Oh, well, I wasn't the one who
did it. The Lord blessed him. Always blesses
him in the reading and these men here. And you know, they
take it serious because they have something to say. Their
comments are always so very, very good. Thank you, Kimberly
Sue. I understand. I understand very
well. Here in verse 16, 1 Corinthians
10, it says, the cup of blessing
which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is
it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many
are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that
one bread. Behold, Israel, after the flesh,
are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? Now it's talking about the cup,
the bread and the cup. And that we being many have one
body in the Lord Jesus Christ and partake of that one bread,
partake of that one blood. just like Israel partook of all
the sacrifices at the altar. And we as partakers of our Lord
Jesus Christ, this word communion, the cup which we take, is it
not the communion of the blood of Christ, the communion of the
body of Christ? That word communion means to
be in union with, have things in common in such a way that
you are actually one with that person for date of that thing.
And that communion means to share whichever one anyone has a thing
in, a participation in. And a fellowship, it means a
fellowship recognized, enjoyed with his blood and with his body.
And our Lord Jesus Christ He says here we're partakers with
Him. It's the communion, the oneness, the partaking, the commonness
we have with Him. Now there's some great, great
differences today in what was intended, but our Lord's Supper
is. It's not the same as it is our
Lord meant for it to be. Now the Lord's Supper, there's
nothing magical about it. Has no physical power about it
whatsoever. By eating bread and drinking
wine, we're not actually made partakers of Christ, of His body
or His blood. We've already done that. That's
why we do this. In remembrance of Him. We've
been made partakers of His broken body. We've been made partakers
of His blood, of His blood that was shed. And so this is not
nothing magical and we're not actually going to partake of
our Lord Jesus in this bread and wine. And over the years,
they've made it so complicated, something that was so plain and
so simple. You know, you have people, they
do genuflections. You know what a genuflex is? Hocus pocus. And then, you know, they got
to wear adornments, they got to put on certain vestments,
you know, and they got to have on purple and all that things,
you know, and they use technical phrases, technical phrases. And there's not the slightest,
slightest resemblance between our Master setting down, setting
down with His disciples, and handed him the bread and said,
this is my body, take and eat. And handed him that cup and said,
drink, this is my blood in the New Testament which is shed for
many. And he sat down and did that with his disciples. There's
not the slightest difference between our master sitting down
with his disciples and what's called the mass. Our Lord, when
he did it, he intended fellowship We're one together here. You're
partaking of my body. He asked his disciples, when
James and John asked him, said, Lord, when you come into your
kingdom, may we sit on your left hand and one on your right hand?
And our Lord asked him, said, are you indeed able to be baptized
with the baptizer that I'm baptized with? and partake of what I partake
of and they said we are and that's exactly what and they were right
because they partook of everything our Lord Jesus Christ the baptism
of suffering he went through we went through it with him When
that blood was shed on Calvary's tree, we died with him on Calvary's
tree. That's how close our... and they've
turned this wonderful fellowship and communion, some people have,
and they've turned it into a superstition and they call it a sacrament.
You know what a sacrament means? It means that they're saving
power in these Saving power when you take of the bread it's got
saving power in it grace will be conveyed to you in it And
grace will be conveyed to you in the blood and then the wine
But I tell you what grace is conferred on us in Christ Jesus
before the world ever began I'll tell you what grace was given
us was because of the grace of God that we come here to remember
our Lord Jesus Christ, to bless His cup, to bless His bread,
to bless His name, to bless Him for His death, to bless Him for
His life, to bless Him for all that He is and all He's done
for us in our life and is going to always do. Oh, you see, they
call it now, they don't call it the Lord's Supper, it's called
the Eucharist. We don't see a plate. We see
a, they call it a pattern. The cup is a chalice. The table
is an altar. But I, Lord Jesus Christ, when
He handed them that bread, He said, take eat. This is my body.
This is my body. Broken, broken, broken. Just like you're going to break
it, it's broken for you. And when I hand him that cup,
he says, this blood, this blood is the blood that I'll shed. I'll shed it for the sins. And so this, the table becomes
an altar, but I, Lord, meant it to be communion and union
with Him. Look with me over in 1st John
chapter 1 with me, just a minute. 1st John chapter 1. I love talking
about our Lord Jesus Christ and what He did and what it was meant. This is what we're talking about. This is what our Lord meant.
And this is exactly what John says here. 1 John 1.3, That which we have
seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship
with us. Union with us. Communion with
us. And listen to this. And truly,
our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Our fellowship. We actually have
fellowship with God and Jesus Christ. Have union with Him.
Talk with Him. Blessings with Him. And look
what He goes on to say. And reason we wrote you these
things that your joy may be full. He said, you're fellowshiping
with the Father and with the Son. Other religious and leaders,
they want to keep their followers at a distance. They present themselves
as some kind of a superior. They want superstitious reverence.
They want high estimation of their persons and importance. like the Pope or Mohammed or
any of these other people. But our Lord, He reveals and
opens the way for communion with Himself. And He wants us to draw
near, not to put us away, not to create superstition, but to
embrace us and tell us, come near to me. You can't get close
enough to me. You can't have fellowship strong
enough with me. You can't have communion deep
enough with me. They all want everybody to stay
away. Our Lord wants us to come near. And back in our text over
there that we looked at a minute ago when it says, you know, this
cup of blessing, this bread of communion is the cup which we
bless. And I want to tell you what we partake of when we partake
of this bread. and this wine, the body and blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ. When it says we share in Him
and have communion with Him, it means that even in our Lord
Jesus Christ's death, in His burial, in His resurrection,
we were actually partakers with Him in everything He did. And Scriptures teaches that all
the way through the Scriptures. When I, Lord Jesus Christ, Paul
said, you know, he said, I died with Christ. When did he die
with Christ? I was crucified with Christ.
When did he's crucified with Christ? When did he die with
Christ? When Christ died. That's what the gospel is all
about. That's what it's all about. Look over in Romans 6 with me
just a minute. And that's what baptism symbolizes.
It's his death and his burial and his resurrection. Oh, that's
what baptism symbolizes, you see. And oh my, if we partake
of His death and His burial and His resurrection, and I'll deal
with all of them in a minute, singly, but look what He said
here. In verse 3 of Romans chapter 6. No you're not. That so many
of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized, what? Into
His death? How do you get baptized into
His death? That's why I asked those disciples, are you indeed
able to be baptized with the baptism I will? He was talking
about being immersed in death. You read it tonight that His
body would see no corruption. That He would be put in the ground
and He would stay there, but His body would see no corruption. And that's what he's talking
about here. He said, and therefore we are buried with Him by baptism
unto death. When we come to be baptized and
recognize that our need of Christ, when we go under the water, we're
said, we're dying, we're dead with Christ. We're dead with
Him. And just Christ was raised up
from the dead by the Lord. We come up out of that water.
We're raised up. Typical of his resurrection,
then look what he said. And he done it by the glory of
the Father, and he was new. He come out of that grave, and
nobody recognized him but his own apostles. So also we also
should walk in newness of life. For if we've been planted together
in the likeness of his death, then listen to this, we shall
be also in the likeness of his resurrection. If we die with Him, if we are
buried with Him, and if He is raised again, we are going to
do that. He said we will be raised in the likeness of His resurrection.
What a day that is going to be. Now I want you to look with me
at 1 John chapter 4. I am going to make a few comments
here if I can. 1 John chapter 4 and verse 17. Scott Richardson, first person
I ever heard deal with it the way that he dealt with it. And
every preacher from then on has dealt with it the same way. But
look what it said here in verse 17. 1 John chapter 4. Herein is our love made perfect. that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment. How is it made perfect? How are
we going to have boldness in the day of judgment? Listen to
it. Because as He is, so are we in this world. Now what is
our Lord Jesus Christ right now? How is it? How is our Lord Jesus Christ
right this minute? As He is, as He is, So are we in this world. I'll
tell you one thing he is. He's dead to sin. Sin no longer has dominion over
him. And oh beloved, that's what we
do. He died as a sacrifice for sin. He died to its penalty.
He died to its power. He died to everything that would
keep us from approaching God and our Lord Jesus Christ is
dead to sin. When a man is dead and buried,
there's nothing the law can come and do against him anymore if
he raises from the dead. And our Lord Jesus Christ, when
he died, he died to sin. And when he died to sin, I'm
telling you, you and I died to sin. We are wrapped now this moment
by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ dead to sin. God reckons
us dead just as Christ is dead to sin. What in the world sin
gonna ever do to the Lord Jesus Christ and the saints in glory
already? He put it away by the sacrifice of Himself and we died
with Him and when He died, we died. And I tell you what, I'll
tell you something else, He's dead to this world. He's not
in this world. And I'll tell you that means
that you and I are not in this world and we're not of this world.
We're strangers and pilgrims passing through this world. We
have to do business in the world and we have to, we enjoy some
things as we go and pleasures as we go as believers. But beloved,
this world and all that it stands for, and all that it means with
all of its power, all of its ambition, and all of its glory,
and all of its wealth, and all of its pomp, and all of its ceremony,
and all of its circumstance, absolutely we're not impressed
by this world. Everybody's impressed by it.
What's what's some of these wealthy wealthy Bill Gates? Then pressed by some of these
people that do all this wonderful works and all these mighty things
But we love it. Listen, it's all vanity. It's
all vanity. It's all just a shadow and it
ain't gonna amount to nothing We're not of this world. I Lord
Jesus Christ not of this world and we're not of this world.
I I tell you, won't it be a blessing to you? Why do you like to go
off and get along by yourself? Why do you like to go and enjoy
being by yourself sometimes? Why do you find having to do
business in the world so frustrating and so vexing? Why is it so wonderful, so blessed
to leave the world behind for just a little while and come
here? Leave your jobs behind. Leave your worries behind. Leave
your worries behind. Leave your troubles behind. Leave
your children and the things that goes on in your heart. Leave
them all behind just for a little while. If it's just an hour,
hour and 15 minutes or an hour and 20 minutes in this service.
We're out of the world. Out of the world. And I tell
you what, I tell you something else he's no longer in. He's
no longer in the flesh. He was in the flesh but he's
not in the flesh anymore. Look what it says over in Romans
chapter 8 and verse Verse 7 here, just a minute. He's not in the
world, He's no longer in the flesh. And this is hard for us
to grasp, but it's the truth. We're talking about our standing
before God. Not talking about our state in
this world. We're talking about the way God sees us and the way
God says it is. And what God says is right, and
what God says is true, whether we feel it or not, or experience
it or not. But this is what the Scripture
says. that our Lord is no longer in the flesh Romans chapter 8
verse 7 because the carnal mind is enmity against God It's not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. You're just
talking to a carnal man, a carnal minded person. You're just wasting
your breath. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. But now listen, listen to it.
But you're not in the flesh. My flesh gives me an awful lot
of trouble. I know it does. But God said here you're not
in it. You are going to believe you
or you are going to believe God? God says you are no longer in the
flesh. Where are you at then? You are in the Spirit. And that word is capitalized.
In the Spirit. If so be the Spirit of God dwell
in you. You are a spiritual person. The
flesh is not dominant. The flesh is not your master.
The flesh contributes nothing to anything about your spiritual
life. The flesh absolutely cannot do
anything to God and for God. And then He says you're no longer
in the Spirit of God dwelleth with you. Now if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. He's still in the
flesh. But God does not consider us in the flesh. He considers
us dead with Christ, raised with Christ, seated with Christ, enjoying
Christ right now. You say, well, Brother Donnie,
you just don't move. I know what God said. And I believe
that, don't you? How long has it been since you've
felt any guilt or any condemnation as a believer? How long has it
been? Been a pretty good while for
most of you, ain't it? You know why? Because it's the gospel. You know, it's the gospel. What
have we got to be guilty for? What have we done? I'll tell you what, He's burial.
Oh, His death. So we partook of His death. He
died to sin. He's dead to the world. He's
no longer in the world. He's no longer in the flesh.
And then He's burial. And when our Lord Jesus Christ
was buried, this is justice. And I'll tell you something,
beloved. Dead men are buried. When our Lord Jesus Christ bore
our sin in His own body on the tree and God justice came and
slew Him. And He was taken down off of
that tree and was buried in Joseph's tomb. That was justice. It was justice that He died.
It was justice that He had to be buried. But dead men are buried. They're not burned. They're not
left out to stink. And I tell you, our Lord Jesus
Christ was buried, and that's what will happen. We're buried
with Christ, we died with Christ, and we don't stink, and we're
not gonna be burned. And I'll tell you something else,
beloved. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when He rose from the dead, and
I'll deal with that in a minute, we rose with Him. I'll tell you, I've done been
to the grave. I've done been to the grave. I've already been
to the grave. Where did you go to the grave
at? In Jesus Christ. That's why Paul said it like
this, O grave, where is your victory? O death, where is your
sting? I've done been to the tomb. I've
done been to the grave. And that's why when a believer
goes, he's already been there. That's why we're not afraid.
That's why we're not afraid for you, not afraid for me, not afraid
for people we love. Because we've done been there.
It holds no terror. It holds no fear. I'm telling
you the God's honest truth. It holds no fear. And I'll tell
you something else about if somebody dies, and it's the same way it's
spiritual. If somebody dies, I mean they
die, and that life leaves their body, and they're cold, and they're
lifeless land there. They can't feel you touch them. You can wet shed tears on their
dead body. Whip on their dead body and put
tears on their dead body. You can put your arms around
them. You can kiss them. But they cannot feel it. They
don't have any idea that that's what's happening to them right
there. And you cannot bring them back no matter how much love
and how much compassion and no matter how much suffering and
how much sorrow and how much sadness and how many tears. You
can't bring them back. And the world wants people brought
back. Whatever you do when I leave
this world, I don't want nobody to even think about coming back. I would never want to be back
in this place. But here's the thing, what I'm
saying, I said all that to say this, that's exactly the way
people are that are dead in trespasses and sins. You can weep over them,
the tears has no effect. You can embrace them and the
embrace has no effect. You can talk to them and they
do not hear a word you say. You can hug them and shed tears
on their bodies and on their necks and they do not feel it. You know the only people who
feels is people that are alive. Made so in Christ. Remember when
you was dead? Of course you do. Cause now you're
alive. We know we've passed from where?
Death unto life. Oh my. Well, let's go to His
resurrection. So I tell you we partake. I said
here communion of the body of Christ, communion of the cup
of Christ. And we partake of His resurrection. Our Lord Jesus
Christ in His glorious resurrection. He says we'll be raised in the
likeness of His resurrection. And our Lord Jesus, and this
is the strangest thing, you know, He stood there in front of those
disciples and they were scared to death. They thought they saw
a spirit. And He said, well, touch me. He said, a spirit don't
have flesh and bone like I have. And they did. They touched Him
and they said, oh my, it is Him. He said, have you got anything
to eat? They gave Him something to eat. He was able to eat with
that body. And so when we're raised in His
likeness, we'll have the body, flesh and bone, and we'll be
able to eat. In fact, the Scriptures tell
us the Lord Himself shall gird us at the marriage supper of
the Lamb, and He Himself shall feed us. You know how many people are
going to be in glory? It says a multitude that no man
can number, 10,000 times 10,000. Well, how is He going to feed
all of them at the same time? He's the Lord. He's the Lord. He can save, if
He can save a multitude that no man can number, He can feed
us. He feeds us right now, don't
He? If He can feed us right now with
spiritual food, what makes you think He can't make us all sit
down and all of us eat at the same time? That's how great and how glorious
our Lord Jesus Christ is. When you start thinking about
His power and His glory, and that we are partakers of Him,
The tangles of His broken body, His shed blood, His death, His
burial, His resurrection. And I tell you, Rome in Ephesians
2 says, we raised us up to set together in heavenly places in
Christ. And right now, by the grace of
God, and the power of God, and the purpose of God, we're setting
in our head the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherever the head is, that's
where the body is going to be. Where the body is, he's the head.
If the head didn't grow it, the body has got to be where he is.
Ain't that right? And I tell you, when our Lord
Jesus Christ, when I talked about all these fellows, they want
to have a difference between the preacher and the lay people. the clergy and the church members
and the elders and the rest of the people. And that our Lord
Jesus Christ, he wants his folks to draw near. John the apostle
laid on his breast, but he don't just the apostles to draw near.
And preachers, he isn't striving to keep us at a distance, but
strives to bring us near. And he'll never ever blame us
for being too familiar with him. that we cannot get from Him.
I'm my Beloved's and my Beloved's mine. We cannot get from Me with
our Lord Jesus Christ enough. He makes us know that He's the
Sovereign Lord of this universe. He's our Brother. He's bone of
our bone, flesh of our flesh. And do you know what He said
about Enoch? He said, Enoch, walk with God. And was not. And that's what
He talks about us partaking with Him. Walk with Him. And we walk
with God just the same way He did. By faith. By the grace of
God. Our Father, oh gracious, gracious
God in Heaven. Oh, thank You for the day. How
blessed You've been to us today. Your great and abundant mercies
to us today. And Lord, we're about to take this bread, take this wine,
and we do it in remembrance of you. Oh, remember the great sacrifice
you sacrificed for us. The great death you died for
us. The blood you shed for us, the
body broken and beaten and bloody for us. So we do it to remember you.
Because it's by you, because of you, that we are able tonight
to honor and bless your holy name. To attribute our salvation
all together of you. And Lord, we sit down this evening
to eat this bread and drink this wine, your broken body and your
shed blood. And oh God, open our hearts to
what you are and who you are and what you've done and who
you did it for. Oh God, bring glory to yourself,
to us tonight, in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Gary, you and Brad, come on. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength
indeed is small. Shroud of weakness, wash and
pray, Finally be Thine all in all. It had left a crimson stain,
he walked in white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find, Thy
path and Thine alone. Jesus for nothing good have I whereby
thy grace to claim. I'll wash my garments white in
the blood of Jesus made it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left the prison same,
He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne I
stand in Him complete Jesus died, my soul to save My lips shall
still repeat All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. Our Father, how thankful we are
to You. Wonderful, amazing grace, that
You've shown us in Your Son, by preparing the body for Him,
that holy thing born of Mary, that was broken in Christ, only
true. Suffered so many things, and yet without sin, laid our iniquity upon, saw the
travailers of His Son, who bore the wrath of God for us, and
were satisfied. All may be satisfied. Oh, our
Father, bow before You, giving thanks
for our dear Savior. How we do thank You for Him.
We thank You for this privilege to join together in this communion
as we remember Him, His doing and His dying. As we drink the
wine, we're reminded of His precious blood It's precious blood because of
whose blood it is. He shed his own blood. And it's
precious because of what it accomplished. By his dying, he brought us life. And how we thank you for him,
his sacrifice for sin on our behalf. As we see this sword
plunged in His side and His blood poured out, Jesus. It's because
we were in Him that He was sacrificed and made to suffer and shed His
blood. Oh, may we be taken up with Him.
Not only now, but for all time and for all eternity. Yes, Lord
Jesus. Thank You for our prayer today. May we honor Him as we think
on Him tonight. In Christ's place tonight. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, let's sing Amazing Grace.
Everybody knows that song. Let's play a game of hide and
seek. Hide and seek. Hide and seek. Hide and seek. Yeah, that's been awhile. That's been awhile. Hallelujah. Thank you very much. That's my man. He's always here.
He's always here. This is good stuff. I used to be a vegetable. I used
to be a vegetable. I used to be a vegetable. I used to be a vegetable. I used to be a vegetable. I used
to be a vegetable. I'm going to take that back.
I'm going to take that back. I'm going to take that back.
I'm going to take that back. Oh, and I think there's another
order in which you have to turn it on. The fan has to be on at four o'clock. I recognize that. Well, this
did recognize that. I think that doesn't recognize
this, if it's already recognized. You want me to give you back
the check? Yes, it is. Okay. I recognize that. I recognize
that. Okay. I want y'all to go back
down there. Yeah. I don't know what to watch.