Fellowship is explored as a profound spiritual connection rooted in the blood and body of Christ, as detailed in 1 Corinthians. The sermon emphasizes that true fellowship is a common joy in a common object, primarily the Lord Jesus Christ, and contrasts it with the fellowship found in pagan sacrifices to demons. It highlights the importance of the Lord's Supper as a symbol of both Christ's sacrifice and the unity of believers as one body. The message concludes by urging believers to live in a way that glorifies God, avoiding actions that could cause offense or harm to others, thereby reflecting the purity and unity of their fellowship with Christ and one another.
Restored with Diffio
Audio restored with Diffio. Diffio processed the original archive recording to reduce noise and produce a cleaner listening version; the original stays available.
Speech quality score (model-estimated, SCOREQ): before 1.94 → restored 4.31
The cup of blessing which we bless, 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? For we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh, are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What say I then, that the idol is anything? For that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything. But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God. And I would not that you should have fellowship with demons.
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord on the cup of demons. You cannot be partakers of the Lord's table on the table of demons. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but every man on others' wealth, whatsoever is sold in the shambles, not eat, asking no question for conscience's sake. For the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. If any of them which believe not bid you to a feast, and if it is supposed to go, whatsoever is set before you eat, asking no question for conscience sake.
But if any man say unto you, this is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake, for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. Conscience I say, not thine own, but of the other. For why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker, Why am I evil spoken of for that which I give thanks? Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offense, neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God, even as I please all men and all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved.
I thought during the mornings of this week, I would like to take a series of messages from the first epistle to the Corinthians, and particularly the middle section of the epistle. And I want to take one word each morning and try to throw some light on its meaning. Now the word I want to speak about this morning is the word fellowship. And it occurs in various forms, six times in the passage that we have read together. Fellowship. It's one of the warmest. most beautiful words in the English language. We want to look at it in a moment or two the meaning that we find connected with it in the Word of God. And I want to take it particularly in the connection where we find it here in this epistle.
Now, first of all, it might be a good thing just to give a little background concerning the first epistle of the Corinthians and the reason why it was written. Most of us here this morning understand that among the churches that were founded by the Apostle Paul, there was none gave him more anxiety or heartache than the church had caused. It was a cesspool of iniquity. It was one of those cities on the ancient world where practically every form of sin and licentiousness was concentrated. So to speak, it was New York, London, Paris, and Berlin.
all wrapped up into one. And when you think of the first chapter of the epistle of the Romans, where we get a very vivid graphic description of the old pagan heathen world, where we get it in the Romans chapter one, that it was written in the city, in the city of Corinth. It gives us a little idea of the environment where that church was, where it was situated. Now the Apostle Paul spent eighteen months there. On his second missionary journey, he pioneered the work in Corinth. And from that sense pool of iniquity, from that center of pagan worship, God reached in, and he saved quite a number of precious souls.
And after eighteen months, a New Testament assembly was left. And the Apostle left there, and he went to a place called Ephesus. Ephesus again was the center of pagan worship. And while he was there, he heard some things that disturbed him. Now, the first thing that he heard was in connection with the condition of things in the assembly in the church that he had left. There was a little delegation that came to Ephesus with a letter from Corinth. And in that letter, there were four questions asked, difficulties and problems that had arisen at Corinth since the Apostle left there.
Now the first question had to do with a Christian home. You know, anyone who has done pioneer work in a pagan environment, they know a little bit about the problem and the difficulty there at Corinth. I went to Africa forty-five years ago. I was quite young at the time. I was plunged into an absolutely pagan environment over in that land. I was in my early twenties. And some of the things that I saw and heard They shocked me, and I wouldn't dare this morning to describe and detail the condition of things in that pagan environment. Now, among other things, marriage and divorce and remarriage and even child marriage was something that characterized the old pagan world.
I was prepared to meet marriage and divorce and remarriage and polygamy. But frankly, I was shocked. And they saw that even little girls of eight and nine years of age were married. And taken off and given to men that sometimes were sixty or sixty-five years of age. I don't want to say anything more about that. But that's the kind of an environment of a pagan community. And certainly at Corinth, one of their first great problems and difficulties was in connection with the Christian home. And after the Apostle had left, they wrote a letter. Now, the delegation that came from Corinth to Ephesus, we know their names.
The Apostle tells themselves, there were three men. Their names are Stephanus, Fortunatus, and Archaicus. These three men were the letter from Corinth that came to the Apostle at Ephesus with four questions. And the first question was the Christian home. How it should be regulated, and the purity of home. What should be done about separation? What should be done about divorce on matters of that kind? It was the first difficulty that they had asked the opinion, the advice of the Apostle Paul connected with it. Now, the second had to do with the pagan temple that was there at Corinth. It was dedicated to the goddess of love, to Venus.
And in connection with that pagan worship, there were one thousand abandoned women. There's some words that I want to avoid this morning. I don't want to shock anybody's feelings speaking about this, but that heathen pagan worship at Corinth, the Christians there were surrounded by it every day of their life. It was something like a Hindu temple. On these abandoned women, on the licentiousness connected with their life, it was mixed with the worship. And anyone who wanted to buy meat, the meat was first offered and sacrificed to the idol. The animal was slaughtered. and then it was exposed for sale. And the passage that we have read here this morning, it has to do with eating meat that was offered in sacrifice to an idol.
And the second question that was asked was, is it a legitimate thing for a Christian, a believer, one who knows the teaching of the Word of God, is it a legitimate thing to go to that temple and buy that meat and eat the meat that was offered in sacrifice to the idol? It was the second question in their letter. Now, the third had to do with spiritual gifts. on its exercise. You may remember that in Pentecostal days there was the gift of tongues. Men were energized by the Holy Spirit to speak in tongues that they had never learned. Worried about a very cosmopolitan company that came at Pentecost and worried when the Holy Ghost came down that these men, the Apostles, were energized by the Holy Spirit to speak languages that they had never learned.
They were given... the legitimate gift of tongues. Now, in Corinth, this had manifested itself in a different form. And the question that was asked of the Apostle, how are these Pentecostal gifts that were manifesting themselves at Corinth, how this should be regulated? Apparently there was a good deal of confusion in their meetings, two or three talking at once. Under one of the advice, the Council of the Apostle Paul, for the public ministry of the word, how it should be regulated. Now the fourth problem was what to do with the sacrificial gifts of the believers. On the first day of the week when they were gathered together on the offerings, the finances of the assembly, these devotional gifts that were given to God, how they should be distributed.
Now these were the four questions in the letter. And when the apostle replies, he starts off in chapter seven when he says this, Now concerning the matters of which he wrote unto me. On the chapter seven, he deals with this question of the Christian home. In chapter eight, he uses the term again, not concerning meat offered in sacrifice to an idol. On the chapters eight and nine and ten, he deals with this question whether it is a legitimate thing for a believer to eat meat that has been offered to that pagan idol. Now in chapter twelve, he uses the term again, not concerning spiritual gifts.
And in chapters twelve, thirteen and fourteen, he deals with these manifestations of a Pentecostal gift that was being manifested at Corinth, and he tells us how that should be regulated. On the fourth time, he uses, in chapter sixteen, and he uses the word, now concerning the collection. So these are the four questions. On the main body of the epistle, it covers the answers of the apostle Paul to these four difficult questions that they wanted some advice. on Council of Art. Now there was another source of information that the Apostle had. It wasn't a letter. They hadn't mentioned these things in the letter at all. But he said, I have heard.
He said, it has been reported unto me by those of Chloe, the household of Chloe. Now that word Chloe is the name of a female believer. On the Apostle he had heard a rumor. He had heard a report. And he tells us where it came from. You know, any preacher going around, he does hear a lot of rumors and reports and gossip and stories. And a song is a dangerous thing to listen to it. And people will come and they'll tell you things and they'll say, so and so and so and so and so. Haven't you heard it? But please don't quote me. Don't quote me. But the apostle here, in telling us where he heard these things, he gives the name of the person who had told him.
And I believe that if we were ever tempted to repeat anything that we have heard, any rumor or report, If we're not willing to have our name quoted in connection with it, it's far better not to mention it at all. But the Apostle Paul here, he tells it, I have heard, is it that has been reported unto me from the household of Chloe, this female believer. And there were two other points, two other matters that they hadn't mentioned at all in their letter. Their letter concerning the advice that they wanted. And the first, it had to do with their divided condition. Now the Apostle deals with this. at the very commencement of his letter. The first four chapters, he tells us that they were divided among themselves.
Wherever you find a New Testament church, where you find section on sectarianism, and you find the people of God divided, you'll find there is a foundation for the wrecking and the destroying of any work of God. Now the Apostle realizing this incipient condition, It actually hadn't developed into a division among the people of God here, but the condition was there. And it could have developed. On realizing its tremendous importance, the first four chapters is occupied with the unity of the people of God. How they can be drawn together. And the foundations of every assembly, it must be in love.
And the apostle deals with this in the first four chapters. Now the second matter. that hadn't been mentioned in the letter at all was the fact that there was a man in fellowship in the church actually sitting at the Lord's table in complete fellowship with the assembly that was guilty of the grossest form of immorality now some of the terms that are used here are very strong on the apostle here he said it is commonly reported now the word that he uses here it's not only inside not only did the Christians and the believers know of what was going on but actually outside. The word means that the man on the street knew what was going on.
It is commonly reported that there's fornication among you. And the word that the apostle uses there fornication is a very strong word. It means sexual sin of any kind. There is fornication among you. That one man should have his father's wife. The apostle, he goes into detail about it. Now, they haven't mentioned this in their letter. On the Apostle in chapter five, on six, on seven, he speaks about purity. He uses certain terms here connected with the human body. I think about thirty-nine times in the epistle, he deals with this matter of the purity of the human body. On dealing with it, he uses very, very strong terms.
Now, if I wanted to please people, I would avoid these things. But you know, any faithful servant of Christ, Any man that knows anything of the teaching of the Word of God, because a subject is not pleasant, and it's something that possibly some people might be offended to even mention these words, yet at the same time, every faithful preacher of the Word, and every preacher of the Gospel, he must never sidestep these very, very plain, blunt things. Now during this week, I would like to look at some of these matters, and what I want to do this morning particularly, is to take the passage that we have read together, And the word I want to speak about is the word fellowship. Now, the reason that this word is emphasized in seven magnificent passages, in the two epistles that the Apostle writes to the Church of Corinth, there are seven magnificent passages that he mentions it in.
Now, I don't get frightened. I'm not going to go into this one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. I just want to mention the first one and the last one, and then this middle one that we want to look at this morning. The first time we get the word fellowship in the epistle of the Corinthians is in chapter one. We are called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ. Now to me that is delightful. Here is the fellowship of life. We have been called into the fellowship of his son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And then the final mention is in the second epistle in the last chapter in the benediction. Now the apostle, in giving that benediction he uses these words, Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, on the love of God, on the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you all.
It's the fellowship of the Son at the beginning, not the fellowship of life into which we have been brought. And the final mention is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit at the end. And in between we have five mentions in five magnificent passages from a practical standpoint of this lovely word, the word Jesus. Now just a word or two about definition, just what does the word mean, the word fellowship? I think it's always well at the beginning, in any passage, to give a definition of what it means. I asked an Irishman, and by the way, I don't think I need to tell anybody here this morning that that's where I come from.
Sometimes after a meeting, a person will come to a room and say, are you a Scotchman? And I shake my head. Are you an Englishman? And I shake my head. And I said, well, what are you anyway? Well, I must confess that I'm an Irishman. But I asked an Irishman one day, I said, what is the meaning of the word fellowship? You know, sometimes these men are a little bit quick in the trigger. I'm witty, too. And the Irishman, he said, fellowship. Well, I said, that's a lot of fillers in the ship. A lot of fillers in the ship was his definition of the word fellowship. Now, that was smart. But you know, it's not the meaning of the word at all. In the First World War, there was a ship that was torpedoed out in the Indian Ocean.
They called the ship the Medusa. And there were only two survivors. And those two men, the only survivors on that ship, floated around in the Indian Ocean on a raft for quite a long time. And you would hardly believe it. But at the end of the time when they were rescued, when they were picked up, one fellow... He was sitting on one side of the raft, and the other fellow was sitting on the other side of the raft, and they weren't in speaking terms with each other. So to say that fellowship is a lot of fill is in a ship. Well, I think that comes very far short. I asked a Scotchman, a very dear friend one time, I said, tell me, what a fellowship. And the Scotchman's definition was, four feet on a fender.
Now, for an American audience, that needs a little bit of explanation. My brother Miller here. He knows perfectly well what the word means. Four feet on a fender. If you went to Scotland, you know, in the wintertime especially, there's a fire burning brightly in the grave, in the little room, the living room, where people live. And around that burning fire, there's a thing called a fender. It's a grid. And generally on the top of it, you find the words, home, sweet home. On the lady on the horse, Every Friday night or maybe on a Saturday, she'll take a piece of emery paper and she'll scrub it and scrub it and scrub it until you can see your face in it.
And it's the little grid that is around the fireplace. And the idea is on a Saturday night, two old men or two old women will come into the house and they'll sit up beside the fire. They'll pull the chairs up beside the fire. And you know when they start to talk and their hearts are entwined one with the other, they forget about the work of the lady of the house. Under four big muddy boots, go on top of the fender, four feet on the fender beside the fire, was his definition of fellowship. Their hearts were inclined one with the other when they were telling stories of what had happened during the week. But I read a very beautiful definition of fellowship given by William Kelly.
I don't want to take anything for granted. Possibly some here this morning may not know who William Kelly was. He was an outstanding servant of God, a man who knew the original languages of Holy Scripture, one of the finest men connected with brethren in the early days. And someone asked Mr. Kelly, and they said, what does fellowship mean? And his definition was this. He said, it's having a common joy in a common object which we share one with the other. To me, that is absolutely beautiful. A common joy... in a common object which we share one with the other. So here are our definitions of what the word means.
It means having partnership and having joy in connection with anything in which we share. And of course the supreme object of our joy is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. All called into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ. And that common joy in a common object, it is a person, the person of our Lord Jesus Christ himself. and we share it one with the other. Now just a few words about the passage that we have read together. The Apostle here, he uses the word, two different words that actually are used. Now we're not going to go into the original words here at all, but I just want to mention the fact that while in our English version there are a number of words used, actually the Apostle just uses two.
The two words that he uses are practically synonymous. One is fellowship and the other is partnership. Before this meeting started this morning, I asked Dr. Rose, what was the difference between the two? Between the word fellowship and the word partnership. And he gave me a definition that I think I'll always remember. He said fellowship is association and partnership is appropriation. And if you look at the two words that are used here, I think that that perfectly covers the ground. Now the first time that the Apostle uses it here is in connection with the cup. That is the cup of the Lord, the blood of Christ. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion?
Now here we get our word. Communion is fellowship. The communion of the blood of Christ, the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ. Now here is a two-fold fellowship. And the first is connected with the cup. And the second is in connection with the bread. Now I don't need to tell you that what the Apostle is speaking about here is the Lord's table, on the Lord's Supper. And the two great aspects of fellowship that he's speaking about here is, first of all, the fellowship of the cup. And then secondly, the fellowship of the bread. The cup of blessing, which we bless, is it not the communion, the fellowship of the blood of Christ.
Now, sometimes... There's a difficulty here in certain people's minds why the cup is mentioned before the bread. Just why is it? And I'd like to suggest that the reason that the cup is mentioned first is the fact that here communion or fellowship is established. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion, the fellowship of the blood of Christ? Beloved friends, here is the foundation, the basis of all fellowship. is in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. Thinking about this passage just last night, I was sitting reading the passage over again, and it occurred to me that the reason why the compass mentioned here is a little word that the Lord Jesus used himself at the institution of the Lord's Supper.
You remember in the Gospels, where we read of the Lord Jesus, sitting with that little company of disciples in the upper room, where he took the bread, and then he took the cup. He uses a word here in connection with the cup that he doesn't use in connection with the bread. He said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood which is given for you. Now I think that word covenant, it gives the idea of what we find here connected with fellowship. The new covenant in my blood, these words sometimes, We use them so often and sometimes we don't think about their meaning. Over in Africa we have a term in connection with a covenant and I think that it perfectly illustrates what we find here.
The word we use in umbundo and one of our African languages for a covenant is okuteta okasendo. Okuteta okasendo. Now the word is to cut a covenant. On the idiom that we use in our African languages is exactly the same idiom. that's used in connection with the Hebrew to cut a covenant. There are two covenants that are mentioned in the Old Testament. And one is a covenant of salt. And the other is the blood covenant. You remember in Genesis chapter fifteen, where God was establishing a covenant with Abraham. Here's the great bit of the fundamental thing connected with the covenant.
The covenant was cut. You remember God told his servant to take certain animals. And those animals were slain. The blood was shed. And then the animal itself was divided in two, right from the head, right down through the body. And the inward parts of that animal was exposed. And on the one side, the half of the animal was laid. And on the other side, the other half of the animal was laid. And the blood was shed. It was cutting a covenant. On the parties to that covenant they've passed between the pieces. The blood was the basis. On that animal, with its inward parts completely exposed, is a perfect illustration of cutting a covenant.
It was there that God made a covenant with Abraham. One of the greatest passages in the Old Testament scriptures is Genesis chapter fifteen, where we find that covenant was established. with the Father of the faithful, the Father of faith. Genesis chapter fifteen. Cutting a covenant is the basis of what we find here. The Lord Jesus said, this cut is a new covenant in my blood. Again to illustrate. Over in Africa, if a man wanted to make a covenant with another one, it could be either a covenant of salt or a covenant of blood. Now the covenant of salt always has to do with this word.
If I make a covenant with a man and I eat salt with him, it means that I will never, never, never, never go back in my word. It has to do with the spoken word on the promise that a person makes. The covenant of salt is mentioned three times in the Old Testament scriptures. It would be interesting to turn over to those passages this morning and show the context where you find them. But the idea is this. When a man makes a covenant or a promise with another one and eats salt with him, he will never, never, never go back in his word, the covenant of salt. But the covenant of blood, the blood covenant is something far, far deeper. It's far more solemn. In the blood covenant, a man is brought into covenant relationship and from that time on he's a blood brother.
Those of you who have read Mr. Arnott's books, connected with the early days in Africa, we have seen the same thing happen. Two Africans that want to make a covenant, one with the other, they, first of all, they sit down together and they make certain vows. And then a part of their body is cut with a knife. And the blood that comes from the wound is mixed. The two men's blood are mixed one with the other. And then they make certain promises. And from that moment on, they have made a blood covenant. Not only will they never go back in their words, But they're practically brothers. Not only brothers along the line of the flesh.
Of a fleshly relationship. But it's a covenant that's so binding. That the two men are linked indissolubly from that moment on. Now this is the idea here. Of cutting a covenant. And the Lord Jesus. When he takes the cup. And he said. This cup is the new covenant. In my blood. All the depths of meaning. What we get here. Beloved friend. Do let me say this morning. that the Lord Jesus is not only the one who has made the covenant of salt, but he also is the one who has made the covenant of blood. The new covenant in my blood. I may be speaking to someone here this morning, and these things may be completely new to you. My dear friend, the only way that one can be brought into covenant relationship with God is by the precious blood.
What we find in the Old Testament again and again and again, many, many times in the sanctifies us, Of the Old Testament, you remember the blood was shed at the altar. And God said, it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. The reason that that blood was shed was an account of sin. The three words that are used in the Old Testament describing man's condition is transgression and sin and iniquity. These three words describe man's condition in the sight of God. Iniquity, sin and transgression. The only way that that sin could be covered, that's the meaning of the word atonement. The only way it could be covered was by the shedding of blood.
And God said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And I've given to you the blood upon the altar. It's the covenant that God has made with man. The precious blood, the symbolism. In the Old Testament, it pointed forward to the one great sacrifice. And when the Lord Jesus took the cup that night, and he said, this cup is the new covenant. In my blood, here we find the final great ratification of this covenant that God has made with man. It is in the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the first time we find the word fellowship here is the fellowship of the blood of Christ. The cup of blessing which we bless. Is it not the communion, the fellowship of the blood of Christ?
This is the fellowship into which we have been brought. And not only that, but the covenant of Saul too. What does God say about his words? He that hears my word, and believeth on him that sent me, half. Now notice that little word, half, everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. There is the covenant of salt. God will never, never, never go back in his word. He has made that covenant. It's not only a covenant of blood, but it's a covenant of salt. He will not only never go back in his word. But thank God those that trust in him, that trust in Christ, that put their faith in him, that appropriate the work that he has done.
They've been brought into this blessed relationship, this covenant relationship. It is the communion of the blood of Christ. So here is the first great fellowship that the Apostle speaks of here. It's the fellowship of the precious blood. The bread which we break, is it not the communion, the fellowship of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. Now here begins the bread. And the apostle, he points out here something not only that the Lord Jesus taught when he gave the bread to the disciples that day, but the apostle, he adds a further word.
Remember the Lord Jesus? When he took the bread that night in which he was betrayed, he first of all, he blessed it. And then he break it. And then he gave it to them and he said, Take eat. This is my body, which is given for you, this due in remembrance of me. Now, it's perfectly evident that what the Lord is speaking about there is that that bread is a symbol of his material body that was offered for us upon the cross. That is perfectly evident. In the teaching of the Lord Jesus, we also get it in chapter eleven. But here we get it something different. Here we get something different. that is a supplement to it. And the apostle gives us an end of thought.
For we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. As we look at that bread upon the table at the Lord's Supper, and we consider that body that was offered for us upon the cross, the material body. The apostle gives us an end of thought here. He says, we being many are one bread. He's speaking about the mystical body of Christ. Now this is a fellowship into which we have been brought. And this morning as I was sitting looking at the bread upon the table, oh, I was thanking God from the very depths of my heart that that bread, it symbolized the precious body of the Lord Jesus, the material body, this physical suffering upon the cross, that body that was offered for us.
But it has something added to it here. We being many are one bread. You know, the difficulty at times was that they were being divided. They were separating one from the other. But if you look at that bread upon the table, it symbolizes the fact that we, being many, are one bread, for we are members of his body. The membership of the body is represented by the bread upon the table. First of all, the material body, and then secondly, the mystical body. Oh, we only learn the great truth, that the head of the body is Christ, who seated at God's right hand. He is the head of the body. And we on this earth, are members of his body, are members one of another.
The bread upon the table, it not only represents the material body of Christ, but it's a beautiful symbol of the one body, the truth of the one body, into which we have been brought. Here in the United States, I understand that in Protestant Christendom, there are about three hundred different bodies. Now certainly when we look at this, I think it's true our shame. But, oh, as we look at the bread upon the table, we have been brought into this wonderful fellowship, into the membership of the body of Christ. The Apostle mentions this here. The first is the fellowship of the blood, and the second is the fellowship of the body of Christ.
We are linked with every saint that loves his name by the fact that we are linked to the written head. There is just one head of the church, seated at God's right hand, and we are members of this body of the Lord. Now the apostle here, he speaks of three tables, and I have to be very brief here because my time is almost gone. He first of all speaks of the table of Israel, and then he speaks of the table of demons, and then he speaks of the Lord's table. He gives us something here connected with each one, the table of Israel, and the fellowship connected with it. While we were sitting at the Lord's table this morning, a passage was read in the book of Leviticus chapter twenty-four.
And remember that Israel had twelve loaves of bread upon the table, and every week they were renewed. Now those twelve loaves of bread upon the table symbolized the twelve tribes of the people of Israel. And even when they were divided, after that very tragic division, they took place under Rehoboam, and Jeroboam, and even after they came back from Babylon, and a large portion of the nation remained in Babylon, and the little remnant came back again, They didn't put two and a half loaves of bread upon the table. There were twelve loaves of bread upon the table representing the complete unity of the people of God. Now we today we have one loave of bread.
On that one loave of bread it represents the body of Christ. Israel's table on the altar and the sacrifices and the fact that the priesthood in the peace offering, there was something for God, there was something for the priest. And there was something for the offer, the peace offering. On the sanctified, it speaks of fellowship together. And the apostle here uses Israel after the flesh as a plank and picture, an illustration of what he's talking about here, the fellowship of Israel on their table. And then he speaks about the table of demons. In that pagan altar, in that pagan temple at Corinth, there was there another fellowship. It was the fellowship of demons.
And some of these Corinthians saying, well, you know, we have been delivered from love. All things are lawful for me. It won't do me any harm to go up to that pagan temple and eat the meat that is offered and sacrificed for an idol. Here's Paul's final argument. He said, it's not only eating the meat, but don't forget that there's a fellowship connected to that meat. And it's a fellowship of the underworld. It's a fellowship that's satanic. It's a fellowship of demons. And then he says this, no, you cannot eat. You count it a fellowship at the table of demons on fellowship at the Lord's table. It's either one or the other. That is the serious part of it. It's the climax of his argument whether a Christian should go to that pagan temple and eat the meat that's offered in sacrifice to the idol.
Now, again, I'm not going to abuse my privilege by going over my time. But, you know, every time we sit at the Lord's table and every time we participate in the bread under the cup, In this wonderful fellowship into which we have been brought, it's a separating fellowship. And whatever is not consistent with the Lord's table, it's certainly something that we should be very, very careful about participating in. It has kept me out of many things. I'm not going to illustrate that this morning. But you know that some people say, well, now, don't do this and don't do that and don't do the other thing. That's legalistic. But the apostle says, all things are lawful for me that all things are not expedient. All things are lawful, but all things don't edify.
I don't have anything in my life. I don't care what it is. There may not be thus saith the Lord for it, but if it's not so, there's something wrong with it. Mr. H.P. Barker, one time in illustrating this passage, somebody asked him the question, is it lawful to do this, lawful to do that, lawful to do the other thing. And the way he illustrated it was, is that when I go to a meeting, before the meeting, I go to my wife and I say, what about my church? Should I wear it the second time? They had maybe worn it the previous day and he said to his wife, should I wear it or shouldn't I? And the answer his wife always did was, if it's dark-full, it's dirty. If it's dark-full, it's dirty.
Get rid of it and put it through the suns. Or anything about my life, if it's dark-full, I don't need a little regulation, a little plant card on the wall, don't do this and don't do that and don't do the other thing. I don't need that kind of thing. But if it's dark-full, if it's going to hurt somebody else, my example, Anything that I do going up to that pagan temple and associated with that fellowship of demons up there, if I go there, it's going to hurt somebody else. And therefore the apostle says, give none of thanks, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentile, nor to the church of God. Oh, may God bless his word. And this wonderful, wonderful fellowship into which we have been brought, it binds us together, and certainly it binds on a build.
May God help us to realize that and may it rank it in our conduct every day of our lives. For his name's sake. Shall we pray? Our God and Father, we lift our hearts to thee again in the name of the Lord Jesus. And we do thank thee for thy holy word. We thank thee for these ten practical things in it that shall rank it in our life and show us what thy mind and will is. And our Father, we do pray that everything that we do and say darn here, may be regulated by love, that we may have consideration one for the other, and that not only, our Father, that our lives might tell for thee, but we pray that by our example, as well as precept, we might be able to glorify and honor thy name.
Bless thy word, we pray, and bless thy dear people, and those who may not know thee. Oh, our Father, we pray that they may be brought into this glorious fellowship, the fellowship of the blood of Christ, We ask it in His own worthy name. Amen.