1 Corinthians 11, we looked last week at the fact that We must keep the ordinances according to Scripture. I know that there's a lot of tradition, a lot of differences. A lot of times, you know, I was talking to Tracy. I got his name right, man. Good. All right. Grew up Lutheran, right? So did I. My family grew up Lutheran. My dad was a deacon. I don't even know if they call them deacons, but some sort of deacon in Lutheran church. I remember getting up and preaching in Lutheran church. before he became a Christian. Then he became a Christian and he realized none of this was scriptural. By the way, read Luther's small catechism if you think he's a Christian. What he teaches people is not Christianity, it's not the gospel. And so I think there are Lutherans who are born again, and there are Lutheran churches that are very conservative, but, and this isn't Pick on Lutheran Day, I don't know, it just came up, but they believe, we talked about consubstantiation, that the essence of the bread and the juice are the body and blood of Christ. Catholics teach transubstantiation, that literally the moment that the priest blesses the elements They become the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ. And they last as long as the elements reading from their very their very books, about 15 minutes after you eat it. All right. So Jesus is in you for about 15 minutes. That's what they believe. That's what they say. And we know that's not scriptural. Jesus was speaking figuratively in John, chapter six, really just as he did today, hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Are we literally going to eat righteousness? No, it's the word picture, just to get across what the teaching that he's trying to get across is. And so when he said, you got to eat my flesh and drink my blood, he's not literally saying, you know, take a take a chunk out of my arm. All right. That's not what he's saying. And so he's saying, really, you have to be a part of me. It's it's your life for mine. And you see that in Galatians chapter two. Paul says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, my life because his life. It's a Christ life that I get to live as a believer. And so just we considered some of those things. The symbolism that really the Lord's table is a memorial. It is, as Paul writes in First Corinthians 11 and correcting some of the mistakes of the Church of Corinth. He says this, he says in verse 23, for I've received of the Lord That which also I delivered unto you, 1 Corinthians 11, 23, that the Lord the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. When he gave thanks, he broke it and said, take heed, this is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. Same thing with the juice. This do in remembrance of me. We consider the elements that they really did follow the Passover pattern, which the Passover, there was no leaven to be required or no leaven could be present at the Passover. And because Jesus celebrated the Lord's table, as part not at the Passover meal did not replace or Lord's Table did not replace the Passover meal, but rather it was celebrated after they had eaten. He break bread. And so Lord's Table was instituted as a part while they were sitting there as right. The disciples and the Lord celebrating the Lord's Day or the Passover together. There could not be any leaven. And so we know the bread he broke was not leavened bread. It was not alcoholic wine or fermented wine. Again, requires yeast to make alcohol that would not have been present. That's not what they used at the Passover. Now, you say, well, a lot of people do that today. It doesn't make it right. All right. We have to follow scripture, even when it doesn't go right or doesn't fit with today's culture. There's a lot of things that don't fit with today's culture. If you haven't quite been aware of that yet. But really, not just a symbol and a memorial, it's not just having the right elements, but it's also the right authority. And we think about the church. This is really a demonstration. The body of Christ. We represent the body of Christ here in Arlington. And that's what it describes. And so if you look at 1 Corinthians 11, The church must be unified. Part of the problem with the Church of Corinth is that there were so many divisions and schisms, and Paul rebuked them. He says, it's better that you don't get together. Like, stay home. Really, you get together, it becomes worse. And so there was so much division, and Paul was rebuking and correcting that. It's a church that has to be doctrinally pure. We considered that. He said, if you go to 1 Corinthians 11, And you look at verse 18, for first of all when you come together in the church I hear that there be divisions among you, I partly believe it. He says it's pretty evident. Verse 19, for there must be also heresies among you. And really false teaching and false doctrine really does get birthed out of a divided church. And division comes because of pride. And most false doctrine is a root of pride because I know more than the Bible. I have special knowledge. Really, it's just a modern form of Gnosticism. I know something you don't know. I have a special secret knowledge. And so a church that's unified, a church that's doctrinally pure, but also a church that is known or monitored. It's obvious to me that in order to be unified, I need to know who I need to be unified with. I said it last week, I'm okay with the Universal Church as long as if you believe in it, you go ahead and start tithing to me. Because the Bible says you're supposed to take care of the pastors. If I'm a pastor of the Universal Church, come on, send the checks, 8825 34th Avenue North. I'm joking. Because that's not true. Faith Baptist Church is responsible for caring for their pastor, and I appreciate that you all do. You care for us pastors. But we understand this, that in order to know, who am I to be unified with? Every believer? Those that have come together and are part of the church family, right? That have identified themselves and placed themselves under the authority of the New Testament church. How does the church know who to discipline? Right? The Bible says if your brother offends you, go to them. They won't listen. Take some witnesses. The third step is what? Bring them before the church. That's not Facebook, by the way. The Church of Facebook. That is the assembly. And of course, the disciples would understand this because they constituted that first church. Jesus celebrated the table with the 11. By the way, Judas was gone by the time they celebrated the table. He was no longer there. And so if you study the timeline of that, Judas had left and Jesus then breaks bread. And so we understand Jesus celebrating the table with the church. They knew who was a part of the church. Now, lastly, we looked at the idea that you must be a qualified saint. So the idea that is a member of the church and a member in good standing. We talked about the difference between close and open communion. And really, I won't go into that. If you'd like to listen to that, you can pull up last week's teaching. Lastly, we looked at we need to be qualified in examining ourselves. So let's go to first Corinthians 11. And then we're going to talk about when when should we observe it? Observe it. Did I say observe? Observe it. All right. 1 Corinthians 11, look what he says if you would in verse number 27. But let a man examine himself, so that let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup, after examining oneself. What's the problem? Well, eating and drinking unworthily, eat and drink with damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. That really, to me, is certainly I need to make sure that there is no known sin. I've had people say, well, I'm not going to take the supper. I'm not going to take the table pastor because I'm not right with God. So now you're going to be doubly disobedient. You're going to refuse to repent of your known sin and you're going to refuse to gather with your church family and celebrate the table. Why don't you just get right with the Lord? And really at that point, maybe we should just go ahead and not celebrate with you because you walk, right, disorderly. And there's a scripture in 1 Corinthians that talks about that, to not eat, even to eat with that person. And so to me, a person living in unrepentant sin needs to be dealt with. And so it's important that we examine ourselves, that we deal with what's taking place. And Lord, as far as I know, to the best of my knowledge, there's nothing between me and you. But I think that examination is not just of oneself but also of one's relationships. The Bible says that they eat and drink damnation because they do not discern the Lord's body. He's not talking about the bread there. He's talking about the church. What am I saying? And you that have been here a number of years know what I'm going to say here. What am I saying when I sit together with you And we partake of the bread and we drink of the juice. I am saying, you know what? As far as I know, there is no division or disunity among me or any other member of this church, beginning in our home, among a husband and wife, children, brothers and sisters in Christ. And really, we are representing the unified body of the Lord Jesus Christ by partaking of the table. And so I think it's an it's an it's evidence there ought to be evidence of the unity that we're walking in being the body of Christ. And that is what Christ wants. If you go to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, he describes this. If you look at verse number 14, for the body is not one member, but many. And every part of the body, he goes on, has a role. Verse number 20, but now are the many members yet one body. One body. I'm glad that my hands work together with the rest of my body, that they're in unity. Isn't that a blessing? You know, some people's bodies don't, right, Sister Debbie? Sometimes your body's like, it doesn't want to work together. And when your body is in disunity with one another, that's a real challenge, isn't it? Not to embarrass you, sister, but you just came to mine. Amen. Your foot doesn't want to pick up. You're like, come on, foot. And God intended for the church to work together in unity. Verse 21, the eye cannot say to the hand. This is 1 Corinthians 12. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee. So do you notice the context here? 1 Corinthians 11 says you don't discern the Lord's body, and then he goes on to talk about the body. What's the body? The church. In fact, he says this, nay, verse 22, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are, what? Necessary. I love that. Boy, that turns this world's thinking on its head, doesn't it? The world says the most important part of any organization is the leader. The truth of it is, God says the most important part of the church is the most feeble part. Look at verse number 23, and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need. There's parts of the church, there's members of the church, you're like, hey, you know what? They've got it figured out. There's not a bunch of needs there. They're not, you know, just taking and feels like they're taking all the time. And he says this. He says, but God hath tempered. What is the idea of tempering? Anybody ever worked with metal? What's the idea of tempering? What does tempering do? Strengthens the body. How does he strengthen the body? He puts what seems weak, what seems strong, and together, it actually makes the body what it ought to be. Isn't that beautiful how God's done this? Having given more abundant honor to the what? Part that lack. Look at verse 25, this is important. That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care, one for another. And whether one member suffer, what? All the members. Suffer with it or one member be honored. All the members what rejoice with it. Isn't this beautiful? You say, Pastor, this is just unusual. Many of you have been a part of churches and you say, man, I've never been a part of a church where there is perfect harmony and unity. And you know what? I don't think there will be exact perfect harmony and unity because we're all human. But we should strive and endeavor to keep the unity right of the spirit and the bond of peace. And the Lord's Table is that moment we sort of baseline. We come down and we say, okay, let's take care of things. Let's make sure things are right. And it keeps us from going and continuing on a bad path as a church. And it ought to be when people come into Faith Baptist Church, it ought to be the testimony of our church that people say, I've never seen such love and care for one another. And so we take the Lord's table and we take that moment that we pause and we examine ourselves individually and we examine ourselves as a body. And so my challenge you to examine yourself today, tomorrow. OK, man, is there anyone that maybe I'm I'm off with? Just go to them. So, hey, I just want to make sure we're right. Are we good? I want to apologize if I've done anything and have that opportunity, have that conversation. To me, it's beautiful. That's the way it ought to be. Amen. Let's talk about, I want to just very quickly, when do we observe the Lord's Supper? I'm going to see if this works. Ha ha, it works. I totally stole this graphic. So you say, Pastor, you are so awesome at graphic design. Thank Google. Anyway, all right. At least I didn't use AI, right? I could have used AI. All right, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, let's go look at verse number two, I wanna start there. He says, now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I deliver them to you. 2 Thessalonians 2.15 says, therefore, brethren, stand fast, hold to traditions, same the idea of ordinances, which you've been taught, whether by word or our epistle. God is very concerned about the way He specifies things, it being done the way He wants it to be done. Exodus 25, He gave Moses the pattern of the tabernacle. He said you need to make it that way. Exodus 25 verse number 40, He said you need to make the instruments of the tabernacle after the pattern that I showed thee in the mount. God has given us a model. And that model is found here in 1 Corinthians 11, in verse number 23. The Bible says, he says in verse 23, he says, I have received, rather, for I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord, look at this, the same night in which he was betrayed, what? took bread. So we know the Lord's table preceded the journey to the garden and there at the garden He was betrayed. So that same night He took the bread. Now I talked about this morning, many will ask, was not Jesus crucified on what we commonly refer to as Good Friday? Now there's a reason people think it was Friday. Does anybody know why? Brother Rob? The Sabbath. When is Shabbat or Sabbath? Seventh day of the week, Saturday, okay? So they think because if you look at, for example, John 19 31, it says, the Jews, therefore, because it was the preparation that the body should not remain on the cross for that Sabbath day was a high day. The Bible very clearly tells us that there was something different about this Sabbath. And I'm here to tell you that in the Jewish calendar, Sabbath was not always a Saturday. In fact, sometimes there was at this particular week, there were two Sabbaths. There was the regular Sabbath on Saturday. And by the way, all your Sabbath keeper friends, make sure they know this. If they're going to keep the Sabbath, they better not do anything on Thursday. or they're in trouble, all right? Anyway, by the way, Exodus 17, I think, the Sabbath keeper, they're not even to leave their house. All these Seventh-day Adventists going to church on Saturday are actually breaking God's law. So just tell them that next time you talk to them, okay? So anyway, that's what it says. It says you shouldn't even leave your house. Where are they out on Saturday? So they keep the laws that they like to keep, but not... So then ask them, how many of the 613 have you kept? Ask them in the name, please name me all 613 laws you must keep to be saved. I can't even do the two that Jesus gave. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. Yeah, can't even do that, all right? Anyway, so that was an aside. We've hit Lutherans and now Seventh-day Adventists tonight. Maybe we'll go for three for three. All right, here we go. I say this because there's so much confusion. When you go to Zambia, the Seventh-day Adventists are all over the place. New Zealand, they're all over the place. And so you really have to know why what they teach is a false gospel. So, we understand, if you understand that there are two Sabbaths that week of the Passover, you're not going to try to fit three days into one. Go, if you would, to John 2, please. Keep your finger there in 1 Corinthians. Go to John 2. Let's see what Jesus said. Jesus gives a prophecy here in John 2, verse 19. John 2, verse 19. It says this, Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, notice the next four words, and in what? Three days. Now, I went to public school for half of my career. I also went to Christian school. And then I was also homeschooled, so I have a really bit of a mess educationally. But I did learn to count to three. Yeah, OK. I still can do it. All right? Thankfully, boy, I tell you, I'm glad I'm not missing any digits, Sarah. How do you count to five, sister? Anyway, all right. Oh, it's five and a half, or four and a half. All right? Anyway. Too soon? Not too soon. OK, good. Anyway, Sarah lost a bit of her pinky during an accident a while back, so we tease her. But 1, 2, 3. So OK, Johnny, you look like you're really smart. Are you really smart? Sometimes? OK, all right. So if today is Saturday or Friday, and I need to go to Sunday, how many days is that? Friday? Yeah. Okay. So is that three days? No. It's two days. Okay. So we know that He wasn't crucified on Friday. And really what's important, Jesus said and made it very clear, it would be three days. Matthew 20, verse 19. And some believe in a Thursday. I personally believe in a Wednesday crucifixion. The Bible says, "...and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles, to mock, to discourage, to crucify Him. And the third day He shall rise again." When we see the Lord's words, you can't construe them to mean anything but that it was an actual three days in the grave. Jesus says in Matthew 12, 40, 1st Jonas was three days, and here's another piece, and three nights in the whale's belly. So shall the Son of Man be what? Three days and what? Three nights. So it wasn't just three days. You could say, well, Friday, Saturday, Sunday is three days. No, he said three days and three nights. So it's important that we take the word of God literally. So to have three consecutive days and nights, there's no way to fit them all within Friday to Sunday morning. So how do we number the days? Well, first of all, there's an important thing. You have to understand that the Jewish day did not start in the morning. The Jewish day started at sundown. So, here in about three and a half hours, a new day would start, a new Jewish day would start. So, Monday starts at 6 p.m. on Sunday. Is that confusing enough? All right, so the Jewish day was viewed this way, night and then day, night and then day. That was a full day. In fact, we see that God established that as the day, Genesis 1-5, and God called the light day, the darkness he called night, and the, do you know this one? And the evening and the morning were the first day. That's where they get that from. Again, Genesis 1-8, and God called the firmament heaven, and the evening and the morning were the second day, and I could go on. So, the Jewish day begins with sundown. Therefore, the first day of the week began when? When did Sunday begin for the Jew? Saturday night, right. When does Shabbat begin? So if you go to Israel, Shabbat begins Friday night at 6 p.m. All the buses shut down. You can't go anywhere. Most all the restaurants shut down. You literally are stuck. So Shabbat in Israel begins Friday night at 6 p.m. And it goes all the way till Saturday till what? 6 p.m. Why? Because what starts Saturday at 6 p.m.? Sunday! Alright. How do you like that? Alright. So the Jewish day is identified by the six hours or the 12 hours a day that begin at sun up. OK, the night six or 12 hours beginning at 6 p.m. the prior day sundown. In fact, if you look at first in John chapter nine, verse four, Jesus says, I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work. The hours of labor in the day, half a day, 12 hours would be the day line. I'm not going to go. Now if we count backwards three days, now remember he rose on the first day. When did the first day begin? Saturday at 6 p.m. Let me say it again. When did Sunday begin? If he rose on the first day, when did the first day begin? Saturday at 6 p.m. Not Sunday morning like us Western thinkers think. All right, I don't know if you can see this up here. So this is a good way to view it. If you think about Jesus was in the grave, how many days? Three days and three nights. If He rose on the first day of the week, Sunday, on the beginning of the Feast of Weeks, the first fruits, He rose sometime after 6 p.m. on Saturday night. So let's count. If we have three days and three nights in the grave, we have what? We have the Sabbath. which began when? When did the Sabbath begin? Friday at 6 p.m. We have Friday. When did Friday begin? Thursday at second full day and full night. And then when did Thursday begin? Wednesday at 6 p.m. If he was in the grave three days and three nights, he had to be in the grave prior to what? Wednesday at... Does that make sense? So this is why the Bible tells us all the answers. We just got to think and we have to understand. This is worth studying the scriptures. You've got to understand a little context. We interpret things in the light of our Western views. And that's where we get in trouble. And so you can see the timeline here, right? The Last Supper was when? Tuesday during the day. When did Wednesday begin? Tuesday night at what? So technically, we should celebrate the Lord's table at like 5 p.m., but y'all will be at work, so we're gonna do it a little later, all right? So, the day of preparation was Wednesday. He was taken that night, Tuesday night, which would have been Wednesday. He was taken and tried, remember? In fact, the Sanhedrin met in the evening, which was illegal to do, to try him. When did they meet? They met, right, on Wednesday, the first night, night, day. He was then tried and then crucified at 9 a.m. on Wednesday morning. He hung on the cross for approximately six hours and died at 3 p.m. Here they were, use the word Yeshua, Jesus Yeshua. His body was placed in the tomb prior to the high Sabbath. Now, how do we know this? They were in a rush to get His body into the tomb because of that Sabbath, because they could not. And so they worked to get Him into the tomb prior to the beginning of the High Sabbath, the day of preparation, right? And if you follow the Passover, you could actually lay that on top of when the Lamb was slain. That day of preparation, there were hundreds of thousands of sheep and lambs. right, preparing and then being slain. In fact, so much blood was shed there on the Temple Mount. They said that the Brook Kidron, which was the valley that runs next to the Temple Mount, was full of blood on those days. It was just, it was, it was. And so Jesus, the, right, the final sacrificial lamb, the Lamb of God. He laid in the grave on the high Sabbath, which is the first day of unleavened bread. He was there on Friday. The women go on Friday because it's not a Sabbath. They purchase the spices to anoint His body after Baha'i Sabbath and before the weekly Sabbath. They rest on Saturday because they're good Jews. And then they come on Sunday and they try to find Him. And is He there? So let me ask you, if we followed this calendar, when would we celebrate the Lord's table? And so this is why we celebrate on Tuesday. Now, there are churches that say, you can only celebrate on this Tuesday and no other time of the year. I don't believe the Bible is that strict. The Bible says, as oft as you, right, eat and drink, this do in remembrance of me. So I do believe that a church has the latitude to say, you know what, we're going to have a special time at the Lord's table. Now, what I'm generally, we try to be careful of is churches that do it every week. Let me ask you a question. What are you doing if you do the Lord's Table every week? There's a couple things that happen. One, because of human nature. What happens when you do something every week? It becomes a what? A ritual. Does that have any meaning? Wouldn't it be awesome to celebrate your birthday every week? Right? Right? Brother Zach, your birthday's today, right? Happy birthday, Brother Zach. All right, you guys didn't know that, did you? See, he probably thought I forgot it. Anyway, once a guy gets hits, are you 30 yet? 31. Yeah, you don't care anymore. It's just birthdays. So anyway, I just figure you guys are trying to fatten me up so I die quicker is how I view it. Anyway, no. So it'd be awesome. For a while, it'd be pretty cool to celebrate a birthday, especially the kids. They would love that. Dad's birthday every week. But then it would become a ritual, and then it would lose its meaning. And that's what happens in many churches. They celebrate the Lord's table every week. And what happens? It begins to lose its meaning. Secondly, what happens? The Bible says you better examine yourself before you take this table, right? If you're taking it every week, what's the possibility of people getting to the place where they don't really take the time to examine it, examine themselves? Quite high, isn't it? Notice that, again, let's go back to 1 Corinthians 11. And I've got to finish up. I shortened the service so we could be done quicker and then you know how it is. Anyway, 1 Corinthians 11. This is vital, verse 30. Not examining yourself, you drink damnation. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many what? Sleep. So there's two things. To take of this table and to do so unworthily without examining oneself means what? You're putting people in a situation where they drink damnation, meaning there's sickness and even death that results. Do you think God takes this very seriously? So we ought to take it very seriously as well. Now, there's nothing mystical in the elements. There's nothing mystical in its practice. But God has given us very specific instructions and we must be obedient to those instructions. And so that's where I want to encourage you. So if people believe that it's Good Friday, don't like punch him in the face verbally on Facebook, like you're a heretic. No. Most people don't even know. They don't think they just, you know, they just receive what's been told them. And what I would challenge you to do is there is a Thursday view. I don't agree with it because I don't see how you get three days and three nights at a Thursday view. But I would challenge you to go study this for yourself. It's a fascinating study. What will really be interesting is go and lay the actual activities of the atonement week on top. And as they are slaying the lamb. As they are cutting the lamb's neck throat on the Temple Mount for the atonement of the people. Guess who's dying? The actual lamb. To me, it's just, it's fascinating. So neat how God puts it all together. Only he could have put this together like this, amen? And so, all right, we'll stop there. And I wanted to make sure that we had this teaching before we get to the Lord's table so that we take it seriously and we understand what we're doing. So let me stop, any questions, thoughts? This is always a dangerous, oh, Don. No, anyway, he's a member now. Now he's like, ah, I can say what, no. Go ahead, Don, I'm just joking. Well, if you know there's a known issue between a brother outside the church, I think if the Lord's laid that on their heart, you should. I think specifically the act of taking and eating the bread and drinking the juice is really if it's within the church body. But I think to me it would be like if I know that I'm not right with someone, that would just be sin that I need to take care of. It's a good question. Yes, Sister Debbie. I've heard that as well. I think that's a good way to look at it. I mean, in the sense that they are both ordinances that protect the church, for sure. Baptism is the gateway to the church, right? Someone can't be a member unless they're scripturally baptized. The Lord's Table is what helps keep the church thinking about purity within the church. Yeah, that's a good one. Amen. Anyone else? Anybody on the left? How about the right? Yes, David. So this is the atonement week. It's a unique week. They call it Purim today. You'll hear it described as Purim. But this is the week because the Jews do not have a temple so they cannot offer an atonement sacrifice right now. There's no altar. There's no temple. And so they celebrate but there's no one. Now they're getting ready. It's interesting to study that. They've got all the instruments ready. They've got the drawings ready. They're ready to rebuild the temple today. And that's really a fascinating thing that they're doing. What's crazy is that they're redoing a bunch of stuff that they don't need to do. That's what's so sad. But to answer your question, this is the atonement week. And that first Sabbath right after the sacrifice of the atonement lamb, then they would eat the Passover meal. And that would have been rather on Tuesday all the way through the week. Anyone else? Good question.