As you look throughout the Word
of God, it's very plain that there is an order in the whole
of it, even as Brother Al's brought out concerning even the very
numbers that are used in the Scriptures are ordered by the
Lord. They are not haphazard. They are not put there just to
fill space, but all the things in the Word of God are put there
for our learning that we might grasp the things of God. But
you know, even as the Lord said, that He has hid these things
from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto men. Now,
it's interesting that you bring up the subject of numerology
because there are many, there are multitudes of people who
get caught up in that study and subject. And they take something
that is supposedly spiritual and really make it carnal because
they think that by coming to some carnal understanding of
what these numbers represent that then that unlocks the key
to the whole Bible and then you can get it. Well, that's not
the way people come to understand the Word of God. There are mysteries
in the Word of God and they are hidden. But the only way they
can ever be discovered is if the Lord is pleased to open a
man's eyes and he might see them. And that's the glorious promise
that the Lord gives to His people, that He will send His Spirit
to be our guide, to lead us into all truth, that we may be nurtured
and that we might be built up in the most holy faith. It is
not the Lord's purpose to hide His Word from His people, but
it is the Lord's purpose to teach His people the truth. For He
would not have us to come behind in anything in the Kingdom of
God, but He would show us these things. But we are ever mindful
that the only way we can know them is if He does show them
to us. When we get to the place where
we think that by studying or by somebody teaching us or in
some ways that men think of that those are the ways we're going
to gain an understanding of the things of God, then we are mistaken. Now, the Lord uses those things
to be sure. He uses teachers. He sent teachers. He sent preachers. He sent even
the written Word to us. But through it all, He has also
made us to know that it is by His Spirit alone that we can
be taught these things, even though we can read any man, or
even a child can pick this book up and read it. And it is a good
thing to pick it up and read it. It's a blessed thing to read
it. We ought to commit as much of
it to memory as we possibly can, for who knows when the day might
come when we don't have the ability to pick up the Bible and read
it. And so it is a good thing to
read the Word of God, to study it, to memorize it and all of
those things, but keeping in mind that unless the Lord reveals
it to us, even though we can say what it is, it doesn't mean
we know what it is. And so may the Lord help us.
And keeping all of that in mind, and then knowing that The Lord
does have an order and a purpose in all things. Paul is writing
to the Corinthians in the eleventh chapter, and of course he begins
this by showing them and teaching them the order that the Lord
has placed in the giving of men and women in the earth and the
different roles that they play. He is showing the order that
he has set in Christ as being the head of his church. And that's
the whole purpose of marriage is so that the Lord would show
the marriage of Himself to those people that He loves. And He's
been pleased to give that to men in order that they might
illustrate it in the earth. And so we looked at those first
few verses last week concerning what it's saying here about a
woman having her head covered. And the purpose of that, and
of course the purpose of the head covering, is to demonstrate
the fact that she is in submission to her head, which is her husband
in the natural sense. And of course as the man is uncovered,
because he would show that he is in submission unto the Lord,
and that he is in that relationship as the Lord is to the church. The subject of head coverings
is a thing that people have gone over and divided about and made
a big issue about over the years. And like I said last week, I
wouldn't sit around and argue with somebody about it very long
if they're convinced that women need to wear a piece of cloth
on their head or a hat of some kind. I'm not going to fight
about it myself. I think that it is wrong to burden
God's people down with such things, and I don't think that's the
purpose of what the teaching is here. The teaching here is
about the order that God has set up and the fact that a woman
is to be in submission to her husband for the purpose of demonstrating
the submission of the bride to the husband in the greater sense. And so that lest the man get
lifted up, the Lord said that though the woman was taken from
the man, the man is not alive except for the woman because
of the fact that we are born from our mother. So we are interdependent. upon one another and there is
indeed a symbiotic relationship between men and women in the
same way in which there is a symbiotic relationship of the church to
Christ. Now, can we give anything to
Christ? Not really, because He made us
and we are the sheep of His pasture, but He does take delight you
see, in the sheep of His pasture. And so in that way, we bring
praise unto Him, and He's pleased with that. And that's the thing
that God's people are desirous of doing, is it not? It's to
be pleasing unto the Lord. It's not just simply to do the
bare minimum, but we won't find. We sang a song there a moment
ago about, you know, grieving for sin. We don't just grieve
for sin. because we're afraid we're going
to go to hell if we don't, but rather we grieve for sin because
we realize that it was our sin that caused Christ the suffering.
that it did. And so that's what makes sin
to be terrible to us. It's not the penalty of the law,
but it's the penalty that Christ paid. And that's why we hate
sin, because we think, well, this put our Savior to death.
He died for us because of our sin. And that makes sin a thing
that's not appropriate in our mind and thought. Now, he goes
on to say here, and moving away, or not really away from that,
because all of this stuff is tied together. But as he comes
on into the subject we are going to talk about this morning, Let's
start in verse 16. He says, But if any man seem
to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches
of God. Now I believe he is speaking
about these very things that men get caught up in. And he
says we are not going to contend and be contentious with one another. Our purpose is not to be contentious. Now he moves on into this next
thing. He says, Now in this I declare
unto you, I praise you not that ye come together, not for the
better, but for the worse. For first of all, when you come
together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among
you." Now he just got through saying, we don't want to be contentious.
But then he said, now having said that, I have heard And I
think he's kind of saying this tongue-in-cheek because it seemed
to be not just something that was a rumor, but something that
was evident. And he said, but in order not
to be confrontational with them, he said, I've kind of heard that
this might be the way that it is. And he says, I hear that
there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it. Now,
did he think there wasn't divisions among them? No, he knew there
was divisions among them, but what he's doing is kind of giving
them the benefit of the doubt, he said. And I think it's probably
partly true. In other words, he's not just
coming and jumping on them with both of his feet, but he's being
kind to them in how he approaches this subject. He says, and I
partly believe it. He said, you know, I think that
there may be some truth in it. And so it is that he speaks to
them. He says, I hear that there be
divisions among you. Now, is that a good thing? No. Why? Because God's people are
supposed to be walking together in unity. You know how sweet
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. That's what the whole
church is about, is loving one another, forgiving one another,
bearing one another's burdens. and fulfilling the law of Christ
thereby. And he says, so this isn't a
good thing. I hear it and I don't want to
believe it, basically is what he's saying. I partly believe
it. I don't want to believe it, but it must be true to some extent. Now listen to what he's saying
here. He said, but, he said, while
it's not a good thing, he said, there must also be heresies among
you. Now what heresies are is sectarian
activities. Now, heresy has come to mean false doctrine, and there is
an aspect, even of which he's speaking about here, that has
to do with heresy as teaching that is not necessarily correct. You see, something might not
be correct if it just causes people to move their focus off
of what is our focus, which is what he said in the beginning
of the chapter, I determined to know nothing among you, say
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So it doesn't matter what it
might be if it turns our minds away from that. So he says there
must be divisions among you. There must also be heresies among
you. Now that is sects, divisions. The word heresies simply means
a sect, S-E-C-T. It means a division. That's what a heresy is. And
he said that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. Now, so what he's saying is this,
and I believe this is not twisting what he's saying. He said, it
is in the purpose of God that there be divisions among God's
people from time to time, not so that we might be divided,
but so that those which are approved, that is, that truth which is
made known as He came among them, saying, Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Now what was the approved message
from God? It was Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
was it not? And so he said it's necessary,
that is, it is a thing that must be played out, that there be
divisions among you, that they which are approved among you
might be made known, because in contrast to those false things. So there were some that came
saying what? I'm of Paul. I'm of Apollos. I'm of this one. Oh, I'm of Christ.
I'm really spiritual, you know." So he said, these things have
of necessity arisen among you so that those which are approved
may be made known of God. Now, Paul's coming. He's not coming boasting, saying,
I'm right and, y'all, you were wrong. But he was right and they
were wrong. If those were coming saying those
other things, were they not? I mean, if somebody was coming
and saying, I'm of Apollos and this is the way we need to go,
was that right? If some said, I'm of Paul, was
that right? No, he didn't want them to be
coming from that aspect. He wanted them to be approving
of the message of the preaching of the cross. That's what he
was... What is the message that's approved?
So he said, here is the sect or the division among you, the
heresy, if you will, that is approved. And this is going to
be known and these other things arise so that the contrast might
be seen. What's the purpose of false doctrine?
That is correct. That's why the Lord allows, if
you want to use that word, or sins or causes or whatever, men
to arise teaching false doctrine, so that the true doctrine might
be seen in its truth. I mean, you know, if somebody
comes saying, God loves everybody the same and all of that, and
they come preaching that, why is that? preached so that the
truth might be seen as it's contrasted with it. Now, does that make
everybody believe it? Of course not. But it does manifest
the truth of God against it as we see that the love that's universal
is no love at all. I mean, you know, when you go
into a crowd and you say, well, I just love all of y'all. What
does that mean? It doesn't really mean much of
nothing, does it? But you see, when you look into
your wife's eyes or you look into your children's eyes and
you say, I love you, that means something, doesn't it? And so in that way, you see,
there is a contrast made and the purpose of God is magnified
in the eyes of those that are given to see it. Now everybody's
not going to see it because it's not given to them. They don't
have that privilege. And so when I hear there be divisions
among you, I partly believe it, for there must be heresies, sects,
divisions, that they which are approved might be made manifest,
that the truth of God might stand in its clarity." Now when Paul
got through preaching, they didn't wonder what the truth was, did
they? They knew that it was Christ. I mean, he didn't spend time
on a bunch of stuff. He wasn't interested in that.
They knew a bunch of stuff. What he wanted them to know was
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He wanted that set forth. Now
he's going to kind of take them to the woodshed a little bit.
And he says this, when you come together, therefore, into one
place... Now here's some of the division
and sectarianism that was showing its head here. Because it wasn't
necessarily doctrine, but it was practice. And it was encouraged
by some among themselves, little cliques and groups. He said, when you come together,
therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper.
Now, to give a little background information here. Now, it was
the practice of the early church evidently, according to the things
that we read, that when they came together to break bread,
That is to eat and remember the Lord's supper. Even as it says,
as we read over in the 20th chapter of Acts, I believe it was about
the 7th verse, speaking about the account of Eutychus, the
young man that sat up in the window and said Paul preached
late into the night and he went to sleep and fell out of the
window. And he fell down. But it says
before that it was the custom of the church as they came together
on the first day of the week to break bread. That was their
purpose for coming together. They came together to eat. But
they didn't come together just to eat the food. This is what
Paul is getting at. Now that's what it kind of got
into. was that the eating became more
important than what they came together to eat to do. And so
he says here, when you come together therefore to one place, this
is not to eat the Lord's Supper. He said you are not coming together
to eat the Lord's Supper. He said, you started off that,
you say that's what you're doing, and this has caused divisions
and strifes among you. But he said, when you all come
together, you're not eating the Lord's Supper because, he says,
he's going to tell them why this isn't eating the Lord's Supper.
He said, for in eating, every one taketh before the other his
own supper. In other words, some come and
they eat as if nobody else was even there. And they don't have
any consideration to the brethren coming together and partaking
of this meal together, which is the purpose of the whole thing,
is to come together to remember the Lord's death together. And
so he said, for in eating every one taketh before the other his
own supper. One is hungry and another is
drunk. Some men, they just use this as an occasion for a drunken
feast. It's as if you don't have regard
to one another. You eat your food as if the other
people aren't there and some people don't even have any food
and you don't even care. You say, what? You say, what
are you doing? What is the purpose of this?
What? Don't you have houses to eat and drink in? I mean, you
can do that anywhere, he says. Just go on and eat your food
at your house because what you're doing when you come together
is not to eat the Lord's Supper as you're doing it. Or despise
the church of God and shame them that don't have anything. I mean,
you're making those that are poor and don't have any food
to eat because you come and you bring your big picnic basket
and you set out and you say, well, we're going to eat the
Lord's Supper here, and here's a guy over here who doesn't even
have a sandwich. And you go ahead and eat your fried chicken and
he doesn't have anything. And so he said, what? And despise
you, the church of God, and shame them that have not? You don't
have anything? What shall I say to you? Shall
I praise you in this? Am I going to say, well, boy,
you're really coming together and having the Lord's Supper? No, he said, I don't praise you
at all because what you're doing is not taking the Lord's Supper.
It doesn't have anything to do with it. He said, I'm not sure
what it is. And then he's going to tell them
what the Lord's Supper is. He says, For I have received
of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. Now, how did he get
that? Now, he didn't say, the apostles told me how it was when
the Lord instituted the supper with his disciples.
He didn't say that, did he? Why? Because Paul was one born
out of due time. He was one whom the Lord taught.
He didn't get his teaching from somebody else. But the Lord taught
him. He said, I received this from
the Lord. Now, dear brethren, that's a
glorious thing. I mean, the Lord taught Paul. He personally taught
him. He says, I have received of the
Lord. This came to me directly. This
is not hearsay. We're not making something up
here. For I have received of the Lord
that which also I delivered to you. He says, I've told you this.
He says, you started off like this because I told you this.
at the beginning that the Lord Jesus the same night in which
he was betrayed took breath. Now we've talked a little about
that and every time I read that it kind of sends cold chills
up and down my back because I think about that. The same night in
which he was betrayed. Now he knew he was about to be
betrayed, did he not? Because he had marked out the
man that was going to betray him and had him in their very
midst. And yet the same night in which
he was betrayed, without regard to what was going to transpire
and the trouble and agony that was going to come upon him, he
instituted this suffering for the benefit of his people in
the same night in which he was betrayed, he took bread. And when he had given thanks,
he gave thanks for the bread that was going to be representative
of his very body, and he gave thanks. He gave thanks. He didn't moan
and groan and think about, oh, what a great sacrifice I'm going
to make, but He gave thanks for this bread and He said, I thank
Thee, Father, that Thou hast given me the privilege
to go forth and lay down my life for my people to pay their sin
debt. Thank You, Father, for this. Now the disciples, when He delivered
this to them, they didn't know that, did they? They didn't have
any inkling of that. But you see, later on, and as
Paul writes this, he said this same night in which he was betrayed,
the Lord did this. He did this in light of knowing
all of these things, and He instituted this supper for the benefit of
His people. And he said, take, eat, this
is my body, which is broken for you. This is my body. Now he's speaking in the first
person. He's talking about himself. He
said, this is my body. Take and eat it, which is broken
for you. This do in remembrance of me.
Because that's what this supper is. It is a remembrance of Christ.
So how could it be, in retrospect, looking at what Paul has upbraided
them about, if they're out here eating and drinking and whooping
it up and having a big time without regard to one another, how can
they be saying, we are remembering the Lord's death? They couldn't,
could they? But that's why he's telling them
this. And after the same manner also he took the cup when he
had supped after he had eaten the bread. He took the cup and
he said, This cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do
as often as ye drink it in remembrance of me. Now I think there's a
couple of things here. Now number one, he's talking
about the specific instance of taking the cup in remembrance
of the Lord. But now think about what he's
saying here. He said, as often as ye drink
it, drink what? The cup. As often
as you drink, I believe it's anytime you drink anything. Now,
specifically, I think it's when you would take a cup of wine,
your mind and thought is to be concerned not simply with swigging
down the wine, but you ought to pause and think that Christ,
gave us wine as a, or the cup of wine, as a representative,
as an illustration of the fact that he died for us. Gave his blood for us. Now I
think that specifically he's talking here about when they
come together for this particular feast, for this particular meal
which He has set forth. And of course, especially in
contrast to those whom He said, you're drunken. He said, what
are you doing? He said, this is not the Lord's
Supper. He said, here's how the Lord's
Supper is that you would do this in remembrance of Me, not remembrance
of the wine, You see, a man that drinks too much wine, he's not
concerned about the blood of Christ, is he? He's concerned
about the wine because he likes the wine. He said, don't drink
the wine because you like the wine. He said, drink the wine
because it's representative of the blood of Christ. As often as you drink it, do
it in remembrance of me. For as often, as often, as ye
eat this bread and drink this cup, which bread and which cup?
The cup and the bread which the Lord has given. He said as often
as you do it. Now how often is that? I believe that the illustration
of the early church, if you are going to follow the example of
the early churches every time that they came together on the
first day of the week, That would be what I would see in the Scripture. I think you'd be hard pressed
to disprove that. Now, does that mean then that
we're bound in some fashion to do that in that fashion? No. But He did say, as often as you
do it. However often that is, I believe
it ought to be often, because that's what He told us to do.
And he said, though, regardless of how often it is, he said,
as often, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup,
you do manifest the Lord's death. You're showing it, demonstrating
it, representing it. Not just before yourself, for
yourself, but for one another. Because that's why we eat this
together. is because we are together the
sons of God. We're not the sons of God on
an island out here. Well, I'm just going to do my
thing. Now, there's plenty of people, and you hear it a lot
today, oh, well, I don't need the church. You know, I'm a Christian,
but I'm not any member of any church. I'm just, you know, the
Lord's free man. I'm going off out here just doing
my own thing how I want to do. You know, you'll be hard-pressed
to find that taught in the Scripture either. Because, I mean, we are
not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Why? Because we are beneficial one
to the other. We help one another. And we are
benefactors one of the other. For as often as ye eat this bread
and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he comes.
You manifest it. Now I'm going to stop right there
because I want to get into this other issue that we don't have
time to look at it today. But as often as ye eat this bread,
ye manifest the Lord's death till he cometh. Now there are
several things that can be said about that, but the main one
is that we recognize that this is a temporary situation. Because he did say, if I go away,
I will come again. Because he says, I'm going to
prepare a place and I'm going to come and receive you unto
myself. And so this is a temporary remembrance. And we are reminded that the
Lord's coming back each time that we take it. Now if we know
that the Lord's coming back, why are we saying, as he's illustrating
this to these Corinthians, why are you coming together and having
a drunken feast? And some of you have already
overdone it before you got there, and then some of you are eating
in front of others that don't have anything to eat. He says,
if you know that the Lord is coming back, what are you doing?
You see, we're doing this knowing that the Lord is coming back.
Now, if we didn't know the Lord was coming back, eat, drink and
be merry, for tomorrow we die. Is that not the way that the
thought process would go? But no, He is coming back to
receive those that are His. He says, don't be doing that.
That's not to eat in the Lord's Supper.