Let's look at 1 Corinthians 5
verse 7. It says here in verse 7, Purge
out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as
ye are unleavened, delivered from sin, delivered from evil. The evil purged and cast out,
separated from you. You're unleavened. Leavened is
evil. Leavened is sin. And we're unleavened in Christ.
And because of Christ, His blood has cleansed us and purged us
and purified us and clothed us in His righteousness so we have
no sin. He presents us holy and unblameable
before His Father with great joy. And all of this for even
Christ, our Passover, His sacrifice for us. Christ our Passover. Now, we've met here together
tonight, and from the very beginning in the study, when the Word was
read and prayer was offered, it was evident and obvious that
we had met together tonight in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. To worship Him, to praise Him,
to rejoice in Him, And we have his word of promise, where two
or three are met together in his name, in his name, to glorify
him. Two or three. No man is saved
by numbers. No man is delivered by numbers.
Numbers do not impress God. It's sincerity of spirit and
heart and faith. And we have met together in his
name, and he has promised where two or three are met together,
have been brought together for that purpose, he would be in
their midst. He would be in their midst. And
our brother Gere Shepherd has read the Word of God for us,
a Messianic psalm. And we have had prayer, we have
cried unto our God for his presence and for his power And we have
together sung hymns of praise and thanksgiving to our God.
For all that we have is by His grace. Who maketh thee to differ?
This unity is by His grace. This love is by His grace. It's
not a product of any human heart. By nature we love ourselves.
By grace we love our God. The love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by His Spirit. by his grace for his glory. And we have sung praises and
thanksgiving to our God, and now the pastor is in his place,
and these deacons are in their places, and we have before us
here spread, prepared by one of our men, a table. And on this table is unleavened
bread and wine. And in a few moments, every believer,
every true believer in this congregation will take that bread in his hand,
put it in his mouth and eat it. And every believer here in a
few moments will take a cup of this wine and put it to his lips
and drink it. Now the question arises, the
question arises, what mean ye by this service? If you'll turn
with me to the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 12, turn to Exodus
chapter 12, and Moses is writing here regarding the Passover,
the first Passover, the very first one. Actually, what this
table represents began long before this first Passover. The blood
that we commemorate and the broken body that we remember is of the
lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Ours is an eternal
gospel. Our God has been pleased in different
dispensations to reveal Christ in different ways and to, from
one extent to another. And we have a more perfect revelation
than any generations ever have. But this didn't begin here. This
is the first expression of it, actually. Christ is the Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. But Moses says here
at the first Passover, verse 26 of Exodus 12, and it shall
come to pass when your children, when your children shall say
unto you, when you slay the Lamb, when you pour out its blood upon
the altar, when you roast the body of the Lamb, When you eat
its flesh, your children are going to say to you, what mean
ye by this service? What mean ye by this service?
That you shall say, it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover,
who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt
when he smote the Egyptians, and he delivered our houses,
and the people bowed their head and worshiped. What mean ye by
this service? And when our children, and even
when some of you ask, and as I was yesterday preparing for
this service and thinking about the table of the Lord and observing
the table of the Lord, I thought perhaps there'll be those in
the congregation who will be asking just such a question.
Why not all of us ask it? What do I mean by this service?
important that I have the right discernment and meaning, isn't
it? I guess, Brother Payne, you and Brother Roach are the eldest
elders. You've been around quite a while, but you don't take any
of this for granted, do you? It's a self-examination tonight.
What mean you, Charlie, by this service? We'd better be right
on it, hadn't we? Well, Cecil, what mean you by
this service? Pastor, you You've officiated
at the Lord's table a whole lot of times. What do you mean by
this service? Is it just an ordinance? Is it
just a ritual? Is it just a form? Is it just
a ceremony? It better not be. It better not
be. It better be as real and refreshing
and joyful and meaningful now, or more so than it's ever been.
Gary, what mean you by this service? Oh, deliver us forever, taking
the the bread and the wine in an unworthy manner, and eating
and drinking damnation to our souls. I come to this table like
I've come to all the others, I hope and pray with solemnity
and seriousness of heart and sincerity of soul, and crying
out for God's mercy and His grace. But let's tell the story in four
parts. What mean ye by this service?
Well, it began here in Exodus 12. As I said, now, it really
began in the Councils of Eternity. It began in the Covenant of Grace.
It began when the Heavenly Father purposed to have a people and
gave them to Christ and made Him the surety and the sin offering
and the righteousness and the sacrifice for those people. But
here is the time when God actually, in a picture, in a pattern, set
forth just what we're going to observe tonight. The people were
down in Egypt in slavery, in bondage. Egypt is a type of this
world, and the bondage is a type of the bondage of the will, the
bondage of sin. And God would deliver His people,
and He came to Moses in chapter 12 of Exodus, verse 3. And He
says this, "'Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying,
In the tenth day of this thou shalt take to them every man
a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for
a house." Now remember this, 1 Corinthians 15, 1 through 3
says, Paul said, I preached unto you the gospel, by which you
are saved, wherein you stand, if you keep in memory what I
preached unto you, how that Christ died for our sins according to
the Scriptures. and that he was buried and rose
again according to the scriptures. So this lamb here that they're
selecting, each household a lamb, the lamb they're selecting is
a picture of the Lamb of God, Christ Jesus. John the Baptist
stood that day and pointed at Jesus of Nazareth and said to
those in his company, behold, look, take notice, as you said
tonight, take notice, the Lamb of God. God's Lamb. God selected him. God appointed
him. God ordained him. That's the
Lamb of God. And then when Isaiah wrote about
his death, he said he's led as a lamb to the slaughter, as a
sheep before her shearers is done, so he opened not his mouth. And then in Revelation chapter
5, he said when no one was able, worthy to open the book, that
there was a lamb. on a throne as it had been slain. And he took the book and opened
it. Christ is this lamb. All right, now go read on. Verse
four, Christ is the lamb. And if the household be too little
for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house
take it according to the number of souls. Every man according
to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Now here's
the reason for that. They were to eat all of the lamb. Half of Christ won't save. You
see, that's the reason. If your household was too small
to eat a whole lamb, then you go in with your neighbor, because
you can't have part of Christ. You can't have Christ as your
Savior and not your Lord. You can't have Christ as your
sin offering and not your King. You can't have Christ as your
prophet and not your priest and king. So that's the reason you
said, now, don't you take a house with a lamb you can't eat completely.
You take all of Christ or you don't have Christ. Now remember
that. I've stressed that over and over
again. Salvation is a commitment, a
full commitment, a total commitment to Christ. It's receiving Christ
as He's written and pictured in the Word. All of Christ. All
of Christ now. All right, read on. And your
lamb shall be without blemish. Our lamb is without blemish,
spot, or stain. Christ has no sin. He knew no
sin. He had no sin. He did no sin. Now, don't waste time arguing
about whether he could or couldn't have sinned. Please don't do
that. When you get wrapped up in things like that, you know
we know in part, and we prophesy in part, when that which is perfect
is come, then we shall know as we have been known. We see through
a glass dimly. So don't be taken up with this
thing of arguing with intellectuals and theologians and debaters
about the impeccability of Christ or so forth as if some say he
could have sinned and some say he couldn't have sinned. Just
remember that he didn't sin. He was tempted in all points
as we are yet without sin. And that's all you need to know.
Isn't that right, John? And that's all I need to know.
He did no sin. But he had no sin. He knew no
sin. He was literally without blemish.
It was absolutely necessary that the captain of our salvation
not only partake of our flesh and blood, but in our flesh and
blood perfectly love and obey God. And he did it. And that's
the reason I have a perfect righteousness, without blemish. And he used
to be a male of the first year. That is, that lamb is in full
youth. full vigor and full strength.
Christ didn't die of old age. He didn't die of human weakness.
He was in the prime of life, thirty-three and a half years
old. A male of the first year. That's right. To be a lamb, a
male lamb of the first year, in full vigor, in full health,
in full strength. And He gave His life. You know,
He's the only man who ever lived on this earth who picked out
his own mother, picked out his own birthday, picked out his
own place where he'd be born, picked out the day he'd die and
the way he'd die, and raised himself from the tomb. That's
my Lord. That's my Lord. Full strength
and sovereignty. All right, and you shall take
it from among the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep
it up, put it in a for four days, three and a half or four days
of the same month. Why would they want to do that?
Why would they go out here and select a lamb and put it up and
observe it for three or four days? To make sure it had no
disease, it had no blemish, it had no failure. And our Lord
Jesus Christ was born of a woman, made of a woman, made under the
law, and he was tested by hell itself, by Satan, by men, He
was tested in all points, more than you, more than I. Tested
for thirty-three and a half years, and he never failed. He never
failed. And when the justice of God came
to take him, they found one without spot or blemish, without spot. And a whole assembly of the congregation
of Israel shall kill it. Our Lord had to die. He suffered
and he bled and he died. And you shall take the blood,
the blood's to be applied, the blood's to be received, the blood's
to be believed. It's not just slaying the lamb,
it's actually to believe, to apply the blood, to receive the
blood, to show forth an evidence of faith in the blood of Christ.
Take it and put it outside, outside, on the doorpost, side post, on
the upper doorpost of the house, wherein you shall eat it. and
they shall eat the flesh in that night." Our Lord said, except
you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God, you
have no life in you. Christ is not just to be admired,
He's to be believed and received. He's to be devoured. He's to
become a part of me. Christ in you, the hope of glory. They took that lamb and roasted
it with fire. He said, down here in verse 9,
don't eat it raw. Don't eat it raw. Christ must
suffer. Christ must suffer under the
wrath of God. He must suffer. There are fires
of hell on that cross. That lamb must be burned. It
must suffer. It must be roasted with fire. He read about it in Psalm 22,
how that he said he'd tell all his bones and his tongue claved
to the roof of his mouth, and he was burning up with fever
under that under that suffering and agony of the cross. And back
here in verse eight, he said, roast it with fire and unleavened
bread and with bitter herbs you shall eat it. What are those
bitter herbs? That's sorrow and repentance for our sins. And
we come to the Lord's table with joy that He suffered, but we
come with a consciousness of our sin and actually tears of
repentance. and a bitterness of spirit, oh,
toward ourselves and toward our sins. We crucified the Son of
God. Our sins took Him to the cross.
And they were to roast that lamb with fire, showing the sufferings
of Christ, and they were to eat it with bitter herbs, showing
the sorrow and repentance over our sins." And he said here in
verse 9, eat not of it raw now. And don't mix it with anything.
Don't sodden it at all with water or gravy or anything. Eat just
the lamb. Don't mix it with your works.
Don't mix it with your merit. Don't mix it with anything. Just
eat of that lamb, not sodden with water or gravy, but roast
with fire, his head, his legs, with the pertinence thereof,
and let nothing of it remain to the morning. That which remaineth
of it to the morning you shall burn with fire. And you shall
eat of it with your loins girted, your shoes on your feet, your
staff in your hand. Eat it in haste, it's the Lord's
Passover. For I will pass through the land
of Egypt this night, and I'll smite all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt." And you notice, he does not say a death angel
came through. Nobody does God's business for
Him. He said, I'm going to pass I think some sinners would like
to deal with an angel someday, but they've got to deal with
God. They've got to deal with God. People without the blood,
without Christ, are going to have to face God. Not an angel,
not a representative, God Almighty. They're going to stand before
the judgment seat of God. He said, I'm going to pass through.
I will pass through. This is God. This is a sovereign,
holy, righteous, eternal, omnipotent God. who's going to pass through
this land of evil, and land of darkness, and land of wickedness,
and land of rebellion, and land of resistance, this land that
said, we'll not have this man reign over us. He said, I'm coming
through this night, this night, and I'm going to smite, I'm going
to smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, man and beast,
against all the princes, the leaders of Egypt, I'm going to
execute judgment, I am the Lord, I am the Lord. And the blood,
wait a minute now, good news, the blood shall be to you, for
a token, upon the houses where you are. And I'll tell you this,
not when I see your good intentions, not when I see your decision
or your profession, not when I see your merit of works, not
when I see your tithe or Sabbath keeping, when I see the blood,
the blood of another, the blood of a lamb, the blood of a sacrifice. If I see the blood, if I see
the blood, I'll pass over you. I'll pass over you if I see the
blood. Won't anything substitute for the blood? I'm going to see
the blood. If I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. If my word has been believed,
and my sacrifice has been offered, and the blood has been applied
and When I see that blood, I'll pass over you, and the plague
shall not be upon you, to destroy you when I smite this land of
Egypt, this world." What's the hope of a sinner? What's the way of redemption?
What's the way of deliverance? The blood of the Lamb. And I'll
tell you that night, God is as good as His words. He said, at
midnight there went up an awful wail from the land of Egypt,
but everywhere the blood was found, the firstborn lived. Isn't that clear enough? Part
two, turn to Luke 22, part two of this story. Now that's the
prophecy, that's the picture, that's the pattern that our gracious
God has set forth. Let him that hear it hath ears
to hear it." All right, here in Luke 22 now, begin with verse
14. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who fulfilled
all the law. He was made of a woman. He was
made under the law. When he was eight days of age,
he was circumcised. He was born a Jew. He was born
under the Levitical law, under the moral law, under the civil
law, under the law of the home. Our Lord Jesus Christ, as a boy
and as a man, was obligated and required to keep every jot and
tittle of God Almighty's holy law for us whom he represented.
And he was circumcised at eight days old. He was named Jesus.
He was taken to the temple. His mother brought her turtledoves
and her sin offering for her cleanliness. And our Lord went
to the Sabbath day. I went to the synagogue on the
Sabbath day. He fulfilled every law, Charlie,
every jot and tittle. He fulfilled it. He fulfilled
it. And now, and he ate the Passover
every year. He went to the Feast of the Tabernacle,
the Feast of the Firstfruits. He did all these things that
was required of Jewish men. He did them all. Now, he came,
in verse 14 of Luke 22, And when the hour was come, he
sat down and his twelve apostles with him. And he said to them
with desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before
I suffer. My friends, here's the last Passover
that God will ever recognize. It started in Egypt, and Moses
commanded them to observe it every year, hundreds of years,
hundreds of years, every year, the Passover was observed. Passover
they slew the lamb, they roasted it, they ate it, they ate the
unleavened bread, bitter herbs and so forth, and our Lord assembled
with his twelve apostles to eat the last Passover. Why is this
the last one? Because God's lamb is going to
die now. God's lamb is going to shed his
blood. God's lamb is going to be sacrificed
for our sins. This is the end of the Passover.
And this is the end of the Sabbath. Keep it. This is the end of tithing. This is the end of the Feast
of the Tabernacles. This, he taketh away the first
to establish the second. When Christ died, he fulfilled
all these things. This is what Paul complained
to the Galatians about. He said, you're bringing folks
back under this circumcision, back under the law. Don't you
hear the law? He that would be saved by the
law is obligated to keep the whole law. the whole law, every
jot and tittle of it. But Christ is our law, Christ
is our Sabbath, Christ is our righteousness. This doesn't turn
a man loose into lasciviousness, but into a liberty of Christ,
a liberty of love, a liberty of holiness, a liberty of honesty,
a liberty of truth. He's motivated not by a rule,
but by a ruler. He's motivated not by a law,
but by a lover. That's right. That's right. And here he comes and says, I'm
going to eat this Passover with you. I say unto you, I'll not
any more eat thou, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup. He instituted
a new thing. A new thing. No more Passover. Now it's the Lord's table. of
what we have here. He took the cup, a cup of wine,
and he gave thanks, and he said, Take this now, and divide it
among yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not
drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God is come.
And he took bread, and he gave thanks, and he break it, and
said, This is my body, this is my body, broken for you, broken
for you. Now watch it. This dude in remembrance
of me." I'll tell you, there's so much to be understood in those
five or six words, those six words, this do in remembrance
of me. He did not say this do as a sacrament
in order to be saved. He did not say this do as a means
to discipline your church. Don't use it as an instrument
to discipline the church. He did not say, this do as an
evidence of church unity. Everybody's in such good harmony,
therefore we'll come to the Lord's table. We'll come whether they
are or not. And he did not say, this do to
show your worthiness. I've known people to stay away
from the Lord's table. I asked, why? They said, well,
I just didn't feel worthy. But I tell you, Well, you know
the answer to that, don't you? If you ever feel worthy, please
don't come. This is for unworthy people.
This is for those who find their worthiness in another, their
righteousness in another. He didn't say, this do to show
your worthiness. He said, this do. Now, there's
to what this do. This do. Don't put on a uniform. Don't line the walls with candles.
Don't form a processional. Don't have an orchestra playing
quietly. This do. Just simple elements. Bread and wine. Bread and wine. No gold cup. No silver platters. This do. This do. Not this and something else.
This do. In remembrance. In remembrance. Recalling who He is. Recalling
what he did. Recalling why he did it. Recalling
what he accomplished. Recalling where he is. Remembering
him as the surety of the covenant. Remembering him as the incarnate
Lord. Remembering him as our holy and
perfect righteousness. Remembering him as our suffering
substitute. Remembering him as our risen
justifier. Remembering him as our ascended,
seated, exalted Lord. remembering Him as our advocate. This do, this do, in remembrance
of me. I tell you, I'd love to stay
awhile on that word, me. Christ is all. Christ is all
I need. All I need. All I need. I see
that more every time, every year that passes. He's all I need. He's all I need to preach. He's
all you need to hear. He's all I need to have. He's
all I need to believe. Christ is all. He's made unto
me all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. And anytime anybody tells you,
yeah, preach Christ, but there's more. No, no, it's all found
in Him. It's all found in Him. The more
is in Him. There's more of Him for you to
know. There's more of Him for you to learn, to learn Christ.
There's more of Him for you to enjoy. There's more of Him for
you to understand. You grow more in Him, but you
don't need any more than Him. Also, you don't need, don't take
a cup of water to the ocean. Part 3, turn to 1 Corinthians
11, as the story continues. Part 3, 1 Corinthians 11, Paul. apostle to the Gentiles, teacher,
leader of the churches, wrote to the church at Corinth, the
early church, and he says he scolded them for making a feast
out of the Lord's table. They turned the Lord's table
into a love feast. And that's the way you understand
it. They'd come together. Different people brought their basket lunches
to the Lord's table, and some would were eating and others
didn't have anything to eat. And some were even getting drunk.
And they had turned this large table into a love feast in this
church at Corinth. That's some real problems. And
Paul wrote to them and he said, don't you have houses to eat
in and feast and carry on? Do that at home. I've heard a
lot of people try to build a doctrine you can't eat in a church building
because Paul said you have houses to eat in. No, no. See, this building here is the
house that belongs to the family of God, and a family can eat
in their own house. But what he's doing, scolding
that church about abusing the Lord's table, and turning it
into a wild revelry and feast, and that sort of thing. And he
said, in verse 23, now, I have received of the Lord that which
also I delivered unto you. that the Lord Jesus, the same
night in which he was betrayed, took breath. And when he'd given
thanks, he'd break it and said, now you take it and eat it. This
is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of
me. And after the same manner, also
he took the cup. And when he had stopped, saying,
this cup is the new covenant, the new testament in my blood,
this do you, as often as you drink it in remembrance of me."
Now, as often, and he doesn't tell us to take it every day
or every week or every month, just as often as you observe
it, as often as you feel the lead of God's Spirit, as often
as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you set forth and show,
give a witness to the Lord's death. And one day this will
be over, because He's coming. till he comes, till he comes. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat
of this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, in an unworthy
manner." What is an unworthy manner? Not discerning the Lord's
broken body and shed blood. Without faith. Take it as a ritual,
take it as a sacrament, take it as just an ordinance, take
it in any way except as a remembrance of Him. That's unworthy. That's
right. That's the reason you say, well,
do you go around and tell people who can take it and who can't?
No, because I don't know who's saving and who's not. I know
what's going on in here, you know. I say everybody here tonight,
everybody here who loves Christ and believes Christ and rejoices
in Christ and understands that this, this bird is just brave,
but it represents his broken body. And to take it in an unworthy
manner, not discerning his broken body, is to eat and drink damnation
to yourself. It's serious business. But verse
twenty-eight, let a man examine himself, preacher, don't you
do it. Let a man examine himself. He's on one who can. Examine
himself for the Word of God, examine himself for the Spirit
of God, examine himself to find faith. Not particularly strong
faith, but just faith. How much faith is saving faith?
Well, as much as you've got, see, if it's in Christ, whatever
faith you've got. And he let him examine himself,
and don't go away, let him examine himself, and so let him eat that
bread and drink of that cup. For whosoever he that eateth
and drinketh in an unworthy manner, eateth and drinketh damnation
to himself, not discerning." What's that word, discerning?
Judging, understanding the Lord's body and the Lord's Word. I understand
it imperfectly, but I understand it. I don't understand everything
included here. Oh, that I did. I will someday. But I understand this. The Lord
God is holy, divine, and righteous. And we as Adam's race, Adam's
sons, are defiled and corrupted. And the only way we can come
to that God is through the obedience and death of a substitute. And
that substitute was given by God's will and purpose in the
person of his beloved son. And he came here on this earth
and obeyed this law for my righteousness and died for my justification.
And he gave me this bread and wine, and he said, now you believe
me. I believe you, Lord. I trust you. I love you. I depend
on you. Then eat this bread and drink
this wine. I discerned his broken body and shed blood. He's my
only hope. I don't have any other hope. He said to his disciples,
will you go away? To whom shall we go? You can't
go to this. You can't go to the law. You
can't go to a man. You can't go to religion. You can't even go to God without
Christ. So I go to Christ, and in Him I have all I need. Here's
the fourth picture, and I won't turn to the Scripture. I'll just
turn to me, and I'll say this. Chapter 4 in this story, here
we are, 1900 years later. Here we are, and we're following
the example that Moses started Our Lord Jesus Christ instituted,
Paul continued, and we gather here tonight, and we gather with five things evident. Number one, I and you too approach
this table with fear and awe, reverence and solemnity, but
with great joy. because Christ, our Passover,
is sacrifice for us. Secondly, we, I and you, approach
this table ever conscious of our sins, aware of our inability
and unworthiness. I claim no worthiness in this
flesh, but yet knowing in Christ I have full pardon and forgiveness. Where sin did abound, His grace
did much more abound. full pardon, in whom we have
forgiveness of sin, redemption through his blood." I believe
that. And I have a sort of torn between the two. I know I'm a
sinner, yet I know in Christ I'm perfect. You understand? And I approach this table thirdly,
knowing that this bread is but bread. It's but bread. We bless it, we thank God for
it, but it's still bread. And eating it's not going to
heal this body. The Lord, it represents can and
will. It's just bread. And yet, this
bread has great significance, great significance. And I handle
it prayerfully and carefully, for it does represent the broken
body of my Lord. Is that understandable? It is
just bread, I know that. But yet in another sense, it's
not just bread. In another sense, I know Christ
is not present in this bread, but He's present about this bread.
Is that clear, Paul? It's serious business. And third,
fourthly, I know this wine is but wine. I know it has no healing
power or saving power, but it represents blood that has healing
power and saving power. And then I approach this, and
you do too, constantly examining myself for a true discernment
and a true understanding of my Lord's broken body and shed blood. And yet, and yet, while I, while
I take the bread and the wine, examining myself looking for
evidences and understanding and discernment of his broken body
and shed blood. Yet, I take it boldly. I take it boldly. Boldly, because
he said, come before the throne of grace with boldness. No hesitancy. You come with boldness. You doubt
yourself all you want to, but don't doubt him. Come with boldness. So the broken bread, the blessed
cup, from which we now are called to sup. God, without thy help
and grace divine, it will prove no more than just bread and wine. But come, great master of the
feast, and dispense thy grace to every guest. Direct our thoughts
to Calvary, and help us, Lord, to remember thee. And let us
with light and truth be blessed that on thy bosom we may rest,
and at thy supper each may learn that holy body to discern."