But let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11, we'll start with verse 17.
So as we were going through this chapter you probably noticed that there was, it's pretty much split in half.
The first half is talking about the length of your hair, you know, for a woman, for a man, and how a woman is, has been, was created for the man,
and that's just subject to the man, the man is subject to Christ, Christ is subject to the Father.
But then the second part of that chapter was about the Lord's Supper.
Since we started this church we've not had the Lord's Supper yet, and I was really looking forward to doing it
because it is a very important ordinance that we will do as a church.
When we talk about ourselves as being Baptists, Baptists are commonly referred to themselves, or one of the Baptist distinctions,
is that we have two ordinances, that's what's usually talked about.
One ordinance being baptism, you know, water baptism, and the other ordinance being the Lord's Supper.
And they're both picturing the same thing, because baptism pictures the death, or the death, and the burial, and the resurrection of Christ.
Focus on his sacrifice, and when we partake of the Lord's Supper, the bread and the greatness,
we are also remembering that broken body and the shed blood for our sins.
Now some people get too carried away, they get really carried away about the word ordinance.
And let me just explain a couple of things.
Ordinance means is something that has been sent in order for a church.
That's all it means.
In reality, we have more than two ordinances.
One thing that we do regularly as a church, we sing songs of hymns, we sing hymns and songs of praise to the Lord.
Hey, that's an ordinance.
We need preaching of God's word.
That's an ordinance.
Whatever it is that we do as a church, in order, and something that we do because we believe it's something that's important,
a make of our church, a Bible reading, hey, all of that are ordinances.
Look at what I was doing in 1 Corinthians 11, just on the last verse.
1 Corinthians chapter 11, and verse 34.
Just the last sentence of the last verse.
It says, and the rest will I set in order when I come.
So Paul, as he wrote this curriculum in church, says, look, when I come, I'm going to set other things in order.
In other words, there's going to be more ordinances.
That's all it means.
It means to set something in order.
But when we talk about the ordinances, I just want you to understand, we're not talking about that.
We're talking about something that is quite respectful toward the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Of course, beginning with the word baptism, and then eventually observing the broken body and the shed blood through the bread and the grain.
So let's start with verse 17 here.
1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 17.
One thing that we need to understand about this church, and I preach through the book of Corinthians in my church in Queensland,
but one thing you need to understand is if you read the Bible, you'll know that this is the worst church.
I mean, this is the worst church in the New Testament.
We've probably all been in churches where we're like, oh man, this is such a bad church.
But honestly, if you compare it to the Corinthian church, it's probably one of the best churches to think that.
But what I like about this church is that it had so many problems, but it was still the Lord's church.
It had so many problems, but we still have Paul coming in and trying to fix things up.
And trying to get that church back to make it right with the Lord.
And you need to understand this church was full of divisions.
They had their favorite preachers.
And that's fine, you had your favorite preachers, but they were causing divisions over the people they would like to listen to.
They would say I'm of Paul, and I'm of Apollos, and I'm of Cephas, that's Peter.
And they'd be fighting about many, many things, even finances.
Even the spiritual gifts, people that had certain gifts to serve the Lord.
Some people were envious or covetous of what other people had.
I mean, just read 1 Corinthians, and you'd be like, man, how is this church so messed up?
And another area that we messed up in was in the Lord's Supper.
How they were administrating the Lord's Supper, and we picked this up here in verse 17.
It says, now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not.
Look, you're not deserving of praise for what you're doing here.
It says that you come together not for the better, but for the worse.
And when you're coming together, you're making things worse.
You're not making it better, you're making it worse.
Why is that?
It says, for first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear there'd be divisions among you, and I partly believe it.
And we know that, there were divisions among them.
Verse 19, for there must be also a heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
So, look, part of the reason why there's divisions is you've got heresy, you've got false teachings in your church.
See, that's really bad.
But, you know, Paul looks at it from a positive angle.
He says that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
In other words, one good thing about having heresies in the church, when problems arise and there's not sound doctrine being preached,
he says that, you know, sound preachers, good men of God will stand up against those things, and they're going to be made manifest.
They're going to be made known as godly men seeking to serve the Lord and following after the scriptures.
Now, these might be men that one day become future leaders of the church, like pastors or deacons or whatever, okay.
Now, let's keep reading.
Look at verse number 20.
When you come together, and by the way, that introduction was important, okay, because I'm going to cover this later on.
The Lord's Supper is something that's supposed to bring unity to the church, okay.
It's supposed to bring unity, all right.
But let's, we'll cover that later on.
Look at verse number 20.
When you come together, therefore, to one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper.
Now, some people have read this verse and have interpreted it this way.
When you come together into one place, that being the church, which I agree with, it says this is not to eat the Lord's Supper.
Some people have interpreted this to mean, well, when you come into one place, you don't have the Lord's Supper.
Okay, so in other words, we are going to have the Lord's Supper.
So, if that was the correct interpretation, what we're doing is wrong.
Okay, because we shouldn't be coming to one place to have the Lord's Supper.
Okay, but what I believe that that's not been applied correctly is the following verse.
Because the following verse explains to us what the problem is.
Okay, look at verse 21.
For in eating, everyone taketh before other his own supper, and one is hungry and another is drunken.
Okay, so here we see what the problem is.
They were not having the Lord's Supper.
What were they having in verse 21?
For in eating, everyone taketh before other his own supper.
The Paul's out here criticizing them, look, yeah, we're trying to come together for the Lord's Supper, but you're not even doing that.
Because you're making things worse, what you're doing is you're all having your own supper.
Okay, now first thing I want you to think about here, what is supper?
When we talk about supper, we think about dinner.
Right, dinner time, supper.
And one thing that I want to do differently to what many other churches do, I mean, even fellow brethren, even fellow Baptist, is they would have a church service.
And then straight after the service, you would have, you know, a piece of bread, or not a piece of bread, just a little little square of bread, and a little thing of grape juice, and that's the supper, you know.
But no, when we read about the Lord's Supper, it's dinner, it's food, right?
It's not the Lord's breakfast, it's not the Lord's brunch, or the Lord's lunch.
Okay, it's not the Lord's snack, it's the Lord's supper.
So what we're going to be doing as a church, once the formal service is finished, we're going to get some pizzas, right?
We're going to have some supper, and then we're going to share with the bread and the grape juice, and have that somber moment, remembering His crucifixion.
But most importantly, one, so what was going on?
And one is hungry, and another is drunken, okay?
So, because everyone's just eating their own supper in the church, there are people that are being, aren't eating.
You know, they're coming to the table, there's nothing left.
People aren't waiting, people aren't sharing, and it says, and another is drunken.
Now, I'll tell you what that means in a minute, I'll tell you now.
It means that person's filled, and that person's full of drink, and there are other people that are thirsty.
Now, I want to correct another interpretation that I'm familiar with, in verse 21, where it says, and another is drunken.
What they say there is that that word drunken there means intoxicating, means, you know, you're drunk.
You know, if you were to drink alcohol, and you were to get drunk, people have interpreted this, summer people,
and they said, well, see, this proves when they had the little supper, that the grape juice wasn't freshly squeezed grape juice,
they'll say this means the grape juice was alcoholic, because look, they're drunken, okay?
Now, here's the thing about this, and I haven't even preached on alcohol yet, but one day I will.
Okay, but let me just say, we should be drinking alcohol.
Again, the Bible's quite clear about this, okay?
And even the verses that people used to suggest you can, they're easily interpreted, they're easily understood,
once you understand the whole concept of alcohol.
But let me say a couple things here.
In the 1600s, when the King James Bible was translated, I mean, you guys know, you read your Bibles,
there are words that you know weren't used today, okay?
And the word drunken, back in the 1600s, just was the past tense of drink.
The way we say drank today, it would say drunk, or drunken, okay?
Now, what we'll find in the Bible, in the King James Bible, as you read through it,
that sometimes the word drunken does refer to intoxication, does refer to someone that is drunk.
Yeah, I acknowledge that, I accept that, okay?
But it also is used as someone that's full, filled, or past tense of drink, okay?
Now, let me give you an example of this, you don't need to turn there,
I'll just read to you from Lamentations 5-4, Lamentations 5-4, it says,
We have drunken, same word, we have drunken our water for money.
Our water is sold unto us.
So here we have an example of the word drunken being used, but was it intoxicated?
No, it was drunken with water.
Okay, and of course water is not going to get you drunk or intoxicated, alright?
So, my kids, if you need some room, I'll get you guys to sit on the side here, okay?
If you need some more room.
Alright, so I just wanted to show you that, I just wanted to clarify that,
that there's a reason, I'm going to go through the reasons why we drink the grape juice in the Lord's Supper,
that it's not alcoholic, okay?
There's more reasons than just the way it's written in the 1600s, okay?
But let's look at verse number 22.
Now think about this, let's just assume, let's assume for a minute that they were drinking alcoholic grape juice at that point, okay?
That they were actually drinking alcoholic wine, okay?
So, let's just pretend that's the case, that there are people in church drinking all that alcohol and they're getting drunk, okay?
Look at verse 22.
Now we know that drunkenness is a sin, I mean that's undisputed.
But look at verse 22.
What? Have you not houses to eat and to 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.
And so again we see that Paul is, you know, shaming this church.
I don't praise you that you're not sharing the food, that you're not waiting for everyone to partake of that.
But notice, if this is about alcohol, he says at the beginning of verse 22,
What? Have you not houses to eat and to drink in?
So what will that mean?
So what, you're getting drunk in church?
What? Don't you have houses to drink in?
In other words, it's fine to get drunk in your house, right?
But of course, the Apostle Paul, not saying that, because we're not drunk in this, is a sin, okay?
So, I mean, just the context there, mixed up with verse 22, will show you that that wasn't alcohol and beverage.
The drunken there is being fueled, being fooled, and not saving any drink from anyone else.
Otherwise, the Apostle Paul is saying, hey, go get drunk in your house.
Okay, so of course, he wouldn't be saying that because we know drunkenness is a sin.
Alright, let's look at verse number 23.
Now we get into the proper application to the Lord's Supper.
So now that he's criticized, and now that he's shamed the church,
now he's going to give them the proper instructions of how to do this.
Verse 23, 1 Corinthians 11, 23.
For I have received of the Lord, that which I also delivered unto you,
that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread.
And when he had given thanks, he breaded and said,
Take it, this is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me.
After the same manner, also he took the cup, and when he had supped, saying,
This cup is the New Testament in my blood, this do ye, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
So we need to understand what the Lord's Supper is about, okay?
We understand that the bread is his broken body.
You know when Christ was arrested, he was taken, he was whipped, he was beaten, right?
He had his beard pulled off his face, the crown of thorns were crossed on his head,
you know the nails went through his hand, we understand the brokenness of his body.
Now we also know that none of his bones were broken.
But we're talking about the flesh here, the flesh being offered at that perfect time of God,
and then we know that the cup of the juice represents his blood of the New Testament, okay?
The blood that was shed for us, not just on the cross, but all the way from the beginning of Jerusalem,
with the whip and the beat and all that kind of stuff, all the way to the crucifixion,
and then that being the end of that sacrifice of the body and the blood, okay?
Now let's understand this, because Paul's referring back to the Last Supper.
You guys are familiar with the Last Supper, right?
It was the night before Jesus, well actually it was the same night that Jesus was arrested,
but it was the night before he was crucified.
Okay, so we're gonna go to Luke chapter 22, okay?
Take a bite, let's go to Luke 22, verse 8.
Luke 22, verse 8.
So we get a fuller understanding of what the Lord's Supper is about.
Luke chapter 22, verse 8.
Look at this, talking of Jesus, it says,
it says, and he sent Peter and John saying,
go and prepare us a Passover that we may eat.
Okay?
So this leads up to the Lord's Supper.
So Jesus tells Peter and John to get things ready for the Passover.
Now, what you need to understand is that,
let me see if I'm reading this down.
I haven't read this down.
Alright, that's okay.
But this would have been on a Tuesday, okay?
It would have been on a Tuesday and on the Wednesday of that week.
That's when they would have sacrificed the land, okay?
Do you know what the Passover represents?
It goes all the way back to Egypt, okay?
All the way back when Israel was delivered out of Egypt, the Exodus, right?
Then they came out of Egypt, that's really what they're commemorating.
That's what they're remembering, okay?
We'll get into that soon as well, okay?
Take a look at this.
Luke 22 verse 14, drop down to verse 14.
So okay, I just want you to understand that they're getting the Passover ready, okay?
And when they were to have the Passover,
do you remember the instruction that God gave them in Egypt?
Was they were to have unleavened bread, okay?
Unleavened bread.
So we can understand if they were to prepare the Passover,
that they would have the bread ready.
But it wasn't just that one day that they would have the unleavened bread.
If you guys know some of the feasts,
they didn't have the feast of the, what they call it?
The unleavened bread, the seven days of unleavened bread.
I can't remember right now what they call the feast.
Passover?
Yes, the Passover, but then after Passover,
it was about seven days where they just would eat only unleavened bread, okay?
So I can't remember right now, was it just the feast of unleavened bread?
Maybe that was the term that was used.
But the idea here that we would understand is they don't have to be taking bread
to commemorate the body of Christ,
because they would have been using unleavened bread at this point in time, okay?
Because they went to prepare the Passover.
That's what I wanted to show you there.
But let's look at verse 14.
And when the hour was come, he sat down in the twelve apostles with him,
and he said to them,
With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
Okay?
So remember, this is a Tuesday night.
He said, look, I desire to eat the Passover with you, okay?
That would be my desire,
so we know that it wasn't yet the time when they would take that lamb
and cook it and roast it and fry it and eat it.
What we understand, of course, when Jesus Christ was taken and arrested
and crucified, that he would become the Passover lamb.
That he would be the fulfillment of the Passover, okay?
So let me just say this very quickly.
I do not believe that Lord's Supper is a Passover or an updated Passover.
I believe the Passover was fulfilled in Christ.
When Christ comes and does the work that he's done,
he fulfilled many practices, many ordinances,
and many customs of the Old Testament, okay?
And so what I believe, what we see here as we approach
with the bread and the juice,
is that Christ has now ordained a new ordinance for the church, okay?
A new ordinance represents in the New Testament.
Because remember, the cup represents the blood of the New Testament, okay?
Now let's look at verse number 15, Luke 22 verse 16.
For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof,
until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
So he recognizes, I would have lost the Passover to you,
but it's not going to happen.
Because he knows what's going to happen to him.
He knows he's going to be taken and crucified.
He's going to be that lamb.
Verse 17, 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 gave unto them,
saying, This is my body which is given for you,
this stew in remembrance of me.
Likewise also after supper, saying,
This cup is the New Testament in my blood,
which is shed for you.
So that's why I believe this is a brand new ordinance,
because it represented the New Testament,
not the practices of the Old Testament
and Christ's fulfillment of the Passover.
Now let's talk about why unleavened bread?
Why would it be unleavened bread?
Now before I get onto that,
I just want you to look to yourself if you still are.
I want you to notice verse 18, when Jesus says,
I will not drink of the fruit of the vine.
Now what is the fruit of the vine?
We'll talk about the grapes.
So when the grape is on the vine, is it alcoholic?
Of course not.
It's not alcoholic.
I just want you to notice that,
because we're going to cover that later on.
But he wants to drink of the fruit of the vine,
so this would be freshly squeezed fruit of the vine.
It's not something that would have given it time
to ferment and become alcoholic.
But anyway, I want you to go back,
I want you to notice why unleavened bread?
What's the significance of this?
Of course we know if they were preparing for the Passover,
we know they wouldn't automatically use unleavened bread.
That's common sense.
But I want you to go back to 1 Corinthians now.
Go back to 1 Corinthians and go to chapter five.
1 Corinthians chapter five.
And if you've been in church in the past,
if you've been to other Baptist churches
and had the Lord's Supper,
you're probably familiar with this teaching,
and that being that leaven, or yeast,
or bacteria that helps bread grow and increase,
they would often say that leaven is a picture of sin.
How many of you guys have heard that?
That leaven is a picture of sin.
Quite a few of you.
And that's true.
There's a truth to this.
Let me show you this in 1 Corinthians chapter five, verse seven.
1 Corinthians chapter five, verse seven.
And these instructions here in 1 Corinthians five
is about kicking a sinner out of the church.
Now we're all sinners,
but there are certain sins
that will get you kicked out of the church.
I haven't covered that just yet, okay?
But this is covered in chapter five.
But look at this.
1 Corinthians chapter five, verse seven.
Purge out therefore the old leaven,
that ye may be a new love,
as ye are unleavened.
So what's the unleavened bread?
For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
Therefore let us keep the feasts.
Hey, how do we keep the feasts of the Passover?
How do we keep it?
Look at this.
Therefore let us keep the feasts,
not with old leaven,
neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
This is how we keep the Old Testament Passover feasts.
That we would be people of malice and wickedness,
but that we would be unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
And again, you read that chapter,
you learn to talk about kicking
major sinners out of the church.
And they're represented as that old leaven,
kicking out that old leaven
so it doesn't leaven the whole church.
There are certain sins
that if we allow this church to go,
it will affect everybody.
Everybody will start thinking,
well, if it's okay for this person,
it must be okay for me.
And that's how leaven increases and rises.
So I just want to show you that,
yes, there is a principle of leaven representing sin.
I understand that.
That's not my favourite reason
why we have our unleavened bread,
but it is a legitimate reason.
It makes sense.
Now, can you go to the Old Testament now?
Go to Deuteronomy chapter 16.
Deuteronomy chapter 16.
Because this is the reason
why God tells us they had unleavened bread.
Okay?
This is what the reason God tells us.
Look, Deuteronomy chapter 16, verse 2.
Deuteronomy chapter 16, verse 2.
The Bible reads,
Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover
unto the Lord thy God
of the flock and the herd
in the place which the Lord
shall choose to place his name there.
Look at verse 3.
Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it.
Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread with it.
So this is the seven days
that I was referring to before, guys.
Even the bread of affliction,
look at this,
for thou camest forth
out of the land of Egypt in haste.
That thou mayest remember
the day that thou camest forth
out of the land of Egypt
all the days of thy life.
What does unleavened bread represent?
The fact that they left Egypt in haste.
Right?
What happened in the Passover?
Remember, they took the blood of the land,
they applied it to the doorpost of the house
that Israelites did.
Remember?
And then when God would pass over them,
he would see that blood that would represent
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he would say,
Yes, these are my people
and I will protect them.
But for the household of the Egyptians,
which didn't have the blood of the land
put in the posts,
you know, the firstborn died.
The firstborn child,
the firstborn of all creatures
of the land of Egypt died.
And even the firstborn of Pharaoh,
the king Pharaoh died.
You know, that brought great mourning,
great judgment upon Egypt.
And it's for that reason
that Pharaoh allowed
the Israelites to leave,
you know, the Exodus,
and they left Egypt,
and they left in haste.
If you also remember,
we haven't got time to cover all,
but if you remember,
you know, it wasn't just in the
unleavened bread and the land
and the blood.
They were also instructed,
the Israelites,
to be ready.
Put your shoes on.
Be dressed.
You know, be ready to go.
You know, don't ask, you know,
neighbors for even gold
and jewelry and stuff
so you could have some finances
on your way.
As soon as it happened,
the next morning,
they were allowed to go free.
They stepped out of the doorpost.
They stepped out of the blood of the land,
if you want, that way,
and they left Egypt.
You know what that pictures?
That pictures our salvation.
When we come to the blood of the Lamb of God,
Jesus Christ,
it means we are saved with haste.
We're saved immediately.
We come out of that blood,
as it were,
and we are saved right now.
Salvation is not a process.
Salvation does not take time.
If someone has to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
they receive eternal life right now.
Immediately they're saved.
Praise God.
Okay?
And it's such a wicked thing
when you have certain churches that say,
well, I don't know if you're saved,
let me wash you for a while.
Let me make sure that you're coming to church,
you're reading your Bible,
I can see works more,
I can see that you're growing and developing.
Then, you know,
once you reach the level of my satisfaction,
then I'll classify you as saved.
No, salvation is not a process.
It's immediate.
Once the blood of the Lamb has been applied,
they'll still be in haste.
Why is that important?
Because if you make unleavened bread,
okay, without the yeast,
as soon as it's cooked,
you can take it with you and eat it.
Okay?
But if you want to add leather,
if you want to add yeast to the bread,
it will take time,
take longer time for it to cook,
it'd have to rise,
and they wouldn't be able to leave immediately.
Okay?
That's the whole picture behind it.
That's why they had the unleavened bread.
They left Egypt in haste.
There wasn't enough time for the yeast then
to watch it grow and all that kind of stuff, okay?
That's very important for you to understand.
It's a picture of salvation.
Okay?
It's a picture of salvation.
And a picture, obviously,
of them coming out of Egypt.
All right.
Now, let's talk about the grape juice.
Why do we have it with unleavened grape juice
or non-alcoholic or freshly squeezed grape juice,
if you want to put it this way.
Now, I've already mentioned it to you.
When we looked at Luke 22, verse 18,
Jesus says,
For I say unto you,
I will not drink of the fruit of the vine
until the kingdom of God shall come.
Okay?
So we know that the fruit of the vine is not alcoholic.
Okay?
If it's on the vine,
it hasn't been pressed.
Okay?
If it's on the vine,
it hasn't had time to ferment and et cetera.
Okay?
But let me actually,
that's actually reason number two.
Reason number one that I've got here
is obviously the reason we have unleavened grape juice
is because we've already said that
leaven is a picture of sin
and we know that Christ was sinless.
Okay?
Jesus Christ was the perfect Lamb of God
and his blood washes us away from our sins.
Okay?
So he was sinless
and so it wouldn't make sense to add leaven
to the grape juice and drink alcoholic grape juice.
It just makes no sense whatsoever.
But number two,
that Jesus says the drink was the fruit of the vine.
Okay?
Something that would be clearly unalcoholic.
All right?
Now,
and then the third reason,
the third reason why we would have the unleavened grape juice
is the same reason they had the unleavened bread
is because it was with haste.
Okay?
Could you imagine if the expectation
was for them to make alcoholic grape juice?
How long does it take?
Probably a week or two.
It's like,
all right,
now we've had the passover,
now we've got to have the booze.
All right,
let's take out the alcoholic wine
that hasn't been fermented yet
and we'll go back to recent
before we can have it.
Then we can leave Egypt.
No, of course,
they left straight away.
They had the freshly squeezed grape juice.
Okay?
So it's the same reason
that they pictured
of that leaven in haste.
Okay?
Now the next thing,
go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 11.
And if that hasn't made sense to you guys,
please you can ask me afterwards.
Okay?
You can ask me afterwards.
I'm a little tired.
I'm not sure if I'm explaining it.
100% correct.
But the next thing I wanted to look at this is
how often,
how often should we have
the Lord's supper?
Okay?
Now you might have been in churches
where they have that every week.
Or,
I mean like Roman Catholics.
Some Roman Catholics have it every day.
Literally,
every day the church is open
they're having,
you know,
communion.
Okay?
Of course,
I'm just talking about,
you know,
of safe people.
Some people have it every week.
Some people have it once a month.
Some people have it,
you know,
a number,
you know,
maybe two or three,
once every two or three months.
There are others that have it once a year.
And let me just ask you guys the question.
Why do you think some churches might have it once a year?
I'll let anyone answer that
if you think you might know the answer.
Why would some churches have the,
the Lord's supper once a year?
Because they have the Passover once a year?
Exactly.
Because they have the Passover
once a year.
But,
why do I explain to you,
I don't believe it's a continuation of the Passover.
I believe it's a brand new ordinance that Christ
has instituted for the New Testament.
Okay?
So,
if you're wondering why do they only have once a year,
that's the reason why.
It's because the Passover was had once a year,
so they identify it in that way.
Okay?
Now I'm not saying that's wrong.
Okay?
But look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 26.
How often?
It says,
for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup,
you do show the Lord's death till he come.
So how often?
That's not the question.
It's not the question about how often,
it's the statement of as often.
Okay?
As often as you do it,
drink the cup,
you know,
take the bread,
and this shows the Lord's death till he come.
That means the church requires do this to where?
To the rapture.
To the resurrection of the Lord.
But it's not how often,
it's as often.
Okay?
So look,
please,
if you're ever in another church,
or whatever in the future,
and you're like,
why do they have to build something more often?
Or why do they have it so often?
Don't worry about it.
Right?
Just leave it up to the pastor.
Jesus has not given us any instruction
how often to do it,
but the instruction is that we do do it.
Okay?
And as we do it,
we are remembering the Lord's death till he comes.
Alright?
And as I said,
look,
for us,
I mean,
the church in Queensland,
guys,
we don't have the stretch up there.
We have it maybe once every three to four months.
Okay?
And the reason I like to do it that often,
is because when it's too often,
it becomes like,
I think I feel like it becomes mundane.
I feel like it kind of uses its significance.
That's just my opinion.
You might feel otherwise.
But if it's only done once a year,
like if you're not there for that church service,
you're going to wait like another year.
Like it's two years before you have the Lord's Supper.
And you know,
God wants us to do it often.
He wants us to remember his death till he comes.
Okay?
So I want to expect,
how often will we do it here?
Well, right now,
just because of the way we're set up,
it's probably as often as I bring my family to Sydney.
So it's probably going to be roughly the same,
maybe every four months or something like that.
Okay?
Then we'll do it.
And again,
we'll do it with supper.
We'll be eating together,
you know,
sharing with one another,
waiting for one another.
Alright?
It's not that one is hungry,
another one is,
you know,
full,
and the other one's drunk,
and the other one's thirsty.
No.
We can't have that situation.
It's about us coming together,
and sharing the meal together as a church.
Okay?
Are you still in 1 Corinthians?
Look at verse,
chapter 11,
verse 27.
1 Corinthians,
chapter 11,
verse 27.
Because the next part is really important.
Okay?
Really,
really important.
It's a warning.
It's a major warning we partake in the Lord's Supper,
unworthily.
Look at this,
in verse 27.
Wherefore,
a new server shall eat this bread,
and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily,
shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
So if you partake of this,
not seriously,
and you're not worthy for it,
okay?
You're guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
You see what that suit means, okay?
But look at verse 28.
But let a man examine himself.
So it's a time of self-examination.
It's not for me to decide
who will partake of the Lord's Supper.
I think you should,
you should know.
It says there,
that let a man examine himself.
Okay?
And I would say to the parents,
especially to the fathers,
because you're the head of your house,
is you need to make the right decision
about whether your children should participate
on it or not.
But I want you to think about,
what does it mean to be worthy?
You know?
What makes us worthy to God?
Is it our own righteousness?
Is it our own perfection,
our own striving to please the Lord?
Of course not, okay?
Because there is none righteous, no one,
the Bible says, okay?
What makes us worthy is that we're saved.
It's the only thing that can possibly make us worthy
is that we have trusted and put our faith
and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Okay?
If you've done that,
you have the righteousness of Christ imputed upon you.
When God the Father looks at you,
he sees you through the veil of the righteousness of Christ.
Okay?
And that's what allows you to be worthy.
That's what allows you to enter into his kingdom, okay?
And to, you know, bring your prayers
and requests and fellowship with the Lord.
That's what makes you worthy, okay?
But I do believe there's another application to this.
But let's look at verse 29 now.
First Corinthians 11 29.
It says,
So hear that eateth and drinketh unworkily,
eateth and drinketh damnation to himself,
not discerning the Lord's body.
Okay?
So, wow, if you don't do it workily,
you're drinking damnation, condemnation unto yourself.
The Lord's going to put his hand up like,
he angers the Lord, okay?
It's going to bring his wrath upon you
if you do it unworkily.
So we've got to be careful.
You know, we've got to make sure
that the people that are participating on this
is saved, all right?
But you know, I believe it's more than just salvation
because, I mean, do you think every time
we have the Lord's Supper,
we need to examine ourselves?
Am I being saved?
Well, okay, this is not about
doubting your salvation.
You're saved.
You know you're saved, right?
The Spirit of the Lord testifies that
to your spirit that you're saved.
You know you've touched on the Lord Jesus Christ, okay?
But I also believe self-examination
is to make sure that we're walking with the Lord, okay?
Now here's the thing.
I've already covered this.
We already know that sin separates us
from fellowship with the Lord.
It's not saying you'd lose your salvation, okay?
You have your position with God
and your position is worthy, okay?
Your positioning in Christ is not looking
for you to lose it.
The new man is saved.
But we also have our walk with the Lord,
and Subhana talks about our walk as well, okay?
And sometimes our walk when we sin,
when we're in darkness,
we break the fellowship with the Lord that we have.
And so I believe the examination we are
is are we walking with the Lord?
Are we close to the Lord?
And you say, well, I'm not.
There are sins in our lives.
There are things that I've done
and I've not confessed them to the Lord.
You know, does that mean I can't participate in this?
No, because this is a time to examine yourself
and say like, Ron, this is a time to judge yourself.
This is a time for you to come before the Lord,
not to me or not to each other,
but before the Lord, you confess those sins,
confess the sins that you've not yet confessed
and make sure that that's been claimed,
make sure that then you can have that fellowship with the Lord
and you can participate of the Lord's Supper verbally, okay?
Let's have a look at this
and I already told you this,
we'll go through it very quickly,
but go to John 13, please.
Go to John 13.
John 13.
And I won't go into too much detail
because I feel like I preached this probably a month ago.
So we'll cover it again just very quickly.
John 13 verse 2.
And it's John 13 that covers the Lord's Supper as well, okay?
The night before he was arrested, okay?
But John 13 verse 2, look at this.
And supper being ended,
the devil had now put his heart of Judas Iscariot,
Simon's son, to betray him.
Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into his hands
and that he was come from God and read to God.
He risen from supper and laid aside his garments
and took a towel and girded himself.
After that he poured water into a basin
and began to wash the disciples' feet
and to wipe them with a towel wherewith he was girded.
Then came his feet to Simon Peter
and Peter saith unto him,
Lord, does thou wash my feet?
Jesus answered and said unto him,
What I do thou knowest not now,
but thou shalt know hereafter.
Peter saith unto him,
Thou shalt never wash my feet.
This is Simon Paul, look at this in verse 8.
You shall never wash my feet, Lord.
Jesus answered him,
If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
And this is your walk with the Lord.
If I don't wash your feet,
we can't walk together, Peter.
You have no part with me.
And we know when we're having the Lord's supper,
we're participating, we're taking part
of his body and his blood.
So we want to make sure that we are part with Christ.
We are with him.
Okay?
And that means we need to have our feet washed.
If you guys remember,
when I taught this last time,
this is a picture of us having to confess our sins.
Because as we go through life,
you know, every day,
we are accumulating dirt on our feet.
We're accumulating dirt, sin on our accounts.
And it separates the fellowship with God the Father.
And that's why we need to come and ask for forgiveness,
confession of the sins that we've committed,
that we've yet not confessed to the Lord.
Okay?
Let's keep reading a little bit here.
Verse nine.
So I need to say unto him,
Lord, not my feet only,
but also my hands and my head.
Jesus said unto him,
He that is washed needeth not to save,
sorry, he that is washed needeth not,
save to wash his feet,
but is clean every whit,
and here clean by not all.
The same Lord gets saved,
but he still has some sins that need to be taken care of.
That's essentially what's being taught here.
Okay?
And he knew he should be trained
and therefore said he,
ye are not all clean.
And of course that being John,
not John,
Judas Iscariot.
Okay?
What a mistake.
But yeah, Judas Iscariot.
Okay?
So, you know,
I believe it's important when we come to examine ourselves.
Yeah, you know,
you're not the saints.
Okay?
Those that are saints,
you're not the saints.
Okay?
But maybe there are sins you've committed,
you know,
today or in the past week
and you've yet come before the Lord to confess those sins.
And I think if you want to be part of Christ,
you want to be with him,
and this is an important audience.
We're coming,
we're participating of his body and blood symbolically.
Okay?
So I believe it's a very important thing
that we do examine ourselves
and make sure that we confess our sins to the Lord.
And that's why I'm going to give you guys,
before we do that,
a minute or two just to silently pray
and speak to the Lord
and make sure that you confess your sins to him.
Okay?
Lots of me.
I don't need to know.
I don't want to know.
And I want to show you my sin guidelines.
Okay.
But let's go back to 1 Corinthians 11.
1 Corinthians 11.
Verse 30.
1 Corinthians 11, verse 30.
And this is talking about those that participated
on the Lord's Supper,
unworthy.
It says,
For this cause,
many are weak and sickly among you,
and many sleep.
What does that mean?
They're dying.
That's what it means.
They passed away.
Some of the people that haven't done this verbally
have been sick,
sick,
sick
time.
has been sick and weak,
and even dying.
Okay?
So it's serious.
Right?
But look at this.
Verse 31.
For if we would judge ourselves,
we should not be judged.
That's what I'm saying.
it's important for us to judge ourselves.
Lord,
we still had these sins on our count of view.
Please forgive me.
Judge yourselves so God will not judge you in this manner.
You know,
Making you sick,
weak,
and all that kind of stuff.
Let's go to method number 32.
But when we are judged,
we are chastened of the Lord.
And the law is not legitimate at all.
and that we should not be condemned to the world, okay?
So when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, okay?
So when God judges us, he chastens us, he chastises us.
Just like a father would chastise their own child, okay?
Does that mean he's gonna make me lose my salvation,
send me to hell, of course not.
Because it says that we should not be condemned
to the world, okay?
Because there's a difference with the condemnation
that comes on unbelievers that participate
unworldly versus those that are saved
and partake unworldly.
Yeah, God would chastise us.
Yeah, but he's not gonna condemn us,
he's not gonna damn us to hell like the unsaved world, okay?
But first we'll get to verse number 33.
Because this is what I wanted to drive home a little bit too
is we started with the divisions,
this church was really divided, major problems.
Look at verse 33.
When for my brethren, when ye come together to eat,
tarry in one for another.
So this is now, this is how we fix it here in the church.
When ye do come together to eat,
when ye do come together for the Lord to suffer,
tarry and wait for one another.
Look at verse 34.
And if any man hunger, let him in at home.
So look, if you can't wait to get to church to eat
with your brethren, and you're like,
just eat at home then, okay?
So you're not causing problems in the church.
That ye come not together unto condemnation,
and the rest will I set in order where I come.
Okay, so I think we see the fix there.
What the Korean church was doing wrong.
They were eating, they were waiting,
they were tarrying for one another.
They were, it just, it wasn't the Lord's suffering anymore.
It was their own suffering, okay?
And instead, though, wait, tarry for one another,
make sure nobody's less hungry or thirsty.
And if you are gonna be hungry and you can't wait,
then just eat at home,
so you don't cause problems in the church, okay?
Now, so you can see it's about coming together.
Unity, not division, unity.
Now, go back to your previous chapter.
First Corinthians, chapter 10.
There's a previous chapter that talks about it
a little bit as well.
First Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 16, okay?
Look at this.
The cup of blessing which we bless
is not the communion of the blood of Christ.
What does communion mean?
It means unity.
It's where, you know, the communion, with union,
is what it's saying, okay?
That's what it means, communion, unity.
For it is not the communion of the blood of Christ.
The bread which we break is not the communion
of the body of Christ, look at verse 17.
For we being many are one bread and one body,
for we are all partakers of that one bread.
So it also pictures the unity of the church,
that we being many come together and symbolically
kind of like being that one bread that's being shared,
that body of Christ.
Because, you know, the Bible does say
that the church is the body of Christ.
So there's those sort of parallels there as well, okay?
Now, let me just end on this,
and it really infuriates me when I see people
complain about their churches, okay?
But in particular, not about like down in Paris,
there's reasons to complain, right?
But I'm talking about when they complain
about the Lord's Supper, okay?
Because the Lord's Supper, all it is,
is I haven't got it here, but all it is
is some juice, fresh juice, freshly squeezed off the vine,
a bit of bread, shared, united.
I mean, look, we might have some differences in doctrines.
We might have some differences in secondary doctrine.
We might have some differences in how we raise our families
and how we interpret certain passages
and we just do life in general, okay?
Okay, but this is something that any believer,
no matter how backslidden you are,
no matter how carnal you are,
no matter how mature you are,
this is something that will bring everyone together.
Okay, that being the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ,
we all have that in common.
That's why it's supposed to bring unity, okay?
And it's a simple thing.
The drink and the bread bring unity to the church, you know?
Remembering what Christ has done for us.
You know, if there's ever divisions in our church,
I wouldn't do this ordinance, I wouldn't do it
until there was some unity in the church
and that should bring us together, right?
Easy, but then people complain about how it's administered
and they say, oh, my church is in this way.
I've heard this.
You might say, I've never done the work,
I'm gonna put it up and say it, okay?
And then people complain about the church
because of the way it's administered.
Then you've got the wrong spirit, you've got the wrong word
because you're the divisive one, okay?
This is supposed to bring unity.
You know, there are some churches
that might require you to be baptized first.
You know, there might be some churches
that have open communion and would install
that we have with the open communion.
If you're saved, you can participate.
That's open communion.
If you had a visitor come in when we have communion,
as long as they're saved, they can participate as well.
It's open to everyone that's saved, you know?
That's my style.
There are other churches that have close communion, okay?
Close communion.
What that means is everyone that's saved
in their church can participate
and visitors from like-minded churches
can participate as well.
That's close communion.
But if you're a saved person
and you're not from a like-minded or in-fellowship church,
then they won't allow you to participate on it, okay?
That's close communion.
Then there's closed, closed communion.
Closed communion.
That basically means the only people
that can participate are the members,
the saved members in the church, and that's it.
And sometimes the churches that do this,
they will have the Lord's Supper on a day
that's not available in a church service.
So they don't have the visitor that walks in.
It's not a publicized day.
They just have church on some other day
and they have Lord's Supper.
They say it's closed, okay?
And I hear people all the time complain.
These churches are this way.
These churches are, look, forget about it.
It's supposed to bring unity, okay?
Let the pastor, let the one that's in charge,
the authority take, you know,
they're the ones that are accountable to God, okay?
So they're the ones that have to have a clear conscience
with the way they do these things, okay?
So please, never, you know,
I don't think anyone's gonna, you know,
division here about this,
but if you ever find yourself in the future
in another church, don't make this a divisive problem, okay?
Because it's supposed to be a simple thing
with remembering the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
All right, I'll give you,
and I'll give you, I'll end on one example.
I'll end on one example here.
My parents, when they migrated from Chile, South America,
they came from a Presbyterian church, okay?
And I know that a lot of Presbyterians
are like hardcore Calvinists
and a lot of those aren't saved, okay?
But there are some that are saved
because they don't have the hardcore Calvinism.
And in fact, when they came to Australia,
they, look, they're like, hey,
we agree with the Baptist church.
Like, that's how they saw it
because, you know, the doctrine they were being taught
or the gospel, all those kind of things,
was lined up with what they believed.
So they went to that church.
But you know how it is in some Protestant churches,
especially the Presbyterians,
is that their baptism,
instead of it being immersion by water,
they baptize little babies, right?
They baptize little babies, they sprinkle water on babies.
And of course, my parents went through that process.
And as far as I'm concerned, they were baptized.
Even though they know that
that has nothing to do with salvation, okay?
And like us, we agree that water, baptism,
has nothing to do with salvation, okay?
But it's something that acknowledges
the salvation that you do have
because you're identified
with the death and resurrection of Christ.
But anyway, they went to a Baptist church
and they were not permitted
to participate on the Lord's Supper.
Okay, and they petitioned to the pastor,
said, look, we're saved, why not, you know?
But the pastor had set a rule,
because you're not a Baptist,
you haven't been baptized, you know,
you're a scriptural, you know,
they haven't been baptized scripturally.
So, look, my parents had an option there.
Either get frustrated, either cause problems.
They felt they were baptized, you know, that's right.
They didn't feel that they needed
to have baptism by immersion.
Now, they should, because I'm a Baptist,
I believe they should, I'm not saying it's fine.
But I'm saying where they were coming from, okay,
they could be divisive, they could try
to get people in the church against the pastor.
But instead, you know, they said, well, what now?
This is supposed to be a time of unity.
This is a time I was supposed to remember
in the Lord's death.
And even though, you know, we're not 100% on board here,
we're just gonna get baptized anyway.
We're gonna get baptized, you know, by immersion,
so then we can participate in the Lord's supper.
And I really respect my parents for that decision, I do.
I think it's a great thing, it's showing
that they're not people that want to cause divisions
and arguments of, you know, small matters,
but they would just go with what the man of God said,
they would just go to the pastor
and make sure that there was unity in the church.
All right, so, we'll leave it there, let's pray.