I invite you to take your Bibles
this morning and turn with me to 1 Corinthians 11. We are going
to observe the Lord's Supper this morning. I thought perhaps
it might be appropriate to say a few words. When you have found
your place there in 1 Corinthians 11, put your bookmark or hold
your finger on that place and let me just talk to you for a
few moments before we get into our text. There are three blessed
ordinances. I can see already eyebrows going
up. I thought there was just two.
There are three blessed ordinances in this book given to the church. They are set forth clearly in
the Word of God. They are exampled in the world
by his apostles. You read through the book of
Acts. You can see as these churches were established. You can read
through the epistles Apostles established these early churches,
and you can see these things clearly taught from one end of
this Bible to the other. They are exampled in the world,
recorded in the history of this book, and taught throughout the
whole history of the church. These three ordinances are baptism,
church membership, and the Lord's Supper. They are taught clearly
from one end to the other. And I may have surprised you
a little bit with this second ordinance of the church membership,
but I believe it is as important and it is set forth as clearly
as the other two ordinances. Very important, very vital for
you. And they are talked about equally
as much in the scripture, if not more. God's church is a Catholic
church. That word means universal. Uh-oh,
what in the world is he talking about now? I'm saying that God's
church at any given time, at any given time, in any age, consists
of chosen sinners out of every nation, tribe, kindred, tongue
and people unto heaven. That's universal. It's not just
one nation. It's not just the nation of the
Jews. His bride, whatever you want
to call it, his elect, his sheep, they are taken from every nation,
every kindred, every people, every tongue under heaven. And it's set forth very clearly
in the scripture. God's church is a Catholic church. His church at any given time,
you can go through and read it throughout the scripture, people
from all these different nations, Galatia, the Corinthians, Look
at him on a map and you can just see that little going up through
there where he established these churches throughout the world. But his visible church on this
earth is not to be organized into a single unit and governed
by either a single man or a presbytery of men and governed as one unit,
but he sets them apart as local churches, just like this one,
local churches. And the authority that he establishes
in that church is the pastor. Go through the Word of God, you
will find it all the way through. Established as local assemblies,
governed by pastor-teachers. The very epistle that I am going
to read to you from this morning is identified as the church of
God. which is at Corinth. The Galatian
epistle was written to the churches, more than one, of Galatia. The Philippians are identified
this way, to the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with
pastors and deacons. That is how they are identified.
You go through these epistles and you will see a general description
of his chosen people whom he has sent forth, but he has called
them into groups, into local units, and established his authority
in them. The army of God, though composed
of individuals from all over the world, they are gathered
together in units, and they are trained by those that God gives
the oversight to and whom they graciously submit themselves
to, willingly. authority, you come in here and
you're not a member of this church, and you don't submit yourself
willingly to me or under my authority, what can I do? I can't do anything.
What are you going to do? Well, I ain't going to listen
to him. I'll just go home. I'll just go home. But there
comes a time when the Spirit of God causes that heart to submit
to His authority, whether it be a wife to her husband, a child
to its parents, God's authority is very clearly set forth in
the Word of God. And it's set forth in these local
churches. And it's set forth in these things that I preach
to you. I preach to you these things. Well, I can do what I
want to. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. You
sure can. But God's people can't. Now,
they can't. I'm not saying they don't do
things wrong. Peter did. Man, he was one of the main apostles.
And he did something wrong, and Paul stood up and embarrassed
him about it. He had to. He had no choice. And he embarrassed Peter about
it. And Peter didn't say, Well, I'm going home. You know why? Because God humbled him. And
Paul reminded him of that authority. And reminded him of that blood
that bought him. And of that cross that loved
him. And of that grace that saved him. And he said, you're right. I am wrong. I am wrong. Submission. Submission. I wouldn't
give you fifty cents for a man's profession of faith until God
makes him submit. Submit. That's the first thing
I look for. You have to come down before you're going to get
raised up. I can tell you that. You're going to have to be brought
down. And when you're brought down, you're brought down to
obey Christ. You are brought under his rule.
He must rule until he has put all principalities and powers
under his feet. And he will rule. He will rule
the army of God. They gather together, willingly
submit to these local assemblies, find somebody preaching the gospel
of God's sovereign grace, join themselves to it, become a part
of it, identify themselves with it. What he preaches is where
I believe. That's what they say. Shoot at
him, you're shooting at me. Pick on him, you're picking on
me. I believe that. I believe this book teaches that.
And it's not hard to pastor God's sheep because they're sheep.
Now, it's impossible to pasture a wolf. Go find you one someday and run
up to him and grab him and hug him and start petting on him
and find out what happens. He'll eat you alive. I'll never
forget when I was little, we kind of lived out on the edge
of town. We had a lot of wildlife running around there. One day
I was sitting out on the front porch about eight or nine years
old and some baby squirrels were born. One of them got kicked
out of the tree or fell out of the tree or whatever and it was
running around there and I thought that was the cutest little thing.
I went over and grabbed that squirrel. Boy, he bit down on
my thumb. Blood started squirting. I couldn't
get rid of him. I was trying to shake him off.
That's what happens with wolves and these creatures of the wild.
God makes His people sheep. He makes them sheep. And they
follow Him. They follow Him. Listen to this. Hebrews 13, verse
17. It says, Obey them that have
the rule of God. How did they get it? Christ gave
it to them. They weren't worthy of it. There
ain't no more worthy of it than anybody. But God takes the unworthy
and uses them for His glory. And if he makes one an apostle,
I don't make that man an apostle. What have you gotten that you
haven't received? And if you received it, why do
you glory in it as though you didn't, like you deserved it
or something? I don't deserve it, but it's
not about deserved. It's about sovereign grace and
sovereign appointment and sovereign rule. And he makes that man,
gives that man this rule. And he tells us to obey them
that have the rule over you and submit yourselves. Why? Because
I'm scared of it? No. No. Because they watch for
your souls. They watch for your souls. And
they watch as those who must give account. I can teach and
lead any man that God makes willing to submit. The rest of them,
it's an impossibility. I can't do nothing for you. I
just can't. And this local church union,
Are you with me? Are you listening to me? This
local church union is so strong and so telling, so revealing
of a man's spirit and attitude that John spoke of those led
by the spirit of the Antichrist as being manifested by going
out from them. Now, is that so? That's what
he said over in 1 John 2, verse 19. They went out from us. is
what he said. And they was not of us, for had
they been of us, they no doubt would have continued with it.
Paul said of Demas, who at one time he called his fellow laborers,
he said he went out from us. He had forsaken us. We will be
looking at all these ordinances here over time. But this morning,
I want to focus on the Lord's table. get into all the do's
and don'ts of this blessed ordinances, I'm just going to ask you to
just try to put yourself, I read it to you in Luke a while ago,
at this first supper where the Lord gathered his twelve apostles
in this room, a room furnished by the providence of God. Our
Lord could read the providence of God. He said, you go in there,
you're going to see a man carrying a pitcher of water. I wouldn't
have had much significance with me, but he did with him. And you follow him. And you tell
him what the Master said, and he'll agree. He'll be ready. And so they went to this place,
and they went into this room, and the Lord came in there with
them and sat down at the table, and he took the wine, and he
gave them simple instruction about what it represented. And
then he passed it out to them. And he took that bread, and he
broke it. And he told them what it meant, very simply. He didn't
make a big pompous ceremony out of it. He just told them very
simply what it meant, and he passed it out. And then he tells
us something really telling. He said, The hand of him that
betrayeth me just drank the wine and just ate the bread, and his
hand is on the table, called by his gospel. Convicted by Spirit. Made to submit to His rule. Convinced
of His way. Think what a gracious thing it
is to be gathered here this morning. Gathered in His name. Everything
that we believe and everything that I attempt to do here in
this church is consistent with the name of our Lord. If it is
inconsistent with that name, I am throwing it out. If it upsets
you, I apologize. But I'm throwing it out. I ain't
going to have it. What we're going to do is going
to be consistent with His name. What I preach and what you teach
and anybody else that comes here is going to be consistent with
His name. If it's not, it's not worth hearing.
It's not worth obeying. It's not worth doing. They ate that bread and drank
that wine and marveled at His Word. But they didn't understand
what He was talking about. Not one of them. But he didn't
do it for that particular time. There was coming a time. And
when they took that bread, I guarantee you every one of them looked
back on that room and thought about their Lord gathering them
together and what he said and what he did. He was the focal point of the
supper, not the bread and the wine. Take away Christ and all you
have left is the cold, dead ceremonialism. that is being practiced throughout
the world every week. Luke said, when the hour was
come, he sat down and the twelve apostles with him. And with him is how we must celebrate
this supper. This is where I am going to begin,
right here. Believers are people in whom Christ has come and taken
up abode with his Spirit. He is with us. If he's not with
us, all we have is religion. It's of no benefit to you. If all you have is doctrine,
if all you have is some mechanical understanding in your mind, if
that's all you have, you don't have life. Life is in Him. It's about embracing Him. I know
there's a time for the doctrine, and the doctrine comes through
the head, but it's got to get through the head to the heart.
If it doesn't enter into the heart, it's of no consequence
to you. It's just like learning one man knows math and one man
doesn't. One man has the right doctrine and one man doesn't.
That doesn't mean anything unless he's embraced Christ. That doctrine
has to lead you to Christ. The ultimate goal of this preaching,
the ultimate goal of the doctrine and of these things set forth
in this book is to bring you to Christ. And he demonstrates
that in the supper. That's what it's all about. Take,
eat this, eat this. Ain't that why they all left
him over there in John? He said, except you eat my flesh
and drink my blood, you have no part with me. And from that
time, many of them And he turned to the 12 and he said, you going
to go too? You're free to go. Door swings
both ways. And they said, wait a minute,
where are we going to go? Huh? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. We've got nowhere else to go. If you've got somewhere else
to go, if I was you, I'd go. If you have that option, take
it. Because God's people are shut
up to grace. They're shut up to his authority.
They're shut up to his picture. They're shut up to his way. And
that's what has to happen. And once that's happened, then
you have something to remember. You see, he took them aside in
this room and he told them these things and instructed them in
these things, and then in time, He sent His Spirit and He baptized
the church all at one time in the Holy Spirit of God and poured
it out into their hearts. And then what happened in that
room had a meaning. Then they experienced that grace
that He taught them in words. And that's what I want you to
see this morning. People in whom Christ has come
and taken up a bowl by His Spirit. with them as individuals and
with them as he gathers them together to teach them and bless
them and commune with them. Then he said this to them, with
desire. That's hard to get hold of, isn't
it? The sovereign Lord of glory gathered
twelve men in a room and took a loaf of bread in one hand A
pitcher of wine and the other. And he said, I desire to be here. Can you get a hold of that? It's not a judgment. I don't mean this to divide. I don't mean this to cause pain. I've gathered you here. I desire
to eat this table with you. I desire to do it. It's not something
to be dreaded, it's something to be rejoiced in. He was there
because he wanted to be. And they was there because they
wanted to be. And he said, we're going to eat
this thing because I will not any more eat thereof until it
be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. I desire to eat this supper
with you so that for all times and all ages it will be preserved
right here. right here, that I have a willingness
and desire and love in the accomplishment of this
redemption, and it's important to me that you remember this.
You remember this. What I'm laboring to point out
to you this morning is that apart from an experiential knowledge
of his presence in you, you've got nothing to remember. You
take this wine because somebody passed it out. You take the bread
and you eat it because somebody passed it out. It's just a ceremony. It doesn't mean anything to you.
But for those who believe, it's a whole different deal. A whole
different deal. They take that bread and they
eat it. They eat the gospel when it's
preached. It's not just the idea of being
a church. That's not going to accomplish
anything. You wouldn't believe how many people weigh the whole
weight of their soul on the fact that they don't miss church.
Ask them what they believe, they can't tell you. Ask them what
their hope is, they can't tell you. But I'll tell you this,
I don't miss church. I just don't miss. Well, that's
what happens. You stand here and take the wine
and eat the bread and you've got nothing to remember. So don't
take it. If you haven't experienced this
grace in your heart and it doesn't mean anything to you, and you
haven't been able to discern that body of Christ, don't take
it. Just watch somebody else take
it and think about it. Ask God to do something for you.
Maybe you'll be able to take it. Now, with these things in
mind, I want you to turn over here to 1 Corinthians 11. Beginning
here in verse 23, let me read you several verses of Scripture. 1 Corinthians 11.23, For I have received of the Lord
that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus Christ,
the same night in which he was betrayed. Now, that's very important. Remember, I read it to you awhile
ago. He wound the whole thing up by telling The man that's
going to betray me got his hand on the table. Had it there since
the first time. The same night in which he was
betrayed, he took bread. And when he gave him thanks,
he broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken
for you. This do in remembrance of me. At the same manner also, he took
the cup, and when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament
in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink
it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread
and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come.
Wherefore," based on this, wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread
and drink the this cup of the Lord unworthily," boy, don't
that send alarm bells off, "...shall be guilty of the body
and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself,"
not the church, not a board of deacons. 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. And for this cause many are weak
and sickly among you, and many sleep, many are dead." Or if we would judge ourselves,
we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are
chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with
the rest of the world. There is much controversy in
our day over the Lord's Supper. And because evil abounds in the
world, the blessed ordinances have been compromised, misrepresented,
and the whole reason why they were given has disappeared in
the smoke. That is Satan's aim from the
get-go. Take the glory out of it. Take
the love out of it. Take the righteousness out of
it. Take the glory of God away from it. Men, we just swallow it up. We
just eat it up. Eat up religion. Job said we
drink iniquity like water. The Lord's table is given to
his church to celebrate our redemption by reminding us of our Redeemer. We don't have any redemption
apart from him. He's the focal point of the supper.
He gave it. He explained it. He designated
the elements, and he alone is to be remembered. I'm not to change or alter this
supper. Paul said, as I received it,
I in turn instruct you the same way I was instructed. And because
I have a problem with alcohol, I'm not at liberty to change
the wine to grape juice. That so aggravates me when people
talk about that. They didn't accuse him of being
a grape juice beaver, did they? They said he was a wine beaver.
They wouldn't have said that if he didn't drink wine. Huh? That's exactly right. And this
wine here is wine. That's what it is. It's wine.
And I mentioned this earlier, I'm not to take the pomp and
pageantry of outward religion and dress up this ceremony. This
ceremony was designed, designated to be very simple, very personal. Now, there are three common errors
that surround the Lord's supper. I want to deal with them just
briefly. First is the idea that the bread and wine, either physically
or spiritually, turn actually into the body of Christ. That's
a lie. Those of you who drink this wine
this morning, it's going to go in your mouth, it's going to
go down your throat, it's going to go in your stomach, and later
on it's going to be cast out and it's still going to be wine.
That's all it's ever going to be, wine. That bread, the same
way, it's just bread. You put it in your mouth and
chew it and swallow it, it's just bread. It's not going to
turn into the body of Christ. The bread and the wine are symbolic
of his body and symbolic of his blood. He said we do show his
death. We don't die his death. We show
his death. And the Lord's table is not a
sacrament. I'm taking this straight out
of the dictionary. I just want you to read it. If
words mean anything, here's what they say. Sacramentalism, according
to the dictionary, is the doctrine that that the observance of the
sacraments is necessary for salvation, and that such an observance can
confer grace. That's a lie. It cannot. It cannot. I heard an old preacher say one
time about baptism. He said, if you go in the pool
in unbelief, you'll rise a wet sinner still in unbelief. I won't
do anything for you, and neither does this supper. The Lord's
Table is not how the gifts of God are conferred or how men
and women are brought into favor with God. The Lord's Table is
not for unbelievers to find grace. They're for believers to remember
the grace that they've already received. That's what it's about. And then thirdly, the Lord's
Table is not restricted to only members of a local church. While
it is administered by the local church, it is not, strictly speaking,
limited to them. Later on, at your leisure, if
you want to, you can read Acts chapter 20. Paul went over there,
and these elders and deacons and pastors from all these churches
came over there with him, and they had the table. They observed
the Lord's table in this one spot at this one local church
before they sent him off on his missionary journey. They broke
the bread and took the cup. And it is a blessed ordinance
of God, and the Lord reminds us that He desires us to attend
it. We are encouraged to take it.
It is meant to comfort and cheer the heart. It is meant to stir
up that remembrance and worship of God in us. But here in 1 Corinthians
11, there is also a stern warning. He said we must be worthy. worthy
to take this supper. Verse 27, Whosoever shall eat
this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall
be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. And then there is
an examination that must take place before this worthiness
can be established. There has to be an examination.
Who makes the decision? Judah. Ain't that what Paul said? He
didn't say, now look, I'm going to examine you, so get ready. Huh? And then put on them spiritual
glasses and look. Huh? He didn't do that, did he? No. He said, let every man examine
himself. There has to be an examination. This worthiness has to be established. Where? In your heart. Not mine. Yours. Don't you shove that off
on me. I'll put it right back on you.
You examine yourself this morning as I go through this. You examine
yourself. Don't you come to me later on
and say, well, you didn't tell me that. Oh, yes, I did. Oh,
yes, I did. And then I want you to hear this.
Thirdly, there's consequences to those who don't. You won't
judge yourself, you will. Ain't that what he says? He will. He will. Even those who are true believers,
but unworthily each, he said, are chastened of God with sickness,
weakness and death. For this cause, he said, many
are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." Now, here's
some good advice. Here's the fourth thing. Here's
some good advice. If you judge yourself, we'd have no need to
be judged. Now, that's what he says. All right. Let me see if I can
help you to determine if you're worthy to take this supper. Now,
first of all, let me tell you this. of yourself, based on your
behavior, your personal obedience and righteousness, you cannot
be worthy. Now, if you're trying to work
up a righteousness and you haven't been taken to supper, and you're
just going to work on it, well, I just didn't feel like I was
up to it this time. I'm going to work on it, and
next time we have it, you ain't going to get there. All our righteousnesses
are filthy rags, is what he said. And if you're still trying to
work one up, you're not aware of that. You've got to be made
aware of that. If you read in the bulletin that we're going to have the
Lord's table this morning, you've read that. And then all week
long, you tried to get worked up to it. I'm going to get it. I'm going to get it. Now, I've
prayed a lot, and I've read a lot, and now I feel worthy. You've just disqualified yourself
from taking the table. Totally disqualified yourself.
You search yourselves. You find no faults. You get in
the way. You've totally taken yourself
out of the way of the table. The man who eateth and drinketh
unworthily and drinketh damnation to his soul is the man or the
woman who does not discern the Lord's body. Now, how does he do that? He
can do it in his behavior. I'm going to tell you that first. If you live any way you want
to and do anything you want to and say anything you want to,
you don't discern the Lord's body. His body was broken for
us to redeem us. And that redemption has to do
with the power of sin that rules in your life. If you don't see
that, you don't discern the Lord's body. And if you live like the
devil and talk like a child of God, you don't know God. And
you're not worthy to take this table because you don't discern
the Lord's body. That body accomplished something.
That death accomplished something. That blood accomplished something.
If it didn't accomplish something in you, it's never been applied
to you. I don't have time this morning,
but I could take you through the Scriptures and bury you in
Scriptures. Nearly the whole book of James
talks about this. I'm not saying that we reach
this plateau of righteousness. What I'm telling you is, That
life that we live in this present world is governed either grace
reigns in your heart or sin, one or the other. Only you can
answer that. I can't answer it. I'm just telling
you how this examination goes. Now, that's the first part of
it. The Pharisees looked down their self-righteous noses at
Christ, and they mockingly said to his disciples, Why eateth
your master, republicans and sinners? Huh? Listen to what the Lord told
them. He said, now you go learn what
this means. Huh? You go discern. When you
are able to discern what this means, you come back and we'll
talk some more. He said, I'll have mercy, not
sacrifice. I've not come to call the righteous
but sinners to repentance. The believer is a person that
God brought to see what he is, vile, putrid, unclean, full of
death and disease, full of rebellion, full of ignorance, full of darkness,
full of self. Seeing himself for what he is,
he throws himself on the mercy of God. And he bows down and
says, You are just. You are just. Do with me what
you will. I know that Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The
believer does not now lean on the arm of the flesh to accomplish
this righteousness because the best he is able to produce is
nothing more than filthy rag. But there is a work accomplished
of God in you. The same as God accomplished
that redemption on the cross, he accomplishes a work in us.
He does it. You can't. It is all of grace. But it's there. Don't deny it. If you deny it, you don't discern
the body of Christ. Is that clear? I feel like I'm
unclear on this, but I'm trying to be as clear as I know how. He's my worthiness. He's my worthiness. And then secondly, he said, let
a man examine himself, and so let him eat. Only you can determine
if you're a believer. Somebody asked me that one day.
Well, did you, William, ask me if I thought I don't know who's
believers in here, let alone over there or somewhere else.
Only you can answer that. I can't answer that for you.
Now, I know certain men manifest certain things, and when they
manifest certain things, they manifest their own belief. I
know that. But there's lots of folks who manifest good things
who don't believe, and there's a lot of folks who believe who
don't manifest good things. Only you can determine. If you're
a believer, only you can determine if your hope and confidence before
God rests in Christ alone. Do you have an interest in his blood?
I know we talk about it. I know we talk about it. We love
to talk to people about it. We love to get somebody up against
the wall that we know, dumb in a box of rocks, and then start
talking to them about grace and just popping things on them,
and they can't answer. They don't know what to say.
But do we have an interest in these things? Is this where I rest? Is this
my hope? Can I discern that body? Can
I look at it? Does it stir my heart when I
look at it? Is that my hope? Is this all my hope? Is this what you cling to when
the trials come? Is this what you rejoice in when
the flesh tries to strip it away? Is this what you run to? Is this what strikes the cord
of my heart and makes me rejoice when I hear the gospel preached?
Is this my delight when I read the Word of God? Is this what raises my heart
up to worship? Is this what motivates me and
stirs up my affections? Examine yourself. Do you see
what he is saying? Examine yourself. Do I know Christ? Do I love him? Do I understand
what he did and why he did it? So let him eat. If you do, eat. Eat. And so let him drink. And when we do, we show his death. The manner of the woman that
can truly discern, truly understands, truly rejoices in Christ, he
demonstrates that death as he eats and drinks his supper. I show his death to be effectual.
because God has given me a spirit of discernment. You read it in
Ephesians a while ago. The natural man, he won't receive
them. They're foolishness to him. Neither can he know them
because they are foolishness unto him. But, Paul said, we
have the mind of Christ and understand all things and are understood
of nobody. Talk to folks for 45 minutes
and they'll get you going. What does he know? It's a revelation. I'm telling you, it's a revelation
of God. We have the mind of Christ. In baptism, I confess my union
with Christ by faith, being buried with Him, risen to walk in newness
of life. In the Lord's supper, I show
His body and His blood. to be my life indeed. I take
it within me. I drink it within me. Except
you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you have no life
in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal
life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh
is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." He is the bread
of God that feeds God's children, preserves their lives in the
wilderness. He said, that bread that rained down, they didn't
have anything else to eat. Huh? We think we do. We eat a lot of garbage and sand.
That bread, it comes down from heaven. Feed God's children. Do I understand that? Huh? Then I discern the body of Christ.
You are worthy and I invite you without reservation to take this
bread and drink this wine. One last thing before we pass
out the elements. I want to caution you parents
about your children. I am not setting any laws. I
have read of people, famous people, who later on become preachers
and preached all their life until they died and died in a faith
or spoken of by the church in good manners who were converted
at the ages of 11 and 12. I haven't seen it in my lifetime,
but it's happened. And I'm not going to come in
here and say, OK, everybody under 13 don't know nothing. I'm not
going to tell you that. But you parents know your children. And
you know whether or not God's done a work in them or He hasn't.
Don't let them foolishly take to this table. Now, I'm warning
you. I'm not going to stand up here and pick. I'm going to tell
you. They're your children. You watch
them. You watch them. If you want them to take this
table, you let them have it. But I caution you. I caution
you. This table, this supper, is for
believers. You can't remember what you've
never experienced. You can't tell what you don't
know. And you know your children. And if they don't, and they don't
understand why you won't let them take it, take them home
and counsel them. Tell them what I just told you.
Set them down. Take these things one at a time
and tell them and teach them. Teach them these things. Don't
let them just grow up and do things and take part in this
and take part in that and do this and do that and they'll
grow up thinking the same and don't know God. Don't do that. I'm not going to practice that
in here like it's practiced in other churches. We're not going
to baptize babies. We're not going to sprinkle babies.
We're not going to dedicate babies. You want to dedicate your baby,
you go home and do it. You pray and ask God, bless that
child. Maybe he will. Maybe he will.
But don't bring him up here expecting me to sprinkle him. It ain't
going to happen. It ain't going to happen.