certainly this Before we get started, we'll we'll be in first Corinthians chapter eleven. If you want to go there this morning, first Corinthians chapter eleven, just a word of caution to you this morning. There is a a superficial Christianity that is rampant right now. I'm just, I just felt compelled to warn you this morning. There are wolves everywhere like never before. I'm telling you like never before there are false teachers, false prophets, false gospels, false versions of this faith that we uh that we possess and II caution you in love to hold fast to sound doctrine really hold fast. It seems that we may be living in the days of uh uh of the great I just want you to hold fast to the truth, be in your word. Not everybody who reads the Bible is telling the truth. Everything the Bible says is the truth, but not every way they read it to you and make you think it believes is the truth. Now, there are lots and lots of folks who are not, they have made Christianity a marketing scheme that made them They make money off of it, they make you popular, make you all these other things, YouTube channels and all this stuff. You can find, listen, you can find a teacher that will agree with you on anything. So just be careful. Be careful. You need the Spirit of God. You need the Spirit of God and you need good, sound, solid doctrine, amen? All right, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, if you go there, you may have heard, hopefully you were listening during the announcements we'll be having our communion service this Friday. And that is a very important gathering for us as believers. And I take it for granted sometimes that about a week and a half ago, one of the new sisters in the church came to me and asked about communion. And I'm so glad that she did that. She wanted to understand more about it. And I told her, I said, yeah, let me go home pull together some information, and then I'll give that to you so that you can look at it. That's now turned into a sermon. I'm not giving her name in case you don't like the sermon, because you'd have to blame her. But I'm glad that she did it, because I think when she asked me that, it reminded me that maybe some don't understand what communion is, what it's about, why it's important. And so I want us to look together this morning at what God's word says regarding communion or what is commonly called the Lord's Supper. And you'll hear those two. Those two will be interchanged maybe throughout the message. They mean the same thing. And I know that probably some of you who have maybe been Christians a long time or have participated in communion, you think, well, you know, they're awesome. I can just check out of this sermon. I would encourage you not to do that. As we prepare our hearts for Friday, I think these scriptures could really benefit us all. And I think they could serve a good reminder of the beauty of communion. I want you to be excited for Friday. As a church, you should be excited to come to communion. You should be excited to take part of this. And listen, I know, and I don't want to start off by stepping on toes, but I know some of you have been Christians for a long time. but you haven't participated in communion, or maybe you haven't participated in a long time. And I want to show you this morning, I hope to be able to show you lovingly that the Lord has commanded all true believers to take part in the Lord's supper. This is not just a trivial thing. Notice I said the Lord has commanded it, amen? That's a big deal. Communion is not just some ritual or some tradition that the church has made up. It's not just some other meeting that we're having. Participating in communion is an extremely important part of our life in Christ. This is something Christ has instructed us, commanded us to do for our good, for his glory, and it's a part of the life of faith we live as Christians. It's an important part of the life of faith. Try not to check out on me this morning, even if we're reading scriptures you know well. As we go through the scriptures, let's seek to understand communion, and hopefully I can address some of the questions about communion from God's word. And if I don't answer those questions, you heard Brother Travis say that the elders and the deacons will stay behind after service to answer any questions you might have, or pray with you about this, or talk to you about this, or anything else that you wanna talk about. We met, Earlier this week, the elders and deacons, and we talked about this, and we want to make ourselves available to you for anything. So after church on Sundays, we'll do our best to stay behind. We'll kind of linger around up front. If you've got something you want us to pray with you about or talk to you about, you need counseling or help in some way, we're here for that. We're here for that. We love you. We want to help you in your faith every way we can. All right, 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Verses 22, or 23 through 32. The Apostle Paul, writing to the church of Crete, said, for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take eat. This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, he also took the cup This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world. Let's have a word of prayer. Father, thank you for your word this morning, God. Now give us wisdom and understanding, God. Give us clarity. Help us to be able to teach this, Father, in a way that opens hearts and eyes, God, that we might see the wonder, the beauty, the importance, God, the significance, Lord. Help us to see these good things, God, and help us to rejoice in you this morning, God. and that all that may be in this room this morning, God, who are lost without Him, Lord, that they may see His beauty, God. May they be compelled, God, to come to Him, Lord. What a sad thought, Lord, it would be for someone to leave here, God, lost and headed for hell, God. What a devastating thought when you've done everything, God, to give us a way of escape. And I just pray, God, that eyes would be able to see it, God, and hearts would be able to receive it in Jesus' name. that Paul tells us about the Lord's Supper is this, that he received this instruction from the Lord. Paul didn't decide that they should have communion. Paul didn't think it would be a cool service to have or a neat thing to do. Paul was taught to do this by the Lord himself. This means that that communion or the Lord's Supper was established by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. It was Christ who taught him and the other apostles to do this and to participate in this and to carry this, what we will say for lack of a better term, this tradition onward. Now, if you didn't know anything else about it other than that, if that's all you knew is that Christ established it and taught it, that should be enough for every believer in here to say, I desire to do this. If the Lord has established it and the Lord commanded it and the Lord taught it to his followers and the Lord said it was important, that should make it important to us, amen? But now remember that Paul was writing this and Paul often referred to himself as an apostle born out of due time. What that means is, is that Paul was not a follower of Christ during Christ's earthly ministry. Paul wasn't with Jesus when Jesus did and taught all these things. He was the last of the apostles. Paul was a devout Jew. He was a persecutor of those that followed Christ. But one day as Paul was traveling, Jesus appeared to Paul. And on that day, Paul was born again. And then the Bible tells us that Paul was taught by the Lord for three years. before he went to see the other apostles who had walked with Christ. So when Paul says, I was born at a due time, Paul wasn't there on the night that Jesus established this sacred tradition, but Christ taught him about it anyways. And so Paul took this commandment that the Lord gave him, this instruction, he took it very seriously. And so just as he received it from the Lord, He delivered it to the churches. And here we have the record of his delivering it to the Corinthian church. And this is what Jesus taught Paul and what he delivered to them. Now look at verses 23 through 25. In chapter 11, he said, on the same night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. And see now, because we have the gospels, we know the night that Jesus was talking about. And I wanna show you that quickly in Matthew chapter 26. You can stay in 1 Corinthians 11. Matthew 26 will come up on the screen for you, verses 17 through 20. It says, on the first day of the Feast of the Unliving Bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying to him, where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover? And he said, go into the city to a certain man and say to him, the teacher says, my time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples. So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, which is what disciples should do. And they prepared the Passover. And when the evening had come, he sat down with the 12. Now this is the night where Jesus instructed them on communion. He instructed them on what this is. This was during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was the celebration of Passover. And hopefully you remember and know this is, I know this is very teachy today, but you're just gonna have to bear with me. Sometimes that's what we have to do is teach. Passover is when the Jews would remember and celebrate how God had delivered them from Egypt. And hopefully some of you remember how that came about, right? When the children of Israel were enslaved to Egypt and God had sent Moses to Pharaoh and Pharaoh would not let the people go. And what did God do? He sent the plagues, 10 plagues. And the 10th plague was the plague of death, the death of the firstborn children of Egypt. And God instructed Moses. And God said to Moses, he said, you tell the children of Israel to take a lamb. And they are to, it had to be a lamb without spot, without blemish. And he said, you take that lamb, and you are to kill that lamb at a certain time, and you are to take the blood of that lamb, and you're to take hyssop and dip it into the blood of the lamb and put it on the doorpost. I'll preach this a couple times to you later. and put it on the doorpost of your house. And he said, and then he gave them instruction. And he said, make sure you take the flesh of that lamb and you have to cook it a certain way and eat it. And you have to be careful as you separate the bone joint from joint, not to break the bones of that lamb. And there was a certain instruction that God gave them. It was very particular what God wanted them to do. And the Lord said, when you sit down to eat the lamb, he said, eat it in a hurry. Or he said, eat it with haste. In other words, eat it quickly. Make sure your belts are on your waist and your sandals are on your feet and your staff is in your hand because soon you'll be leaving. Soon you'll be delivered. You have to be ready, amen? You gotta be ready to go is what he was telling them. And so if they did these things, then when the Lord came in the night, they would be kept safe. If they did not, they would not have been. Amen? They had to obey. They had to do this by faith. Amen? Good. And so this was the Passover celebration. Now this is what, I'm not gonna preach on the Passover, although that would be a wonderful thing to do today. But what the Lord, I want to go on from that a little bit. The Lord said in Exodus chapter 12, where you can read all about the Passover, but verse 14, after he gave them all the instructions, he said this, he said, so this day shall be to you as a memorial, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generation. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance, amen? So that's what they were gathered together to do that night. Jesus was keeping this ordinance, the feast of Passover with his disciples as a memorial of what God had done just as God commanded. But what the disciples didn't fully understand at that moment was that the true Lamb of God was with them. the one who would deliver them, not from Egypt, but from sin, the one whose blood would save them from death, just like the blood of that lamb saved the Israelites from death that night so many years ago. They didn't realize that just as God had preserved their life, this lamb wanted to give them eternal life. And Jesus was teaching them this. He was going to fulfill the Passover. He was going to fulfill what the Passover had been pointing to all those years ago. I was talking to, I think it was dad earlier this week, and they were talking, and I said, we were talking about Pharaoh, and you can imagine why if he was at Bible study, but we were talking about Pharaoh, and I said, you know, God did all of those things. God did all of those things, all of that back then, so that the Passover could be set up, so that people could see Christ. Isn't that wonderful? That's an amazing thing to think about, that God did all that so that we could see Christ. And see, this is what Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter five, verse seven. Paul said, for indeed, Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Church, Christ is our Passover. He sacrificed himself for us. Do you realize this morning that we were slaves to sin just like they were slaves in Egypt? We were slaves of sin. Their chains were physical, but our chains were spiritual. You and I were spiritual slaves in bondage to sin. We were separated from God by our iniquities. But because Christ was willing to lay down his life, we were delivered, just like they were from Egypt, we were delivered from our sins. This is what it says in Hebrews 9, verse 26. He, Christ, has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, amen? He, church, listen, he is the Lamb of God. who takes away the sins of the world. And just like they applied the blood of the lamb that night to their door all the way back there in Egypt, by grace through faith, Christ's blood was applied to us. Those of us that believe and we are saved from the wrath of God through him. saved from death. We were given eternal life because the blood of Christ covered our sins. Because the Lamb is within us, we have received the gift of eternal life. We are united together with Christ. We are in Him, amen? And through Him, because we are in Christ, we are reconciled to God. We once were separated and now we are brought near by the blood of Christ. We have peace with God our Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that good to know this morning? It's good that we're not redeemed with corruptible things. Things like silver and gold, but we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot. The only reason I'm a Christian this morning is because of Christ. The only reason I am clean this morning is because of Christ. The only reason I have peace with God today is because of Christ. The only reason I have eternal life today is because of Christ. It's like the song says, I will not boast in anything No gift, no power, no wisdom, but I will boast in Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection. Christ, he deserves all the glory and all the praise. Everything is for him and by him and through him and to him. It's all about him. Look back in your Bibles again at 1 Corinthians 11, verse 24. Paul said, this is what the Lord taught him. He said, the Lord said that when he had taken bread and given thanks, he broke it and said, take eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this. Now, do you hear the command? Do this in remembrance of me. And then in verse 25, he took the cup and he said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. So here we see the reason we take communion. We do it in remembrance of him. That's why we do it, to remember him. We're forgetful people. wonder. We stray easily from the truth. We stray easily from the path. Amen. We'll be going along just fine on the narrow way with our faith in Christ and then one day you wake up and you realize, I quit putting my faith in Christ and now I put my faith back in me again. That's a dangerous thing. And so we come together as the body of Christ to remember that Jesus sacrificed himself for us. On that night that they were gathered together, Jesus took the bread, the unleavened bread, he took that bread and he broke it, or he tore it in two, tore it into pieces, and he gave it to his disciples and he said to them, he said, this bread, is my body broken for you. In other words, this bread represents my body which I am giving for you. And he took the cup and he told them to drink from that cup and he said, this cup is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for the remission of sins. And you see, during communion, for those that don't know or haven't been, during communion, We also take bread, and we break it to one another. And we say something like this, we say, this bread we break is communion in the body of Christ. And in doing that, what we're acknowledging is, is that that bread, it represents the sacrifice of Christ, that Christ died for me, and that Christ died for you. And so we break that bread to one another. And that bread reminds us that the Son of God put on flesh for us. This is what the scriptures say. It said he, speaking of Jesus, he said he was in the form of God. Now God is spirit. And he said he was in the form of God but was willing to make himself of no reputation and to take on the form of a bondservant and come in the likeness of men. In other words, he was willing to put on flesh for us, to take a body for us, to be found in appearance as a man and to humble himself and become obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross, amen? And the broken bread reminds us of the humility of our Savior. It reminds us of the love of God. His willingness to submit Himself and to take on flesh and yield His body to do the will of God. I want you to understand that we can get it in our mind that Christ had it easy down here because he was fully man and fully God. But Christ was tempted in every point just like you were. Every temptation you've ever felt, he felt. Yet he was without sin. He resisted every temptation. Do you know the battle that that had to take? Do you know the strength of our Savior this morning? What Adam could not do, Christ did. He was willing to suffer the physical torture, the pain, the whippings, the lashing, the scourging, the thorns on his head, even the cross itself, the nails, he was willing to suffer those things to save us from our sins. He was willing to lay down his life for us. And so when we take that bread and we eat it, we are reminded, we remember the cost of our salvation, and the goodness of our Savior. That's one of the reasons why this service is important. When we take that cup, and we do, when we have communion, You'll get a cup and we drink of that cup together knowing what it represents. It represents the blood that Christ shed for us. For the remission of our sins. And we know that through that blood, through the blood of Jesus, we know as we drink that cup that our sins are forgiven and that they're under that blood and that we're under a new covenant. And that gives us a reason to rejoice. Look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, 26. He says, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim, look at that word, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. When we take the bread and the cup, that's what we're doing. We are proclaiming our faith in the Lord's death. We are proclaiming that we know that Christ died for us. And we are remembering that it is through him and him only that we're saved, amen? This is a gospel proclamation, a proclamation of our faith. I love Hebrews chapter 10, verses eight through 22. Listen, this ties in with communion beautifully. This is what it says, previously saying sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings and offering for sin you did not desire, nor had pleasure in them, which are offered according to the law. Then he said, behold, I have come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first, that he may establish the second. He took away the doing of the law, and the keeping of the law, that he may establish a new covenant. No longer laws written on stone tablets to be perverted by men, but now to have the law written in your heart by the Spirit of God. He said, by that will, we have been sanctified, amen, sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sin. But this man, our savior, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. And from that time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool. Listen to this verse, for by one offering, He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Amen? But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us for after he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them. You wanna know what that blood of the new covenant is? This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days says the Lord. I'll put my laws into their hearts and in their minds I will write them. Then he adds, listen to this, this is the covenant we're under. Their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more. Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. Therefore brethren, having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a priest over the house of God, I'm sorry, by a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh, having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Amen. As we take the bread and we break it to one another, And as we take the cup together, we remember these truths. We remember that we're not redeemed because of our church attendance. We're not redeemed because we don't cuss anymore. We're not redeemed because we were able to quit some bad habits or do X, Y, and Z, or because we volunteered time to do X, Y, or Z, or because whatever. We're redeemed by the offering of the body of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and through his precious blood we receive the remission of sins and have boldness now to enter into his presence through the veil of his flesh. Amen. And now because of Jesus we draw near to God with a true heart and full assurance of faith. Partakers of the new covenant knowing that in Christ Our lawless deeds, our sins, are remembered no more. That's wonderful to me this morning. I have a lot of sins. But I cannot tell you the joy that fills my heart knowing that those sins are washed away. Knowing that, listen, it's not just that they're forgiven, they're remembered no more. Amen, I am so glad for that this morning. So communion is about remembering what Christ has done for us and giving thanks. There should be a deep sense of gratitude, a deep sense of joy, of rejoicing. There should be praise, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to God, amen, for those unspeakable gifts of kindness, of goodness. But I wanna move forward. I wanna cover more with you because I know that there are some who say, that's all good. But what about those next verses? And you see, because of what they say, I'm not taking communion because of what it said. Let's look at them. Verses 27 through 30 in 1 Corinthians 11. Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment, or some versions say damnation, to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. Now those are very serious verses. and they mean what they say. No one should eat this bread or drink this cup in an unworthy manner. No one should come to the table of the Lord and proclaim the Lord's death who does not truly believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's why in verse 28 he said, let a man examine himself. Are you truly trusting in the body and the blood of the Lord to save you? Are you truly trusting in the sacrifice of Christ to save you? Or is your confidence in your works? Is your confidence in yourself? Is your profession of faith genuine? Listen, to come and take of this bread and this cup, but to have faith in yourself? is to come in an unworthy manner. To come boasting in your own righteousness or your own goodness is to come in an unworthy manner. To come pretending to have faith is to come in an unworthy manner. And before you take part, you should ask yourself, do I really believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Do I really believe that He humbled Himself down and put on flesh? Do I really believe that He suffered in the flesh for me? Do I really believe that He was obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross? Do I believe that the blood that He shed put away my sins? Because if you don't believe those things, you have no part at this table. That's what it means to drink in an unworthy manner. This is why those of you who are not saved should not take the Lord's Supper. We say all the time this service is for believers. You should not take it because you don't believe in the sacrifice of Christ for your sins. If you did believe it, you would be saved in a Christian But you don't believe it. There's no such thing as an unbelieving Christian. If you don't believe in his death for you, then you should not take part in communion. And how sad it is to know and to think that there are so many who reject the love of God and the salvation of God found in Jesus Christ. But now, we as believers, as professing Christians, we are to come to this table. We're not to avoid it. We're not to run away from it. We're to come to the table with humility I believe we should come to the table with repentance. And that's why we always begin our communion services with the time of examination and confession. We want to take the time to examine our lives in light of these truths that we've heard. Amen. Thank you. Are there any sins that I have been unwilling to repent of. And if there is, I need to remember the body and blood, the sacrifice of my Lord and repent of those sins right away. Amen? The goodness of God should lead me to repentance. I believe Christians should ask themselves, Is there any brother or sister that I need to forgive or that I may have hurt that I need to speak to and ask their forgiveness? If you harbor unforgiveness in your heart, you need to hear me. You will not be forgiven. That's not my teaching. That's the Lord's teaching. We want to do just what James said we should do. We come together. We confess our trespasses to one another and pray for one another that we may be healed, amen? Not one of us will be able to come to the table this Friday without failures and struggles. I've known a lot of Christians over the years who have forsaken communion because they think to themselves, well, I'm not living a perfect life. None of us are living a perfect life. None of us are. Our struggles don't make us unworthy. Remember, we've got a Savior who sympathizes with our weaknesses. But we have to confess those trespasses. We need to repent of our sins, confess them to one another, and pray for each other that we might be healed of them. Don't look at your life and say, I'm not perfect, so I'm not gonna take communion. Instead, come in humble repentance and say, I'm not perfect, but my faith is in a perfect savior. And I'm going to repent of my sins and follow him. So I hope you can see clearly communion is commanded for every believer. It's not something that you should choose not to do. And listen, I'm not trying to be mean or hurtful. I know it's Friday night. But if you're a believer, communion's more important than your date night. It's more important than the concert. It's more important than the county fair. Or whatever else may be going on. I know how some of y'all are about to say the exact thing. It's more important than those things. It's more important than being at your friend's house for a get-together. It's more important than that. If you're a true Christian, you need to participate in the Lord's Supper. You need to take the Lord's Supper. Unless you're absolutely unable to, or unless you examine yourself and figure out, I'm not in the faith. I'm not a real believer. So this week, you should be asking yourself, am I a real believer? Do I really have my faith in Christ? Do I believe what the Bible says about Jesus, about his coming, his life, his death, his resurrection? If so, you are invited by us and commanded by the Lord. I don't command you to go. I don't have any authority to command you to do anything. But you read what I read. This dude. in remembrance of me. We should search our hearts. Psalms 139, verses 23 and 24. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties. See if there's any wicked way in me and then lead me in the way everlasting. Amen? You say, well, how should I come? Like what? How should I come? Well, you should come ready to be encouraged. You should come ready to pray. You should come ready to be honest. You should come in humbleness. You should come broken. You should come like I'll have to come, poor and needy. You should also come rejoicing. You should come with a deep sense of gratitude. You should come ready to give thanks. You should come ready to praise. You should come in faith. Come trusting in the Savior, amen? This is important. Now there's one other part that I wanna make mention of, and that is foot washing. And this is important also, and I know it makes some people very nervous. But I want you to understand why we do it and what it means. So go with me in your Bible to John chapter 13. This'll be very short. I'm not preaching two sermons today, I'm just preaching the one. So this will be, I won't be long-winded on this point. John chapter 13, I am gonna read a little section of scripture here to you, so bear with me. John is writing about the same day, the Feast of Passover, and this is what John said, and when supper being ended, Yeah, let me just read it for you. Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end, amen? And supper being ended, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son to betray him, and Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, now listen to what our Lord did. Laid aside his garment and took a towel and girded himself. And after that he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet. God washing his disciples' feet. and he wiped them with the towel with which he was girded. Then he came to Simon Peter and Peter said to him, Lord, are you washing my feet? Jesus answered and said to him, what I am doing, you don't understand now, but you'll know after this. Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no part with me. Simon Peter said to him, then Lord, knock my feet on me. but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, he who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but it's completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you. For he knew he would betray him. He knew who would betray him. Therefore he said, you are not all clean. So when he had washed their feet, taken his garments and sat down again, he said to them, do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord. You say, well, for so I am. If I, then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sinned. If you know these things, You do them, amen? Just like that bread and cup symbolize something. The body and blood of the Lord. Washing each other's feet symbolizes something as well. You see, when we wash each other's feet, what we're showing is that we're willing to serve one another in love. Just as Jesus was willing to lay down his life for us, he was willing to humble himself down. we also must be willing to lay down our lives for the bread, to humble ourselves down to serve one another, amen? When we do that, we are committing ourselves to serving one another. This is a time of recommitment to each other in Christ. We're making a commitment to each other that we will love one another, as Christ has loved us. This is the commandment he gave them on that night. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you. By this, all men will know that you are my disciples. And we recommit ourselves to that kind of love to each other. The kind of love that puts your brother above you. that causes them and their needs to trump you and your needs. Amen? This love is missing in a lot of Christians' hearts. But this is no small matter. It's not something we take lightly. When a group of people willingly humble themselves, I just want you to get the picture. A group of people humble themselves and lower themselves before you to wash your feet, to show you that you are important to them. That they love you and care about you. They care about your soul. They care about your well-being. They care about your life. That they are truly a real, not just in name only, but a real brother or sister to you. That should bless your soul. That should matter to you, amen? And you see, when a group of believers comes together to take communion together and to wash each other's feet, it should draw them closer together to each other and to the Lord in love. Should make our church stronger. Amen? We share a common union, communion. What is that common union? It's Christ. Your Lord is my Lord. Your Father is my Father. And we share that together. The word that you follow is the word that I follow. We're in common union because we're in Christ, amen? Now let me just quickly, Try to answer maybe some questions that you may have, and I'll be quick with this. Do you have to be a member of the church to take communion? That might be a question that you wonder. Do you have to be a member of this church to take communion with us? No, you don't, but you do have to be a born again Christian. You do not have to be a member of our church to do that. Should you be a member of our church? Yes. Do you have to be? No. If not this church, should you be a member of another local church? Yes. Could two churches come together and take communion together? Yes. What about if I've committed sin, should I take communion? If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. We all struggle with sin. The question you need to ask yourself is this, am I willing to confess and repent of my sin? If so, then yes, take communion. If not, what you need to be asking yourself is not should I take communion, but am I a Christian? Because if you're not repentant of your sin and willing to confess it, unrepentant is a sign that you may not be a Christian at all. What about if I've got something against brother so-and-so? Or sister so-and-so? You should go to that person. You should speak with them. You should talk to them in love, aiming for reconciliation, not aiming for them to see your point. but aiming for reconciliation, amen? And you should do what Christ commanded you to do, which is forgive. If you're unwilling to forgive, you won't be forgiven. What if I don't want to get my feet washed? I'm down for the communion. I don't want my feet washed. There are times that people choose not to participate in foot washing, sometimes because of Real issues, right? Like things that they've gotten along. And sometimes the people who don't want their feet washed, maybe they're ticklish, I don't know. Whatever it is, they don't want their feet washed, but they're still willing to wash other people's feet. And then there are some who's like, I'm not touching nobody's feet. Just not John's, okay? Either way is okay. If you don't want to participate in that, nobody's going to be offended. Nobody's going to be hurt. Nobody's going to be hurt. That's your choice to make. Amen. That's your choice to make. But I want you to know that the Lord's Supper is important. It's important for believers. It's very, very, very, very, very important. And I don't want you to take it for granted. All right, let's stand together. Let's begin our preparation today. I want you to know this first and foremost. If you're here and you're lost, I want you to know that Christ gave himself for you. Amen? Christ gave himself for you. Shed his blood for your sins so that you could be saved from sin and death. and I want you to know you can be forgiven this morning. You can be saved, you can be washed, you can be cleansed, you can be set free. If you'll believe the gospel, if you'll believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, believe that He's the Son of God, that He died for your sins, that He rose from the dead, if you'll believe, you can be saved. Do not be ashamed of the Lord. Take the next step of faith. If you've come to faith, let the world know you believe. Come forward this morning. Let us pray with you. Grab one of the elders or deacons or one of the other Christians and say, I just put my faith in Christ during this message. I was listening. I believe. And I want you to pray with me. We'll pray with you. Amen. I'll be glad to do that. For those that are Christians, let's begin our preparation this morning. If you're willing, those that are willing and want to, let's come together and gather around. Let's pray. Let's ask God to start searching our hearts. And let's ask God to begin to do this great work in us. Those that want to, let's pray. Come on, anybody that wants to come. What happened?