As you all know, when we come
together on Sunday evenings and observe the Lord's table, I make
it my practice to say very, very little as a common rule with
regard to the observance of this blessed, blessed ordinance. I
do that deliberately because I don't want there to be any
sense of priestcraft about this ordinance or any other aspect
of divine worship. So I try to to stay in the background
and leave it to men to serve the bread and wine, have someone
else to pray, and I seldom say anything about it. But periodically,
I think it's beneficial for our souls, for us to be reminded
of what's transpiring when we come together to eat the Lord's
Supper. So if you will, open your Bibles
to 1 Corinthians chapter 11, and just hold them open at chapter
11 for a few minutes while I talk to you, and then I'll get to
the text. The title of my message tonight is, Who is Worthy? 1 Corinthians chapter 11. I have said this many, many times. It needs repeating. Frankly,
tonight, not so much for this congregation sitting before me
as for folks who will hear this message through the various means
that God allows us to distribute the Word. We live in this day
of computer technology and the internet and all those things.
And we spend a lot of time and money and labor putting forth
the gospel on audio cassettes or audio disc and a video disc
after every service. Larry spends a lot of time loading
things up as soon as possible so that folks who cannot attend
public worship Folks who cannot, I stress that word, cannot attend
public worship have the Word of God preached to them. Sadly,
there are multitudes who excuse themselves from responsibility,
who excuse themselves from all responsibility in the Kingdom
of God and entertain themselves listening to preaching at home
or on the car radio or the recorder who could, if they chose to do
so, gather with God's saints. Such irresponsibility is utterly
inexcusable. It is utterly inexcusable. And
folks who practice it, I'm here to tell you they're just playing
games, deluding themselves. The single most important aspect
of our lives in this world is public worship. the worship of
God in the assembly of his saints. Nothing is more important to
God's children in this world than the public gathering of
God's saints for worship. The public assembly of saints
to worship God is the local church. We have come together as the
church of God to worship God. This is the congregation of the
Lord, the temple of God, the house of God. In all ages, God's
people had been known and identified by the public gatherings for
worship. Wherever God has a people in this world, he has a congregation
to worship him. Sheep are always found in flocks. The only time you find sheep
alone are when they are lost or when they're sick. God's people
are sheep. No matter how few, they have
always gathered together in public worship, and there's a good reason.
In the public assembly of the saints, we bear public, united
testimony to the world of our Savior, of His grace, of His
glory, of His accomplishments. As an assembled body of believers,
we come together and strengthen, cheer, comfort, edify, and help
one another by prayer praise by the preaching of the gospel,
by the blessed fellowship of God's saints. From the beginning,
this is the way it's been, from the beginning of Scripture to
the end, there's a clear line of succession in this matter
of public worship. Cain and Abel came together to
worship God publicly as they had been taught by their father
Adam. When Noah came out of the ark, His first act after the
flood was an act of public worship to celebrate God's saving grace.
Wherever the patriarchs in the Old Testament pitched their tents,
they erected an altar of worship. Throughout the Mosaic economy,
all the days of the law in Israel, the children of God who did not
worship God in the tabernacle or in the temple, those who were
the Jews who did not worship God in the tabernacle or the
temple, were cut off from the congregation. Throughout the
book of Acts, God's children were scattered by persecution.
But wherever they were scattered, whether many or few, they gathered
together in public assemblies to worship God. This is one identifying
characteristic of every believer. With David, every saved sinner
is resolved to worship God. As for me, I will come into thy
house in the multitude of thy mercy. And in thy fear will I
worship toward thy holy temple. By this let everyone examine
himself. Those who willingly, habitually
absent themselves from the worship of God, I fear simply do not
know God. Yes, the most blessed privilege
we have in this world is the privilege of public worship.
We've come together here house of God, the temple of God, and
habitation of God through the Spirit. Those things are said
of nothing else in this world except the gathered assembly
of God's saints. Now we recognize the universality
of God's church. God's elect wherever they are
found are our brothers and sisters in Christ and the church of God
is made up of all His elect of every age. But the universality
of God's church does not in any way diminish the responsibility
and the privilege and the blessedness of the local church. Nothing
is more blessed, nothing more needful to our souls than the
gathering of God's saints to worship Him. This is the only
place, the only place where we are assured of our Lord's presence. This is the only place. He said,
where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am
I in the midst of them. This is called the temple of
God, and the Spirit of God dwells with us. Something, what can
I say, mystical, at least mysterious, takes place. When God's people
are brought by the Spirit of God together to worship, as we
come together, God the Spirit comes together with us in the
house of God, so that we are a habitation of God through the
Spirit. God sends His Word into the world
through gospel churches. He gathers His elect to Christ
in gospel churches under the sound of the gospel. God instructs,
comforts, edifies, and establishes His people by the ministry of
the churches. And God is worshipped by His
people in the divinely ordained ordinances of public worship
which are maintained by gospel churches. Perhaps it is the very
fact that the local church is so vital to the welfare of our
souls that makes it the huge target for our adversary the
devil. Satan constantly stirs up confusion about the local
church, its proper place and its usefulness. It stirs up confusion
about the ordinances, confusion about the significance of these
things, and constantly seeks to stir up strife and division
within the church. Therefore, the Spirit of God
gives us crystal clear instruction concerning these things in Holy
Scripture. This book is not ambiguous about anything. The instructions
of this book are not hard to understand if God gives you an
understanding mind. The scriptures speak plainly
and clearly about the necessity of orderly worship. Orderly worship. Things being done decently and
in order. That's the reason we practice
worship in the simplest manner possible and do not engage in
the frivolity and the nonsense that pampers the flesh and honors
the flesh. Some years ago I was preaching
in another place in a large city where they were in the habit
of lots of displays of stuff. And I don't remember whether
I got up to preach or gotten done preaching or whether it
was right in the middle of preaching, but the congregation started
to applaud. And I said, not here, not me,
not now. Not here, not me, not now. This
is no place to clap and applaud a man preaching the gospel of
God's grace. That's out of order. The scriptures give clear instruction. The worship of God is to be done
decently and in order. There is to be the reading of
God's Word. Blessed are they that read, and
they that hear, and they that understand the words of this
book. You men, I call on you to read
the scriptures, to stand here and read the scriptures, and
I know that you take it seriously, and I appreciate it. This is
a blessed aspect of public worship. involves psalms of praise, hymns,
spiritual songs sung to our God. Principally, principally, the
songs we sing are to be connected with the glory of Christ, the
work of Christ, the glory of God, and our experience of God's
free grace. Not silly sentimentalism, but
rather the worship and glory of God our Savior. And the central
point in public worship is the preaching of the gospel. If you
were aware of what commonly goes on in places that are called
churches, you would recognize that preaching, of course, as
far as I'm concerned, in these places it's best they didn't
have any preaching, but preaching is pushed aside to a very small,
insignificant part of the service because it's looked upon as insignificant. Nothing is more important than
the preaching of the gospel of God's free grace. We come together
here, and when men and women are born of God, they confess
Him in believers' baptism. And we observe the Lord's table
as we shall here in a few moments. Now, let's look at our text in
1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 27, 28, and 29. I'm certain that few passages
in the Word of God had been more horribly misinterpreted and more
terribly misused than these three verses of Scripture. 1 Corinthians
11, 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. But let a man examine
himself, And so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that
cup. For he that eateth and drinketh
unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning
the Lord's body. Now I don't doubt at all that
these three verses had been more troubling to sensitive souls
perhaps than any others in all the book of God. Troubling simply
for this reason, the cause of terribly poor teaching by men
who simply do not understand the Scriptures. Many of the Lord's
people read these verses and think, surely if anyone is unworthy
to receive the Lord's Supper, it's me. Satan roars against
the weak, untaught, or poorly taught believer and accuses him
of sin and guilt and tries to put him on legal footing before
God. The old serpent is hellishly subtle. He's hellishly clever. Under the guise of humility and
holiness, he would have us turn our eyes away from Christ to
ourselves. He would have us to look not
to our Savior, but to ourselves. He would have us not to trust
our Savior, but ourselves. He would have us never to look
to Christ alone for our worthiness and acceptance with God, but
to look to ourselves for worthiness and acceptance with God. Therefore,
I want to answer just this one question tonight. Who is worthy? Who is and who is not worthy
to eat the Lord's Supper? But the question goes far beyond
that. What Paul is dealing with here
is not just the Lord's Supper. Who is and who is not worthy
to worship God? Who is and who is not worthy
to call upon God in prayer? Who is and who is not worthy
to come together and sing God's praise? The same answer is found
with regard to all these things. Let me first answer the question
distinctly, and then I'll show you the answer from the scriptures
before us. Every true believer, every sinner
who trusts Christ alone as his wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption is worthy to worship God. And I'm not worthy to pray. No, you're not. No, you're not. I'm not worthy to sing God's
praise. No, you're not. No, you're not. I'm not worthy to preach. No,
you're not. And if any man unworthy, the
one preaching to you now, not worthy. In ourselves, as we are
in ourselves, because of what we do, what we think, or the
way we behave, we are not worthy. Not one of us. I'm not worthy
to come together with God's people. No, you're not. You're not. You're
not. Unless you trust Christ. But faith in Christ, trusting
him as our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption,
declares our worthiness to lift our hearts to heaven and say,
my father. Makes us worthy to call God our
father. Christ our brother, Christ our
beloved and worthy to worship God. Now let's see if I can make
good on that statement from the Word of God here in 1 Corinthians
chapter 11. It's not possible to understand
verses 27, 28, and 29 apart from the context in which is found
in verses 20 through 34. Indeed, it's not possible to
understand any portion of Scripture out of its context or out of
the context of the whole Word of God. If you listen to folks
on radio or television, especially when reporters, one of the Bush
presidents, the elder President Bush referred to those fellows
who have their talk shows as talking heads. Whenever they
refer to Scripture, whenever they refer to it, I've never
heard an exception. male or female, old or young. They'll sort of
quote a portion of Scripture, get some of it right anyway.
But Adam and I have never heard one of them refer to it in its
context. I've never heard one of them
refer to any passage in Scripture and use it as the Scripture intended. We interpret Scripture by its
context. The mere quoting of Scripture
or using of Scripture to prove or disprove something out of
its context is the abuse of Scripture. If you want to know what God
teaches about anything, go to the place in God's book where
that thing is taught and dealt with. Don't go and just pull
a text here and pull a text there and say, now this is what we
believe. A lot of folks like to do word studies and get a
concordance and trace out words. I can't think of a poorer way
to study scriptures. We study the scriptures in their
context and in the context of the whole revelation of God in
Holy Scripture. In this part of 1 Corinthians,
Paul, by divine inspiration, sets in order the disorderly
affairs of the church at Corinth. And when he does so, he does
that to set in order the disorderly affairs of every local church. He's telling us how we're to
worship God. Particularly, in verses 20 through
34, the Holy Spirit tells us exactly how we should and should
not observe the Lord's Supper. Hold your Bibles open on your
laps, and let's look at these verses together, beginning at
verse 20. When you come together, therefore,
into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. Now, three
things are obvious in verse 20. Number one, there was a specific
place where the Corinthian church assembled for public worship.
We're not told where it was. Perhaps it was in someone's large
house. Perhaps it was in a public place that they owned or rented. We're just not told. But there
was a specific place where they came together for worship. I
stress that because there are a good many who fancy themselves
learned spiritual people who care nothing for commitment. I often refer to them as spiritual
welfare bums. They like to run from one place
to another, or go to no place at all, or meet together with
God's saints when they please, whenever they feel like it, whenever
they feel the Spirit leading. They call this freedom. I call
it irresponsibility. When the local church comes together,
the local church of which you are a part. It is your privilege
and responsibility for your benefit and for the benefit of the congregation
as a whole that you be present. The local church would soon cease
to exist if everybody decided to run to this place or that
or to no place at all according to their own whims. Some years
ago I wrote an article, I've forgotten, someone reminded me
of it recently. I wonder if there would be a local
church here if everybody attended and gave and promoted and prayed
for this assembly just exactly as I do. That's a good thing to ask yourself.
That's a good thing to ask yourself. I wonder if there'd be a local
church here if everybody attended and prayed and gave and promoted
this local assembly just like I do. Here's the second thing
Paul tells us in verse 20. When the Corinthian church came
together at the appointed time, they claimed that they did so
to eat the Lord's Supper. They met in Christ's name. according
to Christ's command, with the pretense of observing Christ's
ordinance. But that wasn't what they were
doing. Paul said, when you come together, it's not to eat the
Lord's Supper. No doubt there were some, maybe
many within the congregation, who were sincere worshipers.
But insofar as the bulk of the congregation was concerned, their
assembling together at these appointed times wasn't to observe
the Lord's Supper, but rather it was to have a good time. It was to have what they called
agape feast, love feast. To have festivals together. To come together and have a big
party in the name of God. I can't pause to spend much time
with it. But that's called in these days
contemporary worship. That's called contemporary worship.
It's not coming together to worship God. It's coming together to
feel good, make yourself feel good, to have a party, to meet
with folks. Third, if we do not observe the
ordinances of divine worship in the manner prescribed by God,
we cannot observe them at all. The Corinthians said, let's go
to church and worship God in the observance of the Lord's
Supper. But they came to throw a party. Therefore Paul said
when you come together in one place this is not to eat the
Lord's Supper. Here we come together every Sunday
night to observe this blessed ordinance. It's called the Lord's
Supper because Christ is the Lord and the author of it. Christ
is the subject of it. Christ is the host of it. It
is for his family and he's the reason for us observing it. Look
at verse 21. For in eating every one taketh
before other his own supper, and one is hungry and another
is drunk." What a picture. They come together and they throw
a big party, they call it Observing the Lord's Supper, and they're
just gorging themselves. And drinking insatiably. Now
here Paul explains exactly why the Corinthian practice was not
an act of worship and couldn't be considered observing the Lord's
Supper. They added to the worship of Christ a gaudy feast that
soon got out of hand. They came not to worship, but
to feast. Not to serve one another, but
for each to eat his own supper. Their love feast was rude, it
was cruel, it was self-serving, it was self-gratifying. Rather
than waiting on one another, they jumped ahead of one another
and got what they wanted. Instead of waiting for the poor,
the poor were left hungry and neglected. And while the poor
got nothing, those who jumped in before them gorged themselves
insatiably. Read on, verse 22. What? Had ye not houses to eat and
to drink in? Or despise ye the church of God,
and shame them which have not? What shall I say to you? Shall
I praise you in this? I praise you not. Now, this is
not a prohibition to eating in our fellowship hall or in church
houses. That's not the case at all. There are a lot of folks
around us, a lot of folks around the world who think it's a terrible
thing to eat at the Lord's house, to eat in the Lord's house. This
building is not God's church. I'm in the habit of it, and probably
you are as well, of saying we're going to the church. Well, this
is the church building. It's not the church. It's not
the church. We're not idolaters. We don't
worship buildings. God's people gathered together
are His church. The building's just the place
where we meet. And it's just fine for you to eat, and we'll
have fellowship dinner down here, as we do every quarter, as we
do fairly often. And that's just fine. There's
no prohibition to that. Don't treat the church of God, however,
with contempt. Paul is saying if you're going
to behave like this, and you're going to just come together and
excuse your lasciviousness and call it worshipping God, at least
stay at home. At least stay at home. Now look
at verses 23 through 26. For I have received of the Lord
that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the
same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given
thanks, he 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 the New Testament in my blood. This do ye, as oft
as ye drink it, remembrance of me for as often as you eat this
bread and drink this cup you do show the Lord's death till
he come now be sure you don't miss this here the Spirit of
God tells us that when the gospel writers say that Christ blessed
the bread and that he blessed the wine they're simply saying
he gave thanks for the bread he gave thanks for the wine some
have the idea that somehow When we take the bread and we pray
over it, we're making a change in it. The papists, of course,
think that the bread is blessed by the priest and he transforms
it to the body of Christ and the wines transform to the blood
of Christ. That's, at best, would be witchcraft. That's nonsense. That's nonsense. But there are
a good many folks who aren't papists who have similar ideas. I recall years ago up at Dingus
where Brother Gary Vance's pastor, when their pastor, Brother Sammy
Vance, was there many, many years ago. Brother Mahan and I were
there, and Sammy asked Brother Mahan, said, what do you do with
the wine after the Lord's Supper? And Henry said, well, we keep
it for the next time or drink it. Why do you ask? He said,
oh, we've always been taught, remember this was a free will
Baptist church, full of idolatrous superstitions, but he said, we've
always been taught that once the wine's been blessed, whatever's
left over, we have to take it out and bury it. Our Lord was
just giving thanks for the wine. He was just giving thanks for
the bread, just as we give thanks at a meal. Now having said that,
let me just touch the highlights of these verses. I've expanded
them many times, I'll just give you the highlights. We are to
observe the Lord's Supper the same way our Lord did it with
his disciples on the night in which he was betrayed. That means
we do so using unleavened bread and wine as our Lord did. I know that's uncommon in these
days, but it's excuseless that it's uncommon. There's absolutely
no reason not to do so. The unleavened bread represents
It only represents the body of Christ. The wine represents,
it only represents the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
blood which was shed by the hand of divine justice, that body
that was crushed by the wheel of divine justice when Christ
died for our sins as our substitute. When we observe this blessed
ordinance, we're told to do so often. That word often specifically
used. He doesn't tell us to do it every
Sunday as we do. We observe the Lord's table every
Sunday evening because the disciples came together on the first day
of the week to break bread. But there's no command that has
to be done every Sunday. It is commanded that we do so
often. I know places where the Lord's
Supper hasn't been observed in years. Hadn't been observed in
years. because people have been taught
they're not worthy to observe it. Other places observe the
Lord's Supper once a year or a couple of times a year. We're
told to observe this ordinance often. And as often as we eat
this bread and drink this wine, we're to do so in remembrance
of our Savior. When you come here and take the
bread and wine, our Savior said, this do in remembrance of me. I can't think of a better way
to illustrate what I'm saying here than something Brother Marvin
told me last week. He said, not long before he died,
Brother Scott came to the office one day and said, I want to give
you a pocket knife. He said, well, Scott, I appreciate that,
but that's a nice knife. I don't need that. He said, I want to
give you a pocket knife so when I'm gone, you'll remember me.
And Marvin was a little put back by that. Brother Scott, you think
I wouldn't remember you without a pocket knife? He said, yeah,
but if I give you that pocket knife, every time you pick it
up, you'll remember me. And Marvin said, every time I pick it up,
I remember him. Every time I pick it up, I think
of Brother Scott. Every time you take the cup,
every time you take the bread, remember the Savior. That's the
reason he gave us the ordinance. In the true observance of the
Lord's Supper, We show forth in a beautifully symbolic ordinance
the death of Christ until he comes to receive us to himself. Now that summarizes what we've
read. Now let's look at verse 27, where Paul speaks of those
who eat and drink unworthily. 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. Now, without question,
there's a sense in which it may be said that we eat the bread
and drink the wine unworthily if we use the wrong elements.
We don't use wine and unleavened bread. Or we observe the ordinance
without proper reference, or we fail to properly think of
Christ and remember Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. Or
if we don't understand what we're doing, we just go through the
habit of it. All of those things are unworthy
of men and women who claim to worship God our Savior, unworthy
of our great and glorious Redeemer. But that's not what Paul's talking
about in this text. Commonly, most often, this verse
of Scripture is interpreted to mean that a person is unworthy
to receive the Lord's Supper if he has a certain amount of
unconfessed sin in his life, or if he hasn't lived like he
ought to, he's been misbehaving, or he hasn't read the Bible as
much as he should have, or he hasn't prayed as he should have.
Again, there's certainly a sense in which that may be so. But
if that's the case, then we would never observe the Lord's Supper
if we were honest. We'd never observe the Lord's
Supper, not one of us. I know with absolute certainty
that the unworthiness spoken of in 1 Corinthians 11 has nothing
to do with the manner in which we keep the ordinance. or the
depravity of our lives, the sinfulness of our conduct, or the coldness
of our heart. That person who eats and drinks
unworthily is said here to be guilty of the body and blood
of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, according to verse
29, he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation to
himself. Now Mark Henson, if you're in
Christ, that's not possible for you to do. If you trust Christ, that's not
possible. If you're a believer, that's not possible. A believer
can never be reprobate. A believer can never become an
unbeliever. One of Christ can never perish.
God's elect are kept safe in Christ Jesus, nothing laid to
their charge, none to condemn them, because Christ is our Redeemer. What's he talking about then?
not discerning the Lord's body, eating and drinking damnation
to themselves. Look at verse 28. Here we're
given two things to do as we prepare to receive this blessed
ordinance, the bread and the wine, when we come to the house
of God. Let a man examine himself. Let a man examine himself. We must examine ourselves on
one point. Whether you be in the faith.
Larry Brown, that's the only issue. Whether you be in the
faith. Whether you be in the faith.
Not whether your heart's cold or warm. Whether your life is
up to snuff or way below snuff. Whether you be in the faith.
Whether you be in the faith. Make your calling and election
should. Let a man examine himself. The scriptures do not teach,
and we do not have the right or the ability to examine one
another. That's not my business, and that's
not your business, and that's not our business collectively
as the church. Well, we have to fence the table.
No, my business is tear down the fences. God doesn't need protecting,
you do. Let a man examine himself, not
let others examine him. Let the church examine him and
determine whether or not he's fit to receive the Lord's table.
And then once we have been made to know that we're in the faith,
once we know that Christ is in us and we're in Christ, and we
know that because we trust him, I don't commonly feel like Christ
is in me. And I'm just being honest with
you. And I don't commonly feel, Merle,
like I'm in Christ. That's just, that's not my common
day-by-day experience. But I have confidence that Christ
is in me. And I am in Christ for one reason. I trust Him. I believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing I have life in
Him. Life through His name. That's God's declaration. That's God's Word, and I believe
it. Once we have examined ourselves
and we've proved ourselves by faith in Christ, we're told to
eat the bread and drink the wine. For believers, God's ordinances
are never optional. They're just not optional. If
you're a believer and you haven't confessed Christ in baptism,
it's high time you do so. God's ordinances aren't optional.
It's just as much required of a believer to eat the bread and
drink the wine of the Lord's Supper as it is that the believer
confess Christ in believer's baptism. Now, look at verse 29.
For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh
damnation to himself. Now notice what it says. Not
discerning the Lord's body. Those who eat and drink unworthily
are people who do not discern the Lord's body. What does that
mean? They don't have any knowledge
of who Christ is, why Christ came, and what he accomplished
while he walked on this earth. They don't know him. That means
that they don't understand the sin and depravity of their own
hearts. They don't understand the law
and justice of God. They don't understand the necessity
of Christ's incarnation. They don't understand the accomplishments
of our Redeemer in the flesh. They don't understand the gospel
of the grace of God. They don't discern the Lord's
body. The presumption of redemption The presumption of righteousness,
the presumption of regeneration, the presumption of acceptance
with God without the knowledge of and a God-given faith in Jesus
Christ is damning. They eat and drink damnation
to themselves, not discerning the Lord's body. I heard Brother
David Pledger make a statement several years ago. He and I were
preaching out at Rescue. And at the time, I thought, that's strong. And the
more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that it
needs to be stated as strongly as possible. He said, I believe
the most damning doctrine taught in the world is infant baptism. How can that be? You take your
babies and you sprinkle a little water on their heads I call it
baptism when you tell them they're in God's church. They're in God's
covenant. They're in God's grace. They're
in God's kingdom. And they grow up with the presumption
of righteousness and regeneration and acceptance with God without
faith in Christ. And that presumption is damning. The same is true here. You practice
religion convincing yourself that you're a Christian. When
you don't know God, when you don't discern the Lord's body,
when you don't believe on the Son of God, you continually,
with your practice of religion, eat and drink damnation to yourselves. True believers are people to
whom God the Holy Spirit has given and to whom He continually
gives spiritual discernment so that we know our need of Christ. And we know Christ our Savior
and what He's done for us. Paul is here declaring that the
judgment of God had fallen upon many at Corinth, because like
Uzzah of old, they sought him not after the due order. Look
at verse 31. For if we would judge ourselves,
we should not be judged. Now that language is as clear
as it can be. If we condemn ourselves, we won't
be condemned by God. If we take sides with God against
ourselves, God will take sides with us in His grace. If we refuse
to acknowledge and confess our sin, we do not know God. If we judge ourselves, we'll
not be judged. Now, when God deals with His
elect, you say, but doesn't God punish His people for their sins?
No, no. No, no, no, no. A thousand times
no, never, never. I've heard preachers say, well,
God's just punishing you for your disobedience. And that's
how they keep the pressure on and turn the screws and get you
to do what they want you to do. I've heard preachers say, well, if God can't get you back in
line any other way, he'll just kill you. That's a strange kind
of love, don't you think? That's a strange kind of love.
Besides, who ever heard tell of God taking folks to glory
for punishment? That's kind of nonsense. That's
kind of nonsense. God punished our sins in Christ. He never punishes us for sin.
And when He appears to be angry, It is the appearance of anger
that He may discipline us and correct us, not the reality of
anger. God's anger, God's justice, God's
wrath was satisfied in the sacrifice of His Son. Well, what does the
Lord do in this matter of chastisement? He corrects the child that He
loves. He chastens us as a father that
we might not be condemned with the world whom he chastens not.
Look at verse 33. Wherefore, my brethren, when
ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. I've noticed
that there's getting to be a longer
line all the time whenever we have fellowship dinner or have
conference and have meals and there are more and more folks
waiting to be at the end of the line. And that's as it should
be. That's as it should be. Wait
for one another. Don't do things to please yourself. That's true with regard to serving
a table. I grew up in a day when women
had guests. They served the men, and then
they served the women, and then the children were allowed to
eat and generally the hostess didn't eat at all. She just did
the cooking and the serving and the cleaning up. That's a pretty
good way to do things. That's a pretty good way to do
things. But why? It's called respect and care. How peaceful, how delightful
the fellowship of God's saints is when each is more considerate
of others than himself. If I'm more considerate of you
than of myself, then I don't have anything to gripe about
and I don't have anything to complain about with regard to
you. I just don't have anything to say. I've got no reason to.
No reason to be offended. The only reason for offense is
if I feel like you should have served me. You should have done
something for me. You should have said something
good to me. You should have said something good about me. Me is
no place in the house of God. Me has no place in the house
of God. Only Christ and His. If any man hunger, let him eat
at home. That you come not together under
condemnation. And the rest will I set in order
when I come. Now, wrapping this up. Paul gives us instruction about
the orderly observance of this ordinance. We are to deal with
all professed believers as our brethren in Christ. Paul writes
to these Corinthians and he says, my brethren. Well, Paul, don't
you know about that fellow living with his father's wife? Yeah,
I know about him. But don't you know about those fellows who
are divided over Peter, and Apollos, and Paul, and Jesus. I know about
them. But don't you know about those
fellows taking one another to the cross? I know about them. How can you
call them brethren? Because they profess faith in
Christ. And I want to tell you something.
One reason we are so quick to judge folks and condemn folks.
He just needs God to save him. He just lost. He doesn't know
God. It is easier to deal with them that way. Much easier to
deal with them. I don't have any responsibility.
He's an unbeliever. He's reprobate. He doesn't know God. Our responsibility
is to deal with folks with tenderness and leniency, not with severity
and judgment. When we come together to eat
the Lord's Supper, we ought always to be thoughtful of and show
loving consideration of one another. Carry one for another. Not only discerning the Lord's
sacrificial body, but discerning his spiritual body. Paul tells
us in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 16, this bread represents Christ's
body. And he says, Lindsay, you're
one body. You're one body. We, the Lord, suffer as one body,
as one family, as one body of believers in the name of Christ.
And we must never mingle the worship of God with carnal pleasure. We must never interject into
the worship of God that which God has not ordained. To mingle
human inventions, carnal traditions, and ceremonial religious customs
with the worship of God is to run the risk of bringing upon
unregenerate men the added condemnation of smug religious self-righteousness
and hypocrisy. If any man hunger, let him eat
at home. that you come not together under
condemnation. Let us take now the bread and
the wine remembering our Redeemer. His body crushed beneath the
wrath of God for us. His blood poured out by the sword
of divine justice as our substitute in anticipation of his coming. And we shall be gathered together
with him and all his saints as one body in the kingdom of our
God. Amen.