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How all things shine in light. Divine for those who've seen his face.
Stayed by joy divine as Harley and fills his day through scenes of strife and desert life. We tread in peace our way #12.
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Starts a new subject.
First Corinthians Chapter 11, verse 7.
Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not that you come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together in the Church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe that for there must be also a heresies among you, that they which are proved may be made manifest among you.
When you come together therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper, or in eating. Everyone taketh before other his own supper, and one is hungry and another is drunken. What have you not houses to eat and drink in, or despise you the Church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
For I received of the Lord 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, he'd break it and said, Gee, 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 stopped saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye?
As often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
Or as often as you eat this bread and drink this coffee, do show the Lord's death till 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.
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 for this cause, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. 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 under condemnation, and the rest will I set in order when I come.
Tomorrow morning.
We will come together.
To remember him.
That is the most precious meeting that we have.
That's the one thing he's asked us to do.
Remember Me?
That's the foundation of all our blessing.
When he was on that cross bearing the judgment of a holy God against sin.
And that cry of abandonment, My God, my God, wise, thou forsaken me.
We look back, we remember, we remember every other thought we dismissed from our minds Any thoughts that involve us or our troubles or problems have no place there. We're there to remember him. What a privilege. And isn't it sad that the the largest percentage of Protestant Christendom doesn't do that anymore?
Were very, very seldom.
But we do it every first day of the week, because that's the day that he rose from the dead and became the mighty victor over.
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Sin and Death and.
Judgment. He bore it all. Then we had the privilege of just just narrowing our thoughts to just that one thing himself.
What he bore and judged was judged for to bring us into blessing. Satan hates that. And that's why so few are still doing it in Christendom. They've replaced it with ministry.
We don't go to hear a minister. We don't go to hear the word of God expounded. That may come at the end of the meeting and and be there in a proper way, but we're not there for that. We're not there to hear some gifted brother minister the word. We're there to remember our precious Savior.
Early Church.
Did it every Lord's day on the first day of the week when the disciples came together.
To break bread.
What they came for, not to, as Chuck said, not to hear a preacher, not to hear wonderful sermon, though that might have been available. But the purpose of their coming was at that time to remember the Lord Jesus and His death as He requested that we do this, we delight him. This is the meeting that our fellowship is built around to.
Remember.
What it cost the Lord Jesus enter into it is.
As much as we can, at least.
To remember the suffering when God laid on him.
The iniquity of us all and we that's something that we can hardly, we cannot comprehend at all. I know I have committed many, many sins, hundreds, hundreds, thousands, but.
When I sin, God looks at Calvary at 12 noon.
To three in the afternoon, in the darkness, he laid on him every stroke of judgment that I deserve.
What a privilege it is. I would not want to give this up for anything.
And yet here in Corinth.
It's evident that they were doing just what our brother Chuck has been saying. They weren't substituting public ministry and yet there were things that needed to be corrected, weren't there? Sad to say, there was.
Wrong way that they were going about it. And thus we get what we have here. And so we talked about submission this morning. But if we could use another word that begins with an S here. We have sobriety brought before us, don't we? How do we come together to remember the Lord? It's not a question here, if we could put it this way in the 11Th chapter of Who is at the table, but rather the remembrance of Himself.
The question of who is at the table is settled in the 10th chapter, and it's a mistake to pretend that that Scripture, and we're anticipating that, says let a man examine himself and so let him eat, provides everyone the right to decide whether he or she should partake of the emblems or not. That's not the thought, is it? Here we have those who were already at the table, but then the question is, how do we come together?
And so here the apostle has to correct some of those things that were causing disorder and spoiling that precious remembrance which is our brother has said ought to be the highlight, you might say ought to be the place.
When we come together, above all else to give the Lord what is due to Him.
It's not gift that is in exercise at the Lord's Table. It's priesthood. We are all functioning as priests to give to him the worship and the praise and the adoration that he deserves.
It might be helpful if someone would just distinguish between what we have in the 10th chapter and the 11Th chapter.
In connection with the Lord's Table and the Lord's Supper. Go ahead, Jim. Well, I'm happy to hear what others have to say, but just let's go back to the 10th chapter for a moment because I think it's important to understand these things he says. I speak as to wise men. Judge ye what I say. And so we've been given divine intelligence and the Spirit of God to make these things good to our souls. Just notice what it says in the 16th verse of the 10th chapter.
00:15:21
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. And then just notice the 21St verse. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. You cannot be partaker. This is what I want to notice of the Lord's table and the table of devils. And so here we find in the 10th chapter.
Before he takes up the question of the Lord's Supper that we have in the 11Th chapter, he takes up the question of the Lords table, because the Lords Table is where we are to eat of the Lords Supper. Now, a table in Scripture perhaps denotes several things. It would speak perhaps of fellowship. We sit down at one another's table and we have fellowship one with another. It speaks of authority too. And you notice here, it's not Christ's table, it's not the table of Jesus, but it's the Lord's table. It is where the Lord's authority is to be owned.
And recognized if I come and sit down at Brother Chuck's table and to enjoy a meal, who has the authority at that table? Do I have authority at that table? No, it's Brother Chuck that has the authority. It would be very out of order for me to invite someone else to sit down at Brother Chuck's table. You say Jim has no right to invite anybody there. It's not his table. It's Brother Chuck that does the inviting.
If I act in a way that is not in keeping with conduct that he feels is suitable for his table.
Then He has every right to ask me to leave or to go and clean up my conduct and return before I return again. He has the the authority, and so it's the Lord's table. But what I want to notice too is that when he takes up the subject of the Lord's Table, the cup and the loaf are reversed as to what we have in the next chapter where it's the Lord's Supper. Now if we were to go back to the 22nd of Luke after the Passover supper was concluded, the Lord took.
A low 1St and then a cup. And he said this do in remembrance of Maine.
And that's the way we always celebrate it. That's the way the Lord instituted it, and that is the way that we always celebrate it according to His word. But we might ask ourselves, why is the cup first in the 10th chapter and then the loaf? Well, I believe simply because first of all, the cup which speaks of the blood of Christ, is our title to be at the Lord's table. What is it that makes us fit for tomorrow morning to sit down in the Lord's presence at the Lord's table?
Is it any worthiness of ourselves? No, brethren, let's never think it's any worthiness of ourselves. It is the blood of Christ that was shed on Calvary's cross, of which the cup speaks, that gives us our title to be there. We sometimes sing a hymn, connection with a future day, Our title to glory we read in Thy blood. We're going to be gathered around the Lamb in the coming day based on the blood of Christ. And that's our basis now for acceptance at His table.
And then the loaf is given second, because it has a little different significance here than it does in the in connection with the Lord's Supper. The loaf in connection with the Lords Table represents to us every member of the body of Christ, every believer, every blood bought St. alive on the face of the earth. And so he says as we read. For we being many are one Brad and one body. And brethren, when we look at that loaf tomorrow morning.
It's not going to be crackers, it's not going to be wafers, it's not going to be several loaves.
It's going to be one loaf in recognition that God says there is one body. As outwardly fragmented as things have become, there is one body. And if we lose sight of that, brethren, we become narrow and sectarian in our view. But then just very quickly, and others can expand on this, but when we come over to the Lord's Supper, the loaf is given 1St and then the cup. And as I say, that's the way the Lord instituted it. It's the way we always celebrate it.
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And the cup again speaks of his precious blood. But the loaf which we break, give thanks for, and break first in the Lord's Supper represents to us the Lorde body given in death for us, a little different significance than we have in connection with the Lords Table. In the Lords Table it's every believer alive on the face of the earth. We see that one loaf, there is one body. We take that loaf and we break it as a reminder of the Lord's body given in death for us.
And then the cup is given separate because the separation of the blood from the body was the proof of death, and so again, it's not all combined in one.
It's given separate the low 1St and then the cup, so one is the Lord's Supper of the Lord's Table.
And then in this chapter, the Lord suffered when the Lord instituted it in Luke 22, the the loaf and the and the cup represented his personal body. The truth of the one body didn't exist yet, didn't exist until Acts chapter 2 when the Holy Spirit came down and united into one body. And the Spirit of God filled the house where they were sitting, and then he filled everyone individually. That's Christianity.
So that's what you have in the 10th chapter, isn't it? And that comes first before the supper, because it sets before us the the new place that we've been brought into, isn't it? So that's wonderful.
As Mr. Ballard said, he said, let us remember it is the same feast, it's the same act. Being a partaker of the Lord's Table is the same physical act as.
Taking the Lord's Supper, it's physically the same act. So even though we see two separate things in the doctrine nicely brought out and been laid before us.
What we're doing is not two separate things. It is the same feast, and I think we tend to let that slip away in our thoughts sometimes as we take those two aspects of this feast up.
They're together, is what you're saying, isn't it, Steve? It's the the table is the place where we celebrate the supper. The supper is what we celebrate at that place. They go together. But it's important to realize that God hasn't allowed us the liberty to choose whatever place we would like to do it in. It's the Lord's table.
And so we find it as a place of fellowship. It's the fellowship of the blood of Christ. It's the fellowship of the body of Christ. That's the place, the divine place where it's to be celebrated. But then the what we celebrate is the Lord's Supper.
Now who has title?
Do they have to join something?
They are joined the moment they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit to the Body of Christ.
And so if they are washed in that precious blood, they have the title. Whether they are there or not, they have the title.
Even if they don't understand all these things we're talking about if they're cleansed by the blood of Christ.
They're at the table. They have the right to remember the Lord in his death. And who are we? It's not our table, it's his table. Who are we to say you can't, you can't break bread here? That sometimes that's happened amongst us and that's wrong, that makes a sect out of us.
Although there is a responsibility to those who are breaking bread to judge what is not of God.
Anything that is plainly contrary to Christianity, or morally or doctrinally.
Should be judged. That should be judged.
Yes, and it's because it's because it's the Lords Table. That's right. I do not set the standards there, nor do you. That's right, it is. We respect what the Lord has set out in his word. We're to exclude evil. Evil is a thing that is not fit for the presence of God and his people and all those institutions under the Levitical order in the Old Testament taught that that sin, evil was not a thing. Fit. I say again, for the presence of God or the presence of his people.
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That's why on the Day of Atonement, when the matter of sin was taken up, the bodies of those beasts were taken outside the camp and burned. It had to be dealt with outside the camp. And so Jesus suffered without the gate and so on. But it's not that we exclude true believers from the Lord's table. What we do exclude is evil. And if that means there are believers that we cannot have fellowship with that the Lord's Table, then on the authority of the word of God, we have to say so be it.
We can say to them, if you are a real believer, your place is at the Lord's Table. But there is something that is consistent with being there and that is holiness of walk and and doctrine too is important.
There are two expressions we use sometimes taking our place at the Lord's Table.
And giving expression to the truth, and we find those really developed in First Corinthians 10 because as has been pointed out.
It is the blood that gives us right and title. It gives us our place there. And we see every believer in that loaf and we give expression to that truth by partaking of that loaf because it says for we being many are one bread, for we are all partakers of that one loaf. So if I come and I don't partake of that loaf, I'm not giving expression to what is true of me. Or if I'm allowing something in my life and I say, well, I don't want to partake of that because.
I'm going to be judged if I partake of that then really I'm allowing myself something in my life that is inconsistent with what is true of me. And so we we well we never judge a person as to their intelligences to these facts. Paul desired that they be not we not just get into a religious routine the way people do things in this do things by habit, but he says I speak as to wise men. Judge ye what I say he wants us to be intelligent what we're doing.
And why we're doing it?
Not just to do it because it's a religious habit.
Found that the chapter, the chapter, the chapter, this chapter.
Begin by saying be follower of me even as I also am of Christ. We should do that not because of what people want us to do is we want to be the imitator as if it were. We want to do it because we love to do it knowing that our blessed Savior have died for us. I was thinking as we were speaking on this too in regard to obedience of Speaking of the the servant in the 16th in the 21St chapter of Exodus, we'll find there is an example there of how it was from his heart.
Of that obedience, perhaps we can just turn to it to call that verse Exodus chapter 21.
Notice the order that he put in there. Exodus chapter 21, verse 5.
This, this, this servant put in his sense. And if thy servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I would not go free. What we find here is that it was truly of his heart. He knew what his heart, what the the 1St and the foremost important part of his heart was that it was the master.
Does that mean he didn't love his children? No. He said it's the master. He knew the order of things that ought to be so he said I love my master. And then he said his wife and then his children. So as we sit here in Lord's Day mourning, do we know why we are here? Is it because we come? Is it because we come because our parents are coming? Is it because our friends are here? Or do we truly acknowledge the fact that.
The Lord have done so much for us that He want us to be here, and that is His request, His dying request that this do in remembrance of me.
In the verses before, from verse 17 through 22, we find that there's disorder in Corinth as to what they were doing. Some were eating on one side and others on the other side were hungry. Some were even drunk. And he says in the end of verse 20, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper, that he says the way you're doing it is not.
00:30:07
The way it's to be done then he says from verse 23 on those verses we so often read the way it is to be done. And I think it is beautiful what you mentioned, Dave, that each time it says this do in remembrance of me. Sometimes we speak of remembering the Lord in his death, which I don't think is wrong, but it's in remembrance of.
Me, because He's not dead, He's living, and we're to be occupied with a living Christ in the glory, and then to remember through those emblems what it costs to bring us into relationship with Him. So it says at the end of these verses, we show the Lord's death by partaking of the loaf and of the car. But oh brethren.
Isn't it a privilege to sit down?
And allow the Spirit of God's liberty to lead our thoughts as to who He is, the glories of His person. We're going to be occupied with Him forever, brethren. We're going to revel in all that He is for us. And that was displayed, perhaps as in no other point of time, on the cross of Calvary, who that glorious person is.
How much did he love us?
Is so wonderful is to sit down and allow the Spirit of God sometimes leading our thoughts, perhaps in the theme of the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God or as the Son of God. Whatever way he leads us is to allow ourselves to be remembering him, that glorious person.
You might ask.
From this day, however.
Someone say something louder please. Oh.
Question is.
Are you saved?
That's a question put to everyone in this room. Are you saved? Are you a member of the body of Christ?
Yes or no?
If your answer is yes.
Why don't you break bread? If you don't break bread, next question, do you break bread? No, you're saved. You're a member of the body of Christ. You don't break bread. Why? He asked you to. He asked you to. He said I want you to Remember Me. You don't have to have a lot of intelligence. You don't have to understand all the things that those of deeper understanding. No, that's not important.
But you want to remember him, You want to answer to his desire. Why don't you?
When you get to heaven, you'll have missed the opportunity.
To remember him down here.
Tremendous privilege. The greatest privilege we have.
Down here to remember him and his death. And I know there are some I've observed that sit there every large day and they pass the pass the loaf and pass the cup. I don't understand why I think that person saved. Maybe not. Maybe that's true of you. Why not? If it's true of you, why don't you answer to his request? We're not asking you there. We're not inviting you there. He's inviting you there.
I think one of the different.
If I may speak, and I could be wide of the mark, but I have spoken to young people occasionally and some feel that.
Their lives and behaviour will suddenly be put under the magnifying glass, if you like, and they'll have to go through a bit of an ordeal and be visited by some brothers and grilled as to how much they understand and so on. All of which, of course, as we have pointed out, is not really the point. Because.
It's good to know why we want to remember the Lord, but it's not a question of intelligence. But sometimes is it possible that when we are young we feel, no, I don't want to be put in that position.
Permit me to tell a story that I happen to know because I married into the family but.
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There was a young man who was not remembering the Lord many, many years ago.
His name was Harry Hayle.
And this would, of course, have been well over 100 years ago. And he did not want to remember the Lord because, believe it or not, there were some things in his life that he had a question about, and he knew that his brethren might well raise an issue with him.
And one verse he said arrested him, and that was that verse. We don't need to turn to it, but it's in Second Timothy 2 That says let everyone that nameth the name of Christ or in the Darby, it's the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. Oh, he thought, it doesn't say let everyone that breaketh bread depart from iniquity.
It says that everyone that nameth the name of the Lord, he said I'm responsible whether or not I am breaking bread. I have been baptized. I take the place of being a Christian. I have a responsibility. I cannot go on with anything that is contrary to the mind of the Lord just because I can excuse myself by saying, well, you can't say anything to me because I'm not breaking bread.
Well, we don't. I don't believe the reception to the Lords table ought to be used as a means of micromanaging everyone elses lives. That's a mistake. But at the same time it's a wonderful thing to to remember the Lord. And I would encourage anyone here who is not breaking bread, don't shy away from it and think that somehow you're going to be put through a grilling session or be.
Requests make their the desire of their hearts perhaps to work in the Spirit of God as being real with you that you just desire to remember in his death well.
It's on your side and your brethren are on your side. They desire you to go on. They desire just to be encouraged in that way and so don't have that fear of the brethren, so to speak, but trust in the Lord is a place of safety and he'll bless her exercise apart. Would you allow to brother Bill, It's just a little addendum to what you said and what Robert has just said that if.
Expressed a desire to remember the Lord to our brethren.
And they do sit down and want to have a visit and a few questions that rather than letting that frighten us, be thankful that our brethren are careful. Because really that's what our brethren, I think desire. Maybe sometimes we who are older do come across a little austere or in a way or in an attitude that is perhaps not what it should be. But really, young person, if your brethren have some questions, they're really desire to be careful because, as we said.
00:40:08
Doctrinal, ecclesiastical and moral evil needs to be carefully excluded from the Lord's table. And that's why it says of the Lord Jesus that he says a man taking a a journey into a far country who gave authority to his servants, to every man, his work, and commanded the porters to watch. And I'm thankful for those who are porters in the assembly under the Levitical order there were quarters and they were very careful and watchful.
If they were carrying out their function before God, careful and watchful to disallow, to exclude those things from the temple and the service of God that were not according to his mind. And so I just say that perhaps your brethren sometimes do come across in a way that they don't intend, but really deep down they have an exercise to be careful and deep down they really desire to see you take your place and remember the Lord Jesus in answer to his request. Would you allow that bill?
Very definitely. And whenever I have spoken to people sometimes that have objected to the care that we take at the Lord's Table, I say, well, would you want to break bread with everyone that comes along? Can you think of people who would not be suitable to come and break bread? Oh, yes. Well then don't object to the care being taken. And I suppose it's more necessary today than it was in the day when this was written because there were no divisions.
And so if you were in Corinth and you were a believer, brethren knew who you were. And in that sense, perhaps they didn't have to take quite the same care as we do today because people were known. But today we don't know everyone. But I do say this, that Scripture does not prescribe any formula for receiving to the Lord's table. And I hope this doesn't step on any toes, but there's no formula that says there has to be a formal visit by two brothers with a young person if they're well known to everyone. And it's not a large assembly.
I know in our local assembly we don't always have a formal visit with someone that asked to remember the Lord. If their life and their behavior is very well known, there's there's hardly a need for it. So the Lord, I believe gives guidance in every circumstance, but we don't have to follow any special protocol, do we?
I want to give you 2 examples.
And that's the person that comes to the meeting totally unknown to the brethren, a stranger, a complete stranger. And since the brethren don't know the that person, they passed the law and they passed the cup. Then he gets all, he gets very angry. I'm a real Christian, but we didn't know that.
And we, we have to get to know you. And then there's another case where one comes there and he just, he just sits there. He looks everything over. He wants to see how the meeting is going. He's gone to many. And then they go up to him and say, do you, do you want to break bread? You can break bread with us. Then he would say to them, you're not the place I'm looking for. I want you to say no because I don't know you and you don't know me.
And until we know each other, I don't want to break bread because I don't want to break bread with evil. That's the other side of the coin. And we don't usually address that side of the coin. But he was going around. He knows he's in Christendom. He knows there's all kinds of error out there. He wanted to identify himself with a group of Christians that were following the word of God scripturally. And so he said, if you had asked me to break bread, I know this wasn't the place I was looking for.
When I was teaching and I had three students in, the transformer blew up and we went to the coffee shop and one of them, I had once broken bread with his father and another company many years ago. I said, how's your father? And he said always reaching sinless perfection. And I kind of shrank. Remember when Mr. McDowell said, I'd like to talk to your wife about that, but.
So I turned him and I said, well, that was whatsoever is born of God cannot sin. The Lord couldn't sin. And then another one sitting there who was from a well known evangelical church in town said, oh, the Lord could sin. And I just was shrinking in my seat from the Polish Catholic put his head between his knees and that our blessed Lord couldn't sin. So I kind of moved my chair over towards him and put my arm around him and I said I'm with him. But we're living in such confusing days as Brother Chuck said, why would anybody want to come and break bread with us if we didn't know what we held?
00:45:00
I can give a little emphasis to the aspect in the 23rd verse. The Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed or delivered up.
Took bread.
It's well for us to have a sense in our souls in the remembrance of the Lord and and encouraging others to take their proper place there and do it.
That the Lord Jesus himself draws our hearts to it.
By his love and his desire.
What is the circumstance in which he instituted it? The night in which he was delivered up?
And the Lord is at word to my soul, he says on Lord's Day. Morning, Donald, let's go back there.
Let's go back there together in remembrance.
And the Lord Jesus was under the greatest pressure.
Of the end of his life he knew what was before him. He said with desire, I have desired to do this with you before I suffer. And he went out from the presence of that last or the Passover, and that first remembrance, into the night of his betrayal.
It was an agony to his soul to have Judas walk out.
Now is the power of darkness, and he knew it.
But as he could say in one place, will you also go away? That is, the Lord Jesus felt what was before his soul, and it meant something to Him to have those that loved Him be with him in that hour.
And while that's past historically, yet he says to us in the lamentations, my soul hath them still in remembrance. And so the Lord Jesus would draw our hearts with himself together to go back over that, that time in his life, and then in the emblems themselves in his death, and remember Him. And brethren, if our hearts are really attached to him. And I think that's what we need to emphasize with souls that would draw their hearts not to.
All the necessary care that has been brought before us, and it is necessary and it is necessary for us to understand it.
We should not belittle that, but at the same time, what draws a soul, you might say, to forget themselves, forget their question of worthiness and everything else, is if the heart is truly drawn out to where he was himself, and say it was the night in which he was betrayed or the night in which he was delivered up that he did this.
And it is a question of the heart, as you say. And I sometimes think, on Lord's Day morning, are our hearts no more affected as we sing those good scriptural hymns that bring before us the person and work of Christ? As Scripture is read concerning the circumstances of His crucifixion, as things are expressed in worship and praise by one another, are our hearts no more stirred than to sit there?
Week after week and his brother Chuck said let the loaf and the cup go by.
I sometimes think of the way the poet put it. He said, And where is the heart so hardened? And who is so vile as he that seeth the Savior suffer? And Seth, that is nothing to me. And that question is raised in lamentations. Is it nothing to you? You know, brethren, I think it would be a good question to read every Lord's Day morning, the remembrance. Is it nothing to you? Is it nothing to me? Are our hearts, I say, no more affected by the person and work of Christ?
That we have no desire. He hasn't commanded us in the sense of what we usually think as a command. He simply says this do and he leaves it for the response of our hearts. Now let's and my own soul too, I might partake of the loaf in the cup tomorrow morning, but does my heart truly respond? Is it a true remembrance and a true response to that request this do in remembrance of me?
00:50:01
It challenges my own soul. It exercises me, brethren.
Perhaps it'll exercise you too.
Stronger than?
Our commandment, he said. I command you to Remember Me, he says. He just expresses that desire. That ought to be stronger than a commandment.
There is one other thing times hinders us and maybe those of us who are gathered to the Lords name and we remember the Lord and you just feel sometimes I just can't go because there's trouble. And I was thinking of the night in which the Lord was betrayed. Our brother Dawn just referred to it, but maybe we could turn back to Luke.
22 And then to the 116th Psalm.
But there were two things that had happened on that night, and yet it nevertheless did not change the Lord's desire to have his own around him.
Verse 21 Behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me at the table.
And that was one thing, and then their other thing in the 24th verse. And there was also a strife among them. Which of them should be accounted the greatest? Well, these two things were. There were these two undercurrents. But they ought not to rob us of wanting to bring to the Lord what is due to Him. And the great remedy to this is to give to the Lord what belongs to Him. Let's look at the 116th Psalm.
In this connection.
Because it is only a privilege that we have here in this life. Verse nine, I will walk before the land before the Lord and the land of the living. I believe, therefore I've spoken. I was greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are liars. Well, that's a pretty bleak picture.
He believes, he speaks, and then the trouble comes, and then he says, Well, what, everybody? I can't trust anybody. And then he said, What will I render unto the Lord for all his benefits to me? He says.
I will take the cup of salvation. I will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my choice vows unto the Lord. Now in the presence of all his people. And as we as brother Jim, as you spoke of the Lord's table and what his brother's different brothers have spoken of what is represented at the Lord's table, Every believer is represented there. And so it seems like a contradiction. He said, I said all men were liars and yet there was a place where in the presence of all gods people.
He could render to the heart of God what God wanted. And we should never, ever let difficulties. I'm not saying we shouldn't deal with evil, but we should never, ever let difficulties constrain our hearts to seek to go to the Lord and to give to the Lord what belongs to Him.
Yet there's I told one couple that left the Lord's table. I said there's no perfect group of Christians this side of glory. Now I don't say that to excuse anything, but I would like to make this comment too, if you'll allow me. And before we pass on, and that is I have heard people say I can remember the Lord in my heart. Now brethren, that's true. And I trust every day, more than once a day, we remember in our hearts, in our souls what the Lord Jesus has done for us at Calvary's cross. We need to keep it ever before us. It's the ground of all our blessings.
And the ground of a happy eternity that we're going to enjoy with Christ and so on. But there is something physical that the Lord has asked us to do.
To remember him, to show his death till he come. Just notice in these verses. Notice in verse 24.
And when he had given thanks, he break it and said, now take notice this take eat. I want you to notice that word eat. Now notice that the end of verse 25 as often as she now notice this drink. And then he sums it up in 26 For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, I sometimes said, I wish the words eat and drink were in capital letters in our Bibles because.
Yes, we ought to remember the Lord in our hearts at all times, not just on Lords Day morning. But there is, brethren, something that He has instituted so that we can physically show forth His death, show to this world that we honor the one that they cast out. They spit in his face, they set away with him, crucify him. They took him outside the walls of Jerusalem and nailed him to a Roman cross.
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They thought they were rid of him. They didn't want the Lord Jesus. They treated him as sin itself by taking him outside those walls.
And having Him crucified. But brethren, there's a way that you and I can show forth His death in this world. Not when we get to glory. We're not going to need it, as someone has already said. But there is a way in the scene on this planet where they cast Him out and rejected Him, that you and I can do something to show forth His death till He comes. He's asked us to eat and to drink. And again I say, does it mean no more to our hearts than just to sit there and perhaps remember in our hearts?
But not respond to this request that has the power of a command to a heart that is full of love, and to eat and to drink of the loaf and the cup.
Two, as it struck my own heart.
On the original breaking of bread.
The loaf was in the hand of the Lord Jesus Himself.
And it is he which reached it out and said take.
Eat. The cop was in his hand. He reached it out for the soul to drink, and we need to, as it were. Yes, we know it's passed from one to the other and so on in a physical sense today, but in our hearts we need to receive it as if it was his hand that was giving it to us to do.
And so the Lord Jesus, the tomorrow morning, if we are left here.
In spirit at least, as it were. When it comes to us, he puts his hand out to us and he says take.
He another just aspect for the heart in it, brethren, is.
It's really struck my own heart in lamentations the the verse that's been quoted twice now is it nothing to you? All ye that passed by, behold, and see if there's any sorrow like unto my sorrow. Think of it this way. The Lord Jesus is physically hanging on a cross, and you are called to pass below him.
And he looks down at you as he hangs the.
And he says, is it nothing to you?
This is my body which is given for you as you look at him, up at him, really as he looks down at you. And there he says from his own heart he knew there were those sitting watching.
Sitting down, they watched him there. But for you it is to pass as it were in front of him and have him look at you and say, is it nothing?
And then, as it were in the other sense, take, eat.
Oh, I believe that when the heart is constrained in that way, then whatever difficulties there are in the soul, or hesitations and so on, the desire will overcome it, so that there will be the response to him.
It's slight salvation. So often we're so thinking about ourselves and how it affects us. Forget yourself, forget how it affects you.
Think how it affects him. Think how he cares about it. It's his desire for you.
That's what you want to think about. Not yourself, not your reaction, even. There will be a reaction, but it will be the constraining power of his own love to your heart if it's done for him.
And if it was a command, then we we might have to say to our parents or someone like that, I have to go. But it's not a command. He wants us to say I want to go, I want to remember him. It can't be a command because it would not satisfy him.
If you look at it from yourself and you try to make a command out of it, you rob it of what His desire is. Do you do something if someone really loves? Yes, obedience requires there are commandments, but the Lord Jesus in this instance would not be satisfied in His own soul if He had to make a command out of it.
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He can only be satisfied if our heart responds to him.
And so he presents it to us. He says take heed and he depends. He depends on the response of love in our hearts to do it.
But it would not satisfy him if he had to command us to do it.
But David's men, when David said I want the well, the affection in their heart, they risk their lives to do it for David. And that's the spirit of it, that if you will put it that way, we would risk our lives to do it if it required that, because we know it's something that's supremely satisfies his own heart.
And it wouldn't satisfy our heart either. If David had commanded those men to get him a drink, they would have done it out of a sense of duty. But they might have shaved under it and said, why is he putting it at us at risk like this? And what right does he have? But brethren, when we reach the heart truly responds.
Not only, as Dawn said, is his heart satisfied, but our heart is satisfied as well.
As there in verse seven, I watch and M as a Sparrow alone upon the housetop. And so there was never a man that was alone ever in life as the Lord was. He was alone on the housetop. He was alone and between those.
Noon and 3:00 alone and he bore the judgment for our sins. But you know what's precious? Luke chapter 22 is being referred to, but there it says in verse 28.
It says, Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. Oh, how he values the company of his disciples with him, and he prayed to his Father in John's Gospel chapter 17. He says, Father, I will that they also whom thou has given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. Oh, he wanted his own to be with him. And So what a privilege it is for us to have that.
Companionship with the Christ and at His table to remember the Lord Jesus in the circumstances of His death. He longs for your company and for mine.
Brought out by Brother Chuck earlier on that.
The thought I believe you brought out early on was that we should come not to dwell on ourselves, but on our blessed Savior of what he had done for us. Sometimes to even in the giving of the hymns, we we tend to sing some of the hymns more about us. But it should be him I'd like to go back to.
Perhaps just a little bit in Lamentation, that portion that was quoted a number of times, Lamentations chapter one. We see that in here. It's not just about us that He looked at and asked us to feel for his sorrows. We see too that there is the other side is how God looked at all this as well and we should try to enter in a small way into that. I'm going to read this verse 12 and 13. I know verse 14 is connected with it. Just to save time, you read those two verses.
Lamentations, chapter one, verse 12. Is that nothing to you? All ye that pass by, behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. That's how well we often stopped. Well, let's read on. Which is done unto me, where was the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of my of his fierce anger from above have he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against me.
He had spread a net for my feet, He had turned me back, He had made me desolate and faint all the day. Well, here we have the picture of the Lord Jesus being that perfect burnt offering before God as well. God looked at that as one who would fully satisfy Him. We see here being reminded how from above there is that burnt offering.
As he's standing there as if it were his feet above the net. Well, what can we think of when we see the net? Or could it be the picture of the brazen altar? Halfway between the brazen altar, what do we see? We see that woven net where the fire was put on. So here perhaps we can have a small taste of this one, who was the perfect burnt offering. There we see from above the fire was sent. Often we say that the fire consumed the sacrifice, but here?
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The sacrifice consumed the fire. So we can go back to our chapter. Then we can see how this portion begins. Let's go back to our chapter, verse 23. Now we will remind how the Lord is the one that sent it out. He wanted us to have this remembrance. So verse 23 said, for I have received of the Lord, that which also I deliver unto you, we have the authority as well.
That the Lord has given to the apostle so that we can be able to come and and enjoy and be able to look back to that cross to remember what He has done for us.
And it is as often, and I think that needs to be stressed because when you read the book of the Acts and the early history of the brethren, you find that it very quickly became their exercise and joy, as we've had mentioned in the in the 20th chapter of Acts to come together on the first day of the week to break bread. And when the Lord Jesus, when the Spirit of God records here as often and the Lord Jesus instituted the feast himself in the upper room.
He knew not only what the hearts of his own on that occasion were like, but he anticipated what my heart would be like, and he knew that I was going to need a reminder and that I was going to need it often. And I think this is one of the most precious things about being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is that we have this privilege of breaking bread not just once a month, not just twice a year or on a special occasion or something like that.
But again, we have a pattern of things laid down so that on every first day of the week he's provided a way. And when it says, brethren, till he come, he wouldn't say till he come if he wasn't going to provide a scriptural ground on which to do it.
Sometimes the excuse is given. Well, the testimonies in ruin, and things are so fragmented and broken up that it doesn't matter anymore, brethren, things are in ruin. The testimony is in ruin, and we're part of it. We have to hang our head in shame and humility. Things are outwardly fragmented and broken up. But, brethren, I say again, he wouldn't ask us to partake of the Lord's Supper at the Lord's table till he comes if he wasn't going to provide a scriptural ground on which to do it.
And that ought to be an encouragement and comfort to our hearts.
Holy brethren, we are together to study prophecy. Before they got into their subject, they broke bread. They remembered the Lord and His death every day of the week. I believe they they did that.
We're told in the 20th chapter of Acts that on the first day of the week they broke bread. It settled down to that but I've I've often wondered where it says in verse 23, for I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. The apostle Paul received something that the others didn't. It would seem from this and.
Something that would would correct the habit.
That is in Christendom, where many will just remember the Lord once a year, or once every three months or six months, or whatever.
What this passage brings before us is that this is an ongoing thing.
It's not that well, we've we've remembered the Lord. Now we don't have to do it again, but we do we do not that we have to, but we want to. We desired it. And I believe that's that's sort of explains what maybe someone has another thought on that. I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. I used to think, why isn't that in the 10th chapter? Because in the 10th chapter he's bringing out the truth of the one body not here. Maybe someone has a thought on that.
Except my thought is that it's an ongoing thing. It's an ongoing thing, not once done and then you're done. Like baptism, you're baptized once. You're not baptized over over again every week or every year or anything like that. Just once. But the Lord's Supper is to be taken. And, and brethren, they used to, they used to remember the Lord every day. But I think in Acts 20, it settles it for us that the first day of the week when he rose from the dead, when he became the mighty conqueror and victor.
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That's the time to celebrate his death on resurrection ground. That's where we are.
When we went back on, explained that nicely about what his thought was in connection with her. I've received of the Lord if he'd repeat what he said.
To repeat it, I don't know which part of the comment go ahead.
I was relying on you, I.
I'd like to give a thought. I've had a connection with that expression. I have received the Lord, that which also I delivered unto you.
When Saul got saved and his name was changed to Paul, he went the Lord was a three years that he was sent into the desert.
And then he went up to Jerusalem.
And he saw, I think it was with Peter for 15 days.
What do you think they talked about? I know I don't want to try to read too much into it, but.
I'm sure that.
Saul never knew the Lord in this world.
And.
I think that Peter told him about his time with the Lord.
And about the last night when he said this due in remembrance of me.
And so I'm sure that Paul heard that from not only from Peter, but from John and the others.
And the Last Supper.
When they were with the Lord there.
But that wasn't enough.
He needed it from the Lord himself. And so he says here I have received to the Lord that which also I deliver unto you. And I must say for myself, I've been encouraged on occasions when there have been young people that have asked to remember the Lord in the assembly where I'm from.
And you go and you visit them, and you find out in when you talk to them that there's a real exercise that has been going on deep in their soul about remembering the Lord.
And in that way, they have received it from the Lord. It's not because of somebody who has, who would say, it's time for you to remember the Lord. And just as Paul received it from the Lord, so for everyone it is.
Receive Christ as Savior first, and then to receive it from a Lord Himself. This do in remembrance of me.
That's very precious to you.
It makes me think Saul of Tarsus was, for he first was confronted by the Lord on his way to Damascus.
Saul saw what persecutest thou may. Who art thou, Lord? I'm Jesus, whom thou persecutest. First time he saw him he was in glory, but then he received it from the Lord. I want you to Remember Me in my death.
Remember Me and my dad, not in the glory, but Remember Me in my death. Maybe that's a thought. And I it's very nice.
It's not until you have a problem, it's not until there's a big blow up amongst brethren, it's until he comes again. We are to be exercised to do it and like Bill was mentioning in the address, if he has asked us to do it, he will provide.
The proper place for us to do it until He comes.
Brethren, I just have to say for my own self that I find.
Sitting down at the Lord's table to remember him.
Necessary for my own soul.
There's where you get the proper picture of.
Who we are as men in the flesh.
There's where you get the proper.
Picture of who our God is.
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There is where you get the proper picture.
Of how serious sin is.
You look at the Savior hanging on the cross.
In.
Those hours of darkness under the hand of God.
Suffering intense agony, you see, as in no other place, the truth that God is light and God is love. We need to have that renewed in us. We tend to forget. We're forgetful people. And when we get back there, we need to be exercised. Don't just come to sit down.
And occupy a seat.
Can I go to sleep? Get drowsy?
He exercised in the presence of the Lord. It's a remembrance feast. We remember him in his death. Oh, how important, how healthy it is to do that each time until he comes again. I remember meeting a brother of some other denomination or group in Peru one time.
Who? When we were talking about doing it each time until he comes, he got rather agitated at us and said, I don't see any place in the Bible where it says you have to do it every Sunday.
So I said to him, I don't see any place either.
But I said, if it were the Lord Jesus, and with those hands that were pierced for you, and he said to you, do this as often as you do it in remembrance of me, are you going to say to the Lord, it's too much to do it every Sunday?
Well, I think, brethren, it shows that it's important that it be the response of love, and if there is nothing else, it should be this that stirs our hearts again in love towards Him. And that's the fountain of Christian living is our hearts, brethren. And the Lord help us to keep those focuses right.
Middle teens.
Grandpa Fisher.
Ask in the Sunday school class.
When you get to heaven and if you haven't remembered the Lord.
What are you going to say to him when he says, I ask you this do in remembrance of Maine? That struck me.
There's one more thought, perhaps. Sorry, were you finished, Brother Ed?
There's one more thought perhaps that we might suggest with regard to the apostles having received it of the Lord, and it's not new, but we know that the Apostle Paul, excuse me.
Never saw the Lord on earth. As we have remarked. He saw a risen Christ in glory, and what he received was from a risen Christ in glory.
That precious truth of the Church that gives us the revelation of the Churches peculiar place, how blessed it is. But He got that directly, not from the Lord on earth, but from a risen Christ in glory. And this is connected with it. Till He come brings about the thought, as we have already expressed, that it will be done and should be done until He comes. But then He also says.
Ye show the Lord's death, or we could read it as I think it's in the Darby. He announced the death of the Lord. Whom is that too? We've spoken about the meeting as being for the Lord, and that is so important. It is one meeting at which we come, to which we come to give, not to receive. Very important. Every other meeting, practically we come looking to receive, and rightfully so, but that is a meeting when we come to give.
We've mentioned the need for it for ourselves, as Brother Bob was saying, Very, very true. And we do need it and we are blessed by coming there if we come in the right way.
But then what else do we do? We announce the death of the Lord. To whom is that? That is to the world around. The fact that you and I come together to break bread is a witness of the Lord's resurrection. You never heard, and I speak not to try and be critical, but you never heard of a Muslim remembering Muhammad in death, did you? He is dead. You can go to Mecca and see his tomb. He is dead.
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You couldn't remember, we say with all reverence, the Lord in death if he were still dead. We remember him in death because he is now alive. And the fact that we come together to break bread is an announcement to this world that the one who once hung on Calvary's cross, the one who once was in that tomb, is now risen and glorified. And that is an announcement. Whether the world receives it or not, that's another matter.
And I suggest that's another reason why Paul received it of the Lord, because there was that dimension added to his ministry that the other apostles in that sense did not have in the same way, because he was given that precious truth from a risen Christ in glory.
Say, when brethren break bread in a certain place, there is a testimony there. Isn't it because we show something? We show.
The Lord's death, I'd like to say before we close too, because it's important, brethren, the verses that follow.
Is something we need to think about as well, about eating or drinking unworthily. It's not the question that we are worthy in our persons. That's not the question. We've already talked about that, but it's the way or the manner in which we eat. If I was invited to have supper with the President of the United States.
And sit down at the table in a state dinner and start to use my fingers to eat food that would be an unworthy manner of eating at his table if I come to the Lord's table. And during the week I've been careless in my ways.
Have not exercised self judgment and come sloppily.
To his table without judging myself, and sing the hymns, thanking him for dying for me on the cross, for my sins.
That's an unworthy manner and if we do that, there's going to be consequences and the Lord deals with us. Yesterday we heard about His discipline amongst His people. He loves us, therefore He disciplines us and He's not going to let it go. And I have to say I've been the subject of His discipline at times.
And I need to be careful. I need to judge myself. Who is this? Whose table is this that I'm approaching tomorrow morning? It's the Lord's table. It's the one that paid the ultimate price to pay for my sins. Am I going to come carelessly and sit down at His table? It's a time that I need to judge myself. Notice how it reads here in verse.
28.
Let a man examine himself. This is in connection with the supper.
And so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Doesn't say let him examine himself and and sit back. No, you judge yourself and you eat and you drink of that cup. It's a time when we're brought to grips with things. We can't do it in a light manner. It's too serious a manner, brother.
One of you comes with your own supper and and you're hungry and even drunken and that's not in a worthy weight at all. You can't discern the Lords body and blood and so on. That's terrible. That's what they did.
I'm very glad that that we're not commanded to either take part in the Lord's Supper.
But my conscience demands it. That's where affection.
The heart comes into play. Is that my my conscience says.
The Lord said this too. I love Him, I trust what He says is for my good and blessing and for His own honor and glory. Therefore, it's a it's I I have to do it in order to satisfy my conscience.
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11.
Three.