I want us to look at a very troubling
passage of scripture. The title of my message is a
very troubling passage, and you'll understand the reason I've given
that title to the message as soon as I read the text. The
most blessed privilege men and women can enjoy in this world
is the privilege of public worship. I stated that exactly as I wanted
to state it. The most blessed privilege we
have in this world is the privilege of public worship, the privilege
of gathering with God's saints in his house in the name of our
Redeemer to worship God our Savior. This assembly, this assembly
right here, Grace Baptist Church, Danville, Kentucky, this assembly
right here. This group of folks right here,
right now, this assembly is described in the book of God like this.
Now, this is how it's described. We've come here in this building
on this hillside, gathered together in the name of our Redeemer.
Listen to what God says about this assembly. This is the house
of God. This is the house of God. Paul
wrote and said, I give you these things, these words of instruction
that you may know how you ought to behave yourself in the house
of God. This is called the temple of
God. That building they had over in
Jerusalem 2,000 years ago was just a material building that
represented what's going on here. It just represented it. That
physical edifice they had over Jerusalem just symbolically typified
the temple of God. Which temple you are? The temple
of God. The place where God meets sinners. The place where God's glory is. The place where God gives out
his word. The place where God is worshipped.
And this, this assembly right here, this, I want you to get
this so much. This right now, Bobby, we're
meeting together, a band of believers, and God the Holy Spirit tells
us this is an habitation of God through the Spirit. Wow. An habitation of God through
the Spirit. Now, clearly we recognize the
universality of God's church. We recognize that God's kingdom
is a universal kingdom. By that, I mean this. Don't let
anyone mistake what I say. I know the fellows who spell
badness with a big B like to put words in our mouths. They
say, well, you folks just believe all the churches make up one
big church. Nobody ever heard such nonsense from these lips.
No. But we do recognize that the
church, the body of Christ, his bride, is made up of God's elect,
all God's elect, from the beginning of time to the end of time, all
God's elect, Old Testament and New, all God's elect, the saints
in heaven and the saints on earth. We are one general assembly called
the Church of the Firstborn. This is the Church of God universal. Every sinner who trusts Christ,
every blood-bought sinner, every chosen sinner is a part of the
body and bride of Christ, the Church of God universal. But
that does not in any way diminish, demise, or lessen the beauty,
the importance, the significance of this local assembly. Folks
like to brag that they're local church men. Nobody, nobody I
know has a higher opinion of the local church than the person
who recognizes God's church as it is in this world. This local
assembly, this is the only place on this earth where we are assured
Christ meets with man. The only place on this earth.
He may meet with you when you gather your family and read the
scriptures. He may not. He may meet with you in your
closet when you pray, and he may not. He may show himself
in the midst of this trouble or that, and he may not. But
he promises where two or three are gathered together, not two
or three come together, where two or three are gathered together
in my name, gathered by me, gathered to worship me. where they're
just two or three, there am I in the midst of them. When we come
together as a local church, in the name of Christ, God the Holy
Spirit comes with us. I don't have any idea how that
can be explained or understood, but somehow, if he has gathered
us, He gathers us tonight, gathered us this morning. He gathers us
again Tuesday night. He gathers us. If he gathers
us, brings us together to worship Christ, when we come together
in Christ's name, the Spirit of God comes with us. Some have,
this is what he says, know ye not that ye are the temple of
God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? So that when
we come together, If we come with our hearts brought together
by Christ, brought together by the Spirit of God, we come to
worship our Redeemer. When we come together, as we
walk in the doors, God the Spirit walks in with us. That's astounding
to me. That's astounding to me. I never
cease to be amazed at that. And yet we experience it continually. Let us never presume upon it,
but let us never fail to recognize what God declares in his word.
God sends out his word through gospel churches. He gathers his
elect by the preaching of the gospel in gospel churches. God instructs, comforts, edifies,
and establishes his saints by the ministry of the gospel in
the local assembly just like this. And God is worshiped by
his people in the divinely ordained ordinances of public worship
maintained in gospel churches. That makes this blessed privilege,
gathering with God's saints in public worship, the greatest
privilege on this earth. The greatest privilege on this
earth. Here we worship God in the reading of his word. Do you know in most churches,
in most what's called churches, I'm not talking about the liberal
places where, you know, you know God's not there. I'm talking
about most, in most conservative churches. Do you have any idea
how little the word of God is actually read? Have any idea? And the book was intended to
be read. It was intended to be read publicly. You read the first
chapter of the book of Revelation in opening verses. Blessed is
he that readeth. And it's referring not to one
who just sits at home and reads, though certainly that's so. It's
referring to that one who reads the word publicly, who reads
the word. We worship God by the reading
of his word. I encourage you, man, when you
prepare to read in the office or hear publicly in the auditorium,
There's a place where we just read. No comment, no opinion,
no expression. Just stand up here and read the
word just as it is. Read over it carefully so you
read with understanding. And if you read the passage with
understanding, you read in such a way as to profit those who
read with you. We worship our God in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in
our hearts to the Lord. We worship him by gospel preaching. We worship him in the exercise
of believers baptism. We worship him in the observance
of the Lord's Supper. Perhaps it is the very fact that
local churches are so vital to the welfare of our souls that
makes the local church a huge target for our adversary, the
devil. He can constantly stirs up confusion
about the local church, its proper place, its usefulness and its
ordinances. And therefore, the Holy Spirit
gives us crystal clear instruction about how we're to worship God.
I hear folks say, well, the spirit of God didn't really give us
any real plain instruction about church order and how we ought
to worship God and how we ought to conduct our services. I beg
your pardon. He gives us crystal clear instruction,
very plain instruction. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
11. And let me tell you what has been used of God, I believe,
somewhat to inspire this message. I have in recent weeks had a
good bit of correspondence with a very dear friend. He'll be
listening to this sermon tonight probably. They meet together
down south of Sydney, Australia. Brother Simon Bell and folks
meet in his house and worship God, watching our videotapes,
listening to the messages. And he's been corresponding with
me a good bit about the matter of observing the Lord's Supper,
how it ought to be done. how we ought to, whether we ought
to use wine and unleavened bread, or is it all right to use grape
juice and soda crackers, or whatever. That was not exactly the way
he phrased it, but he's been asking questions, a good many
questions, because of some confusion, because of some poor instruction,
because of some thoughts that men have concerning these things.
So let's look at 1 Corinthians 11 this evening. And I want you
to look at this passage. We'll start here with my text,
verses 27, 28, and 29. Few passages in the word of God
have been more horribly misrepresented, more horribly misinterpreted,
and more horribly misused than these three verses. 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 be sure you mark that. That's
the key to the whole passage, not discerning the Lord's body. I don't doubt at all that these
three verses of scripture had been more troubling to sensitive
souls than any other passage in Holy Scripture because of
poor instruction. because of ignorance brought
upon them by preachers who abuse and misuse the Word of God to
their own advantage, not caring how the Word of God itself is
written, but rather caring only for what they can do with the
Word of God. It's sad. It's sad. Self-serving
false prophets manipulate and twist and mishandle the scriptures
deliberately because they want to use the scriptures to control
you, to manipulate you, to hold you under their thumbs. Many
of the Lord's people read these three verses and think, surely
if anyone is unworthy to receive the Lord's Supper, it's me. And
Satan roars against the weak, the untaught or the poorly taught
believer. He accuses us of guilt. He tries to put us upon a legal
footing before God. The old serpent is hellishly
subtle. He's clever, clever with all
the cleverness of hell itself. And under the guise of humility,
under the pretense of holiness, he would have us to turn our
eyes away from our Redeemer into ourselves and look for some worthiness
to worship God. Now, this kind of language, this
kind of thinking is not connected with any other aspect of worship.
Which one of you is worthy to call on God in prayer in your
closet? Anybody? Which one of you is worthy to
confess Christ and believe His baptism? Which one of you is
worthy to lead the church in public prayer? Which one of you
is worthy to stand up here and lead us in worship, singing a
hymn? Which one of you is worthy to stand here and read the word
of God? Which one is worthy to preach
the gospel? If you look at yourself and look
inwardly for worthiness, none of us are worthy to do anything.
None of us. Call on God. Because of your
worth, God will send you to hell for it. Come to God's throne
in your merit, you'll go to hell for it. Our worthiness is all
together in Christ. Now don't miss that. Our worthiness
before God. We call on God as our father
because we trust Christ. We go to him with our burdens
because we trust Christ. We cast our care on him because
we trust Christ. We sing his praise because we
trust Christ. We read his word in worship because
we trust Christ. We call on his name because we
trust Christ. Our worthiness is the blood and
righteousness and person of God's own son. We have no other worthiness. Who is then, and who is not worthy
to receive the Lord's Supper? Let me answer the question clearly,
and then we're gonna look at this 11th chapter of 1 Corinthians.
Every true believer, that means every sinner who trusts Christ,
the youngest and the oldest, every true believer, each one
who looks upon Christ as his wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. The one who has just been converted. If right now, for the first time,
as you heard me describe what believers are, people who trust
Christ, bless God, I believe Him. If right now, for the first
time, you believe on the Son of God, your worthiness is exactly
the same as the one preaching to you, exactly the same as the
oldest, most experienced believer here. Our worthiness is Christ
the Lord. Every sinner who believes on
the Son of God is worthy to eat the bread and drink the wine.
Well, don't you think we ought to? No, I don't. Whatever it
was you were going to suggest, no, I don't think we ought to
do it. We ought to bar it. We ought to put fences around
it. We ought to warn folks. No, no. Every believer is given
the privilege and is commanded of the Savior to eat this bread
and drink this wine in remembrance of Him. Now, let's see if I can
make good on that. You can't possibly understand
verses 27, 28, and 29 unless you understand it in the context
in which it's given. In fact, whenever you read the
Scripture, if you want to deal honestly with the Word of God,
and I know you do, you want to interpret Scripture accurately,
Always look at a passage first and foremost in its immediate
context. And not only that, look at it
in the context of all scripture. When you look at a passage and
say, well, I wonder if this means that there are some people who
Though they are true Christians and though they are redeemed
and though they're justified, though they're sanctified and
accepted of God in the beloved, though they're robed in Christ's
righteousness and born of his spirit. We ought not let you
sit at the Lord's table. Now, put that in the context
of this whole book. And I'll tell you what you do
when you throw it at it, it'll bounce off every time. It'll
bounce off every time. It just ain't there. The book
won't take it. It's not in there. Well, this
worthiness has got something to do with not looking to me,
but looking to Christ. Our unworthiness, if there is
any, must be because Christ is not ours. You throw that at the
book, it just swallows it up. That's just what the whole book
teaches. Our acceptance with God is Christ. Our unacceptance
is self. Our righteousness is Christ.
Our unrighteousness is self. Our worthiness is Christ. Our
unworthiness is no Christ. All right, let's look here in
1 Corinthians 11, beginning at verse 20. Paul is here inspired
by God the Holy Spirit to set in order the disorderly things
that he observed in the church of Corinth. To set in order the
worship of God. And if we would worship our God,
we must worship him after the due order. That is, worship him
as he has prescribed in his word. We have no right, nor should
we want to have the right, to invent things. to add things
to the worship of God, to make the worship of God more convenient
to ourselves, to make the worship of God more palatable and acceptable
to the generation in which we live. We have no right to do
so. We have no right to it. And we
ought not even want it. What does God teach us about
worship? Look at verse 20. When you come
together, therefore, into one place, This is not to eat the
Lord's Supper. There are three things here.
Paul is talking about a specific time and a specific place, and
it tells us three things in this one verse. Number one, there
was a specific place where the church at Corinth assembled for
public worship. Now, It may have been in some
rich man's large house. It may have been in the fields.
It may have been in a publicly rented place. It may have been
anywhere. But there was a specific place
set aside where many women called by Christ gathered in the name
of Christ to worship him. Now, I stress that in this day
because there are many who fancy themselves learned spiritual
people who care nothing for commitment. And they run from Bible conference
to Bible conference, from church to church, and from this place
to that, whenever they take a notion to, and never commit themselves
to anything. I don't hesitate to tell them,
and some of them will be hearing this message, because they won't
go to church, they'll listen to it on the internet. They'll stay at home, listen
to it on the internet, have no responsibility, no commitment. I say you're a
blooming religious welfare bum, nothing else. A religious welfare
bum. I've got no respect for you.
They call it godliness. It's just a lack of responsibility
and commitment. They call it spirituality. It
is just an unwillingness to be depended on for anything. When
the local church gathers, the local church to which you are
a member, when this local assembly meets together, it's your privilege
and your responsibility to be here. Adjust your life around
it. Adjust your life around it. Whatever
that takes. Whatever that takes. I recognize
men and women have responsibilities in this world. And we want to
do this, we want to do that, we want to do the other thing.
You young people, you start your families, you got your children,
you want to raise them. There's nothing more important
than that they'd be in this place, worshiping God with you. Oh,
wouldn't have got to convince everybody who professes in the
name of Christ that's so. But all their friends, their
friends, mamas and daddies are leading them to hell. You want
to? There's nothing more important, nothing. Well, we got to have
some family time. Why not have it with God's people?
We got to do this. Nothing more important. Besides
that, what do you suppose would happen if every man, woman in
the congregation here, if all of us, well, you know, it's a
good weekend to go fishing. It's a good weekend to go visit
Aunt Sally. It's a good weekend to go. You soon wouldn't have
a place to worship, would you? You soon wouldn't have it. The
building of a local assembly. requires commitment and responsibility. It requires it. And it's your
privilege and mine to give ourselves to that responsibility. When
the church at Corinth came together at the appointed time, they claimed
that they did so to eat the Lord's supper, we're told in verse 20.
They met in Christ's name and certainly there were some, there
were some in the assembly who came together to worship the
Redeemer and eat the Lord's supper to remember the Lord Jesus. But
the vast majority of them had allowed and caused the worship
of the local church to degenerate into festivities. They, rather
than just simply coming together, the early disciples met and they
continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine, and daily
they broke bread in every house. They didn't have a huge celebration. It wasn't a big, ornate show. It wasn't something that, you
know, took a lot of time. They had changed it, Merle. Rather
than just men coming and passing out bread and wine, started making
bread, wine, we had the Lord's table, now we're going to have
a feast. They called them love feasts. Some churches still have
them, love feasts. They get together and they have
communion, they have a love feast together. And this is what happened
at Corinth. They had made the eating of the
bread and drinking of the wine in remembrance of Christ nothing
but a side thing by which to introduce a hellish party. called it a love feast in the
house of God. But what's wrong with that? Whenever
you add something to the worship of God, now mark it down. Whenever you add something to
the worship of God, whatever is added becomes the most important
thing. Whatever is added, whatever churches
add, That becomes the thing that distinguishes them. That becomes
the thing that's most important. These days, the entertainment
and the plays and the skits and the music programs. I know fellows
who've been involved in these churches. They have their, their,
what is it? I don't even forgot what they
call it. that programs with a fellow who's the worship leader. That's
what he is, a worship leader. I thought that was preaching.
Not these days. The worship leader, he's the
fellow who figures out all the music and the programs and the
schemes and what they're going to play and how they're going
to do it and how it's all going to be organized. Do you know
those things are laid out months in advance? How come? Because that's the most important
aspect of what they call worship. Folks, add to God's word and
his worship. And thirdly, if we do not observe
the ordinances of divine worship in the manner prescribed, Paul
tells us here, we don't worship him at all. He said, when you
come together, it is not to eat the Lord's supper. They came
to throw a party. Therefore, Paul says, it's all
nothing. We're required of God to observe
his ordinances, to worship him as he prescribes. We come together
every Sunday night and observe the Lord's Supper. Having lunch
this afternoon, Ms. Dix, Sadler's, asked me some
questions about the Lord's Supper. And Ms. Sadler said, you observe
it in the evenings. I said, it's hard to eat supper
in the morning. Would it be all right to observe
it in the morning? I guess it would I'm not I'm not belittling folks
who do but why alter God's ordinance? What's the purpose? Why do things
differently when there's no need at all to do so then the Lord
did himself Yes, we come together observe the Lord's Supper and
it's called his supper because it was settled by him who is
the author of it in the evening of his life and He's the subject
of it. He's the host of it. It's for
his family. He's the reason we do it. Look
at verse 21. Here's the second thing. For
in eating, everyone taketh before other his own supper, and one
is hungry and another is drunken. Now, if you've got any question
about whether or not the early church used wine or grape juice,
wine or Kool-Aid, Verse 21, I'll answer your question. Hard for
a fellow to become inebriated by drinking too much Kool-Aid,
or even by drinking too much grape juice. These Corinthians
were throwing their love feast, and when they did, Paul explains
exactly why their practice was not worship. It couldn't be considered
observing the Lord's Supper. They added to the worship of
Christ, to this simple ordinance, the gaudy festivities of their
love feast. And it was a rude, cruel, self-serving
feast. They called it a love feast,
but it was just a party where folks gorged themselves. Rather
than waiting for one another, they rudely jumped in front of
each other. I've got to pause. I've got to pause. We're about
to have our conference. You children, young people, I
see this going on everywhere. I see it going on everywhere.
Don't let it happen here. Y'all wait till the adults are
done. Wait till they're done. Ask your mama or daddy. Ask your
mama or daddy. Reckon what would have happened,
David Peterson, when you were seven or eight years old, if
you had jumped in front of a bunch of senior citizens and grabbed
a piece of chicken? He'd have come out with a fork
in his hand. Well, why? It's called respect. It's called
respect. Disrespect. If you will observe,
you'll notice that folks in the congregation, we kind of wait
around till our guests have all had all they want. How come?
It's called respect. Disrespect, that's all. Order,
order. And we ought never to forget
it wherever we are, particularly in God's house. These folks at
Corinth, one jumped in front of the other. And instead of
waiting for the poor who came to the love feast because they
were hungry, They gorged themselves and got drunk and sent the poor
folks home hungry again. Read on, verse 22. What? Had ye not houses to eat and
drink in? Or despise ye the church of God
and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall
I praise you in this? No, I praise you not. Now, this
is not a prohibition to having to eating in the church house.
Where we get our notions, I have no idea. But there are lots of
folks, Baptist and otherwise, who think, boy, you've defiled
the church if you have a kitchen in it. That's terrible. That's
terrible. How dare you eat a piece of cake
in God's house? God's house is not this building.
It's not this building. If we should need to Move to
another place. God gives us such increase. We
need to need to move to another place. And somebody wants to
use this for a grocery store. It'd be all right. It's just
wood. There's nothing holy about it.
There's nothing sacred about it. People talk about this sacred
desk. This is just wood. There's nothing
sacred about that. You get done with it, no longer use it. Chop
it up and use a fire. Would it be all right? There's
nothing holy about these physical things. You are the house of
God. And The foolishness can be real
foolish. Try this on. Joe, you can't have
a kitchen downstairs, because this is a church house, but you
can have four bathrooms and be all right. That won't defile
it. What stupidity? What stupidity? No, Paul is simply saying, Don't
use God's house for your frivolity and foolishness. It is as if
he said this, if you're going to behave like this, at least
stay home. Don't treat the church of God
with such contempt. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves
for shamefully embarrassing your poor brethren. All right. Then
he talks to us about the bread and wine in verses 23 through
26. He says, 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 break 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 in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat
this bread and drink this cup, you do show forth the Lord's
death, or you do show the Lord's death till he come. Here the
Holy Spirit tells us something that's very, very important.
We have lots of the remnants of papacy in our lives. When we start to give thanks
for our food. I say it. I try not to, but I
catch myself saying it once in a while. You say it. Brother
Davey, would you ask the blessing? You know, have you blessed the
food? Have you blessed the bread? Have you blessed the wine? When
the gospel writers speak of our Lord Jesus blessing the bread
and blessing the cup, They're not talking about him somehow
bringing down a magical spiritual blessing on the bread and on
the wine, which is what the papist teach when the Pope does his
mumbo-jumbo or the priest does his mumbo-jumbo over it. We blessed
it down. Now it's holy wine. Now it's
holy bread. Now it really is the body and
blood of Christ. It's crass heathen idolatry. Paul says here when he blessed
it, he just gave thanks. That's all. That's all. We give
thanks for the food. We don't bring a blessing on
it. We pray God will bless it to our good, but we don't bring
a blessing on it. We give thanks for it. And that's
what our Lord did here. Now, having said that, let me
just touch the highlights of what's taught here. We're to
observe the Lord's Supper the same way our Lord did it with
his disciples on the night he was betrayed. Brother Simon asked
a very serious question. He was very serious, and I'm
sure he won't mind me relating this to you. We're family. I
haven't met him yet, but we're family. He said, suppose we have
alcoholics in the church. How would we sit wine before
them? And I wrote him back, and I said, I've been doing it for
40 years, and I've never seen one stagger out of the building
yet. Never have yet. Observing the Lord's table? You
see, when God saves folks, he saves them all over, inside and
out. I've never, I have never known
an alcoholic, a man who had been an alcoholic. I know what it
is. I've never known one to be inclined to become an alcoholic
again because he observed the Lord's table drinking wine. Never
have known. He asked me, said, what about children? Children
ought not to observe it unless they know the Lord. You children,
you don't take the bread and wine. You who don't know the
Redeemer, if you know him by all means. And they say, you
mean you give wine to a child? Who are you to imagine that you're
more holy than God Almighty and you'd withhold it? Did our Lord
use wine and bread, unleavened bread when he established the
ordinance? Then we have no reason at all and no grounds upon which
to change that. Well, but what about if we go
out in the jungle where bread and unleavened bread and wine
is not available? I said you make unleavened bread
in 15 minutes. I don't even know how to cook.
I can do that. You make it in 15 minutes. Cool it off. Make
it 15 minutes and just a little while you make wine takes no
special skill. Just drop you some grapes in
a jar of water and watch it ferment. That's all it takes. It's all
this. You mean there's there's no excuse then to change it?
None, except because people think. that they're holier than God
and somehow what God requires and God teaches in his word can
be turned into something evil. No, sir. The means that we are
to use are the elements we are to use. And this ordinance is
unleavened bread and wine for this reason, for this reason,
not just because that's what the Lord used, though that's
reason enough. If that's where it was instituted, that's where
I'll be done. Just that simple. But the bread represents his
body, his holy humanity, crushed beneath the wheels of God's infinite
justice for us. And the wine represents his blood,
the blood of the New Testament by which our sins have been put
away. The wine crushed from the grape. as he was crushed under the wrath
of God in our stead. And the wine and the bread separated,
because the blood taken from the body pictures sure death. The wine and the blood are used
to represent our Redeemer, and as often as we eat this bread
and drink this wine, We do so, or we are to do so, in remembrance
of our Savior, showing forth his death until it comes. You
who do not know our Redeemer, we observe the Lord's Supper
in public ordinances, public worship, just like this, every
Sunday night. We don't have a little secret
meeting and do it. We do it right here in God's
house with God's people. And I say to you who do not know
the Redeemer, watch, and you'll learn something. This is how
redemption is accomplished. You see that bread, it represents
the fact that God became a man. And that bread has no impurity
in it, no leaven, no defilement, nothing to corrupt. That's the
holy humanity of the Son of God by which righteousness is brought
in for us. You see that wine? That wine
represents the lifeblood of God's darling son with which his church
has been purchased. The lifeblood of the incarnate
God with no corruption, no defilement. The wine has been fermented so
that all the natural leaven that's in the grape is now gone. And
you just had the wine of the pure grape before you. And that
wine represents our Redeemer. His blood poured out for us with
which he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. Now, how does that get to be
mine? Watch, watch, just watch. Take this hand and you pick up
that bread. You don't come crawling up here
on your knees for me. with some kind of a silly, gaudy-looking
costume on and I wave it in front of you and mumbo-jumbo and stick
it on your tongue. No, no. No, you take the bread
in your hand and put it in your mouth and eat it. And you take
the wine in your hand and you put it to your lips and you drink
it. That pictures faith in Christ. You remember what Brother Larry
read just a little while ago? Our Lord said something to that woman.
Sometimes I think when I start listening to fellows preach,
I'll offer them some money. I know fellows I'd said, I'll
give you $100 if you'll just stand up and quote Luke 750 without
saying a word about it. Just $100 if you just stand up
and quote it. Don't try to explain it. Just quote it. You remember
what it said? Thy faith hath made thee whole. Oh, no, you can't say that to
folks. The Lord did. I reckon it'll be all right.
Thy faith hath made thee whole. You will never, ever, ever know
the blessedness of righteousness in Christ and the forgiveness
of sin except by faith you personally take him for your own. I can't
give him to you. Nobody else can give him to you.
The spirit of God gives him to you. But he does so and causes
the one to whom Christ is given to believe on his name. Now,
verse 27. Here, Paul speaks of those who
eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily. Wherefore,
whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord
unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of our Lord."
What does that mean? What does that mean? There is a sense, I'm certain,
in which we can observe the Lord's table unworthily if we don't
use the right elements of leavened bread and wine. If you use soda
crackers and grape juice, you're not observing the Lord's Supper,
you're making a mockery of it. I'm sorry to have to tell you
that. That's just plain. I don't know any other way to
put it. If you come and use Kool-Aid
and light bread, that's not observing the Lord's Supper. That's just
making a mockery of it. Don't fake it. Don't. So wouldn't you
observe the Lord's Supper? Never. Never. I had a fellow
ask me one time, what would you do if you went to a church where
they used Kool-Aid and crackers for the Lord's Supper? I said,
first time we had it, we'd have unleavened bread and wine. How could you
do that? Just set it on the table. That's
all. Don't ask anybody. You set it on the table. You
dare do that? I wouldn't dare do otherwise.
I wouldn't dare do otherwise. We're not going to come here
and mock God in his house. We're not going to do it. We
come to observe the Lord's Supper, and if we don't do it the right
way, that's unworthy. Commonly, this verse has been interpreted
this way. Some of you have been in churches where preachers beat
you over the head all the time. I'll tell you now, this is a
serious, serious thing. This is the most holy ordinance
we have. And you need to examine yourself
and see if there's some unconfessed sin in your life. Isn't that ridiculous? Isn't
it ridiculous? I want to say, and I will say,
if I ever hear one say it, if I'm sitting where you are and
I ever hear a preacher say it, I'll stand up and say, is there
any in your life? What stupidity. Well, are you
living like you ought to? Are you? Are you praying regularly? Are
you? Are you reading your Bible like you should? Are you? No,
that's not what he's talking about. That's not what he's talking
about. And I know with absolute certainty that that's not what
it's talking about, because it's not possible for one of God's
saints to eat and drink unworthily. That's not possible. How do you
know that? Because to do so, James, is to
eat and drink damnation to yourself. That's what it said. It is to
be guilty of the body and blood of the Son of God. And God says
you can't do that. We can't do that. Now, verse
28, he says, examine yourselves. He doesn't say, preacher, you
examine the people. He doesn't say, deacons, y'all
examine folks and see if they've got the right baptismal certificates,
see if they've, all the stuff folks examined. No, he says examine
yourself. And to just one point of examination,
Bobby, Are you in the faith? That's all. Do you believe Christ? Do you trust the Son of God?
Do you? Well, I don't know. Yes, you
do. Don't tell me that. You know whether or not you trust
Him. You know whether or not you trust Him. Do you trust the
Son of God? Make your calling and election
sure, trusting the Son of God. And then Paul says, the Spirit
of God says, so let him eat. Examine yourself. I'm in Christ. Christ is in me.
I know. Because I believe him. I know
that. All right. Now eat. Eat. Eat so many meat. Once we've
been made to know that we're in the faith, that Christ is
in us and we're in Christ, that we trust Christ alone, then the
apostle tells us to eat. What does it mean then to eat
and drink unworthily? Look at verse 29, not discerning
the Lord's body, not understanding, not knowing
the necessity of a substitute, not understanding your own depravity,
not realizing the justice of God's law, not recognizing that
the only way a sinner can be accepted of God is by the substitutionary
obedience and death of God's darling son. Those who eat and
drink unworthily eat and drink in unbelief because they don't
know they need a Savior. And thus they eat and drink damnation
to themselves. That's strong language, Larry.
That's strong language. What's this talking about? Not
only is it true of the Lord's Supper, it's true of all religious
ceremony, of all spiritual gospel ordinances. of all outward worship
practices. A form of godliness without God
in you. A form of godliness without being
made partakers of the divine nature. A form of godliness without
faith in Jesus Christ. The practice of religion with
the presumption of acceptance because you do it is damning
to your soul. Hear what I said. The practice
of religion, the practice of religion with the presumption
of acceptance because you practice it is damning to your soul. It's damning to your soul. Here's
the very reason why I don't ever try to talk anybody into making
a profession of faith. I'm not going to buttonhole you.
I'm not going to try to get you to profess Christ. This is the
reason why I don't plead with folks to join the church. I'm
not going to do it. This is the reason why I don't encourage
folks who don't know God to act like they do. I'm not going to
do it. The practice of religion. with the presumption of acceptance
with God because you practice religion is damning to your soul. Our Lord said to the Pharisees,
you encompass land and sea to make one disciple. And when you've
done so, you've made him two fold more the child of hell than
it was when he came into this world. How's that? Well, we got
them baptized. Let's put that number up, send
it into the convention. We had a thousand this week. Send it in before God. If you dare, if you dare send
it in before God, we've deceived a thousand this week. No. Our worthiness is Christ our
Redeemer. We come to God now, and you who
believe, take this bread and this wine and remember the Savior. Eat the bread, drink the wine,
and ask God to give you grace to remember what it cost the
Son of God to have you. and for you to have Him. And you will eat and drink unto
the Lord. Amen.