and confess to Christ, they should be saved. And they will be. Alright, let's pass out the bread. cashing out the bread. We're
going to sing a hymn while they're doing it. Number 192. 192.