I also want you to turn to 1
Corinthians. Let's turn over there. 1 Corinthians chapter
11. Exodus 12 is where we'll dwell. 1 Corinthians chapter 11 is what
we generally read during the participation of the
Lord's table. Let's read it. verses here in
1 Corinthians 11 that be a springboard into the
message here. It says in verses 23 and following, Paul says, 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. And after the same manner also
he took the cup, which he had supped, when he had supped, saying,
This cup is a new testament in my blood, this do ye, as often
as you drink it in remembrance of me. As often as you 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 blood of the Lord. But let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that
cup." Examine yourself. Now back to
Exodus chapter 12. After reading those verses, it
says, Whosoever shall eat this bread
and drink this cup, what we're doing here, and drink this cup
of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood
of the Lord. And then it goes on to say that
we need to examine ourselves. And it also says, he that eateth
and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation or judgment
to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. So, this is serious,
isn't it? This is not just a ritual we
go through. You see it quite often on TV and all, Catholicism
and other religions go through the, the masses go through the
line and partake of this just so flippantly and carelessly.
According to those verses, this is very serious, isn't it? And
we need to know what we're doing here, don't we? We need to approach
it with reverence, with respect, with fear and trembling, yet
with rejoicing. We need to know what we're doing.
We need to examine ourselves to see if we do this with our
understanding and with discernment. Otherwise, don't take it. Because those verses say it's
very dangerous. So what is this all about? The
Lord's table. What is it all about? Well, it's
first described here in Exodus chapter 12. This is, again, this
is the law of first mention. This is where the Lord instituted
the Passover. And it's strikingly similar to
what we're doing here. Strikingly similar. This Passover
is a type of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, and this table,
in a sense, is a type of the Passover feast and a remembrance
of Christ. All right? Three things I want
us to notice as we look into this thing of the Lord's table. What we eat, what it is we are
doing, how we are to eat and who may eat of this table. Alright, look at Exodus 12 verse
3, beginning there. He said, Speak ye unto all the
congregation of Israel. Say, 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. A lamb. Children of Israel were
instructed by God to take a lamb, and it was to be a lamb without
spot or without blemish. A lamb without spot or blemish,
a male—look at verse 5—your lamb shall be without blemish, a male
of the first year, a young male sheep or lamb without blemish,
a perfect lamb. Take it out from the sheep. One
that was taken from the midst of the rest of the flock. And
most of you know what this is talking about. That's a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lamb of God, who is without
spot or blemish, without sin. A male, a man, Taken the scripture
says chosen out from among the people a lamb the lamb of God
the firstborn It says the first year firstling of the flock of
the first year Christ was a young man 33 years old when he was
taken from among us And the word was made flesh and dwelt among
us a man approved and accepted by God all right verse 6 So they
were to take a lamb Verse six, and it was to be without blemish,
without spot, that's a picture of Christ, a sinless substitute. Verse six, you shall keep it
up, keep the lamb, it up until the fourteenth day. Keep it up
until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly
of the congregation shall kill it in the evening. In other words,
they were to keep it in a place where they could observe it.
to make sure that it was truly a land without spot and without
blemish. And our Lord Jesus Christ lived
33 years observed by God and man and found to be without sin,
spotless, perfect. And it says the whole congregation
or assembly shall kill it in the evening. And Christ, the
Scripture says, we with wicked hands have taken and crucified
the Lord of glory. All we did kill the Lord Jesus
Christ. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. God's the one that put his son
to death because God laid on him the iniquity of us all. Like
that lamb or that ram, that ram that they put their hands upon
and let it out in the wilderness. Christ was made sin for us and
led into the wilderness outside of God, behind God's back with
our sin, and he put it away. A fit man. God laid on him the
iniquity of us all. He was made sin for us who knew
no sin. And the blood was the key here. They were to take that lamb.
Look at verse 7. They were to take that lamb and
slay it. That was the key. And while Christ didn't come
to live, there were some who tried to prevent his crucifixion,
but he said, no, that's why I came, really. I came to die. Christ
came to live a perfect life, but he also came to die that
sin-atoning death. Verse 7, so the blood is the
key here. And God told Moses and the people
that they were to take of the blood, verse 7, strike it on
the two side posts of the door of their house, on the upper
door post of the house, wherein they shall eat it." The blood.
The blood before the Lord. And he said down in verse thirteen,
the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where
you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the
plague shall not be upon you to destroy you. when I smite the lame. God's
getting ready to smite this whole earth. And everybody that is
found with the plague of sin upon them will be destroyed.
But if he sees the blood, the blood on your doorpost and
lintel. And those doorposts, I believe
the doorposts or the lintel and the side posts represent when
God said thou should love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
soul, and body. That represents that, and also
head, heart, and hand. The whole man, inner and outer
man, is to have the blood applied by faith. All right, look at
verse 8. He says, Don't eat. Now, we're
looking at what we are to eat. It's a lamb. He said, Don't eat
it or thou shalt eat the flesh. Verse 8. Eat the flesh in that
night. Roast with fire. A roasted lamb. Roast with fire. Well, Christ
endured, as it were, the fiery indignation of God, or the wrath
of God Almighty against sin on Calvary's cross. And we cannot
enter into this, and I can't explain it, nor adequately preach
upon it, what Christ actually endured upon that cross. But
he went through six hours of literal hell. That's what it
took. Literal hell. Enduring the wrath
of God, and as I said, no man can speak on that. But Christ endured
the hell, the wrath of God, the fiery indignation of God against
our sin. That's the reason it took Christ,
because no mere mortal man could satisfy that wrath and justice. All right? Roast with fire, it
says, verse 8, and unleavened bread. We're to eat unleavened
bread. We're eating here tonight unleavened
bread. That's important. Why? Because
this unleavened bread represents Christ's sinless body. He said,
a little leaven leavens a whole lump. And this lump of clay,
us, is full of leaven. And you know, leaven makes things
rise to pride. Puffeth up. We're full of that,
aren't we? Well, Christ had no leaven of
sin in Him. He was meek and lowly. And it
says, love does not vaunt itself. He was not puffed up with pride.
Although he could have been the only man that could have rightfully
been proud, right? Unleavened bread. That represents
the sinless body of Christ. That's what we partake of. Now, with bitter herbs, it said,
verse 8, we are to eat. They said God told them to eat
bitter herbs with it. What does that represent? Well,
Christ said, if any man will follow me, come after me, he
must take up his cross. And I believe these bitter herbs
represent the trials and afflictions and persecution that the believer
will endure and undergo for believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. He
said they'd come. He said, you will, you shall be hated of all
men. Bitter herbs. It's bitter. It's not pleasant, but it's bitter.
But whatever he sends our way for his sake he said blessed
are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and do
all manner of evil against you falsely for my name's sake or
so did they the prophets and the fathers before you. So you're
in good company so eat those bitter herbs with it. Take it.
Even that's a gift. Read on. So it says with bitter
herbs They shall eat it, verse 9, eat not of it raw, nor sodden
at all with water, be fully cooked, not with water, but roast with
fire his head, with his legs, with the pertinence thereof."
In other words, every bit of it is to be used. Nothing of
this lamb was to be wasted. And that speaks a particular
redemption to me, that none of Christ's blood was shed in vain
at all of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything, every drop of blood
he shed was was effectual to the salvation of his people.
All right? Now, that's what we're to eat.
A lamb. Christ. Christ said, Take. This
is my body. Eat. This is my blood which is
shed for you. So we are partaking by faith
in symbol. By faith of the Lord Jesus Christ
when we come to this table tonight. Much like the Passover feast.
All right? How we're to eat it. This is
interesting. This is good. Look at it, verse
11. This is how we are to eat the
table tonight, just like the Israelites. He said, Thus shall
you eat it with your loins girded. Does that sound familiar? Well, that made me think of a
couple of things here. Your loins girded, that means
their clothing was to be about them, they were to have clothes
on, or proper clothes, and you have those clothes, traveling
clothes. When you girded yourself, what
you did was you put on your traveling clothes, your sojourning clothes. Two things here. Clothing, have
your loins girded, and clothing represents covering of nakedness,
and it also represents humility. Humility. Truth and humility. Paul said in Ephesians 6, he
said, stand therefore having your loins girt with what? The truth. The truth. That's
the gospel. The truth of the gospel. You
have an understanding. And Peter said our loins were
girt up the loins of your mind. Of your mind. And that's what
Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians. when he said we're to discern
what it is we're eating. We need to know whom we have
believed and what we believe. We need to know the truth. I
talked to a fellow today in my study, and he gave me the same—everybody
likes to tell you how religious they are, and they like to tell
you about the profession they made and all, and he was telling
me about how he accepted Jesus as his personal Savior and how
that he went down to the altar one night and had such a good
feeling and so forth. You've heard it before. And I
began to question him about who it was that he believed. I quoted John 17, 3 to him, this
is eternal life that you know, that they might know thee, the
only true God and Jesus. I said, describe this Jesus whom
you accepted. And it's obvious it's another Jesus.
It's the same one that you're hearing about today, who cannot
save anyone. So we need to know whom we have
believed. We need to know whom. He said
he was trusting in the Lord. And I said, well, if he can't
save you unless you let him, why would you trust in him? What's
there to trust in someone like that? So we need to know whom
we have believed. We need to know what we believe
about him. We need to know what he did. And we need to be persuaded
that he's able. Not just that he's willing and
that he wants to, but he's able and that he actually saved us.
That's what it means to know whom and what you believe and
stand therefore having your loins, the loins of your mind, girded
with truth. That's the undergirding. That's
the clothing. That's what clothes us. We need to have a righteousness.
Clothed in that robe of Christ's righteousness. Also, clothing
represents to me humility. We're to eat this table with
a broken and a contrite heart. Clothed in humility. So we're
to eat it with understanding, we're to know whom, we're to
eat it with affection, loving whom, and eat it with humility. Eat it with humility. All right?
Look at verse 11 again. It says, eat it with your loins
girded, shoes on your feet. You need to have your shoes on,
he said. Does that sound familiar? In Ephesians 6, he said, we are
shod with the preparation of the gospel of Peter. The gospel. The gospel, and we've noticed
when we studied that in Ephesians 6, how that it says we're shod. That means somebody else is the
one that put these shoes on us. The gospel. And Paul said that
to the Thessalonians. He said, our gospel came to you.
God's the one that sent the gospel and shod you with it. shot you
with it. You were like a wild ass's coat
until he broke you and grabbed your old dirty feet and shot
them with the gospel. The gospel is applied to us. Our feet represents our life.
The loins, there's the mind. The feet represent the life.
In other words, if we're hearers only, if we're hearers only,
not doers, we deceive ourselves, don't we? Loins girded represents the mind. Have you gird up the loins of
your mind, Peter said, your shoes on your feet. The gospel applied
to your life. As I've said so often, it's not
just talkers, but it's walkers. Our Lord said that. He said,
Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them is a wise
man. And he said, I will liken him
unto a man that built his house on the rock, standing on the
rock. All right, look at verse 11.
This is how we're to eat it now. Eat it with your loins girded.
Do you understand what you're eating, what you're doing here
tonight? You children, I'm trying to make
this as simple as possible so that even the children, when
they ask, what meaneth thee by this service? Well, that they'll
understand what we're doing here tonight. the Lord Jesus Christ. You need to know Him. You need
to know Him before you partake of this table. You need to know
Him. And shoes on your feet, that's
regeneration also. And look at it. Verse 11. A staff
in your hand. A staff in your hand. Do you
have a staff in your hand? What's the staff? You've got
it in your hand, don't you? In Psalm 23, thy rod and thy
staff, they comfort me. This is the word of life, the
bread of life, the believer's bread, the staff of life. This is the staff that comforts
me. This is our compass. Do you have
your staff in hand, pilgrim? Sojourner with your traveling
shoes on and your loins girded? We're sojourning through the
land. partaking of the ten and the tabernacle, the Passover
and the tabernacle in the wilderness. He prepared us a table in the
midst of our enemies. Here we are, got our staff in
our hand. This is our compass. It tells
us what's north, east, south and west, what's right and what's
wrong. He said don't turn to the right,
to the left, the needle's pointing north. It's our compass. This is our light. It's a light
under our feet, a lamp under our path. It tells us plainly
which direction to go, whom to go with, how to go. This is our
chart. That old song, Jesus, Savior,
Pilot Me. Chart and compass, Pilot Me. This is our chart. This is our
map. And this is our food on the way. This is the staff. Take it in
your hand, but go further still. Take it into your heart. Hide
it in your heart. This is how we're to eat. He said, eat it
in haste. Eat it with your loins girded,
with an understanding in your mind, shoes on your feet, the
gospel applied to your life, staff in your hand, the Word
of God. You're looking into the Word,
studying, searching the Word. Eat it in haste. Eat it in haste. That means, I believe, Man ought
to be anxious to eat it. Eat it in haste. Ought to be
real anxious. In other words, today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of salvation.
Boasting off thyself of tomorrow, you don't know what tomorrow
might bring. Young people say, I'll put off
this thing of salvation and seeking the Lord later when I'm older.
There's no promise that you'll grow older. No promise whatsoever. I lost some young friends when
I was just a young man, my dearest friend, fifteen years old. I
was asphyxiated in a basement. I pulled him out dead. There's
no promise of tomorrow. Today is the day of salvation.
He says you need to eat it now. You need to eat it now. Eat it in a hurry. Eat it in
haste. Christ said, listen to this,
I think this is what it means also to eat in haste. Christ
said in Revelation 22, in the last two verses, he said, Surely
I come quickly. Surely I come quickly. And the people answered him,
saying, Amen, even so, come, Lord Jesus. That's what it means
to eat this in haste, to enjoy this tonight, doing in remembrance
of Christ and with great expectation at his coming. Great expectancy
at His coming. Great anticipation. That's what
we are doing tonight. This is our third, I think that's
what we figured out, wasn't it, Joe? Third year of doing this.
First year we started this. I think some of you thought He
was going to come that night. Well, three years have passed
by that quickly. And we just might not have another
one. This might be it. So we eat this
with anticipation and expectancy, looking forward to hasting the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever thought about it?
Isaiah, I believe, 28. You don't have to turn. I think it's Isaiah
28. I didn't write it down. Isaiah 28, verse 16. Yeah, verse 16 says, He that
believeth shall not make haste. You ever remember reading that?
He that believeth shall not make haste. He said, Behold, I lay
in Zion. Do y'all remember? Behold, I
lay in Zion for a foundation of stone, a tried stone, a precious
cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. You ever read that now? And right
here, though, it says, eat it in haste. Is that a contradiction? No, it's not. And this might
help you. I think what that means over
in Isaiah is that he says, I've laid a tried and precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation, a rock, a rock that you can stand on. And you
don't have to worry or hurry or just be upset about anything. You can just stand right there
and wait patiently on the Lord. So what it means is, he that
believeth shall not make haste. He's not in a hurry to go anywhere
or do anything, or he doesn't want to go anywhere. He's just
waiting patiently on the coming of the Lord. Yet, there's a sense
in which we We wait in haste. So that makes sense to you. We
wait patiently. Whatever the Lord says, fine.
It's the Lord. They do what seemeth good. We
wait patiently on the coming of the Lord, and he's coming.
His coming draweth nigh, even at the door. But we say, Lord,
I'm waiting patiently, but hurry. That makes sense, Barbara. I
wait in haste. Come quicker. All right. Who
may eat? Who may eat of this table? That's what we eat. We eat a
lamb, a lamb of the first year without spot or blemish, a lamb
that's been tried and proven, been observed, a lamb that had
been slain, the blood roast with fire, unleavened bread and bitter
herbs, How would we eat it? Eat it with our understanding,
shoes on our feet, staff in your hand. Eat it in a hurry. Today is a day of salvation.
It's the Lord's Passover. Who may eat it? Who can partake
of this table? Well, this is interesting. Look
over at verse 43. Maybe you've never seen this.
Look at verse 43 with me. Who may eat of this? I've already touched on it, really,
those that have some understanding. All right, look at verse 43.
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, this is the ordinance of the
Passover. There shall no stranger eat thereof. No stranger shall
eat thereof. It's said over in Ephesians,
I think it's Ephesians 2, that at one time you were strangers
to the covenant of promise. You remember that? Aliens, strangers. There was a time when if you
had come in here off of the street and we were partaking or someone
was serving up this table, you wouldn't have had the foggiest
idea what was going on, would you? And you wouldn't have wanted
to know and you wouldn't have cared. You were a stranger. to the covenant of promise, stranger
to the gospel. The gospel meant nothing to you.
Christ meant nothing to you. This table meant nothing to you.
You were a stranger to it, weren't you? It was strange to you, and
you were strange to it. But you weren't strange to God.
He knew you. He knew you from your mother's
womb. Before that, He knew you. He
foreknew you before the foundation of the world. But there was a
time when you were a stranger, stranger to the truth, but no
stranger to the Lord himself. And no stranger, though, may
partake of this. No stranger. But only those he
knows and those who know him can partake of this table. Christ
said, I know my sheep, but they can't partake of it
until he is known of his, until they know him. Right? How can
you remember somebody you don't know? You can't, can you? How can you partake of this table
if you really can't enter into what or who Jesus Christ is and
what he did? You can't. You can't partake
of this if the person and work of Christ is strange to you.
But you were strangers, but now, the Scripture says, now you're
no more strangers, but fellow citizens with the household of
God. Fellow citizens. Now in Christ Jesus, you who
are far off, Like old Ruth, you who were far off, you moabite
maiden, you were brought nigh through your Boaz, who married
you. And you're brought up to the
table and you eat with Boaz now. That's who we're eating with
tonight, Boaz, our kinsman redeemer. We know him, know him. Married
to him now. No more strangers. And he's given
us a spirit of adoption. God's no stranger to us. God
is our Father. We've been given a spirit of
adoption whereby we cry, have a father. He's no stranger to
us. All right? Verse 44. It says, No stranger
shall eat thereof. Verse 44. But every man's servant
that is bought for money, he can eat it. Any servant that's bought for
money can eat at the stable. And the Scripture says you are
bought with a price. You're not your own. No, no.
You're a servant. of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're
bought with a price. Christ hath redeemed you by His
blood, redeemed you out from among the people. You're not
your own. You're His servant. You're bought
with a price. His own precious blood you can
partake of this table. If you are your own man now,
you can't partake of it. Right? But if you are owned by
the man, Christ Jesus, Then you can protect a bought servant.
That's good, isn't it? A bought servant. Bought with
his blood. Circumcised. And Christ said
that this circumcision is of the heart. Not the outward circumcision
of hands, but the inward circumcision of the heart by the operation
of the Spirit of God. And that's regeneration is what
that is. And that's Christ Himself performing the surgery. Removing
your sins, killing the old man, old things passing away, and
all things becoming new. Alright, read on. Verse 45. It
says a foreigner and a hired servant. shall not eat thereof."
A foreigner, that means a non-Jew. No non-Jews can eat of this table. Only the elect, chosen people
of God, may eat of this table. No foreigners. Well, who are
the elect? Scripture says, we know, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, your election, because our gospel came to you.
Our gospel came to you, and not in word only, but with power,
and the Holy Ghost, and much assurance. You became followers
of us, and so on and so forth. And the Scripture says that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, who's
that? Well, that's whosoever the Lord our God shall call.
His elect, his people. That doesn't exclude anyone who's
the elect. Whoever called who will call
whoever God calls. Whoever he chose and whoever
in time he calls by the gospel have you heard the gospel? Has
it called you? Then come and dine. All things
are ready. Who else? It says no hired servant. You see that? Verse forty-five.
A hired servant shall not eat thereof. A bought servant may. But no hired servant. You understand the difference? A bought servant can eat it.
No hired servant. In other words, the bought servant
is a man who is owned by someone, and he has been bought. He's a slave to what he is. A
hired servant is somebody who's working for money, right? Somebody
who's just working. for wages. You understand the
difference? And you're bought with a price,
but it's not your filthy rags. It's not our filthy words, is
it? Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy he has saved us. And only bought servants, only
those who have been bought by the blood of Christ, only those
who have been represented by Christ, only those who are found
in him. Only those who are bond slaves
of the Lord Jesus Christ may eat at this table. Nobody who
is working his way to heaven may eat at this table. Nobody. No one may eat at this table
who is trying to work his way to heaven or trust in his own
works. You see, that's a hired servant. No hired servant can eat at this
table. You see, this table, this table
is for sinners only. That best describes this table.
Sinners only. And the only thing that's served
at this table is grace. No hired servants will like that
food anyway. They'll get, oh, they might think
they like it for a while, but they'll quickly grow tired of
it. But an old sinner, when he comes to the table and he finds
out that there's nothing but pure grace served up, every time,
all the time, that's all he needs. That's all he needs. And only
real lovers of grace never grow tired of grace, do they? All
right, look at verse 46. It says that, so no foreigner,
no hired servant shall eat thereof. Verse 46. And everything's important
here. Remember the law of first mention.
OK, doesn't all this apply to what we're doing? It's amazing,
isn't it? I've never touched on these things
right here with you. You may have seen them yourself,
but I've never We never looked at them together while I've been
here. All right, it says in verse 46, in one house shall it be
eaten. Thou shalt not carry forth all of the flesh abroad out of
the house, neither shall you break a bone thereof. That breaking
the bone, you know, is significant. Our Lord, that represents the
body of our Lord, that not one bone of his body was broken.
You remember when the soldiers came by to break his legs and
he was dead already. So they didn't touch him. Why?
Because the scripture said so. Not a bone of his body shall
be broken. And this is where it started, right here. Neither
shall a bone, you break a bone, because Christ is whole and complete.
He's not broken and fragmented, and the gospel is whole. He's
still whole. Christ is all. Well, but it says
here, in one house shall it be eaten. I shall not carry forth
all the flesh abroad out of the house in the house. One family's
one big family is to eat it in the house. What does that mean?
Well, I'm just certain that means in the context of the church.
We don't. We don't partake of the Lord's
table in our homes privately. We do it in the context of the
church, right? That's the way they did it. The
disciples did it. And in the context of the church,
not to be eaten out of the house, the church is the tabernacle
of God where he dwells with his people. That's the tabernacle
of God. And there were elders in these
houses. There were elders. They were the ones that applied
the blood to the doorpost. You'll find that in the middle
part of the chapter there. And they were to supply the blood. Look back there and I'll show
it to you. It says, verse 21, see it? Moses called for all
the elders of Israel. Those were the leaders, leaders
of the house, the leaders of men. They were given the foresight,
the oversight thereof. And he said unto them, draw out,
take you a lamb according to your families and kill the Passover
and take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood and put it
on the doorpost, and so forth. So the elders—that's the type,
I believe, of the Holy Spirit who applies the blood to our—we're
not the ones that apply the blood, he does. It's also a type of
the Church, how God has ordained elders in the Church, and Christ
has appointed elders over his house and his family, and they're
to meet together under one roof. And that's how we're met tonight—one
roof, one mind, one heart, Scripture says when they were all together
with one accord, they lifted up their hearts in prayer before
the table, one table. So I think that applies there,
doesn't it? Verse 47 is vital. Verse 47, "...and all the congregation
of Israel shall keep it." It doesn't say anybody who wants
to can. He said, all the congregation
of Israel shall. Do you have a marginal reference?
To just say, do it. Whatever he saith unto you, Mary
said, do it. Christ said, this do. This is
no option, Terry, for the people of God. This is a command. This
is one of the few things that the Lord commands us to do, isn't
it? One of the few things. It's not
an option. And we don't do this very often
because I know a lot of people that do partake of it often.
That's up to the discretion of the pastor. But for one reason,
I don't want it to be too familiar and just too commonplace. And
that's what things become. Familiarity breeds contempt. It becomes common And our Lord
didn't tell us how often to do it. He said, as often as you
do it. He didn't tell us how often to do it. As often as you
do it. But we are to do it, and not
to go without doing it. I know one place that never partook
of the Lord's table, and a man left the congregation because
of that. And I know people that, since I've been here, that have
never partaken of this table. And those people are in danger.
They're absolutely, well, they're gone now. I know one man in particular
that never partook of this table with us since I've been here.
And you see, another reason is I don't, we don't do it like
in Sunday morning. Don't do it too regularly because
it's not a thing of convenience. It's not to be a thing of convenience,
not to make it convenient for everybody to take. It should
be a thing that we look forward to do with great anticipation
and anxiousness. That's what it means to eat it
in haste. Folks know we're going to eat it tonight. We haven't
eaten in a long time. And whoever really wants to come
and eat of it will be here. But it's a command. You understand? It's a command. Those are just
my feelings toward it, and how often it should be taken and
so forth, and why we partake of it, when we partake of it.
We've done it here on Wednesday night before. And my reasoning
was the same there, that whoever really wanted to partake of it
will be there. We're not to do this thing out of convenience.
And but it says all the congregation. This is no option. We are to
partake of this time. If not, a believer does not partake
of this table. He is in direct disobedience
to the Lord, like baptism. Any true believer has never been
baptized, is indirect, but cannot partake of the table and is in
direct disobedience to the Lord. To think he commanded baptism
in the Lord's name, this did. all the congregation shall keep
it. Verse 48, look at this, it says,
Now, when a stranger shall sojourn with thee. What if a visitor comes in? What
if somebody comes in off the street right now? When a stranger shall sojourn
with thee, and will keep the Passover to the Lord. What if
somebody wants to partake of the table? What what needs to
be what. Who who may partake may he partake
of it. Well look at look at what it
says here. Well if he is willing to be circumcised. He's got to
be circumcised. In other words that he needs
to be a regenerated child of God. Let him be circumcised. If he. Like the people if he
is a. Has been circumcised and. bought
with a price, and he understands what he's doing, and believes
and trusts Christ, and confesses him in believer's baptism, he
or she, and has the loins of their mind girded,
and so forth. Shoes on their feet to understand
and believe the gospel, and trusts Christ for sure. He's been circumcised
by the Holy Spirit, regenerated. Let him come near. Let him come.
Come on. You can eat with us. I knew a preacher one time that
went to a congregation, and he's a preacher now. He was a visiting
speaker. And they were serving their Lord's table, and the visiting
preacher was sitting out there, and one of the deacons or elders
came by and didn't let him partake. Passed the table on. He started
to grab it and the fella said, no, you can't partake of our
table. That's what they call closed
communion. You know what happened? That goes on. That goes on. Landmark Baptists are bad about
that. They have a little closed communion. It's only for local
members of that local church. Well, that old preacher wisely
said to that fella, he said, when the fella said, you can't
partake of our table. And the fellow said, Oh, well, he said,
I thought it was the Lord's tape. I don't much want to partake
of yours anyway. But if a stranger comes in, we're
not going to keep him from the tape. They know and believe and
trust the same Christ we do. Confess to him and believe his
baptism. Understand what's going on here with our mind. Believe
it in the heart. Yeah, come and eat. Come on.
Let him come near. Keep that. Look at this verse
48. He'll be like one that's born
in the land. We'll receive him as a brother,
just like he's been here all his life. But no uncircumcised
person shall eat thereof. Keep saying that, doesn't he?
Keep saying that, Don. No uncircumcised person. And
I think that's important. That's the people that want I
think that's theologians and doctrinal believers in the head
and not having actually had it applied to those that
want the blessing without the change. All right, verse forty-nine
says, "...one law shall be to him that is homeborn, and to
the stranger that sojourneth among one Lord, one faith, one
baptism, one way to worship, one table." If circumcised, you may eat. So take, eat. So thus, verse
fifty-one, Thus did all the children of Israel, as the Lord commanded
Moses and Aaron, so did they. It came to pass the selfsame
day that the Lord did bring the children of Israel out of the
land of Egypt by their armies. And as I said, We thought one
time that the Lord was coming while we were doing this, and
I just can't think of a better time. Wouldn't that be glorious
and wonderful if He did come right in the midst of supping?
We went from supping here to supping there. Wouldn't that be great if all
of us could go up together? Okay, men. Joe, John, John, Stan,
come up. Press up the way.