I want to begin reading here
in verse 20. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse
20. When you come together, therefore,
unto one place, come together as the church, come together
to worship. This is not to eat the Lord's
Supper. That is, they couldn't eat the
Lord's Supper, not in the manner that they were attempting to
eat it. For in eating every one taketh before another his own
supper, and one is hungry, another is drunk. What? Have you not
houses to eat and to drink in, or despise ye the church of God,
and shame them that have not? What shall I say unto you? Shall
I praise you in this? I praise you not. For I have
received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. that
the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was portrayed, took
bread. And when he had given thanks,
he broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken
for you, this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner
also he cut the cup, when he had such, 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, ye do show the Lord's death till he come.
Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup
of the Lord unworthily, irreverently, shall be guilty of the body and
blood of the Lord. 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, irreverently, eateth and drinketh
judgment, damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body,
not knowing what it was for. For this cause many are weak
and sickly among you, and many sleep, many have died. For 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 world. Wherefore, my brethren, when
ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. And if any man
hunger, let him eat his heart, that ye come not together unto
judgment, to condemnation. And the rest will I set in order
when I come." You and I have looked at this passage several
times over the years that I've been your pastor. And I want
to look at a portion of it this evening, and just a portion of
it. And I want to look at this passage
here for two reasons. I want to see what's here, in
part. Just in part, what's here. But
mainly, I want to look at this to see what's not here. And I
think it's so important to realize that. And in looking at this
this evening, I hope to serve two groups of people. First of
all, you and I. You and I will be taking this
supper. We often, we won't this evening,
but we often come to the Lord's table to partake of the bread
and the cup. And I hope you can learn something
this evening, but also maybe Those who don't partake of this
in a correct manner. I don't say that you and I partake
of it perfectly. We're not satisfied with anything
we do. We're always seeking to mend our ways. God give us grace.
But there are some who I really believe who partake of the Lord's
Supper in an incorrect manner. And I'll give you an example
of that. I know people, I have friends, and you have friends
and you have relatives that earnestly believe that you and I partake
of this ordinance, the Lord's Table, incorrectly. And one issue with them is this,
and I have some dear friends that this is an issue between
them and me. that we don't practice the foot-worship
during the time that we partake of the Lord's ordinance. And
foot-worship is not an issue with me. If you come to my house,
and your feet are dirty, and you want me to wash your feet,
I have no problem with washing your feet. Especially if you're
tired and don't want to wash your own feet, I'll gladly wash
your feet. But if you came to my house and
I attempted to wash your feet, it would probably embarrass you.
You probably just left home, just taken a bath, put on clean
socks and a nice pair of slippers. And for me to pull your shoes
off and wash your feet would do no earthly good. The issue
is not foot washing, but the issue is, is foot washing to
be practiced as an ordinance? And that's the issue. Two reasons the early church
washed one another's feet. One of them was a need. There
was a need in those days to wash one another's feet. When the
Lord Jesus sent his seventy disciples out, to preach the gospel and
to heal the sick. He said, be shod in sandals.
Remember him telling them that? Don't even take two pair of sandals.
Just one pair of sandals. Be shod in sandals. They walked
those dusty roads, their feet become filthy, and when they
went into someone's house, it was customary. It was a kind
and necessary custom to worship one another's feet. This is why
the Lord Jesus said to Simon when he went into his house,
that Pharisee's house, he said, Simon, I came into your house,
came off the dusty road after, and you never even offered me
water to wash my feet. Let alone wash my feet. And this
woman, he said, has come here and she's washed my feet with
her tears. There was a need. There was a need in those days.
You know there's no need to wash one another's feet today. If
you and I washed one another's feet today, it would just be
simply a ceremony, wouldn't it? Times have changed. But there was another reason
that the Lord Jesus washed His disciples' feet. He taught of
humility. He taught them to serve one another
in humility. The Lord Jesus was eating a dinner
with his disciples, and he girded himself with a towel and got
down at his disciples' feet. This is why Peter said, Lord,
you ain't going to wash my feet. That's a servant's job. If a master came in the house
and his feet were dirty, the servant went and got a pan of
water, he girded himself with a towel, and he stooped down
and washed his master's feet. Peter knew that. He knew that. And he said, You're my Lord.
I'm the servant, and you'll never wash my feet. The Lord said,
If I don't wash you, Peter, you've got nothing to do with me. Didn't
you remember that? And he said, I've washed you for this reason,
to leave you an example. An example of what? Well, he
said this. He said, here I am, your Lord
and your Master. That's what you call me, and
you say, well, that's what I am. And he said, if I'm your Lord
and your Master, how stooped down to wash your feet, you are
to wash one another's feet. You're not greater than your
master. The one who is sent is not greater than he that sent
him. If I have washed your feet, if I have humbly become a servant
to you, you are to humbly serve one another." Ain't that what
he was teaching them? Brother Larry's been in the book
that he's going to deal with next week in Philippians chapter
2, that tells us of the humility of Christ. And it goes so well with this.
If I, your Lord and your Master, came into this world not to be
ministered unto, but to humbly minister, then let my mind be
in you. Isn't that what he said? Let
this mind be in you which was in Christ. He was in the form
of God. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. Glad he was. But what did he
do? Made himself of no reputation.
Made himself of nobody, didn't he? Was made in the likeness
of men. Now that's humility. Took upon
him the form of a servant. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death. Now
that's what he was teaching us by good worship. To serve one
another in humility. Serve one another in love. Love
not every man on his own thing. Look on the things of others.
Humbly serve one another. The lesson that you and I learned
when the Lord Jesus washed His disciples' feet is very, very,
very, very important. But if we merely concentrate
on the foot washing, we miss the lesson. If you say the lesson
of foot washing is just foot washing, we missed it. We'll
be just as bad off as those Jews who had all of those ceremonies,
but they missed what those ceremonies taught them. It's not the fact of just washing
feet, but it's what that teaches us. I mean, it's a pretty humiliating
thing, isn't it? I've done it. I have washed several
people's feet. And it's just a little bit humbling
to get down on the floor at the feet of a person and wash them. But what he's teaching us is
stay lovely. Don't you rise up above others. You get down, you stay down,
and you humbly and lovingly serve one another. Now that's what
that teaches. Out of necessity, they wash one another's feet.
That was the custom of the day. And it's to teach us humility.
So the issue is not foot washing. If you want to wash someone's
foot, dear soul, wash people's feet. I don't have a problem
with that. But it's something they don't
do it in their houses. I know several people who practice
this as an ordinance. I don't know a single one of
them who washes one another's feet in their houses. Foot washing
is not the issue. It's foot washing to be practiced
as an order. And that's the issue. That's
the issue that I brought before you here this evening. Does the
Lord Jesus Christ command us in His Word to practice foot
washing when we come to the Lord's table? If He does, then let's
do it. Let's put the men on this side.
Let's put the women on this side. And let's worship on another's
feet. Don't be ashamed to do it. Don't be embarrassed to do
it. But if he doesn't command it in his Word, then let's don't
do it. It's wrong to do it. We have
his Word as a rule of faith and prayer. Brother Larry reminded
us this morning again, that as a congregation, we're to strive
together for the faith of the gospel. Strive, wrestle, struggle,
dig and read and pray. For what? The truth of the gospel. The truth of the gospel. There
have been a lot of eras that have risen up in our country
and elsewhere. If they had been dealt with honestly
and faithfully to begin with, they wouldn't have grown as they
have. So let's look at this just for a minute. Here in verse 20,
I just want to call your attention to this just for a moment. And
I think this is very important. When you come together, when
you come together as you and I are this evening, what does
the Apostle Paul teach us here? It's implication, but he teaches
us something. That you and I are not to practice
this ordinance in private. I would not do this in the privacy
of my own home. Coming to the Lord's table and
eating of the bread and drinking of the cup is to be done when
the church assembles itself. It may just be two or three of
us. But it's the church that is respected. That's so important
to remember that in. I'm going out there and getting
me a bottle of wine and some unleavened bread and I'm just
going past and I'll stay there for myself. I don't need you
guys anyway. You can't do that, see. You can't do that. When
you come together as a body in Christ. Now I want to see four
quick things of this and I'll not dwell on them because I don't
have the time. In this passage here I've read
to you in my text, I want to see four quick things. I want
to see who instituted this supper, this order. I want to see when
it was instituted, how it was instituted, and why it was instituted. And the first one is who instituted
the Lord's Supper. And I read it to you there in
verse 23. Look at this right quick. I have
received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. Who was it that instituted this
order? It was the Lord. It was the Lord. This didn't come into the apostle's
mind. He wasn't sitting around one
day and happened to think, you know, they practiced this ordinance
up there in Jerusalem. I think we should do it down
here among the Gentiles. No. This came to him by direct
revelation. The Lord Jesus taught him. And
one of the things I think here is so important about this, and
such a blessing for the Gentile churches, We don't know if the
Gentile churches even practiced this ordinance until the Lord
revealed it to the Apostle Paul. The Jewish church practiced it
because that's the first one he instituted, their Jerusalem.
But don't you imagine maybe that the Gentiles didn't even know
if they were supposed to practice it or not. He came right out
of the Passover anyway. And the Gentiles never practiced
the Passover. They never kept the Passover.
And after Passover, where is the Institute? So here you have
the Lord Jesus revealing to the Apostle Paul, Paul, I want you
to tell the Gentile churches, you're the Apostle of the Gentiles,
to practice this ordinance. I'm instituting, as it were,
this ordinance to the Gentile churches." Now that's a blessing,
ain't it? That's a blessing. A fresh revelation
from the Lord Himself concerning this ordinance to the Gentiles. So you know that's it. That encourages
you and I, if you and I want to know how this ordinance is
practiced, since we're Gentiles, let's go where it was instituted
to the Gentile church. And the only place I find is
right here where we're at tonight. The Lord Himself instituted it.
When did He do it? He tells us also in verse 23. The Lord Jesus, the same night
in which He was betrayed. I want to say a little bit more
about this later, but let me say this right now about it. What condescending love this
shows on our Lord's part. The night that he was betrayed
is when he instituted this ordinance to the Jewish church. You know
he wasn't thinking about himself. He wasn't mad because Judas betrayed
him. He was stern with him. What you
do, you better do quickly. I tell you this, he said it would
have been better off for you to never be born than to do what you're
about to do. But he wasn't thinking about
himself. He was thinking about his church. He was thinking about
comforting his people. And he spake words of comfort
to them. And he even instituted this supper
the very night in which he was betrayed. Someone said the traitor
by night had slipped away. to reveal where Jesus had gone
to pray. This all was known to his broken
heart, yet words of comfort he did impart. The night in which
he was betrayed. How was it instituted? How was
it instituted? Well, he said here in verses
23 through verse 25, look at this. The last portion of verse 23,
he said, the same night in which he was betrayed, he took bread.
Here's the way he instituted it. And when he had given thanks,
he'd break it. and said, Take, eat, this is
my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me.
And after the same manner he took the cup, and when he sucked,
he said, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, this do
you as oft as you drink it in remembrance of me. He instituted
this way by bread and by this cup. Now did you ever wonder
why we eat the kind of bread we eat? We eat unleavened bread. Is that what we eat? It better
be what we eat. We eat unleavened bread. Did
you ever wonder why we eat unleavened bread? Why don't we eat light
bread or corn bread? That's the reason why we eat
unleavened bread. Let me show that to you. Look
over here in Luke chapter 22. Look in Luke chapter 22. You
and I eat unleavened bread at church. The church in our history
has eaten nothing but unleavened bread. And there's a reason she
did that. Look at Luke 22. Look at Luke 22. Unleavened bread
was what they used. when the Lord Jesus himself instituted
the Lord's statement. That's what he used, that's what
they used. Look at it in chapter 22 and look here in verse 1.
Here's where he instituted for the Jewish church, and when the
Gentiles received this ordinance, they used the same elements that
the Jews did. Look here what he said in verse
1, Luke 22, verse 1. Now the feast of unleavened bread
drew nigh, which is called the Passover. See that? Unleavened
bread. Now look down here in verse 13. And they went and found the Lord
Jesus and his disciples to prepare the upper room. They went and
found, as he said unto them, and they made ready the Passover. And when the hour was come, he
sat down and the twelve apostles with him, and he said unto them,
With desire I have desire to eat this Passover with you before
I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not
any more eat God until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave
thanks, and said, Take these, and divide them among yourselves.
For I said unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine,
unto the kingdom of God. And he took the bread, and he
gave thanks, and break it, and gave to them, saying, This is
my body, which is given for you." What kind of bread was it? Unleavened
bread. Unleavened bread. And that's
why we eat it today. You remember, all the way back
in Exodus chapter 12, at the first Passover. Remember what
kind of bread the Lord commanded them to eat? Unleavened. You
know, he was so strict in it, really so strict in it, he said,
if any leaven is found in a man's house, you're going to have to
disown that man. He's in trouble. He's in trouble. They were very strict about that.
And the reason it was, because leaven represents sin. Weakness
and sin. And unleavened bread represents
sincerity and truth. So we always eat unleavened bread. The old church in the Old Testament
ate unleavened bread. It represents that holy, undefiled
body of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we eat it. This is
the way the Lord instituted this supper. And it was said here
that he took the cup after the same man, and he said, this is
my blood of the new covenant, Dracula. What about this cup? What about this cup? You know,
it never says what's in it in the New Testament. Do you ever
notice that? It just calls it the cup. This cup. Why don't
we drink orange juice? Did you ever think about these
things? What if somebody came to pastor you next year and said,
well, we're going to change the elements. From now on we're going
to eat light bread and drink orange juice. What would you
say? You better go to work, haven't
you? Better go to work, haven't you? I read to you here in Luke
where the Lord said there in verse 18 and 22, I said to you,
I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, Whatever this cup
is, it's the fruit of the vine. Let me read you two or three
places in Scripture. Look over here in Genesis 49.
Look in Genesis 49. Look in verse 10. Genesis 49,
verse 10. 10 and 11. The Jews were always
grape growers. They grew grapes. And they were
winemakers. And that's what Jacob is going
to tell us here in verse 10. Look at this. Genesis 49. The
scepter shall not depart from Judah. nor a lawgiver from between
his feet, until Christ come." Christ has come, Shiloh. "...and
unto him shall the gathering of the people be." Ain't that
talking about Christ? Oh, the Father gets to me, He
shall come to me. His people are gathering unto
Him. Look what he said in verse 11. "...binding his foe unto
the bind, and his as his coat unto the choice bind." He washed
his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grace. Now, you'll probably find some
difference in commentators of what this means, but all of them
that I've read said it means one of two things or both of
these things. This blood of grapes, he washed
his garments in the blood of grapes. It's either speaking
of the blood that the Lord Jesus poured out for our sins, our
own calvary. when you poured out His blood,
or it's speaking of the saints washing themselves and making
themselves white in His blood. It's probably speaking of both
of those things. But whichever one it's speaking
of, for sure of this, this blood of grace represents to us the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you won't find one single
place in all the Scripture that talks about wine except it's
grape. It's grape. That's all they fool with as
far as I know is grape wine. Look here at another place. Close
to where Clarence is reading tonight in Deuteronomy. A couple
of places there. Look in Deuteronomy chapter 28
and Deuteronomy 32. Now you mark these places. I want you to mark these places
because you need to look at them yourself. Look in verse 39 of
Deuteronomy chapter 28. The cup. What is the cup? Church history tells us that
the church has never used anything but great wine. Jewish history
tells us that the Jews never drank anything but great wine.
That's what they drank. Great wine. Verse 39, Deuteronomy
28, Now shall plant vineyards, and dress them, but shall neither
drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes. See there when he
talks about wine, he talks about grapes. And look in verse 14
of 32. Look in chapter 32. And look
in verse 14. I like this. Look in verse 14. Butter of kind, butter of cows,
and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed
of the shan, and goats with the fat of kitties of wheat. And
thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape." So see why we
use what we do. Now some people use grape juice. Some historians tell us that
the Jews used wine with some water mixed in it to dilute it.
You and I have the conviction that the best thing that represents
the blood of Christ is wine. That's why we use wine here. But whether you use the grape
juice, or whether you use the wine mingled with water, or wine
like we do, there's no doubt that this cup contained the blood
of the grape, because that's what represented the blood of
Christ in the Old Testament. The pure blood of the grape. That's what the Jews have served
this ordinance with. Now, turn back over again to
my text in 1 Corinthians 11. Why was this instituted? Why did the Lord institute this
ordinance, this Lord's Table? Well, we have it here in verse
24 and 25, and I read it to you. He broke this bread and said,
take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you, this do in
remembrance of me. And he took the cup and he said,
this cup is the New Testament in my blood, this do you, as
often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. And when our brother passes the
bread around, and you and I take that bread in our hand, and it's
broken, what does that remind us of? It reminds us of Christ
our Lord, doesn't it? It takes us right back to the
cross, doesn't it? Our Lord's suffering in our stead,
broken in our stead. Burn before His God the penalty
of our sins that belong to you and I. We go back to the first
one. We remember Christ. Not just
Christ our example, but Christ our substitute, our died and
risen Lord. And when we take this cup, and
I love to smell it, When they hand it to me, I love
to smell it. Because it has this wonderful aroma about it, this
smell about it. It smells good to my nostrils. And it reminds me what the blood
of Christ smells to His Father's nostrils. A sweet smelling savor. And what does it remind us of?
It takes us right back to where our Lord made peace. May peace
on our behalf with God through the blood of His cross. We remember. We remember. I was talking with
a pastor friend of mine the other night. He said, how often do
you folks come to the table of the Lord? I said, we try to do
it every Sunday night. He said, don't that get old?
Don't that get old? Remember my Lord. Then he says,
Lord, if I forget you, let my tongue cleave to the roof of
my mouth. What's better to remember than
him? And I tell you, ever since, every
since, every since he told his disciples, you take this bread
and eat it in remembrance of me, and you take this cup and
drink it in remembrance of me, every since then, his church
has been doing that. And to this very day, almost
2,000 years later, brothers and sisters, we still haven't forgotten
that one. And we're going to do it until
He comes. The church is going to do it until He comes. Remember
Him. Remember Him. That's why He did
it. That's why He did it. And having said all of this, what is it that we don't see
here? What is it that we've not seen,
and you'll not find in this passage? Footwash. Did you see it here
as we read it? Should I read it again to you?
It's not there, is it? It's just not here. It's not
to be found. It may surprise some people to
know that the ordinance of the Lord's table and foot worship
is never mentioned together in the New Testament. But you know
that. You know why that's important. Because some have told us and
they argue that because these two things were done at the same
time, at the same supper, Therefore, foot washing is an ordinance
and should be practiced with this Lord's Table. But you know
something? They're never joined together in the Gospels or in
the Epistles. Matthew, Mark, and Luke talked
about the Lord's Table. Therefore we see Christ giving
them the bread and giving them the cup and saying, this is doing
remembrance of me. But you know, Matthew and Mark
and Luke never mention one thing about foot washing. And John,
he told us about foot washing. But you know John never mentioned
one thing about the Lord's table. These two things are never joined
together in the scripture. They never were meant to be joined
together. That's why. Look over here with me in John
chapter 13. I just want you to see this. The same night in which the Lord
was betrayed, in John chapter 13, we've been
told by some, the night in which He was betrayed, was the night
that they washed the feet. Well, there's really two, and
I don't have time to go into this, but there's really two
betrayals in a sense. There was the time when Judas
went out and went to the high priest and planned a convenient
time to betray Christ. Remember that? And then there
was the actual time he went out and went and got him and brought
him to where Christ was. But look here, let me show you
this distinction, because if you begin to talk to your friends,
and I do mine, about separating these two things, they're going
to tell you, well, these were joined together in the gospel.
Well, let me show you. Look in John chapter 13, and
this is the chapter, and I remember this, this is the chapter where
John spoke of the Lord washing his disciples' feet. Now, look in verse 1. Now, before
the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was
come, that he should depart out of the world unto the Father,
having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them to
the end, and supper being ended. Now, we see two things here,
don't we? They were setting at supper, but it wasn't the supper
of the Passover. Did you see that? Verse 1 said
it was before the feast of the Passover. They were eating a
supper. And it was at this supper where
the Lord finished eating, he got up and girded himself and
began to wash the disciples' feet. Now you'll find that in
verse 4 and following. You can read that there for yourself.
And then, this is the first time the Lord Jesus said, one of you
is going to betray me. And Peter said, John, ask him
who he's talking about. Ask him who he's talking about.
And John leaned on our Lord's breast, and he said, Lord, who
is it? And he said, whoever I give this
sock to. And he gave it to Judas. And
look what happened in verse 20 and verse 27. And after the sock,
Satan entered into him, then said, Jesus, unto him, that thou
doest, do quickly. Now look in verse 29 and verse
28. Now no man at the table knew
for what intent he spake this unto Judas. For some of them
thought, because Judas had the bag, he was the secretary and
treasurer, that Jesus had said unto him, By those things we
have need of against the feast. See that? They still were not
eating the feast, the Passover. This was at a supper before the
Passover. Now why is that so important?
It was at the Passover where the Lord's Table was instituted.
So these are two different things. See that? Two different times
altogether. Therefore, the washing of feet
and the partaking of the Lord's Table are two different things
altogether. Took place at two different times. When was the foot washing then?
What day was that? No one knows for sure. Probably
over Matthew 26. Most commentators say this is
when the foot washing took place. It was two days before they ate the vessel. But let
me read some here to you, then I'll close. Look here at Matthew
chapter 26. Let me read several verses here
to you, and I think probably will enlighten us a little bit
as to the first time Judas went out to plan the betrayal of our
Lord. Look in verse 1. And it came to pass, Matthew
26, when Jesus had finished all of his savings, he said to his
disciples, You know that after two days is the feast of the
Passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified.
Then assembled together the chief priest and the scribes and the
elders of the people unto the palace of the high priest, who
was called Caiaphas, and consoled it, how they might take Jesus
by subtlety and kill him." And they said, Not on the feast day,
lest there be no uproar among the people. Now Jesus was in
Bethany, two miles or so from Jerusalem, in the house of Simon
the leper. There came unto him a woman,
having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured
it on his head, as he said it meet. But when his disciples
saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this
waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much and given
to the poor. And when Jesus understood it,
he said unto them, Why trouble you the woman? For she hath wrought
a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with
you, but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this
ointment on my head, she did for my burial. Verily I say unto
you, wherever this gospel shall be preached in all the world,
there shall also this that this woman hath done be told for a
moral of her. Then one of the twelve, called
Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priest." This is the first
time he went out. And he got mad, probably, because
the Lord rebuked him. The other disciples, it probably
humbled them, but it made him mad. And this is the first time
he went out. And look what he went out to
do. He said unto them. He went to the chief priest,
verse 15, said unto them, What will you give me? And I will
deliver him unto you. And they coveted with him for
thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought
opportunity to betray. He didn't betray at that time.
In a sense he did. But he was seeking a convenient
time. And then verse 17, Now the first day of the feast of
unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying to him,
Where wilt thou that we prepare thee to eat the supper? See the
difference in that? Have you learned anything? All the time of study I've put
into this, you better have learned something. Some people say, Bruce, you shouldn't
get so picky about things. I don't want to be picky. I really
don't want to be picky. I don't want to be judgmental.
If people want to wash feet and call it an ordinance of the Lord,
go ahead. I wouldn't stop you if I had the power to do it.
But I'm not going to practice it. And I'll tell you why. I can't find it in the Scripture. And I am just for simply going
to the Word of God and seeing how we should do things and practice
those things for God's glory and our good. Lord bless you. Our Father, we thank you for
this precious day you've given us. We risen this morning, came
together and worshiped the Lord. You met with us, let us share
your gospel. Let us hear Your precious Word
taught. Let us sing in our hearts with grace to You. You give us
our breath today in our movement. None of us deserve to live. We're simply alive today because
it's been Your will to give us breath and life. And we praise
You for it. The greatest joy and the greatest
privilege we have is to assemble as we are this evening and open
Your Word. Thank You for Your Word. If it wasn't for Your Word,
we'd be idolaters. We'd do what was right in our
own eyes. But You guided us by Your Word. You've given us life.
We'd never know You, Lord, without Your Word. We'd never know Your
sympathy, Your love, never know what You've done for us on Calvary's
Hill, except You've told us in Your Word. Thank you for giving
it to us. Thank you for preserving it for
us, all these thousands of years. How you must love us to give
us your Word. Bless you and your people. Bless
your Word tonight to each heart. Teach us. Sometimes we can't
see where these things are relevant, maybe. The Lord help us to understand
that truth, truth is always so important. Bless your people
this week as they go out into this world. Uphold the poor lost
man that has no hope. If he dies, Lord, you'll cast
him to eternal ruin. It's a fearful thing to fall
into your hands. Be cheerful to the lost, in Christ's name
and for His glory. Amen.