A few weeks ago I had several discussions with a friend concerning 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and questions relating particularly to women wearing a head covering. And I'm not going to spend our time this evening talking to you about whether or not women ought to wear a head covering, though I'm going to try to deal specifically with this passage of Scripture. that contains the instructions Paul gives and try to help you to understand what is going on in this passage. So if you'll open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 11 and just hold them open in your laps, we're going to look at these 34 verses together this evening.

The title of my message is found in verse 2. Paul says, keep the ordinances. He gives them praise and commendation that after he had given them instruction and he was no longer physically present with them, they had heeded his word and that they did indeed keep the ordinances as he had delivered them to them. Now, the word ordinances in this text of scripture can be translated a number of ways. It could be translated ordinances or traditions. It could have reference to doctrines. I'm certain that it has reference to all three.

He tells these Corinthians that they were to be commended because they kept the things that had been traditionally taught, not traditionally taught in the sense of being passed on like folklore from one generation to the other, but traditionally taught within the kingdom of God, within the church of Christ.

These ordinances that we observe are ordinances established in the word of God established by our Lord Jesus Christ, established in the epistles of Christ, and they are established by the traditions of the Church of Christ. That is, they have been maintained these 2,000 years now according to the proper traditions of the worship of our God. And we are to keep the doctrines of Christ and the ordinances of Christ just as he gave them. Now, I spoke to you this morning concerning the authority of Holy Scripture and the recognition that this book is the Word of God, forbids us from adding anything to the ordinances of divine worship. and it insists that we keep the ordinances just exactly as our Lord Jesus himself gave them to us and has given them to us by word of instruction through his apostles.

Now the ordinances of worship specifically set forth in the scriptures are these, the public preaching of the word, That's the most important. No question about it. The preaching of the gospel is that instrument that means that that instrumentality by which God is pleased to communicate faith to faith, by which God is pleased to give men and women life and faith in Jesus Christ. We are begotten again according to the power of God, the Holy Spirit, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever."

The Apostle writing to Timothy admonishes us not only in our public worship to preach the Word, but he admonishes us to pray. He admonishes us as we gather in worship to make prayers and intercession for all men. We pray for men in positions of authority, for our leaders, even those who give no indication of knowing God, pray for them.

God still rules them. Pray that God will rule over their wicked hearts and rule over the hearts of those who are his own, who happen to be in places of power by his providence. Pray for God to give them direction. Pray for one another. Make intercession for one another. Pray for God's mercy and grace upon us and upon our children and upon those others in the body of Christ who may not even know, but people who are saints of God in need of help and in need of prayer. Pray for God's kingdom. Make intercession continually. book of Revelation specifically identifies the reading of scripture as an ordinance of our God. So that in Revelation chapter 1, John speaks a word of blessing to those who read, who read the scriptures.

You men are called upon here to read the word. And I'm thankful you take it seriously. It's obvious that you pick out a passage of Scripture seeking the direction of God's Spirit and you read over it and you try to read it with smoothness and clarity so that it's to be understood. Read the Scriptures. I urge you now when you read the Scriptures, read the Scriptures.

I think there's a time for reading the Scriptures with as little comment as possible. Just open the book and read it. There are times when comments are helpful, but by and large, the reading of the word is a time when we just listen to God speak. Just listen to God speak. He may speak by me, and he may not, but I know when you read this book, he speaks. God speaks.

Select a brief passage and read it with clarity and read it with distinction and read it as one who has himself been blessed by it so that the reading of the word doesn't become laborious but rather is a blessing and is that which leads into the preaching of the word of God. And of course the apostle gives us instruction on several occasions with regard to singing hymns. I've had some correspondence recently from a friend You wouldn't know him, he's an older man, and he has some objection to congregational singing. But the objection is baseless. It's just baseless.

The churches of God during times of persecution obviously didn't get together with a pipe organ and sing with it. When you're meeting in the woods trying to avoid being hung for worshiping God, you don't have congregational singing. And so for hundreds of years, Baptist churches under persecution throughout our history were required to meet in seclusion and in private. But the churches of God are admonished and were from the beginning to sing God's praise, to sing and make melody in our hearts and speak one to another in psalms and hymns and in spiritual psalms. So those things are things that we do when we come together in the Church of God.

Any addition to those things is absolutely wrong. Any addition to those things is just as wrong as not doing those things. It's just as wrong for us to come together for other purposes in the name of Christ and call it worship as it is for us to ignore those things which God specifically identifies as the worship of God. But when we think about the ordinances, principally as far as the official ordinances are concerned, man, I hate that word official, but you understand what I'm saying. The ordinances beyond preaching and reading the word and prayer and singing hymns are these two.

Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Now, baptism is not mentioned in our text, so I'm going to speak concerning it just very, very briefly. But understand what I'm saying. I have brethren, we have brethren, we have friends who do not agree with that which we teach concerning baptism, who do not agree with that which is clearly taught in the scriptures concerning baptism. If this is offensive, I'm sorry, but this is just the way it has to be.

There is absolutely no foundation in the New Testament for baptizing babies. There is absolutely no foundation for it. Well, is it all right to bring the babies to the front and dedicate them to God? There's no foundation for it. That makes it wrong. That just makes it wrong.

We do not in any way perform any kind of ceremony or service by which to imply that that child, because he's gone through that ceremony, is somehow spiritually better off than the child of a heathen in the heart of Africa who's never experienced those things.

To teach such is to imply somehow that by this thing done to a child in its infancy, he's brought into the kingdom of God. Now, the argument is used frequently, for instance, baptism, that baptism in the New Testament does the same thing that circumcision did in the Old Testament, that baptism is the seal of the covenant. And by circumcision, children were brought into the Abrahamic covenant. Even so, by sprinkling water on their faces, children are brought into the New Covenant.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Nowhere is that taught in the New Testament. Nowhere is it implied in circumcision. But the only time circumcision is spoken of in the New Testament, we're told that circumcision was a foreshadowing of the cutting away of the filth of the flesh. Circumcision typified regeneration, just exactly as the sacrifice of the Passover typified the death of Christ. Circumcision typified us being born again, the cutting away of the foreskin of the heart, so that we are born of God and made clean by regenerating grace.

The seal of the new covenant is not baptism. The seal of the covenant is God the Holy Spirit. We are sealed by His Spirit. Read Ephesians 1, 14. Ephesians 4, 30. The Holy Spirit has sealed us into Jesus Christ by regeneration and by His grace. Well, how is baptism to be observed? There's only one way. Only one way.

Had it not been for the fact, now you know how much I cherish and honor our authorized translation. I believe the King James translation to be the best translation of scripture there is. But had it not been for the fact that the fellows who did the translating were all Anglicans and pedo-baptists. They were all baby baptizers and they were all sprinklers. Had it not been for that fact, we would not have the word baptism in our English Bible. It wouldn't be there.

It would be immersed. That's right. The word baptism, you see, is not a translation of a Greek word. It is a transliteration. When they came to the word baptize, rather than translating it, which would mean to immerse, to dip, or to plunge, it never means sprinkle or pour. They wrote out the word in English letters just exactly as it was in Greek letters. And by doing so, they allowed room for this confusion, utter confusion about baptism. The word baptize means to dip, to immerse in water.

And the only time baptism was ever practiced in the New Testament, it was baptism of adults and it was baptism by immersion. There's no other way to do it. We're buried with Christ in baptism. That's the reason we insist upon baptism by immersion. There is no other mode of baptism.

And that baptism represents the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and our death, burial, and resurrection with him. So that if God has given you faith in Christ, you come to him and confess him. And the way you publicly confess him is being buried with him at baptism. when a person is buried in the waters of baptism, he says, you can read it in Romans chapter six, he says, I am crucified with Christ.

I died when he died. And now I am buried with Christ in this watery grave testifying that I am dead before God's holy law. I have fulfilled every sin in every sense of the word through Christ, my substitute. I have fulfilled every demand of justice. I am dead in Jesus Christ, but I've also risen with him. Risen with him to walk in the units of life.

When you were baptized, this is what you said, to God, and to the angels of God and to the saints of God and to all the world, I'm no more mine. I've risen henceforth to walk with Christ in the newness of life in anticipation of that day when I shall be raised up with him to walk in glory. That's what baptism is.

But in this passage, the apostle comes to deal with some matters of controversy in the church at Corinth. Let's just go through these verses one at a time. And I'll give brief comments as we go along. He says in verse one, followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now that is a tremendous, tremendous statement. Here is a preacher, an apostle, a messenger of Christ. who says to those who are subject to his ministry by God's ordinance, you follow me as I follow him. Now that puts a heavy load on my back. That puts a heavy load on my back.

I would honestly like to be able to say to you, don't follow me, but follow Christ. I would honestly like to be able to say that to you. But for me to say that to you is for me to deny the responsibility God's put on my shoulders. It's my responsibility to lead you in the worship and service of the Son of God. And I cannot in conscience serve you as a pastor and stand up here and preach to you if I don't endeavor to lead you in the way of Jesus Christ by example as well as by precept. And I stand here to you and I say to you, follow me as I follow Christ. And Ron Wood, if you don't, if you're not convinced I'm following Christ, don't you dare.

But that also puts a burden of responsibility on your back. As does my buddy Bobby. Got your arms around that lady. It's your responsibility under God to lead her to follow Christ as you follow Christ. That's your responsibility. You're the head of the house. As is Larry Chris with his boy. It's your responsibility in all affairs of life to speak to that boy and say, follow me as I follow Christ. Is that right? That's our responsibility.

Now, let's fulfill our responsibilities. You who are believers, each of us has in God's order of things specific responsibilities as we lead and direct other people who are under our influence, under our guidance, and under our care. You be certain that you follow Christ and lead them by the hand into the kingdom of God. Far too many in the pulpit and in the pew say follow Christ with their words and with their hands, lead everybody they influence to eternal destruction.

Don't be guilty. Don't do it. All right? Now I praise you, he says, brethren, that you remember me in all things. You've given respect to me and honor to me as God's servant. I praise you for that. I praise you that you keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you. But I would have you to know, I want you to understand this, the head of every man is Christ, not me. Not me. I'm not your Lord. I'm not your master. I am Christ's servant to lead you, but I'm not your head. Jesus Christ is the head of every man.

Now what he's speaking of particularly here is in God's covenant in the mediatorial relationship between Christ and his people. Jesus Christ as our Redeemer, mediator, and representative, as our surety, is the head over all things to the church, and the head of the woman is the man for exactly the same reasons. For exactly the same reasons. The Lord God in society This is something that needs to be understood by the Church of God.

You men and women who hear me, don't pay any attention to the influence of the godless pagan world around you. The head of every woman is the man. That's the way God ordained things. That's the way it must be if you're to have happiness and peace in your homes and happiness and peace in society. One of the biggest reasons for all the utter chaos in our society is that we live in a generation where women have been taught to be masculine and men have been taught to be effeminate. Women have been taught to reverse their God-ordained place in society, to lead and to rule, and men have been taught to serve and subject themselves, and it brings nothing but confusion. Nothing but confusion.

And the head of Christ is God. Not in his divine person, no. But in the economy of grace, with regard to the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are in all things equal, but in regard to the covenant of redemption, Christ voluntarily subjected himself unto God the Father. Now then, Paul comes to this business of praying. He says, every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth, having with her head covered, dishonoreth her head. For it is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.

Does this mean that women are to wear a veil in church services? Yes and no. Yes and no. In this society, where the church at Corinth was, in the Greek Roman world, it was customary, and it was a custom that was long in standing, that if a woman appeared in public with her head uncovered, now this doesn't mean she appeared in public with a little handkerchief on her head.

That's not what it's talking about. It's talking about a veil. television screens in your homes and you watch those women in Arab countries where Quranic law is instituted, they wear a veil that covers their entire head and face whenever they're in public. That was the custom in Paul's day. And the veil he's talking about is not pulling out a little napkin or handkerchief and laying it on your head when you get into the church house. That's not it at all.

It was a shameful thing for a woman, asserting her equality with a man, and denying authority over her to appear in public anywhere without avail of covering on her face and over her head. And so Paul's dealing with this from this standpoint. And should we be in societies where it was shameful for women to appear such, then certainly it would be proper for us to adjust ourselves to those customs so long as it didn't become some kind of a religious, legalistic work. But in our society, the custom is just the reverse. The one whose head is covered is the one who is in authority.

Whenever you come to someone and you come into a, for example, come into a house of worship, back in those days when men were taught some kind of gentlemanly attitude about things, they would pull their hats off. Whenever they walked into the house, they'd just pull their hats off, subjecting themselves to them. They wouldn't think about walking around the house with their hats on. And we, in our society, just reverse the things. So that when a man has his head covered, the indication is he's in authority. When his head's uncovered, it implies subjection. So in our society, the thing would be just exactly reversed. Paul is not giving a hard, fast rule that women are to come to church with a hat on their head, or a veil on their head, or whatever. He's simply saying that a woman ought not to display arrogance and authority over a man in any way whatsoever.

Let's see if the scriptures bear this out. Turn over to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 16. This is where it began. Genesis 3 and verse 16. unto the woman, he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." Could be any plainer than that? This is what God said. This is God's order. I said, Todd, you're looking at me real plain and clear now.

Don't ever marry a man until you can do that. Don't do it. Don't do it. It brings misery on yourself. I tell my daughter the same thing. Don't even think about marrying a man you can't reverence and submit to as your head. All right. Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 34. Let your women keep silence in the churches.

Why don't you have women preachers? Don't you know we live in a different age? I know we live in a different age. Why don't you have women preaching your church? Because God said let your women keep silence in the churches. I don't see how on earth there could be any controversy. For it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for a woman to speak in the church. Turn over to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. Verse 22. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body.

Now that's God's order of things. Does that mean that somehow a woman is to be abused and mistreated and not treated as an individual and not to have any thoughts or emotions or feelings or attitudes of her own? Oh no, not at all. That means as she walks before God, She recognizes God's order and she submits.

I'll give you an example. We have responsibility in society, Rex Bartlett has a responsibility in society to submit to law because God has ordained the magistrate to rule over you and me for peace. Now Rex says, I don't like that. I'm not, I'm just as good as that fellow is. Yeah, but you're not wearing the badge. It's not your responsibility. You understand that? It is not that the man who is the law enforcement officer is a better man. That's got nothing to do with it. It's not that he's smarter. It's not that he's stronger. It's not that he has a greater moral character.

It's just that God made him ruler and you to be submissive. And that's the way it is in our homes as well. In all things there must be order and there must be subjection. All right, read on, verse 7. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, for as much as he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man.

For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. God did not create Eve and then form Adam out of Eve. God created Adam and then formed Eve out of Adam. Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. The man was not created to fulfill the woman. The man was not created to be a helpmate to the woman. The man was not created for the woman's satisfaction in this world as a creature, but rather the woman was created for the man.

Now, I know that in our society that sounds so bizarre and so out of sync with society, but I'm going to tell you something. If you follow God, you're just going to have to be out of sync with society. That's just all there is to it. You're just going to have to be. And I'll tell you something else. If you find your place, ladies. In subjection to your husbands, you will find your place of satisfaction and fulfillment and delight. I promise you, you will. You can't find anything to beat God's order.

So what Paul is dealing with here is that in the church of God, he's saying don't come into the house of God And women take over. Don't come into the house of God and women rule things and men be in the background. It's a pity. It's a pity. I've been in numerous congregations and in numerous households where the men and women profess faith in Christ and the wife is the spiritual head. She might not even be in other things, but she's the spiritual head of the house. That ought never be. That ought never be. It's the responsibility of a man to follow God and lead his family in the worship of God. And when we come into the house of God, that's the way it must be. That's the reason here men lead the worship services. Men lead the singing. Men read the scriptures. Men lead in prayer.

Because it's not proper that women should do so. I have seen circumstances. Rex was raised I think in, I think this is correct, in church circles where the women were required to wear a veil. Is that correct? They were, and some of them still do. They're just tenacious about wearing a hat. Some of them get crazy with it.

I was in a meeting one time, a lady had a hat on. It looked like a 10-gallon hat with a feather three feet long. Every time she turned her head, she'd swap me in the face. But she was an arrogant, pushy, pushy, pushy woman. And the outward symbol of subjection was a mockery to God. It was just a mockery. That ought not happen. And it ought not happen that women in any way display that arrogance and authority to say, well, I'm equal to my husband.

Not in regard to authority. not in regard to responsibility, not in regard to the business at hand, and that is leading in the worship of God. No, sir. equal in all things in Christ. Yes, sir. We are robed in the righteousness of Christ, washed in his blood. Our standing before God is such that there's neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor free, bond nor free. There's neither Jew nor Gentile, or bond nor free, male nor female. But in Christ, we're all one and stand upon equal footing. But here, we have a responsibility to obey our God. All right, read on. Verse 10.

For this cause ought the woman to have power, authority on her head because of the angels. Now there's some debate as to whether or not these are evil angels or the angels of God that watch over us. The evil angels ever watching over our assemblies in an effort to tempt us and entice us away from Christ. are the angels of God whom he has kept in their holiness, who are ministering spirits sent forth to minister to our souls, watching us. And the apostle says, now, whether he's talking about the good angels or the bad, he's saying the woman ought to be in submission because the angels are watching. The angels are observing you. All right, read on. Verse 11.

Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman. Neither the woman without the man in the Lord. Because we need each other. We need each other. I tell you, we were kind of joking in the back. Ron's wife's going to be gone for a week or two. And you're going to miss her in spite of the fact that Jennifer's going to take care of you. We need each other. We got to have each other. We need one another's influence in our lives. We need We need the give and take of one another. Not if the man and wife are in a partnership so that they give 50-50 and take 50-50. That's nonsense. No. There's a big difference between a partnership and a marriage. Regrettably, most today are partnerships and they break up real easy.

Marriages are forever. And marriage is the knitting of hearts and lives together. Marriage is built in Christ and in Christ also by the woman. We wouldn't be here without them. We were all born of women. And so he says in verse 12 again, but all things are of God. God arranged this. This is the way it is. Now then, judge in yourselves.

Is it come, that is, is it proper? that a woman pray to God uncovered, that a woman come in and she just asserts herself and she just takes over. Nothing on this earth is more uncomely, even in physical social circles, nothing more uncomely. I can't think of anything on this earth more obnoxious and uncomely, unseemly, unbecoming than for a woman to So just come in boisterous and loud and take over things. Just be pushy and boisterous. You do things this way. Nothing's more uncommon.

And this is what Paul's arguing from. Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it's a shame to him? Now I read that just a little while ago and I thought, Paul, how does that fit in this thing? What are you talking about? But the context is talking about how we behave. He's telling us that it is improper for men to be effeminate and for men to be in subjection to their wives.

It's improper. And when he talks about long hair, he is not giving us details on length. When I was in college, it was in the late 60s, and the boys began to wear their hair pretty long. And they had strict rules. We couldn't have hair that would touch the top of our ears. It had to be cut with white walls around it.

That was called Christianity. That was called spirituality. It's got nothing to do with it. And that's not what Paul's talking about. Some fellas wear long hair who are very masculine. Some fellas wear short hair who are very masculine. Some fellas wear short hair that I believe wear ruffled underwear. They're just real effeminate.

So that's all we're talking about. He's talking about a man is not effeminate in anything. In anything. Not in his dress and not in his behavior. And a woman is not to appear masculine in anything. When he talks about a woman having long hair, it doesn't have to be down to her back. It doesn't have to be down to her ankles. It has to be down to her shoulders. She's not to wear her hair so as to appear masculine and to appear manly.

You young men, Ian, ever appear in all things a man, a gentle man, but a man. And you young ladies, ever in all things appear womanly, gentle, womanly. That's what he's talking about. And in the house of God above all things, see to it that the roles are never reversed.

Now, he goes on in verse 15, but if a woman have long hair, it's a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering." Now I think that that sentence settles this issue with regard to women and a head covering. If you have a marginal reference, her hair is given her for a veil. So that regardless of what society is, regardless of what the custom is, You ladies, you come and behave as women and dress as women and your hair is given of God to you for a veil and a covering. A show of subjection so that you in all things behave as women in the house of God. Now, in verse 16.

But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. That is, the folks fight against it. We don't have anything to do with them, and they don't have anything to do with us. I'm not talking to the folks down the road. I'm not even talking to the folks at the church down the road. I'm talking to you.

We behave according to God's word. That's what God requires. Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not, that you come together not for the better, but for the worse. Now he's broaching another subject. These Corinthians developed something that was added on to the Word of God.

It's very common in many churches to this day to practice what they call love feast. Especially around about Christmas time and Easter time they have a love feast. And it's so spiritual, such a good time. It's so carnal and so ungodly. Because God didn't ordain it. And the Corinthians practiced it just exactly the way folks practice it today. Apparently, folks would gather, make a meal at home, and they'd bring it together to the church, and all the rich folks had plenty to eat. And the poor folks, they weren't really invited, and if they showed up, they had to wait until everybody else had gone through. That's what he's talking about. And they called this the observance of the Lord's table.

Paul says, now I don't praise you for this, but you're not coming together for good, but for evil. For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you. You're observing class divisions and race divisions and Divisions based upon personalities and liking this preach and liking that.

And you're not cohesive. You're not united in heart and in practice. And Paul says, I kindly believe it. It sure does appear that way. There's divisions among you. And I believe it, for there must also be heresies, schisms, divisions among you. And the reason for it, the reason God tolerates it, is that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

Now, when you come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. The margin translates that even more strongly. He says, when you come together for these feasts, you can't eat the Lord's Supper. You can't do it. Not in this atmosphere, no sir.

He says, for when you come together in eating, everyone taketh before other his own supper, and one's hungry and another's drunk. One fellow standing over here without anything to eat, and the other fellow, he takes the wine of the Lord's table and makes a party out of it. One fellow standing over here feasting and drunk, and another fellow standing over here hungry and in need.

And Paul said this has got nothing to do with worship of God. Nothing to do with worship of God. Now he is not prohibiting times of fellowship dinners and such things as that as we have. He's not in any way prohibiting fellowship together or us serving our meals here in the house of God. The house of God, we talk about this building, it's a place of worship for God, but the house of God's you. It's you, you and me. So when he forbids this partying, he's simply saying you don't bring this thing into the worship of God. This is wrong. In verse 22, What, have you not houses to eat and drink in?

Or despise you the church of God, and shame them that have not? Do you despise the saints of God who have less than you? The saints of God who are poor? In our assembly, we don't have any really poor people, but when you have folks who come in, visitors who come in, don't you shun folks because they dress less elegantly than you. or because they live in a neighborhood that you wouldn't think about living in. Don't you deal with folks on that basis. That's abhorrent. It's ungodly. It's contrary to the spirit of Christ. Deal with folks in Christ.

They're our brethren, our companions, our friends. Indeed, if you do something special, do it for them. When you have your get-togethers and your fellowships, and I appreciate y'all doing that. I appreciate the fact that you spend time with one another and you get together outside the immediate fellowship here and during the week you'll get together and have folks in your homes. You be sure, you be sure the folks who are less likely to be invited somewhere else are invited to your house. You be sure you do that because otherwise you behave like the heathen do. Don't do that. All right, read on. Verse 23.

For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. He was sitting with his disciples at the Passover feast, and he took the bread. Now Paul says, I got this by revelation from God. And when he had given thanks, he broke it. and said, take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you.

The bread sitting here, unleavened bread, represents the body of Christ. Why unleavened bread? Wouldn't it be alright to have soda crackers? No. Wouldn't it be alright to have light bread? No. Because the unleavened bread represents the holy humanity of Jesus Christ. It represents his body that had no sin.

It represents his holy, perfect human sacrifice. And so the bread is unleavened bread, just like the Jews had in their Passover, which represented and typified him. He says, now do this in remembrance of me. That is, when you eat the bread, eat it remembering who I am, what I've done. This bread represents God incarnate. This bread represents the God-man who lived in righteousness for you. Remember me, remember me. And after the same manner also he took the cup, and when he had sucked, saying, This cup is the New Testament, the new covenant in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me.

Now I know there's a lot of controversy about us using wine in the Lord's table. And folks think it's horrible. Some folks know that we should dare bring wine into the house of God and sit it before men. Why do we? Because that's what our Lord used. That's all. The Lord Jesus sat down at the Passover and just exactly as Moses and the children of Israel took wine and kept the feast of the Passover, our Lord took the cup of wine and said, this is the New Testament in my blood.

And just as that bread must be unleavened bread, the wine must be fermented wine, because by the process of fermentation, the leaven is taken from the wine. It represents the blood of Jesus Christ, who is God himself. And this wine is representative of that blood by which all the blessings of the covenant, redemption and forgiveness and justification have been conveyed to us.

And our Savior says, now, as often as you drink this wine, remember me. Well, we're about to drink the wine. It is not the blood of Christ, but it symbolizes his blood. remember his blood was shed to put away our sins. That's what we're to do. So that when we eat the bread and drink the wine, we do it to remember him who loved us and gave himself for us.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come. We eat the bread and drink the wine. He doesn't tell us how often, but he says do it often. In the New Testament, they did it every Lord's Day, so we do so. It's not a commandment that anyone do so, but we come together every Lord's Day evening just like this around the table to eat the bread and drink the wine in remembrance of our Savior to show forth his death. We're showing you the Son of God died under the wrath of God. His life was taken from him. by the hand of God himself and by his own voluntary sacrifice so that we might live forever.

He said, now show it to everybody until I come. We're to eat the bread then and drink the wine like Israel was commanded to eat the Passover with your shoes on your feet and your coat on your back and your staff in your hand. Have come because we're fixing to go out of here. That's how it goes. We're fixing to leave this place. And we live here now on the brink of eternity, walking before God, remembering our Savior, looking for Him to come again. Oh, this is the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior. Now read on. Verse 27.

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." What on earth does that mean? I have read numerous sermons, many books, many articles, heard many fellows preach on this text of Scripture, and it just beats you to death. Just beats you to death.

You look yourself over real good now. Is there any known sin in your life? I'm going to tell you something, if there's not any known sin in your life, you've deceived yourself. You've deceived yourself. That's not what it's talking about. Believers of all people recognize the sin of their hearts. Believers of all people recognize the corruption of their nature. To eat and drink this bread, eat this bread and drink this cup unworthily is to eat the bread and drink the wine without a conscious recognition of the necessity of Christ's incarnation, his obedience to God, and his death as our substitute. If you're a believer, you recognize that you can't find acceptance with God, but through Christ the substitute. You understand the necessity of him coming here. living and dying in your stead. If you're an unbeliever, it's because you don't see the necessity of it. You don't see any need for him.

And so you tread under your feet the blood of Christ. And for you to eat this bread and drink this wine without faith in Christ is to eat and drink damnation to yourself because religious ceremony without faith is damning to the souls of men. Read on. But let a man examine himself Well, should the church examine him?

Nope, that's not my responsibility. It is not my business to go to the Henson house and sit down with them and try to decide whether or not they're worthy to eat at the Lord's table. That's not my business. It's Mark's responsibility to examine himself and Carla's to examine herself. Not even my responsibility to examine Shelby and see if she's worthy to eat.

Let each one examine himself. And having done so, and as talking to believers, so let him eat. Examine yourself. He doesn't say examine yourself and don't eat. He says examine yourself. Make sure you discern the Lord's body. Make sure you trust the Son of God and trust in him. Eat the bread and drink the wine. Verse 29.

For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. not trusting Christ, for this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." In other words, the apostle says, many in the church at Corinth, going to their agape feasts and throwing themselves into a frivolous party in the name of Christ, coming and taking the Lord's table without faith in Christ have been brought under the judgment of God and they're sickly and some of them are weak and some of them sleep. That is, some of them have died. Perhaps it would be justifiable to interpret that verse in a spiritual sense.

You're walking condemned. You're walking dead before God. You've eaten and drunk damnation to yourself. Verse 31, for if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. That is, if we would condemn ourselves, we should not be condemned. Here I am, a man before God. I take my place before him justly condemned. I deserve his wrath. I deserve eternal damnation, do you? I do. I'm not joking with you now. I deserve the wrath of God. But I've never had that. I've judged myself. God will not judge me. He judged me in his son. I'll not be condemned. There's therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.

All right, look at the next line. But when we are judged, We're chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. And here Paul sort of shifts gears. He's talking now not about those who are unbelievers, but about those who are believers. And he says, we judge ourselves so we're not judged of God.

But when we are judged, that is when we we experience things that appear to be divine judgments, it's because of God's chastening that we should not be condemned forever with the lost world. Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. That's the reason when the deacons come in a few minutes and they pass out the bread and the wine, we don't just take our drink and go on our way, but you just wait. And we together as one body in Christ lift our hearts with thanksgiving to God, and we tarry for one another, and together we eat his bread. and drink his cup, the bread and wine of the Lord's table.

And if any man hunger, let him eat at home. He returns back to the original issue. He says, now fellas, don't throw a party here. Don't come into the house of God and in the name of God invent something that's totally contrary to the worship of God. If you're hungry, eat at home. That's not what the Lord's table is for. That you come not together unto condemnation.

And the rest will I set in order when I come. He's saying to them, I'll give you a little more detailed instruction later on. And I'll give you a little more detailed instruction later on. But this will suffice. Keep the ordinances of God just exactly as they've been delivered to you.

In all things, particularly in the house of God, men be men. be ladies. Men, it's our responsibility to lead our families together in Jesus Christ's worship and service. That's our responsibility. Ladies, it's your responsibility and privilege to have a man under God to lead you as your head and care for you and provide for you. So subject yourselves willingly, willingly.

And you young ladies, you start courting these fellas and you get emotionally attached to them. Whatever you do, whatever you do, don't marry a man that you cannot submit yourself to and go back. Don't do it. Faith and Doug got engaged. We chatted a little bit.

And I said to her in his presence, I expect you to obey him just like you obeyed me. And to honor him just like you've honored me. I expect you to do it because it's right. I expect you to do it because that will honor me. I expect you to do it because that's what God requires. Now, seek to it that you do what God requires.

And when we come together as we have tonight to the Lord's table, we keep it simple. Just the utter, utmost simplicity. I deliberately avoid participating in passing out the bread and wine because I want there to be no indication of priestcraft or priestly function. You don't need to get this from me. This is the Lord's table. It's for the Lord's children. When I'm gone, I ask that the Lord's table be set just like it's set when I'm here. because I am not a priest in God's house.

I'm not a priest in God's house in any way except as your priest in God's house. So this ordinance is an ordinance for the saints of God to be kept in simplicity, constantly reminding us, you're not your own. You're not your own. You're not your own. You're bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirits. which are God's.