WHBC
09/22/2024 - Bro. Charles Hunt
These guys came from an orchestra of a blessed God. Get them back next week, amen. Thank you guys, wonderful, wonderful. Turn it you into the 10th chapter of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, we've got a lot to do. We're not gonna read the scripture this morning. We'll just know that we're in chapter 10 and chapter 11. 'Cause we think this morning about the communion table. 20 years ago when I came to Woodland Hills, there were a couple of demands that I did have. And one of them was no one would tell me what to preach. That's just one of my things. One of them was no one would tell me who would fill this pool pit except me. And that's one. The other one was no one would tell me when to do the Lord's Supper except me. I've probably been criticized more in the last 40 years because I had the same thing in the church I came from. Of people saying, well, we always used to the Lord's Supper ever won. We used to the Lord's Supper ever quarter. We used to the Lord's Supper. Well, God convicted me 40 years ago. That when we do the Lord's Supper, it's not to be a tack on or a ritual. And so we do the Lord's Supper when God says, do the Lord's Supper. So if, you know, and I try to, I'm trying to be sensitive to the Lord. I'm not criticized anyone. I know different people come from different places, have different things. But I just have this understanding that this is a special table here. This is not something to wince down at the end of the service and say, well, we did communion. This is a special table. This represents the foundation of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's been maintained in the church for the last 2000 years. Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, in verse 14, he said, "Wherefore my dearly beloved, flee from a dollar tree." Now we, this morning we've got, I know there are people from Pakistan listening to us this morning. There are people from Kenya, there are people from India. I know all of those guys, those pastors and those churches they're listening to us this morning. Those folks are literally dealing with idols. I'll never forget years ago, Brother Mark Humboldt and I were in New York City. We got in a cab and on the front dash of that cab was a little Buddha, a little doll, and just his head just went around and around. And we said, hey, that's my God, my God, my God. And we didn't say anything, we've been very nice. He turned around and he said, "You have gods?" Brother Mark said, "He won't fit on that dash." (congregation laughing) Whoo, aren't you glad our God don't fit on a dash? Hey man, I tell you, we're not necessarily concerned about those idols there, but anything that keeps us from serving God that takes first place in our life that is supreme to us. The old Moody said it like this, now we don't do this anymore, either we don't write checks much anymore either. We have debit cards and all that junk, but Moody said, "Give me your checkbook "and I'll show you who your God is in about 10 minutes." We've heard the challenge that he spoke in 2 Corinthians 6, come out from a Mongolian, be ye separate, say the Lord, touch not the unclean. And he said, "I'll receive you." Ephesians 5, 11 tells us we have to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. So the cup of blessing that we bless, he said here in the scripture in 1 Corinthians 10, I'm reading it, "Is it not the communion "of the blood of Christ, the bread which we break? "Is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" And in these words, he shows us that literally the Lord's Supper is the foundation for the Christian community. It's our foundation here. When our Lord instituted the Lord's Supper, I'm 71 years old, or I will be, a couple of weeks, I've never seen this. When the Lord instituted the Lord's Supper on the night in the upper room, he broke bread, gave a blessing. And then he had the cup. But here in 1 Corinthians, whoever the writer is, Paul, he does the cup first and then the bread. I've never seen that before. Now we're gonna do it the way the Lord did it this morning. We're gonna do our traditional way. We're gonna break bread, have a blessing, and then have the cup, and have a blessing, and drink of the cup. But here, he talks about the cup and presents the cup before he does the bread. And as I begin to search it and begin to research this, I think what he's saying here is, I think what he's saying here is, the precious blood of Jesus, there's nothing else that can compare. Any sin you walked in here with this morning can be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. It's the blood where the life is. And so, we need to remember that there are two ordinances, and this may jerk somebody's chain too, but according to the Bible, there are two ordinances that a church has. One of them is the Lord's Supper, and one of them is baptism. Those are the two ordinances that a New Testament church has. Now I know we've got organizations and different ones that will carry a trailer around and baptize people wherever they are, and that's fine, I'm not knocking any of that. I'm just saying, as us, as a church at Woodland Hills, they have this church, we believe there are two ordinances. We don't think baptism has to take place here, but it has to be commended by the church because it's an ordinance of the church. It's an ordinance of the church. Those ordinances are given to us. We think sometimes just to help us, but they're really given to us to show the world that we're different from the world. Baptism is an outward symbol of what's happening on the inside and it's telling the world that we're gonna live for Jesus. The Lord's Supper speaks of Christ's death for me as only the only ground of approach that we can have to fellowship with God. You can't have any of it. If you don't come to Jesus, you can't get to God. Jesus said, "I'm the way, the truth, and the life. "No man comes to the Father, but by me." That's what he said. The baptism speaks of my death with Christ. I'm buried in darkness, raised and walked in newness of life. And so in chapter 11, this next chapter here of the Lord's Supper, he said, "As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, "you do show the Lord's death till he comes." That word show is translated on many occasions in the book of Acts as the word for preach. We're to preach that the Lord is coming again. That's what we're doing when we participate in this Lord's Supper. So the emphasis is on the cup, the cup of blessing. He said, "Is not it the communion of Christ?" And then the blood to redeem us from all things. And then the emphasis falls to the bread, which we break. "Is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" Listen, we come in here in different places. We have different attitudes, we have different personalities, we have different lifestyles, we have different homes, we have different relatives, we have different, all those are different. But when we gather in here, upside this table right here, we're united because of the bread and the wine that is symbolized here in this Lord's Supper. So it's very important to us. Now in verse 13, he said of chapter 10, "There have no temptation taken you, "but such as is common to man, but God is faithful. "Who will not suffer you to be tempted above "that you're able, but will with the temptation "also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear." Now you say, preacher, I know that's what the Bible says, but no, put your butt in a different place. (congregation laughing) Hey man, I mean, you can talk about how difficult temptations are, but God. You can say it's impossible, but God. You can say, I can't do this, but God. You put that butt God in there and it changes any situation you're at. He says here, now we can wine and we can say, Lord is just so hard, he didn't say it'd be easy, but he said, but God is faithful. Who will not suffer you to be tempted above what? You're able. Then he said, in verse 14, therefore my beloved, flee from idolatry, idolatry, anything that you love more than God, anything that keeps you from being supremely devoted to the king of kings and Lord of lords, anything that causes you to pursue something else rather than pursue the glory of God. Well, how do we do this? Well, let me just go quickly. There's three things I just wanna point out that we need to be doing. If you come to my house and I'm putting on the table, we just sit down, we'll have blessing, we'll eat. But if you come to my wife's house and she's putting on the table. I think right now you're gonna have to go wash your hands. She got certain standards at her table. And as we come to partake of this Lord's supper table, there are three standards as found in chapter 10 that just stick out to us. Standard number one is this, as we come to partake of this table, we need to live separately. He said, come out from among them and be your separate says the Lord. Don't touch what it's unclean and I'll give you a receipt. He said in Exodus chapter 11 verse seven, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites. What does that mean? Whether the Egyptians represent the world and the Israelites represent the people of God. He said in Exodus 11, hey, there is a difference between the people of God and the people of the world. And then in Ezra 10 11, separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the pagans lie. Throughout the Bible, God tells us to be separated from the world. We're to be set apart for him. Now, that's what Paul's addressing here. Let me hurry on to tell you this. Separation is not isolation. Our job is to reach people with the salvation message for the glory of God. You can't do that while we're sitting here and here isolated, praise the Lord. So it's got to be something else different here. This separation cannot be isolated. We're moving in ungodly circles and we're investing in the lives of lost people. And if we're sensitive to the Holy Spirit, they'll come a time when they'll say, wait a minute, wait a minute, this is kind of pulling me toward the world. And I need to stop for a moment. I need to reexamine my life. I need to make sure that everything I'm doing is for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we've got to keep working in this world. We've got to, that's why people say, well, you know, you're mixed up in politics. No, this world's never gonna get any better than what it is. Our future's not here, we're just passing through. Yeah, but we do have a little bit to say, you know, 20 million Christians didn't vote in the last election? 20 million, hmm. I don't know if it made a difference. I don't know what would make a difference. I don't think a whole lot's gonna make a whole lot of difference 'cause I think God's sovereign. He's got a plan, he's working it out. Let me just get real personal. Our church this year, similar to church years in past, we've seen many people come to be saved and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. But we've also seen others come and say, we wanna be a part of this church. You can ask my staff on a regular occasion. I get questioned or strangled by other pastors who say you're stealing our sheep. I'm not stealing any sheep. I ask them, I ask them this question. When a member of Woodland Hills comes to your church to join, do you tell them, oh no, you can't join. You're a member of Woodland Hills, hmm? And they'll tell me what, nobody from Woodland Hills ever comes and joins our church, I don't know, praise the Lord. (congregation laughing) Praise the Lord. (congregation laughing) There are some things I wanna just tell you. Be honest with you, I'm thinking the preacher's out here listening to me too. There are some things you need to dine up in your church that you're gonna believe because these are last days we're living in and we're watching the Holy Spirit walk out of church after church after church and people still trying to put on the ritual and trying to put on everything. Listen, we gotta stand for the word of God. We're not going back down on the word of God. And in these last days, they're gonna be fewer and fewer. Some of you right here sitting here this morning, you're gonna come a time in your life and say, "I've had about all that hollering preaching mess I want." And I'll tell you, for everyone who hollering preach you the truth, there's 15 more that you can go and sit there and just sleep through it. Help yourself. But I wanna be on the cutting edge when the Lord comes. We live separately, but we do not compromise our standards. It is the word of God. Let me give you a second thing quickly. We're gonna get out here on time today. Maybe. (congregation laughing) Live separately. And then live sacrificially. Verse 24 says, "Let no man seek his own, "but each one the others well being." You see, we're not just simply saved to serve the Lord. We're saved to live before others so that our actions and our responses to them would be, "Wow, he must have a big God." It's not important who the preacher is. It's not important who the church is. It's not important who the denomination is. What's important this morning is who the Lord Jesus is. If you're moving among unbelievers and you're talking with them and you're eating with them, don't ever lower your standards to the ungodly living. You say, "I can't do that, but God, yes you can, yes you can." You say, "Well, they won't have anything to do with me." They won't until they get in the bind and they'll know where you come from. You'll be the first one they look to. I'm telling you, our first concern must always be the spiritual health of every person. One of the hardest things of being a pastor, it's not so hard if you're in a small church, it's pretty easy. But when you get in a larger church, I'm gonna tell you the truth I it is. Those who love young people, they want us to do everything for the youth ministry. Those who have children, they want us to do everything for the children. Those who have preschoolers, they want to do everything for the preschoolers. Those who are in the choir, woo, hallelujah, we do everything for the choir. And everybody's got their own little technique. Listen to me, we're a family of God and we all are together. And this table reinforces that. What we've got in common is not that we've got children or youth or music abilities or teaching abilities or preaching abilities or any of that. What we have in common is there was a man who died on Calvary and rose up from the dead the third day and we celebrate that. It's us, we're to live sacrificially. I was speaking with a man this week and he said, I know you're asking for money. I said, I don't ask nobody for no money. Yeah, legacy hopes next week. I said, no, you must have misunderstood it. I asked you to pray. Say, I want to tell you something this morning, chair. I'm gonna shoot straight with you. We don't have money problems. All the money we need to operate this entire church and triple our mission to sitting right here in this room. It is not a money problem. It's a heart problem. And when you get your heart right with God, that's why I'm asking you. I don't want you to sacrifice anything, give anything. Just get your heart right with God. But God, every, I better move on. I'm gonna get in trouble. Live sacrificially, live separately and then thirdly, live single-mindedly, single-mindedly. He said in verse 31, therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. Do all for the glory of God. We're not to be reaching out and winning others for our self-glory. We're not to be reaching out to others so that we can put more numbers on the board or so that we can add more money, Doc. No, no, he said everything we do has got to be, not look at me, not look at us, but look at him. Everything has got to be for the glory. Every lesson you teach ought to be for the glory of God. Every sermon you preach, every life you reach, every song you sing, every prayer you utter, every tear you shed, do it for the glory of God. Now listen to me just in closing. You can't drink the cup of the Lord and drink the cup of demons at the same time. You can't be living for the world and the flesh and the devil and come in and expect to be a protector of the Lord's Supper. I hasten to tell you this now. You say, "Well, I've read the scriptures "houses in 1st Corinthians 11, "that it'd be better not to partake of the Lord's Supper "unworthy because if I did, "it could bring damnation to me." So therefore, I'm just not gonna take that. That's not what that scripture is there for. That scripture is there to tell you. You don't need to partake of the Lord's Supper unworthily. So what do you do? Well, I'm just not gonna partake of it. Now, you get your heart right with God. That's what he's saying. You get your heart right with God. That's why that scripture is there. Don't come down here or as I pass this bread and this drink to you, don't you sit there with uncontested sin in your life because God will bring judgment. That's why we have an invitation time before that. You can come to this altar. You can sit in your seat. You can do whatever, but you don't need to let anything, nothing stand between you and a holy God. And whatever it is, you need to confess it. Get rid of it. I wouldn't hasten to say that you can go ahead and do it. You can do it on the outside physically. And I mean, we're not witch hunters. We're not gonna say, "Well, he shouldn't have done that." No, but you're not gonna fool God. You can fool this preacher. He doesn't know that anyway. But I'll tell you, you're not gonna fool God. A young man is engaged to a beautiful woman. He comes over and brings her some roses, brings her some chocolate candy. Every young girl likes chocolate candy, amen? And he kisses her. He tells her all the things. He whispers in his ear, in her ear. They just have a wonderful relationship. But the next night, he goes out to another girl and he does the same thing. He kisses her. He speaks sweet things in her ear. And the next night, he goes out to another girl and he does the same thing. And then that fortnight, he comes back to his original girl like nothing has ever happened. Could I tie that in to us? We sit in here on Sunday, we say, "Lord, we love you. "Jesus Messiah, "whoo, oh, how I love." And then on Monday, we go out in the world. And when tears do we go to another spot in the world and on Thursday we're somewhere else. And then next Sunday, we come on back up in here in church, like nothing has happened. Wouldn't be long, I can't speak for you girls. Good Lord help mercy, I've been trying for 70 years, figured women out, hadn't done it yet. But I would presume that when you found out about that, you'd say, "Look here, buddy, I'm living for you. "I've dedicated myself to you. "You're supposed to be dedicated to me. "And you ain't going out here in a week "with all these other girls going on. "It's me or it's nothing." I wonder if maybe we could give Christ that same standing. I wonder if we could just say, "Lord, you know every one of us, "break our heart, Lord Jesus. "Lord, forgive us for being involved in this world "and being so entangled in this world. "We've got to be in it. "We've got to be chasing the lost people. "We've got to be witnessing for the glory "of the Lord Jesus Christ. "But we cannot live an ungodly life. "These altars are going to be open here. "I'll be able to receive you down here at the front, "maybe today, you've just never been saved. "You've never trusted Christ as your Savior. "And today, you'd say, "I need to be saved today. "Today's the day of salvation. "Maybe today, you need a church home "and you've been saying, "Well, God, I think this is where "you want me to be, well, then do it. "It's like Nike, do it. "Maybe today, you'd be honest and say, "Lord, there's some things that I've let crap in. "They crept in. "I didn't notice them at first, "but I've noticed my heart's got a little harder. "I've noticed my temper is a little tougher. "And Lord, I just want to come and cleanse my heart "before you. "And I want to partake of this summer. "I want to celebrate with our church. "And with the Lord Jesus. "Father, you know every one of us in this place today. "Lord, could your will be done in our lives? "We come to this sacred moment. "Lord, with we prepare our hearts "to sit at your table. "We're reminded, Lord Jesus, "at one day there's going to be a table in heaven. "Go to a wedding feast. "We're going to sit, put our feet under your table. "We're going to be your guest. "But until then, Lord Jesus, "as we prepare for this table, "keep our hearts in tune with you. "Whatever it might take, "whatever Lord Jesus, "we'll give you glory for Jesus. "Would you stand together as Brother Aaron leads us? "You come during this invitation. "God, speak into your heart. "Come on.