Let's turn now to the book of
1 Corinthians. I'm going to read and make some
comments from the 11th chapter. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Over the past five years, in preparing the Bible school
lessons, what we call the Sunday school lessons. I have done a verse-by-verse
study of practically the entire New Testament and have been,
I've been led of the Spirit of God, I believe, to write these
commentaries and Sunday school lessons on 20 of the 27 books
in the New Testament. I've written a commentary, verse-by-verse
study, using the best writers, Haldane, Calvin, Gill, Poole,
Henry, all of them, on every book in the New Testament but
what we call the four Gospels, the book of Acts, the book of
2 Corinthians, and the book of Revelation. I plan to write 2
Corinthians before very long, and then possibly the Book of
Acts. I may never tackle Revelation. But in preparing these Bible
lessons and in reading able writers of the past in seeking the Spirit
of God's leadership, it is evident to me that our Lord gave to the
church only two ordinances. I cannot find anywhere in these
twenty epistles the church practicing teaching, but two ordinances,
baptism and the Lord's table. Those are the only two I find
in the New Testament. I know that the washing of feet
was done by our Lord, rendering a service to his disciples in
the Gospels, but we do not find anywhere either commanded or
illustrated this particular thing in the early church. But we do find baptism in the
Lord's table. And significantly, both of these
ordinances have to do with substitution. Now, that's very significant.
I know the practice of washing feet
and so forth has to do with humility, and we're to do that figuratively
and so forth as we've been commanded But these two ordinances that
our Lord left to his church to be observed, to be observed,
baptism and the Lord's table, both have to do with his sacrifice,
both have to do with his death, both have to do with substitution,
both have to do with the salvation of the soul, both of these ordinances.
Our Lord, of course, gave baptism, there's no doubt about that.
And throughout the New Testament, people who were saved followed
the Lord in baptism. And it would be impossible for
anybody to read the New Testament and come up with sprinkling.
It would be totally impossible. You couldn't do it. You couldn't
read the New Testament and come up with the sprinkling of an
infant. Baptism is for believers. He that believeth and is baptized. You never find anybody being
baptized prior to believing, always after they believe. And
baptism is a confession of our faith in Christ. It is an identification
with our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a picture of his death,
burial, complete immersion, and resurrection to walk in newness
of life. And it's clearly evident to me
that this baptism in the New Testament was the way that people
confess Christ. It was not by coming to the front
of the church. It was by following the Lord
in baptism. And I can give you so many illustrations
of this, where people who believed were baptized. Our Lord said,
go into all the world and make disciples and baptize them. Make disciples and baptize them
and then teach them the things that I've taught you. And the
way that the disciples hedged about the ordinance of baptism
was one way. One way. They didn't have a person
waiting six months and then being examined by a board of elders.
So many times you read where people were converted and they
were baptized the same night. They were baptized the same night.
They weren't put on a waiting list. They weren't put in a pen
to be observed. They weren't questioned by a
group of men. They confessed Christ at Pentecost
that same day the Lord added to the church 3,000 souls and
they were baptized. The Philippian with Jayla was
baptized that night. Lydia was baptized that day.
The Ethiopian eunuch, now watch this. He had been to Jerusalem
to worship, and on the way home to Ethiopia, having received
nothing in Jerusalem, having been taught nothing by the religionists
there, he was reading the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, in which Isaiah
talks about our Lord's substitutionary death. And the Lord sent Philip. Now this is divine inspiration. This is divine purpose. You can't
question this because miraculously Philip was brought to cross this
man's path. This man who was an earnest seeker. A man who was desiring a knowledge
of God. And the Lord told Philip directly
to go join himself to that chariot. And Philip joined himself to
that chariot. He walked along beside him. And the Ethiopian
eunuch was reading Isaiah 53, maybe aloud, but Philip asked
him, do you understand what you're reading? He said, how can I except
some man show me? So Philip got up in the chariot,
sat down beside him, and began right there at that same scripture
and preached Christ. His substitutionary work, his
satisfaction, His death, his burial, his resurrection, and
all those things. He taught that man as that chariot
rolled across the desert toward Ethiopia. And when he had taught
him the gospel, the Holy Spirit evidently revealed to this eunuch
his sin, his need of Christ, the sufficiency of Christ, and
they came to some water. And evidently Philip had said
something about being baptized. Because they came to a body of
water and the eunuch spoke up and said, here's water. What
doth hinder me from being baptized? What stands in my way? What stands
between me and confessing Christ? Following the Lord in baptism.
Identifying myself with Christ. Publicly confessing Him. What
stands between me and that act of baptism? And Philip said,
one thing. One thing. If you believe that
Jesus is the Christ, you may. And he said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. And Philip said, stop the chariot.
They went down into the water, both of them the scripture said,
and he baptized him. And when they came up out of
the water, Philip was caught away. The Lord led him away.
And this man went on his way rejoicing. Now that's the simplicity
of baptism. And there's no need to complicate
it, there's no need to try to make it a follow-up of circumcision
because, Joe, that's not in God's Word. And the argument with those
people is not over mowed. That's not the argument. When
you baptize an infant, and when you make baptism to take the
place of circumcision, you're making baptism to be what it's
not. It's not a regenerating force, it's not a saving force,
it's not a sacrament, It does not convey any spiritual blessings
to anybody. Christ is our source of spiritual
blessing and it only comes through Him. And baptism is a confession
of Christ. It's an identification with Christ.
It is a declaration of my confidence in Christ and my committal to
Christ and my death with Christ on the cross and my burial and
my resurrection to walk in a brand new life. in brand new life with
my Redeemer. I belong to Him now. I'm dead
to the world. The world's crucified unto me
and I unto the world. I'm dead and buried with Christ
and risen with Christ to walk in newness of life. And you can't
picture that except one way, by baptizing somebody to whom
that has happened by the grace of God. Now don't complicate
it. There's no need reason to complicate
it. There's no reason to use it in any other fashion. There's
no reason to argue about it whatsoever. In its simplicity and plainness,
it's a beautiful picture of the death, burial, and resurrection
of our Lord and our identification with Him in that death, burial,
and resurrection. And anyone who knows Christ and
loves Christ and loves the commandments of Christ and the word of Christ,
I cannot but save my life. See why there'd be any objection
to going down beneath that water to confess Christ Jesus. That's
what every believer in the New Testament did. They confess Christ. Then our Lord gave to the church,
as far as I can determine, and I believe I'm conveying to you
that which the scripture teaches. He gave this supper, this Lord's
Table. And Brother David read to you
the institution of the Lord's Table. Now there is a sense in
which the Lord's Table picks up. Now understand what I'm saying.
There's a sense in which the Lord's Table picks up. where
the Passover left off, and I don't know whether that's the way to
word it or not, but the Lord's table is also a picture. It's
also a picture. The Passover was a picture. Where
did the Passover come from? Well, when Israel was in Egypt
for 400 years, and Almighty God determined by the hand of Moses
to lead the people out, He came to Moses and He said, now, at
this certain date, you take a lamb, the firstling of the flock, And
you put it up for so many days, three or four days. Which was
it? Three or four days. Put it up and observe it. Make
a lamb of the first thing of the flock, of the first year,
a male without spot or blemish. That's all pictures of Christ.
He's the firstborn of every creature. He's in the prime of his life.
He wasn't old. He wasn't an infant. He was in
his first year, really, the strength of his life. Our Lord Jesus Christ
came to this earth and was observed for 33 and a half years, and
then take that without spot or blemish, without sin, and then
slay that lamb, and take the blood in the basin, and put the
blood on the doorpost, on either doorpost and on the lentil, and
you go inside the house and you eat the roasted lamb, you eat
its flesh, If the household's too small for a lamb, then two
houses together, but eat it all. Eat it all. Eat it with unleavened
bread. Eat it with your loins girt and
your shoes on your feet, ready to travel. This is the Lord's
Passover. And he said, at midnight, I'm
coming through Egypt, and I'll smite the firstborn of every
creature, beginning at Pharaoh's palace to the cattle on the hillside. I'll kill the firstborn in every
home. But on the home, Where the blood is on the doorpost
and lintel, there shall be no death, there shall be no wrath,
there shall be no judgment. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over. Pass over you. When I see the
blood. Not when I see your works or
your sincerity. Don't do it some other way like
Cain. You put the blood out there. You slay a lamb, you put the
blood on the door, you go inside and rest. In peace. Resting,
trusting, believing my word. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. And God did just that thing, and Israel was delivered
out of Egypt. Then he said to Moses, every year at this time,
you observe this Passover. Now that's when our Lord, David
read, when he met in that room with his disciples, he said,
I have desired to eat this Passover with you. This is the last Passover.
Because there's no Passover to be eaten after that, the Passover
lamb has come. The Passover lamb has been sent
by God. The Passover lamb has been slain.
The Passover lamb has shed his blood. We eat his flesh and drink
his blood. We rest in him. We trust in him. Now then, our Lord Jesus, as
the supper ended, the Passover feast, of which he's the end,
because he's the goal, because he's the fulfillment of it. Christ
is. He's the fulfillment of that
Passover feast. Now he took bread and he break
it, unleavened bread. which is a type of his sinlessness
and the type of his provision. He has said, I am the bread from
heaven. He that eateth this bread shall never hunger. He gave them
the bread. After he'd break it, he prayed
and he handed it to his disciples and they said, eat this. This
is my body broken for you. Not this bread has any saving
power. Not this bread in itself is actually
becomes the body of Christ, but it is a picture of Christ. This
bread is a picture, a symbol of Christ's broken body. That
bread can no more save than eating of that lamb could save. That
blood could no more, that wine could no more cleanse than the
blood of that animal could cleanse. That was a picture, this is a
picture. The blood of bulls and goats cannot put away sin, the
Bible says that. It cannot put away sin, it cannot
justify, it cannot cleanse. All the blood on Jewish altars
slain cannot put away one sin or erase one stain. All of it,
the rivers of blood that flow through the whole New Testament
could not cleanse one sinner. It's the blood of Christ that
makes us whole. It's the blood of Christ that
makes atonement for the soul. It's the body of Christ, bruised
and broken for us. He was wounded for our transgression.
Now, just as Israel took that Passover lamb as a type, a symbol,
a picture of the lamb who was to come, tonight I believe in
the Son of God. Tonight I trust in the blood
of Christ. Tonight I rest in Christ's substitutionary
death, and I take this bread representing his broken body,
and I take this wine representing his shed blood, and I take it
remembering his death till he comes again. One day the Lord's
table will end. There'll never be another communion
supper, there'll never be another Lord's table. Because we're going
to be with Christ. And we don't need to remember
him any longer, we'll be with him in reality. Faith is going
to give way to reality. Hope is going to give way to
reality. And one day this will be set aside. But he said, take
this bread, which is broken for you, my body broken for you.
Take this wine, which pictures my blood shed for you, and eat
it and drink it. And every time you do it, you
remember my death. You remember my death. Now let's
read in 1 Corinthians 11, as Paul tells the early church about
this. He said, verse 23. For I have
received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you." This
is where we got it, from the Lord. I received it from the
Lord. And I deliver this to you. These are his instructions. That
the Lord Jesus, he instituted the Lord's table. The same night
in which he was betrayed, he took bread. And this is unleavened
bread that we used. Because it's a picture You see,
leaven is yeast. Leaven is a type of evil, it's
bacteria. And we use bread without leaven
because our Lord was without sin. And when he had given thanks,
he'd break it and said, take it, eat it. This is my body which
is broken for you. Now then, I said baptism is hedged
about with one question. This man says, here's water,
what doth hinder me from being baptized? And Philip said, if
thou believest that Jesus is the Christ thou mayest. Now you
ask tonight, what hinders me from taking this bread and this
wine? I ask one question. And it's the same question. Do
you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? I'm not talking
about a factual knowledge, a historical Jesus. The whole world believes
in a historical Jesus. I'm talking about a redeeming
Christ. I'm talking about a satisfying Christ. I'm talking about a sufficient
Christ. I'm talking about a hope that
rests in Christ and Christ alone. Not Christ in church membership,
not Christ in baptism, not Christ in any of my good works, but
Christ alone. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God? Have you believed on Him? Have
you trusted Him? Have you committed yourself to
Him? That's the question. And that's the ones to whom he
says, take heed. That's exactly the one. Now,
I just tell you, and I've weighed this thing through the years,
and I know there are a lot of arguments. We talk about sprinkling
and covenant theology and baptismal regeneration, all these things,
and I say there's no argument there. The simplicity of the
ordinance is clear. And men have confused baptism,
they've misused baptism, they've abused baptism. And this blessed
ordinance has been subjected to the same abuse. It's been
used as a church fellowship supper, and that's not what it is. That's
not what it is. We are believers in Christ who
have come together on the merits of our Lord, remembering our
Lord. This is not a church fellowship supper. There are people who
are members of churches who ought not come to the Lord's table.
Because salvation is not in church memberships in Christ. And this
is not my table, this is the Lord's table. I never will forget
that illustration that was used of the Lord to open my eyes,
really, to this thing of what they argue about closed communion. Yes, it is closed. It's closed,
all right, dear. It's closed to the people of
God, children of God. That's what it's closed to. Only
they are to come, the children of God. Outsiders, unbelievers,
aliens, strangers are not to come. They have no Lord to remember. They have no blood to celebrate.
They have no death to rejoice in. They have no salvation picture. But Roland Hill was visiting
a church years ago, years and years and years ago. Over in
England, he was preaching for this church. He was preaching
for this church. They invited him to come and
preach for them. And so this church believed in what they
call closed communion. In other words, only the members
in good standing of that local church could come to their table. So Roland Hill was sitting down
there on the front row waiting to come up and preach and they
were observing the Lord's table. And so when the deacons passed
the bread and the wine, he reached out to take it and one of the
deacons pulled it back. And he said to Mr. Hill, he said, you
can't come to our table. And Mr. Hill said, oh, I'm sorry,
I thought it was the Lord's table. And brother, let me tell you
something, I read that over and over again. And I tried to decide
this issue once and for all, is this my table or is this the
Lord's table? Is this the 13th Street Baptist
Church table or is this the Lord's table? And I've come to the conclusion,
without any doubt in my mind, this is the Lord's table. The
Lord's table. And I'll tell you, if I'm going
to eat with you in glory, I'm going to eat with you on the
earth. And if I can't eat with you on the earth, one of us ain't
going to eat together in glory. That's exactly right. If we're
not one in Christ now, we'll never be one in Christ. And we're
assembling together around the Lord's broken body and the Lord's
shed blood, not around a constitution, not around a church covenant,
not around a church bylaws. This is for believers. And anyone
here tonight who can answer that question, Christ is my Lord. Do I believe that he died for
my sins and shed his blood for my sins? I know that he did.
then I'm not going to pass up his bread and his, this bread
and wine which represents my, he's my Lord too. You see what
I'm saying? And without apology, I make that
statement. And that's just the way that
it is in the scripture. In verse 25, after the same manner,
also he took the cup. And when he had supped, saying,
this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do ye, as oft
as you drink it. There's no set time to observe
the Lord's table. There's no set time. It's not
to be every quarter or every month or every two weeks or something. It's just as often as you drink
it. There isn't one scripture in the Bible that tells us how
often to take the Lord's table. But as often as you do it, you
do it in remembrance. Now remember, this word remembrance
is used so often in the scripture relating to this table. It's
written right down there on the front of that table and it's
on almost every communion table in every church in America. This
do in remembrance of me. Right there in Spanish, I think
it's written on that cloth. This do in remembrance of me.
As often as you eat this cup, eat this bread, drink this cup,
you remember me, you show my death. That's what it says, it's
a remembrance. It's not a saving ordinance, it's not a saving
power, it's not a saving element, it's in remembrance of Him who
did the saving. For as often as you eat this
bread, as often as you do it and drink this cup, you personally,
individually, you do show, you show your confidence in Christ's
death. You show to your children the
way of life is in the death of Christ. You're showing it to
your neighbors who are here tonight. You're showing it to the whole
world. You're showing it to one another. As you take that breath,
you're saying, Christ is my hope. He died for me. You take that
wine. His blood is the blood of the new covenant. I trust
in the blood of Christ to cleanse me, to redeem me, to justify
me, to atone for my sins. I'm saying that to you. I'm saying
it to God. I'm saying it to myself. I'm
saying it to my children. I'm saying it to the whole world.
I'm doing it in remembrance of Christ and I'm showing His death
till He comes back again. That's my hope. Nothing else.
Nothing else. I mean nothing else too. Wherefore,
whosoever shall eat this bread, which represents the body of
Christ, and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, an individual
who does not discern the broken body, in other words, a person
who does it ritualistically. And many churches do it that
way, ritualistic, a person who does it in a ritualistic fashion. It's just a ritual, it's just
a ceremony, it's just a mechanical thing, or a person who does it
in order to find in these elements some saving power. It doesn't
discern the Lord's blood. It doesn't discern His blood.
And that's to do it unworthily. Now here's a lot of things that
we run into. And I've run into this all my
life. I asked a pastor one time, I said, how long has it been
since you all have had the Lord's table? Well, he said, it's been
a long, long time. I said, why? Well, the church
is just not in harmony. And then We've got division,
we've got conflict, and we just don't feel worthy to come to
the Lord's table. Now let me tell you something, let me say
it kindly. If you wait until your thoughts are all clean,
if you wait till your hands are pure, if you wait till your heart
is without any thought of sin, you'll never come to the Lord's
table. And secondly, you ain't got no business coming to the
Lord's table, because you've missed Christ. This supper is
not for those who find holiness and worthiness. This supper is
for sinners who find their worthiness in Christ. This supper is for
folks who know that they have no righteousness of their own,
but their righteousness is Christ. And I don't hold this bread in
my hand and this cup because I'm worthy to do so. I hold it
because I need His bread, His blood, and His broken body. I
need it. I need Christ. Now, the drinking
unworthily is a person who does not discern the truth of the
table. Whosoever therefore shall eat
this bread and drink this cup unworthily shall be guilty, what
a horrible thing to have on our conscience, of the body and blood
of Christ. Now, so what shall we do? Let
a man examine himself. Let's not let the pastor examine
him. It's not let the deacons and
elders examine him. It's not let the church constitution
examine him. Let him examine himself. Well,
what's he examining himself for? He's searching his own heart
to see if he can find faith in Christ. Can you find any faith? Well, not much, preacher, but
I find, all right, that's sufficient. It's not how strong your faith
is. It's how strong your object of your faith is. In other words,
you see a great big vine about two inches in diameter wrapped
around a tree, and you see a little vine about a half inch in diameter
wrapped around the same tree. Well, cut the tree down, they'd
both fall. The strength is not in the vine, it's in the tree.
And I might have a little bit of faith or a whole lot of faith,
but my confidence is not in my faith, it's in Him who holds
me, He who is my strength, Christ who's the object of my faith.
So let a man examine himself. And it's not what church are
you a member of. You can be a member of the church
and miss salvation. It's not how many good deeds
have you done or have you spent this week without any sin. You
know better than that. It's let a man examine himself
and if he finds some understanding or discernment of the Lord's
broken body and shed blood, well, he says, so let him eat. So let
him eat. I'm not looking for a reason
to stay away from this table. I'm looking for a reason to come.
Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread
and drink of that cup. But he that eateth and drinketh
unworthily, in an unworthy manner, eateth and drinketh judgment
to himself. Why? Not discerning. The word
discern is to judge. It's to understand. Not discerning,
not judging the Lord's body. I've tried my best to make it
clear and plain to you tonight, and this is the Lord's table.
And on behalf of our Lord and our Master, I extend to every
believer, every child of the living King, everyone for whom
Christ died and shed his blood, come with us and let's rejoice
together around the table of our Lord. About close as we get
to worship is when we take this bread and this wine and remember
his death. God will bless it and honor it
for his glory. So if you'll serve us.