The Meaning and Practice of Baptism Week 3

What is its meaning? Uh it's baptism is one of those things again that I don't know why the Lord chose baptism. Uh I don't know the reason that he chose that as the way we identify with him. I do know what it what it pictures. I know all the rest of that. But uh why do you say when you get saved the first thing you do is get baptized. Uh I I do believe one of the reasons is because it's a very public thing. It's not something you can do in private. It's not something you can do. Even during times of persecutions, you know, back in the uh in the Middle Ages, you know, if you got baptized by mercenary, you could be put to death.

In fact, what they would often do is they caught you getting baptized. Uh then they would take you and tie you to uh a board and and baptize you by drowning. And uh and and so it it it's something that has to be done publicly. It's something that does represent the Lord. We talked about that last week. It's represents the death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ. It represents our salvation, the washing away of our sins by the blood of Christ. And it also pictures one day if the Lord carries, we're going to be buried, but God's going to raise us up a new body for all eternity. And um and so we talked and talked about the unity of the body, how it pictures our unity that we're all been baptized in the same way that we've come together by that same initiation, if you want to call it that.

And then we also talked about it's the that that well, we didn't talk about these. That's where we're at. The number three there, the future is the resurrection of our body. It it's it it's that that picture if the Lord carries. Now, I'm I'm hoping I never have to be buried or cremated. I'm hoping I'll just go up to be with the Lord in heaven. Uh that's the ideal. But if we're not, then one day our body is going to be buried in the ground or cremated, whatever. But God's going to raise it up a new body for all eternity. And and that's what baptism pictures until we until the Lord comes again. We're showing that resurrection uh that he was promised to us.

And so it's a picture of that. And then number B there, it's a picture of our unity in the body. 1 Corinthians 12:12 and 13. For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members that one body, being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit are are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit. Now, baptism, you know, in the in the Acts, remember, Acts was a transitional book. And so, when they would get baptized, that was the to begin with, that was the point the Holy Spirit came upon them.

Uh, and and and that happened in Acts chapter 2 when, you know, they the Holy Spirit came down and all these people got baptized and the Holy Spirit came down upon them. Uh later on we see that with Cornelius. We see that with the uh disciples of John when they got baptized that the Holy Spirit because that was kind of a showing them this is what happened to you. This is what happened to them. You're we're all the same. Now you and I when we get saved we get the Holy Spirit at the moment of our salvation. And the Bible's very clear in that. And and so you already have the Holy Spirit whether you're baptized or not scripture unless you're baptized by immersion or not.

But it is baptism is a a a picture of our unity and that we're all baptized into one body. It's a symbolizing that when we get baptized, we now become a part of the church. We are a part of the body of Christ. Christ is in us and we are in him. He we we are immersed in that water is pitching our immersion into the body of Christ and and into him as well. And so baptism is something that brings unity within the faith with within the believers as well. We've all done this taken this same step of obedience. And then it is the first step of obedience. Go to first Peter chapter 3 and verse number 21.

1 Peter chapter 3 and verse number 21. 1 Peter 3:21. I I um I finally had to get a new Bible. My old one's coming apart and getting worn out and everything. And I always hate breaking a new B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B Bible because you can't turn the pages don't turn like the old one does and everything's on the wrong page. It's not where it was before, but they don't publish the Bible I had before anymore, that edition. So, I'm trying a new one out. So 1 Peter 3:21, the like figure wherein to even baptism is also now save us, not the putting away the filth of flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Now when I deal with people on baptism, and for those of you that ever deal with people, there's two main passages I usually go to. Romans chapter 6:es 3-5. We've already looked at that a little bit. And then this passage here in in Peter, I turn to this and and you need to make sure that you explain it. First of all, the like figure. Again, we want to stress that baptism is a figure, a picture of salvation. It's not a part of salvation. And we need to be clear. Um we we do these recorded testimonies. A lot of times people say we will ask them when they got saved. They'll say, "Well, I got baptized."

Well, when you got baptized isn't your salvation. That's a testimony of your salvation, but it's not your salvation. And so, we want to be clear with people. Your salvation, your baptism are two very distinct different things. But baptism is a picture, a figure of the washing away of the filth of the flesh. And so, it pictures that. And uh and then goes on to say, "Where you been baptism is also now save us." Now, again, when you read it, it's not that baptism to save us. It's a picture of our salvation. And then not the putting away the filth of flesh, but the answer of a good conscience. So it doesn't wash away my sins.

It doesn't give me eternal life. It's a picture of that salvation. And so, but it is the first step of obedience that we have to the Lord that uh that we take that first step, that we obey him in in doing that. And that's important. Um you can't get to home base if you don't get first to first base. You've got to take that first step of obedience and and then we need to follow. And so, you know, when the Lord, if we're not baptized, how can we ask the Lord, well, what do you want me to do? He said, get saved, get baptized, and then you're discipled. That's when you begin your walk with the Lord.

And so, baptism is that first step of obedience after our salvation. And then, is baptism necessary for salvation? Uh, no. Number one, because baptism is a work. If you have to be baptized in order to be saved, it's something you do. In Ephesians 2:8:9, for by grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works. Let's say I may chose. And so, if I have to baptism, I violate what it says in Ephesians 2:8:9. And so, we have to first of all see that it is a work and and and we can't work for our salvation. Uh, salvation is often taught without mention of baptism.

Go over to Acts chapter 15 and verse number N. Acts chapter 15 and verse number N. If baptism were a necessary part of salvation, then would it not make sense that everywhere God talks about salvation, he would say, "Be saved and baptized. Believe and be baptized. Trust in him and be baptized." Wouldn't that make sense? uh when it says whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shouldn't it also say and is baptized shall have eternal life so if it's not mentioned universally in every verse there are verses where you know what do I need to be saved you be you be saved and baptized and we'll talk about those verses and why it says that but like in Acts chapter 15 verse number nine it says put no difference between us and them purifying the let's say I've got Acts 159 I think that's not the reference I wanted.

Purifying their hearts by faith. I'll have to get you the right reference here. I've got the wrong reference. Go to Ephesians 3:17, though. Ephesians 3:17. Ephesians 3:17. It says that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that you be rooted in ground in love. Uh no nothing about baptism. Galatians chapter 2 and verse number 20. Galatians 2 and verse number 20. I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Over and over again the Bible talks about faith trusting believing without baptism anywhere in the context.

And if baptism were necessary it would be there. Uh and and go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verses 14-1 17. And Paul is writing to the Corinthian church here and there's a number of problems. And one of them is they're they're starting to get like, you know, um following people and and so you know, we see this today too. Well, I followed Doug McCarthy. I follow this guy. I follow that guy. And they were and it was almost like a pride thing. And so one of the proud pride things was I was baptized by soand so and that makes me better than you because I baptized by them. And Paul said, "Wait a minute."

And look at verse number 14. He says,"I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Christmas and Gaes." Lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name, and I baptized also the household of Stephenus. Besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. And then verse 17, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. Basically, if baptism were necessary salvation, Paul would be saying here, I'm glad I didn't complete the salvation for all of you. There's only a few of you that got that that I took care of that with.

If baptism is so necessary, then wouldn't Paul, as strong as he is on salvation, say you need to be, you know, he would have baptized you as well. He wouldn't be proud of the fact that he didn't baptize many of them. He wouldn't be making note of that. And and by the way, I love what it does here, too, is he talks about two of them in verse 14. And then then he remembers another one in verse 16. Paul had memory problems like I do. And I always appreciate that. God kind of reconfirms that in the Bible. But the point is if baptism is so important, it should be mentioned every place. If it's part of a salvation, everywhere it talks about salvation should and be baptized.

And if it's so important, Paul wouldn't say, "I'm glad I didn't baptize you. I'm glad I didn't finish your salvation." And and that doesn't make sense. And so a lot of churches, a lot of people you'll hear believe in work baptism. Uh go to Acts chapter 2. It's one of the problems. Acts chapter 2 and verses 37 and 38. Acts chapter 2 2 verse 37. Now when they heard this, they were pricricked in their heart and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brother, what shall we do? Then Peter said, "Andre, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

Now there are some that will take this verse and they'll do two things with it. Repent is they'll put the emphasis on the repentance. You've got to turn around. You've got to change your life and then be baptized and then you'll be saved. And you know repentance is turning. We have to turn from our own way to God's way. That's salvation. We got to turn from sin to Christ. That's salvation. But the what a lot of church would look at this verse and and they'll say, "Well, this means you got to repent." So before you can get saved, you got to stop your old life and turn to a new life. And this is where a lot of people struggle.

I deal with many people that, "Well, I I want to go to heaven. I want to get saved, but I've got I I don't know if I can change." And and the thing is, God wants you to change, but it's not the change that saves you. not of works. Now verse 10 of Ephesians 2 says, "For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Get saved and then God will begin the process of change." You don't change and then God saves you. And so that's one of the misinterpretations that come out of this verse and along with it and be baptized. And so they say, well, you know, you've got to turn from your sin.

You got to be baptized. Most churches where they talk about baptismal regeneration, where they talk about baptism as a part of your salvation, that you have to be baptized in order to be saved and go to heaven. Usually they will also teach some idea of a works salvation where you've got to do something. Uh it may be baptizing, join that church. It may be you got to stop doing the wrong things. Usually those two go together uh in that way. Not always. There's some churches that teaches salvation by faith, but you still have to be baptized and and and all, but usually those two things go together.

And then uh so that's one area. And so you always want to check and there's even Baptist churches this way as well. So you always want to check, do they believe in regenerational baptism? Do they believe that baptism is a part of salvation? That's not what we believe. Then number two there, letter B, is infant baptism. You notice with all the other ones I I put verses. You know why I don't put any verses here? Because there are none to support it. Um there's no there's no basis in the Bible for infant baptism except does anybody know what bapt infant baptism is based upon? What they relate it to in the Bible?

Okay. The family getting baptized. But even other than that Jewish what's that? Circumcision. the those who teach infant baptism basically it's our moving forward our circumcision same idea now remember when they were circumcised that didn't get them into heaven and the Bible's very clear about that it's not their circumcision that's what identified them as a Jew that's what identified them with the nation of God's blessings but it didn't make them uh it didn't make them saved and um and so infant baptism is foundationally based upon on circumcision. They say it's just a New Testament form of circumcision, which if I had to choose between the two, I'd rather be baptized than circumcised, you know, myself.

But um you know, that that's basically where it comes from. I I remember reading a book by a Lutheran on infant baptism and in there he gave no scripture basis at all for it. uh he basically and and it was talking about not only infant baptism but sprinkling and the re and his justification for sprinkling was again no scriptural basis. He was talk he talked about how he went to a hospital visit. There was a man there that wanted to get baptized and the Baptist chaplain just visited him couldn't baptize him because he was sick in his hospital bed and he left and then the Lutheran guy came in and said I could baptize him.

You know that was his justification. So, you know, a lot of these things are, you know, you you they sound nice and and people want to say, "Well, I want to make sure my child's going to go to heaven," but that's not going to make sure they're go to heaven. And so, we don't do infant baptism. We don't believe in infant baptism. And then, uh, and then was mentioned here, it kind of comes from household baptism. Rich mentioned that. Go to Acts chapter 16. This is one of the other places they kind of get it from. And verse 30 says, "And brought them out and said, sers, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house."

And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And and so the idea here is a household that he was saved. If he got saved, everybody in his house would get saved as well. And they kind of based it on that idea. And that's a lot of lot of inference in there. You're reading into what the scripture says. Number one, this was the the the jailer. Now, a jailer we we think of just that's the guy that unlocks the doors. A jailer in the Bible times was a very high public official. And so, usually was older. This guy would have been my age. He didn't have any babies. Okay?

And when it says it, and when you read it, especially in the Greek language, what you see here, listen, if if you get saved, you'll go to heaven. If your household gets saved, you they'll go to heaven as well. your house needs to believe as well. Everybody in your house needs to believe also and um and so it's not automatic. Now, we do know this statistically, if the dad gets saved, generally the rest of the family is going to get saved. If the mom gets saved, there's not a guarantee with that. So, when the head of the household gets saved, it usually passes down to the other generations. But this isn't saying if you get saved, rest of your family saved and then they take it in a step and said that's why you have to baptize your babies so that they're going to go to heaven.

There's no there's nothing in the Bible teaches that. And uh and then the mode of baptism is by immersion. We baptize by immersion. Uh the word baptiso means to dip or immerse. It's not a religious term. It was an everyday word that would be used and you know in that day if you told your kids, you know, told one of your kids to go wash the dishes and make sure you baptize them. You know what they're saying is make sure you because you know how kids wash dishes, right? They run it under the water real quick, wipe it with a cloth and put it that's not how kids, but husbands wash dishes and put it in the drainer and it's not clean.

And mom comes back and says, "You put put that in the water, baptize it, put it down, immerse it." And that's what the word means. It's a transliterated word. They took the Greek word and made it into an English word. And so um it literally means to dip or merse. It does not mean to sprinkle. And then we have the Bible examples. Go to we're in Acts. Why don't we start with Acts chapter 8 and verse number 36. Acts chapter 8 and verse number 36. Talking about the Ethiopian unic. And as they as they went on their way, they came under certain water and the unic said, "See, here's water. What does hinder me to be baptized?"

Now, if sprinkling was bapt baptized by sprinkling, they could have taken a canteen of water. Every every chariot carried water and all you need is just enough to get your hands wet and sprinkle on them. So, that that is not what it's going to do. Or to pour a little bit of water in your head, that's fine, too. That's not going to work. So, the biblical example, then go over to John chapter 3. John chapter 3 and verse number 23. John 3 and verse 23. And John also was baptizing in Anon near to Salem because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized. Why do you need much water when you're going to baptize?

You know that that's always a it's always a challenge with Baptist churches is where do you put the baptismal? We've had to move ours a couple times and fortunately here in Hawaii, we can do outdoor baptism. When you got an indoor building, you got to find someplace to put it and that's always a challenge. Uh in one church I was youth pastor at in Minnesota, they would build the baptismal into the platform and so it was inside the platform. They had a piece went over top of it and choirs stand over and everything. And then when baptism time came, we took the piece off, filled it up. Uh one day it was my job as a youth pastor to fill the baptism.

So I turned the water on, went to my office and forgot about it. And uh somehow I remembered and I thought, "Oh no." And I ran in there. You know how when a cup when it's so full, it's it's like it's almost ready to overflow. That's the way it was on that platform. And then the problem was I pulled the chain to let some water out for the plug and the chain broke. So then I had to go find something to change into to dive in and uh get that all undone. A lot of lot of fun stories with baptism. When we baptized Tupu, we had a tidal wave. I baptized four kids at the same time by sprinkling or actually by wave, you know, uh they were standing at the end of the thing and it just came overflowing on top of them.

And uh you know, we had a I know of a pastor that they had a glass front baptismal tank behind the po podium there. And during the middle of a service, one of the bus kids jumped in there stark naked and uh swimming around inside there. So, uh all kinds of things. I read of another guy was they were baptizing they they had um this lady got baptized and she was kind of bigger and when he was baptizing her, he was baptizing her and she had a heart attack and died. Now folks, you think, man, she was getting baptized. I think if there's any way I'd want to die is having a, you know, baptizing there, Lord.

See, I'm obeying you, Lord. you know, but she bapt but you know what dead weight's like. You know, he's in the water which he doesn't know she's dead and she's trying to hold her up and everything. So, a lot of fun stories of baptism. But the point is this is it's by immersion. You don't need much water when you're doing it by sprinkling or pouring. It's by immersion. And you really have to twist the scriptures to get this idea of sprinkler pouring. It basically started back with one of the Roman empires. finally they converted to Christianity. he wanted to get baptized but he was sick and so the the guy who came baptism sprinkled him and then that became you know kind of the default thing

after that historically and it's not a biblical basis and um and then the symbolism the the like picture it cannot picture sprinkling I'm not sprinkled with the blood I'm washed in the blood and it cannot picture symbolize the death the burial and the resurrection of Christ does not do And then historically you have the Jewish example before Christ you had John's baptism even before that they would do baptisms of repentance and so it was all by immersion that was the Jewish example and uh church history you know that you could see baptism by immersion and then there came a point where they started sprinkling and then because of the Catholic church that became the dominant method and then people started realizing wait a minute you need to get you need to get baptized after you're saved and And that's when the Anabaptist movement start.

And Anabaptist means rebaptizers. These, you know, you're one of those Anabaptists. You got rebaptized. You were baptized an infant. Now you got saved. You said you had to get baptized again. And the church outlawed that. The Catholic Church did. And and made it a crime if you got rebaptized to be put to death. And and but historically, it was baptism by immersion up until a certain point. And then the Greek Orthodox Church, which is similar to Catholic in some ways, but yet they baptize by merchant. Even with their infants, they do uh because they understand the Greek word and they know that. And so when people talk to you about that, just so you know, why why do we baptize by merchant?

Because that's what the Bible teaches and that's what makes sense through the word of God and doing that. So it's important for you to understand as you're dealing with people, if somebody says, you ask them, "When did you get saved?" Well, I got baptized. That should ring a bell. that that's the warning flag right there and say, "Well, we need to go back and talk about that." Had one recently where that was their testimony. We went back and talked. He wasn't saved and he got saved. Then he got baptized because they got to do it in the right order. You can't picture what hasn't happened in your life.

And then you want to make sure when you're in church that they're not equating baptism with um with salvation. And then one other thing that you may run across is sometimes there are some and these are mostly Baptist churches that'll do this. There are some churches that that require you to be baptized by someone's baptized by someone was baptized all the way back. They you could trace it back even in some cases to John the Baptist or the early church or your disciples and it's like they got this whole generational thing and uh there's again nothing in the Bible. In fact, the Bible talks about genealologies and trying to trace things back and and all the rest of it.

But there are people that have left Ohana and gone and found the new church and and they were baptized here and that new church said, "Well, no, they can't trace it back. You got to get baptized again." And and that's not biblical. We don't teach that. We don't practice that. Um, you know, that's where God leads you and you know, that's fine. Go ahead and do it if you feel like it, but that's not that's not necessary or biblical in in my opinion. And um there's nothing in the Bible that supports that as well. Okay. So that's on baptism. And then like we said, the other order is the Lord's supper.

And again, the names of the Lord's supper, there's a lot of different names we use. The the one we primarily use in our churches is in 1 Corinthians chap 11 and verse number 20. When you come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. And so most often in churches like ours, that's what they're going to call it is the Lord's supper. Um some churches also call communion. And and in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and uh verse number 16, the cup of blessing which we bless is not is is it not the communion of the b blood of Christ? The bread which we break is not the communion of the body of Christ.

So that's a biblical name also to use and and we'll often use that. Yes, Frank. What's what's that? Right. They'll use it different in a different context in that way. Um the primary idea of communion is we're communing. We're coming together to do that. Um and and it's it's it's a perfectly good biblical word to use. And uh and and just a lot of it depends on where you come from. Down south, they'll say it one way. Up north, they might say a different way. Um, then there's other churches that call it the Eucharist. Go to 1 Corinthians 11:24. Thanks. What's that? Eucharist is the Greek word for give thanks.

Giving thanks, right? So it means giving thanks. 1 Corinthians 11 chapter 20. Chapter 11 vers 24. And when he had given thanks, when he given Eucharist, he broke it and said, "Take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you. So again, not a non-biblical word. Uh tends to be churches that call it this, and we'll talk about this just a moment. They tend to be more where they put some kind of magical or supernatural thing aspect to the Lord's supper. Uh but it's not a wrong word to use. It's not one we commonly will use. It's based upon a Greek word. And uh so it's not wrong necessarily. It's also called breaking of bread.

Acts chapter 2 and verse number 42. Acts two and verse 42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and breaking of bread and prayers. And then also look at verse number 46. And they continued daily with one accord in a temple and breaking bread from house to house to eat their meat with gladness and signals seal of heart. Why did they break bread from house to house? What's that? That Yeah, they really had no public meeting place for a large group. There was no buildings in that time. Uh they might be able to meet in a park or in we know that in Philippi they met by a river and uh but generally there was not a place where they could do it as a large group.

And so what the apostles and the leaders would do is go from different houses in small groups and do the Lord's supper and uh and and breaking of bread and and again biblical term and it's not wrong to do uh we generally don't do that when COVID was on we did we did do that a little bit. We'd go around and do small group of of Lord's supper uh at that time and there are some ch the churches that will do that. We generally don't because we're able to come together all of us. Uh but it's not wrong. But it should always be done under the opaces of a local church. It's not something I just say, "Hey, I'm going to invite a bunch of friends over and have Lord supper."

It's something we do as part of the order to the church. And so we do it onto the sport. We have um brother uh Frucci is chaplain. If he were deployed somewhere and with a group of people and he said to me, "Hey, I want to do the Lord's Supper." I I would say, "Yeah, great. Do it. you're part of Ohana, you're part of our team here, you can have the Lord's supper as a outside of, you know, because you're not able to do it here. And so that's okay. But it was breaking of bread was called and it's also called the Lord's table. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse number 21. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse number 21.

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of the devils. And so again, these are all terms that are biblical that are that are good to use. We would tend to probably we sometimes would call it the Lord have we're going to have the Lord's table tonight or we often would call it the Lord's supper. Uh something along that line is the terms we would use sometimes communion and we could use these other terms as well. Okay, so those are the ways. Now, in our churches today, we practice it a certain way as well. In most Baptist churches today, what do we have?

We have those little tiny cups and we have the little baskets of of crackers or unleaven bread that are broken up to pass out. They did not do that in the Bible. And and what I try to do is um try to change it up sometimes because if we do something the same way all the time, it becomes routine. And so sometimes we'll do the Lord's supper, like I mentioned last week, we'll break up into families and then the head of the family will come up and we'll pour the juice in his cup and then he'll share the cup with his family and we'll give him a a piece of the bread and then he'll break it up for his family.

Uh we'll do different things like that just to to vary it. And some churches will have with the Lord's supper, they'll have a fellowship meal. That's what the Corinthians did. They had what was called an agape feast, a love feast. But it became it started going the wrong direction and uh became a problem too. So we got to be careful with that. But there the thing I want to stress is there's no one-sizefits-all. And so when you go in the church, they may do it differently, but what we want to make sure is they're doing it biblically. And so number two there, the institution of the Lord's supper, it was instituted by Christ in Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke chapter 22, when he had his final supper with the last supper we call it, with his disciples.

He he broke the bread and gave it to him. He gave him the wine, the the cup and said, "Drink this is this is my body which is broken and this is my blood which shed for you." He said, "Now do this in remembrance of me." And so he instituted he's the one that started this. Okay? And it was practiced by the early church. We saw that Acts chapter 2, the the breaking of bread where they would gather together. Something the early church did right away. It was the first things, one of the first things he did, be saved, baptized, and then let's have the Lord's supper together. And then it was explained by Paul in the epistles in 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

Most of the time when we as a pastor do the Lord's supper, we'll go to 1 Corinthians 11. And we'll read that when we do the Lord's Supper and talk about it. And Paul explains, when you do the Lord's Supper, this is how you're supposed to do it. And so when something is explained in the Bible, that means we're supposed to be doing it. All right? And then the teaching of the Lord's supper, what's his purpose? It's a memorial of Christ. Look at Luke chapter Well, we're in 1 Corinthians. Look at 1 Corinthians 11:24 and 25. It says, "And when he had given thanks, he broke and said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you.

This do in remembrance of me." After the same manner also took the cup when he had supper, saying, "This cup is the new testament in my blood. Do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." So, it is a memorial. It's it's a time to remember his broken body, his shed blood. Um, my wife hates sermons that describe the crucifixion in detail, you know, where it talk about what Christ had to go through and uh and and I understand why. It just kind of, you know, she doesn't like hearing it. But the point is, he went through agony for us. And sometimes we get this kind of little life. Yeah, I'm saved.

And we forget about the price that was paid. We forget about what it costs God, what it cost Jesus Christ. And we need to remember he his body was broken. His blood was shed. And that's really what we have to that's why he said just do it so you can remember. Don't forget what I did for you. Look also at uh Luke chap 22 and verse number 19. Luke 22 and verse 19. 22:19. My pages are sticking together here. So, give me a second to get to it. There we are. and he took bread and gave thanks and broke it and gave them saying this is my body which is given for you this do in remembrance of me. So it's a remembrance of the person of Christ and it's also remembrance of the death of Christ.

It's remembering both of those and and we just don't want to forget the price that was paid. Look at Mark chapter 14 and verse number 24. Mark 14 and verse number 24. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine till that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. He said, listen, I want you guys to just remember that who I am and what I'm going to do. It's a remembrance of the Lord. And then it's a prophecy of the second coming of Christ. when we take the Lord's supper and and for a lot of people, it's kind of a ritual we go through and we don't pay attention to it.

And so, you have to kind of almost force yourself to stop and say, "Wait a minute. Jesus died for me. He suffered. He shed his blood." But you know what else? He's coming again. As reminder, the Lord could come again. When when I was at Cole Baptist Church with Pastor Alger, every Sunday night we'd have the Lord's supper on Sunday nights and and every time we'd have Lord's supper, he'd say, you know, this could be the last Lord's supper. We're in Hawaii. We're at the end of the timeline. We're the last church in the world to have church and maybe somebody's going to get saved today and uh God's going to say, "Okay, it's all done.

Go get your church." And and he just would do that to remind us, hey, when you had the Lord's supper, this may be your last time on earth because he's coming again. And you need to remember and so it's a remembrance of the prophecy of the second coming that he's coming again. Look at Matthew 26 and verse 29. Matthew 26 and verse 29. For this is my blood of the new testament which shed for many for the remission of sins. That's verse 28. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine till that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. It's like we leaving an empty spot, you know.

Some restaurants will do this and some homes will do this. Like if they have a lost loved one, they'll they'll leave a spot at the table for them. It's remind them of that that loved one who died. Well, we want to leave that spot reminding us that Jesus isn't here right now, but you know what? He's going to fill that seat one day. We're going to sit table with him and remember that. And so it's just a a remembrance, a memorial and a prophecy of his second coming till he come and then a reminder for personal judgment and confession by the believer. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. This is where I think for a lot of people the failure of the Lord's supper is is it's a reminder for us to to really look at our lives at that moment in time.

Uh verse number 28. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he eatth and drinkkeeth unworthy. Ethan and drinkketh damnation himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you. Many sleep. For if we judge ourselves, we should not be judged. For but when we are judged, we are chasened of the Lord that we that we should not be condemned with the world. And so it's a time for us to examine our own lives and say, "Am I right with God? Is there sin in my life? are my hands dirty? If we confess our sins, he's faithful to just forgive us our sins.

And so whenever you take the Lord's supper, it's a reminder. Look at your heart. He doesn't say examine yourself and if there's something not right, don't take it. He says examine yourself, get it right, and then partake. And so it's very important part of the Lord's supper as well. And then the efficacy of the Lord's supper, what does it do for us? What does the Lord's supper do? Now the na non-baptist views and there are some Baptists will teach as well but it's basically non-baptist tradition believes in trsubstantiation that's usually the Roman Catholic but there's some other groups that believe that as well and they believe that the bread changes to the actual blood of Christ and the wine to the actual blood of Christ.

So the moment it goes in your mouth it becomes his body and the moment you drink it it becomes his blood. That's what they believe and that's what they teach. Again, no biblical basis for that, but that's the teaching that they have. Then you have um consubstantiation, and that's like the Lutheran and others kind took the Catholic belief and took it halfway to where it should be. And they believe in the omniresence of the body and blood are placed upon the bread and wine, giving it a sacramental value. So, you're not actually eating his body, you're not actually drinking his blood, but there's the power.

there's actually something that happens to it that it gives you that supernatural aspect of that. So, it's about it's kind of a halfway between what we believe and what the Roman Catholics believe. And then you have the spiritual presence which is reformed churches will teach this and that Christ is present in a special way in in other words grace is received. So when I take that wafer and I take that cup, there's a supernatural grace that happens because I did that. It's not, it doesn't actually become the body. It's not even like the power of God's body is on it, but because you took it, something special happens to you.

And that's not biblical either. What we believe is that there's no grace is magically or supernaturally, whichever word you want to put there, conveyed in any way. There's not something hocus pocus magical. Wave the wand over it, it becomes something special. It's not supernatural where it gives you more of the Holy Spirit or more power from God or whatever. There's nothing about that in that way. The blessings that come, it comes from the act of obedience because we're obeying the Lord. That's why God blesses us when we do what it's about. When I really take time to stop and remember the price that was paid, when I take a moment to really meditate Jesus is coming again, even so come Lord Jesus.

And when I take the time to examine my heart and get it right with God, I am going to be blessed for all three of those. All three of those are going to bring some special blessings. Not because I took a piece of wafer or bread or crackers in my mouth, but because I did what God told me to do. And so number B is close fellowship with Christ. There's something about the Lord's supper. If if you really partake of it the way God intended, it's special. It's like going on an anniversary dinner when my wife and I go out for our anniversary and it's just the two of us. We can reminisce. We can just remind you why we love each other and just kind of talk about how we came together.

It just kind of brings that special fellowship together. If we had an anniversary come and go, we never had a dinner together or did anything together, it would just be another day. So it just kind of forces us to kind of remember all these things. And then number C is close fellowship with other Christians. That's why we do it as a church because it's there's a bond that comes by sharing it together. And then number D, it's assurance of salvation. When you look at 1 Corinthians 11, what we just read, basically saying, listen, not only you examine yourself to see their sin, but are you truly saved?

Are you truly saved? Because if you're not saved, you'll hear me say when we have the Lord's supper, we don't tell anybody you can't partake of it. We'll talk about that in just a moment. But I tell people if you're not saved and you take of it or if you're not right with God and you take of it, Bible says there can be judgment that'll happen. And so it's just a good chance for me to say, you know, Jesus died for me. When when did I get saved? And remember that. Again, you can't celebrate an anniversary when you never had a wedding. So just making sure of that. And then number is anticipation of second coming.

Jesus is coming again. this may be our last anniversary. So, let's make the best of it. You know, it's looking forward to him coming again. And then the participants of the Lord's supper, it's believers, those who are saved and baptized. So, we always emphasize you be saved and baptized after your salvation. Now, I talked about this a little bit last week. There's three kinds of Lord's supper. You'll see one is called closed. And closed churches that practice closed communion. Basically, you have to be a member of their church, saved, baptized, and a member of that specific church. Then you have uh open, which basically says whoever wants to can.

And then you have close communion, which is what we practice. And that is you have to be either a member of our church or a member of church like faith and practice. But you do need to be saved. You do need to be baptized. And then secondly, let her be examined and found in right relationship with Christ, including baptism by mercy. If you're saved and haven't been baptized, my wife, as I mentioned before, her parents wouldn't let her get saved. She got saved baptized. She got saved around 16. They wouldn't let her get baptized. And and when she the day she turned 18, she got baptized. But between 16 and 18, she never took a Lord's supper.

She remembers the first one she had. She got baptized. And I think it was the next week she got to the Lord's supper first time. and and and and that's if you're not baptized, you're not being obedient to the Lord. If you're not obedient to the Lord, examine yourself. I need to get right with God before I can do the Lord's supper. So, we believe you can be saved and baptized and then examine yourself. Again, just washing your hands and my I come to table dirty hands. My wife says, "I make good food. You go wash your hands." She didn't tell me you can't eat. Go wash your hands. Sometimes we've had anniversaries where we're mad at each other and we can't go to remember we had one year somebody gave us a Roose Chris steak gift card.

You ever gone to Roose? They got good steak but it's expensive. I ain't paying for it. So we had a gift card and it was coming. We're going to do our anniversary but we were mad at each other and I'm looking at that gift card and I'm said not spending that much on steak and be mad at you. Let's get this right before we go. You know the Lord wants us to examine ourselves and then assemble church members. Again, it's something we do as a church body or under the authority of the church like I talked about example of brother Fucci. Okay. And then the procedure for Lord's supper. Um we got to stop here and we'll finish up next week.

I'm over time but we'll get to sometimes people get confused because this church does it different that one. There's no set procedure and we'll talk about the the things that the Bible does say you need to do this, but there's different ways you could do it and still be biblical. And so we'll go into that next week. Appreciate you being out. I know I kind of beat on this, but it's something that a lot of confusion is out there and a lot of you come from different church backgrounds. So I want to make sure you understand what the Bible says and and what the biblical practice is. All right. See you on men. See you Thursday,