Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. I heard someone say one time, this is the closest we come to
worship, when we remember our Lord with the bread and the wine,
the message, his substitutionary work, what he has done for us, we are going to spend eternity
praising him, thanking him for it. I title this message, The Lord's
Table. I read it to you over in Exodus
chapter 12. It's the Lord's Passover. Christ
is called the Passover Lamb. Christ, our Passover, who was
sacrificed for us. He's our sacrifice. It is through
Him we are accepted. It is through Him Our sins are
put away. Sins are not put away by faith. We believe God, but faith doesn't
put sin away. Repentance does not put sin away.
We repent. We do. We weep over our sins. But all the tears that I could
cry would not put away one sin. But the blood of Christ has put
all love away, not one stain left. I want us to look at this
chapter starting in verse 17. Paul deals with the Lord's Supper here, and the Corinthians made
a mess of it. They made a mess of it. as they
made a mess of a lot of things. But I believe the Lord allowed
them to do it for our learning. How much do we learn from this
book of Corinthians and the problems they had? The problems that they
had, and they were still the Lord's church. They were still
His people. Sinners saved by grace. No matter how long we live, when all is said and done, it'll still be a sinner saved
by grace. Paul says in verse 17, now in
this that I declare, in this matter that I am about to deal
with, I praise you not that you come together not for the better,
not for edification, not for true worship. Christ is not being
lifted up, but you're coming together for the worse. What
you're doing is not good. He says it's not good. For first of all, When you come
together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among
you, and I partly believe it." I believe what I'm hearing. Evidently,
the person who told him this, Paul had confidence in him. And
he says, I partly believe what I've heard. And there's some
trouble here that's got to be dealt with. You've got divisions,
schisms that was going on in the body of Christ there. Satan
is never quiet for long. I remember some years ago, Doris
said that to me. She said, Satan's never quiet
for long. And he's causing trouble at this
time in this church and divisions and schisms. And he says, well,
there must be also heresies among you. There must be. The scripture says that offenses
must come. You cannot be a child of God,
believe the gospel, and not suffer some kind, some type of offense. Offenses are going to come. living
right in a wrong world, it's going to bring offenses. It's
going to bring. And he says here, there must
be also heresies among you. And there's a reason for it. There's a purpose. And Paul's
pointing out here, there is a purpose for this. There's a reason why
God has allowed this to go on. There's a reason why God has
allowed this heresies to go on among them. And here it is, that
they which are approved, those which are true servants of the
Lord, may be made manifest, that they may stand out. He says that
God has providentially allowed this heresy, He's allowed this
division to happen, that those who are true, genuine believers
may stand out. He knows how to make His people
stand out. Remember that woman? with the issue of blood. She
touched him. She started to slide back off
into the crowd, didn't she? And he said, who touched me?
And the disciples said, well, Lord, there's a great throng
touching you. What do you mean, who touched
you? He said, somebody touched me. I perceived that virtue had
gone out of me. And he pulled her out. And out
in front of that whole crowd, she had to confess she touched
him. And he says here that these troubles
have gone on, that those who are genuinely his will be proven
and may stand out. Now, when you come together, therefore, into one place, this
is not to eat the Lord's Supper. They didn't come here to that
place for that purpose. We've gathered here tonight to
preach the gospel. to sing His praises and to partake
of the Lord's table, to worship Him and do this in remembrance
of Him. But when they were doing it at
that time, it literally was turning into a party. They were having
what they called back then, what some of the old writers called,
a love feast. And some of the people who was
rich They would cook up these lavish meals, these big meals,
and they would bring them. But they didn't share it with
anybody. They didn't share it with the others. Then there were
those who were poor. And they came, and they were
embarrassed. They were being embarrassed.
He says, when you come together, therefore, into one place, It's
not to eat the Lord's supper, for in eating everyone takes
before the other. It's like they brought their
own meal for themselves and didn't invite the poor brothers beside
of them. They would just chow down on
their own. That's not very brotherly, is
it? Not at all. For in eating everyone takes
before other his own supper, and one is hungry. You know, in Christ, we are all
one. Now, some are blessed. I don't
know if I ought to use that word, because if you're in Christ,
you're blessed. You're blessed, whether you're poor or rich.
But some are given more of this life, the goods or material things
of this life. And some are not. Some are poor. And some came hungry. If your brother's hungry, the
scripture says, feed him. They weren't doing that. One
is hungry and another not. They not only brought big meals,
some of them brought lavish meals and suppers, some of them were
drunk. Some of them literally got drunk. They just drank too much wine.
They turned this into, it's turned this into more like a, just a
party than a reverent worship service of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what this, this represents
Him. This is symbolic of Him. But
they just turned it into a party. And of course, some of them,
they said, they weren't even allowed to eat anything. Why? He says, have you not houses
to eat? Can you not do this before you come to the place of worship? He was saying, can you not take
care of the appetite of the flesh before you come to the place
of worship? Now, he's not condemning the church coming together to
eat. You know, when we have this conference
here next week, we're going to eat afterwards. We're going to
feast afterwards. But not at this. This is by itself. This is by itself. Have you not houses to eat and
to drink in? Do you despise the church of
God? Do you not think any more of
it than this? Do you not think any more of
Christ than this? And when he's talking about the
house of God, I believe he's talking about the church. You're
the house of God, aren't you? Believers make up the house of
God. If you ignore, he said, if you ignore a brother who comes
in and he's poor and he's hungry, do you despise him? By your actions,
he's saying, you're showing that you despise him. You don't want
to be associated with that poor brother. And shame them that have not,
you make them feel so embarrassed, so ashamed. What shall I say to you? Shall
I praise you in this?" Paul says, no way. I do not praise you in
this at all. This has got to get straightened
up. And we will see as we go down
through here, this is serious business. This is very, very
serious business right here. What we're doing tonight, we're
taking to the Lord's table. I don't believe there's anything
in this life you will do more serious than what this is tonight.
I don't believe you will. I believe this is the most serious
thing you'll ever do. Let me jump ahead here and find
the scripture here. In verse 30, since I'm already
on that subject. Verse 30. For this cause many
are weak, sickly among you, and many sleep. Now you notice he
didn't say many are dead. their sleep. They felt the Lord
took them. There were some matters that
had to get straightened up, and this got so out of hand that
many were sick, and then some of them slept. And the Lord took
them out because of it. That's what he's saying. The
Lord took them because of it. That's how serious it is. Now,
he says here, Paul says, For I have received what I'm giving
you I got from the Lord. For I have received of the Lord.
You see, this is not something you remember when the Lord taught
him. He did not receive his gospel
from the other apostles. He received this from the Lord,
just like they did. That night when they did it,
he received this from the Lord. That's what he says. I received
of the Lord that which I've also delivered to you, what I've given
you. was given directly to me from the Lord. This is not something,
you know, this is just not something that the Baptist has come up
with or some denomination has come up with. This is of the
Lord. The Lord gave this. I gave you that which he delivered
to me, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed,
He took bread that same night. That's when it happened. That's
when the Lord instituted this. That same night that Judas betrayed
him. He took bread, and when he had
given thanks, he broke it. And he said, take. Take. They reached out and took
it. What's he say? Come to me. Come
to me, that you might have life. And we come to Him. We come to
Him. We come to Him believing. He
says, take. This is my body. This represents, this is symbolic
of my body. This is, now this does not turn,
the bread and the wine do not turn into the body and blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That does not happen. It's symbolic
and that's all it is. Now He says, you take and you
eat. Isn't this what we do every time we sit down and hear the
gospel? Do we not, by faith, eat his
flesh and drink his blood? That's what you're doing right
now. If you believe the gospel, you're taking and you're eating. You're receiving. You are receiving
the Lord Jesus Christ. Take and you eat, consume. Christ is to be consumed. Remember
over in Exodus 12, he said, eat all of it. Talking about that
Passover lamb, he said, eat ye all of it. Don't you leave any
of it. We receive, we eat by faith,
a whole Christ. We don't just take bits and pieces.
No, we receive the whole Christ. It's either all Christ or no
Christ. 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 suffered, saying,
This cup is the New Testament in my blood. His blood ratified
that new covenant. He said, This is the blood, his
blood, the blood of God. I tell you, if it's been ratified
by the blood of God, that covenant cannot be changed. That covenant
will be executed to the very jot and tittle. It has been ratified
by the blood of the Son of God. This do ye as oft, how often
should we do this? As often. He doesn't give us
a specific time and how many times. He says as often as you
do it, as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. This is in remembrance of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This symbolizes His broken body
that was broken from multitude of sinners. His blood was shed
to put away the sins of a multitude of sinners. And he got the job
done. He got the job done. Now let me, before I go on, let
me go over here and read. Let me read this to you. Over
here in Matthew 27, I'm going to start reading verse 24. I'm
going to read what happened the day his body was broken and his
blood was shed. And I want us to read it. When
Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult
was made, he took water, washed his hands before the multitude,
saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. See
you do it. Then answered all the people
and said, His blood be on us and on our children. Then released
he Barabbas unto them. And when he had scourged Jesus,
whipped him, whipped him, mercilessly whipped him. under a Roman law. Not the Jews, which was thirty-nine
strikes, save one. It was under the Roman law, as
many strikes, until they got tired, until they just quit. They scourged Jesus. He delivered
him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor
took Jesus into the common hall, gathered unto him the whole band
of soldiers, and they stripped him. And they put on him a scarlet
robe, And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it
upon his head, and a reed in his right hand, and they bowed
the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the
Jews. And they spit upon him, and took
the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had
mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own
raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. And as they came
out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, him they compelled
to bear his cross, and when they were coming to the place called
Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, they gave him vinegar
to drink mingled with gold, and when he had tasted thereof he
would not drink, and they crucified him, parted his garments, casting
lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet.
They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did
they cast lots, and sitting down they watched him there, and set
up over his head his accusation written, This is Jesus, the King
of the Jews. Then were there two thieves crucified
with him, one on the right hand, another on the left. They that
passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou
that destroyest the temple, and build us yet in three days. Save
thyself, if thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross."
Likewise, also the chief priest mocking him with the scribes
and elders, and said, he saved others, himself he cannot save. And you can mark this down. In
saving others, he could not save himself. He had to die. He had
to die. If he'd be the king of Israel,
Let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him."
No, they would not. Faith is a gift of God. If he
stood in this room right now, visibly, visibly stood in this
room, performed miracles, apart from the work of God's Spirit,
you and I wouldn't believe him. Not saving him. It takes a work
of God. It takes a new creation to believe
God. That old man never believed God. He trusted in God. Let him deliver him now, if he
will have him. For he said, I'm the son of God.
The thieves also which were crucified with him cast the same in his
teeth. You notice that's plural, the
thieves. At one time, both of them. The
thieves also which were crucified with him cast the same in his
teeth. But something happened. Something
happened. God did a work of grace on that
one. His mind started changing, his
thoughts started changing about himself, about God, and about
that man hanging on a cross. And that's what repentance is.
That's what repentance is. It's a total change of mind concerning
God, Christ, and you. What I am. Now from the sixth
hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth
hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice. Now listen, He's been hanging
there for a while. He was brutally, brutally beaten.
It says in Isaiah 52, His visage was so marred more than any man.
That's how badly He was beaten. Unrecognizable. That's what it
says. He was unrecognizable. And yet, after going through
that, after hanging on the cross, with a loud voice, with a voice
so strong that I know they heard him. And he cried out of his
strength, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. And that is to say, my God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? I bet those two thieves, after
hanging that long, couldn't even whisper. They probably couldn't
say much at all, except for that one. that he was unable to speak. Some of them that stood there
when they heard that said, this man calls for Elijah. Straight
away one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar,
put it on a reed, gave it to him to drink. The rest said,
let be. You know, something interesting
might happen here. We might get to see a miracle. We might get
a, just don't, no, no, let him keep calling. Let's see what
happens. The rest said, let me, let us see whether Elias will
come and save him. This will be spectacular. That's
the attitude of those dogs that surrounded that cross. It was
just a show. It was a show to them. And Jesus,
when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the
ghost. They didn't take his life from
him. He gave it up. He gave it up. It was not possible
for us to take his life. When it came down to the end,
he had to command his spirit to leave that body. He gave it
up. Died on purpose. Now go back
to 1 Corinthians. When he had given thanks, verse
24, he took the bread and broke 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 sucked, saying, This cup is a new testament
in my blood. This do ye also. This do ye,
as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as oft as ye eat this
bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till
he come." Oh, you show his death, his substitutionary work, his
sacrifice. 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." You know, none
of us by nature are worthy to do this. We're not worthy. He's
our worthiness. But what he's saying here, he
that eats, wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink
this cup of the Lord unworthily, not discerning the Lord's body,
not discerning The gospel, not discerning who He is. As a lady said to me one time,
who told me the Lord had saved her, and I began to speak of
the Lord to her. Christ being God, and she said,
I didn't know that. That's not discerning the Lord's body. That's
not discerning His person. That's not discerning who He
is. He's God. This man is God, and this man
is a man. He is the God-man. That's who
Jesus Christ is. And it's not discerning what
He did. What did He do on that cross? What happened? What happened on Calvary? Did
Jesus Christ satisfy God's justice? Did He put away sin? Did He redeem? He sure did. He sure did. A man told me, a
preacher, a pastor told me one time that Jesus Christ died for
Judas as well as Peter. That's not discerning the Lord's
body. That's not discerning this. That's not discerning that. Listen, that's drinking, taking
it unworthily. That's what that is. You don't
know it. You don't know it. And it's discerning where he
is. Where is Jesus Christ? Seated at God's right hand. Making
intercessions for the transgressors. Making intercessions for us.
God's high priest. And he's the sacrifice. And his
blood is the blood of atonement. Now, he says here, let a man
examine himself. His faith, his repentance. Do
you believe? You know, the only The only hedge
about the Lord's table is this. Do you believe? Do you believe
God? Do you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? Do you believe the gospel? That's it. That's it. Let a man
examine himself and so let him eat. So let him eat of that bread
and drink of that cup. For he that eats and drinks unworthy,
eating and drinking judgment, damnation to himself, not discerning,
as I already dealt with, the Lord's body. Not understanding
the gospel, just going through a ceremony. This is not a ceremony. This is in remembrance of a person,
our Lord, our Redeemer, who's seated at God's right hand. And
for this cause, the way they had treated this and what they
turned this into, many are weak. They didn't even realize it.
They didn't realize that their weakness and their sickness and
some of them falling sleepless was over this thing of the Lord's
table. the way they were doing it. And God dealt with them. He chastened them. Where if we
would judge ourselves, we would not be judged, but when we are
judged, and I want you to notice this language here, but when
we are judged, we are chastened. See, it's our Heavenly Father
correcting us. He's not saying when you're judged,
it's because you're not God's people. No, He said when you're
judged, We are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned
with the world. He'll take care of his children,
and he takes care of his house. He'll do it. As he said there,
many are weak, sickly, and among you, some of them have fallen
asleep. They've died. Wherefore, my brethren, when
you come together to eat, wait on one another. And if you're
hungry, eat at home, that you come not together unto condemnation,
judgment, and the rest will I set in order. We do this tonight
in remembrance of our Lord. If you believe the gospel, you
take, you eat, and you drink.