68 - Ordinances of the Church, Part 2 | Correct mode of Baptism | Lord's Table

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69 - Understanding of End Times, Part 1

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Welcome to the Striving for Eternity Academy. This is the ministry of Striving for Eternity.

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You can get more information about us at www .strivingforeternity .org.

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We're glad to have you with us. This is part of our

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School of Systematic Theology, it's our intro class. We're in our fourth of the series, our fourth book.

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We do them by the syllabuses, so we're calling this God's Program for the Ages, the

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Doctrine of the Church and the Doctrine of Last Things. Hope you have a syllabus with you.

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Syllabuses are $25, has all the notes and fill in the blanks for you to do and that way you can follow along in all of our stuff that we're teaching, take your own notes and also help to support this ministry so that we can continue putting on classes like this.

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So there are places where the church has to be underground and this is a way that we can train up pastors to be able to teach those flocks there.

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For some of us here in the States, well it's just more training that we can get and so what we're asking is that you'd consider helping us out by purchasing a syllabus.

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So we are in our lesson this week of lesson number four, the ordinances of church.

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I should have fixed that slide. It should say ordinances of church, not church government. Yeah, it would have been helpful if I fixed it from last week.

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All right. Yeah, my bad. I forgot. Yeah. All right. So we looked at what the definition of an ordinance was and in that we mentioned that an ordinance is commanded by God.

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It is something that we see, it presents a salvation truth, it is something that was practiced by the early church and it was confirmed by in the epistles.

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And so we started to look at those and we looked at the first one which was baptism. And we looked at baptism and we talked about the fact that it was mandated.

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We see it commanded by Christ, Matthew 28, 19. We saw that it symbolized the salvation,

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Romans 6, 1 through 6. We saw that it was practiced in the early church, a whole lot of verses there.

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And we talked about the fact that it's confirmed in the epistles. And we started to get into the incorrect views of baptism.

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Now I mentioned about a couple of them. One being a sacrament, being the Roman Catholic Church's view that it removes original sin.

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And so we said that was incorrect. But there's also the sacrament that we said that we understand and is not a wrong one.

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So if you think that the sacrament erases original sin and adds grace as far as meriting favor, that's different than what the

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Reformed churches do where they say it's a sacrament adding grace. In other words, part of our sanctification process.

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And so they would see that as a grace that's added but not the grace that's meriting salvation.

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And that's the difference between the Roman Catholic view and the Reformed view.

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We said there's some churches like Church of Christ that teach that it washes away sin. They said that wouldn't be appropriate either.

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The baptism doesn't actually wash away the sin because baptism is something that is done after a person becomes a believer.

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And therefore, baptism doesn't save, it doesn't regenerate us. There are some people that try to teach that.

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And we went into in the last class the importance of why is it that baptism was so important.

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And people read the New Testament outside of its historical context and tend to think that baptism is synonymous with salvation and therefore you must be baptized to be saved.

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That's a mistake. Baptism is synonymous very often in the New Testament with salvation in the early part of the early church.

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We don't see that so much later in the later writings. Why? What makes the difference?

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What made the difference was that in the first century when a Jewish person got baptized it was a major issue and because it was such a big deal they ended up seeing that baptism was a great way of seeing if someone really was saved.

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They had to count the cost before even being baptized. It's lost that incentive now.

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So we also talked about it being an incorrect view is when people see it necessary for salvation.

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And I understand and it shouldn't be denied that in the first century baptism was a major thing and you see it being very significant with the teaching as far as salvation.

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So the issue becomes one that we have to realize as we're discussing baptism that the issue of baptism was important because it was a great measure to see whether someone is regenerate, to see whether they're actually in the faith.

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They weren't willing to get baptized if they weren't really Christians. When it carries a death toll or a heavy price people will wait until they're really sure, they're really regenerate then they'll get baptized.

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They won't do it if they're a faith convert usually if it has a heavy consequence to it.

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So those are the incorrect ways. So let's get to the correct ways. So the correct model is that, you know, now

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I'm differing from our Reformed Brothers who would say that in the Covenantal churches or Reformed churches where they're going to see baptism as a sacrament not add, okay, and I'm trying to clarify, not adding grace that saves but they believe that it adds grace in the sanctification process.

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Very different. But I believe, and so I've, you know, if there's the Reformed Brethren that believe that, that's fine.

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I just, I believe that it was a symbol. I believe, that's why I believe it's an ordinance and not a sacrament.

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I think it's a symbol of, that's best pictured by immersion, okay.

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So one reason why I think it's immersion and so now my Presbyterian friends and others are going, wait a minute, let's listen to it and hear it through, okay.

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So the word baptismo means, well, we're going to get into that actually.

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We're going to get into the moods. So let's just look at what it pictures. Romans 6 .3. And so you'll see why

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I say immersion, you know, that this truth, we're baptized first into the body of Christ and we see this,

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I think, best pictured in immersion. But if you look at it, do you not know that all of us that have been baptized into Christ were baptized into his death?

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So I think immersion shows that the best when you're laying down fully underwater is the picture of death.

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We were, then you see in, well, this is a better one to put, yes, thank you, 3 and 4.

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So if you look in verse 4, Romans 3 .4, we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the

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Father, we too might walk in newness of life. And so you see here, the idea that we have is the death and the burial and the resurrection pictured in the baptism by being laid under the water.

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That's the burial, right? Being resurrected. So, you know, that's the picture of the old life being buried, being dead, being buried, being risen again into new life.

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Verse 5 of that same passage, Romans 6 .5 says, for we have been united to him by death that we should certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

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So there what I'm seeing is that we see that the resurrection, it's symbolized. So you see that in this, we see the death, the burial, the resurrection being symbolized in baptism.

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And I think what best pictures that, like I said, is immersion. I'm going to get into different modes and why I say that a little bit stronger, shall we say, but I'm also going to explain where some of the other views, why they came up with that and things like that.

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So hold off on some of that and we'll get to it. The identification. In the early church, to be baptized by immersion was an act of identification with the person of Jesus Christ.

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And to a Jewish culture, that's an issue. To a Gentile culture, it wasn't as much until Nero when it became illegal.

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So if Christianity is illegal, then it counts again, right? It makes it more important. That's why

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I say it's an important issue in the Middle East today, where people in the Middle East are losing their lives because of the fact that they're being baptized.

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So let's look at the mode, okay? When we look at the mode, this is where I was saying, as far as the differences, we see some differing views and I'm saying they're erroneous, sorry.

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But if you disagree with me, then maybe you think my view is erroneous and that's fine. I'm okay with that, right?

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So we have differing views. So the two that come up is that first and foremost is sprinkling and pouring.

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Now in the first century, we actually don't see sprinkling and pouring. We see it's by immersion, except according to the

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Didache, the Didache was an ancient document that we have. It was kind of like an instruction manual for the church, how to run church.

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And in the Didache, it seems to make exception in desert areas for pouring.

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And so people would pour if they didn't have enough water and that would, you know, they would accept that in those areas.

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But really, it seems that the goal was to do it by immersion. Now, the issue being, baptism was done for believers.

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And by the way, to my Baptist friends that would argue that Presbyterians don't believe in believers' baptism, you're wrong.

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Okay. Presbyterians believe that when an adult gets baptized, or an adult becomes a believer in Christ, they should be baptized.

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Okay. They believe in a believer's baptism. Yes, they will still sprinkle. And there's a different idea there of what the baptism symbolizes.

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So remember, I'm saying it's an ordinance. So it's going to symbolize the death, burial, and resurrection. Others are going to sprinkle because it's going to symbolize the washing away of sin.

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So based on that picture where I just said it's a symbol of death, burial, and resurrection based in Romans 6, that's why

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I think immersion is the best picture of it. If you're a Presbyterian, you're going to have a different view of what it's symbolizing.

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So if it's going to symbolize, and it's symbolizing, it's not actually washing away the sin, it's symbolizing the washing away of sin, then sprinkling becomes the example because that would symbolize what would happen in the

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Old Testament with the offering of the sprinkling of blood as the sacrifice.

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So you see, it comes down to what is it going to symbolize. So this is a thing that some of my

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Baptist friends need to realize is they're going to argue that the

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Presbyterians have it wrong because sprinkling doesn't represent what we read in Romans 6.

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But that's okay. That's not what they were trying to represent. Okay, they're representing the washing away of sin.

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Now, notice I'm saying it's symbolizing that, right? Because we already said that baptism doesn't actually wash away sin because you first have to be a believer.

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And you say, well, wait a minute. What about those children that get sprinkled and they're baptized as infants?

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And this is where it came out. As the Roman Catholic Church had to start it up, went after Constantine and said, okay, we're all

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Christian. And he just made it part of the Roman Empire. And now you start seeing this basically unbelievers who are now part of the church.

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And it became very profitable to be in the church leadership because the emperor was helping to fund it and giving you a nice salary.

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And therefore, a lot of people who were unbelievers decided it would be a nice, cushy way of making a living.

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So what did they do? They got into the church. And so they weren't looking to handle it always the best.

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Okay, so we just have to be aware of that. There were genuine believers as well. But we see hierarchy structures start.

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We see doctrines start forming. One of the doctrines that formed was that they saw circumcision in the

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Old Testament. They saw the baptism as the New Testament sign and circumcision was for children of eight days old.

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Maybe circumcision, you know, baptism should be the same. And over time, it started to teach.

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They started teaching that baptism would wash away sin, original sin. And so with that, it went from washing away sins to washing away original sin.

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Well, if you're going to do that, you should do it as early as possible. We should wash away the sins of children. Well, now you're going to want to not be baptizing them by immersion because, well, that wouldn't be good.

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So what do you do? Well, you'd start sprinkling. And so over time, I think this is how some of these things developed.

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So now, if you baptize by sprinkling, does that mean your baptism doesn't count?

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No, I'm not saying that. Okay. I believe that the best and proper mode of baptism would be by immersion.

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That's what the word means. Baptismal means to dip or to plunge. I would go to where John the

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Baptist was baptizing and others and they needed much water. Why would they need much water if they're just pouring?

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You don't. And so I think that what you see is the idea that you have to ask the question, what is it representing?

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Okay. Now, I'm basing it on a text of Scripture, and that's

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Romans 6. And that's why I lean toward the way that I do. It is incorrect to attack the

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Presbyterians based on an incorrect view of their view of what baptism symbolizes.

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They have a different thing it's symbolizing. And that is the difference. Now, they're going to get into seeing that the covenant is that it's a covenantal sign, and therefore they would baptize children because they're bringing them into the family covenant.

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Okay. I believe that from the Old Testament, Jeremiah 31,

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Ezekiel 25, 26, that the new covenant was individual and not to the family. And therefore it was the sign of the believer in the new covenant is the

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Holy Spirit indwelling a person. All right. A third view. I want to get to this one.

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This one's not as popular. So, but I do want to mention and this

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I'd have a stronger issue maybe with an incorrect view or an incorrect mode of baptism.

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That is the triune immersion. So why this type of immersion,

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I think, is incorrect is because this incorrectly has an incorrect picture of the

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Trinity. What they do in a, it's basically they immerse you three times. This would be a church of Christ that would do this and they'd immerse you three times.

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Once for the Father, once for the Son, once for the Holy Spirit. And that's an incorrect view of the

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Trinity being that there are three separate gods or it's three separate, you know, there are three persons, but it's one

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God. We're baptized into the name Father, Son, Holy Spirit, not names Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

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You see the difference? So we get baptized once in, do we have a Matthew 28, 19?

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Yes. Let's bring that up. So you can see here that we go, therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name singular, the name of the

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Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. That name is singular. So we would say that they get baptized once.

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All right. I think it incorrectly, incorrectly picture. It's an, by the way, if I didn't say the incorrect picture of the

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Trinity is your first blank Trinity, second blank incorrectly pictures the aforementioned truths.

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OK, so it incorrectly pictures. That's your next blank. So first is pictures of Trinity. Second is the picture of the truth that we mentioned above.

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It's not picturing the death, burial, resurrection with Jesus. And it's not picturing the washing away of sin.

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OK, so it doesn't have the picture there. So what is the correct view, in my opinion? All right.

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Is baptismo, as I mentioned, means to dip, plunge or immerse. That's your blank there.

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I know. I know it is. Christina and Christine's probably having a hard time writing that word immerse in the blank there, isn't she?

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You Presbyterians, I know, I know. But look, we got to be honest with what the word means. Why do why do we have the word baptism?

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I believe when the translators were translating into English, the Anglican church would would sprinkle and not immerse.

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And because of that, I think they created a new word for a very simple reason. If they translated it to dip or plunge, people would say, well, then why don't we dip or plunge?

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I think that's why. And so I think that there was argument over the the mode. And because of that, they created a new

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English word, baptismo. We do have a baptism. We do have an English word for baptism, which is to dip or plunge or immerse.

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I think if we did that, it would save some of the confusion when it comes to what we call the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that we're plunged into the

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Holy Spirit. We wouldn't have the issues there. But I think it's the best one that pictures salvation. Remember, as an ordinance, that's what

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I'm saying it would be. And it is the mode most often used in the first century. OK, when we see in the first century

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Acts 8, for example, 38, and he commanded the chariot to stop. And when they both went down into the water,

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Philip and the eunuch and he baptized him. So what you see there is you see that both of them were involved in going into the water.

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If it was sprinkling, he wouldn't have needed to do that. He just needed to get some water. And so the thing is,

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I think this is what was practiced, and I believe it's what is symbolized in where John the

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Baptist would have gotten his baptism. His baptism was different because it was before Christ. So his baptism was actually a

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Jewish ritual where they would immerse a person into baptism that was a Gentile that became a

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Jew. So because they were they were becoming Jewish, they would have this ritual washing.

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And that's what I think John the Baptist was doing. And so I think that that is a continuation of it.

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All right. So I'm saying all that to say that I believe that the right mode of proper mode would be by immersion.

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Do I am I going to make an issue over this? No, I'm not. I mean, I do realize that many of our brethren died centuries ago over this issue.

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They died because they were Anabaptists, they were re -baptizers. They got baptized after being sprinkled because they wanted to get baptized in the proper mode.

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If people want to do that, that's fine. You may have in a church,

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I know I've been part of some churches that say if you're a Presbyterian and you come into the church and you are baptized as a

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Presbyterian, you had to get re -baptized and they would do that to say, OK, you were re -baptized because of the fact that you were you were baptized now as a, you know, as a believer by immersion because that's the only way to do it.

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I don't make that big of a deal. I think that if someone is baptized by sprinkling because of what it's symbolizing, that's that's

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OK. They fulfilled the the obedience of it. Now, the difference I would make is I would say they should be baptized as a believer.

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So I recommend people to get re -baptized if they were not baptized as believers.

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And that would be the difference I would make. But I'm not a covenantalist, so I don't believe that baptism is the sign of the covenant.

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And that's why I would not hold to that. I believe the indwelling Holy Spirit is the sign of the covenant. All right, so let's move on to the next ordinance.

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Last week, I told you that we were going to look at baptism and we mentioned the other ordinance was the

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Lord's Supper. We said there's some people who make a third ordinance and that third ordinance that they make is foot washing.

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And I don't believe that foot washing is an ordinance. I mentioned that last week. So with that Lord's Supper, why is that?

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Why do we look at this one? Well, let's look at how it was instituted. It was commanded by Christ. We see that in Matthew 26, verses 26 and 29.

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So we see this in Matthew 26. We'll start with verse 26.

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Now, as they were eating, Jesus took bread and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body.

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OK, so you see there he's commanding them in the future that they should be doing this. We also see in verse 29, the same chapter.

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I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the wine until that day when

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I drink it anew with you in my father's house in the kingdom. So you see that it was commanded by Christ.

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So that was the first thing, right? We said an ordinance has to be commanded by Christ. OK, we see the command.

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Well, the second thing we said with an ordinance is that it has to teach or symbolize a spiritual truth.

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Does it do that? Well, again, Matthew 26, this is 26 through 28. So we really, verse 27 is the one that we want to focus on.

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And he took up the cup and he he had given thanks and gave it to him, saying, drink of it, all of you.

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So that's not what it really. It's well, it's this whole thing, you know, where it's in verse 28 that this is this is my blood for you of a new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

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So the cup of the body of Christ is to symbolize that his body was broken on the cross for us.

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His blood in the wine symbolizes the blood shed for us, for the forgiveness of sins.

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So that's the idea of it. Now, the here again, we get into the question, is this a sacrament?

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Is it an ordinance as a symbol? I'm saying it's an ordinance that only symbolizes salvation.

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Again, we get into the differences with a sacrament. The Catholic Church thinking it's a sacrament is adding grace that merits favor for regeneration.

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OK, we disagree with that, but our reformed brethren will say it's a sacrament, meaning in the same way as baptism, that it is not just symbolizing salvation, but it is adding a grace in your sanctification process.

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OK, so as you partake of the Lord's Supper, it is something that is adding grace or a work that you're doing to make you more like Christ.

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And we're going to get into the fact that there was self -examination that was tied with it, and therefore it does serve that benefit of people recognizing their sin, their need for forgiveness and that God forgave them at the cross and therefore seeing in a time of reflection, remembering back to their salvation.

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So baptism, you get saved. It's a one time thing. You get that washing, sort of like in the picture that Jesus says with John in John 17, where he says, hey,

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I'm going to wash your feet. And they're like, no, don't wash my feces. But if you don't wash it, you have no part of me. He's like wash my whole body.

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Well, the idea being you wash the whole body and your whole body is that's the baptism sort of like you get saved.

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You get that baptism as the picture that you're in our watch. But you need those daily reminder of what happened at salvation.

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And that's what I think the Lord's Supper sometimes does. So we see it was commanded by Christ. We see that it was symbolized as a truth of salvation.

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Next, we see that it was practiced in the early church. We see this in Acts 2. We'll see it also in 1

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Corinthians 11. But let's look at this one here. Acts 2, we'll look just right now at verse 2, verses 42 to 46.

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Acts 2, verse 42 to 46. And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

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And all came upon every soul. Many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

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And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

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And they were selling their possessions and belongings, distributing the proceeds to all as had need.

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And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received the food generously with their hearts.

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And so some will see this. When you see in verse 42 and 46, in 42, it says that the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and prayers.

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And then 46, it mentions the breaking of bread. So is that the Lord's Supper? I actually believe in 42, that's speaking of the

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Lord's Supper. In 46, I think it's fellowship. Breaking of bread was a phrase to basically mean to eat together.

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OK, you'd break bread. You'd eat a meal together. And so with that, I think that what you see is the first one, because it's tied to the teaching.

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It's tied to things that would go on within the church service. I think that was the Lord's Supper, where the second is a fellowship time.

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We also see this in Acts 20. Acts 20, verses 7 to 11.

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On the first day of the week when they would gather together to break bread. So I'll just stop there.

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So they'd meet the first day of the week. This is the church service. So they're meeting on the week. They're meeting when they're having church.

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And what are they doing there? They're in their church service. They're breaking bread. Now, they did it every week, according to that text.

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And there are some churches that would do that. They would have Lord's Supper every week.

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There's some that do it once a month. Lots of different ways of doing it. Some do it house to house, because they think in verse 46 of Acts 2 that we looked at, that they felt that that was the breaking of bread, was the

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Lord's Supper. So I know some churches that do it house to house. They go to people's homes, have a

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Bible study, and then have a Lord's Supper. Different ways of doing it. But you see there that it has all that.

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So it was commanded by Christ. It symbolizes salvation. It was practiced in the first century.

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Then we see it was confirmed in the epistles. We see this in 1 Corinthians 11. This is a rather lengthy passage.

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But if you look at the passage, this is basically 1

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Corinthians 11, 23 to 34. So 1

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Corinthians 23 to 34. And we're going to want to focus in on this, because this gives the instruction that we have for the

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Lord's Supper. So as we look at this, it says, For I received from the

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Lord what also was delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night that he was betrayed, took bread and he took, he had given thanks and broke it and said,

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This is my body, which I do for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, he took the cup after supper, saying,

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This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood. Do this in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the

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Lord's death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the

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Lord in an unworthy manner, he will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the

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Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

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For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.

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That is why so many of you are weak and ill and some have died. But if we judge ourselves truly, we may not.

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We may truly we would not be judged.

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But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

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So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

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If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home. So when you come together, it would not be for judgment about the other things.

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I will give directions when I come. And so what you see there is instruction for the

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Lord's Supper. But we do see the importance here. We get into those different elements that are in there. But you see here is that it was confirmed by the epistles.

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All right. So what's the meaning of the Lord's Supper? Well, some erroneous meanings first that we see again, sorry, but we're going to pick on the

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Catholic Church, is transubstantiation. Big word. Transubstantiation is a view of the

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Roman Catholic Church that the bread and drink actually become the body and blood of Christ.

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OK, they base this on 1 Peter 3, 18, which says, for Christ suffered once or sorry, not that they say it for this, but this is the contrary to it.

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It says, for Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, and he became to us being put to death, the flesh made alive.

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So see that it says there once Christ suffered once for sin. This is why we bring that passage up with the

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Roman Catholic Church argues is that every time that they actually do, they do this prayer and this becomes literally the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

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And when it becomes the body and blood of Christ, they are re -sacrificing him. Well, Peter says you don't re -sacrifice him.

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He was sacrificed once for sins, not over and over again. OK, so this is the idea.

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Transubstantiation is the idea that it transforms the substance, transforms, goes through a metamorphosis and through the prayers of the priest, it actually becomes the body and blood of Christ.

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We would disagree with that. Now, there's the second one, which is consubstantiation, and this view is held by some reformers, specifically the

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Lutherans, is very similar in some ways to transubstantiation, but the elements become the spiritual, that's your blank there, the spiritual body and blood of Christ.

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So consubstantiation is with the substance. And so the idea being is that now it doesn't actually transform and become the body and blood of Christ, but it's with the body and blood of Christ.

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And so this is the idea that it's a spiritually the body and blood of Christ. I would disagree with that, and I would say that it is that the correct view is that it's a symbol.

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Why? Because I'm not holding it as a sacrament. I'm holding it as an ordinance. See the difference there? Because it's what it's going to symbolize and things like that.

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So I'm going to see this. The Lord's Supper is symbolic of the expression that Jesus used to portray his offering of his broken body and his blood.

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This was part of the Passover meal that he did this, and it was a thing that the

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Jews would have understood, the New Covenant, the cup of wine that would have symbolized the

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New Covenant. And so I think that it's symbolic of both what he did at salvation, but I think as a church doing it together, it also symbolizes the unity of the body of Christ.

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And that's why I think it should be done as a body of Christ. OK, with that,

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I think that it's not just a symbol, but it's a memorial. We are to we are told by Jesus to celebrate the

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Lord's Supper in remembrance of Jesus. That's your blank there remembrance. It's a memorial.

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We do it to remember Christ. We remember what he did for us on that cross.

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We think about it. We meditate on it. We consider the cross and what's happening there.

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And we meditate on those things and think on those things. And so it is a remembrance, a memorial there.

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And then it's also a reminder. Since we are told to participate in the Lord's Supper until he comes again, we should remember that he's coming again.

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He's coming soon. And so I think there, though, we also have the remembrance of our examination.

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Right. Which leads us to the next part is that we are to participants. When we look at the participants of the

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Lord's Supper, only believers. There was a warning in that passage in First Corinthians 11 that we need to heed.

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And that warning talks about the fact that there is a notion that we have to be aware in verses 27 to 28 of First Corinthians 11 that we need to examine ourselves.

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So it's only for believers. Why? Because an unbeliever is going to bring judgment upon themselves. This is why I believe that whenever the

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Lord's Supper is given, there should also be a warning given to those who are unbelievers to let the elements pass by.

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Don't bring a judgment upon yourself. So only believers who come with clean and obedient heart.

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So I take Matthew five and I say, if you know that your brother has something against you, maybe you shouldn't partake of the

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Lord's Supper. Let the elements pass and go get right with your brother or sister. OK, that's as best as you can.

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So I use the Lord's Supper as a time to remind us that we need to reconcile with one another.

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I think that there should be a warning to examine ourselves to see whether we need to get our hearts right. Go reconcile with someone before partaking of the

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Lord's Supper. And so there's that self -examination not only to examine what Christ did on our behalf, but to examine whether there's things that we need to get right for this.

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They are to examine. That's your next blank. Examine themselves. Right. So this examination is something we should be doing because we recognize the need to get right with God.

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We need to thinking of what God did for us. And because of that, we need to think like, is there something

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I need to get right with us? So when I do administer the Lord's Table, I give some warnings to the unbelievers first, that if you don't know

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Jesus Christ, you should not partake of the table. Let the elements pass. If you're in sin, unrepentant sin, don't bring judgment on yourself.

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Don't take of the Lord's Supper when you know that you're in unrepentant sin. Repent of that and then you can partake.

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And so a third thing is if you know that someone has ought against you or you are holding grudges against someone, that would be

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Romans 18 and Romans 5. Looking at those passages, you should go and reconcile with someone.

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Don't go holding grudges to the Lord's Supper and don't go when you know someone's holding a grudge against you.

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If you at all can seek reconciliation. If you sought reconciliation, you have a clear conscience, then you could partake of the

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Lord's Supper. It is a reminder of us so that we are constantly going back. And as 1

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John says in verse five is that we're not verse chapter five. Actually, no chapter two, sorry, that we're to go and ask forgiveness of sin.

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Right. We we know we're going to sin. We need to keep coming back, asking forgiveness.

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And that examination helps in that process. It helps us to look at our life and compare ourselves to Christ and what he did for us and examine ourselves to know whether we have things we need to seek forgiveness for.

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All right. So that is the ordinances of the church. Next class. Oh, lesson five.

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We are going to start in the doctrine of end times. Yes, I know some of you, Joe Conkle, have been waiting a very long time for that.

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And thought I would never get here. That maybe the rapture would come. Oh, did I mention a rapture?

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Oh, that's an end times discussion. See what I did there? You like it? So some of you thought the rapture would come before I would get there.

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No, I said, hold on. We'll eventually get there. That day is coming. And that will be next class when we will talk about the doctrine of end times, understanding last things.

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But if you have questions about this class or any other of the classes, feel free to email us.

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Academy at striving for eternity .org Academy at striving for eternity .org. Remember to go to our store where you could pick up our syllabus if you want.

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The syllabus is, like I said, are twenty five dollars. You get all the notes and you can look while you're there at some other things like, for example, my book.

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What do they believe? You could pick up my book. What do they believe while you're there? You can also maybe sign up to host one of our

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Bible interpretation made easy seminars. Strongly encourage you to do that. Another way you can support us, by the way, is we have set up with Amazon.

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You can go to smile dot Amazon dot com. Do a search for striving for eternity and ministries and find us there.

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Or you can go to the link down below that's on your screen and you'd be able to basically sign up so that half a percent of everything you buy comes as a donation to us.

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And we do thank those of you who are doing that. If you're watching live today or this week, you'll know that next week,

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June 3rd and 4th, that weekend, we're going to have the reason rally outreach reason rally outreach is is the

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Friday night training conference to train people how to better witness to atheists as they have their atheist rally.

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And we hope that you will go out on Saturday and enjoy all the atheists there to talk to.

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And the the reason rally is they gather there to do that. So I want to encourage that right after that.

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A month after that is Jersey Fire. Consider coming out. This is a great event.

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This is I've had people tell me this was a transformational conference, the Jersey Fire, that this was life changing for many, many people.

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And we have been doing this for a long time and they keep getting better and better and better.

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And this one I'm really looking forward to with Matt Slick and Justin Peters as we talk about the topic of the word of God.

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And then we will go out onto the streets, technically, actually the boardwalk and evangelize.

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And I'm looking forward to that. And I hope that you are, too. Make sure you register at JerseyFire .org

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and get all the details there and look forward to seeing you there until next week. Remember to strive to make today an eternal day for the glory of God.