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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] wonderful service this morning. I'm excited for what the Lord has for us this evening. Amen. Let's go ahead and open up the service of the word of prayer. Dear Lord, thank you so much for this opportunity we have to be in church tonight. Lord, I thank you so much for the time that we have to sing and to be gathered together under the preaching of the word of God. I pray that you bless the service this evening and that everything that is done and said would bring glory and honor to your name. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. All right, well normally at this time what we would do is take favorites. However, we're going to do something a little bit different. We're going to sing pastors favorites this evening, okay? We're going to do a nice long medley of hymns, okay? We're not going to stop, but you're not going to stop. The piano is not going to stop. We're going to have fun with it, okay? Song number 24, okay? Song number 24, And can it be that I should gain. That's how we're going to start off this evening, okay? Song number 24. That's song number 24. Let's sing it out this evening, okay? Let's have some fun with it. Lift it up to the Lord this evening. Song number 24. That's how we're going to start, okay? Give it all you've got on this verse. And can it be that I should gain. An interest in the Savior's blood. God made your name through God's grace. Your name through death and birth. Amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Song number 449. Dwelling in Bueland. Song number 449. Turn fast. Here we go on that verse. 449. And far away the noise strike upon my ear as calling. Then I look and say to her, Peace and love every man. How to and here get things the work they've made to me are calling. God of peace shall be from you. Don't let up that grace come for it's living. On that hill, underneath the flawless sky, There's good and great peace. On that hill, that land first shall not dry. Oh, yes, I've been seen. On that hill, on that hill, So I will die and will be in you, the land. Song number 210. Wonderful grace of Jesus. Song number 210. Turn fast. Here we go. Song number 210. Wonderful grace of Jesus. Sing it out on that verse. Wonderful grace of Jesus. Great burden on my sin. Thou shalt my compass guide me. Where shall its grace be? Take away my burden. Take away my burden. Sending my spirit free. Wonderful grace of Jesus. Preach, praise, praise to him. Wonderful grace of Jesus. Within, within the wild and broken sea. I have dreamt thousand nations through me. The hymns of my precious sing it. Wherefore, let all my sinners sing. Oh, magnify the precious name of Jesus. Praise, praise, praise. Song number 81. When we see Christ, are you tired yet? Don't give up. Song number 81. We've got five more songs to go. 81 on that verse. Off times the days seem long. Off times the days seem long. Our trials far to bear. We're tempted to obey. To murder and despair. But Christ will soon appear. To fetch his pride away. All tears forever over. In God's eternal face. Sing it out now, church. It will be further. When we see Jesus. Watch out, the sleigh is so slow. When we see Christ. One bless the bitter praise. All sorrow will erase. So bring him all the praise. Till we see Christ. All right, everybody, take a deep breath. This is your moment of rest, okay? Take a deep breath. Song number 143. Blessed assurance. Okay, I've got a big song lined up for you, but I need you to take a deep breath verse, okay? This is the only moment you get. Take it while you got it. Song number 143. Just breathe in and breathe out. Here we go. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Join me on this powerful song, number 143. Sing it out. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. And for salvation, purchase of God. Lord of mystery. This is Christ's glory. This is my song. Praising my Savior. All the day long. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior. All the day long. Song number 441. Are you tired yet? Here we go. Here we go. Song number 441. Great is thy faithfulness. I'm going to tone it down for you a little bit, okay? I see you guys getting weary out there. 441. Great is thy faithfulness, O God, thy Father. There is no shadow of turning with me. That's dangerous, but my compassion may fail not. As thou hast failed, thou would never will be. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning. New mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me. We're going to tone it down just a little bit. 356. I must tell Jesus. Only two more to go. You're doing so well. It's such a blessing to be able to sing in church, amen. 356 on that first. I must tell Jesus all of my trials. I cannot bear these burdens alone. In thy distress, he mightly will help me. He ever loves me. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus can help me. Jesus alone. Only one more song. Guess what it is? Song number 145. It is well with my soul, okay? Don't give up on me. Here we go. We're almost done. Song number 145. Give it all you've got. Watch me in that chorus now. When peace like the winter rot. And if I fail. When sorrows fight the sea. Will those roads that ever lie. Now that's something to say. It is well. It is well with my soul. Ladies, take it away. It is well. And come on, here we go. It is well with my soul. Good. With my soul. It is well. It is well. With my soul. Amen. Great singing this evening. Amen. Good singing. I hope he didn't wear you out too much with all of that. Let's go ahead and take our bulletins. We'll look at some announcements real quickly. If you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you. If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up. We'll get one for you. The verse this week, Isaiah 26 3, that will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on me because he trusteth in thee. And that's a good verse there. We like that. If you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service time Sunday morning service 10 30 a.m. We had a wonderful service this morning. We're glad you're back out tonight for the evening service. And we do invite you to be with us on Wednesday night for the Wednesday night midweek service. We have a special service this week. We'll talk about that in a minute. Also, we have a special soul winning schedule. We'll talk about that in a minute as well. If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, of course, this Wednesday is the Lord's Supper. And we want to encourage you to be here for Wednesday night. It's going to be a little different than a normal Wednesday night. We're not going to have the prayer sheet, but we'll have everything set up for the Lord's Supper. We'll, of course, sing like we normally do. We'll have a short sermon from the word of God and then we'll participate in the Lord's Supper. And we'll take it together. And of course, we're going to talk about that tonight as well and what that means. And then on Sunday is Easter, Sunday, April 20th. And we want to encourage you to be here for Easter. If there's one Sunday you don't want to skip out on church, it's Easter Sunday. All right. And you want to make sure you're in church as we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to encourage you to invite somebody to church. You should have cards like these that you can use to invite someone and bring someone to church with you. And again, I've been telling you that Easter is probably the one of the main times where you can invite people to church and no one's going to be offended. No one's going to be upset with you. In fact, some people might appreciate it because they're looking for a church to go to. There's some people who only go to church on Easter and Christmas and we want to find those people and bring them to church. All right. And then while we're here, we'll try to entice them with an end times prophecy sermon series and maybe they'll come back for that. But make sure you are inviting someone, thinking about someone, make sure that you're here. And then, of course, we have our Easter soul winning push on Thursday, April 17th at 6 p.m., Friday, April 18th at 6 p.m., Saturday, April 19th at 10 a.m. And we'd love to have as many soul winners as possible to help us. Of course, we're going to be preaching the gospel. We'll be inviting people to church for Easter. It's going to be a great time. Also, we have the ladies tea coming up on Sunday, excuse me, Saturday, May 3rd at 3 p.m. And this is in honor of Mother's Day. It's not the Saturday before Mother's Day, but the Saturday before that. And the ladies will have a nice time and elegant afternoon tea and you can sign up on your communication card. If you've not signed up already, please make sure you do that. Also, we've got some volunteer opportunities in the foyer for the ladies if you'd like to help with certain things for the event. And then for men, we could use your help with breaking down and setting up and you can sign up on your communication card. So please make sure you do that. And then, of course, they had choir practice today. All that went well. There's other things there for you to look at. If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of April. Today is Miss Kiki Morales' birthday. So happy birthday to her. And then this week we have Miss Christine Ortiz has a birthday on April 15th. Also, Brother Jeffrey Love has a birthday on April 15th. Praise Report, Money Matters, all of those things are there for you to look at. And I think that's it for all of the announcements. We're going to go ahead and sing the chorus of the week as we prepare to receive the offering this evening. And hopefully you're not too tired from all the singing, all right? So let's go ahead and sing this out as we prepare to receive the offering. And let's sing it out on the first. Lord, I give my life to you. Take a rolling sleigh. I will follow you. Near or far away. Here at my voice I pray. Here at my voice I pray. I will serve you equally. Here at my voice I pray. Sing it out on the second. Sing it with some purpose, right? On the second. Lord, I want your perfect room. Give my name all mine. I will never let go. You are close. Sing it out. Here at my voice I pray. Here at my voice I pray. I will serve you equally. Here at my voice I pray. On the last. Let me sing my lesson here. All around me I pray. Pray for God. Pray for Jesus. Praise be to God. Let's sing it out. Here at my voice I pray. Here at my voice I pray. I will serve you equally. Here at my voice I pray. Amen. Good singing. A quick reminder that we have mother baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience. Please make sure to check your phones. Make sure they are on silent or vibrate so they don't go off in the middle of the preaching. We would appreciate your help with that. Right now would be a good time to check your phone if you have not done so already. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we love you. We thank you for allowing us to gather together today. We ask that you meet with us today as we open up your word as we study the Bible. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. When you come together to eat, tarry one for another. And if any men hunger, let them eat at home. They come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I send in order when I come. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening. God, I thank you for your word and for our church. I ask that you please meet with us tonight, dear God. And I ask that you be their pastor. Please strengthen him and fill him with your spirit. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, we're there in 1 Corinthians chapter number 11. And of course on Wednesday night, as we've been announcing, we are going to be partaking of the Lord's Supper. And it's been a while. It's been several years since I've preached on the subject of the Lord's Supper. And I thought that tonight would be a good night to talk about the Lord's Supper, to teach about the Lord's Supper. Since we'll be taking of the Lord's Supper on Wednesday, it's good for us to know what the Bible teaches about this and to prepare our hearts for it. Of course, you're there in 1 Corinthians 11. If you look down at verse number 23, the Apostle Paul says, For 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 bread. And when he had given thanks, he break it and said, Take eat, this is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also, he took the cup. This cup is the New Testament in my blood, this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. And of course, here we see the Apostle Paul teaching on the subject of the Lord's Supper. And there's a lot that the Bible teaches about the Lord's Supper. We call it the Lord's Supper. It's also referred to as Communion. And there's nothing wrong with that term. That's a Biblical term, the Communion or the Lord's Supper. I'm not going to keep your place there in 1 Corinthians 11. We're going to come back to 1 Corinthians 11. In fact, we're going to spend a lot of time in 1 Corinthians 11. But just real quickly, I'd like you to find the Gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 22. Keep your finger or bookmark or something there in 1 Corinthians 11. And find the Gospel of Luke, Matthew, Mark, Luke. And let me just go ahead and tell you up front tonight, we're going to look at the doctrine of the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. And what I want to tell you up front is that this is going to be very much a doctrinal lesson, a Bible study. So just know that. I don't have any illustrations, any stories. I won't be quoting any poems or lyrics for you. So you're just going to have to pay attention just out of character, all right? I hope you just like to study the Bible and like to know what the Bible teaches about some of these things. I'm not against those things. I'll use those things. But sometimes we just need to study the Bible. And we need to just know what the Bible teaches. So maybe you can just pay attention. Maybe just this one. It's just out of character. I'd appreciate your help with that. I'd like to give you several thoughts with regards to the Lord's Supper. I want to teach you doctrinally about the Lord's Supper and what the Bible teaches about this. And there's a lot to cover, so we'll move quickly as quickly as we can. Let me give you three doctrinal thoughts or doctrinal statements with regards to the Lord's Supper. And if you're taking notes and I always encourage you to take notes, then maybe you can jot these things down. First of all, I'd like you to notice and I'd like to show you that the Lord's Supper is a continuation. The Lord's Supper is a continuation and it is a continuation of the Passover. In Luke chapter 22, we find one of the places where the Lord Jesus Christ established the Lord's Supper. We see the establishment of the Lord's Supper. I want you to notice what the Bible says in Luke 22. In verse number 7, the Bible says this, Then came the day of unleavened bread. I want you to notice that statement there. The day of unleavened bread. This is an Old Testament feast, an Old Testament holiday. Of course, we're in Luke, which is in the part of your Bible that is often referred to as the New Testament. But in this point, we're still under the Old Covenant. The Lord Jesus Christ has not yet died. He has not yet resurrected. He has not yet ushered in the New Testament or the New Covenant. So we're still under that Old Covenant. The Bible says, then came the day of unleavened bread. I just want you to make a note of that and remember that. The day of unleavened bread, we'll come back to that in a minute. But notice that the Bible defines for us what the day of unleavened bread is. It says, when the Passover must be killed. So the day of unleavened bread or the feast of unleavened bread is connected to the Passover. When the Passover must be killed. Notice verse 8, the Bible says, And he, this is Jesus, sent Peter and John saying, go and prepare the Passover that we may eat. So I want you to notice that Jesus is here preparing to participate with the Passover. We're going to look at some passages about the Passover later on in the sermon. But if you remember in the Old Testament, when Moses brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, he of course brought through the power of God ten plagues. And if you remember the last plague, the plague that finally broke Pharaoh and allowed the children of Israel to leave Egypt was what is celebrated on the day of the Passover. Of course, God sent the angel of death and he took the life of every first born, humans, animals of every house, Egyptian, Hebrew, whatever it was. The angel of death came to take the life of every first born. But if you remember they were instructed that they were to take a lamb and they were to sacrifice the lamb and they were to take the blood of that lamb and they were to cover the door post of the house with that blood. And as the angel of the Lord came to take the lives of the first born, any house that had the blood applied upon the door post that the angel of death would pass over that house. He would not bring the judgment of God. That's where the name Passover comes from. And that's what happened in Egypt as they came out of Egypt. Of course, this was to be celebrated every year. They were to have this Passover feast to remember how the Lord brought them out with a high hand. And here this was being celebrated, the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed. Jesus was going to celebrate this. Verse 8, he sent Peter and John saying go and prepare the Passover that we may eat. Now just skip down to verse number 11 just for sake of time. I want you to notice in verse 11 the Bible says this, And ye shall say, so this is Jesus speaking to the disciples. He's instructing them to prepare for the Passover. He says to them, And ye shall say to the good man of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guest chamber where I shall eat? I want you to notice the words here, the Passover with my disciples. So in verse 8 we see that Jesus tells the disciples to grow and prepare us the Passover. In verse 11 we see that he instructs them to ask the Master of the house, Where is the guest chamber where I shall eat? Notice the words, the Passover with my disciples. Look at verse 12, And he shall show you a large upper room furnished there make ready. And they went and found as he had said unto them and they made ready, Notice the words here, the Passover. Look at verse 14, And when the hour was come he sat down and the twelve apostles with him, And he said unto them, with desire I have desired to eat, Notice the words, this Passover with you before I suffer. Now as you read these statements I think it's clear what it is that Jesus is celebrating here. It's pretty clear that he's celebrating the Passover. In verse 8 he says to Peter and John, Go and prepare us the Passover. In verse 11 he instructs them to ask the Master of the house, Where is the guest chamber where I shall eat? The Passover. In verse 13 we read the words, They made ready the Passover. In verse 15 Jesus says, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you. Jesus is partaking of the Passover. He's participating in the Passover. I think it's clear from the passage that what Jesus is doing is he's eating of the Passover. Now I make that clear to you and I emphasize that to say this. What's interesting is that in the next several verses Jesus institutes what we refer to as the Lord's Supper. Look at verse 16, For I say unto you, I will not anymore eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup and gave thanks and said, Take this 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 shall come. And he took the bread and gave thanks and break it and gave unto them saying, This is my body which is given for you this do in remembrance of me. Now that should sound familiar to you because we just read those words quoted in 1 Corinthians 11 25 when the apostle Paul is teaching the church of Corinth about the Lord's Supper, instructing them about the Lord's Supper. He's quoting from this very moment when Jesus took, divided the cup and the bread and he said this do in remembrance of me. He's pointing back at that and saying this is what we're doing which is what Jesus did. He calls it the Lord's Supper. He calls it communion. Jesus called it the Passover. You say well which one is it? Is it the Passover or is it the Lord's Supper? Is it the Passover or is it communion? Well what we need to understand is this that the Lord's Supper is the New Testament continuation of the Old Testament Passover. That's what it is. That's why it was instituted. It's not the Passover. We do not partake of the Passover. There's some major differences between the Lord's Supper and the Passover. But it is the New Testament version of it. It is the New Testament continuation of it. And I think that helps us understand several things about the Passover. So the first thing I want you to, excuse me, about the Lord's Supper. The first thing I want you to notice is that the Lord's Supper is a continuation. It is a continuation of the Passover. It's not the Passover. It's the New Testament version of the Old Testament Passover. We see that when Jesus established the Lord's Supper that he was doing it on the same night and in much of the same fashion as the Passover. Now this might help you understand a few things with regards to the timing or at least the position we take about the timing of the Lord's Supper. I'd like you to find the Old Testament book of Exodus. Exodus chapter 12 if you would. Exodus chapter 12. Of course the second book in the Bible you have Genesis and then you have Exodus. Exodus chapter 12. I understand you have your place in 1 Corinthians 11. We're going to go back there in a minute. But I'd also like you to keep your place in Exodus chapter 12 if you don't mind. Put a ribbon or bookmark or something there. We're going to be going back and forth between Exodus 12 and 1 Corinthians 11. Those are the only places I'm going to have you go. Anything else I'll just read it for you but I'd like you to be able to go back and forth between Exodus 12 and 1 Corinthians chapter 11. We see the establishing of the Lord's Supper but then I want you to notice the timing of the Lord's Supper. Now since the Lord's Supper is a New Testament continuation of the Old Testament Passover, there are some things we can understand about the timing of the Passover. First of all, the timing of the Passover was to be done once a year. Are you there in Exodus chapter 12? Just skip down to verse number 3. We're not going to read all the verses but look at verse 3 just so you can see. This passage is about the Passover. Exodus chapter 12 verse 3. The Bible says, Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel saying, notice here the dates being given. In the tenth day of this month, it's the first month of the year, Abib for them. In the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for in house. And of course he's talking about killing the lamb. He goes on to instruct them about the Passover. Look at verse 5. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. So they were to choose the lamb on the tenth day of the first month. They were to watch it, examine it until the fourteenth day of the same month. It had to be a lamb without blemish, a male of the first year. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. Look at verse 7. And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts of the upper door posts of the house wherein they shall eat it. So I want you to notice that here we find the establishment of the Passover and it was a yearly event. And the position that we've taken here at Verity Baptist Church is this. Since the Lord's Supper is a New Testament continuation of the Old Testament Passover, and since the Passover was done once a year, we've chosen to do the Lord's Supper on a yearly or once a year basis as well. To me it just makes sense. If Jesus says we're going to take the Passover, we're going to celebrate the Passover, we're going to eat the Passover, then he establishes the Lord's Supper and he does that to show us that it's a continuation of the Old Testament Passover. Then if the Passover was done once a year, it would make sense that we would do the Lord's Supper once a year. Go back to 1 Corinthians 11. Let me just say this, I'm not dogmatic about this. This is not something that we would break fellowship with someone over. I'm just explaining to you what we believe and the position we take here at our church. Since the Lord's Supper is a New Testament continuation of the Old Testament Passover, and since the Passover was done once a year, we've chosen to do the Lord's Supper on a once a year basis as well. I want you to notice in 1 Corinthians 11, the apostle Paul highlights for us when it is that the Lord's Supper was established. Look at verse 23, 1 Corinthians 11, 23. He says, For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, notice what he says, the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. So the same night that Jesus went into the garden of Gethsemane. The same night that he prayed, Lord let this cup pass from me. The same night that he was arrested. The same night that he was taken to be judged in those kangaroo courts that they held him in. That same night was the night that we read about in Luke 22 when he ate of the Passover, when he took the cup, when he said take this and divide it among yourselves, when he took the bread and he gave things, when he break it and he said unto them this due in remembrance of me. That was the same night that Jesus was betrayed. It happened on the same night that he was betrayed. He was put to death the very next day. And then of course we know that he resurrected from the grave on the first day of the week, three days later. So we see that the Lord's Supper was instituted right before Jesus' death and for that reason. And I'm preaching this to you or I'm going to explain this to you because I want you to understand. Sometimes people ask me, when do we take the Lord's Supper? In fact there's a question that sometimes we get asked, when do you take the Lord's Supper? Because some churches they take the Lord's Supper on a quarterly basis. Some churches do it on a monthly basis. Some churches do it every Sunday and that's a different story. But different churches do it at different times. We do it once a year and it's not just because we've just flippantly decided, oh once a year is good enough. I just believe that if the Lord's Supper is a continuation of the Old Testament Passover, then I think once a year it would be probably an appropriate thing to do. Also, when do we take it? We take the Lord's Supper on the Wednesday night before Easter. You say why? Well Easter we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and it would make sense when Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper on the same night in which he was betrayed and then he resurrected three days later. It would make sense that we would remember the death of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ, which is what the Lord's Supper is. We'll talk about that here in a minute. And that we would do that at a time right before we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. So since the Lord's Supper is a New Testament continuation of the Old Testament Passover, we do it once a year just like the Passover. And since the Lord's Supper was instituted right before Jesus' death and resurrection, we've chosen to take the Lord's Supper when we remember his death and celebrate his resurrection the week of Easter. Now let me just go ahead and address something that I don't think is controversial, but I've found that some people think is controversial through the years. And let me just talk about this phrase that's found here in this passage about the Lord's Supper that sometimes people, I don't know, just like to make a big deal about it or think about it. Let me just go ahead and answer the question for you in case you have the question in your mind. You'll notice there we read in verse 23 that it says, Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. Notice verse 24, And when he had given thanks, he breaketh and said, Take ye, this is my body which is broken for you, this doeth in remembrance of me. Verse 25, 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? I want you to notice this little phrase here. He says, As oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. As oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. Verse 26, For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Now to me this is not a big deal. This is not something that we would break fellowship over. To me this is not a deal breaker. But I've found over the years that sometimes people get highly offended when we say, you know, we take the Lord's Supper once a year, and they'll get offended and say, well you know, the Bible says that you can do it as often as ye, as often as ye. And here's the thing, many people, and maybe even most people, have taken that phrase, that saying of as oft as ye, or as often as ye, both statements are used, they've taken that to mean that you can do it as often as you want. And again, I don't have a problem with that. If people want to believe that, that's fine. I personally don't think that's what the phrase means. I think if you look at the phrase in its context of the actual statement, and if you look at the phrase in the context of what the Apostle Paul is preaching, it makes sense that he's saying something a little different. And if I have time, maybe I'll go into that. But let me just say this, here's what I believe about the phrase. I believe that when the Bible says, as often as ye, and then he says, in remembrance of, or as often as ye, and he says, ye do show the Lord's death, I don't believe that he's saying, you can do this whenever you want, you can be like a Catholic and take it every Sunday if you want. I don't necessarily think that's what he's saying. I think what he's saying is, when you do this, do it in remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ. When you do it, do it to show the Lord's death. Now that makes sense within the context because Paul's actually correcting the fact that they were doing what they called the Lord's Supper in a way that had nothing to do with showing the Lord's death. They were actually taking the Lord's Supper just as a meal that they could eat at. I think if you read the chapter, that context is very clear to be seen. Again, maybe I'll get into that later if we've got some time. Let me just say this, I don't think we should get too hung up on the dates or the days. Sometimes people take these things a little too far and they're like, well if Jesus did it on the night before he was crucified, then we've got to figure out exactly when that night was. The Bible says that we should care about the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law. We need to understand that God teaches us things, but he doesn't want us to get too hung up on some of the details. He doesn't want us to get lost on the details and I think that's seen in scripture. In fact, I'm not going to have you turn here, but let me just give you this information. In Numbers chapter 9 verses 1 and 11, when we were preaching through the book of Numbers, I actually preached about this. Also in 2 Chronicles chapter 30 verses 1 and 20, we have a story where certain people were not able to partake of the Passover, of course that was in the Old Testament, because of certain reasons. And if you read the story, God just allowed them to do it the next month. So when I read that, it seems to me like God's not too hung up on, did you do it on the exact right date. You know, God wants us to make sure that we're doing what he's asked us to do and to remember the things that he's asked us to remember, but I don't think that we need to get too caught up. And here's what I would say, in the Christian life, be careful about living on extremes. Whenever you're on any extreme, you're probably not in the right place. And we should not take this extreme that says, we do it once a year and anyone who does it more than that is a Catholic, okay. That's not true, alright. But at the same time, you know, you shouldn't get offended because someone, well I think it should be done quarterly. Okay, well show me that in the Bible. I think it should be done on the fifth Sunday of every month, because that's the church that I grew up in and that's how they did it. Okay, that's nice, but that's not in the Bible. Do you understand what I'm saying to you? Let's not get lost in the weeds. What I think is interesting is this, that if I'm right, and I think I am, if I'm right and that phrase and the Lord's Supper is meant to be observed once a year, then we're good to go. Right, I mean if I'm right and the Passover is a continuation or the Lord's Supper is a yearly continuation of the Passover, which I don't think, how can you read Luke 22 and walk away with anything else than that? If I'm correct about that, then we're good to go. You say, well pastor, what if you're wrong? Okay, if I'm wrong and they're right, you know, the crowd that says do it once a month, do it once a quarter. Okay, well why once a month? Why once a quarter? Is there a verse that says we should do it once a month? Is there a verse that says we should do it once a quarter? Is there a verse that says we should do it every six months? No, no, no, we do it once a month, we do it once a quarter because it says as often as ye. Okay, well here's the thing. If I'm wrong and as often as ye means as often as you want, doesn't that still include once a year? Aren't we still right if that's right? So look, don't make a big deal about these things. The whole point is to remember Jesus' death and sacrifice. And personally, I feel like when we do it once a year, it becomes a very special and sacred time. I've been to churches where they do, and again, I'm not criticizing anybody. I'm just saying I've been to churches and I've grown up in churches where they put it on some monthly schedule or quarterly schedule and they tack it on at the end of a Sunday night service and it definitely just feels like you're just running through the motions and we're just doing this because we're supposed to do this. And then there's other churches who just never do it, you know, just because they forget about it or whatever. I have found that having a once a year time, especially right before Easter, where we think about and remember the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ just becomes a very special time, becomes a very sacred time. If you take a different position, hey that's fine, no problem. We're not dogmatic on it, I'm just explaining to you what we believe about it and the way we do it here at Verity Baptist Church. We see the Lord's Supper as a continuation of the Passover and therefore when Jesus established the Lord's Supper, we see him taking the Passover and establishing the Lord's Supper and therefore we choose to follow a similar timing of once a year, right before we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, we remember the death of Christ. I hope that makes sense. So we see the Lord's Supper is a continuation of the Passover. But secondly, and here's the second doctrinal lesson or statement about the Lord's Supper, and it is this, that the Lord's Supper is not just a continuation of the Passover, but the Lord's Supper is a commemoration of the death of Christ. The Lord's Supper is a commemoration. It is actually a religious, I'm going to say this and you may not like the wording, but it's actually just a religious ritual. It's something we do to represent or to commemorate the death of Christ. The things we do with the Lord's Supper are all pictures of something. They are a representation of something. Are you there in 1 Corinthians 11? Look at verse 23. Notice what the Bible says. 1 Corinthians 11, 23. Paul says, For 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 bread. And when he had given things, he break it and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. Now that bread was not physically literally the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, but that bread was a picture or a representation of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you come to church on Wednesday night when we participate in the Lord's Supper, and I hope you will come, one of the things we're going to do is we're going to take bread and we're going to tear it up and we're going to serve it. There's nothing special about the bread itself. The bread is just bread. There are some religions that like to teach that there's something special about the bread. Of course, Catholics and others will teach that the Lord's Supper is a sacrament, meaning that it's required for salvation. That's not true. That's false. The only thing that's required for salvation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. But this is something we do to commemorate, to show the Lord's death. It's not transubstantiation where the Catholic Church will teach that it's literally the body of Christ and as you're eating the bread it becomes the flesh of Christ in your mouth. Don't spit it out. Or as you swallow it, it becomes the body of Christ. Well, that's gross and that's cannibalism. And that's not what the Bible teaches. It's just a picture. It's an ordinance. It's a commemoration. The body represents the broken body of Christ. There's nothing special about the bread. We don't pray and the bread just comes from heaven. How do you get the bread? My wife bakes it. Literally. Since we started our church, my wife bakes the bread for the Lord's Supper every year. She bakes it and we get it and we tear it up. If you've had the Lord's Supper, when I was growing up, all the churches I ever went to, and again I'm not criticizing them. I'm just giving you an observation. All the churches I ever went to growing up, when you partook of the Lord's Supper, you were giving these little perfectly cut squares. I know if you're a Catholic they give you like a round wafer I think. But if you're a Baptist you get the little tiny square and just perfectly cut. But the problem with that is that that actually takes away the whole point because Jesus said, the Bible says that he took the bread, verse 24. He said take eat, this is my body which was broken for you. See the purpose of the bread is not just the bread. It's to actually break the bread. It's to actually tear the bread. It's to actually have the bread be broken because that's picturing what happened to the body of Christ. The body of Christ was broken. So when we take the Lord's Supper, you'll reach into that basket. There will be bread that has been torn, that has been broken. And you're not getting just a perfectly little cut square. It's torn up. Why? Because that's the picture. The picture is of the broken body of Christ and we take the position here that the bread should literally physically be broken. It should be ripped up because it pictures the broken body of Christ. The bread not only pictures the broken body of Christ, but I will say this, it pictures the sinless body of Christ. Because the thing about the bread that we take when we take the Lord's Supper, that we eat, is that it's supposed to be bread without leaven. And leaven is yeast. Yeast, of course, is used in bread to cause bread to expand, cause bread to rise. But this is unleavened bread. So it doesn't rise. It's flat. And in the Bible, leaven is a picture of sin. You're there in 1 Corinthians 11. Flip back real quickly to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. While you turn there, let me remind you of Luke 22, 7. Remember when we were in Luke? I told you to make a note of this. The Bible says, then came the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed. In the Old Testament, they actually had a feast that lasted seven days that was connected to the Passover. It ended with the Passover. It was called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They were supposed to go through their house once a year and this was a religious ritual, but I think there was a practical aspect of it as well. And they were supposed to get rid of all the leaven in their house. Get rid of all the leaven. It was called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days they ate bread that was unleavened. And on the day of the Passover, that was one of the things they had. In the Old Testament, they would eat, they would kill the lamb, sacrifice the lamb, they'd eat the lamb, and they would have unleavened bread with that lamb. Notice 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 6. Here the Bible says, your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Notice verse 7. He says, purge out there for the old leaven. That's what they would do during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Purge out there for the old leaven that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened for even Christ, notice the connection here, our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, talking about the Passover, talking about the Feast of Unleavened Bread, not with the old. He's using that as an example here. He's not literally saying to keep the Passover because he's saying Christ is our Passover, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice. Notice how it's connected to sin. Neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. So in the Bible, leaven is a picture of sin and this was supposed to be unleavened bread. Why? Because the Bible says that God hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So it not only pictures the broken body of Christ, but it pictures the sinless body of Christ. His body was like bread with no leaven. It was a body without sin. He had never sinned. He died on the cross not to pay for his own sins because he had no sins. He died on the cross to pay for our sins. So you see what the bread represents? It represents the broken body of Christ. So I just have the thought that if the bread is supposed to be broken to represent the broken body of Christ, then we should actually take the baked bread and rip it up. And it should be unleavened because that pictures the sinless body of Christ. What does the cup represent? Notice verse 25. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 25. He says after the same manner also he took the cup when he had stopped saying this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This is of course Paul speaking to the Corinthians, but notice how he's quoting the Lord Jesus Christ. He says this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Notice how it's a picture. They're showing the Lord's death till he come. So they have the cup and the cup he says is a picture of the New Testament in my blood. Jesus said, you don't have to turn here, but in Matthew 26, 28 when he's establishing the Lord's Supper, he actually said these words. He said for this is my blood. When he poured the wine, he said for this is my blood in the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins. See the juice that we take is supposed to picture the blood of Christ, but it doesn't just picture the blood of Christ. There's a very specific thing that the pouring of the juice pictures the shedding of the blood of Christ. Hebrews 9 22 says without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. So again, when we take the Lord's Supper, I will actually take the time to take the juice and pour it in the cups. I don't pour it for all 200 people that are here that night. We'll have some that are already pre-poured, but we'll take the time to pour. Why? Because that's actually part of the picture. As that juice is being poured, it's supposed to represent the shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says this cup is the New Testament in my blood. The Bible says, he said for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. So this is all a picture. It pictures the broken body of Christ, the sinless body of Christ, and it pictures the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. By the way, let me just say this. In the same way that the bread, the brokenness of the bread, represents the broken body of Christ, but if you remember the bread was without leaven, meaning that it shows that his body was sinless. In the same way the juice, when it's poured, pictures the shedding of the blood. But let me just answer this question for you as well. We here at Verity Baptist Church do not use alcoholic wine for the Lord's Supper. We use grape juice, and that's a sermon for another day. I've preached on that subject in the past. But let me just say this. There are churches where they use alcoholic wine. Catholic churches, I think, they use alcoholic wine. You know those priests. I mean, the Catholic churches are just so weird. People are walking up. They're all drinking out of the same cup. I mean, good night. And it's like, they take a drink, he takes a drink, and it's like, good night. You know, this guy needs some help. But we don't use alcoholic wine because, you know, you say, well, what's the reason? Well, we don't use alcoholic wine. Instead we use non-fermented wine, which is what we would call in our modern day grape juice. And if you think about the fact that the bread is supposed to be unleavened, because leaven represents sin, which means, when we say unleavened, we mean bread with no yeast, then the wine or the grape juice should be without fermentation, unfermented, because fermentation is just without yeast as well. So it just makes sense that if you're having bread that's unleavened, you would have wine that's not fermented. Now let me just say a few things about fermentation. Number one, not everything that is fermented is alcoholic. There are some things that ferment naturally, and in order for something to become alcoholic, the fermentation process has to be allowed to build long enough to create a high alcohol content. Of course, this is done on purpose. People do this on purpose in order to create alcohol. But with that said, let me say this. In the same way that leaven in the Bible represents sin, fermentation in the Bible also represents corruption and sin. So it just makes sense that if the bread is supposed to be unleavened, then the wine should be unfermented. And again, I've preached about wine in the Bible and what the Bible teaches about that. And the Bible, our King James Bible calls things wine that we would call grape juice. And that's a sermon for another day. You can look up those sermons if you'd like. But we use grape juice, all right? So just know that. Because if the bread is to be unleavened, then the juice should be unfermented as well. Now, let me just real quickly go to First Corinthians chapter five. I'm not sure where you're at. I think you're in chapter 11. Go back to chapter five real quickly. And while you go there, because I just want to lay all everything that I can about doctrinally this foundation about the Lord's Supper. So let me just point out for you some similarities between the New Testament Lord's Supper, the Old Testament Passover and how they connect to the Lord Jesus Christ. So in the Old Testament Passover, they had the blood of the lamb. So they actually sacrificed the lamb. But we don't sacrifice animals because we're in the New Covenant. The Levitical priesthood and the sacrificial system has been done away. So in order to get blood from an animal, you'd have to kill the animal. We're not going to kill animals. So in the New Testament, the literal blood of a lamb, which was used in the Passover to put over the doorpost, has been replaced with wine or unfermented wine, grape juice. So the cup is the equivalent, the New Testament equivalent of the Old Testament blood of the lamb. But both the literal blood of the lamb in the Old Testament and the unfermented wine in the New Testament, both picture the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. When they sacrifice that lamb and that lamb shed its blood, that was a picture of the fact that there's a coming Messiah who will shed his blood. When we take the cup and we pour the wine, it pictures the shedding of his blood. So those are the similarities or the equivalents. In the Old Testament, you have the blood of the lamb. In the New Testament, you have the unfermented wine. Both of them picture the blood of Christ. What about the bread? Well, in the Lord's Supper, we have unleavened bread. We just talked about that. But in the Old Testament Passover, they also had unleavened bread. They had a whole feast of unleavened bread. And in both instances, that represents the body of Christ. And then, of course, you have the lamb. The lamb is the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you there in 1 Corinthians 5? Look at verse 7. Notice again what he says. He says, Purge out there for the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Why don't we sacrifice the lamb today? Because it would be sacrilegious to do so. We don't have to sacrifice the lamb because Christ our Passover is already sacrificed for us. If you remember, when Jesus came to be baptized of John, the Bible says in John 1.29, The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. So in the Old Testament, they had a lamb. That's before Christ came. That lamb pictured the coming Messiah, which is why John the Baptist, when he saw Jesus, said, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. He was pointing back to the pastor. He says in the same way that we sacrifice the lamb, and we kill it, we shed its blood, and we apply the blood to the doorposts of the house, and that allows us to have the judgment of God pass over us. He says this is the lamb, and when his blood is shed, and when his blood is applied to the doorposts of our hearts, the judgment of God will pass over us. You say, what about the New Testament? We don't have a lamb in the Lord's Supper. We don't have a lamb because the lamb's already been sacrificed. Even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. There's no lamb for the Lord's Supper, but the lamb in the Old Testament represents the Lord Jesus Christ. No lamb in the New Testament. Why? Because we already have the Lord Jesus Christ. He's already been sacrificed for us. I hope that makes sense, the Lord's Supper and the Passover, some of the similarities there, and how they both correlate to the Lord Jesus Christ. Go back to 1 Corinthians 11. We see that the Lord's Supper is a continuation. It's a continuation of the Passover. We saw that Jesus said over and over, I'm going to partake of the Passover, I'm going to partake of the Passover, I'm going to partake of the Passover, and then he established the Lord's Supper. We see that the timing of the Lord's Supper is, for us, we've chosen to do it once a year because we continue it with this idea of the Passover and it's a very special thing. Then we see that the Lord's Supper is a commemoration of the death of Christ. There's the bread and there's the cub. It's not the literal body of Christ. It's not the literal blood of Christ. These are just representations. The third thing I'd like you to notice, and I'm going to say this and then I want to come back to that representation idea, but let me just say this if you're taking notes. Number three, we see that the Lord's Supper is a command. The Lord's Supper is a command, and it is a command specifically for the congregation. I believe the Bible teaches, and we teach here at Verity Baptist Church, that the Lord's Supper is something that is to be done within the church, the congregation of believers. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 2, I want you to notice how the chapter begins. 1 Corinthians chapter 11 is about the Lord's Supper. It begins in verse number 1, 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 1. He says, be followers of me even as I also am of Christ. Then he says in verse 2, I praise you, brethren, that ye remember, I want you to remember that word, that ye remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you. Now, sometimes people get a little confused, and I can understand that. The apostle Paul seems to go off on a different tangent and he talks about other things. But he begins this chapter, this conversation, talking about how he wants them to remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you. Then he talks about some other things, but he comes back to his point in verse 23. Notice what he says. He says, for I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. Now, again, compare 1 Corinthians 11, 23 to 1 Corinthians 11, 2. Now, I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I, notice this word, delivered them to you. Then in verse 23, he says, for I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. Notice he's talking about the same thing. That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake and said, take eat, this is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. That's what he said in verse 2, that ye remember me in all things. In verse 25, he says, after the same manner also, he took the cup, when he had stopped saying, this cup is a New Testament in my blood, as do ye as often as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. So I want you to notice there that Paul begins to talk about ordinances. He says in verse 2, keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you. Then he talks about some other things, but in verse 23, he comes back to his point, he says, for I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. So I want you to notice that Paul calls the Lord's Supper an ordinance. Now what's an ordinance? The word ordinance is used a lot in the Bible, and it's used primarily in the Old Testament. It's used a few times, or not a lot in the New Testament. What is an ordinance? Well, the word ordinance, look, if you look up, and I'm not, don't go find some Bible dictionary to look this up in, I mean, maybe it ought to have the right definition, maybe not, but you know what, we should always allow the Bible to be its own dictionary. And if you don't know what an ordinance is, you should just do, this is what I actually did, I just looked up every time the word ordinance was used in our Bible. And I just read every time the word ordinance was used, and if you do that, it becomes real clear what an ordinance is. The word ordinance refers to things that are symbolic, to things that are memorials, to things that are ceremonial acts, instituted to show something. The reason that the word ordinance is used the most in the Old Testament is because under the Old Covenant there was all sorts of ordinances. I mean, if you look at the ceremonial law of Moses, if you understand the laws that Moses gave, he gave criminal laws where people were put to death for certain things, or they received punishments for certain things. Then he also gave moral laws, things like thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not, certain things that maybe they didn't carry a criminal punishment with them, but it's just God telling you, thou shalt not covet, you're not going to get thrown in jail for coveting, but he's telling you don't do this. And then there was ceremonial things, like what? Like the Passover, where they killed a lamb, and they went through this whole thing. Like they're taking two birds, and they kill one bird, and they let another one go free. Those are all pictures, shadows of salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of those things are called ordinances. Why? They're referred to as ordinances because they're symbolic. They're not criminal laws, they're not even moral laws, they're just rituals that they did, ceremonial acts that they did in the Old Testament, and they showed the death of Christ, the coming Christ. They pictured the death, so when they burnt a burnt sacrifice, that's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole burnt sacrifice is a picture of all those. We preached through the book of Leviticus several years ago, and we went through that and showed how every one of those sacrifices was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. So what's an ordinance? An ordinance is something that's symbolic, that's ceremonial, and that pictures something. We don't have as many ordinances in the New Testament as we do in the Old Testament, but we do have a couple. One is the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is just ceremonial and it's symbolic. It's not the literal physical flesh of Christ, it's not a sacrament. I know we live in Sacramento, but it's not a sacrament that you have to take in order to be saved. It's just something we do to show, this is what Paul said, to show the Lord's death. It pictures the bread. You say, what other ordinances do we have? Here's another ordinance we have. Baptism. Baptism doesn't save you. Baptism is just a picture. When someone gets dunked in the water, when they go into the water and they're standing there or sitting there and the water crosses their body, that's a picture of the cross. When we take that individual and they go under the water, that's a picture of the dead. When they come up out of the water, that's a picture of the resurrection. It's symbolic. It's just ceremonial. It just shows and represents. That's what an ordinance is. The Lord's Supper is an ordinance. It goes back to point two. The Lord's Supper is a commemoration. It's an ordinance because it's symbolic. So when you look at the Old Testament and you see the word ordinance, realize it's not criminal, it's not even moral, it's just symbolism. Which will help you to understand when you get to the New Testament and the Bible says that He nailed the ordinances to the cross. Why does it say that? It says that because at the blood of Christ, the Old Covenant ended, the New Covenant began, and all of those ordinances were done away. We don't need the Passover anymore. We don't need the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We don't need all those feasts anymore. Why? Because those are all pictures of something that already happened. The Lord Jesus Christ. So that's what an ordinance is. We don't have as many ordinances in the New Testament, but in the New Testament we do have baptism. That's an ordinance. We do have the Lord's Supper. That's an ordinance. Now why do I bring that up? I bring that up to say this. In the New Testament, an ordinance refers to something that's symbolic, something that's a memorial, something that's ceremonial, something that was instituted in this case by Christ. Both baptism, of course, was not instituted by Christ, but He participated in it. This was instituted by Christ, and it's to be observed by the church. I like to think it this way. Typically, people take the position, and I'm one of them, that the ordinances are to be administered by ordained ministers. If you just think of it that way. You know, an ordinance should be done by someone who's ordained. In the Old Testament, nobody was allowed to just do all those ordinances. You have to go to the tabernacle. You have to go to a Levitical priest. That priest had been anointed. That priest had been ordained for that ministry to perform those ordinances. The ordinance in the New Testament is my position, and some people take a different position. That's fine. They'll stand before God, whatever. But it's my position that an ordinance should be done, administered by an ordained individual. Why do I make a big deal about that? I make a big deal about that to say this. There are some people who take the position that the Lord's Supper should be taken at home, or can be taken at home, and can be administered by anybody. Now, some people take that position, and lots of people take that position. Honestly, it's not just Baptists. I mean, there's Baptists who believe that. Few Baptists who believe that, but all sorts of denominations believe that. That is not a position that we take here. We believe that the Lord's Supper is a command for the congregation. That it is to be done through the church. You say, well, why? Primarily. Primarily because it's an ordinance. So it should be done by an ordained minister. Same as we don't believe that you can just baptize yourself. I mean, are you Joseph Smith? I don't understand. You're just going to baptize yourself? You know, you should be baptized in a fashion that is done through the local church ordinance. Now, let me just say this. Some of these things are not super clear in Scripture. I believe some of it is clear. Not everything is clear, so let me just get on a little bit of a rabbit's trail and just give you some thoughts with regards to doctrines and disclaimers of doctrines. When it comes to doctrines, obviously anything that's in the Bible is important. We understand that. But what we also need to understand is that not everything in the Bible is super clear. The apostle Paul said about end times events. He says we see through a glass darkly. We don't understand everything in the Bible. Now, there are some things that are super clear. Salvation is crystal clear. Eternal security is crystal clear. There are certain things that are crystal clear. Some things are not as clear. So though we understand that everything in the Bible is important, we also need to understand that not every doctrine should be a deal breaker. Now, some things should be a deal breaker. I don't think you should go to any church that's not clear on salvation. I don't think you should go to any church that's not clear on Scripture and the King James Bible. I don't think you should go to any church that's not clear on soul winning. Those are things that are clear. Those things should be deal breakers. There's other things that you might look at and say, well, somebody has another good person, has another opinion, whatever. Those things, if they're not super clear, we're not going to be dogmatic in the sense that we're going to say here's what we teach, here's what we believe. As far as we can tell in Scripture, this is what we're going to do. But we're not going to condemn others and things of that nature. Let me just say this when it comes to doctrines. You can come to Verity Baptist Church and not agree with everything that we believe. You know, I feel like sometimes people, they create these false impressions. Well, you can't go to that church unless you agree with everything. Well, who said that? Who's ever said that? I mean, I got like 1500 hours of preaching online. Show me one time where I stood up and said, you got to agree with 100%. Look, let me tell you something. I don't agree with myself 100% of the time. Somebody said you get three Baptists together, you have four opinions. You know, you don't have to agree 100%. You're never going to find a church that you agree with 100% on everything. Now, there are some deal breakers that you need to just decide what those are and make some decisions. Other things, you know, there's room for disagreement. You don't have to agree. Look, to be a member of Verity Baptist Church, you need to believe that salvation is by grace through faith. You need to believe in eternal security. You need to, there are certain things that were, those are deal breakers. But you know, if you agree, if you don't agree with me on the rapture, that's not a deal breaker. Not for me. I mean, I'm confident in what I believe. I think it's pretty clear in Scripture. I'm about to preach 12 weeks on it, so in case you're not sure. But it's not a deal breaker. Do you understand what I'm saying to you? But at the same time, you shouldn't go to a church and then just have this agenda to try to change it. You know, you should be clear, well here's what I agree, here's what I don't agree, but if I don't agree, I know this is what the church believes, I'm not going to try to change it. I literally had someone recently look me in the face and they told me, I'm quitting the church because you haven't changed. They're like, pastor, you said that you haven't changed in 10 years and I agree, in the last 10 years I agree with you. And they told me, I'm quitting the church because you haven't changed. And I thought to myself, is this a compliment? Like, you're quitting the church because I haven't changed? But you know what? If you're going to a church hoping you're going to change the pastor, there's something wrong with you! Not with the pastor! Give the man an award if he hasn't changed in 15 years. Well, I've been waiting for you to change! Well, you're going to wait a long time. Because we agreed and we decided what we believed before you got here and we'll still believe it when you leave. So look, you don't have to agree with everything, but we've been clear about what we believe here. We're not this church that's hiding, you know, just kind of like trying to, you know, hopefully you don't find out. Hey, just Google us, you'll find out. We're not hiding what we believe. We've never hid what we believe! So why don't you get some character and integrity and stop trying to change the pastor. I'm leaving because you won't change. Well, you should have left a long time ago. Because we're not changing. You don't have to agree with everything. We're fine. You don't have to agree. Look, you have the right to be wrong. But you have to figure out what's a deal breaker and what's not. And you shouldn't come here trying to change us and trying to change things. If you know you came to church believing something different, then keep that to yourself. So we believe about the Lord's Supper that it's done through the church. And by the way, this is what I've always taught! It's what I've always believed from day one. Well, I'm leaving because you won't change. Well, you know, then thank you. I think that's a good thing. I think there's a verse in the Bible about Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Anyway. It's done, the Lord's Supper, let me get back to the Lord's Supper. It's done through the church. That's our position. And it's done with the church. Go back to Exodus chapter 12, just real quickly. Exodus chapter 12. Again, look, I don't care how other churches do it. It doesn't make a difference to me. I'm not the pastor of every other church. I'm the pastor of this church. So I just got to tell you, here's how we do it and here's what we believe about it. And if you don't like it, that's okay. But don't try to change us. It's done through the church and it's done with the church. Exodus chapter 12. Look at verse 5. Exodus chapter 12, verse 5. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats. And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. So I want you to notice in the Old Testament, when they took of the Passover, they chose a lamb. They watched the lamb. That all pictures Palm Sunday, Passion Week, the fact that Jesus was examined. They looked at him and they said, I find no fault in him. That's what they're doing with the lamb. They're making sure it's without blemish. But then when it was time to kill it, verse 6, notice the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. So they all came together to kill their individual lambs. You say, why? That pictures how the entire assembly came together to crucify Christ. Verse 7. And they shall take up the blood. So once the lamb is killed, they take up the blood and strike it on the two side posts on the upper door of the post. The house is wherein they shall eat it. So notice, they kill the lamb together, then they go home and they take, they eat the lamb at home privately. They apply the blood on the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat it. So because of this, some people will take the position, well, they're supposed to eat the lamb at the house, so that's where you're supposed to do the Lord's Supper. But wait a minute. Where in the Lord's Supper do we have a lamb? Remember, Christ, our Passover, Jesus is the lamb of God. So they were to eat of the lamb at home privately because you know what that actually pictures? It pictures the fact that you need to get saved privately. And what I mean by that is, you don't get saved corporately. Well, I'm saved because I'm part of Verity Baptist Church. That's not how it works. You don't get saved because you're part of a congregation. You got to get saved because you, individually, on your own, by faith, called upon Christ for salvation. You eat the lamb alone. Do you understand what I'm saying to you? But then what happens? Look at verse 28, same chapter, Exodus 12, verse 28. Remember, this is all happening within the context of Moses bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt. Remember the 10 plagues? Remember, they're doing this, they're killing the lamb, they're putting the door post, because that night, the Passover is happening. The angel of the Lord, the angel of death is coming, he's killing the different individuals. Pharaoh wakes up in the middle of the night and his son is dead and he is going to kick the children of Israel out of Egypt, Exodus 12, 28. And the children of Israel went away and did as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. So did they, talking about the fact that they already killed the lamb, now they're applying the blood and so forth, verse 29. And it came to pass that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of captives that was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of cattle, verse 34. And the people took their dough before it was leavened. Notice what it says, they're kneading troughs, being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. So notice they're doing this, but they don't get a chance to eat the bread because before they get to the bread part, Pharaoh's kicking them out. So they take the bread before it's leavened and they bound it up in their clothes, look at verse 37. And the children of Israel journeyed from Ramesses to Sukkoth about 600,000 on foot. You know what that sounds like to me? That sounds like a congregation. I mean that sounds like a lot of people. That were men beside children and a mixed multitude, meaning it's men, it's women, it's children. A mixed multitude went up also with them and flocks and herds, even very much cattle and notice what the Bible says in verse 39. They baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt for it was not leavened because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victuals. So here's what's interesting, they take the lamb, they eat it privately, but before they can eat the lamb, the bread at home, they get kicked out of Egypt, so then they take it all corporately. Well that's the Lord's Supper. What is the requirement to take the Lord's Supper? You gotta get saved. So you eat the lamb privately and then you come with the congregation on Wednesday and we'll partake of the Lord's Supper together. The picture in the Old Testament shows us that they did everything together. They killed the lamb together, they ate the bread together. The only part they did separate was the taking of the lamb, eating of the lamb, actually putting the blood on the doorpost. Well that fits perfectly with the analogy that's being portrayed here because you know what happens is you get saved on your own, not on your own but it's an individual thing you do. And then baptism is done publicly with the congregation and then the Lord's Supper is done publicly with the congregation. It is what we do. Now I realize this might be a little bit longer of a sermon. Remember the first thing I said? It might take a little character to get through this. But let me just answer another question about this. I'm not going to preach on this for another long time and I just want to cover all of it so that it's all covered in one sermon. Go back to 1 Corinthians 11 and let me just answer this question real quickly. Now if you remember we studied 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians together. I don't know if you remember when we studied 1 Corinthians. But you don't have to, just reading 1 Corinthians if you've ever read it you should know this is true. The church at Corinth was a church with a lot of problems. I mean 1 and 2 Corinthians are very negative books. It's not like Philippians. Philippians he's just like rejoicing the Lord all the way and again I say rejoicing, I mean he's just loving them, whatever. 1 Corinthians he's like rebuking them, he's telling them you got a guy in there fornicating with his father's wife and you know he's correcting a lot of issues. I say that to say this, we shouldn't look at the church at Corinth as a model of like well this is a good thing. In fact the apostle Paul is correcting them. Notice what he says in verse 17. He says, Now in this I declare unto you, answer me this, does this sound positive or negative? I praise you not! He's not saying like hey good job keep doing what you're doing. He's telling them you're not doing this right. That you come together not for the better but for the worse. So he's telling them you're coming together but it's not for the better it's for the worse. Verse 18, for first of all when you come together in the church I hear that there be divisions among you and I partly believe it. Is that positive or negative? That's negative. He's telling them you're coming together and you're just having problems, you're having issues. Verse 19, for there must be also heresies among you. Is that positive or negative? That they which are approved may be made manifest among you. Look at verse 20, when ye come together therefore into one place this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. Now here's the problem is that some people take this verse, just verse 20, pluck it out of its context and they're like see we're not supposed to take the Lord's Supper together. Because the Bible says when you come together therefore into one place this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. But you can't arrest a verse from its context. In the context he says in verse 18, when ye come together in the church I hear that there be divisions among you. He says I declare unto you in verse 17 I praise you not that ye come together not for better but for the worse. He's talking about people that aren't doing something correctly and in verse 20 he says when ye come together therefore into one place this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. Now some people take the position so he's commanding them don't come together to eat the Lord's Supper. But if you understand the context and I think if you just look at it honestly in the context it's real clear what he's telling them. Look at verse 11, for in eating everyone taketh before other his own supper the one is hungry and another is drunken. What? Have ye not houses to eat and to drink in or despise ye the church of God and shame them and have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this thing? I praise you not. Isn't that the same thing he said in verse 17? He said well what's going on here? Here's what's going on. These people were taking the Lord's Supper but they were treating it like a meal and you don't think people do this? People literally will come even to our church over the years there's been people that came to and they're like can I get another? It's like no this isn't a meal. Can I get two cups? I need two cups. They're like dipping their little it's like no this isn't this isn't we're not having a fellowship meal here. He says when ye come together therefore into one place this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. He's not saying don't come together to eat the Lord's Supper. He's saying when you Corinthians come together what you're calling the Lord's Supper is not actually the Lord's Supper. Let me explain to you this way. Remember the other ordinance? What's the other ordinance? Baptism. Well what's baptism? It's getting dunked in water. So imagine if somebody was just every time they were in water they were calling that baptism. You're at home taking a bubble bath and you call it baptism. Well you know Paul could say hey when you take a bubble bath this is not baptism. Now he's not saying baptism therefore never you should use water. He's just saying not every time that you're in water is it baptism. And not every time you're drinking juice is it the Lord's Supper. He says when you come together therefore into one place this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. For in eating everyone taketh before other his own supper. And he said people are bringing their own food and he says another is drunken. What have you not houses to eat and to drink in and 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 not? He said look eat at home. That's what Paul's saying. He's correcting them. It's bookended by these statements. It begins in verse 17. Now this I say now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not. And in verse 21 he says I say to you shall I praise you in this I praise you not. The correction. Now begins the instruction. Now he's going to tell them here's what you've been doing wrong. You've been eating and acting like the Lord's Supper is a meal. He says here's what you should be doing verse 23. For 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 bread. Do you see how like the feelings already different? From I praise you not. What are you doing? Why are you doing this? Now he's instructing them. Look at verse 24. And when he had given things he break it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup. When he had stopped saying this cup is the New Testament in my blood this do ye as oft as you drink it in remembrance of me. Now again when you understand the context look at it. Look at what he says there in verse 24. And when he had given things he break it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me. See Paul is telling them we don't take the Lord's Supper to eat. We take it to remember the Lord Jesus Christ. 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 oft as you drink it in remembrance of me. Again I don't believe he's saying so do this as much as you want. I think what he's reminding them and telling them is that this is not a meal. We don't come to the Lord's Supper because I didn't get a chance to eat before church. I hope I can get some extra unleavened bread and maybe they got some leftover juice. No he says when you come together as often as you do this whenever you do this remember it's in remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to show his death. Look if you would just read the Bible and allow the context to speak I think it would solve a lot of problems. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do show the Lord's death till he come. He's saying you've been participating in the Lord's Supper like a meal. He said no when you do this as often as you do this for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup. He said this is not just food this is an ordinance this is a picture. He says ye do show the Lord's death till he come. So we believe that the Lord's Supper is a continuation of the Passover. We believe that the Lord's Supper is a commemoration of the death of Christ and we believe that the Lord's Supper is a command for the congregation. You know I don't agree I'm going to take the Lord's Supper at home. Okay baptize yourself in a bubble bath too if you want. But here's all I'm saying is don't bring that crap here. Because that's not what we believe that's not what we've ever believed and you shouldn't be trying to change what we believe. You shouldn't go to church trying to change them. Let me just give you some real quick thoughts about the Lord's Supper and we'll finish up. I realize I've already gone longer than I should have so let me just do this quickly. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 27. Paul says wherefore whosoever shall eat of this bread and drink of this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. The word unworthily means not suitable not fit not appropriate. And the primary application here is that people should take of the Lord's Supper who are saved. We do not encourage unsaved people to take a Lord's Supper and let me just say this. The Lord's Supper meal, the dinner, the good night, the service we have is the ones we do here at Radio Baptist Church it is beautiful. It is sacred. I mean I've had so many people over the years say I've never been to a Lord's Supper service that's as beautiful as done at Radio Baptist Church. But let me just say this. Oftentimes what happens is people will invite guests. Oh come have the Lord's Supper with us. We do not encourage you to invite guests to the Lord's Supper. You say why? Because it's for saved people. Well I want to invite my friends, invite them to Easter. We'll preach the gospel to them. We'll get them saved. This is something for saved people. So don't invite people to take of this unworthily. So we do not encourage you to invite guests for the Lord's Supper. We want you to come. You come, you're saved, you bring saved people but don't just invite, I'm just inviting all my unsaved friends to take of the Lord's Supper. No, no. This is for saved people. Wherefore whosoever shall eat of this bread and drink of the cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Verse 28. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Not only do we not encourage you to invite guests to the Lord's Supper, we do not police the Lord's table. So we don't sit there and make sure like are you saved before somebody takes. You know what the Bible says? Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. We're not going to police the Lord's table but we are going to tell you up front this is for saved people. And you know don't just allow your kids, and look I understand we're family integrated, it's hard, I get that, I get that. Well I'm just going to let my kids eat of the bread just you know, well it's not a meal. Can't you eat at home? Can't you bring them a bag of Cheez-Its? Or whatever, I don't even know, we don't necessarily want you bringing food by the way. I'm already saying all sorts of things I shouldn't be saying. Another disclaimer, stop bringing all sorts of drinks and food into the auditorium please. Unless you're going to clean up after yourself. But we do not police the Lord's table. And then lastly let me say this, we do not want you to avoid the Lord's Supper. It is a serious thing though. Look at verse 29. Verse 29, for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. Notice what he says in verse 30, for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep. Paul is telling the church at coin, do you have been taking and participating in the Lord's Supper incorrectly? And he says for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep. So what he's talking about, he's talking about people died for taking of the Lord's Supper unworthily. You understand what I'm saying to you? So that's why we don't want to just invite your unsaved neighbor. Unless you hate your unsaved neighbor or something. Then it's like, hey take this. And here's the thing, in the context, he's talking to a church that has divisions. They're fighting and they have contentions. And he's telling them, so look I just want to tell you, I'm not trying to scare you. Because sometimes I preach this and people are like, I'm not going to come to the Lord's Supper. Look, the purpose of the Lord's Supper is for us to take some time to remember the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's also to take some time to observe ourselves and to make sure that our hearts are right. That we're not participating in envy and strife and gossip and contentions. You know, I'm preaching this tonight before the Lord's Supper because I want you and me and all of us to take some time over the next several days. And prepare our hearts to participate in the Lord's Supper. Don't say, well I'm in sin so I'm not going to participate in the Lord's Supper. Why is that the option? Why can't this be the option? Get right with God. And then you can participate in the Lord's Supper. So we don't encourage you to invite guests to the Lord's Supper that are not saved. We do not police the Lord's Supper, let a man examine himself. But we do want you to take it seriously. We want you to prepare your hearts and be ready. It's a beautiful ceremony. It's a beautiful thing. Let me just end with reading the verses again. Look at verse 23. Paul says, For 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 bread. And when he had given things, he break it and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you, this stew in remembrance of me. In the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. I hope you'll participate with us on Wednesday in the Lord's Supper. Let's bow our heads in our word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you. We thank you for your word. And Lord, help us to realize that other churches and other people who take different positions, they're not our enemies. We're not saying that they're bad people for believing different things. But we just want to be clear about what we believe here at our church. Lord, help us to have a spirit of unity and help us, Lord, to have a beautiful Lord's Supper service on Wednesday night. I pray that you would bless not only the Lord's Supper, but the soul winning and the Easter service that it would all bring honor and glory to your name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, God bless you. Thank you for being here tonight. Brother Andrew is going to lead you in a final song, just one, not, you know, 20. He's going to lead you in one. But he did a good job tonight. All the instrumentalists did a good job and I appreciate them. Just want to remind you, we've got a busy week coming up. Wednesday, Lord's Supper. Make sure you're ready for that. Make sure you're here. And Thursday, 6 p.m. soul winning. Friday, 6 p.m. soul winning. Saturday, 10 a.m. soul winning. Sunday, Easter. Be in church. Be in God's house. Make a big deal about it. Invite friends. Bring people with you to Easter. If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know. We'll have Brother Andrew come up and lead us in a final song. Amen. Amen. All right. Well, let's go ahead and take our song book. Song number 10 this evening to close out our service. Singing about the cross. Song number 10 near the cross. Since you guys already sung your hearts out earlier, what I'm going to have you guys do this evening is we'll go ahead and sing verse 1 and then verse 2 and then the chorus. Okay? So song verse 1, verse 2, the chorus. And then we'll sing verse 3 and verse 4 and the chorus. Just follow me. We'll figure it out. Okay? Song number 10 on the verse. On the first. In the cross. In the cross. Be my glory ever. Till my rapture stone shall find. Rest beyond the river of third. Near the cross, O Lamb of God. Bring it sent before me. Help me God from day to day. With its shadows full of warmth. Near the cross, O Lamb of God. In the cross, O Lamb of God. In the cross, O Lamb of God. In the cross, O Lamb of God. With its shadows full of warmth. Near the cross, O watch and pray. Tell me trust in every. Till I reach the golden strand. Trust beyond the veil. In the cross, in the cross. In the cross, be my glory ever. Glory, yes, we have church, till the lanterns so shall fly, rest beyond the rainbow. Amen. Great singing this evening. And the singing is finally done. Amen? All right. Well, we want to thank you guys so much for being here with us this evening. And of course, if you have any questions about church membership, salvation, or baptism, the pastor will be at the door in the back and will be able to answer those questions for you. Brother Graham, would you mind dismissing us with a word of prayer this evening? Lord God almighty, thank you for today and for your service. Please help us prepare for your Lord's Supper on Wednesday. We'll be preparing for that tonight. And may it be the prayer of the Lord. Amen. We'll see you on Wednesday. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.