1 Corinthians chapter 4. We'll read one verse of scripture
here in a moment. You may have guessed which verse
it is. Verse 7. Verse 7. Remind me,
dear Lord, Today, as I've mentioned, we'll observe the Lord's Supper.
The Lord's Supper is just one of the two ordinances that Jesus
Christ instituted for his church, and of course the other one is
baptism. The fact alone that he instituted
only two ordinances for his church to keep is a pretty good indication,
pretty good clue, as to how important those two ordinances are. And
let me remind you, these ordinances of our Lord, the head of the
church, are not options. He didn't give them as options.
They're commands from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Remember
what he said to his disciples before he ascended back to glory.
Matthew 28, listen to this. And Jesus came and spake unto
them. This took place on Mount Olivet.
After he spoke these words, he ascended back to heaven. Jesus
came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in
heaven and earth. I like that. He's about to give
them their marching orders, but he says, I'm not sending you
out on a fool's errand. You're going with all power.
You're being sent by your commander-in-chief. Go ye, therefore. and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world." And then the other ordinance,
the Lord's Supper, again in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 26. This is when
it was instituted. You can look at this along with
me, if you like. Matthew chapter 26, verse 26. The second of the two ordinances. And as they were eating, Jesus
took bread. They were observing the last
Passover. Jesus took bread and blessed
it and break it and gave it to the disciples and said, take,
eat, this is my body. This represents my body. This
is a picture, an emblem of my body. And he took the bread and
gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it. For
this is my blood of the New Testament, the new covenant, which is shed
for many, not everybody. I mean, right there it is. This
is Jesus Christ speaking. He said it's shed for many for
the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not
drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until that day when
I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. And when they
had sung a hymn, they went out unto the Mount of Olives. This
do, the Lord said, in remembrance of me." Do. Do it. Don't refuse to do it, child
of God. Don't neglect to do it, and certainly
don't be indifferent to it. He says, do this. Both those
things. Do these things. Baptism. Baptism. Scriptural baptism.
identifies us with Jesus Christ. Baptism is the believer's profession,
his public profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Now I know today
most churches think your public profession is when you walk up
the aisle and you make a decision for Jesus and you stand up and
get patted on the back. No, no, no. Scriptural profession
of faith in Christ is illustrated by baptism. When a believer is
baptized, he's saying this. And I know, I know, not too many
people seem to pay much attention to this. I mean people who have
been baptized, people who have been baptized here, don't seem
to think it meant too much. But remember, baptism is a picture
of this. What Paul wrote in Romans 6,
baptism is a picture of what we read here. Verse 3 of Romans
6, no you not. that so many of us that were
baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized unto his death. Now
water can't do that, but water is a symbol, a picture of what
Paul speaks of here. Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from
the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life. Baptism pictures that. For if
we have been planted together in the likeness of his death,
we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with him, that is, Christ, that
the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not
serve sin. That's what we were saying when
we were baptized. Likewise, in observing the Lord's
Supper, as we'll do today, we are again obeying our Lord's
command. His command, I emphasize that, it's a command. It wasn't
his suggestion, it was his command. To identify with Him, remember
Him. Oh, remember Him who loved us. We need this. Oh, thank God,
one day we won't. One day we won't need these emblems
to remind us of Him because we will see Him face to face, but
that's not yet. So the Lord said, I give you
this so you'll be reminded. You'll remember me. Do this in
remembrance of me. Identify with me. Remember me. Remember how I loved you. Loved
you. and I gave myself for you. Remember
that it's only I, by my grace, by my everlasting redemption,
that's made you the different. Remember that. Don't forget it,
because when you tend to forget it, or take it for granted, quickly
on the heels of that comes a loss of your first love. What old
Scott Richardson said, that's sweetheart love, that's first
love. Oh, remember that? You remember
the wonder? I mean, just the wonder of Jesus
Christ when he first spoke peace to your heart, you couldn't hardly
get over it. Is it true? It may be too good
to be true. How long has it been since you
felt that way? The wonder of his mercy. Of all people, I have
obtained mercy. That's the first love. That's
a part of being the first love with Jesus Christ. And of course,
of course, neither of these things, these ordinances, The Lord's
Supper or baptism can confer grace on anybody who partakes
of it. It's not a means by which grace
is conferred to the partaker of it. Of course not. They are
not sacraments. This is not a sacrament. Baptism
is not a sacrament like the Catholic Church teaches and a lot of other
churches teach. The English word for sacrament
is taken from a Latin word which means this, to make holy. This won't make you holy. Being
immersed won't make you holy. No, God's grace is not imparted
by baptism or the Lord's Supper. Grace comes by one man, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Nothing else or by no one else. Yes, a person can be saved. A
person can be saved without observing these two ordinances. The thief
on the cross comes to mind, perhaps he came to your mind as well.
He didn't observe the Lord's Supper, he wasn't baptized of
course, and yet the Lord said to him, nonetheless, verily,
verily, truthfully, truthfully, you can count on this, what I'm
telling you is true, the day you're going to be with me in
paradise. But remember this, the thief
on the cross, it wasn't so much a matter of that he wouldn't,
He couldn't. He couldn't. I dare say, if that
thief had been allowed to come down to the cross, one of the
first things he'd done is run down to Jordan and been immersed,
been baptized, and been glad to do it. Been glad to do it. Why would a child of God refuse
to do what the Lord they profess to love commands them to do?
Why? Why would a believer who is able
to do it not do it? I've never heard a valid answer
to that question. Now, as we observe the Lord's
Supper today, let us ask ourselves the questions that Paul raised
in verse 7 of 1 Corinthians 4. Let's read it together. Look
at it with me as we read. 1 Corinthians 4 and 7. And may
God let us pray that we'll answer these questions and give thanks
to our God. If we can answer, only grace
has made us to differ. For who made thee to differ from
another? Literally, who distinguished
you? And what hast thou that you did
not receive? And if you did receive it, why
did you glory as if you had not received it? By asking these
questions, Paul wanted to stop the root cause of all the trouble
in the church at Corinth. Now man, it was a mess. It was
a mess. But if we would bring it down
to the bottom line, The root cause was this. The root cause
for all the issues they had was pride. Pride. Paul said, you're puffed up.
Look what he says in verse 6. And these things, brethren, I
have in a figure transferred to myself into a policy for your
sakes. Because people were saying, well,
I like Apollos. If Apollos is not preaching,
I'm not going to go listen. That Paul, man, I don't like
Paul. Oh, I don't like either one of them. I'll listen to Peter,
but nobody else. Well, I won't listen to Apollos
or Peter or Paul. I take my instructions from Jesus
Christ himself. Oh, just pride, just stinking
pride is all it was. This is what Paul's speaking
about. He dealt with it in chapter 3. But it says that ye might
learn in us not to think of men above, not to think of men at
all, not to be thankful for pastors and preachers, but don't put
them in the place of Christ. Above that which is written,
that not one of you be puffed up. I like that word, don't you?
Puffed up. I mean, it gives a pretty good
picture of pride. Just puffed up. A swelled head
is what we would say today. And this church was just eat
up with it. They were just eat up with it.
I think since pride is a wicked weed, child of God, you know
this is so. I mean, you know it's so. We
don't like it. We don't like it in ourselves,
but we know it's still so. Pride is a wicked weed that it
will grow anywhere. It flourishes in pulpits. If
it's not kept constantly cut down, it'll come back again and
again and again. Last Monday, there were some
fellas here, and I drove by, I wasn't expecting them. They
were supposed to be here Saturday. Bobby, did you call him and tell
him to make it here? But anyway, I stopped, and as
you can see, they did such a great job. They finished yesterday,
as a matter of fact, no, Friday, because it was wet in the bottom
there. But they even went beyond. They
weed-eated that bank out there. Notice it when you go out. But
you know what? Pretty soon those weeds are gonna
come right back up. Because I always have to poison
that bank. I mean, I mix that stuff up at
Weed Killer and I have to poison that bank. That's one good reason
to ask ourselves this question. Because of the wicked weed of
pride. Who made us to differ? We need to be reminded of who.
Oh, that's the key word in this text. Who? Who did this? Who made us, if we indeed have
been made to differ, if we have tasted of the true grace of God,
who did that? Who did that? Why am I not now
bound down before a so-called priest and repeating, no, Father,
I've sinned, and he tells me to do four or five push-ups and
go on your way, you absorb from all your sins. Why am I not?
I've got family that does that. Why not me? Why not me? Why am
I not in some worldly religion, harboring a false hope, not having
a clue who God is, or who Jesus Christ is, or what sin is, or
what my need of salvation even is, just going through the motions
and satisfied to do it? Why am I not doing that this
morning? Because of Jesus Christ alone has made me to differ,
has shown me his grace. And the reason we need to ask
ourselves the question that Paul puts before the church here,
not only them but us as well, so that we will be kept humble
before God. Humble before God, the very opposite
of being proud. The very opposite of being exalted,
being abased. You remember what Brother Henry
Mahan said, I know this will ring a bell, I know you've heard
him say it. I have too, many times. Henry said there is pride
of race, white race, black race, whatever. And there's pride of
place. I'm from the South. Well, you
can have it. I'm from the North. Pride of place. And then there's
pride of face. Pride of face. Can't wait till
tomorrow. I get better looking every day. Pride of face. But there is nothing more out
of place, nothing more contradictory, nothing with less grounds to
boast than pride of grace. It just don't jam. They're the
very opposites, aren't they? The old nature, the old nature
still remains in us, doesn't it? So that if we were to be
deserted by God, we should go right back to that pig pen where
he found us. We would go running as fast as
we could. That's just so. That's just so. That's just a fact. You've heard
this expression. You may not have known who first
spoke these words. A man many, many years ago by
the name of John Bradford, hundreds of years ago. His apartment overlooked
the street. One day as he looked out, he
saw a man standing in a cart being pulled by a mule with his
hands roped in front of him, going out to be executed. And old John Bradford looked
down there and he didn't say, well, yeah, I know that guy.
He deserves what he's getting. No, he said, John Bradford said,
there goes John Bradford, but for the grace of God. There goes Larry Criss, except
for the grace of God. Someone very well said, the seed
of every sin is in every heart. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, this
same book, this epistle, he said this. For I am the least of the
apostles that am not me fit to be called an apostle. Why, Paul? Because I persecuted the church
of God. God forgave Paul. God forgot
that, but Paul never did. But Paul didn't stop there, did
he? He said, but, but, by the grace of God, I am what I am. Let me share something with you
I ran across the other day. that Mr. Spurgeon said. Spurgeon
said, when we read in the newspaper a sad case of lasciviousness
or any other breach of the laws of God and man, if we were aforetime
guilty of the like sin and have now been renewed in heart, it
will make us blush. It will humble us and cause us
to admire the power and sovereignty of divine grace. Won't it? Won't it? Mr. Spurgeon went on
to say, yes, And when the damned go down to hell, there must I
go, unless the same grace which restrains me from sin now shall
uphold me to my last day and keep me from falling." Next time you look out your car window
and see a homeless person on the street and they're dirty,
your first impulse is to look away. They're dirty and they're
hungry. They don't have a place to lay
their head tonight, not in a bed. Don't have a meal. Or the next
time you speak to somebody, which I did the other day, which is
obviously manly challenged, God help me not to look down
on them. But ask myself, Larry, it's only by the grace of God
that you're not the exact same way. It's only by God's grace. Here's another reason, not only
to keep us humble, as we consider this question, but to keep us
thankful. Keep us thankful. They go hand
in hand, don't they? To be kept thankful before the
God who made that difference. Humble and thankful should be
prominent features of a believer. That's what David said, didn't
he? So many places in the Psalms and in the Old Testament, during
David's reign, from a shepherd lad to being king over Israel.
One time David was sitting and he was looking back over his
life. Oh, what a marvel, just miracles. A believer's life is
a constant miracle. It's a constant miracle. That
he's kept by the grace of God is a constant miracle. It's a
testimony to God's grace. The reason we haven't thrown
in the towel and said, well, let's just quit. What's the point? God's grace. That's the only
reason. And David was looking back over his life, and then
he said, what shall I render? What shall I render unto the
Lord for all his benefits toward me? One dear lady. whom God had
brought down by his grace to show her her lost condition.
She was satisfied before that. She had a little religion, but
then God stripped her. She realized she was naked before
a just and holy God, and she was begging for mercy. God, have
mercy on me. She said this, oh Lord, if you'll
have mercy on me and save my poor, miserable soul, you'll
never hear the end of it. I said pretty much the same thing. If you can, you can make me clean. You can take this weight, this
burden off my back. You can forgive me if you will,
and if you will, you'll never hear the end of it. I've not
kept that promise. I've not kept that promise. He
has. Never think that you and I deserve
God's forgiveness. It's just not so. When a man
truly sees himself, he knows that nobody can say anything
about him. That's too bad. That's too bad. The difference. That's what Paul
speaks of, the difference. And the first thought is this,
and we won't be long. Paul asked the question, Who
made the difference? Who made the difference? Now,
Paul doesn't suggest that there isn't a difference in the believer,
that there's not a change of heart, in the heart, rather,
of anyone who experienced the true grace of God. Oh, no. In
his second epistle to this same church, he said this, therefore,
if any man be in Christ, words can't be plainer, You can talk
about carnal Christians all you want, but Paul knocks that upside
the head here. You can talk about people accepting
Jesus as Savior and never bowing to him as Lord, but Paul knocks
that upside the head here. That's just not so. Paul said,
therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. He's a new
creation. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. New desires. new ambitions, arising
from a new heart, a new nature. No one can be in Christ without
being made a new creation. And if I'm not a new creation,
it's because I'm not in Christ. The work of God in us is as effectual
as the work of God for us. Paul's question again is, then
who made that difference? A new creation can only be produced
by the same creator who made man in the first place. Only
he who made man can make man anew in the spirit of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's exactly what he promises
his people. This is the Lord speaking by
the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 36 verse 25. God says, then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you and you shall be clean. You shall be
clean. Nothing else can wash away that
stain. Oh, but the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. And ye shall be clean.
And from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will
I cleanse you. A new heart. Oh, that's what
I need. A new heart. A new heart also
will I give you. Religion can give you a list
of do's and don'ts, instructions, but only God can give you a new
heart, a new nature. And I will give a new spirit
will I put within you. And I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. And
I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. And you shall keep my judgments
and do them. That's exactly what James said,
didn't he? Of his own will beget he us with the word of truth.
Peter said the same thing. not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth
forever. That can't be done by man's so-called
free will, not by walking down an aisle, not by a decision for
Jesus, not by repeating the sinner's prayer. That can only be done
by that one who said, I'm the resurrection and the life. The
hour is coming and now is. that the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall what? They
shall live. Live. That's what happens when
God saves a sinner. He raises them to new life, the
same life in the Son of God. Listen to what we read in John
chapter 1 verse 10. Christ was in the world, and
the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came
unto his own, and his own received him not. But, but, God put a
difference. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believed on his name. Well, why did they do that? How
could they do that? Was faith just lying dormant
in them? We're told it's in every man if they'll just reach down
and pull it out. No, no, no. The reason some believed
While others believe not, here's the reason. Which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God. I like what the poet said. He
put it this way. It took a miracle to put the
stars in place. It took a miracle to hang the
world in space. But when he saved my soul, cleansed
and made me whole, it took a miracle of love and grace. Multitudes,
multitudes will tell you that they made themselves to differ.
You remember in Luke 18, that Pharisee, his whole testimony
was I, I, I. Everything he laid claim to was
the result of his own work. Lord, I think I'm not like other
men. I've made myself to differ. I don't do this. I don't do that.
I'm so glad that I'm not like that publican down there. I'm
not like him. He wishes he was now, doesn't
he? He sure does. But, but, there stands that poor,
despised public. He cries, Lord, have mercy. Oh my God, have mercy. Have mercy on me. There wasn't
one eye in his prayer. His heart was directed to that
one alone to whom could give him mercy. Not long after the first flood,
when a lot of work had been done, someone told me about a fella
who was a pretty good painter. So I met him at the house, told
him what needed done and so forth. And he was religious. He was
a religious fella. And I'm not exaggerating, I'm
not misrepresenting the man. Robin heard him. Every time he
opened his mouth, it was, I, I, I. Talking about what he'd
done for God. What he'd done for Jesus Christ. Oh, that sounds so much like
that Pharisee. Like those Paul talked about,
his kinsmen. after the flesh, Jews, Israelites. Paul said, I've got a burden
for them. I long for them to be saved. But he said, they're
ignorant of God's righteousness. And because they are, they're
going about this in Romans 10. They're going about to establish
their own righteousness. And in doing so, they've not
submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Did
you have an opportunity to read the quote above your daily readings
in your bulletin today? I like this, by old J.C. Rowe.
The standard of the world and the standard of the Lord Jesus
are indeed widely different. They are more than different,
they are flatly contradictory, one to the other. Never be satisfied
with the world's standard of Christianity. A couple of weeks
ago, I was in the waiting room at the hospital waiting for them
to do the procedure on Robin. And there were several other
people there as well. And this fellow came along, a chaplain. He was the chaplain there at
the hospital. And he just walked around these
people and just making chit-chat and pleasant conversation. And
he came down and he sat next to me. What are you doing here?
And I told him. He started talking, and I said, let me ask you something. If I would ask you, how can a
man be just with God? This is the chaplain talking
to people in the hospital, people that probably may be facing death. How can a man be just with God?
And this man looked at me and said, I don't think I can answer
that. I'm going to have to think about
that. That's what he told me while you were in surgery. I'm
going to have to think about that. We talked a little more,
and he said, I think you're out of step with modern day religion,
aren't you? And I said, it's on purpose.
You better believe I am. We talked a little more. I said,
my friend, I'll tell you this. If what you believe is true,
that salvation's by man's free will, then I'm wrong. I'm wrong. We both can't be right. We both
can't be right. It's either by God's grace or
man's will. It cannot be both. Oh, I pray
that God has made the difference in you and I. God don't allow
me to be deceived or to deceive myself by settling for something
that I did or that I was instructed to do. Terry, you're having a
procedure tomorrow. I would be unfaithful to God
and unfaithful to you. If I didn't exhort you, are you
prepared to meet your God? Are you prepared to meet your
God? Can you truthfully say that by the grace of God I am what
I am? Oh, I love how that parable our
Lord spoke about the Pharisee and the public and ended, don't
you? Oh, I love it. He said, I tell you that this
man, this man, oh, what a blessed man. Doesn't say he was a rich
man. Doesn't say he had a lot of stuff
in the world, no, but he said this man went down to his house.
What? Justified. That chaplain couldn't
tell me what that meant. Justified rather than the other.
For everyone that exalteth himself, that's puffed up, shall be abased. And he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. That man's going home justified. I want to be that man. I want
to be in that man's shoes. To go home justified. And the
Lord Jesus Christ wasn't talking about the bragger. He was talking
about the beggar. He was talking to that one who
didn't feel worthy to even stand in the holy place. He stood afar
off. He stood afar off. He wouldn't
even lift his eyes toward heaven, he felt so unworthy. That's the
one that smote upon his breast and cried out, God be merciful
to me, I'm the sinner. And then Lord Jesus Christ, look
at that man, I'm telling you, it's not the preacher that spoke
this word. It's not a so-called priest.
Jesus Christ himself said, look, look, that man is going home
justified. Why? If after we observe the
Lord's Supper today and we foul out, it won't take long. Oh,
can the Lord Jesus Christ look down from heaven, point at you
and say, oh yes, there's one of my justified ones. Oh, you
are blessed. My soul, you've got something
that all the riches of this world can't buy. Because justification
means this. I'm declared righteous by a holy
God. That's what it means. I'm justified. I'm righteous in the sight of
God Almighty. With his holy garments on, that
is Christ. With his holy garments on, I'm
as holy as God's own son. Justified. Oh, I imagine, I imagine
that that publican just skipped out of that temple singing something
like this. Can't you just see? He went home
that night and lied down and he had peace with God. He had
peace with God in his heart. And he had the peace of God.
giving him unspeakable joy. Oh, he goes home singing, not
have I gotten, but what I received. Grace has bestowed it since I
have believed. Boasting excluded, pride I base. I'm only a sinner, saved by grace. I think he's probably saying
something like that, don't you, Billy? Tears unavailing, no merit
had I. Mercy had saved me, or else I
must die. Sin had alarmed me, fear in God's
face. Oh, but now I'm a sinner, saved
by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace.
This is my story, that God be the glory. I'm only a sinner
saved by grace. Oh yes, by the grace of God,
I am what I am. Every plant, the Lord Jesus Christ
said, which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted
up. Every plant not of God's planting, but by man's own work
shall be rooted up. But to everyone who has experienced
his mighty work of grace, this is his promise. He said, I'll
appoint unto them that morning Zion, give unto them beauty for
their ashes, the oil of joy for morning, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness. I know I mentioned this maybe
last week or the week before, but when I'm reading this, I
can't help but think of old John Bunyan's Pilgrim Christian. You
remember, remember, we read the story and there's Christian with
the book in his hand and the burden on his back. God got him
lost and he cries out, oh, woe is me. Woe is me. I'm lost. I'm lost. He leaves
his home. As his wife and children cry,
come back, he says, oh no, I have to have eternal life. I must
have eternal life. And the way he goes, but that
burden is still on his back. He can't shake it off. He can't
get rid of it. That's a picture of our sins.
Our sins. When God gets a man lost, that
burden is weighing him down. He knows it's going to weigh
him all the way down to hell if it stays on his back. And
he can't get rid of it. His good works can't get rid
of it. All of his effort to remove it is of no avail. until that
day that he came up to the cross. And he said, when he came up
to the cross, that burden fell from off his back. And it began to roll. And it
rolled plump down to the bottom of the hill and went into the
sepulcher. He said, I saw it again no more forever. Oh, to
God be the glory. great things he has done. Trees
of righteousness, the planning of the Lord that he might be
glorified. God, keep me humble. Keep me
low before the throne of your grace and don't allow me to be
proud. Oh God, remind me, dear Lord. Not unto us, oh Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Old John Owen said, the more
I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties
of this world will wither in my eyes. Who distinguished you? Who made you to differ? Jesus
Christ. He's all my salvation, and he
alone has given me a good hope through grace. Well, if that's
so, then let's come. Let's come to his table and remember
him. Oh, remember him who loved us
and gave himself for us. Amen. Amen.