You'll be turning, if you will,
to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. I often go places, folks will ask, are
you preaching tonight? And I always respond, we'll find
out in just a little while. I study diligently. I know that if I would preach
to you, it is my responsibility to be prepared, and I don't ever
preach off the cuff. I don't do it. I think more of you than that,
and I sure think more of God than that. I don't do it. I don't
ever just pull out summer notes and walk in and preach. I prepare. But all the studying in the world,
all the preparation in the world, mentally studying, will not enable
me to preach to you. I've got to have something else.
I've got to have a word from God to my heart and power from
God to speak from my heart to your heart. I read this earlier this morning. It's written by John Rusk, a
preacher who died nearly 200 years ago. He said, I want an
experimental preacher, one who, when he has had one meal, has
tried how he shall get the next, one who is tormented with devils
fit to tear him limb from limb. One who feels hell inside himself,
and every corruption of his nature stirred up to oppose God's work. One who feels so weak that every
day he gets over, he views it next to a miracle. One who is
hated with perfect hatred by the flying troop of hypocrites
in our day. And I thought, oh, that's the
kind of fellow I'd like to listen to, and that's the kind of preacher
I want to be. I want a word from God for your
soul to feed you with knowledge and with understanding. I spoke to Brother Ron last night
about John Warburton, his book, Mercies of a Covenant God. One
of the things Warburton used to say, They used to pray, God,
speak through this worthless, empty pipe. And if God will speak through
this worthless, empty pipe, I've got something for you. First
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. But let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that
cup. For he that eateth and drinketh
unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning
the Lord's body. These three verses, probably,
have been more troubling to sensitive souls than any others in the
New Testament. Many of the Lord's people read
these verses, and they think, as I'm sure you do, surely if
anyone is unworthy to receive the Lord's Supper, it is me. Satan roars against the weak. the untaught or the poorly taught
believer. He accuses us of sin, of guilt,
and he tries every way he possibly can to get us back upon a legal
footing before God. You see, the old serpent is hellishly
subtle and clever. Hellishly subtle and clever. He tries under the pretense and
guise of humility and holiness to have us turn our eyes of faith
away from Christ and upon ourselves. He would have us look to ourselves
rather than to Christ for our worthiness to worship God Almighty
and to celebrate redemption by the Son of God. So tonight, I
want to answer this question in this message. Who is worthy? Who is worthy to eat this bread
and drink this wine? Who is worthy to observe the
Lord's table? I'm going to give you the answer
so that it's crisp and clear in your head, I hope in your
heart, and then I'm going to show you the answer from the
passage before us. Here is the answer. Every true
believer, what is a true believer? That's a sinner who trusts Christ. That's a sinner who trusts Christ. I didn't say this kind of sinner
or that kind. A sinner who trusts Christ. I
didn't say trust Christ to this degree or to that degree. A sinner
who trusts Christ alone for his whole salvation. He is worthy
to receive this bread and this wine, for he is worthy of God's
approval and God's acceptance. Worthy not in himself, but worthy
because Christ is worthy. And because Christ is worthy,
James Jordan, you and I are worthy before God. Oh, I wish we could get hold
of this. If we are His, if we trust the Son of God, because
Christ is worthy, we are worthy. with His spotless garments on,
I am as holy as God's own Son. Near, so very near to God, nearer
I cannot be. For in the person of His Son,
I am as near as He. Dear, so very dear to God, dearer
I cannot be. For in the person of God's own
Son, am as dear as he." Now, let's see if I can make good
on that from the context. The fact is, as I've told you
so many times, it is not possible to understand any text of scripture
isolated from the context in which it is found. It is not
possible to understand 1 Corinthians 11, 27, 28, and 29. if you do not understand the
context of verses 20 through 34. In fact, it is not possible
to understand any text of scripture except as it is understood in
the larger context of the whole volume of inspiration. One fellow
put it this way. Take any doctrine, any thought
or interpretation about any text. and throw the whole book at it.
Just throw the whole book at it. If it bounces off, it ain't
so. But if it just is absorbed in
the book, that's it. That's it. In other words, the
Bible must be interpreted in all its parts in the totality
of God's revelation. We believe things revealed in
scripture as they are revealed in the context of the whole revelation
of God. We do not dishonestly, and it
is dishonest. It's not a matter of being mistaken.
It is dishonest. to take one phrase or one word
or one part of Scripture and pull it away from the context
of the whole revelation of God and try to interpret it standing
on its own. That's dishonest. You wouldn't do that with any
contract in any court of law anywhere in the world and get
by with it. But men do it with the Word of
God all the time. So let's look at the context in which this
is found. In this part of 1 Corinthians, The Apostle Paul, writing by
divine inspiration, is setting in order the disorderly affairs
of the local church at Corinth. But more importantly, he sets
before us here the proper order of public worship in all local
churches. He's telling all gospel churches
how we ought to behave in the house of God, particularly in
this 11th chapter in verses 20 through 34. The Holy Spirit tells
us exactly what we should and should not do when we come together
as we have tonight to observe the Lord's Supper. Now, let's
look at verse 20. We'll begin here. Hold your Bibles
open here and follow me through the chapter. 1 Corinthians 11,
20. When you come together, therefore,
into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. Now, three
things are obvious in this verse. Number one, there was a specific
place where the Corinthian church assembled for public worship. I stress this a little, because
there are many in our day who fancy themselves learned spiritual
people who care nothing for commitment or responsibility. They like
to run from one place to another and go to no place at all, meet
or not meet as it fits their whims, worship or not worship
with God's saints as they are pleased, as it fits their schedule.
This they call freedom. I call it total irresponsibility. a total lack of responsibility. You see, when the local church
meets together, there God's people meet one with another in the
fellowship of the saints to encourage and to strengthen and to help
one another. So I don't feel like coming tonight.
Maybe I need you to come. Maybe somebody else needs you.
Well, I'm just not up to it. I've got other things to do.
I need to stay home, watch gun smoke or something. I'm tired. It's irresponsible. It's just irresponsible. That's all. Well, you don't understand. Yes, I do. I shouldn't hurt so
much. It's just irresponsible. What if everybody treated the
assembly of God's saints the way irresponsible people do.
You soon wouldn't have any place to worship. You soon wouldn't
have any place to meet with God's people. You soon wouldn't have
any fellowship with the saints. That's irresponsible. God's people
meet together with responsible care for one another, for the
feeding of their souls, for the encouragement of the brethren,
for the honor of God, to worship God. so that it becomes both
our privilege and our responsibility to meet together in the assembly
of God's saints. Secondly, when the Corinthian
church came together at the appointed time, The Scriptures never tell
us what the appointed time is, because one place it's appointed
this time, one place it's appointed another time. But they came together
at appointed times for worship. And when they came together,
they claimed that they came to eat the Lord's Supper. They met
in Christ's name, according to Christ's command, with the pretense
of observing Christ's ordinance. But that wasn't the case at all.
Things had degenerated horribly at Corinth. Now, there's no question. There's no question. There were
some, maybe many in this local church, who were sincere worshipers
of God. But insofar as the majority,
the bulk of the congregation was concerned, their assembling
together at these appointed times was not really to observe the
Lord's Supper at all, but rather for the festivities of their
various religious parties. They'd get together and observe
their love feast. They had fellowships. They all loved the fellowship.
Loved the fellowship. We come together. We come together,
and we have our times of fellowship and social interaction, and that's
wonderful. That's delightful. But don't ever let that become
prominent. Don't ever let that become prominent. That'll destroy worship. That'll
destroy our purpose for gathering. The prominent thing is the hearing
and preaching and promotion of the gospel of God's grace. That's
the prominent thing. At Corinth, they said, let's
go to church. Man, the party's good down here.
Let's go to church. We have a good time at our church.
Let's go to church. We'll have our feast. We do it
every week. And thirdly. If we do not observe the ordinances
of divine worship in the manner prescribed by God, we cannot
observe them at all. Paul says you come together,
but it's not to keep the Lord's Feast or the Lord's Supper. It's
not to worship God. The Corinthians said, let's go
to church and worship God in the observance of God's ordinance.
But they came to throw a party, and so Paul said, when you come
together in this place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper.
Now, we've come here tonight, as we do every Sunday evening,
to observe the Lord's Supper. It is called the Lord's Supper
because he's the author of it. He's the one who established
it. He's the subject of it. This is true of all matters of
worship. He's the host of it. He's the host, not Grace Baptist
Church, him. He's the host, not the Baptist
denomination, him. He's the host, not the pastor,
the deacons, or the elders, him. He's the one who sets the table. And he's the reason for it. We
come together here because of him. Because of him. Not because of the preacher.
The preacher's nothing. The preacher's nothing. This
one and all the rest of us. The preachers, nothing. Preachers often make a mistake
of trying to get folks to, you know, God be their friend. And
you preach to them. No, no. Preach to them and you
might be their friend. Preach the gospel to them, you
might be their friend. But they come to church because they're
your friend, they like to preach, and they'll soon not like you because I'm
going to do something you don't like sooner or later. That might be
hard to believe, but sooner or later I'm going to do something
you don't like. If you come because the preacher's your friend, you'll
soon leave because he's not your friend anymore. He is everything. Christ, He's everything. In the
whole of the worship of God. Look at verse 21 now. For in
eating, every one taketh before other his own supper, and one
is hungry and another is drunk. Man, I laugh what was going on
here. Here Paul explains exactly why the Corinthians practice
was not an act of worship at all and could not be considered
observing the Lord's Supper. It is because they added to the
ordinance of Christ a gaudy feast that soon got out of hand. And
we have to be careful with that. Now, the Lord willing, next Sunday,
we're going to have a feast. We're going to have a good time.
It has absolutely no association with the observance of the Lord's
Supper. It is a blessed time for our church family, but they
can get out of hand. They can get out of hand and
you dare not let them. They came not to worship, but
to feast, not to serve one another, but rather to be served by one
another, to be seen, and each one to fill his own belly. They
called them love feast in those days, kind of like churches do
in our day. Their love feast was a rude,
cruel, self-serving, self-gratifying party to please themselves. How
can you say that? These were love feasts, were
they? Rather than waiting on one another, they rudely jumped
in front of each other. Rather than waiting on the poor,
that's a love feast. Come to feed folks who can't
afford to feed themselves. Rather than waiting on the poor,
they despised the poor and left them sitting around hungry. Poor
fellow came in, sat down, He didn't bring anything, didn't
have anything to eat in this great, big, huge church. They
all were there, refined clothes and refined appearance and refined
speech and beautifully spread meal. They walked by there and
said, what's that fellow doing? He said, dirty. And they gave
him that kind of look. Well, he's not from our side
of town. What's he doing here? Not say a word, just speak loudly
with their contempt of the poor. and left him sitting there, and
left him hungry, and he went home hungry. While the poor got
nothing, those who jumped before them and gorged themselves drank
insatiably. And Paul says here, you're drunk. You come and say you're worshiping
God, and you take the wine of the Lord's table, you pour you
a half gallon of it, and you get smashed. And you call it
worshiping God. Read on, verse 22. What? Have
you not houses to eat in and drink in? Or despise ye the church
of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I
don't think so. I praise you not." Now, that
verse has been just about as perverted as the rest of this
chapter. A lot of you folks have come from backgrounds where I'm
sure you've seen this. Folks say, well, we don't eat
in the church house. I recall years ago. I won't ever
forget it. Well, I might. I'm forgetting
a lot of stuff. But I don't think I will. I was sitting at the
table. We were having a fellowship dinner after a conference when
I was pastoring up at Lookout. Brother Mahan was there. And
we were sitting down and eating. He was trying his best to eat.
And the fellow kept asking questions, kept asking questions. And finally,
Henry was, his food was getting cold. He said, Brother Cole,
aren't you going to eat? He said, don't be, George. Eat
in the Lord's house, Brother Mahan. He had his fork in his hand,
never even dropped it. He said, you're peeing in it, don't you? That kind of took the starch
out of him. That's not what this prohibition is about. We're not
idolaters. We don't worship this house.
This building is not a sanctuary. It's just a church house. That's
all it is. We meet together here. What Paul's talking about here
is not some kind of an idolatrous, superstitious notion that this
is a holy place and we just don't do things here that we do other
places. No, no. What Paul is saying is this.
If you're going to behave like this, At least stay at home. If you're going to behave like
this, at least stay at home. Don't treat the church of God with
such contempt. That is the people of God. You
ought to be ashamed of yourselves for so shamefully embarrassing
your poor brethren. Now look at verse 23. For I have
received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you, that
the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, 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
took the cup, when he had sucked, saying, this cup is the new testament,
the new covenant in my blood, this do ye as oft as you 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 be sure you don't miss this.
The Holy Spirit here tells us that when the gospel writers
say that Christ blessed the bread and blessed the cup, that doesn't
mean that he said mumbo-jumbo. Now this is something else. It
doesn't mean that he calls the cup somehow mysteriously to be
changed really into his blood, or that he calls the bread somehow
mysteriously really to be changed into his body, or that he somehow
calls the bread and the wine mysteriously now to be a blessing. That's not what it means. It
simply means he gave thanks. He gave thanks. We use the term
blessing. Would you say the blessing or
ask the blessing? Kind of cringe when I hear it.
Just give thanks. We're not blessing the food.
We're giving thanks for the food. We're not blessing this time
of fellowship together. We're giving thanks for it. Folks
have idolatrous superstition that because some fellow with
a funny-looking, sissified outfit gets up in the name of God and
has a cross around his neck, he can make a dog to be blessed
or make a ship to be blessed or make the food to be blessed.
Foolish, just foolish and idolatrous. Now let me remind you just briefly
what the Holy Spirit is saying here. I'll give you just the
highlights. I've expounded this many times,
and will hope to do so again. We are to observe the Lord's
Supper the same way that our Lord did on the night when he
established it with his disciples. Folks say, why do you do things
the way you do them? Because that's the only way to do them
when it comes to the worship of God. Not my way, God's way. We have no right ever. to change, to alter any ordinance
of God except God in his word has told us to do so. We no longer
observe the Old Testament rituals because God in his word forbids
it. We dare not alter the way we
worship God in the observance of his ordinances because God
has established them, and we have no right and no reason to
change them. Second, the passage here When
we say we observe the Lord's Supper the same way our Lord
did, that means we are to do so using unleavened bread and
wine. Now, I know that's not popular
among many in our day. I know folks walk and raise hand
about it. Somebody says, well, what if an alcoholic should come
and he takes the wine? You know what? I've been preaching
for a long time, been pastoring for 30 years, been pastoring
for 30 years, been preaching all over the country and outside.
I've never yet seen a fellow start loading up on alcoholic
beverages and staggering down the steps because he had a thimble
full of wine at the Lord's Supper. I've never seen it happen. He's
never seen it happen. More than that, when God saves
folks, he saves them all over, inside and out. That's not the
problem. We observe the Lord's Supper
the way our Lord prescribed it, regardless of the opinion of
society, regardless of the opinion of the religious world. We use
unleavened bread and wine. And then the unleavened bread,
it represents, only represents, it represents, only represents
the body of our Lord Jesus, his real human nature. crushed to
death for the sacrifice for the substitution of our souls and
the satisfaction of justice for our sins. It represents it. It represents his holy humanity. The blood represents, only represents,
It in no way is, becomes, or is used as the blood of Christ. The cup, the wine, represents
his precious blood, the blood of the new covenant shed for
many for the remission of sins. That blood by which alone iniquity
is purged away. Amen. As we observe this ordinance
in the manner which our Lord has prescribed, he tells us to
do so often. He doesn't say how often. There
may be reasons and times not to do it every Lord's Day. Our
Lord never told His church to do it every Lord's Day. But in
the New Testament, they did in the era of the early church.
And we observe the Lord's Supper every Sunday evening. But the
fact is we are to observe it often, often. I can't tell you
the number of times friends in churches that are pretty legalistic sit in my house or sit beside
me at a table somewhere and say, you know, we haven't observed
Lord's Supper in two or three years. Haven't observed Lord's Supper
in 10 years. And I've had pastors tell me, well, church is not
in position to observe it. Do what? Our Lord said often,
often. And it says when you do it, do
it in remembrance of me, remembrance of who I am, what I've done for
you. Now, in the observance of the Lord's Supper, we show forth
in a beautifully symbolic ordinance the Lord's death till he come. We show forth the Lord's death
till he come. Now, this is very, very, very
important. Now look at verse 27. Wherefore? It looks to me like, Bobby, there's
a connection between showing forth the Lord's death till he
come in the observance of this ordinance and what he's about
to say. Wherefore, since this ordinance shows forth the Lord's
death, representing his death, reminding us of his death until
he comes, 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, without question, There
is a sense in which it may be said that we eat and drink the
bread and wine unworthily if we use the wrong elements, if
we observe the ordinance without a proper reverence, if we fail
to properly think of and remember the Lord Jesus, or if we do not
clearly understand the meaning of the ordinance. All those things
certainly, in a sense, constitute observing this ordinance unworthily. What do we do that we don't do
unworthily? But that's not what this passage is talking about.
Commonly, the verse is interpreted to mean this. A person is unworthy
to receive the Lord's Supper who has a certain amount of unconfessed
sin in his life. I've heard fellows say, if you
have any unconfessed sin in your life, you do. You do. A lot of it, you have no idea
what it is. Most of it, you have no idea what it is. Well, can't
we talk about that? If they have the idea somehow
if you haven't prayed right, you haven't read your Bible enough,
you haven't lived exactly like you should, again, I grant there
is a sense in which we do things in an unworthy manner because
of our sin. There's no question about that.
But that's not what this passage is talking about. This I know
with absolute authority. That unworthiness spoken of in
this text has absolutely nothing to do with the manner in which
we keep the ordinance, or with our depravity, our sinfulness,
our corruption. The depravity, the sin, and the
corruption of our hearts, or even the sins and evil behavior
of believers in their lives has nothing to do with those things.
Nothing to do with those things. Well, how can you say that so
dogmatically? That person who eats and drinks unworthily is
guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. And he eats and
drinks damnation to himself. I just am fully convinced a believer
can't do that. A believer is not going to drink
damnation to himself. Now look at verse 28. We're given
two things that we are to do as we prepare to receive the
Lord's Supper. But let a man examine himself. Examine himself. The text does not say, let a
man be examined. It doesn't say that. Well, we're
going to fix the table. Are you now? You go ahead and
fence. And I guarantee, I'll tell you
who you're going to bring to it. You're going to bring a bunch
of self-righteous hypocrites, including you. Including you. No, sir. We don't fence the table. We're not the host. The master
is. It's not our table. It's the Lord's table. Let a
man examine himself. Examine yourselves whether you
be in the faith. That's the issue. Do you trust
Christ? Not, did you yesterday? Not do
you trust Him as you ought to, not how long have you trusted
Him, not are you trusting Him with perfect faith. Do you trust
Him? Is Christ alone your hope before
God? Do you lean your soul only on
Him? Examine yourself. The fact is,
the only one who can examine that is you. We have neither
the right nor the ability to examine one another or even form
an opinion about whether Bobby Estes is a believer or Don Fortner
is. We don't have the right to even form an opinion. It is nothing
but haughty pride and self-righteousness that makes us do so. I pray God
will give us grace to recognize this and get beyond such pompous
self-righteousness, the desire, the habit, the practice of such
judgment. It is our responsibility to receive
men and women who profess faith in Christ as brethren without
doubtful disputations. And then Paul says, once we've
been made to know that we are really in the faith, that Christ
is in us and we're in Christ, he says, so let him eat. Because
we trust Christ alone, we're told to eat. Well, I don't know whether the
Lord would have same wall to eat the Lord's Supper. Now, I
know. I know. Well, I don't know whether I
ought to do that. I can tell you what you ought
to do. In this regard, if you're Christ, eat. The ordinances of
worship are not optional. I don't know where we ever got
the notion they were. Our Lord said, let a man examine
himself, see whether he's in the faith, and then decide whether
he's going to keep the ordinance or not. He said, eat this bread
and drink this cup. He didn't give you an option
about confessing him in baptism. He said, he that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. He didn't give us an option. He said, worship me as
I said. Now look at verse 29. For he
that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation
to himself. Now watch it. Not discerning
the Lord's body. Now here the Holy Spirit tells
us exactly what it is to eat and drink unworthily. Those who
eat and drink unworthily are those who do not discern the
Lord's body. They're religious, but they're
lost. They may know the creeds forward
and backward, but they're lost. They don't know God. They may
be very smart and have much discernment about many things, but they have
no spiritual discernment. They profess faith, but they
don't possess it. They do not discern the Lord's
body. What does that mean? What does
that mean? They don't understand. Some of
you sitting here, you just don't yet get it. You just don't get
it. You don't understand anything
at all about your sin and the depravity of your heart.
That is to say, you don't know any real need of a substitute. That's what it is. That's what
it is. About everybody knows something
about sins. We're good at identifying them, especially in other folks. But not many folks know anything
about their sin. What we are. They don't know anything about
the law and justice of God. They just don't get it. They
don't understand why it was necessary for Christ to die. They don't
understand that justice had to be satisfied. They don't understand
that this is how God can be just and justify the ungodly. They
don't discern, they don't understand the necessity of Christ's incarnation. Why do you have to come? Why
did God assume human nature? Why are you so insistent that
the Son of God is indeed Jesus Christ, one with the Father,
God in human flesh, real incarnate God? Because that's the only
way God can save us. They just don't get it. They
don't understand. They don't discern the accomplishments
of Christ in the flesh. They don't realize that righteousness
had to be established. Justice had to be satisfied.
Sin had to be put away. And the only way for it to be
done is by Christ doing it. In other words, they just don't
know the gospel. You see, the presumption of redemption,
the presumption of righteousness, the presumption of regeneration,
the presumption of acceptance with God, without the reality, is damning. It's damning. It's damning. The hardest people on this earth
to reach with the gospel are religious folks who don't know
God. They've been eating and drinking
damnation to themselves all their lives. It's damning. Now, you mamas and daddies will
understand. Grandma and grandpa, you'll understand why I don't
do anything to try to talk your babies into a profession of faith. I care for their souls. That's
why. That's why. I care for their souls. And for
those children to be convinced that they're born of God, saved
by God's grace, when they've never known anything about the
work of Christ, never known anything about the gospel of God's grace,
when they don't discern anything spiritual, is for them to eat
and drink damnation to themselves by their religious practices.
We don't sprinkle a little water on a baby's face and call it
baptism, bring them into the church, because it is eating
and drinking damnation to their souls. And for you, to engage
in religious activity by which you convince yourself that you
are born of God and everything well with your soul, when nothing
is well with you, is for you with every song you sing. And
every word you read, and every word of testimony you give, and
every experience of religious piety you experience, and every
act of religion you perform, it is for you to eat and drink
damnation to your soul. That's what it is. Oh, that makes
this serious. You see, true believers, sinners,
who trust Christ are folks who discern the Lord's body. We don't
know a lot of things, Merle, but this we dead sure know. We
know our sin. We know why Christ came. And
we know what he did. We discern his work. He's my
righteousness. He's my redemption. Verse 30,
for this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many
sleep. Paul is here declaring that the
judgment of God had fallen upon many at Corinth, because like
Uzzah of old, they sought him not after the due order. They
claimed to be worshiping God, but they weren't. Really, they
were worshiping themselves. They claimed that they trusted
Christ alone as their Savior, but they didn't. They trusted
their own works. Verse 31. For if we would judge
ourselves, we should not be judged. What's that mean? Against thee, thee only have
I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight. So if you kill
my boy, you're right. If you kill me, you're right.
that you may be just when you speak and clear when you judge.
Take sides with God, and God will take sides with you. That's it. Isaiah finally took
sides with God. He said, oh, woe is me! I'm the
man of unclean lips! And God sent a messenger, put
the live coal from off the altar on his lips, and said, your iniquity
is taken away. Verse 32. But when we are judged,
We are chastened of the Lord. That is to say, when it looks
like God's dealing with us in wrath, He's dealing with us in
mercy. When we are judged, we are chastened
of the Lord. Chastened by our Heavenly Father,
who deals with His elect. He deals with us for sin. And
appears to be sitting in judgment against us. But He's not punishing
us, rather He's correcting us. He chastens us. that we should
not be damned with the world. He chastens us that we might
be made partakers of his righteousness. Verse 33. Wherefore, my brethren,
when you come together to eat, tarry one for another, and if
any man hunger, let him eat at home, that you come not together
to condemnation, and the rest will I set in order when I come.
Wrapping this up, this instruction about worship, Paul tells us
three things. First, we are to deal with professed
brethren as brethren until we have absolutely no basis, no
reason whatever to believe their profession. If you read 1 Corinthians, I would encourage you to do it.
Go home. read the whole book, read all 16 chapters, and try
to read it at one setting if you can. If you can take enough
time to sit down at one time and read all 16 chapters, and
mark on a piece of paper everything in the book that Paul identifies
disorderly in that church. You talk about a mess. These
folks were in a mess. I mean, there were folks there
practicing incest. There were folks there engaged
in preacher worship. There were folks there who wouldn't
speak to one another. They had strife and division.
They were carnal. They behaved carnally. Paul said
that he spoke more words of reproof to this congregation than all
the rest of the churches he wrote to, all combined. And yet, when
it comes right to him, He wasn't being sarcastic. He wasn't being
insincere. He was speaking absolute truth. He said, my brethren. My brethren. And he spoke to
them as brethren because they professed to be brethren. True
believers, you see, often behave in a terribly inconsistent manner. And though Paul does nothing
to promote or encourage the inconsistencies of sinful behavior of God's people,
he loves them still. And he seeks to correct both
their errors and also to minister the everlasting consolation of
the gospel to them. And at the same time, He solemnly
warns the self-righteous Pharisee, the religious hypocrite, the
mere ritualist of the certainty of divine judgment. Now, when
we come together to eat at the Lord's table, when we come together to worship
God, when we come together in the house of God, we ought to always be thoughtful
and caring of one another. We ought to be that way in our
lives. Bob, we ought to make it a point, make it a point to
speak to and express kindness and thoughtfulness to one another.
People sometimes come in and leave and virtually nobody speak
to them. Sometimes in the congregation
here, our family will come together, and you come in, sit down, got
something on your mind, and you just walk out. Just stay home. Just stay home. You've got to
behave like that. Don't you have a house to sit
at home and pout in? Sit at home and pout. Here, be gracious and
kind, thoughtful. We are, after all, one body. This bread represents one body,
one body in the Lord. And thirdly, we must never mingle
the worship of God with carnal pleasure. That's not our purpose. That's not our purpose. I recall,
Judy, your dad, when he and his second wife were first dating,
she said, She said, well, it's not much fun to go to church
out there. He said, I didn't know it was about having fun. That's exactly right. It's not
about having fun. It's about worshiping God. It's
not about pleasing me. It's about serving you. Oh, what
a blessed fellowship that makes. Now, let's worship God together,
remembering our Savior. sinner, eat the bread and drink
the wine and celebrate redemption by the Son of God. Amen.