Would you turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 11? I want to read one verse of scripture. Verse two. Now, I praise you, brethren. That you remember me in all things
and keep the ordinances as I deliver them to you." I've entitled this message, Keeping
the Ordinances. Now, if you read 1 Corinthians,
you find that Paul is rebuking the Corinthians for so many different
things. We've seen that as we've studied
this book. But now, all of a sudden, he
commends them. He praises them. It wasn't empty
praise. He was commending them for this. He says, I praise you that you
keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you. Now, what is meant
by the word ordinance? I need to understand that if
I'm going to understand why he's praising these people, because,
you know, I want to be somebody. And I'm not talking about human
praise. I'm not talking about pride and so on, but wouldn't
you like to be somebody that because of what you did, the
Apostle Paul would praise you for it? And I don't mean in a
fleshly way, you know that, but yet he praises these people for
this. It's because they kept the ordinances exactly as he
delivered them. Now, what is meant by the ordinances? The word means literally a handing
down. a handing down, and this word
is used both in a good sense and in a bad sense in the scriptures,
depending on who the one doing the handing down is. Now, we
see a lot of times in the scripture where this word ordinance, it's
generally translated tradition, is used in a bad sense. Turn over to Mark chapter seven.
I want to show you three or four scriptures where it's used in
a bad sense. Verse one, then came together
unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes which came from
Jerusalem, and when they saw some of his disciples eat bread
with defiled, that is to say, with unwashing hands, they found
fault. For the Pharisees and all the
Jews, except they washed their hands oft, eat not, holding the
tradition of the elders. And that's the word, the same
word that's translated ordinates. They hold the tradition. It was
the tradition of the elders. to always wash your hands. Now,
that's a good practice, isn't it? We would probably be better
off if we washed our hands often. They say germs, you all know
that. But what's that got to do with
the truth? Absolutely nothing. Now, let's
go on reading. And when they came from the market, except
they wash, they eat not, many other things there be which they
have received to hold as the washing of cups and pots, braising
vessels, and of tables. Then the Pharisees and scribes
asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of
the elders, but eat bread with unwashing hands? He answered
and said unto them, Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites,
as it is written, This people honour me with their lips, but
their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship
me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Not God's
commandments, but men's traditions. For laying aside the commandment
of God, you hold the tradition of men. What men say, their traditions
are more important to you than what God says, as the washing
of pots and cups and many other things like things, do you? And
he said in full, well, you reject the commandment of God that you
may keep your own tradition. Isn't that true of so much religion? You reject what God says in order
to keep your own silly man-made tradition. For Moses, he gives
an example of what they did. For Moses said, honor your father
and your mother. And who so cursed a father or
mother, let him die the death. But you say, if a man shall say
to his father or mother, it's Corbin, that is to say, a gift
by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, he shall be free.
Now, what that's a reference to is the fact that they're saying,
let's say your parents are in need. And the fellow says, well,
this money I got is earmarked to give to the temple when I
die. I've already, I've, um, willed it. So it's all going
to go to the church or the temple or whatever. And so therefore,
I can't help my parents out because I'm using it for this purpose.
Christ says that's pure hypocrisy. That's disobeying the commandment
of God. You ought to be taking care of
your parents and talking about willingness to the church. That's foolishness.
And he said, verse 12, and you suffered no more to do aught
for his father or his mother, making the word of God of none
effect through your tradition, which you have delivered in many
such like things, do ye? Turn to Galatians chapter one. You know, when I read verses
of scripture like this, it scares me because I mean, I don't want
to be guilty of just following man's traditions, do you? I don't
want to do that. Look at Galatians one. Verse 14. Paul said he's talking
about his life before the Lord had saved him. In verse 13 he
said, for you've heard of my conversation in times past in
the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the
Church of God and wasted it and profited in the Jews' religion
above my equals in my known nation, being more exceedingly zealous
of the Word of God? No, the traditions of my fathers. Colossians chapter 2. Verse 8, Beware, lest any man spoil you through
philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the
rudiments or the principles or the elements of the world, and
not after Christ. Now, when I read scriptures like
that, It just scares me. If all we're doing tonight, what
we're doing right now, if all this is, is something that's
been handed down from men, if our doctrine is not divine in
its origin, if our practice is not divine in its origin, we're
in trouble. That which is of man will come
to nothing. Now, in our text, Paul is speaking
of that which is handed down by God Himself. That's why it
was so important to keep it exactly as it was delivered to them. That's why he commends them for
keeping or holding that fast. Now, if what we're doing right
now is a tradition of man, If it's not a mandate from God,
it is worse than funeral. It's positively harmful and destructive
to our souls. Now, what's going on right now?
You've got a man standing up here opening up the Word of God,
preaching, making comments on the Word of God, people listening.
If there's not a mandate from God, if God is not behind this,
if this is not His work, we are in trouble. It's positively destructive. Now, let's take a look at how
the word is used in a good sense, which is turn with me for a moment
to Second Thessalonians. Second Thessalonians, Chapter
two. Paul says in verse 15. Therefore,
brethren, Stand fast, don't be moved and hold, hold tightly
the traditions, the ordinances, the traditions which you have
been taught, whether by word or our epistle. Now, the scripture
is an ordinance or a tradition from God. It's something that
he has handed down to us. And that's why we're so afraid
of adding to it or taking from it. Now once we've been given
the, you notice he said, you hold fast to the traditions whether
by epistle, something we've written down, or even by our word. Now
this was before the full canon of the scripture had been finished
when he made this statement. And there aren't any traditions
by word anymore. Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter
13 verse 10, when that which is perfect is come. What's the
only perfect thing we got in the world? Right now. What's
the perfect again? It's the Bible. It's the Word
of God. When that which is perfect is
come, that which is in part shall be done away with. It's no longer
needed. That's why I do not believe that
any of these gifts that were practiced by the early church,
they could speak in tongues. They could raise the dead. They
could do these miracles. But all that has been done away
with since the full canon of Scripture. You'll remember there
in Acts chapter 8 where Philip is preaching the Gospel and They hear what he's saying and
they're totally impressed with what he's saying and they believe
what he's saying. But the apostles had to come down to transfer
these supernatural gifts. Philip couldn't lay his hands
on these people and transfer the gifts of healing and the
gifts of raising the dead and the gifts of tongues and the
gifts of all these different gifts. He couldn't do it. The
apostles had to come to do it. And when they saw that and when
Simon Magus all have it through the laying on of the apostles
hands, these gifts were transferred. That's when he offered the money.
Give me this gift also. You remember what Peter said
to him. But the point is, these gifts
could only be transferred to the apostles. It was done away
with after the last apostle died. When that which is perfect is
come, the full canon of scriptures, that which is in part should
be done away with, and Paul commends them for holding fast that which
was handed down to them just as it was delivered to them.
He commends them for it. Now, understand this. With regard
to the gospel, I think this is neat. In every profession, there's
always progress. There's always improvement. I
guarantee you the plumbers of today have more understanding
of plumbers than 50 years ago. What if you had to go to a doctor
that had the education that a doctor had 200 years ago? Why? You'd have a hard time. I mean,
can you see how much progress there's been in medicine? There's
such progress in mathematics and all the different things
that men can do. Look at the rise in technology and so on.
And I guess you could argue whether that's a blessing or not in some
respects. But I'm kind of anti-technology. I'm still, well, you know what
I am. I hate computers. But they're
a blessing, I'm sure. But the point I'm making, there's
all this progress in all these things. But regarding the ministry,
there can't be progress. You do it just the way they did
it in the Bible. Any type of progress is no good.
It's not progress, it's digressing. You don't modify the Word of
God, you don't modify the methods, you don't... There's no need
to adjust the message of the gospel. There's no need to change
it for the culture. There's no need for new ways
and new methods. The very idea of contemporary
worship is an abomination. Making it contemporary. Making
it to where people are comfortable with it. Trying to package the
gospel and bring it in such a way as it will be more appealing
to the flesh. That's an abomination. That's as evil as anything I
know of. Trying to market the gospel.
Make it more appealing to the flesh. Trying to figure out new
ways and new methods. No, I'm going to preach the gospel.
I'm not even trying to make it understandable. I'll preach it
as God says it. And I trust the Holy Spirit to
apply it as He sees fit. And he's the one who teaches.
I can't teach anybody. It's God the Holy Spirit who
does it. So we preach God's truth. We preach God's gospel. And we
just leave the results in God's hands. That's the way they are
anyway. I can't do anything for anybody. I can't do anything
for you. And you can't do anything for me. We just preach God's word. Preach
the word. Preach the truth. And God will
bless it as he sees fit. And we keep the ordinances. We
keep The Word of God. We keep the Gospel message. We
don't water it down. We don't modify it. We don't
try to package it. We don't try to make it more appealing to
the flesh. That's why I hate this very idea of contemporary
worship. It's contemptible. That's all
you can call it is contemptible. Let me show you an example of
this in Scripture. Would you turn with me to Hebrews chapter 8? Verse 5, and this is talking
about the instructions God gave to Moses regarding the tabernacle,
which served, verse 5, under the example and shadow of heavenly
things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make
the tabernacle, for see, saith he, God to Moses, that ye make
all things according to the pattern showed thee upon the mount."
Moses wasn't given any liberty to be creative. He wasn't given
any liberty to improvise. God said, you make things exactly
as I said to do it. Look over in Hebrews chapter
3, turn back a few pages. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of
our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that
appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, insomuch
as he who had built the house hath more honor than the house.
For every house is built by some man, but he that built all things
is God. Now Moses verily was faithful in all his house as
a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be
spoken after." But Christ, as a son over his own house, whose
house we are if we hold the confidence and rejoice in the hope firm
to the end. All Moses was, was a servant dictating what God
said to him. There was no room for creativity. Now go back to our text in 1
Corinthians 11. Now, in the context of 1 Corinthians
11, when Paul commends the church for this, let's read it, verse
2. Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things,
and you keep the ordinances as I delivered them unto you." In
the context, he's speaking of public worship. Look in verse
3. For I would have you know that
the head of every man is Christ, and the head of every woman is
the man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or
prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head.
But every woman that prayed or prophesied with her head uncovered
dishonors her head, for that's even all as one as if she were
shaven. Now, we're going to get in more into what all that means
next week or the week after that. But the point is, he's talking
about something that took place publicly, prophesying, praying
publicly. That's what Chapter 11 is all
about. Look in verse 17 of Chapter 11. Now in this I declare unto you,
I praise you not that you come together for the better, but
for the worse. But see, he's talking about when they come
together as what we're doing right now, publicly assembling
together to worship the Lord, to open up His Word, to pray,
to sing hymns of praise, to Hear from the Lord. He's talking about
the public assembly of God's saints when he talks about keeping
the ordinances as I delivered them to you. And you go on in
chapter 12, he's talking about the gifts. Well, he's talking
about public gifts for the ministry. In chapter 13, he tells about
how love is better than any gifts. But if you go into chapter 14,
he's talking about how they abused those gifts for the ministry. So he's talking about the public
assembly of God's saints. He's talking about public worship
when he says, I praise you that you've kept the ordinances as
I delivered them to you. Now, in Vacation Bible School
this year, when I was teaching the kids, we looked at this passage
of scripture. Would you turn with me to Exodus chapter 12?
Verse 24. Now, this is talking about the Passover.
Verse 24, and you shall observe this thing for an ordinance to
thee and to thy sons forever. There's the word in the Hebrew,
an ordinance, a handing down from God. You're to observe this
thing as I handed it down to you forever and it shall come
to pass when you become to the land which the Lord will give
you according as he had promised that you shall keep this service.
And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto
you, What mean ye by this service? Then you shall say, It is the
sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed over the houses of
the children of Israel and Egypt, when he spoke to the Egyptians,
and delivered our houses, and the people bowed their head and
worshipped." Now, when your kids ask you, What do you mean by
all this? You tell them. You tell them. So, I want to
talk about what the Bible has to say about us keeping the ordinances
by way of public worship, what we're doing right now. Now what
happens in a public worship service? How do we begin a public worship
service? Reading the Word of God. We make
much of reading the Word of God. It's God's Word. We sing hymns
of praise. Now, why do we do that? Is God
behind that? Is this just a tradition of men or is there a reason behind
it? We pray. We pray publicly. We pray together. I mean, one man may lead us in
prayer, but it's the united prayer of all God's saints together
praying the same things. We pray. We preach. You get up and there's no fellow
like me preaching from the Word of God. That's what we're doing.
We're preaching. That always goes on in a public worship service.
And we observe the two ordinances the Lord left, baptism and the
Lord's table. Now the question I'm asking,
is this a hand-me-down for men or is it a hand-me-down for God?
Is it merely the tradition of men or is it the tradition of
God? Because if it's merely the tradition
of men, I don't want to have anything to do with it. I don't
want to do anything. We just do it because men do
it. It's just been handed down from generation to generation.
This is the way we've always done things. Well, so what? What if you have done things
that way? Is it of God? That's all I want to know. Is
it of God? Is this of God? Now, he praises this church.
You kept the ordinances as I delivered them to you. Now, what we're
doing right now, we call it, and I don't know whether we or
using the right language, we call it going to church, don't
we? We're going to church. We're going to church. What is
a church? Well, the word church by definition means a called
out assembly. It is God's people meeting together,
called by God, coming together. It's a called out assembly. It
has something to do with worshiping God together. Now, what is a
church? A called-out assembly is a group
of people called by God who believe on Christ, and they meet together
to worship Him. Isn't that why you're here tonight?
You really don't want to just go through a meaningless religious
ritual. You don't want to hear from a man. You don't want to
just... You want to hear from God. You want to obey God in
this. You want to hear from the Lord
in this. That's why we meet together. Now, why do we meet together
like this? Well, for one reason, because
we're commanded to. Hebrews 10.25 says, Forsake not the assembling
of yourselves together as the manner of some is. We're commanded
by God to do this. That's why we do it. And here's
another reason. Because Christ is here. He said
where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I
am in the midst of them. Now, I want to be where He is,
don't you? If He's promised, He's here, I'm afraid to miss
out on it. I want to be here. That's why,
you know, you don't miss church because you're the preacher.
Well, that probably has something to do with it, I imagine. You
know, I mean, I wouldn't, it'd be a disaster for me to not show
up, I suppose. But the reason I come here is
because I want his presence. He has promised his special presence
in public worship. Just the fact that he said, where
two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am. I want
to be there, don't you? I'm scared to death not to. I'm
afraid of what I miss out on. I mean, if he's there, I want
to be there. And he's made that promise. We
come to public worship because we want to. I've opened this
scripture with this Psalm 122. I was glad when they said to
me, let us go to the house of the Lord. And I thought, I am
glad to go to the house of the Lord. It is a great blessing
to meet with God's people in public worship. Now, what do
we do when we meet together like this? And remember this when
he's praising them for keeping the ordinance is exactly as he
delivered to them. He's he's talking about what
they did in public worship. But what do we do? Well, first,
we make much of the reading of God's word. I would not go to a worship service
where the Bible is not opened up and read. This is the word
of God. And what God says is much more
important than what any man says. We make much of reading the Scriptures. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction of righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect,
throughly furnished unto all good works. So in a worship service,
we make much of the reading of the Word. We have a good reason
to do it, don't we? That's not just handed down by
tradition. This is the Word of God. We sing these hymns of praise. Why? Because we're commanded
to, in Ephesians chapter 5, verses 19 and 20, speaking to yourselves
in songs and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody
in your hearts to the Lord. You know what I think is interesting,
too? If you read Right after they had the first Lord's Supper,
what's the first thing they did after they observed the Lord's
Table with the Lord? They sang a hymn. They sang a
hymn together. We have an example of our Lord
and His disciples right after the Lord's Table. They sang a
hymn of praise together. And you know, singing these hymns. May God deliver us from just
going through the motions, singing. That's an abomination. Sing from
your heart. Sing these hymns of praise. Singing
has to do with your feelings, doesn't it? It has to do with
your emotions. I mean, I want a hymn that's doctrinally sound.
Don't get me wrong. I mean, it's got to be doctrinally sound,
but if it's just doctrinally sound, somehow that doesn't get
it. I want it to be something that
is touching and it moves you. You sing because you're happy.
You sing because you're sad. It has to do with the emotions.
Worship has to do with the emotions. Unemotional worship is worthless
worship. I wouldn't want to have anything to do with it. Now,
I wouldn't want a worship that's controlled by my feelings and
emotions. I don't want to have anything to do with that. It'll
go wrong. But I don't want to have anything to do with something
that doesn't touch me. Singing has to do with praise
from the heart. And when we sing these hymns,
these are hymns of praise to our Redeemer. And it's part of
worship. We have a scriptural reason as
to why we do that. We pray. We pray. Somebody always gets up and leads
in prayer. I pray. One of the men gets up and prays
after they read the Scriptures. We pray for what we can't do
ourselves. Isn't that why we pray? If you
could do it, you wouldn't need to pray about it, would you?
You pray about something that you don't have any control over,
something that you can't do. You know why I pray for the Lord
to bless me? Because I know if He doesn't bless me, I won't
be blessed. When I pray for His help in preaching, if we don't
have His help in preaching, It's an exercise in futility. Why,
if we don't have His help in singing these hymns, it's just
a meaningless road, isn't it? If I don't have His help in hearing,
you know what it's like to try to hear the Gospel and you know
God's speaking and you don't hear. You don't hear it and it
kills you. You hate it. You want to hear.
You want to hear with hearing ears. We pray to the Lord to
bless us in all these aspects of worship because we know if
He doesn't bless us, it's an exercise in futility. No good
is done. So we pray asking the Lord to help us in this. Oh,
I need the Lord. I need the Lord's help. I can't
even believe unless He gives me the grace to believe. Repentance
is beyond my ability unless He grants me that repentance. Love
to Christ, that's His gift. Everything is His gift. So I'm
going to the one who gives it when I pray. I go to the Lord
for faith. I don't come to the Lord with
my faith. I come to the Lord for, Lord give me faith. Give
me the grace to believe on your Son. I can't do a thing. How
true were the words of our Lord? Without me, you can do what?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. You can't.
That's just the way it is. That's why we pray. We're asking
the Lord to help us do that which we can't do for ourselves. And then there's the preaching
of the Word. A man gets up and preaches from
God's Word. I read that passage of scripture
this morning out of Acts chapter 8 where Philip said to the Ethiopian
Union, do you understand what you're reading? And he said,
how can I except some man should guide me? I can't even understand
the word of God on my own. You know, I don't come up with
any original. Anything I truly know, the Lord used somebody
to teach me. I might not even remember how it happened, but
it happened that way. As the Lord speaks through the preaching
of His Word. God has manifested, Titus 1-3, God has manifested
His Word through preaching, which is committed to my trust. It
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Back in the study, Steve was
reading from Romans 10. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call upon
Him in whom they have not heard? How shall they hear of Him in
whom they have not believed? I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm
I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm
I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm
I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm
I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm He uses this. Romans chapter
10 verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
on him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
him in whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As
it's written, how beautiful are the face? No, the feet. All you see is the feet. How
beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace
and bring glad tidings of good things. We meet together to hear
somebody preach from God's Word because it's God's ordained means
of feeding us, of calling out His people. There's something
supernatural going on in preaching. Preaching is a man. There was
a man sent from God whose name was John. It's a man bringing
a message from God, from the Word of God for that And if somebody
is actually preaching a message from God, I want to hear what
they've got to say, don't you? I desperately want to hear what they have to
say. We meet together to hear the preaching of the Word, and
we meet together to observe the two ordinances that He left us
with, baptism and the Lord's table. These two beautiful, simple,
is what are called, notice I don't call them sacraments. People,
religious people call them sacraments, as if there's some kind of sacrificial
saving power in them. There's no saving power in them.
They're just pictures. Pictures. I said this to the
Sunday school class or the Vacation Bible School class. I got a picture
of Aubrey in here somewhere. I miss her. Well, I thought I
did. What happened to my picture?
Oh, here they are. Here they are. Okay. Who's that? That's my little girl. Is it
really my little girl? No, it's just a picture of my
little girl. I can't snuggle up to a picture. It's just a
picture. It's not really her. It's a picture of my little girl.
It's a likeness of my little girl. I'm going to see her in three
weeks. I'm counting the days. I can't wait. Been gone nine
weeks. Can't wait to see her again.
It's a picture. It's not the same thing as seeing
her. Baptism and the Lord's Table
are pictures of something. There's no saving efficacy in
them. They're not means of grace. They're
not means through which grace is conveyed. They're just pictures.
But I tell you what, I like pictures. I like to look at pictures of
my daughter. I like to look at pictures. When
I'm out of town, I'll pull up pictures of Lynn and look at
her. I've got some favorite pictures. I like pictures. Now, it's not
the real person, but they do something to you, don't they?
You're thankful for pictures. Baptism and the Lord's Table
are pictures. They're not meaningless religious
rituals, but they show the two aspects of union with Jesus Christ. Baptism represents me being in
Christ. The Lord's Table represents Christ
being in me. Baptism, me in Christ. the Lord's table, Christ in me. Now the only hope I have of salvation
is union with the Lord Jesus Christ, being united to Him.
You know what that means? That means if I'm united to Him,
when He lived, I lived. When He kept the law, if I'm
united to Him, if I'm in Him and He's in me, when He kept
the law, I kept the law. When He died, I died. When He was raised from the dead,
I was actually raised from the dead. When He ascended back to
the Father, I ascended back to the Father. I'm there right now
in the person of my representative. I'm in heaven right now. No,
you're not. You're looking at me. If I'm
united to Christ, I'm in heaven right now because Ephesians 2,
6 says we're seated together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.
I'm right there united in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm in Him.
Baptism speaks of Me being in the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptismal pool, we go under the
water. Baptism is by immersion. It's not sprinkling. You don't
sprinkle dead people, do you? You see, it pictures the life,
the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. When
somebody dies, you don't sprinkle dirt on them. You bury them.
You bury them. Baptism is for believers. It's
believers' baptism. Whoso believeth and is baptized,
the Savior shall be saved. It's not for unbelievers. It's
for believers. It's not for infants. Infants
don't believe the Gospel. It's for those who believe. It's
believer's baptism. What does it represent? It's
my confession of Christ. It's my public confession of
Christ. I confess in this beautiful, simple act of baptism, I confess
that my hope of salvation is that when Jesus Christ lived,
He lived for me. When He died, He died for me. When He was raised from the dead,
He was raised for the dead, for the dead, for me. I was in Him. Now, if you're in somebody, if
I could shrink and get inside of you, and if I was in you,
when you walked into another room, I'd walk into another room,
wouldn't I? Where you went, I'd go. In the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what baptism represents,
that aspect of union with Christ. If I'm united to Christ, that
means I'm in Him, and my hope of salvation is that everything
He did I did. And what a good hope that is.
I love thinking about that. As He is, so are we in this world
right now. Baptism, me and Christ, we eat
the Lord's table, we drink the wine, we eat the bread. That's
Christ in me. Now that bread represents the
broken body of the Lord Jesus Christ. It talks about the wrath
that He endured for His people. The wine represents His shed
blood. That talks about the forgiveness
He procured for His people, that He secured for His people. When
He said, It is finished, the salvation of all God's elect
was accomplished. And when we take the Lord's table,
it's a celebration. What a celebration! I'm celebrating
the fact that Christ put away my sin. It makes me happy. I
got a letter from somebody last week. And they were asking, they
gave this big list of things that they're looking for a church.
And they gave this big list of things that had to be for that
church before they would accept it. And the last two things,
they said, no alcoholic beverages in the Lord's table. And children
should partake in it as long as they're being obedient. And
well, for one thing, for one thing, they said, why? I'm going to do what the Lord
invented. They didn't have grape juice back then. All they used
was wine. And you use wine and what they
did was follow that direction, same way they did it. But he said, as long as they're...
How obedient? You've got to be obedient before
you can take the Lord's table. Well, how obedient? How obedient? Well, do you have any sin in
your life? Do you see how ridiculous that
is? You don't take the Lord's table because you don't have
any sin in your life and you're worthy because of that. You take
the Lord's table because you see His sacrifices, that which
makes you perfect before God, holy before God. Thank God for
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when you drink this wine
and you eat this bread, it comes inside of you, doesn't it? It
becomes part of you, Christ in you. the hope of glory. We observe baptism and the Lord's
table. We keep the ordinances. And he commended this church
for this. I praise you, brethren, that
you've kept the ordinances. And he's talking about the ordinances
of public worship as they were delivered. And pray for me that
I will be very jealous of keeping the ordinances exactly as they
were delivered. And pray for yourselves that
you will, too. Now, this is this is a special, special, blessed
privilege to be a part of the Lord's Church. It's special. Thank God for this privilege.
But he can be taken away just like that. May God deliver us from that
and make us truly fearful of not keeping the ordinances as
he delivered them to us. Let's pray together.