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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/scott-macleod/principles-regarding-the-lords-supper/
I'm going to be very brief. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Just take about 20 minutes. Sometimes you come to a conference. Normally, you have a message or two on your mind. And this is just something that I have been enjoying personally.
It's always good to be able to defend from the Bible what we believe and why we do that. Now, our brother made a comment about knowing and being able to come to the Word of God. So I am just enjoying a simple word on the Lord's Supper, a very significant meeting of a New Testament church.
And there's lots of confusion out there as to it. And there might be some people that you run into. And they might think, oh, that's just what you folks do in the gospel hall. Well, we want to be able to go beyond that statement.
And we want to be able to go to the Word of God. So we're going to look just very simply at what it is, and just the timing of it, and a few things like that. And I trust that it will encourage the younger folks.
So let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11. There's so much here that you could go into. But verse 23, we'll just get right to the center of it. Verse 23, for I have received of the Lord. This is Paul by the Spirit of God writing.
This would be the first written account of the upper room, what took place there. It's going to come later in the Gospels as the other writers will come online. But for I have received of the Lord, for I have received from the Lord.
Just keep that in mind. That which also I delivered unto you. So when he was here in Corinth, he already had mentioned this to them. Just keep that in mind. That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed.
The grammar of that verb is very significant. While he was being betrayed. That, dear child of God, tells us that Judas Iscariot was not at the first Lord's Supper where it was instituted. So he had left.
After the feet washing, he had left. And then the Lord Jesus brings on what we're about to look at here. Took bread. Now that, I'm just giving you some things that you can think about. I met, how would you answer this question?
I met an individual who challenged me on, Scott, you folks are wrong. You're using leavened bread. It has to be unleavened bread. Because leaven in the Bible speaks of sin, yeast. The Lord Jesus, no sin in him.
And there you guys sit in front of a puffed up loaf. Isn't it amazing? The Spirit of God chooses the common word for bread. Which would include unleavened bread, pumpernickel bread, raisin bread, bran bread.
I don't care what kind of bread it is. You got a cracker, use it. But there's a separate Greek word for unleavened bread. And it would be, see, I've got to slow down. Listen, we have to read our Bibles carefully.
When you go through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and they're giving you the account, we know that it was the Passover. We know that what followed the Passover was the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That's when all leaven, anything, was to be removed out of the house.
So naturally speaking, you would, in your mind, go, oh, that's what they must have used. OK. What does the Spirit of God do in Matthew, Mark, and Luke? He uses the common word for bread. The Lord took bread, leavened bread.
And amazing, just even going against the whole logical backdrop of unleavened. So there is how we defend things, dear child of God. We come and we let the grammar, we let the words, we let the context just simply build a truth for us.
That's what we're learning here. The reason I'm picking 1 Corinthians 11, I find that to be significant. Paul was not in the upper room. Logically speaking, if I would have done it, being the Lord, I would have let one of the disciples who witnessed the first, the institution.
There it is. The Lord has given it. The Passover's over. That old system is done with. Now there's a bringing in of a whole new thing. But Paul, the Spirit of God chooses this man Paul. Tremendous, when we think of all the epistles that come from him, particularly in relation to church truth.
That's another whole lesson. Verse number 24, and when he had given thanks, he break it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. After the same manner, also he took the cup.
When he had supped, not, look at some of those words. That doesn't mean that he partook of the cup. After he had suppered, it's looking back to the Passover that was done, that was finished. And just as after the Passover was done, he took the bread, now he takes the cup.
That's the parallel that you're seeing there. Verse 25, after the same manner, he took also the cup. When he had supped, saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it.
Does that mean that we can do it whenever we want? My wife's brother, who would go to a denominational church, he said, there'd be nothing wrong if we broke bread seven days a week. Is that right? Is that right?
And this is the verse he quoted. The Bible says, as oft as ye do it. So now you just lodged that in your brain. We're gonna test that with the word of God, okay? Ye drink it in remembrance of me. Did you notice that second time, in remembrance of me?
Luke will give you the third time. In remembrance of me. We don't need to say it, but we're gonna say it. Brothers and sisters, it's all about him. In remembrance of me. Please don't allow the Lord's Supper, the breaking of bread, to devolve into, it's all about my worshiping.
The purpose for gathering is to fulfill a simple command of the Lord Jesus. The bread and the cup are not a little add-on at the end. Oh, we almost forgot. We gotta do this. That's the focus. That's the goal.
It's his desire for all of his people, not only to be baptized, as we've been hearing, but to be part of a New Testament church. And this is one of the privileges, the functions of a New Testament church.
This is another thing that will challenge you. People will challenge you with this, as long as you're saved, you can partake of the loaf. Which epistle deals with the massive bride body of Christ? You say, that's Ephesians.
That's right. It's all about being in the heavenlies. It's all about being in Christ. And this mystery that was hidden in the Old Testament is now being revealed by the Spirit of God through the pen of the Apostle Paul.
You never get the breaking of bread mentioned in Ephesians. Never. What epistles, just think of one, focuses on the New Testament church? Down at the local level, we're reading it. Church of God in Corinth.
That's where you get it. The breaking of bread is not something, oh, just because you're saved. Now you're gonna say to me, prove that. Well, thanks for the question. Go to Acts chapter two, let's just prove it.
These are very, very simple things. But as our brother just finished saying, we need to teach our younger people. We need to remind our older, middle-aged people. These are things that are in the word of God.
And there's a pressure out there, religious pressure on this particular point that is going to try to warp our minds and to make us think that we're doing something that is wrong. When we come to Acts chapter two, you've got the spirit of God that has come down in verse number one.
And here in Jerusalem, right in the city of Jerusalem, there's two things that were formed on that day. There is the body of Christ, which is going to compose every single believer from Acts chapter two right up until the rapture.
But then there is a local testimony, a local church right there in the city of Jerusalem. After this, there'll be a number of them that will spread throughout the world. But notice what we read, verse 41.
Then they that glad received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them, added unto them about 3 ,000 souls. If you're in Acts chapter one, the Lord Jesus told that little group that was around him to go back into Jerusalem, go up into the upper room.
And he said, wait 10 days. Wait for the descent of the spirit of God. And isn't it amazing? Never avoid numbers in your Bible. The spirit of God tells us how many people are in the room? 120. There's a group together, 120 people.
And then we move into chapter two, verse one, and down comes the spirit of God. And that 120 people were the first members of the local church in the city of Jerusalem. Then this man, Peter, stands up.
People try to tell me today that gospel meetings are not assembly meetings. If it's being done where the assembly meets, it's an assembly meeting. If it's being done out in a field where there's a tent, that's not an assembly meeting.
I know that's gonna probably disturb some people. I'll tell you how to just think it through. If you had a tent 50 miles down the road from where Cedar Fall meets, would you go there and break bread? No, you say you go here where the hall is.
That's where the testimony is. When I come into the book of Revelation, I'm introduced to the church at Ephesus. I will remove the lampstand out of its place. There is a literal location where an assembly of God meets, where it has been formed.
That is significant. Now, because that God, let me finish that thought. Because that gospel outreach is so closely associated with what goes on where the assembly always meets, you're gonna do your best to keep everything the same.
But we want to use the word of God to work through these things in our mind. And there is that first assembly. And he's got the whole assembly with him. And the first thing they do, the very first meeting, he stands forth and he preaches the gospel.
So dear child of God, just read this Bible intelligently, because I believe God has anticipated every possible attack that will come from anybody. And we can come to this Bible with the full confidence of it.
So you have these individuals, they listen to this preaching, and we're told about 3 ,000 souls. Souls. Not people. That interesting. Why would the spirit of God use that? Here's 120. Here are about 3 ,000 souls.
What is really the spirit of God getting out there? They're added onto them. Soul, the very life, the very being. Are you in an assembly, just warming a seat with your body, or are you in fellowship? I'm in it.
I'm a living part of it. I'm not on the peripheral, just watching. No, God, the spirit of God has brought you to a New Testament church, dear child of God, for a purpose, for a reason. I hope we all still, in the 21st century, believe that there's only one pattern in the Bible for Christians.
They're all to be baptized. They're all to be gathered to the Lord's name. I hope we understand. I hope we haven't let the world affect our thinking to such a point that we think sectarianism is of God.
Truth unites. The devil divides. That is so solemn. Now, I'm not using just the, oh, it has to be a gospel. I'm not saying that. I'm using the term a New Testament assembly that meets on the principles of the word of God.
Dear child of God, dear young believer, you can know in the confusion of the 21st century what's right and what's wrong. That's why God gave us the word of God. And as we already heard, this Bible trumps our thinking, our feelings.
So you just look at this lovely pattern. They heard the word of God, salvation, they received it. Then they were baptized. Then they were added. What follows next? Verse 42, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine.
Number two, the fellowship. These have all the definite article in the Greek language and in the breaking of bread and in the prayers. See the significance of that order. That is a godly order that is found in the pages of the word of God.
For a so-called New Testament church to allow someone to partake of the emblems and they've never been baptized is against the word of God. That's not me saying that. That's the word of God. That's what we just read.
For a so-called New Testament church to allow someone to partake of the emblems who is baptized but they have never been made apart or come into fellowship, that is wrong. To allow them partake of the emblems.
Now we can tie into this as well the significance of the seat of the unlearned. But I don't have time to go there, but I wish I could. You have to remember, even when you start in Genesis, God is always in the business of separating things and protecting things.
Because as we've been hearing, these things belong to God. They don't belong to the world. Therefore, God has given us order. Our brother mentioned yesterday about strange fire and there's all these different things.
You could almost go back to what our brother William said and here they are, the tabernacle has been set up. This is the way my mind thinks. I'm just being honest with you. And we got the seven days where those priests are being sanctified so that they can go and function for the people.
And here they are, seven days, they're fresh. Yes, God has given the instruction and day number eight is the final day and there's a mistake made and two boys lose their lives. Would you not go back and say, God, can't you give them a break?
They're just a week old. We're dealing with God things. God is the one that's gonna make the rules, not me. Isn't it interesting when you come to the New Testament, what happens shortly after Acts chapter two?
Go to chapter five. There's two people that lie to the spirit of God. They drop down dead. Two linked with the tabernacle. Two linked with the New Testament church. What is the constant theme that's running through the word of God?
God is holy. You have to do things God's ways. You have to, it's a must. So we're trying to show the importance of these things that we read in the word of God. You'll notice quickly the order, the apostles doctrine, the breaking of bread, the fellowship, the breaking of bread.
You see it? Do we all understand today the uniqueness of a New Testament assembly that is a doctrinal fellowship, not a social group? It can become that. You like me, I like you. We go eat pizza together.
We go have a barbecue. We go hunting. That's great. That's wonderful. That's the feel good side of me. Gives me a nice warm feeling. Wonderful. Do you know what we enjoyed this morning? I trust everyone sat before a loaf and a cup of wine and the doctrines of the word of God.
I agree. I agree. I agree. That's what it is. That's where it starts. It flows from this tremendous foundation of the apostles doctrine. That ended up producing a very unique fellowship. Even within the religious circles that are around us, dear child of God, not everybody believes what's in this Bible.
It's so, God so appreciates people that are willing to come to the word of God and they just bow their mind to the word of God. That's what it says. I'm amazed at how people are so firm on salvation only by the blood of Christ.
That's it. Why? That's what the Bible says. I'm amazing. Amazes to me how people are so firm on full immersion of baptism. We only got one example of it in the Bible. Ethiopian man, they went down both of them into the water.
You've got the word baptism all the time, many, many times through the word of God. But we have one example of it literally being done. And you know what we do? One's enough. There's the word of God. That is what we're going to follow.
And then all of a sudden, how should we meet? Oh, well, just kind of go do what you want to do. Do you honestly think that God would leave us that way? Really? I don't. I believe God is in the business, as we've been hearing, of giving us clarity, giving us things, purpose.
So dear child of God, just take these things on board. Then you have this lovely expression of fellowship, the breaking of the Lord's Supper. How is that whole thing, how is this whole magnificent thing going to be maintained?
Prayers. Oh, brothers and sisters, one thing I'm finding as I'm getting older, do you know what I'm not saying enough? When we stand up, when I stand up midweek in whatever assembly I'm in, part entering into their prayer meeting, I'm not praying enough for the preservation of the assembly I'm in.
The devil hates it. He wants to destroy it. We need to pray for the preservation of what is so important to God. So you just think of that. What is it called? We read it here, Lord's Supper. What do we have in Corinthians?
The breaking of bread. You ever stopped and thought of those phrases? The Lord's Supper. Linked with the Lord's day. Boy, there's a dignity about it, isn't there? Something dignified about that. I find that we generally refer to it as the morning meeting.
What would happen if we had it two in the afternoon? Oh, it's the afternoon meeting. You know what amazing, I just think of this recently. I know you folks have storms down here. We have storms up in Canada too.
This is a soapbox I'm gonna get on for a minute. What is it when there's a storm Sunday morning, meeting's canceled and the storm stops and the plows get out and the roads open? We're gonna have gospel meeting tonight.
What about the breaking of bread? It's a deafening silence. It's listen, I have more scripture for the breaking of bread than for the gospel meeting. I am obligated by this Bible on the first day of every week to come together to break the bread.
If I have to do it at nine in the morning or nine at night or 12 at night, do it. It should be number one. We're losing the significance of this. I don't know whether, I just sat here this morning. I wanna thank all my brethren for taking part.
Boys, that was warming. That was thrilling. Don't you sit there and don't you let us preachers take over and do everything. I hate that. I even hate that word preacher. Ends up setting up such a ugh. I'm getting fired up here now, I gotta sit down.
Someone says you better sit down. Maybe my wife is saying that right now. Acts chapter 20, let's quickly end. Acts chapter 20, because I'm out of time. Now, I could take you to First Corinthians chapter 16, but I'm not gonna bother.
I will leave that for you to consider. Paul in First Corinthians chapter 16, of course, New Testament church, he will talk about upon the first day of the week when you come together to set aside idea of an offering you're giving to the Lord.
That's the whole, the gathering. Paul is going to come, there's saints that are in need and Paul's gonna come and he wants the whole thing gathered together. So here I am, I'm talking to a cousin of mine and she, now, I'm gonna mention a denominational name, but I'm not against any individual Christian.
I'm just mentioning the name. This is what she told me, I verified it. Baptist church she goes to, did go to. They broke bread four times a year. So I'm just having a, just, you know, cousin, cousin to cousin, whatever I am to her, whatever.
I don't follow all those relationships. I don't know how to figure them all out. So she's asking me what we do. I says, well, according to the word of God, we break bread every first day of the week. Oh, we don't.
We do it four times a year. I said, why? Well, we wanna make it real special. Here's her words. You know, kind of like Christmas only comes once a year. So four special Sundays through the year and we have two months and three weeks to look forward to it.
Hey, it's all sounding good, isn't it? Wow. So that when the day comes, it's special. We're really, we're really into it. So I said, so tell me, how many times do they send the offering around? Oh, she says, every time we meet there on Sunday.
Do you know why? I read her the verse in 1 Corinthians 16. First day of the week, the gathering, the offering. Oh yeah, very good. I said, now let's read another verse, Acts 20. Let's go to Acts chapter 20.
Notice this, verse number six. Paul, he's got a lot of activity, a lot of movement. And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread and came onto them to Troas in five days, where we abode seven days.
And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached onto them, ready to depart on the morrow and continue to speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together.
Now, isn't it amazing? Can you imagine? Brethren, what would you do if the great apostle Paul walked in to Iowa? Oh my land, whew, this is an apostle. He gave at least 13 letters. Let's have some special meetings.
You know what happened? Paul waited seven days. Why not have the Lord's supper? Paul's moving on here. No, no, no, no. Assembly order is not gonna kowtow to a great preacher. No, no, no, we're going by the word of God.
So here's Paul purposely waiting. And then we get this lovely expression, upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together. Now, I want you to notice this verb. It's separated in our English Bible, when came together.
That's one Greek word. Do you know where that word appears, that verb? You all know it, Matthew 18 and 20. Four where two or three are gathered together in my name. Four where two or three, not are, ignore that verb.
Four where two or three are gathered together. Do you remember preachers telling you the grammar of that verb? Oh, that's a perfect participle. What does that mean? Something they have been doing in the past, right up to the present, they're still doing it.
That's right. That's the consistency of assembly meetings. Now we're in Acts chapter 20, the very same verb, the very same grammar. This time it's linked with just one meeting, the Lord's supper. This dear child of God is something these people were doing every first day of the week.
It wasn't left up to them to pick the timing. Isn't that marvelous? That's why Paul came and he purposely waited for seven days. He was looking forward to this consistent event that happens the head of every week.
Let me ask you a question. When did God start creation? What day was it? He started on Sunday, the Lord's day. The Lord's day was always the first day, right from the book of Genesis. Dear child of God, what a privilege.
I know the favorite expression that Murray has in Acts 20. And on the morrow they left. I've heard him preach it. It's good, brethren, to come for the whole conference. Just help and support the brethren and then just leave the next day.
Wonderful thing to be able to do. What a wonderful thing to be able to meet with our Savior on the authority of the word of God. Just to come and sit with him. Just to listen to the worship. My dear, there's nothing like it in the face of the earth.
I want us to get a hold of that. I want us to stand and protect that. I want us to know based on the authority of the word of God, this is a function of a New Testament church. And it's done every head of the week, the Lord's day.
May the Lord continue to preserve that to us.