Baptism & The Lords Supper 06-23-24

Overview: Pastor Williams discusses the importance of baptism as a symbol of faith in Jesus Christ. He emphasizes that baptism does not save, but rather serves as an expression of one's personal relationship with Christ. He then transitions to the topic of communion and the warning to partake in a worthy manner, examining oneself and confessing sin. Pastor Williams explains that the elements of communion are symbolic reminders of Christ's sacrifice and encourages listeners to reflect on the significance of each element, reminding listeners that church attendance does not make one right with God. Salvation is only made possible through a personal relationship with The Lord Jesus Christ. It is through repentance, confession, and submission to God's grace and mercy through faith in Christ that we can be made right with God. Transcription: I am excited to be back with you this morning, and we have the great honor and the great privilege of participating in two of the ordinances that Scripture gives us, the first being baptism. There is no clearer picture in this day of what Christ has done for us, that He was buried, but He didn't stay there. And He rose again on that third day to newness of life. And this is what baptism symbolizes, the death and burial of the old self and the resurrection of the new self in Christ. Here at Kings Road Baptist Church, we realize and recognize that there is no saving power in this water. This is just one. There is no saving power in the ordinance of baptism. It is just an outward expression of the inward faith that the participant has put into Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. And if you have not followed through with baptism, I would encourage you, I would invite you to do so. I would love to share with you, talk with you a little bit about that after service. But for this time, let's celebrate with Miss Isabella. Isabella, do you stand before this congregation this morning having confessed Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? Well, upon that profession of faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I baptize you, my sister, Isabella, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. What a beautiful, beautiful reminder of what Christ has done for us and makes available to us. That we can be renewed, we can be refreshed, we can be restored to a right relationship with our Holy God because of the sacrifice that Christ has made for us. Amen. Man, what a wonderful service already, amen? To see that we serve a God who still saves. We don't have to have all the answers. We don't have to know every theological discussion on every topic that's found right here in the Word of God. But we're saved by faith in Christ alone. Jesus even says, unless you have faith like a child. So in a lot of ways, Isabella is a lot better off than we are. Because we've allowed things to get in our heads and get in our minds that have distracted us from the main purpose. The main purpose is Jesus. We'll get to experience a little bit more of that here in the next few moments as we partake in communion. We're going to talk about what communion is. We're going to discuss what we should allow it to do for us. And as Brother Steve comes and he sings this next song, I want you to listen to the words. I want you to allow this thought to enter into your thoughts and enter into your hearts and in your mind. That while He was on the cross, you were on His mind. You see, the sovereignty of God allows Him to look through the portals of time and see exactly who would be sitting here this morning. And I want you to know, I'm glad you're here. But you're not here by accident. You're not here at a random appointment. You are here because God has a message for you. I know it's been said many times, but I want you to hear this with a fresh heart and a fresh mind. God loves you. He loves you. Sometimes we allow the words of John 3.16, for God so loved the world. And we think, man, God loves the world. He loves everybody. And that is true, but we don't allow that to come down to us personally. That God loves me. And He loves you. There's not a person in this sanctuary. There's not a person that may be under the sound of my voice. There's not a person on the face of this earth that that is not true about. You can think of the most despicable, vilest, sinner, lost person that you can think of, and guess what? God still loves them. God still loves them. Because we sit here this morning. And we think about how when He was on that cross, I, James Williams, born October 30, 1980, in Fort Stewart, Georgia, grew up in Tiedemont with an alcoholic mother and father who would grow up in high school, make fun of Christians, and not want anything to do with their faith. Thought they were a bunch of hypocrites. Just a few months after my 21st birthday, finally realized and understood what those words meant. That God loves me. Allow that to be showcased here this morning. That God loves you. And He loves you so much that He was not even going to let your sin stand in the way of His love. But that sin required a sacrifice. And God gave us the sacrificial system of the Old Testament to show us and to prove to us that the sacrifice of animals wouldn't work. That was a temporary fix to a long-term problem. So then comes the New Testament where Jesus is the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. And He lays down His life for you and for me. Why? Because God loves you. But this sacrifice that Christ institutes at the Last Supper, the time of communion, and then Paul later teaches about it in 1 Corinthians 11, this communion, this ordinance comes with a warning. It says, therefore, in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 27, Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. And then He gives some of the results for doing such a thing. For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. And so this ordinance comes with a warning. Make sure you do it in the proper way, with the proper heart, for the proper reasons. So what does that mean, an unworthy manner? Well, it's really a wide range of meanings. For the Corinthian church, the warnings that Paul was giving them is, you're making light of it. You're not understanding the heaviness, the gravity, of what the communion is supposed to be. You're coming and you're celebrating, and this family is over here eating. They're eating a big meal because they're well off, while this family over here is struggling. They don't have that much. And they're not unified in the reason that they're coming together. And Paul says, do that in your own houses. But when you come to do this, take it serious. So an unworthy manner could mean we don't take serious the communion. It could mean that we refuse to acknowledge and confess sin in our life. That we've been giving over to temptation of the flesh. That we've been giving over to our reprobate mind. We're feeling like Paul when he says, that thing that I don't want to do, that I continually find myself doing, and that which I want to do, I can't seem to do that. But another Scripture says that if we will confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Beloved, you don't have to confess to me. You don't have to go to a priest behind a screen. You don't have to wait to talk to somebody. You can bow the knee right now and talk to a holy God and cry out to Him, Lord, I've sinned against You and You alone. I acknowledge my sin and ask You to forgive me of my sin. And Scripture is clear that He will cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And in that, make you worthy to partake of the communion. The way that I think we are most often in danger is we don't pause to think about what each element stands for. What it represents. You see, we don't think this unleavened wafer and this grape juice in any way actually becomes the Body and Blood of Christ as some believe. It's simply a symbol. It's simply a reminder of what Christ sacrificed for us. And so we're going to take some time as we get ready to pass these elements out between each element. We're going to take some time to reflect on what each element is and what it symbolizes and what Christ gave and sacrificed for us. But first, we must give a moment of examining. And I can't examine you and you can't examine your neighbor. Scripture says, let a man examine himself. You must examine yourself and determine whether you're right with God or not. Right with God through salvation. Right with God through a confessed sin. Right with God in why you're here and what you're partaking of. Right with God in every way. And beloved, we can't do that on our own. Church attendance, you being here this morning, doesn't make you right with God. Beloved, I've sat in many a church pew and been so far out of fellowship with God that He would have looked at me and said, depart from me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you. Sitting in a church pew doesn't make you right with God. His forgiveness, His grace, His mercy poured out on you through repentance and confession and submission to who He is and what He's done. That's what makes you right with God. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 23 says, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread. And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, Take, eat, this is My body which is broken for you. As you look at this wafer, if you have to close your eyes to remove distraction, I encourage you to do that, invite you to do that. But I want you to allow this to bring to your mind the physical body of Christ. That body that was born of a virgin. That body that at 12 years old began to go into the temple and teach the religious leaders of His time. That body that would have grown up as a carpenter's son, learning probably the skill of carpentry. That body that would walk the dusty streets of His time, carrying with Him the message of His love and His grace. That body that would oftentimes look eye to eye with people and restore their sight, restore their lameness, restore their faith, restore their soul. That body that was the very Son of God. That Scripture tells us could have called down 10,000 legions of angels to take Him off the cross, and yet He willingly chose, He gave of it, to be beaten with a whip with nine strings filled with bone and glass that ripped His flesh from His body. That body that was beaten. It was barely recognizable as a man. That body that had the crown of thorns placed down on His head, shoved deep into His scalp. That mouth that as He was hanging on the cross, cried out, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. That same mouth that cried when it was over. It is finished. And I want you to think about this thought. How deep the Father's love for us. How deep the Father's love for us. How deep the Father's love for us. How vast beyond all measure that He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure. How great the pain of searing loss the Father turned His face away as wounds which mar the Chosen One bring many sons to glory. Behold the man upon a cross I lay upon His shoulders. Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the fathers. It was my sin that held Him there until it was accomplished. But dying breath has brought me life. I know that it is finished. I will not boast in any thing. No gift, no power, no wisdom. But I will boast in Jesus Christ His death and resurrection. What should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know with all my heart. His Word has made my man whole. Jesus says, as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of Me. Take and eat. Lord, we thank You for Your body that was broken for us. We're thankful for that body that was given for us. You see, if it wasn't for us, You would have never had to come to this earth. You would have never had to leave Your perfect home in heaven to dwell with a sinner such as I. But because of me, because of people like me, You came. And You willingly laid Your body down on an old, rugged cross. You took the very wrath of God for me. So, Lord, we thank You for Your body. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. 1 Corinthians 11 goes on to say, in the same manner, He also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is a new covenant in My blood. Two of the Gospels record this a little deeper when it says He spoke these words after that. It's a new covenant in My blood, which is shed for many. The blood that ran through His veins was just like the blood that runs through your veins and my veins. That if you cut us, we will bleed. You guys know that I like to work out in the wood shop some, and I do some fishing. Anytime you work around sharp objects, the chances are you're going to cut yourself. Now, I don't ever do that on purpose. I don't ever look and say, I wonder what this is going to feel like. But Jesus knew what lay before Him. In fact, another Scripture says it was for the joy that was set before Him that He endured the cross. What joy could He find in shedding His blood? You. You are His joy. You are His reason. You are why He willingly gave His blood. I think we do it a disservice sometimes when we sing in these old hymns that it was spilt, because in my mind, spilt is an accident. I don't spill something. I pour it out if I'm done with it. That's what Jesus did. He poured out His blood for you and for me that we can be cleansed and made right. And so as you look at this juice today, I want you to remember, I want it to bring to your mind that blood that was shed for you. I want you to remember.