Praise the Lord for that. If you'd like to turn your Bibles to Acts chapter 2, we're not going to do a message in Luke this morning. We're going to do something about baptism in the Lord's Supper. We're going to begin in Acts chapter 2. I printed some more notes. I've noticed I try to get that right. I'll try to always have enough notes. If you're able to read and want to follow along, I really encourage you to consider getting the notes out on the ledge before the service. You know, I kept saying that it had been some time since we had a service where we did a baptism and the Lord's Supper together so that the person being baptized would be in a right setting and the right way with God to then take the Lord's Supper for the first time. And I found out that the last time we did that was when Tyler and Lindsey were baptized. I'd mentioned that before in 2013. November 3rd, 2013. Tyler and Lindsay were baptized. We did just like this. And I just knew that there was another one. And I couldn't quite remember who it was. And so I did some digging and I kept looking forward. And I thought, well, I guess I need to look further back. And it was kind of tucked away. It was really one of the first sermons I had in my folder. And it was in 2010 that Tim was baptized. Brother Tim was baptized and we did the baptism in the Lord's Supper in September of 2010. Boy, that's ancient history to some people in here. How many of you were not alive in 2010? None of these kids. How many of you were so young you just were a little kid in 2010? I mean, if you're in your 20s here, obviously, you know, you were pretty young. Well, no, I guess he was 14, 2010, right? Make you 24, yeah. So teenager, kid in 2010. So we'll have to mark it down now. We got a 2024 with Braden that we did that. And someday, Braden, you're going to be really old and me or another pastor are going to say that or what have you. And all these kids will barely remember. Well, let's do this. For our message, we're going to look at baptism in the Lord's Supper. Now, we've covered a lot about baptism in the Lord's Supper this past year. We did a series on the Lord's Supper from 1 Corinthians 11. We did a little bit of a series on baptism when the girls was going to be baptized and handed out a discipleship paper on that. So look, this is true of any time we come to a message. Not every message is going to be so fresh, maybe, but For someone here, and maybe for many of us here, there's going to be something this morning you can learn new. I never heard that before. This is new. This is very interesting. That's really good. Hold on to that. And of course, there's going to be some of us older people, as I said, that you've forgotten. And so it's going to seem new. So that's good, too. It's going to be something new this morning. When you see something new, say, that's good. I really learned something new this morning. And for some people it's gonna be something that you knew before but you appreciate being renewed that. By God's grace it'll be said a different way, it'll impact you in a different way, and you'll say, that's right, amen, Lord, that is true, that is right, that's what I believe. And for all of us, for all of us, there's just gonna be this security that we get, this peace that we get, this assurance and confidence in our faith to know that the word of God is true, we have learned it, God has told us who he is, he has told us what to do, and by God's grace, that's what we're doing. And as we approach this message on maybe a more familiar topic, by God's grace, that'll be well happened. Two ordinances in the church. That's a technical term we use, ordinance. It just means commands. In Latin, we get that word, it's ordo, it means to put in order. When you're commanding something, you're trying to put something in order, in place. We got an order in the way the church ought to function. And Christ has commanded these two ordinances to put order into the church. The church is to observe the ordinances of baptism and communion. We are an assembly, that's a gathered together, called out group of people, that's what a church is. We're an assembly of baptized believers, fellowshiping around the Lord's table. That's what the New Testament defines as a New Testament church. An assembly, a gathering together of baptized believers, fellowshiping around the Lord's table. Now what we do as Great Commission, make disciples, teaching, encouraging one another, those are the things that we're doing. A proper view of these two ordinances will define a true believer. There are many people who call themselves a Christian that have the gospel wrong. They're trusting in baptism as a work to save them. They're trusting in baptism to bring them to heaven. They're taking what they call the Eucharist in the Catholic Church. This is what they do. And by their participation in what they believe, eating Christ and literally drinking his blood, that gives them eternal life. But brother and sister, if you have a proper view of what baptism and what the Lord's Supper is, you're a true believer because you understand these things from scripture and what they represent. A proper view of these two ordinances will define a proper New Testament church. I realize a Bible study could baptize people and do the Lord's Supper, but there are definitions of what makes a church a church and not a Bible study. And part of that is being able to enforce, to carry out these two ordinances. Baptism, the Lord's Supper, there's a recognizable leadership in pastor and deacons. And that's what we believe defines us as a proper New Testament church. You know, we come to this definition of baptism and Lord's Supper together, they work in conjunction, they correlate with one another. A person believes and is born again and is baptized and begins a life following Christ, right? And that's any individual out there, we preach them the gospel, they believe, they're born again, receiving the Holy Spirit, they're baptized and they begin a life following Christ, he's their Lord. Then the idea is, well, I'm following Jesus. What does that look like? A Christian following Christ fellowships with Him. Their life is set apart in holiness to Him and dedication to Him and consecration to Him. They begin to grow in the Word and grow closer to Him in their personal devotion life and their activities and the way that they live. They're following Christ, fellowshipping with Him and His church. There's no such thing as a lone ranger Christian. They become exceptions, but it's not the norm. A Christian following Christ fellowships with Him and His church at the Lord's Supper. So when we talk about the church, the baptism being the entrance to the church and the Lord's Supper being the fellowship of the church, This is what we do when we baptize people we believe have a genuine testimony of salvation to the best of our ability. I think they're genuine, they understand, they believe. And then also in doing the Lord's Supper, we encourage, we talk about living for the Lord, living with the Lord, being right with Him, being right with God's people, you're a believer, then partake of the Lord's Supper. And this is what we do with these two ordinances. Our church practices these two ordinances, baptism and Lord's Supper, biblically, by God's grace. Well, let's use for our scripture reading, let's read in Acts chapter two. And what we see is the church in its infancy, its birth. And from the very beginning, you can pick out here baptism. It's gonna straightway say they were baptized. You ought to see that easy. And then next what you're gonna see is not the Lord's Supper directly, but you're gonna see a reference to participating in a meal. And someday, Lord willing, he'll get baptized. And that's what we'll do, we'll raise our children up and the Lord will be baptized and then they settle into fellowship in our church. Okay, Acts chapter 2. I'm going to do a scripture reading. Look for baptism and look for Lord's Supper. I'm going to start in verse 34 because this is the end of Peter's sermon and it's got some gospel in it. Acts 2 verse 34. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call. And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. And that day about 3,000 souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread. and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together and had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple And breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Let's have a word of blessing on our message time before we begin. Father, thank you as we begin this message to look at baptism in the Lord's Supper. Thank you that you've given both of these symbols, their ceremony, their activities that we do that demonstrate, that give us a testimony of our faith. of trusting in you, being born again to new life, and also a fellowship with you. And Lord, just as the early church from the very beginning observed these two ordinances, then there's much more apostolic. The apostles taught a lot about it in the epistles. Lord, we gain from that teaching and, oh Lord, pray that you'd bless us and help us by your grace to practice baptism in the Lord's Supper biblically and with the right heart and spirit as we gather together as your church, Village Bible Church in Salina, Kansas. Pray it in Jesus' name, amen. Let's look first of all at baptism. Baptism is the ordinance that guards the entrance to the church. Now let's understand how these work together. Baptism is what you do when you get saved. Entrance into the church is the church is an assembly a gathered together group of people that are saved That come out of the world that have repented have been born again They've become God's people and they gather together to do the works of God to worship God to follow him to do what he's commanded us and and by a testimony outwardly is baptism and You could just ask straight out somebody, have you been baptized? And if you understand that question loaded up with all its biblical meaning, you're asking them if they've been saved. You're asking them if they've come to trust Jesus as Savior, they've been born again. Now, with some of the confusion of baptism, we don't do that now, because somebody might say, yeah, I've been baptized as a baby. I don't even remember it, and I've not lived for the Lord since. Don't even know him. Well, that would not be an effective right way of baptism if you never came and grew up to a place where you put your faith in Him. But baptism is an ordinance. It's an outward showing of what's happened on the inside. Now, let's turn, okay, we're in Acts here, 241, that's right. We make this statement. Baptism is a believer's primary act of obedience. Now, in this statement, I found it sometimes confusing with people. I learned it this way. Baptism is a believer's first act of obedience. I've come to hear, you newer generation think differently, that when you hear first act obedience, you only think chronologically, and it becomes kind of a hurdle to say, what do you mean, that's the very first thing chronologically I'm supposed to do? I just got saved, and like the very next thing, the very first thing I'm gonna do then is get baptized? Well, it's not so much an emphasis only on chronology. You know, it might be that way, But it's an emphasis on priority. Baptism becomes a priority. So I thought maybe primary act would bring the two together. You know, repenting and giving up some things and making some changes in your life and walking away immediately to someone and say, I'm gonna tell you what happened to me. I got saved and I think you ought to get saved. Well, those are acts of obedience also. But baptism is something the Lord's commanded as a testimony that must be done by every Christian. Not all of us are always so good at witnessing and giving up sin. Those are continuous works that we do through our whole Christian life. But baptism is this one event, this one time act of obedience that we do with a clear understanding, a clear testimony. I've been saved, and I wanna be baptized, and I wanna join Christ, and I wanna join the church. And so that's what we mean by primary act of obedience. Now, the book of Acts is demonstrating history about what Jesus taught. It's the beginning of the church. And so we see in Acts, we see patterns, we see examples, and we look to Acts and say, we're going to learn from how the first church operated, draw from that teaching, and we're going to do it now. So let's do this as we go through Acts and let's see the correlation between faith and baptism and how baptism is this primary act of obedience. Acts 2, 41, we just read that. Gladly received his word, were baptized. They received by faith, they were baptized. Go to Acts chapter 8, Acts chapter 8, verse 12. Here's our pattern, Acts 8, verse 12. Philip is in the land of Samaria, which is north of Judea. He's preaching the gospel, and Acts 8, verse 12 says, When they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. Let's look at 8.35. This same Philip came and preached to a man from Ethiopia. He was traveling back to that land and God commanded him to overtake the chariot. The man was reading from Isaiah and asked him what is the explanation of this. It was a messianic. The verse was about Jesus the Messiah. Philip explained it to him, preached Christ to him. So in verse 35... It says Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized? Then Philip said, If you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So he commanded the chariot to stand still, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. There's our pattern. Now let's skip ahead to Acts 16. Elfride did so many years in CEF, Child Evangelism Fellowship. I took it. I think some others here took some of her training courses and how to teach children Bible stories with the gospel in it. And you've probably known this when you've talked about the Lord. One of the hardest things to talk about the Lord is to give an invitation. is to teach that class with those kids and say, now, will you receive Christ? Coming to a place when you're talking to your friend and say, could this be the time that you receive Jesus? Here's what you need to do. If you've believed everything we've talked about, everything the scripture says, this is an invitation to you. You can believe. Will you believe? And this Acts 16, 31 is one of those verses you can remember and use. What do you gotta do to be saved? And I believe everything, then tell me what I gotta do next. In Acts 16, 31, I'm gonna back up to verse 30 to set it all up. This Philippian jailer had came to the end of himself. He hit rock bottom. He came face to face with God through the circumstances of his life. And in verse 30, he says he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? So they said, this is Paul and Silas, they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and immediately he and all his family were baptized. Now when he had brought them into the house and set food before him, he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household. So in this invitation verse, we understand for the men here, and I think along with the women, but we only speak to the men here. It's not a promise that it was always guaranteed, but this is a great influence that the Lord has demonstrated through scripture. that a man has a great influence upon his family. And if a man will get right with God, and if a man will go home and introduce his wife and his children to the Lord, the Lord will work on his behalf in a unique and special way. Because the Lord is also interested in not only saving individual souls, but he's interested in bringing entire families to himself. The church is made up of families, men leading their families. This man brought Paul and Silas into his home and says, you've got to hear what I just heard. You've got to hear about this Jesus. And they preached Jesus to his household. I think in a man like this it would have been his wife and his children. It could have been servants in his household. It could have been his extended family. All that would be connected with him. Saw the change in him. And he implored them. He said, you gotta hear this. And they heard the gospel and they got saved. They believed. And then they got baptized. Now we're gonna go back to Acts chapter 10. Realize we could go all through Acts that way, but come back to chapter 10. And we did our Bible study through the baptism. We understand that Acts 10 really gives us this this kind of pattern. Really, it's it is chronological. It helps us understand step by step how someone gets saved, how baptism is part of that salvation and what they do. You'll see that baptism is a primary act of obedience. Peter is preaching the gospel to this man named Cornelius. This is a big deal because Cornelius isn't a Jew. They're learning of how the Messiah is taking the message of salvation to the Gentiles. It's not just going to be contained in Israel. People don't have to convert and become Hebrews. and take on living by the law, that as Gentiles in Kansas we can live the way Kansans do, but we also can hear about Jesus and believe Him and be saved, have all of the Holy Spirit, have all of the blessing of God just like any Jew does. We can be in complete compliance and obedience no matter what we eat, where we live or what we wear. that Christ has set us free from the law of sin and condemnation. Okay, so Peter's learning this, God is unfolding this through the book of Acts, and he goes to this Cornelius, a Gentile man, a Roman soldier, and preaches the gospel to him. In verse 43, it says, to him and all the prophets witness that through his name, whoever believes in him will receive remission or forgiveness of sins. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, Can any forbid water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? and he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days. Cornelius and the Gentiles with him heard the message. Let me just go on to the next item here. Do you see the next thing in your note? The scriptures provide the normative pattern. We see it right here. The normative pattern for all who will come to Christ. I don't have time to cover every exception, and I don't mean exceptions by, whoa, so they don't have to get saved first, nothing like that, okay? But I just want us to begin with this normative pattern. This is the way that it goes, all right? Hearing the gospel. Just as Cornelius and the men and women with him, they understood the truth of Jesus Christ. So hearing the gospel, believing the Lord Jesus Christ, believing something very specific about him. He's the son of God. He came to earth in human form. All of that has to be included. You can't deny that and believe other things, but it becomes very specific. What about Jesus Christ do you have to believe? That he died on the cross. And he didn't just die an ordinary man. And he didn't just die a martyr because he was trying to live for God and others didn't want to and they wanted to silence him. And it's not just an ordinary story of the world's against you. No, no, no, not at all. This death of Christ is something unique. Different than any death of any other man that ever lived the earth. It's a good news message. It's God's way of salvation. That when Jesus died on a cross, He died for your sins. That the sins of all the world were imputed or reckoned or put to His account. He was charged with them. And you have to understand that Jesus was charged with your sin. And Jesus knows all of your sin because He had them charged to Himself. He paid the penalty for them. He bore your guilt. He felt it. And so when He died on the cross, it was for the sin you committed. It was the death you deserved. God the Father judged His own Son for the sin, the personal sin you committed. You have to believe that Jesus died on the cross, that He was buried, that He actually died, that when He was buried He put away sin, that death is the payment, the redemption price for sin. Jesus died for sin, he was buried and that he rose again. And that in his resurrection he put away sin forever. He cast sin as far as the east is from the west. He put away sin and he paid the penalty that sin no longer has dominion. It no longer has power. Sin no longer brings death. If you'll call upon Jesus in his resurrected life, you can receive that new life. Just as Jesus rose from the dead, you'll raise from the dead. Just as Jesus put away sin, sin can be put away in your life. Jesus can save you from sin and death. You have to believe that. That's good news. That's the best news for somebody that recognizes they're guilty before God. And then it becomes the best news ever. You receive the Holy Spirit. And in these days, the gift of tongues was an outward evidence so that the apostles knew that's the Holy Spirit. This is a new work of God going on here. They're trusting in Jesus as Savior. Jesus is sending the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the one that they're believing and receiving spirit from and change life. And they see it in the gift of tongues. Now we see this born again life in a changed life. And so the Spirit's work is not tongues, it wasn't these days, but it's not sign gifts. Those were a sign, a miraculous sign to the apostles. And for us, we read it and go, yeah, they received the Spirit. But for us, do you remember how Jesus described receiving the Spirit? How Jesus described it would really be when somebody's born again, when the Holy Spirit indwells them and causes them to be born again? You can read about that in John 3. Some of you know about that, where John 3, 16 is. But Jesus said those who are born of the Spirit, It's like the wind blowing. Remember this analogy Jesus gave? The wind blows, and it moves upon things, and it affects things, and it changes things. And he said that's how it is when somebody's born again. When they've believed Jesus and received the Holy Spirit, the Spirit then comes upon them. The Spirit then moves upon them. The Spirit then affects them. The Spirit changes them. When somebody is born again and has the Holy Spirit of God, they're a different person. They're a new person in Christ and everything changes. Their thinking changes, their heart changes, their soul changes, the direction of their life changes, their life actions change. So the scripture has this pattern. Hearing the gospel, believing the Lord Jesus, receiving the Holy Spirit. That happens first, that's what's going on here in Acts 10. Then they get baptized. Baptism is a testimony of salvation and that's identification with Christ. And I think I drilled it into Braden pretty hard. He's answered it right ever since after that. Baptism is not a picture of washing away sins. Baptism is a symbol of being identified with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection. Jesus died to sin and Jesus was resurrected into new life. That's why I'm baptized. My sin is not washed away by baptismal waters. Some of you remember the verses that describe what washes away sin? What washes away sin from the heart and life? The blood of Jesus Christ. Yeah, it's part of the work of salvation. But baptism primarily pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Baptism is this public confession of faith in Christ. Baptism is an outward identification with Christ. Baptism is a declaration of membership in the body of Christ. I want to say this this way. I talked about this norm. Normally what we're doing is we're going what Jesus said and making disciples. and we're gonna baptize people who are gonna settle down in our church. Now, there might be some scenarios where there's an exception, but can you imagine somebody coming into our church and say, hey, I need to learn about God, and we say, hey, we'd love to share that, and they get saved, and we explain baptism, they say, yeah, you know, I'd like for you to baptize me, and then we say, then you're gonna settle in a church and grow with the Lord and walk with God with us, and they say, no, nah, I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm not gonna go to your church. I'm gonna just go across town or I'm not gonna go. That is not the way it's supposed to be. The goal is baptizing people and having them settle down in our church. I might say, well, why don't you call the pastor over there now? It's just part of this normal activity that God does in bringing people to salvation into the people of God, settling down with the people of God and growing and walking with God with these people in fellowship. Baptism is commanded by Christ to the church. Let's turn over quickly to Acts 28. This is gonna be the direct verse that commands baptism. If somebody asks you, why does your church baptize? Why do I have to be baptized? Why do you wanna baptize me? Why are we doing baptism? This verse can be your go-to verse. And the answer is Jesus commanded it. And then you begin to explain why He commanded it, what it means, and all of this. But here is the direct verse that commands it. It's the Great Commission, what we're supposed to be doing in preaching the gospel, bringing people to salvation. Matthew 28 verse 18 says, And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. And so here we have the command to be baptized and to make disciples. It's what Village Bible Church is supposed to be doing. Okay, that's baptism. Now with the Lord's Supper. It's an ordinance that guards the fellowship of the church. If you've been baptized, if you believe in the Lord, you've been baptized, you've got a testimony of walking with God, then we invite you to sit down and have the Lord's Supper with us. If you've not believed in the Lord, if you've not been baptized, if you're not walking with God in a right fellowship with Him and God's people, we would discourage you. We would tell you don't take the Lord's Supper. It is not gonna do anything for you. And we want to make certain somebody does believe someone is baptized. Someone does walk with God and his people so that you can participate in the Lord's Supper with us. The Lord's Supper is a fellowship meal shared in the church with Jesus Christ. Look, we're in Matthew 28. Let's go over to Matthew 26. This is when Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper. We're going to find the command to do that. He commanded to share a meal of bread and a cup of wine. Matthew 26, verse 26. It says, as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. Then he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you that I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. We've gained our outline from this passage in Corinthians. There's where our line comes. When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives, and we sing one of our songs at the end of our Lord's Supper. We see that the Lord commanded them to share a meal. It's bread. It's a cup of wine. The cup of wine is not... The emphasis is not on alcohol. In fact, he calls it the fruit of the vine in verse 29. It's not so much alcohol, it was a low alcoholic content. It's not the fortified wine of today. We use non-alcoholic wine. because we want to be certain that we don't have drunkenness in the church. Remember, that's what the Corinthians problem was. We went through that passage. They were actually getting drunk off of the wine, taking as much as they could, and they were rebuked for that sin. So to guard against that, we use non-alcoholic wine. There's a reason why we do that in our churches. It's to be careful that we don't commit the sin of drunkenness. It's the fruit of the vine. The bread and the cup represent the body of Christ. The bread and the cup represents the shed blood. We're to remember when we take this bread, we're to remember that Christ's body bore our sins. First Peter says, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. That Jesus lived a pure life and his body is his life. It was what he acted out in and there was no sin in it. But his body is what was put to death. And so here hung on a tree, the Old Testament said, curse at every man who hangs on a tree. And he was put on wood, the wood of a cross. And when Jesus hung on a cross, God cursed Him because of our sin. And Jesus gave His life, His body, to die on the cross. And He bore our sins. He carried them into the grave with Him and put them away forever. We are to remember that Christ's blood atones for our sin. And the word atonement can be used in a very general way. Atonement more directly talks about a covering of sin that God atones by covering sin, putting away sin, wiping away sin. But that's done in so many ways that God atones for sin through Christ's blood. Propitiation is a satisfaction of God's anger. Romans 3.25 said God set forth as a propitiation by His blood. That's who Christ was. Satisfied His anger and wrath against sin. Blood is in redemption. Atonement speaks of setting us free and paying the penalty for sin. Colossians 1.14 says, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Through Christ's blood and atonement, we also have justification. What gives you the right to stand before God? Where's your righteousness? Oh, don't make any boasts in your own self, but our righteousness is in Christ. It's His righteousness. Our righteousness and our right standing comes from Jesus, and justification begins with the blood of Christ. Romans 5, 9 says, much more than having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath through Him. Atonement also means an ownership. The Lord has paid a penalty for our sins. Acts 20, 28 says, Therefore, take heed to yourselves and all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers, speaking about the church and the pastors in the church. The pastors are to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. The Lord Jesus owns this church because he's made atonement for everyone in this church through his shed blood. It's his church. And then finally, when we're talking about that washing away of sin and atonement, the verse in the notes is 1 John 1, 7. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. See, you don't have a right fellowship with everyone in this church because you're such a good person that's never done anything wrong to anybody. Now, if you've done something wrong to somebody here, may you repent and go to that person and say, look, I'm sorry and I wanted to be right with you. But that still is not enough. The way we can be right with everyone and sin doesn't have to take a hold here and destroy like cancer this church is because there's a cleansing that has taken place with all of the believers gathered here. And that's why we're obligated to forgive because your sins have been forgiven by the blood of Jesus. My sins have been forgiven by the blood of Jesus. We have been made clean and pure so that we might be fellowshipping together by the blood of Jesus. Fellowship is the Greek word koinonia. Remember, I know we use this word around here a little bit like this. I try not to all the time. Fellowship is not coffee and cake. Fellowship is not just when we're downstairs having a meal on Sunday night. Fellowship is not just a gathering of a good time visiting with one another. We use the word that way. But biblical fellowship in the church is the same word as communion. This is a communion we're sharing. It means sharing together. It means cooperation. It means participating together in what is held in common. Let's turn quickly over to 1 Corinthians 10. See, you can fellowship around anything. People who are in a club together, they fellowship around whatever that club's about, whatever that hobby's about. You fellowship at work with your coworkers because the only reason you have a relationship with some of those people is because you work with them. And what you have in common is your job. And if you quit that job, you might not ever talk to those people again. I mean, you have anything against them, it's just the only thing you had in common with them is that's where you went to work. But brother and sister, we have something greater in common. We have the Lord Jesus Christ in common. We fellowship around Him. You have been saved. I have been saved. Christ died for your sins. His blood was shed for your sins. He died for my sins. His blood was shed for my sins. We have Christ in common. And 1 Corinthians 10, 16 says, the cup of blessing which we bless Is it not the communion of the blood of Christ, the bread which we break? Is it not the fellowship or the sharing together, the body of Christ? For we though many are one bread and one body. We all partake of that one bread. We are to fellowship with Christ and with each other. Jesus is what we have in common. Our salvation that each of us have is what we have in common. And if you look at 1 Corinthians 11 when we went through this verse, do you remember that that's what they're being rebuked for over in Corinth? Because they had all these divisions. And the whole point Paul was trying to make is if Christ died for each of you, if his body was given on the cross, if his blood was shed for you, how could you have this division? If all of you would look to Jesus and be centered on him and fellowship around him, you could overcome some of these differences. and you can have real fellowship and unity and togetherness and love and forgiveness for one another. So in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 17, the rebuke is, given these instructions, I do not praise you, since you come together, not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, in part I believe it. It's not supposed to be any divisions among us, because we have Christ in common. And Jesus can overcome all sin, all division, and make us one, unified together. So we come to this point where we observe the Lord's Supper, we have the instructions for the Lord's Supper in verses 23 through 26. We come to verse 27 and it says in 1 Corinthians 11, 27, therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. And so verse 28 says, well, examine ourselves. And so the first thing is, do you truly understand what the cup represents and what the bread represents? Have you really put your faith in Christ for his giving his life, his broken body, and his shed blood? You've put your faith in Christ, you understand, and you're in right fellowship with the Lord, and you're right fellowship with God's people. If that's the case, verse 28 says that we ought to examine ourselves to make sure that's right. If that's not true of you, if you've not really trusted Christ, if you've not been baptized, if you're not walking in a right relationship with God and with God's people, then you might refrain from this supper because you need to get right with God. You might need to get saved. You might need to get baptized. You might need to get something in your life right. But if we examine ourselves, remember, it's not that we have lived perfectly. We come and say, Lord, I know this isn't right, but I confess that sin. And we have this time of examination and confession so that we might say, might, in verse 28, eat, let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. We come to this time. have these symbolic demonstrations of the getting saved and the baptism and fellowship with Christ in the Lord's Supper. We've seen a baptism this morning, and now we're going to observe the Lord's Supper. Let's do this as we have a scripture reading to prepare our hearts. Let's turn to Ephesians. If you have your Bibles, turn to Ephesians chapter 4. I think this verse says something of baptism in it, this passage. And it also speaks about the unity and the fellowship that we ought to have in the Lord Jesus Christ. So turn to Ephesians chapter 4 and for our scripture reading we're going to read verses 1 through 6. And the Lord's word is a cleansing agent. We see the word and we correct ourselves and we say, Lord, that's how it is. That's the truth. I'm wrong. Oh, forgive me. Oh, I confess it's sin. Oh Lord, help me to live this way. And allow the word of God to wash over your heart so that you might be cleansed and confessing sin and preparing your heart to observe the Lord's supper. Let's all stand together. Ephesians chapter four, verses one through six. Let's read together out loud. as we prepare our hearts to observe the Lord's Supper. Ephesians 4, verse 1. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace There is one body and one spirit just as you were called in one hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptism one God and father of all who is above all and through all and and in you all. Praise the Lord. Let's take a time of silent prayer as each one of us prepares our heart to observe the Lord's Supper, then I'll close in prayer.