There used to be a song that
I heard, hadn't heard it in years, but the song was Turn Your Radio
On. The problem with that song is
that you can't turn your radio on. Your radio doesn't have a
button on it. The Lord's got to turn your radio
on. my long-term our radio one day we might hear because if he turns on our hearing
then we will hear and uh... we will rejoice and we will be
glad in those things that he would tell us and we've been
going through the book of mark and uh... I'm kind of torn in my mind this
morning as to that I would take another tact today and consider
what it is that we come to do when we come
together as brethren in the Lord. And of course, Paul and having
been taught of the Lord, things that I believe he did not clearly
show to others as much so as he did to Paul. And that's the
good pleasure of the Lord. See, the Lord, he doesn't show
to all men all things. He doesn't really show to anybody
all things, but he does show to some men more than he shows
to others. As he is pleased to give to every
man the measure of faith that pleases him. A man is not held accountable
for such things as he does not know. Now having said that, there's
not a man on earth that can say, I didn't know anything. Because as we read in what Paul
says in the book of Romans, that the Lord has made testimony as
to who he is in the earth. Man can't escape it. Now you
can, men, often men, in the darkness of their heart, they desire not
to admit what they see. But when you see the glory and
grandeur of the heavens and the earth, and all the things, the
intricate details of all creation, and the the order in which all these
things take place, it's impossible that a man can escape the understanding
that there is a sovereign God in the heavens who does go in
his will in the heavens and in the earth. Now it takes some
men by the grace of God and in God's appointed time a while
to learn that. Nebuchadnezzar's a man that probably
one of the most wealthy men that's ever lived in the earth. A man
that had more power at the time at least than any other man on
the earth. And he thought he was something.
He even had his subjects to make a large statue in the plain of
Dura. and he had men to come and worship
before it and adore the image, his image there in the plain.
But God, who's rich in mercy, brought Nebuchadnezzar to a place
of understanding that was really not novel because the Lord plainly
manifest exactly what Nebuchadnezzar says plainly out in the open. It's not a hidden thing. But
the Lord brought Nebuchadnezzar to a place where he saw it firsthand. And as you know the story, I
hope you do, how the Lord brought him down off of his lofty throne
to eat grass like an ox in the field. And I'm sure when people
passed by, they said, man, look, there's old Nebuchadnezzar out
there. I mean, he had all the power
on earth and here he is out like a beast in the field. But the Lord, who's rich in mercy,
I believe, visited Nebuchadnezzar in the same fashion which he
visited him when he brought him down to eat grass like an ox
in the field. The Lord showed mercy to Nebuchadnezzar.
And he said, when my understanding returned unto me, I extolled
the God of heaven. And I declared that he was that
one who rules in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth. And there is none that can stay
his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Oh, that the Lord might bring
us to that place today. that he might cause us to understand
that it is according to his mercy and his kindness and not through
any obligation or to any correction that we come to this place today
to remember the Lord's death till he comes again. Now some
people view that what the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world
to do as a remedy for a situation that arose which was outside
of his original determination of things to do. What folly is in the minds of
those that think in that fashion? Because the same God who brought
Nebuchadnezzar down to eat grass like an ox is the one who determined
to create the world out of nothing. at such time as it pleased Him
and in the fashion that it pleased Him, He made a man. And He made the man just exactly
like He wanted him to be. Because the purpose of the Lord
in creating the world and men in it is to manifest the glory
of the grace of God through Jesus Christ. as the Redeemer of sinners. Now that's a glorious thing.
You see, before there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior. The Lord determined to save men
long before the first man was ever created because all the
things that God does are eternal. Now we live our lives as a tale
that is told. Our lives are as a vapor. I mean,
it seems like only yesterday that I can remember, you know,
my childhood and the things that I went about doing. And there
are many memories vivid in my mind. But I think sometimes,
well, where did all of that go? You know, it's as a vapor, I
mean, it vanishes. Now, a young child, it seems
like things move agonizingly slow. You know, it seems like
that time just stands still. And I can remember sitting in
church and I thought that surely the clock must have stopped,
you know, because I would look at it sometimes and I'd be thinking
how many more minutes I had to endure that situation that I
was in. And it seemed, So slow, but now
it seems so fast. And time moves at a rapid pace. And our life is indeed as a vapor. And I don't know how many more
times we will have the privilege to come together as we are in
the present moment and partake of these blessed elements that
remind us of Jesus Christ and his mercy and kindness to us. together. I don't know how many more times
that will be, but I know it's a finite number. But the glorious thing is that
even though there is a finite number of times that we would
come together as brethren in this world to remember the Lord's
death until He comes again, the actual union and unity that
we have is eternal. Because what Christ did for us
is represented here, is pouring out his life that we might have
life, that we might have eternal life. And he has given us eternal
life. And I used to think of eternal
life as a period of, as something that's measured in years. But eternal life cannot be measured
in years. It's measured in the quality
of what it is. Because you see, a man could
have an existence in this world for 200 years, And that's a long
time. I never personally met anybody
that lived that long. I've met a few people that lived
well past 100. And that would seem, in some
ways, in a man's mind, that that would be a wonderful thing. But
you know, the older that you get, the less wonderful life
in this world is, because it's accompanied with many pitfalls
and many struggles and many troubles. And so the life that we have
in Christ is beyond all of that. See, because the life that we
have in Christ is life. See, we're really dying creatures. A lot of people don't like to
think in these terms, but from the moment that we are born into
this world, we really have one appointment And we're rapidly
moving towards that, and that appointment is death. For it's
appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment.
And it is a sure thing that we shall not only draw our last
breath at some point in time in this world, but it is certain
that we shall stand in the presence of Almighty God. What a glorious thought it is
to stand there clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Because
to be there in the righteousness of Christ is to be received into
His presence. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Oh, that the Lord might visit
us today, that He might show us what that life is. And that we might remember the
Lord's death till he comes again. The Lord gave to Paul an understanding,
like I started off saying, that few men were given. He told Paul, you see, Paul didn't
walk with the Lord in this world in the normal sense, which he
did, but the Lord met with him when he was in the wilderness
for three years. And the Lord told him, he said,
I was as one born out of due time. See, Paul, I believe, was
the 12th apostle. And one of the things that all
of the apostles had was direct instruction from the hand of
the Lord, and they were witnesses of his resurrection, of the resurrected
Christ. Paul saw him. It pleased the
Lord to show him. And so Paul was given this understanding,
or these things to write to us. He said, for I have received
of the Lord. Now, we can say we receive things
of the Lord, can we not? I mean, we believe the Lord teaches
us, but when Paul says here, I have received this of the Lord,
he is not talking about, he got the Bible and he studied it and
the Lord, through the Spirit of God, taught him these things.
He means the Lord told him these things, showed him these things. As he says, I was called up into
the third heaven. He said, whether I was in the
body or out of the body, I can't tell. He says, I don't know what
was happening. But he said, I saw things that
it was unlawful to utter. I couldn't tell you. But he did
tell us some things, did he not? He said, for I 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 break 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, 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 he come.
Wherefore, in light of that, 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. But let a man examine himself,
and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he
that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation
to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many
are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep, or many are dead. For if we would judge ourselves,
we should not be judged. Now, this is a delightful exercise
for the children of God. Now, Paul understood that in
the Lord's house, and when we say the house, we're not talking
about a house in the sense of this building, but in the Lord's
house, there are, there's wheat and there's tares.
He said so. said it would be that way. And
so when you look through the writings of the apostle to the
churches, he understood that not everyone that was always
in their midst was always a true follower of Christ. Many follow
Christ for many reasons. They did when the Lord was among
men, Some followed him for loaves and fishes. They didn't care
what he said. I mean, they weren't really interested
in the message. They weren't interested in the
hard work in themselves. They just thought he was a good
speaker and they liked to hear him. And especially after the
thing was all over, he'd feed them. I mean, they thought that
was a pretty good thing. They might see a miracle or two,
you know. do some miracles, make the blind to see and the lame
to walk and stuff like that. And so there were many that followed
Him for those reasons. And there are many today that
come together with God's people for the same reason. It's just
kind of a habitual thing. I mean, when I grew up, I just
thought everybody went to church. I didn't know why they would,
but I just figured they did. You know, that just seemed to
me like everybody around me, everybody that I grew up around
pretty much, that's the way it was. I just figured that's the
way it was in the world. And unfortunately, a lot of people
do. just continue to meet with the
church because, well, it's what they ought to do. I remember
you used to, you'd see signs up. In fact, I've seen them alongside
the road. It said, worship today in the
church of your choice. You know, as if you just, you
know, it's a good thing. Just go out here and do it. But
that's not the reason why God's people gather together. And it's
not that all of the people that gather in a certain place at
a certain time are of the number of those that love Jesus Christ
with all of their heart. And so it is necessary for Paul
to write these things as he did. And not only did he set forth
what it is that we're doing when we partake of the bread and the
wine, as we remember the Lord's death till he comes, but he gives
a warning about it. And he said, because you're doing
this to remember the Lord's death till he comes again, to partake
of this unworthily is to be guilty. of hating the one that did what
we say he did. Those are pretty stern words
on that. Now what is it for a man to drink
this cup of the Lord unworthily? Now at one time I thought and
I had taught that you know you might if you did something during
the week that you shouldn't have done. I never had a week in my
life when I didn't do something I shouldn't have done. I never had a day. I don't know
if I've ever went an hour. And so if you come to this thinking
that there's something that you've done that's gonna make you unworthy
to take this supper, then you've missed the point. That's not
what he's talking about. You see, he defines what it is.
He said, for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and
drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. That is, he doesn't have any
understanding. He has no regard. He has no real heart concern
for what it is that he's doing. He is going through a motion.
Thousands of people go through the motion of taking this bread
and taking this wine. And rather than it being a blessing
to them, it's a curse. Because they say, well, it's
just, you know, we'll go through this, we'll do this, this is
just what we do. You know, we grew up doing this and we'll
just do it because that's what people are supposed to do. And
I don't want to be embarrassed by, you know, not taking it when
everybody around me is doing it. So what is it to eat and drink
this unworthily? It's certainly not to look at
our lives and see if there's any reason why we should not
be allowed to come here as far as what we've done or not done. Because I would say if that was
the standard, we might as well go home now. I mean, there wouldn't be anybody
in here that could come and say, Lord, I'm worthy to take it. No, we're not worthy to take
it. Our worthiness is in what we Confess, is it not, that Christ
is our righteousness? I mean, that's why we come here
today. Because we believe that Jesus Christ, the righteous,
is our righteousness. We don't bring our righteousness
to Him. He doesn't want our righteousness.
Why? Because our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags in His sight. You don't have anything to bring
Him. There's not a thing in the world
that you can bring Him. That's worth anything. He's pleased with his children.
And the reason that he's pleased with his children is because
they're his. And he's pleased with them because
he chose them in Christ. And the righteousness that he
sees when he sees his children is the righteousness of Christ.
He doesn't see us in our goodness or in our badness. That's not
how he sees us. He sees us in Christ. And that's
what it is that we come to confess today. When we remember his death,
till he comes again, we confess that we have no righteousness.
That we have nothing that we can bring. Nothing in my hand
I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling,
naked come to thee for dress, helpless look to thee for grace,
but foul, I to the fountain fly, wash me, Savior, or I die. So you see, that's what we confess,
that we come here, not that we come bringing something to the
Lord with which he'll be pleased. And so what is your righteousness
today? What's your reason for being here? Is it that you know that you
have nothing at all to give unto the Lord? Or that you desire
that He might give something to you? And He does, and He has,
and that's what we come today to remember. that the Lord laid
down His life that we might have eternal life. And so we come
today to remember the Lord's death until He comes again. And
I desire, my heart is that we might take of this. Now see,
one of the things that often is said by those who think you
have to come and present some worthiness before the Lord in
order to partake of this, is that the Lord, when he said,
let a man examine himself. Now, what does that mean? That
means, look at your motive. You need to always be looking
at your motive. Why do you do the things you
do? You need to know why you do the
things you do. And so he said, let a man examine
himself. And then he didn't say, let a
man examine himself and then don't eat it. That's the way
men look at it, isn't it? They say, well, you know, you
need to look and see if you got something all against your brother
or whatever and don't eat it. That's not what the Lord said. That's not what the Lord gives
Paul. He said, let a man examine himself
and so let him eat. See, the examination is to show
us Why we eat this bread is because we don't have any righteousness
of our own. Our righteousness is in Christ. So let us eat. Because we confess that Jesus
Christ is the Lamb of God that was slain to take away our sins.
And we rejoice that He is our Savior. And I, you know, sometimes
we doubt that we are the children of God. I believe most everybody
does. That's been awakened by the Spirit
of God. You go through periods of time,
you wonder, well, how on earth could I possibly be a Christian?
Now, there's a lot of people that don't ever have those doubts.
And I'm doubtful of them. Because brethren, One thing I'm sure that the Lord
teaches every one of His children, and that is that He's the center.
That's the place the Lord brings His people, to know that they're
centers. But He also brings us by His
grace to know that He's the Savior of centers. And so as such, we
come today confessing that Jesus Christ is that one who has laid
down his life that we might have eternal life. So, as the Lord, as Paul reiterates
the Lord's example, and as we read about what the Lord did,
the same night in which he was betrayed, It's always amazing to me that
he put that in there. Same night in which he was betrayed,
because he was. Same night in which he was betrayed,
he took the bread and he blessed it. And he gave it to his disciples.