It seems to me from what I observe
and from what I see going on around me in the religious world
that the primary purpose of religion, the primary purpose of preachers
and religious leaders in getting folks to profess faith and join
the church is to govern them. Put them in bondage to make you
do what you're supposed to, make you live right, make you read
your Bible, pray. Sometimes we see, well, these
days we see a lot of times these Islamic folks bow down and pray. No matter where they are, get
them a rug out and pray. and other people go through religion.
But they're no more foolish than the religious world around us.
No more foolish. Religion of every brand wants
to make you do what you don't want to do. Wants to make you
behave in a way you don't want to behave. And they use church
law and dogma and ordinances and membership to force your
hand. Now, I have nothing to say in
defense of Mr. Carey, but I couldn't help but
notice the attention that was given by the media to the fact
that some of the Roman Catholic fellows with clowns' costumes
on didn't want to let him partake of communion or the mass, as
they call it, because he practiced or promoted the practice of abortion.
Oh, he can't. He can't receive mass at our
church. And by publicly making such a pronouncement, hope to
put the screws on him, make him change his mind. What a horrible
thing. Baptist preachers do the same
thing. As a matter of fact, most of the things that are done in
the name of religion in Protestant churches and Baptist churches
is nothing but the remnant of papacy. And that by which folks
try to bind and control people are the threat of church discipline. Now, you'll either do this or
we'll put you out. And the first step toward church
discipline, this is just the next thing before putting you
out the door. Now, you can't receive the Lord's table until
you get this straightened out. You can't do it. You need to
be careful here. And churches try to exercise
putting fences up around the Lord's table. I know many churches
who won't have the Lord's Supper at a public service like this
because they're afraid somebody might get in who's not supposed
to. I know churches in history, and I know churches today, large
congregations, where you have to get a ticket to get in. You
can't come to the Lord's Table unless you've been recognized,
and the elders and deacons have given you a ticket. Now you're
approved. You can get in and eat this bread, drink this wine,
and observe the Lord's Table. I find that strange, since our
Lord said, eat this and drink this. He didn't offer it as an
option. Now, I want to address one more
time the terrible abuses that go on in the name of religion
in self-righteousness and it is self-righteousness by which
these things are inspired with regard to the blessed, blessed
ordinance we've come here to observe. Turn with me if you
will to 1 Corinthians chapter 11, 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Almost everywhere I go, if I
talk to folks any length of time at all, this question comes up
by people because genuine men and women, genuine believers
are often concerned about things through the influence of poor,
poor doctrine and poor instruction. I hear folks ask me, Brother
Don, I don't feel worthy to partake of the Lord's table? Or who should
partake of the Lord's table? Now, usually when that question
comes up, the question is not about me at all, it's about you.
It's self-righteousness. But many want to know, am I one
of those who should receive this blessed ordinance? 1 Corinthians
11, verse 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. Now, if that doesn't
get your attention, I don't know what will. To eat and drink this
ordinance unworthily is to be guilty of the body and blood
of the Lord. That statement itself immediately
tells me this cannot possibly be something done by a true believer. A true believer trample underfoot
the blood of the son of God. That can't be. Paul says in verse
28, 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. Eateth
and drinketh damnation to himself. Now here's the key. Not discerning
the Lord's body. I know of no single passage of
scripture that has caused more difficulty because of it being
wrongly interpreted and wickedly applied than these three verses
of scripture. Many of God's people Read these
verses with the influence of such teaching and say, well,
surely if there's anyone unworthy to receive this bread and this
wine, it's me. Satan roars in our hearts and
he speaks subtly. subtle deception and wickedness,
pointing to our sin and accusing us of sin and of guilt. He tries
to put us upon a legal ground to turn our eyes away from Christ
to ourselves and make us look at ourselves rather than Christ.
And he said, now there, look at yourself. Do you really think
you're worthy? Do you really think you're worthy?
Do you think you're worthy to come and eat this holy bread
and drink this holy wine? Well, who is? I want to address
this matter, and I address it again now. It's been on my mind
because I have, again, just recently seen a dear friend. Now, dear friend, terribly abused
because of this. I want you to see clearly and
distinctly what the scriptures teach. Now, I'm going to tell
you what the scriptures teach in this matter, and then we will
look at this passage before us and the verses we just read in
their context, and I will show you that this is what the scriptures
teach. Every true believer, every sinner who trusts Christ, that
means If right now for the first time, right where you're sitting,
God's given you faith in Christ. If he's taken the word you've
heard this morning and opened your heart and given you a heart
of faith in Christ and you believe on the son of God, if you trust
Christ as your redeemer, every sinner who trusts Christ and
Christ alone as his righteousness before God, his sanctification,
his redemption, every believing sinner is completely worthy in
Christ to receive this ordinance. And not only is he worthy to
do so, he is obliged to do so. Worthy and obliged because the
Lord commands it. For that matter, our worthiness, our worthiness
is altogether Christ in all things. Can you get hold of that? Folks
say, well, I don't feel worthy to pray. I hope you don't. I don't feel worthy to sing.
I hope you don't. Or I don't feel worthy to preach. You better not. But, well, how do these things
go on then? Bob Duff, you are worthy. If you believe the son of God,
you are worthy of God's approval and smile all the time. Did you hear me? Christ has put
away our sins. Now, either he has or he hasn't.
We are made the righteousness of God in Him. Either we are
or we aren't. There's no in between ground.
We are not sometimes worthy and sometimes unworthy, sometimes
acceptable and sometimes unacceptable, sometimes forgiven and sometimes
not forgiven, sometimes holy and sometimes not holy. Our whole
acceptance of God is Christ's blood and righteousness. Therefore,
Paul addresses the Colossians, and he says to the Colossians,
as I say to you right now, God Almighty has, by the blood and
righteousness of his Son, made us right now meet, worthy, and
fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Now that
settles all issues concerning this matter of our worthiness
to worship God, our worthiness to pray, our worthiness to call
on His name, our worthiness to speak His name. It is all together
in Christ. Now let's see if I can make good
on this just in the context here in 1 Corinthians 11. The fact
is, it is not possible to understand any portion of scripture pulled
out of its context and bent and twisted in such a way as men
do it. We must read the scriptures in their context and read the
scriptures in the context of the whole book of God and set
them in order in just that manner. In this part of 1 Corinthians,
Paul is, by divine inspiration, setting in order the terribly
disorderly affairs of this local church at Corinth. But more importantly,
he sets before us the proper order of public worship in all
gospel churches, particularly in verses 20 through 34 here,
the Holy Spirit is telling us exactly what we should and should
not do in the observance of the Lord's table. Now hold your Bibles
open here and let's begin at verse 20. When you come together,
therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper.
Now, three things here. Three things are obvious. First,
there was a specific place and time where the Corinthian church
assembled for public worship. They may or may not have had
a public building like we have. They may or may not have had
a building that was set aside just for this purpose. But there
was a specific place and a specific time to which they gathered in
the name of God to worship him in the public assembly of his
saints. I stress that because there are a good many who think
themselves learned and spiritual, who care nothing for commitment.
They like to run from one place to another or go to no place
at all, meet together with no one. They meet together with
God's saints when they please. I hear folks, I get letters,
folks trying to persuade me we ought to join them. We don't
want to have any rules or regulations set for folks so that, you know,
when do y'all meet? Well, just whenever the spirit
leads. Where do y'all meet? Well, we just meet here or there. Now some folks call that spirituality.
I call it irresponsibility. When the local church, when God's
saints meet together, the local church to which you and I belong,
it is both our privilege and our responsibility to be present. It is our privilege and it is
our responsibility. I can't do anything about the
condition of my heart and my mind. I can't tell you how often,
both before I started pastoring and how often since. I can't
tell you how often when I'm away in meetings other places, I just
flat don't feel like worshiping God. I just don't feel like it. I don't feel like being in his
house. I don't feel like preaching. I don't feel that I, I can stand
and speak to you in the name of God. But I have a responsibility. I have a responsibility to you. I have a responsibility to myself. I have a responsibility to that
lady whom I'm supposed to lead in the worship of God. I have
a responsibility to my daughter, my son-in-law, my children, to
everybody under my influence. A responsibility to walk by example
before them. And that means it doesn't matter
what else comes up. Nothing's going to change this.
When God's people meet together, I'm going to be here. That's
just all there is to it. But Brother Don, you're the pastor.
Ask the lady there. It was that way before I became
a pastor. And it will be that way if God should be pleased
to stop my voice and I sit where you sit tomorrow. I am responsible
to do so. responsible for the influence
I have on others. I can't do anything about where
my heart roams, but I can sure do something about where my butt
sits, and I can put it in that pew. I can put it right there,
and I'm going to, because I believe God, and I'm responsible for
the influence I have with other people. But more than that, The
local church, this local church right here, would soon cease
to exist if everybody decided, well, I'll go to church when
I want to. I'll meet with God's people when I want to. If I want
to, I'll stay home and watch television. If I want to, I'll
stay home and listen to tapes. If I want to, I'll go here, there,
the other place. All right, here's the second
thing. When the Corinthian church came together at the appointed
time, they claimed they did so to eat the Lord's Supper. They
met in Christ's name. They met according to Christ's
command. They met with the pretense of observing the Lord's ordinance.
But that was not the case at all. No doubt there were some
who did. There were some in that assembly
who came with proper motives and proper attitude. But for
the most part, the reason they came was not to worship at all. The reason they came was to have
a good time. They came to have love feasts. They came to have
a fellowship dinner all the time. They came to just get together
and have a good time in the name of the Lord. This is a good place
for us to meet. Good place for Christians to
meet each other. Good place for young man, young woman to meet
each other. This is a good place to come. The church of God is
not a place of festivity. It's not a place for party. And
we don't come together to worship God when we come together just
to meet with each other and have a good time. We come together
to worship Him when we come together to worship Him. Now, here's the
third thing. If we do not observe the ordinances
of divine worship in the manner in which God has prescribed them,
we don't observe them at all. We just go through religious
practices. The Corinthians said, let's go to church and worship
God in the observance of the Lord's supper. But when they
came, they threw a party. They had a love feast instead.
And therefore Paul said, when you come together in one place,
this is not to eat the Lord's supper. Now let me camp here
for just a minute. This is the Lord's supper. This
is the Lord's table. It is not ours. It is not the
table of this church. It is the Lord's table. He's
the one who provides it. He's the one who is the subject
of it. He is the host here, and he's
the reason we observe it. This is what that means. And
I have a lot of friends, I have a lot of friends, personal friends,
who argue contrary to this. They want to have close communion.
That means nobody can come to the Lord's table except those
who are in this congregation. Others say, no, we'll have close
communion. That means you can come if you meet our criteria.
And others want to fence the table, you know, if you have
any unconfessed sin in your life, if you haven't prayed enough.
If you haven't read your Bible enough, then you better not come. I don't have the right, the authority,
or the desire to keep God's people from His table. No sir. I had a preacher years ago, I
was preaching for him in a meeting over in Virginia, a fellow I
went to school with, and he said, he said, but aren't you concerned
that somebody might come to the Lord's table who shouldn't receive
the bread and the wine? I said, oh, I'm concerned. I'm
concerned. But I would rather serve this
bread and wine to 500,000 people every week who don't, who ought
not partake of it than to keep it from one who should. This
is the Lord's table. It's for the Lord's children.
Now, look at verse 21. For in eating, every one taketh
before other his own supper, not the Lord's, his own. And
one is hungry and another is drunken. Now, what's happening
here is these Corinthians, they weren't observing the Lord's
supper. They just threw it into the mix. What they were really
doing is having a feast. And they added to the ordinance
of Christ their gaudy feast, which soon got out of hand. They
came to feast and gorge themselves, and their love feasts were cruel,
self-serving, self-gratifying, nothing else. Rather than waiting
for one another, they rudely jumped in front of each other.
Instead of waiting on the poor, the poor were left hungry. While
they got nothing, those who jumped in front of them gorged themselves
and drank insatiably to the point of drunkenness. They were just
having what many churches call their love feast to this day.
Read on, verse 22. What? Have you not houses to
eat and drink in? Don't you have a house you can
have your supper in? Or despise ye the church of God? To despise
it is to hold it in contempt, count it as a common thing. And
shame them that have not, those who are poor? What shall I say
to you? Shall I praise you in this? I
praise you not. Now, many point to this passage
of Scripture. Some of you have been involved
with such religion, and they say, now there you see, we ought
not eat in the Lord's house. This is not a prohibition to
us having our fellowship dinners. We have our conference feeding
folks downstairs. We have a guest in having a time of fellowship
with them and feeding in the building. We don't worship church
buildings. We don't worship church buildings. This is not a holy place. This is just a place where we
meet. God's church are the people who meet here, not the building.
The Corinthians here are being shamed and Paul is saying to
them, you ought not behave in this manner while claiming to
worship Christ and keep his ordinance. This is what he's saying. If
you're going to behave like this, if you're going to behave in
such a carnal, self-gratifying manner, if your only purpose
is to please yourself, then just at least stay at home and don't
claim to worship God. Now look at verse 23. For I have
received of the Lord, now he's giving us the instruction he's
received, 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... Now, you'll remember in the gospel
narratives, the gospel writers say he blessed the bread. That
doesn't mean he waved a censer over it or he did this silly
stuff, put some kind of a mysterious sign on it. We talk about saying
the blessing, and most people have the idea somehow that magically
changes the food. And papists have the idea, and
many others do, that now that we've blessed this, this is holy
stuff. I have a very good friend who used to pastor in the Free
World Baptist Church. Brother Mahan and I got very closely
acquainted with him. He asked Brother Henry one time,
he said, what do y'all do with the wine after you have the Lord's
table? Henry said, well, we set it aside and use it next time
or drink it with our next meal if we want to. Why? He said,
oh. And he said, what do you do?
He said, we bury it. Once it's been blessed, we can't
drink that. People have all kinds of silly
superstitions. When our Lord blessed the bread
and blessed the wine, he simply gave thanks for it. You remember
how Paul tells us about eating and drinking? He says, if you
want pork chops for lunch, have pork chops for lunch. If you
want chicken, have chicken. If you want beef, have chicken.
If you want squirrel, have squirrel. It doesn't matter. If it's received
with thanksgiving, it's consecrated to God. That's all. That's all.
And that's exactly what our Lord did here. All right, read on.
When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, now watch
this, take, eat. Pretty plain, isn't it? 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, and 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 the
Lord's death till he come." Now, here the Holy Spirit tells us
how we're to observe the ordinance. Let me give it to you in very
brief summary. We are to observe this ordinance
in exactly the same way our Lord first observed it with his disciples. Is that clear enough? We don't
have any right, any right at all, to add to or take from what
our Lord did. Seems to me that I recall there
was one fellow there who was a devil. Well, we ought to be careful
how we do this. The Lord Jesus knew he was a
devil. He told him he was. And Judah still presumes to observe
the table with the rest of the disciples. And the Lord let him. Because it's his responsibility. That means this too. We are to
observe the Lord's table using the very things that he used.
Wine and unleavened bread. Because they represent things
meaningful. The bread represents and only
represents, might say, well, if the Lord meant for us to understand
that this is representative of my body, he would have said this
is representative of my body. Well, yeah, except sometimes
he says things just deliberately to let goats have what they want.
It represents his body. It is not somehow magically transformed
into his body. This bread is just bread, but
it's unleavened bread because it represents his holy humanity. It is broken because his body
was crushed under the wrath of God when he was made sin for
us, being punished for our sins. The wine is the New Testament
in his blood. That is, it represents the bestowing
of all covenant blessings and grace flowing to desperately
needy sinners through the merits of Christ's effectual sin-atoning
blood. We are to observe this ordinance,
this blessed, blessed ordinance often. as oft as you do this. Now, we observe the Lord's Table
every week. I see no reason for us not to
do so. That's exactly how it was done
in the earliest days of the church as we read through the Book of
Acts. And as we observe the Lord's Table week by week, we do not
imagine, and I want you to be clear on this, that everyone
must observe the Lord's Table every week. This is what I think
is best for this assembly, and I hope you do as well. It's a
delight. But this is required. God's people are to observe this
ordinance often. Often. I know churches haven't
observed the Lord's Table in years. In years. Because they want to, they've
got some kind of superstitious notion about what it is. I know
exactly what it is. God's people are to observe this
ordinance often. And in doing so, we are to remember
our Savior. this do in remembrance of me."
When you prepare to come to the Lord's table, set your heart
and your mind upon Christ. One of the objections to observing
the Lord's table every week that I hear from men is, well, doesn't
it become mundane? God forgive me. Sometimes it
does. Sometimes reading His Word becomes
mundane. Sometimes calling on His name
in prayer becomes mundane. Sometimes singing Amazing Grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me becomes mundane. But the problem's not with the
ordinance, it's with me. You got that? Oh, so remember
Him. Set your heart on Him. Remember
who he is and his wondrous works for you in particular Remember
his dying love His perfect atonement His obedience unto God on your
behalf his complete righteousness now as We observe this ordinance
The Lord has given us a beautiful Symbolic picture And He says
that by this you do show forth the Lord's death till He comes. His body, holy, without sin,
is crushed. Crushed under the wrath of God
as our substitute. And His blood poured out unto
death. that we might obtain from God
Almighty all the blessings of His free grace. There's no other
way to obtain God's grace but through the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ, our Redeemer. All right, look at verse 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." Certainly there is a sense in which it might
be said that we eat the bread and drink the wine unworthily
if we use the wrong elements, or if we do so without proper
reverence, or if we fail to observe the Lord's Supper remembering
Christ, or we don't clearly understand the meaning of the ordinance.
We certainly might be said to observe the ordinance unworthily
if we indeed do not Come to Him in prayer and worship,
calling on His name. Do not come to Him seeking His
glory. But that's not what Paul's talking
about in this context. I'm absolutely certain that's
not what he's talking about. Paul is not here talking about
something that is involved in our behavior, our conduct that
makes us unworthy. That person who eats and drinks
the bread and wine unworthily is guilty of the body and blood
of the Lord Jesus. And therefore, according to verse
29, he eats and drinks damnation unto himself. Now, a believer
can't do that. A believer can't do that. A believer
is kept by the power of God. A believer shall never perish.
A believer cannot eat and drink damnation to himself, cannot
trample under his feet the blood of Christ. All right, look at
verse 28. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of
that bread and drink of that cup. Let a man examine himself. Not let the church examine a
man. Not let each of you examine one
another. Not let a man be examined by
the deacons or elders of the church. No, no, no. The text
doesn't say, let a man be examined. It says, let a man examine himself.
Now, this is the point. Each of you, and I as well, are
to examine ourselves, whether we be in the faith. So that as
you take this bread in your hand, and take this cup, examine yourself. Or do I not
trust Christ? Whether you be in the faith. That's the point. Not how good
am I? Not how spiritual am I? Not how holy am I? The fact is,
you're not good. And you're not very spiritual.
And you're not very holy. Not in yourself. Not in yourself. And if you think you are, you
are deluding yourself. Whether you be in the faith,
that's the point. 2 Corinthians 13, 5. We have
neither the right nor the ability to examine one another in these
matters. And then once we have been made
to know that we're in the faith, examine yourself and then eat. It looks to me like, Merle, that
says, if you're in the faith, if you believe Christ, eat this
bread and drink this wine. So let him eat. Not, so let him
be kept from eating. So let him eat. Whoever he is,
if he believes Christ, if you believe the Son of God, this
table is spread for you. If you don't, it's not. That's
the point. And eat. The ordinances of divine
worship. are not optional to God's people. They're not optional. Our Lord
commands us to confess him in believer's baptism. That's not
an option. Our Lord commands us to observe
this ordinance. It's not an option. He says, so let him eat. Now,
verse 29, for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth
and drinketh damnation to himself. Now here's the key. Not discerning
the Lord's body. You see, the unbeliever does not discern the Lord's body. He does not. You who are yet
without Christ, the reason you do not believe Him is because
you do not discern the Lord's body. Oh, you might be able to
recite a creed. You might be able to talk about
the union of the divine natures in Christ. You might be able
to talk about Him being both God and man in one person. You
might be able to talk clearly about His obedience unto death,
establishing righteousness. You might be able to defend particular
atonement, limited atonement, particular redemption. You might
be able to talk clearly about substitutionary work of Christ.
All those things. But you don't discern his body.
The believer discerns his body. He understands. I have a desperate
need of a substitute. I need someone to stand in my
stead before God. I need someone who is able to
bear my sin and bear it away. Satisfy divine justice because
of my sin. I need someone. to give me righteousness
with God Almighty. I need somebody to save my soul
whom God will accept. There he is. There he is. Christ is my righteousness and
my redemption and my salvation. Look, I feel, I do, I think you don't discern the Lord's
body. Salvation is not in what you think and feel and do. It's in Christ the substitute.
The presumption of redemption, the presumption of righteousness,
the presumption of regeneration, the presumption of acceptance
with God without the knowledge of and a God-given faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ is damning to the souls of men. Religion
without Christ is damning. It's the reason we don't practice
the horrid, horrid thing called infant baptism. We don't do it.
It's one of the most damning practices in religion throughout
history. You sprinkle a little water on
a baby's face and tell that child from its infancy that it's a
Christian. Raise them up as Christians and
to think the Christians because they've been in church all their
lives. It's damning. The reason we don't try to talk
people into a profession of faith. Don't do it. Just don't do it.
It's because a profession of faith without the possession
of grace is damning to a man's soul. Our Lord said you Pharisees
make such people twofold more the child of hell than they were
before. Any presumption of acceptance with God based on anything except
Christ the Lord is damning. True believers are people who
discern the Lord's body. Now look at verse 30. For this
cause, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. What does that mean? Well, the
Lord, boy, these folks, they took the Lord's
supper in the wrong way, and they shouldn't have done so,
so the Lord gave them cancer. The Lord's given them a multiple
sclerosis, and some of them even killed them. Doesn't that sound
a little strange to you? Doesn't that sound just a little
strange to you? What's he talking about? He's talking about damnation
for this cause. Because you've eaten and drunk
damnation to yourself, many are weak and sickly and are dead
among you. How do you notice what we're
talking about? Verse 31. For if we would judge ourselves,
we should not be judged. Paul's language is simple and
clear. It's all together in line with what I've been telling you.
If you and I will sit in judgment with God against ourselves, like
David did, like Isaiah did, like Job did, like Daniel did. If
we will sit in judgment against ourselves before the bar of God,
God Almighty declares that we will not be judged and condemned
of him. That person who genuinely acknowledges
and confesses his sin, that person who acknowledges his guilt before
God, trusting Christ alone, he has acceptance with God and shall
never come into condemnation. For we are convinced by God's
spirit of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, convinced of
it. And he that believeth on the
son shall not be condemned. Verse 32. But when we are judged,
when we, we who are believers are judged, we're chastened to
the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
When God deals with his elect for sin, when he appears to be
sitting in judgment against us, he's not punishing us for sin.
No, no, no, no, no. No, he's correcting us as a loving
father. He chastens us that we might
not be condemned. He chastens us as sons that we
might be partakers of his righteousness. The bastards he ignores. That
is, those who profess faith but have no faith. He leads them
to their own destruction. Verse 33. Wherefore, my brethren,
when you come together to eat, tarry one for another. And if
any men hunger, let him eat at home. Don't come here to get
your belly filled. that you come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order
when I come. Now, three things. Obviously, Paul is telling us
here that we are to deal with professed believers as brethren. Any man who professes to believe
the gospel of God's free grace who professes to believe the
Christ of God. I'm not talking about any religious
man. I'm not talking about anybody who professes to believe in some
imaginary God or some imaginary Jesus. I'm talking about any
man who professes faith in the Christ of God. We are to treat
and regard as our brother. Well, I just can't do that. Look
what he's done. Look what he's done. Look what
she's done. Would you care to read first Corinthians again?
Would you care to read it again? I've known, I've known lots of
people to do lots of things, lots of things, but I'll be honest
with you. I haven't known many to measure
up to the evil performed by these Corinthians. Have you? Have you? Oh, we can't have people like
that in the church. Oh, what a bad testimony that'd be. I
thought this is where sinners came. This is the place for sinners,
not a place to run them off. This is a place for the sin sick
soul. Oh, but Brother Don, that's encouraging sin. No, no, no,
never, never. But those who profess faith in
Christ, who claim to be his sons and his daughters are to be received
by us and treated by us as our brethren. You'll notice how Paul
addresses these folks, my brethren, my brethren. And he wasn't being
sarcastic or insincere. True believers often behave in
a terribly inconsistent manner. And that includes Lindsay Campbell
and Don Fortner. We often do. You might not see it, but we
often do. When we come together to eat
the Lord's supper, we ought to always be thoughtful and giving
loving consideration to one another. Turn to chapter 10 for just a
second. Verse 16, tarry one for another. We're
not only to discern the Lord's sacrificial body, but a spiritual
body. The cup of blessing which you bless, is it not the communion
of Christ? The bread which we break, is
it not the communion of the body of Christ? I love to get together with family,
don't you? Christmas, Thanksgiving, we get together and we have a
meal. We just have a meal and sit at
the table for a long time and just talk. Talk about everything
and talk about nothing. Just talk. What makes it so good? Oh, we have such a gorgeous table.
We have such fine, fine food. Well, that helps. But it wouldn't
matter if we had grilled cheese sandwiches or peanut butter sandwiches. It's family time. It's family
time.